Archive for 2018

I often say that election officials aren’t just people I work with, they’re also some of my favorite people – which is why I really enjoyed a recent profile and Q and A of my friend and colleague, Santa Cruz County, CA’s Gail Pellerin, in the Santa Cruz Sentinel. It’s a revealing (and fun) look at life as a local election official.

Local election officials in Maine are moving ahead with preparations for ranked choice voting (RCV) in June despite lingering uncertainty at the state level which has generated more litigation.

Yesterday, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission released more information on the election security grants included in the federal omnibus budget bill, along with some answers to key questions about the funds.

The Center for Technology and Civic Life (CTCL) has a great story in its latest ElectionBuzz newsletter focusing on Cape Girardeau County, MO’s effort to create a student-designed “I Voted” sticker.

In Wisconsin – a state, it seems, that cannot go very long without another election-related controversy – the courts, the governor and the Legislature are involved in a dispute whether special elections must be held in districts that have been vacant for over a year.

The elections community was able to breathe a huge sigh of relief yesterday when it was announced that former EAC Chairman Matt Masterson would be joining the Department of Homeland Security as a senior cybersecurity advisor.

There was lots of news last week from Washington, DC – but Washington State had its own big story with the enactment of a series of new laws (including automatic registration, Election Day registration and pre-registration) aimed at improving voter participation in the Evergreen State.

Katy Owens Hubler of Democracy Research LLC has a really interesting and informative piece in the current electionlineWeekly discussing a topic you may have heard about but didn’t realize was so important – a common data format for elections.

The forthcoming federal omnibus will include $380 million in funds for states as part of an effort to improve election security – thanks in large part to the efforts of key Senators and a timely push from the Senate Intelligence Committee.

In honor of Women’s History Month, the EAC is running a series of interviews between Vice-Chair Christy McCormick and several of the more prominent women in the field of elections. The latest installment features Monica Flores of the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder’s office, who talks about her background and her work on LA’s pioneering work on voting technology.