Archive for September 2012

In a recent interview with NPR, early voting expert Paul Gronke made an important observation about regional variations in voting modes – variations that might help election officials better understand the costs of different types of balloting.

A New Hampshire law that would beef up voting residency requirements by requiring out-of-state students to register their cars when they register to vote was struck down by a county court.

Fulton County (Atlanta) Georgia and Hawaii County, Hawaii both have new temporary election officials after their predecessors encountered trouble on and off the job.

It’s National Voter Registration Day and election officials are are getting into the act.

A federal court ruling last week swept away a ballot secrecy challenge to Colorado’s use of barcodes on ballots for this November’s election – and illuminates the uncertain nature of election litigation.

New York City voters recently struggled with ballots that printed candidates’ names in tiny type – a very bad design decision apparently forced by an antiquated state law.

Wisconsin will allow voters to provide digital identification on smartphones and tablets – a development which could add yet another twist to battles nationwide about proof of eligibility at the polls.

Recent updates on efforts to identify noncitizen voters in Florida and Colorado raise the issue of “false positives” – which, in an analogy to epidemiology, suggests that fears of fraud are extremely deep-seated among some state officials.

A new study demonstrating the power of Facebook to boost turnout also shows the potential value of social media for outreach to voters.