Archive for 2012

The National Association of Secretaries of State has declared September 2012 to be National Voter Registration Month – one thing that all sides of the election debate appear to be willing to agree about.

Ohio SoS Jon Husted is taking a “wait and see” approach on early voting pending appeal of last week’s federal court order. It’s a decision to embrace one kind of uncertainty over another in an environment where court and election calendars collide.

The three-judge federal court’s opinion in the Texas voter ID case points up some fascinating questions about the role of data – and tees up a fascinating (and potentially far-reaching) argument in the U.S. Supreme Court next year.

A new paper examines the potential of a lottery to boost turnout and finds that a system with a large number of small payouts could improve participation among non-voters. Don’t spend your winnings yet, though – it would take a big policy change to make it happen.

The Minnesota Supreme Court recently rejected challenges to a ballot question asking voters to approve a constitutional amendment on voter ID. That decision tees up a fall vote that could even overshadow the race for the White House.

New York, which so often trails the pack on election administration, is actually in the middle of the curve on online voter registration – the biggest state to adopt the practice so far.

Yesterday’s federal court opinion about provisional ballots in Ohio raises numerous big issues that the Supreme Court could eventually have to answer – but it also poses a tiny problem that’s just as fascinating.

As we approach ten weeks to Election Day, a number of high-profile cases that could roil the election process are still unresolved.

Pew’s election team has produced an absolutely gorgeous interactive graphic on voter participation across the country 1990-2010. Check it out!

In many communities, voter rolls are used as part of the database for calls to jury duty. Recently, the relationship between the jury box and the voting booth has been significant in the other direction as well.