Archive for January 2014

Iowa’s Secretary of State is facing criticism – and calls from lawmakers and election officials to investigate – after some voters were excluded because their names erroneously appeared on a state list of disenfranchised felons.

A new piece in Politico Magazine lists the dangers associated with the expansion of early voting as recommended in the PCEA report. It’s a piece that might have been written a decade ago – but elections (and voters) have already moved on.

Brian Newby’s latest ElectionDiary looks at the PCEA report and finds that the outlook is likely bleak for the future of the EAC after it got little mention in the report – and is largely absent from the larger election reform conversation.

Online voter registration may be approaching a period of rapid adoption nationwide – especially if recent developments in Nebraska are a harbinger of things to come in other states.

Georgetown Law professor emeritus Roy A. Schotland passed away yesterday. He was an incredibly accomplished scholar and teacher – and a friend and mentor to countless people, including me.

Aaron Strauss – whose work on resource calculators for election officials was recognized and endorsed by the PCEA – is concerned that election officials not also be responsible for measuring lines on Election Day.

The new report by the Presidential Commission on Election Administration is jam-packed with great ideas for the future of American elections – here are some highlights as the focus shifts from thinking about reform to making it happen.

The Election Assistance Commission met a court-ordered deadline to respond in a dispute over proof of citizenship – and in so doing raised issues of constitutional and administrative law while likely renewing the debate about its own future.

Last Friday, a Pennsylvania state judge invalidated the state’s voter ID law. While the ruling halts ID in the Keystone State for now, it tells us little about what’s next in the courts. Still, the public may not care.

A new bipartisan bill to revise and revive the Voting Rights Act has been introduced in Congress. Here’s what it says – and what’s next.