Archive for June 2014

Ann Arbor, MI is scrambling to fix hundreds of incorrect absentee ballots that omitted a candidate’s name. How that happened, and who contributed to the error, is a cautionary tale for election officials nationwide.

Lexington County, SC election officials are warning that a lengthy tax question could lead to a 20-page ballot this fall – which will inevitably result in long lines and frustration at the polls.

Heather Gerken’s new look at the Voting Rights Act Amendment examines how a new bill might encourage the kind of bargaining between local governments and voters that works well in other contexts.

An Richland County ballot that qualifies as “news of the weird” is an opportunity for a handful of observations on the field of election administration, social media and the value of public confidence.

The National Conference of State Legislatures has released a new Pew-funded database intended to help policymakers and others get comprehensive and up-to-date information about election administration policy nationwide.

David Kimball of the University of Missouri-St. Louis dips into The Wire for an analogy that explains the growing popularity of absentee ballots in Missouri – an observation that has validity outside of the Show Me State.

Rhode Island is poised to eliminate the “master lever” straight-party voting option after large (but not unanimous) majorities in both houses of the Legislature. If it becomes law, it will create new challenges for election officials and voters alike.

South Dakota’s adoption of vote centers is slowing somewhat because of concerns about cost, technology and staffing at the county level – an increasingly familiar story as the field of elections grapples with a desire to change how Americans vote.

Minnesota is launching a new online tool for voters to request and track absentee ballots; this new capability – plus a switch to no-excuse absentee ballots – is bound to have a significant effect on voting (and vote-counting) in the North Star State.

Alpine County, CA – which has fewer voters than thousands of precincts nationwide – combines vote-by-mail and a small-town sense of civic engagement to create turnout levels their larger neighbors must envy.