Archive for 2014

We return again to Richland County, SC where yesterday’s low-turnout primary surfaced a few “hiccups” but by and large gave the county election office hope that the big(!!!) problems of 2012 and 2013 are behind them.

Following up on last week’s story about late mail ballots, today’s post examines recent data from Iowa showing that not all mail ballots receive postmarks – requiring policymakers and election officials to decide what to do when such ballots arrive late.

A new Associated Press article details how the parties are circling the wagons on a new partisan fight over early voting – one which may or may not have a basis in fact but has a very real possibility of disrupting voting in 2014 and beyond.

More than 1,000 primary ballots mailed on or before Election Day in Sacramento County, CA won’t count because they arrived too late – a symptom of a larger statewide problem. Policymakers, election officials and reformers are looking at ways to address the problem.

Yale Law’s Heather Gerken has a new op-ed in The Hill in which she likens the EAC to the Bad News Bears – and encourages policymakers to acknowledge the agency’s value (especially on data collection) and “let them play!”

The numbers tell you how big Los Angeles County elections are, but then you watch a helicopter land and offload ballots and you realize just how big the County – and its efforts to manage its considerable election administration challenges – really are.

Indiana counties have slowly but steadily been transitioning to vote centers – and a new article looks back at what impact they are having across the state.

A new directive from the Ohio Secretary of State requires counties to prepare election administration plans and cites well-known resources like the PCEA report and EAC guides. It also requires some time and data work that should prove to be interesting.

Stateline’s Jake Grovum – one of a small handful of reporters on the election geek “beat” – reviews the growing common ground between the parties on issues like online and same-day registration – though differences on early voting and funding remain.

Grand County, Utah is moving to an all vote by mail system for the upcoming primary and while election officials believe it will improve service and cut costs, there is still work to be done to sell the change to voters used to “the way we’ve always done it.”