Archive for July 2016

Oregon’s two U.S. Senators and one House member have introduced a new bill seeking to move the entire nation to vote-by-mail, saying the move would help counteract efforts to restrict voting in many states nationwide. It likely won’t move in the current Congress, but its provisions – including vote by mail and automatic registration – could be a harbinger of federal and state legislative debates to come.

This is the time of the year when election officials want to be finalizing the arrangements for the fall, including polling places. But in Palm Beach County, FL a dispute has emerged over an invitation – subsequently revoked – to a local mosque to serve as a voting location.

Tampa Bay Times columnist Steve Bousquet – a journalist with a long history of reporting on voting issues who covers election administration topics as well as anyone out there – has a new piece looking at the delivery of military and overseas ballots by Florida election officials under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA).

California’s primary election took place on June 7 … but vote-counting just ended. That has brought the state – and local election officials – in for some criticism, but as a new LA Times piece finds, there are several very good reasons why it takes so long to reach the finish line in California.

The old joke goes that the best thing about beating your head against a wall is that it feels so good to stop. The Commonwealth of Virginia is looking forward to a similar feeling after the announcement that it will offer electronic voter registration at DMV offices, eliminating hundreds of thousands of pieces of paper a year.

This week’s electionlineWeekly highlights workelections.com, a site that aims to make it easier for potential pollworkers and the election jurisdictions seeking them to find one another. The site’s Q&A lays out how the process works – and invites both individuals and localities nationwide to learn more about the concept and get involved.

The Technical Guidelines Development Committee (TGDC) may not be well-known, but it plays a crucial role in the process of standards-setting in the field of voting technology testing and certification. Late last month, the TGDC issued a draft project charter for a new version of voting system standards (VVSG 2.0) that attempts to define both the scope of the project and lay out a way forward.

The Bipartisan Policy Center has just issued a new report that examines the “new realities” of vote by mail and makes recommendations about how everyone involved can and should respond. It includes recommendations for voters, election officials, legislators – and even the Postal Service itself! – about how to ensure that vote by mail ballots find their way to voters and back again to be counted.

One of the most eagerly-anticipated projects in elections took another step forward last week as Los Angeles County, CA unveiled the prototype of the new voting system developed through its Voting System Assessment Project (VSAP). This project will genuinely transform the field of elections, not just in the final product but in the effort to look at the entire election process to determine the best approach – and then design a system that fits those specifications.

Have a safe and happy holiday … see you tomorrow!