Archive for 2018

Election Day is always eventful for election officials – but Maricopa County (Phoenix), AZ was forced to confront an unusual situation when poll workers showed up at a polling location only to find it locked because the landlord had foreclosed on the business hosting the precinct. The story raises several key issues – most importantly, whether a private landlord can bar access to a location where public voting equipment and ballots are stored – but in the short run it was an early-morning headache for election officials and voters alike.

The countdown is over and the day is here. Let’s do this.

In case you missed it, Election Day 2018 is TOMORROW. I recently shared the latest version of my usual pre-election post over at the Fors Marsh Group blog – it’s intended to be a viewer’s guide to the excitement (and occasional madness) of Election Day. Good luck to everyone casting, counting and covering ballots tomorrow – I will be thinking about all of you!

electionlineWeekly’s Mindy Moretti is back with the latest installment of the site’s “what to watch” on Election Day 2018. It’s a pretty wide-ranging list; as she notes, “may the gods of democracy have mercy on our souls!”

Leaders of the Korean community in Harris County (Houston), TX are meeting with the county clerk after a dispute about translation at an early voting center this weekend. At issue is the conflict between the 100-foot “loitering” buffer around polling places and the desire to offer language assistance to those who need it.

With Election Day less than a week away, Native American tribes in North Dakota are hurriedly organizing to assign residential voting addresses in order to comply with a new state law. It’s yet another reminder that the little things – right down to the number on your house – can be important when it’s time to vote.

A new Pew Research Center poll finds that support for election policy changes varies by many different factors – but especially age, as younger voters of all partisan affiliations report preferences that are occasionally at odds with older voters of the same party. In particular, support for reforms like automatic voter registration and Election Day registration are higher among younger voters across party lines.

New Hampshire’s Supreme Court has reinstated a state law that requires voters to show proof of residency if they register within 30 days of an election. It capped off a hectic week of litigation where the law went from on to off to on again. Last week’s wild ride – just like a rollercoaster, in that it ended up right where it started – will probably raise as many questions as it answered with Election Day just eight days away.

A judge in Ramsey County (St. Paul), Minnesota has ruled that the federal Voting Rights Act supersedes state law in a criminal case alleging that a St. Paul city council member illegally assisted a voter in a recent mayoral race. This ruling is obviously important to the defendant, but it’s also instructive on the interaction between federal protections and state prohibitions on election matters like language assistance.

Mail ballots are finally on their way to 61,000 voters in Colorado’s Adams County – but not until they went missing for a week on a wayward truck due to miscommunication between the printer, a truck driver, the U.S. Postal Service and the county elections office. It’s just another example of how every election relies on successful execution of numerous tasks by many different people. When things go wrong, however, each of those people needs to be prepared to notify someone else that there’s a problem so it can be resolved. Election officials are masterful problem solvers – but only if they know there’s a problem to solve.