Archive for 2018

The U.S. Supreme Court has let stand for now a North Dakota law requiring voters to present an ID bearing their residential address, despite arguments from Native American voters that it will disproportionately affect them. Moreover, the Court declined to apply the so-called “Purcell principle” which suggests that courts stay out of election disputes this close to an election.

The State of Florida is preparing for landfall of Hurricane Michael – and the forecast is triggering an election storm as well as calls emerge for the state to extend its Tuesday voter registration deadline. If this dispute sounds familiar, it’s because it also happened in 2016, when a federal judge ordered the State of Florida to extend its deadline because of Hurricane Matthew. Here’s hoping that everyone in the storm’s path stays safe – but don’t be surprised to see litigation over this issue as Michael prepares to come ashore.

The latest electionlineWeekly finds Mindy Moretti talking to election officials across America where ballots are going to be extremely long on Election Day. These long ballots highlight the importance of voters “reading ahead” about what’s on their ballots so they aren’t surprised at the polls. In addition, these ballots will not only mean a slower voting experience for many but will likely slow results as well.

TurboVote has become one of the most popular vehicles for many Americans – especially young people – to register to vote and get information on the election process. Unfortunately, this year that growing popularity, and the “brand recognition” associated with it, has a downside: the emergence of scammers using TurboVote’s name and reputation to attempt to trick voters. Specifically. state election officials in several states are reporting that voters are receiving phone calls or text messages pretending to be TurboVote and asking voters to divulge personal information.

Today on Capitol Hill, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is hosting the 2018 Election Readiness Summit bringing together state and local election officials, federal officials and members of the private sector to examine issues associated with the nation’s readiness for the 2018 general election.

I always love it when local papers spotlight residents for longtime service to the election process – so I am delighted to share this piece from the Fairbanks, AK Daily News-Miner celebrating 50 years of service by pollworker Janette Hanneman. People like her are the reason why I love what do – dedicated to the work, generous with their time and enthusiastic about helping their fellow Americans navigate the voting process.

Election litigation usually means that two (or more) parties disagree about some election policy – and might be angry about it besides. Every now and then, however, you see a lawsuit that no one opposes but nonetheless has to proceed in order to make a change. So it is with a new lawsuit in South Carolina, where the Attorney General is suing the State Election Commission to extend voter registration deadlines in the state hit hard by Hurricane Florence.

The Democracy Fund’s Jennifer Morrell (former Arapahoe County, CO election official and expert on post-election audits) has a great piece in this week’s electionlineWeekly on “six things you can do for the 6th” – in essence, a to-do list for election officials to bolster voter confidence as November 6th, Election Day approaches.

The City of Milwaukee will reinstate about 21,000 voters who were removed from the rolls last year after the state elections commission determined that they and others across the state were dropped when a list maintenance mailing went awry. It’s the latest story to highlight the importance of voters checking their registrations well in advance of Election Day; it’s very easy to do in most states and it can avoid frustration for everyone involved on Election Day. [UPDATED]

The lead Republican Senate co-sponsor of the Secure Elections Act, federal legislation to solidify election cybersecurity, conceded yesterday that it won’t pass before the November elections. While this news isn’t surprising, it is disappointing, and means that any effort to put together a permanent federal response to the election cybersecurity challenge will have to wait (and very likely start over) until a new Congress next year.