Archive for January 2019

The newly-elected DuPage, IL County Clerk is asking county leaders to postpone the voter-approved merger of her office and the county election commission – a merger she supported – until after the April municipal elections.

New York State’s legislature is poised to enact sweeping election reforms which will improve the election experience for voters and streamline the election calendar. It’s a sign of progress for the Empire State, which has long lagged the rest of the nation on many aspects of election administration.

The 2018 election saw a tremendous change in elections at the state level, with new chief state officials in over one-quarter of the nation. That many new faces could be hard to keep up with – but fortunately my friend Mindy Moretti has a quick rundown in the latest electionlineWeekly.

The Iowa House of Representatives will form a committee to study a disputed 2018 election that appears to turn on a few dozen late-arriving but allegedly timely cast mail ballots. If the ballots are deemed timely, opened and it is determined that the outcome has changed, the Iowa House will have to vote on what to do next.

Yesterday, in county election offices across Florida, formerly incarcerated citizens whose voting rights were restored by voters last November after passage of Amendment 4 began registering to vote. It was a day of celebration across the Sunshine State as many election officials rolled out the red carpet for the newly-minted voters.

Harris County (Houston), TX’s newly-elected clerk is proposing to set in motion a process that will eventually result in Election Day vote centers across the county. She’s hired an experienced county election director to help manage the transition – which, given the county’s size (3rd largest nationally) will have significant impact.

As promised, the new House Democratic majority has made election reform a top priority, introducing a huge (571-page) election bill as H.R.1 in the 116th Congress. It has very little chance of enactment, – but it’s a useful indicator of Democrats’ priorities and will help set the agenda for negotiations on topics that may gain consensus like election cybersecurity. It also suggests election policy is likely to have a higher profile in the new Congress.

One of Minnesota’s favorite #electiongeeks, state election director Gary Poser, is retiring today – and Mindy Moretti of electionlineWeekly sat down virtually with him for one of her “exit interviews”.

In almost literally the last gasp of the 115th Congress, the U.S. Senate yesterday confirmed the nominations of Ben Hovland and Don Palmer to serve as Commissioners of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

Seminole County’s Mike Ertel will be Florida’s new Secretary of State after his appointment last week by incoming Governor Ron DeSantis. This is terrific news for Florida – and I can’t wait to see him bring his “America’s Finest Election Team” approach to the state level.