Archive for 2019

Purdue University will add expiration dates to student IDs to address concerns about compliance with Indiana voter ID requirements. The plan does leave some question about if students can use existing IDs in local elections this fall.

Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill announced yesterday that he had removed a Russell County registrar after findings that he had given improper advice about voter registration in municipal elections.

With Elaine Manlove’s recent retirement as Delaware election commissioner, there was a vacancy in the First State’s top election job – and Anthony Albence, her former assistant at the county level, is following her once again as he becomes the new commissioner.

Springfield, MA’s election office says there’s no money this year for a new voter notification postcard effort enacted by the City Council – but opposed by the mayor.

Harris County (Houston), TX is beginning the process of searching for new voting equipment that will bring new machines to one of the nation’s largest counties by 2021 at a potential cost of $74 million.

Thad Hall, a longtime electiongeek and scholar who has recently joined the ranks of local election administration, is heading west from Columbia, South Carolina to Arizona’s Cococino County to be in charge of elections there.

Election workers, lawyers and observers are converging on a former retail mall in Queens as the New York City Board of Elections prepares to conduct a recount of a razor-thin Democratic primary for Queens District Attorney.

A Boise, ID neighborhood annexed by the city in 2014 was left off the voting rolls for almost five years – frustrating residents and leading some to seek a refund of their property taxes. It’s the latest example of what happens when mapmakers from one part of local government are not coordinating with the elections office.

A new report from Rutgers University professors Lisa Schur and Douglas Kruse finds that turnout among voters with disabilities surged in 2018 – although still lagging behind the rate of voters without disabilities. It’s a signal that voters with disabilities should remain a high priority for the election community in 2020 – and beyond.

Days after vetoing a bill that would have tied new state funding for voting equipment to a straight-ticket voting ban, Pennsylvania’s governor has announced plans to unilaterally issue state bonds to cover counties’ costs.