Archive for 2019

Federal funds intended to assist states with election security upgrades are still at an impasse in Minnesota, with just a month left in the state legislative session. It’s an unfortunate situation as partisan and policy disputes mean that the state may not be able to access election security funds in time to affect the 2020 election.

The latest electionlineWeekly takes a look at new tools that third-party registration drives can use to harness the value of online voter registration (OVR) and leave troublesome paper forms behind.

Election officials in Steamboat Springs, CO are postponing a municipal election scheduled for June by one week in order to account for potential printing delays, cost considerations for the counting process and the requirements of federal law.

After years of debate over policies that restrict voting, the State of Kansas has enacted a new law expanding access for Sunflower State voters. It’s a story of cooperation and collaboration that has been all too rare in Kansas in recent years.

Local officials in Arizona will get regular guidance on election procedures from a manual required by a new bill headed to the Governor for his signature. Given how local officials often chafe at directives from the state, the clamor for this change in Arizona suggests how important the manual is to their operations.

State officials are scrambling – and scratching their heads – after reports that West Virginia’s Department of Motor Vehicles is losing voter registrations meant for the Secretary of State and county clerks. These issues are neither new nor unique to West Virginia, but they’ll need to be addressed as soon as possible as 2020 approaches.

A joint report by DHS and the FBI confirms that Russian cyber actors targeted election sites in all 50 states in 2016 – not just the 21 previously reported. It’s a vivid reminder of the ongoing threat and a powerful motivation to the election community to continue being vigilant – and prepared – for whatever 2020 brings.

Ohio’s new Secretary of State is drawing attention after a recent mailing to over a quarter of a million inactive voters yielded just 540 registrations – about 1 in 500. The low return rate/high cost may lead the state to consider other approaches providing nonvoters with an opportunity to re-register at a more reasonable cost to taxpayers.

North Carolina’s state legislature will soon consider a fix to a law that has been creating problems for institutions who seek to allow college students to use their IDs for voting.

California’s Butte County is using postcards to voters to ascertain the plans of voters displaced by the catastrophic Camp Fire that devastated California last year. It’s good to see the elections office doing something to re-establish voters’ sense of place so that the process can move forward in 2020 and beyond.