Archive for March 2020

North Carolina’s State Board of Elections has partnered with the Department of Motor Vehicles to offer residents the opportunity to register to vote or update their records online without conducting other DMV business.

Hawaii’s election office is asking all voters to update their signatures in preparation for the state’s transition to vote by mail in 2020. It’s just one of many steps the Aloha State is taking to get ready for the statewide primary in August and this November’s general election.

The March 26, 2020 electionlineWeekly features a story by Whitney May of the Center for Tech and Civic Life about the experiences she and her colleagues had as pollworkers during the March 17 Illinois primary.

A new federal coronavirus stimulus bill, passed unanimously by the Senate and expected to receive House approval today, will provide states with $400 million in federal funds to assist with vote-by-mail and other 2020 election changes necessitated by pandemic-related concerns.

The State of Georgia will mail absentee ballot applications to every active registered voter in the state for the May 19 primary in response to concerns about in-person voting during the coronavirus pandemic.

Two associations of Virginia local election officials have asked the state to move the upcoming May local elections and June Congressional primaries to all vote-by-mail.

As more Wisconsin voters shift to vote-by-mail for the upcoming April 7 state primary, local election officials are facing dwindling supplies of envelopes and other materials and the state election commission is moving to resupply them and advising on how otherwise to pick up the slack.

A new lawsuit in Wisconsin seeks to alter the state’s rules and deadlines for voter registration and absentee ballots in response to public health concerns related to the coronavirus.

As growing concerns about the coronavirus’ impact on elections leads to calls for vote-by-mail, there is a corresponding uptick in questions about whether states can make the move quickly enough for this year’s elections – and if so, what it would take to do so.

Yesterday, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission announced that states can use the federal funds made available under the Help America Vote Act to support the cost of response to the coronavirus (COVID-19).