Posts by Doug Chapin

Maryland state lawmakers are pushing back against the Board of Elections’ plan to forgo precinct-level election returns in the upcoming statewide primary.

The City of Glendale, CO in the Denver suburbs recently held an election – and only sixteen voters participated, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic and a list of mostly uncontested races.

A group of Virginia state senators is pushing a plan to move the commonwealth’s May 5 local elections to June as an alternative to the governor’s call for a November vote in the face of COVID-19.

Even as the nation’s election officials wrestle with the challenges associated with conducting a presidential election in the face of a pandemic, the nation’s major parties are returning to familiar ground: lawsuits over the voting process. It’s one bit of certainty in an otherwise uncertain election year.

Idaho’s Secretary of State is responding to concerns about missing absentee ballot return postage by partnering with local grocery stores to provide stamps to voters seeking to mail back their completed ballots. It’s an excellent example of a state election office doing what it can to make the best of a bad situation.

A Texas judge ruled yesterday that voters’ fear of contracting COVID-19 was a valid reason for requesting an absentee ballot, contradicting the Attorney General, whose office advised it does not – setting the stage for further litigation in advance of the state’s July primary runoff elections and the general election this November.

A proposal by Virginia’s governor to move May local elections to November in response to the coronavirus pandemic is encountering some resistance from officials and candidates.

As today’s deadline arrives for absentee ballots in last week’s Wisconsin primary, state and local election officials are grappling with the effect of postal issues – especially postmarks, which are emerging as a trouble spot in the tabulation process.

The latest electionlineWeekly features a collaborative effort spearheaded by the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to assist election officials nationwide with rapidly standing up absentee voting and vote-by-mail in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

The U.S. Election Assistance Commission informed states last week that $400 million in federal funds allocated for election support in the CARES Act coronavirus stimulus bill will be subject to the standard 20% state match.