Posts by Doug Chapin

electionlineWeekly’s latest exit interview features Utah’s Mark Thomas, who is stepping down as the state’s election director to take a new position with the Utah Senate.

MIT Professor Charles Stewart has been doing a series of voter registration posts on the Election Updates blog – and a recent one looks at the impact of residential mobility. Spoiler alert: it’s tricky.

Election Day 2017 seemed to go fairly smoothly yesterday; there were some power outages, issues with e-pollbooks and unexpectedly high turnouts that taxed election offices – but York County, PA had a situation that I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen before: voting machines that allowed multiple votes for the same candidate.

It’s Election Day across the nation, and for many voters that could mean waiting in line to cast a ballot. John Fortier and Don Palmer of the Bipartisan Policy Center have a new post on Medium describing the work they’re doing in Virginia and elsewhere to help election officials track lines so voters can avoid some or all of the wait.

Election administration has a well-deserved reputation for developing reliable procedures and carrying them out accurately time and again. It’s largely true and a good reputation to have, but it overlooks a key aspect of the job that can be just as important: inventiveness. That’s why I was tickled to see a story out of Reno County (Hutchinson), KS focusing on a homemade solution to a potentially difficult equipment problem.

This likely isn’t news to anyone reading this, but next Tuesday, November 7 is Election Day for many states and localities across the country. As always, electionineWeekly’s Mindy Moretti has a look ahead at what to watch, including new technology, new rules and procedures – and even the weather. Here’s hoping the day goes smoothly for everyone involved.

A new study by the Democracy Fund finds that quality poll work can go a long way toward improving voters’ confidence in the process. Election officials already understand the importance of recruiting quality workers to staff the tables on Election Day, but this data suggests that doing so can reduce the likelihood of doubts about the outcome afterwards. That’s increasingly important in today’s polarized partisan environment.

On October 29, 2002, President George W. Bush signed Public Law 107-252, the “Help America Vote Act”, which represented the federal government’s response to the controversial (and close) 2000 presidential election. HAVA may not have been the perfect response to the challenges facing the American election system, but it’s been significant.

Regular readers of the blog know that I usually end my posts with a “stay tuned!” Today, I wanted to prove that I follow my own advice and keep you up to date by sharing some updates on topics I’ve blogged about here, including a medical delay in a U.S. Supreme Court case, a tiny town that just wants to go away, an honor (and return) for a longtime election official and the latest in a controversy involving a Secretary of State.

After a week of mostly bad news on the blog, it’s nice to share the electiongeek equivalent of a handful of candy corn – electionlineWeekly’s annual Halloween edition, which features Athens County, OH’s Great Pumpkin, San Francisco’s Columbarium and a Georgia candidate’s war on zombie voters.