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No blog today – back Monday 11/23!

Washington’s Grays Harbor County is losing its fourth election official in two years – a situation the auditor says is due to a mismatch between duties and resources under a tight county budget. Unfortunately, county legislators don’t seem to see the urgency and it looks like the office will have to scramble to be ready for 2016.

The Wisconsin Legislature passed and sent the Governor a pair of bills that replace the state’s nonpartisan Government Accountability Board with two bipartisan commissions. The change generated fierce partisan controversy – and will likely leave the election commission with new leadership in a presidential election year.

Charles Stewart has a new report via the CalTech/MIT Voting Technology Project that examines how to use data and analytical tools to manage polling place resources. These tools are invaluable both in predicting line length (and thus the voter experience on Election Day) as well as highlighting policy and budgeting choices for localities regarding election administration.

Josh Douglas of the University of Kentucky has a new blog post in which he discusses the prospect of lowering the voting age – and which touts the virtues of “localism” in exploring and spreading new approaches to election administration nationwide. It’s a great read.

A head election judge near Pittsburgh decided to skip work on Election Day and give rides for money instead … with voting equipment and ballots still in his car. It’s a new (and amusing) twist on the old “no show” story, but one that election officials have to plan for – and worry about – as they prepare for Election Day.

Michigan’s state Senate recently enacted a bill to eliminate straight-ticket voting … a proposal already unpopular with Democrats and election officials but one which is generating even more partisan heat because of the inclusion of a $1 million appropriation opponents say is designed to prevent a referendum on the issue.

The U.S. Department of Justice has included numerous proposed changes to UOCAVA in its Servicemembers Legislative Package – most notably, a switch to E-46 for military and overseas ballots, extending the validity of FPCA registrations and revising the UOCAVA reporting requirement from annually to biannually.

Citing the threat of voter fraud, potential costs and “political gamesmanship,” New Jersey Governor Chris Christie yesterday vetoed a sweeping election reform bill. The veto – which wasn’t really surprising given partisan differences and the broad scope of the legislation – sets up a potential effort to take the issue to voters and suggests the fight is far from over.

A story about a hard day in one Harris County polling place is a reminder that it’s not just buildings and machines that make the process work, but also election workers who sometimes literally sweat the details to ensure that voters can cast their ballots.