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It appears that Pennsylvania is making plans to join the growing list of states offering online voter registration – but is doing so quietly, with few public details. That’s understandable given the state’s long-running partisan fights over voter ID, but with the 2016 elections approaching rapidly it’s important for the state to bring everyone concerned into the OVR loop.

This week’s electionlineWeekly takes a look at a new USPS internal report recommending a greater push for vote-by-mail business. The agency isn’t going to implement those recommendations – preferring to focus its revenue efforts elsewhere – but it is planning to focus on ensuring that existing VBM ballots receive the highest level of service. That’s key as the number of those ballots continues to grow.

Utah County has informed cities using VBM that they will not be allowed to do so in an upcoming tax vote. It’s a problem for those jurisdictions now but also suggests that local decisions about VBM – and attendant worries that election rules give some voters a bigger say in election outcomes – could soon become sources of controversy just like early voting in other places nationwide.

Taking a few days with the family to relax and gamble away my money on dollar horse races. The blog returns Thursday, August 20.

Orem, UT is scrambling to count a huge delivery of ballots postmarked on or before Election Day that arrived the day after. The story is the latest to document the impact of postal changes on mail ballot delivery – and highlights the importance of coordination between election offices and the USPS to make sure that mail ballots arrive in time to be counted.

Today’s blog is a quick followup on some recent posts – all of which have had major developments in the space of just a few weeks … suggesting that the pace of events is picking up as 2016 approaches.

A federal court in New Hampshire struck down the state’s law prohibiting “ballot selfies” as an unconstitutional limitation of the First Amendment. The state was worried about compromising ballot secrecy and facilitating coercion or fraud – but the court wasn’t buying it. It will be interesting to see what this means in New Hampshire – and nationally – going forward.

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is proposing new rules that would allow the state to remove voters from its “suspense” list for failure to show proof-of-citizenship. Given that the original law is still unpopular – and nervousness about new prosecutorial powers at the SoS – the proposal is reigniting the controversy over the Sunflower State’s efforts to prevent and prosecute voter fraud.

Hawaii becomes the latest state to implement OVR – more than three years after enactment and almost two years after the City of Honolulu declined to assist. Still, the new site is up and running in time for the 2016 elections – a huge accomplishment for the state and a reminder that the path from enactment to implementation of election changes can take time.

On a day when speeches and proclamations celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, electionlineWeekly had a story about a Kids’ Art Contest in Washington State that demonstrates that the Act still holds a powerful message – even if it’s currently the subject of controversy.