Uncategorized

Illinois is about to enact sweeping election law changes, including making Election Day registration permanent, joining the ERIC exchange and broadening just about every other aspect of the voting process. It’s a big job and it’s only beginning.

Paul Gronke of the Early Voting Information Center recently shared his frustration at not being able to find early voting statistics. The reasons why such data can be hard to find vary – but I suspect it will become easier as more jurisdictions recognize its value.

Brian Newby’s latest ElectionDiary describes his plan to handle a small but significant paper ballot election by testing a high-speed scanning system that may not save money in the short term but will get the job done and provide a test run for the long term.

Complaints about slow counts of early votes in Arizona are beginning to move beyond typical media/campaign impatience and are raising eyebrows among voters – which suggests that the state will have to do something about it.

Blog’s closed today. Dogs out front shoulda told ya. [See you in December.]

Doug Lewis is stepping down from the Election Center early next year. Here’s to a man who set the standard for all of us who admire, love and serve the people who “do” election administration nationwide.

Johnson County’s Brian Newby is worried about the possibility of a “Big Bang” – a sudden, unforeseen event that scrambles the world of elections – and even more worried that his county isn’t doing enough to be ready when it arrives.

Florida’s Secretary of State and local election officials are going to put their heads together next month to see if they can address the problem of aging voting equipment before the state’s next presidential election.

As GOP EAC nominees get a hearing in a Senate committee, the Democrats have named Matthew Butler as their one of their picks. His profile is lower, but the level of partisanship is probably about the same. [UPDATED with timing of Perez withdrawal]

New poll numbers show that while Americans overall think that voter fraud and voter disenfranchisement are roughly equal problems, deep divides on race, age – and yes, party – suggest that the voter ID debate in this country isn’t going anywhere soon.