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Wisconsin’s long-running voter ID saga took another turn yesterday as a federal judge ruled that the state must offer affidavits to voters who encounter difficulties obtaining necessary ID documents.

Few topics have excited the collective electiongeek imagination in the last week or so more than the potential for the hot new game Pokemon Go to be used as a means to generate interest in, and turnout at, the polls in November. But given the importance of the election process, before we get too excited about using Pikachu and friends to boost turnout, there are a number of considerations to keep in mind.

Massachusetts is preparing for the advent of early voting, which became law in the Bay State as part of a 2014 bill scheduled to go into effect this year, and many cities and towns are nervous about both the timing of the change as well as the cost. Those concerns are likely to be renewed – and increased – after the veto by Gov. Charlie Baker of $1.2 million in state funding in support of the change.

Oregon’s two U.S. Senators and one House member have introduced a new bill seeking to move the entire nation to vote-by-mail, saying the move would help counteract efforts to restrict voting in many states nationwide. It likely won’t move in the current Congress, but its provisions – including vote by mail and automatic registration – could be a harbinger of federal and state legislative debates to come.

This is the time of the year when election officials want to be finalizing the arrangements for the fall, including polling places. But in Palm Beach County, FL a dispute has emerged over an invitation – subsequently revoked – to a local mosque to serve as a voting location.

Tampa Bay Times columnist Steve Bousquet – a journalist with a long history of reporting on voting issues who covers election administration topics as well as anyone out there – has a new piece looking at the delivery of military and overseas ballots by Florida election officials under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA).

California’s primary election took place on June 7 … but vote-counting just ended. That has brought the state – and local election officials – in for some criticism, but as a new LA Times piece finds, there are several very good reasons why it takes so long to reach the finish line in California.

The old joke goes that the best thing about beating your head against a wall is that it feels so good to stop. The Commonwealth of Virginia is looking forward to a similar feeling after the announcement that it will offer electronic voter registration at DMV offices, eliminating hundreds of thousands of pieces of paper a year.

This week’s electionlineWeekly highlights workelections.com, a site that aims to make it easier for potential pollworkers and the election jurisdictions seeking them to find one another. The site’s Q&A lays out how the process works – and invites both individuals and localities nationwide to learn more about the concept and get involved.

The Technical Guidelines Development Committee (TGDC) may not be well-known, but it plays a crucial role in the process of standards-setting in the field of voting technology testing and certification. Late last month, the TGDC issued a draft project charter for a new version of voting system standards (VVSG 2.0) that attempts to define both the scope of the project and lay out a way forward.