Ballot Measures, Legislation & Rulemaking
Hawai’i Rulemaking: After holding a public hearing October 26 and allowing for written testimony submitted by no later than October 28, the Hawaiʻi Office of Elections late October 29 finalized its recommendation for a new rule on how to settle these types of tied elections. The action was ordered Sept. 4 by the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court, part of a ruling that rejected the tie-breaking process used by the Elections Office to settle the House District 43 race, which ended in a tie following the Aug. 9 primary. But the rules are now submitted to Gov. Josh Green for his consideration are identical to what the public was asked to comment upon. In announcing its decision, the Elections Office did not say anything about the public comments other than noting that the office followed the required hearing. The proposed rules allow for using a container, the names of candidates written on folded paper and placed in capsules, the shaking or rotating of the container and the person doing the drawing averting their eyes. According to Honolulu Civil Beat, in theory, that means the same lauhala basket and plastic capsules — the latter compared to Easter eggs — used previously to decide the House race as well as a tied Senate race could be used again. Chief Elections Office Scott Nago has defended the process and says it has been used to select the order of political parties on ballots.
Albany, New York Ballot Measure: Ranked choice voting is one step closer to being implemented in City of Albany elections. Advocates with the organization Ranked Choice Voting Albany said they’ve gathered 1,975 signatures in support of ranked choice voting in city elections during a second round of canvassing this fall. RCV Albany submitted the petitions to the Albany City Clerk’s Office on October 29. If the Clerk’s Office determines that at least 1,200 of the newly submitted signatures are valid, voters could see a referendum on ranked choice voting as soon as the 2027 general election. If it moves forward, the referendum would ask voters whether they want to eliminate party primaries and choose elected officials in a single election in November where the winner would be decided by ranked choice voting. The changes would only apply to municipal elections in the City of Albany for positions like mayor and Common Council member. If approved by the voters, the system could go into effect by the next round of city elections in 2029.
Mitchell, South Dakota: A petition to bring a Mitchell ordinance establishing a runoff process for city elections has been certified and the Mitchell City Council will consider setting a date for voters to decide the matter. During its regular meeting on Nov. 2, the Mitchell City Council will consider whether to put a publicly referred runoff election ordinance on the ballot for either a special election or as part of the June 2027 city election. The petition was turned in on Oct. 29, according to Mitchell Finance Officer Michelle Bathke. According to Bathke, the petition needed at least 502 registered voter signatures and more than this number was confirmed by the finance office. Mitchell Mayor Jordan Hanson and others submitted more than 600 signatures, according to Hanson. A referred petition must include 5% of Mitchell’s registered voters. Early this month, the Mitchell City Council overrode a mayoral veto of an ordinance establishing a runoff election process when candidates in a three-way or more race fail to receive more than 50 percent of the votes in that race. The council may set an election date within 10 days of receiving the petition and has two options. According to Bathke, the council may set the date for the next annual municipal election on Tuesday, June 8, 2027 or the council can schedule a special election on a Tuesday not less than 30 days after the date the council considers the petition date. The latter option’s earliest date for a special election would be Tuesday, Dec. 8.
Legal Updates
Federal Litigation: Chief Judge James E. Boasberg in Federal District Court in Washington ordered the Trump administration to provide a list of states it targeted with demands that state and local officials change how they will administer the midterm election, including that they set aside specific ballots for extra scrutiny. The order could provide new transparency into the Trump administration’s efforts to pressure local officials ahead of next week’s election. It came in a lawsuit brought by a broad coalition of Democratic politicians and party organizations that is seeking a court order prohibiting the Trump administration from interfering in election administration. Boasberg asked the Justice Department to produce any communication with state or local election officials that directed them to remove registered voters from state rolls, to refuse to issue ballots to specific registered voters, or to set aside “or otherwise not count and tabulate” votes cast by specific individuals.
The full 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted on November 3 to again lift a block on the Trump administration’s attempts to coerce election workers into setting aside ballots suspected to have been cast by noncitizens. The full panel reinstated its earlier order after rehearing the Justice Department’s appeal of a lower court ruling that blocked the administration from threatening state and local officials with criminal prosecution if they do not comply with its demands. The order contained no explanation, noting only that a “majority of the en banc court” agreed to restore a divided three-judge panel’s ruling that had been vacated hours earlier. Five judges dissented. Two labor unions and political interest groups sued the Trump administration last week after the Justice Department sent letters to California and Washington requesting the states check their voter rolls for potential ineligible voters and sequester those mail ballots until citizenship status can be verified. One of the letters sent to Los Angeles officials warned of “significant federal scrutiny and legal exposure” if they did not comply. The challengers accused the administration of unlawfully trying to interfere with the midterm elections by attempting to coerce election officials with threats, arguing it could disenfranchise lawful voters.
Federal Law Enforcement: Federal authorities charged an Oklahoma City man with sending hundreds of letters containing white powder and ominous warnings about treason to public officials ahead of the 2024 and 2026 elections. The powders turned out to be nonhazardous — yeast or flour — though not all letters have been fully tested, the FBI said in a court filing made public Tuesday. Robin Martin is charged with conveying a hoax and mailing threatening communications. He was arrested Monday and was expected to make an appearance Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Oklahoma City. Investigators believe more than 700 mailings this fall appeared to be associated with the same sender but with a different return address. They were addressed to election officials, members of Congress, pollsters, news media and federal law enforcement, FBI agent David Cole said in an affidavit. The investigation stretched back to 2024 when election officials in multiple states reported mail with a white substance and a three-page letter declaring war, the FBI said. Some bore warnings that could only be read under ultraviolet light, such as, “Stay on the right side of history! Your life may depend on it!!”
Alaska: U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Trump administration that sought to block the state of Alaska from declaring a winner in the state’s U.S. Senate election. In a 20-page order issued November 1, Gleason said the federal government failed to explain how it has the authority to bring its lawsuit. “Therefore, this court lacks jurisdiction and the United States’ amended complaint must be dismissed,” Gleason wrote. Less than two hours after Gleason’s judgment, the federal government said it would appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In written arguments filed since last week, attorneys representing the federal government had argued without evidence that Alaska voters might be confused by the presence of two candidates named Dan Sullivan and sought an order that would require the state to set aside all votes for Dan J. Sullivan, pending further investigation. The state of Alaska, Peltola’s campaign, a national Democratic group and two nonpartisan voting organizations opposed that request. In written filings, they said the action requested by the federal government would not prove any possible confusion. “The absence of any explanation from the United States as to how its requested relief could redress its alleged injury while simultaneously maintaining the secrecy of the ballot is telling,” Gleason wrote. “Simply, the Court cannot grant the United States the relief it seeks because the United States has failed to establish the redressability prerequisite for Article III standing.”
California: The U.S. Supreme Court on November 2 rejected the Trump administration’s push to force California to set aside thousands of ballots from people the federal government claims are noncitizens, a decision that came hours before the final day of voting in the midterm elections. The high court refused to immediately intervene in a case involving 20,000 people the Republican administration flagged as likely noncitizens on the largely Democratic state’s voter rolls. The swift rejection capped a string of losses for the president’s effort to intervene in the election before the counting of ballots to decide who controls Congress in the last two years of his second term. No justices publicly dissented. Several lower courts also rejected the Justice Department’s push to set aside the challenged California ballots until the voters’ citizenship status could be verified.
Georgia: Marietta resident Michael Olaribigbe has agreed to drop the lawsuit he filed against the Cobb County elections director and the county board of elections over his delayed absentee ballot now that the county has agreed to send him a new ballot by express delivery. Olaribigbe filed the lawsuit on October 27 alleging that he was among nearly 2,900 people in Cobb County who did not receive an absentee ballot as requested. The suit pointed the finger at the New York-based vendor the county hired to handle the task. It focused on ballots requested by Cobb voters from Oct. 6 to Oct. 15 and alleged that the vendor had taken as long as two weeks to complete the mailings. In a statement, Cobb disputed the scope of the problem but acknowledged there were “some delays in ballot delivery” by the vendor. “This delay affected a limited set of voters and we were already working on solutions to this problem before any lawsuit was filed,” the county said in a statement. The county said impacted voters could contact Cobb Elections to request a new absentee ballot that would be delivered by express mail with prepaid return express delivery.
Iowa: The Republican National Committee sued Black Hawk County Auditor Karen Showalter October 29, claiming her office refused to let committee members watch document testing of election equipment or access records ahead of the midterms. After election staff performed pre-election testing earlier this month, the committee says Showalter wrongfully denied RNC representatives — attending as authorized public observers — access to personally record the security seal numbers. “Despite the provisions of law which guarantee the right of the public to witness logic and accuracy testing, and which obligate those in attendance to certify the sealing of tabulating equipment, the defendant refused to permit RNC representatives to photograph or otherwise document the seal numbers placed on tabulating equipment,” the committee says in the complaint. The RNC claims Showalter repeatedly refused to release seal records in follow-up emails from the committee, claiming the numbers were confidential under Iowa law and a 2018 resolution passed by the county board regarding security procedures. According to the committee, Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate informed county auditors this week that documents related to “logic and accuracy” are public records — though Showalter again refused to provide the seal numbers.
Michigan: The Michigan Supreme Court issued an order October 29 declining to hear an appeal by the Republican National Convention, the Michigan Republican Party and Chesterfield Township Clerk Cindy Berry in their lawsuit challenging election guidance from Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson on how to handle mail-in ballots with mismatched numbers. The order did not come with a written opinion or statement from the justices in the majority, but noted that the appeal was denied because they were “not persuaded that the questions presented should be reviewed by this Court.” However, Justice Brian K. Zahra, the high court’s sole Republican, wrote a dissent on the order, concluding that a decision not to hear the case “cheapens the role of this Court and fails to recognize the importance of the right to vote in our state.” Zahra added that the case has particular prominence because of Michigan’s role as a swing state with competitive local and statewide elections. “As Michigan’s court of last resort we owe it to the people of Michigan to explain why ballots with mismatched or missing ballot numbers are tabulated when our Legislature has plainly stated that ‘[i]f the ballot numbers match, the board of election inspectors shall . . . prepare the ballot for tabulation’,” Zahra continued. Justice Richard H. Bernstein also indicated that he would grant leave to appeal, but did not include a further dissent.
Nevada: On Oct. 17, the first day of early voting, people encountered a woman with a bullhorn outside an early voting location in Clark County. ACLU observers recorded cell phone video as the woman, known as “Bullhorn Becky”, verbally accosted and harassed voters. Voter Charles Raymond Karel says he reported her to poll workers, who told him they couldn’t do anything about it if she was 100 feet away. “And I said, ‘But that pathway is the only path, you know, so she’s not really 100 feet away,'” Karel explained. “‘Well, sir, that’s the way it is.'” Other videos show the woman yelling at other voters, saying things like “stop murdering babies.” ACLU Nevada executive director Athar Haseebullah saw it all go down. “Voter intimidation and battery are not protected First Amendment activities. The law has made that clear. Both state and federal law make that clear,” Haseebullah said. “What we ended up seeing was individuals who not only followed voters into the voting area, effectively, and were recording them on their cell phone, screaming obscenities the entire time as voters were only in line.” There’s only one narrow pathway available to access the polling site. “[It’s] led to serious intimidation, to the point where some voters have turned around and left the site,” Haseebullah said. Late October 29, the ACLU asked the court for a temporary restraining order. By Friday morning, it was granted by a judge. The court, in part, ordered Clark County to prohibit electioneering within 100 feet of the “narrow, single pathway required to access the voting area at Desert Breeze Community Center.” The court order also specifically prohibits the woman the ACLU calls Bullhorn Becky from doing what she was doing in those videos at Desert Breeze. She’s not allowed to harass or intimidate voters. She can’t follow them while recording. She can’t talk to them while they’re entering or leaving the polling place. And, of course, she’s prohibited from physical assault or threats of harm at any time during the 2026 election. The court order was extended through November 3.
Pennsylvania: Republican U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick filed a lawsuit October 29 in an effort to disqualify Bucks County Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia from serving on the county election board ahead of a tight contest against a fellow Democratic commissioner, Bob Harvie. Fitzpatrick’s suit, filed in Bucks County Court, alleges that Ellis-Marseglia has shown a “disdain for election law” and should be removed for “conflicts of interest.” Ellis-Marseglia is close friends with Harvie, Fitzpatrick’s Democratic challenger, and has attended events for his campaign. The lawsuit urges the court to remove Ellis-Marseglia from the board and appoint a substitute for the forthcoming election, alleging that the Democrat serving on the committee violates Fitzpatrick’s due process rights after she has publicly supported Harvie and portrayed an “animus” toward the Republican. “When a public official charged with overseeing or influencing the conduct of elections publicly expresses disdain for controlling election law for blatantly partisan purposes, and publicly expresses extreme partisan bias against candidates from opposing political parties, she has a clear conflict of interest,” Geoffrey R. Johnson, an attorney for Fitzpatrick, wrote in the complaint.
South Dakota: U.S. District Judge Karen E. Schreier ruled in favor of a member of the Yankton Sioux tribe allowing him to cast his ballot Tuesday at a polling place in Wagner, South Dakota, wearing the apparel of his choice. In a complaint filed in federal court, Lonnie Provost said Charles Mix County election officials turned him away from his polling place during 2024 general election because he wanted to cast a ballot wearing a “Natives Vote” T-shirt. Jason Gant, the auditor, has said those tees violate state laws against electioneering, which prevents anyone from displaying campaign materials within 100 feet of a polling place, according to Provost in his complaint. Since that day, Provost’s attorneys repeatedly told state and county officials the policy violated his and others’ constitutional rights. Those officials did not see it his way. Provost sued and requested a temporary restraining order allowing him to vote the next day wearing the shirt. U.S. District Judge Karen E. Schreier granted the motion Tuesday morning following a hearing at the federal courthouse in Sioux Falls. “Plaintiff has demonstrated a likelihood of success on his First Amendment claim,” wrote Schreier, a Bill Clinton appointee, in her order. “His shirt conveys a nonpartisan Native voter participation message without advocating for or against a candidate, political party, or ballot measure. On the present record, defendants’ treatment of that message as prohibited campaign material lacks an objectively reasonable basis consistent with the First Amendment.” Schreier required Gant to instruct election workers at every Charles Mix County polling place that any voter wearing the “Natives Vote” shirt or similar apparel be allowed to vote.
Texas: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s Office is suing the Harris County Clerk’s Office for allegedly running social media advertisements that targeted “certain racial and ethnic groups,” according to the lawsuit filed Thursday. The lawsuit accuses county clerk Teneshia Hudspeth and her office’s director of communications, Irene Nuñez, of running voter awareness ads on Facebook and Instagram that were allegedly targeting “certain racial and ethnic groups (African-American, Asian, and South American or Latino Groups)” while excluding other demographics. “The Harris County Clerk’s office used Meta’s ad tools to intentionally target its ‘Get Out the Vote’ style ads to certain racial and ethnic groups while avoiding targeting other demographics,” the attorney general’s office said via a release announcing the lawsuit. “By classifying based upon race when advertising to provide Harris County voters with election information, the county clerk’s office exceeded its authority.” The attorney general’s office claimed this alleged targeted advertising amounts to racial discrimination “in an effort to increase voter turnout among particular races and ethnicities.” Paxton, who is currently running as a Republican in the Texas Senate race against Democrat James Talarico, has recused himself from the investigation, according to a statement from his office.
A federal court in San Antonio has dismissed a lawsuit by three civil rights organizations against Texas Secretary of State Robert Howden and Texas Department of Safety (DPS) Director Freeman F. Martin. The suit, which demanded the state hand over records related to delays in processing more than 500,000 voter registration applications. The lawsuit, which came amid concerns about votes being counted in this year’s unusually competitive statewide elections, was “dismissed without prejudice for lack of standing.” “We’re deeply disappointed by today’s ruling, particularly the Court’s apparent dismissal of the very real harm that Texas’s withholding of voter-registration records is causing to organizations working to protect their members’ voting rights. We sought these records precisely because they would help us determine where Texas’s acknowledged registration failures may still be affecting voters—and where to focus our limited resources before Election Day,” said Bradley Heard, deputy legal director of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which represents the plaintiffs.
The Tarrant County Libertarian Party’s allegations that the county’s election board violated the law fell on deaf ears, with the Second Court of Appeals denying the party’s request Tuesday to even out party membership on the Early Voting Ballot Board. County officials worried the Early Voting Ballot Board, which is in charge of processing mail-in and provisional ballots, would struggle to get through the record-breaking number of ballots received during the early voting period. At a meeting last Thursday, the board added 12 Republicans, three Democrats and three Libertarians to help field the high number of ballots. The court’s opinion, filed Tuesday afternoon, denied Lawrence’s emergency motion for temporary relief and petition for writ of mandamus. The opinion did not explain why the court denied the motion — and “did not state that the county followed the law,” Lawrence wrote. He wrote in an email to The Dallas Morning News that the opinion may not be the end of the Libertarian’s legal fight.
Utah: Five voters filed a lawsuit against Summit County Clerk Malena Stevens on Friday over her decision to disqualify them from voting on the West Hills incorporation, and claimed Stevens’ action fundamentally changed the election without ample time to appeal. Craig Savage, a Wasatch County resident who opposes the West Hills incorporation, previously submitted documents to the Summit County Clerk’s Office with information he said proved 23 registered voters did not actually live within the proposed town boundaries and should be marked as ineligible to cast a ballot on the incorporation question. Last week, the Clerk’s Office issued its first ruling on the challenges, with Stevens informing 17 of 18 voters included in Savage’s initial complaint that they could no longer participate in Tuesday’s election. “Petitioners do not ask the Court to find a motive for any of this, and the Court need not do so,” the filing said. “Petitioners recite this history because it bears directly on the questions the statute presents to the Court: whether the Clerk applied a uniform standard to every challenged voter, whether she afforded a meaningful opportunity to respond and whether her determinations were made in the time and manner the Election Code requires.”
Washington: OneAmerica Votes, Latino Community Fund of Washington State and the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union have sued the Trump administration over its demand to set aside ballots from 405 people, alleging in a federal complaint that officials are threatening election workers and putting eligible citizens’ votes at risk. The groups want a judge to block federal officials from directing Washington election workers to withhold or stop counting ballots based on government lists of suspected noncitizens. They also seek to stop threats of prosecution against workers who process those ballots under state law. According to the complaint, federal prosecutors gave Hobbs 48 hours to comply and said they expected to provide more names before Election Day. Their letter acknowledged that some people on the list may have since become citizens. According to the complaint, Hobbs said the department had not explained its sources or how it collected the information. He also said missing identifying details made some entries difficult or impossible to match to voter registrations.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
