The Independent View: Electionline Weekly-July-28-2016

Legislative Updates

California: Gov. Jerry Brown has signed Legislation into law that will make it easier for Voters with Disabilities to independently and privately cast a Vote-by-Mail ballot. AB 2252 allows voters with disabilities to access technology that has been limited to military and overseas voters to electronically receive their Vote-by-Mail ballot. Existing law already allows military and overseas voters to request that their blank Vote-by-Mail ballot be delivered electronically. The military or overseas voter prints out their ballot, marks it, and then mails it back to their County Election Official.

Brown has vetoed Legislation that would have allowed County Elections Officials to cancel some Special Elections when only one candidate qualifies for the ballot. It was thought that the law could have saved Counties millions of dollars. “In the situation envisioned by this bill, the potential write-in candidates would be excluded from participation in the election,” Brown wrote in his veto message. “This doesn’t seem consistent with democratic principles that call for choice and robust debate.”

In San Francisco, the Board of Supervisors has approved a ballot measure that would allow Non-Citizens to vote in Local School elections. The measure will be on the November ballot. Similar measures were defeated in 2004 and 2010.

Legal Updates

Alabama: U.S. District Judge L. Scott Coogler has set a September 11, 2017 date for a review of Alabama’s Voter ID law. The plaintiffs, Greater Birmingham Ministries and the NAACP, had asked for a June date so a decision could come before the Municipal elections, but the State objected.

Illinois: The Chicago Board of Elections has been sued by the Illinois Ballot Integrity Project. The suit alleges “discrepancies and improprieties” during the audit of the March 15 Primary. The lawsuit alleges that Audit Monitors observed discrepancies between the Paper Tape and Official results from the Electronic Voting machines used by early voters. Members of the Ballot Integrity Project were serving as Audit Monitors.

Ohio: The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments Wednesday from the American Civil Liberties and Demos in their efforts to stop the State of Ohio from purging voters in advance of the November 2016 election. The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a brief in the case supporting the plaintiffs.