Legislative Updates
Federal Legislation: A group of House Republicans on Monday introduced legislation that would appropriate $400 million to states to address election challenges stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Emergency Assistance for Safe Elections (EASE) Act would designate $200 million to assist with sanitizing in-person polling stations and purchasing personal protective equipment, while a further $100 million would go towards recruiting and training new poll workers, following a nationwide shortage of workers due to the pandemic. The final $100 million would be appropriated for states to maintain the accuracy of their voter registration lists. Other provisions in the bill include measures to increase the cybersecurity of the elections process, including establishing an election cyber assistance unit at the Election Assistance Commission, and updating voluntary voting system guidelines established by the Help America Vote Act to cover next-generation voting technology, such as e-pollbooks.
Idaho: The Legislature’s State Affairs Working Group has voted in favor of recommending a special session on the second draft proposal submitted to it by county clerks, to make a one-time change for the November election to allow consolidated voting centers, in counties where running the usual in-person voting precincts proves problematic. Senate members of the committee voted 8-0 in favor; House members split 10-4.
Minnesota: After several virtual meetings, the Minnetonka Charter Commission passed a resolution, July 28th, rejecting the ranked-choice voting charter amendment proposed by the city council, asking it to rescind the ordinance. At its first June meeting, the Minnetonka City Council adopted an ordinance to amend the city charter requiring the use of ranked-choice voting for municipal elections and remove all references to primaries from the charter. This accelerated the process for the Charter Commission to further study the impacts of the amendment and whether it would be in the best interest of residents. The commission had up to 60 days, or until Aug. 7th, to review the proposed amendment, though it could potentially take up to 150 days, or until Nov. 5th, if more information was requested.
Mississippi: The Lafayette County Board of Supervisors approved a request from the Election Commission for additional funding for Election Day. The Board approved the spending of around $11,360 in additional workers and hazard pay due to COVID-19. The ruling includes the addition of four more poll workers as well as 34 “COVID-19” workers who will be in charge of cleaning the voting precinct and making sure that voters are standing six feet away from each other.
Ohio: State Representatives, Jeffrey A. Crossman (D-Parma), and Juanita Brent (D-Cleveland), introduced legislation on July 31st, the day civil rights leader Congressman John Lewis was laid to rest, to designate Feb. 21st as “John Lewis Voter Registration Day.” Feb. 21st. was chosen as the day because it was Lewis’ birthday. The day would promote voter registration throughout Ohio and remind residents of all the work Lewis did to expand voting rights for all Americans.
Oregon: State Sen. Tim Knopp (R-Bend) announced Aug. 3rd that he is crafting legislation that would extend the time voters have to mail their ballots. Currently, Oregon elections law requires that ballots arrive at county elections offices by 8 pm on Election Day. That typically means they must be mailed by the Thursday prior to Election Day or be dropped off in person. Knopp is proposing instead that ballots must be postmarked no later than the Saturday before Election Day, effectively giving voters an extra two days and protecting them from unforeseen delays in mail delivery.
Nevada: In a special weekend session, the Nevada General Assembly has approved Assembly Bill 4 that aims to shorten lines by guaranteeing every active registered voter receives a mail-in ballot in November’s general election and any future political contest carried out under a statewide disaster or emergency declaration. The measure also mandates a minimum number of in-person polling places. Voters will still be allowed to drop off mail-in ballots at many of those same locations. Gov. Steve Sisolak has signed the bill into law.
President Trump has filed a lawsuit to stop mailing ballots.
MHD: I agree, the state should mail ballot request and use the undeliverable form to clean their voter rolls before send ballots.
New Hampshire: Gov. Chris Sununu vetoed a bill that would have allowed voters to register when they apply for a driver’s license or an identification card at the Division of Motor Vehicles. He argued there were already plenty of ways for someone to register to vote, including by absentee ballot during the 2020 cycle due to the coronavirus. “New Hampshire has a very accessible voter registration process. Voters have the option of in-person registration with town clerks, same-day registration on Election Day and the ability to register by absentee for those with disabilities or who will be temporarily absent on election day,” he said in his veto statement. “This ease of registering to vote in New Hampshire is reflected in the high percentage of eligible voting age individuals who are able to register and vote every year.”
New Jersey: Assembly Majority Conference Leader, Annette Quijano (D-Elizabeth), and Assemblywoman, Nancy Pinkin (D-East Brunswick), have introduced a bill that would require voting machine vendors that work with New Jersey to disclose their ownership structure. The proposal would mandate that any owners or shareholders with at least 5% stake in the company be disclosed before the contract is approved. Changes in ownership would also need to be reported.
North Dakota: An executive order issued by North Dakota, Gov. Doug Burgum, on March 26th strongly recommended, but did not order, that counties conduct vote by mail and the order suspended the requirement that counties have at least one physical polling location. This order authorized state election officials to make their own determinations at the local level. On Tuesday, Stark County commissioners were asked to affirm and uphold their oaths by voting on a resolution affirming that they will maintain polling places in order to secure the rights of county citizen to vote in-person this November. Commissioners thought so and passed the resolution unanimously certifying that the county will have in-person voting come November.
Legal Updates
Florida: Nineteen states and Washington D.C., led by attorneys general in Illinois and Washington, filed a legal brief asking the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta to uphold a May ruling that struck down provisions of a Florida law that restricted the voting rights of former felons. That law required people who have served time for a felony to pay off any court debts before they can register to vote. “Voting is a right. It is not a privilege only for those who can afford to pay a poll tax,” Illinois AG Kwame Raoul said in a written statement. “Pay-to-vote laws are discriminatory and serve mainly to suppress Black and other minority voters. Individuals who have completed their sentences deserve a second chance, which includes having the right to participate in our nation’s democracy.” In addition to the attorney generals, three dozen former Department of Justice attorneys are also asking a federal appeals court to side with plaintiffs. The 37-page brief filed this week includes a history of the litigation surrounding discriminatory voting laws that led to the passage of the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and seminal U.S. Supreme Court decisions thwarting states from skirting the constitutional amendment’s prohibition against poll taxes.
MD: A major problem with the law, is the state of Florida is unable to calculate the fees and fines for each former felon.
Pinellas County Circuit Judge, George M. Jirotka, denied Democrats motion for partial summary judgement that the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections violated state law when they refused to initially provide them with the names and contact information for 68 voters who had to cast a provisional ballot in the March 17th presidential primary election. “What’s very important is that I recognize that there’s a constitutional right to public records and we respect that,” Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections Julie Marcus told Spectrum Bay News 9 after she learned of the judge’s ruling. “But there is also an unfettered constitutional right to a secret ballot. That was the issue at hand. And I will go to whatever extent I have to go to the highest court possible to ensure that our voters right to a secret ballot is not violated.”
Illinois: The Illinois Municipal League has filed a lawsuit in Sangamon County Court about Election Day being declared a state holiday. The lawsuit questions if a bill passed by the General Assembly in May that made various changes to elections this year due to COVID-19 effects local units of government. The lawsuit contends that the bill only amended the School Code and the State Universities Civil Service Act. It did not specifically mention the Municipal Code which governs Illinois cities. The lawsuit court documents say that the Illinois Municipal League asked the Illinois State Board of Elections and lawmakers who sponsored the bill for clarification, but didn’t receive an answer. The lawsuit says that requiring all municipalities to close on Election Day would be an “unfunded mandate with unintended implications on municipal operations, personnel and collective bargaining agreements.”
Indiana: Common Cause Indiana and the state conference of the NAACP have filed a lawsuit to force Secretary of State Connie Lawson and members of the Election Commission to count absentee votes past the current noon deadline on Election Day. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, comes as state officials are facing increasing pressure to allow no-excuse absentee voting for the Nov. 3rd general election because of the health threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic that has already claimed 150,000 American lives. The lawsuit says “even in the best of times the Noon Election Day Receipt Deadline disenfranchises voters, this is not the best of times. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has created a number of new and significant challenges for voters and election officials, including serious health risks to in-person voting and significant delays in mail-in ballot delivery.”
Louisiana: Voting rights advocates have filed a federal lawsuit against Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards and Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin. The organizations say Louisiana is doing too little to protect ballot access in its November and December elections and should widen mail-in voting options amid the coronavirus outbreak. The lawsuit was filed Monday on behalf of the Louisiana State Conference of the NAACP, the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice, and voters from Baton Rouge and Hammond. Ardoin crafted an emergency plan for the state’s July and August elections that increased early voting and expanded mail-in balloting. But no such plan has been offered so far for the fall elections.
Minnesota: The Minnesota Voters Alliance (MVA), the Republican Party of Minnesota, State Representative Duane Quam, and several election judges, filed a petition for the Olmsted County District Court to order the County of Olmsted to change how it appoints members to the absentee ballot review board for the upcoming November elections. The MVA believes the county is violating State statute 203B.121. In particular, the party balance requirement: “No more than half of the election judges in a precinct may be members of the same major political party unless the election board consists of an odd number of election judges, in which case the number of election judges who are members of the same major political party may be one more than half the number of election judges in that precinct.” The MVA says the county is using its employees to serve in these positions, and it’s a conflict of interests when election judges are rejecting ballots.
The MVA also sued Gov. Tim Walz and other officials in an attempt to block a requirement that voters wear face masks at polling places to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. The suit argues that Walz’s mask mandate conflicts with a 1963 state law making it a misdemeanor for someone to conceal their identity with a mask. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison issued a statement standing behind “the legality and constitutionality” of Walz’s executive order.
Ramsey County Assistant Chief Judge Sara Grewing has extended a court order allowing registered Minnesota voters to skip getting a witness signature on their mail-in ballot for the Aug. 11 to the November general election. The decision by Grewing also ordered that with an increased volume in mail-in balloting and U.S. Postal Service delays, election officials must count Minnesotans’ ballots if they are postmarked by Election Day, as long as they are received by official county canvassing dates. The ruling follows an hours-long court hearing Friday involving two lawsuits from groups concerned about preserving voting rights during the COVID-19 pandemic, including for populations most vulnerable to the effects of infection, like people of color, seniors and those with preexisting health conditions.
Nevada: The ink was not even dry on Gov. Steve Sisolak’s signature when the president’s re-election campaign filed suit against the state’s new mail voting law. The lawsuit claims “electoral process cannot function properly if it lacks integrity and results in chaos. Put simply, the American people must be able to trust that the result is the product of a free and fair election. “Nevada’s recently enacted election laws — collectively, AB4 — fall far short of this standard,” the lawsuit states. In addition to mailing registered voters a ballot, the bill signed on Sunday requires at least 140 polling places throughout the state.
Ohio: Two new lawsuits were filed against Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose on Friday: One by the Ohio Democratic Party to allow online requests for absentee ballots and another by the League of Women Voters of Ohio over the practice of signature-matching when absentee ballots are requested. Filed in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, the Democrats’ suit argues that current law already allows Ohioans to send in requests for absentee ballots either by email or fax. It wants a judge to agree that electronic forms of transmission are acceptable for ballot requests so that the electronic methods can begin to be accepted. The league’s suit, which also includes the A. Philip Randolph Institute of Ohio and others as co-plaintiffs, all represented by the ACLU of Ohio, also touches on the anticipated high numbers of absentee ballots that would be requested due to the pandemic. It’s filed in U.S. District Court in Columbus. The lawsuit challenges the practice of election officials matching voter signatures on the ballots and the ballot applications.
Secretary of State Frank LaRose said that he has asked the state’s attorney general for clarity “on whether or not it is allowable to install more than one ballot drop box per county. If it’s legal to add extra drop boxes, then I’m certainly open to that idea,” LaRose said. “It’s a question that I’ve asked the attorney general to clarify, because the Ohio revised code is definitely not clear as to the question of whether counties can add additional drop boxes.”
Rhode Island: The Republican National Committee and the Rhode Island Republican Party has filed a notice of appeal of a federal judge’s decision to suspend witness and notary requirements for Rhode Island mail ballots in the upcoming elections. The appeal was filed with the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday, the same day U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy entered her formal order waiving the mail ballot requirements.
South Carolina: Two South Carolina “high-risk” voters have asked the S.C. Supreme Court for an emergency hearing to declare the state’s election law unconstitutional and widen voting ahead of November, arguing the state has failed to guarantee access to the ballot for all people during the pandemic. More specifically, the petition asks the court, for example, to implement early voting, drop-box absentee returns, curbside voting polling locations and online absentee applications in addition to allowing more time for officials to count absentee ballots.
Another group of South Carolina voters has asked U.S. District Judge Michelle Childes for an injunction that would require the South Carolina Election Commission to allow all voters, not just a limited few, the right to vote absentee in the upcoming November election. This week’s injunction request seeks a far broader ruling than the pre-primary ruling and would open up absentee voting to virtually anyone who wanted to do so. Currently, only a minority of South Carolinians in narrowly defined categories, such as being in jail, or being disabled, or being away on vacation, are granted permission to vote absentee. The injunction seeks: To allow all S.C. voters the right to cast an absentee ballot in the upcoming November election; To extend the time by which mailed-in ballots must reach elections officials in order to be counted; and to eliminate the requirement that an absentee voter must have another person witness their signature. Childs already agreed to this for the June primary.
Tennessee: Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle said a decision on whether to allow people to participate in the state’s primary election if they’ve had their voting rights restored after being convicted of a felony out of state won’t come until after the primary. According to the complaint, the plaintiffs have been barred from voting in the primary election because Tennessee has improperly imposed additional barriers that would clear them to submit a ballot. During last week’s hearing, attorneys argued for an injunction that would force the state to people who have had their voting rights restored to vote in the Aug. 6 primary and any future election.
Janet Kleinfelter, deputy attorney general, argued before the state Supreme Court, that a Davidson County Chancery Court essentially rewrote vote-by-mail laws when she issued an injunction allowing all Tennesseans to send in their ballots during the Covid-19 pandemic. “Courts don’t construe statutes based upon what the current circumstances are,” Kleinfelter told the justices. “Courts construe statutes based upon the plain language and the legislative intent.” On Wednesday, the Supreme Court overturned the option for all eligible voters to vote by mail in November due to COVID-19. It restores Tennessee’s excuse-based system for November, with COVID-19 related additions that include underlying health conditions for voters and those in their care. The justices wrote the decision doesn’t impact ballots for Thursday’s primary.
Wisconsin: Federal judge William Conley heard arguments this week in a suit brought by the state and federal Democratic party as well as several nonprofit groups over temporary changes to state election law. The legal challenge combines four unique lawsuits that contend several Wisconsin voting laws shouldn’t be allowed to stand during the COVID-19 pandemic because they make it too difficult for people to vote as the virus spreads. Two of the lawsuits were filed before the April 7th presidential primary and have been extended to apply to November’s election. Two others were filed after April’s election. The challenge is asking the federal court to extend the state’s online voter registration deadline, as well as the deadline for mail-in ballots to be received by election officials. The court did both of those things for April’s election. During arguments, Conley said he believes current deadlines for mail-in ballots make it very possible some ballots may arrive too late to be counted. “Absentee ballots requested five days before the election are simply not going to get turned around,” Conley said. “There’s compelling evidence that’s not going to happen.”
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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