Legislative Updates
Arizona: An Arizona Senate committee voted to advance an election reform bill that would create a permanent election audit team under the umbrella of the Arizona state Legislature. Senate Bill 1692, introduced by its principal sponsor state Senator Sonny Borrelli, R-Lake Havasu, is one of 100 election reform bills proposed by Senate and House Republicans this election cycle. On Thursday, the senate committee advanced seven of those 100, including Borrelli’s bill. The team would be created under the auditor general’s office, which currently does not field an elections audit team. The auditor general, who was present, was called to speak on the bill.
Early voters in Arizona would be barred from putting their ballots in mailboxes and would instead be required to put them in ballot drop boxes that would take a picture of every voter if under a Republican proposal that won preliminary approval last week. Under the legislation, drop boxes would be outfitted with 24-hour photo or video cameras that can link any ballots inserted into the box to that person’s image. Each person would be allowed to deposit no more than seven ballots into a drop box, and the boxes would be required to generate a receipt showing how many ballots a person deposited. (It would also have to keep an internal copy of every receipt). And if the camera malfunctions, the box must be designed to prevent ballots from being deposited. “If we can’t get an outright ban (on drop-boxes) we need to come up with these ‘smart’ drop boxes. In the meantime — while we’re working on those — I would like to see drop-boxes in a secure location,” said Sen. Kelly Townsend, a Republican from Apache Junction and the sponsor of Senate Bill 1571.
California: Sen. Josh Newman (D), introduced a bill that would give election workers the option of keeping their home addresses private. The measure is aimed at reducing harassment by preventing the public release of personal information online or on social media platforms. The bill would allow election workers to enroll in California’s existing privacy protection programs that are available to survivors of domestic violence, judges and politicians, among others. “Once your personal information is on the internet, there’s no shortage of people that may act on that information, especially when triggered,” said Newman. “It’s got to be terrifying.”
East Bay Sen. Steve Glazer who chairs the Senate committee on elections says state lawmakers are looking at several reforms for the state’s recall process, among them requiring more signatures to have a recall. Another reform legislators are looking at is not having a second ballot of candidates to replace the person being recalled. According to KRON, look for some recall reform proposal to come out of the statehouse within the next four weeks. But anything the legislature approves, must also be approved by voters.
District of Columbia: Councilmember Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2) has introduced a bill that would allow voters to cast ballots from their phones, tablets, or computers, which proponents say would simplify the voting process and enfranchise residents who are otherwise likely to sit out elections. As written, the bill would require that the D.C. Board of Elections create a secure system to allow any voter to fill out and submit a ballot from their smartphone, tablet, or computer. After being submitted, the elections board would print and count the ballots. The system would also check that a voter is actually eligible to cast a ballot, and authorize regular security audits. It remains to be seen if the council will get to the bill before the end of the current session at the end of the year, after which any measures not passed into law have to be reintroduced. Lawmakers are already working their way through a number of bills that would make changes to the city’s voting system. Councilmember Charles Allen (D-Ward 6), who chairs the committee that oversees the elections board and would decide whether or not to move it forward, did not sign on to Pinto’s bill.
Florida: An amendment filed for the Senate’s main elections bill would strike language requiring identification numbers on vote-by-mail ballots and add fines for those that fraudulently change someone’s party affiliation. SB 524 would create a new office in the Department of State to investigate election fraud, increase penalties for election and voting-related offenses, change the vote-by-mail process and ban ranked choice voting. Sen. Travis Hutson, the bill’s sponsor, filed an amendment that would remove from the bill a section requiring the last four digits of a voter’s social security number, driver’s license or photo ID on vote-by-mail ballots. The amendment also adds a fine to organizations if a person collecting voter applications on its behalf changes someone’s party affiliation without consent. The fine is $1,000 per altered application. Hutson said the changes were largely driven by feedback from legislators during the bill’s time in the Senate Ethics and Elections committee. Several Democratic lawmakers voiced concerns that including the last four digits of a voter’s social security number in a document containing their signature could be dangerous.
Georgia: Members of the Georgia General Assembly have introduced legislation that would allow the use of instant runoff, or ranked-choice, for local elections, potentially creating significant savings in a state that often has to hold an additional round of voting after Election Day. Versions of the legislation have been introduced in both chambers, and with both Republican and Democratic sponsors. While these bills would only impact municipal elections, successful implementation could lead to changes for federal and state elections. Last year, Georgia approved ranked-choice voting for military and overseas voters. Currently Georgia holds runoff elections when no candidate in a race earns a majority of the vote.
Idaho: The House narrowly passed a bill that changes the deadline for unaffiliated voters in Idaho, a law that would take effect immediately if it is passed by the Senate and signed into law by Gov. Brad Little. House Bill 439 passed the House by a vote of 36-32, with 20 Republicans joining all 12 Democrats voting against it. Under existing Idaho law, voters in the state’s four recognized political parties — Republican, Democrat, Constitution and Libertarian — who want to change their party affiliation or become unaffiliated can do so by filing a request with the respective county clerk office by the candidate filing deadline before a primary election. Those who are already designated as unaffiliated voters can change their affiliation status to any of the four party categories any time, up to and including the day of the primary election. If the bill is signed into law, unaffiliated voters would be required to affiliate with a political party by the last date a candidate can declare for a partisan office before a primary election, which is March 11 in this election year.
The House also approved a bill making it illegal to deliver a neighbor’s voting ballot to the post office. The bill, from Rep. Mike Moyle, a Republican from Star, aims to prevent so-called ballot harvesting by making it a crime for someone to convey another person’s mail-in ballot unless they are a household member. Delivering 10 or more ballots to the post office on behalf of other people would be a felony under the bill; delivering fewer would be a misdemeanor. The bill “tries to make it clear that we don’t like cheaters,” Moyle told his fellow lawmakers on the House floor. The bill passed 53-15 and now goes to the Senate.
A bill to allow county clerks or the Secretary of State’s Office to appeal a close election advanced to the House floor. The bill has been called the elections replay bill and would grant an appeal in the event of a election that is too close to call. The decision over whether or not a new election would be needed would then go to the District Court.
A bill has been introduced to the House State Affairs Committee that would allow a list of who has died to become a non-exempt public record. This would allow the public to view and validate voter registration information. Currently, this information is kept by the Department of Health and Welfare and the Secretary of State. Bill sponsor Priscilla Giddings cited an instance of a deceased voter in Latah County still on the voter roll as justification for this bill.
Indiana: The Republican-controlled House voted 70-25 for Senate Bill 328 to close a loophole that could allow a double voter to potentially avoid a criminal penalty for casting a ballot twice in the same election and make other election law changes. Specifically, it would be a level 6 felony, punishable by up to two-and-a-half years behind bars, for a person to knowingly or intentionally vote more than one ballot in the same election, unless the voter is casting a replacement ballot due to a candidate’s death or another authorized reason. The legislation now goes back to the Republican-controlled Senate for a decision on advancing it to Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb to be signed into law.
Iowa: or the second year in a row, Iowa Republicans have their sights set on big changes for Iowa’s voting and election security systems. Identical companion bills are advancing in both chambers that would change how recounts are done, how people vote absentee and also prevent election commissioners from accepting private donations. Currently in Iowa, a candidate requesting a recount can ask for specific precincts to be looked at, and can also request a hand or machine recount. Under the proposed SSB 3143 and HSB 719, candidates asking for a recount in one precinct would have to request a recount for the entire voting area; whether that be a city, county, or entire congressional district. The bills also require that a candidate chose hand recount or machine recount throughout the entire process. This was a point of contention in the high-profile IA-02 recount between Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Democrat Rita Hart. The proposed legislation would also make recount boards larger throughout Iowa. It proposes a system where counties with 15,000 or less people have a three-person recount board, counties between 15,000 and 50,000 have five people, and counties larger than 50,000 have a board of seven people. Also as part of these new companion bills is another security measure to absentee ballots. In addition to people putting either their driver’s license number or voter ID number on the absentee ballot request form, they’ll also have to put it on the inner envelope when they send the official ballot back.
Maryland: Republican state lawmakers announced legislation to require voter identification and signature verification, though those measures have repeatedly failed in the General Assembly.
Senate Bill 532, introduced by Sen. Justin D. Ready (R-Carroll), would require voters to show some form of identification before casting a ballot. Similar to a bill Ready filed last year, the legislation would allow voters to use a government-issued photo ID, bank statement, utility bill, government check, paycheck or “any other government document that shows the voter’s name and address and is dated within three months before the election,” according to the bill.
Senate Bill 738, introduced by Simonaire, would require the State Board of Elections to conduct a full audit of mail-in ballots if a sample audit of ballots showed that a threshold number of signatures on ballot envelopes did not match voters’ recorded signatures.
House Bill 963, introduced by Del. Haven N. Shoemaker Jr. (R-Carroll), would require election officials to verify signatures on all mail-in ballots. That bill would require local election boards to compare signatures on mail-in ballot envelopes with those in voter registration records and would allow them to use machines to electronically verify signatures. The bill would require election boards throw out mail-in ballots where signatures can’t be verified but would allow voters to fill out a form to verify their signatures within two days of receiving the board’s notice that their ballot has been rejected.
House Bill 939, also from Shoemaker, would prohibit sending mail-in ballots to voters unless the voters requested them. Ballots were mailed to all registered primary voters in Maryland during the 2020 primary election, but for the general election, request forms were mailed and voters had to return them to get a mail-in ballot.
And House Bill 1172, introduced by Del. William J. Wivell (R-Washington), would remove party affiliation from mail-in ballot envelopes — similar to a bill that received bipartisan support last year and passed the House of Delegates, but didn’t advance in the state Senate.
Michigan: Michigan Republicans approved a second attempt at increasing penalties for absentee voter fraud. The Senate Elections Committee approved House Bills 4132 and 4133. The bills would allow felony charges for voter fraud using absentee ballots or ballot applications. Felony charges spelled out in House Bill 4132 include: Filling out and submitting an absentee ballot application in someone else’s name for reasons other than exceptions allowed under current law; Requesting multiple absentee ballots for the same election; and Providing false information or forging the signature on an absentee ballot application. House Bill 4133 would make each of those three charges a felony punishable by up to five years in prison with a $1,000 fine. The new bills have to pass the full Senate and Michigan House before they go to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who will decide whether to sign them into law.
A Republican-led committee returned proposed voting regulations to Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s office and asked her agency to re-submit new rules. Republicans on the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules focused largely on absentee ballots and signature verification. “This sort of stuff causes people to lose confidence in elections, and so I’m hopeful the secretary will take our recommendations today, look through these rules and make these changes so we can strengthen people’s confidence in elections,” said Republican Representative Matt Hall, a co-chair of the joint House and Senate committee. Democrats opposed the Republican amendments, arguing they will make it more likely that absentee ballots will be rejected and voters will be disenfranchised. Benson has 30 days to respond to the request. A spokesperson for the Secretary of State says the Republicans’ proposed changes are being reviewed.
Minnesota: A bill moving through the House of Representatives would give voters the option to join an absentee ballot registration list that would automatically mail them an absentee ballot prior to each election. Currently, around 26,000 Minnesotans are signed up for the permanent absentee ballot list, but they are sent an application prior to each election in order to receive their absentee ballot. The bill would forego the application process to make early, absentee voting more accessible. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Liz Boldon (DFL-Rochester), has no Senate companion. The bill would require that absentee ballots be mailed at least 46 days before each regularly scheduled primary or general election for federal, state, county, city or school board office; at least 46 days before each special primary or special election to fill a federal, state, county, city or school board vacancy; and at least 30 days before a town general election held in March. The bill would also expand the early voting timeline from seven days to 30 days.
Missouri: Missouri voters would be given the option to affiliate with a political party when they register to vote under a bill considered by House lawmakers. Bill sponsor Rep. Dan Stacy, R-Blue Springs, said this bill gives Missourians their First Amendment right to freedom of association. This bill stipulates that beginning Jan. 1, 2023, the voter registration application form shall be amended to include a choice of political party affiliation. If the bill is passed, those registering to vote could choose an “established political party” to affiliate with. The options are Constitution, Democrat, Green, Libertarian, Republican or Unaffiliated. Stacy said these are the political parties with ballot access in the state of Missouri. Voters’ initial political party affiliation would be based on their ballot choice during the 2024 presidential primary or the August 2024 primary. The bill would also note Missourians’ political party affiliation on voter identification cards.
Nevada: Commissioner Jeanne Herman is proposing big changes in the way elections are handled in Washoe County — including ensuring the Nevada National Guard is present at every polling location as soon as the 2022 primary — in an effort to preserve the “purity” of voting in Nevada’s second-largest county. All 20 measures in Herman’s resolution, dated Feb. 16, came from suggestions made during 4½ hours of public comment at a recent county commission meeting. Among Herman’s proposed “measures to ensure accuracy, security, and purity of elections,” according to the resolution: Utiliz(e) stealth paper ballots as primary method of voting, with provision of one electronic voting kiosk for ADA qualified voters; Ensure mail ballots are sent certified receipt so only intended voter takes possession of it; Ensure there is a Nevada National Guard presence at each polling/ballot box location, as well as the central counting center; and Ensure ballots are counted by hand in order to be counted by hand in a recount. The proposal was originally scheduled for consideration on Feb. 22, but was pulled from the agenda. Commission Chair Vaughn Hartung and Vice Chair Alexis Hill released a statement saying, “On the advice of the Washoe County District Attorney’s Office, we will be pulling Agenda Item 14 put forth by Commissioner Jeanne Herman related to election security.”
New Hampshire: Both chambers of the Legislature have taken up proposals to change the wording in New Hampshire’s constitution about who gets to cast a ballot in the state. The two versions of the legislation do the same thing, changing the word domicile to primary residence, and stipulating that only citizens of the country and state have the right to vote. But voting rights organizations like America Votes and the League of Women Voters say citizenship of New Hampshire is unclear and impossible to prove. The Senate’s version of the legislation – CACR 36 – will be up for a vote this week, having secured the support of the majority of the committee, who recommend the legislation move forward in a 3-2 vote, which indicates it could have a good shot of passing the Senate floor. At a Senate hearing, 133 people signed in support of the bill and 154 in opposition. The House proposal came in the form of a non-germane amendment to CACR 15 – the underlying legislation would give 17-year-olds the right to vote in a primary election provided they would turn 18 by the time of the general election.
New Mexico: Senator Bill Sharer of Farmington went on a lengthy filibuster to delay a vote on Senate Bill 144, which would have made it a crime to threaten or intimidate election officials and voters. It also had provisions to give convicted felons the right to vote when they are released and streamlined voting procedures and registration. Republicans adamantly opposed the bills throughout the session but Democrats say they intend to still push ahead. “We’re ready to vote on this bill. New Mexicans are being denied expanded voting rights and increased election security. The fight continues,” said state Democrats. “Shameful,” Speaker of the House Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, said. “To deny an opportunity to New Mexicans to have easier access to the ballot, making a mockery of the process by reading rules of baseball. It’s a joke, it’s sad. He should be ashamed.” Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver says she was also disappointed Senate Bill 144 failed.
Oklahoma: A handful of election-related bills have been voted on in committee and are set for consideration by the full House or Senate or have died. A Republican-led proposal asking voters to add a voter-ID requirement to the state constitution is moving forward. The Senate Committee on Rules advanced it to the Senate floor on a 13-0 vote.
Another bill similarly seeking to shield the state from changes to federal election laws passed a House committee last week. House Bill 3232 states that if the federal government makes laws that go against Oklahoma election law, those laws would be followed only during separately held federal elections. The proposal, which would cost at least $1 million to $1.5 million per election, passed on a 5-2 party-line vote with Democrats in opposition.
Two bills failed to make it out of committee Democrats saw one of their legislative priorities take a hit when a House committee refused to advance a proposal to make it easier and quicker to restore voting rights to ex-felons. The proposal from Rep. Regina Goodwin, D-Tulsa, would have clarified when an individual convicted of a felony will be eligible to register to vote. She said it is needed because there has been “some controversy” on when ex-felons, who had a commuted or discharged sentence, can register. After some discussion, the House Elections and Ethics Committee rejected it on a 4-3 vote.
Another Democratic-led proposal didn’t advance out of the committee. A bill from Rep. Merleyn Bell, D-Norman, would required all state institutions of higher education to make at least one full-time staff member available to notarize ballots during designated absentee voting periods. Though it didn’t carry a cost, it failed to advance after no other lawmaker agreed to “second” a motion to bring it to a vote.
Philadelphia: After three years of youth advocacy, the Philadelphia school board is poised to pass a landmark voter education resolution codifying citywide efforts to register all 18-year-olds to vote and encouraging all students to be civically active. The board, in an effort that’s believed to be the first of its kind in the state, will declare “that we believe that we must ensure that all students have access to an education that teaches and promotes the importance of civic engagement and voter registration” in a resolution widely expected to pass Thursday night. School districts are already designated voter registration agencies per state and federal law, and a voter education curriculum already exists in the city, but the resolution cements and moves to the forefront year-round efforts to both allow for eligible students to sign up to vote, and for them to understand why it matters. The district will continue to designate and pay a staffer at each high school as “Voter Champion,” the point person for providing voter registration materials to students as they become eligible. There will be an emphasis on a nonpartisan voter education and registration curriculum for 12th grade civics classes, and voter engagement assemblies for high school students.
South Dakota: South Dakota House Republicans, spurred by baseless claims that the 2020 presidential election was subject to widespread fraud, pushed through a bill to require in-depth audits of ballots and voting equipment in close presidential elections. Republican Rep. Taffy Howard’s bill would require a “forensic audit” of ballots, voting equipment, and voter verification processes to verify federal office results if two presidential candidates come within 10 percentage points of each other. House Democrat Leader Rep. Jamie Smith pointed out that his caucus was reduced to just eight seats after the election, and yet he had no reason to blame fraud or irregularities. “This is partisanship,” he said. “This is not good policy for the state of South Dakota.” Other Republicans avoided alleging fraud outright, but argued that checking up on election results was a good safeguard. The bill does not stipulate how audits would be funded, but allows the State Board of Elections to contract with outside organizations “with experience in forensic audits.” The bill will next be considered in the Senate.
A bill that has met with approval from the House of state Representatives would give cities and school districts two options for an election date — the June primary or the November general election. House Bill 1300 has been approved by the House State Affairs committee (10-1) and by the full House (47-19). It now goes before the Senate Local Government Committee with its first hearing on Wednesday. The bill was proposed by District 24 Rep. Will Mortenson, R-Pierre, who said the intent of the measure, which would go into effect in 2025, is to provide broader awareness of city and school candidate elections.
Utah: A bill that would have eliminated voting by mail as the primary voting method in Utah failed to advance out of a House committee. House Bill 371, sponsored by Rep. Phil Lyman (R-Blanding), was defeated in a 3 to 7 vote after a lengthy hearing in the House Government Operations Committee. The bill was strongly opposed by Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson and county clerks who said it would restrict access to the ballot. The bill sought to return the state to primarily in-person voting. It also would have scrapped ballot drop-off boxes and drive-through voting, while requiring an independent audit of certain races after they’re over. Some limited absentee voting would have been allowed. Lyman told the House committee he didn’t have an issue with county clerks but asserted there is a “crisis of confidence” in voting. Ryan Cowley, Utah elections director, testified there are already measures in place to audit the security and reliability of elections. He also said that power should remain with the lieutenant governor, who is an elected official. Ricky Hatch, Weber County clerk/auditor who spoke on behalf of the Utah Association of Counties, added that any problems with elections are minor and are quickly addressed once they’re identified.
Vermont: The Vermont Senate is one step closer to passing a bill that would bolster the state’s criminal threatening laws. The Senate voted 28-2 on S.265’s second reading. The bill would increase criminal penalties for those who threaten violence in certain settings, such as schools, government buildings and places of worship. It also would limit a legal defense against criminal threatening charges. Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, told his colleagues on the floor that the genesis of the bill was a response to repeated threats to elections officials in Vermont following the 2020 general election as well as health officials during the coronavirus pandemic — threats that he called “profane,” “ugly” and “to (his) mind, threatening.” One argument against S.265 is that it could infringe on First Amendment rights to free speech. While the bill was in committee, the ACLU of Vermont warned lawmakers that an earlier version of S.265 could be applied too broadly and chill “certain forms of political hyperbole.” The bill has since been amended, but the ACLU still does not support the bill, calling it unnecessary. The bill also removes the state’s affirmative defense for those accused of criminal threatening, who say they could not or did not intend to carry out their threat. Sears said a defendant could still make that case to a court, but it would not be an affirmative defense as it is currently.
Virginia: A proposal to let Virginia voters self-impose photo ID rules for their own ballot failed in the state Senate along with every other Republican effort to reinstate mandatory photo ID in state elections. In a meeting, the nine Democrats on the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee repeatedly overruled six Republicans to kill the first batch of GOP-sponsored voting bills coming over from the House of Delegates. In addition to blocking several photo ID bills, the committee defeated efforts to cut the early voting window from 45 days to 14 days, repeal the same-day voter registration system set to be implemented this year and ban absentee drop boxes. As a result of those votes, all bills to bring back photo ID, a policy priority for Gov. Glenn Youngkin, are dead for the year. Though most Virginia voters still show a photo ID before casting their ballot, Democrats changed the law in 2020 to allow voters without ID to sign a form affirming their identity.
A budget proposal from House Republicans is seeking to slash $2.7 million in proposed funding for the Virginia Department of Elections to pay for a voter education campaign seeking to dispel misinformation about the integrity of the state’s elections. Following baseless claims from Republicans that the 2020 election was rife with fraud, the department last year launched a voter education campaign to inform voters about how the state’s elections are conducted, to refute false information and answer common questions about the voting process.
Washington: Senate Bill 5597 passed the Senate Senate Bill 5597 was sponsored by Senator Rebecca Saldaña of the 37th legislative district. It is an addition to the Washington Voting Rights Act. It changes the law in two key ways. First, it requires preclearance from the state attorney general or a superior court before district maps can be finalized. Second, it requires the University of Washington to collect population based data for at least the previous 12 year period. They would use the data to investigate whether current election practices are in violation of the Voting Rights Act and how diluting protected classes’ votes can be avoided. The bill passed the State Governments and Tribal Relations Committee in the House of Representatives and will be up for discussion on the floor next.
Wisconsin: Republicans in the Senate approved measures that would change voting rules for those who are confined to their homes and allow lawmakers to cut funding for state agencies that they believe aren’t strictly following election laws. Senate Bill 214 would allow officials to begin counting absentee ballots on the day before election day. Election clerks have pushed for the idea for years to ease their workload and help them avoid reporting their results in the middle of the night. Under the bill, election officials could begin processing absentee ballots starting at 7 a.m. on the day before election day. They could not tally the results or publicly report them until after the polls closed at 8 p.m. on election day. Senate Bill 942 would give the Legislature’s budget committee the ability to withhold funding and cut jobs from the state Elections Commission and other agencies if lawmakers determine they didn’t follow election laws or provided incorrect guidance to local officials. The measure would also apply to the departments of Corrections, Health Services and Transportation. Those agencies are responsible for performing data checks to make sure information on the state voter rolls is accurate. Those bills and others related to elections face likely vetoes from Gov. Tony Evers if they get to him.
Wyoming: Sen. Bo Biteman, R-Parkman, introduced two bills, both of which are intended to enhance election integrity by limiting party affiliation changes and prohibiting submission of absentee ballots without proper documentation ahead of this year’s primary and general elections. Biteman’s first bill, Senate File No. 97, would limit party affiliation changes ahead of the primary election Aug. 16. Biteman introduced a similar bill in 2018 but it died in committee before the 2019 legislative budget session. Under current Wyoming law, voters may change their party affiliation at the polls on the day of the primary or general election or when requesting an absentee ballot. If passed, the bill would require voters to declare or change their party affiliation changes by May 12, the day the candidate filing period begins. The second bill, Senate File No. 96, would prohibit what Biteman called “ballot harvesting,” or individuals and groups gathering or submitting completed absentee ballots from other voters without written and official authorization by the voters. If the bill is passed, unauthorized collection and submission of ballots could be a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison, a $10,000 fine or both. The Secretary of State’s Office said the issues these bills seek to combat are relatively rare in Wyoming, Wyoming Secretary of State Communications and Policy Director Monique Meese said.
Legal Updates
Alabama: The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to hear arguments over Alabama’s congressional map, in a case where a lower court found the map violates the Voting Rights Act, but the high court allowed the map to stand for the 2022 election. The Supreme Court this week consolidated two lawsuits challenging the map and granted an hour for oral arguments. The case will be heard in the court’s next term, which begins in October. That means the challenged map will be in place for the 2022 mid-term elections in Alabama. A three-judge district court panel ruled in January that the congressional district map approved by the Alabama Legislature and signed by Gov. Kay Ivey in November 2021, violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The Act, in part, bars a political process that gives less opportunity to Black voters to elect representatives of their choice. The district court found that Alabama’s current map – which is similar to the map for the previous 10 years -dilutes the Black vote with the establishment of six majority-White districts and one majority-Black district. The court called for the map to be redrawn to include two Black majority or near-majority districts. The court ordered a stay in the congressional race until a new, approved map was drawn. Alabama challenged the ruling and filed an emergency petition with the U.S. Supreme Court. Alabama argued the court was wrong in its reading of the law and the remedy suggested and it said attempting to redraw the map in an election year would cause chaos. The Alabama primary election is May 24, the absentee ballot deadline is March 30.
The Greater Birmingham Ministries sued Secretary of State John Merrill over a records request seeking purged voter lists and those denied the right to vote because of felony convictions. The civil lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama by the Campaign Legal Center on behalf of Greater Birmingham Ministries asks the court to declare that Merrill is in violation of the National Voter Registration Act and to order him to provide those records without cost related to photocopying. The lawsuit alleges Merrill declined the group’s May 17, 2021, records request seeking “a list of every voter removed from the active voter rolls after the 2020 election and their contact information for every county in Alabama.” The Greater Birmingham Ministries, which helps with voters registration and restoration of voting rights, says it needs the lists of those denied voter registration or those purged from voter rolls to identify and correct the the matter for those who can legally vote but who may be unaware. The lawsuit states that Merrill said those records could be reviewed in person, but that it would cost the group $1,331.40 to get those records, or 1 cent per name for the 133,140 names. The suit alleges that in subsequent communications Merrill admitted those records were kept electronically, and that the National Voter Registration Act allows states to charge for such records.
Arkansas: The Arkansas Supreme Court said it won’t dismiss a challenge to four new voting restrictions passed by the Legislature last year. Justices rejected arguments by attorneys for Secretary of State John Thurston that he was immune from the lawsuit filed by the League of Women Voters of Arkansas, Arkansas United and five voters over the restrictions. The court upheld a Pulaski County judge’s decision to reject Thurston’s request for a dismissal. The measures being challenged include a change to the state’s voter ID law that removes the option for someone to sign an affidavit affirming their identity if they don’t present a photo ID at the polls. The groups are also challenging a law preventing anyone other than voters from being within 100 feet of a polling place, one requiring an absentee voter’s signature on a ballot to match the signature on their voter registration application, and another moving up the deadline for voters to return absentee ballots in person.
A coalition that includes the NAACP, the Arkansas Public Policy Panel and the American Civil Liberties Union will take their fight against a state legislative map to the next level. They filed an appeal Wednesday in response to a U.S. district judge’s opinion that said while there is evidence to suggest Arkansas’s newly redrawn map of state House districts violates the Voting Rights Act, voters don’t have standing to sue. Only the U.S. attorney general can bring a suit over Voting Rights Act violations, Judge Lee Rudofsky said. “We had no choice but to appeal that,” Arkansas Public Policy Panel Policy Director Kymara Seals said. “This decision that the judge has made is unprecedented. No court has ever, ever, ever, in the history of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, said that we, as private citizens, can’t fight for our rights and protections.”
Colorado: Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold filed a lawsuit against Elbert County Clerk and Recorder Dallas Schroeder seeking more information about the alleged illegal copying of the county’s voting system hard drives and who is in possession of the copies after those questions went unanswered in his responses to previous orders. Griswold’s office filed the lawsuit after Schroeder failed to fully answer questions posed in orders issued on Jan. 19 and Jan. 24 about the hard drive images copies, which came to light in an affidavit Schroeder signed on Jan. 7 as part of a lawsuit, which claimed the election software used by Colorado counties in 2020 was not properly certified. The lawsuit compels Schroeder to comply with the previous orders and answer questions about the locations of the hard drive copies and who has access to them.
Scott Gessler, the attorney for Clerk Tina Peters, has filed a motion to dismiss a case against her that seeks to remove her permanently as Mesa County’s designated election official. The lawsuit, filed by Secretary of State Jena Griswold and county voter Heidi Hess, also calls for removing Deputy Clerk Belinda Knisley and Peters’ second deputy, Julie Fisher, also to be barred from overseeing elections for the rest of this year, when the clerk’s term ends. Gessler’s motion to dismiss is similar to his arguments in the last lawsuit that barred Peters from overseeing the 2021 fall election, which District Judge Valerie Robison rejected.
Connecticut: Judge Matthew Joseph Budzik ordered a primary election for the Bloomfield Democratic Town Committee after party members seeking seats on the committee sued their voter registrar. Budzik ordered a primary held on March 15. Attorney Alexander Taubes, representing the plaintiffs, said the order followed a settlement agreement between plaintiffs and defendants. Plaintiffs in the suit against Democratic registrar Troy Mitchell represented 17 Democrats, who, along with supporting volunteers, collected 578 signatures on nominating petitions, according to documents filed with the lawsuit in Hartford Superior Court. The plaintiffs asked the court to order Mitchell to accept the petition signatures and order the town to hold a primary for Democratic Town Committee on the second Tuesday in March, one week later than the date set by law due to the delay caused by Mitchell’s allegedly illegal actions, according to the suit.
Florida: After more than two weeks of testimony Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker is poised to decide the fate of a sweeping state elections law that plaintiffs maintain was designed to make it harder for Black and Hispanic voters to cast ballots in Florida. Walker will weigh more than 1,600 exhibits, tens of thousands of pages of documents and testimony by dozens of witnesses in combined lawsuits that challenged a 2021 law imposing new restrictions on mail-in voting and third-party voter registration organizations. The 2021 legislation (SB 90) included restricting election supervisors’ use of drop boxes; requiring voters to request mail-in ballots more frequently, and forcing third-party groups to provide a disclaimer informing potential voters that their applications may not be turned in within a 14-day window imposed by the law. The League of Women Voters of Florida and a number of Black and Hispanic advocacy groups filed lawsuits challenging the measure, alleging that it was the state’s latest effort to restrict minority voters from accessing the ballot. Walker began a trial Jan. 31
Kentucky: Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate denied a motion to temporarily block new Kentucky redistricting maps from going into effect, but also rejected a request to fully dismiss the Kentucky Democratic Party’s lawsuit. The two orders from Judge Thomas Wingate indicate the litigation will continue with hearings and testimony in March, but the May 17 primaries will now go forward as planned with the new state House and congressional maps and the candidates who already filed for those races.
Michigan: A woman who faces fraud charges after she was accused of plotting to “clone” voting data from a ballot tabulator is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in 90th District Court, though some local officials say they’re frustrated no one has yet been charged in a related break in. “I feel like everyone in the judicial system is just trying to cover it up,” Cross Village Township Clerk Diana Keller said. “They should be bringing in people who were there, and asking them why they were there, under oath.” Tera Jackson of Petoskey was arrested in October on felony charges of fraud and unauthorized access of a computer related to an incident at the township hall Jan. 14, 2021, court records show. At her first court appearance this week, Jackson submitted a plea of no contest. Following her plea, Jackson’s fraud charges were brought down to one count of disturbing the peace. Her other two charges were dismissed. She’s been sentenced to three months of probation.
North Carolina: The North Carolina Supreme Court late Wednesday upheld voting maps finalized earlier in the day by a trial court, a ruling likely to give Democrats a boost in this year’s elections. The decision paves the way for candidate filing to resume Thursday after a long delay. GOP leaders and voting rights groups—tied up for months in a legal battle over the maps—filed emergency appeals Wednesday, shortly after a panel of lower-court judges approved congressional and state legislative districts. The trial court, which included two Republicans and one Democrat, signed off on redrawn state House and Senate boundaries that state lawmakers approved last week, but the court went with a congressional map of its own, crafted with the help of independent redistricting experts it hired known as “special masters.”
Pennsylvania: A group of Pennsylvania Republicans are asking for a federal judge to keep the state’s highest court from picking a congressional map. Instead, they argue that Pennsylvania’s soon-to-be 17 congressional representatives should run in a statewide free-for-all, following an obscure 1941 federal law. The lawsuit, first reported by the Associated Press, was filed on Feb. 11 by five Pennsylvania voters including Republican congressional candidates Jim Bognet and Aaron Bashir, as well as Susquehanna County Commissioner Alan Hall, who also serves on that county’s board of elections. This week, the plaintiffs asked for an injunction preventing the state Supreme Court from acting further. The court heard arguments in its map case last Friday. “The state judiciary has no authority to alter or ‘suspend’ the primary-election calendar that the Legislature has enacted, and it is constitutionally prohibited from doing so,” the suit argues.
Texas: The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals is reinstating a portion of Texas’ voting law that prevents election officials from encouraging people to register to vote by mail, according to Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee. “I’m extremely disappointed by this decision, Menefee tweeted. “One thing that’s clear from the high percentage of mail ballot app rejections we’ve seen is officials should be empowered to explain the process and encourage folks to vote by mail.” On Feb. 11, a federal judge in San Antonio ruled that SB 1 likely violated the 1st and 14th amendments. The decision to reinstate this portion of the voting law means elections officials can now be prosecuted if they help citizens vote.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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