Legislative Updates
Federal Legislation: A group of U.S. House of Representatives Democrats proposed legislation requiring employers give their workers paid time off to vote, following failed attempts by Congress to pass major voting rights legislation earlier this year. The “Time Off to Vote Act” would close gaps in state laws, Representative Nikema Williams(D-GA, 5th District) said in a statement, citing the long lines at polling places seen in her state and others during previous elections. The new narrow bill would “ensure no worker has to sacrifice their wages or jeopardize their job security to exercise their sacred right to vote,” Representative Andy Levin (D-MI, 9th District), a co-sponsor, said in a statement.
Alabama: Alabama lawmakers voted to ban election offices from accepting donations and grants from private organizations to help fund voting operations, including voter registration, education and outreach. If signed into law, Alabama would be the latest state to ban such donations— a movement at least partly fueled by conservatives’ suspicion about donations by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in 2020. The Alabama Senate approved the bill on a 25-7 vote with Republicans in support and Democrats opposed. The bill now goes to Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey for her consideration. The bill would make it a misdemeanor for a public official to accept donations, grants and donated services from an individual or a nongovernmental entity to help fund election-related expenses or voter education, voter outreach, or voter registration programs.
Arizona: The House voted to delay the effective date for legislation signed last month requiring voters to provide evidence of their citizenship, which has already prompted two lawsuits amid fears by voting-rights advocates that it could cancel the registrations of thousands of people. If approved by the Senate and Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, the citizenship requirement would take effect after the 2022 election, a concession demanded by a Republican lawmaker who provided the final vote to pass the bill out of the Senate. As it stands now, that requirement and others in a bill signed March 30 will take effect 90 days after the legislative session ends, which is likely to fall between the primary and general election. The update also would make a technical change that appears aimed at addressing concerns that the bill could potentially require hundreds of thousands of people who registered before 2005 to provide proof of their citizenship.
Colorado: The House State, Civic, Military, & Veterans Affairs Committee advanced a bill to add protections for elections workers after hearing disturbing testimony about escalating threats that have prompted many to quit or take security training so they feel safe in their public-service work. State and local elections officials told the Committee that their workers, from municipal front-office staff to county clerks to the state’s highest-ranking elections officials, have experienced an escalation of threats since the 2020 presidential election. The threats — delivered by email, phone, or by the posting on social media of home addresses of workers and their family members — have left some local authorities confronting staff shortages ahead of Colorado’s June primaries and the November midterms. Crafted with the input of prosecutors and the Colorado County Clerks Association, the bill would allow elections workers to have their personal information, such as home addresses, redacted from public records that could be accessed by others. It also creates a misdemeanor crime for anyone using personal information to threaten or influence elections workers, punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 or a jail term up to 364 days, or both. Threatening or intimidating election officials while they are working or retaliating them because of their work would be punishable by a fine of up to $750 or 120 days in jail, or both. The committee advanced the legislation for consideration by the full House on an 8-2 bipartisan vote.
Gov. Jared Polis has signed a state bill that helps solidify the voting rights of a select minority facing a litany of rebuilding challenges. Polis signed SB22-152 into law. It allows Marshall Fire victims who are already registered as Colorado voters, and who are planning to return to their currently uninhabitable properties, to use those addresses to vote. “This law offers voters displaced by the fire the peace of mind that they will still be able to easily cast their ballot in their communities,” said Rep. Tracey Bernett, D-Louisville. According to the new law, the address that displaced victims use for vehicle registration, as well as for tax purposes, does not need to match the address used for voting purposes. This applies to both renters and homeowners. When it comes to what this law will do in regard to future disasters and the resulting victims, it extends identical protections for Colorado’s voters displaced by natural disasters that include fires, floods and tornadoes.
Connecticut: Gov. Ned Lamont signed a bill late last week that expands the use of absentee ballot voting in Connecticut. Effective immediately, House Bill 5262 redefines a “sickness” as an acceptable reason for absentee voting. In addition to a personal voter’s illness, it would now apply to a voter taking care of someone else’s health, such as an ill relative. “This slight change better aligns our state laws with that allowed under the constitution,” Lamont said in a statement. “We should be doing everything we can to encourage qualified voters to cast a ballot, and this is a responsible step forward in that direction.”
District of Columbia: Councilmember Charles Allen (D-Ward Six), who chairs the committee that has oversight of the city’s elections, a bill proposing mobile voting will not be moving forward. The bill had support from eight members of the 13-person Council and groups like the D.C.branch of the NAACP. “Council member Allen is not planning to move forward with a hearing on mobile voting legislation,” Allen’s deputy chief of staff, Erik Salmi, told The Cybersecurity 202. “He has heard from numerous elections and cybersecurity experts, as well as residents, with serious concerns” about mobile voting bills, Salmi said when asked about the bill, which was proposed by council member Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2).
Kentucky: A bill aimed at strengthening the voting process in Kentucky was vetoed by Gov. Andy Beshear. Beshear said Senate Bill 216 reduces transparency by requiring campaign finance reports from candidates. “Without quarterly reports, candidates will be able to draft bills and serve on interim legislative committees, while receiving donations in secret,” Beshear said. The measure passed with bipartisan support. The Legislature voted to overturn Beshear’s veto. “I am grateful to the General Assembly for overriding the Governor’s veto of Senate Bill 216. This new law expands our post-election audit process; places our voting machines under video surveillance during non-voting hours of election periods; and accomplishes full transition to paper ballots during my term of office. These common-sense reforms will improve not only our election process, but also public confidence in our elections,” Secretary of State Michael Adams said.
Beshear did sign House Bill 564 into law. The new law expands early voting in and guarantees protections for poll workers. Adams said this law added the clarity needed to ensure all polling places are open at least 8 hours for early voting including a Saturday. The bill also makes it a felony under Kentucky law to threaten election workers.
Maine: Individuals who threaten or intimidate Maine election workers could face criminal charges under a proposal sent to Gov. Janet Mills for consideration. The legislation, which was approved by the state Senate, will make it a misdemeanor for anyone to interfere “by force, violence, intimidation or any physical act” with a state, county or local election official in the performance of their duty. The House of Representatives previously approved the measure. The bill’s primary sponsor, Rep. Bruce White, D-Waterville, said he filed the measure in response to an “alarming increase in the number of death threats and violence made against election workers and officials across the country – including here in our home state.” The legislation is also backed by Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, who has also cited a rise in documented threats against the election officials throughout the country. Originally, the legislation called for making it a felony to interfere with the election officials, but lawmakers scaled it back to a misdemeanor charge during committee hearings on the bill. A fiscal note attached to the bill estimated that the changes won’t require additional funding from the state but could increase the amount of money from fines if people are charged with violating the proposed law.
Nebraska: A clean-up bill that would make numerous changes to election law in Nebraska was amended to become an omnibus election measure and advanced to select file April 6. LB843, as introduced by Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon, would make several minor changes to current law. Among other provisions, the bill would: prohibit electioneering within 200 feet of a ballot drop box; establish a deadline of 8 p.m. Central time or 7 p.m. Mountain time on Election Day for receipt of mail-in ballots; allow voters who cannot sign their name to use either a symbol or a signature stamp; allow county election commissioners to appoint certain election officials who live outside of the county if that county conducts elections exclusively by mail; require non-governmental organizations distributing voter registration forms or early ballot application forms to use those prescribed by the Nebraska secretary of state; allow an election commissioner or county clerk to remove a voter from the voter registry if they receive information from the state Department of Motor Vehicles that the voter has moved out of state; and establish procedures for removing a voter from a county’s early ballot request list.
New Hampshire: House lawmakers heard public testimony on a bill that would create trackable ballots for voters who don’t bring proper identification or other documents to the polls, allowing their votes to be erased from vote tallies if they don’t later provide proof of their eligibility to cast a ballot. Republicans in the Senate passed SB 418 in March, contending it would tamp down on unverified voters participating in New Hampshire elections, despite any evidence of widespread participation by residents of other states casting ballots in the state. Opponents say the measure would sow confusion into the process and potentially violates the state constitution. Under the plan, voters who don’t have proper identification would cast a newly created affidavit ballot, which would be numbered and traceable by election officials. Voters would then have 10 days to mail necessary documentation to the Secretary of State’s office to prove their eligibility, or their ballots would be scrapped and the final results amended. Under current state law, voters who don’t have proper identification to prove their citizenship, identity and age may cast a ballot if they sign an affidavit swearing to their eligibility to vote in New Hampshire, with potential legal penalties and fines for fraudulent submissions. The House Election Law committee slimmed down the legislation that would create a provisional ballot in New Hampshire’s election system. Now, a small number of ballots will be targeted. The concern over military voters remains an issue. Democrats said they could not support the bill because the review time for provisional ballots could mean those overseas votes don’t arrive by election day.
The Senate is set to pass a bill aimed at helping students with disabilities register to vote. House Bill 1594 proposes to do that by including voter registration in a student’s plan of study for those students who are already following an individualized education program. Rep. Mark Paige, an Exeter Democrat and the bill’s prime sponsor, said it uses a framework that is already in place for students with disabilities to ensure voter registration is addressed before graduation. Supporters say the bill is needed because students with disabilities may pursue a separate curriculum from their peers, and could miss civics education and feel unwelcome from participating in civic society. The bill also has the support of the Disability Rights Center, ABLE NH, and at least one educator. At a hearing this month, 91 people registered in support of the bill and three in opposition. The bill has received bipartisan support in both House and Senate committees. The Senate Education Committee unanimously recommended the bill pass into law and put it on the consent calendar for Thursday, which means it could pass the Senate floor without debate.
Ohio: A new bill introduced would tighten the state’s voter ID rules. Senate Bill 320, sponsored by state Sen. Theresa Gavarone, R-Huron, would require people voting in-person to show a photo ID. Those voting by mail would need to provide the last four digits of their Social Security number and either the number or a photocopy of their Ohio driver’s license or state ID. The bill would also allow Ohioans ages 17 and up to get a free state ID. A spokesman for Secretary of State Frank LaRose said his team is reviewing the proposal. If passed, Ohio voters would no longer be able to use utility bills, paychecks or other forms of ID currently permitted under state law.
Rep. Ron Ferguson has filed a bill that would help local election authorities cover the costs of two primaries in Ohio. “That cost, actually, would fall on the counties,” Ferguson said. “If we don’t take initiative here at the state level to pay for it. It’s not fair to the counties. So, I’ve actually reached out to the local county commissioners. Spoken to Tony Morelli, J.P. Dutton and Mick Schumacher in Jefferson, Belmont and Monroe counties. I told them that what I am proposing to do is take money from the Ohio Supreme Court budget and reallocate it to this election so that counties aren’t footing the bill.” Across the state, the cost of a proposed August primary is estimated by Secretary of State Frank LaRose at $20 to $25 million. Ferguson said, locally, the costs vary from about $35,000 for Monroe County to $140,000 in Belmont County.
Pennsylvania: Less than a week after its introduction and a month before the primary election, the Republican-controlled state Senate has pushed through legislation eliminating ballot drop boxes. The upper chamber voted 29-20 along party lines to approve the GOP-authored bill requiring voters who don’t return mail-in ballots through the U.S. Postal Service to deliver them to their county elections office instead of depositing them into a drop box. The bill now goes to the House of Representatives. “The ballots are called mail-in ballots — not drop box ballots,” Sen. Cris Dush, R-Jefferson, the bill’s author, said on the Senate floor. First used in the 2020 primary election, ballot drop boxes have faced criticism from legislative Republicans, who accused the Pennsylvania Supreme Court of overstepping its constitutional authority by authorizing their use without approval from the General Assembly. Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, R-Centre, and Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward, R-Westmoreland, argued that the legislation aims to reinstill faith in the electoral process and allow the General Assembly to decide whether to implement ballot drop boxes. “If you want drop boxes, put in legislation for drop boxes — not saying it’s going to pass, but it would be the proper channel,” Ward said.
Legislation intended to allow the state’s election officials to use more sources of information to clear voter rolls of dead people won unanimous approval in the House State Government Committee. The bipartisan bill grants election officials the authority to utilize more official data sources such as the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC, to ensure voter rolls are up to date. Pennsylvania, although a member of ERIC since 2015, has not fully used its resources due to limitations outlined in the state’s election code, said Pennsylvania Department of State Deputy Secretary of Elections and Commission Jonathan Marks. Marks told the committee last week that the state’s election code is very prescriptive about what tools counties can use to removed deceased voters from voting rolls, namely newspaper obituaries and letters issued by county registrars of will. He said the department would welcome the opportunity to more fully utilize ERIC to maintain the accuracy of county voter rolls. It has found that data helpful to pick up changes of address and eliminate duplicate registrations that arise from people relocating to different towns and states, Marks said.
Vermont: The House gave preliminary approval to a bill that increases penalties for criminal threatening, particularly for threats against public officials, election workers and other state and local employees. The bill, S.265, makes it illegal to threaten an individual or group of people in a way that causes reasonable fear of death, serious injury or sexual assault. If the target of the threat is an election worker, holds public office, is a candidate for public office or is a public employee, there is a heightened penalty — up to two years in prison, a $2,000 fine or both. The fine is also $2,000 if the threat would intimidate the target in a school, at the Statehouse, in a place of worship or at a polling place. In other instances, the maximum penalty would be one year in prison, a $1,000 fine or both. In all cases, the charge is a misdemeanor.
The House gave initial approval to a Burlington charter change via voice vote. H.744 would establish ranked choice voting for city council elections. Passed by Burlington voters on Town Meeting Day in 2021, the charter change would resurrect in part the city’s former method of tabulating election results. Under the ranked choice model, voters list their candidates in order of preference. If no candidate gets a majority of first-place votes, the tally factors in second-choice votes (or third, or fourth) until one candidate claims a majority. Rep. Jim Harrison, R-Chittenden, expressed concern that the measure would lessen the uniformity of voting systems around Vermont. “Some of us have been concerned about consistency through our state in terms of voting laws, and this, it seems to me, goes the opposite direction,” Chittenden said. But Rep. Laura Sibilia, I-Dover, said the change was good for Burlington’s civic health, because it would elect candidates who were top-of-mind for the highest number of voters.
Virginia: A bill recently signed into law by Governor Glenn Youngkin is changing the commonwealth’s election system. The bill alters how absentee ballots are counted, requiring local election officials to report them by precinct instead of putting them into one centralized precinct. The new rule will be effective as of July 1.
Wisconsin: Gov. Tony Evers (D) vetoed nine election bills. One bill vetoed by Evers would have given the Legislature’s budget committee the ability to withhold funding and cut jobs from the bipartisan state Elections Commission and other agencies if lawmakers determined they didn’t follow election laws or provided incorrect guidance to local officials. A similar bill Evers vetoed would have allowed the budget committee to block federal funding to the commission if lawmakers opposed how it planned to spend it. That bill also would have let lawmakers from each political party select attorneys for the commissioners. Now, the commission of three Republicans and three Democrats are given nonpartisan attorneys. Another bill Evers blocked would have banned election officials from accepting grants from private entities to help them run their elections. That bill also would have put new rules in place for voting at nursing homes during health emergencies. The legislation Evers vetoed would have allowed nursing home workers to assist with voting during a pandemic if special voting deputies could not visit the facilities. The legislation would have required most confined voters to provide a copy of an ID or the number on their state ID or driver’s license. Those who didn’t have an ID could have provided the last four digits of their Social Security number and a signed statement from another U.S. citizen affirming their identity. Other bills vetoed by Evers would have: required the state to conduct checks to ensure those on the voter rolls are United States citizens; required most voters to provide a copy of a photo ID every time they request an absentee ballot (instead of just the first time); and required election officials to label voters as ineligible to vote if the information on the voter rolls did not match their driver’s licenses. Other vetoed bills would have given a legislative committee a greater say in the guidance the Elections Commission gives to local officials and required courts to alert election officials when people called to jury duty reported that they are not U.S. citizens.
Legal Updates
Florida: Lawyers for Gov. Ron DeSantis, Attorney General Ashley Moody, and national Republican groups filed a notice that they will appeal a federal judge’s ruling that parts of a sweeping elections law were intended to discriminate against Black Floridians. Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker’s March 31 decision came in a lawsuit challenging a 2021 law imposing new restrictions on mail-in voting and third-party voter registration organizations. DeSantis and Republican legislative leaders quickly slammed the judge’s decision and vowed to appeal the ruling to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Speaking to reporters following Walker’s ruling, the governor said the judge’s decision was not unexpected and predicted it would be overturned by the Atlanta-based appeals court. “It was not unforeseen because we typically set our clocks to getting a partisan outcome in that court,” DeSantis said on April 1. “I would not want to be on the receiving end of that appeal if I were a judge, because I think that that’s going to be reversed on appeal. The only question is how quickly it gets reversed on appeal. But it’s not going to be able to withstand appellate scrutiny.”
Georgia: A long-awaited trial that will highlight complaints about voting problems in the 2018 and 2020 elections is began this week. The case has been building for 3 1/2 years since it was filed by Fair Fight Action, a group Democrat Stacey Abrams founded following her loss to Republican Brian Kemp in the 2018 election for governor. Now it will be decided by a judge as both candidates are running again. The lawsuit targets Georgia’s “exact match” voter registration rules and inconsistent absentee ballot cancellation practices, which the plaintiffs say created difficulties that disproportionately affected Black voters. The defendants in the case — Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and state election officials — say they’ve already defeated many of the claims in earlier court rulings, leaving a narrow and flimsy case. The trial could last about a month and feature dozens of witnesses, including dismayed voters, election officials and preachers. Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock is expected to testify by video.
Kansas: Four voter advocacy organizations are asking appeals court judges to block a Kansas election law ahead of the August primary. The League of Women Voters Kansas, Loud Light, Kansas Appleseed and Topeka Independent Living Resource Center are asking the Kansas Court of Appeals for an injunction against provisions in HB 2183 they contend criminalize voter registration drives. Hal Brewster, attorney for the plaintiffs, said the groups have stopped much of their work out of fear of prosecution. “The other night when KU cut down the nets in New Orleans and there was a party like you’ve never seen on Mass Street in Lawrence, Loud Light should have been out there registering voters, and they weren’t,” Brewster said. “They weren’t there because they thought they would get prosecuted. And that is in a county where the DA has said she’s not going to prosecute because it’s unconstitutional.” Secretary of State Scott Schwab and Attorney General Derek Schmidt are the defendants in the case. The legal challenge focuses on a piece of the bill that criminalizes the impersonation of an election official, including conduct that gives the appearance of being an election official or causes someone to believe that. The Legislature overrode Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of the bill last session. In addition to the impersonation crime, it contained provisions related to mail ballot postmarks, advance ballot signatures, deadlines, voter registration reports, delivery of advance ballots, electioneering and election office funding. Some of those provisions are being challenged in the lawsuit but are not the subject of the injunction request. Shawnee County District Court Judge Teresa Watson has dismissed the lawsuit.
Louisiana: Judge Kendrick Guidry has ordered a new election for Sulphur City Council District 2. Guidry made the decision after an afternoon of testimony in district court, declaring the March 26 Sulphur City Council race null and void. The new election will be June 4, with early voting May 21 through 28. The council race was marred when some voters were not placed into the correct district after recent redistricting. Calcasieu Registrar of Voters Kim Fontenot took the stand, admitting she made a mistake – 30 people were initially left off the voting list for District 2 and two people voted who should not have. Fontenot was questioned at length about changes in district lines. Attorneys for the winning candidate argued that the affected voters would not make up for the difference in votes but Guidry found the irregularities were substantial and that calling voters turned away and inviting them back was not a suitable remedy.
Maryland: The Maryland Court of Appeals rejected a challenge to a General Assembly-approved map of state legislative districts that multiple lawsuits from Republican politicians and voters contended violated provisions of the state’s constitution. The ruling allows the new districts for electing members of the General Assembly to go into effect for the July 19 primary elections without further delay. The filing deadline for candidates wishing to appear on the ballot is Friday at 9 p.m. The court issued a five-page order and said it will give its reasons later in an opinion. About four hours before the ruling was made public, the lawyers seeking to overturn the new legislative districts appeared before the Court of Appeals to ask that it reject Wilner’s recommendations and strike down the map. A panel of seven judges heard the case, one via video. Elections officials had warned in a legal filing that a Court of Appeals decision throwing out the legislative maps would leave them too little time to implement any changes before the July primary. The State Board of Elections also warned that postponing the primary later than Aug. 16 would endanger plans for the Nov. 8 general election.
Montana: Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen has vowed to fight District Court Judge Michael Moses ruling that temporarily blocked several new election laws passed in 2021. “We’ve seen record turnover in the jobs of election officials with numerous new election officials trained to run their first election in the coming weeks,” began Jacobsen. “This decision destroys the training that they had just received over the past year to confidently run their upcoming local elections.” Jacobsen blamed big money political groups for attempting to overthrow the will of the Montana people who supported these new election laws. “Montana’s judicial system should not be able to be bought, paying millions of dollars to out of state lawyers to meddle with Montana elections is unacceptable,” she said. “Montana’s election system matters, and we will fight and do everything we can to provide relief to all the parties involved and impacted by this chaotic decision.”
Tennessee: Judge James Butler has ruled that the Shelby County Election Commission will not be required to open additional early voting sites during Holy Week. Butler also declined to restrain the Election Commission from implementing a resolution opening just its downtown location on the first two days of early voting, which begins April 13, then five other sites (the Agricenter, Arlington Safe Room, Baker Community Center, Dave Wells Community Center and Glenview Community Center) on the fourth day of early voting. No other sites will be open until April 18, 2022, for the May 2022 primaries. “The question is, do I disrupt the entire Shelby County election based on what I’ve heard at this point?” Butler asked. “And the court is not prepared to do that.” Butler determined that he had heard insufficient proof to determine that the Election Commission had violated the Tennessee Open Meetings Act or the Tennessee Constitution.
Wisconsin: The state Supreme Court heard oral arguments this week in the case that will likely determine whether drop boxes will be in place for the fall election. At issue is whether the Wisconsin Elections Commission can distribute guidance around policies like drop boxes without going through a more-robust rulemaking process that involves legislative oversight, and whether pandemic-era guidance that the WEC provided is consistent with existing state law. “I think that [WEC guidances] have the force of law, not by requiring clerks to do this, because WEC didn’t require them to do drop boxes, but WEC authorized them to do drop boxes,” said Rick Esenberg, the lawyer for the plaintiffs challenging the WEC drop box guidance. Also before the court was the question of who can return an absentee ballot. During the pandemic, the WEC rejected a proposal by Esenberg’s Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty that would have limited who can return an absentee ballot to only the voter that cast that ballot. Esenberg argued in court Wednesday that state law requires voters to cast the ballot themselves — whether by feeding the voting machine with their ballot on election day or returning an absentee ballot in the mail. Disability advocates say however, this will overtly disenfranchise a group of voters. “They suggest that every voter is able to mail their own ballot, place it in the mailbox or return it to their clerk if they try hard enough — that is offensive and it is false,” said Barbara Beckert of Disability Rights Wisconsin in a news conference after the oral arguments. “[Some voters] may”.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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