Electionline Weekly December-19-2024

Ballot Measures, Legislation & Rulemaking

Alaska Ballot Measure: Ballot Measure 2, an initiative to repeal Alaska’s open primary and ranked-choice voting system, narrowly failed in the recent election cycle, but the sponsor of the measure is not ready to give up just yet. After a recount revealed the ballot measure failed by 743 votes, instead of the 737 originally counted, sponsor Phil Izon submitted the paperwork on Monday to get back on the ballot for 2026. At the Absentee and Petition Office in Anchorage, Izon started the process again by submitting an initiative petition with the signatures of 214 qualified registered voters to serve as sponsors; only 100 are required. “We have a pretty good amount of people that are really motivated … and they ultimately didn’t like the fact that we lost by small percentages,” Izon said. Within 60 calendar days after receipt, the office of Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom will notify the sponsor if the application is denied or certified. After that, the signature-gathering process begins to get on the ballot officially. Izon said the spirit of the ballot measure is the same, but some fundamental differences need to be made to the ballot language. He said some voters found the ballot language confusing and thought a “no” vote was for repeal.

Anchorage, Alaska: The Anchorage Assembly is weighing a measure that would have voters decide on changing when city elections are held and how long mayoral, Assembly and school board terms would last. If the Assembly agrees to put the measure on the city ballot and voters approve it, municipal elections would operate differently in a number of ways: Election dates would move from April to November and be held in even-numbered years, to coincide with state and federal elections; Term limits for mayor, Assembly and school board members and members of supervisory boards would increase from three to four years; and Mayoral transitions would occur on Jan. 2, rather than July 1. Sponsors of the proposed changes say it would save the city about 50% on election costs, as well as increase voter turnout, saying that state and federal elections see about a 90% higher turnout. After hearing public testimony from just two residents on Tuesday night, the Assembly opted to continue taking testimony on the item on Jan. 7. Since the changes would require an amendment to the city’s charter, to put the issue to voters, the ballot measure would need eight Assembly votes. If the Assembly passes the ordinance by Jan. 21, voters would decide on the ballot measure during the next city election. Anchorage’s next election will be held on April 1, 2025, with five Assembly seats on the ballot.

California: Assemblymember Juan Alanis (R-Modesto) announced this week that he has introduced his first two bills of the new legislative session. Assembly Bill 16 would allow elections officials to begin processing mail-in ballots when they’re received — sometimes up to three weeks before the final due date — and not have to wait until Election Day to begin that process. AB 17, meanwhile, would further enhance public access to county election information by requiring local registrars to make available information regarding the effective boundaries of each precinct within the county. “I know our local elections officials take great care to protect the integrity of our elections,” said Alanis, who noted that he has a meeting scheduled with Stanislaus County Registrar of Voters Donna Linder in the coming days. “I am so thankful we have Donna in Stanislaus County, believe me. However, we have to address the policies Sacramento has set for the state that are directly contributing to painfully slow counting and eroding the public’s trust. I am not trying to impact the accessibility of voting, but rather to get results to the public quicker. I don’t blame local officials; this is a Sacramento-created problem, and we must fix it.”

Orange County, Florida: Commissioners passed two motions aimed at addressing what the county comptroller says is persistent overspending by elections supervisor Glen Gilzean. The first would authorize the county mayor and comptroller to take necessary steps to ensure Supervisor of Elections employees are paid. The second directs the elections office to cancel a $1.1 million contract with the nonprofit Central Florida Foundation and return the funds. During a financial review of the Supervisor of Elections Office’s spending, county officials found the office’s checking account is overdrawn due to alleged mismanagement of funds. County Comptroller Phil Diamond called the situation unprecedented and says it’s unclear how much money needs to be recovered. “This has been something of a moving target with this elections supervisor and until everything settles down, it’s kind of hard to say here’s how exactly it needs to be fixed,” said Diamond. Gilzean denies wrongdoing, saying in a statement to Spectrum News: “I will always fight for my staff and appreciate the county ensuring payroll is made over the holidays. Unfortunately, our office was put in this position due to lies told by the Mayor and an astonishing misunderstanding of elections by the Comptroller. We will continue to make our case in court and shine a light on the laws the Mayor and Comptroller broke.”

Athens-Clarke County, Georgia: A resolution on ranked choice voting split the commission evenly, with 5 commissioners voting yes and 5 voting no. Mayor Kelly Girtz then voted in favor of the resolution, breaking the tie. Supporters of RCV, including Girtz, suggest that it eliminates the need for runoff elections. Mayor Girtz: “As it’s been noted in prior comments, the process of runoff elections both diminish democracy and cost a lot of money, so anything that we can do that enhances democracy and costs less money is a good thing.” The Athens-Clarke County Commission received a memo about RCV’s potential impact on the county shortly before the meeting from local government staff. The memo said that between 2020 and 2024, the county spent over $500,000 on runoff elections. It also contained anonymous statements from local Board of Elections and Voter Registration members, some of whom expressed reservations about the resolution.

Michigan: The Senate voted along party lines to advance a bill creating fines for intentionally making a false statement about Michigan elections. Senate Bill 707 specifies individuals who knowingly misrepresent the time, place or manner of an election; the qualifications or restrictions on voter eligibility; criminal penalties associated with voting in an election; an individuals’ voter registration status or eligibility would be subject to a fine of up to $1,000 for each violation. The bill clarifies that an individual has intentionally and knowingly made a false statement or representation if they know it is false and make the statement with the intent to hinder or prevent another individual from voting in an election. Additionally an entity who employs an individual for election related purposes, and if that individual violated this law, the employer would be subject to a civil fine of up to $10,000 unless they demonstrate that they did not have any prior knowledge that the employee planned to make a false statement which violates the law. If this entity is a local government, there is a rebuttable presumption that they did not have prior knowledge that an employee planned to violate the law.

New Jersey: The Assembly State and Local Government Committee approved the “John R. Lewis Voter Empowerment Act of New Jersey,” which aims to protect New Jersey voters’ rights to cast a ballot and have it counted. Sponsored by Assembly members Verlina Reynolds-Jackson, Benjie E. Wimberly, Shavonda Sumter, and Herb Conaway, A4083 seeks to eliminate barriers to voter registration and provide equitable access to the electoral process to members of protected classes. Expanding on key provisions of the VRA, the legislation would reinforce the need for voter protections by requiring that all election-related statues, rules and regulations favor voter participation when interpreted. It would also address critical issues such as voter suppression, voter dilution, the preclearance process, language access, voter intimidation and violence, and the right to pursue legal action against discrimination, empowering voters who may feel disenfranchised and making sure their ballots are cast and counted without unnecessary obstacles. One of the conditions outlined in the bill would establish the need for preclearance for certain political subdivisions – such as counties, towns, school districts – that have a history of voting rights violations or have been found to violate state or federal voting laws. These areas would be required to seek approval from the Attorney General before making any changes to ensure that their election practices are fair and compliant with the law. The bill would also create the “New Jersey Voting and Elections Institute,” which would be located at a public university selected by the State Legislature. The institute would manage a central database of election and voting data, accessible to the public, from local election offices and political subdivisions across the state. Additionally, the institute would support research on current laws and best practices in voting and elections.

A newly introduced bill in the Senate seeks to require driver’s licenses and identification cards issued to non-citizens to feature a distinct color and a statement clarifying that the documents cannot be used for voting while also mandating voter ID requirements at polling stations and for mail-in ballots. The legislation, introduced by Senator James W. Holzapfel (R-District 10), aims to add new designations to IDs issued by the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) to distinguish between citizens and non-citizens. These IDs would include a prominently displayed statement reading, “This document shall not be used as identification to vote in elections.” Under the proposed bill, voters would be required to present a suitable and valid form of identification at polling places, including a New Jersey driver’s license, state-issued ID card, U.S. passport, military or veteran ID, or voter registration card. For mail-in ballots, voters must enclose a copy of their photo ID that matches their name and address. Ballots lacking proper identification would be subject to existing curing procedures but risk rejection.

A proposed bill would expand the authority of local election boards to make initial determinations about the validity of ballots, particularly in cases involving ambiguous marks or other irregularities. Under current law, the district boards of elections and county boards of elections are responsible for canvassing and counting ballots, with disputes or challenges often escalating to Superior Court judges or other officials for final decisions. The new legislation seeks to ensure that local boards have the discretion to make these initial determinations, streamlining the process and potentially reducing the burden on the courts. The bill would allow election boards to evaluate whether any mark, sign, erasure, or other designation on a ballot was intended to identify or distinguish the voter and, if so, reject the ballot. Additionally, election boards would have the discretion to decide whether marks near a candidate’s name—regardless of whether they fall within the designated voting area—were intended to cast a vote for that candidate. Judges and other officials, when reviewing disputed ballots, would retain the same discretionary authority as the local election boards under the proposed changes. Supporters of the bill argue it clarifies and reinforces the decision-making power of election officials at the local level while maintaining a pathway for judicial review when necessary.

A special Assembly committee in a unanimous vote approved a controversial overhaul of New Jersey ballots that will write the county line out of state law. The bill, which follows a federal court decision that found New Jersey’s county-line system — a ballot design that groups candidates for different offices by party endorsement — is likely unconstitutional. If approved by the Legislature and signed into law by the governor, the bill could reshape primaries in a state where machine politics are dominant. The legislation would require New Jersey’s county clerks to design office-block ballots that group candidates by the office they are seeking and bar bracketing between candidates seeking different offices. Lawmakers eliminated a controversial provision of the bill that would have, sponsors said inadvertently, barred office seekers without official party backing from stating their party affiliation in their ballot slogans. The bill would also ban incongruous separations between candidates seeking the same office, ending a practice colloquially known as “ballot Siberia.” But it would allow candidates to run bracketed on a slate for a single office and have their names drawn as a group rather than individually, which some critics said could still allow party organizations to put their thumbs on the scale. The bill would not require clerks to rotate candidates on the ballot depending on voting district, something some witnesses who have testified in prior hearings of the committee said would have allowed every candidate to have a chance at top billing.

The Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation Committee advanced legislation sponsored by its chair, Senator James Beach, along with Senator Andrew Zwicker, which would instruct the state’s county clerks to send an application for a mail-in ballot to each registered voter when they turn 18 years old. Under current law, a person who is at least 17 years old and will be 18 on the date of the next general election can register to vote, provided they meet all other voter registration requirements. Under the bill, S-3617, the State would reimburse each county for additional direct expenditures required to implement the bill. The bill was advanced in a 3-0 vote.

Legal Updates

District of Columbia: The DC Board of Elections D.C.’s asked a court to void results and redo elections for two Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner seats that comprise American University’s campus after admitting that some students appeared to receive the wrong ballots, supporting the claims of a sophomore student who has said the mistake cost her a win. According to the election board’s filing, it launched an investigation into claims from a write-in candidate and found that of the 247 voters in districts 3E08 and 3E07, just a handful were from 3E07. The board concluded that many voters in 3E07 were incorrectly given a ballot for the other district because their voter profiles showed AU’s main campus address — but lacked information on their specific dormitory. The board said that mistake could have changed the election results in the two races and asked the court to schedule do-overs for both contests. The board also agreed in the filing to conduct outreach ahead of the special election to ensure student profiles are updated and that voters receive the right ballot this time. In a separate document, the board requested the court void the election results of the two AU districts before Jan. 2 when the winners of November’s election are required to be sworn in.

Florida: An Orange County circuit judge issued an order stating that Supervisor of Elections Glen Gilzean’s civil lawsuit makes a legally sufficient claim that Orange County government “has an indisputable legal duty” to disburse the funds being withheld from his office. The judge’s order said the County has 20 days to show cause why it shouldn’t unfreeze the funding for the elections office. After the County responds and the SOE issues a reply, the court will substantively rule on the merits of the case. The commissioners voted to freeze the funding for the elections office at last week’s meeting after Comptroller Phil Diamond informed them of “confidential tip” that Gilzean cut a $1.1 million check to a local nonprofit. Gilzean took the county to court, arguing that the county is legally required to give his office the 6.82 % of its annual budget each month. Gilzean said his employees were paid for the pay period ending Dec. 7 because of the money his office received from the county in November. Gilzean said he is concerned about the next round of paychecks for his employees if his office does not get the December funds from the county. County leaders pointed out that Gilzean has already received 50 percent of his budget. Gilzean said he cannot move that money around for payroll, which is about $250,000 a month. The dispute began in November when county leaders learned that Gilzean set up a $2.1 million scholarship fund with Valencia College. Initially, the scholarship included Gilzean’s name, but it was later removed.

Georgia: Andrew Bell, who last week lost the race for DeKalb County Commission District 3 by 52 percentage points, has filed a lawsuit against Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, the executive director of DeKalb County elections and each individual member of the state and county elections boards, calling for a new election. Representing himself, Bell alleged the DeKalb elections office changed the advance voting dates for the Dec. 3 runoff without properly notifying the public, illegally changed advance voting locations, didn’t count military and overseas absentee ballots, allowed a vehicle with his opponent’s logo to park less than 10 feet from a polling place and provided his campaign an incomplete list of precincts. “The Contested Election is fraught with misconduct, fraud and irregularities” enough to change the results, the lawsuit says. The lawsuit says the websites for the DeKalb County Board of Registration and Elections and the Georgia Secretary of State listed Nov. 25-27 as the early voting dates for the runoff. Bell said he paid for signs, stickers, door hangers and other campaign materials with those dates on them. On Nov. 12, the DeKalb elections board voted to add weekend early voting dates beginning Nov. 23, the lawsuit says.The county did not post the dates, times and locations for early voting “in a prominent location in the county” as required by law, the lawsuit says.

Iowa: The Iowa Supreme Court has heard arguments in a case that will determine if Iowans may get voting materials in languages other than English. Last year, a Polk County District Court judge ruled counties may offer voter registration forms in different languages. The state appealed, citing the Iowa law that requires all government documents in the state to be in English. Leif Olson, the state’s chief deputy attorney general, said there are ways Iowa citizens who do not speak English can exercise their right to vote, without government-issued documents translated into another language. “The people in the auditor’s office could — speaking the person’s native language — walk them through the form,” he told the justices. “They could call the translation line that’s available for courts for less frequently used languages to have that person walk someone through the form.” The League of United Latin American Citizens of Iowa sued the state three years ago to reverse the policy. The group’s attorney, Uzoma Nkwonta, said federal election law requires states to offer language assistance to citizens who have limited English proficiency and translated voting materials are essential for non-English speakers.

Kentucky: The Boone County Board of Elections has asked the Boone County Circuit Court to strike an election challenge from Union City Commissioner Doug Bine. It has also requested the court postpone the process of discovery – wherein the parties involved in the case seek out evidence for consideration at a trial – until the court rules on the strike request. The Board of Elections filed the motion on December 9, arguing that Bine’s petition to challenge the election in Union, which the commissioner filed on December 4, failed to adhere to proper protocols as established by Kentucky law. They filed a motion to postpone discovery on December 11, which the court granted on the same day. The challenge comes amidst concerns about the operations of the recent election in which some residents claim to have received wrong ballots at two Union polling places. The local races affected include the races for the Union City Commission and the ballot question relating to medical cannabis in the city. Boone County Board of Elections Chair Justin Crigler, who has attributed the problems to “human error,” said in an opinion piece he submitted to LINK nky that voters in two precincts were mistakenly given the wrong ballots by poll workers. The board of elections motion to strike argues that Bine must file a whole new election contest lawsuit rather than piggybacking on the current case, which was begun by Crigler on Nov. 8, when his office requested a recount. Judge Richard Brueggemann of the Boone County Circuit declined to rule on Crigler’s attempt to strike a challenge to the election. Brueggemann’s judgment occurred at a hearing, where he considered arguments from Bine and his legal team, who had brought the challenge to the court, as well as the clerk’s legal team. Union Commissioners Brian Garner and John Mefford, as well as Mayor Larry Solomon, also attended the hearing. “I would be loath to not allow there to be a challenge if there’s already been a determination that an election was improper or invalid,” Bruegemann said. “But I will not violate the law.”

Michigan: The Michigan Court of Appeals has ordered criminal election fraud cases to go forward against two men accused of orchestrating misleading political robocalls to Detroit voters. The charges are related to automated calls during the 2020 election campaign that falsely claimed mail-in ballots would be used to track people with outstanding arrest warrants, for debt collection and to force people to get COVID-19 vaccines. “Don’t be finessed into giving your private information to ‘the man,’’’ said the message. “Stay safe and beware of vote by mail.” The Court of Appeals held in the majority opinion that using fear tactics with made-up consequences to discourage people from voting by mail meets the standard for intimidation. The Michigan Supreme Court ruled in June that misinformation on the consequences of voting by mail could amount to voter intimidation and sent the case to the appeals court to determine if these charges met the threshold. “Voter intimidation infringes upon the fundamental right to vote,” said Nessel in a statement released by her office. “I am grateful the Court of Appeals saw this conduct for what it was—a gross misrepresentation of voting procedures meant to scare voters from participating in our elections. We look forward to continuing with the criminal case and bringing this matter to trial.” Nessel charged Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl, two far-right operatives who created Project 1599, with voter intimidation and other crimes related to the messages sent to almost 12,000 Detroit voters.

New York: After Commissioner Jason Golub stepped down for a state role in August, a timeline for an election was unanimously approved by the city council in October. But an objection from the County’s Republican Elections Commissioner caused confusion. City Republicans nominated Chuck Marshall within 10 days of the timeline’s approval. Democrats failed to nominate anyone, claiming the timeline was not final. Now, after an appeal by the city’s Republican Committee Chair Mike Brandi, Supreme Court Judge James Walsh has ordered that the election move forward. The special election is set for January 28th.

North Carolina: Gov. Roy Cooper and Governor-elect Josh Stein sued Republican leaders after they passed a bill targeting the governor’s and several other council of state members’ authority. The bill — which passed into law despite Cooper’s veto — included changes to the responsibility of governor and attorney general, and changed two judgeship positions to be filled by leaders of the general assembly after their current terms expire. Stein and Cooper, both Democrats, specifically challenged the General Assembly’s reorganization of the state highway patrol in a 69-page suit. “It’s fundamental to our constitution that the legislature can not both make the laws and then choose the leaders who enforce them,” said Cooper in a statement accompanying the suit. “Breaking the executive branch chain of command in law enforcement or any other executive branch agency is unconstitutional and it weakens our ability to respond to emergencies and keep the public safe.”

Judge Jefferson Griffin, the Republican candidate for a contested North Carolina Supreme Court seat, is asking the state’s high court to throw out more than 60,000 voters’ ballots from the 2024 elections — an action that could end with the court deciding whether to overturn the results in an election for one of its own members. The North Carolina State Board of Elections rejected ballot challenges by Griffin, and several other Republican candidates last week, with board chairman Alan Hirsch saying the effort to throw out so many people’s votes “is anathema to the democratic system and simply cannot be tolerated.” Griffin is now appealing to the state’s highest court to hold that ballots cast by people who failed to provide their drivers license number or social security number when they registered to vote, by people who represented they are a U.S. citizen but have never lived in the U.S. and by overseas voters who did not present a photo identification cannot be counted for the Supreme Court election. He claims the state elections board erred when it said Griffin’s opponent, incumbent Democratic Justice Allison Riggs, won the race by fewer than 800 votes. “The state [elections] board is an administrative agency that has knowingly broken the law and refused to do anything about it,” Griffin says in the filing, which was distributed by the state Republican Party. “Indeed, the Board has been breaking our election law for decades. This lawlessness was brought to the Board’s attention back in 2023, before the 2024 general election, but the Board refused to correct its errors. Now those chickens have come home to roost. In the 2024 general election, the Board’s errors changed the outcome of the election for the open seat on this Court.”

Tennessee: The Washington County, Tennessee Election Commission has asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit against it that seeks to rerun the November 5 Johnson City election. The lawsuit was filed by school board candidates Ryan Berkley, Zaire Gary and Sam Pettyjohn and commission candidate Jay Emberton. They allege at least 50 illegal votes in a race where two city commission candidates were separated by just 38 votes. The suit came after News 5 uncovered Carter County election officials gave 44 people the wrong ballot. In its motion to dismiss, attorneys for the Washington County Election Commission argued since most of the alleged illegal votes were in Carter County, the candidates should have sued the Carter County Election Commission. Attorneys argue any alleged illegal votes in Washington County were not enough to alter the race. Attorneys for Washington County also argue the school board candidates do not have standing to sue since the alleged illegal votes could have only impacted the city commission race.

Texas: A Denton County jury sentenced Zul Mirza Mohamed, 43, to four years in prison and 10 years of probation this week after he pled guilty to 25 counts of Method of Returning Ballot and 81 counts of Fraudulent Use of an Application for Ballot by Mail. The sentence stems from Mohamed’s 2020 arrest in connection with the misuse of mail-in ballots for a Carrollton mayoral race for which he was a candidate. Mohamed forged ballot-by-mail applications under Carrollton residents’ names and had them sent to a Lewisville mail store where he leased a virtual mailbox using fake IDs. The three-day jury sentencing trial in 462nd District Court could have resulted in punishment of two to 20 years in prison, fines, or probation. Mohamed remained in custody in Denton County Jail as of Friday afternoon.

Utah: Fourth District Court Judge Shawn Howell ruled Wasatch County clerk-auditor Joey Granger followed the law when she disqualified a school board candidate in November. In her ruling at the evidentiary hearing Wednesday, Dec. 18, Howell said the requirements of Utah law are clear, and Granger acted correctly by disqualifying Stone when he missed a financial disclosure deadline in October. “The petitioner’s disqualification was required under the law because the petitioner, I find, had a clear, independent statutory duty to strictly comply with the financial disclosure deadlines, and he did not do so,” she said. Howell’s decision comes a month after a different judge granted a temporary restraining order, pausing any action in the school board race between Tom Stone and fellow candidate Brad Ehlert. The restraining order meant neither candidate could be certified the winner until Howell issued her ruling. The lawsuit centered on how Granger handled late financial disclosures. Stone argued she waited too long to disqualify him. He turned in his financial report two days after the Oct. 29 deadline, and the county clerk notified him he’d been disqualified more than two weeks later, on Nov. 14.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker