Ballot Measures, Legislation & Rulemaking
Federal Legislation: Democrats in the House and Senate introduced new legislation that seeks to raise the legal bar for states to purge voters based on several factors, such as inactivity or changing residency within the same state. The Voter Purge Protection Act, introduced by Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., and Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, would amend the National Voter Registration Act to make it more difficult for states to kick large numbers of voters off their rolls for actions that Democrats — and many election officials — say are common, overwhelmingly benign and not indicative of voter fraud. Padilla told reporters that the legislation would help ensure “that Americans cannot be stripped of their right to vote without proof that a voter has either passed away or has permanently moved out of their state.” Voters targeted for removal must also be notified by election officials “so that there’s no surprise when they show up to vote on election day that their name is not on the list and it’s too late to address whatever the issue may or may not be,” Padilla said. The bill has 22 Democratic co-sponsors in the Senate and 24 in the House but is unlikely to gain serious consideration under a Republican-controlled Congress, where most GOP members have long believed voter fraud is rampant and are broadly supportive of state and federal efforts to remove voters based on those same factors.
Shasta County, California: This week, the Shasta County Board of Supervisors issued a unanimous statement in support of the free press after Registrar of Voters Clint Curtis said he would no longer provide press releases to Shasta Scout, a local nonprofit newsroom. After the closed session board meeting today, Oct. 14, Board Chair Kevin Crye shared a statement on behalf of all five board members, including three who voted to appoint Curtis just five months ago. “The board unanimously respects the right of the press to have free and unfettered access to public information,” Crye said. “We condemn Mr. Curtis’ action of excluding the press and encourage him to maintain a high level of transparency and access to public information.” “If it occurs again, the board will move to censure,” Crye concluded, as a number of audience members clapped in response. In an interview with reporters after the meeting, Curtis said supervisors were confused indicating that this was not a matter of free speech. He said he didn’t want to share press releases with Shasta Scout because doing so seemed “morally wrong” due to his belief that the organization is “operating improperly” by reporting the news while registered as a nonprofit. Moving forward, Curtis said, he will provide press releases on the Shasta’s election website so they’re available to everyone.
Michigan Ballot Measure: The Michigan Association of County Clerks unanimously voted to oppose a ballot measure seeking to establish ranked choice voting in Michigan, which is being put forth by Rank MI Vote for potential inclusion in the 2026 election. The clerks cited concerns about timeliness of the certification of elections, confusion by voters and delays to any recounts or audits in their opposition to the measure. “Michigan voters are used to knowing who won an election in a timely manner, so it’s incredibly important that we’re able to report accurate, unofficial results on election night,” said Kent County Clerk Lisa Posthumus Lyons in a press release from the association. “Determining a winner will take drastically longer under ranked-choice voting. Delayed results erode the public’s trust by fueling uncertainty and misinformation.” Marquette County Clerk Linda Talsma, who chairs the association, also noted in the release that while they do not generally take positions on ballot measures, the bipartisan group of county officials felt it necessary to urge voters to reject the initiative in this case. “Michigan voters already face some of the longest and most complex ballots in the nation, covering federal, state, county, city, township, school, and special district contests on a single ballot,” reads the official resolution passed by the clerks’ association. “The RankMIVote proposal would further complicate ballots by requiring voters to numerically rank candidates in certain contests while others remain unchanged, adding inconsistency, voter confusion, and voter fatigue.”
Nebraska Ballot Measure: Advocates for All Nebraskans, a nonprofit behind a handful of Nebraska ballot initiatives announced a campaign this week to gather signatures for two new ones aimed at conservative election goals. One would alter how the state awards Electoral College votes for president, giving all five to the winner of the popular vote statewide. The other would require elections in the state to be conducted exclusively using paper ballots counted by hand. The winner-take-all constitutional amendment is identical to State Sen. Myron Dorn of Adams’ legislative resolution this year on letting voters decide whether to shift the state to winner-take-all, which did not get scheduled for a vote. A separate proposal to make the change in statute from State Sen. Loren Lippincott, Legislative Bill 3, fell to a filibuster. The proposed constitutional amendment for paper ballots and hand counting would ban many voting machines from being used. Voting machines that produce voter-verifiable paper records like Nebraska’s would be exempt. It would require all elections to be done by paper ballot by July 2027. The group would need to gather the signatures of 10 percent of the state’s registered voters for the winner-take-all initiative that would change the state constitution. The hand-counting ballot initiative would need 7 percent of the state’s registered voters, since that one is changing state law. Both have until July to get on the November 2026 ballot.
Ohio: State Senator Theresa Gavarone (R-Bowling Green) has introduced legislation that could change Ohio’s absentee ballot deadline. If signed into law, Senate Bill 293 would require all mail-in absentee ballots to be delivered to county boards of elections by the time polls close on Election Day. Current state law allows absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if they arrive within four days following. Gaverone stated the proposal would bring Ohio’s process in line with federal election standards and recent executive orders signed by President Donald Trump back in March, which directed the U.S. Attorney General to enforce laws requiring ballots to be received by Election Day for counting. Gavarone is co-sponsoring the bill with Senator Andrew Brenner (R-Delaware). The legislation has been referred to the Senate General Government Committee for consideration.
Legal Updates
U.S. Supreme Court: The Supreme Court appeared ready to strike down a 2024 congressional map that a group of voters has challenged as the product of unconstitutional racial gerrymandering – that is, according to them, it sorts voters based on race in violation of the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause. During nearly two-and-a-half hours of oral arguments, the court’s conservative justices signaled that they are likely to undermine a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, even if they may not ultimately strike it down altogether. This week’s oral argument was the latest chapter in a dispute that dates back to 2022, when Louisiana adopted a new congressional map in the wake of the 2020 census. Roughly one-third of the state’s population is Black, but the 2022 map had only one majority-Black district out of the six districts allotted to the state. That prompted a group of Black voters to go to federal court, where they argued that the 2022 map violated Section 2 of the federal Voting Rights Act, which bars discrimination in voting practices. At this week’s oral argument, lawyer Janai Nelson, representing the Black voters, defended the 2024 map. She told the justices that “[a] mere two years ago, in Allen versus Milligan, a case nearly identical to” this one, the Supreme Court “noted that under certain circumstances, it has authorized race-based redistricting to remedy state redistricting maps that violate Section 2.” Louisiana Solicitor General Benjamin Aguiñaga, by contrast, urged the court to “reevaluate its voting precedents.” Although the state had defended the 2024 map when the case was before the Supreme Court in March, Aguiñaga told the justices on Wednesday that those precedents had “placed states in impossible situations where the only sure demand is more racial discrimination for more decades.” Therefore, he said, “we have taken the position that Section 2, insofar as it requires race-based redistricting, is unconstitutional.”
Arkansas: Pulaski County Circuit Judge Patricia James said she would issue a ruling quickly in a lawsuit seeking to move up the dates of the Senate District 26 special election after a hearing this week. The lawsuit seeks an earlier date for a special election to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Branch Republican Sen. Gary Stubblefield. The suit alleges the current schedule prevents District 26 voters from having a voice during the 2026 fiscal session, which begins in April. The attorney general’s office is representing the defendants, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Secretary of State Cole Jester. During this week’s hearing, Senior Assistant Attorney General Ryan Hale said the case should be dismissed because the plaintiff failed to state a claim and because of sovereign immunity, the legal doctrine that the state cannot be sued in its own courts. James said she understood the time-sensitivity of the case at the end of the two-hour hearing, but didn’t issue a ruling. “I know it’s important to everyone here” that a decision be made in the case soon, James told the packed courtroom. “It will be quick.”
Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin said his office has obtained warrants to arrest two men, including paper ballot advocate Conrad Reynolds, on a misdemeanor charge related to the November 2024 general election. Reynolds, a retired U.S. Army colonel who lost bids for the Republican nomination in Arkansas’ 2nd congressional district in 2014 and 2022, and Dustin Black are accused of violating Arkansas Code §7-1-103, which prohibits electioneering within 100 feet of the entrance to a building where voting is taking place or being there for any purpose except to enter or leave the building. Reynolds of Conway is the leader of a group that has been advocating for counties to switch from voting machines to hand-marked and hand-counted ballots. “The evidence in this case includes a video of both men conducting exit polling approximately 30 feet from a polling site,” Griffin said in the news release. “This case, and the misdemeanor warrants we obtained, are about one thing: following the law,” he added.
Florida: Maria Bautista, 26 of Marion County, was sentenced after being convicted of voter fraud. Bautista was originally arrested in 2023 after investigators uncovered a petition fraud scheme. She unlawfully used personal information of multiple people, including Marion County’s Supervisor of Elections Wesley Wilcox, to forge ballot petition signatures. Judges sentenced her to four-and-a-half years in prison for 13 counts of Fraudulent Use of Personal Information.
Hawai: The Republican National Committee sued the state of Hawaiʻi and its chief election officer this week, claiming Hawaiʻi was violating laws by failing to provide information about how it maintains voter registration records. Chief Election Officer Scott Nago failed to address the RNC’s questions about what records the state maintains regarding voter rolls, the suit says, adding that this violates Hawai‘i’s open records law and federal disclosure requirements. The suit was filed in Honolulu’s First Circuit Court. Hawaiʻi law states that the counties, not the state, are responsible for maintaining and updating voter rolls, and the suit acknowledged that Nago had advised the RNC to contact the counties directly. But the suit argues that under the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 all states are required to “conduct a general program that makes a reasonable effort to remove the names of ineligible voters from the official lists of eligible voters.” “It would be highly unlikely for the Office not to have any of the types of records requested, such as memos, manuals, policies, emails, or voter registration data,” the suit states. It added that the RNC reached out to elections officials on Kauaʻi and Hawaiʻi island for information about voters and was told to contact the state.
Illinois: DuPage County Clerk Jean Kaczmarek is asking for a judge’s help to get two key vendors who provide election-related services paid. Last week, the clerk’s office filed a motion for a temporary restraining order to get two bills — totaling more than $230,000 — paid so the county can plan for the 2026 election. In the motion, both companies indicated they would no longer work with the county unless they receive payment and are given assurances that they will be paid for work related to the 2026 election. “Elections must be planned months in advance,” Kaczmarek said in a written statement. “The time to contract with our vendors for the primary is now, and no business will agree to work they aren’t being paid for. The voters elected me to administer elections, and my efforts to do so continue to be illegally obstructed.” The two bills prompted the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office earlier this year to request a special prosecutor to conduct an investigation to determine if the clerk’s office violated state laws regarding competitive bidding. The Illinois attorney general’s office was appointed to the complaint but has not yet made a ruling or issued any findings.
Indiana: U.S. District Judge Richard L. Young refused to dismiss a lawsuit challenging Indiana’s student ID voting ban — a procedural win for young voters and pro-voting advocates who say the GOP-backed law was designed to suppress student voting. Young denied Republicans’ motion to dismiss a case brought by students and voting rights groups against Indiana. The ruling means the challenge can proceed — and the court’s detailed reasoning suggests it’s extremely skeptical about the law’s constitutionality. “By removing a form of identification used by ‘tens of thousands of young voters’ in Indiana, SB 10 makes voting more difficult for student voters than it was before the law was enacted,” Young wrote. “Plaintiffs have alleged facts that plausibly suggest that they are entitled to relief under the First, Fourteenth, and Twenty-Sixth Amendments.” For months, voting rights advocates have argued that Senate Bill 10 (SB 10), passed by the GOP-controlled legislature earlier this year, intentionally targeted college students, many of whom lean Democratic, by eliminating their public university-issued IDs as acceptable identification for voting. “Students seeking alternative forms of identification face special barriers at every step of the process,” Young noted. “Obtaining a state ID card from the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles (‘BMV’) requires time, travel, and documentation that can be difficult to obtain and that students are significantly less likely to have than older voters.”
Maine: District Attorney Natasha Irving of Prosecutorial District 6 has announced she is dismissing the case brought against a state lawmaker who was accused of attempting to influence an election. Maine Rep. Nina Milliken, D-Blue Hill, was charged last month with illegal electioneering, which is when a candidate for office attempts to influence voters too close to the polling location. Irving announced that the evidence in the original report from the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office included witnesses who did not hear Milliken make unlawful statements, and three witnesses who indicated the legislator’s statements did violate the law. Irving said Milliken’s defense attorney spoke with two of the three witnesses who previously indicated Milliken’s statements were illegal, and it became clear based on those conversations that they were not certain they heard the specific statements that violate Maine law.
Minnesota: Danielle Christine Javorina, 51, of Nashwauk pleaded guilty this week to voter fraud and was ordered to read a book and write a 10-page essay about the importance of democratic elections. Javorina admitted to filling out an absentee ballot in the name of her recently deceased mother ahead of the 2024 general election. Javorina, according to court documents, later told an investigator her mother was an “avid Donald Trump supporter” who hoped to vote for the Republican presidential nominee. The fraudulent submission was flagged by election officials before it could be counted. Javorina, asserted that she has no recollection of mailing the ballots back to the elections office due to intoxication. For that reason, she entered a Norgaard plea to a felony count of signing a false election certificate — acknowledging that the evidence would be sufficient for a judge or jury to find her guilty. The Itasca County Auditor’s Office said it received sealed ballot envelopes containing signatures for both on Oct. 7, 2024. But a routine check of the Minnesota Vital Statistics death report showed that Rose Javorina had died Aug. 31. Javorina will spend up to three years on supervised probation, undergo a psychological evaluation, and pay an $885 fine and any restitution. She agreed to read the book “Thank You for Voting: The Maddening, Enlightening, Inspiring Truth About Voting in America” by Erin Geiger Smith and write a 10-page paper about “the importance of voting in a democracy and how election fraud can undermine the voting process.”
U.S. Virgin Islands: A former senatorial candidate and three Virgin Islands Board of Elections members from the St. Thomas/St. John District submitted a civil complaint for a temporary restraining order and injunction in Superior Court to prevent Chair Raymond Williams from holding meetings, including one he chaired prior to the filing of the complaint, according to a court document. The plaintiffs are also seeking a TRO and injunction against Williams, of St. Croix, to block him from changing the board’s bylaws or casting any votes to make such changes, as well as to block him from participating in any further financial transactions of the board as a member or its chair, until these matters are legally resolved. The plaintiffs believe Williams has knowingly, intentionally, and publicly engaged in and is liable for five counts alleged in their complaint — conflict of interest; conspiracy; abuse of authority under the color of law; violation of constitutional rights to equal protection, due process, and free association; and fraud. <
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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