Ballot Measures, Legislation & Rulemaking
Florida: Sen. Tina Polsky (D- Boca Raton) is refiling a bill that proposes a statewide database to reduce legal uncertainty and assist individuals with certain felony convictions in restoring their voting rights. Polsky filed the revised measure (SB 132), which aims to streamline the process of restoring the voting rights of individuals with certain felony convictions, and help determine whether they’ve met the legal criteria for restoration under Florida law. Polsky filed an almost identical bill (SB 848) during the 2025 Legislative Session; however, the bill died during its passage through the Criminal Justice Committee. The Florida Commission on Offender Review would be required to develop and maintain a centralized, publicly accessible database that contains information for individuals disqualified from voting due to felony convictions, excluding individuals who have been convicted of murder or felony sexual offenses. The database would be required to contain information for individuals, including their name, and other identifying information. It would need to include information on outstanding restitution, fines, fees, and the remaining length of any term of supervision, such as probation, community control, or parole ordered by the court as part of his or her sentence.
Fort Walton Beach, Florida: The Fort Walton Beach City Council voted 5-2 on October 14 to advance a referendum that would move city elections from March of odd years to November of even years, aligning with statewide general elections. The proposed charter amendment would establish the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of each general election year as the date for mayor and city council races. The ordinance will come back for first and second readings before the ballot question can appear before voters in March 2026. Councilman David Schmidt, who made the motion to advance the proposal, argued that current low turnout creates voter fatigue. “I think a real voter fatigue is after they go through an exhausting nationwide campaign and turn around and they see a whole bunch more signs in January and February that have to do with another election that historically our record has been like 11% voter turnout,” he said. Under the proposal, seats one through four, elected in 2023, would next appear on the ballot Nov. 3, 2026, with terms beginning April 1, 2027. Seats five through seven and the mayor’s office, elected in 2025, would be on the Nov. 7, 2028 ballot, with terms starting April 1, 2029. On October 28, the proposed ordinance language will be brought back to council for approval. First reading will be at the November 18 meeting, followed by second reading on December 16. The change would require approval by a majority of voters to take effect.
Georgia State Board of Elections: The Georgia State Board of Elections voted 3-2 this week to recommend the Legislature ban no-excuse absentee voting. Board member Janice Johnston, a GOP appointee who introduced the recommendation, said that absentee voting “should be the exception rather than the rule,” arguing that it poses a higher risk of voter fraud. She also argued that Georgia’s three-week early voting period makes absentee voting unnecessary. Board Chair John Fervier vehemently opposed the recommendation, arguing that restrictions on absentee ballot access would place an unnecessary burden on voters, particularly low-income voters. “There are a lot of people out there that work seven days a week to feed their families, make ends meet — especially now — and restricting their access to absentee voting is not fair to those people,” Fervier said. “When you have to earn a dollar every day to feed your family, you can’t take a day off to go vote,” he added. Sara Tindall Ghazal, the only Democratic member of the board, also opposed the proposal, arguing that there wasn’t a clear reason to change the law and noting that absentee ballots only account for a small percentage of votes cast in Georgia. During the 2024 election, roughly 5% of voters cast an absentee ballot. The board also voted 3-1 to recommend that the Legislature limit the amount of time overseas and military voters have to return absentee ballots. The board also voted 2-0 to begin the rulemaking process for a bipartisan proposal that aims to clarify the circumstances under which voters can use paper ballots rather than ballot-marking devices.
LaSalle County, Illinois: La Salle County election judges might not be getting a pay raise, after all. Don Jensen, chairman of the La Salle County Board, circulated an email Thursday advising board members that he would not sign the recently enacted increase in compensation for election judges. “I’m all about fair and well-run elections,” Jensen said, “but I think that pay increase is excessive.” The proposed increase was from $185 to $300, a jump of 62.2%. The county board adopted the raise on Oct. 9 by a vote of 16-11. Despite the majority vote, Jensen cited board rules giving him the authority not to sign the ordinance. “I believe the pay increase is not appropriate, it being a 62.2% increase and by the information given by the County Clerk, that level of pay is not necessary to attract people to fill the spots,” Jensen told board members via email. “The goal of having adequate numbers of election judges to run the polls to ensure fair, well-run elections should also be considered along with the cost to the taxpayers.” Jensen said the ordinance would be brought back to the full board on Nov. 3 for reconsideration. County Clerk Jennifer Ebner issued a brief statement when asked for comment. “Per advice from the (La Salle County) States Attorney’s Office, this is a valid course of action the county board chairman can take.”
Parke County, Indiana: Parke County Commissioners approved a request by the Parke County Election Board to go to vote centers and keep all nine vote centers open to voters. The decision, which was unanimous, came on the heels of discussions to possibly eliminate polling places at Tangier, Lyford and Bridgeton. “We want everyone to have access, and that’s why this is so important now. People have the same access they have always have, and now they have more and can go anyplace to vote. If they are working someplace and didn’t have a chance to go vote at 6 in the morning, now they can go vote on their lunch or whatever. I think it will open up for more people to vote anyway. The whole idea is to make it easier on people to get more people out,” Commissioner Jim Meece said. Nicole Collings, Parke County Clerk, told the commissioners that after an election or two, they will re-examine the vote center idea, but for now, there will be nine vote centers.
Louisiana: Gov. Jeff Landry has summoned the Louisiana Legislature for a three-week special session starting this week to address next year’s election plans. The special session will begin Thursday, Oct. 23, and end no later than Nov. 13. Lawmakers will be allowed to file bills related to “election code, election dates, election deadlines, and election plans for the 2026 election cycle” and funding bills related to those items. The governor’s call is broadly written and could allow for a wide variety of election bills. Senate President Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, said that the governor told him that Landry’s priorities are to move back qualifying deadlines for next fall’s election to give the state an opportunity to react to a U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling expected sometime next spring. Justices heard arguments last week in Callais v. Louisiana, a decision that could require or allow the adoption of new congressional maps. Henry said no new maps would be drawn in this session.
Ohio: Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation that would restrict the mail-in deadline, requiring all absentee ballots to be received by elections officials by the time polls close. Some veterans raised concerns that this could prevent military and overseas ballots from being counted. Right now, ballots will still be counted when returned within four days of the election, as long as they are postmarked by Election Day. In 2023, a massive election overhaul bill changed the deadline from the seventh day after the election to the fourth. But state lawmakers want to change that. “We want to make sure that something as precious as your vote is being done accurately and that our voters know we’re doing things correctly,” state Sen. Theresa Gavarone, R-Bowling Green, said. Gavarone and state Sen. Andrew Brenner, R-Delaware, introduced Senate Bill 293, requiring all ballots to be returned by the close of polls on election night. Gavarone said that sometimes ballots are received without being postmarked, so they may not be counted. “Your ballot has to be received on election day, on or before, so that there won’t be any ambiguity,” Gavarone said. Brenner said that he had been working with Secretary of State Frank LaRose and his team on the bill. Veterans argue that this could disenfranchise anyone voting by mail, especially military personnel. According to state data, about 17,000 of the more than one million Ohioans who voted by mail in 2024’s presidential election were military. Overall, nearly 10,000 ballots came in during the four days after the election.
Wyoming: Four bills seeking to catch and prevent election botching in Wyoming are headed into the 2026 legislative session after the Management Audit Committee advanced them all this week. The first bill committee members advanced would increase the $100 potential maximum fine for defying a legislative subpoena to $750, which is a more common figure associated with six-month misdemeanors across state law. The nine committee members present voted in favor of that. The second bill would specify that submitting a false post-election audit to the Wyoming Secretary of State’s Office is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines. The third bill would layer transparency onto the post-election audit process, requiring the county clerk to notify the county chairman of each political party represented on the ballot, and a representative of all independent candidates of the time and place of the audit. It would require two or more electors of that county, from different political parties, to attend and observe the audit and its results. In Wyoming, electors of a county and/or the county commissioners may submit a complaint to the governor, asking the governor to remove a county official from office, state law says. The fourth bill the committee advanced would make the secretary of state a valid complainant when the alleged misconduct is an election offense.
Legal Updates
Federal Litigation: According to Reuters, Newsmax Media said that it is in talks to settle a lawsuit over nearly half a million dollars in legal fees the right-leaning news outlet allegedly failed to pay its lawyers in a defamation case brought by a voting machine company after the 2020 U.S. presidential election. U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston on October 16 put the lawsuit brought by law firm Todd & Weld on hold for 30 days after Newsmax and Todd & Weld said, pausing the case would “facilitate ongoing settlement discussions.” Newsmax said in a statement it “has paid Todd & Weld close to 95% of all bills invoiced but we are disputing Howard Cooper’s billing and performance on several matters.” Cooper is a founding partner at Todd & Weld. A spokesperson for Boston-based Todd & Weld did not immediately respond to request for comment. Todd & Weld sued Newsmax last month, alleging that the company still owes more than $426,000 for its work defending Newsmax in a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems. The law firm alleged that Newsmax “acknowledges” the firm is owed fees but “simply refuses to pay.”
Arizona: The Arizona Supreme Court says the biennial election rulebook that tells local elections officials how to implement state law doesn’t have to follow the standard rule-making process, reversing an appellate ruling that possibly invalidated the rulebook created in advance of the 2024 election. The Court issued an order late last week, reversing a March decision from the Arizona Court of Appeals which ruled that Secretary of State Adrian Fontes violated the Arizona Administrative Procedures Act when he didn’t allow enough time for public comment on the 2023 Election Procedures Manual. “I am relieved and gratified by today’s decision,” Fontes said in a statement. “The rule of law has prevailed. The Court’s unanimous order confirms what every Secretary of State, Republican and Democrat alike, has always understood: the Legislature created a distinct process for adopting the Elections Procedures Manual, and that process stands apart from the Administrative Procedures Act.” The 2023 manual, as well as the 2025 version — which is not yet finalized — have both been heavily criticized by Republicans, who take issue with multiple guidelines and rules added by Fontes, a Democrat. Fontes deleted some portions of the 2023 EPM from the new version in response to other court cases that challenged or blocked those provisions. In February 2024, the Republican National Committee sued, joined by the state and Yavapai County branches of the party, alleging that the 2023 EPM was “designed to undermine election integrity in Arizona.” In May 2024, a trial court dismissed the RNC’s arguments that Fontes violated the Administrative Procedures Act in creating the 2023 EPM by allowing only 15 days for public comment instead of 30, concluding that the Administrative Procedures Act didn’t apply to the EPM. The RNC appealed that decision. In March, the Arizona Court of Appeals overturned the trial court’s decision. The Arizona Supreme Court issued a short, two-page order overturning that appellate decision and sending the case back to the appeals court to determine whether any of the eight specific EPM provisions that the RNC challenged in the suit violate state law.
Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap is asking a judge to stop an audit of the county’s election system after it was authorized by the Board of Supervisors. The Board of Supervisors, a five-member elected panel led by four Republicans, has been planning to contract a third-party vendor to conduct a systemwide assessment of election infrastructure. However, Heap believes the board is overstepping its authority and filed a request for a temporary restraining order to stop the audit last week. The judge responded to the filing on Friday by setting an evidentiary hearing for Nov. 6, when each side will have 45 minutes to make its case. When it comes to the audit, Heap said he wasn’t involved in the process to select a vendor and has concerns about giving third-party auditors access to sensitive information about Maricopa County’s 2.6 million registered voters.
Arkansas: The Democratic Party of Arkansas filed a lawsuit against the governor this week seeking an earlier date for the House District 70 special election. The HD 70 seat became vacant last month after North Little Rock Republican Rep. Carlton Wing resigned to become the new executive director and CEO of Arkansas PBS. On Oct. 10, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders scheduled special primary and general elections for March 3 and June 9, 2026, respectively, to select a new representative for the district, which includes portions of Pulaski County. The dates are the same as the Senate District 26 special election, which is being challenged in a separate lawsuit. A Pulaski County circuit judge who held a hearing in that case last week said she would rule quickly. Sam Dubke, a Sanders spokesperson, issued a statement saying the governor, in consultation with election officials, “decided that lining up the District 70 special election with the District 26 special election is just common sense, saves taxpayer dollars, and ensures the election is free, fair, and secure.”
Pulaski County Judge Patricia James ruled in favor of a Franklin County resident and said a June 2026 special election to fill a vacant state Senate seat unconstitutionally deprives voters of a voice in next year’s legislative session. James’ eight-page ruling orders the state to hold the election “as soon as practicable” after the legal limit of 150 days from the vacancy to ensure that the date for the special election “will not infringe upon or curtail the constitutional and fundamental rights of the citizens of Arkansas Senate District 26.” Attorney General Tim Griffin and Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said through spokespersons that they plan to appeal. James’ ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by Colt Shelby of Cecil against Sanders and Secretary of State Cole Jester over Sanders’ decision last month to schedule a special election in the district after the death of Republican Sen. Gary Stubblefield of Branch. Sanders originally set the election for Nov. 13, but after bipartisan pushback she revised the general election date to June 9, 2026. That date would still occur after the end of the fiscal session, set to begin April 8 and end May 7. State law requires that special elections to fill legislative vacancies be held no later than 150 days after the vacancy, unless it is “impracticable or unduly burdensome” to do so. James said in her ruling that setting the dates in June, after multiple county election officials testified that earlier dates were possible, amounted to “an infringement of a constitutional right based on the fundamental democratic principle of ‘no taxation without representation.’”
California: A three-judge California 4th District Court of Appeals panel heard arguments this week in Huntington Beach’s voter ID case. The state of California, as well as Huntington Beach resident Mark Bixby, are trying to overturn a ruling made in April by an Orange County Superior Court judge who determined the city would be within its right to require voter identification in municipal elections. Oral arguments in both related cases were heard in back-to-back hearings this week. Huntington Beach voters in a March 2024 special election passed Measure A, adding into the city’s charter that officials “may” institute those requirements beginning in 2026. Earlier this year, O.C. Superior Court Judge Nico Dourbetas ruled that a voter ID requirement would not compromise the integrity of a local election. California Deputy Atty. Gen. Michael Cohen, arguing on behalf of the state, noted state election policy has traditionally out ruled local control. He added that with the charter amendment, Huntington Beach could require its residents to vote twice, at two different locations, on Election Day. John Howard, outside counsel representing Huntington Beach added that the state’s lawsuit was premature, given that Huntington Beach has not yet propagated any new election rules via a follow-up ordinance.
Colorado: Elizabeth Ann Davis, 61, of Castle Rock could be sentenced to three years in prison after she was convicted of voter fraud this week, prosecutors say. The 23rd Judicial District Attorney’s Office says Davis faced a jury, which found her guilty on two counts of forgery and one count of “personating an elector.” Prosecutors say that in 2022, Davis cast a ballot in her dead ex-husband’s name and also cast a ballot for her son. “Voter fraud threatens the core of our democracy. There must be consequences for those who break that trust,” Deputy District Attorney Chase Helseth said in a press release. The district attorney’s office says Davis is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 9, 2026. Prosecutors say she could face penalties ranging from probation to three years in prison.
Florida: Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a petition from a Sarasota resident who challenged Florida’s closed primary election system. Michael J. Polelle is a former attorney and emeritus professor at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law. An independent voter, he was upset after moving to Sarasota in 2012 and learning that as a nonparty-affiliated (NPA) voter, he was shut out of county commission primaries because of the state’s closed system. Without the aid of a law firm but with assistance from some of the legal contacts he’s maintained in Chicago, he filed a lawsuit in 2022 in the U.S. Middle District Court of Florida challenging the state’s ban on open primaries, saying it violates his rights under the First Amendment and Equal Protection Clause to political free speech and association. Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd and Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Ron Turner were listed as defendants. U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday dismissed the case in November 2022, ruling that Polelle lacked standing and had failed to state a claim for relief. Merryday also found that Florida’s interest in preventing unaffiliated voters’ potential to undermine a political party’s candidate-selection process outweighed his desire to vote in a partisan primary election, especially given the minimal burdens that Florida law imposes on voters who wish to join or switch political parties. He then filed an appeal last year with the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. In an 112-page ruling released in March, a three-judge panel rejected his arguments.
Georgia: A voting rights advocate and longtime city commissioner in Coffee County suffered a loss this week in a federal lawsuit she was pursuing against election officials after she was arrested for helping voters in 2020. Olivia Coley-Pearson is suing the county election board and former election supervisor Emily Misty Martin. Coley-Pearson was an elected commissioner for the city of Douglas in Coffee County when a city policeman arrested her at a polling site during early voting in 2020. Martin had called police on Coley-Pearson, complaining she was causing a disruption while helping voters. Police issued a criminal trespass warning, but Coley-Pearson returned later that day and was arrested. Coley-Pearson had a long history of helping illiterate voters cast their ballots. After the criminal case against her was dismissed in 2022, she sued Martin and the Coffee County Board of Elections, alleging violation of her constitutional rights to free speech and against false arrest. A federal judge in Atlanta ruled against Coley-Pearson in 2023, so she appealed to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled against her Tuesday.
Indiana: League of Women Voters of Indiana, Common Cause Indiana, Hoosier Asian American Power and Exodus Refugee Immigration have sued to pause enforcement of Indiana’s recently enacted proof of citizenship efforts, which they allege violate federal voter registration and civil rights laws. The plaintiffs also sought information on the Hoosiers affected. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for Indiana’s Southern District. It names Secretary of State Diego Morales as a defendant, along with Indiana Election Division Co-Directors Bradley King and Angela Nussmeyer. “Since July 1, 2025, Indiana has started to enforce laws that rely on stale, error-ridden data and demand that only certain U.S. citizens produce documentary proof of citizenship to register or to remain registered to vote,” the complaint reads. It goes on to allege the requirements “risk disenfranchising eligible Hoosier voters” who are naturalized citizens, or who derived citizenship through their parents’ naturalization. One of the statutes, 2024’s House Enrolled Act 1264, requires designated National Voter Registration Act officials to compare the state voter rolls with an Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles database to identify registered voters who hold temporary driver’s licenses or identification cards. The other, 2025’s House Enrolled Act 1680, applies to those who register to vote with temporary credential numbers. Under both laws, county election officials send notices to flagged Hoosiers, who have 30 days to provide proof of citizenship. Otherwise, under the first law, they’re stripped from the voter rolls, and under the second, their registration applications are rejected. The plaintiffs allege the laws violate the NVRA and Civil Rights Act because they discriminate against naturalized and derived citizens. The statutes also demand information that isn’t “equivalent” to federal requirements, they wrote.
Maryland: Anne Arundel County Circuit Court Judge Pamela K. Alban issued a partial ruling this week in favor of a group of unaffiliated Maryland voters who are challenging the state’s closed primary election system. Alban determined the voters had standing to file their case, but she has yet to decide whether she’ll dismiss the case on other grounds raised by the defendants — or allow it to proceed. She said she will issue a written ruling in the coming days. Alban indicated she was skeptical of the voters’ arguments in their lawsuit that their claims were not resolved by prior case law, but said she planned to continue considering the “nuance” of the law. “I want to think about it a bit more,” Alban said. “I imagine no matter what I do, this may not be the end.” The group of voters in the Maryland suit are challenging the fact that the state government funds primary elections that are not open to all voters, since voters must generally affiliate with the Democratic or Republican party to cast their ballots in primaries — unless it’s a non-partisan race. Their suit names the State Board of Elections and various state officials as defendants. Daniel Kobrin, an assistant attorney general representing the defendants, argued that the case was focused on an alleged “waste of taxpayer money,” and that the plaintiffs didn’t have the standing to sue based on their status as taxpayers. Eric Gunderson, an attorney for the voters, said that the plaintiffs are not arguing that the state shouldn’t fund primaries. Rather, they are arguing that, if the state continues to sponsor those elections, they should be open to all. The political parties could opt to fund their own primary elections if they wished to continue restricting participation, Gunderson said. Alban agreed with him, ruling that the case was an elections matter — not a taxpayer one — and that the five plaintiffs had standing to sue because they are all registered voters in the state.
Michigan: Four felony election fraud cases against a Hamtramck City Councilman have been dismissed after two witnesses in the case failed to appear in court this week. Councilman Muhtasin Sadman was accused of forging an absentee ballot and aiding two unqualified electors to vote in the 2023 election. Monroe County Assistant Prosecutor Ragan Lake said the two witnesses did not appear despite being served subpoenas to attend court October 20. Sadman was charged with forging a signature on an absentee ballot, election law forgery, two counts of aiding an unqualified elector in an attempt to vote and making a false statement on an absentee ballot. All are felonies except the making a false statement on an absentee ballot charge, which is a misdemeanor. Judge Alexis Krot in Hamtramck’s 31st District Court set a pretrial date in November to continue with the prosecution of the misdemeanor case.
Frank Prezzato of St. Clair Shores, who admitted voting twice in the August 2024 primary was sentenced to six months of probation in Macomb County Circuit Court. Prezzato was one of four voters accused in the case in St. Clair Shores. He pleaded guilty Sept. 3 to one count of election law-voting absentee and in person. The Michigan Attorney General’s Office dismissed another charge — offering to vote more than once — at sentencing Oct. 22 before Circuit Judge Anthony Servitto. In addition to probation, Prezzato received credit for one day served in the county jail, according to online court records. According to those records and a prior news release from the attorney general’s office, Prezzato sought to delay sentencing for six months and upon successful completion of probation, the charge to which he entered his plea would be dismissed with prejudice. The delayed sentencing hearing is set for April 15 in the circuit court.
Nebraska: Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen is asking a district court judge to pause a lawsuit over whether he will hand the state’s voter data to the federal government in light of the ongoing federal shutdown. Solicitor General Cody Barnett and the state Attorney General’s Office, on behalf of Evnen in a motion, asked that the case be delayed so Evnen could continue discussions with the U.S. Department of Justice over how voter privacy would be protected. Negotiations had to pause because of the ongoing federal shutdown since Sept. 30. The motion states that without federal funding, Justice Department attorneys can’t work, even on a voluntary basis. It asks to pause the case until Evnen can reopen discussions, but to resume it no more than 60 days after the shutdown ends. “It is in the interest of judicial economy and conducive to an efficient resolution of this matter that this agreement be completed and available for production before the next stages of litigation,” the motion states. Evnen anticipates the discussions “will yield an agreement that will impact the arguments made in this case,” according to the motion. That could mean getting in writing how the privacy of the voter information — names, dates of birth, driver’s license numbers and the last four digits of voters’ Social Security numbers — would be protected. The motion also confirms that Evnen will not send the requested voter data to the federal government during the course of the lawsuit.
New Hampshire: Grace Gato, 44, of Hudson, a journalist, aspiring filmmaker, and progressive Democrat activist, was charged earlier this month with a misdemeanor count of wrongful voting after an investigation into a claim she attempted to obtain a ballot for her dead mother in October 2024, after a town clerk employee contacted the Election Law Unit of the department of justice. The clerk also received an anonymous letter accusing Gato of potentially attempting to vote for her deceased mother. Gato, according to an email to Patch and an affidavit, was caregiver for her mother, Ruby Ponce, who died on Oct. 15, 2024. Eight days after her mother’s passing, Gato went to the town clerk’s office to obtain an absentee ballot for her mother on Oct. 21, 2024, an affidavit said. She submitted the ballot application and signed an attestation saying she was assisting her mother because she had a disability, the report said. The affidavit said there was probable cause for two charges against Galo: One for wrongful voting; penalties for voter fraud and applying for an absentee ballot in a name other than her own. The attorney general’s office is pursuing one count.
New Jersey: Gloucester County is being forced into a quick redesign of its 2025 election ballot. On Oct. 10, a state appellate division court said the format the county clerk’s office used was in clear violation of New Jersey law. This ruling came as result of a lawsuit filed by members of the Gloucester County GOP committee, plus county commissioner candidates Jonathan M. Sammons and Byron Driscoll. The decision also reverses the greater part of a county Superior Court order issued Oct. 7 in the case. Attorneys Josiah Contarino of Newark and Marla DeMarcantonio of Woodbury represented the plaintiffs. The defendants were County Clerk James N. Hogan, Deputy County Clerk Heather Pool, county Elections Superintendent Stephanie Salvatore and members of the county’s board of elections. “I just wanted to first say — we’re happy with this result,” Contarino said Thursday, Oct. 16. “We think it’s showing that voting done in accordance with the governing law is important, not just for election integrity but also voter confidence.” County residents who vote in person, including those using early voting opportunities, are to be presented with an amended ballot. Sample ballots, which are to be mailed out soon, are also to be revised.
New York: The New York state Court of Appeals unanimously ruled last week that a new state law that will move most local elections to even-numbered years to align with state and federal races is constitutional. The ruling by the seven justices on the state’s highest court puts an end to a lengthy legal battle over a law New York Democrats adopted in 2023 that moves most town and county races outside of New York City to even-numbered years to coincide with races for Congress, governor or president. The change excludes villages and races for county clerk, sheriff, district attorneys, local judges and others protected under the state Constitution. “The Court of Appeals’ unanimous decision to uphold New York’s even-year election law is a victory for democracy and all New Yorkers,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement. “I championed this legislation because I believe our state is stronger when more people have the opportunity to make their voices heard. By aligning local elections with the state and federal calendar, we’re making it easier for New Yorkers to participate in government. At a time when voting rights are under attack across the nation, New York is proudly moving in the opposite direction.” The decision ends a longstanding legal challenge spearheaded by Republican leaders in Onondaga County, who argued the change erodes the power of local governments and it conflicts with individual county charters.
U.S. Virgin Islands: A civil lawsuit seeking to remove V.I. Board of Elections Chairman Raymond Williams from the board and halt its meetings was dismissed after Superior Court Judge Alphonso G. Andrews, Jr. rejected a request for a temporary restraining order and found the plaintiffs had not presented evidence to support their allegations of illegality, fraud, or conflict of interest. The case was brought by board members Lawrence Boschulte, Harriet Mercer, and Atanya Springette, along with Collister Fahie, who represented the group pro se. The plaintiffs asked the court to remove Williams from his position and from the board, claiming the Board of Elections had met without a quorum and that Williams’s roles as board chair, executive director of the V.I. Lottery, and a commissioner on the V.I. Public Services Commission created a conflict of interest. They also alleged “illegal activities,” fraud, and constitutional violations. Andrews dismissed all counts, concluding the plaintiffs failed to substantiate their claims. He noted that no documentary evidence supported the wide-ranging accusations; plaintiffs relied on witness statements that did not establish the alleged wrongdoing.
Wisconsin: The Wisconsin Elections Commission appealed a Waukesha County Judge Michael Maxwell’s order requiring election officials to verify the citizenship of all registered voters and people seeking to register. According to Votebeat, attorneys for the Wisconsin Department of Justice wrote that the Waukesha County Circuit Court decision was “impermissively vague” and would require election officials to disregard multiple voter registration laws. The appeal follows a request for a stay, filed last week, in which the attorneys told the court it would be virtually impossible for the election commission to implement Maxwell’s decision by the February statewide election, and that it would illegally have to shut down online voter registration in the meantime. In response, Maxwell stayed the part of his ruling that required citizenship verification for new registrants, but let stand the part requiring the Wisconsin Elections Commission to verify the citizenship of all currently registered voters.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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