Ballot Measures, Legislation & Rulemaking
Federal Legislation: According to Roll Call, Senate Republicans have started talking seriously about using the filibuster-proof budget reconciliation process to get the SAVE Act through the narrowly divided Senate. But budget experts say the effort faces long odds due to the complexities of the Senate’s “Byrd rule.” The House-passed bill would require, among other things, that individuals provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections and present photo identification when casting a ballot in a federal election. The challenge for including the SAVE America Act in reconciliation legislation is that under Senate rules, reconciliation provisions Measure would need to have a budgetary impact that cannot be ‘merely incidental’ to the larger purpose of the measure. The Byrd rule, adopted in the mid-1980s and later codified in statute, bars provisions from reconciliation legislation that are “extraneous” to bringing spending and taxes in line with the congressional budget resolution. Any section of a reconciliation bill deemed out of compliance with the Byrd rule is left exposed to a 60-vote point of order, effectively stripping that provision of its protection from filibuster. Provisions struck on a Byrd rule point of order fall out of a reconciliation bill — which can greatly affect its chance of passage, depending on the political importance of the offending language. Senate Republicans also have been reviewing proposed voting initiatives that the House Administration Committee, which has jurisdiction over election legislation, believes might be allowed in reconciliation. These include SAVE Act-like provisions that would appropriate funds to states to require proof of citizenship in order to register to vote, and to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to amend the federal voter registration form to require documentary proof of citizenship.
Alaska: The House passed an elections bill aimed at streamlining the state’s voting process and updating the voter rolls with a bipartisan vote on March 23. If signed into law, the bill would implement a new ballot tracking system, provide paid postage for all absentee mail-in ballots and implement provisions for faster election results, among other changes. The House passed Senate Bill 64 by a 23 to 16 vote. The House made a variety of changes to the bill that the Senate passed last year, and the bill now goes back to the Senate for a concurrence vote on Wednesday. If signed into law by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, some elections changes would be implemented immediately, like a review of the voter rolls. Changes to ballot tracking and curing would go into effect after the August primary. Lawmakers have focused on updating the state’s voter rolls to make sure voters are currently living in Alaska. If the bill passes, the Alaska Division of Elections will review the voter rolls and, based on a list of factors, send a postcard by mail to verify a voter’s address and establish residency. Once the notices are sent, voters have a period of 45 days to respond and confirm their Alaska residency to the division — or be moved to an inactive voter list for a period of 28 months or two elections. Under the bill, voters would be able to show identification issued from a federally recognized tribe to register to vote or for voting. To confirm active voting status, voters would be able to contact the division by calling, emailing or by voting. Under the Senate’s version of the bill, the state would have done away with the requirement of a witness signature for all absentee mail-in ballots, but the House objected to that change and opted to keep the witness signature. If passed, the bill would also allow voters to fix mistakes on their ballot – a process called ballot curing — by requiring the division to contact the voter by phone or email within 24 hours. Within two to five days, the division would send notification by mail. The voter would have to return a form to correct the ballot with a copy of identification by email or by mail within 10 days of the election for their ballot to be counted. If passed, the bill would require the state to provide paid postage for all absentee mail-in ballots. The state would also enact a new tracking system so that voters will be notified when their ballot is received and counted. Other provisions in the bill include: Require all absentee ballots to be received within 10 days of Election Day; Establish a new rural community liaison position within the Division of Elections to support rural districts, including recruitment and training of poll workers; Require the Permanent Fund Dividend Division to share data to improve the accuracy of the voter rolls’; Require the state to develop a cybersecurity program, and notify the public if there is a data breach; Require the division to publish results for all rankings in the precinct results; Require presidential ballots to include a line for write-in votes for president and vice president; and Updates crimes of unlawful interference with an election, ballot tampering and election official misconduct.
California: Voting rights advocates unveiled legislation they say is needed to combat attempts by President Donald Trump and others to deconstruct democracy. The California Voting Rights Act of 2026 — two bills written by state Senator Sabrina Cervantes, a Riverside Democrat — is a response to what the California Democracy Partnership calls voter concern about attacks on democracy. The group pointed to a recent poll showing that two-thirds of voters want California to enhance its own Voting Rights Act to ensure voters face no discrimination or suppression. The legislation — Senate Bills 1164 and 1360 — have a strong focus on language access. They would codify portions of the federal Voting Rights Act into state law, including the requirement that in-language ballots and other election materials are available to groups that meet a county-level threshold. Additionally, the bills would lower that county threshold to 5,000 voting-age residents from 10,000. Language access is one part of the legislation. Another aspect is ensuring people have access to the ballot box. The bills would reinforce Californians’ right to go to court to enforce their voting rights. They also would instruct courts to interpret the law in favor of access and equal participation in the voting process. The legislation calls for jurisdictions with a recent history of discrimination to receive approval before making specific changes to their voting procedures. It would restrict district maps or election systems that hurt the voting power of minority communities. And the bills would take on obstacles to voter participation and access in the form of discriminatory barriers at the polls.
Idaho: Idaho Legislature’s budget committee signed off on funding this week to pay for the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office to print and mail an informational voters’ pamphlet this year – but also cut an additional 2% funding from the office’s budget next year. The action in the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, or JFAC, represents the budget committee’s second attempt to provide funding for the legally-required voters’ pamphlet after the Idaho House of Representatives killed the first version last week. The new fiscal year 2027 budget enhancement for the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office includes $350,000 in one-time funding to pay for the voters’ pamphlet. But, unlike the original budget that failed, the new budget reduces funding for the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office by $114,200 in fiscal year 2027. That’s an ongoing 2% cut.
Illinois: Inspired by the work of Rev. Jesse Jackson, a bill moving through Springfield looks to increase youth voter registration rates. House Bill 4339 or the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. Young Voter Empowerment Act would require all Illinois high schools to provide eligible students graduating from high school with the opportunity to register to vote. State Rep. Kimberly Du Buclet is the lead sponsor of the bill and Rep. Maurice West is a chief co-sponsor. West tells WIFR, this bill is not a partisan issue. “This is not telling you who to vote for,” West stated. “For the longest of times engagement when it comes to voting is always low. My hope is that this bill will help to change the tide when it comes to the engagement of our young people and when it comes to voting.” Some lawmakers argue HB 4339 is not necessary because Illinois already gives residents the opportunity to register when getting their license. But, Bailey says the Motor Voter Act is not as effective as going into classrooms. “An awful lot of kids are going in there to get their drivers license, that’s a huge deal for them and registering to vote, not so much,” explained Bailey. “Truly, in a healthy democracy the more people that are involved in the process and that vote in elections, the better off the country is.” HB 4339 has cleared the House Ethics and Elections Committee unanimously on March 16. After leaving committee the bill awaits a full house vote. A similar Senate bill waits for a committee vote. SB 1786 would also require a school district maintaining any of grades 9 through 12 to provide all eligible students graduating from high school with the opportunity to register to vote.
Kentucky: An omnibus bill to significantly change Kentucky elections advanced this week that would increase campaign donor limits, restrict allowed voter IDs, permit the sharing of private voter information with the federal government and more. The bill combines elements from two stalled pieces of legislation to form a new bill that could make its way to final passage within a matter of days. The legislation now resembles what is often called a “Christmas tree bill,” as language from different bills are hung on it like ornaments. The three elections bills were smashed together in a Senate committee substitute that will now head to the Senate floor after passing on a party-line vote in committee. The original House Bill 139 was a bipartisan piece of legislation offering clean-up to existing elections statutes. One of the bills that had previously stalled but now has its language attached to the omnibus bill is Senate Bill 154, which would restrict more forms of secondary identification that can be used by Kentucky voters to cast a ballot in elections.
Minnesota: Thirty-two states send out some form of voting guide to residents that detail how to vote, where to vote, and who will be on the ballot. The House Elections Finance and Government Operations Committee laid over a bill this week that would make Minnesota the 33rd. Rep. Mike Freiberg (DFL-Golden Valley) sponsors HF3862, which as amended, would require the Office of the Secretary of State to publish and distribute a voter guide prior to each statewide general election. The guide would include: voting eligibility requirements; maps of House and Senate districts; voter registration forms; absentee ballot application forms; voting instructions; contact information for each major political party; candidate statement and contact information; and information on proposed state constitutional amendments. The guide would be mailed out at least 53 days before an election to each household with at least one registered voter, as well as to other public locations like libraries and public colleges and universities. Guides would be available in English and the three most commonly spoken non-English languages in Minnesota as determined by the state demographer. The bill is expected to cost $1.9 million in Fiscal Year 2027.
Mississippi: The Republican-controlled Legislature has agreed on a proposal to require local election officials to verify voters’ citizenship using a federal immigration database and to audit voter rolls for potential noncitizens. The agreement came on March 23 when the Senate voted 33-18 along party lines to concur with the House on the Safeguard Honest Integrity in Elections for Lasting Democracy, or SHIELD, Act. The bill, which will now head to Republican Gov. Tate Reeves for his consideration, would require county registrars to conduct extra checks on people registering to vote. Under the bill, if someone tries to register and can’t produce a driver’s license number or if the number doesn’t appear in the Statewide Elections Management System, a county registrar would have to verify whether the person appears in a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services database called SAVE. Government agencies use the federal database to verify an applicant’s immigration status or citizenship. If a person is flagged in the SAVE database, the registrar would notify them and offer a chance to provide documents showing U.S. citizenship before their registration application is denied or canceled. The legislation would also require the secretary of state’s office to run an annual comparison of the statewide voter registration system against the SAVE database to spot registered voters who may be ineligible. Any matches would be sent to local registrars for verification. The local registrars would also report a list to the secretary of state’s office every year, noting how many registered voters were flagged and how many were ultimately removed from the rolls.
New Jersey: Assembly lawmakers in a party-line vote approved a state-level Voting Rights Act that would create a new state office with broad oversight of election logistics, set up state-level preclearance rules, and boost language access requirements for New Jersey elections. The bill, which passed the Assembly in a 53-20 vote, would create a voting rights division within the state Treasury and give the office broad oversight powers over election administration in municipalities with a history of voting rights violations. The bill would restore a requirement that localities with a history of discrimination or voter intimidation seek approval from the voting rights division before changing election rules. Those rules, called preclearance, were a hallmark of the federal Voting Rights Act before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013 invalidated the formula used to determine the localities that were subject to preclearance, which has since been inoperative. The New Jersey legislation would place counties or municipalities under preclearance if they become subject to a court order or administrative action under the state or federal Voting Rights Acts, or the 14th and 15th Amendments. Those party to a consent decree or a final determination by the civil rights division could also become subject to preclearance. Language access rules would grow stronger under the bill, which would require election materials be printed in additional languages if at least 2% of residents in a municipality — but at least 100 people — speak that language and have limited English proficiency. In larger municipalities, that requirement would activate if more than 4,000 share a language and speak limited English. The federal Voting Rights Act sets that bar at 10% of residents or 10,000 people.
Legislative panels advanced legislation that would allow municipalities to extend early voting in local May elections, setting the bill up for passage this week. Under state law, municipalities must provide three days of early voting in nonpartisan May elections, starting four days before the election. The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Brian Stack (D-Union City), would allow municipalities to begin early voting up to eight days before the election, for a total of seven days of early voting. The state Senate Judiciary Committee voted 9-2 to clear the bill, and the Assembly Appropriations Committee voted 14-0. (The Assembly panel cleared a slightly different version of the bill, which allows municipalities to implement up to 10 days of early voting. The bills are up for a vote before the full Senate and Assembly on Monday, and will likely be consolidated then.) The change would allow cities with May elections to bring their policy closer to statewide elections; November general elections are preceded by nine days of in-person early voting in New Jersey.
The Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism and Historic Preservation Committee passed out of committee a bill that would allow voters to vote at any polling place in their municipality on election day. Sponsored by Senator James Beach (D-6), S-585 aims to increase voter participation while – conceivably – breaking up long lines and inefficiencies caused by a law that now limits voters to specific local polling locations. All senators voted yes to move the bill, which passed with the backing of the NJ Association of Elected Officials, the League of Women Voters and – with reservations and pending amendments – the NJ Institute for Social Justice.
Ohio: A Republican lawmaker wants to require absentee voters provide a copy of their photo ID when they submit their ballot. But the proposal may have found the limit of the GOP supermajority’s zeal for new voting restrictions. At Ohio House Bill 577’s first hearing, committee members on both sides of the aisle balked at its logistical challenges. Rep. Ron Ferguson, R-Wintersville contends a photo ID is the “best way to ensure the integrity of our elections.” But Ferguson thinks absentee voters are getting to cast a ballot without the same oversight as voters showing up in-person at the polls. Under his proposal, absentee voters would have to include a front and back photocopy of their license or other ID when they return their ballot. Ferguson argues that photo ID requirements for voting are broadly popular, but he makes no real argument for the utility of including a photocopied ID. Lawmakers on the panel raised several questions about the mechanics of Ferguson’s proposal, the most obvious being what about people who don’t own a copy machine or printer. Agencies like the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and county boards of elections among others will provide copies free of charge, Ferguson said. “Any of these places, that I referenced before, where you can currently register to vote, you have the ability to get a copy there,” he said. The list includes libraries and agencies providing public support like the Department of Job and Family Services. But it also extends to public high schools, vocational schools, and county treasurer offices. For those voters who can’t make it out of the house, Ferguson added, the bill codifies an existing BMV homebound ID program, adding a requirement that officials provide a photocopy of an individual’s ID for voting.
Oklahoma: Oklahomans who fail to select a party affiliation would not become registered voters under a bill heading to the Senate despite concerns that it will disenfranchise thousands of voters without their knowledge. House Bill 3722, authored by Rep. Denise Crosswhite Hader, R-Piedmont, would make selecting a party affiliation or independent designation a requirement to complete voter registration. Currently, voters who do not select one of those are automatically registered as independent. Calling it an “election integrity” bill, Crosswhite Hader said she doesn’t think these thousands of voters intended to be registered as independents. The state shouldn’t “assume” their intent, she said. House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson, D-Oklahoma City, said Oklahoma already has one of the lowest voter turnouts in the country. She said over 4,000 Oklahomans have registered to vote without selecting an affiliation. Munson said she’s concerned that by classifying these kind of applications as “incomplete” and not notifying those voters of that would make them ineligible to vote. These already-registered voters would not be affected by the bill, only those seeking to register. The bill passed off the House floor last week with a 75-18 party line vote and is now eligible to be heard in the Senate.
Virginia Executive Order: Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) signed an executive order to reenter a bipartisan, multi-state group that helps maintain voter rolls — a move she says will strengthen and protect election integrity in Virginia. As part of the March 24 executive order, Virginia will reenter into the 26-state Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) — a nonprofit, bipartisan group that shares data to improve voter roll accuracy. Additionally, the order will require yearly certifications of election security procedures and removal of ineligible voters while also directing the DMV to share information on a daily basis about updates to new or existing voters. Virginia was pulled out of ERIC by former governor Glenn Youngkin (R) in May 2023. According to Spanberger, this act made it more difficult for the Commonwealth’s election officials to determine if voters had moved out of state, died or updated their contact information, or if they may have duplicate registrations.
Legal Updates
U.S. Supreme Court: The Supreme Court this week appeared ready to overturn a Mississippi law that allows mail-in ballots to be counted as long as they are postmarked by, and then received within five business days of, Election Day. After just over two hours of oral argument in Watson v. Republican National Committee, a majority of justices seemed to agree with the challengers – which included the Republican Party of Mississippi and the Libertarian Party of Mississippi – that the Mississippi law conflicts with federal laws that set the Tuesday after the first Monday in November as the “election day.” According to SCOTUSBlog, at the oral argument, Mississippi Solicitor General Scott Stewart told the justices that states have broad power over elections. Laws like Mississippi’s, he argued, are consistent with federal election laws because voters make their final choices by Election Day. Paul Clement, representing the challengers, countered that when Congress initially passed the law establishing the Tuesday after the first Monday in November as “Election Day,” the casting of ballots and the state’s receipt of ballots were “so inextricably intertwined” that “no one would have thought of one without the other” – supporting his argument that a ballot is final (and the election therefore occurs) when it is received by election officials. U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued on behalf of the Trump administration, which filed a “friend of the court” brief supporting the challengers. Sauer told the court that “Mississippi’s theory of election is so general and permissive that it would authorize statutes that Congress could not possibly have approved in the 19th century.” Several conservative justices raised concerns with allowing ballots to arrive after Election Day, including whether voters could recall ballots once they’ve shipped them but before they arrive at election offices. Justice Brett Kavanaugh questioned whether late-arriving ballots risk undermining election confidence. Because more than a dozen states have similar laws, the court’s ruling – which is expected by late June or early July – could have significant implications for federal elections, beginning as soon as November.
Federal Litigation: According to StateScoop, Democracy Forward is suing the Social Security Administration to release records on an agreement DOGE made to share voter data with a non-government source, and other documents regarding the improper use of Americans’ data. In a lawsuit filed this week in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, Democracy Forward seeks to compel the SSA to comply with Freedom of Information Act requests linked to a “voter data agreement” revealed in a January court filing. That filing from the Department of Justice, which is part of a lawsuit by several labor groups over DOGE’s handling and exposure of personally identifiable information, detailed coordination between two members of Elon Musk’s tech collective embedded at SSA and an advocacy group seeking “evidence of voter fraud.” The DOJ said in that filing that in March 2025, a political advocacy group asked those DOGE representatives for Social Security data to analyze state voter rolls. Per the filing, the group’s “stated aim was to find evidence of voter fraud and to overturn election results in certain States.” One of those DOGE members signed a “Voter Data Agreement” in his capacity as an SSA employee and sent the document back to the group on March 24, 2025. Democracy Forward, which represents the federal unions at the center of that lawsuit, immediately filed a FOIA seeking a copy of the voter data agreement, plus all emails between the parties. The SSA acknowledged receipt of the request, per the new complaint, but on March 4 informed Democracy Forward that “because of ‘unusual circumstances,’ specifically ‘the need for consultation with another agency,’ SSA needed to extend the time limit to respond to this request.” Despite subsequent follow-ups, Democracy Forward claims that it still hasn’t received the documents and hasn’t heard from SSA in days.
Arkansas: Attorney General Tim Griffin has announced the arrest of eight individuals in Phillips County, all of whom engaged in illegal efforts to influence the outcome of the 2024 primary election runoff for District 9’s Justice of the Peace. According to the attorney general, eight people in Phillips County are facing charges related to a runoff election for the Phillips County Justice of the Peace seat for District 9. Lita Moore Johnson, 62, a teacher at Marvell School District who won the runoff election for the Justice of the Peace seat, was one of the individuals arrested. According to court documents, she told multiple voters to illegally change the address on their voter registration so that they could vote for her in the runoff. Johnson was charged with two counts of solicitation to commit perjury, a class D felony. Seven other individuals were charged with perjury, a class C felony, for fraudulently changing their address on an Arkansas voter registration application.
California: A California court on March 24 denied Attorney General Rob Bonta’s request to halt the Riverside County Sheriff Department’s effort to recount ballots from the November 2025 special election. In an unprecedented move, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a Republican who is running for governor, seized roughly 650,000 ballots and began conducting a recount of votes. At a press conference Friday, he characterized the investigation as a “fact-finding mission” that is intended “just as much to prove the election is accurate as it is to show otherwise.” Bonta’s office this month ordered Bianco and the Riverside County Sheriff Department to pause its work, citing “grave concerns” over the legality of the criminal investigation. The state Justice Department instructed the sheriff’s department to share any information that could substantiate its concerns in order to understand the basis for the investigation. Those orders went unheeded, according to court filings. Bonta’s lawsuit in the 4th District Court of Appeal, filed March 23, asked that the court intervene in order “to prevent further abuse of the criminal process.” But a three-judge panel struck down Bonta’s request, writing that he should have filed his complaint with the Riverside County court. Bonta’s office said they were “evaluating next steps to ensure a swift and appropriate resolution to this matter.”
Georgia: Georgia’s Court of Appeals has overturned a trial court’s ruling ordering the Fulton County Board of Commissioners to seat two conservative election activists on the county election board or face daily fines. In May 2025, Democrats on the board had rejected Republican Party nominees, Julie Adams and Jason Frazier, citing concerns about both individuals’ past actions and arguing that they were not qualified for the position. But the Fulton County GOP filed a lawsuit arguing that the commissioners were required to approve the party’s nominees as long as they met basic required standards like living in the county, being a registered voter and not being an elected official. In an August 2025 ruling, Fulton County Senior Superior Court Judge David Emerson sided with the Republican Party, holding the commission in civil contempt of court and imposing fines of $10,000 per day until the board agreed to approve Adams and Frazier’s appointments. The fines were put on hold while the board appealed the ruling. But a three-judge panel on the Court of Appeals overturned the ruling, with Judge Anne Barnes writing that the commissioners “were exercising their constitutional prerogative to exercise their judgment as to these appointments on behalf of the people who elected them.” The panel’s two other judges concurred. The ruling also overturned the contempt charge.
Illinois: A Will County judge ruled in favor of Ellen Moriarty, awarding her a $45,901 judgement following a trial that was brought under Illinois’ Civil Liability for Doxing Act. The law, that took effect at the start of 2024, creates a civil cause of action for anyone harmed by doxing. Under the statute, “doxing” includes intentionally publishing another person’s identifiable information (including social media profiles) without consent with the intent to harm or harass someone and that leads to harm of that person, including economic injury, mental anguish, fear of serious bodily injury or death, or a substantial life disruption. Ellen Moriarty’s case arose from a Facebook post that falsely claimed she made a statement praising the July 2024 attempted assassination of President Donald Trump. Michael Gondek, the defendant in the trial, shared the image and it was subsequently re-shared dozens of times, Giamanco said, causing Moriarty serious harm. Attorney Joe Giamanco presented evidence that Gondek had been engaged in ongoing attempts to get Moriarty fired from her position with the Will County Clerk’s Office and that Moriarty was targeted because of her participation in government, including speaking at public meetings and questioning elected officials.
Indiana: Putnam County Superior Court Judge Charles Bridges lifted an order blocking officials in three western Indiana counties from mailing absentee ballots in a Republican primary. Bridges took the step the same day he took over the dispute involving whether one of two women with the last name Wilson who filed to run against Goode in the primary should be removed from the primary ballot because of a 2010 criminal conviction. The original judge had ordered the county clerks in Vigo, Clay and Sullivan counties to hold off on distributing absentee ballots involving the Republican Senate District 38 race. Under state law, county election offices must start mailing requested absentee ballots on Saturday ahead of the May 5 primary. The order from Bridges said that delaying those ballots would violate federal law and that the county court couldn’t prevent the clerks “from fulfilling their constitutional duties regarding the mailing of absentee ballots.”
Minnesota: Timothy Scouton, 65, of Nevis who served as an election judge in Hubbard County, during the 2024 election has pleaded guilty to accepting the vote of an unregistered voter. The Minnesota Secretary of State’s office said in a statement to the Minnesota Star Tribune that “Scouton made a decision to disregard state law,” but said his actions were caught immediately. Officials in the office said they are unaware of any other instance of an election judge knowingly allowing people to vote without registering. One count of neglect of duty on Election Day will be dropped as part of a plea agreement, according to court documents. An investigator received a copy of an email from Hubbard County Auditor Kay Rave to Attorney Jonathan Frieden on Nov. 7, 2024, two days after the election, the criminal complaint said. The email stated 11 people had registered to vote in Badoura Township, but Rave couldn’t find the completed registration forms. The man completed basic election judge and head judge training in July 2024, according to court documents. Scouton is scheduled to be sentenced on May 18.
Missouri: The Missouri Supreme Court handed down several elections-related rulings this week that could shape the 2026 election, saying lawmakers had the authority to pass a new congressional map last year, leaving intact the state’s photo-ID requirement for voters and striking down limits on voter-registration and absentee-ballot outreach. The voter-ID ruling turned more on who could sue than on the law itself. In that case, the court left intact Missouri’s 2022 law requiring voters casting a regular ballot in person to show a government-issued photo ID. But the judges split over why. A four-judge majority said the individual voters and civic groups challenging the law had not shown that the requirement had actually kept them from voting, so the courts could not decide the broader constitutional question. Three other judges disagreed, saying the challengers had shown enough to sue but still would have lost on the merits. The case centered on stories that opponents said showed the burden of the law. One voter testified that a seizure disorder made travel difficult and left her worried a signature mismatch could sink a provisional ballot. Another said she feared trouble because her first name was spelled differently on her identification and voter registration. The court’s majority said those concerns were too speculative because both had successfully voted since the law took effect. In another 4-3 decision, the court affirmed a lower-court ruling that blocked several provisions governing voter-registration and absentee-ballot outreach. The judges struck down the ban on paying people to solicit voter-registration applications, the requirement that people who solicit more than 10 registration applications register with the state, the requirement that those solicitors be Missouri voters and at least 18 years old and the ban on soliciting voters to obtain absentee-ballot applications. Judge Mary Russell, writing for the majority, said those provisions swept too broadly into protected political speech and went too far in criminalizing voter-registration and absentee-ballot outreach by civic groups. The state argued the rules were aimed at fraud prevention, privacy and election integrity. The majority said those interests were not enough to justify such broad restrictions. That ruling means groups such as the League of Women Voters of Missouri and the Missouri NAACP can continue the kinds of voter outreach they said the 2022 law chilled. A lower court had already blocked those provisions, first before the 2022 election and then permanently in 2024. Tuesday’s decision keeps that relief in place.
Oklahoma: Attorney General Gentner Drummond has agreed to release what was previously considered private voter data to the federal government. In exchange for the release of Oklahoman’s voter information, the U.S. Department of Justice agreed to dismiss its federal lawsuit against State Election Secretary Paul Ziriax. “The State of Oklahoma will cooperate with efforts to eliminate voter fraud and safeguard the electoral process in accordance with the law,” Drummond said in a statement. “We are committed to both election integrity and the protection of personal information.” The action comes a day after two civic engagement groups sought to intervene in the lawsuit to stop the release of Oklahomans’ protected voter data. According to the settlement agreement, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division can only use the information to assess the state’s compliance with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 and the Help America Vote Act of 2002. The agreement does not appear to limit usage by the rest of the agency. The state agreed to release voters’ full names, dates of birth, addresses, full driver’s license numbers and the last four digits of their Social Security numbers within five business days of the execution of the undated settlement agreement.
Wisconsin: According to Courthouse News Service, former high-ranking Milwaukee elections official Kimberly Zapata urged a state appellate panel on March 19 to overturn her 2022 convictions for voter fraud and misconduct in public office, arguing she was actually a whistleblower. A jury convicted Zapata, 49, in March 2024 of one felony count of misconduct in public office and three misdemeanor counts of making a false statement to obtain or vote an absentee ballot. A judge sentenced her to nine months in jail on the felony charge and ordered her to pay $3,000 in fines, but stayed the jail time for 12 months of probation and 120 hours of community service. Zapata’s attorney Daniel Adams portrayed his client as a whistleblower, framing the act of requesting three military absentee ballots using three different names as an effort to draw attention away from election conspiracy theories and shine the spotlight instead on very real flaws in the absentee system. Last week Adams made the argument again before a three-judge panel of the Wisconsin Appeals Court and around 150 students of Rufus King International High School. The hearing took place on the stage of the school’s auditorium as part of a civic education program. The judges did not appear swayed by the far-fetched hypothetical.
Harry Wait of Union Grove has been found guilty of election fraud. According to the criminal complaint, Wait went to MyVote.wi.gov and requested absentee ballots in 2022 for two people to be sent to his address in Union Grove. The complaint says that in multiple online videos and other correspondence, Wait admitted to requesting the ballots using the other individuals’ personal identification information. Jurors deliberated for more than three hours on March 24. They returned with a guilty verdict on three of the four charges. Wait was found not guilty on one count of misappropriating identification information. He was found guilty on two charges of election fraud and one count of misappropriating identification information. A sentencing date has not been set yet.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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