Election News This Week
Federal Update: Last week, testifying before the House Armed Services Committee Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made a false claim about the use of the National Guard at polling places. A claim he repeated the next day before a Senate committee. Democratic Rep. Jill Tokuda asked Hegseth whether he would comply with a hypothetical future order from President Donald Trump to deploy troops to polling places during this year’s midterm elections. After saying he rejects the notion that Trump would issue unlawful orders, Hegseth said moments later in the exchange: “I will note that in 2024, troops were depl… – that was Joe Biden by the way, Joe Biden – were deployed to polling locations in 15 states.” He repeated, “2024 – Joe Biden – troops deployed to polling locations in 15 states. Explain that one to me.” All of the National Guard activations connected to the 2024 election were ordered by state governors, not by Biden. And all 13 of the states that responded to CNN’s requests for information said that none of their troops were deployed to polling locations. Rather, the states said their Guard personnel worked behind the scenes at other locations – helping with election cybersecurity or serving as internal liaisons – or that their state Guard was not actually activated for the election after all. According to CNN, for the first election cycle in years, US military and intelligence officials have not yet activated a specialized team dedicated to detecting and thwarting foreign threats to elections, according to comments from those agencies to Congress and CNN, alarming some lawmakers and former officials who have served on the team. A failure to activate the team would be a “major national security mistake and I hope that they will correct it in the weeks to come,” Senator Angus King of Maine, an independent who sits on the armed services committee, told CNN. In court documents filed last week, the U.S. Department of Justices said that no federal agencies had yet taken steps to implement the president’s most recent executive order. In the filing, the Justice Department sought to persuade Judge Carl J. Nichols in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia that a legal challenge to the March 31 EO is premature. “If and when the Executive Branch takes some action to implement the Executive Order” then a lawsuit can be brought, Stephen Pezzi, a senior trial counsel in the Justice Department’s Civil Division, wrote in a court filing. The DOJ’s argument relies on statements by key federal officials that the agencies affected by the order — the Department of Homeland Security, the Social Security Administration and the U.S. Postal Service — are still deliberating over how to carry out Trump’s directive. In declarations filed in court on Friday, officials at all three agencies say final decisions haven’t been made. Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D-Virginia) is demanding answers from the Department of Homeland Security over what he says is a sharp decline in federal election security support ahead of the 2026 midterms, warning that cuts to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency could leave states more exposed to cyber threats and foreign interference. In a letter sent this week to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, Warner said state and local officials have reported that CISA is no longer providing the same level of election security training, intelligence sharing and cybersecurity assistance it offered in prior election cycles.
2026 Elections: There were primaries in Indiana, Ohio and Tennessee this week and other than a few minor issues, it was a relatively smooth election day. In Indiana, there were no reports of major problems. Voters in several counties, including Allen and Delaware got to test out vote centers for the first time on an election day. Chad Wierzbinski, Allen County Democratic Party chairman, said he fielded some calls to the headquarters from people who wondered where to vote. Some confusion aside, he said, “people love the flexibility” of choosing the location closest to their job, school or other activities rather than their home address. While those new vote centers were a hit with voters, they did delay results in Allen County as officials dealt with the new system. Officers were called to one St. Joseph County polling place on reports of a woman screaming profanities at a Turning Point USA tent in the parking lot outside the voting center. According to police, the woman’s words were protected under the First Amendment, but she violated a county ordinance by using a megaphone. The woman was not asked to leave, but was told she can no longer use the megaphone. Although voting closed at 6 p.m., more than 100 people were still in line at one Howard County polling site. “We were really busy the majority of the day,” Jody Howell, a poll worker at the UAW, said. “After maybe an hour or two, and then we had lines all day.” Some of the lines at the site reached a wait time of over an hour, Howell said. Many of the poll workers had not worked with the new equipment that got updated late last year. In Ohio, the biggest question about the primary has to be answered. How many people were affected by the new absentee ballot deadline of 7:30pm on election night. A water main break near a Dayton polling place in Montgomery County forced some voters to take a longer route, but voting was not impacted. In the race for secretary of state, it will be state Rep. Allison Russo (D) vs. Treasurer Robert Sprague (R). In Tennessee, where there were state and local primaries on the ballot, the Davidson County Election Commission is confirming a small number of reports of voters receiving the wrong party ballot at the polls — and says the issue was corrected. The Knox County’s results website went down as polls closed but was returned to operation around 8:50 p.m. And early voting kicked off for Louisiana’s primary over the weekend with voter confusion after Gov. Jeff Landry canceled the federal primaries so the state can redistrict following the Callais ruling. According to the Louisina Illuminator, even motivated voters who showed up within the first few hours said they weren’t quite sure whether the U.S. House elections were still happening. “I went ahead and voted for who I wanted to vote for. If they don’t count it, that’s their problem,” said Betty Powers, who has participated in every election since 1968, outside an East Baton Rouge Parish polling location. Republican Secretary of State Nancy Landry, who is not related to the governor, has said votes cast in Louisiana’s U.S. House races won’t be counted. The secretary of state’s office received more than 42,000 absentee ballots before the governor canceled the federal primaries. The first day of early voting for New Mexico’s June 2 primary election included some problems in a handful of counties with the state’s same-day voter registration system. Secretary of State Director of Communications, Legislative and Executive Affairs Lindsey Bachman confirmed to Source NM that at around 11:30 a.m., the state’s “website firewalls incorrectly determined that traffic between some county computers and the website was unsafe,” and blocked the traffic. The same-day registration systems “were operational during the event,” she wrote, “but the communications interruptions did not allow them to work together as needed for normal availability in a few affected counties.” She said the issue was resolved by 1 p.m. “We are continuing to monitor the situation, but do not expect any recurrence,” Bachman said.
News from the EAC: The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) recently held its 2026 annual meeting for the Board of Advisors. The board features 35 members from various EAC stakeholder associations, federal government agencies, and Congress. This meeting comes two weeks after the agency gathered about 150 state and local election officials in Chicago, Illinois, for the Local Leadership Council (LLC) and the Standards Board annual meetings. EAC Commissioners and staff led conversations with members on the testing and certification of voting systems, including the agency’s proposed Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG) 2.1 and the Election Supporting Technology Evaluation Program (ESTEP). EAC staff also shared information on improvements to the Election Administration and Voting Survey (EAVS), the expansion of training opportunities, and the latest on the distribution of Help America Vote Act (HAVA) Grant funds. Federal election partners from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Postal Service, and the United States Postal Inspection Service answered questions from Standards Board members and highlighted available resources. The Board of Advisors and the Standards Board also elected new members to the executive committee: Christine Walker, Jackson County (Oregon) Clerk, Chair, Eric Fey, St. Louis County (Missouri) Director of Elections, Chair-Elect, and Lisa Marra, Arizona State Election Director, Secretary. The new Standards Board executive committee includes: Jamie Shew, Douglas County (Kansas) Clerk, Chair, Dwight Shellman, County Regulation & Support Manager, Colorado State Elections Division, Vice Chair, and Kathy Placencia, Rhode Island Director of Elections, Secretary.
Election Security News: This week, the the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released guidance to help critical infrastructure (CI) entities across all sectors prepare to operate through a crisis or conflict, continuing vital service delivery even as their systems are under attack. The new initiative, CI Fortify, strengthens resilience and helps CI entities and their partners maintain a baseline of continuity for critical services during a cyberattack. The key points in this guidance urge CI entities to start now, if they have not already, to invest and develop isolation and recovery capabilities. When a cyberattack occurs, these two emergency capabilities help ensure the affected organization can still deliver critical services. Preparation is the key.
Isolation: Proactively disconnecting from third-party dependencies and operating without reliable telecommunications and internet. Recovery: Rapidly restoring vital compromised systems while isolated. A key part is testing recovery plans and practicing local and manual operations. “CI Fortify is timely, actionable guidance that helps organizations protect their networks and critical services from cyber threat actors that aim to degrade or disrupt infrastructure,” said CISA Acting Director Nick Andersen. “We strongly encourage organizations to review this guidance, implement the recommended actions and collaborate with CISA to strengthen CI defenses against opportunistic threat actors.” For more information on this new initiative, visit the CI Fortify webpage.
Center for Inclusive Democracy: As of July 1, the Center for Inclusive Democracy (CID) will transition to an independent national organization, building on the strong foundation it developed with previous affiliations at UC Davis and, most recently, at USC. This moment is about stepping up for democracy. As the broader landscape shifts and institutions of all kinds, including academia, are being constrained, it’s become increasingly important to ensure that their nonpartisan work continues to grow with the focus, integrity, and stability that this moment for our democracy demands. The Center’s independence will allow them to protect the mission and vision that have guided us from our beginning 16 years ago: advancing inclusive democracy through rigorous research, trusted data and meaningful engagement. CID will continue collaborating with many partners within academia, as well as a growing state and national network of community partners who are committed to the critical, timely and urgent work of democracy. CID’s research, data and educational tools will continue to be used across the country in highly impactful ways by policy makers, election officials and community advocates.
Sticker News: Earlier this year, Telluride and Norwood students participated in a sticker contest, with 18 creative kiddos taking part. The brief, set by the San Miguel County, Colorado Clerk’s Office, was to devise a design that could be used as the artwork for the “I voted/yo voté” stickers that the county distributes to voters. On April 14, the winners in each age category were announced. Telluride’s winners were Telluride Elementary School’s Iris Tanguay, Telluride Intermediate School student Willa Waring and Camille Skinner from Telluride Middle/High School. Voters in the June 30 special election and on Election Day in November will get to sport these colorful — and civic-minded — winning designs. Said County Clerk Michael Wyszynski: “The county would like to thank everyone who participated in the contest. We’d like to emphasize that their artwork received a lot of admiration and appreciation from visitors to the courthouse.” Michigan officials say 2,095 designs for the state’s “I Voted” sticker contest were submitted this year, four times the number submitted in the first contest two years ago. According to the Michigan Department of State, residents were invited to participate in the contest ahead of the November midterm election and had until May 1 to submit their artwork. Participants submitted designs in three categories: elementary/middle school (K-8), high school (9-12), and general entry, open to Michigan residents of all ages. The Michigan Collegiate Student Advisory Task Force will select 75 semifinalists — 25 from each category — followed by a public vote on June 1. The winner will be selected this summer and receive recognition from the Michigan Department of State. “Thank you to the more than 2,000 Michigan artists who showcased their creativity in record numbers for this year’s ‘I Voted’ sticker design contest,” said Deputy Secretary of State Aghogho Edevbie in a statement. “This is an incredible milestone that shows all Michiganders can come together to support our state’s democracy. Now, let’s build on that excitement this election year by voting and making our voices heard.”
Personnel News: Jim Wertz has been removed as the Erie County, Pennsylvania board of elections chair. Dan Harkins has been appointed to the Clay County, Ohio board of elections. Midland County, Michigan Clerk Ann Manary is retiring. Sally Kellar is the new Portsmouth, New Hampshire clerk. Leigh Phillips is the new Cobb County, Georgia Board Board of Elections and Registration director. Jessica Miller has been appointed to the Delaware County Board of Elections after the seat vacated by the removal of Melanie Leneghan. Whitney Lipscomb, an attorney who has worked for Republican officials in Mississippi, is planning to run for secretary of state next year.
In Memoriam: Dana Williams King, former Lenoir County, North Carolina board of elections director has died. She was 69. King served as the board of elections director for 22 years before her retirement. Those who worked with King said her legacy is measured not only in years of public service, but in the people she trained, encouraged and treated like family. Amy Morgan said she worked with King for many years and credited her with shaping her career in elections. “She taught me all I know about elections,” Morgan said. “She believed in me when no one else did.” Jean Alphin worked at the Board of Elections for 23 years, including 21 years while King was director. She said King created a workplace where personal relationships mattered, but professionalism remained important.
Ballot Measures, Legislation & Rulemaking
Alabama: Two legislative committees advanced bills that could lead to new primary dates in Alabama, if federal courts allow the state to revert back to congressional and legislative maps previously ruled racially discriminatory. HB 1, sponsored by Speaker Pro Tempore Chris Pringle, R-Mobile, would allow for a new special election if the U.S. Supreme Court lifts an injunction preventing the state from redrawing congressional maps before 2030. Secretary of State Wes Allen and Attorney General Steve Marshall sought to have the injunction removed last week after the U.S. Supreme Court significantly weakened a key part of the Voting Rights Act. “This allows us to have a special election using the plan that this legislative body passed in 2023 and was signed by the governor,” Pringle said to the House Ways and Means General Fund Committee. SB 1, sponsored by Sen. Chris Elliott, R-Josephine, would allow special elections in Senate Districts 25 and 26 outside Montgomery if the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals overturns a district court finding that the shape of those districts denied Black voters an opportunity to choose their own voters. HB 1 advanced out of the committee on a voice vote split across party lines. On the opposite side of the Statehouse, the Senate Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development Committee approved a bill setting a new primary election for two Montgomery-area Senate districts along party lines.
Alaska: Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed a bipartisan bill aimed at streamlining the state’s elections process on April 30. Leaders with the multipartisan House Majority caucus said there will be a joint legislative veto override vote within the next few days. In a prepared statement announcing the veto, Dunleavy said while there are many provisions in the bills he supports, the bill contained “legal and operational challenges and could jeopardize the election process.” He told lawmakers his two main issues with the bill are related to when it would go into effect and voters’ signature verification. “The Division of Elections warns such changes would be extremely difficult if not impossible, to implement securely and reliably in advance of the 2026 elections,” he wrote in a transmittal letter to the Legislature. He said the Division needs sufficient time to make necessary changes. The House passed the bill in March along caucus lines, following passage by the Senate last year. It contained a variety of changes to the state’s elections system, which supporters say is years overdue and needed to update and strengthen the elections process and expand voter access. The governor said that the bill would impose “significant operational hurdles” for the Alaska Division of Elections in administering state and federal elections in November. The bill would have authorized checks to update Alaska’s voter rolls. Officials have said managing an updated voter registration list is a continuous challenge with Alaska’s transitional environment and many residents moving in and out of state, resulting in the number of registered voters currently outnumbering actual eligible voters in state. The bill would also have enacted a new ballot tracking system, provided paid postage for all absentee mail-in ballots, strengthened security protocols, and implemented provisions for faster elections results, among others. On May 4, lawmakers failed to override Dunleavy’s veto. Two Southeast Alaska lawmakers who had previously supported the bill voted against the override, leading it to fail 38 to 22. Lawmakers needed 40 votes to override the veto.
Arizona Ballot Measure: A coalition of Arizona Democrats are working to enshrine voting rights, including the right to no-excuse vote-by-mail, into the state constitution. U.S. Rep. Yassamin Ansari announced the launch of the Committee to Protect the Vote Arizona, a campaign to collect 500,000 voter signatures to put the “Free, Fair and Secure Elections Act” on the November ballot. Volunteers for the citizen initiative have already collected 50,000 of the 383,923 voter signatures needed to make it on the ballot, but there’s a tight timeline to collect the rest before the July 2 deadline. Initiative campaigns typically aim to collect at least 25% more signatures than needed to account for signatures that are invalidated. If voters support it, the initiative would enshrine in the Arizona Constitution the right to vote early, in person or by mail. It would also protect the right for Arizona voters to cast their ballots at voting centers, where anyone in the county can vote, instead of being restricted to their precinct location. The citizens initiative would also protect voters’ ability to cast a ballot early, through 7 p.m. the day before the election, and would make no-excuse early voting a constitutional right.
Irvine, California: Irvine will explore a ranked choice voting system for future City Council and mayoral races. A slim majority of the Irvine City Council has agreed to look at having voters rank candidates for an office in order of preference, with last-place candidates being eliminated until one candidate receives more than 50% of the votes. Efforts to allow ranked choice voting in California were shot down in 2007 by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and in 2019 by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Having its own charter, or city constitution, enabling more control over its local elections means Irvine “has the ability to transition to ranked choice voting without processing a charter amendment — that means, without having a public vote,” Irvine City Attorney Jeff Melching said. According to the Orange County Register, after some back-and-forth on the dais, the City Council voted 4-3 on, April 28, to ask the city attorney to present by May 15 a draft ordinance and cost analysis for implementing ranked choice voting.
Los Angeles, California: City Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez, who represents an Echo Park-to-Hollywood district, released a proposal April 29 to ask voters in the Nov. 3 election to give the council the power to let noncitizens vote in city elections, including those for mayor and City Council, as well as for Los Angeles Board of Education seats. According to the Los Angeles Times, the proposal faces multiple hurdles that could derail it. The council must vote to put the measure on the ballot and after that, voters would have to approve it. If passed by voters, the council would still need to pass an ordinance revising city election law. The proposal, which was also signed by Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, now heads to the council’s rules committee for consideration. Soto-Martínez, whose parents were at one time undocumented, said his proposal would help L.A.’s immigrant communities. “After my parents immigrated here from Mexico, they worked hard, paid taxes, and raised their kids in our public schools, but for decades they had no say in the decisions shaping their community until they became citizens,” Soto-Martínez said.
Connecticut: A divided Senate gave final passage to legislation that lifts the last barriers to no-excuse absentee voting in Connecticut and will make casting ballots by mail a universal option in this year’s primaries and general election. Passage of the bill came on a 25-11 vote on the last day of the General Assembly’s annual session. Once signed by Gov. Ned Lamont, the measure, House Bill 5001, will repeal a law that denies absentee ballots to any voter who cannot attest to being unable to vote in person due to sickness, disability, absence, military service, religious conflicts or being an elections worker. Until the passage of a constitutional amendment in November 2024 by a margin of 58% to 42%, those same six conditions were part of a state constitution that was unusually prescriptive on rules for absentee voting. “This has been a long time coming,” said Sen. Mae Flexer, D-Windham, co-chair of the Government Administration and Elections Commission. br />
Lyme, Connecticut: A proposal to ban firearms at Lyme polling places was blocked this week after the Board of Selectpeople declined to move it forward to a town meeting later this month. Ultimately, selectpeople deferred the proposal for further development rather than send it to town meeting. Selectman John Kiker, a Democrat, cast the lone nay vote on the three-member board made up of unaffiliated First Selectwoman Christy Zelek and Republican Selectman Tom St. Louis. The issue revolved around a call from Democratic Registrar of Voters Dottie Wells for a draft ordinance to be presented to voters at the Annual Town Meeting on May 21. Wells said she and Republican Registrar of Voters Judy Davies wanted to protect voters and election workers from physical violence and intimidation by prohibiting “possession, carrying, or discharging of weapons within 75 feet of any polling location or drop-off center in Connecticut.” No draft ordinance language had been prepared or distributed ahead of the meeting. Wells said the idea emerged just last week, following a registrars’ conference where she learned municipalities can adopt their own ordinances governing polling places. “It’s not difficult to get an ordinance together,” Davies said. “It’s a couple of sentences. I’ve already got something preliminary prepared.”
Georgia Rulemaking: On May 1, the State Election Board rejected a proposal to force Georgia’s 159 counties to ditch the state’s voting touchscreens in favor of paper ballots filled out by hand. The 4-1 vote against the plan came as the Republican-controlled board faced warnings that acting could invite lawsuits. The General Assembly adjourned last month, and it’s unclear whether lawmakers will return in time to address a July 1 deadline to change from counting votes using QR codes — unreadable by humans — and switch to another method. “The board does not have the authority to make this change,” said State Election Board Chair John Fervier, a Gov. Brian Kemp appointee who opposed the proposal. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the board vote temporarily calms fears among many local election officials, who worry switching to hand-marked paper ballots as the primary voting method months before the 2026 midterms would pose administrative hurdles and disruptions at the polls.
Hawaii’i: A measure to automatically register eligible residents to vote is close to becoming law in Hawaiʻi. When residents apply for a driver’s license or identification card, they can choose to become registered to vote in the state. Senate Bill 2239 would replace the current “opt-in” system with an “opt-out” one. In the proposed system, during the application process, eligible residents would automatically be registered to vote — unless they explicitly decline registration. This week, state lawmakers moved the measure through its conference committee hearing, one of the last major hurdles of the state’s Legislative session. SB 2239 now goes to the floors of both the House and the Senate for a final vote.
Minnesota: The House passed HF4240/SF4006*, as amended, 119-15. Changes in the bill would: provide for the use of the Statewide Voter Registration System for primary and general elections, except for town elections; require early voting officials to maintain a printed copy of an early voter’s certificate of eligibility; provide that the number of ballots removed from the ballot box during processing is the same as the number of ballots returned; eliminate the requirement that the Office of the Secretary of State provide a printed copy of state laws governing elections and allow for the posting of an electronic copy; require the office to reimburse counties and municipalities for special election expenses, including preparation and printing of ballots, publication of notice to voters and election judge salaries; and require a canvassing board overseeing a school district election to declare the candidates who receive the highest number of votes. The bulk of the debate about the otherwise largely technical bill had to do with the nine amendments proposed on the House floor, three of which were approved. The approved amendments include mandating the use of the Statewide Voter Registration System by a county auditor or municipal clerk, allowing combined polling places for certain schools and prohibiting elected officials and candidates from betting on elections.
Tennessee: Gov. Bill Lee has signed into law a new citizenship vetting process for voter registration slated to take effect in 2028 should the federal government make a national database of non-citizens available to county elections officials across the nation. The legislation, brought by Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson of Franklin and House Leader William Lamberth of Sumner County, both Republicans, was approved along party lines with little debate during the legislative session and mirrors the Trump administration’s goals for stricter citizenship verification for voter legislation. If the U.S. Department of Homeland Security establishes a secure access portal for county elections administrators, Tennessee voter registrations will be compared to the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE program, currently used to verify eligibility for certain public benefits. Proponents of the stricter vetting process argued it adds another safeguard to ensure the integrity of Tennessee elections. Opponents, including the League of Women Voters of Tennessee, called it “an answer in search of a problem that does not exist.” Current law already requires voters to attest to their citizenship status when registering to vote. The state then verifies citizenship using state and federal data sources.
Utah Ballot Measure: Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson has officially confirmed that the effort to repeal Utah’s 2018 voter-approved anti-gerrymandering law known as Proposition 4 has failed to qualify for the 2026 ballot. Henderson issued the declaration April 30, the day of her deadline to make the official determination after time windows to submit, verify and remove signatures had passed. Henderson noted in her declaration that the the group Utahns for Representative Government (founded by the head of the Utah Republican Party) had obtained 161,961 valid signatures statewide — above the 140,749 needed — but the petition only met its required signature thresholds in 24 of Utah’s 29 Senate districts. Under Utah law, ballot initiative backers need to gather signatures from not only at least 8% of the state’s registered voters statewide, but also at least 8% of registered voters in at least 26 of the state’s 29 Senate districts. Utah has some of the most difficult requirements in the country for ballot initiatives.
Appleton, Wisconsin: A resolution expressing support for ranked choice voting in municipal elections in Wisconsin was rejected May 6 by the Appleton Common Council. The vote was 6 to 9. “I don’t recall hearing from any constituent asking for this,” council member Chris Croatt said. The resolution was submitted in April by council member Adrian Stancil-Martin and was cosigned by council members Vered Meltzer and Nate Wolff. “This is not, in and of itself, an attempt to implement ranked choice voting in Appleton,” Stancil-Martin told the Safety and Licensing Committee. “Under current Wisconsin law, we do not have the authority to do that.” Rather, Stancil-Martin said the resolution requested that state legislators amend state law to authorize municipalities to decide for themselves whether to implement ranked choice voting.
Madison, Wisconsin: The Wisconsin Elections Commission says Madison wrongly counted some absentee ballots that should not have been counted during Wisconsin’s April 7 election. On May 1, the commission ordered Madison and Dane County’s canvassers to un-count 23 absentee ballots. In Wisconsin, absentee ballots need to be received by the time polls close at 8 p.m. on election day in order to be counted. Madison’s clerk’s office had the 23 ballots by the Monday before election day, which was well before that deadline, according to an investigation from the commission. But a courier did not drop the ballots off at their respective polling places until after 8 p.m. on April 7. Under Wisconsin law, that means the ballots cannot be counted, Republican Elections Commissioner Don Millis said. “The fault does not lie with the voters. But to give the clerk a pass here is sending the wrong signal to clerks throughout Wisconsin,” Millis said. Dane County voted to appeal in court.
Legal Updates
U.S. Supreme Court: The Supreme Court on Monday night granted a request to immediately finalize its opinion in Louisiana v. Callais, in which it struck down that state’s congressional map, to allow Louisiana to draw a new map in time for the 2026 elections. That map is expected to favor Republicans, who currently hold four of the state’s six seats in the U.S. House of Representatives but could pick up one or even two more under a revised map. According to SCOTUS Blog, the court’s decision drew sharp criticism from Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the lone dissenter. Jackson argued that the court’s ruling “has spawned chaos in the State of Louisiana.” Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, wrote a concurring opinion that responded to Jackson with equally sharp words, countering that her rhetoric “lacks restraint.” In an unsigned, one-paragraph order, the court explained that, to give the losing party time to ask the justices to reconsider their decision, the Supreme Court’s clerk normally waits 32 days after a decision is issued before sending a copy of the opinion and the judgment to the lower court. But, the court wrote, in this case the Black voters defending the map at the center of the dispute “have not expressed any intent to ask this Court to reconsider its judgment.” The court issued its decision in Louisiana v. Callais on Wednesday, April 29. By a vote of 6-3, it invalidated a map adopted by the Louisiana Legislature in 2024, which created two majority-Black districts after two lower courts ruled that an earlier map with just one majority-Black district likely violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which bars racial discrimination in voting.
Arizona: Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott Blaney has ruled that Secretary of State Adrian Fontes can’t force election officials to provide a way for voters who show up at the wrong polling place to cast a valid ballot, striking down a key provision of the state’s election rulebook. In 2023, Fontes wrote a policy into the state’s election procedures manual directing counties that assign voters to polling places to allow out-of-precinct voters to cast their ballots on accessible voting devices, which state and federal law requires must be available at every polling place for voters with disabilities. Before that, voters had no way to cast a valid ballot if they showed up at the wrong polling location. Weeks before the 2024 election, Fontes sued Pinal County for failing to comply with the new policy. A Pinal County Superior Court judge ruled that the county was violating state law by not following the rule, but declined to force it to comply in that election. Later, the Arizona Supreme Court similarly ruled that it was far too close to the election to compel the county to change course. Since then, the two sides have continued to fight the issue in court. In his decision, Blaney ruled that the policy usurped counties’ authority and threatened to disenfranchise disabled voters, who may be forced to wait in line to use an accessible machine. He noted it would place administrative burdens on local election officials, requiring them to “substantially rework” poll workers’ training and load all of the county’s ballot styles onto its accessible voting devices. He also found that precinct-based voting was not a form of disenfranchisement.
Arkansas: A decision by the Arkansas Supreme Court ended a disagreement over paper ballots and ruled a law passed in 2025 was unconstitutional. The case of Norris v. Independence County was initiated by Secretary of State candidate Bryan Norris after the county’s quorum court overturned an ordinance approved by voters to require hand-marked paper ballots. The court voted against the ordinance roughly one year after the law went into effect. Norris sued county officials, declaring that the quorum court’s actions were an overreach. His suit was dismissed by the Independence County Circuit Court, citing Arkansas Act 975 of 2025, which gives the Arkansas Court of Appeals jurisdiction over constitutional challenges, rather than circuit courts. The Supreme Court reviewed the lower court’s dismissal, which involved a question of law, and found Act 975 unconstitutional because it overrode a part of the state constitution that gives circuit courts original jurisdiction.
Florida: U.S. District Judge Mark Walker has rejected a legal challenge to Florida’s restrictions on ballot initiatives that was filed by groups who have been pushing measures on marijuana and Medicaid expansion. The two-week trial wrapped up in February and Walker issued his ruling on April 30. The judge, who previously criticized Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Legislature, sided with state election officials by concluding that some of the groups that sued in some cases lacked standing to bring their lawsuit. And he also found that lawmakers had the power to pass the restrictions in 2025 to combat fraud and “protect the integrity” of the initiative process. Walker wrote that he understood groups seeking to place initiatives on the ballot have been “dismayed” at the changes but concluded they were allowed. “The citizen initiative process, which gives Floridians a path to amend their Constitution, is virtually dead save for the most controversial issues for which tens of millions of dollars can be raised,” Walker wrote. “But Plaintiffs’ quarrels with the wisdom of the Legislature’s actions — at least with respect to those provisions under HB 1205 for which Plaintiffs had standing to challenge — are policy arguments, not constitutional violations for which this court may grant relief.” Walker added that “it is not for this court to decide whether it is a good or bad thing that political power is being further consolidated in Tallahassee and reclaimed from the safety valve of direct democracy.”
Georgia: U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee has partially granted Fulton County’s request to get more information from federal authorities about the FBI’s search of the county’s election hub earlier this year. Boulee gave the Department of Justice a quick deadline to respond to three questions surrounding the criminal investigation and affidavit that led to the search and seizure of hundreds of ballots and other materials from the 2020 election. While the judge has denied motions to compel certain requests made by Fulton County, he ruled in court on April 30 that the Department of Justice had to share information regarding three specific dates: The date that Olsen referred the investigation to the FBI; The date that the FBI opened the criminal investigation, as identified in the affidavit; and The date on which the Department of Justice began drafting the affidavit. “As an initial matter, the Court notes that these questions seek an extremely small amount of information and should be simple to answer,” Boulee wrote. “Indeed, the DOJ can answer these three questions by doing nothing more than providing dates on the calendar for events that it does not dispute occurred.” On May 6, Boulee rejected the request to order the return of more than 600 boxes of voting material seized earlier this year. Boulee described the events surrounding the bureau’s January raid on an election warehouse in Fulton County as “in many ways unprecedented” and called some aspects of the investigation, including its reliance on previously debunked conspiracy theories, “troubling.” But Boulee concluded county officials had not met the high legal bar necessary for him to intervene in the ongoing criminal probe and to instruct agents to give back the seized material, which includes the original ballots cast in the 2020 vote. “The seizure in this case was certainly not perfect,” wrote Boulee, a Trump appointee. But the county had not shown that its rights were callously disregarded “either through the lack of probable cause … or by the manner of the execution of the seizure,” he said.
In more Fulton County news, officials are working to block a federal subpoena seeking personal information about thousands of election staffers, poll workers and volunteers who helped administer the November 2020 election. In a 27-page motion filed May 4, the Fulton County Board of Elections casts the subpoena as an unprecedented and politically motivated maneuver and accuses the Justice Department of weaponizing a federal grand jury to revive debunked claims that the 2020 election was stolen. The Justice Department subpoena, dated April 17 but disclosed in court this week, commands the board’s custodian of records to appear in U.S. District Court in Atlanta on Tuesday with rosters of election staff members. It seeks the names, duties, home addresses, email addresses and personal phone numbers of people involved in the 2020 election in Georgia’s most populous county, long a focus of President Donald Trump’s false claims of widespread election fraud. Fulton County Commission Chair Robb Pitts said in an interview that it’s an ongoing effort to “intimidate workers in our county, to discourage people from voting.”
Louisiana: Voters and voting rights groups filed multiple lawsuits against Gov. Jeff Landry over his order to suspend the state’s House primary, arguing that he had overstepped his executive powers by delaying the election to give lawmakers time to draw a new congressional map. The state court rejected the pleas by the groups for an emergency order to immediately block the governor from suspending the primary, and scheduled a preliminary hearing for next week. With early in-person voting set to begin on Saturday, the legal action could further upend Louisiana’s rapidly shifting election calendar amid a dizzying series of developments since the Supreme Court rejected Louisiana’s map as an illegal racial gerrymander. On April 30, Landry suspended the state’s congressional primary election under the governor’s emergency powers, saying that the existing map was no longer legal to use and that the Legislature needed time to craft new district lines. “I think it’s fairly described as dramatic, where the governor is trying to change the election on Thursday, when early voting starts on Saturday,” said Sarah Brannon, a deputy director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, which is representing the plaintiffs in the case. Voting rights groups on Friday argued that the Supreme Court ruling did not qualify as an emergency under Louisiana law. Given that absentee ballots have already been requested and voters are already struggling to navigate a new closed-primary system, the groups warned against sowing further chaos and jeopardizing people’s right to vote. “There is no threat to the safety of any voter as a result of the Supreme Court’s decision,” the lawsuit states. “This is evident in the fact that under the executive order, the May 16 primary election will go forward for all other races on the ballot.” For individual voters who have already cast an absentee ballot, the lawsuit adds: “They would be deprived of their fundamental right to vote under the Louisiana Constitution if that vote was cast aside.”
Michigan: Hillsdale County Circuit Judge Sara Lisznyai signed an order dismissing all felony charges leveled against a former township clerk and her lawyer accused of permitting an unauthorized examiner to access voter data. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced charges against former Adams Township Clerk Stephanie Scott and attorney Stefanie Lambert Junttila, which had accused Scott of disregarding multiple instructions from the state director of elections to present a voting tabulator to an authorized vendor for maintenance. Nessel also accused Lambert Junttila of illicitly transmitting data on the 2020 general election from the Adams Township electronic poll book under Scott’s direction. While the pair was bound over for trial in December, Lisznyai dismissed all felony charges in the case. Both Scott and Lambert Junttila were charged with one count of using a computer to commit a crime, one count of unauthorized access to a computer and one count of conspiracy to commit unauthorized access of a computer. Scott also faced two additional charges, one count of misconduct in office, a five-year felony, and one count of disobeying a lawful instruction or order of the secretary of state as chief election officer, a misdemeanor charge punishable by 90 days’ imprisonment. Lisznyai remanded the misdemeanor charge to district court for further proceedings. In her order, Lisznyai determined that voter data – which includes people’s birthdates, driver’s license numbers and phone numbers – is exempt from release under Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act, but there are no confidentiality or nondisclosure requirements on this data.
Court of Claims Judge Christopher Yates has ruled the state Bureau of Elections cannot deny public access to records that detail the ballot options used by individual voters to cast their ballots. The bureau changed its policy on responding to requests for that information through the state’s Freedom of Information Act following the 2022 election, when voters amended the Michigan Constitution to add an early voting option. The state until recently kept a publicly available list of who voted in person on Election Day and who used an absentee ballot. The Secretary of State says it could be possible to combine that data with other publicly available information in smaller, low-turnout precincts, to determine the choices individual voters make in an election. That, the elections bureau said, violates the right to a secret ballot. A right-wing activist, Phani Mantravadi, sued the elections bureau, arguing the state’s redactions violate the Michigan Freedom of Information Act. Yates said the state’s solution of denying access to previously public records based on the possibility of someone cobbling together disparate sets of information to determine how a small group of people voted is too sweeping. “To be sure, that circumstance is so uncommon that the parties agree it almost certainly will affect, at most, a very small collection of voters in each election,” Yates wrote, “but defendant insists that that mere possibility is serious enough to justify shielding from disclosure all voting-type information for all voters across the entire state.”
Texas: Frio County Judge Jennifer Dillingham dismissed a $50 million lawsuit filed on behalf of several elected leaders charged in a state-led vote harvesting investigation, according to court records obtained by KSAT Investigates. The lawsuit, filed in February 2026, accused former Frio County election judge Margarita “Margie” Gonzales and Mary Lee Moore, the Democratic nominee for Frio County Judge, of making false, defamatory statements with the intent of malice. Court records signed this month by Dillingham state the group “failed to establish” clear and specific evidence for their claims. The court order states the group is responsible for paying Gonzales’ and Moore’s legal fees, which will be determined later. “This ruling reflects a textbook and faithful application of the (Texas Citizens Participation Act),” said Mark Anthony Sánchez, who represents Gonzales and Moore. “The statute exists to stop lawsuits that attempt to punish citizens for speaking on matters of public concern or for reporting suspected wrongdoing.”
U.S. Virgin Islands: A new federal lawsuit is challenging both Virgin Islands election law and the recent settlement between the Democratic Party of the Virgin Islands and election officials, with three candidates arguing that current ballot-access rules impose unequal burdens, rely too heavily on private party decisions, and exceed the Elections System’s legal authority. Filed in District Court, the complaint asks the court to strike down the signature requirement for independent delegate candidates, invalidate what it describes as a new “dual-certification framework,” and block election officials from rejecting signatures from voters deemed inactive. The plaintiffs are Shelley Moorhead, Collister Fahie, and Lorelei Monsanto. The lawsuit names Elections Supervisor Caroline Fawkes and the Board of Elections as defendants and seeks declaratory and injunctive relief. According to the complaint, Virgin Islands law places a heavier burden on candidates based on whether they are affiliated with a political party. The complaint also challenges how the Election System of the Virgin Islands applies the law, arguing that ESVI routinely excludes signatures from voters classified as inactive. The suit also points directly to the recent settlement in the Democratic Party’s separate case against election officials, arguing that it created a “dual-certification” framework “under which access to the primary election ballot is conditioned in part on certification by a private political party through an internal vetting process, enforced through governmental authority.”
Wisconsin: The Wisconsin Elections Commission is facing criticism from local officials and a lawsuit filed after it ordered Madison not to count 23 absentee ballots that arrived late to the polls in the state’s recent Supreme Court Race, a delay city officials say was caused by election administrator error. City officials also say the commission initially offered little guidance but later faulted them for making the wrong decision. The liberal law firm Law Forward’s lawsuit in Dane County Circuit Court alleges that the commission illegally ordered Madison not to count 23 absentee ballots that arrived at the polls after 8 p.m. The group says the two voters it’s representing — Margaret and Robert Honig — along with the other voters, would be unconstitutionally disenfranchised “through no fault of their own” and asks the court to strike down the WEC order not to count the ballots. The lawsuit references several past rulings in the state as establishing a precedent that voters can’t be deprived of their constitutional voting rights due to election officials’ errors.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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