Legislative Updates
Federal Legislation: A bipartisan group of lawmakers is seeking to increase the number of U.S. service members who exercise their right to vote — especially those stationed in combat zones or deployed overseas. Sens. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, introduced a bill that would establish a secure electronic voting system for those assigned to hazardous duty stations or on a rotational deployment. According to the senators, the fully auditable system would track votes from the time they are marked through the counting process. In a release, Duckworth said a new system is needed as part of an overall effort to “strengthen voting rights across the country.” “Service members face numerous barriers to voting that make it more difficult for them to participate in our democracy by exercising their right to vote,” she said. “[The bill] would increase access to the ballot box for troops.” The proposal follows an executive order signed March 7 by President Joe Biden that required the Defense Department to establish an “end-to-end tracking system” for all absentee ballots cast by military personnel and Americans living overseas. Duckworth and Cornyn’s legislation would specifically target troops who face the most challenges in voting — those at remote or dangerous locales. Similar legislation was introduced in the House earlier this year by Reps. Andy Kim, D-N.J., and Joe Wilson, R-S.C.
District of Columbia: At-Large Council member Christina Henderson, along with six of her colleagues, introduced the Voter Ownership, Integrity, Choice and Equity (VOICE) Amendment Act of 2021 which would implement a ranked choice voting system. In a news release announcing their proposal, Henderson said the benefits of ranked choice voting “are just as diverse as the candidates who are empowered to run under this system” Henderson also believes it will encourage those running for office to campaign more broadly to supporters of other candidates. The VOICE Amendment Act would also create a voter-education campaign ran by the DC Board of Elections to improve outreach to seniors and low-turnout precincts.
Michigan: Michigan Republicans’ attempts to add an ID component to absentee ballot applications and to institute signature verification at polling places have died in the GOP-led Legislature, amid pushback from election clerks and voting-rights advocates. Rep. Ann Bollin, who chairs the House Elections and Ethics Committee, told The Associated Press that she and many other House Republicans oppose a Senate-passed bill that would require absentee ballot applicants to include a copy of their photo ID, their driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number. Those who do not would get a provisional ballot and have to either verify their voter registration or their identity and residence within six days after the election for it to count.
The Lansing City Council voted to add ranked-choice voting to the November ballot. Eastpointe Michigan is currently the only city in the state using ranked-choice voting.
Ohio: Rep. Bride Rose Sweeny (D-Cleveland) has introduced legislation that she says repeals language that was inserted in to the state’s budget without debate or hearings and that advocates fear could impact voter outreach efforts. The budget language in question says: “No public official that is responsible for administering or conducting an election in this state shall collaborate with or accept or expend any money from a nongovernmental person or entity for any costs or activities related to voter registration, voter education, voter identification, get-out-the-vote, absent voting, election official recruitment or training or any other election-relation purpose…” The Ohio League of Women Voters and other voting rights group had asked Gov. Mike DeWine (R) to repeal the controversial language. He later told reporters he doesn’t think it will prevent voter education or voter registration efforts. Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R) says he was told that the measure is meant to keep large companies from injecting money into elections through boards of election.
Texas: Senate Bill 1 and House Bill 3 were each approved out of committee over the weekend following hours of testimony during the special session. Republicans have already dulled some of the edges of the legislation, dropping controversial provisions to restrict Sunday voting hours and to make it easier for judges to overturn elections. But the bills’ authors are still moving to ban drive-thru and 24-hour voting options, enhance access for partisan poll watchers and prohibit local election officials from proactively distributing applications to request mail-in ballots. Both bills also include language to further restrict the state’s voting-by-mail rules, including new ID requirements for absentee voters. Significant portions of both bills focus on shutting down local expansion of voting options meant to make it easier to vote. Senate Bill 1 was approved by a vote of 18-4. It now heads to the House were its future is uncertain due to the fact that Democratic members of the House have fled the state to prevent a quorum.
Senate Democrats offered up their own elections overhaul legislation that aims to make voting more accessible, a counter to the GOP’s priority bills that they say would suppress votes, especially those of Black and Latino Texans. Named for Barbara Jordan, the state’s first Black female senator, the Democrats’ bill would usher in online and same-day voter registration, allow all voters to request mail-in ballots, expand the early voting period, permit additional documents to be used as voter ID and make Election Day a state holiday and require employers to let employees vote. All 13 Democratic senators back the legislation. “This bill is designed to make voting and the election process more safe and more secure and more accessible,” said the chief author, Sen. Royce West of Dallas. “That’s what we need to be doing in 2021.”
Washington: The King County Council voted six to three to advance a proposal to put ranked-choice voting on the November ballot. The vote took place during a meeting of the council’s Committee of the Whole, on which all nine members sit. The proposal was introduced by Councilmember Girmay Zahilay last month. Zahilay, along with Councilmembers Jeanne Kohl-Welles, Dave Upthegrove, Claudia Balducci, Pete von Reichbauer and Joe McDermott voted to advance the measure for consideration at the July 13th meeting. Councilmembers Rod Dembowski, Kathy Lambert and Reagan Dunn voted in opposition. If the proposal passes in a full council vote, voters in King County will decide whether they want to use ranked-choice voting to elect county officials. Those positions include the King County executive, assessor, director of elections, prosecuting attorney and members of the county council. The council ultimately decided to delay moving forward with the proposal at this time.
Legal Updates
Alaska: A state court judge heard arguments this in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a voter-approved initiative that would end party primaries in Alaska and institute ranked-choice voting in general elections. Scott Kohlhaas, who unsuccessfully ran for a state House seat last year as a Libertarian; Bob Bird, chairman of the Alaskan Independence Party; Bird’s party; and Anchorage attorney Kenneth P. Jacobus sued in December, shortly after the initiative was approved. In court documents, they say people “exercise their right of free political association by forming political parties for the purpose of electing candidates” and advancing issues and principles. They call the new voter-approved system a “political experiment” and say it was designed in a way to harm political parties. They cite concerns that candidates for minor parties, like the Alaskan Independence Party, could get “lost in the shuffle,” in a primary where all candidates are listed on one ballot and the top four vote-getters advance to the general election. They allege in court documents that ranked-choice voting imposes “an unconstitutional burden on the voter’s right to make a knowledgeable choice,” saying voters will make choices not knowing which candidates might be eliminated.
California: California’s citizen redistricting commission will ask the state’s Supreme Court to give the panel two extra weeks to draw political maps this fall and winter, saying that a delay from the federal government in providing new census data will otherwise limit public participation in the once-a-decade process. All 14 members of the California Citizens Redistricting Commission voted in favor of the proposal Tuesday night, setting the stage for the state’s high court to intervene for the second time in the past year to adjust the process of drawing new legislative, congressional and Board of Equalization districts. Last summer, the justices agreed to add four months to what would otherwise have been an Aug. 15 deadline to finalize the state’s maps. That decision, given current expectations that state officials will receive census data next month, would require maps to be completed by the end of December. The commission wants the state’s highest court to grant an additional two weeks, seeking to finalize its work no later than Jan. 14.
Kansas: Attorney Josh Pierson argued in Shawnee County District Court for the release of provisional ballot data requested by Davis Hammet, a voter rights advocate who hoped to educate the public about why their ballots weren’t being counted. Hammet won a lawsuit last year over whether details about provisional ballots are a public record, and District Judge Teresa Watson ordered Secretary of State Scott Schwab to turn the information over. The Republican secretary of state, whose agency oversees elections and manages a statewide voter database, instead ordered software engineers to remove the database function that allows the agency to produce the records. The secretary then denied Hammet’s request on the grounds that the records no longer exist. Schwab’s office told Hammet he could still get access to the data, but only if he paid $522 for the database vendor, Election Systems & Software, to retrieve it. Hammet sued again, with support from the ACLU. Pierson and Garrett Roe, an attorney for Schwab’s agency, are asking Watson to issue summary judgment in the case. Roe argued that the Kansas Open Records Act (KORA) only requires agencies to turn over existing records, and says nothing of software management.
Michigan: U.S. District Judge Linda Parker grilled Sidney Powell and her team of lawyers for roughly six hours Monday in response to motions to sanction the attorneys in connection with their conspiracy-laden lawsuit claiming election fraud in the state. Parker heard arguments from lawyers for Detroit and Michigan for sanctioning Powell and her team, but spent most of the hearing scrutinizing the baseless allegations of fraud and misconduct leveled in the lawsuit, which involved several attorneys, including three from Michigan: Scott Hagerstrom, Stefanie Lambert Junttila and Greg Rohl. Parker repeatedly questioned whether the attorneys properly investigated the claims of fraud and misconduct presented in affidavits included in the lawsuit before submitting them to the court. “My concern is that counsel here has submitted affidavits to suggest and make the public believe that there was something wrong with the election. And that is what this is all about. That’s what these affidavits are designed to do, to show that there was something wrong in Michigan, there was something wrong in Wayne County,” Parker said.
After the Asian-American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) sued the city of Hamtramck for violating the federal Voting Rights Act, a court order and consent decree have been issued, calling for the metro Detroit city to provide a more ethnically diverse elections environment. Following filing of the complaint in federal court, AALDEF carried out negotiations with the city of Hamtramck and a consent decree was reached. The Hamtramck City Council convened an emergency meeting to approve the terms of the deal on June 30. City officials are required to: Create a language access advisory group comprised of community groups, including Detroit Action and Rising Voices who work with Hamtramck’s Bengali-speaking community; Meet with the advisory group in advance of future elections and hire a Bengali elections program coordinator; Assign at least one Bengali speaking bilingual poll worker to each of Hamtramck’s seven voting precincts and at least one Bengali interpreter will be assigned to each of the city’s four poll sites, including two interpreters at the city’s community center poll site.
Mississippi: Madison County election officials are in the clear when it comes to potential contempt of court charges, following a hearing this week. Senior Status Judge Jeff Weill lifted a show cause order he placed on the county, days after it appeared the election commission and circuit clerk had refused to comply with his earlier order requiring them to oversee new elections in Canton. On July 1, Weill ordered new elections in Canton’s Ward 2 and Ward 5 Democratic primaries. He also ordered the county’s elected officials to preside over the races. However, he backed off that stance on Tuesday, after city and county officials agreed to hammer out how the upcoming elections would be handled. “We all are here to see, ultimately, that the election gets (done properly),” he said.
New Jersey: Superior Court Judge Joseph Marczyk ordered a special election for Atlantic County commissioner to be held concurrently with the general election on November 2, eschewing a bid by Republicans to hold a special election in late August or early September. The 3rd district commissioner seat has been vacant since January after Marczyk invalidated the November 2020 election that was botched by County Clerk Ed McGettigan, a Democrat. Ed McGettigan goofed by mailing the incorrect ballots to 544 votes in a race where Democrat Thelma Witherspoon defeated Republican Andrew Parker by 286 votes. “The court’s goal is to interpret statutes consistent with the intent of the Legislature,” Marczyk said. “When the language is clear and unambiguous and susceptible to only to one interpretation, the courts assume the legislature meant what it said … the court’s role is not to question legislative action, but to enforce them, so long as they are not contrary to constitutional principles.” Marczyk had previously denied a bid by Democrats to temporarily fill the seat. It had previously been held by Democrat Ashley Bennett, who did not seek re-election to a second term. He also had ordered an April special election, which was cancelled as a result of Gov. Phil Murphy’s executive order.
New York: The U.S. Department of Justice reached an agreement with the Oneida County elections board over voter registrations and provisional ballots, in the wake of federal election law violations coming to light in a tightly contested congressional race last year. The Justice Department and the Oneida County Board of Elections filed the proposed consent decree with a federal court, which must still approve it. The department had said in March that it planned to sue the board over violations including thousands of voter registration applications that were not processed in time for last November’s general election, as well as the rejection of hundreds of affidavit ballots submitted at county polling sites, if a settlement was not reached. As part of the consent decree, the county board agreed to create policies and procedures to make sure voter registrations are processed, and train employees on provisional ballot requirements. It will also send reports on its compliance to the department. In a statement, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the department’s civil rights division said, “We will continue using critical federal voting rights laws to help ensure that eligible voters enjoy access to the ballot box.”
South Dakota: Two Native American people announced they were joining a lawsuit against South Dakota alleging that state agencies failed to offer voter registration services. The two tribal members, along with the Lakota People’s Law Project, said they were asking a federal district judge to allow them to join a lawsuit that alleges state agencies are breaking federal law by not providing ample opportunities to register to vote or update voter registration information at places like motor vehicle and public assistance offices near Native American reservations. Federal law requires the agencies to help people register to vote at those kinds of offices, including ones that provide public assistance or serve people with disabilities. The Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe initiated the legal challenge last year. The state has denied those allegations in court documents and asked that the lawsuit be dismissed. The tribes have argued that state practices already make it difficult for Native American people to register to vote. They alleged that they have documented instances in which people tried to register their votes at state agency offices but were turned away.
Tennessee: he Tennessee Supreme Court announced it will not take up the Davidson County Election Commission’s Metro Charter referendum appeal. The ruling by the Tennessee Supreme Court states, “The Court concludes that this case does not warrant the extraordinary action of the exercise of the Court’s authority to assume jurisdiction. As a result, the motion to assume jurisdiction is DENIED.” The Davidson County Election commission voted to appeal a judge’s ruling to strike down a charter referendum on Metro’s property tax – The Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act. And in order to determine whether or not residents will be voting on a referendum this year, the Davidson County Election Commission filed an appeal to the Tennessee Supreme Court to speed up the process. On another legal front in the same matter, a local coalition vying to stop an anti-tax referendum sued the Davidson County Election Commission, saying the commission was taking illegal steps to put the referendum on a September ballot.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
