Legislative Updates
Federal Legislation: House Democrats have included $3.6 billion in Election Funding as part of the $3 trillion Coronavirus Stimulus Bill they rolled out on Tuesday. The Funding is meant to assist States in addressing New Challenges posed by holding Elections during the COVID-19 Pandemic, such as Expanding Mail-In and Early In-Person Voting. At least 50% of the Funds would be Required to go to Local Governments to help Administer Elections, and States would have until late next year to Access the Funds.
California: The Yolo County Board of Supervisors Voted 4-1 to Sign and Send a Letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) Backing the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials’ Request to Expand Vote-by-Mail Services for the Election due to Concerns related to Novel coronavirus.
In San Francisco, Several San Francisco Supervisors are Supporting a Charter Amendment that would give Voting Rights to 16- and 17-year-old City Residents for Municipal Elections. The Measure is Planned for the November Ballot. The Young Voters would have to Meet All of the Qualifications for Voter Registration under State Law besides the 18-year-old Age Minimum, and would have to Register to Vote with the City’s Department of Elections, according to the Language in the Proposed Charter Amendment.
Minnesota: The Senate, by a 66 to 1 Vote has followed in the House’s footsteps by Approving Legislation that Permits Candidates to File Electronically, Extends the Counting Period for Absentee Ballots and Releases $17 million in Federal Election Money. The Bill also Allows Elections Officials to Relocate Polling Places away from Sites such as Nursing Homes or Assisted Living Facilities.
Missouri: The House has Approved a Bill that would Allow for No-Excuse Absentee Voting. If signed into Law it would Only Apply to the August and November 2020 Statewide Elections. The Proposed Change, which still needs Senate Approval, comes after County Clerks and Voting Rights Groups have said People shouldn’t have to Risk going to Polling Places during a Global Pandemic. Currently Voters most Provide a Valid Excuse for Not Voting In-Person. Illegally Casting an Absentee Ballot is a Felon.
Oklahoma: The Senate Approved and the Governor quickly Signed into Law a Bill that would Reinstate the need for a Notary Witness in Order to Cast an Absentee Ballot except during a State of Emergency. Under the Bill, for the Duration of the COVID-19 state of Emergency, Voters who wish to submit Absentee Ballots by Mail will need to include a Photocopy of their Voter Registration Card or Photo Identification. Once the Emergency Declaration is Over, Absentee Voters would then be Required to have their Ballots Notarized by a Notary Public.
South Carolina: South Carolina Lawmakers Unanimously Voted on a Bill that would Expand Absentee Voting for the June Primaries due to Fears over the Coronavirus Pandemic. The Measure would allow All South Carolinians to Request an Absentee Ballot and Mail in their Vote, rather than going to a Polling Location. If the Bill is signed into Law Voters must List the Coronavirus Pandemic as they reason for Voting Absentee. It will also Only Apply to the June Primaries and Run-Offs. Gov. Henry McMaster (R) Signed the Legislation into Law on Wednesday.
Texas: Killeen City Elections were Moved from May to November this year due to the Pandemic, and the City Council will Discuss whether that should be a Permanent Change. According to City Documents, Changing the Date would Require “a statutory amendment to the Texas Elections Code.”
Vermont: Members of the Senate Gov. Ops Committee have decided to Draft Standby Legislation that Removes the need for the Governor to Sign-Off on Covid-19 Emergency Election Protocols. The Legislation is Not expected to move Forward unless the Secretary of State’s Office and the Governor’s Team Cannot come to an Agreement by the End of the Week over Expanding the State’s Mail-In Voting Capacity for the General Election.
Wisconsin: The Oshkosh Common Council Approve a Measure 4-2 this week that will have the City Clerk sending Absentee Ballot Applications to All Registered Voters for the November General Election. The Two Opposing Councilors cited the near $90,000 in Costs as their Reason for Voting Against the Measure.
Legal Updates
Arkansas: Arkansas will begin ensuring that Change-of-Address Information Submitted for Driver’s License purposes is used to Update Voter Registration Records under an Agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice. The Agreement is aimed at Resolving Claims that Arkansas Didn’t provide certain Opportunities to Update Voter-Registration Records as Required by the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. The Law requires States to Update Voter Records when the Address on the Driver’s License or other IDs is Changed, unless the Person chooses otherwise.
California: The Long Beach Reform Coalition has filed a Lawsuit against Los Angeles County Clerk/Recorder, Dean Logan, over the County’s New Voting System and an Aborted Recount of the City’s Measure A ballot Initiative. The Lawsuit, filed Monday, May 11th, in Los Angeles County Superior Court, seeks to have the Registrar’s Office Restart the Measure A Recount “at a reasonable cost,” said Ian Patton, Director of the Coalition.
Georgia: U.S. Judge, William Ray II, has Denied a Preliminary Injunction for the use of Spanish-Language Mailers about Absentee Voting in Gwinnett County. Gwinnett County is the Only County in the State Required to provide Bilingual Polling Materials and a Suit was filed by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law arguing that the County must also Send Absentee Ballot Materials in Spanish. In his Decision, Ray said he thought their Request represented a “reasonable and desirable outcome” and “may very well be the best public policy.” But, he wrote, it was Not the Law. Ray noted that the Voting Rights Act Applies to the County and that it was the Secretary of State’s Office Sending out the Materials and that Office has “no duty” to provide Bilingual Materials.
The New Georgia Project, a Voter Registration Group, has filed a Lawsuit Challenging a Georgia Law that Requires Absentee Ballots to Arrive in County Election Offices by 7 p.m. on Election Day. The Lawsuit also asks a Judge to Order Free Ballot Postage, allow Groups like the New Georgia Project to turn in Ballots for Voters, and Require better Notification of Voters whose Absentee Ballot Requests are Rejected.
Louisiana: The NAACP, Power Coalition for Equity and Justice, and Four Individual Voters have Sued the State over an Emergency Election Plan. The Suit says the Plan falls Short in Protecting Voters from the Coronavirus and Call the Plan “unduly restrictive” and Seeks to Repeal the Requirements that Voters Present an Excuse to Receive an Absentee Ballot, thereby Expanding them to Everyone.
Minnesota: A Group of Older Minnesota Voters is Suing the Secretary of State over concerns that the State’s Absentee Voting Rules could put their Vote, and their Health, at Risk this year. The Suit argues that many Older Voters who are Self-Quarantining to avoid Contracting the COVID-19 Virus Won’t be able to get the Required Witness Signatures on their Mail-In Ballots. The Lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Ramsey County District Court by the Minnesota Alliance for Retired Americans Educational Fund, looks to Stop the State from Enforcing that Requirement and also to Adopt a Postmark Deadline on Mail-In Ballots.
New Hampshire: Attorneys for the State are Appealing, to the New Hampshire Supreme Court, a Lower Court Decision, Striking Down as Unconstitutional, a 2017 Republican-backed Law that Tightened Identification Requirements for Registering to Vote in the Granite State. Judge, David Anderson, Ruled on April 8th that the Law known as Senate Bill 3 Violates the New Hampshire Constitution by “burdening the fundamental right to vote” and because it has an Unequal Impact on Certain People in the State, Primarily Young People, College Students, and People who frequently Relocate to Different Communities. The Supreme Court Justices will now Prescreen the Appeal and will Decide whether to Accept or Decline the Case, a Court Spokesperson said. If it is Accepted, a Briefing Schedule will be Issued. After the Briefs are Filed, the Court will Decide whether to hold Oral Arguments or whether to Decide the Case based on the Written Briefs.
North Carolina: A Trio of Judges held a Hearing this week on whether or Not State Legislators should have to turn over Emails that could show what they Discussed while Writing the State’s, currently On-Hold, 2018 Voter ID Law. On Wednesday, Lawyers representing GOP Lawmakers on One side and the Southern Coalition for Social Justice on the Other side Argued over whether that “legislative privilege” is Absolute, or if there are instances when it can be Broken.
Pennsylvania: Common Cause Pennsylvania and the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania moved to Intervene in a Lawsuit brought by Judicial Watch Inc. seeking an Order Compelling the State and Several Counties to Comply with Voter List Maintenance that it Claims is Lacking. Olivia Thorne, President of the League of Women Voters of Delaware County, said that the Decision to Intervene was based in part on the League trying to ensure No Legitimate, Eligible Voters are Wrongly Removed. “Why do this right before a presidential election?” she asked. “We work very hard all the time trying to register voters, and the idea that people would be taken off the list when they registered for the last presidential (election), it’s sort of frustrating in some ways. … This is what we’re really trying to avoid, is having people disenfranchised.”
Texas: Two Voting Rights Advocates have filed a Complaint with the Dallas County District Attorney, alleging Attorney General, Ken Paxton, Committed Voter Fraud in each of the State’s 254 Counties by Contradicting a Judge’s Order Expanding the Availability of Mail-In Voting during the Pandemic. “Attorney General Ken Paxton’s letter intentionally misled Texas elections officials about eligibility to vote by mail,” said Kendall Scudder, One of the Complainants. “Mail-in ballots aren’t where the election fraud is happening, it’s happening in the office of our indicted attorney general.”
Attorney General, Ken Paxton, has Asked the Texas Supreme Court to Weigh-In on the State’s Vote-by-Mail Laws, bypassing a State Appeals Court. The Texas Democratic Party Sued State and Local Election Officials in March to get Clarification on whether State Law allows Voters who Don’t want to Risk Exposure to the Coronavirus to use Mail-In Ballots during Elections in July and November. A Travis County District Judge sided with the Plaintiffs. Paxton filed a Petition Wednesday directly with the Texas Supreme Court, however, “requesting that the court compel the early-voting clerks for Dallas, Cameron, El Paso, Harris and Travis Counties to follow Texas law on mail-in ballots,” according to a Press Release from his Office.
A Coalition of Voters and Civil Rights Groups filed Suit this week dives into the Mechanics of Mail-In Balloting, arguing that Existing Rules will deprive Voters of their Constitutional Rights in the Middle of a Public Health Crisis. In the Federal Lawsuit filed in San Antonio, Five Texas voters with Medical Conditions, Voto Latino, the NAACP Texas, and the Texas Alliance for Retired Americans, argue that Four Existing Rules for Absentee Voting will place Undue Burdens on the Right-to-Vote, or Risk Disenfranchising Texans, during the Pandemic.
The League of United Latin American Citizens’ National and Texas Arms Signed on this week to the Texas Democratic Party’s Federal Lawsuit against the State Raising Claims that the State’s Absentee Voting Restriction is Unconstitutional and Violates the Federal Voting Rights Act’s Prohibition on Discrimination against Voters based on Race. LULAC argues the Restriction that Limits Age Eligibility for Voting-by-Mail to those 65 and Older Disproportionately harms Texas Latinos because they tend to be Younger in age.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
