Legislative Updates
California: California Voters will decide in November on Prop. 17 that if Approved would Restore the Voting Rights to Ex-Felons on Parole.
Colorado: Gov. Jared Polis has Signed House Bill 1313 into Law that Requires County Clerks to get Replacement Ballots in the Mail quickly in Eight to 15 days from an Election. They now have to Process New Voter Registration and Changes that Require a New Ballot within Two days, then get a Ballot out within One Business Day. Replacement Ballots also have to go out within a day. Within 11 days of an Election, Ballots must be sent by First-Class Mail to help ensure they get there.
Connecticut: The Bolton Charter Review Commission has been meeting since the beginning of the year on a Variety of Issues including how to Break Ties in Elections. Currently Tied Elections may be settled either through a Special Election, or a Coin-Toss, whichever the Candidates Decide. However the Charter Review Commission is considering making Coin-Toss the Default. In addition to the Fun nature of such a Tiebreaker, Some Commissioner Members said the Coin-Toss could Save Taxpayers between $3,000 to $5,000 for the Cost of holding a Special Election.
New Hampshire: Gov. Chris Sununu has Vetoed a Bill that would Expand Absentee Voting in the Granite State. The Voting Bill would, among other things, Allow for Mo-Excuse Absentee Voting and would set up Online Voter Registration next year. Democrats say the Changes would Modernize the State Voting System and make Elections more Secure. In his Veto message, Sununu noted that the Secretary of State has already said People can Vote Absentee this year if they have Concerns about COVID-19.
Rhode Island: The House is set to take up a Pair of Bills designed to make it Easier to Vote before Election Day and Encourage Voters to Cast a Ballot by Mail during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Legislation was Passed by the House Judiciary Committee, on Tuesday evening, with the Two Republican Members of the Committee Voting in Opposition. One Bill, would Allow Voters to cast Ballots up to 20 days before the Election in a Regular Vote-Counting Machine at their City or Town Hall. The Second Bill would Send a Mail Ballot Application to Every Registered Voter, as Rhode Island did for the June Presidential Primary, to Reduce the Risk of Spreading Coronavirus at Polling Places.
Utah: Utah State Sen. Todd Weiler (R-23rd District, Woods Cross), plans to Sponsor a Bill that would Prohibit Organizations, like Political Campaigns, from Turning in Voters’ Ballots for them. Weiler said he wants the Bill to be Passed in a Special Session in August so it could go into Effect before the November Election.
Vermont: An Appointed Commission in the City of Winooski is Reviewing the City Charter to allow All Qualified Winooski Residents to Vote in Local Elections, Regardless of their Citizenship Status. “This would give a voice to our neighbors on local matters that would affect them, their families and their lives,” said Liz Edsell, the Chairperson of the Charter Commission.
Burlington, the City Council Vote 6-5 this week to put a Proposal on the November Ballot that if Approved would move the City back to a Ranked-Choice Voting System for Municipal Elections.
Virginia: The Arlington County Board has Opted Against considering a Proposal to Move County Board Elections to a Ranked-Choice Voting System. General Assembly Members this year Approved Legislation by Del. Patrick Hope (D-Arlington) allowing Arlington to Switch to a Instant-Runoff Voting system for County Board Elections as Early as this November.
Legal Updates
California: The Republican National Committee (RNC) Dropped its Challenge to an Executive Order by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) Expanding Vote-by-Mail Access to Every Voter in the State, conceding in Recent Federal Court Filings that a subsequent Law has Mooted the Dispute. Judge Morrison C. England Jr. Signed an Order Dismissing the Lawsuit on the same day.
Florida: The State is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to Reject a Bid by Voting Rights Advocates to Lift a Stay on a Lower Court’s Ruling that Allowed Florida Felons to Regain the Right-to-Vote, regardless of Unpaid Fines and Other Financial Obligations. In its Written Response filed Tuesday, Lawyers for Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, argued that “all Floridians will be irreparably harmed if the district court’s patently erroneous injunction is reinstated, enabling hundreds of thousands of ineligible voters to take part in the upcoming elections, one of which is only a month away.” Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, one of the High Court’s most Conservative Members, is handling the Request.
Iowa: LULAC, and Majority Forward, a Washington-based Nonprofit that Supports Voter Registration and Turnout, filed a Petition of Law and Equity against Secretary of State, Paul Pate on Tuesday. It Challenges Section 124 of House File 2643, which Bars County Officials from using the State’s Voter Registration Database to Fill-In Missing Information on Absentee Ballot Request Forms. Instead, if there is Missing Information on a Request Form, County Officials must Email or Call the Voter within 24 hours to get the Information, and if they Cannot be reached by those Methods, a Letter should be sent. If the Correct Information isn’t Obtained, the Voter won’t Receive a Ballot. The Lawsuit, Filed in Johnson County District Court, is Calling for a Temporary and Permanent Injunction of the Rule, and wants the Court to deem it Unconstitutional.
Michigan: The Michigan Court of Appeals Ruled this week that Absentee Ballots must be in the Local Clerk’s Office by Election Day In-Order to be Counted. The League of Women Voters Sued the State in May, arguing that Absentee Ballots should be Allowed to be Received after Election Day as long as they are Postmarked On or Before Election Day. The Court found the Restriction was Not “a severe burden on the right to vote” and therefore was Constitutional. “…[A] voter is not required to mail his or her absentee ballot. Rather, the voter or an immediate family member may deliver the ballot in person to the city or township clerk, or, if requested, the clerk must pick up the ballot or send an election assistant to pick up the ballot,” the Court said in its Opinion.
Missouri: Cole County Judge, Jon Beetem, Denied the Motion for a Preliminary Injunction sought by the Missouri NAACP and the League of Women Voters that would have Immediately made it easier for Missourians to Vote with a Mail-In Ballot during the Coronavirus Pandemic. The Lawsuit seeks to Allow all Missourians to Cast Absentee Ballots without Notarization in 2020. The Missouri Supreme Court sent the Lawsuit Back for further Review, Ruling last month that Beetem was Wrong to Dismiss it. Beetem said Friday the Groups presented No New Arguments. “Absent evidence that the ‘consistently effective social distancing and related strategies to prevent the spread of COVID-19’ could not be employed in the notary circumstances, the court concludes that plaintiffs have not made a convincing showing of irreparable harm from the notarization requirement for mail-in ballots,” he wrote.
New York: Incumbent Congressman, Eliot Engel, has Sued both, New York City and Westchester County’s Board of Elections, during a Recount that could take weeks to resolve. That Lawsuit is meant to entail “the court to rule on the validity of the casting or canvassing, or refusal to cast or canvass, any such ballots,” in Efforts to Modify the Anticipated Result of the Ongoing Recount, which began July 8th at the Headquarters on the Bronx’s Grand Concourse.
The League of Women Voters of New York State and the League of Women Voters of the United States joined a Federal Lawsuit in order to Limit the Number of Absentee Ballot Rejections. According to the Complaint, New York Rejected 14% of Absentee Ballots in 2018 and for the Past Two Election Cycles. The State’s Ballot Rejection Rate has been among the Highest in the Country. The Lawsuit asks that the State provide a way for Voters who have their Ballots Rejected to have Enough Time to Fix a Signature Error.
North Carolina: Legislative Republicans have called on the Courts to Lift an Injunction and Require Voter to Present Photo Identification at the Polls this November, saying a Bill they Passed earlier this year should Satisfy the Last Arguments against the Rule. There are Two Lawsuits seeking, so far, successfully, to Block the State’s Voter ID Requirement: One State and One Federal. Republican Lawmakers filed a Motion in the State Case last week, asking Judges to Drop their Injunction against the State’s Voter ID Law. They Argued that a Provision included in House Bill 1169 earlier this year should Satisfy the Court.
The ACLU and the Organization’s North Carolina Chapter have Sued State Lawmakers in an effort to Eliminate the Witness Requirement for Voting-by-Mail. “No one should be forced to choose between their health and their vote,” said Dale Ho, Director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, in a Statement announcing the Lawsuit. “Removing the witness requirements in the middle of a deadly pandemic just makes sense. It is an obvious and common-sense solution that protects people’s health and their right to vote.”
Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania Democratic Party is Suing the State’s Top Elections Agency and All 67 County Election Boards over the Commonwealth’s Vote-by-Mail Process. The Case focuses on Ballot Return Deadlines, Ballot Drop-Off Procedures and other Mail-In Voting Issues. But it also seeks a Court Order that would essentially Counter Claims made in the Federal Lawsuit initiated Two weeks ago by President Trump’s Re-Election Campaign. The Democrats’ Suit, for example, seeks to Maintain the Current Requirement that Poll Watchers Reside in the County where they’re Working. The Trump Campaign’s Lawsuit argues that Pennsylvania Residents should be able to Serve as Poll Watchers Anywhere in the State. Democrats also are asking the Court to Clarify that Counties can come up with their Own Ballot Collection Plans and Require Counties to Accept Mail-In Ballots Submitted without a Secrecy Envelope.
South Carolina: In a Joint Agreement filed last week, State Election Commission Officials said they Intend to Provide Prepaid Postage on All Absentee Ballot Return Envelopes this year, regardless of the Number of Voters who Qualify and take Advantage of Absentee Voting-by-Mail, Eliminating the Need for any further Legal Action on the Issue. Several Democratic Party Organizations and Individual Voters complained in Federal Court earlier this year about the Requirement that Voters Pay for Postage to Return their Absentee Ballots by Mail, arguing it presents an Undue Burden on the Right-to-Vote and effectively serves as a Poll Tax.
Tennessee: Davidson County Chancellor, Ellen Hobbs Lyle, ruled this week that State Officials are Not in Contempt of Court because they keep Enforcing a Tennessee Law barring many First-Time Voters from casting Absentee Ballots, despite her Decision that All Eligible Voters can Vote-by-Mail during the Coronavirus Pandemic. In her Ruling, Lyle said Voting Rights Groups that Sued for the Absentee Expansion did Not explicitly ask her to Block the Separate Law, which requires Voters who Register by Mail to Appear in Person during their First Election. She allowed the Groups to Request to Amend her Ruling that has Temporarily Expanded by-Mail Voting, but cautioned Not to Interpret that as a Decision whether or Not those Voters are Eligible under her Ruling.
West Virginia: Tess Bishop, Daughter of the Harpers Ferry Mayor, Wayne Bishop, has Pleaded Guilty to Illegal Voting. Tess Bishop, who Registered to Vote in Utah in March of 2019, was Charged with “unlawfully and knowingly” Voting in the June 2019 Harpers Ferry Election where her Father was up for Re-Election.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
