Legislative Updates
Alabama: Rep. John Rodgers of Birmingham pre-filed HB102 to propose the establishment of an advance voting period during which qualified electors, without excuse, may vote at a designated advance voting center before Election Day. The bill will provide for the hours of operation for each advance voting center; require judges of probate to manage advance voting; and require appointing boards to appoint poll workers to work at advance voting centers. The bill will be referred to the House Committee on Construction, Campaigns and Elections upon the convening of the Alabama House of Representatives on Feb. 2nd.
Connecticut: The Government Administration and Elections Committee approved a plan to keep using COVID-era, no-excuse absentee voting for upcoming special and municipal elections despite objections from GOP members of the committee. Sen. Mae Flexer (D-Willimantic), said the proposal to continue the mail-in balloting was being accelerated because of the pending special session in February for a Stamford Senate seat, as well as upcoming May elections in some towns and cities, to allow residents to avoid polling places in the pandemic. There are pending proposals to change the state Constitution to allow a range of election reforms to make it easier for voters, but they will require statewide votes in 2022 or 2024, and will come before the committee later in the session, which ends June 9th. An executive order from Gov. Ned Lamont allowed no-excuse mail-in balloting in the party primaries last summer.
Georgia: The state’s legislative session kicked off this week and in an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution at the start of the session, Gov. Brian Kemp (R) strongly endorsed adding photo ID requirements for absentee ballots said he is “reserving judgment” on a series of proposals that seek to end at-will absentee voting, ban ballot drop boxes and restrict state officials or outside groups from sending out absentee ballot applications. But Kemp said he unequivocally supported measures to tighten voter ID laws for mail-in ballots. “It’s a simple way to make sure that type of voting is further secured, and it’s a good first place to start,” Kemp said, adding: “It’s completely reasonable in this day and time, and in light of what’s going on, it would give all voters peace of mind and wouldn’t be restrictive.”
Illinois: The House Executive Committee advanced an election bill that would make permanent some of the expansions to mail-in voting that were passed for the 2020 general election. The bill would require election authorities to accept mail-in ballots that were submitted without sufficient postage and allow election authorities to set up collection sites or drop-boxes that accept ballots without postage. Lawmakers approved those measures last spring for the 2020 election in order to accommodate concerns about voting in-person during the COVID-19 pandemic. But those earlier expansions of mail-in voting expired on Jan. 1. The bill’s sponsor, Edwardsville Democratic Rep. Katie Stuart, said those vote-by-mail provisions were successful in the 2020 general election and should continue in the upcoming consolidated elections. The consolidated primary election is scheduled for Feb. 23nd. “This will be permanent because our election authorities who chose to use it found it was successful,” Stuart said.
Indiana: Rep. Tonya Pfaff (D-Terre Haute) announced her plans for the 2021 legislative session, planning to focus on a fair Indiana voting process. As the Ranking Minority Member of the House Elections and Apportionment Committee, Pfaff will support the House Democratic Caucus’ initiative to allow no-excuse absentee voting in future elections and enact a fair redistricting process. She also plans to reintroduce her bill that will allow same-day registration at the polls and extend voting hours to 8 p.m. “Voters should choose their representative, not the other way around,” said Pfaff. “It’s my mission to ensure that the voting process is not only easier and safer, but also better represents the people of Indiana by creating an independent, nonpartisan redistricting commission that is fair, impartial, and transparent. We must remove the hurdles that stand in the way of Hoosiers participating in democracy.”
Maryland: A bipartisan group of Maryland’s elected officials has pre-filed legislation in the House and Senate with the goal of giving students and active-duty military members easier access to voting resources. Sponsored by Dels. Eric Luedtke (D-Montgomery) and Mike Griffith (R-Harford) and Sen. Sarah Elfreth (D-Anne Arundel), the legislation would allow active-duty military members to electronically register to vote and request an absentee ballot as well as make public colleges and universities formulate plans to encourage students to vote.
Massachusetts: Sen. Rebecca Rausch (D) has filed a bill to change state election law to expand no-excuse mail voting to voters in any state, municipal or special election. Rausch’s bill not only expands mail-in voting to everyone, it also mandates infrastructure upgrades. Cities and towns would have to provide ballot drop boxes, and Galvin would have to create a dedicated portal where voters could register for mail-in status. The bill would also grant permanent mail voting status to anyone who wants it. During the 2020 elections, voters had to request mail-in ballots before each election. Rausch’s bill would also allow clerks to place mail-in ballots into voting tabulator machines before Election Day — a key provision to prevent counting delays. In the September Democratic primary, the results of the 4th Congressional District were delayed by several days after about 3,000 mail-in votes in Franklin were misplaced.
Minnesota: Sen. Scott Newman (R-Hutchinson) has once again introduced a bill that would require Minnesotans to present a valid photo ID for in-person and absentee voting. The bill establishes a new voter identification card free-of-charge to individuals who lack proper identification and cannot afford it. The legislation would require voters to produce valid, government-issued photo identification when voting in person or by absentee ballot. Individuals unable to provide valid proof of identity or residence would be able to cast a provisional ballot, affording the voter a period of time in which they could obtain valid identification. Same-day voter registration would also remain intact.
Missouri: State Sen. Bob Onder (R-Lake St. Louis), has filed legislation to require paper ballots to be used in Missouri elections. The legislation is in response to election irregularities. Onder says occurred in many states during the 2020 presidential election. Onder’s bill would prohibit the exclusive use of electronic vote tabulation in Missouri, and require that every citizen’s vote is recorded on a paper ballot, which can be verified in the event of discrepancies.
Nebraska: Sen. Julie Slama of Peru has introduced a constitutional amendment to require voters to show photo ID to vote. Slama said her constitutional amendment (LR3CA) requiring voters to bring their photo to the polls — a proposal that has been introduced nine out of the past 10 years — would “combat voter fraud” and “preserve public confidence in the legitimacy of the elected government.”
Senator Carol Blood introduced LB 11 to the legislature. The bill would allow there to be an electronic process for a registered voter to request an early voting ballot using the Secretary of State’s Website. Also, lawmakers will question when Nebraskan registers can complete their ballot if they want to vote early.
New Jersey: An Assembly panel tabled a measure that would create a two-week early voting period ahead of general elections and some May municipal races. The measure, sponsored by Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker (D-South Brunswick), would provide a 14-day early voting period beginning 15 days before the day of a general or May municipal election — but only in towns that pass an ordinance approving early voting — ending on the Sunday before election day. It would also appropriate funds for election officials to purchase electronic poll books and voting machines that can interface with them.
New York: The New York Senate moved quickly this week to bring a package of election-related bills to the floor and pass them. There were nine measures passed Monday. They include: legalizing drop boxes for absentee ballots, decreasing the rate absentee ballots are denied, providing a system for absentee ballot tracking, speeding up ballot counting, and sending a constitutional amendment to voters to allow universal no-excuse voting absentee ballot.
As part of his 2021 State of the State agenda, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) wants to extend the early voting period, make voting by mail more accessible and speed up the ballot counting process. These reforms would build on election changes the state has made in recent years. “Our election system, on which our democracy is built, has, and continues to be, under attack by those seeking to undermine the founding principles of our nation and we must not only protect it, but ensure it can be accessed by all,” Cuomo said in his announcement. The governor is now calling on state legislators to put a no-excuse absentee voting amendment on the ballot for voters to decide next fall. Cuomo’s other proposals only require approval by the Legislature. In addition to expanding who can vote by mail, Cuomo also wants to give New Yorkers more time to request an absentee ballot. Currently, voters cannot request a mail ballot more than a month prior to Election Day, putting pressure on election administrators to fulfill requests in a short amount of time. Cuomo plans to advance legislation allowing voters to request mail ballots 45 days ahead of an election.
North Dakota: Just a few months after the election, state lawmakers have been voicing their concerns with election security. One in a series of bills adds and extends voter eligibility requirements. HB 1289 establishes a requirement that a voter must have resided in North Dakota for at least one year before election day. It would also extend the requirement that someone live in their precinct from 30 days to 90 days.
South Dakota: Of the 50 states, South Dakota is one of nine without online voter registration. The state Board of Elections tried last year to get authority from the Legislature, but the quest died after a Senate hearing. Now the board is trying again, this time offering a more specific proposal to South Dakota lawmakers. The Senate State Affairs Committee has agreed to sponsor Senate Bill 24. That’s the same committee where Republican senators stopped HB 1050 in March on a party-line vote. The bill had made it through the House 41-26, with only Republicans opposing it. Secretary of State Steve Barnett, a Republican whose office helps coordinate South Dakota elections, is the board’s chair.
Vermont: By a 142-2 vote, the House has approved H. 48 that will allow local communities to either conduct their Town Meetings entirely by mail or move them to a later day. The measure is intended to protect voters amid the Covid-19 pandemic. With Town Meeting Day scheduled for March 2nd, less than two months away, House and Senate lawmakers have said they wanted to give towns, school districts, water districts and other local governments additional options for conducting elections this year. The Senate is expected to take the bill up this week.
Virginia: Republican Senator Mark Peake wants general registrars in the state to verify the name, date of birth, and Social Security number of every person who applies to be a registered voter in Virginia. This legislation also would require Virginia registrars to verify that same information for all registered voters each year by August 1st.
Legal Updates
U.S. Supreme Court: The Supreme Court refused to fast-track a batch of challenges to the presidential election filed by President Trump and his allies. The rejections came without comment or noted dissent and were formal notifications of what already had become clear. Some of the petitions asking for the court to move quickly were filed in early December, and the court had not even called for responses from officials in the states where the results were challenged. Among the cases the court declined to expedite were Trump v. Biden and Trump v. Boockvar, which challenged the results in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, respectively. Other cases filed by Trump allies objected to the outcomes in Michigan and Georgia.
Alaska: State Republican Rep. Lance Pruitt lost his legal challenge attempting to overturn the results of his East Anchorage district election. He lost to Democrat challenger Liz Snyder by just 11 votes. Alaska’s Supreme Court agreed with a lower Superior Court ruling on Friday shortly after justices heard arguments in the case. Pruitt’s lawyer, told the court that the Division of Elections mishandled how it moved the polling location in that East Anchorage district. She argued that the state didn’t give voters enough time or notice to find their new polling location. A Superior Court found in late December that the state could have done more but had acted in “good faith.” And the state’s lawyer, Assistant Attorney General Laura Fox told the court that the state had acted reasonably, especially given the extraordinary events of the pandemic.
Arizona: The city of Tucson asked the Arizona Supreme Court to rebuff yet another effort by state lawmakers to tell charter cities when they must hold their elections. The Arizona Constitution’s purpose in allowing cities to adopt charters was to give them control of matters of purely local concern, said Jean-Jacques Cabou, an attorney for the city. And in this case, he said, Tucson voters have said they like having their elections in odd-numbered years so that local issues do not get swept up in, and buried under, debates about who should be president or governor or about statewide ballot issues. “Let’s be clear: The electors of the city of Tucson have consistently and very recently have said, ‘We want odd-year elections, leave us alone,’” he told the justices, noting that Tucson voters decided as recently as November 2018 to keep their odd-year elections. According to Capitol Media Services, what the justices decide will have implications beyond Tucson. There are 19 communities in the state that have taken advantage of a provision in the Arizona Constitution allowing them to adopt charters to govern local matters which, until now, have included things like terms of office and when to hold elections.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Timothy Thomason said January 13th that it appears the original subpoenas issued by Senate President Karen Fann and then-Sen. Eddie Farnsworth, R-Gilbert, are probably moot. That’s because they were issued in December as part of the 54th legislative session which technically ceased to exist on January 11. In fact, Farnsworth is no longer a state senator. But Thomason noted that Fann and Sen. Warren Petersen, who succeeded Farnsworth as chair of the Judiciary Committee in the new 55th legislative session, issued a new subpoena on January 12 demanding not just the same documents but even more, including access to “all original paper ballots.” And the subpoena wants access to the county’s voting equipment and software. Jack Sellers, the new chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, did show up at 9 a.m. January 13, at the Senate, as the new subpoena ordered. So did newly elected County Recorder Stephen Richer and new County Treasurer John Allen. But they brought none of the materials with them. Thomason said that new subpoena likely requires the county to file new legal briefs. And he set a hearing for January 20 to consider the matter, saying he hopes the two sides can work things out.
Florida: Two unsuccessful Republican candidates for County Commission and the Republican Party of St. Lucie County are suing Supervisor of Elections Gertrude Walker over what they claim was a fraudulent Nov. 3 election. Republicans Ryan Collins and Chris Thompson lost narrow races against Democratic incumbents Chris Dzadovsky and Linda Bartz, for Districts 1 and 3, respectively. They claim dead people voted and mail ballots were illegally signed. They argue that only legal ballots should be counted, implying illegal ones were counted, and that there should be a recount with the ability to match vote-by-mail envelopes with their ballots. The lawsuit states it is “imperative that the mail-in ballots be scrutinized to determine that the voter is actually alive, not incapacitated, and executed the mail-in ballot correctly.” Walker has asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit, claiming it was filed past the state deadline to contest an election; it did not establish grounds to contest the election; and it did not sue the proper party, the Canvassing Board.
Georgia: So much has changed in Georgia over the past two years, including new voting laws and the election of Democratic U.S. senators, that a federal judge should reject a lawsuit alleging rampant voter suppression, attorneys for the state said Tuesday. The lawyers asked U.S. District Judge Steve Jones to rule in their favor in the case that has been pending since Democrat Stacey Abrams lost the 2018 election for governor to Republican Brian Kemp. But attorneys for Fair Fight Action, the voting rights group founded by Abrams that filed the suit, told Jones that Georgia’s elections continue to disenfranchise voters through voter registration cancellations, absentee ballot rejections, long lines and poll closures. Jones didn’t immediately decide Tuesday on the state’s motion for summary judgment, a key step before a potential trial. He questioned whether he has the authority to consider anything beyond the secretary of state’s voter registration cancellation practices because county governments handle most election functions.
Michigan: 13th Circuit Court Judge Kevin Elsenheimer has ruled that the can release the names of people who conducted a review of election machines in Antrim County. Matthew DePerno, an attorney representing an Antrim County man who filed the lawsuit, previously asked Elsenheimer to allow a team to review election machines in Antrim County. The judge agreed, and a team reviewed the machinery. Subsequently, DePerno posted a 23-page preliminary report that alleges Dominion Voting System machines are designed to “create systemic fraud and influence election results. Dominion and Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson have denied these allegations, noting a slew of problems with the analysis in the report. Although the report included the name of the firm and analyst who oversaw the review and subsequent report, DePerno also asked the judge to prohibit the release of the names or other identifying information of anyone who participated in creating the report. “The parties who have been identified as expert witnesses are a matter of record. They will remain a matter of record,” Elsenheimer said.
New Mexico: President Donald Trump’s election campaign abruptly asked a court this week to drop a lawsuit that challenged New Mexico’s use of drop boxes for absentee ballots in the 2020 general election as well as vote-counting equipment sold by Dominion Voting Systems. The request filed Monday with a federal court in Albuquerque would dismiss the lawsuit from Trump but allow the concerns to be revisited. Trump campaign attorney Mark Caruso of Albuquerque could not be reached immediately for comment. “Simply withdrawing this lawsuit does not undo the weeks of lies and disinformation parroted by President Trump and leaders of the New Mexico Republican Party,” Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver said in a statement Monday. She had requested that Trump’s campaign be sanctioned for pursuing meritless litigation.
Pennsylvania: Judge Nicholas Ranjan ruled that certain mail-in ballots were lawfully counted in Allegheny County, rejecting the claims of a Republican challenger to Pennsylvania Senator Jim Brewster of McKeesport. Last week, the Republican-controlled state Senate refused to seat Brewster, a Democrat. Ranjan, a Trump appointee, rejected the claims of Republican Nicole Ziccarelli that undated mail-in ballots should not be counted, noting, “The court finds that the Supreme Court expressly held that the undated ballots at issue remain valid ballots that are properly counted under state law.”
Judge John P. Capuzzi Sr. dismissed an election challenge brought by two Republican poll watchers and a failed congressional candidate, saying their petition lacked a “scintilla of legal merit.” The challenge, filed Dec. 22, sought sanctions against the county’s Board of Elections, saying poll observers were kept too far away from the areas where absentee and mail-in ballots were being counted in the November election. The challengers said the practice violated the terms of a judge’s Nov. 4 order clarifying the rules for poll observers. Capuzzi, who issued that order, dismissed those claims Wednesday and chastised the group’s lawyer for filing the challenge so long after the matter had been ruled on by the state Supreme Court, calling the petition “frivolous” and “contemptible.” “Strikingly, at the time of the filing of this frivolous action, the issue now brought forth by the petitioners has been adjudicated by the highest court in the Commonwealth, i.e. the Delaware County Board of Elections had full authority to establish observation areas as it deemed fit,” Capuzzi wrote. “Consequently, there is a total absence of legal merit in the petitions.”
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
