Pam Fessler reports for NPR. … Continue reading
Category Archives: election administration
Civics Center: New Hampshire is the only state in the United States that requires its citizens to register to vote and update existing registrations in person. Most states offer online voter registration and others allow their residents to download and … Continue reading
The Wisconsin legislature ended the special session without taking action to postpone tomorrow’s primary. There will be in-person voting tomorrow, but it is not clear how badly turnout will be down. Last I heard, all but 5 of 180 polling … Continue reading
You can find the filing at this link. As expected the Purcell Principle plays a major role in the argument here, the idea that courts should not make last minute changes in election rules because doing so could confuse voters … Continue reading
Release from Marc Elias via email: You may recall that in 2018 we won a critical federal court case striking down the Florida Secretary of State’s ban on early voting sites being located on college campuses, while allowing them in … Continue reading
WaPo reports. … Continue reading
Ben Jacobs for Gen. … Continue reading
Not good. … Continue reading
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: A federal judge slammed Gov. Tony Evers and lawmakers Wednesday for ignoring their responsibilities by not postponing next week’s election because of the coronavirus pandemic as the Democratic governor prepared to deploy the National Guard to help at … Continue reading
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: Some election clerks are so short of workers because of the coronavirus pandemic that they are planning to shutter polling places around Wisconsin — including many of them in Milwaukee.And at least one clerk is warning that some voters … Continue reading
I have written this new big piece for Slate. Some snippets: The November 2020 presidential election won’t be run perfectly—we have never had a perfect election conducted in this country or elsewhere—but the unique challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic … Continue reading
I was on WHYY’s Radio Times. You can listen here. … Continue reading
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: Wisconsin’s chaotic spring election got even more unpredictable Thursday as two new lawsuits were filed attempting to alter voting rules because of the coronavirus pandemic that has forced people to stay at home.The lawsuits — the third and fourth to … Continue reading
Ron Krotoszynski for the Atlantic. … Continue reading
I was on the Equal Citizens podcast with Adam Eichen and Jason Harrow. Listen. … Continue reading
David Lublin oped for the Baltimore Sun. … Continue reading
More indispensable work under terrible conditions from the Brennan Center. … Continue reading
Release via email: Today, the National Task Force on Election Crises released the first of several planned guides for how to respond to potential disruptions of the 2020 general election. The COVID-19 Election Guide, available here, addresses how state and local officials can … Continue reading
LAT editorial. … Continue reading
WaPo reports. … Continue reading
AP: Pennsylvania lawmakers voted Wednesday to delay the state’s primary election by five weeks to June 2, potentially past the spike of the state’s spreading coronavirus cases.The measure passed both chambers of the Republican-controlled state Legislature on Wednesday and Gov. … Continue reading
Roll Call: A sweeping federal spending package responding to the new coronavirus pandemic will include millions to help states administer elections, but some fear it will not be enough to prevent chaos in November.The enormous spending bill expected to be … Continue reading
Michael Steele and Eli Lehrer have written this Washington Times oped. … Continue reading
Annoucement via Email: E-BriefingVoting in the Time of Corona Wednesday, March 25, 20201-2 p.m. ETRegister NowThe COVID-19 pandemic has already resulted in the postponement of elections across the country and will continue to impact elections throughout 2020. How will officials administer … Continue reading
Jessica Huseman for ProPublica: While mail-in ballots seem like an elegant solution as the United States grapples with containing COVID-19, experts say slow-moving state and county governments, inconsistent state rules and limited resources to buy essentials such as envelopes and … Continue reading
Pam Fessler reports for NPR. … Continue reading
Sign of the times: coronavirus effects: absentee ballot requests now up to 554,116 for WI April 7 election & prez primary. we were at 135,000 8 days ago. never happened before. can WI's system handle it? can mail partly or … Continue reading
AJC: The absentee voting effort will allow Georgians to decide on their choices for president and other elected offices from home, without having to visit in-person voting locations where the coronavirus could more easily spread. Early voting and election day … Continue reading
Taniel Q and A with Tammy Patrick. … Continue reading
WaPo: State and local officials are warning that congressional efforts to prepare states for a possible national surge in mail-in voting in November may result in chaos instead of smoother balloting.They say more federal funding for such an effort, currently … Continue reading
Greg Sargent WaPo column. Here is a link to the Democrats’ House bill, which includes voting provisions, beginning at page 856. … Continue reading
Carrie Levine for CPI: In extraordinary circumstances and with enough money and resources, anything is possible, said Audrey Kline, national policy director of the National Vote at Home Institute, a nonpartisan nonprofit that advocates for vote-by-mail options.“Based off what we are … Continue reading
You can find it here. … Continue reading
NYT reports. … Continue reading
WaPo: The rapidly escalating coronavirus pandemic has forced election officials to consider a sobering reality: The crisis could run headlong into November’s presidential election, and revamping America’s voting systems before then could be difficult and in some cases impossible.Even as they postpone … Continue reading
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: A federal judge reinstated Wisconsin’s online voter registration system late Friday to help people find ways to participate in the April 7 presidential election amid the coronavirus pandemic. Wisconsin stopped allowing people to use the state’s online voter registration … Continue reading
AP: U.S. elections have been upended by the coronavirus pandemic. At least 13 states have postponed voting and more delays are possible as health officials warn that social distancing and other measures to contain the virus might be in place for weeks, … Continue reading
Sam Levine: As states around the country enacted emergency measures to deal with the outbreak of coronavirus, Kentucky lawmakers quietly tightened and approved a new photo identification requirement that would make it harder to vote.Lawmakers eliminated a “catch-all” provision that allowed voters to give … Continue reading
Gabrielle Gurley for TAP: At a minimum, holding elections going forward means that states should organize alternative polling locations; replace older poll workers with public-employee or student volunteers; and make sure that plenty of cleaning supplies are readily available well … Continue reading
Texas Tribune: Following fruitless negotiations over how to proceed with the upcoming primary runoff elections, Texas Democrats are looking to the courts to push for an expansion of voting by mail in the state.In a lawsuit filed in Travis County district … Continue reading
New Yorker: Lately, I’ve been hearing people point out that a Presidential election was held in the midst of the Civil War, which illustrates either the commitment of American voters or the unyielding calendar of our democracy. A pandemic, with … Continue reading
Ciara Torres-Spelliscy at the Brennan Center. … Continue reading
Important read at Bloomberg View: With little but uncertainty ahead, Congress and the states must mobilize immediately to shift the nation to a largely vote-by-mail system by November. There are two obstacles to that goal — one practical, one political. Lurking behind … Continue reading
NYT reports. … Continue reading
The following is a guest post from Ned Foley: After what happened with Ohio’s primary this week, some—including Ohio’s own Senator Sherrod Brown—have expressed fear that President Trump might attempt to use it as a precedent to close the polls … Continue reading
Read his oped. … Continue reading
Listen here. … Continue reading
Subhed: “States may shift primary dates, but only Congress can change the federal elections. We spoke to an elections expert to learn what you need to know about how coronavirus could affect the way voters cast their ballots in November.” … Continue reading
Philadelphia Inquirer: Everyday life is suspended. Democracy is not.And now it’s on officials to figure out how to keep it going as pandemic strikes during a presidential election year.County elections officials in Pennsylvania are urging the state to postpone the April … Continue reading
You can read the report here. … Continue reading