The president has no constitutional authority over federal election administration. Rather, state and local officials are charged with administering elections, serving voters, and counting ballots to determine who the people chose to represent them. Still, the Trump administration has unlawfully sought to assert control over certain aspects of election administration. For example, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that purported to mandate new rules governing voter registration and voting systems, among other changes.
Tag Archives: election administration
“Who Pays for Election Administration?”
..To better clarify funding structures in election administration, the Center for Election Innovation & Research (CEIR) recently released a report detailing which level of government was responsible for various types of election expenses in the administration of statewide general elections in November 2024….
In most states, local governments pay for most election expenses through taxes and other public revenue streams at the county or municipal level. Even when local governments pay most election costs, many states pay or provide for specific aspects of election administration such as voter registration, poll worker training, or sample ballots. Only a handful of states directly pay for most election expenses at the state level.
“Texas election officials ask state to halt rollout of updated TEAM voter registration system”
Groups representing election officials across Texas are asking the state to halt the rollout of its updated voter registration system and address issues that they say “directly impact key parts of the election and jury process.”…
….they said that while using the new system and inputting voter registration applications, voters’ previous addresses override their new ones, their voting precincts don’t populate correctly, and sometimes the registration information doesn’t save. Officials also said the system is inconsistent, working properly one day but slowly the next.
“Counties have seen substantial delays in processing voter registration applications and updating registration status,” the letter to Nelson said. “Many election officials have observed TEAM incorrectly generating the voter registration list, which compromises election security by complicating the update of poll books and the identification of voters who have received a mail ballot.”
“Without ‘Zuckerbucks,’ limited private funding available for elections”
In 2020, a group funded by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife gave $332 million to local governments to run the presidential election amid a global pandemic, prompting a Republican backlash that led to more than two dozen states banning or limiting private funding for elections.
The Center for Tech and Civic Life is again awarding grants this fall — but in much smaller amounts. The $2.5 million it plans to give to small and midsize communities in as many as 19 states totals less than 1 percent of what it spent in 2020. The grants will have nowhere near the nationwide effect they did in the last presidential election but could nonetheless spark controversy. . . .
But election costs remain daunting, and they can be particularly challenging for cash-strapped rural communities, said Tiana Epps-Johnson, the center’s founder and executive director.
“Arizona official who defended state’s elections loses GOP primary”
PHOENIX — Incumbent Stephen Richer was ousted in his Republican primary for Maricopa County recorder, an outcome that could have a major impact on how elections are administered in the nation’s most populous battleground county.
State Rep. Justin Heap had 42.4% support to 35.9% for Richer when The Associated Press called the race Wednesday morning. Don Hiatt, a candidate who worked in information management technology, took 21.8%.
Richer is an outspoken defender of the swing state’s election process who forcefully pushed back against the unfounded voter fraud claims that spread after the 2020 and 2022 races.
Heap, a critic of Maricopa elections in years past, has dodged questions about whether the 2020 election was fraudulent. He was endorsed by many prominent Arizona Republicans who have refused to accept Joe Biden’s victory four years ago, including Kari Lake, who is running for the Senate this year after her failed 2022 campaign for governor.
“Election officials continue to face threats, harassment ahead of November”
“Election workers are still dealing with a lot of lies that are being told about the elections, and are in many ways bearing the kind of the consequences of those lies with harassment, abuse and sometimes threats,” said Lawrence Norden, senior director of the Elections and Government Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, a bipartisan public policy think tank.
“Trump-friendly panel shapes Georgia’s election rules at long, often chaotic meetings”
ATLANTA — The Georgia State Election Board, which once toiled in relative obscurity, now hosts raucous meetings where public comment spans several hours and attendees regularly heckle its members.
The shift highlights how election administration has become increasingly scrutinized and politicized. . .
Georgia’s board, which has no direct role in determining election results, writes rules to ensure that elections run smoothly and hears complaints about alleged violations. Democrats and voting rights groups fear that a recently cemented majority of Republican partisans on the board could push the limits of state law with rules hindering the effective administration of elections and the swift certification of results.
Preliminary Injunction against Georgia’s Birthdate Requirement on Absentee Ballot Envelopes
Order (via Democracy Docket). The court relied on the “materiality” provision of the Civil Rights Act. Similar issues have arisen recently in Pennsylvania, and provoked an opinion from Justice Alito (as I recall), although the Supreme Court did not address the merits. The Court may need to weigh in on the scope and applicability of this provision before next year’s elections.
“Voting rights group sues to overturn Michigan law on transporting voters to polls”
“A voting rights law firm has sued to overturn a decades-old Michigan law.
“The law bans anyone from hiring vehicles to get voters to the polls, unless they’re physically unable to walk.
“The lawsuit says Michigan is the only state with such a voter transportation ban, and that the law’s only purpose is voter suppression. …
“Courts have upheld the state’s law before, including in 2020, when Priorities USA took a similar case to federal court.”
Democratic Group Plans $10 Million Push to Protect Election Officials
Nick Corasaniti in the N.Y. Times.
“A group that works to elect Democrats as the top election officials in states around the country is planning a $10 million venture to pay for private security for election officials of both parties, register new voters and try to combat disinformation.
“The group, the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State, is starting a tax-exempt 501(c)(4) organization called Value the Vote that will initially focus on five battleground states: Georgia, Arizona, North Carolina, Nevada and Wisconsin. …
“Officials at the group say they will provide equal funding opportunities to both Democratic and Republican election officials, but how the distribution will work in practice is unclear. Republican officials may hesitate to take money from a Democratic organization, fearing political fallout from fellow conservatives.”
Read more for additional details.
“Inside the right’s effort to build a voter fraud hunting tool”
Jane Timm reports this important story for NBC News.
“Activists are currently testing a computer program called EagleAI NETwork, a database loaded with voter rolls and other records that promises to quickly churn through the data and find registrations that may be suspect based on other sources. The activists then personally evaluate the flagged voter registrations one by one — looking up home addresses on Google Maps, searching for obituaries online — and prepare lists of questionable registrations to report to local officials. …
“’EagleAI presentations that I have seen are confused and seem to steer counties towards improper list maintenance activities,’ Blake Evans, Georgia’s elections director, said in a statement to NBC News. ‘EagleAI draws inaccurate conclusions and then presents them as if they are evidence of wrongdoing.’ …
“…Evans said the company is misunderstanding — and misconstruing — how list maintenance works, and painting typos and formatting differences, like typing a voter registration in all caps, as problems.
“’Eagle AI data offers zero additional value to Georgia’s existing list maintenance procedures,’ Evans added.
“’The results are going to vastly over-inflate potentially inaccurate voter registrations,’ said David Becker, an election expert who led the effort to create ERIC, which is run and financially supported by member states.
And while he warned the election officials might get overwhelmed by reports, he’s most worried about the voters.
“’Imagine if you got a notice in the mail saying that your eligibility as a registered voter in the place where you live is being challenged for some uncertain reason. You have to actually physically present yourself … to prove you are who you are and that you’re entitled to vote where you always voted,’ he said. ‘That could happen with not a handful of people, but with potentially thousands.’”
The story discusses how this is being developed as an alternative to ERIC and goes on to describe Cleta Mitchell’s involvement with the project.
The concern with excessive eligibility challenges of this nature are clear. It’s similar to the overuse of FOIA-type request we saw with election administration records after 2020. Inundation of the system overloads the system and it’s like a denial-of-service attack.
On the other hand, we obviously have a huge trust-deficit problem in this country right now with respect to election administration. And while the attack on ERIC seemed entirely unjustified to me, we need something to replace it that’s workable and acceptable to both sides of the polarized partisan divide on the topic of election administration. While the analogy to the North Ireland peace accord is not perfect, the basic point is elections necessarily involve competition between the left and the right, and we have got to figure out a way to make that competition appear transparent and fair and trustworthy to the two competing teams.
I will be curious to hear what Charles Stewart, among others, thinks about the best way forward on this issue in what seems to be inevitably, whether we like it or not, a post-ERIC world.
“North Carolina Republicans finalize passage of an elections bill that could withstand a veto”
“The Republican-controlled North Carolina legislature finalized a far-reaching elections bill late Wednesday that would end a grace period for counting mailed absentee ballots, toughen same-day registration rules and empower partisan observers at polling places. …
“The bill now goes to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who has previously successfully vetoed three provisions contained again within the 40-plus page bill — including the absentee ballot deadline change. In a statement before Wednesday’s votes, he lamented efforts by lawmakers to pass legislation that “hurts the freedom to vote.”
“With Republicans this year holding narrow veto-proof majorities in both chambers, another Cooper veto would likely be overridden.
“The nation’s ninth-largest state is considered a presidential battleground, and the 2024 race for governor is expected to be highly competitive. …
“The omnibus measure would again attempt to require that traditional absentee ballots be received by county election offices by the time in-person balloting ends at 7:30 p.m. on the date of the election. Current law allows up to three days after the election for a mailed-in ballot envelope to be received if it’s postmarked by the election date.
“Critics of the change say the end of the grace period leaves last-minute voters at the mercy of the U.S. Postal Service, and will disenfranchise them.
“But Republicans argue that all voters should follow the same deadline regardless of voting preference and that state election officials would communicate with the public about the deadline change. A majority of states require that absentee ballots arrive on or before the election date.”
“Lawsuit over Wisconsin absentee ballot witness addresses allowed to proceed”
“A lawsuit that would let Wisconsin election officials accept absentee ballots with partial witness addresses as long as the correct addresses are discernable can proceed, a Dane County judge has ruled. …
“The lawsuit was filed against the Wisconsin Elections Commission and Madison City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl last September after a Waukesha County judge ruled that election officials can’t fix or fill in missing address information on absentee ballot envelopes.”
Right now, the new lawsuit survived a motion to dismiss, with further proceedings to follow. Hopefully, this issue will all be straightened out in plenty of time for clear instructions to both voters and election officials.
“Rulebook for Arizona’s 2024 elections faces criticism from multiple sides”
“As Secretary of State Adrian Fontes makes rules for how next year’s elections must be run in Arizona, Republican legislative leaders say he’s overstepping his authority. Voting rights advocates say he isn’t exerting enough authority.
“The groups publicized their qualms this week with Fontes’ new draft of the state’s Elections Procedures Manual — the giant rulebook that instructs Arizona counties how to conduct elections to comply with state law. …
“Fontes’ final version will go to Gov. Katie Hobbs and Attorney General Kris Mayes in October, who must approve it by December for it to take effect.”
The article also reports that Republicans are threatening a lawsuit over this. Given the importance of Arizona next year, keep an eye on this.