Election News Update: New NC Litigation, LA Zuckerbucks Ban, and More
It may be an “off” election year, but there is still a lot going on in the election world. In North Carolina, several lawsuits have been filed relating to S.B. 747 which strengthens the state’s election laws. The law, which covers a variety of issues, was enacted after the…
LDF Publishes Memo on Montana’s Repeal of Election Day Registration
In passing H.B. 176 (2021), Montana became the first and only state to ever repeal Election Day Registration after implementing it. In doing so, the legislature sought to ease the administrative burden on election officials, reduce long lines at polling locations, and strengthen election integrity, all while still allowing…
California’s Motor Voter Program Fraught with Errors
California’s quest to be the nation’s benchmark for automatic (mandatory) voter registration was dealt a blow thanks to a recent audit highlighting issues with its perpetually plagued motor voter program. The audit, released Friday by the Office of California Governor Gavin Newsom, showed that almost 84,000 duplicate voter registrations were on…
House Administration Committee Highlights Importance of Decentralization and Agreement on Election Vulnerabilities
On Wednesday, the Secretaries of State of Michigan and Alabama appeared before the House Administration Committee in order to advocate for increased funding and support to safeguard our elections against cyber attacks. The hearing demonstrated that both sides of the political aisle are in agreement that cyberattacks pose…
State Legislators Pushing Changes to Absentee Balloting
Heading into the 2020 election, statehouses across the nation are increasing legislative activity promoting election “fixes”. Florida, Delaware, and Iowa are examples of states that have recently considered significant legislation changing the electoral processes. Florida’s proposal, SB7088 and it’s counterpart, HB 7101, would “prohibit supervisors from mailing out ballots…
California has Technical Difficulties With its New “Motor Voter” System
Six weeks before its June 5 primary, California election officials are trying to solve errors to its voter database made by its new mandatory (automatic) voter registration system. According to a recent story in the Los Angeles Times, election officials in California claim that 77,000 voter records were impacted after…
Senate Intelligence Hearing on Election Security Shows Promise for Preventing Future Cyber Attacks on Federal/State Election Infrastructure
The United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence had a hearing today, questioning current Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Executive Director of National Association of State Election Directors (NASED) Amy Cohen, and President-elect of the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) Jim Condos (among others) on…
Kobach Lacks Authority to Create Two-Tier Registration System
The latest in the saga of litigation regarding Kansas’ proof of citizenship requirement for registering to vote was issued today by a Kansas state court in Brown v. Kobach. The court found that Secretary of State Kris Kobach lacked the authority to establish a two-tier voter registration system, in response…
Police Raid 2 Offices of FieldWorks in Pennsylvania
Police have raided two offices of FieldWorks in Pennsylvania, searching for evidence of fraudulent voter registration forms: Days after searching the Delaware County office of a Democratic grassroots organization for evidence of voter-registration fraud, state police on Thursday raided a second office – this one in Philadelphia. Agents executed…
Despite concerns, Candidate for Oregon Secretary of State calls for Same Day Registration
Brad Avakian, a candidate for Oregon Secretary of State, called for future same day registration despite substantive concerns from election officials and a determination that the system would not work for Oregon. Currently, the Oregon constitution also prohibits same day registration. Election officials have highlighted the cost and administrative headaches. Earlier this…