The Voting News Daily: Missouri Considers Tigheter Thresholds for Recounts, New President of Hart, Provisional Ballots Controvery in Ohio
CA: Report Finds Ranked Choice Voting Causes Confusion, Fatigue In SF’s District 10: News: SFAppeal
Ranked choice voting, otherwise known as instant run-off, has been used in San Francisco elections since 2004. This past November’s elections marked the first time it was used in Oakland, Berkeley and San Leandro. California Watch analyzed the voting data from this district, which includes both Bayview/Hunters Point Housing Projects and middle class homes in Potrero, and came to the conclusion that RCV causes voter fatigue and confusion in especially low-income neighborhoods. Read More
IN: Bill would allow vote centers in all Indiana counties » Evansville Courier & Press
Every Indiana county could ditch neighborhood polling precincts in favor of centralized “vote centers” under legislation the Senate Elections Committee endorsed Monday. If Senate Bill 32 becomes law, it would extend the use of centralized polling places in Tippecanoe, Wayne and Cass counties, which have piloted the use of vote centers since 2007, while giving the state’s other 89 counties the same option. Read More
MO: Missouri bill would tighten threshold for election recounts – Columbia Missourian
A Missouri lawmaker has proposed legislation requiring that elections be closer to tied before the loser can request a recount. Currently candidates for public office in the state can request a recount if they lose by less than 1 percent of the total vote. The proposed legislation would lower that to one-half of 1 percent. Sponsoring Rep. Tony Dugger said Tuesday that recounts generally have little effect on election outcomes, and he is concerned about how much they cost local officials. Dugger, the House Elections Committee chairman and a former county clerk, said that local election authorities suggested the legislation. “There’s no change normally after you have a recount, and so, it’s all associated with the cost of doing the recount,” said Dugger, R-Hartville. It was unclear how much money could be saved by lowering the threshold for requesting recounts. Read More
The state has dropped its requirement that voting-machine mechanics undergo poll-worker training, following a complaint from Atlantic County that the requirement is an unfunded mandate. The state Council on Local Mandates made its announcement Friday, following a complaint from Atlantic County that the requirement is an unfunded mandate. The order said that the council will consider whether the requirement — which states that “any individual whose job duties encompass access to the internal components of a voting machine is mandated to attend training” — is in fact an unfunded mandate, as Atlantic County argued in its complaint. Read More
NM: Legal Issue May Alter Absentee Voting – ABQJOURNAL NEWS/METRO:
Thousands of voters will now have to pick up the phone or turn on their computer to request an absentee-ballot application. Citing legal concerns, the Bernalillo County clerk and some other county clerks around the state will no longer send the applications out automatically before every election. About 6,000 voters in Bernalillo County were on the list to receive the applications automatically, County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver said.