National: Senate Republicans remove measure demanding campaigns report foreign election help | Savannah Behrmann/USA Today
A measure requiring presidential campaigns to report any attempts by foreign entities interfering in U.S. elections was stripped by Senate Republicans as a condition of passing the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in a "backroom deal" Sen. Mark Warner, D-VA., said Tuesday.The NDAA, which is being debated on the Senate floor this week, will include the Intelligence Authorization Act but not the amendment requiring campaigns to report foreign help to the proper authorities after that provision was stripped from the bipartisan defense bill. The NDAA, which is being debated on the Senate floor this week, will include the Intelligence Authorization Act but not the amendment requiring campaigns to report foreign help to the proper authorities after that provision was stripped from the bipartisan defense bill. Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Tuesday that his Republican colleagues had forced the deletion of the foreign assistance reporting provision as part of a condition to combine the intelligence legislation with the annual defense policy bill. “I fear the Senate is about to fail once again to protect our elections from foreign interference,” Warner said on the Senate floor Tuesday.National: GOP support for mail voting is growing, despite Trump | Eliza Newlin Carney/The Fulcrum
President Trump's increasingly hyperbolic attacks on voting by mail, amplified by Attorney General William Barr and the Republican National Committee, have triggered alarms that the country is heading toward another contested election. Trump appears to be gearing up to cast doubt on an outcome that doesn't go his way. Primaries marred by hours-long lines, voting machine malfunctions and controversies over absentee ballots have many bracing for a meltdown starting Election Day. A much bigger surge of mailed-in votes in November virtually guarantees the results won't be known for days, setting the stage for a crisis in voter confidence if the results are close enough to be challenged, as happened in 2000. Yet for all that, voting rights advocates mobilizing to secure the election and neutralize Trump's divisive voting rhetoric have surprising and influential allies in their corner: many leading Republicans. GOP governors, Republican election officials and prominent conservatives are increasingly pushing to expand voting by mail. They're also forcefully rejecting Trump's baseless claims the practice is "corrupt" because it invites fraud and foreign tampering — and helps Democrats, to boot.National: DHS Looks to Expand Tracking of Election Interference Through Social Media | Brandi Vincent/Nextgov
The Homeland Security Department intends to tap into custom-created algorithms, analytics and commercially-offered services to trace and capture deliberate efforts by foreign state and non-state actors to sway Americans’ views via social media leading up to the 2020 election. Four months before voters head to the polls, the agency—through its Office of Intelligence and Analysis Cyber Mission Center—released a solicitation asking contractors to speedily weigh in on services they can provide to collect and analyze potential foreign influence using online posts, and ultimately produce social media-centered intelligence products to enhance election security. “Currently, there is a significant amount of foreign influence activity targeting U.S. 2020 elections on social media platforms, and the [intelligence community’s] lack of capability and resources in this area result in this activity being left largely untracked. Agencies with the requisite expertise and tradecraft to do this work are building the capability but those efforts will not be operational in time to help defend the 2020 general election,” officials wrote in a request for quotations published Tuesday evening. “An urgent and compelling need exists to build the capacity to detect and mitigate foreign influence operations conducted against the U.S. using social media in time for the 2020 U.S. elections.”National: Barbara Simons honored as leading voice in technology policy arena | James M. Patterson/Tunis Daily News
ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, today named Barbara Simons the recipient of the 2019 ACM Policy Award for long-standing, high-impact leadership as ACM President and founding Chair of ACM’s US Public Policy Committee (USACM), while making influential contributions to improve the reliability of and public confidence in election technology. Over several decades, Simons has advanced technology policy by founding and leading organizations, authoring influential publications, and effecting change through lobbying and public education. Twenty-six years ago, Barbara Simons founded USACM to address emerging public policy issues around technology, and led the committee for nine years. She worked to build ACM’s policy activities and pioneered bridging the technical expertise of computer scientists with the policymaking of the US government. Simons recruited an interdisciplinary team for USACM, the forerunner of today’s US Technology Policy Committee (USTPC), ranging from computer scientists and industry leaders to lawyers and experts in public policy. Now part of ACM’s Technology Policy Council (TPC), which serves global regions, the TPC groups have continued Simons’ original vision for ACM: to provide cogent advice and analysis to legislators and policymakers about a wide range of issues including cryptography, computer security, privacy, and intellectual property.Editorials: How to Prevent an Electoral Crisis | William A. Galston(Wall Street Journal
With crises accumulating, the last thing America needs is a divisive debate about the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election. But unless we’re skillful and lucky, this is what we’ll get. A recent survey by the bipartisan Voter Study Group found that 57% of Democrats “say it would be appropriate for a Democrat to call for a do-over election because of interference by a foreign government,” and 38% of Democrats would find such a call “appropriate if a Democrat won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College.” As for Republicans, 29% “say it would be appropriate for President Trump to refuse to leave office based on claims of illegal voting in the 2020 election.” Joe Biden has charged that “this president is going to try to steal this election.” President Trump has gone much further. Last week, he tweeted that “because of MAIL-IN BALLOTS, 2020 will be the most RIGGED Election in our nations history.” Though there is scant evidence to support this allegation, the president’s tweet draws attention to election integrity. The recent upsurge of Covid-19 infections has made it clear that the pandemic will still be with us in the fall. Many citizens will be reluctant to stand in long lines for the privilege of voting in enclosed spaces. A much higher share of the vote will be cast by mail than ever before. Inevitably, votes will be counted more slowly than usual. The results in closely contested states may not be known for days. In the interim, the president and his supporters may renew the charge his tweets have foreshadowed, propelling us into a political conflict more serious than the disputed 2000 election.Colorado: Voters set state primary record for turnout, with more than 99% using mail ballot | Blair Miller/The Denver Channel
Colorado voters produced the largest turnout in a state primary in history during Tuesday’s 2020 primary election, with more than 99% of votes cast on mail-in ballots, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said Wednesday. As of 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, 1,577,347 ballots had been returned – meaning that turnout was about 45% of current active voters – the highest ever in a non-presidential primary in Colorado and easily topping the 2018 state primary turnout of 37.6%, in which 1,171,088 ballots were cast. That year was the first in which unaffiliated voters could participate in primary elections in the state. While ballots are still being processed and military and overseas ballots are still coming in, Griswold said that 99.3% of ballots so far were either mailed back or returned via drop boxes. She again lauded Colorado’s system. “In midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Colorado just set a record turnout for a state primary. A total of 99.3% of voters cast a mail ballot, and there were not lengthy lines or wait times reported at in-person voting centers,” Griswold said in a statement. “Despite misleading attacks, disinformation, and attempts to make vote-by-mail a partisan issue, Colorado’s election proves that mail ballots are the key to accessible voting during this health crisis.”Connecticut: Republicans sue to block Lamont emergency COVID order permitting all-absentee ballot primary election | Edmund H. Mahony/Hartford CourantHartford Courant
Four Republican candidates for Congress are trying to block the state from implementing an emergency pandemic order by Gov. Ned Lamont that could dramatically increase the use of absentee ballots for the state’s delayed Aug. 11 primary by distributing them to any voter who claims to be worried about contracting the coronavirus at the polls. The candidates are part of a group called Fight Voter Fraud and their suit targets Secretary of the State Denise Merrill, the state’s chief election officer. The suit contends Merrill has interpreted the emergency order so broadly that the absentee ballot applications prepared by her office encourage absentee voting by everyone, putting the integrity of primary elections at risk. “Today Fight Voter Fraud Inc. filed a lawsuit with the Connecticut Supreme Court on behalf of candidates on the August 11, 2020 ballot who wish to have a fair, honest, and constitutional election.,” the candidates said in a statement. “The lawsuit asks the Court to order (Secretary of the State) Denise Merrill to stop sending voters applications that misinform about the true legal requirements for voting by absentee ballot.”Georgia: Georgia election board extends rules for absentee voting | David Wickert/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The State Election Board on Wednesday extended two temporary rules that will make it easier to process large numbers of absentee ballots for November’s general election. The first rule will allow local election officials to continue to provide drop boxes for absentee ballots — instead of requiring voters to mail the ballots or deliver them to election offices by hand. The second will allow election officials to process — but not tally — those ballots before election day. The board adopted both rules on a temporary basis leading up to the June 9 primary election. Wednesday’s vote extended the emergency measures for an additional six months, and the board is expected to make them permanent before November. The move is a sign that absentee ballots are likely to play a substantial role in Georgia elections moving forward — at least during the coronavirus pandemic. It’s also the latest sign the state is trying to salvage what lessons it can from the June 9 election fiasco that drew national condemnation. “We want to let Georgians know that we are all going to work together to make the elections in August, November and January a success,” Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told the election board.Iowa: Lawmakers approve special election changes, turn down Democratic absentee ballot request | Stephen Gruber-Miller/Des Moines Register
A group of top Iowa lawmakers Wednesday approved the first request made by the Iowa Secretary of State's office to make emergency changes to the state's election procedures since a new law went into effect last month. But the panel also turned down a Democratic request to allow the state office to send absentee ballot request forms to all registered Iowa voters. Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, signed a law last week restricting Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, a Republican, and any future secretary of state from making emergency changes to election procedures without first getting approval from the 24-member Legislative Council. The group is made up of Democratic and Republican lawmakers and controlled by Republicans. In the first test of the new law, the council met by phone Wednesday and granted Pate's request to allow military personnel and overseas citizens the option to submit their ballots electronically to their county auditor when voting in seven July 7 special elections for vacant city council and county supervisor seats.Maryland: GOP Election Board Members Would Require Voters to Apply If They Want Mail-in Ballots | Bennett Leckrone/Maryland Matters
The Maryland State Board of Elections won’t recommend an entirely in-person general election in November, but is divided along party lines on whether to conduct the election entirely by mail or in a hybrid model.
Elections board Chairman Michael R. Cogan, along with his fellow Republican board members Kelley A. Howells and William G. Voelp, support of a mix of in-person and mail-in ballots on election day.
The option Cogan, Howells and Voelp support provides that applications for mail-in ballots be sent to registered voters, who will be “strongly encouraged” to use them.
Elections board Vice Chairman Patrick J. Hogan and member Malcolm L. Funn, both Democrats, support an entirely mail-in election. Following Maryland’s largely vote-by-mail June 2 primary, election officials mulled three options for the general election:
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The first option would look like a traditional election, with in-person voting for early voting and on election day. But this option also would allow voters to request a mail-in ballot. No one supported this option.
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The second, which Cogan, Howells and Voelp supported, would have extensive in-person voting leading up to and on election day. Voters also would be sent applications for mail-in ballots, and would be encouraged to use them.
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The third, which Hogan and Funn supported, would look similar to Maryland’s June 2 primary, being held largely by mail with some in-person voting centers.
Board members’ positions will be reported to Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr., a Republican. But the governor ultimately will decide how the election is to be conducted.
Cogan was concerned that mailing ballots to every registered voter might hurt voters’ confidence in the election process, especially if ballots are sent to old addresses or to dead voters.
“I’m not sure the voters have confidence in an election if they’re seeing ballots crop up for people that aren’t there,” Cogan said.
Voelp raised concerns about potential voter-fraud in a primarily mail-in election, although research shows very low levels of fraud in states which already conduct mail-in elections. Voelp and Howells said the board shouldn’t risk even low levels of fraud.
“I do not want to flood the state with unmarked ballots,” Howells said. “I think that’s asking for trouble. We did it because we had to in June. “
But Hogan and Funn said a mail-in election is the only way to make sure every voter can participate in the November election.
“There is no optimal option,” Funn said. “All of them have issues and problems. My overall concern is to make sure that every citizen has a right to vote.”
Joanne Antoine, the executive director for Common Cause Maryland, said three board members opting to not mail ballots to all voters was “disappointing”.
Antoine said a mail-in election would be in the best interest of voters, given the global coronavirus pandemic. She said vote-by-mail “continues to be a secure process that is used widely in other states”.
A mix of mail-in and in-person voting is similar to the “hybrid mail-in preferred” election format that two prominent Maryland Senate leaders recommended to the State Board of Elections in a letter last week.