Nevada: Nye County’s new top election official wants to hand count ballots, distrusts voting machines | Sean Golonka/The Nevada Independent

Nye County commissioners on Tuesday appointed an interim county clerk who has promoted voting machine conspiracy theories and believes Donald Trump won the 2020 election. Mark Kampf, a retired financial executive who starts as the top election official in the state’s sixth-most populous county this Friday, has also said he plans to hand count all ballots cast during this year’s general election — a change in election administration fueled by fears and conspiracy theories about the reliability of voting machines, despite a lack of evidence that significant errors exist or election fraud has occurred. Nye County has roughly 33,000 registered voters. His plans for the office fall in line with the wishes of the all-Republican Board of County Commissioners, who in March voted unanimously to ask their current clerk, Sandra Merlino, to cease use of the county’s Dominion electronic voting machines and move to all-paper, hand-counted elections for both the 2022 primary and general elections — something election experts warn has a much higher capacity for human error. Merlino, who submitted her letter of resignation less than three months later, did not heed that recommendation during the June primary election, but her exit from the clerk’s office paves the way for implementation of the new election procedures touted by Jim Marchant, the Republican secretary of state nominee and a vocal proponent of conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.

Full Article: Nye County’s new top election official wants to hand count ballots, distrusts voting machines – The Nevada Independent

Oklahoma’s first post-election audit confirms 2022 primary results | Carmen Forman/The Oklahoman

The state Election Board originally planned to start conducting post-election audits during the 2020 election cycle, but the development of policies and procedures to guide the process was delayed during the pandemic. “Post-election audits add an additional layer of transparency and security to Oklahoma elections and election officials are thankful that the State Legislature enacted a law to allow them,” Ziriax said in a news release. “Oklahoma has one of the most accurate and secure voting systems in the entire world. These post-election audits and the three recounts that followed the June 28 Primary Elections are the latest in a long line of evidence of that.” Election integrity has been a hot topic at the state Capitol following the 2020 presidential election. Spurred by former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims of widespread election fraud, several GOP state lawmakers have sought a forensic or independent audit of the 2020 election results. State law doesn’t allow for audits conducted by non-elections officials.

Full Article: Oklahoma’s first post-election audit confirms 2022 primary results

Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court upheld the state’s mail voting law after a long legal fight | Jonathan Lai/Philadelphia Inquirer

Pennsylvania’s mail-voting law is constitutional, the state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday, upholding the 2019 measure that allows any voter to use mail ballots and removing a cloud of uncertainty heading into the midterm elections. The law dramatically expanded mail voting from a method that had been allowed only in a very small number of cases — about 5% of votes in any given election — to one used by millions over the last two years. It was the product of bipartisan negotiations between Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and Republicans who control the state legislature, the biggest change to Pennsylvania election law in generations. But its implementation in 2020 came during both the first year of the pandemic and a heated presidential election. As massive numbers of voters cast ballots by mail, state and county elections officials tried to build out the system — in some cases triggering Republican outrage and lawsuits over their decisions. That was further stoked by then-President Donald Trump, who began attacking mail voting months before his loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. Republicans have continued to try to dismantle the law known as Act 77, with some saying it has been abused in its implementation, and others espousing bogus conspiracy theories about widespread fraud. The resulting partisan divide over a mail voting law that had been carefully negotiated — and trumpeted — by both Democrats and Republicans was on full display following the ruling Tuesday.

Full Article: Pennsylvania mail voting law Act 77 upheld by state Supreme Court

Texas: Harris County Commissioners Court OKs lawsuit over random state election audit | Dug Begley/Houston Chronicle

Harris County Commissioners Court, by a 3-2 partisan vote, agreed to explore legal options, including a possible lawsuit, to challenge the results of a random drawing by the Texas Secretary of State’s Office that means another round of election scrutiny for Texas’ largest county. “It ought to be the state of Texas that is audited,” said Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis, who proposed the lawsuit. “This place has gone back to the bad old days.” Harris County learned last week it was one of two large counties chosen for an election audit by state officials, under new procedures lawmakers approved for election scrutiny. It is the second audit of Harris County, after another approved weeks following the 2020 general election. Procedures for the upcoming audit, which covers both the 2020 and 2022 elections, have not been outlined by the state yet, said Beth Stevens, Harris County’s interim elections administrator.

Full Article: A random Texas election audit: Commissioners Court OKs lawsuit

Texas: Lawsuit demands end to electronic voting machines in Lubbock County | James Clark/KLBK

Five people sued Lubbock County Commissioners Monday to stop the use of electronic voting systems. They also demanded “proper investigations and reconciliation” of elections in the last two years. The lawsuit demands, among other things, that Lubbock County “implement a precinct level hand-marked paper ballot and hand counting system.” The county already approved machines that keep a paper backup system in addition to the electronic records. The preliminary statement in the lawsuit, filed by Ashley Johnson, Beverly D. Burnett, Royce C. Lewis, Laura Lynne Phillips and Sheryl Ann Sherman – all representing themselves to be Lubbock County registered voters – said, “This action is not an election contest case.” The basic claim was that Lubbock County uses Hart InterCivic voting machines. The lawsuit also claimed these voting machines do not meet state standards and they are vulnerable to so-called “black box” antics by nations such as China.

Full Article: Lawsuit demands end to electronic voting machines in Lubbock County | KLBK | KAMC | EverythingLubbock.com

Wisconsin: Trump tries to topple a powerful Wisconsin Republican in his futile quest to reverse his 2020 loss | Reid J. Epstein/The New York Times

After months of toying with Robin Vos, who as the speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly is the most powerful Republican in state politics, former President Donald J. Trump endorsed Mr. Vos’s long-shot primary challenger on Tuesday in a futile effort to push the state’s Republicans to decertify the results of the 2020 election. Mr. Trump backed Adam Steen, a largely unknown and underfunded far-right Republican who said he would aim to claw back the state’s 10 Electoral College votes from 2020 — a legal impossibility — and enact sweeping changes to the state’s voting laws. Mr. Steen’s far-right views are not limited to elections. He is opposed to all abortions under any circumstances and he said in an interview on Monday that he would seek to make contraception illegal in Wisconsin. “This is way deeper than a political discussion. This is a moral issue,” he said. “To me, you’re ending a life. Yes, I would definitely outlaw contraception.” In his endorsement message, Mr. Trump blamed Mr. Vos for blocking efforts to conduct a “full cyber forensic audit” of the 2020 election and said he had “refused to do anything to right the wrongs that were done.” “Speaker Vos had 17 years to prove to Wisconsin residents that he has their best interest in mind, but even in his own campaign efforts, Vos has tried to mislead his constituents, sending out mailers that feature a picture he took with me — trying to make voters believe I am a Vos supporter, which I am not,” Mr. Trump said. “I do not come close to supporting him.”

Full Article: Trump, Angry About 2020, Tries to Oust Robin Vos in Wisconsin – The New York Times