National: Decline in federal grant funding for local elections criticized by advocates | Kira Lerner/States Newsroom

The $1.5 trillion omnibus spending bill passed by Congress last week includes $75 million in Help America Vote Act grants — a major reduction compared to years past. Experts say the $75 million is insufficient to fund local elections and leaves local election offices without resources to improve election infrastructure and protect the security of elections. Though Congress has only funded local elections three times since 2010, the $75 million in the latest spending bill is far from the $53 billion over 10 years that election security experts say is necessary. It’s also far less than the $500 million proposed by the House in its original spending proposal.  “It’s always great to see Congress getting resources to state and local election officials and really recognizing their responsibility to help fund elections, but $75 million is far short of what is needed right now to really secure and protect our election infrastructure,” said Derek Tisler, counsel with the democracy program at the Brennan Center for Justice. “It’s also considerably less than the funding we saw in recent years leading up to the 2020 election.” In 2018 and 2020 respectively, Congress approved $380 million and $425 million in HAVA Election Security Funds for states to improve the administration of elections for federal office.

Full Article: Decline in federal grant funding for local elections criticized by advocates – Idaho Capital Sun

National: Democrats urge DOJ to address ‘insider threats’ from candidates who deny 2020 results | Mychael Schnell/The Hill

More than a dozen House Democrats are urging the Department of Justice (DOJ) to address “insider threats to election systems,” which they say are posed by candidates who are running to fill local election positions motivated by former President Trump‘s false claims about the 2020 presidential election. In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland dated Wednesday, the Democratic lawmakers said they are worried that those candidates may attempt to influence the outcomes of future races if they are installed as election officials. “Unfortunately, many of the candidates seeking to fill newly vacated state and local election posts support former President Trump’s false claim that the 2020 election was stolen,” the lawmakers wrote. “We are concerned that this new cohort of election officials may be inclined to abuse their authority to directly influence the results of future elections.” They pointed to “the recent resurgence of anti-democratic tactics among election officials in key battleground states,” adding that they are “deeply concerned about bad actors who may dismiss their legal obligations in order to secure victory for their favored candidate or candidates.” The House members said there is an “active effort to recruit and convince election officials at all levels of governance to sabotage future elections by spreading conspiracy theories and promoting the claims of election deniers,” pointing to incidents in Michigan, Arizona and Pennsylvania and various races for secretary of state and state attorney general.

Full Article: Democrats urge DOJ to address ‘insider threats’ from candidates who deny 2020 results | TheHill

National: Trump White House aide was secret author of Dominion Report used to push ‘big lie’ | Hugo Lowell/The Guardian

Weeks after the 2020 election, at least one Trump White House aide was named as secretly producing a report that alleged Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden because of Dominion Voting Systems – research that formed the basis of the former president’s wider efforts to overturn the election. The Dominion report, subtitled “OVERVIEW 12/2/20 – History, Executives, Vote Manipulation Ability and Design, Foreign Ties”, was initially prepared so that it could be sent to legislatures in states where the Trump White House was trying to have Biden’s win reversed. But top Trump officials would also use the research that stemmed from the White House aide-produced report to weigh other options to return Trump to the presidency, including having the former president sign off on executive orders to authorize sweeping emergency powers. The previously unreported involvement of the Trump White House aide in the preparation of the Dominion report raises the extraordinary situation of at least one administration official being among the original sources of Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The publicly available version of the Dominion report, which first surfaced in early December 2020 on the conservative outlet the Gateway Pundit, names on the cover and in metadata as its author Katherine Friess, a volunteer on the Trump post-election legal team. But the Dominion report was in fact produced by the senior Trump White House policy aide Joanna Miller, according to the original version of the document reviewed by the Guardian and a source familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Full Article: Trump White House aide was secret author of report used to push ‘big lie’ | US elections 2020 | The Guardian

National: Election Officials Say Safety Threats May Drive Away Poll Workers | Daniel C. Vock/Route Fifty

Local election officials have long worried about whether they can find enough people to work in polls on Election Day. After all, the hours are long, the pay is low and, in recent years, workers have worried about the spread of Covid-19. Now they’re worried a new phenomenon may keep workers away: threats to their physical safety. Three out of every five respondents in a new Brennan Center for Justice survey of election officials said they were either “very concerned” or “somewhat concerned” that “that threats, harassment and intimidation against local election officials will make it more difficult to retain or recruit election workers in future elections.” The concerns about danger are part of the fall-out of the acrimonious 2020 presidential election. President Joe Biden clearly won the contest, but former President Donald Trump has fomented challenges based on conspiracy theories and riled up his followers to attack election administrators and workers. “Counties organize about 800,000 volunteers each election cycle, and it’s getting harder and harder,” said Matthew Chase, the CEO and executive director of the National Association of Counties. “During the pandemic, we struggled because a lot of our election volunteers were older and they certainly didn’t want to show up in the middle of pandemic and volunteer,” he said. “Now you layer on the harassment that they’re facing in the community for being a civic-minded individual, and we’re really concerned.”

Full Article: Election Officials Say Safety Threats May Drive Away Poll Workers – Route Fifty

National: Fox News countersues a voting machine maker, saying its damage estimate is inflated | Christopher Dean Hopkins/NPR

Fox News today filed a counterclaim against voting machine manufacturer Smartmatic, saying the company’s claim that it suffered $2.7 billion in losses is massively inflated. Fox News argues it warrants punishment under rules, known as anti-SLAPP laws, that are designed to protect the media from abusive litigation. The news network seeks payment of its attorneys’ fees and “other and further relief as the Court deems just and proper.” A report that Fox News had produced by University of Chicago business law professor Daniel R. Fischel found that Smartmatic had sustained millions of dollars in losses in the years leading up to the election. Year-over-year growth of nearly 75% would be needed to reach the amount it’s seeking from the news network, the report said. “While the recovery of fees and costs will not undo all the damage this First Amendment-defying lawsuit has wrought,” the lawsuit says, “at least it may cause the next plaintiff to think twice before trying to penalize the press to the tune of billions of dollars in nonexistent damages.” Smartmatic’s lawsuit, filed in February 2021, stemmed from the network’s coverage of fraud claims — which had no basis in fact — by President Trump and his allies following the 2020 election, as well as opinions voiced by some of Fox News hosts. The company argues that coverage amounted to willing participation in a disinformation campaign that hurt Smartmatic’s business prospects.

Full Article: Fox News countersues a voting machine maker, saying its damage estimate is inflated | WYPR

Arizona state senators block a dozen GOP-sponsored election reform bills | Michael McDaniel/Courthouse News Service

The Arizona Senate blocked a sweeping slate of GOP-sponsored election reform bills Monday that many state Republicans claimed would have addressed concerns of election integrity, following the state’s audit of the 2020 presidential election. Twelve election reform bills failed to pass the Republican-controlled Senate due to nay votes from two Republicans. The surprising result came after sponsors and committees spent weeks amending and prepping the bills for their final Senate read. The GOP-dissenters of the bills were state Senators Michelle Ugenti-Rita, a Republican from Scottsdale, and Paul Boyer, a Republican from Glendale. Both have pushed back against claims from many of their colleagues that Joe’s Biden 2020 presidential election was fraudulent, and they have received harsh criticism from the Arizona GOP as a result. “I do have some major concerns with this bill and I have a major concern about what we’re doing today,” Ugenti-Rita said, explaining her vote against Senate Bill 1570. The bill would have prevented some voting equipment from being connected to the internet, in a bid to safeguard against hacking. “I have never seen this amount of bills for one section of law come up over the course of a few days and just be allowed to die. I think that’s poor leadership. I’ve been here for 11 years. That is not how we do things,” Ugenti-Rita said. “I don’t think it’s fair to the sponsors. I don’t think it’s fair to the other members. And honestly, I think that there’s an agenda behind it and I find it inappropriate.”

Full Article: Arizona state senators block a dozen GOP-sponsored election reform bills | Courthouse News Service

Colorado: Rio Blanco County Commissioners vote 2-1 to defund election equipment | Lucas Turner/Rio Blanco Herald Times

Rio Blanco County Commissioners voted 2-1 this week in favor of defunding Dominion-based vote tabulation machines in the Clerk and Recorder’s office. If implemented, the move would require election officials to hand-count all votes in future elections. The decision came following back-and-forth comments by current/former election officials (who spoke against the measure) and RBC residents who questioned the security of dominion machines (who spoke in favor). “Adoption of this measure will cause chaos in the clerk and recorder’s office during the 2022 election cycle, and will expose RBC to serious liability and litigation,” said County Clerk Boots Campbell Tuesday. She voiced strong opposition to the measure, and pushed back on claims of fraud, miscounts and other alleged discrepancies in the county’s election verification process. She emphasized the matter would wind up before the Deputy Secretary of State, and noted that even if it goes through (following a required public hearing) it will not impact tabulation systems of this year’s elections.

Full Article: Commissioners vote 2-1 to defund election equipment | Rio Blanco Herald Times | Serving Meeker, Rangely, Dinosaur & Northwest Colorado

Colorado: Democratic bill targets ‘insider’ threats to state’s election system | Bente Birkeland/Colorado Public Radio

Eight months after Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters allegedly compromised her county’s election machines while searching for proof of fraud in the 2020 election, Colorado’s Democratic lawmakers want to make it illegal for those who run elections to do much of what she’s accused of. A new bill would ban anyone overseeing elections from knowingly or recklessly making false statements about the process. It also adds more training requirements for election staff and officials, bars counties from copying voting machine hard drives without state permission, mandates full-time video monitoring of equipment and increases penalties for security breaches. Supporters believe Colorado is the first state to try this approach to prevent insider threats and disinformation from further eroding public trust in elections, even as others raise concerns about potential First Amendment violations and question the motives behind the entire effort. “I don’t think it’s too much to ask to say, ‘if you’re running our elections you can’t lie about our elections’,” said Democratic Senate President Steve Fenberg who is the main sponsor of SB22-153.  While the measure had been in the works for a while, it was officially introduced just two days after Peters was charged with breaching the security of her county’s voting equipment. In the words of the grand jury’s indictment, Peters and her deputy Belinda Knisley allegedly “devised and executed a deceptive scheme”  to give an unauthorized person access to the county’s voting machine hard drives and to sit in on a software update. Photos of passwords and copies of data were later leaked online by election conspiracy theorists.

Full Article: Democratic bill targets ‘insider’ threats to Colorado’s election system | Colorado Public Radio

Georgia: Investigation blames human error for issues in Fulton County election audit | Mark Niesse/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia election investigators reported Wednesday that they found repeated human errors during an unofficial hand recount of the 2020 presidential election in Fulton County, but the overall results appeared to be correct. The State Election Board then voted 3-1 to refer the case to the attorney general’s office for further investigation into whether Fulton’s elections office violated election rules. Investigators reviewed Fulton’s recount in response to concerns raised by Gov. Brian Kemp, who told the board in a November letter that he had vetted allegations of inconsistencies in the hand recount, part of a statewide audit of all 5 million ballots cast. Overall, the results of the hand recount — both in Fulton and all of Georgia — were similar to two machine counts, showing that Democrat Joe Biden won the state by about 12,000 votes against Republican Donald Trump. Two Houston County residents had claimed to Kemp there were batches of Fulton ballots with 100% of votes for Biden, duplicated batches and incorrect data. The investigation indicated that the allegations can be explained by mistakes by election workers during the first-ever statewide election audit, which included a review of over 525,000 Fulton paper ballots.

Full Article: State Election Board advances case alleging problems in Fulton recount

Indiana governor signs bill requiring paper backup for all voting machines by 2024 | Margaret Menge/The Center Square

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb signed a bill recently that requires all counties using MicroVote voting machines to have a paper trail before the next presidential election in 2024. More than half of the counties in Indiana now use MicroVote voting machines – machines that have no paper record showing votes cast, making it impossible for election workers or outside officials to do a risk-limiting audit following an election, or to recount votes in the event of a close election or a legal contest. The new law requires counties using MicroVote machines to have external printers for all of these machines by July 1, 2024 – printers called vvpats, for voter verified paper audit trail. Before the bill being signed this week, counties had until December 2029 under state law to either replace their MicroVote voting machines or buy vvpats for all of them. The vvpats attach to the voting machines and record votes on a roll of thermal paper that stays inside the machine, similar to an internal cash register tape. Voters are to verify their votes by looking through a clear glass or plastic window on the voting machine after voting to see the selections on the paper match the candidate selections they just made. At a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Feb. 24, Barbara Tully, of Indiana Vote by Mail, testified in opposition to vvpats, saying the entire voting rights community opposes vvpats and they are “troublesome for a number of reasons” – including that the thermal paper can smudge easily and unlike actual paper ballots, they are difficult to use in an election audit.

Full Article: Indiana governor signs bill requiring paper backup for all voting machines by 2024 | State | shelbynews.com

Kansas: Unbothered by cost concerns, state senators approve ballot watermark bill | Noah Taborda/Kansas Reflector

The Senate on Tuesday approved a senator’s efforts to ensure all voting systems in Kansas use a paper ballot with a distinctive watermark. Senate Bill 389, introduced by Sen. Richard Hildebrand, R-Galena, also requires a hand audit of these ballots after the election. Currently, Kansas requires election clerks to physically stamp each ballot, but Hildebrand brought the bill to ensure human error does not come into play. In a hearing earlier this month, voting rights advocates raised concerns about the impact of the bill on Kansans with disabilities and the cost for counties to print new ballots. The concerns were echoed by Senate Democrats who said this would not address any real issue. “I am happy to support things that will make our election process more secure. I don’t see any way that this would do that,” said Sen. Marci Francisco, D-Lawrence, during debate over the bill on Monday. “I also know that we are putting all the cost of this on our counties, and it is not something that any of my county residents have asked for.” Hildebrand countered that the cost was with the perceived security. “How much is peace of mind worth? Two cents? I’ll put my two cents in,” Hildebrand said. The state would not incur any costs, although counties would incur costs related to ballot printing and additional wages for election board workers. The Senate gave preliminary approval to the bill on Monday, then passed it 27-11 on Tuesday.

Full Article: Unbothered by cost concerns, Kansas senators approve ballot watermark bill – Kansas Reflector

Maine’s top election official seeks funding to conduct post-voting audits | Randy Billings/Portland Press Herald

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows asked state lawmakers on Monday to provide funding for five new positions so the state can conduct regular election audits and provide year-round training for municipal election clerks. Maine is one of only six states that does not have a formal election auditing program and the only state controlled by Democrats that does not conduct post-election audits. The Legislature passed a bill last year to add the positions, estimated to cost about $525,000 a year, but the bill has been sitting on the appropriations table, waiting to be funded. Bellows urged the State and Local Government Committee and the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee to recommend including the funding in the supplemental budget being negotiated in the Legislature. “We would be very willing and eager to move forward, should the committee decide to suggest those five positions as an amendment to the budget,” Bellows told the State and Local Government committee. Gov. Janet Mills proposed a list of spending priorities in her supplemental budget proposal, with half of the projected $822 million surplus going to rebate checks to taxpayers. But Mills also left about $12 million for lawmakers to spend on other priorities. Mills is expected to submit a change package this week, which outline plans for an additional $411 million in revenue projected through mid-2023, so that figure could increase.

Full Article: Maine’s top election official seeks funding to conduct post-voting audits – Portland Press Herald

Nevada: Officials in Nye County endorse hand count, paper ballots | Ken Ritter/Associated Press

Elected officials in a rural southern Nevada county say they want paper votes counted by hand during primary and general elections this year, although their top elections official said Wednesday she can’t immediately commit enough staffing or supplies and doesn’t have regulations to follow. “It would be physically impossible for me to implement this for the (June 14) primary election,” Nye County Clerk Sandra Merlino told The Associated Press following the all-Republican County Commission’s unanimous Tuesday vote endorsing the measures. “I have made a commitment to look at it.” Merlino, an elected official who has had her job since 2000, has authority to accept or reject the recommendation from the five-member commission. It followed presentations from several speakers on unproven conspiracies and doubts about the results of the 2020 election, according to media reports. Commissioner Debra Strickland called for the vote, saying she wanted to reassure county voters that their voice is heard and their ballots are accurately recorded, the Nevada Independent reported.

Full Article: Officials in Nevada county endorse hand count, paper ballots | AP News

New Mexico State Auditor finds problems with Otero County’s election audit contract | Nicole MaxwellAlamogordo Daily News

The New Mexico Office of the State Auditor (OSA), issued a letter to Otero County on March 14 stating it found concerns and potential violations of county and state code with Otero County’s with EchoMail to audit the 2020 General Election. The concerns included contract oversight deficiencies, potential Governmental Conduct Act violations and possible violations of the Otero County Purchasing Policy. Otero County has until March 29 to respond to the State Auditor’s Office letter. The Otero County Commission has supported the audit since the first discussions of it in 2021. “I speak for myself, but I think the other two commissioners feel the same way that we strongly support this audit,” Otero County Commission Chairwoman Vickie Marquardt said. The Alamogordo Daily News reached out to Otero County for comment but had not heard back as of 3 p.m. on March 14. “Through our fact-finding procedures, review of documents received from the County, and review of public meetings regarding the procurement, the OSA has identified concerns and potential violations we want to bring to your attention, as the OSA seeks to deter waste and abuse in government,” the OSA letter states.

Full Article: New Mexico finds problems with Otero County’s election audit contract

Texas mail ballot rejections soar under new restrictions | Paul J. Weber and Acacia Coronado/Associated Press

Texas threw out mail votes at an abnormally high rate during the nation’s first primary of 2022, rejecting nearly 23,000 ballots outright under tougher voting rules that are part of a broad campaign by Republicans to reshape American elections, according to an analysis by The Associated Press. Roughly 13% of mail ballots returned in the March 1 primary were discarded and uncounted across 187 counties in Texas. While historical primary comparisons are lacking, the double-digit rejection rate would be far beyond what is typical in a general election, when experts say anything above 2% is usually cause for attention. “My first reaction is ‘yikes,’” said Charles Stewart III, director of the Election Data and Science Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “It says to me that there’s something seriously wrong with the way that the mail ballot policy is being administered.” Republicans promised new layers of voting rules would make it “easier to vote and harder to cheat.” But the final numbers recorded by AP lay bare the glaring gulf between that objective and the obstacles, frustration and tens of thousands of uncounted votes resulting from tighter restrictions and rushed implementation.

Full Article: Texas mail ballot rejections soar under new restrictions | AP News

Wisconsin Elections Commission pushes back on Gableman report | Shawn Johnson/Wisconsin Public Radio

The Wisconsin Elections Commission is pushing back on a Republican-ordered report released this week that cast doubt on the 2020 election in Wisconsin, saying the review was full of misunderstandings and outright falsehoods. The report includes an assertion by Republican special counsel Michael Gableman that votes from “incapacitated” nursing home residents had cast doubt on the outcome of the election. Gableman issued his report earlier this week and more than eight months after he signed a contract with Assembly Speaker Robin Vos to investigate the 2020 presidential election in the state. Gableman, a former state Supreme Court justice, made a wide range of broad allegations that the 2020 election was conducted illegally, focusing much of his presentation to Assembly lawmakers on votes cast by elderly people at residential care facilities. In March 2020, the Wisconsin Elections Commission decided that special voting deputies — people deputized by the county clerk to administer absentee voting in nursing homes and qualified care facilities — wouldn’t be able to enter those facilities because of COVID-19 concerns. Instead, residents who wanted to vote could request absentee ballots and get help from staff at the homes to complete them. During Gableman’s presentation, he showed video interviews of nursing home residents who voted in 2020 being asked to choose between hypothetical candidates based on policy positions, like whether they supported tax cuts. The residents in the video were often confused.

Full Article: Wisconsin Elections Commission pushes back on Gableman report | Wisconsin Public Radio

National: The elections police are coming | Fredreka Schouten and Kelly Mena/CNN

A measure moving through the Republican-controlled Georgia legislature would hand new election policing powers to the state’s bureau of investigations. The bill under consideration in the Georgia House would give the Georgia Bureau of Investigations the power to probe election fraud allegations — supplementing the work currently overseen by state election officials. If the proposal becomes law, the Peach State would become the second state in recent weeks to beef up enforcement of election fraud — a crime that federal and state officials say is exceedingly rare. Last week, the Florida legislature created a scaled-back version of a new election police force that had been sought by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is on the ballot for reelection this year and has presidential ambitions for 2024. The measure, headed to DeSantis’ desk for his signature, would establish an Office of Election Crimes and Security within the Department of State with a staff of 15 to conduct preliminary investigations of election fraud. In addition, the measure calls for DeSantis to appoint up to 10 law enforcement officers to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to probe election crimes.
The Florida measure also makes it a felony to return more than two mail-in ballots on behalf of other voters.

Full Article: The elections police are coming – CNNPolitics

National: States Want to Boost Protections for Threatened Local Election Officials | Matt Vasilogambros/Stateline

From her second-floor office window in Medford, Oregon, elections administrator Chris Walker vividly remembers reading the unsettling words painted in big white letters on the parking lot below in late November 2020: “Vote don’t work. Next time bullets.” Her heart sank, she recalls, wondering whether or when the threat would materialize. Former President Donald Trump had won her southern Oregon community, and despite his lie that the election was stolen, she never expected this anger. While her office is nonpartisan, Walker, the Jackson County clerk, has been a registered Republican for as long as she’s been able to vote. She’s frustrated to see the amount of election misinformation from members of her party. The pressure from constituents has not let up over the past two years. In emails, she is called a crook and a criminal just for doing her job: running elections. “It really was shocking,” she said. “We are normal, everyday people. We’ve been charged with an extraordinary task. We have to continue to do our work. We’ve not let it control what we do here.” Walker is one of many election officials around the country who have faced violent threats and harassment since the 2020 presidential election, as Trump and his allies continue to perpetuate repeatedly disproven myths about voter fraud. This pressure, meant to exhaust and scare local officials into resigning, could usher in new election personnel who seek to skew results, election experts say.

Full Article: States Want to Boost Protections for Threatened Local Election Officials | The Pew Charitable Trusts

Another way to protect voting rights: Hack-proof our elections | Matthew Germer/The Hill

In recent years, leading computer scientists and network security experts have found real vulnerabilities in election technology that could allow even lower-tier hackers to pose threats. As this technology ages, dozens of states are now in dire need of new equipment and support for managing security issues. Public reports from the Director of National Intelligence and other cybersecurity experts suggest that threats could come from Russia, Iran, China or North Korea, as well as non-state actors with radical agendas. But all is not lost. There is growing agreement across the political spectrum on how to improve election security: voter-verified paper ballots that create permanent, physical records of votes; risk-limiting audits that use robust statistical analysis to ensure accurate counts and ample, consistent funding for state and local election administrators in order to carry out trustworthy elections for years to come. There is also support for even stronger protection from hackers and foreign interference through improved federal oversight of voting machine vendors and by keeping voting and tabulation infrastructure off the internet.

Full Article: Another way to protect voting rights: Hack-proof our elections | TheHill

National: 2020 Was a Banner Year for U.S. Election Administration | Claire DeSoi/Elections Performance Index

Despite widespread claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent or poorly managed, election administration did not just persevere under unexpected and challenging conditions—it improved. The 2020 election was an anomaly in many ways, but the Election Performance Index (EPI) shows us that election administration continued to trend in the direction it was already heading: up. While there was more early voting and voting by mail than previous years (a pre-existing trend that 2020 accelerated), overall, more states improved their practices, data, and reporting. When looking at the index for 2020, we must of course remain mindful of the 2020 election atmosphere and context. In an election year like 2020, though, where administrators and election officials had to adapt quickly to unprecedented challenges, data-driven measures became even more important in finding and telling the story of how elections in the US are managed.

Full Article: 2020 Was a Banner Year for U.S. Election Administration | Elections Performance Index

National: Local election officials are exhausted, under threat and thinking about quitting | Zach Montellaro/Politico

Election officials feel besieged by conspiracy theorists and fear that a lack of support for their work is going to squeeze experts out of the field, according to a new poll. The survey from the Brennan Center for Justice, a liberal-leaning think tank and advocacy group, showed that nearly 8 in 10 local election officials feel that threats against them and their colleagues have increased in recent years, and a majority say that they are either very or somewhat concerned about the safety of their fellow administrators. The question of how to deal with threats has become a constant conversation among election officials at all levels of government, many of whom fear that it could discourage people from staying in their field of election administration, or even joining it in the first place. “Over the long run, if this continues, it will be a lot harder to get folks to stick around,” said Natalie Adona, the assistant county clerk-recorder of Nevada County, Calif. “People will retire maybe because they’re just ready to retire because they’ve been doing this for so dang long — or maybe because they feel that the risk is not worth it. But there will be more retirements.” The poll results confirm Adona’s feeling, with 3 in 10 of the officials surveyed saying they know at least one or two election workers who have left their jobs in part because of fears for their safety. Sixty percent of the respondents said they are concerned that those issues will make it more difficult to retain or recruit election workers in the future.

Full Article: Local election officials are exhausted, under threat and thinking about quitting – POLITICO

National: 1 in 5 local election officials say they’re likely to quit before 2024 | Miles Parks/NPR

For the past two years, the people who run America’s elections have been sounding the alarm. The polarized voting environment that’s come out of the 2020 election has led to near daily harassment and death threats for some election officials, and made the profession unsustainable for many. Now, there’s new data to back up those concerns. A new survey of local election officials released Thursday by the Brennan Center for Justice found that 1 in 5 local election administrators say they are likely to leave their jobs before the 2024 presidential election. “There’s a crisis in election administration,” said Larry Norden, the senior director of elections and government at the Brennan Center. “[Election administrators] are concerned, and they’re not getting the support that they need.” The Brennan Center worked with the Benenson Strategy Group, which has worked for a number of national Democratic political campaigns, to conduct the poll over two weeks in early February among 596 local election officials. Respondents were split fairly evenly across the political spectrum: 26% identified as Democrats, 30% as Republicans, and 44% said they were independent. The margin of error was about 4%.

Full Article: 1 in 5 local election officials say they’re likely to quit before 2024 : NPR

National; Could the Supreme Court give Republicans more control over how to run elections? | Amber Phillips/The Washington Post

Democrats got a break from the Supreme Court on Monday when the justices essentially decided not to let Republicans draw congressional maps in two states that are battlegrounds for control of Congress, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. That means members of Congress in those states will run on maps drawn by state courts that are more favorable to Democrats than they would have otherwise been. But then four conservative justices opened the door to something else much more worrisome for the left: They indicated they’re open to letting state lawmakers run federal elections without state courts or even the state constitution having a say. It’s based on a conservative push of something called the “independent state legislature” doctrine, and it would be a drastic change from the way the Supreme Court has seen the role of state courts — as a check on legislatures, reports The Washington Post’s Robert Barnes. And it comes as former president Donald Trump continues his efforts to undermine faith in federal elections, primarily by pressuring state legislatures to try to overturn his election loss. “It would throw election administration into nationwide chaos,” the North Carolina League of Conservation Voters argued to the Supreme Court.

Full Article: Could the Supreme Court give Republicans more control over how to run elections? – The Washington Post

National: Judge denies Fox News motion to dismiss defamation suit by election-tech company Smartmatic | Jeremy Barr/The Washington Post

A judge allowed an election technology company’s $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News to proceed on Tuesday, though he dismissed specific claims made against host Jeanine Pirro and two of the network’s guests. New York Supreme Court Judge David B. Cohen denied Fox’s motion to dismiss the 2021 lawsuit, in which the company, Smartmatic, alleged that the network and several of its on-air personalities “decimated its future business prospects” by falsely accusing it of rigging the 2020 election against Donald Trump. But in the same ruling, Cohen dropped Pirro from the lawsuit, noting that while she floated election conspiracy theories, she did not specifically accuse Smartmatic of wrongdoing. He also dropped Trump-affiliated lawyer Sidney Powell from the suit, saying his court has no jurisdiction over her as a Texas resident. And he dismissed some of Smartmatic’s claims against Rudolph W. Giuliani while allowing others to continue, noting that the Trump lawyer explicitly alleged that Smartmatic committed crimes — comments, Cohen wrote, that “if false, were defamatory per se.”

Full Article: Smartmatic lawsuit against Fox News upheld by judge – The Washington Post

National: Vice President Kamala Harris marks ‘Bloody Sunday’ anniversary in Selma | Kim Chandler/Associated Press

Vice President Kamala Harris visited Selma, Alabama, on Sunday to commemorate a defining moment in the fight for equal voting rights, even as congressional efforts to restore the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act have faltered. Under a blazing blue sky, Harris linked arms with rank-and-file activists from the civil rights movement and led thousands across the bridge where, on March 7, 1965, white state troopers attacked Black voting rights marchers attempting to cross. The images of violence at the Edmund Pettus Bridge — originally named for a Confederate general — shocked the nation and helped galvanize support for passage of the Voting Rights Act. Harris called the site hallowed ground where people fought for the “most fundamental right of American citizenship: the right to vote.” “Today, we stand on this bridge at a different time,” Harris said in a speech before the gathered crowd. “We again, however, find ourselves caught in between. Between injustice and justice. Between disappointment and determination. Still in a fight to form a more perfect union. And nowhere is that more clear than when it comes to the ongoing fight to secure the freedom to vote.”

Full Article: Kamala Harris marks ‘Bloody Sunday’ anniversary in Selma | AP News

Colorado clerk is indicted for election tampering and misconduct | Bente Birkeland/NPR

A grand jury has indicted a Colorado county clerk, Tina Peters, and her deputy on a laundry list of charges related to an election security breach in her office last summer that was influenced by former President Donald Trump’s false claims that he won the 2020 election. The charges against Peters come as election workers around the U.S. face death threats amid a national disinformation campaign that has falsely alleged wide-scale election tampering in 2020. Peters’ case is particularly worrisome to many who run elections as a sign that insiders might act upon those conspiracy theories, further undermining confidence in the voting process. Peters, who’s the county clerk and recorder in Mesa County, in western Colorado, faces 10 counts, including seven felony charges and three misdemeanors. The felony charges include attempting to influence a public servant, identity theft, criminal impersonation and conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation. The misdemeanors include first-degree official misconduct, violation of duty and failure to comply with the requirements of the secretary of state. Her deputy, Belinda Knisley, has been indicted on six counts, including attempt to influence a public servant, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, violation of duty and failure to comply with the requirements of the secretary of state.

Full Article: Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters indicted for election tampering : NPR

Florida: Voting rights advocates decry new office for election crimes | Sam Levine/The Guardian

Florida has approved a measure that would create a statewide office to investigate election crimes – the first of its kind in the United States. Voter fraud is extremely rare both nationwide and in Florida. Nonetheless, the new office of election crime and security will have 25 positions to investigate election fraud and be funded with more than $3m, Daniel Perez, a Republican state representative who backed the bill, said on the floor of the Florida house this week. It will be housed within the department of state, which is responsible for overseeing elections in Florida and whose head is appointed by the governor. The department will be authorized to investigate any alleged violations of Florida election law and oversee a voter fraud hotline. Each year, the agency will be required to provide a report to the governor and state legislature on how many investigations it conducted the previous year as well as how many matters were referred to another agency for further investigation or prosecution. The measure passed the Florida house on Wednesday and final approval from the Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, is expected shortly. The unit is slightly scaled back from what DeSantis called for in January, when he requested $6m for the office and wanted 52 staffers.

Full Article: Voting rights advocates decry Florida’s new office for election crimes | US news | The Guardian

Florida Senate Passes Voting Bill to Create Election Crimes Agency | Nick Corasaniti/The New York Times

The Florida Senate passed a sweeping new bill overhauling the state’s electoral process, adding new restrictions to the state election code and establishing a law enforcement office dedicated solely to investigating election crimes. The bill, which passed 24-14, now goes to the state’s House of Representatives, where it could pass as soon as next week and land on the desk of Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, who is expected to sign it. One Republican, State Senator Jeff Brandes, voted against it. A Democratic senator, Loranne Ausley, initially voted yes, but immediately posted on Twitter that she “pushed the wrong button” and has since changed her vote. Though Republicans in the state had passed another sweeping voting law in May of last year, Mr. DeSantis made election reform one of the top priorities for this legislative session as well. Both efforts come after the 2020 election in Florida was without any major issues, and Republicans in the state touted it as a “gold standard” for election administration.

Full Article: Florida Senate Passes Voting Bill to Create Election Crimes Agency – The New York Times

Georgia: Poll closure plan defeated in rural Lincoln County | Mark Niesse/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Election officials in rural Lincoln County on Wednesday voted against closing all seven of the county’s polling places, a plan that would have replaced them with one new central voting location. The unanimous decision to keep every polling place open followed months of protests and petition drives objecting to the proposal, saying it would limit voter access in the county, located north of Augusta. “The voters of Lincoln County spoke loud and clear on the proposals to consolidate polling locations,” said Cindy Battles of the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda, a voting rights group that helped organize opposition to the poll closure plan. “We are incredibly happy the board of elections listened to them.” The elections board backed down from the poll closure idea in response to resistance that began late last year. Voting rights organizations gathered hundreds of signatures on petitions in January that blocked some of the poll closures from moving forward. Under Georgia law, a petition signed by at least 20% of registered voters in a precinct can prevent its closure.

Full Article: Rural Georgia county votes to keep all precincts open after protests

Michigan audit debunks dead voter theory in 2020 election | Craig Mauger/The Detroit News

A report released Friday by Michigan’s Office of the Auditor General quashed a conspiracy theory that a significant number of fraudulent votes were cast on behalf of dead people in the state’s 2020 presidential election. The 67-page document examined election processes in the battleground state, generally finding them to be sufficient with some exceptions. Nothing in the document specifically called into question the results of Michigan’s election, when Democrat Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump, but did criticize audits that occurred afterward. The auditor general’s office — whose leader, Doug Ringler was appointed by the Republican-controlled Legislature — compared state voting records with public health records, finding 1,616 votes, or 0.03% of the total ballots, were attributed to people who were deceased as of Election Day. In the wide majority of the cases, the problem votes were absentee ballots cast by someone who died in the final days before the election, according to the auditors’ report. That indicates the people were alive when they sent in their ballots ahead of the election but passed away before Election Day. Ballots of voters who have died before Election Day are supposed to be rejected in Michigan, even if the voter cast an absentee ballot and then died before Election Day, according to the Secretary of State’s office. In 20 instances in the presidential election, a person who cast a ballot had died more than 40 days before the election, according to the new report. Likewise, the report found that 99.99% of the voters examined were within acceptable age parameters and 99.99% of the votes cast were not identified as a duplicate vote.

Full Article: Audit debunks dead voter theory in Michigan 2020 election