National: Top Cybersecurity Leaders Warn Local Election Officials to Boost Security Ahead of 2024 | Matt Vasilogambros/Stateline

Some of the nation’s top cybersecurity leaders are warning state and local election officials of ongoing foreign and domestic national security threats to election systems, urging them to upgrade their defenses ahead of next year’s presidential election. At separate conferences this month, federal officials warned gatherings of the National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election Directors that they must be vigilant in securing their state’s elections systems and building resilience to prevent attacks. Many election officials, overworked and frightened by personal threats, left the field following President Donald Trump’s loss in 2020. In light of that turnover, national security officials wanted to emphasize that local election officials can use federal resources to build defenses and educate front-line staff. Although foreign cyberattacks did not disrupt November’s midterm elections, China, Iran, North Korea and Russia remain threats to U.S. election systems, said Cynthia Kaiser, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s Cyber Division.

Full Article: Feds Push Local Election Officials to Boost Security Ahead of 2024 | The Pew Charitable Trusts

National: Are Open Source Elections More Secure? | Jule Pattison-Gordon/Government Technology

The 2024 elections are coming, and jurisdictions need to ensure their election administration and voting system technology stays ahead of the latest cyber threats and mis- and disinformation. But they also need to ensure residents have convenient, accessible voting experiences. Some researchers and election officials believe open source tools are the solution. Federal security officials determined that the last election was secure, but cyber threats continue to evolve and election doubters have seized upon even simple equipment glitches and operational hiccups — like a printer mishap — to question results. Open source software projects publish their source code under licenses that allow anyone to review and use it. Typically, volunteers develop and propose code modifications, like bug fixes and new features, to be considered for incorporation into the software. This transparency into the code could dispel rumors, by showing doubters exactly how the processes work, according to Greg Miller, co-founder and chief operating officer of OSET Institute, an open source election technology research and development nonprofit. “Generally, in an open source project, more people have access to view the code, which can lead to the discovery of vulnerabilities in the code sooner,” San Francisco stated in a 2018 assessment on the feasibility of the city creating its own open source voting system.

Full Article: Are Open Source Elections More Secure? (Part 1)

National: Five election deniers who are controlling state voting systems | Zachary Roth/News From The States

Americans concerned about the health of democracy breathed a sigh of relief when a pack of election deniers in 2022 lost their attempts to control voting in key battleground states — making it unlikely that a rogue state election official could subvert the 2024 presidential election. Candidates for secretary of state who denied the result of the 2020 presidential race were defeated in all three swing states where they were on the ballot — Arizona, Michigan, and Nevada. And in Pennsylvania, where the governor appoints the chief election official, an election-denier gubernatorial candidate also lost. But while battleground states may have dodged a bullet in their secretary of state races, Alabama, Indiana, South Dakota, and Wyoming all elected deniers — defined as officials who refused to publicly acknowledge the legitimacy of President Joe Biden’s victory or backed court cases that could overturn the election. And the governor of Florida, the nation’s third-largest state, appointed a secretary of state who has refused, when asked, to say Biden won the election.

Full Article: Five election deniers who are controlling state voting systems | News From The States

National: They defeated election deniers, but these secretaries of state still fear ‘losing our democracy’ | Jacob Fulton/The Boston Globe

Secretaries of state, who have increasingly found themselves on the front lines in the fight for democracy, met last week in Washington to discuss how to keep election integrity top of mind as the next presidential election begins to gear up. Several of the officials gathered at the winter meeting of the National Association of Secretaries of State had beaten back challenges last year from election deniers in contests that in some places attracted as much national attention as a competitive Senate race. Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat who defeated Republican Mark Finchem, a former Arizona state representative who routinely spread election disinformation, said races like his provided “good perspective” on “how close we still are to losing our democracy.” “A lot more people are going to be a lot more realistic when they see that democracy is something that needs to be nurtured,” Fontes said. According to the States United Democracy Center, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to fair and secure elections, 22 of the 27 secretary of state races in 2022 included at least one candidate with a platform that incorporated election denial. Just three of those candidates ended up winning in the general election.

Full Article: They defeated election deniers, but these secretaries of state still fear ‘losing our democracy’ – The Boston Globe

National: Top state officials push to make spread of US election misinformation illegal | Kira Lerner/The Guardian

Chief election officials in several states want to make it illegal for someone to knowingly spread false information about an election, a move that raises questions around first amendment protected speech. The Democratic secretaries of state for Michigan and Minnesota told the Guardian they’re supporting legislation that would criminalize people who spread misinformation about an election. Michigan’s secretary of state, Jocelyn Benson, said the law would prevent people from tweeting that Election Day is on a Wednesday or saying that voting machines are insecure, when they know that information to be false. Benson said that since she took office in 2019, she has seen an increase in people lying to voters about their rights, which she considers an election security threat. “We have to hold those folks accountable, otherwise it’s going to continue and it will harm our democracy,” she said. Most states already prohibit interference with the election process in some manner, but the specificity in the laws when it comes to the spread of misinformation or the use of deceptive practices before an election varies from state to state.

Full Article: Top state officials push to make spread of US election misinformation illegal | US elections 2024 | The Guardian

National: ‘Incredibly damning:’ Fox News documents stun some legal experts | Paul Farhi , Jeremy Barr and Sarah Ellison/The Washington Post

The disclosure of emails and texts in which Fox News executives and personalities disparaged the same election conspiracies being floated on their shows has greatly increased the chances that a defamation case against the network will succeed, legal experts say. Dominion Voting Systems included dozens of messages sent internally by Fox co-founder Rupert Murdoch and on-air stars such as Tucker Carlson in a brief made public last week in support of the voting technology company’s $1.6 billion lawsuit against the network. Dominion claims it was damaged in the months after the 2020 election after Fox repeatedly aired false statements that it was part of a conspiracy to fraudulently elect Joe Biden. Dominion said the emails and texts show that Fox’s hosts and executives knew the claims being peddled by then-president Donald Trump’s lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell weren’t true — some employees privately described them as “ludicrous” and “mind blowingly nuts”— but Fox kept airing them to keep its audience from changing channels. If so, the messages could amount to powerful body of evidence against Fox, according to First Amendment experts, because they meet a critical and difficult-to-meet standard in such cases. “You just don’t often get smoking-gun evidence of a news organization saying internally, ‘We know this is patently false, but let’s forge ahead with it,’” said RonNell Andersen Jones, a University of Utah professor who specializes in media law.

Full Article: ‘Incredibly damning:’ Fox News documents stun some legal experts – The Washington Post

Arizona’s top prosecutor kept private records that debunked election fraud | vonne Wingett Sanchez and Isaac Stanley-Becker/The Washington Post

Nearly a year after the 2020 election, Arizona’s then-attorney general, Mark Brnovich, launched an investigation into voting in the state’s largest county that quickly consumed more than 10,000 hours of his staff’s time. Investigators prepared a report in March 2022 stating that virtually all claims of error and malfeasance were unfounded, according to internal documents reviewed by The Washington Post. Brnovich, a Republican, kept it private. In April, the attorney general — who was running in the GOP primary for a U.S. Senate seat — released an “Interim Report” claiming that his office had discovered “serious vulnerabilities.” He left out edits from his own investigators refuting his assertions. His office then compiled an “Election Review Summary” in September that systematically refuted accusations of widespread fraud and made clear that none of the complaining parties — from state lawmakers to self-styled “election integrity” groups — had presented any evidence to support their claims. Brnovich left office last month without releasing the summary.

Full Article: Arizona’s top prosecutor kept private records that debunked election fraud – The Washington Post

Arkansas group pitches hand-count elections to counties as Legislature prepares to weigh in | Hunter Field/Arkansas Advocate

An Arkansas group with connections to former President Donald Trump is traveling the state with a pitch to county quorum courts: ditch the voting machines. Instead, the Arkansas Voter Integrity Initiative urges counties to rely on paper ballots marked and counted by hand. The group had existed in relative obscurity since it was formed last year by Conrad Reynolds, a retired Army colonel who twice lost in the Republican primary for Arkansas’ 2nd Congressional District seat to U.S. Rep. French Hill. But last month, it convinced the first county, Cleburne County, to switch to hand-marked and counted ballots. Now, some of the most conservative members of the Arkansas Legislature appear to have taken notice, filing a bill to require counties that opt to hand-count ballots to pay for it themselves and first run the ballots through a tabulation device. … Pamela Smith, the president and CEO of the nonpartisan election technology group Verified Voting, said there are groups and people across pushing agendas similar to Reynolds’ and AVII’s. However, she said that the hand counting of ballots is not optimal for the initial tally of votes. “The time and place for a hand count is a post-election audit or check to make sure the machines worked correctly or in the recount of a very close race.”

Full Article: Arkansas group pitches hand-count elections to counties as Legislature prepares to weigh in – Arkansas Advocate

Georgia bills seek to eliminate ‘Zuckerbucks’ and ballot bar codes | Mark Niesse/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Republican Georgia senators rolled out a package of bills Thursday that continue to focus on perceived flaws in the 2020 presidential election, attempting to restrict outside money, eliminate votes scanned from bar codes and ban foreigners from being hired as election workers. The proposals come two years after lawmakers passed a far-reaching overhaul to Georgia voting laws following Democrat Joe Biden’s narrow victory against Republican Donald Trump. … Another bill would require Georgia’s voting system to scan ballots without having to rely on QR codes, often called bar codes, which are unreadable to the human eye. Both election integrity advocates and skeptics say voters should be able to know that the scanner is reading their choices, but state election officials say the change would cost millions of dollars without improving security.

Full Article: Georgia bills seek to eliminate ‘Zuckerbucks’ and ballot bar codes

Kansas House, Senate pass bills on ballot boxes, three-day grace period for advance ballots | Allison Kite and Rachel Mipro/Kansas Reflector

Election legislation meant to shore up public trust and transparency passed out of the Kansas House and Senate Thursday, despite concerns that the bills would have a chilling effect on voters. House and Senate lawmakers passed bills ending the three-day grace period for advance ballot collection 77-45, following Wednesday’s debate on the ethics of limiting the window. The vote marks a shift from 2017, when the House voted to create the three-day grace period for ballots with 123 voting in favor of the legislation. Senators voted 23-17 Thursday to do the same. Republican proponents of the bill have said the measure will restore state residents’ trust in the electoral process, though some of the bill’s critics have said proponents are the ones undermining the electoral system in the first place. Rep. Stephanie Sawyer Clayton, an Overland Park Democrat, said the current system should be kept. “We believe that the best way to maintain trust in our election systems is by working under the current constructs as opposed to undermining democracy itself through inflammatory rhetoric,” Sawyer Clayton said. Under the House bill, all advance ballots need to be returned by 7 p.m. on Election Day, eliminating the window currently in place. The restriction would apply to advance voting ballots received by mail, in the office of the county election officer, the satellite election office, any polling place or a county-maintained election drop box.

Full Article: Kansas House, Senate pass bills on ballot boxes, three-day grace period for advance ballots – Kansas Reflector

Michigan bills would ban guns at polls, punish election worker harassment | Ben Orner/MLive.com

Michigan House Democrats have introduced a package of bills they say will protect election officials and workers by increasing penalties for harassment and banning guns from voting locations. The four bills follow promises that Democrats have made early in this new legislature – where they hold majorities in both chambers – to further secure Michigan’s elections. House Bill 4127, introduced by East Lansing Rep. Penelope Tsernoglou, and HB 4128, introduced by Detroit Rep. Stephanie Young, would make it illegal to possess a firearm at or 100 feet from polling places, ballot drop boxes, early voting locations and absentee vote counting boards. This ban already applies to churches, courts, sports arenas, day care centers, hospitals and more. Violation is a misdemeanor punishable with at worst 90 days in prison. Uniformed law enforcement officers are exempt. “Keeping guns away from polling places and counting boards is just common sense,” said Tsernoglou, the House Elections Committee chair, in a statement Thursday. “This legislation will help ensure we all can vote, free from intimidation.” Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson in 2020 issued a directive to ban open carry at polling places, but a judge struck down her ban before the November election, saying it’s up to the legislature.

Full Article: Bills would ban guns at Michigan polls, punish election worker harassment – mlive.com

New Hampshire towns to vote on banning voting machines | Angelina Berube/Eagle Tribune

Residents in Pelham, Salem and Sandown will consider in March if their towns should exclusively hand count ballots in future elections. The issue is presented as a citizen’s petition in each community. The petitions look to stop and prohibit the future use of electronic ballot counting devices in town and school elections, instead requiring a hand count. The three select boards did not recommend the warrant articles. This isn’t the first time Salem or Sandown has heard from citizens looking to change the longstanding voting method. The subject was on Salem’s warrant in March 2022 — rejected 1,564-2,130 — and submitted by Jaime Thornock, who is now petitioning it again. She said there’s a lack of reliability and trust surrounding electronic machines. Requiring hand counts would create transparency, she said, on real numbers from election night. Rep. Joe Sweeney said Salem must trust election officials. He stressed the burden of hand-counting on poll workers, since they are obligated get ballots counted in a single sitting.

Full Article: NH towns to vote on banning voting machines | New Hampshire | eagletribune.com

North Carolina County official refused to certify 2022 election results. Two face removal from office | Charles Duncan/Spectrum News

Two people on the Surry County Board of Elections face a hearing to remove them from the board after they circulated a letter calling the 2022 elections “illegal,” and one refused to certify the results. A complaint filed with the North Carolina State Board of Elections says Jerry Forestieri and Timothy DeHaan should be removed from the Surry County board. In the letter, the two Surry County men took issue with a 2018 federal court ruling that stopped voter ID requirements in North Carolina. They did not question the results in their county in the foothills northwest of Winston-Salem. “Secretary Forestieri and Member DeHaan failed to uphold their oaths of office while executing the duties of their offices as county board members during the Surry County canvass meeting,” said Bob Hall, the former head of the left-leaning Democracy NC, in his complaint to the state board. “Their inflammatory language, as expressed in the Canvass Letter and confirmed during the board meeting, shows an unmistakable failure to support the federal and state constitutions as interpreted by our courts, and to instead substitute their own version of election law in its place,” Hall said.

Full Article: County official refused to certify election, 2 face removal

Unequal Pennsylvania election policies disenfranchised voters in 2022 | arter Walker and Kate Huangpu/Votebeat and SpotlightPA

Pennsylvania voters did not have equal opportunities to cast or correct their ballots during the November 2022 election, the latter producing a disparity that disenfranchised hundreds of voters, a Spotlight PA and Votebeat analysis has found. As part of a first-of-its-kind review, the news organizations contacted election officials in all 67 counties about policies regarding drop boxes and mail ballots that had disqualifying technical errors. The outlets focused on how counties treat mail ballots, as state law is silent on logistical details that directly impact how Pennsylvanians can vote and whether a person’s vote counts. Spotlight PA and Votebeat also sought to understand the access voters have to physical polling places and to minutes of meetings held by county election boards that make critical policy decisions such as which ballots get counted and who gets a chance to fix their ballot.

Full Article: Unequal Pennsylvania election policies disenfranchised voters in 2022 – Votebeat Pennsylvania – Nonpartisan local reporting on elections and voting

Texas bill would make illegal voting a felony again, even if someone doesn’t know they’re ineligible to vote | Natalia Contreras/The Texas Tribune

Republican leaders in the Texas Senate are intent on raising the penalty for voting illegally from a misdemeanor to a second-degree felony, despite the lack of evidence of widespread voter fraud in Texas. The effort comes nearly two years after the Legislature passed a sweeping voting bill, Senate Bill 1, that lowered the penalties for such crimes to a misdemeanor — and then almost immediately began discussing raising them back. Senate Bill 2, filed Tuesday by state Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, would also change the standard for determining someone’s intent for illegal voting, according to policy experts. The law as enacted under SB 1 says a person commits a crime if they “knowingly or intentionally” vote or attempt to vote in an election in which the person “knows they’re not eligible” to vote. Hughes’ new bill changes that language so that anyone who votes or attempts to vote in an election in which “the person knows of a particular circumstance that makes the person not eligible to vote” could face charges. That means that rather than having to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the voter knew they were casting their ballot unlawfully, prosecutors would only need to show beyond a reasonable doubt that the voter knew of the circumstance that made them ineligible to vote, said James Slattery, senior supervising legislative attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project.

Full Article: Texas Senate revives effort to make illegal voting a felony | The Texas Tribune