National: To combat voter fraud claims, election officials try radical transparency | Yvonne Wingett Sanchez/The Washington Post

In this conservative bedroom community of Phoenix, where Donald Trump remains popular and his 2020 loss is viewed with suspicion, election falsehoods don’t fizzle. They fester and grow. So as Pinal County officials prepare for another election with the former president on the ballot, they are trying to combat that distrust with radical transparency. “When you know in your soul there is nothing to hide, being open about the process is a no-brainer,” said Pinal County Recorder Dana Lewis (R), who helps oversee elections. “Even when you pull the curtain back, there are still people who lurk in the shadows, but we are going to continue to try with logic, accuracy and reason to combat the narrative of distrust in the elections process.” Read Article

National: Little-noticed statehouse races could reshape election policies next year | Carrie Levine/Votebeat

Americans agree the fate of democracy rests on the outcome of the 2024 presidential election, even if they don’t agree on what that outcome should be. But they may be too focused on the top of the ticket. A small number of lower-profile state legislative races in districts around the country could shift partisan control of legislative chambers in several key swing states next year, potentially allowing state lawmakers to reshape how elections are run. “What’s really going to impact most voters when it comes to how they experience their elections — the timing of their elections, when ballots are counted, how things are processed, security and infrastructure changes — that’s all happening at the state level,” said Megan Boler Bellamy, vice president of law and policy at Voting Rights Lab, a nonprofit group that monitors state legislation on voting and elections.fit group that monitors state legislation on voting and elections. Read Article

National: Election experts raise alarms about vote counting delays in battleground states | Fredreka Schouten and Sara Murray/CNN

In Pennsylvania, officials are bracing for another presidential election in which the state could once again be the decisive battleground and take days to determine the winner. Seth Bluestein, a Republican city commissioner in vote-rich Philadelphia, put the odds of knowing the winner on election night at “almost zero.” In battleground Wisconsin, meanwhile, a final tally isn’t likely until the morning after the election, said Ann Jacobs, a Democrat who chairs the state’s election commission. Election observers worry that delays in counting mail ballots could give the public a false sense of who’s winning the election. That could create a potential “red mirage” – showing GOP candidates ahead initially before more Democratic-leaning absentee ballots are processed and added to the tally – and leave an opening for false narratives about election fraud to flourish as the country awaits results. Read Article

National: Several states are making late changes to election rules, even as voting is set to begin | Ali Swenson/Associated Press

In Georgia, election workers will have to hand count the number of ballots cast after voting is completed. In North Carolina, some students and university staff can use their digital IDs to vote. In Wisconsin, ballot drop boxes are newly legal again, although not every voting jurisdiction will use them. Across the country, including in some of the nation’s presidential swing states, new or recently altered state laws are changing how Americans will vote, tally ballots, and administer and certify November’s election. It can be a challenge to keep track of these 11th-hour changes, especially since state election processes already vary so widely. Even more changes are looming in some states, with Election Day on Nov. 5 now just weeks away. Several states already have started sending out mail ballots, and in some states, voters have begun casting ballots in person. Read Article

National: The R.N.C. Asked a Conspiracy Theorist to Train Poll Watchers. Here’s What He Told Them. | Alexandra Berzon/The New York Times

A few years ago, Jack Posobiec was a fringe figure and a right-wing agitator best known for helping spread “Pizzagate,” a conspiracy theory about Democrats running a satanic child abuse ring underneath a Washington pizza parlor. This month, he was invited by the Republican National Committee to speak to a group of volunteers about how to monitor elections in Michigan. The invitation was one sign of how the party uses figures and fictions that were once considered out of bounds to energize its activists. The counsel that Mr. Posobiec delivered was another. He blasted elections in the Democratic stronghold of Philadelphia, for example, joking that officials in Venezuela learned how to conduct their elections, widely seen as corrupt, by visiting the city and studying how it is done, according to a recording of the Sept. 4 meeting. Read Article

National: Overseas voters are the latest target in Trump’s false narrative on election fraud | Melissa Goldin/Associated Press

Donald Trump this week claimed without evidence that anyone living overseas can get a ballot mailed to them, even if they are not eligible to vote, falsely accusing Democrats of subverting a 1986 law to win in November. The former Republican president’s allegation focuses on the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, or UOCAVA, which protects the rights of U.S. citizens living abroad, including members of the military and their families, to vote in federal elections by absentee ballot. “In over 25 years of working in elections, in both Republican and Democratic administrations, and with election officials of both parties, I don’t recall any of them, or any elected leader from either party, ever denigrating this important program, until Trump’s false claims this week,” said David Becker, the founder and executive director of The Center for Election Innovation and Research. Pamela Smith, president and CEO of Verified Voting, agreed that “ensuring these voters can vote has never been controversial. I should say, never before.” Read Article

National: Newsmax and Smartmatic Settle Defamation Case Over 2020 Election | Katie Robertson/The New York Times

Smartmatic on Thursday settled its defamation lawsuit against Newsmax, the right-wing cable news channel that had spread false claims of election fraud, the companies said. The details of the settlement, reached as the jury was being selected before the trial, were not immediately disclosed. Smartmatic, an election technology company, had accused Newsmax of trying to entice viewers from its rival, Fox News, by airing false reports that Smartmatic helped swing the 2020 election for Joe Biden The lawsuit was filed in Delaware Superior Court in 2021. Read Article

National: Lawmakers’ concerns about mail ballots are fueled by other issues with mail service | John Hanna/Associated Press

Lawmakers said during a contentious congressional hearing Thursday they are uneasy about the U.S. Postal Service’s readiness for a crush of mail ballots for the November election because some of them feel burned by other Postal Service actions. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy sought to reassure a House Appropriations subcommittee that the Postal Service is well-positioned for an extraordinary effort to deliver mail ballots to election officials on time to be counted and that close to 100% will make it promptly. In recent weeks, DeJoy has pushed back on suggestions from state and local election officials that the Postal Service has not addressed problems that led to mail ballots arriving too late or without postmarks, disenfranchising those voters. Read Article

National: How U.S. Adversaries Undermine the Perception of Election Integrity | Max Lesser and Mark Montgomery/Foundation for Defense of Democracies

Hacking election infrastructure remains difficult, but attempts to hack people’s minds can be as easy as spinning up fake social media profiles and websites. While federal agencies and election officials repeatedly affirm the physical security and cybersecurity of U.S. elections,1 a significant vulnerability remains — the public’s belief in the integrity of elections. America’s adversaries — specifically China, Russia, and Iran — are seeking to cast doubt on the very value of democratic processes because America’s most enduring asset is the strength of its democracy. Exposing these malicious campaigns limits our adversaries’ ability to sow discord and spread lies about America’s political system. Read Article

Arizona official who certifies elections alleges fraud after his defeat | Yvonne Wingett Sanchez/The Washington Post

Fresh off losing a campaign for sheriff, Pinal County Supervisor Kevin Cavanaugh (R) voted “under duress” in August to certify the county’s primary election results. This week, he threatened to sue the Arizona county that employs him, claiming — much like President Donald Trump did after his 2020 defeat — that the election had been rigged against him. In a formal notification signaling he intends to pursue a legal claim, Cavanaugh alleged that the Republican county recorder and five other election officials conspired to “modify the results” of the July 30 primary election. Cavanaugh’s board term does not end until the end of the year, so he will play a role in certifying the general election results, including the presidential race. Cavanaugh has said he will fulfill his duty to accept those results, but his handling of his own loss worries county and state election officials. Read Article

Georgia: The election deniers with a chokehold on the state election board | Justin Glawe/The Guardian

A rule passed last week, which bipartisan election officials in Georgia say will delay the counting of votes in November, was introduced by an election denier who appears to believe in various rightwing conspiracies and whose apparent experience in elections dates only to February. The rule – which requires poll workers to hand-count ballots at polling locations – was passed by an election-denier majority on the Georgia state election board on Friday. It was introduced by Sharlene Alexander, a Donald Trump supporter and member of the Fayette county board of elections, who was appointed to her position in February. Alexander’s Facebook page alludes to a belief in election conspiracies. Alexander is oJustin Glawene of 12 people – all election deniers – who have introduced more than 30 rules to the state election board since May, according to meeting agendas and summaries reviewed by the Guardian. Of those, the board has approved several, including two that give county election officials more discretion to refuse to certify election results, in addition to Alexander’s hand-count rule. Read Article

Illinois: Official says Illinois elections are secure, but cybersecurity threats can erode confidence | Colin Hardman/WCBU

A state election official, speaking Tuesday in Bloomington, said elections are secure, but acknowledged cybersecurity threats can and do erode confidence in the system. “If people are not confident their voter data is being held securely, then they’re not going to register to vote, and consequently they’re not going to vote. They’re not going to take part in the system,” said Matt Dietrich, public information officer for the Illinois Board of Elections. Read Article

Michigan poll challengers get new state guidelines for 2024 election | Hayley Harding/Votebeat

Michigan poll challengers face stricter rules going into the November election, part of a wave of new requirements that aim to prevent some of the disruptions that marred the ballot counting process four years ago. Poll challengers — distinct from poll workers and poll watchers — are individuals stationed at polling places and vote-counting centers who have unique powers under Michigan law to challenge a voter’s eligibility or question the way officials are doing their jobs. Their role in Michigan elections drew national attention in 2020, when some poll challengers who were kept out of a ballot processing center in Detroit that was filled to capacity began banging on the windows and demanding a halt to the count. Read Article

Michigan: No, officials aren’t stealing your votes in Bay County | Joey Oliver/Mlive.com

Officials with the Michigan State Police said a pair of people inside a Bay County township’s hall late Monday evening were there on official business and are dispelling rumors that they were tampering with voting equipment. Lt. Kimberly Vetter, the spokesperson for the state police’s third district, said troopers responded to the Beaver Township Hall late Monday, Sept. 23, after a caller said they went inside the building after noticing the lights inside were on. The caller, who according to Bay County 911 calls identified himself as an area firefighter, said he went inside the building and found two women claiming to be employees of the Beaver Township Clerk’s Office taking apart a “voting machine.” Vetter said troopers who responded to the scene were able to verify the two women were members of the clerk’s office and were conducting legitimate business in preparation for the Nov. 5 General Election. Read Article

Mississippi: GOP asks court to change voting rules in one state, with impact for all | Patrick Marley and Colby Itkowitz/The Washington Post

A panel of federal judges heard arguments Tuesday in a case that could upend the rules for counting a sliver of mail ballots in Mississippi just weeks before Election Day, with possible ramifications for all states. At issue is a Mississippi law that allows mail ballots to be counted if they arrive up to five days after Election Day and are postmarked by Election Day or earlier. Seventeen other states and Washington, D.C., have laws allowing postmarked mail ballots to be counted if they arrive after Election Day, according to the nonpartisan National Conference of State Legislatures. The case in Mississippi is one example of a nationwide effort by Republicans to invalidate mail ballots over issues unrelated to whether they were cast by a legitimate voter. Republicans say they want to ensure states strictly follow voting laws, while Democrats and voting rights advocates say Republicans are trying to throw out otherwise valid votes because Democrats have disproportionately embraced mail voting. Read Article

North Dakota hand-counting measure effort fizzles | Jack Dura/Associated Press

A proposed ballot measure in North Dakota that sought to require hand-counting of every election ballot, among other proposals, won’t advance. Initiative leader Lydia Gessele said Thursday the group won’t be submitting signatures by a Friday deadline because they fell short by about 4,000 signatures of the 31,164 needed for the constitutional measure to appear on the ballot. The group had one year to gather signatures. Deadlines for the measure to make the state’s June and November 2024 ballots came and went, though the group could have submitted signatures to appear on the June 2026 ballot. The measure proposed myriad changes including mandating hand counts of all ballots; banning voting machines, electronic processing devices and early voting; restricting mail ballots; and allowing any U.S. citizen to verify or audit an election in North Dakota at any time. Read Article

Pennsylvania court says county should have warned voters before rejecting their mail ballots | Carter Walker/Votebeat

A Western Pennsylvania county that rejected hundreds of mail ballots in the April primary should have notified voters beforehand, a state appellate court ruled Tuesday. The ruling could add pressure on other counties to notify voters of errors with their mail ballots for the November election. In a 2-1 decision, a panel of the Commonwealth Court agreed with a lower court judge that Washington County erred when it adopted a policy to reject mail ballots without telling voters and had a duty to inform them of their errors. “The current policy emasculates the Election Code’s guarantees by depriving voters … the opportunity to contest their disqualification or to avail themselves of the statutory failsafe of casting a provisional ballot,” Judge Michael Wojcik wrote for the majority. The decision applies to Washington County and does not set a statewide legal precedent, but county attorneys are likely to take note of the court’s opinion when advising their boards of elections about how to handle mail ballots with errors. Read Article

Wisconsin: Department of Justice sues 2 Rusk County towns over accessible voting machines | Mary Spicuzza Jessie Opoien/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The U.S. Department of Justice has sued two northern Wisconsin towns accusing them of not having voting machines accessible to people with disabilities. The DOJ said it had reached an agreement with the Town of Lawrence to resolve its complaint, but not the Town of Thornapple. Both towns are in Rusk County. The complaint also said the State of Wisconsin failed to ensure every polling place within the state was accessible to voters with disabilities, as required by federal law. “Our democracy works when voters with disabilities have the right to vote on the same terms as any other voter. By failing to offer accessible voting systems, Thornapple and Lawrence shirked their responsibilities under the Help America Vote Act to provide equal access to the ballot for all voters,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement. Read Article

Wisconsin Elections Commission spars over how absentee ballots must be returned on Election Day | Rich Kremer/WPR

During a sometimes tense meeting Tuesday, Republicans and Democrats on the Wisconsin Elections Commission battled over how absentee ballots from voters should get to clerks. The discussion stems from two complaints alleging clerks in Greenfield and Brookfield broke the law by requiring ballots to be delivered to the clerks’ offices rather than allowing voters to drop them off at their polling place. The clerks also ended drop-off times for absentee ballots before the close of in-person voting on election day. Draft memos from Wisconsin Elections Commission attorneys found the Greenfield and Brookfield clerks “abused” their discretion and didn’t follow state law, but because of a recent court ruling, the final decision had to come from the commission’s six-member board. Read Article