Pennsylvania to update SURE election and voter registration system | Jordan Wilkie/WITF

The Department of State has selected a contractor to update the state’s 22-year-old voter registration system. Over the next three years, a technology company called Civix will modernize Pennsylvania’s voter registration, election-night reporting, lobbying disclosure and campaign finance systems. SURE and systems like it are already doing far more than they were originally designed to do back in 2002, when Congress passed the Help America Vote Act, requiring states to have unified voter registration systems. “When HAVA initially required voter registration databases, they really were just lists of registered voters,” said Megan Maier, deputy director of research and partnerships at the election technology nonprofit Verified Voting. The system was not designed to handle the over 1.8 million mail-in ballots Pennsylvania voters returned in the 2024 general election, for example. Read Article

Texas proposal would ease polling place requirements for countywide voting | Natalia Contreras/The Texas Tribune

Texas state senators Thursday held a public hearing on legislation crafted to update a 2023 law requiring certain counties to drastically increase the number of polling locations if they use vote centers for countywide voting. Last year, Votebeat reported that election officials in several counties said they were struggling to comply with the law as written. “Most election administrators and county clerks will tell you they’re struggling to find workers on Election Day,” Bettencourt said during the hearing Thursday. He cited an example reported by Votebeat last year of election officials in Brazos County who said they were struggling to comply with the law. Read Article

Washington Supreme Court rejects challenge to mail-in ballot signature verification process | Monique Merrill/Courthouse News Service

Washington state’s mail-in ballot process that requires election workers to verify ballot signatures will remain in place, the state’s Supreme Court ruled on Thursday. “The undisputed fact that signature verification results in tens of thousands of votes being disqualified every election raises significant constitutional concerns,” Washington Supreme Court Justice Steven Gonzalez wrote in the 32-page opinion. However, the high court determined that the law at issue does not itself require election workers to disqualify a single valid ballot, and the opportunities to cure rejected ballots don’t exclude or unduly burden voters. Read Article

Wisconsin voters give notice they’re suing over misplaced ballots in the November election | Scott Bauer/Associated Press

Four Wisconsin voters whose ballots were not counted in the November presidential election initiated a class-action lawsuit Thursday seeking $175,000 in damages each. The voters were among 193 in Madison whose ballots were misplaced by the city clerk and not discovered until weeks after the election. Not counting the ballots didn’t affect the result of any races. The Wisconsin Elections Commission investigated but did not determine whether Madison Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl failed to comply with state law or abused her discretion. She didn’t notify the elections commission of the problem until December, almost a month and a half after the election and after the results were certified on Nov. 29. Read Article

Wyoming: Bills banning ballot drop boxes, touch screen voting machines fail in Senate | Hannah Shields/Wyoming Tribune Eagle

A majority of Secretary of State Chuck Gray’s election integrity bills died Friday night after failing to pass first reading in the Wyoming Senate, including two that threatened to “upend” Laramie County elections, according to County Clerk Debra Lee. A large number of election-related bills were filed this session, making up 8% of total proposed legislation, according to WyoFile.com. House Bill 245, “Pen and paper ballots,” would have removed touch-screen voting machines that have been used by Laramie County voters for decades. Lee previously told lawmakers this bill would “upend” elections in her county. Read Article