National: As of Today, the FEC Can’t Enforce Campaign Finance Laws — and That’s Only One of Its Problems | Daniel I. Weiner/Brennan Center for Justice

Starting today, the bipartisan Federal Election Commission won’t be able to do its job. That’s because the independent agency, which oversees money in campaigns for federal office, will no longer have the minimum four required members to do most business. The loss of quorum is due to the resignation of a Republican appointee, coupled with President Trump’s unprecedented move in February to fire a Democratic appointee. Such a shortfall has only happened three other times in the FEC’s 50-year history, including twice during Trump’s first term. Read Article

National: Trump’s justice department appointees remove leadership of voting unit | Sam Levine/The Guardian

Donald Trump’s appointees at the Department of Justice have removed all of the senior civil servants working as managers in the department’s voting section and directed attorneys to dismiss all active cases, according to people familiar with the matter, part of a broader attack on the department’s civil rights division. The moves come less than a month after Trump ally Harmeet Dhillon was confirmed to lead the civil rights division, created in 1957 and referred to as the “crown jewel” of the justice department. In an unusual move, Dhillon sent out new “mission statements” to the department’s sections that made it clear the civil rights division was shifting its focus from protecting the civil rights of marginalized people to supporting Trump’s priorities. Read Article

Michigan Democrats’ election proposals sidestep noncitizen-voting issue | Hayley Harding/Votebeat

Michigan Democrats introduced their first pieces of legislation to respond to what they consider overly aggressive Republican proposals to improve election security. As proposed, the package of bills under the Michigan Election Security Act won’t close the voter registration loopholes that may have allowed at least one noncitizen to cast a ballot that counted last year. And the bills omit the measures Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson suggested in February as a way to prevent noncitizens from casting ballots in Michigan’s elections. In fact, the initial bills do little to directly address the threat of noncitizen voting, which Republicans have made a top priority since taking control of the House in January. Read Article

National: People should be ‘outraged’ by efforts to shrink federal cyber teams, former CISA head says | David DiMolfetta/Nextgov/FCW

Chris Krebs, the former Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security director who defied President Donald Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud in 2020 and was subsequently fired, said on Monday that the cybersecurity community should be outraged at changes the second Trump administration is making to cybersecurity staff in the federal government. “Cybersecurity is national security. We all know that, right? That’s why we’re here,” he said while speaking to a room of security practitioners on a panel at the RSAC Conference in San Francisco. “That’s why we get up every morning and do our jobs. We are protecting everyone out there. And right now, to see what’s happening to the cybersecurity community inside the federal government, we should be outraged, absolutely outraged,” he added, which was met with applause across the room. Read Article

National: 100 days in, Trump’s moves to overhaul election law get pushback from courts, Democrats | Niels Lesniewski/Roll Call

On March 25, the president issued an executive order outlining new federal actions, including making available Social Security database information for states to verify voter eligibility and directing Attorney General Pamela Bondi to “take appropriate action” against states that “fail to comply with the list maintenance requirements of the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act.” But as with many of the president’s moves, federal court challenges and constitutional questions abound. On April 25, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., put on hold key provisions of Trump’s order, including a directive to the Election Assistance Commission to make changes to the national mail voter registration form to require proof of citizenship. “The President is free to state his views about what policies he believes that Congress, the EAC, or other federal agencies should consider or adopt,” Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly wrote. “But, in this case, the President has done much more than state his views: He has issued an ‘Order’ directing that an independent commission ‘shall’ act to ‘require’ changes to an important document, the contents of which Congress has tightly regulated.” Read Article

National: Fox’s false claims about 2020 race was an audience strategy, Smartmatic says | Sarah Ellison and Scott Nover/The Washington Post

Smartmatic accused Fox News in a court filing Wednesday of embracing false claims that the voting technology company had helped steal the 2020 election for Joe Biden only after the network endured an audience backlash for calling the race in Arizona for Biden. Smartmatic, which makes voting machines and election management systems, has been engaged in a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corp., since 2021. The lawsuit stems from on-air comments that Fox News hosts and guests made around the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Smartmatic has alleged that Fox News “decimated” the company’s business and marred its reputation with its false claims of election interference. Read Article

National: Cyber grant uncertainty puts state programs in limbo, GAO report shows | Colin Wood/StateScoop

Some state and local government agencies are unsure how they will continue to fund their cybersecurity initiatives in absence of federal support, according to a report published Tuesday by the Government Accountability Office. Over the past year, the office examined the $1 billion, 4-year State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program, by randomly sampling state and territorial government agencies that have received funding. It found that most agencies had positive things to say about the program, and some agency representatives selected for interviews by the federal office reported concerns with how they’ll continue their cybersecurity initiatives after the program’s one-time funding runs out, or if it’s prematurely ended. The findings mirror what many technology officials and industry analysts have been saying during the first three months of the Trump administration, which has slashed hundreds of positions at the Department of Homeland Security and its Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, with plans to cut hundreds more. Read Article

Arizona GOP passes ‘impossible’ voting bill requiring 4,000 new polling locations | Caitlin Sievers/Arizona Mirror

Republican lawmakers passed legislation that would cost Arizona counties tens of millions of dollars every election year and would force them to attempt to find 4,000 new voting locations, something that county election officials described as impossible. House Bill 2017 passed through the Senate by a 17-12 party line vote on Tuesday. Sponsored by Rep. Rachel Keshel, a Tucson Republican and member of the far-right Arizona Freedom Caucus, the proposal would ban in-person early voting and the use of vote centers where any registered voter within a county can cast a ballot. Instead, it would require the use of precincts capped at 1,000 registered voters apiece. Most counties use voting centers, which allow any registered voter to show up and cast a ballot at any polling site in the county. Under the precinct model, only voters assigned to a precinct can vote there, and if they vote at the wrong location, their ballot won’t be counted. Read Article

Arizona: American-made voting equipment might not be ready by 2029 | Howard Fischer/Arizona Capitol Times

On party-line votes, both the Republican controlled House and Senate have approved legislation spelling out that, beginning that year, the Secretary of State’s Office cannot certify vote-recording and vote-tabulating equipment unless each and every part of the machine, including all components and software, are “sourced from the United States.” House Bill 2651 also says the equipment must be assembled in the United States. The measure now goes to Gov. Katie Hobbs. The only thing is, there are no voting tabulation machines available that meet those conditions according to Jenn Marson, a lobbyist for the Arizona Association of Counties. And it is her organization’s members who would have to comply. She told lawmakers there are probably companies that could meet the deadline. But the problem, Marson said, comes down to this: What if they can’t? Read Article

Arizona: As Cochise County trial approaches, a judge throws out rules for certifying elections | Jen Fifield/Votebeat

When two Republican Cochise County supervisors delayed their certification of the county’s 2022 election results, a judge forced them to certify, pointing to language in Arizona’s election manual that says they have no choice. A state grand jury later charged the two supervisors with two felonies — conspiracy, and interference with the secretary of state’s duty to certify the election. And two secretaries of state have sought to make the rules about supervisors’ duties more explicit. A recent court ruling, though, challenges the long-held presumption in Arizona that supervisors have no discretion when certifying election results. The court threw out that section of the Elections Procedures Manual entirely, saying it goes further than the statute supports. Read Article

Colorado lawmakers approve voting rights bill, despite pushback from election officials | Chas Sisk/Aspen Public Radio

Colorado lawmakers are sending the governor a measure meant to shore up voting rights. The move is part of a national effort to write protections established by the federal Voting Rights Act into state laws. But it comes despite opposition from local officials, who have argued the law could upend decades-old practices. Backers cite the gradual weakening of the Voting Rights Act and recent attacks from the Trump administration on state voting laws to argue that there’s a need for state legislation. But pushback has come from local officials, including some representing progressive parts of the state. They say the measure could reopen settled legal questions about voting practices that some could argue are discriminatory. Those include electing officials at large, which can keep minority candidates out of office, and holding local elections in the spring or summer, when turnout tends to be lower. Read Article

Michigan voter proof-of-citizenship effort fails on first House vote | Hayley Harding/Votebeat

An attempt to get a proof-of-citizenship requirement for would-be voters onto the 2026 ballot failed along party lines Thursday in the Michigan House — a blow to the GOP-backed effort, but likely not the final word. The measure would require new Michigan voters — and almost certainly some current ones — to provide documents proving they are U.S. citizens before they can cast a ballot in the state. The measure’s sponsor, state Rep. Bryan Posthumus, a Republican from Rockford, said the resolution “is a common-sense way to close a massive loophole in our current system.” Read Article

Mississippi appealing mail-in absentee ballot ruling to U.S. Supreme Court  | Taylor Vance/Mississippi Today

Mississippi officials are appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court a federal court ruling that struck down Mississippi’s five-day grace period for mail-in absentee ballots to arrive after Election Day. Attorneys for the state filed court documents stating their intention to petition the nation’s highest court to overturn a decision from an appellate court that found a state election law conflicted with federal election laws. U.S. District Judge Louis Guirrola halted all lower court action until the proceedings with the Supreme Court are completed. Read Article

North Carolina: Court of Appeals clears path for Republicans to take over Board of Elections. Stein to appeal | Will Doran/WRAL

Control over elections administration in North Carolina could flip from Democratic to Republican control within hours, following a decision late Wednesday from the state Court of Appeals. Elections decisions in North Carolina are made by political appointees, who make calls on issues such as where and when to open early voting sites, which allegations of campaign finance violations or voter fraud to refer to prosecutors, and whether to confirm election results. Last week, a trial court ruled that Republican state lawmakers violated the constitution when they tried taking control of the elections board away from Democratic Gov. Josh Stein. Read Article

North Carolina: Griffin’s case could open an ‘Pandora’s Box’ for election law | Ned Barnett/Raleigh News & Observer

The legal effort to overturn the results of North Carolina’s 2024 state Supreme Court race is an affront to all of the state’s voters, but it potentially also could provide a blueprint for overturning election results in other states. At issue is a lawsuit by Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin, who lost his bid to unseat Justice Allison Riggs by 734 votes out of 5,540,090 votes cast. Griffin asked that more than 65,000 votes be tossed because of flaws in the voters’ registration, the lack of photo ID on military and overseas absentee ballots and a lack of state residency by some voters. The Griffin lawsuit has ping-ponged between state and federal courts for nearly six months and is currently pending in federal court. Ultimately, this case could endure all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where the 6-3 Republican majority might uphold Griffin’s attempt to change the rules that govern an election after the election. Read Article

Ohio: Security concern forces half of state’s counties to use paper pollbooks for May election | Anna Staver/The Cleveland Plain Dealer

A security violation involving an electronic pollbook in Perry County is prompting half of Ohio counties to check voters in using paper pollbooks for the May 6 election. The device–a tablet-style electronic similar to an iPad–was intended to check voters in on Election Day. Perry County never used it for an election. Instead, local officials reported irregularities that “violated Ohio’s election security standards. I’ve directed our Election Integrity Unit and cybersecurity team to work with the Perry County Board of Elections to analyze the equipment purchased by the board… ,” Secretary of State Frank LaRose said in a statement. “As an added precaution, I’m directing the boards of elections who use this specific style of pollbook to use paper pollbooks for the May election.” Read Article

Texas attempts to revive voter assistance restrictions | Gabriel Tynes/Courthouse News Service

Parties on opposite sides of Texas’ strict new election access law appeared before a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday, attempting to resolve claims the measure violates Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act. After presiding over a six-week bench trial in October 2024, U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez determined that it does, declaring that Texas’ restrictions on voting assistance unlawfully narrow voters’ federally protected rights. As a result, several provisions of Senate Bill 1 were struck down or enjoined. On Wednesday, three attorneys for state defendants argued the lower court wrongfully struck down the rules by misinterpreting Section 208, which they say permits reasonable, generally applicable regulations and does not preempt Texas’ safeguards against fraud, coercion and abuse in the voting process. Read Article

Wisconsin clerk who failed to count November votes violated multiple policies, investigators say | Todd Richmond/Associated Press

The former clerk who somehow failed to count nearly 200 ballots in Wisconsin’s capital city didn’t break any laws but did violate multiple policies and her contractual duty to supervise elections and maintain professional standards, the results of a city-led investigation released Tuesday show. Madison City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl resigned earlier this month amid city and state investigations into her conduct during the November elections. She said in a message to The Associated Press that she hadn’t seen the investigation’s findings and declined to comment. According to the investigation, Dane County canvassers discovered 68 uncounted absentee ballots in a tabulator bin on Nov. 12, a week after the election, and another 125 uncounted ballots in a courier bag the first week of December. Read Article

Wyoming lawmakers, Gray still harping on election integrity | Legislature | Jasmine Hall/Jackson Hole News and Guide

Election integrity will continue to be an issue for the Wyoming Legislature this year. The Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee will kick off its first meeting of the legislative interim with an election demonstration from the county clerks and a presentation from Secretary of State Chuck Gray. As clerks work throughout the year with the committee, the County Clerks Association has four priorities: testing and auditing, security of election officials, voter list maintenance and absentee ballot security. Ervin also expects clerks to take on more of an active role than in the past and be “a little bit more outspoken.” The county clerks pushed back against assertions from the secretary of state and other critics about how they run elections.The association has set a standard of only testifying on whether the clerks could implement a bill, not whether they agreed or disagreed with a policy. Resad Article