Warren Stewart – Page 104 – The Voting News

New Hampshire Vote Counting Law Will Divert Ballots With Overvotes | Kevin Landrigan/The New Hampshire Union Leader

June 10, 2022

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu signed into law a pivotal ballot-counting reform Tuesday, June 7, that grew out of the post-election ballot mess from the 2020 election in Windham. The bipartisan measure will, for the first time, require vendors to program vote-counting machines to divert into a side compartment any ballot that appears to have too many marks on it for a single office. The bill’s prime sponsor, Hillsborough Democratic state Rep. Marjorie Porter, said the change should prevent a repeat of the chaos in Windham. If this had been in place before the 2020 election, it would have immediately flagged the absentee ballots that were incorrectly read by Windham’s automated voting machines on Election Day because of folds through one of the candidates’ names. After a hand recount, all four Republican candidates for state representative in Windham picked up nearly 300 votes apiece. The leading Democratic candidate lost nearly 100 votes after the recounts. A never-before-used folding machine was deployed in Windham to cope with the high number of absentee ballots.

Full Article: Latest New Hampshire Vote Counting Law Will Remove Overvotes

Pennsylvania Republicans are no closer to re-inspecting Fulton County’s 2020 voting machines | Sam Dunklau/WITF

June 10, 2022

A planned inspection of a rural Pennsylvania county’s voting equipment from 2020 remains on hold, despite a recent state court decision. South-central Fulton County, encouraged by state Senate Republicans, has been seeking a second inspection of Dominion voting machines that it used during the 2020 election. But the county has been mired in court challenges. At issue is whether Fulton can have its Dominion machines inspected, and whether the Department of State can stop an inspection from happening. Supporters of the effort have not explained how such an inspection would be carried out and have not clearly explained why one is necessary more than a year and a half after the machines were used. Former President Donald Trump, who won 85 percent of the vote there, continues to falsely assert that he lost to President Joe Biden because of systemic ballot fraud and procedural issues. There is no evidence of widespread fraud or machine tampering in Pennsylvania. Fulton County’s latest examination was set to happen in January after Commonwealth Court sided with the county in a lawsuit – but the state Supreme Court halted it when the Department of State appealed the lower court’s decision. It’s been on pause ever since. “I’m just a little frustrated with the Supreme Court for their delay,” said Sen. Cris Dush (R-Cameron), who leads the Senate committee that has spearheaded the latest inspection effort.

Full Article: Pennsylvania Republicans are no closer to re-inspecting Fulton County’s 2020 voting machines | WITF

Rhode Island Senate committee to vote on remote voting bill despite warnings of risks | Katherine Gregg/The Providence Journal

June 10, 2022

The state’s top election officials raised warning flags. One state lawmaker after another stated their misgivings when it popped up a year ago. But a bill to allow remote voting is once again headed to a vote at the Rhode Island State House. On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on the bill, S2118, to allow disabled and military voters to “electronically receive and return their mail ballot.” The proposal was not included in the much-heralded “Let RI Vote” bill, allowing online applications and eliminating longstanding witness requirements for mail ballots, that Gov. Dan McKee is expected to sign into law on Wednesday. And only one person spoke in favor of the legislation at a hearing earlier this year: the lead sponsor, Sen. Stephen Archambault, D-Smithfield. Others voiced their support in writing, including the Rhode Island Commission for Human Rights. But in a letter of concern to lawmakers, Cranston’s director of elections, Nicholas Lima, wrote: “There are significant cybersecurity concerns … despite assurances that some electronic ballot vendors tend to promote to the contrary. “No current technology exists that allows a [ballot] to be transmitted … electronically, without risk of interception or alteration by hostile threat actors – including well-equipped nation state actors that are intent on disrupting American elections by any means necessary.

Full Article: Rhode Island Senate committee to vote on remote voting bill

Tennessee: Long Stalemate Ends on New Shelby County Voting Machines | Jackson Baker/Memphis Flyer

June 10, 2022

At long last, after at least two years of steady contentiousness between the County Commission and the Shelby County Election Commission, a resolution may have been reached on the matter of what kind of voting method should replace the currently used outmoded machines. But that auxiliary verb “may” is necessary. At several points during three-and-a-half hours of intense disagreements and outright verbal combat, various commissioners would invoke the prospect of reconsideration — that parliamentary device which allows voters for a majority position to call for a revote later on. Though a flurry of secondary issues became part of the argument, the essential debate at Monday’s commission meeting was between proponents of hand-marked paper ballots and defenders of the Election Commission’s preference for electronic ballot-marking devices. The commission had voted twice previously in favor of hand-marked paper ballots and had specifically rejected ballot-marking devices, but the resolution before the body on Monday called for almost $6 million to purchase ballot-marking machines from the Election Systems & Software company. It also allowed for a “compromise” procedure whereby voters could either ask for paper ballots or use the ballot-marking machines. Partisans of hand-marked paper ballots tended to be skeptical regarding the bona fides of that provision. At the end, in any event, the resolution would pass, though at various intervals a series of amendments that would have transformed it one way or another were introduced and then withdrawn. The final version targeted November as the changeover date, though Election Administrator Linda Phillips and Election Commission chairman Mark Luttrell had asked for action before the August county election on grounds that the county’s existing machines were on their last legs.

Full Article: Memphis Flyer | Long Stalemate Ends on New Voting Machines

Wisconsin: Future of Election Commission remains unclear as new chair is about to be selected | Joy Powers, Kobe Brown/WUWM

June 10, 2022

The Wisconsin Election Commission has been in the spotlight since the 2020 election. Unsubstantiated claims of election fraud have pitted many Republican politicians against the commission, despite the fact the election commission was created by former Republican Governor Scott Walker to ensure that both major parties would have equal representation in the process. The commission postponed selecting its new chairperson when Republican commissioner Dean Knudson resigned late last month — citing Republican’s deep desire that he step down in light of Knudson’s assertions that widespread voter fraud didn’t occur in Wisconsin during the 2020 presidential election. Now, Wisconsin state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has appointed a new Republican member to replace Knudson — attorney Don Millis. “[Don Millis is] a former member of the commission and a former member of the body that preceded the commission, so he has a history and some expertise,” says Barry Burden, a professor of political science at UW-Madison and director of the Elections Research Center. “He was well received by former Governor Tommy Thompson, who actually appointed him initially to serve on the state board. There were even positive things said about him by Ann Jacobs, who’s the current Democratic chair of the commission.” The next chairperson of the commission will be a Republican and will certify the 2022 midterm election and 2024 presidential election. It’s likely to be either Millis or Robert Spindell, who attempted to cast Electoral College ballots for President Donald Trump during the 2020 election and has been a strong supporter of the GOP investigation into the election.

Full Article: Future of Wisconsin Election Commission remains unclear as new chair is about to be selected | WUWM 89.7 FM – Milwaukee’s NPR

Alaska Judge orders delay in certification of US House special primary; state plans appeal | Iris Samuels, Anchorage Daily News

June 10, 2022

An Alaska state judge ruled Friday that the results of the special U.S. House primary election could not be certified until visually impaired voters are given “a full and fair opportunity to vote independently, secretly and privately.” The state immediately said it was planning an appeal to the Alaska Supreme Court. The ruling, from Anchorage Superior Court Judge Judge Una Gandbhir, came after arguments earlier in the day in a lawsuit filed earlier this week by the Alaska State Commission for Human Rights against the Alaska Division of Election and Lt. Gov. Keven Meyer, who oversees the division. The commission asserted that the primary, which is the state’s first all-mail election, does not provide visually impaired voters in the state adequate voting access. The order comes just a day before the Saturday voting deadline. It could upend a plan to hold the special general election on Aug. 16 and force an all-mail general election, according to the Division of Elections. The ramifications of the court decision on the ongoing election were not immediately clear. “No court should consider lightly an injunction that potentially upends an ongoing election, but neither can the Court allow flawed state procedures to disenfranchise a group of Alaskans who already face tremendous barriers in exercising a fundamental right,” Gandbhir wrote in her decision to grant the preliminary injunction. The decision does not specify what giving visually impaired voters “a full and fair” opportunity to vote would entail, but Gandbhir wrote she “urges the parties to work together expeditiously to find a timely, appropriate remedy.”

Full Article: Judge orders delay in certification of Alaska’s US House special primary; state plans appeal | Nation | fltimes.com

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