Warren Stewart – Page 14 – The Voting News

Several U.S. national security agencies have halted work on a coordinated effort to counter Russian sabotage, disinformation and cyberattacks, easing pressure on Moscow as the Trump Administration pushes Russia to end its war in Ukraine. Former President Joe Biden last year ordered his national security team to establish working groups to monitor the issue amid warnings from U.S. intelligence that Russia was escalating a shadow war against Western nations. However, since Trump took office on Jan. 20 much of the work has come to a standstill, according to eleven current and former officials, all of whom requested anonymity to discuss classified matters. Reuters is the first to report on the full extent of the Biden administration effort and how multiple different U.S. agencies have since paused their work on the issue. Read Article

National: NIST’s vulnerability database logjam is still growing despite attempts to clear it | David DiMolfetta/Nextgov/FCW

Despite goals set last year by the National Institute of Standards and Technology to process a backlog of unanalyzed cybersecurity vulnerabilities, the agency said it’s not expecting a slowdown anytime soon. The National Vulnerability Database — NIST’s cornerstone repository for researchers who use its contents and measuring tools to assess the dangers of cyber exploits — has been backed up with unanalyzed vulnerabilities since February last year. The scientific standards agency was projected to clear the logjam this month based on rates observed this past summer, Nextgov/FCW previously reported. But NIST said Wednesday that vulnerability submissions increased 32% in 2024 and prior processing rates from spring and early summer last year are no longer sufficient to keep up with incoming submissions. The backlog is still growing as a result. Read Article

National: Top DC prosecutor, who promoted false 2020 voter fraud claims, forms ‘election accountability’ unit | Alanna Durkin Richer and Ali Swenson/Associated Press

The top federal prosecutor for the nation’s capital, who promoted President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was rigged, has formed a “special unit” to investigate election offenses, according to an email sent to lawyers in his office on Monday. Martin, who is awaiting Senate confirmation to permanently take the position, was involved in the “Stop the Steal” movement, which was animated by lies about fraud after Trump lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden. Martin also served on the board of a nonprofit that raised money for Capitol riot defendants and their families and legally represented at least three defendants in Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot criminal cases, including a Proud Boys member who pleaded guilty to felony charges. Read Article

National: Trump’s Plan to Control Elections Is Coming Into Focus | Jacob Knutson/Democracy Docket

Since his inauguration, President Donald Trump has many times outlined his extreme vision for U.S. elections. In the first cabinet meeting of his second administration, he falsely asserted that U.S. elections are “extremely dishonest” and called for restrictive voting reforms, like eliminating early voting. During a meeting with governors, Trump called on state leaders to pass laws eliminating mail and electronic voting while falsely claiming they are sources of election fraud. Now, Trump and his allies are acting on his words. In recent weeks, the administration has pulled back on efforts to fight racial discrimination in voting, weakened protections against foreign interference in our voting systems, and potentially laid the groundwork to increase Trump’s personal control over independent agencies, among other steps. Read Article

Alabama House narrowly passes election audit bill after pushback from both parties | Craig Monger/1819 News

The Alabama House of Representatives advanced legislation for the second year in a row to mandate post-election audits in statewide elections on Tuesday. Despite receiving broad support from lawmakers and the state Republican Party, the bill has failed to pass in the previous two legislative sessions. Last year, nearly identical legislation passed the House but could not get a hearing on the Senate floor. This year’s version, House Bill 30 (HB30), requires the probate judge of each county to order a post-election audit after every county and statewide general election of all ballots in one precinct of a countywide or statewide race, selected by the canvassing board of each county, so long as that election is not subject to a recount. Read Article

Arizona judge could throw out a Cochise County election over quirk in state law | Jen Fifield/Votebeat

A quirk in an Arizona statute governing all-mail elections for local taxing districts could prompt a judge to throw out the results of one such election in a case that could have legal repercussions around the state. The case calls into question the results of Cochise County’s May 2023 election, in which voters narrowly approved a new tax for a county jail. But without a legislative fix to the way the statute is written, other similar elections could be vulnerable to challenges in the future. The dispute involves a claim by four residents who sued the county to have the election nullified, arguing that ballots for the jail-tax election should have been sent to the roughly 11,000 inactive voters in the county, among other complaints. Read Article

Georgia Supreme Court questions State Election Board on last-minute voting rule changes | Mark Niesse/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Georgia Supreme Court debated Wednesday whether the State Election Board went too far when it attempted to pass new voting rules weeks before last year’s election. The case tests whether the board’s right-wing majority had the power to require election inquiries and hand counts of ballots without laws passed by the Georgia General Assembly. While a judge’s order stopped those proposals from taking effect, the question remained about the extent of the board’s power. Justices on the state’s highest court on Wednesday often interrupted attorneys to ask whether the State Election Board has the authority to create new policies. Read Article

Maine begins first-ever post-election audit pilot | Emma Davis/Maine Morning Star

Maine started the state’s first-ever post-election audit pilot on Monday as a result of a law that seeks to provide additional assurance that procedures are fair and secure. The Maine Legislature passed a law in 2021 that created a non-partisan Division of Post-Election Audits and Training to pilot a post-election audit process for the 2024 election results, specifically six legislative races that were within a 5% margin of victory. The state is slated to make such audits a routine part of the post-election vote verification process starting in 2026. Read Article

Mississippi: Federal appeals court affirms state can’t count late mail-in absentee ballots for federal elections | Taylor Vance/Mississippi Today

The conservative 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that it would not change its prior decree that Mississippi cannot count mail-in absentee ballots that arrive after Election Day. The order means that Mississippi’s law allowing election workers to process mail-in ballots for up to five business days after the election will be suspended for all federal elections. The law only allowed the workers to count ballots postmarked by Election Day. The ruling does not impact state or local races, including Mississippi’s upcoming municipal elections. Mississippi’s next federal election will be the 2026 midterm, where all four of Mississippi’s U.S. House members are up for reelection, as well as U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith. Read Article

Nevada: A bipartisan mail ballot bill? It’s not as crazy as it sounds. | Eric Neugeboren/The Nevada Independent

Anything is possible in the Nevada Legislature — including a bipartisan bill on the politicized issue of mail ballots. The top Democrat and Republican in the Assembly are joining forces on a bill that would require all sample ballots to be sent to voters before mail ballots are distributed. An amendment also would provide a clearer timeline for when mail ballots must be sent to voters. Mail ballots are among the most politically fraught topics in the Legislature, as Republicans have long opposed universal mail ballots and the counting of certain mail ballots postmarked on or before Election Day but received after. Democrats, meanwhile, have led efforts to protect existing mail ballot laws largely adopted during the COVID pandemic. Read Article

North Carolina State Supreme Court Lawsuit Hurts Trust in Judiciary | Mary Ellen Klas/Bloomberg

The 2024 election still isn’t over in North Carolina. On Friday, the state Court of Appeals will hear arguments in a dispute over a judicial election for the state Supreme Court. After two recounts, Jefferson Griffin, a Republican appellate court judge, still trails incumbent North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs, a Democrat, by 734 votes out of the 5.5 million cast. Despite several unfavorable federal and state court rulings, Griffin won’t give up his fight. These sorts of disputes have become routine in the 25 years since Bush v. Gore put the outcome of the 2000 presidential election on hold for 34 days. That’s according to a group of legal scholars who convened this month at Florida State University’s College of Law for a conference on the legacy of the lawsuit. Read Article

Oklahoma Proposes Teaching 2020 Election ‘Discrepancies’ in U.S. History | Sarah Mervosh/The New York Times

High school students in Oklahoma would be asked to identify “discrepancies” in the 2020 election as part of U.S. history classes, according to new social studies standards recently approved by the Oklahoma Board of Education. The proposed standards seem to echo President Trump’s false claims about his 2020 defeat. They ask students to examine factors such as “the sudden halting of ballot-counting in select cities in key battleground states” and “the security risks of mail-in balloting.” They now head to the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature, which could take up the issue before its term ends in late May, or punt the issue to the governor’s desk. Read Article

Pennsylvania’s top election official warns against election security support cuts | Carter Walker/Spotlight PA

Pennsylvania’s top election official is warning the federal government that its decision to end a program that helps monitor and prepare for election threats will “make elections less secure.” In a letter to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, first obtained by Votebeat and Spotlight PA, Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt noted the risks of withdrawing support for local election officials provided by the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. “I have seen firsthand how CISA’s work has helped prevent and address security incidents, and I worry about the serious consequences of removing this support for our local elections officials without an adequate substitute,” Schmidt wrote. Read Article

South Dakota: Attempts to remove technology from elections lose in court after losing at the polls | Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight

Attempts to ban tabulating machines and other technology from elections have fared no better in South Dakota courts than they did in several county elections. Activists circulated petitions statewide last year that were meant to force counties to remove technology from elections by public vote. They said only hand-counting and other manual methods could ensure the integrity of elections, while election officials said voting machines and other forms of election technology have been repeatedly proven safe and effective. Three of the initiated ordinances went to a public vote in Gregory, Tripp and Haakon counties in June. Voters defeated all three. Read Article

Utah on path to end automatic mail ballots after wave of misinformation | Patrick Marley and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez/The Washington Post

Utah is poised to abolish its practice of automatically mailing ballots to all voters, handing a victory to President Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans who have vilified voting by mail since his 2020 election defeat. The likely changes in Utah are modest compared with Trump’s calls for ending mail voting altogether, but would nonetheless mark a dramatic shift in a Republican stronghold that has long embraced mail balloting as convenient and secure. Under a bill approved by the GOP-controlled legislature, starting in 2029 election clerks would stop mailing ballots to all registered voters and instead send them only to those who request them. Gov. Spencer Cox (R) has praised the legislation as “brilliant” and is expected to sign it soon. Read Arfticle

Wisconsin: Madison’s missing-ballot mess leads to an unusual claim for monetary damages | Alexander ShurVotebeat

Election officials in Madison are already facing a state and city investigation into the series of errors that resulted in nearly 200 absentee ballots not being counted in last fall’s election. Now officials there face a claim for compensation in an unusual case that aims to emphasize the importance of properly counting all ballots, and set a monetary penalty for denying a person their vote. A liberal election law group called Law Forward served a $34 million claim this month against Madison and Dane County, seeking damages amounting to $175,000 for each Madison voter whose absentee ballot got misplaced. The filing is likely a precursor to a lawsuit, as the group is seeking out other disenfranchised voters to join its case. Read Article

California: Shasta County Files Legal Action Over Proposed Ballot Measure to “Reform” Elections | Annelise Pierce/Shasta Scout

A group of five local community members have submitted paperwork to the Shasta County Elections Office in hopes of amending the County’s new charter, a document that outlines specifics about how the County is governed. The group behind the February 19 petition includes election activists Laura Hobbs, Deirdre Holliday, Kari Chilson, Richard Gallardo, and James Burnett. Their goal is to get permission from the Elections Office to circulate a petition for signatures to put the proposed measure on the fall ballot. If enough signatures are gathered, the document could provide the community an oppportunity to vote on a ballot measure that Hobbs and others say is designed to “reform” local election law. But Shasta County is pushing back. In a March 13 complaint filed in Shasta County Superior Court, attorney Joseph Larmour alleged that the proposed ballot measure will be used to attempt to implement actions that he believes are illegal and would violate the United States Constitution, the California Constitution, and the federal Help America Vote Act or HAVA. Read Article

Some Wisconsin voters received inaccurate information in the mail. The response may be a sign of the times. | Anya van Wagtendonk/WPR

Last week, some Wisconsin voters began receiving postcards reminding them to vote in an upcoming election. The notes were backing Susan Crawford, the liberal candidate in the high-stakes Wisconsin Supreme Court race. They briefly described her background and encouraged voters to head to the polls. The problem? The postcards gave the wrong date. The actual election takes place on Tuesday, April 1. The postcards said it was 10 days later — on a Friday. Read Article

Pennsylvania court rulings on records requests raise concern about ballot secrecy | Carter Walker/Votebeat

Recent decisions from a Pennsylvania state court could create a new route to pierce the secrecy of some mail ballots and reveal the private choices made by thousands of voters. While a very small percentage of cast ballots would be at risk, according to a pair of analyses, some state and county officials are concerned about the potential for any voter’s choices to be exposed. In two cases last year, the Commonwealth Court ruled that voted mail ballots were public records under the state’s open-records laws, meaning Erie and Allegheny counties, where the records requests were filed, would have to release them. Read Article

North Carolina Legal Community: ‘Tens of Thousands of Voters Will Lose Their Voice’ If GOP’s Supreme Court Lawsuit Succeeds | Matt Cohen/Democracy Docket

A bipartisan coalition of more than 200 North Carolina jurists, attorneys, state government officials, bar leaders and legal educators signed on to a letter to Republican state Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin to end his effort to overturn the results of the 2024 election. A three-judge panel of the North Carolina Court of Appeals is set to hear oral argument Friday in Griffin’s ongoing lawsuit to overturn the results of the state’s Supreme Court election and have more than 65,000 legal ballots tossed out. Even after two recounts, Griffin narrowly lost the election to incumbent Justice Allison Riggs (D), but he wouldn’t concede — instead mounting a massive legal effort falsely claiming that the ballots were illegitimate. Read Article

Nebraska counties could hold all-mail elections under bill removing population cap | Brian Beach/Nebraska Public Media

A legislative proposal to give all Nebraska counties the option to conduct elections entirely by mail was discussed at a hearing Wednesday afternoon. Currently, only counties with populations under 10,000 can apply to the Secretary of State to mail ballots to all registered voters. In the last general election, 11 of the state’s 67 eligible counties did just that. In most counties, voters must request an absentee ballot to vote by mail. Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh, who introduced LB237, which would remove the population limit, said there are many benefits to all mail elections, including reduced costs and higher voter turnout. Read Article

Arkansas: Proposed maximum reading level for citizen-led ballot measures stumbles but passes House | Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate

A proposal mandating citizen-led ballot measures be written at an 8th-grade or lower reading level cleared the Arkansas House of Representatives Wednesday after three attempts to pass its emergency clause. House Bill 1713 passed the House on Tuesday with 60 votes; a separate vote on the emergency clause received 63 votes. Emergency clauses require a two-thirds vote in each chamber, meaning at least 67 House votes, and allow laws to go into effect immediately upon the governor’s signature. HB 1713’s emergency clause received 70 votes Wednesday and will next be heard in the Senate Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs. Read Article

Texas GOP bill would empower AG to prosecute election crimes | Natalia Contreras/The Texas Tribune

Some Texas Republican lawmakers are reviving a previously stalled effort to expand the Texas attorney general’s power to prosecute election crimes. The long-running push is a response to a 2022 ruling from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which found that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office does not have unilateral authority to independently prosecute criminal cases in trial courts without the request of a local prosecutor. Senate Bill 1026, filed by state Sen. Bryan Hughes, a powerful Republican from Central Texas, would amend the law to require the Texas attorney general’s office to prosecute election crimes if no local proceedings have begun after six months. The bill was approved by the GOP-led Senate Committee on State Affairs Thursday. Similar bills have also been filed in the House. Read Article

‘Bloody Sunday’ 60th anniversary marked in Selma with remembrances and concerns about the future | Kim Chandler and Sifiyah Riddle/Associated Press

On Sunday, Selma, Alabama marked the 60th anniversary of the clash that became known as Bloody Sunday. The attack shocked the nation and galvanized support for the U.S. Voting Rights Act of 1965. The annual commemoration pays homage to those who fought to secure voting rights for Black Americans and brought calls to recommit to the fight for equality. For those gathered in Selma, the celebration comes amid concerns about new voting restrictions and the Trump administration’s effort to remake federal agencies they said helped make America a democracy for all. Speaking at the pulpit of the city’s historic Tabernacle Baptist Church, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said what happened in Selma changed the nation. He said the 60th anniversary comes at a time when there is “trouble all around” and some “want to whitewash our history.” But he said like the marchers of Bloody Sunday, they must keep going. Read Arfticle

National: Election officials face limited options as federal security resources fall away | Jessica Huseman andJen Fifield/Votebeat

A nonprofit agency that suddenly lost some of the federal funds it used to provide crucial election security support to states gave more details about the effect of the cuts in an email sent to state government officials on Wednesday. In a memo the Center for Internet Security said it is evaluating the impact of the funding cuts and will continue providing many services as it does so, though it didn’t address how long that would continue. Those services include help responding to cybersecurity incidents such as hacking and ransomware attempts, and coordinated sharing of data about threats that can help election officials assess whether something is an isolated event or part of a larger attack. CIS promised regular updates as it works “to determine how best to support these critical services without federal funding.” Several states have passed laws in recent years banning private funding or support for election offices, limiting their ability to seek outside help. The CIS memo appears to acknowledge that some state and local officials might need to withdraw from services because of those laws. Read Article

National: The Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center loses federal support for threat intelligence, incident response | Colin Wood/StateScoop

The Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center, which has supported the cybersecurity operations of state and local governments since its creation in 2004, has lost some of its federal funding. On Wednesday, a CISA spokesperson clarified that some of the MS-ISAC’s work will continue, and that the $10 million in defunded activities is “less than half” of the funding it provides CIS. State and local government officials have for years praised the resources provided by both organizations, which included intelligence briefings on emerging cybersecurity threats, notices on the latest security patches, incident response support, penetration testing and hundreds of Albert sensors, devices that help election administrators detect anomalous network activity. Read Article

National: CISA halts support for states on election security, U.S. official confirms | Jen Fifield/Votebeat

The federal government has halted election security activities and ended funding for the system that alerts state officials of election security threats across state lines, a representative of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency told state election officials last week. The March 3 email confirmed for secretaries of state and state election directors what they had read in news reports and noticed happening in practice: that President Donald Trump’s administration has suspended or dismantled federal support for election security, at least for now. Read Article

National: Trump administration halts funding for two cybersecurity efforts | Christina A. Cassidy/Associated Press

The Trump administration has cut millions of dollars in federal funding from two cybersecurity initiatives, including one dedicated to helping state and local election officials. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, known as CISA, has ended about $10 million in annual funding to the nonprofit Center for Internet Security, a CISA spokesperson said in an email Monday. It’s the latest move by Trump administration officials to rein in the federal government’s role in election security, which has prompted concerns about an erosion of guardrails to prevent foreign meddling in U.S. elections. Read Article

National: DOGE axes CISA ‘red team’ staffers amid ongoing federal cuts | Carly Page/TechCrunch

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has fired more than a hundred employees working for the U.S. government’s cybersecurity agency CISA, including “red team” staffers, two people affected by the layoffs told TechCrunch. The people, who asked not to be named, said affected employees were axed immediately when their network access was revoked with no prior warning. The layoffs, which happened in late February and early March, are the latest round of staff cuts to hit the federal cybersecurity agency since the start of the Trump administration. Read Article

National: Newsmax agreed to pay Smartmatic $40M in settlement with the voting machine company | Zoë Richards/NBC