National: US, Russian officials discuss sanctions | Tal Axelrod/The Hill

U.S. diplomats met with Russian officials Wednesday to discuss a recent spate of sanctions between the U.S. and Russia as the Biden administration looks to take a tough stance on Moscow. “U.S. embassy officials in Moscow met today with Russian officials to discuss various bilateral topics, including the Russian response to our announcement last week,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Wednesday at a briefing. “We expect these discussions will continue in the coming days. We’ll review the details of the Russian actions as we were notified officially of some elements today. At the same time, we continue to believe that the best way forward is through thoughtful dialogue and diplomatic engagement going forward.” Price also said the U.S. has received a formal list of diplomats Russia is expelling in response to Washington’s penalties, though he declined to identify which people are being kicked out of Moscow. The U.S. last week slapped a slate of sanctions on Russia over malign behavior, including its cyber espionage operations, election meddling and hostile actions toward Ukraine. The sanctions will block U.S. financial institutions from purchasing bonds from Russia’s Central Bank, National Wealth Fund or Ministry of Finance after June 14 and from lending funds to these institutions. The U.S. is also expelling 10 personnel from the Russian diplomatic mission in Washington.

Full Article: US, Russian officials discuss sanctions | TheHill

Alaska Borough gets go-ahead on ADA-compliant Dominion voting machines | Sabine Poux/KDLL

The Kenai Peninsula Borough will go through with purchasing and leasing several ADA-compliant voting machines, six years after a complaint from a vision-impaired Homer man triggered a reassessment of voting accessibility on the peninsula. The plan to buy several Dominion Voting Systems machines and lease over two dozen others was primarily a response to that complaint. But it became controversial when former President Donald Trump and his followers made Dominion a target late last year, claiming the 2020 election was rigged. Rigorous audits across the U.S. have found Dominion machines to be accurate. And the borough actually already uses Dominion machines — they’re just not ADA compliant. Borough IT Systems Manager Ben Hanson said the new machines are largely the same on the backend. “The biggest difference as far as what we’re looking to implement is the ADA-compliant piece,” he said. “The ADA-compliant machine — which the vast majority of people will not use, the vast majority of people will likely still fill out a paper ballot — that ADA-compliant machine allows for the multiple methods of access.”

Full Article: Borough gets go-ahead on ADA-compliant voting machines | KDLL

Arizona: ‘You want to see a temper tantrum?’: Republican sides with Democrats, blocks voting bill | Jane C. Timm/NBC

A bill that would stop some voters from getting a ballot automatically mailed to them each election failed unexpectedly in Arizona’s state Senate Thursday after a single Republican joined Democrats in voting against the legislation. GOP state Sen. Kelly Townsend explained her surprise “no” vote on the state Senate floor amid a tense episode that saw the senator get into a heated confrontation with the bill’s sponsor. “I am for this bill, but I am not voting for it until after the audit,” she said, referring to an audit orchestrated by Senate Republicans of ballots in Maricopa County reportedly set to get underway this week and last through mid-May. The audit is a continuation of GOP efforts to question the results of the 2020 election in a state President Joe Biden won by over 10,000 votes. His narrow victory prompted many Republicans to embrace former President Donald Trump’s baseless allegations of voter fraud. Some called for the Legislature to overrule Biden’s win and seat electors who would deliver the state to Trump instead. (State GOP leaders said the Legislature did not have that power, and Biden’s Electoral College victory was certified. In 2016, Trump won the key state of Michigan by about 10,000 votes.)

Full AQrticle: ‘You want to see a temper tantrum?’: Arizona Republican sides with Democrats, blocks voting bill

Arizona GOP prepares another audit of 2020 election in state’s largest county | Kristine Frazao/WCTI

Arizona was a state President Joe Biden wasn’t sure he’d win in the 2020 election. But in the end, Arizona voters chose him over former President Donald Trump by over 10,000 votes, a result determined by two independent audits in Maricopa County – the largest county in the state. Another audit is set to begin this week at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum to once again count the 2.1 million ballots and search for discrepancies. But five months after the election, critics continue to warn the effort is highly partisan and a threat to democracy. “So really this audit only seems to serve to stoke the spires of conspiracy and partisan gamesmanship to be quite honest,” said C. Jay Coles, with Verified Voting, one of the four national voting rights groups to voice concern, particularly about the Florida-based firm Cyber Ninjas that was hired to lead the recount.

Source: Arizona GOP prepares another audit of 2020 election in state’s largest county | WCTI

Arkansas counties seek polling tech upgrades | Tom Sissom/Arkansas Democrat Gazette

Election officials in Benton and Washington counties are considering upgrading the electronic poll books used to check in voters during elections, with a cost of about $250,000 per county. The Washington County Election Commission on Wednesday authorized Jennifer Price, election director, to prepare a request for funding from the Quorum Court. Price said the county has 166 electronic poll books that have been used since 2016. In the 2020 election, problems with the poll books included failure to maintain a charge, inability to stay connected to Wi-Fi and voter signature pages freezing. Price said the new poll books should solve those problems and will offer new features. “There are several updates that will be beneficial to the voters and election officials,” Price said. “The poll books we have were received by the county in 2016 so they’re reaching the end of their useful life.” Price said the new poll books have screens that are easier to use for both voters and poll workers, and will directly scan driver’s licenses and other state IDs. The computers can issue provisional ballots that will not be scanned by the county’s vote counting machines until approved by the Election Commission and can generate reports the older poll books can’t.

Full Article: Counties seek polling tech upgrades

California: Improve the State’s Election Infrastructure, Urges Little Hoover Commission | YubaNet

California’s elections are free, fair, and secure, but the state can do more to improve its election infrastructure, the state’s independent government watchdog recommends in a new report. In California Election Infrastructure: Making a Good System Better, the Little Hoover Commission recommends creation of an open source voting system and the statewide use of risk-limiting audits. “The 2020 election was the most secure election in history,” says Chair Pedro Nava. “But California cannot be complacent and should take steps to improve its election infrastructure in order to keep up with evolving technology and knowledge.” The Commission held a hearing on this topic in 2019 and released a letter to the Governor and legislative leadership to consider important questions related to elections security, such as the need for funding to improve equipment. This report builds on the Commission’s past work and adds specific policy recommendations. In its report, the Commission finds that California relies on a for-profit model for election equipment security. The Commission recommends that the state develop and adopt an open source elections system, which would be more transparent, save money, increase versatility for counties, and aligns with a state goal to use open source software across government.

Full Article: Improve the State’s Election Infrastructure, Urges Little Hoover Commission – YubaNet

Connecticut: Funding for Election Upgrades Won’t Change How State Votes | Nicole McIsaac/CTNewsJunkie

Connecticut has a total of $8.5 million in state and federal funds to upgrade its election structure, but it will be up to lawmakers to improve access to the ballot. “It is time for us to put aside our very restrictive voter access laws and move forward,” Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz said Wednesday. The financial investment, according to Bysiewicz, will ensure that elections remain free, fair and accessible to all eligible voters. Specific changes focus on modernizing the central voter registration system, election management system, and other pieces of infrastructure that have been in place for two decades. “The right to vote is the most precious civil right that we have,” Bysiewicz said. “COVID-19 proved that we had a lot of obstacles in making sure people were safe when they went to vote.” Connecticut has one of the oldest voter registration systems in the country and the current system is nearing the end of its functional life, according to Secretary of the State Denise Merrill. “When we applied for this funding, we knew it was time to make some changes to modernize some of our election’s infrastructure,” Merrill said. State officials said the replacement of the central voter registration system as a way to enhance functionality and security, improve experience of voters and officiate flexibility when managing potential changes in future elections.

Full Article: Funding for Election Upgrades Won’t Change How Connecticut Votes | CTNewsJunkie

Florida voting restrictions bill advances in state legislature | Tal Axelrod/The Hill

A bill that would impose new voting restrictions in Florida cleared a key hurdle Tuesday after it was approved in a state Senate committee, setting up a possible floor vote on the legislation in the coming weeks. The bill, known as S.B. 90, passed the Senate Rules Committee by a 10-7 vote, with only one Republican joining every Democrat in opposing it. The legislation was rolled back to eliminate some of the most stringent restrictions, including a ban on drop boxes and a requirement for there to be a physical signature on file rather than digital signature for identification verification. It still includes additional identification requirements for absentee voting, new powers for observers to oversee vote tabulation, limits on who can drop off ballots and new requirements for voters to request absentee ballots. Republicans have said the bill is necessary to ensure the state’s elections are secure, though no fraud was found in any of Florida’s 2020 races. “Things could happen,” state Sen. Dennis Baxley, who introduced the legislation, said Tuesday when discussing the possibility of fraud. Critics have lambasted the bill as a solution without a problem, rebutting GOP arguments about election security and highlighting a lack of local support for fears of fraud. “I need to put on the record that to my knowledge, not one Republican supervisor of elections in the state of Florida supports this bill in its current form,” said state Sen. Jeff Brandes, the lone Republican on the Rules Committee to vote against the legislation.

Full Article: Florida voting restrictions bill advances in state legislature | TheHill

Illinois elections board director to retire from elections board after becoming victim of online extortion attempt | Dean Olsen/State Journal-Register

The executive director of the Illinois State Board of Elections, the victim of an online extortion attempt in late March or early April, will resign and retire, effective June 30. Board chairman Charles Scholz said at the end of Tuesday’s regular board meeting that Executive Director Steve Sandvoss has announced his retirement. Scholz didn’t comment further except to commend Sandvoss, 55, for 32 years of service to the board. Sandvoss, a lawyer from Rochester, has been on paid administrative leave from his $162,000-a-year job since the board voted unanimously on April 5 to place him on leave. He will remain on paid leave through June 30, board spokesman Matt Dietrich said. An Illinois State Police investigation into the extortion attempt continues, ISP spokeswoman Beth Hundsdorfer said. Sandvoss has declined requests for interviews.

Full Article: Elections board director, victim of attempted extortion, to retire

Louisiana Senators Back Bill to Modify Voting Machine Search | Melinda DeSlatte/Associated Press

Louisiana would rework the way it shops for voting machines, under legislation that started moving forward Tuesday in the state Senate after two failed efforts to replace the state’s voting system ended in controversy. The proposal by Senate Republican leader Sharon Hewitt would add new layers of legislative oversight, broaden the types of voting systems allowed and remove some decision-making from Louisiana’s secretary of state. The measure would create a commission to analyze and select the type of voting system that could be bought or leased, rather than the secretary of state. The Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee, which Hewitt chairs, sent the bill to the full Senate for debate without objection. Hewitt, of Slidell, said her proposal would offer “a much more open, fair, transparent and accountable process for securing voting systems.” She said it would give the general public more points in the process to offer thoughts before the bid solicitation begins. Still, several people who repeated baseless allegations of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election said Hewitt’s legislation, while well-intentioned, did not do enough to address their concerns. They said they wanted the bill to require paper ballots and more clear public input on the voting system selection.

Full Article: Louisiana Senators Back Bill to Modify Voting Machine Search | Louisiana News | US News

Louisiana: Proposals to change voting machine-buying process, audit elections move forward | Sam Karlin/The Advocate

A Louisiana Senate panel on Tuesday backed a proposal to make a host of changes to how Louisiana buys new voting machines, after a recent effort to procure machines fell apart amid uproar from some voters who believe the 2020 election was rife with fraud. The Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee backed the legislation by Chairwoman Sharon Hewitt, R-Slidell, after lengthy testimony from concerned citizens and a Republican official who clamored for “secure paper ballots” and trashed Dominion Voting Systems, the company that currently provides Louisiana’s voting machines. The committee also backed Senate Bill 220 by Sen. Heather Cloud, R-Turkey Creek, to require the Louisiana legislative auditor to conduct a review of Louisiana’s election processes. The bills are among the first in a wave of election-related proposals that are expected to be heard during the legislative session that began last week. The push for voting changes come amid a national battle over efforts to tighten voting laws in the wake of the 2020 election. Hewitt’s Senate Bill 221 would set up several layers of oversight of Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin’s effort to buy new voting machines. Under the measure, Ardoin would be required to use input from lawmakers to create a set of standards for new machines. It would also create a new commission to evaluate voting systems.

Full Article: Proposals to change voting machine-buying process, audit Louisiana’s elections move forward | Elections | theadvocate.com

Montana election law changes spark lawsuit | Alex Sakariassen/Montana Free Press

The Montana Democratic Party is attempting to block changes to voting rights laws signed by Gov. Greg Gianforte. The changes would create more stringent identification requirements for voters and end same-day voter registration in the state, which Montana voters approved on the 2004 ballot. The suit was filed in District Court in Yellowstone County shortly after Gianforte’s bill signing Monday and requested that a judge immediately bar Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen from enforcing the new laws. In its complaint, the Democratic Party argues that same-day voter registration has been “critical to protecting the voting rights of tens of thousands of Montanans.” It specifically cites testimony from legislative proceedings earlier this year highlighting the geographic and transportation challenges faced by rural, elderly, disabled and Native American voters — challenges the party maintains have been alleviated for the past 16 years by voters’ ability to register, update their voter information and cast a ballot in a single trip. Democrats also argue that more stringent identification requirements will burden college students and low-income voters. Under the new law, individuals without a government-issued photo ID or a Montana concealed carry permit must produce non-government photo ID plus a second identifying document, such as a utility bill, in order to register or to receive a ballot at the polls.

Full Article: Election law changes spark lawsuit | Montana Free Press

Nevada secretary of state finds no ‘evidentiary support’ for GOP election fraud claims | Stephanie Becker and Paul LeBlanc/CNN

Nevada Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske‘s office told the state Republican Party on Wednesday that an investigation had found no “evidentiary support” for its allegations of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. “And while the NVGOP raises policy concerns about the integrity of mail-in voting, automatic voter registration, and same-day voter registration, these concerns do not amount to evidentiary support for the contention that the 2020 general election was plagued by widespread voter fraud,” said the letter, addressed to the Nevada Republican Party. Cegavske, the only statewide Republican office holder, said in the letter that elections staff had inventoried and labeled four boxes of materials that had been delivered to the state Capitol on March 4 — and then to her office — and had investigated the accompanying allegations of voter fraud. Of the 122,918 records to support the accompanying allegations filed by members of the Nevada GOP, Cegavske’s office narrowed down the list of unique “Election Integrity Violation Reports” to 3,963, some of which were already under investigation. An accompanying report fleshed out why many of the complaints were unsubstantiated.

Full Article: Nevada secretary of state finds no ‘evidentiary support’ for GOP election fraud claims – CNNPolitics

Ohio GOP lawmakers propose election changes, limiting drop boxes and allowing online ballot requests | Jessie Balmert/Cincinnati Enquirer

Proposed changes to Ohio election law would eliminate voting on the day before Election Day, limit drop boxes and allow voters to request absentee ballots online. The changes, which will soon be introduced as a bill by Rep. Bill Seitz, R-Green Township and Rep. Sharon Ray, R-Wadsworth, would eliminate in-person voting on the Monday before Election Day so county election officials could prepare for Tuesday. However, those hours of in-person voting could be reallocated to another day. The Ohio Association of Election Officials has been requesting the change. The proposal would also limit drop boxes for mail-in ballots to 10 days before Election Day instead of the entire early voting period. Each county board of elections could have three receptacles on their premises. Boards could have one drop boxfor the entire early voting period during a pandemic or emergency. Ohio lawmakers approved the use of drop boxes during the COVID-19 pandemic when Ohio’s primary shifted to mail ballots rather than in-person voting. Several judges ruled that Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose was allowed to set rules on how drop boxes were used, but he deferred to lawmakers.

Full Article: Ohio election bill: Limit drop boxes, allow online ballot requests

Ohio Supreme Court takes case over Dominion voting machines purchase | Andrew Welsh-Huggins/Associated Press

A dispute over the purchase of voting machines tied to unfounded allegations of fraud in the 2020 presidential election has reached the Ohio Supreme Court. At issue before the high court is a feud over the purchase of Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems machines between the bipartisan elections board in Stark County and that northeastern county’s GOP-dominated board of commissioners. Dominion machines became a flashpoint during the election because of unfounded allegations that the company changed votes through algorithms in its voting machines that had been created in Venezuela to rig elections for the late dictator Hugo Chavez. Dominion has pushed back against these allegations, including in a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit filed last month against Fox News, arguing the cable news giant falsely claimed that the voting company rigged the 2020 election in an effort to boost faltering ratings. Because of such claims promoted by on-air Fox personalities, the company is now widely targeted by conservatives who falsely believe it manufactured former President Donald Trump’s defeat, the lawsuit said. This conspiracy theory even reached Stark County, the elections board alleged in its complaint to the Ohio Supreme Court last month.

Full Article: Ohio Supreme Court takes case over voting machines purchase

Wisconsin: Report finds Green Bay properly handled 2020 elections despite GOP criticism | Haley BeMiller/Green Bay Press-Gazette

City officials had “all-hands on deck” as they managed last year’s elections but didn’t do anything to distort the integrity of the process, according to a new report from the city attorney. Attorney Vanessa Chavez reviewed the August and November elections amid allegations from Republican lawmakers that Green Bay’s use of grant money and private consultants tainted the process. Former City Clerk Kris Teske resigned in December after clashing for months with the mayor’s office, which she accused of taking over election planning. A group of Green Bay residents filed a complaint to the Wisconsin Elections Commission earlier this month claiming that the Center for Tech and Civic Life illegally dictated how Green Bay ran its election when it provided the city with $1.6 million to facilitate voting during the coronavirus pandemic. The nonprofit distributed grants to over 200 municipalities across Wisconsin. “The 2020 Election season was one like no other, due in no small part to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Chavez wrote. “Following the failures the City experienced in April 2020, the City committed to taking all actions necessary to ensure that the voting experience improved for the Green Bay electorate moving forward.” The City Council is expected to discuss the report’s findings during its May 4 meeting. Here are some key takeaways.

Full Article: Green Bay election: What city attorney report says about November

National: Secretaries of state ask DHS to expand anti-disinformation fight | Benjamin Freed/StateScoop

A bipartisan group of 11 state election chiefs last week asked the Department of Homeland Security to do more in coming elections to push back against foreign disinformation campaigns aimed at undermining the U.S. democratic process. In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Brandon Wales, the acting director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the officials thanked the agency for its efforts fighting false claims during the 2020 election — such as the Rumor Control website, on which CISA published rebuttals of foreign, and later domestic, disinformation and misinformation about voting procedures and election equipment. But the election officials also said that the heavy circulation of these rumors sowed distrust that continues today. “There have been some good and bad days in the election community since November. On one hand, election officials successfully ran multiple elections during a pandemic,” the letter reads. “The general election was the most secure in recent history. On the other hand, because of disinformation, some Americans now lack confidence in the electoral process.” The letter was led by Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, and signed by Griswold’s fellow Democratic secretaries of state in California, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Vermont. Two Republicans also signed on: Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman, and Alaska Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer, who oversees elections there.

Full Article: Secretaries of state ask DHS to expand anti-disinformation fight

Republicans Say They Care About Election Fraud. Here’s How They Could Actually Prevent It. | Kaleigh Rogers/FiveThirtyEight

Republicans care a whole lot about election security these days. Fueled in part by the “Big Lie,” the baseless claim that there was widespread fraud in last year’s election, Republican lawmakers around the country have made an aggressive push to pass new laws to prevent what they saw as a nightmare scenario from happening again. While the motivation to improve election security is spurious, the ostensible goal isn’t — everyone would agree that a secure election is important for democracy. Experts say there’s one very effective way for state legislatures to make the voting process more secure: pass legislation to update voting machines. But instead of prioritizing this effort, many Republicans are instead focused on limiting voter access. “It would be terrific to see the focus on election security lead to more investments in better, more trustworthy systems,” said Mark Lindeman, co-director of Verified Voting, a nonpartisan election security organization. The gold standard for voting security is hand-marked paper ballots, according to security experts. That’s because a paper ballot eliminates the risk of technical difficulties or certain kinds of malicious acts (think hacking) that could change or destroy your vote, and any concerns can be addressed with a recount. Because of that, most states currently use hand-marked paper ballots or have voting machines that generate paper records for verification. But in six states — Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, Tennessee and Texas — some or all voters still cast ballots on machines that have no paper record whatsoever, according to data from Verified Voting. While there’s no evidence that these machines have ever been hacked during an election, it’s technically possible, and they’re also prone to all kinds of undesirable malfunctions, including losing votes. With no paper backup to audit, these machines are the kind of election security liability that politicians say they’re invested in fixing.

Full Article: Republicans Say They Care About Election Fraud. Here’s How They Could Actually Prevent It. | FiveThirtyEight

National: White House appoints voting rights adviser in federal elections bill push | Dartunorro Clark/NBC

The White House named Loyola Law School professor Justin Levitt to be its voting rights adviser Monday in its push for federal legislation that would make sweeping changes to the nation’s elections. “Levitt will assist the President in his efforts to ensure every eligible American has secure, reliable access to a meaningful vote; to provide equitable representation in federal, state and local government; to restore trust in a democracy deserving of that trust; and to shore up and expand the avenues by which all Americans engage in robust civic participation,” said a release announcing his appointment. Levitt, who began teaching at the school in California in 2010, worked on voting rights issues as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division during the Obama administration. Democrats are pushing to pass H.R. 1, the For the People Act of 2021, a 791-page measure that would make sweeping changes to the electoral process. The legislation, a wish list of policies that voting rights advocates have urged lawmakers to adopt for years, rethinks the voting process: how people register to vote, how ballots are cast and how states conduct elections.

Full Article: White House appoints voting rights adviser in federal elections bill push

National: MyPillow Sues to Counter Dominion Voting Systems’ Defamation Claims | Alexa Corse/Wall Street Journal

MyPillow Inc. sued voting-machine maker Dominion Voting Systems on Monday, a counter move after Dominion sued the bedding company and its Donald Trump-supporting chief executive for defamation over his unproven claims that its voting machines had rigged the presidential election for Joe Biden. In a suit seeking more than $1.6 billion in damages, the privately held company said it is suing to protect freedom of speech and to rectify the injury the company said it has suffered from Dominion’s own legal campaign, which the complaint said included losing business and harassment and death threats against employees. “Dominion is using the legal process as a weapon to suppress free speech,” the suit in federal district court in Minnesota stated. “This lawsuit is brought in support of the marketplace of ideas and to remedy the grave harm that has been suffered by MyPillow as a result of Dominion’s suppression of speech and attacks on the Company.” The company also noted that it was its founder and CEO Mike Lindell, rather than the company, who spoke against Dominion. “In making these statements, Lindell spoke for himself, not MyPillow,” the suit said. “MyPillow has not engaged in discussion about the 2020 election. However, as an American company supporting American constitutional values, MyPillow unreservedly supports Lindell’s right to exercise his First Amendment freedoms concerning the matters of critical public concern, like election matters.” In February, Denver-based Dominion sued MyPillow and Mr. Lindell in federal court in the District of Columbia. Dominion’s suit alleged that Mr. Lindell had defamed the company with accusations that it had rigged the 2020 election for President Biden, and asked for more than $1.3 billion in damages.

Full Article: MyPillow Sues to Counter Dominion Voting Systems’ Defamation Claims – WSJ

National: As America embraces early voting, GOP hurries to restrict it | Anthony Izaguirre/Associated Press

Nearly seven of every 10 voters cast their ballots before Election Day in 2020. Republicans are moving to make it harder for that to happen again, potentially affecting the voting preferences of millions of Americans. The GOP’s campaign to place new restrictions on mail-in and early voting in certain states will force voters to contend with new rules on what have quickly become popular and proven methods of casting ballots. Though it is difficult to forecast how exactly the changes will affect voter turnout in the years ahead, critics argue that the proposals target a voting method that has had growing appeal for both Democrats and Republicans, and will add additional and needless bureaucratic hurdles to casting ballots before Election Day. In just Georgia and Iowa, states where sweeping new voting restrictions already have been signed into law, more than 5 million voters used absentee or early in-person voting last fall. Restrictive early voting bills also are advancing in other politically important states where Republicans are in control, including Arizona, Florida and Texas. Altogether, nearly 27 million voters in those five states cast ballots in advance of the 2020 presidential election. “They’re trying to make it a hassle to vote,” said Dixie Davis, a 33-year-old seamstress in Fort Worth, Texas, who voted early in the last election. “I feel like voting should be convenient — it’s like the most basic service a government should provide in a democratic society.” The explosion of both early and mail voting in the 2020 election came after state officials across the country relaxed rules around who could cast ballots before Election Day in a one-time effort to avoid coronavirus spread at crowded polling places. Officials and experts have said the result was one of the smoothest elections in recent memory, without any of the widespread fraud alleged by former President Donald Trump and his allies.

Full Article: As America embraces early voting, GOP hurries to restrict it

National: As voting fight moves westward, accusations of racism follow | Acacia Coronado and Nicholas Riccardi/Associated Press

The Arizona Legislature was debating one of several Republican proposals to overhaul voting when GOP Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita said she’d had enough. “I don’t like to be characterized as supporting discriminatory laws!” she told Democrats, who say the legislation will hurt Latino and Native American voters. But Democratic Sen. Martin Quezada, a Latino from Phoenix, didn’t back down. “This will hurt my community. This will hurt my neighborhood.” “And,” he continued, “we’re going to continue bringing this up.” Indeed, Democrats are escalating their charges that the Republican push for tighter state voting laws is designed to make it hard for people of color to vote. As the fight moves from the Deep South to the Southwest, that’s put increased focus on the impact the proposals would have on Latino and Native American voters — groups with distinct histories of fighting for voting rights. “Arizona, Texas and several states in the Southwest have a long, sordid history of voter suppression, not only against African Americans but Latinos,” said Domingo Garcia, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens. Fighting the new voting bills, he added, “is our No. 1 priority.”

Full Article: As voting fight moves westward, accusations of racism follow

Editorial: For 20 years, Republicans have groomed their voters to believe in fraud | Houston Chronicle

More than 80 percent of Texas Republicans think there was widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. Despite there being no evidence that President Trump “won in a landslide” or that voting machines “deleted” votes, millions of Texans believe otherwise. Nationwide more than half of GOP voters claim President Biden didn’t win fair and square. Are these folks so easy to dupe? Are they blinded by partisanship? Are they being “unreasonable,” as former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell now claims they must be if they believe her unhinged assertions? While allegations of fraud are false — Trump’s big lie in the face of a hard loss — it’s not difficult to see how Republican voters needed little reason to believe. After all, the GOP has been grooming them for the last 20 years. Suppression efforts couched in the language of voter fraud are nothing new. In Texas, they go back to post-Reconstruction and efforts to curtail minority voting, but the Republican Party’s modern obsession with fraud can be traced to the 2000 election. “Bush versus Gore was a turning point,” Professor Edward Foley, who directs the election law program at Ohio State University, told the editorial board. “Suddenly, the image was that every vote really does matter, and that even a presidential election might come down to 500 votes.”

Full Article: Editorial: The Big Lie – For 20 years, Republicans have groomed their voters to believe in fraud

Arizona: Jovan Pulitzer, an icon among election fraud believers, will play a role in the election audit | Jeremy Duda/Arizona Mirror

Jovan Pulitzer, a favorite of election fraud conspiracy theorists who claims to have invented technology that can detect fraudulent ballots and whom Georgia’s Republican secretary of state recently derided as a “failed inventor and a failed treasure hunter,” will have a role in the Senate’s audit of the 2020 election in Maricopa County. The audit will seek to “identify any ballots that are suspicious and potentially counterfeit,” according to the statement of work for the lead contractor, Cyber Ninjas. Pulitzer’s name does not appear in the document. But Ken Bennett, Arizona’s former secretary of state who’s serving as a spokesman for the audit, confirmed his involvement, though he said he’s unsure whether Pulitzer himself will be involved or whether the audit team will only be using his technology that Pulitzer claims can detect fraudulent ballots. Pulitzer’s involvement comes despite any evidence whatsoever that fraudulent ballots were cast in the general election, despite a lack of confirmation that his technology works as he claims, and despite questions about his credibility. Bennett said Doug Logan, the owner and CEO of Cyber Ninjas, told him that he consulted with Pulitzer while designing the process used to test the ballots, a process that Bennett said will include other people’s technology as well. He said his understanding is that all 2.1 million ballots cast in Maricopa County will be examined. Bennett said the Senate has not independently verified that Pulitzer’s technology actually does what he claims, but that other election officials he’s spoken with over the years have described similar technologies. “So, it doesn’t strike me as odd at all that he may have some technology to do the same thing,” Bennett said.

Full Article: Jovan Pulitzer, an icon among election fraud believers, will play a role in the Arizona election audit

Florida: Controversial ballot law heads to House floor | Renzo Downey/Florida Politics

The Florida House could soon vote on a measure Republicans say would increase election security, particularly around drop boxes. By a 16-8 vote, the House State Affairs Committee gave the final preliminary approval before the full House could consider the controversial bill (HB 7041). Democrats contend the stricter voting laws would make it harder for voters to use drop boxes. “We have 45 days of voting in the state Florida, three ways of voting,” Rep. Blaise Ingoglia, the Spring Hill Republican carrying the bill, told the committee. “Anyone who says we’re restricting access to the ballot, I’m sorry, it’s just not accurate.” The bill comes despite Republicans, including Gov. Ron DeSantis, touting Florida’s 2020 election cycle as one of the smoothest and most secure in recent history. Ingoglia helped spearhead the state’s original drop box law, first used during the 2020 election cycle. “We should use every election as an opportunity to look back and identify things that we can do better,” Ingoglia said. Similar to a new election law that has come under fire in Georgia, the Spring Hill Republican’s bill would prevent people from attempting to influence a person’s vote within 150 feet of a drop box or polling place entrance. That would include a candidate handing out food or water to voters standing in line. Voting sites could only keep boxes available to the public during voting hours, and boxes must always be monitored by Supervisor of Elections personnel during those hours. During off-hours, offices could use security cameras to monitor secured boxes.

Full Article: Controversial ballot law heads to House floor

Georgia: Why Local Election Officials Take Issue With Many Parts Of New Law | Emma Hurt/NPR

Three weeks after it was signed into law, local election officials in Georgia are still trying to understand all the implications of the state’s controversial election overhaul. In a series of interviews, election officials said that while the Republican-led measure has some good provisions, many felt sidelined as the legislation was being debated, and believe that parts of it will make Georgia elections more difficult and expensive. One provision that particularly worries many officials is a new ability for the State Election Board to take over a county’s election management. The law empowers the state panel to take over if, in at least two elections within two years, the board finds “nonfeasance, malfeasance, or gross negligence in the administration of the elections.” Tonnie Adams, chief registrar of Heard County on the Alabama state line, said this provision, coupled with another change — which replaces the secretary of state as board chair with an appointee of the General Assembly — are problematic. “The legislature now has three seats that they appoint on the State Election Board,” he said. “We thought that that was a gross overreach of power from one branch of government.”

Full Article: Why Local Election Officials In Georgia Take Issue With Many Parts Of New Law : NPR

Editorial: A partisan response to an imaginary crisis: Georgia voting law changes reflects badly on the state’s image | Mark Murphy/Savannah Morning News

The right to vote is one of the most fundamental privileges in any free nation. The capacity of voters to peacefully change the trajectory of government is a powerful tool, forcing elected officials to be held accountable for their actions on a regular basis. As originally ratified, the U.S. Constitution granted each state the right to determine voting qualifications for its residents. After the Civil War, there were three Reconstruction amendments that limited this discretion. The 15th Amendment, passed in 1870, was the most important of these, providing that “[t]he right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”  Women were first allowed to vote after the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920. Unfortunately, southern states actively sought to disenfranchise racial minorities who tried to exercise their right to vote. Intimidation, outright voter fraud and so-called “Jim Crow laws,” which imposed voting restrictions like literacy tests, property ownership requirements, poll taxes, etc., were used to severely limit African American participation in the voting process in the south. The results were striking: In North Carolina, not a single Black voter was eligible to vote in any election from 1896 until 1904. In Louisiana, only 730 Black voters were registered to vote statewide in 1904 — less than 0.5% of the Black male population at that time.

Full Article: Georgia’s new election law, SB202, harms state’s image

Michigan: No, an algorithm did not manipulate election results | Clara Hendrickson/Detroit Free Press

Antrim County, the site of a human error that briefly produced inaccurate unofficial results on election night in November, remains the target of a misinformation effort that aims to sow doubt about the integrity of the 2020 election. A resident’s lawsuit against the county, filed in late November, helped fuel a debunked conspiracy theory that tabulators made by Dominion Voting Systems switched votes on behalf of Joe Biden, who was erroneously shown as having won the county on election night. Former President Donald Trump seized upon an analysis filed in the suit that was rife with inaccurate information to advance his claims of a stolen election. A hand recount of every ballot cast in Antrim County affirmed the results and Trump’s victory there. … David Becker, founder and executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Election Innovation & Research, called the allegations in the pleading “fantastical.” In an email to the Free Press, Becker said such a conspiracy would have had to be carried out by thousands of people and leave behind a mountain of evidence: meddling with the voter file, extra ballots that couldn’t be explained, voters who tried to vote but couldn’t because someone else had cast their ballots and audits confirming tabulators were tampered. “There is literally zero evidence of any conspiracy, involving thousands of people, in any state,” including Michigan, Becker wrote.

Full Article: Algorithm did not manipulate Michigan election results

Michigan: The ‘loophole’ Republicans could use to sidestep Whitmer on voting laws | Jane C. Timm/NBC

Michigan Democrats have promised that any bills that attempt to place new restrictions on voting won’t get past Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. “Those bills will not get signed into law,” Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, a Democrat, told NBC News of the proposals. He called the efforts part of an “anti-voter, anti-democratic participation movement that is sweeping Republican-led legislatures across the nation.” But the state’s GOP lawmakers, who enjoy majorities in both chambers but not enough to override a veto, have a unique option that could allow them to enact sweeping changes to elections in a critical presidential battleground without the governor’s support: a little-used quirk in the state’s ballot initiative process. “It’s like this special loophole where they get to cram through a whole raft of bills,” said Nancy Wang, executive director of Voters Not Politicians, the group that led the effort to use a ballot initiative to create an independent redistricting commission in the state a few years ago. Under the Michigan Constitution, citizens can put an initiative on the ballot if they gather a certain number of signatures — at least 8 percent of the total number of votes cast in the last gubernatorial race. This year, that would be about 340,000 voters’ signatures. But before an initiative reaches the ballot, the state Legislature has the ability to pass the proposed law with simple majority vote in each chamber, and such a measure cannot be vetoed. This process is rarely used: Just nine other initiatives have become law this way in the last 58 years, according to the state.

Full Article: The ‘loophole’ Michigan Republicans could use to sidestep Whitmer on voting laws

Montana Governor signs bills eliminating Election Day registration, tightening voter ID | Alex Sakariassen/Montana Free Press

Gov. Greg Gianforte has officially ended the state’s long-standing practice of allowing citizens to register to vote on Election Day, a change he said will help preserve the integrity of Montana’s elections, but that critics have decried as a blatant attack on voter rights. Under House Bill 176, which Gianforte signed into law Monday, Montana voters will now be required to register no later than noon on the day before an election. Gianforte also signed Senate Bill 169, meaning any voter who does not have a government-issued photo ID or a state concealed carry permit must produce two forms of identification in order to cast a ballot at the polls. Both bills passed the Legislature on largely party-line votes after months of heated testimony that made voting rules one of the more contested issues of the 2021 session. “Montana has a long history of secure, transparent elections, setting a standard for the nation,” Gianforte said in a statement announcing the changes. “These new laws will help ensure the continued integrity of Montana’s elections for years to come.” The new laws were specifically requested by Republican Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen, who was present at the bill signing. Jacobsen also released a statement Monday saying “voter ID and voter registration deadlines are best practices in protecting the integrity of elections.”

Full Article: Governor approves changes to election law