Georgia suits among those left involving election lies after Fox settlement | David Wickert/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

This week’s massive settlement of a defamation lawsuit against Fox News is the latest effort to seek accountability for those who spread false tales of election fraud in Georgia and other states. But it’s not the last. Two Fulton County election workers whose lives were upended by false voting fraud accusations have filed defamation lawsuits against other media companies and individuals who spread the claims. And a Gwinnett County man falsely accused of voting fraud has sued the producers of the film “2000 Mules.” It’s far from certain the lawsuits will be successful — the defendants deny any wrongdoing. But the election workers have already had some success in court. And legal experts say the $787.5 million settlement in the Fox case bodes well for continuing efforts to hold people and institutions accountable for lies that undermined confidence in U.S. elections and led to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. “With what appears to be one of the largest defamation settlements in history, we can hope that this is the beginning of accountability and a restoration of respect for our election process and election officials,” said David Becker, founder of the Center for Election Innovation and Research.

Full Article: After Fox settlement, Georgia suits among those left involving election lies

New Hampshire panel combines voting machine grants with election portal | Kevin Landrigan/The New Hampshire Union Leader

A proposal to permit cities and towns to ask for federal money to replace their antiquated voting machines moved a step closer to reality this week. The plan would permit local officials to apply to Secretary of State David Scanlan’s office to get grants from $12.8 million in federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) money the state has gotten over the past two decades to make voting system improvements. Last week, House Election Laws Committee Chairman Ross Berry, R-Manchester, proposed tacking this proposal onto a Senate-passed bill (SB 70) that would create a state information portal to allow citizens to register online to vote more easily, to update their voter information or to request absentee ballots. The House panel voted 13-5 in support of that measure, which now goes to the full House of Representatives. The state Senate had earlier killed separate legislation (SB 73) to permit the use of HAVA money for voting machines while Berry’s House committee had decided to retain its own legislation on the topic (HB 447) until early in 2024.

Full Article: Panel combines voting machine grants with election portal

Pennsylvania Supreme Court angrily sanctions county for violating order on Dominion voting machines | Jonathan Lai/Philadelphia Inquirer

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Wednesday said Fulton County had blatantly defied the court when it allowed a third-party company to access its 2020 voting machines. The county had first given a firm access to its Dominion voting machines in the weeks after the 2020 election, prompting the Pennsylvania Department of State, which oversees elections, to decertify the machines and ask the court to block the county from giving any further access. The court agreed, ordering the machines be kept secure. Fulton County gave another company access to its voting machines anyway, leading the justices to impose sanctions on the county and its attorneys in the form of repaid legal fees for both the state and Dominion. “No remedy can undo the harm that the county’s contempt caused,” Justice David Wecht said in his majority opinion, but “simply are the next best thing.”

Full Article: Pa. Supreme Court sanctions Fulton County over voting machines

Texas Senate OKs end to countywide voting on Election Day | Pooja Salhotra and James Barragan/The Texas Tribune

Countywide polling locations on Election Day would be banned in Texas under a bill approved by the Texas Senate on Thursday. Senate Bill 990, authored by Republican Sen. Bob Hall of Edgewood, passed 17-12 along party lines. The bill — if approved by the state House — would eliminate countywide voting centers on Election Day and require residents to vote at an assigned precinct, typically in their neighborhood. Larger voting centers would be permitted through early voting. Currently, 90 counties — including large metro counties like Harris and Dallas as well as rural ones — are approved by the secretary of state’s office to use countywide voting centers on Election Day. Hall has framed the bill as necessary to address potential issues with vote counts, but Democrats who opposed the bill pressed him for any evidence that countywide polling had led to people voting at more than one location. Hall said on Thursday that spreading voting locations across a precinct makes it “impossible” to ensure an accurate count and that limiting voters to a central polling location would simplify the tally. There has been no evidence of systematic voter fraud in Texas. And each county that has been approved to use countywide voting policies must pass audits by the secretary of state’s office during two election cycles to keep the practice in place. Officials with the secretary of state’s election division have said the program — which began in rural counties — is popular among voters because it allows them to vote anywhere in the county. That is especially helpful in some of the state’s largest and most sprawling counties like Harris and Bexar, where Texans have long commutes from work to home and could possibly miss their window to vote if they don’t make it to their neighborhood precinct on time after work. Election officials also like the convenience the program provides to voters because they don’t have to scramble to figure out where to vote on Election Day.

Full Article: Texas Senate OKs end to countywide voting on Election Day | The Texas Tribune

Another Texas Election Official Quits After Threats From Trump Supporters | Neil Vigdor/The New York Times

Heider Garcia, the head of elections in Tarrant County, Texas, announced this week that he would resign after facing death threats, joining other beleaguered election officials across the nation who have quit under similar circumstances. Mr. Garcia oversees elections in a county where, in 2020, Donald J. Trump became only the second Republican presidential candidate to lose in more than 50 years. Right-wing skepticism of the election results fueled threats against him, even though the county received acclaim from state auditors for its handling of the 2020 voting. With Mr. Trump persistently repeating the lie that he won the 2020 election, many of his supporters and those in right-wing media have latched on to conspiracy theories and joined him in spreading disinformation about election security. Those tasked with running elections, even in deeply Republican areas that did vote for Mr. Trump in 2020, have borne the brunt of vitriol and threats from people persuaded by baseless claims of fraud.

Full Article: Another Texas Election Official Quits After Threats From Trump Supporters – The New York Times

Virginia: The battle between misinformation and election officials in Buckingham County | Fred Echols/WVTF

When the entire staff at the Buckingham County Registrar’s office resigned after repeatedly being accused of incompetence and even criminal mismanagement of the electoral process, the county drew national attention from those who say rampant misinformation may cause even more damage heading into a presidential election year. Buckingham County provided Virginia’s most extreme example – to date – of what can happen when election workers are overwhelmed by accusations of fraud. Lauren Coletta is senior advisor in Virginia for Common Cause. She says the immediate effect is that people with little or no elections experience find themselves trying to do a very demanding and very important job. “You had a registrar who was there for 29 years and then this next person was there since 2019, I believe, so she was getting her stride and now you’ve lost the staff,” Coletta explains. “So, this is a consequence of the disinformation that is going on.” But even after all this time, many people don’t see it as disinformation, something that Coletta finds puzzling. “Given all the court cases at the federal level, and in this particular case in Buckingham County; the Attorney General investigated, said there was nothing,” Coletta says. “How many times does something have to be disproven before people catch on that they’re being lied to?”

Full Article: The battle between misinformation and election officials in Buckingham County | WVTF

Wyoming county clerks pen letter to Secretary of State refuting election denier | Maggie Mullen/WyoFile

The County Clerks’ Association of Wyoming is refuting the claims of a prominent election denier who toured the state in March and April, giving public presentations in six counties and meeting privately with some lawmakers and Secretary of State Chuck Gray. Douglas Frank, a former high school math and science teacher from Ohio, also discussed his assertions of voter fraud with several county clerks. “Throughout those meetings, we have concluded that Dr. Frank conveys claims of impropriety but provides no proof to support his allegations,” Malcolm Ervin, Platte County clerk and president of the clerks’ association, wrote in a letter to Gray on March 29. Most Wyoming voters remain confident in the state’s elections, according to a survey conducted by the University of Wyoming last July and August. And audits before and after both the 2020 and 2022 elections indicated 100% accuracy across the state. The voting machines first used in 2020 were more secure and sophisticated than any other voting machines used in the history of Wyoming’s elections, former Secretary of State Ed Buchanan said while in office. Notably, those machines do not include the software or hardware necessary to connect to the internet or to communicate election results externally. The same is true of the tabulation computer in each county. Despite those facts, Frank told clerks those machines could be hacked remotely, even claiming he, himself, has the ability to do so. When asked for proof, according to the letter, Franked recalled a time “where he supposedly provided proof of that ability to a secretary of state in a southern state.

Full Article: County clerks pen letter to Secretary of State Gray refuting election denier – WyoFile

National: ‘Our democracy can’t function’ without poll workers. Here’s how some states are protecting them | Phillip M. Bailey/USA Today

Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon is nervous about the 2024 presidential election. The Gopher State will need roughly 30,000 elections workers to oversee and administer hundreds of polling places, but it’s becoming difficult to get civic-minded Americans to volunteer. That’s because Minnesota, like many other states, saw an uptick in abusive behavior towards poll workers leading up to last year’s midterms, he said. “If we continue to see a climate that is increasingly negative or unwelcoming to them, we’re going to have problems recruiting and retaining those folks,” Simon told USA TODAY. “It is a problem in Minnesota. It is a problem nationally.”

Full Article: Ahead of 2024, election workers get new protections in some states

California: With more costs to come, Shasta County will spend $950,000 on new voting system after hand count approval | Damon Arthur/Redding Record Searchlight

Shasta County officials on Thursday approved spending $950,000 to hire a company to provide the equipment needed to hand-count ballots, something that hasn’t been done in California in decades, at least not on the scale proposed in the county. The Board of Supervisors’ action comes even as elections officials try to develop a process that does away with machine counting and instead manually tallies ballots. County officials are also trying to figure out all of the costs associated with converting from machine counting. The board’s vote was driven by the majority of supervisors’ distrust of the vote counting machines it was using, Dominion Voting Systems. But over the past few months a large number of people also urged the board to stick with Dominion, rather than hand counting. Public comment before Thursday’s board vote reflected the divide in the community over hand-counting versus machine tabulation. Joann Roskoski, past president of the League of Women Voters in Shasta County, criticized the supervisors for adopting hand counting without knowing all of the costs involved. “We don’t even know if it can be done. But for sure, the money you’re looking at today is the tip of the iceberg. That money is going to get larger and larger and larger. And I agree with the last speaker that not having come up with a plan before you set sail on the Titanic was a big mistake,” Roskoski said.

Full Article: Shasta Co. spends $950K on new voting system after hand count approval

National: What’s in Dominion Voting’s $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox News | Bente Birkelund/NPR

When Dominion Voting Systems sued Fox News over the lies the conservative cable network had broadcast in 2020 about the election tech company, the enormous $1.6 billion damage claim jumped out. The trial begins next week in Delaware and two of the biggest questions facing the jurors will be whether Fox and its executives are liable for broadcasting the lies and, if so, whether $1.6 billion is a remotely realistic amount to ask for. … According to an analysis provided to NPR by the election security group Verified Voting, Dominion has actually seen a net increase in jurisdictions using Dominion equipment since 2020. The nonprofit monitors election equipment contracts around the country. For example in 2020, 1,161 jurisdictions used Dominion election day tabulation equipment. Verified Voting’s analysis says 1,861 jurisdictions will use Dominion equipment in 2024. That said, there’s been a net loss in the total number of registered voters who will vote with Dominion’s machines in upcoming elections.

Full Article: What’s in Dominion Voting’s $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox News : NPR

National: Election officials have ideas for stopping a 2024 crisis before it even starts | Zach Montellaro/Politico

Election officials have one major goal ahead of 2024: Make Democracy Boring Again. Election administration has faced an unprecedented amount of scrutiny — and tumult — since the 2020 election. Officials have faced death threats and unprecedented public harassment stemming from mis- and disinformation. Many workers are leaving the field. Now, the Bipartisan Policy Center is out with a new report with 23 recommendations for election administration to turn down the temperature. The premise of the report, shared first with POLITICO, is to make behind-the-scenes improvements to how elections are administered in 2024 and beyond. “Election officials do want elections to become boring again,” said Rachel Orey, the associate director of the BPC’s Elections Project and an author of the report. “We need to think more realistically about what it is that we actually need to do to improve elections.” They might have their work cut out for them.

Full Article: Election officials have ideas for stopping a 2024 crisis before it even starts – POLITICO

National: GOP distrust in voting machines persists as Dominion and Fox News head to legal showdown | Fredreka Schouten and Marshall Cohen/CNN

First, the Shasta County Board of Supervisors in rural northern California voted to cancel its contract with Dominion Voting Systems, citing public distrust of the company’s machines. Then, the supervisors agreed to shift to hand-counting ballots in future elections after receiving written assurance from one of the most vocal 2020 election deniers – MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell – that he would provide “financial and legal” resources to the county if it faced “pushback” over the move. The decision by a majority of supervisors in this deeply conservative county to end the Dominion contract – years before its expiration date and over the objection of the county’s top election official – illustrates how the attacks against the company continue to reverberate more than two years after the 2020 election. Dominion is preparing to face off in the coming days against Fox News in a Delaware courtroom in a high-profile $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit. Dominion claims the network “recklessly disregarded the truth” by peddling conspiracies advanced by former President Donald Trump and his allies about its voting systems. Fox News has denied any wrongdoing. Dominion has also sued Lindell and Trump-aligned attorneys Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, along with two smaller right-wing networks, Newsmax and One America News Network. Each lawsuit offers detailed rebuttals of the conspiracy theories that have flourished in pockets of the country and conservative media circles ever since Trump and his allies began pushing claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

Full Article: GOP distrust in voting machines persists as Dominion and Fox News head to legal showdown | CNN Politics

National: These state officials praised ERIC for years before suddenly pulling out of the program | Jessica Huseman/Votebeat

When newly elected Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis kicked off a series of election security reforms in 2019, he said, “protecting the integrity of Florida’s elections” was one of his “top priorities.”  In addition to giving $2 million to local election offices to shore up defenses and initiating a review of all 67 counties’ cyber practices, he also that year announced that Florida was joining the Electronic Registration Information Center — an obscure nonprofit that would help the massive state clean its voter roll and reach out to eligible but unregistered voters. “We want to make sure that the voter rolls are accurate, and one of the best ways to do that, I think, is for Florida to join the Electronic Registration Information Center, known as ERIC,” DeSantis said at an August 2019 news conference. So, starting the following year, Florida shared motor vehicle and voter registration data with ERIC. Using similar data from states across the country, ERIC produced a list of people who were registered in Florida but had moved, died, or otherwise rendered themselves ineligible to vote in the state. It also provided Florida with a list of people who were eligible to vote but had not registered.

Full Article: Why these states left ERIC after praising the voter roll-checking program – Votebeat: Nonpartisan local reporting on election administration and voting

National: Fox Election-Conspiracy Theories Spur Deluge of Threats, Dominion Voting Says | Jef Feeley/Bloomberg

Dominion Voting Systems remains “under siege” from threats spawned by 2020 election-conspiracy theories propounded by Fox News TV hosts and guests, a lawyer for Dominion told a judge. For more than two years, a deluge of threats has made it nearly impossible for the company to hire and retain workers, Dominion attorney Megan Meier said Tuesday at a pre-trial hearing. She said the threats are tied to false statements by Fox personalities who claimed Dominion engineered its machines to steal votes from ex-President Donald Trump. Dominion has sued Fox for $1.6 billion in damages, claiming defamation because the network aired bogus claims it rigged the presidential election to benefit Democratic candidate Joe Biden. The case is set for trial in Delaware this month. “The impact of these threats cannot be overstated,” Meier told Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis. The threats aren’t just against Dominion employees, she said. State officials who consider buying the company’s voting machines also are targeted, Meier said.

Full Article: Fox 2020 Election Conspiracy Theories Spur Threats, Dominion Voting Says – Bloomberg

Arizona: Maricopa County election investigation: Ballots were too long, paper too heavy for printers | Caitlin Sievers/AZ Mirror

Ballots that were too long and paper that was too heavy for some of Maricopa County ballot printers caused the majority of Election Day tabulation problems on Nov. 8, 2022, according to a report by a team of independent investigators the county hired to get to the bottom of the Election Day chaos. The ballot-printing problems, which caused tabulators to reject some ballots, led to frustration and long lines at some voting centers on Election Day. The printer malfunctions, which occurred at around 70 of Maricopa County’s 229 voting centers open that day, also fueled conspiracy theories from people like Republican Kari Lake, who lost her bid for governor to Democrat Katie Hobbs by around 17,000 votes. Lake claimed in her election challenge lawsuit that someone had intentionally tampered with the printers in an effort to disenfranchise in-person Election Day voters, who swung heavily Republican. But the trial, appellate and Arizona Supreme courts did not find Lake’s claims to be valid. Likewise, the independent investigation team found no evidence of tampering.

Source: Maricopa County election investigation: Ballots were too long, paper too heavy for printers

Editorial: Hand-counting ballots is a costly mistake for California county | San Luis Obispo Tribune

Some California counties have toyed with the idea of hand-counting election ballots, especially when denialism was at its peak following the 2020 election. In San Luis Obispo County, for example, Supervisor Debbie Arnold once tried to add manual tallies to a list of proposed election “reforms.” Fortunately, the suggestion went nowhere. But now one county has actually decided to make the switch — turning back the clock in a stunning show of bullheadedness. The Board of Supervisors in Shasta County, a pocket of right-wing extremism in Northern California, voted 3-2 to hand-count all ballots going forward — a process described as “exceptionally complex and error-prone” by the county’s top election official. It’s the first county in California to take that misbegotten step, which plays right into the hands of conspiracy theorists who will never concede that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. Let’s hope it’s the last county to do so.

Source: Hand-counting ballots is a costly mistake for California county | San Luis Obispo Tribune

Former Colorado County ClerkTina Peters Is Sentenced in Obstruction Case | Neil Vigdor/The New York Times

Tina Peters, a Trump loyalist who was barred from overseeing elections in a Colorado county after her indictment on charges related to tampering with voting equipment, was sentenced on Monday to home detention after she was convicted in a separate obstruction case. Ms. Peters, the former clerk in Mesa County, was given four months of house arrest and 120 hours of community service in connection with her February 2022 arrest in Grand Junction, Colo., on a misdemeanor obstruction charge, according to court records. A jury convicted Ms. Peters last month of stonewalling investigators from the district attorney’s office in Mesa County when they tried to seize an iPad from her that she had used to record a court proceeding. According to an affidavit, police officers responded to a local bagel shop where they said that Ms. Peters, a Republican, resisted while she was being searched and was taken into custody.

Full Article: Tina Peters, Former Colorado County Clerk, Is Sentenced in Obstruction Case – The New York Times

Georgia: Voting equipment and check-in upgrades funded in state budget | Mark Niesse/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia legislators approved half of the money needed to replace heavy voting equipment across the state, along with additional funding for a quicker voter check-in process and election investigators. The most expensive elections purchase in the state budget was $2 million for new power supply devices that connect to voting machines in precincts across the state. The power supplies will be more portable for poll workers, weighing about 30 pounds each instead of the current equipment that weights 80 pounds. Some of the older power supplies have already stopped working, four years after they were purchased as part of Georgia’s $107 million statewide voting equipment from Dominion Voting Systems. “The uninterrupted power supplies required by our ballot-marking devices are currently at the end of their life cycles, and some have actually begun to fail,” said Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. “The $2 million investment made by the Legislature will begin the upgrade process to new units that are more reliable and have a longer life cycle.” Because the General Assembly only appropriated half of the $4 million it would cost to replace power supplies statewide, many precincts will have to wait for new equipment. Legislators could consider that funding next year.

Full Article: Voting equipment and check-in upgrades funded in Georgia budget

Louisiana Secretary of State Ardoin won’t seek reelection | Sara Cline/Associated Press

Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin, who has overseen elections in the state for the last five years, announced Tuesday that he will not seek reelection this year. In recent years, the Republican has faced increasing scrutiny while supervising an effort to replace Louisiana’s outdated voting machines, which do not produce paper ballots that are critical to ensuring election results are accurate. The ongoing process to buy new machines was thrust into the national spotlight after allegations of bid-rigging, voting machine companies claimed favoritism, and conspiracy theorists — who support former President Donald Trump’s lies that the 2020 presidential election was stolen and unsuccessfully urged Ardoin to ditch voting machines altogether and instead rely on hand-counted paper ballots — inserted themselves into the conversation.  “I hope that Louisianans of all political persuasions will stand against the pervasive lies that have eroded trust in our elections by using conspiracies so far-fetched that they belong in a work of fiction,” Ardoin said in a statement Tuesday. “The vast majority of Louisiana’s voters know that our elections are secure and accurate, and it is shameful and outright dangerous that a small minority of vocal individuals have chosen to denigrate the hard work of our election staff and spread unproven falsehoods.”

Full Article: Louisiana Secretary of State Ardoin won’t seek reelection | AP News

Nevada lawmakers consider requiring voting machines for all in-person voting | Sean Golonka/The Nevada Independent

After multiple rural counties attempted to eliminate or consider eliminating the use of mechanical voting machines last year, Nevada lawmakers are considering a bill that would require such machines to be used for in-person voting. The change would primarily affect Nye County, where county officials last year transitioned away from the use of electronic voting machines amid the spread of election fraud conspiracy theories that targeted Dominion Voting Systems, a major manufacturer and provider of voting equipment nationally and in Nevada. AB242, which comes from the Joint Interim Standing Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections, would prohibit the use of paper ballots for in-person voting, instead requiring the use of voting machines for in-person voting. Voting machines used in Nevada include the Dominion electronic voting machines used in 15 counties, including Clark and Washoe counties, and mechanical ballot marking devices used in Carson City and Lander County. Assemblywoman Tracy Brown-May (D-Las Vegas) presented the bill and said the measure was intended to “address the inadequacies in accessibility for people with disabilities to be able to cast their votes.”

Full Article: Lawmakers consider requiring voting machines for all in-person voting – The Nevada Independent

New Hampshire: New House GOP proposal for voting machines emerges | Kevin Landrigan/The New Hampshire Union Leader

Cities and towns could qualify to use some of the $12 million federal Help America Vote Act grant surplus to replace aging voting machines under a move a House Republican leader is backing — reviving a proposal supported by leading House and Senate Democrats. House Election Laws Committee Chairman Ross Berry, R-Merrimack, proposed Tuesday to graft this proposal onto a Senate-passed bill (SB 70) to create a voter information portal that would permit citizens online to more easily register to vote, update their information or request absentee ballots. The state Senate earlier killed separate legislation (SB 73) to permit the use of Help America Vote Act (HAVA) money for voting machines while Berry’s House committee decided to retain its own legislation on the topic (HB 447) until early in 2024. Berry said he was hoping his gambit could permit both these ideas to become a reality. “We know our colleagues on the other side of the wall really love the portal,” Berry said. “Let’s marry the two and have our cake and eat it too; that’s what the bill does.” Senate Election Laws and Municipal Affairs Committee Chairman James Gray, R-Rochester, said the Senate remains dead-set against using HAVA grants so communities could replace their AccuVote machines, the only technology allowed for cities and towns that don’t have paper balloting.

Full Article: New House GOP proposal for voting machines emerges

Most South Dakota county auditors disagree with election drop box ban | Stu Whitney/South Dakota News Watch

When the question of using election drop boxes for South Dakota early voting was raised in a House State Affairs committee hearing in Pierre in early February, the discussion took on an ominous tone, mirroring national rhetoric over the integrity of American elections. “It’s simply too easy for bad actors to abuse these drop-off sites to dump unauthorized ballots illegally,” said Republican Rep. Kirk Chaffee of Whitewood. He was the prime sponsor of House Bill 1165, which modified absentee voting rules and banned the use of unmonitored drop boxes in South Dakota. T.J. Nelson, a lobbyist for Opportunity Solutions Project, a conservative advocacy group that has pushed for restrictions to absentee voting in state legislatures, also issued warnings while working with legislators and county auditors to make it “easier to vote but harder to cheat,” a mantra used by supporters of early-voting reforms.

Full Article: Most South Dakota county auditors disagree with election drop box ban – South Dakota News Watch

Texas lawmakers take first steps to reverse course on costly requirement for election technology that doesn’t exist | Natalia Contreras/The Texas Tribune

Texas lawmakers are trying to undo an expensive election problem they didn’t realize they had created in the first place. In 2021, they passed a law that is set to require counties to purchase vote-counting equipment that does not yet exist and that would cost taxpayers more than $100 million. The measure, when it was proposed, went unnoticed and passed on a voice vote without debate. After Votebeat reported in February on the unprecedented problem with the law and election officials’ deep concerns, state Sen. Bryan Hughes, a Republican, and other lawmakers filed legislation to ease the conundrum the measure had forced on Texas counties, which would be prohibited from using their current vote-counting equipment and required to purchase new equipment each election. Hughes said during a committee hearing last month that there had been a “misunderstanding on the scope” of the provision. Hughes’ new proposal, Senate Bill 1661, would amend the language of that law to allow counties to continue to use the voting equipment they have without any additional costs to counties or taxpayers. “When this became law, the hope was that it would get fixed this session, and we’re glad to see it’s getting addressed,” said Chris Davis, the Williamson County elections administrator. “We’re glad [lawmakers] recognize their mistake.”

Full Article: Texas lawmakers walk back election voting equipment requirement | The Texas Tribune

Virginia: Hounded by baseless voter fraud allegations, an entire county’s election staff quits | Jane C. Timm/NBC

Lindsey Taylor loved running elections here. The previous registrar had spent nearly three decades in the job, and Taylor, 37, hoped to do the same when she was hired in 2019. She loved her staff and the volunteer poll workers, and she took pride in the detail-oriented work. She implemented dozens of new laws in 2020, ran elections through the pandemic and impressed many in the rural, conservative, tight-knit community of Buckingham County. But then the voter fraud claims started. In January, the GOP assumed control of the Buckingham County Electoral Board that oversees her office, and local Republicans began advancing baseless voter fraud claims that baffled her. The electoral board made it clear it wanted her out of the job. “There were people saying that they had heard all these rumors — that the attorney general was going to indict me,” Taylor said, days after leaving the office for the last time. “Mentally, I just — I couldn’t take it anymore.” Three weeks ago, frustrated and heartbroken, Taylor, along with two part-time staffers, quit. Their resignations followed a deputy registrar who left in February, citing the same conflict. The four departures left residents without a functioning registrar’s office; there was no way to register to vote or certify candidate paperwork, at least temporarily.

Full Article: Amid baseless voter fraud claims, an entire county election staff quits

Wisconsin’s Judicial Election Tests Democratic Norms | Alice Clapman/Brennan Center for Justice

The results of Wisconsin’s 2023 election, shifting control away from the conservative majority after 15 years, have set up a critical test for Republicans and, more broadly, for that state’s democratic systems. As a nation, we should pay attention. Wisconsin has long been an example of one party solidifying its political power at the expense of democratic norms. For over a decade, Wisconsin Republicans have entrenched themselves in the legislative majority with two of the worst gerrymanders in the country, drawing districts that have yielded them legislative majorities wildly out of step with their actual share of votes in the state. In 2018, after losing both the governorship and the attorney general’s office, they called a special session to pass, in the literal dead of night, omnibus legislation stripping power from those offices, confirming 82 last-minute executive appointments, and making it harder to vote in future elections. Unfortunately, Wisconsin is far from alone in this respect: in multiple states, such as North Carolina, Iowa, Montana, and Alaska, Republican legislators have been stripping power from other democratically elected branches. And of course, both parties have engaged in gerrymandering, though not to the same degree.

Full Article: Wisconsin’s Judicial Election Tests Democratic Norms | Brennan Center for Justice

Nevada Secretary of State slams Governor’s election reform bill | Mark Credico/Las Vegas Review-Journal

Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar criticized an elections bill introduced by Gov. Joe Lombardo that would institute voter ID and end the practice of sending a mail ballot to every active registered voter. Speaking during a tour of Henderson’s voting facilities Monday as residents cast ballots in a special election to fill the vacant Ward 1 seat, Aguilar dismissed Senate Bill 405 as unnecessary. “I think it’s the solution to a problem that doesn’t exist,” Aguilar told reporters Monday morning. The measure, introduced last week, would require voters to show ID to vote, either in person or by mail, end universal mail balloting, require all mail ballots to be received by the county before polls close on Election Day and place limitations on so-called ballot harvesters who turn in ballots on behalf of others. Other Nevada Democrats have also criticized the governor’s proposed bill. Aguilar called the bill “a response to anecdotal information rather than facts.” He praised the current state of Nevada’s elections, saying they are “some of the most secure elections in the country” and are highly rated by third-party audits.

Full Article: Aguilar slams Lombardo’s Nevada election reform bill | Las Vegas Review-Journal

National: Attacks on Dominion Voting Persist Despite High-Profile Lawsuits | Stuart A. Thompson/The New York Times

With a series of billion-dollar lawsuits, including a $1.6 billion case against Fox News headed to trial this month, Dominion Voting Systems sent a stark warning to anyone spreading falsehoods that the company’s technology contributed to fraud in the 2020 election: Be careful with your words, or you might pay the price. Not everyone is heeding the warning. “Dominion, why don’t you show us what’s inside your machines?” Mike Lindell, the MyPillow executive and prominent election denier, shouted during a livestream last month. He added that the company, which has filed a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit against him, was engaged in “the biggest cover-up for the biggest crime in United States history — probably in world history.” Claims that election software companies like Dominion helped orchestrate widespread fraud in the 2020 election have been widely debunked in the years since former President Donald J. Trump and his allies first pushed the theories. But far-right Americans on social media and influencers in the news media have continued in recent weeks and months to make unfounded assertions about the company and its electronic voting machines, pressuring government officials to scrap contracts with Dominion, sometimes successfully. The enduring attacks illustrate how Mr. Trump’s voter fraud claims have taken root in the shared imagination of his supporters. And they reflect the daunting challenge that Dominion, and any other group that draws the attention of conspiracy theorists, faces in putting false claims to rest.

Full Article: Attacks on Dominion Voting Persist Despite High-Profile Lawsuits – The New York Times

Could Ballot Images Loosen the Grip of Disinformation? | Steven Rosenfeld/Washington Monthly

Former President Donald Trump’s indictment in New York City has put election disinformation back under the klieg lights. But across the country in Arizona, a noteworthy and nominally bipartisan reform intended to loosen disinformation’s grip has been moving ahead in one of the nation’s most Trump-friendly legislatures. The transparency-based measure is an interesting but controversial remedy to address two commonly hurled clichés about unpopular election results. First, the bill creates a mechanism for determining whether voters who received a ballot were legal and registered. And second, it would verify if each of the choices on the ballot has been accurately counted.  S.B. 1324 does this by requiring Arizona’s counties to release four essential records used by elections officials soon after Election Day so that anyone can verify the electorate’s legality and the result’s accuracy. Any error or interference, if found, could be quickly evaluated and addressed before the window for a legal recount or election challenge litigation closed. While different states release or sell some of these data sets, most election officials keep these administrative details out of public view. Instead, election managers typically urge voters to trust their oversight. The Arizona legislation could mark a start of changing this status quo.

Full Article: Could Ballot Images Loosen the Grip of Disinformation? | Washington Monthly

National: Trump was repeatedly warned he did not have the authority to seize voting machines, officials tell special counsel | Zachary Cohen/CNN

Former top national security officials have testified to a federal grand jury that they repeatedly told former President Donald Trump and his allies that the government didn’t have the authority to seize voting machines after the 2020 election, CNN has learned. Chad Wolf, the former acting Homeland Security secretary, and his former deputy Ken Cuccinelli were asked about discussions inside the administration around DHS seizing voting machines when they appeared before the grand jury earlier this year, according to three people familiar with the proceedings. Cuccinelli testified that he “made clear at all times” that DHS did not have the authority to take such a step, one of the sources said. Trump’s former national security adviser Robert O’Brien, in a closed-door interview with federal prosecutors earlier this year, also recounted conversations about seizing voting machines after the 2020 election, including during a heated Oval Office meeting that Trump participated in, according to a source familiar with the matter. Details about the secret grand jury testimony and O’Brien’s interview, neither of which have been previously reported, illustrate how special counsel Jack Smith and his prosecutors are looking at the various ways Trump tried to overturn his electoral loss despite some of his top officials advising him against the ideas.

Full Article: Trump was repeatedly warned he did not have the authority to seize voting machines, officials tell special counsel | CNN Politics