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

National: Voters with disabilities often overlooked in voting battles | Ayanna Alexander/Associated Press

Patti Chang walked into her polling place in Chicago earlier this year, anxious about how poll workers would treat her, especially as a voter who is blind. Even though she was accompanied by her husband, she said she was ignored until a poll worker grabbed her cane and pulled her toward a voting booth. Like many voters with disabilities, Chang faces barriers at the polls most voters never even consider — missing ramps or door knobs, for example. The lack of help or empathy from some poll workers just adds to the burden for people with disabilities. “It doesn’t help you want to be in there if you’re going to encounter those kinds of low expectations,” said Chang, 59. “So why should I go vote if I’m going to have to fight with the poll workers? I’m an adult and I should be able to vote without that.” Chang had a better experience when she cast an early ballot in March in the runoff election for Chicago mayor, a race that will be decided Tuesday, even as access to the ballot box remains a challenge across the city for voters like her. Chicago is among numerous voting jurisdictions across the United States with poor access to polling locations for disabled voters. Since 2016, the Department of Justice has entered into more than three dozen settlements or agreements to force better access in cities and counties under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Many of those places are holding elections this year.

Full Article: Voters with disabilities often overlooked in voting battles | AP News

National: How Fox Chased Its Audience Down the Rabbit Hole | Jim Rutenberg/The New York Times

On the evening of Nov. 19, 2020, Rupert Murdoch was watching TV and crawling the walls of his 18th-century mansion in the British countryside while under strict pandemic lockdown. The television hosts at Murdoch’s top cable network, Fox News, might have scoffed at such unyielding adherence to Covid protocols. But Jerry Hall, his soon-to-be fourth ex-wife and no fan of Fox or its conservative hosts, was insisting that Murdoch, approaching his 90th birthday, remain cautious. The big story that day, as it had been every day in the two weeks since the election, was election theft, and now Rudolph W. Giuliani was giving a news conference at the Republican National Committee. With Sidney Powell, the right-wing attorney and conspiracy theorist, at his side, Giuliani, sweating profusely, black hair dye dripping down the side of his face, spun a wild fantasy about Joe Biden’s stealing the election from President Donald J. Trump. Dizzying in its delusional complexity, it centered on a supposed plot by the Clinton Foundation, George Soros and associates of Hugo Chávez to convert Trump votes into Biden votes by way of software from Smartmatic and voting machines from Dominion Voting Systems.

Source: How Fox Chased Its Audience Down the Rabbit Hole – The New York Times

Alabama Senate approves bills requiring paper ballots, banning internet-capable voting machines | Jemma Stephenson/Chattanooga Times Free Press

The Alabama Senate approved two bills that would codify current voting practices. Senate Bill 9 and Senate Bill 10, both sponsored by Sen. Clyde Chambliss, R-Prattville, passed through the chamber. SB 9 requires the use of paper ballots in voting machines. SB 10 prevents the use of voting machines that connect to the internet. Each passed on 29-0 votes. Both measures passed Tuesday afternoon. Chambliss said after the Senate adjourned Tuesday that the bills would not affect polling places. The legislation, he said, aimed to prevent hacking and allow ballot counting when power outages take place. “What we’re trying to do is be proactive with issues that we’ve seen happen in other places and just make sure that’s not a problem here,” Chambliss said.

Full Article: Alabama Senate approves bills requiring paper ballots, banning internet-capable voting machines | Chattanooga Times Free Press

Arizona: Cochise County supervisors ordered to pay legal fees in election certification suit | Gloria Rebecca Gomez/Arizona Mirror

The Cochise County supervisors who delayed certification of the November midterms will have to pay more than $36,000 in legal fees, a Pima County judge has ruled. Last year, Republican county supervisors Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd initially refused to certify the canvass of the countywide election results, jeopardizing the state certification process and risking the votes of thousands. To defend their refusal, the two cited bogus allegations that the county’s electronic tabulators weren’t properly certified. Only after then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs took them to court and a judge ordered them to complete their statutorily mandated duties did they finally certify the results. Afterward, both the secretary of state and the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans, which joined the lawsuit against Crosby and Judd, filed to request reimbursement of their attorneys fees and court costs. Late Wednesday, Pima County Superior Court Judge Casey McGinley approved part of that request. Secretary of State Adrian Fontes was awarded $13,143, despite petitioning for more than $17,000. The Alliance, which originally filed for more than $34,000 was awarded just over $23,000. McGinley rejected arguments from Crosby and Judd that election lawsuits shouldn’t be subject to attorney fee repayments, and that taxpayers should bear the brunt of the cost, calling their arguments “unavailing.”

Full Article: Cochise supervisors ordered to pay legal fees in election certification suit • Arizona Mirror

California: Shasta County finally picks voting system, rescinds CEO job offer | Roman Battaglia/Jefferson Public Radio

After months of confusion about how Shasta County will conduct its elections, county supervisors approved a new company to provide their voting equipment on Thursday. That’s in addition to an effort to hand-count ballots. The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to pick Hart Intercivic as their new provider of voting equipment in the county. That’s after the board canceled their contract with Dominion Voting Systems in January, based on unproven claims of election fraud. The decision made Shasta the first county in California to drop Dominion. The county is required to have a vendor to provide voting accessibility, but their larger plan is to count all of the ballots by hand. No other county in California counts ballots this way. During Thursday’s meeting, Supervisor Mary Rickert said that hand-counting is both expensive and a waste of resources. “I feel like you’re almost, kind-of setting up the elections office to fail,” she said. Elections department staff say that state rules that are currently under development about hand-counting would require they still scan ballots before counting them to deter fraud. The board approved an initial $800,000 dollars on Thursday for the Hart Intercivic system. They haven’t figured out how it will affect the county’s budget. More funding will be needed to pay for the costs of hand-counting.

Full Article: Shasta finally picks voting system, rescinds CEO job offer | Jefferson Public Radio

Colorado’s top election official continues to worry about misinformation going into 2024 | Dylan Anderson/SteamboatToday

Colorado’s top election official says she is still concerned about misinformation as she looks ahead to the 2024 presidential race. Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, said that while many election deniers lost in the 2022 midterms, there are still many of them in prominent positions. “There’s 150 election deniers in the U.S. Congress,” Griswold told the Steamboat Pilot & Today. “There are five or six secretary of state election deniers. The top of the ticket presidential on the Republican side could be an election denier. Their lies incited violence. Griswold, who was in Steamboat Springs to meet with business leaders and election officials on Tuesday, April 4, said she thinks Colorado will continue to see election misinformation as the next presidential election approaches, which she said takes a toll on election workers. Griswold noted that two people have been arrested for threatening her life. “They’re causing election workers to step down; it’s causing attacks to election infrastructure,” Griswold said. “As secretary of state, my job is to make sure that every eligible Republican, Democrat and unaffiliated voter has access.”

Full Article: Pushing for reforms, Colorado’s top election official continues to worry about misinformation going into 2024 | SteamboatToday.com

Michigan: Ionia County board denies request to hand count votes for May election | Evan Sasiela/Ionia Sentinel-Standard

Ionia County will continue to utilize an optical scan machine for the May 2023 election after a request to hand count paper ballots was denied. The Ionia County Board of Commissioners voted 6-0 at its March 28 meeting to deny a request from the Ionia County Republican Party for a paper ballot hand count in the May 2 election. Kristie Walls, vice chair of the Ionia County Republican Party, said the request was made due to the election software being close-sourced — meaning it can only be accessed by the manufacturer — and that tabulation equipment has components made in China. Walls, who worked as a financial controller and IT manager for 15 years, said she’d like to see a resolution from the county to support the hand count of paper ballots. “Your public wants you to be aware that we are not confident in election equipment, and these are the reasons why we’re not confident in it,” Walls told the board. “We’d like your support.”

Full Article: Ionia County board denies request to hand count votes for May election

How will Montana police the integrity of its future elections? | Alex Sakariassen/Montana Free Press

The past three months have featured one legislative debate after another over proposed changes to how counties conduct elections and verify their results. But last week the conversation took an inevitable turn into the realm of enforcement — in other words, how Montana will police the integrity of its elections moving forward. The first pitch came last Wednesday from Rep. Neil Duram, R-Eureka, who suggested the state establish an “election security team” made up of eight appointees handpicked by statewide officials, legislative leaders and the Montana Supreme Court. Duram’s House Bill 905 would task that team with overseeing a post-election hand count of all ballots cast in every Montana precinct — numbering 663 as of the 2022 general election — and report its findings to state and county election officials.

Source: How will Montana police the integrity of its future elections?

North Dakota Senate OKs bill to ensure physical polling places | Jack Dura/The Bismarck Tribune

The North Dakota Senate on Friday, March 31, passed a bill to ensure physical polling places, similar to legislation that failed in 2021, brought in the wake of North Dakota’s all-mail June 2020 election. House Bill 1167 , by Rep. Steve Vetter, R-Grand Forks, passed in a 39-5 vote and now goes to Gov. Doug Burgum. The state House of Representatives in February passed the bill unanimously. The bill states: “The governor may not issue an executive order that suspends or amends a provision in a statute, order, or rule relating to a state or local requirement regarding minimum number of physical polling places.” Burgum in 2020 signed an executive order waiving the requirement that counties provide at least one physical polling site for the June 2020 election due to the coronavirus pandemic. The House and Senate in 2021 had passed the previous bill, but the Senate reconsidered it and it failed by a single vote.

Full Article: North Dakota Senate OKs bill to ensure physical polling places – InForum | Fargo, Moorhead and West Fargo news, weather and sports

Texas GOP wants out of national program that targets voter fraud | Cayla Harris/San Antonio Express-News

State lawmakers are taking steps to pull Texas out of a multistate partnership that helps prevent voter fraud and encourages unregistered citizens to sign up to vote. Officials have hinted at the state’s impending exit from the Electronic Registration Information Center for months, and senators heard testimony on a bill last week that would clear the way for Texas to leave the program. The initiative launched in 2012 and had more than 30 member states at its peak, helping local governments identify voters who moved, died or had duplicate registrations. Texas Republicans say they want to replace ERIC with their own program, but it’s unclear how long it would take to develop and how many states would join. “Many Texans and folks across the country — but in particular, Texans — are concerned about the security of voter information flowing to this national organization, also about the high cost associated with it,” said state Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, as he introduced Senate Bill 1070 last week.

Full Article: Texas GOP wants out of national program that targets voter fraud

Vermont journalist Sue Halpern on threats to democracy | David Goodman/VTDigger

Vermont journalist Sue Halpern reports on national issues for the New Yorker magazine, where she is a staff writer. Her recent reporting has included stories about the 40-year effort to ban abortion pills, the promise and peril of artificial intelligence, and threats to democracy. One topic that she has covered in depth is the effort to subvert elections. She has written about candidates for secretary of state who deny that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, attempts by election deniers to access electronic voting systems and the Republican war on voting. Halpern was recently shocked to discover that Vermont is currently considering allowing internet voting, which experts have described as “a security nightmare.” The provision, which is supported by the Office of the Vermont Secretary of State, is tucked into legislation, H.429, that was approved last month by the Vermont House and is now being considered in the Senate. Among those arguing against Vermont’s internet voting provision are the watchdog groups Common Cause, Public Citizen, Free Speech for the People and the Brennan Center for Justice.

Full Article: Vermont Conversation: Journalist Sue Halpern on threats to democracy – VTDigger

Wisconsin: Disabled voters say absentee law not followed | Scott Bauer/Associated Press

Disabled voters say local election leaders across Wisconsin are not following federal law during early voting in the high-stakes race for state Supreme Court, incorrectly telling them they can’t have another person return their absentee ballot for them. Absentee ballots, and who can return them, has been a political flashpoint in battleground Wisconsin, known for razor-thin margins in statewide races. The April 4 election will determine majority control of the state Supreme Court, with abortion access and the fate of Republican-drawn legislative maps on the line. Challenges to laws and practices in at least eight states that make it difficult or impossible for people with certain disabilities to vote have also arisen in the past two years. At the same time, there has been a push in many states to restrict rules affecting who can return absentee ballots. Wisconsin Republicans successfully sued last year to ban absentee ballot drop boxes, and the conservative-controlled state Supreme Court ruled that only the voter can return their ballot in person or place it in the mail. People with disabilities filed a federal lawsuit in response to the state court’s decision, arguing that federal law allows them to get assistance in returning their ballot. A federal court ruled in their favor in August, noting that the Voting Rights Act applies to Wisconsin voters who require assistance with mailing or delivering their absentee ballot because of a disability.

Full Article: Disabled Wisconsin voters say absentee law not followed | AP News

National: Far-right presentation using misappropriated election software alarms experts | Sarah D. Wire/Los Angeles Times

On the third day of the Conservative Political Action Conference this month, two men demonstrated experts’ biggest concerns about attempts to access election machines after the 2020 election. Using copies of election software that was improperly taken from multiple counties and that has been circulating among election deniers, they presented unfounded claims that they had discovered evidence of fraud and foreign interference. They also discussed their goals of securing jobs as election officials and building a team of computer experts to access elections systems in more than 60 counties in order to prove their theories. “This is exactly the situation that I have warned about,” Kevin Skoglund, chief technologist for Citizens for Better Elections, said of the presentation during CPAC. “Having the software out there allows people to make wild claims about it. It creates disinformation that we have to watch out for and tamp down.” Skoglund is among the election security experts concerned that bad actors are using the time between the 2020 and 2024 elections to study election systems and software in order to produce disinformation during the next presidential election, such as fake evidence of fraud or questionable results. Described as an election integrity presentation, the event wasn’t on the official conference agenda or sanctioned by CPAC, but took place in a guest room at a nearby hotel. Some CPAC sponsors plan and produce their own sessions on the conference’s sidelines.

Full Article: How improperly obtained election information is being shared – Los Angeles Times

National: Online voting provider paid for academic research in attempt to sway U.S. lawmakers  | Yael Grauer/CyberScoop

House Bill 1475 would transform how many voters in the state of Washington cast their ballots. Rather than trooping to the ballot box or mailing in absentee ballots, the bill would have allowed some voters, like those overseas or disabled, to vote and return their ballots online. Election security experts have determined time and again that any kind of online ballot processing poses significant risks to the integrity, security and privacy of votes. Nonetheless, HB 1475 — and efforts in other states and at the federal level — embraces this controversial technology. At the center of the effort to pass laws incorporating online voting is a company called Democracy Live. At a Jan. 25 hearing before the State Government and Tribal Relations Committee of  Washington’s lower house, Democracy Live CEO Bryan Finney and King County Director of Elections Julie Wise made the case for incorporating online voting. Wise, who oversees elections in Washington’s most populous county, told the committee that she would follow up by emailing a letter from the University of Washington’s Center for Information Assurance and Cybersecurity, “where they go into great depth of reviewing what we’re talking about today.” That letter was supposed to provide a testament to the security of Democracy Live’s products but did not disclose that one of the two people who signed the letter, Michael Hamilton, was a paid consultant for Democracy Live while testifying to the security of the company’s products. It also fails to mention that Democracy Live paid University of Washington employee Ran Hinrichs to serve as a project manager for work leading up to the letter, including an unpublished study referenced in it.

Full Article: Online voting provider paid for academic research in attempt to sway U.S. lawmakers  | CyberScoop

National: How Election Deniers Are Making Voter Fraud Easier | Alan Greenblatt/Governing

In February, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose held a news conference in which he discussed ways the state was making elections more transparent and secure. One thing that’s indispensable, he suggested, was ERIC, or the Electronic Registration Information Center, a data-sharing effort among states. “It is one of the best fraud-fighting tools that we have,” LaRose said. “It’s a tool that has provided great benefit for us, and we’re going to continue to use it.” Well, that was then. On March 17, LaRose announced Ohio was quitting ERIC. It’s among a half-dozen Republican-controlled states that have left this year, including five just this month. As a result, election officials are worried that one of the most effective sources of voter information available to states — and a rare bipartisan success story over the past decade — has been undermined. “It’s going to leave you in a position of not having a tool you can use to prevent voter fraud,” says John Merrill, a Republican who served as Alabama’s secretary of state until January. “It’s going to be a major concern for states that are concerned with election integrity.”

Full Article: How Election Deniers Are Making Voter Fraud Easier

National: State election officials at U.S. Senate hearing discuss threats to workers, call for funding | Ariana Figueroa/New Jersey Monitor

Election officials on Tuesday detailed to the U.S. Senate Rules Committee how their states countered threats to election workers and worked to combat misinformation and disinformation during the 2022 midterm election. With the 2024 presidential election closely approaching, Senate Rules Committee Chair Sen. Amy Klobuchar said she was concerned about threats to election workers and disinformation campaigns that aim to undermine elections. Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, said it was important to hear from election officials from those states — North Carolina, South Carolina, New Mexico and Nebraska — to help prepare for the 2024 elections. “In the face of these challenges, it is important as ever that we continue to support election officials as they do their jobs to uphold our democracy,” she said. Sen. Alex Padilla, a California Democrat, said the “big lie” has had an effect on election workers, because many have left due to threats and harassment.

Full Article: State election officials at U.S. Senate hearing discuss threats to workers, call for funding – New Jersey Monitor

National: Bipartisan former members of Congress call for boost in funding to secure elections | Jennifer Shutt/Kansas Reflector

A bipartisan group of former U.S. lawmakers on the National Council on Election Integrity called on Congress on Friday to spend $400 million on election integrity to insulate the system from foreign interference. “The Department of Homeland Security designated our election system as critical infrastructure in 2017,” the four wrote in a letter. “However, that designation was not accompanied by regular or adequate federal funding.” “In each of the last two years, Congress appropriated just $75 million for Election Security Grants — a fraction of the funds needed to secure our elections in this dynamic threat environment,” they added. The co-chairs of the council — former Virginia Republican Rep. Barbara Comstock, former Maryland Democratic Rep. Donna Edwards, former Indiana Democratic Rep. Tim Roemer and former Tennessee Republican Rep. Zach Wamp — wrote in the letter they are “deeply concerned that election officials are currently not receiving the federal support that they need to strengthen and secure federal elections in 2024 and beyond.” The National Council on Election Integrity, which began ahead of the 2020 presidential elections, includes about 40 civic and political leaders focused on “defending the legitimacy of our free and fair elections,” according to its website.

Full Article: Bipartisan former members of Congress call for boost in funding to secure elections – Kansas Reflector

National: Fox lawsuit highlights effects of conspiracies on Dominion | Christina A. Cassidy and Jonathan J. Cooper/Associated Press

In Arizona’s most populous county, elected officials are bracing for what could happen when it comes time to replace its $2 million-a-year contract for voting equipment. Officials in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, say they have no concerns about their current vendor, Dominion Voting Systems. The problem is that the company has been ensnared in a web of conspiracy theories since the 2020 presidential race that have undermined public confidence in U.S. elections among conservative voters, led to calls to ban voting machines in some places and triggered death threats against election officials across the country. “I have concerns over my own personal security if we re-enlist Dominion,” Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican elected in 2020, said in a court filing. “It went from a company that nobody had heard about to a company that is maybe one of the most demonized brands in the United States or the world.” That sudden turnabout in fortunes for the Colorado-based voting machine company is at the heart of a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit it has filed against Fox News, with the trial scheduled to begin in mid-April. Dominion claims Fox defamed it by repeatedly airing false claims about the company’s voting machines and software. Court records and testimony revealed that several Fox hosts and executives didn’t believe the claims pushed by former President Donald Trump and his allies since the 2020 election but continued to air them, in part because they were worried about losing viewers.

Full Article: Fox lawsuit highlights effects of conspiracies on Dominion | AP News

National: How to Protect American Democracy | Lawrence Norden and Derek Tisler/Foreign Affairs

The 2016 presidential election made clear that American democracy is vulnerable to interference by foreign adversaries. In response, officials at all levels of government moved quickly to strengthen protections for the vote. In 2020, the danger of domestic attacks came into greater focus, with the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol in 2021 serving as a frightening wake-up call. The antidemocratic and violent forces unleashed that day have not faded away. Instead, the threat has metastasized. For the past two years, prominent voices have continued to spread lies about the electoral system and the results of the 2020 election. Election workers have experienced ongoing harassment and violence. There have also been instances of “insider threats,” where a small number of election workers have themselves propagated false election information and taken actions that directly threaten election integrity. The good news is that the 2022 congressional midterms stalled the momentum of those denying the legitimacy of the 2020 election. Election deniers running to take over election administration in battleground states mostly lost their races, and across the country, voting was remarkably peaceful.

Full Article: How to Protect American Democracy | Foreign Affairs

Arizona: Kari Lake’s election challenge delayed as court consider sanctions | Stacey Barchenger/Arizona Republic

The election challenge filed by former GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake will extend for weeks more following two court orders Saturday that set schedules to sort out the remaining issues in the case. Last week, the Arizona Supreme Court sent a single claim in Lake’s case — her allegation that Maricopa County’s practice of verifying ballot signatures didn’t follow state law — back to a county judge for reconsideration. That county judge set a schedule to examine the signature verification issue with the possibility of oral arguments this week. Now, those dates are off. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson on Saturday rescinded his order from just days before after the Supreme Court, in its own Saturday order, set a schedule to consider whether Lake should face sanctions for bringing a case that Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs’ legal team has dubbed frivolous.

Full Article: Kari Lake’s election challenge delayed as court consider sanctions

California: Shasta County’s quest to replace Dominion turns ‘very dark’ | Eric Ting/ SFGATE

After Shasta County ended its contract with Dominion Voting Systems over election fraud conspiracy theories, there were two options county leaders considered: 1) Enter an agreement with a different electronic voting system certified by the state of California, or 2) Attempt to count all ballots by hand  — which would come at a very steep cost and risk falling out of compliance with state law — and apparently hope that My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell pays the legal fees stemming from any possible lawsuits. Guess which option the five-person board — now led by a conservative supermajority — chose. “The whole thing is just hard to absorb and I’m in a little bit of shock,” county elections chief Cathy Darling Allen told SFGATE on Tuesday evening, after the board voted 3-2 to hand-count all ballots. The vote came at the tail end of a laborious nine-hour meeting. “It’s pretty clear the supervisors don’t quite understand what they’ve undertaken,” Allen said.

Full Article: Shasta County’s quest to replace Dominion turns ‘very dark’

California: Shasta elections official: County likely needs 1,300 workers to hand count votes; ‘even we cannot perform miracles’ | David Benda/Redding Record Searchlight

Opting to manually count ballots in an election could set Shasta County back more than $1.6 million and would require hiring 1,300 workers to help with the tally and renting a facility that’s large enough to carry out the work securely. That’s the determination from county Registrar of Voters Cathy Darling Allen who late Monday night released a 26-page analysis on hand-counting in which she urges leaders to reject a system that has not been tested anywhere in California. The report, which is accompanied by a three-page letter addressed to the Board of Supervisors, dropped just hours before members are scheduled to decide what future elections will be like in the county. Supervisors will consider on Tuesday Chair Patrick Jones’ push for counting votes by hand as well as a voting system that also allows for at least two races to be manually counted. Darling Allen is calling on the supervisors to either reinstate the contract with Dominion Voting Systems or approve a contract for new voting machines. To do otherwise could put the county at risk of not being able to conduct elections within the mandated timelines and result in voter disenfranchisement, potential litigation and erosion of confidence in local elections, she said.

Full Article: Shasta County elections official warns against counting votes by hand

Colorado Secretary of State settles lawsuit with conservative watchdog over voter roll maintenance practices | Matt Bloom/Colorado Public Radio

A conservative watchdog group has come to terms with the Colorado Secretary of State’s office in a lawsuit over its voter registration list maintenance practice after years of litigation. The suit, brought by Judicial Watch in U.S. District Court in 2020, alleged that Sec. Jena Griswold violated the National Voter Registration Act by failing to remove ineligible voters from the state’s rolls. That discrepancy led to artificially high registration rates in many counties, the lawsuit claimed. As a part of its agreement to dismiss the case, Griswold denied all claims that Colorado violated federal laws that govern voter roll maintenance. But her office agreed to provide Judicial Watch with public data from a federal survey on an annual basis for the next five years. “We have a very rigorous list maintenance process and I do not believe that this litigation is about anything based in fact,” Griswold said. Her office settled the lawsuit to prevent “further unnecessary drain” on state resources, she said. She also characterized the lawsuit as a meritless attack on democracy. “Election disinformation continues to plague the nation and Colorado, and organizations like Judicial Watch share responsibility for the ongoing threats to democracy,” she said.

Full Article: Colorado Secretary of State settles lawsuit with conservative watchdog over voter roll maintenance practices | Colorado Public Radio