Warren Stewart – Page 86 – The Voting News

A state judge cleared the way Thursday for Pennsylvania counties to continue helping voters correct small mistakes on their submitted mail ballots, saying nothing in the law prohibits the practice. The decision was a loss, at least temporarily, for Republicans who have tried in recent years to stop local elections officials from offering voters the opportunity to fix errors like missing signatures that would otherwise cause their ballots to be thrown out. “Petitioners have not proven that there is a clear violation of the Election Code or the law interpreting the Election Code,” Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Judge Ellen Ceisler wrote in her 58-page opinion. The ruling came in response to a lawsuit brought by the Republican National Committee, which had asked the judge to bar the practice — known as “ballot curing” — before the November election. They cited the fact that there is no consistent curing policy across the state, and that some counties allow voters to fix errors while others do not.

Full Article: Pennsylvania counties can help voters fix problems with their mail ballots, state court rules

Texas court confirms the AG can’t unilaterally prosecute election cases | Alejandro Serrano/The Texas Tribune

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton‘s last-ditch attempt to regain the power of his office to unilaterally prosecute election cases was rejected by the state’s highest criminal court Wednesday. The Court of Criminal Appeals instead upheld its previous ruling that says that the attorney general must get permission from local county prosecutors to pursue cases on issues like voter fraud. Paxton had been fighting to overturn that ruling as the issue of prosecuting election fraud has become fraught in recent years. Paxton sought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and has aggressively pursued individual cases of fraud, outraging some voting rights advocates who see the punishments as too harsh for people who made honest mistakes. Last December, eight of the nine members on the all-GOP court struck down a law that previously allowed Paxton’s office to take on those cases without local consent. The court said the law violated the separation-of-powers clause in the Texas Constitution. In the aftermath, Paxton, joined by Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, led a political push to get the court to reconsider its decision, warning that it would allow cases of fraud to go unpunished. His office filed a motion asking the Court of Criminal Appeals to rehear the case, vacate its previous opinion and affirm an appellate court’s judgment, which was in his favor.

Full Article: Texas court confirms the AG can’t unilaterally prosecute election cases | The Texas Tribune

Virginia updates how it conducts risk-limiting audits for election results | Charlotte Rene Woods/Richmond Times-Dispatch

On Tuesday, the Virginia Board of Elections approved a new risk-limiting audit manual ahead of the general election this November. Though election officials were already conducting risk-limiting audits in Virginia, they are now going to happen before state election officials certify election results. That’s because the General Assembly passed legislation that repealed and replaced previous state code relating to the audits. Risk-limiting audits are “a type of post-election audit that utilizes statistical methods and a manual review of paper ballots to confirm that the voting equipment accurately reported the correct outcome of an election,” the manual reads. The audits analyze a random sample of hand-counted ballots to confirm election results along with using auditing software called Arlo. The process helps confirm that voting accurately reported election results. “Now it’s going to be done prior to the certification of the election, whereas before we did it in the months after the election,” said former elections commissioner Chris Piper. For instance, the most recent such audit took place this past January — two months after the 2021 elections — and analyzed the results of the 13th and 75th House of Delegates districts.

Full Article: Virginia updates how it conducts risk-limiting audits for election results

Wisconsin: Records from election probe to be made public | Scott Bauer/Associated Press

All records from the closed Republican-ordered investigation into the 2020 presidential election in Wisconsin are being uploaded to a website “for all to see,” an attorney told a judge on Tuesday. The investigation was led by former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, who was fired in August by Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, just days after Vos won his primary over an opponent endorsed by Gableman and former President Donald Trump. But the office Gableman led still exists. American Oversight, a liberal watchdog group, has filed four open records lawsuits against Gableman, Vos and the office seeking the records created during the investigation. On Tuesday, during a hearing over a lawsuit American Oversight filed to stop the deletion of records, attorney James Bopp said all electronic and paper records from the office have been turned over to the Assembly chief clerk’s office. The files are being uploaded to a website that will soon be available “for all to see,” said Bopp, who represents the office that he said has no employees. Hundreds of pages of documents have already been made public as the result of other American Oversight lawsuits. Bopp said the data yet-to-be made public that’s being processed now includes text messages on cellphones used in the course of the investigation.

Full Article: Records from Wisconsin election probe to be made public | AP News

National: House passes bill to prevent efforts to subvert presidential election results | Amy B. Wang/The Washington Post

The House voted Wednesday to pass an electoral reform bill that seeks to prevent presidents from trying to overturn election results through Congress, the first vote on such an effort since the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob seeking to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s electoral win. The bill passed on a 229-203 vote, with just nine Republicans breaking ranks and joining Democrats in supporting the measure. None of those nine Republican lawmakers will be members of Congress next year — either because they lost their primaries or chose to retire. The Presidential Election Reform Act, written by Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), explicitly cites the Capitol attack as a reason to amend the Electoral Count Act of 1887, “to prevent other future unlawful efforts to overturn Presidential elections and to ensure future peaceful transfers of Presidential power.” “Legal challenges are not improper, but Donald Trump’s refusal to abide by the rulings of the courts certainly was,” Cheney said Wednesday during House debate on the measure. “In our system of government, elections in the states determine who is the president. Our bill does not change that. But this bill will prevent Congress from illegally choosing the president itself.”

Full Article: House passes bill to prevent efforts to subvert presidential election results – The Washington Post

House Passes Overhaul of Electoral Count, Moving to Avert Another Jan. 6 Crisis | Carl Hulse/The New York Times

The House on Wednesday took the first major step to respond to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol, voting mostly along party lines to overhaul the 135-year-old Electoral Count Act, the law that former President Donald J. Trump tried to exploit that day to overturn his defeat. The bill was the most significant legislative answer yet to the riot and the monthslong campaign by Mr. Trump and his allies to invalidate the 2020 presidential election, but it also underscored the lingering partisan divide over Jan. 6 and the former president’s continuing grip on his party. It cleared a divided House, passing on a 229 to 203 vote. All but nine Republicans opposed the measure, wary of angering Mr. Trump and unwilling to back legislation co-written by Representative Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming and a leader of the House select committee investigating the events of Jan. 6 and what led to them. The partisan division could complicate future negotiations with the Senate, which is moving ahead with its own bipartisan version of the legislation that differs from the House bill in some significant respects. Lawmakers now say they do not expect final approval before Congress returns for a lame-duck session after the Nov. 8 midterm elections. The legislation is aimed at updating the law that governs Congress’s counting of the electoral votes cast by the states, the final step under the Constitution to confirm the results of a presidential election and historically a mostly ceremonial process. Democrats said that the aftermath of the 2020 election — in which Mr. Trump and his allies’ attempts to throw out legitimate electoral votes led to the violent disruption of the congressional count by his supporters on Jan. 6 — made clear that the statute needed to be changed.

Full Article: House Passes Overhaul of Electoral Count, Moving to Avert Another Jan. 6 Crisis – The New York Times

National: Republicans in key battleground races refuse to say they will accept results | Amy Gardner , Hannah Knowles , Colby Itkowitz and Annie Linskey/The Washington Post

A dozen Republican candidates in competitive races for governor and Senate have declined to say whether they would accept the results of their contests, raising the prospect of fresh post-election chaos two years after Donald Trump refused to concede the presidency. In a survey by The Washington Post of 19 of the most closely watched statewide races in the country, the contrast between Republican and Democratic candidates was stark. While seven GOP nominees committed to accepting the outcomes in their contests, 12 either refused to commit or declined to respond. On the Democratic side, 18 said they would accept the outcome and one did not respond to The Post’s survey. The reluctance of many GOP candidates to embrace a long-standing tenet of American democracy shows how Trump’s assault on the integrity of U.S. elections has spread far beyond the 2020 presidential race. This year, multiple losing candidates could refuse to accept their defeats. Trump, who continues to claim without evidence that his loss to Joe Biden in 2020 was rigged, has attacked fellow Republicans who do not agree — making election denialism the price of admission in many GOP primaries. More than half of all Republican nominees for federal and statewide office with powers over election administration have embraced unproven claims that fraud tainted Biden’s win, according to a Washington Post tally.

Full Article: Republicans in key battleground races refuse to say they will accept results – The Washington Post

National: Election officials fighting Trump scheme to undermine midterms | Mark Z. Barabak/Los Angeles Times

This is peak busy season for those who run the country’s elections, with the Nov. 8 midterms less than 60 days away. There are polling places to be situated. Election workers to hire and train. Ballots to proofread and mail out. And, increasingly, there is a flood of lies and misinformation to combat, along with an apparent attempt by Trump cultists to undermine the election system with a deliberate sabotage campaign. In recent weeks, election offices around the country have been buried with public records requests pertaining to the 2020 vote, part of an effort led by election deniers including former President Trump’s serially indicted ex-strategist Stephen K. Bannon and the MyPillow chief executive and nut case Mike Lindell. The requests — many identically worded, cut and pasted — shouldn’t be mistaken for an honest attempt at holding public officials accountable. Rather, it is a devious attempt to gum up the country’s election machinery at the worst possible moment.

Full Article: Election officials fighting Trump scheme to undermine midterms – Los Angeles Times

National: Breaches of voting machine data raise worries for midterms | Christina A. Cassidy/Associated Press

Sensitive voting system passwords posted online. Copies of confidential voting software available for download. Ballot-counting machines inspected by people not supposed to have access. The list of suspected security breaches at local election offices since the 2020 election keeps growing, with investigations underway in at least three states — Colorado, Georgia and Michigan. The stakes appeared to rise this week when the existence of a federal probe came to light involving a prominent loyalist to former President Donald Trump who has been promoting voting machine conspiracy theories across the country. While much remains unknown about the investigations, one of the most pressing questions is what it all could mean for security of voting machines with the midterm elections less than two months away. Election security experts say the breaches by themselves have not necessarily increased threats to the November voting. Election officials already assume hostile foreign governments might have the sensitive data, and so they take precautions to protect their voting systems. The more immediate concern is the possibility that rogue election workers, including those sympathetic to lies about the 2020 presidential election, might use their access to election equipment and the knowledge gained through the breaches to launch an attack from within. That could be intended to gain an advantage for their desired candidate or party, or to introduce system problems that would sow further distrust in the election results.

Full Article: Breaches of voting machine data raise worries for midterms | AP News

National: Voter challenges, records requests swamp election offices | Nicholas Riccardi/Associated Press

Spurred by conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election, activists around the country are using laws that allow people to challenge a voter’s right to cast a ballot to contest the registrations of thousands of voters at a time. In Iowa, Linn County Auditor Joel Miller had handled three voter challenges over the previous 15 years. He received 119 over just two days after Doug Frank, an Ohio educator who is touring the country spreading doubts about the 2020 election, swung through the state. In Nassau County in northern Florida, two residents challenged the registrations of nearly 2,000 voters just six days before last month’s primary. In Georgia, activists are dropping off boxloads of challenges in the diverse and Democratic-leaning counties comprising the Atlanta metro area, including more than 35,000 in one county late last month. Election officials say the vast majority of the challenges will be irrelevant because they contest the presence on voting rolls of people who already are in the process of being removed after they moved out of the region. Still, they create potentially hundreds of hours of extra work as the offices scramble to prepare for November’s election. “They at best overburden election officials in the run-up to an election, and at worse they lead to people being removed from the rolls when they shouldn’t be,” said Sean Morales-Doyle of The Brennan Center for Justice, which has tracked an upswing in voter challenges.

Full Article: Voter challenges, records requests swamp election offices | AP News

National: DHS rejects plan to protect election officials from harassment as midterms loom | Sean Lyngaas/CNN

The Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity agency this summer turned down a multimillion-dollar proposal to protect election officials from harassment ahead of the midterm elections, multiple people familiar with the matter told CNN. The plan’s rejection comes as some DHS and cyber officials have expressed concern about their work to stem disinformation being cast as “partisan,” according to multiple people familiar with DHS policy discussions. Last month, DHS shut down its high-profile Disinformation Governance Board after Republicans criticized the expert chosen to lead the board as being overly partisan. “DHS got very spooked after the failed rollout of the Disinformation Governance Board, even though the message [from administration officials] was clear that we can’t back down, we can’t be bullied by the right,” a senior US official told CNN. The proposal, which was made by a federally funded nonprofit, also included plans to track foreign influence activity and modestly increase resources for reporting domestic mis- and disinformation related to voting. DHS officials had legal concerns about the plan’s scope and whether it could be in place for November, the people said. But the decision not to adopt the anti-harassment part of the proposal has drawn frustration from at least two election officials as their colleagues nationwide continue to face an unprecedented wave of violent threats often inspired by online misinformation.

Full Article: CNN Exclusive: DHS rejects plan to protect election officials from harassment as midterms loom | CNN Politics

National effort launched to safeguard poll workers and voters | Alicia Robinson/Orange County Register

With less than two months to the midterms and election signs and mailers already abundant, Orange County’s former registrar has launched a new national campaign to ensure the safety of election workers and voters in an increasingly volatile and partisan environment. The Committee for Safe and Secure Elections – chaired by Neal Kelley, who retired in March, and supported by the New York-based Brennan Center for Justice – includes experts in law enforcement and election administration from around the country. Its short-term goal is to connect local law enforcement and election officials to address threats and violence against election workers and voters. Long-term, the group will look to recommend policies and legislation to address the problem more broadly. Earlier this year, a Georgia election worker and her mother testified to Congress that they had to move to new homes and were afraid of being recognized in public after former President Donald Trump and his supporters accused them publicly of meddling with local election results. A survey done this year by the Brennan Center found one in six election workers said they’ve personally received threats, and some election offices have reportedly installed surveillance cameras, hired private security and offered active shooter training after an influx of threats of violence. “There was a collective feeling among a lot of election officials across the country that the threats were increasing, the agitation was increasing as we’re heading into (2022, 2024),” Kelley said. “Some elections officials don’t know what to do, don’t know how they’ll be protected.”

Full Article: National effort launched to safeguard poll workers and voters – Orange County Register

Editorial: ‘A Crisis Coming’: The Twin Threats to American Democracy | David Leonhardt /The New York Times

The United States has experienced deep political turmoil several times before over the past century. The Great Depression caused Americans to doubt the country’s economic system. World War II and the Cold War presented threats from global totalitarian movements. The 1960s and ’70s were marred by assassinations, riots, a losing war and a disgraced president. These earlier periods were each more alarming in some ways than anything that has happened in the United States recently. Yet during each of those previous times of tumult, the basic dynamics of American democracy held firm. Candidates who won the most votes were able to take power and attempt to address the country’s problems. The current period is different. As a result, the United States today finds itself in a situation with little historical precedent. American democracy is facing two distinct threats, which together represent the most serious challenge to the country’s governing ideals in decades.

Full Article: ‘A Crisis Coming’: The Twin Threats to American Democracy – The New York Times

Arizona is ground zero in the battle over ‘the big lie’ | Ethan Bauer/Deseret News

Rusty Bowers is a worried man. Retreating to a dark room within his suite at Arizona’s sun-baked capitol complex, he sinks into a couch, tall and slender in a purple dress shirt. With a prominent mole above his left brow, the speaker of the state’s house looks you in the eye as he talks — until the conversation turns to the subject of his fears. Then his gaze drifts and he stares into the distance, speaking of the “world of hurt” he believes his political rivals will unleash should they prevail in the midterm elections this November. Remarkably, those rivals are from his own party. Bowers is a lifelong Republican and a staunch conservative who regularly votes along party lines on issues like taxes and abortion. He holds a 92 percent rating from the NRA, a 20 percent rating from Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona and abysmal reviews from environmental organizations like the Sierra Club. Unlike some prominent members of the GOP, he supported former President Donald Trump throughout his term in office, though it ended on a sour note. “He did some good for this country, for which I’m grateful,” Bowers says, “but he’s unfit to serve as our president.”

Full Article: Arizona election: Candidates take sides over “the big lie” – Deseret News

Georgia officials are grappling with challenges from election deniers with midterms looming | Barbara Rodriguez/The 19th

One by one, the speakers approached the podium at the elections meeting to air their grievances. One person asked about alleged “phantom” voters who may be registered in Gwinnett County, their community just northwest of Atlanta. Another suggested officials count ballots by hand to avoid fraud. And yet another questioned whether the results of the 2020 election, the most secure in history, should have been certified in Georgia — and then cited the penalties for treason. “I highly recommend that each of you take your responsibility very seriously, because that time is quickly approaching,” that person said. The dozen or so speakers were gathered Wednesday night to watch local election officials discuss the fate of more than 37,000 voter registrations in the county after a group of election deniers challenged them last month. Similar challenges have arisen in counties across Georgia, as people who have embraced debunked conspiracy theories about the security of elections deluge officials with questions. They are eating up time and resources as election officials — a workforce predominately run by women — are finalizing the logistics for November’s midterms in a state that is in many ways the center of the country’s political universe. The elections they are running here could determine party control of the U.S. Senate, and include a historic governor’s race and other key statewide and legislative races.

Full Article: In Georgia, thousands of voters’ registrations are being challenged

Georgia: Videos Show Trump Allies Handling Voting Equipment | Danny Hakim, Richard Fausset and Nick Corasaniti/The New York Times

Newly released videos show allies of former President Donald J. Trump and contractors who were working on his behalf handling sensitive voting equipment in a rural Georgia county weeks after the 2020 election. The footage, which was made public as part of long-running litigation over Georgia’s voting system, raises new questions about efforts by Trump affiliates in a number of swing states to gain access to and copy sensitive election software, with the help of friendly local election administrators. One such incident took place on Jan. 7 of last year, the day after supporters of Mr. Trump stormed the Capitol, when a small team traveled to rural Coffee County, Ga. The group included members of an Atlanta-based firm called SullivanStrickler, which had been hired by Sidney Powell, a lawyer advising Mr. Trump who is also a conspiracy theorist. “We are on our way to Coffee County, Ga., to collect what we can from the election/voting machines and systems,” one of the company’s executives, Paul Maggio, wrote Ms. Powell on that January morning. Weeks later, Scott Hall, an Atlanta-area Trump supporter and bail bondsman who also traveled to Coffee County, said “we scanned every freaking ballot” in a recorded phone conversation. Mr. Hall said the team had the blessing of the local elections board and “scanned all the equipment, imaged all the hard drives and scanned every single ballot.”

Full Article: Videos Show Trump Allies Handling Georgia Voting Equipment – The New York Times

Kansas election conspiracy theorists seek 2020 redo, ban on electronic voting machines in 2022 | Ti Carpenter/Kansas Reflector

The Kansas secretary of state said plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit alleging election fraud in 2020 and 2022 were manipulated by conspiracy fearmongers dedicated to undermining public confidence in the security and accuracy of voting in Kansas. Six individuals filed suit against Secretary of State Scott Schwab, Attorney General Derek Schmidt, Gov. Laura Kelly and Bryan Caskey, Schwab’s director of elections, in a bid for a U.S. District Court injunction forbidding use of electronic voting machines, except for people with a disability, in the Nov. 8 general election. If granted, the state would be forced to proceed with an all-paper voting process statewide coupled with hand counting of ballots. The 77-page petition purports to offer evidence of misconduct in the November 2020 general election in Kansas that produced a victory for President Donald Trump as well as in the August 2022 primary election in which Kansas voters rejected a proposed abortion amendment to the Kansas Constitution. Plaintiffs demanded the federal court require Kelly to void 2020 election results to lay the foundation of a special election to correct that flawed exercise in democracy. Signers of the lawsuit also want the court to instruct Schmidt to open a criminal investigation of Schwab.

Full Article: Kansas election conspiracy theorists seek 2020 redo, ban on electronic voting machines in 2022 – Kansas Reflector

Michigan prosecutor: ‘Additional investigation’ needed on DePerno election case | Dave Boucher/Detroit Free Press

The special prosecutor appointed to review broad allegations of possible criminal conduct by the Republican candidate for Michigan attorney general and eight others who sought to undermine the results of the 2020 election says more investigative work is needed before a decision can be made on bringing charges. In a statement, Muskegon County Prosecutor DJ Hilson declined to say if his decision on whether to criminally charge GOP attorney general hopeful Matthew DePerno or others allegedly involved in the election-related scheme would come before or after the Nov. 8 general election. “As prosecutor I have an ethical obligation to ensure that all necessary evidence and information is obtained and reviewed so that a determination of criminal charges can be made. In order to meet that obligation, I have determined that additional investigative work needs to be done and I am working with investigators on those issues,” Hilson said in an email Wednesday morning. “I am acting as expeditiously as possible, but due to this ethical obligation, I cannot say at this time when any decisions would be made.”

Full Article: Michigan prosecutor: ‘Additional investigation’ needed on DePerno case

Michigan is trying to ensure security of its voting systems after tabulator breaches | Oralandar Brand-Williams/Votebeat

Full Article: Michigan tabulator breaches: How security works when clerks follow rules – Votebeat Michigan – Nonpartisan local reporting on elections and voting

As the midterms approach, the Michigan secretary of state’s office has found itself repeatedly defending the state’s election system against local clerks. Experts say the clearest vulnerability facing Michigan are such insider threats, which the secretary of state has little ability to proactively prevent. The problem became most evident after a handful of local clerks last year allegedly gave people unauthorized access to election equipment, forcing the secretary of state’s staff to manage the fallout. Now at least one of those clerks is making false claims about the state’s voting machines and hinting she may conduct the election without them. Michigan is among the closest watched midterm battlegrounds, and the allegations that clerks in Barry County’s Irving Township, Missaukee County’s Lake Township, and Roscommon County, and a supervisor in Roscommon’s Richfield Township, allowed pro-Trump actors to have unauthorized access to tabulators last year sent shockwaves through the state. Experts and state officials agree that there has been no lasting damage to the state’s voting systems, because the protective measures in place worked. But Michigan’s decentralized election administration means the first line of defense in election security are the 1,609 county, municipal and township clerks, who are responsible for overseeing and protecting equipment and following the law — or not. The widely disseminated responsibilities make it difficult for the state to ensure that the rules are consistently followed. While there is no indication that other clerks have allowed unauthorized access and several interviewed for this story vowed to keep the machines secure, elections security consultant Ryan Macias said insiders willingly providing access remains “the biggest risk to security.”

Ohio elections officials still get calls about 2020. Here’s what they want you to know | Scott Wartman/Cincinnati Enquirer

Hamilton County Board of Elections gets questions from the public about the 2020 election and election security every day, even almost two years later. As the 2022 election nears, the number of emails and public records requests from members of the public regarding the 2020 election have spiked, said Alex Linser, the board’s deputy director. In the past two weeks, they have averaged about three a day, he said. “There are two common themes that we receive — distrust of the voting machines, and the other seeking reproduction of all of the documents created in the 2020 election,” Linser said. The latter, which includes every ballot ID envelope, costs $75,000 to copy every sheet. No one has taken the board of elections up on that offer, Linser said. It’s not just Hamilton County. Backers of former President Donald Trump and his false claims of a stolen 2020 election have swamped the boards of election in more than two dozen states and counties all across Ohio, the Washington Post, National Public Radio and other news agencies reported. “The board of elections receives a lot of communication from people who are questioning the integrity of the 2020 election,” Linser said. “We know that was the most accurate and safe and secure election in American history. The good news is, you don’t have to take my word for it. We can show you.”

Full Article: What security procedures are in place for the 2022 election?

Pennsylvania election offices challenged by surge of voting record requests | Jan Murphy/PennLive

With the Nov. 8 election less than two months away, county election offices across Pennsylvania are moving into crunch time for preparing for Election Day. But many are facing an added challenge this year. Along with checking voting equipment, processing voter registration/mail-in and absentee ballot applications and proofreading ballots, many say they are dealing with an unusual number of Right-to-Know requests for voting and election-related records. “I can’t believe how many we get,” said Sean Drasher, who has been Lebanon County’s elections officer for less than a year. “The feedback I’m getting from my colleagues is they’ve never seen anything like it.” Counties in other battleground states across the U.S. have experienced a similar phenomenon. Lorian County, in northeastern Ohio, for example, has received requests seeking an estimated 1 million documents, most related to the 2016 and 2020 elections, putting a strain on its election day preparations. In Pennsylvania, the picture is more mixed. Montgomery County spokeswoman Kelly Cofrancisco said there’s been a “substantial increase in RTK requests” submitted to her county’s Voter Services Office. State elections officials say other counties too have reported adding staff or dedicating staff time to respond to an unusual number of such requests.

Full Article: Election offices challenged by surge of voting record requests – pennlive.com

Texas: Election challenge disciplinary case dismissed against Attorney General’s top aide | James Barragán/The Texas Tribune

A district judge has thrown out the State Bar of Texas’ professional misconduct case against Brent Webster, Attorney General Ken Paxton’s top aide, for his work on a case that challenged the results of the 2020 presidential election. Judge John Youngblood, a judge in Milam County who was assigned to the case in Williamson County court, sided with an argument by Webster that said letting the case move forward would violate the state constitution’s separation of powers because the state bar, an agent of the judicial branch, would be limiting the actions of the attorney general’s office, which is part of the executive branch. “[T]he separation-of-powers doctrine deprives this Court of subject-matter jurisdiction,” Youngblood said in a brief letter. “To hold otherwise would stand for a limitation of the Attorney General’s broad power to file lawsuits on the State’s behalf, a right clearly supported by the Texas Constitution and recognized repeatedly by the Texas Supreme Court.” A spokesperson for the state bar said the body does not have comment on the dismissal and said no decision has been made on an appeal. Paxton is facing a similar lawsuit in Collin County, in which he has made the same argument to the court. The judge in Paxton’s case has made no ruling.

Full Article: Election challenge disciplinary case dismissed against Texas AG’s top aide | The Texas Tribune

In Wisconsin, Election Skeptics Deploy as Poll Watchers for Midterms | Alexa Corse/Wall Street Journal

Republicans here are recruiting a fresh batch of poll watchers to monitor voting in November as part of a revamped response to allegations of election fraud that roiled the latest presidential contest. Poll watching, a normally mundane duty where volunteers sit for hours watching for any possible rule violations at voting sites, is emerging as a flashpoint in the fight over U.S. election rules after former President Donald Trump falsely claimed that widespread election fraud cost him the 2020 race. The Republican National Committee said it has launched a multimillion-dollar effort to recruit tens of thousands of poll watchers and poll workers and hire dozens of staff to monitor voting. Many Republican voters are heading into the midterms still skeptical about the results of the 2020 election, and the Republican Party is encouraging them to channel those concerns into activism by volunteering to monitor the polls. Some Republicans view the effort as a way to ensure that Mr. Trump’s fraud claims don’t prompt supporters to skip the election altogether because of doubts about the validity of the process. Democrats are raising concerns that highly partisan volunteers could try to intimidate voters or election officials. Here in Brown County, Wis., the local Republican party says it has signed up more than 100 poll watchers and is working to recruit more volunteers. Mr. Trump won Brown County in 2020 with some 53% of the vote. Wisconsin flipped from supporting Mr. Trump in 2016 to being won by Democrat Joe Biden by about 20,700 votes in 2020.

Full Article: In Wisconsin, Election Skeptics Deploy as Poll Watchers for Midterms – WSJ

Fighting bogus claims a growing priority in election offices | Ali Swenson and Julie Carr Smyth/Associated Press

Election officials preparing for the rapidly approaching midterm elections have one more headache: trying to combat misinformation that sows distrust about voting and results while fueling vitriol aimed at rank-and-file election workers. Some states and counties are devoting more money or staff to a problem that has only grown more concerning since the 2020 presidential election and the false claims that it was marred by widespread fraud. A barrage of misinformation in some places has led election officials to complain that Facebook parent Meta, Twitter and other social media platforms aren’t doing enough to help them tackle the problem. “Our voters are angry and confused. They simply don’t know what to believe,” Lisa Marra, elections director in Cochise County, Arizona, told a U.S. House committee last month. “We’ve got to repair this damage.” Many election offices are taking matters into their own hands, starting public outreach campaigns to provide accurate information about how elections are run and how ballots are cast and counted. That means traveling town halls in Arizona, “Mythbuster Mondays” in North Carolina and animated videos in Ohio emphasizing the accuracy of election results. Connecticut is hiring a dedicated election misinformation analyst.

Full Article: Fighting bogus claims a growing priority in election offices | AP News

Mark Finchem Says Biden Didn’t Win in 2020, and He Has Big Plans for Elections in Arizona | Katherine Miller/The New York Times

Mark Finchem, the Republican nominee for Arizona’s secretary of state, talks a lot about tracking: procedures, processes, audits, the path a ballot takes from voter to tabulator. He’s a member of the Arizona State House of Representatives and has a formal way of speaking, full of numerical legislation titles and terminology, but also talks about things seen and unseen. Like a number of other Republican nominees for secretary of state this year, Mr. Finchem claims the last presidential election was fraudulent. “Here’s why we know it didn’t happen,” he told an interviewer who had just suggested Arizona may have actually voted for Joe Biden in 2020. “It’s nonsense intuitively. Leading up to the election, this would be August, September, October. It first started off that you’d see a Trump train of maybe a dozen cars, and this is in my community. It’s one community, but I think it’s fairly representative of Arizona. You’d see a Trump train of maybe a dozen cars.” The hosts start cracking jokes about Biden trains behind gas stations these days, but in the interview, Mr. Finchem remains undeterred and unlaughing: First it was 12 cars, then 24, then 48, culminating in a three-mile Trump train. This is the kind of thing Mr. Finchem will abruptly say amid talk of election procedure. In November 2020, Mr. Finchem was part of a hearing in Arizona where Rudy Giuliani aired claims of election fraud; Mr. Finchem went to Washington on Jan. 6. He wants to decertify the 2020 election and for Arizona to withdraw from the Electronic Registration Information Center, a nonpartisan organization funded by participating states that helps them to find potential voters and determine duplicate active registrations. He also could win in Arizona this year; the state has been decidedly close the past several elections. His public comments tend to be premised on the possibility of rampant voter fraud — which, in actuality, takes place rarely — and to reflect a kind of individualism that’s a part of the tech and society we already have, where individuals routinely arbitrate and police disputes online.

Full Article: Opinion | Mark Finchem Says Biden Didn’t Win in 2020, and He Has Big Plans for Elections in Arizona – The New York Times

National: Top election security official warns of election workforce problems: 1 in 3 have left posts | Ines Kagubare/The Hill

Kim Wyman, the head of election security at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), is warning against threats to election workers, which have forced many to quit their positions ahead of the midterms. In a recent interview with CBS News, Wyman, who served as the secretary of state of Washington, said that about 1 in 3 elections officials and poll workers have left their posts over concerns for their personal safety. “We are facing a workforce problem,” Wyman said. “As these stories of threats and intimidation are shared, people who would normally be poll workers on Election Day or work at a voting center are taking a step back and saying, ‘I don’t know that it’s worth my life or worth my personal safety,’” she added. Wyman also said that state officials across the country are having trouble hiring poll workers ahead of the midterm elections. “It’s unnerving,” Wyman said as she got emotional during the interview. Election officials are also preparing for other security threats, including foreign interference and insider threats. In April, CISA Director Jen Easterly told lawmakers that election security is a top priority for her agency, which has provided guidance and resources to state and local officials on how to secure the election from various threats. Easterly said she was also concerned about Russian interference in the midterms, including cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns.

Full Article: Top election security official warns of election workforce problems: 1 in 3 have left posts | The Hill

National: Trump backers inundate election offices with requests for 2020 records | Amy Gardner and Patrick Marley/The Washington Post

Supporters of former president Donald Trump have swamped local election offices across the nation in recent weeks with a coordinated campaign of requests for 2020 voting records, in some cases paralyzing preparations for the fall election season. In nearly two dozen states and scores of counties, election officials are fielding what many describe as an unprecedented wave of public records requests in the final weeks of summer, one they say may be intended to hinder their work and weaken an already strained system. The avalanche of sometimes identically worded requests has forced some to dedicate days to the process of responding even as they scurry to finalize polling locations, mail out absentee ballots and prepare for early voting in October, officials said. In Wisconsin, one recent request asks for 34 different types of documents. In North Carolina, hundreds of requests came in at state and local offices on one day alone. In Kentucky, officials don’t recognize the technical-sounding documents they’re being asked to produce — and when they seek clarification, the requesters say they don’t know, either. The use of mass records requests by the former president’s supporters effectively weaponizes laws aimed at promoting principles of a democratic system — that the government should be transparent and accountable. Public records requests are a key feature of that system, used by regular citizens, journalists and others. In interviews, officials emphasized that they are trying to follow the law and fulfill the requests, but they also believe the system is being abused.

Full Article: Trump backers inundate election offices with requests for 2020 records – The Washington Post

National: Election logistics firm sues perpetrators of voter fraud smear campaign | Cameron Langford/Courthouse News Service

Election logistics firm Konnech Inc. says in a lawsuit filed Monday its founder and his family had to leave their home due to threats from supporters of True the Vote, a voter fraud conspiracy group spreading lies that the company is a vehicle of the Chinese Communist Party to control American elections. Making claims of defamation and computer fraud, Konnech sued True the Vote Inc., a Texas nonprofit, its founder Catherine Engelbrecht and board member Gregg Phillips in Houston federal court. Started and led by Eugene Yu, a U.S. citizen of Chinese descent, Konnech sells election logistics software called PollChief to U.S. governmental entities, which they use to manage poll workers and coordinate distribution of equipment and technical support staff to polling places. Though its software is meant to help county, city and local governments run elections more efficiently, Konnech underscores the limits of its services in its lawsuit. “Konnech’s software products are not involved in any way in the registration of voters, the production, distribution, scanning, or processing of ballots, nor the collection, counting or reporting of votes,” the complaint states. “Indeed, Konnech never handles any ballots and no ballots or other voting counts ever enter any of Konnech’s computer servers.” Nonetheless, Konnech says, True the Vote’s directors made it a target of their social media- and podcast-fueled smear campaign during an Aug. 13 event they dubbed “The Pit.”

Full Article: Election logistics firm sues perpetrators of voter fraud smear campaign | Courthouse News Service

National: Election deniers advanced to November ballots in 27 states, report finds | Adam Edelman/NBC

Candidates who deny the results of the 2020 election have advanced to November ballots in statewide races for positions that will oversee, defend or certify elections in more than half of the states, according to a nonpartisan group tracking the races. In the races in 27 states for governor, attorney general and secretary of state, at least one election-denying candidate will be on the ballot who has echoed former President Donald Trump’s continuing false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him, according to a report to be published by States United Action, which has closely tracked the progress of election deniers throughout the 2022 primary season. NBC News obtained the report ahead of its release this week. Many of the general election contests will be competitive races in critical battleground states — among them Arizona, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Michigan — whose outcomes could have enormous impacts on the results of the next presidential election in those states.

Full Article: Election deniers advanced to November ballots in 27 states, report finds

National: Fraudulent Document Cited in Supreme Court Bid to Torch Election Law | Ethan Herenstein and Brian Palmer/Politico