National

National: An election without ‘I voted’ stickers? Election officials scrambling amid paper shortage | Rick Rouan/USA Today

American elections are the latest industry to feel the squeeze of inflation and global supply chain disruptions. As voters begin to cast ballots in the 2022 primaries, the election industry has been scrambling to get enough paper products to print ballots, stuff envelopes and produce other materials critical to the voting process. Warnings about the availability of paper have circulated among election officials for months. But in February, a working group of election industry officials said in a report that orders typically filled in days or weeks now are taking months. Prices, too, have spiked. With demand ticking up ahead of the election and a smaller supply from paper mills, election officials say they are paying more for paper products, putting more strain on an elections system that advocates say has been underfunded for years. The shortage already is making it harder on voters. In Texas, some vote-by-mail ballots went out later than usual because local elections officials could not get their stock of paper early enough.

Source: 2022 Elections face paper shortages caused by supply chain, inflation

National: Decline in federal grant funding for local elections criticized by advocates | Kira Lerner/States Newsroom

The $1.5 trillion omnibus spending bill passed by Congress last week includes $75 million in Help America Vote Act grants — a major reduction compared to years past. Experts say the $75 million is insufficient to fund local elections and leaves local election offices without resources to improve election infrastructure and protect the security of elections. Though Congress has only funded local elections three times since 2010, the $75 million in the latest spending bill is far from the $53 billion over 10 years that election security experts say is necessary. It’s also far less than the $500 million proposed by the House in its original spending proposal.  “It’s always great to see Congress getting resources to state and local election officials and really recognizing their responsibility to help fund elections, but $75 million is far short of what is needed right now to really secure and protect our election infrastructure,” said Derek Tisler, counsel with the democracy program at the Brennan Center for Justice. “It’s also considerably less than the funding we saw in recent years leading up to the 2020 election.” In 2018 and 2020 respectively, Congress approved $380 million and $425 million in HAVA Election Security Funds for states to improve the administration of elections for federal office. Full Article: Decline in federal grant funding for local elections criticized by advocates - Idaho Capital Sun

National: Democrats urge DOJ to address ‘insider threats’ from candidates who deny 2020 results | Mychael Schnell/The Hill

More than a dozen House Democrats are urging the Department of Justice (DOJ) to address “insider threats to election systems,” which they say are posed by candidates who are running to fill local election positions motivated by former President Trump's false claims about the 2020 presidential election. In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland dated Wednesday, the Democratic lawmakers said they are worried that those candidates may attempt to influence the outcomes of future races if they are installed as election officials. “Unfortunately, many of the candidates seeking to fill newly vacated state and local election posts support former President Trump’s false claim that the 2020 election was stolen,” the lawmakers wrote. “We are concerned that this new cohort of election officials may be inclined to abuse their authority to directly influence the results of future elections.” They pointed to “the recent resurgence of anti-democratic tactics among election officials in key battleground states,” adding that they are “deeply concerned about bad actors who may dismiss their legal obligations in order to secure victory for their favored candidate or candidates.” The House members said there is an “active effort to recruit and convince election officials at all levels of governance to sabotage future elections by spreading conspiracy theories and promoting the claims of election deniers,” pointing to incidents in Michigan, Arizona and Pennsylvania and various races for secretary of state and state attorney general. Full Article: Democrats urge DOJ to address 'insider threats' from candidates who deny 2020 results | TheHill

National: Trump White House aide was secret author of Dominion Report used to push ‘big lie’ | Hugo Lowell/The Guardian

Weeks after the 2020 election, at least one Trump White House aide was named as secretly producing a report that alleged Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden because of Dominion Voting Systems – research that formed the basis of the former president’s wider efforts to overturn the election. The Dominion report, subtitled “OVERVIEW 12/2/20 – History, Executives, Vote Manipulation Ability and Design, Foreign Ties”, was initially prepared so that it could be sent to legislatures in states where the Trump White House was trying to have Biden’s win reversed. But top Trump officials would also use the research that stemmed from the White House aide-produced report to weigh other options to return Trump to the presidency, including having the former president sign off on executive orders to authorize sweeping emergency powers. The previously unreported involvement of the Trump White House aide in the preparation of the Dominion report raises the extraordinary situation of at least one administration official being among the original sources of Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The publicly available version of the Dominion report, which first surfaced in early December 2020 on the conservative outlet the Gateway Pundit, names on the cover and in metadata as its author Katherine Friess, a volunteer on the Trump post-election legal team. But the Dominion report was in fact produced by the senior Trump White House policy aide Joanna Miller, according to the original version of the document reviewed by the Guardian and a source familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Full Article: Trump White House aide was secret author of report used to push ‘big lie’ | US elections 2020 | The Guardian

National: Election Officials Say Safety Threats May Drive Away Poll Workers | Daniel C. Vock/Route Fifty

Local election officials have long worried about whether they can find enough people to work in polls on Election Day. After all, the hours are long, the pay is low and, in recent years, workers have worried about the spread of Covid-19. Now they’re worried a new phenomenon may keep workers away: threats to their physical safety. Three out of every five respondents in a new Brennan Center for Justice survey of election officials said they were either “very concerned” or “somewhat concerned” that “that threats, harassment and intimidation against local election officials will make it more difficult to retain or recruit election workers in future elections.” The concerns about danger are part of the fall-out of the acrimonious 2020 presidential election. President Joe Biden clearly won the contest, but former President Donald Trump has fomented challenges based on conspiracy theories and riled up his followers to attack election administrators and workers. “Counties organize about 800,000 volunteers each election cycle, and it’s getting harder and harder,” said Matthew Chase, the CEO and executive director of the National Association of Counties. “During the pandemic, we struggled because a lot of our election volunteers were older and they certainly didn’t want to show up in the middle of pandemic and volunteer,” he said. “Now you layer on the harassment that they’re facing in the community for being a civic-minded individual, and we’re really concerned.”

Full Article: Election Officials Say Safety Threats May Drive Away Poll Workers - Route Fifty

National: Fox News countersues a voting machine maker, saying its damage estimate is inflated | Christopher Dean Hopkins/NPR

Fox News today filed a counterclaim against voting machine manufacturer Smartmatic, saying the company's claim that it suffered $2.7 billion in losses is massively inflated. Fox News argues it warrants punishment under rules, known as anti-SLAPP laws, that are designed to protect the media from abusive litigation. The news network seeks payment of its attorneys' fees and "other and further relief as the Court deems just and proper." A report that Fox News had produced by University of Chicago business law professor Daniel R. Fischel found that Smartmatic had sustained millions of dollars in losses in the years leading up to the election. Year-over-year growth of nearly 75% would be needed to reach the amount it's seeking from the news network, the report said. "While the recovery of fees and costs will not undo all the damage this First Amendment-defying lawsuit has wrought," the lawsuit says, "at least it may cause the next plaintiff to think twice before trying to penalize the press to the tune of billions of dollars in nonexistent damages." Smartmatic's lawsuit, filed in February 2021, stemmed from the network's coverage of fraud claims — which had no basis in fact — by President Trump and his allies following the 2020 election, as well as opinions voiced by some of Fox News hosts. The company argues that coverage amounted to willing participation in a disinformation campaign that hurt Smartmatic's business prospects. Full Article: Fox News countersues a voting machine maker, saying its damage estimate is inflated | WYPR

National: The elections police are coming | Fredreka Schouten and Kelly Mena/CNN

Full Article: The elections police are coming - CNNPolitics

National: States Want to Boost Protections for Threatened Local Election Officials | Matt Vasilogambros/Stateline

From her second-floor office window in Medford, Oregon, elections administrator Chris Walker vividly remembers reading the unsettling words painted in big white letters on the parking lot below in late November 2020: “Vote don’t work. Next time bullets.” Her heart sank, she recalls, wondering whether or when the threat would materialize. Former President Donald Trump had won her southern Oregon community, and despite his lie that the election was stolen, she never expected this anger. While her office is nonpartisan, Walker, the Jackson County clerk, has been a registered Republican for as long as she’s been able to vote. She’s frustrated to see the amount of election misinformation from members of her party. The pressure from constituents has not let up over the past two years. In emails, she is called a crook and a criminal just for doing her job: running elections. “It really was shocking,” she said. “We are normal, everyday people. We’ve been charged with an extraordinary task. We have to continue to do our work. We’ve not let it control what we do here.” Walker is one of many election officials around the country who have faced violent threats and harassment since the 2020 presidential election, as Trump and his allies continue to perpetuate repeatedly disproven myths about voter fraud. This pressure, meant to exhaust and scare local officials into resigning, could usher in new election personnel who seek to skew results, election experts say. Full Article: States Want to Boost Protections for Threatened Local Election Officials | The Pew Charitable Trusts

Another way to protect voting rights: Hack-proof our elections | Matthew Germer/The Hill

In recent years, leading computer scientists and network security experts have found real vulnerabilities in election technology that could allow even lower-tier hackers to pose threats. As this technology ages, dozens of states are now in dire need of new equipment and support for managing security issues. Public reports from the Director of National Intelligence and other cybersecurity experts suggest that threats could come from Russia, Iran, China or North Korea, as well as non-state actors with radical agendas. But all is not lost. There is growing agreement across the political spectrum on how to improve election security: voter-verified paper ballots that create permanent, physical records of votes; risk-limiting audits that use robust statistical analysis to ensure accurate counts and ample, consistent funding for state and local election administrators in order to carry out trustworthy elections for years to come. There is also support for even stronger protection from hackers and foreign interference through improved federal oversight of voting machine vendors and by keeping voting and tabulation infrastructure off the internet.

Full Article: Another way to protect voting rights: Hack-proof our elections | TheHill

National: 2020 Was a Banner Year for U.S. Election Administration | Claire DeSoi/Elections Performance Index

Despite widespread claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent or poorly managed, election administration did not just persevere under unexpected and challenging conditions—it improved. The 2020 election was an anomaly in many ways, but the Election Performance Index (EPI) shows us that election administration continued to trend in the direction it was already heading: up. While there was more early voting and voting by mail than previous years (a pre-existing trend that 2020 accelerated), overall, more states improved their practices, data, and reporting. When looking at the index for 2020, we must of course remain mindful of the 2020 election atmosphere and context. In an election year like 2020, though, where administrators and election officials had to adapt quickly to unprecedented challenges, data-driven measures became even more important in finding and telling the story of how elections in the US are managed. Full Article: 2020 Was a Banner Year for U.S. Election Administration | Elections Performance Index

National: Local election officials are exhausted, under threat and thinking about quitting | Zach Montellaro/Politico

Election officials feel besieged by conspiracy theorists and fear that a lack of support for their work is going to squeeze experts out of the field, according to a new poll. The survey from the Brennan Center for Justice, a liberal-leaning think tank and advocacy group, showed that nearly 8 in 10 local election officials feel that threats against them and their colleagues have increased in recent years, and a majority say that they are either very or somewhat concerned about the safety of their fellow administrators. The question of how to deal with threats has become a constant conversation among election officials at all levels of government, many of whom fear that it could discourage people from staying in their field of election administration, or even joining it in the first place. “Over the long run, if this continues, it will be a lot harder to get folks to stick around,” said Natalie Adona, the assistant county clerk-recorder of Nevada County, Calif. “People will retire maybe because they’re just ready to retire because they’ve been doing this for so dang long — or maybe because they feel that the risk is not worth it. But there will be more retirements.” The poll results confirm Adona’s feeling, with 3 in 10 of the officials surveyed saying they know at least one or two election workers who have left their jobs in part because of fears for their safety. Sixty percent of the respondents said they are concerned that those issues will make it more difficult to retain or recruit election workers in the future.

Full Article: Local election officials are exhausted, under threat and thinking about quitting - POLITICO

National: 1 in 5 local election officials say they’re likely to quit before 2024 | Miles Parks/NPR

For the past two years, the people who run America's elections have been sounding the alarm. The polarized voting environment that's come out of the 2020 election has led to near daily harassment and death threats for some election officials, and made the profession unsustainable for many. Now, there's new data to back up those concerns. A new survey of local election officials released Thursday by the Brennan Center for Justice found that 1 in 5 local election administrators say they are likely to leave their jobs before the 2024 presidential election. "There's a crisis in election administration," said Larry Norden, the senior director of elections and government at the Brennan Center. "[Election administrators] are concerned, and they're not getting the support that they need." The Brennan Center worked with the Benenson Strategy Group, which has worked for a number of national Democratic political campaigns, to conduct the poll over two weeks in early February among 596 local election officials. Respondents were split fairly evenly across the political spectrum: 26% identified as Democrats, 30% as Republicans, and 44% said they were independent. The margin of error was about 4%. Full Article: 1 in 5 local election officials say they're likely to quit before 2024 : NPR

National; Could the Supreme Court give Republicans more control over how to run elections? | Amber Phillips/The Washington Post

Full Article: Could the Supreme Court give Republicans more control over how to run elections? - The Washington Post

National: Judge denies Fox News motion to dismiss defamation suit by election-tech company Smartmatic | Jeremy Barr/The Washington Post

Full Article: Smartmatic lawsuit against Fox News upheld by judge - The Washington Post

National: Vice President Kamala Harris marks ‘Bloody Sunday’ anniversary in Selma | Kim Chandler/Associated Press

Vice President Kamala Harris visited Selma, Alabama, on Sunday to commemorate a defining moment in the fight for equal voting rights, even as congressional efforts to restore the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act have faltered. Under a blazing blue sky, Harris linked arms with rank-and-file activists from the civil rights movement and led thousands across the bridge where, on March 7, 1965, white state troopers attacked Black voting rights marchers attempting to cross. The images of violence at the Edmund Pettus Bridge — originally named for a Confederate general — shocked the nation and helped galvanize support for passage of the Voting Rights Act. Harris called the site hallowed ground where people fought for the “most fundamental right of American citizenship: the right to vote.” “Today, we stand on this bridge at a different time,” Harris said in a speech before the gathered crowd. “We again, however, find ourselves caught in between. Between injustice and justice. Between disappointment and determination. Still in a fight to form a more perfect union. And nowhere is that more clear than when it comes to the ongoing fight to secure the freedom to vote.”

Full Article: Kamala Harris marks 'Bloody Sunday' anniversary in Selma | AP News

National: GOP pushes for an ‘earthquake in American electoral power’ | Zach Montellaro/Politico

A legal argument lurking in two Supreme Court cases could give Republican legislators in battleground states sweeping control over election procedures, with ramifications that could include power over how states select presidential electors. Republicans from Pennsylvania and North Carolina challenged court-ordered redistricting plans in their states based on the “independent legislature” theory. It’s a reading of the Constitution, stemming from the 2000 election recount in Florida, that argues legislators have ultimate power over elections in their states and that state courts have a limited ability — or even none at all — to check it. The Supreme Court turned away the GOP redistricting challenges on Monday, largely on procedural grounds. But at least four justices embraced the “independent legislature” theory to some degree, which would consolidate power over election administration in key states with GOP-dominated state legislatures, from the ability to draw district lines unchallenged to passing new restrictions on voting. Taken to its extreme, some proponents of the theory argue it would give legislators power to override the choice of presidential electors after voting in their states. Even if five justices signed on to a version of the independent legislature theory, it is unclear how far reaching a ruling will be, said Rick Hasen, an election law expert at the University of California, Irvine School of Law who does not support the theory. “There’s a lot of potential for nuance here,” he said. “Even if you had a majority of justices that agreed that there’s something to this theory, they might not agree that a particular state has violated it.”

Full Article: GOP pushes for an ‘earthquake in American electoral power’ - POLITICO

National: Replacing outdated voting equipment could cost $350M, researchers say | Benjamin Freed/StateScoop

Jurisdictions in 23 states are using voting equipment that’s more than decade old and no longer manufactured, according to a report published Tuesday by New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice. And equipment designed to assist voters with physical disabilities to cast private ballots is still being used in parts or all of 26 states. All told, it could cost upward of $350 million to replace all the outmoded equipment, researchers concluded. The glimpse at assistive voting machines was one part of a now-biennial report the Brennan Center conducts on the state of election infrastructure across the United States. While state and local election officials nationwide have made significant upgrades to their voting technology in recent years — fueled in large part by $380 million in federal grants awarded in 2018 and private donations from the likes of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg — tens of millions of voters still reside in jurisdictions where balloting devices are aged, no longer supported by their original vendors or both, the Brennan Center found. “Machines are aging past their projec­ted life cycle without being replaced, leav­ing juris­dic­tions with systems that are signi­fic­antly more than a decade old,” the report reads. “Many of these systems are no longer manu­fac­tured, which can make it diffi­cult or impossible to find replace­ment parts.” The 23 states where principal voting machines are no longer in production account for about 21 million registered voters, according to the Brennan Center. When including the states and territories where the assistive devices are also out-of-date — a group that includes Florida and New York — that figure approaches 40 million registered voters. Full Article: Replacing outdated voting equipment could cost $350M, researchers say

National: Is the Supreme Court ready to upend the power of state courts in disputes over federal elections? | Ariane de Vogue/CNN

Full Article: Is the Supreme Court ready to upend the power of state courts in disputes over federal elections? - CNNPolitics

National: Jan. 6 Committee Lays Out Potential Criminal Charges Against Trump | Luke Broadwater and Alan Feuer/The New York Times

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol said on Wednesday that there was enough evidence to conclude that former President Donald J. Trump and some of his allies might have conspired to commit fraud and obstruction by misleading Americans about the outcome of the 2020 election and attempting to overturn the result. In a court filing in a civil case in California, the committee’s lawyers for the first time laid out their theory of a potential criminal case against the former president. They said they had accumulated evidence demonstrating that Mr. Trump, the conservative lawyer John Eastman and other allies could potentially be charged with criminal violations including obstructing an official proceeding of Congress and conspiracy to defraud the American people. The filing also said there was evidence that Mr. Trump’s repeated lies that the election had been stolen amounted to common law fraud. The filing disclosed only limited new evidence, and the committee asked the judge in the civil case to review the relevant material behind closed doors. In asserting the potential for criminality, the committee largely relied on the extensive and detailed accounts already made public of the actions Mr. Trump and his allies took to keep him in office after his defeat.

Full Article: Jan. 6 Committee Lays Out Potential Criminal Charges Against Trump - The New York Times

National: New evidence shows Trump was told many times there was no voter fraud — but he kept saying it anyway | Rosalind S. Helderman, Jacqueline Alemany, Josh Dawsey and Tom Hamburger/The Washington Post

Full Article: New evidence shows Trump was told many times there was no voter fraud — but he kept saying it anyway - The Washington Post

National: Attacks from within seen as a growing threat to elections | Christia A. Cassidy/Associated Press

Election officials preparing for this year’s midterms have yet another security concern to add to an already long list that includes death threats, disinformation, ransomware and cyberattacks — threats from within. In a handful of states, authorities are investigating whether local officials directed or aided in suspected security breaches at their own election offices. At least some have expressed doubt about the 2020 presidential election, and information gleaned from the breaches has surfaced in conspiracy theories pushed by allies of former President Donald Trump. Adding to the concern is a wave of candidates for state and local election offices this year who parrot Trump’s false claims about his loss to Democrat Joe Biden. “Putting them in positions of authority over elections is akin to putting arsonists in charge of a fire department,” said Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat and former law school dean who serves as Michigan’s top elections official. Experts say insider threats have always been a concern. But previously, the focus was mostly on what a volunteer poll worker or part-time employee could do to a polling place or county system, said Ryan Macias, who advises officials at the federal, state and local levels on election security. Now the potential harm extends to the very foundation of democracy — conducting fair elections.

Full Article: Attacks from within seen as a growing threat to elections | AP News

National: Election Workers Are in Crisis. Will Congress Actually Help? | Sam Brody/Daily Beast

Defiance County, Ohio, does not loom large in the story of the 2020 presidential election. This rural slice of northwest Ohio—population 38,000—went for Donald Trump by more than 30 percentage points. The county has long favored Republicans, and it hasn’t been competitive in a very long time. But for the people who run elections in Defiance County, the job has never been harder. “In the last three years, this job has basically tripled,” said Tonya Wichman, the county elections director. It’s not just the endless stream of calls and letters. It’s what they entail for election workers these days: near-constant harassment and denigration from people who, largely spurred on by Trump’s election fraud conspiracies, have developed a toxic distrust of the election system and those who run it. “It’s a disheartening thing… to have people tell you how bad you do your job when you’re going above and beyond what they expect from you,” Wichman says. “They’re listening to people speak about our jobs without asking us about our jobs.” In response, the Defiance County elections office has upgraded every aspect of its security, and there is an additional physical barrier between staff and those who walk in. They instruct poll workers what to do if they see a suspicious car at a voting location, which Wichman says has not been necessary before. Wichman stresses that election workers love what they do and are committed to protecting the integrity of the system—no matter what. But for some in the field, the work has simply become too overwhelming. Full Article: Election Workers Are in Crisis. Will Congress Actually Help?

National: Judges are narrowing voting protections. Some fear lasting damage | Carrie Johnson/NPR

The nation's premier tool to protect voting rights is in mortal danger, threatened on multiple fronts by the Supreme Court and lower-ranking federal judges, scholars and civil rights advocates say. The latest blow to the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 came this week in Arkansas, where a federal judge appointed by former President Donald Trump dismissed a case over new statehouse maps. The NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union argued that the maps diluted the power of Black voters. But the judge said he found no way for the outside advocates to proceed. "Only the Attorney General of the United States can bring a case like this one," wrote Judge Lee Rudofsky. The ACLU said the decision flouts decades of precedent and vowed to appeal. "This ruling was so radical that there was no choice but to appeal it," said Sophia Lin Lakin, deputy director of the ACLU's Voting Rights Project. "Private individuals have brought cases under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act to protect their right to vote for generations." Full Article: The Supreme Court takes on another Voting Rights Act case : NPR

Wisconsin Republicans seeks to jail officials in 2020 election review | Patrick arley/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Assembly Republicans sought Friday to jail the chairwoman of the state Elections Commission, Racine’s mayor and other officials as part of their months-long review of the 2020 presidential election. The court filing marked the latest shift in approach for Michael Gableman, a former state Supreme Court justice who is leading the review for the Republicans. Three days ago, he abandoned far-reaching subpoenas he issued in January to the immigrant rights group Voces de la Frontera Action. A month ago an attorney working with Gableman told a judge he was hoping to avoid trying to jail the mayors of Madison and Green Bay. But on Friday Gableman intensified his efforts, telling Waukesha County Circuit Judge Ralph Ramirez he should incarcerate those mayors and others if they don’t sit for interviews with him behind closed doors. The officials have said they are willing to talk to Gableman but don’t believe he should be able to do so out of the view of the public. They argue the interviews should be conducted before a legislative committee. Full Article: Wisconsin Republicans seeks to jail officials in 2020 election review

National: Election officials are on the frontlines of defending democracy. They didn’t sign up for this. | Zach Montellaro/Politico

Voting for the 2022 midterms is already underway, and the nation’s top election officials are caught fighting a two-front war: Battling disinformation stemming from the last election, while simultaneously preparing for the next one. The officials are no longer just running elections. They’ve become full-time myth-busters, contending with information threats coming from the other side of the globe — and their own ranks. In interviews with 10 state chief election officials — along with conversations with staffers, current and former local officials and other election experts — many described how they have had to refocus their positions to battle a constant rolling boil of mis- and disinformation about election processes. They’re dealing with political candidates undermining the election systems that they still run for office in, and conspiracy theories that target even the most obscure parts of America’s election infrastructure. And they say the country will face the same issues this year as it elects a new Congress and decides control of three dozen statehouses. “The biggest challenge that we face is disinformation, about the 2020 election in particular, and more generally about the election system itself,” Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, a Democrat, said in an interview. Their battle against mis- and disinformation comes at a tenuous time for American democracy, as an already diminished faith in the U.S. electoral system risks slipping further still in 2022. A recent NPR/Ipsos poll found that 64 percent of Americans believed democracy was “in crisis and at risk of failing.” 

 Full Article: Election officials are on the frontlines of defending democracy. They didn't sign up for this. - POLITICO

National: Election experts sound alarms as costs escalate and funding dwindles | Mike DeBonis and Amy Gardner/The Washington Post

Full Article: While Trump keeps focus on last election, election officials sound alarms about next one as costs escalate and funding dwindles - The Washington Post

National: County election systems just got a (simulated) stress test | Benjamin Freed/StateScoop

Officials from county governments across the U.S. on Friday theorized what they’d do if an election in their jurisdiction was upended by a blizzard, power outage, phishing attack, ransomware or disinformation campaign — or some combination of those events. On the first day of the National Association of Counties‘ annual legislative conference in Washington, the county officials, including some elected leaders and chief information officers, played out a tabletop scenario that asked them to describe how they’d respond to an election-night disaster. Tabletop exercises have become increasingly common in the election-administration community, with federal agencies like the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency holding nationwide, often closed-door events every year. The NACo event featured officials who, while maybe not directly involved in election work, could potentially have to help respond in case of an emergency. The NACo tabletop focused on a fictional community in Tennessee — Pictoria County, population 220,000 — with an election staff of 10 and IT workforce of 20, who assist with testing voting equipment before and on Election Day. In the first scenario, Pictoria County was hit with a freak, early-November snowstorm strong enough to knock down power lines, prompting the election director to ask the IT director how voting equipment will be delivered to all 150 precincts. Full Article: County election systems just got a (simulated) stress test

National: Paper Shortage for Ballots Could Pose Difficulties for Elections | Andre Claudio/Route Fifty

With this year’s election season right around the corner, officials are warning that a shortage of paper for ballots, envelopes and other voting materials could create problems. The paper required for ballots must be a specific type that is higher quality than other kinds, explained Tammy Patrick, a senior adviser with the Democracy Fund, a nonpartisan foundation that focuses on elections and other issues. “It's difficult to know exactly what the impact will be because we are not sure at what point these supply deficits will be filled,” Patrick told Route Fifty. “We have a situation where we have this high-quality ballot paper stock that we need for things ranging from voter registration forms, envelopes, provisional ballot forms, applications for ballots and even something as simple as a voter identification card,” she said, adding that U.S. elections are “still deeply rooted in the use of paper.” Patrick and others raised the issue of potential paper shortages affecting elections, along with rising paper costs, during a National Association of Counties meeting in Washington, D.C. over the weekend. As with other goods during the past year or so, supply chain kinks and labor shortages are among the factors blamed for shortages in the paper industry. The Electoral Knowledge Network notes that printing ballots involves extensive quality control measures and can involve using paper with features like watermarks.

Full Article: Paper Shortage for Ballots Could Pose Difficulties for Elections - Route Fifty

National: State judges across the U.S. face growing GOP pushback against rulings in election cases | Kira Lerner/Georgia Recorder

In mid-December, Texas’ highest criminal court revoked the state attorney general’s ability to use his office to prosecute election-related cases without the request of a district or county attorney. In an 8-1 opinion, the all-Republican court weakened Attorney General Ken Paxton’s power to independently go after perpetrators of voter fraud, a problem he says is rampant but is actually exceedingly rare. The decision angered Paxton, who took to Twitter to say the ruling “could be devastating for future elections in Texas.” But he didn’t stop there. In addition to filing a motion for a rehearing, he embarked on a campaign across conservative media calling on his voters to pressure the judges to reverse their ruling. His crusade is the latest example of how Republican officials are trying to discredit state court judges who rule against them or issue rulings they disagree with in election-related cases. Officials in other states, including Tennessee and Pennsylvania, are also using the tactic to undermine the judiciary and to sow doubt among voters about whether judges can be independent arbiters of fact when it comes to decisions about the administration of elections. Full Article: State judges across the U.S. face growing GOP pushback against rulings in election cases | Georgia Public Broadcasting

‘We have a project’: QAnon followers eye swing state election official races | Ed Pilkington/The Guardian

QAnon, the extremist conspiracy movement whose followers believe Donald Trump is waging war against the “deep state”, appears to have instigated a nationwide effort to take control of the US election process in critical battleground states ahead of America’s 2024 presidential election. In recent months concern has risen over the coordinated efforts of at least 15 candidates – committed to Trump’s “big lie” that the 2020 election was stolen from him – who are now running to serve as chief election officials in key swing states. At least eight of the candidates standing for secretary of state positions have formed an alliance in which they share tactics and tips for success, details of which the Guardian revealed last month. Should any of the candidates be elected, they would be in prime position to distort or even overturn election results in favor of Trump or another preferred presidential candidate in ways that could have a profound impact on or even determine the national outcome. All the big lie candidates vying to gain control of election counts at state level present themselves as Republicans. It is now emerging that QAnon played a critical role in steering far-right candidates towards the secretary of state races as part of what appears to be a calculated nationwide assault on American democracy.

Full Article: ‘We have a project’: QAnon followers eye swing state election official races | QAnon | The Guardian