In Alaska, a grace period for ballots is seen as a necessity | AP News

The tiny Alaska Native village of Beaver is about 40 minutes — by plane — from the nearest city. Its roughly 50 residents rely on weekday flights for mail and many of their basic supplies, from groceries to Amazon deliveries of everyday household items. Air service plays an outsize role in the nation’s most expansive state, where most communities rely on flights for year-round access. Planes also play a critical role in elections, getting voting materials and ballots to and from rural precincts such as Beaver and in delivering ballots for thousands of Alaskans who vote by mail — some in places where in-person voting is not available. The vast distances and relative isolation of so many communities make Alaska unique and are why its residents have a significant interest in arguments taking place Monday before the U.S. Supreme Court. Read Article

California GOP sheriff who’s running for governor seizes ballots from 2025 election | Jane C. Timm/NBC

A Republican sheriff in California who’s running for governor seized more than 650,000 ballots from election officials last week, saying he is investigating potential fraud in last year’s election. Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said a group of citizens conducted their own “audit” of California’s 2025 special election results in the county, and he claimed that the election workers’ tally of ballots received was 45,000 fewer than the number of votes certified to the state. Riverside County considered one ballot question in the November special election: whether to approve a new Democratic-drawn congressional map. Voters statewide and in the county ultimately passed the measure, putting Democrats in position to gain up to five House seats in this year’s midterm elections. Read Article

Florida: As SAVE America Act stalls in the Senate, Florida passes its own proof-of-citizenship law | Jessica Huseman/Votebeat

A signature piece of voting legislation championed by President Donald Trump may not have much of a future in the U.S. Senate, but in Florida, the future is here. Earlier this month, Republican lawmakers in Trump’s home state approved a sweeping overhaul of the state’s voter registration system, one that mirrors the core idea behind the federal SAVE America Act: requiring proof of citizenship to get on the rolls. The details differ — the Florida bill, for instance, would not take effect until after the midterms — but the architecture is the same. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to sign the bill into law any day now. In states like Florida, policies like this one that are on the GOP’s wish list can move quickly. Republicans face little meaningful Democratic opposition, and the bill advanced with relatively little resistance — a stark contrast to Washington, where things are far messier. Read Article

Georgia Court of Appeals sides with Fulton County in fight over election board appointments | Maya Homan/Georgia Recorder

Georgia’s Court of Appeals has overturned a trial court’s ruling ordering the Fulton County Board of Commissioners to seat two conservative election activists on the county election board or face daily fines. In May, Democrats on the board had rejected two Republican Party nominees, Julie Adams and Jason Frazier, citing concerns about both individuals’ past actions and arguing that they were not qualified for the position. But the Fulton County GOP filed a lawsuit arguing that the commissioners were required to approve the party’s nominees as long as they met basic required standards like living in the county, being a registered voter and not being an elected official. Read Article

Maryland: The price of new voting equipment is stirring up frustration | Latest News | Kyle Orens/WBOC

A looming 50/50 split for new voting equipment in Maryland is fueling frustration. Over the next few years, Dorchester County will have to pay $421,000 for new machines the county never asked for. Earlier this week, we reported on new, high-tech voting machines that Maryland plans on buying for the 2028 elections. It will cost the state an estimated $109 million, but every county across Maryland will have to pitch in. “It’s another unfunded mandate that’s being pushed down on to the counties,” said Lenny Pfeffer, Dorchester County Council President. Pfeffer said that money, which is now going towards new poll books, scanners and ballot marking devices, could have been used for a new ambulance, new public works vehicles or even paving projects. Read Article

Mississippi Secretary of state’s push to use unverified addresses from credit agency for ‘election integrity’ left some legitimate voters inactive during primaries | Madeline Nguyen/Mississippi Today

For the last 12 years, Thomas Minor has never missed a single election — local, state or federal. It’s his way of making sure he has a say in the place he’s called home his whole life: Itawamba County. Over the years, he’s cast his ballot for candidates across the political spectrum. But in Mississippi’s latest election — the March 10 congressional primaries — he didn’t end up voting at all. When Minor showed up to the polls, he found his name missing from the poll book. His voting status had changed to inactive. A couple days later, he learned it was all because of an error that was never supposed to happen. Unverified credit data knocked legitimate voters off rolls for primaries – Mississippi Today

North Dakota has an exemption in the SAVE Act but questions remain as Senate debate continues | Mary Steurer/North Dakota Monitor

State officials have said a controversial election security bill in Congress wouldn’t impact North Dakota, but some voting rights advocates in the state raise concerns that it could make it more difficult for some people to vote. The SAVE America Act would require voters to present valid photo ID to vote in federal elections, and proof of citizenship to register. The proposal has broad support among Republicans, including North Dakota’s congressional delegation. Critics oppose the bill on the grounds that it would expand federal control over elections and could make it harder for some to vote. It’s currently being debated in the Senate. The legislation includes an exemption for North Dakota since it’s the only state without voter registration, though it would still require North Dakota to have a system for verifying the citizenship of its voters. The SAVE America Act doesn’t say anything about what this process must look like. SAVE Act contains exemption for North Dakota voters, but questions remain as Senate debate continues • North Dakota Monitor

Pennsylvania: Automatic voter registration has enrolled more than 350,000 voters, but they don’t always vote | Carter Walker/Votebeat

Two and a half years into Pennsylvania’s new program to register more voters, rural counties have seen some of the biggest gains, a Votebeat and Spotlight PA analysis has found. In September 2023, Gov. Josh Shapiro announced that Pennsylvania would join the more than 20 other states that offer automatic voter registration. Under Pennsylvania’s version of AVR, eligible but unregistered voters who get a new driver’s license or ID card at PennDOT facilities are automatically led through the process to join the voter rolls unless they opt out. Previously, these prospective voters had to opt in to register at PennDOT facilities. State data suggests that the program has achieved its goal of registering more voters, including some who may not have registered otherwise. However, Votebeat and Spotlight PA’s analysis found that these new voters are less likely to actually vote than their counterparts who registered by other means. Experts who have studied AVR programs say that result is not uncommon. Read Article

Puerto Rico: Gabbard testimony on voting machines raises questions about role of Venezuela conspiracy theory | Aram Roston/The Guardian

When the US director of national intelligence (DNI), Tulsi Gabbard, testified that her office seized voting machines from Puerto Rico, she said it was at the request of the office of the US attorney in Puerto Rico. Left unsaid was that the prosecutor, as the Guardian previously reported, has been the center of a push by Donald Trump supporters to revive a long discredited conspiracy theory purporting to link Venezuela to Trump’s 2020 electoral defeat. Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, the conspiracy theory maintains, controlled electronic voting machines worldwide and remotely manipulated results in 2020 to deprive Trump of a presidential victory. It was just one of the theories and grievances pushed by Trump and his supporters. Other complaints involved dead voters, stolen ballots, mail-in ballot fraud and mass voting by noncitizens. Gabbard testimony on Puerto Rico voting machines raises questions about role of Venezuela conspiracy theory | Puerto Rico | The Guardian

Texas: Thousands of Dallas County voters went to wrong polling site | Natalia Contreras/The Texas Tribune

At least 12,674 Dallas County voters trying to cast ballots in both party primaries showed up at the wrong polling locations March 3 after the county GOP forced the elimination of countywide polling sites on election day, county data shows. Democrats had more than double the number of primary voters in Dallas County as Republicans so, unsurprisingly, a larger number of Democratic voters had to be redirected to the correct site, according to a Votebeat analysis of data provided by Dallas County election officials. But similar percentages of voters from both parties were affected by the change. Out of the total voter turnout on election day, at least 6,641 voters, or 7.7%, seeking to cast ballots in the Democratic primary, and 2,369 voters, or 6.4%, seeking to cast ballots in the Republican primary, went to the wrong voting site. Those voters subsequently received texts from county representatives stationed at polling sites to redirect voters to the correct places, according to the county data, which was obtained by Votebeat via a public records request. Read Article

A Utah County Clerk Grapples With Election Denial | Governing

Ricky Hatch, clerk for Utah’s Weber County, had a chance to interview for a government job when he was still in college. “Who would want to work in government?” he asked his professor. “That’s got to be the most boring thing ever.” “Boring” would be the last word to describe his 16 years as clerk. They include running an election during a pandemic, fending off runaway conspiracies, a leadership role in preventing foreign election interference and a growing list of worries about staff and voter safety. Read Article

Virginia governor moves to secure elections, rejoin ERIC | Lyra Bordelon/Staunton News Leader

Gov. Abigail Spanberger issued an executive order focused on securing Virginia voter’s ballots on Tuesday, March 24. The order makes a few changes, such as getting the state to rejoin a multi-state voter database, requiring any systematic removal of voters from the rolls be completed 90 days before an election, and requiring the state’s top elections official to certify that election security measures now in place are still in place each year. “I know it feels like it is always election season in Virginia,” said Spanberger in a press release on the executive order. “With even more days of voting on our calendar this year, I’m acting early to strengthen Virginia’s transparent, robust voting process and protect the rights of all eligible Virginia voters. The actions Virginia is taking today are not only critical to allowing all eligible Virginia voters to register and cast their ballot, but to making sure that only Virginians who are eligible to vote are able to vote in our Commonwealth – this year, and in every election into the future.” Read Article

National: Trump’s push for Save America Act could hurt Republicans | Amy B Wang, Scott Clement and Lydia Sidhom/The Washington Post

President Donald Trump has ramped up pressure on Republicans in recent weeks to pass the Save America Act, a bill that would require people to provide proof of citizenship to register to vote and to show photo identification at the polls, among other voting restrictions. Trump has gone so far as to declare that he will not sign any other legislation until Congress passes the bill, and vowed Tuesday never to endorse anyone who voted against what he dubbed “one of the most IMPORTANT & CONSEQUENTIAL pieces of legislation in the history of Congress.” He promised Republican lawmakers last week that passing the bill would “guarantee the midterms” for the GOP. But the bill might not help Republicans as much as Trump thinks. It is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections. Requiring Americans to prove they are citizens when they register to vote, in an effort to root out the extremely rare cases of noncitizen voting, would throw up roadblocks to the polls for millions of eligible voters across the political spectrum, and in some cases could hurt Republicans more. Read Article

Georgia was going to dump voting machines that Trump hates until things got complicated | Jeff Amy/Associated Press

It seemed like the stars had aligned for Republicans to get rid of their biggest targets — Georgia’s touch screen voting machines. But the complicated reality of changing voting systems has gotten in the way, despite the ascent of 2020 election deniers into influential places in state government and the second Donald Trump administration. Instead, it is looking increasingly likely that Georgia voters will still be casting ballots this November on the machines from Dominion Voting Systems, which was bought by a company called Liberty Vote. The machines print a paper ballot with a QR code, a type of barcode, that scanners use to tally votes. Republicans face hurdles in replacing Georgia’s touch screen voting machines | AP News

Why the SAVE America Act . . . Won’t | The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board

For partisan hype, it’s hard to beat the Senate debate this week on the SAVE America Act. President Trump says the legislation is a salvation from mass voter fraud. Sen. Chuck Schumer says it’s an effort at mass voter suppression, “Jim Crow 2.0.” Neither is reality. Also, Republicans don’t have the votes to clear the Senate’s filibuster. And if they bully the bill through anyway, Democrats eyeing the end of the 60-vote rule will quietly celebrate. The House version of the SAVE America Act, which passed last month, has two main planks. First, people registering to vote would be asked to show proof of U.S. citizenship, such as a passport, birth certificate or naturalization document. Many driver’s licenses wouldn’t qualify. While the bill says it would accept a REAL ID “that indicates the applicant is a citizen,” standard license designs often don’t say. Legal immigrants can get REAL IDs, too. “Enhanced” driver’s licenses do show citizenship, and those can be used to cross international borders. But they’re available in only five states that neighbor Canada, according to the Department of Homeland Security. To pick one state, Minnesota says it has issued 782,000 “enhanced” licenses, out of a total 4.7 million active credentials. Read Article

National: ‘It’s laughable’: Election officials pour cold water on MAGA midterm overhaul | Sam Brodey/The Boston Globe

President Trump and his Republican allies in Congress are increasingly intent on a massive overhaul of the country’s elections in time for the 2026 midterms. But an important group of people are warning that’s not possible: the professionals who actually run those elections. Around the country, state and local election administrators have been warily eyeing the proposed changes contained in the Save America Act, as Republicans escalate their effort to pass it. Among its sweeping proposals: mandating voters prove their citizenship in person to register to vote and also show a photo ID to vote at the polls; and ending mail-in ballots for nearly all voters. Combined, those measures could block millions of eligible voters from the polls, according to analysis from voting rights advocates. Read Article

National: In bid for voter data, Trump’s DOJ lays groundwork to undermine confidence in midterms | Jonathan Shorman/Stateline

The U.S. Department of Justice has begun connecting its push to obtain sensitive personal data on millions of voters to whether the upcoming midterm elections will be fair and secure, laying the groundwork for the Trump administration to potentially cast doubt on the results. The Justice Department has sued 29 states and the District of Columbia over their refusal to provide unredacted voter rolls that include the driver’s license and partial Social Security numbers of voters. The department has lost three of those lawsuits so far this year. But as the Justice Department begins appealing the losses, it has filed emergency motions warning the “security and sanctity of elections” would be questioned in those states — California, Michigan and Oregon — without immediate rulings. Read Article

National: The Trump administration is falsely claiming Jimmy Carter was against mail-in voting | Melissa Goldin/Associated Press

The Trump administration is using a 20-year-old report to misrepresent former President Jimmy Carter’s views on mail-in and absentee ballots as it pushes for federal legislation that would impose strict new proof-of-citizenship and photo ID requirements for voting ahead of the midterm elections. There’s no evidence that mail-in voting fraud was rampant then, and it’s not rampant now,” said Mark Lindeman, policy and strategy director at Verified Voting, a nonpartisan group focused on election technology. “Mail voting has become more common and more mature. So, over that period of time, states have learned from each other — best practices for not only avoiding fraud, but just generally administering mail balloting well.” For example, ballot tracking, curing ballots that had initially been rejected, and the ability to identify and address duplicate voter registrations have improved. Read Article

National: Trump’s emergency elections order is ‘being prepared,’ key ally believes | Matt Cohen/Democracy Docket

An anti-voting activist said to be part of a group pushing for President Donald Trump to take control of elections via executive order reiterated his view that the scheme is “being prepared.” “I think Plan A has always been an executive order from President Trump based on the fact that the Chinese penetrated and influenced the 2020 election,” Jerome Corsi — an election denier best known for spreading Barack Obama birtherism conspiracies — said Wednesday on a right-wing podcast. “I believe Donald Trump is resolute on this,” Corsi added. “He’s not going to allow the 2026 midterm elections to be stolen without taking some strong executive action and executive order.” Read Article

Trump’s Gutting of Election Security Fuels Worries for Midterms | Adam Sella/The New York Times

When election officials in Arizona opened their online candidate portal last summer, it was immediately clear that it had been hacked. The photos of aspiring public servants had been replaced by red and black images of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran’s first supreme leader. fter similar episodes in recent years, state officials often contacted the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, the primary federal agency responsible for election cybersecurity. The agency, created by President Trump in 2018 to protect critical infrastructure, including elections, from cyberthreats, would have lent resources to stop the attackers and notified other election officials across the country so they could bolster their defenses. But after the hack last summer, Adrian Fontes, Arizona’s Democratic secretary of state, decided not to ask for CISA’s help. Arizona officials managed to stop the cyberattack, restore the website and ensure that no sensitive voter data had been compromised, though CISA might have been able to help them work faster and cheaper. nytimes.com

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