Montana: Most Montanans had voted before Gianforte incident with reporter | Bozeman Daily Chronicle

The majority of Gallatin County voters did not agree with the rest of the state’s decision Thursday to elect Republican candidate Greg Gianforte to the lone congressional seat, according to election results on the secretary of state’s website. Final results show the county was in favor of Cut Bank Democratic candidate Rob Quist, who earned a 14-point win in the Republican candidate’s backyard. Libertarian candidate Mark Wicks had 4 percent of the vote in Gallatin County. In total, Gallatin had 76,633 registered voters, according to the secretary of state’s website. Charlotte Mills, clerk and recorder for Gallatin County, said 35,491 absentee ballots were cast and a little more than 6,000 voters went to the polls.

Montana: Law doesn’t allow cast absentee ballots to be changed | Great Falls Tribune

In Montana, once a ballot is put into a ballot box or dropped in the mail, it’s too late for voter to change their minds. During the first couple of hours the poll was open Thursday morning at Montana ExpoPark in Cascade County, no one had requested to get their ballot back, Cascade County Clark and Recorder Rina Moore said. If people still have an absentee ballot that they received in the mail that they would like to change, they can bring it to a poll and a new ballot will be reissued, Moore said. In Cascade County, 75 percent of registered voters, about 31,000 people, requested ballots for the May 25 special election of Montana’s only seat in the U.S. House of Representatives be mailed to them. Of those mailed ballots, 70 percent have already been returned.

Texas: Reaching across the aisle, Texas lawmakers target voter fraud at nursing homes | The Texas Tribune

Here’s something folks rarely see in Austin, or other statehouses, in these politically prickly times: a bipartisan effort to crack down on voter fraud. In the waning days of the 85th Texas Legislative Session, a group of Republican and Democratic lawmakers — backed by party leaders — are pushing to tighten oversight of absentee ballots cast at nursing homes, which experts have long called vulnerable to abuse. This effort has another twist: It could also bolster ballot access among the elderly. “When was the last time you heard about a voter fraud bill that actually made it easier to vote?” said Rep. Tom Oliverson of Cypress, one of the Republicans championing the proposal.

New Hampshire: Lawsuit challenges absentee ballot signature process | Associated Press

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in federal court Wednesday that challenges the process of validating signatures on absentee ballots in New Hampshire. The suit says current law allows election officials to reject an absentee ballot without giving notice to the voter, if they think there’s a signature mismatch in the voter’s paperwork. It also says it puts moderators in the difficult position of acting as handwriting experts. The ACLU filed the suit against the secretary of state’s office on behalf of three absentee voters whose signatures were rejected. All voted in the 2016 general election, but didn’t learn their vote wasn’t counted until this year. One of them, Mary Saucedo, 94, of Manchester, is legally blind and is allowed to obtain assistance in completing the absentee ballot process. Her husband helps her.

Texas: Confusion Surrounds All Sides Over Impounded Ballots | Dallas Observer

Heading into Wednesday morning, the fourth after Dallas’ Saturday city council election, there are a couple of sure things about the incomplete District 6 council race. There is going to be a runoff election on June 10 to decide the West Dallas seat at the horseshoe and Monica Alonzo, the incumbent in the race and first round leader currently sitting at about 39 percent of the vote, is going to be in it. What isn’t clear is who her opponent will be. Omar Narvaez,currently leads Alex Dickey by 47 votes for second place, but more than 450 mail-in ballots in District 6 have not been tabulated. According to paperwork filed by the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office about 700 mailed in ballots total in Council Districts 2 and 6 can be traced back to “an individual that signs his name Jose Rodriguez.” Rodriguez, who the district attorney’s office believes does not exist, at least under that name, signed his name to hundreds of applications for mail-in ballots, attesting that he helped the person requesting the ballot apply for it. Those are the ballots that have yet to be included in District 6’s totals.

New Hampshire: ACLU sues New Hampshire for rejecting hundreds of absentee ballots | Reuters

The American Civil Liberties Union sued New Hampshire on Wednesday after the state invalidated the absentee ballots of hundreds of voters in the November 2016 election, including a blind woman, because of mismatched signatures, the civil rights group said. The lawsuit was brought against William Gardner, the state’s secretary of state, and New Hampshire’s voter signature-matching law, which the ACLU said violates the Constitution and the Americans with Disabilities Act. “People should not be denied their fundamental right to vote because of penmanship but that’s exactly what is happening in New Hampshire,” Gilles Bissonnette, legal director of the ACLU of New Hampshire, said in a statement. The state said it could not yet comment on the lawsuit.

Texas: Lawmakers racing against clock to pass bill aimed at curbing mail-in vote fraud | Dallas Morning News

Texas lawmakers are trying to implement legislation that would curb mail-in ballot fraud at nursing homes. The House bill and its Senate companion would amend the Election Code to allow election judges to collect mail-in ballots directly from voters at nursing homes or similar facilities. The new process would prevent political operatives from requesting mail-in ballots for unsuspecting seniors or the infirm and then returning to the facility to pick up the ballots before they reach the voter. It would also make it unnecessary for a person other than an election judge to help a nursing home resident vote. Nursing homes that have more than five mail-in ballot requests would be put on a list maintained by the secretary of state’s office. Election officials would then be notified to send two eligible judges, one Republican and one Democrat, to collect the ballots.

Texas: Criminal investigation opens into West Dallas voter fraud after ‘off the charts’ allegations | Dallas Morning News

The Dallas County district attorney’s office has opened a criminal investigation into allegations of voter fraud in Saturday’s elections, affecting at least two Dallas City Council races. Assistant District Attorney Andy Chatham said the investigation was opened after an “off the charts” number of allegations, especially in West Dallas, where, he said, there have long been “persistent rumors” of voter fraud and “messin’ around with mail-in ballots.” But nothing like this year, he said.

Texas: Court ordered 671 mail-in ballots in race for Dallas City Council under lock and key. Here’s what happens now | Dallas Morning News

As far as Dallas County Elections Administrator Toni Pippins-Poole is concerned, two Dallas City Council races will be “in limbo” well after polls close Saturday night. At this very moment, 671 ballots cast in the race for the Dallas City Council sit under lock and key at the Dallas County Elections Department — 426 of which were cast in the race for District 6 and 245 cast in the District 2 campaign. Those are mail-in ballots, and their legitimacy is very much in dispute. In recent weeks, elderly voters in West Dallas, where sitting council member Monica Alonzo faces a handful of challengers, alleged that someone forged their signatures on mail-in ballot applications. As a result, those ballots will not be tallied in early voting. Instead, “affected voters” — in the words of Dallas’ city secretary, Rosa Rios — were allowed to cast their vote using a provisional ballot.

Texas: Dallas Voter Fraud Targets Elderly Via Absentee Ballots | Texas Standard

There’s nothing unusual about a state lawmaker and a mayor being worried about turnout in a local election. But in Dallas, it’s not just low turnout that’s got two local leaders concerned. It’s the cause. Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings and State Rep. Eric Johnson have sounded the alarm over potential voter fraud in West Dallas. Many people in that part of the city received mail-in ballots for the county’s May 6th election, even though they didn’t ask for them. In November, some voters from the same part of town were turned away at the polls because mail-in ballots had already been filed for them. Johnson is a Dallas Democrat from Texas’ 100th district, where much of this activity has taken place. He says he first started hearing about the issue a few weeks ago.

Wisconsin: Late absentee ballots more than doubled after deadline moved up | Wisconsin State Journal

The number of late absentee ballots that weren’t counted in last fall’s presidential election more than doubled from 2012 after lawmakers moved up their return deadline by three days, according to the Wisconsin Elections Commission. The increase — from 498 in the 2012 presidential election to 1,208 last fall — isn’t surprising given the change in law, and the number of ballots that weren’t counted is still “extremely small” given the more than 813,000 absentee ballots and nearly 3 million total ballots cast, WEC spokesman Reid Magney said. The State Journal reported on the little-known change in law in October. As recently as the August primary the law allowed absentee ballots to be counted if they were postmarked by Election Day and received by the next Friday.

Florida: Voting access bill watered down after request from Duval elections chief Hogan | St. Augustine Record

Absentee ballots would be accepted at early voting sites under a proposal that has received unanimous support in two House committees and is scheduled for a floor vote in that chamber Wednesday. But the measure was watered down in the Senate Tuesday after a last-minute maneuver linked to Duval County Supervisor of Elections Mike Hogan, who won election by defeating the legislator sponsoring the House bill. Sen. Aaron Bean said that at Hogan’s request he filed an amendment to Senate Bill 726 that allows supervisors of elections to opt out of the practice of accepting vote-by-mail ballots at early voting sites. “They’ve asked that they have the flexibility to choose not to participate,” Bean, R-Fernandina Beach, told the Ethics and Elections Committee.

Florida: Senate moves proposal to elect secretary of state closer to the ballot | Florida Politics

The Senate voted tentatively Tuesday to ask the voters next year whether Florida’s secretary of state should once again be an elective position. SJR 882, by Sen. Aaron Bean, would amend the state constitution to make the Secretary of State an elected member of the Cabinet beginning with the 2022 General Election. Identical legislation is pending in the House. The Senate action set up the measure for a final vote. Bean argued the state’s chief elections officer should be “accountable to the people.” Now, secretaries of state are appointed by the governor. If approved by a supermajority on the House and 60 percent of the voters, the amendment would take effect on June 1. That would allow the next governor to appoint someone following the 2018 election cycle.

Florida: Candidates helping voters vote? Legislator pushes to make it illegal | Palm Beach Post

State Rep. Emily Slosberg has proposed legislation to make it illegal for candidates to go into people’s homes and help them fill out their vote-by-mail ballot, closing a loophole revealed in a recent Palm Beach Post investigation. Slosberg, D-Boca Raton, cited The Post’s story when she proposed an amendment Wednesday to make the practice a third-degree felony. But she withdrew the amendment for the time being at the recommendation of a colleague. The freshman legislator said she was alarmed by Post stories that revealed that Palm Beach County Commissioner Mack Bernard and state Rep. Al Jacquet, both Democrats, won their seats after entering people’s homes and helping them fill out vote-by-mail ballots. Although their behavior drew condemnation from experts who believe it’s an improper campaign tactic, Florida’s laws did not make it illegal.

Florida: House Moves Ahead With Fix to Vote-By-Mail Ballot Law | Associated Press

The Florida Legislature is moving ahead with a fix to the state’s vote-by-mail ballot law that a federal judge called “illogical and bizarre.” The Florida House on Thursday unanimously passed a bill (HB 105) that requires county election offices to notify voters if their signatures on their ballot and voter registration forms don’t match. Voters would then be given a chance to fix the problem before the election. A similar measure is moving in the Senate.

Michigan: Who wants to make absentee voting easier in Michigan? | Michigan Radio

The effort to allow any Michigan voter to request an absentee ballot may be close to critical mass in the state Senate. That’s as more Republicans are accepting the idea that anyone who wants to mail in or drop off their ballot should be allowed to without having to lie to do it. The rule right now in Michigan is that, unless you’re a senior citizen, physically handicapped or expect to be out of town on Election Day, you’re expected to show up at the polls on Election Day. So, right now, people who want to vote absentee but don’t fit into one of those categories are just lying. “We are talking about a small change to encourage people, not to have to lie, whether or not they’ll be in town. I think it just encourages people to get out there,” Republican state Senator Wayne Schmidt told It’s Just Politics. Schmidt is sponsoring a bill to allow no-reason absentee voting in Michigan.

California: State’s electoral future is rooted in the old-fashioned absentee ballot | Los Angeles Times

For all of the intriguing ideas about improving California elections, there was one undeniable truth at a gathering last week of county officials and activists: The state’s 21st century voting will lean heavily on its greatest electoral innovation of 1864. That would be the absentee ballot. Call it reliable or anachronistic, but the do-it-yourself ballot is the foundation of voting reform in a state now on the cusp of 20 million registered voters. That revamping of elections begins next year in a handful of California counties, closing polling places in garages and schools while asking voters, like soldiers during the Civil War, to vote somewhere else. “Voters are looking for a choice,” said Neal Kelly, Orange County’s registrar at the event sponsored by the Future of California Elections, a nonprofit organization. “And they are looking for voting on their own terms.”

Delaware: Bill would ease restrictions on absentee ballots in Delaware | Delaware First Media

A Delaware lawmaker introduced a bill this week that would make it easier to vote by mail. Representative Earl Jaques (D -Glasgow) wants to remove language in the state constitution that requires voters show a valid excuse for obtaining an absentee ballot. And that’s going to be an uphill battle. Since its a constitution change, he needs approval from 2/3 of the General Assembly in two consecutive two-year sessions, which means he needs Republican votes. And that could be a tall order. Republicans blocked Jaques’ last attempt to do the same thing in 2015, saying it would increase voter fraud.

Florida: Mail-in-ballots: winning candidates help voters fill out their ballots | Palm Beach Post

A Palm Beach County commissioner and a state House member clinched their seats last year by stepping into voters’ homes and helping them fill out their mail-in ballots, a Palm Beach Post investigation has found. Commissioner Mack Bernard and Rep. Al Jacquet, both Democrats running in the August primary, took advantage of gaping holes in Florida’s vote-by-mail laws to pressure and cajole voters in their living rooms. In one case, a blind voter said Bernard filled out and signed his ballot. His vote counted, but Post reporters looked at the signature on the ballot envelope after the fact and found it didn’t match the one on file. Florida law requires that absentee voters sign their own ballot.

Florida: Vote-by-mail ballots fix clears last committee | Florida Politics

A bill that would let voters fix mismatching signatures on their vote-by-mail ballots so they can be counted has cleared its second committee. The House Government Accountability Committee OK’d the bill (HB 105), carried by House Democratic Leader Janet Cruz of Tampa, by a unanimous vote on Thursday. It would require supervisors of elections and their staff to allow voters to turn in an affidavit to cure any signature discrepancies until 5 p.m. the day before an election. They would need to present a driver’s license or other state ID. The legislation is now ready for consideration by the full House. A Senate companion has not yet had a hearing.

Virginia: McAuliffe vetoes bill on photo ID for absentee ballots | Richmond Times-Dispatch

Gov. Terry McAuliffe has vetoed a bill that would require voters to submit photo ID when requesting a physical absentee ballot, calling it an “unnecessary and impractical barrier” to absentee voting. House Bill 1428, sponsored by Del. Hyland F. “Buddy” Fowler Jr., R-Hanover, would require any voter submitting an application for an absentee ballot by mail or by fax to submit with the application a copy of one of the forms of ID acceptable under current law. The bill would exempt from the requirement military and overseas voters and people with disabilities.

Florida: Bills would resolve mail-in ballot ‘signature mismatch’ | News13

In 2016, a federal judge forced Florida to make sure voters were notified of problems with mail-in ballot signatures. This year lawmakers want to make the change permanent. The measures (HB 105/SB 544) would require county election supervisors to allow voters whose ballots have been flagged for a signature “mismatch” to correct the problem by completing a signed affidavit. During the 2012 election, more than 23,000 mail-in ballots were invalidated because they bore signatures that didn’t match those held on file by supervisors.

Utah: Election headaches lead lawmakers to consider measures for relief | The Salt Lake Tribune

Memories of long lines, spoiled ballots and disgruntled voters were on the minds of lawmakers Wednesday when a House panel advanced two bills aimed at improving Utah’s elections. The House Government Operations Committee signed off on a proposal to create a statewide presidential primary and a bill requiring county clerks to pay the postage cost of mail-in ballots and to notify voters if their ballots are invalid. A third bill, making voter registration automatically linked to driver-license applications unless a person opts out, was held in committee, with lawmakers indicating that changes were needed before advancing to the House floor. Rep. Patrice Arent, D-Millcreek, sponsored the presidential primary bill, arguing it would make it easier for Utahns to vote for a presidential candidate while avoiding the confusion and disorganization that occurred at the party caucuses last year. “Political parties should be in the business of trying to win elections,” Arent said, “not run them.” A presidential primary would cost $3 million, she said, with the bill requesting $750,000 each year. “We can do it in pieces or we can do it in one chunk,” Arent said. “But I hope that we can get there.”

Canada: Elections Canada studies electronic blank ballot delivery | The Canadian Press

Elections Canada is exploring the potential of an electronic ballot delivery system to speed up the process for absentee voters. The agency is calling it a fact-finding exercise to learn more from potential suppliers on how to design a system that would allow voters unable or unwilling to vote on election day or at advance polls to download and print a ballot — instead of waiting for one to show up in the mail. “Elections Canada is seeking information on tools and technologies currently available in the market that could help improve the special ballot vote-by-mail service we currently offer,” Melanie Wise, a spokeswoman for the agency, wrote Monday in an email.

Voting Blogs: Why Michigan should remove restrictions on who may cast an absentee ballot | State of Elections

Michigan voters are voting via absentee ballot in increasingly high numbers. In the November 2016 election, approximately one-fourth of Michigan voters used an absentee ballot to case their votes. In the August 2016 primary election, that number was even higher in many counties. In Kent County, 43 percent of votes were cast via absentee ballots; in Grand Rapids, 40 percent of votes were absentee; in Ottawa County, roughly one-third of voters voted via an absentee ballot. Though absentee voting in Michigan is increasingly more common, Michigan requires voters to check off on their absentee application and ballot a reason they cannot vote in person at a polling station on Election Day. According to Michigan Election Law §168.758 and the Michigan Secretary of State, a voter registered in Michigan may only vote via absentee ballot if the voter is: (1) sixty years old or older; (2) unable to vote without assistance at the polls; (3) expecting to be out of town on election day; (4) in jail awaiting arraignment or trial; (5) unable to attend the polls due to religious reasons; or (6) appointed to work as an election inspector in a precinct outside of his or her precinct.

California: Judge says San Diego County must change vote counting procedures in future elections | The San Diego Union-Tribune

A judge has determined that San Diego County didn’t follow proper procedures in an audit of the June primary election and must use a different process when verifying future contests. In a Jan. 10 judgment, San Diego Superior Court Judge Joel Wohlfeil determined that state election law says all mail-in ballots need to be included in a manual count of votes from 1 percent of precincts. Previously the County Registrar of Voters only used mail-in ballots received by Election Day in its manual count, while excluding mail-in votes received after polls closed. All ballots – including votes cast by mail, at polling places and accepted provisional ballots – are counted toward election results, but only a small portion are used in an audit used to double-check that votes are accurately counted by automated tabulation systems. Ray Lutz, the head of government watchdog organization Citizens Oversight Inc., said in his lawsuit that all types of ballots cast, including mail-in votes received by the registrar before and after Election Day as well as provisional ballots, should be included in the manual tally to ensure that election fraud has not occurred.

Wyoming: House kills bill extending count of absentee ballots | WyoFile

The Wyoming House on Monday killed a bill that would have extended the period for counting absentee ballots. House Corporations Committee Chairman Dan Zwonitzer (R, HD-43, Cheyenne) sponsored HB68 that would have required county clerks to count absentee ballots received by the clerk after polls closed. Under existing law, clerks count only ballots delivered to them before polls close. Zwonitzer said the measure would have required the clerks to count absentee ballots postmarked the day before an election, provided they were received before a county’s canvassing board met to certify election results the following Friday. County clerks had expressed their dissatisfaction with the bill in a committee hearing last week. Their opposition came through during floor debate Monday. Rep. Lloyd Larsen (R, HD-54, Lander), said his clerk had lobbied him to vote against the bill. When she calls, he listens, he said. Other representatives said they likewise had been called by their county clerks.

Utah: Some ‘spoiled’ ballots would be counted under proposal | Deseret News

A Utah lawmaker wants to make sure voters have a chance to recast their mail-in ballots in the event of common mistakes. Rep. Steve Eliason, R-Sandy, said mail-in ballots can be “spoiled” by a variety of errors, including mismatched signatures or one spouse signing the other’s ballot. “In Salt Lake County, there were 16,683 ballots that were not counted,” said Eliason, the sponsor of HB12. Statewide, tens of thousands of ballots were rejected in November, he said, possibly changing the outcomes in close races. “This bill seeks to make sure that those voters who had their ballots rejected are given an opportunity to, No. 1, be told, ‘You’re ballot was not counted,’ and two, if there’s still time, to ‘come and fix the problem,'” Eliason said.

Montana: Bill for ‘permanent’ absentee ballot list goes to committee | Billings Gazette

A Yellowstone County-led bill to make permanent the absentee voter roster has been referred to a state House committee. Bret Rutherford, the county’s election administrator, said on Monday that the proposed legislation, House Bill 287, was referred to the House’s State Administration Committee last Friday. A hearing date has not been set. Rutherford, who wrote the proposed legislation, said he intends to testify for the bill. “Enough is enough. Let’s get this thing done,” he said.