While the focus of many Americans seems to still be on last year’s Election and on the Election that is still more than year away, Elections Officials across the Country are gearing up for State and Local Elections next week on November 7th.
Just because this isn’t the big show 2018 will be doesn’t mean that there isn’t plenty to keep an eye on as Voters in more than half of the States will head to the Polls in some Capacity on Tuesday. Officials that are Conducting Elections in 2017 are using this “off” year Election Cycle to Test out New Voting Machines and Poll Books and Fine Tune Policies and Procedures. Why watching the News in the Months leading up to November 3rd and these are some of the Stories we think are worth Watching.
New Voting Machines
Election Day 2017 will bring New Voting Machines and fresh Paper Ballots to Polling Places in quite a few Local Jurisdictions
Michigan, it’s expected that Cities in 50 of the State’s 83 Counties will have New Voting Equipment in place for the General Election. Some Localities, like Detroit, were able to have it in place by the Primary. Elections Officials from the Secretary of State’s Office to Local Township Clerks have been busy showing the Public the New Voting Machines as well as Training Poll Workers on the New Systems. “The equipment isn't going to change the way Election Day is run, it's just going to make it move along faster,” Huron County Clerk Lori Neal-Wonsowicz told the Huron Daily Tribune.
Virginia, with just less than Two Months to go until a Gubernatorial Election, the State Board of Elections Voted to Scrap any remaining Touchscreen Voting Machines (DRE) and Replace them with Paper-based Systems. At the time of the decision, DRE Machines were still in use in 22 Localities. While some Counties were planning on making the Switch in future Fiscal years, others had to scramble to find the Money to pay for the New Machines, get the Machines in place, Train Poll Workers, and inform the Public about the New System.
E-Poll Books
Ohio, although some Counties got to Test Run their New E-Poll Books during the Primary, the November 2017 Election will be the first “Big” Test of the Technology. Poll Workers have spent the past few weeks Learning the New Technology. Belmont County Board of Elections Director Bill Shubat told WTOV that in addition to speeding up the Process for Voters, he’s looking forward to how it will make the job easier for Poll Workers. “It's going to help in a number of ways for our poll workers to make sure that they've got the right number, got the right ballot," Shubat told the Station. "We're looking for a good response, a positive response out of these machines."
Vote-by-Mail
Utah, Counties making the move to Vote-by-Mail will get another go at Testing out the New System and iron out kinks that arose during the Primary Process. While some of the kinks from the Primary may have been ironed out, the biggest Challenge facing Clerks now is that with just days to go before the Election some Counties, including Salt Lake County are reporting Lower than expected turnout at Early Voting Sites and in returned Mail Ballots. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, as of Monday, only 277 People had cast Early Ballots and only about 82,000 of the more than 446,000 Mail Ballots had been Returned. “That makes me concerned about Election Day,” County Clerk Sherrie Swenson told the Paper, particularly if Voters “show up and flood our polling places that are not meant for traditional polling.” In 2016 the County’s Election Day Voting Centers were Overwhelmed by the Turnout and Voters waited in lines for hours.
Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV)
City of Minneapolis, RCV will make its Third appearance and this year there have been some Rule Changes to hopefully help Speed up the Process. “We are going to have batch eliminations, which we didn’t have in 2013, and that means we can eliminate more candidates in a single round, which expedites our tabulation and we can report results faster,” Minneapolis City Clerk Casey Carl told WCCO. Some Voters told the Spokesman-Recorder that they are still unaware of the RCV system. Carl told the Paper that her Office spent much of the Summer doing Outreach, not only English, but also Spanish, Somali, and Hmong. “We made the effort, but the question is did people get it. We called newspapers and put out press releases. We put it on our web site. We went to neighborhood groups and did presentations. We had a voter outreach team that went out to the community all summer long to [talk] about Ranked Choice Voting (RCV),” he told the Paper.
Weather
Mother Nature always has a potential to play a Role on Election Day, but it’s Weather that happened before Election Day that will for sure be impacting this Year’s Contests.
Houston, TX, the Clerk’s Office has encouraged as many People to Vote early as possible and to Vote-by-Mail because it is unclear how many Traditional Polling Places will be available following the Catastrophic Flooding from Hurricane Irma.
Wildfires that Raged through Northern California’s Wine Country are also having an impact on November Elections. In Sonoma County, the County will Conduct an all Vote-by-Mail Election due to Damage to Polling Places.
Legislative Updates
Federal Legislation: Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) have introduced Bipartisan Legislation aimed at protecting the Nation’s Election Security. The Security America’s Voting Equipment (SAVE) Act, would Codify the Department of Homeland Security’s Critical Infrastructure Designation and provide Optional Resources for States.
Florida: A House Panel has Approved a Bill that will allow Florida to Join an Interstate Voter Registration Database. The Bill also Prohibits the State from Joining any Program operated by the Federal Government or on its behalf.
Guam: Bill 45-34 that would Eliminate Primary Elections on Guam has been sent back to Committee in order to Resolve Issues that were raised by the Full Legislature.
Michigan: The House Elections and Ethics Committee has approved a Bill that would Require “aggrieved candidates” to show that they could have Won the Election if not for Voter Fraud or Error, otherwise they would not be able to Initiate a Recount.
Montana: The Missoula Board of County Commissioners voted 3 to 0 to keep the County’s Elections Administrator as an Appointed position. The Decision comes Three Years after the Board decided to create the Elections Administrator position, breaking Elections away from the Clerk’s Duties.
New Hampshire: Under proposed Legislation, the Secretary of State will have the Authority to Postpone and Reschedule Elections under Extreme Weather Conditions.
New Jersey: Lawmakers in New Jersey held a Hearing last week about the Security of the State’s 11,000 Voting Machines. According to WHYY, Lawmakers are considering Legislation that would require New Voting Machines have a Paper Record of each Vote Cast that would be Preserved for use in any Audits of Election Results. They haven’t determined whether the Legislation would Require all of the Voting Machines to be Replaced by a certain Date, be Purchased when Counties need Replacements, or whether the State will provide the Funding.
Pennsylvania: State Sen. Pat Stefano (R-Fayette County) has sponsored a Bill that would allow Members of the Military and State Residents who are Overseas to Cast their Absentee Ballots Electronically. The Bill was Approved by the Senate State Government Committee and now goes to the Full Senate.
South Dakota: The State Board of Elections has Endorsed Draft Legislation for 2018 that would Remove References to Electronic Voting Machines from State Law. Although the State has not used DRE Machines in years, the Legislature is taking a “very proactive approach,” Secretary of State Shantel Krebs told the Associated Press.
Legal Updates
Arkansas: An Investigation into the 2016 Wet-Dry Vote in Shady Grove has ended with No Charges Filed. The Investigation centered around Allegations that Camp Trailers with No Basic Utilities, were used as Places of Residence by People who Registered to Vote.
Florida: Judge Rosa Rodriquez has Denied a Candidate’s attempt to Force the City to Halt Distribution of Ballots and Reprint them with her Name Listed First. According to The Miami Herald, Denise Galvez Turros had sought to Place her Name First on the Ballot ahead of Manuel “Manolo” Reyes and Ralph Rosado. In a Complaint filed this Month after Absentee Ballots began to go out, she argued that the Supervisor of Elections and Miami City Clerk had wrongly considered her Surname to be Turros, resulting in her Third-Ranked Placement on the Ballot due to Alphabetical Ordering.
Georgia: A Computer Server involved in a Lawsuit against Elections Officials in Georgia was Destroyed on July 7 by Technicians at the Center for Elections Systems at Kennesaw State University. The Lawsuit was filed July 3rd. The State Attorney General will No Longer be Litigating the Case, instead that will be done by a Law Firm run by former Gov. Roy Barnes.
Indiana: Common Cause Indiana has filed a Suit against Secretary of State Connie Lawson (R) seeking an Injunction against Lawson alleging her Office Unlawfully Removes Voters from the Rolls using the Crosscheck System. The Suit alleges this Violates the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).
Kansas: In a Deposition recently made Public in the ACLU’s Lawsuit Challenging Kansas’ Proof-of-Citizenship Law, Secretary of State Kris Kobach testified that he wants to Change Federal Election Law so States would have an Incentive to Require Proof-of-Citizenship in Order to Register to Vote.
Louisiana: Six words, “while under an order of imprisonment”, are at the Center of a Fight to have Voting Rights Restored to about 70,000 Louisiana formerly Incarcerated People. The Plaintiffs, the Advancement Project, argue that the Words mean a Person’s Rights should be Restored when Released from Incarceration even if the All the Terms of their Sentence has not been Fulfilled. Secretary of State Tom Schedler, for the Defense said the Wording does not Solely refer to Physical Imprisonment, but to those still under Legal “Custody” of the Department of Corrections.
Michigan: Macomb County Circuit Court Judge Matthew Switalski has Ordered County Clerk Karen Spranger not to Create a Hostile Work Environment or otherwise Interfere with the Rights of Unionized Employees. Spranger has been Accused of “guerilla warfare” by American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).
New Hampshire: Attorney General Gordon MacDonald has issued a Cease and Desist Order Ruling that Two Proposed Raffles to encourage Voting in the upcoming Municipal Election are Prohibited by State Law. Two Businesses were planning to Raffle off Items to anyone coming into their Businesses with I Voted stickers on.
New York: A Supreme Court Justice has Dismissed Town Clerk Diana Quast's Lawsuit against the Westchester County Board of Elections and the town of Yorktown, saying she does not have the Standing to Challenge the Relocation of Polling Places.
North Carolina: The North Carolina Court of Appeals Denied an Appeal of a Lower Court Decision that allowed the County Board of Elections (BOE) to use the Student Union at Appalachian State as an Early Voting Site. According to the Watauga Democrat, BOE Member Stella Anderson had sought a Decision by a Wake County Court that Ruled in Favor of the Campus site, and BOE Chair Bill Aceto filed an Appeal of that Decision, and a Temporary Stay was issued October 18th. The October 25th Court of Appeals Decision Denied Aceto's Appeal and the Stay was "Dissolved."
Ohio: The Supreme Court of the United States has Delayed Arguments in the Case over Ohio’s Process for Purging Voters because an Attorney involved with Case is on Medical Leave. Arguments had been Set for November 8th, but will not likely happen after the First of the year.
Pennsylvania: Four Election Workers, Dolores Shaw, the Judge of Election at Poll 43-7, Calvin Mattox, the Minority Inspector, Thurman George, the Machine Inspector, and Wallace Hill, a Bilingual Translator, have all been Charged with Violating State Laws that Regulate Elections in Connection with a Special Election in Philadelphia.
Washington: Even though Backers of a Recall effort in Yakima County have Called Off the Effort stating that it wouldn’t be worth the $250,000 Cost to Taxpayers for the Special Election, the State’s Supreme Court said the Recall Effort against Yakima County Clerk Janelle Riddle could move forward.
The Cowlitz County Sheriff's Office has referred Four Cases of Suspected Voter Fraud in the 2016 General Election to County Prosecutors. Two People Admitted to Voting on Behalf of Dead Relatives and Two People are Suspected of Voting in Two States.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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