Legislative Updates
California: Gov. Gavin Newsome (D) has Signed Legislation into Law that allows Counties offer Fewer In-Person Polling Places in Exchange for Opening the Sites Earlier. Senate Bill 423 allows Counties to Merge Precincts, as long as they keep the Ratio of One Precinct per 10,000 Registered Voters instead of the typical 1,000 Voters. These Consolidated Polling Places must be Open from Saturday, Oct. 31st, through Monday, Nov. 2nd, for at least Eight hours each Day and from 7a.m. to 8p.m. on Election Day. Counties will also be Required to Open One Ballot Drop-Off Location for every 15,000 Registered Voters for 28 Days before the Election.
Maryland: The Gaithersburg City Council Voted Unanimously to get Rid of Write-In Candidates in City Elections. The Council said the Threshold to get on the Ballot, 100 Signatures, isn’t that Difficult and the Write-In Process can be Confusing to Voters and Election Workers.
Michigan: The Ann Arbor City Council Voted 6-5 to Shoot Down a Proposal that would have put a Ballot Measure on the November Ballot asking Voters if they wanted City Elections to use Ranked-Choice Voting if it becomes Allowable under State Law. Some Council Members’ Reasons for Opposing it were that it’s Not currently allowed in Michigan, though there is Legislation Pending to Allow it, and some said they didn’t want to layer Ranked-Choice Voting on Top of the City’s Partisan Elections and instead want to Shift to Elections without Party Labels.
Voters in Grand Rapids will decide in November whether Local Elections, including Races for City Commission, will take place during Even years as Opposed to the Current Odd Year Cycle. City Voters will Additionally decide if they want the Two Candidates for a Single City Office that get the most Votes in an August Primary to Face-Off in the November General Election.
Mississippi: The Clay County Board of Supervisors Unanimously Approved providing an Extra $50 in Hazard Pay to each Poll Worker working the upcoming Special Election on Sept. 22nd for the Vacant Mississippi House of Representatives Seat in the 37th District. Poll Workers are already scheduled to Receive the $50 Hazard Pay for the November Election.
New Jersey: The Ocean County Board of Freeholders Passed a Resolution saying that Voters should Not have Limitations Placed on them when it comes to Voting in the November Election. The Resolution calls on the Governor to Allow for use of In-Person Voting in Conjunction with Voluntary Mail Voting. “Our citizens should not be told how to cast a ballot,” Ocean County Freeholder, Gary Quinn said. “When the state starts doing that we begin to chip away at the democratic process.”
Cape May County Freeholders also Passed a Resolution Opposing an Entirely-by-Mail November Election. In their Opposition Resolution, the Freeholders cited a Laundry List of Reasons why In-Person Voting should be Allowed in Addition to Mail Balloting. Some of the Reasons cited include: Concerns about Fraud and the Length of Time it takes to Count Mail Ballots. MD: The Solution is to Count Mail Ballots, each Day they Arrive, but Not Announce their Totals until after Election Day. This will also Allow Voters to Correct Problems with their Ballots, with a Ballot Tracking System.
North Dakota: Supporters of a Proposed Constitutional Initiative for Sweeping Election Changes have Gathered enough Petition Signatures to Qualify for the November Ballot. The Proposal lays out New Election Processes to be Inserted into North Dakota’s Constitution, including: Earlier Transmission of Ballots to Eligible Military and Overseas Voters; Paper Records of Each Vote Cast; Election Audits of One or More Random Precincts of each Legislative District; Open Primaries and Instant-Runoffs also Called Ranked-Choice Voting for Statewide, Legislative, and Congressional Offices; Drawing of Legislative Districts by North Dakota’s Ethics Commission rather than the Legislature; and Subdivision of House Districts.
Vermont: Burlington Mayor, Miro Weinberger, issued his First Veto on an Effort to Reinstate Ranked-Choice Voting in the City. In a One-Page Memo, Weinberger wrote that he Objects to “the timing, avoidable expense and substance” of the City Council’s July 13th Resolution to bring Back Ranked-Choice Voting. The Measure, Passed by a Slim 6-5 Majority, sought to Place the Question on the November Ballot. “I am returning the Resolution … to you unsigned,” the Mayor wrote in the August 6th Memo. “I do not take this action lightly.”
Legal Updates
Alabama: Montgomery County Civil Court Judge, J.R. Gaines, has Dismissed a Lawsuit, filed in May, by the League of Women Voters and Several Elderly or Sick Alabamians, that had contended that Provisions Requiring Absentee Voters to have Photo IDs before Getting their Ballots and another Requiring a Notary Public or Two Witnesses attest that the Voter Filled-Out the Ballot Violate Alabama’s Constitution amid the COVID-19 Pandemic. Gaines Dismissed the Lawsuit for Several Reasons. “For the reasons laid out in the defendants’ motions to dismiss, the court finds that it lacks jurisdiction over Plaintiffs’ complaint because Plaintiffs present a nonjusticiable political question, plaintiffs lack standing to sue defendants, and the claims against defendants are barred by sovereign immunity,” Gaines wrote in his Order. “Additionally, the court notes that even if it had found that jurisdiction exists, it would have found that plaintiffs have failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, for the reasons laid out in the defendants’ motions to dismiss.”
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund have filed a Petition asking that All of the Judges on the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals Reconsider the July 21st Decision by a Panel of Three Judges that fell 2-1 In-Favor of the State’s Voter ID Law. The 2011 Law requires Voters to show a Valid, Government-Issued Photo ID to Vote. The NAACP, Greater Birmingham Ministries, and Several Minority Voters Sued, arguing that Lawmakers knowingly crafted the Law to Prevent Black People and Other Minorities, who are Less likely to have such Photo IDs, from Voting. The Three-Judge Panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Found that the Burden of Alabama’s Voter ID Law is Minimal, and does Not “violate the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments of the Constitution, nor does it violate the Voting Rights Act.”
California: Journalist Kim Zetter has filed Suit in LA County Superior Court to get Copies of an External After Action Report from the Los Angeles County March Primary. The LA County Board of Supervisors asked the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s Office to Investigate the Missteps and that 135-page Internal Report was Released to the Public, with Recommendations on how the Voting System could be Improved by November. A separate, External Audit Conducted by Slalom Consulting was Not Released in its Entirety, but Only in Summary Form. Zetter Twice requested the Report including a Formal Request under the California Public Records Act. The County said the Records were Exempt from Disclosure. Zetter Argues the County has Not been able to make a Proper “Determination” as to why it is Withholding Public Records as Required by California Law nor did it entertain the Prospect of Redacting Portions of the Document that could be Withheld before they are Released. Finally, Zetter says the Records “contain information that is already public or is not subject to any basis for withholding” under California Law.
Florida: U.S. District Judge, Mark Walker, Dismissed Florida Secretary of State, Laurel Lee, from a Long-Running Dispute about Providing Spanish-Language Ballots and Voting Materials in 32 Counties, but he Allowed the Case to Move Forward. Walker, last year, Issued a Preliminary Injunction Ordering Lee to Require 32 Counties to take a Series of Steps, including Providing Spanish-Language Ballots and Materials, in Time for the March 2020 Presidential Primary Elections. The Order Friday Allowed the Case to Move Forward with Alachua County Supervisor of Elections, Kim Barton, as a Defendant. She is a Representative of the other 31 Supervisors whose Counties are Involved.
Georgia: The Democratic Party and Three Voters have Sued the State asking the Courts to Step-In to Prevent Long Lines during the November Election. The Suit is Seeking to have a Judge Require more Polling Places, Better-Trained Poll Workers, and Emergency Paper Ballots. “The issues we saw in Georgia in the primary cannot be repeated in November,” said U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, the Chairwoman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, a Plaintiff in the Lawsuit. “This is a problem with a clear solution, and there is no reason elections officials should not take the reasonable steps to make sure Georgians don’t stand in line for hours to vote.” Joining the DSCC in Filing the Suit were the Democratic Party of Georgia, Two Fulton County Voters, and a Cobb County Voter.
U.S. District Judge, Amy Totenberg, Denied an Effort to Convert Georgia Elections to Paper Ballots Filled-Out-by-Hand, Declining to Throw-Out the State’s New Voting System after its First Statewide Test in this Spring’s Primaries. Totenberg had Allowed the Suit to move Forward based on Problems with the State’s June Primary however she Ultimately Ruled against the Switch. The Lawsuit argued that the State’s Dependence on Electronic Voting made Elections Susceptible to Manipulation or Hacking. The Plaintiffs said Voters couldn’t truly Confirm the Accuracy of their Printed Ballots, which Encode Votes in Bar Codes, that are Read for Tabulation. “The court appreciates the plaintiffs’ central claim addresses the problem posed by tabulating votes based on a bar code that cannot be verified by voters in conjunction with the lack of meaningful, rigorous auditing,” Totenberg wrote. “However … the court finds that plaintiffs’ showing has been insufficient” because it was Based on Information Presented before this year’s Elections.
In another Ruling, Totenberg Rejected an Argument that Requiring Voters to Provide their Own Stamps for Mail-in-Ballots and Ballot Applications Amounts to an Unconstitutional Poll Tax. A Lawsuit filed in April by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and its Georgia Chapter Alleged that the Postage Requirement Effectively Imposes a Poll Tax and is an Unjustifiable Burden on the Right-to-Vote. Totenberg Acknowledged the Potential Difficulties of In-Person Voting, particularly during a Pandemic, but said that its Availability means that the Postage Requirement is Not tantamount to an Unconstitutional Poll Tax. “The fact that any registered voter may vote in Georgia on election day without purchasing a stamp, and without undertaking any ‘extra steps’ besides showing up at the voting precinct and complying with generally applicable election regulations, necessitates a conclusion that stamps are not poll taxes,” Totenberg wrote in her Order.
Illinois: The Cook County Republican Party has Sued Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D), Members of the Illinois State Board of Elections, and Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, as well as Cook County Clerk, Karen Yarbrough, over SB1863 which Allows County Clerks to Send All Voters a Mail Ballot Application and make Election Day a State Holiday. The 20-page Complaint says Pritzker Violated Illinoisans’ Voting Rights “by signing into law a partisan voting scheme that is designed to harvest Democratic ballots, dilute Republican ballots, and, if the election still doesn’t turn out the way he wants it, to generate enough Democratic ballots after election day to sway the result.”
Iowa: The President’s Re-Election Campaign and the Republican Party are Suing Linn County Auditor, Joel Miller, and Johnson County Auditor, Travis Weipert. While State is Sending-Out Blank Absentee Ballot Request Forms, Linn County and Johnson County will be Sending Out the Absentee Ballot Request Forms with the Necessary Information already Populated leaving the Voter to Simply Sign and Return. “The responsibility of filling out personal information on absentee ballot applications is a key safeguard to confirm the applicant’s identity and should rest squarely with the voter. The rogue County Auditors must immediately stop their harmful actions that threaten the validity of and confidence in the upcoming election,” RNC Chairman Ronna McDaniel said in a Statement.
Mississippi: The Mississippi Center for Justice and the ACLU have filed Suit in Hinds County Chancery Court on behalf of Seven Voters in Hinds and Rankin Counties against Secretary of State, Michael Watson, who Oversees Elections, and Circuit Clerks in Hinds and Rankin Counties who Distribute Absentee Ballots. The Suit is seeking to Expand the State’s Absentee Voting Laws. “In deciding whether to attend any public gathering, particularly a polling place on election day, voters are required to consider, and are permitted to follow, public health guidance,” the Lawsuit says. The Lawsuits asks a Judge to Clarify that All Voters following Public Health Guidance to Avoid Contracting COVID-19 can use the “temporary physical disability” Excuse to Cast Absentee Ballots.
Nevada: Attorney General, Aaron Ford, on behalf of Secretary of State, Barbara Cegavske, has filed a 24-page Motion to Dismiss a Lawsuit brought by the President’s Re-Election Campaign against Assembly Bill 4 that will Send Every Registered Voter a Ballot for the General Election. The Motion asserts the Campaign has Singled-Out the State for Litigation rather than letting the Policy Debate occur Outside the Courthouse. The Motion notes that: Colorado; Hawaii; Oregon; Utah; and Washington, have also Adopted Mail-in-Voting Systems for the Upcoming Election. “Given the fears surrounding the pandemic, these vote-by-mail systems have great potential to prompt widespread voting by mail in the 2020 general election,” the Motion states. “Yet President Donald J. Trump has not sued the elected officials in these other states, opting instead to let the debate about vote-by-mail election processes play out in non-judicial forums within these states.”
North Dakota: The Brighter Future Alliance is asking the state’s Supreme Court to keep an election reform ballot measure off the November ballot. The group argues that the sponsors of the measure failed to provide a full text of the measure while they were gathering signatures, a requirement it says was established by a Supreme Court ruling in in 1924. Secretary of State Al Jaeger on Tuesday approved the initiative for the November election. “There is no question of fact here at all,” Lacee Anderson, spokesman for the Brighter Future Alliance told The Associated Press. “Not one signature gatherer provided a copy of the statute referenced in the measure.” Carol Sawicki, chairwoman of North Dakota Voters First, which gathered the signatures, said the lawsuit is a waste of taxpayer dollars. “Drop the suit. Let the people vote,” Sawicki told the AP. “North Dakotans deserve more choices at the ballot box, not fewer.”
Pennsylvania: The League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh, and Two Individual Voters filed a Federal Lawsuit late last week seeking to Force Election Officials to Change the Way that Voters’ Signatures on Mail-in-Ballots are Verified, asserting that Tens of Thousands of Voters are at Risk of being Disenfranchised in the Fall Presidential Election. County Election Officials rely on Signature Matching to Verify Mail-In Ballots, but do Not give Voters adequate Notice if their Ballot was Rejected because of a Problem with the Signature, or a Chance to Fix it, the Lawsuit Alleged. The Suit seeks to Require Election Officials to give Voters the Chance to Fix Ballots that are either Missing Signatures, or where there’s a Perceived Signature Mismatch.
South Carolina: Leaders of the S.C. House and Senate want the State Supreme Court to Dismiss a Voter Petition that seeks to Expand the Tight to Vote Absentee in the upcoming November Election. In Papers filed, Tuesday August 11th, with the S.C. Supreme Court, House Speaker, Jay Lucas and Senate President, Harvey Peeler, both Republicans, urge the Supreme Court to Dismiss the Petition and say the Right to Seek Changes in State Election Laws resides in the Legislature and not in the Courts. “While the coronavirus certainly presents challenges to previously-routine parts of American life, it does not and cannot wipe out the separation-of-powers doctrine, nor can it render the entirety of the state’s Election Code unconstitutional, as urged by the Petitioners,” Peeler, of Cherokee County, said in his Legal Filing. “The case should be dismissed accordingly.” In his Legal filing, Lucas, of Darlington, urged the Supreme Court to Hear Arguments on the Matter, but only for the Purposes of Dismissing the Petition.
Tennessee: Attorneys for the State are asking U.S. District Judge, Eli Richardson, to Dismiss a Federal Lawsuit seeking to Allow Voting-by-Mail because of the COVID-19 Pandemic because Plaintiffs in the Case ended up Voting-in-Person in the August Primary. Kendra Lee, Voter Protection Director for the Tennessee Democratic Party was Listed as a Plaintiff in the Suit. “Because Ms. Lee has asthma and bronchitis,” the Federal Complaint read, “she cannot safely vote in person because in so doing, she would potentially expose herself to the risk of serious complications from COVID-19. If forced to choose between voting-in-Person or not at all this fall, Ms. Lee will likely choose not voting, despite her desire to do so, in order to protect her health and safety.” But Lee Voted in Person during the Early Voting Period.
U.S. District Judge, Eli Richardson, ruled Wednesday that he Won’t Block Tennessee’s Criminal Restriction on some Distribution of Absentee Voting, and Related Forms for the November Election, saying the Groups that Challenged the Law were Confused over which Forms are which and likely cited the Wrong Law. Richardson wrote that the Plaintiffs cited Examples related to a Law that makes it a Class E Felony for Everyone Outside of Election Officials to give an Application for an Absentee Ballot to Anyone who doesn’t First ask for One. “Plaintiffs plainly are confused to an extent about the difference between an application and a request for an application,” Richardson wrote.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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