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Election News This Week

Executive Order: On March 25, President Donald Trump signed the Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections executive order [Fact Sheet]. Among other things, the EO requires voters to provide proof-of-citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections. The order also would change the certification standards for voting systems, potentially forcing states to rapidly replace millions of dollars in voting equipment, and it would prohibit the counting of ballots postmarked by Election Day but received afterwards The order says the U.S. has failed “to enforce basic and necessary election protections” and calls on states to work with federal agencies to share voter lists and prosecute election crimes. The order threatens withholding federal funding for states that fail to comply. Media outlets from all over the country, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin have posted stories about how the EO may impact voting in their states and how state and local elections officials are reacting to the news. Needless to say, the reaction from elections officials and experts was swift. Rick Hasen, a professor at UCLA Law School and expert on election law, told Votebeat he expects litigation over the issue to be filed immediately. Hasen said the order assumes that the White House has more power over independent agencies — in this case the U.S. Election Assistance Commission — than was previously understood. “It was thought to be that he has no power over the Election Assistance Commission,” he said. “This would be quite the sea change.” Many have latched on to the threat to withhold federal funding, given that there really is no more federal funding since federal grants have been expended or dried up. “I would love for there to be more of a pool of money at jeopardy here,” said Justin Levitt, a professor at Loyola Law School in California, who was a civil-rights official in the U.S. Justice Department and a former adviser on voting rights to the Biden administration. “‘Would you like me to take away a penny?’ That’s what he’s essentially saying to states,” he added wryly. David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, said a court challenge to “this kind of presidential power grab”  would likely succeed. He said the executive order “purports to require the states to create vast new bureaucracies and radically change their election processes and equipment at a likely cost in the tens of billions of dollars, and the president cannot do that with a simple swipe of his pen.” Meanwhile, states that are in the process of conducting spring and primary elections have noted that the new EO will not impact the current elections process. Ann Jacobs, the Democratic chair of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, wrote on social media that there are a number of reasons why the order won’t apply to the election next week. The order only applies to federal elections and there are no federal offices on the ballot — only elections for state and local offices. And the order is not set to go into effect for 30 days, long after April 1.

List Maintenance: Also this week, the Republican National Committee launched a massive effort to probe voter registration lists nationwide amid a broader strategy to seize on voter rolls to question the integrity of elections. RNC sent public records requests asking for documents related to voter roll list maintenance to the top election officials in 48 states and the District of Columbia, asserting that the public should know how states are removing ineligible people from voter rolls, including dead people and noncitizens. “Voters have a right to know that their states are properly maintaining voter rolls and quickly acting to clean voter registration lists by removing ineligible voters,” RNC chairman Michael Whatley said in a statement. At the state level, Georgia announced this week it has plans to cancel about 455,000 inactive voter registrations this summer, one of the largest registration removals in U.S. history. More than half the registrations scheduled for cancellation were identified by a 24-state organization called ERIC, which reports when a voter has moved and is no longer eligible to vote in Georgia. In Idaho, county election offices have removed more than 144,000 individuals from Idaho’s voter rolls after recently completing voter registration maintenance required every two years under Idaho law. And in California, in an effort to clean up voting rolls, one 102-year-old World War II Vet was accidentally removed. Officials say that every quarter, the California Secretary of State gives county election officials a list of registered voters who’ve had a birthday that makes them 100 years or older and could be a potential match for a deceased record. Using that list, officials in San Joaquin County mistakenly canceled Marvin Lykins’ voter registration. “Unfortunately, there are people who will assume that. Just because you’re 100 doesn’t mean you’re dead,” Lykins said. The veteran’s daughter helped him re-register to vote, and he’ll be able to exercise that right in the next election. He wants the county and the California Secretary of State to know he’ll keep voting as long as he can.

Personnel News: Kwame Reed has been hired as the deputy clerk-recorder for Contra Costa County, California. Shasta County, California Registrar of Voters Tom Toller announced  he is stepping down from his role, effective April 29. Judge Terrence R. Nealon has been appointed to  the Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania board of elections. William Northrop, the Anchorage, Alaska elections administrator resigned this week, just days before local municipal elections. Dr. Turney Williams and Mike Hubbard are joining the Washington County, Tennessee elections commission. Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows has announced her candidacy for governor. Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes announced he will not run for a vacant U.S. House seat. And congratulations to Michelle Ascencion, Ventura County clerk-recorder and registrar of voters, has been named Woman of the Year for California’s 38th Assembly District. “Somebody told me once, never say that you’re humbled, but well, I am!” Ascencion told the Ventura County Sun when she returned from her trip to the state Capitol. “I’m just really grateful to be recognized.”

In Memoriam: Ralph Munro, Washington’s longest-serving secretary of state and a moderate Republican died early March 20 at his convalescent home. He was 81. Current Secretary of State Steve Hobbs announced his predecessor’s passing, saying Munro “embodied the drive and attitude of a true statesman.” During his life, Munro championed diverse causes from orca protection, voting expansion and disability rights, to immigration, international trade, polio eradication and historic preservation. “Ralph was known for moderation, civility and bipartisanship. He certainly exuded that in his role as secretary of state,” recalled friend and longtime collaborator Sam Reed, who succeeded Munro in office. Munro’s decades-long political career began with a job as a supply clerk in the basement of the Capitol building in Olympia. A couple of encounters with Gov. Dan Evans scored Munro an invite to join the governor’s staff in the late 1960s. Evans, also a moderate Republican, mentored Munro and promoted him to special assistant. In elective office, Munro was one of the last Republicans able to consistently win statewide as Washington trended bluer and bluer. He squeaked into office as secretary of state in 1980 at age 37 and was reelected four more times until he chose to retire at the end of 2000. During his tenure, Munro strongly advocated for expanding vote-by-mail. Washington also established “motor voter” registration on his watch, which encourages residents to register to vote when they apply for or renew a driver’s license. He also ushered in Washington’s first address confidentiality program to protect victims of domestic violence and stalking. That program allowed victims to receive mail through the secretary of state’s office in order to keep their actual addresses secret. Munro faced minimal competition for re-election in his later campaigns. His political ads on the radio memorably entailed 30 seconds of bagpipe music with a brief tagline stating, “This interlude brought to you by” the Munro campaign.

New Research and Resources

Ranked Choice Voting: Stephen Pettigrew and Dylan Radley from the University of Pennsylvania have published Overvotes, Overranks, and Skips: Mismarked and Rejected Votes in Ranked Choice Voting in the latest edition of Political Behavior. Voters express their electoral preferences through their ballot. More states and local jurisdictions are adopting ranked choice voting (RCV), which affects how voter preferences are translated into electoral results by introducing a more complex ranked ballot and accompanying tabulation process. This research provides empirical estimates of rates of improper marking and vote rejection, and compares them to those rates on non-ranked offices (particularly single-mark, ‘choose-one-candidate’ offices). We describe a new, general typology for categorizing the ways voters can improperly mark a ranked ballot. We apply this typology to a database of ranked choice ballots that includes 3 million cast vote records representing over three-quarters of all Americans living in a jurisdiction that uses RCV. The data show that in a typical ranked choice race, nearly 1 in 20 (4.8%) voters improperly mark their ballot in at least one way. We argue that these improper marks are consistent with voter confusion about their ranked ballot, and find evidence that this mismarking rate is higher in areas with more racial minorities, lower-income households, and lower levels of educational attainment. We further find that votes in ranked choice races are about 10 times more likely to be rejected due to an improper mark than votes in non-ranked choice races. These findings raise key questions about voter participation and representation in ranked choice systems and have important policy implications for jurisdictions that already have or are considering adopting ranked choice voting.

Ballot Measures, Legislation & Rulemaking

Arkansas: The House failed to pass a bill that would have placed restrictions on noncitizens attempting to vote or register to vote, something that is both federally illegal and not happening in Arkansas, according to immigrant advocates. The Only Citizens Vote Act, or House Bill 1422, would have changed both state law and the state Constitution. Changing the latter via legislative action requires a minimum two-thirds vote from lawmakers, or 67 votes in the House. Only 53 House members, all Republicans, supported the bill. Fourteen more Republicans did not vote. The constitutional change in question would have added references to the proposed new statute to Arkansas Constitutional Amendment 51, which lists the documents required for voter registration. Those documents include a Social Security card and a driver’s license or state-issued identification card, both of which noncitizens are able to obtain, bill sponsor Rep. Wayne Long, R-Bradford, told a House committee that narrowly passed the bill Wednesday. HB 1422 would have required the Department of Finance and Administration to share “names and identifying information of each” noncitizen with an Arkansas-issued ID or driver’s license with the Secretary of State’s office, which oversees elections. If a noncitizen was found to be registered to vote, the bill would have required the secretary of state to refer the individual to the Attorney General’s office for prosecution, and the clerk of the noncitizen’s county of residence would have been required to cancel the person’s voter registration. The individual would have had the chance to provide proof of U.S. citizenship after being notified of the secretary of state’s actions.

Arkansas Ballot Measure: Attorney General Tim Griffin rejected a proposed ballot measure that aims to amend the state’s initiative and referendum process. Griffin cited ambiguities as his reason for rejecting the proposed ballot title and language, which Little Rock attorney David Couch submitted on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Arkansas on March 11. State law requires the attorney general to approve or reject a proposed ballot measure along with its ballot title and popular name within 10 business days of receiving the original draft. Tuesday was the deadline for Griffin to do so.  Concerns over transparency and accessibility prompted the nonpartisan nonprofit to submit its proposal, according to a press release. Key provisions of the proposed constitutional amendment include prohibiting the General Assembly from amending a voter-approved constitutional amendment with a two-thirds vote, which is currently permitted, and allowing canvassers to submit signatures under penalty of perjury in place of requiring notarization of signatures. The measure also would require the attorney general’s office to approve or modify the language of ballot titles. Once approved, challenges would have to be filed with the Arkansas Supreme Court, which would prevent legal disputes after signature collection, according to the press release. One of the ambiguities cited in Griffin’s 15-page opinion is how the proposed ballot measure would change the law regarding the General Assembly’s authority to amend the state Constitution. Griffin also took issue with how the measure would amend the ballot title review process. By removing the option for the attorney general to reject the popular name and ballot title altogether, which is currently allowed under state law, Griffin said the measure would create a scenario whereby the state’s chief lawyer would be unable to act in certain circumstances. 

California: There are more than 200 different languages spoken in California and at least two bills introduced seek to help eligible residents with voting materials in some of those languages. State Sen. Sabrina Cervantes is unveiling a bill today that would expand the number of languages voting ballots and voting instructions are available for California voters. Backed by good governance advocacy organizations including Common Cause California and the immigrants rights group the Asian Law Caucus, Cervantes’ bill would direct California’s Secretary of State to identify the languages spoken by at least 3% of voting-age residents in a county who don’t speak English fluently — including languages not guaranteed by current federal voting rights laws. Election officials would then be required to provide voting ballots, ballot envelopes and related voting instructions in these languages. If the bill becomes law, 28 more counties would be required to provide voters with ballots in Spanish (bringing the total to 56 counties) and 23 more would need to provide ballots in Tagalog (for a total of 29). Sacramento County, for example, would also be required to provide ballots in Ukrainian and Arabic for the first time. The bill would go into effect by December 2029, so not in time for California’s primary election next year or the general election in November 2028. Another proposal by Assemblymember Corey Jackson, a Moreno Valley Democrat, would require elections officials to provide voter information and ballots in Bengali by request.

Assembly Bill 331 — written by Assemblymember Gail Pellerin, a Santa Cruz Democrat — passed in the Assembly Elections Committee, which Pellerin chairs. The bill, which now proceeds to the Assembly Public Safety Committee, would make three changes to law. First, it would clarify that certifying an election is a ministerial and nondiscretionary duty of elections officials. Failure to certify an election would lead to a transfer of all election materials from that jurisdiction to the California Secretary of State’s Office, which would count and certify the vote. Second, the legislation would make it a crime to provide or solicit someone to put a ballot in an envelope that isn’t an official return envelope. Third, the bill would require officials to make voter information guides reach inmates who are eligible to vote.

Shasta County, California: A proposed Shasta County ballot measure that would require hand counting ballots on election night and mandate voter ID is moving forward despite being illegal under state law. The county initially sought a ruling against the citizen’s group behind the measure, the “Shasta Five,” arguing it violated state and federal election laws. However, Judge Benjamin Hanna denied the county’s request, prompting last week’s special meeting. Following the meeting, county counsel announced that the board unanimously decided to drop the lawsuit and allow County Counsel Joseph Larmour to draft a title and summary for the measure.

Connecticut: Amid Connecticut’s ongoing efforts to expand voting access through early voting and absentee ballot reforms, a new bill before the Legislature is drawing attention to a largely invisible group of voters: incarcerated individuals who remain legally eligible to vote but face daunting barriers to exercising that right. The legislation – House Bill 7229, An Act Concerning Accessibility to Absentee Ballots for Electors in State Custody – seeks to close this gap. The proposal, which was the subject of testimony on Friday before the Government Administration and Elections Committee, aims to establish a clear, consistent absentee ballot process for individuals detained pretrial or serving sentences for misdemeanor offenses. In other words, people who have not lost their right to vote under Connecticut law. Supporters of the bill argue it would create a streamlined absentee ballot request process, mandate voter education materials in correctional facilities, and require coordination between election officials and the Department of Correction. Crucially, the bill would clarify that individuals should vote based on their last address before incarceration – an existing legal standard that has often gone unenforced in practice. Opponents of the bill have generally not disputed that many incarcerated people retain the right to vote, but some warn about voter fraud risks, identity verification concerns, or broader philosophical objections about voting access in correctional facilities.

Legislators on the Government Administration and Elections Committee held a public hearing to solicit input on the newly proposed bills — SB 1515 and 1516 — which lawmakers hope will increase oversight and cut down on alleged election fraud. SB 1515 is focused heavily on increasing state oversight of local town clerks and registrar of voters, the people who actively manage the state’s voting precincts and absentee voting process. Meanwhile, segments of SB 1516 are aimed at fixing some of the problems highlighted in the election complaints and criminal charges stemming from Bridgeport’s 2023 primary. Lawmakers are proposing, for instance, to create a setback distance from curbside voting locations and to make it illegal for any political candidate to sit in a vehicle with a voter while they cast a ballot using curbside voting equipment. Lawmakers are also seeking to ban anyone who is found guilty of an election-related crime from circulating candidate petitions or applications for absentee ballots for up to 12 years.

Delaware: A proposed constitutional amendment introduced in the Delaware General Assembly would open the door to same-day voter registration. House Bill 88, sponsored by Rep. Bill Bush and Sen. Kyra Hoffner, seeks to give lawmakers the power to set voter registration laws without a deadline before an election—clearing the path for people in Delaware to register and vote in a single trip. “Same-day registration has been successfully implemented in several states for decades and has proven to increase voter turnout safely and effectively,” Bush said. The measure follows a 2022 Delaware Supreme Court ruling that struck down a previous law permitting same-day registration, stating the change required a constitutional amendment. HB 88 is designed to address that ruling by explicitly authorizing the General Assembly to allow same-day registration. If passed, the bill would amend the state constitution to remove the current requirement that voter registration close on the fourth Saturday before an election. It would also direct lawmakers to ensure any future voter registration laws include safeguards for accuracy and integrity, including valid photo identification or documentation verifying a voter’s name and address.

Florida: Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R) goal to make it much more difficult for citizen-led constitutional amendments to pass in Florida is one step closer to happening after a House committee approved a measure that would add significant new hurdles for such initiatives. The bill (HB 1205) sponsored by Lee County Republican Jenna Persons-Mulicka would make a series of changes to the state’s already extensive initiative-gathering process. It passed this week on a party-line vote after more than two hours of sometimes intense reaction in public testimony. Provisions in the legislation include: Requiring the petition sponsor to post a $1 million bond payable to the Division of Elections once the sponsor has obtained a letter from the department confirming that 25% of the requisite number of signatures has been obtained. If a person who is collecting or handling initiatives petitions is found to not be a U.S. citizen or is convicted of a felony without having his right to vote restored, the petition sponsor is liable for a $50,000 fine for each person. The bill revises the deadline by which petitions must be delivered by the petition sponsor to a supervisor of elections from 30 days to 10 days and increases the fines from a $50 flat fee for each late petition form to $50 for each day late for a total fine of up to $2,500 per late petition form. If the sponsor or petition circulator acted “willfully,” the bill increases the penalty from $250 for each petition form to $2,500. The bill requires all petition circulators — volunteers as well as paid staffers — to be residents of Florida. It says that before a paid petition circulator is registered, he or she must submit to a criminal background check. The bill creates a signature revocation process that allows a voter to revoke his or her signature from a petition form. The supervisor of elections must post on their website the total number of signatures revoked every month, and later every week. If the percentage rises to more than 10% of the total petitions received during that period, the Office of Election Crimes and Security is required to conduct a preliminary investigation and may report findings to the statewide prosecutor or applicable state attorney for prosecution.

Georgia: Senators took the first step toward abandoning the state’s touchscreen voting system, replacing it with paper ballots filled out by hand. A bill proposed this week would require almost all Georgia voters to bubble in their choices at polling places instead of using touchscreen computers that print out paper ballots. With just more than a week left in this year’s legislative session, senators said final votes on the bill might not be held until 2026. Under the bill, hand-marked paper ballots would become Georgia’s primary voting method, with touchscreens still available for voters with disabilities. Ballots would be printed on demand at early voting locations to accommodate different races and districts, but they could be preprinted in smaller election day precincts where most voters receive the same ballot. The cost of switching voting systems wasn’t immediately clear. It would cost millions of dollars to buy on-demand ballot printers for each of Georgia’s 2,600 voting locations.

Republican state legislators unveiled an elections overhaul bill this week that would empower the State Election Board after its conservative majority tried and failed to change several rules weeks before Election Day last year. The rewritten bill would mandate the kind of hand ballot counts proposed by the board last fall, give the board authority over voter eligibility appeals and withdraw Georgia from a multistate voter accuracy organization. The 26-page legislation includes many new proposals never previously debated this year, with just a week and a half left in the legislative session. The latest version is entirely different from the bill that passed the House, removing a provision allowing legislative leaders to remove State Election Board members. The measure, House Bill 397, seeks to encode several State Election Board rules the courts overturned last year, including the proposal to count ballots cast by hand after polls close on election night. Under the bill, votes would still be tabulated by machines, with the hand count verifying the number of ballots. The legislation also includes other board priorities, including giving partisan poll watchers access to vote-counting areas and requiring video surveillance of drop boxes after early voting locations close. Additionally, the bill would bar voters from hand-delivering absentee ballots the weekend before Election Day.

House Bill 397 was once a simple bill that dealt with Saturday voting. But now Senate Republicans have tacked on a number of other provisions. It would eliminate counties from setting up multiple early voting sites, instead requiring early voters to go to one centralized location. 

Idaho: The Idaho Senate is reviewing House Bill 339 after it passed the House earlier this month. If approved, it would give the Secretary of State’s Office the authority to check the records of other state agencies to ensure the accuracy of voter information. The bill also allows the office to work with other states to compare voter lists and identify registered people in more than one state.Additionally, the secretary of state would review all new voter registrations within 90 days of any statewide election. “This is ensuring our voter roll is as accurate and as current as possible,” Secretary of State Phil McGrane said. “This really just gives us the tools to make comparisons with other government agencies or other states to ensure nobody is voting twice and that people’s records are up to date. That’s moving forward.”

Indiana: Senate Bill 10 would no longer allow students to use their student ID as a form of voter identification, something that’s been allowed for the last 16 years. “It’s a solution in search of a problem,” Julia Vaughn, executive director of Common Cause Indiana, said. “There is nothing that has been shown to be less secure about a University ID as opposed to an Indiana Driver’s License or public identification card.” Supporters of the legislation cite worries about transient voters — those without permanent residency — casting ballots in communities where they do not live. “I think, just a lot of concern from communities related to thousands of transient voters who are not permanent residents voting in those communities versus voting absentee from where they are from,” State Rep. Timothy Wesco (R-Osceola), chair of the House Elections Committee, said. Under the proposed bill, students seeking to vote in Indiana would need to possess a state-issued Indiana ID. Additionally, the bill includes provisions referred to by Republicans as a “cleanup” of voter rolls. One measure would require county clerks to send notifications to voters who have not participated in the last two general elections, aiming to confirm their residency status in the state.

Iowa: The Iowa House passed two bills making changes to state election laws this week, including a measure introduced by Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate on noncitizen voting. House File 954, approved by the House 65-31, contains multiple changes to state election law, including a prohibition on ranked choice voting and increasing the requirement for candidates of a party to receive at least 10% of the general election vote to gain “political party” status. It also has language introduced by Pate ahead of the 2025 legislative session to allow the Secretary of State’s office to contract with federal and state agencies, as well as private entities, for verification and maintenance of the state’s voter rolls.

House lawmakers also passed a measure dealing with election recounts, House File 928, in a 66-31 vote Tuesday. The bill sets a threshold of a 1% difference in votes — or 50 votes, whichever is less — to request a recount. While the state would cover the costs of a recount if the results are within 0.1% — a smaller margin than the 1% under current Iowa law — the candidate or their committee that requests the election recount must pay for the costs of the recount process if it fails to change the election result. Candidates would be required to request a recount by the end of the day following the election canvass — the second Wednesday after the election — moving it up from the current deadline of Friday following the canvass deadline. The bill also requires that legislative, statewide and federal races all request a recount through the Secretary of State’s office, requiring the state office to distribute notice to county auditors instead of having this task performed by the campaign.

Kansas: Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed legislation that would eliminate a three-day grace period for advance mail-in ballots to arrive after Election Day. The proposal would result in thousands of ballots from lawfully registered voters being thrown in the trash during high-turnout elections. Under current law, ballots are counted if they are postmarked by Election Day and received by the following Friday. Senate Bill 4 would require ballots to be returned instead by 7 p.m. on Election Day. “Not only will removing the three-day grace period for mail ballots disenfranchise thousands of Kansas voters, but it also shows a lack of understanding of our elections in Kansas,” Kelly said. “Implementing this will create confusion among county election officials.” House Republican leadership promised to override the governor’s veto. “We eagerly anticipate overriding the governor’s misguided veto to safeguard our elections and ensure quick, reliable outcomes,” the House GOP leaders said in a joint statement. “By setting a firm Election Day deadline, we reaffirm Kansans’ trust in our elections.” This week, the Legislature overrode Kelly’s veto.

Maryland: The Executive Nominations Committee advanced the nomination of a Republican member of the state elections board, a penultimate step ahead of a full chamber vote — without questioning him about his communications with election activists who were trying to stop the 2024 elections. The committee unanimously approved James Shalleck’s candidacy on Monday. Shalleck has been acting vice chair of the Maryland State Board of Elections since July 2024. State lawmakers have taken a much closer look at elections board candidates from both political parties after a former Republican member, Carlos Ayala, who was approved by the committee and confirmed without questioning, was arrested for his involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. Shalleck was appointed last year by Gov. Wes Moore upon a recommendation from the state GOP and began serving as the board’s acting vice chair in July. Shalleck had to wait until lawmakers were in session to complete the vetting process.

Montana: Rep. Braxton Mitchell, R-Columbia Falls, is the sponsor of multiple bills related to the constitutional initiative process, including measures that would bar foreign entities from funding ballot measures and require paid signature gatherers to declare their state of residence. House Bill 201 would require paid ballot initiative signature gatherers to disclose their status as paid workers, as well as their states of residence, when collecting signatures. During a committee hearing on the bill, Mitchell said it would discourage “the use of out-of-state workers who may lack a personal connection to the local issues” and reduce “concerns about hidden agendas or external influences.”  House Bill 818 would bar foreign entities from contributing to ballot initiatives. Federal law already prohibits foreign citizens from contributing directly to U.S. elections. However, there is no prohibition on foreign nationals donating to 501(c)(4) groups such as the National Rifle Association or the American Civil Liberties Union, which can then donate to PACs, or political action committees, which support candidates and ballot issues. House Bill 179, also related to ballot initiatives, would reinforce in law that voters cannot be moved from “inactive” to “active” status by signing a ballot initiative petition. Currently, voters who are placed on the inactive rolls can reactivate their voting status by visiting their county election office, appearing at a polling place on Election Day, requesting an absentee ballot or reregistering to vote by mail. Signing a petition does not move inactive voters to active status.

New Hampshire: The passed a bill this week allowing voters to request that their ballot be hand-counted by cities and towns, even if their polling place uses machine counting. House Bill 154 would allow any voter to make that request to a poll worker; if they did so, town election officials would be required to deposit the ballot in an “auxiliary compartment” of the ballot-counting machine to be hand-counted after the polls closed. HB 154 passed on the House floor in a contested voice vote with no discussion. But during a vote in the House Election Law Committee, Republicans said the vote was meant to give voters the ability to cast their ballots the way they wanted to. Others, including House Election Law Committee Chairman Ross Berry, a Weare Republican, said they supported giving voters the choice but advised voters to consider whether they wanted their ballots hand-counted in the first place. “I will issue a word of caution: When you do this, when you exercise this … you’re saying, I want somebody who’s been up for 16 hours straight to pull out my ballot and read it amongst other ballots that are either put in that bin or had errors,” Berry said. “My experience in the recounts shows that the machines are far more accurate than the people.”

The House also killed House Bill 600, which would have enabled cities to choose to hold elections using ranked-choice voting, a process in which voters list candidates in order of preference, and second and third choices are factored in if a candidate does not receive at least 50 percent of the vote. Advocates for that system say it eliminates the potential for politicians to be elected with a plurality of votes and encourages candidates to court their opponent’s voters, discouraging partisanship. But Republicans said the system is confusing, can be time consuming for election officials, and is not needed.

New Jersey: Two election-related bills passed the Senate this week. One makes it illegal for someone transporting another person’s mail-in ballot to be paid, and the second lets each county board of elections expand electioneering boundaries around polling places. The bearer bill, sponsored by state Sen. Gordon Johnson, D-Englewood, prohibits any person from being paid or offered goods or services to be a messenger or a bearer of vote-by-mail ballots. The current law authorizes messengers to deliver blank mail-in ballots to qualified voters who are either family members or residents of the same county, often elderly or disabled members of the community. After the ballot is completed, a bearer can return a limited number of ballots to a ballot drop box, a regular mailbox or the county board of elections. This bill would formally make it a criminal act to be paid or receive gifts, goods or services to be a messenger or bearer of ballots in New Jersey. That bill passed with a vote total of 30-8. The second bill, sponsored by Senate President Nick Scutari, D-Union, and state Sen. Bob Smith, D-Middlesex, would allow county boards of elections to extend the distance restricting electioneering from 100 feet to 200 feet of the outside entrance to any polling place or room or of a ballot drop box in use during the conduct of an election within the county. The bill passed with a vote total of 31-8.

New Mexico: The House, by a small margin, voted in favor of opening upcoming primary elections to unaffiliated voters. Co-sponsor Rep. Cristina Parajón (D-Albuquerque) defended the bill in a roughly two-hour debate on the House floor, with fewer than 24 hours left in the session. She said opening primaries to unaffiliated voters will expand turnout and democratic buy-in from an increasingly disaffected voter base, particularly young people. As of December 2024, 340,000 New Mexico voters, roughly a quarter of all voters in the state, were not affiliated with any of the state’s three major parties, which are Democrats, Republicans or Libertarians, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. And 40% of New Mexico voters aged 18 to 24 are unaffiliated, Parajón said during the floor debate Friday.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed an election reform bill into law allowing two local government entities focused on conserving water to hold their own elections separate from other local governments. In 2018, the New Mexico Local Election Act consolidated all local contests into a single election. But special conservancy districts have never been included, because of the complexities of running an election in which people might not be registered voters, but own property in the counties where the districts lie. The original law delayed implementation for conservancy districts until 2022, and New Mexico in 2023 again pushed back implementation for the districts, until this year. House Bill 308 permanently exempts two local conservancy districts from the Local Election Act: the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District based in Albuquerque and the Arch Hurley Conservancy District based in Tucumcari.

Ohio: Reps. Roy Klopfenstein (R-Haviland) and Elgin Rogers, Jr. (D-Toledo) recently introduced legislation to provide additional protections for Ohioans who volunteer to work the polls on any registration or election day. The bill will prohibit employers from taking disciplinary action against an employee for attending training or serving as an election official. Additionally, employers will be prohibited from requiring employees to use their annual, vacation, or sick leave to perform their duties as long as they give reasonable notice of absence. “With the gradual decrease in poll-working volunteers over the years, the time to act is now,” said Klopfenstein. “While current law provides some protections to our employees, it doesn’t go far enough.” Current law only restricts employers from refusing to allow an employee to serve as an elected official on any registration or election day. According to the Ohio Association of Election Officials, Ohio has lost 10-15% of poll workers annually. This bill awaits a number and committee assignment.

Oregon: House Bill 3166 would open primaries to all registered voters regardless of party affiliation and create a “unified primary ballot” for all candidates. Under current law, nonaffiliated voters are unable to vote in most primary elections including primaries for congressional, gubernatorial, other statewide offices and legislative candidates. Political parties can open their primaries but most in Oregon, including Democrats and Republicans, hold closed primaries. An amendment to the bill would require all candidates for partisan and nonpartisan offices in Oregon to appear on the same primary election ballot regardless of political party. The top two candidates would advance to the general election ballot. The change would exclude candidates for president and vice president of the United States. The bill also would require candidates to have a political party’s endorsement before using a party’s label on the ballot.

Texas: A pair of state lawmakers from Austin are pushing bills during this legislative session to make it easier for Texans convicted of a felony who have served their sentence of incarceration to vote. State Sen. Sarah Eckhardt (D-Austin) and State Rep. John Bucy (D-Austin) have introduced Senate Bill 631 and House Bill 590. Under current Texas law, felons can vote again after completing their full sentence, which includes time behind bars, probation, parole and supervised release. SB 631, introduced by Eckhardt, would remove the parole and probation requirements and allow those convicted of felonies to vote so long as they are not currently behind bars. Bucy has introduced a companion bill in the House, along with another bill on the topic, HB 590. That bill would require the Texas Secretary of State’s Office to notify Texans who have completed their felony sentences that they are eligible to register to vote again. “No red tape, no politics, just basic transparency and communication,” Bucy said. “So many people don’t know, and we want to make it simple to get people reengaged.”

El Paso County, Texas: The El Paso County Commissioners Court approved a resolution supporting the continuation of the Countywide Polling Place Program. This program allows voters to cast their ballots, similar to early voting, at any voting center on Election Day. “Vote centers have been popular among El Paso County voters since first used in the November 2020 Presidential Election,” said Lisa Wise, El Paso County elections administrator. The Countywide polling program has been in effect for all elections since November 2020. The resolution was meant to show support for the system as some Republicans in the state Legislature have targeted it. Two bills have been filed this legislative session to eliminate this option for voters, according to the Texas Tribune. “El Paso County voters have come to rely on the convenience and choice that the Countywide Polling Place Program offers. In our most recent Presidential Election, 60% of voters who voted on Election Day chose to vote outside their precinct. That’s an increase from 27% in the November 2020 Presidential Election,” Wise added. The resolution further supports the use of electronic pollbooks, emphasizing that eliminating them would limit transparency and hinder the ability for voters, parties, and candidates to perform their own audits and reconciliation during elections, the County Elections Department said. 

Utah: As expected, Gov. Spencer Cox (R) signed legislation into law this week that will revamp the state’s vote by mail system. “Amendments to Election Law,” or HB300 was included in the middle of a list of 100 bills Cox signed this week. The law is set to end Utah’s popular universal vote-by-mail election system, forcing voters to opt in before 2029 to receive and send a ballot through the mail. The governor did not include a comment on his decision to sign the bill in the news release, as he has for some other bills. An initial version of the bill would have effectively eliminated Utahns’ option to vote via the postal service altogether, but the version Cox ultimately signed allows voters to opt in to participating in elections through the mail. Utahns must opt in before 2029, when counties will stop sending ballots to every voter’s mailbox. The law also starts Utah on the path of transitioning toward relying on the last four digits of a state ID number — or, if they don’t have one, the last four digits of their Social Security number — rather than the voter’s signature to verify a mail-in ballot. It also moves up the deadline for returning a ballot, requiring voters to ensure that county clerks receive mailed ballots before 8 p.m. Election Day — likely resulting in fewer ballots being counted. Previously, all ballots postmarked by the day before Election Day were counted.

West Virginia: Absentee ballot restrictions and shortening the amount of time it takes to purge inactive voters from the voting rolls are priorities for lawmakers this session. Senate Bill 487, which now heads to the governor’s desk, removes ineligible voters from the active roles after two years of inactivity, rather than four. The House also passed House Bill 2117, which would shorten the ballot return period by requiring ballots be received by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day, rather than being postmarked on or before Election Day. Supporters of the bills argue they would reduce voter fraud and election discrepancies. This week, Gov. Patrick Morrisey also signed a bill banning ranked choice voting.

State code generally already requires voters to show some form of identification at the polls to prove their voting eligibility. House Bill 3016 would require that to be a photo ID — namely, a driver’s license, passport or a resident identification card. The bill would also require state IDs to denote if a resident is not a U.S. citizen with the word “non-citizen.” The bill is sponsored by Del. Erica Moore, R-Roane, and was discussed by members of the House Judiciary Committee last week. Proponents of the bill say it could reduce voter fraud, and that obtaining qualifying IDs in the state is already an accessible process. Opponents of the bill worry verifying a resident’s citizen status between the secretary of state’s office and department of motor vehicles could be a technically faulty process.

Wyoming: Wyoming residents will soon need to provide proof of citizenship and residency when registering to vote following Gov. Mark Gordon’s decision to allow a bill to become law without his signature.  Set to go into effect in July, the law makes Wyoming the first and only state to require proof of citizenship as part of its voter registration.  The new law also requires residents, for the first time ever, to attest that they’ve lived in the state for at least 30 days before casting a ballot. That requirement clashes with both the Wyoming Constitution and federal law, Gordon wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Chuck Gray who pressed for the measure.  “I cannot sign it as such,” the governor wrote of the new law. Last year, Gray sought to enact such requirements outside of the lawmaking process by adopting them via executive rulemaking. But Gordon rejected the rules on the basis that they exceeded the scope of the secretary’s legal authority. The governor referenced this in his Friday letter to Gray.  “Because it is laudable to continuously improve our standards for identification, I am thrilled that this legislation now gives the Secretary of State the authority he was trying to usurp by passing rules he had no authority to pass last spring,” Gordon wrote. “The will of the Legislature is finally clear on this point.”

Legal Updates

Connecticut: Five people accused of violating election laws during the 2023 mayoral primary have pleaded not guilty to the charges. One by one, Judge Tracy Lee Dayton called the defendants  — Alfredo Castillo, Maria Pereira and Jazmarie Melendez, all City Council members, as well as Wanda Geter-Pataky, vice chair of the Democratic Town Committee, and Stratford resident Margaret Joyce — to the defense table in her  courtroom, where attorneys representing them formally entered the not guilty pleas and asked for jury trials as they review discovery evidence turned over by prosecutors. Their cases were continued to May 7, with the understanding that Joyce and Pereira will go to court April 9 to discuss their cases with special public defenders that have not yet been appointed.

Georgia: U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee has thrown out a lawsuit that challenged whether the state could take over county election oversight and prohibit ballot photography. Boulee ruled that the plaintiffs, led by the election security group Coalition for Good Governance, failed to show they had been harmed by the provisions in Georgia’s 2021 voting law. Boulee did not rule on the merits of the lawsuit. Boulee had previously put the ballot photography ban on hold in 2021, finding that such far-reaching restrictions violated free speech protections. That ruling allowed photographing ballots while they were being counted, recounted or audited. It remained illegal to photograph completed ballots in polling places while voting was underway. But Boulee’s ruling this week ends the case, and with it, his prior decision on ballot photography. “The court’s decision affirms the integrity of Georgia’s elections and upholds the state’s ability to allow every lawful voter the opportunity to cast a ballot,” said Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. “Since the passage of Senate Bill 202, Georgia has conducted multiple successful elections with record voter turnout, proving that election integrity measures and voter access can go hand in hand.”

Louisiana: Louisiana officials argued before the U.S. Supreme Court this week that it should retain the state’s two majority-Black districts in Congress that non-Black voters have challenged. According to the Louisiana Illuminator, the court seemed closely divided over the case, with conservative justices suggesting they may throw out the map and make it harder to bring lawsuits under the Voting Rights Act, landmark civil rights legislation that allows voters the right to sue over possible infringements of their voting rights.  The arguments defending Louisiana’s map, which state legislators adopted last year, were presented by a set of strange bedfellows: Solicitor General Benjamin Aguiñaga and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. The NAACP fought Anguiñaga’s boss, Republican Attorney General Liz Murrill, and her predecessor, now Gov. Jeff Landry, in court over a 2022 version of redistricting plans.  Before the state’s highest court, Anguiñaga and Stuart Naifeh with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, said politics, not race, drove the creation of the map. Partisan gerrymandering remains legal in the United States, but racial gerrymandering is not. Aguiñaga also complained to the justices that the flurry of conflicting lawsuits make it difficult for states to know what to do. The Supreme Court’s decision in the Callais case will likely come this summer.

Michigan: A group of Republican state lawmakers is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to clear the way for them to challenge two voter-approved amendments to the Michigan Constitution. This is a last-ditch effort by the GOP legislators to pursue their challenge without the full backing of a politically divided House and Senate. The legislators are asking the high court to accept the case and rule that state lawmakers have individual standing to file the challenge and do not have to wait on formal action by the GOP-controlled House and the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats. “Unless you have an agreement of both chambers of the Legislature, there’s no way to get an answer to this question except by going through individual legislators,” said Sen. Jim Runestad, who is also the Michigan Republican Party chair. “The only hope we have of a good clear look at the legality of this is the U.S. Supreme Court.” The underlying controversy is the fate of two ballot proposals adopted by voters in 2018 and 2022. The voting rights proposals include provisions that include making it easier to register to vote, to vote absentee and to use early voting options. The Republican lawmakers say those ballot questions usurp their constitutional authority of the Legislature to set “the time, place and manner” of federal elections.

Minnesota: The Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled this week that the witness requirement for Minnesotans to vote by absentee ballot does not violate the Voting Rights Act or the Civil Rights Act because the voter — and not the witness — is ultimately vouching for the legality of their ballot. This week’s opinion means an effective dismissal of a 2024 lawsuit brought by the Minnesota Alliance for Retired Americans Educational Fund against Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon challenging the witness requirement. It’s unclear whether the alliance will ask the Minnesota Supreme Court to hear the case. When a person votes absentee — as 27% of the Minnesota electorate did in 2022 — they mark their ballot, place the ballot inside a sealed envelope, then put that envelope inside the “signature envelope,” which includes a certificate of eligibility with two required signatures. One is from the voter, swearing they meet all legal requirements to vote by an absentee ballot. The other signature is for the witness who verifies the ballot was unmarked when given to the voter, the voter marked the ballot in the presence of the witness or, if they were physically unable, “directed another individual” to mark the ballot, and that, if the voter was not previously registered, they gave the witness proof of residency. The Court of Appeals opinion, written by Judge Louise Bjorkman and signed by Judge JaPaul Harris and retired Judge Lucinda Jesson, also determined that plaintiffs had standing to bring the lawsuit but determined Minnesota’s witness requirement did not violate the Voting Rights Act or the Civil Rights Act.

New York: The New York Court of Appeals, the highest court in the state, blocked a 2021 law passed by the New York City Council that authorized noncitizens in the U.S. legally to vote in local elections. “Whatever the future may bring, the New York Constitution as it stands today draws a firm line restricting voting to citizens,” Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals Rowan D. Wilson wrote in the court’s majority opinion. “Accordingly, the order of the Appellate Division insofar as appealed from should be modified, without costs, in accordance with this opinion and, as so modified, affirmed.” The law  — which did not grant noncitizens the right to vote in presidential, congressional or state elections — allowed green-card holders and individuals with work permits who have lived in the city for at least a month to vote in municipal elections. The progressive majority of seven-judge Court of Appeals resolutely sided 6-to-1 with New York Republicans, affirming that the text of the New York Constitution limits voting to citizens. “Reading Article II as a whole, it is facially clear that only citizens may vote in elections within the state of New York,” Wilson wrote in the majority opinion. Judge Jenny Rivera, a Democrat appointed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2013, penned a dissent, arguing Article IX of the New York State Constitution and the Municipal Home Rule Law grant localities broad authority to structure their own governments and elections to enhance accountability and serve the unique needs of their residents.

North Carolina: Three Appeals Court judges will decide whether they should order thousands of votes cast in November’s race for a seat on the state Supreme Court to be thrown out. Republican appeals court Judge Jefferson Griffin wants more than 60,000 votes in his race for the Supreme Court seat tossed. He is trailing Democratic incumbent Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs by 734 votes. Two recounts have affirmed her lead. Griffin believes he can win if he can convince courts to reject the votes he’s challenging. The state Board of Elections dismissed his protests in December. Griffin contends the elections board is counting illegal votes. His case against the elections board has traveled a tangled route through state and federal courts. A trial court judge’s decision in favor of the elections board teed up Griffin’s appeal. The case may yet make its way back to federal court.  Two Republican judges, John Tyson and Fred Gore, and one Democrat, Tobias Hampson, heard Griffin’s appeal on March 21.  Griffin is challenging three sets of ballots. He claims that more than 60,000 voters were not properly registered because they did not include either a partial Social Security number or driver’s license number on their forms. Voters Griffin is challenging have come forward in the past months to say they did provide that information, but it was excluded from the electronic voter file due to typos or data mismatches. The judges provided no indication as to when they will issue a ruling.

Pennsylvania: Joseph D. Granteed, 68, of Plains Township has been charged with assault and disorderly conduct after allegedly scuffling with sheriff’s deputies after refusing to yield the lectern during last week’s Luzerne County Board of Elections meeting. Granteed was arrested on the misdemeanor charges following his alleged outburst around 7 p.m. March 19 at the Luzerne County Courthouse. According to the complaint, Granteed took the lectern during public comment and argued that elections should use only paper ballots and also began to “verbally assault” the board members. While asserting that the board’s existence is unconstitutional, Granteed exceeded his allotted three minutes at the microphone and became increasingly disruptive, according to the charges. Board Chairwoman Christine Boyle eventually ordered Granteed to leave the meeting, but Granteed continued acting out, the complaint says. While “unwillingly” returning to his seat, Granteed asserted that sheriff’s deputies lacked the authority to remove anyone from the meeting, the complaint alleges. Deputies charged Granteed with misdemeanor counts of simple assault, disrupting a public meeting and disorderly conduct, as well as two summary counts of harassment. Magisterial District Judge Donald L. Whittaker arraigned Granteed on the charges and set bail at $25,000, which court records show Granteed posted via a bondsman. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for April 2.

Texas: U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez has ruled that the state of Texas’ ID requirements for mail ballot applications are unconstitutional. Rodriguez  found that the provisions in the state’s 2021 voter security law SB1 discriminate against voters with disabilities. Mail-in voters are principally people over the age of 65 and people with disabilities. Since the law was enacted, many voters reported having their ballots rejected because they didn’t provide an ID number, or the number they provided did not match the one the state had on file. The ruling ordered the Texas secretary of state to remove the requirements from mail-in ballot applications. However, the ruling came just weeks before Texas’ municipal elections, so they will remain in effect through May 3. Rodriguez also struck down provisions of SB1 that require those who assist voters to swear an oath under penalty of perjury. The state of Texas was expected to appeal.

Opinions This Week

National Opinions: SAVE Act, II, III | Election security | Executive order, II, III 

Arizona: SAVE Act 

Connecticut: Ranked choice voting 

Florida: Election legislation 

Kansas: Election legislation, II 

Maryland: Voting rights 

Mississippi: SAVE Act 

New Hampshire: SAVE Act

North Carolina: Supreme Court race, II, III 

Virginia: Ranked choice voting 

Wisconsin: Voter ID amendment

Upcoming Events

Combating False Election Information Lessons from 2024 and a Look to the Future: The Safeguarding Democracy Project at UCLA promotes research, collaboration, and advocacy under the leadership of UCLA Law Professor Richard L. Hasen; one of the nation’s leading election scholars. The Safeguarding Democracy Project is built upon the premise that tackling issues of the U.S. election integrity must be collaborative: across ideologies, across scholarly disciplines, and as a bridge between theory and practice. This session will feature speakers: Alice Marwick, Director of Research, Data & Society, UNC Chapel Hill, Kate Starbird, University of Washington, and Joshua Tucker, NYU and moderator Richard L. Hasen, (Director, Safeguarding Democracy Project, UCLA). When: March 31 3:15pm Eastern. Where: Online.

Partisan Primaries, Polarization, and the Risks of Extremism: The Safeguarding Democracy Project at UCLA promotes research, collaboration, and advocacy under the leadership of UCLA Law Professor Richard L. Hasen; one of the nation’s leading election scholars. The Safeguarding Democracy Project is built upon the premise that tackling issues of the U.S. election integrity must be collaborative: across ideologies, across scholarly disciplines, and as a bridge between theory and practice. This session will feature speakers: Julia Azari, Marquette University, Ned Foley, The University of Ohio, Moritz College of Law, Seth Masket, Denver University, and Rick Pildes, NYU Law School and moderator Richard L. Hasen, (Director, Safeguarding Democracy Project, UCLA). When: April 10, 3:15pm Eastern. Where: Online

Election Center April Special Workshop: The Election Center April Special Workshop will be held in Pittsburgh. The conference will run April 23-25 and CERA courses will be offered April 26 and 27. The CERA courses offered will be: Course 9 (History III, 1965 to present); Course 10 (Constitutional Law of Elections); and Renewal Course 38 (Leadership in Election Administration). When: April 23-27. Where: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Election Center Annual Conference: The Election Center Annual Conference will be held in Salt Lake City. The conference will run August 20-22 and CERA courses will be offered August 23 and 24. The CERA courses offered will be: Course 5 (Ethics); Course 6 (Communications & Public Relations); and Two renewal courses to be announced. When: August 20 to 24. Where: Salt Lake City.

Job Postings This Week

electionlineWeekly publishes election administration job postings each week as a free service to our readers. To have your job listed in the newsletter, please send a copy of the job description, including a web link to mmoretti@electionline.org.  Job postings must be received by 5pm on Wednesday in order to appear in the Thursday newsletter. Listings will run for three weeks or till the deadline listed in the posting.

Ballot Processing Supervisor, Boulder County, Colorado– The Boulder County Clerk and Recorder’s Office is currently seeking a Ballot Processing Supervisor to join our team. This vital role supports the execution of accurate and compliant elections within Boulder County. The Ballot Processing Supervisor is accountable for the execution of ballot processing, temporary staff scheduling and training, and public data requests for Boulder County. This position reports to the Ballot Processing Manager and works with members of the full-time elections staff as well as temporary election judges during an election. The position must comply with state laws and Secretary of State rules. This position is key to our ability to implement successful and trusted elections. The Ballot Processing Supervisor is accountable for driving bipartisanship oversight of election processes through implementing organized, efficient, and accurate elections with a well-trained temporary staff of judges and workers. Through our elections, we aim to build trust with the public and be compliant with state requirements. This position will work closely with other election team members to manage aspects of the overall process for mail-in ballots from ballot separation through tabulation and election judge training requirements. The position is also responsible for the accurate and efficient administration of the statewide voter database (SCORE) and timely responses to public data requests. The ideal candidate will be focused on executing their responsibilities in a compliant, organized, and efficient manner. They will be committed to working well with other team members to ensure a successful election. Salary: $51,408 – $74,124 Annually. Deadline: March 31. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here. 

Candidate Services Coordinator, Seminole County, Florida – The Candidate Services Coordinator is a key member of the Supervisor of Elections Office, responsible for ensuring smooth administrative operations with a focus on candidate services and assists with accounting functions and payroll processing. This position requires attention to detail, organizational skills, and the ability to effectively handle multiple responsibilities while maintaining confidentiality and compliance with applicable laws and regulations. This position is responsible for managing the candidate qualifying process, serving as primary point of contact for candidates, maintaining accurate records related to candidate filings, financial disclosures, and other required documentation, and coordinating candidate workshops and providing training on election procedures and campaign finance rules. Salary: $36,000 – $46,000 Annually. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here. 

County Clerk, Lane County, Oregon– Lane County is seeking an experienced and dynamic leader to serve as County Clerk and Election & Recording Principal Manager, overseeing critical functions that uphold the integrity of our democratic processes and public records. This pivotal role leads a dedicated team committed to excellence, accuracy, and service to our community. As County Clerk, you will: Plan, organize, and conduct all federal, state, and local elections; Oversee voter registration, property tax appeals, and permanent real property records; Manage marriage licensing, domestic partnership registrations, and archived records; Ensure compliance with Federal, State, and Local laws governing elections and records; Lead a team of 14 full-time employees, ensuring exceptional service and operational efficiency; and Prepare and analyze data, manage budgets, and oversee technology solutions that support Clerk operations. This is a fast-paced, high-impact role where you’ll serve as Lane County’s Clerk and Election & Recording Principal Manager, working under the direction of the Director of Operations to deliver services that affect all residents. Why Lane County? Lane County, the fourth most populous county in Oregon, offers a rich and diverse landscape stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the Cascade Mountains. Our county seat, Eugene, is a vibrant community with ample opportunities for living, working, and recreation. We are proud to offer an excellent benefits package and the chance to make a meaningful impact in public service. Salary: $90,625.60 – $133,286.40 Annually. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here. 

Customer Support Consultant, Hart InterCivic– A Customer Support Center Consultant Level 1 (CSC 1) responds to requests for assistance from Hart InterCivic customers for all Hart InterCivic products. The CSC I’s primary responsibilities are to: Answer, resolve and route customer queries; Maintain professionalism and “customer first” approach in stressful situations; Acquire, demonstrate, and maintain depth of knowledge with all Hart products and product documentation to best support Hart customers; Acquire and maintain functional support-level knowledge of unique customer requirements and their implementation in Hart products; Provide data tracking, reporting, and analytics for CSC projects; Manage and maintain the security of Hart’s assets and customer information; and Serve as a backup/overflow resource Technical Services Workstation deployment and RMA management. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here. 

Deputy Director, Minnesota Secretary of State–The Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State (OSS) is seeking a Deputy Elections Director that supports the Elections Director in providing division-wide strategic and administrative management, along with program and staff management, of all activities within the Elections Division to ensure the Division’s goals, statutory responsibilities, and initiatives are achieved. The OSS oversees statewide elections and operates the statewide voter registration system. The work of OSS’s Election Division ensures the Minnesota election system is fair, open, impartial, and secure. This position will supervise and provide work direction to nine Elections Division staff in the fulfillment of it’s mission to conduct free, fair, and secure elections; Ensure compliance with labor contracts and state law so that employees effectively perform assigned job duties to achieve established objectives; Develop and coordinate the goals and priorities of the Elections Division to ensure state and federal legal requirements are met, staff meet reporting deadlines, and that services are delivered in an effective manner. This position will work closely with the Elections Development team in support of OSS-managed elections tools including the Statewide Voter Registration System (SVRS) and Election Reporting System (ERS). This position will also coordinate and support the work of the Elections Security Navigator team. Salary:$37.60 – $54.16 / hourly; $78,508 – $113,086 / annually. Deadline: April 7. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here (when you click on the job listing link, use Job No. 85091 to search). 

Deputy Director (Democrat), Jackson County, Ohio– To serve as Deputy Director of the Jackson County Board of Elections, in the administration of fair, honest, and accurate elections. The Deputy Director works directly with the Director and is responsible for supervising, directing, and conducting all elections held throughout Jackson County: oversees all operations involved in the election process in accordance with Title 35 of the Ohio Revised Code; and shall be responsible for the following as outlined in Secretary of State Directive 2022-06. Salary: $48,000-$51,000. Deadline: March 28. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here. 

Election Specialist, Candidate Services, Palm Beach County, Florida– This position is responsible for the management and execution of services provided to candidates, political committees, electioneering communication organizations, political parties, community development districts, and special taxing districts. This includes establishing and maintaining an organized system for managing the required forms and records associated with filing and qualifying for office, candidate petitions, campaign finance reporting, financial disclosures, initiative petitions, and other related activities. Candidate Services staff must be organized and personable with a great attitude, be able to work well in a team environment, and meet deadlines under pressure. Excellent work ethic, including consistent performance, integrity, reliability, and attendance, is a must. Must be detail-oriented, be able to handle simultaneous projects, and be a self-starter. Salary: $21.63 – $24.04. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here. 

Elections Specialist, Pinal County, Arizona– Perform a variety of paraprofessional and technical functions in the administration and support of the elections functions for Pinal County under general supervision. Work in this classification requires an individual to be able to perform the essential job functions satisfactorily.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the primary classification functions herein described. Since every duty associated with this classification may not be described herein, employees may be required to perform duties not specifically spelled out in this classification description, but which may be reasonably considered to be incidental in the performing of their duties just as though they were actually written out in this description. Salary: $42,000 – $59,117 Annually. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here. 

Harris Regional Services Technician, Hart InterCivic – A Harris Regional Services Technician responds to all customer requests ranging from training requests to phone support requests, to onsite repair of voting equipment requests. This individual is one of the local customer support routes. The position requires residency in Harris County, Texas. The Regional Service Technician handles all Return Material Authorization (RMA) requests for external customers for all Hart InterCivic Verity products within his/her region and provides on-site customer support and troubleshooting on an as-needed basis. This position will adhere to the Proprietary Information and Intellectual Property Agreement as it defines and communicates this position’s responsibilities to protect the Company’s information and information security. This responsibility extends outside the organization’s premises and outside normal working hours, e.g., in the case of work-from-home. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here. 

IT Assistant Manager, Palm Beach County, Florida– The Assistant IT Manager plays a supportive role in the smooth operation of the IT department, ensuring that both the technical infrastructure and the team are aligned with the organization’s goals. This position involves collaborating closely with the Election Technology Director to oversee the implementation of technology solutions that meet the needs of the organization. The Assistant IT Manager helps maintain an efficient and effective IT environment. Oversee daily operations of the IT department, including help desk operations and performance, troubleshooting issues, and ensuring efficient workflow. Hold department meetings and provide weekly performance summary. Manage IT projects under the direction of the Election Technology Director, ensuring timely completion, budget requirements, and organizational needs. Enforce IT policies and procedures to ensure data security, network access, and system availability. Assist in the management of IT staff by developing skills, coaching, and communicating job expectations. Coordinate vendor renewals, assist with IT budget development, and manage grant applications. Evaluate and assist in maintaining the organization’s disaster recovery and business continuity plans for IT. Assist with IT Public Records requests research and fulfillment. Assist the Election Technology Director in all facets of IT operations. Lead projects and mentor team members. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.

Language Access & Outreach Coordinator, King County, Washington–This is an amazing opportunity to be engaged in the election process!  The Department of Elections is searching for energetic and resourceful professionals who like to “get stuff done”. The Language Access and Outreach Coordinator position in the Elections Department combines an exciting, fast paced environment with the opportunity to cultivate talents and apply a variety of skills. The ideal candidate will thrive in a collaborative, innovative, and fast-paced environment and will not hesitate to roll up both sleeves, work hard, have fun, and get the job done. The Language Services and Community Engagement Team at King County Elections provides language access work for the whole Elections Department, translating election materials into six languages (Chinese, Korean, Russian, Somali, Spanish, and Vietnamese). In addition, the Team works collaboratively across Department and with community to identify and remove barriers to voting. These communities include those who are disabled, experiencing houselessness, immigrants, youth, and those with limited mobility. This team is recruiting a Language Access and Outreach Coordinator who will support the program for the Chinese language. This position provides bilingual assistance, translation, and community outreach support. This individual must be able to read, write, understand, and speak Chinese at the language proficiency testing level used by the Department. In addition, as part of the community engagement program, this individual will participate in voter registration and voter education activities with community partners and provide support to our Voter Education Fund partners. This position will provide language access assistance to our communications team and administrative support to other election work groups as needed. Salary: $38.37 – $48.64 Hourly. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here. 

Manager, Professional Services, HartIntercivic– Project Managers at Hart InterCivic are highly motivated “self-starters” who are enthusiastic about providing exceptional customer service.  Working with other members of the Professional Services and Operations teams, the Project Manager directs activity, solves problems, and develops lasting and strong relationships with our customers.  Hart InterCivic’s unique and industry-known culture of innovation, transparency, and customer-centric focus creates an environment where team members will continually grow and be challenged to develop their careers. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here. 

Physical Security Specialist, Palm Beach County, Florida– This position is responsible for administration of the physical security programs in a manner consistent with Supervisor of Elections Office policies, procedures, quality standards, and applicable local, state, and federal regulations. These programs include conducting facility security risk assessments, assisting with access control, monitoring alarms and CCTV systems, and providing security related training. Must be organized and personable with a great attitude, be able to work well in a team environment, and meet deadlines under pressure. Excellent work ethic, including consistent performance, integrity, reliability, and attendance, is a must. Candidate must be detail-oriented and understand the importance of security and safety for all. Must be available 24/7 365, be able to handle simultaneous projects, and be a self-starter. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here.

Regional Sales Representative II, Soch– Soch is a pioneer in solving the public sector’s most critical business challenges by digitizing and automating complex processes. We offer a suite of products that address election management, FOIA management, candidate filing, campaign finance and other critical business challenges in the government sector. We are looking for an election sales professional with a minimum of 5 years of experience in the election domain. Someone who is passionate about democracy and has a desire to help local election administrators run successful elections. Your primary focus will be on developing customer relations, and completing sales of Soch’s products. This includes but is not limited to election management solution for poll workers, inventory, election security, incident report, chain of custody, public records and other important aspects of election management to conduct fair, safe and secure elections. You will be responsible for managing opportunities and relationships with customers in a specified assigned territory/state(s). Leveraging your established connections and local election knowledge will contribute significantly to your growth in this position. Email, cold calling, outreach via LinkedIn and other networking channels to expand customer base. Strong communication skills needed to promote/demonstrate products and services offered by Soch. Travel to conferences and local/state election offices as needed for the facilitation of sales. You must be a quick learner to learn the products and services offered by Soch. You will be responsible for meeting sales targets and generating revenue, contributing to the overall goals and plans developed by the management team. Maintain a deep understanding of customer needs and monitor their preferences to ensure relevant sales strategies. Salary: $114,000 – $121,800 per year plus commission. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here. 

Regional Sales Representative III, Soch– Soch is a pioneer in solving the public sector’s most critical business challenges by digitizing and automating complex processes. We offer a suite of products that address election management, FOIA management, system provisioning and other critical business challenges in the government sector. We are looking for an election sales professional with a minimum of 1-2 years of experience in the election domain. Someone who is passionate about democracy and has a desire to help local election administrators run successful elections. Your primary focus will be on developing customer relations, and completing sales of Soch’s products. This includes but is not limited to election management solution for poll workers, inventory, election security, incident report, chain of custody, public records and other important aspects of election management to conduct fair, safe and secure elections. You will be responsible for managing opportunities and relationships with customers in a specified assigned territory/state(s). Leveraging your established connections and local election knowledge will contribute significantly to your growth in this position. Email, cold calling, outreach via LinkedIn and other networking channels to expand customer base. Strong communication skills needed to promote/demonstrate products and services offered by Soch. Travel to conferences and local/state election offices as needed for the facilitation of sales. You must be a quick learner to learn the products and services offered by Soch. You will be responsible for meeting sales targets and generating revenue, contributing to the overall goals and plans developed by the management team. Maintain a deep understanding of customer needs and monitor their preferences to ensure relevant sales strategies. Salary: $67,000 – $72,500 per year plus commission. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here. 

Registrar of Voters, Marin County, California– The County of Marin, California is seeking an experienced Registrar of Voters (Registrar) to lead the Elections Department and administer local, statewide, and national elections within the County. The Registrar will uphold federal and state laws to protect voting rights and maintain election integrity and smooth operations. This strategic professional will have the opportunity to lead a cohesive and high-performing team of 11 and oversee voter registration and outreach, candidate services, vote centers, and ballot creation and distribution. They will also manage the Department’s roughly $4 million budget, anticipate and plan for the Department’s future needs, build highly collaborative relationships with internal and external stakeholders, and maintain transparent communication with the public through frequent media engagement. Priorities include succession planning, continuous improvement of election technologies and cybersecurity, and cross-departmental collaboration. The ideal candidate will have an in-depth understanding of California’s election laws, experience managing departmental budgets and grant funding, and a consultative leadership style that emphasizes trust and empowerment in a fast-paced and dynamic environment. The successful candidate will enjoy the scenic beauty of Marin County while benefiting from a supportive, inclusive work environment and an engaged constituency. Empower voters, and uphold election integrity and transparency; apply today! Salary: $182,873 — $201,593. Deadline: April 2. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here. 

Registrar of Voters, Sonoma County, California –Appointed by the Board of Supervisors, and reporting to the County Administrator/Executive, the Registrar of Voters provides leadership, administrative policy, and operational direction for the Registrar of Voters Department, including analyzing and interpreting legislation affecting the department and performing a variety of complex work in the planning and conducting of all Federal, State, and local elections. The Registrar of Voters is a critical leadership position, responsible for ensuring the electoral process in the County of Sonoma is conducted professionally and with the highest level of professional election standards, consistently demonstrating neutrality and non-partisan decision-making. This is a position of trust and confidence. Work is performed with a maximum amount of independent judgment and initiative. The Registrar of Voters has the primary responsibility for conducting Primary, General, and Special Elections within Sonoma County, and directing the operations of a department. This responsibility includes the successful execution of all components of the County’s election management process, including: registration of voters, poll worker coordination and training, vote center establishment aligned with any accessibility requirements, ballot creation, voting system security, ballot processing and tallying, the certification of election returns to the Secretary of State, and the provision of candidate services such as candidate filing and finance. Furthermore, this position has the sole responsibility for ensuring that election processes are in full compliance with County, State, and Federal legal requirements, communicating election results to the public, and providing information and responding to the media on election related matters. As the Department Head, it is anticipated the Registrar of Voters will directly supervise approximately 3-4 reports, including a Chief Deputy Registrar of Voters and administrative manager. The Department’s three Elections Managers are responsible for managing one or more of the Department’s program areas which include Voter Registration, Ballot Scanning and Adjudication, Poll Workers and Vote Center Supplies, Outreach Programs, Candidate and Campaign Services, Petitions, and Vote by Mail. Each area is responsible for overseeing important aspects of the election process to ensure smooth elections throughout the year. Salary: $195,036 – $237,072. Deadline: April 14. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here. 

Risk & Compliance Manager, Illinois State Board of Elections– Reporting to the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) the Risk & Compliance Manager is responsible for: Assessing organizational risks, ensuring the agency’s alignment to information security standards, collaborating with agency stakeholders to develop a risk management framework, performing gap analysis and recommending compensating technical and/or administrative controls, leading and managing information security compliance initiatives, maintaining policies, standards, procedures, and controls documentation, conducting comprehensive risk assessments, managing third-party risk, and overseeing the agency’s security awareness initiatives. Salary: $7,500-$10,000 per month. Deadline: March 28. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here. 

Sales & Marketing Specialist, Soch– Soch is a pioneer in solving the public sector’s most critical business challenges by digitizing and automating complex processes. We offer a suite of products that address election management, FOIA management, system provisioning and other critical business challenges in the government sector. We are looking for a sales and marketing professional with a minimum of 3 years of experience. Someone who is passionate about democracy and has a desire to help local election administrators run successful elections. Sales: Your primary focus will be on developing customer relations, and completing sales of Soch’s products. This includes but is not limited to election management solution for poll workers, inventory, election security, incident report, chain of custody, public records and other important aspects of election management to conduct fair, safe and secure elections.vYou will be responsible for managing opportunities and relationships with customers in a specified assigned territory/state(s).vEmail, cold calling, outreach via LinkedIn and other networking channels to expand customer base.vStrong communication skills needed to promote/demonstrate products and services offered by Soch.vTravel to conferences and local/state election offices as needed for the facilitation of sales. Marketing: You will be primarily responsible for graphic design, social media, email campaigns, conferences and creating content as needed for the outreach. Create and post content on social media via content scheduler Expert in implementing marketing strategies and techniques to increase sales activity and revenue. Salary: $45,200 – $51,400 Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here. 

Sales Director, SOE Software– The ideal candidate will be a combination of an experienced salesperson and someone familiar with US elections. This position will focus on the sales of voting modernization software within the US, targeting state and local governments. This position will report to the President of the company. This is a predominantly autonomous and challenging role that requires the right candidate to show leadership, ownership, enthusiasm, professionalism, and an entrepreneurial spirit toward business. This is a role that requires frequent travel within the region. The role would suit someone currently in a commercial role, selling software solutions/services into the US marketplace in the public sector. The ideal candidate will have strong state and local government contacts. The successful candidate will have considerable experience in building, growing, and managing a database of truly qualified prospects. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here. 

Senior Elections Supervisor, Placer County, California– The Placer County Clerk-Recorder-Elections Office has a current vacancy for a Senior Elections Supervisor. The Office is looking for someone with experience in the development, supervision, and administration of elections programs. The ideal candidate will have supervised in an elections office or similar agency that emphasizes cooperation, accountability and transparency and has the ability to communicate effectively with management, staff, other county departments, jurisdictions and the voters of Placer County. To learn more about the Elections Division of the Clerk-Recorder-Elections Office please click here. In addition to the minimum education and experience, the ideal candidate will possess experience and vision in the following areas: State and federal election laws; Voting systems; General operating policies and functions of the California Secretary of State’s Office; Best practices and current trends in successful election administration, community education and outreach programs; Principles and techniques of effective employee supervision and development, training, management practices and public administration. Salary: $69,056.00 – $86,195.20/year. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here. 

Senior Programs Officer, Elections, Election Trust Initiative– The senior program officer is part of a small project team that works to advance evidence-based and nonpartisan solutions that improve the accessibility, integrity, and trustworthiness of the U.S. election administration system. This position will work with the team and our partners to develop and oversee strategies to strengthen the field of election administration, identify and vet grantees, provide business planning and capacity building support to key organizations in the field, develop metrics to assess and monitor the portfolio’s progress in attaining its objectives, and coordinate strategies with allied philanthropic partners also investing in the elections sector. This work will involve building relationships with elections officials, researchers, policymakers, non-profit organizations, donors, and other key stakeholders. The position is based in Washington, D.C. and will participate in core office days on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and will have flexibility to work from home for the remainder of each week. The position has a fixed time frame that may be extended based on the success of the program, funding sources and board and decisions on continued support. The position will report to the executive director of the Election Trust Initiative. Salary: $156K-$174K. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here. 

Technology & Cybersecurity Project Manager, Boulder County, Colorado– The Boulder County Clerk and Recorders department is seeking to hire a Technology and Cybersecurity Project Manager.  The Boulder County Clerk and Recorder’s Office provides Motor Vehicle, Recording, and Election services for Boulder County residents. The Technology and Cybersecurity Project Manager will support all divisions of the Clerk and Recorder’s office while owning technology objectives for the Elections Division. This position is a member of the Elections Leadership Team. The Clerk and Recorder’s office is committed to continual improvement for cybersecurity and technology practices throughout all divisions and the ideal candidate will be committed to advancing the office’s development in these areas. The Elections Division provides comprehensive elections services for Boulder County, including voter records, voter services, ballot processing, technical and logistical support, and end-to-end election administration. This role integrates high-level strategic oversight with team management to ensure compliant voting system operations and an ingrained cybersecurity culture. This position will be accountable for the successful management of the voting system, creating and implementing security objectives, developing a team of up to 2 FTEs, and providing strategic technical oversight, guidance, and support to team members. Salary: $101,868 – $146,724. Deadline: April 1. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here. 

Voter Services Clerk, Seminole County, Florida – The Voter Services Clerk serves as the primary customer service representative for the Seminole County Supervisor of Elections Office. This position is responsible for the accurate maintenance and entry of voter registration information, ensuring the integrity and confidentiality of voter data, and providing essential assistance to voters, including answering inquiries and processing voter-related documents. The Clerk will also be involved in various clerical and administrative tasks associated with voter services, ensuring compliance with applicable state and federal election laws. Responsibilities include processing new voter registrations, updates or changes to existing registrations, vote-by-mail ballot requests, and returns, as well as petition verifications and other voter record-related tasks, providing accurate voter registration and election information to the public in person, by phone, or via mail, in accordance with Florida state laws, regulations, and procedures, conducting research to resolve issues related to voter registration records, utilizing sources both within the voter database and external government websites or online resources, ensuring the accuracy and completeness of voter registration records by verifying information, validating signatures on candidate and initiative petitions, maintaining and update street maintenance files to ensure an up-to-date and accurate residential address database for Seminole County. Salary: $17 – $22 Hourly. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here. 

Voting Systems Technician, Bernalillo County, New Mexico– Under general supervision, is responsible for certifying, calibrating, and maintaining the County voting machines (ICE) and (ICC) scanners; maintains the Bureau of Elections (BOE) warehouse, including exterior of building, all equipment and supplies; and assists BOE staff during all election cycles. Salary: $34,715.20 – $39,936.00 Annually. Application: For the complete job listing and to apply, click here. 

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