Election Administration

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Federal Judge Allows Activists to Stake Out Ballot Boxes

October 28, 2022 at 5:53 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“A federal judge on Friday refused to ban an activist group from gathering near ballot boxes in Arizona, arguing that the members’ actions did not appear to constitute a ‘true threat’ or intimidation and that their right to assemble in public spaces is constitutionally protected,” the New York Times reports.

“In his 14-page ruling, Judge Michael T. Liburdi found that while ‘many voters are legitimately alarmed by the observers filming’ at ballot boxes in Maricopa County, there has been no proof that the group, Clean Elections USA, has encouraged any acts of violence against anyone, nor has it posted personal or identifying information about anyone.”

Election Deniers Push to Jettison Voting Machines

October 28, 2022 at 8:40 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Washington Post: “Leading the push in Nevada is Jim Marchant, the GOP nominee for secretary of state — a position with authority over the battleground state’s elections. If Marchant is elected — a strong possibility in Nevada, where races for governor, attorney general, U.S. Senate and secretary of state are all neck and neck, according to polls and campaign operatives from both parties — he would wield broad power to implement his agenda across the state.”

“In addition to championing hand counts, Marchant has promised if elected to “decertify” the 2020 Nevada result because he believes Trump won. Marchant could also attempt to thwart certification of the popular vote in the 2024 presidential race — something he has said he would have done had he been in office in 2020. And he plans to spread his gospel across the nation.”

Eastman Exhorts Poll Watchers to Build a Record

October 28, 2022 at 7:02 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“At a speech last week before prospective GOP poll workers and challengers in New Mexico, former Trump attorney John Eastman urged his allies to file complaints that could form the basis for court challenges to the upcoming midterm and presidential elections,” Politico reports.

“The comments, outlined in a new audio recording… suggest that Eastman and some other conservative activists see aggressive challenges to the legitimacy of individual votes as part of a larger strategy to build evidence that can be used to invalidate a county or state election.”

Pennsylvania’s Senate Race May Drag Past Election Night

October 27, 2022 at 1:08 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“If Pennsylvania’s tightening U.S. Senate race turns out to be as close as it’s current trajectory, it’s unlikely the winner will be apparent on the night of Nov. 8,” McClatchy reports.

“Election officials have begun warning the public that tabulations in many counties will proceed well into the next day and possibly beyond, due to restrictions workers face in processing mail-in ballots.”

Masked Poll Watchers Showing Up at Voting Sites

October 27, 2022 at 12:06 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Two people armed with handguns and wearing tactical military gear, balaclavas masking their face and the license plates on their cars covered, stood watch over a ballot drop box during early voting last week in Mesa, Arizona,” Bloomberg reports.

“This scene, reported by the Maricopa County Elections Department on Friday, is one that some elections officials and law enforcement fear might spread as believers in Donald Trump’s false claims that a second term as president was stolen from him through voter fraud amp up activity ahead of the Nov. 8 election.”

Election Lawsuits Have Already Begun

October 27, 2022 at 7:57 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Election Day is 12 days away. But in courtrooms across the country, efforts to sow doubt over the outcome have already begun,” the AP reports.

“More than 100 lawsuits have been filed this year around the upcoming midterm elections. The suits, largely by Republicans, target rules over mail-in voting, early voting, voter access, voting machines, voting registration, the counting of mismarked absentee ballots and access for partisan poll watchers.”

“It’s the most litigation ever before an election and it’s likely a preview of a potentially contentious post-election landscape.”

Judge Considers Stopping Ballot Drop Box Watchers

October 27, 2022 at 6:09 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“A federal judge in Arizona said he hopes to decide by Friday whether to order members of a group to stop monitoring outdoor ballot drop boxes in the Phoenix area in an effort that has sparked allegations of voter intimidation,” the AP reports.

Two in Five Voters Worry About Intimidation

October 26, 2022 at 8:45 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Two in five U.S. voters say they are worried about threats of violence or voter intimidation at polling stations during the country’s midterm elections, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Pro-Trump Republicans Court Election Volunteers

October 25, 2022 at 7:51 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The Republican National Committee and its allies say they have staged thousands of training sessions around the country on how to monitor voting and lodge complaints about next month’s midterm elections,” the Washington Post reports.

“Supporters of former president Donald Trump who falsely claim the 2020 election was stolen have summoned a swarm of poll watchers and workers in battleground states to spot potential fraud this year. It is a call to action that could subject voting results around the country to an unprecedented level of suspicion and unfounded doubt.”

The Effort to Break America’s Elections

October 24, 2022 at 11:47 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Philip Bump: “The system tolerated claims of widespread fraud for years in part because the effects were limited in scope or abstract. America’s elections are a mishmash of local administrators and tools, varying state laws and differing political outcomes. It’s imperfect both in general and at the local level, but it is distributed in a way that people could retain confidence in their own elections even if they were skeptical of them broadly — or, say, in heavily Black cities like Philadelphia, far from where they lived.”

“In the Trump era, doubt rooted in false claims of fraud has infected those local systems. By design. A rickety process dependent on old bureaucracy and volunteers has come under attack from both the outside and the inside, both nationally and at the county level. As the midterm elections loom, we see increasing reports of an effort to overwhelm elections systems and break confidence in their reported results with an obvious desired outcome: Seizing power whatever those results say.”

Voter Intimidation Complaints Flow in Arizona

October 22, 2022 at 11:28 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Days after Maricopa County officials warned people to stop taking photos of voters and election staffers at ballot drop boxes, the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office continues to refer complaints to the Department of Justice,” the Arizona Republic reports.

“Two new complaints filed this week with the office allege that small groups of people are filming voters and capturing photographs of their license plates as they drop off their early ballots.”

Virginia Directs 60,000 to Wrong Polling Places

October 22, 2022 at 11:13 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“State elections officials directed more than 30,000 Northern Virginia voters to the wrong polling place in mailers sent ahead of the Nov. 8 midterm elections, an error they acknowledged Friday and blamed on the private printing company that produced the notices,” the Washington Post reports.

“Those mistakes follow even more error-riddled effort in Southwest Virginia, where an additional 30,000 voters were affected.”

Nevada Could Be Ground Zero for Election Chaos

October 22, 2022 at 11:04 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Dana Milbank: “Conspiracy-minded county commissioners might refuse to certify the results… This raises the likelihood that the state legislature could step in and throw out the results in any contested state election, from Assembly up to governor, and install the candidate of their choice — something that is allowed under Nevada law.”

GOP Voters Told to Hold Onto Mail Ballots

October 22, 2022 at 7:38 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Republican activists who believe the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump have crafted a plan that, in their telling, will thwart cheating in this year’s midterm elections,” the AP reports.

“The strategy: Vote in person on Election Day or — for voters who receive a mailed ballot — hold onto it and hand it in at a polling place or election office on Nov. 8.”

“The plan is based on unfounded conspiracy theories that fraudsters will manipulate voting systems to rig results for Democrats once they have seen how many Republican votes have been returned early. There has been no evidence of any such widespread fraud.”

GOP Election Deniers Seek Changes to Affect 2024 Vote

October 22, 2022 at 7:22 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Republican candidates for governor and secretary of state who have echoed former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was rife with fraud have proposed changes in voting access and election certification that could have ramifications in key states in the next presidential election,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Seven Republicans running for those offices in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona, Michigan and Nevada—all presidential battlegrounds—haven’t all detailed how they would oversee the 2024 election but have publicly touted measures they say would ensure election integrity, as they question the outcome of the 2020 race.”

CNN: A guide to the election deniers running in the 2022 midterms.

Voter Fraud Case Dismissed in Florida

October 21, 2022 at 10:20 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“A Florida man had his election fraud charges dismissed on Friday, making him the first of 20 people who Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) announced had been charged with voter fraud in August, to beat his case,” ABC News reports.

Voter Intimidation at Drop Boxes Worries Arizona Officials

October 20, 2022 at 2:45 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“With early voting underway in Arizona, a swing state and epicenter of election distrust and denialism, public officials are worried that menacing bands of activist observers hunting for fraud will harass and intimidate voters,” the Washington Post reports.

“Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D), who oversees elections here, referred to federal and state authorities a report of intimidation after a voter complained he or she was approached and followed by a group of people after attempting to drop off a ballot at a drop box Monday.”

Election Deniers Promise Big Changes to Arizona Voting

October 20, 2022 at 8:02 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Associated Press: “While sifting through pages, pen in hand and cameras rolling, Republican Gov. Doug Ducey stopped to silence the ‘hail to the chief’ ringtone on his cell phone. It was a call from President Donald Trump, who was in the midst of a frenetic fight to reverse the results of the election he had lost. Ducey continued signing the papers, in what some saw as a dramatic affirmation of democracy at work.”

“How a similar scene would play out in 2024 if the three Republicans running for the top statewide offices win in November is anyone’s guess. Each has said they would not have signed off on the 2020 results if they had held office at the time. Kari Lake, the Republican candidate for governor, and Mark Finchem, running for secretary of state, have signaled support for vastly overhauling election rules.”