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The ballot for Yavapai County, like the rest of Arizona, always lists the Republican candidate first, provided a boost of about 5 percentage points.
Democrats sue in 3 bellwether states to get a shot at the top ballot line
Republicans have been listed first on the ballot in every election in Arizona for almost a decade, in Georgia for more than a decade and in Texas for two decades. The Democrats have launched a coordinated campaign asserting that practice is unconstitutional and that they deserve a shot at poll position in all three potential 2020 battlegrounds.
The three state parties, along with the Democrats' national campaign committees, filed federal lawsuits Friday challenging the laws governing the construction of the ballots in all three states.
Perpetuating the current ballot order gives the GOP a "significant, state-mandated advantage," says the filing in Arizona. The Georgia suit argues state law violates voters' equal protection rights under the Constitution and creates an "undue burden" on voting rights. The "position bias" of the Texas law, that claim says, perpetuates a Republican dominance in Texas under which no Democrat has won a statewide race since 1994.
The Democrats are already pursuing similar litigation in Florida, where their evidence includes research showing the party listed first on the ballot has about a 5 percentage point built-in advantage.
A 2016 Sam Houston State University study showed ballot order in Texas has a significant effect on which candidate voters choose, particularly in down-ballot races. In lower profile elections, such as for school board, the study determined going from last to first on the ballot boosted a candidate's voting share by 10 percentage points.
With the 2020 election a year from Monday, Democrats are putting a concerted effort into changing election procedures in red states that are turning purple. By easing access to the ballot box, they hope to gain a competitive edge in both the presidential and congressional contests.
Georgia, Texas and Arizona are all looking at highly competitive Senate races next year, and the Democrats have been talking about contesting their combined 65 electoral votes as well. Texas last backed the Democrats' nominee in 1976, Georgia in 1992 and Arizona in 1996, but turnout by young people and minority groups has been steadily increasing.
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Election security efforts should be expanded to cover the vendors who provide the equipment and other systems used to record and count votes, according to a new report by the Brennan Center for Justice. Here a Miami-Dade County election worker checks voting machines for accuracy.
Election equipment vendors should face more security oversight, report argues
Efforts to fend off election hackers in 2020 and beyond have revolved around protecting ballot equipment and the databases of registered voters. Little attention has been focused on the vendors and their employees.
But the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice is proposing that the vendors who make election equipment and related systems be subjected to heightened oversight and vetting, much like defense contractors or others involved in national security.
"There is almost no federal regulation of the vendors that design and maintain the systems that allow us to determine who can vote, how they vote, or how their votes are counted and reported," according to a new report from the nonpartisan policy institute.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation is pushing the business community to support civic education.
U.S. Chamber foundation seeks business support for civic ed
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation has a message for corporations: The country is in trouble, so get off your butt.
The foundation made its pitch to the business community in a newly published white paper chronicling the sorry state of civics education, the role that corporations can play in healing a divided country and why it should all matter to businesses.
The health of civics education is "quite bleak," foundation President Carolyn Cawley said in an introduction to the paper, which she called "the first step in our efforts to make the business case for civics."
With the support and buy-in of the private sector, the foundation believes, the country stands a better chance at improving civic education and engagement, which in turn could heal the in-fighting, distrust and misinformation undermining the health of the country and well-being of corporate America.