Skip to content
Election Overtime Project
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories
Ducks

The 12 worst House districts: Experts label gerrymandering's dirty dozen

House appropriators approve increased spending on election security

House appropriators approve increased spending on election security

Chairwoman Nita Lowey and her fellow Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee pushed through a huge increase in grants for election security and the operating budget for the agency that administers the grants.

Alex Edelman/Stringer/Getty Images News
Bill Theobald
By Bill TheobaldJun 14, 2019
Bill Theobald

Bill Theobald is senior writer at The Fulcrum, where he focuses on everything to do with voting. This December marks his 40th anniversary in the business, and he still believes -- now more than ever -- that the glow from great journalism can truly light the world.

See More Writings by author

Saying the United States is "woefully underprepared" to defend against hacking of its election systems, the House Appropriations Committee this week approved $600 million for election security grants to state and local election agencies.

In addition to nearly doubling the grants total (from $380 million), the committee also voted to increase the operating budget of the Election Assistance Commission, which administers the grants, to $16.2 million for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. That's a 75 percent jump.

All 30 Democrats on the committee voted to approve the bill that includes the commission funding, while all 21 Republicans voted against it.

The report accompanying the bill states that the "country's patchwork of voting systems is woefully underprepared to withstand efforts by sophisticated nation-states to hack the election process and influence election outcomes."

Election officials lack funding to replace old voting machines and ensure that voter registration databases are safe from hackers, the report states. Various investigations have documented that Russian agents were able to break into voter registration databases and other records during the 2016 election, calling into question the legitimacy of the election systems.

Meanwhile, the legislation that includes the EAC funding would also provide $71.5 million to the Federal Election Commission, which oversees the campaign finance system for federal candidates. That's an increase of $247,000 compared to the current fiscal year.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

In their report, committee Democrats state the Appropriations panel is worried that the FEC's staffing request is not designed to handle the additional workload created the growing number of small-dollar donations flooding in to candidates. Digital political advertising set a record of $1.4 billion in the 2016, according to the report, and total political advertising may reach $20 billion in 2020.

If the appropriations process were to proceed as defined, the full House would take up the bill and the Senate would approve its own version. Then a joint House-Senate conference committee would hammer out a compromise. So far, the GOP-controlled Senate Appropriations Committee has not taken up any spending bills for the next fiscal year.

Latest news

Artists recording "We Are the World"
Bridging & Common Ground

Write your song for America

Read More

A roll of stickers that read "I registered to vote today!"
Bloomberg Creative/Getty Images

Become an informed voter – it’s the best way to fight voter suppression

Harris is director of media engagement at Stand Up America.

This is National Voter Education Week, when activists and organizations across the country mobilize to educate voters on how to make their voices heard in November. This year, that mission is more important than ever. While voting rights advocates are hard at work helping voters find their polling location and voting options, learn what’s on their ballot, and make a plan for voting, MAGA politicians are ramping up efforts to make it more difficult to vote and even purging voter rolls in battleground states.

Keep ReadingShow less
Georgia voting stickers
Megan Varner/Getty Images

Experts pan Georgia’s hand-count rule as we prep for Election Overtime

On Sept. 17, Georgia’s election board voted to hand-count all ballots cast at polling places across the state’s 159 counties on Election Day, contrary to the legal opinion of the Georgia attorney general and the advice of the secretary of state.

Attorney General Chris Carr, a Republican, challenged the validity of the decision in a letter to the elections board:

"There are thus no provisions in the statutes cited in support of these proposed rules that permit counting the number of ballots by hand at the precinct level prior to delivery to the election superintendent for tabulation. Accordingly, these proposed rules are not tethered to any statute — and are, therefore, likely the precise type of impermissible legislation that agencies cannot do."
Keep ReadingShow less
sign that reads "Keep it simple"

It shouldn't be hard to understand the wording of a ballot measure.

ayk7/Getty Images

Ballot measures need to be written in plain language

Gorrell is an advocate for the deaf’s rights, a former Republican Party election statistician, and a longtime congressional aide.

Last week, the Ohio Ballot Board finalized the language of Issue 1, a constitutional amendment dealing with how the state’s political boundary maps are drawn.

Keep ReadingShow less
people voting
Getty Images

Ranked-choice voting is heading for its biggest year ever

Hill was policy director for the Center for Humane Technology, co-founder of FairVote and political reform director at New America. You can reach him on X @StevenHill1776.

The Spirit of 2024 may soon manifest as “the best of times and the worst of times.”

This could end up being the year that Donald Trump returns to the Oval Office and rules with a vengeful wrath, further eroding America’s democratic institutions and our standing in the world. And 2024 could end up being the breakout year for ranked-choice voting, the most popular political reform in the United States.

Keep ReadingShow less
Members of Congress speaking outside the Capitol

Speaker Mike Johnson (right) and Rep. Chip Roy conduct a news conference at the Capitol to introduce the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act on May 8.

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

A bipartisan take on the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act

Lempert is an intern with the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Democracy Program. Orey is director of the Elections Project at BPC. Weil is executive director of BPC’s Democracy Program.

The House of Representatives recently passed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act. Introduced by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), the SAVE Act requires individuals to provide documentary proof of citizenship when they register to vote. The bill has not advanced through the Senate.

Both parties agree that voter registration should permit all eligible citizens — and only eligible citizens — to register and vote. Although instances of noncitizen registration and voting are rare, the SAVE Act’s goal of ensuring that only citizens can register to vote is important. But there are easier, more cost-effective ways to improve voter registration that don’t create new barriers for eligible voters.

Here’s what you need to know about requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote.

Keep ReadingShow less
© Copyright 2024