Welp. Another week, this one with fresh warnings from intelligence officials about Russian meddling in our elections. Senate Democrats can use that as reason to pass election security measures, but it's not likely that Mitch McConnell will care. Meanwhile, Minnesota's Legislature is holding up the state's latest installment of federal election security money over… provisional ballots.
Care for a little good security news? If you've spent time on a Democratic presidential candidate website, you'll be happy to know they all got above-average grades on a cybersecurity scorecard.
Out on the left coast, Washington surprisingly failed to pass a bill that would've given felons the right to vote as soon as they got out of prison. And Florida's Amendment 4 saga continues — but an appeals court upheld an injunction against the state law requiring freed prisoners to pay fines before voting. (The case will stay in limbo past the Florida primary next month.)
Your quick hits this week:
- Republicans are planning to shell out big bucks fighting the Democrats on voting rights lawsuits.
- Big companies like PayPal and Target have signed onto a pledge to give their employees time off to vote.
- The Election Assistance Commission's budget wouldn't take the hit everyone thought under President Trump's proposal.
- Indiana's campaign finance rules are finally entering the 21st century.