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These 34 states are making voting easier, if only for this fall
Sep 24 2020
Voting in the presidential election ends in 40 days, and states are still making adjustments to their rules and procedures.
The coronavirus pandemic, along with a wave of litigation from voting rights groups and Democrats, has resulted in 34 states deciding to make it easier to cast a ballot this fall — either voluntarily or as the result of a lawsuit. Most of the changes encourage voting by mail and ease the rules governing the completion and tabulation of absentee ballots.
More developments are virtually certain. Many will be prompted by fresh judicial rulings, or appeals upholding or reversing voting easements now in place. And appeals in some of those cases could reach the Supreme Court in the final days before Nov. 3.
But here are the current plans in the two-thirds of states where the rules have already been altered this year:
<p>Four states (and also <strong>Washington, D.C.</strong>) will soon send all active registered voters an absentee ballot while also providing in-person voting options: Reliably Democratic <strong>California</strong>, <strong>New Jersey</strong> and <strong>Vermont</strong> along with purplish <strong>Nevada</strong>, where the Trump campaign unsuccessfully sued to block the one-time switch to a mostly vote-by-mail election. And <strong>Montana</strong> has given discretion to its 56 counties, all but nine of which have decided on proactive ballot mailings.<br></p><p><p style="text-align: center;" id="sufn"><a style="font-weight: bold;margin:40px auto;font-size:2rem" href="https://thefulcrum.us/st/newsletters">Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter </a></p></p><p><br></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://thefulcrum.us/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDQzNjc2My9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNjkzNzIxMH0.uQi35iGuVz3xpcIFApuk60FKRW6vb9bX4J3lsd8PmDo/image.png?width=980" id="422dc" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7586c1fd3086037d5a23e38683ea36f1" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="These are the 34 states that have changed their voting procedures for November, either voluntarily or by court order.">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption..."><br><a href="https://templates.flourish.studio/1511/OKCMDUq_cUikna-ouHVxSh_brxe9UodOytL6_rSd8yQwnUwLqEQbKjf1k9PILC6e/?environment=editor&auto=1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"></a></small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">Source: Ballotpedia • Changes as of Sept. 24</small></p><p><br></p><p>These states will join the five that planned to be primarily vote-by-mail even before the pandemic made voting in person a potential health risk: Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah and Washington.</p><p>A dozen states have relaxed for this fall their normal requirements that voters provide a specific reason for using an absentee ballot instead of making an in-person appearance.</p><p>Four have eliminated the excuse requirement altogether. Three are sure to vote in favor of the re-election of President Trump: <strong>Alabama</strong>, <strong>Missouri</strong> and <strong>South Carolina</strong>. Former Vice President Joe Biden can count on <strong>Massachusetts</strong>.</p><p>Eight others have temporarily expanded the definition of "illness" to cover worry about exposure to Covid-19. <strong>New Hampshire</strong> is the one presidentially competitive state on this roster. The others are solidly blue <strong>Connecticut</strong> and <strong>New York</strong> and reliably red <strong>Arkansas</strong>, <strong>Kentucky</strong>, <strong>Oklahoma</strong> and <strong>West Virginia</strong>.</p><p>(Tennessee was on this list for two months. But in August the state Supreme Court <a href="https://thefulcrum.us/tennessee-absentee-voting" target="_self">struck down</a> a blanket relaxation of the excuse rules, after state officials said people could decide for themselves what sort of "underlying health condition" made it necessary for them to vote by mail.)</p><p><strong>Louisiana</strong> is under a federal court order to relax its excuse rules slightly and send mail ballots to people who say they have Covid-19, are quarantined or are caring for sick people.</p><p>Ten states have decided to send absentee ballot applications to all active registered voters. Three are presidential battlegrounds with a combined 32 electoral votes: <strong>Michigan</strong>, <strong>Wisconsin</strong> and <strong>Iowa</strong>. Six of them are reliably blue — <strong>Connecticut</strong>, <strong>Delaware</strong>, <strong>Illinois</strong>, <strong>Maryland</strong>, <strong>New Mexico</strong> and <strong>Rhode Island</strong> — leaving <strong>Nebraska</strong> as the sole red state encouraging mail-in voting this way.</p><p>Several more states have made other easements to their election and voting procedures.</p><p><strong>Kentucky</strong> will offer early in-person voting more expansively, Monday through Saturday beginning Oct. 13. <strong>North Carolina</strong> added two weekends for such early voting, while <strong>Texas</strong> extended its period by six days, to 19.</p><p><strong>New Jersey</strong>, <strong>Pennsylvania</strong>, <strong>South Carolina</strong> and <strong>Virginia</strong> will cover the cost of postage for returning absentee ballots.</p><p><strong>Minnesota</strong>, <strong>Missouri</strong>, <strong>Rhode Island</strong>, <strong>South Carolina</strong> and <strong>Virginia</strong> have waived the notary or witness signature requirement for absentee ballots. <strong>North Carolina</strong> now says just one witness is sufficient, instead of the usual two. And <strong>Oklahoma</strong> is allowing absentee voters to send a copy of a photo ID instead of finding two witnesses.</p><p>Eight states are extending the time for ballots (so long as they're postmarked by Election Day) to arrive at local election offices and still be counted — reducing the number of disenfranchisements but extending the timetable for knowing the results of close races.</p><p><strong>Georgia</strong> and <strong>Pennsylvania</strong> have the shortest deadline extensions, at three days. <strong>Mississippi</strong> will count ballots that arrive five days after the polls close. <strong>Wisconsin</strong> and <strong>New Jersey</strong> will accept ballots delayed in the mail up to six days after the election. (For ballots without a postmark, <strong>New Jersey</strong> says they need to be received within two days.) <strong>Minnesota</strong> will give ballots to a week to arrive, and <strong>North Carolina</strong> will accept them even nine days late.</p><p><strong>California</strong> has granted by far the most leniency. Ballots will still be counted if they arrive Nov. 20, or 17 days after the election.</p><p><strong>Michigan</strong> will also count ballots arriving two weeks after the election — but they must be postmarked by Nov. 2. The state will also allow anyone to get assistance or assist others in returning ballots to local clerks, starting Oct. 30. Normally, only immediate family members and election clerks are allowed to help.</p><p><strong>Minnesota</strong> residents can also provide, and receive, an unlimited amount of help from others when voting absentee. And <strong>Mississippi</strong> will allow people in quarantine, or caring for someone in quarantine, to vote in person before Election Day.</p><p><strong>Arizona</strong>, <strong>New York</strong>, <strong>North Carolina</strong> and <strong>Texas</strong> will give voters the opportunity to address errors, such as a missing signature, and "cure" their ballot.</p>
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Absentee voting fight pressed anew in three Southern states
Sep 23 2020
Thanks to the pandemic and the coming surge of absentee voting, several swing states have already been compelled to grant extra time for ballots to arrive by mail. North Carolina joined this roster Tuesday.
To settle one from the blizzard of lawsuits pushed by Democrats, the state not only extended that deadline on Tuesday but also agreed to allow voters a chance to correct procedural mistakes with their absentee ballots.
The double-barrel agreement came as a fresh federal lawsuit was seeking to make Arkansas give its voters a similar "ballot curing" option, while Republicans appealed a federal judge's extension for mailed ballots in Georgia.
As the record wave of litigation continues to roil preparations six weeks from Election Day, these are the details of the latest developments:
<h3>North Carolina</h3>
<p>The state, with 15 electoral votes both President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden have in their sights, became the fourth battleground forced just this week to allow more time for ballot envelopes delayed in the mail. But unlike <a href="https://thefulcrum.us/vote-by-mail-deadline" target="_self">the other three</a>, where GOP appeals could yet reverse those decisions, North Carolina's seems destined to stand because it is the result of a lawsuit settlement.</p>
<p><p style="text-align: center;" id="sufn"><a style="font-weight: bold;margin:40px auto;font-size:2rem" href="https://thefulcrum.us/st/newsletters">Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter </a></p></p><p>The state agreed to count absentee ballots that arrive up to nine days after the election, or Nov. 12, so long as they are postmarked by the time the polls close Election Day. Before this change, mail ballots were invalidated if they arrived more than three days late, still a more permissive deadline than about two-thirds of the states.</p>
<p>The state will also give voters a chance to fix issues with their absentee ballot, something that wasn't guaranteed in previous elections. A previous lawsuit already allowed voters to request and complete a new ballot if an error occurred. But this settlement makes the process easier by asking voters to fill out a form with the information missing from their ballot.</p>
<p>The state Board of Elections, three Democrats and two Republicans, unanimously agreed on these changes Tuesday. The settlement must now be blessed by a judge, which seems likely to be a formality.</p>
<h3>Arkansas</h3>
<p>The <a href="http://thefulcrum.us/league-of-women-voters" target="_self">League of Women Voters</a> filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday requesting state officials establish a process for voters to fix issues with their absentee ballot. Current law requires election administrators to toss out ballots with missing signatures or incorrect information, such as a wrong address.</p>
<p>Voting rights advocates worry this could disenfranchise thousands of voters in the reliably red state. The lawsuit asks officials to start absentee ballot reviews 15 days before the election to give administrators and voters enough time to address potential issues.</p>
<h3>Georgia</h3>
<p>The Republican National Committee and the Georgia GOP on Monday asked the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse an extension for mailed ballots this fall. Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger had already started the appeals process.</p>
<p>A federal judge <a href="https://thefulcrum.us/absentee-ballot-georgia" target="_self">ruled</a> in August that election officials must count absentee ballots postmarked by Nov. 3 that arrive within the next three days. Before the ruling, state law mandated arrival by the time polls close on Election Day, the rule in 33 states altogether. The extension could add tens of thousands of valid votes in a state with 16 too-close-to-call electoral votes and a pair of close Senate races</p>
<p>Georgia is the 20th state where the national GOP is involved in election lawsuits. Republicans say voters in Georgia have plenty of time to send in their mail ballots so the extension is not necessary.</p>
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Two federal agencies have issued a warning that Russians and others may attempt to undermine our election by spreading misinformation.
FBI and DHS warn of foreign misinformation on election results
Sep 23 2020
Remember election security? The Russians? What happened in 2016?
With much of the focus on mail-in ballots, drop boxes and other mechanics of voting during a public health crisis, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security want to make sure Americans know: Foreign actors are again trying again to disrupt our presidential election — including with a disinformation campaign about the results.
"The increased use of mail-in ballots due to Covid-19 protocols could leave officials with incomplete results" the night of Nov. 3, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (a part of DHS) and the FBI emphasized in a joint statement on Tuesday, and "foreign actors and cybercriminals" are expected to spread misinformation and disinformation to "exploit the time required to certify and announce elections' results."
The warning was issued as the Brennan Center for Justice,a progressive think tank that has done significant research on a broad range of election threats, issued a new study concluding that great improvement has been made in securing election systems from hacking, especially in the swing states that will decide the presidency.
<p>The government agencies acted as the Washington Post reported on a classified CIA assessment that President Vladimir Putin and his top aides "are aware of and probably directing Russia's influence operations" aimed at interfering in the election to the benefit of President Trump. He and several top congressional Republicans have recently sought to cast China as the bigger threat, a view FBI Director Christopher Wray <a href="https://thefulcrum.us/voting/russian-election-interference" target="_self">explicitly contradicted</a> in testimony to Congress last week</p>
<p>While better prepared for outright hacking of election systems — the main thrust of Russian operatives in the last presidential election — the FBI and CISA said foreign meddlers could create phony websites and change existing websites to spread false information "in an attempt to discredit the electoral process and undermine confidence in U.S. democratic institutions."</p>
<p>In particular, the public should realize that the final results from the election may not be available for days or weeks in some states. In that time, foreign agents could try to spread false reports of voter suppression, cyberattacks, voter fraud and other problems to make people believe the results are not legitimate.</p>
<p>People are urged to "critically evaluate the sources of the information they consume" and double-check and verify information before sharing it.</p>
<p>Suspicious or possibly criminal activity should be reported to a <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">local field office</a> of the FBI. </p>
<p>The report by the Brennan Center follows up on several earlier in the year, when much of the nation was focused on whether Russian or other foreign agents would again try to hack into election systems around the country as they did in 2016.</p>
<p>The good news, according to <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/our-election-system-resilient-still-has-room-improvement#footnote2_qyal97l" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the report</a>, is "that there has been substantial progress in the last few years, and indeed the last few months, to implement the kind of backup and security features that should allow all voters to cast ballots that will count, even in the event of a successful cyberattack or other unforeseen system failure."</p>
<p>Still, more needs to be done in certain areas, the report states. The report focused on Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — all states that could be carried by either Trump or former Vice President Joe Biden.</p><p>One key element of election security — making sure a paper record is created when someone votes so the results can be audited — has seen great improvement. Four years ago, the report said, one in five voters cast a ballot on paperless voting machines, but this fall less than 4 percent of voters will use such machines.</p>
<p>Nearly all of the 12 states have in place the other key element of security: the ability to conduct audits of the results to ensure their accuracy. "Although the widespread use of audts is reassuring," the report states, "it should be noted that their quality varies widely."</p><p>Also, according to the report, states have done a good job of</p><ul class="ee-ul"><li>Securing polling places and early voting sites.</li><li>Offering drop sites for absentee ballots.</li><li>Creating backups for electronic poll books so voters' registration can be verified.</li><li>Recruiting poll workers to replace elderly workers who may opt out because of the coronavirus pandemic.</li></ul><p>The focus now for election officials, the report concludes, is on educating the public about the voting process this year.</p><p>The report notes that a half-million mail-in ballots were rejected during the primaries because of minor mistakes, such as forgetting to sign the ballot.</p><p>"No election is perfect," the report concludes. "We should expect that there will be some problems."</p><p>"Ultimately, the most important question is not whether Election Day problems will occur. Rather, it is whether the system is resilient enough to overcome those difficulties so voters can cast ballots that will count."</p>
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Ingham County Clerk
Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum didn't think a retired plumber's joke about voting was funny.
Michigan election jokes? One's about a stool pigeon and a plumber. The other involves Trump.
Sep 22 2020
Sometimes, for sanity's sake, you just have to laugh at what is happening in this crazy year of very serious debates over how our elections are going to be conducted.
Maybe these two related stories out of battleground Michigan in the last few days will help — although, be forewarned, one's a bit more overtly humorous than the other.
<p>Barb Byrum, the county clerk in Lansing, announced Friday that she had filed a criminal complaint with the local police and the Ingham County sheriff against John Pavlik of Mason, a town of about 8,500 souls about 15 miles south of the state capital.</p><p>His alleged crime: a potentially very unclean if minimal form of election fraud.</p><p>Pavlik is a retired plumber and has a lot of toilets around the house. Having followed the ongoing disputes over the propriety of voting absentee, he apparently decided to have a little fun. </p><p>So, a week ago Sunday, he placed one of his commodes in front of his house along with a large sign stating, "Place Mail in Ballots Here."</p><p><p style="text-align: center;" id="sufn"><a style="font-weight: bold;margin:40px auto;font-size:2rem" href="https://thefulcrum.us/st/newsletters">Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter </a></p></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://thefulcrum.us/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDQzMDk4NS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMjI4MTY4OH0.CQDARc02FOGS6iIH3V16tiJDbCnmUTjV3lQQR3gLBqw/image.png?width=980" id="abf31" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="143489e1e5f355957deb2ba18b833edf" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="John Pavlik's toilet">
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">Ingham County Clerk</small></p><p>"I thought it would be kind of cute, a little satire to put it out on my front lawn and put the sign on it," he told a local TV station.<br></p><p>Byrum did not appreciate the attempt at humor and contacted the police, who soon showed up at the house to take statements from Pavlik and his wife. By Friday, Byrum, a Democrat with responsibility for a slice of election administration in a tossup state, called for the plumber to be prosecuted.</p><p>"Elections in this country are to be taken seriously and there are many people who are voting by mail for the first time," she said. "We need to put out accurate, complete information about voting by mail, which is the safest way to vote during the pandemic. That starts at the top and I worry that the misinformation coming from President Trump is encouraging people to lose faith in the absentee voting process."</p><p>She pointed out that it is a felony to take illegal possession of an absentee ballot with a maximum punishment of five years in prison and a $1,000 fine.</p><p>The county prosecutor's office has declined to pursue the case but there is no word from the Mason police department.</p><p>One little postscript: Byrum is more than prolific on social media, particularly Twitter, where she has posted more than 20,000 tweets, a good number of which highlight her frequent biking and running outings.</p><p>She posted this in a tweet on Saturday: "What did one fly say to the other? Is this stool taken?"</p><div id="14d44" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6b830a8a39f529b73764df3e3d4e053e"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1307276814474186752" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">What did one fly say to the other?
Is this stool taken?
#JokeThenVote</div> — BarbByrum (@BarbByrum)<a href="https://twitter.com/BarbByrum/statuses/1307276814474186752">1600514055.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Speaking of jokes, remember that knee-slapper in which the president of the United States keeps undermining the integrity of the election — calling the impending record use of mailed ballots a sure-fire path to fraud based on, well, no evidence whatsoever?<br></p><p>It's such a great one that he has tweeted more than 50 times about it since April.</p><p>Well, our president, never to be constrained by his previous statements, decided on Monday to change directions — 180 degrees — at least when it comes to a state where he's trailing but counting on voters to give him 16 electoral votes.</p><p>"Attention MICHIGAN! Early voting has started AND absentee ballots are being mailed out. Take advantage of the early voting and absentee calendar. Vote in person today or request an absentee ballot here."</p><p>He then provided a link just to be helpful. (Early voting in Michigan actually doesn't start until Thursday.)</p><div id="c2a0a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="11d8a41dfb9af49717fb45bb83ed443e"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1308147057736122368" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Attention MICHIGAN! Early voting has started AND absentee ballots are being mailed out. Take advantage of the early… https://t.co/0BTbk53iZs</div> — Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump)<a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/statuses/1308147057736122368">1600721537.0</a></blockquote></div><p>It was Trump, you may recall, who <a href="https://thefulcrum.us/absentee-voting-michigan" target="_self">threatened to withhold funding</a> from Michigan after Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson mailed absentee ballot applications to every voter before the primary and promised to do it again before the general election.<br></p><p>"Mail-in ballots are very dangerous. There's tremendous fraud involved and tremendous illegality," he said then.</p><p>Last week the state's court of appeals ruled that Benson's actions were legal.</p><p>Maybe they were just joking.</p>
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