News
Arizona 'ballot harvesting' ban is discriminatory, court rules
An Arizona law banning a third party from returning another person's mail-in ballot was contrived to suppress minority voting in violation of the Voting Rights Act, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.
The practice of so-called ballot harvesting — often practiced by campaign volunteers and staff — was banned by the state's Republican-controlled Legislature in 2016 but later challenged in court on the grounds it was a deliberate attempt to stifle minority voters.
The lawsuit, filed by state and national Democratic party committees, also challenged Arizona's policy of discarding votes cast in the wrong precinct. The committees claims that is another voter suppression tactic.
On Monday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, ruling 7-4 that discarding out-of-precinct votes and banning ballot collection violated federal law and were a continuation of the state's long history of voter discrimination.
Voting rights suits cause budget pain in Georgia, attorney general laments
Defending against a growing wave of voter suppression lawsuits is starting to put a real pinch on Georgia's budget, the state's top attorney says.
More taxpayer money to hire more lawyers will be needed soon, especially because additional voting rights litigation is anticipated in coming weeks, Attorney General Chris Carr on Monday told fellow Republicans who control the purse strings at the state capital.
The rules governing the state's elections have been set or maintained by the Republicans who have held all levers of power for the past 15 years in the Deep South's most populous state. But since Democrat Stacey Abrams came within a whisper of getting elected the nation's first black female governor in 2018, and blamed restrictive policies for preventing thousands of her supporters from casting ballots, Georgia has become the marquee venue for voting rights challenges nationwide.
Trojans warn elections officials of Trojan horses
The University of Southern California on Tuesday launched what it says will be a 50-state series of workshops on cybersecurity to educate local election and campaign officials.
The first event in the school's Election Cybersecurity Initiative, funded by Google, was held in the Washington suburb of Columbia, Md.
Each program includes discussion, briefings and interactive exercises presented by educators, experts and elected officials from the area where the event is being held.
Debate
How Virginia's move against partisan gerrymandering might be short-lived
"Virginia is on the cusp of historic redistricting reform," argues OneVirginia2021 Executive Director Brian Cannon.
Community
Benzonia - Application Workshop & Potluck
Grab a bite to eat with Voters Not Politcians and work on your application for Michigan's Citizens Redistricting Commission on Feb. 4.