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In Philadelphia, rejecting misdated mail ballots disproportionately affects communities of color
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for our free newsletters here.Mail ballot voters from heavily nonwhite and lower-income communities in Philadelphia are more likely to have their ballots rejected due to simple mistakes, compared with all voters in the city who requested mail ballots, according to a Votebeat and Spotlight PA analysis.“It should come to no surprise that the voters...
Arizona elections would have fewer rules under Secretary of State Adrian Fontes’ new manual
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for our free newsletters here.Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes is stripping down the giant rulebook that tells county officials how they must run elections in accordance with state law, a review of a partial draft shows. While his draft is still unfinished, Fontes told Votebeat he wants the Elections Procedures Manual to include only the rules he believes county officials must legally follow, shortening the rulebook considerably as he removes what he describes as “opinion” from his predecessor, now-Gov. Katie Hobbs. For her...
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes strips down election rules, in first draft of new manual
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for our free newsletters here.Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes is stripping down the giant rulebook that tells county officials how they must run elections in accordance with state law, a review of a partial draft shows. While his draft is still unfinished, Fontes told Votebeat he wants the Elections Procedures Manual to include...
“Am I actually awake?”: The lawyer whose redistricting litigation was instantly affected by SCOTUS’s Milligan surprise
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S.A version of this post was originally distributed in Votebeat’s free weekly newsletter. Sign up to get it delivered to your inbox every Saturday.The Campaign Legal Center’s Mark Gaber had just wrapped up a trial over redistricting in Washington state, representing plaintiffs who argued that newly redrawn political maps diluted the strength of Hispanic voters, on...
Gov. Abbott vetoes bill to improve mail voting for disabled voters
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for our free newsletters here.Gov. Greg Abbott on Saturday vetoed a bipartisan bill that would have expanded vote-by-mail access for people with disabilities — specifically people who are blind or paralyzed and need assistance marking their ballot. Advocates say Abbott’s veto of House Bill 3159 is a blow for voters with disabilities who have for...
Some Texas election bills got a lot of attention, but didn’t have much of a chance
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S.A version of this post was originally distributed in Votebeat’s free weekly newsletter. Sign up to get it delivered to your inbox every Saturday.Greetings from Austin, Texas! I’ll start by flashing back to February, when a Republican legislator in Texas made national news by introducing a set of proposals to ban polling places in schools and on...
Tarrant County picks deputy county clerk to run elections, eschewing GOP activist
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for our free newsletters here.Tarrant County officials on Friday selected a new elections administrator: the county’s chief deputy clerk, a retired U.S. Marine with no previous experience running elections. Members of the county’s Election Commission, a group of bipartisan officials tasked with filling the job, voted unanimously to appoint Clinton Ludwig. Former elections director Heider Garcia submitted his resignation in April, citing political pressure. Ludwig will begin his new role Aug. 1.Ludwig in a statement said his experience will translate to effective election administration...
Tarrant County taps deputy clerk to be new elections chief
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for our free newsletters here.Tarrant County officials on Friday selected a new elections administrator: the county’s chief deputy clerk, a retired U.S. Marine with no previous experience running elections. Members of the county’s Election Commission, a group of bipartisan officials tasked with filling the job, voted unanimously to appoint Clinton Ludwig. Former elections director Heider...
Inexperience and staff turnover led to Luzerne County’s election debacle, investigation finds
This article is made possible through Spotlight PA’s collaboration with Votebeat, a nonpartisan news organization covering local election administration and voting. This article is available for reprint under the terms of Votebeat’s republishing policy.A ballot paper shortage in Luzerne County last fall — an almost singular stain on Pennsylvania’s otherwise smooth midterm elections — was caused by high staff turnover and loss of institutional knowledge, according to a long-awaited report from the county’s district attorney.The report was released Wednesday, more than seven months after the election, and highlights staffing issues that have plagued the county for years. Luzerne District Attorney...
Luzerne County’s Election Day ballot shortage blamed on staff turnover, inexperience
This article is made possible through Spotlight PA’s collaboration with Votebeat, a nonpartisan news organization covering local election administration and voting. This article is available for reprint under the terms of Votebeat’s republishing policy.A ballot paper shortage in Luzerne County last fall — an almost singular stain on Pennsylvania’s otherwise smooth midterm elections — was caused by high staff turnover and loss of institutional knowledge, according to a long-awaited report from...
“It was a nightmare”: Pinal County builds new elections space after cramped quarters contribute to errors
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for our free newsletters here.Coolidge, Arizona — “You can’t even imagine,” Geraldine Roll said, standing in the room where the mistakes were made. “You really, really can’t.”Picture a dozen people, she said, weaving around one another in a room the size of a two-car garage, wheeling stacks of ballot boxes and carrying armloads of ballots to and from scanners set up on folding tables. It was loud. A machine shuffled ballots straight, shaking the tables. All night, the cramped space just kept...
Pinal County builds $29 million new elections center after midterm errors
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for our free newsletters here.Coolidge, Arizona — “You can’t even imagine,” Geraldine Roll said, standing in the room where the mistakes were made. “You really, really can’t.”Picture a dozen people, she said, weaving around one another in a room the size of a two-car garage, wheeling stacks of ballot boxes and carrying armloads...
GOP donor, voter fraud activist is finalist to run elections in Tarrant County
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for our free newsletters here.Update, June 16: The Tarrant County Election Commission has appointed Chief Deputy Clerk Clint Ludwig to be its next election administrator.Tarrant County officials are considering hiring as election chief a prominent Republican donor and activist who has baselessly criticized the security of the county’s elections and appears to have no previous experience running an election.Karen Wiseman and two other applicants — Clinton Ludwig, the county clerk’s chief deputy since 2017, and Fred Crosley, the former chief financial officer of...
Conservative voter-fraud activist is finalist for Tarrant County election chief
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for our free newsletters here.Update, June 16: The Tarrant County Election Commission has appointed Chief Deputy Clerk Clint Ludwig to be its next election administrator.Tarrant County officials are considering hiring as election chief a prominent Republican donor and activist who has baselessly criticized the security of the county’s elections and appears to have no...
Michigan lawmakers give local clerks “flexibility” for new early in-person voting under Prop 2
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for our free newsletters here.This article has been updated to reflect the bills’ passage through the full House and Senate.Voting in Michigan is about to undergo unprecedented changes, and among those changes will be the option of at least nine days of in-person early voting.What that looks like to voters will depend on where in the state they live. The House and Senate both passed legislation Wednesday that lays out how it will work, leaving it to municipal and county governments to decide...
Michigan’s early in-person voting rules take shape as legislature implements Prop 2
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for our free newsletters here.This article has been updated to reflect the bills’ passage through the full House and Senate.Voting in Michigan is about to undergo unprecedented changes, and among those changes will be the option of at least nine days of in-person early voting.What that looks like to voters will depend on...
A Supreme Court majority props up the Voting Rights Act, defending Black voters in Alabama
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S.A version of this post was originally distributed in Votebeat’s free weekly newsletter. Sign up to get it delivered to your inbox every Saturday.Given how the Supreme Court’s decisions have slowly eroded the power of the landmark Voting Rights Act in the decade since Shelby v. Holder, columnists and legal experts have spilled a lot of...
Texas is finally making voting easier for people with disabilities, including a new option to vote by mail
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for our free newsletters here.Update, June 17, 2023: Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed House Bill 3159, which would have allowed voters who need assistance casting ballots by mail to do so “privately and securely” by using an electronic system to make their choices. In an increasingly politically polarized Legislature, a set of voting laws aimed at improving ballot access for Texans with disabilities nonetheless passed this legislative session with bipartisan support. The measures’ success represents a major victory for voters with disabilities and voting...
Texas improves voting accessibility for people with disabilities
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for our free newsletters here.Update, June 17, 2023: Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed House Bill 3159, which would have allowed voters who need assistance casting ballots by mail to do so “privately and securely” by using an electronic system to make their choices. In an increasingly politically polarized Legislature, a set of voting laws...
This Pa. county rejected voters’ flawed mail ballots. Then it refused to count their in-person votes, too.
Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for our free newsletters here.Delaware County disenfranchised a handful of eligible voters in the May primary by rejecting their provisional ballots based on an allegedly incorrect interpretation of the law, the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania argued in a new lawsuit.Following the May 16 primary, Delaware County’s Board of Elections decided not to accept provisional ballots cast in person by voters who had already been told their mail ballots were rejected due to technical defects. That means that these voters were twice...
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Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization committed to reporting the nuanced truth about elections and voting at a time of crisis in America. Our mission is to help people understand our system of democracy so they can participate in strengthening it. Our approach is to cover and explain the mechanics of voting — no political polls, candidate platforms, or Election Day results; instead we will focus on how elections are run, from early and mail-in voting to voter registration and election security. Because we believe that elections are fundamentally a local issue, our coverage is rooted in local communities. Votebeat’s stories are available at no cost to readers, as well as to all local and national news outlets.
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