Tag: election administration
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Idaho voters will decide on a ballot initiative for top-four primary and ranked-choice voting system in November
The Idaho Secretary of State announced on July 10 that a ballot initiative to establish top-four primaries and ranked-choice voting for general elections for congressional, statewide, and county elected offices qualified for the Nov. 2024 ballot. Currently, Idaho state law stipulates that political parties can determine for themselves who may participate in their primary elections. …
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Tennessee has adopted the most new election laws in 2024
Tennessee lawmakers have adopted 36 election-related bills so far in 2024, the most of any state. Among the new election laws are changes to state voter roll maintenance procedures, an earlier absentee/mail-in ballot request deadline, and new rules for voter registration drives. Tennessee legislators also adopted the Uniform Faithful Presidential Electors Act which requires presidential…
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Hawaii Governor Josh Green signs bill requiring application to ERIC
On July 5, 2024, Hawaii Governor Josh Green (D) signed Senate Bill 2240, requiring the state’s Office of Elections to apply to join the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC). The bill passed the Hawaii House of Representatives and State Senate unanimously on April 24. As of July 2024, 24 states and the District of Columbia were members of ERIC, a multi-state voter list maintenance…
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Changes to voter registration and absentee/mail-in ballot counting are among new election laws in Georgia
Legislators in Georgia adopted 33 new election laws related to elections this year, including changes to voter registration challenges and a new deadline for counting absentee/mail-in ballots. They also established new requirements for poll workers, rules for poll observers, and a new system for posting images of voted ballots: SB 189 is an omnibus elections bill…
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Maryland was the most active Democratic state in terms of new election laws in the first half of 2024
Maryland adopted 10 election-related bills in the first half of 2024, making it the most active state with a Democratic trifecta in terms of new election laws. Lawmakers adopted bills expanding protections for election officials, and created a portal intended to address election misinformation. They also adopted a new law modifying post-election canvassing procedures, including a process…
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Colorado Governor Polis (D) signs election omnibus legislation including amendment related to ranked-choice voting
Colorado Governor Jared Polis (D) signed SB 210 into law on June 6, 2024. The omnibus elections bill makes changes to several areas of election law, including adding provisions to state law that would make it more difficult to adopt ranked-choice voting (RCV) in statewide elections. The bill lowers the age for voter preregistration from…
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Oklahoma adopts legislation restoring voting rights to felons after a pardon or commutation of a sentence
On May 13, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt (R) signed HB 1629, a bill that restores voting rights to people convicted of a felony after receiving a pardon or commutation of their sentence. The legislation had bipartisan sponsorship and the final version of the bill passed the Oklahoma State Senate 41-0 on April 16. It then…
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South Carolina becomes the fourth state to send a constitutional amendment providing that only U.S. citizens can vote in elections to the Nov. 2024 ballot
South Carolina voters will join Iowa, Kentucky, and Wisconsin voters in deciding on ballot questions to add language to their respective state constitutions to provide that only U.S. citizens can vote in elections. All four ballot questions were placed on the Nov. 2024 ballot by their respective state legislatures. Similar measures have appeared on ballots…
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Oklahoma bans ranked-choice voting, joins six other states in prohibition
On April 29, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt (R) signed HB 3156 into law, banning the use of ranked-choice voting (RCV) in the state. The new law makes Oklahoma the seventh state to ban RCV, and the second state to do so this year after Kentucky did so earlier in the month. Every state that has…
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Signatures filed for top-four ranked-choice voting (RCV) initiative in Idaho, which would reverse the state’s ban enacted in 2023
Signatures were filed for a citizen-initiated ballot measure to adopt ranked-choice voting (RCV) in Idaho. The ballot initiative would replace partisan primaries with top-four primaries, in which candidates, regardless of political affiliation, are listed on the same ballot, and the top four vote-getters advance to the general election. RCV would then be used in general elections.…