Navigating Candidate Withdrawals: The Legal Implications of Late-Stage Ballot Changes in North Carolina
November 1, 2024
By: Sarah Catherine Woodruff
In this election cycle, discussion of candidates’ names being added and removed from the ballot has been particularly salient, beginning with claims that it would be “unlawful” to remove Biden as the Democratic Presidential nominee and replace his name with Harris after Biden won the Democratic primary. This concern was addressed relatively quickly, as the events occurred in July, creating no legal or constitutional problem with changing the ballots as the Democratic candidate had not been officially nominated yet, and state ballot deadlines would not be violated. However, removing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK) as a presidential candidate from the North Carolina ballot has proved to be a much greater challenge with legitimate legal concerns due to RFK’s late withdrawal from the race. On August 29th, the NC State Board of Elections rejected a request to remove the We The People Party nominee RFK from the general election ballot.
In Pennsylvania, Every Vote Counts, But Is Every Vote Counted?
October 31, 2024
By: Natalie Hatton
Imagine a voter in Pennsylvania, an essential swing state in the upcoming presidential election. Imagine he decides to vote by mail because he is immunocompromised, he lives far from his polling place, or he will be out of town in November. He fills out his ballot but misdates the outer envelope, writing his date of birth instead of today’s date. He puts it in the mail weeks ahead of the deadline. Will his vote be counted? Will his county board of elections notify him of the error and allow him to cure his ballot? The answer: it depends. (more…)
Despite Legal Challenge from MVA, Walz and Minnesota Legislature Effect Sweeping Election Reform Prior to 2024 Election
October 31, 2024
By: Katy Bortz
Governor and Vice President Harris’s VP pick, Tim Walz, and the Minnesota state legislature enacted several election reform provisions that will affect this year’s presidential election. Two of those reforms are the focus of litigation brought by the Minnesota Voters Alliance. The first is a re-enfranchisement law and the second deals with election misinformation. (more…)
Maryland’s Protecting Election Officials Act of 2024
October 31, 2024
By: Shannon Roy
Since the 2020 election, there has been a concerning rise in threats and harassment against election workers. Nearly 40 percent of election workers in a recent Brennan Center study noted experiencing such threats on the job. Over half fear for the safety of their colleagues, and a quarter fear for the safety of their families. This is a troubling precedent in American politics. The Department of Homeland Security has warned of potential violence before the 2024 election, particularly the threat of violence against poll workers and election officials at the local level. Many of these jurisdictions have struggled to find the funds to provide adequate security and training, and since much of the threats are done anonymously by phone, email, or social media, it is difficult to track and identify the perpetrators.
The Grass Isn’t Always Greener on the Other Side?: Texas Opts Out of ERIC But Has Yet to Replace It
October 31, 2024
By: Angelica Radomski
Back in March 2020, the Texas Secretary of State announced that Texas would be joining ERIC, The Electronic Registration Information Center. Keith Ingram, the Director of Elections, noted the decision as an “important next step” while the League of Women Voters of Texas applauded the decision to join. Yet, in 2023, only a few years after joining, Texas decided to leave ERIC.
The March 2020 announcement shared that Texas’s participation in ERIC would assist Texas officials in identifying eligible but unregistered voters and encouraging them to vote. Additionally, the program would help Texas identify ineligible voters.
Floridians with Felony Conviction Histories Deserve the Right to Vote
October 30, 2024
By: Nicholas Zipperer
In 2018 Floridians voted overwhelmingly to allow people with a felony conviction history the ability to vote in elections. The Voting Restoration Amendment passed by a margin of 64.5 to 35.5% (along the same lines as banning dog racing and prohibiting vaping in enclosed workspaces) and was met with almost immediate challenges from the legislature and Governor DeSantis. Florida SB 7066 (2019) was introduced in early 2019 and would require felons to pay fines and costs imposed as part of their sentence before they can vote again. It was challenged on the grounds that it amounted to a modern day poll tax, but eventually was allowed to stand.
The RNC Cites Election Fraud In Their Battle Over Nevada’s Voter Rolls
October 30, 2024
By: Jason Whitted
In a recent legal challenge, the Republican National Committee, the Nevada Republican Party, and Donald J. Trump for President 2024, Inc., along with an individual voter, have filed a lawsuit in Nevada’s First Judicial District Court. The plaintiffs are raising concerns about the alleged failure of the Nevada Secretary of State, Francisco Aguilar, to ensure that only U.S. citizens are registered to vote in state and federal elections. Nevada, which President Biden won by a slim margin in 2020, is an important swing state in the 2024 election, which brings national attention to these perceived flaws in the administration of the State’s elections.
House Bill 548: Fixing Imaginary Problems, Causing Real Ones
October 30, 2024
By: Shane Vaughn
As a populous sometimes-swing state, Ohio is considered to have an outsized influence on national politics. For decades, a presidential candidate taking Ohio meant you could expect to see them walking into the White House that coming January (a trend that was just recently bucked when losing candidate Trump won the state in 2020). The downside? Voters in the Buckeye state are met with roadblock after roadblock when trying to actually put this influence to use.
Absentee Voting from Prison in Delaware
October 29, 2024
By: Devyn Sword
Delaware’s constitution includes a list of specific conditions that qualify a citizen to vote absentee, including illness, disability, vacation, or religious reasons. Incarceration is notably absent from that list. Although, like many states, Delaware does not allow anyone convicted of and serving a sentence for a felony to vote, otherwise eligible voters who are incarcerated for misdemeanor offenses or detained in a correctional facility pre-trial, are not prohibited from voting in jail or prison. However, eligibility and accessibility do not always go hand in hand. Delaware jails and prisons do not have in-person polling locations, so without access to absentee ballots there are thousands of eligible voters with no means to exercise their right to vote. In an effort to expand voting access in the state, the Delaware legislature attempted to amend the constitution to eliminate those conditions and allow anyone to vote absentee, but the amendment failed to pass the House in 2021. When the amendment failed, Democratic legislators passed a bill that allowed universal mail voting regardless of the language in the constitution.
What Could Have Been: The Gubernatorial Veto’s Prominent Role in Stalling Virginia’s 2024 Legislative Election Law Changes
October 29, 2024
By: Sophie Tully
Election law in Virginia almost changed drastically coming into the November 2024 election.
Virginia’s General Assembly passed several bills in the 2024 session aimed at circumventing roadblocks to voting and at remedying vote dilution concerns. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin vetoed these bills.
The veto, while obviously a fixture of any legislative process, proves especially consequential in scenarios where those with veto power can single-handedly influence their camp’s ability to continue to be elected. These election laws could change who is purged from the voting lists, who is turned away at the polls for not having an adequate ID, and who gets to bring suit when these laws are violated. Each of these laws conveys the broader tensions between election security (keeping out unlawful votes) and voting accessibility (ensuring people that should be able to vote can) that carry hefty ramifications about who gets to vote on election day and who gets elected. The veto in these scenarios shows that Governor Youngkin holds a strong hand in what principles of election law Virginia prioritizes.