Since Election Day 2020, the integrity and accuracy of the vote has been the subject of speculation across the country, with local boards of elections often caught in the crosshairs.
Here in Ohio, election officials seem to have avoided much of the controversy. With far-right groups and supporters of former President Donald Trump still questioning the 2020 results, several red states have moved to give legislatures more power over elections instead of secretaries of state, and penalize election workers for technical mistakes.
Aaron Sellers, public information officer for the Franklin County Board of Elections, said while politics are political, elections administration in Ohio is not.
“Everything we do here is done in bipartisan teams,” Sellers emphasized. “For example, when the voting-location person brings back the supplies on election night, if that person is a Republican, there’s a Democrat ride-along person that comes along with them, or vice versa.”
More than half of voters in a recent Quinnipiac poll said they do not believe there was widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Ohio’s postelection audits revealed an accuracy rate of 99.98% in 2020 and 99.99% in 2021, based on data from counties utilizing a percentage-based audit.
While other states scrambled to develop a plan for voting in 2020 due to COVID, Sellers pointed out Ohio was ahead of the curve. Critics argued mail-in voting is more susceptible to fraud, but he explained there are multiple verification processes before the ballot is even mailed out.
“And when it is returned, there’s additional measures that we go through before we put that in the pile to count,” Sellers added. “It’s verification signatures, the last four digits of their ‘soc,’ (Social Security number) their driver’s license number, whatever they’re providing, those things are checked on the front end and the back end before those ballots are counted.”
With Ohio’s legislative and congressional district maps still not set in stone, Sellers noted boards of election are in a holding pattern when it comes to preparations for the May 3 primary.
“We’re just as anxious as I’m sure our elected officials are to get this resolved,” Sellers emphasized. “Elections officials, we take an oath to do this, and when it’s scheduled we’ll do what we need to do like we did in 2020 because of COVID.”
Wednesday, Republican Senate President Matt Huffman suggested keeping the May 3 primary for statewide and local elections, and holding a second for statehouse and congressional seats. There are concerns about the cost for two primaries, as well as the possibility of lower turnout.
Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.
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The Texas 2022 primary is approaching and nearly 12,000 possible voters have been flagged as potential non-citizens, prompting a lawsuit by the ACLU of Texas, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and other groups.
Latinos and Asian Americans comprise the largest number of naturalized citizens in Texas, and letters from county election administrators ask them for proof of citizenship.
Ashley Harris, attorney for the ACLU of Texas, said if there’s no response within a certain time frame, they are purged from the rolls and will not be allowed to vote.
“It’s not right that naturalized citizens should have to jump through extra hoops,” Harris contended. “It’s just an extra hurdle and an extra burden on them which other folks don’t have to do.”
The Texas secretary of state initiated a process last August to identify alleged non-U.S. citizens on the voter rolls. Harris emphasized the lawsuit was filed because despite federal laws requiring Texas to make information about the process publicly available, the secretary has failed to do so. Texas holds its first-in-the-nation primary elections March 1.
This is not the first time voter-protection groups have fought battles in Texas. In 2019, the state was sued over an attempted voter purge of more than 90,000 people, many of whom had been recently naturalized.
Harris noted the lawsuit will prevent a purge until at least June, after next month’s primary election.
“Federal law actually requires that there be a pause on removing folks from voter rolls in this fashion, this close to an election,” Harris pointed out. “But we’re hoping that it can be resolved for future elections.”
Numerous lawsuits, including one by the U.S. Department of Justice, have been filed over the new Texas GOP-drawn congressional map, alleging it dilutes the voting power of minorities. But after five conservatives on the Supreme Court this week let stand a congressional map for Alabama critics say was racially gerrymandered, a successful challenge to the Texas map seems in doubt.
Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.
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Wisconsin’s Republican lawmakers are backing a series of bills to set new election administration policies, one of which would give a Republican-controlled committee oversight of election funds.
The measure would require any plans for federal election money to get approval from the Legislature’s Finance Committee. Currently, the Wisconsin Elections Commission allocates those funds based on federal guidance.
Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu – R-Oostburg – the bill’s lead sponsor, said the bill would ensure the state maintains control of election administration.
“SB 941 ensures the people of Wisconsin, through their elected representatives,” said LeMahieu, “can review, amend or block any efforts by the Executive Branch of the federal government to interfere with Wisconsin elections administration.”
But the bill is opposed by Democrats and several voting-rights groups, who argue it would give Republicans too much control over elections.
It would likely be vetoed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, but the proposal indicates the direction GOP lawmakers could take should Evers lose his re-election bid this November.
The bill also would require state agencies to submit new federal election guidance to legislative leadership, and would bar those agencies from implementing the policies until they receive the go-ahead from a legislative rules committee.
Matt Rothschild, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, questioned the legality of the bill in a committee hearing Monday.
“States aren’t generally allowed to disregard federal guidance on the conduct of federal elections, for instance,” said Rothschild. “And if you want to have one rule for federal elections and one rule for state elections, that’s going to create a whole bunch of cumbersome-ness for the clerks.”
A separate measure would bar private funding for election administration.
That resolution is in response to grants provided to Wisconsin’s largest cities, including liberal strongholds Milwaukee and Madison, by the Center for Tech and Civic Life in 2020.
One of the center’s major funders is Mark Zuckerberg, although the organization is unrelated to Facebook.
Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.
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Election Day 2022 is still nine months off, but Texans already are choosing their candidates in the nation’s first primary of the year, which could be a bellwether for the rest of the country.
John Vasquez, volunteer president of AARP Texas, said there are three ways to vote next month: on the day of the primary, March 1; voting by mail, which has restrictions and requires applying for a ballot; and early in-person voting, which begins in just a few days.
“In-person voting begins February 14th and will go until Friday, February 25th. And your mail-in ballot is due by February 18th,” Vasquez outlined. “If you’re going to do that, you’ve got to move on that very quickly now.”
As far as the governor’s race, there are eight Republican candidates on the primary ballot and five on the Democratic ballot. But the front-runners are current Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, and former Congressman Beto O’Rourke, a Democrat.
Vasquez reminded voters unlike some states, Texas holds its Democratic and Republican primaries on the same day.
“You don’t have to be registered for either party. You can vote in either one in Texas,” Vasquez explained. “We have an open-primary system, so you can choose which primary you want to vote in and then, cast your ballot within that primary.”
When it comes to issues affecting older Texans, Vasquez pointed out the primary is important if voters want a candidate who supports addressing their concerns. He encouraged voters who have questions to call their county clerk, or look at the AARP Texas website, which has information in both English and Spanish.
“On our webpage, aarp.org/txvotes, you can find key primary dates that you need to know about,” Vasquez stressed. “And with the information you’re armed, and you’re going to be able to cast your vote, because voting is such an important right that we have as Americans.”
Changes to Texas voter laws include a ban on drive-through and 24-hour early voting, plus new identification requirements for mail-in voting, and stricter requirements when assisting a voter with their ballot.
Disclosure: AARP Texas contributes to our fund for reporting on Energy Policy, Health Issues, Livable Wages/Working Families, and Senior Issues. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.
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