Archive for November 2018

With everything else happening in the last week, you would be forgiven if you missed a major story that will likely have a significant impact on American elections: passage of a bill that would elevate the Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity division to the agency level. Once the bill receives the President’s signature, it will allow the new Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to step up its presence in many sectors, including elections, where the need for information-sharing and coordination between election officials and players in the public and private sector grows every day.

A week ago, I said that anyone expecting (or hoping?) for post-election controversies should “prepare to be underwhelmed.” [That didn’t age well.] Now, as controversies rage about the tabulation process and the impact on countless razor-thin races across the country, I’m frustrated at the push to treat Election Night leaders as the presumed winners and anything to the contrary as suspicious. There are lots of reasons (good and bad) why counting takes time – and as a result everyone needs to slow the f___ down.

Election Day 2018 is past (if still far from over) and electionlineWeekly’s Mindy Moretti has a quick initial roundup of how the day went. There are many stories to discuss in the weeks and months ahead (recounts, new faces, new movement on old issues in Washington DC) but for now election officials almost everywhere can start finishing up and winding down Election 2018 and start thinking about what’s next … including the 2020 Presidential election, which is a little more than 100 weeks away.

Election Day 2018 is behind us in most of the country, but in two states – Georgia and Louisiana – the race for Secretary of State requires one more round of voting. The winners of both runoffs will have big jobs ahead of them, as Georgia faces scrutiny over its election policies and aging touchscreen voting technology and Louisiana wrestles with a contentious procurement process to upgrade its voting machines. Unfortunately, those runoffs aren’t likely to see Tuesday’s stratospheric turnout, even though they will shape elections in those states for the foreseeable future.

Election Day is always eventful for election officials – but Maricopa County (Phoenix), AZ was forced to confront an unusual situation when poll workers showed up at a polling location only to find it locked because the landlord had foreclosed on the business hosting the precinct. The story raises several key issues – most importantly, whether a private landlord can bar access to a location where public voting equipment and ballots are stored – but in the short run it was an early-morning headache for election officials and voters alike.

The countdown is over and the day is here. Let’s do this.

In case you missed it, Election Day 2018 is TOMORROW. I recently shared the latest version of my usual pre-election post over at the Fors Marsh Group blog – it’s intended to be a viewer’s guide to the excitement (and occasional madness) of Election Day. Good luck to everyone casting, counting and covering ballots tomorrow – I will be thinking about all of you!

electionlineWeekly’s Mindy Moretti is back with the latest installment of the site’s “what to watch” on Election Day 2018. It’s a pretty wide-ranging list; as she notes, “may the gods of democracy have mercy on our souls!”

Leaders of the Korean community in Harris County (Houston), TX are meeting with the county clerk after a dispute about translation at an early voting center this weekend. At issue is the conflict between the 100-foot “loitering” buffer around polling places and the desire to offer language assistance to those who need it.