Arizona: By a 34-23 vote, the House approved legislation that would make it a felony to return someone else’s absentee ballot with exceptions for family members, those in the same household and professional caregivers.
Colorado: The Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee approved two elections-related bills this week. SB 16-107, which was unanimously approved, would require mandatory minimum training for voter registration circulators. SB 16-122 will reduce the required number of voting services and polling centers to be open the first week of early voting. It also no longer requires polling centers to be open the first Saturday of early voting.
Connecticut: Secretary of State Denise Merrill is pushing legislators to support a bill that would automatically register voters in the Nutmeg State.
Idaho: Secretary of State Lawerence Denney has proposed legislation that would allow residents in Idaho to register online to vote. The proposal would include verification through the Idaho Transportation Department’s driver’s license records.
Maryland: By a 29-18 vote, the Maryland Senate followed in the footsteps of the General Assembly to override Gov. Larry Hogan’s (R) veto of legislation that would restore the voting rights to ex-felons who are no longer incarcerated, but may still have elements of their sentence they need to fulfill such as probation or financial restitution. The law will go into effect on March 10 and approximately 40,000 released felons will be eligible to vote in the state’s April primary.
Rhode Island: The House unanimously approved legislation to allow Rhode Island voters to register online to vote. There is currently no Senate version of the bill, although one is expected.
South Dakota: Sen. Craig Tieszen (R-Rapid City) has introduced legislation that would forbid the use of a mail-forwarding service as an address for voter registration. According to the Rapid City Journal, the bill targets nomadic recreational-vehicle owners, known as RVers, and others who use mail-forwarding services such as Americas Mailbox near Rapid City, whose address is listed by nearly 3,500 registered voters.
Washington: For the fourth time in four years, the House has approved the Washington Voting Rights Act. The bill now moves to the Senate. The Democratic-controlled chamber passed House Bill 1745 on a 50-47 vote, and the measure now heads to the Republican-controlled Senate, where it is not expected to gain traction.
The measure opens the possibility of court challenges to cities, counties and school districts to push them to switch from at-large to district elections in areas where large minority groups are present. Under the measure, before someone can file a legal action, the political entity must be notified of the challenge to their election system, at which point they'll have 180 days to remedy the complaint.
Also in Washington, legislators have introduced bills for automatic voter registration for citizens who have already met voting requirements through such processes as getting enhanced driver’s licenses or getting health insurance through the state health exchange.
West Virginia: On a strict party-line vote, the House Judiciary Committee approved legislation that would require voters to show a photo ID in order to vote. Acceptable IDs would include a driver’s license or state ID card, a passport, a state or government employee ID card, a student ID, a military ID or a state concealed-weapons permit.
Wisconsin: According to the Green Bay Press Gazette, lawmakers are fast-tracking a bill to eliminate the Special Registration Deputy program. The program allows help for voters have moved, changed names or are new to voting. The bill was approved in the Senate along party lines. According to Wisconsin Public Radio, Democrats support online voter registration but do not support the elimination of the deputy program.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
No comments:
Post a Comment