Paper trails, voter ID, early voting on the agenda

With the beginning of the New Year comes the start of many state legislative sessions, and both lawmakers and election officials are considering a variety of changes to the election process in 2007 – some reacting to problems that arose in the last vote and others the continuation of trends around the country in recent years.

In Colorado, officials have completed reviews to examine what went wrong in several jurisdictions, including Denver, when problems with poll books led to long lines and irate voters.

Other proposals by lawmakers around the country could expand or adjust early voting or no-excuse absentee voting, increase the number of states requiring voter-verified paper audit trails with electronic voting machines and alter voter verification requirements at the polls.

electionline.org will continue tracking these election-related bills and other proposals that have been introduced or discussed in 2007 and will continue to do so as the year progresses. While not an exhaustive list, the following are some of the highlights:

Voting equipment and paper trails

Not surprisingly, legislative efforts to add voter-verified paper audit trails (VVPATs) to direct-recording electronic (DRE) machines are on the agenda in several states. Before the 2006 election cycle, nearly half of states already required DREs to print paper versions of ballots that voters could examine. Last November’s troubled vote in Florida’s 13th Congressional District that included an unusually high number of non-votes in the race for the U.S. House, has added both urgency and timeliness to calls for paper backups of electronic ballots. Similarly, a number of lawmakers could take it a step further, asking their colleagues to approve measures that would outlaw the use of DREs altogether, instead requiring their states to use optical-scan systems or other paper-based balloting.

• Bills requiring VVPATs have been filed in Florida, Georgia, Maryland, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia. (In some of these states multiple bills on the topic have been proposed.)
• Legislation also in Virginia would require jurisdictions to use paper ballots.
• In Kentucky, Secretary of State Trey Grayson (R) has said that a committee will study issues related to implementing VVPATs.
• News reports in Indiana indicate that Rep. Dennis Avery, D-Evansville, is considering proposing VVPAT legislation.
• A voter advocacy group in Iowa is pushing legislators there to return to paper ballots.

Voter identification

Nearly half the states had some form of identification requirement for all voters at the polls during the 2006 election. Several more states are now looking to change their polling place ID requirements.

• For the third consecutive legislative session, some Georgia lawmakers are seeking to mandate photo ID at the polls. Previous efforts – both of them successful in the legislature – were struck down by courts before last year's November election. State Sen. Cecil Stanton, R-Macon, has filed a resolution to amend the state constitution to allow for a photo ID requirement. However, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle (R) has said this session might not present an opportunity to push for such an amendment as it lacks support by sufficient numbers of lawmakers.
• As has been the case for the past several legislative sessions, Mississippi lawmakers have proposed several voter ID bills. All voter-ID related bills in the past have failed.
• In Texas, two bills (H.B. 101 and H.B. 218 ) similar to the proposal passed by Arizona voters to require proof of citizenship to register and to show one form of photo ID or two forms of non-photo ID at the polls have been introduced.
• Kansas state Sen. Tim Huelskamp, R-Fowler, plans to introduce a bill that would require voters to show photo ID when casting a ballot and when registering to vote. Currently, all first-time voters are required to show some form of photo or non-photo ID at the polls.
• Bills requiring photo ID at the polls have also been introduced in California and New Hampshire.
• Bills in West Virginia and Oklahoma would require voters to provide some form of photo or non-photo ID at the polls.

Early/absentee voting and vote-by-mail

More than half the states do not require voters to provide a reason to cast an absentee ballot and an increasing number of states allow voters to cast ballots on voting machines prior to Election Day. More states are considering following suit.

• In Maryland, Democratic legislators have written a resolution to amend the state constitution to allow early voting. An earlier law passed by the legislature was ruled unconstitutional by the state Court of Appeals. Maryland did, however, allow no-excuse absentee voting for the first time last year.
• Mississippi, Missouri and South Carolina have early voting bills pending.
• Arkansas lawmakers will debate a proposal that could shorten the state's early voting period, while legislation in Tennessee would extend the time to vote early.
• A Kansas bill would allow all counties to use advance voting stations at satellite locations rather than solely at county courthouses.
• Legislation in Michigan and Tennessee would permit no-excuse absentee voting. In South Carolina, voters who cast in-person absentee ballots would no longer need to provide a reason for doing so.
• In Kentucky, Secretary Grayson has also called for no-excuse absentee voting.
• The city council in Tucson, Ariz. recently rejected an all vote-by-mail plan.

Voter registration

Bills allowing Election Day registration have been introduced in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Texas.

• Two bills in Montana seek to end recently-enacted election-day registration at county election offices. H.B. 266 and H.B. 281 would change regular registration rules, allowing citizens to register 14 days or four days before an election, respectively.
• The incoming Colorado secretary of state said he will push for stricter voter registration laws including tightening what applicants can show as proof of residence and eligibility. A bill in Georgia also would require those applying to register to vote to provide proof of citizenship.
• Washington secretary of state Sam Reed has stated he wants to allow online voter registration. Currently, only Arizona has such a system in place.

Election task forces/election office changes

After some jurisdictions had troubled elections in 2006, task forces were formed to study the problems and look for solutions. Other jurisdictions have seen their election offices taken over by the state or abolished.

• After the much-publicized problems with the electronic poll books used in Denver’s 2006 general election, an independent consultant's report blamed bad software designed by Sequoia and poor management by the Denver Elections Commission. A January 30 special election in the city and county of Denver, set to be conducted by mail, will let voters decide if they want the responsibility for elections to be taken away from the Denver Elections Commission and shifted to an elected clerk and recorder.
• Also in Colorado, Montrose County formed an Election Fact Finding Task Force to address voting machine and other problems faced during the November 2006 election. The task force’s work is ongoing.
• A citizen’s advisory group has been formed in Northampton County, Pa. to examine ways to improve the election process.
• The Massachusetts secretary of state’s office has taken over the Boston city elections office until at least through the 2008 election after shortages of ballots were reported across the city during the most recent election.
• The Waller County, Texas elections office was recently abolished and is being investigated, due to the number of problems over the course of several elections.

Other proposals

Last year, National Popular Vote encouraged state lawmakers to pass legislation that would enter states into a compact awarding their Electoral College votes to the presidential candidate with the most popular votes. One such proposal was vetoed by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) in 2006, but a bill has been re-introduced there and might be proposed in a number of other states as well.

• Voters in four jurisdictions approved of measures allowing instant-runoff voting (IRV) this past November while a move to IRV is being considered in St. Paul, Minn. and by the Minnesota state legislature as well.
• The restoration of voting rights to felons is being considered in both Florida and Kentucky.