Wisconsin's election officials are trying to determine how a recent ruling from the Wisconsin Supreme Court outlawing absentee-ballot drop boxes will impact absentee voting in next month's primary elections.

The state's six-person bipartisan elections commission this week failed to agree on new guidance for clerks to help them apply the ruling.

Bob Spindell, a Republican Wisconsin Elections Commissioner, said in the group's meeting Tuesday the commission's failure to agree on the guidance would essentially leave local officials to figure it out themselves.

"We have a responsibility, as the Wisconsin Elections Commission, to give some guidance on this important decision that came down," Spindell contended. "I think we should at least give some minimal guidance to the 1,850 municipal clerks out there."

Providing election guidance to county and municipal clerks is one of the elections commission's basic functions. But in this case, the commission's three Democrats argued the proposed rules were overreaching, and could potentially generate more lawsuits.

The policies included a new rule mandating the elector themselves mail or return their ballot, not a family member or unapproved second party. While the issue was at hand in the court case outlawing drop boxes, the state's high court did not specifically weigh in on that part of the challenge.

Ann Jacobs, a Democratic Wisconsin Elections Commissioner, believes the proposed policy changes are unnecessary.

"I don't think it provides guidance," Jacobs asserted. "I think it provides our own interpretation of something that clerks have an independent responsibility to interpret."

The proposed guidelines would have established new voter ID requirements for absentee ballots. Democrats and voting-rights groups have protested the court's decision to ban drop boxes, contending it will make it more difficult for those with disabilities and the elderly to cast absentee ballots.

Ballots still can be returned by mail or to a clerk's office, and Wisconsin's primary election is August 9.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Voting rights advocates in Massachusetts are applauding Governor Maura Healey's budgetary backing of new policies stemming from last year's passage of the VOTES Act. The law expands early voting options and allows all voters to cast their ballot by mail for any reason, but some municipalities are struggling to handle the expansion of mail-in voting for local springtime elections, citing a lack of personnel.

Common Cause of Massachusetts Executive Director Geoff Foster said timing of the governor's funding could not be better.

"Lack of resources or staff hopefully shouldn't be the reason why municipalities are opting out of what's a really valuable expansion to our voting laws," he said.

Healy has dedicated $5 million for grants to cities and towns to more easily manage ballot requests. 37% of Massachusetts voters cast their ballots by mail in last year's midterm elections.

Registered voters will now receive a letter in the mail each year offering the chance to opt in to mail-in voting, which can also be done online. Foster said the policy aims to improve turnout among those who may struggle with child care, work multiple jobs or those with physical challenges.

"To be able to bring democracy literally home to your kitchen table potentially to fill out a mail ballot at home at a time that that works for you, I mean that's just a win all around for our democracy," Foster said.

There is still work to be done, Foster said. The VOTES Act changed the cut-off date for voter registration from twenty days prior to an election to ten days, but voting advocates say they will continue to push for same-day voter registration. With some 150 bills meant to restrict voter access already introduced nationwide this year, voting advocates say Massachusetts is on the right track.


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Texas' GOP-dominated legislature is considering bills to flip the script on powers traditionally afforded home-rule cities, instead forcing them to abide by state regulations. Two bills have been introduced this session to curb local laws governing safety, the environment and discrimination.

Rick Levy, president of the AFL-CIO Texas branch, said the proposed legislation is extremely far-reaching, and would force the hand of cities across the state.

"Under the current system, home-rule cities have the ability to do anything they're not prohibited from doing. This would make them basically seek permission from the state to do anything," he said.

The Republican bill sponsors say regulatory powers should be returned to the state so small businesses can operate under consistent regulations. Unions represented by the AFL-CIO and other labor groups say the proposals could undo hard-fought measures to protect workers.

As written, Levy said the bills also would affect non-discrimination ordinances - including those that cover gay, lesbian and trans people.

"To the extent that those differ at all from state law, or federal law, in terms of the clarity of their protections for lesbian and gay folks or anything that goes beyond that would be immediately pre-empted - so it's a pretty draconian effort," he said.

After Alaska, Texas is the second largest state geographically and Levy said he has always been impressed that lawmakers come together to represent such diverse interests. He does not believe they should dictate what elected officials in various cities are allowed to do.

"And just to kind of impose the will of a very small sector of the population on every community in the state - in their zeal to crush any kind of dissent or any kind of diversity they're really stepping on what it means to be Texan," he said.

The proposed legislation comes after Austin, known for its progressive policies, lost the ability to enforce a ban on plastic bags after it was challenged and the Texas Supreme Court ruled it violated state law.

American democracy is in mortal danger as the 2024 election approaches, according to experts at a conference held at the University of California, Los Angeles on Friday.

Millions of Americans still believe the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen, and the insurrection that took place on January 6th of 2021 proves that some are willing to resort to violence.

UCLA Law Professor Rick Hasen organized the conference and said some groups are actively working against the will of the voters.

"Elections deniers won office in non-swing states, and many are in Congress," said Hasen. "Local election officials have shared voting machine code with conspiracy theorists, and some local election boards have tried to require the hand count of ballots or refuse to certify election results."

In December, Congress passed reforms to the Electoral Count Act of 1887 - a rare bipartisan move to make it harder to attempt to overturn the results of a presidential election, as former President Trump did in 2020.

Republicans have defeated Democratic proposals to reduce the influence of money in politics and expand access to voting.

Neal Kelley, who served as registrar of voters in Orange County for 20 years and now chairs the Committee for Safe and Secure Elections, said citizens must combat efforts to undermine trust in the election system.

"We should continue to expand audits," said Kelley, "partner with prosecutors on any violations of election law, improve the voter experience and use election materials to communicate facts about misinformation directly with voters."

Michigan Secretary of State Jocyeln Benson said election denier groups are trying to infiltrate local elections offices.

"I found the effort to replace people of integrity in every potential position in democracy from poll workers to Secretaries of State," said Benson, "with people who are not beholden to the law on the principles of democracy and are willing to skirt the law in order to advance political goals."

Michigan Democrats are pursuing bills to increase the penalty for harassing election workers, and to ban deceptive practices in elections, such as lying to voters when seeking petition signatures and knowingly sharing false information about elections and the ability to vote.

Support for this reporting was provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.




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