In Georgia, election workers must manually count the number of ballots after voting ends. In North Carolina, some students and university staff can use their digital ID cards to vote. In Wisconsin, ballot boxes have been legalized again, although not every voting precinct will use them.
Nationally, including swing states, new or recently amended state laws are changing the way Americans vote, tally votes, and manage and certify the November elections.
Tracking these last-minute changes can be extremely challenging, especially considering the varied election processes in each state. With only a few weeks left until the election on November 5th, some states are set to make more changes, some have already started mailing absentee ballots, and some voters have begun casting their ballots in person.
The nonpartisan organization Voting Rights Lab’s Vice President of Law and Policy, Megan Bellamy, stated in an email response, “Last-minute changes to election rules, whether from state legislatures, election officials, or the courts, can be confusing for voters and election officials alike; the election season is underway, and lawmakers, administrations, and courts must recognize this.”
Here are some of the new or recently amended election rules:
Both Georgia and Arizona require election workers to manually count ballots at polling stations on election day. Officials say this could delay the release of election results.
The Georgia State Election Board passed new regulations last Friday (September 20). The rule mandates that each polling station have three different poll workers manually count the number of ballots (not the votes) until all three counts match.
Georgia voters make selections on touch-screen voting machines. The machines print out paper ballots with a list of options for voters to verify accuracy, accompanied by a QR code for scanning and tallying.
Supporters say that new manual counting rules are needed to ensure that the number of paper ballots matches the electronic tallies from scanners, registration computers, and voting machines. Three workers must count the ballots in groups of 50, with election managers explaining and resolving any discrepancies as much as possible, with records kept.
This rule goes against recommendations from the Attorney General’s office, Secretary of State’s office, and county election officials association. Critics fear this could lead to delayed election results on election night, undermining public confidence in the process.
Similar amendments to state law in Arizona this year could also delay the release of election results in this swing state this fall. The state law requires counties to manually count ballot envelope counts received at polling centers after voting ends.
Following the primary election in July, a spokesperson for the Maricopa County Elections, Jennifer Liewer, stated that this new measure had delayed the county’s election results by about 30 minutes and that the impact could be greater in the presidential election if “tens of thousands of ballots were missed.”
Maricopa County, including Phoenix, is expected to have 378,000 to 504,000 voters casting ballots on November 5th.
Adrian Fontes, a Democratic Secretary of State in Arizona, expressed in an email that the new tallying measure “requires a significant amount of time, especially considering that poll workers have completed 12 to 15-hour shifts.”
The confusion and misinformation surrounding mail-in ballots and ballot boxes have sparked partisan disagreements in several states on how to use these convenient voting methods, leading to the creation of new rules.
In Wisconsin, the state’s conservative-majority Supreme Court deemed ballot drop boxes illegal in 2022, but a new liberal majority in the court later legalized them in July this year. Some communities opened drop boxes during the state’s primary election in August, with more expected to be used in November.
In Wisconsin, the use of drop boxes is voluntary, with some conservative towns opting not to use them for security reasons. The state’s two majority-Democrat cities, Milwaukee and Madison, used drop boxes in August and plan to do so again in November.
Ohio’s Republican Secretary of State, Frank LaRose, issued a directive to county election boards in August, stipulating that only voters themselves can drop their individual ballots into the drop boxes. Anyone assisting with voting must return the ballot to the county election board office and fill out a verification form.
In Pennsylvania, the state Supreme Court is currently hearing a lawsuit that could determine whether counties must count provisional ballots cast by voters whose mail-in ballots were rejected due to minor errors (such as failing to place the ballot in the inner secrecy envelope). State law does not specify how counties should handle this issue, leading to inconsistent practices. Republicans argue that the state law does not explicitly allow voters to cast provisional ballots in place of rejected mail-in ballots.
Additionally, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently rejected a case on technical grounds, which lower courts had ruled violated voting rights by rejecting mail-in ballots for “meaningless and inconsequential document errors” like missing a handwritten date. As a result, counties are expected to continue disqualifying these ballot qualifications. Some counties (mostly Democratic-controlled) are working to help voters correct these errors or cast provisional ballots.
This election marks the first presidential election since Florida’s Republican-controlled legislature made a series of modifications to mail-in voting methods in 2021. While these changes are not recent, their impact could be significant this year in a state traditionally interested in mail-in voting. One change requires that a voter’s mail-in ballot request is valid only for the next election cycle, rather than two, meaning voters must reapply. Now, applying for a mail-in ballot also requires providing the last four digits of a driver’s license, state ID, or Social Security number.
In North Carolina, last month the State Board of Elections voted to allow students and faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to use digital identification on their smartphones to vote, under the state’s newly implemented photo voter ID law.
This marks the first approval for such electronic ID by the board. Republicans have filed a lawsuit against this, arguing that state law only allows for physical cards.
Last week, a magistrate judge denied a ban on the use of electronic IDs, and Republicans subsequently submitted an appeal notice. Currently, only mobile IDs issued on Apple phones at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have been approved.
In Arkansas, the federal appeals court last week reinstated a provision banning voter registration using electronic signatures. The state election board approved the rule in April, stating the state constitution allows only certain institutions, not election officials, to accept electronic signatures. According to the provision, voters must physically sign with a pen to register.
The rule was passed after the nonprofit group Get Loud Arkansas helped voters register using electronic signatures. The election board says the rule aims to establish uniformity statewide.
Commission heads have requested county clerks to identify all registration documents submitted after the appellate court’s ruling involving electronic signatures and to make every effort to promptly contact voters for corrections.
After voting ends, election management does not stop, with some states implementing new processes in the post-election phase.
Just weeks after ordering Georgia counties to manually count paper ballots, the Georgia State Election Board recently passed new regulations related to certifying votes. One change requires a “reasonable investigation” before county election officials certify results but does not clearly define what this entails. Another change allows county election officials to “inspect all election-related documents created during the election.”
Democrats have filed a lawsuit to block the enforcement of the new rules, arguing that if local officials are displeased with the election outcome, they could use these rules to refuse certification.
In New Hampshire, Governor Chris Sununu signed legislation in July requiring post-election audits. The law took effect before the state’s late primaries on September 10 and will apply to the general election.
The audit regulation permits the Secretary of State’s office to inspect electronic voting equipment for proper operation. The office randomly selected ten polling places, and the assigned audit team determined the audit of electronic voting equipment was successful, with all results falling within the expected range.
In Nebraska, allies of former President Trump are pushing to change the state’s electoral vote allocation to prevent Vice President Kamala Harris from securing one of the electoral votes by winning the Omaha congressional district. However, this effort appears destined to fail as a Republican state senator stated they would not support the measure, making it impossible for supporters to obtain a two-thirds majority vote to pass the bill in the legislature and become law before the November 5th election.
State Senator Mike McDonnell of Omaha stated on Monday, “After much contemplation, I believe now is not the time for this change.”
Another state that allocates electoral votes by congressional district is Maine.
(This article references reporting from the Associated Press)