Summary of 2010 elections: What’s In & What’s Out in 2011
Electionline.org recently published their annual list of events, people of interest and trends that have either started or ended during 2010. This is an interesting summary of this year’s events.
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“The List” 2011
You’ve waited all year for it, so without further ado, here is electionlineWeekly’s annual list of what’s in and what’s out in election administration. Happy New Year from all of us at Pew Center on the States’ Election Initiatives.
OUT: Lever voting machines in New York
IN: Optical scan voting machines (finally)
OUT: Secretaries of State, Charlie Daniels (Ark.), Bernie Beuscher (Colo.), Susan Bysiewicz (Conn.), Todd Rokita (Ind.), Michael Mauro (Iowa), Chris Briggs (Kansas), Terri Lynn Land (Mich.), Mary Herrera (N.M.), Jennifer Brunner (Ohio), Chris Nelson (S.D.), and Deb Markowitz (Vt.)
IN: Secretaries of State; Mark Martin (Ark.), Scott Gessler (Colo.), Denise Merrill (Conn.), Charlie White (Ind.), Matt Schultz (Iowa), Kris Kobach (Kansas), Ruth Johnson (Mich.), Dianna Duran (N.M.), Jon Husted (Ohio), Jason Gant (S.D.) and Jim Condos (Vt.)
OUT: Instant-runoff voting in Aspen, Colo.
IN: Instant-runoff voting in Berkeley, Oakland and San Leandro
OUT: Voter ID legislation in the 2009 Texas Legislature
IN: Pre-filed voter ID legislation in the 2011 Texas Legislature
OUT: Non-citizen voting in Portland, Maine
IN: Thinking about non-citizen voting in Hyattsville, Md. and Brookline, Mass.
OUT: Kat Zambon, associate Pew Election Initiatives
IN: Kat Zambon, senior communications officer, American Association for the Advancement of Science
OUT: Action on federal military and overseas voting legislation
IN: Action on state military and overseas voting legislation
OUT: Fighting about the constitutionality of photo ID
IN: Fighting about the cost of making required IDs free to all
OUT: Election reform as a political issue
IN: Election administration as a fiscal issue
OUT: EAC Commissioner Gracia Hillman
IN: Questions about the EAC’s future?
OUT: “Will it increase turnout”?
IN: “Can we afford it?”
OUT: Convenience
IN: Cost-Effectiveness
OUT: Election Night as the end of the campaign
IN: Election Night as the start of the count
OUT: Stray marks as evidence of voter intent
IN: Stray spelling as evidence of voter intent
OUT: Complaining about the cost of special elections
IN: Deciding to forgo special elections to save money
OUT: Complaining about the cost of elections
IN: Deciding to reduce the number of polling places to save money
OUT: State legislators as outsiders to election reform
IN: Former state legislators as Secretaries of State
OUT: Redistricting as game of musical chairs for politicians
IN: Redistricting as game of “52 pickup” for election officials
OUT: Misplacing 195,000 ballots for weeks in New York City
IN: Spending days looking for one ballot in Otter Tail County, MN
OUT: Nostalgia for lever machines
IN: Nostalgia for touch-screens?
OUT: “Percentage of precincts reporting”
IN: “Percentage of expected vote”
OUT: Regular ballots in Bridgeport, CT
IN: Photocopied ballots in Bridgeport, CT
OUT: Voter registration deadlines, excuse-required absentee voting, and Sequoia voting technology in Washington D.C.
IN: Same-day voter registration, no-excuse absentee voting, no-excuse in-person early voting, early voting centers, electronic poll books, and ES&S voting technology in Washington D.C.
OUT: Nick Handy, retiring Washington State’s election director
IN: Katie Blinn and Shane Hamlin, acting co-directors