Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Election Officials Grapple With Long Voting Lines, Surge In Mail-In Ballots
State and local election officials already scrambling to handle an expected surge in mail-in ballots for November’s general election also face challenges dealing with in-person voting during the pandemic. Hourslong waits to vote in primary elections in Georgia and Nevada last week showed that many people will need or want to vote in person even if states offer the option of voting by mail, some elections experts said. In Las Vegas, one of the last to vote—around 3 a.m.—was Elvis impersonator Steve Connolly, who said he waited for eight hours at a voting center after not receiving an absentee ballot in the mail. (Corse, 6/18)
The hourslong wait times that snarled the March 3 primary in Los Angeles County stemmed from malfunctions in the electronic tablets used to check in voters at the polls, according to an unpublicized county report that adds to questions about the nation’s readiness for November. The report concludes that these devices — known as electronic poll books — and not the county’s new $300 million voting machines were the source of those delays. Although the voting machines also had problems, the report faults inadequate planning, testing and programming of the poll books that workers used to check in voters and verify that they’re registered — technology that has also been implicated in this month’s meltdown at the polls in Georgia’s primary. (Zetter, 6/17)
Minnesota will waive its witness requirements for absentee ballots for the statewide primary election in August under the settlement of two lawsuits sparked by the health threat from the coronavirus pandemic. The lawsuits were filed by political arms of the League of Women Voters of Minnesota and the Minnesota Alliance for Retired Americans. A Ramsey County judge signed off on the consent decree with the retirees Wednesday while a federal judge scheduled a hearing for Thursday on the league’s case. (Karnowski, 6/18)
Delaware briefly deployed a controversial internet voting system this summer but scrapped it amid concerns about security and public confidence. Before the online option was shuttered, voters returned more than 2,700 ballots electronically — and those votes still will be counted, according to the state, along with conventional votes in the upcoming July primary. (Schmidt and Parks, 6/18)
