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IV. Legislative Update
Arizona: Work resumed on several elections-related bills in the Senate. The legislation would allow county officials to remove voters from permanent early voting lists if they didn’t cast a mail ballot in the two most recent elections. The legislation would also prevent political organizations and committees from returning ballots for voters.
Also this week, a Senate panel approved SB1493 that would add new rules to how initiatives and referendums are circulated.
California: Senate Bill 519, which would require the state to reimburse counties for legislative and congressional special elections, was debated this week. The state reimbursed counties for elections till 2007.
Connecticut: The House approved HB5599 that would allow voters to use provisional ballots for state and municipal elections as well as federal elections.
Hawaii: Voters in Hawaii faced a multitude of problems casting their ballots in 2012 and for every problem, there seemed to be a legislative fix introduced. With the 2013 legislative session now closed, an article from the Honolulu Civil Beat takes a look at what passed and what didn’t.
Minnesota: A provision to allow early voting was stripped from the Senate elections bill that was unanimously approved this week.
Nevada: A committee vote on AB440, which would have extended the voter registration deadline to the Friday before election day, has been postponed and according to The Associated Press most likely spells doom for the legislation.
New Jersey: Gov. Chris Christie (R) vetoed legislation that would have allowed voters in The Garden State to participate in early voting at designated polling places up to two weeks before an election.
Ohio: Last week, the Ohio Senate approved a bill (SB109) that is aimed at streamlining the check-in process on election day by standardizing the use of electronic poll books throughout the state.
South Carolina: By a 12-12 vote, a bill that would have given the secretary of state the authority over the state’s elections is stalled in the Judiciary Committee.