Election Changes
Please bookmark our statewide 2020 primary calendar and our calendar of key downballot races, both of which we're updating continually as changes are finalized.
• Alaska: Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy has signed a multi-faceted bill addressing the coronavirus emergency that includes a provision allowing Republican Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer to order that Alaska's Aug. 18 primary and any special elections this year be conducted by mail. (In Alaska, the lieutenant governor is the state's top elections official.) Meyer has not yet said whether he'll issue such an order regarding the primary.
• Arizona: Republican Gov. Doug Ducey says he's opposed to conducting Arizona's Aug. 4 primary by mail, a move that both Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs and the state's local election officials support. Ducey said he did not want the state "to disenfranchise anyone from voting on Election Day," but every state that conducts all-mail elections still allows voters to cast ballots on Election Day.
• Louisiana: Louisiana's Republican-run legislature has rejected a proposal by Republican Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin to modestly expand the availability of mail voting for the state's July 11 presidential and municipal primaries. Ardoin's plan would have allowed certain groups of voters, such as those over 60, those at high risk for contracting COVID-19, or those who are self-quarantining. It also would have increased the number of days for early voting from seven to 13. Lawmakers have asked Ardoin to come up with an alternate plan by April 24.
• Texas: A state judge said on Wednesday afternoon that he'll issue an order allowing all Texans to vote absentee due to the coronavirus pandemic, less than an hour after the attorney general's office threatened criminal prosecution for groups recommending voters concerned about contracting the virus request absentee ballots.
Last month, because Texas is one of a number of states that requires voters to present an excuse in order to vote absentee, Democrats filed suit in state court asking that this requirement be relaxed. Specifically, plaintiffs said that a provision of law permitting mail voting if a voter has "a sickness or physical condition that prevents the voter from appearing at the polling place on election day without a likelihood of needing personal assistance or of injuring the voter's health" should apply to anyone practicing social distancing.
Judge Tim Sulak agreed, though it is not yet clear whether his injunction will affect only the state's July 14 runoffs or extend through the November general election; conceivably, it could remain in effect for the duration of the pandemic. Whatever the case, Texas Republicans have shown a great deal of hostility toward expanding mail voting and are almost certain to appeal.
That hostility was on vivid display shortly before Sulak announced his plans, when Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton issued guidance to the legislature concluding that "fear of contracting COVID-19" does not constitute a valid reason for voters to ask for an absentee ballot. Paxton concluded his letter by warning that if voting rights advocates were to provide the opposite advice to voters, that "could subject those third parties to criminal sanctions."
Should Sulak's anticipated ruling stand, however, Paxton's threats will be moot. But even if it's overturned, Democrats could nevertheless obtain the relief they seek thanks to a similar lawsuit they filed in federal court.
• Wisconsin: Democrat Marina Dimitrijevic, who last week was elected to Milwaukee's city council, is promoting a new proposal to send absentee ballot applications to all 300,000 voters in the city for Wisconsin's Aug. 11 primary and the November general election. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and at least nine other members of the council, including the body's president, support the measure. Election officials in three large South Florida counties are also considering similar plans.