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NJ: For the first time in 36 years, no restrictions on GOP voter activities in New Jersey
Tuesday’s election will take place without restrictions on Republican National Committee voter activities for the first time since a New Jersey voter intimidation case set them in motion 36 years ago. A U.S. district judge in January ended the court-sanctioned agreement, or consent decree, limiting GOP efforts to target minority voters.
OR: ‘You can’t hack paper’: How Oregon fights election meddling
In Oregon, election officials don’t have to worry as much about hacking aging voting machines, because they don’t have any voting machines — or any polling places. Oregonians vote by mail. Three weeks before each election, all of Oregon’s nearly 2.7 million registered voters are sent a ballot by the U.S. Postal Service. Then they mark and sign their ballots and send them in.
UT: Utah mayor urged ‘united’ Americans to vote in his last Facebook post
The emotional appeal came after Brent Taylor, the mayor of North Ogden, Utah, witnessed Afghanistan citizens risking their lives to cast their votes while on tour with the Utah National Guard. “We have far more as Americans that unites us than divides us,” he wrote. Taylor was killed in an attack in Kabul this month. He is survived by his wife and seven young children.
SC: Why does South Carolina ask your race when you register to vote? It’s in state law.
It’s one of the perplexing questions recent arrivals to South Carolina bring up: Why does the state mandate you identify by race when you register to vote? It became law at a time when racial disenfranchisement was a built-in part of the system and the status quo was trying to undermine the civil rights movement.
CA: Californians may have just set back their clocks for the last time
On Election Day, Californians are set to consider Proposition 7, which if approved would empower the legislature to permanently fix the state to one time system. Research suggests twice-yearly time changes are harmful to human health, causing or aggravating problems ranging from disrupted sleep to heart attacks to vehicle accidents.
OK: Oklahoma state House candidate admits he made up endorsement
An Oklahoma state House candidate admitted that a lengthy quote in a campaign mailer attributed to former Gov. Brad Henry is false. “I will admit that I made a mistake,” LaVelle Compton said. Compton, an Oklahoma City Democrat, is running against state Rep. Jon Echols, the Republican House majority floor leader.
MO: Water pump was removed from duck boat before it sank in Missouri lake
Duck boats were modified decades after World War II for tourism, and were supposed to have a powerful bilge pump that could push out as much as 250 gallons of water a minute from the bottom of the boat. But when one of those boats sank in July near Branson, Missouri, killing 17 people, that pump had been removed, the Kansas City Star reported.
AK: Alaska prepares to tackle rape kit backlog
Alaska officials have identified about 2,600 rape kits that were never tested for DNA results, including some that sat on police department shelves for more than 20 years. The state plans to systematically test the kits over the next several years to solve cold cases and arrest rapists in a state with the nation’s highest rates of sexual assault.
HI: Hawaii voters to decide on constitutional convention
Hawaii voters will decide Tuesday whether to convene a state constitutional convention for the first time in 40 years. If the ballot measure passes, delegates will be chosen during the next election or a special election called by the Legislature.
CO: Special session in Colorado if voters approve fracking initiative
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, has suggested a special legislative session is possible to “minimize the unintended collateral damage” that could come if voters approve new limits on oil and gas drilling.
IN: Indiana legislators want school bus cameras after crash
State legislators in Indiana are pushing to add cameras on the outside of school buses after police say a driver ignored a stop arm and crashed into children crossing a road, killing three and critically injuring another. More than 3,000 drivers have violated the state’s school bus stop-arm law, according to the Indiana Department of Education.
MD: Supreme Court to decide if Maryland’s Peace Cross violates the Constitution
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case about whether the nearly 100-year-old, cross-shaped war memorial in Maryland known as Peace Cross violates the Constitution’s required separation of church and state.
NY: The high-octane fight to flip the New York Senate
Democrats are one seat away from retaking the State Senate, a shake-up that could have huge implications for New York’s political and economic future.
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