Thread by @JoshuaADouglas

BIG KENTUCKY ELECTION NEWS: Republican Sen. @jrajra filed SB 259, a new election bill. There's lots of great stuff here: easing voter reg deadline, early voting, ballot cures, etc. There's also "integrity" stuff I don't love. Let's walk through it.

apps.legislature.ky.gov/record/21rs/sb… 1/

Summary:
-Registration deadline: 21 days (from 29)
-Stricter voter purge process
-Early voting for 4 days
-Vote Centers
-Absentee ballot online request portal
-Ballot cures for mismatched signatures
-Ballot drop boxes (but limits on who can drop off)
-Paper trail required 2/

VOTER REGISTRATION DEADLINE: Bill would change registration deadline from the current 29 days to 21 days. I'd prefer, well, same-day registration or a shorter period, but this is a good start. 3/

tjcinstitute.com/wp-content/upl…

On the other side of the coin, the bill beefs up the voter list maintenance rules, essentially requiring State Board of Elections to send an annual notice to those on the inactive list, and if they don't respond and don't vote in 2 general elections, to remove them from list. 4/

Note that this list maintenance/voter purge system is basically what #SCOTUS upheld in the case from Ohio. So the bill gives a little to each side: eased registration deadline with stricter removal process. 5/ scotusblog.com/case-files/cas…

VOTE CENTERS! Bill authorizes counties to consolidate polling places into larger Vote Centers, which were hugely successful in 2020. Importantly, county must explain "The plan for how the voting location will serve as a focal point to meet the needs of a diverse community." 6/

ONLINE ABSENTEE BALLOT REQUEST PORTAL! Again, another great tool from Nov. 2020 would become law. Secure portal would close 10 days before election. Importantly, by inputting personally identifying info, the voter complies with the new voter ID law. All good for security. 7/

The absentee ballots must have printed barcodes unique to each voter. This is another common sense security measure. 8/

Bill would prohibit absentee ballot collection/delivery, except for U.S. postal workers, family members, household members, or caregivers. Not a fan of this provision as it hinders non-partisan groups from helping voters deliver ballots. But it's a common "integrity" rule. 9/

BALLOT DROP BOXES: The bill allows the use of secure drop boxes for absentee ballots and guarantees each county with at least one. 👏👏👏 10/

Unfortunately, the bill does not expand who can vote via absentee ballot. So an excuse would still be required. KY would remain one of only 16 states that require an excuse. 11/ ncsl.org/research/elect…

GOOD: The bill allows county clerks to start processing (but not counting) absentee ballots up to 10 days before Election Day. This is a great move as it will help avoid perceived "vote shift" we saw in places like MI and PA, where counties could not begin early processing. 12/

BALLOT CURES! Absentee ballots still require 2 signatures. But if the signature does not match the one on file, county clerks must make a "reasonable effort" to contact voter to allow a cure. This is great, as KY law didn't have a cure process previously (2020 reg had it). 13/

Unfortunately, bill requires all cures to happen by poll closing time on Election Day. This means that ballots arriving on Election Day won't have opportunity to cure. That's potential equal protection problem which leg. should fix. I also wish cures were more expansive. 14/

EARLY VOTING: KY, which has no early voting (without an excuse), would have 4 days of early voting for anyone: the Wed., Thurs., Fri., and Sat. before Election Day. What an important expansion that will benefit everyone! 15/

New election machines must allow for voter verified paper trail. This is an important security measure. There are some technical things in here related to voting equipment, mostly to ensure integrity through a paper trail. There's also a provision for risk-limiting audits. 16/

BAD on voter assistance: a voter needing help at the polls would need to provide a specific reason under oath, and poll workers could deny that assistance if they are not "satisfied as to the truth of the facts stated in the oath." This is unnecessary and potentially harmful. 17/

There's some additional minor stuff, like saying poll workers can work a half day, which hopefully will make it easier to recruit poll workers.

There's also stuff on naming members to county board of elections. 18/

Post election recanvass: currently any candidate can ask for a recanvass. The proposed law would allow it only if the vote totals between candidates is less than 1%. This makes sense: there's no need to recanvass unless it's really close. 19/

The bill would restore the SOS as the chair of the State Board of Elections and gives him a vote. The legislature had taken that power away from the former SOS, @AlisonForKY. 20/

UPSHOT: This is a great compromise bill. It expands voter access and includes some pro-voter measures, but it also has integrity things like paper ballots and risk limiting audits.

(Dem @MorganMcGarvey filed bill with some similar items; SB 259 is an Repub-backed bill) 21/

For me, the expansions don't go far enough and some of the "integrity" measures are unnecessary and potentially harmful. But, especially for a state with a supermajority Republican legislature, this is an important and positive bill. 22/

There's a similar House bill expected to be filed soon. Hopefully each House will work quickly to respond to public comment and then pass this bill. It should be bipartisan. If it remains mostly as is, Gov. Beshear should sign it. 23/

KY ranks #41 in the objective, non-partisan Election Performance Index. This bill will hopefully improve that ranking because it makes it easier to vote while also focusing on the security of the election system.

I hope it passes. /end

elections.mit.edu/#/data/rank