The changes will “remove ambiguity and ensure courts are the primary venue for contested elections,” says Kevin Johnson, co-founder of the national Election Reformers Network.
With the help of ERN and coalition partners, Michigan became the eighth state, and the second swing state, to pass legislation bringing its laws into compliance with the historic Electoral Count Reform Act (ECRA).
This collection of model legislation offers a starting point for state lawmakers and advocates interested in drafting reforms to strengthen elections and democratic institutions. Models feature ethics legislation, qualification thresholds for senior election officials, and a task force study bill.
ERN Executive Director Kevin Johnson speaks with Law360 about the need for impartiality in ballot measure language.
Voters need to know that the election system protects them from rogue behavior. Even modest changes in law and practice could go a long way.
Though implications for the abortion ballot initiative in November have dominated news coverage of August’s Issue 1, the leadership failure atop the state’s election system should not be ignored. Ohio elections need neutral referees just as much as sports do.
“A politicized, partisan secretary of state can completely distort public understanding of a ballot question through their control of the summary language,” says ERN Executive Director Kevin Johnson.
Across the nation, partisan gerrymandering divides our communities and dilutes the power of our vote so those in power can stay in power. But how do we know when gerrymandering has actually occurred?
After almost four hours of rigorous questioning, the Utah Supreme Court today seemed poised to protect Utahns from unlawful partisan gerrymandering and potentially restore the force of the Better Boundaries initiative that Utah voters approved in 2018.
New Mexico's highest court holds that Republican claims can proceed under legal standard proposed by U.S. Supreme Court's liberal justices