Oct.15

electoral-vote.com

Dem 54

   

GOP 46

In 3 Weeks, 35 States Will Choose Who Runs Their Elections

There is lots of attention to the Senate races, and some attention to House races and a few gubernatorial races. What is flying completely under the radar are the 35 races that will determine (directly or indirectly) who will run state elections in the future. It didn't used to matter who ran elections since the secretaries of state or other officials generally did their jobs in quiet, low-key ways. Now with Republicans trying to rig election rules and voter rolls in many ways and refusing to accept Republican defeats, election administration has become very contentious and it matters a lot who is doing the job.

Here is a map showing which states are (directly or indirectly) choosing a new elections chief in November. In most of the states, the voters elect a secretary of state to run elections. In a few, they will elect a governor or other official who will appoint the election chief:

Actually running the elections is only one part of the job. There are also fault lines on mail-in ballots, sharing data with the feds, early voting, ballot measures and other issues. Secretaries of state in the swing states of Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Georgia and New Hampshire will be tasked with certifying the 2028 presidential election, which could be controversial. Here is a brief rundown of all the states:

• Alabama: SoS Wes Allen wants another term even after pulling out of a multistate project to catch cheaters.
• Alaska: The Lt. Gov. oversees elections and there is an open-seat ranked-choice election for the job.
• Arizona: Adrian Fontes (D) wants a second term; he opposes giving the feds voter data.
• Arkansas: State Sen. Kim Hammer (R), who filed a barrage of lawsuits blocking citizen initiatives, is the favorite.
• California: SoS Shirley Weber wants another term. Voter ID (Prop. 39) is a biggie here.
• Colorado: It is Amanda Gonzalez (D) vs. James Wiley (R). She is for in-person voting in jails for eligible voters.
• Connecticut: SoS Stephanie Thomas (D) wants a 2nd term and has butted heads with Trump over elections.
• Florida: The governor appoints the SoS. The current SoS, Cord Byrd, refuses to say Joe Biden won in 2020.
• Georgia: Penny Reynolds Brown (D) is opposing Tim Fleming (R), who wants to nix most mail-in voting.
• Idaho: Election denier Phil McGrane (R) wants a second term so he can tighten voting rules.
• Illinois: Elections are run by an eight-person bipartisan board appointed by the governor.
• Indiana: Sen. Jim Banks' former staffer Max Engling (R) is running against Beau Bayh (D).
• Iowa: Paul Pate (R) wants a 4th term to keep restricting voter access. He will probably beat Ryan Peterman (D).
• Kansas: Pat Proctor (R), the favorite, wants to ban all early voting and counting of late ballots.
• Maine: The legislature appoints the SoS and current SoS Shenna Bellows (D) is available for another term.
• Maryland: The governor nominates the SoS, who must be confirmed by the state Senate.
• Massachusetts: Bill Galvin (D) is unopposed in his run for a ninth term.
• Michigan: Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist (D) is up against election denier Anthony Forlini (R).
• Minnesota: SoS Steve Simon (D) wants another term. He has refused to share data with the feds.
• Nebraska: SoS Bob Evnen (R) lost his primary to someone even more right-wing, Scott Peterson (R).
• Nevada: SoS Cisco Aguilar (D) is facing Jim Marchant (R), who wants to decimate the voter rolls.
• New Hampshire: The legislature picked David Scanlan (R) in 2024. He supports restricting voting and will keep it up if picked again.
• New Mexico: Amanda López Askin (D) will fight the feds if she beats anti-reformer Ramona Goolsby for the open seat.
• New York: Elections are run by the bipartisan Board of Elections, whose members are appointed by the governor.
• North Dakota: SoS Michael Howe (R) opposes voting rights for Native Americans and will likely get a 2nd term.
• Ohio: Trumpy Robert Sprague (R) wants to combat "fraud;" Allison Russo (D) says Ohio elections are safe.
• Oklahoma: The governor appoints the members of the Board of Elections.
• Pennsylvania: Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) appointed SoS Al Schmidt (R) who opposes Trump, and will probably keep his job if Shapiro wins.
• Rhode Island: SoS Gregg Amore (D) is running unopposed.
• South Carolina: The governor appoints the five-member State Election Commission.
• South Dakota: Election denier SoS Monae Johnson (R) was defeated by an even crazier Republican, Heather Baxter, who will crush Terrence Davis (D).
• Texas: The governor appoints the SoS subject to confirmation by the state Senate.
• Vermont: SoS Sarah Copeland Hanzas (D) faces election denier H. Brooke Paige (R) for the third time.
• Washington D.C.: A three-person board appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the city council runs elections.
• Wisconsin: A six-member bipartisan board appointed by the governor and legislature runs elections.
• Wyoming: Non-Trumpy Robert Short (R), who says there is no fraud, faces Bryan McCarty (D) for the open seat.

As you can see, election administration is much more contentious than it used to be. (V)