Election Law Changes

Wow! It’s been a while since I’ve been here writing, but I’m happy to report that’s because I’ve,been super busy. Things keep chugging along at the County and we keep working away at all

the daily tasks as well as the things that tend to “pop” up. But digress…

It’s official. The 2025 Legislative session is over and the deadline for the governor to sign, not sign, or veto bills has long passed. I’m sure by now you’ve all heard that there were some

changes to election law. I’m going to do some highlighting of the changes, but first and foremost, please know that virtually nothing changes for the voter. The changes are heavy in
administration changes or officially codifying things we were already doing (on the administrative end of things). So, here we go!

If my office receives an Election Day Registration back in the mail due to being undeliverable, we must notify the Secretary of State’s office, the County Attorney, and

Sheriff. ASVP (or Absentee) Boards are now required to convene at 9AM on Election Day. Traditionally, our Board convened about 2PM so this is a definite change for them.

If my office receives a voter registration form on which “non-citizen” is marked, we must automatically mark it as an “incomplete” registration.

Verbiage about citizenship will be added to the Declaration of Eligibility to vote slip. The threshold for recounts has been changed to 1% vote difference or 50 votes, whichever is less.

Recount Boards are now the Auditor, staff, and Precinct Election Officials. In the past, both sides of the election have selected a person and then they select an impartial 3rd party. We can now handle the recounts ourselves.

That’s it. Well, not 100% of it, but those are the highlights. Like I said before, it really doesn’t change anything for the voters. As always, if you have questions about election law or elections
in general, my door is always open! Until next time…