Capitol Ideas | 2020 | Issue 4 | Celebrating 100 Years of the 19th Amendment

2020 ISSUE 4

CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF THE 19TH AMENDMENT WOMEN IN OFFICE EMBRACE THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE 19TH HISTORY’S VOTING MILESTONES THE REALITY OF BALLOT DUPLICATION BUILDING BI-PARTISAN ELECTION CONFIDENCE

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CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF THE 19TH AMENDMENT

ISSUE 4 / 2020

ON THE COVER The recreation of a U.S. postage stamp from 1998 that celebrates the 19th Amendment and women's right to vote.

6 10 14 STAY CONNECTED

V OT I N G M I L E S TO N E S While the 19th Amendment granted voting rights to many women, citizens

across the country — both male and female and from many different races — were still denied access to cast their ballots. Learn more about historic milestones in voting rights that followed the 19th.

I N T H E I R W O R D S In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, 19 glassceiling-shattering women serving in state legislatures across the country share their experiences, their memories and the significance of casting ballots in 2020 and beyond.

B A L LOT D U P L I C AT I O N E X P L A I N E D The process of transcribing unreadable ballots can seem mysterious or even nefarious to those not involved in the day-to-day intricacies of state and local election administration. In a year that is paving the way for the future of mail-in voting, learn more about the security of this process.

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ISSUE 4 2020 | CAPITOL IDEAS

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T H E H I S TO R Y O F T H E 1 9 T H After nearly a century of protests for women’s suffrage, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution resulted in voting rights for some, but not all. Led by trailblazers including Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sojourner Truth and more, ratification began the fight for voting rights for all.

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HONORING THE 19 TH AMENDMENT / ISSUE 4 / 2020

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Casting with

Confidence

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ISSUE 4 2020 | CAPITOL IDEAS

F E AT U R E S

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WHAT’S HAPPENING AT CSG

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THEY TWEETED IT

32 REGIONAL ROUNDUP | east 33 REGIONAL ROUNDUP | midwest 34 REGIONAL ROUNDUP | south 35 REGIONAL ROUNDUP | west

6 The History of the 19th Amendment The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution resulted in voting rights for some, but not all. Led by trailblazers including Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sojourner Truth and more, this began the fight for voting rights for all.

10 Voting Milestones After

the 19th While the 19th Amendment granted voting rights to many women, citizens across the country — both male and female and from many different races — were still denied access to cast their ballots. Learn more about historic milestones in voting rights that followed the 19th.

14 Votes for Women:

Legislators Share Their Stories In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, 19 glass-ceiling-shattering women serving in state legislatures across the country share their experiences, their memories and the significance of casting ballots in 2020 and beyond.

26 Explaining Ballot

Duplication Processes The process of transcribing unreadable ballots can seem mysterious or even nefarious to those not involved in the day-to-day intricacies of state and local election administration. In a year that is paving the way for the future of mail-in voting, learn more about the security of this process.

30 Casting Your Vote with

Confidence As Election Day approached, COVID19 sharpened focus on those who fill another essential role — poll workers. Learn more about how poll worker shortage is addressed and how election officials are building assurance in voting processes across the country.

36 Final Facts: Female Firsts In honor of the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, check out some of the most important female firsts throughout history.

contributing CASANDRA HOCKEBERRY writers Senior Policy Analyst

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CAPITOL IDEAS, ISSN 2152-8489, ISSUE 4, Vol. 67, No. 1 – Published by The Council of State Governments, 1776 Avenue of the States, Lexington, KY 40511-8536. Opinions expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Council of State Governments nor the views of the editorial staff. Readers’ comments are welcome. Subscription rates: in the U.S., $42 per year. Single issues are available at $7 per copy. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Capitol Ideas, Sales Department, The Council of State Governments, 1776 Avenue of the States, Lexington, KY 40511-8536.

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Rep. Joan Ballweg

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ISSUE 4 2020 | CAPITOL IDEAS

Gov. Laura Kelly

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What’s Happening at CSG

WHAT’S

HAPPENING AT CSG

Save the Date for the CSG National Conference Reimagined As a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic, The Council of State Governments (CSG) cancelled its in-person national conference in 2020. In its place, CSG will host daily virtual programming from Monday, Oct. 26 through Friday, Dec. 18. Special online sessions will include topics on Medicaid, the impact of federal elections on state government and youth with disabilities transitioning to the workplace, as well as policy academies on sustainability and cybersecurity. Visit our national conference website for a full agenda and links to register: web.csg.org/2020.

New Resources Help Policymakers Create Successful Programs for Youth with Disabilities CSG National Task Forces Finalize Recommendations Two national task forces established by The Council of State Governments (CSG) in 2018 will release their findings in December. The CSG Future of Work National Task Force, chaired by Kansas state Sen. Carolyn McGinn and Colorado state Sen. Nancy Todd, and the CSG Healthy States National Task Force, chaired by Delaware state Sen. Bryan Townsend and Tennessee state Sen. Bo Watson, met virtually over the summer for the final time to conclude discussions and begin to finalize the findings of the eight subcommittees — four on each task force. The task forces’ recommendations to the states will be published in two reports and distributed at the end of 2020. To learn more about national task forces, visit csg.org.

ISSUE 4 2020 | CAPITOL IDEAS

Legislative Leaders Attend Virtual Medicaid Policy Academy

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CSG convened its Medicaid Leadership Academy for state legislators who serve in leadership positions on health-related committees virtually on Sept. 23-25. The program, designed for legislators who are familiar with the basics of Medicaid policy and are interested in examining more complex issues, featured expert speakers on the topics of the impact of COVID-19 on state Medicaid programs, flexibility with 1115 waivers, the race for a COVID-19 vaccine and the emerging issue of maternal health. More than 40 attendees interacted with peers from around the country as well as presenters from state Medicaid programs, federal agencies, public policy think tanks and health care provider communities. To learn more about CSG virtual programming, visit web. csg.org/forum.

The Council of State Governments launched several online resources for The Center for Advancing Policy on Employment for Youth (CAPE-Youth), a program in partnership with the K. Lisa Yang and Hock E. Tan Institute on Employment Disability at Cornell University and the Transitions to Adult Center for Research at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. This center works to improve employment outcomes for youth and young adults with disabilities by helping states build capacity in state youth service delivery and workforce systems. These new online resources, including its Guideposts for Success, provide legislators, policymakers and administrators with practical outlines and solutions to ensure access and opportunity for young people with disabilities who are transitioning from school to employment. To access these resources, visit capeyouth.org.

Fail-Safe Task Force Issues Recommendations for Counting Votes from Overseas U.S. Citizens As cases of COVID-19 continued to climb across the country, states had to find alternative ways for voters to cast ballots in elections throughout the year. There were more than 3 million Americans living abroad in 2016, and only about 7% of them voted in the federal election. In an effort to help eliminate barriers to voting, the CSG Overseas Voting Initiative assembled a working group in 2020 to address increasing global mail disruptions and the impact these would have on American citizens living and working abroad as they cast ballots in November. Comprised of 27 state and local election officials from across the nation, this working group compiled a list of available options for states to examine as a fail-safe for overseas voters in order to help prevent potential disenfranchisement. View the recommendations at ovi.csg.org/failsaferecommendations.

They Tweeted It

THEY T WEETED IT Rep. Brigid Kelly @brigidekelly • Jun 25 @CSGovts does great work bringing legislators from across the country (and the political spectrum) together to talk about finding policy suggestions and solutions that can work for everyone.

Rep. Dan Miller @RepDanMiller • Aug 13 Talking state policy to improve hiring people with disabilities with @CSGovts right now! #ADA30

BRANDON REED @BrandonReed4KY • July 29 In Celebrating 30 Years of the Americans with Disabilities Act, I'm humbled 2 be selected by the @CSGovts 30 Leaders Impacting Disability Policy. Opening the door 4 Access and Independence is crucial. Facilitation & Building Relationships is the Key! @KYHouseGOP #ADA30 Speaker Pat Grassley @PatGrassley • Jun 19 Honored to be profiled in last month’s edition of @ CSGovts Stateline Midwest, talking about the Legislature, COVID-19, and Iowa’s road to economic recovery. #ialegis

Rep. Jason Dunnington @jdunnington • Sept 22 Fun to see my friend and @AspenInstitute Rodel Fellow classmate @cyrushabib on the cover of this month’s @CSGovts Capitol Ideas publication. He is an incredible public servant!

Sen. Matt Hansen @ MattHansenNE • Jun 23 Thanks to the staff of @CSGovts for a great virtual meeting!

I'm glad to be a part of the #CSGFutureOfWork taskforce.

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Senator Bo Watson @SenBoWatson • Aug 27 Honored to Co-Chair this National Task Force @CSGovts with my friend, @BryanTownsendDE, @tnsenate @TNGOP @hcgoptn @ecfite @TNDeptofHealth

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Celebrating 100 Years of the 19th Amendment

A Revolution

Nearly a century of protest for suffrage results in voting rights for some, but not all, women

ISSUE 4 2020 | CAPITOL IDEAS

by Blair Hess

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“The true republic: men, their rights, and nothing more; women, their rights, and nothing less.”

rights. When progress on the federal amendment stalled, the states began ratifying state suffrage.

Susan B. Anthony’s suffrage paper, The Revolution, proudly displayed these words across its masthead in 1868, 52 years before — some, but not all — women would gain the right to vote in the U.S. On Nov. 5, 1872, Anthony and her three sisters managed to vote in Rochester, New York, alongside about 15 other women. Two weeks later, she was arrested by a federal officer for doing so.

Wisconsin was the first state to vote in favor of ratifying the 19th Amendment, something Wisconsin state Rep. Joan Ballweg is proud of.

“When I was young, my mother always took me along when she went to vote,” said Ballweg, who is serving as national chair of CSG through 2021.

“She would point out which levers I should pull.”

After nearly a century of protest, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted American women the right to vote on Aug. 18, 1920. And while not all women were granted the right to vote with this amendment, it did open doors to future legislation that would impact women — daughters like Ballweg pulling levers in voting booths for their mothers — for another century to come.

By that point, women had been campaigning to get the vote for decades, rallying to improve women’s rights within marriage and calling for universal suffrage. In 1848, the movement for women’s rights launched on a national level with the Seneca Falls Convention in Seneca Falls, New York, organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. Following the convention, the demand for the vote became a centerpiece of the women’s rights movement.

Women’s Suffrage

By the 1870s, women pressured Congress to vote on an amendment — sometimes known as the Susan B. Anthony Amendment, and later officially the 19th Amendment — that would recognize their suffrage

In America’s early years, women were denied many rights enjoyed by male citizens. In addition to not being permitted to vote, women could not own property and didn’t have legal claim to any money they earned.

The History of the 19th Amendment

The campaign for women’s suffrage began in small numbers decades before the Civil War and launched on the national stage in 1848 when reformers Stanton and Mott organized the first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls to an audience of more than 300 women and men.

Stanton and other delegates drafted a “Declaration of Sentiments” document, which was modeled after the Declaration of Independence and outlined the belief that men and women were created equal and women should have the right to vote.

e hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

— From The Declaration of Sentiments, drafted by a group of delegates led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton modeled after the U.S. Declaration of Independence

When the Civil War began in 1861, the suffrage movement lost some of its momentum and many women shifted their focus to helping their country through the conflict.

At the conclusion of the war, the country passed the 15th Amendment granting — on paper — the right to vote to black men. Stanton and some other suffrage leaders objected to this amendment because it failed to extend voting rights to American women of any skin color. But the passage of this amendment made Stanton — joined by Anthony to form the National Woman Suffrage Association — to set her sights on a federal constitutional amendment that would grant women the right to vote.

Progress in the States There was a victory for voting rights in 1869 when the Wyoming Territory granted all female residents 21 and older the right to vote. This victory helped steer the suffrage movement toward the states after the constitutional amendment proposal was defeated in the U.S. Senate in 1886.

The National American Women’s Suffrage Association lobbied for women’s voting rights in the states, and within six years, Colorado, Utah and

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“W

Facing Setbacks

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Celebrating 100 Years of the 19th Amendment Idaho adopted amendments — versions similar but not identical to the 19th Amendment — to their state constitutions granting women the right to vote. Between 1910 and 1918, the Alaska Territory, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota and Washington all extended voting rights to women.

(Some) Women Get the Right to Vote On May 21, 1919, U.S. Rep. James R. Mann proposed the House resolution to approve the Susan B. Anthony Amendment granting women the right to vote, and it passed the House 42 votes above the required majority.

Two weeks later, the U.S. Senate passed the 19th Amendment by two votes over its two-thirds required majority, and the amendment was sent to the states for ratification.

Within six days, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin had ratified the amendment. Kansas, New York and Ohio followed shortly. By March 1920, 35 states had approved the amendment, but it was one state shy of the three-fourths majority required for ratification.

Strongly opposed in the southern states, Tennessee tipped the scale with 23-year-old Rep. Harry T. Burn casting the deciding vote.

On Nov. 2, 1920, more than 8 million women across the U.S. voted in elections for the first time.

But that wasn’t the end. It took more than 60 years for the remaining 12 states to ratify the 19th Amendment. Mississippi was the last state to do so in 1984.

Women in Office Women could run for public office before they could vote in the U.S., and many women — particularly minority females — still struggle with modern voting issues including voter ID requirements, lack of language

access, polling location closures and consolidations, ballot requirements and redistricting. But women have come a long way since the fight for suffrage.

In 2019, women held 2,132 seats in state legislatures including 508 of 1,972 state senate seats and 1,624 of the 5,411 state house seats.

Since 1971, the number of women serving in state legislatures has more than quintupled. There are nine female governors and 15 lieutenant governors.

For Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, the state’s third female governor, it is important that women continue to bring their skills and expertise to public service.

“I

’d encourage women to think less of what they want to ‘be’ and more on what they want to ‘do.’ Public service should be the reason anyone runs for office — man or woman,” said Kelly, who is serving as the 2020 CSG national president. “I’d also encourage women to think strategically about what skills and expertise they bring to the table and how they enhance their qualifications for whatever elected position they seek — and to not be shy about it. Finally, I’d encourage women to be both thoughtful and fearless. There’s nothing easy about public service, but if people understand that you’ve put serious thought into an issue or problem, they are more apt to come along with you — even if they may not fully agree.”

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A TIMELINE OF SUFFRAGE

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1840

1850

1868

Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton are barred from attending the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London, England. This inspires them to hold a women’s convention in the U.S.

The National Women’s Rights Convention is held in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Parker Pillsbury publish the first edition of The Revolution. The 14th Amendment is ratified with “citizens” and “voters” defined exclusively as male.

1848

1866

The first Women’s Rights Convention is held in Seneca Falls, New York.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton drafts “The Declaration of Sentiments.”

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony form the American Equal Rights Association, an organization dedicated to the goal of suffrage for all regardless of gender or race.

The History of the 19th Amendment

NAMES TO KNOW

Along with other conservative reformers, Lucy Stone (1818-1893) broke ranks with the women’s rights movement in 1869 to form the American Woman Suffrage Association in protest of the more progressive approach championed by Stanton and Cade. Stone founded the Woman’s Journal and chaired the executive board of NAWSA after the rival groups reunited in 1890.

Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) helped lay a foundation for the

19th Amendment. In 1869, she founded the National Woman Suffrage Association with fellow movement leader Elizabeth Cady Stanton, serving as the organization’s primary leader. In 1890, multiple suffrage associations merged to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). Anthony served as president of NAWSA from 1892-1900. She died in 1906, 14 years before the ratification of the 19th Amendment.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) led the first organized

demand for women’s suffrage in 1848. As a young woman, her study of law — particularly laws that discriminate against women — led her to devote her life to the pursuit of equal rights. She presented her Declaration of Sentiments, modeled on the Declaration of Independence, during the Seneca Falls convention in 1848 and served as the first president of NAWSA from 1890-1902.

Lucretia Mott (1793-1880) began lecturing on religious and social reform issues in 1820. Along with Stanton, she organized the 1848 Seneca Falls convention. She served as president of the American Equal Rights Association in 1866, wrote prolifically and remained active in reform causes until her death.

The foremost leader of the abolition movement, Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) was also an outspoken supporter of women’s

suffrage. Born into slavery, Douglass wrote his now-classic autobiography, founded a newspaper, advised President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War and achieved high-level appointments in U.S. government. Along with Stanton, Anthony and Lucy Stone, he was a co-founder of the American Equal Rights Association and was one of only 32 men to sign the 1848 Declaration of Sentiments.

Throughout his marriage to Lucy Stone, Henry Browne Blackwell (1825-1909) played a supporting role in key events of the women’s suffrage movement, including the founding of the American Woman Suffrage Association.

Sojourner Truth (c. 1797-1883) was an evangelist and social reformer. Enslaved from birth until 1827, Sojourner Truth spoke for the abolition movement beginning in 1843, and in 1850, she became the first black woman to speak at a women’s rights convention (the first National Women’s Rights Convention in Worcester, Massachusetts).

Having lost her property following the death of her husband, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911) was keenly aware of social and legal discrimination against women. A novelist and poet, Harper spoke at the 11th National Women’s Rights Conference, was a director of the American Association of Education of Colored Youth, helped found the National Association of Colored Women and was elected a vice president of that organization 1897.

Born a slave in Holly Springs, Mississippi, in 1862, Ida B. Wells was a prolific investigative journalist and suffragist who campaigned tirelessly for anti-lynching legislation. Her activism began in 1884 when she refused to give up her train car seat, and she later took part in the first suffragist parade in Washington, D.C., in 1913.

1869

1878

1919

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony found the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), a more radical institution, to achieve the vote through a Constitutional amendment as well as push for other woman’s rights issues.

Lucy Stone, Henry Blackwell, Julia Ward Howe and other more conservative activists form the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) to work for woman suffrage through amending individual state constitutions.

A Woman Suffrage Amendment is proposed in the U.S. Congress.

When the 19th Amendment passes 41 years later, it is worded exactly the same as this 1878 Amendment.

The Senate finally passes the 19th Amendment and the ratification process begins.

1872

1920

The 15th Amendment gives Black men the right to vote.

Susan B. Anthony casts her ballot for Ulysses S. Grant in the presidential election and is arrested and brought to trial in Rochester, New York. Fifteen other women are arrested for illegally voting. Sojourner Truth appears at a polling booth in Battle Creek, Michigan, demanding a ballot to vote; she is turned away.

Three quarters of the state legislatures ratify the 19th Amendment.

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1870

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Celebrating 100 Years of the 19th Amendment

A F T E R T H E

The ratification of the 19th Amendment was just one step in the battle for voting rights

by Joel Sams

effectiveness. Literacy tests were not finally abolished in the South until the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

“The colored women of the South will be shamefully treated, and will not be allowed to vote, I am sure …” wrote Mary Church Terrell in a 1920 letter. “We are so helpless without the right of citizenship in that section of the country where we need it most.”

Other groups remained disenfranchised, as well. “The Women’s Suffrage Movement,” a collection of contemporary texts edited by Sally Roesch Wagner, notes that Native Americans were not universally recognized as U.S. citizens until 1924. Chinese Americans were not recognized as citizens until the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1943, which had prohibited all immigration of Chinese laborers and barred Chinese men and women from citizenship since 1882. Originally written to take effect for 10 years, the act was renewed twice — permanently so in 1902. A similar trajectory followed for Filipino Americans and Japanese Americans, Roesch writes, who waited for citizenship until 1946 and 1952.

Less than two months after the ratification of the 19th Amendment, Terrell — a prominent Black activist, journalist and teacher — had been arrested in Delaware for “disorderly conduct” by a train ticket agent. Her offense was asking a question about a Black organizer for the Republican Party.

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The story is recounted in “Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote,” a publication accompanying the Library of Congress exhibit by the same name. Terrell’s experience summarizes the political reality in October 1920. The battle for suffrage was over, but the war for voting rights had just begun.

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“While it is important to create these historical benchmarks and to celebrate these anniversaries, we always have to think about what we have gained, at what costs, for whom, and what unfinished agenda remains,” said Dr. Estelle Freedman, the Edgar E. Robinson Professor in U.S. History at Stanford University, in an interview on the university website. “What strengths of the movement can we adopt? What flaws do we want to avoid?”

Terrell’s fears of voter suppression were prescient. Following Reconstruction, many Southern states had already adopted tactics like literacy tests and poll taxes to deter Black voters. While the 19th Amendment stated that the right to vote could not be denied or abridged on account of sex, the Southern apparatus of voter disenfranchisement remained in place and was deployed against Black women with equally devastating

In addition to blatant voter restriction efforts at the ballot box, the suffrage movement faced lingering ideological resistance. Women’s voter participation remained disproportionately low for decades following the passage of the 19th Amendment, even among white women not affected by racist disenfranchisement efforts. The authors of “Shall Not Be Denied” cite a study of the 1923 Chicago mayoral election, which found that low voter participation among women was due to a variety of reasons including “indifference, opposition to woman suffrage, and the objections of their husbands.” The authors note that women did not vote in equal proportion to men until 1980.

The promise of universal suffrage was not meaningfully realized for many until a century after the end of the Civil War, with the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA). In “Give Us the Ballot,” a book exploring modern voting rights, journalist Ari Berman details the impact of the VRA: “It suspended literacy tests across the South, authorized the U.S. attorney general to file lawsuits challenging the poll tax, replaced recalcitrant

Voting Milestones After the 19th

Nine African-American women posed, standing, full length, with Nannie Burroughs holding banner reading, "Banner State Woman's National Baptist Convention. Photo courtesy of Library of Congress

registrars with federal examiners, dispatched federal observers to monitor elections, forced states with the worst histories of voting discrimination to clear electoral changes with the federal government to prevent future discrimination, and laid the foundation for generations of minority elected officials.”

The colored women of the South will be shamefully treated, and will not be allowed to vote, I am sure … We are so helpless without the right of citizenship in that section of the country where we need it most.”

— Mary Church Terrell, 1920

This bipartisan piece of legislation was catalyzed, Berman writes, by the footage of police brutality against Civil Rights protestors in Selma, Alabama. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had called for the march on Selma to protest the killing of Jimmie Lee Jackson, who was shot by the police during a protest for voting rights. Jackson had made five unsuccessful attempts to register to vote in his county.

A mere eight days after images of violence shocked and outraged the nation, President Lyndon B. Johnson introduced the VRA. Berman relates the President’s words: “It is wrong — deadly wrong — to deny any of your fellow Americans the right to vote in this country.”

The VRA likewise removed obstacles that remained for people with disabilities. The law requires election officials to allow assistance for a person with a physical disability, and “prohibits conditioning the right to vote on a citizen being able to read or write, attaining a particular level of education, or passing an interpretation ‘test,’" according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

In 1971, the 26th Amendment further expanded the right to vote by lowering the voting age to 18. Long discussed, the idea was included

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The results of the VRA were seismic, particularly in the South. According to Berman, registered Black voters in the South increased from 31% in 1965 to 73% in following decades, and “Black elected officials increased from fewer than 500 to 10,500 nationwide; the number of Black members of Congress increased from 5 to 44.”

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Celebrating 100 Years of the 19th Amendment

Important Voting Milestones Following the

19th Amendment

1961 | 23

AMENDMENT

1964 | 24

AMENDMENT

RD

Citizens of Washington, D.C., gained the right to vote for the U.S. President. Still today, Washington, D.C., is not represented in Congress.

TH

This guaranteed that the right to vote in federal elections could not be denied to a citizen because of a failure to pay any tax.

1965 | VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965

This landmark legislation prohibited racial discrimination in voting, enforcing voting rights guaranteed by the 14th and 15th amendments and securing the right to vote for racial minorities including Black and Native American voters.

1971 | 26

TH

AMENDMENT

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This amendment to the Constitution lowered the voting age to 18.

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Signing of the Voting Rights Act. President Lyndon B. Johnson moves to shake hands with Dr. Martin Luther King while others look on.

Photo courtesy of LBJ Library, Yoichi Okamoto

1990 | AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT While the National Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibited literacy tests as a requirement for voters, the ADA further protected the voting rights of individuals with disabilities.

2002 | HELP AMERICA VOTE ACT

This voting reform effort requires states to comply with a federal mandate for provisional ballots, disability access, centralized and computerized voting lists, electronic voting and the requirement that first-time voters present identification before voting.

MILITARY AND OVERSEAS 2009 | EMPOWERMENT ACT

This act established more efficient means for troops stationed overseas to request and receive absentee ballots through the mail or electronically.

Voting Milestones After the 19th in the 1970 Congressional re-authorization of the VRA. Following a Supreme Court challenge, Congress proposed the 26th Amendment, which the states ratified in less than four months — the quickest ratification in history, according to the National Constitution Center.

The expansion of voting rights may not be a direct result of the enfranchisement of women in the 19th Amendment. But the premise — and the promise — of the 19th Amendment was equality, and in that fight, women have always been at the fore.

People with disabilities gained further voting access through the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990 and the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) in 2002. According to the American Bar Association, the ADA requires accessible locations for voter registration and polling, effective communication (including services like sign language interpretation and alternative material formats) and reasonable modification to accommodate individual needs. HAVA further requires jurisdictions responsible for federal elections to “provide at least one accessible voting system for persons with disabilities at each polling place in federal elections,” according to the Department of Justice.

The suffrage movement was far from perfect, but it prepared the way for change, and it contained the seeds of greater things. For Freedman, the Stanford historian, the enduring lessons of the 19th Amendment are alliance, compassion and cooperation.

“I think that one of the things we’ve learned over the decades is the importance of alliance, of being wary of single-issue causes,” Freedman said. “We need to keep our vision broad. What do the rights we seek at any given moment mean for people who are different from us? How can we support the rights that others seek and find the overlapping links between them?”

Restoration of Voting Rights After Felony Convictions It is common practice in the U.S. to suspend — often permanently — voting rights for citizens convicted of a felony. Over the past few decades, many states have begun leaning toward reinstating the right to vote of these felons at some point, though the policies vary by state.

Source: The Book of the States 2020, The Council of State Governments

Voting rights are restored after completion of sentence, including prison, parole and probation.

Restoration of voting rights is dependent upon the type of conviction and/or the results of an individual petition to the state government.

Voting rights are restored after release from prison.

* A 2016 executive order restored the right to vote to all felons in Virginia, regardless of their charge, who had completed their term of incarceration and their term of probation or parole.

Voting rights are not revoked.

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Permanent disenfranchisement for all offenders; states may allow felons to apply, on an individual basis, for an exemption that will restore their voting rights.

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Celebrating 100 Years of the 19th Amendment

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VOT E S F OR WOM E N

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“There will never be a new world order until women are a part of it,” said Alice Paul, suffragist, women’s rights activist and author of the original Equal Rights Amendment. Paul devoted her life to advocating for women’s suffrage and equal rights for women. She was the main architect behind the 1910s campaign to ratify the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which decreed that no citizen could be denied the right to vote based on sex. When it became law on Aug. 26, 1920, some 27 million women became eligible to vote, the largest increase in potential voters in American history. However, this tremendous victory was incomplete. Because of restrictive state and federal laws including poll taxes, literacy tests and ethnic barriers to citizenship, many nonwhite women including African Americans, Native Americans, Latinas and Asian Americans, still could not cast a ballot.

We have come a long way in 100 years and have a long way to go still.

Today, it is more important than ever that women exercise their hardearned right to vote. New challenges lead to disenfranchisement and even those who have the right to vote are often prevented from exercising it. In celebration of the centennial anniversary of the 19th Amendment in 2020, CSG asked some of its female members to reflect on this legislation and the doors that it opened — or didn’t open — for their current careers. As we celebrate the anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, these glass-ceiling-shattering members remember all those who cannot vote in addition to those who can.

Words from Our (Female) Members

PA R K CANNON

DEBBIE A R M ST R O N G

In 2008, during the first election that I wanted to vote in, I had to be creative because of my age. At 17 years old, I was a young and publicly politicized African-American woman, but I needed to be 18 to cast a ballot. I created a dance piece entitled “Yes We Can,” and performed it in front of my school. This motivated students, faculty and families to stand in line for hours and encouraged me to vote as soon as I enrolled in college. Luckily, the Southern university at which I was an undergraduate student had same-day voter registration and the permissibility of college identification for voting. It was a learning experience for me to realize that North Carolina voting laws differed from Georgia voting laws and motivated me to become more politically engaged in my home state.

When I graduated college, I ran for office in Georgia and marched to cast my ballot beside the late Congressman John Lewis. I became the first openly queer legislator in the U.S., and to date, I am the youngest female elected official in the state of Georgia.

Fifty years ago, I voted in my first election. The Vietnam War was raging. Women were fighting for equality. Civil Rights victories had been won, but there was more to do. I couldn’t wait to cast my ballot. I knew that my vote mattered. And I knew that my grandmothers hadn’t been able to vote for most of their lives — and that Black women, Indigenous women and women of color faced (and face today) barriers to voting.

State Representative | Georgia

“I became the first openly queer legislator in the U.S., and to date, I am the youngest female elected official in the state of Georgia.”

State Representative | New Mexico

My candidates didn’t win every race that year, and we didn’t make all the changes that I’d hoped for. But our voices were heard.

The same was true with women’s suffrage. The 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote, but it didn’t change everything.

For decades, Black and Brown women faced poll taxes and other barriers to the ballot box; Indigenous women didn’t get the right to vote in every state until 1962.

One hundred years later, we continue the fight to ensure all women — not just affluent white women — can vote. Voter ID laws, voter-roll purges and limited access to online voter registration continue to disproportionately disenfranchise Black, Brown, Indigenous and poor women.

“One hundred years later, we continue the fight to ensure all women—not just affluent white women—can vote.”

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Today, I serve in the New Mexico Legislature. I have three grown children and a granddaughter. A lot has changed since I cast my first ballot. But still every time that my mother, my daughters and I cast our ballots we vote to ensure it doesn’t take another 100 years for all voices to be heard.

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Celebrating 100 Years of the 19th Amendment

HO L L I SU L L I VA N State Representative | Indiana

Women were barred from making their voices heard when choosing local, state and national leaders until the 19th Amendment was ratified nearly 100 years ago, securing women’s right to vote.

This historic anniversary is a great opportunity to reflect on the legacy of the suffrage movement and renew advocacy efforts for more equal representation in our government and society.

As we honor those who came before us, we must remember that those

who fought for this right never cast a ballot of their own or held an elected office. The dedicated women who worked tirelessly for our right to vote entrusted us with great responsibility — to speak up, lead and participate.

As we celebrate and honor the women’s suffrage movement during its centennial anniversary, we should also reflect on the progress women have made in the workforce, earning positions of power and breaking down gender barriers. Work still remains. As a public servant, an engineer, a business owner and president of the POWER Caucus, a group dedicated to empowering women, I remain committed to supporting others and helping to raise our collective voices.

History shows the best way to tackle problems is by working together.

When women come together, we can meet any challenge and have a positive impact on our state, country and world.

L AU R A F I N E

Senator, Majority Caucus Whip | Illinois

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Growing up, I was very close to my grandmother. Nana Betty was an example of, “never judge a book by its cover.” A sweet, kind woman, she was also fierce and driven by her convictions. Born in Chicago in 1911 to Russian immigrants, Nana experienced many struggles. These challenges molded her, but never defeated her. Betty lost her father as a teenager, worked to help support her family, married my grandfather and then lost everything in the Great Depression.

Through it all, Nana set an example for future generations of women in our family.

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She lived in a time when women were the backbone of family and community but didn’t have a voice. Nana remembered the struggle of women fighting for the right to vote and instilled its importance on others. As a result, in her 96 years, she never missed an

election. She would vote with pride, knowing she was shaping the future with her ballot.

Her persistence paved the way for upcoming generations of women in our family. She watched her daughter graduate college, get married, become a teacher, put her husband through law school only to be forced to leave her job when she became pregnant with my sister. Nana’s drive lived on through my mother.

She taught her daughters what she learned from her mom: be kind, treat everyone with dignity and respect, be fierce, stand up for your beliefs and vote — it is your voice and responsibility to past and future generations.

Words from Our (Female) Members

C AT H Y G I E S SE L Senate President | Alaska

As leaders are chosen this November, women’s voices must be heard.

Leadership requires humility. That means listening to others, not just to one’s self or one’s friends. It requires the courage to accept criticism, even when harsh, cutting and vulgar. And while accepting that criticism, leaders must keep their eyes on the goal of the best outcome for the people.

themselves. The issues that women care about are the same issues that create social stability: solid educational opportunities, access to good health care and a spectrum of meaningful work.

Voting in elections, a right that was hard-fought by those who came before us, gives women the opportunity to have a hand in history. We write the future for our families, friends and communities when we vote.

Women, more than 100 years ago, understood the impact of women’s voices and leadership. They had the courage to take those steps that drew harsh, cutting and vulgar criticism. Their decisions made their chests hurt and their stomachs churn. And they did the right thing, for the right reasons, for you and me today.

Women, vote like your future depends on it. It does.

Being a leader means having to make decisions that make your chest hurt and stomach churn. You know you could be making a mistake, but you’ve invested in the work of listening to all sides. This kind of leadership is what women are equipped to recognize in others and to offer

J OA N B. L OV E LY Senator, Assistant Majority Leader | Massachusetts

The passage of the 19th Amendment flung open the doors to greater political participation for women, but it was not the beginning, and is not the end, to the fight for political equality.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has a strong tradition of female politicians. As early as 1868, women in the commonwealth won election to local school committees — more than 10 years before they earned the right to vote for those school committees in 1879 and more than 40 years before the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920.

“We must continue to ensure that our legislatures reflect our electorate, which means electing more women and more women and men of color.”

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In the last 100 years, we have seen a greater shift in not only legislators in our state houses and on Capitol Hill, but a shift in our legislative priorities as well. In Massachusetts, I was proud to champion the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which became law in 2017. Since then, we have passed paid family medical leave and a sweeping pay equity bill. And in 2018, I had the pleasure of witnessing the first ever transfer of the presidency of the Massachusetts State Senate from one woman to another.

When women step up and lead, when they take their seat at the table, the laws passed are those that seek to benefit all. As far as we’ve come, there is still much more work to do.

We must continue to ensure that our legislatures reflect our electorate, which means electing more women and more women and men of color. We also must seek to pass laws that are just and equitable for all. The 19th Amendment paved the road for women to vote, but we must now ensure that it is wide enough for equal access and participation for all.

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Celebrating 100 Years of the 19th Amendment

D O N NA BU L L O C K State Representative | Pennsylvania

Last year, Pennsylvania celebrated its 100th anniversary of its ratification of the women’s right to vote. The night before, at a rally on the Capitol steps, the nine Black women legislators texted each other: “Should we wear white? How do we share in a celebration of a victory that didn’t include us?”

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As woman across our nation wear Suffrage White for the centennial celebration of the 19th Amendment, women of color once again find themselves caught in the cross streets of race and gender. Let’s be clear: white women gained the right to vote 100 years ago, Black women did not. They didn’t gain that right for another 50 years. Today, however, Black women are the most reliable voters in this country. We vote every time — in record numbers. Black women voters have carried elections and have championed policy. We have staffed political campaigns and civil rights movements. We are often seen as the moral conscience of our country. So, as we stand in solidarity and in spirit in our Suffrage White, let’s not forget the power of Black women voters. And as Black women ask legislators and public officials to make difficult decisions to move our country forward, to keep their children safe from gun violence and police brutality, and to address growing health and economic disparities, let’s stand with Black women.

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“Let’s be clear: white women gained the right to vote 100 years ago, Black women did not. They didn’t gain that right for another 50 years. Today, however, Black women are the most reliable voters in this country.”

Words from Our (Female) Members

B R IG I D K E L LY State Representative | Ohio

We are still fighting for equality — and equity — in many ways, but the ballot box is one place we are all equal. We, as women, need to get out to vote so we have a voice at decision making tables, in policy and in statehouses across the country.

E R I N T. H E N N E S SEY State Representative | New Hampshire

In 2019, New Hampshire celebrated the 200th anniversary of its State House. Sitting in Representatives’ Hall during the celebration, I tried to imagine how the 400 representatives of 1819 would react to the New Hampshire House of 2019.

Would those 400 men be surprised to see that female legislators now occupy one third of the seats? I’m sure.

Thanks to the hard work of the suffragists and their supporters, women in New Hampshire have had the right to vote and run for office since 1919. So, as a representative in 2020, I’m also surprised at the make-up of the New Hampshire House — I’m surprised women hold only one third of the seats.

NA N C Y T O D D Senate President Pro Tempore | Colorado

ourselves with truth and facts is essential for all women as we cast our ballot in our individual states. I am proud to be an American, living in a country where there is choice, opportunity and protection by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution to express my opinions.

Additionally, I also urge all voters to read and listen to the views of all candidates and ballot measures to determine what is true, who is supportive and to resolve the answer to, “will it make us a stronger nation for all?”

Women make decisions every day for our families, our workplace and our communities. We have the responsibility to ask the tough questions and lead with our voices, our votes and with our service as volunteers or elected officials in the 2020 election. Women will continue to make the difference in the outcome for the future of our nation!

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With the upcoming 2020 election, I note the importance of looking back to look forward. Acknowledging the historical relevance of the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment for women’s right to vote is evidence of where we began. I’m proud that Colorado granted women the right to vote in 1893, but it was not inclusive for all women at that time. It took our nation until 1965 for all people to gain that same right to vote due to the sacrifice and determination of many. Informing

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Celebrating 100 Years of the 19th Amendment

E L A I N E B OW E R S Senator, Majority Caucus Whip | Kansas

I was intrigued as a little girl in my small north central town of Delphos, Kansas, by a monument in the city square dedicated to Grace Bedell Billings, known to people in Kansas as “Lincoln’s Little Girl.”

Grace Bedell was an 11-yearold girl who in October 1860 wrote to President Abraham Lincoln asking him to grow whiskers, “All the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husbands to vote for you and then you would be President,” she wrote.

She also commented she could get all four of her brothers to vote for him as well. Her life-size letter to him and his back to her are engraved in bronze on the monument in the city square, and I used to follow the cursive writing with my fingers when I visited. I am still amazed that she wrote to him — and amazed he wrote back — with her idea to convince men to vote for him by improving his appearance. A novel thought, but a sad one too, of women convincing men to vote because they could not. However, it was an important lesson to me as a representative for my part of the state — constituent service, regardless of level of government, is very important and has an impact if we take time to listen and respond as President Lincoln did. As women today, we do not need to convince men to vote on our behalf. We can do this ourselves with the 19th Amendment — women’s right to vote.

R E NA M O R A N State Representative | Minnesota

The 19th Amendment opened doors for female participation in politics, and while we still have a long way to go, suffrage activists led the way for women to be seen and heard! The activism of women protesting at a time when it was unusual for women to even gather in public was a statement in itself.

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The women’s suffrage movement created a process where African American women decided they too wanted their voices to be heard and in part created a greater emphasis on equal rights for all people including Native Americans, poor and working-class people and — most personally for me — African American women. Finally, women stood up and decided they were going to be heard in politics.

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The movement for women’s suffrage was part of a larger movement for women’s rights in every area of life. And women’s rights, in turn, were part of a wider emphasis on equal rights for all people. Although the suffrage movement and the 19th Amendment initially discriminated

against Black women and women of color, it attracted them to the movement.

After the 19th Amendment passed, Black women did vote and run for office in New York, as opposed to many states that passed state and local laws disenfranchising them. Today, I am a product of the women’s suffrage movement that led the way for Black women to be heard and seen. So, women today continue to run, vote and today are leading the way on women’s and family issues across American — our way.

“Today, I am a product of the women’s suffrage movement that led the way for Black women to be heard and seen.”

Words from Our (Female) Members

K I T T Y TO L L State Representative | Vermont

“Why is a woman to be treated differently?

Woman suffrage will succeed, despite this miserable guerilla opposition.”

The wise words of Victoria Woodhull, who in 1872 became the first female presidential candidate, encouraged women to put words into motion, ultimately cracking open the door for female participation in politics. These pioneers would become the impetus for moving a new and sometimes uncomfortable political agenda. However, it took 48 more years of continued toil before trailblazers like Woodhull would see the ratification of the 19th Amendment, in 1920, finally guaranteeing and protecting women’s constitutional right to vote.

It was the actions of brave women like Woodhull who fought tirelessly until this new collection of voices was allowed to be present at the table and to be heard. A path was forged, groundwork laid, and a foundation was built to help navigate the turbulent waters that has led to the rights and freedoms we enjoy today. It was the strong convictions of all the Victoria Woodhulls that have inspired women, like me, to find our power and to use our strengths to not only become voters, but to become effective elected officials who continue to fight for equality. As we celebrate the centennial of the 19th Amendment, we acknowledge the great strides made by women, but our work to ensure empowerment and equality for all women is far from over.

M IA GREGERSON State Representative | Washington

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My first memory of casting a ballot stands out because it was a vote to save our baseball team. Go Mariners! I’m a firm believer that we turn out to vote when we feel passionate about the people on the ballot or when the issues we care about are at stake. This November is a critical moment for American history where we are all reckoning with the restrictions of voting during a global pandemic and multiple attacks on democracy from every angle. We need every woman to feel like she can safely vote and that her vote will be counted. When women vote or run for office, we are honoring and standing on the shoulders of those who fought for us. They knew that we needed to be at the table making decisions when we had been intentionally left out, and they knew that we would push and hold open the door for the most vulnerable.

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Celebrating 100 Years of the 19th Amendment

D E N I SE T E P L E R State Representative | Maine

Women must vote so women’s concerns will be heard. When I was first elected to the Maine Legislature in 2014 and appointed to the Taxation Committee, I was often the only woman in the committee room other than staff. Thirteen male legislators and me discussing tax policy. One other woman had been appointed to the committee but due to other commitments, she rarely attended.

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That year there was a push by an outside organization to get constituents to write to Maine legislators about the unfair imposition of the sales tax on menstrual products in Maine. Some discussion ensued in the committee about the large number of emails being received. I proposed we respond to our constituents’ concerns and work on a committee bill to exempt menstrual products from the sales tax. Other members agreed that that might be a good idea, and I began to look into it. Shockingly, it became clear that this would cost the state around $1.5 million each year — that much tax was (and still is) being paid on an absolute necessity.

When it came to a vote on creating such a committee bill, however, 12 men voted against it.

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Maine is a state that has been successful at electing women legislators, and they have served in leadership positions, but that is only in very recent times. It took 99 years for Maine to elect a female governor. A look at the photos in the back of the Maine House Chamber, which show about 50 years of Maine legislative membership, makes clear that women were a rare commodity in the House until after the 20th century. Much of our tax policy was created before the time when women’s voices were consistently heard in these discussions. When women vote, when women participate, when women are elected, a perspective that was left out for the first 150 years of the Republic makes gains.

“When women vote, when women participate, when women are elected, a perspective that was left out for the first 150 years of the Republic makes gains.”

Words from Our (Female) Members

R E G I NA A SH F O R D BA R R OW Senator | Louisiana

The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits the states and the federal government from denying the right to vote to American citizens on the basis of sex. Many people do not even realize that, in the past, voting had been a state right. Numerous state legislatures implemented literacy tests, which were tailored to exclude Black people and other minorities from being eligible to vote. The 19th Amendment was a win for women, but not all women. Jim Crow kept Black women from exercising their voting rights for many years. Voting in November is imperative for all Americans, particularly women of color.

I first voted in 1984 when I turned 18. As women in America, it is our fundamental right to vote. Voting is the most effective way to say, “My life matters.” Women are heads of households and serve as decision makers in many American families. When one votes to support a candidate or a tax or the amending of the Constitution, she is directly influencing the systems that support the community that she and her family live in.

“Voting is the most effective way to say, ‘My life matters.’”

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For nearly a decade, I have served as a state legislator in Louisiana. I consider it an honor to receive the vote of confidence from the residents of District 15. Voting is essential to securing social advancements for the next generation of women. Voting is one of the most powerful rights that a citizen has, and voter participation is crucial for an effective, truly representative government. I believe we are at a pivotal point in history that will change the trajectory of this country for the next 50 to 100 years. It is extremely important that women vote this year because many of the issues facing our country will have a direct impact on women and children. Getting women out to vote is essential to securing a better tomorrow for the next generation.

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Celebrating 100 Years of the 19th Amendment

R HO N DA BA K E R State Representative | Oklahoma

The first presidential election I had the privilege of voting in was in 1988.

George H.W. Bush was the Republican nominee who had served as vice president under President Ronald Reagan. I greatly admired the Reagan administration, and the accomplishments of President Reagan and Vice President Bush led me to register as a Republican. I proudly cast my ballot for George Bush because I wanted continuity with the success we had achieved as a country. I also appreciated his military service and

support of education, especially since I aspired to become an educator myself, just like so many in my family before me.

It’s interesting to realize that one small act of voting can change a country’s trajectory and shape history forever. Women have the power to do this every election cycle. It’s so important that women make their voices heard in all elections — from school board and city council to presidential elections. They all influence the world we live in every day.

The ratification of the 19th Amendment was a turning point in this country. It allowed women to be accepted into societal roles that differed from the standard domestic traditions of past generations. We must empower women around us to continue to use their voices in a positive and strong way to emphasize, as proof, the valuable contributions that we bring to society each and every day.

PAT SY HA Z L EWO O D State Representative | Tennessee

This year marks the 100th anniversary of Women’s Suffrage in our nation.

It was the culmination of a hard-fought battle for votes for women by women and men that, I’m proud to say, came to fruition when my own state of Tennessee passed the 19th Amendment on Aug. 18, 2020.

Winning the vote — and make no mistake, it was won and not given — was in many ways just the beginning of a journey we are still on to have women be fully involved in the political process.

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Even before securing the vote, women had long participated, albeit in the background, in politics and campaigns. Even today, women are often the mainstay, the worker bees, in campaigns at all levels. Though we are a long way from gender equality in political offices, as I look around my community, my state and this country, I see more and more women who are willingly stepping up to run for office themselves, and they are not running on homogenous gender platforms, but are representing

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all parties and many varying viewpoints.

Women are not running because they are women, but because they have ideas and experiences that they, and many voters, believe to be both credible and viable for shaping our political future.

All of us stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before. Whether exercising our right to vote or running for office, we are walking through the door that was opened by those courageous women and men who fought long and hard to secure the vote for women.

“Winning the vote — and make no mistake, it was won and not given — was in many ways just the beginning of a journey we are still on to have women be fully involved in the political process.”

Words from Our (Female) Members

B R A N DY P Y L E State Representative | North Dakota

It’s important for women to vote in the 2020 election as women are an important voice in our country. In 2019, the U.S. population was 328.24 million, with women making up 164.12 million of that entire population — a little over 50%. This is a powerful voice to make an impact on all levels of our political system when we make the choice to participate!

Participation in the democratic process of electing our leaders is an amazing gift and one of our rights as Americans.

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As women leaders, we have the opportunity to teach our children why it is important to voice our opinions, to cast our vote for leaders, to stand for our values, to treat all with respect and to live life with integrity. Continue to not only ask why, but why not?

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Celebrating 100 Years of the 19th Amendment

EVERY VOTE

COUNTS

D E M Y S T I F Y I N G T H E B A L L O T D U P L I C AT I O N PROCESS AHEAD OF EXPANDED MAIL-IN VOTING

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by Casandra Hockenberry, Michelle Shafer and Rachel Wright

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Ballot Duplication

DEMYSTIFYING BALLOT DUPLICATION? While the term may sound a bit mysterious, or even nefarious, to those not involved in the day-to-day intricacies of state and local election administration, the reality is straightforward. Ballot duplication is the process of replacing a damaged or improperly marked ballot (i.e., a ballot that can’t be read by the voting system) with a new ballot that preserves the voter’s intent.

Also known as ballot replication, ballot remaking and ballot transcription, the practice is commonly used by election officials throughout the U.S. In all states, Washington, D.C., and the five U.S. territories, groups of voters who meet certain jurisdictional qualifications can cast remote ballots using a vote-by-mail or absentee voting process. In past years, many of these voters have been military and overseas voters covered by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act who do not have the option to vote in person within their voting jurisdiction in the U.S. However, in 2020 many of these qualifications have expanded to accommodate the assumed risk of casting in-person ballots due to COVID-19, and many more voters are eligible to issue mail-in ballots.

WHY ARE WE TALKING ABOUT BALLOT DUPLICATION IN 2020?

At its core, ballot duplication is an example of election administration contingency planning in action. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, some states and local jurisdictions have moved to a by-mail or ballot drop-off voting process, either eliminating or reducing in-person voting at a polling place. Others have expanded their absentee voting programs. These states and local jurisdictions are either incorporating no-excuse absentee voting into their voting programs or expanding legally allowable reasons for voters to cast their ballots remotely to include COVID-19 concerns.

As a result, local election officials nationwide may receive higher volumes of ballots in the mail. Many of these ballots may fall into problem areas that make them unreadable by tabulation equipment. More remote voting will result in more overall usage of ballot duplication solutions to count these ballots.

HOW BALLOT DUPLICATION TECHNOLOGY WORKS Ballot duplication technology solutions are comprised of software and hardware used to automate the transcription of damaged or otherwise machine-unreadable ballots efficiently and accurately within a transparent and verifiable environment. Ballot duplication hardware components are usually commercially available scanners, printers and computer workstations.

1. Interpretation of the ballot style — the elections official deter- mines the version of a ballot within a jurisdiction that an individu- al voter is eligible to vote.

2. Preservation of the voter’s choice — the voter’s marked responses to those specific ballot style choices are preserved onto a new tabulation-ready ballot.

1. The damaged ballot is digitally scanned, either individually or as part of a “batch,” or group of damaged ballots requiring duplica- tion. A duplicate ID number, distinct marking or barcode is physically printed on the scanned damaged ballot by the scanner simultaneously.

2.

The ballot style of the damaged ballot is recognized and a “clean copy” of the appropriate ballot style is retrieved from the elec- tronic repository of available ballot styles for that jurisdiction and a duplicated ballot image is created.

3.

The same duplicate ID number, distinct marking or barcode that was printed on the damaged ballot as it was scanned is produced and associated as a digital overlay on the new duplicated ballot image. Having the same duplicate ID number on the damaged ballot and the newly created ballot results in a duplicate ID match and allows these two ballots to be associated, providing a chain of custody of the duplication process for auditability.

4.

After being electronically matched, the scanned damaged ballot image and the duplicated ballot image are displayed side by side on screen and reviewed for approval by a team of bipartisan elec- tion workers, often called a “ballot board.” These boards are tasked with approving all ballots requiring duplication following the jurisdiction’s election laws and procedures.

5. Upon approval by the ballot board, the new duplicated ballot image is printed — if required — and routed for tabulation.

6. The new duplicated ballot is counted by the jurisdiction’s tabula- tion system.

PREPARING FOR FUTURE ELECTIONS The CSG Overseas Voting Initiative expects that elections conducted during the coronavirus pandemic will likely yield a higher volume of ballots returned via mail or other methods.

As state primaries have come to a close, this assertion has often proven to be true. In the West Virginia presidential primary alone, slightly more than half of the state’s 436,000 votes were returned by mail. According to West Virginia Secretary of State Andrew “Mac” Warner, this constitutes a roughly 47% increase from previous presidential primaries.

This drastic uptake in by-mail voting has significant implications for the process of ballot duplication and, subsequently, election officials’ contingency planning. As the number of voters who mark their ballot outside of a polling place increases, so do the opportunities for a ballot to be damaged. In order to ensure the November election progresses smoothly, it will be necessary for election officials to discuss how to properly manage the duplication of these ballots as well as how to instill voter confidence in this process.

To learn more about ballot duplication and recommendations for elections officials suited for 2020 elections and beyond, visit ovi.csg.org/blogs.

ISSUE 4 2020 | CAPITOL IDEAS

Two specific actions are performed during the duplication of a damaged or machine-unreadable ballot:

The process for transcribing a damaged or machine-unreadable ballot — often referred to as “damaged” — using ballot duplication technology varies according to the specific provider and technology used. However, the transcript process typically follows steps similar to these:

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Celebrating 100 Years of the 19th Amendment

Processing Mail-In Ballots

S TAT E S T H AT ALLOW FOR B A L L O T PROCESSING:

Prior to Election Day (timing not specified)

7 days prior

Upon receipt

2-5 days prior

14+ days prior

1 day prior

On Election Day

ISSUE 4 2020 | CAPITOL IDEAS

*Louisiana allows for processing one day prior to Election Day only in parishes where more than 1,000 ballots are received ahead of Election Day.

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Ballot Duplication

WHAT IS BALLOT DUPLICATION?

WHAT BALLOT DUPLICATION IS NOT

According to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, ballot duplication is the process for replacing damaged or improperly marked ballots (i.e., the voting system cannot read the ballot) with a new ballot that preserves the voter’s intent. The ballot duplication processes create a “clean ballot” with the voter’s choices that can be read by ballot tabulation equipment. The process also ensures that the original voter-marked ballot is retained for the record including any required auditing. It is the duplicated or transcribed “clean ballot,” and not the damaged one, that is counted by tabulation equipment.

It is important to note that the term duplication or replication should not be interpreted as a type of corrupt process to create additional ballots, either voted or unvoted. Ballot duplication is simply the transcribing of damaged or otherwise machine-unreadable ballots as described above so that these ballots can be tabulated with the others.

WHY CONDUCT BALLOT DUPLICATION? In almost all local jurisdictions, paper ballots are tabulated electronically, using some sort of ballot scanning technology. Four common problems can render paper ballots difficult or impossible to process with a ballot tabulation system:

1. Ballots can be damaged during the life cycle

of a ballot. Anything from coffee spills to wrin- kles and tears can interfere with the scanning of the ballot by a tabulation system.

2. Ballots filled out with inappropriate marking

implements — pencils, highlighters, colored pens, chalk, cosmetic pencils, paints, crayons and colored art pencils — cannot be pro- cessed by a tabulation system.

3. The voter’s intent may be clear under a

IMPROVING BALLOT DUPLICATION The CSG Overseas Voting Initiative Working Group of state and local election officials studied and issued recommendations to improve ballot duplication for state and local election officials with military and overseas ballots as the focal point.

Those recommendations include:

■ Continually evaluate ballot duplication

procedures, manual or automated solutions, staffing levels and equipment needs well in advance of each future election.

■ Explore and consider avenues for remote

observation of the ballot duplication process by the public — voters, candidates and the media — to enhance transparency.

■ Develop educational videos, FAQ landing

pages and documents and infographics representing the ballot duplication process.

■ Take extra care in handling ballots and any

duplication and tabulation equipment.

state’s election laws but marked in a way that ■ Review current remote voter instructions and a tabulation system cannot read. For exam- consider providing additional language to ple, the voter may mark the ballot inappro- help prevent damaged or machine unread- priately, by circling a candidate’s name when able ballots due to use of hand sanitizer or instructions indicate a bubble must be filled sealing adhesives. in. Additionally, stray marks on the ballot can Learn more about these recommendations at interfere with the tabulation system’s ability to ovi.csg.org/resources. scan the ballot.

4. The returned ballot may not be

ISSUE 4 2020 | CAPITOL IDEAS

1.) the appropriate paper stock quality and weight, 2.) the correct orientation (portrait or land- scape), or 3.) sized so that the voting marks and ballot positions can be read by the scanner and so that the ballot can be tabulated.

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Celebrating 100 Years of the 19th Amendment

Casting with

Confidence confronting the poll worker shortage and building assurance in election processes

by Joel Sams The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the essential function of many professions, from food production to supply chain management to education. As Election Day approached, the virus also sharpened focus on those who fill another essential role — poll workers.

ISSUE 4 2020 | CAPITOL IDEAS

Difficulty recruiting poll workers isn’t a new challenge. In 2016, the biennial Election Assistance Commission survey reported that nearly 65% of jurisdictions found poll worker recruitment “somewhat difficult” or “very difficult.” In 2020, risks associated with COVID-19 have exacerbated the shortage. In the runup to the November election, states took steps to solve the immediate poll worker shortage and looked ahead to longterm solutions.

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According to Kentucky Assistant Secretary of State Jennifer Scutchfield, recruiting poll workers in the state has been an ongoing struggle due mainly to funding. The minimum pay for precinct election officers in Kentucky ($60 per day) has not been increased in about 25 years. In 2020, Scutchfield says, the challenges were further sharpened by the aging population of poll workers and an executive order passed by Gov. Andy Beshear allowing counties to reduce the number of polling places as a result of risk posed by COVID-19.

“We’re going to have more people that show up to vote, I believe, this year,” Scutchfield said during an interview in late summer. “If we don’t have sufficient workers and sufficient polling locations, you’re going to have a wait. Secretary [Michael] Adams has only been in office now nine months, but he knew going in that, even without the pandemic, poll workers would be something we needed to look at.”

Kentucky expanded poll worker recruitment efforts using an online form that sends poll worker applications to the relevant county clerk. The state also ramped up its messaging with a campaign called “SOS from

your SOS.” Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams partnered with four craft breweries to create beer labels directing readers to the online poll worker application. Another new development allowed attorneys to receive 1.5 hours of continuing legal education for participating in poll worker training.

These initiatives met with some success, but Scutchfield says a long-term solution to the national poll worker shortage will depend on funding and support from legislatures, and that lessons learned during 2020 will have no staying power without further investment. She points to the state of Washington, which implemented statewide vote-by-mail in 2011, as an example of what’s required to make lasting change.

“Washington state has clean voter rolls, so they are able to mail out the application for the ballot to every voter,” Scutchfield said. “But [Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman] will tell you it has taken 10 years to ramp that up. It was not an overnight decision. So that ask we’re putting forward to our county clerks, our voting registrars — it’s enormous.”

In Michigan, Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum likewise identified poll worker recruitment as a challenge that long pre-dates the 2020 election.

In Michigan, one challenge is finding partisan balance.

“Many do not want to be publicly associated with a political party, but in Michigan, it’s required,” Byrum said. “We need to have a balance of Democrats and Republicans. It’s been an issue for well over a decade. Finding willing, qualified individuals of both parties has been ongoing challenge.”

Recruitment efforts for the November election generated interest, and Byrum was cautiously optimistic about increased participation in the months before the election. But she reiterated that it’s a tough job, and people often don’t realize what will be required. And, as in many states, a

The Future of Voting significant number of poll workers are older adults, many of whom were expected to stay home this year.

Byrum said a long-term solution would be helped by funding — especially at the local level — and by making election days paid holidays. Most importantly, though, she called for trust between legislatures and election administrators.

“When election officials are asking for resources and legislation to improve our process, the legislators should trust those professional election administrators,” Byrum said. “We’re on the front lines and run across these issues first-hand. That’s a big issue, especially right now.”

Without the funding and personnel, Byrum says, results take longer.

“Our Michigan elections are fair and secure, and there are a lot of security checks, but as a result, it takes time for a ballot to be processed,” she said. “If we are not afforded sufficient resources and human capital, it’s going to take much longer to get results, and the more eyes on our election, the better.”

Better communication goes a long way, too. Byrum urges all state leaders to identify their election administrators, talk to them and learn more about how the election process works.

“The election administrators that I have met from around the U.S., and certainly in Michigan, are some of the hardest working, most dedicated individuals I have ever met,” Byrum said. “And they would welcome the opportunity to educate their legislators and other leaders about election administration.”

Building Bi-Partisan Election Confidence Representing both major political parties, Scutchfield and Byrum agree that election administrators are subject to criticism from all sides — usually from individuals who don’t understand how the election process works. The solution? Encourage those with questions to get their information from the correct source.

“We deal with the naysayers that say it’s rigged, we have the people who say you’ve got outside influence,” Scutchfield said. “We’re getting hit every day with something we need to make sure is accurate and it’s done with integrity. If you have a question about elections, go to the election official. Don’t get your information from second-hand sources.

Trust the election official only.”

Byrum reiterates the need to trust official sources and offers a challenge, as well.

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“When people think our elections are rigged, I challenge them immediately to serve as a precinct inspector,” she said. “Because by serving as a precinct inspector, people start to get a real handle on everything that is done to make sure our elections are secure and safe. And if they don’t want to serve as a precinct inspector on election day, then by golly, they should serve as a recount worker. In Michigan, we have recounts, and they are hand recounts. That would afford people the opportunity to really understand how elections are run, and how I can sit here and tell you that I know the elections in Ingham County, certainly, but the elections in Michigan are absolutely safe and secure.”

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Celebrating 100 Years of the 19th Amendment

the east

CT • DE • MA • MD • ME • NH • NJ • NY • PA • RI • VT • NB • NS • ON • PE • PR • QC • VI

IMPROVING SCHOOLS New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu signed HB 1558 into law, which issues improvements to state public schools. The legislation provides safety guidance, access to behavioral health resources and training programs, updated policies on discipline and suspension, brain injury recovery, sexual abuse prevention training, multi-tiered systems of support for behavioral wellness, change of school assignment, reporting violence in schools and criminal history background checks of school bus drivers and attendants. It also gives school districts across the state greater flexibility to address fiscal concerns when budgets and revenues are uncertain, increases reserve limits, provides funding to districts transitioning to full-day kindergarten and creates a clearer pathway for businesses to participate in economic revitalization zones and graduate retention incentive partnerships.

COVID EXPOSURE APP Pennsylvania launched its COVID Alert PA app to significant success, with 165,000 Pennsylvanians downloading the exposure notification mobile app in the first week. This free, voluntary mobile app was developed by the Pennsylvania Department of Health in partnership with Near Form, UPenn and MIT Lincoln Laboratory using the Apple and Google Exposure Notification System. The app’s features include an interactive COVID-19 symptom checker, alerts of potential exposures to the virus, updates on the latest public health data about COVID-19 in Pennsylvania and public health guidance for what to do if you have a potential exposure.

PINK TAX New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced new reforms prohibiting businesses from charging a “pink tax,” otherwise known as the practice of charging different prices for similar consumer goods or services that are marketed to different genders. The new law mandates that any individual or entity, including retailers, suppliers, manufactures or distributors, are prohibited from charging a price for two “substantially similar” goods or services, if the goods or services are priced differently based on the gender for whom the goods or serves are marketed. It also seeks to empower consumers by giving them the right to receive, upon request, a written prices list from any business that provides a service.

ELECTRIC BUSES Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont unveiled the first two battery-electric buses entering public service in late September. The buses feature zero tailpipe emissions and will use 125 kilowatt-hour electric bus chargers installed at the Greater Bridgeport Transit bus maintenance facility. Each replacement of a diesel bus with an electric bus will avoid 230,000 pounds of carbon dioxide each year, the equivalent of planting 5,000 trees. These are the first buses to enter service under the Connecticut Department of Transportation’s electric bus initiative and will be a gradual transition at first that will accelerate as the costs for battery electric buses and facility upgrades become more affordable at scale.

STATES AND LOCALITIES GRANTED FUNDS FOR AIRPORT IMPROVEMENTS The Airport Improvement Program (AIP) airport grant program funds airport infrastructure projects such as runways, taxiways, airport signage, airport lighting and airport markings with the goal of strengthening U.S. aviation infrastructure. To supplement the funding that AIP provides to airports each year based on passenger volume, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) can award additional discretionary funding.

This year, the FAA will aware more than $1.2 billion in additional airport safety and infrastructure grants. More than $1 billion is from the AIP and another $152 million is in Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding with a 100% federal share. Awards will be made to 405 airports in 50 states as well as Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, Palau and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

In the East, four Connecticut airports will receive funding, as well as New Castle airport in Wilmington, Delaware, 11 airports in Massachusetts, eight airports in Maryland, 11 airports in Maine, one in New Hampshire, two airports in New Jersey, 15 airports in New York, 10 airports in Pennsylvania, three airports in Puerto Rico, Theodore Francis Green State airport in Warwick, Rhode Island, two airports in the Virgin Islands and two airports in Vermont. To learn more about the funding allocations, visit https://csg-erc.org/2020-airport-improvement-program-grants/.

ISSUE 4 2020 | CAPITOL IDEAS

COVID-19 MICRO-SUMMITS

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The Council of State Governments Eastern Regional Conference Council on Communities of Color (CCC) organized a series of micro-summits — conversations called “CSG East on COVID-19.” The discussions offer insights, analysis and solutions on numerous challenges communities and governments face as the COVID-19 crisis ensues. This series narrows the lens on communities of color. These unique convenings bring together state and local policymakers, experts and thinkers concerned about the massive equity gaps exposed and worsened by the global coronavirus pandemic. These one-hour panel discussions explore the gaps in public policy and the ways in which districts, policymakers and communities can creatively collaborate and address them now. Learn more at https://csg-erc.org/ccc-covid-19-micro-summit-project/.

For more on CSG East, visit capitolideas.csg.org and csg-erc.org.

Regional Roundup IA • IL • IN • KS • MI • MN • ND • NE • OH • SD • WI • AB • MB • ON • SK

PROPERTY TAX RELIEF Nebraska lawmakers met at an unusual time of year for legislative session — in the middle of the summer, due to the postponement of session days caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. But they were faced with a familiar challenge: How can we reduce the property tax burden for homeowners, farmers and businesses? Their answer was the passage of LB 1107, a bill being hailed by proponents as a major breakthrough after previous years of trying to address this perennially high-priority issue.

The bill passed with overwhelming legislative support and was signed by Gov. Pete Ricketts in August. It relies on the state’s income tax system to provide the relief. Homeowners, businesses and others will be eligible for a refundable income tax credit based on the amount they paid in property taxes to their school district. The amount of credits will be $125 million in 2020 and is expected to then increase in subsequent years. However, LB 1107 includes language that ties future increases to growth in Nebraska tax collections and the size of the state’s cash reserves, which cannot dip below $500 million.

For more on CSG Midwest, visit: capitolideas.csg.org and csgmidwest.org.

TEACHER SHORTAGES North Dakota is partnering with one of its public universities to help school districts address a persistent, widespread workforce challenge: the shortage of licensed special education teachers. Using a $750,000 grant from the state, Minot State University will create a new scholarship program that allows 20 education paraprofessionals to earn a degree in special education. North Dakota is using a portion of its money from the federal CARES Act to fund the scholarship program, which will cover seven semesters of instruction for each recipient.

This kind of “grow your own” strategy is being used by an increasing number of states as they try to address teacher shortages.

LEGALIZING MARIJUANA The future of South Dakota’s marijuana laws will be decided by the state’s voters in November.

Currently, the state is one of six in the Midwest where both recreational and medical use of marijuana is legal. Two different proposals will appear on South Dakota ballots in November — one an initiated measure to legalized marijuana for medical purposes, the second a proposed constitutional amendment to legalize recreational and medical marijuana. Four years ago, in neighboring North Dakota, voters chose to legalize medical marijuana. In Michigan, the use of medical and recreational marijuana has received voter approval over the past 12 years.

ELECTRONIC PRIVACY A ballot measure in Michigan aims to add a few words to the state’s Constitution to address the potential privacy implications of law enforcement’s use of increasingly sophisticated technologies. The language would add the words “electronic data” and “electronic communications” to a section of the state Constitution securing a person’s houses, papers and possessions from unreasonable searches and seizures. Michigan state Sen. Jim Runestad led efforts to get the bill on the ballot as a legislatively referred initiative.

PROTECTING MOST VULNERABLE As the COVID-19 pandemic grinds on, one trend has become clear and consistent: the virus is more deadly if introduced and spread in adult long-term-care facilities, which are accounting for a smaller percentage of cases, but almost half of all deaths nationwide since early May, according to an issue brief published in September by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Minnesota developed a Five-Point Plan to Protect our Most Vulnerable which includes expanding testing for residents and workers in long-term care facilities, providing testing support and troubleshooting to more quickly remove barriers to effective testing, getting personal protective equipment to facilities when and where needed and ensuring adequate staffing levels for even the hardest-hit facilities.

LIVESTOCK ASSISTANCE Iowa livestock producers helped markets for the abundance of animals left as a result of the closure of meat processing plants across the country due to health concerns and illness among employees and falling prices for meat. Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig oversaw a Resource Coordination Center in Iowa to help farmers make informed decisions, and he teamed up with other state agriculture leaders along with producers and industry organizations to share information and develop creative alternatives. Direct support for farmers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic was available including up to $2,000 per farmer to help with transition to direct-to-consumer sales. The Iowa Economic Development Authority allocated $60 million to livestock producers impacted by the pandemic.

ISSUE 4 2020 | CAPITOL IDEAS

But by 2024, the amount of tax credits must reach $375 million, and starting in 2025, the size of these credits will increase based on changes on the assessed value of real property in Nebraska. According to the Federation of Tax Administrators, property taxes accounted for 38.2% of total revenues for state and local governments in Nebraska in 2017. In the 11-state Midwest, only Illinois is more reliant on the property tax as a revenue source. Property taxes tend to be a very minimal source of revenue for state governments themselves. However, two states in the Midwest do collect a significant amount of statewide property taxes. Collections in Minnesota go to the state general fund; Michigan’s property tax is earmarked for K-12 education. In Saskatchewan, the provincial government establishes a uniform rate for property taxes.

the midwest

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Celebrating 100 Years of the 19th Amendment

The South

AL • AR • FL • GA • KY • LA • MO • MS • NC • OK • SC • TN • TX • VA • WV AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY

BROADBAND EXPANSION Gov. Kay Ivey announced that Alabama allocated $100 million of federal coronavirus relief funds to expand and improve internet access for K-12 students who started the school year virtually. The program, known as Alabama Broadband Connectivity for Students, provides internet vouchers for families of students who are eligible for free and reduced-price school meals. Slightly more than half of Alabama’s 723,000 students qualify for free or reduced-price meals.

The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs is administering the federal funding for the program, in partnership with CTC Technology and Energy, an independent consulting firm. The plan was formulated with the input of the Broadband Working Group, comprised of legislators and industry experts. The internet vouchers, which were distributed at the beginning of September, provide almost $400 of internet service, including installation, equipment and monthly fees/charges, for 250,000 students through Dec. 30. Internet providers contracted with the state to offer access using existing lines and technologies, including broadband, wireless hot spots, satellite, fixed wireless, DSL and cellular-on-wheels. The type of service in an area depends on the closest available existing infrastructure.

ISSUE 4 2020 | CAPITOL IDEAS

Senior education officials in the state, including Superintendent Eric Mackey, have pushed for more internet access, particularly in rural areas and households that are unable to afford reliable internet access. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 20% of Alabama households did not have access to internet in 2018. As many as 17% of households lack a computer of any kind, and another 8% have access to smartphones but not another type of computer.

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For more on CSG South, visit capitolideas.csg.org and slcatlanta.org.

High school students in 16 Virginia school districts now have the option to take an African American history course as an elective, Gov. Ralph Northam announced at the end of August.

The course surveys African American history from precolonial Africa through the present day, introducing students to the trans-Atlantic slave trade, Civil War, Emancipation, Reconstruction and civil rights era. The development and introduction of the course follows Northam’s directive last year requiring the state Department of Education to collaborate with educators to develop a course that provides an African American perspective. Teachers responsible for leading the course will receive professional development and support throughout the year.

PLUTONIUM SETTLEMENT South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced that the federal government reached an agreement to pay the state $600 million and clean up weapons-grade plutonium from the Savannah River Site (SRS), a nuclear weapons complex, following years of litigation.

In the 1990s, the federal government announced that it would ship 34 metric tons of the nation’s surplus weapons-grade plutonium as feedstock for a mixed oxide fuel plant. However, the federal government abandoned the fuel plant project in 2018, citing untenable delays and cost overruns, leaving anywhere from 7 metric tons to 10.5 metric tons of plutonium at SRS. Under the terms of the agreement, the U.S. Department of Energy is obligated to remove the plutonium by 2037.

FLOOD PREPARATION Kentucky announced a new online mapping tool to help local officials and first responders develop emergency plans for vulnerable dams. The interactive map provides approximate areas, or inundation zones, which could be affected by damaged or collapsed dams. Using satellite imagery, the map identifies properties, roads and geographic areas that could be impacted. So far, nearly 3,000 business structures and 14,000 residences fall within the state’s high hazard dam inundation zones. The map is part of a broader initiative to raise awareness of dam-related risks in the state.

MAGNOLIA FLAG A state commission selected the Magnolia Flag as the next flag of Mississippi. The flag, selected among 3,000 proposals submitted to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History for consideration, includes a magnolia flower and 21 stars — representing Mississippi’s entry as the 20th state to join the U.S. and one gold star for Native Americans who originally inhabited the land — along with the words “In God We Trust,” which was a requirement under rules adopted by the Legislature. Voters will decide in November whether to approve the flag or restart the process to find a new design.

BUSINESS SUCCESS Gov. Brian Kemp announced that Georgia was named the top state for doing business for the seventh year in a row by Area Development, a magazine covering corporate site selection and relocation. The magazine ranks states based on weighted scores in overall cost of doing business; cooperative and responsive state government; a favorable regulatory environment; business incentives; workforce development programs; competitive labor environment; speed of permitting; logistics and infrastructure; available real estate; energy availability and costs; site readiness programs; corporate tax environment; and access to capital and projects.

Georgia received the top ranking in 10 of the 13 categories and was among the top five in the other three categories.

Regional Roundup AK • AZ • CA • CO • HI • ID • MT • NM • NV • OR • UT • WA • WY • AB • AS • BC • CNMI • GU USE OF FORCE In a special session, the Oregon Legislature passed, and Gov. Kate Brown signed into law legislation that overhauls statutes that govern the circumstances under which law enforcement can legally use force. These statutes — which had not been revised in over 40 years according to state Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum — establish the parameters under which an officer’s use of force can become excessive under state law, triggering a range of consequences up to and including criminal prosecution of the officer. HB 4301 aligns Oregon’s deadly force statutes with modern standards of policing by requiring that law enforcement only use deadly force against people who pose a genuine risk of causing death or serious physical injury, encourage consideration of de-escalation when possible and give a verbal warning before force is used.

SUPPORT FOR SMALL BUSINESSES California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed three bills into law aimed at providing relief to small businesses during COVID-19. AB 1577 will allow small businesses to exclude paycheck protection program (PPP) loans from gross income for state taxes. SB1447 authorizes a $100 million hiring tax credit program for small businesses and SB 115, a budget trailer bill, accelerates $561 million in state bond funding for construction projects. The COVID-19 pandemic has presented significant challenges to small businesses and Small Business Majority survey data found that up to 44% of businesses are at risk of shutting down. In California, small businesses create two-thirds of new jobs and employ nearly half of all private sector employees. The state is home to 4.1 million small businesses representing 99.8% of all businesses in the state.

LIABILITY PROTECTION The Idaho Legislature passed a bill providing schools and businesses some limited protection from lawsuits stemming from the coronavirus. HB 6 passed through the House and Senate and was signed by Gov. Brad Little. Under the bill, a person, school district, college or university would have immunity from civil liability for damages or injury resulting from exposure to the coronavirus, reports the Idaho Statesman. The bill also grants immunity to corporations, churches, cities and counties but does not extend the protection to Idaho public health districts, the state or federal government.

FISH AND WILDLIFE Gov. Jay Inslee called for the Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife to alter its rules for managing the state’s wolf population. The directive comes after the governor accepted the appeal from the Center for Biological Diversity that challenged the department’s decision to deny the center’s petition to amend current wolf management rules, which it claims fail to prioritize non-lethal management of endangered wolves. Inslee did not outline specific policies to include in the new rule, he asked the Department of Fish and Wildlife to include “clear and enforceable measures in its proposed rules that would end the need for annual lethal removal among other things.

HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY

WILDFIRES RAGE ACROSS THE WEST Unprecedented weather conditions, fast-moving heat and wind-fueled wildfires in multiple western states — including California, Oregon and Washington — have broken records in 2020 with 94 recorded large fires burning 4.6 million acres — a figure that continues to grow.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill allowing inmate firefighters to have their records expunged, clearing the path for them to be eligible for firefighting jobs upon their release. The bill lets prisoners with appropriate training to petition the courts to dismiss their convictions after completing their sentences. This will make them eligible to receive EMT certification, which is a hiring requirement of municipal fire departments but something former inmates were previously prohibited by state law to pursue. Individuals convicted of violent felonies including murder, kidnapping and sex offenses, are excluded from this program and cannot apply to have their records cleared.

“Inmates who have stood on the frontlines, battling historic fires should not be denied the right to later become a professional firefighter,” Newsom said following his signing of AB 2147.

California has used inmate firefighters to battle wildfires for more than 80 years through its Conservation Camp Program, which aims to support state, local and federal government agencies as they respond to emergencies such as fires, floods and other natural or manmade disasters. There are approximately 3,100 inmates currently working at fire camps.

About 2,200 of those are fire line-qualified inmates.

For more on CSG West, visit: capitolideas.csg.org and csgwest.org.

ISSUE 4 2020 | CAPITOL IDEAS

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak signed a bill designed to extend protections to workers in the hospitality industry and includes measures for workers as well as liability shielding for businesses. This legislation requires businesses to enact a number of health-related regulations to afford greater worker protections in the hospitality industry. These include COVID-19 tests for workers returning to work, as well as a minimum of 10 days of paid leave for workers who have tested positive for the virus. In addition to these and more worker protections, the law expands immunity from COVID-19 related lawsuits to nearly all businesses, nonprofit organizations and government agencies. This immunity does not extend to entities that cause a COVID-19 transmission due to gross negligence, and to qualify, the businesses must adhere to key standards and meet health and safety requirements at the federal, state and local levels.

The west

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Final Facts

F e m a l e Firsts

In 1933, Frances Perkins joins President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s cabinet as the

In honor of the 19th Amendment, take a glance at these other female firsts.

U.S. Secretary of Labor.

The appointment marked the first time a woman was asked to serve in a

U.S. Cabinet position.

On January 23, 1849, ELIZABETH BLACKWELL graduates from New York’s Geneva Medical School, making her the first woman to earn a M E D I C A L D E G R E E in the U.S.

In 1865, Mary Edwards Walker becomes the first woman to receive the

MARGARET ABBOTT

M E DA L OF H ON OR .

the first American woman to win an Olympic event, finishes first in the

Still the only woman to receive the honor, she was recognized for her work as a surgeon during the American Civil War.

women’s golf tournament at the

Janet Guthrie races into the history books in 1978

1900 Paris Olympic Games.

when she becomes the first woman to drive a car in the INDI ANAPOLI S 500.

Anna Sutherland

Bissell takes over the EXECUTIVE BOARD of the famous

Bissell vacuum company in 1889 and becomes the first American woman to serve in a CEO role.

The Queen of Soul,

Aretha Franklin, earns some R-E-S-P-E-C-T on January 3, 1987 when she takes the title of FIRST WOMAN elected to the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

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