Latest news with #pre-ElectionDay
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Early in-person voting begins in New Jersey
New Jersey's primary early voting period will run from Tuesday to Sunday this year. (Daniella Heminghaus for New Jersey Monitor) Early in-person voting in this year's gubernatorial and Assembly primaries began Tuesday morning, one week ahead of the June 10 primary. For the first time, this year's primary early voting period will run for six days. Early polling centers are open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. Eligible voters can cast ballots at any early polling station in their county. New Jersey's 21 counties will stand up 168 early voting stations this year, up from 159 in last fall's general election. The state reimburses counties' early voting expenses for up to three, five, or 10 early polling sites, depending on county population. Only two counties, Union and Hudson, are standing up early polling stations at their own expense. Union is set to launch 11 early voting locations, while Hudson is erecting a staggering 31. It remains to be seen whether this year's governor's race — featuring 11 candidates across the two major parties — will draw the level of early in-person turnout observed during last year's presidential races. Nearly 1.2 million residents cast early in-person ballots during the state's nine-day early voting period last November, shattering previous turnout records for the voting method and eclipsing the 841,138 mail ballots returned in that race. About 65% of registered voters cast ballots in that election, with early votes accounting for a little more than a quarter of total turnout. Until 2024, mail ballots were the main method of pre-Election Day voting. Before then, in-person early voting struggled to attract large numbers of voters. The state first allowed the practice in November 2021. This year's early voting period will be longer than in previous years due to a bill Gov. Phil Murphy signed into law in March. That law extends the primary early voting period to six days, from three days in most years and five days in years with a presidential election. Gubernatorial primaries will top this year's ballots. On the Democratic side, six candidates — Reps. Mikie Sherrill and Josh Gottheimer, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, former Senate President Steve Sweeney, and New Jersey Education Association President Sean Spiller — are vying for the chance to succeed Murphy. Five Republicans — former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, Sen. Jon Bramnick, radio host Bill Spadea, former Englewood Cliffs Mayor Mario Kranjac, and contractor Justin Barbera — are competing for their party's nod. All 80 of the state's Assembly seats are also up for election this year. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Panel orders Mississippi to redraw DeSoto County legislative districts as special elections loom
A federal three-judge panel on Tuesday evening ordered state officials to develop another legislative map that ensures Black voters in the DeSoto County area have a fair opportunity to elect candidates to the state Senate. The unanimous ruling gave the all-Republican State Board of Election Commissioners seven days to propose a new map for the DeSoto County area, with the state facing a time crunch to hold special elections for numerous redrawn legislative districts in November. The order is another setback for state officials who have fought bitterly with the plaintiffs and among each other to comply with court orders and federal redistricting law. The panel, comprised of U.S. District Judge Daniel Jordan, U.S. District Judge Sul Ozerden and U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Leslie Southwick, previously ruled that when lawmakers redrew their districts in 2022 to account for population shifts, they violated federal civil rights law because the maps diluted Black voting power. To remedy the violation, the court allowed the Legislature to propose a new House map redrawing House districts in the Chickasaw County area and a new Senate map redrawing districts in the DeSoto County and Hattiesburg areas. Earlier this year, during the 2025 session, the Legislature attempted to comply with the order and tweaked those districts. However, the plaintiffs still objected to parts of the Legislature's plan. The plaintiffs, the state chapter of the NAACP and Black voters from around the state, did not object to the Hattiesburg portion of the Senate plan. But they argued the Chickasaw County portion of the House plan and the DeSoto County portion of the Senate plan did not create a realistic opportunity for Black voters in those areas to elect their preferred candidates. The judges accepted the Chickasaw County redistricting portion. Still, they objected to the DeSoto County part because the Legislature's proposed DeSoto County solution 'yokes high-turnout white communities in the Hernando area of DeSoto County to several poorer, predominantly black towns in the Mississippi Delta,' which would make it hard for Black voters to overcome white voting blocs. It's unclear if Tuesday's order will impact parts of the election schedule. The judges said they were committed to voters participating in November special elections, but it might change other parts of the pre-Election Day schedule. This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Associated Press
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Panel orders Mississippi to redraw DeSoto County legislative districts as special elections loom
A federal three-judge panel on Tuesday evening ordered state officials to develop another legislative map that ensures Black voters in the DeSoto County area have a fair opportunity to elect candidates to the state Senate. The unanimous ruling gave the all-Republican State Board of Election Commissioners seven days to propose a new map for the DeSoto County area, with the state facing a time crunch to hold special elections for numerous redrawn legislative districts in November. The order is another setback for state officials who have fought bitterly with the plaintiffs and among each other to comply with court orders and federal redistricting law. The panel, comprised of U.S. District Judge Daniel Jordan, U.S. District Judge Sul Ozerden and U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Leslie Southwick, previously ruled that when lawmakers redrew their districts in 2022 to account for population shifts, they violated federal civil rights law because the maps diluted Black voting power. To remedy the violation, the court allowed the Legislature to propose a new House map redrawing House districts in the Chickasaw County area and a new Senate map redrawing districts in the DeSoto County and Hattiesburg areas. Earlier this year, during the 2025 session, the Legislature attempted to comply with the order and tweaked those districts. However, the plaintiffs still objected to parts of the Legislature's plan. The plaintiffs, the state chapter of the NAACP and Black voters from around the state, did not object to the Hattiesburg portion of the Senate plan. But they argued the Chickasaw County portion of the House plan and the DeSoto County portion of the Senate plan did not create a realistic opportunity for Black voters in those areas to elect their preferred candidates. The judges accepted the Chickasaw County redistricting portion. Still, they objected to the DeSoto County part because the Legislature's proposed DeSoto County solution 'yokes high-turnout white communities in the Hernando area of DeSoto County to several poorer, predominantly black towns in the Mississippi Delta,' which would make it hard for Black voters to overcome white voting blocs. It's unclear if Tuesday's order will impact parts of the election schedule. The judges said they were committed to voters participating in November special elections, but it might change other parts of the pre-Election Day schedule. ___ This story was originally published by Mississippi Today and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
Associated Press
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Early voting proposal killed on last day of Mississippi legislative session
Mississippi will remain one of only three states without no-excuse early voting or no-excuse absentee voting. Senate leaders, on the last day of their regular 2025 session, decided not to send a bill to Gov. Tate Reeves that would have expanded pre-Election Day voting options. The governor has been vocally opposed to early voting in Mississippi, and would likely have vetoed the measure. The House and Senate this week overwhelmingly voted for legislation that established a watered-down version of early voting. The proposal would have required voters to go to a circuit clerk's office and verify their identity with a photo ID. The proposal also listed broad excuses that would have allowed many voters an opportunity to cast early ballots. The measure passed the House unanimously and the Senate approved it 42-7. However, Sen. Jeff Tate, a Republican from Meridian who strongly opposes early voting, held the bill on a procedural motion. Senate Elections Chairman Jeremy England chose not to dispose of Tate's motion on Thursday morning, the last day the Senate was in session. This killed the bill and prevented it from going to the governor. England, a Republican from Vancleave, told reporters he decided to kill the legislation because he believed some of its language needed tweaking. The other reality is that Republican Gov. Tate Reeves strongly opposes early voting proposals and even attacked England on social media for advancing the proposal out of the Senate chamber. England said he received word 'through some sources' that Reeves would veto the measure. 'I'm not done working on it, though,' England said. Although Mississippi does not have no-excuse early voting or no-excuse absentee voting, it does have absentee voting. To vote by absentee, a voter must meet one of around a dozen legal excuses, such as temporarily living outside of their county or being over 65. Mississippi law doesn't allow people to vote by absentee purely out of convenience or choice. Several conservative states, such as Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Florida, have an in-person early voting system. The Republican National Committee in 2023 urged Republican voters to cast an early ballot in states that have early voting procedures. Yet some Republican leaders in Mississippi have ardently opposed early voting legislation over concerns that it undermines election security. ___
