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RandySF's JournalState Board of Elections addresses next steps in mail-in ballot error
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Following the printing error that led to some voters receiving incorrect ballots last week, the Maryland State Board of Elections has announced its next steps and what voters can expect to see in the coming days and weeks.
"Since the mail-in vendor was unable to accurately identify who received correct ballots and who did not receive correct ballots, SBE determined that the only course of action to ensure the integrity and security of mail-in voting was sending all voters who requested a mail-in ballot by mail a new ballot," the Board said in a press release.
All voters affected by this will receive a postcard with details. If you are impacted and have signed up to receive emails or texts from SBE, you will be notified about a replacement ballot that way. Communication will begin as early as today.
Replacement ballots will be mailed no later than May 29 and will have “REPLACEMENT BALLOT INSIDE” printed on the envelope.
https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national-politics/america-votes/state-board-of-elections-addresses-next-steps-in-mail-in-ballot-error
Early in-person voting starts today for NJ congressional primaries
Early in-person voting begins today throughout New Jersey, with federal races topping the primary ballots to choose Democratic and Republican nominees for the fall midterms.
Democrat U.S. Sen. Cory Booker’s seat is open, as are all of the dozen House seats. Booker has no party opposition, though four Republicans are vying for the chance to unseat him in the November general election. More than 228,000 people voted using mail-in ballots through Thursday, close to 81% of them Democrats.
Six days of in-person voting start at 10 a.m. Polling places are open until 8 p.m. today, Friday, Saturday, Monday and Tuesday, and 6 p.m. on Sunday. Voters can cast ballots at any polling location in their home counties.
In-person voting at polls will take place on Election Day, June 2 ,from 6 a.m.-8 p.m. Voters can check their mailed sample ballots or use the state’s online locator to find their polling sites.
https://www.njspotlightnews.org/2026/05/early-in-person-voting-starts-today-for-nj-congressional-primaries/
WI-GOV: From wildcard to contender: The rise of Francesca Hong (D)
Sitting down to talk with Francesca Hong, the third-term state representative from Madison now running for governor, it’s striking how normal the conversation feels.
Considering all the narratives swirling around Hong’s candidacy, “normal” might not be the first word many people would use to describe her campaign. She doesn’t come across as the firebrand leftist insurgent that her critics and political opponents have painted her as.
In person, she’s deliberate. She’s thoughtful. She demonstrates a nuanced understanding of the issues facing Wisconsin. She’s even sort of quiet, or at least soft-spoken, in her own way — not quite the brashness of her perceived persona.
We get into a discussion on policy priorities, on how she might seek to balance certain bills that have stalled for years under a Republican legislative majority with some of the more ambitious elements of the lengthy agenda her campaign has posted online, and she slices through the noise.
https://civicmedia.us/news/2026/05/21/from-wildcard-to-contender-the-rise-of-francesca-hong
NJ-07: VA hospital workers union backs Tina Shan (D)
The American Federation of Government Employees Local 102 has endorsed Tina Shah for the Democratic nomination for Congress in New Jersey’s 7th district.
“Dr. Shah has served as a policy leader at the highest levels of government, including the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, where she served as the first National Director of Clinician Wellbeing, ensuring those who served our country receive the benefits they have earned,” said Adam Cartegena, the union president. “I look forward to working with Dr. Shah in Congress to protect access to healthcare for our veterans and make life more affordable for American families.”
AGGE Local 102 represents staff at the Lyons VA Medical Center in Bernardsville.
Shah, a triple board-certified physician who works as an ICU physician at RWJBarnabas Health, held positions in the Obama and Biden administrations.
https://newjerseyglobe.com/congress/va-hospital-workers-union-backs-tina-shan/
CBC blocks SCORE Act vote on college athlete pay in response to GOP's southern redistricting wave
Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) members are blocking a U.S. House bill regarding college athletes’ pay in hopes that collegiate sports associations will speak out against Republicans’ current efforts to eliminate majority-Black districts in wake of the gutting of the Voting Rights Act.
“The [CBC] cannot support legislation benefiting major athletic institutions that continue to remain silent while Black voting rights and Black political power are being systematically dismantled across the South,” reads a CBC statement from earlier this week. “The [CBC] believes institutions that profit from Black talent and Black communities have a responsibility to stand with those communities when their fundamental rights are under attack. Silence in the face of injustice is not neutrality — it is complicity.”
African-American congressmembers are aligning with the NAACP’s call for Black college athletes to boycott colleges in the South, where state efforts are afoot to gerrymander away majority-Black and Democrat districts.
Such efforts hearken historical civil rights causes such as those driven by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in the 1960s to involve Black students in the crusade for equal democracy and voting rights in the U.S.
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/cbc-blocks-score-act-vote-on-college-athlete-pay-in-response-to-gops-southern-redistricting-wave/
Justin Heap refers alleged noncitizen voters to AG's office after strongly worded letters
After weeks of sparring with state prosecutors, Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap referred potential noncitizens that he claims to have found on the county’s voter roll to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office on Friday.
His referral comes after the attorney general’s office suggested it could take legal action against Heap unless he handed over information about the voters, according to public records obtained by Votebeat.
Nicholas Klingerman, the chief counsel of the office’s criminal division, wrote in an April 2 letter to Heap that he was violating state law by failing to refer the alleged noncitizen voters for further investigation. On May 20, he sent another letter stressing those concerns and adding that Heap’s “current handling” of the voters’ registration status didn’t comply with state election law.
“At this point, your insistence that you are following the law is wrong at best and purposefully misleading at worst,” Klingerman wrote in his letter, adding that Heap must refer the voters to state prosecutors by the end of the week.
https://www.votebeat.org/arizona/2026/05/22/attorney-general-maricopa-county-justin-heap-noncitizen-voters-investigation-save/
FL-GOV: Byron Donalds defends 'Anti-Weaponization Fund' as unselfish act by Trump
Rep. Byron Donalds on Sunday defended the Justice Department’s new “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” becoming one of the few lawmakers to publicly back a program that has largely faced sweeping bipartisan condemnation.
In an interview with “Fox News Sunday,” the Florida Republican said the fund is the result of the Internal Revenue Service “victimizing” Trump.
“The dollars are there because the IRS lost its case and they settled it because they did victimize the commander in chief,” said Donalds, a close ally of the president. “Instead of taking the money they said put it into a fund for other people, and now everybody is losing their minds. I don’t understand that.”
Donalds is exiting Congress this year to run for governor in place of term-limited fellow Republican Ron DeSantis.
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/24/byron-donalds-anti-weaponization-trump-00935242
NV-03: Canadians are folding on Vegas. Democrats see a royal flush.
President Donald Trump’s trade war has driven Canadians from Las Vegas. Democrats think it will help them protect their Nevada battleground seats in November.
Last year, as Trump levied tariffs on Canada, visits from Canadians — who account for up to half of Las Vegas’ foreign tourism — dropped off by 17 percent. That played a large role in a 7.5 percent year-over-year decline in total tourist visits, making 2025 the worst non-pandemic year for Las Vegas since the city started tracking data in 1970. Now, as peak tourism season arrives in a battleground state where Republicans’ control of the House could be won or lost, Democrats are pushing voters to see the tourism slump as a direct impact of Trump’s levies.
“Trump instituted his reckless tariffs. In response, Canadians have literally boycotted traveling to America,” said Rep. Susie Lee (D-Nev.), whose Las Vegas-area seat is Republicans’ top target in the state. “That has had a significant impact on our tourism.”
Trump narrowly carried Lee’s district in 2024 and nearly won two other Vegas-area districts held by Democrats. Republicans are less bullish than they were a year ago about flipping the seats, but they view Lee’s as their best chance.
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/25/canadians-vegas-democrats-tariffs-nevada-00935098
NJ-07: Absent Congressman Calls Allies, but Stops Short of Public Appearance
Republican officials in New Jersey said their phones suddenly began buzzing late last week with a familiar number as Mr. Kean began to re-engage with political leaders after being absent for nearly 12 weeks with an undisclosed medical condition during a high-stakes re-election campaign.
Carlos Santos said his phone rang at 4:52 p.m. on Thursday. Joe LaBarbera was in his car when his cell lit up five minutes later.
“I asked him if he needed anything,” Mr. LaBarbera, Sussex County’s Republican chairman, recalled saying.
“‘Just your prayers,’” he said Mr. Kean answered.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/25/nyregion/tom-kean-new-jersey-missing.html
CA-11: He Name-Drops Ocasio-Cortez in His Bid for Congress. She Doesn't Talk About Him at All.
Connie Chan, a left-wing San Francisco supervisor running for the House seat held by Representative Nancy Pelosi, the retiring former speaker, recently secured a key endorsement: Ms. Pelosi herself.
Saikat Chakrabarti, Ms. Chan’s progressive rival, boasts a different powerhouse affiliation: He served as chief of staff for Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York, in 2019. But a roving billboard that follows him to campaign stops with the message “A.O.C. FIRED SAIKAT” — referring to Ms. Ocasio-Cortez by her initials — makes clear that the relationship is, well, complicated.
Mr. Chakrabarti has made his time with Ms. Ocasio-Cortez central to his anti-establishment campaign. He has repeatedly invoked the connection in speeches, promoted advertisements with a photo featuring the two of them and introduced himself to voters as someone who “used to work with A.O.C.”
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, meanwhile, has backed multiple left-wing House candidates in recent weeks, campaigning with one in Philadelphia and planning a trip to western Montana to support another. But she won’t even mention her former chief of staff’s name.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/25/us/politics/saikat-chakrabarti-aoc-sf-pelosi-seat.html
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