• Disputed House race puts spotlight on 'ballot harvesting'

    By: MATT VOLZ, Associated Press

    HELENA, Mont. (AP) - An investigation into whether political operatives in North Carolina illegally collected and possibly stole absentee ballots in a still-undecided congressional race has drawn attention to a widespread but little-known political tool called ballot harvesting.







    "Sometimes we think of voting as this really straightforward process and we often forget that all voters, but for new voters in particular, there's a lot of confusion when voting about when they actually have to vote by, where they have to take their ballot to," said Rachel Huff-Doria, executive director of the voter advocacy group Forward Montana.

    Several states have tried to limit ballot harvesting by restricting who can turn in another person's ballot. In Arizona, a video that showed a volunteer dropping off hundreds of ballots at a polling place prompted a debate that led to an anti-ballot harvesting law in 2016.

    "I think at any level, Republican, Democrat or anything, it's wrong. It's a terrible practice," said former Arizona Republican Party chairman Robert Graham, who backed the law. "People should be responsible for their own votes."




    "For a woman in her 70s that's maybe frail and lives alone and feels intimidated, at least now they can say please leave" and have confidence that the law is behind them, he said.


    "If you have an honest person who is trying to help voters, then who they are doesn't matter as long as they return (the ballot)," said Myrna Perez, the deputy director of the Brennan Center for Justice's democracy program.


    Republicans felt the new law's effects during this year's midterm elections after congressional districts that GOP candidates were leading on Election Day flipped to the Democrats when a flood of last-minute mail-in ballots were counted along with provisional ballots.



    Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan described California's election system as "bizarre" in an interview with The Washington Post.

    California's situation underscored that ballot harvesting is an important tool for political parties. Orange County Republican Party Chairman Fred Whitaker wrote in a newsletter last month that Republicans must "develop a response to this new law that allows us to remain competitive."

    Even Olszewski, the sponsor of Montana's anti-ballot harvesting measure, acknowledges that laws such as his are unlikely to eliminate ballot harvesting completely. Such "micro-targeting" of voters when used with technology to identify individuals' political leanings has become too important and effective in get-out-the-vote efforts, he said.

    "I think the Democrats, they're the ones that figured it out and were far more successful in '18, in this election, than the Republicans ever were," he said. "The Republicans, what I'm hearing right now early on is, holy cow, we need to learn how to do this as good or better than the Democrats at harvesting ballots. We have the data."




    Follow Matt Volz at https://twitter.com/mattvolz

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