Daily Docket — Wednesday, April 19

Here are some updates from the past few days.

• Today, the Ohio Senate passed a resolution to raise the threshold to approve constitutional amendments from 50% to 60% of the vote. The Senate also passed a bill allowing the state to hold an August special election for voters to approve the potential resolution ahead of the November elections where a measure to protect abortion access is expected to be on the ballot. The resolution now goes to the Ohio House.

• A Florida House Committee advanced an omnibus election bill. Among other provisions, the bill would restrict third-party voter registration organizations, add new reasons for voter registrations to be canceled and more. The bill mirrors a Senate version passed out of committee two weeks ago.

• The New York Senate voted to confirm Judge Rowan Wilson as chief judge and Judge Caitlin Halligan as associate judge for New York's highest court. Wilson will be the first Black chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals. The court has a full bench for the first time since August.

• An Arizona judge rejected a request from Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) to temporarily block Cochise County from transferring election authority to County Recorder David Stevens (R). Mayes alleged that this move violates state law. 

• The Arizona Republican Party joined a lawsuit filed by Bill Barr and Karl Rove's conservative legal group. The lawsuit seeks stricter rules for mail-in ballot signature verification in Arizona.

• The state of Maine appealed a federal court decision that ruled the state violated federal law when it tried to prevent a conservative group from gaining free access to and publishing voters' personal information.

Here's what to expect coming up.

• Tomorrow on Democracy Docket, we’re publishing our analysis on how what happened in Tennessee last week undermines a key premise pushed by supporters of the independent state legislature theory.

Can’t get enough news? You can always find more details about these updates on our News page.

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