Florida lawmakers passed a dramatic overhaul of state election law Thursday night, a move that GOP legislators say will bring integrity to the process and one that Democrats counter will disenfranchise voters across the state. The measure, a major rewrite to the laws that govern the state’s elections, passed 79-37. Among other things, the measure (HB…
The new Constitution provides that the election of President, MPs and the Senate, the county governor and the county ward representatives be held ‘‘on the second Tuesday in August in every fifth year’’. The management of five elections in one General Election in one day will be a Herculean task for the proposed Independent Elections and…
FL: Florida House passes elections law overhaul – St. Petersburg Times The Florida House passed a sweeping overhaul of election laws Thursday that Republicans say will streamline voting machinery and Democrats say will make it harder for people to vote in the nation’s biggest battleground state in 2012. Passage on a 79-37 party-line vote followed…
Charging that voting “anomalies” were “widespread,” the liberal challenger in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race filed papers Wednesday afternoon requesting a recount in the close election that has her trailing a conservative incumbent by less than 0.5 percent. JoAnne Kloppenburg arrived at the state Government Accountability Board’s office in Madison barely an hour before the…
Ghana will not be using the e-voting technology for the 2012 polls, the Electoral Commission (EC) has declared. The declaration is in response to a campaign for the country to adopt electronic voting for future polls. The system allows eligible voters to select their preferred candidate by pressing a button on a computer. Campaigners say the system…
Canadians who post local results from the May 2 national election online before polling stations close in all six time zones face fines, election law states. The upcoming election is the first one in which huge numbers of people are using such Internet social sites as Facebook and Twitter, but the 1938 Canada Elections Act…
The Wisconsin Government Accountability Board asked a judge to allow the use of electronic voting memory cartridges to speed the recount in a contested Supreme Court election, even if that use might erase the voting data. The nonpartisan agency filed the lawsuit today in state court in Madison, naming as defendants incumbent Supreme Court Justice…
It’s going to cost Wisconsin’s taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars to more than $1 million to find out who will be the next state Supreme Court justice. Assistant attorney general JoAnne Kloppenburg on Wednesday said she will seek a full, statewide recount of the April 5 election in which she is challenging Justice David Prosser…
Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David T. Prosser Jr. and challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg agreed to the recounting of some ballots by hand and others electronically to resolve who won the April 5 election. Lawyers for Prosser and Kloppenburg reached the accord in court today, representatives for both sides said, after the state agency responsible for counting…
WI: Wisconsin court race heads for recount – Reuters Wisconsin’s election oversight agency said on Wednesday that the challenger in the close race for a seat on the state Supreme Court has asked for a recount. The April 5 high court contest was widely seen as a referendum on the state’s new Republican leadership and…
In a bid to ensure fair and free counting on May 13, the Election Commission, for the first time, will instal high resolution web cameras over each counting table to capture images of the counting process including the final figures that will appear in the electronic voting machines. Chief electoral officer Praveen Kumar said web…
A consortium of university computer science departments has warned the Federal Government that all future computerised voting systems should be made open source to ensure that no votes will be miscast. In a submission (PDF) to the House of Representatives review into the 2010 Federal Election, the Computing Research and Education Association of Australia (CORE)…
Wisconsin’s Asst. Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg has filed paperwork for a statewide, state-sponsored “recount” in the controversial April 5th State Supreme Court election. She has also called for a special investigator be named to examine questions about election results in Waukesha County, where the County Clerk’s procedures have come under fire both before and since…
Wisconsin’s election oversight agency said on Wednesday that the challenger in the close race for a seat on the state Supreme Court has asked for a recount. The April 5 high court contest was widely seen as a referendum on the state’s new Republican leadership and the curbs they have imposed on public sector collective…
There was a lively discussion on our letters blog today about the proposed Voter ID bill. Supporters of the measure simply can’t understand why anyone would see a problem with requiring voters to show a photo ID at the polls. Joyce McCloy of the N.C. Coalition for Verified Voting didn’t weigh in there, but she…
GOP backers of a plan to require photo IDs at the polls are considering an effort to seek a constitutional amendment if the bill is thwarted by a veto. The controversial voter ID bill is nearing a floor vote after months of hearings and while Gov. Mark Dayton said Tuesday he is willing to look at…
Maged Osman, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, today denied reports Egypt is seeking technological support from abroad to conduct electronic voting in the country’s upcoming elections. He stressed that the Egyptian government and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has full confidence in the ability of local companies to carry out the task,…
The election battle seen as a proxy between Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and foes of his anti-union legislation may end or open a new chapter today. Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate JoAnne Kloppenberg has until 5pm today to request a recount in her very close race with incumbent Supreme Court Justice David Prosser. While the margin…
The state’s top election watchdog agency announced Tuesday that it has satisfied itself that results certified by Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus for the April 5 election are consistent with totals reported by municipalities, though “a few anomalies” were found in a four-day investigation. Those discrepancies involved only a handful of votes. “After completing the review…
IN: Senate OKs plan to alter election law – The Indianapolis Star Despite howls from Democrats that Republicans were changing the rules because they fear the outcome, the Senate on Monday approved a provision that would let the governor appoint a new secretary of state if Charlie White is found ineligible to have been elected.…
Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi, is visiting Egypt to apprise the top officials in the country about the electoral system in India and the usage of EVMs, as it prepares itself for democratic process after the ouster of Hosni Mubarak regime. Quraishi is accompanied by a 5-member team from the Election Commission of India…
Via Eric Kleefeld at TPM… “Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser held a press conference at the state Capitol on Monday, in which he declared victory in his reelection race — and at which his campaign advisers said they would object to any recount that might be requested by Prosser’s opponent, Assistant Attorney General JoAnne…
The chief House sponsor of a bill to require a photo ID for voting in Minnesota said Monday she expects the Legislature to pass it soon — and that supporters are likely to bring the issue directly to voters if Gov. Mark Dayton vetoes it. “That is absolutely still an option,” said Rep. Mary Kiffmeyer,…
People would be required to show a birth certificate or other proof of citizenship before they could register to vote in Kentucky under a proposal by Hilda Legg, a Republican candidate for secretary of state. Legg, former head of the federal Appalachian Regional Commission, made the proposal during a televised debate Monday night with GOP opponent…
Despite howls from Democrats that Republicans were changing the rules because they fear the outcome, the Senate on Monday approved a provision that would let the governor appoint a new secretary of state if Charlie White is found ineligible to have been elected. The provision would overturn current law that says the second-highest vote-getter — in…
Having solved all other problems, the Florida Legislature now turns to the most dangerous threat of all …Voting. No kidding. The 2011 Legislature is considering, and its committees have approved so far, bills that would: • Cut Florida’s early-voting period (nearly one out of five ballots were cast early in 2010) from two weeks to one. • Bar…
Senate Democrats have killed two more bills from the GOP-controlled House, both of which dealt with the issue of illegal immigration. A controversial proposal to reduce alleged voter fraud, House 1252 would have allowed the Secretary of State’s office to cross-check the state’s voter rolls with immigration databases and to send letters demanding further proof…
WI: Prosser urges against a “frivolous” recount – POLITICO.com Wisconsin Supreme Court justice David Prosser said Monday that he’s won a “decisive” victory in his race for a 10-year term on the court and that a request from his opponent for a state-funded recount would be “frivolous.” “The result of the election is not in…
After coming under fire from transparency activists, including Anna Hazare, the Election Commission of India seems to have given in to the demand for paper-backed election instead of purely electronic recording of votes. The Election Commission had come under fire after Hari Prasad, an activist was arrested for securing an EVM from Mumbai in his…
Sometimes, it seems that government has lost its capacity to run elections. Consider the double-edged sword of electronic voting machines: In some ways, new optical scan or touch-screen machines are more convenient. They certainly tabulate faster than former machines or humans counting paper ballots. They’re also expensive.