Election officials have to trek 11 km up the Himalayan range over two days to reach West Bengal’s highest polling station — located at Sirikhola, 2,800 metres above sea level. The Sirikhola primary school polling booth, 99 km from this hill resort, has 778 voters mainly from the Gotkha community. On foot, it is 11…
As the Democrats’ challenge to Charlie White’s eligibility to serve as secretary of state goes back to the Indiana Recount Commission, the party is replacing its lone appointment on the commission. Indiana Democratic Party Chairman Dan Parker announced today that former Hamilton County Judge Buddy Pylitt will replace former State Rep. Bob Kuzman.
WI: Wisconsin Election Surprise: David Prosser Gains 7,500 Votes After ‘Human Error’ In Waukesha County (VIDEO) – HuffingtonPost In a dramatic turn of events on Thursday, the Waukesha County clerk announced that the vote total announced for Tuesday’s Wisconsin Supreme Court race had been mistaken — and that the corrected numbers changed the outcome of…
In a dramatic turn of events on Thursday, the Waukesha County clerk announced that the vote total announced for Tuesday’s Wisconsin Supreme Court race had been mistaken — and that the corrected numbers changed the outcome of the entire election. There were 3,456 missing votes for Democratic-backed challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg and 11,059 for incumbent GOP-backed…
When Kathy Nickolaus, the county clerk in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, spoke to the press on Thursday after revealing that she had failed to count more than 14,000 ballots in the hotly contested state supreme court election, one might have expected her to offer her resignation. Instead, Ms. Nickolaus blamed “human error” for the problem, which resulted…
The Hampden Board of Selectmen has voted unanimously not to seek funding from Town Meeting to purchase voting machines this year. Selectmen’s Chairman John D. Flynn said a study committee, with Registrar Arthur Booth as a member, recommended against seeking funds from Town Meeting to purchase voting machines this year. Booth said he did not…
Democrats’ legal challenge to the election of Secretary of State Charlie White is valid, a judge ruled Thursday, and he sent it back to the Indiana Recount Commission to be resolved. Marion Circuit Judge Louis Rosenberg said the commission’s interpretation of the law when it dismissed questions of White’s eligibility would “undermine a key purpose…
Several of the bills coming up in the General Assembly deal with elections, and we’ve learned several will be heard in the House Judiciary next week. April 13th will be “Elections Day” in the House Judiciary Committee, with an inventory of no less than a dozen bills dealing with how, when and what happens when…
Voters may have to buck their routines in the 2012 election after Gov. Susana Martinez on Thursday signed election-related measures that could significantly alter Election Day procedures in some counties. Counties will now have the option of consolidating staff — and precincts — into large “voting centers.” The centers will operate much like early voting…
Ohio’s elections chief said yesterday that “there is a better way” in reference to a controversial Ohio House bill that would require voters to show photo identification at the polls. Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted is proposing election reforms as an alternative to the GOP-backed House Bill 159, which would require that anyone voting…
A constitutional petition was filed on Thursday in the Supreme Court, seeking direction to the Election Commission (EC) to introduce electronic voting machines in the future general elections. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan filed the petition under Article 184(3), making the EC, National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra), and the Federation of Pakistan through…
Suppose the Democratic governor of Illinois had proposed radical changes in how the state operates, and suppose anger over those proposed changes inspired a popular uprising that filled the streets of every city, village and town in the state with protests. Then, suppose there was an election that would decide whether allies of the governor…
In a stunning development that instantly changed the race for the state Supreme Court, a county clerk’s error on election night added 7,582 votes for incumbent Justice David Prosser over challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg. The additional votes almost certainly will give Prosser the victory in the heated race for the high court. As of early afternoon…
The Ghanaian government announced here on Thursday that it would support the electoral commission to develop a biometric voter register in order to lay a strong foundation for e-voting in the country. The government said that the e-voting system would eliminate the incidence of multiple registrations, multiple voting and other kinds of electoral fraud in elections.…
WI: State Supreme Court race headed for likely recount – JSOnline A recount is all but certain in the race for state Supreme Court, which would pose a host of legal questions, raise the political stakes in efforts to recall state senators, ignite a new bout of political fundraising and further fuel Wisconsin’s ongoing battle…
Former Head of State and presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change,[CPC], Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) said the postponement of the rescheduled National Assembly Elections has exposed the very sophisticated rigging strategies of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party [PDP]. Addressing newsmen at the Benin Airport on his way to Onitsha in Anambra State in…
House Republicans squashed a Senate plan Wednesday to let voters cast ballots early and sent back to the Senate a bill requiring voters to present a photo ID at the polls. Under the bill approved by the Republican-controlled House, voters must bring a driver’s license, passport, military ID or other photo ID to the polls…
After passing both the House and Senate, the contentious Senate voter ID bill returned to the upper chamber with a variety of House amendments. Rather than accept the House’s tweaks to the measure, the Senate sent the bill to conference committee, where five members of each chamber will iron out the differences between the versions.…
With election day approaching, it is the right time to discuss digital voting. Traditionally, millions of Turkish citizens go to a physical location where they stamp their votes on paper, enclose it within an envelope and drop it in a closed box, which is later opened and counted by previously assigned people. They also get…
The Electoral Commission of Queensland will forgo electronic voting for the next state election, sidelining plans to develop a system as a result of legislative restrictions in the state. The commission allocated $960,000 in funding late last year for research into technology to assist voting for the blind and vision impaired, following similar projects in…
A recount and possibly a lengthy legal battle may be necessary to decide the closely watched Wisconsin Supreme Court race in which an incumbent conservative judge trails a liberal challenger, but the fight over what it all means has already begun. Democrats hailed unofficial counts showing JoAnne Kloppenburg with a razor-thin 204-vote edge over Justice…
A recount is all but certain in the race for state Supreme Court, which would pose a host of legal questions, raise the political stakes in efforts to recall state senators, ignite a new bout of political fundraising and further fuel Wisconsin’s ongoing battle over union bargaining. On Wednesday, nearly 20 hours after the polls…
A lot of statistics are being presented and there’s still a lot of confusion about how necessary the voter ID bill is and whether it would make voting difficult for some. But that hasn’t stopped Republicans from pushing the bill through. Wednesday afternoon the back and forth between right and left continued in committee.
Voted ballots should be kept secret, secure and off-limits for public inspection — even if the person asking is Colorado’s top election official, the Saguache County clerk and recorder has argued in a court filing. Melinda Myers said Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler doesn’t have the authority to conduct a “hand review” of voted…
A Marion County judge will decide Thursday if Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White’s election was unqualified to have his name on the ballot last November. Indiana Democrats have sued, seeking to have White removed from his post and replaced by Democrat Vop Osili, who lost to White in November’s election. Attorneys for the Democrats…
A single vote Tuesday cost taxpayers about $10 in Rockford and Winnebago County. That’s roughly the price of a movie ticket and, thanks to low voter turnout, substantially higher than the cost per vote of previous elections dating back to at least 1987. Election costs include judges’ pay, polling place rental, truck rental, equipment, publications,…
Fort Collins voters are not interested in changing how the city runs its elections. Voters on Tuesday rejected a ballot proposal that would have had the city adopt a ranked-choice voting system in municipal elections designed to ensure that winning candidates enjoy the support of a majority of those casting ballots. The proposal, which was…
A recount petition may be filed no earlier than the time of completion of the canvass and no later than 5:00 p.m. on the third business day following the last meeting day of the municipal or county board of canvassers determining the election for the office or referendum question or, if more than one board…
It has been nothing short of astonishing that, within a few weeks, the brave people of Tunisia and Egypt toppled corrupt dictators who ruled for decades. One of the protesters’ key demands was for democratic elections — the right to choose a government that is responsive to the people’s needs. That is also what protesters in Bahrain, Yemen, Iran, Jordan and Libya are demanding as they call for the dissolution of their autocratic and oppressive governments. As the protesters know all too well, voting does not mean that one’s vote will be counted. In Egypt’s 2005 elections, Hosni Mubarak was reelected with 88.6 percent of the vote. In 2009, Tunisia’s Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was reelected with an 89.6 percent landslide victory. In both cases allegations of fraud and corruption surrounded the elections.
What nobody is talking about is how votes will be cast in emerging democracies. For elections to be legitimate in such countries, it is critical to use voting technology that counts votes accurately. In the 21st century, chances are high that computers will be used in some form in the coming elections in Egypt and Tunisia. But voting computers, like heads of state, must be held accountable to the people they serve. It is a tenet of computer science that computers can be programmed to do anything, including play “Jeopardy!” and steal votes.
WI: Opinion: Wisconsin court election courts disaster – Richard L. Hasen – POLITICO.com With a razor-thin 204-vote lead, Democratic state assistant attorney general JoAnne Kloppenburg has declared victoryover Republican incumbent David Prosser in the race for Wisconsin state Supreme Court justice. A recount in this race, which some view as a referendum on Gov. Scott Walker’s anti-union…