The Voting News Daily: Nelson blasts Florida election-law fixes, Report shows that 1 in 6 recounts changed results

FL: Nelson blasts Florida Legislature’s 2012 election-law fixes – Legislature – MiamiHerald.com

Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson blasted state Republican lawmakers Monday for an election law overhaul that he says will block college students and military personnel from having their votes counted next year when he and President Barack Obama both seek re-election. Then Nelson waded into a controversy of his own when he suggested the U.S. special forces that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden could be blocked from voting if the Legislature passes the bill. “Should we deny those very military that carried out this very successful decapitating of the al-Qaida snake?” Nelson asked at a Capitol news conference. “Should we deny them because they have signed their voter registration card in a different way than they signed their absentee ballot overseas?” Full Article

Report: Recounts rarely impact state elections | California Watch

Between 2000 and 2009, recounts in state elections were extremely uncommon and rarely resulted in reversals when they did happen, according to a new study [PDF] by the Center for Voting and Democracy. Out of 2,884 statewide general elections there were 18 recounts, only three of which resulted in a change in decision. “There are people who have been pretty critical of the way that we do a lot of voting, thinking it could be done better. But at the same time the basic function of tallying ballots once the voter gets them to their poll worker or the machine, it seems to actually be doing well,” said Robert Richie, co-author of the study. … Having an automatic recount procedure for a race won by 0.5 percent, that’s way too high, absent some reason to think that there’s something that was systematically done in error or fraud.”

But Pamela Smith, president of Verified Voting, said the systems used in many states can’t be recounted because of their design. And even where recountable systems are used, fraud and error can easily go undetected if a race is not close enough to merit a recount. “You’ve got 18 recounts out of close to 3,000 contests, three of which resulted in decisions being reversed,” she said. “Well, three isn’t a large percentage out of 3,000, but it’s a sixth of 18. If those are the only cases that you’re doing a recount in, I think you have to look at that.” Californians have been nothing if not skeptical when it comes to using electronic machines and adopting methods like ranked-choice voting. But Smith said California is ahead of the curve when it comes to many of these issues. The state has been conducting a baseline manual tally of 1 percent of precincts in every county for decades. And in 2007, California Secretary of State Debra Bowen commissioned a “top-to-bottom review” of voting systems and created a Post Election Audit Standards Working Group [PDF]. California also recently passed legislation launching a “risk-limiting audit” program to increase the scrutiny of electronic voting machines, which is something that Richie calls for in the study.

California: Report shows 1 in 6 recounts changed election results in the last decade | California Watch

Between 2000 and 2009, recounts in state elections were extremely uncommon and rarely resulted in reversals when they did happen, according to a new study [PDF] by the Center for Voting and Democracy. Out of 2,884 statewide general elections there were 18 recounts, only three of which resulted in a change in decision. …

“Having an automatic recount procedure for a race won by 0.5 percent, that’s way too high, absent some reason to think that there’s something that was systematically done in error or fraud.” But Pamela Smith, president of Verified Voting, said the systems used in many states can’t be recounted because of their design. And even where recountable systems are used, fraud and error can easily go undetected if a race is not close enough to merit a recount.

Wisconsin: Local vote totals change in Supreme recount in Wisconsin | GazetteXtra

Justice David Prosser gained 10 votes in the recount of Rock County ballots for the state Supreme Court race. Challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg, meanwhile, gained 47 votes. Rock County Clerk Lori Stottler said those are the preliminary results of the local recount of the April 2 vote. The recount was completed Monday.

Most precincts where errors were found had only one or two changes, Stottler said. Orfordville had the most with seven. Stottler said the problem in Orfordville might have been that the voting machine was not properly calibrated, so it was not reading votes correctly.

Guam: Early in-office voting, machines debated in Guam | Pacific Daily News

Lawmakers yesterday debated two bills that could affect future island elections — ending the recently approved process for early in-office voting and paving the way for the return of controversial electronic voting machines. Lawmakers debated another election bill by Respicio, which would allow for the use of electronic voting machines, provided the machines print a “voter-verified paper ballot” which the voter can double-check before placing into a ballot box.

Respicio in 2006 wrote a law banning the use of electronic voting machines until several conditions are met, including training and safeguards for accuracy. The Election Commission spent nearly half a million dollars in federal election assistance funding to buy 116 Ivotronic electronic voting machines, according to Pacific Daily News files.

National: ES&S and Scytl Announce Strategic Alliance to Provide a Military and Overseas Electronic Voting Solution (ES&S Press Release) | MarketWatch

Election Systems & Software, Inc. (ES&S) and Scytl today announced a strategic alliance that will provide for BALLOTsafe, a fully integrated online ballot delivery and marking system that will afford military, overseas, absentee and disabled voters the opportunity to cast ballots in a timely, secure and reliable manner.

By combining the market proven election leadership of ES&S with the secure cryptographic online platform pioneered by Scytl, this alliance allows states and local jurisdictions the ability to seamlessly and effortlessly integrate the ballot creation process with the ballot delivery process making BALLOTsafe the leader in voting technology for military, overseas, absentee and disabled voters.

Canada: Q and A-How will Canada election work? What are the rules? | Reuters

Canada is holding a federal election on Monday. Here are the main points of how the country’s electoral system works:

What exactly will happen on Monday? Canada has two houses of Parliament — the elected House of Commons and the unelected upper chamber, the Senate, where members are appointed by the government. Monday’s election is for seats in the much more powerful House of Commons. Canada is divided up into 308 electoral districts known as ridings, each of which elects a member of the House.

India: India: The Concept of Negative Voting |The Sentinel

The reality of today’s electoral democracy is that in many constituencies the voters are discontented with the candidates in the electoral fray. Hence the demand for negative voting. In India, the largest democracy in the world, it is not only expected of the voters to exercise their constitutional right to vote, but it is also their ardent duty. And even though voting is not yet mandatory, the Election Commission of India on its part pro-actively informs all the voters to cast their vote by giving wide publicity towards this end. After all, every vote counts.

But if the voters decide that none of the candidates is worth their vote, what is the way out? In the case where Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) are in use, The Conduct of Elections Rule, 1961, does provide a voter the option to refuse to vote after he has been identified and necessary entries made in the register of electors and in the marked copy of the electoral roll.

Florida: Nelson blasts Florida Legislature’s 2012 election-law fixes | MiamiHerald.com

Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson blasted state Republican lawmakers Monday for an election law overhaul that he says will block college students and military personnel from having their votes counted next year when he and President Barack Obama both seek re-election.

Then Nelson waded into a controversy of his own when he suggested the U.S. special forces that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden could be blocked from voting if the Legislature passes the bill.

Arizona: New concerns raised over Tucson all mail election | Fox 11-KMSB Tucson

When voting this year, residents won’t be heading to the polls. Weeks ago, Tucson’s city council voted to make the switch to an all vote by mail election. It was a decision that stirred up controversy.

But news of missing mail ballots in Sahuarita is causing concern. On April 5 the council weighed whether or not Tucson can handle an all mail election. And after hearing from the public, council members decided the answer was yes, an all vote by mail election was the best way to go.