Macedonia: Macedonian diaspora readies to vote in June elections | SETimes.com

The government will enable Macedonia’s diaspora to exercise the right to vote in the parliamentary elections scheduled for June 5th without having to be physically present in the country.

Three new electoral units were added to the existing six — covering North and Latin America; Europe; and Australia, New Zealand and Asia proper — and three parliamentarians representing the diaspora will be added to the existing 120.

National: U.S. Supreme Court Advances one Election Law Case that has Long been Stalled | Ballot Access News

On May 11, the U.S. Supreme Court revealed that it has placed Dallas County v Texas Democratic Party, 10-755, on its May 26 conference. The conference will probably decide whether to hear the case.

The issue is whether Dallas County’s new rules concerning its vote-counting machines should have been submitted to the Voting Rights Section of the Justice Department. The Texas Democratic Party doesn’t like the Dallas County vote-counting machines, because the machines have a tendency to trick some voters into voting just for a single candidate, even though the voter believes he or she has activated the straight-ticket device and has voted for all partisan office.

Connecticut: Merrill selects precincts for Connecticut audit | ConnecticutPlus.com

Secretary of the State Denise Merrill today joined Connecticut voting rights advocates for a public drawing to randomly select three precincts that will have election results audited following the May 2, 2011 municipal elections that took place in 14 Connecticut communities. The three precincts selected are West Side Middle School District 2 and William Seely School district 4 in Groton and the Stonington Fire House in Stonington. Two alternate precincts were also chosen to be ready to audit results if necessary: Center School district 3 in Woodbridge and Griswold Town Hall in Griswold.

“On May 2nd voters went to the polls across Connecticut to choose public servants to fill very important roles in local government,” said Secretary Merrill. “No matter how big or small the election, our audit law exists to hold our election process accountable and reassure the public to have continued confidence that all votes were recorded accurately.”

India: The Hindu : States / Tamil Nadu : Each reading on EVMs will be videographed: CEO

Praveen Kumar, Chief Electoral Officer addressing a press conference in Chennai on Wednesday. Photo: S.R. RaghunathanEach reading on electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the 91 counting centres will be captured on video and votes polled entered both manually and using computers, to avoid discrepancies in the counting of votes for the 234 assembly constituencies on May 13, said Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Kumar on Wednesday.

After All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) general secretary Jayalalithaa wrote to the Chief Election Commissioner on the need to allow counting agents to monitor data entries in Form 20, the CEO, at a press conference, said that data entry operators were directly being monitored by the returning officers as they usually sat near them in counting halls. Even if they were sitting across the hall, the tally of votes would have to match the data entered manually and using computers.

The Voting News Daily: Waukesha gets an extension, The cost of Voter ID proposals

WI: Waukesha County Gets May 26 Recount Extension – Menomonee Falls, WI Patch

Waukesha County will have until May 26 to finish its hand recount of the state Supreme Court race that sharply divided the state’s electorate, a judge has ruled. Dane County Circuit Judge Richard Niess agreed this morning to extend today’s deadline for completion of the historic recount of the race between incumbent Justice David Prosser and challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg. Waukesha County Corporation Counsel Tom Farley participated in the hearing via telephone conference. The county will check in with the judge at 11:30 a.m. Friday to report its progress. “Hopefully we will be done sooner” than May 26, said Ellen Nowak, chief of staff for Waukesha County Executive Dan Vrakas. All counties except Waukesha were expected to finish their recounts by today. Prosser has a margin of victory of about 7,000 votes in his bid to serve another 10-year term on the state’s high court. Read More

PA: Taxpayers will cover costs of IDs under proposed voting law – dailylocal.com

An effort to fight voting fraud could cost state taxpayers millions, though it’s a price some lawmakers are willing to pay. New requirements intended to cut down on fraudulent voters were passed by the House State Government Committee on Monday morning and will head to the House for a final vote. The bill would require voters to show official photo identification each time they go to their polling place to cast a ballot. Voters now have to provide identification only the first time they vote at a specific polling place. The new requirement would not take effect until the primary elections in the spring of 2012, unless there is a special election scheduled for earlier in 2012.

Tennessee: Tennessee considers proof of citizenship for voter registration | wbir.com

It’s a big deal in town, signs scattered all over Pigeon Forge as voters take up the issue of liquor by the drink and a few city commission spots. “I think we may get 1,000 people to vote today, total,” Tony Rast, whose son is running for one of those commission seats said.

Even with all the hype, Rast’s guess of 1,000 would be just slightly better than one in seven Pigeon Forge residents who have actually gone through the process of registering and then actually showing up to vote on election day.

“Oh, just walk in. Real easy,” Rast said.

Pennsylvania: Taxpayers will cover costs of IDs under proposed Pennsylvania voting law | dailylocal.com

An effort to fight voting fraud could cost state taxpayers millions, though it’s a price some lawmakers are willing to pay. New requirements intended to cut down on fraudulent voters were passed by the House State Government Committee on Monday morning and will head to the House for a final vote. The bill would require voters to show official photo identification each time they go to their polling place to cast a ballot. Voters now have to provide identification only the first time they vote at a specific polling place.

The new requirement would not take effect until the primary elections in the spring of 2012, unless there is a special election scheduled for earlier in 2012.

New York: New software to help avoid ballot-printing errors in Jefferson County New York | Watertown Daily Times

A new software system will help the Jefferson County Board of Elections avoid costly errors in printing ballots.

The E-Suite Election Management Software will enable the board to link incoming election candidate petitions to the voter-registrant database. That ensures the candidate’s name and address will be spelled correctly and limits human error. A misspelled name that forces a ballot reprinting could cost the county thousands of dollars, Republican Elections Commissioner Jerry O. Eaton said.

New Mexico: Legislation allows vote centers in New Mexico | Quay County Sun

Quay County Clerk Ellen White expressed excitement Monday over new state legislation that allows the county to consolidate voting precincts.

“In November we have to establish our polling places and precincts for the next general election and primary election cycle, so what this enables us to do is to locate a facility that is centrally located and that has a good broadband Internet connection, and by doing that we’ll eliminate all the voting precincts within the City of Tucumcari and everybody will vote in one location. I’m really excited about being able to do that,” White said.

Missouri: Missouri lawmakers approve ballot measure on voter ID – KansasCity.com

If Missouri voters say “yes” at the polls in 2012, they will have to show a photo ID when they cast ballots in 2014. But they also will have the option to vote during an 11-day period before Election Day.

Lawmakers on Tuesday approved enabling legislation that will put voter-identification requirements and early-voting procedures into effect — if voters approve the proposed constitutional amendment lawmakers passed on Monday.

Colorado: Moffat County Colorado tweaking election format to all vote-by-mail | Craig Daily Press

Moffat County Elections Supervisor Stephanie Beckett said Moffat County has been behind the curve by not conducting coordinated elections by mail-in ballot only.

“Most of the state already does that,” Beckett said. “We were one of four counties last year in the election that did not have an all-mail ballot election, and it just seems like voters are leaning that way, to have their ballots mailed to them.”

California: Voting change could be costly locally | Chico Enterprise Record

Though Measure A proponents claim moving the Chico City Council elections from November to June would not cost taxpayers more money, the Registrar of Voters Office says different. A June 2012 ballot could cost Chico $130,000 versus a November election price tag of $57,000, according to a Butte County Registrar of Voters estimate. The city could pay about $73,000 more per council election, which occur every two years.

Because the city would be sharing the June election with just the county rather than about 17 jurisdictions who appeared in the November 2010 ballot, the election would likely cost more, said Laurie Cassady, assistant county registrar of voters. Measure A supporters had enough signatures to put the initiative on the June 7 special municipal election ballot. During a debate last week, proponents said the election month change would not cost more money.

Ecuador: Ecuador referendum tightens – Government accuses NEC of vote manipulation | MiamiHerald.com

Ecuador’s government accused the National Electoral Council of manipulating the vote count of Saturday’s controversial referendum to make it appear as if it was losing two of the 10 issues. With 51 percent of the vote counted on Tuesday, the National Electoral Council said the government was behind on two questions.

On a plan to create a media-regulation board, the “no” vote was winning 44 percent versus 43 percent, according to the council’s website.

Ohio: Ohio bill aims to help military voters | The Columbus Dispatch

When Rep. Mike Dovilla was deployed to Iraq in 2007, he wanted to cast a vote in that years municipal elections.While on leave, he sent in his application to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, and when the Navy veteran returned to Baghdad, he was told he had not provided some necessary information.

“The problem was there was incorrect information on the county’s web site at that time that didn’t specify the need to include those items,” said the Berea Republican. “As a result, by the time the additional correspondence went back and forth from the theater, the ballot didn’t arrive on time. In fact, I never received a ballot at all.”Since that time, I vowed that if I were ever in a position to be able to prevent this from happening to others in military service I would do so.” Dovilla joined Rep. Michael Stinziano, D-Columbus, today in introducing a bill designed to improve access to voting for members of Ohio’s military serving overseas and other overseas voters.