Editorials: Kitty Kent: If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Make Sure They Can’t Vote | Associated Content

In state after Republican-controlled state (now more than two-thirds of all states), there’s a tactical imperative high on the legislative agenda. No, it’s not job creation; it is, in fact, more

along the lines of empire creation. That lofty ideal of the “permanent Republican majority” is again enjoying a chilling resurgence. Under the guise of prevention of “voter fraud,” onerous and costly “voter ID” bills are in various stages of life in state houses across the country, reports the New York Times. In a few states, bills have already passed and are law.

The Voting News Daily: Wisconsin Senate passes voter ID bill, Supreme Court Recount Done in Waukesha County

Wisconsin: Senate passes Wisconsin voter ID bill, sends to Walker | Wisconsin Law Journal

The state Senate gave final legislative approval to a bill that would require Wisconsin voters to show photo identification during a ragged session Thursday, clearing the way for Gov. Scott Walker to sign the measure into law next week.

Assembly Republicans passed the measure in a late-night session last week. Republicans who control the Senate brought the bill up for debate on Tuesday. Democrats railed against it into the early… Read More

Wisconsin: Waukesha County Could Complete Recount Today — Politics News Story — WISN Milwaukee
Update: : Supreme Court Recount Done in Waukesha County | Today’s TMJ4.

More than six weeks after the election, Waukesha County is nearing the end of its recount in the supreme court race.

Only a few wards remain to be counted, and the state’s Government Accountability Board said that it would post Waukesha’s new totals by the end of the week.… Read More

Arizona: Russell Pearce recall may be pushed to 2012 due to error | The Arizona Republic

Arizona’s elections director said she inadvertently gave an incorrect timetable to the organizers of a drive to recall controversial Senate President Russell Pearce, forcing a change in strategy in the historic recall effort.

Elections Director Amy Bjelland said she initially told recall organizer Randy Parraz that if he filed his signatures by May 25, there would be enough time to verify them and schedule a November election.

Nevada: Judge overturns decision on open special election – News – ReviewJournal.com

It looks as if the Sept. 13 special election to replace former GOP Rep. Dean Heller won’t be the flash mob of candidates that Republicans had feared.

In a decision that stunned the Democratic Party and buoyed the GOP, a district judge Thursday overruled Secretary of State Ross Miller’s May 5 decision to allow any qualified major party candidate to run in a free-for-all U.S. House race.

Instead, Judge James Todd Russell enjoined the secretary of state from moving ahead. And he gave the political parties until June 30 to nominate just one candidate each, the ruling the Republican Party sought in a lawsuit filed against Miller.

Michigan: Michigan Secretary of State branches back on line – system-wide restoration not yet complete | The Detroit News

Computer connections were restored to all 131 branch offices of the Michigan Secretary of State this afternoon after a broken fiber link interrupted services.
Officials cautioned it would take time to address the backlog created by the outage.

According to the SOS, the break occurred on Wednesday on a mainframe computer essential to branch office systems. Technicians have repaired the break and restored its connection with the computer system, but restoration of the entire system is not yet complete.

The Voting News Weekly: TVN Weekly May 14-20 2011

Over the past week, several issues have dominated the voting news. The coordinated effort to establish restrictive voter identification requirements in state election codes and limiting early voting periods continued in spite of fierce opposition, with bills reaching governor’s desks in Florida, Texas, Wisconsin and South Carolina. All face legal challenges and the Department of Justice has been asked to weigh in on Florida’s controversial bill.

The Wisconsin recount is over – challenger Joanne Kloppenburg defended the importance of the recount process and pointed out numerous chain of custody and other administrative issues that were revealed.

The city of Vancouver BC has given approval for internet voting in local elections this Fall apperently without thorough consideration of the security concerns surrounding the online submission of voted ballots.

Memory limitations may interfere with Egypt’s plan to use Indian electronic voting machines for their elections.

The Kansas Senate thought twice about the provisions of an election bill promoted by Secretary of State Kris Kobach and Tennessee has dialed back the reforms put in place with the 2008 Voter Confidence Act.

This Week’s Featured Articles

Pennsylvania: Montgomery County Pennsylvania elections chief: Hundreds may have voted unregistered in 2008 | Philly.com

Hundreds of unregistered Montgomery County residents may have been allowed to cast ballots in the 2008 presidential election, the county’s chief election official said Wednesday.

And as Voter Services Director Joseph Passarella described it, that decision, made by a low-level staffer, eventually morphed into an unwritten policy that mistakenly added more than 3,000 people to the county’s voter rolls over the next three years.

Venezuela: Nearly 500,000 Families Register with Venezuela’s Mass Housing Program | venezuelanalysis.com

In just under three weeks since its launch, nearly half a million families in five states across Venezuela have answered the national government’s call to register for its massive new public housing program which seeks to build two million new homes by the year 2017.

The program, called Grand Mission “Housing Venezuela”, is the Chavez administration’s answer to the Caribbean nation’s current housing shortage, calculated at over 1.5 million, and marks a firm commitment by the Executive branch to provide access to affordable living space for all the country’s residents. 

New York: Bungled Ballots From 2010 Election Dismissed As “Non-Issue” By New York City Board of Elections | City Hall News

Paper ballots cast by New York City voters last year violated a technical but mandatory part of state election law, the city Board of Elections learned this week, but board officials dismissed the revelation as a “non-issue.”

A provision of state election law requires that names of candidates on the ballot “shall be printed in capital letters.” Instead, last year’s city ballots spelled candidate names in both capital and lower-case lettering.

California: Secretary of State Bowen concedes in California race | POLITICO.com

California Secretary of State Debra Bowen conceded Thursday in the special election race for a vacant Southern California congressional seat, handing a surprising second-place finish to little-known Republican Craig Huey. Huey, a wealthy advertising executive who spent $500,000 out of his own pocket, will face Democratic Los Angeles Councilwoman Janice Hahn in a July 12 runoff.

Bowen, also a Democrat, finished about 200 votes behind Huey in Tuesday’s primary but was waiting on around 10,000 absentee and provisional ballots that had yet to be counted. On Thursday afternoon, as election officials sorted through the remaining votes, Huey’s lead grew to 750 ballots.

Ghana: Former Ghanaian President Kufuor says leaders are the problem, not the people | ghananewsagency.org

Former President John Agyekum Kufuor on Wednesday laid the blame for political unrest and instability at the doorstep of leaders who subverted their countries’ constitutions to extend their stay in office.

“I have witnessed from across Africa, the determination of citizens to exercise their democratic rights. Everywhere people are given the vote, they treasure it. It is not the citizens but their leaders who are too often the obstacle to democracy,” former President Kufuor said.

Florida: Florida counties brace for impact of new election-reform law | Electionline Weekly

Following the disastrous 2000 election and the implementation of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA), elections supervisors in the state of Florida have been faced with a host of election administration rules and regulation changes every election cycle and 2012 appears like it will be no different.

Today, Gov. Rick Scott (R) signed sweeping election-reform legislation that will decrease the length of time for early voting, create more reasons to cast a provisional ballot and will alter how third-party registrations are conducted.

“As a Supervisor of Elections in Florida, I had secretly hoped that there would be little to no legislation introduced this year that would have a major impact on elections and election administration,” said Linda Harrington, Lee County supervisor of elections.  “We have been dealing with major changes to our election processes and equipment on both the federal and state level since 2002 when the Help America Vote Act was enacted.  I don’t think any of us anticipated the enormity of these legislative changes to the Election Code.”

Florida: Protests grow as Governor considers Florida elections bill | Orlando Sentinel

Update May 20: Judge: No early voting Sunday in Miami-Dade election | MiamiHerald.com.

Gov. Rick Scott has yet to sign a sweeping elections bill that rewrites much of the state’s voting laws, but the measure is already having repercussions in a South Florida mayoral race – and drawing challenges from Democrats in Florida and in Washington.

Elections officials in Miami-Dade have canceled early voting hours for Sunday in anticipation that Scott will sign the bill by Saturday, his deadline for a decision. Among other things, the bill prohibits early voting three days before an election; the Miami-Dade mayoral primary is next Tuesday.

North Carolina: Shorter early voting costlier | The Charlotte Observer

A bill that would shorten North Carolina’s early voting period would create longer lines at the polls and increase the cost of elections, the executive director of the state elections board said Wednesday.

Gary Bartlett’s comments came in a memo shortly after the House narrowly passed the measure that would reduce the current 21/2-week early voting period by a week, even while opening polls for a second Saturday before the election. The Republican-backed bill passed 60-58, largely along party lines.

The Voting News Daily: Protests grow as Governor considers Florida elections bill, North Carolina: Shorter early voting costlier

Gov. Rick Scott has yet to sign a sweeping elections bill that rewrites much of the state’s voting laws, but the measure is already having repercussions in a South Florida mayoral race – and drawing challenges from Democrats in Florida and in Washington.

Elections officials in Miami-Dade have canceled early voting hours for Sunday in anticipation that Scott will sign the bill by Saturday, his deadline for a decision. Among… Read More

A bill that would shorten North Carolina’s early voting period would create longer lines at the polls and increase the cost of elections, the executive director of the state elections board said Wednesday.

Gary Bartlett’s comments came in a memo shortly after the House narrowly passed the measure that would reduce the current 21/2-week early voting period by a week, even while opening polls for a second Saturday before the… Read More

Editorials: John Nichols: Effort to thwart Southern-style voter suppression necessary and appropriate | madison.com

State Senate Democrats used a procedural maneuver earlier this week to block the final roll call on the voter ID bill that Gov. Scott Walker and his allies have advanced in order to game the political process to favor their chosen candidates. The Democratic moves delayed the Senate vote until today, when it is likely that the Republican-controlled Senate will approve what can only be described as an assault on Wisconsin tradition of encouraging high levels of voter participation.

The wrangling of the moment between Republicans and Democrats has made this seem like a partisan struggle. But it is not really that. The Wisconsin Republicans of not too many years ago would have joined Democrats in opposing this bill. That’s because Wisconsin has a history of bipartisan commitment to expanding the franchise, not narrowing it.

Ohio: Ohio House passes election reforms – Democrats call bill an attempt to hinder their voters | The Columbus Dispatch

Elections officials could no longer send absentee ballot applications to all Franklin County voters, and the time for in-person early voting would be significantly reduced under an elections overhaul bill that passed the House today along party lines.

The sweeping bill, which also would attempt to lessen the need to cast provisional ballots, allows election boards to save money through bulk purchasing, and would let voters update registrations online — a “significant move in the right direction to unify our electoral process in the state of Ohio,” said Rep. Robert Mecklenborg, R-Cincinnati.

Florida: Battle Looms Over Florida’s Elections Bill | Sunshine State News

A highly controversial bill, passed by the Legislature earlier this month and expected to be signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott at any moment, could mean all the difference in the 2012 presidential election.

State Republican lawmakers who passed HB 1355 say they want to eliminate the potential for voter fraud, but Democrats claim the bill is nothing more than a partisan pre-election attack aimed at disenfranchising left-leaning voters, and note that there have been no serious cases of voter fraud in Florida during the past two election cycles.

Wisconsin: Joanne Kloppenburg: Why recounts are a vital part of election process | JSOnline

The Journal Sentinel Editorial Board is entitled to its own opinions but it is not entitled to its own facts. The board’s speculation about my motives regarding the recount of the vote in the Supreme Court election is inaccurate. I appreciate this opportunity to set the record straight.

The recount process in Wisconsin is unfolding as prescribed by Wisconsin law. Votes are recounted in all 72 counties, and an official record is made of that process. When the Editorial Board says the recount is a “mere preamble to the court challenge,” it is wrong on the facts and wrong to prejudge my intentions.

Wisconsin law specifically anticipates that there may be court challenges to the recount, but those challenges can only happen after the recount is done. The recount is not “merely” a preamble to anything: It is a process that proceeds in prescribed ways when an election is this close.

South Carolina: Haley signs South Carolina bill requiring voters show photo ID | TheState.com

With The Black Eyed Peas blaring, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley signed a bill Wednesday requiring people to show photo identification to vote, as opponents pledged to fight it through the U.S. Justice Department. Haley arrived at the bill signing with the hip-hop group’s “I Gotta Feeling” playing in the background, as Republican legislators and tea party activists crowded around her at the Statehouse.

“It’s another great day in the state of South Carolina,” Haley said to cheers and applause. “We are going to make sure we maintain the integrity of the election system. We’re gonna do it by saying, if you can show pictures to buy Sudafed, if you can show a picture to get on an airplane, you should be able to show a picture to make sure we do what is incredibly inherent in our freedoms and that’s the ability to vote.”

Canada: Vancouver voters to get online choice this fall | The Vancouver Observer

If the provincial government approves, Vancouver residents will be able to vote for their municipal representatives online this fall. Vancouver is set to join a small but growing number of Canadian municipalities that allow internet voting, subject to the province’s approval. That approval, according to City Councillor Andrea Reimer, is very likely, as the province is also interested in exploring the potential of internet voting.

[Suzanne] Anton was the only councillor to vote against Reimer’s proposal. She has two major concerns, she says: voters will have no idea what happens to their vote after they cast it, and the city will have no idea of the circumstances under which the vote was cast, meaning voters could be intimidated into voting a particular way or even sell or give their vote to someone else to cast.

Wisconsin: Senate poised to pass Wisconsin voter ID bill | weau.com

The state Senate is set to finally pass a bill that would require Wisconsinvoters to show photo identification at the polls. Republicans who control the chamber hoped to pass the bill on Tuesday. But Democrats railed against the plan for nine hours before ultimately using a procedural move to delay the vote until Thursday.

Republicans have been working for years to pass the plan, saying it’s needed to fight voter fraud. Democrats maintain serious voter fraud doesn’t exist and Republicans actually want to disenfranchise pro-Democrat groups. Former Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle vetoed the bill three times between 2002 and 2005.

Georgia: Georgia bill limiting early voting become law | Forsyth News

Two bills authored by District 23 state Rep. Mark Hamilton were recently signed into law by Gov. Nathan Deal.  House Bill 92 shortens the early voting period from 45 to 21 days as a cost-saving measure.

It also requires polls to be open on one Saturday during the early voting period to improve access for those whose work schedules don’t allow them to vote on weekdays.

Maine: Ranked-choice balloting is wild card in Portland mayor’s race | The Portland Press Herald

The chance to be the city’s first elected mayor in generations is attracting a long list of candidates who also will have the distinction of being the first Maine politicians content to be a voter’s second or third choice, thanks to ranked-choice voting. Ten candidates have registered with the city so far, meaning they are free to raise money and build a campaign organization.

The ballot is expected to get even more crowded in the coming weeks, with candidates attracted by the full-time job — it will pay about $66,000 a year — the four-year term, some limited powers and the ability to set precedents.

California: Hahn’s Opponent in California Special Election Runoff Unknown | Roll Call Politics

The Los Angeles County registrar said final results of California’s 36th district special election will not be certified and announced until Friday, leaving the makeup of the July 12 runoff unknown.

When every precinct had finished counting late Tuesday night, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn (D) was the only candidate assured of a spot in the runoff and a chance to replace former Rep. Jane Harman (D).

Kentucky: Secretary of State Candidate intends to seek recanvass in Kentucky GOP secretary of state race | Kentucky.com

Republican secretary of state candidate Hilda Legg said Wednesday that she intends to ask for a recanvass after Tuesday’s vote totals are certified. The Republican race for secretary of state was the closest of Tuesday’s primary.

According to The Associated Press, Todd County businessman and teacher Bill Johnson beat Legg, a Somerset consultant and former federal official, by 1,097 votes with 100 percent of precincts reporting. The official count — conducted by the Secretary of State’s office — will not be finalized until Friday. Legg has until Tuesday to ask for a recanvass.

Texas: Candidate to contest election results in Port Arthur Texas | PAnews.com

After losing her bid for a seat on the Port Arthur school board, Julia Samuels is charging foul and plans to contest election results. Samuels told The News on Tuesday that she believes the Saturday’s election was riddled with irregularities, or even corruption.

“I would use the word “corruption” with ease,” Samuels said. “This has to stop.” Samuels cited several problems with the election process that she believes may have cost her votes, beginning with the accuracy of the electronic machines used to cast ballots. [Jefferson County uses ES&S iVotronic touchscreen voting machines]

“I never did trust the electronic machines,” she said.

Egypt: India ink for scripting new era in Egypt | Hindustan Times

Egyptian elections will have a ‘made in India’ stain. The country electing its new President, after the ouster of Hosni Mubarak this February, will use indelible ink used as a marker in India since 1952 to prevent multiple voting. It would also be a litmus test for the Indian electoral system, as United Nations wants the Election Commission’s expertise to play a role in conducting polls in 12 Arab countries, which faced popular similar uprisings after Mubarak’s ouster.

A team of the Election Commission (EC) made a presentation to the officials of the newly set up election management bodies of Arab countries, with 728 million voters, in Cairo earlier this month. “Countries such as Lebanon and Algeria showed great interest on use of satellite and SMS service for conducting elections,” said Akshay Rout, a director general in the commission.

Peru: Electronic voting comes to Peru for June 5 elections | Living in Peru

For the first time in Peru electronic voting will be part of the June 5 presidential election, reports La Républica. This marks the beginning of the new electoral era in Peru and the district chosen to start this new experience is Pacarán, located in Cañete.

“We already have a team in place and have installed the hardware and software to be used in Pacarán, which has 1,350 voters,” said Ricardo Saavedra, head of IT Projects for the national elections office.