Arizona: Architect of Arizona “Papers Please” Immigration Law to Face Recall Election | AllGov

Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce, sponsor of the nation’s most controversial anti-immigration law, has become the first legislator in his state’s history to face a recall election.

Pearce was the author of SB 1070, Arizona’s law requiring law enforcement to pull over any motorist suspected of being an illegal immigrant and demand proof of legal residency or citizenship. It was signed into law in April 2010 by Governor Jan Brewer.

The Voting News Daily: Wisconsin recall primaries: Real vs. ‘fake’ Democrats will cost taxpayers more than $475,000, New Jersey judge wants expert witness, voting machine docs in Fairfield case

Wisconsin: Wisconsin recall votes: Real vs. ‘fake’ Dems — will cost taxpayers more than $475,000 | UPI.com

Wisconsin’s divisive law ending most public-sector collective bargaining set in motion the biggest lawmaker-recall vote in state history, officials said.

Nine recall elections — beginning Tuesday with primaries in six state Senate districts — is “nothing like anyone in Wisconsin or, for that matter, the nation, has seen,” state Government Accountability Board spokesman Reid Magney told The Wall Street Journal.

And unlike in most states, Democratic challengers to six targeted Republican lawmakers are opposed by six Republicans running as Democrats — under Wisconsin’s open-primary system, which lets anyone of any party run in any primary. Read More

On its face, the voting irregularities stemming from Primary Election day in Fairfield Township looked like a simple switch-up. Democratic Executive Committee candidates Ernest and Cynthia Zirkle questioned the total votes they received. Upon research, it became clear they weren’t alone in doubting touch-screen Sequoia AVC Advantage voting machines.

Superior Court Judge David E. Krell ruled Monday the Cumberland County Board of Elections must make available a number of documents tied to the voting machine used on June 7.

“The voting machine isn’t going to tell you anything,” said Krell of inspecting the Sequoia machine used at the polling place. However, the associated documentation produced by the machine during the programming process was of interest to him. Read More

Wisconsin: Recall Primaries: Real vs. ‘fake’ Democrats will cost taxpayers more than $475,000 | UPI.com

Wisconsin's divisive law ending most public-sector collective bargaining set in motion the biggest lawmaker-recall vote in state history, officials said.

Nine recall elections -- beginning Tuesday with primaries in six state Senate districts -- is "nothing like anyone in Wisconsin or, for that matter, the nation, has seen," state Government Accountability Board spokesman Reid Magney told The Wall Street Journal.

And unlike in most states, Democratic challengers to six targeted Republican lawmakers are opposed by six Republicans running as Democrats -- under Wisconsin's open-primary system, which lets anyone of any party run in any primary.

Oklahoma: Chief: Cherokee election recount ‘fatally flawed’ | AP/RealClearPolitics

The leader of one of the nation's largest American Indian tribes said Monday that the latest count of votes cast in its hotly contested election for chief shows that about 300 votes were left out during a recount.

The count ordered by the Cherokee Supreme Court and done Sunday night by the Cherokee Nation's election commission "confirms the recount was fatally flawed," Chief Chad Smith said at a news conference Monday.

Unofficial results from the June 25 election showed councilman Bill John Baker unseated Smith by 11 votes. But when the Cherokee Election Commission announced the official results on June 27, Smith was declared the winner of a fourth term by seven votes.

Oklahoma: Inventory of votes discovers ballots missing during recount | kjrh.com

After an inventory of absentee ballots from last month's Cherokee Nation principal chief election, members of Chief Chad Smith's camp say officials found some inconsistencies.

In last month's election, longtime councilmember Bill John Baker was originally unofficially deemed the next principal chief, winning by 11 votes; however, the next day the election commission officially certified the results, which named Smith the election winner by seven votes. After a recount, the title was given back to Baker, naming him the winner by 266 votes.

Smith sought help from the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court to appeal the recount.  The court ordered an inventory of absentee ballots and envelopes over the weekend.

Wisconsin: Fake Democrats run in Wisconsin primaries for recall elections | chicagotribune.com

Primary elections in six Wisconsin Senate races Tuesday pitted fake Democrats against candidates supported by the party, with the winners advancing to take on Republican incumbents targeted for recall.

The state Republican Party orchestrated the placement of the fake Democrats on the ballot, thereby delaying the general election until Aug. 9 and giving the incumbents an additional month to campaign.

Tuesday's primaries marked the first of four elections over the next five weeks related to the targeting of nine senators for recall based on their actions related to Gov. Scott Walker's proposal taking away collective bargaining rights from most public employees. The Republicans voted for it and the Democrats fled to Illinois for three weeks to delay a vote.

Wisconsin: St. Croix County Republicans urge vote for ‘fake’ Democrat | JSOnline

The St. Croix County Republican Party has launched an 11th-hour effort to mobilize voters to support a “fake” Democrat in the 10th Senate District primary election on Tuesday.

Jesse Garza, chairman of the county party, sent out an email Sunday urging voters who support Sen. Sheila Harsdorf (R-River Falls), who faces a recall election Aug. 9, to vote Tuesday for Isaac Weix of Menomonie. He’s one of six fake or protest candidates put up by the Republican Party to force Democratic primaries in six districts where Republican state senators face recall elections.

Weix faces Shelly Moore, a teacher and state teachers union official from River Falls, in Tuesday's Democratic primary election. “We have the opportunity, and we might as well use it,” Garza said in a phone interview Sunday.

Wisconsin: Voter ID Phased in as Wisconsin Recall Elections Begin | WUWM

Tuesday’s recall primaries will be the first elections held since state Republicans passed a law requiring voters to present photo identification. But you do not have to show an ID card at the polls yet.

“The Legislature decided they wanted what you could call a ‘soft implementation.’ Photo ID is such a big change, and we don’t want to surprise anyone and have anyone be kept from voting when they don’t know about it,” says Reid Magney, spokesman for the state Government Accountability Board. It oversees elections.

South Carolina: Opponents ask feds to block South Carolina’s voter ID law | TheState.com

Opponents to South Carolina’s new photo-ID-to-vote law revved up their efforts Monday to have it declared illegal. The Rev. Jesse Jackson and several members of the Greenville Rainbow PUSH Coalition held a news conference to blast the law, which requires residents to bring a photo ID, such as a valid S.C. driver’s license, to the polls to cast a ballot.

Jackson called the measure an effort to suppress voter turnout, according to the Greenville News, adding he has sent a letter to the U.S. Justice Department and is meeting with members of Congress on the issue.

Rhode Island: Some liberals, Democrats stunned by passage of Rhode Island voter ID | The Providence Journal

When a voter ID bill passed in Rhode Island last week, longtime opponents were stunned. How could this happen in one of the country’s most Democratic and liberal states? Why did Democratic leaders and black legislators support it? And why did Governor Chafee sign it?

Some say black politicians were trying to protect themselves from Hispanics’ growing political power — two longtime black legislators were defeated by Hispanics in the 2010 elections. Some cite illegal immigration as a driving force. Some say voter ID is simply essential.

Whatever the reason, people are still seething a week later. That includes many within the minority community, who chide Chafee for saying he was compelled by concerns from the “minority community” about voter fraud.

Arkansas: East Arkansas holds special election for House seat | NewsTimes

Voters head to the polls in east Arkansas in a special election for a House seat vacated by a former Harlem Globetrotter.

Voters were expected to cast their ballots Tuesday to choose a new representative in state House district 54 to replace former Rep. Fred Smith. The Democratic lawmaker resigned from his Crittenden County seat in January after he was convicted of felony theft.

California: San Francisco Ballot Thief Gives Judge Silent Treatment | KTVU

A man accused of stealing ballots from a San Francisco polling station last November seems determined not to get out of jail after giving the silent treatment to the judge at his sentencing hearing Monday.

Karl Bradfield Nicholas, 51, was set to receive a one-year sentence but would likely have been set free today because of credit for time already served. Instead, he was to be held for at least two additional days for a mental health examination.

The silent treatment was the latest in a series of bizarre hearings involving the case, in which Nicholas was accused of taking ballots, a voter roster, and a memory box and access key to a voting machine on Knott Court in the city's Crocker Amazon neighborhood where he was working as a voting station inspector on Nov. 2, 2010.

Editorials: ‘Noodlegate’ an utter farce | Bangkok Post

On the other, the complaint that the top candidate as the next prime minister had bribed voters is actually enshrined in the election laws. The idea that Yingluck Shinawatra's noodle cooking amounted to an election bribe is ludicrous. Unfortunately, because of a bad law that never was corrected, the EC is actually forced to consider reversing Ms Yingluck's election and banning her from politics.

How did we get in one week from a universally praised free and fair election to the point where almost every campaign stop by every candidate is contested by hard-nosed opponents?

It is not as if this issue arose suddenly. It is almost three years since then-prime minister Samak Sundaravej was thrown out of office because he had once conducted cooking shows on television.

Zimbabwe: Unofficial Zimbabwe poll result announcers face jail | The Herald

Political parties and their members will be liable for criminal prosecution for pre-empting the official announcement of results of any national election, new poll regulations have revealed. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is the sole body mandated to run and announce poll results countrywide.

Regulations released last week also stipulate that before being nominated as a party candidate, a person would have to be certified by an officer whom a political party indicates to ZEC. This is expected to go a long way in curbing incidents where more than one candidate from one political party submit their names before the nomination court to stand for a particular constituency.

Hungary: Fidesz may cut number of lawmakers and introduce single-round elections | bbj.hu

Hungary’s governing party plans to cut the number of lawmakers from 386 to 200, abolish the second round of voting and end the system of compensating for votes cast for runner-up candidates.

Fidesz proposes introducing a single-round election system featuring both individual candidates and party lists, MEP János Áder said on Saturday. Áder, whom Fidesz asked to coordinate the drafting of the new election law to be approved this year, told reporters about plans to field half the number of lawmakers from individual constituencies and the other half from national party lists.

Morocco: Partido Popular Opposes Granting vote to Moroccans | Gibraltar Chronicle

Partido Popular wants to prevent Moroccan migrants resident in Ceuta and Melilla from voting in local elections in 2015. The party said the right to vote could not be granted to the citizens of a country that has a territorial claim over the two Spanish enclaves, both of which are governed by the PP.

Party officials were speaking after Morocco approved a new Constitution on July 1 that allows foreign residents to vote in local elections. Four days later, Spain's Foreign Minister, Trinidad Jiménez, said Spain would sign agreements to ensure that right was reciprocated.

Cameroon: Parliament Adopts Groundbreaking Bill Granting Voting Rights to Cameroonians Overseas | Nouvelles – CRTV

A bill awarding voting rights to Cameroonians resideing out of the country was examined and adopted during the extraordinary session that ended this 9th of July 2011. House Speaker, Cavaye Yeguie Djibril qualified the adoption as a landmark victory for Cameroon’s democracy.

He also considered it as an indication of President Paul Biya’s determination to foster the democratic process in the country.

The issue of double nationality was also raised during deliberations but postponed. According to some sources, it shall be decided through a national referendum to be organised in 2012.

Bangladesh: Election Commission to distribute smartcard ID for voters | Financial Express

The Election Commission (EC) is often at the receiving end of strong criticism for its failure to conduct national elections properly. Such criticisms are generally made by the defeated candidates or political parties. The presence of 'ghost' voters on the electoral rolls and fake voting are common problems that the EC has been facing for decades. There were, allegedly, some other greater schemes, designed by powerful quarters in the past, to which the EC had become a party by default or by design.

The EC, at the initiative taken by the last military-backed caretaker government, prepared and distributed national identity cards (IDs) to all eligible voters and also printed electoral rolls carrying photographs of the voters before the last general elections. It was a huge task for the EC. But it could accomplish the task quite efficiently under a Tk. 5.7 billion project -- large part of which was financed by the external donors -- with the active assistance from the Bangladesh Army. The EC had undertaken in the early 1990s a voters' ID card project but it was abandoned later, after wasting a substantial amount of money.

Botswana: Botswana Democratic Party elects tomorrow | Mmegi Online

BDP Regional Secretary Baemedi Kudumane said they expect thousands of delegates from around and outside the country

"We expect up to 3, 000 delegates and people from all the 57 constituencies. Also we have representatives from SWAPO (South West People's Organisation) from Namibia, Zimbabwe African Nation Union Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) invited to the congress.

Armenia: Chief Armenian Election Official Hopes To Stay On | ArmeniaDiaspora.com

A senior official who administered Armenia’s last national elections acknowledged on Monday that he would like to head the new Central Election Commission (CEC) which will be appointed by President Serzh Sarkisian soon. Garegin Azarian expressed such hope after presiding over the last meeting of the outgoing CEC. The 8-member body conducted the February 2008 presidential election which was marred by opposition allegations of vote rigging and followed by deadly street unrest in Yerevan.

The CEC will be disbanded in accordance with a package of amendments to the Armenian Electoral Code that were enacted  by the authorities in May.The most important of those amendments relates to the formation of various-level commissions holding national and local elections. Until now, the president of the republic, a high court and the political forces represented in the Armenian parliament have each appointed one member of those commissions.

UAE: Emirates expand voting rights for some | Global Post

The United Arab Emirates increased the number of citizens eligible to vote in the country's legislative elections, CNN reported on Monday, as protests calling for greater political reform continue sweeping across much of the Arab world.

More than 129,000 voters can now cast ballots in the UAE's upcoming election for the country's legislative advisory body - the Federal National Council. Still, only around 12 percent of Emirati citizens are allowed to vote in the country's upcoming election.

In the 2006 election for the FNC, around 6,500 members of an electoral college were eligible to vote. Voters in the Gulf sheikhdom will elect a new FNC on September 24.