It’s not every day that House Speaker Gordon D. Fox adds his name to a bill with Republican Joseph A. Trillo or even fellow Democrat Jon D. Brien. But Fox and House Majority Whip J. Patrick O’Neill, along with Brien, Trillo and Republican Tea Party member Doreen Costa, have joined together to support a bill…
Backers of the “photo ID” voter legislation got a bit of a scare last week. The bill, which would require voters to show photo identification when they vote, was pronounced nearly dead by a group that had championed it. “Internal Republican politics may ultimately kill 21st Century Voter ID,” screamed an e-mail alert from Minnesota…
CO: Gessler, clerks battle over ballots in Saguache County | Real Aspen.com A disputed election in south-central Colorado is now in the hands of a grand jury that is reviewing allegations that the clerk and other officials committed crimes when they tallied the votes. The officials under investigation stood to benefit from the election’s outcome…
Beginning in 2006, when Valley Courier reporter Ruth Heide was denied copies of the minutes from Center Town Board meetings, Saguache County and municipal officials operating within the county have consistently balked at producing documents deemed public under the Colorado Open Records Act. Records either have been denied or their delivery has been delayed past…
A disputed election in south-central Colorado is now in the hands of a grand jury that is reviewing allegations that the clerk and other officials committed crimes when they tallied the votes. The officials under investigation stood to benefit from the election’s outcome — most notably Saguache County Clerk Melinda Myers — who, along with…
Empowered by last year’s elections, Republican leaders in about half the states are pushing to require voters to show photo ID at the polls despite little evidence of fraud and already-substantial punishments for those who vote illegally. Democrats claim the moves will disenfranchise poor and minority voters — many of whom traditionally vote for their…
KS: Senate Approves Voter ID Bill – WIBW.com The Kansas Senate has approved a bill containing Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s proposal to require voters to show photo identification at the polls. The vote Wednesday was 36-3. The Senate version of the bill still includes Kobach’s proposal to require people registering to vote for the…
Legislative staff has come up with a non-partisan fiscal note on voter identification. On the high end, it shows the cost to the state could be two-and-a-half million dollars. But critics say that’s way under what other states have reported and isn’t close to what the actual cost may be. The fiscal note offers a…
Voter ID bills introduced early in the legislative session have languished for many reasons, but they might be mostly burdened by their potential costs. We wrote about some feared costs before, particularly as they apply to proposed electronic pollbooks. Now, Minnesota Common Cause and Citizens for Election Integrity Minnesota have compiled a detailed review (PDF)…
American Majority’s “Voter Fraud” App: It’s a Tool for Election Law Violations | The Awl The last time we heard from the corporate-funded Washington D.C.-based “free market” candidate seed organization American Majority, it was training candidates to assume local offices like school boards in Wisconsin (and elsewhere) to better implement the “tools” that legislators like Governor…
OH: Ballot scanning company Election Systems & Software agrees to give Cuyahoga County $200,000 | cleveland.com A maker of ballot scanners will pay Cuyahoga County more than $200,000 because its equipment could not scan larger-sized ballots. The settlement approved Tuesday between Election Systems and Software Inc. and the county Board of Elections covers the county’s…
Estonia: Supreme Court Rejects Last Voter Complaint – ERR The Supreme Court’s Constitutional Review Chamber ruled on March 21 that the petition by student Paavo Pihelgas to invalidate the electronic voting results in the March 6 parliamentary elections lacks substance. Pihelgas sought nullification of the election result on the grounds that the software used in…
CO: Gessler sues for access to Saguache ballots – The Denver Post Secretary of State Scott Gessler filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking access to voted ballots from the 2010 Saguache County general election, arguing the county clerk doesn’t have the power to stop him from “inspecting and reviewing all aspects of the election process.” The…
AZ Senate Eliminates Spanish Election Material – Texas Observer So this really isn’t about immigrants, undocumented or not. The folks in power in Arizona don’t want anything in their state that doesn’t look or sound like they do. This recent vote in the Arizona state senate proves the point. The bill, SB1490 proposed by Maricopa…
CO: Secretary of state, clerks battle over Saguache ballots – The Denver Post What started as small-town suspicions of a “stolen” election has erupted into a fight between Secretary of State Scott Gessler and the state’s county clerks over whether voted ballots should be public records — and the issue appears headed to court. Gessler…
CO: Denver City Council endorses pay raise for elected officials – The Denver Post After spirited debate Monday, Denver’s City Council voted 10-3 to tentatively approve a 6.6 percent raise for the next sitting council and every other elected official — an increase to be delayed for half of their four-year terms. The city is…
CA: City Clerk Cites ‘Human Error’ for Ballot Miscalculation – West Hollywood, CA Patch Simple human error caused ballot counters to overestimate the number of ballots still to be counted in the West Hollywood City Council election. That’s the word from City Clerk Tom West, who oversaw the counting Tuesday night. Read More CA: Ranked-Choice…
CO: Saguache County Clerk Myers refuses Denver Post request – Center Post Dispatch Saguache County Clerk Melinda Myers received a Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) request Tuesday from Denver Post reporter Sara Burnett asking her to produce the ballots cast in the Nov. 2 election. In a response e-mailed on Tuesday, Myers reportedly denied Burnett…
CA: San Francisco ranked-choice voting confusing, poll says – San Francisco Chronicle San Francisco is heading into its first competitive mayor’s race using ranked-choice voting with a majority of voters who don’t understand how the system works, according to a poll to be released today. Despite ranked-choice voting being introduced for Board of Supervisors races…
AK: Felon voting rights bill passes first committee but may face opposition later – The Republic The Alaska Senate State Affairs Committee on Tuesday advanced a bill allowing felons the right to vote, despite concerns from one lawmaker. Republican Sen. Cathy Giessel of Anchorage says her constituents were concerned that the bill would absolve felons…
After the internet ballot-counting system temporarily crashed on Election Day evening, the National Electoral Committee said it will demand compensation from Helmes, the company responsible for the country’s vote-counting software. “Quality requirements […] are listed in our contract and if there is a one-time delay of 15 minutes, then there are sanctions for every minute…
New Hampshire’s new Republican state House speaker is pretty clear about what he thinks of college kids and how they vote. They’re “foolish,” Speaker William O’Brien said in a recent speech to a tea party group. “Voting as a liberal. That’s what kids do,” he added, his comments taped by a state Democratic Party staffer and…
As part of its Quality Monitoring Program, EAC will investigate the EAC-certified ES&S DS200 Precinct Count Optical Scanner (Firmware Version 1.3.10.0) contained in the ES&S Unity 3.2.0.0 for possible non-conformities with the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines. Download correspondence related to the investigation and a timeline of activities leading up to it. Learn more about EAC’s…
Inspirational songs followed stories and memories you’d only find in history books as civil rights era icons were honored at the National Voting Rights Museum as part of the second day of the annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee. One man–John Doar–a white attorney who worked for the U.S. Department of Justice came to Selma in the…
Georgia’s top court has upheld a state law that requires voters to show photo identification before they cast ballots. The Georgia Supreme Court’s 6-1 decision Monday is the latest court ruling to conclude that the rules are constitutional. The decision found the 2006 law was a “minimal, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory restriction.” Georgia attorneys said the…
Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White’s excuse that a busy schedule and new marriage caused him to give the wrong address at a polling place could be a feasible defense to voter fraud and other criminal allegations he now faces, a legal expert said Friday. “It may not be a defense to the claim that…
Lake County officials will stay with the tradition of neighborhood polling places in the May 3 primary despite a new law promising savings and voter convenience. Fewer than half the municipal offices on the ballot are being contested by two or more candidates in 18 cities and towns. Highland has no contested races and will…
Maine on Friday moved one step closer to passing a law requiring voters to present photo identification at the polls. A legislative panel voted 6-6 along party lines to recommend LD 199 to the Legislature. Rep. Micheal Willette, R-Presque Isle, was absent, but he has until Tuesday to vote. Willette is expected to vote with…
Overseas military voters now will have more time to vote in special elections after the Senate and Assembly unanimously passed a bill extending the time between the announcement of a special election and the special election itself. Current law provides 30 to 40 days between the calling of a special election and Election Day. That…
The state of Tennessee is supposed to move to using only paper ballots by the time voters head to the polls in 2012. But some lawmakers are looking to stop that, saying that communities just can’t afford to make the switch. The Tennessee Voter Confidence Act has already been delayed once, but it could be…