The Voting News Weekly: The Voting News Weekly February 27 – March 4 2012

Computerworld reported on discussions of internet voting at the RSA computer security conference. Doug Chapin observed that while the latest felony voter fraud stunt (this time in New Mexico) was possible in was nevertheless still wrong. PolitiFact Florida determined that Stephen Colbert’s observation that shark attacks are more common than voter fraud was “mostly true.” Advocates for Latino voting rights criticized redistricting maps drawn by a Federal court. The majority Tory Party in Canada was implicated in robocall scheme aimed at suppressing voter turnout in Ontario. With all genuine opposition to the Supreme Council banished, different conservative factions vied in Iran’s Presidential election, while Valdimir Putin is expected to win re-election in an election widely perceived by many Russians and outside observers as unfair and Senegal is headed for a run-off after no candidates received a majority of the vote in their Presidential election.

Iran: Second round needed in Iran election | FT.com

Early results of Friday’s parliamentary elections in Iran show fundamentalists critical of president Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad in the lead. Analysts, however, are cautious in calling this a major defeat for Iran’s president, and stress his political weight in the next 290-seat parliament remains unclear. In more than 30 constituencies, including the capital Tehran, some candidates failed to attract more than 25 per cent of the vote, the minimum needed to win a race. Second-round elections will be held for each of these seats.