Monthly Archives: June 2012

Waves of absentee ballot applications mailed out before November to all registered voters will cost local board of elections thousands of dollars, but will likely increase voter turnout. Last week, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted announced applications will be mailed to every registered voter in the state in two batches leading up to the November presidential election. More than 7.7 million Ohioans were registered to vote for the March primary. The program could cost between $2 million and $3 million in postage, according to state officials. Local board of elections officials are in favor of the effort. “It is a good thing,” said Lynn Edward Kinkaid, Butler County Board of Elections director. “It is giving everyone more opportunities to vote.”

Wisconsin: Some voters didn’t sign poll books, but state officials say votes do count in Wisconsin recall recount | Journal Times

Some Racine voters in the June 5 recall election did not sign poll books as required by law, Republican elections observers said Monday during the fifth day of Racine County’s election recount. But because it’s considered an administrative error, the votes will count, according to the Government Accountability Board. During the June 5 recall election, Republican Gov. Scott Walker overwhelmingly beat Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, a Democrat. But in Racine County’s 21st Senate District, former state Sen. John Lehman, D-Racine, led incumbent state Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, by 834 votes, according to canvass results. Following the election, Wanggaard requested a recount. But according to the GAB, which is recording recount results by ward, the numbers have not changed significantly. Results through Saturday show Wanggaard gained nine votes and Lehman gained one vote, bringing the difference to 826. And, according to the GAB, Monday’s findings will not change results.

Wisconsin: More Election Snafus Reported in Recall Election Recount | Caledonia, WI Patch

Republican recount observers are raising a red flag over votes cast by residents who registered on election day after pages of missing signatures from same-day voters have been discovered throughout the City of Racine. When someone registers to vote on the day of the election, poll workers take the completed registration form and create an entry in the poll book and then duplicate it in a second poll book. The voter is required to sign their entry in the same book other voters sign their entry in order to cast a ballot — and it's those signatures that are missing in some wards in the June 5 recall election. It's not known how many signatures are missing, but Racine County Clerk Wendy Christensen said there are entire pages of missing signatures in wards throughout the city. While some of the missing signatures were found on pages other than where they should have been, it is unclear exactly how many have been discovered elsewhere. It's also unknown why some signatures appear on pages separate from their entries on the poll books.

Wisconsin: Lawmakers agree recall laws should be changed, but disagree on how | madison.com

Any desire to tweak the state's existing recall law following this month's historic gubernatorial election will likely have to wait until January; and even then, it's a long shot that Republicans and Democrats will find an agreeable middle ground. The state's recall process — utilized 15 times in less than a year — has become an unpopular political tool for a substantial portion of the electorate. Exit polls in the June 5 election found 60 percent of Wisconsin voters said they believed the mechanism should be reserved for malfeasance or criminal activity. Immediately following the election, which Gov. Scott Walker won easily, politicians from both sides expressed interest in addressing the law's shortcomings. But in the past few weeks, strident lines have formed.

Canada: Federal court hears motions on overturning elections because of robocalls | canada.com

The Federal Court is hearing preliminary motions today in the Council of Canadians' bid to have the federal election results overturned in a handful of tightly contested ridings. The council has asked the court to review the May 2011 election results in seven ridings where Conservative MPs narrowly won their seats. The council alleges misleading or harassing phone calls in those ridings kept some people from voting and may have affected the outcomes. But the Conservative party claims the group is more concerned with attacking them and raising money than getting to the bottom of the so-called robocalls affair.

Iceland: Presidential frontrunner battles maternity issues | Herald News

The workers at the Marel factory are filling up their lunch trays with salads, sausages and pickled fish when the presidential candidate arrives, spouse and new baby in tow. The canteen has seen several such visits from some of the six hopefuls in the running for Iceland's election on Sunday. Today's guest is the frontrunner to unseat President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, 69, who has been in office for a record 16 years. Aged 37, and with a successful career as a broadcast journalist, Thora Arnorsdottir entered the race in March. She was then seven months pregnant. But she has led the polls ever since, even after taking weeks out of campaigning to give birth to her third child with partner Svavar Halldorsson, who now carries the baby at the back of the Marel canteen.

Kuwait: Cabinet resigns amid political crisis | Al Jazeera

Kuwait's cabinet has resigned after protesters and opposition deputies demanded that the prime minister step down over allegations of corruption, state-run television has reported. "The prime minister [Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad Al-Sabah] has submitted his resignation to the emir," Kuwait TV said, without specifying whether it had been accepted. Earlier, opposition member Khaled al-Sultan said the cabinets's resignation was accepted amid a bitter political dispute between the prime minister and opposition MPs. "We are waiting for the appointment of a new prime minister before parliament is dissolved in order to be assured of fair elections," the Sultan told reporters outside parliament. Parliament speaker Jassem al-Khorafi said he had not been informed about a dissolution of parliament.

Mongolia: Inequality to dominate Mongolia poll | Herald Sun

Mongolians will vote on Thursday to elect a new parliament which will have the task of distributing the spoils of a mining boom that has brought rapid growth but also rising inequality to the resource-rich nation. Mongolia's economy has exploded in recent years, as a relatively stable political environment has drawn in foreign investors keen to exploit its vast untapped reserves of coal, copper and gold. Foreign investment quadrupled last year to nearly $US5 billion, according to government data, but little of that has trickled down to the poorest of Mongolia's 2.8 million people. The ruling Mongolian People's Party (MPP) and the main opposition Democratic Party both say they want to ensure a fairer distribution of wealth in the vast and remote nation, although neither has given any detailed indication of how.

Mongolia: A Crucial Week In Mongolia | Forbes

It appears that President Elbegdorj has gotten his way and former President Enkhbayar will not be able to stand in the parliamentary elections this coming Thursday. Enkhbayar’s appeal to the Constitutional Court will not be heard until tomorrow, a mere two days before the election. At that point, the Constitutional Court will decide whether or not to even accept and review his petition. With the way things have been handled thus far, Enkhbayar will not be a candidate for his Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party. One would think that corrupting the democratic process to this point would be enough, but the current Mongolian government has gone even further. The Sukhhbaatar District Court has ruled that Enkhbayar cannot leave the city until his trial thereby preventing him from campaigning for his party in the countryside, Elbegdorj’s homeland.

Papua New Guinea: Delays and allegations of fraud in Papua New Guinea elections | ABC Radio Australia

Voters in Papua New Guinea's capital, Port Moresby, go to the polls today in the national election which began in a volatile part of the Highlands at the weekend. Two of the most recognisable names in PNG politics are not on the ballot papers in the electorates they've held for many years: Australian born Dame Carol Kidu and former PNG Prime Minister, Sir Mekere Morauta, who are both retiring this year. The head of the Commonwealth election observer group in Papua New Guinea says election-related problems could lead to voter frustration. There have been reports of delays in opening polling stations, ballot boxes being destroyed and others being hijacked and stuffed with completed ballot papers.

Georgia: Justice Department challenges Georgia on military, overseas ballots | ajc.com

The federal government has sent a letter to Georgia officials saying the state's schedule for runoff elections violates federal law on military and overseas absentee ballots and threatening a lawsuit if the matter isn't resolved quickly. U.S. Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez on June 15 sent the letter to Attorney General Sam Olens and Secretary of State Brian Kemp. Olens' office declined to comment on the letter, but Kemp said the state is in the middle of the primary election and doesn't intend to make changes suggested by federal officials. Runoff elections are required in Georgia if no candidate earns more than 50 percent of the vote. Federal law requires that absentee ballot be sent to military and overseas residents at least 45 days before federal elections, including runoffs, the letter says.

The Voting News Daily: With Elections Awash in Cash, There’s Plenty of Blame to Go Around, Election Policy Decisions Cost New York City, North Carolina Big Bucks

National: With Elections Awash in Cash, There’s Plenty of Blame to Go Around | NYTimes.com

David Axelrod, President Obama’s political strategist, recently invoked a common perception about the 2012 campaign by blaming the Supreme Court for empowering 21st-century “robber barons trying to take over the government.” But that explanation does not account for another development that probably has been just as influential as the court’s Citizens United decision in creating the flood of money into the election: the demise of the public financing system for elections, hastened by Mr. Obama’s decision four years ago to abandon it. So far, Mr. Obama, Mitt Romney and their respective parties have raised more than $1.2 billion — five times the amount raised by all “super PACs” combined — as they race frenetically for the cash they need to pay for television advertising, sophisticated technology and old-fashioned get-out-the-vote efforts. Nor is there any reason to expect a slowdown. Neither Mr. Obama nor Mr. Romney plans to take the $92 million per candidate on offer from public financing for this general election season, and combined they have raised less than $10 million for spending on the general election, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. More than 95 percent of their receipts so far are for use only through the late-summer nominating conventions, meaning they still have far to go to fill their general election bank accounts. Read More

Blogs: Dollars and Sense: Election Policy Decisions Cost New York City, North Carolina Big Bucks | Election Academy

I talk a lot about election costs on this blog … and when I do, I’m usually discussing how states and localities are finding ways to spend less on elections in order to make their budgets work. Recently, however, we’ve seen two stories that involve funding challenges for election offices, both involving a a twist that has an impact on election administrators’ bottom lines. One story is already familiar if you’ve been following this blog. Last week, New York City’s Independent Budget Office (IBO) released a report estimating the cost of a Citywide election in 2012 at approximately $23 million per election. As the report notes, that figure is particularly significant because it represents the extra funds required for a fourth election made necessary by the legislature’s failure to harmonize the election calendar in the wake of a federal court order. Read More

National: With Elections Awash in Cash, There’s Plenty of Blame to Go Around | NYTimes.com

Voting Blogs: Dollars and Sense: Election Policy Decisions Cost New York City, North Carolina Big Bucks | Election Academy

I talk a lot about election costs on this blog ... and when I do, I'm usually discussing how states and localities are finding ways to spend less on elections in order to make their budgets work. Recently, however, we've seen two stories that involve funding challenges for election offices, both involving a a twist that has an impact on election administrators' bottom lines. One story is already familiar if you've been following this blog. Last week, New York City's Independent Budget Office (IBO) released a report estimating the cost of a Citywide election in 2012 at approximately $23 million per election. As the report notes, that figure is particularly significant because it represents the extra funds required for a fourth election made necessary by the legislature's failure to harmonize the election calendar in the wake of a federal court order.

Florida: State was warned that voter purge was based on bad data | Sun Sentinel

Weeks before the Florida Department of State publicly announced its non-citizen voter purge, proclaiming it was cleaning up the voter rolls, local supervisor of elections were already warning state election officials that the department's data were bad. In late March, the state elections office alerted local supervisors that it was sending them a list of 2,600 voters who had been identified as non-citizens based on drivers' license records from the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Right away, according to emails obtained by the South Florida Sun Sentinel and the Orlando Sentinel, there was concern from election supervisors. On April 2, Seminole County Election Supervisor Mike Ertel emailed Gisela Salas, director of the Florida Division of Elections, that some of the five people on Ertel's list were non-citizens when they obtained a driver's license but had subsequently become citizens. In fact, he said, some had registered to vote at their naturalization ceremony. "I hate having these new citizens' first experience with our process be one that frustrates," Ertel wrote, following it with a smiley face.

Florida: Seminole County commission write-in candidate keeps non-Republicans from voting in primary | Orlando Sentinel

Kevin Gross is running for Seminole County Commission, but you won't see his name on a ballot. He doesn't have a campaign website, and it's unlikely he will knock on doors looking for votes. Gross, a registered Republican from Longwood, is a write-in candidate. Yet despite his low profile, he could have a significant influence on the District 3 commission race Aug. 14. Because of a loophole in state law, his candidacy means that only registered Republicans — about 41 percent of the county's 260,000 registered voters — will be able to vote in the race. If not for Gross, all registered voters in Seminole could vote in the Republican primary. Across Florida, Republicans and Democrats alike have used the write-in tactic to keep voters from other parties out of their primaries.

Iowa: Few Iowa felons pursue voting rights | Fox News

Republican Gov. Terry Branstad has made Iowa one of the most difficult states in the nation for felons to vote, with an executive order he issued last year already having disenfranchised thousands of people, a review by The Associated Press shows. On the day he took office, Branstad signed an order reversing a six-year policy started under Democrat Tom Vilsack in which felons automatically regained their voting rights once they were discharged from state supervision. The move flew in the face of a nationwide trend to make voting easier for felons, making Iowa one of four states where felons must apply to the governor to have voting rights restored. Branstad's new process requires applicants to submit a credit report, a provision critics call inappropriate and unique among states. Since then, 8,000 felons in Iowa have finished their prison sentences or been released from community supervision, but less than a dozen have successfully navigated the process of applying to get their citizenship rights back, according to public records obtained by the AP. Branstad's office has denied a handful of others because of incomplete paperwork or unpaid court costs.

Minnesota: Same-day voter registration fight heard in U.S. court | TwinCities.com

Minnesota must check the eligibility of voters who register on Election Day before their ballots are counted or set up a process for others to do so, a voters' rights group is arguing in federal court. Otherwise, "we're going to lose the integrity of our elections," said Erick Kaardal, attorney for the Minnesota Voters Alliance and other plaintiffs. But the state has no obligation to verify eligibility before counting votes, nor would doing so be practical, countered Assistant Attorney General Nathan Hartshorn, representing Secretary of State Mark Ritchie and Attorney General Lori Swanson. The two sides argued for two hours Friday, June 22, before U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank in St. Paul. Frank said he would rule within 60 days.

North Carolina: Elections money disappears from state budget | WRAL.com

When the $20.2 billion state budget was unveiled this week, voting rights advocates got an unpleasant surprise. Although the House and Senate had included $664,000 for the State Board of Elections in their initial spending plans, it mysteriously disappeared from a compromise budget that both chambers approved on Thursday. "When (the budget) went to the conference committee, we kind of thought it was a no-brainer this was going to be in there since both sides had done it," said Brent Laurenz, executive director of the nonpartisan North Carolina Center for Voter Education.

Pennsylvania: Voter ID Law Will Prevent College Students from Voting | PolicyMic

This November should be an exciting time on Pennsylvania college campuses. Students across the state, many for the first time, will cast a vote in the presidential election. Unfortunately, many Pennsylvania students will be kept out of our political process. Some will not bother to go to the polls because they lack any of the recently specified forms of required photo identification; others will be turned away because they are unaware of the state’s new law. This is because of Pennsylvania’s new, complex voter ID law that puts strict requirements on which student IDs are acceptable for voting. Several student IDs issued by Pennsylvania colleges and universities currently do not comply with the new voter ID law. The few types of identification cards that will be acceptable in Pennsylvania for the November election include U.S. military IDs; employee photo IDs issued by federal or Pennsylvania state, county or municipal governments; photo ID cards issued by a Pennsylvania care facility; photo IDs issued by the U.S. Federal Government or the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, or photo ID cards from an accredited Pennsylvania public or private institution of higher learning.

Wisconsin: Voter ID Cases Unlikely to be Decided by Election Day | WUWM

A judge is expected to rule next month on a challenge to Wisconsin’s photo ID law. The decision would come weeks before this fall’s primary elections. Yet, as WUWM’s Ann-Elise Henzl reports, it is unlikely the state’s policy will be set in stone, by the time voters go to the polls.
Groups have filed four lawsuits seeking to overturn Wisconsin’s new photo ID requirement. Two are in state court. Until they’re resolved, the mandate that voters present an acceptable identification card is on hold. One challenge is before a court of appeals, with no decision date in sight. The ruling expected in July is in Dane County Circuit Court. The decision will most certainly be appealed, according to Kevin Kennedy, director of the Government Accountability Board. “Realistically, the courts are probably not going to be acting this summer. I think for August we’re just simply trying to say, ‘don’t expect it, but – again – be prepared,’” Kennedy says.

Egypt: Morsi wins Egypt’s presidential election | Al Jazeera

The Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi has officially won Egypt's presidential election and will be the country's next president, the electoral commission has announced. Morsi picked up 13.2 million votes out of just over 26 million, giving him about 51 per cent of the vote. His competitor, Ahmed Shafiq, the final prime minister under Hosni Mubarak, received 12.3 million. More than 800,000 ballots were invalidated. Farouq Sultan, the head of the election commission, delivered a long speech before announcing the results in which he defended the body's "independence and integrity" amidst what he called meddling by unnamed political factions. The two candidates filed 456 complaints about the electoral process, Sultan said, most of them allegations of either forgery or Christian voters being blocked from polling stations in Upper Egypt. The vast majority of those complaints were dismissed.

Egypt: Mursi declared Egypt’s first civilian president, but military remains in control | Ahram Online

Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate Mohamed Mursi has been named Egypt's fifth president after narrowly defeating his rival, Mubarak-era PM Ahmed Shafiq, in the hotly-contested presidential elections' runoffs. His victory, however, is barely expected to bring immediate stability to the turmoil-hit country. The final results, which gave 52 per cent of the vote to Mursi, were announced around 4:30pm, Sunday, at the Cairo headquarters of the Supreme Presidential Electoral Commission (SPEC). The announcement sparked massive celebrations in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the epicentre of Egypt's uprising. … "I would like to thank the military council, the judicial system and the police for their efforts in making the elections clean and fair," Mursi campaign manager Ahmed Abdel-Atti said shortly after the announcement.

Jordan: Rallies protest draft elections law | Jordan Times

Activists hit the streets in various cities on Friday as protests over the controversial draft elections law stretched into their fourth day. Leftists, independents and supporters of the Islamist movement joined ranks in a series of rallies in several parts of the country against the Lower House’s endorsement of an “undemocratic” elections law and ongoing government austerity measures. Under the slogan “No to the one-vote formula”, activists rallied in Irbid, Salt, Tafileh and Maan to object to the bill, which they claim fails to break away from the one-person, one-vote system that favours independent candidates at the expense of political parties.

Mexico: Fear of past, ire at present divide young Mexicans | BusinessWeek

With signs shouting "No to repression!" and "Down with the PRI!" the angry students who have taken the streets of Mexico with flash protests have become the most visible face of youth in this election. They have challenged the presidential candidates to debates, urged others their age to pay attention to the campaign, and sought to fight off the return of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which held power for 71 years until its ouster in 2000. The college students marching in the protests are among the most privileged of the 24 million young people registered to cast ballots on July 1. At the other end of the spectrum sit the majority of Mexico's young who live in poverty, did not graduate from high school, and earn less than $10 a day. But unlike the elections of 2000, when a majority of young voters agreed that the PRI had to go, this election season has seen a sharp division among youth along class lines. Educated voters in this demographic are opposed to the return of the PRI, while the rest of the voters aged 18 to 29 prefer the candidacy of Enrique Pena Nieto over his two major rivals.

The Voting News Weekly: The Voting News Weekly June 18-24 2012

June 24, 2012

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="260"] Voting Technology: Current and Future Choices[/caption]

The NCSL Canvass surveyed the past, present and future of voting technology and Scientific American considered the challenges presented by internet voting. The Supreme Court is considering Arizona's requirement that voter's provide proof of citizenship. The issue of mailing absentee ballots to voters who failed to vote in recent elections is again an issue in Colorado. The control of the Wisconsin State Senate will be determined by a recount. "The Right to Vote" author Alexandar Kayssar posted an editorial on voter suppression in Harvard Magazine. Tension mounted in Egypt as the announcement of the results of last weekend's election were delayed while challenges were reviewed and Libya will be the latest of the Arab Spring countries to hold elections.

Blogs: Voting Technology: Current and Future Choices | The Canvass
National: E- Voting: Trust but Verify | Scientific American
Arizona: Citizenship mandate challenged | SCOTUSblog
Colorado: Denver clerk Johnson, Secretary of State Gessler reignite ballot fight | The Denver Post
Wisconsin: Recount under way in state Senate recall race | RealClearPolitics
Editorials: Voter Suppression Returns: Voting rights and partisan practices | Alexandar Keyssar/Harvard Magazine
Egypt: Election Results Delayed | WSJ.com
Libya: Election Campaigning Starts | Tripoli Post

Egypt: Tension soars as Egypt awaits vote results | Boston.com

Egypt’s military and the Muslim Brotherhood traded blame for rising tensions Friday as the country awaited the outcome of a presidential runoff vote that pits an Islamist against ousted leader Hosni Mubarak’s former prime minister. Brotherhood leaders said the ruling military council is holding the election results hostage as it bargains to maintain its lock on power. Tens of thousands of Brotherhood supporters have rallied in the capital’s Tahrir Square in a show of force backing candidate Mohammed Morsi, who has warned against manipulating results in a vote that he says he has won. The military for its part declared it was acting for “higher national interests’’ and vowed to crack down on any violence by any group unhappy with the electoral outcome. At stake is whether or not Egypt will emerge from the instability of the 16-month transition that followed Mubarak’s 2011 overthrow, or whether the power struggles will continue or even escalate to a more dangerous level. The Brotherhood has said repeatedly that it would not resort to violence, but several media outlets have launched a vigorous campaign against the movement claiming it will plunge the country into chaos if Morsi does not win.

The Voting News Daily: Left girds for voting rights battle, Hacking the vote

National: Left girds for voting rights battle | Politico.com

Democrats, labor unions and civil rights groups are convinced Republicans are scheming to steal the election from President Barack Obama by suppressing the liberal vote, and they’re girding for battle. Groups on the left are spending more than they have in any previous election to lawyer up, get voters registered early and flood polling locations with trained poll workers and election watchdogs. “We’re not going to be fooled again,” said Michael Podhorzer, political director of the AFL-CIO, which recently launched a new campaign focused on voter protection and registration in battleground states. For the left, he said, “a potentially naive mistake in 2000 was not understanding the implications of election administration and the extent to which Republican election officials can tilt things their way.” Read More

Editorials: Hacking the vote | Rick Holmes/MetroWest Daily News

Many questions hang over the 2012 election. What will the unemployment rate be, and will it hurt Barack Obama’s prospects? How will Mitt Romney hold up in one-on-one debates? How will both candidates bridge the enthusiasm gaps in their parties’ bases? Who’ll control Congress? Will Scott Brown or Elizabeth Warren carry the day in Massachusetts? Here’s one Democrats are asking: Will new state actions requiring photo IDs for voters, purging voter rolls and restricting voter registration drives hurt their candidates? And here’s one almost no one wants to think about: Will the private companies who build and handle voting machines steal the election? Read More

Verified Voting in the News: Voting Technology: Current and Future Choices | The Canvass

In the next several years, new voting equipment will need to be begged, borrowed or bought in most of the nation’s jurisdictions. This raises at least two questions: In an age of galloping technological advancement, what should we buy? And, who’s going to pay for it? … When levers and punch cards went out, what came in? Two systems, one based on electronics (often with a touch screen) and the other based on optical scanners that “score” hand-marked paper ballots in the same way that standardized tests are scored. The electronic machines (aka DREs, short for “direct recording electronic” voting machines) dominated the market in the early part of the 2000s; but by 2008, optical scanning equipment had become more common. (See the map provided by Verified Voting.org for details.) A debate still rages between advocates of the two systems. Those who distrust electronic machines say they make votes hard to recount when an election is contested. Additionally, “there should be a way that a voter can check on a hard copy—independent from the software—that their vote was captured as they intended it to be,” says Pam Smith of Verified Voting.org, an organization that advocates for a voter-verifiable paper trail for elections.

National: E- Voting: Trust but Verify | Scientific American