Sierra Leone: Observers Praise Sierra Leone Elections | VoA News

European observers are praising Sierra Leone’s elections as peaceful and well-organized, though they expressed concern about post-election unrest. The country’s National Electoral Commission is still tallying up the results from Saturday’s presidential, parliamentary and local elections. The chief of the European Union election observer mission, Richard Howitt, said the voting Saturday had gone smoothly. “We describe this election as being a well-conducted election, it is conducive to democratic consolidation, that has occurred on an unlevel playing field but in a largely peaceful atmosphere,” he said. Howitt said he hopes there will be peaceful acceptance of the results.

Ukraine: The not-very-convincing victory of Mr. Yanukovych | openDemocracy

Ukraine’s parliamentary election took place on 28 October. In Western democracies election results are announced on the next day, but in Ukraine this process takes 2 weeks, so the results were only published officially published at the end of the first week in November. Yanukovych’s Party of the Regions (PoR) received 30% of the vote – the first time a ruling party has won in a parliamentary election in Ukraine. Contrary to expectations, however, this victory was not greeted with the loud popping of champagne corks, but with a deafening silence. Firstly because the PoR share of the vote was less than expected. Secondly because support for the party has fallen by 2 million votes over the last 5 years, which represents about 5% of the electorate. Losses like these are a real blow in the period before the main electoral battle, the presidential election in 2015, which will decide a great deal more than this parliamentary election.

Editorials: Votes for British prisoners: now is the time | openDemocracy

The dilemma regarding the enfranchisement of prisoners is becoming a constitutional issue.  There are two opposing moral positions. David Cameron has said “It makes me physically ill even to contemplate having to give the vote to anyone who is in prison.” But the rule of law is about more than gut instincts. The UK government has an unequivocal responsibility to implement judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. If it refuses to bring forward plans to provide votes for at least some prisoners by Thursday of this week it will be in breach of its obligations.

Canada: Fate of Internet voting in Edmonton rests with citizen jury | Edmonton Journal

An 18-member citizen jury will decide this weekend if Edmonton should go ahead with a controversial proposal to allow Internet voting next fall. The jurors will hear presentations on security, software and other issues from almost a dozen expert witnesses before reaching a verdict in what organizers say is the first time this form of public involvement has been tried in Canada. “I think this process is groundbreaking,” city clerk Alayne Sinclair said Friday. “As a municipality, we have to think about how we can engage citizens better, how we can actually get them to be involved.”

National: Federal Election Assistance Commission under scrutiny | Hattiesburg American

Republican lawmakers say it’s time to do away with the federal commission that has given states election-related advice for the past years. The lawmakers say the Election Assistance Commission has outlived its usefulness. “We do not need a separate federal agency for the small number of useful functions it performs,’’ said Republican Rep. Gregg Harper of Mississippi, who introduced a bill last year to shut down the commission. “They can be accomplished more efficiently within another agency.” The EAC drew new attention after the Nov. 6 election.

Editorials: Voting Rights Haven’t Gotten Such Attention Since 1965. What Did We Learn? | The Nation

A little over a week after the presidential election has ended, many voting rights watchers are reflecting on all that we learned through this year’s campaigns: what went right, what went wrong, and the unresolved challenges that remain ahead. As for the overall takeaway, Advancement Project director Judith Browne-Dianis wraps it up nicely, saying, “The national conversation around voting rights was amplified like we haven’t seen since 1965.” This year, more Americans arguably learned more about the voting process than any year in recent memory. Civil rights and election protection campaigns made people aware of things like the difference between a poll watcher and a poll observer; how people use data to purge voters; and what voters’ general rights are while standing in poll lines. On a more nuanced level, the discussion around voter ID laws gave Americans a greater understanding of not only how many people don’t have government-issued ID, but also the reasons why.

National: Chris Coons Offers Election Reform Bill To Fix Problems At Polls | Huffington Post

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) is heeding President Barack Obama’s election night call to “fix” the problems voters faced at the polls this year, by introducing legislation that would reward states for election reform. Coons’ bill, titled the Louis L. Redding Fair, Accurate, Secure and Timely (FAST) Voting Act of 2012, is modeled on Obama’s Race to the Top program for education. States that make voting faster and more accessible would be rewarded with federal grants. Voters in several states this year — most notably, Florida and Ohio — stood in extraordinarily long lines at the polls, with some people waiting nine hours. Citizens also dealt with shorter early-voting periods, confusion over whether they needed to present photo ID and reports of uncounted ballots.

Editorials: Voting rights law is not a simple issue | Columbus Ledger Enquirer

Does a federal law that applies to some states but not to others, even to some counties but not to others, make constitutional sense? That’s the question the country has been debating, sometimes bitterly, across political, geographical and racial lines for almost half a century now. The law in question is of course the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which made the most fundamental right of citizenship a reality for millions of Americans, mostly black and mostly in the South, to whom it had been long denied through the slimiest and most cynical kinds of political chicanery.

Arizona: Elections still not over as suspicion builds | Salon.com

The election may have ended almost two weeks ago, but in Arizona, it goes on. Perhaps it’s fitting for a state with its own time zone, but as of last night, there remained over 100,000 uncounted votes in the state’s two largest counties, leaving election officials unable to officially certify the results of a number of the state’s high profile races, including the Senate race, several House contests, and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s reelection bid. Friday was the deadline for counties to finish counting ballots, but the state blew past it yesterday when Maricopa, which contains Phoenix, and Pima County, which contains Tucson, said they needed more time. In most cases, the margins are the large enough by this point that candidates have declared victory or conceded defeat, even if the results aren’t official. And late Friday night, the Arizona Republic newspaper declared Democrat Ron Barber the winner in the highest profile race outstanding, the one to replace Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords. That contest had been too close to call for over 10 days, with fewer than 1,000 votes separating Barber from Republican Martha McSally, but the remaining outstanding ballots come from heavily Democratic areas so the paper was able to project Barber’s victory.

Arizona: Gun Store in Arizona: No Obama Voters Allowed | TPM

A gun shop in Arizona has a clear message to would-be customers who happened to vote for President Barack Obama: take your business elsewhere. The Southwest Shooting Authority in Pinetop, Ariz. took out an advertisement last week in the local newspaper, the White Mountain Independent, that spelled out the store’s new policy in explicit terms. “If you voted for Barack Obama your business is not welcome at Southwest Shooting Authority,” the ad reads. “You have proven that you are not responsible enough to own a firearm.” amendment

Florida: Murphy claims victory after recount deadline, West weighs challenge | The Hill

Democrat Patrick Murphy’s campaign is claiming victory in his race to unseat GOP Rep. Allen West (Fla.) on Sunday after a deadline for certifying results passed and a partial recount added votes to the challenger’s lead. But the West campaign says they are still evaluating whether to launch a legal challenge contesting the count. A partial recount of early ballots in St. Lucia Country showed Murphy gaining 242 votes, according to media reports. Before the partial recount of early ballots Sunday, Murphy was leading by 1,907 votes. A noon Sunday deadline, though, required officials to certify the result, leaving the Murphy camp to claim that the race was over.

Florida: West seeks hearing after Murphy camp declares victory when St. Lucie board misses noon deadline | Palm Beach Post

The St. Lucie County canvassing board has missed a noon deadline to file election results to the Division of Elections, prompting campaign officials for Patrick Murphy to declare the political newcomer the winner in the race for congressional District 18 race. Under Florida law, the final certified results were due from all of the state’s 67 supervisors of elections today. If the results do not arrive on time, the certified unofficial results submitted last Sunday stand. Those results have Murphy winning by 0.58 percent. A spread of less than 0.5 percent would have triggered an automatic recount. “Today at noon, it became clear Patrick Murphy will be officially certified as the next congressman from the 18th Congressional District,” Anthony Kusich, Murphy for Congressman campaign manager, said in a prepared statement issued around 12:40 p.m. “The voters have spoken and Patrick Murphy is once again the clear winner. It is beyond time to put this campaign behind us and put the interests of the people of the Treasure Coast and Palm Beaches first.”

Florida: Failed Amendments Suggest Lawmakers Knew Election Mess was Coming | Bradenton Times

Embarrassed by their worst in the nation results conducting the 2012 election for President of the United States, Florida Governor Rick Scott and the Republican state legislature are promising to get to the bottom of what happened to cause the debacle in which the last votes were not cast until the following day and results were not reported until four days later. However, HB 1355 seems to be the clear culprit, and amendments proposed by the minority party seem to clearly indicate that lawmakers were aware of the fiasco the new rules would cause, but ignored efforts to mitigate it. The new election law, passed by Republicans in the 2011 session amid fierce opposition from Democrats and non-partisan voter rights groups, was signed into law by the Governor, despite warnings that it would cause chaos similar to what voters endured last week. The law shortened early voting, made for longer ballots by expanding the summary of unlimited proposed ballot amendments, and created restrictions that ensured local supervisors would have more of the time-consuming provisional ballots to collect and count.

Florida: Allen West court battle could last into next year | The Hill

Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) indicated on Thursday that he may continue to pursue legal options if a circuit court rules against his request for a full recount on Friday. West’s request, for a full recount of all eight days of early voting in a county in the 18th District, is due to be heard in court on Friday. If the court rules against him, Democrat Patrick Murphy will likely be named the official winner of the race. But West has 10 days after the race is officially called to contest it. On Thursday, he didn’t rule out the prospect of continuing the battle.

Florida: Human error and call company’s hands-off approach led to faulty Election Day robocalls | Tampa Bay Times

After robocalls went out on Election Day telling Pinellas County residents that “tomorrow” was the last day to vote, blame for the national embarrassment ricocheted from Largo to Santa Monica, Calif. At first, Pinellas Supervisor of Elections Deborah Clark pointed at CallFire Inc., the California-based broadcast messaging company she paid to remind 38,700 voters to return their mail ballots. CallFire CEO Dinesh Ravishanker shot back, blaming the debacle on the elections office and “human error.” But images of the CallFire program provided by Clark’s office, as well as interviews with election and county officials, now suggest the botched calls were caused by a combination of public servants’ blunders and CallFire’s hands-off approach.

Hawaii: Honolulu City Council Wants Governor to Investigate General Election | Hawaii Reporter

Public outrage is on the rise after more information about the Office of Elections management failures on General Election Day is documented. Hundreds of people at 24 precincts around Oahu waited as long as three hours to vote because of ballot shortages. In some cases, people left without voting because they could not wait. Callers to local talk shows are demanding a revote. Several note the precincts that ran out of ballots were largely in districts that opposed the controversial $5.2 billion rail project and supported the mayoral candidacy of former Gov. Ben Cayetano. Cayetano lost the election to union-backed Kirk Caldwell after a substantial lead in the polls.

New Mexico: Charges dismissed against ex-secretary of state | SFGate

A judge has dismissed corruption charges against former New Mexico Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron after ruling that repeated delays violated her right to a speedy trial. Second Judicial District Judge Reed Sheppard ruled late Wednesday that Vigil-Giron did nothing to cause the delays other than file one motion asking the state attorney general’s office to be disqualified, the Albuquerque Journal reported. Vigil-Giron issued a statement saying she felt vindicated and plans a return to the public arena. She served two terms as secretary of state and left office in 2006.

Ghana: 4 Ways To Steal An Election In Ghana | GhanaWeb

Of course there are several ways to rig an election but I have put them in a four quadrant grid to cover some of the other variations as well. In the case of Ghana’s forthcoming elections I came up with these: the Tain Effect strategy (TES), flaws in the Biometric exercise, Voter suppression and the Voter maximizer strategy. Certain factors must come into play for it to execute efficiently: It must take place in a constituency you are highly favored to win aka Tain. You intentionally cause a delay in your Tain using ‘Dumsor’ (rolling blackouts) as an excuse- an act of their evil god. Your opponents have already turned in figures and all their polling stations closed. You cause disruptions using Djan’s method of machomen and foot soldiers to dispute your opponents figures.

Japan: Japan Prime Minister dissolves parliament; vote set for Dec 16 | KEYC

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda dissolved the lower house of parliament Friday, paving the way for elections in which his ruling party will likely give way to a weak coalition government divided over how to solve the nation’s myriad problems. Elections are set for Dec. 16. If Noda’s center-left party loses, the economically sputtering country will get its seventh prime minister in six and a half years.

Japan: Two Minor Parties Merge Ahead of Japan Election | WSJ.com

Two minor parties led by local Japanese politicians—who have stirred controversy with hawkish views on matters ranging from relations with China to Japan’s wartime past—formally merged Saturday as campaigning for the Dec. 16 national election ground into gear. With the most recent opinion poll showing the ruling Democratic Party of Japan trailing the opposition Liberal Democratic Party but narrowing the gap, the former governor of Tokyo and the mayor of Osaka jointly presented what they said will be an alternative force in Japanese politics at a news conference. But while Shintaro Ishihara, the former governor of the capital, and Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto both have local power bases and have garnered support in polls in recent months, a survey conducted Thursday and Friday by Japanese daily newspaper Asahi showed both minor parties still trailing the incumbent DPJ and opposition LDP by a long way. More than half of those polled, however, said they supported no particular political party.

Kuwait: 40 candidates disqualified – Liberals reaffirm boycott – Tweeters remanded | Kuwait Times

The newly-established National Election Commission yesterday disqualified 40 candidates including several former MPs over a variety of reasons – mainly over not keeping good conduct – but many of them said they will challenge the decision in court and were confident they will nullify the decisions. The commission, established by an Amiri decree last month, comprises nine top judges and is independent. Its decisions cannot be appealed but can be challenged in the administrative court. Prominent among those disqualified are former MPs Youssef Al- Zalzalah, Saleh Ashour, Khalaf Dumaitheer, Askar Al-Enezi, Khaled Al- Adwah, Saadoun Hammad and Mubarak Al-Khrainej, all of whom were incidentally questioned over allegations that they received millions of dinars in illegal deposits into their bank accounts.

Sierra Leone: Sierra Leone braces for election results | TimesLive

After a peaceful day of voting in the presidential, parliamentary and local elections on Saturday, locals crowded around crackling radios releasing unofficial results from individual polling stations. Sporadic cheering erupted in communities across the capital Freetown, a traditional stronghold of the ruling All People’s Congress (APC), as results trickled in. Polling officials counted votes throughout the night, mostly by lantern light, under the watch of observers, party officials, police and soldiers.

The Voting News Weekly: The Voting News Weekly November 12-18 2012

Legislation has been introduced in both Houses of Congress to address problems experienced in the General Election. The Cleveland Plain Dealer surveyed the problems in Ohio. The Supreme Court will take up a challenge to the Voting Rights Act. After completing their initial vote count days after the election, Florida considers changes to their election code. Electronic pollbooks failures were a significant contributor to delays at the polls. A Federal judge criticized the Ohio Secretary of State’s directive on provisional ballots. Lawmakers in Pennsylvania consider changes to address problems experience by voters. Concerns have been raised about the security of internet voting in Canada and Ghana prepares for the potential of violence in the run up to their election.

Florida: Recount under way in West-Murphy race | Orlando Sentinel

Tens of thousands of ballots in one Florida county were painstakingly fed through scanners Saturday as U.S. Rep. Allen West clung to hope that a recount could keep the freshman Republican and conservative firebrand in Congress. A judge allowed the recount to go forward in St. Lucie County over the objections of Democrat Patrick Murphy, the unofficial winner of the race. Though the recount is not mandated by state law because Murphy’s margin of victory is above the legal threshold, St. Lucie Circuit Judge Larry Schack said either candidate could still formally contest the election if they believe it was unfair.

National: Democrats Propose Speeding Up Voting | Roll Call

Efforts to improve election administration and address the long lines that greeted voters on Election Day shifted to Capitol Hill on Thursday as House and Senate lawmakers unveiled related bills. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., introduced legislation that would establish a competitive-grant program within the Justice Department to provide states with incentives to improve their voting processes. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., quickly pledged to co-sponsor the bill, citing the “embarrassment” that long lines caused Virginia last week. “In Prince William County, folks waited for up to three hours. In Chesapeake, Va., folks waited up to four hours. It was remarkable that it was five days after the fact before we even knew the results in Florida,” Warner said on the Senate floor.

National: New Legislation Would Help Shorten Voting Lines, Strengthen People’s Ability to Vote | Daily Kos

Citing widespread reports of hours-long waits and blocks-long lines at polling places around the country during Election Day, Rep. George Miller (D-CA) today announced that he will introduce new legislation intended to shorten wait times at polling stations and enhance the ability of all citizens who want to vote to cast their ballots. Miller’s bill would require early voting in all states for federal elections, for a minimum of 15 days prior to Election Day.  Today, 15 states do not have any form of early voting and for states with early voting the number of days varies from state to state and in some states, like Florida, the number of days was shortened in this last election.  In addition, Miller’s bill would also require states to ensure that all voting precincts have adequate resources to ensure that no voter must wait in line for more than one hour to vote.

Voting Blogs: What Effect, If Any, Did Voter ID Laws Have on the Election? | ProPublica

Elaine Schmottlach has been a ballot clerk in the small southeastern New Hampshire town of Nottingham – population, 4,785 – for the last 25 years. Yet when it came time for her to vote on Nov. 6, she had to show valid photo identification as required under a new state law. Schmottlach refused and submitted a challenged voter affidavit instead. “My view is this is a horrendous law,” she told ProPublica. “I absolutely detest it. I hated having to ask my best friend to show an ID to prove that she is who she is.”

Editorials: This year’s election was marred by challenges, confusion and long lines of people waiting to exercise their American duty. Let’s fix the problems, now | cleveland.com

Despite all the fears and uncertainty unleashed by nearly two years of bitter legislative battles, lawsuits and red-hot partisan rhetoric, Election Day in Ohio went off with relatively few problems. There were long lines some polling places and scattered equipment glitches, but nothing compared to the problems seen in prior years or in other states, most notably Florida once again. President Barack Obama’s narrow yet clearly decisive victory in the state — and nationally — no doubt put a damper on post-election jockeying and muted potential claims. ‘As Florida showed in 2000, grievances are loudest when the margin between victory and defeat is thinnest. But Ohioans should not feel too cocky about the relative calm.

Arizona: Still Awaiting Some Election Results | NYTimes.com

The question of tipping the political scales in Arizona, like anyplace, is “purely mathematical,” Bruce Merrill said. More people voting for the other side matters only if enough of them vote to overcome the power of a loyal base of voters. Dr. Merrill, a senior research fellow at the Morrison Institute for Public Policy at Arizona State University, has made a successful living dissecting and analyzing voting patterns and trends in the state and beyond. Along the way, he has helped more than 100 candidates, almost all of them Republican, use numbers to tailor their messages and assess the viability of their campaigns. He is used to addressing large forums; last month, he spoke before the Arizona Medical Association. On Tuesday, he opened the doors to his home here, a spectacular 14,000-square-foot house on the edge of a golf course, to talk to about 60 people about the Nov. 6 elections.

Florida: State Rep. Gayle Harrell Calls St. Lucie County Elections ‘A Disaster’ | Sunshine State News

An election inspection team ordered by Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner is on the ground in Fort Pierce as the city mayor’s contest has spawned the second lawsuit that questions the general election results in St. Lucie County. The three-day audit by the state Division of Elections, spurred by state Rep. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, adds to a scene already dominated by U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Palm Beach Gardens, disputing problems encountered during early voting by the county supervisor of elections office and further adds to Florida’s history of voting problems that have earned national scorn since 2000.