Monthly Archives: January 2013

Deciding whether to believe the Brennan Center study which “estimated 48,000 low-income Mississippians could have trouble obtaining government-issued photo identification” or an afterthought-study (no federal observers, eligible voter percentages) which suggests only 21,855 Mississippians total would need one? Mind you, the afterthought was prepared by proponents who requested $395,000 for poll-tax (driver’s licenses aren’t free and Mississippi’s unexpired license requirement is tantamount to a recurring voting fee) ID litigation and requested none for related education and outreach.

New Hampshire: Conservative group trying to block voting lawsuit | Fosters

Does the U.S. Department of Justice have ulterior motives for allowing New Hampshire to be released from a portion of the Voting Rights Act? That’s the theory being advanced by some conservative groups, including The Center for Individual Rights (CIR). Headquartered in Washington, D.C., CIR is questioning the motives behind a decision by Attorney General Eric Holder to release New Hampshire from Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. A key piece of civil rights legislation, the Voting Rights Act of 1964 guarantees that voters aren’t disenfranchised on account of race or color. It also contains several special provisions that impose stringent federal oversight in certain areas of the country, known as “covered jurisdictions.”

South Carolina: Lillian McBride resigns from Richland County Election Commission | wistv.com

Embattled Richland County Election Commission executive director Lillian McBride has submitted her resignation to the commission. In a letter dated on Jan. 3 from her attorney to the commission, McBride relinquished control of the commission and took the blame for what happened on Election Day. McBride and other members of the county elections commission were criticized after voters were forced to wait as long as seven hours to vote. “In taking this action, I accept fully the responsibility for what occurred during the election on November 6, 2012,” said McBride in the letter.

South Carolina: Bill to opt out of complying with South Carolina voter ID law spurs debate | TheState.com

Republican state senators want to make it easier for people to opt out of the state’s new voter ID law – just not too easy.
Republicans tried Thursday to advance a bill that would allow voters to opt out of showing a photo ID at the polls if they signed a document saying why they had a “reasonable impediment” to getting one. State Sen. Vincent Sheheen, D-Kershaw, tried to amend the bill further to say that state and county officials may not “review the reasonableness of the voter’s explanation” as to why they could not get a photo ID.

US Virgin Islands: Judge will not stop swearing-in of V.I. officials | Virgin Islands Daily News

Chief District Judge Curtis Gomez has blocked an attempt by five Virgin Islands candidates to prevent the swearing-in of the territory’s newly elected officials. The candidates, who lost their races in the November General Election, are preparing to file a motion today to recuse Gomez from hearing the case. In an amended complaint filed Dec. 21, senatorial candidate Lawrence Olive, Senate At-large candidate Wilma Marsh-Monsanto, Delegate to Congress candidate Norma Pickard-Samuel and Board of Elections candidates Harriet Mercer and Diane Magras asked the court for a temporary restraining order to prevent the Jan. 14 swearing-in ceremony. Each party is acting “pro se” and representing himself or herself.

Cuba: Preparations for Next February 3rd Elections | Escambray

The 612 deputies to Cuban Parliament, and the 1 269 delegates to the provincial assemblies of the People’s Power will be elected next February 3rd.
Cuban authorities work in the preparations for the election next February to choose the 612 deputies to Parliament, said the president of the National Electoral Commission (CEN), Alina Balseiro. In statements to Prensa Latina, the civil employee emphasized that 89 electoral districts were created, organizations destined to obtain fairness in the number of voters, being considered the difference of inhabitants between the 168 municipalities in the country. The districts can arise in municipalities where the population exceeds the 100,000 residents, said Balseiro regarding to the election in the ballot boxes, from which the 1,269 delegates will come in addition to the provincial assemblies to the Popular Power.

Cyprus: Presidential elections proclaimed for February 17 | Famagusta Gazette

Presidential elections in the Republic of Cyprus were officially proclaimed today by the Minister of Interior and will take place on February 17. An eventual second round is set for a week later, on February 24. The Minister also appointed today the Chief Returning Officer Andreas Assiotis and the rest of the Returning Officers in Cyprus’ election districts and abroad. According to an announcement by the Office of the Chief Returning Officer, Interior Minister Eleni Mavrou has set January 18th as the date for the submission of candidacies by the contestants for the Presidential Elections, according to a decree published today in the official gazette.

Czech Republic: Constitutional Court Confirms Presidential Election Date | Bloomberg

The Czech Constitutional Court ruled that the country’s first direct presidential elections may take place next week after reviewing a complaint filed by a candidate excluded from the vote. The court, based in Brno, the Czech Republic’s second- largest city, said today that the first round of elections may be held Jan. 11-12 as planned, spokeswoman Jana Pelcova said by phone today. The court earlier reviewed a complaint from Tomio Okamura, who was excluded from the vote.

Ireland: Oscars online voting mess reminds us of a certain electronic voting machine bought by the Irish government | joe.ie

When it comes to voting do any of us really trust machines? We’ve seen so many hacker incidents in the global media, not to mention our own email and Facebook pages, that we don’t really trust our votes not to be tampered with if made electronically. The 85th Annual Academy Awards tried to upgrade their voting system to e-voting this year but has met with nothing but problems. Usually voting for the awards is done via the post. This year, there was a choice of posting the vote traditionally, or voting online. Many users found that they had more trouble trying to get their votes cast online that they would trying to perform an online banking transfer.

Israel: Election Committee: Likud violated election laws | Ynetnews

Central Election Committee Chairman Justice Elyakim Rubinstein ruled Friday that a performance given by popular Israeli singer Sarit Hadad at the launch of the Likud-Beiteinu’s election campaign was in violation of campaign laws. Article 17 of the Israel Election Act states that political parties are barred from employing the services of artists as part of their campaign. Anyone found in breach of this article is subject to a fine of NIS 29,000 (roughly $7,800) – or six months in jail.

National: E-Voting Snafu Pushes Back Oscar Nomination Deadline | Wired.com

This year, Oscar voters are getting a deadline extension, giving members an extra day to vote on the nominees for this year’s Academy Awards after technical issues plagued the first attempt by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to allow online voting. The Academy announced in early 2012 that it would be making e-voting available to members, and as is often then case in the move from analog to digital, the transition to the new voting platform hasn’t been without hiccups. In a recent Hollywood Reporter analysis, many Academy voters complained of issues with logging in to the voting site — something an Academy representative attributed to voters “forgetting or misusing passwords” – difficulty navigating the site once they were logged in, and even the potential for hackers to infiltrate the website and influence the vote.

Florida: Republicans rethinking election law | TBO.com

In the wake of Florida’s Nov. 6 election fiasco, Republican state legislators and Gov. Rick Scott acknowledge the massive election reform law they passed amid partisan controversy two years ago needs to be revised. Scott, who signed the new rules into law and initially defended the conduct of the Nov. 6 voting, has since said Floridians “are frustrated” and the state needs “bipartisan legislation … to restore confidence in our elections.” Republican legislative leaders who solidly backed the election reform bill two years ago now say it needs revisiting. “The only 10 laws that were divinely inspired and could never need any amendment came down from the mountain with Moses,” said state Senate President Don Gaetz, a Niceville Republican.

Michigan: Voters must affirm citizenship on ballot application under bill signed by Snyder | Detroit Free Press

Voters won’t have to check a box affirming that they’re U.S. citizens when they go to vote in the future. But there will be a sentence on ballot applications affirming U.S. citizenship that every voter will have to sign before they get a ballot. After vetoing similar legislation in July, Gov. Rick Snyder signed a bill late Friday that requires the citizenship affirmation to be included on ballot applications. The amendment was included in a separate bill at about 2:30 a.m. on Dec. 14 in the final hours of legislature’s lame duck session.

New Hampshire: Conservative Group Attempts To Block New Hampshire’s Bailout From Voting Rights Act | Huffington Post

The state of New Hampshire and the Justice Department agree that the state shouldn’t have to seek permission from the federal government before making changes to its voting laws. But a conservative group that doesn’t think any state should be subject to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires certain jurisdictions to pre-clear any such changes, is trying to block New Hampshire’s so-called bailout, alleging it’s all part of a scheme to trick the Supreme Court. The Center for Individual Rights filed a motion to intervene in a federal lawsuit last month to attempt to block New Hampshire from getting out of Section 5, alleging the 10 New Hampshire towns or townships covered by the provision aren’t entitled to a bailout under the law.

New Jersey: Democrats hit with $42,000 fine for robo calls in ’09 governor’s race | NorthJersey.com

The New Jersey Democratic Party has paid more than $42,000 to settle allegations that it improperly spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a series of controversial automated campaign calls meant to pull support from Chris Christie in his 2009 campaign against former Gov. Jon Corzine. The party had faced more than $200,000 in fines stemming from the six in-kind contributions, which totaled $227,120.64, most of which were used to pay for automated phone calls, known as robo calls, that supported third-party candidate Chris Daggett, who was seen as drawing votes away from Christie.

New Mexico: Two lawmakers drop voter ID bills | The Deming Headlight

Two New Mexico legislators are dropping their attempts to require photo identification or a Social Security number to vote.
Republican Reps. Dianne Hamilton and Cathrynn Brown said it would be futile to introduce any voter identification bills because Democrats have strengthened their hold on the state House of Representatives. “We don’t have the votes to pass anything,” said Brown, a second-term lawmaker from Carlsbad. She introduced bills in each of the last two years that would have required government-issued photo identification to vote. Both failed.

New York: Cecilia Tkaczyk not giving up election fight in NY 46 Senate District | DailyFreeman.com

Democrat Cecilia Tkaczyk has appealed “hyper-technical mistakes” that invalidated more than 300 paper ballots cast in the race for the state’s 46th Senate District seat, her attorney said on Friday. Republican candidate George Amedore was expected to file a response to his opponent’s appeal by 4 p.m. Friday, but Amedore’s spokesman could not be reached for confirmation of that. Acting state Supreme Court Justice Guy Tomlinson on Dec. 18 certified Amedore the winner of the 46th Senate District race by a margin of just 37 votes, 63,141 to 63,104. The ruling was made public the following day, at which point Tkaczyk’s campaign indicated she would file an appeal. That appeal was filed Wednesday with the state Supreme Court Appellate Division, Third Department.

New York: Early Voting Option for New York State? | wgrz.com

Back in 2010 voters saw a major change as voting machines went from the lever over to the scanner. And now in Albany as we approach a new year, State Assembly Democrats including Speaker Sheldon Silver are talking about voting for another change in the way we run our elections. “Early voting” would start two weeks before the designated Election Day. That is similar to what Ohio, Florida, and other states now allow.

Australia: Swan on the attack over compulsory voting rethink | ABC News

Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan says the Queensland Government wants to scrap compulsory voting in order to stifle debate on public service job cuts. State Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie has released a discussion paper on electoral reforms, including making voting at state elections voluntary. Australia is one of only around 20 democracies where voting is compulsory. Mr Swan says the “absolutely stunning” proposal is aimed at stopping voters having a say on the state’s decision to cut around 14,000 public service jobs.

Cyprus: Last-minute dash to register for elections | Cyprus Mail

Hundreds of Cypriots made last minute applications yesterday to become eligible to vote in next month’s presidential elections.
According to head of the Interior Ministry’s Electoral Service, Demetris Demetriou, the number of people who registered on the electoral roll in the last five days equalled the tally collected for the last three months. The Electoral Service, District Offices, and Citizen’s Service Centres around the island closed their doors at 5pm yesterday to those eligible voters wishing to add their names to the electoral roll, both domestically and abroad, ahead of the February 17 presidential elections.

Ecuador: President taking leave in re-election bid | Ventura County Star

Ecuador’s Congress voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to grant President Rafael Correa a monthlong leave of absence while he campaigns to be the first Ecuadorean leader in more than a century to hold the presidency for more than a single term. The South American nation limited its presidents to single terms in the 20th century until the charter was changed in 2008 to allow re-election, a move that benefited the populist Correa. Correa said handing his job over to Vice President Lenin Moreno starting Jan. 15 shows how far he’s willing to go to support democracy and avoid abusing his presidential powers ahead of the Feb. 17 vote. “I don’t have to do it, but I prefer to avoid any suspicion,” Correa told Congress.

Jordan: Election season exposes flaws | Al-Arabiya

After months of discussions and debates, the parliamentary election season is finally upon us, and it exposes numerous flaws and weaknesses. Jordanians spent the better part of 2012 arguing about the best elections law for the country. In the aftermath of the Jordanian Arab Spring, many wanted an elections law that can usher in a new, more robust, representative parliamentary government. From the look of things, the 17th Parliament of Jordan will most likely resemble the 16th or the ones before it. A study conducted by Radio Al Balad’s parliamentary reporter Hamzeh Sou’d and investigative journalist Musab Rawashdeh showed that 139 candidates to the 17th Lower House served in earlier parliaments. Of the repeat MPs, 68 served in the 16th Parliament.

National: Concern over glitches with Oscar electronic voting extends deadline | Fox News

Growing concern that problems with the new electronic Oscar voting system could lead to record-low turnout has prompted the motion picture academy to extend the deadline for members to vote for Oscar nominations. But next week’s highly anticipated announcements looming, the extension is only for a day, until Friday. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Monday any votes received after the new deadline will not be counted. “By extending the voting deadline we are providing every opportunity available to make the transition to online balloting as smooth as possible,” said the academy’s chief operating officer, Ric Robertson, in a statement. “We’re grateful to our global membership for joining us in this process.”

Editorials: A Constitutional Case Against Felony Disenfranchisement Laws | COLORLINES

In the movie “Lincoln”, there’s a scene where “Radical” Republicans are debating Democrats in congressional chambers over whether to abolish slavery with a new constitutional amendment. A speaker from the Democratic Party, arguing against abolition, delivers a rousing speech about how Negroes shouldn’t be emancipated because of the slippery slope of freedom. Once Negroes have freedom, he argued, then they’ll want the right to vote—the prospect of which caused a riotous but bipartisan chorus of disagreement from most of Congress. The bellowing response was only outdone by an even more clamorous round of disapproving shouts when the speaker mentioned giving women the franchise.

Arizona: State makes example out of few caught voting twice | USAToday

“Vote early and vote often” is a laugh line politicians often invoke as they make a pitch for people’s support. But it’s no laughing matter to a half-dozen former Arizonans, who have been prosecuted for voting twice in past elections. Thanks to a data-sharing agreement among 20 states, Arizona can cross-reference its voter data with other states and ferret out people who vote more than once in the same election cycle.

California: Lawmakers try to curb anonymous political donations in California | Los Angeles Times

State lawmakers are moving to curb anonymous political donations in California after a national election in which nonprofit groups secretly poured hundreds of millions of dollars into campaigns. Legislators have proposed greater disclosure by donors, higher fines for violations and new powers for officials to investigate suspicious contributions to certain groups. Other measures would boost disclosure requirements for political advertising and campaign websites.

Florida: Central Florida discouraged voters: Long lines at polls caused 49,000 not to vote | OrlandoSentinel.com

After working a 10-hour shift on Election Day, painter Richard Jordan headed to his east Orange County polling place at about 4:30 p.m. Based on more than a decade of voting, he expected to be in and out in minutes. Three hours later, Jordan’s back ached, he was hungry, thirsty — and nowhere near a voting booth. So he left. As it turned out, his Goldenrod Road precinct didn’t close until 11 p.m. “The line just wasn’t moving,” said the 42-year-old Democrat, who added that he now regrets not voting. “It was so depressing.” Like Jordan, as many as 49,000 people across Central Florida were discouraged from voting because of long lines on Election Day, according to a researcher at Ohio State University who analyzed election data compiled by the Orlando Sentinel.

Iowa: Branstad Relaxes Felon Voting Rights Rules | WHOTV

Felons in Iowa trying to regain their voting rights will have an easier time. On Friday the Branstad administration announced they would be relaxing the rules enacted last year that made Iowa one of the hardest states in the nation for felons to regain their voting rights. In 2011, Governor Branstad issued an executive order eliminating automatic renewal of voting rights for felons who had completed the terms of their sentence. Instead, they were required to apply to the Governor’s office to have the rights restored.

Massachusetts: Challenges to Direct Democracy: The Massachusetts Right to Repair Ballot Question | State of Elections

In an exercise of their democratic freedoms under state law, Massachusetts residents successfully petitioned to have three distinct initiatives posed to voters on November 6th. Of those three ballot questions, two received widespread media attention: (1) the legalization of medical marijuana, which ultimately passed by a wide margin, and (2) the legalization of prescribing medication to end life, which, after passionate debate, was defeated by a relatively small percentage of voters. Meanwhile, results for the third ballot initiative regarding the availability of motor vehicle repair information for independent repair shop owners, more commonly referred to as the “right to repair,” were not so much as acknowledged by major news organizations. However, after receiving strong voter support on Election Day, the right to repair initiative has begun to gain some media attention.

Massachusetts: Lawmaker In Voting Scandal Quits Office | WBUR