The Voting News Weekly: The Voting News Weekly September 23-29 2013

supreme courtSupreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in McCutcheon v. FEC, which many describe as the next Citizens United and Lawrence Lessig considers it as much a test of the five conservative justices as of the law they will review. Two civil rights groups are challenging Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz’s authority to pass emergency voting rules in the months before an election. Voter advocacy groups alarmed that adequate security measures for a new Maryland law allowing voting by mail with a ballot downloaded online will not be in place for the 2014 elections. The Wayne County Board of Canvassers certified a recount of the Aug. 6 primary election that changed only nine votes in the Detroit mayoral election. A Federal judge in South Dakota ruled that a group of Native Americans will not have to pay court costs related to their voting-rights lawsuit against the state. The Australian Election Commissioner has questioned the wisdom of internet voting proposals and amid claims of security vulnerabilities and an ensuing Supreme Court case, Estonian officials tested their internet voting system.