Iowa: Secretary of State Spent $150,000 To Expose Voter Fraud, Instead Found Nothing Significant | Huffington Post

Eighteen months and $150,000 later, a rigorous voter fraud investigation commissioned by Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz (R) has failed to produce any statistically significant evidence of voter fraud in Iowa, according to The Des Moines Register. Since taking office in 2011, Schultz has made safeguarding the ballot box from fraud a top state priority, striking a two-year deal with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation in 2012 that directed $280,000 of federal funds toward voter fraud inquiries. Additionally, a full-time agent was hired and assigned to pursue voter fraud cases. Although Schultz had expected to unveil “a lot” of voter fraud cases, the investigation so far has yielded just five guilty pleas and five dismissals, The Des Moines Register reported late Sunday. Of the five guilty pleas, three of them involved felons who had completed their prison terms but whose voting rights had not yet been restored when they went to vote.

Editorials: Iowa ‘Voter fraud’ findings didn’t live up to billing | The Des Moines Register

The timing was perfect for Secretary of State Matt Schultz when he ran for office in 2010. The Republican was able to ride a national wave of trumped-up hysteria about hundreds of non-citizens supposedly voting illegally. Schultz made rooting out voter fraud the centerpiece of his campaign, and he won the election, unseating incumbent Michael Mauro. Schultz went on to propose rules seeking to purge ineligible voters from voter lists. This move became the subject of a lawsuit. In July 2012, he struck a deal with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation to assign a full-time agent to investigate suspected voter fraud. The state auditor’s office is now reviewing whether it’s appropriate for Schultz’s office to use federal election-improvement money to pay for fraud investigations. After 18 months of scouring the state for voting scofflaws and spending $150,000 in tax money on the effort, what serious problems have been uncovered? None — other than we now know that there isn’t a problem with voter fraud in Iowa and that some Iowans are confused about voting laws.

Editorials: Signing campaign finance bill would betray Michigan Governor Snyder’s pledge to voters | Detroit Free Press

That grunting and straining you hear is the sound of Gov. Rick Snyder’s struggle to reconcile campaign finance legislation recently adopted by state lawmakers with a pledge he made as a candidate to help voters learn who’s spending how much to influence Michigan’s political process. But it simply can’t be done — and we urge the governor to stop trying before he hurts himself and the state government he has repeatedly promised to make more transparent and accountable. Senate Bill 661 started out as an unnecessary initiative to double the maximum amount that Michigan’s wealthiest political donors and political action committees could legally contribute to election campaigns.

Ohio: 17 people caught casting illegal ballots in 2012 election | The Columbus Dispatch

Thanks to new cross-checking of the statewide voter database with drivers’ license records, Secretary of State Jon Husted today said his office discovered 17 non-U.S. citizens cast illegal ballots in Ohio’s 2012 general election. Husted has turned over the names of those voters, including five from Franklin County, to the state attorney general’s office for possible prosecution. Under Ohio and federal law, a voter must be a U.S. citizen, and must attest to that fact when registering to vote. Another 274 Ohioans, all of whom are in the state legally but also are not U.S. citizens, are registered to vote but have not cast a ballot. Husted said his office is sending a letter to each informing them they are illegally registered along with the forms needed for them to cancel their registrations. They will not be turned over for prosecution unless they fail to cancel, Husted said.

Ohio: Jon Husted renews call for online voter registration | Cleveland Plain Dealer

Secretary of State Jon Husted said Wednesday that his office found nearly 300 people who are non-U.S. citizens but registered to vote in Ohio, including 17 who appear to have voted in the 2012 presidential election. Those 17 cases, including four from Cuyahoga County,  have been referred to Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine for possible prosecution. The cases illustrate the need for online voter registration as a way to further bolster the integrity of Ohio’s voting system, Husted said in a news conference. Data incorporated in an online registration system would have caught any non-citizen attempting to register in that manner. “If the legislature had approved online registration and these individuals had attempted to register using that system, they could have been prevented from registering and they and our elections system would be better off,” he said. “I again ask the legislature to take swift action on this common sense reform.”

Ohio: No evidence of plot to register non-citizen voters | MSNBC

Seventeen non-citizens voted in the November 2012 election in Ohio, Secretary of State Jon Husted announced Wednesday morning, but he acknowledged that there’s no evidence of an organized effort to register non-citizens. “It exists, it’s rare, violators will be held accountable,” Husted said of non-citizen voting during a press conference at his Columbus office. Around 5.63 million total votes were cast in the election. The announcement comes as state Republicans are preparing to pass a slew of voting restrictions next month.  In addition to the 17 non-citizens who voted, another 274 non-citizens registered to vote, added Husted, a Republican. He said they all had provided paperwork to the state’s motor vehicles department, both before and after the November 2012 election, demonstrating their non-citizenship status. But he allowed that some of the 274 could have become citizens since registering.

Texas: True the Vote denied entry into Texas voter ID trial | Facing South

Months before the conservative vote-monitoring group Judicial Watch filed to intervene in the U.S. Justice Department’s lawsuit against North Carolina’s restrictive new voting law, which includes a photo ID requirement, its counterparts at the Houston-based poll-monitoring nonprofit True the Vote filed the same for the Texas voter ID trial, which also involves the Justice Department. True the Vote filed its intervention plea back in September, arguing that a ruling striking down Texas’ voter ID law would “frustrate and hamper” the organization’s anti-voter fraud efforts. Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos of the U.S. District Court of Southern Texas didn’t buy it and last week denied True the Vote’s motion. “The Court finds that True the Vote’s intended contribution to this case may be accomplished without the necessity of, or burden incident to, making it a party,” wrote Judge Ramos.

Texas: Keystone Election Kops | Fort Worth Weekly

The new Texas voter ID law had one effect with which neither side can quibble. It got Fort Worth in the national news for something besides our weather or being forever and famously known as the place where former Baptist Sunday school teacher Willie Nelson lit up his first joint. Before the Nov. 5election, Fort Worth was ground zero for Voter ID law news. Gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis’ signing of an affidavit when she voted early and former Speaker of the U.S. House Jim Wright’s problems in getting a state-issued personal identification card both made national news. But what hasn’t been covered nationally or even locally is how the law’s implementation, at least in Tarrant County, wasn’t quite ready for prime time.

Texas: A Perspective on Name Changes Appearing on Voter Registration Certificates | Texas Election Law Blog

A recent bit of kerfuffle has arisen regarding the practice of listing all of a voter’s prior names on the voter registration certificate – this isn’t a new law, but heightened concerns about how voter I.D. may be enforced have left some women concerned that (1) their voter registration lists some odd typographical mangling of a maiden and married name, or (2) lists a former name that hasn’t been used for many years. I haven’t been shy in my criticism of voter I.D. laws generally, but I think one must be careful to separate one issue (the dreadful policy decision to dramatically restrict the forms of  photo I.D.) from another (the format and treatment of prior names when printing the voter registration certificate). As is so often the case with the state law, the Texas Election Code is not particularly clear about how the voter’s name is supposed to appear on the registration certificate.

Virginia: Obenshain to concede Virginia attorney general’s race on Wednesday in Richmond | The Washington Post

State Sen. Mark D. Obenshain (R) will concede the race for Virginia attorney general to Democrat Mark R. Herring on Wednesday, according to two people familiar with the decision. Obenshain’s announcement will put an end to a drawn-out contest that, on election night, was the closest statewide election in history. Obenshain campaign spokesman Paul Logan did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment Wednesday. Herring had significantly widened his slim lead over Obenshain in a statewide recount that began Monday and was scheduled to finish on Wednesday. The race to succeed Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R) had turned into a protracted nail-biter not only to determine who serves as Virginia’s top law-enforcement official but also to determine control of the evenly split state Senate. Herring and Obenshain are both state senators, and a win by either would have prompted a special election. And because Herring’s Loudoun County district is seen as very competitive, his win could cause Democrats to lose power in the evenly divided Senate. The GOP has a wide margin in the House.

Virginia: Herring ahead by 866 votes on day two of AG race recount | Richmond Times-Dispatch

Democrat Mark R. Herring continued to widen his lead over Republican Mark D. Obenshain on the second day of the statewide recount in the race for attorney general. As ballots were being counted Tuesday, Herring was 866 votes ahead of Obenshain by 7 p.m., said Herring’s legal counsel Marc Elias. “We continue to gain margin at a steady pace, and we expect to continue to do so through the rest of the recount,” Elias told reporters Tuesday. “We become more confident as this recount progresses.” Less than 120 ballots had been challenged by partisan election officials to be sent to the Richmond Circuit Court, where a three-judge panel will begin reviewing them Thursday. Of 133 localities statewide, 98 had finished their tallies by 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Madagascar: Voters want presidential run-off to end crisis | Reuters

Madagascar stages a run-off presidential election on Friday, but old rifts may persist, extending a crisis begun by a coup five years ago that deterred investors and donors of aid to one of Africa’s poorest nations. Neither candidate scored a commanding victory in October’s first round. Both rely on supporters of their respective sponsors, outgoing President Andry Rajoelina and the man he deposed with the army’s help in 2009, Marc Ravalomanana. Voters may not deliver a clear mandate to either Jean Louis Robinson, an ally of Ravalomanana, or Hery Rajaonarimampianina, a former finance minister backed by Rajoelina.

Mali: EU praises parliamentary election in Mali | European Voice

Mali has “turned a page in its political transition”, the European Union says, following a parliamentary election praised by international observers. The results of the second round of elections, which were held on Sunday (15 December), have yet to be announced, but for the EU the principal question was whether the conduct of the election would give the new parliament legitimacy within the country and encourage international donors to follow up on their pledges of support. Voting was marred by a suicide attack in the north-east that killed two Senegalese members of a UN peacekeeping force, but African and European observers said that the election had been acceptably free and transparent. “Nobody would have thought we could organise the return to constitutional order and the rule of law this fast,” said the leader of the EU’s observer mission, Louis Michel, a Belgian Liberal member of the European Parliament. Similar comments were made after the first round on 26 November.

Thailand: Election commission calls for poll postponement | AFP

Thousands of anti-government protesters have marched through the Thai capital, as the country’s Election Commission recommended the upcoming election be postponed because of fears of further unrest. The demonstrators marched through Bangkok, calling on people to join a big rally that they say will paralyse the capital on Sunday. The number of protesters was well down from the huge demonstrations of the last few weeks which prompted Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to call the snap election for February.

Virginia: Obenshain concedes Virginia attorney general’s race to Herring | The Washington Post

State Sen. Mark D. Obenshain (R) conceded the race for Virginia attorney general to Democrat Mark R. Herring on Wednesday, bringing the election to a belated end and giving Democrats a sweep of statewide offices — but throwing control of the state Senate into question. The move allowed Herring to claim victory for the third time since Nov. 5 in a contest that on election night was the closest statewide race in Virginia history. It also spared a three-judge panel in Richmond from having to continue slogging through more than 100 ballots that one side or the other had challenged. And for the first time since Election Day, speculation in Virginia political circles shifted from who would succeed Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R) to how differently the new attorney general would lead. Herring spent much of the campaign promising not to run the state’s law firm like Cuccinelli, a social conservative who waged high-profile battles against a climate scientist, “Obamacare” and universities with policies that protect gay people from discrimination.

Virginia: Meet the man behind the voting machines | Richmond Times-Dispatch

As attorneys and judges in Richmond carved out the ground rules for the statewide recount in the attorney general race last week, Spooner Hull logged more than 2,000 miles on Virginia roads in five days to make sure that the voting equipment will be ready to process tens of thousands of ballots in the coming days. Hull, 67, is a state-certified vendor who sells and services voting machines in 40 localities statewide. He has worked for decades in the background, doing his part to protect the integrity of the electoral system and allow democracy to run its course, unhindered by technical errors that could cause dramatic shifts in Virginia’s political landscape. “Here in Virginia, we have a very good election system, and it works,” said Hull, who bought his company, Atlantic Election Services Inc., from his father 33 years ago. Since then, he has serviced countless local elections and every presidential and state election — including two previous statewide recounts. His years in the business have strengthened his faith in the state’s electoral system. “I can assure you when any state in this country undertakes a rewrite of their election law, they will come to Virginia and look at our code and how we do things,” Hull said.

Honduras: Anatomy of Election Fraud: Stealing the 2013 Honduran Election in Five Simple Steps | FPIF

After a heavily contested election, Honduras has a new president-elect. The director of the Honduran Electoral Tribunal, David Matamoros, made it so on December 12 when he announced that conservative candidate Juan Orlando Hernandez led the vote count and that his lead was “irreversible.” The bold announcement from Matamoros came after opposition parties launched a barrage of complaints arguing that fraud, violence, and inconsistencies had marred the electoral process significantly enough to affect the final tally. Throngs of supporters of the LIBRE and Anti-Corruption parties marched in the streets to protest the results. After the late November election, popular pressure was intense enough that Matamoros himself stood awkwardly before cameras and announced a vote re-count. But, as so often happens in Honduras, political expediency overtook any pretense of fairness, and Matamoros returned a few days later to announce the final results—recount be damned. The deal was quickly sealed by congratulatory statements, delivered as if on cue, by OAS Chief Jose Manuel Insulza and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

National: Federal Election Commission attacked by Chinese hackers during government shutdown | ITProPortal.com

The Federal Election Commission was hit by a massive cyberattack hours after the government shutdown began, according to a report from the Center for Public Integrity. The CPI report claimed the Chinese were behind “the worst act of sabotage” in the agency’s 38-year history. Three government officials involved in the investigation confirmed the attack to CPI, and the FEC acknowledged the incident in a statement. However, the CPI report did not explain why the officials believed China was involved, or provide any details of the network intrusion beyond the fact that attackers crashed several FEC computer systems. When asked for a statement, FEC referred Security Watch to the Department of Homeland Security and did not provide any information. The fact that an attack during the 16-day shutdown occurred should not be a big surprise, since many security experts had warned that attackers might take advantage of IT personnel being furloughed to launch an attack. With less people watching the networks, there was a lot of opportunity for attackers. In fact, the FEC had furloughed all 339 agency employees as none of its staff had been considered “necessary to the prevention of imminent threats” to federal property, according to CPI.

Editorials: How Washington starves its election watchdog | Center for Public Integrity

Just after the federal government shut down Oct. 1, and one of the government’s more dysfunctional agencies stopped functioning altogether, Chinese hackers picked their moment to attack. They waylaid the Federal Election Commission’s networks. They crashed computer systems that publicly disclose how billions of dollars are raised and spent each election cycle by candidates, parties and political action committees. As minutes turned to hours, the FEC found itself largely defenseless against what may be the worst act of sabotage in its 38-year history. The government had furloughed all 339 agency employees, save for the presidentially appointed commissioners, and not even one staffer had been deemed “necessary to the prevention of imminent threats” to federal property, the minimum measure for keeping someone on the job.

Editorials: Voting ruling nothing to celebrate | Wichita Eagle

If Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach could claim a minor triumph in federal court Friday, there is nothing to celebrate about Kobach’s law requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote and the absurd roadblock it’s creating for thousands of would-be voters in Kansas. Rather than accept the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last summer invalidating Arizona’s proof-of-citizenship requirement as also applying to Kansas, Kobach has continued to press the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to alter the federal voter-registration form to reflect both states’ requirements that those registering to vote provide a birth certificate, passport or other proof of U.S. citizenship. The current federal form requires only that applicants sign a statement, under penalty of perjury, swearing they are citizens.

Arizona: High court allowing higher campaign contribution limits to go into effect | Associated Press

The Arizona Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected arguments from the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission and allowed new, higher campaign contribution limits passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature to go into effect. The ruling issued just hours after the court heard oral arguments is a major victory for Republicans, who pushed for the major increases in contribution limits in the past legislative session despite warnings from Democrats that they would run afoul of state law protecting voter-approved laws. The court said it will issue a formal opinion explaining its reasoning later. The court overturned an October decision by the Arizona Court of Appeals that found the law conflicted with the Voter Protection Act. That law requires a three-fourths vote of the Legislature to make major changes to voter-approved laws. The brief court order also lifted the injunction the appeals court put in place blocking the higher limits from taking effect.

Georgia: Attorney general to investigate Fulton County voting | CBS

The Georgia Attorney General’s Office is expected to investigate the voting problems reported in Fulton County during the 2012 presidential election. The State Election Board voted on Tuesday to refer the case to the attorney general after reviewing the results of an investigation by the secretary of state. In November 2012, voters encountered long lines, confused poll workers and voter registration rolls that were not up to date. The report by the secretary of state concluded: These multiple failures seem to be linked to poor planning, insufficient training, poor communication and poor decision-making. Perhaps most troubling is the apparent utter disregard for the security and integrity of practically the entirety of the provisional ballot process. Almost 10,000 votes were essentially un-documented or under-documented and under-secured.

Illinois: Lake County Elections Board prepares for future purchase of voting machines | News-Herald

Lake County Elections Board officials are preparing for the day — in the not-too-distant future — when the county will have to purchase new voting machine equipment. The county last purchased 864 iVotronic electronic voting machines from Omaha, Neb.-based Election Systems and Software in December 2005 for a total price of $2,749,194, said Janet F. Clair of the Elections Board. Federal funding paid $2,330,770 of that cost through the federal Help America Vote Act and Lake County paid $418,423 toward the purchase, Clair said. That purchase was required to ensure the county was compliant with a new state requirement at the time that voting equipment provide a voter-verified paper audit trail.

Editorials: Iowa voter fraud hunt seems much more buck than bang | Iowa City Press Citizen

Voting experts say that — because the penalties are so high and the payoff is so low — instances of real, intentional voter fraud are exceedingly rare. We agree that, when those few instances occur, the penalty should be severe enough to serve as a future deterrent against others taking such actions. But we don’t think the results of Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schulz’s nearly 18-month and $150,000 investigation have proven that such cases are widespread enough to warrant his near obsession with ferreting out voter fraud. The Des Moines Register reports that, so far, the secretary of state’s partnership with the Division of Criminal Investigation has led to criminal charges in 16 cases. And of those 16 cases, five have resulted in guilty pleas, five have been dismissed and none have yet to go to trial.

Texas: Rights group: Texas passive on voter turnout | Associated Press

Civil rights activists accused Texas officials Monday of not enforcing laws designed to drive voter turnout, while records show that if the first elections under the state’s new voter ID law angered or confused many people, they’ve not complained to the state in force. A report from the Texas Civil Rights Project shifted the dispute over voting rights from whether people would be turned away on Election Day to whether residents are given enough opportunities to simply register to vote. The Austin-based group said a survey of public schools showed districts failed to give eligible students voter registration forms at least twice a year as required by law. It also accuses the state of doing little to promote voter registration opportunities. “It makes the point that the system in Texas is lackadaisical at best,” said Jim Harrington, the group’s executive director. The report comes more a month after Texas held its first election under a voter ID law passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature in 2011. A decision by the U.S. Supreme Court this summer gave the state the go-ahead to finally implement the law. A challenge in federal court has been set for trial in September 2014.

Virginia: Herring’s lead keeps growing on second day of recount in Virginia attorney general race | The Washington Post

Democrat Mark R. Herring continued to widen his slim lead over Republican Mark D. Obenshain in the race for Virginia attorney general Tuesday as the recount of the historically close contest spread statewide. Herring’s lead grew to more than 810 votes, with 73 percent of ballots across the state recounted, according to Herring’s campaign. Fewer than 120 ballots had been “challenged,” the campaign said, meaning recount officials could not agree on how they should be counted and will forward them to a special recount court in Richmond that will begin its work Wednesday. The Democrat’s lead was between 811 and 866, depending on how many of the challenged ballots are ultimately counted, Herring attorney Marc Elias said in a conference call with reporters. Herring’s lead is the larger number if all of the challenges are overturned, the smaller one if they are all upheld.

Germany: MPs elect Merkel as chancellor for third term | AFP

Germany’s parliament elected Angela Merkel as chancellor for a third term Tuesday, ending nearly three months of uncertainty since elections that forced her to seek a ‘grand coalition’ with her rivals. Merkel, 59, who is now set to govern Europe’s top economy for another four years, was re-elected by 462 members of the Bundestag lower house of parliament, with 150 voting against and nine abstentions. “I accept the election result and thank you for your trust,” said Merkel, dressed in a black trouser suit, having accepted a bunch of flowers before shaking the hands of supporters. Eighty-six days after she swept to victory in general elections but failed to grab an outright majority, the Bundestag vote, although secret, came as no surprise.

Libya: Few register for constitution commission poll | The Daily Star

Few Libyans have registered to vote for a constitutional commission, official figures showed Tuesday, as the country grapples with growing unrest two years after the toppling of Moammar Gadhafi. The High National Election Commission’s website said only 436,000 Libyans had signed up out of a total electoral list of 3.4 million ahead of a December 21 deadline. The low level of interest comes despite official calls to register, including a fatwa, or religious decree, issued by the highest religious authority in the Muslim country. Voters are apparently “not motivated enough to register,” said Tarek Metri, who heads the UN mission in Libya.

Madagascar: Landmark run-off election in Madagascar | Al Jazeera

Madagascans are taking to the polls in a run-off elections aimed at pulling the island out of the political and economic doldrums and restoring democracy. Citizens hope Friday’s vote will end the crisis sparked by Andry Rajoelina’s coup four years ago, which paralyzed much of the government and caused foreign donors to cancel aid. Both Rajoelina and the man he ousted in March 2009, Marc Ravalomanana, have been blocked from running, amid international pressure over fears of a return to violence. Instead, proxy candidates took part and won the two top places during a first round of voting on October 25. Freemason doctor and former health minister Robinson Jean Louis is seen as a slight favourite after winning 21.16 percent in the first round.

Mali: President’s party wins parliamentary election | BBC

An alliance of parties supporting Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has won parliamentary elections, according to provisional results announced by the government. The Rally for Mali (RPM) and its allies won 115 of 147 seats in the national assembly following a run-off on Sunday, officials announced on state TV. Turnout for both rounds of voting was said to be low. The vote marks Mali’s return to democracy after a coup in 2012. France still has up to 3,000 soldiers in the country after intervening in January to oust Islamist and secessionist rebels who had occupied the north of the country. The West African nation held a peaceful presidential election in August, but since then has seen a surge in violence.