Yearly Archives: 2013

In totalitarian dictatorships diversity of opinion doesn’t exist. And so is the case in the Islamic Republic of Iran where all secular organizations and parties were eliminated at the beginning of the Islamic revolution of 1979. Nevertheless, in keeping up appearances, presidential elections are to be held in that country on June 14th. There is an ‘inter-Islamist’ discussion about which Islamist candidate could serve the ruling leader Ali Khamenei in the best way. And that’s the gist of it; the candidates will not deviate from the ruling Islamic doctrine.

Malaysia: Election Commission holds demo on indelible ink | Straits Times

Malaysia’s Election Commission (EC) held a public demonstration here on Thursday to prove that the ink could last despite washing the finger several times, following an uproar over the incident. EC secretary Kamaruddin Mohamed Baria invited a member of the press, who did advance voting, to participate in the demonstration, Free Malaysia Today reports. This time, the EC staff shook the indelible ink bottle for about 30 seconds before applying on the Sinar Harian reporter, Muhammad Shamsul Abd Ghani’s index finger. Later, Shamsul attempted to wash away the ink several times using disinfectant, spirit, vinegar and water but failed. The attempts only turned the ink colour from dark purple to dark red.

Malaysia: Fear of voter fraud ahead of Malaysia vote | Bikya News

Malaysia’s opposition leaders are beginning to sound the alarm over what they say could be widespread voter fraud in order to keep the ruling government in power. On-the-ground activists have told Bikyanews.com that they fear the election, expected to be the closest in the country’s history, will not be fair. “I have seen government officials come into polling stations and bark out orders to people and this is not what they are supposed to be doing in order to make things move smoothly and fairly,” said one activist, who told Bikyanews.com that he has been tasked to be an election monitor.

Florida: Elections bill heads to governor’s desk | Tallahassee Democrat

Florida election supervisors will be allowed to restore early voting up to 14 days — including the last Sunday before Election Day — and increase the kinds of locations sanctioned for early-voting, under a bill passed by the Legislature in its final hours of session Friday. HB 7013 reverses much of the changes by the Republican-led Legislature in 2011 that limited early voting down to eight days. At the time, proponents said the move was intended to reduce voter fraud, but later was acknowledged by some party leaders as a way to dampen Democratic turnout in the wake of President Barack Obama’s victory.

National: Rep. Jim Cooper to propose ‘right to vote’ amendment to U.S. Constitution | The Tennessean

Convinced that the right to vote for all citizens isn’t fully protected under law, U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Nashville, is planning a long-shot proposal to add a 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution. “What it would do is grant for the first time in American history a constitutional right to vote,” Cooper said Wednesday after announcing the proposal at a Nashville Bar Association luncheon during a strikingly personal speech that evoked race, discrimination and equality. “Many people think we have this already,” he said. “We do not. Some states have a right to vote. But we do not have it nationwide.”

National: FEC Commissioners All Serving Expired Terms Now | Huffington Post

All five sitting commissioners at the Federal Election Commission are now serving expired terms, while the sixth seat remains unfilled since a commissioner retired on Feb. 1, 2013. FEC Commissioner Caroline Hunter’s term expired on Tuesday. Until their replacements are confirmed by the Senate, FEC commissioners are permitted to stay on. Former Commissioner Cynthia Bauerly resigned her post in February long after her own term had expired. President Barack Obama has not successfully appointed a single new commissioner to the FEC. In 2010, his lone appointee withdrew during a contentious confirmation process. Obama’s failure to name commissioners has been a sore point for campaign finance reformers, who sent a blistering letter to the White House on Monday excoriating the president for not pushing hard enough to reform the nation’s system of campaign funding.

Editorials: Make companies disclose political spending | USAToday

Three years ago, when the Supreme Court opened the door to unlimited political donations by corporations, Justice Anthony Kennedy made the case for transparency as the best way to keep politics clean. Thanks to the power of the Internet, Kennedy wrote in the landmark Citizens United decision, “shareholders can determine whether their corporation’s political speech advances the corporation’s interest in making profits, and citizens can see whether elected officials are ‘in the pocket’ of so-called moneyed interests.” Alas, the world he described does not exist. Citizens and shareholders can’t make these determinations because they lack the basic information to do so.

Editorials: Who’s Sorry Now? | Linda Greenhouse/New York Times

Back when Sandra Day O’Connor was still on the Supreme Court, busy saving affirmative action and the right to abortion, liberals who wanted a reason to forgive her vote in Bush v. Gore often asked me — begged me — to assure them that Justice O’Connor was sorry. No, she’s not, I would reply, anticipating the heartbroken expressions my words always evoked. It seemed to me that this was a woman who looked forward, not back, and who never wasted energy on regret. So now it turns out that the retired justice, just past her 83rd birthday, does have second thoughts about Bush v. Gore and, more to the point, is willing to express them.

Alabama: Activists urge Supreme Court to reject Shelby challenge to Voting Rights Act | al.com

Montgomery was the final stop Wednesday on a bus tour of Alabama and Mississippi aimed at keeping the 1965 Voting Rights intact. The “Never Forget, Never Again” pilgrimage for voting rights came to the Alabama State House on Wednesday to raise awareness of a pending case before the U.S. Supreme Court that could allow some states to change voting laws.

Colorado: On Hot-Button Election-Reform Bill, It’s Gessler Versus the Clerks | The Colorado Independent

Colorado’s Republican Secretary of State Scott Gessler arrived late to testify at the Senate committee hearing, but he came prepared. A practiced courtroom lawyer, he began slowly. He threw in folksy asides. He answered his own rhetorical questions. And he smiled at the majority-Democratic committee members as he railed against the election-reform bill they all support and that he wants desperately to derail. It was a dramatic moment in Colorado politics that had been building since Gessler took office two years ago.

Voting Blogs: Sixth Circuit Says Michigan was Right to Keep Gary Johnson Off the 2012 Ballot | Ballot Access News

On May 1, the Sixth Circuit issued a brief opinion, saying the U.S. District Court in Michigan was correct when it kept Gary Johnson, or any other Libertarian Party presidential candidate, off the ballot in November 2012. The part of the decision on the merits is only one short paragraph long, and does not discuss the factual error in the U.S. District Court’s decision. The U.S. District Court had said in its original opinion that John B. Anderson had not appeared on the 1980 Michigan Republican presidential primary ballot, so the precedent created when Anderson appeared as a minor party presidential nominee in November was not relevant. Later the District Court amended its opinion to acknowledge the error, but did not then re-think the conclusion.

New York: Tkaczyk writes bills based on her recount | Times Union

Exasperated by a 73-day recount that forced her to miss a week of voting, Sen. Cecilia Tkaczyk is proposing changes to election law that would prevent challenges to affidavit and special ballots. Tkaczyk, a Democrat from Duanesburg, bested George Amedore by 18 votes after a lengthy, court-supervised counting process.

New York: State considers early voting system | NCPR

The state’s Attorney General and Assembly Speaker have proposed an early voting system for New York that they say can improve voter participation and democracy. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman teamed up to press for New York to join 32 other states and allow early voting. Speaker Silver says the state has a dismal record for voter participation, ranking near the lowest in the nation. He says reasons for the failure to vote range from disruption after last fall’s Superstorm Sandy, to conflicting work or school schedules. He says an extended period of time to vote could help fix that. “Our legislation would enable New Yorkers to cast their ballots on any day during a fifteen day period before a general election,” said Silver, who said primary voting would be extended to eight days.

North Carolina: Prepare for a Special Election in the Craziest-Shaped Congressional District in the Country | National Journal

President Obama’s decision to tap Rep. Melvin Watt, D-N.C., to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency ensures that, if confirmed, he will be playing a pivotal role in housing policy. But it also spotlights the awkwardly shaped congressional district he will be vacating, one of the most gerrymandered in the country. The district was originally drawn to connect scattered African-American precincts in towns from Gastonia 160 miles south to Raleigh-Durham. It now covers a smorgasbord of disconnected metropolitan areas, including parts of the cities of Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Lexington, Salisbury, and High Point.

North Carolina: Voter ID one step closer to become state law | Smithfield Herald

The state House last Wednesday passed a bill requiring voters to show a photo ID when they go to the polls in 2016.
House Republicans pushed through the measure, saying the public demanded more stringent ballot security at polling places – that voter fraud was more prevalent than thought and that in a modern, mobile society, fewer election officials personally know voters. “Our system of government depends upon open and honest elections,” said Rep. David Lewis, a farm-equipment dealer from Dunn and a Republican. “Having people prove who they say they are as a condition of voting makes sense and guarantees that each vote is weighted equally and cumulatively determines the outcome of elections.”

Cameroon: Ruling party wins Senate election | Associated Press

The party of Cameroon’s entrenched ruler Paul Biya won 56 of the 70 contested seats in the nation’s first-ever senatorial election, the Supreme Court announced. Supreme Court President Alexis Dipanda Mouelle said Monday that Biya’s Cameroon Peoples’ Democratic Party scored 73 percent of the vote, winning seats in eight of the country’s 10 administrative regions. The opposition Social Democratic Front received 17 percent, with 14 seats in just two regions. The opposition claimed vote-rigging but international observers said instances of vote-buying and intimidation were too few to change the overall outcome of the ballot. According to the constitution, the 80-year-old Biya, in power since 1982, gets to appoint the remaining 30 members of the legislative body, ensuring total control of the newly-created 100-seat Senate.

Canada: Elections Canada finds more than 165,000 voted improperly in 2011 | National Post

More than 165,000 people seem to have voted improperly in the last election, a new Elections Canada report has found, and the system for voting needs to be overhauled, although there isn’t enough time to do that before the next election. Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand commissioned the report after irregularities in the Toronto riding of Etobicoke Centre led to a court challenge that went to the Supreme Court of Canada. Former Elections Canada executive Harry Neufeld audited 1,000 polls from the last election as well as three recent byelections, and discovered systematic errors in the processing of the 15 per cent of voters who show up on election day without having been registered.

Iran: Was Ahmadinejad arrested by the Revolutionary Guard? | Daily Mail

Reports have claimed that the Iranian President was arrested this week and warned against releasing information which could prove damaging to the country’s Islamic regime. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was allegedly held for seven hours by the Revolutionary Guard on Monday and told to back down with claims that the regime defrauded voters at the last general election and allegations of fraud against political rivals. According to WND.com, the President was returning from a book fair in Tehran when his security advisor was informed that he was requested to appear at the Supreme Leader Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei’s office on an urgent matter. But three other cars are said to have joined the President’s convoy and contact was lost between him and his security vehicles.

Kenya: Electoral Commission Criticized for Kenya Balloting Dispute | VoA News

Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundary Commission (IEBC) has come under criticism after the Supreme Court confirmed the electoral victory of President Uhuru Kenyatta. But IEBC Commissioner Yusuf Nzibo says the criticisms are unjustified because the commission faced various challenges during the March general election. Critics say the IEBC oversaw a flawed voting process, which they contend led to an election dispute that was finally settled by the Supreme Court. They also said the electoral commission failed to adequately educate voters in the run up to the vote. Nzibo disagrees.

Editorials: No vote of confidence for FEC | Melanie Sloan/Politico

In light of the recent failure of gun control legislation despite widespread public support for change, most Americans would be hard-pressed to name a government entity more dysfunctional than Congress. But that is only because most people have never heard of the Federal Election Commission, which is more out of touch with common sentiment than the House and Senate combined. Voters have become cynical about elected leaders, believing many are bought and paid for. While decrying this public perception, politicians on both sides of the aisle have little interest in taking any concrete action to improve the situation.

Editorials: Should We Kill the Federal Election Commission? | Bloomberg

Caroline Hunter’s six-year term on the Federal Election Commission expires today. If recent history is any guide, what will happen next is … nothing. Of the six seats on the FEC, which interprets and administers the nation’s election laws, one is vacant and the others are occupied by commissioners with expired terms. It’s tempting to conclude from this that inertia dominates the FEC but that would be mistaken: The commission is more destructive than mere inertia could possibly allow. The most recent effort to instill even rudimentary accountability at the agency took place four years ago, in May 2009, when President Barack Obama nominated labor lawyer John Sullivan to a seat. Sullivan’s nomination sank in senatorial quicksand, and he never made it to the FEC. His nomination represents the bulk of the Obama administration’s work in the field of campaign finance reform.

Editorials: Why don’t Americans care more about campaign finance reform? | Washington Post

As campaign finance reform groups complain that President Obama hasn’t done enough to limit the flow of big money into politics, it’s worth asking, are Americans riled up about the issue? The answer: not really, even though they back strict limits on campaign contributions in overwhelming numbers. Here’s a look at the numbers. On the question of whether super political action committees (Super PACs) should be able to raise and spend unlimited amounts on federal campaigns, the vast majority of Americans say they should be banned. When given arguments for and against their existence, nearly seven in 10 Americans–69 percent–said in a March 2012 Washington Post-ABC News poll Super PACs should be illegal, including majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents.

Voting Blogs: FairVote Maps the 2012 Presidential Campaign | FairVote.org

For some time now, we have known that presidential candidates focus their attention and energy on swing states. They do this because under the winner-take-all method of allocating Electoral College votes, the only states that matter are the ones that could go for either the Democrat or the Republican, while the ones that are squarely for one party or the other do not matter. For example, in 2012, the presidential candidates focused on only ten states. Ohio, Florida, Virginia, Nevada, Colorado, Iowa, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire were the only states in which Barack Obama and Mitt Romney held public campaign events after the Democratic National Convention, and those same ten states received 99.6% of all the Obama and Romney campaigns’ television advertising money spent nationwide between April 11 and Election Day. But where within the swing states did the candidates travel? Did they travel everywhere within these swing states, or just to the largest cities? How did geography and demography within swing states affect their campaign strategy? Now, we have the answers.

Alabama: Voter registration bill passes House | The Montgomery Advertiser

The House of Representatives passed a bill Tuesday pushing back the voter registration period from 10 days prior to an election to 17. It now goes to the Senate. But even if the bill passes the Senate and is signed into law, opponents say they will file a complaint with the Justice Department in an attempt to block it. The measure was pushed by voter registrars around the state who said they need the additional time to finalize voter lists, but it drew strong criticism from Democrats saying it was an attempt to block minority voting. “We are not helping Alabamians when we start closing doors and put obstacles in their way to vote,” said Rep. James Buskey, D-Mobile.

Alaska: Supreme Court clarifies ruling on drawing new districts | Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

The Alaska Redistricting Board will have to draw a map in line with the state constitution, but its final plan doesn’t necessarily have to be dramatically different from the one that ended up in court, the Alaska Supreme Court has affirmed.
The court issued an order on April 24 in response to questions posed by the board regarding the process it was expected to use in the latest court-mandated revision of the redistricting map. The order requires the board to first draw a map that complies with the Alaska Constitution before making changes to meet the federal Voting Rights Act that requires protection of Alaska Native voters. It’s a process that was set out by an earlier lawsuit and is known as the Hickel process. The court had already found the board failed to comply with the Hickel process in rulings last year.

Colorado: GOP fights Colorado elections bill past midnight | The Denver Post

Furious about Democratic-proposed election changes, Colorado Senate Republicans pushed debate past midnight Wednesday arguing against same-day registration and sending ballots by mail to all registered voters before the bill received initial approval. Republicans set a partisan tone as debate got underway Tuesday evening, blasting Democrats for considering such a massive proposal with a week left in the legislative session. A GOP lawmaker asked that the entire 128-page bill be read to drive the point, and argued many lawmakers and stakeholders had not had enough time to digest the legislation. “We are rushing this through and cramming this through the Legislature in the last eight days of the legislative process. I believe that this is an abuse of process,” said Sen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch.

Delaware: Election Day voter registration measure unveiled | Newszap

Gov. Jack A. Markell and leadership in the state’s House of Representatives introduced measures to increase voter registration in Delaware Tuesday. House Majority Whip, Rep. John J. Viola, D-Newark, introduced legislation that would allow Election Day voting registration. Same-day voting registration has existed in Maine, Minnesota and Wisconsin since the 1970s, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. States that have mandated same-day registration have a voter turnout that is on average 10 percent higher than states that do not. “The goal is to try and get as many people as you can possibly get to do their duty, their civic duty and to vote,” Rep. Viola said. “Any barriers we can take down against that we can make easier, let’s do it.”

Delaware: State legislature amends Constitution regarding felons’ rights to vote | The Review

Delaware Representative Helene Keeley (D-3) traveled to Iraq in 2009 to oversee elections there. The joy she saw in the people with purple ink dotted on their thumbs and the violent lengths people went to in order to intimidate would-be voters were enough to show her that voting should be a universal right, she said. The next year, Delaware state representative and longtime proponent of voters’ rights Hazel Plant fell ill. Knowing she had little time left, Keeley said Plant asked her to take up the cause of her and her late husband, Rep. Al Plant, to secure immediate suffrage for felons who served their time.

North Carolina: New elections board will face big decisions | WRAL

Newly appointed members of the State Board of Elections say they will start their tenure Wednesday with no marching orders as to who should serve as their most senior staff member or how to pursue a high-profile campaign finance investigation. Gov. Pat McCrory appointed five new members to the board Friday, sweeping out incumbents with decades of experience. Each governor makes his or her own appointments to the board, based on recommendations from the chairman of the Republican and Democratic parties. But a 20-year run of Democratic governors – Jim Hunt, Mike Easley and Bev Perdue – has led to stability among the boards’ membership.

Pennsylvania: Judge in voter ID case demands database info | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette