Editorials: Why Campaign Finance Laws Make Things Worse | Jonathan Bernstein/Bloomberg

Yesterday’s fascinating New York Times deep dive into partisan money networks, state legislative elections, and the resulting policy outcomes really underlines the sometimes-complex relationship between campaign finance regulations and effective disclosure: “Not unlike a political version of Cayman Islands banks, the networks allow political strategists to sidestep regulations and obscure the source of funds. Campaign contributions that would be banned or restricted in one state can be sent to a state where the rules allow money to flow more freely, often scrubbed of the identity of the original donor. Some groups work behind the scenes to orchestrate ‘money bombs’ of smaller contributions from hundreds of different donors, allowing the groups to provide candidates with large doses of cash — fingerprint-free — even in states with low contribution limits.” Under current constitutional doctrine — and, really, this has been true since the 1970s, well before Citizens United and other recent court cases — regulations are generally incapable of preventing big money from ending up wherever it wants to go. What regulations can do is disrupt the way money is raised by candidates and parties, forcing political actors to innovate to gain access to funds.

Voting Blogs: Campaign Finance, Polarization and the Case of the Lost Car Keys | More Soft Money Hard Law

The American Political Science Association Task Force report on political polarization,Negotiating Agreement in Politics (2013) includes a discussion of the role of campaign spending. The co-authors of this analysis, Michael Barber and Nolan McCarty, write that the role is small. But they suggest that there is more work to be done, raising the question of whether some spur to polarization might come from the rising importance to candidates of ideologically motivated individual donors. Before turning to that question, it is worth noting what else the co-authors have to say about the impact of money. They refer to the research that shows the “weak connection” between contributions and roll call votes, and between campaign spending and election outcomes. One would not know this from standard media coverage of the issue. This is not to say, of course, that money in politics does not present important public policy issues. But one is reminded once again that much of what passes for a telling critique of campaign finance in America is weakly or inconsistently supported by social science research.

Illinois: New law gives vote to some 17 year olds | The Edwardsville Intelligencer

A state law that went into effect Jan. 1 allows 17 year olds to vote in the March 18 primary if they turn 18 on or before the November general election. So far the only person to sign up has been a male student from Granite City High School whose birthday fell during the summer. “He was here on Jan. 2 at 8:30 a.m. He was ready!” County Clerk Debbie Ming-Mendoza said Monday at her office at the Administration Building. “He was very excited about the idea of being able to vote in the primary and not having to wait until November. It was a big topic in the social studies and government classes. He said he was going to try to encourage his classmates.” Ming-Mendoza declined to name the student.

Kentucky: House panel approves bill to give most ex-felons in Kentucky the right to vote | Kentucky.com

Nearly 180,000 ex-felons in Kentucky who have fully served their sentences would regain their right to vote under a proposed constitutional amendment that a state House committee approved Tuesday. House Bill 70, sponsored by Rep. Jesse Crenshaw, D-Lexington, would not apply to ex-felons who committed intentional murder, rape, sodomy or a sex offense with a minor. The legislation has sailed through the Democratic-controlled House in past sessions but has stalled in the Republican-controlled Senate. Some Republicans say the measure would benefit Democratic candidates, but House Minority Leader Jeff Hoover, R-Jamestown, told the House Committee on Elections, Constitutional Amendments and Intergovernmental Affairs on Tuesday that he doesn’t buy that argument. The legislation is needed because it “is a matter of fairness,” he said. “We are a forgiving society.”

Montana: Officials ask high court to review party endorsements in judicial races | The Missoulian

The state’s attorney general and political practices commissioner have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a 2012 federal appeals court decision that struck down Montana’s ban on political party endorsement of candidates in the state’s nonpartisan judicial races. The case involves an attempt by the Sanders County Republican Central Committee in 2012 to endorse candidates for an open Montana Supreme Court race and in a contested race for district judge in the district that includes Lake and Sanders counties.

Nevada: US Supreme Court won’t hear Nevada ballot case | The Washington Post

Nevada’s unique “none of the above” voting option for statewide races will remain an election spoiler for the foreseeable future after the U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to consider an appeal by national Republicans. The decision came after Republicans sued in 2012 to get the option, appearing as “none of these candidates,” stricken from the ballot, fearing it could siphon votes from a disgruntled electorate and sway the outcome of close presidential races and Nevada U.S. Senate contests. The option has been on the ballot since 1976. It applies only to statewide races and was enacted by the Legislature to try to curb voter apathy in the wake of the Watergate scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon. The intent was to give voters a way to voice their displeasure with candidates and elected officials at the ballot box.

New York: The dead can vote in New York City | New York Post

Death doesn’t necessarily disqualify you from voting in New York City. Investigators posing as dead voters were allowed to cast ballots for this year’s primary and general elections, thanks to antiquated Board of Election registration records and lax oversight by poll workers, authorities said. The election board’s susceptibility to voter fraud by people impersonating the departed was uncovered during a massive probe of the agency by the Department of Investigation. The probe uncovered 63 instances when voters’ names should have been stricken from the rolls, but weren’t — even though some of them had died years before. “The majority of those 63 individuals remained on the rolls nearly two years — and some as long as four years — since a death, felony conviction, or move outside of New York City,” said DOI Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn.

Ohio: Husted, voting rights groups settle on ‘Motor Voter’ Act case | cleveland.com

The state of Ohio agreed to a settlement Monday with voting awareness groups Judicial Watch and True the Vote, effectively ending a lawsuit that lasted almost a year and a half. The case dates to August 2012, when the groups claimed Secretary of State Jon Husted hadn’t taken reasonable steps to keep ineligible voters out of polling places. Monday’s settlement, which involves no money, established nine criteria for Husted’s office to follow, ensuring compliance with the National Voter Registration Act, known widely as the “Motor Voter” Act.

Tennessee: Dueling Election Databases Make Tracking Difficult | Memphis Daily News

If ever the political axiom of needing a scorecard to keep up with the players applied to an election cycle, it would be the set of three elections in 2014 across Shelby County. The middle election of the three – the August ballot of county general elections and state and federal primary elections – is expected to be one of the longest in the county’s political history, if not the longest. But the two “scorecards” kept electronically by the Shelby County Election Commission don’t match up, making it hard to know who has a qualifying petition out and who has filed their petition, and even more difficult to know some of the basic information like a candidate’s address on their qualifying petition.

Tennessee: Third parties seek easing of state ballot rules | The Tennessean

Minor political parties fighting to get on the ballot in Tennessee were given a chance to air their views Monday, but they left the Capitol disappointed. In a meeting held on the eve of the start of the 2014 legislative session, representatives for the Libertarian, Constitution and Green parties presented plans that would have slashed the number of signatures needed for minor parties to be recognized by state election officials. But state lawmakers would agree only to a nonbinding recommendation to lower the requirement for local and statehouse races. The decision frustrated representatives for third parties, which have sued state officials over rules that they say have been designed to thwart them.

Virginia: Recount looms as Democrat certified winner of Senate special election by nine votes | The Washington Post

The State Board of Elections voted Friday to certify Del. Lynwood W. Lewis Jr. (D-Accomack) as the winner of a Senate special election by just nine votes, and his Republican foe made clear he would ask for a recount. Lewis and Wayne Coleman (R), the owner of a Norfolk shipping company, squared off Tuesday in the contest to fill the Hampton Roads-based seat of Lt. Gov-elect Ralph Northam. The outcome of the race, and the Jan. 21 special election to succeed Attorney General-elect Mark Herring (D), will determine which party controls a Senate that had been split 20-20. Lewis’s edge of nine votes — .04 percent — entitles Coleman to ask for a government-funded recount.

Wisconsin: Milwaukee County municipalities to study voting machine purchase | Journal Sentinel

A group of municipal officials from Milwaukee County tiptoed Monday into the issue of consolidating the purchase and programming of voting machines. The Intergovernmental Cooperation Council will name a work group to study the idea, which came out as the top shared-service idea in a survey of 14 municipal officials done by the nonpartisan Public Policy Forum. Interest in the idea was prompted in part by an unsuccessful attempt last fall by County Supervisor John Weishan Jr. to have the county finance the cost of buying 375 voting machines to supply the City of Milwaukee and every other municipality. The idea failed to win County Board approval as an amendment to the county’s 2014 budget on a 9-9 tie vote.

Thailand: Prime Minister calls meeting on whether to postpone the election | Bangkok Post

Caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has called an urgent meeting to discuss the Election Commission’s proposal that government postpone the election from Feb 2, PM’s secretary-general Suranand Vejjajiva said on Monday. The premier has instructed Deputy Prime Minister Pongthep Thepkanchana to coordinate the meeting to take place this Wednesday, Jan 15. Mr Suranand said Ms Yingluck will preside over the meeting herself if all relevant parties agree to discuss the proposal to postpone the polls. He said the government is calling the meeting because it sincerely wants all concerned with the issue to come together for talks.

United Kingdom: Voter ID proposals could put elderly off going to polls | This Is Wiltshire

Linda Petherick, South West regional organiser of the National Federation of Occupational Pensioners, said that proposals from The Electoral Commission, which would require voters to show some sort of ID at polling stations before voting, could stop the older generation from using their vote. NFOP is concerned that these proposals could create a number of potential problems, especially for older people. Mrs Petherick said: “There needs to be some clarification on how this is going to work, including what sort of ID will be accepted, as many older people do not have a photo driver ID or even a relevant passport.

National: Hacking attempt draws congressional investigation of FEC | Center for Public Integrity

Two congressional leaders — one Republican and one Democrat — are calling for investigations into Federal Election Commission computer security and operational breakdowns that the Center for Public Integrity detailed in a recent report. The report revealed that Chinese hackers crashed the FEC’s computer information technology systems in October just as the federal government shut down, and that the agency is suffering from chronic staffing shortages. A subsequent audit the FEC commissioned revealed a variety of other security issues. “The revelations that FEC IT systems were compromised raises serious concerns,” said Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., chairman of the House Government Operations Subcommittee which oversees federal IT matters. “I am working with my staff and the staff of the full House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to investigate the extent of the breaches, and I intend to conduct a full and thorough review of the vulnerabilities of FEC systems which should raise concerns for all federal elected officials.”

Connecticut: Merrill Sees Dramatic Improvement in Military Voter Participation | Stamford Plus

Secretary of the State Denise Merrill today released a report submitted to the Connecticut General Assembly detailing ways to improve voting for military voters stationed overseas. In the report, Secretary Merrill noted a dramatic improvement in the voter participation by absentee ballot of men and women in uniform serving abroad during the 2012 presidential election, the latest year for which statistics are available. During the 2012 Presidential election, some 94% of absentee ballots requested by Connecticut military personnel serving overseas were returned in time to be counted by election day, a nearly 30% improvement over the same numbers for the 2010 state and federal election. The statistics are contained in the report submitted January 1, 2014 to members of the Connecticut General Assembly committees on Government Administration and Elections, and Veterans’ Affairs. Secretary Merrill was required to submit the report and select a method for more timely return of military ballots by Public Act No. 13-185 “An Act Concerning Voting by Members of the Military Serving Overseas,” enacted in 2013 by the General Assembly and Governor Dannel P. Malloy.

Kansas: Democrats submit voter registration reform bill | Capital-Journal

Democrats in the Kansas House and Senate opened the legislative session Monday by introducing a bill intended to counter obstacles to registration and voting raised by the state’s proof-of-citizenship mandate. Rep. Jim Ward and Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau, Wichita Democrats, proposed the Protection Against Voter Suppression Act. The bill adds a provision similar to federal law that would permit Kansans to vote after signing an affidavit stating they are a U.S. citizen. False statements could be prosecuted as a felony crime. The target of the legislation is a proof-of-citizenship law championed by Secretary of State Kris Kobach, adopted by the Republican-led Legislature and signed by Gov. Sam Brownback.

North Carolina: Controversial Voting Laws Attract Protests, Support | Huffington Post

One of the longstanding arguments against voter ID laws has been that there is no history of significant elections fraud. But advocates of North Carolina’s new elections law have been making their way across the state to county elections boards to try to make the case that fraud has existed but has been inadequately investigated. Such allegations have been lodged in Pembroke, a Robeson County town, where the state Board of Elections recently found so many “irregularities” in the November municipal elections that a new vote was ordered and a probe called for by the local district attorney. There also is an effort underway by the Republican-led board in Forsyth County to push out the elections director, an endeavor being fought by the director and one board member. A ruling from the state elections director could come any day.

North Carolina: NAACP Expands Election Law Challenge | Carolina Journal

The head of the state’s NAACP said the civil rights organization is broadening its lawsuit against North Carolina’s new voter ID law and election law changes. The Rev. William Barber, North Carolina NAACP president, said the organization was making it clear in the lawsuit that the new law would have a disparate impact on Hispanics as well as African Americans. He also said that the state would add the elimination of pre-registration for 16- and 17-year-olds to the lawsuit. Meantime, a former member of the Federal Elections Commission said the expanded lawsuit still fails to prove that aspects of the state’s election reform laws are unconstitutional. “We will take on the issue of Latinos, and how this bill is impacting the Latino community,” Barber said Thursday during a telephone press conference. He said Maria Palmer, a newly elected member of the Chapel Hill Town Council and the first Hispanic elected to that post, was being added to the lawsuit as a plaintiff.

North Carolina: State wants voting law emails kept secret | MSNBC

North Carolina is asking a federal judge to keep secret Republican state lawmakers’ communications as they pushed through the nation’s most restrictive voting law last summer. “They are doing everything they can to try to keep us from finding out what they did and how they did it and who was involved,” Rev. William Barber II, the president of the state’s NAACP chapter, which is challenging the law, told reporters Thursday. “It’s time for what was done in the dark to come into the light.” Barber’s NAACP, backed by the Advancement Project, wants access to the lawmakers’ emails and other internal communications in order to bolster the case that the law’s Republican sponsors knowingly discriminated against racial minorities. In response, the state argued late last week that the communications are protected by legislative privilege. In October, a GOP precinct chair resigned after saying that it would be OK if the law keeps “lazy blacks” from voting. The spat comes as the civil rights groups add more claims to their lawsuit, which was originally filed in August. The U.S. Justice Department has filed its own lawsuit against the measure.

North Carolina: New voting laws attract protests, support | News Observer

One of the longstanding arguments against voter ID laws has been that there is no history of significant elections fraud. But advocates of North Carolina’s new elections law have been making their way across the state to county elections boards to try to make the case that fraud has existed but has been inadequately investigated. Such allegations have been lodged in Pembroke, a Robeson County town, where the state Board of Elections recently found so many “irregularities” in the November municipal elections that a new vote was ordered and a probe called for by the local district attorney. There also is an effort underway by the Republican-led board in Forsyth County to push out the elections director, an endeavor being fought by the director and one board member. A ruling from the state elections director could come any day.

Ohio: GOP appeals election-law injunction | The Columbus Dispatch

Top Republican state officials are appealing a federal judge’s preliminary injunction against a GOP-backed law that would have made it more difficult for minor parties to get on the 2014 ballot. Attorney General Mike DeWine filed a notice of appeal with the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday. On Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Michael H. Watson placed on hold the law, which would have blocked all minor parties from having a primary on May 6 and significantly raised the number of signatures needed for a minor-party candidate to reach the ballot.

Texas: Vote-Buying Case Casts Glare on Tradition of Election Day Goads | New York Times

In this Rio Grande Valley town of trailer parks and weedy lots eight miles from the Mexico border, people call them runners or politiqueras — the campaign workers who use their network of relatives and friends to deliver votes for their candidates. They travel around town with binders stuffed with the names and addresses of registered voters, driving residents to and from the polls and urging those they bump into at the grocery store to support their candidates. Despite rumors that some politiqueras went over the line in encouraging voters, the tradition continued in Donna and other border towns and cities, and campaigns for nearly every local office or seat have paid politiqueras to turn out the vote in contested races. But in recent weeks, the suicide of the school board president here and accusations of vote buying against three politiqueras have rocked the system. The charges may threaten the existence of politiqueras in Donna, an impoverished community of 16,000, where politics and jobs are inseparable. The school system is the largest employer, and city government is the second largest; local politics rivals high school football as a favored pastime.

Virginia: Recount looms as Democrat certified winner of Senate special election by nine votes | The Washington Post

The State Board of Elections voted Friday to certify Del. Lynwood W. Lewis Jr. (D-Accomack) as the winner of a Senate special election by just nine votes, and his Republican foe made clear he would ask for a recount. Lewis and Wayne Coleman (R), the owner of a Norfolk shipping company, squared off Tuesday in the contest to fill the Hampton Roads-based seat of Lt. Gov-elect Ralph Northam. The outcome of the race, and the Jan. 21 special election to succeed Attorney General-elect Mark Herring (D), will determine which party controls a Senate that had been split 20-20. Lewis’s edge of nine votes — .04 percent — entitles Coleman to ask for a government-funded recount.

Bulgaria: Parliament Starts Work on New Election Code | Novinite

Bulgaria’s parliament ad-hoc committee tasked with drafting the new Election Code will hold its first meeting on Monday. The committee was set up in the middle of December, when the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) submitted to Parliament a draft Election Code. Back then Deputy Parliament Speaker and socialist MP Maya Manolova explained that the draft Election Code of BSP included provisions on introducing machine voting, on the method of distributing mandates, on electing professional election administration, etc. She said that the new election legislation included many of the proposals put forth by civic organizations.

Egypt: Islamist-led party to boycott Egypt vote | Associated Press

A political party led by a prominent Egyptian Islamist said Monday it would boycott this week’s referendum on the country’s new constitution to protest the arrests of people campaigning against it. The announcement by The Strong Egypt party of Abdel-Moneim Abolfotoh came on the eve of voting on the charter, the first step in a military-backed transition road map put in place after the ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in a popularly-backed coup last July. The charter had been drafted in 2012 by an Islamist-dominated panel under Morsi, but was suspended after the coup and heavily amended by two panels under the interim government. While limiting the role of Islamic law in legislation, the charter consolidates military privileges such as the ability to try civilians in front of military tribunals in specific conditions.

Egypt: Rigged balloting feared when Egyptians go to polls | Dallas Morning News

For the first time since the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, Egyptians go to the polls this week fairly certain about the outcome, even before the first ballot has been cast. And that, for many here, is precisely is the problem. Where Egyptians after the 2011 revolt once believed that voting was a chance to be heard in a relatively free process, many believe Tuesday and Wednesday’s balloting on a new constitution will be rigged for the military-sanctioned document to pass. The enthusiasm and drama that preceded previous votes has been be replaced with resignation that the coming balloting is merely a formality and not a people’s process, a means to codify the return to the old norms that the uprising was supposed to end. That no one can appeal the ruling of the High Election Commission on the vote’s outcome has only reinforced that belief.

Nigeria: Engineers advocate e-voting for 2015 election | ITWeb Africa

Engineers in Nigeria have called the country’s electoral commission to use electronic voting during next year’s elections to ensure a credible vote. The Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) has recommended that the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) use the Nigerian Communication Satellite (NigComSat) e-Voting system. The society said it was also willing to offer technical support to INEC on the system. NSE says it has used the system to successfully elect members of its current executive.

The Voting News Weekly: The Voting News Weekly January 6-12 2014

bangladesh_260Members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are calling for an investigation of the Federal Election Commission computer security and operational breakdowns. Rick Hasen looks ahead to anticipated election law court decisions in 2014. Without a quorum since 2010, the Election Assistance Commission is unable to act on charges that Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz misused Federal funds for an investigation into voter fraud. Governor Pat McCrory’s decision to delay a special election for former Congressman Mel Watt’s seat until November will leave the district without congressional representation for almost a year. Despite concerns by some Ohio lawmakers about voter fraud, most of the voting irregularities that elections officials reported during the 2012 general election did not result in criminal charges. A special election in Virginia to fill a state Senate seat produced another cliffhanger, with the two candidates just 22 votes apart. The ruling party in Bangladesh won an election marred by violence and voting irregularities and the Indian Election Commission cancelled plans to partner with Google on a voter information portal due to security concerns.

National: Robert Pastor: Ex-US Official, Americas Expert | New York Times

Robert A. Pastor, an influential scholar and policymaker who spent decades working for better inter-American relations and democracy and free elections in the Western Hemisphere, has died after a three-year battle with cancer. He was 66. American University Provost Scott A. Bass announced the death on Thursday. A letter posted on the university website by Dean James Goldgeier of the university’s School of International Service, where Pastor was a professor, said he died Wednesday evening.