Monthly Archives: August 2014

The U.S. Justice Department says part of Yakima’s defense against an ACLU voting rights lawsuit “lacks merit,” according to a brief filed in federal court Friday. The brief was filed in response to a motion from the city of Yakima asking the judge to dismiss the case without a trial through summary judgment. Yakima’s attorneys argue an ACLU expert witness’ examples of how City Council elections could be redistricted exclude criteria required by the federal Voting Rights Act, making them unconstitutional. But the Justice Department disagrees in a 13-page brief that says little else about the case, which has been in litigation since August 2012. The ACLU came up with seven redistricting proposals, including at least one Latino majority district in each example. Five of the proposed district maps were based on general population and two were based on citizen voting age population.

Brazil: Death Lifts Opposition in Brazil Vote | Wall Street Journal

Brazil’s Socialist Party, whose dark-horse presidential candidate died in a plane crash last week, now has a chance of making it to a runoff and even winning the October election, a new poll showed on Monday. Barely a week ago, Marina Silva was a vice-presidential hopeful running with Eduardo Campos, who was polling a distant third with about 8% of the vote at the time of his death, leaving Ms. Silva poised to take his place at the top of the ticket. The survey by polling firm Datafolha showed Ms. Silva—whose candidacy hasn’t yet been officially announced by her party, but is widely expected in coming days—not only appears be a stronger candidate than Mr. Campos, but would have a viable shot at defeating incumbent President Dilma Rousseff of the leftist Workers’ Party in the event of a second-round runoff vote.

Canada: Weekend voting and online ballots: Election Ontario considers the future | canada.com

How would you like to vote on weekends? And online or by phone? Those are just a couple of ideas Elections Ontario floats in its annual report released Friday*. The annual report does not cover the recent general election, and much of it would have been written before the writs were drawn up and Ontarians re-elected Premier Kathleen Wynne and sent her Liberals back to office for a fourth term. And though voter turnout ticked up slighty to 52.1 per cent in 2014 from 48.2 per cent in 2011, the number is still low and Chief Electoral Officer Greg Essensa offers a few ideas to get Ontarians back to the polls. “Other democracies hold elections on weekends and their experience suggests that should Ontario follow suit, voter turnout may increase,” the annual report states. It also points out that schools are often used as polling locations and moving elections to non-school days would facilitate that process. The report also calls for a rethink of the traditional ballot box.

New Zealand: Electoral Commission conservative in interpretation of law | New Zealand Herald

A public law expert says the Electoral Commission – which has recently cautioned against a song, a fashion exhibition and a rugby billboard – is very risk averse and conservative in its interpretation of electoral law. The commission last week banned the satirical song Planet Key from television and radio broadcasts, and cautioned against a billboard for a rugby game which parodied National’s election hoardings. Now it has taken aim at an exhibition showcasing the late Labour MP Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan’s wardrobe because the opening is due to fall on election day. The Hawke’s Bay Museums Trust has moved the opening to the following weekend after the Electoral Commission advised any reference to the Labour Party would have to be removed on September 20.

Zimbabwe: Mugabe Signs Zimbabwe Election Law to Align It With Constitution | Bloomberg

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe signed legislation that brings the nation’s election laws in line with the constitution, Virginia Mabhiza, permanent secretary of the Justice Ministry, told lawmakers today. The law allows for the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to take control of the voters’ roll from the Registrar General’s office, which oversees registration of births and deaths and identity cards. Opposition parties, including the Movement for Democratic Change, have criticized the government for failing to give them access to an electronic copy of the roll in elections between 2000 and last year.

Alabama: Black groups tell Supreme Court Alabama districts biased | Montgomery Advertiser

The Alabama Legislature will be further racially polarized by new district boundaries that pack more black voters into certain districts than the law requires, state black political groups told the Supreme Court last week. The justices agreed in June to hear the complaint from Alabama that the Republican majority went too far in using race to redistrict itself in 2012. The result, according to black Democratic legislators, is unusually high black majorities in districts surrounded by districts that are even more white. “The Constitution does not permit states to stumble into such excessively segregated election districts, whether through good faith or bad,” wrote lawyers for the Alabama Democratic Conference, one of the groups involved in the case.

California: Vote-by-mail election trial coming to San Mateo County | The Almanac

Voters in San Mateo County will soon be part of a trial that could help the state decide if it wants to adopt a system of primarily voting by mail, with a greatly reduced number of physical polling places. The trial, authorized by a law signed Aug. 15 by Gov. Jerry Brown, will study how mail-in voting affects election turnout and cost. A similar trial is underway in rural Yolo County. As is done in Colorado, which changed to primarily mail-in voting in 2013, the trial will have at least one polling place open in each city, where voters can drop off a ballot or vote in person.

Colorado: Montezuma sues itself over controversial municipal election | Summit Daily

This week, the town of Montezuma filed a lawsuit in Summit County District Court … against itself. Newly elected Mayor Lesley Davis said the lawsuit was filed Tuesday in hopes of bringing a resolution to its controversial municipal electionlast April. The suit was filed by interim town attorney Kendra Carberry, of Denver, on behalf of town clerk Helen Moorman and the town of Montezuma. The respondents listed in the suit include all of the town’s 61 registered voters. “The town is definitely not suing its residents,” Davis said. “We’re just seeking the court’s assistance to help us with a controversial election and to let us know what we should be doing.” According to the complaint, the town alleges that ballots from April’s election contained inaccurate verbiage and did not feature numbered stubs and duplicate stubs to be recorded in the poll books and that the final tally for at least one board of trustees candidate was inaccurate, among other claims. As town clerk and the election official, Moorman was responsible for overseeing all facets of the election.

Florida: Detzner: No Special Congressional Elections Until 2015 | CBS Miami

Proposed special elections in the seven congressional districts redrawn by the Legislature earlier this week would have to wait until at least spring of next year, Secretary of State Ken Detzner’s office said in a court filing Friday. The special elections could not take place until after the regular November vote was certified and some other post-election reports were finished — a process that will last into December, according to the filing. Accounting for all the things that would then have to be done to prepare for the special elections, Detzner’s brief says that the earliest possible Tuesday for a primary election would be March 17. A general election could then be held May 26.

Florida: Sarasota County elections supervisor excited about new sign-in system | Herald Tribune

Faster, cheaper and more accurate. That’s how Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent describes the new electronic sign-in system that county voters will encounter today — many for the first time — during early voting this week and the Aug. 26 primary election. In fact, Dent says voting “will be fundamentally transformed” in Sarasota County. Supervisor of Elections voter services coordinator Tracy Smith calls the system “a game changer.” Those may sound like lofty descriptions for a bunch of tablet computers and some software, but Dent and her team insist the benefits are significant. Kathy Dent, Supervisor of Elections in Sarasota County, with one of the more than 300 mini iPads that will be used to sign people in to vote during the upcoming election in Sarasota County.

Hawaii: The scene from a storm-battered special election | The Washington Post

Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s arrival on the Big Island on Wednesday to address the fallout from Tropical Storm Iselle added a layer of normalcy to what so far has been surreal political theater. Many roads in the rural Puna district on the east side of the island are still closed due to fallen trees and powerlines, and thousands of people are without basic necessities, such as food, ice and running water. The governor has broad executive power to mobilize resources and spend money to help recovery efforts in some of the hardest hit communities here, a few of which could be without power for several weeks. But Abercrombie has no control over a controversial decision to hold a special election here on Friday that will decide the Senate Democratic primary race between Sen. Brian Schatz and Rep. Colleen Hanabusa.

Kansas: Kobach, Justice Dept. prep for Denver showdown over voting rights | The Wichita Eagle

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and lawyers for the U.S. Justice Department will soon face one another in a Denver appeals court, arguing a landmark federal case over proof of citizenship and voting rights. While the case will directly affect only a couple of hundred Kansas voters – those who registered using a federal form instead of the far more common state form – it has broad national implications and has attracted input from interests ranging from the state of Alabama to U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. It’s already affected Wichita in a major way. If federally registered voters weren’t disqualified from state and local elections as they are now, Wichitans would probably be voting this November on an initiative to decriminalize marijuana.

Montana: McCulloch supports same-day voter registration | Ravalli Republic

Montana Secretary of State Linda McCulloch was in Hamilton Thursday, talking about the state’s controversial same-day voter registration, what she sees as the biggest challenges facing Montana election officials and the Democratic Party’s selection of a new candidate for U.S. Senate. If it passes in November, initiative LR126 will eliminate same-day voter registration, a move McCulloch opposes as the state’s top elections administrator. “Since 2006, 29,000 Montana voters have used same-day voter registration,” said McCulloch. “Most of those are people who moved across the state or moved across the city and they are getting their kids in school, they are getting their house set up and they are getting into new jobs and the last thing they think about – because they don’t have to – is registering to vote in their new place. They can do that on Election Day.

North Carolina: Court Rules Voting Rights Rollback to Stay In Place Until After Midterm Elections | The Atlantic

A federal judge has temporarily authorized North Carolina to implement a sweeping new law that threatens to reduce access to the polls, particularly for African-American, Latino, and young voters. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder, a George W. Bush appointee, is an early test of the Supreme Court’s Shelby County v. Holder decision, which overturned key parts of the Voting Rights Act. In 2000, North Carolina started rolling out efforts to make it easier to register and vote, only to yank those efforts back thirteen years later. When the state legislature was controlled by Democrats, it authorized counties to conduct up to seventeen days of early voting, including Sunday voting, which enabled black churches to transport parishioners to the polls. It also allowed citizens to register and vote on the same day. Sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds could preregister, often at their high schools, ensuring they’d be on the rolls when they turned eighteen. And voters who showed up at the wrong precinct could still cast ballots in certain races. From 1996 to 2012, the state’s ranking in turnout among voter-eligible adults shot up from 43rd to 11th, according to the United States Elections Project at George Mason University. African-American participation pulled even with white participation.

Afghanistan: Karzai says Afghanistan should have new president by August | Global Post

As the recounting of votes cast in June 14 Afghan presidential runoff is continuing, President Hamid Karzai has said that this militancy-plagued country should have new president and new government by the end of August. Addressing a press conference here on Sunday, spokesman for Afghan election commission Noor Mohammad Noor said that 45 percent of the votes cast in the second round of presidential election held on June 14 had been completed. “So far 10,231 ballot boxes or 45 percent of the whole ballot boxes have been recounted,” Noor said at a press conference here. The total number of ballot boxes used in Afghan presidential runoff is 22,828, he said, adding the recounting process is going on and the election commission would do its best to complete the auditing and recounting process of the votes in its earliest.

Ghana: Political parties propose electoral reforms | GNA

Political parties under the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) Ghana Political Parties Programme (GPPP) have proposed electoral reforms in order to enhance the electoral system. The political parties comprised those with representations in parliament such as the National Democratic Congress, New Patriotic Party, People’s National Convention and the Convention People’s Party, as well those with no parliamentary representations. Speaking at the IEA National Stakeholder Workshop on electoral reforms in Accra Dr Ransford Gyampo, a Senior Research Fellow at IEA and Coordinator of GPPP, said two workshops were held for the political parties by the IEA as part of its commitment to deepen Ghana’s democracy.

India: Election Commission wants to use new machine to enhance vote secrecy | Zee News

The Election Commission wants to use a new machine to enhance secrecy of votes during counting which prevents disclosure of voting pattern. The Election Commission has moved the Law Ministry with a proposal for introduction of ‘Totaliser’ machine for counting of votes. The poll panel is of the view that by use of ‘Totaliser’, a further level of secrecy in voting and the mixing of votes at the time of counting will be achieved, which will prevent the disclosure of pattern of voting at a particular polling station. The Law Ministry is the administrative ministry for the poll body. But the government has not taken a considered view on introduction of the machine.

South Dakota: Judge orders Gant to add Lora Hubbel to Lieutenant Governor ballot | Argus Leader

Voters will see gubernatorial candidate Mike Myers’ pick for lieutenant governor on their ballot this fall, not his original choice who later withdrew. A federal judge on Monday ordered Secretary of State Jason Gant to print ballots listing Lora Hubbel’s name as Myers’ running mate. Gant had refused to do so, saying there’s no state law allowing an independent candidate to be replaced. But Judge Lawrence Piersol said that was likely an “oversight” and that not letting Myers replace his running mate would infringe on his rights and impose an “unequal burden” on non-party candidates. Gant said he wouldn’t appeal Piersol’s order and would immediately add Hubbel to the official candidate list. Ballots will be printed in early September. “I’m very glad the court has decided this is how they want to do it, and we’re happy to do it,” Gant said after the ruling.

Japan: Electronic voting hindered by breakdowns, cost | The Japan News

Electronic voting has failed to be widely adopted by municipalities in Japan, reflecting concern over voting device breakdowns and high costs for system development and maintenance. Only three municipalities—Kyoto; Niimi, Okayama Prefecture; and Rokunohe, Aomori Prefecture—are carrying out electronic voting based on ordinances. There is little momentum for expanding the use of electronic voting to national elections. The law for electronic voting was put into force in February 2002 with the aim of speeding up vote counting. Voters cast ballots by operating touch screens and other electronic devices at polling stations.

New Zealand: Electoral Commission threatens musician with prosecution over ‘Planet Key’ | NZ Herald News

A musician who wrote a satirical song about Prime Minister John Key has been threatened with prosecution if he sells the track on iTunes. But soul and blues man Darren Watson is fighting back and threatening legal action of his own. The Electoral Commission has written to Watson instructing him to stop selling or promoting Planet Key. The music video satirises the Prime Minister and members of the National Government. It features Mr Key playing a stinging blues guitar solo on an endangered Maui’s dolphin while an oil rig explodes in the background. It also depicts Finance Minister Bill English carrying Mr Key’s golf clubs and the Prime Minister playing golf with US President Barack Obama.

The Voting News Weekly: The Voting News Weekly for August 11- 17 2014

August 17, 2014

florida_260 While many states have established new restrictions on voting, The New York Times reported on 16 States where laws have been passed to make voting easier. The high-altitude town of Montezuma, Colorado has filed suit against every registered voter in the town, claiming that an election held last spring had numerous errors. Voting-rights groups who sued to get Florida’s Congressional district map overturned say the new plan, approved by the legislature on nearly party-line vote, isn’t enough of an improvement. A Federal judge ruled that a case against the state of Maryland will go forward in an effort to determine whether the state should be required to implement an online ballot-marking system in November’s election. Chris McDaniel wants a court to exclude 25,000 Hinds County votes — plus those from several other counties — from the June 24 runoff results and declare him the winner of the U.S. Senate GOP primary. A three-judge federal court in San Antonio is hearing the latest arguments in a case challenging state legislative and congressional redistricting plans favorable to the GOP while another court, in Corpus Christi, will hear a case next month that questions the constitutionality of Texas’ voter identification law. A federal judge has denied a state request for a hold on his decision striking down Wisconsin’s law requiring voters to show photo ID at the polls. Fresh suggestions of political fraud have emerged as the Afghan vote audit of the disputed presidential election continues and a crucial deadline looms, while the European Court of Human upheld its earlier ruling that the prisoners’ human rights were breached when they were not allowed to vote, but ruled that the prisoners should not be paid compensation.

Editorials: Where Voting Is Now Easier | New York Times

At a time when many states are making it harder to vote, 16 states have provided some good news over the last year by deciding to go in the opposite direction. In various ways, they have expanded access to the polls, allowing more people to register or to vote more conveniently. The list, compiled by the Brennan Center for Justice, includes these states:
• Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, Virginia and West Virginia. They created online registration systems, a big improvement over unreliable and inconvenient paper systems.
• Colorado and Louisiana. They will allow 16- and 17-year-olds to preregister when they apply for a driver’s license. Colorado also added Election Day registration, and it is encouraging mail-in voting without an absentee excuse.
• Maryland. It will allow same-day registration during early voting, which was expanded from six to eight days.
• Delaware. It will allow most felons to vote immediately after completing their sentences.

Colorado: Town of Montezuma sues all of its voters over flawed election | The Denver Post

Voting is supposed be a right and a privilege. But in the pint-sized, high-mountain town of Montezuma it also has become grounds for a lawsuit. The town and its novice clerk have filed suit against every registered voter in the town, claiming that an election held last spring had numerous errors. The lawsuit filed in Summit County District Court last week lists errors that include numbers that don’t add up and mismatched ballots that had to be patched together with the clerk’s sewing machine. The lawsuit asks a judge to command all 61 registered voters in Montezuma to appear in court so the judge can sort out an election mess that the petition calls “fatally flawed.” “I have never heard of anything like this,” said Andrew Cole, a spokesman for the Colorado secretary of state’s office. “This is certainly an unusual step to take.”

Florida: Congressional map redistricting battle not over | News Service of Florida

The special redistricting session held by the Legislature lasted just five days, but the two-year battle over the boundaries of the state’s 27 congressional districts seems to be far from over. Voting-rights groups who sued to get the original map overturned say the new plan, approved Monday on nearly party-line votes in the House and Senate, isn’t enough of an improvement for Leon County Circuit Judge Terry Lewis to sign off on it. And there’s still no clarity on whether an election that is already underway in some counties will be delayed. Deirdre Macnab, president of the League of Women Voters of Florida, said Tuesday that the map passed by the Legislature this week “looks suspiciously like” the blueprint that Lewis tossed in July.

Editorials: Floridians tried to stop gerrymandering, and Republicans gerrymandered anyways. We’re about to see who wins. | Aaron Blake/The Washington Post

In 2010, Florida’s voters passed two constitutional amendments aimed at reducing partisan gerrymandering. Amendments 5 and 6 held that districts must not be drawn to “favor or disfavor” a party or incumbent or dilute the influence of minority voters. Democrats and advocates for redistricting reform hailed the passage of the measures, arguing that they could kneecap the GOP’s ability to continue its domination of a congressional map in what is otherwise a swing state. We’re about to find out whether there’s any truth to that. Republicans held 19 of the state’s 25 districts following the 2010 election. With the amendments in effect and the state’s map expanded to 27 districts in 2012, Democrats added four seats, for a total of 10 of the state’s 27 districts. But that had as much or more to do with the GOP losing a few swing seats than with the new redistricting rules. Indeed, the rules weren’t really legally tested until this year, when a judge last month ruled that two of them needed to be redrawn because they were drawn for partisan purposes. The GOP-controlled state legislature approved a new new map this week, with very minimal changes.

Maryland: Federal judge rules lawsuit on online ballot access for the blind will go forward | Associated Press

A federal judge says he has heard enough evidence that disabled residents can’t take full advantage of absentee voting to press ahead with a lawsuit filed by the National Federation of the Blind against the state of Maryland. U.S. District Judge Richard Bennett denied a request by a state attorney to rule Thursday on the lawsuit over voting rights for people with disabilities. Bennett ruled that the case against the state of Maryland will go forward in an effort to determine whether the state should be required to implement an online ballot-marking system designed to protect the privacy of blind voters in November’s election. Lawyers for the National Federation of the Blind rested their case against the state Thursday. The organization contends Maryland is violating the Americans with Disabilities Act, because it fails to safeguard the guaranteed right to privacy when voting.

National: Cantor’s Legacy on Voting Rights Act Marked by Failure to Deliver | Roll Call

Passing a new Voting Rights Act in the GOP-dominated House was never going to be easy, supporters acknowledge. But with a powerful Republican such as Eric Cantor as an ally, hope flickered for nearly a year. Then came June 10 and the shocking primary defeat that tanked Cantor’s congressional career — taking with it, in all likelihood, any prospect for an update of the landmark 1965 civil rights legislation that had been weakened by a 2013 Supreme Court ruling. Even with Cantor as majority leader, said a House aide close to the VRA negotiations, “I would have speculated that it was certainly a very steep climb. That it was unlikely, but there was still hope.” But with the Virginia Republican out of the mix, the aide said, “it doesn’t appear we’re going to see it this Congress.”

Editorials: There’s No Good Argument For Voting Restrictions | Seth Michaels/TPM

In last week’s Kansas primaries, officials turned away a 97-year-old woman named Beth Hiller at the polling place. The reason? She didn’t have an ID with her. Thanks to a recent state law, Hiller had to get back on the shuttle and head back to her nursing home without getting to exercise her most basic right. In theory, conservatives are supposed to oppose laws that don’t solve a problem and have unintended consequences. But voter ID is the clearest example we have of a law that helps nobody and hurts lots of people — yet these laws have been a major priority for Republican legislators across the country. A report from the Brennan Center identifies 22 states, including Kansas, that have implemented new voting restrictions since the Republican wave of 2010. Take North Carolina, where unified Republican control was followed almost immediately by a sweeping set of changes restricting access to the polls. For no good reason, North Carolina cut out a week worth of early-voting days, ended same-day registration, and put a strict voter ID requirement in place, among other changes.

California: Panel wants L.A. to look at using prizes to boost voter turnout | Los Angeles Times

Alarmed that fewer than one-fourth of voters are showing up for municipal elections, the Los Angeles Ethics Commission voted Thursday to recommend that the City Council look at using cash prizes to lure a greater number of people to the polls. On a 3-0 vote, the panel said it wanted City Council President Herb Wesson’s Rules, Elections and Intergovernmental Relations Committee to seriously consider the use of financial incentives and a random drawing during its elections, possibly as soon as next year. Depending on the source of city funds, the idea could require a ballot measure. Commissioners said they were unsure how big the prizes should be or how many should be offered, saying a pilot program should first be used to test the concept. “Maybe it’s $25,000 maybe it’s $50,000,” said Commission President Nathan Hochman. “That’s where the pilot program comes in — to figure out what … number and amount of prizes would actually get people to the voting box.”

California: Senate Bill Strengthening California Voting Rights Act Headed to Gov. Brown | California Newswire