Kansas: Court scrubs Democrat Chad Taylor from ballot for U.S. Senate | The Kansas City Star

Democrat Chad Taylor’s name won’t appear on the Kansas ballot for the U.S. Senate. The Kansas Supreme Court, dominated by Democratic appointees, ordered Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach Thursday to strike Taylor’s name from the Nov. 4 ballot. In its ruling, the court turned aside Kobach’s contention that Taylor’s Sept. 3 withdrawal letter failed to meet the standard set in state law. “The Secretary of State thus has no discretion to refuse to remove Chadwick J. Taylor’s name from the ballot,” the court said. Kobach, a Republican mired in his own tough re-election battle, had moved to keep Taylor’s name in front of voters on grounds that the Democrat had not specified that he would be legally “incapable” of serving in the Senate. Kobach was scheduled to meet with reporters late Thursday afternoon in Topeka to discuss the ruling.

Kansas: Court strips Taylor’s name from U.S. Senate ballot; Kobach tells Democrats to pick new candidate | The Wichita Eagle

Democrat Chad Taylor’s name won’t be on the ballot for U.S. Senate. But Secretary of State Kris Kobach is determined that another Democrat will be. Minutes after the Kansas Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision overturning Kobach’s decision to keep Taylor on the ballot, Kobach declared the state’s Democratic Party must convene its state committee and choose another nominee by Sept. 26. Democratic leaders did not have an immediate response to that, though party chair Joan Wagnon said earlier in the week that “until the court tells me to do something, I’m not going to anything.” The court said the Democratic Party was not part of the case and did not rule on whether it had to appoint a replacement. The outcome of the dispute and the race could affect whether the Republican Party can recapture control of the U.S. Senate. Republicans need a net gain of six seats to take the Senate majority from Democrats, and Kansas is one of about a dozen races nationally that could determine the outcome.

Montana: State to Vote on Same-Day Voter Registration | Flathead Beacon

Montana voters will lie to rest a divisive issue this November when they fill out their General Election ballot – whether to continue allowing new voters to register on Election Day, as the state has allowed since 2006. The legislative referendum will appear on the ballot after heated legal debate. In February, the state Supreme Court ruled the issue could proceed when it denied a petition by voting-rights groups attempting to occlude the referendum from the ballot. The Republican-controlled Legislature passed the referendum in 2013, placing it on the 2014 ballot, though it was rewritten after opponents argued that language in the referendum’s ballot initiative was misleading. The language asserted that ending same-day registration was necessary to comply with federal law. If the referendum passes and same-day registration is rescinded, voter registration would end at 5 p.m. on the Friday before Election Day.

Nebraska: Candidate will appeal judge’s ballot ruling | Lincoln Journal Star

A candidate for Nebraska governor says he will seek to appeal a judge’s decision allowing Mike Foley’s name to remain on the ballot as Republican Pete Ricketts’ running mate. Ricketts selected Foley as his lieutenant governor after former Lt. Gov. Lavon Heidemann resigned from his post and dropped out of the race last week. On Wednesday, Lancaster County District Judge Lori Maret dismissed a petition by Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Mark Elworth Jr. to have Heidemann’s name on the ballot for the Nov. 4 election. Elworth and state Democrats have criticized Nebraska Secretary of State John Gale, a Republican, for allowing Foley’s name onto the ballot despite the switch taking place after a deadline for Ricketts to commit to a running mate.

North Dakota: Secretary of State Al Jaeger gets funding request to cover costs of reviewing ballot measures | Associated Press

A state commission on Wednesday approved Secretary of State Al Jaeger’s emergency funding request to help his agency cover overtime, temporary help and other costs associated with a spate of measures on the Nov. 4 ballot. North Dakota’s Emergency Commission, a six-member panel that includes the governor, legislative leaders and Jaeger, unanimously voted to increase funding to review the measures from $8,000 to $15,000. Voters will decide eight measures this fall, the most on a ballot since there were nine in North Dakota’s 1996 June election, Jaeger said. November elections in 1980 and 1990, and a 1989 special election each had eight ballot measures.

Wisconsin: Opponents of voter ID law seek reversal of court’s decision | Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

Groups challenging Wisconsin’s voter ID law in filings asked a full appeals court to reverse a decision by three federal judges that allows the law to go into effect this fall. The submissions Tuesday and Wednesday by lawyers for the Advancement Project and the American Civil Liberties Union said Friday’s decision by a panel of judges from the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals was a “radical, last-minute change to procedures for conducting an election that is already underway.” “Supreme Court precedent and other circuits uniformly caution against such eleventh-hour changes to the election laws, even where those courts have approved such changes for future elections,” the attorneys wrote. In a terse order Wednesday, the court told Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen’s office to respond by Tuesday. Van Hollen declined to comment on the filings through his spokeswoman, Dana Brueck. The legal fight is coming to a head just seven weeks before the Nov. 4 election between Republican Gov. Scott Walker and Democrat Mary Burke. Walker signed the voter ID law in 2011; Burke opposes it.

Fiji: Election Hit With Fraud Accusations | Wall Street Journal

Fiji’s election has been thrown into confusion as a united opposition says it has evidence of fraud, contradicting international observers’ findings that the election result looked to be in line with what people wanted. Provisional results give Rear Adm. Voreqe Bainimarama’s party, Fiji First, a convincing lead with more than 60% of the vote, according to data released by the Fijian election authority early Thursday. The military strongman has ruled Fiji for eight years. The nearest opposition, the Social Democratic Liberal Party, known as Sodelpa, won just 27% of the vote, the election authority said. Final results aren’t expected for several days. Peter Reith, the Australian co-leader of the Multinational Observers Group, said that after talking to 92 observers from 15 countries, it had been concluded the elections were “on track to broadly represent the will of the Fijian voters.”

New Zealand: New Zealand prepares to vote after ‘strangest, dirtiest’ election campaign | The Guardian

Election campaign labelled New Zealand’s strangest, dirtiest and most dramatic, reaches a climax as voters go to the polls, though it may take days or weeks before a government is agreed. In the last month conventional policy arguments have been squeezed to the margins, with the ruling National party forced to face down revelations of links to a notorious attack-blogger that hogged headlines for a fortnight. That was soon followed by allegations of deception over state surveillance from the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and the journalist Glenn Greenwald. In response, the National party leader and prime minister, John Key, maintained a consistent strategy of dismissing the allegations and attacking the messenger’s motives and credibility.

New Zealand: The law is the law on election day | MSN-NZ

Rules preventing people saying how they have voted and taking selfies with their ticked voting paper will be tested as never before on polling day. Publishing anything on election day that could potentially influence another voter is strictly prohibited in New Zealand. People can post on Facebook that they have voted but not who they have voted for because that may influence others. They can take selfies outside the voting place after they have voted but no pictures are allowed in polling booths depicting ticked boxes on the ballot paper. The Electoral Commission says it will investigate complaints. “This is a long-standing law in New Zealand and one most New Zealanders value,” chief electoral officer Robert Peden told NZ Newswire.

United Kingdom: Voter Intimidation Grips Scotland as It Votes on Independence | The Daily Beast

Scuffles have broken out in Scotland amid confrontations and reports of voter intimidation on the final day of an increasingly passionate campaign for independence. Andy Murray, Scotland’s most celebrated athlete, joined a dramatic late surge for voting Yes on independence with a rallying cry on the eve of the historic referendum. “Let’s do this!” he declared. The tennis star’s unexpected change of heart has been replicated by hundreds of thousands of Scots who, according to polls, have swung behind independence in the last month, ratcheting up the tension ahead of polling day on Thursday. The battle to secure a fully independent Scotland for the first time in more than 300 years reached dramatic new heights on the final night of campaigning when there was a stand-off between rival supporters in Glasgow, while a heavy police presence monitored the melee in Edinburgh. Street and police confirmed one arrest outside a polling station. Both sides accuse the other of bullying tactics.

United Kingdom: Police probe allegations of electoral fraud in Glasgow | Herald Scotland

Officials at the referendum count in Glasgow are investigating 10 cases of suspected electoral fraud at polling stations. Glasgow City Council said police had been called earlier today. They said it related to possible cases of impersonation, where people pretend to be someone else, cast the vote, then the real person turned up to vote at a number of unidentified polling stations across the city. A council spokesman said: “The poll clerk had gone to score off the name and it appears the person had already voted. “We then contacted the police.who asked us to recover the ballot papers. We can do that quite easily because we know the number of the papers and which boxes. “It’s not likely to slow the count.”

Ohio: Husted directs elections boards to be ready for voting in two weeks | The Columbus Dispatch

Secretary of State Jon Husted wants a court to throw out his own directive. Under an order to county elections boards Husted issued on Friday, Ohioans could start voting a week earlier than he’d planned and cast a ballot during the two weekends before Election Day. But at the same time, the Republican is pushing for a higher court to overturn the lower-court ruling that added the days of early voting and eliminate them. Battling in court over when Ohioans can vote has become almost a biennial ritual, seemingly taking place every time the state has a gubernatorial or presidential election. This year, the dispute involves whether voters can start casting ballots on Sept. 30 or Oct. 7, and whether additional hours will be allowed on weekends and evenings.

Editorials: Preserving the right to vote in the wake of Wisconsin’s voter ID law | Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

As we inch forward to the 119th anniversary of Booker T. Washington’s Atlanta Compromise speech, where “in all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress,” Wisconsin, not to mention the entire nation, is more separated than ever — like the fingers in a hand. From Ferguson, Mo., to Milwaukee and throughout all these United States, African-Americans perceive themselves to be targets of unfair treatment by our institutions. There are many issues that the African-American community must address from within (such as crime and poverty), but that cause is decidedly not helped by laws whose effect, if not intent, is to marginalize African-Americans from the political process and, thus, society. One such case, out of many, is the law requiring approved photo ID for participation in elections. The recent federal appeals court ruling on voter ID is unhelpful to Wisconsin’s poor who are disproportionately African-Americans, Latinos, women, students and the very elderly. It is also shameful to a nation that prides itself on liberty, equality and justice for all. Simply put, the courts in the U.S. have become overly politicized, as illustrated by the recent ruling by a three-judge panel, all appointed by GOP presidents, who rendered a decision that is advantageous to a governor in a tight gubernatorial campaign. We cannot say for certain that this factor weighed on the court; however, the haste in which the law just prior to an election will be executed is cause for concern.

Afghanistan: Rival Afghan Presidential Candidates Sign Deal to Share Power | VoA News

Afghan presidential rivals Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah on Sunday signed a power sharing deal to form a National Unity Government. The signing ceremony took place at the presidential palace in Kabul with outgoing President Hamid Karzai and Afghan elders as well as religious leaders present on the occasion. The two candidates shook hands and hugged each other after singing the long-awaited political deal. Karzai then briefly addressed the gathering and congratulated both Ghani and Abdullah on reaching the power sharing arrangement.

United Kingdom: Scotland Rejects Independence From United Kingdom | New York Times

Voters in Scotland rejected independence from Britain in a referendum that had threatened to break up the 307-year union between them, according to projections by the BBC and Sky News early Friday. Before dawn after a night of counting that showed a steady trend in favor of maintaining the union, Nicola Sturgeon, the deputy head of the pro-independence Scottish National Party, effectively conceded defeat for the “yes” campaign that had pressed for secession. “Like thousands of others across the country I’ve put my heart and soul into this campaign and there is a real sense of disappointment that we’ve fallen narrowly short of securing a yes vote,” Ms. Sturgeon told BBC television. With 26 of 32 voting districts reporting, there were 1,397,077 votes, or 54.2 percent, against independence, and 1,176,952, or 45.7 percent, in favor.

Editorials: Open Source Fix For US Voting System? | InformationWeek

The last surge of investment in voting technology happened a decade ago. Since then the regulatory apparatus for election reform has broken down, and voting machines themselves are starting to fail as well. Every election shines attention on a different bit of dysfunction, from long lines at polling places to cyber security risks. Open source to the rescue? Maybe, although probably not in time to have much impact on the 2016 election. Silicon Valley’s Open Source Election Technology Foundation (OSET) is methodically chipping away at the problem, building credibility with software for voter registration and election-night reporting while also working on the more challenging problems of improving the casting and counting of votes. Meanwhile, a few brave — and impatient — county election officials are embarking on their own voting technology design and development projects, which may or may not intersect with OSET’s work. The bottom-line goal of these initiatives is the same: to move away from reliance on proprietary technology while boosting transparency and leaving a reliable audit trail — making it clear that the victor in any contest really is the candidate who won the most votes.

Arizona: Election mistake traced to ‘human error’ | San Pedro Valley News-Sun

A report from the vendor of the elections system used by Cochise County during the Aug. 26 Primary Election indicates that the issues surrounding incorrect ballot data being sent to the state on election night was the result of a procedural error at the local elections office. The report from Elections Systems & Software explains that the incoming results from a number of precincts throughout election night were aggregated incorrectly by the county elections staff selecting the wrong option on the system. This resulted in already tabulated election results being added multiple times to the aggregate total for those precincts. County officials received the report on Thursday, Sept. 4. Elections staff reviewed the report individually before holding a meeting by telephone with ES&S personnel on Monday, Sept. 8.

Editorials: Critics of D.C. statehood cite specious objections, such as Grave Snowplow Threat | Robert McCartney/The Washington Post

Why shouldn’t the District become a state? Opponents at Monday’s U.S. Senate hearing cited the grave threat that the city might gain full authority over its snowplows. You read that right. According to this objection, a self-governing District might intimidate Congress through its control of basic services for Capitol Hill. Statehood “would make the federal government dependent on an independent state, New Columbia, for everything from electrical power to water, sewers, snow removal, police and fire protection,” Roger Pilon, a constitutional scholar for the libertarian Cato Institute, testified. In Pilon’s defense, his argument is rooted in James Madison’s long-ago desire to prevent any individual state from unduly influencing Congress. But that concern is completely outdated.

Kansas: State Supreme Court hears Taylor’s request to remove himself from U.S. Senate ballot | The Kansas City Star

Everyone agrees that Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor withdrew from the U.S. Senate race in Kansas. The question is, did the Democrat do it the right way and say the right words? The Kansas Supreme Court began exploring that issue Tuesday as it weighed a request to remove Taylor from the ballot, a decision that could boost independent Greg Orman’s chances of unseating Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts. The country is watching the race because it could decide whether Republicans gain control of the Senate. The court has not said when it will deliver a decision. But a deadline for sending out ballots to overseas voters is Saturday.

Kansas: Kansas election law looms large in US Senate race | Associated Press

The Kansas Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday over whether the Democrat who wants to drop out of the U.S. Senate race must stay on the ballot, a dispute that could have a big effect on Republicans recapturing a Senate majority. Democrat Chad Taylor, a county prosecutor from Topeka, threw the race into chaos earlier this month when he announced he wanted to be taken off the ballot, without giving an explanation. Taylor’s exit seemed to set up a clear two-person race between the three-term incumbent, Republican Pat Roberts, and wealthy independent Greg Orman, who many believe has a chance to unseat Roberts head to head.  The unusual move by Taylor, apparently at the urging of fellow Democrats who worried that a three-person race would split the anti-Roberts vote, turned the race into one of the hottest campaigns of the season.

Minnesota: Former convicts continue advocating for voting rights | The Minnesota Daily

Robert Stewart hasn’t been able to vote since 2006, a right he lost because there’s a felony on his record. But for the past several years, the third-year sociology graduate student has been fighting to regain his voting rights. “It’s encouraged me to be involved,” he said, “because I have no other way to be involved in the political process, other than through advocacy.” While a bill to restore voting eligibility to many Minnesotans with criminal records when they leave prison made headway in the last legislative session, the measure failed to make it onto the floor of either chamber. Now, some University of Minnesota students are working to further the rights of those with criminal backgrounds. “I think [people with criminal records] should be welcomed back into the community,” said associate sociology professor Joshua Page. He said he believes the public should strive to integrate former convicts back into society, rather than exclude them.

Missouri: Court ruling causes reprinting of Missouri ballots | Associated Press

Missouri election officials are scrambling to reprint ballots and reprogram computers after an appeals court ordered a change to an early voting proposal that will appear on the November ballot. County clerks said Wednesday that the change could cost the state tens of thousands of additional dollars and delay the availability of absentee ballots that are supposed to ready for voters next Tuesday. It also could lead to a push during the 2015 legislative session to amend Missouri’s election deadlines. “It is a tremendous burden on the local taxpayers — on the entire state of Missouri — when these types of rulings are handed down at this late notice,” said Atchison County Clerk Susette Taylor, who is president of the Missouri Association of County Clerks and Election Authorities. A panel of the Western District state appeals court on Monday ordered new ballot wording for a proposed constitutional amendment authorizing a six-day, no-excuses-needed early voting period for future general elections. The judges said the ballot summary approved by legislators was misleading because it failed to note the early voting period would occur only if the state provides funding. Many local election authorities already had printed their paper ballots and programmed their computers based on the list of candidates and issues that were certified last month.

Nebraska: Judge must rule on ballot switch as deadline nears | Columbus Telegram

The clock is ticking on a legal battle over who will appear as Pete Ricketts’ No. 2 man on Nebraska ballots this fall. The federal deadline to have ballots sent to military and overseas voters is Friday, and the printers are already running for some counties. “My ballots have gone to print,” said Cass County Election Commissioner Nancy Josoff. She’s also emailed ballots to a couple traveling abroad. Most counties are in the final stages of proofing the many versions of ballots they distribute within their areas. Those proofs are then generally sent to Election Systems and Software, the Omaha company that produces ballots for 90 of Nebraska’s 93 counties. Meanwhile, attorneys are wrangling over whether state Auditor Mike Foley’s name should be allowed to replace that of former Lt. Gov. Lavon Heidemann on the ballot as running mate for Ricketts, the Republican gubernatorial nominee. Ricketts named Foley as his pick for lieutenant governor after Heidemann resigned last week. Democrats and others have balked at Nebraska Secretary of State John Gale for allowing the switch despite a Sept. 1 deadline for a person to agree to appear on the ballot as a candidate for lieutenant governor. Gale is a Republican.

New Mexico: Judge: Rio Rancho residents lost right to vote | Albuquerque Journal

Calling the 2012 general election in Sandoval County “a debacle,” a federal judge has ruled in favor of three Republicans who claimed actions by the Democratic county clerk and elections director deprived voters of the chance to cast ballots. There were problems administering the election in Rio Rancho, which resulted in voters standing in long lines and waiting in some instances for more than five hours to exercise their right to vote, according to the order by District Judge William P. Johnson. Johnson had granted a preliminary injunction ordering Election Bureau Director Eddie Gutierrez and Sandoval County Clerk Eileen Garbagni to comply with a resolution passed by the County Commission in October 2013 pertaining to the number of voting machines and distribution of polling places in Rio Rancho. The resolution establishes 17 voting convenience centers in Rio Rancho and two in Corrales.

Ohio: Going to jail before Election Day? You may be able to vote | The Columbus Dispatch

Registered Ohio voters who end up in jail the weekend before the election should be allowed to cast an absentee ballot, a federal judge ruled yesterday. U.S. District Court Judge S. Arthur Spiegel decided in a lawsuit filed by the Ohio Justice & Policy Center that he saw “no value in taking away this fundamental right, even for a short period of time.” Spiegel said since people who could afford to post bail could get out of jail and vote, preventing those who could not afford to post bail from voting poses an “unconstitutional wealth-based voting restriction.” Attorneys for the center said at least 400 people who were eligible were unable to vote in 2012 because they were in jail the weekend before the election.

Rhode Island: Bills do away with master lever | Warwick Beacon

Several key legislators joined the governor during a signing ceremony Thursday at the State House of legislation to eliminate the “master lever,” or straight-party voting option, on all non-primary Rhode Island elections that will be held after January 1, 2015. Sponsored in the House by Rep. K. Joseph Shekarchi (D-Dist. 23, Warwick) and in the Senate by Sen. David E. Bates (R-Dist. 32, Barrington, Bristol, East Providence), the bills (2014-H 8072A and 2014-S 2091A) were passed by the General Assembly and officially signed by the governor earlier this year.

Wisconsin: Reviving voter ID a ‘recipe for chaos,’ advocates warn | MSNBC

Friday’s U.S. court ruling that breathed new life into Wisconsin’s voter ID law is a “recipe for chaos” that will cause “extraordinary disenfranchisement” this fall, voting rights advocates are warning as they push for a rehearing of the case. “If this law is not stopped now from being implemented in November, it will cause irreparable harm to the 300,000 plus voters who lack ID,” John Ulin, a lawyer for Arnold and Porter who represents plaintiffs in the case, told reporters Wednesday. Late Tuesday, challengers to the law filed court documents asking that the full 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals take a second look at Friday’s ruling reinstating the law. That ruling, the brief argues, “imposes a radical, last-minute change to procedures for conducting an election that is already underway.” Friday’s ruling was made by a three-judge panel of the court, all of whom were appointed by Republicans. The strict GOP-backed voter ID law had been on hold since not long after being passed in 2012, and was a struck down in April by a federal district court judge, who ruled that it violated the Voting Rights Act’s ban on racial discrimination in voting.

Wisconsin: College students facing challenges with Voter ID Law

University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire leaders will meet Thursday to discuss the new Voter ID Law and what it means for students who want to vote in November. Following the reinstatement of the Voter ID Law last Friday, UW-Madison announced that it will provide students with separate voter ID cards starting next week. It’s an idea UW-Eau Claire says it will also discuss. Student leaders say it’s already a challenge to get students registered and to the polls to vote, but now with the requirement for a valid photo ID, there may be other hurdles. Jordan Luehmann, a student at UW-Eau Claire, said voting is important because at the end of the day, voting is what makes a difference. “It’s important for the country’s future, it’s important for you now even in college,” said Luehmann. “Even if you don’t like politics, the one thing you should do is vote. I think that’s a powerful thing to do.”

Fiji: Voreqe Bainimarama frontrunner as Fiji awaits election results | The Guardian

Thousands of Fijians got their first chance to vote in eight years on Wednesday in an election that promises to finally restore democracy to the South Pacific nation of 900,000. Military strongman Voreqe Bainimarama, who has ruled Fiji since he seized control in a 2006 coup, is the frontrunner. He is popular, thanks in part to his focus on social programmes, increased infrastructure spending and a crackdown on the media. In early counting, Bainimarama’s Fiji First party had 59.2% of the vote with 804 of the 2,025 polling stations processed, according to official results reported by the Fiji Times newspaper. Its closest rival, the Sodelpa Party, had 28.1%. After casting his ballot, Bainimarama was asked whether he would accept the outcome if he lost. “I’m not going to lose. I will win. You ask that question to the other party,” he said. Then he added, “Of course we will accept the election results. That is what the democratic process is all about.”

New Zealand: Dirty tricks, spies overshadow New Zealand election | Sydney Morning Herald

New Zealand’s election campaign has been bitter and bizarre, unable to shake off the long shadows cast by an internet mogul and a blogger. Opinion polls suggest Prime Minister John Key’s National Party may cling to power after the real polls close on Saturday night, but it will be close. If Mr Key prevails for the centre-right, he will have overcome allegations of government dirty tricks – based on the hacked emails of burly blogger Cameron Slater, aka Whale Oil, that resulted in Justice Minister Judith Collins being forced to resign from cabinet. And a feud with German giant Kim Dotcom meant Mr Key, 53 and a fellow self-made multimillionaire, had to spend much of this week batting away claims that the nation’s GCSB spy agency is engaged in mass surveillance of its citizens. Mr Dotcom, who is fighting extradition to the US to face internet piracy charges, hosted an event in Auckland on Monday featuring WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and US National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden (both via video link), as well as US investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald to assert the spying allegations.