Yearly Archives: 2014

The fate of the Western Australian Senate election will hang in the balance today when the Court of Disputed Returns sits in Melbourne. The court has been asked by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) to find the poll void, so it can mount a rerun. The case comes after the embarrassment to the AEC over the loss of 1,370 ballot papers after last year’s September election. The votes were discovered to be missing when a recount was ordered, after a challenge by two of the candidates, the Green’s Scott Ludlam and the Sporting Party’s Wayne Dropulich. The dispute is over the fifth and sixth Senate positions.

Egypt: Presidential election to be before parliamentary ballot | UPI

Egypt’s military-backed government reversed field, saying it would conduct presidential elections before a parliamentary vote, officials said. The next leader looks increasingly likely to be the military’s chief, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi who was promoted to field marshal Monday and has indicated he was mulling a bid, several media outlets reported. The decision Sunday to flip the elections and parliamentary vote changes the electoral schedule set by the military after it ousted President Mohammed Morsi in July, putting the nation’s next leader in a position to sway voters toward parliamentary candidates he supports, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Serbia: Government asks president to call early election | Reuters

Serbia’s coalition government asked President Tomislav Nikolic on Tuesday to call an early election with the dominant center-right SNS party looking to accelerate reforms by cashing in on a surge in its popularity. Nikolic was expected on Wednesday to schedule the parliamentary election for March 16, just under two years since the people of the western Balkan state last voted. The SNS (Serbian Progressive Party), the strongest party in the ruling alliance, is well ahead in opinion polls, putting party leader Aleksandar Vucic in pole position to take over from Socialist Prime Minister Ivica Dacic. Once an ultranationalist disciple of the “Greater Serbia” ideology that fuelled the wars of federal Yugoslavia’s bloody disintegration in the 1990s, Vucic has since rebranded himself as a pro-European modernizer. As deputy prime minister, Vucic has advocated a painful overhaul of Serbia’s bloated public sector, the pension system and rigid labor market.

Thailand: Election will proceed despite threats | Los Angeles Times

A controversial election in Thailand will proceed as scheduled Sunday despite threats of continued violence from antigovernment protesters and fear that the result will only deepen the country’s eight-year political crisis. Thai election officials initially called for the parliamentary elections to be postponed six months because of the unrest. But the election commission relented after meeting Tuesday with beleaguered Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who has pushed for the vote to proceed because she believes that it will strengthen her slipping grip on power. Protesters who have called for Yingluck to give up power disrupted advance voting that began Sunday, shutting down 19 of 50 polling stations in Bangkok and many more in the southern provinces. One prominent protest leader, Suthin Tharathin, was shot and killed near a Bangkok polling station. Another leading protester has vowed to block all voting places in the capital on election day. Underscoring the threat of violence, about 500 anti-government protesters gathered Tuesday outside a military facility, advancing toward a police barricade as election commissioners held talks with Yingluck inside. On the street nearby, at least two people were injured by gunfire, news agencies reported.

Editorials: Obama winning war on voting rights | DeWayne Wickham/USAToday

President Obama is winning this war. I’m not talking about the lingering conflict in Afghanistan, that distant fight against what remains of Osama bin Laden’s terrorist organization and the Taliban, a feudal band of religious zealots that threatens to overturn the Hamid Karzai government that the Obama’s administration is propping up. No, the war in which Obama has just scored a major victory is being waged inside this nation’s borders. It’s the fight over voting rights — a combat that has impacted the outcome of every presidential election, and many lesser contests, for longer than U.S. forces have been in Afghanistan, which is America’s longest war on foreign soil. Obama scored this domestic victory in an unusual way: He put Republican Benjamin Ginsberg, one of his opponents’ most successful field commanders, at the head of his effort to beat back attempts to restrict the voting rights of a lot of people — many of whom are widely thought to be Democrats.

Voting Blogs: Coordinating with a Super PAC, Raising Money for It, and the Difference Between the Two | More Soft Money Hard Law

How much can a candidate do for a Super PAC without illegally “coordinating” with it? Recent proposals would answer that she has to keep her distance—no publicly (or privately) stated support and no fundraising for the independent committee. A bit of a surprise has developed in the debate. While questioning how far these restrictions can go, Rick Hasen concludes that as a matter of constitutional law, Congress may prohibit the fundraising, and on this point, he sides in theory with Brad Smith of the Center for Competitive Politics. Richard L. Hasen, Super PAC Contributions, Corruption, and the Proxy War Over Coordination, Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy (forthcoming), 16-17, available here; Bradley A. Smith, Super PACs and the Role of “Coordination” in Campaign Finance Law, 49 Willamette L. Rev. 603, 635 (2013). Rick Hasen and Brad Smith are not often found in the same jurisprudential company. So it is interesting to consider how they may have arrived there and why, in their judgments about the regulation Buckley would allow, they appear to have erred.

Colorado: Democrats nix GOP bills dealing with mail ballots | Associated Press

Democrats on Monday rejected proposals from Colorado Republicans that would make mail ballots optional and allow anyone to challenge votes cast by mail. The bills failed Monday on 3-2 party-line votes in a Senate committee. Last year, Democrats passed an election-law overhaul that, among other things, allowed voter registration on Election Day and required mail ballots for every registered voter. Republicans have criticized the election changes and have expressed concerns over possible fraud. They have pledged to try this year to address portions of the new election rules or try to undo them. But with Democrats controlling both legislative chambers, they will be facing long odds. That was apparent Monday with a couple of the bills they argued for, and the Republican sponsors saw the fate of their proposals coming.

Florida: Special election for Radel seat to cost thousands | WINK

WINK News has confirmed that Governor Scott will call for a special election to fill Radel’s seat, but how much could it cost you the taxpayer? As Radel steps down, many are wondering when we could see a new representative in office. The Collier County Supervisor of Elections says that’s up to the governor. “The challenge here is once the date is determined, just getting everything in motion,” said Edwards. Edwards says the election will be treated like any other. Qualifying rounds, a two party primary if necessary, and a general election.

Michigan: $80,000: Estimated cost for Grand Rapids to hold special election for streets tax | MLive.com

A May ballot proposal for a streets tax would cost more and likely get less participation than if it were put on the November ballot along with county and state elections. But a special election would give Grand Rapids more time to change tax forms if the proposal fails. City Commission on Tuesday, Jan. 28, will consider calling a special election for May 6. Grand Rapids voters, who in 2010 authorized a 5-year income-tax increase, will be asked to continue that increase for another 15 years and earmark the money for streets. Acting City Clerk Darlene O’Neal said holding an election in May will cost Grand Rapids an extra $75,000 to $80,000.

Missouri: Senate considers voter identification laws again | Associated Press

A Missouri Senate panel heard legislation Monday that would require voters to show photo identification at polling places amid warnings from the state’s top election official that 220,000 registered voters would no longer be able to cast ballots if the measure passes. Similar measures have been passed in other states, but they have faced legal challenges. And Missouri’s previous efforts have failed in the courts. The measure’s sponsor told the Senate Elections Committee that Missouri needs to require voters to show a government-issued ID to preserve the integrity of state elections. “We need to make sure everyone’s vote counts. It should be one person, one vote and without an ID requirement we can’t make that happen,” said sponsoring Sen. Will Kraus, R-Lee’s Summit. Opponents contend there’s no evidence of massive voter fraud and that such measures disenfranchise voters.

Nebraska: Online voter registration in Nebraska? | KMAland

A bill before the Unicameral would enable Nebraskans to register to vote online, 24-7. Nebraska Secretary of State John Gale, who oversees the state’s elections, says he’d support the move onto the Internet and once the website is created, it would be a relatively quick, simple process for the user to get registered. “You have to have a driver’s license and that driver’s license has to be a Nebraska license that’s identifiable through the Department of Motor Vehicles,” Gale says. “From that information, we can capture accurately the exact legal name, the driver’s license number, and the signature. It’s so critical that we have the signature for purposes of comparison when people go to vote.” The bill, LB 661, is being sponsored by Senator Bob Krist of Omaha.

New Hampshire: 8,200 Manchester residents could be cut from voter rolls | Union Leader

Officials in the Queen City could remove up to 8,200 people from its voter rolls in the coming months as part of a citywide “checklist verification” process. Starting on Thursday, the Office of the City Clerk will send postcards to 8,200 residents who have not voted according to its records since the 2008 election. City Clerk Matt Normand said the goal was to keep the voter list as up to date as possible to avoid a large and complicated state-mandated purge in 2020. “Periodic verification avoids a major purge of tens of thousands of voters during the state-mandated 10-year checklist purge, which stresses the office and ward officials for those looking to re-register once in any of the subsequent eight citywide elections held at Manchester polls,” Normand said in a statement announcing the move.

Editorials: New York Needs To Bolster Its Voting System | Blair Horner/WAMC

During the 2012 election, far too many Americans voters had to stand in long lines for hours in order to cast their ballot. Voters who were stuck waiting were all too frequently lower-income and non-white. The President promised to act, in order to ensure that such a disgraceful situation would never happen again. The President convened a blue-ribbon panel jointly headed by the top lawyers for the Obama and Romney campaigns. Last week, the panel issued its findings. The report, The American Voting Experience: Report and Recommendations of the Presidential Commission on Election Administration, called for – among other proposals – expanded early voting, online registration, and a goal of ensuring that no voter waited on line for more than 30 minutes to cast their ballot. The report was the result of a six-month-long study. The panel held public hearings as well as meetings with experts and election administrators. The report’s findings came as New York is once again debating how to strengthen its democracy. And while most of that debate has been over weak ethics laws and a “pay-to-play” political culture, the state’s obstacles to voting is another big problem.

North Carolina: No more straight-party option in 2014 election | Elkin Tribune

Voters heading to the polls in 2014 will see a missing option when they begin casting their ballots, with no opportunity to elect a straight-party ticket for partisan seats. “There is no straight party anymore,” said Angie Harrison, deputy director for the Surry County Board of Elections. “You actually have to go down the ballot and pick the offices individually.” Voters already had to do that for any nonpartisan seats, such as school boards, municipal boards, judges and for the partisan presidential office, but in the past they had an option to select either Republican or Democrat for all other partisan seats without having to go through each office at stake one by one. This included posts for county commissioners, senators, state and federal representatives, sheriff and others. This is one of many changes being implemented during the next few years after the state Legislature passed the Voter ID law, formally known as House Bill 589, which went into effect Jan. 1.

Pennsylvania: Governor asks court to reverse decision on voter ID | Associated Press

A judge made a host of mistakes in deciding to throw out the Pennsylvania’s requirement that voters display photo identification, lawyers for Gov. Tom Corbett argued in a court filing Monday. The team of private lawyers and the attorney general’s office asked in 39 pages of post-trial arguments that the law be reinstated, the decision revised or a new trial ordered. The filing says Commonwealth Court Judge Bernard McGinley wrongly decided the law was unconstitutional because of how it was implemented, and took issue with his rejection of a Department of State-created ID card. “The statute cannot be declared facially unconstitutional based solely on flaws found in the executive’s reading or administration of the statute,” Corbett’s lawyers argued.

Virginia: Democrat wins Virginia Senate recount, giving McAuliffe’s agenda a crucial boost | The Washington Post

State Del. Lynwood W. Lewis Jr. has won the recount for a Hampton Roads Senate seat, throwing control of the Virginia Senate to Democrats and giving Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s first-year agenda a crucial boost. Lewis’s slim lead over Republican Wayne Coleman grew from nine to 11 votes over the course of the recount Monday, which Republicans and Democrats had watched closely given its outsize importance to the balance of power in Richmond. Although the candidates were still awaiting an official ruling from a three-judge panel, Coleman acknowledged the outcome just after 4 p.m. Monday. His victory gives Democrats new leverage in the General Assembly, where the House of Delegates is overwhelmingly Republican — and overwhelmingly opposed to several of McAuliffe’s priorities. The new Democratic governor is trying to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, but many other issues, including increased public school funding, gun control and gay marriage are also being examined.

Egypt: Presidential Election Set Amid Worry Over General’s Power | Wall Street Journal

Egypt’s military-backed government said it would hold presidential elections before a parliamentary vote, a reversal that stands to give the next president considerable legislative authority. That next leader looks increasingly likely to be the military’s chief, Gen. Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, who has indicated he is considering a bid for the nation’s highest office, buoyed by massive popular and political support. Few other potential candidates have emerged. Sunday’s decision changes the electoral schedule set by the military after it ousted Mohammed Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected president, in July. The new sequence will put the nation’s next leader in a position to influence voters to back the parliamentary candidates he supports. The decision sets the stage for more clashes with the Muslim Brotherhood, the now-outlawed Islamist group from which the deposed president hailed. The Brotherhood on Sunday called for more demonstrations.

El Salvador: Salvadoran Americans vote in national election by mail for first time | KPCC

It took years for El Salvador’s legislative system to give Salvadorans living abroad the right to vote by mail in national elections. The law was passed last year, and on Sunday, Feb. 2, the country’s expats will participate for the first time in a presidential election. But the process hasn’t been going as smoothly as some had hoped, with many frustrated by a process they say was rolled out too late, with poor planning and little time for hopeful voters to follow through. Tito Rivera, a Los Angeles restaurant owner, said he registered to vote in the election months ago. But with the election just days away, he still hadn’t received his voter packet. “Most likely I’m not going to vote,” Rivera said. “That’s what going to happen. Because if I don’t send that in time…it’s not going to count. I’m disappointed, because we’ve been fighting for that a long time.”

Thailand: Election delay urged to avoid further bloodshed | CBC News

Thailand’s Election Commission urged a delay in next week’s planned national vote, warning on Monday of more bloodshed after violent clashes at the weekend. That would drag out a festering crisis that risks splitting the country. The military, which has often stepped in to take control in the past, is resolutely staying out of the fray this time, despite appeals from anti-government protesters. “As election officials, it is our job to make sure elections are successful, but we also need to make sure the country is peaceful enough to hold the election,” Somchai Srisutthiyakorn, an Election Commission member, told Reuters. “We don’t want it to be bloody.” The commission will meet embattled Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Tuesday to discuss the vote date.

United Kingdom: Expat Scots demand a vote in independence referendum | Reuters

A million Scots living outside of Scotland should be allowed to vote in a referendum this year on whether their country becomes an independent nation, one of them said on Monday as he sought backing for a legal challenge. James Wallace, a Scottish-born trainee lawyer who lives in England, is among the 1.15 million Scots who are excluded from the vote as they are not resident there. Anyone over the age of 16 living in Scotland – about 80 percent of the 5.2 million population – has the right to vote on September 18 either for independence or to remain part of the United Kingdom alongside England, Wales and Northern Ireland. That means 800,000 Scots living in the rest of the UK and others in large Scottish communities in countries such as the United States, Canada and Ireland will have no say.

National: RNC tightens 2016 primary calendar, rules | The Hill

A series of changes aimed at tightening the GOP presidential primary calendar sailed through a vote at the Republican National Committee’s winter meeting, giving the party new tools to control its nomination process. The new 2016 rules will make it much harder for states to cut in line in the nomination process and will help Republicans avoid a repeat of a drawn out, bloody primary many believe damaged Mitt Romney’s chances in 2012 of defeating President Obama. After a contentious Thursday hearing on some rules changes, few members joined Virginia Committeeman Morton Blackwell in objecting to the final package — the landslide vote was 153 in favor, with 9 opposing. “I’m really proud of you for this debate,” RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said following the vote, to a standing ovation from the committee. “This is a historic day for our party, and I thank you all for what you’ve done. … We will all have a much better process in 2016.”

Editorials: Don’t Blame the Maps | Jowei Chen and Jonathan Rodden/New York Times

Do the Republicans owe their current congressional majority to gerrymandering? At first glance, it seems self-evident that they do. In the 2012 election, the Democrats won the popular votes for the presidency, the Senate and the House of Representatives. But somehow in the House — for whose seats Republicans controlled the redistricting process in many crucial states — the Republicans managed to end up with a 16-seat majority despite losing the popular vote. The presumption among many reformers is that the Democrats would control Congress today if the 2012 election had been contested in districts drawn by nonpartisan commissioners rather than politicians. But is this true? Another possibility is that Democrats receive more votes than seats because so many of their voters reside in dense cities that Democratic candidates win with overwhelming majorities, while Republican voters are more evenly distributed across exurbs and the rural periphery. Perhaps even a nonpartisan redistricting process would still have delivered the House to the Republicans.

Arkansas: Rushed laws lead to election glitches | Arkansas News

This year’s elections have run into a couple of snags because legislators forgot to dot some i’s and cross some t’s. In one case, the state’s new law requiring voters to present a photo ID at the ballot box or include some form of identification when voting absentee caused a problem in the Jonesboro state Senate race. The voter ID law was passed in 2013 amidst a political brouhaha, with Republicans saying it is needed to prevent fraud, and Democrats saying its real purpose is to make it harder for poor people to vote for Democrats. The law allows voters at the polls that don’t have an ID to vote provisionally and then present one by noon on the Monday after the election, but it is silent on what to do about absentee voters who don’t provide an ID.

Florida: Fights continue over voting rules in Florida | Orlando Sentinel

Florida elections officials predict that a new round of reforms should make voting in November a breeze compared with 2012, when tens of thousands of residents were forced to wait seven hours or longer to cast a ballot. But the changes, which include more days of early voting, don’t signal a truce in the fight over Florida elections. From Congress to the courts, activists of all stripes continue to battle over voting rules. The outcome of those fights could affect how — and which — Floridians go to the polls in 2014 and beyond. One flash point is voting rights for ex-convicts. Florida is one of just a few states that prohibit felons from voting once their sentences are complete. Instead, they must wait at least five years before they can apply to a state clemency board to have their rights restored.

Illinois: New law will let some 17-year-olds vote in primary | Quincy Herald-Whig

For the first time ever, 17-year-old residents of Illinois will be able vote in a primary election this year — provided they will turn 18 in time for the Nov. 4 general election. This comes as welcome news for politically minded students like Julian Engels, a junior at Quincy High School. Engels will turn 18 in July. That not only makes him eligible right now to register to vote, but it also means he’ll be able to cast a ballot in the March 18 primary election — something he plans to do. Engels has already printed out an Illinois voter-registration form that he downloaded from the Internet. “I filled out the form and I’m ready to mail it in,” he said. But he’s not going to stop there. Engels is also planning to encourage other eligible QHS students to register to vote and take part in the election process this year.

Editorials: Michigan legislature should act on online registration, no-reason absentee voting | Barb Byrum/MLive.com

Voting is one of the greatest privileges of being an American. The right and the ability to cast our ballots on Election Day is what help us shape our community, our nation and our future together. As our Constitution assures us, as Americans, voting is how we build a more perfect union. Unfortunately, a presidential Commission on Election Administration recently found that voting remains more difficult and time consuming than necessary. After six months of research, the bipartisan panel also found that Americans from all backgrounds – Republicans, Democrats and independents – want election reforms and a “modern, efficient and responsive” voting experience. Other states have been paying attention. They’re taking steps to help more Americans vote. Michigan, on the other hands, lags far behind and it’s time for policymakers and elected leaders in the Legislature to take action.

Verified Voting Blog: Post Election Audits for New Hampshire

No voting system is perfect. Nearly all elections in New Hampshire, as in most of the nation, are counted using electronic vote counting systems. Such systems have produced result-changing errors through problems with hardware, software and procedures. Error can also occur when compiling results. Even serious error can go undetected if results are not audited effectively.

In a municipal election in Palm Beach County, Florida in 2012 a “synchronization” problem with the election management software allotted votes to both the wrong candidate and the wrong contest; this was uncovered during a post-election audit. The results were officially changed after a public hand count of the votes. Particularly noteworthy about that example is the fact that Florida has one of the nation’s weakest audit provisions; even so, it enabled the discovery of this critical error. In another state, a software malfunction caused thousands of votes to be added to the total. A manual audit revealed the mistake and officials were able to correct the results and avoid a costly run-off election. In a Republican primary in Iowa, a manual check of the physical ballots revealed a programming error that was attributing votes to the wrong candidates. Thanks to the manual audit, the correct person was seated in office.

North Carolina: Justices will not delay 2014 elections | Associated Press

The 2014 elections will go on as planned after North Carolina’s highest court refused to delay them while the justices consider the legality of the most recent version of election districts. The state Supreme Court announced Friday its denial of a motion by election and civil rights advocacy groups and Democratic voters challenging the boundaries for General Assembly seats and North Carolina’s congressional delegation. They wanted to halt the start of the election schedule that begins Feb. 10 with candidate filing, as well as the May 6 primary, until the court ruled whether the boundaries are legal. The state’s highest court heard oral arguments on the constitutionality of the maps earlier this month.

North Carolina: Lawmakers try to quash subpoenas that seek details about voter ID law | Charlotte Observer

North Carolina legislative leaders who led the crafting of the state’s new voter ID law have been very open about their support of the measure and other elections changes. But voters and organizations challenging the wide-ranging amendments contend that those same lawmakers are being far too private about email and other correspondence they exchanged while transforming the state’s voting process. Critics of the voting-law changes say that its Republican sponsors had information that the legislation would have a negative impact on African-Americans and other minorities. In federal court filings this month, the NAACP, the League of Women Voters of North Carolina, the American Civil Liberties Union, the U.S. Justice Department and others who are suing the governor, state legislators and North Carolina election board members sought a court order for email and other correspondence. Thirteen legislators, all Republicans, asked the court to quash subpoenas requiring them to produce any documents they created or received concerning the “rationale, purpose and implementation” of House Bill 589.

Washington: Democrats push forward minority voting bill; measure likely to die in Senate | Associated Press