The Voting News Weekly: The Voting News Weekly for December 21-27 2015
Government Technology reviewed election technology issues faced in several states heading in the 2016 elections. In the Washington Post, William Frey considered Evenwel v. Abbott, the case in which the Supreme Court heard arguments for altering the long-standing principle of “one person, one vote” by substituting voting-age citizens for total population when drawing legislative districts within states. Colorado has chosen Dominion Voting Systems to provide a statewide uniform voting system beginning in 2017 in part because their technology is well suited to performing the risk-limiting post-election audits. Kentucky’s new Republican governor has rescinded an executive order that restored voting rights to as many as 140,000 non-violent felons. Closing comments were filed in a court case over changes to voting rules in swing state Ohio which alleges that a series of Republican-backed revisions disproportionately burden black voters and those who lean Democratic. Democrats in Virginia claimed a victory on parts of a voting rights lawsuit in the state, with a settlement on the portion related to long waiting times for voters to cast ballots, especially in precincts with large numbers of minorities residents. A national election in Central African Republic has been postponed until the end of the month and the United Nations Security Council urged Haiti on Wednesday to quickly reschedule its postponed presidential election ahead of further civil unrest.