Monthly Archives: December 2015

A Canadian woman who recently met Justin Trudeau in London says the prime minister indicated a willingness to review a law disenfranchising long-term expats. In an interview from the U.K., Laura Bailey says she met Trudeau at a reception at the Canadian High Commission on Nov. 25 as he moved through the crowd and shook his hand. “I hope you can reinstate my right to vote in the next election,” Bailey said she told Trudeau. “He said to me, ‘We’ll work on that,’ with a little cutesy smile. Then I took a selfie with him.”

Venezuela: Voters set to call time on Chávez’s ‘Bolivarian revolution’ | The Guardian

Venezuela’s self-styled socialist experiment faces its toughest test yet this weekend in a parliamentary election held amid crippling inflation and spiralling crime that appear to have turned the tide against the late Hugo Chávez’s “Bolivarian revolution”. Polls show the opposition stand to win a majority of seats in the country’s unicameral National Assembly but President Nicolás Maduro, Chávez’s handpicked successor, has said that he would “not hand over the revolution” if the ruling party loses at the polls. Opposition candidates are leading by 25-30% in most races, despite what critics say has been a campaign skewed by government intervention on behalf of ruling party candidates, a lack of access to media and incidents of violence. “Barring some very large election fraud, the opposition will win by a wide margin. The ruling party majority is almost certain to get wiped out,” predicted Michael Henderson, an analyst with Verisk Maplecroft, a risk consultancy.

National: How Far Will The Supreme Court Go In The Big New Voting Rights Case? | TPM

Almost everyone in the voting rights community agrees that the unexpected case challenging long-held assumptions about the concept of “one person, one vote” — which is being heard by the Supreme Court next week — could have devastating consequences. But a point of contention among experts is what threat a more incremental decision poses to the already crippled Voting Rights Act. The case is called Evenwel v. Abbott. It is coming out of Texas, where the challengers are contesting the state legislature’s senate redistricting plan. At issue is whether the use of total population to draw districts — as Texas and other states have near universally done — is unconstitutional. The challengers suggest that some other metric — perhaps one that counts districts by citizens or by eligible voters — is preferable. They say their votes have been diluted because they live in a district that has a higher percentage of eligible voters compared to district that is roughly the same size in total population, but has a lower rate of voter eligibility — in part because of the presence of Latino noncitizens.

National: Meaning of ‘One Person, One Vote’ at Stake at Supreme Court | Associated Press

Texas was the big winner in the 2010 census when it picked up four congressional seats, due mainly to growth in its Hispanic population. A Supreme Court case being argued Tuesday threatens to diminish Latinos’ clout and benefit white, rural voters. Two voters in Texas are asking the court to order a drastic change in the way Texas and every other state divides their electoral districts. Rather than basing the maps on total population, including non-citizens and children who aren’t old enough to vote, states must count only people who are eligible to vote, the challengers say. They argue that change is needed to carry out the true meaning of the principle of one person, one vote. They claim that taking account of total population can lead to vast differences in the number of voters in particular districts, along with corresponding differences in the power of those voters. A court ruling in their favor would shift more power to rural areas and away from urban districts in which there are large immigrant populations that are ineligible to vote because they are too young or not citizens.

Alabama: U.S. Attorney reviewing voting rights lawsuit filed against Alabama | AL.com

The top federal prosecutor in North Alabama says she is reviewing a lawsuit filed Wednesday by groups challenging Alabama’s law requiring people to present photo identification before they can vote. “We received a copy of the lawsuit … We are certainly reading the lawsuit with great interest,” said U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance. But Vance said it was “too speculative” at this point on whether the U.S. Department of Justice would get involved in the issue. But, she added, “we are acutely concerned with protecting the right to vote.”

Arizona: High court set to hear redistricting case | Yuma Sun

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday about why legislative districts in Arizona have unequal population — and whether that matters legally. Republican interests as well as two state GOP officials want the justices to conclude that the Independent Redistricting Commission acted illegally when it drew the lines in 2011 for all of the elections for this decade. They point out that some of the 30 districts have more residents than others. That point is not in dispute. Even the commission’s attorneys concede that there is an 8.8 percent difference in population between the largest and smallest. What the high court will consider is the question of whether the move was justified.

Florida: House plan to streamline election dates in Florida counties raises concerns | Florida Times-Union

A proposal introduced in the Florida House intended to increase turnout in municipal elections could lead to substantial changes in when Jacksonville, Baldwin and Beaches voters go to the polls. Rep. Matt Caldwell said he introduced the elections proposal out of concern that too many city officials are being elected by just a small fraction of voters. Caldwell is chairman of State Affairs Committee, which voted Thursday to back the plan requiring municipalities in the same county to hold elections on the same day and preferably in November. Most people know that state and federal elections are held the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, Caldwell said. “I guarantee you nine out of 10 people are going to say I have no idea” when their municipalities hold elections, he said. He added that statistics bear that out with voter turnout in many city elections hovering around 10-15 percent.

Michigan: Clerks, voters rip plan to end straight-ticket voting | Detroit Free Press

Clerks, advocates for seniors and the disabled, and regular citizens heaped criticism Thursday on a Republican proposal to end straight-party voting in Michigan. The House Elections Committee took about an hour 90 minutes of testimony, but adjourned Thursday evening without voting on Senate Bill 13. State Rep. Lisa Lyons, R-Alto, the committee chairwoman, said the committee would continue to take a look at the bills and hopes to move the straight ticket bill along with one that would approve no reason absentee voting. The committee heard testimony Thursday that was overwhelmingly opposed to the change as one that would cause longer lines to vote and that would especially disadvantage black voters. Only East Lansing election lawyer Eric Doster testified in support of the bill, saying it would be beneficial for democracy.

Wisconsin: Dane County Board, Madison City Council call on UW to make student ID cards voter friendly | The Cap Times

Jenna Roberg is from Minnesota, but the UW-Madison graduate student in social work has come to care a lot about her adopted community, she says. And that means she wants to vote here. As Roberg sees it, voting where she is living and attending school is part and parcel with the university’s vaunted Wisconsin Idea — taking the knowledge of the university beyond campus and into the community. That’s why Roberg, a member of the Student Vote Coalition, is among UW-Madison students who will speak Thursday in support of a Dane County Board resolution calling on UW-Madison to alter student identification cards to put them in compliance with state Voter ID laws. “It’s the right thing to do to make voting as easy and accessible as possible,” Roberg said. “The administration should do everything in its power to support students to have access to voting.”

Croatia: As parliament fails to elect speaker, Croatia moves closer to new election | Reuters

Croatia moved closer to holding a new election on Thursday when parliament convened for the first time after an inconclusive vote on Nov. 8 and its speaker-elect turned down the job after failing to win cross-party support. President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic held an unsuccessful first round of talks last week on forming a coalition cabinet as the minority party that holds the balance of power could not decide which party to back. She set the next round for Dec. 7. The opposition conservative HDZ party won 59 seats in the 151-seat parliament, three seats more than the incumbent Social Democrats-led centre-left coalition. Reformist newcomers “Most”, Croatian for “bridge”, has 19 seats. Whoever wins the support of at least 76 deputies will become prime-minister designate.

Denmark: Eurosceptics say ‘no thanks’ to EU justice rules | AFP

Eurosceptic EU member Denmark voted in a referendum on Thursday to reject a government proposal to adopt the bloc’s justice rules, amid concerns over handing more power to Brussels. The ‘No’ side received 53.1 percent of votes, while the ‘Yes’ camp garnered 46.9 percent, final results showed. Voter turnout stood at 72 percent. “It is a clear no… I have full respect for the Danes’ decision,” Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said at a press conference. The ‘No’ side was led by the eurosceptic, anti-immigration Danish People’s Party (DPP), which argued that dropping the country’s exemptions on EU justice rules—which it negotiated with Brussels in 1993 as a condition for accepting the Maastricht Treaty—would hand too much power to Brussels and could result in more immigration.

Ecuador: Lawmakers Vote to End Presidential Term Limit | Associated Press

The National Assembly passed a constitutional amendment Thursday to lift Ecuador’s presidential term limits as violent street protests escalated against what many demonstrators deemed a power grab by President Rafael Correa. Part of a package of amendments, the measure will permit the leftist Correa to run for the office indefinitely beginning in 2021. His current term ends in 2017 and he has said he does not intend to run at that time. Analysts have called Correa’s decision a shrewd political move considering Ecuador’s current economic woes.

Seychelles: Voting starts in Seychelles presidential poll | AFP

The Seychelles began voting in a presidential election Thursday, with remote islanders the first to cast ballots in a race that sees incumbent James Michel facing a serious challenge for the first time after two terms in office. Voters on the tiny far-flung rocky island of D’Arros, some 255 kilometres (160 miles) southwest of the main island Mahe, were among the first to vote in the three-day poll, election officials said. The tourism-dependent Indian Ocean archipelago, a former British colony, is made up of 115 islands, some as many as 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) from Mahe. “We have received confirmation that D’Arros has finished voting, and the plane is returning back to Mahe,” said Charles Morin, the chief electoral officer.

Venezuela: Long mighty, ‘Chavismo’ at risk in Venezuela’s election | Reuters

Polarized Venezuela heads to the polls this weekend with a punishing recession forecast to rock the ruling Socialists and propel an optimistic opposition to its first legislative majority in 16 years. Founded by the late Hugo Chavez, the Socialists’ long mighty “Chavismo” movement is facing public ire over shortages of goods from medicines to milk and the world’s worst inflation under his successor, President Nicolas Maduro. Defeat for “Chavismo” at Sunday’s vote would give the opposition a major platform to combat Maduro and deal a further blow to Latin America’s left after Argentina swung to the right in last month’s presidential election won by Mauricio Macri. If the opposition coalition wins a majority in Venezuela’s 167-seat National Assembly, it hopes to reduce the Socialists’ hegemony and tackle what it deems mismanagement, corruption and authoritarianism during their nearly 17-year rule.

Editorials: Alabama’s Controversial Voter-ID Law Is Challenged In Court | Ari Berman/The Nation

Yesterday marked the 60th anniversary of the Montgomery bus boycott, launched when Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of a segregated bus. Ten years before her historic act of civil disobedience, Parks tried to register to vote. She was denied three times and had to pass a literacy test and pay a poll tax before finally registering. Ten years after the bus boycott, Parks helped lead the historic march from Selma to Montgomery and attended the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The VRA had a dramatic impact in Alabama, increasing the number of black registered voters from 23 percent in 1965 to 69 percent by 2012. But in recent years the state has been moving backward on voting rights. Alabama passed a strict voter ID law in 2010, then challenged the constitutionality of the VRA in 2013.

Hawaii: Supreme Court Temporarily Blocks Vote Limited to Native Hawaiians | Wall Street Journal

A closely divided Supreme Court on Wednesday temporarily blocked Hawaii from counting votes in an election open only to descendants of its indigenous people, who were selecting delegates to an assembly that would propose greater self-government for Native Hawaiians. Several Hawaii residents who object to the process sued to cancel the election, contending the state has applied an unconstitutional racial test for voting, among other claims. The state argued the election wasn’t an official act at all, because a private nonprofit, Na’i Aupuni, formally is conducting it with grant funds provided by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Lower courts wouldn’t halt the election while the lawsuit proceeds, but the Supreme Court saw the matter differently. The high court forbade the counting of ballots or certification of winners until a “final disposition of the appeal” by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in San Francisco.

Maryland: Hogan questions reliability of new voting system | Associated Press

Gov. Larry Hogan said Wednesday that he is concerned about Maryland’s new voting system “collapsing” next year due to problems found during testing, but the state’s elections administrator said she was confident in the system, which will have paper ballots as a backup. The voting system came up unexpectedly at a Board of Public Works meeting, when Treasurer Nancy Kopp, a Democrat and one of three board members, asked how the state will manage voter education and outreach after a nearly $1 million contract was rejected by the board several months ago. Hogan, also a board member, said he was more concerned about the condition of the overall voting system, rather than what he described as a public relations campaign. … Linda Lamone, the state elections administrator, said some problems were found during testing, and elections officials are working to correct them. Lamone said officials haven’t verified exactly why there was a problem registering about 3,000 votes in Howard County. She said it appears a memory stick that was taken out of a voting unit and put into another device wasn’t recognized when returned to the system, because it apparently sensed there had been tampering.

Michigan: House to take up absentee, straight-party voting today | Detroit Free Press

The House is poised to take up legislation that will make it easier to vote by absentee ballot, but eliminate straight-party ticket voting at the same time. Republicans in the Senate have already passed the elimination of straight-ticket voting, which Democrats believe is a partisan ploy to skew elections toward the GOP. The House Elections Committee will take up the legislation today after it voted Wednesday to pass a bill that would allow people to get an absentee ballot without providing a reason for needing to vote on a day other than Election Day. State Rep. Lisa Lyons, R-Alto, said she’d like to see the two bills passed together to ensure smooth and efficient elections.

New Mexico: Tenth Circuit Overturns Sanctions in Voting Rights Case | National Law Journal

Plaintiffs lawyers who brought a challenge to a political redistricting plan in Albuquerque were wrongly ordered to pay $48,217.95 in attorney fees as a sanction for dragging out the litigation, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit found that U.S. District Judge William Johnson of New Mexico abused his discretion in calculating the amount of the sanction against the lawyers based on the date they received a damaging expert report from the city. The plaintiffs did not dismiss their case after receiving the report.

North Carolina: Confusion at polls feared as new voter ID law takes effect | Mountain Xpress

With a primary election less than four months away, North Carolina officials are scrambling to get ready for a controversial state law requiring photo IDs at the polls, even as a lawsuit challenging its constitutionality remains unresolved. Voting rights advocates fear the changes in how the state’s elections are conducted will create confusion among voters and suppress turnout. The ID requirement, which state lawmakers watered down this past summer, is just one of a number of revisions voters will have to contend with. “If you haven’t voted since the last presidential election, you’re going to be in for a shock when you go in, because you’re not going to know what to expect,” says Sarah Zambon, an attorney who serves on the board of the League of Women Voters of Asheville-Buncombe County. “There’s a lot of misinformation about voter ID, which has an intimidation effect on voters, especially going into a presidential election without enough education around this topic. There’s a lot of confusion about what counts and what doesn’t count.”

Wisconsin: Walker yet to sign GAB overhaul bill | Wisconsin Watchdog

More than two weeks after the Assembly finalized passage of a bill that would dismantle the state’s rogue political speech regulator, Gov. Scott Walker has yet to sign the legislation into law. And it’s not clear when he will do so. “I don’t have an update beyond what I have previously provided, which is that he will review this legislation and supports overall reform of the Government Accountability Board to provide a replacement that is fair, transparent, and accountable to Wisconsinites,” Walker press secretary Laurel Patrick told Wisconsin Watchdog in an email Monday. The Republican-led Assembly on Nov. 16, in “extraordinary session” and on a party-line vote, passed the bill, ending what state Rep. Dean Knudson has described as Wisconsin’s “failed experiment.”

Central African Republic: CAR ‘not safe enough’ for free and fair election | Al Jazeera

The Central African Republic will not be safe enough to host a free and fair election at the end of this month, a leading African think-tank has said. David Zounmenou, a senior researcher at the Institute of Security Studies, told Al Jazeera that authorities are neither prepared to provide security nor able to guarantee all eligible voters would be represented on the voters’ roll. “There is no way disarmament of the militia groups would be complete by December 27, and by all indications, I think elections will take place in March 2016,” Zounmenou, of the institute’s African Security Analysis Programme, said. “Some external partners, like France, are pushing for the elections to take place, to get the country out of this stage and get the issue out of the way, but I believe this transitional government will be here for a while.”

Denmark: Referendum becomes clarion call for eurosceptics | Financial Times

Denmark’s seventh referendum on EU integration offers Brussels and Britain another political lesson on the challenges of selling a pro-European message to wary voters. While its political leaders have a broadly pro-EU in outlook and temperament, over the past quarter century the Danes proved doughty defenders of national sovereignty, voting against joining the euro in 2000 and rejecting the Maastrict treaty in 1992. Thursday’s referendum is in theory about whether Denmark should swap its opt-out on EU justice and home affairs matters for an opt-in, affecting issues such as cross-border policing. But the plebiscite has become a clarion call for eurosceptics keen on fighting against the power of Brussels. The vote, which polls put on a knife edge, will be closely watched across the EU and especially in the UK, which is preparing for its own EU referendum.

Egypt: Election wrapped up for pro-Sisi parliament | AFP

Egypt wrapped up Wednesday a legislative election that spanned over six weeks but failed to mobilise a high turnout for a parliament expected to firmly back President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s iron-fisted policies. The election was marred by apathy in the absence of any opposition after Sisi crushed all forms of dissent since ousting his Islamist predecessor Mohamed Morsi in July 2013. Polling in a run-off for the second phase of voting in 13 of the country’s 27 provinces closed at 9:00 pm (0700 GMT), bringing an end to a weeks-long marathon electoral process.

Seychelles: Presidential race starts, economy in focus | Reuters

The Seychelles began three days of voting on Thursday in a presidential election in which the incumbent’s bid for a third term has been challenged by a rival who says economic growth on the Indian Ocean archipelago has favoured the rich. The nation of 115 islands and 93,000 people relies on tourism but also has expanding fisheries and financial services industries. The economy is forecast to expand by more than 4 percent in 2015, according to the International Monetary Fund. “People, especially the thriving business community, appreciate the big turnaround in our national economy,” incumbent James Michel, 71, told the Nation newspaper this week in an interview published on its website.

Venezuela: President hints he will not accept defeat in mid-term election | Irish Times

Venezuela’s president has hinted that he will not accept the result of crucial mid-term elections being held on Sunday should his Chavista movement loses its majority in congress. Speaking to candidates from his ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela, or PSUV, Nicolás Maduro warned: “I know we are going to triumph. But if something negative comes to pass I will go to the street to fight with the people, as I have always done, and the revolution will enter another stage.” Venezuela’s government has been using increasingly inflammatory rhetoric as the vote approaches in response to opinion polls showing that for the first time since former president Hugo Chávez came to power 17 years ago, his populist left-wing movement is set to lose control over the 167-seat national assembly.

National: Campaign Finance Riders Face Fight in Year-End Spending Bill | Roll Call

Progressive and political money groups say they will intensify their lobbying in the coming days to prevent four campaign finance measures from hitching a ride on a year-end spending deal. With a deadline to reach agreement on government-wide funding less than two weeks away, the effort will be no easy pitch. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., authored one of the measures, which would relax limits on coordination between political parties and candidates. “They’re swimming upstream every step of the way,” said Costas Panagopoulos, a Fordham University professor who specializes in campaign and election issues. “Legislators are going to be hard-pressed to vote against an appropriation bill that’s otherwise appealing to them on the basis of some of these riders.”

Editorials: Next Chance To Gut Campaign Finance Law Heads For Supreme Court | Paul Blumenthal/Huffington Post

The next domino in the effort to erase campaign finance restrictions has just been pushed. A case attacking the McCain-Feingold reform law’s ban on unlimited contributions to political parties has been set on a path that almost certainly ends at the Supreme Court. With the help of Citizens United lawyer Jim Bopp, the Republican Party of Louisiana and the Jefferson Parish and Orleans Parish Republican Party sued to allow state and local parties to raise enormous sums under looser state laws and then spend them on federal elections. That practice is currently banned by restrictions on the use of “soft money” — unlimited contributions to political parties that pay for so-called party-building activities, as opposed to supporting specific candidates. The ban came after Senate investigations found that both parties had abused their soft money accounts to evade campaign contribution limits. Money meant for party-building activities was spent on ads promoting candidates. The Senate’s investigations also found that soft money donors were provided increased access and influence in policy making.

Colorado: Shooting suspect’s voter ID mislabeled | The Pueblo Chieftain

An El Paso County clerical error was apparently to blame for Planned Parenthood shooting suspect Robert Lewis Dear Jr. being listed as a woman on his voter registration card — a detail that fueled national speculation over his gender identity. Ryan Parsell, El Paso County’s chief deputy clerk and recorder, said his office incorrectly recorded Dear’s gender in October 2014, leading to the issuance of both a driver’s license and voter’s registration card erroneously identifying him as a woman. “The Clerk and Recorder’s Office processes over 500,000 transactions a year,” Parsell said. “Mistakes are going to be made, and it is a reminder to us of the important job that we do to see that a mistake made by us has had national implications.” What Parsell described as a data entry error occurred after the 57-year-old Dear moved to tiny Hartsel in Park County, which doesn’t have a driver’s license office.

Florida: Court Begins Working Through Redistricting Issues | CBS Miami