Ohio: Rob Portman says Voting Rights Act should get congressional review | Cleveland Plain Dealer

U.S. Sen. Rob Portman said today that Congress should review the entire Voting Rights Act to evaluate how it is working. But he added that he doesn’t know if parts of it need to be strengthened. This comes after the Ohio Republican was criticized by Democrats for demurring last weekend on whether he supports a House bill to deal with a key section of the act that the Supreme Court struck down in 2013. Portman was asked about new legislation, which civil rights leaders say is necessary, while he was in Selma, Alabama, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the civil rights struggle that helped pass the act. His answer upset some liberal groups and Democrats. He said in Selma, “I haven’t looked at it. Is there a Senate version?”

Editorials: Restoring right to vote would help felons reintegrate | Knowville News Sentinel

The 50th anniversary of the “Bloody Sunday” march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, and a re-enactment in Knoxville on Sunday did more than honor a noteworthy event. Both ceremonies emphasized what the right to vote means to many Americans and what it should mean to all. The event in Selma helped gain passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and now is a vital part of this nation’s legacy. Voting is a right mentioned several times in the Constitution and subsequent amendments; it is more than a privilege. Significantly, no one participating in the observances in Selma or in Knoxville last week believed that the 1965 legislation or its remembrance marked the end of the quest. Pernicious state laws requiring photo identification to vote and Supreme Court decisions weakening the 1965 law open the way to expand discrimination.

Texas: Bill could allow online voter registration | Tyler Morning Telegraph

Registering to vote could soon be as easy as logging onto a website and filling out an online form. The Legislature is currently considering a set of bills that would make Texas the 15th state to allow online registration access, said Smith County Elections Administrator Karen Nelson. Supporters of online voting registration said it would make it more convenient — just as Texas drivers can now renew their licenses online. Opponents said there’s a big risk of voter fraud. Fourteen states already utilize online voter registration, and there are five proposed bills to allow for it in Texas: House Bills 444, 446, 76 and 953 as well as Senate Bill 385. All of the bills are in committee.

Israel: Arab parties unite into potent force | Telegraph

As an Arab living in Israel, Ayman Odeh never had the brightest of political futures. His fellow Arab politicians, divided among four parties with radically different ideologies, have always squabbled too much to be counted as a real force. But now Mr Odeh could be on the verge of a major breakthrough, as the top candidate on a united list for all the Arab parties for next Tuesday’s general election. The list, which could give Israel’s Arab population unprecedented political clout, was born of necessity after Right-wingers in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, raised the threshold for representation from two to 3.25 per cent, thus threatening small Arab parties with electoral oblivion.

Voting Blogs: A perfect storm: Boko Haram, IS and the Nigerian election | openDemocracy

The news that Boko Haram has pledged allegiance to Islamic State (IS) makes for sombre reading. The conflict raging in west Africa has taken thousands of lives, destroyed homes and destabilised a fragile region. The human cost is a tragedy and the political ramifications alarming. Nigeria’s presidential election, already postponed, is close to being unhinged as the conflict with Boko Haram becomes a focal point of the campaign. Indeed, should it go ahead? If the election were to be deferred again, it would not guarantee against a scenario of riots, authoritarian twists and political manoeuvring. A second postponement would send out two signals: that Nigeria is not ready for democracy in action and that it is weakening in the face of Boko Haram’s assault.

Sudan: Electoral body rejects complaints over NCP’s use of state resources for presidential campaign | Sudan Tribune

The National Election Commission (NEC) in Sudan has brushed aside complaints by independent presidential candidates on the use of aircraft and cars by senior officials from the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) in the electoral campaign of president Omer Hassan al-Bashir. The electoral body explained to representatives of those disgruntled candidates that these activities are in line with NCP resources at their disposal and vehemently denied being biased in favor of certain candidates.

Guam: 50 years after Selma, Guam and territories denied voting rights | Pacific Daily News

This month marks the 50th anniversary of the “Bloody Sunday” marches in Selma, Alabama, a time that fundamentally transformed the fight for civil rights in America. On Sunday, March 7, 1965, hundreds of extraordinary people were brutally attacked by Alabama state troopers as they marched from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, to protest racial discrimination in voting. The events of “Bloody Sunday,” as it became known, led Congress to enact the Voting Rights Act of 1965 — one of the greatest pieces of civil rights legislation ever passed. But Selma’s promise remains unfulfilled for all Americans. U.S. citizens in Guam and the other territories still can’t vote for president. We have no representative in the Senate. Our representative in the house can’t vote.

Iowa: Controversial Iowa voter rules will not take effect | Des Moines Register

Voter registration rules enacted by former Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz that critics said threatened to disenfranchise eligible voters will not take effect, after a long-running lawsuit was resolved on Friday. The Secretary of State’s Office — now held by Paul Pate — voluntarily dismissed an appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court that was initiated by Schultz last year following a loss at the district-court level. “This is an important victory for the protection of voters’ rights in Iowa,” American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa Legal Director Rita Bettis said in a statement. “It means that Iowans will not have to worry about the voter purges we’ve seen take effect in other states with a disastrous impact, especially for new U.S. citizens and Latinos.” By declining to continue the appeal, the state has effectively concluded the lawsuit and allowed the lower-court ruling to stand. That means the rules will never take effect.

North Dakota: House defeats student ID bill intended to make voting easier | Grand Forks Herald

The North Dakota House defeated a bill Wednesday that would have required the state’s colleges and universities to provide student identification cards that could be used to vote. Senate Bill 2330, sponsored by Sen. Ray Holmberg, R-Grand Forks, would have required photo identification cards provided by the universities to include the student’s residential address and birth date. The bill failed 28-63 after sailing through the Senate 46-0 last month. The presidents of North Dakota State University and Dickinson State University opposed the bill in a committee hearing in early March, arguing that it would put students at risk because the IDs are used as keycards for residence halls and students tend to lose them.

Utah: Last year’s ‘Count My Vote’ deal survives many attacks | The Salt Lake Tribune

Legislators, at least most of them, decided this year that a deal is a deal. Despite numerous attempts to overturn it, lawmakers stood by last year’s deal to reform how political parties choose their nominees. They killed five bills to overturn, rework or delay a compromise that last year led backers of the Count My Vote ballot initiative to discard more than 100,000 petition signatures they had gathered to create a direct primary. The compromise, called SB54, allows candidates to qualify for a primary either by gathering enough signatures (similar to a direct primary), or through the old caucus-convention system. It also allows unaffiliated voters to vote in party primaries, which the Utah GOP previously banned in its primary.

Australia: NSW’s online gamble: why internet and phone voting is too risky | The Conversation

Up to 250,000 votes are expected to be cast using the iVote electronic voting system between March 16 and the close of polls on March 28 in the New South Wales election. That would represent a massive increase on the 46,864 votes at the 2011 state election and could mean about 5% of the total vote is cast electronically, using a telephone or via the internet. It looks set to be by far the biggest test of electronic voting in Australia, which has largely been limited to small trials in the past, and one of the largest online votes worldwide. If the NSW election proves to be close, those electronic votes could prove crucial. But before electronic voting begins on Monday, people in NSW should be warned: there are many unanswered questions about the integrity and privacy of those votes. Late last year, the federal Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters recommended against electronic voting in federal elections. Its report concluded that:

Australia is not in a position to introduce any large-scale system of electronic voting in the near future without catastrophically compromising our electoral integrity.

National: Why Internet voting remains a risky proposition | FCW

Voting in public elections via the Internet could be a national security risk, according to a researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Center for Applied Scientific Computing. In a presentation titled “Intractable Security Risks of Internet Voting,” computer scientist David Jefferson said the risks of electronic ballots cast via the Web far outweigh the conveniences such systems can offer. He presented his conclusions at a recent LLNL Computation Seminar Series, though his efforts in that area are independent of his work at the lab. In addition to his research into high-performance computing applications at LLNL, he serves on a number of state and federal government panels that focus on election security issues, especially those related to electronic and Internet-based voting, and is on the board of directors of the California Voter Foundation.

National: Selma’s Senator Not Really Sure What’s Going On With That Voting Rights Stuff | Huffington Post

It was just last weekend that people flooded into Selma, Alabama, to mark the 50th anniversary of the historic civil rights marches there — marches that led to the Voting Rights Act. Dozens of lawmakers made the trek, including Democrats who have been desperately seeking Republicans to help them pass legislation to restore the landmark 1965 law. The Supreme Court in July 2013 struck down a key provision that determined which states and localities with a history of suppressing minority voters had to get permission from the Justice Department to change their voting laws. The court ruled 5-4 that the section of the law was outdated, and left it to Congress to come up with a new formula for designating which regions of the country warrant special scrutiny. Lawmakers have put forward a bill that offers a solution: It would update the formula to make it apply to states and jurisdictions with voting violations in the past 15 years. But supporters have had a hard time getting Republicans to sign on, which prevented the measure from moving in the last Congress. This year, the House bill has a handful of GOP co-sponsors; the forthcoming Senate bill has none.

National: Sen. Tim Scott Calls For Updating Voting Rights Act, But Opposes Bill That Would Do It | Huffington Post

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) won’t support legislation to restore the 1965 Voting Rights Act. But on Sunday, he called for updating the landmark law in a way that sounds awfully similar to the legislation he opposes. In an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Scott was asked if he supports a bill that would restore a key portion of the law that the Supreme Court struck down in June 2013. That provision, Section 4, determined which states and localities with a history of suppressing minority voters had to get permission from the Justice Department to change their voting laws. In a 5-4 ruling, the court said that section was outdated, and left it up to Congress to come up with a new formula for designating which regions of the country warrant special scrutiny. Lawmakers have put forward a bill that offers a solution: It would update the formula to make it apply to states and jurisdictions with voting violations in the past 15 years. But supporters have had a hard time getting Republicans to sign on, which has prevented the measure from moving forward. The House bill has just a handful of GOP co-sponsors; the forthcoming Senate bill has none.

Voting Blogs: Let them vote: Move is on to allow more 16- and 17-year olds vote in local elections | electionlineWeekly

Not too many folks can say they were “the first” in their industry to do something, but Jessie Carpenter, clerk for Takoma Park, Maryland can wear that label with pride. In 2013, the City of Takoma Park — a Washington, D.C. suburb — gave 16- and 17-year olds the right to vote in local elections and Carpenter was there to conduct the first election. Since then, Takoma Park has been joined by Hyattsville, Maryland in allowing 16- and 17-year olds to vote, and legislators in San Francisco, Lowell, Massachusetts and the state of Missouri are also considering lowering the voting age. Back in Takoma Park, Carpenter said the transition was pretty seamless.

Alabama: House committee tables voter registration bill | Montgomery Advertiser

A House commitee Wednesday morning tabled a bill that would have pushed back the deadline to register and vote in an election from 14 days prior to the election to 30 days. The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Jack Williams, R-Vestavia Hills, would also have moved out the maximum distance a candidate can campaign outside a polling place from 30 feet to 150 feet. Williams said afterward he believed the committee move effectively killed the legislation for the session.

Arkansas: Benton County officials eye new voting machines | Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette

Benton County’s election commissioners favor staying with the company that now provides electronic voting machines to the state, saying it appears best suited to meet the county’s needs. Arkansas is looking at replacing voting machines and systems now in use as they approach the end of their 10-year life span. The state uses voting machines and equipment from Election Systems & Software, one of three companies vying for Arkansas’ business. A measure to appropriate $30 million for new voting equipment is pending in the state Legislature. Counties could receive new equipment this summer if funding is approved, said Kim Dennison, the county’s election coordinator. The commissioners have attended demonstrations of new voting systems by ES&S and by Unisyn Voting Solutions. A presentation by Hart Intercivic, the third company, is set for 9 a.m. today at the Washington County Courthouse in Fayetteville.

Delaware: Legislation to expand absentee voting ignites fierce partisan battle | Delaware Newszap

Currently, Delawareans hoping to file an absentee ballot must fit into one of several categories. Those with disabilities can vote remotely, as can those in the military or on vacation. But limitations exist — and according to some individuals and organizations, that is done deliberately. The Delaware Constitution does not allow for individuals outside a select group of categories to vote by absentee ballot. Rep. Earl Jaques, D-Glasgow, believes not only does this bar some citizens from doing their civic duty, it also has the unintended consequence of increasing numbers of people making up reasons.

Florida: State attorney investigation into absentee ballots | WPTV

The Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office says they are investigating absentee ballots sent to people in Loxahatchee Groves who say they didn’t request them. “When they showed up I didn’t really think much of it. A computer glitch. Government being silly. Something along those lines,” resident Bill Ford said. But on Saturday after receiving the absentee ballots, Ford says candidate Ryan Liang’s mother and another person showed up to his home. “They told me basically they had requested absentee ballots on behalf of people because they wanted to make sure everyone got an opportunity to vote,” Ford said.

Iowa: Senate likely to take up absentee voting change | Quad City Times

Although it was approved on a largely party-line vote in the GOP-controlled House, a bill changing the deadline for Iowa voters to return their absentee ballots likely will be taken up by the Democratic-controlled Senate. House Democrats were unanimous in opposing House File 506, arguing it that will disenfranchise voters who wait until the end of the 40-day voting period to mail in their ballots. “It’s a sad day in Iowa,” said Rep. Bruce Hunter, D-Des Moines, who said if the law had been in effect in 2014, more than 3,000 votes would not have been counted. “Voters who did what was right. They voted. They did their patriotic duty … and we’re going to tell them their vote doesn’t count.” The final vote was 56-41, with one Republican voting “no.”

North Carolina: Forsyth County officials get look at elections equipment | Winston-Salem Journal

Forsyth County election officials got a close-up look Wednesday at elections equipment that they are interested in buying. Representatives from Printelect, a supplier of Election Systems & Software equipment, set up equipment for demonstrations at the county government center. Mac Beeson, regional sales manager for ES&S, demonstrated how the equipment works. Steve Hines, Forsyth County’s elections director, put in a budget request this year for about $1.4 million to replace the county’s voting equipment, which is about 10 years old. County commissioners will decide this spring whether to approve the request. Elections administrators from several other counties in the region also stopped by to see the demonstrations on Wednesday.

Wisconsin: Battle Over Voter Photo ID Law Could Soon Reach an End | WUWM

Legal challenges to Wisconsin’s voter photo identification law have been underway for four years. Next week, the U.S. Supreme Court might decide whether to rule on the law’s constitutionality. Justices blocked the photo ID law last fall – just weeks before the November election. Now, some organizers wonder if the justices could do an about-face, with only weeks left before next month’s election. “As has often occurred in the past, we find ourselves sort of in this moment of uncertainty – both voters and election administrators,” says Neil Albrecht, the City of Milwaukee’s election commissioner. Like others, he has prepared materials to inform people about the law. Then he put them away, pulled them out, and last fall put them back in storage, as courts changed the status of Wisconsin’s law.

Canada: Ontario urged to hold next election on a weekend | Toronto Star

Ontario’s chief elections officer is urging Premier Kathleen Wynne’s government to change the law requiring a provincial election every fourth year on the first Thursday in October. Greg Essensa said in a new report that a Saturday, Sunday or school holiday in June could make it easier for citizens to cast ballots and to put polling stations in schools. “Other democracies, such as Australia, hold elections on weekends and their experience suggests that, should Ontario follow suit, voter turnout may increase,” he wrote in a new report issued Tuesday, noting just over half of eligible voters — 52.1 per cent — cast ballots in the last general election. Essensa says such a move would cut down on voter burnout as well by eliminating campaign overlap with municipal elections held in late October and make life easier in farm communities, where October is harvest time.

Israel: What happens to my vote? – Israeli Elections 101 | TLV!

Israel is getting ready for the big day: On March 17th, citizen residents in Israel will vote for the 20th Knesset since the country’s founding. Then, the politicians we see every night on TV will go head to head for 120 Knesset seats. … Each citizen has one vote. Unlike other democracies, this vote is not given to a candidate, but to a list. And this list is either a political party or a union of parties, such as for example the Zionist camp that unified Zipi Livni’s HaTnua and Avoda, the Labour Party. … Anyone with Israeli citizenship and over the age of 18 is eligible to vote: So that’s Arabs, Druze, Christians and Jews alike. People in prison or who currently do their army service are also eligible to vote. However, this does exclude most of the inhabitants of East Jerusalem who only have a permanent residency and not an Israeli ID. This is due to the difficult status of East Jerusalem. Israeli citizens can’t vote from abroad. You just have to ensure you’re in Israel on election day. That is, apart from diplomats and Israeli embassy staff based abroad. These people vote at the earlier date of March 5th to ensure their votes arrive in Israel to be counted on election day. It is debatable, but many parties and politicians think that you need to live in Israel to influence its future because it is much too easy to sit thousands of miles away and make a decision that probably won’t influence your life.

Nigeria: Protest rocks INEC over planned use of card readers | Nigerian Tribune

Protesting youths, under the umbrella of “Middle Belt Concerned Youths” on Wednesday, stormed the national headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Abuja, protesting the use of permanent voter cards (PVCs) and the card readers for the elections. This was just as they also called on the Federal Government to sack the INEC chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega with immediate effect. However, the youth, who arrived the Maitama headquarters of INEC in hired luxury buses around 8.00 a.m. were prevented by armed policemen and other security agents, who cordoned the INEC office. The youths, armed with various placards, were received by an Assistant Director in charge of security, Victor Egbo, on behalf of the commission. He received their protest letter with a promise to deliver same to the commission’s chairman.

Philippines: Poll watchdog: Smartmatic will ensure administration bet’s victory in 2016 | Business Mirror

Election watchdog Citizens for Clean and Credible Election (C3E) on Tuesday accused proadministration legislators of paving the way for the victory of President Aquino’s presidential candidate in 2016, by ensuring that Smartmatic-Total Information Management will remain as the country’s sole provider of automated voting machines for next year’s elections. C3E co-convener Nicanor Elman said this could be the main reason key leaders of the proadministration House of Representatives “are suspiciously turning a blind eye on the frailties” of the Venezuelan company’s Precinct Count Optical Scan machines used in the past national and local polls. “What we are trying to understand is, why some leaders of Congress had apparently turned defenders and apologists for Smartmatic,” Elman said in a statement. “If ever the elections push through, the Smartmatic cheating machine seems part of the grand equation for the administration,” he added.

Connecticut: City Council closer to ousting Hartford’s Registrar of Voters | KPAX

Last year’s Election Day in Connecticut made national headlines, and now, months later, Hartford is getting one step closer to getting rid of its registrars of voters. Some of the polling places didn’t have a moderator, and other locations didn’t receive their printed voter lists on time. Hartford’s City Council members said they can’t sit around and let the registrars of voters, who were in charge, get away with it. On Monday night, the council approved a resolution, in an 8-1 vote, that charges the three registrars of voters with failing to do their jobs on Election Day. The resolution also proposes to remove them from office.

Editorials: Iowa shows a better way on redistricting | Omaha World-Herald

Every 10 years, Iowa does something impressive. It redraws its political maps using a system that avoids the partisan scrambling and rancor that inevitably erupt in Nebraska at redistricting time. Iowa’s general approach, in use since 1981, is one that Nebraska should give serious consideration as lawmakers look at how they draw lines. Under the Iowa system, the legislature’s nonpartisan staff use general, legislative-directed parameters to draw redistricting maps that then go before the state’s lawmakers for approval. The response from Iowa’s elected leaders has been quite positive, regardless of party. The votes in 2011 were striking. The Iowa House, in a display of bipartisan consensus, approved the new maps 90-7. The Iowa Senate said “yes” with a vote of 48-1. The maps received a thumb’s up from Gov. Terry Branstad, a Republican, who praised them for encouraging a healthy competitiveness between the two parties.

Massachusetts: Galvin: Presidential Primary is unaffordable under Baker budget | WWLP

Massachusetts cannot afford to have a presidential primary in 2016 under Gov. Charlie Baker’s proposed budget, the state elections chief said Tuesday. In remarks to House and Senate budget writers, Secretary of State William Galvin flayed Baker’s proposed funding for elections in a year with no White House incumbent and an expected high voter turnout. “As you all know this country is scheduled to elect a new president next year. Apparently the governor only wants 49 states to vote, he doesn’t want this one, because he has drastically underfunded the elections budget,” said Galvin, a Brighton Democrat. Galvin’s office requested $8.1 million for elections, and Baker’s budget provides $5.7 million. Because fiscal year 2016 ends in June 2016, the outlay covers the costs of a presidential primary and his office ramping up for the fall elections. “I simply cannot run a credible election with those kind of numbers,” he said.

Michigan: Electoral College-Rigging Bill Makes Comeback in Michigan | Bloomberg

Wisconsin’s passage of right-to-work legislation has infuriated the Democratic Party for more than the usual reasons. It’s not just that the law will weaken labor unions in a state where they often make the difference between victory and defeat. It’s not just that unionized workers tend to make more money than their “liberated” peers. It’s not even that Governor Scott Walker successfully snookered the electorate, and signed the legislation after insisting, many times, that it was not a priority if he won a second term. (For whatever it’s worth, Walker also said during the campaign that he would remain focused on a full Madison term, not a presidential bid.) No, what makes progressives nervous is that the Republicans who run most of the states can govern with impunity until at least 2017, and perhaps 2023. One reason Walker was in the position to sign right-to-work on Monday was that the GOP’s 2010 Wisconsin sweep allowed its legislators to draw district lines that made it prohibitively hard for Democrats to win.