Yearly Archives: 2015

Sydney-based Secure Logic has signed a contract to host the NSW Electoral Commission’s iVote system for the next five years. Secure Logic will provide the NSWEC with infrastructure and platform-as-a-service in a deal worth $990,000. The platform will be able to be scaled during peak election periods, according to head of sales and marketing for Secure Logic, Fergus Brooks. Spanish company Scytl was awarded the contract to provide the online voting software for iVote in May last year, after the state government announced plans to expand iVote for the 2015 election.

Nigeria: Boko Haram Massacres Civilians, Burns Down Mosque In Cameroon Days Before Nigeria Presidential Election | International Business Times

Members of the Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram massacred civilians and burned a mosque in the Cameroonian town of Fotokol Wednesday, residents said. The assault came hours after neighboring Chad sent troops who allegedly killed more than 200 Boko Haram fighters in the Nigerian town of Gamboru, located just 500 yards from Fotokol. Boko Haram extremists who escaped the fighting in Gamboru crossed over to Fotokol, where they targeted civilians. The fighters slit the throats of several townspeople and torched Fotokol’s primary mosque, multiple accounts said. At least 10 people were killed in the attack, according to one report. “Boko Haram inflicted so much damage here this morning. They have killed dozens of people,” Fotokol resident Umar Babakalli told Agence France-Presse in a phone interview. “They burnt houses and killed civilians as well as soldiers,” a source familiar with local security forces said.

Nigeria: Election body insists no need for vote delay | AFP

Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan held talks Thursday on postponing next week’s presidential election over mounting attacks by the radical Boko Haram group, but the election commission insisted on maintaining the date, a governor said. Jonathan held seven hours of talks with security officials, state governors, the election commission and former heads of state on whether to proceed with the vote in the face of growing bloodshed in the northeast, Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha told journalists. Among those attending the meeting of the Council of State was Jonathan’s main challenger in the election, General Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler, who led Nigeria between 1983 and 1985.

Slovakia: Conservatives seek to bar gay marriage in referendum | Reuters

Social conservatives in Slovakia aim to block gay couples from gaining more rights in a referendum on Saturday that pits the country’s mainly liberal city dwellers against those in the more traditional countryside. The campaign is part of a conservative pushback in eastern Europe against what they see as overly liberal policies spreading eastwards in the two decades since the European Union expanded to include former Communist states. More than 400,000 Slovaks, nearly 10 percent of the central European country’s electorate, have signed a petition demanding a national vote. It is a rare show of political engagement in a country where people often shun public affairs – a mere 13 percent voted in the European Parliament election last year.

United Kingdom: MP Chris Ruane examines question of compulsory voting | BBC

It could be time to consider forcing people to vote because more than 20 million do not take part in elections, a Welsh MP has said. Labour Vale of Clwyd MP Chris Ruane is a member of a Commons committee whose members were split on the question of forcing people to vote. A report published on Thursday calls for a consultation on the issue after May’s general election. The UK government said it had no plans to introduce compulsory voting. The report, by the Commons’ Political and Constitutional Reform Committee, was published to coincide with national voter registration day.

Nigeria: Presidential election postponed to March 28 | Reuters

Nigeria’s electoral commission has said it is postponing the Feb. 14 presidential election until March 28 due to security concerns, caving in to pressure from the ruling People’s Democratic Party in a move likely to enrage the opposition. Foreign powers are closely observing how elections will be held in Africa’s biggest economy and have voiced concerns over violence in the aftermath, as was the case after the 2011 election, when 800 people died. The postponement could stoke unrest in opposition strongholds such as the commercial capital, Lagos, and Nigeria’s second city, Kano, because the opposition has been staunchly against a delay. … “The commission cannot lightly wave off the advice of the nation’s security chiefs … The risk of deploying young men and women and calling people to exercise their democratic rights in a situation where their security cannot be guaranteed is a most onerous responsibility,” Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman Attahiru Jega told reporters.

United Kingdom: Record numbers apply online for electoral registration | BBC

Some 81,015 people used Gov.uk to apply to be put on the electoral register, the Cabinet Office tweeted. Events were held across the UK to encourage online registration. Meanwhile, MPs called for to be able to register to vote on an election day itself to help address the growing deficit in democratic engagement. The Commons Political Reform Committee said such a step should be considered by 2020 to “re-energise” elections. Campaign group Bite The Ballot hoped to register 250,000 people on a single day, either through the online system or by post, by holding a series of rallies in workplaces, universities and schools. People have to be on the electoral register by 20 April to be able to vote in the general election on 7 May.

Georgia: Shortening advance voting stirs opposition | Online Athens

Shrinking Georgia’s early voting period by four days was billed Tuesday as a cost-savings measure, but at least one voter group said the economy gained wasn’t worth the price in lost convenience. Rep. Mark Hamilton, R-Cumming, introduced House Bill 194 the day before, but it became public when it was given its first “reading” in the state House and assigned to a committee for consideration. He said it will simplify the various schedules individual counties have used for when early voting is available and makes Sunday voting mandatory in every county.

Indiana: Ober bill takes on straight-ticket voting | KPCNews

Straight-ticket voting is a thing of the past, a local state legislator says, and he is carrying a bill to officially make that statement a reality. Currently, Hoosiers can vote for all the candidates from one party with the click of a single button during a general or municipal election. Rep. David Ober, R-Albion, has introduced a bill to remove that option. Ober said the change would update Indiana ballots for modern voting norms. “The way that Hoosier votes are trending is more based on individual candidates and their views rather than a party or platform,” said Ober. “This bill codifies what Hoosier voters are already doing.”

Editorials: Kris Kobach’s bill on straight-ticket voting in Kansas is not helpful | The Kansas City Star

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s voting proposals have always been about marginalizing certain citizens and smoothing the way for Republican candidates. This year’s crop of ideas, a couple of which unfortunately are moving in the Legislature, is more of the same. The House Elections Committee has recommended that the full House pass a Kobach bill to restore straight-ticket voting in Kansas. Combine that with a proposal by Gov. Sam Brownback, which Kobach supports, to move elections for local and judicial races from the spring to the fall, and you can see where this is headed. Brownback and Kobach would love nothing more than to engineer a partisan takeover of local races by creating long ballots with a tempting option at the top to simply vote the ticket.

Maryland: Governor to Push for Redistricting Reform | Associated Press

Gov. Larry Hogan said Wednesday he will form a bipartisan commission to explore reforming Maryland’s legislative redistricting process. Hogan said his goal is to give the authority of redrawing the state’s legislative districts to an independent, bipartisan commission. Currently, the shaping of legislative districts every 10 years in Maryland is largely in the hands of the governor, who submits a proposed map to the Legislature, which votes on it. Critics say Maryland has some of the most gerrymandered congressional districts in the country. Gerrymandering is the process in which state officials draw congressional districts to benefit their party. “This is not a distinction that we should be proud of,” Hogan said near the end of his first State of the State speech. Hogan said he would form a commission by executive order to explore reforms.

Montana: Committee tables electronic voter registration bill | Hungry Horse News

With a 10 to 10 vote, the House State Administration Committee tabled a bill that would have allowed electronic voter registration for qualified Montana electors. Introduced by the request of Montana Secretary of State Linda McCulloch and sponsored by Rep. Geraldine Custer, R-Forsyth, House Bill 48 would have allowed online voter registration to Montanans who possessed a valid Montana driver’s license or ID card, making it even more secure than the current paper registration form.

Nebraska: Voter ID, winner-take-all election bills advance from committee | Omaha.com

Two bills guaranteed to generate controversy advanced from committee to the full Nebraska Legislature Wednesday. Legislative Bill 111 would require most voters to show government-issued photo identification before casting a ballot. LB 10 would return Nebraska to the winner-takes-all system of awarding electoral college votes in presidential elections. Both advanced on a 7-1 vote from the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee, which is dominated by conservative Republicans.

Nevada: Republicans could take up mid-decade redistricting | The Washington Post

Republican lawmakers in Nevada this week took the first step toward solidifying their hold on a state that looks increasingly up for grabs — if those members are willing to detonate the political equivalent of a nuclear bomb in Carson City. Buried deep within the yearly package of rules that will govern how the state Assembly and Senate will operate, Republicans inserted a provision that would allow them to consider redrawing Nevada’s political boundaries. The new rules, which ordinarily govern mundane legislative procedures, such as parliamentary rules and disclosure reports, passed both chambers on party-line votes. But the threat of redrawn lines that could solidify Republican control may be less about actually implementing new maps and more about forcing Democrats to come to the negotiating table on other issues.

Oregon: Automatic voter registration bill sails through committee; Bill would add 300,000 voters to registry on day one | The Bulletin

The hallmark bill in Secretary of State Kate Brown’s legislative agenda that would automatically register eligible residents to vote is in the fast lane and appears headed quickly through the Legislature after passing out of committee Wednesday. Under Brown’s bill the state would proactively register eligible residents to vote, rather than require voters to register themselves. The move would add 300,000 voters to the state’s rolls on the first day it goes into effect and eventually register virtually every eligible voter. The proposal faced opposition from rural county clerks last session before it failed by a single vote in the Senate. The state’s clerks association is in favor of the proposal this time around, shoring up support outside most Republicans who tried and failed four times Wednesday to change or stop it.

Rhode Island: Gorbea reaching out early on absence of master lever | Cranston Herald

How do you inform people of something that won’t be on the next General Election ballot? That was the question Secretary of State Nellie M. Gorbea hoped would be answered at a meeting with elected officials and representatives from local boards of canvassers on Friday. She got some answers. While the 2016 elections seem a long way away, Gorbea said she had the meeting to comply with legislation eliminating the party master lever from the ballot. The bill, introduced by Warwick state Rep. K. Joseph Shekarchi and approved by the General Assembly last year, calls for elimination of straight party voting as of Jan. 1, 2015. The measure also calls for voter information sessions beginning within a month. State Sen. David Bates introduced the Senate version of the bill. Gorbea agreed it seemed a bit early to get started on educating the public, but then she’s complying with the law.

South Carolina: Report: Disabled voters face barriers at polls across state | The Times and Democrat

Voter registration directors throughout The T&D Region say they’re taking to heart a report released on Tuesday identifying barriers for disabled voters at South Carolina’s polls. “Unequal access for voters with disabilities continues to plague South Carolina. This is not just an issue in a few select precincts. Voters with disabilities face barriers statewide,” said Gloria Prevost, executive director of Protection & Advocacy for People with Disabilities Inc. “The state has a responsibility to uphold the fundamental right of voting access for all citizens,” she said. Last election day, P&A and volunteers completed polling place surveys at 303 polling precincts across the state during the general election. They found widespread problems.

Voting Blogs: The Voter ID Law that No One is Talking About: Why Voting Rights Activists Should Take Notice of Tennessee | State of Elections

With the Supreme Court recently issuing a flurry of orders and stays on the implementation of certain states’ voter ID laws—allowing some to be in effect for the 2014 midterms, but blocking another—there has been no shortage of attention on voting rights developments. While states, such as Texas and North Carolina, are often criticized for having some of the strictest voter ID laws in the country, little scrutiny has been placed on another state’s voter ID requirement that is arguably just as burdensome and theoretically more primed for a constitutional challenge: Tennessee. Despite receiving scant attention from the national media, a recently released study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that Tennessee’s three-year old voter ID law has deterred voter turnout, notably among younger voters. According to U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), the report proves that the state’s voter ID law unfairly suppresses Tennessee residents’ voting rights.

Vermont: Lawmakers consider changing majority rule in elections, could opt to do nothing | Associated Press

A month after state lawmakers had to elect a governor because no one got a majority in November, a key lawmaker said Wednesday that the best solution to the issue may be to do nothing. “We are more seriously looking at whether we need to have a change,” said Sen. Jeanette White, chairwoman of the Senate Government Operations Committee. “I think a number of people automatically assumed that we had to have a change, but now we’re looking at do we need to have a change.” The panel is considering proposed amendments to the Vermont Constitution, which currently says that if no one gets more than 50 percent of the vote in a general election for governor, lieutenant governor or treasurer, the election goes to the Legislature.

Virginia: Senate panel backs bill to aid older voters, defeats other proposals | Richmond Times Dispatch

In the 2015 legislative session, the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee has tried to be nice to older people. But the same might not be said for the young registered voters who attend Virginia’s private high schools, religious schools and military academies — or for people whose form of voter photo identification was issued by one of several of the state’s social services agencies. A week after advancing a bill to allow people 65 and older to vote absentee without providing an excuse — a measure that passed the full Senate on Monday — the committee on Tuesday went a step further and advanced legislation that would allow voters age 75 and older to go to the front of the line at the polls on Election Day.

West Virginia: State Senate Repeals Straight Ticket Voting | West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Senators approved a bill Tuesday that repeals straight party voting, a ballot provision that allows a voter to vote for all candidates from one party instead of considering individual races. Both Democratic and Republican Senators stood to speak on behalf of Senate Bill 249, some saying the elimination of straight ticket voting requires voters to consider each race rather than voting on a partisan basis. “I think it’s fair to say we have benefited from this over the past couple election cycles,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch Carmicahel said, referring to the Republican Party’s take over of the legislature, “but that’s not a reason to continue a process.”

Nigeria: Election Commission may push back deadline for voter ID handout: INEC | AFP

Nigeria’s election body said Wednesday that it may push back the deadline for distributing voter identity cards but denied media reports that the vote itself could be postponed. The spokesman for Independent National Election Commission (INEC), Kayode Idowu, told AFP that the body may allow voter ID cards to be handed out after the current February 8 deadline. However he described media reports about a possible election postponement as “completely false”.

United Kingdom: Facebook will ask you to vote in the general election | Wired UK

Facebook users in the UK will be reminded to register to vote tomorrow in a bid to increase turnout for the general election. The message, which could be seen by more than 35 million people, is the biggest voter registration campaign to ever take place in the UK. A prompt at the top of Facebook feeds will encourage people to register online with users also able to share the news with friends. A new “life event” on Facebook will tell other users when people have registered to vote. Similar schemes were used to encourage voters in the US and India. In the run-up to polling day Facebook will also be used to target 17-year-olds who turn 18 before the election. The Electoral Commission said the targeted advertising was part of an effort to get more young people on the electoral register.

National: White House seeks $50 million to restore civil rights sites as voting rights anniversary nears | Associated Press

The White House is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act by earmarking $50 million to restore key civil rights areas around the nation. The president’s budget includes money for the national historical trail from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, which commemorates in part the “Bloody Sunday” attack by police on civil rights demonstrators. Their march was portrayed in the Oscar-nominated film “Selma.” The attack helped boost the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which banned the use of literacy tests, added federal oversight for minority voters and allowed federal prosecutors to investigate the use of poll taxes in state and local elections.

Verified Voting Blog: Principles for New Voting Systems

Many jurisdictions will need to replace their voting systems in the next few years. Commercial voting systems currently in the marketplace are expensive to acquire and maintain and difficult to audit effectively. Elections may be verifiable in principle–if they generate a voter-verifiable paper trail that is curated well–but current systems make it hard or impractical to verify elections in practice.

Recent experience with open-source tabulation systems in risk-limiting audits in California and Colorado, and voting system projects in Los Angeles County, CA, and Travis County, TX, suggest that the US could have voting systems that are accurate, usable, verifiable, efficiently auditable, reliable, secure, modular, and transparent, for a fraction of the cost of systems currently on the market.

The key to reducing costs is to use commodity off-the-shelf hardware, open-source software, and open data standards. Usability and auditability need to be designed into new systems from the start. The US could have the best possible voting systems, instead of just the best voting systems money can buy, if new systems adhere to the Principles enunciated below. (Download PDF)

Georgia: Butler rep seeks quick voter application processing | Macon Telepgraph

A former Taylor County voting registrar says every registrar in the state and their oversight agency should face the threat of a lawsuit if they do not process voting applications quickly enough. “Forty-five days is more than enough, in my opinion,” said Patty Bentley, now a state representative and author of a new bill setting that deadline. Her House Bill 130 would allow anyone whose registration is not processed within 45 days to take either the county registrar or the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office to court.

Illinois: Will county clerk: amend voter registration law | Chicago Tribune

Will County Clerk Nancy Schultz Voots continues to press state legislators for more time to implement a new law requiring all county clerks to provide Election Day registration in all precincts by the March 2016 election. She has provided them with a cost study, detailing that it would cost Will County more than $1.3 million to buy electronic equipment, implement the technology and train election judges to provide registration in all 303 precincts. “They should have done a cost study before implementing the law,” she said after presenting her figures to the county board’s finance committee Tuesday.

Kansas: Bills on straight-party voting, removing candidate from ballot headed to full House | Lawrence Journal-World

A House committee advanced two bills Monday that would change the way elections are conducted, despite objections from Democrats that one of the bills would impose significant costs on county governments. House Bill 2104 would provide that candidates could be removed from the ballot only if they die on or before Sept. 1. And in those cases, the party affiliated with that candidate would be required to name a replacement. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach had asked for the bill, saying it was a response to controversy in the 2014 election when Democrat Chad Taylor was allowed to withdraw from the U.S. Senate race. Taylor’s withdrawal request did not explicitly state that he would be unable to fulfill the duties of that office if he were elected, as required under current law. The Kansas Supreme Court eventually upheld Taylor’s withdrawal anyway, saying it was enough that he cited the relevant statute in his request. And a three-judge district court panel later ruled that the Democratic Party could not be forced to name another candidate, despite a law saying the party “shall” name a replacement in such cases.

North Carolina: Redistricting bills face Senate resistance | Charlotte Observer