Yearly Archives: 2015

This Year could serve as a turning point for the strengthening of voting rights in the modern era. And it’s not only because 2015 marks the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, which is in need of protection more than ever as some of its key provisions have come under attack. One piece of good news is that Governor Jerry Brown of California is poised to sign into law a measure that automatically registers all eligible residents to vote when they obtain their driver’s licenses. Earlier this year, Oregon became the first state to enact an automatic voter registration law, and New Jersey’s legislature recently passed a similar bill, which now awaits Governor Chris Christie’s signature. This policy has the potential to drive civic participation to higher levels. Other states should follow their lead.

Florida: Pair of senators may have to testify about congressional map-making | Palm Beach Post

A pair of state senators could be called as witnesses in the congressional redistricting case set to go before a Leon County circuit judge Thursday. According to documents filed late Monday with Judge Terry Lewis, Senate Redistricting Chairman Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, and Sen. Tom Lee, R-Brandon, could be called to testify about the pair of Senate proposals now before the court.

Florida: Justices reject ‘discovery’ request in redistricting fight | News Service of Florida

With a Leon County circuit judge ready to hear arguments Thursday, the Florida Supreme Court has rejected a request that could have shed more light on congressional redistricting maps proposed by groups that have waged a long-running legal battle against the Legislature. The Supreme Court, in a 5-2 decision Monday, turned down a request from House attorneys to allow additional information-gathering — through a legal process known as discovery — about proposed maps submitted by the League of Women Voters of Florida, Common Cause and a group of individual plaintiffs.

Indiana: State election report blames humans, not computers for Porter County snafus | Chesterton Tribune

The Indiana Secretary of State’s Office on Friday said Porter County’s new electronic poll books are not to blame for the technical problems reported in this past May’s municipal primary elections. Instead, a report conducted by the Voting System Technical Oversight Program (VSTOP) attributes the snafus to poll workers, poor internet connection at polling locations, ballot counting machine failures, router failures, “confusing” voter tally sheets and “inadequate” poll worker training. A summary of the report was released Friday along with a statement issued from Secretary of State Connie Lawson. VSTOP is tasked with documenting issues with equipment sold to counties by vendors and making recommendations relevant for the functioning of that equipment.

Kentucky: Online voter registration coming to Kentucky next year | Lexington Herald-Leader

Kentuckians will be able to register online in time to vote in next year’s presidential elections, Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes said Tuesday. Grimes, the state’s chief election official, also said online registration will allow Kentucky voters to change their information, such as political party affiliation, on their own computers. Now, Kentuckians may register to vote or change voting information by mail or in person using voter registration cards, which can be downloaded and printed, or can be picked up at local county clerks’ offices. The cards can be mailed or returned in person to the address listed on the form.

Maryland: New voting system coming to polls in Maryland | WHAG

Maryland voters can expect a change in how they vote for the upcoming 2016 election. The debut of a new voting system is being unveiled in April 2016, when early voting begins. In preparation for the next election, the Washington County Board of Elections spent National Voter Registration Day teaching citizens about the new system. “A lot of people wanted to have a paper ballot that they could review before it was inserted into the scanning unit. So, it gives them that option to be able to review that ballot,” said Kaye Robucci, election director, Washington County. This means that on Election Day, voters can specify whether they want to use the paper ballot or the ballot marking device.

Tennessee: Shelby County Election Commission On Voting Error | WLMT

Within the first week of early voting in Memphis, a couple said they had issues with their ballots. Their ballots said they lived in District 7, but they actually live in District 5. Shelby County Election Commission Chairman Robert Meyers said they learned about the issue on Friday and found those voters did in fact get the wrong ballot. “This particular incident I believe that they were very close to the line and so that just didn’t appear as clearly as perhaps we would’ve liked for it to,” Meyers said.

Editorials: A strange reticence on redistricting | Richmond Times-Dispatch

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring is right. So is the State Board of Elections, which his office represents. And so are Virginia’s Republican congressmen, who are co-defendants in a suit against the state. All of them either have asked federal judges to post redistricting proposals that might replace the state’s current congressional map, or have signified their assent to the request. Three U.S. District judges will redraw the state’s congressional districts after the General Assembly failed to come up with its own plan by a court-imposed deadline. A number of other interested parties, including Gov. Terry McAuliffe and various good-government groups, who are not litigants in the suit have submitted their own maps.

West Virginia: Register to vote online soon | Associated Press

West Virginians will soon be able to register to vote online through the Secretary of State’s website. Secretary of State Natalie Tennant made the announcement Tuesday at BridgeValley Community and Technical College in South Charleston as part of National Voter Registration Month. “This is going to add accessibility for eligible voters in West Virginia,” said Tennant, following a news conference. It will be as simple as going to a computer, a smart phone or tablet and logging onto www.wvsos.com, according to Tennant.

Burkina Faso: As president retakes office following coup deal, Burkina Faso now looks to rescue election | AFP

Burkina Faso’s interim President Michel Kafando said Wednesday he has resumed his duties a week after being overthrown in a coup by the west African country’s presidential guard. “Thus the transition has been restored and this very minute I am resuming the exercise of power,” Kafando told reporters. Earlier, the coup’s leaders had agreed to return to their barracks and restore the deposed president to power, signing a deal with the army that apparently defuses a tense standoff sparked by last week’s putsch. The breakthrough came late Tuesday after marathon talks in Nigeria’s Abuja, where west African heads of state had sought to break the impasse fuelled by angry threats on both sides.

Canada: Elections Canada warns of U.S.-style ‘voter suppression tricks’ | Toronto Star

Elections Canada has quietly warned staff to be on the lookout for increasingly sophisticated tactics aimed at discouraging — or even stopping — voters from casting a ballot. The advanced voter suppression techniques flourishing in the United States are likely to spill into other countries, employees were advised in a presentation aimed at raising awareness prior to the Oct. 19 federal election. The digital revolution has fuelled intensive data analysis south of the border that allows political parties to zero in on people who support rival candidates and then find ways to prevent them from voting. The development prompted Elections Canada to comb through academic papers and media reports and talk to experts and lawyers about the phenomenon of electoral malpractice.

Congo: Longtime Leader Wants Referendum | Associated Press

The longtime president of Republic of Congo said Tuesday he is going ahead with a national referendum on whether to change the country’s constitution, a move that critics say will allow him to prolong his rule by raising the current maximum age limit to serve as president. If the vote goes ahead, it would be the latest test in Africa of whether a president can bend the rules to keep his position without being forced from office.

United Kingdom: EU referendum: expats push for voting rights | Telegraph

David Cameron has been told by Conservatives Abroad to hurry up with a bill to restore British expats’ full voting rights. The Government promised in the Queen’s Speech in May to abolish the so-called “15-year rule”. This currently prevents around a million of the five million Britons overseas from voting in UK and European elections if they have lived out of the country for that period of time. However, the Votes for Life Bill to restore their rights has not been tabled for debate in Parliament yet. With the EU referendum looming in 2017 – and potentially as early as next year – expats in Europe are concerned they might not be able to participate. In May, a Downing Street spokesman indicated that the 15-year rule would remain in place for the referendum, causing concern among expats who want to have their say.

National: Presidential Proclamation on National Voter Registration Day | whitehouse.gov

The right to vote is a cornerstone of what it means to be a free people: It represents the bedrock tenets of equality and civic participation upon which our Nation was founded. Throughout American history, courageous patriots of every background and creed have fought to extend this right to all and to bring our country closer to its highest ideals. Voting is vital to a principle at the core of our democracy — that men and women of free will have the capacity to shape their own destinies. On National Voter Registration Day, we recommit to upholding this belief by encouraging all eligible Americans to register to vote and exercise this essential right.

National: What Happens To All That SuperPAC Money When A Candidate Drops Out | NPR

Opportunity and Freedom PAC, and its two siblings, Opportunity and Freedom PAC numbers 1 and 2, were meant to be heavyweight sluggers for Republican Rick Perry, providing big-budget support for his second presidential bid. But Perry himself turned out to be a welterweight at best. The former Texas governor entered the race late, raised a skimpy $1.1 million by June 30 and “suspended” his campaign barely two months later. “We had a plan,” political consultant Austin Barbour, senior advisor to the superPACs, told NPR. “To me it also represents the peak of spending absolutely foolish money. It’s not rational, but I love it.”

Editorials: Voter registration at the center of partisan voting war | Zachary Roth/MSNBC

You could be forgiven for not knowing, but Tuesday is National Voter Registration Day—a chance for eligible Americans of all stripes to register to vote. Registration is always a worthwhile goal, but this year, it’s more salient and politically charged than usual. That’s because it comes at a time when, despite record low turnout last fall, the voter registration process has been drawn into the center of a fierce partisan battle over access to the ballot. The more people who vote, the better Democrats do. As a result, with very few exceptions, one party is following a strategy of expanding the electorate, and the other is working to limit it. Officially, National Voter Registration Day has no agenda beyond signing up as many Americans as possible. But the reality is that voter registration, like so much else in today’s charged political climate, has become a subject of intense partisan conflict. That’s because these days, the more people who vote, the better Democrats do. As a result, with very few exceptions, one party is following a strategy of expanding the electorate, and the other is working to limit it.

Editorials: The Warnings About The Supreme Court’s Dangerous Campaign Finance Ruling Are Now Coming True | Paul Blumenthal/Huffington Post

Presidential candidates from both parties are going to solicit six and seven-figure contributions directly from donors for the first time in a decade, thanks to looser campaign finance rules enacted by the Supreme Court and Congress in recent years. Both parties are pushing wealthy donors to give more than $1 million for the 2016 presidential campaign, according to The Washington Post. Their efforts mark the first $1 million party campaign solicitations since the 2002 McCain-Feingold Act banned individual donors from making “soft money” donations — or unlimited contributions to political parties — in an effort to curtail opportunities for corruption. (Corporations are still banned from making “soft money” donations to parties.) The Supreme Court upheld this ban in 2003. Yet thanks to another Supreme Court ruling a decade later, as well as a congressional decision in 2014 to increase party contribution limits, Hillary Clinton’s campaign will now be able to ask single donors to contribute approximately $1.3 million over the two-year 2016 election cycle — and could potentially raise more. Her Republican rivals could follow her lead.

Florida: National Voter Registration Day: Be election-ready — register to vote | The Tampa Tribune

Today is National Voter Registration Day, and we are encouraging all eligible Floridians to register to vote or update their registration if they have moved since the last election. September also is National Voter Registration Month, and we are asking Floridians to set aside just a few moments to register to vote, or if already registered, to go online and check that their registration information is correct and up to date. Once you have checked your status, if you are on Twitter, post a tweet with the hashtag #CelebrateNVRD and encourage your followers to do a check of their registration status. During the 2015 legislative session, the Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections (FSASE) and the Bipartisan Policy Center worked together to educate the public and legislators on the nonpartisan policy advantages of Online Voter Registration (OVR).

Maryland: Redistricting panel hears gerrymandering complaints | Herald Mail

For roughly two hours Monday, 10 members of the new Maryland Redistricting Reform Commission listened to voters and elected officials alike vent about the state’s congressional and legislative district maps. Speakers told them they felt disenfranchised and distressed. They said their voices had been silenced, and their views weren’t represented. “They’re frustrated and apathetic,” former district court judge and commission co-chairman Alexander Williams Jr. concluded after the hearing. “People want something done.” Monday’s hearing, conducted at Hagerstown Community College, was the second in a series the 11-member panel is holding across the state.

Montana: Secretary of state discusses tribal letter on voting | Great Falls Tribune

The secretary of state on Monday said she would review a letter from the Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council who are pressing her to establish satellite voting offices for Native Americans in 10 Montana counties. In a meeting with William “Snuffy” Main, Linda McCulloch said she is a “fan” of satellite offices and voting rights but could not give a definitive answer to the requests made in the letter as it had been in her possession less 24 hours. She said she was looking at the possibility of a directive but could not elaborate as to what the directive would say. Earlier this month, The Rocky Mountain Tribal leaders called on her to “issue a directive to Montana counties that have American Indian Reservations within their boundaries telling the counties that they must establish satellite voting offices for in-person absentee voting and later voter registration on those Indian Reservations within their boundaries for the 2016 general election. “

South Carolina: Old voting machines could slow voting | WBTW

A new study by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law found that 43 states, including South Carolina, have voting machines that are at least 10 years old, past their life expectancy, and that’s likely to lengthen voting lines on Election Day. South Carolina has been using its current voting machines since 2004. “How many people out there are using 11-, 12-year-old laptops? Probably not too many, and that’s because they reach the end of life cycle and become obsolete,” says Chris Whitmire, spokesman for the South Carolina Election Commission. He says the state’s voting machines are not obsolete, though, even though they are old.

Burkina Faso: Coup leaders agree to stand down and allow elections | Independent

New and more inclusive elections in November have been proposed as military leaders said the general behind the coup will lead the country during the transitional period. The proposed plan will be taken up Tuesday in Abuja, Nigeria, by West African member states of the regional bloc known as Ecowas. The announcement by Senegal’s President Macky Sall comes after a day fraught with tensions that began with an attack by pro-coup demonstrators and elite presidential guard soldiers on the hotel hosting the talks. Earlier in the day, angry protesters had clashed outside the hotel where negotiations were taking place, with some shouting: “No to Diendere! No to military rule!”

Myanmar: Muslim minority is targeted for hate, not for votes | Al Jazeera

The celebrations began shortly after dawn. A cluster of monks in saffron robes gathered beneath this city’s historic golden Shwedagon Pagoda to murmur prayers and chants. A procession of vans then took the men to a monastery on the outskirts of Yangon, where groups of monks, nuns and civilians huddled under umbrellas before a large stage lined with senior abbots and emblazoned with Buddhist insignia. This was no ordinary religious festival. The Sept. 14 gathering was the start of a two-week nationwide anti-Muslim event organized by Myanmar’s powerful Buddhist nationalist group, known locally as the Ma Ba Tha. The cause for celebration was the recent adoption of a package of laws to “protect race and religion” in the Buddhist-majority country, further marginalizing its beleaguered Muslim minority. “Victorious! Victorious!” the crowd bellowed as a soft-spoken monk took to the stage.

Russia: Opposition rallies in Moscow to demand fair elections | Reuters

Thousands of people rallied on the streets of Moscow on Sunday to demand fair elections and challenge Vladimir Putin’s 15-year-old rule, in the first significant opposition protest in the capital for months. The gathering was restricted by authorities to a district of southern Moscow. Police said no more than 500 took part, while a Reuters witness said there were some 3,000 protesters. “Putin is a bureaucrat, not the czar,” one poster said. Opposition leaders, including anti-Kremlin figurehead Alexei Navalny, said they were protesting against what they called Putin’s “lifelong” rule. “Russia will be free!” Ilya Yashin told the rally. “We will not depart from the country and leave it in the mercy of ‘crooks and thieves’,” he said, referring to a phrase coined by Navalny to describe Russia’s ruling party.

Spain: Agree on referendum or face unilateral split: Catalonia to Spain | Reuters

The head of Catalonia’s regional government says a unilateral split from Spain is unstoppable unless the central government agrees to call a binding referendum on independence. Artur Mas threw down the gauntlet to Madrid less than a week before a local election which Catalan separatists have billed as a proxy vote on secession. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has repeatedly ruled out a breakaway by the wealthy northeastern region and opposed any attempt to hold a referendum. Mas did not expect matters to change after a national election due in December as not only the ruling People’s Party (PP) but also the opposition Socialists and the smaller Ciudadanos party oppose such a possibility. “I am very skeptical that a new Spanish government could offer a deal to Catalonia on holding a referendum,” Mas said in an interview with Reuters at the 16th Century Palau de la Generalitat regional headquarters.

UAE: Emiratis continue to cast votes | Gulf Today

UAE citizens residing abroad continued to come forward to vote in the Federal National Council (FNC) Elections 2015 in 94 polling stations at UAE embassies and consulates around the world. The electoral process has been extended outside the UAE for the first time in a move aimed at allowing Emirati citizens to exercise their voting rights even if they are residing in a foreign country. On the occasion, Tareq Hilal Lootah, Under-Secretary of Ministry of State for FNC Affairs and Head of the Elections Management Committee, pointed out that the polling centres abroad have provided all the facilities to the voters to enable them to effectively participate in the elections. Voting process continued without any interruptions despite an increase in voter turnout on the second day, Lootah said. UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan casted his vote at the UAE Mission to the UN on Sunday.

Editorials: Why Tomorrow May Be the Most Important National Voter Registration Day Ever | Page Gardner/Huffington Post

Ever since we started the Voter Participation Center more than a decade ago, we’ve honored National Voter Registration Day. It’s always been an important day for us, but never more so than this year. That’s because in 2016, for the first time ever, people of color, young Americans and unmarried women will likely cast over half of all the ballots in the presidential election. Think about that. For the first time in our nation’s history, the most diverse electorate ever will enter voting booths on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. They will look more like the real America, and drive their own destinies. But the first step starts tomorrow, with National Voter Registration Day. At the Voter Participation Center, we are dedicated to increasing the civic engagement of unmarried women, people of color and Millennials–the three demographic groups who comprise the Rising American Electorate (RAE), also called the New American Majority. We have helped 2.6 million Americans register to vote in the last decade, and see a direct line between registration and voting. There are about 125 million eligible voters in the RAE, or 57% of the vote-eligible population in this country. A true majority. But as our new research with Lake Research Partners makes clear, we have heavy lifting to do to make sure that the RAE is voting–and registering–in proportion to their share of the population.

Indiana: Lawson confident no problem with electronic poll books | NWI

Secretary of State Connie Lawson said Friday she is confident there was not a problem with the new electronic poll books used in the May primary election in Porter County. Claims were made that the new poll books resulted in delays and other problems for voters. Kathy Kozuszek, Democrat director of the Porter County Voter Registration, who opposed purchasing the electronic poll books, said in May that the issue could be serious enough for candidates to call for a new election.

Nebraska: Seven Nebraska counties, one Iowa county accused of violating voter registration law | Omaha World-Herald

Seven counties in Nebraska and one in Iowa are being threatened with lawsuits over having more registered voters than voting-age residents. Two national groups say the numbers are evidence that county officials are not cleaning up voter registration rolls, as federal law requires. The Public Interest Legal Foundation, based in Plainfield, Indiana, and True the Vote, based in Houston, have both sent letters alerting county officials to the alleged violations. The letters said that poorly maintained voter rolls threaten the integrity of elections. “Corrupted voter rolls provide the perfect environment for voter fraud,” said J. Christian Adams, the legal foundation’s president and general counsel. But state and county officials said data quirks and requirements of federal election laws, not mismanagement or incompetence, account for the apparent discrepancies. They also say that they are complying with requirements concerning removing voters who have moved or died. Loup County Clerk Debbie Postany, one of the officials who received letters, emphatically denied any laxity in maintaining voter lists. “Before you send letters accusing hard-working, dedicated and often underpaid public officials of not doing their jobs, perhaps you should be aware of ALL the facts,” she wrote in a reply letter.

Nebraska: State to launch new online voter registration service | Associated Press