National: In This Snapchat Campaign, Election News Is Big and Then It’s Gone | The New York Times

Every modern presidential election is at least in part defined by the cool new media breakthrough of its moment. In 2000, there was email, and by golly was that a big change from the fax. The campaigns could get their messages in front of print and cable news reporters — who could still dominate the campaign narrative — at will, reducing what had been a 24-hour news cycle to an hourly one. The 2004 campaign was the year of the “Web log,” or blog, when mainstream reporters and campaigns officially began losing any control they may have had over political news. Anyone with a computer could weigh in with commentary, news and, often, searing criticism of mainstream reporters and politicians — “Media Gatekeepers be damned!” Then 2008: Facebook made it that much easier for campaigns to reach millions of people directly, further reducing the influence of newspaper, magazine and television journalists. In 2012, Twitter shrank the political news cycle to minutes if not seconds, exponentially adding to the churn of campaign news.

National: Republican says delegate vote-buying and gifts are part of ‘the free market of politics’ | ABC

“Cash is on the table,” veteran Republican Marti Halverson says. “I don’t know why you’re so shocked.” This is not the response I was expecting — my mouth gaping. I had just finished asking Wyoming National committeewoman Mrs Halverson about the “wooing” of delegates to switch their vote in this very-likely-to-be-contested upcoming Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio. Ms Halverson is also opposed to any rule that would stop delegates accepting gifts. “This is a great country,” she said. “We give presents to our friends. No, I would not vote for a rule that said candidates cannot ‘woo’ delegates. I wouldn’t do that. It’s not the American way.” But what is the difference between wooing someone and buying their vote without cash? “Cash is on the table,” she replied. “Absolutely. It is going around that delegates are going to be offered free trips to Cleveland. Not Wyoming delegates, we haven’t heard that. But it is on the table. It is not illegal.”

Arizona: Spanish-language screw-up on Maricopa County election ballots | KPNX

In yet another elections embarrassment for Maricopa County, two million ballots were printed with the wrong Spanish-language description for a ballot proposition May 17, resulting in a massive reprinting of ballots and mailing of postcards to correct the mistake. This latest screw-up was uncovered the same day the county recorder’s office filed its formal response to a U.S Justice Department investigation of the botched presidential primary in March, which forced many voters to stand in line for hours. Many voters claimed they were disenfranchised by elections officials huge cut in polling places for the primary.

Arizona: Officials: Long lines at Arizona primary affected minorities and non-minorities equally | Associated Press

Election officials in Arizona’s largest county on Friday told the U.S. Justice Department that minority and non-minority voters were equally affected by problems during the state’s presidential primary election. Recorder Helen Purcell said in a 12-page letter to the department that wealthy, predominantly white parts of the Phoenix area saw the same long polling place lines as poor and minority parts of the county. The statement came in response to a Justice Department inquiry about problems during the March 22 election as it tries to determine if voting-rights laws were broken. Purcell again apologized for the long lines, as she has repeatedly since Election Day. “I sincerely apologize to all of the voters who had to wait in long lines,” Purcell wrote. “The burdens of long waiting times were county-wide and did not disproportionately burden areas with substantial racial or language minority populations.”

Colorado: Bipartisan Bill Seeks To Bring Back Primaries | CPR

Colorado legislators Thursday rolled out a measure that could bring back a state presidential primary, one in which all registered voters would be able to participate. The bill is a response to frustration over a caucus system that has disenchanted many voters from all political stripes. “Regardless of party affiliation, Coloradans are demanding more inclusion in the presidential primary,” said Rep. Tim Dore, R-Elizabeth, a bill sponsor. “And we stand before you today to tell them, ‘We’re listening.’”

Illinois: Elections board IDs McHenry County 2016 primary problems | Northwest Herald

The issues that plagued the March 15 primary in McHenry County might have led to some eligible voters not casting their ballots, according to the Illinois State Board of Elections’ report. The report was requested by state Rep. David McSweeney, R-Barrington Hills, who was not alone in demanding answers after an Election Day many felt was full of problems. McSweeney, who provided the memo to the Northwest Herald on Thursday after receiving it from the state board of elections, said the report was disconcerting. “It was an absolute fiasco,” McSweeney said after receiving the report. “I’m concerned, and I think there should be changes so that never happens again. … That’s the most basic American right – to vote.”

Michigan: Labor unions sue state of Michigan over election law | Detroit Free Press

A coalition of labor unions sued the State of Michigan in U.S. District Court in Detroit on Friday over a law that allows corporations, but not unions, to use payroll deductions for contributions to political action committees. The sweeping law was one of the final ones passed in last year’s legislative session, after it transformed from an innocuous bill on campaign finance law into a 53-page wholesale revision of campaign finance law. One of the provisions allows corporations to use payroll deductions for employees to make contributions to the business’ political action committee. But it also prohibits unions from having the companies where their members work make payroll deductions for the union’s PAC.

New York: Comptroller slams city’s ‘broken voting system’ | New York Post

Comptroller Scott Stringer vowed Sunday to “take a sledgehammer” to the city’s voting system following the disappearance of 126,000 Brooklyn Democrats from election rolls that came to light during last Tuesday’s primary. “We have a broken voting system,” Stringer told NY1. “We’ve got to take a sledgehammer to this. We have to stop pretending this is a democracy.” His office is planning to audit the Board of Elections, but Stringer said the agency shouldn’t wait for his report. “The Board of Elections has to get their act together. First, they have to admit they have a problem,” he said.

Editorials: After New York’s Disastrous Primary, It’s Time to Demand Better Voting Laws | The Nation

During this year’s presidential primary, New Yorkers across the state discovered something that voting-rights advocates have been saying for years: Despite the state’s progressive reputation, New York’s elections are a mess. Approximately 120,000 people were inexplicably purged from the voting rolls in Kings County. Others had their party affiliation switched without their knowledge—leaving them unable to vote in New York’s closed primary. Polling places didn’t open on time or closed early. And millions didn’t get to vote because they did not register with the Republican or Democratic Party—a decision they would have had to make by October 9, 2015, 193 days before the primary. All of this led to an embarrassingly low turnout: As Ari Berman pointed out at The Nation, with 19.7 percent of eligible voters casting a ballot, New York had the second-lowest turnout this primary season, second only to Louisiana.

Tennessee: Federal judge orders recount of 2014 abortion ballot vote | The Tennesean

A federal judge has ordered a recount of Tennessee’s controversial 2014 abortion measure Amendment 1. U.S. District Judge Kevin Sharp on Friday declared the method the state used to count votes for the amendment “fundamentally unfair” and in violation of due process and equal protection rights for voters under the U.S. Constitution. The “no” votes of the eight plaintiffs “were not accorded the same weight” as those who voted in favor of the amendment, the judge concluded. “As a remedy, the Court will order a recount of the 2014 Election solely in relation to Amendment 1, but defer ruling on the question of whether the election on Amendment 1 should be voided,” the 52-page ruling said. The ruling does not apply to three other amendments on the ballot in 2014.

Virginia: Governor Restores Voting Rights to Thousands of Felons | Wall Street Journal

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed an order Friday to restore the voting rights of more than 200,000 felons, a sweeping move that could benefit his fellow Democrats in a critical swing state in the November presidential election. Under the order, convicted felons who have served their sentences and completed parole and probation will immediately regain the right to vote. The order applies to nonviolent and violent offenders, including people convicted of murder and rape. To cover individuals who complete their sentences in the future, Mr. McAuliffe directed the secretary of the commonwealth to prepare a similar order each month. “It is time to cast off Virginia’s troubled history of injustice and embrace an honest, clean process for restoring the rights of these men and women,” said Mr. McAuliffe.

Editorials: Virginia Bucks the Trend on Voting Rights | The New York Times

In a major executive order, Gov. Terry McAuliffe of Virginia on Friday restored voting rights to more than 200,000 people who have completed their sentences for felony convictions. Virginia was one of four states, along with Iowa, Kentucky and Florida, that placed a lifetime bar on voting for anyone convicted of a felony. All other states except Maine and Vermont impose lesser restrictions on voting by people with felony convictions. To people who have served their time and finished parole, Mr. McAuliffe said in a statement: “I want you back in society. I want you feeling good about yourself. I want you voting, getting a job, paying taxes.” It is the largest restoration of voting rights by a governor, ever. Felon disenfranchisement laws, which currently block nearly six million Americans from voting, were enacted during the Reconstruction era in a racist effort to make it harder for newly freed African-Americans to vote — a reality Mr. McAuliffe acknowledged on Friday. “There’s no question that we’ve had a horrible history in voting rights as relates to African-Americans — we should remedy it,” he said. In Virginia, one in five blacks have until now been unable to vote because of a felony conviction.

Austria: Voters Deal Blow to Mainstream Parties in Election | Wall Street Journal

Voters in Austria’s presidential election Sunday sent a stern warning to the established parties that have ruled the country since World War II, making a populist, anti-immigrant candidate the front-runner. Preliminary results published by the Austrian interior ministry, which didn’t include mail-in ballots, showed that Norbert Hofer, from the anti-immigrant Freedom Party, which is known by its German initials FPÖ, with 36.4% of the vote. Alexander Van der Bellen, a 72-year-old economist and former spokesman for the Greens who took a pro-refugee stance during the campaign, secured nearly 20.4% of the vote, according to the ministry. Mr. Van der Bellen, himself a child of refugee parents, is opposed to all restrictions on asylum seekers.

Equatorial Guinea: Election expected to extend president’s 37-year rule | Reuters

Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang is expected to extend his 37-year rule after elections on Sunday which he says will give him more than 90 percent of the vote. Obiang, Africa’s longest-serving leader, has ruled the former Spanish colony since 1979 when he ousted his uncle in a military coup. Opponents say elections in the small West African oil producer have been consistently rigged and some have called for a boycott. Voting went ahead peacefully and without incident on Sunday, observers said, although in some regions there appeared to be a low turnout. Casting his ballot, 73-year-old Obiang said that those voting for him “were voting for the continued development of Equatorial Guinea”.

Editorials: Insufficient electoral reform | The Japan Times

The plan put forward by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling coalition to reform the Lower House electoral system is only a partial step that shelves the fundamental overhaul needed to close the sharp disparity of votes across electoral districts, as proposed by a panel of experts advising the speaker of the chamber, for several more years. The bill to amend the Public Offices Election Law to cut 10 Lower House seats and redraw some electoral districts will likely clear the Diet during its current session on the strength of the Liberal Democratic Party-Komeito alliance. But the administration and the coalition still need to explain why voters have to wait longer for the more fundamental reform.

Mexico: Mexico’s Entire Voter Database Was Leaked to the Internet | Gizmodo

Every modern presidential election is at least in part defined by the cool new media breakthrough of its moment. In 2000, there was email, and by golly was that a big change from the fax. The campaigns could get their messages in front of print and cable news reporters — who could still dominate the campaign narrative — at will, reducing what had been a 24-hour news cycle to an hourly one. The 2004 campaign was the year of the “Web log,” or blog, when mainstream reporters and campaigns officially began losing any control they may have had over political news. Anyone with a computer could weigh in with commentary, news and, often, searing criticism of mainstream reporters and politicians — “Media Gatekeepers be damned!” Then 2008: Facebook made it that much easier for campaigns to reach millions of people directly, further reducing the influence of newspaper, magazine and television journalists. In 2012, Twitter shrank the political news cycle to minutes if not seconds, exponentially adding to the churn of campaign news.

Serbia: Prime minister wins election in endorsement of pro-EU policy | The Guardian

Serbia’s pro-western prime minister, Aleksandar Vučić, won a resounding endorsement in Sunday’s general election for his policy of pursuing European Union membership, securing four more years in power with a parliamentary majority. But he will have to contend with a resurgent ultra-nationalist opposition that rejects integration with the EU and demands closer ties with Russia. Vučić went to the polls two years early, saying he wanted a clear mandate from Serbia’s 6.7 million voters for reforms to keep EU membership talks launched in December on track for completion by 2019. Even though Vučić presided over a period of austerity, partly forced on him by the terms of a 1.2bn euro ($1.35bn) loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund, voters again strongly backed the 46-year-old, himself a former hardline nationalist. His conservative Progressive party is set to win just under 50% of the vote, up from 48% two years ago, a projection by pollsters Cesid, the Centre for Free Elections and Democracy, said.