Monthly Archives: June 2016

Parts of the Arizona secretary of state’s website are down for unspecified security-related maintenance, angering some candidate campaigns that received belated notice. The portion of the site dealing with online contributions to the public campaign-finance system was shut down Tuesday evening, said Matt Roberts, a spokesman for Secretary of State Michele Reagan. But it was only Wednesday morning that the office sent a notice to the Clean Elections candidates using the site’s online service for gathering the $5 contributions necessary to qualify for public financing. “Why wouldn’t you notify the candidates first?” asked Chad Campbell, a consultant for the campaign of Corporation Commission candidates Tom Chabin and Bill Mundell.

Arizona: Voting rights advocates condemn March voting process | Cronkite News

Voting rights advocates Wednesday said the March presidential preference election amounted to voter suppression and proposed renewing federal election standards to protect voters. Community leaders representing numerous advocacy groups, along with Democratic Congressional representatives, said at a forum at the Greater Bethel A.M.E. Church in south Phoenix that the long wait times at Maricopa County election sites prevented many people from voting. “Let’s just make clear what happened. There was voter suppression,” Congressman Ruben Gallego said. Maricopa County had only 60 polling places, including one serving all of south Phoenix for the March 22 election, said Gallego, a Democrat who represents the area.

Iowa: Court To Release Ruling On Felon Voting | Iowa Public Radio

The much anticipated ruling on felon voting from the Iowa Supreme Court will be released Thursday morning. Iowa has one of the most restrictive felon voting policies in the nation. It is one of three states that permanently disenfranchises someone if they commit a felony. That’s because Iowa’s constitution states anyone convicted of an infamous crime forever loses the right to vote. So what’s an infamous crime? The Iowa Supreme Court will likely tell us. More specifically, justices are asked to decide if all felonies are “infamous crimes,” or if the term applies only to a select group of felonies.

Missouri: Voter ID measure approved for November ballot | St. Joseph News Press

Missouri voters will determine the fate of a long-debated voter identification requirement in November. Secretary of State Jason Kander announced Monday that a joint resolution has been certified for the November 2016 ballot. The General Assembly authorized the measure to put the voter ID issue on the ballot.

Virginia: Judge Sets Hearing on Delegate Lawsuit Aimed at Derailing Trump’s Nomination | NBC

A federal judge has ordered a hearing for July 7 in a lawsuit brought by a Virginia Republican who says a state law requiring him to vote for Donald Trump is unconstitutional. It’s the latest legal front in efforts to stop Trump at the Republican Convention. Federal District Court Judge Robert Payne of Richmond is moving quickly, ordering lawyers on both sides to respond to questions he raised Tuesday. While the pace is driven partly by the July 18 opening of the Republican National Convention, it also suggests that the judge is receptive to the claim. The lawsuit was filed by Carroll Correll, a northern Virginia Republican chosen as a delegate to the national convention, on behalf of himself and the state’s other Republican delegates. He believes that “Donald Trump is unfit to serve as President of the United States” and that voting for Trump would violate his conscience, according to court filings.

Virginia: McAuliffe lambasts “fear mongering” by Republicans over voting rights restoration | The Virginia-Pilot

Gov. Terry McAuliffe arrived at the community center in Huntersville Tuesday filled with zeal for restoring voting rights to over 200,000 felons, and zingers for Republicans who have criticized his action. “April 22 was probably my proudest day as governor. It was the right thing to do,” McAuliffe said, referring to the day he issued his executive order at a ceremony outside the Capitol. “I don’t understand the fear mongering by the Republicans. You would have thought I had burned the Capitol down.” McAuliffe was in Huntersville to hear the stories of people who had their voting rights restored. Outside, GOP lawmaker Jason Miyares of Virginia Beach waited to provide reporters a counterpoint.

Armenia: National Assembly Approves Major Amendments to Electoral Code | Asbarez

The National Assembly approved on Wednesday major amendments to Armenia’s new Electoral Code that stem from a compromise agreement reached by the government and the parliamentary opposition earlier this month. Government officials again made clear, however, that the amendments regulating the conduct of next year’s parliamentary elections will be annulled unless foreign donors pay for the purchase of special equipment needed for their implementation.

Editorials: Only 58% of Indigenous Australians are registered to vote. We should be asking why | Paul Daley/The Guardian

The last week of the federal election campaign opened with news that Indigenous people in Western Australia’s Kimberley region are seven times more likely to take their own lives than other Australians. If ever a revelation might halt an election in its tracks, prompt politicians and the media who trail them around Australia on their set-piece campaign operations, to pause and reflect for a day – even an hour or a moment – then a disclosure of such tragic human import should, surely, have done so. But the major party caravans just bumped along, each attacking the other with fallacious claims about alleged changes to Medicare and border protection policies. While policy argument was anchored in the illusory, there was no substantive, mainstream political engagement with this real tragedy in the Kimberley. The social, political and economic indicators of Indigenous Australian wellbeing have, since the 1950s, been an acute source of international embarrassment to Australian federal and state politicians. Indeed, international opprobrium – which rightly lumped Australia’s treatment of its first people in with South Africa’s apartheid regime – were, together with the burgeoning civil rights movement, instrumental in delivering the federal vote to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in 1962.

Austria: Court to rule Friday on far-right election challenge | AFP

Austria’s Constitutional Court has said it will rule Friday on the challenge brought by the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) against its candidate’s narrow defeat in May’s presidential election. The court, which has heard from around 90 witnesses during two weeks of public hearings, said Thursday it would announce at noon (1000 GMT) whether the election result was valid or a new vote must be held. The FPOe’s Norbert Hofer, 54, topped the poll in the first round of the election in April but lost out to 72-year-old Alexander Van der Bellen, an independent backed by the Greens, by just 30,863 votes in the May 22 run-off.

Haiti: Bickering lawmakers avoid vote on interim leader | Associated Press

Haiti’s fragmented Parliament failed again Wednesday to decide what to do about the caretaker president whose term has expired but remains in office in the absence of a vote resolving the latest leadership disorder. A joint National Assembly session adjourned after grandstanding speeches, arguments over agenda items and breaks for closed-door negotiations went on for hours. No vote was taken. For two weeks, Haiti’s bickering senators and deputies have avoided a vote on whether to extend the mandate of acting President Jocelerme Privert or pave the way for another provisional leader. Privert’s 120-day mandate expired two weeks ago under the terms of a February accord that helped bring him to power.

Mongolia: Ruling party defeated in Mongolian parliament elections | Associated Press

The opposition Mongolian People’s Party has won a decisive victory in parliamentary elections in the landlocked nation where a fall in commodity prices has sent the economy into a sharp decline. The head of the national election commission said Thursday that the MPP won 65 out of 76 seats in the national legislature, formally known as the State Grand Khural. The ruling Democratic Party won just nine seats while independents and smaller parties won two seats. The MPP is the former communist party that ruled Mongolia for 70 years before the country’s transition to democracy and a free market economy after the collapse of the former Soviet Union. Under Mongolian law, the majority party in parliament forms a new government and appoints the prime minister and speaker of the legislature.

Spain: Election renews political uncertainty | Associated Press

Spain’s repeat election on Sunday failed to clarify the political future of the European Union’s fifth-largest economy, with the main parties placing roughly the same as in December’s ballot, which brought six months of stalemate. The conservative Popular Party, which has ruled for the past four years, again collected the most votes in the election but fell short of the majority of 176 seats it needed in the 350-seat parliament to form a government on its own. With 97 percent of the votes counted late Sunday, incumbent Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s party earned 137 seats in parliament. That is better than the 123 it won in December but still means it will need allies if it wants to govern. Its earlier efforts to find support from rival parties after December proved fruitless.

Zambia: Newspaper Editors Arrested as Government Accused of Pre-Election Crackdown | Newsweek

Zambian police have charged three people connected with an independent newspaper that was shut down in what activists are saying is a crackdown on freedom of speech ahead of a general election. The country’s tax agency, the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA), closed The Post newspaper’s offices in the capital Lusaka on June 21, citing $6 million in unpaid taxes. But the newspaper has claimed the unpaid bill is part of an ongoing dispute and has continued to publish from an undisclosed location, posting an acerbic editorial against President Edgar Lungu on Tuesday that claimed its journalists would not be coerced into stopping production.

Delaware: Supreme Court rejects challenge to Delaware election law | Delaware Online

The U.S. Supreme Court will let stand a lower court ruling upholding Delaware’s election law that requires advocacy groups to disclose the donors behind their political advertisements. The justices refused to hear a challenge to the law Tuesday. Delaware’s Elections Disclosure Act was cheered as the first major overhaul of the state’s campaign finance laws in more than 20 years when it passed in 2012 and was enacted in 2013. The law requires third-party groups and individuals to disclose their donors to the state elections commissioner if they publish advertisements or other communications, including internet postings, that refer to a candidate in the 60 days before an election. Previously, only groups that directly advocated for or against a candidate were required to disclose their donors.

Indiana: Supreme Court suspends Charlie White’s law license for 2 years | Indianapolis Star

The Indiana Supreme Court suspended former Secretary of State Charlie White’s law license Tuesday for a period of at least two years, according to court documents. White was convicted in February 2012 of six Class D felony charges, including voter fraud, perjury and theft. Prosecutors say he voted in a district other than his district of residency. White was sentenced in Hamilton Superior Court to one year of home detention and spent the following year appealing his sentence, claiming his defense attorney was incompetent.

Kansas: ACLU urges judge to rule quickly on Kansas voter registration case | Lawrence Journal World

Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union are asking a federal judge in Washington, D.C., to act quickly on their motion to block the use of amended federal voter registration forms that require Kansans to show proof of U.S. citizenship. In a letter to Judge Richard J. Leon, the ACLU said leaving the issue unresolved threatens to complicate upcoming state and federal elections in Kansas and the two other states involved in the case. “The federal primary elections will take place in Kansas on August (2), 2016, just over a month from now,” the letter stated. “The general federal elections will occur in November, a mere four months from now, and voter registration requirements in Kansas, Alabama and Georgia require resolution well before then.”

Minnesota: Ballot barcode draws questions | Brainerd Dispatch

A Crow Wing County resident Tuesday raised concerns about whether a barcode on his ballot could contain identifying information. Charlie Makidon of Gail Lake Township told the county board during open forum he believes the primary election ballot he received by mail is “marked” by a QR code printed at the bottom. “To 99 percent of the people, this is a marked ballot,” Makidon said. “What does the code say? Does it say, ‘Republican, throw it away?’ Does it say, ‘Democrat, count twice?'” Makidon said he called the county Monday for more information on the code, which is a type of machine-readable barcode that can store website URLs, phone numbers, email addresses and other alphanumeric data. The codes have proliferated in recent years, along with smartphone apps allowing users to acquire the information they contain. An employee in the administrative services office first directed Makidon to call the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office, who then redirected Makidon back to Crow Wing County. Administrative Services Director Deborah Erickson, whose office is in charge of elections in the county, called Makidon to discuss the matter. Erickson told Makidon the employee had erred in directing him to the secretary of state’s office.

Nevada: 6 losing GOP candidates file challenge, allege possible voting machine malfunctions | Las Vegas Review-Journal

Six Republican candidates for the Nevada Assembly who lost in the June 14 primary filed legal action Tuesday in Clark County District Court alleging “possible” malfunction of voting machines. The “statements of contest” seeks a judicial order requiring that the electronic vote tallies in their races be compared with the backup paper records. Those requesting the rare procedure are Diana Orrock, Steve Sanson, Connie Foust, Tina Trenner, Mary Rooney and Blain Jones. In a statement, Jones, who lost by 10 percentage points in Assembly District 21 to incumbent Assemblyman Derek Armstrong, R-Henderson, said the move is being sought to “ensure we know the full truth for each race.”

North Carolina: U.S. Supreme Court to review North Carolina redistricting | The Charlotte Observer

The U.S. Supreme Court will review an appeal by North Carolina to maintain the remapping of its districts this fall – a plan previously described as a “blatant, unapologetic, partisan, gerrymander” that could disfranchise the state’s minority population. The court added the appeal to its calendar Monday. Its decision to address the redistricting plan comes just five months after a three-judge panel rejected a legal challenge filed by attorneys for David Harris of Durham and Christine Bowser of Mecklenburg County. Attorneys argue that remapping of state’s 1st and 12th congressional districts limits the state’s minority representation. Those districts are held by Democrat Reps. G.K. Butterfield and Alma Adams, the state’s only two African-American congressional representatives.

Ohio: Cuyahoga County delays choosing electronic poll book vendor | Cleveland Plain Dealer

The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections will not choose a company to provide electronic poll books until after the November election. The board was expected to award a contract to either Tenex Software Solutions or KNOWiNK this month. Director Pat McDonald notified both firms in writing Monday that the board “would like to see how both Tenex and KNOWiNK preform during the November Presidential Election, not only in Ohio, but throughout other states.” The board plans to test 200 e-poll books from each vendor at voting locations across the county on Election Day, McDonald told the firms.

Oregon: County judge who blocked refuge occupiers survives recall election | The Tribune

Residents of a remote county in eastern Oregon where an armed group seized a federal wildlife refuge have voted overwhelmingly to keep in office a top local official who had denied the occupiers access to a county building. “I feel so good about the outcome,” Harney County Judge Steve Grasty told The Associated Press over the phone from the county courthouse in Burns. “The voters have spoken. What’s important is to move ahead, see where is the common ground … People won’t always agree but we can find what we can work on together.” Grasty had faced the special recall election Tuesday because he refused to let the activists, who said they were protesting federal land-use policies, use a county building to host a meeting. Supporters of the recall say Grasty violated rights to free speech and freedom of assembly.

Japan: Will size matter in Japan’s upper house election? | East Asia Forum

The 2016 triennial House of Councillors or upper house election is set to test Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s policy and popularity. Although the House of Councillors is less powerful than the House of Representatives, past prime ministers have been forced to resign after poor electoral results in the upper house. Prime Minister Abe does not face that prospect. His party is likely to suffer losses, though not big enough to lose majority. Japan’s upper house consists of 242 members of which half is up for elections every three years. There are two types of electoral systems and each voter casts two ballots: one to choose 48 members from a national party-list and the other to choose the rest of 73 members from prefectural districts consisting of between one and six seats, depending on the size of the population. For example, Tokyo has 6 seats while there are 32 single-member districts, after readjustments made for this year’s elections.

Mongolia: Long walk to the ballot box for Mongolian nomads | AFP

It took Mongolian nomad Pagvajaviin Shatarbaatar seven days to get to his polling station to vote in Wednesday’s general election — accompanied by more than 2,000 sheep, goats and horses. His family spends the year travelling around the Gobi Desert in search of pasture for their animals, maintaining a way of life largely unchanged for centuries. As the vote approached they were hundreds of kilometers from their polling station in Mandalgovi, the capital of Dundgovi province. So began the slow process of herding their animals north for the summer, following one of Mongolia’s few paved roads. The journey is a difficult one, said Shatarbaatar’s wife Otgontsetseg, but they feel a responsibility to make their voices heard.

Spain: Parliamentary Results Are Still a Mess After Repeat Elections | Fortune

Six months after an historic election that fractured Spain’s traditional two-party system but failed to produce a government, Spanish voters returned to the polls Sunday and, in an unexpected move, turned away from the two upstart parties that had burst onto the national scene in the December polls. Just days after the seismic shock of Brexit, Spain turned back to the safety of the known. The big beneficiary of the return to tradition was acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, whose center-right Partido Popular (PP) won 33% of the vote for 147 seats in the 350 deputy parliament, recovering 14 of the 63 seats it had lost in December and making it the only party that gained both seats and votes (almost 700,000) in the election.

United Kingdom: Second referendum petition: Inquiry removes at least 77,000 fake signatures, as hackers claim responsibility for ‘prank’ | Telegraph

Parliamentary authorities have removed around 77,000 allegedly fake signatures from an online petition which calls for a re-run of the Brexit referendum – with hackers taking responsibility for adding thousands of counterfeit names. It follows a formal inquiry launched less than three hours earlier, amid claims some of the more than three and a half million signatures it has gained since Friday may be fraudulent. A statement posted on the House of Commons’ petitions committee Twitter account on Sunday afternoon said: “We are investigating allegations of fraudulent use of the petitions site. Signatures found to be fraudulent will be removed”.

National: Three Years After SCOTUS Case Weakened Voting Rights Act, Leaders Call for New Protections | NBC

Three years after the Supreme Court invalidated part of the Voting Rights Act, voting rights advocates and some elected officials are concerned that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are among those increasingly threatened by voter discrimination. “This includes complaints of polling locations failing to provide translated ballots that especially hurt those in the Asian American and Pacific Islander community — over a third of whom are limited English proficient,” U.S. Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA), chairwoman of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, said in a statement. In Shelby County v. Holder, the court held in a 5-4 decision that Section 4 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act was unconstitutional. That section established which local and state governments, as a result of previous voter discrimination, were required to obtain federal approval before making changes to voting policies or procedures.

Arizona: Green Party Sues Arizona for Ballot Access | Courthouse News

Arizona law unconstitutionally requires political parties to file their presidential nominating papers more than 90 days in advance of a primary election, the Arizona Green Party claims in court. The party, presumptive Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein, and two party members filed suit against Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan last week in Federal Court. According to the complaint, an Arizona law requiring political parties to file their nominating papers within 90 to 120 days before a primary election unconstitutionally puts at risk “the electorate being denied the opportunity to vote for the presidential and vice presidential nominees of an established political party.” Arizona is one of two states that requires political parties to submit the names of their presidential candidates before Aug. 1 of the presidential election year, the party claims. It also requires parties to submit the names before the national party convention takes place.

Idaho: GOP presidential primary cost state $1.9 million | Idaho Business Review

Idaho’s Republican presidential primary election cost taxpayers $1.9 million this year, coming in just slightly under what state officials originally estimated. Idaho lawmakers agreed to move the presidential primary from May to March in 2015. The conservative-dominated Statehouse argued that doing so would allow the Gem State to play a bigger role in deciding the presidential nominee. The state’s Republican and Constitutional parties participated in the bumped up election — though Constitutional party votes made up just 500 of the 222,000 votes cast. While Idaho’s Democratic Party had the option to also participate in the primary, minority party lawmakers objected to the move. They argued that taxpayers should not pay for a separate partisan election, particularly because the Idaho GOP primary is only open to registered Republicans.

New Jersey: Youth Voting Bill Clears Senate, Heads to Christie’s Desk | PolitickerNJ

A bill to allow 17 year-olds to vote in primary elections as long as they will reach the age of majority by election day passed in the state Senate Monday, and will head to Christie’s desk. Under current state law, 17 year-olds can register to vote before their eighteenth birthday, but not vote in state primaries. The bill advanced by a 31-8 margin. Though the bill could face opposition from Governor Chris Christie, who has called other bills aiming to boost voter turnout political ploys or invitations to voter fraud in the past, Senate sponsors Nia Gill (D-34) and James Beach (D-6) argue that it would be only fair to make sure young voters are not denied participation in selecting which candidate gets onto the ballot.

North Carolina: Supreme Court to rule on use of race in redistricting | Associated Press