North Carolina: Supreme Court Blocks North Carolina From Restoring Strict Voting Law | The New York Times

A deadlocked Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to revive parts of a restrictive North Carolina voting law that a federal appeals court had struck down as an unconstitutional effort to “target African Americans with almost surgical precision.” The court was divided 4 to 4, with the court’s more conservative members voting to revive parts of the law. The court’s brief order included no reasoning. North Carolina’s law, which imposed an array of voting restrictions, including new voter identification requirements, was enacted by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature in 2013. It was part of a wave of voting restrictions enacted after a 5-to-4 Supreme Court decision that effectively struck down a central part of the federal Voting Rights Act, weakening federal oversight of voting rights. Challenges to the laws have met with considerable success in recent months, and Wednesday’s development suggested that the current eight-member Supreme Court is not likely to undo those victories.

Texas: State Launches Voter Education Campaign Amid Scrutiny of Voter ID Law | The Texas Tribune

Texas on Wednesday kicked off a voter education campaign ahead of the November elections amid heightened scrutiny of the state’s voter ID law. Under an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice and minority rights groups, the state is required to spend $2.5 million to educate voters about its voter ID requirements. Registered voters will be able to cast a ballot Nov. 8 without a photo ID under the agreement, which came weeks after a federal appeals court ruled that Texas’ 2011 voter identification law was discriminatory. The inaugural Vote Texas event on Wednesday, at which Secretary of State Carlos Cascos told students at the University of Texas at Austin to get into the habit of voting at a young age, was planned before the agreement, Cascos said.

Gabon: President Bongo re-elected, parliament set on fire | Reuters

Demonstrators in Gabon clashed with police and set part of the parliament building on fire on Wednesday amid anger among opposition supporters over President Ali Bongo’s re-election in polls that his main rival, Jean Ping, claimed to have won. Opposition members of the Central African oil producer’s electoral commission rejected Saturday’s first-past-the-post election result, which would see the Bongo family’s nearly half-century in power extended another seven years. France, the United States, and the European Union all urged calm on Wednesday and called upon Gabonese authorities to release the results of individual polling stations for greater transparency. Bongo won 49.80 percent of votes, compared to 48.23 percent for Ping, with a turnout of 59.46 percent, according to results announced region by region by Interior Minister Pacome Moubelet Boubeya.

Moldova: Seven candidates line up for Moldova’s presidential elections | BNE

Seven candidates had already been announced for the Moldovan presidential elections by August 31, the first day of the registration period. They include candidates from most of the main political groupings, and include four pro-EU candidates. There were no surprises, except maybe for the pro-EU parties’ failure to agree on a joint candidate for the October 30 election, giving an advantage to rivals like Socialist leader Igor Dodon and Dumitru Ciubasenco of Partidul Nostru. Six of the seven are already registered, and more may step forward by the end of the period, but none that will significantly change the overall picture.

Spain: Socialists to Vote Against Government, Raising Risk of New Election | Reuters

Spain’s Socialists will vote against the government of acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in a confidence vote on Wednesday, party leader Pedro Sanchez told parliament, potentially triggering the countdown to a third national election in a year. Spain has been without a functioning government since inconclusive elections in June and December and parties are under pressure to end a political deadlock which has stalled investment and cast a pall over an economic recovery. But, on Wednesday, Pedro Sanchez, the leader of the opposition Socialists, which trailed Rajoy’s centre-right People’s Party (PP) in both elections, has steadfastly refused to back Rajoy who needs his party’s support to form a coalition. “I will be very clear, the Socialist party will vote against your candidacy to the government for coherence and for the good of Spain,” Sanchez told the parliament on Wednesday.