The Voting News Weekly: The Voting News Weekly for October 17-23 2016
Donald Trump used the final presidential debate with Hillary Clinton to declare he would keep the country “in suspense” over whether he would accept the outcome of November’s election. The Washington post noted that “when we hold elections, the losing party acknowledges the legitimacy of the winner, and the winner allows the loser to survive to fight another day. Now, for the first time in modern history, a major-party candidate rejects both sides of that equation.” In an oped that appeared in The Hill, Verified Voting President Pamela Smith observed “Trump has supplied no evidence our voting systems are “rigged”—and to make such a claim in advance of most polls even opening is corrosive to our democratic system and the peaceful transference of power that we have exercised for centuries.” Federal appellate judges questioned assertions by state attorneys and their Republican Party allies that a new Arizona law outlawing “ballot harvesting” does not target minorities. A federal judge in Tallahassee declared that Florida must provide a method for voters to fix signature problems that might arise when they vote by mail in the presidential election.Indiana State Police Supt. Douglas Carter suggested that investigators had uncovered several instances of voter fraud in the state, an allegation that adds fuel to a fiery debate over whether elections are “rigged” and subject to abuse. A federal appeals court laid out the legal reasoning behind its decision earlier this month that allowed thousands of Kansas residents to register to vote without providing documents proving their U.S. citizenship. As a result of a court ruling, Ohio voters who were improperly removed from the rolls after not casting a ballot for several years will be allowed to vote in the November general election. In November, Pennsylvania will once again use voting technology from the ’80s made by the companies that don’t exist anymore. A federal judge extended the voter registration period in Virginia, after the state’s online system crashed, preventing an unknown number of voters from getting on the rolls. A ruling by the Democratic Republic of Congo’s top court approving an electoral commission request to postpone the country’s presidential election by 18 months has compounded fears President Joseph Kabila may try to extend his rule for a third term and leaders of Venezuela’s opposition called on citizens to take to the streets after the country’s electoral commission suspended a drive for a referendum to remove President Nicolás Maduro.