California: Registered to vote at the DMV? Check again. Many who use the new process miss a vital step two | Los Angeles Times

If you’ve visited the DMV in the last few weeks, you may have noticed that you can now complete your voter registration at the same time you renew your driver’s license — without having to fill out a separate form. But it’s a little more complicated than that. Unless voters also stop to answer questions at a computer terminal in another room, they will be registered as having no party preference. Voter advocates say this two-step process could disenfranchise thousands of voters, especially those who still want to vote in the Republican Party’s closed presidential primary. Since the terminals were rolled out April 1, the Department of Motor Vehicles has registered more than 14,000 voters in its offices statewide. Of those, 4,747 people — more than one-third — did not complete questions posed at the touch screens.

Colorado: Presidential preference primary would replace caucusing if House bill is successful | Colorado Springs Gazette

Colorado would hold a presidential preference primary in 2020 instead of caucusing on the nominee under a bill that passed the state House of Representatives preliminarily Thursday evening. The bill was introduced with only a few weeks remaining in the 2016 General Assembly in response to discontent about how the March 1 caucuses for Republicans and Democrats were conducted. It passed on second reading Thursday and now heads to the Senate for consideration. But it is also an insurance policy against a handful of proposed ballot initiatives that would ask voters in November to change Colorado’s primary system. Some of those would get rid of caucuses, but some also propose opening up Colorado’s primary process so unaffiliated voters could participate. Under current law unaffiliated voters would have to change their party registration to participate in that party’s caucus.

Connecticut: Officials Tense, Tight-Lipped On Feds’ Probe Of State ‘Motor Voter’ Program | Hartford Courant

The U.S. Department of Justice’s April 15 threat to sue Connecticut over failures in its “motor voter” program — which is supposed to promote voter registration at Department of Motor Vehicles offices — resulted in a closed-door meeting this past Tuesday aimed at resolving the problem out of court. Under “motor voter” programs that federal law requires states to operate, when someone applies to the DMV for a driver’s license (or a license renewal), that application must also include an opportunity to register to vote. Also, requests to the DMV for a change of address must also be forwarded to voting officials in applicants’ hometowns for updating of voter-registration information.

Georgia: Secretary of State Brian Kemp responds to Justice Department interest | Albany Herald

Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp has responded to Democratic Party of Georgia claims that his office had “attracted the interest” of the federal Justice Department with a barb aimed at department. “The Department of Justice is like a yo-yo. Now they’re against something that they previously approved,” Kemp said Thursday in response to a request from The Albany Herald to comment on the Democratic Party’s statement. Kemp’s office drew the interest of Justice when that federal agency was asked to look into alleged violations of the National Voter Registration and Help America Vote acts by the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office. The charges centered on what the state Democratic Party claims is a purging of legitimate voters from Georgia’s voter rolls.

Oregon: Ballot problems in run-up to primary | The Bulletin

Oregon may have been first on the vote-by-mail train, but that doesn’t mean the ­system doesn’t have kinks. Each primary election, county clerks send out thousands of extra ballots to voters who wait until the last two weeks before the deadline to join a party or make other changes to their registration. This year has been no different. The problem? With more than 2 million ballots to send, clerks have to work ahead of time to package the ballots up for mailing. While the deadline to register, change parties or ask for an Independent Party ballot was April 26, clerks already had prepared millions of ballots, leading thousands statewide to receive a first ballot with their old information and a second ­ballot with the new. High interest during this presidential election has amplified the issue, as voters have flocked to join the major parties to vote in their primaries. County clerks and Secretary of State Jeanne Atkins say the system is working fine, and there’s no need to fear that votes will be counted twice.

Kansas: Prosecutor Looking Into Election Official’s Conduct | Associated Press

A Kansas prosecutor is looking into allegations of misuse of public funds against a top U.S. election executive when he was a county election commissioner in the state, two county officials confirmed Monday. Johnson County spokeswoman Sharon Watson said that the county had concerns over the findings of an audit completed after Brian Newby left Kansas to take a job as executive director of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission in November last year. The federal commission was created in part to help make voting easier but advocates have said Newby has worked for restrictions. “It was appropriate for us to inform the district attorney of what we were finding in the audit and provide him with that information,” Watson said.

Pennsylvania: Common Cause/PA Opposes Electronic Overseas Ballot Measure | CBS

A prominent good-government group says it’s strongly opposed to legislation that would allow military and overseas voters to send their ballots electronically in Pennsylvania elections. Barry Kauffman, executive director of Common Cause/PA, says the current state of the Internet does not make online voting practical. “Every credible Internet and computer security expert says don’t do this,” Kauffman said, “you cannot make a system secure for voting.” But the sponsor of the bill, Fayette County Senate Republican Patrick Stefano, says his measure is not an online voting bill. He says it merely allows overseas voters to submit their paper ballots electronically, by converting them to PDF files and sending them via email.

Virginia: Civic Groups Are Rushing To Register Newly Eligible Ex-Offenders In Virginia | Huffington Post

“I’m just overwhelmed,” John Barbee said, after he finished filling out a voter registration form in the basement of a Baptist church in Richmond Thursday. The 62-year-old, who was released from prison in 1972, had been trying to register for the past eight years but had been stymied repeatedly by Virginia’s strict felony disenfranchisement law. Barbee was able to register Thursday because Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed an executive order on April 22 restoring voting rights to over 200,000 people with past felony convictions who have completed their supervised probation or parole. Previously, ex-offenders had to individually petition the governor to be re-enfranchised. “I had just gave up on the system, period, for trying to help me get registered,” he told The Huffington Post. After he finished filling out the registration form, he turned to his wife. “I feel like a citizen now,” he told her.

Wisconsin: League Of Women Voters Pushes For Voter ID Education Campaign | Wisconsin Public Radio

More than 2 million Wisconsinites voted in the presidential primary election last month, but officials with the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin said the turnout could have been even greater if it weren’t for a lack of knowledge on the state’s voter ID law. Therefore, the nonpartisan organization is advising the Government Accountability Board to request for funding to educate people on Wisconsin’s new voter ID requirements. While Assembly Speaker Robin Vos recently said he wants to review the Government Accountability Board’s request for funding, another Republican state lawmaker has defended the measure and said the high turnout in the April presidential primary is verification that the law works and a voter ID education campaign is a waste of taxpayer dollars.

Australia: Voters urged to update enrolment details as 950,000 missing from electoral roll, AEC says | ABC

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has urged voters to check their enrolment details as the federal election campaign gets underway. The electoral rolls will close on May 23, ahead of a July 2 poll. About 15.5 million people are eligible to vote in the upcoming election, but 950,000 people are missing from the electoral roll. AEC spokesman Phil Diak said the number of young people who were yet to register was a concern. “In round terms, about one in two 18-year-olds and one in four 19-year-olds are not on the roll, so it’s very important that they take action now, and you can do this by going to the AEC’s website and you can enrol conveniently on a PC, smartphone or tablet,” he said.

Austria: Faymann quits as chancellor following far right’s election victory | The Guardian

Austria’s social democratic chancellor has resigned suddenly, becoming the first major political victim of Europe’s refugee crisis after accusations from within his own party that he had caved in to rightwing populist demands to build fences on the country’s borders. Werner Faymann, whose Social Democrats (SPÖ) suffered heavy losses in the first round of the presidential election last month, had initially taken a sympathetic approach to German chancellor Angela Merkel’s policy to support newcomers to Europe. But with opinion polls consistently showing that the Freedom party (FPÖ), a rightwing populist group whose success is built on anti-immigration views and and fears of Islamisation, was topping the popularity stakes, the 56-year-old did an abrupt U-turn. He joined his coalition partners from the centre-right People’s party (ÖVP) in deciding to erect fences on Austria’s borders and, working in tandem with Balkan states on the migrant routes, encouraged them to do the same.

Kenya: Police disperse protests against electoral commission | Associated Press

Kenyan police on Monday tear-gassed Kenya’s main opposition leaders and hundreds of their supporters who were demanding the dissolution of the electoral authority because of alleged bias and corruption. Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka and Senator Moses Wetangula staged a sit-in on the highway outside the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission in Nairobi along with their supporters. Some demonstrators pelted police with stones and police dispersed the demonstrators using tear gas. Kenya is to hold general elections in 15 months and the main opposition leaders have threatened to boycott them if the electoral authority is not reformed.

Philippines: Duterte rival concedes in Philippines elections | CNN

Rodrigo Duterte, whose outspoken commentary — including joking about the rape of a missionary — drew international attention to the Philippines’ national elections, appeared poised to win his country’s presidency Monday after a top rival conceded. Grace Poe made the concession Monday night, according to CNN Philippines, even though formal results will not be announced until June. Early exit polls had shown Duterte, the mayor of Davao City, leading with 38.92% of the votes counted, compared with Poe’s 22.14%, according to the Commission on Elections. “I congratulate Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, and I promise to join in the healing of our nation and to unify our countrymen for our country’s progress,” Poe said, according to CNN Philippines. Poe is a popular senator who was challenged over her citizenship.

United Kingdom: Barnet council chief steps down after election blunder | The Guardian

The chief executive of Barnet council has left his post after an election-day blunder resulted in many people in the north London borough being unable to vote. Andrew Travers has left Barnet council by “mutual agreement” following the fiasco on 5 May, in which thousands of names were missing from electoral lists at the north London authority’s 155 polling stations. Many residents attempting to vote in the mayoral and London assembly elections were turned away, including the chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis. Mirvis was unable to vote and is yet to receive an apology. The council has been unable to say how many of the 236,196 registered voters were turned away. It has launched an investigation into what went wrong and to ensure arrangements for the EU referendum in June are appropriate.

United Kingdom: EU referendum: millions of British expats urged to register to vote | The Guardian

Millions of Britons living abroad are being urged by the Electoral Commission to register to vote by 16 May so they can take part in the EU referendum on 23 June. About 5.5 million British citizens are estimated to live outside the UK, with at least 1.2 million of these living in other EU countries, but only a fraction are on the electoral roll. Anyone who was registered in a UK constituency during the past 15 years is entitled to vote in British elections, but half of British expats are not aware of this fact. A survey of eligible voters by the Electoral Commission, the non-partisan body that oversees elections, found that 30% of people were unsure about the rights of overseas voters, while 20% thought, wrongly, that they were not allowed to vote. The commission surveyed 4,700 people, but mostly those living in Europe, meaning the survey is not representative of all British overseas voters.

Editorials: The Supreme Court’s Next Big Fight Over Money in Politics | Richard Hasen/The Atlantic

At some point next year, the U.S. Supreme Court is likely to face a major First Amendment question: whether to overturn what remains of the 2002 McCain-Feingold Act. This measure prohibited political parties from raising “soft money”—unlimited funds that wealthy individuals, corporations, and labor unions could give to parties, thanks to a loophole in the post-Watergate campaign-finance laws. Such a ruling would allow political parties once again to take millions of additional dollars from donors who, as the Supreme Court found in 2003, use soft money to ingratiate themselves to election officials and secure access to them. How the Court rules is likely to determine whether the wealthiest donors will have an easier path to secure that access—and whether the rest of the country will suffer as a result. A special three-judge federal district court has been convened in Washington, D.C., to consider the law in light of recent campaign-finance rulings by higher courts. The suit, brought by the Republican Party of Louisiana, is being litigated by Jim Bopp, the attorney who successfully navigated Citizens United and other related cases to the Supreme Court. A key argument in the suit is that cases like Citizens United have called into question the constitutionality of the “soft-money” ban. Chief Justice John Roberts, in the 2014 McCutcheon case, seemed to invite such a challenge, raising the possibility that money given to strengthen parties deserves special First Amendment protection.

Arizona: Dark money group leads last-minute effort to speed up campaign finance changes | Tucson Sentinel

Arizona is already poised to relax rules regarding so-called “dark money” groups starting next year, but a last-minute amendment from the state Senate could make the changes go into effect in less than a month. The proposal to accelerate the dark money regulation changes came late Thursday, as an amendment to HB 2296, and originated with the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, a dark money group that spent about $1.7 million during the 2014 election cycle.

California: Elections are a bonanza for signature-gatherers | Associated Press

Steve Kriston is accustomed to insults from shoppers. Some tell him to get a job when he solicits signatures to qualify measures for California’s ballot. This is my job, he responds. It’s a banner year for paid signature-gatherers like Kriston, who came to San Diego after three months working in Orlando, Florida, on state ballot measures there. He is weighing offers to move to Missouri and Minnesota after California’s season ends. The Hungarian immigrant now makes more than the $1,200 to $1,500 a week he earned as a truck driver. In California, always a hotbed for voter initiatives, sponsors are paying up to $5.50 a signature, well above the $1 to $3 in previous statewide elections. “No one has ever seen prices anywhere in this ballpark,” said Steven Maviglio, a longtime political consultant in California.

Colorado: New bill for presidential primary bars unaffiliated voters | The Denver Post

The chance that Colorado’s unaffiliated voters might be able to participate in an open presidential primary in 2020 has dropped — at least for now — after state legislators Friday proposed a new compromise bill. Backed by a bipartisan group of sponsors, the Senate bill was racing to get through the General Assembly in the final days of the session, which ends Wednesday. It would reinstate the primary on the third Tuesday of March for presidential selections — but keep it closed to unaffiliated voters, as the major political parties prefer. The bill, which faces some resistance, raises the stakes before a potential November ballot measure that would force a statewide vote on the issue.

Florida: Bogeyman at the ballot box | Miami Herald

Florida has 12 million registered voters, but the only one named Zakee Furqan stands out. The 42-year-old Jacksonville landscaper voted year after year until police received a complaint that he used to be Leon Nelson, who lost his right to vote when he was convicted of second-degree murder. After Furqan left prison, he registered to vote and swore that he was not a felon, records show. Prosecutors tried Furqan on five felony counts of voter fraud, but the case ended in a hung jury in February after six people could not agree that he broke the law. The Furqan case illustrates that cases of voter fraud are not only rare but hard to prove. Yet the illusion of widespread cheating by voters continues to hover over democracy — like a bogeyman at the ballot box. This is, after all, Florida, a place still haunted by the 2000 recount with its hanging chads and headache-inducing “butterfly ballot.”

Iowa: Democrats hear caucus advice from GOP | Des Moines Register

Democrats considering changes in the Iowa caucus process heard advice Saturday from an unusual source: Republicans. Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Jeff Kaufmann and veteran GOP activist David Oman spoke at the first meeting of the Iowa Democratic Party’s 20-member caucus review committee. The committee was organized after Democrats drew complaints and concerns about their historically close Feb 1. caucuses. Some of the Democrats on the committee indicated an interest in borrowing from the GOP process. Some even suggested using a simple vote to determine the caucus winner rather than intricate dance of preference groups and delegate equivalents that make the Democrats’ process seem obscure and inaccessible.

New York: Elections Board Certifies Primary Vote, Rejects 91,000 Provisional Ballots | The Indypendent

After presiding over a chaotic Democratic presidential primary on April 19, the New York City Board of Elections released its certified election results Friday afternoon showing that it has rejected 91,000 provisional affidavit ballots, or about three out of every four cast that day. Diana Finch, who has served as a poll worker for nearly a decade, said the number of affidavit ballots in her Bronx election district far exceeded the usual number. “The envelopes that are provided to each election district to put the affidavit ballots in were all filled to bursting at my poll site, we had to squeeze the affidavit ballots in,” Finch told The Indypendent. “Clearly the Board of Elections never anticipated having so many affidavits.”

Editorials: The fraud of voter ID | News & Observer

A week after a federal judge upheld sweeping changes in North Carolina voting laws, The New York Times reported that studies focused on the centerpiece of the changes – the requirement of a photo ID to vote – have found that more than 1 in 10 adult Americans lack a government-issued ID and “compared with whites, the share of minorities without photo IDs is far higher.” The Times story focused on elections in Texas where a voter ID law adopted in 2013 continues in effect pending appeal despite being struck down by courts three times. The story cites the campaign of former U.S. Rep. Pete Gallego, who lost his seat by a narrow margin that may well have reflected the effects of the photo ID law. “It’s tremendously undemocratic in a democratic society when you deliberately disenfranchise thousands of people,” he said. “Turnout is good for the system.”

Texas: Voter ID lawsuit abruptly withdrawn in state court | Austin American-Statesman

A lawsuit challenging Texas’ voter ID law, filed by a judge on the state’s highest criminal court, was abruptly withdrawn Wednesday, only one day after a Dallas appeals court heard oral arguments on whether the lawsuit should be allowed to continue. Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Larry Meyers, the only Democrat in statewide office after switching parties in 2013, was seeking to have the voter ID law thrown out, arguing that it exceeded the power granted to the Legislature by the Texas Constitution.

Virginia: State works to help registrars verify felons’ voting rights restored | Richmond Times-Dispatch

Trust, but verify. Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s administration is taking to heart President Ronald Reagan’s famous maxim as the state works with local registrars to verify that felons’ voting rights were restored when the governor signed an order April 22 that opened the door to full civil rights for more than 206,000 Virginians who have done their time for felony convictions. For many, verification has required nothing more than a quick search in one of two state databases fully updated a week after McAuliffe’s order to show when felons’ rights had been restored. Almost 2,100 had registered to vote by midday Thursday.

Editorials: A Second Chance and the Right to Vote | The New York Times

Republican legislators in Virginia are threatening to sue Gov. Terry McAuliffe to block his executive order restoring voting rights to more than 200,000 residents who have completed their felony sentences. The lawmakers have no good legal case, and worse, such a suit would be affirming Virginia’s racist history. Virginia is one of just four states — along with Iowa, Florida and Kentucky — that continue to impose a lifetime voting ban on people convicted of felonies. In recent years, both Democratic and Republican governors have worked to lift this burden, either by streamlining the application process for individuals or trying to restore rights to specific classes of people, like those convicted of nonviolent felonies.

Editorials: Restoring Virginians’ voting rights | The Washington Post

The intent of Virginia’s ban on voting by convicted felons was to weaken the political power of black people, whose electoral clout was abhorrent to the racists who enacted the prohibition a century ago. Today, Virginia Republicans, who have done their utmost to dilute minority voting by enacting arbitrary voter-ID requirements, are animated by the same idea. Determined to block any surge in African American electoral participation in November, which would mainly benefit Democrats, they are planning litigation to challenge Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s executive order that restores voting rights to more than 200,000 former convicts who have finished serving their felony sentences. When Richmond’s GOP leaders embarked on their campaign to tighten voter-ID laws, they could cite no widespread or credible problem with fraud at the polls. Today, similarly, they can point to no constitutional language preventing Mr. McAuliffe, a Democrat, from restoring voting rights to ex-convicts — something that takes place routinely in most states.

West Virginia: Voting problems in Kanawha County may be growing | Charleston Gazette-Mail

The issue of people voting in the wrong delegate district may be bigger than the Kanawha County Clerk originally thought. Vera McCormick’s staff was able to identify 10 people who originally voted in the wrong district — one in Precinct 416, two in Precinct 175, five in Precinct 403 and two in Precinct 277. The problem comes from voters being placed in precincts that don’t correspond with the delegate district in which they live. The clerk’s office has arranged it so that when people from affected areas come in to vote, they will receive a ballot for the correct delegate district. But the problem may be bigger than what McCormick originally stated.

Australia: Prime Minister Makes July 2 Election Official | ABC

Australia’s prime minister on Sunday officially called a July 2 election and put economic management at the forefront of his campaign to win a second three-year term for his conservative coalition during an era of extraordinary volatility in the country’s politics. Kicking off a two-month election campaign, Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull said a center-left Labor Party win would prevent the Australian economy diversifying from a mining industry that had been hit hard by the Chinese slowdown and the associated falls in the prices of iron ore and coal, Australia’s most lucrative exports.