North Carolina: Veto fight ahead over elections board rewrite | WRAL

State legislative leaders and Gov. Roy Cooper are likely headed for another veto fight, this time over a measure that would reconfigure the state’s oversight of elections, ethics and lobbying. Lawmakers sent the bill to Cooper’s desk Tuesday. In December 2016 during a special session, state lawmakers approved a proposal to do away with the existing State Board of Elections and replace it with the state’s ethics board, half appointed by the governor and the other half appointed by state lawmakers. That law also gave Republicans control of all local elections boards in each election year. Cooper sued to block the law, saying it violated the separation of powers in the state constitution, and a three-judge panel agreed last month. Senate Bill 68 is an attempt to revive some of that enjoined law, crafted to avoid the constitutional pitfalls that plagued the first version.

Oregon: State to spare 60,000 voters from inactive status | Statesman Journal

In Oregon — where its first-in-the-nation automatic-voter registration system has been hailed as a pioneer in knocking down voter-access barriers — it takes just five years of failing to participate in an election before a registered voter gets knocked from the active voter rolls and no longer receives a ballot in the mail. Roughly 400,000 registered Oregonian voters have been flagged as inactive at some point in time, a number that this year is expected to grow by another 30,000 who registered during the 2012 general election when President Barack Obama was up for re-election. For Secretary of State Dennis Richardson, five years isn’t long enough. So this year, he’s doubling that timeline to 10 years.

Texas: Voter ID law was designed to discriminate against minorities, judge rules | The Washington Post

Dealing Texas another rebuke over voting rights, a judge Monday again ruled that Republican lawmakers purposefully designed a strict voter ID law to disadvantage minorities and effectively dampen their growing electoral power. It amounted to the second finding of intentional discrimination in Texas election laws in two months. A different court in March ruled that Republicans racially gerrymandered several congressional districts when drawing voting maps in 2011, the same year the voter ID rules were passed. Neither ruling has any immediate impact. But the decisions are significant because they raise the possibility of Texas being stripped of the right to unilaterally change its election laws without federal approval. Forcing Texas to once again seek federal permission — known as “preclearance” — has been a goal of Democrats and rights groups since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the rule in 2013.

Texas: Lawmakers consider election law change for language interpreters | The Texas Tribune

Almost three years after Mallika Das, a naturalized citizen who spoke Bengali, was unable to vote properly because she was not proficient in English, Texas lawmakers are considering a change to an obscure provision of Texas election law regarding language interpreters. Members of the Senate State Affairs Committee on Monday took up Senate Bill 148 by Democratic state Sen. Sylvia Garcia of Houston, which would repeal a section of the state’s election code that requires interpreters to be registered voters in the same county in which they are providing help. The measure will ensure that voters are able “to meaningfully and effectively exercise their vote,” Garcia told the committee. “This ensures that voters have the capacity to navigate polling stations, communicate with election officers and understand how to fill out required forms and answer questions directed at them by any election officer.”

Utah: Navajo Say Utah County Can’t Dodge Voting Rights Suit | Law360

The Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission told a Utah federal judge that Utah’s San Juan County can’t dodge its bid to find the county liable for failing to provide equal opportunities to vote to Navajo citizens, saying that a 2016 plan by the county didn’t provide equally accessible polling places to Navajo voters seeking to vote in person. The commission and a handful of Navajo citizens on Friday replied to the defendant’s opposition to their motion for summary judgment in a suit against San Juan County and some of its officials that claims the county’s voting procedures hinder Navajo citizens’ ability to participate in the political process on equal terms with white voters, in violation of the Voting Rights Act and the 14th Amendment.

Virginia: Attorney general declines to issue opinion on voting machine security in Botetourt | Roanoke Times

The state attorney general’s office has declined to issue a legal opinion on whether it’s a conflict for a Botetourt County elected official to share office space with the voting machines to be used in the next election. The county’s electoral board sought the opinion last month, after questioning whether it should continue to store the machines in the same Fincastle building where Commonwealth’s Attorney Joel Branscom recently relocated his office. Although no one suggested that Branscom or his staff would tamper with — or even touch — the machines, election officials said they were concerned about the appearances of the new arrangement.

Bulgaria: President Demands Curbs on ‘Foreign Interference’ | Balkan Insight

In an address to the nation on Tuesday, Radev called on the new parliament which will start work on April 19 to take steps to prevent the recurrence of what he called “significant problems” at snap elections last month. He said Bulgaria had witnessed “targeted attempt from abroad to influence the electoral results” – indirectly referring to Turkey’s agitation in favour of DOST, a recently-formed ethnic Turkish-dominated party, which resulted in the extradition of several Turkish officials by the Bulgarian authorities prior to the vote. “The problems remain after the election. They do not end with external interference, there are targeted attempts at deep and systematic infiltration and influence over society and political life in the country,” Radev said.

Cambodia: Audit Gives Thumbs-Up To Voter List; Doubts Linger | The Cambodia Daily

Rectifying one of the greatest sources of outrage and discontent surrounding previous elections, the voter list compiled for upcoming commune elections has passed an audit with flying colors, though commentators remain skeptical as to whether the country will actually witness free and fair elections on June 4. The Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (Comfrel) on Tuesday published its full report on the completely remade voter list, following the NGO coalition’s release of a summary at a news conference last week. “This audit found that there are significant improvements on the quality of the 2016 voter list in its completeness, currency, and accuracy compared with the previous voter list,” Comfrel’s report says.

Ecuador: Election Recount: Lasso Loses 100 Votes, Moreno up 143 | teleSUR

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa confirmed Tuesday that with the recount requested by the right-wing opposition, former presidential candidate Guillermo Lasso lost 100 votes, while President elect Lenin Moreno gained an additional 143 votes. After coming in 2 percent behind Moreno in the April 2 run-off vote, Lasso alleged the elections were fraudulent, basing his claims largely on favorable exit polls that has projected a win for him and his running mate Andres Paez. Days later, after the National Electoral Council, known as CNE, officially delcared Moreno the winner with more than 99 percent of votes counted, Lasso requested a vote-by-vote recount.

France: Spectre of Russian influence looms large over French election | The Guardian

The golden domes of one of Vladimir Putin’s foreign projects, the recently built Russian Holy Trinity cathedral in the heart of Paris, rise up not far from the Elysée palace, the seat of the French presidency. Dubbed “Putin’s cathedral” or “Saint-Vladimir”, it stands out as a symbol of the many connections the French elite has long nurtured with Russia, and which the Kremlin is actively seeking to capitalise on in the run-up to the French presidential election. France is an important target for Russia’s soft power and networks of influence. The country is a key pillar of the European Union, an important Nato member and home to Europe’s largest far-right party, the Front National, whose leader, Marine Le Pen, is expected to reach the 7 May run-off in the presidential vote and has benefited from Russian financing.

India: Police clamp down on Kashmir transport after poll violence kills eight | Reuters

Indian police on Monday imposed curfew-like curbs on movement of people across several parts of disputed Kashmir, a day after clashes with protesters during a by-election killed eight people and injured more than 200. Separatist factions in Kashmir called for a two-day strike in protest. Their calls to boycott the poll in Srinagar, and the ensuing violence, resulted in voter turnout of a mere 7 percent on Sunday and forced 70 polling stations to shut down. During clashes in Budgam district, police initially used tear gas against protesters who were throwing stones, but then opened fire, killing seven people, a senior police official told Reuters. One protester was killed in a separate incident. Security was beefed up on Monday across the Himalayan region, with police blocking roads with barricades and restricting movement of vehicles. Some train services were also suspended in the region, a railway official said.

Indonesia: Some 15,000 lose voting rights in Jakarta election | The Jakarta Post

Following months of protest by the Anies Baswedan camp concerning the possible manipulation of voter registration, the Jakarta Elections Commission (KPU Jakarta) has stripped the voting rights of more than 15,000 people in the Jakarta gubernatorial election. KPU commissioner Mochammad Sidik said Tuesday that most of the 15,000 voters had been declared ineligible to vote as their identity numbers and family card numbers were not included in commission data.

Mexico: Fears grow that Russia could meddle in Mexican election | The Hill

Fears that Russia could meddle in next year’s Mexican presidential election are growing. While there is no hard evidence to suggest that Moscow will be involved in the contest, its effort to disrupt last year’s U.S. election and reports that it is trying to affect elections in Europe have augmented concerns. “Russia meddles in elections, we know that,” said Christopher Wilson, deputy director of the Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute. Sen. Armando Ríos Piter of the center-left Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) told The Hill on Monday that the prospect of Russian interference in Mexican elections “must not be minimized. If [Russia] intervened in the United States, there’s every reason to think that Mexico is a target for attack,” said Ríos Piter, who recently launched an independent presidential bid.

Russia: G7 voices concerns about cyber interference in elections | The Hill

Foreign ministers of the Group of 7 (G7) countries are voicing concerns about cyber interference in the democratic process, after their meeting in Italy on Tuesday. A declaration issued by the foreign ministers of the United States, Britain, and other member states on responsible behavior in cyber space all but singles out Russia for using cyber intrusions to meddle in democratic elections. “We are increasingly concerned about cyber-enabled interference in democratic political processes,” the declaration published on Tuesday states. The declaration says that international law and the United Nations Charter applies to the use of communications and information technology, and that states that fall victim to malicious cyber activities are under international law allowed to take “proportionate countermeasures.”

Serbia: Protesters demand departure of entire Serbian political elite | InSerbia News

A new protest was held in Belgrade on Monday evening by citizens dissatisfied with the outcome of the April 2 presidential election in Serbia. Serbian PM Aleksandar Vucic won the vote in the first round. The protesters gathered for the eight time and marched from the National Assembly, past several media outlets – where they made short stops and expressed their dissatisfaction, including state broadcaster RTS, tabloid Informer, and Studio B broadcaster – as well as past the Serbian government and the Electoral Commission (RIK). They carried banners with anti-government messages and those demanding fair and free elections and freedom of the media.

United Kingdom: Foreign states may have interfered in Brexit vote, report says | The Guardian

Foreign governments such as Russia and China may have been involved in the collapse of a voter registration website in the run-up to the EU referendum, a committee of MPs has claimed. A report by the Commons public administration and constitutional affairs committee (PACAC) said MPs were deeply concerned about the allegations of foreign interference in last year’s Brexit vote. The committee does not identify who may have been responsible, but has noted that both Russia and China use an approach to cyber-attacks based on an understanding of mass psychology and of how to exploit individuals. The findings follow repeated claims that Russia has been involved in trying to influence the US and French presidential elections.

National: U.S. Crackdown on Russian Hackers Ensnares Notorious Spammer | Bloomberg

U.S. efforts to disrupt Russian hacking rings took another step as a 10-year pursuit of a Russian man whom U.S. prosecutors called one of the world’s most notorious email spammers ended with his arrest in Spain last week. Peter Levashov, of St. Petersburg, Russia, hacked into email and bank accounts of thousands of Americans, federal prosecutors said Monday in a statement. They said he also operated under the name Peter Severa, who is among the top 10 of the world’s worst spammers, according to a list maintained by the antispam organization Spamhaus. The arrest is part of a crackdown on Russian hackers accused of targeting everything from financial institutions to the U.S. presidential election. U.S. intelligence agencies believe that Russia orchestrated computer attacks to meddle with the election last fall, including a break-in to systems operated by the Democratic National Committee. That investigation is underway, and no charges have been filed.

Editorials: Using randomness to protect election integrity | Eugene Vorobeychik/The Conversation

Democratic societies depend on trust in elections and their results. Throughout the 2016 presidential election, and since President Trump’s inauguration, allegations of Russian involvement in the U.S. presidential campaign have raised concerns about how vulnerable American elections are to hacking or other types of interference. Various investigations – involving congressional committees, the FBI and the intelligence community – are underway, seeking to understand what happened and how. There are many potential problems with elections: Voters can be individually coerced or bribed into changing their votes; the public can be misled about important facts, causing them to draw inaccurate conclusions that affect their votes; and the physical – and electronic – process of voting can itself be hacked. Without conducting a full, vote-by-vote manual recount, which is impossible because many voting machines leave no paper trail, how can we be sure an election was conducted fairly and not interfered with?

Delaware: Bills would move local primaries; allow for early voting | The News Journal

Delawareans would be able to vote early, would be automatically registered to vote at the DMV, and would vote in local primary elections and presidential primary at the same time if a trio of bills passes the General Assembly. The goal of all three proposals is to encourage more people to vote, the sponsors say. Rep. David Bentz, D-Christiana, sponsored a bill that would allow citizens to vote in the 10 days leading up to any general, primary or special election. There would be one early-voting polling place in each county, plus one in Wilmington. “We should try to make it so that our elections fit into the people’s schedules, and not where people should have to fit their schedule into the government’s,” Bentz said.

Illinois: Both sides agree legislative mapping should change, details on how and when are murky | Illinois News Network

Republicans and Democrats apparently agree. The way Illinois draws legislative district maps needs to change. But there’s disagreement on how and when to get it done. After every 10-year Census, the majority political party – Democrats for decades in Illinois – redraws the state’s legislative maps. Critics say that lets politicians pick their voters instead of voters picking their politicians. Even former President Barack Obama supports redistricting reform. A citizen-led effort to change the process failed to get in front of voters last year after an attorney with ties to the state’s leading Democrats, including Speaker Michael Madigan, successfully blocked the initiative just before a ballot-printing deadline.

Iowa: Political back-and-forth continues on voter ID bill at Iowa Capitol | Des Moines Register

A bill that would enact voter identification requirements continues to inch forward in the Iowa Legislature as lawmakers make a final push to close out the session. The Iowa House debated House File 516 into the night Monday. The legislation would make significant changes to the state’s election laws that Republicans say are needed to ensure the integrity of the process and prevent fraud. But Democrats contend the measure is about “voter suppression,” and they offered an amendment that would have vastly expanded the types of accepted identification to include things like student IDs, tribal IDs, Medicare cards and hunting licenses. The amendment was voted down by the House’s Republican majority.

Iowa: Secretary Of State’s Office Released Statistics That Its Own Staff Objected To | The Huffington Post

In an effort to highlight voter irregularities and push for stricter voting laws, Iowa’s top election official pushed statistics on alleged voter fraud that even a member of his own staff privately suggested were misleading, emails obtained by the Huffington Post reveal. This past January, Iowa’s Secretary of State Paul Pate (R) introduced a bill that required those who wanted to cast a ballot to show official identification, eliminated straight party voting, and established post election audits of the vote. This effort was part of a nationwide push by Republicans to enforce voter ID laws, even though voter fraud is virtually nonexistent. And to sell the measure, his office did what other Republicans have as well: it argued that while there’s been no evidence of voter fraud in Iowa, elections are insecure and could potentially be cheated.

Montana: Time Running Out For Mail-Only Voting In U.S. House Race | MTPR

County election officials need to know this week if a last-ditch effort to run next month’s special congressional election by mail will pass the state Legislature. Next week, counties across the state will start finalizing their list of voters who will cast absentee ballots in that election. On Friday Governor Steve Bullock revived efforts to get the Legislature to OK letting county clerks run mail-only balloting in the special election. The state Senate had already OK’d a bill to do that, but it was killed in a Republican-controlled House committee. So Bullock added mail-balloting language to a an unrelated bill, giving it what’s called an “amendatory veto,” and sent it back to legislative leaders for a vote. But House Republican leaders haven’t scheduled it for a vote, and aren’t talking to the press about Bullock’s action.

North Carolina: Senate puts brakes on ethics/elections merger bill | News & Observer

The state Senate on Monday night voted not to go along with a House bill that would merge the ethics and elections commissions. Instead, the bill was sent to a conference committee of Senate and House members to work out a compromise. Gov. Roy Cooper said last week he would veto the bill because it curtails voting rights. It also deprives the governor of the power to control the boards through appointments.

Texas: Federal Judge Says Texas Voter ID Law Intentionally Discriminates | The New York Times

A federal judge ruled on Monday that the voter identification law the Texas Legislature passed in 2011 was enacted with the intent to discriminate against black and Hispanic voters, raising the possibility that the state’s election procedures could be put back under federal oversight. In a long-running case over the legality of one of the toughest voter ID laws in the country, the judge found that the law violated the federal Voting Rights Act. The judge, Nelva Gonzales Ramos of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, had made a similar ruling in 2014, but after Texas appealed her decision, a federal appellate court instructed her to review the issue once more. The appeals court — the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans — found that Judge Ramos had relied too heavily on Texas’ history of discriminatory voting measures and other evidence it labeled “infirm” and asked her to reweigh the question of discriminatory intent.

Texas: Study: Texas voter education campaign failed to prevent ID confusion | The Texas Tribune

Texas’ court-ordered $2.5 million voter education campaign failed to prevent widespread confusion about the state’s identification rules ahead of the 2016 general election, according to a study released Monday. And such a misunderstanding may have kept some eligible voters in key political battlegrounds from showing up to the polls, the University of Houston study found. A federal judge last year ordered the Texas Secretary of State’s office to spend $2.5 million educating Texans about its voter ID requirements ahead of the 2016 elections. The requirements were relaxed after a federal appeals court last year ruled that Texas’ strict 2011 ID law discriminated against minority voters. The education efforts — a mix of television and radio advertisements and online media — fell short, the research suggested.

Albania: Opposition rally threatens to disrupt local election | Associated Press

Albania’s opposition parties said Monday they plan to hold a national protest in a western city that is holding local elections, a possible warning that they plan to disrupt voting. The city of Kavaja is holding an election on May 7 because the former mayor’s mandate was canceled due to his criminal past. Lulzim Basha, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, said a rally would be held the same day to prevent “facade elections.” The opposition doesn’t trust the left-wing government to hold the election in a fair manner. They think the current coalition government will manipulate the vote by buying ballots with drug money.

Georgia (Sakartvelo): Tbilisi Condemns Illegal Elections and Referendum in Breakaway Tskhinvali | Georgia Today

Official Tbilisi condemns the presidential election and referendum held on 9 April 2017 in occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) Region of Georgia. Georgia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has released an official statement, saying any elections or referendum in the occupied territories of Georgia are illegal and cannot have any legal effect. “This provocative act by the Russian occupation forces grossly violates the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia and represents yet another attempt to legitimize the consequences of several waves of ethnic cleansing, military invasion and ongoing occupation of Georgian regions,” the statement reads. The MFA says that holding the referendum on changing the name of one of the oldest Georgian regions into “Republic of South Ossetia — State of Alania” is aimed at laying the ground for its illegal annexation.

India: 16 Opposition parties ask Election Commission to revert to paper ballots | Deccan Herald

Sixteen Opposition parties on Monday approached the Election Commission expressing no confidence in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs)and demanded elections through paper ballots. The concerted action follows a series of meetings between Opposition leaders, a few initiated by Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, to forge a rainbow coalition against the BJP that has shown aggression in expanding its horizons after the electoral successes in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Senior Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Ahmed Patel held a strategy meeting on Monday morning that was attended by leaders of eight parties – the NCP, JD(U), CPI, CPM, SP, BSP, Trinamool Congress and the RJD. Azad and Patel also met Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to seek her support for the joint action against the use of EVMs.

Serbia: Thousands protest Serbia presidential outcome for 7th day | Associated Press

Thousands of people protested for the seventh consecutive day Sunday against the presidential election victory of Serbia’s powerful Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, amid fresh allegations by the opposition of a rigged vote count. The protests by mostly young people have been held every day since last Sunday’s election, in which Vucic polled 55 percent of the vote and avoided a runoff. Opposition groups have alleged irregularities, including muzzling of the media during the campaign and voter intimidation and Election Day bribe. Sasa Jankovic, the liberal candidate who placed a distant second in the race, alleged Sunday that ballots from 25 polling stations showed evidence of massive fraud in Vucic’s favor. Vucic denied the allegation and told the state electoral commission to do a recount from two of the mentioned voting stations.