National: Ex-CIA Chief: Worries Grew of Trump Campaign Contacts to Russia | Reuters

Former CIA director John Brennan said on Tuesday he had noticed contacts between associates of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia during the 2016 election and grew concerned Moscow had sought to lure Americans down “a treasonous path.” Brennan, who headed the agency until Trump became president in January, also told a congressional hearing that he personally warned the head of Russia’s FSB security service in a phone call last August that meddling in the election would hurt relations with the United States.

National: Trump asked intelligence chiefs to push back against FBI collusion probe after Comey revealed its existence | The Washington Post

President Trump asked two of the nation’s top intelligence officials in March to help him push back against an FBI investigation into possible coordination between his campaign and the Russian government, according to current and former officials. Trump made separate appeals to the director of national intelligence, Daniel Coats, and to Adm. Michael S. Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency, urging them to publicly deny the existence of any evidence of collusion during the 2016 election. Coats and Rogers refused to comply with the requests, which they both deemed to be inappropriate, according to two current and two former officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private communications with the president.

National: Republican redistricting is taking a beating in the courts (again) | The Washington Post

This year, federal courts have been litigating a steady stream of gerrymandering claims. And most of the electoral maps the courts have knocked down were drawn by Republicans. That’s good news for Democrats: They have an opportunity in several states to draw more favorable congressional and state legislative maps ahead of 2018 elections. And every seat counts, given the 2020 Census is right around the corner, which brings with it the opportunity in many states to draw new district maps. Some Republican legislatures are paying the price for capturing 21 chambers in the 2010 elections, the last time electoral maps were being drawn. Monday, North Carolina became the third GOP-controlled state legislature in a row to get its map-drawing skills declared illegal by the Supreme Court.

Florida: 1.7 million in Florida disenfranchised by ex felon voting ban | St. Augustine Record

It’s been 22 years since Xavier Thomas was released from prison in Georgia. In that time, Thomas has gone on to get married and have three children. He’s opened up his own business and been a taxpayer. He’s stayed clean and out of trouble. But 44-year-old Thomas still cannot vote. He can’t sit on a jury or serve in office. He wouldn’t be able to apply for a gun permit if he wanted one. In short, because of his record as an ex-felon, Thomas is not afforded the civil rights others who have not done time may take for granted. Like so many other former convicts in Florida, Thomas is considered a second-class citizen in the eyes of the law.

Georgia: Johns Creek Election May Be Illegitimate, Voting Group Alleges | Johns Creek Patch

The results of a special Johns Creek City Council election held April 18 may not be legitimate, according to a report by the nonprofit group VoterGA. The report focuses its critique on alleged security flaws in voting machines and says the election was improperly scheduled. Three separate elections were held that night: the Johns Creek City Council election, the Roswell City Council run-off and the Sixth District Congressional race. … But there were problems in the Johns Creek election, according to VoterGA.

Massachusetts: Minorities sue Lowell over voting rights | Lowell Sun

A coalition of 13 Asian-American and Latino Lowell residents on Thursday filed a federal voting-rights lawsuit against the city, alleging that Lowell’s municipal election system discriminates against minorities. Plaintiffs say the use of citywide at-large elections for all seats on the City Council and School Committee dilutes the combined electoral strength of minority voters in Lowell, violating the federal Voting Rights Act, as well as the United States Constitution, according to a release from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice (LCCR), a Boston-based private, non-profit, non-partisan legal organization that provides pro bono legal representation to victims of discrimination based on race or national origin.

Michigan: Bill Aims To Boost Fee For Election Recount When Margin Isn’t Close | Associated Press

Legislation up for a vote in the Michigan Senate would double the fee for losing candidates to file recount petitions if they are down by more than 5 percentage points. The bill is a response to Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein’s recount last fall despite her winning 1 percent of the vote. The Republican-sponsored measure to be approved Tuesday would increase recount fees from $125 per precinct to $250 if losing candidates are behind by more than 5 points.

Montana: Special election costs counties big money | NBC

It’s not often the state has a massive election just six months after deciding the president. Montanans know how high the stakes are. “It’s one of the basic requirements of citizenship is to go out and take part and vote,” Flathead County voter Rod Ayres said. But Montana’s special election, scheduled to take place Thursday between Democrat Rob Quist, Republican Greg Gianforte and Libertarian Mark Wicks, is costing local election offices big money. Montana’s lone U.S. House seat is vacant following Ryan Zinke’s appointment to Secretary of the Interior. We made calls around the region to find out how much this election costs.

New Hampshire: Disagreement at State House over payment for Gardner’s participation on Trump election commission | WMUR

Top Democrats and Republicans in the New Hampshire Legislature disagreed Monday on whether Secretary of State William Gardner should use taxpayer funds and state time for his activities as a member of President Donald Trump’s Commission on Election Integrity. House Democratic Leader Steve Shurtleff asked Gardner to participate on his own time and not use state money. But Republican House Speaker Shawn Jasper and Senate Majority Leader Jeb Bradley disagreed and said the state should pay for Gardner’s travel to and from — and participation in — commission meetings.

Texas: Voter ID bill to be heard Wednesday in House | Times Record News

A dying bill that would have revisited Texas’ flawed voter ID law will be debated on the House floor Wednesday after it was jolted back to life by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. The legislation, Senate Bill 5, cleared the upper chamber in March but had been withering in the House ever since. However, as the 2017 legislative session enters its final week, Abbott declared the measure a legislative emergency. That means it moves to the head of the House calendar on Wednesday, the final day for the lower chamber consider legislation likely to see organized opposition.

Texas: Federal judge urges Texas to consider special session for redistricting after North Carolina ruling | Dallas Morning News

In striking down North Carolina’s congressional district map, the Supreme Court sent Texas a firm warning Monday about how the state’s case may fare if it reaches that stage. Hours after the ruling, the federal district court in San Antonio currently overseeing the Texas case issued an order to the relevant parties asking them to submit briefs detailing how the North Carolina ruling will affect their claims, with a deadline of June 6. Judge Xavier Rodriguez, on behalf of the panel, also directed Texas to consider whether it would like to “voluntarily undertake redistricting in a special session” of the legislature in light of the North Carolina ruling, giving the state until Friday to decide.

Albania: Parliament Approves Pre-Election Cabinet Shakeup | Associated Press

Albania’s parliament has approved a government shake-up as part of a compromise worked out between political parties before next month’s parliamentary election. The unanimous vote on Monday came after President Bujar Nishani issued decrees naming the opposition’s recommendations for deputy prime minister and six other ministerial posts: interior, education, health, social wellbeing, finance and justice. A three-month opposition boycott of parliament ended last week with an agreement between the governing Socialist Party and the opposition-led Democratic Party that was mediated by U.S. and European Union officials.

Iran: High Kurdish turnout in Iran elections despite opposition boycot | Rudaw

Over 58 percent of eligible voters have cast their ballots in the four predominately Kurdish provinces in Iran, despite Kurdish opposition groups’ joint call to boycott the votes in the run up to the polls in April, preliminary statistics from the election committees show. Iran held simultaneous elections for the post of the president and legislative seats in city councils across the country on Friday. Kermanshah province, a mainly Kurdish region with large Persian speaking populations had over 75 percent turnout, well above national average of around 73 percent.

Nepal: Parties in final phase to select candidates for second round polls | Republica

With the second round of the local elections now just 23 days away, major political parties in Province-1 are almost done finalizing their candidates to compete in various positions of their local units. Motivated by the overwhelming participation of voters in the first round of the elections, parties are working with full energy to finalize their candidates so that they will have more time to prepare for the fierce and competitive elections ahead. Province-1, which consists of 14 districts, will hold the elections for its 1,157 ward members. The upcoming election slated for June 14 will elect a total of 137 mayors, deputy mayors and rural municipality chiefs from this province, which has 2,674,563 eligible voters. Election Officers of the districts in the province has fixed 1,862 polling centers, according to Regional Election Office, Biratnagar.

Editorials: The Tories promised to give expats the vote last year. It was a whopper | Giles Tremlett/The Guardian

In the rough-and-tumble of democracy, a general election is that magic moment when you kick out a politician who has reneged on their promises, or reward one who has fulfilled them. The genius, or cynicism, of Theresa May’s early election is that, after so few months of government, she has no real record to study. But here, for those wondering about her ability to flout any of her own government’s solemn pledges, is a whopper that has left millions of UK citizens in the lurch. In October her minister for the constitution, Chris Skidmore, made a clear and unequivocal pledgeto bring UK citizens living abroad back into the democratic fold, by allowing them to vote, before the next election. This was especially important to those whose lives are most traumatically affected by Brexit because they live elsewhere in the EU.