California: ACLU Sues Over Voters’ Discarded Ballots | Courthouse News

The American Civil Liberties Union says California election officials may have discarded over 45,000 ballots during the November 2016 election without notifying the affected voters. The ACLU sued California Secretary of State Alex Padilla and Sonoma County Registrar of Voters William Rousseau, saying the state’s practice of tossing ballots when voter signatures don’t match is a violation of the state Constitution. “By statutory mandate, tens of thousands of California voters, including petitioners, are disenfranchised each election without even knowing their fundamental right to vote has been usurped,” the ACLU said in its petition, filed Aug. 23 in the First Appellate District. California’s appeals courts have constitutional jurisdiction over cases of public importance that must be resolved quickly.

National: The Trump administration isn’t ready for the 2020 Census | The Washington Post

The census, one of the most important activities our government undertakes, is under threat by uncertain funding and a leadership vacuum at a crucial moment. As former directors of the U.S. Census Bureau, serving in both Republican and Democratic administrations, we urge President Trump to act swiftly and the Senate to cooperate in naming a new director as the 2020 Census nears. The immediate task is to nominate someone who can provide stability through the final years of the decade, explain the importance of the agency’s mission compellingly, address Congress’s fiscal concerns and be ready for full immersion in the important tasks at hand.

Editorials: It’s time to start punishing public officials who disenfranchise voters | Catherine Rampell/The Washington Post

In the federal government and in most states, there are consequences when governments deprive Americans of their constitutional right to liberty — through, say, wrongful imprisonment. So why aren’t there more meaningful consequences when states deprive Americans of their constitutional right to vote? Again and again, “voter fraud” has been shown to be virtually nonexistent. Yet in the name of eradicating this imagined scourge, state officials around the country have been systemically and aggressively disenfranchising American citizens. To prevent a handful of votes from possibly being cast illegally, officials purge thousands of eligible voters from state rolls, toss ballots and pass modern-day poll taxes.

Alaska: Activists express concerns over changes still needed for native voting rights | KTUU

Facing a civil rights advisory committee, multiple Alaskans expressed concerns over Alaska Native voting rights Thursday. From challenges with location to overcoming language barriers, a group of activists discussed some of the changes they say are still needed to improve Alaska Native voting rights, particularly for those in rural areas. In 2014, a ruling in a historic lawsuit shifted the way 29 communities of voters understand election information. As part of the settlement for the Toyukak v. Treadwell lawsuit voting materials were translated into Yup’ik and Gwich’in languages. Changes, Indra Arriaga, the elections language assistance compliance manager for the state of Alaska division of elections said could be seen in the 2016 Presidential Election.

California: A lawsuit claims absentee ballots were wrongly rejected because of ‘penmanship’ problems | Los Angeles Times

A lawsuit filed in a California appeals court on Thursday alleges the ballots of as many as 45,000 voters weren’t counted in November because of the state’s flawed rules for verifying the signatures of those who vote by mail. The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California on behalf of a Sonoma County voter who said his ballot wasn’t counted after his signature on the ballot envelope was deemed to not match the one that elections officials had on file. “People should not be denied their right to vote because a government official doesn’t like their penmanship, but that’s exactly what is happening in California,” said Michael Risher, an ACLU staff attorney, in a written statement.

California: Democrats push new election rules to help Josh Newman | The Sacramento Bee

Senate Democrats have put forward another bill to boost the political prospects of embattled state Sen. Josh Newman, the target of a well-funded recall effort on the verge of qualifying for the ballot. The effort to oust Newman, D-Fullerton, began soon after his April 6 vote for a road-funding plan that will raise taxes on gas and diesel fuel and increase vehicle fees by billions of dollars. Newman, who represents an area that has long had Republican representation, won election last fall by just 2,498 votes. Kicking him out would eliminate Democrats’ two-thirds edge in the Senate – and the ability to raise taxes and put constitutional amendments on the ballot without GOP support.

Florida: Corcoran gets push-back on public campaign finance repeal | Palm Beach Post

Florida Senate Appropriations Chairman Jack Latvala was quick to respond this week to House Speaker Richard Corcoran’s call to abolish public financing for statewide elections. Corcoran, R-Land O’Lakes, wants the Constitution Revision Commission to place a measure on the 2018 general election ballot that would eliminate the financing system, which offers to candidates matching state funds for individual contributions up to $250. Under the system, candidates also pledge to cap their overall expenditures. Corcoran, who is considering a run for governor, called the system “welfare for politicians,” noting that more than $10 million in public funding supported candidates running for governor and the three state Cabinet seats in the 2010 and 2014 elections. But Latvala, a Clearwater Republican who is an announced candidate for governor and might use public financing in his campaign, said it is a non-issue in a race that should focus on the bigger problems facing the nation’s third-largest state.

Illinois: State officials put off decision on Trump panels request for voter data | Chicago Tribune

The State Board of Elections put off a decision Tuesday on the latest request for Illinois voter information made by a panel formed by President Donald Trump to look into his claims of voting irregularities in last year’s presidential election. Instead, the board is sending a letter requesting more information about the purpose of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. Illinois officials also want to know whether any information provided truly could be kept confidential, as the federal panel pledged and as Illinois law requires. The privacy issue is a critical one for state election officials. In early July, the bipartisan elections board rejected an initial appeal for “publicly available” voter data by the federal panel because, under Illinois law, it had no such information available that could be publicly disclosed.

Kansas: The Hardscrapple Controversy of Discarded Votes | Associated Press

A conservative firebrand promoting President Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud oversees a Kansas election system that threw out at least three times as many ballots as any similarly sized state did, fueling concerns about massive voter suppression should its practices become the national standard. Only six states — all among the top 10 in population — discarded more votes during the 2016 election than the 33rd-largest state of Kansas, according to data collected by the bipartisan U.S. Election Assistance Commission, a federal agency that certifies voting systems. Kansas’ 13,717 rejected ballots even topped the 13,461 from Florida, which has about seven times as many residents. Critics of Kansas’ election system argue its unusually high number of discarded ballots reflects policies shaped over several elections that have resulted in many legitimate voters being kept off voter rolls in an effort to crack down on a few illegitimate ones.

North Carolina: Alternate maps of districts released to address gerrymandering | News & Observer

The challengers who forced the redrawing of maps used to elect N.C. General Assembly members have drawn lines of their own that they hope legislators will consider before changing the districts. In a letter sent Wednesday to legislative redistricting committees and attorneys representing the lawmakers, Anita Earls and Edwin Speas, lawyers for the challengers, contended that their analyses show the new district lines drawn by Republican mapmaker Tom Hofeller do not fix the old problem and create legal questions.

North Carolina: Jones County settles federal voting rights lawsuit | Charlotte Observer

A rural North Carolina county could elect black candidates to serve on its governing board for the first time in more than 20 years, because of a court settlement reached this week in a voting rights lawsuit. A national civil rights organization sued in February on behalf of black voters who alleged racial discrimination in how commissioners are elected in Jones County, 100 miles (161 kilometers) southeast of Raleigh. Rather than continue costly litigation, the two sides reached an agreement in which at-large elections for the five commissioner posts will be replaced with a system in which seven commissioners are elected in specific districts. The change, approved by a federal judge, will take place for the 2018 elections.

South Dakota: Open primaries campaign to get $140K boost | Associated Press

A national nonprofit has pledged $140,000 to help supporters of a constitutional amendment that would move South Dakota to an open primary system for many races, the nonprofit’s spokesman said Tuesday. New York-based Open Primaries is supporting the amendment campaign’s signature-gathering efforts, spokesman Jeremy Gruber said. The proposed amendment would have the top two finishers in a primary advance to the general election regardless of party. Backers of the amendment hope to start gathering signatures around Sept. 1, campaign chairman Joe Kirby of Sioux Falls said. They must submit nearly 28,000 valid signatures to the secretary of state by November 2017 for the amendment to appear on the 2018 ballot.

Editorials: The German Election Season Is Quiet. Too Quiet. | Jochen Bittner/The New York Times

If you haven’t heard anything about the election campaign in Germany, that’s because there isn’t much of one, despite the fact that nationwide elections that will determine, among other things, whether Chancellor Angela Merkel stays or goes are set for Sept. 24. Yes, we are talking about the same Germany that has taken in roughly one million refugees and migrants in the last two years. The same Germany that bailed out bankrupt European states with billions of euros. The same Germany that has taken a tough stance toward Russia after its annexation of Crimea. The same Germany that is switching off all its nuclear power plants and turning to green energy.

Kenya: Election Body Urges Court to Uphold Kenyatta’s Victory | Bloomberg

Kenya’s election commission urged the Supreme Court to uphold the results of this month’s vote that returned President Uhuru Kenyatta to power and dismiss a legal challenge by his political opponents, saying the process was “impartial, neutral and accountable” to the constitution. The Independent Electoral & Boundaries Commission called on the court to throw out a petition filed by the opposition National Super Alliance challenging Kenyatta’s win against former Prime Minister Raila Odinga in the Aug. 8 vote. That petition “lacks merit and should be dismissed,” the commission’s lawyers said in opposing papers filed at the Supreme Court. The elections were conducted according to the constitution and the president was “validly elected” the IEBC’s lawyers said. “Discrepancies” cited by the opposition “did not materially affect the outcome of the presidential elections.”

Liberia: House Reviews New Election Law From Senate | allAfrica.com

A joint committee of the House of Representatives, comprising Elections & Inauguration and the Judiciary is reviewing a new election law to amend certain provisions of the elections law to clarify the powers and authority of the National Elections Commission with respect to the qualification of political parties and organizations for elections, determining election results and election disputes.’ The Joint Committee is expected to report and advise the House’s Plenary next Tuesday, August 29, as to whether the august body should concur with the Liberian Senate.

Tonga: King dissolves parliament and orders new elections | Associated Press

The king of the small Pacific nation of Tonga on Friday took the extraordinary step of dissolving the nation’s parliament and ordering new elections. Although the government was facing difficulties, the action took many Tongans by surprise. It came after the parliament had closed for the week and was not accompanied by any announcement or explanation by King Tupou VI. “I think he’s had enough of what’s going on,” said lawmaker Samiu Vaipulu. The king ordered a new election be held by Nov. 16 in a dissolution notice posted Friday afternoon on the attorney general’s website. The king holds the power to dissolve the government under Tonga’s constitution. The action means the end of the government led by Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pohiva, whose term was due to end next year.

National: Could Offering Spy Secrets To State Officials Help Safeguard Future Elections? | NPR

Congress could authorize top-secret security clearances for each state’s chief election official to help protect voting systems from cyberattacks and other potential meddling. That provision, which was part of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s 2018 policy bill for U.S. spy agencies, is one of the first concrete steps that lawmakers have taken to try to defend future elections from the sort of foreign interference that plagued the 2016 presidential race. The Senate panel is one of two congressional committees investigating what the American intelligence community says was a Russian government campaign to undermine the U.S. democratic system, discredit Hillary Clinton and help Donald Trump win. The Senate Intelligence panel included language that would require Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats to set up the clearances for state leaders in its annual bill setting policy for the intelligence community.

National: Top Trump aide’s email draws new scrutiny in Russia inquiry | CNN

Congressional investigators have unearthed an email from a top Trump aide that referenced a previously unreported effort to arrange a meeting last year between Trump campaign officials and Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to sources with direct knowledge of the matter. The aide, Rick Dearborn, who is now President Donald Trump’s deputy chief of staff, sent a brief email to campaign officials last year relaying information about an individual who was seeking to connect top Trump officials with Putin, the sources said. The person was only identified in the email as being from “WV,” which one source said was a reference to West Virginia. It’s unclear who the individual is, what he or she was seeking, or whether Dearborn even acted on the request. One source said that the individual was believed to have had political connections in West Virginia, but details about the request and who initiated it remain vague. The same source said Dearborn in the email appeared skeptical of the requested meeting.

California: Republican wants to repeal top-two primary system | The Sacramento Bee

Frustrated that Democrats dominate elective office in California, a Republican eyeing a 2018 run against Sen. Dianne Feinstein wants to repeal the state’s top-two primary system that he says shuts out Republicans and disproportionately propels left-wing Democrats into office. “There’s no question more liberal candidates have been more successful,” said Thomas Palzer, who is pushing an initiative for the November 2018 ballot to repeal a clause in the California Constitution that says regardless of party, the top two vote-getters in a primary election advance to a November runoff. “To me, that’s not representative government.”

Florida: House speaker wants repeal of public campaign financing | Palm Beach Post

House Speaker Richard Corcoran announced Wednesday that he wants to repeal part of the Florida Constitution that provides public financing for statewide election candidates. Corcoran, R-Land O’Lakes, and House Commerce Chairman Jim Boyd, R-Bradenton, announced they are asking the Florida Constitution Revision Commission to place the repeal on the 2018 general-election ballot. The commission, which meets every 20 years, has the power to directly place proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot. Corcoran has appointed nine of the 37 commission members, meaning his proposals are likely to carry a lot of weight with the panel.

Georgia: Man who uncovered Georgia’s voter data speaks out | CBS

The man who sounded the alarm about Georgia’s voting system sat down with CBS46 for a one-on-one interview. He tackles the question of whether your vote is safe. The 29-year-old says he’d heard Georgia’s election system was vulnerable and wanted to play around with it to “see what he could accomplish.” … “If a bad guy wanted to have everyone’s voter registration information, they probably have it today,” says Lamb, who is a cybersecurity researcher. He says this because one year ago, he did a simple Google search on the Georgia Secretary of State’s website. The cybersecurity researcher uncovered more than he could have ever expected. First, he found voter lists. “I thought that was pretty strange,” says Lamb. “So I immediately wrote a little bit of code to just download the website.” When he returned from lunch, he says, “I was shocked to find that I had about 15 gigabytes of data…voter registration information. I had full names, dates of birth, addresses, last four digits of social security numbers, driver’s license numbers. There were databases that are used on election day for actually accumulating the vote.” He believes the website was also vulnerable to a well-known hack and the server was not secure.

Editorials: Illinois Governor to sign ‘motor voter’ bill Monday | Rockford Register Star

While some states argue over plans to make voter registration more difficult, Illinois’ political leaders are agreeing to do just the opposite. And we applaud them. In May, the General Assembly unanimously passed a bill to link voter registration to the act of obtaining a driver’s license or state ID. It’s called automatic voter registration and nicknamed “motor voter.” On Monday, Gov. Bruce Rauner will sign the bill, according to a spokesman in his office. He vetoed a similar measure in 2016, but legislators tweaked it this year to get his support. Automatic voter registration means Illinois residents automatically become registered to vote when they go to the Secretary of State’s office to get a driver’s license, as long as they are age-eligible. But wait, there’s more. Illinoisans also will be able to register to vote through other state agencies.

Editorials: Kansas voting no role model / Lawrence Journal World

Reports that Kansas discarded provisional voter ballots in the 2016 election at a rate higher than almost any other state is further proof that Kansas should not be the model to follow in establishing federal election guidelines. Kansas becoming an election model for the country wasn’t a real concern until President Donald Trump appointed Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the architect of Kansas’ voting policies, co-chairman of Trump’s Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. Kobach is the architect of some of the nation’s most restrictive voter registration policies. The requirements to register to vote require extensive documentation and are most burdensome on poor and elderly voters. New data from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission show just how effective those policies have been, not only at keeping people from the polls in Kansas, but also challenging their ballots once they do turn out.

Montana: Court upholds landmark campaign-finance verdict against Wittich | The Missoulian

The Montana Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a judgment against a former state lawmaker from Bozeman who was fined $68,000 for having been found to have accepted and failed to report illegal corporate contributions. The court’s ruling affirmed a Lewis and Clark County jury decision in April 2016 against former Republican Rep. Art Wittich of Bozeman. The civil case was brought against Wittich, then a state senator, by Montana’s Commissioner of Political Practices, who at the time was Jonathan Motl. After a five-day trial, 10 of 12 jurors found that Wittich violated campaign finance laws during his 2010 state Senate campaign for District 35 by accepting nearly $20,000 in in-kind contributions from the National Right to Work Committee.

New Hampshire: Voters, advocates sue to block new law toughening voter registration | The Boston Globe

The League of Women Voters of New Hampshire and three New Hampshire voters are suing state officials to block a new law that toughens voter registration requirements, rules that civil rights advocates say amount to intimidation designed to discourage thousands of young residents from voting. The lawsuit, which was filed in state court Wednesday morning, challenges a measure New Hampshire’s GOP Governor Chris Sununu signed in July tightening the requirements for registering to vote in the state. Specifically, would-be voters must provide documentary evidence, such as a driver’s license or utility bill, that New Hampshire is their place of domicile — or their primary home — and that they plan to stay for longer than a temporary stint.

New Hampshire: Democratic Party challenges new voter law | Associated Press

The head of New Hampshire’s Democratic Party filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging a new state law that requires voters who move to the state within 30 days of an election to provide proof that they intend to stay. The party contends it presents confusing, unnecessary and intimidating hurdles to voting. Democratic Chairman Raymond Buckley said the law amounts to voter suppression. He’s asking for a judge to declare the law, signed by Republican Gov. Chris Sununu in July, unconstitutional. The lawsuit names Attorney General Gordon MacDonald and Secretary of State William Gardner as defendants. A statement from MacDonald’s office says the law is presumed to be constitutional. “The Department of Justice will defend it vigorously and we are confident it will be sustained,” the statement said.

Angola: Angola votes for First new president in nearly 4 decades | Associated Press

Angolans voted Wednesday in an election in which the defense minister is the front-runner to succeed President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who will step down after 38 years in power in an oil-rich country beset by widespread poverty and corruption. About 9.3 million Angolans were registered to vote for the 220-member National Assembly; the winning party will then select the president. Dos Santos’ chosen successor is Joao Lourenco, the defense minister and a former governor who fought in the war against Portuguese colonial rule as well as the long civil war that ended in 2002. Dos Santos, accompanied by wife Ana Paula dos Santos, and Lourenco voted separately in Luanda, the capital, reported the state-run Agencia Angola Press. The main opposition leader, Isaias Samakuva of the UNITA party, cast his ballot at a university in a Luanda suburb.

Australia: Malcolm Roberts’s election may have been invalid, government solicitor tells court | The Guardian

Malcolm Roberts could be the exception among sitting parliamentarians ensnared in the dual citizen saga in that his election in 2016 may have been invalid, the high court has heard. Roberts and former senator Scott Ludlam were different to the other three politicians so far referred to the high court – Barnaby Joyce, Larissa Waters and Matt Canavan – because they knew they had been citizens of other countries, the solicitor-general, Stephen Donaghue, told the court on Thursday. Tony Windsor, the former independent MP and rival to Joyce, has been allowed to join the citizenship case, which chief justice Susan Kiefel has set down hearings in Canberra in October.

Kenya: Elections are only part of the story in Kenya’s history of post-poll violence | Mail and Guardian

Kenya’s opposition leader Raila Odinga and his National Super Alliance are contesting the country’s general election results in the Supreme Court. Odinga rejected the official results which showed that Uhuru Kenyatta had reclaimed the presidency. In the days following the announcement that Kenyatta had won, opposition supporters attempted to engage in peaceful protests. International and local media reported on clashes between police and residents in Nairobi and Kisumu. Earlier in the year state security forces were also deployed against opposition supporters agitating for reforms to the country’s election commission. But media reports often misrepresent the cyclical unrest in Kenya as a typical response to the announcement of election results. It is true that post-election violence has been a feature of many Kenyan elections, specifically those in 1992, 1997, and 2007. But dismissing post-election violence because it is an expected reaction to the outcome ignores the complexities of Kenya’s political reality.

Liberia: Church Summons Political Leaders to Discuss Successful Elections | allAfrica.com

A conference to gather political leaders to discuss the future of Liberia and the conduct of violent free elections is expected to kick up on August 25, 2017. The church of Liberia under the auspices of Turning Point Liberia is bringing church leaders and political leaders to discuss the way forward in these elections. The Head of Turning Point Liberia Bishop Jonathan Foxx is calling political leaders to use this opportunity to interface with the church. “This is to evaluate their moral and spiritual values, which we believe will grant us as community of Christian believers the insight to make a Godly and wise decision come October, for the first time in the history of Liberia, Church leaders have surface to address issues pertaining to the General elections.”