National: Proposals would strengthen troops’ legal rights | Army Times

Justice Department officials are proposing to strengthen troops’ voting rights, re-employment rights, and housing and lending protections, under a package of legislative proposals sent to Congress Sept. 20.

Among other things, Justice officials are requesting a doubling of civil penalties for anyone violating troops’ rights under the Servicemembers’ Civil Relief Act. The government would be able to assess a penalty of up to $110,000 for a first violation, and up to $220,000 for any subsequent violation.

Also proposed is an SCRA change clarifying that for voting purposes, a family member does not have to accompany his or her service member who is out of state because of military requirements in order for the family member to retain legal residence or domicile in that state.

Arizona: New lawsuit over Russell Pearce recall election | azfamily.com

There are new developments regarding the Russell Pearce recall election and candidate Olivia Cortes. Many say she is a sham designed to siphon votes from Pearce’s other challenger, Jerry Lewis.

After the secretary of state’s office said it will not investigate allegations of fraud, a Mesa woman filed a lawsuit. Cortes is starting to look more like a legitimate candidate to challenge Senate President Russell Pearce. Her website went live Friday and she issued a press release that says, “I want to have an opportunity, to bring into this race my points of view and observations as a Permanent Alien and later Naturalized American Citizen for over forty years.”

Cortes was home Tuesday and didn’t answer when I dropped by. She didn’t respond Friday when 3TV’s Frank Camacho left her a note or when I called later.

Voting Blogs: A Century of Direct Democracy in California | electionsmith

A century ago, on October 10, 1911, Californians adopted a legislative referendum that created the initiative (and referendum) in California.  Critics today bemoan the fact that direct legislation in California is big business.  Special interests have used the process to pass countless propositions. In recent years, Californians have approved statewide citizen-initiated ballot measures reducing property taxes, giving citizens the right to vote on local taxes, banning social services for illegal immigrants and gay marriage, ending affirmative action and bilingual education programs in the public schools, increasing the tobacco surtax for state and county childhood education and health programs, permitting gaming on Indian reservations, allowing the prescription of medical marijuana, bolstering the minimum wage, limiting the term limits of government officials, and restricting campaign contributions.  Of the 24 states that permit the initiative, California had the second most initiatives on the ballot over the past hundred years, trailing only Oregon.

Colorado: Larimer County Clerk opposes ballots being made public | NOCO5

Larimer County Clerk and Recorder Scott Doyle is the president of the Colorado County Clerks Association and says that making these ballots a matter of public record could allow people to find out how you voted in that last election and he’s just not prepared to do that.

Secretary of State Scott Gessler says making the ballots a matter of public record creates public confidence and transparency in the clerk’s offices. Scott Doyle says there is no more transparent office than the clerk’s office.

“It’s not that we have anything to hide or anything like that, we’re not afraid of that at all as a matter of fact, our elections are done with integrity in Colorado and we have good records,” Doyle said. But that making ballots a matter of public record is too risky.

Indiana: Landske: Keeping uncontested races on ballot up to counties | NWI Times

The chairwoman of the Indiana Senate Elections Committee believes the uproar over a new law allowing election officials to drop uncontested races from the ballot is a lot of fuss over nothing. State Sen. Sue Landske, R-Cedar Lake, co-sponsored House Enrolled Act 1242, which eliminates a requirement that even candidates without an opponent be listed on the ballot.

“It should reduce the size of the ballot,” Landske said, which she believes will save money. Though the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency projects any savings from shorter optical-scan ballots will be “minimal.”

Critics of the change say leaving candidates off the ballot is antidemocratic and likely to confuse voters who will wonder why they could only vote for certain offices. That has led election officials in Lake County, and in counties across Indiana, to announce they plan to ignore the law and list every candidate in every race, even unopposed candidates.

Maine: Advocates: People with Disabilities Hampered by Maine Voter Rules | Public News Service

Eliminating same-day voter registration in Maine may not sound like a big deal, but for people with disabilities it can be a real roadblock to participation in elections. Disability advocates say many have been negatively affected, including those with mobility issues.

In November, voters will face a ballot question that would repeal the law that requires new voters to register at least two business days prior to an election. David Farmer, organizer of the Protect Maine Votes Coalition, says for people with disabilities, the question is critical.

“This is particularly important for people in Maine who have limited access to transportation or limitations on their mobility.” Farmer says asking someone with mobility issues to make multiple trips to register is a barrier.

Oklahoma: Carter Center observes Cherokee Nation election | Tahlequah Daily Press

Cherokee Nation voters who cast ballots Saturday may have done so with more confidence, as a delegation from The Carter Center was on hand to observe procedures. At the invitation of the Cherokee Nation Election Commission, The Carter Center deployed a small delegation for the special election for principal chief. Over the past week, delegates have interviewed election commissioners, political contestants and others to assess the electoral process. On Saturday, members of the delegation were present for in-person voting, and will also observe during the vote tallying process which will take place after Oct. 8.

“The June election for Cherokee Nation principal chief and its aftermath created uncertainty about the process,” said Avery Davis-Roberts, assistant director of the Carter Center’s Democracy Program. “The Carter Center hopes that our mission to observe the special election will reassure Cherokee voters, and will help strengthen the efforts of the election commission, Tribal Council, political contestants, and civil society to ensure the integrity of future elections.”

South Carolina: Votes were miscounted, laws ignored | The Post and Courier

Thousands of votes in the 2010 general election were counted incorrectly in South Carolina. Not only were these votes counted incorrectly, the State Election Commission (SEC) is ignoring state law that requires a recount and federal law that requires that the entirety of the data files from an election be retained for 22 months.

These reasonable obligations were not followed despite concerns raised by the League of Women Voters of South Carolina (LWVSC) about potential problems with our voting machines. The League has not detected any corrections that would have overturned election results, but the audit of the results is not complete.

Given the large number of votes incorrectly recorded and the pervasiveness of errors, it is entirely possible that some close elections have been decided incorrectly in the past.

Wisconsin: On Campus: Tech college officials fight voter ID ruling | madison.com

Leaders in the Wisconsin Technical College System are fighting a ruling that student IDs issued by the state’s 16 technical colleges cannot be used to vote. Technical college officials are formally requesting that the Government Accountability Board reconsider its interpretation of a new voter ID law at its next meeting on Nov. 9.

The new law will take effect next year and requires residents to show a photo ID to vote. The board, which oversees elections in Wisconsin, clarified at a meeting earlier this month that University of Wisconsin System IDs could be used for voting – if they include all the required information – but technical college IDs could not.

In an email last week, Paul Gabriel, executive director of the Wisconsin Technical College System District Boards Association, put out a call to college leaders, staff, students and stakeholders to advocate for acceptance of technical college IDs.

Kenya: Electronic voting ‘is still six years away for Kenya’ | Business Daily

Election officials predict it could take six years before Kenya adopts an electronic voting system critical in forestalling a recurrence of the chaotic 2007 elections. This emerged as the Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC) started the process of identifying the appropriate technology for its use through a two-day exhibition that ended last Friday.

Mr James Oswago, the IIEC chief executive officer, said the country would not yet implement electronic voting but would instead procure a platform for electronic voter registration for next year’s elections in which voters will cast ballots for at least six candidates in various levels of government.

“We are not yet ready for electronic voting in 2012 mainly because there is a lot of civic education to be done to the public and politicians,” said Mr Oswago. “Any application of technology must increase administrative efficiency, reduce long-term costs and enhance political transparency. In the end, elections are about choices expressed in terms of results and those results acquire legitimacy only through unanimous or widespread acceptance”.

Kyrgyzstan: Twenty candidates to vie for Kyrgyz presidency | Reuters

Kyrgyzstan will choose its next president from a list of 20 candidates in an election next month that could expose divisions between the north and south of the volatile Central Asian state. Official campaigning began on Monday after the Central Election Commission named its final list of candidates for president of the strategic country of 5.5 million people, which hosts both U.S. and Russian military air bases.

The October 30 vote, which some analysts say will need a second round, will pit current Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev against heavyweight rivals from the south of the country, where central government’s grip on power is tenuous.

The election is the culmination of constitutional reforms introduced after the overthrow of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev in April 2010. Current President Roza Otunbayeva, who led the interim government that took power, will step down on December 31.

Pakistan: Fresh petition seeks voting rights for Sehajdhari Sikhs – Express India

The case for voting rights to Sehajdhari Sikhs got a new twist on Monday with a Amritsar resident filing a new petition in Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking stay over the constitution of new managing committee of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC). Satnam Singh also demanded quashing of a notification dated October 8, 2003 issued by the Central government barring Sehajdhari Sikhs from casting votes in SGPC elections.

No directions were issued on the petition as the Full Bench, presiding over the petition challenging the ban on voting rights to Sehajdhari Sikhs, tagged the fresh petition with the pending petitions. The petitioner said that he does not sport turban or beard and was thus not allowed to vote in the SGPC elections despite the fact that he has faith he goes to the Gurdwara and has faith in Guru Granth Sahib.

Russia: Elections boss says Putin’s presidency not done deal | Russian Times

Vladimir Churov, the head of the Central Electoral Commission, has told the press that the question of Vladimir Putin’s presidency will be finally decided only after the 2012 elections.

Churov was holding a press conference dedicated to future parliamentary and presidential elections in Moscow on Monday. When a reporter asked him if Dmitry Medvedev’s suggestion to the United Russia party to support Vladimir Putin as a candidate at the presidential elections meant the outcome of the elections was already pre-determined, Churov said that it was not so.

“This was not a question, rather a statement and it was a categorical one. I must say at once that I don’t agree with it,” Churov said. The Russian elections chief said that for him the election result will be known only by 9am on the next day after Election Day, when the Electoral Commission receives preliminary reports from over 99 per cent of ballot stations.

UAE: Handful of FNC candidates demand recount | The National

Twenty are happy, 430 less so. They are the candidates in Saturday’s FNC elections who failed to win the voters’ favour during two and a half weeks of hard campaigning. Seven of them, all of whom stood as candidates in Ras Al Khaimah, are asking for a manual recount.

“We are going to contest this,” said Yousif Al Ghalili, a member of the Shehhi family – one of RAK’s biggest mountain tribes. His 414 votes were fewer than he expected.

“I am quite popular among my community, and just alone through family and friends that number should be at least double,” he said. He met the RAK election committee yesterday to see what could be done. Now he and six others plan to head there again today with a petition outlining their grievances.

National: Voter ID Laws Target Rarely Occurring Voter Fraud | AP/Fox News

Several states adopted new laws last year requiring that people show a photo ID when they come to vote even though the kind of election fraud that the laws are intended to stamp out is rare. Even supporters of the new laws are hard pressed to come up with large numbers of cases in which someone tried to vote under a false identify.

“I’ve compared this to the snake oil salesman. You got a cold? I got snake oil. Your foot aches? I got snake oil,” said election law expert Justin Levitt, who wrote “The Truth About Voter Fraud” for The Brennan Center for Justice. “It doesn’t seem to matter what the problem is, (voter) ID is being sold as the solution to a whole bunch of things it can’t possibly solve.”

Kansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin have passed laws this year that allow voters without the required photo ID to cast provisional ballots, but the voters must return to a specific location with that ID within a certain time limit for their ballots to count.

Saudi Arabia: Saudi king grants voting rights to women | CBS News

Saudi King Abdullah announced Sunday that the nation’s women will gain the right to vote and run as candidates in local elections to be held in 2015 in a major advancement for the rights of women in the deeply conservative Muslim kingdom. In an annual speech before his advisory assembly, or Shura Council, the Saudi monarch said he ordered the step after consulting with the nation’s top religious clerics, whose advice carries great weight in the kingdom.

“We refuse to marginalize the role of women in Saudi society and in every aspect, within the rules of Sharia,” Abdullah said, referring to the Islamic law that governs many aspects of life in the kingdom.

The right to vote is by far the biggest change introduced by Abdullah, considered a reformer, since he became the country’s de facto ruler in 1995 during the illness of King Fahd. Abdullah formally ascended to the throne upon Fahd’s death in August 2005.

Arizona: State will not investigate recall candidate Cortes | AZ Central

Chaos erupted Friday in the recall election of Senate President Russell Pearce. A Legislative District 18 voter filed a lawsuit alleging that Olivia Cortes is a fraud candidate running with the intention of pulling votes away from candidate Jerry Lewis to help Pearce. The Secretary of State’s Office declined to investigate the same complaint another district voter filed with that office.

Cortes, who has for weeks evaded questions about her candidacy and political positions, on Friday sent out an e-mail announcing a campaign Web site and seeking voter support.

Chandler attorney Tom Ryan filed the lawsuit on behalf of Mary Lou Boettcher. Ryan also represented Citizens for a Better Arizona, the group that collected signatures to get the recall on the ballot. Boettcher, a Republican, was involved in that group.

California: Before Bush v Gore there was the Diamond Bar Recount | Diamond Bar, CA Patch

The early years of Diamond Bar cityhood were contentious as those favoring strict limitation of development clashed with those favoring granting city council with more flexibility in planning land use. In 1992 and again in 1993, the City Council revised and adopted two General Plans presented by citizen advisory committees. Both rescinded by referendum, Diamond Bar’s early distinction included holding the state record for being incorporated without an accepted General Plan.

“The City of Diamond Bar is almost 6 years old now…That doesn’t mean the City Council has to Act that way” was the headline on a Diamond Bar Caucus 1995 campaign flyer endorsing Bob Huff and Carol Herrera. With conflicting visions of how the city should mature, the 1995 election cycle brought out 11 candidates vying for two city council seats, including one held by Phyllis Papen, who would not be re-elected.

Planning Commissioner Bob Huff surpassed the other candidates at the polls. The vote spread for the second seat between Carol Herrera and Don Schad was close, fluctuated, and involved litigation that did not end until May of the following year. Herrera remembers on election night, she was down by six votes. The absentee ballots added in, she was ahead by 12.  Schad requested a recount.  Herrera could have chosen a hand recount, but she was concerned with the additional cost and believed the recount by machine would provide equitable results.

Colorado: Clerks prepared to fight effort to make voted ballots available to public | The Denver Post

Colorado’s county clerks say voted ballots should remain private even if there is no way to associate a ballot with the individual who cast it, and they will fight any effort by the public to inspect them — even if it means going to court or asking legislators for help.

The clerks’ position follows the unprecedented citizen review of ballots in Saguache County orchestrated by Secretary of State Scott Gessler’s office. Gessler and many open-government advocates believe that making ballots available for public review is a way to maintain voter confidence; voters literally can see for themselves that a race or races were counted accurately.

The clerks believe the opposite is true. The disagreement is doing more than adding tension to an already strained relationship between Gessler and the clerks.

Editorials: Colorado’s besieged clerks | Vincent Carroll/The Denver Post

Wherever you go in Colorado, the most public-be-damned civil servant is likely to be the county clerk.

I’ve reached this conclusion with regret, since my experience with clerks over many years, without fail, has been pleasant and fruitful. But the clerks this year have dug themselves into a stance that endangers the integrity of elections. Moreover, to protect their monopoly on access to voted ballots — a monopoly to which they clearly have no right under the Colorado Open Records Act — they are trying to scare the public with lurid tales of how voter anonymity is at risk.

Back in March, you may recall, the clerks association denounced a bid by Secretary of State Scott Gessler to conduct an official, public recount of a contested election in Saguache County, claiming his “proposal sets a dangerous precedent.” The clerks’ real fear, however, was not that Gessler might look over their shoulder but that he would let the public do so, too. And he did — once a district judge ruled in August that “voted ballots are election records” under the open records law, permitting the recount to proceed.

Connecticut: Bridgeport absentee ballots becoming focus of election complaints | Connecticut Post

More than 1,000 absentee ballot forms have been requested for the Democratic mayoral primary between Mary Jane Foster and Mayor Bill Finch and some have become the focus of elections complaints. The Mary Jane Foster for Mayor campaign has unleashed a pack of charges against the supporters of Mayor Bill Finch, charging that there is fraud and other illegal activities regarding absentee ballots.

Jason Bartlett, Foster’s campaign manager, said that Councilwoman Lydia N. Martinez, D-137, illegally assisted several elderly residents of Harborview Towers in filling out their absentee ballots. Martinez could not be reached for comment.

Oklahoma: Cherokees hold election; results won’t be known until next month | Tulsa World

The Cherokee Nation on Saturday held a second election for principal tribal chief, but voters will not know who the winner is until next month. With the ballots not being counted until Oct. 8, official voter turnout figures were not available Saturday. However, outside some polling places, volunteers from both campaigns kept a running total of voters.

“We’ve counted about 400 so far,” said Tribal Council member Jodie Fishinghawk at noon Saturday, who stumped for Tribal Councilor Bill John Baker outside the Wilma P. Mankiller clinic in Stilwell. “That’s about on pace with what we saw here in the June election.”

About 15,000 people voted in the June election, including almost 900 at Stilwell. In accordance with a federal district court order, the Cherokee Nation Election Commission will not count any ballots in the race between former principal chief Chad Smith and Baker until Oct. 8.

South Carolina: Spartanburg County SC Council rejects paying for presidential primaries | GoUpstate.com

Spartanburg County voters’ ability to vote in next year’s Republican presidential primary is in question. The county will not stage presidential primaries next year unless the county’s costs to run the contests are fully covered or the county is forced by the state to pay certain expenses, County Council Chairman Jeff Horton said Friday morning.

Horton’s pledge came after County Council, a body of six Republicans and one Democrat, voted unanimously to file a lawsuit against the state Election Commission if needed to keep the county from bearing any of the costs of a presidential primary.

Council members — along with the county’s top election official, the county election commission and voter registration board — believe counties should be reimbursed for all costs associated with a presidential primary. Horton has repeatedly called presidential primaries a “beauty pageant” because their results do not carry the weight of an actual election.

Wisconsin: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel comes out in favor of recall revision bill | JSOnline

Setting a higher threshold for recall elections in Wisconsin is a good idea. And while the devil will be in the details, and this has to be done right, a proposal from Reps. Robin Vos, Gary Tauchen and Paul Farrow at least offers a starting point.

Wisconsin was host to a record number of recall elections this summer, all stemming from the controversy surrounding Gov. Scott Walker’s budget-repair and budget bills earlier this year. Six Republicans and three Democrats were the subjects of recalls – the Republicans generally because they had favored Walker’s proposals, the Democrats generally because they had left the state to delay action on the proposals.

The recalls were unwarranted. A vote or stance on one issue is not sufficient in our view to justify the expense of a recall election. And they were expensive: The elections cost the state and local governments $2.1 million; the opposing sides in those campaigns spent a record $44 million, with Democrats and their allies outspending Republicans by just under $3 million, or about 14%.

Argentina: Soria leads by wide margin in Río Negro gubernatorial elections | BuenosAiresHerald.com

With only a 22.16 percent of the votes tallied, the preliminary recount in the Río Negro gubernatorial elections showed that Victory Front candidate Carlos Soria was beating his opponent César Barbeito by a wide margin, suggesting that he will become the province’s next governor.

With only a 22.16 percent of the votes recounted, Soria had obtained a 54.68 percent of the votes, while his main opponent had only obtained a 32.40 percent. Earlier, polls in the Río Negro province closed with no major incidents reported as the population cast their ballots in order to pick their next governor. The main contenders in the race are César Barbeito, a “Kirchnerite-Radical,” and FPV Carlos Soria.

Bahrain: Protesters and Police Clash During Election | NYTimes.com

As the government of Bahrain held parliamentary elections Saturday, hundreds of protesters clashed with security forces while trying to make their way to Pearl Square, the site in the capital where the kingdom’s pro-democracy movement got started early this year and was heavily suppressed. In the village of Sanabis, where the protest began, the police used tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets against hundreds, perhaps thousands, of protesters, witnesses and human-rights advocates said.

The protest was a main part of the Shiite majority’s response to the election in the Sunni-ruled monarchy, which was boycotted by the mostly Shiite opposition. The aim of the protest was to march to Pearl Square, in Manama, where the government destroyed a 300-foot sculpture topped by a giant pearl in March after forcibly removing the protesters’ tent city.

“Security forces closed all access to Pearl Square today,” Mohammed al-Maskati, president of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights, said by telephone. “The square is now like an army base. Thousands of protesters turned out in Sanabis and got attacked badly by the security forces.”

Pakistan: Kashmiris will retain dual vote right: AJK official | thenews.com.pk

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has agreed in principle with the AJK authorities to retain the right of dual vote for Kashmiris settled in the four provinces and Islamabad. “Yes, they have approved retention while accepting our arguments for the dual votes of AJK people who are living in Pakistan,” confirmed AJK election commission Secretary Muhammad Younas.

Talking to The News on Sunday, he said the ECP with its chief election commissioner (CEC) would give a formal nod to reject the pending proposals and continue the recognition of AJK people in exercising their right to vote. The CEC, Justice (Retd) Hamid Ali Mirza, and ECP members, full commission, would meet tomorrow (Tuesday) to dispose of the applications. They would discuss different aspects i.e. legalities, input from AJK authorities and Right of Citizenship Act. “The ECP secretary conveyed me the willingness of the ECP that the Kashmiris’ right of dual vote, one in AJK and second in Pakistan, would be maintained in accordance with previous arrangements,” Younas said. To a question, he described it an achievement under which the Kashmiris’ right of two votes would not be snatched.

Pakistan: Election Commission of Pakistan excludes 37.1 million suspected votes from electoral rolls | South Asian News Agency

Election Commission of Pakistan excluded 37.1 million suspected voters from the electoral rolls and the new electoral roll is composed of more than 87.2 million voters. The Secretary ECP Ishtiak Ahmad Khan issued details from headquarter of Election Commission of Pakistan on Saturday.

Ishtiak Ahmad Khan said the ECP handed over its database of Electoral Rolls-2007 to NADRA on 11th February 2011 for verification of voters against their database. NADRA reported back on 05/03/2011 that out of 81 Million voters registered in Final Electoral Rolls 2007, 44 Million voters were verified against CNIC database whereas approximately 37 Million voters were not verified which was made public by the ECP through a press release dated 8th March 2011.

After deletion of these 37 million unverified voters from the Draft Electoral Rolls, 2011, NADRA added 36 million who had obtained CNIC after preparation of Electoral Rolls-2007. NADRA can provide evidence from its database with regard to 37 Million unverified voters as well as 36 Million voters who have been added into the Draft Electoral Rolls, 2011.

Saudi Arabia: Saudi women to be given voting rights | ABC News

Saudi King Abdullah has announced women will be given the right to vote and run in municipal elections, the only public polls in the ultra-conservative Gulf kingdom. He also announced women would have the right to join the all-appointed Shura (consultative) Council, in an address opening a new term of the council.

“Starting with the next term, women will have the right to run in municipal elections and to choose candidates, according to Islamic principles,” he said.

This means that women will be able to take part in the elections that will be held in four years, as the next vote is due to take place on Thursday, and nominations for those polls are already in.