Virginia: Elections board allows Virginians overseas voters to fax voter registration forms – legal concerns expressed| Richmond Times-Dispatch

The State Board of Elections made it easier on Wednesday for overseas voters, including military voters, to register to vote.

The board voted to allow overseas voters, which could also include embassy employees and contractors working in Afghanistan, to fax a voter application to a Virginia registrar.

“These people don’t have mail boxes on every corner,” said Charles E. Judd, chairman of the State Board of Elections. The proposed rules change would take effect Sept. 1, if approved by the U.S. Justice Department.

Maine: Same-day registration ballot wording released | The Morning Sentinel

Secretary of State Charlie Summers released the wording Wednesday for a people’s veto ballot question, marking the unofficial start of a campaign to repeal a law passed last month to end same-day voter registration in Maine.

A coalition of groups led by the League of Women Voters of Maine wants to gather at least 57,277 signatures to get a question before voters in November or next June. The bill to end same-day voter registration was supported by most Republicans in the Legislature.

The question released by Summers reads:

“Do you want to reject the section of Chapter 399 of the Public Law of 2011 that requires new voters to register to vote at least two business days prior to an election?”

Indonesia: Committee may probe alleged fraud in Indonesian presidential election | The Jakarta Post

The House’s committee tasked with inquiring into alleged election fraud involving a justice and a former poll body member may expand its probe to other cases, including alleged crimes during the 2009 presidential poll.

Committee chairman Chairuman Harahap said that since his committee’s purpose was to ensure transparent and accountable elections in the future, it was necessary for it to review the 2009 legislative and presidential election.

Philippines: Comelec warned vs new tech for 2013 polls | ABS-CBN News

Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano on Tuesday cautioned the Commission in Elections (Comelec) against pushing through with a plan to use new technology for the 2013 elections, with an alleged cheating operator leading the poll body.

Cayetano said having election lawyer Sixto Brillantes as Comelec chairman raises doubts about the intentions behind changing the technology used during the first nationwide automated elections in 2010.

Kenya: State goes hi-tech with launch of online data in Kenya – IBM to Help Set Up New Vote System‎ | Business Daily

Technology giants are scrambling to help Kenya digitise its processes to increase access to public information entrenched in the new Constitution. Internet giant Google has just unveiled an online access of more than 2,000 copies of the Hansard, a collection of parliamentary debates that date back to the past four decades, weeks after it did the same with the Kenya Gazette.

Another US tech giant, IBM has also announced that it is partnering with the government to propose a framework to support the development of an electronic voter masterplan, months after its delegation volunteered to boost operations of the Postal Corporation of Kenya, in what is emerging as a departure of the tech firms eying to grow their presence in the country from their heavy reliance on the private sector.

Nigeria: 2013: Ebonyi to adopt e-voting for local government polls | Vanguard

Ebonyi State government said it would adopt Electronic Voting System ahead of 2013 local government election in the state.

The government, which sponsored the training of 83 staff of Ebonyi State Independent Electoral Commission, EBSEIC on a three-month Information Communication Training, ICT, noted that ICT was essential to the eradication of electoral disputes during elections.

Pakistan: Voter lists to be ready by December: Election Commission | Associated Press Of Pakistan

Secretary Election Commission (EC) Ishtiaq Ahmad has said that the process of preparing voters list for the next general election is underway and it will be completed by December this year.Talking to Pakistan Television (PTV) he said, after completing its work, the EC would foward the entire data to NADRA for scanning and printing of the voter lists.“EC had introduced many reforms in the past one and a half year while more steps were also being taken to facilitate the voters”, he said.

The Secretary EC said to resolve the issue of dual nationality of the incumbent Members National Assembly, a case had been referred to the Law Ministry to formulate modalities.

Uganda: Kasibante’s witness turns against him in Uganda Court | New Vision

Yunus Ntale, a witness in the election petition for the Rubaga North seat, has said Moses Kasibante and his lawyer Erias Lukwago witnessed the vote recount. Appearing before the chief magistrates’ court at Mengo on Wednesday, Ntale said Kasibante lied when he stated that he was not in court when an order for the vote recount was granted.

Kasibante told court on Monday that he and Lukwago were not at the court when the votes were recounted. He also said they were not in court when the Chief Magistrate, Philip Odoki, ordered for a recount of the votes on February 28. Yunus Ntale, a journalist at the Buganda kingdom CBS radio station is Kasibante’s witness.

Myanmar: Rakhine National Democratic Party objects to Election Commission verdict | mizzima.com

The Burmese Election Commission disqualified three elected MPs and a legislator from the Rakhine National Democratic Party (RNDP) on Thursday for their alleged election malpractices in favour of plaintiff legislators from the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).

RNDP General-Secretary Oo Hla Saw objected to the verdict, calling it unjust.

“It is really upsetting to see our three elected legislators disqualified. Our party is just a local ethnic party, and we are not challenging them politically. The verdict shows their ill-will to us. It’s suspicious too,” Oo Hla Saw told Mizzima.

Botswana: Opposition forms umbrella against Botswana Democratic Party | Mmegi Online

The Botswana National Front (BNF), the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) and the Botswana Movement for Democracy have over the last several months been negotiating a deal to form a joint front against the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP).

“The parties have agreed on an umbrella and are coming together pretty much in BOFEPUSU fashion,” said the source. The Botswana Federation of Public Service Unions – BOFEPUSU – recently staged an eight-week nationwide strike over salaries.

“It was really now or never and the leaders were selfless enough to realise that it needed to be done for the greater good of the nation. Come next election, we shall have just that – a choice between the BDP and the one collective,” said the source.

 

Poland: Parties prepare ‘virtual’ campaigns in Poland | thenews.pl

Poland’s political parties are being compelled to focus on the Internet for their forthcoming electoral campaigns, as several traditional methods of promotion have been banned under new laws.

Campaigns for the autumn’s ballot, whose date has been unofficially set by President Bronislaw Komorowski as taking place on 9 October, will formally commence in August, but this year parties are prohibited from using billboards and television commercials.

As a result, the Internet is emerging as a key battleground for the competing parties.

Rhode Island: Rhode Island embraces voter ID | stateline.org

The Rhode Island Tea Party is praising the Democratic-led General Assembly and Governor Lincoln Chafee, an independent, for requiring voters in future elections to show identification at the polls. While many states have passed similar legislation this year, Rhode Island is notable because it was Democrats — and not Republicans — who led the controversial effort.

… While the political lines over voter ID were drawn long ago, the decision by Rhode Island Democrats to press forward with their own legislation shows that the debate is not always a purely partisan one. The Providence Journal notes that Democrats teamed up with Republicans in Rhode Island’s House of Representatives before eventually sending the legislation to an independent governor for approval.

Oklahoma: Cherokee Elections Continue in Tribal Court | Indian Country Today

The June 25 election for Cherokee Nation Chief between incumbent Chad “Corntassel” Smith and challenger Bill John Baker is now heading into its second week, with a storyline that has seen the numbers of unofficial, certified and recounted votes change at least three times. At press time, this election has also seen injunctions and appeals filed in the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court by both sides.

Smith was first elected to the office of Chief in 1999 and has served three previous terms. His opponent, Baker, is a three-term member of the Cherokee Nation tribal council. The Cherokee Nation has approximately 300,000 members, whose jurisdiction encompasses 14 counties in eastern Oklahoma.

Unofficial results for this election on June 26 showed Baker in the lead with 11 votes out of 14,000 cast. Upon certification of the votes by the Cherokee Nation Election Commission, Smith was officially the winner by 7 votes—7,609 for Smith and 7,602 for Baker.

Rhode Island: Opponents surprised by Chafee’s signing of voter-ID bill | The Providence Journal

The fight over Rhode Island’s new voter identification law continued for three days after Governor Chafee quietly signed the legislation, with opponents saying they were led by the governor’s office to believe they still had a fighting chance.

A week earlier, Democratic North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue vetoed a voter-ID bill passed by her state’s Republican-controlled legislature, saying it would “unnecessarily and unfairly disenfranchise many eligible and legitimate voters.”

But there was no such opposition from Chafee in Rhode Island, where Democrats overwhelmingly control the House and Senate. Democratic House Speaker Gordon D. Fox was one of the co-sponsors of the new voter-identification law, along with Democrat Jon Brien, of Woonsocket, and Republicans Joseph Trillo, of Warwick, and Doreen Costa, of North Kingstown. The Senate version was sponsored by Sen. Harold Metts, a Providence Democrat.

Oklahoma: Smith campaign worker alleges disorganization in recount | Tulsa World

Eight exhibits attached to Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chad Smith’s appeal of the tribe’s recent election became available to the public Wednesday morning.

Smith filed the appeal Tuesday afternoon, asking the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court to either order a machine-conducted recount of the ballots cast in the June 26 election or, failing that, invalidate the certified recount results and call for a new election. Currently, challenger Bill John Baker is the chief-elect, having won a hand recount conducted Thursday afternoon and evening by a 266-vote margin.

National: Bill Clinton: GOP Voting Crackdown Worst Since Jim Crow | TPMDC

Former President Bill Clinton weighed in on Republican efforts in several states to pass new restrictions on voting, comparing the measures to the Jim Crow laws of the past.

“There has never been in my lifetime, since we got rid of the poll tax and all the Jim Crow burdens on voting, the determined effort to limit the franchise that we see today,” Clinton said in a speech at a Campus Progress conference in Washington. He specifically called out Florida Governor Rick Scott (R) for trying to reverse past precedent and prevent convicted felons from voting even after they’ve completed their sentence.

Florida: Officials say hacker did not steal sensitive Florida voting database information | Bridget Carey/Miami Herald

Florida elections officials said no sensitive information was exposed following a Saturday morning Twitter post by a hacker who claimed to access a Florida voting database. The hacker, who writes under the Twitter name Abhaxas, posted lines of data and passwords said to be “inside details of Florida voting systems.”

The information was from a poll worker training program within a Liberty County elections website, according to Marcia Wood, supervisor of elections for Liberty County, which is based out of the Panhandle city of Bristol.

“It has nothing to do with vital information at all,” Wood said. “It’s not confidential information. As far as the actual passwords they claim to have gotten, it was for poll workers to be able to log on to view training videos.”

Nevada: Nevada’s Top Court Upholds Republican Nomination Process for Senate Seat | Bloomberg

The Nevada Supreme Court upheld a ruling allowing state Republicans to nominate one candidate to represent the party in a special election to fill the House of Representatives seat vacated by U.S. Senator Dean Heller.

In May, a lower court judge ruled in favor of the Nevada Republican Party and barred Secretary of State Ross Miller, a Democrat, from declaring a “free-for-all” election in which candidates could nominate themselves. The Supreme Court agreed and ruled in a 6-1 decision that although the state law is “ambiguous” deferring to Miller was not appropriate in this case.

Ohio: State Sen. Nina Turner says more than 14,000 wrong-precinct ballots were disqualified in 2008: True | PolitiFact Ohio

“Voting in the wrong precinct led to over 14,000 registered voters statewide to lose their vote in 2008.”

— State Sen. Nina Turner

An elections reform bill approved in June by the Ohio Senate had plenty of troubling new provisions for critics of the proposal, namely Democrats.

The bill contained a number of changes to Ohio’s voting and election procedures, some of which may lead to voter suppression, opponents of House Bill 194 argued before the Republican-controlled Senate passed the bill along party lines.

Ohio: Elections chief suspects voter fraud – Ohio Secretary of State seeks criminal investigation | The Tribune

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted wants the attorney general and the Lawrence County Prosecutor to determine if a group of Democrats attempted voter fraud in the 2010 general election. If so, it could mean prison time and a fine for anyone convicted of these crimes.

On Tuesday Husted turned over to Mike DeWine and J.B. Collier the findings of his investigation into the applications of 119 Lawrence County absentee ballots for further review and possible prosecution.

“There was an attempt to violate the election law with the attempt to cast and count fraudulent votes,” Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted said in an interview with The Tribune on Tuesday. “If we didn’t believe there were irregularities that amounted to a violation of law we would not have referred it to the attorney general and the county prosecutor.”

Kentucky: County clerks worry Kentucky homeless voter policy could lead to fraud | FOX19

Kentucky election officials say there’s been an increase in the number of voter registration forms from the homeless so they felt the need to clarify a few rules. However, some local county clerks say the policy could lead to voter fraud.

Last week, State Board of Elections Executive Director Sarah Ball Johnson wrote all of the county clerks in Kentucky a memo, instructing them to approve all voter registration applications from people who are homeless — even if clerks can’t verify the addresses on the forms. The policy has been in place since 1998, but Johnson wanted to clarify it because of the number of applicants and newly elected county clerks.

National: Voter ID Supporters Need Statistics 101 | Brennan Center for Justice

Any good student of Statistics 101 will tell you that correlation does not imply causation. Apparently, many voter ID supporters never got the memo.

Two and a half years ago, Justin Levitt wrote on this  blog about how some proponents of voter ID requirements were asserting that stringent ID laws in Georgia and Indiana did not depress turnout in 2008. Those proponents thought they had found their magic bullet: turnout in Georgia and Indiana was higher in 2008 than in 2004, despite the implementation of strict ID laws in the interim.

Mr. Levitt gave them a simple statistics lesson. Even if turnout increases at the same time as the adoption of a new voter ID law, there may be something other than the voter ID law – Mr. Levitt identified campaign mobilization, in particular – that caused the turnout increase. In other words, correlation does not imply causation.

Minnesota: Government Shutdown Will Not Affect Duluth Minnesota Elections | Northland’s NewsCenter

If it weren’t for some exceptions, the government shutdown could have caused problems for election. Tuesday was the first day candidates were allowed to file for Duluth city council and school board positions.

The election process is safeguarded from the shutdown. A judge had ruled the Secretary of State’s office to remain open and all parts of the election process to continue. Had it not been for that ruling, new voters may not have been able to get registered or voters obtain absentee ballots, as the election systems would have been done. The elections in Duluth will run as usual.

South Carolina: South Carolina Election Commission hopes to have deals reached on 2012 presidential primary by October | The Republic

South Carolina’s Election Commission expects to have plans in place for running the first-in-the South presidential primary by October, the agency said Wednesday.

The primary’s funding and fate were put in doubt by state budget writers and Gov. Nikki Haley’s veto of money for the contest. The Legislature overrode the veto last week and the state’s attorney general says the Election Commission can run the primary and bill the state Republican Party.

That will happen under a contract the state will discuss, draft and commit to by October, Election Commission spokesman Chris Whitmire said.

New Jersey: Foster files court challenge to Smith-Reid’s Morristown New Jersey primary win | Daily Record

Toshiba Foster is asking a judge to overturn councilwoman Raline Smith-Reid’s victory in the 2nd Ward Democratic primary, alleging close to 100 violations involving dozens of votes that her attorneys say were cast illegally. The challenge comes two weeks after a recount determined Smith-Reid won the election by 21 votes, 196-175.

Sharon Weiner, an attorney representing Foster, said the papers were filed just in time to beat a deadline Tuesday for making such a challenge and after an examination of various voting records, including absentee ballots. She said some absentee ballots were “improperly handled” and in one case someone cast two votes, one by absentee ballot and another by provisional ballot.

“We’re asking the court to assume jurisdiction over these illegal votes,” Weiner said.

Iowa: Scott County Auditor’s office aims to streamline voting | Quad City Times

Scott County will purchase 90 netbook computers to use during elections, bringing the total for use by the auditor’s office to 140. The purchase of the 90 Dell Latitude netbooks is $42,300. The purchase will be voted on Thursday by the Scott County Board of Supervisors.

The auditor’s office has been trying to introduce the small laptop-style computers into election use to help streamline how voter information is recorded. The computers are loaded with a software developed in Cerro Gordo County that links with the state’s I-Voter system.

California: Online voter registration moves closer in California | Central Valley Business Times

Legislation that would allow Californians to register to vote via their county’s election office website has been approved by the Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee.

If the measure makes it into law, California would joins several other states that already offer online registration. California has lagged behind awaiting implementation of the statewide online database system known as VoteCal, which has been delayed until at least 2015.

SB 397, authored by Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, also puts into place greater safeguards to fraud than the current paper registration process.

Kenya: 2012 could be an electronic voting year in Kenya | Capital FM Kenya

The country may next year start full scale electronic voting after a team of international consultants arrived in Nairobi to assist in developing a master plan for e-voting in line with the Constitution. The team from IBM’s Corporate Service Corps Programme will volunteer their expertise for the next four weeks after which they will present findings and a plan to the government.

“IBM is partnering with the Government of Kenya to propose a framework that addresses Kenyan voting challenges,” said IBM Country General Manager Anthony Mwai.

“Our consultants will review the experience of the recent electronic voter registration pilot and compare this with global e-voter frameworks and evolving standards,” he added.