South Africa: South African local election voting goes smoothly | M&Cnews

Voting in municipal elections proceeded smoothly across South Africa on Wednesday, even in hotly contested districts, where a rising opposition party is hoping to make gains. … Some minor glitches occurred in parts of Johannesburg and in the far north, including several polling machines that did not function and one station that was damaged overnight…

Kosovo: Results from the 2011 Post-Election Survey in Kosovo | IFES

Post-Election Public Opinion in Kosovo 2011, IFES’ third post-election survey in the country since 2008, is now available. The poll captures the perspectives of Kosovo citizens on matters such as perceptions of democracy, opinions on the December 2010 elections, and assessments of the overall situation in the country.

These IFES surveys have provided much insight into the evolution of opinions of Kosovo citizens from immediately prior to the country’s declaration of independence in 2008 to this year. The data not only gives a pulse of the country, but is a thorough gauge of public opinion on the country’s advancing electoral process and democracy.

Australia: Commissioner rejects Hanson voting error claims | ABC News

The New South Wales electoral commissioner has rejected claims that two of his staff exchanged emails allegedly referring to errors in the count of votes for Upper House candidate Pauline Hanson. Ms Hanson is challenging the election result which saw her miss out on an Upper House seat.

She has launched action in the Court of Disputed Returns, after being told that staff at the commission had mistakenly put around 1,200 votes for her in a pile of blank ballots. Ms Hanson says she was tipped off by an Electoral Commission worker that her ballots were sabotaged.

Florida: New Florida laws may face legal challenges | TBO.com

The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida has hired two more lawyers and is planning to add another to help handle an expected workload increase resulting from the Republican-led Legislature’s recently ended session. The ACLU, unions and some liberal and nonpartisan groups are gearing up for potential legal challenges to legislation as well as at…

Wisconsin: Colleagues see Nickolaus as insular, hardworking | JSOnline

Kathy Nickolaus, the county clerk at the center of the state Supreme Court election controversy and the focus of an ongoing state elections investigation, has been described by colleagues and acquaintances as headstrong and insular, hardworking and independent. She came to local public office, where constituents are the boss, from a staff job at the…

Texas: Corpus Christi Texas Councilwoman asks for recount, investigation after 3 votes force runoff | Corpus Christi Caller-Times

Councilwoman Priscilla Leal wants a recount of Saturday’s election results and a state investigation into alleged voting problems in her district. Leal, who is seeking her fourth term as the District 3 representative, was forced into a runoff by three votes. She received 1,016 votes to challenger Roland Barrera’s 921 and Rose Marie Soto’s 99, according…

The Voting News Daily: Why recounts are a vital part of election process, The Mathematical Debate Over Instant Runoff and Other Alternative Voting Systems

The Voting News for 05/17/2011 Joanne Kloppenburg: Why recounts are a vital part of election process | JSOnline The Journal Sentinel Editorial Board is entitled to its own opinions but it is not entitled to its own facts. The board’s speculation about my motives regarding the recount of the vote in the Supreme Court election is…

South Africa: South Africa: Ready for your vote | Times LIVE

Tomorrow is election day and the country will become a network of hope, change and unity. To make sure that each of the 23.5-million votes cast will count – literally at least – there are three people and their teams who have been working tirelessly. They are Libisi Maphanga, the chief information officer for the Independent…

China: Special teams on ground in China to ensure fair elections | People’s Daily Online

The Party’s top member-managing and discipline-inspecting departments have jointly sent supervisory teams to 14 provinces and autonomous regions to ensure there is no misconduct during the local leadership reshuffles as officials at various levels finish their five-year terms. The teams, comprising officials from the Organization Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee…

Editorials: Teh Tarik: Majority vote | The Star Online

Following the rationale of one man, one vote, should not the outcome of an election reflect the true will of the people? Is it really fair? In Singapore’s elections last week, the People’s Action Party won 81 out of 87 seats even though only about 60% of voters chose it. Yes, the island republic officially has…

Australia: Hanson election challenge begins in court | ABC Newcastle NSW

The New South Wales Electoral Commission has been ordered by a Sydney court to hand over all the information it has about the alleged sabotage of votes for Pauline Hanson.

The One Nation founder has lodged a petition in the Court of Disputed Returns after her failed bid to win a seat in the state’s Legislative Council at the March election.

Egypt: Indian Chief Election Commissioner says Egypt can’t trust imported voting machines can’t be trusted | Financial Express

After the revolution in Tahrir Square, Egyptian authorities consulted India’s Election Commission for help in conducting parliamentary polls in the country, only to get cautious advice from chief election commissioner (CEC) SY Quraishi. He asked his Egyptian counterpart to not import electronic voting machines (EVMs) from anywhere and get these manufactured domestically. Imported machines, however…

Kansas: Kansas Lawmakers Spank Kobach On Elections Bill | KCTV Kansas City

Kansas legislators are refusing to move up the starting date for a proof-of-citizenship requirement for people registering to vote for the first time or to give Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s office new power to prosecute election fraud cases. The rejection of those proposals Wednesday by a bipartisan majority in the state Senate is a political…

Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe parties resume constitution process | AFP

Parties to Zimbabwe’s power-sharing deal resumed the constitutional process Saturday after reaching a compromise on how to analyse views gathered from the public, an official said. The process stalled on Wednesday over disagreements between President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) over the weight given to the public submissions.…