Virginia: A court rules against Shelly Simonds one-vote victory for Virginia House of Delegates | The Washington Post

A three- judge panel declined to certify the recount of a key House race today, saying that a questionable ballot should be counted in favor of the Republican and tying a race that Democrats had thought they had won by a single vote. “The court declares there is no winner in this election,” said Newport News Circuit Court Judge Bryant L. Sugg, after the judges deliberated for more than two hours. He said the ballot in question contained a mark for Democrat Shelly Simonds as well as a mark for Republican Del. David Yancey but that the voter had made another mark to strike out Simonds’ name.

Virginia: Elections board to pick random winner in tied House race: ‘They put two names in, somebody shakes it up, and they pull it’ | Richmond Post-Dispatch

An apparent one-vote Democratic victory in a Newport News-area House of Delegates race turned into a tie Wednesday, creating an unprecedented scenario in which control of the House will be decided by state officials essentially drawing a name out of a hat. Under state law, the State Board of Elections now has to break the tie in the 94th House District through “determination by lot,” the wildest turn yet after a roller-coaster week in Virginia politics. Republican Del. David E. Yancey entered Tuesday’s recount with a 10-vote lead over Democrat Shelly Simonds. At the end of the recount, Simonds appeared to have a one-vote lead over Yancey, which would have created a 50-50 split in the House after Democrats flipped 15 other GOP-held seats in a wave election last month.

Finland: Ministry working group says ‘not yet’ to online voting in Finland | Yle Uutiset

Finland should not consider setting up an online voting system for its elections just yet, according to a Justice Ministry working group. The risks in doing so at this point are much higher than benefits that e-voting might bring, they said. Some risks the group identified in an online e-voting system include: widespread manipulation of election results, disruption of elections through denial of service attacks and the potential for the loss of voter anonymity through hacks or other methods. The working group said that while current technology is not yet advanced enough, further development of e-voting technologies could bring new opportunities down the road. The basic tech to set up an online voting system for elections is possible today. For example, Finland’s nearby Baltic neighbour Estonia has utilised e-voting for longer than a decade now. According to the country’s website e-estonia.com, some 30 percent of the Estonian electorate voted through online services in their last elections.

Honduras: In Honduras, Calls Rise for New Presidential Elections | The New Yorker

Between November 26th, the day that Honduras held its Presidential election, and December 17th, when the country’s electoral tribunal finally declared a winner, a reported twenty-two protesters were killed; the sister of the incumbent President died in a helicopter crash; and the opposition candidate, who for weeks had declared himself the President-elect, after an apparent upset, had a child. (He tweeted photos from the hospital.) For all the twists in the story, the outcome was nevertheless predictable: the incumbent, Juan Orlando Hernández, an American ally representing the Partido Nacional, which has been in power since 2009, officially won by fifty thousand votes.

Italy: President Paves Way for National Elections in Early 2018 | Bloomberg

Italian President Sergio Mattarella signaled he would soon pave the way for national elections early next year, telling political leaders that the parliamentary term was drawing to an end. “Our voice will be the stronger if we create the image of a country which is united, stable, determined, capable of respecting commitments,” the head of state said at a year-end ceremony with government ministers, party leaders and senior officials at the presidential palace in Rome. He referred to “the electoral process which is about to begin.” Mattarella is likely to sign a decree to dissolve parliament between Dec. 27 and Dec. 29, according to a state official who could not be named discussing confidential matters. A general election would take place most likely on March 4 or March 11, the official added, with the date to be decided by the government of Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni.

Liberia: Runoff Election At Stake – Supreme Court Reserves Ruling in Up Bill of Information | allAfrica.com

On Monday the Supreme Court heard arguments in the Bill of Information seeking a stay order on the pending December 26, 2017 runoff. During the hearing, the Court asked several questions to both contending lawyers. But specifically, it asked the legal team of the National Elections Commission (NEC) if it was attentively following the Supreme Court’s mandates handed down on December 7, 2017, in the case filed against NEC by Liberty Party. The Elections body legal team answered saying that the court’s mandates are being gradually followed.

Spain: Catalonia votes in election pivotal for independence campaign | Reuters

Catalans flocked to the polls on Thursday for an election that could strip pro-independence parties of absolute control of the region’s parliament, though prospects of it ending the country’s worst political crisis in decades appear slim. Final surveys published last Friday showed separatists and unionists running neck-and-neck, though the same data suggests the pro-independence camp may still be able to form a minority government. That would keep national politics mired in turmoil and raise concerns in European capitals and financial markets. However, the secessionist campaign has lost some momentum since it unilaterally declared independence in October to trigger Thursday’s vote, and one of its leaders took a conciliatory tone towards Madrid in comments published this week.

Spain: How Spain is waging Internet war on Catalan separatists | The Parallax

The cops smiled a lot at first. The six plainclothes officers from Spain’s civil guard arrived in the morning at the Barcelona offices of Fundació PuntCat, the Internet registry that manages the .cat extension, popular in Spain’s Catalonia region. Employees were politely told to unlock their computers and step away. A search warrant would arrive soon. The mood darkened when a squad of riot police turned up, and executives learned that the police that morning had gone to the home of Josep “Pep” Masoliver, the group’s chief technology officer, and arrested him on charges that included perversion of justice. This was September 20, fewer than two weeks before voters in Catalonia were scheduled to decide whether the region should declare independence from Spain. Responding to the country’s worst political crisis in a generation, the Spanish government declared Catalonia’s referendum on self-determination illegal. Many elsewhere in Spain considered the vote treason.

Virginia: In Virginia, a 11,608-to-11,607 Lesson in the Power of a Single Vote | The New York Times

The Democratic wave that rose on Election Day in Virginia last month delivered a final crash on the sand Tuesday when a Democratic challenger defeated a Republican incumbent by a single vote, leaving the Virginia House of Delegates evenly split between the two parties. The victory by Shelly Simonds, a school board member in Newport News, was a civics lesson in every-vote-counts as she won 11,608 to 11,607 in a recount conducted by local election officials. Ms. Simonds’s win means a 50-50 split in the State House, where Republicans had clung to a one-seat majority after losing 15 seats last month in a night of Democratic victories up and down the ballot, which were widely seen as a rebuke to President Trump. Republicans have controlled the House for 17 years.

National: Democrats push for Homeland Security, FBI briefing on Russian attacks on voting systems | The Hill

A group of nearly two-dozen Democratic lawmakers wants the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and FBI to brief the entire Congress on Russia’s efforts to target state voter systems ahead of the 2016 election. The Democratic lawmakers asked House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to arrange such a briefing in a letter sent Tuesday, labeling Moscow’s efforts to target election-related systems an “attack.” The letter was signed by House Democrats representing 18 of the 21 states identified by Homeland Security earlier this year as Russian targets before the 2016 election.

Alabama: Voter Fraud Investigation Based On Man’s Off-The-Cuff Comment | HuffPost

Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill says he is investigating concerns of voter fraud in last week’s Senate special election, even though he has publicly said there is no evidence of it. Merrill, a Republican, told Fox10 Monday he was investigating a viral clip of a Doug Jones supporter on election night. In a spontaneous interview in the moments after the race was announced for Jones, the supporter spoke about getting people out to vote. “We came here all the way from different parts of the country as part of our fellowship and all of us pitched in to vote and canvas together and we got our boy elected,” the supporter, who is not identified, says.

Florida: Experts: Broward’s elections chief broke law in destroying ballots | Politico

The election supervisor in Florida’s second-most populous county broke the law by destroying ballots cast in last year’s congressional primary involving Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, according to election-law experts across the political spectrum. The congresswoman’s opponent has sued to get access to the ballots. The case — one of three ongoing independent lawsuits plaguing Broward County Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes’ troubled office — stems from a June lawsuit filed in circuit court by Democrat Tim Canova. He had wanted to inspect the optical-scan ballots cast in his Aug. 30 primary race against Wasserman Schultz because he had concerns about the integrity of the elections office. Under longstanding federal law, ballots cast in a congressional race aren’t supposed to be destroyed until 22 months after the election. And under state law, a public record sought in a court case is not supposed to be destroyed without a judge’s order.

Florida: Democratic Challenger Says Primary Election Ballots Destroyed Too Early | WLRN

The 2016 Democratic primary election in Broward County may have passed without any technical glitches, but one candidate maintains a federal law was broken after the fact. Democratic candidate Tim Canova ran against Debbie Wasserman Schultz for her congressional seat, which covers portions of Broward and Miami-Dade counties on Aug. 30, 2016. When the results rolled in, Canova lost by more than 6,100 votes. But he didn’t formally contest the election. Instead, he made a public records request to inspect ballots at the Broward County Supervisor of Elections Office. In June 2017, he filed a lawsuit when he and the office argued over the ballot inspection.   

Idaho: Recount Overturns Local Election Won by Coin Toss | Associated Press

A recount for a local election in southern Idaho has overturned a win that was decided by a coin toss last month. Dick Galbraith and Glen Loveland ran against each other for a seat on the city council in the small southern city of Heyburn. Officials said the race ended in a 112-112 vote tie, The Times-News reported  To select the winner, a coin toss was held in mid-November. Galbraith lost and then requested a recount as allowed under state election laws. “I had a nagging feeling that it wasn’t right,” Galbraith said. “And honestly, I just had too much heartburn over losing to a coin toss.”

Michigan: Anti-gerrymander group turns in signatures to get on Michigan ballot | Detroit Free Press

 | Detroit Free Presss turned in more than 425,000 petition signatures to the Secretary of State Monday in an effort to recast how political district lines are drawn in the state. Volunteers for the group have been ubiquitous across the state, collecting the necessary 315,654 petition signatures from registered Michigan voters that are needed to get the constitutional amendment on the ballot. With a cushion of more than 100,000 signatures, the group is confident that a review of the petitions will survive and the issue will get on the November 2018 ballot. “The people of Michigan have come together to make it clear they want voters to choose their politicians, not the other way around,” said Katie Fahey, president of the group. “Michigan voters in November will have the opportunity to fix that system to bring transparency and accountability back into our democracy.”

Nebraska: Not giving up on voter ID push, Senator plans to introduce new legislation | Omaha World Herald

A Gretna state senator is not giving up on bringing voter identification to Nebraska. Days after an opponent of voter ID visited Omaha, Sen. John Murante called a press conference Tuesday to say he plans to introduce a package of legislation with more than one option for enacting voter ID in the state. The details are still being worked out, and the senator did not offer specifics. “I am confident that these options will preserve the integrity of our elections without turning a single lawful voter away from the polls,” Murante said.

Nevada: Attempt to recall Nevada Senator can continue | Las Vegas Review-Journal

An effort to recall Democratic state Sen. Nicole Cannizzaro has enough signatures to continue, the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office said Tuesday. The petition to recall Cannizzaro gathered 15,018 valid signatures — clearing the 14,975 threshold, according to a notice of sufficiency the Secretary of State’s Office issued Tuesday to Clark County Registrar Joseph Gloria. Opponents have five business days to challenge the legal sufficiency of the recall, Deputy Secretary for Elections Wayne Thorley said. If legal challenges are unsuccessful, a special election will be scheduled.

New Mexico: Bernalillo County leads national push for efficient elections | UNM News

The most populous county in New Mexico also boasts the most innovative, modern and professional polling jurisdictions in the nation. According to a new report from the UNM Center for the Study of Voting, Elections and Democracy (C-SVED), Bernalillo County is at the forefront of election administration nationally. The 2016 Bernalillo County Election Administration Report also notes the efficiency, cost-effective and high-integrity of the county’s federal elections. “This report represents voters, poll workers and election observers’ overall evaluation of the effectiveness and quality of election administration,” said Lonna Atkeson, author of the report and director of the C-SVED. “It provides valuable insights on what local election officials are doing right and wrong and where they need to focus to make improvements.”

North Carolina: Elections website was hacked, but it wasn’t as damaging as it could have been | News & Observer

As the fear of election equipment being hacked grows, the State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement wants to get ahead of any potential threats by having additional staff members to address cybersecurity. In a presentation to the Joint Legislative Election Oversight Committee on Friday, Kim Strach, executive director of the state board, said election security is something everyone needs to be concerned about. Strach said there are two types of hacks that the state board has to keep an eye out for – internal and external.

South Carolina: South Carolina election agency can withhold cybersecurity documents, attorney general’s office says | Post and Courier

Amid intensified focus on election cybersecurity, South Carolina’s top government lawyers have advised the state’s election agency that it does not need to publicly release documents about how it is protecting voting systems. Citing a “significant increase” in open records requests about cybersecurity, State Election Commission Director Marci Andino requested an opinion from Attorney General Alan Wilson’s office about whether cybersecurity matters fall under an exception to the law that excludes information relating to “security plans and devices.” Assistant Attorney General Matthew Houck responded in an opinion that a court likely would find that the security plans exemption would apply to cybersecurity infrastructure, allowing the agency to withhold documents about the state’s protection systems.

South Dakota: Clashes over state ballot initiatives could spill into 2018 | Associated Press

Joyce Scott made hundreds of phone calls and knocked on countless doors, helping persuade South Dakota voters to approve a ballot measure last year tightening campaign contribution limits and creating a government ethics watchdog. Republican lawmakers quickly torched the new rules this year and instead are seeking changes that would make it far tougher for residents to bypass the statehouse at all. Scott and others angry about the swift repeal of the voter-backed anti-corruption initiative have turned to the 2018 ballot, hoping to enact a new constitutional amendment that even the Legislature can’t touch. “I was disgusted that we had to go through this again,” said Scott, a 75-year-old Democrat who collected signatures for the new campaign after seeing lawmakers dismantle the first ethics package. “We had already told them once what we wanted.”

Texas: Republican Party Drops Lawsuit To Remove Farenthold From Primary Ballot | Texas Public Radio

The Republican Party of Texas dropped its lawsuit to remove embattled Congressman Blake Farenthold’s name from the 2018 primary ballot. Farenthold asked to have his name removed from the primary ballot following ongoing accusations of sexual harassment, but his request came after the state’s deadline to remove himself from the ballot. Chris Gober, an attorney representing the Republican Party of Texas, told an Austin federal judge that they were dropping their lawsuit because the party and the Secretary of State’s office had come to an agreement that the party chairman, James Dickey, is ultimately responsible for submitting the list of candidates running in the 2018 primary election.

Germany: Never-ending coalition talks break record | Deutsche Welle

So much for German efficiency. Ongoing attempts to form a new government after the country’s September 24 election are once again looking bleak. After the collapse of lengthy coalition talks between Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), its Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU), the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the environmental Green party, all hopes were put on resuscitating a grand coalition between the CDU and the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Now those hopes will have to be put on ice.

Honduras: President ignores new election calls, opponent warns of ‘civil war’ | Reuters

The president of Honduras declared himself re-elected on Tuesday despite calls from the Organization of American States (OAS) for a fresh vote over allegations of fraud and deadly protests following last month’s disputed election. In Washington, his rival asked the United States and others to reject the result and cut off aid, warning that protests in which more than 20 people have died could escalate into generalized violence unless there is a new election. The opposition alliance said it would file a legal challenge to the country’s electoral tribunal’s verdict that President Juan Orlando Hernandez won the Nov. 26 election.

Liberia: Election hearing ends in deadlock | The New Dawn

Senators up Capitol Hill went at loggerhead during heated argument at the public hearing. The ruling Unity Party (UP) and opposition Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) are due to meet at a presidential runoff election scheduled by the NEC for 26 December. Some Senators argued that NEC was proceeding wrongly by setting date for the runoff election, insisting that such responsibility squarely rests at the feet of the Liberian Legislature. But others argued that the Supreme Court’s ruling instructed NEC to set date for the runoff, but in conferment of the 1986 Liberian Constitution. 

Spain: Catalonia Votes Again, This Time in a Gamble to Stall Its Secessionists | The New York Times

After Catalonia declared independence two months ago, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of Spain took extraordinary control of the region and called elections, gambling that voters would punish the separatists who had propelled the nation’s worst constitutional crisis in decades. That election now comes Thursday, but far from solving the conflict, it could just as easily complicate the task of governing the first of Spain’s 19 regions to have its autonomy stripped, placing the country in uncharted political terrain. While Catalonia’s volatile politics have made predictions treacherous, polls indicate a potentially fractured result that may prolong the deadlock over the prosperous northeastern region’s status, even if it denies the separatists a victory.

Spain: Divided Catalans prepare to vote in close-run election | Reuters

Catalonia votes on Thursday for a new administration in an election many hope will resolve Spain’s worst crisis in decades after the region declared independence leading Madrid to sack local leaders. Polls suggest neither the pro-independence nor the pro-unity camp will win a majority. The likely outcome is a hung parliament and many weeks of wrangling to form a new regional government. In the separatist heartland of rural Catalonia, fireman Josep Sales says he hopes the results will endorse the result of an Oct. 1 illegal referendum on independence from Spain and lead to the creation of a republic. “If we get a majority, something will have to be done. And if the politicians don’t do it, the people will unite,” he said, speaking from the town fire station where many of the red fire engines bear the slogan ‘Hello Democracy’.

Uganda: Debate on Presidential Term, Age Limits Turns Raucous | VoA News

Debate on age limits and term length for the president of Uganda came to a sudden halt Tuesday when a lawmaker reported seeing soldiers on the premises. The allegation led to a scuffle between legislators and parliamentary police. The legislature was already on edge because of the proposals being discussed. Parliament is debating a bill that would abolish the age limit for 75 presidential candidates, a move that would enable longtime President Yoweri Museveni to run for another term in the 2021 election. Opposition lawmakers and some members of the ruling party object to the bill, and debate that began Monday has been tumultuous. On Monday, shouting and chair-throwing forced Speaker Rebecca Kadaga to suspend six members of parliament.

United Kingdom: Scottish electoral reform proposals set out | BBC

The Scottish government has set out a range of potential changes to how MSPs and councillors are elected. A public consultation has been launched on proposals for widespread reform of Scotland’s electoral systems. These include term limits for Holyrood and councils, expanding the voting franchise to all residents and trying out “innovative” electronic voting. Government business minister Joe Fitzpatrick said it was “a good time to think about modernising” the system. Holyrood took on new powers over the running of elections under the 2016 Scotland Act.

National: This Is How Gerrymandering Works | The New York Review of Books

I first got interested in gerrymandering on that long-ago night in 2012 when President Obama was re-elected. By 10 PM, it was clear that Obama had won. The next morning, I took a closer look at the returns. I grew up, and currently live, in Harris County, Texas, which includes much of the Houston metropolitan area. After Los Angeles County, California, and Cook County, Illinois, ours is the third-most populous county in the nation. Its population, close to 4.6 million, is greater than the populations of twenty-seven states. So I was stunned to see that Obama was ahead of Romney by two. Not 2 percent. Not 0.2 percent. Not 2,000. Two votes: 579,070 to 579,068. I looked for the fine print. But with nearly 99.2 percent of precincts reporting, these were the numbers. (That last 0.8 percent turned out more heavily for Obama. He won by 971 votes, out of 1,188,585 cast.) That made Harris County, by far, the most closely divided large population center in the country. Under a truly representative system, a county this large and this evenly divided would hold the key to the House of Representatives, and thus open one of the doors to national power. You would expect every race to be hotly contested, wildly expensive, and closely watched. They almost never are.