New York: 27 Percent of New York’s Registered Voters Won’t Be Able to Vote in the State’s Primary | The Nation

In June 2013, North Carolina passed the most sweeping voting restrictions in the country, requiring strict voter ID, cutting early voting and eliminating same-day registration, pre-registration for 16 and 17-year-olds, and out-of-precinct voting, among other political reforms. The state defended its cutbacks in court last summer by invoking, of all places, New York. “The state of New York has no early voting as opposed to North Carolina that has ten days of early voting,” lawyer Thomas Farr said. “The state of New York has no same-day registration. The state of New York has no out-of-precinct voting. The state of New York has no pre-registration.” It was a cynical defense of North Carolina’s law—North Carolinians don’t deserve to suffer because a state 500 miles away has different laws—but it was still unnerving to hear a Southern state invoke a progressive Northern state to rationalize making it harder to vote. The fact is, New York does have some of the worst voting laws in the country. New York has no early voting (unlike 37 states), no Election Day registration (the state constitution requires voters to register no later than 10 days before an election), and excuse-only absentee balloting (voters have to prove they’ll be out of town or have a disability.)

Rhode Island: Filippi calls for move to instant runoff elections in Rhode Island | The Westerly Sun

State Rep. Blake Filippi has introduced legislation that would give voters an opportunity in the next election to amend the Rhode Island constitution to replace the current plurality vote with instant runoff elections. A plurality is winning with the greatest number of votes, even if the candidate does not win more than 50 percent of the vote. Filippi cited examples of Gov. Gina Raimondo, who was elected with 40.8 percent of the vote, and former Gov. Lincoln Chafee, who received 36.1 percent. “The fact that we have a prior governor with 36 percent of the vote and our current governor has approximately 40 percent of the vote — I think it’s obvious there’s a problem,” said Filippi, I-Westerly. “Our elected officials can serve without the strong mandate needed to effectively govern and I think that people feel their will isn’t being represented when you have someone with just a mere plurality serving.”

Utah: San Juan county defends mail-in voting against Navajo lawsuit | Deseret News

A Utah county is crying foul over a lawsuit filed by members of the Navajo Nation who say a move to hold elections only by mail disenfranchises people who live on remote parts of the reservation where mail service is unreliable. San Juan County countered in a recent court filing that the Navajos fabricated the claim in an attempt to control local politics. The county said voter participation actually increased in 2014, in part because the mail-in voting allowed Navajos who work out of town or go away to college or the military to cast ballots. “Why would you want to do away with vote-by-mail when it allows more people to vote?” asked lawyer Jesse Trentadue, who represents the county. County officials also said the U.S. Department of Justice reviewed and signed off on the voting procedures and that improvements are being made for this year’s election.

Virginia: Lawmakers rack up big bill for taxpayers in redistricting lawsuit | The Washington Post

The Virginia Senate has spent $180,000 in taxpayer dollars on a court battle over whether state election maps illegally protect incumbents from primary challenges, according to documents obtained under the state’s public records law by an advocacy group. The lawsuit, funded by a redistricting reform group, argues that 11 state Senate districts violate the constitutional requirement that districts be “compact.” Instead, many legislative districts zigzag across Virginia in odd shapes in an effort to capture the precise mix of voters to give an incumbent lawmaker the best chance for reelection, critics say. As part of the lawsuit, some lawmakers are trying to keep secret emails about the 2011 redistricting process sought by lawyers for OneVirginia2021, a nonprofit which says it wants to take the politics out of the process of drawing district boundaries. The lawsuit has taken unexpected turns, raising questions about conflict of interest and what politicians can and cannot hide from judicial scrutiny.

Editorials: From the front lines: A Wisconsin poll worker dreads the job | Carrie Scherpelz/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

‘m a Wisconsin poll worker. I’ve come to dread my job. After four years of experience at my busy polling place, I was surprised to find myself dreading Wisconsin’s primary election. Sadly, running elections has grown more daunting with every new voting law passed by the state Legislature, especially the new photo ID requirement and voter registration rules. The April 5 high-turnout election put even more new guidelines in place — added in the two months since the Feb. 16 election. Not surprisingly, both voters and poll workers are confused. That makes my job much harder and far less rewarding. I want voters to have confidence in my knowledge of ever more complex procedures. I want to serve them well so they enjoy exercising their right to vote. I don’t want them to stand in long lines or feel scrutinized as if they are passing through an airport security checkpoint. Most of all, I hate telling students that their student ID is not an approved voter ID. When I inform students of their options, I apologize and say, “Please promise me you’ll get the proper ID and come back. I want you to be able to vote.”

Australia: Australia Moves Toward a New Election | Wall Street Journal

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to curb labor unions’ power, in a defeat set to trigger new elections just seven months after he took office. Mr. Turnbull had promised to invoke an election if lawmakers didn’t pass the bill, and he is now expected to formalize the threat after unveiling the national budget next month. Uncertainty over the election outcome and a potential shift in economic policy has already unsettled some of Australia’s biggest companies. Monday’s developments set in motion a risky path to an unusual election known as a double dissolution, which puts all seats in both legislative chambers to a vote. In a normal election, the lower house and just half the senate are chosen. The last such election—also aimed as resolving legislative deadlocks—was in 1987. “They’ve loaded the gun,” said Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce after the Senate vote. “We’ve always been pretty straight and we’ve always said we’d go to a double dissolution if it didn’t pass. It hasn’t passed.”

Austria: Presidential polls to rattle centrists, buoy right wing | Reuters

Austrian voters look set to shake the foundations of the centrist coalition government in a presidential election on Sunday and may give yet another boost to the anti-Islam Freedom Party as Europe’s migrant crisis rumbles on. The president plays a largely ceremonial role from offices in the imperial Hofburg palace. But he or she is head of state, swears in the chancellor, has the authority to dismiss the cabinet and is commander in chief of the military. Members of the centre-left Social Democrats and the conservative People’s Party have filled the job since it was first put to a popular vote in 1951. The two parties have ruled the nation of 8.7 million in tandem for most of the postwar era. But Austrians are fed up with political cockfighting, including bickering between Social Democrat Chancellor Werner Faymann and conservative Vice-Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner, and appear to be looking elsewhere for their new head of state.

Italy: Referendum on oil concessions fails to reach quorum | Associated Press

Italian Premier Matteo Renzi says the jobs of oil workers have been preserved by the failure of a referendum that aimed to curtail the duration of existing drilling concessions in territorial waters. The referendum Sunday was headed to defeat after failing to reach a quorum of 50 percent plus one. Renzi had made clear before the vote of his intention to abstain, weakening the measure. After polls closed, Renzi said that “the government doesn’t see itself as the winner.” The winners, he said, were the workers “who tomorrow return to their place of work … aware of having a future and not just a past.”

New Zealand: Online voting trial axed amid security concerns | Newshub

Two councils that signed up to trial online voting at this year’s elections are disappointed at the Government’s decision to can it. Associate Local Government Minister Louise Upston says more work needs to be done and there are “real concerns” about security and vote integrity. “Due to timing restrictions, preparations for the proposed trial have not yet met the legislative requirements and cannot guarantee public confidence in the election results. “Security testing has been planned but has not yet occurred. Without seeing the results of testing, we cannot be confident the systems are secure enough and the trial could not be authorised.”

National: G.O.P. Chief Discourages Rule Changes That Seem to Block Donald Trump | The New York Times

The chairman of the Republican National Committee has privately urged members of the party’s rules committee not to make changes to the guidelines governing the presidential nominating process, an effort to avoid the appearance that the party is seeking to block Donald J. Trump from becoming its nominee. The chairman, Reince Priebus, whom associates describe as increasingly frustrated by Mr. Trump’s criticism of the delegate-selection process, sent a text message last week to multiple rules committee members strongly suggesting that they not alter the convention rules when the party convenes next week for its spring meeting in Florida, according to two who received the message. Separately, a group of influential rules committee members held a conference call Thursday to prepare for the meeting and reached a consensus that they would derail any attempt at the gathering to make changes to the how the convention is conducted, according to a committee member on the call. “We’re not going to do anything with the rules next week,” said Rob Gleason, chairman of the Pennsylvania Republican Party and a longtime member of the rules committee. “There’s no point because new rules will be written at the convention.”

Editorials: Why Americans Can’t Vote | The New York Times

The state of the nation’s underfunded, patchwork election system and obsolete balloting machinery may not arouse voters the way candidates can with charges of rigged elections. But voters in Arizona who lined up for the state’s presidential primaries last month learned just how difficult and unfair voting can be even without criminal malfeasance. Maricopa County, the state’s most populous, had slashed the number of polling places to 60, from 200 in 2012, claiming a need for budget savings and leaving thousands of voters waiting long hours into the night, with some giving up in despair. The Justice Department is investigating this electoral disaster, including charges that minority voters were particularly harmed. Critics blame the Supreme Court for weakening the Voting Rights Act, which used to subject regions with a history of discrimination, Maricopa County among them, to prescreening by the Justice Department before they could make major changes in voting procedures. Had that provision remained operational, the Maricopa fiasco might have been averted.

Alabama: Runoffs consume time, money for low turnout | Times Daily

Rep. Mike Ball, R-Madison, said the simple fact is people aren’t interested runoff elections. “People don’t take them seriously,” said Ball. “Look at the participation — that tells you what people think of runoffs.” He referred to the lack of interest in the state’s April 12 runoff elections. According to the Alabama Secretary of State’s website, there are 1.35 million registered voters, but during Tuesday’s runoff elections just over 65,000 people voted. “It’s sad that this happens, but people forget about runoff elections,” said political science expert Bill Stewart, professor emeritus at the University of Alabama. Stewart said most states don’t have runoff elections anymore because they draw a small percentage of voters. That was evident in the Shoals. Out of 108,168 registered voters in Colbert, Franklin and Lauderdale counties, only 5,711 people voted in Tuesday’s runoff election.

California: Are you an independent voter? You aren’t if you checked this box | Los Angeles Times

With nearly half a million registered members, the American Independent Party is bigger than all of California’s other minor parties combined. The ultraconservative party’s platform opposes abortion rights and same sex marriage, and calls for building a fence along the entire United States border. Based in the Solano County home of one of its leaders, the AIP bills itself as “The Fastest Growing Political Party in California.” But a Times investigation has found that a majority of its members have registered with the party in error. Nearly three in four people did not realize they had joined the party, a survey of registered AIP voters conducted for The Times found. That mistake could prevent people from casting votes in the June 7 presidential primary, California’s most competitive in decades. Voters from all walks of life were confused by the use of the word “independent” in the party’s name, according to The Times analysis. Residents of rural and urban communities, students and business owners and top Hollywood celebrities with known Democratic leanings — including Sugar Ray Leonard, Demi Moore and Emma Stone — were among those who believed they were declaring that they preferred no party affiliation when they checked the box for the American Independent Party.

Florida: New law sets study of online voting for overseas military | Palm Beach Post

Florida Gov. Rick Scott finished off his duties from the 2016 legislative session on Friday by vetoing perhaps the most controversial bill of the year — the proposed overhaul of the state’s alimony and child-custody laws — and signing two others bills. With those moves, the Republican governor finished acting on all 272 bills — including the state budget — approved by the Legislature this year. He signed all but three. One of the last two signed by Scott could lead to an online voting system for overseas military personnel from Florida, and the other is expected to help people get mental-health or substance-abuse treatment.

Illinois: House Democrats propose redistricting amendment | Bloomington Pantagraph

Illinois House Democrats are proposing their own plan for changing the way the state’s legislative districts are drawn. Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner has made redistricting reform a key component of his “turnaround agenda,” but Democrats say a Republican proposal and one being pushed by a group called Independent Maps wouldn’t adequately take into account minority populations when drawing boundaries, a claim supporters dispute. Rep. Jack Franks, D-Marengo, said he filed the new proposal because he doesn’t believe the other plan would pass constitutional muster due to its lack of protection for minority voters.

Editorials: Brian Newby and Kris Kobach are tangled in a web of voter restrictions | Steve Rose/The Kansas City Star

The Brian Newby I knew in the 11 years he served as Johnson County election commissioner thought the big deal about voter fraud was blown way out of proportion. We discussed this on several occasions. I knew he had to be careful what he said because his boss — the one who appointed him — was none other than Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. Kobach has a national reputation as one of the most virulent crusaders for restrictive voting because, Kobach claims, he wants to stamp out voter fraud. There has been no indication in Kansas or anywhere else that voter fraud is a major issue. Kobach pushed for laws that require Kansans who want to register to vote to come up with documents like a passport or birth certificate, which tens of thousands of Kansans — mostly poor — don’t have, and therefore they cannot vote. (Note: This is not about showing a driver’s license at the time you vote, which is a reasonable request.) Newby told me that over his entire term he came across only a couple of instances of double-voting that could technically be defined as fraud. However, Newby was clear that he thought these were mistakes, not intentional fraud.

New York: Voters file lawsuit over alleged election fraud | New York Daily News

More than 200 outraged New York voters have joined a lawsuit claiming the party affiliation on their voter registration changed without their consent. The voters say they are unfairly being shut out of Tuesday’s primary. The suit, to be filed Monday in Brooklyn, calls for New York to be an open primary state, allowing anyone to vote in primaries regardless of party affiliation. “For many of our complainants, to have the electoral process deprived of them, it’s devastating,” Shyla Nelson, an activist and spokeswoman for Election Justice U.S.A., told the Daily News.

North Carolina: Legislative redistricting trial concludes | Associated Press

A federal trial scrutinizing nearly 30 North Carolina legislative districts concluded Friday after attorneys presented conflicting arguments over whether increasing the number of majority-black districts reinforces outdated race-based political divisions or is a sensible legal strategy. The three-judge panel gave no timeframe on when it would rule at the close of the weeklong trial spurred by a voters’ lawsuit, but any decision is at least several weeks away and could be appealed. The timing of the ruling could determine whether Republican lawmakers have to scramble to redraw boundaries in time for the November general elections. The state’s lawyers, who are defending the current boundaries as legal, have said that if any adjustments are ordered, they should be delayed until the 2018 elections. Some of North Carolina’s congressional boundaries were struck down as illegal racial gerrymanders by a different federal judicial panel in February, based in part on arguments similar to what the plaintiffs used in this week’s case. The legislature, forced to redraw the congressional districts right away, delayed the primary for the seats until June 7. Legislative primaries under the current maps were held last month.

Ohio: GOP: Require cash for longer vote hours | Cincinnati Enquirer

Republican lawmakers want anyone who goes to court to keep polls open longer on Election Day to hand over enough cash to cover the cost. Ohio Sen. Bill Seitz is proposing a change in state law that would require a cash bond, potentially worth thousands of dollars, before a judge could order polls to stay open past the scheduled closing time. Seitz, who already has nine Republican co-sponsors for his bill, said the goal is to prevent what he considers frivolous, last-minute court challenges that keep polls open late and create additional costs for taxpayers. The law also would set a higher standard for proving the need for longer hours and would allow for the immediate appeal of any ruling that extends poll hours. “There will always be some excuse that some activist judge can seize upon,” said Seitz, of Green Township. “Is this intended to retard these last-minute interventions? Yes, it is.”

Australia: Double dissolution election likely as Parliament set to examine two key bills, Brandis says | ABC

Federal Attorney-General George Brandis has indicated it is highly likely Australia will head to a double dissolution election on July 2, saying he does not expect the Senate to pass two key pieces of Government legislation. Senator Xenophon, along with other crossbenchers, want a number of amendments to the ABCC Bill Parliament has been recalled early for an extraordinary sitting to debate the Coalition’s bill to reintroduce the construction watchdog, the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC), and the Registered Organisations bill, which aims to treat union leaders like company directors.

Chad: Opposition Poised For Possible Election Run-off | VoA News

Official results have yet to be released from Chad’s April 10 presidential election. But opposition candidates say their vote count indicates the country is headed to a run-off, and they will not accept any other results. It is the latest sign of tension as President Idris Deby seeks a fifth term in office. Mahamat Ahmad Alhabo, president of the opposition Party for Liberty and Development (PLD) and spokesperson of opposition presidential candidates, says the political opposition is poised for a run-off after result sheets from their representatives in all poling stations indicated no candidate had won an absolute majority in the first round of polling Sunday.

Ghana: US to support Ghana’s elections with $4.5 million | Ghana Web

The United States government has pledged an amount of 4.5 million dollars to support Ghana’s election which comes off on November 7, 2016. The EC will be getting one third of the money for voter education and to support other activities relating to the elections. This pledge from the United States comes barely two months after the British government also announced a 4 million pound support to the Electoral Commission to help run an effective election. The Electoral Commission in December 2015 submitted a budget of 1.8 billion Ghana cedi to parliament for approval to effectively run the 2016 elections. Parliament approved 1.2 billion of the said amount but this was further slashed to 826.8 million cedis by the Finance Ministry on grounds that there is a ceiling on the total amount it can release for elections.

Serbia: Ultra-nationalist resurgence could complicate Serbia’s EU path | Reuters

Ultra-nationalists are set to return to Serbia’s parliament in an April 24 election after an absence of several years, boosted by growing discontent with Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic’s pro-European Union stance and austerity policies. They include firebrand Radical Party leader Vojislav Seselj, whose popularity in Serbia was boosted by his acquittal last month of crimes against humanity by the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague. Polls indicate Seselj’s Radicals and the right-wing Dveri grouping, which hold pro-Russian and anti-NATO views and demand an end to integration with the EU, will both get over the threshold needed to get into parliament and together could win about 25-30 seats in the 250-seat assembly.

United Kingdom: EU referendum vote could be overseen by ‘international monitors’ | Daily Express

It means this nation, which has just celebrated the 700th anniversary of the signing of Magna Carta, could be faced with the humiliating prospect of joining the ranks of Russia and Azerbaijan in having independent experts ensure fairness. Concerns will be raised at a meeting of the Council of Europe, a human rights organisation of 47 member nations which predates the EU, when it convenes on Monday. The call, by Tory MP Nigel Evans, was partly prompted by the Government’s decision to spend £9m of taxpayers’ money on pro-EU leaflets. Speaking to the Sunday Express, the MP for Ribble Valley said: “The Council has great expertise in monitoring elections – in a week’s time, I will be monitoring elections in Serbia.

The Voting News Weekly: The Voting News Weekly for April 11-17 2016

As the general election approaches, the complex and often confusing laws around voter registration have led to court challenges and legislative action in many states. Richard Hasen examines the even more complex nomination process that has raised suggestions that the system is “fixed” or “rigged” Both major Democratic presidential candidates will sue the state of Arizona over voter access to the polls after the state’s presidential primary last month left thousands of residents waiting as long as five hours to vote. The upcoming New York primary, has focused attention on the state’s restrictive closed primary and lack of in-person early voting. A panel of three federal judges opened up the possibility Tuesday that Wisconsin voters who have great difficulty getting photo IDs could cast ballots without them. The Canadian Supreme Court said it would take on a case challenging the disenfranchisement of citizens who have lived abroad for longer than five years and South Korea’s ruling conservative party suffered an unexpected defeat in a parliamentary election.

National: Election year brings new focus to voter rights in courts, legislatures | The Kansas City Star

Eric and Ivanka Trump learned this week they won’t be able to vote for their dad, Donald, in New York’s primary Tuesday. They didn’t register as Republicans in time. Trump was philosophical. “They were, you know, unaware of the rules,” he ruefully told Fox News. The story prompted chuckles in some political and media circles. But it also helped illustrate an ongoing truth: In 2016, America’s state-based election laws can confuse even the most interested voters. From a federal courthouse in Kansas City, Kan., Thursday, to Arizona and beyond, lawyers are arguing over how and when we vote. Voting rules are a confusing, contradictory hodgepodge from state to state and sometimes county to county, many experts say, often based more on perceived political advantage than fair exercise of the franchise. Consider: You can cast an early ballot in Kansas, but not in Missouri. You need a picture ID to vote in Texas, but not in California. In Colorado you can register on Election Day; in Arkansas, you must be on the registrar’s books 30 days before going to the polls.

National: Why Thousands of Americans Are Lining Up to Get Arrested in D.C. | Rolling Stone

Chanting, “Money ain’t speech, corporations aren’t people!” and “We are the 99 percent!” around 425 protesters were arrested Monday in a mass sit-in on the steps of the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., and more have returned to face arrest Tuesday. The demonstration, called Democracy Spring, is advocating a set of reforms the organizers have dubbed the “democracy movement,” demanding Congress amend campaign finance laws and restore the Voting Rights Act, among other actions. For about five hours under the windy shadow of the looming Rotunda, at least eight police buses roll across the sandstone Capitol plaza to haul away the last of the peaceful protesters, where participants — some costumed in green dollar-bill suits and Lady Liberty garb — have overwhelmed a Capitol Police processing center, sending protesters to a nearby overflow facility. Police records suggest Monday was the largest spate of mass arrests in at least a decade at the U.S. Capitol, and close observers of Washington activism say it may have been the largest since the Vietnam War.

Editorials: Is Trump right about ‘rigged’ nomination? | Richard Hasen/ CNN

Each year on April Fools’ Day I intersperse some false but plausible news stories among the real ones on my Election Law Blog. Last year, I got a number of prominent election-law attorneys and activists to believe a false report that a federal court, relying on the Supreme Court’s controversial campaign finance decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, held that the First Amendment protects the right to literally bribe candidates. This year, among false posts, was one in which I had Donald Trump declaring that he would not abide by the results of the Electoral College vote if he was the popular vote winner. The made-up story had him plotting with his campaign manager Corey Lewandowski to seize power in the event of a popular vote/electoral vote conflict. Many people believed the post, and it even made aWashington Post list of debunked April Fools’ stories that people fell for. It’s not a surprise. Trump railed against what he perceived as the unfairness of the Electoral College when President Obama won re-election in 2012. And he has consistently whined about what he perceives as unfairness in the electoral process. Combine that with his inflammatory rhetoric, and the idea of a Trump coup is not so crazy.

Arizona: Democratic Party, Clinton and Sanders campaigns to sue Arizona over voting rights | The Washington Post

The Democratic Party and the presidential campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders will sue the state of Arizona over voter access to the polls after the state’s presidential primary last month left thousands of residents waiting as long as five hours to vote. The lawsuit, which will be filed on Friday, focuses on Maricopa County, the state’s most populous county, where voters faced the longest lines on March 22 during the Democratic and Republican primaries after the county cut the number of polling places by 85 percent since 2008. Arizona’s “alarmingly inadequate number of voting centers resulted in severe, inexcusable burdens on voters county-wide, as well as the ultimate disenfranchisement of untold numbers of voters who were unable or unwilling to wait in intolerably long lines,” the lawsuit says. The lack of voting places was “particularly burdensome” on Maricopa County’s black, Hispanic and Native American communities, which had fewer polling locations than white communities and in some cases no places to vote at all, the lawsuit alleges.

Kansas: ACLU asks federal court to block Kansas voter ID law | The Fiscal Times

The American Civil Liberties Union on Thursday will seek to block a Kansas state law that requires people to prove American citizenship if they want to register to vote while applying for a driver’s license. The civil rights group will ask a federal judge in Kansas City, Kansas, to issue a preliminary injunction pending the outcome of a lawsuit the group filed in February. The ACLU claims Kansas is making illegal demands for additional proof of citizenship, violating the so-called Motor-Voter Law that Congress passed in 1993 to boost voter registration for federal elections by allowing voters to register at motor vehicle departments. The Kansas law requiring documents like a birth certificate or U.S. passport for voter registration, which took effect Jan. 1, 2013, is one of numerous voter ID laws passed by Republican-led state legislatures in recent years. The ACLU alleges that Kansas goes beyond what is required by federal law.