Kansas: Wichita State statistician casts vote for regular auditing of Kansas election returns | Topeka Capital-Journal

A Wichita statistician skeptical of electronic voting security endorsed Tuesday a recommendation by the Kansas secretary of state to allow post-election audits to determine whether mistakes or fraud occurred on Election Day. Elizabeth Clarkson, chief statistician at the National Institute for Aviation Research affiliated with Wichita State University, told the Topeka-Shawnee County League of Women Voters the conversation might be moving in the right direction with Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s proposal to amend state law to enable auditing of ballots. “I’m very pleased to see Kris Kobach propose legislation,” she said. “We do need post-election audits. Without them we don’t have transparency in our voting system.”

Kentucky: Once Again Lawmakers Consider Restoring Voting Rights | Public News Service

An effort to automatically restore voting rights to nonviolent offenders who have served their time has, once again, sailed out of committee in the Kentucky House to an uncertain fate. The idea has cleared the full House every year since 2007, but has been repeatedly blocked in the Senate. The legislation would put a proposal on the ballot for a constitutional amendment, for Kentuckians to decide. Rep. Derrick Graham, a Democrat from Frankfort, is a cosponsor of House Bill 70. “These people have paid their debt to society,” says Graham. “We ought to provide them with hope; we ought to provide them with opportunity. We should be forgiving them.”

Montana: McCulloch announces satellite voting offices on reservations | Great Falls Tribune

Secretary of State Linda McCulloch on Monday announced the establishment of five satellite election offices with the potential of more on Indian reservations in Montana for the 2016 elections. This follows a directive issued by McCulloch in October, ordering counties to provide satellite offices to ensure compliance with the Federal Voting Rights Act. Satellite offices offer services that are otherwise only available to voters at the county headquarters, namely late registration and in-person absentee voting, which are available in the 29 days preceding the election, officials said.

New York: Voter-Registration Lawsuit Settled in Unusual Accord | Wall Street Journal

The Sullivan County Board of Elections will appoint a monitor to review challenges to voter registrations to settle a lawsuit filed by Hasidic Jewish residents in what legal experts call an unprecedented agreement in New York state. A group of 10 Hasidic registered voters from the Catskills village of Bloomingburg sued the Sullivan County Board of Elections in 2015, claiming the board violated the First Amendment, the 14th Amendment and the Voting Rights Act. The plaintiffs alleged the Board of Elections engaged in a “discriminatory campaign to deprive Hasidic Jewish residents of Bloomingburg…of the fundamental right to vote.” U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest approved the settlement Monday.

North Carolina: Closing Arguments Given in Key Voter Rights Trial | The New York Times

In the final session of a trial that could yield a crucial decision about a policy that has been disputed for years, a federal judge heard closing arguments on Monday about North Carolina’s voter identification law. The arguments capped a six-day bench trial, before Judge Thomas D. Schroeder of Federal District Court, that included emotional testimony about voting rights and technical analyses of the law’s impact. The outcome will be seen as an important measure of what voting-related laws federal courts might allow states to pursue and enforce. The North Carolina chapter of the N.A.A.C.P. and other plaintiffs argued Monday, as they have for months, that the Republican-controlled General Assembly drafted the voter identification law in 2013 as a surreptitious way to curb the influence of black and Hispanic voters. The N.A.A.C.P. has argued that those voters are less likely to have one of the six accepted forms of identification required and often face more hardship in obtaining them. “They knew that all these provisions, taken individually and together, have racially discriminatory intent,” said Catherine Meza, a lawyer for the United States Justice Department, which joined the N.A.A.C.P. in the litigation.

North Carolina: Legislature ‘intentionally passed’ discriminatory voter ID law, lawyer says | The Guardian

The North Carolina legislature “intentionally passed a law that would discriminate against African Americans and Latinos”, an attorney told a federal judge on Monday in a case that could have broad implications for the 2016 election. The federal court in Winston Salem heard closing arguments in a trial over the state’s newly implemented voter identification law. The rule, which went into effect on 1 January, requires citizens to show state-issued photo ID before casting a ballot. The challenge to the law, led by the state chapters of the NAACP and League of Women Voters as well as the US Department of Justice, argued that the requirements were racially discriminatory to black and Latino citizens who are less likely to have photo ID or the means to acquire it. North Carolina is just one of 15 states where restrictive new voting laws will go into effect for the 2016 election and are forecast to disproportionately disenfranchise black and Latino Americans. The proceedings were the latest in the convoluted legal battle that has been unfolding in North Carolina since the state’s Republican-controlled legislature passed HB 589 in July 2013. As well as mandating voter ID, the law significantly shortened the window for early voting, prevented citizens from voting outside their district, ended the preregistration of 17-year-olds, and stopped same-day registration, where voters register on the same day they cast a ballot.

Virginia: House panel defeats redistricting bills; Senate panel advances party registration | The Daily Progress

A House of Delegates subcommittee on Tuesday scrapped a series of bills aimed at nonpartisan redistricting. The five measures were defeated 4-3 in a bloc vote in a subcommittee of the House Privileges and Elections panel. Del. Mark J. Cole, R-Spotsylvania, who called for the vote, has said that action on redistricting is premature and that even independent commissions to draw districts require politicians to make appointments. Brian Cannon, executive director of OneVirginia2021, which is pushing for nonpartisan redistricting after the 2020 census, criticized the vote. “This morning was Groundhog Day all over again in the Virginia General Assembly when the members of the House Elections Subcommittee voted to kill five of the most significant redistricting reform bills in recent Virginia history,” he said in a statement.

Virginia: State spent more than $62,000 on voting oath Republicans now want scrapped | Richmond Times-Dispatch

The Virginia Department of Elections spent more than $62,000 to print and mail the controversial loyalty oath requested by the Republican Party of Virginia, according to a state official. At nearly $53,000, the largest expense was printing the nearly 3 million forms containing the so-called statement of affiliation, which could be shelved for the March 1 primary after a Republican party committee voted over the weekend to ask the state not to implement the oath. The State Board of Elections has called a special meeting for Thursday morning to discuss the Republicans’ request to stop the oath.

Australia: South Australia electoral reform a tough task | The Australian

For years, South Australia’s Liberal MPs have complained they would be in government if not for unfair electoral boundaries. But a special panel has been told there’s virtually nothing the state’s electoral commission can do to prevent voters being handed the “wrong” result. The Liberals have languished in opposition since 2002 despite winning a majority of the two-party preferred vote on three occasions. University of Adelaide political scientist Clem Macintyre has pinned the blame on factors beyond the electoral commission’s scope, such as conservative independent MPs siding with Labor.

Cameroon: Prime Minister calls for early elections | StarAfrica

Cameroon’s Prime Minister, Philemon Yang backed by one hundred stalwarts of his native Northwest province has asked President Paul Biya to hold early presidential elections, APA can report. The motion of support and deference published Monday justified this position by the desire to see no less than the leader of the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) completing large development projects launched over the past two years, ending the militant insurgency in the Far North and rebellions in Central African Republic border. The appeal comes after similar arguments relayed by the state-owned media.

Haiti: Opposition rejects president’s plan for interim government | Reuters

Haiti’s opposition on Tuesday rejected a proposal by outgoing President Michel Martelly to form a temporary government to organize elections, after a run-off presidential vote was canceled last month amid violence and allegations of fraud. Martelly, who heads Haiti’s government, is due to leave office on Sunday. A Jan. 24 run-off to choose his successor was canceled after sometimes violent protests erupted against what the opposition said was fraud in the first round. Under a proposal drawn up by Martelly and parliamentary leaders, Prime Minister Evans Paul would resign and be replaced by a candidate to be approved by parliament, government-allied lawmaker Gary Bodeau said.

Serbia: MPs Duel Over Danger of Election Fraud | Balkan Insight

Opposition and ruling party MPs clashed in Serbia’s parliament on Tuesday about potential wrongdoings in the forthcoming parliamentary elections broadly scheduled for late April. Zoran Zivkovic, president of the opposition New Party, said that his party, like most citizens in Serbia, feared electoral fraud. “We thought the period of election frauds ended on October 2000 [with the fall of Slobodan Milosevic] but election theft was already registered in the local elections… and new symptoms of the same disease are obvious,” Zivkovic said.

Editorials: Loosening money’s grip on elections | Rick Hasen/New York Daily News

Forty years ago today, the Supreme Court decided Buckley vs. Valeo, a case that has distorted our thinking and talking about money in politics for nearly two generations and that has taken this country down a perilous path on campaign finance. We should no longer mince words about the consequences for our representative government. Buckley, and its better-known offspring, 2010’s Citizens United vs. FEC, are leading us to plutocracy, a country in which those with the greatest wealth have a much better chance to influence elections and public policy than the rest of us. Despite that bleak assessment, there’s a small window for change opening.

Arizona: House panel OKs change in redistricting process | Arizona Daily Star

A House panel approved a change in the redistricting process that, if ratified by voters, could have the lines for future legislative and congressional elections drawn only by Republicans. The 4-2 vote by the Elections Committee would keep the Independent Redistricting Commission that voters created in 2000 to wrest control of the process from the Legislature. Proponents say it would help remove the politics from the decennial process. But HCR 2009 takes the chore of appointing its members from legislators from each of the two major parties and instead has commissioners running for office like any other politician. Rep. Ken Clark, D-Phoenix, said that, given the GOP voter registration edge, it is virtually certain to produce a commission of five Republicans.

Kansas: Minority groups push for same-day voter registration | Lawrence Journal World

Minority leaders in Kansas and other voting rights advocates are pushing for passage of a bill this year that they say would dramatically increase voter turnout by allowing people to register to vote on Election Day and still have their vote counted. “Same-day registration” is already allowed in 10 states and the District of Columbia, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, and Hawaii will become the 11th state in 2018. “We really believe everybody should have access to voting anytime, not just a few days out of the year. As long as they come with ID, why shouldn’t they be able to vote?” said Rep. Gail Finney, D-Wichita, who recently introduced a same-day registration bill in the House. Rep. Gail Finney, D-Wichita, is sponsoring a same-day voter registration bill that would allow people to register to vote on Election Day. Supporters argue that it would increase voter turnout, especially among young and minority voters. But some skeptics fear it could open the door to widespread voting fraud.

Voting Blogs: Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Vote in Kansas… | Project Vote

Project Vote was part of the landmark case in which Kobach got whacked down by the U.S. Court of Appeals, when he tried to force the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to add Kansas and Arizona’s state proof-of-citizenship requirements to the federal voter registration form. The Court of Appeals rightfully ruled in 2014 that the NVRA preempted those draconian state laws, and added that Kobach and company “have not provided substantial evidence of noncitizens registering to vote using the Federal Form.” … Today, in a bizarre turnaround, the EAC—without any public process of review—suddenly decided to do what Kobach and Co. have been asking all along. They just added proof-of-citizenship requirements to the instructions on the federal form for residents of Kansas, Georgia, and Alabama.

Kentucky: Powers’ spirit invoked in renewed effort to restore felons’ voting rights | WAVE

A House panel took less than 10 minutes to approve unanimously, a bill that would allow those convicted of non-violent felonies to regain their rights to vote. Supporters have invoked the name of the first woman and first person of color to serve in the Kentucky Senate, who died Jan. 30 at the age of 92. “Georgia Powers, she said it best,” Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes (D-Lexington) told the House Committee on Elections, Constitutional Amendments and Intergovernmental Affairs on Monday. “Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude and right now, Kentucky is failing!”

Missouri: House voter ID begins journey in Senate | The Missouri Times

Every year since 2008, the House has passed a bill requiring photo voter identification and each year, it has failed to reach the governor’s desk after being stymied in the Senate. This year’s iteration of those bills have begun their journey, and many Republicans are hoping to see those laws come into effect before this year’s general election. Reps. Justin Alferman and Tony Dugger presented their bills, HB 1631 and HJR 53 respectively, to the Senate Financial and Governmental Organizations and Elections Committee Monday afternoon. Alferman, as he noted during debate in the House believes this bill will be different than past bills.

North Carolina: Voter ID trial ends; decision is now up to federal judge | Winston-Salem Journal

In closing arguments Monday, North Carolina’s photo ID requirement was described by attorneys for the North Carolina NAACP as a racially discriminatory law that places unconstitutional burdens on blacks and Hispanics. Attorneys representing Gov. Pat McCrory and state elections officials called the change in the law a mere inconvenience, saying it would affect a small group of people. Penda Hair, an attorney for the N.C. NAACP, said evidence presented during the trial clearly shows that the photo ID requirement would make it harder for blacks and Hispanics to cast ballots in this year’s election. It’s undisputed, she said, that blacks disproportionately lack the kinds of photo IDs that they would need to show when they come to the polls.

Editorials: ID-ing the problem in North Dakota’s Voter ID law | Tom Dennis/Grand Forks Herald

For the past week in North Carolina, that state’s new Voter ID law has been argued in federal court. Among those testifying against the law was Rosanell Eaton, a black woman who, at 94, still can remember having to recite the preamble to the U.S. Constitution before voting under the state’s old Jim Crow laws, and who last year had to make 10 trips to various state offices to get an ID that complies with North Carolina’s new law. But guess what? North Carolina’s Voter ID law—the one that landed the state in federal court, in a case that’s being called a national Voter ID battleground—is less restrictive than is North Dakota’s Voter ID law. In North Carolina, among other differences, a voter can sign an affidavit swearing that he or she faced a “reasonable impediment” to getting an acceptable ID. In North Dakota, a voter in that situation is out of luck.

Rhode Island: Bill on online voter registration to be heard this week | Associated Press

Making it easier to vote in Rhode Island is the aim of two bills moving through the state’s General Assembly. The House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote Wednesday on a bill to allow online voter registration. Rhode Island Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea says it makes registering to vote more convenient. A similar measure had wide support from lawmakers last year but they were unable to pass it before the end of the session in June.

Utah: Bipartisan effort to end straight-ticket voting nears committee hearing | The Standard Examiner

Three years ago, an effort to end straight-ticket voting in Utah was defeated in the House Government Operations Committee, falling by a 4-3 vote. That bill’s sponsor, Rep. Patrice Arent, D-Salt Lake City is trying again this year with House Bill 119, Straight Ticket Voting Amendments. And the bill will return to the same committee that once killed it. On Tuesday, Feb. 2, the House Government Operations Committee will decide if the latest effort to end straight-ticket voting makes it to the floor. And Arent has a Republican co-sponsor to help move it forward. Rep. Jeremy Peterson, R-Ogden says he’s working to persuade colleagues to support HB119. “The committee members individually have been very receptive to the reasons for bringing this issue forward. I look forward to making the case at the committee meeting,” Peterson said.

Wisconsin: State’s low-key educational effort on new voter ID requirement irks critics | Wisconsin State Journal

The state’s low-profile effort to educate voters about Wisconsin’s new voter ID requirement has critics fearing some voters will be caught off-guard when they head to the polls. The voter ID requirement takes effect this year, starting with the spring primary election on Feb. 16 and followed by the spring election and presidential primary on April 5. The voter ID law was enacted in 2011 and briefly took effect for the 2012 spring primary election until court challenges halted its implementation. Wisconsin’s voter ID requirement is among the most restrictive of any state. Voters must come to the polls with one of a list of approved photo IDs that include their signature, such as a Wisconsin driver’s license, U.S. passport or U.S. military ID. Some student and tribal IDs qualify if they’re not expired. Student IDs also must be accompanied by a separate document that proves enrollment, such as a tuition statement.

Australia: Official says prime minister is considering an early election | Associated Press

Australia’s prime minister told government colleagues Tuesday that an early general election within weeks was “a live option,” an official said. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull alone decides the timing of the next election. He has maintained that he plans for his government to run a full three-year term which would make the election due around September. But he told his colleagues at their first meeting at Parliament House for the year that the election could be called much sooner, a government minister said. Turnbull said he could call a double dissolution election, so-called because both the House of Representatives and the Senate are dissolved.

Canada: Dropping Nova Scotia’s voting age? Change proposed by Liberal advocates | Globalnews.ca

Encouraging youth to get out and vote is something Canada has been trying to do for years, but one group in Nova Scotia is hoping they can change the rules to get people as young as 16 out casting ballots in provincial elections. Evan Price is president of the Truro Liberal Association, a group lobbying to drop the voting age in Nova Scotia from 18 to 16 years old. “This is a conversation that’s revisited now and again and I think it’s time we take another look at it,” Price said.

Haiti: Opposition Alliance Declining to Meet With OAS Mission | Associated Press

A Haitian opposition alliance is declining to meet with a regional mission that traveled to this troubled Caribbean nation to help ease a political crisis that has postponed elections indefinitely. Samuel Madistin, spokesman for the “Group of Eight” that includes second-place presidential candidate Jude Celestin, asserted Monday that the Organization of American States’ mission was “not welcome” and was “unable to play any role as a mediator. The OAS doesn’t help Haiti come out of crisis. They create more crisis,” Madistin said, pointing to its role in 2010 elections that saw Celestin get eliminated from a runoff after his reported second-place finish was challenged by foreign observers complaining of irregularities.

United Kingdom: David Cameron’s hopes of early EU referendum recede after talks with Tusk | The Guardian

David Cameron’s preferred option of an early referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU edged further away after he failed to broker a deal with the president of the European council, Donald Tusk. The two men had hoped to finalise a renegotiation of Britain’s relationship with Brussels over dinner at Downing Street so that it could be put to other EU leaders on Monday ahead of a crucial summit in less than three weeks. An early deal would allow Cameron to call a referendum on the UK’s EU membership before the summer. But a Downing Street source said that none of the four key areas under negotiation have been agreed. Instead, further negotiations will be left to diplomats or “sherpas” in Brussels on Monday, in the hope that a deal will be put to EU member states on Tuesday.

Vanuatu: After election, parties, independents scramble to form coalitions to form viable government | ABC

Vanuatu’s Electoral Commission has confirmed the major political parties have been largely wiped out following the country’s snap election. The official results show 17 parties had been elected, but none had secured more than six seats in the 52-seat parliament. Caretaker Prime Minister Sato Kilman is the only member of his People’s Progress Party remaining in parliament following the January 22 polls. Former prime minister and National United Party leader, Ham Lini, narrowly won his seat after a recount of the votes. The elected parties and eight independent members have three weeks to negotiate to form a coalition government.

National: Winning the fight against gerrymandering in the South | Facing South

After the wave of Tea Party victories across the nation turned more state legislatures red in 2010, Republican lawmakers redistricted their states to the party’s benefit. In some cases, Democratic voters — often African-American — were packed into a small number of districts, diluting their political power. Not long ago, Shelby County, Alabama successfully challenged the section of the Voting Rights Act that required certain states and counties with a history of racial voting discrimination to submit any proposed election law changes — including new voting district maps — to the federal government for approval. The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 ruling in Shelby County v. Holder enabled states, most of them in the South, to change voting districts without federal consent.

Editorials: Could the 2016 Election Settle the Voter ID Debate? | Sarah Childress/Frontline

As the 2016 election season officially kicks off next week, beginning with the Iowa caucus on Monday, voters in several states are preparing to cast ballots under stricter laws for the first time. Over the past five years, more than 18 states have passed laws to impose restrictions on voters’ access to the ballot, according to a FRONTLINE analysis of voting laws nationwide. Even as at least six states have expanded access to the ballot, introducing automatic voter registration and online voting, these states have cut early-voting hours, limited felons’ ability to vote and imposed strict voter ID laws. That includes several key swing states, such as North Carolina, which passed a comprehensive voting bill in 2013, and Ohio, which passed a law to reduce early-voting days one year later. The most controversial of these laws are those requiring identification at the polls — usually a photo ID. That’s largely because support is split along partisan lines. Republicans tend to favor them, arguing the laws guard against voter fraud. Democrats, meanwhile, have pointed out that new restrictions are more likely to prevent some voters, in particular African-Americans and Latinos, from casting ballots.