Editorials: The coming voting machine crisis | Rokey Suleman and R. Doug Lewis/The Hill

To promote democracy around the world, the United States spends hundreds of millions of dollars annually in developing nations. But when it comes to the mechanics of democracy itself in the United States, some don’t even want to pony up $9.6 million. That’s the budget for the obscure, 25-employee Election Assistance Commission (EAC). Created by Congress in 2002, the bipartisan EAC is meant to be a resource for states and localities on election administration. That means everything from designing ballots, to procedures and manuals on election administration, to maintaining voting machines. And lest anyone believe that this is the big hand of the federal government reaching down to something controlled by states and counties, all the EAC does is set guidelines and advise. It does not enforce laws.

Editorials: Jeb Bush Is Completely Wrong About the Voting Rights Act | Ari Berman/The Nation

t an event in Iowa today, Jeb Bush was asked whether he believed the Voting Rights Act (VRA) should be reauthorized by the Congress following the gutting of one of its most important provisions by the Supreme Court in 2013. Bush responded: “If it’s to reauthorize it to continue to provide regulations on top of states as though we’re living in 1960, because those were basically when many of those rules were put in place, I don’t believe we should do that. There’s been dramatic improvement in access to voting, exponentially better improvement, and I don’t think there’s a role for the federal government to play in most places.” Bush is wrong on multiple counts.

Voting Blogs: Online voter registration opens up access, but not always for all | electionlineWeekly

As of this week, 25 states and the District of Columbia have mechanisms in place to allow new voters to register to vote and existing voters to update their information all online — no printing, no stamps, no trek to the mailbox. By all accounts online voter registration has been wildly successful in the states where it has been introduced with statewide elections officials touting the large number of people registering and updating their information. While online voter registration has opened up access to the process to thousands — even hundreds of thousands — of people not previously engaged, one segment of the population is being left out of the online wave — voters with disabilities. A review by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Center for Accessible Technology (CAT) found that of the 20 OVR sites they visited in May 2014, only one — California’s — was completely accessible in the eyes of the review.

Illinois: Lawmakers to debate automatic voter registration idea | NWI

State lawmakers are poised to debate a proposal next week that would automatically register Illinoisans to vote when they obtain or renew a driver’s license or state identification card. The measure, patterned after an Oregon law approved this year, would reverse the current system in which drivers are asked if they want to register. Instead, they would have to say they don’t want to be registered. “I think this would make the process a lot more streamlined,” said state Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, who is sponsoring the legislation. “When you change your driver’s license when you move, your voting registration is automatically updated.”

Indiana: Will iPads Replace Election Poll Books? | GovTech

Tired of flipping through pages and pages of names to sign in at your polling place on Election Day? There’s an app for that. Hamilton County, Ind., Elections Administrator Kathy Richardson wants the county to switch to an increasingly used electronic poll book system. But several Hamilton County Council members aren’t sure they’re ready to sign off on the idea. She is asking the council for about $414,000 to buy 220 iPads, polling software and related equipment. She also would need $30,500 in each of the next two years for software upgrades. If the request is approved, she hopes to have the system in place by May’s presidential primary.

Kansas: Judge sets Dec. 4 hearing on request to block voter record cancellations | Associated Press

County election officials in Kansas are likely to have canceled thousands of incomplete voter registrations when a federal judge has the next hearing in a lawsuit challenging the culling of records ordered by Secretary of State Kris Kobach. U.S. District Court Judge Julie Robinson on Wednesday set a Dec. 4 hearing on a request from two young northeast Kansas residents to block the cancellations while their suit goes forward. Their registrations are incomplete because they’ve failed to comply with a 2013 law requiring new voters to provide a birth certificate, passport or other papers documenting their U.S. citizenship when registering. The two also want Robinson to block enforcement of the proof-of-citizenship requirement — the reason behind most of the 37,700 registrations that were incomplete as of last week. Kobach imposed a rule that took effect Friday, directing counties to cancel more than 31,000 registrations that were incomplete for more than 90 days. Robinson set the hearing in December to allow the Republican secretary of state to file a written response to the lawsuit and to permit the attorneys representing the two prospective voters to follow with a written answer. Robinson said during a teleconference with the attorneys that she’ll interrupt an ongoing trial to have the hearing in Kansas City, Kan.

Maine: Ranked choice voting likely to appear on 2016 fall ballot | Boothbay Register

The year 2016 may be the last time Maine’s federal and state candidates can win with less than half of the popular vote. A non-partisan grassroots committee has amassed over 75,000 signatures to put ranked choice voting on next year’s referendum ballot. Ranked choice voting is a method of ensuring the winner receives a majority of the votes. Instead of voting only for their preferred candidate, voters rank them in order of preference. If the leading candidate receives less than a majority, the candidate who received the fewest votes has his or her votes redistributed to the remaining candidates. A winner is declared after a candidate receives more than half of the votes. Maine would be the first to adopt the measure on a statewide basis. Ranked Choice Voting Maine began working on placing the measure on the ballot in 2014.

Kansas: Culling voter records to take weeks in some Kansas counties | Associated Press

Some Kansas counties expect to take at least several weeks to cancel incomplete voter registrations from residents who haven’t documented their U.S. citizenship, local election officials said Monday. Local officials also said even when they’re done culling the more than 31,000 records as required under a new rule from Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the canceled registrations still will be accessible in their voter registration databases. Kobach has directed counties to cancel incomplete registrations older than 90 days, with most from prospective voters who haven’t met the proof-of-citizenship requirement. A 2013 state law requires new voters to produce a birth certificate, passport or other citizenship papers when registering. Kansas is only one of four states with such a law, and its incomplete registrations ballooned to nearly 37,700 last week.

North Carolina: Primaries moved to March 15 for turnout, savings | The Chronicle

North Carolina’s primary election date will move to March, thanks to a new bill signed into law by Governor Pat McCrory last week. House Bill 373 shifts the date of North Carolina state and local primaries two months earlier—to March 15 from May 15, which is the same day as presidential primaries. Republicans, who formed the majority of support for the bill, have cited economic efficiency and the potential for increased voter turnout in local elections as benefits. Critics say, however, that the legislation gives incumbents an advantage and makes it harder for new candidates to run. “Putting all of the other primaries on March 15 does save a lot of money,” John Aldrich, Pfizer-Pratt University professor of political science, said. “It costs millions of dollars to run statewide elections, even if they are primaries. He noted that the increased turnout supporters cite as a benefit may help some parties more than others, depending on which has a competitive presidential primary.

Virginia: Workers on congressional redistricting ordered to pledge secrecy | The Daily Progress

Three state workers who will help an expert recommend new congressional boundaries for Virginia have signed confidentiality oaths and must destroy their working papers when they’re through. The three employees of the Division of Legislative Services signed the pledges in accord with a court order naming them to assist the expert, Bernard Grofman of the University of California-Irvine. On Sept. 25 the three-judge panel that will redraw Virginia’s congressional boundaries named Grofman as a “special master” who will consult with the court on a remedy. The federal judges have given Grofman until Oct. 30 to recommend a solution — by picking one of 11 proposed remedies submitted to the court, modifying a version or devising a plan of his own.
The judges plan to issue a new map “at the earliest practicable opportunity after Nov. 17.”

Australia: To defend iVote, the NSW electoral commission went to Switzerland | The Mandarin

Last month, the New South Wales Electoral Commission’s ongoing battle to defend the integrity of its online voting system took chief information officer Ian Brightwell all the way to Switzerland — the last bastion of modern direct democracy. After requests from commissioner Colin Barry were knocked back by two other academic conferences, Brightwell finally got his chance to explain the NSW experience of implementing iVote in direct response to a pair of crusading academics who have doggedly attacked the online voting platform both in Australia and abroad. The organisers of the VoteID 2015 conference, held last month in Bern, Switzerland, deemed the claims and counter-claims interesting enough to design a special session around them. By now, most people who’ve heard about online voting in NSW would have also heard the persistent warnings of Vanessa Teague, a research fellow at the University of Melbourne, and J. Alex Halderman, an associate professor of computer science and engineering from the University of Michigan.

Belarus: Europe’s last dictator | The Economist

The crisis in Ukraine has been painful for nearly everyone involved. Russia finds itself under sanctions and at loggerheads abroad. NATO faces as grave a challenge as any since the cold war ended. And Ukraine itself, dismembered and drained by war, struggles to recover even as the fighting in the east of the country grinds to a halt. Yet one clear winner has emerged from the mess: Alexander Lukashenko, the mustachioed strongman of Belarus, to Ukraine’s north. Mr Lukashenko is a former collective- farm boss who has ruled Belarus for 21 years. He stands for his fifth consecutive presidential term on October 11th. To no one’s surprise, he will win. Known as “Europe’s last dictator”, he travels everywhere with his 11-year-old son, who packs a golden pistol and expects to be saluted by Belarusian generals. Elections in 2010 ended with a violent crackdown on protesters and the jailing of Mr Lukashenko’s rivals. The European Union imposed sanctions and travel bans for top officials, including Mr Lukashenko. Yet he approaches the vote feeling secure at home and enjoying a renaissance abroad. He has Ukraine to thank.

Canada: Why Canadians Are Going Online to Try to Vote ‘Strategically’ | Inverse

Canada will hold a federal election on Oct. 19, and if the polls are right, it might just tear the country apart. The majority left-leaning nation of 35 million people has been led since 2006 by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, of the Conservative Party. In very loose terms, he is Canada’s answer to George W. Bush, a center-right pol from an oil-rich province accused of being hostile to science and to dissent at large. Because Canada has a multi-party system with a unified right-leaning party, Harper has won two terms as prime minister with Conservatives getting 36 percent of the national vote in 2006 and 38 percent in 2011. Most of the other 60-plus percent of the Canadian electorate would just as soon see him get bounced. But they’re splitting their votes between other national parties: the center-left Liberal Party (think: Hillary Clinton), the further-left New Democratic Party (think: Bernie Sanders), and small but dedicated Green Party. Canada right now is like “America with one Republican Party and three Democratic parties,” University of Toronto political science professor Christopher Cochrane tells me. “And it just doesn’t work.”

Guinea: Opposition confirms participation in presidential vote | AFP

Guinea’s opposition candidates said Tuesday they would participate in the first round of the October 11 presidential election, while cautioning that “dysfunctional” aspects of the voting process must be addressed. The country’s main opposition had called Thursday for the vote to be postponed until later in October to allow the election commission time to correct “anomalies” in the electoral roll. Clashes between supporters of Guinea’s ruling party and opposition activists left at least one dead and more than 80 wounded last week, as tension mounted ahead of the presidential election.

Haiti: Voters grapple with packed field for presidency | Associated Press

Cities and towns across Haiti are plastered with colorful campaign ads, leaving voters struggling to differentiate a swarm of candidates who grin from posters, banners and billboards slapped on nearly everything that doesn’t move and a few that do. Practically every public office is up for grabs in this year’s unprecedented three-round balloting that is picking the next president, two-thirds of the Senate, the entire 119-member Chamber of Deputies and all local offices. Even by Haiti’s rough-and-tumble standards, the parade of office-seekers and unpredictability of the elections is dizzying for many.

Ukraine: Voters face complicated and confusing ballots — again | Kyiv Post

Ukraine will on Oct. 25 conduct the most procedurally complicated local elections it has ever seen. Voters can only hope the polls are not also the most chaotic and corrupt ever seen. The complex, multi-system voting procedure will inevitably cause problems with vote counts and distribution of seats, and will likely further reduce the trust of voters in election results, experts have told the Kyiv Post. “Even we don’t totally understand the logic of this law,” said Andriy Mahera, deputy head of Central Election Commission, adding the new election system is already causing some head scratching.

Taiwan: KMT reconsiders presidential candidate | Financial Times

Taiwan’s governing party has called a special congress to consider the drastic step of dropping its unpopular presidential candidate just three months before an election that will set the tone for all-important relations with Beijing. In a rare race between two female leading contenders, Hung Hsiu-chu, a straight-talking legislator from the ruling Kuomintang or Nationalist party, has fallen more than 20 percentage points behind the frontrunner, opposition politician Tsai Ing-wen. The KMT, which has ruled Taiwan for much of the period since it fled mainland China after losing the civil war with the Communists in 1949, decided on Wednesday it would hold the extraordinary meeting to “gather consensus and unite for victory”.

North Carolina: State wants federal judge to rule on Voter ID before March primaries | Winston-Salem Journal

State attorneys want a federal judge to dismiss the legal challenge to North Carolina’s voter-identification law before the March 2016 presidential primary, according to court documents filed Wednesday. And though the plaintiffs, including the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP, said they hoped to settle the matter before a trial, state attorneys said there’s no chance of that. A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 23 before U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder. The state NAACP, the U.S. Justice Department and others sued the state and Gov. Pat McCrory over 2013’s Voter Information Verification Act. The law’s most well-known provision is the photo ID requirement, but the law also reduced the number of early-voting days from 17 to 10, eliminated same-day voter registration and got rid of out-of-precinct provisional voting.

Wisconsin: GOP bills would hike contribution limits, split Government Accountability Board into two agencies | Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

Assembly Republicans unveiled bills Wednesday to double political contribution limits, rewrite campaign financing rules and split the state’s elections and ethics board into two agencies and fill them with partisan appointees. One of the two bills would dissolve the state Government Accountability Board, which consists of six former judges who are responsible for running elections and overseeing the state’s laws on ethics, campaign finance and lobbying. It would create two new agencies — the Elections Commission and Ethics Commission — to oversee those duties. The six-member commissions are to be split evenly between Democrats and Republicans. Rep. Dean Knudson (R-Hudson) acknowledged an error in the way the legislation was written that would have allowed one party to control the commissions and said that would be promptly fixed. Daniel Tokaji, a professor at the Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University who specializes in election law, called the accountability board a model for the nation and said it was ridiculous to turn elections over to partisans. He noted the Federal Election Commission routinely deadlocks because it is evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. “Only a lunatic or a glutton for gridlock would want to copy the FEC,” Tokaji said. “I think what they want is a commission that will routinely gridlock and get nothing done.”

Europe: Voting ban on prisoners convicted of serious crimes is lawful, EU court rules | The Guardian

The European Union’s most senior court has ruled that it is lawful for countries such as Britain to impose a voting ban on prisoners convicted of serious crimes. The unexpected ruling by the European court of justice upholds a ban on a French convicted murderer who was serving a sentence of more than five years from taking part in the European elections. The European judges ruled that the ban on him voting did represent a breach of the EU charter of fundamental rights but that it was proportionate “in so far as it takes into account the nature and gravity of the criminal offence committed and the duration of the penalty”. The ruling, which has clear implications for Britain’s blanket ban on prisoner voting, went on: “The court concludes that it is possible to maintain a ban which, by operation of law, precludes persons convicted of a serious crime from voting in elections to the European parliament.”

Ukraine: West, Ukraine, hail rebel decision to postpone disputed elections | Reuters

A decision by pro-Russian separatists to postpone local elections that Ukraine had said were illegitimate was welcomed on Tuesday by Kiev, the European Union, Washington and Moscow – the rebels’ patron – as a sign of progress in the faltering peace process. The separatists said the elections, which they had set for Oct. 18 and Nov. 1 in two regions they control, would take place next February, potentially giving time for a compromise that would suit all sides. The concession by the separatists comes at a time when Russia has adopted a more constructive tone in talks over Ukraine, according to diplomats involved in the discussion who say Russia has influence over the rebels.

Press Release: Trending in Ohio: Electronic Pollbooks | Election Systems & Software

The hot elections topic in Ohio can be summed up in two words: electronic pollbooks. With the recent state-provided funding for the purpose of upgrading and automating voter check-in with electronic pollbook solutions, many counties are now evaluating their options. The ExpressPoll from Election Systems & Software provides a proven solution— meeting county’s voter validation needs. With the ExpressPoll system already implemented in 27 counties (and counting) ES&S isn’t a newcomer to the Ohio elections sphere. Richland County for example, has used the ExpressPoll electronic pollbook family of products for eight years. When asked, their Director of Elections, Paulette Hankins had the following to say about the ExpressPoll:

“We have used the Express Poll Book system in Richland County for the past eight years with great success. It was a very easy process to train our Poll Workers, and we were especially pleased with the elimination of any poll worker error in determining which ballot style to issue to the voters. The Express Poll system creates the correct ballot style according to the voters’ registration records.”

For 30 years, ES&S has been providing voting solutions for the State of Ohio. Our existing, experienced service and support structure makes us a valuable asset for Ohio counties when implementing new pollbook technology. The eight Ohio residents we employ are uniquely positioned to meet the needs of jurisdictions and their constituents, being a part of the voting public themselves. These individuals also have the full support of our 400 employee strong company, ensuring their attention can be focused on local customers and their needs.

National: Hoyer: Alabama DMV Closures Prove That Voting Rights Act Must Be Restored | TPM

House Minority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) renewed his call for the restoration of the Voting Rights Act, suggesting Monday that it would have stopped Alabama from implementing a law requiring a photo ID at the ballot box. Scrutiny of the voter ID law has increased with the announcement that Alabama will close 31 driver’s licenses offices in the state – many in rural counties with a high percentage of black residents – which voting rights advocates fear will make it harder for African-Americans to obtain the IDs required vote. “The Voting Rights Act was born from the bloody actions in Selma, Alabama, in March 1965, and since the Supreme Court struck down one of its most important protections – the federal Justice Department’s ability to prevent discriminatory rules like Alabama’s photo identification requirement – our democracy has been weakened,” Hoyer said in a statement Monday evening.

National: Super PACs stretch the rules that prohibit coordination with presidential campaigns | Los Angeles Times

Long before Ben Carson jumped into the presidential race, some of his biggest fans were scouring the country for supporters. They set up a super PAC and began sending out brochures, eventually attracting thousands who signed up and gave money. When Carson actually got around to running, his campaign used those names to jump-start his early fundraising, according to John Philip Sousa IV, great-grandson of the composer and chairman of the 2016 Committee, a super PAC backing Carson. “It was that list that launched his campaign,” Sousa said, saying those names helped Carson build his $20 million in contributions.

Editorials: America’s voting machines are in need of a serious upgrade | The Washington Post

Americans tend to replace their smartphones every two or three years. By contrast, most Americans use voting machines that are at least a decade old and based on engineering and designs from the 1990s. The perils of ignoring the latter may not be apparent until the electoral system is suddenly wracked by mishaps — think of Florida, circa 2000. Unfortunately, the likelihood of major dysfunction grows as voting machines age. It’s fair to blame Washington for a portion of the mess and assume it won’t play a critical role in the solution. Determined to avoid a reprise of the Florida mishap, Congress allocated funds and mandated the purchase of new equipment in 2002. Then, with the mandates still in place, lawmakers turned off the funding spigot, leaving state and local governments to take up the slack. In next year’s presidential election, some voting machines in 43 states will be at least a decade old and dangerously close to the end of their expected lifespan, according to a new report from the Brennan Center for Justice. In 14 states, some voters will encounter machines that are 15 or more years old, meaning they pre-date Facebook and the widespread use of flat-screen televisions.

Florida: Tension mounts over which lawyers get access to Florida Senate redistricting maps | Miami Herald

Tensions mounted Wednesday more than a week before the special session on Senate redistricting is set to begin as House and Senate leaders acknowledged that staff had begun drafting maps using guidelines agreed to exclusively by the leaders and their lawyers, but the lawyer hired to represent Senate Democrats would not be allowed to take part in the process. Senate Redistricting Chairman Bill Galvano acknowledged that the drawing of Senate districts is well underway by House and Senate staff for the three-week special session that begins Oct. 19. They are working in a sequestered space in the Senate redistricting suite and are being advised by the lawyers hired by the GOP-led Senate and House but, he said, the Senate Democrats will not have a separate lawyer at the table. Senate Democrat Leader Arthenia Joyner told the Herald/Times she has hired Tallahassee attorney Mark Herron to represent Senate Democrats in the redistricting process, using funds from the Florida Democratic Party, after Senate President Andy Gardiner twice rejected her request to allow the Democratic caucus to have its own lawyer advise them during the drawing of the Senate redistricting map.

Kansas: Davis rejects GOP call to step aside from voting rights case | Lawrence Journal-World

Lawrence attorney and former Democratic Rep. Paul Davis on Tuesday dismissed suggestions by Republicans that he should recuse himself from a federal lawsuit challenging a controversial state voting law. “These guys either need a good lawyer or they’re trying to mislead you,” Davis said in response to a statement from Kansas GOP Chairman Kelly Arnold. Davis is representing two clients who are challenging a law enacted in 2011 that requires voters to show proof of U.S. citizenship to register. Since that law took effect, more than 30,000 would-be voters have had their registrations placed “in suspense” because they have not provided the required documentation. Davis is also challenging a new administrative regulation that requires county election officers to cancel those applications after 90 days. That new regulation took effect Oct. 2.

Mississippi: Hinds County absentee ballots muddle education initiative | The Jackson Clarion-Ledger

The ballot sent out to absentee voters in Hinds County has complicated what many say is an already confusing voting process. According to the sample ballot approved in September by the governor and secretary of state, the two proposed constitutional amendments should be clearly differentiated on the ballot. The options for voters who vote to change the state constitution should read “FOR Initiative Measure No. 42” and “FOR Alternative Measure No. 42 A,” the two dueling education initiatives. However, the ballot sent to absentee voters in Hinds County leaves out the last “A” in “FOR Alternative Measure 42 A,” leading to concerns that voters intending to vote for Initiative 42 could accidentally vote for Initiative 42A instead. 525 ballots have been sent out to Hinds County voters as of Tuesday, according to the circuit clerk’s office.

Virginia: Use of electronic signatures for absentee-ballot requests causes alarm | The Washington Post

Some Republican elections officials expressed concern Tuesday over a practice both major parties are using to streamline the process of signing up absentee voters, saying it encourages voter fraud. Earlier this year, members of the state Board of Elections said that voters may sign ­absentee-ballot request forms electronically instead of printing the forms, signing them with a pen and ­e-mailing back a scan or mailing the forms through the post office. The change allows voters to skip the step of printing the forms. That guidance was offered during a contentious primary this summer, when House Speaker William J. ­Howell (R-Stafford) set up a secure Web site to make it easier for voters to request absentee ballots electronically.

Virginia: McAuliffe says his redistricting plan deserves ‘special deference’ | Richmond Times-Dispatch

Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s plan to redraw Virginia’s congressional boundaries deserves “special deference” because of his elected position, his lawyers told a federal three-judge panel Wednesday. The judges have twice ruled that Virginia’s 3rd Congressional District is unconstitutional because state legislators packed too many additional African-Americans into its boundaries, diluting their influence elsewhere. Last month McAuliffe submitted one of 11 proposed fixes sent to the court. He urged a “comprehensive redrawing” of the congressional map, arguing that tinkering would be insufficient.