Butler County’s ongoing lawsuit over its Diebold voting machines is the topic of today’s special meeting of the Butler County Board of Elections. The county is seeking $5 million in damages, which is what it paid for the electronic voting machines, following a glitch in the system during the March 2008 primary election when more than 200 votes initially went uncounted.
The board will meet at 10:30 a.m. today at the elections office, 1802 Princeton Road, then move into executive session to discuss the lawsuit with Premier Election Solutions, which purchased Diebold. Read More
The Alabama Legislature is creating new ways for the military and other Alabama voters who are overseas to return their ballots.
Currently, the military and other Alabama voters who are overseas can only use the mail to return an absentee ballot. The legislation allows them to use fax, a commercial carrier like UPS and FedEx, and secure electronic transmissions. Read More
A prototype of an Electronic Voting Machine with a verifiable paper trail has been developed and will be tested in 200 places across the country by the middle of July.
Election Commission sources say the new EVM will be tested in extreme conditions — from the freezing climate of Ladakh to the high temperature of Jaisalmer and the humid sea coast. The testing process will get over by the end of August. The sources said the EC is likely to approach political parties to witness the testing process across the country. “Once we get the results, the Commission would decide if such EVMs can be used in elections,” a source said. Read More
Missouri: Representative Akin makes the case that Missouri Voter ID is bad law | stltoday.com
Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan should send U.S. Rep. Todd Akin, R-Somewhere in West St. Louis County, a thank you note.
The six-term representative just helped Ms. Carnahan make her case against the scourge of voter identification bills like the ones that the Missouri Legislature passed last month. The argument against such proposals is that too many eligible voters — Ms. Carnahan estimates more than 230,000 of them — do not have the requisite up-to-date drivers licenses to properly vote under such laws.
One of them, apparently, is Mr. Akin. Read More
Missouri: Students Offer a Unique Perspective on New Voter Legislation | KMOV.com
Students and young voters at Saint Louis University are providing fresh opinions about two new bills passed by Missouri legislators last month that may require voters to present Missouri photo identification at the polling place.
“Obviously, no one sponsoring it is going to say it, but I think [the legislation] disenfranchises blocks of voters who traditionally vote for Democrats or liberals: the college students, the poor, the elderly,” said Patrick Grillot, a SLU student and co-founder of SLU Students for Voters’ Rights.
The bills, SB3 and SJR2, allow a referendum to be placed on the November 2012 election ballot. The referendum will ask voters whether or not to amend the Missouri Constitution to require state photo identification to vote in Missouri elections. Supporters say these bills aim to prevent voter fraud at the polling place; however, the Missouri secretary of state has not reported incidents of voter fraud at Missouri polling places in the past. Read More
Wisconsin: Challenger in Wisconsin court race concedes | chicagotribune.com
Wisconsin Supreme Court challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg conceded defeat on Tuesday to conservative incumbent Justice David Prosser, in a race that was widely seen as a referendum on Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s divisive legislation stripping most state workers of nearly all their collective bargaining rights.
Kloppenburg admitted defeat after a statewide recount reaffirmed Prosser’s victory over her in the April 5 election.
“David Prosser has won the election and I have congratulated him,” Kloppenburg said in a news conference in Madison. “I will not be requesting judicial review of the results of the recount.” Read More
Citing a “cascade of irregularities”, thousands of tabulation errors discovered during the statewide “recount”, and tens of thousands of ballots found to be unverifiable or otherwise having been in violation of the secure chain of custody, Wisconsin’s independent Asst. AG JoAnne Kloppenburg conceded the Wisconsin Supreme Court Election for a 10-year term on the bench to Republican incumbent Justice David Prosser this afternoon at a press conference held in Madison.
“Over 150 ballot bags containing tens of thousands of votes were found open, unsealed or torn. Waukesha County had twice as many torn, open or unsealed bags as every other county in the state combined. In many cases, municipal clerks in Waukesha testified the bags weren’t torn when they left cities, towns and villages so the security breaches occurred sometime when the bags were in Waukesha County’s custody.” Read More
Secretary of State Charlie Summers and Republican leaders are supporting a bill that would eliminate Maine’s 38-year-old same-day voting registration and ban absentee voting two business days before Election Day.
Proponents say the bill is designed to ease the workload of town clerks overwhelmed by an increasing number of voters who cast absentee ballots and who wait until the election to register.
But critics counter that those voters often are students, the elderly or disabled. Groups such as the Maine Civil Liberties Union believe LD 1376 is an attempt by Republicans to gain an electoral advantage. Read More
Maine: If same-day voting ends in Maine, legislator hopes to add opt-out clause | Portland Daily Sun
Legislation ending same-day voter registration in Maine may come up for a vote today, and if it does and is passed, a Portland legislator said he will offer an amendment that would allow cities such as Portland to opt out.
Rep. Ben Chipman, I-Portland, said he remains opposed to LD 1376, a bill eliminating “registration of new voters on election day and during the two business days before election day.” The bill was voted out of committee last month and now faces a vote by the full Maine House of Representatives. Read More
Residents connected to the recall efforts of three Democratic senators called for the states top election official to resign Tuesday, charging the agency he oversees is slanting recall results toward the Democrats.
The call for Kevin Kennedy, the director of the nonpartisan Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, to resign came after the agencys board voted Tuesday to move ahead with recall elections against three more Republican senators, while postponing its decision to vote on the petitions to recall three Democratic senators. Kennedy said the GAB needs more time to validate the signatures. Read More
Wisconsin officials certified three more state Senate recall elections Tuesday. The Government Accountability Board said there were enough valid petitions to hold recall votes against Republicans Rob Cowles of Allouez, Sheila Harsdorf of River Falls, and Finance co-chair Alberta Darling of River Hills.
Tuesday’s action means that all 6 Republicans targeted for recalls will stand for election this summer – unless the board’s approvals are challenged in court. Last Friday, the Board delayed action on certifying recall votes against three Democratic senators. Read More
Nevada: Court Suggests Delay For Nevada House Election | Eyewitness News 9
Nevada’s first special election to fill a House seat could be delayed because of a legal tussle over the contest rules.
The Nevada Supreme Court issued an order Tuesday directing the Nevada Democratic Party, the Nevada Republican Party and Secretary of State Ross Miller to address whether the September special election can be rescheduled. The political parties and Miller disagree on the rules of the contest to fill the seat left vacant when Republican Dean Heller was appointed to the U.S. Senate. Read More
Nevada: Nevada Supreme Court to hear appeal on special election | ReviewJournal.com
The Nevada Supreme Court indicated Tuesday that it needs more time to rule on a key election procedure than a planned Sept. 13 election date would allow.
As a result, Nevadans in the district — which encompasses all of Nevada with the exception of urbanized areas of Clark County — might not get to vote on Heller’s replacement until October or even November. The replacement would fill out the last year of Heller’s unexpired term, thereby getting a leg up on the competition in the 2012 election. Read More
Minnesota: GOP still owes counties for 2010 recount | Winona Daily News
Winona County and its two southern neighbors are still trying to collect money from the state Republican Party nearly six months after party officials requested 2010 election documents for the governor’s race recount.
Winona, Fillmore and Houston counties have all sent multiple inquiries to GOP headquarters in St. Paul, seeking a combined $3,000 for staff time and copy costs related to election documents requested after Gov. Mark Dayton eked a slim victory over Republican challenger Tom Emmer last November. Read More
The office of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) based in Maasin City has started distributing the first batch of voter’s ID to its recipients in the city of Maasin.
Out of 48,781 registered voters, as of the latest barangay elections, only 10,603 voter’s ID intended for Maasin City have arrived yet, Laurence Irman Gelsano, the Acting Election Officer III reported to PIA in an interview today. Read More