Election Systems and Software officials failed to appear for depositions earlier this month after Saguache District Judge Martin Gonzales ruled that the firm could be deposed for a Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) suit filed in February.
Denver attorney Robert McGuire, on behalf of his client, Aspen election integrity activist Marilyn Marks, filed the suit to force Saguache County Clerk Melinda Myers to turn over voting records and related documents Marks requested beginning in November 2010. McGuire waited for officials from the Nebraska firm for nearly an hour, he said, before deciding they would not appear.
Marks later filed a motion with the court to hold them in contempt unless they could show sufficient cause for refusing to honor the deposition subpoenas. ES&S made no motion to file a protective order (if their appearance would violate trade secrets and/or force the production of proprietary information) nor did their attorneys move to quash the subpoena, court records show. Read More
If Grande Prairie becomes the first city in Alberta to offer Internet voting in a municipal election, it will come at a cost – and a hefty one if implemented. City council’s General Government Services learned Wednesday that, for starters, a business case requested by the province may cost as much as $30,000.
That price tag in a report from administration surprised some councillors, who along with Mayor Bill Given directed administration to study the situation further by contacting Internet service providers (ISPs).
“I believe that we can build that business case for considerably less investment than what was suggested in the report,” Given said. “Other council members agreed with me.” In April, Municipal Affairs Minister Hector Goudreau requested the business case in order to formalize a city request to pilot online voting. Read More
Republican Linda Stagner filed an affidavit last week with Saguache County Court protesting County Clerk Melinda Myers’ testimony May 31 during Sec. of State Scott Gessler’s suit to review ballots from the 2010 election. Following publication of a letter to the editor in last week’s issue of the Center Post-Dispatch, Stagner followed up with the following statement in her affidavit.
“At no time on election day or any other time was I told by an SOS official or county clerk staff that covering the over-votes on the ballots was a violation of law or to stop that practice.
“I want the court to know that testimony given in this case was inaccurate at the very least. Again, at no time was I told that the instructions given by ES&S to cover over-votes was illegal and that we were to ignore it. There were four election judges. Why would only one judge be told something this important? All judges were in the counting room during counting and each judge signed every ballot on which adjustments had been made. Read More
New York: home to the special elections brought about by sexually suggestive online photos and supreme bad judgment.
For the second time in six months, New York party officials will be scrambling scramble to settle on candidates for a special election.
With Anthony Weiner set to resign his seat, the timing of an election to replace him is up to Governor Andrew Cuomo. It is his job to officially call for a special election, and when and whether he does that is his prerogative. Read More
The Indiana Supreme Court has declined to reconsider its decision to let Democrats proceed with their challenge to Charlie White’s eligibility to hold office.
Democrats claim White was illegally registered to vote when he filed paperwork to run for Secretary of State and isn’t eligible to hold office. They say Democrat Vop Osili should replace him. The Indiana Recount Commission will have a hearing on the issue Tuesday. Read More
Convinced that Charlie White is being treated unfairly, the embattled Indiana secretary of state and his family are lashing out at the prosecutors who are building the case against him.
White sent a letter to the Allen County prosecutor’s office complaining that one of the two special prosecutors in the case, Dan Sigler, committed voter fraud himself.
It’s one of the charges on which a Hamilton County grand jury indicted White earlier this year, and White has complained before that he believes he is being selectively prosecuted. Read More
Protests that happened months ago sparked recall efforts, which have some counties going back over their books.
Special elections can be costly and now we could have two in the 10th Senate District. Republican Senator Sheila Harsdorf holds that seat and since another republican decided to run as a democrat out of protest, we could see a primary before the recall election itself.
No clerk could have guessed how 2011 was going to shape up when it comes to politics. “This year was scheduled to be a two election cycle, so I budgeted about $30,700,” says Carole Wondra, Polk County Clerk. Read More
Poll workers will be required to ask voters for photo identification during this summer’s state Senate recall elections — but poll workers can’t stop residents from casting their ballots, at least for now.
The Government Accountability Board, the state agency that oversees elections, issued a reminder this week regarding the recently enacted voter ID law. While the requirement that all voters produce a photo ID does not go into effect until the 2012 spring primary, the new law requires that voters be asked for the information beginning with the recall elections.
In 2012, voters who do not have identification on them when they show up at the polls will be given conditional ballots that will be counted only if they can produce identification later. Read More
Final deals agreed to Thursday on a $6 billion spending plan will give businesses a break on millions of dollars in unemployment tax collections and put millions more into public schools.
The budget conference committee also agreed not to put cash into South Carolina’s first-in-the-South Republican primary early next year and have left it unclear whether the state GOP will run the event with paper ballots.
The agreement means the House and Senate could accept the final plan on Wednesday and send it to Gov. Nikki Haley, who can veto what she doesn’t like. And she’s set the stage already by threatening to veto extra spending on schools or any taxpayer cash used for South Carolina Education Television or the state Arts Commission. Read More
Republican-backed legislation requiring North Carolina voters to show picture identification before casting a ballot they know will count is headed Thursday to the desk of Gov. Beverly Perdue, who sounds ready to veto the measure that fellow Democrats have called purely partisan.
The House agreed to minor changes to the bill approved Wednesday night by the Senate. The House vote of 62-51 was well short of the margin that would be needed to withstand a veto. Democrats have been critical of GOP efforts to place additional hurdles on voting in a state with history of civil rights restrictions during the Jim Crow era.
“The voter ID is clearly not in a form that the governor can support,” Perdue spokeswoman Chrissy Pearson said. Read More
Tulsa County Election Board Chairman Patty Bryant urges voters to be aware that effective July 1, 2011, State Question 746, also known as the “voter ID law,” and which was overwhelming approved by 74% of Oklahoma voters, goes into effect. Voters should know that when they go to vote after July 1, 2011, every voter will be asked for proof of identity whether they are voting at the polls or voting early at the County Election Board.
Documents used for proof of identity for voting purposes must have been issued by the federal, state, or a tribal government and must include the voter’s name, photograph, and an expiration date after the date of the election. Voters also may use their voter identification card or a temporary voter identification document issued by the County Election Board. Read More
Nevada’s special election to fill a vacant House seat could be conducted by mail ballot only.
Secretary of State Ross Miller said in a statement Thursday that he has asked local election officials to consider the costs and challenges of allowing only mail ballots to be used in the contest. Voters usually have the option of casting ballots at local precincts. Read More
Thanks to recent Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer, the check really is in the mail for Minnesota counties waiting to get repaid for their recount expenses.
When Emmer heard that around 20 counties were still waiting for the state Republican Party to reimburse them, he contacted the county auditors directly and sent them checks from the balance in the Tom Emmer for Governor campaign fund – about $20,000 to $25,000, he estimated.
“This is not my responsibility, but I feel it’s my obligation,” he said. Read More
A manual recount today of 1,605 absentee ballots reduced Morris County Republican freeholder candidate William Hank Lyon’s slim primary lead over incumbent Margaret Nordstrom to just six votes, down from last week’s tally of 10.
But the race is hardly over, as a new wrinkle has emerged in that county election workers have discovered that four Republicans registered in Parsippany voted twice, both by absentee and provisional ballots, and the state Attorney General’s Office has been asked for guidance. Read More
In the final weeks of the 97th General Assembly regular session, state Rep. Chris Nybo (R-41, Elmhurst) was chief sponsor of Senate Bill 98, a measure to ensure disabled veterans residing in federally operated veterans homes and hospitals are able to exercise their right to vote. The bill unanimously passed the Illinois Senate and House and awaits the governor’s signature.
“Every veteran, especially those who are incapacitated, should be afforded the opportunity to exercise their right to vote,” Nybo said. “Given the sacrifices these men and women have made for our country and for our freedom, every means necessary should be employed to ensure their voices are heard in our democracy.” Read More
Kansas became the safest state in the nation in terms of voter security when legislators passed his Secure and Fair Elections Act, Secretary of State Kris Kobach said Thursday. “We went from one of the most vulnerable to the No. 1 state in America,” he said.
Kobach’s comments came during an address at a Sedgwick County Republican Party meeting at the Wichita Area Builders Association office at 730 N. Main.
Kobach said the act has three parts, the first of which goes into effect next year and will require voters to show a photo ID when voting in person. Read More
Wade Wagner, who won election to the North Las Vegas City Council by one vote last week, is considering his legal options after the council decided Wednesday not to certify the election results, a member of his campaign said.
“It has to happen pretty quickly,” campaign spokesman Dan Hart said, ensuring Wagner and his team would decide whether to pursue a case within the next couple of days. Wagner disagrees with the council’s call for a revote , but incumbent Richard Cherchio said he supported the council’s decision after the meeting.
In the Ward 4 race, Wagner received 1,831 votes versus Cherchio’s 1,830. Read More
Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) has suggested holding one or two general elections under the caretaker government system until a strong Election Commission is formed.
“Reorganisation of the EC to make it acceptable to all after the present one will be a big political challenge,” party president Hasanul Haque Inu said during a dialogue with the EC on Thursday.
The leftist party also favoured phased introduction of electronic voting machine (EVM) in elections.