The Voting News Daily: Risk limit audits for CA? Judge halts MI voter purge. Benton TN purge contd.

California bill to pilot risk limiting audits has bi partisan support…Should bounty on party registrations be illegal?…Proposal to make voting mandatory riles up tiny Ridgway,CO…Maryland now has $ to run fall elections…Judge’s ruling stops voter purge programs that illegally purge about 77K eligible Michigan voters a year… GOP to file suit for N.Y. 29th special election…Almost 1 in 5 of Benton Co. TN voters told their voter registration was invalid…US Chamber vows to fight Corp campaign cash reform…Puerto Rico considers DRE/touchscreens for 2010…Concerned Filipinos push for manual counting…Iraq post election candidate purge may change results…

All this and more in today’s voting news below….

AZ: May 18 polling places may be consolidated
http://www.dcourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=80248
Ana Wayman-Trujillo, the Yavapai County recorder, reminds voters that polling places may be consolidated for the May 18 election

CA: California Assembly committee endorses UC Berkeley statistician’s election auditing method (AB 2023 risk limiting election audit pilot hearing in June)
http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2010/04/26_canvass.shtml
BERKELEY — One day last November, after the 2009 elections, Philip Stark found himself in the back room of the Yolo County Administration Building doing something statisticians seldom do – testing a theory in the real world.
…
Stark’s technique passed the test and five others, impressing California Secretary of State Debra Bowen, the state’s chief elections officer, and spurring her to sponsor a bill, AB 2023, to conduct in 2011 a statewide experiment of this kind of “risk-limiting audit.”

CO: Proposal to make voting mandatory riles up tiny Ridgway
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_14958536
The Town Council agreed to put the matter on the ballot for a recent town election as a nonbinding opinion question

CO: Colorado bill would require business campaign backers to register
http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2010/04/26/daily10.html

CT: Should Bounty On Party Registrations Be Illegal?
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?p=3121 State House Majority Leader Denise Merrill (D-Mansfield, Chaplin) said Monday that she would immediately seek legislation banning bounties or other payments in exchange for the registration of new voters.

CT: Bill would allow towns to reduce polling places for primaries: cost-cutting vs. potential confusion http://www.ctmirror.org/story/5604/number-polls-coming-primary-elections-may-be-reduced-save-money

FL: VOTER PROTECTIONS NEWSLETTER VOLUME 5 ISSUE 3
http://www.advancementproject.org/news/newsletters/april-26-2010/florida
Jacksonville – Traci Collier, Director of Education at the Duval County Supervisor of Elections office, has requested 3,000 additional copies of Advancement Project’s “10 Things Duval County Poll Workers Should Know” palm cards.

HI: Ballots Go Out Next Week (first all mail election)
http://www.khon2.com/news/local/story/Ballots-Go-Out-Next-Week/dlEkDdivU0uQio3vyK6coQ.cspx
IL: Too many voter registration cards* (Kaine County)
http://www.kcchronicle.com/blogs/entries/2010/04/26/73223023/index.xml
I just received in the mail another voter registration card that is only six months older than the last one I received in October 2009. The new one is dated March 2010.

IN: Snafu puts new St. John voters on island *
RESIDENTS OF ANNEXED AREAS CAN’T CAST PRIMARY BALLOTS IN TOWN BECAUSE OF MIX-UP
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/article_be17f3ad-4693-5085-991d-dc383849e4c5.html

KY: Sentences cut for Clay vote-buying testimony
Prosecutors in Clay case sought reductions for five who cooperated
http://www.kentucky.com/2010/04/24/1236807/federal-judge-reduces-sentences.html

MD: Money restored, fall elections can go on
http://www.marylandreporter.com/page550410.aspx
A last-minute budget move helped secure enough cash for Maryland’s November election, nearly $10 million of which had been previously uncertain.

MI: VOTER PROTECTIONS NEWSLETTER VOLUME 5 ISSUE 3
http://www.advancementproject.org/news/newsletters/april-26-2010/michigan
Detroit – U.S. District Judge Stephen J. Murphy III recently issued a favorable ruling that prevents Michigan from restarting two voter purge programs that unlawfully remove roughly 77,000 eligible voters from the rolls each year.

MO: NEWSLETTER VOLUME 5 ISSUE 3 (photo ID and early voting)
http://www.advancementproject.org/news/newsletters/april-26-2010/missouri
The bill now heads to the Missouri State Senate. Because photo ID has been found to violate the Missouri Constitution, a constitutional amendment is required to impose the requirements.

MO: Judge says three Cahokia trustees can stay
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf
/illinoisnews/story/D4028E4F19E8A16B8625770E008296A9?OpenDocument
http://bit.ly/dpvL7r BELLEVILLE — A judges’ ruling Friday upheld the election of three Cahokia village trustees who won office last year in a contest involving allegations of voter fraud.

“The court further finds that absentee voter fraud was not so pervasive to strike enough votes to change the election results of April 7, 2009,” wrote St. Clair County Judge Randy Kelly

NY: GOP to file suit for N.Y. special (29th District)
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0410/36350.html
New York Republicans are preparing to file a lawsuit this week that would force New York Democratic Gov. David Paterson to call a special election for the seat vacated by former Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.).

PA: Marseglia objects to GOP selection of voting machine inspectors
http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/news_details/article/92/2010
/april/26/marseglia-objects-to-gop-selection-of-voting-machine-inspectors.html
http://bit.ly/bO6Lm1

Puerto Rico: 2012 votes could be electronic (considering touchscreen voting)
http://www.prdailysun.com/index.php?page=news.article&id=1271819897
PR currently has optical scan and vote by phone for disabled

TN: Voter registration dispute ignites charges of politics *
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100426/
NEWS02/100426008/1009/NEWS02
http://bit.ly/9SjOr7 Almost one in five of Benton County’s voters got a letter in February saying their voter registration was invalid, triggering events that led last week to a call for a TBI investigation and a battle in the legislature.
…
The brewing legislative battle is over a Democrat-sponsored bill, awaiting floor votes in the House and Senate this week, that declares that when a voter registration form is accepted by election officials, it cannot be declared invalid for some minor omission — unless fraud was involved or the omission was the voter’s signature.

TN: Voter purges sparking debate
GOP leaders defend reviews of records; Democrats call actions politically motivated
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/apr/26/voter-purges-sparking-debate/

TN: EDITORIAL: Election turnout sign of problem
http://www.dnj.com/article/20100425/OPINION01/4250303
That’s the best way to describe the voter turnout in Murfreesboro’s municipal election last Tuesday.

WA: Supreme Court takes up Wash. case involving disclosure of petition signatures
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011695584_scotus25m.html
The case could decide whether signing a petition for a ballot measure is private or whether the names of signers can be made public.

WI: Wisconsin and the Voter Fraud Agenda (John Fund)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870467
1904575193930226978178.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_opinion
http://bit.ly/bf0GfQ Democrats are pushing to weaken ballot security at the state and national level. Have they forgotten the 2000 election?

WI: Modernizing Voter Registration, the Wisconsin Way (Justin Levitt)
http://www.brennancenter.org/blog/archives/modernizing_voter_
registration_the_wisconsin_way/ http://bit.ly/9TB9Kr
It is, perhaps, unusually appropriate that the voter registration reform of the cycle should be introduced in a state claiming “Forward” as its official motto

WV: Registered Democrat given Republican primary election ballot *
http://www.herald-mail.com/?cmd=displaystory&story_id=244123&format=html

Citizens United

Are corporations people, too? (video also)
http://amfix.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/26/are-corporations-people-too/
Can you imagine a world in which your next congressman is “sponsored” by Pepsi? Or Walmart? Or any corporation for that matter? Well, it may not be so far-fetched.

“CHAMBER VOWS TO BATTLE NEW LEGISLATION ADDRESSING COURT’S CAMPAIGN FINANCE RULING”
http://electionlawblog.org/archives/015795.html

We Need A Government That Isn’t Funded By Wall Street (Robert Reich opinion)
http://www.businessinsider.com/we-need-a-government-that-isnt-funded-by-wall-street-2010-4

Schumer, Van Hollen Walking A Tightrope
http://www.nationaljournal.com/njonline/lb_20100423_6969.php Their Efforts To Roll Back The Citizens United Ruling Are Likely To Face Attack From Both Sides

National

“FEC LEAVES REDISTRICTING QUESTION OPEN”
http://electionlawblog.org/archives/015808.html

International

Cuba: Cubans hold municipal elections; belie criticism
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/25/AR2010042501193.html

Iraq: Barring of candidates may change Iraq vote outcome
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/6976140.html
BAGHDAD — An Iraqi court disqualified 52 candidates Monday from the country’s parliamentary elections, including two who won seats, and threw out their votes in a decision that could potentially change the outcome of the March 7 vote.

Nigeria: Preparing for election with armoured vehicles
http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201004263271667

Philippines: How to show that a PCOS voting machine is accurate enough
http://rverzola.wordpress.com/2010/04/25/how-to-show-that-a-pcos-voting-machine-is-accurate-enough/ …Even in banks that have automated their operations, to the extent of using a bill counter that counts bills automatically, tellers still count the bills manually before handing out withdrawals to clients

Philippines: Concerned Filipinos push for manual counting
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/global-filipino/04/24/10/concerned-filipinos-push-manual-counting

Philippines: Countercheck poll results
http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/letterstotheeditor/view/20100425-266402/Countercheck-poll-results

Philippines: Poll watchers reminded to ‘watch that memory chip’
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/cebudailynews/news/view/20100425-266321/Poll-watchers-reminded-to-watch-that-memory-chip
If the chip is switched, wholesale cheating may occur for that precinct.

Sri Lanka: THE LOW-DOWN: Did they really rob preferential votes?
http://digitallife.lk/oopadoopainfo/wordpress/?p=8810
The low voter turnout at the April 08th General Election has shown that the people’s faith in the electoral system has reached an all time low.
…
“If the idea is to rebuild the faith in elections, I think there are easy methods. For example if the commissioner allowed us to be present at counting centres there would have been no room for these allegations.”

Voting News by Joyce McCloy.Archives here at http://votingnews.blogspot.com/