Wisconsin: Canvass affirms Lehman recall victory for Wisconsin Senate; Wanggaard yet to concede | JSOnline

An official count Tuesday determined that Democrat John Lehman indeed won the Senate recall election in Racine, but Republican Sen. Van Wanggaard has yet to concede and is considering a recount, leaving the issue of Senate majority undecided. The seat’s ownership, and Democrats’ control of the Senate, remained an open question after the June 5 recall election. Racine County’s Board of Canvassers said Tuesday the final vote tally is 36,351 to 35,517, yielding an 834-vote victory in Lehman’s favor. The canvassers’ official tally put Lehman an additional 55 votes ahead of last week’s unofficial findings because one polling place did not report votes from a touch-screen polling machine, Racine County Clerk Wendy Christensen said. Lehman, who declared victory the morning after the election, said the board’s findings reinforced his confidence in the win. Lehman is a former senator who lost to Wanggaard in the November 2010 election.

Arkansas: Election officials watching absentee ballots | Blytheville Courier News

Concern was expressed in a Thursday meeting of the Mississippi County Election Commission about the high number of absentee ballots being cast in both the recent primary and its resulting runoff, which is currently in the early voting phase. During the primary election, a total of 4,563 votes were cast, over half of them during early voting. Of that total, 231 were absentee ballots. County Clerk Lib Shippen told the commission that as of Monday, the courthouse had processed 200 absentee ballots for the runoff in Osceola alone, and that Blytheville employees had reported inflated numbers as well. As of Friday morning, the Osceola courthouse had processed 275 absentee ballots, and the Blytheville Courthouse had processed 151. Clerk’s office employees report that this number is much higher than it has been in previous elections, and that people are being “hauled” in to request absentee ballots by others.

California: Uncounted ballots keep California in limbo | Mohave Daily News

The waiting is the hardest part. With more than 830,000 primary ballots still uncounted, many candidates and campaigns in California remained on pins and needles Thursday awaiting the results of undecided races. Proposition 29, the proposal to increase taxes on tobacco products to pay for cancer research, was among the contests that remained too close to call. Election officials warned that more of the same could occur after November’s general election, when the stakes are even higher, due to California’s all-paper voting system and meticulous legal requirements for counties that tabulate results. More than half of California voters now cast ballots by mail, requiring elections officials to verify signatures and voting status. Ballots delivered to polling places on Election Day cannot be verified and counted until after polls close at 8 p.m. In addition, thousands more voters cast provisional ballots when their eligibility is in question, they move, or lose their vote-by-mail ballot.

Voting Blogs: Ballot language latest arena for state voter ID disputes | electionlineWeekly

The fight over photo ID requirements for voters is once again finding its way into courts – but this time the issue isn’t about the merits of ID but rather about ballot language putting the question to voters. In Minnesota, voter ID is supposed to be on the November 2012 ballot. After DFL Governor Mark Dayton vetoed ID legislation in 2011, GOP majorities in the Legislature agreed earlier this year to put the question to voters – action that does not require the Governor’s approval. Given that public opinion polls suggest that voters favor ID, supporters are hopeful that voters can provide the energy to push ID past the opposition of the Governor and DFL legislators. As it has in virtually every state, the dispute has sharply – and fiercely – divided the state’s political establishment. Groups across the spectrum have lined up to support and oppose the amendment. There is a chance, however, that voters may not get the chance to have their say. The Minnesota Supreme Court has agreed to hear oral arguments about whether or not the ballot language describing the amendment is sufficient. As the language currently stands, voters will be asked if the state constitution should be amended “to require all voters to present valid photo identification to vote and to require the state to provide free identification to eligible voters”.

California: As Californians embrace vote-by-mail, number of unprocessed ballots swamp election offices | The Republic

The votes are all in for the California primary, but many remained uncounted Wednesday, leaving some contests still up in the air, notably the statewide question on whether to increase the tax on tobacco to fund cancer research. With more voters casting their ballots by mail, local election officials can’t process them all on Election Day, even one such as Tuesday that produced one of the lowest turnouts ever for a statewide primary. While tabulations show votes from all precincts across the state, many votes will remain uncounted for days or weeks afterward. No one had a precise estimate of the uncounted votes statewide, but it was at least 800,000 and perhaps a million or more as of Wednesday.

Texas: Recount in Harris County GOP judicial primary now up in the air | Chron.com

A Republican judicial candidate who had requested a hand recount of all mail ballots cast in her race has hit a snag in the law that may derail that recount. The tallies in the County Civil Court-at-Law No. 2 race stand at 61,956 for incumbent Theresa Chang and 61,721 for challenger Donna Detamore, according to the Harris County Clerk. Detamore went to bed ahead, but woke up roughly 200 votes behind after County Clerk Stan Stanart said the Republican Party ballot board (charged with verifying the authenticity of mail ballots) delivered about 2,700 ballots after 10 p.m. on Election Day, leading to the late shift in the tally.

Florida: Statistics show voter fraud is a rare occurrence in Florida | OrlandoSentinel.com

Gov. Rick Scott and his Department of State have been talking about voter fraud in Florida since 2011, shortly after Scott took office. “We need to have fair elections,” Scott said Monday, justifying the identification of more than 2,600 “noncitizens” that the state recently urged county supervisors of elections to purge from the voter rolls. That followed a 2011 legislative rewrite of the election law, again in the name of preventing fraud. “When you go out to vote, you want to make sure that the other individuals that are voting have a right to vote,” Scott added. But notwithstanding the concerns of Scott and Republican legislators, state records show that voter fraud simply hasn’t been a problem for the past decade.

New Jersey: Democrats Square Off Over Alleged Voter Caging Effort | TPM

New Jersey Democrats Reps. Bill Pascrell and Steve Rothman — facing one another in a primary election after their districts were merged as a result of redistricting — exchanged heated accusations of dirty politics in the hours before voting got underway on Tuesday. Rothman’s team complained about possible irregularities and had a county elections superintendent impound 2,000 absentee ballots they found suspicious. Late Monday night a judge ruled that decision went too far and ordered the ballots be counted.

Wisconsin: Lehman declares win, shifting control of Wisconsin Senate | The Journal Times

In a crucial election that swings control of the state Senate to the Democrats, Racine County appeared to have ousted current state Sen. Van Wanggaard Tuesday. Former state Sen. John Lehman, D-Racine leads state incumbent Republican Sen. Van Wanggaard, with 36,255 votes to Wanggaard’s 35,476 votes, according to unofficial results with all precincts reporting. Three Republicans won state Senate races Tuesday in Wisconsin, but with Lehman winning Racine County, the Democrats will take control of the Senate and gain the 17-16 majority. Lehman declared victory shortly before 1 a.m.

California: Eleven California counties miss deadline to send ballots to overseas, military voters | North County Times

Elections officials throughout California missed a deadline to send 8,250 ballots to overseas and military voters for next week’s presidential primary, prompting a lawsuit and swift settlement over the weekend between the state officials and the U.S. Department of Justice. Eleven of the state’s 58 counties violated the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act by failing to send ballots to voters abroad on April 21 – 45 days before the primary. While about 5,450 of the late ballots were sent out within two days of missing the deadline, some were delayed as much as a week. On Saturday, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit [PDF] against California for missing the deadline, but Secretary of State Debra Bowen reached an agreement on the matter that same day, federal officials said. As part of the settlement, the secretary of state’s office will hold training sessions with at least one election official in each county before the general election in November.

Maryland: Election board looks at online ballot marking | MarylandReporter.com

The State Board of Elections may move to implement an online ballot marking system for all absentee voters in time for this year’s elections, depending on an opinion from the attorney general. But some voter advocacy groups worry about the potential for fraud. The move to online ballot marking comes after a 2010 federal mandate that required states to provide overseas voters and active military personnel with access to online absentee ballot applications. The attorney general’s opinion, requested by Sen. Edward Kasemeyer, would say whether or not the elections board should seek federal and state certification for the online ballot marking tool. The board staff is currently developing the device through a Department of Defense grant. Certification would test the system and look for vulnerable areas, including where fraud or manipulation could occur. All whole voting systems are federally required to receive certification, but the state board argues the ballot marking tool would be only part of a voting system.

Utah: Voting goes virtual – online features allow residents to register to vote, change affiliation | The Park Record

Prior to the Primary Elections on June 26, the Summit County Clerk’s Office is unveiling a slew of online features to make registering to vote, finding a polling location or previewing the ballot even easier. According to Summit County Deputy Clerk Ryan Cowley, anyone who has a current Utah driver’s license can register to vote online, change their registration information or request an absentee ballot. Residents can also download a voter app to their smart phones or tablets that uses their current location to locate the proper polling place and give them directions. “If someone is in college, or away, they can just go online to request an absentee ballot and even track its delivery,” Cowley said. “It makes the process a lot easier and may encourage residents to get absentee ballots and vote.”

Wisconsin: Election officials say voter turnout in Wisconsin recall could reach 65 percent | Wisconsin State Journal

Wisconsin election officials are predicting that between 60 to 65 percent of the voting age population, or about 2.6 to 2.8 million people, will cast regular and absentee ballots in the June 5 recall election. That level of turnout would be higher than the 49.7 percent of voters who turned out in the November 2010 gubernatorial general election, in which Gov. Scott Walker beat Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, his current challenger, by about five percentage points. It would not be as high as the 2008 general election for president, when some 69.2 percent of Wisconsin voters turned out to vote.

Wisconsin: Voting in recall election difficult for some Wisconsin residents | The Minnesota Daily

Wisconsin’s recall elections will take place Tuesday, and for many nonresident University of Minnesota students wanting to participate in the election, returning to Wisconsin may not be an option. The historic recall election is a rematch of the 2010 governor’s race that Scott Walker won. After most Wisconsin public workers lost their collective bargaining rights, many called for this recall election. Walker again faces Tom Barrett, currently the mayor of Milwaukee. Absentee ballots allow Wisconsin students a chance to vote from out of state.

Wisconsin: Democratic, GOP officials post Facebook photos of their absentee ballots — a felony in Wisconsin | StarTribune.com

Wisconsin elections officials are reminding voters that posting photos of completed ballots on Facebook or Twitter is illegal — but high-ranking members of both political parties apparently missed the memo. Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Mike Tate and St. Croix County Republican Party Chairwoman Jesse Garza said Friday they’re removing their ballot photos after finding out the postings violated state law. The law bars voters from showing their completed ballots to anyone. The intent is to prevent people from selling their votes and then showing their ballots as proof they voted as requested.

Wisconsin: Student voters face trouble in June recall election | GazetteXtra

You’re a college student who has come home for the summer. You’re planning to vote in the June 5 recall election using your parents’ home as your residence. You might be turned away. A change in the state’s voting law and the timing of this election means you might have to vote back in Platteville, Whitewater, Oshkosh or Superior, if you attended college in those cities and if you registered to vote there. “My fear is they’re going to get to the polls on Tuesday (June 5) and be told they can’t vote,” Rock County Clerk Lori Stottler said.

National: Federal bill would simplify absentee voting for troops | Army Times

One absentee ballot request from military and overseas voters would be good for an entire election cycle, under legislation introduced Friday in the House of Representatives. The bill, HR 5828, is aimed at clarifying confusion created in a 2009 overhaul of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act. The change can be interpreted as requiring separate absentee ballot requests for primary and general elections.

Colorado: Wisconsin’s Walker echoes Colorado’s Gessler on voter fraud | The Colorado Independent

In the last two years, Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler has made voter fraud prevention a top priority. His efforts have included working to stop county clerks from sending absentee ballots to inactive voters, lobbying for a controversial voter ID law and leading an unprecedented effort to determine whether non-citizens are voting in the state. Critics have questioned Gessler’s priorities, given that the number of documented incidents of voter fraud in Colorado is tiny. Yet Gessler argued his case at committee hearings in Washington and Denver by citing statistics. There were hundreds and maybethousands of non-citizens registered to vote in Colorado who may or may not be casting ballots, he said, as an example. Wisconsin governor Scott Walker has also sounded alarms on voter fraud. Taking a page from Gessler, he recently cited numbers to back up his claims.

South Carolina: Chaotic primary season nears conclusion | The Times and Democrat

The 2012 South Carolina election cycle already promises to be memorable even before candidates hit the starting gate.
A S.C. Supreme Court decision that chopped about 200 candidates from the June 12 primary ballots started an avalanche of actions that threatened to postpone the primaries. State Election Commission spokesman Chris Whitmire said the election will proceed as planned. “All county election commissions should proceed with the printing of absentee ballots, preparation of voting machines, mailing of absentee ballots and the opening of the in-office absentee machines,” Whitmire said. “The SEC and (county election commissions) are under no court order directing us to delay any election activities. We cannot delay these activities to see what a court may do. “Some counties were asking whether they should ‘wait and see’ on the outcomes of the various lawsuits before printing and/or issuing ballots. The answer is that we can’t do that.”

Wisconsin: Absentee voting begins for recall election | JSOnline

Absentee voters came to the polls in strong numbers Monday as the first day of early voting started ahead of Wisconsin’s June 5 recall. By 8 a.m., voters were already waiting for the Wausau city clerk’s office to open. In Madison, a line stretched out the door at lunchtime. In Brookfield, the city clerk’s office saw steady traffic throughout the day. “We’re extremely, extremely busy,” Wausau City Clerk Toni Rayala said. “We had much more than we expected, and much faster.” Clerks statewide reported much higher absentee turnout Monday than in the spring presidential primary as well as the May 8 recall primary. Most said the turnout for absentee voters appeared to be on par with that for a typical November general election.

West Virginia: Lawsuit filed in ballot stuffing  case | Charleston Daily Mail

A candidate on the losing end of a ballot-stuffing scheme in Lincoln County is now suing a half dozen current and former county officials in federal court for $57,000, plus unspecific punitive damages. The lawsuit also sheds new light on Lincoln County’s 2010 Democratic primary, which is the subject of an ongoing federal investigation. Former county commission candidate Phoebe Harless said the officials – including all three sitting county commissioners – and a former felon deprived her of her civil rights by stacking the deck against her candidacy. Nitro attorney Harvey Peyton filed the lawsuit late last week in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia. It names the commissioners, the commission’s secretary, the former sheriff, the former county clerk, a government insurance risk pool and Wandell “Rocky” Adkins.

Wisconsin: Timing of recall election not good for the student vote | madison.com

On a warm, sun-splashed evening during final exams week, senior Matt Hochhauser knocks on doors on UW-Madison’s fraternity row. His mission: To get students who are preoccupied with studying and summer plans to think about an election that is just weeks away. “It’s very difficult because we have such a short amount of time to get people to vote,” said the English and history major from Long Island, N.Y., who was canvassing Langdon Street for the Democratic Party on Monday night. The timing of Wisconsin’s historic gubernatorial recall election couldn’t be worse for college students. Many will leave campus for the summer after exams end this week or graduation this weekend. Experts say the June 5 election between Republican Gov. Scott Walker and Democratic challenger Tom Barrett could result in lower turnout for a population that already votes in small numbers. “The barriers are huge,” said Elizabeth Hollander, a senior fellow at Tufts University who studies student civic engagement. “Not to knock college students, but they have a lot of other things on their mind.” Making things more complicated for the transitory population are new voting rules that require voters to live in an election ward for at least 28 consecutive days. People should vote at the residence where they lived on May 8, according to the Government Accountability Board. Students can file an absentee ballot if they are registered at that location but away for the summer.

Ohio: Governor signs law to repeal voting law changes | CNBC

Ohio’s Republican Governor John Kasich signed a bill on Tuesday reversing a contentious voting law that Democrats have called a blatant attempt at voter repression, in a move aimed at pre-empting a threatened repeal referendum. The bill rolled back a law passed last year barring counties from mailing unsolicited absentee ballots to voters and removing a requirement that poll workers assist voters they knew were voting in the wrong location. But the measure stopped short of reversing a related measure that eliminated in-person voting on the three days immediately preceding an election, as Democrats want.

Ohio: Jefferson County: Election costs on the rise | HeraldStarOnline.com

Jefferson County commissioners Thursday agreed to appropriate more money to the county board of elections to cover increased expenses associated with the upcoming presidential election. Frank Bruzzese, board of elections board member, said presidential elections are always more expensive to conduct, especially this year when every voter will receive an application for an absentee ballot. The commissioners appropriated $605,000 to the board of elections, with the state contributing an additional $17,000 for mapping congressional districts. Bruzzese said the board of elections spent $746,000 four years ago during the presidential election. Commissioners agreed to appropriate an additional $102,000 to the board of elections, bringing the budget total to $722,000. Bruzzese said that should be enough to cover expenses associated with the general election in November.

South Carolina: Lawyer drops bid to restore South Carolina ballot | AP/The Charlotte Observer

An attorney is abandoning his effort to reinstate nearly 200 candidates left off of June 12 primary ballots by a South Carolina Supreme Court decision, saying Friday he is focusing instead solely on allegations the state violated the Voting Rights Act in sending separate ballots overseas for federal and local races. “The court has ordered Amanda Somers to focus on the issues where she has clear standing. And that we will do,” Todd Kincannon told The Associated Press. “Amanda Somers is focused entirely on military absentee ballots from here on. It’s clear at this point the military absent ballot issue is about the only issue left in this election.” Kincannon filed a federal last suit last week on Somers’ behalf, saying the state Senate hopeful’s candidacy was thrown into question after state Supreme Court justices ruled that financial- and candidate-intent paperwork must be filed simultaneously.

Egypt: Expats pleased to participate in elections | gulfnews

Fifteen months after the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, Egyptians overseas will go to the polls for a week from Friday to vote in a new president, amidst confusion whether the presidential elections will be suspended or not. Around 60,000 out of more than 300,000 Egyptians living and working in the UAE are registered to cast absentee ballots in Egypt’s embassy in Abu Dhabi and consulate in Dubai in the first free elections since Mubarak was ousted in February last year. It is estimated that more than eight million Egyptians are working and living abroad, but nearly 600,000 are registered voters overseas. On Wednesday, an Egyptian administrative court issued an unexpected ruling to suspend the presidential elections due later this month.

Wisconsin: Absentee ballot registration cards cause confusion | WISN

Just days before the historic recall primary, some absentee ballot registration cards are causing confusion. Election Commission office phones are ringing with voters concerned and confused over third-party mailers, which they said are leading some to think cities are actually campaigning for certain candidates, showing up in their mailbox. “We’re pleased that people are calling and asking if it’s a proper form to request an absentee ballot,” Milwaukee Election Commission Executive Director Susan Edman said.

Wisconsin: Cross-party line voting approved for recall election | The Badger Herald

The unprecedented nature of the upcoming recall primary elections has led a state board to determine that voting rules will differ from past primaries, allowing voters to vote for both Democrats and Republicans instead of receiving a single party primary ballot. Normal primaries, like the one that will occur on August 14, are considered one election, Government Accountability Board spokesperson Reid Magney said. However, he said because of the upcoming recall election, there will be six primaries, one for governor, one for lieutenant governor and four for the state senators, which are legally separate but held on the same day. Even though the elections are separate, there will only be one ballot, Magney said. Because there is also only one Republican primary election in the case of Gov. Scott Walker running against Madison citizen Arthur Kohl-Riggs, Magney said, those who wish to also participate can vote in the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor and the four senators. However, voters will not be able to vote in both the Republican and the Democratic primary for governor, Magney said.

Pennsylvania: Officials plan review of absentee ballot system | Standard Speaker

State election officials plan to review the state’s labeling of absentee ballot envelopes with letters that identify if a voter is a Republican or a Democrat, a state spokesman said. To help election officials in counties sort absentee ballots, the return envelopes used to send back completed ballots have a letter ‘R’ or ‘D’ after voters’ name on the return address part of the envelopes. “We have not had complaints about it and we’re not aware of tampering with because of ballots with this issue,” state Department of State spokesman Ronald G. Ruman said. Several constituents of state Sen. Lisa Baker raised concerns that the party labeling could encourage someone with access to the ballots to remove the ballots of a party they dislike. Baker was concerned enough to introduce a bill last year to remove the party designations from return envelopes.

Pennsylvania: Absentee ballots harbor security flaw | PoconoRecord.com

Safeguards against tampering with election results are in place throughout the election process, but for Pennsylvania’s absentee voters, a potential security breach exists. Printed on the envelope used to return completed absentee ballots is an “R” or “D,” noting the voter’s Republican or Democratic party affiliation. A person intent on influencing election results could weed out unopened ballots of one party. All they would need is access to the mails. That could happen in a college mail room or another origination point, at the post office, during delivery or when county mail is being sorted. The envelope marking is plain to see, but many Pennsylvanians outside of election officials are unaware of it.