Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes says his Central American country will allow citizens living abroad to vote in the 2014 presidential election.
Funes says a government commission is looking into the necessary steps to implement absentee voting. He says the commission is getting advice from nations that already permit citizens out of the country to cast ballots.
The Overseas Vote Foundation (OVF), a not-for-profit group dedicated to helping Americans overseas take part in federal elections, began its “Counting Citizens” project in April this year.
Using the power of social media to spread the word, the group is appealing for expats to register on a dedicated website, and help the organisation produce a reliable estimate of the number of Americans currently living abroad
“At the moment, there no is no accurate up-to-date estimate of how many American citizens abroad there are or where they are,” said Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat, the president of the OVF. “Expats are not included in the US census, and previous estimates have been very rough, and often non-official.
Bulgarians, residing abroad, sent a letter to Foreign Affairs Minister, Nikolay Mladenov, and Finance Minister, Simeon Djankov, insisting on having their support in organizing a vote for Public Councils in October. The vote is to be held simultaneously with the presidential and local elections in Bulgaria in the fall.
The authors remind that as early as 2000, the Law for Bulgarians Living outside Republic of Bulgaria has been passed, providing for the establishment of a National Council of Bulgarians Abroad, which is to have nine members, five of whom from the diaspora. The same law provides for creating consulting bodies of Bulgarian communities abroad at Bulgarian diplomatic representations in the respective country.
Santa Clara County election officials sent more than 7,500 mail ballots to the wrong addresses during last June's election, unwittingly canceling votes cast by some South Bay residents even as those living out of state received ballots.
A report released Friday from the county's civil grand jury concludes the Registrar of Voters does not follow the proper procedures to avoid errors when mailing out ballots to people who have recently moved.
Ohioans would see a shorter early voting period under a proposal Tuesday that cleared the Senate in this traditionally presidential swing state. The Republican-led Senate voted 23-10 along party lines to pass the plan, despite Democrats’ objections that parts of the bill could lead to longer lines and discourage people from participating in elections.
Supporters argue they are addressing inconsistencies in the law and want to help county officials save money at a time when they’re struggling to balance budgets. Voters would have 21 days to vote by mail and could cast a ballot in person 16 days before Election Day. That’s down from the current 35-day early voting period.
A bill overhauling Ohio election law cleared the Senate today over Democratic objections, and Senate leaders said they did not expect major problems meshing their plan with one passed last week by the House.
Voters would get less time to vote early, online voter registration would be developed and a handful of counties, including Franklin, no longer could send absentee ballot applications to all voters. Senate Bill 148 passed 23-10 along party lines.
Ohioans would have less time to vote absentee and early, and counties would be barred from mass-mailing applications for ballots to registered voters under a bill that cleared the Senate Tuesday.
Senate Bill 148, passed strictly with Republican support, seeks to reduce the number of last-resort provisional ballots cast on Election Day and sets statewide standards for when they will and won’t be counted. The bill would let voters for the first time register and update their addresses on the Internet.
Egypt’s communication minister on Monday said the government is considering granting consuls abroad the authority to oversee voting by Egyptian expatriates during upcoming elections.
Communication and Information Technology Minister Maged Othman told reporters the move would come as per a decree by the justice minister, adding that Egyptians abroad should register at embassies and consulates.
A few years ago, New Jersey began allowing anyone who wanted to vote in elections using a mail-in absentee ballot to do so. It was a good idea that caught on with aging voters who have trouble getting out and with time-strapped voters who simply find it easier to vote at their leisure than to go to a polling place on Election Day.
Now, legislation passed by both the state Senate and Assembly will make it that much easier for people who vote by mail to ensure they continue to receive mail-in ballots, if Gov. Chris Christie signs it into law, as he should.
A Ward 3 candidate denies allegations that she offered to drop off and pick up absentee ballots for Glenarden residents and a hearing has been scheduled for next week to investigate election complaints which, if verified, could change the results of the mayoral race and land the candidate in trouble with state law.
The meeting will be held 5 p.m. May 18 before the city’s Board of Elections Chairwoman Geraldine Langford to discuss issues such as a note on Ward 3 candidate Judy Diggs’ website that states residents can do “early voting” from April 8 to April 29. The city never established an early voting date separate from the May 2 election day.
The government will enable Macedonia’s diaspora to exercise the right to vote in the parliamentary elections scheduled for June 5th without having to be physically present in the country.
Three new electoral units were added to the existing six — covering North and Latin America; Europe; and Australia, New Zealand and Asia proper — and three parliamentarians representing the diaspora will be added to the existing 120.
Moffat County Elections Supervisor Stephanie Beckett said Moffat County has been behind the curve by not conducting coordinated elections by mail-in ballot only.
“Most of the state already does that,” Beckett said. “We were one of four counties last year in the election that did not have an all-mail ballot election, and it just seems like voters are leaning that way, to have their ballots mailed to them.”
A proposal aimed at easing the burden on municipal clerks around Election Day was opposed Monday by several groups that said eliminating same-day voter registration would disenfranchise Maine voters.
L.D. 1376, sponsored by House Speaker Bob Nutting, R-Oakland, and supported by Secretary of State Charlie Summers, would ban absentee voting during the two business days before Election Day for most voters, and eliminate registration for most voters during the same period and on Election Day.
Tucson city leaders voted two weeks ago to hold all mail elections. It was a way to save money for a cash starved city and increase voter turnout. But Republicans at the state legislature have different ideas.
After the city vote, the lawmakers inserted language in SB 1331 which in essence says Tucson can’t do that. Any other city in the state can hold mail in elections, just not Tucson.
Montana Secretary of State Linda McCulloch has weighed in on a proposal to move Helena’s mail-sorting operations to Great Falls, expressing concerns about what it could mean for local elections.
In a letter addressed to Montana’s congressional delegation, McCulloch noted that an increasing number of Montanans are choosing to vote using absentee mail ballots, with the number of votes cast that way jumping from 15 percent of the total to 47 percent in the past decade. The shift to mail ballots is expected to continue, meaning the U.S. Postal Service will play a role in elections, McCulloch wrote in the letter.
Jeff Irwin
In a move aimed at increasing voter participation, state Rep. Jeff Irwin has announced a plan to allow any Michigan resident to vote by absentee ballot without giving a reason. “Increasing voter turnout is crucial to maintaining a healthy democracy,” Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, said in a statement.
“We should do everything we can to ensure that every voter who wants to vote has that opportunity to exercise their rights and hold lawmakers accountable. This plan has strong bipartisan support and will simply make it easier for people to vote.”
Lawmakers heard testimony Wednesday on a bill that would prohibit Mainers who cast votes by absentee ballot from asking for a do-over simply because they changed their minds.
The issue of when and how voters could request a new absentee ballot arose in the final days of last fall’s gubernatorial race.
The City Council this week broached ditching so-called “emergency ballots” for last minute voters in favor of beefing up absentee vote-by-mail allowances, but stopped short of making any changes for the April 5 election.
Glendale voters can request a vote-by-mail ballot up to seven days before the election, but after that deadline they can fill out an application for a so-called “emergency” vote-by-mail ballot up to Election Day.