Ohio: Lawsuit: Ballots tossed for minor errors | Cincinnati Enquirer

Have you ever mistakenly printed the wrong date on a check? Make a similar error on a ballot, and your vote might not count in Ohio. Voting rights advocates say that’s not fair. They challenged two laws passed by Ohio’s GOP-controlled state legislature in federal court and won. But Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted appealed the decision, saying courts were upending democratically-passed laws. “(T)he only thing that has been achieved is chaos and voter confusion,” Husted, a Republican, said in a statement. Lawyers will argue whether these laws are constitutional Thursday. Here’s what they do: Ballots can be tossed if voters don’t fill out five fields of basic information like date of birth or current address on absentee or provisional ballots. These mistakes are relatively rare: about 2,800 ballots were invalidated from the November 2014 election out of more than 900,000 provisional and absentee ballots. Still, voting rights advocates argue these mistakes hurt real voters and disproportionately affect urban counties with higher numbers of African-American voters – a key voting bloc for Democrats. “Ohio Secretary of State and general assembly have been trying to skew the voting process in favor of voters they believe are friendly for them, and that’s mostly white voters,” said Subodh Chandra, an attorney representing Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless in the case.

Wisconsin: State and local elected officials brace for voter confusion this fall | Wisconsin State Journal

State and local election officials are bracing for another round of voter confusion after two federal judges struck down several voting-related laws recently. Neither ruling will affect next week’s fall primary election, but they have potentially wide-ranging implications on the November vote for president, U.S. Senate and state legislative races, said Michael Haas, the state’s top elections administrator. “Our main message at this point is that people understand that nothing changes these rules for the August election,” Haas said. “We, as well as the municipal clerks, will be doing our best to educate voters after the primary and as soon as we can.”

Voting Blogs: With clock ticking elections officials faced with known unknowns | electionlineWeekly

With legal action pending or recently decided, but certainly not settled and with the clock ticking until the November 8 general election — and some primaries yet to happen — elections officials in several states are faced with some looming known unknowns. For example, in Texas and Wisconsin, it’s voter ID. In Virginia it’s voting rights restoration. In Ohio it’s voter purges. In Kansas it’s a dual-system for voters with proof-of-citizenship and those without. And in North Carolina, it’s a bit of everything — ID, same-day registration, early voting. “The nature of our job is to adapt to constant change,” said Sharon Wolters, Smith County, Kansas clerk and current president of the Kansas County Clerks and Elections Officials Association. “We expect it and work together to give ideas that will facilitate the changes in the most efficient way possible.”

Virginia: Supreme Court Decision Creating Trouble for Voting Registrar | WVIR

Thousands of Virginia felons who had their voting rights restored have had them stripped away again and the back and forth is creating quite a mess for state registrars. In April, Democratic Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe restored the voting rights of all of Virginia’s formerly convicted felons. On Friday, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled the order unconstitutional. That puts thousands of felons and registrars in limbo. “There’s general confusion about how this is going to be handled,” said Anne Hemenway the president of the city of Charlottesville Board of Elections. Of the 200,000 felons of what their voting rights restored, 13,000 already registered to vote. “There’s never been a situation where this many have been challenged at the same time this close to an election too,” said Hemenway.

Fiji: Elections Office Clarifies Its Role | Fiji Sun

The Fijian Elections Office yesterday clarified their role towards the Electoral Commission. Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem, while making submissions on the Multi-National Observer Group and the Electoral Commission report before the Standing Committee on Justice, Law and Human Rights, said their role was to provide secretarial services to the commission. He said this included funding, allowances, travelling and meeting allowances, and other administrative requirements. Mr Saneem said for the past two years they had considered all request and requirements put forward by the commission.

Ghana: Electoral Commission Rejects Accusation of Bias | VoA News

The electoral commission of Ghana is rejecting criticism it is doing the bidding of the ruling National Democratic Congress by deleting the names of supporters of the main opposition New Patriotic Party from voter lists. The electoral commission is preparing for November 7 presidential, parliamentary and local elections. Following an order from the Supreme Court, the electoral commission this week began expunging the names from the voter list of those who registered using their National Health Insurance Scheme identification card. But Samuel Pyne, the Ashanti Regional Secretary of the NPP, said the electoral commission deleted the names of party supporters who did not use their National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) identification cards.

Arizona: Courts should approve Arizona election plans, group says | Associated Pres

A Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit already suing over Arizona’s troubled presidential primary says the state’s top election officials should be required to have court-approved plans in place for how they’re going to manage the upcoming primary and general elections. The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law filed a motion Thursday for a preliminary injunction calling for election administration plans to be submitted by the secretary of state and Maricopa County officials. In its lawsuit over the March primary, the group argues that countless Arizona voters were disenfranchised by the cutting of polling places to just 60 from about 200 in the 2012 presidential primary. The cut in polling places was one of the causes of lines that exceeded five hours in some locations.

United Kingdom: British expats considering lawsuit over missing postal votes after hundreds denied say in EU referendum | The Independent

The Electoral Commission has said it “appreciates the frustration” of hundreds or possibly thousands of expats who were unable to have their say on the UK’s membership of the European Union because of missing postal votes. Infuriated voters have reported more than 500 cases to The Independent where they registered but did not receive their papers in time for the historic referendum. Those affected live in dozens of countries across the globe, including Thailand, Australia, the US and across the channel in France. Some voters, many of whom said they backed Remain, have called for a re-run of the referendum over the “farce”. One man is investigating the possibility of a class action lawsuit with a London solicitors’ firm over the “denial of a fundamental right”.

Illinois: DuPage County eyes merging Election Commission, clerk’s office | Naperville Sun

Efforts are continuing to combine the DuPage County clerk’s office and the DuPage Election Commission, but it would not happen until after the November election, County Board Chairman Dan Cronin told board members this week. The consolidation idea follows the absorption two weeks ago by DuPage of a Naperville street-lighting district and comes as Cook County considers merging its clerk and recorder of deeds. “We are moving forward with our efforts to create a streamlined, more efficient, more cost-effective government,” Cronin said at Tuesday’s County Board meeting.

Nevada: Officials say lining up city, Clark County election cycles could save millions | Las Vegas Review-Journal

Four cities in Clark County are expected to share a $2.4 million cost to hold spring municipal elections next year, a number officials say could be zero if they lined up their election cycle with the county’s. Clark County data pegs the cost of 2017 city elections at $2.4 million, if the cities of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson and Boulder City all require both primary and general elections in the spring. The cost for the city of Las Vegas alone is about $1.47 million. Those new figures for city elections capture the actual county cost for holding them, county spokesman Dan Kulin said. A county audit last year found that the county was substantially under-billing the cities for their off-year elections. The currently proposed charge for the cities has come down a bit from the cost that was landed on in the audit, which was in excess of $3 million.

Voting Blogs: Election Toolkit launches: Free and low-cost tech tools will help promote civic engagement nationwide | electionlineWeekly

This election year, election officials will have a new collection of tools to help them engage their communities in the electoral process and improve how elections are run throughout the U.S. The Election Toolkit, an online library of resources for election officials, includes tools like a free app to measure voter wait times, guidelines on how to create short videos and infographics, and a collection of civic icons and illustrations. All of the tools in the Toolkit are either free or low cost and come paired with step-by-step instructions, making them accessible to any election official, regardless of their budget or tech skills.

Maryland: Baltimore election board discusses lessons learned, prep for November election | Baltimore Sun

Baltimore elections chief Armstead B.C. Jones Sr. intends to post signs at the city’s nearly 300 precincts for voters having trouble casting ballots during November’s general election. Jones outlined his plans before the Board of Elections Thursday, as officials continued to dissect problems from the April primary — some 400 election judges failed to show up to work, polling places opened late and unverified provisional ballots were counted. “We’re going to focus on lessons learned for the general election,” said Jones, who added that he looks for opportunities to improve the process after every city election. Jones also said he is working with the State Board of Elections to bring in an expert to organize the city’s election warehouse that one state official said left her “appalled.” His comments came during the city board’s monthly meeting, which lasted about an hour. The board did not accept public testimony at the meeting, citing time constraints.

New York: Audit: New York City Elections Board Lost Track Of Voting Machines | Associated Press

City Board of Elections officials have lost track of more than 1,450 pieces of equipment, including some voting machines, according to an audit released Monday. “If you can’t count inventory, how can New Yorkers trust you to count their votes?” said Comptroller Scott Stringer, who led an army of auditors carrying out the task. Election officials examined Board of Elections inventories over nearly three years, ending last February. Tracing more than 5,000 items out of about 11,000 inventoried, they scoured five board warehouses and other facilities to match the entries.

Arizona: Secretary of state being investigated after special election issues | Yuma Sun

Attorney General Mark Brnovich hired a special investigator Thursday to determine if Secretary of State Michele Reagan broke any laws in the just-completed special election. Michael Morrissey, a former federal prosecutor, will review the failure of Reagan’s office to ensure that pamphlets describing the issues on the May 17 ballot were delivered to the homes of all registered voters before the early ballots went out. That should have happened by April 20. Reagan does not dispute that at least 200,000 of the 1.9 million pamphlets were not mailed on time. And each of those was to go to a home with more than one registered voter, meaning at least 400,000 people may not have had the descriptions of the two measures before they mailed back their early ballots. She said, though, the blame lies with others, including a contractor and a consultant.

Arizona: Secretary of state quietly fixes mistakes, but delay could prove costly | The Arizona Republic

Secretary of State Michele Reagan’s office issued incorrect instructions to candidates seeking to get on the primary ballot, and only notified them of the problems in the final weeks of signature-gathering. With the deadline for candidate filings arriving on Wednesday, the lag in correcting the mistakes could cause some candidates to be disqualified. State Elections Director Eric Spencer downplayed that likelihood, saying the changes were minimal. Still, the issue arises as the Secretary of State’s Office is embroiled in controversy over its failure to send publicity pamphlets to nearly 200,000 households in advance of the May 17 special election, and only acknowledging it two weeks later after a media report. That is the subject of an ongoing inquiry by state Attorney General Mark Brnovich.

North Carolina: Some Durham County voters will receive new primary ballot | News & Observer

In light of finding Durham County elections workers had counted dozens more votes than had actually been cast, the State Board of Elections has decided to scratch 892 provisional ballots and mail out new ballots to those voters more than two months later. In a meeting to finalize the results of the March 15 primary, the board voted unanimously to approve only 147 provisional ballots that could be checked for eligibility and moved to send out new ballots to voters whose ballots could not be verified. The decision came out of a state investigation into discrepancies in the Durham County election primaries that found the state only had physical copies for 980 provisional ballots, despite having approved or partially approved 1,039 provisional ballots to count toward final election totals.

California: California Can Show the Rest of of the U.S. How To Do Elections Right | CityLab

California’s June 7 primary election is fast approaching, and the state with the most registered voters in the U.S. is far from ready. For one, the list of candidates currently vying for retiring U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer’s seat is so mob-deep that it’s forcing counties to reconfigure their ballots to accommodate all the names. Meanwhile, confusion and resentment is festering among independent voters over a lack of rule uniformity and clarity regarding their right to vote in the primaries. All of this, combined with an expected voter-turnout surge, has led to lawsuits demanding that the state extend its voter registration period up to the primary election date. However, “The infrastructure’s not in place” for such an extension, Orange County voter registrar Neal Kelley told the L.A. Times.

Arizona: Fewer voters in Arizona election, but latest cost $1M more | Associated Press

Fearing another botched election, Arizona’s most populous county opened twice as many polling spots for a special election this week than for the March presidential primary. This go-round cost about $1 million more, even though Maricopa County election officials knew far fewer voters would turn out to vote on education funding and pension overhaul plans. But those officials say the extra spending was necessary to rebuild lost confidence after some people waited as long as five hours to cast their vote for the Democratic and Republican nominees for president. The county cut the number of polling places from 200 in 2012 to just 60 in March to save money. Tuesday, there were 116 places to vote, county elections department spokeswoman Elizabeth Bartholomew said Thursday.

Editorials: Baltimore elections: ‘stuff happens’ isn’t good enough | E.R. Shipp/Baltimore Sun

Back in 2000, the state of Florida became an international laughingstock over its difficulties tallying ballots. Baltimore has escaped that ignominy so far this year only because the fate of a presidential election is not in the balance. But the difficulty of its elections specialists in tallying ballots from April 26 is just as unforgiveable as was Florida’s. Baltimore, we’ve got a problem here — and it did not begin with this election cycle. As The Sun recently reported, what we have experienced is in many ways déjà vu all over again. Still, a history of persistent problems does not mean the future has to be fraught with them, too — especially the predictable ones like too few and poorly trained election judges who are ultimately responsible for the smooth operation of more than 200 polling places and the delivery of voting results after the polls close.

Cyprus: Votes with wrong symbol won’t count says returning officer | Cyprus Mail

Voters in Sunday’s election were on Monday warned to use the right symbols on ballots otherwise their vote will not count. “According to the electoral law, the only symbols with which voters are allowed to vote, are the ‘x’ or ‘+’ or ‘√’,” a Chief Returning Officer announcement said. In the case voters use any other symbol or letter, “with which his or her identity may be revealed, their ballot will be considered as invalid”. Voters must choose the designated number of candidates for each district from the same party/coalition, it said. In Nicosia votes are made for five candidates, in Limassol and Famagusta three, Larnaca two and one in Paphos and Kyrenia, it said.

Missouri: Kander submits proposals to avoid repeat of flawed St. Louis County election | St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander on Wednesday submitted a list of recommendations his office believes will help St. Louis County avoid the pitfalls that blemished April 5 voting. The proposals duplicate several of the reforms that election officials have promised to put in place in response to the ballot shortages last month at over 60 county precincts. Democratic Elections Director Eric Fey has stressed in media interviews as well as during testimony at County Council and legislative hearings that the agency is overhauling its certification process to ensure that each polling precinct in the future receives the correct number of ballots.

Missouri: Change afoot as troubled St. Louis County election headquarters heads toward November | St. Louis Post-Dispatch

With a change in leadership on the horizon, the St. Louis County Election Commission is taking preliminary steps toward resolving a pattern of missteps that has marred countywide voting twice in under 18 months. At separate meetings Tuesday afternoon, the commission and the County Council gave voice to the sense of urgency for change at the beleaguered agency as it prepares for the most important date on the electoral calendar: the Nov. 8 presidential balloting. One key figure, Republican Election Director Gary Fuhr, will be absent as the election office enters the fall election season and, prior to that, the August primary to pick the local candidates who will appear on November general election tickets.

United Kingdom: Barnet council chief steps down after election blunder | The Guardian

The chief executive of Barnet council has left his post after an election-day blunder resulted in many people in the north London borough being unable to vote. Andrew Travers has left Barnet council by “mutual agreement” following the fiasco on 5 May, in which thousands of names were missing from electoral lists at the north London authority’s 155 polling stations. Many residents attempting to vote in the mayoral and London assembly elections were turned away, including the chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis. Mirvis was unable to vote and is yet to receive an apology. The council has been unable to say how many of the 236,196 registered voters were turned away. It has launched an investigation into what went wrong and to ensure arrangements for the EU referendum in June are appropriate.

California: Jerry Brown gives counties $16.3 million more for election costs | The Sacramento Bee

Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation Friday that directs $16.29 million to counties to help pay for expected high turnout in the June 7 presidential primary and to process a coming deluge of petitions from groups seeking to qualify November ballot measures, including one championed by the Democratic governor. Assembly Bill 120’s signing comes a few weeks after Secretary of State Alex Padilla alerted Brown to a “surge” of voter interest in the June election because of the high-profile Republican presidential primary. As they plan for that, county election officials face the prospect of trying to verifying as many as 9.4 million petition signatures, Padilla wrote the governor. Orange County Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley called the money “a huge help.” “It absolutely goes a long way to assisting us in juggling this kind of perfect storm: the initiatives colliding at the same time we’re producing ballots and tallying ballots,” said Kelley, the president of the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials.

Missouri: House task force issues report on botched St. Louis County election | St. Louis Post-Dispatch

A Missouri House task force investigating the issues that led to a chaotic April 5 municipal election has come up with a legislative agenda to address the ongoing problems plaguing residents seeking to cast a vote in St. Louis County. The proposals referred to House Speaker Todd Richardson include a recommendation that residency no longer be a qualification for leadership of the St. Louis County Board of Elections. Removing a requirement that the two directors atop the election authority reside in the county would open the door for a “nationwide search … for those critical positions,” Rep. Shamed Dogan said in a letter delivered to Richardson’s office Thursday afternoon.

Kenya: Electoral Body Seeks Improvements in Next Year’s Polls | VoA News

A leading member of Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission said the group wants to improve the administration of next year’s general election. The constitution requires that elections be held August 8, 2017. IEBC officials said they have been engaging with stakeholders to address their concerns in the run-up to the election. Yusuf Nzibo of the IEBC said the commission was working with international partners to help correct some of the challenges the group faced during the 2013 elections.

Illinois: DuPage looking to consolidate election commission, clerk’s office | Daily Herald

More than four decades after election oversight was stripped from the DuPage County clerk’s office to create the DuPage Election Commission, officials are working to develop plans to consolidate both offices to increase efficiency and reduce costs. “We are working toward consolidation of the election commission and the county clerk’s office, which will create a new hybrid providing our voters the most efficient, the most effective model for elections in DuPage County,” county board Chairman Dan Cronin announced during Tuesday’s county board meeting. Election commission officials have adopted a series of cost-saving measures since Cronin launched the DuPage Accountability, Consolidation and Transparency Initiative in May 2012. The initiative called on the commission and 23 other agencies to make structural and operational reforms.

Kenya: IEBC Chiefs to Give MPs Election Preparedness Status Report | allAfrica.com

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is this week expected to brief Members of Parliament on its status of preparedness towards the General Election in 2017. The Commission Chairperson Issack Hassan and his Commissioners who have come under sustained pressure from the opposition and the clergy to resign are expected to appear before the Justice and Legal Affairs on Thursday. According to the IEBC, one of the failures in the 2013 election was the late delivery of Electronic Voter Identification Devices to polling stations. It says this time around, it will send out the EVIDs in good time. The commission also intends to conduct a mock election in August to test the transmission of the devices. The Commission will conduct another mass voter registration exercise in March 2017, five months to the General Election slated for August 8, 2017. IEBC Chief Executive and Secretary Ezra Chiloba is slated to appear on Tuesday regarding the same matter.

Missouri: St. Louis County election board suspends top director for ballot blunder | St. Louis Public Radio

The St. Louis County Board of Election Commissioners suspended its top official, a move that comes after dozens of polling places ran out of ballots during this month’s municipal elections. After the four-person election board went into closed session on Tuesday, it voted to suspend Democratic director Eric Fey for two weeks without pay. Commissioners also suspended elections coordinator Laura Goebel without pay for one week. The board did not exert any punishment against Republican director Gary Fuhr.

National: What Keeps Election Officials Up At Night? Fear Of Long Lines At The Polls | NPR

Election officials around the country are nervously planning how to avoid long lines at the polls this year, after voters waited for hours at some Wisconsin sites earlier this week. That came after voters in Maricopa County, Ariz., had to wait up to five hours last month, in part because the county cut back on the number of polling sites. Those delays led to raucous protests at the state capital and a voting rights investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. This year’s unusually large voter turnout in the primaries has caught a lot of people by surprise, according to Tammy Patrick of the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C. “I think most election administrators worry about this, and are staying awake at night thinking about it,” she said.