North Carolina: Merger of elections and ethics halted while Governor Roy Cooper’s lawsuit pends | News & Observer

The state Supreme Court froze any further action in the revamp of the state elections board and ethics commission while a lawsuit challenging the merger awaits a hearing before the justices. The state’s highest court agreed this week to take up a case filed by Gov. Roy Cooper, challenging a law adopted by the General Assembly this spring calling for the merger of the state Board of Elections and the state Ethics Commission. But in an order issued on Thursday, Associate Justice Mike Morgan, the newest justice on the bench, put a halt on the process that is at the core of more than one legal challenge and has drawn heated debate. The case is scheduled for arguments at the Supreme Court on Aug. 28.

North Carolina: Common Cause lawsuit over special session to limit Roy Cooper powers moves forward | News & Observer

A Superior Court judge rejected Tuesday a request from North Carolina’s lieutenant governor and legislative leaders to dismiss a lawsuit accusing them of violating the state Constitution when they hastily called a special session in December to consider laws that transform state government. Judge W. Osmond Smith III ruled instead that the lawsuit filed this spring by Common Cause and 10 North Carolina residents should be heard by a three-judge panel tasked with hearing any constitutional challenges to laws adopted by the General Assembly. The nonpartisan, good-government advocacy group contends that Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, president of the state Senate, Phil Berger, president pro tempore of the state Senate, and Tim Moore, speaker of the state House of Representatives, violated North Carolinians’ rights when they took up bills in a three-day session in December without laying out to the public what was on the agenda.

Pakistan: PTI insists general elections be held under a reconstituted Election Commission | Pakistan Today

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has staged a walk-out of the parliamentary committee on electoral reform in protest against the committee for not considering the party’s proposals for meaningful electoral reforms, placed before the subcommittee in April 2017. The PTI lawmakers Dr Arif Alvi, Shafqat Mehmood and Dr Shireen Mazari in the media talks lashed out at the government for what they dubbed ‘the non-seriousness’ to implement the much-need electoral reforms. They said that the ECP has lost its credibility in holding those responsible for the wrongdoings pointed out in the SC report, on PTI rigging petition on the 2013 election.

North Carolina: With elections board vacant, Cooper wants state Supreme Court to block board designed by GOP | News & Observer

North Carolina’s election oversight board has been vacant for more than a month, but the N.C. Supreme Court is poised to decide if Gov. Roy Cooper must make appointments to the new board designed by Republicans. Cooper last week asked the Supreme Court to block the law creating the State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement, which would be split equally among Republicans and Democrats – a change from the previous elections board, which was controlled by the governor’s party. Attorneys for House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger called on the court Monday to deny the request, and both the GOP legislative leaders and the N.C. Republican Party say Cooper needs to make appointments immediately.

Papua New Guinea: Voting in Papua New Guinea marred by problems with electoral rolls, disruptions | Reuters

Polling in Papua New Guinea has been hampered by reports of disruptions and voters being left off the electoral roll, but the head of an international election observer group said on Sunday there was no evidence they were deliberate. The two-week long election to decide who will lead the resource-rich South Pacific nation began on June 24, pitting 3,332 candidates from 44 political parties against each other for a place in the 111-seat parliament. But reports of problems at voting booths and allegations of ballot fraud have soured the mood among some in a country which has a history of electoral violence and corruption.

Editorials: EAC’s 2016 survey provides a deep dive into a wealth of election, voting data | Sean Greene/The Hill

I love baseball. As a researcher, I am fascinated by the endless stream of statistics it generates, data that provides a detailed picture of the rhythms and pace of any given game or season. Coaches, players and general managers use the data to tweak everything from how to set their infield defense to planning team finances and roster decisions years down the road. And fans use the data in their own way to better understand and enjoy the game. This is exactly how I’d like Congress, election administrators and the American people to view the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s 2016 Election Administration and Voting Survey (EAVS), the most comprehensive nationwide data about election administration in the United States. It’s a treasure trove of data collected to paint a picture of the administration of the 2016 Federal Election and to give us indicators about ways we can improve election administration and voter experience. And it allows anyone to use the data to dive into what they think is important to better understand how elections work in our country.

Voting Blogs: Russian Intrusion and Partisan Pressures: Aspects of Election Administration Reform After 2016 | More Soft Money Hard Law

In 2016, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson found that state election officials were suspicious of federal offers of assistance in defending their voting systems from cyber attack. He tried to persuade them to accept DHS designation of those systems as “critical infrastructure,” which would have given states access on a priority basis to a range of protections. The response he received ranged from “neutral to negative.” DHS concluded that, in the middle of an election, it was best not to have a protracted, politicized fight over this step. It focused on providing assistance where it could, and a large number of jurisdictions requested help. In January 2017, even with officials remaining skeptical about the designation, Secretary Johnson proceeded to issue it.

North Carolina: Elections board without members until Governor makes appointments – but he’s suing | News & Observer

The board that oversees elections and government ethics in North Carolina has no members because Gov. Roy Cooper hasn’t appointed anyone as he continues his court challenge against the law merging the two boards. On Friday, the N.C. Court of Appeals rejected Cooper’s latest request to put on hold the law creating the State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement. That law was passed in a December special session of the legislature and revised in April in response to court rulings. Cooper’s lawsuit argues the change in the elections board violates the constitutional separation of powers.

National: Leaked NSA hacking report ratchets up pressure on local election officials | Cyberscoop

Despite new evidence from a leaked NSA report that Russian hackers sought to compromise state and local election technology, the officials in charge are still vigorously opposing the federal designation of their polling systems as critical infrastructure. “It’s unclear how this situation would change anyone’s opinions about the [critical infrastructure] designation,” Kay Stimson of the National Association of Secretaries of State told CyberScoop. NASS represents the state-level officials responsible for certifying statewide election results. Stimson added that officials didn’t get any additional resources to defend their networks as a result of the January 2017 announcement by the Department of Homeland Security, which many saw as a federal power grab. Federal officials have stressed that state or local participation in any DHS programs is voluntary, and suggested that DHS expertise might be able to help election officials secure themselves against online attacks.

Florida: Election officials: Campaign year drew hacking attempts, other suspicious activity | USA Today

State and local election officials across the country reported numerous hacking alerts last year from suspicious emails sent to their systems. At least eight Florida counties received one tied to what U.S. intelligence officials said was a Russian effort to disrupt the presidential campaign. Election officials contacted by the USA TODAY NETWORK said there were no successful hacks into their voting systems or offices. But some noted that suspicious activity directed through a Tallahassee-based election software company came amid a flurry of other threats routinely blocked by election offices.

North Carolina: Lawsuit seeks board seats for unaffiliated voters | WRAL

A well-known North Carolina election-law attorney has filed a federal lawsuit against the state’s new Bipartisan State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement, arguing that it is unconstitutional because it discriminates against unaffiliated voters by denying them the same right to serve on elections boards as voters who are registered with a political party. The case was filed Tuesday in the Middle District of North Carolina. Under the legislation passed in April by state lawmakers and recently upheld by a three-judge panel, the new state board will consist of four Republicans and four Democrats, appointed by the governor from list of nominees submitted by the two state party chairs. In turn, the new board will select two Democrats and two Republicans, also nominated by their respective parties, to serve on each of the 100 county elections boards.

Rhode Island: Ex-elections chief Kando asks court to reinstate lawsuit | Providence Journal

Robert Kando, the former executive director of the state Board of Elections, is asking a federal judge to reconsider the dismissal of a lawsuit that accuses the board of violating his rights by firing him last year. Kando filed a motion asking U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell Jr. to reverse his dismissal of a lawsuit that challenged Kando’s August firing from the $143,000-plus position he had held since 2005. Kando argued through his lawyer Richard Sinapi that McConnell misconstrued the law in ruling that Kando didn’t have a right to a “name clearing” hearing because he had been categorized as an unclassified employee, who served at the pleasure of the board as his appointing authority. He faulted the judge, too, for failing to view the facts in his favor, particularly as to his arguments that he had been denied proper notice and an opportunity to be heard.

Pennsylvania: Report: 26K voters caught in registration delay before pivotal Trump election | Billy Penn

About 26,000 people across Pennsylvania — 17,000 in Philadelphia alone — may not have received voter registration cards until after the November Presidential election because their voter registration applications were processed late, according to a new report released this week by a nonpartisan conglomerate of organizations that advocate for election reform. The report released by Keystone Votes, a group of about 40 organizations, cited data from the Pennsylvania Department of State and concluded that thousands of Pennsylvanians who attempted to register to vote on time may not have received any confirmation that their registration was approved prior to Nov. 8, 2016. The group also reported that due to the late processing, those people may have been “relegated” to supplemental voter rolls, instead of appearing in the main voter roll book at their polling location.

Rhode Island: Federal judge dismisses former director’s suit against state Board of Elections | Providence Journal

A federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit brought by the embattled former state Board of Elections executive director that accused his once employer of violating his rights by firing him. U.S. District Court Judge John J. McConnell Jr. granted the board’s motion to dismiss after hearing arguments at Roger Williams University School of Law in April. Kando sued the board in September, arguing that he was fired a month earlier without proper notice. He alleged violations of due process and the state Open Meetings Act.

Cambodia: Independent Observers Say ‘Smooth’ Vote Still Marred by Problems | The Cambodia Daily

Independent election observers praised Sunday’s running of the nationwide commune elections as largely smooth and peaceful, even while noting a raft of problems, including unauthorized officials at polling sites, intimidated observers and soldiers being brought to vote at some polling stations by the truckload. Dubbed the “Situation Room,” the coalition of NGOs that teamed up to send some 14,000 observers across the country described the voting as “smooth, safe and peaceful” but marred by “some minor irregularities.” Recounting one of the day’s most flagrant breaches, Koul Panha, director of the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia, said 12 observers across two communes in Kandal province’s Loeuk Dek district were pressured into abandoning their duties by local authorities.

Arizona: Counties threaten funding cutoff to force meeting with Secretary of State Michele Reagan’s office | The Arizona Republic

It’s Reagan vs. Recorders, again. This time, the dispute among Secretary of State Michele Reagan and the 15 county elections officials in Arizona is over who’s to blame for letting lapse a committee that makes sure the voter-registration database keeps working. But it’s really about simmering tensions over the upcoming creation of a new statewide voter-registration system — and who will be in charge. “I think the counties got tired of being pushed around,” said F. Ann Rodriguez, the Pima County recorder.

California: Here’s why California officials want $450 million to upgrade elections technology | Press Enterprise

Imagine using a dial-up modem for Internet and VHS for entertainment in 2017. California elections officials say they face a similar situation with the technology used for a bedrock function of democracy. It’s why Secretary of State Alex Padilla supports a bill to raise $450 million through bonds to upgrade elections technology in California’s 58 counties. The bill, AB 668, passed the Assembly 56-19 on Wednesday, May 31. If it passes the Senate and is signed by Gov. Jerry Brown, California voters will decide whether to authorize the bonds in June 2018. Republicans argue the bill, known as the Voting Modernization Bond Act of 2018, is a costly and wrong-headed approach to upgrading elections systems. “The right to vote is our most important right,” said the bill’s sponsor, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, D-San Diego. “But local election officials have to rely on equipment that is rapidly becoming outdated or obsolete.”

North Carolina: Judges uphold law diminishing governor’s elections role | Associated Press

North Carolina judges sided Thursday with Republican legislators who stripped down the election oversight authorities of Gov. Roy Cooper. A three-judge panel unanimously dismissed a lawsuit by Cooper, who challenged the law as unconstitutional. The judges offered no reasons for their decision, issued within hours of hearing lawyers for Cooper and the Republican-dominated General Assembly argue about the law. The lawsuit that is part of the ongoing political battle that began after Cooper narrowly beat incumbent GOP Gov. Pat McCrory last year. GOP lawmakers have sought to defang Cooper’s powers ever since. Cooper plans to appeal the ruling, said his spokesman, Ford Porter.

North Carolina: Judges weigh law cutting governor’s elections oversight role | Associated Press

If judges sign off on Republican legislation that curtails the new governor’s control over state and local elections, future balloting could be wracked with confusion, unethical politicians could go unpunished and campaign finance tricks could continue unabated, Democratic lawyers contend. A three-judge panel of state trial judges on Thursday starts hearing arguments about whether it’s constitutional for GOP legislators to end the century-old control governors had of overseeing elections now that a rival, new Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, is in office.

Lesotho: Bumpy road ahead of Lesotho poll | The Southern Times

While the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has announced determination to deliver a credible election and that they remain on course and faithful to their calendar, extra-mural events pose a serious threat to a free and fairly run electoral process. The electoral body has voiced concern over forecast weather patterns in the country, with citizens put on high alert for the week preceding, during and after elections, due to extreme weather conditions predicted over polling day.

Georgia: Johns Creek Election May Be Illegitimate, Voting Group Alleges | Johns Creek Patch

The results of a special Johns Creek City Council election held April 18 may not be legitimate, according to a report by the nonprofit group VoterGA. The report focuses its critique on alleged security flaws in voting machines and says the election was improperly scheduled. Three separate elections were held that night: the Johns Creek City Council election, the Roswell City Council run-off and the Sixth District Congressional race. … But there were problems in the Johns Creek election, according to VoterGA.

Wisconsin: 5 Elections staff approved despite Walker recommendation | Associated Press

The Legislature’s budget committee on Tuesday approved state funding for five of six Elections Commission staff positions that have been supported by federal grant that’s set to run out, dismissing Gov. Scott Walker’s recommendation to cut all six of them. The governor argued that the commission can handle its workload without the positions that had been supported by the federal Help America Vote Act passed in 2002. But state and local elections officials disagreed, arguing that the jobs were critically important to ensuring that Wisconsin’s elections are properly run.

National: 3 Things Election Tech Officials Need Right Now | Government Technology

The U.S. is in the midst of a historic moment of civic participation. And while protesters march in the streets and politicians wrangle with each other over the aftermath of an election, the people who actually run elections are quietly working on making their systems better. And those systems are, by all accounts, in need of updating. At the first-ever Global Election Technology Summit on May 17 in San Francisco, hosted by the Startup Policy Lab, a diverse group of people involved in elections and the technology used to run them gathered to talk about how they can improve the process for everyone involved. Here are three things they said the government could use right now to make elections better.

Pennsylvania: Some Wilkinsburg voters use emergency ballots because election judge was in jail | TribLIVE

A judge of elections at one of Wilkinsburg’s precincts didn’t report for duty Tuesday morning because he was in jail, said Amie Downs, an Allegheny County spokeswoman. Voters in Wilkinsburg’s 1st Ward, 6th District used emergency ballots while sheriff’s deputies went to the man’s house to retrieve the voting materials and supplies and set up the machines. Loren Johnson, 55, was jailed on two counts of assault and two counts of making terroristic threats after he threatened his sister and nephew with a shotgun on Monday, said sheriff’s Commander Charles Rodriguez.

Nepal: Slow counting leaves voters disappointed | Republica

The delay in vote counting has disappointed the voters who are desperate to see their new representatives assume their offices. The painstakingly slow counting of ballot papers has signaled that the people might have to wait for days to see their new representatives. The excitement was comparatively very high among the locals this time around for the elections which were conducted after a gap of two decades. Before the elections, the voters were counting days to drop their votes and elect capable candidates to shoulder the responsibility of developing their villages.

Georgia: Voter registration backlog ahead of Georgia’s 6th District runoff | Atlanta Journal Constitution

Local counties under order to reopen voter registration in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District face a backlog of tens of thousands of applications and have already begun working overtime to process them all in time for the June 20 runoff election. Still, despite concerns that a federal judge’s order would back them into a corner, no problems have been reported so far as the counties themselves appear to have hit the ground running. “Everything has been going very smoothly,” said Candice Broce, a spokeswoman for Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, the state’s top elections official. All three counties that have areas in the 6th District — Cobb, DeKalb and Fulton — had contingency plans in place in anticipation of Thursday’s ruling. The first of tens of thousands of backlogged registration applications have already begun to be processed, although officials said it is impossible to know how many of them involve residents in each county who actually reside in the district itself. That’s because it’s not readily apparent on the applications themselves.

Maryland: Auditors say Maryland election board put voters’ personal data at risk | Baltimore Sun

A report released by legislative auditors Friday says the State Board of Elections needlessly exposed the full Social Security numbers of almost 600,000 voters to potential hacking, risking theft of those voters’ identities. The determination that election officials did not fully protect voters’ personal information was one of several highly critical findings in the report. The audit also faulted state election officials’ handling of issues including ballot security, disaster preparedness, contracting and balancing its books. State lawmakers called for a hearing in response to the Office of Legislative Audits report, which prompted strong reaction from critics of the board and its longtime administrator, Linda H. Lamone.

Arizona: New Maricopa County registrar wants to change Arizona’s reputation for voter suppression | Los Angeles Times

To hear Adrian Fontes tell it, the hopes of thousands of would-be voters are trapped in dust-covered boxes at the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office. The boxes are filled with forms reflecting failed attempts to register to vote. Fontes, the new Maricopa County recorder, says those failures are the result of a strict interpretation of registration rules, and he intends to do something about it. Since 2004, Arizonans attempting to register to vote without showing proof of citizenship are put in a kind of voter purgatory, denied the right to vote as their county sends them reminders to confirm their citizenship.