The state Senate is set to finally pass a bill that would require Wisconsinvoters to show photo identification at the polls. Republicans who control the chamber hoped to pass the bill on Tuesday. But Democrats railed against the plan for nine hours before ultimately using a procedural move to delay the vote until Thursday. Republicans have…
A Senate panel on Tuesday took a look at a bill that would require North Carolina voters to show a photo ID when they go to the polls to cast their ballots. “I think it does ensure integrity in our elections process,” Sen. Debbie Clary, R-Cleveland, told a Senate Judiciary Committee. “It ensures that you…
Pembroke Pines Commissioner Angelo Castillo wants to cut the cost of elections in the city and Broward County. This is in spite of the fact that his position as a city commissioner doesn’t impart him with much authority to change the way elections are run. The Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes runs the…
Salt Lake County may have to come up with $10 million or more to keep elections running smoothly beyond 2015. Elections Director Scott Konopasek announced Tuesday that the county’s voting machines may need to be swapped by then,meaning that the county would have to come up with the cash for about 3,000 replacements. The projected…
Wisconsin taxpayers so far are on the hook for more than a quarter-million dollars in the recount of votes in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race. The statewide recount of ballots in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race will cost the state at least $230,000, according to updated financial data gathered by Wisconsin Reporter. As of Friday, initial…
Lawmakers are zeroing in on ways to cut the cost to taxpayers for holding elections. Recent months have seen a long string of special elections, even locally. With term limits taking effect, state senators are abandoning ship for statewide posts and new public jobs. Representatives are stepping up to become senators, and their vacancies are prompting…
Responding to last November’s highly publicized Election Day problems in municipalities including Bridgeport, where a shortage of paper ballots contributed to a days-long delay in the declaration of a new governor, the Senate has approved a bill establishing standards to ensure local registrars buy enough ballots. The 34-0 vote Thursday sent the bill to the…
An effort to fight voting fraud could cost state taxpayers millions, though it’s a price some lawmakers are willing to pay. New requirements intended to cut down on fraudulent voters were passed by the House State Government Committee on Monday morning and will head to the House for a final vote. The bill would require…
Though Measure A proponents claim moving the Chico City Council elections from November to June would not cost taxpayers more money, the Registrar of Voters Office says different. A June 2012 ballot could cost Chico $130,000 versus a November election price tag of $57,000, according to a Butte County Registrar of Voters estimate. The city…
Zimbabwe does not have the $400 million needed to organise elections this year, Finance minister Tendai Biti has said. Mr Biti said the coalition government also faces a $150 million deficit this year because it had missed all revenue targets with almost half the year gone. The government has set a revenue target of $2.7 billion…
A plan to require paper ballots in next year’s elections is on the verge of being repealed, the latest in a series of actions taken by Republicans in the state legislature to rewrite Tennessee election laws. State representatives are trying to reverse most of a 2008 law that called for the replacement of electronic voting…
Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler on Wednesday announced the settlement of a claim against Premier Elections Solutions, formerly known as Diebold. The settlement, negotiated by the Office of Attorney General, will be worth more than $3 million to the State. In 2008, the Attorney General, on behalf of the State Board of Elections, brought a…
Four candidates are running for Clerk & Recorder in Denver, and one of them, Jacob Werther, is claiming the all-mail ballot election is costing the City too much. “I’m thinking about four dollars a ballot,” said Werther. “When you factor in the paper and the labor involved in handling 290-thousand ballots it’s about 1.2 million dollars.”…
Members of the Sumner County Commission recently voted to send a proposal to state legislators to either repeal or fund a bill currently being considered that mandates the use of paper ballots in local elections. “We just purchased new machines that are electronic, and if they mandate paper ballots we’ll have to go to a…
The new Constitution provides that the election of President, MPs and the Senate, the county governor and the county ward representatives be held ‘‘on the second Tuesday in August in every fifth year’’. The management of five elections in one General Election in one day will be a Herculean task for the proposed Independent Elections and…
It’s going to cost Wisconsin’s taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars to more than $1 million to find out who will be the next state Supreme Court justice. Assistant attorney general JoAnne Kloppenburg on Wednesday said she will seek a full, statewide recount of the April 5 election in which she is challenging Justice David Prosser…
Sometimes, it seems that government has lost its capacity to run elections. Consider the double-edged sword of electronic voting machines: In some ways, new optical scan or touch-screen machines are more convenient. They certainly tabulate faster than former machines or humans counting paper ballots. They’re also expensive.
Across the nation, elections offices are moving further and further away from a paper society and allowing residents to do everything electronically, whether it’s registering to vote, requesting an absentee ballot, or in some recent experiments, even voting online. One stronghold remains though: the printed and mailed voters’ guide. Moving to online-only voter guides is seen by many…
A single vote Tuesday cost taxpayers about $10 in Rockford and Winnebago County. That’s roughly the price of a movie ticket and, thanks to low voter turnout, substantially higher than the cost per vote of previous elections dating back to at least 1987. Election costs include judges’ pay, polling place rental, truck rental, equipment, publications,…