Michigan: Governor calls for special election to fill vacancy left by McCotter | hometownlife.com

In accordance with state law and the U.S. Constitution, Lt. Gov. Brian Calley on Tuesday called a special election on Wednesday, Sept. 5 in the 11th Congressional District to fill the vacancy created by last week’s sudden resignation of U.S. Rep. Thad McCotter. State election officials estimate the cost of the special election to total $650,000 for the impacted local and county governments. The lieutenant governor’s strong preference is to save local tax dollars and spare election officials a significant burden by conducting the special primary election in conjunction with the regularly scheduled Aug. 7 primary. However, the timing of McCotter’s resignation makes that impossible. Primary ballots already were printed and absentee ballots were mailed when McCotter made his announcement. In addition, ballots must be sent to Michigan voters who are overseas or serving in the military at least 45 days before an election, which means the special primary election must be held on a different date than Aug. 7.

Madagascar: Election law could block Ravalomanana | News24

Draft legislation in Madagascar banning convicted criminals from standing in elections could prevent exiled former president Marc Ravalomanana from making a comeback in next year’s presidential poll. In a copy of the document obtained by AFP, candidates “convicted of crimes or offences” will not be able to stand in elections. The text stipulates that “individuals who are convicted and not pardoned are neither eligible as candidates nor can vote”, thereby excluding Ravalomanana who faces life in prison in Madagascar.

Russia: Fines raised for election fraud | UPI.com

The Kremlin announced it signed a measure that amends a section of the Russian penal code, raising the penalty for election violations. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a document amending Russian law that governs “hindering fulfillment of electoral rights or the operation of election commissions.”

Arizona: Governor Brewer nixes plan for election law special session | TriValley Central

Gov. Jan Brewer late Friday dropped a plan to hold a special session to present Arizona voters with a second ballot measure on proposed changes to election laws, according to a Brewer spokesman who said legislative leaders had changed their minds. Republican legislative leaders and Brewer earlier had agreed to hold a special session to consider a possible referendum that was a reaction to a recently filed initiative measure. The initiative measure would make major changes in how Arizona conducts primary elections. It will go on the November ballot if election officials determine that backers submitted enough petition signatures. Word of the planned special session surfaced earlier Friday, a day after initiative backers filed their petitions.

Jordan: Jordan’s parliament endorses elections reforms gearing up for 2012 elections | The Washington Post

Jordan’s powerful Islamist opposition dismissed elections reforms Wednesday as “cosmetic,” hours after the legislature passed the changes to govern a parliamentary vote scheduled for later this year. Street protesters had demanded changes to the previous law dating from 2001, which the Islamist opposition says favors pro-government candidates and produces docile legislatures. The new law passed late Tuesday gives a concession to the opposition by allowing each eligible voter two votes, compared with one under the previous system. One vote goes to local candidates and the other to a 17-seat national list, giving country-wide ideological alliances like the Islamists a better chance to compete with region- or family-based politicians. But the opposition quickly said the changes were insufficient.

Jordan: Rallies protest draft elections law | Jordan Times

Activists hit the streets in various cities on Friday as protests over the controversial draft elections law stretched into their fourth day. Leftists, independents and supporters of the Islamist movement joined ranks in a series of rallies in several parts of the country against the Lower House’s endorsement of an “undemocratic” elections law and ongoing government austerity measures. Under the slogan “No to the one-vote formula”, activists rallied in Irbid, Salt, Tafileh and Maan to object to the bill, which they claim fails to break away from the one-person, one-vote system that favours independent candidates at the expense of political parties.

Mongolia: Ex-Leader Says Election Decision ‘Illegal’ | The Jakarta Globe

Mongolia’s former leader Nambar Enkhbayar said Tuesday a decision barring him from running in upcoming elections was “illegal”, as his corruption trial was postponed for the third time. Enkhbayar — who had planned to run in parliamentary polls on June 28 before being barred from doing so last week — faces five counts of graft dating back to his time as prime minister and president of the impoverished country. But on Tuesday his first hearing was postponed for the third time after he complained of not having enough time to go over the case files and because his lawyer had left the city. “The election committee denied my application to be a candidate. That was illegal so I gave a letter to the Constitutional Court to reconsider my candidacy for the election,” he told reporters outside court in Ulan Bator.

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.

West Virginia: PAC, potential donors call election laws ‘unconstitutional’ | West Virginia Record

An independent political action committee and a group of potential donors are suing West Virginia Secretary of State Natalie Tennant and the state’s prosecuting attorneys, arguing that some of the state’s election laws and policies violate their First Amendment rights. Stay the Course West Virginia, an unaffiliated independent expenditure PAC; David Bailey, chairman and treasurer of Stay the Course; Pineville Lumber Inc., a West Virginia company and potential donor; and Thomas Stephen Bailey, a resident and potential donor, filed their complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia Wednesday. In addition to Tennant, the plaintiffs name Scott Ash, prosecuting attorney for Mercer County, as a defendant in the suit. He is being sued as the representative of class of 55 prosecuting attorneys in the state, who are responsible for enforcing the criminal penalties associated with the state’s Election Code.

US Virgin Islands: Defendants call elections lawsuit frivolous | Virgin Islands Daily News

Defendants in the V.I. Superior Case filed on behalf of six of the seven members of the St. Croix Board of Elections say they are ready to defend themselves against charges of defamation of character and to deny they created a scandal. The members of the Board of Elections – Rupert Ross Jr., Lisa Harris Moorhead, Dodson James, Anita Davila, Carmen Golden and Raymond Williams – filed suit in V.I. Superior Court against members of the V.I. Action Group, fellow Board of Elections member Adelbert Bryan and others who the board members say are trying to ruin their reputations.

Ohio: Kasich’s signing of election law ‘repeal’ doesn’t end debate | Cincinnati.com

Ohio’s march toward what’s expected to be a nationally watched 2012 election took an apparently unprecedented step Tuesday, one that could put election officials into court before a ballot is cast. The potential scenario emerged Tuesday when Gov. John Kasich signed a law that repeals a controversial election bill passed in 2011 by the GOP-dominated General Assembly. The 2011 bill, which created voting restrictions that Democrats and some good-government groups decried, was to go before voters in November. The gambit, apparently the first time that Ohio legislators have ever effectively killed a referendum destined for voters, sets up a possible lawsuit over a question that could impact this fall’s election: May state legislators repeal a bill that has not yet taken effect and that is up for referendum? Democrats argue the answer is no.

Maine: Loophole in Clean Election law allows private funds | The Portland Press Herald

For more than a decade, critics have complained of a loophole in Maine’s Clean Election law. Candidates who pay for their campaigns using taxpayers’ funds — and thus avoid accusations of being beholden to special interests — can and do raise thousands of dollars in private donations for their personal political action committees, or “leadership PACs.” The problem isn’t going away, with substantial sums being raised months ahead of State House primaries. From January to March of this year, 11 legislators who ran or are currently running as Clean Election candidates raised a combined $21,860 from lobbyists, corporations and individual supporters, according to disclosures filed April 20 with the state ethics commission. For a sense of scale, each Clean Election House candidate will run their general election campaign on a state payment of $3,937, a state Senate candidate, $18,124.

Ohio: Senate passes bill that would repeal election reform | The-Daily-Record.com

The Ohio Senate OK’d legislation Wednesday that would repeal controversial GOP-backed election reform that is the subject of a November ballot issue. The final vote on Senate Bill 295 was a party-line 23-10, with Democrats vehemently opposed. “You have messed up election laws and where people and how people vote this entire general assembly,” said Sen. Mike Skindell, a Democrat from the Cleveland area. “And this is a prime example of your disaster in election laws in this state. You are undermining the will of the people. You’re trying to subvert the referendum process….” The legislation heads to the Ohio House, where some Republican leaders have voiced concern about the constitutionality of a repeal. Republican House Speaker Bill Batchelder, from Medina, told reporters Wednesday that there was no precedent for such a move, though he would support a repeal.

Alabama: Proposed recall election law likely won’t be misused | al.com

With the Alabama Senate considering a recall law for all officials throughout the state, voters could look north to the recall fights in Wisconsin and express some concern whether the state would become a brutal, political, three-ring circus. However, because of the way the potential Alabama law is structured, the likelihood of misuse is small. Alabama would be the 19th state to allow for recalls for state-level officials (an additional state, Illinois, allows it just for the governor). Alabama is already one of the 36 states that allow some municipalities to provide for a recall of local officials. Among those 18 states with the recall for state-level officials, there is a deep and very meaningful divide. Eleven of them have what is called a “political recall” — meaning they can recall an official for any reason whatsoever. The famous recalls in U.S. history, such as the ones in Wisconsin and the recall of California Gov. Gray Davis in 2003, were not for any charges of incompetence or ethical violations reason. They were solely for political reasons.

Ohio: Senate repeals election law despite ballot issue | The Columbus Dispatch

The Federal Election Commission overstepped its bounds in allowing groups that fund certain election ads to keep their financiers anonymous, a federal judge ruled Friday. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson’s ruling could pave the way to requiring groups that spend money on electioneering communications — ads that don’t expressly advocate for or against a candidate running for federal office — to disclose their donors. The FEC ruled in 2007 that corporations and nonprofits did not have to reveal the identities of those who financed such ads. That regulation came in response to a Supreme Court ruling that gave more latitude to nonprofit groups — like the Karl Rove-backed Crossroads GPS and the President Barack Obama-leaning Priorities USA — on pre-election ads. Campaign-finance regulations have received new scrutiny this election cycle, following a handful of federal court rulings that stripped away long-established limits on how much individuals and organizations may contribute to groups favoring certain candidates.

Ohio: Senator says ‘step back’ and ‘reassess’ Ohio election law bill | The-Daily-Record.com

A Senate committee began hearings Wednesday on legislation to repeal controversial GOP-backed election law changes, a move that would stop a referendum from appearing on the November ballot. Proponents want lawmakers to give Democrats who gathered enough signatures to place House Bill 194 before voters what they want — a full repeal, with a new election reform package negotiated between Republicans and the minority party. “We should step back and reassess the situation,” Sen. Bill Coley, a Republican from southwestern Ohio, told members of the Senate’s Government Oversight and Reform Committee. “Clearly, some issues should be revisited.”

Minnesota: Two fears drive fight on photo ID | StarTribune.com

A high-stakes political struggle over requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls is erupting in Minnesota, conjuring up emotional precedents from the notorious Jim Crow poll taxes to the old Chicago admonition to “vote early and often.” The determined Republican drive to pass a photo ID constitutional amendment as a needed deterrent to fraud — and the equally strong DFL effort to oppose it as a partisan ploy to suppress votes — has turned the ordinary driver’s license into a symbol of our national divide. “It’s like we’re back in slavery, only it’s all of us this time,” said Antoinette Oloko, an African-American woman at one of several protests against photo ID and news conferences at the Capitol in recent days. “We’ve had cases of ineligible voters, convicted felons, voting when they shouldn’t be,” said Dan McGrath of the pro-ID group Minnesota Majority, who has collected pictures of voters’ given “addresses” that turn out to be empty lots.

Ohio: Election law may be repealed | Cincinnati.com

Senate President Tom Niehaus announced Thursday that majority Republicans introduced legislation to repeal the divisive elections overhaul bill that is scheduled for a referendum vote in November, Gongwer News Service reports. Sen. Bill Coley (R-Middletown) is the sponsor of the bill (SB295). Republicans hope “to take a step back and revisit the debate in hopes of reaching a more bipartisan consensus,” Niehaus, R-New Richmond, said in a statement.

Ohio: Senate Republicans plan to repeal controversial elections law | cleveland.com

Ohio Senate Republicans on Thursday set into motion a plan to repeal a controversial election law and replace it with new changes that would take effect before the November election. But the House Speaker isn’t yet on board with the plan, and a group of voting rights advocates have vowed to seek a referendum — with the backing of President Barack Obama’s campaign — if Ohio lawmakers pass a new elections law. A bill was introduced Thursday to repeal House Bill 194 — the election law overhaul package GOP lawmakers passed last year that restricted opportunities for early voting and made other changes that opponents said amounted to voter suppression.

Indonesia: House factions compete as deadline to revise Indonesian election law nears | The Jakarta Post

The process of revising the 2008 Legislative Elections Law has come to a halt as factions in the House of Representatives continue to jockey to bolster their political fortunes in 2014, a senior lawmaker says. Gandjar Pranowo, chairman of the House working committee deliberating revisions to the law, said the process had to be finished by April to avoid disrupting preparations for the next elections. “All factions must leave their interests behind and make political compromises to settle the three major issues. Once the revision is endorsed into law, the General Elections Commission [KPU] and the Election Supervisory Body [Bawaslu] can prepare everything for the elections,” Gandjar said on Wednesday.

Ohio: GOP falling out of over Ohio elections law overhaul | WKSU

Ohioans are set to vote on a referendum on  a controversial election overhaul that majority Republicans pushed through the Legislature last year. Minority Democrats succeeded in getting enough petition signatures to put that issue on the ballot so voters have a chance to kill it. But now, Ohio’s top elections official  — Republican Jon Husted — is suggesting lawmakers repeal that law. Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted says he wants legislators to repeal the law so the referendum won’t be needed.  But legislative leaders are not happy because they say Husted didn’t talk about that suggestion with them first…before taking the matter public Republican Senate President Tom Niehaus.

Indiana: Election law bill passes Indiana Senate by unanimous vote | WLFI

State Senator Ron Alting (R-Lafayette) authored Senate Bill 233, which unanimously passed the Senate Tuesday by a 50-0 vote. The bill would change a law passed last session, which removed the names of unopposed municipal candidates from the election ballot. The law’s intent was to save money by eliminating the need to print ballots where municipal candidates were unopposed. According to a news release, Alting said the decision to remove names of unopposed candidates was made based on good intentions but created some unexpected consequences. While the deletion of those candidates may have saved some printing costs, it increased voter confusion.

Finland: Publishing of poll results immediately before elections unlikely to be banned in Finland Experts would rather rely on self-regulation by media | Helsingin Sanomat

In the Tuesday presidential debate arranged by Helsingin Sanomat and the commercial television channel Nelonen, four Presidential candidates out of eight were of the opinion that gallup poll results should not be made public just before the election. The candidates complained that the gallup polls direct people’s voting behaviour and provide contradictory information. Addressing the situation by making changes to the country’s election laws seems unlikely, however, despite the fact that in certain European countries – France, for instance – this had been done. In Finland, too, putting restrictions in place on last-minute polls has been discussed, but such amendment preparations were never launched.

Editorials: Looking Ahead to the End of this New Year | Edward B. Foley/ElectionLaw@Moritz

Will the rules, particularly recent changes in the rules, governing elections make a difference in the outcomes next November? Possibilities include the effect of changes in campaign finance laws or the laws governing voter identification and other aspects of the vote-casting process. But something entirely unexpected may upend the best efforts to predict what will happen in this potentially momentous presidential election year.

At this season’s holiday parties friends would say, referring to the upcoming presidential election, “2012 is going to be a big year.” I would agree politely, as undoubtedly 2012 will be an interesting and important year politically. It cannot help but be, given the pressing economic issues facing the nation, and stalemate in Washington, with each side hoping that the electoral verdict in November will somehow break the deadlock in its favor.

But will 2012 be a big year legally, meaning will election law feature prominently in assessments of the significance of political developments at the end of 2012? In other words, next New Year’s Eve will we look back and say that this or that aspect of the legal regime for conducting our elections affected which candidate or party won an important electoral victory?

Virginia: Gingrich faces long odds to compete in Virginia presidential primary | The Washington Post

In the wake of the Virginia Republican Party’s announcement Saturday morning that Newt Gingrich had not secured the required 10,000 valid signatures to run in the state’s March 6 presidential primary, a campaign spokesman declared that Gingrich is “exploring alternative methods to compete in Virginia — stay tuned.”

On Gingrich’s Facebook page, campaign director Michael Krull noted that he had spoken on Saturday morning about the Virginia setback with Gingrich, who “stated this is not catastrophic,” Krull said. But being left off the ballot in his adopted state on Super Tuesday, when Republican contests in nine other states will be fought in addition to Virginia’s, would be both a potent political and symbolic blow to the candidate who was enjoying a lead over GOP rivals in the Dominion State, according to the Quinnipiac Poll.

With analysts and some party insiders having raised doubts about the depth and skill of Gingrich’s organization, the latest news out of Virginia is certain to exacerbate concerns about the candidate’s long-term viability. Krull was quick to remind skeptics that doom had been forecast for the campaign before, in the wake of a Gingrich staff shake-up. “Remember that it was only a few months ago that pundits and the press declared us dead after the paid consultants left . . . ,” he said. “Some again will state that this is fatal.”

Florida: Election law changes may be confusing absentee voters | OrlandoSentinel.com

Absentee ballots for the Republican presidential primary will start hitting the mail Tuesday, but thousands of Florida voters who think they’ve signed up to get one may be surprised. Elections supervisors say they fear many voters aren’t aware that a 2010 election law change eliminated a provision that automatically sent an absentee ballot to every voter who had requested one in the previous election. And some blame ignorance of the change for a big drop in applications in advance of the Jan. 31 primary.

“It’s dramatically decreased,” said Seminole County Elections Supervisor Michael Ertel. “The reason is, after the 2010 election, almost everybody’s absentee ballot request expired.” Ertel’s office has received only 2,366 requests so far from his county’s heavily Republican electorate, compared with 6,663 absentee ballots cast in the 2008 GOP presidential primary. Similarly, Palm Beach County reported 4,857 requests by mid-week, compared with 9,612 in the 2008 election.

Voting Blogs: Supreme Court Will Hear Texas Redistricting Cases | Election Law Blog

“The Supreme Court, working late on a Friday, agreed to rule on the constitutionality of three redistricting plans for the two houses of the Texas legislature and its U.S. House of Representatives delegation, and put on hold temporarily a U.S. District Court’s interim maps.”

Given what the Court did, with no stated dissents, it is not clear why this had to wait until Friday at 7 pm eastern to issue. More importantly, it is also not clear what is supposed to happen now in Texas.  What districts can be used, if the districts crafted by the three-judge court are now “stayed pending further order of this Court?”

The case will be argued on January 9.  It is possible the Court will grant an interim order before then addressing which districts should be used. (Perhaps that was the reason for the delay, and it did not come together.  Were they cobbling together a plan and/or an order?  Were there dissents?)  Or the Court may try to rush an opinion soon after argument.

Russia: Kremlin accused of silencing Russia’s independent election watchdog | Telegraph

State prosecutors paid a surprise visit to the Moscow office of Golos (‘Voice’), a Western-sponsored but operationally independent election watchdog, on Thursday and served it with legal papers accusing it of breaking the country’s election law. Demanding that its representatives appear in a Moscow courtroom on Friday morning, prosecutors accused the group of consistently painting a negative picture of an unnamed political party, an overt reference to Mr Putin’s United Russia party.

“It is obvious that the people who organised this campaign against us are the same people who are committing electoral fraud across the country,” GrigoryMelkonyants, Golos’ executive director, told The Daily Telegraph. “It is an act of administrative (government pressure). It is a special operation designed to put us out of action and to destroy the only independent election watchdog in Russia.”

New York: Chautauqua County Election Commissioner Arraigned On Misdemeanors | post-journal.com

Norman P. Green was arraigned Monday in Chautauqua County Court on two election law misdemeanors. Green is the county’s Democratic election commissioner. The attempt to indict on felony charges failed to pass grand jury.

“I think it shows the system works, as far as grand juries,” said James Subjack, who is representing Green. “We’re looking forward to bringing the facts out to the public and I’m very confident that ultimately the charges will be dismissed either by motion or trial.” County Court Judge John Ward has recused himself from the case, which is now assigned to a Cattaraugus County judge.

US Virgin Islands: Committee approves elections bill, but with a lot of language removed | Virgin Islands Daily News

Members of the Senate Rules and Judiciary Committee approved a number of bills Monday, including a measure that makes changes to the territory’s election laws. Two bills failed to move out of committee, one to make government employees buy gas for their government vehicles and one to create a special conference to develop the government’s revenue forecasts.

The elections bill passed Monday is separate from the election reforms recently submitted to the V.I. Legislature by the Joint Board of Elections. The bill considered Monday, sponsored by Sen. Usie Richards, was based on legislation submitted by prior boards of elections. Through amendments passed Monday, much of the bill’s language was removed, leaving only a few items in the measure.