Editorials: North Carolina Republicans Push Extreme Voter Suppression Measures | Ari Berman/The Nation

This week, the North Carolina legislature will almost certainly pass a strict new voter ID law that could disenfranchise 318,000 registered voters who don’t have the narrow forms of accepted state-issued ID. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the bill has since been amended by Republicans to include a slew of appalling voter suppression measures. They include cutting a week of early voting, ending same-day registration during the early voting period and making it easier for vigilante poll-watchers to challenge eligible voters. The bill is being debated this afternoon in the Senate Rules Committee.

Japan: Gloves off: Japan’s upper-house election | The Economist

As the orange van cruises central Tokyo, Kan Suzuki, a politician from the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), scours the street for voters. Leaning from the window, he blares out his name through the van’s loudspeakers, and a team of white-gloved ladies known as uguisu-jo, or warbler girls, echoes him, waving starchily at a lone pensioner. Then Mr Suzuki retreats inside, to his iPad. For the first time in Japan, the law now allows him to update his home page during an election campaign. For years the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), in office until 2009 and again from late last year, resisted changing outdated laws banning digital campaigning. Its older politicians had not a clue about social media. Others feared negative smear campaigns or worried that a Barack Obama-inspired internet machine could hand victories to the more technically minded DPJ. Until this election campaign—for the upper house of the Diet, where half of the seats are up for grabs on July 21st—all online activity had to freeze just when candidates most wanted to reach voters.

Voting Blogs: Controversial Speech and the Education of Voters | More Soft Money Hard Law

No one questions that campaign finance law has struggled through multiple, agonized revisions in distinguishing issues from campaign speech and the discussion of campaign issues from advocacy for candidates or parties. The statute is little help; it speaks of the “purpose of influencing” an election,” 2 U.S.C. §431(8)(A)(i), and broader Commission glosses on the phrase, such as a test for whether a message was “electioneering” in content, eventually came to grief. The Supreme Court held the express advocacy line briefly, then gave in to a conception of the “functional equivalent” of express advocacy, and has since cast much of discussion into obsolescence by extending to corporations the right to make independent expenditures. Now tax policy-makers and tax law face pressure to work through the same issue, in limiting political intervention by 501(c)(4)s, and the results might be expected to be the same.

Florida: Elections bills set for Senate debate | The Florida Current

Gov. Rick Scott’s opposition to raising the $500 cap on political contributions to candidates will probably sink campaign-finance reform for the 2013 session, the Senate sponsor of a new elections package said Tuesday. The Senate Rules Committee cleared the two biggest political bills of the year for floor action, voting along party lines for a bill intended to fix the long lines and balloting problems that haunted Florida’s elections in November and approving a plan to abolish the shadowy “committees of continuous existence” that candidates can use as political slush funds. But each bill picked up potentially troublesome provisions that will be hard to work out in the final three weeks of the session. Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, sponsored both bills. In March, the House OK’d a finance package raising the $500 cap on contributions to $5,000 per donor in statewide races and Supreme Court retention votes, and $3,000 for district and county races. The Senate bill initially proposed a $3,000 cap but the Rules Committee adopted an amendment lowering the maximum to $500 in all races — the same as it is now. The governor said recently he opposes raising the limit, which was set in 1992.

Illinois: Snake, electioneering reports added unexpected election wrinkles | The Daily Register

Saline County Clerk Kim Buchanan was proud of the voter turnout in Tuesday’s Consolidated Election. She anticipated 25 percent and the turnout was 26.63 percent. For Buchanan it was a day that began before dawn with an issue not so uncommon for Mountain Township voters: A snake was believed to be in the township hall and polling place — the building that formerly was the Somerset school. Election judge Lisa Wallace said someone had been in the township hall the night before to accommodate plumber Dwight Howton who was doing some work and one spotted a dark 3-foot long snake. “It was underneath the sink, stretched out,” Wallace said.

Indiana: Austin Mayor Doug Campbell pleads guilty to electioneering | The Courier-Journal

Austin Mayor Doug Campbell pleaded guilty to misdemeanor electioneering in Scott Superior Court Tuesday morning under a plea deal stemming from allegations of voter fraud.The deal allows Campbell — who had originally been charged with three felonies — to avoid jail and stay in office. Under Indiana law, an elected official can be forced from office if convicted of a felony. Campbell was arrested last spring after an Indiana State Police investigation alleged he and city sanitation supervisor Terry Danner had tampered with absentee ballots before the May 2011 Democratic mayoral primary. Danner received pre-trial diversion Tuesday, allowing his prosecution on three felony voter fraud charges to be withheld if he completes 100 hours of community service in six months. Four voters said Campbell and Danner drove to their homes and picked up their ballots for mailing, according to court records. One woman said in a sworn affidavit that the mayor had filled in her incomplete ballot before taking it for her.

North Dakota: Ex-GOP leader fights North Dakota Election Day campaign ban | The Associated Press

A former North Dakota Republican Party chairman who doesn’t want to take down the political signs in his yard before Nov. 6 has filed a federal lawsuit challenging a century-old state law that bans campaigning on Election Day. Gary Emineth argued Wednesday that the ban violates the free-speech rights of Republicans and Democrats alike. The law, which dates to 1911, bars anyone from attempting to influence others to vote, or not vote, for any candidate or ballot measure on Election Day. The current version exempts billboards and bumper stickers, but North Dakota’s political parties believe it applies to all other forms of advertising, including radio and television spots, newspaper ads and yard signs. To comply with the ban, political candidates and their supporters often scurry to take down yard signs and banners before midnight the day before Election Day.

Voting Blogs: Rules May Change, But the Secret Money Game Remains the Same | Brennan Center for Justice

In the last six months, the disclosure rules covering the sources of money spent on elections have changed dramatically — twice. Despite those changes, one thing has stayed the same: moneyed interests have remained able to spend tens of millions of dollars on elections without having to publicly reveal who is doing the spending. In March, a federal court ruled that Federal Elections Commission disclosure regulations were too weak, in violation of Congress’s instructions to the agency. The court said that any group (or individual) that runs a type of advertisement called “electioneering communications” must publicly disclose the identities of its donors. These are the so-called “issue ads” run shortly before an election that mention a candidate but stop short of telling the audience to vote for or against the candidate. In response to the ruling, organizations switched to a different type of advertisement called “independent expenditures” — ads that expressly call for a viewer to vote for or against the targeted candidate. Prior to this ruling, many groups had avoided independent expenditures for tax reasons, but they were willing to face the tax consequences once it became the only way to hide their donors from the public.

Arizona: Voting violations claimed – Gila County recorder hit for using public resources to campaign | Payson Roundup

Gila County’s recorder is facing tough criticism from both a failed challenger and county supervisors. Although he lost the primary, former recorder candidate James “Mac” Feezor is still fighting. Feezor says he plans to file a formal complaint on what he calls “numerous incidents of misconduct on the part of the elections personnel, specifically in the recorder’s office.” Supervisor Shirley Dawson said she is also unhappy with the recorder, specifically her handling of voter registration on the San Carlos and White River Apache Reservations and her decision to shorten polling place hours. Dawson said she believes Sadie Jo Tomerlin, a Republican, did not want to collect those votes because they come primarily from Democratic voters.

National: Spending Reported by Nondisclosing Groups Well Ahead of 2010 | OpenSecrets

As of today, spending reported to the Federal Election Commission by groups that aren’t required to disclose the sources of their funding has nearly tripled over where it stood at the same point in the 2010 election cycle, according to research by the Center for Responsive Politics. By Aug. 6, 2010, groups registered as social welfare organizations, or 501(c)(4)s, as well as super PACs funded entirely by them, had reported spending $8.5 million. That figure has soared to $24.9 million in this cycle. In 2008, nondisclosing groups reported spending $8.3 million at this point in the campaign season. In addition, the numbers show a clear break from those of previous cycles in that independent expenditures (ads explicitly calling for the election or defeat of a particular candidate) make up the vast majority of the spending reported by nondisclosing groups. Spending for electioneering communications — “issue ads” that name a federal candidate and are run within a 60-day window before a general election, or 30 days before a primary or a national party nominating convention — has fallen as a share of the total.

National: FEC says it will enforce nonprofit disclosure rules | The Washington Post

The Federal Election Commission told political advocacy groups Friday that it would enforce new disclosure rules for some nonprofits under a recent court ruling, but many key groups have taken steps to evade the requirements. Legal experts said the FEC guidance makes it clear that nonprofit groups will have to reveal some of their major donors if they pay for electioneering communications — also known as “issue ads” — that name political candidates but stop short of urging viewers to vote for or against them. But advocacy groups such as the conservative Crossroads GPS still have many ways of evading disclosure, often simply by changing the tenor or language of their advertising, experts said. The rules also only apply to ads that run close to an election. Major advocacy groups had already stopped running issue ads close to primary elections this summer in anticipation of the FEC’s guidance. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has said it will simply alter the language of its ads to avoid reporting contributors to the FEC.

Pakistan: Pakistan election commission issues new, tougher rules | The Express Tribune

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), largely considered toothless in the past, may be baring a new set of sharp dentures. The commission on Wednesday issued an amended code of conduct for election campaigns, for an interim period, prescribing punishments that could ultimately lead to disqualification of violators. The new code of conduct, formulated on the directives of a Supreme Court decision earlier this month, will be a test case for the ECP in the by-polls in NA-151, vacated due to the disqualification of former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani. Polling for the seat will be held on July 19.

Pakistan: Pakistan election commission issues new, tougher rules | The Express Tribune

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), largely considered toothless in the past, may be baring a new set of sharp dentures. The commission on Wednesday issued an amended code of conduct for election campaigns, for an interim period, prescribing punishments that could ultimately lead to disqualification of violators. The new code of conduct, formulated on the directives of a Supreme Court decision earlier this month, will be a test case for the ECP in the by-polls in NA-151, vacated due to the disqualification of former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani. Polling for the seat will be held on July 19.

Editorials: Montana AG Refuses to Raise Potential Winning Argument in Citizens United Case | 11th Amendment

Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock is failing to “do all he can” — as he has publicly claimed — to win Montana’s U.S. Supreme Court battle against Citizens United.  He has refused to put forth a possible winning argument in the case and he won’t explain why. According to a report published on Saturday by Russell Mokhiber in the well-established Washington, D.C. newsletter, Corporate Crime Reporter, AG Bullock’s office told a lawyer who filed an amicus brief in support of Montana that the attorney general is refusing to assert Montana’s sovereign immunity from suit, paradoxically, out of fear that the immunity argument could actually win the case. The case is American Tradition Partnership (ATP) v. Bullock which challenges the validity of the controversial Citizens United case as it applies to state elections and is now awaiting the Court’s decision whether to reconsider its 2010 ruling that struck down federal prohibitions of corporate electioneering.

Florida: Challenge to Florida’s Political Disclosure Law Rejected by 11th Circuit | campaignlegalcenter.org

On May 17, 2012, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Florida’s “electioneering communications” disclosure law in National Organization for Marriage (NOM) v. Sec. State of Florida in a per curiam decision. The Florida statute under challenge requires groups to register and report as an “electioneering communications organization” if they make over $5,000 of electioneering communications in a calendar year.  In August 8, 2011, a Florida district court upheld the law, finding that the disclosure requirements were neither vague nor overbroad, and the Eleventh Circuit affirmed this decision.

National: 2012 election drowning in secret money | UPI.com

The 2012 elections are awash in secret money, with donors accountable to no one, while the national media sleeps and few voters seem to care. If money has an impact in U.S. elections, the race for the White House and other high offices may be determined by faceless donors pulling the strings from the shadows. Not exactly an image promoted by the Founding Fathers. In January 2010’s Citizens United vs. FEC, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling effectively ended the restrictions on political contributions from the general funds of corporations and unions for independent electioneering. The U.S. appeals court in Washington then used Citizens United to rule in SpeechNow.org vs. FEC that limits on individual contributions to groups making independent expenditures are unconstitutional.

Delaware: A Small State Taking Big Steps to Improve its Democracy | Brennan Center for Justice

Last month, distracted by Super Tuesday, March Madness, and “The Hunger Games,” you may have missed the news from Delaware. Here’s the exciting update: Governor Jack Markell introduced two proposals to strengthen the state’s democratic processes — one to make lobbying more transparent; the other to shine light on money in politics. Together, these reforms would represent a big step for this small state. The first proposal is simple. Senate Bill 185 would require lobbyists to file reports online about their lobbying activity within five days of contacting a state official to discuss a bill, resolution, or regulation. Basically, the law would eliminate back-door meetings; when a lobbyist decides to use her clout to try to influence the legislative process, she must come through the front door and leave her calling card.

Voting Blogs: Appleton’s Doughnut Controversy: Even Little Things Get Big Scrutiny | Election Academy

Last week, the Appleton, WI city attorney ruled that doughnuts – at least those provided by candidates to poll workers – were pastries non grata in city elections:

City Attorney Jim Walsh ruled on the sticky situation last week. In February, a conservative civic group cried foul over the pastries that are traditionally delivered to election poll workers as a thank you from elected officials. “We determined that there was no illegal activity, and there was no unethical activity,” Walsh said Thursday. “But because the state Government Accountability Board recommends only the clerk provide food, we suggested to the council we don’t do this anymore.”

At first glance, this dispute appears good for a chuckle, but the issues behind it are (believe it or not!) very serious. Many states and localities have detailed statutes in place regarding rewarding anyone for participating in the voting process; the most obvious of these is vote-buying, but in recent years we have seen concerns related to offers of free ice cream, coffee or other rewards to anyone sporting an “I Voted” sticker.

Belize: OAS highlights Belize election concerns: Barrow responds | Belize News

Ambassador Frank Almaguer, chief of the Organization of American States’ (OAS’s) Elections Observer Mission, said Thursday that Belize’s dual (municipal and general) elections of Wednesday, March 7, 2012, were “a peaceful exercise of [the voting] franchise,” and the general elections was “a historically close election and certainly highly competitive.” However, in a report to Belize media Thursday, Almaguer pointed to a number of key election issues, such as the use of government assets for electioneering, the lack of female inclusion on the ballot, the lack of campaign finance legislation, and electioneering very close to the polls on election day.

India: Mammoth task: Officials to cover Maya’s statues in 3 days | Hindustan Times

Under Election Commission orders, the Uttar Pradesh administration started draping statues of chief minister Mayawati and the ruling BSP’s symbol in Noida on Sunday even as an official declared that it would be done fully in Lucknow on Monday. The Election Commission wants every statue of elephant and each statue of Mayawati in Uttar Pradesh should be covered by 5 pm on Wednesday.

Lucknow DM Anil Kumar Sagar said, “I received the written directives from the Election Commission on Sunday evening. The process of covering the statues will be started from Monday.” The work is likely to be executed by the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA).

This is going to be a mammoth task for the officials in Uttar Pradesh as there are ten Mayawati (each about 15 feet high) statues and 90 statues of elephant installed in 10 memorials and parks in Lucknow and two Mayawati statues and 52 elephant statues at the Noida park that will need to be covered.

India: Mayawati’s statues, Bahujan Samaj Party symbols to be draped today after Election Commission’s order | NDTV

The elephant motifs and her four faced statues in the company of Dalit greats were Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati’s attempt to immortality. So, on Sunday, when acting on an Election Commission directive the departments that built her monuments came to mask them, they triggered politics and drama. In all, nearly 100 statues had to be covered in Lucknow and Noida.

First, the officials ran out of sheets and ideas. Then came the realisation that the Election Commission was yet to send an official order for covering the statues. So the covers came off. But, the Lucknow District Magistrate said in the evening that they have received the order and it will be implemented Monday onwards.

Voting Blogs: Western Populism and Corporate Electioneering: The Montana Supreme Court | Election Law Blog

One of the historical oddities about today’s debates over corporate money and elections is that the issue maps so directly onto partisan political differences, at least among national political players.  As I’ve noted before, the deeper, long-term pattern historically has been quite different.  Starting at least in the Jacksonian era, with Andrew Jackson’s war on the Bank of the United States — in significant part, because of allegations that the Bank was playing a role in partisan political contests — there have been longstanding alliances against corporate money in politics that united more conservative populists in the west and midwest with more liberal progressives in the east and that transcended conventional partisan divisions.

Arizona’s John McCain, of course, was a principal architect of the restrictions on corporate electioneering the Supreme Court struck down in Citizens United.  And within the US Supreme Court, manifestations of that deep historical pattern can be seen in the fact that several Justices from the western United States who otherwise were considered conservatives or moderates strongly endorsed the power of government to limit the role of corporate money in elections — Justice O’Connor (from Arizona), Justice White (from Colorado), and Justice Rehnquist (sixteen years in private practice in Arizona). But there is no one on the Court now who appears to reflect that western-style populist resistance to corporate electioneering.

India: No donkey, monkey in poll campaign: Election Commission | Mumbai DNA

The State Election Commission (SEC) has issued an order banning the use of animals by political parties during election campaigns. In a letter to all political parties, the SEC said donkeys, bulls, elephants and cows cannot be used for politics. Often donkey with blackened face are paraded on streets to highlight the failure of the government or portrayed as rivals.

“The political parties found misusing the animals to highlight any issues during the local bodies elections will be dealt firmly. The candidates have no business to inflict atrocities against animals to highlight the public cause. The politicians have been urged to show restrain in abusing each other taking animal names. Several instances of politicians calling each other donkeys or dogs have been brought to the election commission’s notice,” state election commissioner Neela Satyanarayan said on Friday.

Bangladesh: No birds, animals or billboards in campaigns | bdnews24.com

The Election Commission has banned city corporation polls candidates from using billboards and live animal and birds in their publicity campaigns. “A sub-clause is being included into the electoral code of conduct to this end,” senior assistant secretary of the Election Commission Secretariat, Mohammad Forhad Hossain told bdnews24.com.

EC secretary Mohammad Sadique requested the law ministry to issue a circular on the matter in a letter sent on Monday. Out of the 68 symbols set to be allocated to mayor and councillor posts contenders under the local government election guideline, 12 are pictures of animals and birds – tiger, duck, butterfly, fish, crocodile, rabbit, parrot, deer, stork, cow, chicken and elephant.

Indiana: Judge orders special Muncie City Council election in two precincts | The Star Press

Democratic voters in two eastside precincts will again cast primary ballots in the Muncie City Council District 6 race, a Delaware County judge ruled on Friday.

Circuit Court 3 Judge Linda Ralu Wolf ordered that a special election be held Sept. 13 in precincts 12 and 20, voting at the Buley Center and Price Hall, respectively. Those are the polling sites that current District 6 council member — and apparent primary winner — Julius Anderson was accused of entering, in violation of election law, while the May 3 primary election was under way.

When the votes cast that day were tallied, Richard Ivy had finished 10 votes behind Anderson in a three-candidate primary field.

Poland: Parties prepare ‘virtual’ campaigns in Poland | thenews.pl

Poland’s political parties are being compelled to focus on the Internet for their forthcoming electoral campaigns, as several traditional methods of promotion have been banned under new laws.

Campaigns for the autumn’s ballot, whose date has been unofficially set by President Bronislaw Komorowski as taking place on 9 October, will formally commence in August, but this year parties are prohibited from using billboards and television commercials.

As a result, the Internet is emerging as a key battleground for the competing parties.

Thailand: Stage set for advance voting in Thai election | The Nation

Over 2.6 million Thais are today set to cast their votes in advance ahead of the July 3 election, representing more than 5 per cent of the total eligible voters. Their returns will not be counted until July 3, when all returns are collected by the Election Commission.

Out of the country’s 47 million eligible voters, about 2.6 million have registered to exercise their right in advance as they will not be in their constituencies on election day. Another 210,000 Thais also have registered for advance voting in their constituency. But if they do not exercise their right today these people can still cast their votes on July 3 at their respective constituencies.

China: Web plan dumped by China Electoral Affairs Commission | China Daily

The Electoral Affairs Commission (EAC) has abruptly scrapped its proposal to regulate electioneering activities on websites. The announcement came a month after public consultation began, revealing the guideline was unpopular, unrealistic and hard to execute.

The EAC on Thursday published guidelines on subsector elections of the Election Committee to be held in December and the 2012 Legislative Council (LegCo) geographical constituency elections.

New Zealand: Politicians can tweet during campaign, but carefully | New Zealand Herald News

Politicians have been told they can tweet at will during the election campaign provided it is only their personal views they are expressing.

The Electoral Commission yesterday sent MPs a handbook of guidance on new election rules, which include a much broader definition of election advertising than previously.

It includes advice for the increasing number of MPs who use Twitter and Facebook. In its guidance, it says MPs using personal Twitter or Facebook accounts can continue to do so provided they only express personal political views. However, they should not post messages on election day itself, because of strict rules against any form of campaigning on the day.

China: Activists harness Twitter to campaign in elections | Telegraph

Grassroots democracy activists in China are challenging the ruling Communist Party in unprecedented numbers by harnessing Twitter and other online social media tools to campaign in elections.

More than 100 “independent” candidates including farmers, factory workers, university professors, students, journalist and writers have announced their intention to stand for election, rattling senior Party officials.

China’s network of district assemblies have traditionally been stuffed with candidates “elected” from a carefully preselected list of mostly Communist Party members, although according to the law anyone can stand if they have the support of 10 local voters.