Australia: Investigation into missing votes | Sky News Australia

Former federal police commissioner Mick Keelty is already convinced the missing votes in the West Australian Senate election materially affected the result, but says it’s unlikely their disappearance was caused by corruption. He has also revealed electoral workers in other states have also alleged that the issue of disappearing votes has been commonplace for years. Mr Keelty arrived in Perth on Monday to continue his inquiry into how electoral bosses lost 1370 votes for the September 7 federal poll from Bunbury East, Henley Brook, Mount Helena and Wundowie. The modelling of the missing votes suggest the margin of victory in the senate could have been one vote, which would have been the closest result in the history of Senate elections. Initial interviews carried out by Mr Keelty suggests the five boxes of missing ballots disappeared sometime between the day after the election and the recount beginning some weeks later. He has said while corruption was unlikely, it had not been ruled out.

Virginia: Attorney General race becomes even closer | The Washington Post

As the dust settled on election night, a few things seemed clear about the race for Virginia attorney general: It was too close to call, the numbers would change during a statewide canvass and the loser would probably ask for a recount. What was then a standard-issue tight contest between state Sens. Mark D. Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg) and Mark R. Herring (D-Loudoun) has turned into something more dramatic and uncertain. A frenetic weekend search for the right numbers — much of it taking place at the Fairfax County Government Center — produced thousands of uncounted votes and an even closer race. As of Sunday night, Obenshain led by 17 votes out of more than 2.2 million cast, according to the State Board of Elections Web site. At times Friday, Obenshain led by more than 1,200 votes, but the totals have changed regularly since Tuesday. Some of the shift was due to a handful of mistakes attributed to human or machine error. Some of it was the result of the standard canvassing process that takes place after every election. Both types of adjustment are typical, and no one suspects wrongdoing. But in a typical year, these additions and subtractions don’t affect the outcome.

Virginia: Every vote counts | NBC

You have heard the statement “every vote counts” your entire life. For the second time in eight years, voters in Virginia are learning that lesson first hand.  The race for Attorney General is still unsettled. It will remain that way for at least another month or so. A recount is certain, but the Cook Political Report’s Dave Wasserman argues that it may not be the recount you should be focused on.  Wasserman argues that whomever is in the lead when the vote is certified at the end of November will likely be the winner. Even if the likely recount occurs. Wasserman stopped by the NBC12 studios Friday afternoon, the morning after he broke the news of the discovery of a serious error in the absentee vote collection in ballot rich Fairfax County. The potential for a problem was first raised by Ben Tribbett during our NBC12 Election Special Tuesday night.  Wasserman was informed of the discrepancy by Rep. Gerry Connolly’s political team, who understands Fairfax County’s electorate better than anyone. “They were suspicious from the beginning that Fairfax County’s absentee ballot count, particularly in Eastern Fairfax County, was too low given historical trends,” Wasserman said.

Virginia: Nearly 2,000 votes in Fairfax possibly uncounted | The Washington Post

Fairfax County election officials said Friday that they think that nearly 2,000 votes went uncounted after Tuesday’s election, a technical error that could affect the outcome of the still unresolved race for Virginia attorney general. The error stemmed from problems with a broken machine at the county’s Mason district voting center, officials said. The machine, known as an optical scanner, recorded 723 votes on election night before it broke down, elections officials said. Its memory card was then placed inside another, working machine, which recorded a total of 2,688 votes. But that tally was not included in the statement of election results delivered by the individual voting center to the county board of elections. Instead, officials received the statement that reported the 723 votes from the broken machine. The county’s board of elections believes that the larger total includes the original 723 votes, which could mean adding an extra 1,951 to the total outcome, said Seth T. Stark, chairman of the three-member electoral board.

Virginia: Possible discrepancy in Fairfax absentee votes could affect count in AG race | The Washington Post

The Fairfax County Electoral Board is investigating a possible irregularity in the number of absentee ballots cast in Virginia’s largest jurisdiction that Democrats say could shift votes in the still-unresolved race for Virginia attorney general. As of Thursday evening, state Sen. Mark D. Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg) led state Sen. Mark R. Herring (D-Loudoun) in the contest by 777 votes – or .03 percent of the 2.2 million votes cast — according to the State Board of Elections’ Web site. Local election boards are now counting provisional ballots, cast by people without ID or in the wrong polling place, and canvassing the returns looking for any possible errors. Both campaigns have said they will consider asking for a recount, depending on the results of the review. One oddity was flagged in Fairfax County by the political team of Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.). The State Board of Election’s site shows absentee ballots cast in each county broken down by congressional district. Fairfax County includes portions of three districts: Connolly’s 11th, Rep, Frank R. Wolf’s (R) 10th and Rep. James P. Moran Jr.’s (D) 8th.

Virginia: Provisional Ballot Battles Loom Ahead Of Virginia Recount | TRNS

Amid wild rumors, frantic fundraising and legal maneuvering, Virginia’s attorney general election hangs in the balance. Shades of Florida 2000? As of Thursday afternoon, Republican Mark Obenshain held a 681 vote lead over Democrat Mark Herring, out of 2.2 million ballots cast. But more ballots are still out there. Thousands of provisional votes — 492 in Fairfax County alone — have yet to be counted. Both parties are gearing up for a county-by-county fight to include or exclude those ballots, which were cast by people who didn’t present legally permissible identification at the polls. All these battles come before the inevitable statewide recount. Virginia election results are due to be finalized Nov. 25.

Australia: Antony Green says Western Australia Senate result comes down to just one vote | ABC

ABC election analyst Antony Green says the outcome of the Senate vote in Western Australia would have come down to a solitary vote. The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) today released the party-by-party tally of votes counted in the days after the election. Earlier this week the AEC declared the results of the poll despite admitting that it had misplaced 1,375 ballot papers in the recount. The tally sheets released today include the lost votes. Green says if the missing votes were to be included in the recount, the Palmer United Party (PUP) and Labor would have won the final two Senate spots and not the Greens and the Australian Sports Party. “If these votes could be included in the count, then they would produce the closest Senate election result in Australian history with a gap of just a single vote determining the final two Senate seats,” Green wrote in his election blog.

Montana: Error forced recount of 20,000 Missoula ballots | KPAX

An unexpected error last night forced the recount of more than 20,000 ballots, and had election workers clocking hours into the morning. Missoula County Clerk and Recorder Vickie Zeier said they were just about finished up for the night when one of the tabulating workers accidentally zeroed her machine. The officer did save the work, but didn’t hit the “save to disk” option – which combines all the ballots on each machine. Zeier told MTN News that it didn’t take long to decide the only option was to do a recount.

Virginia: In tight race for Attorney General, Virginia has specific recount process | The Washington Post

With Republican state Sen. Mark D. Obenshain holding the slimmest lead — less than 500 votes — over Democratic state Sen. Mark Herring to become attorney general, the race is likely headed for a recount. That means, it would be weeks before Virginians are certain who will be the state’s top lawyer. First, there is no such thing as an automatic recount. Under Virginia law, a loser in a tight race may request a recount within 10 days after the state Board of Elections certifies the results. That won’t happen until Nov. 25 — after each county and city canvasses and certifies its own results.

Virginia: Newly counted Fairfax votes narrow gap in attorney general’s race | The Washington Post

Fairfax County elections officials said Saturday that they had discovered about 3,200 absentee ballots that went uncounted on Election Day, producing a chunk of new votes for Democratic state Sen. Mark R. Herring in the still-undecided race for Virginia attorney general. The newly found ballots added another twist to the closely watched contest for the commonwealth’s chief lawyer that will likely end in a state-funded recount in December. The high stakes were underscored by the dozens of operatives from both parties who descended on the Fairfax County Government Center to monitor the election board’s proceedings. The winner will hold an office that has become a launchpad to the governorship and national politics. Virginia Republicans, who narrowly lost the governorship and lieutenant governor’s posts to Democrats on Tuesday, are hoping to avoid being shut out of statewide office — including both U.S. Senate seats — for the first time since 1970. Democrats are eager to secure a post that has not been held by the party since 1994. The number of uncounted ballots in large, heavily Democratic Fairfax, more than officials had initially believed, yielded 2,070 additional votes for Herring (D-Loudoun) and 938 for state Sen. Mark D. Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg). Some ballots contained write-in candidates for attorney general.

Montana: 20,000 Missoula election ballots to be recounted | The Missoulian

A missed step on the last box of ballots sent what otherwise was an uneventful election into a late-night recount. Missoula County Clerk and Recorder Vickie Zeier said the final machine-counting of 359 ballots was recorded but not saved properly to a computer memory disk. Election workers used tracking sheets to re-create the count – checking 12 ballots from one ward, 62 from another, and so on according to the list of what was in that final box.

Australia: Missing votes a rare event in Australian Electoral Commission history | Sydney Morning Herald

This year’s election hasn’t been a great one for the Australian Electoral Commission. First, there were reports of ”missing” ballots in the seat of Indi. Then Clive Palmer has remained a vocal critic and made frequent attacks questioning the AEC’s integrity. Finally, last week came the revelation that 1375 votes have gone missing from the West Australian Senate recount. The first two events are less substantive. In the case of Indi, the ”missing” ballots were never missing. There was a transcription error that made it appear the ballots were missing when they never were. In the case of Palmer, the rhetoric about the AEC ”rigging” elections is unsubstantiated and so contrary to what we know about the AEC and how it operates, that I don’t know of a single political scientist or an official or politician from either major party who supports that allegation. And the major parties have long histories of witnessing how the AEC and its predecessors operate.

Canada: Candidates have until Monday to request a recount | Montreal Gazette

Montreal’s elections office issued the official results of Sunday’s municipal elections on Tuesday afternoon, which means the period for requesting official recounts has begun. After a municipal election, officials double-check that the ballot counts filled in on forms at each polling station correspond to the numbers that were reported to the Elections Montreal office by telephone immediately after counting the votes at each polling office, Elections Montreal spokesperson Pierre G. Laporte said. The process takes a couple of days, at which point the official election results are posted, he said.

Australia: Mick Keelty to lead inquiry into 1375 missing ballots | theguardian.com

The electoral commission has been forced to call in the services of respected former federal police commissioner Mick Keelty for an investigation after 1375 Senate ballots vanished during a critical Western Australian recount. The missing ballots are a substantial reputational embarrassment for the Australian Electoral Commission, raise serious questions over the integrity of the electoral system, and could ultimately trigger a re-run of the WA Senate election. The special minister of state, Michael Ronaldson, has issued a strong public rebuke to the AEC.

Australia: Western Australia Senate recount in turmoil as 1375 votes go missing | Sydney Morning Herald

An inquiry has been called and a byelection for the entire state of Western Australia could be on the cards after the Australian Electoral Commission revealed 1375 ballot papers are missing from the WA Senate recount. Electoral Commissioner Ed Killesteyn has apologised for the missing papers, which he said could not be found despite “exhaustive efforts” to locate them. Former Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Keelty has been called in to conduct an independent inquiry. Special Minister of State Michael Ronaldson has moved quickly to criticise the AEC for the missing papers. “I have personally expressed to the Electoral Commissioner my strong view that this situation is totally unsatisfactory and that I, as the responsible Minister, view this matter very dimly,” Senator Ronaldson said.

Australia: Voters in Australian state could go back to polls after almost 1,400 Senate ballots lost | ABC

Almost 1,400 Senate ballots cast at September federal elections are missing, and voters may have to return to the polls soon for two seats that have ramifications for the conservative government’s ability to pass its legislative agenda. The Australian Electoral Commission is set to declare the Senate vote as early as Monday next week despite the missing votes. Disgruntled candidates can then appeal to the High Court, which can order a new Senate election in Western Australia state. AEC spokesman Phil Diak said it was unlikely the ballots would ever be found. “The AEC has been searching exhaustively and that includes all premises where the Senate votes were stored,” Diak told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio on Friday. The missing ballots account for only one in 1,000 in a state where 1.3 million people voted at the last election.

California: County leaders settle dispute over charges for recounting ballots of Riverbank election | Modesto Bee

Stanislaus County leaders have dismissed the balance owed for the recount of the Riverbank mayoral election of 2012. County officials entered an agreement last month with former mayor Virginia Madueño to dismiss a remaining balance of $3,250, with neither side admitting fault. After Madueño lost by 53 votes to Richard O’Brien last year, one of her supporters asked for the Dec. 10 recount, which was stopped after five hours because the results were not changing. Madueño was stunned when county elections sent her campaign an invoice six weeks later showing a $7,817 balance owed in addition to the $2,400 deposit paid the day of the recount. The Registrar of Voters’ total charges for counting about 500 ballots was $10,217, or $20 per ballot. The person who requests a recount is expected to pay for it, but the invoiced costs tend to vary from county to county in California. And critics have suggested that county registrars arbitrarily impose recount charges.

Australia: The tech behind Western Australia’s senate recount | iTnews.com.au

For more than 95 percent of Australians, the daunting task of voting below the line in a federal senate election is too much to ask, especially for a Saturday morning. So it will come as no surprise that during the upcoming WA senate recount, as with every senate tally since 2001, the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) will call upon some electronic assistance to calculate the complex system of preferences and trickle-down the redistributions that decide the seating pattern in the nation’s upper house. While Greens communications spokesman Scott Ludlam waits to hear whether he has won back his seat, electoral officials will be feeding ballot data into a limited network of computers running its EasyCount tally system. “The system takes the entered information for each of the votes cast in a Senate election, performs the distribution of preferences, and indicates which candidates have been elected,” an AEC spokesman explained to iTnews.

Australia: Western Australia Senate recount gets under way | WA Today

The first ever Senate recount since the advent of preferential Senate voting has begun in Perth. The Australian Electoral Commission is recounting WA’s 1.25 million above-the-line votes, after the Greens and the Australian Sports Party were successful in their bid to have the nailbiting result reviewed. Greens Senator Scott Ludlam and the Sports Party’s Wayne Dropulich lost the election to the Palmer United Party’s Zhenya ‘Dio’ Wang and Labor’s Louise Pratt, who took the fifth and sixth available Senate spots. But the result hinged on a crucial 14-vote margin at one stage of the count, when the Shooters and Fishers Party edged out the Australian Christians, meaning preferences ultimately flowed to the PUP and Labor.

Australia: Palmer claims Electoral Commission ‘rigging’ recount | Brisbane Times

Clive Palmer believes the Australian Electoral Commission will “rig” the Fairfax recount and deliver victory to his LNP opponent. Mr Palmer says he’s odds on to lose the contest with the LNP’s Ted O’Brien, despite finishing ahead in two previous counts. “I think in the end Ted O’Brien will win because the AEC will put him there,” Mr Palmer said on Friday. “I’ve said that while I’ve been leading all along because the system is very corrupt. Mr Palmer originally finished with 36 more votes than Mr O’Brien. His lead was whittled down to a mere seven votes after a full redistribution of preferences. The AEC is now conducting a full recount which isn’t likely to wind-up for at least another week.

Australia: Electoral Commission to recount over a million WA senate votes | ABC Perth

After a successful appeal by the Greens and the Australian Sports Party, all the above-the-line ballot papers in WA will be recounted. As the result currently stands, Palmer United Party (PUP) candidate Zhenya Wang and Labor’s Louise Pratt have won the last two West Australian Senate seats, while sitting Greens Senator Scott Ludlam has narrowly lost out. The WA Electoral Officer Peter Kramer initially refused the Greens’ request for a recount, but an appeal to the Electoral Commissioner has overturned that decision. All the ‘above-the-line’ votes cast in Western Australia will be recounted, Peter Kramer says that is just under 1.3 million ballot papers.

Australia: Senate recount ordered in Western Australia | The Australian

The Australian Electoral Commission has ordered a recount in the desperately tight Senate race in Western Australia. The recount of more than a million votes follows an appeal by Greens senator Scott Ludlam, who lost his Senate seat in the initial count, and the Australian Sports Party’s Wayne Dropulich. An earlier request for a partial recount was refused. WA Electoral Commissioner Ed Killesteyn said he had now decided to agree to a recount of WA Senate ballot papers where electors had marked their ballots above the line. This would involve over 96 per cent of votes, or approximately 1.25 million of the 1.3 million formal votes. The recount will also re-examine informal votes. Mr Killesteyn said the closeness of the count was not in itself the basis for a recount.

Wisconsin: Senate adopts election bills; poll workers of each party would do certain tasks | Journal Sentinel

The state Senate on Tuesday adopted four bills tweaking how elections are administered, including measures requiring that poll workers of opposite parties perform certain tasks. Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin), the author of the bills, said she advanced them to avoid what she considered irregularities and “sloppy” practices in the recount of the 2012 recall election for state senator in Racine County. Democrats contended Republicans were getting carried away in presuming poll workers are allied with political parties or prone to act corruptly. “Obviously, these bills are designed to do one thing — make it more difficult to vote, make it more difficult to be a clerk,” said Sen. Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay). All Republicans supported the measures and most Democrats opposed them. The measures now go to the Assembly, which like the Senate is controlled by Republicans.

Australia: Ballot challenges hamper Fairfax recount | ABC

A final election result for the seat of Fairfax is still undecided, with an extremely high number of challenges to ballot papers delaying the recount of the Sunshine Coast seat. Queensland businessman and Palmer United Party (PUP) leader Clive Palmer was ahead of the LNP’s Ted O’Brien by just seven votes in the initial count, automatically triggering a recount that started last week. AEC spokesperson Phil Diak told the ABC’s Karyn Wood that although it’s unknown when the recount will be finalised, the AEC is focused and wants to get the job done.

Australia: Greens Senator Scott Ludlam appeals WA Senate recount refusal | Sydney Morning Herald

Ousted Greens Senator Scott Ludlam has not given up hope of winning back his West Australian seat, confirming he has appealed the Australian Electoral Commission’s decision to refuse his requests for a recount. “I think there’s a question of natural justice here,” Senator Ludlam told ABC radio on Friday. “The AEC should automatically support a recount as they do in the House [when fewer than 100 votes separate candidates].” On Friday morning, the AEC decided to postpone the declaration of the WA Senate poll until further notice, in light of Senator Ludlam’s appeal. The declaration had been due to take place at 1.30pm AEST on Friday. A senate result recount, which hasn’t occurred since the 1980 federal election, is estimated to cost $1 million.

Guinea: Fraud complaint ‘must wait for final tally’ | Fox News

Guinea’s electoral commission said on Tuesday it would not consider accusations of electoral fraud by the country’s main opposition until a final tally of votes cast on September 28 was finished. “If they (the opposition parties) have results they want to contest, we don’t know anything about it,” said the commission’s top lawyer, Amadou Kebe. “Once we have the votes and they are confirmed by (the commission), only then can we deal with complaints,” Kebe said. An opposition spokesman said Monday it had “alarming reports” of votes being counted multiple times in southern Guinea, overseen by the army, and of “parallel commissions” being set up to falsify voting tallies from polling stations in the cities of Kankan and Siguiri.

Australia: Clive Palmer three votes ahead as Australian Electoral Commission recounts votes | ABC News

Billionaire businessman Clive Palmer leads the LNP’s Ted O’Brien by just three votes in the Sunshine Coast seat of Fairfax. A recount of preferences is underway after an initial count put Mr Palmer 36 votes ahead of Mr O’Brien. On Monday morning Mr Palmer was 42 votes ahead, but by the evening the mining magnate’s lead had narrowed to three votes. As the painstaking count continues, tensions are rising. Last week the Australian Electoral Commission flew in its chief legal officer to deal with an unusually high number of challenges on the validity of ballot papers. The Palmer United Party, which may also hold the balance of power in the Senate, has four lawyers and the LNP has one. Palmer’s scrutineers are being delivered gourmet lunches from the billionaire’s luxury Coolum resort, while Mr O’Brien’s team gets the rare sandwich or roll.

Germany: Recount ordered in German city vote over irregularities | PressTV

Authorities in the German city of Essen have ordered a recount of the recently held parliamentary elections following revelation of irregularities. Mayor of Essen Reinhard Pass ordered on Friday the recount of 150,000 votes cast in the recent federal elections. According to the official results of the elections held on September 22, Christian Democrat (CDU) candidate Matthias Hauer won the Essen III seat by a margin of just three votes, beating Social Democrat (SPD) Petra Hinz. However, since the results were announced there has been a dispute over the validity of some ballots. The dispute caused the city officials to launch an assessment.

Michigan: Canvassers certify Detroit mayoral recount that changed just 9 votes | The Detroit News

The Wayne County Board of Canvassers voted Thursday to certify a recount of the Aug. 6 primary election — which only changed nine votes in the Detroit mayoral election. The board Thursday decided to dismiss all fraud charges alleged by primary mayoral candidate Tom Barrow. The panel’s action means former Detroit Medical Center CEO Mike Duggan still won the Aug. 6 primary with 52 percent of the vote despite losing nine votes and will face Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon, who received 30 percent of the primary vote, in the Nov. 5 general election. Melvin “Butch” Hollowell, attorney for the Duggan campaign, said the board did a thorough job, even going as far as hiring a handwriting expert. .

Michigan: Handwriting experts see differences in Detroit absentee ballots from August | Detroit Free Press

The Wayne County Board of Canvassers will continue going through challenged ballots today with hopes to wrap up a recount of the City of Detroit’s election before the week is out. At Monday’s board meeting, the findings of a handwriting expert hired by the board to examine ballots from the election was shared with the public. The expert, who was hired to check for similarity in handwriting, reportedly found “significant differences” in the writings examined, according to the board’s chairwoman. At least one challenger has said that some absentee ballots appear to have been been filled in by the same person. The expert, Robert D. Coleman with East Lansing consulting firm Speckin Forensic Laboratories, also said in his report to the board, dated Sunday, that he examined the writing for naturalness, formation of the words, pen lifts from the ballots and how hard the pen was pressed to paper when writing the response, among other things, said Chairwoman Carol Larkin. “My microscopic examinations of handwriting features of each entry on each of the 19 ballots and my side-by-side comparisons of like letters and letter conbinations between the 19 ballots revealed … there are a number of significant differences between the 19 ballots,” Larkin read from Coleman to the board.