New Hampshire: Senate bill would add 30-day residency requirement to vote | The Boston Globe

New Hampshire voters would be required to live in the state for 30 days prior to voting if a bill passed by the state Senate on Thursday goes into effect. Supporters called it a reasonable effort to avoid ‘‘drive-by’’ voting and other voter fraud, but opponents said the bill will disenfranchise some. ‘‘We always say if you didn’t vote you don’t have any right to complain,’’ said state Senator Lou D’Allesandro, a Democrat. ‘‘Well, if we don’t allow you to vote then you have every right to complain.’’ The Republican-controlled Senate passed the measure along party lines.

Editorials: Google searches show that millions of people wanted to vote but couldn’t | Alex Street/The Washington Post

Fifty years after the passage of the Voting Rights Act, election laws are still in the news. Much of the recent attention has gone to court battles over voter ID laws. But other barriers to voting remain. Although some states allow voters to register right up to Election Day, others require registration as much as one month beforehand. In the typical state in 2012, registration was closed for three weeks before the election. Some scholars argue that requiring early registration hurts voter mobilization in the final days of the campaign, when interest in the election is most intense. But skeptics counter that most of the people who fail to register in time have little real interest in voting. Our new research shows that there is a lot of last-minute interest. We estimate that keeping registration open through Election Day in 2012 would have allowed an additional 3 million to 4 million Americans to register and vote.

Florida: Plan to replace Florida’s “obsolete” voter registration system set for July | Herald Tribune

Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner verified to the State Senate on Monday that his office is working to “refresh” the state’s glitch-prone voter registration system by July, averting potential problems that could have threatened the 2016 presidential election cycle. Detzner said his office has already ordered the new computer hardware and expects it to be delivered next month. He said his office is on course to have the new voter system up and operating by July. Two weeks ago the Herald-Tribune reported that statewide county supervisors of elections have become increasingly vocal about their concerns over the current Florida Voter Registration System, which has been prone to crashing – sometimes for days at a time. The voting system is a statewide database that is used to check in voters to ensure their eligibility to cast a ballot.

Editorials: Ohio should focus on better voter access | Sean Wright/Cincinnati Inquirer

It is often remarked, “So goes Ohio, so goes the nation,” a common sentiment signifying that Ohio is a bellwether state for national politics. Perhaps it’s time to ask: Where is Ohio going? If you’re Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, you may think Ohio is heading toward rampant voter fraud. Last week, Husted released the results of an exhaustive investigation into non-citizen voting in Ohio, something he considers an “expanding loophole.” But despite the Republican’s alarmist calls, the investigation identified just 145 cases of non-Ohio citizens illegally registered to vote, an amount totaling a miniscule two ten-thousandths of a percent of the 7.7 million registered Ohio voters. Unsurprisingly, a similar investigation released by Husted’s office in 2013 found that only 0.0003 percent of all ballots casted in the state were by non-citizens.

Voting Blogs: Texas Post-Election Report Indicates Systemic Election Issues | Texas Election Law Blog

After the November 2014 general election, Battleground Texas used the data from its Election Day voter hotline to summarize and describe the problems that voters faced in the election. That public report is available as a .pdf file through Battleground Texas. You can read the report here. Among other things, the report finds that (1) the statewide voter registration list is riddled with errors (and the fact that the statewide database went down on Election Day was frustrating), (2) compared to the experience in other states, provisional ballots in Texas are used disproportionately in response to registration problems, (3) The Texas Department of Public Safety has a deserved reputation for particularly poor handling of “motor voter” registrations, a responsibility of the state agency that administers drivers’ license issuance and renewal as mandated by the National Voter Registration Act, and (4) voting systems in Texas are showing their age – equipment is breaking down, touchscreens are getting misaligned, and the availability of back-up machines is declining.

Editorials: Rocking the Afghan Vote | Foreign Policy

As has been well-reported, Afghanistan’s 2014 presidential and provincial council elections were marred by extensive technical difficulties — unconfirmed numbers of eligible voters, inadequate security, vague district and village boundaries, and interference from military and civilian government officials. Yet they also took a heavy financial toll on the system. According to the Joint Task Force on Election Assistance, the direct cost of the first round of voting proved to be especially high — approximately $109 million — for a country that falls amongst the poorest in the world. The task force noted that the average cost per voter (of the 13.5 million who voted) was $8.08. While this figure is lower than the global average for stable and post-conflict democracies ($8.41 per voter), it is much higher than states that have established efficient voting systems ($4.01 per voter).

Editorials: Want More Voters? Abolish Registration | Francis Barry/Bloomberg

The civil rights marchers who were attacked in Selma, Alabama, in 1965 were attempting to register to vote. The question that people should be asking all these years later is: Why should anyone have to register at all? On Monday, Oregon Governor Kate Brown signed a bill that eliminates the need for most citizens to submit registration forms in order to exercise their constitutional right to vote. That legislation, the first in the country, arises from a simple idea: Government should not force people to file more forms than necessary. (If you disagree, you may have a future career with the Internal Revenue Service.)

Alabama: Legislation that would move up voter registration deadline by 16 days dies in committee | AL.com

A piece of legislation that would prohibit registering to vote within 30 days of an election died in an Alabama House committee today. Under current law adopted law year, a voter can register to vote within 14 days of an election. Rep. Jack Williams, R-Birmingham, said he sponsored the bill this session after speaking with the Jefferson County registrar who said it is difficult to get a poll list ready in 14 days due to small staffs.

Florida: Tech glitches could mar 2016 election | Herald Tribune

“Habitual” technology failures in an “obsolete” and glitch-prone state voter registration system could have devastating effects in 2016 if not addressed quickly, elections officials across the state say. The aging state computer system is used to check in voters locally, ensuring their eligibility, before they cast ballots. But local elections supervisors say the state system is prone to crash, sometimes for days, precluding efforts to verify that eligibility. They also say the state has been slow to upgrade the hardware, despite millions in federal funding. Florida’s top elections official, Ken Detzner, was not available for comment on Friday. But his spokesman said fixing the system will be his “highest priority.” In a memo to local elections officials this week, the state said it was moving to address the problem this month.

Iowa: Controversial Iowa voter rules will not take effect | Des Moines Register

Voter registration rules enacted by former Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz that critics said threatened to disenfranchise eligible voters will not take effect, after a long-running lawsuit was resolved on Friday. The Secretary of State’s Office — now held by Paul Pate — voluntarily dismissed an appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court that was initiated by Schultz last year following a loss at the district-court level. “This is an important victory for the protection of voters’ rights in Iowa,” American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa Legal Director Rita Bettis said in a statement. “It means that Iowans will not have to worry about the voter purges we’ve seen take effect in other states with a disastrous impact, especially for new U.S. citizens and Latinos.” By declining to continue the appeal, the state has effectively concluded the lawsuit and allowed the lower-court ruling to stand. That means the rules will never take effect.

Alabama: House committee tables voter registration bill | Montgomery Advertiser

A House commitee Wednesday morning tabled a bill that would have pushed back the deadline to register and vote in an election from 14 days prior to the election to 30 days. The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Jack Williams, R-Vestavia Hills, would also have moved out the maximum distance a candidate can campaign outside a polling place from 30 feet to 150 feet. Williams said afterward he believed the committee move effectively killed the legislation for the session.

New York: Hasidic Community in Bloomingburg Files Lawsuit Over Voting Rights | JP Updates

Sullivan County in New York is back in the news again, as the local residents and the residing Hasidic community continue their head to head battle. The Upstate County is trying to prevent Hasidic voters from voting in an upcoming election solely based off of their religious beliefs, according to a new federal lawsuit. The Sullivan County Board of Elections (BOE) sent notices to 184 of 285 registered voters January 16 stating that it “intended to cancel their voter registration and to deprive them of the right to vote.” More than 160 of those 184 voters are Hasidim. Since the village of Bloomingburg has seen a large migration of Hasidic Jews, there has been a heavy animosity filling the air. Local officials have thrown up roadblocks trying to stifle the Jewish voices.

Alabama: Bill would push back Alabama voter registration deadline | Montgomery Advertiser

A bill scheduled to appear in an Alabama House committee next Wednesday would move the registration cut-off date for an election from 14 days prior to the election to 30 days. The legislation follows a law passed last year that moved the cut-off date from 10 days before an election to 14 days. Supporters of that proposal said the state’s registrars needed the additional time to complete all the paperwork necessary for an election, but critics said the goal of the bill was to limit access to the ballot for poor and minority voters. Those arguments will return in the current debate.

National: Where black voters stand 50 years after the Voting Rights Act was passed | The Washington Post

African Americans have come a long way politically over the past half-century, but disparities remain. In the five decades since the passage of the Voting Rights Act, blacks have made significant strides in registering and turning out to vote, according to a new study. Yet, the policies enacted tend to better represent the interests of white Americans and blacks continue to be underrepresented in elected office. “We’ve gone a long way, but we have a long way to go,” says Zoltan Hajnal, a professor of political science at the University of California, San Diego. Hojnal and three other political science professors from across the country coauthored the study, published Tuesday, by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a non-partisan, non-profit think tank dedicated to expanding opportunity for people of color. The report commemorates the 50th anniversary—this Saturday—of the “Bloody Sunday” march, in which Alabama state troopers and deputies brutally attacked a group of people marching from Selma to Montgomery for voting rights. Before the year was out, Congress would pass, and President Lyndon Baines Johnson would sign, the Voting Rights Act. Since then, blacks have made significant strides in areas where they were once severely disadvantaged.

Maine: Voter ID brought back to the Leguislature | Maine News Center

An old issue has come back in Augusta: voter ID. A bill sponsored by Sen. Ron Collins (R-Wells) would require Maine voters to show an ID before casting a ballot. The issue has been debated in the Legislature before. Republican staffers say it was proposed in 2011, but did not end up being passed into law at that time. Instead it was passed as a Legislative resolve. That was the same year the Republican majority passed a law eliminating same day voter registration, a law that was ultimately overturned by Maine voters in referendum.

Voting Blogs: Oil-lections: North Dakota Elections Are Corrupted But Nothing Needs To Change | State of Elections

North Dakota is perhaps best known for the Midwestern “charm” portrayed in the 1996 film, Fargo. However, even that movie took place almost entirely in Minnesota. In other words, North Dakota is about as nondescript a State as States come. But then North Dakota suddenly hit the national headlines when technological advances allowed for the extraction of oil from the state’s Bakken Shale Formation. This oil boom has drastically increased the state’s financial well-being, its oil output, and its population. By now, you may be asking, “What does this have to do with state election law?” The answer is, “A lot.” North Dakota remains the only state in the country that does not register its voters. An interesting side note: North Dakota was one of the first states that adopted a voter registration scheme, but then abolished it in 1951. The state prides itself on the ease of its electoral process – “Voting in North Dakota is as easy as pie!” This unique system of voting is based on the state’s rural character and small precincts, where every community is (or at least was) tight knit and election boards know the voters who come to the polls to vote on Election Day and can easily detect those who should not be voting in the precinct. To cast a ballot, a voter need only present identification (no photo required), which is a relatively recent addition to the ballot-casting process and only very recently made a strict requirement (North Dakota issued documents only).

Indiana: Two Senate bills would affect voters | Lafayette Journal & Courier

A pair of bills working their way through the Indiana Senate could spell trouble for some voters, Tippecanoe County Clerk Christa Coffey contends. Senate Bill 535, authored by Sen. Michael Young, R-Indianapolis, and Senate Bill 466, authored by Sen. Pete Miller, R-Avon, are two of the more problematic bills at this time, Coffey said. SB 535 would require absentee voters to include their voter ID number on their ballots. Coffey testified against the bill and said no one spoke on its behalf. She said since most people do not know their voter ID number, the state would have to mail that number privately to every voter, which could cost about $3 million, she estimated. The ID numbers are not available online and were recently removed from voter registration postcards due to privacy issues. “Our biggest concern is it will discourage people from voting if that’s the only way they can cast a ballot,” she said.

Editorials: The Mystery of Lower Voter Registration for Older Black Voters | Nate Cohn/New York Times

In December, I wrote an article titled “Evidence That the Jim Crow Era Endures for Older Black Voters in the South.” The article, based on voter registration and census data in Georgia, noted that older black voters who reached voting age before the passage of the Voting Rights Act were significantly less likely to be registered to vote compared with whites of similar age and black voters who reached voting age in the years afterward. The implication, I wrote, was that black registration and turnout rates were suppressed by the lingering effects of Jim Crow laws, which disenfranchised African-American voters. The evidence underlying that statement is research suggesting that voting is a habit. Therefore, someone with fewer opportunities to register and vote should be less likely to vote than a similar person who had more opportunities.

Illinois: Voters to be placed in nationwide database | The Southern

At a time when computer systems of major corporations have been under attack by hackers, Illinois is poised to join other states in a first-ever national database of voter registration information. But, despite concerns from scholars and others who monitor online security, state and national officials involved in the Electronic Registration Information Center program say every registered voter’s information will be safe. “We make a pretty good argument that we do more to protect the data than the states do themselves. We follow above normal security protocols,” said John Lindback the executive director of the Washington D.C.-based ERIC program. In one of his final acts as governor, former Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation that put Illinois on track to join other states in the program. The law was just one piece of a larger overhaul of state election law that included changes to absentee voting and ballot counting.

Voting Blogs: Denver Elections Division creates app to streamline petition process | electionlineWeekly

Coffee stains, bad penmanship, rips, tears and lots of folds and crinkles. From elections office staff to candidates to campaign volunteers, anyone who has worked an election knows what a mess ballot petitions can be. That’s why the Denver Elections Division has come up with what’s believed to be a first-in-the-nation way to gather signatures that is fast, efficient and coffee stain free. Beginning with the qualifying process for municipal elections this May, the office is test piloting a program that allows candidates to use a tablet and stylus to gather ballot petition signatures. “This cutting edge application has the potential to transform the petition process – providing easier access to the ballot and efficiencies never seen before in this country,” said Denver Clerk & Recorder Debra Johnson. “For years the hallmark of Denver Elections has been innovation and progress – 2015 will be no different. This bold approach has one thing in mind: our customers.” eSign, as the office is calling new application, allows circulators to gather signatures on a tablet that is registered with the  Elections Division.

Editorials: Kansas Secretary Of State Says His Voter Suppression Crusade Is Meant To ‘Protect Immigrants’ | ThinkProgress

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R) is headed to Capitol Hill this afternoon to tell lawmakers he fears the President’s action protecting millions of young immigrants and their parents from deportation will lead to a spike in voter fraud. “It’s a very real problem of aliens registering to vote, sometimes unwittingly,” Kobach told ThinkProgress earlier this week. “They go to get a drivers’ license, and the person at the DMV says, ‘Hey, would you like to register to be an organ donor and register to vote?’ So some are given the misimpression by the clerk that they are entitled to register to vote. We have plenty of cases like this. And if you increase the population of people who are not US citizens getting drivers licenses, it necessarily follows that these errors that keep happening would increase as well.” Citing what he calls President’s Obama’s “recent controversial en-mass deferred action,” Kobach is pushing a policy he has advocated since long before the President’s executive order: requiring proof of citizenship for everyone registering to vote, even though Kansas’ and Arizona’s attempts to do this have been ruled illegal. Continuing his argument that undocumented people are “unwittingly” committing felony-level voter fraud, Kobach told ThinkProgress that his policy is really about keeping immigrants safe.

North Dakota: House passes voter ID bill | Grand Forks Herald

The North Dakota House voted Tuesday to allow voters to use a bill or bank statement to verify their residency at the polls. House Bill 1333, sponsored by Rep. Randy Boehning, R-Fargo, would allow those without an updated identification to use a bill, bank statement or U.S. Postal Service change of address form dated 30 days before the election to vote. The bill also does away with the student identification certificates that were used in the most recent election. The bill passed the House by a vote of 66-24.

California: Activists say California violates Motor Voter Act, lawsuit threatened | Los Angeles Times

Voting-rights advocates warned Thursday that they may sue California based on claims that the state is not complying with the so-called Motor Voter Act, a federal law mandating that states offer people an easy way to register to vote when they obtain their driver’s licenses. The law firm of Morrison & Foerster sent a “pre-litigation” letter to California Secretary of State Alex Padilla on behalf of the League of Women Voters of California, the ACCE Institute, California Common Cause, the National Council of La Raza and several individuals.

United Kingdom: MP Chris Ruane examines question of compulsory voting | BBC

It could be time to consider forcing people to vote because more than 20 million do not take part in elections, a Welsh MP has said. Labour Vale of Clwyd MP Chris Ruane is a member of a Commons committee whose members were split on the question of forcing people to vote. A report published on Thursday calls for a consultation on the issue after May’s general election. The UK government said it had no plans to introduce compulsory voting. The report, by the Commons’ Political and Constitutional Reform Committee, was published to coincide with national voter registration day.

United Kingdom: Facebook will ask you to vote in the general election | Wired UK

Facebook users in the UK will be reminded to register to vote tomorrow in a bid to increase turnout for the general election. The message, which could be seen by more than 35 million people, is the biggest voter registration campaign to ever take place in the UK. A prompt at the top of Facebook feeds will encourage people to register online with users also able to share the news with friends. A new “life event” on Facebook will tell other users when people have registered to vote. Similar schemes were used to encourage voters in the US and India. In the run-up to polling day Facebook will also be used to target 17-year-olds who turn 18 before the election. The Electoral Commission said the targeted advertising was part of an effort to get more young people on the electoral register.

Georgia: Butler rep seeks quick voter application processing | Macon Telepgraph

A former Taylor County voting registrar says every registrar in the state and their oversight agency should face the threat of a lawsuit if they do not process voting applications quickly enough. “Forty-five days is more than enough, in my opinion,” said Patty Bentley, now a state representative and author of a new bill setting that deadline. Her House Bill 130 would allow anyone whose registration is not processed within 45 days to take either the county registrar or the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office to court.

Montana: Election officials pitch online voter registration | Independent Record

State and local election officials endorsed a bill Wednesday to allow citizens to register to vote online if they have a valid Montana driver’s license or identification card. The House State Administrative heard testimony on House Bill 48, by Rep. Geraldine Custer, R-Forsyth, on behalf of Secretary of State Linda McCulloch, a Democrat. The committee didn’t take immediate action on the bill. Custer said the bill is for registering people with driver’s licenses and voter ID cards. The former longtime Rosebud County clerk and recorder said the system would be secure. McCulloch said HB48 would give people the choice of registering to vote between the current paper form or electronically. “Offering the ability to apply for voter registration online will increase transparency, accuracy and efficiency in the voter registration process,” said McCulloch, the state’s chief election official.

Ireland: How an electoral commission can stop another e-voting fiasco | The Journal

Much ink has been spilled on the issue of setting up an independent Electoral Commission to oversee the management of elections and referenda here. Successive governments over the years have been effective at talking about it, but only the current administration is going to make it a reality. While our electoral system and the easy accessibility of politicians mean that citizens are deeply engaged with the electoral process, this isn’t necessarily matched by a sense of public confidence that the current system works. Various controversies over the years have highlighted a level of political interference in our electoral system and have only added to the further erosion of that confidence. For example, the botched €50 million e-voting machine debacle was due in no small way to the Minister of the day going on a solo run.

Texas: The state of voting in Texas | MSNBC

This country has a long and complicated history with voting rights. Though universal suffrage was granted in 1920, it took years of organizing to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and finally secure unencumbered access to polling places. Now, nearly five decades later, politicians in Texas have been systematically chipping away at those protections — through voter ID laws, overreaching registration regulations, and other hurdles designed to drive down the number of people who are able to make their voices heard at the ballot box. In fact, Texas is the next great battleground for voters’ rights. Texas’ voter ID law was one of the most publicized voting restrictions of 2014 — in part because of the drama surrounding a last-minute Supreme Court decision to keep the law in effect only days before voting started in the 2014 gubernatorial election. Ruled to be “intentionally discriminatory” and likened to a poll tax by Fifth Circuit Court Judge Nelva Ramos, the law does more than require identification in order to vote: it limits the acceptable forms of voter identification to a select few – a concealed handgun license is acceptable, for instance, while a Social Security card is not. As a result, last November, about 600,000 registered Texas voters – a group that was disproportionately African-American, Latino, young and elderly – were at risk of being kept from the polls by this restrictive law.

Illinois: Cook County Clerk Lauds Signing Of Voter Rights Bill | Journal & Topics

About a year ago, Cook County Clerk David Orr penned an op-ed calling for a “voter registration renaissance” in Illinois. Many of the components of Orr’s “All In” plan, most notably Election Day registration and increased government agency registration, will become reality when signed into law Saturday (Jan. 10) by Gov. Pat Quinn. “It’s fitting that Gov. Quinn, a longtime champion of democracy, will sign a voting rights bill as one of his final acts,” Orr said. “We fought hard for a comprehensive package that will address year-round voter registration issues, which ultimately will enhance the accuracy of the voter rolls, increase participation and improve efficiency.” Orr commends SB 172 sponsors Speaker Michael Madigan, Leader Barbara Flynn Currie and Sen. Don Harmon, as well as President John Cullerton, for moving swiftly to adopt changes to modernize the state’s voter registration system. Orr also applauds the many voting rights groups who advocated for the changes.