Canada: Bill would end Elections Canada vote drives | The Star Phoenix

Among the controversial proposals in the Conservative government’s proposed Fair Elections Act is one to eliminate Elections Canada campaigns encouraging Canadians to vote – no matter who for. Pierre Poilievre, federal minister of state for democratic reform, says Elections Canada’s out reach campaigns – which began in 2003 in response to decades of declining voter turnout, particularly among young voters – have failed to combat the troubling trend. “I am not arguing that Elections Canada’s advertising drives turnout down,” Poilievre said in an email to Postmedia News on Wednesday. “Rather, it fails to drive turnout up, because it does not address the practical obstacles that prevent many from voting.”

New York: Assembly passes early voting bill | Legislative Gazette

Legislation has passed in the Assembly that would allow early voting in all general, primary and special elections in New York. The bill (A.689-a) would establish a 15-day early voting period for general elections and an eight-day early voting period for primary and special elections. “It is long past time for New York to join the ranks of 32 other states and the District of Columbia who offer the ease and convenience of early voting,” said Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan.

Editorials: Expand voting opportunities for Florida college students | Miami Herald

Not too long ago, any effort to change election law that seemed to restrict voting rights would have been tantamount to political suicide regardless of which party was attempting the change. But now there appears to be no shame or fear. For many years there was an emphasis on increasing voter turnout. As Florida grew so did the number of polling places and the expansion of voting methods. Absentee ballots were open to everyone, not only to those who could demonstrate they were unable to vote on Election Day. My party, the Republican Party, was quick to embrace absentee voting and expertly adapted to campaigning to absentee voters. Early-voting days were added as a convenience to those who found it difficult to make it to the polls on Election Day. This appealed to those working long or irregular shifts and became popular among the working class, younger voters and minorities.

Editorials: As in the U.S., Voting Rights an Issue in Canada | Nonprofit Quarterly

In the U.S., it is all too clear that many of the “voter ID” laws passed in several states had the all-but-overt purpose of suppressing voter turnout. We expect better of our northern neighbors, but apparently the Conservative Party government has a proposal, according to the Globe and Mail’s Steven Chase, for “stripping Elections Canada of its authority to encourage Canadians to vote in federal ballots.” The proposal would restrict the chief electoral officer on the kinds and depth of information that can be provided to the public, limiting the information to “five matter-of-fact topics related to how to vote or become a candidate.” Chase writes, “The Conservative bill will remove parts of Section 18 of the Elections Act that give the chief electoral officer the authority to provide the public with information on ‘the democratic right to vote’ and to ‘make the electoral process better known to the public, particularly to those persons and groups most likely to experience difficulties in exercising their democratic rights.’”

Canada: Election reform bill an affront to democracy, Marc Mayrand says | CBC

The government’s proposed overhaul of the Elections Act includes elements that constitute an affront to democracy, according to Canada’s Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand. In an interview airing Saturday on CBC Radio’s The House, Mayrand said “my reading of the act is that I can no longer speak about democracy in this country.” “I’m not aware of any electoral bodies around the world who can not talk about democracy,” Mayrand told host Evan Solomon. Under the proposed bill, the only role of the chief electoral officer would be to inform the public of when, where, and how to vote. Elections Canada would be forbidden from launching ad campaigns encouraging Canadians to vote. Surveys and research would be forbidden under the new bill, Mayrand said. “Most of the research will no longer be published because these are communications to the public.” The chief electoral officer and the commissioner of Canada elections would also no longer be allowed to publish their reports, Mayrand said. “These reports will no longer be available. In fact, not only not available. I don’t think it will be done at all.”

Japan: Snow Hits Tokyo Election Turnout | Wall Street Journal

A day after a record snowfall in Japan’s capital, Tokyoites took to the heavily frosted streets to cast their ballots for a new governor. Inevitably, the heaviest snow in two decades — according to the weather agency — was affecting voter turnout. As of 11 a.m. (0200 GMT) Sunday, turnout at 1,869 polling stations was an estimated 4.10%, according to the Tokyo Metropolitan Electoral Management Committee. That was around 7 percentage points lower than at the same time during the previous gubernatorial election, in December 2012. “Turnout is quite low; it’s because of the snow,” said an official with the committee.

Costa Rica: Elections tribunal blames the Super Bowl for low voter turnout abroad | The Tico Times

Last Sunday’s presidential election marked the first time that Costa Ricans could vote from abroad. But not many of them did — and part of the problem might’ve been the major event occurring that same day in the United States, the Super Bowl. Out of 12,654 registered voters living outside of Costa Rica, only 2,771 cast a ballot. Supreme Elections Tribunal (TSE) President Luis Antonio Sobrado said a significant portion of those potential voters lived in the northeast of the United States. He suggested to La Nación that the cold there, along with complications created by the Super Bowl, likely kept many Ticos inside.

Canada: Tories’ bill strips Elections Canada of power to promote voter turnout | The Globe and Mail

The Conservative government is stripping Elections Canada of its authority to encourage Canadians to vote in federal ballots under changes to the agency’s mandate. Legislation tabled this week sets out restrictions on what information the chief electoral officer can provide the public, limiting it to five matter-of-fact topics related to how to vote or become a candidate.party-donation limit. The Conservative bill will remove parts of Section 18 of the Elections Act that give the chief electoral officer the authority to provide the public with information on “the democratic right to vote” and to “make the electoral process better known to the public, particularly to those persons and groups most likely to experience difficulties in exercising their democratic rights.” Voter turnout in the 2011 federal election – slightly more than 61 per cent of eligible voters – was among the lowest in this country’s history.

Bulgaria: President seeks referendum to boost voter turnout | EurActiv

Bulgarian President Rossen Plevneliev proposed yesterday (29 January) a national referendum on how election rules might be changed and boost low trust in the political institutions in the wake of massive protests in the Balkan country last year. If agreed, the referendum will take place together with the European elections on 25 May. Plevneliev proposed a national referendum in which Bulgarians will have their say on whether they want to elect some lawmakers directly rather than from party lists, voting made obligatory and electronic voting allowed. At present, Bulgarians can choose 240 parliament members only from party lists. The plebiscite, which is pending parliament approval, should be held along with the European elections on 25 May, Plevneliev said in an address to the nation late on Wednesday. “I appeal to the parliament to take a decision to hold a referendum … I believe will help to stabilise the institutions and increase public trust,” he said.

Michigan: $80,000: Estimated cost for Grand Rapids to hold special election for streets tax | MLive.com

A May ballot proposal for a streets tax would cost more and likely get less participation than if it were put on the November ballot along with county and state elections. But a special election would give Grand Rapids more time to change tax forms if the proposal fails. City Commission on Tuesday, Jan. 28, will consider calling a special election for May 6. Grand Rapids voters, who in 2010 authorized a 5-year income-tax increase, will be asked to continue that increase for another 15 years and earmark the money for streets. Acting City Clerk Darlene O’Neal said holding an election in May will cost Grand Rapids an extra $75,000 to $80,000.

Virginia: Weather may hit voter turnout for State Senate special election | Washington Times

Cold temperatures and snowfall forecast for the region could complicate Northern Virginia’s special election Tuesday. Voters heading to the polls in Fairfax and Loudoun counties to choose a new state senator are expected to be confronted with the heaviest snowfall so far this winter. National Weather Service officials said the D.C. area could see 4-5 inches of snow beginning late Tuesday morning through Wednesday, with a worst-case scenario of up to 8 inches. Officials said that regardless of whether schools are closed, the election will be held and the sites that are scheduled to serve as polling locations will be open to voters.

International: Election Year: More Than 44 Percent Of The World’s Population Will Have The Chance To Vote In 2014 | International Business News

The first democratically held election of this year, in Bangladesh, didn’t go so well. Only 22 percent of the voting-age population cast a vote, a steep decline from the last election’s voter turnout of 87 percent. Animosity between Bangladesh’s two primary political parties reached a peak, and one of the them, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, boycotted the vote as their demand for a nonpartisan government overseer was not met. Voting is under way in the second election of the year — a referendum in Egypt that will approve (or not) a revised constitution proposed by military chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, as part of his bid for the presidency.

Missouri: Online Voter Registration in Missouri | Northwest Missourian

As the midterm elections loom closer and closer, voter registration becomes increasingly important. Online voter registration is a recent concept in Missouri after going into effect December 20th. It was successfully pushed by Secretary of State Jason Kander in an effort to boost turnout rates, but there are some that feel it can cause issues. Beth Walker, the Nodaway County clerk and election authority, feels the idea may skew the numbers of voter turnout. “So many people register… but they are not wanting to go to the polls,” Walker said. “People are going to have to believe that their vote matters.” Another question that has been brought up is if online registration will lead to online voting. “There is a high possibility that we could see electronic voting in the near future,” Walker said. “This is in part because we have created a society to make everything easy.”

United Kingdom: Voter ID proposals could put elderly off going to polls | This Is Wiltshire

Linda Petherick, South West regional organiser of the National Federation of Occupational Pensioners, said that proposals from The Electoral Commission, which would require voters to show some sort of ID at polling stations before voting, could stop the older generation from using their vote. NFOP is concerned that these proposals could create a number of potential problems, especially for older people. Mrs Petherick said: “There needs to be some clarification on how this is going to work, including what sort of ID will be accepted, as many older people do not have a photo driver ID or even a relevant passport.

Texas: Election Passes, But Litigation Continues | State of Elections

Election Day on November 5 marked the first time Texas’ controversial voter ID laws were affected in the state. And the results were mixed. There is little evidence that the law suppressed voter turnout. Out of the state’s 13.4 million registered voters, only 1.1 million cast ballots in the 2013 election, about 8.5 percent of the electorate. Compare this to 2011 and 2009, other election “off years.” In  2011 when only 5.4 percent of voters showed up. In 2009, about 1 million people cast ballots, about 8.1 percent of the electorate. So as far as the numbers go, voting seemed on par. However, the law lost some PR points with some high publicity hiccups, including several prominent politicians initially being told they couldn’t get a new voter identification card vote because they lacked proper identification. State Senator Wendy Davis, the front-running Democratic candidate for governor next year, had to sign an affidavit because her married name did not match her driver’s license . State Attorney General Greg Abbott, a champion of the law was also flagged because his license listed his name as “Gregory Wayne Abbott” while his voter registration record simply calls him “Greg Abbott.” And former U.S. Speaker of the House Jim Wright couldn’t get his new voter ID at first because his driver’s license had expired.

National: Half of states OK’d restrictive voting laws | Boston Globe

Nearly half the states in the country passed laws restricting the right to vote in the five years leading up to the last presidential election, with most of them in the South, according to a study recently released by two professors from the University of Massachusetts Boston. Keith Bentele and Erin O’Brien, professors of sociology and political science, respectively, found that race, class, and political partisanship influenced the push for a raft of restrictive laws from 2006 to 2011. The study, published last month, found that during the five years preceding the 2012 election, nearly every state proposed a voting law that would have, in some way, restricted access to casting ballots or registering to vote. Almost half of states passed such a law, the study said. From 2006 to 2011, according to the study, restrictive voter access policies were more likely to be proposed in states with larger African-American and immigrant populations, and where voter turnout among minority and low-income voters had increased during presidential elections.

Editorials: Make it easier for Michigan to vote absentee | Detroit Free Press

Voter turnout in Michigan’s last presidential election was 63%, better than the national average of about 57%, but far below turnout in Georgia, at 72%, or Maryland, 74%. The difference between the states? Georgia and Maryland are among the 28 states that allow something called “no-reason absentee voting.” In Michigan and in 21 other states, voters who would like to vote absentee must present a reason to be allowed to do so. To receive an absentee ballot a voter must be 60 or older, unable to vote at a poll without assistance, plan to be out of town, in jail awaiting arraignment or trail, working as an election inspector or unable to vote at a poll for religious reasons. And because Michigan is also one of a small number of states that don’t offer early voting, folks who can’t make the wait have few options.

National: What voter turnout means for efforts to remedy income inequality | The Washington Post

The gap between rhetoric about income inequality and action to deal with it is sizable. There are many reasons for that, but one possible explanation, according to a provocative new book, is the contrasting views of Americans who vote and those who do not. The book is titled “Who Votes Now? Demographics, Issues, Inequality, and Turnout in the United States.” The authors are two political scientists, Jan E. Leighley of American University and Jonathan Nagler of New York University. “Who Votes Now?” is a thoroughgoing examination of voter turnout patterns from 1972 through 2008 and offers much to chew on. But its most important finding, the authors say, is that, on crucial questions about economic policy and redistribution, those who vote do not represent the views of those who do not vote. “Voters are significantly more conservative than nonvoters on redistributive issues and have been in every election since 1972,” they write.

Chile: Bachelet Wins Victory in Chile | Liberty Voice

Michelle Bachelet’s landslide victory was the largest in 80 years and yet, at the same time was the lowest voter turnout since the nation of Chile returned to democracy. According to some political pundits, this suggests that Bachelet will not get a mandate to push for any type of change when she begins her second term in 2014. A moderate advocate of socialist government, Bachelet ended her first term in 2010 with an approval rating of 84 percent in spite of the fact that she was unwilling to enact any type of major change. However, with this victory, political leftists in Chile are expected to hold Bachelet accountable to make good on her promises. Some of these include improving health care, closing the gap between the rich and the poor, and pushing a $15 billion program for the purposes of educational overhaul. Economically, Chile is the pride of Latin America. It is the top exporter of chrome worldwide and boasts a rapidly growing economy, a stable democracy and low unemployment rates. However, in the country itself, there has been much unrest as many have believed that there should be more of the nations wealth used for reform of the educational system and income disparity.

Florida: Elections chief faults report listing county among worst offenders | Gainesville.com

A progressive watchdog group named Alachua County the state’s fourth-worst election offender in terms of election administration in a new report, but Supervisor of Elections Pam Carpenter contends its conclusions are flawed. The Center for American Progress Action Fund this week released the report, titled “Florida’s Worst Election Offenders.” The report evaluated Florida’s 40 most populous counties on various factors from the 2012 general election, including provisional ballots cast and rejected, absentee ballots rejected and voter turnout. While the report acknowledged Florida counties had to deal last year with restrictive state election laws, it named six that stood out for their failure to ensure residents could effectively and freely vote. Alachua placed fourth behind Columbia, Putnam and Bay counties. It pointed to Alachua County’s rate of removal for registered voters from its voting lists and its issuance of provisional ballots as red flags. The county eliminated a higher percentage of registered voters from its rolls than any county other than Hillsborough — a figure almost twice the state average — and issued the state’s third-highest percentage of provisional ballots to voters.

India: Citizen surge: Election Commission ensures that low voting percentages are a thing of the past | The Week

Even before the results are announced, the latest Assembly elections have thrown up a pleasant surprise. The voting percentages in all the states have been extraordinary. Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, notorious for low turnouts, recorded 74.5 per cent and 71 per cent, respectively. Chhattisgarh defied threats from Maoists to register an impressive 77 per cent, the highest ever for the state. Delhi, too, registered its best-ever voting performance at 66 per cent. Suddenly, low voting percentages are becoming a thing of the past and the Indian voters appear to be more involved and informed. The most important reason behind this surge is the Election Commission’s aggressive campaign to enrol new voters, especially women and the youth. The systematic voters’ education and electoral participation (SVEEP) wing of the commission, opened in 2009, has been tasked with expanding the registration of eligible voters, addressing gender gaps and ensuring more participation of the youth. “The programme has been undertaken across the country and the increase in turnout has varied from around 10 per cent in lower turnout states to 2-3 per cent in traditionally high turnout states,” said Chief Election Commissioner V.S. Sampath. For the first time, the commission deployed ‘awareness observers’ in these elections. In all, 47 of them were put on the job in the five states for two weeks before the elections to motivate voters.

Afghanistan: US organization optimistic on Afghan elections | The Washington Post

An American organization tasked with furthering democracy in developing nations said Monday that while elections next April in Afghanistan are unlikely to be perfect, they should be better than previous polls marred by widespread fraud. The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs said its assessment mission to Afghanistan believes there is “guarded optimism” about the April 5 polls that will elect a new president to succeed Hamid Karzai, along with local council members for the country’s 34 provinces. But the organization said the elections still face serious challenges, including security, potential fraud and even weather conditions that could affect voter turnout. The 2009 presidential election was so soiled that U.N.-backed fraud investigators threw out more than 1 million votes — enough to force a second round. Many observers blamed much of the fraud on Karzai’s supporters, but he blamed the U.S. for allegedly interfering against him. In the end, the opposing candidate dropped out and Karzai was elected was elected to a second and final five-year term. Since then, reforms in the voting process have tried to make the elections commissions more independent of the presidency.

California: Palmdale ordered to hold by-district election for City Council posts | Los Angeles Times

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge, who earlier this year found the city of Palmdale to be in violation of the California Voting Rights Act, has ordered the city to hold a new by-district election for its four City Council posts. In a ruling dated last week and received by the involved parties over the weekend, Judge Mark V. Mooney ordered that the special election, to replace the balloting for council seats held last month, is to be conducted June 3, the same day as the California primary. Future elections are to be held in November of even-numbered years, to dovetail with state and federal balloting, in the expectation that such coordination will increase voter turnout. The judge allowed Palmdale to continue to elect its mayor by voters throughout the city. That means Mayor James Ledford’s recent reelection will not be affected by the ruling.

Colorado: Voter turnout spurred by registration, mail ballots, hot issues | Denver Post

Whether it was local issues like secession from Colorado, or statewide school taxes, pot taxes or a new law that mailed a ballot to every voter, the numbers don’t lie. Turnout on Tuesday was remarkable: 319,225 more ballots cast this year compared to 2011, the last election without a presidential, gubernatorial or congressional race driving the fervor. To put it in perspective, that’s close to the whole population of Aurora joining the electorate this time around — or two Fort Collinses or three Boulders or 30 Lone Trees. You get the idea. (OK, one more 72 Ouray counties.) What drove the increase? A lot of things. Some of it could be attributed to almost 212,000 more registered voters since 2011 — from 3,350,219 two years ago to 3,562,184 on Tuesday. Colorado legislators this year also made mail-balloting the law, rather than just an option. The state has allowed voters to chose to get a ballot mailed to them for quite awhile, and in the general election last year 74 percent chose to do so. This year, that number grew to 100 percent of those, plus many more who had been deemed “inactive” for not voting in recent elections. Getting a ballot without leaving home likely pulled many of them still living in the state back into the fold.

Cambodia: Voting numbers questioned | Phnom Penh Post

Voting results at more than 200 newly established polling stations were “heavily skewed” towards the ruling party at the July election, while seven communes recorded voter turnouts in excess of 110 per cent of eligible voters, a new report from an umbrella group of election monitors has found. Sixty-nine per cent of the 209 new polling stations established for this election were won by the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, “well above the nationwide average where the ruling party won 53% of the time”, the Electoral Reform Alliance (ERA) says in the report officially slated for release on December 13 but posted online by the opposition party on Thursday. Of the 902 polling stations created for the election, 691 of them were formed from the splitting of existing stations, 209 were newly established, and two relocated, says the report, prepared by groups including Transparency International, the National Democratic Institute, Comfrel, NICFEC and Licadho.

Croatia: Voters reject same-sex marriage | Sky News Australia

A strong majority in staunchly Catholic Croatia has voted to outlaw same-sex marriage in a referendum sought by a Church-backed group but strongly opposed by rights groups. A total of 64.84 per cent of voters said ‘yes’ to the question of whether they wanted to amend the constitution to include a definition of marriage as a ‘union between a woman and a man’, according to partial results from around one-third of polling stations released by the electoral commission on Sunday. Croatia’s current constitution does not define marriage. A total of 34.56 per cent of voters said ‘no’, the results showed.

National: Young Black voters pay higher ‘time tax’ at the polls | Daytona Times

As the American electorate becomes more diverse, new voting laws threaten to disenfranchise young Black and Latino voters in what a new report called “the largest wave of voter suppression since the enactment of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.” The report by OurTime.org and Advancement Project, titled “The Time Tax,” details disparities in the excessive wait times that millennials (18-29 years-old), especially millennials of color, endured to cast votes during the 2012 November elections. According to the report, millennials are expected to account for 40 percent of the electorate in less than eight years including a higher proportion of young minority voters. During the 2012 November elections, millennial voters (18-29 years-old) accounted for 19 percent of the electorate. While turnout for Latinos, Asians and the youngest voters decreased (18-24 years-old), voter turnout for Blacks increased. Yet, Blacks “waited an average of 23 minutes to vote, compared to only 12 minutes for Whites,” stated the report.

Editorials: Special elections not best for lawmaker vacancies in California | San Francisco Chronicle

Under California law, the governor is allowed to choose a replacement for a statewide-elected official who vacates her post midterm. He chooses a replacement for county supervisor when one of those positions is unexpectedly vacated as well. It’s an easy and painless process that doesn’t attract much controversy or concern from voters. So why can’t the governor do the same thing with state legislators? This isn’t an idle question – in fact, it’s an expensive one. There have been 10 legislative desertions in the past year alone. In accordance with state law, each of these vacancies requires a special election at an average cost of $1 million. Can’t California always use a spare $10 million?

Canada: Waterloo rejects online voting | The Record

City council voted unanimously Monday not to use online voting in next year’s municipal election. Council heard from the community in presentations and correspondence on the issue. Urs Hengartner, associate professor of computer science at the University of Waterloo, studies secure voting systems. In a letter to council, he expressed concern about the security of an online voting system. “Internet voting introduces even more risks, such as computer viruses, denial-of-service attacks, or vote buying or selling,” he said. “On the other hand, the claimed advantage of internet voting, higher voter turnout, still needs to be proven in practice, and results so far have been mixed.”

Nepal: High turnout as Nepal voters defy threat | Sky News Australia

Millions of Nepalis have defied low expectations and threats of violence to vote in elections seen as crucial in breaking its political deadlock seven years after a civil war ended. A bombing in the capital Kathmandu early on Tuesday injured three children, but the explosion and a campaign of intimidation by a hardline Maoist splinter group did not prevent turnout reaching at least 65 per cent. At this level it would be higher than the 63.29 per cent turnout recorded during the country’s first post-war elections in 2008, when it voted for a constituent assembly tasked with writing a new constitution. Since then, five prime ministers have served brief terms, the country had no leader for long periods, and the 601-member assembly collapsed in May 2012 after failing to complete the peace process. ‘My vote is for the future of youngsters and the new generations,’ 101-year-old voter Lal Bahadur Rai said in a phone interview from a polling station in northeastern Sankhuwasabha district. Hopes of political unity to complete the peace process were dashed when a 33-party alliance, led by the splinter Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M), announced that it would boycott polls and intimidate voters.