The Voting News Weekly: The Voting News Weekly for July 28 – August 3 2014

A federal judge in Maryland will hear arguments as to whether the state board of elections must certify a system that involves the Internet-based delivery and marking of absentee ballots for people with disabilities in spite of the concerns of cybersecurity experts who insist it cannot be done without inviting wide-scale fraud. The Department of Justice announced in will join voting rights lawsuits in Ohio and Wisconsin. Steven Wright considered the implications of the Justice Department revelation that, in light of last year’s Supreme Court decision in Shelby County vs. Holder, it has concluded that the Attorney General no longer retains the statutory authority to send observers to jurisdictions covered in Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. A Circuit Court judge ruled that the Florida Legislature must immediately revise its flawed congressional map and ordered the state to propose a special election for the affected congressional districts. A New Hampshire judge has struck down a 2012 law that effectively blocked out-of-state students and others from voting in New Hampshire unless they established residency in the state that extended to other activities beyond voting, such as getting a driver’s license. A divided state Supreme Court on Thursday tweaked a provision of Wisconsin’s voter ID law to put it in keeping with the state constitution, making it easier for people to get identification cards without having to pay along the way. Afghanistan’s disputed election audit faced repeated challenges and at an Australian parliamentary committee hearing investigating electoral matters, acting Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers told that he was not confident the AEC could safely introduce internet voting.