The Voting News Weekly: The Voting News Weekly for December 29 2014 – January 4 2015

A federal appeals court has refused to reconsider a decision allowing residents of Kansas and Arizona to register to vote using a federal form without providing proof of their U.S. citizenship. The U.S. Supreme Court will decide who has the authority to divide Arizona into its nine congressional districts. After more than a century in California’s political spotlight, the state’s initiative process will be getting a major bipartisan revision in 2015. In a case entering its fourth year, former Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White remains a convicted felon, despite the Indiana Court of Appeals Monday vacating three of the six guilty verdicts against him. A case involving the city council of the small town of Pasadena Texas could become a test of the Supreme Court ruling last year that struck down most of the federal Voting Rights Act, giving cities in many Southern states new latitude to change election laws affecting minorities without first getting federal approval. Voters in a dozen Virginia House of Delegates districts have filed a federal lawsuit challenging a legislative map that they say illegally concentrates African Americans voters and therefore dilutes their influence. Governments and investors across Europe braced for renewed economic upheaval on Monday after the Parliament in Greece failed to avert an early general election and an election watchdog organization in Sri Lanka has charged that the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government is using violence to deter opposition political activities.