The Voting News Weekly: The Voting News Weekly for January 5-11 2015

In a Florida case, the Supreme Court will consider whether restrictions on contributions to judgeship campaigns are a violation of freedom of speech. Marking the culmination of over ten years of efforts by many individuals and organizations including Verified Voting and with crucial technical staff support from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the IEEE has developed a new standard for election results reporting (1622-2). Ari Berman checked the new film “Selma” against the history of the civil rights movement. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals sent a contentious voting rights case involving Fayette County Georgia back to a lower court for trial. Illinois Democrats gave speedy approval to a measure that would require a special election to fill part of the term left vacant after the death of Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka, as Republicans railed against the move as a power grab aimed at undermining Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner as he prepares to take office. Vermont’s election law calling for legislative selection by secret ballot in the case that no candidate received a majority of the votes on election day was in the spotlight as incumbent Peter Shmulin was chosen for a third term. Civil rights advocates asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a decision upholding Wisconsin’s voter photo identification law, arguing the case raises questions of national importance about limits on a state’s ability to restrict voting. The right of long-term expats to vote in federal elections will be decided by Ontario’s top court and voters in Sri Lanka braved violence and intimidation to give a surprise victory to opposition presidential candidate Maithripala Sirisena.