The Voting News Weekly: The Voting News Weekly – December 2-8 2013

According to a survey conducted by President Barack Obama’s Presidential Commission on Election Administration, nearly half of Americans live in precincts where long lines at the voting booth were a problem in the 2012 election cycle. After changes in the Senate’s filibuster rules for Presidential nominations, the Senate Rules Committee announced that it will be holding a hearing next week to consider the nominations of two potential commissioners, Myrna Perez and Thomas Hicks. A directive from the Florida Secretary of State prohibiting the use of secured remote absentee ballot drop-off stations created at locations like public libraries and tax-collectors offices has drawn criticism from county election officials. South Dakota is exploring new technology to make is easier for military and overseas voters to receive absentee ballots. A Federal judge has denied Texas Attorney General (and gubernatorial candidate) Greg Abbott’s bid to delay the trial challenging the State’s Voter ID law until after the 2014 election. State elections officials expressed concern Monday that some of the voting equipment used in November balloting is outdated and does not meet requirements under state law to identify overvotes and undervotes. Former federal police commissioner Mick Keelty has criticised “lax” and “complacent” practices with the Australian Electoral Commission in concluding the fate of 1370 missing Western Australian Senate votes may never be known and while the opposition protested the results of last week’s election in Honduras Anonymous hacked the election authority’s website.