The Voting News Weekly: The Voting News Weekly for September 19-25 2016

After multiple hacks of Democratic Party e-mail systems and fears of Russian cyber attacks on the U.S. election, paper ballots have taken on an unexpected appeal as voter advocates, election officials and others have raised concerns about the risks involved in conducting elections over the all-too-vulnerable internet. Election officials are still looking for last-minute fixes to ensure that the patchwork of voting technology used around the country can fend off the increasingly troubling prospect of hacker attacks and, in the latest of those efforts, Georgia representative Hank Johnson is set to introduce two bills today designed to shore up that fragile system’s security. The New York Times examined the enduring fear of voter fraud in spite of overwhelming evidence of the rarity voter impersonation. Verified Voting’s Pamela Smith wrote about the importance of post-election audits in this month’s edition of NCSL’s The Canvass. North Dakota will offer an affidavit to voters who don’t bring an identification to the polls, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. U.S. District Court. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted in a case involving removal of names from voter registration rolls. Texas State Attorney General Ken Paxton will ask the Supreme Court to determine whether the state’s voter id laws are legal. Opposition leader Jean Ping criticized a decision by Gabon’s top court to validate President Ali Bongo’s re-election, as police and troops patrolled the deserted streets of Libreville to prevent a new flareup of violence. Inflated turnout figures, ballot-stuffing and people voting more than once with reported after United Russia’s landslide victory in parliamentary elections while election officials in Venezuela blocked the opposition’s hope of holding a recall referendum that could wrest the presidency from the ruling socialist party.