DC Voting Rights bill killed. New Albany MS vote buying scheme. NY violates Voting Rights Act Sec 5

Arapahoe County, CO man gets 12 mail-in ballots...Gun control proposal kills DC voting rights bill...Update on Clay Co KY vote buying scheme...New Albany, MS man sentenced in vote buying scheme, 7 others pled guilty, 7 await trial....NY State Board of Elections violates section 5 of the Voting Rights Act due to changes in overvote notification...TN Lawmakers Spar Over Benton County Voter Registry: “The new administrator of elections has gone back as far as 45 to 50 years, identified over 2,000 voters, and sent them a letter suggesting that somehow their voter registration is not in order.” ~ House Dem. Leader Gary Odom...Baghdad Recount Could Change Election Results, Raising Fears Of Violence...Paying our respects: Civil Rights Legend Dr. Dorothy I. Height Dies at 98..

All this and more in today's voting news below...

CA: S.F. instant-runoff voting upheld
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/20/BAN41D1700.DTL
Seeborg agreed that the system gives less weight to some votes than others in selecting a winner but said it doesn't violate voters' rights.

CA: San Leandro, California, Will Use Instant Runoff Voting This Year
http://www.ballot-access.org/2010/04/20/san-leandro-california-will-use-instant-runoff-voting-this-year/

CO: Man gets 12 mail-in ballots from Arapahoe County
http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=137255&catid=339
...9NEWS took the question to the Arapahoe and Douglas County May Election Official Duane Tinsley. He says what you receive in the mail is determined by where you live.

Tinsley says there is an area that overlaps in jurisdiction and receives both water and sewer ballots. Ellis lives in one of those areas

CO: Vail Daily LTE: Registration deadline Teak Simonton,Eagle Co. Clerk & Recorder
http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20100420/LETTER/
100429962/1022&ParentProfile=1065
http://tiny.cc/zlvq9 The point is that these two issues — fraud and registration deadlines — are separate, and one does not influence the other...

CT: Inadequate Election Day Registration Pilot Nixed
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?p=3056

DC: House Dumps Bill Giving D.C. Vote in Congress
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/04/20/politics/main6414586.shtml
Voting Rights Bill's Linkage to Gun Control Provision Apparently Derails Plans to Take Up Legislation

GA: Secretary of State Kemp Hails Latest Court Order Upholding Georgia’s Photo ID Law http://www.theweekly.com/news/2010/April/20/Photo_ID.html

KY: 3 get light sentences in Clay case, but judge says others won't
Judge says 3 deserve break others won't get
http://www.kentucky.com/2010/04/19/1230372/clay-county-school-employee-sentenced.html
LONDON — A judge gave sentencing breaks Monday to three men who helped in an investigation of vote-buying in Clay County but made clear that some prominent people convicted in the case can't expect the same.

MS: New Albany man gets 5 years for conspiracy to commit voter fraud *
http://www.wreg.com/news/sns-ap-ms--voterfraud,0,3512446.story
He had pleaded guilty in 2008 to his role in an alleged vote-buying scheme. He was among 16 people arrested in the case involving 2007 elections.

So far, two defendants have been convicted by a jury and sentenced. Seven others have pleaded guilty, but are awaiting sentencing. The remaining seven are awaiting trial.

NC: Davidson County Board Of Election To Reconsider Protestors' Affidavits
http://www.digtriad.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=140751&catid=57
The group is trying to keep Hege from running for Sheriff. Hege, a former Davidson County Sheriff, gave up his post when he pleaded guilty to Felony Obstruction of Justice six years ago. Under North Carolina law, a convicted felon can be elected as Sheriff without the ability to carry a firearm.

NY: New York State Board of Elections Violates Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act
Press Releases-New policies could disenfranchise 40,000 to 50,000 New Yorkers
http://www.brennancenter.org/content/resource/
new_york_state_board_of_elections_violates_section_5_of_the_voting_rig/
http://tiny.cc/2tjt0
...
Under the new procedure, when a voter overvotes, New York’s voting machines will retain the ballot, rather than immediately reject it; will not notify voters of the consequences of casting an overvoted ballot; and will display a confusing message.

TN: Legislators Spar Over Benton County Voter Registry
http://wpln.org/?p=16741 Democrats and Republicans squared off on Tennessee’s Capitol Hill today over the action of a Benton County election administrator who challenged more than two-thousand voter registration forms.


National

Civil Rights Legend Dr. Dorothy I. Height Dies at 98
http://www.civilrights.org/archives/2010/04/954-height.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+civilrights%2Ffeatures+%28Civilrights.org+Latest+Posts%29
Dr. Dorothy I. Height, a civil rights legend whose pioneering fight for civil and human rights spanned more than seven decades, passed away this morning from natural causes. She had recently turned 98 on March 24.

EAC's Board of Advisors and Standards Board will comment on a draft version of the commission's Recounts and Contests study
http://www.eac.gov/blog-postings/eac-invites-public-to-observe-upcoming-virtual-public-forums

International


Iraq: Baghdad Recount Could Change Election Results, Raising Fears Of Violence
http://www.rferl.org/content/Baghdad_Recount_Could
_Change_Election_Results_Raising_Fears_Of_Violence/2019337.html
http://tinyurl.com/y269jh9

Philippines: Machine jitters and fraud automation - Stanley Palisada
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/insights/04/18/10/machine-jitters-and-fraud-automation-stanley-palisada

Philippines: Group seeks Comelec assurance spare poll machines won't be used for cheating
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/188906/group-seeks-comelec-assurance-spare-poll-machines-wont-be-used-for-cheating

Sri Lanka finishes parliament vote hit by violence
http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCATRE63J0LW20100420

UK: More people download voter-registration forms
Nine-fold increase in registration form downloads as General Election looms
http://www.computeractive.co.uk/computeractive/news/2261683/people-going-online-download ...The documents cannot be submitted online and have to be printed off in order to be signed and then posted or handed in to the voter’s local electoral registration office by 5pm tonight.
...
The Commission said: “there are significant security, transparency and cost-effectiveness issues that need to be addressed before any further consideration is given to introducing e-voting”.



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