Detroit ballot boxing. Few use WV overseas internet voting. Sack the UK Election Chief?

"Sack the Chairwoman of the Electoral Commission." Iain Dale writing about UK's election fiasco...Online bank thefts more than doubled in 2009 but no one would try to steal an internet election right?...Ballot boxing-When it comes to the mayoral election dustup, Tom Barrow has a point...‘Hispanic’ TX District Won by an African-American...Damaged memory cards delayed tally in over 76,000 precincts in the Philippines...Few WV service members use online voting...Internet voting is "exposed to human vulnerabilities like voting pressure from political parties,"~ Estonian diplomat Miko Haljas...

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


AR: How to vote for a write-in candidate in the Arkansas primaries
http://www.todaysthv.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=104561&catid=2
A write-in candidate must have registered. You can't just vote for anyone.

AZ: Local voters get duplicate early ballots *
http://www.yumasun.com/news/ballots-60851-duplicate-yuma.html
...about 100 duplicate ballots were sent out in Yuma County.

The problem: the printer stopped and restarted, creating a small, duplicate batch, she said.
...
there are safeguards in place to make sure they only count one ballot from each voter.

CA: Election Poll Workers Needed in Santa Cruz
http://www.kionrightnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=12472513

KY: New voting machines offer backup
http://www.paducahsun.com/local-news/todays-news/423317-new-voting-machines-offer-backup Western Kentuckians on Tuesday will use new voting machines that mix old-fashion paper ballots and modern technology.
Election officials hope the new process is easier for voters, reduces the chance of missing races and cuts the potential for mistakes.

MI: Ballot boxing
When it comes to the mayoral election dustup, Tom Barrow has a point
http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=15050
...If nothing else, what he's done so far is expose the grossly incompetent manner in which ballots cast in the last election were handled
...
Were this an isolated case, maybe things would be different. But there were similar problems — and questions being raised — back in 2004.

MO: Voter ID/early voting bill apparently dead in Mo. Senate
http://primebuzz.kcstar.com/?q=node/22297

NC: DISTRICT COURT DENIES REQUEST FOR THREE JUDGE COURT IN LAROQUE CASE CHALLENGING CONSTITUTIONALITY OF SECTION 5
http://electionlawblog.org/archives/015962.html

NC: Instant Runoff Voting (LTE)
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/05/12/478018/instant-runoffs.html

NV: Nevada task force to watch again for voter fraud
http://www.mynews4.com/story.php?id=16475 Favreau says investigators are watching for everything from vote-buying and bribery to interference or intimidation at polling places, ballot box stuffing, and complex campaign finance irregularities.

PA: Electronic poll book plan on hold (Schuylkill County)
http://republicanherald.com/news/electronic-poll-book-plan-on-hold-1.779276
Last fall,two county precincts served as trial run sites for the ExpressPoll-5000..

TX: ‘Hispanic’ District Won by an African-American
http://blog.american.com/?p=13821
Last Saturday, the City of Irving, Texas held its first city council elections using a new form of governance that was mandated by a federal court in 2009. The outcome of that election is dripping with irony. Here’s why.
...
The newly created “Hispanic” district was won by an African American (who defeated a Hispanic), while the one at-large contest was won by … yep, a Hispanic (who defeated a white candidate).

WA: State won't take over Clackamas County elections
http://www.clackamasreview.com/news/story.php?story_id=127361399854535100

WI: Green Bay City Council committee calls for photo identification at ballot box
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20100512/GPG0101/5120659/1207/GPG01/Green-Bay-City-Council-committee-calls-for-photo-identification-at-ballot-box

WI: September primary poses a problem
http://host.madison.com/news/local/govt_and_politics/article_1c1f4198-3df3-5668-b6b1-ade1cc6fbdcd.html
A recent federal law change could force Wisconsin to switch the date of its traditional September primary election.

WV: W.Va. primary election encounters few problems* (WV mix of DRE/OS/paper)
http://wvgazette.com/News/201005110903
State elections manger Dave Nichols says only four precincts failed to open by 6:30 a.m., but all 1,889 were open by midmorning.

Nichols says early problems ranged from voters unable to find races on a ballot to voting machine paper jams.

WV: Problems Persist in Lincoln Primary
http://www.wtrf.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=79686
Election results creep out nearly five hours after polls close
...
One state media outlet reported May 11 a paper-jammed voting machine caused alarm and a candidate allegedly spent an extended amount of time inside a polling place.

National

Baby Steps for Transparency in Voting Systems
http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2010/05/baby-steps-for-transparency-in-voting-systems.html
To be sure, open code wouldn’t solve all of our voting problems.

PrisonPolicy Tweet: Lawmakers fight for who gets to count inmates, AP writes, we blog about it. http://bit.ly/b1oi3z

RNC COUNSEL RESPONDS TO COMPLAINT TO DC BAR AGAINST CAROLINE HUNTER
http://electionlawblog.org/archives/015949.html
You can read the letter (with attachments) from Bobby Birchfield at this link. Don't miss the last two pages of the attachment...

Federal Election Commission Opens the Door for Unlimited Contributions in Redistricting Fights
http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2010/05/federal-election-commission-opens-t.html

Citizens United
Much thanks to Rick Hasen of Electionlawblog who stays on top of CU developements.

"DEMOCRATS COUNT 91 HOUSE CO-SPONSORS FOR DISCLOSE BILL"
http://electionlawblog.org/archives/015963.html
Roll Call reports ($). Still only two Republican co-sponsors/supporters in Congress, both in the House.

"SCHUMER-VAN HOLLEN IS AS MUCH ABOUT PROHIBITIONS AS ABOUT DISCLOSURE"
http://electionlawblog.org/archives/015952.html

Disclosure in the State Courts
http://www.brennancenter.org/blog/archives/disclosure_in_the_courts/ Business Week put it, “special interests are increasingly turning to the courts to advance goals they can’t win legislatively...Increasingly, they have come to view the judiciary as something to be gamed and captured — just like Congress or the State House.”

DISCLOSE ACT TESTIMONY
http://electionlawblog.org/archives/015960.html
UPDATE: All the testimony is now posted on the hearing page.

Brennan Ctr Testimony on the DISCLOSE Act for the House Admin. Committee
http://www.brennancenter.org/content/resource/testimony_on_the_disclose_act/


Internet Voting Watch

Voter Action: Internet Voting = A Serious Threat to the 2010 Elections
http://bit.ly/bhkGdh

WV: Few service members use online voting
http://www.dailymail.com/News/Kanawha/201005120065
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Just 17 U.S. military service members took advantage of a new program in Kanawha County that allows military personnel serving overseas to cast ballots online in local elections.

WV: Online Voting Becomes Reality In West Virginia (video shows i-voting process)
http://wowktv.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=79658

Estonian diplomat: E-voting can be tricky
http://www.euractiv.com/en/elections/e-voting-can-be-tricky-estonian-diplomat-warns-interview-494113 ...One party tried to organise a kind of collective voting, where they put up voting tents with computers. The idea was that people who were voting for the first time would be assisted by the party personnel. You can imagine what the advice could be.

Internet Voting, Don't Worry Your Pretty Heads.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/5/11/173242/120

Online bank thefts more than doubled in 2009
http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2010/05/11/online-bank-thefts-more-than-doubled-in-2009

International

IN: Should India ban electronic voting machines?
http://www.ciol.com/News/News/News-Reports/Should-India-ban-electronic-voting-machines/136144/0/

Philippines: Damaged cards delay tally: Updating of results suspended
http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2010/05/12/4782711.htm
May 12, 2010 -- Canvassing of election returns (ERs) from some 76,347 clustered precincts cannot proceed after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday found out that there were some damaged compact flash cards in still unidentified areas.

Philippines: Too soon to call 2010 elections successful
http://blogs.gmanews.tv/robert-verzola/index.php?/archives/4-Too-soon-to-call-2010-elections-successful.html
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of local races also await to be settled.

Already news is coming in about delayed Election Returns (ERs), malfunctioning, missing or otherwise questionable memory cards, and other indicators of potential or emerging problems.

UK: Action Point 1: Sack the Chairwoman of the Electoral Commission
http://iaindale.blogspot.com/2010/05/action-point-1-sack-chairwoman-of.html
The chairwoman of the Electoral Commission has written and uttered many weasel words over the last few days, trying to excuse herself from any blame at all.
...
And I would then look at postal voting and do whatever needs to be done to ensure that the terrible things that have happend in the past two elections can never be repeated.

UK: Electoral Commission called in over Bristol electoral polling mishaps
http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/Electoral-Commission-called-city-polling-mishaps/article-2145730-detail/article.html

UK: Council’s conduct of elections “an embarrassment”, say Hackney MPs
http://www.hackneycitizen.co.uk/2010/05/11/councils-conduct-of-elections-an-embarrassment-say-hackney-mps/

Voting News by Joyce McCloy.Archives here at http://votingnews.blogspot.com/
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