November 18, 2004

Puerto Rico -- recount likely in governor's race
The New York Times reports: If Florida's five-week recount after the 2000 presidential election seemed endless, pity Puerto Rico. A recount is all but certain in the race for governor here, after the Election Night tally gave Anibal Acevedo Vilá, the candidate who favors keeping the island's commonwealth status, a margin of just 3,880 votes. But the process will not start until December, and come Christmas - even New Year's, some predict - Puerto Ricans may still be guessing who their next governor will be. For the remainder of the story

Canada -- Alberta tries for a Triple E Senate
The Airdrie Echo reports: Next Monday, Albertans will choose not only their MLAs, but their senators-in-waiting, as well. For the remainder of the story

"The only sure thing seems to be a recount"
AP reports: The race to become Washington's next governor came down to the very last few votes Wednesday -- the deadline for counties to finish tallying the ballots in the state's closest statewide election ever. For the remainder of the story

Young voters surveyed
The Chicago Tribune reports: Young people who voted on Election Day were more Democratic, less religious, less likely to be white and trusted faux news anchor Jon Stewart more than two of the Big Three network news anchors, according to post-election surveys released Tuesday. For the remainder of the story .

Candidate asks for dismissal of federal criminal charges
The Detroit News reports: Attorneys representing Macomb County Prosecutor Carl Marlinga believe federal prosecutors overstepped their bounds in charges that accuse their client of swapping legal favors for campaign contributions. For the remainder of the story .

UCLA opens database of all state campaign finance disclosure laws
A UCLA press release says: A first-of-its-kind database that will make it easy to compare and contrast the campaign finance disclosure statutes and regulations of all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the federal government was released by the UCLA School of Law as part of the Campaign Disclosure Project. For the remainder of the story .

House GOP eases its rules for DeLay
AP reports: Supporters of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay proposed a Republican rules change Tuesday that would protect the Texan's leadership position if he were to be indicted by a Texas grand jury that already charged three of his associates. For the remainder of the story .

November 15, 2004

Complaints about IRV from Chinese Americans
The Sacremento Bee reports: A group that represents the Chinese American community here said the city's new "ranked-choice voting" system may have left many Chinese language voters confused and unable to fully exercise their voting rights. For the remainder of the story.

Minnesota -- problems with registering at the DMV
AP reports: Maybe she made a mistake when she registered to vote while renewing her driver's license in 2002, but 25-year-old Alissa Doth doesn't think so. For the remainder of the story.

Greg Palast on Ohio
Greg Palast writes in In These Times: This past February, Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell told the president of the State Senate, "The possibility of a close election with punch cards as the state's primary voting device invites a Florida-like calamity." Blackwell, co-chair of Bush-Cheney reelection campaign, wasn't warning his fellow Republican of disaster; he was boasting of an opportunity to deliver Ohio for Team Bush no matter what the voters wanted. And this past Election Day most voters in Ohio wanted JFK, not GWB. But their choice won't count because their votes won't be counted. For the remainder of the story.

Montana House election decided by 2 votes
The Great Falls Tribune reports: The counting of six "provisional" votes Monday in a Lake County legislative race appears to give Republicans a 50-49 edge in the Montana House -- but the vote-counting and legal wrangling in this pivotal district is just beginning. For the remainder of the story.

North Carolina may see suit over provisional ballots
The Charlotte Observer reports: The elections team from Durham County was ahead of the vote counting curve -- or crash, depending on your perspective. For the remainder of the story.

Voting reform groups meet in Ohio to gather information
The Los Angeles Times reports: Although there appears to be virtually no chance that the results of the presidential race in Ohio will change, groups there continue to express dismay about how the election was conducted. They are taking actions to keep the state's troubled voting mechanisms in the public spotlight and hopefully generate reforms by 2006. For the remainder of the story.

Washington State -- outcome of gubernatorial race depends on provisional ballots
The Seattle Times reports: As Dino Rossi clung to a 1,920-vote lead over Christine Gregoire in the governor's race last night, Gregoire's allies won a court victory that could help them eke out a few hundred more votes in a race that still appears too close to call. For the remainder of the story.

Instant Runoff Austin
Sarah Looney emails votelaw.com: Instant Runoff Austin is a grassroots coalition of people here in Austin are planning to pursue instant runoff voting legislation during the next Texas legislative session. For the remainder of the story.

November 12, 2004

Broward Machines Count Backward Palm Beach Post

Glitch Gave Bush Extra Votes in Ohio CNN.com

Letters from members of Congress to David Walker
Comptroller General of the United States, demanding an investigation of the election: November 5th, 2004 & November 8th, 2004

Second Lawsuit Filed in San Diego Write-in Case
According to this report, a second suit has been filed in federal court: "plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit allege a scheme to dilute votes that they contend should have gone to the top two vote-getters — both Republicans — from the primary election."

Did Long Lines in Ohio Cost Kerry the Election?
So suggests this article in the Boston Phoenix.

Will Nader Ask for a Recount in Ohio?
See this report. Here is OSU's summary of the Ohio recount procedures.

"Newspaper Accuses Group of Violating Election Law"
A.P. offers this report, which begins: "The Eureka Times-Standard has filed a complaint with the California Fair Political Practices Commission alleging that a political group that produced campaign mailers and TV ads about a city councilman should have to identify the people behind it."

"Watchdogs: 'Soft Money' Law Needs More Work"
A.P. offers this report.

The New Mexico Mess Continues
See here.

"Glitch Causes Franklin County Recount"
The Indianapolis Star offers this report, which begins: "Election equipment counted straight-party votes for Democratic candidates as Libertarian votes, an error that could affect election outcomes in as many as nine counties, the Richmond Palladium-Item reported today."

"As Fast as Blogs See Vote Fraud, Web Is Proving Rumors Wrong"
The New York Times offers this report; see also Mostly Good Reviews for Electronic Voting. See also this A.P. report.

November 8, 2004

Voters Elect to Take Stand on Faith
In Ohio, the delicate mix of religion and politics help clinch re-election for the president. For more information.

November 5, 2004

Electronic Vote Counting Error
Machine Error Gives Bush Extra Ohio Votes. See this report on an error found and corrected from the Associated Press. For more information.

November 5, 2004

Observers Urge U.S. to Shorten Lines for Next Vote
Election observers from the rights watchdog group, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said pre-election allegations of fraud and voter suppression aimed at minorities raises concern that the system could be undermined. But they were unable to substantiate the allegations, observing relatively few attempts to challenge a voter's eligibility, despite concerns before the vote. See more at Reuters News Service November 4, 2004.

Commentary by Prof. Rick Hasen in The Recorder
Time to Fix Election System "We dodged a bullet this time. Next time, we may not be so lucky. It is time to nationalize and depoliticize our system of election administration. The public's faith in our democratic process demands it." November 4, 2004

Voting Problems

• College students register but not on the rolls in Virginia. See Some W&M student voter forms never entered system Daily Press November 4, 2004.
• Motor voter problems in Indiana. See Voters Registered At BMV Not On Registration Rolls Times Union November 4, 2004

Commentary: Crisis Averted-- This Time
Business Week notes, "But voters still face confusion at the ballot box. And now there's no excuse." November 15, 2004 issue.

November 4, 2004

BellSouth Lobbyist Indicted
AP reports: A lobbyist for BellSouth was charged Wednesday with campaign finance violations for allegedly charging the telephone company for a public opinion poll conducted for a U.S. Senate candidate, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. For the remainder of the story.

A Day in the Life ... Nassau County, New York
Jeff Wice writes: As a special counsel to the Nassau County (NY) Legislature, I was asked to serve as a "circuit" attorney traveling to polling places in minority communities. As it happened, I was first assigned to the polling places in North Valley Stream/Elmont where I grew up and voted for 23 years. For the remainder of the story.

VoteProtect.org
Computerworld reports: Election monitors and technology experts at Verified Voting Foundation Inc. expected that their Election Incident Reporting System (EIRS) would be a popular source of information about voting mishaps as millions of U.S. citizens took to the polls in yesterday's presidential election -- but maybe not quite so popular. For the remainder of the story.

Youth vote
Now that some of the smoke has cleared and the data has been crunched, it's clear that 2004 was, in fact, an amazing year for young voter participation. Whereas only 42 percent of 18-29 year-olds had voted in 2000, a whopping 51 percent showed up at the polls this year, making for a 9-point increase. For the remainder of the story.

Kentucky -- candidate residency suit
A judge on Wednesday temporarily stopped Jefferson County [Kentucky] from certifying a disputed state Senate race while a lawsuit challenging the winning candidate's eligibility is pending. For the remainder of the story.

The Legal Nightmare That Never Materialized
Like bombs that never detonated, most of the cataclysmic legal battles we'd all been anticipating are scattered inert across the country this morning, with the last among them the fight over Ohio's provisional ballots. Those potential landmines included a lawsuit in Pennsylvania over absentee ballots, last-minute suits in Florida over late-to-arrive absentee ballots, and yesterday's skirmishes in Ohio over challengers at polling places. Similarly, Colorado's looming legal crisis vaporized with the failure of Amendment 36, the effort to reapportion the state's electoral votes. Those fights are now moot or irrelevant. In the end, the 2004 election was decided by the voters, not the courts, a result that's far better for all of us in the long run. For the remainder of the story.

E-voting machines
E-Commerce Times reports: Hundreds of separate instances of electronic voting problems were reported in the U.S. during yesterday's elections, enough to give critics of e-voting ammunition for their continued battle against its use, but not nearly enough to affect the outcome of the election, as some had feared. For the remainder of the story. New Orleans -- provisional ballots
A last-ditch effort by voting activists to extend polling hours in New Orleans amid allegations that voters improperly were denied access to electronic voting booths failed Tuesday evening after a judge rejected a request to keep the polls open two extra hours. For the remainder of the story.

Hawaii -- Provisional Ballot
In a showdown that began at high noon, it took shouting, police officers and an hour and a half before state House candidate Cort Gallup was allowed to cast a provisional ballot in Tuesday's general election. For the remainder of the story.

Ohio -- 2 Suits Over Provisional Ballots
The GOP sued Ohio over the ballots even before polls closed Tuesday. For the remainder of the story.

Ohio Lawsuits
The United States Supreme Court declined early on Tuesday morning to accept an invitation to intervene in the 2004 presidential election. For the remainder of the story.

Election Protection Call Centers
The election swept through several of the city's law firms yesterday, with lawyers wearing headsets to answer phone calls from voters across the country who had questions that ranged from the banal, like registration problems, to the bizarre, like a Satanist who refused to vote in a church. For the remainder of the story.

November 3, 2004

What Constitutes Voting Intimidation?
In response to a lawsuit by Sen. Tom Daschle, a U.S. District Judge ruled this morning that Republican poll watchers in South Dakota were intimidating Native American voters by following them out of polling places and taking down their license plate numbers. But in another decision today, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that GOP poll watchers weren't intimidating Ohio voters by checking their names against a list of registered voters. So, what exactly do the courts consider voter intimidation? For the remainder of the story.

E-voting problems
AP reports: Voters nationwide reported some 1,100 problems with electronic voting machines on Tuesday, including trouble choosing their intended candidates. For the remainder of the story.

Presidential Votes Miscast on E-Voting Machines Across the Country
Voters from at least half a dozen states reported that touch-screen voting machines had incorrectly recorded their choices, including for president. For more information.

Registration challenges, machine breakdowns among impediments to voting
Voters grappled with partisan challenges to their registrations, broken equipment and other troubles Tuesday as legions of lawyers, election-rights activists and computer scientists watched for signs of voter disenfranchisement. For more information.

What Happened to the Youth Vote?
Young people were expected to turn out and vote in very high numbers, but election data reveals otherwise. Requires Windows Media Player or Real Player.

Voters Report Problems with Voting Machines
Voters across the United States reported problems with electronic touch-screen systems on Tuesday in what critics said could be a sign that the machines used by one-third of the population were prone to error. For more information.

Turnout High, Problems Scattered as Voters Choose President
Ballot machine glitches, short tempers and long lines greeted voters who streamed into polling places across the nation on Tuesday to pick a president. Learn more.

Overreaching at the polls
Palm Beach Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore and sheriff's deputies abused their authority with the arrest of freelance journalist James S. Henry for trying to photograph voters waiting in line on Sunday. In the process, they violated the First Amendment and true intent of statutes to ensure orderly voting. For more information.