Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Voting by mail OK'ed in North Dakota, but only for the primary
Some of North Dakota's rural counties want the option of holding general elections by mail, and the state House has given final legislative approval to a bill that would allow the practice.
For those of us who study voting by mail, what a thrill. Now there is going to be county by county variation in early voting laws in ND!
From the Bismarck Tribune.
For those of us who study voting by mail, what a thrill. Now there is going to be county by county variation in early voting laws in ND!
From the Bismarck Tribune.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
WOTE 2007
IAVoSS Workshop on Trustworthy Elections -- WOTE 2007 -- will take place at the University of Ottawa June 20-21, 2007 and is held in conjunction with the 7th Workshop on Privacy Enhancing Technologies (June 21-22).
OC recount changes election result, reveals potential issues with multilingual ballots
A close and disputed election in Orange County (CA), for a county supervisor's seat, seems close to resolution. The candidate who apparently lost by seven votes in the initial tally requested a recount, and based on the recount, she now is ahead by seven votes.
According to a story in the Los Angeles Times this morning, the recount seems to have involved a manual recount of absentees and provisionals, but an electronic recounting of votes cast on election day on Orange County's e-voting machines.
The disputed race involved two Vietnamese candidates, and the election itself is thought to have energized Vietnamese voters in Santa Ana, Garden Grove and Westminster. And the race has raised some issues about multilingual ballots, according to the LA Times story:
According to a story in the Los Angeles Times this morning, the recount seems to have involved a manual recount of absentees and provisionals, but an electronic recounting of votes cast on election day on Orange County's e-voting machines.
The disputed race involved two Vietnamese candidates, and the election itself is thought to have energized Vietnamese voters in Santa Ana, Garden Grove and Westminster. And the race has raised some issues about multilingual ballots, according to the LA Times story:
Advisors for both sides said the recount turned on less than three dozen ballots that were either invalidated or improperly counted the first time.
Some voters either initialed or signed their names to ballots, which invalidated them, Greer said.
"One person wrote, 'Could all the candidates please stop saying bad things about each other.' "
Virtually all of the affected votes came from Vietnamese-language ballots, Schroeder said, which indicated to him that they were "first-time voters, new citizens. That's very common."
Monday, February 26, 2007
Early voting costs too much in Illinois?
The Chicago Board of Elections wants to scale back early voting due to its expense.
Free-Lance Star (Fredericksburg, VA) on no-excuse absentee voting
Always a good sign when the editorial writer quotes Federalist 51. If men were angels, we could have unrestricted absentee voting. Those of you who remember your Madison recall that if men really were angels, no government would be necessary.
Regardless, a nice update on the status of early voting in MD. Looks like the bill may die in committee.
Regardless, a nice update on the status of early voting in MD. Looks like the bill may die in committee.
