The Economist has an article this week on why people rig elections. The answer is, because it works really well. As the summary report of the key findings notes:
Using dirty tactics during elections helps politicians that are already in office. If they use illegal practices to win elections, they can expect to be in office [...]
Kudos to Michael for the links to overseas voting systems in other countries. If you read between the lines–or maybe read more directly Alvarez and Hall’s book on electronic elections–Mike’s implication is clear. Fixing overseas citizen and military voting may finally move us toward a secure system of internet voting.
That was the sense I had [...]
Ohio:
SoS Jennifer Brunner is being criticized by state legislators because she allowed individual counties to choose whether to send absentee ballot applications to all voters, and whether to include return postage. Brunner argues that the legislature failed to allocate enough funds. The Legislature counters that not all allocated funds were used, and not sending them [...]
Hot off of the presses: “No Time to Vote: Challenges Facing America’s Overseas Military Voters.”
Pam Fessler did a story on NPR about overseas voting. She notes that most people listening to her report have 48 more days before they vote in this year’s elections. But for an estimated 6 million Americans living overseas or serving in the military, deadlines to receive and cast a ballot are rapidly approaching, and [...]
Here’s a link to a story about this study, to be published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association, that claims that traffic deaths are higher than expected otherwise on Election Day.
Here’s a quick summary of the study:
The researchers looked at traffic-related deaths during polling hours on presidential Election Days and [...]
So the voter identification panel yesterday at APSA, at least the part that I could attend, was quite interesting.
First, the panel was packed — literally standing room only. I didn’t get a head count, but the fact that the session was packed to me demonstrated the importance of the voter identification issue and the [...]
Readers might be interested in these signs which we saw yesterday in Valparisaio, Chile — in the window of a house overlooking the city’s harbor.
Click here for the photo, my slow internet connection won’t let me put the thumbnail in this post.
This story was sent to me by an interested reader of our blog, from a local paper in Arlington, VA.
Unless I misread the recorder’s comments, taking a broad view is essentially implementing a no-excuse absentee ballot rule. Even though Virginia has some of the “toughest rules in the country,” according to the story, in practice, [...]
In response to my post last week, “NAS VR workshop: third-party registration efforts and North Dakota”, Nathan Henderson-James from Project Vote sent along this helpful link to their “Voter Registration Guides and Surveys.” Thanks, Nathan!