This off the newswire:

A group of activists in Oregon are pushing the state to require proof of citizenship to register to vote. Jim Ludwick, president of the Oregonians for Immigration Reform, told the Register-Guard that his group was pursuing its “Respect for the Law Act” as an initiative for 2008 out of frustration with the Legislature’s inaction. The proposed initiative has yet to be cleared for petitioning. Backers will have until July to gather about 83,000 valid signatures for it to qualify for the November ballot. Under Oregon law it is a felony for noncitizens to vote and those who register to vote must sign a statement verifying that they are citizens. His initiative requires those registering to vote for the first time in Oregon to submit proof of citizenship. Secretary of State Bill Bradbury said voter registration and voting by people in the United States illegally “are nearly nonexistent problems” and that his Elections Division investigates every claim of voting by noncitizens. Bradbury also said such a requirement could deny voting rights not just to illegal immigrants but also to citizens who are not able to produce proof of citizenship.

According to the New York Times, political parties are using Viagra to boost turnout among male voters in Thailand. It was too good not to post.

My former colleague Tova Wang has written a really nice report on UOCAVA voting issues. It is a very interesting read. There is also a wonderful article in the NY Times about the work that the Overseas Vote Foundation is doing.

The Texas state auditor’s report is now available, “An Audit Report on the Voter Registration System at the Texas Secretary of State’s Office. The report found 49,049 possibly ineligible voters, of the 12,374,114 registered voters in May 2007. Details of who these possibly ineligible voters are:

– Voter records for 23,114 possible felons.

– Records for 23,576 voters who may be deceased.

– Duplicate records for 2,359 voters.

Auditors did not identify any instances in which potentially ineligible voters actually voted during the May 12, 2007, special election, although voting history data in the TEAM system was incomplete.

A report was released recently by the Center for Governmental Studies (CGS) that analyzes the pros and cons of term limits in California. The report, “Termed Out: Reforming California’s Legislative Term Limits” is being released in the context of Proposition 93, a measure on the February 2008 ballot in California, that if passed will alter California’s term limits law (originally adopted by California voters in 1990).

The report provides ammunition for both sides of the term limits debate, and no doubt, this report will be cited by both those supporting passage of Prop 93, as well as those opposed to it. Among the benefits of the current term limits law in California discussed in the report are an increase in the frequency of open seats, and improvements in the representation of Latinos and Asian/Pacific Islanders in the state legislature. And among the possible negative impacts of California’s current term limit law discussed in the report are a reduction in the overall levels of experience of members in both the state Assembly and Senate.

It’s going to be interesting watching how the debate about Prop 93 shapes up in the coming months!

A nice story in the San Diego Union-Tribune on absentee balloting and the California presidential primary. Regular readers of this blog will be familiar with the routine:

• Between 25-45% of voters in various California counties vote absentee
• “Sample” ballots for the Feb 5th primary and actual absentee ballots will be mailed on Jan 7th. In-person absentee begins on that day, 29 days before the Feb 5th primary
• This precedes at least five major primaries, and for those really on the ball, they can vote the day before New Hampshire!

And a nice closing quote from Thad Kousser of UCSD: “More and more people are doing it,” Kousser said, “but what hasn’t changed is that the vast majority of people who vote absentee vote the weekend before Election Day or on Election Day.”

The calendar keeps shifting, as do absentee balloting laws.

This story in the Lake Sun Leader (Lake of the Ozarks, MO) reports that absentee balloting in MO begins Dec. 26, 2007.

Yes. The day after Christmas.

An interesting story in this morning’s LA Times, “Early Caucuses Put Student Pro-Obama Vote in Play”, speculates that with the Iowa caucuses being held during the college winter break, that many college students who might normally have participated in Iowa’s caucuses might not be in town.

The story speculates on what might happen, and this will be an interesting dynamic to watch:

It’s going to be different this time: The Iowa caucuses are being held Jan. 3, the middle of winter break. With college students home for the holidays, campuses across the state will be empty.

But the early caucus date could shift voter dynamics, adding young voices at their hometown caucuses across the state while diminishing the turnout at college precincts. Or, it could mean even fewer college students will take part in the electoral process.

Either outcome will affect the tally for Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, who is in a tight race with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York to carry the state. The Obama campaign is banking on young voters, and the timing of this year’s caucuses could work to his advantage.

This is one possible unintended consequence of such an early caucus date in Iowa!

There’s a good chance it might happen. The AP has a story out this morning, “Citizenship backlog to affect voting in ’08”. Here’s a snip from the story:

The American Immigration Lawyers Assn., a private legal advocacy group, said it was told by agency officials that 3.5 million applications had come in over a two-month period. The agency projected a workload of 3.2 million applications for fiscal 2008 and 2009.
…

The onslaught of applications has led some files to be sent back with errors or mistakenly rejected, and others seem lost in the system, applicants and attorneys say. Service centers in Nebraska and Texas have the longest delays.

This was running on a number of news sites this afternoon. Here is a link to the San Francisco Chronicle’s story. At this point, the story notes that the ballots are still being counted, and final results may not be in until later this week. The city is suing based on a breach-of-contract claim, arguing that ESS (the vendor) breached their contract by selling the city uncertified voting machines and that it has refused to reimburse the city for the estimated $300,000 it has cost the city to meet state requirements to use the machines.

Thad’s been writing about this story in early essays … but the saga continues …