Archive for June 2012

From electionlineWeekly June 14, 2012 – “News Roundup: 2012 has been a litigious year”

Even as work continues to improve voting technology, voters’ best defense against problems at the polls is to be prepared in advance.

Phoenix city councilmembers are divided on whether to file suit against a newly-enacted election consolidation law which would put local and state elections on the same calendar.

Controversy over a church sign at a New Hanover County, NC polling place has led to a new policy regarding messages at such sites. This is potentially important given new research that suggests that “contextual priming” can have a powerful effect on elections.

Redistricting’s effect on election administration – a process I call “52 pickup” – is on in earnest in Kansas after a court-ordered plan was released late last week. Brian Newby’s ElectionDiary gives us a front-row seat in Johnson County.

A red pickup truck has become a “star witness” in a Spokane County, WA dispute about the residency of a candidate for County Commission. These fights illuminate the power of domicile to amuse – and confound – in the workings of the election process.

A vignette from yesterday’s Wisconsin recall highlights what happens when the moving parts in an election don’t quite come together.

Meagher County, Montana is one of a small but persistent handful of jurisdictions that still count ballots by hand. The technique may now work everywhere, but it does spare smaller jurisdictions the worries and controversy that often accompany newer voting technology.

Last week’s order in the case challenging Florida’s voter registration laws is a judicial primer on the need for legislatures to say what they mean – and clearly – when enacting election legislation.

A new analysis by three Humphrey School masters’ candidates of Minnesota’s proposed voter ID amendment is a thorough – and thoroughly interesting – look at what it takes to move voter ID from policy to practice.