NYC BOE Short $48M For 2012 Activities

The New York City Board of Elections says it needs an additional $48 million to do its job later this year.

Primaries are scheduled for June in the city and statewide in September.

Officials say the shortfall is alarming because it would hit during a presidential election year.

This year, the voters went and will go to the polls for: a Special Election, Presidential Primary, Congressional Primary, State Primary, and a General Election.

"We are expecting record turnout. So we have to educate our voters, we have to continue training our poll workers and we have to make sure New Yorkers are confident and comfortable with these new systems," said BOE official J.C. Polanco.

The board still does not have an executive director, as the previous one was fired in October 2010.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Stephen Dolgos Files to Run for Congress in AZ in the Americans Elect Primary

Thanks to Ballot Access News for this post.

On May 30, filing for the Arizona primaries closed, for candidates who wish to have their names placed on primary ballots. Stephen Dolgos of New River, Arizona, filed 171 signatures to run in the Americans Elect primary for Congress in the new 8th district. As far as is known, he is the first person who has filed to run in any Americans Elect primary in any state.

Dolgos was permitted to obtain signatures from registered voters who are not members of a political party, as well as from voters who are registered as Americans Elect Party members.

There is a little confusion on the Sec. of State's website. There is a list of candidates for the Primary. But it also says CD8 is a Special Election to be held on June 12, 2012. The list shows a Democrat, two Republicans, and Mr. Dolgos as an Americans Elect candidate.

Use the above link for Stephen Dolgos' website.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Justice to Monitor 5/29/2012 Texas Primary

The Justice Department announced on Friday that it will monitor primary elections on May 29, 2012, in Fort Bend, Harris and Jefferson Counties in Texas, to ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and other federal voting rights statutes. The Voting Rights Act prohibits discrimination in the election process on the basis of race, color or membership in a minority language group. In addition, the act requires certain covered jurisdictions to provide language assistance during the election process.

Under the Voting Rights Act, the Justice Department is authorized to ask the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to send federal observers to jurisdictions that are certified by the attorney general or by a federal court order. Federal observers will be assigned to monitor polling place activities in Fort Bend and Jefferson Counties based on the attorney general’s certification. In addition, Fort Bend is subject to a court order entered in 2009, which requires the jurisdiction to comply with the minority language and assistor of choice requirements of the Voting Rights Act, as well as the requirements of the Help America Vote Act. The observers will watch and record activities during voting hours at polling locations in these counties, and Civil Rights Division attorneys will coordinate the federal activities and maintain contact with local election officials.

In addition, Justice Department personnel will monitor polling place activities in Harris County. A Civil Rights Division attorney will coordinate federal activities and maintain contact with local election officials.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Justice and CA Reach Agreement On Overseas Ballots

The Justice Department announced today that it has reached an agreement with California state officials to help ensure that military service members, their family members and U.S. citizens living overseas have the opportunity to participate fully in California’s June 5, 2012, federal primary election.

The agreement was filed at the same time as a lawsuit brought under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA). The Justice Department filed suit in response to the state’s failure to send absentee ballots to thousands of California’s eligible military and overseas voters for the June 5, 2012, federal primary election at least 45 days prior to the election, as required by UOCAVA. The complaint also alleges that the state failed to ensure that ballots were sent by the voters’ preferred method of transmission (by mail or electronically), as required by federal law.

The agreement between the Justice Department and the California Secretary of State provides remedial options to afford affected military and overseas voters sufficient opportunity to receive, cast and return their ballots in time to be counted. Under the agreement, affected voters will be notified of their options to receive and return their ballots by electronic or other expedited methods, and they will be offered the option of returning their ballots by express delivery at no cost to the voter. The agreement recognizes the steps some counties already took to utilize express delivery for ballots that were not sent at least 45 days prior to the election.

“Members of our armed forces, their families and overseas citizens are entitled to a complete and meaningful opportunity to vote, and the Justice Department is committed to seeking full access to the ballot box for all voters – regardless of where they are on Election Day,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “The California Secretary of State worked cooperatively with the department and agreed to implement measures that will ensure California’s military and overseas voters will have the opportunity to fully participate in June’s primary election and future federal elections.”









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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NY State’s Primary Now On Sept. 13, 2012

Without much fanfare, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation yesterday that changed the State’s primary from Sept. 11 to Sept. 13.

The bill had been swiftly approved by the Republican-led Senate and Democratic-controlled Assembly after firefighters, police and other first responder groups lobbied lawmakers to make the change.

Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos said earlier this month he was conflicted on the matter.

But after speaking with police, firefighters and victims’ families who requested the change, he backed the legislation.

Skelos said at a news conference, “They indicated to me and they’re right that this is such a personal thing for police, firefighters, so many people in this state and obviously in this country, memorial services that will go on forever, that they just asked if we could change it to the 13th and I think it’s a very reasonable request and we’ll do it.”

State lawmakers could not agree on a unified primary date for State and Congressional primary elections. A federal judge ruled federal primaries must be held on June 26 in order to comply with a federal law governing access to military ballots.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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53,000 Dead Voters Found in FL

Florida election officials are set to announce that the Secretary of State has discovered and purged up to 53,000 dead voters from the voter rolls in Florida.

How could 53,000 dead voters have sat on the polls for so long? Florida hadn’t been using the best available data revealing which voters have died. Florida is now using the nationwide Social Security Death Index for determining which voters should be purged because they have died.

Most states aren’t using the same database that Florida is. In fact, some election officials won’t even remove voters even when they are presented with a death certificate. That means that voter rolls across the nation still are filled with dead voters, even if Florida is leading the way in detecting and removing them.

In some cases, people are still voting in the names of dead voters and again in their names.

Consider the case of Lafayette Keaton. Keaton not only voted for a dead person in Oregon, he voted for his dead son. Making Keaton’s fraud easier was Oregon’s vote by mail scheme, which has opened up gaping holes in the integrity of elections. The incident in Oregon just scratches the surface of the problem. Massachusetts and Mississippi are but two other examples of the dead rising on election day.

Florida should be applauded for taking the problem seriously. We wish Eric Holder’s Justice Department and many state election officials will correct this problem.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Appeals Court Upholds Key Voting Rights Law

An appeals court upheld the preclearance, Section 5, of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the re-authorization in 2006.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia rules against a challenge by Shelby County, Alabama. Shelby County argued Section 5 places an undue burden on local governments and preclearance could only be justified if there were current evidence the jurisdiction was carrying out the "unremitting and ingenious defiance" that existed in 1965, when the original law was passed.

The Appellate panel said it weighed concern about whether Section 5 remains "congruent and proportional" to the problem it seeks to prevent. It determined that "Congress drew reasonable conclusions from the extensive evidence it gathered" and acted in accordance with the Constitution in "ensuring that the right to vote is not abridged on the account of race." Congress deserved deference in making the judgement, the court said.

The county indicated it plans to appeal to the Supreme Court.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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PLANT A SEED OF CHANGE IN THE G8

Use the above link to add your voice!









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Justice Department Reaches Agreement with Wythe County, VA, on Bailout from the Voting Rights Act

The Justice Department announced that it has reached an agreement with Wythe County, Va., that will allow for the county and its three political subdivisions, the Wythe County School District and the towns of Rural Retreat and Wytheville, to bail out from their status as “covered jurisdictions” under the special provisions of the Voting Rights Act, and thereby exempt these jurisdictions from the preclearance requirements of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. The agreement is in the form of a consent decree filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and must be approved by the court.

Wythe County filed its bailout action in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on May 3, 2012. Counsel for the county contacted the attorney general prior to filing the action, indicating that the county was interested in seeking a bailout. The county provided the Justice Department with substantial information, and the department conducted an investigation to determine the county’s eligibility. Based on that investigation, the department is satisfied that the county meets the Voting Rights Act’s requirements for bailout.

“After a thorough analysis of the information provided by the county and obtained through the department’s independent investigation, we believe the county has satisfied the bailout requirements,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “The collaboration between the county and department assured the resolution of this matter in a manner envisioned by the drafters of the Voting Rights Act.”

The consent decree details the legal and factual basis for a bailout determination and, if approved by the court, will grant the county’s request. The court will retain jurisdiction of the action for 10 years and can reopen the action upon the motion of the attorney general or any aggrieved person alleging conduct by the county that would have originally precluded the county from bailing out if it had occurred during the 10-year period preceding entry of the consent decree.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Free and Equal Elections Foundation Announces Advisory Board of Directors

The ‘Free and Equal’ Elections Foundation, which works to bring together state and local leaders to build a cohesive network of activists and organizations who cross political divides to create fair elections, is proud to announce its Advisory Board of Directors.

Richard Winger - Sits on the editorial board of the Election Law Journal and is the editor and publisher of Ballot Access News, a newsletter covering independent and third parties, as well as developments in election law reform. Congradulations to a good friend.

Paul Jacob - The president of Citizens in Charge, a group that works to protect and expand voter initiative rights without regard to politics or party, is the president of the Citizens in Charge Foundation.

Randy Stufflebeam - Chairman of the Constitution Party of Illinois since January 2005, and Midwestern United States Regional Chairman for the Constitution Party, was recently elected Vice-Chairman of the national Constitution Party Committee.

Michael Jingozian - ran for the 2008 Libertarian Party presidential nomination and served as the Libertarian Party’s Vice-Chairman from 2008 to 2010, also works with Reset America, a movement he founded to educate Americans on the dangerous path of our current two-party system.

Additionally, Free and Equal is seeking state and local activists to serve as part of its state caucus leadership network, a coalition of like-minded activists for electoral reform across the political spectrum.

Use the above link to learn more about the "Free and Equal" Election Foundation.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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