Hobbs, New Mexico Voters Approve Ballot Measure to Require Voters at Polls to Show Government Photo-ID

Posted on by December 10, 2014
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Hobbs, New Mexico, held an election on December 9, for the sole purpose of letting voters decide whether to require voters at the polls to show government photo-ID. It passed 78%-22%. See this story. The measure says the city will pay the costs of obtaining such ID for residents who don’t have it. The measure only impacts elections for city office.

The measure’s path to the Hobbs ballot was long and complicated. The city allows initiatives to change city ordinances, and proponents of photo-ID were told how many signatures they needed. They obtained those signatures, but then it was discovered that the measure could not be a legitimate ordinance, because it changed the city charter. Therefore, the petition was invalid. The city council then voted to put the measure on the ballot.

Hobbs is the county seat and largest town in Lea County, in southeast New Mexico.

Oregon Initiative Supporters File Lawsuit Over Disqualified Ballots

Posted on by December 9, 2014
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Oregon Measure 92, for labeling genetically altered foods, lost by 812 votes last month, and a recount is underway. On December 8 the initiative’s supporters filed a lawsuit in state court, arguing that 4,600 ballots weren’t counted because election officials felt the signature on the outer envelope of the mail-in ballot doesn’t match the signature on the voter registration form. Some of the plaintiffs are voters whose ballots weren’t counted. They point out that the appearance of their signatures has changed over the years. See this story.

When a voter’s ballot is rejected because the signature appears not to match, that voter is supposed to be notified, and is given until November 18 to come into the office. But many voters say they were not informed their ballot had been rejected.

Rare Win for an Indiana Independent Candidate

Posted on by December 9, 2014
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On November 4, Indiana independent candidate Mark Smith was elected to the Montgomery County Council in district 3. Here is a link to the election returns. Click on the link that says, “2014 General Final Election Returns.” The results are: Mark Smith, independent, 1,229 votes; Gayle Lough, Republican, 1,183 votes.

Montgomery County is in west central Indiana. The largest town and county seat is Crawfordsville.

Independent candidates are very rare in Indiana. Indiana is one of only three states in which no independent candidate has ever appeared on the ballot for statewide office, other than president (the other two such states are North Carolina and New Mexico). Indiana greatly disadvantages independent candidates because it has a straight-ticket device. Independent candidates do not have their own straight-ticket device. Furthermore, independent candidates are put in the extreme far-right column, a column which has no logo. The party columns have a party logo.

The election was close, but not in the range in which a recount would normally be requested (the percentages work out to 51%-49%). Nevertheless, the local Republican Party has requested a recount. See this story.

California Official Election Returns to be Released on December 12

Posted on by December 8, 2014
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The California Secretary of State’s “Statement of Votes” for November 2014 will be posted on her web page on Friday, December 12. Although the semi-official results are on the web page now, there is a lot of data that is not revealed in the semi-official results, especially regarding turnout and the number of blank ballots for certain races.