Green Party of Hawaii Sues State Over Failure to Produce Enough Ballots at the Polls in Many Precincts

Posted on by December 10, 2012
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On December 7, the Hawaii Green Party filed a lawsuit in state court, complaining about the fact that in approximately 25 precincts last month, there weren’t enough ballots. In a few cases, more ballots did not arrive for several hours, so many voters gave up and didn’t vote. Sometimes the replacement ballots were not intended for the precinct that received them. The case is Green Party of Hawaii v Nago, Maui County, 12-1-956(2).

The lawsuit asks for a declaratory judgment that in future elections, this problem will not occur. The Green Party feels that its legislative candidate, Keiko Bonk, would have done better if some precincts in her district had not run out of ballots. The vote in her district, the House 20th district, was: Democrat Calvin Say 5,704; Bonk 3,143; Republican Julia Allen 1,179. See this AP story. Here is the Complaint.

Ohio Releases Official Vote; Newly Counted Provisional Ballots Strongly Helped Obama, and to a Lesser Extent, Also Helped Johnson

Posted on by December 10, 2012
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On December 10, Ohio’s Secretary of State released the official election returns. The difference in vote totals from the official vote count, and the votes counted on election night, are for the most part the provisional ballots, which take a long time to count. Comparing the election night totals with the final totals suggest that provisional ballots strongly helped President Obama, and also slightly boosted Gary Johnson.

The election night total percentages for each presidential candidate on the ballot were: Obama 50.28%, Romney 48.35%, Johnson .88%, Stein .33%, Virgil Goode .15%, Socialist Party nominee Stewart Alexander .05%, and independent Richard Duncan .23%.

The final, official vote totals yield these percentages: Obama 50.67%, Romney 47.69%, Johnson .89%, Stein .33%, Goode .15%, Alexander .05%, Duncan .22%.

Declared write-in candidate vote totals, not available until December 10, are: Mike Vargo 63, Jill Reed 23, Randall Terry 14, Susan Daniels 5, Nelson Keyton 2.

Irregular Times Posts Americans Elect’s IRS Form 990

Posted on by December 10, 2012
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On December 10, Irregular Times blog posted a copy of the IRS Form 990 filed by Americans Elect. This form is required for all 501(c)(4) organizations and includes information about the group’s goals, and finances.

Unfortunately, at the moment (December 10 morning), Irregular Times blog is under cyber attack, and documents that it links to can’t be accessed. Jim Cook, who founded Irregular Times, does not believe the cyber attack has any connection to the blog’s content. The attack appears to come from computers in Russia and China.

Post Office Petitioning Case Reaches U.S. Supreme Court

Posted on by December 10, 2012
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On December 10, the Initiative & Referendum Institute filed its cert petition with the U.S. Supreme Court, in its lawsuit against the Postal Service regulation that prevents voters from signing a petition on an interior post office sidewalk. The case number hasn’t been assigned yet, but the case is Initiative & Referendum Institute v Postal Service. The regulation permits circulators to stand on interior post office sidewalks and ask passers-by if they wish to sign a petition. But if the individual agrees, then both the circulator and potential signer must then leave that sidewalk and go somewhere else. Even the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, had a concurrence saying the existing policy didn’t make sense. But the D.C. Circuit still upheld the regulation.

UPDATE: here is the cert petition.

Arizona League of Women Voters Will Lobby for Easier Ballot Access for Independent Candidates

Posted on by December 9, 2012
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The Arizona League of Women Voters will ask the Arizona legislature to ease ballot access for independent candidates. Arizona requires more signatures in 2014 for a statewide independent candidate than any other state except Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, North Carolina, and Texas.

Also the Arizona petition deadline for independent candidates in 2014 is on May 28, a deadline that is probably unconstitutionally early. The Arizona primary is in August and there is no election administration-related reason why the petition deadline can’t be in August.