New Hampshire State Senator Peter Burling’s bill to expand access to the statewide voter list will let any group that places candidates on the general election have access to the list. In addition, groups that are striving to influence political events will also have access to it. The bill doesn’t have a number yet.
The bill will bring the state into compliance with a court ruling that said restricting the list to only the qualified parties is unconstitutional.
Goshen, New York, held a special bond election on December 4, for the voters to decide “yes” or “no” on school construction. New York still uses mechanical voting machines. Those machines have counters in the back, much like car odometers. There are only three digits for each voting choice. Thus, when the machine gets up to 999 votes for one particular voting choice, the next vote for that choice turns the counter in the back to zero.
The County Board of Elections understands this, and always makes sure that there are enough machines so that no one machine gets that many voters. However, in this case, the County had loaned the machines to the city, and the officials conducting the city election did not understand the problem. The city only used 2 machines, even though there were 10,000 voters eligible to vote.
When the election was over, one machine’s counters had 309 yes votes, and 10 no votes. The other machine had 314 yes votes and 24 no votes. Over 2,600 voters had voted.
Although one can guess that the “No” side had the majority, and that the true totals on the first machine should have been 309 “yes”, 1,010 “no”…and that the second machine should have been 314 “yes” and 1,024 “no”…one can’t prove that the true results weren’t 1,309 “yes” and 10 “no” on the first machine, and 1,314 “yes” and 24 “no” on the second machine. So it appears the vote will need to be re-done. Thanks to ElectionUpdates for this story.
Goshen, New York, held a special bond election on December 4, for the voters to decide “yes” or “no” on school construction. New York still uses mechanical voting machines. Those machines have counters in the back, much like car odometers. There are only three digits for each voting choice. Thus, when the machine gets up to 999 votes for one particular voting choice, the next vote for that choice turns the counter in the back to zero.
The County Board of Elections understands this, and always makes sure that there are enough machines so that no one machine gets that many voters. However, in this case, the County had loaned the machines to the city, and the officials conducting the city election did not understand the problem. The city only used 2 machines, even though there were 10,000 voters eligible to vote.
When the election was over, one machine’s counters had 309 yes votes, and 10 no votes. The other machine had 314 yes votes and 24 no votes. Over 2,600 voters had voted.
Although one can guess that the “No” side had the majority, and that the true totals on the first machine should have been 309 “yes”, 1,010 “no”…and that the second machine should have been 314 “yes” and 1,024 “no”…one can’t prove that the true results weren’t 1,309 “yes” and 10 “no” on the first machine, and 1,314 “yes” and 24 “no” on the second machine. So it appears the vote will need to be re-done. Thanks to ElectionUpdates for this story.
State officials have filed amicus curiae briefs on both sides, in the U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming case over Indiana’s law requiring voters at the polls to show government photo-ID.
The brief in support of Indiana’s law was initiated and written by the Texas Attorney General, and is co-signed by the Attorneys General of Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Michigan, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Puerto Rico. Texas’ brief makes the claim that Texas itself experienced vote fraud in the “1946” election of U.S. Senator Lyndon B. Johnson. This is a historical error; Johnson was elected in 1948, not 1946. The particular vote fraud that enabled Johnson to win the 1948 primary was that the polling place officials in one particular precinct in south Texas colluded to create imaginery votes. This is well-documented in Means of Ascent, volume II of Robert Caro’s famous 3-part biography of Lyndon Johnson. The 1948 Texas Democratic primary is not an example of voters fraudulenty impersonating other voters during hours when the polling place was open.
On the other side, the former Secretary of State of Georgia initiated a brief supporting the Indiana Democratic Party. It is co-signed by the former Secretary of State of Maryland, and the current Secretaries of State of Ohio, Missouri, and Vermont.
Darcy Richardson has been writing the most comprehensive story of U.S. political parties (with emphasis on the parties that were not the two major parties) ever written. His Volume III has just been published. The full title is Others: Third Parties from Teddy Roosevelt’s Bull Moose Party to the Decline of Socialism in America. It covers 1911-1919. It is 407 pages, hardcover. The period covered by Volume III is fairly short, but more happened in this decade, than at any other time in the 20th century, relative to third parties. So the decision to devote an entire volume to just 9 years is understandable.
