Business Insider: Republicans Are Getting Slammed For Their Plan To Rig The Electoral College
-By Walter Hickey
January 24, 2013- The backlash is growing against a Republican-backed plan to change the way key battleground states allocate electoral votes.
In his Crystal Ball newsletter today, political handicapper Larry Sabato described the plan — which would make it so electoral votes in key swing states were apportioned by congressional districts — as "a truly rotten one" that would "undermine democracy." The plan — which gained traction in the Virginia state legislature this week — would heavily favor Republican presidential candidates.
Boxer Introduces Bill on Day One of the 113th Congress to Fight Long Election Lines
Press Release of U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer
For Immediate Release:
January 22, 2013
Contact:
Washington D.C. Office (202) 224-3553
The “LINE Act” Would Set National Standards and Require Action by States Where Voters Waited in Line for Hours
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), on the first day of the 113th Congress, reintroduced her election reform bill – the LINE Act – which would help ensure that all American voters can cast a ballot in federal elections without enduring hours-long delays at their polling places.
President Obama signaled his commitment to this important election reform yesterday in his Second Inaugural Address when he said, “Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote.”
Las Vegas Review-Journal: Woman arrested for voter fraud pleads to lesser charge
-By Francis McCabe
January 24, 2013- Roxanne Rubin just wanted to test the voting system.
And the system worked.
On Thursday, Rubin's test cost her a $2,481 to reimburse for investigation costs, 100 hours of community service, time at an impulse control class and requires she stay out of trouble.
The Henderson woman took a deal from state prosecutors that will allow her to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of attempting to vote twice if she completes the requirements set by Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Deborah Lippis within six months.
Rubin, 56, was accused of felony voter fraud after she tried to vote twice in the November presidential election.
And Secretary of State Ross Miller continued his call for upgrades to the state's voting system that would include a photographic identification system.
"If Ms. Rubin was trying to demonstrate how easy it is to commit voter fraud, she clearly failed and proved just the opposite," Miller said.
Orlando Sentinel: Analysis: 201,000 in Florida didn’t vote because of long lines
-By Scott Powers and David Damron
January 23, 2013- The long Election Day lines around Florida may have turned away more than 200,000 frustrated would-be voters who gave up and went home before they cast ballots — or else saw the lines and elected not to join them.
Analyzing data compiled by the Orlando Sentinel, Ohio State University professor Theodore Allen estimated last week that at least 201,000 voters likely gave up in frustration on Nov. 6, based on research Allen has been doing on voter behavior.
His preliminary conclusion was based on the Sentinel's analysis of voter patterns and precinct-closing times in Florida's 25 largest counties, home to 86 percent of the state's 11.9 million registered voters.
"My gut is telling me that the real number [of voters] deterred is likely higher," Allen said. "You make people wait longer, they are less likely to vote."
Addicting Info: Democratic Representative Introduces Two Bills To Overturn Citizens United Ruling
-By Wendi Petit
January 23, 2013- One day after the three-year anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court ruling for Citizens United, the fight to overturn it has begun. Two bills were introduced by U.S. Representative Jim McGovern of Massachusetts: one that declares that corporations are not people, and one that says that Congress has the power to regulate the financing of political campaigns.
Politico: Huckabee ’08 backer indicted over straw donations
-By Josh Gerstein
January 23, 2013- A Florida developer, Jay Odom, has been indicted on federal charges that he used straw donors to donate at least $23,000 to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's unsuccessful 2008 campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.
Odom faces two felony counts: one of making contributions through others in excess of $10,000 to Huckabee's campaign and another of causing false reports to be filed with the Federal Election Commission. At the time, the maximum legally allowed donation for an individual to a federal primary campaign was $2,300.
The indictment released Tuesday by the Justice Department (posted here) lists ten $2,300 donations made to the Huckabee campaign in December 2007 by ten different individuals identified only by their initials. Huckabee's campaign is not identified by name, but FEC records make clear that campaign received the suspect donations.