electionlineWeekly--November 10, 2011

Page 2 of 4

II. Election News This Week

The NAACP will join labor groups and others at a series of protests around the country on December 10. The protests, according to the organization, are mean to move the discussion of voter ID laws out of policy circles and onto street corners. According to the Post, the United Federation of Teachers, the health care workers’ union 1199SEIU, National Council of La Raza and the Asian-American Legal Defense Fund were among the groups represented at Tuesday’s news conference. George Gresham, the president of 1199SEIU, told the paper his organization would bus 10,000 of its members to participate in the Dec. 10 protests.
Although a court has ordered the release of ballots in Aspen for review by former candidate Marilyn Marks, the city council is still trying to determine how to deal Marks’ lawsuit. According to The Aspen Times, the city had previously said that it would appeal the state court ruling giving Marks the right to review the ballots. The city has yet to file its appeal, but the Nov. 14 deadline is fast approaching.
According to the Santa Fe New Mexican, Secretary of State Dianna Duran has informed the state’s attorney general’s office about two noncitizens who have asked to have their names removed from the state’s voter rolls. According to Duran, one person incorrectly registered while going through the citizenship process and another claimed they were forced to register by a third-party organization.
Personnel News: After a dozen years on the job, Colorado Deputy Secretary of State Bill Hobbs, 64, announced his retirement. Hobbs was first appointed by Secretary of State Donetta Davidson and served five secretaries of state. Gov. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) has removed Madison County Supervisor of Elections Jada Woods Williams from her position after she was arrested on voter fraud charges. In Sedgwick County, Kan. Deputy Election Commissioner Tabitha Lehman will be moving on up to the top elections official position following the resignation of Commissioner Bill Gale. State Rep. Zack Hudgins (D-Tukwila) has announced that he will seek Washington’s top elections job. Two other candidates have previously announced their intentions to seek the job. No one is really sure how long Austin Hallinan, 92 has been working for the Blair County, Pa. elections office, but he’s seen the county go from paper ballots, to punch card ballot to electronic voting machines. Hallinan worked his last election last year at 91 and finally decided to call it quits this year.

electionlineWeekly

May 16, 2013

First Person Singular: Gary Bartlett
KISS for a better today and tomorrow

By Gary Bartlett
North Carolina State Board of Elections

This article is going to be about my thoughts on effectively managing the elections process. I’ll tell you that from the start in case you had other ideas. As I sat down to write this article, I started kicking around some thoughts on what was going to be my hook. How do I capture your attention in order to get my points across?

My first thought was to entitle this article: Weathering the Tides of Political Influence and Change. And while the weather presents great opportunities to present analogies about the ebb and flow of the elections process or managing political storms, I felt that this was too cliché.

So how about comparing the elections process to a playground? On a playground, there are swings and slides and see saws, monkey bars and of course, the sandbox. A playground analogy could offer up nice realisms like “take turns” or “let everyone have a turn”, “stay in line,” “play nice,” and of course, “don’t touch the metal when it’s hot.” Effective messages, but again, it’s been done before.

Instead, I want your attention; so I’m going to use the hook that always works –KISSing. Sorry, no juicy or salacious stuff will be forthcoming from me. Remember, I warned you from the beginning? I’m going to hook you by speaking plain simple truths. In essence, I will be keeping it simple –because I’m not stupid. Read More…

Calendar

May 2013

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electionlineToday

May 21, 2013

Dutchess college students win voting rights settlement in federal court
Dutchess County’s Republican elections commissioner has agreed to stop demanding college students provide the name of their dorms and their room number in order to register to vote. Patricia Doxsey, Daily Freeman.

Ohio Senate puts brakes on plan to link in-state tuition to voting
A House-passed budget provision that would have cost Ohio universities about $370 million a year in tuition payments is likely to be removed by the Senate, but that doesn’t mean the issue of out-of-state students voting in Ohio is dead. Jim Siegel, The Columbus Dispatch.

Also in electionlineToday news: California, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and national news (7:30 a.m. 05/21/13).