National News

By John Washburn  
This article was posted at Washburn's World and is reposted here with permission of the author.

While Court Leaves Door Open For Future Challenges to Restrictive ID Laws, Center Calls on Lawmakers Across Country to Enact Laws That Protect the Right to Vote

Today the Brennan Center for Justice criticized the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to uphold Indiana's voter identification law  the strictest in the country  but noted that the decision did not give other states a blank check to block eligible voters.  The Brennan Center called on lawmakers across the country to reject similar laws and to pass affirmative legislation protecting the right to vote.

by Rob Lever, Agence France-Presse via Inquirer.net
 

WASHINGTON--Eight years after glitches marred the 2000 presidential elections, Americans are still struggling over voting machine technology amid growing concerns about the reliability of electronic systems.

By PR Newswire

WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new report by electionline.org details how five states that implemented electronic voting have chosen or are considering statewide paper-based optical scan systems.

"Back to Paper" explores the process by which California, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico and Ohio -- having adopted electronic voting systems -- subsequently decided to de-certify, re-examine or re-think their use.

The New York Times

By Clive Thompson, The New York Times Magazine

Jane Platten gestured, bleary-eyed, into the secure room filled with voting
machines. It was 3 a.m. on Nov. 7, and she had been working for 22 hours
straight. "I guess we've seen how technology can affect an election," she
said. The electronic voting machines in Cleveland were causing trouble
again.

Note: Citizens for Election Integrity Minnesota was a co-sponsor and the host organization for this national audit summit - the first of its kind.

by Tim Padgett, Time Magazine  

By California Voter Foundation   

36 states pass, 14 fail, 21 earn higher grades
 

By Warren Stewart, VerifiedVoting.org
 

As they prepare to spend millions of dollars in re-election campaigns, members of Congress should be asking themselves “Do I want to be Christine Jennings?”