Elections

As more Hispanics reach voting age or become citizens, influence will rise

11 October 2007 -- Washington -- U.S. Census records indicate the 44-million-member Hispanic community is the fastest growing minority group in the United States, accounting for as much as half of the total population growth. However, because Hispanics account for only 10 percent of new U.S. voters, their growing numbers are not translating into political influence yet, says researcher Richard Fry.    » read more »

Precinct 4 Commissioner Raymond Villarreal resigns today under plea agreement

October 9, 2007 -- REFUGIO – A sitting Refugio County, Texas Precinct 4 commissioner today pleaded guilty to felony election fraud charges in Refugio County and will also plead to an associated misdemeanor charge next week. Commissioner Raymond Villarreal, 57, admitted to tampering with governmental records during the March 2006 primary election. Last February, a Refugio County grand jury indicted Villarreal for violating state law as a candidate for the county commissioners court.    » read more »

5 October 2007 -- The Carter Center is profoundly disappointed with the announcement of a second postponement of Nepal's constituent assembly election. The Center hopes that Nepal's political leadership will now use the time ahead of them wisely to reach reasonable compromises on key issues in dispute.    » read more »

Politicians sport the “common touch” with electorate

05 October 2007 -- Washington -- U.S. presidential candidates are using the time-honored practice of declaring their allegiance to American sports teams to show their affinity with regular people.

The most publicized examples of these displays are with New York Democratic Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republican Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City. Clinton and Giuliani are considered the front-runners for their respective political parties’ presidential nominations in 2008.    » read more »

October 05, 2007 -- SACRAMENTO - California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today released the details of a settlement that requires Kern and Santa Cruz counties to improve accessibility to polling places. Each settlement requires the counties to upgrade polling facilities, employ an architectural consultant, and provide additional training to employees who select and setup accessible polling sites on election days.    » read more »

04 October 2007

Democratic candidates edge out Republicans in the race for funds

By Stuart Gorin
USINFO Special Correspondent

Washington -- At the end of each quarter of the calendar year, U.S. presidential candidates must reveal how much money they have raised to fund their campaigns. The monies pay for such expenses as campaign travel, office space, television and radio advertising, telephone service and printing literature.    » read more »

Statement of Laura MacCleery, Director of Public Citizen’s Congress Watch Division

Oct. 3, 2007 -- If the Senate wants to help boost public confidence in an agency that has consistently weakened campaign finance laws, it should defeat the nomination of Hans von Spakovsky as a member of the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Von Spakovsky’s demonstrated record of excessive partisanship and unfair acts toward political adversaries would cripple the agency, which is already struggling to prove it can be even-handed in interpreting the law and settling partisan disputes.    » read more »

Octoberber 3, 2007 -- (Washington, DC) - Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and Subcommittee Chairpersons Robert C. Scott (D-VA), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), and Linda Sánchez (D-CA) sent a letter to Acting Attorney General Peter D. Keisler seeking answers about allegations of voter suppression in battleground states across the country, using a technique called "phone jamming," as well as failing to register Democratic voters and destroying Democratic voter registration cards.    » read more »

October 02, 2007 -- (Frankfort, KY) -- Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson, chair of the State Board of Elections and Kentucky’s Chief Elections Official, received a report today commissioned by Attorney General Greg Stumbo that, among other things, encourages Kentucky to move to optical scan voting machines as Grayson has advocated.    » read more »

October 02, 2007 -- Kentucky Attorney General Greg Stumbo today released to the State Board of Elections and Secretary of State Trey Grayson an independent expert report detailing needed improvements to Kentucky’s electronic voting system certifications. (Click here to view letter to Grayson: http://tinyurl.com/2hnbby)    » read more »

September 28, 2007 -- (Frankfort, KY) With the 2007 general election only weeks away, Kentuckians, including election officials across the state, will be focusing on Voter Registration Week in order to increase the number of registered voters eligible to vote in the November 6, 2007 election. This is the first time Kentucky has had its own Voter Registration Week, which will be held on October 1-7, 2007.    » read more »

28 September 2007 -- The top four U.S. Republican Party presidential candidates have skipped a debate on minority concerns, raising questions of racial division within the party.

Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson and Senator John McCain all said scheduling conflicts prevented them from attending Thursday's debate at a historically African-American university, Morgan State in the mid-Atlantic state of Maryland.    » read more »

September 26, 2007 -- Lansing, MI - Today, Michigan Department of Civil Rights (MDCR) Director Linda V. Parker applauded the U.S. Justice Department's decision to delay approval of the proposed Voter ID regulations and the proposed closure of the Buena Vista branch office of the Secretary of State. The delay follows requests by the MDCR and other concerned organizations that the "Secretary of State (SOS) be made to hold hearings or otherwise allow for public comment regarding the proposed rule changes in voting requirements."    » read more »

September 24, 2007 -- Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Chairman of the Rules and Administration Committee, today attempted to move common sense legislation that would require Senate campaign finance reports to be filed electronically. And for the third time this year, the effort was blocked by a Republican Senator.

Senator Feinstein spoke on the Senate floor this afternoon in support of S. 223, and asked for unanimous consent to pass the legislation. However, Senator John Ensign (R-Nev.) objected to the motion.    » read more »