Archive for the ‘Secretaries of State’ Category
WA GOP Secretary of State Tells Parties “Embrace the Top Two Primary”
Last Updated on Wednesday, 17 September 2008 10:19 Written by rslcpol Wednesday, 17 September 2008 10:19
From the Seattle Times:
I respectfully call upon the political parties of Washington to drop their continuing legal challenges to the top-two primary. They should put their time and talent to better use improving our state and developing new leaders for tomorrow, rather than fighting the clear will of the people.
The voters of Washington approved this new system by a landslide margin in 2004, and last March, the highest court in the land, in a ringing 7-2 opinion, set aside objections from the political parties and cleared the way for this popular new system to be used this summer.
The people love it, pure and simple. In my travels across this state and in conversations with our hardworking county auditors, one message comes through loud and clear: Voters are delighted to return to a system that allows maximum independence of thought and choice.
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OH: Republicans Fighting For Crucial Votes
Last Updated on Monday, 15 September 2008 09:57 Written by rslcpol Monday, 15 September 2008 09:57
From The Wall Street Journal:
The Ohio Republican Party spearheaded a lawsuit Friday over a directive from the office of Democratic Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner that would allow some early voters to register and vote on the same day.
The suit, filed by two Ohio voters in the Supreme Court of Ohio, in Columbus, ramps up the battle over voting procedures in a critical swing state with 20 electoral votes. But the parties’ roles are reversed from the 2004 election. This time, a Democrat is setting the rules, and the state Republican Party is charging that those rules favor Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate.
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MT: Truth to Democrat Governor’s “Joke”
Last Updated on Friday, 12 September 2008 10:38 Written by rslcpol Friday, 12 September 2008 10:38
From Missoulian:
However, at least one Big Horn County observer was asked to leave a Crow Reservation polling place on election night 2006, according to a signed affidavit by the observer that is part of a dismissed federal lawsuit alleging elections fraud.
Terry Coddens, a poll observer at the Crow Agency polling place for two predominantly American Indian precincts, signed a sworn affidavit in November 2006 saying an election judge asked him to leave shortly after the polls had closed at 8 p.m., but before election workers had counted the ballots.
State law stipulates that election observers must be able to witness the counting of the votes and the recording of the results, said Bowen Greenwood, a spokesman for the secretary of state’s office.
Coddens also wrote that election judges did not secure ballot boxes with locks.
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WA: Voter Registration Period Prime Time For ID Thieves
Last Updated on Friday, 12 September 2008 10:26 Written by rslcpol Friday, 12 September 2008 10:26
From KOMONews:
With the deadline for voter registration just weeks away, these crooks have a perfect excuse to ask for personal information. So be on guard.
“It could be a phone call that’s unsolicited or an e-mail that’s unsolicited asking for information in the guise of asking about voter registration, but wanting information like Social Security numbers or credit card numbers,” said Julie Mayer with the Federal Trade Commission office in Seattle.
If you’re already registered, don’t respond to a call or e-mail asking for personal information. If you want to register, do it yourself.
“All you have to do is go on the Secretary of State website, www.vote.wa.gov and you can register if you have either a Washington State driver’s license or a Washington State Identification Card.”
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Montana Officials Chastise Governor; Dem AG Refuses to Investigate
Last Updated on Friday, 12 September 2008 10:21 Written by rslcpol Friday, 12 September 2008 10:20
The Republican Secretary of State Brad Johnson asked for an investigation, but the Democrat Attorney General Mike McGrath has refused. The story has gone national…
From the New York Times:
But Republicans in Montana were not amused, including Secretary of State Brad Johnson, who asked the state attorney general to investigate the matter.
Attorney General Mike McGrath, a Democrat, declined the request, but he and Mr. Johnson both took the opportunity to play smack a mole, with Mr. Schweitzer as the mole.
“Any question at all about the integrity of our election officials and workers cannot go unanswered,” Mr. Johnson said in forwarding a citizen’s complaint lodged by a columnist and Republican political activist in Bozeman, Tamara Hall, who found the speech on the Internet and wrote about it.
Mr. McGrath said there was “no allegation supported by fact,” to justify an investigation, only the lame words of “a speaker trying to be funny.”
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Much has Changed in Washington Elections
Last Updated on Monday, 8 September 2008 01:44 Written by rslcpol Monday, 8 September 2008 10:29
The narrowness of the margin in WA Gov’s race in 2004 made the narrowness of the margin in the 2000 Presidential race look like the Grand Canyon. From GJSentinel.com:
Washington state’s last governor’s race ended in controversy with three counts, a court challenge and an astonishingly close margin of victory for the current governor.
Four years later, after a detailed process of election reform, the secretary of state is assuring voters that “voter rolls are the cleanest they have ever been” for the long-anticipated rematch between Republican Dino Rossi and Gov. Chris Gregoire.
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GOP Up-And-Comers Work The Room
Last Updated on Wednesday, 3 September 2008 10:53 Written by rslcpol Wednesday, 3 September 2008 09:49
A great article that lays out perfectly the successes of the RSLC in its mission of recruiting and electing America’s Future Leaders. From National Journal Online:
The Republican State Leadership Committee, an Alexandria, Va.-based group that has raised $20 million in each of the last two election cycles to support state-level candidates, is aiming to even the score this year and especially in 2010, the next time a large slate of attorney general, secretary of state, lieutenant governor, and governor races will be on the ballot. “We really believe we’re building the farm team for the future,” said Carrie Cantrell, the committee’s policy-and-communications director.
Many candidates are serving as delegates to the convention. They’re also using the event to build name recognition by talking to their own local radio, television, and print publications as McCain campaign surrogates. “Everyone’s looking for a local angle,” Cantrell said.
One rising star at the convention is Bob McDonnell, the GOP’s best hope for replacing Tim Kaine, the one-term-limited Democratic governor of Virginia. While the Democrats have yet to coalesce around a candidate, Republicans have united behind McDonnell, the Old Dominion’s attorney general, who was hustling between television interviews in the convention hall in St. Paul on Monday.
Montana Deals With Early Absentee Voting
Last Updated on Tuesday, 2 September 2008 10:41 Written by rslcpol Tuesday, 2 September 2008 10:41
From The Montana Standard:
For nearly 200,000 voters in Montana this fall, Election Day may come early, via absentee ballots — and campaigns are adjusting to this new reality.
“You can’t wait to define yourself or your opponent until late September or October, like it used to be,” says Erik Iverson, chairman of the Montana Republican Party. “You’ve got to start early, and it doesn’t mean you get to quit early. You’ve got to push on through.” A majority of Montana voters still are expected to vote the old-fashioned way, going to the polls Nov. 4. But under Montana law, absentee ballots are available Oct. 6, allowing thousands of people to vote starting 30 days before the election.
Montana allows anyone to request an absentee ballot, and an ever-increasing number of people are choosing this option.
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Ohio GOP Have 2010 in Mind?
Last Updated on Tuesday, 2 September 2008 02:10 Written by rslcpol Tuesday, 2 September 2008 10:33
Note to any elected official, or person seeking public office. Don’t take political advice from the press – having a reporter dispense political advice is like having a dog catcher dispense medical advice – it makes no sense, and it just isn’t their strong suit. From Ohio.com:
Republicans are doing everything they can to put Brunner’s name in negative headlines across the state. She inadvertently helps them far too often.
Brunner is a target because her office is one of five on the apportionment board that will decide how state legislative lines are redrawn after the 2010 election.
But don’t place any bets on Husted running against her.There’s a far better path for the speaker to follow as he positions himself to run for governor in 2014: becoming state treasurer. The reasons the treasurer’s race is the smarter move on the political chessboard are obvious in the short and long term for Husted.
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OH: Dem Secretary of State Sends Angry Letter to GOP
Last Updated on Friday, 29 August 2008 10:33 Written by rslcpol Friday, 29 August 2008 10:33
From Dispatch Politics:
Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner fired off an angry letter to Republican legislative leaders yesterday, accusing them of creating confusion and interfering in the election process by sending conflicting messages to county elections officials about absentee ballots.
The message to Speaker Jon Husted and Senate President Bill Harris reflected Brunner’s ongoing frustration with the lack of communication between her office and legislative leadership on the issue.
The legislature passed a law in late spring that Husted and Harris say requires that all counties mail absentee ballot applications to voters along with a 60-day notice of the Nov. 4 election.
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