All this and more in today's voting news below...
AK: Alaska's Miller sees hope in military vote
click here alaskas_miller_sees_hope_in_military_vote/ http://tinyurl.com/2blmp9j The state has so far recorded more than 98,500 write-in ballots cast.
AK: Alaska elections director thrust into spotlight
click here
Ey1n2w?docId=eb57ba42fc9742d1baae9c1eb1c128af http://tinyurl.com/2bva2ky
She presses a ballot close to her red glasses, pauses to scrutinize the botched spelling and declares in a singsong voice: "Murkowski."
"Challenge," comes the reflexive retort from an observer.
The Alaska Division of Elections has posted a tentative tally of the number of write-in votes for all declared write-in candidates. Other than Lisa Murkowski, no declared write-in candidate for U.S. Senate received more than eleven votes.
AK: Absentee Senate ballot count slated to start Monday
http://www.ktuu.com/news/ktuu-2010elect-senate-ballot-count-update-111410,0,1653487.story
AR: Changes Ahead For Early Voting
http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2010/nov/14/changes-ahead-early-voting/
CA: Voting Group Demands Grand Jury Look (Fresno County)
http://www.kmjnow.com/pages/landing_news?Voting-Group-Demands-Grand-Jury-Look=1&blockID=351750&feedID=806
Sabina Gonzalez of Communities for a New California told reporters at a news conference that county clerk Victor Salazar's decision to cut the number of polling places in half because of budget cuts may have discouraged as many as 20,000 voters.
CA: Registrar tried, not hard enough; balloting system needs to change
http://www.mydesert.com/article/20101114/COLUMNS26/11130361/Registrar-tried-not-hard-enough-balloting-system-needs-to-change ...She is the victim of very unequal voting laws plus a computer system that cannot handle the upsurge in absentee ballot voting. It continues to increase as voters find it much easier to vote from home and let the Postal Service do the legwork.
...
It is state law that the ballot must be in the registrar's office by the close of Election Day. This is a horrible penalty for the citizens of the Coachella Valley, because we do not have direct mail access to the Riverside post office...
CA: 'Grinding on': Elections office continues to sort through ballots; final results likely more than a week away http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_16603456
In Humboldt, Crnich said elections staff is still working through the process of auditing materials returned from the polls and updating voter histories, which she said need to be completed before the county can even begin to sort through the almost 13,000 ballots that remain to be counted. Crnich said she's hopeful those processes will be completed by the end of next week, at which point staff will be able to begin verifying signatures on the outstanding vote-by-mail ballots, sorting them and counting them...
CA: Jumping the gun
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20101115/A_OPINION01/11150304/-1/A_OPINION
Harmer wise not to concede to McNerney just yet in 11th District race
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Harmer still refused to concede. That's probably wise, because there are still about 11,000 provisional ballots uncounted, more than half of them in San Joaquin County, where Harmer actually beat McNerney by more than 4 percentage points.
CA: Kamala Harris Adds to Lead in State Attorney General's Race
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/politics/Kamala-Harris-Steve-Cooley-108274459.html
CA: Attorney General campaigns exchange charges of improprieties
http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_16617500?nclick_check=1
(still counting or challenging provisional & vote by mail ballots)
CA: After Election, Ranked-Choice Voting Gets Mixed Reviews
http://www.baycitizen.org/oakland-mayoral-race/story/after-election-ranked-choice-voting-gets/
For candidate Don Macleay, who was also eliminated early on, the problem with ranked-choice has more to do with a common misunderstanding among his supporters on the best way to navigate the system. "It didn't work well for us -- a lot of people did not understand that you should put the candidate that stands the least chance first," Macleay says...
CA: Election reform, local style: changes coming to the way you vote in L.A
http://www.scpr.org/programs/patt-morrison/2010/11/15/election-reform-local-style-changes-coming-to-the-/
CO: State intervenes in Marks' campaign reform battle (observing process)
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20101115/NEWS/101119906/1077&ParentProfile=1058
Marks said she isn't challenging the 6-foot rule at polling places. It is clear that poll watchers must stay 6 feet away from voters so there is no chance of intimidation, she said. But she doesn't believe state law applies the 6-foot rule to poll watchers' observation of the processing of ballots by election judges.
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Based on that analysis, Vos Caudill enforced the rule. Marks and another poll watcher, Harvie Branscomb, reported to duty as poll watchers on Oct. 25 armed with binoculars. They stood on chairs outside the 6-foot limit and tried to focus on the work of the election judges.
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