Weekly Wrap Up

December 4, 2009

Every Friday, State of Elections brings you the latest news in state election law.

– Events in Virginia’s 21st district are moving quickly, and Virginia Beach Circuit Court Judge Fredrick Lowe has scheduled a recount for the 14th of December.

-Hawaii’s chief election officer, Kevin Cronin, has resigned abruptly, shortly after proposing a plan that would close 40% of that state’s polling places.   The plan, Cronin says, is a necessary evil after budget cuts have severely hampered the state’s ability to fund its elections.

– A New Jersey judge has extended restrictions on GOP “ballot security” programs.

– A pro “instant runoff” group in Minnesota has been fined for violating that state’s election laws, as they falsely claimed that Barack Obama, John McCain, and others endorsed a Minnesota ballot measure to institute runoff voting in that state.  Instant runoff voting is a form of voting in which voters rank the candidates by preference.  Obama and McCain are active supporters of instant runoff voting, but they have not actively endorsed the Minnesota ballot measure, as was claimed in some of the group’s literature.*

Permalink: https://stateofelecdev.wpengine.com/2009/12/03/weekly-wrap-up-2/

*Editor’s note: This posting originally implied that Obama and McCain do not support instant runoff voting, when in fact they do.   Stateofelections.com regrets the error.