The Voter Fraud Fraud - New York Times (Andrew Rosenthal)

The Voter Fraud Fraud

By Andrew Rosenthal

Even in this cynical era of the politics of fear, obstruction and exclusion, I am surprised at the lengths to which some groups will go to put up barriers to voting. --->>>

Bulgaria's Greens party has officially requested the annulment of the election results

Bulgaria's Greens party has officially requested the annulment of the election results in the capital Sofia by submitting a claim with the Sofia Administrative Court.

The move came in the aftermath of another claim, submitted with the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) on Election Day, which was left without a response.

The left-wing Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) also announced they were considering a similar claim. --->>>

Bulgaria: Why do citizens sell their vote?

Why do citizens sell their vote?

This weekend Bulgaria holds its presidential and local elections. Diana Kovatcheva, Executive Director of Transparency International Bulgaria, writes about their new report that has been making waves with concerns that vote-buying is an all too common practice.

Transparency International Bulgaria has been monitoring the transparency of election campaigns for ten years (see our last report here). During this time we have seen that attempts to manipulate elections’ results through vote buying, corporate pressure over voters and other illicit tactics are all too common. The survey we carried out this October and published this week shows that many Bulgarians also feel that their elections are tarnished by corrupt practices. --->>>

Widespread claims of vote-buying in Bulgaria

Widespread claims of vote-buying in Bulgaria

SOFIA, Oct 24 - Widespread allegations of vote-buying and pressure on minorities, even if largely unproven, marred Bulgaria's presidential and local elections, international observers said Monday.

"Vote-buying is extremely difficult to observe and to prove and we do not have any true evidence," OSCE mission chief Vadim Zhdanovic told a press conference.

"But regardless of the veracity of the allegations of vote-buying, the fact that they are so persistent and widespread concerns us because it undermines public trust in the election process," he added. --->>>

Bulgaria - The vote-buying business

Bulgaria - The vote-buying business

For Bulgarian television journalists and state authorities, election 2011 has meant the opening of hunting season, as reporters, undercover agents and prosecutors set out on the trail of those who buy and sell votes. --->>>

Voter fraud: 65% of votes in Balochistan were bogus

Voter fraud: 65% of votes in Balochistan were bogus

Balochistan had the highest rate of fake voters during the 2008 general election, according to findings from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA). --->>>

Summers: No Voter Fraud Found, but Maine's System Needs Fixing

Summers: No Voter Fraud Found, but Maine's System Needs Fixing

An investigation prompted by Republican allegations of potential voter fraud linked to same-day voter registration has produced a lot of smoke but not much fire, according to critics. Maine Secretary of State Charlie Summers told reporters today that his two-month investigation has produced no evidence of wrongdoing, but does suggest that numerous clerical errors occur when voters are allowed to register on Election Day. --->>>

Electoral transparency: Biometrics could eliminate bogus votes if approved

Electoral transparency: Biometrics could eliminate bogus votes if approved

Technological innovations will make bogus voting difficult if not impossible in Pakistan, where the number of bogus votes has called into question the legitimacy of the present government, if the introduction of biometrics is mandated for the next elections. --->>>

A vote against voting [Editorial: Washington Post]

A vote against voting

A FLURRY OF activity in state legislatures across the country is threatening to make it more difficult for people to vote. These Republican-sponsored measures move the nation in the wrong direction.

The bills generally take two forms: stringent new requirements for the kind of IDs voters must show and restrictions on early voting. Both would suppress turnout in a nation that already fails to turn out a majority of its eligible voting population. --->>>

How states are rigging the 2012 election [Dionne, Washington Post]

How states are rigging the 2012 election

An attack on the right to vote is underway across the country through laws designed to make it more difficult to cast a ballot. If this were happening in an emerging democracy, we’d condemn it as election-rigging. But it’s happening here, so there’s barely a whimper.

The laws are being passed in the name of preventing “voter fraud.” But study after study has shown that fraud by voters is not a major problem — and is less of a problem than how hard many states make it for people to vote in the first place. Some of the new laws, notably those limiting the number of days for early voting, have little plausible connection to battling fraud. --->>>

MinnPost - D.C. Dispatches: GOP demands probe of alleged voter fraud in Franken-Coleman election

MinnPost - D.C. Dispatches: GOP demands probe of alleged voter fraud in Franken-Coleman election

A top House Republican is wading into the emerging controversy over voting fraud in the 2008 Minnesota Senate election, as Republicans on the state level called for investigations into voter fraud. --->>>

Bogus voters: Election Commission of India team to visit Gujarat - dnaindia.com

Bogus voters: Election Commission of India team to visit Gujarat - dnaindia.com

Ahmedabad: The Election Commission of India (ECI) seems to have taken a serious note of the reports brought out by Gujarat Congress alleging that Gujarat's electoral list has over 30 lakh fake voters.

A five-member team of ECI is likely to visit the state in the next fortnight to meet senior government officials, including chief secretary AK Joti, to seek investigation into the loopholes pointed out by Congress, and rectify the rolls before the nagarpalika and corporation polls in October this year. --->>>

South Carolina: Did Voting Machines Play a Role in Alvin Greene's Win? - Politics - The Atlantic

Did Voting Machines Play a Role in Alvin Greene's Win? - Politics - The Atlantic

It's an explanation that's been proposed by some: that South Carolina's electronic touch-screen voting machines had something to do with Alvin Greene's victory in the state's Democratic Senate primary. --->>>

Britain's electoral system 'corruptible and open to fraud', say Third World observers - Telegraph

Britain's electoral system 'corruptible and open to fraud', say Third World observers - Telegraph

The General Election on May 6 was the first UK poll at which overseas observers were invited to attend polling stations and counts.

The team of parliamentarians and officials from 11 Commonwealth countries said the electoral system contained vulnerabilities that made it “corruptible and open to fraud”. --->>>

See also: UK voting system is ''open to fraud''

Fraud and the election: Going postal | The Economist

Fraud and the election: Going postal | The Economist

Electoral fraud is not a problem confined to distant countries. --->>>

By permitting fraud we betray democracy - Telegraph

By permitting fraud we betray democracy - Telegraph

The increase in postal-vote fraud is an urgent and dangerous issue, argues Andrew Gilligan. --->>>

General Election 2010: Postal vote fraud amid fears bogus voters could swing election | Mail Online

General Election 2010: Postal vote fraud amid fears bogus voters could swing election | Mail Online:

Voter fraud could determine the outcome of the general election as evidence emerges of massive postal vote rigging.

Police have launched 50 criminal inquiries nationwide amid widespread cases of electoral rolls being packed with ‘bogus’ voters. --->>>

'The first punch came, landing on my nose, sending blood down my face' - UK Politics, UK - The Independent

'The first punch came, landing on my nose, sending blood down my face' - UK Politics, UK - The Independent:"

Independent' reporter Jerome Taylor relives his bloody experience on the trail of voting fraud in east London.

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General Election 2010: Postal voting system is a farce that shames democracy | Mail Online

General Election 2010: Postal voting system is a farce that shames democracy | Mail Online:

"Thanks to the introduction of mass postal voting on demand, the stench of malpractice now hangs over the process, whether it be through serial abuses on the electoral roll or widespread fraud in the casting of postal votes." --->>>

UK - Election law loophole exposes postal votes to danger of fraud - Times Online

Election law loophole exposes postal votes to danger of fraud - Times Online:

Election chiefs have called for political parties to be banned from handling postal vote forms as an investigation by The Times exposes major loopholes in guidelines to prevent fraud.

Parties have been encouraging voters to send their postal vote application forms to local political offices instead of to town halls, against advice in the Electoral Commission’s code of conduct.

David Monks, the leader of Britain’s returning officers, condemned the practice yesterday and warned that it could lead to electoral fraud. --->>>