Elections Ontario offers more options for voters

Elections Ontario offers more options for voters

Election Ontario announced Monday that for the 40th provincial election, voters will get 29 days to vote, much longer than any other occasion to improve voter participation. --->>>

Postal strike may delay B.C. HST referendum - CBC

Postal strike may delay B.C. HST referendum

Elections B.C. says a looming strike at Canada Post could delay or extend a mail-in referendum on the province's harmonized sales tax.

Canada Post has received 72-hour strike notice from the union representing postal workers, meaning the workers are in a legal strike position on Thursday.

Three million HST referendum ballots are to be mailed out in mid-June, with the ballots to be returned by July 22. However, the dates could be extended if there's a postal strike. --->>>

Romania to introduce postal voting, says president

Romania to introduce postal voting, says president

Romania will attempt to introduce postal voting, to help Romanians abroad express their political option, and will increase the number of programs meant to strengthen the diaspora's attachment to the home country, President Traian Basescu said Thursday in a meeting with ambassadors of EU states, Romanian Mediafax news agency reports. --->>>

India : Govt. issues notification for NRI voting rights - The Hindu : News / National

The Hindu : News / National : Govt. issues notification for NRI voting rights: "A longstanding wish of millions of NRIs for voting rights in India has come true with the Centre issuing a notification to this effect to enable them to exercise their franchise.

Parliament had in the monsoon session passed the Representation of People (Amendment) Bill, 2010 to allow NRIs to vote in Indian elections and now government has issued a gazette notification in this regard.

“Gazette notification has been issued giving voting rights to Non-Resident Indians,” Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi told the Lok Sabha.

An estimated 11 million NRIs are living in various countries across the world. --->>>

See also: Punjab minister wants email ballot facility for NRI's

Board Announces New Timeline for Digital Vote-by-Mail Project for Overseas Voters | Business Wire

Board Announces New Timeline for Digital Vote-by-Mail Project for Overseas Voters | Business Wire:

“Digital Vote-by-Mail” - a software application that will allow overseas voters to receive their blank ballot digitally and, at their option, digitally return their marked ballot using a more secure method than e-mail or fax - will be tested in a mock election environment during the second half of September. --->>>

Australia: Long days ahead when every vote counts

Long days ahead when every vote counts:

IN AN era of instant online gratification, it is tempting to ask ''Why are we waiting?'' for the votes to be counted from Saturday's election. ...

... The simple answer is because the Commonwealth Electoral Act requires every House of Representatives vote to be counted manually and allows voters who can't make it to a polling place on election day to cast ''declaration votes''.

According to the Australian Electoral Commission's spokesman, Phil Diak, there have been about 13 million votes cast in this election and roughly 2 million of these are so-called ''declaration'' votes. --->>>

BOWE BELL + HOWELL Processes Vote by Mail Envelopes With Parascript's Technology

BOWE BELL + HOWELL Processes Vote by Mail Envelopes With Parascript's Technology During... -- BOULDER, Colo., Aug. 12 /PRNewswire/ --:

Parascript, LLC, the image analysis and pattern recognition technology provider, today announced that its signature verification technology was used during the 2010 primary elections to process incoming Vote by Mail (VBM) envelopes in two counties in California. Between the two counties, over 100,000 envelopes were handled on industry-leading Criterion sorting systems from BOWE BELL + HOWELL (BBH) that utilize Parascript's SignatureXpert software for signature verification. This greatly reduced the manual effort required for processing these envelopes.

The vote-by-mail solution from BBH was first used in 2007 and has been used by BBH clients in every election since 2007, including the 2008 presidential election. --->>>

PR-USA.net - NLRB Sets Date for Biggest Union Election in 70 Years

PR-USA.net - NLRB Sets Date for Biggest Union Election in 70 Years:

The National Labor Relations Board has scheduled a government-protected mail ballot election beginning Sept. 13 for nearly 44,000 Kaiser Permanente workers to join the National Union of Healthcare Workers and kick out the incumbent union SEIU. --->>>

Large mailout of vote by mail ballots

CityNews Ohio - Shaker Heights, OH : Mon Jul 26 2010 08:32:03 GMT-0300 (Atlantic Daylight Time)

The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections is conducting a county-wide mailing of 691,970 Vote by Mail ballot applications for the September 7th Primary Election. The mailing marks the debut of a new ballot application that is designed to make it easier for voters to complete the required information needed to receive a ballot. The application includes a return, postage-paid envelope. The mailing will begin on July 21st. --->>>

NUHW wins agreement for workers' right to vote by mail

NUHW wins agreement for workers' right to vote by mail

On a conference call held Wednesday by the National Labor Relations Board, the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) won an agreement that ensures workers' right to vote by mail in the privacy of their homes, in a government-protected election to join NUHW.

Until Wednesday's call, the embattled incumbent union SEIU had insisted that all employees should be forced to vote in the workplace, where Kaiser managers and SEIU staff have exclusive access and have worked to prevent voters from hearing both sides. --->>>

California: The New Phenomenon of Voting By Mail | The Rose Report

The New Phenomenon of Voting By Mail | The Rose Report

There is no question but that Californians like to vote by mail, making their decisions leisurely over the kitchen table rather than in a polling booth. ... --->>>

Federal government overturns Manitoba First Nation's election

Federal government overturns Manitoba First Nation's election

The federal government has overturned election results for Lake St. Martin First Nation, north of Winnipeg, for the second time in five years.

The election was held Sept. 10, 2009, and, after an appeal and independent investigation, the federal cabinet ordered the election's results overturned June 3, citing violations of Indian band election regulations.

"The chief and the six councillors were advised on June 7," said Indian and Northern Affairs Canada spokeswoman Margot Geduld. "This is after careful examination and an independent investigation. This decision isn't taken lightly."

Geduld said the violations included failing to maintain control of the ballot process, opening mail-in ballots and depositing them into the ballot box, failing to maintain adequate records of mail-in ballots and allowing individual electors to vote more than once. --->>>

Registrar of Voters to purchase $650K in equipment to speed up ballot counts :: The Valley News

Registrar of Voters to purchase $650K in equipment to speed up ballot counts :: The Valley News

Riverside County supervisors today authorized the purchase of roughly $650,000 in equipment to speed up election ballot counts and stressed the need for better communication and protocols in the Registrar of Voters' Office to prevent a repeat of the problems that cropped up during the June 8 primary. --->>>

See also:
Funds OK'd to fix election mishap;
County supervisors approve election report, keep registrar

CBC News - Calgary - Mail-in ballots reinstated for Calgary vote

CBC News - Calgary - Mail-in ballots reinstated for Calgary vote

Calgarians can again vote via mail-in ballots which now require proof of ID after irregularities were found in the 2004 municipal election. --->>>

Riverside County, CA: Want to know if your vote was counted? Check website | mydesert.com | The Desert Sun

Want to know if your vote was counted? Check website | mydesert.com | The Desert Sun

Because of a yet-to-be explained glitch, more than 12,000 vote-by-mail ballots in Riverside County will not be counted because they were held at a post office until after the close of polls. --->>>

Napa Valley, CA: 13,000 ballots still uncounted | St. Helena Star

13,000 ballots still uncounted | St. Helena Star

The Napa County elections office is still counting about 13,600 ballots — or 42 percent of the votes cast in last Tuesday’s election — and is not expected to release official results until June 24, Napa County Registrar of Voters John Tuteur reports.

The remaining ballots come from a surge in last-minute votes last week, nearly all of which are from vote-by-mail voters who waited to drop off their ballots in-person, Tuteur said. --->>>

Thousands of mailed ballots too late to be counted in California - Sacramento Politics - California Politics | Sacramento Bee

Thousands of mailed ballots too late to be counted in California - Sacramento Politics - California Politics | Sacramento Bee

As the number of people voting by mail balloons in California, another trend is growing, too: Thousands of California ballots went uncounted in last Tuesday's election because they arrived too late – after polls closed at 8 p.m.

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/06/15/2822821/thousands-of-vote-by-mail-ballots.html#ixzz0qwAdxJm9

London | Snail mail No. 1 with a ballot | News | London Free Press

London, ON | Snail mail No. 1 with a ballot | News | London Free Press

The city will this fall introduce vote-by-mail, a widely-used alternative voting method. But another emerging option — voting online — will have to wait at least four more years. --->>>

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. --->>>