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Karzai Declared Afghan President, Run-Off Scrapped

Afghan President Hamid Karzai waves his hat as he waits to meet U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Kabul November 2, 2009. Afghanistan's election commission declared Karzai elected as president on Monday after it called off a runoff following the withdrawal of his only rival Abdullah Abdullah. (REUTERS/Ahmad Masood)

KABUL - Afghanistan's election commission declared Hamid Karzai elected as president on Monday after it called off a runoff following the withdrawal of his only rival.

The run-off, called after the first round in August was marred by widespread fraud, was to have been held on November 7.

"The Independent Election Commission declares the esteemed Hamid Karzai as the president ... because he was the winner of the first round and the only candidate in the second round," the commission's chief Azizullah Ludin told a news conference.

Posted in Politics, voting, Afghanistan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 28, 2009
4:13 PM

CONTACT: NAACP
Rachel Talbot Ross
(207) 210-1052

NAACP President CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous to Lead Voter Registration Drive at Maine Correctional Facilities

PORTLAND, Maine - September 28 - NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous will be leading a voter registration and NAACP membership drive in the Maine State Prison and the Bolduc Correctional Facility.

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Founded Feb. 12. 1909, the NAACP is the nation's oldest, largest and most widely recognized grassroots–based civil rights organization. Its more than half-million members and supporters throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, conducting voter mobilization and monitoring equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.
NAACP Links:
Posted in civil liberties, inequality, prison system, voting

Afghan Vote Watchdog Finds Fraud, Orders Recounts

An Afghan electoral worker counts ballots at a polling station in Herat in August. Britain, France and Germany have unveiled proposals for an international conference on Afghanistan later this year in order to press Afghans to take more responsibility for their own country. (AFP/File/Behrouz Mehri)

KABUL - Afghanistan's U.N.-appointed election watchdog said on Tuesday it had found "clear and convincing evidence of fraud" in last month's presidential election and ordered a recount of suspicious returns.

The announcement came on the same day a suicide car bomber blew up his vehicle outside a NATO military base at Kabul's main airport killing three civilians, the Afghan capital's worst attack since the vote.

Posted in voting, Afghanistan

Ballots and Bullets for Afghanistan

With only days to go before the election in Afghanistan, it looks like the fix is in. That's what most Afghans have been saying all along.
Posted in Politics, voting, War/Empire, women's rights, Afghanistan

Why Afghans Have No Hope in This Week's Vote

Like millions of Afghans, I have no hope in the results of this week’s election. In a country ruled by warlords, occupation forces, Taliban insurgency, drug money and guns, no one can expect a legitimate or fair vote.
Posted in Politics, voting, Afghanistan

Democracy's Gold Standard

Last March, the country's highest court found secret, computerized vote counting unconstitutional. The country was Germany. The Constitution that computerized counting violated was the one the U.S. wrote and insisted Germans ratify under the terms of surrender following WWII.

Paul Lehto, a U.S. election attorney and constitutionalist, summarized the German court's landmark finding:

• The Constitution requires a "publicly observed count."

• No "specialized technical knowledge" can be required of observers.

Posted in voting

Supreme Court Pulls Teeth From the Voting Rights Act

Once an election is done, it is hard to undo.

That's true in Iran, and it's also true in the United States.

This is why it is important to get the rules by which elections are held right before elections are held.

For this reason, one of the essential components of the Voting Rights Act -- arguably its most powerful tool for combating discrimination and disenfranchisement -- has long been a requirement that officials get approval from the Department of Justice before they change the way in which elections are conducted.

Posted in election reform, supreme court, voting

Tense Iran Braces for Anti-Ahmadinejad March

A Iranian riot police officer sprays tear gas at a supporter of defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi attacking him with a police stick during riots in Tehran. A tense Iran was gearing up for more street protests against the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after authorities banned a nationwide march by his defeated rival. (AFP/File/Olivier Laban-Mattei)

TEHRAN - Iranian opposition supporters staged a defiant rally against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election on Monday, with his defeated rival set to appear in public for the first time since the vote triggered the worst unrest in a decade.

Iran's supreme leader has also ordered the country's top election supervisory body to look into the complaints raised by former premier Mir Hossein Mousavi, who has branded Friday's election a vote-rigged "charade."

Posted in protest, voting, Iran

A Call for Universal Voter Registration

This is the third in a series of posts concerned with just democracy. The first was an overview of the current state of our electoral system; the second a look at the prospects for a national popular vote for president.
Posted in Equality/Justice, voting

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 1, 2009
4:17 PM

CONTACT: Common Cause
Derek Cressman (916) 760-1534

Washington Becomes Fifth State to Join Agreement on Popular Vote for President

WASHINGTON - May 1 - Governor Christine Gregoire signed legislation today that entered Washington into a binding agreement to elect the president using the national popular vote. The agreement, which has also been enacted by Maryland, Hawaii, New Jersey, and Illinois, will go into effect once states representing a majority of the Electoral College join it, possibly in time for the 2012 election.

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Common Cause is a nonpartisan, nonprofit advocacy organization founded in 1970 by John Gardner as a vehicle for citizens to make their voices heard in the political process and to hold their elected leaders accountable to the public interest.
Common Cause Links:
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