Tag Archives: Topic: Elections

Robin Bravender at POLITICO.com: The conservative group American Tradition Partnership announced plans Thursday to appeal a Montana Supreme Court ruling that upheld a state law banning corporations from spending to directly support or oppose candidates.

InsideNova: The Republican Party of Virginia recently announced that it would require a loyalty oath from Virginia voters who wish to vote in the March 6 primary.

Richard Land at WSJ.com: Polling from CNN shows that 57% of Iowa’s caucus participants were self-identified evangelicals, as in 2008, and they voted 32% for Rick Santorum. Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry each received 14% of evangelical votes, with Ron Paul (18%) and Michele Bachmann (6%) taking all but a smattering of the remainder.

KCCI Des Moines: Edward True, 28, of Moulton, said he helped count the votes and jotted the results down on a piece of paper to post to his Facebook page. He said when he checked to make sure the Republican Party of Iowa got the count right, he said he was shocked to find they hadn’t.

CNSnews.com: Had voting in the Iowa Republican caucuses been restricted to voters under the age of 40, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas would have won easily, according to an entrance poll published by CNN.

Rasmussen Reports: The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely U.S. Voters shows that 49% are pro-choice when it comes to abortion, while 43% say they are pro-life.

WSLS 10: “It was just a mistake,” Gingrich told CNN while campaigning in Iowa Wednesday night. “We hired somebody who turned in false signatures. We turned in 11,100; we needed 10,000 and 1500 of them were by one guy who frankly committed fraud.”

How Appealing links to several reports and the opinion.

Judge James E. Wilson granted an injunction to stop a group called Personhood Nevada from going forward with its initiative petition, the so-called personhood amendment. Wilson said he expects his ruling to be appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court.

JSOnline: The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign filed a second ethics complaint Wednesday against Justice Michael Gableman. This complaint, charging that the justice had received free legal services . . .

A district judge today ruled against pro-choice advocates seeking to stop an initiative petition that proposes to outlaw abortion by declaring that life begins at conception.

KIVA.com ABC 7: Brown’s lawyers said there’s a more practical explanation. “It was late in the day (when we got the subpoena), and it said that we had to produce all of these documents the very next morning. This is like an 18-paragraph request for documents. There was not enough time to file all of these documents, so we filed a motion for a protective order. Under Texas law, when you file a protective order, you don’t have to produce the documents unless the court says you have to produce the documents. Once the court said to produce the documents, we produced the documents. Where’s the controversy?” said Brown’s Alliance Defense Fund lawyer, Joel Oster.

USA Today: Attorney General Eric Holder is suggesting the Obama administration may go to court to try and block states that it believes are trying to restrict voting, particularly minority voting.

News from The Associated Press: Egyptians turned out in large numbers Wednesday for a second round of parliamentary elections, with Islamists looking to boost their already overwhelming lead and liberal voters concerned the outcome will push the country in a more religious direction.

Katrina Trinko at National Review Online: Results from Democratic firm Public Policy Polling poll of likely GOP caucus goers: Newt Gingrich (22 percent), Ron Paul (21 percent), Mitt Romney (16 percent), Michele Bachmann (11 percent), Rick Perry (9 percent), Rick Santorum (8 percent), Jon Huntsman (5 percent), and Gary Johnson (1 percent). The poll’s margin of error is 4.2 percentage points.

Lyle Denniston at Huffington Post: Hard to believe, but the controversies that followed those decisions may be more than matched in the new year, as the Supreme Court works its way toward decisions on three major constitutional controversies, from which political fallout is absolutely predictable.

Chicago Tribune: The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a federal lawsuit arguing that Wisconsin’s new voter identification law is unconstitutional.

El Paso Times: Brown’s attorney, Joel Oster, said the document released by Walker on Monday is unimportant, calling it “a non-issue.” . . . But Oster, one of Brown’s attorneys, downplayed the document’s significance. “The minutes that you refer to are a non-issue,” Oster said in an email. “They were properly given to the other side pursuant to the subpoena and the court’s instructions. They don’t state that the church itself was involved. “In any event, the court already stated that it believes that the church circulated the petitions. … What the court held, however, was that First Amendment rights were at stake and it would not stop the election.”

NC Register: The Alliance Defense Fund and two local pro-bono attorneys are aiding petitioners. “We’re defending the church’s right to be fully engaged in the culture,” said ADF senior legal counsel Joel Oster. “Christians and their institutions are not second-class citizens who are banned from the democratic process.”

News from The Associated Press: Algeria’s Islamists, buoyed by election victories of their brethren across North Africa over the past two months, are looking to triumph themselves next spring in nationwide polls.

A federal appeals court on Monday struck down a Wisconsin law that set limits on contributions to groups that independently spend on political speech.

Yahoo! News: Russian authorities should annul the parliamentary vote results and hold a new election, ex-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev urged Wednesday as popular indignation grew over widespread reports of alleged election fraud.

TheHill.com: But eager to leave no stone unturned as they peruse the electorate for 2012 supporters, Democrats are setting out to court faith-based voters by connecting their policies on economic issues to the values of equality, tolerance and humanitarianism.

Religion Clause Blog: As reported by CNN, the relatively moderate Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party took 40% of the vote, while the more fundamentalist Noor Salafi Movement took 20% of the vote.

ADF attorney Joel Oster appeared on the “Pratt on Texas” show to discuss the situation. | MP3 audio 14:14 mins

Israel National News: Islamist parties are expected to control Cairo’s parliament by the spring with the Muslim Brotherhood projected to be in the driver’s seat.

News from The Associated Press: They say the Muslim Brotherhood could take 45 percent of the seats up for grabs.

ADF Attorney Joel Oster appeared on the Bott Radio Network to discuss this case. | MP3 audio 22 mins

National Catholic Register: “We’re defending the church’s right to be fully engaged in the culture,” said ADF senior legal counsel Joel Oster. “Christians and their institutions are not second-class citizens who are banned from the democratic process.”

Examiner.com: “Churches and ministries shouldn’t live in fear of being punished by the government for exercising their constitutionally protected right to free speech,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Joel Oster, who argued before the court on behalf of the parties sued by Cook. “The mayor is seeking to silence those who oppose his policies because he doesn’t like their views, but that’s neither legal nor constitutional. The recall petitions were circulated and submitted in full accordance with the law, and he cannot stop the election just because he doesn’t like the fact that some groups participated in a legitimate effort that he doesn’t favor.”

Religion Clause Federal Election Commission Releases Enforcement Files On Catholic Group’s Robocalls BNA’s Daily Report for Executives [subscription required] reports that on Nov. 25, the Federal Election Commission released documents in an enforcement case against Informed Catholic Citizens (ICC), a 501(c)(4) non-profit …

News from The Associated Press: Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood was leading in initial, partial results from Egypt’s parliamentary elections but it was facing stiff competition in many places both from more hard-line Islamic groups and from a liberal-secular alliance, judges overseeing counting said Wednesday.

OneNewsNow.com: Mayor Cook challenged the recall effort, arguing that Brown violated state election law by using church resources to collect signatures for the recall petition. The Alliance Defense Fund is challenging the constitutionality of that law in federal court.

Texas court refuses to issue immediate order that would prevent recall election against mayor, two council members

El Paso Times: Joel Oster is senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, a group dedicated to ending any limits on churches’ political activities. He came from Kansas to defend the recall group. Oster argues that it’s not a violation of Texas law for corporations to help circulate recall petitions. He also says that if it is, then that law violates the First Amendment. “This case is about stopping an election,” Oster said, later adding, “This is absolutely a free-speech case. It’s nothing more than a free-speech case.”

OneNewsNow.com: So, ADF is challenging the constitutionality of the measure, and attorney Joel Oster further explains the objection. “Pastors and churches shouldn’t live in fear of being punished by the government for exercising their constitutionally protected right to free speech,” he contends. “No law or government official can rob a faith group of its constitutionally protected rights just because that official would prefer not to be removed from office.”

CSMonitor.com (includes video): Spaniards handed the conservative Popular Party a historic landslide victory and the incumbent Socialist Party its worst defeat in history in this weekend’s general elections, highlighting their overwhelming dissatisfaction with the status quo and a demand for new leadership that could help the country climb out of its worst economic crisis in decades.

WorldNetDaily: “Pastors and churches shouldn’t live in fear of being punished by the government for exercising their constitutionally protected right to free speech,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Joel Oster in a statement. “No law or government official can rob a faith group of its constitutionally protected rights just because that official would prefer not to be removed from office.”

FFRF.org: The Freedom From Religion Foundation has waited three years to declare victory over an election violation complaint it filed with the Federal Election Commission in 2008 concerning the political group Informed Catholic Citizens.

Alliance Defense Fund attorneys representing an El Paso church and its pastor filed suit in federal court Thursday to have a Texas election law struck down as unconstitutional. El Paso Mayor John Cook has been using the law to prevent churches from circulating petitions that seek to recall him from office.

The Hill: Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.) on Wednesday night said Republican governors and legislatures are purposefully pressing for the enactment of voter identification laws in order to suppress Democratic voter turnout in the 2012 election.

Christian Post: Egypt’s Coptic Christians continue to protest military rule, and fear further marginalization with the upcoming parliamentary elections starting Nov. 28.

The Washington Post: Most coverage of Tuesday’s night’s recall of state Senate President Russell Pearce (R) in Mesa, Arizona has focused on the fact that Russell authored the state’s controversial immigration legislation.

WSJ: Energized by the resounding defeat of a Mississippi ballot initiative that would have criminalized abortion and some forms of birth control, abortion-rights groups have gone on the 2012 offensive.

Philadelphia Inquirer: Democrats and Republicans took one victory each in races for two openings on state appellate courts.

News from The Associated Press: Washington voters have approved a plan to privatize liquor sales, siding with Costco in the costliest initiative campaign in state history.

News from The Associated Press: Voters in dozens of cities and towns across Georgia have struck down long-standing rules against Sunday alcohol sales, leaving just two other states in the nation with similar bans intact.

News from The Associated Press: White House officials are praising the defeat of an anti-abortion proposal in Mississippi that would have defined life as beginning at conception.

The Washington Post: Ohioans voted Tuesday to repeal a Republican-backed law that restricted collective bargaining for public workers, while Mississippi voters blocked an amendment that would have defined a fertilized egg as a person.

PilotOnline.com: Virginia Republicans early Wednesday claimed victory in their quest to take the state Senate – if not with an outright majority, with a 20-20 split that gives the Republican lieutenant governor, Bill Bolling, the tie-breaking vote.

Rose Marie Belforti has won re-election as town clerk in the Finger Lakes community of Ledyard, a result which drew praise from traditional marriage advocates.

LifeNews: With 1559 of 1876 precincts counted, the amendment failed by a 58 to 42 percentage point margin.

Abortion is the greatest injustice of our day . . .

Voters in Ohio have approved a ballot measure intended to keep government from requiring Ohioans to participate in any health care system.

Michael Foust at Baptist Press: After suffering disappointing losses in Colorado in 2008 and 2010, the pro-life community’s young personhood movement is on the verge of what would be a landmark victory in Mississippi to define all human life as beginning at conception.

TheHill.com: Unions are feeling confident heading into a crucial vote next Tuesday on an Ohio state referendum dealing with collective bargaining rights.

Statesman Journal: It will mark the first time in almost 25 years that two justices will retire and leave their seats to be filled by election rather than appointment by the governor.

The Hill: Lawmakers in Arizona’s Republican-controlled Senate voted Tuesday night to oust the head of Arizona’s bipartisan redistricting commission, leaving the state’s congressional map uncertain and prompting Democrats to turn to the courts for relief.

LaTimes.com: n what could be a harbinger of the 2012 election, Colorado voters Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected a measure that would have raised nearly $3 billion for education by temporarily increasing state income, sales and use taxes.

The Volokh Conspiracy: The New York Times Room for Debate Forum has an interesting symposium on the role of religion in presidential elections. In his contribution, polling expert Andrew Kohut cites a 2007 Pew survey showing that atheism is viewed more negatively by voters than virtually any other possible trait of a presidential candidate.

The Hill: Three government contractors have filed a complaint against the Federal Election Commission (FEC) arguing a federal law that bars them from donating to political candidates is unconstitutional.

Yahoo! News: So who is paying? The new study — by New York University Law School’s Brennan Center for Justice, the National Institute on Money in State Politics, and the Justice at Stake Campaign, a non-partisan reform group — found that a small group of super spenders plays the biggest role, using their money to buy the kind of judges they want hearing their cases.

The Washington Post: An Illinois Supreme justice’s successful bid to keep his seat last year was the nation’s costliest retention election in a quarter century, legal-reform groups said Thursday in a report raising worries that increased money going into once-ignored races could undermine the judicial system.

News from The Associated Press: Human rights activist and poet Michael D. Higgins looked on course Friday to be elected Ireland’s president after his main rival suffered a last-minute collapse in support, according to senior politicians, electoral officials and an opinion poll.

How Appealing links to the report: “The New Politics of Judicial Elections: 2009-10; How Special Interest ‘Super Spenders’ Threatened Impartial Justice and Emboldened Unprecedented Legislative Attacks on America’s Courts”

Seattle Times Newspaper: Pending a Monday hearing by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, the Secretary of State’s Office has stopped releasing Referendum 71 petition names to the public after a religious conservative group filed an emergency motion with the court.

San Francisco Chronicle: Supporters of the 2008 ballot measure that outlawed same-sex marriage in California have lost a lawsuit that sought to block their past and future campaign finance records from public view.

VOANews.com: Lopez accused the Venezuelan Supreme Court of being controlled by Chavez.

Khaleejtimes.com: A Spanish town is offering gay couples fast-track marriages before a likely November election win by the conservative Popular Party, which opposes same-sex marriage.

The Hill: The Iowa Republican Party officially set its caucuses for Jan. 3, guaranteeing a standoff between New Hampshire and Nevada for timing of their early primary elections and pushing the primary season up against the holidays for the second consecutive presidential campaign.

News from The Associated Press: Washington state officials on Monday released copies of signature petitions that forced a vote on a 2009 domestic partnership law, disclosing the names of signers after a judge rejected arguments that supporters could be harassed.

Tami Fitzgerald letter to the editor at the Jacksonville Daily News: No matter how Elon or the press tries to spin it, 62 percent to 63 percent of the people in North Carolina believe that marriage is the legal union between one man and one woman.

“The state board that regulates political spending in Minnesota finalized new reporting guidelines Tuesday for private donations to ballot measure campaigns, a decision with implications for next year’s statewide vote on a gay marriage amendment.”

Politics in Minnesota: In a news release, the Minnesota for Marriage campaign fired back against new proposed guidelines for disclosure that would require not only the campaigns to release detailed income and expenditure reports, but also the release of any donors who support nonprofits that eventually contribute to campaigns.

Tulsa Beacon: Gov. Mary Fallin, who campaigned on her genuine Christian values, has nominated an outspoken homosexual to a post on the important Oklahoma State Election Board.