Voting

Show Only ...
Maps - Photos - Videos

NPR

|

How signature costs could be leading to ballot petition fraud : NPR

"Michigan's election for governor was upended last year when several Republicans were removed from the primary ballot for problems with their voter signatures.

The news highlighted instances of suspected fraud in the process, which experts say could be encouraged by higher rates signature-gathering companies are now charging for their services.

As a result, states such as Colorado and California are hoping to crack down on bad actors in the signature-gathering industry."

When you look at election-related crime in New York, petition signature forgery and residency issues usually are the common. Residency often plays in when candidates run in districts that are poor and urban, where the candidate says they live in a neighborhood when they actually have a nice home in the suburbs where they actually live. In both cases, the stakes are high, which can encourage cheating.

NPR

|

Campaign signs may be old school, but they can have a big influence : NPR

With election season in full swing, seemingly every neighborhood and busy intersection is sprouting dozens of multicolored signs touting candidates for offices ranging from register of wills to U.S. Senate.

Often, these signs proclaim a candidate's name, but not much else. You might have wondered, how effective can they be as a campaign tool, especially in an age of radio, television and social media? Are they even a smart place to put campaign resources, particularly in local races, where funds are tight? This midterm season, the role of the debate has changed Politics This midterm season, the role of the debate has changed

It turns out political scientists have tried to answer these questions.

A 2015 study led by Donald Green, a political science professor at Columbia University, found that political signs can in fact make a difference — "somewhere between 1 and 2 percentage points on average," Green says. "Hardly earth shattering, but not nothing, either." In races that are especially close, they might just be the deciding factor.

NPR

|

A hacker bought a voting machine on eBay. Michigan officials are now investigating : NPR

For those not in the know, Hursti said it sounds shocking to hear that voting machines can be bought and sold for little money.

"People think it's a big deal but it happens all the time. Most of the time the seller is a government, a county, or it is electric recycling. ... And it is a good thing because hackers are a resource to make things safer."

Hackers like him, he said, are not interested in weaponizing the weaknesses they find. "The reason you pop open the machine is to learn the vulnerabilities" of each machine, in order to safeguard democracy, he added.

And there are plenty of other machines to tinker with, while he waits for the Michigan investigation to unfold.

"I bought two others last month, so I'll get started on those," he said.

This article just makes me cynical -- why election official so worried about people getting their hands on scrapped voting machines if they aren't rigged or terribly insecure? While there are plenty of legal ways that elections are rigged, such as voting laws and gerrymandering or simply stuffing political candidate's favorited groups coffers full of public cash. I tend to think lawful corruption and lawful ways of stealing elections is much more common illegal means, but who knows, this just makes me suspicious.