Some election fraud violations could be elevated from misdemeanor to felony status under proposals submitted to a legislative panel Thursday.

The optical scan machines mandated to replace all lever voting machines by next year count paper ballots electronically using concealed software that can undetectably alter the outcome, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

Disputes involving voting by homeless people and college students may have been addressed by judges Tuesday, but the same issues are bound to come up in the future, Dutchess County elections officials said.

Ohio House Democrats want voters to be able to register online without then having to send information through the mail.  The changes are part of a bill to overhaul Ohio's election laws. Voters would be able to register online if they have a valid Ohio driver's license, and would be automatically given the opportunity to register when they deal with agencies such as the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

Three Latino voters will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to consider their challenge over how council members are elected in Farmers Branch, a Dallas suburb that's trying to oust illegal immigrants through a series of ordinances, their attorney said Wednesday.

After her proposal for a voter ID referendum was shot down by the Common Council, Alderwoman Jacqueline Jay is organizing a petition drive to get the measure on the city ballot.

On Monday, the league announced its support of permanent absentee voting, which would allow voters to automatically receive an absentee ballot for every election. That could make voting by mail easier.

Secretary of State Todd Rokita says Indiana residents voting in upcoming special elections will still be subject to the state's Voter ID law despite a recent court ruling.

In this lull between major elections, advisers from recent Republican and Democratic presidential campaigns have joined together to try to come up with a better way to register voters.

A new electronic voting system being used today for the first time in a government election in the U.S. will allow voters and elections auditors in Takoma Park, Md. to go online and verify whether votes have been correctly recorded.

The first government election to use a new cryptographic scheme that lets both voters and auditors check that votes were cast and recorded accurately will be held tomorrow in Takoma Park, MD.

Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie is praising the recent passage of the federal Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act and urging state legislators and the governor to enact legislation early next session to bring the state into compliance with the act.

The new federal law requires states to send absentee ballots to oversees voters at least 45 days before the election. Under the current system, there isn't enough time to do that between the scheduled Sept. 14 primary and the Nov. 2, 2010 general election.

Under the Voting Rights Act, the Justice Department is authorized to ask the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to send federal observers to areas that are certified by the Attorney General or by a federal court order.

Secretary of State Beth Chapman and her staff have been working on a military voting bill for several years and the bill came close to passage in the last session.

Recent efforts to reform and modernize the voter system have received bipartisan support. The Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act, which would allow overseas troops and American citizens to access voter information online, passed Congress last week with bipartisan support from legislators who "decried an antiquated voting system that left as many as one out of four overseas ballots uncounted," according to Roll Call.

U.S. Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) and U.S. Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN) are reintroducing legislation to "make it easier for Americans" to register to vote by allowing same day registration at polling places for all federal elections. 

A new law meant to protect the voting rights of deployed troops and other Americans overseas is forcing at least a dozen states to consider holding their primaries earlier or to negotiate another plan that federal officials will accept.

Congressional Democrats are leaning strongly against attaching D.C. Voting Rights legislation to a must-pass defense spending bill, as the complex politics of gun rights and a crowded appropriations schedule have closed off another potential avenue for the stalled local priority.