The Ohio House passed a bill yesterday over Republican objections to make sweeping changes to how elections are run in the state, including expanding the number of sites where voters can cast early absentee ballots.

Civil rights organizations are asking Gov. Timothy M. Kaine to sign an executive order restoring the rights of nearly 300,000 felons before he leaves office in January.

It's been a year since Barack Obama won the presidency, but one controversy from the 2008 election in Ohio still hasn't been fully resolved: allegations of illegal voting.

Election observers hope that legislation pending in the General Assembly will reduce that risk by streamlining the process for casting provisional votes and reducing the need for [provisional] ballots by modernizing voter registration.

Minnesota's absentee ballots, the centerpiece of last year's U.S. Senate race, will be simplified and streamlined before next year's election.

The Minnesota Secretary of State's office is looking for public comment on its new absentee ballot envelope design instructions. Officials with the office say the new forms are designed to be easier to understand.

The American Civil Liberties Union today urged the U.S. government to address lingering obstacles to voting rights for minorities, including enforcing anti-discrimination provisions of the Voting Rights Act and eliminating barriers to vote based on criminal records. The recommendations were presented at the annual United Nations Forum on Minority Issues, which this year focused on political participation.

More than half of the 90,000 signatures needed to get a Voter ID Initiative on ballot next year have been gathered, according to Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann.

The House Elections and Ethics committee approved the bill Tuesday on a party-line vote, with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed. The bill would shrink the early voting period but expand the number of early voting sites. It also seeks to streamline voter identification laws and reduce the number of provisional ballots used.

While a new state law may have forced Salt Lake County residents to fetch a driver license, passport or even a concealed weapon permit from home before setting out to vote in last week's election, it prevented only a handful of voters valleywide from casting traditional ballots.