Vote and Voting Videos: Political Blog &Videos // Current

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3 days ago

denied the right of travel by Israel

Vanunu VS The Unjust Justice System Of Israel By Eileen Fleming http://www.countercurrents.org/fleming070709.htm Mordachai... more

Highr0ller
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SC Republican Governor Mark Sanford admits additional extramarital encounters

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford admitted Tuesday that he saw his Argentine mistress more times than... more

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Pirate Bay Cow Gatecrashes Milk Competition

Norway’s largest dairy products producer is redesigning the logo they use on one of their chocolate milk products. They... more

lordsbassman
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®epower America

In the next day or so, the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on the boldest effort in our history to rethink how we produce... more

RepressThis
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Iranian Government Won't Annul Election Results

Iran's top electoral body said Tuesday it found ``no major fraud'' and will not annul the results of the... more

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Revolutionary Guard warns Iranian protesters; Mousavi wants more demonstrations

Iran's most powerful security force threatened Monday to crush any further opposition protests over the disputed presidential... more

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Iran orders partial recount after disputed vote

Iran's powerful Guardian Council is ready to recount specific ballot boxes in last week's disputed presidential elections, a council spokesman said Tuesday, another twist in an election that has touched off widespread protests.

State television quoted Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei as saying that the recount would be limited to voting sites where candidates claim irregularities took place. It was not clear which or how many voting sites would be affected.

The results from last Friday's election showing a landslide victory for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sparked Tehran's worst violence in 10 years — including seven reportedly killed Monday during clashes.

Supporters of reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi claim the vote was rigged to re-elect the hardline president.

The 12-member Guardian Council includes clerics and experts in Islamic law. It's role includes certifying election results, and it is closely allied to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

It serves as a constitutional watchdog and vets candidates running in elections. It must certify ballot results and also has the apparent authority to nullify an election.

Claims of voting irregularities went to the Guardian Council after Ahmadinejad's upset victory in 2005, but there was no official word on the outcome of the inquiry, and the vote stood.

'Unauthorized gathering'
Meanwhile, state radio reported Tuesday that clashes in the Iranian capital the previous day left seven people dead during an "unauthorized gathering" at a mass rally over alleged election fraud — the first official confirmation of deaths linked to the wave of protests and street battles after disputed elections in last week.

The report said the deaths occurred after protesters "tried to attack a military location." It gave no further details, but it was a clear reference to crowds who came under gunfire Monday after trying to storm a compound for volunteer militia linked to Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard.

The shootings came at the end of huge rally by opponents of Ahmadinejad claiming widespread fraud in Friday's voting. The protest movement has shown no signs of easing — with another reported rally planned for later Tuesday — and has even forced Iran's non-elected ruling clerics into the unfamiliar role of middlemen between the government and its opponents.Iran's powerful Guardian Council is ready to recount specific ballot boxes in last week's disputed presidential... more

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28 days ago

Iran vote extended with turnout massive

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranians packed polling stations from boutique-lined streets in north Tehran to conservative bastions in the countryside Friday with a choice that's left the nation divided and on edge: keeping hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in power or electing a reformist who favors greater freedoms and improved ties with the United States.

Turnout was massive and could break records. Crowds formed quickly at many voting sites in areas considered both strongholds for Ahmadinejad and his main rival, reformist Mir Hossein Mousavi, who served as prime minister in the 1980s and has become the surprise hero of a powerful youth-driven movement. At several polling stations in Tehran, mothers held their young children in their arms as they waited in long lines.

"I hope to defeat Ahmadinejad today," said Mahnaz Mottaghi, 23, after casting her ballot at a mosque in central Tehran.

Outside the same polling station, 29-year-old Abbas Rezai said he, his wife and his sister-in-law all voted for Ahmadinejad.

"We will have him as a president for another term, for sure," he said.

Voting was extended by three hours to 9 p.m. (1630 GMT, 12:30 p.m. EDT ).

The fiery, monthlong campaign unleashed passions and tensions. The mass rallies, polished campaign slogans, savvy Internet outreach and televised debates more closely resembled Western elections than the scripted campaigns in most other Middle Eastern countries.

In a sign of the bitterness from the campaign, the Interior Ministry — which oversees voting — said all rallies or political gatherings would be banned until after the announcement of results, expected Saturday.

The highly charged atmosphere brought blistering recriminations against Ahmadinejad — whom Mousavi said was moving Iran to a "dictatorship" — and a stunning warning from the ruling establishment. The political chief of the powerful Revolutionary Guard warned Wednesday it would crush any "revolution" against the Islamic system by Mousavi's "green movement" — the signature color of his campaign.TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranians packed polling stations from boutique-lined streets in north Tehran to conservative bastions in... more

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2 months ago

Voting rights case at high court Wednesday

Congress' decision to extend a key provision of the Voting Rights Act for 25 years is at the core of a case being argued before the Supreme Court.

(Photo: Don Zimmerman, vice-president of the Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District Number One board is the site of a major Supreme Court battle over the federal government's often used and most effective tool in preventing voting discrimination against minorities.)

The justices are hearing the final arguments of their term Wednesday in a dispute from Texas. At issue is a requirement that all or parts of 16 states with a history of discrimination in voting get approval from the Justice Department before they implement even the smallest changes in the way elections are held.

The court also is expected to issue opinions in cases argued earlier in the term.

The voting rights law, enacted in 1965, has helped open government elections to millions of blacks and other minorities. Its main enforcement measure is a temporary one that calls for the federal government to sign off before election changes.

Congress has renewed the provision four times, most recently by an overwhelming vote in 2006, when both houses were controlled by Republicans. President George W. Bush signed it into law.

The Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District No. 1, the small Texas community challenging the provision, agrees that Southern states once richly deserved the federal intrusion into their election practices. But that day has passed, especially with the election of President Barack Obama, the district says.

The law is outmoded, relying on information dating back more than 40 years to determine what states and municipal governments are covered, the district says. The district's challenge is backed by a group that opposes racial classifications in employment, voting and education.

The Obama administration and civil rights groups argue that the law still is needed to prevent discriminatory election changes and that Congress amassed a lot of evidence in support of its position.Congress' decision to extend a key provision of the Voting Rights Act for 25 years is at the core of a case being argued... more