Russians took to the streets of Moscow for the second successive day on Tuesday to demand an end to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's 12-year rule, but riot police blocked their way and hundreds of pro-Kremlin youths tried to spoil the protest. - Ignoring warnings of a police crackdown, about 500 protesters chanted "Russia without Putin!" and "Freedom!" after opposition leaders used social media such as Twitter and Facebook to swell their ranks, witnesses said. But hundreds more pro-Putin youths in blue anoraks also turned up at the protest in central Moscow and tried to drown out their chants by shouting: "Russia, Putin!." The crowd was held back by dozens of riot police and it appeared that opposition supporters were struggling to make it past police to the rally. Police said more than 100 people were detained as scuffles broke out. Boris Nemtsov, a liberal opposition leader, told Reuters he had been detained and was being held at a police station.

USA Today: Thousands in Moscow protest Putin, election results

Vladimir Putin's ruling party suffered a serious blow in a parliamentary election on Sunday, exit polls showed, as voters signalled growing unease with his domination of Russian politics before a planned return to the presidency next year. - The result, in which the opposition said Putin's United Russia was boosted by fraud, is likely to dent the authority of the man who has ruled for almost 12 years with a mixture of hardline security policies, political acumen and showmanship. Two exit polls suggested Putin's party, United Russia, would win 45.5 and 48.5 percent of the votes in the election to the State Duma compared with 64.3 percent in 2007 and that it could struggle even to hold on to a majority in the chamber. "These elections are unprecedented because they were carried out against the background of a collapse in trust in Putin, (President Dmitry) Medvedev and the ruling party," said Vladimir Ryzhkov, a liberal opposition leader barred from running.

Stephen Lendman: Russia Bashing
New York Times: Victory for Putin’s Party Looks Smaller Than Expected
LA Times: Russians vote amid signs ruling party's dominance is slipping
Russia Today: Putin says parliamentary poll is optimal for United Russia
Jason Ditz: British, US Officials ‘Concerned’ by Russian Election

The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party seems set to emerge as the biggest winner in Egypt's elections with some analysts estimating it will capture about 40% of seats in the new legislature. Al-Nour, a more conservative Salafist party, looks likely to secure second place. Official results from the first round will be announced today , before a series of runoff ballots on Monday.

New York Times: Early Results in Egypt Show a Mandate for Islamists

Senator Obama: I'll Stop Torture, Abide By The Geneva Conventions, Roll Back NSA Wiretapping Programs. No More Spying On Americans. No More ignoring the law when it's convenient. This is not who we are.

Al Jazeera: Is the US government spying on Americans?

Three generations from now, when our great-grandchildren are sitting barefoot in their shanties and wondering how in the hell America turned from the high-point of civilization to a third-world banana republic, they will shake their fists and mutter one name: George Effin' Bush. Ironically, it won't be for any of the things that liberals have been harping on the Bush Administration, either during or after his term in office. Sure, misguided tax cuts that destroyed the surplus, and lax regulations that doomed the economy, and two amazingly awful wars in deserts half a world away are all terrible, empire-sapping events. But they pale in comparison to what it appears the Republican Party did to get President Bush re-elected in 2004.

"A new filing in the King Lincoln Bronzeville v. Blackwell case includes a copy of the Ohio Secretary of State election production system configuration that was in use in Ohio's 2004 presidential election when there was a sudden and unexpected shift in votes for George W. Bush," according to Bob Fitrakis, columnist at http://www.freepress.org and co-counsel in the litigation and investigation.

If you recall, Ohio was the battleground state that provided George Bush with the electoral votes needed to win re-election. Had Senator John Kerry won Ohio's electoral votes, he would have been elected instead. Evidence from the filing suggests that Republican operatives — including the private computer firms hired to manage the electronic voting data — were compromised.

Egypt’s ruling military council issued a new election law by decree Wednesday, overriding objections from the youth groups that spearheaded the mass movement against the dictatorship of President Hosni Mubarak and retaining many of the antidemocratic provisions under which the old regime regularly rigged elections. - Most significantly, the decree postpones the general election scheduled for late September, although a military spokesman claimed that voting for two houses of parliament would be completed in three stages by the end of this year. The election of a new president to replace Mubarak would be put off until next year, effectively leaving the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces in control, with the military’s top officer, Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, a longtime Mubarak crony, as de facto head of state.

There are a number of flagrantly antidemocratic electoral provisions. More than one-fourth of the upper house will be appointed by the next president rather than elected. Half the seats in the lower house will be reserved for independent candidates, rather than those running on party lists, ensuring the influence of wealthy individuals, many of them connected to the military, with the means to carry out vote-buying on a large scale. That provision also opens the door for former officials of the Mubarak regime to return to power as “independents,” despite the dissolution of the ruling National Democratic Party, the political machine through which the Egyptian military ruled for many decades.

Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani: ‘One Mubarak Goes, 18 Come In’
PressTV: Egyptians demand end to military rule
AWIP: Egypt refuses international election monitors

Egypt's military rulers refuse to allow international election monitors to observe upcoming parlimentary elections. - The decision, which is part of a new election law approved by the country's ruling generals, was swiftly criticized by activists who said it raises questions about the transparency of the first elections after the ousting of Hosni Mubarak and urged the military to reconsider. Major General Mamdouh Shaheen, who presented the new law to reporters on Wednesday, said barring foreign monitors was a necessary step to protect Egypt's sovereignty. "We have nothing to hide," he said, adding that "we reject anything that affects our sovereignty." Egyptian election monitors will observe the process instead, he said.

Drawing on almost 2,000 classified U.S. diplomatic cables on Haiti released by WikiLeaks, a partnership between The Nation magazine and the Haitian weekly, Haïti Liberté, exposes new details on how Fruit of the Loom, Hanes and Levi’s worked with the United States to block an increase in the minimum wage in the hemisphere’s poorest nation, how business owners and members of the country’s elite used Haiti’s police force as their own private army after the 2004 U.S.-backed coup that ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and how the United States, the European Union and the United Nations supported Haiti’s recent presidential and parliamentary elections, despite concerns over the exclusion of Haiti’s largest opposition party, Lavalas, the party of Aristide. We speak with the reports’ authors, longtime Haiti correspondent Dan Coughlin and Haïti Liberté editor, Kim Ives.

US knowingly supported rigged Haitian election - The United States, the European Union and the United Nations decided to support Haiti’s recent presidential and parliamentary elections despite believing that the country’s electoral body, “almost certainly in conjunction with President Preval,” had “emasculated the opposition” by unwisely and unjustly excluding the country’s largest party, according to a secret US Embassy cable. The cable was obtained by WikilLeaks and made available to the Haitian newspaper Haïti Liberté, which is collaborating with The Nation on a series of reports on US and UN policy toward the country.

Poll shows that 52% of Americans feel that a third party is needed - the two parties continue making election laws to prevent what the majority want.

Fifty-two percent of Americans believe the Republican and Democratic parties do such a poor job of representing the people that a third party is needed. Forty percent believe they do an adequate job. The percentage calling for a third party is down from August, when it tied its high of 58%. Support for a third party has fluctuated since October 2003, when Gallup first asked this question. The majority of Americans thought a third party was not needed at that time. Since then, Americans have generally favored a third party, but twice there has been an even division of opinion -- both of which occurred in the fall of an election year.

AV referendum: full details of donations to yes and no campaigns. Publication of donors reveals extent of Tory money funding NO to AV group and the yes campaign's dependence on two main backers. [AV = Alternative Vote] The fullest yet account of the donations made to the campaigns for and against electoral reform reveal the extent of the Tory money funding the NO to AV group and the yes campaign's dependence on organisations such as the Electoral Reform Society. Among around 50 donors to the NOtoAV campaign are several high-profile City figures, including hedge fund financiers, bankers and businessmen.

Both political parties are manifestly hostile to citizens. This hostility reduces electoral participation to just over 50% of the voting age population for presidential elections and less than 40% for off-year congressional elections. The absence of 50% to 60% of those eligible to vote creates minority rule and threatens the legitimacy of any ruling party. Truly, every election ratifies the rejection of both parties.

The forbidden fact about public rule in the United States is simple and obvious: it is nothing more than perpetual battle between two minority factions that consistently fail citizens. Major changes in power represent voter punishment of the most recent failed rulers, while the largest faction, non-voters, consistently make the most profound statement about governance - it's not worth the trouble of voting.

Koch Funded Organization ALEC Writes Legislation That Makes It Harder For Young Americans To Vote. Why? Well, Probably Because Young Americans Tend To Vote For Democrats. Nearly forty years after a Constitutional Amendment giving 18-21 year-olds the right to vote, Republican legislators across the country are trying to disenfranchise youth under the subterfuge of combatting "voter fraud." However, as Christina Francisco-McGuire recently pointed out at progressivestates.org, instances of *voter fraud "are so rare that one is more likely to be struck by lightening." Amongst the legislation being pushed in various states are photo id requirements, the abandonment of election-day registration, and the redefining of student residency requirements.

Counting is underway in Haiti, after the delayed second round of the country’s Presidential election. UN peacekeepers monitored the polling stations in Port-au-Prince, on hand in case of fighting between rival supporters. The first round last November was marred by violence and allegations of fraud. There had also been fears that the return of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide after seven years in exile in South Africa would destabilise the vote. But election officials say this time it passed off peacefully and many of Haiti’s 4.7 million voters turned out. The head of the electoral council told reporters the definitive result is due on April the16th and would reflect the wishes of the Haitian people.

High turnout marks 'orderly' Egypt vote. Some irregularities, but turnout was massive, with many people excited that for the first time their votes would actually be counted. Long lines, orderly queues and a mostly calm and jubilant atmosphere marked Egypt's first nationwide vote since a popular uprising forced Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's long-time president, to step down in February, leaving the country without a constitution and under the control of an unelected military council.

Observers reported an unprecedented turnout across the country, as thousands came out on Saturday to vote "yes" or "no" on a package of controversial constitutional amendments that may set the stage for parliamentary elections within months. The results are scheduled to be released on Sunday. The country's most established political forces - Mubarak's National Democratic Party and the Muslim Brotherhood - are both pushing for approval, while most of the opposition parties and the youth movement want the amendments defeated. But even those who feared the amendments would pass, paving the way for a fast election likely dominated by the NDP and the Brotherhood, seemed happy to cast a vote that, for the first time, they believed would actually be counted.

"Happy, ecstatic, delirious, laughing, crying," Karim Beshara, who had pledged to vote against the amendments, wrote on Twitter. "This is definitely the country I was fighting for and it is totally worth it." In Cairo, voters chanting "Those times are past us!" reportedly ejected Abdel Azim Wazeer, a local governor, from a polling station after he attempted to cut in line.

William O’Brien, Republican speaker of the New Hampshire (NH) House of Representatives is quite sure that college students are “foolish.” That’s just one of the ludicrous reasons NH Republicans are promoting legislation that would prohibit out-of -state college students from registering to vote. Only students whose parent(s) reside in NH will be able to participate in the democratic process. Thank God one state has the courage to finally do something about those damn marauding student ALIENS! O’Brien doesn’t even bother to play the PC game of hiding his political agenda in promoting such legislation. The last thing the conservative Republican wants are more foolish liberal voters in his state. To quote esteemed speaker:

"Voting as a liberal. That's what kids do," he added, they don’t have any real "life experience," and "they just vote their feelings."

"did anyone else have to swear on a bible that their address was correct before they were able to vote? just wondering, because i did," Philadelphia voter Lindsay Granger wrote on her blog after voting in last Tuesday's mid-term election. "i had to lay my palm on the good book and state my name and address before i was allowed to sign my name in the voting log and enter the booth. they called it an affirmation. i call it creepy… and a little offensive…"

"The Bible was sitting out in the open, and the procedure wasn't done in secret, which leads me to believe that I am not the only person who was asked to do that."

"i'm not a christian, so why should i have to swear on a bible? ... if anything, i should swear on a constitution or something."

Myanmar's military will keep its grip on power after the country's first election in 20 years through parties that emerged on Monday as the likely winners of a vote marred by fraud, and condemned by Washington and London. Complex rules for Sunday's election thwarted any chance of a pro-democracy upset as Myanmar ends half a century of direct army rule. State TV said voters "freely and happily" cast ballots, but witness accounts suggested low turn-out and irregularities.

Illustrating strains multi-ethnic Myanmar has faced for decades, a clash erupted between ethnic minority Karen rebels and government soldiers in the border town of Myawaddy, Reuters witnesses on the Thai side of the border said. Several rockets or mortar bombs fell on the Thai side. At least 10 people were wounded, witnesses said.

The Guardian: Burma election observers report voter intimidation

Polling stations close in country's first elections in 20 years with odds heavily stacked against opposition parties. The junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) has not said when the results will be announced, saying only that they could come "in time". It was almost certain, however, that through pre-election engineering the USDP will emerge victorious despite widespread popular opposition to 48 years of military rule. Sunday's election was held amid tight security, but few expect it to bring any real change in power, with the military and its proxies likely to dominate parliament and senior positions.

In the commercial hub of Yangon on Sunday, armed riot police stood guard at near-empty polling booths or patrolled streets in convoys of military trucks, part of a clampdown that includes bans on foreign media and on outside election monitors. The carefully choreographed end of direct army rule, marred by complex rules that stifled major pro-democracy forces, enters its final stage in a race largely between two powerful military-backed parties running virtually unopposed.

Al Jazeera: Myanmar Elections 2010

Voters forced to an hour to vote, some simply left... Well, it's a good thing last Tuesday wasn't a Presidential Election with really huge crowds of voters in Utah County, UT. As polls opened at 7am, digitally encoded cards used by voters to begin the voting process on the state's oft-failed, easily-manipulated, 100% unverifiable Diebold AccuVote touch-screen voting systems didn't work at all 110 polling locations across the county. A programming error was blamed.

Voters were forced to wait in line for up to an hour while technicians struggled to figure out how to correct the failure. Many voters simply gave up, walking away and becoming disenfranchised in the bargain when they couldn't hang around to wait that long to vote on a work day. As usual, the wide-spread failure (county-wide, in this case) was marginalized by the media as little more than a "glitch". Of course, had the county used paper ballots, nobody would have been disenfranchised, or had to wait on line for an hour to cast their vote. Voters across the entire state are now forced to vote on the Diebold touch-screen systems on Election Day.

Employing baseless fear mongering about the (no longer existent) ACORN and other liberal groups that are supposedly trying to steal next week's elections, conservative "anti-voter-fraud campaigns are popping up across the country, but their biggest rollouts have tended to be in lower-income areas with large minority populations." From the Illinois Republican Party and Tea Party groups to the right-wing astro-turfing group American Majority Action, a startling number of right-wing groups have rolled out aggressive campaigns to "block Democrats…err, voter fraud, at the polls," as Mother Jones' Suzy Khimm sarcastically noted.

While campaigns and political parties have long dispatched trained poll watchers and election judges to the polls to look for irregularities, this year, conservative groups are turning to grassroots activists with little or no training in thinly-veiled efforts to suppress liberal voter participation. Right-wing blogger Michelle Malkin announced on Fox News that "we are all voter-fraud police now," while American Majority Action lets anyone with an iPhone become a poll watcher with their Voter Fraud app.

McDonald’s sells itself as the ultimate happy place. But this election season, a local McDonald’s franchise in Canton, Ohio is telling employees how to keep the company happy: vote Republican.

Along with their recent paychecks, employees received a pamphlet from their employer on company letter head that stated “as the election season is here, we wanted you to know which candidates will help our business grow in the future.” While pointing out that the vote is the employee’s “personal decision,” the pamphlet explicitly states, “if the right people are elected we will be able to continue with raises and benefits at or above our present levels. If others are elected we will not”.

The "right people" are John Kasich, Rob Portman, and Jim Renacci for this franchisee.

In explicitly endorsing gubernatorial candidate John Kasich (R), Senate candidate Rob Portman (R), and House candidate Jim Renacci (R), the pamphlet — which was directly inside the envelope with the paycheck — appears to directly violate Ohio Revised Code regarding elections:

No employer or his agent or a corporation shall print or authorize to be printed upon any pay envelopes any statements intended or calculated to influence the political action of his or its employees; or post or exhibit in the establishment or anywhere in or about the establishment any posters, placards, or hand bills containing any threat, notice, or information that if any particular candidate is elected or defeated work in the establishment will cease in whole or in part, or other threats expressed or implied, intended to influence the political opinions or votes of his or its employees.

An unknown group handed out misleading fliers to voters in a primarily African American polling place in Houston, Texas, reports KTRK. The fliers, which were handed out near an early voting location Tuesday night, claimed that "Republicans are trying to trick us" and said that voting Democrat was actually voting for Republicans.

"When you vote straight ticket Democrat, it is actually voting for Republicans and your vote doesn't count," says the flier. "We are urging everyone to VOTE for BILL WHITE. A VOTE for BILL WHITE is a VOTE for the ENTIRE DEMOCRATIC ticket. We have fought too hard to let Republicans use voting machines to deny us our basic rights. We must guard the change and NOT VOTE STRAIGHT TICKET DEMOCRAT! YES WE CAN!" Democrat Bill White, the former Mayor of Houston, is currently running against Republican Governor Rick Perry.

"I expect this to be illegal because it's so inaccurate, no political group would want to associate itself with a lie, this is the under the table stuff that we see in elections," said Dr. Richard Murray, political consultant for KTRK.

Imagine the look of contempt on Karl Rove's face this past Sunday as he swaggered toward his star turn on CBS's Face the Nation only to be served with our subpoena sanctioned by the Secretary of the State of Ohio. The federal subpoena orders Rove to testify in deposition. Our attorney, Cliff Arnebeck, intends to ask Mr. Rove about his role in the theft of the 2004 election, and to discuss his orchestration of tens of millions of corporate/billionaire dollars in the one coming up on November 2, 2010. As co-counsel and plaintiff in the on-going King-Lincoln-Bronzeville federal lawsuit, we have fought for six years to win justice and full disclosure in an election that Rove stole for George W. Bush.

BradBlog: E-Voting Systems Left Unattended at UT Poll Site

The latest reports regarding the investigations into allegations of fraud in last month’s Afghanistan parliamentary election continue to turn up evidence beyond all reason, with the latest evidence showing conclusively that fraud was pervasive across the nation in the vote.

Which is sort of old news, but the definition of “pervasive” continues to expand, and now officials familiar with the investigation say that roughly a quarter of the votes cast, or roughly one million votes, will be thrown out on the basis of fraud.

The Afghan Presidential election last year saw heretofore unprecedent levels of fraud in an ostensibly free election, and officials had expressed concern that very little had changed with regard to the oversight in the election. In the end this concern was vindicated, as both violence and complaints of overt fraud far exceeded even last year’s vote.

The fact of the matter is that nearly a quarter of polls didn’t even open on the day of the election, and that a quarter of the votes are being thrown out because of fraud, while violence, ballot stuffing and intimidation were reported nationwide. It seems impossible that anything resembling a truthful result can emerge from this fiasco, even assuming (however unlikely) that the election commissions are honest.