Election Fraud

By the time Iranian authorities drew the curtain this week, it was too late. Attempts to choke off coverage of massive protests and postelection street battles between dissidents and government forces came well after the American public had reset a nascent and evolving impression of Iran, experts say. With the cooperation of the government, the global media buzzed in the days before the June 12 election with images of a youthful and exuberant Iran engaged in political debate.

Three years ago, Leonis Malburg stood in the council chamber of the city of Vernon as his fellow council members passed a resolution honoring the mayor for 50 years in office. Beaming, Malburg bragged about surpassing the long political run of the city's founder, his grandfather. "I got my 50 years now, and I survived, health-wise and otherwise," he said. "And I beat my dear grandfather, John Leonis, who had 45 years in the city . . . by five years."

Three days of shuttle diplomacy by the top U.S. diplomat on African issues had failed Monday to get the two rivals for the Kenyan presidency to the negotiation table, but there were signs that they were inching toward talks. Opposition leader Raila Odinga, who has accused President Mwai Kibaki of stealing the election, called off a protest rally of his supporters planned for today in order to allow mediation of the crisis by the African Union.

Even as they agreed Tuesday to hold formal peace talks, Kenya's embattled political leaders faced a growing public backlash over their postelection failure to stem the nation's slide into violence and economic chaos. President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga met with former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan at a downtown government office to sign an agreement to participate in mediation efforts.

Armenian police said eight people were killed and 33 officers injured in clashes between police and protesters demonstrating over alleged election fraud. Police spokesman Sayat Shirinian announced the deaths in a statement today. He did not say whether the eight killed were protesters or police, or give other details. Outgoing President Robert Kocharyan imposed a state of emergency late Saturday night after a day of violence between police and about 15,000 demonstrators.

The owner of a firm that the California Republican Party hired to register tens of thousands of voters this year was arrested in Ontario over the weekend on suspicion of voter registration fraud. State and local investigators allege that Mark Jacoby fraudulently registered himself to vote at a childhood California address where he no longer lives so he would appear to meet the legal requirement that all signature gatherers be eligible to vote in California.

With a deepening political crisis draining millions of dollars from the economy by the hour, government opponents hope a court can break a deadlock that politicians, police and the military have failed to resolve. But the court ruling they seek may be cause only for more turmoil.

A couple who admitted to their roles in an Orange County voter registration scandal each were sentenced Wednesday to three years' formal probation. Jason Holly, 36, and Jessica Sundell, 23, were among 12 people arrested last fall and charged with signing up voters during a registration drive that resulted in dozens of Democrats fraudulently being signed up as Republicans.

Two election workers were convicted Wednesday of rigging a recount of the 2004 presidential election to avoid a more thorough review in Ohio's most populous county. Jacqueline Maiden, elections coordinator of the Cuyahoga County Elections Board, and ballot manager Kathleen Dreamer each were convicted of a felony count of negligent misconduct by an elections employee. They also were convicted of one misdemeanor count each of failure to perform their duty as elections employees.

Prompted in part by misleading campaign tactics that marred elections in several states, Sens. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) introduced legislation Wednesday that would criminalize lying to or otherwise intentionally misleading voters to keep them away from the polls. Among the controversial 2006 elections was a U.S. House race in Orange County, in which thousands of Latino citizens received letters wrongly suggesting they could go to jail for voting.