Statement by the Press Secretary on the Presidential Election in Kenya

Statement by the Press Secretary on the Presidential Election in Kenya | The White House Skip to main content | Skip to footer site map The White House. President Barack Obama Get Email UpdatesContact Us Go to homepage. The White House Blog Photos & Videos Photo Galleries Video Performances Live Streams Podcasts 2012: A Year in Photos

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For Immediate Release March 30, 2013 Statement by the Press Secretary on the Presidential Election in Kenya

On behalf of the President and the people of the United States, we congratulate Uhuru Kenyatta on his election as president of Kenya. We also congratulate the people of Kenya on the peaceful conduct of the election and commend Raila Odinga for accepting the Supreme Court's decision. We urge all Kenyans to peacefully accept the results of the election. The electoral process and the peaceful adjudication of disputes in the Kenyan legal system are testaments to the progress Kenya has made in strengthening its democratic institutions, and the desire of the Kenyan people to move their country forward.

Now is the time for Kenyans to come together to fully implement the political, institutional, and accountability reforms envisioned in the Kenyan constitution. Kenya is an important member of the international community. We welcome and wish to underscore the importance of Kenya's commitment to uphold its international obligations, including those with respect to international justice.

For 50 years, the United States and Kenya have been strong partners. Our relationship is based on a shared commitment to democracy, security, and opportunity. The United States remains committed to our long-standing partnership with the Kenyan people.

Blog posts on this issue March 30, 2013 6:00 AM EDTWeekly Address: President Obama Offers Easter and Passover Greetings

President Obama uses his weekly address to mark a sacred time for the millions of Americans celebrating Easter and Passover, and he calls on everyone to use this time to reflect on the common values we share as a nation.

March 29, 2013 5:47 PM EDTWeekly Wrap Up: ‘The Promise of America”

Here’s a quick glimpse at what happened this week on WhiteHouse.gov.

March 29, 2013 4:11 PM EDTIn Miami, President Obama Talks About his Plan to Put People to Work Rebuilding America

Despite strong efforts to fix our broken national infrastructure over the past four years, much work needs to be done if we are to prove to the world that there is no better place to do business than in the United States.

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Executive Order -- Establishment of the Presidential Commission of Election Administration

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

EXECUTIVE ORDER

- - - - - - -

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION
ON ELECTION ADMINISTRATION

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to promote the efficient administration of Federal elections and to improve the experience of all voters, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Establishment. There is established the Presidential Commission on Election Administration (Commission).

Sec. 2. Membership. (a) The Commission shall be composed of not more than nine members appointed by the President. The members shall be drawn from among distinguished individuals with knowledge about or experience in the administration of State or local elections, as well as representatives of successful customer service-oriented businesses, and any other individuals with knowledge or experience determined by the President to be of value to the Commission.

(b) The President shall designate two members of the Commission to serve as Co-Chairs.

Sec. 3. Mission. (a) The Commission shall identify best practices and otherwise make recommendations to promote the efficient administration of elections in order to ensure that all eligible voters have the opportunity to cast their ballots without undue delay, and to improve the experience of voters facing other obstacles in casting their ballots, such as members of the military, overseas voters, voters with disabilities, and voters with limited English proficiency.

In doing so, the Commission shall consider as appropriate:

(i) the number, location, management, operation, and design of polling places;

(ii) the training, recruitment, and number of poll workers;

(iii) voting accessibility for uniformed and overseas voters;

(iv) the efficient management of voter rolls and poll books;

(v) voting machine capacity and technology;

(vi) ballot simplicity and voter education;

(vii) voting accessibility for individuals with disabilities, limited English proficiency, and other special needs;

(viii) management of issuing and processing provisional ballots in the polling place on Election Day;

(ix) the issues presented by the administration of absentee ballot programs;

(x) the adequacy of contingency plans for natural disasters and other emergencies that may disrupt elections; and

(xi) other issues related to the efficient administration of elections that the Co-Chairs agree are necessary and appropriate to the Commission's work.

(b) The Commission shall be advisory in nature and shall submit a final report to the President within 6 months of the date of the Commission's first public meeting.

Sec. 4. Administration. (a) The Commission shall hold public meetings and engage with Federal, State, and local officials, technical advisors, and nongovernmental organizations, as necessary to carry out its mission.

(b) In carrying out its mission, the Commission shall be informed by, and shall strive to avoid duplicating, the efforts of other governmental entities.

(c) The Commission shall have a staff, which shall provide support for the functions of the Commission.

Sec. 5. Termination. The Commission shall terminate 30 days after it presents its final report to the President.

Sec. 6. General Provisions. (a) To the extent permitted by law, and subject to the availability of appropriations, the General Services Administration shall provide the Commission with such administrative services, funds, facilities, staff, equipment, and other support services as may be necessary to carry out its mission on a reimbursable basis.

(b) Insofar as the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended (5 U.S.C. App.) (the "Act"), may apply to the Commission, any functions of the President under that Act, except for those in section 6 of the Act, shall be performed by the Administrator of General Services.

(c) Members of the Commission shall serve without any additional compensation for their work on the Commission, but shall be allowed travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, to the extent permitted by law for persons serving intermittently in the Government service (5 U.S.C. 5701-5707).

(d) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to a department, agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(e) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

BARACK OBAMA

Here’s a quick glimpse at what happened this week on WhiteHouse.gov.

Despite strong efforts to fix our broken national infrastructure over the past four years, much work needs to be done if we are to prove to the world that there is no better place to do business than in the United States.

The Obama Administration has harnessed new technology to engage the public, worked to disclose information more quickly, and given citizens a greater voice in decision-making. There is more work to do, and we remain committed to continuing this in the second term.

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Former Sanford aide cracks Argentina joke after papal election

The former chief of staff to South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, who was censured by his state legislature in 2009 after admitting an affair with an Argentine woman, joked on Twitter that "nobody complains when the College of Cardinals goes to Argentina.”

See, nobody complains when the College of Cardinals goes to Argentina. #marksanford

— Scott English (@scott_english) March 13, 2013

The tweet was a reference to Wednesday's election of Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the next pope. Bergoglio will assume the name Pope Francis I.

Sanford drew fire in 2009 when he disappeared for nearly a week in June with his whereabouts unknown by his wife and his security detail. He told his staff he would be hiking on the Appalachian Trail. He was later spotted by a reporter at the Atlanta airport returning from Argentina; Sanford subsequently admitted having conducted an affair. Sanford is in the midst of a congressional campaign for South Carolina's 1st District, vying for the seat vacated by Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) upon his appointment to the Senate.

In an interview earlier this year with The Hill, Sanford said that he "lived in a soap opera world," but hoped voters would forgive him.

“The reality of humanity is if you live long enough you’ll fail at something. And I failed, period. There’s no getting around it,” he said. “What I learned in the wake of that is that there’s this amazing reservoir of grace. A lot of people have told me they’re not going to judge me on my worst day any more than on my best day. I hope they’d look at the whole of what I’ve been doing in this community for 52 years and public office for 20 years.”

--Cameron Joseph contributed.

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Federal Election Commission Fines 2008 Campaign — Five Years After It Ended

Former Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT)

Former U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) ended his presidential campaign in January 2008, after a weak showing in the Iowa caucuses. More than five years later, the largely-paralyzed Federal Election Commission (FEC) has fined his long-defunct campaign $42,000 for failure to properly report campaign contributions.

Because Dodd’s campaign was one of eight 2008 presidential committees to take public matching funds, it agreed to an automatic audit of campaign fundraising. That routine investigation — completed in April 2012 — found that Dodd’s campaign failed to report $764,966 in gross receipts. The matter was then referred for possible enforcement action. Nearly a year later, the Dodd 2008 campaign and the FEC signed a conciliation agreement in January. The commission accepted the agreement and make it public on Friday — more than two years after Dodd retired from public life.

Meredith McGehee, policy director at the non-partisan Campaign Legal Center, told ThinkProgress that the delayed and weak action by the FEC “shows what a joke they’ve become… They’re picking on a campaign that was incredibly unsuccessful. The candidate is no longer in office. It’s kind of like going after the mosquitoes when the room is full of lions and tigers and bears. Mosquitoes are bad, you want to get rid of them, but what does it matter if you’re being eaten by the lion, the tiger, or the bear?”

The five-year lag time, she noted, is a result of under-funding by Congress. “They just don’t have enough resources to do this is what most people would consider an effective way.” That lack of effective enforcement sends a signal to other political committees that they have little to fear if they fail to accurately report their own finances. “A lot of the effective enforcement is done when people see that there is enforcement, they self-enforce. When they don’t see enforcement, they don’t self-enforce, say ‘let’s roll the dice.’ When you win your election, the fine is just the cost of doing business.”

Audits from the 2000 campaign were mostly completed within two years. But a number of new FEC policies, instituted since, have further slowed the process. With the sequestration likely to force spending cuts at the FEC, it remains to be seen whether the three 2012 campaigns that accepted matching funds will have their audits completed by 2017.

Chris Dodd for President’s end of 2012 report showed the committee with about $18,000 in the bank. There is little forcing it to actually pay the fine and raising money for failed campaigns after the fact can be incredibly difficult — former Sen. John Glenn (D-OH) spent 23 years paying of the campaign debt from his 1984 campaign.

In addition to paying a $42,000 fine, the conciliation agreement stipulates that Dodd 2008 will “cease and desist” from violating disclosure laws going forward.

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GOP lawmaker: Reid told me nothing would be done before election

Shorty after Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas) was elected, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told Moran that the Senate would not do anything until after the 2012 presidential election.

"I was standing on the Senate floor and I was approached by Sen. Reid," Moran said during a speech Thursday hosted by the Ripon Society.  "I knew Sen. Reid from my days in the House.  Sen. Reid had a locker just a few down from me in the House gym, and we’d see each other each morning for a long number of years.  And Sen. Reid that day, in a casual conversation, asked me, ‘Jerry, how do you like the Senate?’  My response was that I’m very grateful for the opportunity that I’ve been given.  But Leader, we’re not doing anything.  Sen. Reid’s response was, ‘Jerry, you need to understand that we’re not going to do anything until after the election.’"

Moran recounted the story while he was explaining what prompted him to take a job as chairman of National Republican Senatorial Committee.

"When you get elected to public office, and there are very few elections that are easy and most of us are motivated by the desire to do something, and to be told at that stage —almost two years before the next election— that nothing was going to be done, was an eye-opening experience to me and was very troublesome," Moran said.

"And so my interest in serving in the NRSC capacity really revolves around a desire to see the Senate function, to have regular order, to have the opportunity for Americans to see their Senators have a debate, to have votes occur and to have the country see the Senate move in the direction it ought to go."

Reid's office did not respond to a request for comment.

Moran was appointed chairman of the NRSC in late 2012 and immediately named Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) as vice chairmen.

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Pennsylvania GOP Senator: Rigging The Presidential Election Is What The Framers Would Have Done

Shortly after the Democratic presidential candidate won the White House last November, Pennsylvania state Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R) announced a plan to keep that from happening again in the future. Under Pileggi’s plan, the blue state of Pennsylvania would award electoral votes proportionally according to the popular vote, so that a percentage of it electors will go to the Republican candidate even if a majority of Pennsylvania’s voters prefer the Democrat. Meanwhile, red states would continue to award all of their electors to the Republican.

In response to an inquiry from ThinkProgress, state Sen. Mike Folmer’s (R) office explained that he supports this plan to rig the next presidential race because he believes it to be more consistent with the Founding Fathers’ vision. Seriously:

Senator Folmer believes such changes would be consistent with how electoral votes were originally awarded under our constitutional republic.

When the Electoral College was established by the Constitutional Convention of 1787, the individual states were empowered to determine how their electors would be chosen. The Founding Fathers rejected the idea of a national popular vote because they feared the rights and interests of the minority could be trampled by the majority. This is why the term “democracy” does not appear in either the Declaration of Independence or the United States Constitution.

From the first Presidential election of 1788 – 1789 through the election of 1800, the states’ electoral votes were awarded proportionally. After the bitter election of 1800, states began to move to a winner take all system – even though the citizens of that era considered such a change to be blatantly political. By 1836, all states had moved to a winner take all system.

Folmer is correct that Pileggi’s plan is more like the anti-democratic methods used to pick our first presidents, although he is wrong about many of the details of how early elections were run. In the first presidential election in 1788-89, just six states used some form of a popular vote to select the members of the Electoral College. Three states delegated this power entirely to their legislatures, although only about 30 percent of South Carolina’s lawmakers even bothered to show up to choose the first president. New Jersey’s governor unilaterally selected the electors in his state.

Moreover, this pattern of cutting the people out of the presidential election was common in early American elections. Six states held a popular election in 1792; eight held one in 1796; and just five held a popular vote in 1800. And the “popular” elections from this era cannot even vaguely be described as democratic. Just over 13,000 people voted in the 1792 election that reelected President George Washington — out of a nation of 3.9 million people. Needless to say, the 700,000 persons held in bondage at this point in American history did not cast a ballot.

So Folmer is right that Pileggi’s effort to cut the American people out of the opportunity to choose their own president is more like the system that elected our first presidents than our current system. The real question is why he thinks moving back to the anti-democratic days of the past is a good thing.

Sen. Folmer’s full statement is copied below the fold:

Senator Folmer has previously cosponsored Senator Pileggi’s proposed changes to Pennsylvania’s Electoral College voting because Senator Folmer believes such changes would be consistent with how electoral votes were originally awarded under our constitutional republic.

When the Electoral College was established by the Constitutional Convention of 1787, the individual states were empowered to determine how their electors would be chosen. The Founding Fathers rejected the idea of a national popular vote because they feared the rights and interests of the minority could be trampled by the majority. This is why the term “democracy” does not appear in either the Declaration of Independence or the United States Constitution.

From the first Presidential election of 1788 – 1789 through the election of 1800, the states’ electoral votes were awarded proportionally. After the bitter election of 1800, states began to move to a winner take all system – even though the citizens of that era considered such a change to be blatantly political. By 1836, all states had moved to a winner take all system.

In 1991, Nebraska’s nonpartisan legislature returned to proportional awarding of Electoral College votes to increase interest among that state’s voters. In 2008, Maine followed suit. According to Reuters, the law “was instrumental in getting Nebraskans excited about the 2008 presidential election” and the same was true in Maine.

Of course, Senator Folmer believes any changes to the current system should be publicly deliberated to ensure all viewpoints are given proper consideration.

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GOP Secretary Of State: Allowing Citizens To Register On Election Day Undermines Their ‘Individual Freedoms’

Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp (R)

Giving citizens the flexibility to register to vote (or update their existing registration if they’ve recently moved) on Election Day actually chips away at Americans’ “individual freedoms,” according to Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp (R).

During a panel discussion on voting at the conservative Heritage Foundation on Thursday, Kemp lambasted the idea of same-day voter registration. Ten ideologically diverse states, from Idaho to Wisconsin to California, have enacted the program, also known as Election Day registration. By removing barriers to voting and making it easier for citizens to register, studies have found that EDR boosts turnout on average by 7 to 14 percentage points.

Kemp dismissed EDR as a “buzzword” that is as an affront to Americans’ right not to participate in elections. “[It] really gets down to the individual freedoms of people in our state and Americans in general and their ability to decide for themselves, ‘yes I want to register to vote and participate in the process, or no that I don’t,” Kemp said.

KEMP: I think we do have to have commonsense protections to make sure that our rolls are secure to stop potential voter fraud. This whole issue with dealing with the federal government and universal registration and same-day registration and all these different buzzwords really gets down to the individual freedoms of people in our state and Americans in general and their ability to decide for themselves, “yes I want to register to vote and participate in the process, or no that I don’t.”

Watch it:

There are countless problems with our voting system, but infringing on Americans’ right to not vote is not one.

Regardless, Kemp’s assertion that EDR somehow compels citizens to vote is ludicrous. The law simply allows those citizens who want to to register on Election Day.

In fact, Georgia, as much as any state, could benefit from EDR. In 2012, the Peach State ranked 33rd out of 50 states with a voter turnout of 58 percent. Meanwhile, five of the top six voter turnout states have EDR.

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National Security Brief: Netanyahu Weakened In Surprising Election Results

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies “were sharply weakened” in national elections on Tuesday, forcing him to try to form a coalition government with his opponents. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports: In the past decades, the general understanding on the political scene was that Israeli elections are determined, above all, by voters’ sense of personal security. Apparently, however, the 2013 elections are different. Four years of relative calm did not help Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Neither did his implied threats that the Iranian bomb is approaching, and the Arab Spring is out there raging. Many voters took advantage of the calm to vote according to what really bothered them: their economic situation, the social gaps, the fact that some Israelis bear the burden of the military and taxation while others do not, or a sense of just being plain fed up with the existing regime.

In other news:

The Pentagon said that it will not demand payment to transport French troops to Mali in American planes, however the U.S. has not agreed to a French request to provide refueling tankers for its warplanes. Meanwhile, British special forces have arrived in Mali helping to co-ordinate and advise the French military effort against the jihadi groups in the north.

The Wall Street Journal reports: Afghan rural areas will be at greater risk of falling to the Taliban if the U.S. accedes to Kabul’s demands to speed up the withdrawal of special-operations teams working with Afghan village self-defense units, an internal report prepared for the U.S. military warned.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will appear before both House of Congress today to answer questions about the attack that killed American diplomats and other personnel in Benghazi, Libya last September. It will be one of her last duties as America’s top diplomat.

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Statement by President on the Presidential Election in the Republic of Korea

Statement by President on the Presidential Election in the Republic of Korea | The White House Skip to main content | Skip to footer site map The White House. President Barack Obama Get Email UpdatesContact Us Go to homepage. The White House Blog Photos & Videos Photo Galleries Video Performances Live Streams Podcasts White House Performances

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Holidays at the White House

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For Immediate Release December 19, 2012 Statement by President on the Presidential Election in the Republic of Korea

I congratulate President-elect Park Geun-hye on her success in the election held on Wednesday. I look forward to working closely with the Park Administration to further enhance our extensive cooperation with the Republic of Korea on a wide range of important bilateral, regional and global issues. The U.S.-ROK alliance serves as a linchpin of peace and security in the Asia Pacific and our two nations share a global partnership with deep economic, security, and people-to-people ties. I also wish to reiterate my admiration for all that President Lee has done to strengthen U.S.-ROK relations and promote a Global Korea.

Blog posts on this issue December 24, 2012 1:00 PM ESTWatch: First Lady Michelle Obama Reads "Twas the Night Before Christmas" December 24, 2012 11:46 AM ESTTracking Santa With Our Eyes in the Sky

The Energy Department's Los Alamos National Lab is using state-of-the-art technology to track Santa Claus as he circles the globe the night before Christmas.

December 24, 2012 7:59 AM ESTWhite House Holiday Social in Pictures

Some of our followers on Pinterest joined us at the White House for a holiday social. Take a look at their experience.

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Obama NLRB’s Ambush Election Rules Smacked Down By Circuit Court…For Now

On Monday, in a nice victory for America’s union-free workplace, Barack Obama’s pro-union appointees at the National Labor Relations Board had their recently-imposed rules allowing for so-called “ambush” (or “quickie”) union elections overturned by the District Court for the District of Columbia.

In December, the Obama NLRB promulgated new rules (which went into effect on April 30th) that eviscerated an employer’s right to challenge a union’s petition to hold an election on unionizing select groups of employees (called units). This evisceration opened the door for union elections to take place in as little as 17 days from petition filing—down considerably from the NLRB’s median time frame of 38 days.

In its Monday ruling, the District Court cited Woody Allen as it ruled that the NLRB’s December promulgation did not have the required quorum:

According to Woody Allen, eighty percent of life is just showing up. When it comes to satisfying a quorum requirement, though, showing up is even more important than that. Indeed, it is the only thing that matters – even when the quorum is constituted electronically.  In this case, because no quorum ever existed for the pivotal vote in question, the Court must hold that the challenged rule is invalid.

The challenge to the rule was brought by the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace and its litigation partners at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

In a statement, CDW chairman Geoffrey Burr stated:

“Employers are greatly gratified that the Court has overturned a rule that would have been bad for employees and employers and especially hard on small business owners who would have been left with mere days to navigate an often-arcane NLRB process.”

While the Court’s ruling is certainly welcome news for union-free employers and employees alike, it does not mean the issue is dead.

Since the Court’s overturning of the NLRB’s rules were based on the fact that the Board did not have a quorum, the question now becomes: Will the constitutionally-questionable recess appointments Barack Obama made to the NLRB in January have the legal standing to simply re-impose the ambush election rules?

As the attorneys at Labor Relations Today wrote yesterday:

This decision foreshadows the coming showdown over President Obama’s January 2012 “recess” appointments.  Judge Boasberg’s decision strongly suggests that if there is an interest in a fully functional National Labor Relations Board, there must be a fully seated Board — or at least a full quorum of three like-minded Members who will participate in actions.

Renowned labor attorney Michael J. Lotito of the law firm Littler Mendelson summarized the Monday ruling this way:  ”This is not over by a long shot but this was a nice win.”

Related: NLRB Can Revive Speedy Union Vote Rule Judge Threw Out

_____________

“Truth isn’t mean. It’s truth.”
Andrew Breitbart (1969-2012)

Cross-posted on LaborUnionReport.com

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Coal policy could swing the election

Forgive me for venturing out from strict horserace poll analysis, but given the the administration’s recent moves on coal power, I couldn’t help but wonder how that might affect the President in swing states, should prices rise in coal-burning states.

A check I made this morning suggests that the answer is yes, if coal is an issue in this election, it could swing close states.

Here’s a simple chart of the closeness of a state’s 2008 Presidential election result vs the state’s coal use as a percentage. Source for coal use: the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, but they also cite their sources too if you’d like to dig in. Election margin source: the final column of the Wikipedia chart.

I asked OpenOffice to throw in the trend line. Additionally, the Pearson coefficient is -0.37. That means that the correlation is not small, and not strong, but medium, according to common Pearson interpretations.

Considering I’m not in any way predicting that coal use caused the 2008 gap, that’s an interesting finding. By chance, the closer a state was in 2008, the more coal it uses, on average. Of the states at 5% or less of a 2008 gap, only Florida doesn’t get a majority of its electricity from coal.

Again, I must stress the modesty of this find. I’m not predicting that the administration’s policies necessarily will cause shifts in coal energy prices soon enough or large enough to swing votes in coal-burning states. Nor am I predicting that the issue would necessarily be decisive of people’s votes.

I’m merely checking that if both of those things do happen, whether they would be happening in states where it would make a difference. The answer to that question is yes. Unluckily for the President as it may be.

Crossposted from Unlikely Voter

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