Attorney General Eric Holder said during a speech on Tuesday night at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library that it's time to consider setting national standards for how elections should be handled.

"A recent study by the MacArthur Foundation found that nearly 90 percent of those who voted in last month's election would support creating national voting standards," Holder said, according to prepared remarks. "That's why it is important for national leaders, academic experts, and members of the public to engage in a frank, thorough, and inclusive discussion about how our election systems can be made stronger and more accessible."

WASHINGTON — Several prominent election lawyers on a panel here Friday predicted that the Supreme Court would ultimately strike down a part of the Voting Rights Act that requires states with a history of racial discrimination to have their election laws precleared by federal authorities.

Just one, Michael Carvin of Jones Day, thought that was a good thing.

The head of Maine's Republican Party defended himself on Thursday over comments he made about black people committing voter fraud in his state.

In an interview with TPM, Charlie Webster said his remarks earlier in the week had been misinterpreted as racist, but he still insisted it was "unusual" to see so many black voters at the polls in an overwhelmingly white state.

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted's last-minute change to how provisional ballots were handled violated the Constitution and Ohio election law, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

Hundreds of thousands of ballots have yet to be counted in Arizona nearly a week after Election Day, a majority of which appeared to come from Maricopa County.

There was confusion about a voter ID law in Pennsylvania, widespread use of provisional ballots in Ohio and problems for college students voting in Florida on Election Day. But the systematic, widespread voter disenfranchisement that some voting rights advocates had feared didn't come to fruition in 2012.

WASHINGTON — Voting and civil rights activists said Tuesday that Pennsylvania's new voter ID law was causing mass confusion across the state as people tried to go to the polls.

Because of a judge's ruling in October, the law attempted to walk a line by allowing poll workers to ask voters for photo identification while also giving voters a big loophole to cast a regular ballot without it.

A strategist for Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign said on Monday morning that voter fraud was virtually nonexistent in the U.S. and yet has somehow become part of the Republican "mythology."

They spent the campaign season stalking Republican candidates and looking for YouTube-worthy gaffes. Now, a group of 19 trackers with a liberal super PAC will have a new target on Election Day: disenfranchised voters.

Updated: 3:05PM

Elections officials in Maryland and the District of Columbia canceled early voting hours for Monday and Tuesday because of severe weather conditions brought on by Hurricane Sandy.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott made it clear this week he does not want international elections observers anywhere near the polls in his state.

Strategic Allied Consulting, a firm tied to allegations of voter registration fraud, was paid more than $600,000 by Republican sources in September before being blacklisted in the wake of those allegations.

Federal campaign finance records disclosed on Friday show that in September the Republican National Committee paid the company more than $416,000 and the Republican Party of Virginia paid it another $200,000. The RNC's payments were first reported by BuzzFeed.

The Pennsylvania man arrested in Virginia on Thursday for allegedly throwing completed voter registration forms into a dumpster was released overnight on a $3,000 bond and scheduled to be back in court the day before the election.

Updated: October 19, 2012, 12:10 PM

A Pennsylvania man employed by a company working for the Republican Party of Virginia was arrested by investigators from the Rockingham County Sheriff's office on Thursday and charged with destroying voter registration forms.

A Virgina sheriff confirmed to TPM on Thursday that his office is investigating whether a man seen tossing completed voter registration forms into a dumpster is connected to the state Republican Party.

The Supreme Court decided on Tuesday to let a lower court's ruling on early voting in Ohio stand, a move that will let all voters in the state cast their ballots during the three-day period before the election. If 2008 is any indication, the decision could be a major boost for President Barack Obama.

The Democratic National Committee on Wednesday fired a Texas staffer who appeared to offer to help someone figure out how to vote simultaneously in two states in undercover video released by conservative activist James O'Keefe.

Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer compared requiring photo identification at the polls to locking your house at night during an appearance on MSNBC on Wednesday.

Updated: 2:55PM

A panel of federal judges ruled on Wednesday that South Carolina's new voter ID does not have a discriminatory effect, but they also blocked it from going into effect in November.