Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Tuesday 6/28/05

[Melissa G]

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Tuesday 6/28/05

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.

Please post Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News on this thread.

If you can:

1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web.

2. Post stories using the "Election Fraud and Reform News Sources" listed here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x371233

3. Re-post stories and announcements you find on DU, providing a link to the original thread with thanks to the Original Poster, too.

4. Start a discussion thread by re-posting a story you see on this thread.



If you want to know how post "News Banners" or other images, go here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=371233#371391

Link to previous Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x380927
All previous daily threads are available here:
http://www.independentmediasource.com/DU_archives/du_2004erd_el_ref_fr_thr_calenders.htm





Please "Recommend" for the Greatest Page (it's the link just below).

[Melissa G]

1. 2 counties risk lawsuits for spurning touch-screen voting machines

2 counties risk lawsuits for spurning touch-screen voting machines
By George Bennett

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Monday, June 27, 2005

At least two Florida counties are balking at paperless touch-screen voting machines — and risking lawsuits — as state and federal deadlines loom for buying equipment that allows disabled voters to cast ballots without assistance.

The Volusia County Council rejected a contract this month to buy touch screens to supplement the county's optical-scan ballots. And Leon County Elections Supervisor Ion Sancho says he'd rather wait for a not-yet-approved voting device than buy any paperless machines.

Voters in Volusia, Leon and 50 other Florida counties use paper ballots that optical scanners read at each precinct. State and federal laws say counties with optical-scan ballots can keep those systems, but they also must add other equipment to accommodate voters who can't mark paper ballots on their own.

The state law applies to any elections that take place after Friday. The federal law takes effect Jan. 1.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2005/06/27/s1b_voting_0627.html

[Melissa G]

2. Murkowski Signs 18 Bills- AK

Murkowski Signs 18 Bills




June 27, 2005
Monday


Alaska Governor Frank H. Murkowski signed 18 bills into law Friday, June 24 including legislation to protect public health, reform insurance regulations, reform Alaska's elections system and finally put Amerada Hess funds to work for Alaskans.

"I was pleased to sign these important pieces of legislation into law," said Murkowski. "This Legislature addressed a number of important issues for Alaskans - and Alaskans will benefit from these new laws."

snip

HB 94 updates and reforms Alaska's elections laws. The bill improves the sections related to initiatives, referendums, and recalls by making the process consistent and user friendly. It also makes changes to allow voters through power of attorney to register to vote, make changes to their registration, or to fill out an application for a ballot by mail. The bill improves ballot security, requires the division to implement "ballot rotation," adds standards for voting machines and vote tally systems, requires election boards to report the number of ballots destroyed to increase the accountability of ballots, and makes other important reforms.

http://www.sitnews.us/0605news/062705/062705_gov_signs_bills.html

[Melissa G]

3. From Values to True Dialogue- Russia

From Values to True Dialogue
Opinion

By Andrew Kuchins


In the past year or so, we have increasingly heard the argument that a growing clash between "values" and "interests" is leading to policy dilemmas for Europeans and Americans when dealing with Russia. According to this argument, the erosion of democratic institutions and re-assertion of state control over strategic economic sectors raises questions about Russia's commitment to becoming a market democracy closely aligned with Western interests. Many critics of Russian behavior assert that Russia's aggressive meddling in the internal affairs of its neighbors reflects neo-imperial tendencies that do not equate with acceptable modern Western "values" or norms of international behavior.

Yet the formulation of the problem as a conflict of values is not helpful and is even counterproductive. The term "values" has become a code word for describing what we perceive to be Russia's domestic deficiencies in democracy, rule of law and transparent market competition. These deficiencies are real, but to cast them as reflecting departures from Western values diminishes the effectiveness of our trying to convince Russian officials and policymakers that they exist.

snip
First, in a system with working democratic institutions, you are likely to have a more effective policymaking process, though it may look rather messy. Policy is likely to be more carefully vetted and alternative views taken into consideration through an independent parliament and press. What appears to be increasing dysfunction in Russian policymaking can be partially attributed to the weakening of other institutions like the State Duma, Federation Council, regional governors and independent national television.

Second, there seems be quite a strong correlation between democratic states and the unlikelihood that they will go to war with other democracies. It is not an iron-clad law - such things don't exist in social science - but there is preponderant evidence supporting this hypothesis.

http://www.times.spb.ru/archive/times/1082/opinion/o_16147.htm

[Melissa G]

4. Rep. McKinney (D-GA) Discusses Hack as Diebold Attacks Elections

http://www.yubanet.com/artman/publish/article_22244.shtml

Rep. McKinney (D-GA) Discusses Hack as Diebold Attacks Elections Official

By: Matthew Cardinale
Published: Jun 27, 2005 at 08:51

"The bottom line is we can't trust the machines, and we can't trust the results being told to the American people," U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) said in a phone interview for the progressive news community, adding "we are planning some as-yet-undefined events in district" around the issue.

The problem, the Congresswoman said, is that the machines "haven't been provided with appropriate software and safeguards. If they had the appropriate software and safeguards, then the machines wouldn't be a problem. So either that, or go back to paper ballots," she advised.

Rep. McKinney, along with Rep. Corrine Brown (D-FL), had been on hand for a hack demonstration in the Leon County Elections Office, in Florida, in May 2005. The demo was one of three meetings that had been organized by Bev Harris and the team at Black Box Voting.

Diebold has since issued a vitriolic letter to Mr. Ion Sancho, Leon County Elections Supervisor, for allowing Black Box Voting to conduct the hack demo on site.

http://www.yubanet.com/artman/publish/article_22244.shtml

[Melissa G]

5. Letter to Howard Dean about DNC election report and the evidence of vote

Monday 27th June 2005 (08h23) :
Letter to Howard Dean about the DNC election report and the evidence of vote fraud in Ohio
Dear Governor Dean:
I have much admiration for you and high hopes for your success as DNC Chairman. And I think that you would have made a fine, if not a great President. However, I have to tell you I believe that you are making a big mistake by embracing the recent DNC report on the 2004 Ohio election, which significantly under-plays the extent to which that election represents a threat to our democracy.

In particular, the repeated assurances of the lack of evidence for election determining fraud is misleading, gives a false sense of security to U.S. citizens, and in my opinion fails to encourage the kind of political climate that is needed in this country to facilitate meaningful election reform - given the fact that our country’s government and news media is heavily dominated by the Republican Party. I would think, as a minimum, before making such assurances in this high profile report, that care should have been taken to adequately address the prevalent arguments that fraud did indeed play a major role in determining the outcome of the Presidential election in Ohio, and therefore the United States.

But this report did no such thing, as I intend to make clear in detail below. I believe that the following issues are relevant to my point:

1. Failed, unlawful recount, and lack of cooperation from the Secretary of State
First and foremost, an assurance to the citizens of this country that fraud played no major role in the outcome of this election should be based on a full investigation. A fair, lawful and transparent recount of the votes, as mandated by Ohio law would be the first step in this process. Yet, Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell did everything in his power to prevent such a recount.

Samples for the recount were chosen in a non-random manner, contrary to state law, and every effort appears to have been made to ensure that results of the 3% sample recount would match election day results, so as to prevent the occurrence of county-wide hand recounts. Perhaps the most flagrant example of this was Sherole Eaton’s testimony that a Triad technician in Hocking County modified a vote tabulator prior to the recount and advised election officials on how to manipulate voting machinery to ensure that a hand recount would match the machine recount: http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/121604Z.shtml Ms. Eaton was fired from her job as a result of this transgression. How many others witnessed similar events but did not possess enough courage to risk their livelihood in order to make their observations public, as Ms. Eaton did?

http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=6665

[Melissa G]

6. Time for change DU discussion

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=380878&mesg_id=380878

[Melissa G]

7. Why did Kerry Concede?

Monday 27th June 2005 (08h41) :
Why did Kerry Concede?
2 comment(s).
Here is the opinion of one political nobody on why Sen. John F Kerry conceded the election on Nov 2004. I have been told, "get over it" and get lost. The following is why Kerry has made me one pissed off Ohio voter and turned voting into a waste of time.
John Kerry on Nov 3 2004 made this concession statement.

"In America, it is vital that every vote counts, and that every vote be counted. But the outcome should be decided by voters, not a protracted legal process. ...I would not give up this fight if there was a chance that we would prevail. But it is now clear that even when all the provisional ballots are counted, which they will be, there won’t be enough outstanding votes for our campaign to be able to win Ohio. And therefore, we cannot win this election. ..........."

Time factor:

The decision to concede was made on Election Day, but delayed until the next day because it was viewed as an important event. Claimed all the evidence was in.

But, it was not in and those few extra hours were not a satisfactory time period to acquire election fraud evidence. The time needed was one to two weeks. 10 more days were needed to count the provisional ballots in the critical state of Ohio. But Kerry decided that counting every vote was no longer needed and accepted totals as is. Thus, the choice in time bases was 10 days of counting or 4 more years of Bush. Kerry chose neither, he went into hiding.

http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=6669

[Melissa G]

8. Delays Continue In N.C. Voting Reform

Delays Continue In N.C. Voting Reform

POSTED: 10:44 am EDT June 27, 2005
UPDATED: 11:03 am EDT June 27, 2005

RALEIGH, N.C. -- North Carolina heads into another election cycle this week without a final plan to cut the chances of another electronic voting miscue of the sort in Carteret County that drew national attention last year.

The error became the focus of voting reform advocates nationwide last November when touch-screen machines failed to record more than 4.400 ballots. The votes were lost.

After this and other counting errors, a state legislative commission recommended improvements to the General Assembly in February including equipment upgrades, more training and a paper receipt of every vote cast.

Lawmakers in Raleigh have yet to approve the changes. Even if the Legislature approves a plan before adjourning for the summer, the chances are slim that upgraded equipment could be in place for this fall's municipal elections.

http://www.wxii12.com/news/4655390/detail.html

[LightningFlash]

9. Lawsuits brewing against Florida Counties.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2005/06/27/s1b_voting_0627.html

Voters in Volusia, Leon and 50 other Florida counties use paper ballots that optical scanners read at each precinct. State and federal laws say counties with optical-scan ballots can keep those systems, but they also must add other equipment to accommodate voters who can't mark paper ballots on their own.

The state law applies to any elections that take place after Friday. The federal law takes effect Jan. 1.

The state's deadline has forced St. Lucie County to delay a planned September referendum on whether to renew a half-percent sales tax for school construction. The vote was put off until at least Oct. 18 because the county has not received a shipment of 95 Diebold touch screens.

Touch screens have an audio component that allows blind voters to cast ballots without the help of friends or poll workers. They are also easier to use for voters who have trouble gripping a pencil.

Palm Beach and Martin counties use touch screens for all their precinct voting and therefore are already in compliance.

But counties that use optical-scan ballots and don't add accessible voting machines could find themselves in court.

"It appears the disability groups are going to sue them," said Citrus County Elections Supervisor Susan Gill, the head of the statewide association of elections chiefs. Citrus County, which uses optical-scan ballots, expects to add 50 new touch screens in time for a December water district election."

John Kerry needs to earn his keep and do something for one god damn time, organize a massive counter-lawsuit with his power in Florida. Or the florida democratic party is finished. Do it now, whoever needs to do it must step up and countersue the programmers trying to force Florida's 8 counties to verify paperless DREs because the disabled need unverified machines!

:mad: :mad: :mad:

[Melissa G]

10. live webcast of the C-B Commission and agenda

Thanks to Emlev for the post and DU discussion here..
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x381183

Well, there's no live webcast of our Election Assessment Hearing (see www.electionassessment.org ), but according to
ttp://www.american.edu/ia/cfer/hearings.htm
there's a live webcast of the C-B Commission hearing the next day.

Agenda:


Hearing Schedule
June 30, 2005

James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
Rice University
Houston, Texas
WATCH A LIVE WEBCAST FROM
RICE UNIVERSITY ON JUNE 30
PRINTER-FRIENDLY FORMAT




8:30 AM–10:00 AM Panel I: Voter Registration, Identification, and Participation

* Mr. Ken Smukler, President, Info Voter Technologies
* Dr. Michael Alvarez, Professor, California Institute of Technology
* Dr. Paula Hawthorn, Independent Database Consultant
* Dr. Robert Stein, Dean of Social Sciences, Rice University


10:00 AM–10:15 AM Break

10:15 AM–11:00 AM Panel II: Voting Technology

* Dr. Dan Wallach, Associate Professor, Rice University
* Ms. Beverly Kaufman, Clerk, Harris County, Texas


11:00 AM–12:00 AM Panel III: Election Management and Election Reform

* Mr. Donald J. Simon, Attorney, Sonosky, Chambers, Sachse, Endreson & Perry LLP
* Dr. Louis Massicotte, Professor, University of Montreal
* Dr. Norman Ornstein, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute


4:15 PM–4:30 PM News Conference

This is the second and final hearing of the Commission on Federal Election Reform. Comments and written testimony may be submitted to [e-mail] . The final report is scheduled for release on September 19, 20

[Melissa G]

11. Notify Baker/Carter Commission about ElectionAssessment.org Hearings!

June 28, 2005
Notify Baker/Carter Commission about ElectionAssessment.org Hearings!

Please help Velvet Revolution inform the Baker/Carter Commission about ElectionAssessment.org's Hearings to be held in Houston on June 29th, the day prior to the second and final Baker/Carter National Election Reform Hearing in the same city!

ElectionAssessment.org's Hearings will feature the real Election Reform experts and advocates and witnesses to what went horribly wrong in Election 2004 that the Baker/Carter Commission should have invited to testify at their hearings! Unfortunately, the Baker/Carter Commission has now irrevocably discredited themselves by stacking the deck with Partisan Operatives and Voting Machine Company Representatives. So it's up to groups like ElectionAssessment.org to present the honest testimony required for any commission to make real recommendations for Election Reform in the United States of America!

Please click here to send Email to Baker/Carter Commission Members about ElectionAssessment.org's Hearings...
(The direct address to this webletter is:
http://www.velvetrevolution.us/mailing.php?Mailing=0A54007D500061C0E1332)

Thank you for you support in this and other campaigns as we hope to organize our citizen's brigade to demand clean and transparent elections in America and hold both Elected Officials and the Mainstream Corporate Media responsible where they are failing our country!

snip
All the best,
Brad Friedman
VELVET REVOLUTION, Co-Founder

[Melissa G]

12. Vote verification a matter of trust

Victor Landa: Vote verification a matter of trust
Web Posted: 06/27/2005 12:00 AM CDT

San Antonio Express-News

Thanks to Bill Bored for post and DU discussion
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x381242
snip

The problem with voting technology has nothing to do with the capacity to verify votes; rather, it has to do with the public's general distrust of the electoral process. Electronic voting machines aren't tamperproof and the slightest crack in the system turns into a fault line in public perception. Voters want a voting process that is airtight, beyond scrutiny, transparent, faultless. It's a matter of trust, and paper trails or hackerproof systems are merely accessories.

It would make voters feel secure if they could walk out of the voting booth with a paper verification of their vote or if there were paper verification left behind for future reference. But couldn't the same hackers who would manipulate a voting machine also be able to manipulate an attached printer? Voting machines are not linked to the Internet so any tampering would have to occur locally and systematically. Where is the security, if not in the voter's own sense of belief?

snip
Last week, the U.S. Senate began hearings concerning electronic voting machines. These are the first hearings into what are already being called VVPATs — voter-verifiable paper audit trails. As such, this will be the first time that the fault line in the voting public's perception will be under a national spotlight.

And already there are problems. The makeup of the witnesses scheduled to appear at the hearing is said to favor the paperless machines. Those who favor a paper trail smell a rat — and this was merely the opening week of testimony. A point of major concern is the fact that with or without a paper trail, blind voters have no way of verifying their choice. So the idea is being floated that a voice verification system be added as well.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/columnists/vlanda/stories/MYSA062705.5B.landa.48d41c7.html