Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Wednesday 7/13/05

[MelissaB]

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[Botany]

1. Dirty Ohio?

http://www.cleveland.com/newsflash/cleveland/index.ssf?...

7/13/2005, 5:11 a.m. ET
The Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — All 34 judges on the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court have been disqualified by Ohio's chief justice from hearing a lawsuit alleging corruption by the Republican party.

Chief Justice Thomas Moyer said on Tuesday the unusual move was necessary to eliminate any perception of bias by the court system that's dominated by Democrats. Moyer is a Republican.

Moyer said he will appoint a retired visiting judge from outside Cuyahoga County to the case

Moyer ruled in a lawsuit filed on Aug. 2, 2004, by Cuyahoga County Commissioner Timothy Hagan, the 2002 Democratic nominee for governor...

[MelissaB]

2. Democrat seeks Taft investment deposition

Article published Wednesday, July 13, 2005

WORKERS' COMP

Democrat seeks Taft investment deposition
Governor claims executive privilege

By JAMES DREW and STEVE EDER
BLADE STAFF WRITERS


COLUMBUS - If a Democratic state senator gets his way, Gov. Bob Taft will be forced to answer questions in a sworn deposition Friday about his refusal to release documents that could highlight what he knew about investment problems at the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation.


Last week, Marc Dann, a Democrat from suburban Youngstown and leading critic of the bureau's investment practices, asked the Ohio Supreme Court to order the governor to release correspondence dating back to 1999 between key members of his staff and bureau officials.

Mr. Taft has refused to release a number of documents, including weekly reports between the bureau and his office, claiming "executive privilege."

Mr. Taft's deposition notice was served on the Ohio Attorney General's office, which is representing the governor.

More: http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050713/NEWS24/507130460

[MelissaB]

3. Ohio Supreme Court to Hear Case Against Taft

Columbus

Ohio Supreme Court to Hear Case Against Taft

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A Democratic state senator suing Gov. Bob Taft over access to records in a state investment scandal now wants attorneys to take sworn statements from Taft, his top aides and the former chief of the Bureau of Workers' Compensation.


Sen. Marc Dann of suburban Youngstown sent a notice Tuesday to the attorney general's office that he wants depositions on Friday. The Ohio Supreme Court accepted the case on Monday and put it on an accelerated schedule.


Taft spokesman Mark Rickel said the governor's office would not comment. Bureau spokesman Jeremy Jackson declined to comment because the bureau had not seen the legal document.


...snip


In weekly reports Taft has already released, the $58 million coin fund is first mentioned by Conrad on April 7, just days after The (Toledo) Blade revealed Noe's involvement in the fund. The reports date to last August. Taft has refused to release earlier reports.


However, a March 18 e-mail released this week contains a memo from Conrad to Taft warning of the Blade story and detailing the coin fund's history. It was not immediately clear if the aide relayed the memo to Taft.

More: http://www.10tv.com/global/story.asp?s=3587271&ClientType=Printable

[MelissaB]

4. Senator Seeks Sworn Statements From Taft, Aides, BWC Officials

Senator Seeks Sworn Statements From Taft, Aides, BWC Officials

Reported by: AP
Web produced by: Neil Relyea
Photographed by: 9News
7/12/2005 9:13:32 PM

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- A Democratic state senator suing Ohio Governor Bob Taft over access to records in a state investment scandal now wants attorneys to take sworn statements from Taft, his top aides and the former chief of the Bureau of Workers' Compensation.

Senator Marc Dann of suburban Youngstown sent a notice Tuesday to the attorney general's office that he wants depositions on Friday.

The Ohio Supreme Court accepted the case on Monday and put it on an accelerated schedule.

Taft spokesman Mark Rickel said the governor's office would not comment.

More: http://www.wcpo.com/news/2005/local/07/12/rare_coins.html

[MelissaB]

5. E-voting: paper trail versus transparency

Open Source

E-voting: paper trail versus transparency

Wednesday July 13, 2005 (03:00 PM GMT)
By: Jay Lymon

In the heat of major political campaigns and elections, we hear a lot about electronic voting and the fight over their accuracy and trustworthiness. However, it is now -- between elections -- that the real work gets done. While experts have placed transparency through open source systems and software high on the list of requirements for trustworthy elections, the debate over a verifiable voter paper receipt has recently overshadowed all other issues. Experts indicated while both printed paper backups and open code are key components to reliable and trustworthy electronic voting, openness may be suffering from lack of attention and support.

When asked about the state of e-voting and significance of openness, two leading experts -- VerifiedVoting's David Dill, who testified last month before the U.S. Senate Rules Committee, and Avi Rubin, Johns Hopkins University computer science professor and critic of current e-voting solutions -- offered their thoughts via e-mail.

NF: What's the status of the idea of making e-voting technologies transparent, meaning open source software and systems?

David Dill: Open source means different things to different people. I favor full public disclose of voting machine software (and the rest of the designs, including the hardware). It might be appropriate to let companies clean up their programs before releasing them, to avoid exposing security holes, though. "Disclosed source" is not the same as an "open source development model" such as that used in Linux. Open source development might be a good thing for voting machines, too, but I'll wait and see whether someone can do it successfully. No one has yet required that voting machine designs be publicly disclosed. The Holt bill in the U.S. House would require it if it were to pass in its current form.

Avi Rubin: Morbid. I don't see anybody making an effort to do that. In general, vendors prefer to hide behind a "proprietary" argument, and I don't see legislators forcing them to release the source code. By the way, that could be a disaster. Software that is written under the assumption of secrecy (regardless of how ludicrous that assumption is) and is then disclosed could introduce problems. Software should be designed to be publicly available from the start of a project.


More: http://software.newsforge.com/software/05/07/06/182210.shtml?tid=132&tid=27

[MelissaB]

6. LTTE: Optical scan machines best for secure voting system

Optical scan machines best for secure voting system

Letter to the editor
July 13, 2005

Congratulations for the excellent article on July 6 regarding optical scan voting. I attended the presentation, and I found Brooke Sherman's story a first-rate summary of the issues and concerns raised.

Optical scan voting includes a paper record of each vote cast, thus allowing for accuracy in case of a recount. It has worked successfully in many states. The touchscreen or push-button voting device leaves no paper record and, like any computer, is subject to error and the possible calamity of votes being irretrievably lost. The optical scan device is far less costly to purchase, use and store than the touchscreen or push-button.

Since voters are already angry and suspicious about voting irregularities in Florida in the 2000 general election and in Ohio in 2004, it is essential that we have a voting process and voting machinery that can be trusted to record accurately the wishes of the electorate.

Our Chemung County officials should read the July 6 article and weigh very carefully the success record of optical scan voting versus the potential problems and actual disasters that have occurred with touchscreen or push-button devices.

More: http://www.stargazettenews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050713/OPINION02/507130321

[MelissaB]

7. NY: Editorial: County offers chance to try new voting ways

Editorial: County offers chance to try new voting ways

When Greater Binghamtonians go to the polls next year, they'll find a list of many familiar names from which to choose, but that's about all that will remind them of 2004.


As prescribed by the Help America Vote Act of 2002, polling places across the land will house new, improved and, let us hope, tamper-proof voting machines.

Exactly what kind of machines will await them has yet to be determined, but one thing appears to be certain: they will be less prone to the kind of human error that made a travesty of the voting process in Florida during the 2000 election.

If you like surprises, you can wait until November 2006 to find out how you'll be able to cast your vote. But if you'd like to be forewarned, the Broome County Board of Elections can provide a sneak preview.

Voting machine manufacturers began showing their wares on Monday at the Broome County Office Building, and demonstrations will continue through today. The new machines will offer innovative features such as optical scanning and auditory voting for the visually impaired.

More: http://www.pressconnects.com/today/opinion/stories/op071305s178058.shtml

[MelissaB]

8. Washington state briefs (Snohomish County )

Washington state briefs

07/13/2005

Associated Press


Keeping polling places open in Snohomish County will cost more than expected — $1.67 million rather than $1 million, a new report says.

A majority of the Snohomish County Council agreed two weeks ago to keeping polling places open, along with the use of absentee ballots, rather than switch to all-mail voting.

The price tag is driven by a new state law that requires the county's electronic voting machines to have a verifiable paper audit trail — by January 2006.

County officials are now concerned where the money will come from, and are considering taking out a loan.

"I'm uncomfortable forcing people out of the polls," said Councilman Dave Gossett. "But I'm not exactly excited about spending $1 million."

Gossett said two financing plans for the 875 paper audit machines will be presented in the next two weeks.

More: http://www.kgw.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D8BA8G100.html

[MelissaB]

9. Texas: Commissioners OK electronic voting machine buy

Commissioners OK electronic voting machine buy
Denton County: Purchase is to comply with disability law

09:01 PM CDT on Tuesday, July 12, 2005


By DAVE MOORE / Denton Record-Chronicle


Some voters who cast ballots in the Nov. 8 election at six Denton County polling places will do so electronically, with machines that don't produce a paper trail.

On Tuesday, Denton County commissioners agreed to buy only enough electronic voting machines to satisfy a federal law that requires all voting places be accessible to people with disabilities.

The court is holding out for the state to approve a machine that will provide paper backup before it spends a $2.4 million federal grant for machines that comply with the Help America Vote Act, a law that requires accommodations for disabled voters at all voting places.

"I still want a paper trail because I think it's important for the integrity of the election," Commissioner Bobbie Mitchell said after Tuesday's meeting.

The court agreed to purchase the first installment of electronic voting machines to replace its 10-year-old Eagle vote-scanning machines. Thirty of the machines will be eSlate devices, which resemble clipboard-size personal digital assistants. The eSlates can be taken curbside to ease voting for the disabled. Those machines, however, produce no voter-verifiable paper trail.

More: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/city/denton/stories/071305dnmetvote.f757ec.html

[MelissaB]

10. Arkansas seeks bids on new voting systems

Arkansas seeks bids on new voting systems

7/12/05

By the end of next year, every county could vote electronically.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Arkansas is moving closer to acquiring new voting systems for each of its 75 counties. State and federal officials want to prevent the balloting crisis that led to the unprecedented recounts in Florida in the presidential election in 2000.

Secretary of State Charlie Daniels is seeking bids on new voting equipment systems that are estimated to cost more than $18 million. Daniels' office is upgrading voting systems statewide to comply with state and federal election laws passed after the recount in 2000 that determined George W. Bush's win over Al Gore.

At least one new electronic voting machine will be available at each of the polls in the primary elections on May 23 in Arkansas. The new systems will not be entirely in place throughout the state until the general election in November of next year.

By the primaries in May, the new systems will be in place in the 13 counties, including several in the KY3 area, that still use punch card and lever machines and in the nine counties that still count paper ballots by hand. There also will be at least one electronic voting machine at every polling place in the state.

The 13 counties using punch card and lever machines are Arkansas, Baxter, Benton, Boone, Desha, Faulkner, Hot Spring, Jefferson, Marion, Mississippi, Saline, Searcy, and White. The nine counties with paper ballots are Cleveland, Franklin, Izard, Lafayette, Little River, Prairie, Scott, Van Buren, and Yell.

Link: http://www.ky3.com/newsdetailed.asp?id=8384

[MelissaB]

11. Charlotte Observer, NC: Elections board ouster?

Posted on Wed, Jul. 13, 2005
OBSERVER EXCLUSIVE

Elections board ouster?
Party chair's list of nominees excludes Charlottean, a 4-year veteran

MARK JOHNSON

Raleigh Bureau


RALEIGH - N.C. Democratic Party Chairman Jerry Meek is trying to dump Charlotte lawyer Robert Cordle from the state board of elections in order for Meek to appoint a former superior court judge and longtime friend.

Democratic leaders said that Meek recently sent Gov. Mike Easley a list of the party's nominees for the three Democratic seats on the board and Cordle, a four-year veteran, wasn't on it.

The board, which oversees all elections, has five members, and the governor traditionally appoints a majority from his party. The board hears major election disputes, including recent controversial cases, such as a voting machine that lost 4,438 votes in coastal Carteret County last year. Another case involved former Agriculture Commissioner Meg Scott Phipps' election law violations that eventually led to her conviction on criminal charges.

"The chairman of the party had somebody from his area he wanted to recommend," House Speaker Jim Black said Tuesday. He had recommended Cordle be reappointed for a four-year term.

More: http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/12119176.htm

[MelissaB]

12. "What a Ballot Is" ~ Andy Stephenson

The following was written by Andy April 29, 2005. It is a draft, about which he said, "Just putting thoughts on paper right now. So in case something happens to me, god forbid...I have it down for others in the future."

What a ballot is. It is not merely a piece of paper it is me...it is my voice. Each of us should guard it more than we would our most prized or precious possession. That ballot protects our other possessions. Without it you have no say. Over the last couple of years I have been adamant about the need for a voter verified paper ballot. It has been the driving force behind what I have done and will continue to do. To me, my ballot is the most sacred sacrament of the secular religion we call Democracy.

I have traveled around this country meeting with Election Officials such as Mischelle Townsend. I sent her into a tailspin when I put a camera in her face. Mischelle Townsend as you remember was the County Registrar in Riverside CO. Ca. Mischelle is a drippy sweet kind of woman but underneath beats the heart of a true viper. Mischelle has unwavering faith in Sequoia Voting Systems. She is a huge proponent of paperless DRE's. Where is Mischelle now? Well last I heard she was at home tending to her father-in-law's knee. She spent her last day at work holed up in her office with the door closed to avoid cameras. David Elliot is another viper. David was the head honcho over at NASED. He was the one person most responsible for allowing DRE’s to be approved for use. David was another really bad guy. He told me that he would have liked to have been able to talk less formally “without the camera.” I am sure he would have. But hey…I wanted to keep him honest. David retired from service to the state to attend to a “nervous condition.” Another piece of work was Scott Konopasek. Scott was the Registrar in San Bernardino Co Ca. Scott was the man responsible for DRE’s in two places, Snohomish WA and San Bernardino CA. Scott once remarked that Bev and I were waging “Jihad”, but not in a “Palestine Israel sense of the word, but in more of a Northern Ireland sense of the word.” Excuse me but WTF? Scott is now a “consultant” I worry when former elections officials become consultants. The one thing all these people have in common is an undying faith in paperless voting. I would say that they were all crooked but that would get me sued so I won’t say it. But I had no faith that they were protecting the ballot.

Now I know that I have gotten off track here and talked about all the bad guys in elections but there are people protecting your ballot. Some examples are Freddie Oakley of Yolo County California, Ion Sancho of Leon County Florida and Kevin Shelly and Julie Anne Kempf formerly of King County Washington. These people are examples of people working hard to protect our right to vote and in the case of Julie Anne losing their job in the process. I have talked here about the people but not ballots up to this point. There is a reason for that. The first group of people is out to get your ballot the second wants to preserve your ballot.

There are currently many definitions and thoughts on the subject of ballots. Some would argue that paper records or paper trails can serve the same purpose as a paper ballot. All legislation I see coming from Washington these days talk of Paper records/trails that are kept in a similar manner as ballots. They are to be the official record of the election and are to be used in case of manual recounts. As an example of how hard this would be, let’s look at Diebold’s VVPAT. A long register receipt type “paper trail” is printed. Granted it is better than what does not come from their DRE’s now but it would be very difficult to “hand” count. So why spend money on it, if it does not really do what we want it to do? It is similar but not the same as a ballot. Imagine a 75 year old trying to read the small type on that paper trail. Some, such as our first group of people would argue that an electronic version of the ballot is ok and perfectly acceptable. David Dill explains that voting on DRE’s is like handing your ballot to a man behind a curtain, telling him how you want to vote, he fills in your choices and you never see the ballot again. This is UNACCEPTABLE! Our ballot must be human readable we must be able to discern our own choices and not leave it to a machine interface. Now this is not always possible as in the case of the blind but there are technologies that help the blind to vote in secret that produce a ballot. Equipment such as Automark produces an optical scan or human readable ballot. The ballot is printed on a heavy weight 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper with standard markings. Any human or optical scan machine can read these ballots and they are ideal for hand counts should the need arise.

Now there are many people that say we should be all hand counted paper all the time. In an ideal world we would do that. But realistically that is not going to happen. Elections offices in most jurisdictions if not all, are under funded. Elections officials struggle with tight budgets and in most cases do a damned good job with what they have. Not all elections officials are bad and many want to run good clean elections. Keeping the system honest is up to us. With proper auditing and truly random recounts optical scans are the safest and most accurate way to count an election. The trouble starts when the votes are sent via electronic means to a central tabulator. I would also add that the tabulator needs to be as secure as Ft. Knox because after all our votes are more precious than gold.


Thanks to troubleinwinter here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4091026