Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News TUESDAY, 9/13/05

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Harry Connick Jr. & Friend

NEW ORLEANS…Simply the Best

Never forget the pursuit of Truth.
Only the deluded & complicit accept election results on blind faith.

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News TUESDAY, 9/13/05

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.

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1. OPEN VOTING CONSORTIUM: MUST READ

This is a great article. Unintentionally, it provides a theater of the absurd chronology of electronic voting. Don’t get me wrong, I admire and respect the people in this group. If you read the whole article, it shows that they have concluded that a paper ballot, verified as correct by the voter is the only reliable way of ensuring a fair vote. Now, given the realities, that we are IMPELLED to have electronic voting, they have put together an open source voting machine that basically produces paper—voila! The absurdity is that to get back to what we had in many places in the country, paper first, last, always; -- we need a “Rube Goldberg” contraption – an electronic voting machine. It is totally amazing. We should all appreciate what they are doing because their standards drive the lousy machine makers crazy. In addition, they are working on open source software for tabulation. This is advanced stuff, SourceForge, etc., but it’s interesting. This is a MUST READ in the original. The original has live links that are superb.

When Computers Vote

http://www.developerpipeline.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleId=170702562

By Jack J. Woehr September 12, 2005

The Open Voting Consortium describes itself as "a non-profit organization dedicated to the development, maintenance, and delivery of open voting systems for use in public elections." To this end, the OVC is designing voting stations, ballot counting equipment, and open source software to run fair and auditable elections. They started with the voting machines themselves, with an open source project appearing on SourceForge as the Electronic Voting Machine Project.

Their efforts have garnered some notable attention in California and in the national press. Could this be the answer to the crisis of confidence in electronic voting in the United States? With this question in mind, I spoke by phone with Open Voting's Alan Dechert (President and CEO), Arthur Keller (OVC Co-founder and Secretary), and David Mertz (Vice President and CTO, also author of the IBM Developer Works column "Charming Python").
<snip>

So our proposal is that the paper itself be the ballot. If the official thing is the computer memory and the paper is the backup, then you get into all this complexity about putting it under glass so that you have a tamper-free paper trail. But if the paper ballot is the official thing, then there's no reason the voter can't hold onto their ballot, look at it, put it to another device to verify what the ballot says for those who are reading-impaired or visually impaired, and then physically place it in a ballot box to cast it. Going from the official ballot being computer bits to the official ballot being the paper ballot that people know and love…"I'm going to take this paper ballot and put it in the box, and that's casting my ballot." People understand that intuitively. They know that unless and until they place that paper ballot in the ballot box, it is not cast.

<snip>

Mertz: There's a joint publication of the EAC and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) that defines terms. "Fundamental representation" means "what counts as the official vote." In VVPAT systems, the fundamental representation is on the electronic media. The audit trail is a secondary verification. If there's a discrepancy, the electrons win.

If a voter is to look at a representation, the voter can't look at electrons, only paper. For true verifiability and transparency of the election process, you need the representation that the voters look at, i.e., the paper, to be the fundamental representation. Where paper is the fundamental representation, that's a ballot printer, and that's what the OVC system is.

<snip>

Keller: But even if we don't reach the point of open sourcing the entire chain, we have still improved the process, because the thing you feed into our tabulation system is always a checkable paper ballot. Also, our design is to have the system make an image of the ballot as feed it in at the precinct to be tallied, so you can't have ballot stuffing after leaving the precinct.
Mertz: An advantage of using our EBP over other EBP or simple ballot-marking systems is that we can include a cryptographic hash code.

CLICK HERE to get quick access to Election Results and Discussion Forum on your “Latest” page.

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2. NC & NATION: Fake Republican “Voter Fraud” Group Tries to Tar Edwards

We know their strategy, the Republicans. Create a back fire, so to speak, a “vote fraud” campaign against Democrats to counter, pre-empt any real election fraud discoveries by CM (corporate media, like that will ever happen). So they do that with their bogus “voter fraud” group. Now they’re trying to tie major Democratic figures to it. Here is their illogic: John Edwards spoke to an ACORN event decrying poverty in the US. Acorn’s NC Director discovered 75 bogus registrations from a field worker in the 2004 election. The Acorn director turns the field worker and registrations into the state department in NC in charge of this. Get it...that makes Edwards guilt of vote fraud…right, and by the same logic, Mike Brown was a whiz at FEMA because he handles a couple of hurricanes. This is too transparent but needs to be exposed.

GOP lashes Edwards for ties to group

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/12622123.htm

Posted September 12, 2005

GOP lashes Edwards for ties to group

Spokeswoman says ex-senator proud of work with ACORN

MARK JOHNSON

Raleigh Bureau

RALEIGH - State Republican Party officials are criticizing former U.S. Sen. John Edwards for aligning himself with an anti-poverty group accused of submitting fraudulent voter registration forms in several states, including a case in Charlotte.

Edwards, a Democrat, has teamed with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, in a campaign to raise the minimum wage.

"This is a group that has conducted very nefarious activities around the nation and in North Carolina," said Bill Peaslee, chief of staff at the N.C. Republican Party, "and for someone of John Edwards' stature to be associated with this group and, according to ACORN's Web site, is proud to be associated with them, calls into question John Edwards' judgment."

Since last fall's election, Edwards has focused his public efforts on reducing poverty. He kicked off a lecture series Wednesday at the UNC Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity, which he heads. Edwards joined with ACORN in the spring to try to put a minimum-wage increase on the ballot in several targeted states, after Congress rejected a federal increase.

<snip>

"It's too bad that Republicans would rather make baseless political attacks instead of working to raise the minimum wage to help those who are struggling to make ends meet," said Kim Rubey, Edwards' spokeswoman. "Senator Edwards is proud of the work he and ACORN are doing to raise the minimum wage."

An ACORN worker in Charlotte last fall faked 75 voter registration forms, which were discovered by the group's chief organizer in Charlotte and turned over to elections officials. The State Board of Elections has not officially closed the case because the board's investigator, Marshall Tutor, cannot locate the worker to interview her.

"She has dropped off the face of the earth," Tutor said.

Tutor, though, complimented ACORN's efforts in policing themselves. The group discovered the fraud, questioned the worker and then fired her, he said.

"We feel ACORN did such a good job of catching this that it probably, on our part, warrants no further investigation," he said.


CLICK HERE to get quick access to Election Results and Discussion Forum on your “Latest” page.

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3. NJ: It’s Time to Buy Boardwalk, Monmouty SaysYes to Sequoia. Why? See Be

It’s time for the Oy Vey show, staring Asbury Park, NJ and Monmouth County, NJ. Seems they like their lever voting machines. Seems they think they need electronic machines. So, with the Feds paying 75% of the cost (Help America Vote Act), they go and purchase machines from a foreign vendor, Sequoia, with a track record of unsavory behavior. Now, that’s what I call clear headed thinking. They’d have done better by going to that fortune teller “the boss” sang about, the one in the little stucko hut on the board walk…”which vendor should we choose” as Madame goes into a trance, her eyes roll back, and she says…

County OKs $8M for electronic voting machines

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050911/NEWS01/509110482/1004

Published in the Asbury Park Press 09/11/05
BY NINA RIZZO
FREEHOLD BUREAU

FREEHOLD — The Monmouth County Board of Freeholders agreed last week to spend more than $8 million to purchase new touch-screen voting machines in order to comply with a federal law mandating the use of electronic voting machines by 2006.

The county was obligated under the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002 to replace its familiar lever machines with modern electronic ones that resemble automated teller machines.

The act was designed to improve the nation's election system after the 2000 presidential stalemate. It also created minimum election administration standards and provided $3.9 billion in funding for the replacement of punch card and lever machines.

"There was absolutely nothing wrong with the lever machines but we have to comply with the (law)," John Bradshaw, the county's superintendent of elections, said Friday.

On Thursday, the freeholders awarded the contract, worth $8,078,970, to Sequoia Voting Systems Inc. to supply 950 touch-screen machines to be used throughout the county. Sequoia is one of only five companies that produce state-certified models.

<snip>

The machines, however, will be retrofitted so that a paper receipt is kept inside each machine after every vote is cast. :rofl: The state mandates that voting machines produce paper records by 2008.



CLICK HERE to get quick access to Election Results and Discussion Forum on your “Latest” page.

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4. Phillipines: This is How an Opposition to Tyrany Does It! Never Give Up

Phillipines: This is How an Opposition to Tyrany and Fraud Does It! Never Give Up
The people of the Philippines are writing our fantasy script for combating lousy presidents and election fraud. “GloriaGate” refers to the tapes of President Arroyos phone conversation where she asks an election official to fix the vote election night, as she’s losing the election. She wins, gets caught, and the impeachment battle is on. Every time Arroyo’s judges and legislature knock them down, the forces fighting her and election fraud get up and fight back. Even though they’ve lost in the legislature, the opposition cries foul and vows to fight on. Go for it!

House rejects return of impeach report to committee

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/net/2005/09/06/house.rejects.return.of.impeach.report.to.committee.html

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

Taguig-Pateros Representative Alan Peter Cayetano had moved that the House return the justice committee report recommending the dismissal of the three impeachment complaints filed against Arroyo but majority of the congressmen, who are allied with the administration, voted against the move.

After the voting on Cayetano's motion, the House suspended the session close to midnight Monday.

The session resumed a few minutes after midnight Tuesday, with congressmen set to vote on whether to approve the justice committee report.
<snip>
The committee presented its report to the plenary Monday afternoon to be voted on by the 236 members of the House of Representatives.
The justice panel junked the impeachment complaint filed by lawyer Jose Rizalino Lopez and the amended version by the opposition because the original complaint filed by lawyer Oliver Lozano barred the two cases. It, subsequently, dismissed the Lozano complaint for "lack of substance".
Proponents of the amended complaint branded the committee report as "a product of the alleged cover up" between President Arroyo and her allies in the Lower House to save her from the case while administration congressmen insisted that the committee's decision was based on the existing rules on impeachment.
<snip>
He said by junking the impeachment complaints, the administration congressmen in the committee did not save President Arroyo from the case but only put her in an even "worse" situation because the allegations against her would go unanswered.
He reminded his colleagues that they are in Congress not "to protect the President but the Filipino nation."
Cayetano presented in the plenary "pre-fabricated" election returns (ERs) allegedly used by the Arroyo camp to cheat in last year's presidential elections.
<snip>
Brigadier General Jose Angel Honrado, military spokesman, said the people should be circumspect over their actions so that they would not be misled by sectors advocating instability.

"Our people should not entertain rumors and unverified information as it will only add to the tension and political instability in the country. What will suffer most is our economy," he said.

The military has vowed to respect the people's freedom of expression but Honrado said: "If violence breaks out as a result of the outcome of the ongoing impeachment hearings, the AFP is ready to restore order and uphold the law.
<This story is NOT over.>

CLICK HERE to get quick access to Election Results and Discussion Forum on your “Latest” page.

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5. MI: "Figiting Bob Fest IV--Were You Cool Enought for an Invite?

Anybody here cool enough to get invited to this party. Sounds like “The Lounge” (just kidding!) I must have missed mine in the mail.

From DU User FogerRox

http://www.wiscnews.com/bnr/news/index.php?ntid=53737&n...

Progressives utter fighting words
By Samara Kalk Derby


BARABOO - Some of the nation's top political progressives gathered in Baraboo on Saturday, as they have for the past three years, to rally the faithful in the hopes of freeing government from the grip of corporate special interests and returning it to the people.

snip-------

More than 5,000 people spent all or part of the day at Fighting Bob Fest IV on the Sauk County Fairgrounds, according to event organizer and attorney Ed Garvey, a one-time gubernatorial candidate who runs the fightingbob.com Web site and writes a column for The Capital Times. The Web site and newspaper sponsored the free event.
snip------

In his early morning speech, Michigan Congressman John Conyers Jr. said he was so energized by the spirit of Fighting Bob Fest, he wanted to "bottle it and take it around the country."



He promised to bring a delegation from Detroit next year. Conyers drew loud applause when he said, "I think there's a relationship between Baghdad and New Orleans: What's going on, who's doing it and why."

rest of article--




CLICK HERE to get quick access to Election Results and Discussion Forum on your “Latest” page.

[Wilms]

6. CA: Elections officials (Diebold shills) warn paper is no better

The Argus

Elections officials warn paper is no better
Agency says e-voting machine printouts still vulnerable to fraud

By Ian Hoffman, STAFF WRITER

09/10/2005

Elections officials throughout California are waging 11th-hour opposition to using paper records for verifying electronic ballots, partly arguing that the printouts — as well as the electronicvoting machines themselves — are vulnerable to fraudulent programming.
Writing to the governor recently, the California Association of Clerks and Elections Officials suggested that fully computerized, touch-screen voting machines, known as Direct Electronic Recording devices, or DREs, should not be checked by recounts, the method used for all other voting technologies in the state.

For 40 years, California law has required elections officials to perform a manual tally of 1 percent of ballots in any election, to verify the accuracy of computerized vote totals.

As a paperless technology, touch screens until recently provided no record to count. But in the last two years, California and 25 other states have required all touch screens to print out a voter's choices, to be reviewed by the voter and presumably used in recounts. But elections officials say the printouts are jam-prone, create administrative nightmares and shouldn't be used. Rather, they say, touch screens have made California's manual recount law obsolete.

-snip/more-

http://www.insidebayarea.com/argus/localnews/ci_3017611

[Wilms]

7. Arcata City, Calif. Establishes Model Voter Confidence Resolution

Arcata City, Calif. Establishes
Model Voter Confidence Resolution
For Nation’s Cities To Follow

By W. Leon Smith
Editor-In-Chief, The Iconoclast

September 12, 2005 10:21 PM

ARCATA, Calif. — Voter confidence has plummeted during the past two presidential elections with corporate-owned voting machine tabulations in question from coast to coast. Several organizations have advocated changes in the voting system, but one city is taking it a step further. The City of Arcata, Calif., after months of debate and consideration, has adopted what is called the Voter Confidence Resolution.

According to Dave Berman, one of the resolution’s authors, this type of initiative, if adopted by cities throughout the country, could have a decisive impact on the confidence voters achieve by providing unquestionable election returns.

“But we must first change the national dialogue,” he said.

-snip/more-

http://www.lonestaricon.com/News/2005/37-38/37news02.htm

[Wilms]

8. OH: Voting machines tie up Summit election board

Voting machines tie up Summit election board

Ohio secretary of state to review local impasse on Diebold, ES&S units

By Lisa A. Abraham

Beacon Journal staff writer

The choice for Summit County's new voting system is now in the hands of Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell after a Board of Elections vote on what system to buy ended in a tie Monday.

There actually were two tie votes.

Republicans Alex Arshinkoff and Joseph Hutchinson wanted to purchase an optical-scan system made by the Nebraska company Election Systems & Software, while Democrats Wayne Jones and Russ Pry favored the touch-screen voting system made by Diebold Elections Systems of Green.

Arshinkoff made a motion to purchase the optical scan system, which ended in a 2-2 vote, while Pry moved to purchase the touch-screen system, which also ended in a 2-2 tie.

-snip/more-

http://www.votersunite.org/article.asp?id=6012

[Wilms]

9. Judge Roberts' Answers to Sen. Kennedy on the Voting Rights Act

Election Law Blog

September 13, 2005

Judge Roberts' Answers to Sen. Kennedy on the Voting Rights Act

I was just listening to Senator Kennedy's questioning of Judge Roberts about his views on, among other things, the Voting Rights Act. (I was listening in my car, without taking notes, so what follows is from memory.) It is clear that Senator Kennedy has more questions to ask about Judge Roberts' views of the VRA, and I suspect these questions will come up when Sen. Kennedy gets an additional chance to ask questions.

But here is what I would say are my initial impressions about what Judge Roberts had to say.

-snip/more-

http://electionlawblog.org/archives/003987.html

[Wilms]

10. Verified Voting seeks new President/CEO

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Verified Voting seeks new President/CEO

Verified Voting was founded in February 2004 by David Dill, a Stanford computer scientist who kick-started the technology community's involvement in election verification issues.

Verified Voting has been doing instrumental work on voting verification since its inception. Grassroots Verified Voting volunteers across the nation have been active at the state and local levels to ensure the requirement and purchase of voting systems that are verifiable. These activists have played an important role throughout 2005 in getting legislation passed in state legislatures across the country requiring a voter verified paper audit trail and public auditing of election results.

Professor Dill recently announced that a president/CEO is being sought for Verified Voting. The job announcement is below. If you know someone well-suited for this position please pass this job announcement along.

-snip/more-

http://calvoter.org/news/blog/2005_09_01_blogarchive.html#112663098295131944

[Wilms]

11. OH: Democrats demand coin inquiry

Democrats demand coin inquiry
39 House members want bipartisan panel to investigate

By STEVE EDER and JAMES DREW
BLADE STAFF WRITERS

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

COLUMBUS - Ohio House Democrats yesterday ratcheted up the pressure on Republicans to launch a full-blown bipartisan investigative committee to get to the bottom of the investment scandals that have gripped state government for months.

All 39 Democratic members of the Ohio House of Representatives yesterday co-sponsored a proposal to create a 16-member legislative committee to examine what took place in Ohio. The committee, armed with subpoena powers, would help suggest government reforms in light of the scandals that began more than five months ago at the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation.

The chances of the committee coming to fruition in the near future remain slim because Republicans, who control all branches of state government, have resisted calls to form an investigative body, at least until Ohio Inspector General Tom Charles has concluded his probe.

Democrats, though, say the only way to get to a fair and accurate understanding of the scandals is to put a bipartisan legislative panel in place and to do it quickly.

-snip/more-

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050913/NEWS24/509130375/-1/NEWS

[Wilms]

12. Grand Jury Indicts Two DeLay Associates

Grand Jury Indicts Two DeLay Associates

Grand Jury Indicts Two Associates of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay in Election Investigation

AP

AUSTIN Sep 13, 2005 — Two associates of U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay were indicted Tuesday on additional felony charges of violating Texas election law and criminal conspiracy to violate election law for their role in the 2002 legislative races.

The indictment was just the latest from a grand jury investigating the use of corporate money in the campaigns that gave Republicans control of the Texas House.

Jim Ellis, who heads Americans for a Republican Majority, and John Colyandro, former executive director of Texans for a Republican Majority, already faced charges of money laundering in the case. Colyandro also faces 13 counts of unlawful acceptance of a corporate political contribution.

Americans for a Republican Majority is DeLay's national fundraising committee, and the congressman helped create Texans for a Republican Majority. DeLay has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1122786&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

Thanks to RoseSiding:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1778045&mesg_id=1778045

[Wilms]

13. Exit Poll Guru Surfaces

DU News

Sept 13, 2005

-snip/more-

http://www.progressiveindependent.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=120&topic_id=33


Thanks to anaxarchos for posting:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x393409

[Wilms]

14. .