Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Monday 9/19/05

[Wilms]

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=203x393955


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

[Wilms]

1. Press Conference: Carter-Baker Commission Federal Election Reform Report

News Conference

Federal Election Reform Report

Carter-Baker Commission on Federal Election Reform

Washington, District of Columbia (United States)

ID: 188931 - 09/19/2005 - 0:30 - No Sale

Carter, Jimmy, President, United States

The bipartisan Carter-Baker Commission releases its final report on federal election reform. Chaired by the former president and former secretary of state respectively, the Carter-Baker Commission's role was to study the electoral process in the U.S. and make recommendations for improvements.

MONDAY, C-SPAN2, 1:30PM ET

http://www.c-span.org

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

17. U may have VVPB if you will let me insert this chip in your head

what a deal, a national id card/chip
for VVPAT that will only be partly counted.

I can't wait to get my id chip implanted!

Whoopee!

[Wilms]

2. WP: Commission urges major changes for U.S. voters

Sept. 18, 2005, 10:35PM

Commission urges major changes for U.S. voters

Photo IDs and paper trails for electronic voting recommended

By DAN BALZ

Washington Post

WASHINGTON - Warning that public confidence in the nation's election system is flagging, a commission headed by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James A. Baker III will call today for significant changes in how Americans vote, including photo IDs for all voters, verifiable paper trails for electronic voting machines and impartial administration of elections.

The report concludes that, despite changes required under the Help America Vote Act of 2002, far more must be done to restore integrity to an election system that suffers from sloppy management, treats voters differently from state to state and within states and too often frustrates rather than encourages voters' efforts to participate in what is considered a basic American right.

-snip/more-

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/politics/3359322

[Wilms]

3. Report suggests changes to voting

Report suggests changes to voting

September 19, 2005

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Electronic voting machines should leave a paper trail of ballots cast, and the government should provide free photo identification to nondrivers to help check voting eligibility, a commission on election reform recommended.

The private commission, created to suggest ways to improve the electoral process, also favored four regional primaries to be held after the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary.

Also, states should develop registration systems that allow easy checks of voters from one state to another, according to the report by the bipartisan panel led by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James A. Baker III.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the report, which makes 87 recommendations, ahead of its presentation today to President Bush.

-snip/more-

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20050918-115955-5326r.htm

[Wilms]

4. Voting Panel Will Propose New Calendar for Primaries

Voting Panel Will Propose New Calendar for Primaries

By DAVID E. ROSENBAUM

Published: September 19, 2005

WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 - A private commission led by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James A. Baker III is proposing new steps to strengthen state election procedures and recommending that Congress require the political parties to hold four regional presidential primaries in election years rather than allowing states to hold primaries whenever they wish.

The bipartisan panel, called the Commission on Federal Election Reform, said it was responding to flaws in the system exposed by the elections of 2000 and 2004.

"We should have an electoral system," the commission declared, "where registering to vote is convenient, voting is efficient and pleasant, voting machines work properly, fraud is deterred and disputes are handled fairly and expeditiously."

Mr. Carter and Mr. Baker, a top official under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, plan to deliver the report on Monday to President Bush and Congressional leaders. It went to news organizations last week with the understanding that the material would not be published until Monday.

-snip/more-

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/19/politics/19elect.html

[Wilms]

5. FL: Elections chief may consider hand counting, mail-in votes

Elections chief may consider hand counting, mail-in votes

By George Bennett

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Saturday, September 17, 2005

Palm Beach County Elections Supervisor Arthur Anderson isn't ruling out the possibility of tallying the county's 2006 ballots by hand or conducting the election entirely through the mail, even though both ideas appear to run afoul of state law.

The hand-count and mail ideas came up Thursday when Anderson convened the first meeting of an elections technology advisory panel that will advise him on the best voting system for Palm Beach County.

-snip/more-

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/politics/content/local_news/epaper/2005/09/17/s1c_paper_0917.html

[Wilms]

6. Opinion: Georgia erects a voting barrier

Published: Sep 15, 2005
Modified: Sep 15, 2005 7:05 AM

Georgia erects a voting barrier

The New York Times

The following editorial appeared in The New York Times on Monday:

NEW YORK -- In 1966, the Supreme Court held that the poll tax was unconstitutional. Nearly 40 years later, Georgia is still charging people to vote, this time with a new voter ID law that requires many people without driver's licenses -- a group that is disproportionately poor, black and elderly -- to pay $20 or more for a state ID card. Georgia went ahead with this even though there is not a single place in the entire city of Atlanta where the cards are sold. The law is a national disgrace.

Until recently, Georgia, like most states, accepted many forms of identification at the polls. But starting this month, it is accepting only government-issued photo IDs. People with driver's licenses are fine. But many people without them have to buy a state ID card to vote, at a cost of $20 for a five-year card or $35 for 10 years.

The cards are sold in 58 locations, in a state with 159 counties. It is outrageous that Atlanta does not have a single location. (The state says it plans to open one soon.) But the burden is also great on people in rural parts of the state.

The Republicans who pushed the law through, and Gov. Sonny Perdue, also a Republican, who signed it, say that it is intended to prevent fraud. But it seems clear that it is about keeping certain people away from the polls, for political advantage. The vast majority of fraud complaints in Georgia, according to its secretary of state, Cathy Cox, involve absentee ballots, which are unaffected by the new law. Cox says she is unaware of a single documented case in recent years of fraud through impersonation of a voter at the polls.

-snip/more-

http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/columns/story/2795872p-9236321c.html

[Wilms]

7. A Diebold Insider Speaks Out

09.18.2005

Brad Friedman

A Diebold Insider Speaks Out

You were warned about Osama bin Laden prior to 9/11. And you didn't listen. You were warned about the levees in New Orleans prior to Katrina. And you didn't listen.

You are now being warned about what both the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security has already warned you about and what someone who knows has called "one of the greatest threats our democracy has ever known."

Will you listen this time before it's too late?

Please?

-snip/more-

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brad-friedman/a-diebold-insider-speaks-_b_7539.html

[Wilms]

8. Discussions:

Developing Hard! A Diebold Insider Speaks!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=393599&mesg_id=393599


BradBlog: A Quick-ish DIEB-THROAT Followup...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x394009


Brad Friedman on Huffington Post re: Dieb Throat!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x394034

[Wilms]

9. Nightmare Edition:Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News MONDAY, 9/19/05

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x394051

[Wilms]

10. NJ: County election boards question voter-fraud study

County election boards question voter-fraud study

Published in the Asbury Park Press 09/17/05

BY JAMES A. QUIRK

FREEHOLD BUREAU

The Monmouth and Ocean County boards of elections are questioning the findings of a study by the Republican State Committee that alleges potentially widespread voter fraud, including a claim that 4,755 votes were cast throughout the state last November in the names of dead people.

Officials with both boards say they want the committee's data for their own verification purposes. They said Friday that they have received no response from the state GOP committee.

-snip/more-

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050917/NEWS/50917001

[Wilms]

11. WI: Audit finds flaws in state election system

Posted on Sat, Sep. 17, 2005

Audit finds flaws in state election system

BY RYAN FOLEY

ASSOCIATED PRESS

MADISON - Wisconsin's election system is plagued by inconsistent procedures, municipal clerks who don't follow state law and voter registration lists that contain incorrect information, state auditors said Friday.

The audit by the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau led to immediate calls for changes in the way the state runs elections and local investigations into whether felons illegally voted.

Auditors identified 105 instances of improper or fraudulent voting in Madison and five other cities in the November 2004 election. Most of those votes were cast by ineligible felons, whose names were forwarded to prosecutors.

Voter registration lists also routinely included ineligible felons, the names of voters who have died and the same person more than once, the audit found.

-snip/more-

http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/local/12671075.htm

[Wilms]

12. Opinion: Carter-Baker Report: Some Bad Fixes for the Wrong Problems

Carter-Baker Report: Some Bad Fixes for the Wrong Problems

Tova Andrea Wang, The Century Foundation, 9/19/2005

It is truly shocking how, given all the problems in the voting system and continued disenfranchisement, the terms of the debate have shifted to that of so-called "ballot integrity." It is reminiscent of how conservatives have misappropriated the concept of patriotism and the American flag, and used the power of language and messaging to distort the discussion, by using terms such as "partial birth abortion" or "death tax." The latest example of this is the just released report of the commission on election reform co-chaired by Jimmy Carter and James Baker.

The 2001 bi-partisan commission co-chaired by former President Carter and Gerald Ford, which The Century Foundation co-sponsored and I was on the staff of (and which had an entirely different membership), had a very different approach. There were differences about how best to implement the recommendations of the report. However, while we were concerned with accuracy and preventing fraud, we did not see that as a goal that was in conflict with ensuring the right to vote.

-snip/more-

http://www.tcf.org/list.asp?type=NC&pubid=1101

[Wilms]

13. Opinion: My Thoughts on the Carter-Baker Election Reform Report

Election Law

Rick Hasen's web log

September 19, 2005

My Thoughts on the Carter-Baker Election Reform Report

Today the Commission on Federal Election Reform headed by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker issued its final report and recommendations on election reform. As a matter of disclosure, I served as an academic advisor to the commission and testified at a commission hearing; as noted (page 103) serving as an advisor "does not imply with all of the report's recommendations." In fact, I think that some of this report is right on target, some of this report has distracting recommendations, and some of the recommendations are wrongheaded.

-snip/more-

http://electionlawblog.org

[Wilms]

14. Equal Vote: Civil Rights Groups Challenge Georgia ID Law

Equal Vote

Monday, September 19

Civil Rights Groups Challenge Georgia ID Law

It's a busy day on the voter ID front. A consortium of civil rights groups brought suit today to challenge Georgia's House Bill 244, charging that the laws photo identification requirement is the "new poll tax." The complaint can be found here, and a press release announcing the lawsuit here.

-snip/more-

http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/blogs/tokaji/2005/09/civil-rights-groups-challenge-georgia.html

[Wilms]

15. Equal Vote : A Problematic Report from Carter and Baker

Equal Vote

Monday, September 19

A Problematic Report from Carter and Baker

The Committee on Federal Election Reform (commonly known as the Carter-Baker Commission) this morning released its final report. Commission member Spencer Overton has posted a dissent at http://www.carterbakerdissent.com/.

The commission's report addresses a wide range of voting issues, including registration, technology, accessibility, and polling place operations. The report deserves careful scrutiny . . . and there's no better time to start than the present.* For the moment, I'll focus on the two recommendations that are likely to prove the most controversial:

1. That Congress should pass a law requiring that all voting machines produce a "voter-verifiable paper audit trail" (VVPAT). For electronic voting machines, this would require that they generate a contemporaneous paper record of the ballot, that the voter could see before casting his or her vote electronically.

2. That states require voters to show a government-issued photo identification card in order to vote. Under the proposal, voters would have to show a so-called "Real ID" in order for their votes to be counted, effective 2010.

-snip/more-

http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/blogs/tokaji/2005/09/problematic-report-from-carter-and.html

[Wilms]

16. WI: Republicans to try to override governor's veto of voter ID bill

Posted on Mon, Sep. 19, 2005

Republicans to try to override governor's veto of voter ID bill

CARRIE ANTLFINGER

Associated Press

MILWAUKEE - Senate Republicans plan to try Tuesday to override the governor's veto of their bill that would require all voters to present picture identification at the polls. Backers noted that a national commission on Monday recommended requiring free photo ID for all voters.

One of the bill's sponsors, Sen. Ron Brown, R-Eau Claire, said Monday he wasn't sure if the effort had the support of at least three Democrats needed to override the bill along with the majority Republicans in the Senate. An override takes at least a two-thirds majority of the Legislature.

"I think it has a slim chance for override," Brown said. But "the action is in the message more than anything else. It's time we had some election reform in this state."

-snip/more-

http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/12688703.htm

[Wilms]

18. Brad: BUSH CRONY AND GOP OPERATIVES ATTEMPT TO DISENFRANCHISE MILLIONS

BUSH CRONY JAMES BAKER AND GOP OPERATIVES ATTEMPT TO DISENFRANCHISE MILLIONS OF AMERICAN VOTERS WITH RECOMMENDATIONS FOR NEW VOTING RESTRICTIONS

New Report from Discredited Baker/Carter 'Election Reform' Commission Dead-on-Arrival

Recommended Jim Crow-Style Photo ID Restrictions Seen as 'New Poll Tax', Roundly Criticized by Pols, Voting Rights Activists and Even Members of the Commission!

Blogged by Brad on 9/19/2005

Landing with a mighty thud today in the Nation's Capitol, the so-called Baker-Carter "National Commission on Election Reform" delivered precisely what true voting rights advocates in America had been warning about for months.

Most notably, the privately-funded, secretly-convened commission, which held just two hearings and refused to invite any real voting rights groups to participate, failed to even reach consensus amongst its hand-picked commissioners in it's final 113 page report.

One of those Commissioners, former Senator Tom Daschle (D-SD), criticized the Commission's number one recommendation -- the use of mandatory restrictive photo ID requirements at the polls -- as a "modern day poll tax." (As reported previously, Daschle's quote appeared in a Washinton Post article this morning by Dan Balz who also concluded, with no quotes or sourcing that "there has been no credible evidence of partisan manipulation of the election in Ohio." That despite the mountain of credible evidence of partisan manipulation of the 2004 election in Ohio. For a start, here is the recent indictment of two Ohio elections officials for gaming the recount, and here is another one who admits to receiving a $10,000 check from a Diebold rep and passing it to the RNC, and of course here's 102-pages of such evidence as published by a U.S. House Judiciary Committee Minority Report and another 700+ pages of such evidence found in a book recently published by FreePress.org...Just to give the tip of the iceberg.)

Another one of the Commissioners, Spencer Overton, a specialist in Election Law has gone so far as to set up a CarterBakerDissent.com website which decries both the procedures and the recommendations of the privately run "blue-ribbon" Commission.

-snip/more-

http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001846.htm

Discussion:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4823762&mesg_id=4823762

[Wilms]

19. kick n/t