Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News WEDNESDAY, 10/04/05

[autorank]

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

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News WEDNESDAY, 10/04/05

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



All previous daily threads are available here:
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[autorank]

1. ACCURATE-Voting Rights Technies -- Telling the Truth Again!

http://online.securityfocus.com/

E-voting experts call for revised security guidelines

http://online.securityfocus.com/news/11336

Robert Lemos, SecurityFocus 2005-10-03

A federally funded group of voting system experts called on the United States' Election Assistance Commission, which oversees the nation's state-run elections, to revamp its recommended process for evaluating the security of electronic voting devices.

In comments published on Friday, the ten researchers that collectively make up A Center for Correct, Usable, Reliable, Auditable and Transparent Elections (ACCURATE) stated that current voting systems are not designed with security in mind and current testing procedures mistakenly focus on voting functionality, not system security. The center, funded by the National Science Foundation in August, released the comments on the last day of a public comment period held by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission on its Voluntary Voting System Guidelines.

"There used to be no gap between the process of voting and people's understanding of voting," said Deirdre Mulligan, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley's School of Law and a member of the ACCURATE team. "Now, the advances of technology have taken a process that was meaningful and transparent and understood by everyone, and turned it into a black box that only a regulator can understand."

<snip>

However, trust remains a significant issue. Voting machine makers and the certification labs that have tested election systems have been secretive about the technology. And, while older machines and the method for counting votes tallied by the older technology were easily understood by the average voter, electronic voting systems have become more impenetrable and have not undergone significant and public testing, said Avi Rubin, a professor of computer science at Johns Hopkins University and the director of ACCURATE.

"We are focused on raising the technology level a little bit," Rubin said. "We don't even know, from a science perspective, that you can have a paperless voting machine be secure today."

The researchers at ACCURATE have recommended that the certification and testing of voting systems be public and transparent and that data be collected on election day so that systems may be better evaluated.

Transparency may become the major issue for voting machine makers in the year before midterm elections in November 2006.

[autorank]

2. Southwest: Mexico Accomodates Voters

Look at this artivcle. Mexico extends riht to vote to Mexican citizens in the USA. Amazing. Don't they really need Diebold.

Mexican citizens in U.S. cast absentee ballots

http://www.news8austin.com/content/headlines/?ArID=146965&SecID=2

Updated: 10/4/2005 6:35:52 PM
By: Allie Rasmus

These Mexican citizens, in Austin, will be able to vote in next year's Mexican presidential election.

Mexican citizens living in the U.S. can now take part in their country's presidential elections.

Over the weekend Mexican consulates around the U.S. started distributing forms to apply for the ballots this week.

Gustavo Valdes hasn't voted for a presidential candidate since 2000. He's a Mexican citizen and in Mexico they elect presidents for a single term, every six years.

<snip>

Here's how it works. Mexican citizens go to their local consulate to pick up a self-addressed form to register for a ballot,that they'll then send to a special elections office in Mexico City.

"And they will in turn send back a ballot to the individual," Guajardo said. "Even though they live abroad they still have families in Mexico, they still care about what happens in Mexico. They still have a right to vote."

Consulates around the country began distributing the forms Saturday.

But the process is new, and Valdes said he's skeptical of voting by mail because of concerns about voter fraud and lost ballots.

"Mexican postal service is good, but it takes a really long time to deliver stuff," Valdes said.

<snip>

[autorank]

3. OH: Reformers Question Blackwell's Motives -- I'm shocked!

Reformers question Blackwell's motives

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051002/NEWS24/510020349

By JIM PROVANCE
BLADE COLUMBUS BUREAU
Article published October 2, 2005

COLUMBUS - Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell would never have to live with what Reform Ohio Now may have wrought, but the proponents of a constitutional amendment stripping his office of its election oversight role make it clear this is aimed squarely at him.

As with Katherine Harris in Florida in 2000, Mr. Blackwell's affiliation with the Bush campaign in 2004 made his decisions affecting the election immediately suspect, even when courts agreed with him.

Perception is everything, noted Edward Foley, an Ohio State University law professor specializing in election law.

"You have to prepare for election-related storms the way you prepare for natural storms," said Mr. Foley. "First, you build the levees. In the context of the election, you build your system, getting the right number of machines in place, getting registration lists accurate....

"But it is just as important to have a good rescue plan in place if the levee breaks...," he said. "The election rescue plan will only have the confidence of the citizens if the person in charge of rescuing the election system is perceived as neutral. If voters don't believe he is neutral, the rescue plan is doomed to failure."

In one of four proposed, election-related constitutional amendments on the Nov. 8 ballot, voters will asked to transfer the secretary of state's role as Ohio's chief elections officer to an appointed, nine-member board on which essentially no one who is politically active beyond voting could sit.

The creation of a nonpartisan system of election administration was one recommendation of a commission chaired by former Democrat President Jimmy Carter and former Republican U.S. Secretary of State James Baker III
.
<snip>

Political arrows flew when Mr. Blackwell issued to county boards last year directives perceived as aiding the Bush campaign. He ordered that no provisional ballot cast in the wrong precinct would be counted, a decision later upheld by the courts. He later retreated when assailed for requiring boards to reject voter registration forms not of a particular paper weight.

[autorank]

4. Excellent Speaker and Motivator: Democratic Rally

Seek real election reform
A Register-Guard Editorial

http://www.registerguard.com/news/2005/10/03/ed.edit.carterbaker.1003.p1.php?section=opinion

Published: Monday, October 3, 2005

By including the ever-controversial idea that voters be required to present photo identification, a commission on election reforms ensured that its other proposals would be overshadowed. That's too bad, because the commission - led by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker - has called for changes that would promote the integrity of voting systems and make the act of voting more meaningful.

The Carter-Baker commission was organized by American University after suspicions of irregularities in Ohio's presidential voting and Washington state's gubernatorial election left lingering doubts about the conduct of the 2004 elections. A similar panel, led by Carter and former President Gerald Ford, made recommendations following the 2000 election that were incorporated in the Help America Vote Act of 2002.

The second commission's efforts to be bipartisan led it into a trap. Democrats tend to be concerned about voter access, while Republicans worry about voter fraud. In attempting to ensure that both concerns were evenly addressed, the commission failed to place primary focus on how the votes are counted. That's of far greater concern than how they are cast.

To reduce the risk of fraud, the commission recommended that all voters be required to present some form of photo identification at their polling places. In most cases, a driver's license would be sufficient. However, the commission estimated that 6 percent to 10 percent of the voting-age population does not have a driver's license. The percentage is higher among minority groups, the poor and the disabled. The commission said states should provide free photo ID cards to people who lack a driver's license or comparable form of identification.

The ID card recommendation came under immediate fire as being likely to disenfranchise people who already lack political power. The validity of critics' fears depends on what types of documents would be needed to obtain one of the free photo ID cards. The identification requirement would not be an issue in Oregon, where all voting is conducted by mail and people can register to vote without producing hard-to-obtain official documents.

A bigger problem with the photo ID recommendation is that it addresses the relatively minor problem of voter fraud. In last year's gubernatorial election in Washington, only six cases of voter fraud..

[Wilms]

5. Scoop/Autorank: The National Summit to Save Our Elections - Days 2-3

/

The National Summit to Save Our Elections Continues in Portland, Oregon

Wednesday, 5 October 2005, 5:56 pm

Article: autorank

Days 2 & 3:

The Ghost You’ll Never See in the Machine (“electronic voting”);

Outsourcing Elections to Corporate America;

Methods of Monitoring Elections; plus

State and Community Level Action

Report By DU & PI Poster autorank

On special assignment for "Scoop" at the conference


http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0510/S00082.htm


Thanks to althecat for posting:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x396083

[Wilms]

6. Elections director's ties to audit group questioned

Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - Page updated at 12:00 AM

Elections director's ties to audit group questioned

By Keith Ervin

Seattle Times staff reporter

Audit finds security lax in '04 King County election

Some political activists claim The Election Center's audit of King County Elections is tainted by the nonprofit organization's ties to county Elections Director Dean Logan.

Logan is a member of The Election Center (TEC), a professional association of election officials based in Houston. Logan led a workshop on elections and recounts at the group's national conference in Beverly Hills, Calif., last month.

Diebold Election Systems, which sells ballots, counting machines, a tabulation computer and voter-registration system to King County, hosted a welcome reception at the conference.

Gentry Lange, a Green Party candidate running for county executive, believes Diebold's presence at TEC gatherings also compromises the audit.

snip/more

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002538078_auditorside04m.html

[Wilms]

7. Diebold to sell its machines to Baltimore area

Diebold to sell its machines to Baltimore area

2:02 pm, October 4, 2005

Diebold Inc. has reached an agreement to provide 1,900 electronic voting machines to the Baltimore area.

Terms of the deal were not provided in a statement from Green-based Diebold, a manufacturer of automated teller machines, security systems and voting machines. With the agreement with the Baltimore jurisdiction in place, Diebold now has secured commitments to provide more than 18,000 voting machines to all of Maryland’s electorate, according to the statement.

In addition to the machines, Diebold will provide maintenance and support services for the equipment to Baltimore.

The Baltimore jurisdiction is expected to use the new voting machines during 2006 elections, according to the statement.

snip/no more

http://www.crainscleveland.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051004/FREE/51004002/1003&Profile=1003

[Wilms]

8. Touch-screen voters feel exposed

10/05/2005 01:50:42 AM

Touch-screen voters feel exposed

By Lori Buttars

The Salt Lake Tribune

FARMINGTON - Don't toss out those old voting booths just yet.

Farmington residents who tried out new electronic voting machines in Tuesday's primary elections generally gave the devices positive reviews, but say they felt, well, a little naked.

"It was like standing in the shower with no curtain," said David Stone as he left Farmington City Hall after casting his first electronic vote.

The Diebold machines - which will be installed at voting precincts throughout Utah by 2006 - sit atop stands and have tilt-top screens and plastic covers that can be adjusted. But some voters felt they lacked privacy.

snip/more

http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_3088191

[Wilms]

9. Voting receipt (arghh, that word) backers try to press advantage

Voting receipt backers try to press advantage

Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2005

Maryland advocates of paper records for electronic voting machines are renewing their campaign after a report last month from a federal election reform panel recommended receipts to alleviate voting security concerns.

Critics of the Maryland State Board of Elections were buoyed by federal election reform recommendations released by the Carter-Baker commission — named for its leaders, former President Jimmy Carter (D) and former Secretary of State James Baker III (R) — and by the unexpected softening of two former opponents toward voter-verified paper records.

‘‘Voting machines must be both accessible and transparent,” the Carter-Baker report said, adding that direct recording electronic machines, the kind Maryland uses, usually do not allow voters to check if their ballot was recorded correctly. Some can’t be used for an independent recount, it said.

Maryland’s adoption of electronic voting has been criticized since the state purchased its first machines in 2001.

snip/more

http://www.gazette.net/stories/100505/montcou194713_31899.shtml

[Wilms]

10. Examiner Editorial - Maryland voters should demand a receipt

Washington Examiner

Examiner Editorial - Maryland voters should demand a receipt

03Oct'05

Published: Monday, October 3, 2005 12:17 AM EDT

The bipartisan Commission on Federal Election Reform, headed by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker, found no evidence of extensive voter fraud throughout the country. American elections are, by and large, honest and democratic. But the 21-member commission discovered numerous local examples of voting irregularities and even downright fraud. Ex-felons, the deceased and non-citizens all cast ballots in some places and some, such as the 60,000 voters found to be registered in both North and South Carolina, may even have voted twice.

Because it is critical to maintain public confidence in the electoral process, one of the commission's 87 recommendations demands immediate action at both the federal and state level: requiring a paper trail for all electronic voting machines.

You get a paper receipt whenever you use a debit or credit card at an ATM or electronic gas pump, so why can't you get one when you vote? After the hanging chad fiasco in Florida, the federal government spent $3.9 billion to help states get new e-voting machines in place by next year's mid-term elections. But states are not required to produce an auditable paper trail. So for all practical purposes, there can be no recounts in close contests. This is ridiculous, especially since the technology is so readily available commercially.

Maryland Republicans unsuccessfully tried to oust State Board of Elections administrator Linda Lamone, a Democrat, after she spent $55 million to purchase touch-screen voting machines that experts at Johns Hopkins and elsewhere had warned were not tamper-proof. The point was hammered home when a demonstration Diebold AccuVote TS - the same machine Lamone insisted was "safe and reliable" - accidentally changed Sen. Barbara Mikulski's vote from a "no" to a "yes" at last year's Takoma Park Folk Festival.

snip/more

http://www.dcexaminer.com/articles/2005/10/04/opinion/editorial/77edit03voting.txt

[Wilms]

11. DU: While the Iron is Hot

While the Iron is Hot

October 4, 2005

By Ernest Partridge, The Crisis Papers

The Republican Party and the Bush Administration are reeling, enmeshed in corruption and failure, and the ideology of the regressive right is in retreat. The iron is hot – now is the time to strike.

Unfortunately, it appears that the congressional Democrats and the Democratic Party would prefer to throw cold water on the hot iron.

What in the name of God and the U.S. Constitution has neutered the Democrats?

snip/more
http://www.democraticunderground.com/crisis/05/031_ep.html

[Wilms]

12. Defense Department, L.A. County Consider Adopting Vermont's Vote-By-Phone

Defense Department, L.A. County Consider Adopting Vermont's Vote-By-Phone System

Election Officials from Across the Country to Attend Mock Election in Vermont

SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt., Oct. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Representatives from the
Defense Department and Los Angeles County will be among the election officials
gathered in Vermont this week to consider a vote-by-phone system that was
first introduced by the state in August. They will be joined by members of
the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, the federal commission responsible
for helping to improve elections, at the first live demonstration of a voting
system that allows voters to cast their ballots using a regular telephone.

Officials from the Defense Department's Federal Voting Assistance Program
are investigating whether the technology might be a good way to meet the needs
of military and overseas voters. Election officials from Los Angeles County,
the most populated county in the country, are also considering offering voting
by phone to their constituents.

"This is the best technology available right now, so I'm not surprised
that the Defense Department and others are giving it a good look," Vermont
Secretary of State Deb Markowitz said today. "The vote-by-phone system meets
the broadest range of needs and has the most flexibility for new, future
applications."

Vermont is the first state to announce that it will offer telephone voting
in 2006, when it will make the new system available to every disabled voter in
the state. According to IVS, the Kentucky-based voting services company that
produces the system, several other states are also considering the technology.

snip/more

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/10-04-2005/0004159034&EDATE=

[Wilms]

13. Online voter education about voting systems: the envelope please!

Online voter education about voting systems: the envelope please!

Monday, October 03, 2005

Michael Alvarez

Online voter education about voting systems: the envelope please!
At this time of year, when there are many elections going on around the nation, we often see many different examples of efforts by election jurisdictions to inform voters about how to use their voting technologies. Here are three online video examples.

The first is from Los Angeles County, California, showing how to use their early voting equipment (Diebold Accuvote). This is short and simple, and has some really jazzy tunes associated with it.

The second is from Orange County, California. It is a relatively lengthy video demonstration of their Hart eSlate voting system. Note the very cool Orange County scenes at the beginning of the demonstration video!

The third is from New York City, demonstrating how to use their lever voting machines. This one is dark and a bit antiquated, and has some interesting narration.

snip/more/links to the videos

http://electionupdates.caltech.edu/2005/10/online-voter-education-about-voting.html

[annabanana]

14. write your rep!

http://www.congressweb.com/cweb4/index.cfm?orgcode=VTUSA&hotissue=1

quick and easy!

do it!

[freedomfries]

15. KICK

[Wilms]

16. Portland Election Summit Photos & special exclusive Brad Show audio up!

Thanks to Amaryllis. Kick and Recommend:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x396136

[Wilms]

17. CA: Secretary of state announces new requirements for electronic voting

Posted on Wed, Oct. 05, 2005

Secretary of state announces new requirements for electronic voting machines

Associated Press

SACRAMENTO - Secretary of State Bruce McPherson announced new requirements for electronic voting machines Wednesday and said he would create a unit in his office to test and certify the machines.

"We must take these fundamental steps to guarantee public confidence in our voting process," McPherson said in a speech to the California Black Chamber of Commerce.

He laid out 10 requirements that the machines must meet for use in California elections, starting in 2006, including approval by an independent testing unit certified by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

Other requirements include providing state election officials with full information about the workings of the machines and providing machines for testing under simulated Election Day conditions.

snip/more

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/12826910.htm

Discussion:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x396195