Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Thursday 10/13/05

[Wilms]

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Thursday 10/13/05

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.

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=203x396801


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

[Wilms]

1. NY: Electronic voting draws protest

Electronic voting draws protest

Marchers tell state board they don't want private companies counting the ballots

By JAMES M. ODATO, Capitol bureau
First published: Wednesday, October 12, 2005

ALBANY -- Two dozen people upset that New York officials may buy electronic voting machines confronted the state Board of Elections on Tuesday and won the unprecedented right to address the commissioners.

Neil W. Kelleher, chairman of the board, allowed comments from demonstrators, some holding signs and marching into the meeting room straight from a small rally outside the board's offices. All promoted paper ballot machines.

"We don't want our elections run by private companies," said Barbara Murphy of Clifton Park. Her town is one of the few statewide using direct recording electronic machines, also know as DREs, that allow touch screen voting.

The system is made by Sequoia Voting Systems, one of the powerhouse election-machine companies promoting DREs in New York. Murphy and other members of a campaign against electronic machines said at the board meeting that manufacturers are steering county elections commissioners toward DREs and away from optical scanners that read paper ballots.

snip/more

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=407961&category=STATE&BCCode=&newsdate=10/12/2005

[Wilms]

14. Discussion here:

Thanks to Kster

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x396896

[Wilms]

2. CA: Voters prefer paper ballots

10/12/2005 02:45:06 AM

Voters prefer paper ballots

Alameda County opinion poll shows 45 percent prefer mail-in option
By Ian Hoffman, STAFF WRITER


In an Alameda County opinion poll on voting and voting technologies, 45 percent of people preferred mailing their vote from the comfort of home, underscoring a state and national trend away from the tradition of heading to the polls on Election Day.

Thirty-five percent of voters enjoy the ease and speed of voting on ATM-like touch-screen voting machines, particularly in cities in the South and East, while 20 percent prefer having paper ballots in the polling place.

That surprised county elections chief Elaine Ginnold. "Twenty percent is significant," she said.

Taken together, the poll'sfindings of high public interest in voting by mail and on paper ballots support the move by Alameda County away from full electronic voting.

snip/more

http://www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald/localnews/ci_3108429

[Wilms]

3. FL: Voters pass up Volusia elections - Glitches slow results

Voters pass up Volusia elections

Glitches slow results despite low turnout

Kevin P. Connolly | Sentinel Staff Writer

Posted October 12, 2005

But glitches kept results in limbo.

One malfunction happened in Daytona Beach, where officials reported an apparent failure of a memory card in a ballot tabulator at a city fire station off Botefuhr Avenue.

The problem delayed the transmission of the tally from the precinct to the main elections office in DeLand. Volusia County Elections Supervisor Ann McFall noted a discrepancy of three to five ballots between the machine count and ballots cast.

She pledged "a full audit" of that precinct today. More technical problems delayed results from Deltona, DeBary and Port Orange. Phone-line problems forced election workers to take memory cards with the electronic results to the main office so they could be included in the results.

snip/more

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/volusia/orl-vvote1205oct12,0,7785211.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-volusia

[Wilms]

4. NV: Officials want to blaze a paper trail

October 11, 2005

Officials want to blaze a paper trail

By J. Craig Anderson and Cy Ryan <[e-mail]>
Las Vegas Sun

snip

A $2 million contract to buy another 604 high-tech machines, which let voters make selections via a touch screen and then verify results with a printout, is expected to come before the state Board of Examiners today.

The secretary of state's office is set to buy the machines at $3,137 each from Sequoia Voting Systems of Oakland, Calif. If the contract is approved, Clark County will receive 472 new machines while Washoe and rural counties will get 132 units.

However, Clark County Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax said the contract won't provide enough paper trail machines to accommodate Southern Nevada's rapid influx of new voters.

"To address growth in the county by the 2008 elections, we figure we would need another 700 machines," Lomax said.

snip/more

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/news/2005/oct/11/519493057.html

[Wilms]

5. PA: Voting upgrades worry counties

Voting upgrades worry counties

By Jim Carroll

Thursday, October 13, 2005

MARIENVILLE --

snip

A federal law enacted after the Florida voting problems in the 2000 presidential election calls for counties to retire their lever-voting machines and punch-card scanners and replace them with high-tech machines in time for the 2006 primary.

And not only must counties purchase the machines in time for the primary, they also must find time to train election workers and familiarize voters with the new equipment.

County officials attending the Northwest Pennsylvania Regional Planning and Development Commission meeting on Friday at the Bucktail Hotel in Marienville said they are concerned the undertaking will push their backs to the wall.

Compounding the problem is the fact that state officials have yet to decide which of the machines on the market to certify. That could send county commissioners and council members shopping for machines without knowing which the state will approve.

snip/more

http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051011/ELECTION/510110342

[Wilms]

6. WA: County Council asks Sims for election steps

County Council asks Sims for election steps

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF AND NEWS SERVICES

The King County Council approved a motion Monday asking Executive Ron Sims to implement specific changes to restore public confidence in the county's elections department.

The motion asks that the elections department:

# When mailing absentee ballots, to forward them only to voters living at a temporary address. Voters who have permanently changed their addresses would be required to update their addresses with the elections section before receiving an absentee ballot.

# Compare the voter list annually with the U.S. Postal Service change of address database, the King County medical examiner's list of deceased people and any lists of documented felons. The resulting duplicate names would be removed from the voter database.

# Develop a policy in time for next month's general election ensuring that both the Democratic and Republican parties are represented by poll worker recruiters.

# Use elections section data files to track which employee verified each voter signature.

# Call on the elections section to use a date stamp to verify when voters personally drop off their ballots at the elections section in the King County Administration Building.

snip/more

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/244148_sims11.html

[Wilms]

7. NIST: Recordings of Proceedings

Recordings of Proceedings

All linked audio files are in .mp3 format.

* Panel One: Threat Discussion on Trojan Horses, Backdoors, and Other Voting System Software-Related Problems

* Panel Two: Threat Discussion on Voting System Configuration Issues and Problems

* Panel Three: Wrap Up, Conclusions, Next Steps

http://vote.nist.gov/threats/audio.htm

[Wilms]

8. GA: Georgia's ID Law in Federal Court

Wednesday, October 12

Dan Tokaji

Georgia's ID Law in Federal Court

Voting rights advocates challenging Georgia's new photo ID requirement were in federal court today in Rome, Georgia. U.S. District Judge Harold Murphy heard arguments on the motion for a preliminary injunction filed by Common Cause, NAACP, the League of Women Voters and other groups who seek to enjoin the law mandating that voters show photo identification in order to have their votes counted. Plaintiffs' briefs in support of their motion may be found here. Georgia Secretary of State Cathy Cox opposes the ID law, even though she's the official responsible for enforcing it, on the ground that it's unnecessary and would disproportionately harm poor people.

In related news, the U.S. Department of Justice is taking an aggressive position in support of Georgia's ID law. DOJ has issued this letter to Senator Chris Bond explaining its reasons for preclearing the law, which reads like an argument for voter ID rather than an objective analysis of the legality of Georgia's law. More on this to come soon ...

http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/blogs/tokaji/2005/10/georgias-id-law-in-federal-court.html

[Wilms]

9. Georgia Voter ID Law Challenged

Georgia Voter ID Law Challenged

Jon Shirek Reports

Reported by: Jon Shirek

Web Editor: Tracey Christensen

Last Modified: 10/12/2005 3:52:05 PM

Critics of Georgia's new voter identification law fought Wednesday to get a temporary restraining order against it while their fight to have it overturned continues.

A federal judge in Rome, Ga., heard arguments for the suspension of the law on Wednesday. Lawyers for several organizations were working to prove that the state's poor cannot afford to get state-issued photo identification. Without such IDs, they cannot vote and that amounts to an unconstitutional poll tax, the lawyers said.

Secretary of State Cathy Cox, who opposes the new photo ID law even though she's responsible for enforcing it, told Judge Harold Murphy that the law is unnecessary. Cox testified that she had never known a case in Georgia of anyone posing as someone else in order to vote.

Cox argued that poor people without transportation cannot afford to get to the state offices that issue photo IDs and that they also cannot afford to pay $20 for the ID. She said those voters are being unconstitutionally disenfranchised.

Cox also testified that the new law does not require photo IDs for people to register to vote and that the state does not require photo ID to get absentee ballots. Cox called those gaping loopholes that could invite voter fraud.

snip/more

http://www.11alive.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=70425

Video:
http://www.11alive.com/video/player.aspx?aid=45059&bw=

[Wilms]

10. GA: DOJ Letter re: Georgia's ID law

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Legislative Affairs
Washington, DC 20530

Office of the Assistant Attorney General
William E. Moschella
Assistant Attorney General

October 7, 2005

Honorable Christopher S. Bond
United State Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senator Bond:

Thank you for your recent letter regarding the Justice Department’s pre-clearance, pursuant to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, of the State of Georgia’s 2005 amendment to the voter identification requirements in the State election code. As you know, it is our longstanding policy not to disclose any details of our deliberative process or other privileged information. Nevertheless, we welcome the opportunity to respond to the extent we can, as this issue has generated considerable misunderstanding and gross distortions of important facts.

snip/more

http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/voting/misc/ga_id_bond_ltr.htm

[Wilms]

11. Voting Rights Advocates Ask Federal Court to Block Georgia Photo ID Law

Voting Rights Advocates Ask Federal Court to Block Georgia Photo ID Law

Legal Brief Details Why Georgia Law Violates State and Federal Constitutions, Voting Rights Act and Other Laws

Thursday, Oct. 6, ATLANTA -Voting rights advocates filed documents in federal court in Rome, Georgia, today in support of their motion for a preliminary injunction enjoining the enforcement of Georgia’s photo identification requirement for voting. The filing consists of the plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction, a 74-page brief in support of the motion, and 31 sworn declarations attesting to the negative impact of House Bill 244 on Georgia voters.

The case, Common Cause/Georgia v. Billups, 4:05-cv-201, was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Rome Division, on September 19, 2005 and was assigned to the Hon. Harold Murphy.

Click on the links below to download all the latest court filings.

snip/more

http://www.votingrights.org/news/?newsitem=31

[Wilms]

12. Georgia photo ID law attacked in court

Georgia photo ID law attacked in court

Oct. 12, 2005

BERNARD MCGHEE

Associated Press

ROME, Ga. - Georgia Secretary of State Cathy Cox testified at a hearing Wednesday in Rome that she had problems with a bill requiring voters to show a photo identification before casting ballots.

Cox testified in federal court that she had written Gov. Sonny Perdue in April that she had concerns about the bill and said Wednesday that she had hoped he would veto it.

Opponents of the law hope the court will pass an injunction blocking its enforcement. U.S. District Court Judge Harold L. Murphy said he has to wait for more filings expected Thursday from attorneys filing on behalf of the state and then will make a decision.

The measure - which later became state law - requires photo identification for people voting in person but not absentee. The law eliminates the use of several previously accepted forms of identification to vote, including Social Security cards, birth certificates and utility bills, and requires voters to produce a picture ID such as a driver's license, military identification or state-issued identification card.

snip/more

http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/12884940.htm

[Wilms]

13. ConyersBlog: Help Free Ohio from Republican Corruption and Electoral Abuse

Blogged by JC on 10.12.05

Help Free Ohio from Republican Corruption and Electoral Abuses

For the past couple months, we have witnessed a growing percentage of the population steadily distancing itself from the Bush Administration and congressional Republicans. There has been an even stronger...

For the past couple months, we have witnessed a growing percentage of the population steadily distancing itself from the Bush Administration and congressional Republicans. There has been an even stronger movement away from Republicans in Ohio that is occurring on a much grander scale due to the Coingate scandals.

As you may know, coin collector Tom Noe, a big contributor to President Bush and the Republican Party of Ohio, is the focus of 13 separate investigations for his mismanagement of a $50 million state fund that was supposed to help injured workers. A federal grand jury reportedly is investigating alleged money laundering by Noe for a Bush-Cheney fundraising event organized by Brian Hicks, the former chief of staff to Governor Robert A. Taft II.

Hicks has since been convicted of violating state ethics laws for accepting improper gifts from Noe. Governor Taft, himself, was convicted earlier this year on four criminal counts for violating ethics laws relating to his relationship with Noe – the first time that has ever happened to a sitting Ohio governor. Taft has an approval rating in the mid-teens – lowest in the country. All three of the leading candidates to succeed the term-limited governor have long-standing relationships with Noe and have accepted his contributions.

The Republican Party in Ohio, which holds all state-wide elected offices, is in serious trouble with the voting public. Ohioans are tired of the corruption that is rampant throughout Ohio The closeness of the OH-2 special election, in which Iraq War veteran Paul Hackett came within a whisker of winning in a district that Rob Portman carried with 72% of the vote, was due as much to the widespread disgust with the Republican Party in Ohio as it was to the growing opposition to the war.

snip/more

http://www.conyersblog.us/archives/00000272.htm

[Wilms]

15. Los Angeles: Poll Workers Needed

WHAT DO POLLWORKERS DO?

NATIONWIDE, SINCE THE SEPTEMBER 11th TRAGEDY, AMERICANS HAVE SHOWN AN ENHANCED DESIRE TO DEMONSTRATE PATRIOTISM. SERVING DEMOCRACY AS A POLLWORKER ON AN ELECTION BOARD IS AN EXCELLENT OPPORTUNITY TO DISPLAY PATRIOTIC SPIRIT.

YOU WILL:

ARRIVE AT THE POLLING PLACE BETWEEN 6:00 and 6:30 A.M. TO SET UP
ASSIST VOTERS WHEN SIGNING IN
ISSUE BALLOTS
CLOSE THE POLLS-ACCOUNT FOR THE BALLOTS- PACK-UP SUPPLIES


POLLWORKER HOURS

POLLS OPEN AT 7:00 A.M.
POLLS CLOSE AT 8:00 P.M.


WHAT IS THE PAY?

IF YOU SERVE AS A POLLWORKER YOU WILL RECEIVE $55.00 AND A $25.00 BONUS FOR ATTENDING A 1½ HOUR TRAINING SESSION. CHOOSE FROM OVER 450 CLASSES CONVENIENTLY LOCATED THROUGHOUT LOS ANGELES COUNTY - SEE TRAINING WEB PAGE FOR CLASS LISTINGS - LINK THROUGH FOR POLLWORKERS ONLY!


ARE YOU BILINGUAL?

WE'RE ESPECIALLY INTERESTED IN BRINGING BILINGUAL POLLWORKERS ON BOARD. PERHAPS YOU SPEAK ONE OF THESE LANGUAGES: CANTONESE, JAPANESE, MANDARIN, KOREAN, SPANISH, TAGALOG, OR VIETNAMESE. IF SO, YOU CAN PROVIDE AN INDISPENSABLE SERVICE TO THE VOTERS OF YOUR COMMUNITY.


POLLWORKER ELIGIBILITY

A REGISTERED VOTER AND A RESIDENT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

UNITED STATES CITIZEN
18 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER
STUDENTS - MUST BE 16 YEARS OLD, NOMINATED BY THEIR SCHOOL AND ENROLLED IN OFFICIAL STUDENT POLLWORKER PROGRAM, ALSO NEEDS TO BE A SENIOR WITH A 2.5 MINIMUM GPA


INTERESTED? CALL OUR TOLL FREE NUMBER 1-800 815-2666 -- OPTION 7

IT'S EASY TO COME ON BOARD - APPLY ONLINE
http://www.lavote.net/pollworker/pollapp.cfm


YOU MAY ALSO DOWNLOAD THIS APPLICATION AND FAX IT TO: [phone]
POLLWORKER APPLICATION DOWNLOAD:
http://www.lavote.net/pollworker/pollapp.pdf


http://www.lavote.net/pollworker/volunteer.htm


Thanks to eridani

[Wilms]

16. CA: Volunteers Needed - Parallel Election Efforts.

Volunteers Needed

CAPE is seeking volunteers for the November 8th election in California. We need volunteers in every county to help with Parallel Election efforts.

If you can work with us for a few days, we will teach you the process (it's not hard). If you can only spare a few hours during election day, we can surely benefit from your help.

The only people we don't need are rude people and jerks. (Seriously... if you are a jerk, or rude, you probably don't care much for fair elections in the first place.)

Please contact Judy Alter by email: [e-mail]
or contact Ed Kohout at 760-213-2401

http://www.studycaliforniaballots.org

Thanks to eridani

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=141x15756

[Wilms]

17. Ask C-SPAN to cover exit poll debate! Evidence - Election Fraud 2004!

IndyOp said so:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5040874#top

[MelissaB]

18. Email for Congressman Conyers

Help Free Ohio from Republican Corruption and Electoral Abuses
For the past couple months, we have witnessed a growing percentage of the population steadily distancing itself from the Bush Administration and congressional Republicans. There has been an even stronger movement away from Republicans in Ohio that is occurring on a much grander scale due to the Coingate scandals.
Reform Ohio Now
http://reformohionow.org


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ten Action Items
http://www.dailykos.com/
storyonly/2005/9/21/14379/2169

Coingate Articles
http://www.toledoblade.com/
apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=SRRARECOINS

10/9 Article on Noe
http://www.toledoblade.com/
apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051009/SRRARE
COINS/310090001


As you may know, coin collector Tom Noe, a big contributor to President Bush and the Republican Party of Ohio, is the focus of 13 separate investigations for his mismanagement of a $50 million state fund that was supposed to help injured workers. A federal grand jury reportedly is investigating alleged money laundering by Noe for a Bush-Cheney fundraising event organized by Brian Hicks, the former chief of staff to Governor Robert A. Taft II.

Hicks has since been convicted of violating state ethics laws for accepting improper gifts from Noe. Governor Taft, himself, was convicted earlier this year on four criminal counts for violating ethics laws relating to his relationship with Noe – the first time that has ever happened to a sitting Ohio governor. Taft has an approval rating in the mid-teens – lowest in the country. All three of the leading candidates to succeed the term-limited governor have long-standing relationships with Noe and have accepted his contributions.

The Republican Party in Ohio, which holds all state-wide elected offices, is in serious trouble with the voting public. Ohioans are tired of the corruption that is rampant throughout Ohio The closeness of the OH-2 special election, in which Iraq War veteran Paul Hackett came within a whisker of winning in a district that Rob Portman carried with 72% of the vote, was due as much to the widespread disgust with the Republican Party in Ohio as it was to the growing opposition to the war.

As we have seen with the presidential election in 2004, what happens in Ohio affects the whole country. The culture of corruption that exists there is an injustice to our democratic system of government. It is crucial that we put an end to this abuse of power and the corrupt electoral practices that affect our whole country. That is why the vote in Ohio on November 8 this year is of historic national importance. A progressive grassroots organization, Reform Ohio Now, collected more than half a million signatures to put four amendments on the November 8 ballot.

These ballot initiatives would permit voting by mail, impose strict campaign contribution limits, require competitive congressional and legislative districts (and thereby put an end the scourge of gerrymandering), and would create an independent elections board instead of having the Secretary of State, a partisan official, oversee elections (the current Secretary of State is a fellow by the name Ken Blackwell—remember him? He's running for governor next year).

These ballot initiatives are so important, not just because they will provide fairer elections, but because they will provide a national bellwether to measure the growing strength of the Democratic Party. Victory in these measures will lend momentum nationally, will provide Democrats up to 6 six new Congressional seats in the 2006 elections, and could help restore a Democratic majority to Congress. As many have noted, this is the most important election of the year.

Please act today to end the corruption and provide free and fair elections that affect all Americans.

Visit http://ReformOhioNow.org - the organization behind the initiatives to find plenty of resources.
This DailyKos.com posting has a list of ten action items you can do to help at http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/21/14379/2169




Thank you for your help and your continued stand for a better democracy.

Sincerely,

John Conyers, Jr.