Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Wednesday Frebruary 8, 2006

[stillcool]

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 new Spring 2006 Edition of "Election Fraud and Reform News Directory" listed here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x407240
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.
Please "Recommend" for the Greatest Page (it's the link just below).

[stillcool]

1. North Carolina...

Election season opens
February 08, 2006
By Tom Boné
Havelock

Craven County elected officials will soon learn who will be contesting them for their posts.
The 2006 election season kicks of Monday at noon, when candidate filing begins at the Board of Elections office in New Bern.

Miller said voters will find a new voting mechanism at the polls, mixing old-fashioned technology with an optical scanner.
In most cases the voters will be presented with paper ballots she said. “The voter will fill out the paper ballots and then insert them in the machine themselves. The machine scans the ballot.”

DATEBOOK At Link.....
Here are some important dates leading to the Nov. 4 general election:
http://www.enctoday.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=Templates/Details.cfm&StoryID=2325&Section=Local&SourceData=Articles_HVNStories&Entity=HVN

[stillcool]

2. Florida

William E. Gibson | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted February 8, 2006
WASHINGTON -- With a suspenseful round of congressional elections just nine months away, about half the states including Florida have failed to fully comply with federal mandates under the Help America Vote Act, an electoral watchdog group said Tuesday.
Most states have made clear progress toward upgrading voting procedures. But delays in some states -- or in some instances, counties -- and a massive transition to new machines could spark election challenges in close contests, according to electionline.org, a nonpartisan group that tracks election reform.
"The possibility for error, and the willingness of people to challenge those errors, are both growing every day. And that could have tremendous impact on elections in 2006 and beyond," said Doug Chapin, director of the group.
Florida and 18 other states failed to meet the Jan. 1 deadline to provide at least one voting machine in every precinct that would be accessible to disabled voters.

Only 21 states fully met both deadlines.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-aelect0806feb08,0,4311136.story?coll=orl-home-headlines

[stillcool]

3. Humorous graphics illustrating Diebold's approaches to election.

DIEBOLD VARIATIONS
http://homepage.mac.com/rcareaga/diebold/adworks.htm

[stillcool]

4. Tennessee: New machines up for vote

Counties must accommodate visually impaired under act

By MICHAEL SILENCE, [e-mail]
February 6, 2006

All 95 Tennessee counties are under a federal mandate, known as the Help America Vote Act, to have machines that allow the visually impaired to vote unassisted.
The counties have until August to either add machines or replace their entire system to comply with the act.
The companies that are under consideration are Diebold Election System, Hart InterCivic and Electronic Systems and Software.
Those are the only companies certified by the Independent Testing Authority with systems that meet HAVA, Robertson said.

The machines under consideration all provide what is known as a verifiable paper trail, which allows an election commission to recreate an election if there's a problem, Mackay said.

http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/local_news/article/0,1406,KNS_347_4443897,00.html

[Algorem]

5. Diebold's new 'non-political' CEO donated $2,000 to Bush in 2003

...In an interview with reporters on February 6, new-CEO Thomas Swidarski said he had no political connections. According to campaign donations listed by the Center for Responsive Politics, that’s a dirty, dirty lie. Swidarski gave Bush $2,000 in 2003.

While shares of Diebold stock are now going for about $37 apiece, it’s actually less expensive to buy the electronic equipment needed to hack into their voting machines. To prove how easy it is to manipulate Diebold equipment, rebels at BlackBoxVoting.org recently videotaped a chimpanzee hacking into an audit log of tallied votes. No joke. A monkey hacked Diebold.

Hacking, however, may soon be a moot point. On January 31, the Ohio General Assembly passed House Bill 3, a piece of election-reform legislation requiring voters to show ID before casting a ballot. Don’t have one? Too bad! As an added bonus, the part of the bill requiring random audits of Diebold’s election results was removed prior to its passing.

Those interested in hacking a Diebold machine can do so at the 2006 Home & Garden Show, at the I-X Center through Sunday. Cuyahoga County election supervisors will be on hand to help curious citizens “test drive” the new machines. Hacking equipment sold separately.

— James Renner

http://www.freetimes.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=3068&POSTNUKESID=86cad678c7511d1206e3b0a1ca154dd9


Diebold-ly into the future

Voters can test-drive the new electronic voting machines beginning today at the 2006 Home and Flower Show at Cleveland’s IX-Center. There, election officials from Cuyahoga County will conduct mock elections – using the names of dead presidents from Ohio -- on the controversial touch-screen devices made by Diebold Election Systems. Board officials plan to demonstrate the machines at paid events like this show and at other free events leading up to the May 2 primary, when all elections in the state will be conducted on electronic voting machines.
--Mark Naymik

http://www.cleveland.com/weblogs/openers



The Business of Elections

http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:Y-fUxr5JzXEJ:www.votetrustusa.org/pdfs/electionline_081104.pdf+Center+for+Responsive+Politics,Swidarski&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=4

[stillcool]

6. Equal Justice Foundation

One stop shopping for inquiring minds....

Election Issue Web Sites
http://www.ejfi.org/Voting/Voting-90.htm#pgfId-1391952

[Algorem]

7. Oh-U.S. judge dismisses lawsuit seeking '04 election recount

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060208/NEWS02/602080464/-1/NEWS

Article published Wednesday, February 8, 2006

ELECTION 2004
U.S. judge dismisses case over recount
Prohibition against suing states cited

BLADE COLUMBUS BUREAU

COLUMBUS - More than a year after Ohio officially handed its 20 electoral votes and the national election to President Bush, a federal judge yesterday dismissed a lawsuit from candidates still waiting for their recount.

While U.S. District Court Judge James G. Carr in Toledo said Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell's actions "arguably" conflicted with federal law, the judge dismissed the suit on the grounds that the U.S. Constitution, with rare exception, prohibits suits against states in federal court.

The judge found that, since Mr. Blackwell's directive limiting the recount timeline affected just one election more than a year old, the suit didn't meet one of the exceptions to the immunity rule.

A federally authorized state law requires that any recount for which the required fee has been posted must begin between 11 and 15 days after the voting...



http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2093640&mesg_id=2093640

[stillcool]

8. Utah

Registering to vote could require ID

Legislation would ensure only citizens cast ballots

By Josh Loftin
Deseret Morning News
Casting a ballot may require a birth certificate, driver's license, or friendship with the voting judge.
A bill that critics worry will cause significant hardship for voters, especially the disabled, senior citizens and the poor, narrowly passed a Senate committee Tuesday. Supporters of the bill, however, hope that it can address perceived abuses of the voting system, including ballots being cast by illegal immigrants.
Under the provisions of SB200, which passed the Senate Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Committee 3-2, people registering to vote for the first time in Utah would be required to prove their citizenship with an official document, such as a birth or naturalization certificate. The goal, said sponsoring Sen. Mark Madsen, R-Eagle Mountain, is to ensure that ballots are cast only by legal citizens of the United States and residents of Utah.
"We need to do something to protect the integrity of the voting system," Madsen said. "I want every person to vote, but I want to make sure they're citizens."

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,635182704,00.html

[stillcool]

9. California....

http://www.linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2006-02-08-013-26-NW-PB
Government Technology: Calif. to Hold Hearing on Open Source Software in Election Systems
Feb 8, 2006

Senator Debra Bowen (D-Redondo Beach, Calif.), chairwoman of the Senate Elections, Reapportionment & Constitutional Amendments Committee today announced a hearing by the committee to look at how private companies, as well as state and federal agencies, have begun using "open source software" and where it can or should be used in California's electoral system.

The meeting will be held tomorrow, at 9:00 a.m. in the State Capitol, Room 4202 (this is a change from Room 112). The meeting will be broadcast on the Web. To listen on the Web, go to http://www.asm.ca.gov/committee_hearings/ and click on "Broadcast Room List," then click on "Committee Room 4202."

"Open source software has been around for several decades, but it's become more popular in recent years," said Bowen in a release. "Some of the more well-known names in the open source software world are Firefox (an Internet browser), Linux (an operating system), and Red Hat (which sells and supports a version of Linux for businesses). A number of private businesses, including Bank of America, Amazon.com, America Online (AOL), DreamWorks, Charles Schwab, IBM, and Merrill Lynch, have begun using open source software for some applications. Furthermore, the Department of Defense, the State of Massachusetts, and the California Air Resources Board have begun to migrate some of their computer systems from proprietary to open source software.

"We've worked hard to make elections more transparent over the years by, for example, making it easier for voters to track campaign contributions, but when it comes to the fundamental issue of how the accuracy of the election results are ensured, voters are left completely in the dark," noted Bowen. "We're in the middle of an intense discussion over whether voting systems that rely on proprietary software, such as Diebold, should be certified or re-certified for use here in California for the 2006 elections. I want to look further ahead at what alternatives we have to trusting the vote-recording and vote-tallying processes to closed, proprietary software systems that have turned out to be fatally flawed."

[stillcool]

10. Illinois...

State OKs Electronic Vote Plan for Kane: Testing, Adjustments Delayed Approval
Chicago Tribune
02/07/2006
By William Presecky, Chicago Tribune
Feb. 7--After six months of testing and uncertainty, the Illinois State Board of Elections on Monday certified an electronic voting system for Kane County, making it one of the first election jurisdictions in the state to eliminate punch cards, officials said.
Early voting in Illinois, which begins Feb. 27 and runs through March 16, will use eSlate at numerous other Kane County locations, including all township and municipal buildings, where in-person absentee balloting is conducted routinely, Cunningham said.

eSlate is a direct recording equipment system that incorporates a dial, called a select wheel, allowing voters to navigate and amend an electronic ballot before it is cast.

The state board's decision ends a protracted testing and certification process to assure the system can securely and accurately record, verify and tabulate every vote.

Although eSlate had received federal certification and is used in about two dozen other election jurisdictions nationwide, additional features required by Illinois, including the ability to produce a paper trail, resulted in lengthy testing and equipment and programming adjustments.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16086240&BRD=2553&PAG=740&dept_id=226964&rfi=6

[stillcool]

11. Pennsylvania....

Sullivan County chooses touch-screen voting machines
LAPORTE - Sullivan County will be purchasing touch-screen voting machines manufactured by a Texas-based company for all of its voting precincts.
BY JAMES LOEWENSTEIN

To comply with HAVA, the commissioners had investigated touch-screen voting machines manufactured by three different companies, he said.
At their meeting on Tuesday, the Sullivan County commissioners decided to purchase machines manufactured by one of the three vendors, Advanced Voting Solutions Inc. of Frisco, Texas.
The purchase is contingent on proper certification for the Advanced Voting Solutions machines being granted by the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. "We are confident the certification will be approved," Gavitt said.
The machines are not required to generate a paper trail, he said.
The machines will not produce "a paper tally of every voter's vote," Gavitt explained. "That's not required," he added.
However, the machines that will be purchased could be modified in the future to produce such a paper tally, he said.

http://www.thedailyreview.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16086711&BRD=2276&PAG=461&dept_id=465049&rfi=6

[Wilms]

12. .