Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Sunday, April 30, 2006

[rumpel]

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.

Please post Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News on this thread.

[rumpel]

1. NC: Electronic voting machines arrive

Sunday, April 30, 2006

By Karen Kane, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Even above the din of banging and scraping, the tone of relief was perceptible as Regis Young declared the obvious: The cargo had arrived, and it was early, to boot.

More than 400 touch-screen voting machines were delivered to Butler County from Omaha, Neb., on Monday, two days ahead of schedule.

"Whew, this place is jammed tight, but they're here and I'm loving it,'' said Mr. Young, director of Butler County's election bureau, who had rolled up his sleeves to help uncrate the machines that were stacked in every corner.

The county ordered 490 machines from Election Systems & Software, and 410 were to be delivered in time for the May primary election. The rest are to be delivered for the November general election.

Timing of delivery has been a big issue in the county's conversion from punch-card ballots to a computerized system. ES&S began warning the county months ago that, if it wanted to have the new machines in place and training completed by May, the order needed to be placed as quickly as possible. The order was placed in late March, just before the deadline for promised delivery.

County commissioners hesitated to make a final decision because of pending litigation across the state, including an action filed against Butler County by voting groups concerned about the security of computerized voting without a paper trail.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06120/685609-54.stm

[rumpel]

2. KY: Officials feel a loss of control as elections near

The Courier Journal, Louiville Kentucky

Sunday, April 30, 2006

Lesley Stedman Weidenbener

INDIANAPOLIS -- At a recent hearing where Secretary of State Todd Rokita was trying to glean information about voting system problems, St. Joseph County Clerk Rita Glenn uttered what is becoming increasingly true for many local election officials.

"I don't feel like I have any control over our elections," she said.

She was testifying that Nebraska-based Election Systems & Software -- the vendor that provides the county's voting system -- had delivered ballots and other equipment too late to meet all the state's election deadlines.

It's been a common complaint this year about Election Systems & Software, a company that county officials around the state say they've been quite happy with in the past. This year, though, they say the company has been slow and made mistakes in ballots and programming, mistakes that in some cases would have made Tuesday's primary chaotic had they not been fixed.

Company Senior Vice President John Groh apologized earlier this month for some of the problems, but he said his employees have been working around the clock to ensure that Indiana's elections operate smoothly.

In fact, officials in several counties have reported that Election Systems & Software workers have been working long hours in their offices to make sure the equipment is ready to go. Most report that everything is now fine.

On Friday, the Indiana Election Commission certified election software sold by another company that is in use in 47 counties. Without that certification, it would have been illegal for those counties to use it. That too could have been a disaster.

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060430/COLUMNISTS07/604300430

[rumpel]

3. IN: Officials predict a smooth election

The Courier Journal

Sunday, April 30, 2006

Last-minute problems called relatively minor

By Lesley Stedman Weidenbener
[e-mail]
The Courier-Journal


INDIANAPOLIS — State election officials are predicting a relatively smooth primary election Tuesday — despite last-minute problems with voting equipment and new laws requiring photo IDs for voters and accessible equipment for the disabled.

Secretary of State Todd Rokita said last week that he believes "things are going to be fine" when an estimated 860,000 voters go to the polls to pick Republican and Democratic nominees for a number of county, state and federal offices. Some school board races also are on the ballot.

In Southern Indiana's 9th Congressional District, Republicans and Democrats have contested primaries.

And a fight for the Democratic nomination in the 71st House district has attracted statewide interest. Rep. Carlene Bottorff of Jeffersonville, who was appointed to the seat when her husband, Jim, died last year before completing his term, faces Steve Stemler, a business owner and former Jeffersonville city councilman, and James McClure Jr., a computer analyst from Clarksville.

Two Republicans are running for the seat as well.

But much of the attention leading up to the election has focused not so much on candidates but on the equipment voters will use to cast their ballots.

Rokita is investigating two companies — which provide voting equipment to three-quarters of Hoosier counties — for misdeeds leading up to the primary. And the Indiana Election Commission is undertaking similar inquiries.

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060430/NEWS0203/60430001

[rumpel]

4. WI: Madison weekly: Government Accountability Board nixed

Posted April 30, 2006

Compiled by Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers

A bill to merge the state Ethics and Elections boards into a single entity with greater enforcement power stalled Thursday.


In a closed caucus, Assembly Republicans passed a motion by a large margin to not bring the measure up for a vote. The Assembly is the last major hurdle for the bill, which would create a Government Accountability Board.


"It's shocking," said Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause, a government watchdog group. "It's not only bad public policy, it's bad politics. This will come back to bite the Assembly Republicans."


Democrats plan to protest the move with a "filibuster" Tuesday by holding up other action through a series of amendments.


The bill was authored by state Sen. Mike Ellis, R-Neenah. Ellis pledged to bring the bill back next year.


Election reform

The Senate signed off on an election reform proposal Thursday that will further regulate Wisconsin elections. Gov. Jim Doyle is expected to sign it soon.


Kevin Kennedy, state Elections Board's director, said his agency has anticipated the new law.


"It's daunting, but we are looking forward to taking on the challenge," Kennedy said.


According to Doyle's office, the bill requires mandatory training for all poll workers; prohibits voter drives from paying individuals on a per voter or quota system and enacts safeguards to ensure felons are not allowed to vote.


It provides an option of centralized absentee ballot counting; requires a map to be displayed at every polling location to help direct voters to their proper voting wards, and allows a greeter at polls to assist voters in finding the correct polling location and line for registration or balloting.


It also requires the State Elections Board to conduct a post-election audit to ensure proper election procedures were followed throughout the state and making recommendations for improvement, and uses uniform registration cards statewide to streamline the processing of registration cards.

http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060430/APC0101/604300531/1003/APC01

[rumpel]

5. OH: Voting’s new look

High-tech machines will greet voters Tuesday; some remain skeptical
Sunday, April 30, 2006
By Robert Vitale THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Ruth Fisher cast her first ballot in 1942 on a sheet of paper. In the years since, she’s pulled levers, pushed buttons and poked punch cards to cast her votes in Franklin County.

On Tuesday, she’ll step into a new age when she walks up to the voting machine at her West Side polling place.

Along with 118,000 others expected to cast primary-election ballots, she’ll pick her candidates with the help of touch sensors, memory chips and 1.4 million lines of computer code.

For the Franklin County Board of Elections, still facing criticism for its handling of the 2004 presidential vote, it will be the first big test of more than 4,200 new voting machines, part of a $3.86 billion nationwide overhaul of election equipment ordered by Congress in 2002.

Across Ohio, where $116 million of that money has been spent, half the state’s counties will roll out new systems Tuesday after the other half used their new machines last fall. Central Ohio voters in Delaware, Pickaway, Union, Ross and Knox counties will cast ballots on the same touch-screen models that are making their debut in Franklin County. They’re made by Election Systems & Software of Omaha, Neb.

Voters in Licking and Fairfield counties will use touchscreen systems made by Diebold Elections Systems of North Canton, Ohio. Madison County is moving from punch cards to optical-scan ballots.

http://www.columbusdispatch.com/?story=dispatch/2006/04/30/20060430-B1-01.html

[rumpel]

6. Texas Wichita Falls Voter Information: Early voting set for May 1

Times Record News - Wichita Falls,TX,

May candidates and propositions

By Robert Morgan/Times Record News
April 30, 2006


snip
For more information, contact City Clerk Lydia Ozuna at 761-7409.

City/County Reporter Robert Morgan can be reached at [phone], [phone], Ext. 495, or via e-mail at morganr(at)TimesRecordNews.com.

http://www.timesrecordnews.com/trn/local_news/article/0,1891,TRN_5784_4661911,00.html

[rumpel]

7. OH: Voting chief in Summit more upbeat

Acron Beacon Journal

Posted on Sun, Apr. 30, 2006

Equipment tests, contingency plans ease Election Day worries
By Lisa A. Abraham
Beacon Journal staff writer
The ballots have all arrived and been tested twice, the memory cards -- when last checked -- were working, and an unusual calm had descended upon Summit County Board of Elections officials.

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the lowest, Director Bryan Williams said confidently Friday that his anxiety level over Tuesday's primary was at a 2.

Williams, whose previous doomsday predictions suggested there could be widespread problems on Election Day, said he felt there has been enough pretesting of equipment and ballots and enough contingency plans put in place to prevent a major meltdown.

``All of the equipment is being set up on or ahead of schedule. All the workers are trained.... Everything is going into place,'' he said.

The biggest concern is the computer memory cards inside the scanners that read ballots. The cards record and tabulate votes.

In training, poll workers and even instructors from Election Systems & Software, the Omaha, Neb., maker of the county's new voting system, have inserted the cards incorrectly, causing them to get stuck in the scanners.

When that happens, the scanner has to be taken apart and the card removed, but Williams said extra scanners and machines are on standby to replace any with jammed cards Tuesday.

Of greater concerns are the memory cards themselves; in testing, they failed at a rate as high as 30 percent.

ES&S acknowledged a manufacturing defect and recalled many of them, but even replacement cards have failed to work for a variety of reasons.

``A widespread memory card failure would be the biggest thing that could go wrong at this point, and I don't see that happening,'' Williams said.

However, he said it is likely that some will fail.

http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/14465606.htm

[rumpel]

8. South Carolina, Carlston Voter Information: East Cooper chooses Tuesday

Goldberg, McKeown want County Council seat

BY ROBERT BEHRE
The Post and Courier

East Cooper voters will decide Tuesday who should fill the Charleston County Council District 1 seat that has been vacant since Councilman Charles Wallace resigned late last year.

Voters will pick between Democrat Steven Goldberg, a lawyer who is making his first bid for office, and Republican Joe McKeown, an insurance agent who currently serves on Mount Pleasant Town Council. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The candidates have had one joint forum, and both have expressed concern about how many voters will turn out for Tuesday's special election.

McKeown called it "one of the quietest elections in the history of democracy," and Goldberg has joked that the final tally might be 1-1, with only the candidates voting.

Although District 1 is considered GOP turf, Goldberg had raised more than twice as much money as McKeown as of mid-April. McKeown had raised $17,025, including $1,000 of his own money; Goldberg had raised $40,660, including $1,500 of his own money, according to their pre-election campaign disclosure forms.

Some precinct names and polling places, including some in East Cooper, have been changed in recent months, but the county's Board of Elections and Voter Registration recently mailed out new registration cards to try to let voters know about the changes in hopes of minimizing confusion.

http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=84411§ion=localnews

Note: List of Polling Places at bottom of article!

[rumpel]

9. CA: Dan Walters: Will Democrats emulate GOP and marginalize themselves?

Sacramento Bee

By Dan Walters -- Bee Columnist
Published 2:15 am PDT Sunday, April 30, 2006
Story appeared on Page A3 of The Bee

Many words have been written and spoken - for good reason - about the California Republican Party's tendency to blow chances of winning statewide offices by presenting a stridently right-wing face, thus alienating moderate voters who are decisive in any major contested race.
More recently, however, the state's Republicans have been presenting a more moderate image of themselves. Cultural conservatives have given way, albeit reluctantly, to more pragmatic leaders from the business wing of the party, and Arnold Schwarzenegger proved in 2003 that Republicans could still win in California if they consciously cultivated independents and moderates.

Schwarzenegger saw his popularity plunge in 2005 as he pursued - very unsuccessfully - a slate of ballot measures that were portrayed as a right-wing plot in tens of millions of dollars' worth of television ads. Independents and moderates deserted him and his measures in droves. Ever since that setback six months ago, the governor has been attempting, with demonstrable success, to get back on track with middle-of-the-road voters.

With those developments, the question now is whether the state Democratic Party is in danger of emulating Republicans by marginalizing itself as stridently left-wing.

As party activists gathered in Sacramento this weekend for their annual convention, the subtext was a struggle between liberals who - very much like Republican conservatives - want to maintain the party's ideological purity and pragmatists who believe that winning offices is more important.

snip
voter registration data show that Democrats' once-large margin over Republicans has narrowed again, shrinking the party base and making independents an even more important factor in the November election.

http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/14249734p-15066654c.html

[Peace Patriot]

22. I know this thread is more for news than comment, but I have to comment

on this. I've been reading Dan Walters for years. He is the sort of establishment newspaperman whom Stephen Colbert satired last night at the White House Correspondents Dinner for NOT doing his job of telling truth to power. Whatever is proposed in Sacramento that is good, that is for the people, that reflects the will of the majority, that supports democracy, justice, fairness and equity, that helps the poor, that promotes the common good, that protects the environment, that favors people or the environment against corporations--in short, whatever we here at DU would be for, Dan Walters finds a sneaky, slimy, cynical, lying, deceitful way to be against.

The California Democratic left is not pushing the party to an extreme. It is pushing the party to the MIDDLE--toward true representation of the majority of the people in this state and in the country. And the reason that Democratic Party registration may has slipped in favor of Independents--if it has (Walters cannot be trusted)--is that the Corporate, DLC, War Wing of the Democratic Party is obviously not representing the progressive majority in the state. We may have a 2 to 1 majority in the Calif legislature, but the Dem leadership has shown itself to be corrupt and cowardly--for instance, on the rightwing swiftboating of former CA Sec of State Kevin Shelley (our former bulwark against Diebold and other election theft machinery). The Dem Party leadership hid under their desks when that happened--or openly colluded with electronic voting companies and Schwarzenegger in the installation of Diebold shill Bruce McPherson as APPOINTED sec of state. (Shelley was elected--and he was the first sec of state in the country to sue Diebold and decertify the worst of their election theft machines--just before the 2004 election). It's no wonder that Californians would be disgusted with the Democratic leadership. They are just as into money as Gray Davis was (his chief fault), whose door you couldn't get near without a $10,000 check in your hand. Davis caused the energy "crisis" in California--by which Enron stole our $9 billion budget surplus--as much as he was a victim of it, by his bend-over-backwards for corporations and the rich policies. We don't have a 2 to 1 majority for the people in Calif's legislature. We have a 2 to 1 majority that is a mixed bag of honest representatives and highly corrupt corporate colluders including some Bush junta (Diebold/ES&S) operatives.

Dan Walters is now and always has been on the side of the corporate colluders and fascist operatives. So take everything he says with a grain of salt, and, further, presume that whatever he says, the opposite is more than likely true.

[rumpel]

26. If it is true that recent Dem voter numbers declined..

it is the result of the database purge and new voter rejection rate "officially explained" as a problem in their new software.


:mad:

[rumpel]

28. CA:Voter Registration in Fresno County: Republicans down, everyone else up

Indybay

Voter Registration in Fresno County
by John Crockford Sunday, Apr. 30, 2006 at 10:05 AM

The latest voter registration statistics were recently released by the California Secretary of State reflecting the number of registered voters as of April 7th - sixty days prior to the primary election. The full report can be obtained from the Secretary of State's website.

Fresno County had an increase of 1,579 registered voters in the last three months (the date of the last report was January 3rd). Six of the seven ballot-qualified parties showed increases while only one (the Republican Party) showed a decrease. Though voters identifying themselves as Republican continue to be the majority in Fresno County, the fastest growing segment of the population of registered voters are those that decline to state a party affiliation.

http://www.indybay.org/news/2006/04/1819015.php

:)

[rumpel]

10. LA: snip: voter registration documents were bulldozed away

TechNewsWorld

Archivists to Develop Better Disaster Protection Plan

By Daniel Yee
AP
04/30/06 5:00 AM PT

"Everybody had to start over, trying to rebuild your life. Birth records, property titles were needed to prove they lived somewhere," said Carrie Fager, Louisiana statewide records management officer. "If you don't think to take your renters agreement with you, how do you prove who you were?"

After Hurricane Katrina filled St. Bernard Parish Courthouse with a foot of water, th Louisiana parish had a lucky break: Somehow, tens of thousands of soggy land and ta records ended up safe in a Bluebell Ice Cream freezer

However, voter registration documents were bulldozed away with office desks, lamps and copiers into a pile of rubble in the courthouse parking lot.

Emergency Plan

Archivists say the hurricane was the world's worst natural disaster in more than three decades for important documents and records. Officials from archives in nine Southeastern states and New Jersey met earlier this month at The Georgia Archives to brainstorm ways to improve their emergency plan if a storm like Katrina strikes again.

"We have learned it is time for state archives to set itself up as an agency of response," said Hank Holmes, director of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

Katrina devastated public archives charged with protecting important documents -- not only historic treaties and photographs, but many more mundane yet critical modern documents such as birth and death certificates and car titles.

The archivists hope to have a plan in place at their agencies by August, and that it can serve as a national model.

The last big archival disaster was in the 1960s when flooding in Florence, Italy, destroyed priceless documents dating back to medieval days.

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/hardware/50062.html

[rumpel]

11. KY: Glitch may affect vote tallies

The Enquirer

Last Updated: 5:26 am | Sunday, April 30, 2006

At stake: Drama of viewing partial results at courthouse
BY PATRICK CROWLEY | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

COVINGTON - Hanging out in county courthouses to watch candidate tallies roll in is an election night tradition in Northern Kentucky.

Groups of political operatives, elected officials, candidates, reporters, gadflies and others huddle around computer screens or closely watch television monitors, tracking the numbers as precincts report their results.

"It's a lot of fun to go down to the courthouse on election night," said Kenton County Sheriff Chuck Korzenborn, an Edgewood Republican running in the May 16 primary against Ludlow resident Tom Collins. "It's like watching a horse race or a ballgame. A lot of times, you don't know who is going to win until that last group of numbers comes in."

Now use of new voting machines for the disabled means county clerks likely will not be able to report the partial results the public craves. The machines, which will be used for the first time May 16, are not yet set up to interface with existing voting machines.

"They can't talk to each other," said Rick Riddell, director of voter registration for Boone County Clerk Marilyn Rouse. "We just received the new machines, and it's happened so quick they are not yet set up to work together."

The program will be corrected by the November general election.

But for the primary, clerks say, the technical glitch will prevent them from tallying the results of the two machines throughout the course of the evening.

"At this point, we can't print out any preliminary or partial results," said Campbell County Clerk Jack Snodgrass. "We're working on it. And we think we can figure out a way to do it."

Snodgrass normally sets up a big-screen television monitor in the main hallway of the Campbell County Courthouse in Newport, where results post continually and a large crowd gathers to see who is winning and losing.

"But we may have to use an overhead (projector) like we used to," he said.

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060430/NEWS0103/604300361

[rumpel]

12. Indiana Voter Info: Porter County queues up for primary election

April 30, 2006

By Jim Stinson / Post-Tribune staff writer


VALPARAISO — Porter County voters will work with new optical scan voting machines in Tuesday’s primary elections.

There are also a number of school board races that voters can vote in separately, or with a declared primary ballot.

Jane Pecor, co-director of the Board of Voter Registration, said voters can choose school board ballots alone if they want to avoid declaring a party affiliation, or if they have no interest in county elections.

But officials expect few requests like that. For one, only three school boards in Porter County are having races on Tuesday.

And by Friday, a drawer containing absentee ballots was full, and Porter County election officials estimated 500 in-person and absentee votes had already been cast.

In-person voting ends noon Monday in both the Porter County Administration Center and the North County annex in Portage.


snip
Questions may be directed to the Porter County Board of Voter Registration at 465-3484.

A list of Porter County’s polling places can be found at www.porterco.org/?0/1100/1/61

http://www.post-trib.com/cgi-bin/pto-story/news/z1/04-30-06_z1_news_03.html

[rumpel]

13. MO: In our view: Voter ID a bad idea

The Joplin Globe

Published: April 30, 2006 12:00 am

The cornerstone of a representative democracy is apparent - the vote. Anything that gets in the way of this most fundamental of all rights should be throttled, and such is the case with legislation passed by the Missouri Senate that would require all voters to present a state-approved photo identification before being allowed to cast ballots.



The intent of the legislation is laudable, with a goal of curbing voter fraud. The theory is that when too many dead people vote, something is amiss, and the best way to fix it is to match up live humans with actual ballots cast.

Our issue is that the Department of Revenue estimates 170,000 people in the state do not have a driver's license, which meets the legislation's requirements, or a current state ID card. Most of these people are poor, elderly or disabled and have little means for getting to a fee office for obtaining one.

Also, we should not forget that the requirements of getting a voting ID are the same as for a driver's license or state ID - an original birth certificate, marriage papers, etc. How many of these folks already on the fringes of society will be able to gather those papers?

We also are troubled by the idea of asking poll workers to enforce this ID requirement. Secretary of State Robin Carnahan says the average age of poll workers in the state is 72. Do we really want to put the burden of turning potential voters away on the backs of people who perform a public service?

http://www.joplinglobe.com/editorial/local_story_120022745?keyword=topstory

[rumpel]

14. AP: Paper push could make voting machines obsolete

The Telegraph

Posted on Sun, Apr. 30, 2006

Associated Press
ATLANTA - When Georgia spent $54 million in 2002 on electronic voting machines, the move was praised as having put the state on the cutting edge of election technology.

But now the state could end up having to retire those machines as the Legislature considers requiring machines to produce paper proof of votes.

It is an idea that has gained bipartisan support as lawmakers voted this year to test machines that produce paper audit trails in the fall elections.

But Georgia's voting machines, paid for with federal money, cannot accommodate printers for such paper trails. The state would have to spend millions to try to retrofit the machines or buy new ones that can produce a paper record.

The state will have to lease new machines to conduct its limited tryout of paper audit trails.

Secretary of State Cathy Cox championed the purchase of the 4-year-old Diebold machines after the punch card debacle of the 2000 presidential election in Florida. The Georgia machines were lauded in later elections for reducing the number of uncounted votes that plagued Florida and other states.

Cox stands by her choice, saying, "It would have been irresponsible to have done nothing." She noted that New York state was recently sued by the U.S. Justice Department for not replacing its aging voting machines as part of new election guidelines set by Congress. By contrast, Georgia was the first state in the nation to implement an electronic touch-screen machine system statewide.

http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/14467084.htm

[rumpel]

15. IN: Five questions for: Doris Anne Sadler

April 30, 2006

1. What is your biggest fear for Tuesday's election?

Running out of ballots. Absolutely. We're printing a ballot for every registered voter, and with less than 10 percent turnout expected, that's a lot of ballots. We'll have ballots coming out of our ears.

2. Do you vote absentee, or will you vote on Election Day on the machines provided by the troubled Election Systems & Software company?
I vote absentee, but those get run through the machines anyway. We take them to the polling place on Election Day and run them through.

3. Which is harder to manage, your two children or ES&S?

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060430/NEWS02/604300412/1006/NEWS01

[rumpel]

16. NC, Goldboro Voter Information: Clerk's race will top ballot Tuesday

Goldboro News-Argus
Wayne County

By Andrew Bell
Published in News on April 30, 2006 02:11 AM

Wayne and Duplin county voters will determine the candidates for a number of local and state offices Tuesday.

Democratic and Republican primaries will be held in races across North Carolina, and voters in most counties will use new, electronic voting machines to cast ballots. Following errors in tabulation in some recent elections, state officials ordered counties to adopt a uniform system of recording votes. Election Board officials say the new equipment is in place and poll workers are familiar with them and prepared to help voters cast ballots accurately.

In Wayne County, the most interest is in the races for clerk of court. Democrats Jo Ann Summerlin and Pam Minshew are vying for the Democratic nomination. Republicans Amy Carter Scott and Randy Winders are seeking their party's nod. The winners will square off in November. Current Clerk Marshall Minchew, no relation to Pam Minshew, announced last year he would not seek re-election to the office, which carries a four-year term.

Also on the Republican ballot in some parts of Wayne will be a contest for the District 10 seat in the state House of Representatives. Willie Ray Starling is looking to unseat incumbent Stephen LaRoque. The district includes portions of Wayne and Lenoir counties and all of Greene County. The term is two years.

All Wayne voters will have a chance to cast ballots in the races for associate justice of the Supreme Court and for two seats on the state Court of Appeals. The races are non-partisan and open to both Democratic and Republican voters.

http://www.newsargus.com/news/archives/2006/04/30/clerks_race_will_top_ballot_tuesday/index.shtml

[rumpel]

17. IL: Vanderburgh GOP chair quits amid database tinkering, absences

ABC 7 Chicago



April 30, 2006 (EVANSVILLE, Ind.) - Vanderburgh County's Republican chairman has resigned. Brent Grafton had come under fire early last week for allowing state Representative Suzanne Crouch's primary opponent and several unnamed G-O-P volunteers to use his login credentials to access a secure area of the Republican National Committee's "Voter Vault" database.

The password was enough to enable anyone who had it to edit the database content, and someone changed Crouch's anti-abortion designation to say that she is "pro-choice."
Crouch's primary opponent, Jonathan Fulton, denied making the change.

Republican Vice Chairwoman Connie Carrier says Grafton created a "humongous mess."

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=state&id=4129748

[rumpel]

18. TX: Thwarting Perry foes? Absurd, official says

Denton Record Chronicle

Secretary of state says petition count will take weeks, not months
12:00 AM CDT on Sunday, April 30, 2006
By WAYNE SLATER / The Dallas Morning News
ELECTIONS '06

AUSTIN – Secretary of State Roger Williams says it will take only a few weeks, not the two months his critics charge, to certify the candidacy of two independents seeking to challenge Gov. Rick Perry.
Mr. Williams denied that he is trying to keep the governor's political challengers, Carole Keeton Strayhorn and Kinky Friedman, off the ballot.
And he said that his office has created a new computer program and hired an outside company to speed the process of verifying thousands of signatures the independents must collect and submit by May 11.
"We're working hard to do it as quickly as we can, but the main thing is to do it right," said Mr. Williams, outlining his agency's plans in detail for the first time.
The Strayhorn campaign has accused Mr. Williams, a Perry appointee, of delaying the certification process to help the governor win re-election.
"He's throwing up roadblocks all over the place, no question about it," said Strayhorn campaign manager Brad McClellan. "He's basically putting toll roads on the democratic process."
The campaign has filed suit in federal court challenging Mr. Williams' refusal to accept petitions as they are being collected, instead of all at once after the deadline. They also want him to sample signatures rather than verify each one.

http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-petitions_30tex.ART.State.Edition1.90a486f.html

[rumpel]

19. IN: Tuesday voting presents new challenges at polls

Welcome to Palladium-Item - Richmond, Ind.


Originally published April 30, 2006
For Hoosiers, don't forget to bring an approved ID
By Don Fasnacht,
Rebecca Helmes
and Pam Tharp
For the Palladium-Item

Hoosiers and Buckeyes will exercise a right and perform a duty on Tuesday.

They will vote in a primary election.

Polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 6 p.m. in Indiana. They will open 6:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m. in Ohio

Voters on both sides of the state line will face some new things in this year's election.

Hoosier voters need to bring a valid photo identification issued from the state or federal government to vote on May 2.

Ohio voters don't need to worry about bringing identification, but in Preble County they will have their first experience with the electronic scanner ballot.

Indiana voters must be prepared to present the photo ID when they walk through the door of the polling place.

A driver's license or state or federal identification card will be accepted.

The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles will extend its hours on Monday and Tuesday so voters can obtain photo identification. Voters will receive priority on both days in BMV offices, the agency announced this week.

All BMV branches will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday and from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday. Branches are usually closed on Mondays and open from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesdays.

To be valid, the ID must be issued by Indiana or the U.S. government, must contain a photo and the voter's name and must be current or have expired sometime after Nov. 2, 2004.

In the Wayne County primary four years ago, there were 618 absentee ballots cast. So far this year, there have only been 448.

http://www.pal-item.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060430/NEWS01/604300304/1008

[rumpel]

20. Venezuelan ownership of Smartmatic: Technically accurate but misleading...

V-Headline.com
Venezuela's Electronic News

Published: Sunday, April 30, 2006
Bylined to: Jack A. Blaine

Miami Herald (Jack A. Blaine): Re: Richard Brand's March 27 Other Views piece, Forget Dubai -- worry about Smartmatic instead. Contrary to Brand's implications, Smartmatic's electronic-voting system with an auditable paper trail performed well in 2004s recall referendum in Venezuela.

International observers from the Carter Center and the Organization of American States monitored and audited the election and upheld Venezuelan President Huga Chavez's win.

In fact, the Carter Center's final report investigated all charges, saying, "The audit concluded the voting machines did accurately reflect the intent of the voters as evidenced by a recount of the paper ballots in a sample of machines..."

"The Center found no evidence of fraud.''

Brand alleges that Smartmatic's partner in the recall referendum was ''partly owned by the Venezuelan government.'' This is technically accurate but misleading. Specifically, the Venezuelan Industrial Credit Fund -- the equivalent of the US Small Business Administration -- did hold a 28% non-permanent, minority equity position in Bizta via a routine loan. A member of the consortium that handled the recall, Bizta adapted the voting software to enable it to include the manual vote. Bizta repaid the loan before the referendum.

Smartmatic Corp. is a US company, incorporated in Delaware with principal offices in Boca Raton. No shares in Smartmatic have ever been held by a foreign government. A controlling interest is held by its founder and CEO, Antonio Mugica, a dual Spanish and Venezuelan citizen. Before its merger with Smartmatic in 2005, Sequoia was owned by a British company, which had purchased it from another European company. Neither owner was in the voting industry.

http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=55717

[rumpel]

21. Phone-jamming case evokes Watergate

The Olympian-Online

BY WILLIAM DOUGLAS

KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Is it a third-rate political dirty trick by Republicans or a cheap attempt by Democrats to drag the GOP through the mud before November's elections?

Democrats and Republicans here are locked in a legal battle over GOP operatives who tried to suppress voter turnout in a key 2002 U.S. Senate race by jamming Democratic get-out-the-vote phone banks on Election Day.

The case has national implications. New Hampshire Democrats, through a civil lawsuit, are trying to question Ken Mehlman, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, and White House officials about why one GOP official who was involved in the scheme called the White House repeatedly.

Democrats describe the phone-jamming case in Nixonian terms, using Watergate-era phrases such as “follow the money” and “what did they know and when did they know it?”

“It's been the gift that's kept on giving for the Democrats,” said Dante Scala, a political-science professor at Manchester's St. Anselm College. “It's been gradually going up the ladder, and now it's in Ken Mehlman's office.”

Democrats say smoking guns abound in the case:

http://159.54.227.3/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060430/NEWS/60430018

[rumpel]

23. Thailand: 51.4% Election Commission should resign if the Supreme Court

nullifies the April 2 general election due to fraud.


The Post Publishing Co., Bangkok

Public says 'independent' agencies aren't

The Thai public is still worried about political problems in the country, and confidence in independent government agencies has fallen, according to a poll conducted by Assumption University's Abac Poll.

Abac poll director Noppadol Kannika said a field survey conducted by the university on April 28-29 interviewing 1,863 people living in Bangkok and outlying areas, showed that 70% of the respondents had confidence in the Supreme Court, 68% had confidence in the Administrative Court and 63 trusted the Constitutional Court.

On the other hand, confidence in the National Counter Corruption Commission stood at 41% while only 34% had full confidence in the Senate.

Unsurprisingly, confidence in the Election Commission (EC) dropped sharply to just 32% from 40% in an earlier poll.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=93830

[rumpel]

24. Philippines: RP press freedom declining sharply — Freedom House

By Pia Lee-Brago
The Philippine Star 05/01/2006

The Philippine has joined countries where freedom of the press declined most sharply as it maintained a rating of "partly free," according to the latest study of the New York-based Freedom House.

Freedom House said the Arroyo administration has "generally shown considerable intolerance toward the media, especially foreign, for exposing corruption."

"Despite the Arroyo administration’s launch of a $92,000 Press Freedom Fund to curb violence against the media, a general culture of impunity continues to predominate, and critics claim that journalists’ killers are not brought to trial intentionally," it said.

Freedom House lamented the state of press freedom in the Philippines in its study "Freedom of the Press 2006: A Global Survey of Media Independence" which was released in time for World Press Freedom Day on May 3.

The group maintained that the Philippines, East Timor, Nepal and Thailand are the countries where press freedom declined most sharply.

It also maintained its rating of the Philippine media as "partly free," giving it an overall score of 40. The Philippines ranked 89th among 194 countries and 22nd in Asia-Pacific.

The group cited an incident on June 27 last year where only pre-selected reporters were allowed to ask questions at a press conference of Mrs. Arroyo after delivering her "I’m sorry" speech on national television for calling an election official during the canvassing of votes for the May 2004 elections which led to allegations that she cheated.

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/News200605010402.htm

[Wilms]

25. GIDEON: Voters End Up Paying the Ultimate Price for Democracy Lost

Why is Ireland making excuses?

Thursday, April 27, 2006

By JOHN GIDEON

snip

And paper ballot printing has been a problem too. Even though ES&S requires ballots be printed by their own printers and on their own "special" paper (at a cost over twice per ballot than if they were printed by a county contractor on normal card stock), they still cannot seem to get the ballots delivered on time and without errors. North Carolina, Indiana, Texas, and California counties have all experienced problems with ballots that had to be sent back three or four times for re-printing.

snip

Are Secretary Ireland and some county officials making excuses for ES&S because they now realize they made a huge mistake when they selected ES&S as the vendor for the state? It certainly seems that they are not bothering to look beyond the state's borders to see what is happening with this company in the rest of the country. If they simply shrug this all off as a "daunting task" are they really serving the voters? Or are they crossing their fingers, wishing for the best and hoping to protect themselves?

snip

It's the voters -- not the government officials nor the private corporations receiving those voters' tax-dollars - who end up paying the ultimate price for democracy lost.

snip

http://www.wvrecord.com/arguments/argumentsview.asp?c=178296


Discussion

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x425721

[rumpel]

27. India: Two Kerala booths to have re-poll

India e-News

Monday, May 1st, 2006 at 12:08 am

Thiruvananthapuram - Election officials Sunday ordered re-poll in two booths in Kerala on complaints of tampering and malfunctioning.

A booth each in Nadapuram constituency and in Perinthalmanna constituency will see a re-poll Tuesday.

The re-poll was ordered after Congress candidate M. Beeran Kutty in Nadapuram, Kozhikode district, complained that a sticker deliberately blocked his name on the electronic voting machine in a polling booth Saturday.

At Perinthalmanna, also in Kozhikode district, an electronic voting machine had developed snags during polling.

http://indiaenews.com/2006-05/6230-kerala-booths-re-poll.htm

[IndyOp]

29. OHio: Volunteers Need for Parallel Elections - May 2 primary

Volunteers for parallel elections needed

Many of us are doing citizens’ parallel elections which are non-partisan citizen polls of the voters who have just voted. It is done by secret ballot on one race or issue. We have done this in parts of Ohio twice before, and it is being done in other states. Most voters are very cooperative. After the election, we compare our results with the voting machine totals for the precinct. In our experience, parallel elections help make the elections accurate in the precincts in which they are done.

We will be doing this in Ohio during the Tuesday, May 2 primary. The race we will be polling on is the Ohio Governor’s race.

We have two teams for each precinct consisting of three people each. Some people work with the voters and others help them, as they wish. One team starts in the morning and finishes after lunch, and the second team starts after lunch and works past the end of the election hours to count what votes the voters have given us.

We found it very interesting working with the voters. And we got to know people on our team, and voters, which was fun.


If you would like to help, please send me an email with your name, email address, what county/counties you would like to help in, and which shift you would like–a.m. or p.m.

We would also like to know if you are interested in being a leader in your precinct group. Leaders will get training beforehand in their county of choice.

If you are interested in helping, or have any questions, please contact me at

Coordinator {at} protectvotesohio.org

Thank you,

Jo Anne Karasek