Election Reform, Fraud & Related News Sunday May 21, 2006

[MelissaB]

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.

Link to previous Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x428905

[MelissaB]

1. MSNBC/Newsweek: Will Your Vote Count in 2006?

Finally! :bounce:

Will Your Vote Count in 2006?
'When you're using a paperless voting system, there is no security,' says Stanford's David Dill.

By Steven Levy
Newsweek

May 29, 2006 issue - Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the voting booth, here comes more disturbing news about the trustworthiness of electronic touchscreen ballot machines. Earlier this month a report by Finnish security expert Harri Hursti analyzed Diebold voting machines for an organization called Black Box Voting. Hursti found unheralded vulnerabilities in the machines that are currently entrusted to faithfully record the votes of millions of Americans.

How bad are the problems? Experts are calling them the most serious voting-machine flaws ever documented. Basically the trouble stems from the ease with which the machine's software can be altered. It requires only a few minutes of pre-election access to a Diebold machine to open the machine and insert a PC card that, if it contained malicious code, could reprogram the machine to give control to the violator. The machine could go dead on Election Day or throw votes to the wrong candidate. Worse, it's even possible for such ballot-tampering software to trick authorized technicians into thinking that everything is working fine, an illusion you couldn't pull off with pre-electronic systems. "If Diebold had set out to build a system as insecure as they possibly could, this would be it," says Avi Rubin, a Johns Hopkins University computer-science professor and elections-security expert.

Diebold Election Systems spokesperson David Bear says Hursti's findings do not represent a fatal vulnerability in Diebold technology, but simply note the presence of a feature that allows access to authorized technicians to periodically update the software. If it so happens that someone not supposed to use the machine—or an election official who wants to put his or her thumb on the scale of democracy—takes advantage of this fast track to fraud, that's not Diebold's problem. " throwing out a 'what if' that's premised on a basis of an evil, nefarious person breaking the law," says Bear.

Those familiar with the actual election process—by and large run by honest people but historically subject to partisan politicking, dirty tricks and sloppy practices—are less sanguine. "It gives me a bit of alarm that the voting systems are subject to tampering and errors," says Democratic Rep. William Lacy Clay, who worries that machines in his own St. Louis district might be affected by this vulnerability. (In Maryland and Georgia, all the machines are Diebold's.)


More: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12888600/site/newsweek




Discussions here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1248452

here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1248891

and here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x429004

[MelissaB]

2. MSNBC: Elections chief urges citizens to demand vote accountability

Elections chief urges citizens to demand vote accountability

News-Journal Online.com
DAYTONA BEACH -- A maverick elections official made clear Saturday that two things remain constant: the state's flawed voting system and his passion for trying to fix it.

Eyes glinting, hands gesturing boldly, Ion Sancho, Leon County's elections supervisor, accused the state's political leaders of undermining democracy.

First, they forced counties to adopt electronic voting machines that can be tampered with, then, last year, they made it illegal to use paper ballots to recount close races, Sancho told 100 people gathered at Daytona Beach Community College.

"We need more audits. We need recounts," Sancho said. "Trust no one. If it can't be verified, it can't be used."


More: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12895134/

[MelissaB]

3. Discussion

here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x429046

[MelissaB]

4. Brad Blog's coverage of the Newsweek article

DIEBOLD DISASTER: NEWSWEEK JUMPS IN, COVERS LATEST E-VOTING DEBACLE!
Company Spokesman/Dead-Ender David Bear Running Out of Spin!

Company Spokesman/Dead-Ender David Bear Running Out of Spin!
"If Diebold had set out to build a system as insecure as they possibly could, this would be it," says Avi Rubin, a Johns Hopkins University computer-science professor and elections-security...


"If Diebold had set out to build a system as insecure as they possibly could, this would be it," says Avi Rubin, a Johns Hopkins University computer-science professor and elections-security expert.


Things aren't looking good for our friends at Diebold. Even NEWSWEEK is finally paying attention as Steven Levy files a report for this week's issue on the story we broke two weeks ago.

(Just pointing that out, so you generous BRAD BLOG donors realize you're getting your money's worth by getting the scoops long before the rest of the world even wakes up :-) And by way of torturously cryptic value-added teaser: Much more to come from other major MSM sources in the near future. Much.)


More: http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002854.htm

[Wilms]

38. Discussions

ER Discussion

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x429134

GD Discussion

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1248891

[acmejack]

5. Thank you for your hard work this Sunday Morning Melissa!

How about a Kick, a recommendation and a (((smooch)))

Unfortunately for us, I think the cartoon sums things up all too well!

[MelissaB]

7. Thanks, acmejack!

Good morning! :hi:

[MelissaB]

6. Info about the election in New Orleans

There's a lot of info in this article, but I'm posting the info about the machines.

Voters determined to take a stand
Many drive in to make sure voices are heard

Sunday, May 21, 2006
By Gwen Filosa
and Bruce Nolan%%par%%Staff writers

...snip

At the voting machine warehouse in the 8800 block of Chef Menteur Highway, election officials reported a mostly smooth day of voting.

The electricity did fail for about 10 minutes just after 7 a.m. But the voting machines kept going, running on battery power, said Paulette Dartez, a Calcasieu Parish elections official who along with 32 volunteers came from Lake Charles to help supervise the polls.

The power outage was a reminder of the fragile state of basic needs throughout New Orleans' battered neighborhoods. So was the reaction by voters.

"People kept right on voting," Dartez said.


More: http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-5/114819178932350.xml&coll=1

[MelissaB]

8. Ohio: Law changes drive up special-elections costs

FALLOUT FROM NEW VOTING MACHINES
Law changes drive up special-elections costs

Sunday, May 21, 2006
Tom Sheehan
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH


School districts and others placing issues on the August ballot can expect to dig deeper into their pockets to pay for those special elections.

The switch this year to electronic voting machines from punch-card balloting and other older systems used for years in Ohio’s 88 counties could add thousands of dollars to the cost of special elections, according to some county elections officials. Much higher costs for such things as absentee ballots are increasing the price tag for the elections.

Thursday is the filing deadline for the Aug. 8 election. Officials in several central Ohio counties, including Licking, Fairfield and Delaware, are anticipating issues on the August ballots.

Franklin County also expects to have special-election issues. It switched to a new touchscreen system this year as part of a federal mandate to overhaul voting systems. Other electronic voting systems also are in use in Ohio, including optical-scan machines.


More: http://www.columbusdispatch.com/?story=dispatch/2006/05/21/20060521-B1-03.html

[AndyTiedye]

40. Let Me Guess. They Have to Pay DIEBOLD to Program Each One

[MelissaB]

9. Kucinich spreading the word on electronic voting machines

...snip

POLITICAL POINTERS: Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, wowed his audience at a peace forum in Walnut Creek when he jumped off the stage and walked into the crowd with a hand-held microphone to take questions.

"Phil Donohue taught me this," he said.

Criticizing electronic voting machines, Kucinich said paper ballots are more reliable than their high-tech counterparts.

"The higher the tech," he said, "the greater the wreck."

Link: http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/local/states/california/14633288.htm

[MelissaB]

10. Discussion

here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x429060

[MelissaB]

11. Ohio: Cuyahoga County

Certified results show Foley winner of District 14 primary

Sunday, May 21, 2006
Joan Mazzolini
Plain Dealer Reporter

The slim lead that Bill Ritter held over Mike Foley in the Ohio House District 14 Democratic primary evaporated Saturday as elections officials met to certify the results of this month's elections.

The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections finished the official, final count on Saturday, and the board certified the results three days before the state deadline. Ritter received 4,112 votes and Foley, 4,290.

...snip

Problems started the day before the election after several test runs showed the optical-scan machines were counting absentee ballots incorrectly. As a result, Vu called for a hand count of the 15,000 absentee ballots, and it took nearly six days of 24-hour counting to get the unofficial results.

But the machines were just part of the problem May 2. Nearly 20 percent of the poll workers failed to show up, leading many polling locations to open late.

Then, after the polls closed, workers lost more than 70 memory cards from the machines. The cards store the votes for the touch-screen machines, which were used at the polls for the first time. The machines have a paper record backup, as well as "flash memory" that keeps the voting information.


More: http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1148200350107070.xml&coll=2

[MelissaB]

12. New voting machine: Populex

A better way to touch and go
• Local invention: Voting machine avoids errors by generating paper record, too

Sandy Morganstein, president and founder of Populex Corp.,
is shown at the company's Elgin headquarters. The company
manufactures touch-screen voting machines.

By Mike Sullivan
staff writer

ELGIN — Although Sanford Morganstein received votes of confidence from the corporate world for inventing the automated telephone attendant and runs a Chicago-based software development firm, he's not about to rest on his laurels.

At age 62, Sandy, as he prefers to be called, has drawn on his background as a physicist to develop the Populex Digital Paper Ballot, an invention that, based on early returns, would likely get Al Gore's vote.

President and founder of Elgin-based Populex Corp., Morganstein readily admits his invention is not the only machine using computer-based touch screen technology.

Rival companies in Texas and Nebraska also are vying for contracts from election officials, having been certified to sell its machines in Illinois and five other states.

But unlike most other touch-screen systems, Morganstein noted, the Populex electronically records and then prints a voter-verifiable paper ballot card.

The final ballot, he explained, contains a bar code that is scanned to record and count the votes on election day.

More: http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/couriernews/business/3_3_EL21_POPULEX_S1.htm

[MelissaB]

14. Discussion

here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x429068

[Patsy Stone]

13. Good morning!

K&R!

[MelissaB]

16. It's a beautiful day for election reform!

:hi:

I have more hope now than ever.

[Patsy Stone]

18. I love the smell

of Election Reform in the morning. :hi:

[MelissaB]

15. AR: Some counties opt not to use voting machines Tuesday

Some counties opt not to use voting machines Tuesday

Sunday, May 21, 2006

By Rob Moritz
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK - At least three Arkansas counties will not be using new electronic voting machines for Tuesday's Republican and Democratic primaries, but that shouldn't have any effect on turnout, according to the secretary of state.

Jefferson, Sebastian and Scott counties were not expecting to have electronic voting machines ready by Tuesday. The Jefferson County Election Commission voted before early voting began to use only paper ballots in the primary.

Scott County officials said last week that because they had not received all the software they needed for their machines they will continue with the paper ballots used in early voting.

In Sebastian County, officials opted to go with the paper ballots because the electronic machines would have had to hold four separate ballots, something they are not equipped to do. Along with the two party primaries and the non-partisan judicial election, Fort Smith voters also are voting on a sales tax hike.


More: http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2006/05/21/News/336292.html

[MelissaB]

17. Time to clean up Bush mess

Time to clean up Bush mess

Sunday, May 21, 2006

AUSTIN, Texas -- Looking at the wreckage of the Bu
The only help to the country that can come from this ugly and spectacular crack-up is, in theory, things can't get worse. This administration is so discredited it cannot talk the country into an unnecessary war with Iran as it did with Iraq. In theory, spending is so out of control it cannot cut taxes for the rich again; the fiscal irresponsibility of the administration is already among its lasting legacies.

As we all know, things can always get worse, and often do. I rather think it's going to be up to the Democrats to hold the metaphoric hands of this crippled administration until it limps off stage.

...snip


Am I jumping to conclusions? Can Karl Rove yet steer his party away from electoral disaster in the fall? I learned long ago never to call elections closer than six weeks out, and normally I stick to that rule. But I do not think this president can be put together again, so Rove's only option is go negative against the Democrats -- no surprise there. At this point, they could And, we must watch out for those voting machines.

It would be interesting to see an election in which Bush is not a factor and the whole fight is over what U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and the K Street Project have made of the Congress. If ever a gang of corrupt jerks deserved to be held accountable, this one does.

The writer is a syndicated columnist. Contact her at Creators Syndicate, 5777 Century Blvd. #700, Los Angeles, CA 90045.

More: http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060521/COLUMNISTS21/605210321/1005/OPINION

[MelissaB]

19. AR: Arkansas poll workers tackle new voting machines

Arkansas poll workers tackle new voting machines

By Andrew DeMillo
Associated Press
May 21, 2006

LITTLE ROCK -- Crittenden County election officials scrambled Saturday to train workers on new voting machines for Tuesday's primary.

Frustrated with the botched statewide switch to high-tech voting, the chairman of Crittenden's election commission felt a bit better Saturday afternoon.

The relief came after about a third of the county's 150 poll workers got last-minute training on new federally mandated touch-screen machines.

"It's not fair to them. It's graduation weekend," Crittenden County Election Commission Chairman Steve Jones said before the training that took place on short notice.

But Saturday afternoon, he said, "Once we finished the training this morning I felt more comfortable. I anticipate as smooth an election as we are used to having."

Crittenden is among a third of the Arkansas' 75 counties pushing to train poll workers on federally mandated electronic voting machines this weekend to be ready for Tuesday's primary, state election officials said Friday.

Crittenden had ordered about 26,000 paper ballots -- just in case -- and originally planned to not use the machines because necessary software arrived late. But the state said the electronic machines were required under federal law.


More: http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/midsouth_news/article/0,1426,MCA_1497_4715086,00.html

[MelissaB]

20. PA: Gllitches in the news again :)

Campaign 2006/Washington: Turnout tepid in rainy day primary
Voters voted issues, not pay-raise anger, candidates believe

Sunday, May 21, 2006

By Janice Crompton, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Despite the outrage over pay raises that ousted legislators across the state Tuesday, voter apathy was rampant in Washington County, as legislators held tight and prepared for some tough fights in the fall.

Voter turnout was low, about 23 percent, according to Washington County Elections Director Larry Spahr. Attributing it to lack of interest and the rainy weather, Mr. Spahr said Tuesday's showing was the second-lowest turnout he could remember in his 26 years in office.

Despite some early morning glitches in the county's new electronic voting machines, Mr. Spahr said, the new system was relatively problem-free and only two people requested the back-up paper ballots provided at polling places.

More: http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD%2CGGLD%3A2004-32%2CGGLD%3Aen&tab=wn&scoring=d&q=voting+machines&sa=N&start=20

[MelissaB]

21. PA: The return of 'couples voting'

The return of 'couples voting'

By Joseph Sabino Mistick
Sunday, May 21, 2006


Any time you saw four feet under the curtain, you could be certain that one more ballot was being cast for the party in power.

...snip

One on one

At my polling place, four election districts voted in different parts of the same school building. At every voting machine -- or whatever those computer screens are called -- two people hovered. One was a voter; the other was a poll worker.

Most of us are familiar with couples tennis and couples therapy but couples voting should never catch on. It must be difficult for elections officials to help voters move from one computer screen to another without the official seeing how each ballot was cast. But my special helper seemed to loom.

And it creeped me out.

...snip

And when paper ballots were used, before the introduction of the perfectly fine voting machines that we have just abandoned, every voter received the corner of the ballot as proof of voting. Then, dutiful party followers were required to turn that receipt over to the political boss's minions.

While I admit to being a bit of a Luddite when it comes to voting technology, some of the fears about these new computerized gizmos are unfounded. All the hand-wringing about the lack of a paper trail is misplaced if you consider that no voting system ever produced more corruption than paper ballots.

The only real issue turns on privacy. The secret ballot -- much abused in the political environment of my youth -- is as close as we come to civil prayer. And those dinky little monitors, standing forlornly in the middle of the room and surrounded by over-attentive strangers, do nothing to preserve the sanctity of voting.


More: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/columnists/mistick/s_454665.html

[MelissaB]

22. PA: Good news about voting machines? There was no news

Good news about voting machines? There was no news
Only real complaint was the slowness in tabulating votes

By Helen Colwell Adams
Sunday News

Published: May 20, 2006 11:30 PM EST


On a day when the county’s new voting system debuted, to almost unanimous praise, one of the few gripes was the length of time it took for results to be available after the polls closed.


Partly that was the result of a poll closeout system that may need tweaking, and partly it was because the elections bureau’s tabulating computers aren’t connected to the rest of the county’s network, making it more time-consuming to post results on the Internet.


But most voters seemed pleased by the Hart InterCivic system, a hybrid of the Austin, Texas, company’s eScan and eSlate machines.


Mary Stehman, head of the elections bureau, said two machines didn’t work and were replaced quickly; there was one power outage in Ephrata Borough, but the machines switched over to battery power without incident.


Fewer calls than usual were placed to the elections office during voting for help, she said.


More: http://local.lancasteronline.com/4/22851

[MelissaB]

23. AR: Choose paper

Choose paper

BENTONVILLE — There’s a very simple way people can make the process of voting in the upcoming preferential primaries an easier one, Benton County election coordinator Jim McCarthy said. "Grab a paper ballot, vote it and put it in the ballot box. It will go smoother," McCarthy said.

Smooth and easy are not words being used to describe the election process so far. McCarthy and members of the Election Commission have been working long hours to set up voting equipment that will be used for the first time on Tuesday.

...snip

Despite misprints and delays, election commissioners had enough of the new electronic voting machines ready for early voting May 8. Since then, commissioners have battled paper jams, battery glitches and paper-ballot misprints.

...snip

Election Commission Chairman John Brown said the company has "bitten off more than it can chew," leaving nearly every county in the state dealing with the same problems as Benton County. "ES&S has oversold itself all over the country," McCarthy said.


More: http://nwanews.com/bcdr/News/34994/

[MelissaB]

24. Huge Victory In Suit Against Diebold Voting Machines

Huge Victory In Suit Against Diebold Voting Machines

By Don Deane

A precedent-making lawsuit against Secretary of State Bruce McPherson and 18 county voter registrars has prevailed as Marin, Placer, San Luis Obispo, Trinity, Tulare, Santa Barbara and Humboldt Counties have converted or have agreed to convert to paper ballots.

McPherson and 18 California county registrars are called on in the suit to ban the use and purchase of Diebold voting machines in the state of California.

The suit was filed by VoterAction.org on behalf of 25 California voter/plaintiffs, some in Bolinas. VoterAction lauded officials in the seven California counties for their commitments to use paper balloting rather than electronic voting systems.

The suit seeks to nullify Secretary of State Bruce McPherson's "conditional" certification authorizing purchase of the Diebold TSx electronic voting system which has a history of security issues, verifiability, and disability access problems.

VoterAction is the non-profit organization which brought the actions that led to both the decertification of Diebold in California in 2004 and, more recently, the ban on the purchase of Sequoia voting machines in New Mexico (which led to a new law in the state requiring a paper ballot for every vote cast.)

More: http://www.coastalpost.com/06/05/01.html

[MelissaB]

25. John Lewis: 'Conscience' with clout

John Lewis: 'Conscience' with clout

By BOB KEMPER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/21/06


Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) is arrested Tuesday at the Sudanese
Embassy in Washington while protesting conditions in Darfur. His
arrests, more than 40 over his 66 years, have only burnished his image.


Washington — Rep. John Lewis strode down the sidewalk wearing a gray pinstriped suit and blue dress shirt open at the neck. "They don't like for you to wear a tie," he said. By "they" he meant the police who were waiting to arrest him.

No one in Congress today is more familiar with arrest etiquette than Lewis, the civil rights leader who has been jailed more than 40 times in his 66 years, most recently Tuesday for protesting in front of the Sudanese Embassy over the widespread violence and starvation in Darfur.

...snip

"John Lewis is an American icon. He transcends partisan politics," said Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, an advocacy group. "His integrity is beyond question and every member of Congress, regardless of party, knows that."

Lewis, who is a fierce partisan critic of President Bush and the war in Iraq, is also pragmatic about the clout his stature allows him to wield. "He's one of Congress' most effective and powerful politicians," Henderson said.

...snip

Lewis now is pushing colleagues to create a special "cold case" unit in the Justice Department and FBI to investigate unsolved slayings from the civil rights era. And he is leading the fight to renew the 1965 Voting Rights Act, a law originally prompted by the beating Lewis endured at the hands of the police in Selma, Ala., that same year.


More: http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/0521lewis.html


Discussion here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1249950

[rumpel]

26. MS: Voting rights: Act should be continued

May 21, 2006

Once again, there's a push afloat to remove Mississippi and 12 other states from the onerous Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 - and, once again, it should be rejected.

Section 5 requires clearance from the U.S. Department of Justice to change election laws and federal election monitors to prevent voter intimidation. It expires in August 2007.

A near-unanimous vote in the House Judiciary Committee last week suggests that the provisions will be extended another 25 years. But, the usual hue and cry over getting out from under Section 5 is ensuing, again.

It's true that Mississippi is not the same as in 1965. The state has made tremendous progress in race relations and has a record of which it can boast, including having the highest number of black elected officials in the country.

But it also has some issues, of fact and history, including the fact no black candidate has won a statewide office since the beginning of the 20th century.

If one wants to believe that issues of race do not color elections in Mississippi, look at the voter ID issue that has rent the Legislature, with bitter fights over voting with clear racial overtones.

The last congressional redistricting stalemated in the Legislature over majority black voting-age populations, with a federal court deciding this ostensibly state issue.

Someday, Section 5 will be an anachronism. Until then, it must stay.

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060521/OPINION01/605210318/-1/FEAT07

[rumpel]

29. MS: Voting Rights Act stalled

By Deborah Barfield Berry
Gannett News Service
And Ana Radelat
Clarion-Ledger Washington Bureau


WASHINGTON — A group of Southern Republicans, including a Mississippi congressman, have stalled House leadership plans to renew key provisions of the Voting Rights Act before lawmakers recess for the Memorial Day holiday.

About 20 GOP members led by Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia met Thursday to discuss their concerns about certain provisions of the act they say are no longer needed or impose a financial burden on states.

First District Rep. Roger Wicker said he did not attend the meeting because of scheduling conflicts. Wicker, a Republican from Tupelo, shares some of the concerns with the lawmakers who stalled renewal of the provisions.

Like those lawmakers, Wicker is troubled by a provision that requires states with a history of discrimination to get approval from the U.S. Department of Justice or a federal court before making election changes. Known as pre-clearance, it applies to 16 states, including Mississippi and most other Southern states.

Wicker said he would prefer federal judges approve electoral changes. "It does seem that in 2006, we should be able to have enough confidence in federal judges everywhere," Wicker said.

Fellow Mississippi Republican 3rd District U.S. Rep. Chip Pickering said the pre-clearance provisions should apply to all states.

"I believe voting rights measures should be applied equally to all people across our country and not just a select area. It should be the law of the land, not just the law of some lands," Pickering said.

Although House Republican leaders pledged early this month to push for a vote by Memorial Day, Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said last week there is no "commitment" on when the measure will come to the floor because of opposition from Southern lawmakers.

"When members raise concerns, we have got to pause and take a look and see if we can understand what their concerns are," Boehner said.

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060521/NEWS/605210367/1002/NEWS01

[rumpel]

27. AL: Registration for primary ends Friday

State offices with opposition will be on ballot June 6
Sunday, May 21, 2006
From staff reports
Alabamians have until Friday to register to vote in the June 6 Republican and Democratic primaries. The deadline to apply for an absentee ballot is June 1.

In Madison County, the 10-day deadline to register, or to change a name and address, is 5 p.m. Friday, said Jenny Askins of the Board of Registrars. As of Thursday, Askins reported no big surge in voter registration.

On June 6, Alabama voters will choose party nominees for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, state auditor, state treasurer, secretary of state, Place 2 on the Public Service Commission, chief justice and four Supreme Court seats, three places each on the courts of criminal and civil appeals, and all 140 seats in the Legislature.

Races for courthouse and county offices such as sheriff, superintendent of schools, district and circuit judges, circuit clerk, County Commission and coroner are also on the ballot. But the names of candidates without primary opposition will not appear on the ballot.

Also on the ballot is a vote on constitutional Amendment 1, which would ban same-sex marriages.

As of April 18, Madison County had 179,651 voters, Askins said. That is an increase of nearly 5 percent from 171,249 voters for the primaries for governor in 2002.

http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/news/1148203282219600.xml&coll=1

[seafan]

28. Daytona Beach paper: Clint Curtis' vote-switching software *request*

Elections chief Ion Sancho urges citizens to demand vote accountability

Clint Curtis, a computer programmer, said lawmakers asked him to develop software that could divert a vote from the item a person chose to another on the page. The idea was to boost voting security, Curtis said, although now he's not so sure.

He designed the program so the erroneous vote would show up everywhere in the electronic system. An independent paper trail is the only way to beat it, Curtis said.

And, according to Curtis' sworn testimony at John Conyers' hearing held in the Capitol basement after the 2004 *Election*, one of these "lawmakers" is none other than U. S. Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL).


Finally, the little seeds are getting moisture, light and warmth.

[rumpel]

30. AR: Nepotism: Charlie's real problem

Arkansas News Bureau
A Stephens Media Group Company

Sun, May. 21, 2006

Secretary of State Charlie Daniels tells me he "hopes to goodness" that all goes smoothly enough in the primaries Tuesday.

No doubt that's partly because he knows he'll get blamed otherwise, though he shouldn't.

Election reforms dictated in the federal government's Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002 made him the state's grant recipient and point person. Still, Tuesday's activity remains by state constitution and actual practice the direct and sometimes disparate responsibility of 75 county clerks.

More to the point, problems most likely would reflect (1) failings of the probably overextended new equipment contractor, Election Systems and Software of Omaha, Neb., which was one of two qualified bidders and as reasonable a choice as the other, and (2) not an uncommon predicament in a national context, considering problems encountered recently in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, California and elsewhere.

That's not to excuse the disenfranchisement of anyone or the imposition of undue hardships on any citizen seeking to exercise his right to vote.

It's not even to excuse Charlie Daniels. He doesn't excuse himself. He knows he's the secretary of state. He knows where bucks go to stop in politics.

It's simply to say what's ultimately fair and correct: Kinks in our voting process transcend any person, certainly an old boy in the secretary of state's office in Arkansas.

Jim Lagrone, the Republican candidate against Daniels in November, tells me that protecting everyone's right to vote amounts to the very essence of his candidacy. But he could be forgiven for finding himself in a private moment wishing for a snafu here and an outrage there.

http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2006/05/21/JohnBrummett/336293.html

[rumpel]

31. IL: A better way to touch and go

The Courier News

• Local invention: Voting machine avoids errors by generating paper record, too



By Mike Sullivan
staff writer

ELGIN — Although Sanford Morganstein received votes of confidence from the corporate world for inventing the automated telephone attendant and runs a Chicago-based software development firm, he's not about to rest on his laurels.

At age 62, Sandy, as he prefers to be called, has drawn on his background as a physicist to develop the Populex Digital Paper Ballot, an invention that, based on early returns, would likely get Al Gore's vote.

President and founder of Elgin-based Populex Corp., Morganstein readily admits his invention is not the only machine using computer-based touch screen technology.

Rival companies in Texas and Nebraska also are vying for contracts from election officials, having been certified to sell its machines in Illinois and five other states.

But unlike most other touch-screen systems, Morganstein noted, the Populex electronically records and then prints a voter-verifiable paper ballot card.

The final ballot, he explained, contains a bar code that is scanned to record and count the votes on election day.

Morganstein says he was asked by an election official to work on a touch-screen system following the debacle of the 2000 presidential election, notorious for its hanging chads during Florida recounts as the nation waited weeks to find out who was elected.

Morganstein said he forged ahead with one basic premise in mind: Touch-screen systems that record votes electronically, he reasoned, are subject to computer malfunctions that likely would cause errors in tabulation.

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/couriernews/business/3_3_EL21_POPULEX_S1.htm

[rumpel]

32. Kuwait: Dissolves Parliament over election reform

http://in.today.reuters.com/default.aspx

Kuwait emir dissolves parliament over row with govt
Sun May 21, 2006 9:08 PM IST

KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwait's emir dissolved parliament on Sunday a week after lawmakers and the government clashed over an election reform law and called for parliamentary elections next month, the official Kuwait News Agency said.

A decree by Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah ordered the dissolution of the house a few days after reformist MPs submitted a request to grill Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah over the disputed draft law aimed at curbing voting irregularities.

The June 29 elections bring forward a poll set for July 2007.

The motion to question the prime minister, the first of its kind in Kuwait's history, deepened a political crisis gripping the OPEC oil producer and U.S. ally.

http://in.today.reuters.com/news/NewsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-05-21T204558Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-250337-3.xml

[rumpel]

33. FL: Harris challenger's deep pockets attract speculation

St. Petersburg Times

By Times Staff
Published May 21, 2006
Gov. Jeb Bush made it clear that his preferred candidate to challenge Sen. Bill Nelson was House Speaker Allan Bense, who wound up sitting out the race. Now that three little-known Republicans - LeRoy Collins Jr., Peter Monroe and Will McBride - are challenging front-runner Katherine Harris for the GOP nomination, will the governor stay on the sidelines?

We wonder if that question came up Friday night at the Florida Family Policy Council banquet, where the governor was seated next to Stuart Epperson, chairman of Salem Communications, the biggest religious radio broadcaster in America. Epperson's son-in-law is Senate candidate McBride, which has a lot of people wondering if the Orlando lawyer and first-time candidate will pump millions of dollars of family money into the race.

"Everybody's asking that," a chuckling McBride said in his first comments since entering the race. "We're raising the money to be competitive in the primary and more than competitive in the general election. ... I'm looking forward to giving Republicans a viable alternative that can close the gap" with Nelson."

McBride said he was swamped with calls urging him to get in and that he harbors no ill will toward Harris. "It's not about Katherine Harris; it's about finding someone who can be competitive with Bill Nelson."


snip
Since Feb. 26, when the state kicked off an aggressive effort to register voters, more than 19,000 people have signed up in Pinellas, Pasco, Hillsborough, Hernando and Citrus counties. In all, new Democrats outnumber new Republicans 7,106 to 6,844, but the total number of voters who registered as NPAs, or "no party affiliation," is 5,781, far above the statewide average of about 20 percent.

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/05/21/State/Harris_challenger_s_d.shtml

[rumpel]

34. AZ: GOP eyes taking plan on illegals to voters

East Valley Tribune.com

By Dennis Welch, Tribune
May 21, 2006
With state and federal governments at a standstill over illegal immigration, one Arizona lawmaker thinks he’s found a way to break the logjam: Bypass the governor and take the issue directly to the voters.

Republican operatives predict such a tactic could inject a muchneeded boost for their party in an election year.

Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, known for his fire -breathing speeches on illegal immigration, has been working for weeks with members of his own party to forge a comprehensive immigration bill they could send to Gov. Janet Napolitano. But now he is pushing to place the measure on the November ballot.

“Why should I trust the worst governor in the nation when it comes to immigration?” Pearce said last week. “If I had my way, I’d send it straight to the ballot.”

Pearce, one of the Legislature’s top-ranking members, said the governor would never sign the proposal as it’s written. But he said he’s not playing political games by crafting something he knows she won’t sign. “I’ve been consistent on this for years,” he said. “I’ve even fought my own president on this.”

But many Republican consultants say the move could pay big political dividends as the party looks to unseat a popular Democratic governor and fend off strong challenges in U.S. Senate and congressional races.

With high-profile Republican gubernatorial candidates dropping out of the race, recent polling numbers show Napolitano enjoying a strong 60 percent approval rating. And in the U.S. Senate race, Democratic challenger Jim Pederson has closed to within 10 percentage points of incumbent Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who held a 34-point lead in January polls.

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=66035

[rumpel]

35. AZ: Tucson man petitions for 'election lottery'

May 21, 2006 05:21 AM
$1 million -- that's how much you could win here in the State of Arizona for exercising your right to vote.

A Tucson man collected thousands of signatures to put that very idea into law.

Mark Osterloh says, "Build an incentive into voting and they will come to the polling booths."

It's a simple concept to solve huge problem registered voters aren't heading to the polls when election time rolls around especially young people.

One 17-year-old said, "No, cause then I'd have to go for jury duty."

Osterloh is determined to change that.

"Everybody's been talking about how we got to get people to vote, they've tried everything underneath the sun. Nothing's worked. This is very simple. it's an incentive. Our whole economy is based on incentives."

The idea works like this: the Voter Rewards Initiative sets up drawings every two years. Anyone who votes in the general election or primaries is automatically entered into a drawing for a million dollars.

http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=4930044&nav=HMO6HMaW

[rumpel]

36. KY: Fletcher not alone among governors facing investigation (Blackwell)

Kentucky.com

Associated Press
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Scott Lasley isn't concerned that Gov. Ernie Fletcher's indictment will hurt Kentucky's image around the country.

"We're just joining the crowd," said Lasley, assistant professor of political science at Western Kentucky University.

In recent years, a variety of governors have faced investigations or indictments. The probes - in states ranging from Illinois to Ohio to Alabama - haven't impacted the state's images so much as the politics, said Larry Sabato, a national political observer and professor at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

The image of a governor facing indictment leaves little wiggle room to rehabilitate a political career, giving the opposition party a campaign issue and the upper hand in upcoming elections, Sabato said.

"That often happens," Sabato said. "But you can also have the same party win by dumping the incumbent - if they can find a strong candidate that can prove independence" from the tarnished governor.

That's what Republicans in Ohio are trying to do after Gov. Bob Taft pleaded guilty to violating ethics laws for not disclosing golf outings paid for by a campaign donor.

That plea has left Taft extremely unpopular and aiding a bid by Democratic U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland, who is the early favorite to take the governor's mansion, said Herb Asher, political science professor at Ohio State University.

"What's been interesting here is that (Republican candidate) Ken Blackwell is trying to tap into that and paint himself as an agent of change, even though he's been part of the establishment for years," Asher said.

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/14635455.htm

on edit changed for dupe

[rumpel]

37. OH: Certified results show Foley winner of District 14 primary (recounts)

Sunday, May 21, 2006
Joan Mazzolini
Plain Dealer Reporter
The slim lead that Bill Ritter held over Mike Foley in the Ohio House District 14 Democratic primary evaporated Saturday as elections officials met to certify the results of this month's elections.

The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections finished the official, final count on Saturday, and the board certified the results three days before the state deadline. Ritter received 4,112 votes and Foley, 4,290.

Board executive director Michael Vu said 221,405 votes were cast, including 6,121 ballots that hadn't been counted for the unofficial results. Those ballots were absentee votes that arrived after April 30; ballots from overseas; provisional ballots; and votes cast on paper ballots because touch-screen machines didn't work.

The Foley-Ritter contest was one of five races to change winners in the official results. The others were races for party committee seats.

Five contests will be recounted, including a Garfield Heights school tax renewal. The official results have the renewal winning 2,123 to 2,104, but the closeness of the race dictates an automatic recount. The four other recounts are in races for committee seats.

Vu told the four members of the elections board about other problems discovered during the official count, including evidence that some poll workers made mistakes that made people vote in the incorrect precincts.

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1148200350107070.xml&coll=2

[Wilms]

39. Busy week upcoming for the Election Assistance Commission

Election Updates

Busy week upcoming for the EAC

May 21, 2006

by Michael Alvarez

This week is going to be a busy one for the Election Assistance Commission. They are having a series of meetings this week in which the initial public reports from many of the ongoing and upcoming research projects will be made. The precise agendas for each of the meetings is available from the EAC's website.

In particular, on Tuesday afternoon there will be presentations made of the provisional voting study commissioned by the EAC, and the poll worker recruitment best practice study. Wednesday promises to be even more provocative, with reports on the voter fraud/intimidation project, voter identification, and the vote counting/recounting best practices project. On Wednesday, the draft Election Day survey instrument is also to be unveiled, something that Thad nad I have written about extensively in earlier essays (and produced a report regarding).

snip

http://electionupdates.caltech.edu/2006/05/busy-week-upcoming-for-eac.html


Link to EAC Announcement

http://www.eac.gov/public_meeting_052206.asp


Discussion

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x429146

[MelissaB]

41. Info about the media and the 2000 selection

in this thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1252317