Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Thursday July 27

[EFerrari]

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Thursday July 27

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.




Please post Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News on this thread.
1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web.
2. Post stories using the "Election Fraud and Reform News Sources" listed here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x371233
3. Re-post stories and announcements you find on DU, providing a link to the original thread with thanks to the Original Poster, too.
4. Start a discussion thread by re-posting a story you see on this thread.



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

[EFerrari]

1. AP: Bush Signs Voting Rights Act Extension

Bush Signs Voting Rights Act Extension

By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer

Thursday, July 27, 2006

(07-27) 06:53 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --

President Bush on Thursday signed legislation extending for 25 years the Voting Rights Act, the historic 1965 law which opened polls to millions of black Americans by outlawing racist voting practices in the South. "Congress has reaffirmed its belief that all men are created equal," he declared.

Bush signed the bill amid fanfare and before an South Lawn audience that included members of Congress, civil rights leaders and family members of civil rights leaders of the recent past. It was one of a series of high-profile ceremonies the president is holding to sign popular bills into law.

The Republican controlled Congress, eager to improve its standing with minorities ahead of the November elections, pushed the bill through even though key provisions were not set to expire until next year.

"The right of ordinary men and women to determine their own political future lies at the heart of the American experiment," Bush said. He said the Voting Rights Act proposed and signed by then-President Lyndon Johnson in 1965 "broke the segregationist lock on the voting box."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/07/27/national/w064811D42.DTL&type=politics

[EFerrari]

2. GA: Voter ID law education efforts at issue for November elections

Voter ID law education efforts at issue for November elections
By Errin Haines
ASSOCIATED PRESS

ATLANTA - A federal injunction blocking Georgia's voter ID law will remain in place through the Aug. 8 primary runoffs, but it remains to be seen whether the law will be in effect in the November general election.

How the state handles itself in the next few months will be critical in the judge's decision to lift the block or keep it in place. In his written order issued July 14, Judge Harold Murphy said he plans to watch Georgia's efforts to educate voters about the law between now and then.

The attorney general's office has not yet determined how to proceed, said spokesman Russ Willard.

"We're talking with our client about the next legal step to take," Willard said, but he would not say whether the state is planning to appeal the judge's ruling.

http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/15131032.htm

[EFerrari]

3. PA: Voting machine program launched

Voting machine program launched

By BRIAN SCHEID
The Intelligencer

It's been more than a half-century since Bucks County voters needed to learn a new way to cast their ballots. So a county effort to educate them on new voting machines will take months and could cost more than $100,000.

Next month, Bucks officials will launch an extensive education project to teach voters how to use the electronic voting machines that will be unveiled in the Nov. 7 general election.

According to David Sanko, Bucks County's chief operating officer and managing director, that effort will include brief seminars at libraries, malls and senior centers, among other locations; how-to videos that will be shown on cable access channels and the county's Web site, as well as instructional brochures and posters.

Sanko, who said the educational effort will begin next month when the machines will be on display at the Grange Fair in Wrightstown, said tutorials on the new machines will likely take place throughout the county up to Election Day.

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/113-07272006-689546.html

[EFerrari]

4. Howard Dean blasts Katherine Harris and Iraqi leader in West Palm speech

Howard Dean blasts Katherine Harris and Iraqi leader in West Palm speech

By Josh Hafenbrack
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted July 27 2006

WWEST PALM BEACH -- Democrat leader Howard Dean compared Republican Senate candidate Katherine Harris to Stalin for her role in the 2000 presidential election recount and called the Iraqi prime minister an "anti-Semite," during a speech before party loyalists Wednesday.

Dean, the Democratic National Committee chairman and 2004 presidential candidate, drew raucous applause from the Democratic Professionals Forum's 200-person crowd when he attacked Harris, who is trailing badly in her bid to unseat U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.

Harris, a U.S. House representative from Longboat Key, is still reviled by Democrats for her role in the 2000 recount, when she was secretary of state and also co-chaired President Bush's Florida campaign.

"Thank God for Bill Nelson, because we'd have another crook in the United States Senate if it weren't for him. He is going to beat the pants off Katherine Harris," Dean said. "She doesn't understand that it's ... improper to be chairman of a campaign and count the votes at the same time. This is not Russia and she is not Stalin."

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-pdean27jul27,0,5046532.story?coll=sfla-news-florida


:yourock: :yourock: :yourock:

[EFerrari]

5. Il: Cunningham to get election money

Cunningham to get election money

By Steve Lord
staff writer

GENEVA — A Kane County Board committee Wednesday recommended almost $200,000 in additional election funding for the Kane County Clerk's Office.

The recommendation came as members of the board's public service committee went over Clerk John Cunningham's election budget, which came under fire last week during another public service meeting.

Wednesday's special meeting was called specifically to straighten out the election budget.

On Wednesday, the talk was not as strident as it was last week, with Republican board members softening their stance against some of Cunningham's budget decisions, but Democrat members taking aim at them.

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/couriernews/city/3_1_EL27_A3CLERK_S10727.htm

[EFerrari]

6. New Yorker: HOLY TOLEDO

HOLY TOLEDO
Ohio’s gubernatorial race tests the power of the Christian right.
by FRANCES FITZGERALD
Issue of 2006-07-31
Posted 2006-07-24

Pastor Rod Parsley stood on a flag-bedecked dais on the steps of Ohio’s Statehouse last October and, amid cheers from the crowd below, proclaimed the launch of “the largest evangelical campaign ever attempted in any state in America.” A nationally known televangelist and the leader of a twelve-thousand-member church on the outskirts of Columbus, Parsley had gathered a thousand people for the event, and attracted bystanders with a multimedia performance involving a video on a Jumbotron and music by Christian singers and rappers broadcast so loud that it reverberated off the tall buildings south of the Statehouse. TV crews from Parsley’s ministry taped the event. “Sound an alarm!” he boomed. “A Holy Ghost invasion is taking place. Man your battle stations, ready your weapons, lock and load!” In the course of the performance, Parsley promised that during the next four years his campaign, Reformation Ohio, would bring a hundred thousand Ohioans to Christ, register four hundred thousand new voters, serve the disadvantaged, and guide the state through “a culture-shaking revolutionary revival.”

Among those who spoke at the rally were Senator Sam Brownback, of Kansas, and Representative Walter B. Jones, of North Carolina, both Christian conservatives, and J. Kenneth Blackwell, Ohio’s secretary of state, who is now the Republican nominee for governor. All talked about the need to bring God and morality back into government. “We refuse to give up or back up or shut up until we’ve made a better world for all,” Blackwell said.

For the past two years, the religious right in Ohio has been on a victory march. In 2004, a coalition of conservative Christian organizations campaigned statewide for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, enlisting hundreds of pastors and collecting half a million signatures. The ballot initiative, known as Issue One, passed with sixty-three per cent of the vote, and many concluded that this effort to bring out “values voters” won the state for President Bush, and returned him to the White House. Parsley and another megachurch pastor, Russell Johnson, of the Fairfield Christian Church, campaigned hard for the initiative, as did Ken Blackwell, whose role in overseeing the election procedures caused a controversy of its own, and who was the only Republican leader in the state to join them. Subsequently, the two pastors formed organizations—Reformation Ohio and Johnson’s Ohio Restoration Project—to get out the vote in 2006 and beyond. This year, there is nothing like Issue One on the ballot, but Blackwell, who carries the standard of the religious right, could become governor of Ohio.

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060731fa_fact1

[EFerrari]

7. FL: Groups' lawsuit says Florida law hobbles voter registration

Groups' lawsuit says Florida law hobbles voter registration
CURT ANDERSON
Associated Press

MIAMI - For the first time since 1939, the League of Women Voters of Florida decided not to hold a voter registration drive this year because of a new state law imposing heavy fines on organizations that fail to meet deadlines to submit applications, the league's president testified Wednesday.

With a limited budget of $80,000 for all its activities and reliance on volunteers around the state, there is no way to ensure that registration applications are submitted on time, said Dianne Wheatley Giliotti of Palm Harbor, whose organization and others have filed federal lawsuit challenging the law.

"The new law has imposed a severe burden on the league's voter registration activities and has chilled the willingness of the league, and many of its members, to register new voters," she testified at a hearing on the lawsuit.

"Fines of even a few hundred or a few thousand dollars would drain a significant portion of the organization's finances," she added.

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/local/15130324.htm?source=rss&channel=bradenton_local

[EFerrari]

17. FL: Voting law hearing begins

Voting law hearing begins

Registration measure challenged

By Vanessa Blum
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted July 26 2006

A new state law forced several major advocacy groups and labor unions to cancel planned 2006 voter registration drives in Florida over fear that they could face hefty fines, organization leaders said Tuesday during a hearing in Miami federal court.

Cynthia Hall, president of the Florida chapter of the AFL-CIO, said unions belonging to her organization called off voter registration activities because of possible fines ranging from $250 to $5,000 per mishandled application.

"It could get very costly and literally bankrupt us, if just one person makes mistakes," Hall said.

Under the legislation, which took effect Jan. 1, organizations and their volunteers must pay fines of $250 for each voter registration application submitted more than 10 days after it's collected, $500 for each application submitted after the voter registration deadline, and $5,000 for each application not submitted.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-pcvoter26jul26,0,589060.story?coll=sfla-news-palm

[EFerrari]

8. WI: Watchdog group says Elections Board is violating privacy law

Watchdog group says Elections Board is violating privacy law
By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press Writer
Published: Thursday, July 27, 2006 5:35 AM CDT

MADISON -- Allowing a unique voter identification number to be made public is a violation of state privacy laws, a government watchdog group said Wednesday.

The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign took issue with the state Elections Board, which said in a July 21 memo that unique voter identification numbers generated under a statewide registration system are public information.

The memo said individuals and organizations with an interest in having access to the information stored in the database are coming forward and asking for it. The voter identification number is public and must be provided, the memo said.

Board spokesman Kyle Richmond said a protection of the number in state law was a "drafting error" that will targeted for correction next year. Making the identification numbers public does not put anyone's private information at risk, Richmond said.

http://www.chippewa.com/articles/2006/07/27/news/am3.txt

[EFerrari]

9. Fact Sheet: Department of Justice Ballot Access and Voting Integrity Initi

Fact Sheet: Department of Justice Ballot Access and Voting Integrity Initiative

Wed Jul 26, 6:11 PM ET

To: National Desk

Contact: U.S.
Department of Justice, 202-514-2007 or 202-514-1888 (TDD); Web: http://www.usdoj.gov

WASHINGTON, July 26 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Department of Justice's ongoing Ballot Access and Voting Integrity Initiative was established in October 2002 to spearhead the department's expanded efforts to address election crimes and voting rights violations.

The Ballot Access and Voting Integrity Initiative includes:

Annual Training. Prosecutors serving as District Election Officers in the 94 U.S. Attorneys' offices are required to attend annual training conferences sponsored by the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division and the Public Integrity Section of the Criminal Division. The conferences feature presentations on voting access and ballot integrity by civil rights officials and senior prosecutors from the Public Integrity Section and the United States Attorneys' Offices. As a result of these conferences, there is a nationwide increase in department expertise relating to the prosecution of election crimes and the enforcement of voting rights.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20060726/pl_usnw/fact_sheet__department_of_justice_ballot_access_and_voting_integrity_initiative319_xml

[EFerrari]

10. IA: Republican Chuck Allison to drop from secretary of state race

Republican Chuck Allison to drop from secretary of state race
DES MOINES, Iowa - Republican Chuck Allison is expected to drop out of the secretary of state's race, The Des Moines Register reported Thursday in a copyright story.

Allison, 51, a Des Moines podiatrist who won the GOP primary in June, delivered a letter to party officials Wednesday announcing his plans to withdraw.

"We're a little surprised about the whole deal," said State Republican Chairman Ray Hoffmann said. "It's personal stuff, that's the reason."

Republicans are now seeking a replacement to run against Democrat Michael Mauro, the Polk County auditor, in the Nov. 7 general election.

http://www.qctimes.net/articles/2006/07/27/ap-state-ia/d8j4bddo8.txt

[EFerrari]

11. Pressure on judges in Mexico political crisis

Pressure on judges in Mexico political crisis

Thursday, July 27, 2006; Posted: 10:21 a.m. EDT (14:21 GMT)

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (Reuters) -- Forty-one million people turned out to vote, but Mexico's fiercely disputed presidential election now sits with seven judges whose decisions could steady a shaky democracy or plunge it deeper into crisis.

The July 2 election is challenged by leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who lost the official count by a hair but claims it was rigged and has taken his fight to Mexico's top electoral court.

Its magistrates, six men and one woman, must balance the rival candidates' demands and find a solution that gives credibility to the election and breaks the political deadlock.

Lopez Obrador wants the court to order a vote-by-vote recount and has increased pressure by threatening civil disobedience and drawing hundreds of thousands of supporters onto the streets to protest alleged fraud.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/07/27/mexico.judges.reut/index.html?section=cnn_latest

[EFerrari]

12. AP: Dems take gamble on Nevada

CARSON CITY, Nev. -- Nevada! What better state for longshot dreams?

Maybe that's what Democrats had in mind this past weekend when they recommended that a political caucus in the gambling mecca be squeezed into the early 2008 presidential nomination calendar.

If the Democratic National Committee, as expected, blesses the plan next month, the Nevada caucus would fall between the leadoff Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. That could give Nevada a major say in choosing the nominee looking to break the Republicans' eight-year grip on the White House.

Intense lobbying by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., helped his state secure the coveted spot, but it was more than slot machines, sequined showgirls, Celine Dion and Hoover Dam that made Nevada attractive to national Democrats. Organized labor's strong presence, a growing Hispanic population, Nevada's battleground status and campaign dollars enhanced its appeal.

http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/07272006/nhnews-ph-nh-primary.gamble.html

[EFerrari]

13. AP: Republicans want DeLay's name off ballot

AUSTIN, Texas - Allowing another Republican candidate to replace former Rep.
Tom DeLay on the ballot would promote the interests of voters by giving them a choice, GOP attorneys argued Wednesday in a filing to a federal appeals court.

DeLay won his primary election in a suburban Houston congressional district but resigned June 9. He has since attempted to withdraw, but a federal judge ruled the embattled former House majority leader must stay on the Nov. 7 ballot.

Attorneys for the Republican Party of Texas appealed. The appeals court is scheduled to take up the case Monday.

"The voters here should also be afforded a real choice regarding who should govern them," attorneys said in a brief to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. "Allowing DeLay to be replaced on the November ballot will further this fundamental principle of democracy."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060727/ap_on_el_ho/delay_s_replacement_4

:rofl:

[EFerrari]

14. AZ: ***Use of voting machines not up to him, judge says***

Use of voting machines not up to him, judge says

By Howard Fischer


Tucson, Arizona | Published: 07.26.2006

Arizona counties won't have to get rid of touch screen voting machines they are purchasing for the blind and disabled.

A Maricopa County Superior Court judge late Monday threw out claims by four people who charged the machines, manufactured by Diebold Elections Systems and Sequoia Voting Systems are not reliable. The lawsuit said they are not secure and can be "hacked."

Judge Barry Schneider refused to let the case go to trial, saying it wasn't his job to decide which machines are usable in Arizona.

"In effect, (the) plaintiffs are asking this court to substitute its opinion for those experts and others who have participated in the process," Schneider wrote.

http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/139473

[EFerrari]

15. Co: Democrats needed to be election judges

Democrats needed to be election judges

By ELIZABETH GIBSON THE GAZETTE

Republican El Paso County Clerk Bob Balink is looking for a few good Democrats.

With primaries on Aug. 8, the county still is short about 40 Democratic election judges, according to the El Paso County Election Department.

The number of election judges and registered voters affiliated with each party is supposed to be proportional, according to Colorado law. But a lack of interest from Democratic Party members, who have no primaries this year, has left the county without enough judges, Balink said. If the county cannot find enough Democrats, officials will start seeking unaffiliated judges.

Registered voters can cast their ballots at the polls 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Election Day.

http://www.gazette.com/display.php?id=1319585&secid=1

[EFerrari]

16. DC: Judiciary Committee Schedules Hearing on D.C. Voting Rights Bill

Judiciary Committee Schedules Hearing on D.C. Voting Rights Bill

RSS Feeds From ABC 7 Wednesday July 26, 2006 8:14am

CAPITOL HILL (AP) - A measure that would give D.C. a vote in Congress will get a critical hearing in the House Judiciary Committee.

The bill would expand the House by two seats, giving one to D.C. and the other to Utah. The Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution has announced it will take up the bill September 14th.

The measure passed a committee vote for the first time in May when it won approval by the House Government Reform Committee.

D.C.'s nonvoting House member, Eleanor Holmes Norton (website - news - bio) , says that was a historic vote. And she says the hearing in the Judiciary Committee could clear the way for a vote by the full House.

http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0706/347532.html

[EFerrari]

18. PA: Voting machine maker wants suit dismissed

Voting machine maker wants suit dismissed

By Jeff Greenburg
Herald Political Writer

MERCER COUNTY —

UniLect Corp. is asking a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Mercer County that seeks nearly $1 million that county officials claim was lost in the wake of the decertification of UniLect’s Patriot touch-screen voting system.

The Patriot was used in Mercer County for four years before being decertified by the state in April 2005.

David D. Langfitt of the Philadelphia law firm of Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads filed the complaint Friday on behalf of the California-based company in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh.

Neither Langfitt nor Mercer County litigation solicitor Bill McConnell Jr. returned calls seeking comment.

http://www.sharonherald.com/local/local_story_205191742.html

[EFerrari]

19. MO: No voter (with photo ID) left behind

No voter (with photo ID) left behind
By Justin Ludwig/Lake Sun
Published: Wednesday, July 26, 2006 12:01 AM CDT


LAKE OF THE OZARKS — Though still more than three months away, state and local election officials are looking at a myriad of ways to inform the public about new voting requirements that will begin in November. Their goal — no voter left behind.

Secretary of State Robin Carnahan unveiled a photo ID awareness initiative across the state Tuesday, hoping to reach voters about the new law that will require them to show valid photo IDs at the polls this November.

The law, recently signed by Gov. Matt Blunt, requires all Missouri voters to present a valid federal or state-issued photo ID prior to voting this November.

This legislation may impact around 200,000 registered Missouri voters who currently lack the approved identification, Carnahan said.

http://www.lakesunleader.com/articles/2006/07/26/news/04.txt

[EFerrari]

20. TN: Clerk candidate says election error was ‘innocent’ mistake

Clerk candidate says election error was ‘innocent’ mistake

By CANDIS ANN SHEA
THE ASHLAND CITY TIMES

A violation occurred during early voting last week when a candidate assisted a voter at the machine, officials said.

Peggy Hunter, a candidate for Cheatham County clerk, said it was an “innocent” mistake when she helped a 70-year-old friend at a voting station.


Hunter said she was just trying to help and did not know she was doing anything wrong.

“If I even thought it was a problem, I wouldn’t have done that,” Hunter said.

http://www.ashlandcitytimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060726/MTCN0101/307260037/1291/MTCN01

[EFerrari]

21. WA: Should voters pick county elections chief?

Should voters pick county elections chief?

By Sharon Pian Chan

Seattle Times staff reporter

King County residents could vote this fall to make the elections director an elected position, possibly delaying the county's switch to all-mail voting.

Metropolitan King County Councilman Reagan Dunn, R-Bellevue, introduced the proposal a few weeks ago, saying the director needs to be accountable to the voters, especially after the contested governor's race in 2004.

Dunn announced Tuesday that he had enough council votes to put the measure on the November ballot, with Bob Ferguson, D-Seattle, joining four Republicans to support it.

"Now we believe it's the people's turn to weigh in on a fundamental shift in King County's elections department," Ferguson said at a news conference.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003152252_elections26m.html

[EFerrari]

22. Do you know who's keeping track of you? (Databases)

Do you know who's keeping track of you?
By EILEEN AMBROSE
The Baltimore Sun

Most consumers know about credit reports that track how responsibly we handle our finances. But there are plenty of lesser-known databases also keeping tabs on us.

And what they report to businesses may be critical to whether we can buy life or homeowner's insurance and at what price. They also may be a key factor on securing a job, apartment or checking account.

''The world revolves around risk assessment. Will you be a good employee? Will you wreck your car? Will you be a good tenant?'' said Tena Friery, research director for the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. ''Companies going into these relationships more and more want to know as much as they can. These shared databases are just one of the ways they find out about people.''

Luckily, the federal law that mandates free annual credit reports also entitles consumers to a free copy of other reports once a year. And, as with credit reports, consumers have a right to challenge information on the reports to get inaccurate information removed.

http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/business/15133833.htm?source=rss&channel=montereyherald_business

[mod mom]

23. Love the "Computer Ate My Vote" graphic from True Majority!

I believe it is the work of Stefan Sagmeister, one of the designers who recently refused an invitation to the WH from Laura Bush on principle! I'll look for the link and post it. :)

[mod mom]

24. Here it is:

The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum began the National Design Awards in 2000 to honor the best in American design. In the museum's words, the program "celebrates design in various disciplines as a vital humanistic tool in shaping the world, and seeks to increase national awareness of design by educating the public and promoting excellence, innovation, and lasting achievement."

If design has an Oscar, the National Design Award is it. The honor is taken seriously. Nominations are solicited from advisors in every state of the union. The submissions of entrants are reviewed with great care over a two-day period by a panel of judges (which included me this year). Three individuals or firms are announced as finalists in each of six categories: architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, product design, fashion design, and communication design. Finally, the winners in those categories are announced, along with special awards that include honors for "Design Mind" and Lifetime Achievement.

Because the Awards program was originally conceived as an official project of the White House Millennium Council, the First Lady serves as the honorary chair of the gala at which the winners are celebrated. She also traditionally hosts a breakfast at the White House to which all the nominees and winners are invited. That breakfast was today.

This year, however, five Communication Design honorees decided to decline the invitation. They wrote a letter to Laura Bush explaining why. Here is the letter that Michael Rock, Susan Sellers and Georgie Stout, from this year's winning firm, 2x4, and Paula Scher and Stefan Sagmeister, respectively finalist and winner for 2005, sent to the White House:

<SNIP-->must read letter@>

http://www.designobserver.com/archives/015742.html

[EFerrari]

25. That was my very first contact with the idea

that our elections were not sacrosanct. And no matter who I tried to ask that Summer and Fall, I was told I was worrying for no reason. Hafta laugh because, what else can I do in retro?

lol

Thank you, mod mom, for the lesson in culcha.

:)

[Melissa G]

26. We still Need 3 more asst editors on Tuesday, Wed, and Sunday

to help with the Daily News thread postings...Once a week for one hour is all we need from you!
Please PM me or sign up on the thread link below!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1726269