Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, FRIDAY July 28, 2006

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Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.

The Leavensworth Times - Wednesday, July 26, 2006

(Times photo/Rachael Bossow) Marveta Turner tries out a sample ballot on a new Ivotronic voting machine under the guidance of County Clerk Linda Scheer. The machines will be used on Tuesday in the primary election. The Ivotronic voting machines feature touch-screen voting. Selections are marked with a green check mark before the ballot is reviewed.

Does not look too thrilled to me


VerifiedVoting:
State Voter-Verified Paper Record Legislation or Regulation


http://verifiedvoting.org/





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1. UT: Green Party candidate blasts voting machines

Written by Tooele Transcript
Thursday, 27 July 2006
Desert Greens Green Party Candidates will be featured in workshops and national press conferences at the Green Party of the United States National Committee Meeting in Tuscon today through Sunday.

The national meeting is being hosted by the Pima County Green Party and titled "El Futuro es Verde/The Future is Green".

Deanna Taylor, candidate for Salt Lake County Council District 5 will be a featured speaker at the Press Conference of Green Party Women Candidates on Friday at 3 p.m. The National Women's Caucus of the Green Party of the United States is organizing the press conference.?"We must work towards policies and relationships that honor diversity. We need more women at all levels of policy making and to be active voters, activists, leaders, candidates and officeholders to create a?base of women that is reflective of the great diversity of this nation."

snip

Kathy Dopp, candidate for Summit County Clerk, will be presenting a workshop on the pitfalls of Diebold Voting Machines and Accountability in voting methods on Friday.

"We all agree that votes should be counted accurately; that not all human beings are 100 percent infallible and 100 percent honest. We all recognize that human beings create the new electronic voting machines and program the ballot definitions. Utah's election integrity is therefore at risk from a single attacker or innocent error. The Utah legislature should require independent audits of vote counts that are designed to detect errors that could wrongfully alter election outcomes. Utah voters need to take the time in the polling booth to double-check the paper-roll ballot records or vote on optical scan paper ballots in order to ensure that any audits preserve our right to ?One person, One vote'."

http://www.tooeletranscript.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=15094&Itemid=54

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2. MI: New Voting Machines Expand Access

Channel 13 (ABC) WZZM13 News Coverage

Peter Ross

Created: 7/27/2006 5:12:42 PM
Updated: 7/27/2006 10:07:01 PM

Grand Rapids - Voters with disabilities across the state will be able to cast their vote in person, privately, for the first time, next month. New voting machines are in place to aid people with hearing, vision and mobility limitations.

Grand Rapids City Clerk Terri Hegarty demonstrated them Thursday to a group of election workers in training. Hegarty says the machines are required under the federal legislation known as HAVA - the Helping Americans Vote Act. The act was an outgrowth of the election mess exposed in the 2000 presidential election in Florida.

http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=58560

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3. TN: Heated elections lead to record voter turnout in Roane County

July 27, 2006

By SONU WASU
6 News Reporter

KINGSTON (WATE) -- The general election is just one week away and tension is rising at the polls in Roane County.

Up for grabs are four seats on the County Commission, the sheriff's office, the mayor's office, along with the clerk of courts, register of deeds, county attorney and the general session judge's seat, among others.

Candidates will say they know every vote counts in this election. At least two races were decided by just a few dozen votes in the last election.

Candidate for County Attorney Donice Butler Kinsey knows how much difference just a few votes could mean. "In my race, it was less than a 100 votes that determined a winner. In the sheriff's race, it was a little more than 100."

Election Administrator Tom Brown's office works hard to preserve the integrity of the election. "I know in the heat of the battle you hear things. You hear about people buying votes and trying to steal an election."

Roane County is seeing record voter turnout. About 550 people are showing up to vote every day since early voting started.

http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=5207807&nav=0RYv

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4. KS: New machines ready for use in election

Basehor Sentinel

John Taylor

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Linda Scheer is living proof that candidates aren't the only ones making last-minute preparations for Tuesday's primary election.

Scheer, whose Leavenworth County clerk seat isn't up for election until 2008, has spent much of the past week in a nondescript Leavenworth warehouse, running tests on the county's 160 electronic voting machines.

Tuesday's primary will mark the first time voters in Leavenworth County will use a machine, rather than a paper ballot, in an election. It's Scheer's job to make sure the switchover goes smoothly, and that's where the last-minute testing has come in.

The testing includes making sure machines destined for a certain polling place are programmed with the proper races.

"We've found some programming errors," Scheer said. "But that's why we test."

The programming isn't all that has occupied Scheer's time recently.

Since the county received its first delivery of the "iVotronic" machines in April, Scheer has been on a mission to make sure the voting public has had the opportunity to give the machines a test drive. Her office set up a machine so that anyone could stop in to cast a dummy ballot. In addition, she's hit the road throughout the county to conduct numerous show-and-tell presentations about the machines.

http://www.basehorinfo.com/section/frontpagelead/story/7853

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5. GA: Votes don't come cheap

By Kandice Smith
During last Tuesday's primary election, only 17 percent of the registered voters in Franklin County turned out to cast their ballots. However, this low percentage didn't stop the amount of work the probate court had to do to prepare for the event.

“It's pretty much the same for any election,” said Probate Court Secretary Shirley Banks. “The same amount of work goes into it no matter how many local races are in the election.”

Two to three weeks before the election, Banks and others at the court have to oversee the training of poll workers, order supplies, order ballots, pack all the supply boxes for the poll workers and take the voting machines to each precinct.

“Before we order the ballots, we have to get all the names for the local races on a list and send it to the ballot builder,” Banks said. “Then we have to proofread it.”

In fact, she began preparing for the Aug. 8 runoff election only three days after the primary election was held.
At noon on the Saturday after the primary, they had to have a complete and official report of the results delivered to the state patrol in order for it to be hand delivered to the secretary of state.

“After an election, we have to pick up all the machines,” Banks said. “It takes us about a week to unpack all of the supply boxes and organize all of the supplies. It is also a huge amount of paperwork that needs to be done during that timeline.”

http://www.franklincountycitizen.com/articles/2006/07/27/news/news02.txt

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6. TN: League of Women Voters looking for poll watchers

Tennesseean.com

Thursday, 07/27/06

By ANNE PAINE
Staff Writer

New touch-screen voting machines are bringing out new “observers” in Nashville for the Aug. 3 election.
The League of Women Voters is recruiting volunteer poll watchers, whom the group is referring to as “election observers,” to take shifts monitoring activities at precincts in Davidson County.

“We want to see if there are any problems in access,” said Lynn Williams, a LWV volunteer who is a Metro Councilwoman.

What they'll be watching for includes whether the disabled can vote on the new machines by themselves, which is required as of this election under the federal 2002 Help America Vote Act.

Other activities to be monitored include how long it takes for people to vote and how prepared officials are to respond to voters' concerns about the new, touch-screen voting machines Metro Nashville is using, Williams said.

http://www.ashlandcitytimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060727/NEWS0206/60727003

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7. PA: Voters get to try electronic machines

The Morning Call

Six demonstration models make stops throughout Bucks.
By Hal Marcovitz Of The Morning Call
Bucks County voters may have several opportunities to try out the county's new electronic voting machines before Election Day arrives in November.

Starting Aug. 16, a half-dozen demonstration models will go on the road, visiting senior citizen centers, shopping malls, churches, schools and other places.

David Sanko, chief operating officer for the county government, said the plan is to give each of the county's 411,000 registered voters a chance to try out the new machines before Election Day on Nov. 7.

''Our goal is to give every voter in the county an opportunity to be able to touch the new machines prior to Election Day,'' he said.

Aug. 16 has been selected for the rollout date because it is the first day of the Middletown Grange Fair in Wrightstown Township, which annually draws thousands of visitors. Machines will be set up at the county's booth on the fairgrounds just off Route 413.

The county plans to purchase 744 machines manufactured by Danaher Corp. of Washington, D.C., to replace the old lever machines that have been in use since the 1950s. The Danaher machines closely resemble the county's old lever machines, except voters cast their ballots by pushing buttons instead of pulling levers.

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/quakertown/all-b1_2votejul27,0,5890556.story?coll=all-newslocalquakertown-hed

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8. OpEd: "Off the Paper Trail" and finding ourselves on our own "Trail of

Tears"

July 27, 2006 at 18:21:09

by John Ervin

"Off the paper trail" ~~ and finding ourselves on our own "Trail of Tears"


This is written as a response and appreciation for Mark Crispin Miller's recent post, "Let's get off the paper trail." ( Miller is the author of "Fooled Again" a post-mortem of the many and multi-tiered crimes of our 2004 Presidential "Election," with its cast of thousands, most of them criminals ). Miller's article in itself was a response to Michael Scherer's piece, about "taking the paper trail to Washington," at salon.com, and both can be found at the following link at Smirking Chimp:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/print.php?sid=26980

Hoping to follow Miller's fine advice in his post, to "get off the paper trail," I will do so ~~ and we will wind up taking an unexpected detour. After considering his cautionary point, I will ask for your company, especially, as we strike out on quite another trail altogether: one that I find leads to a yet darker place in our collective (and real) history. I will do my best to trim it with our hopes.

But, that trail, winding as it does out of our distant national past, into the present day, can be clearly discerned in these times as bleeding into our very own "Trail of Tears." And it has a deep and causal relationship to our current and unremedied electoral malaise. "Off the paper trail" ~~ and finding ourselves on our own "Trail of Tears"


http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_john_erv_060727__22off_the_paper_trail.htm

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9. DC: Bush claims he will enforce voting rights act

By CAREN BOHAN
Jul 28, 2006, 00:02

President Bush on Thursday signed a 25-year extension of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and promised to vigorously enforce its political protections for minorities.
At a ceremony on the White House lawn, Bush said the landmark legislation had broken "the segregationist lock on the ballot box."

The law outlawed poll taxes, literacy tests and other obstacles that had prevented blacks and other minorities and the poor from exercising their right to vote, especially in the Deep South.

The Senate passed the renewal unanimously after the House of Representatives approved it by 390-33. Some lawmakers had opposed portions of the bill that renewed scrutiny on states with a legacy of voting-rights violations and required bilingual ballots in some cases.

The signing ceremony was attended by family members of civil rights heroines Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King, and by civil rights activists such as Al Sharpton and Bruce Gordon, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Bush, who won the votes of only around one in 10 blacks in his presidential races, has tried to improve his standing with black voters and last week gave a speech to the NAACP for the first time since taking office.

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_9204.shtml

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10. NH: Second attorney quits Rep. Doyle assault case

Union Leader

By RUSS CHOMA
Union Leader Correspondent
12 hours, 15 minutes ago

Brentwood – A Manchester attorney who had represented Windham state Rep. Christopher Doyle against charges he assaulted an election official, quit earlier this month. He is the second lawyer to quit the case.

On June 28, Peter Anderson of Manchester law firm McLane, Graf, Raulerson & Middleton, filed a motion to withdraw as Doyle's legal counsel. The motion cited circumstances "including, but not limited to" Doyle's inability to pay for his counsel. Anderson also wrote that he had tried to contact his client on numerous occasions to discuss the motion but had been unable to reach him.

Doyle faces one count of assault upon an election officer, a felony that carries a sentence of up to seven years in prison and a $4,000 fine.

Doyle is accused of striking Gail Webster, 62, and knocking her to the ground at Golden Brook School on election night in March 2005. The assault allegedly occurred shortly after it was announced that Doyle had lost his bid for reelection to the board of selectmen.

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Second+attorney+quits+Rep.+Doyle+assault+case&articleId=c4f7629a-7c6e-43f0-8a84-9854095c4add

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11. NY TImes: 2006 ELECTION GUIDE PAGE of entire Nation

http://www.nytimes.com/ref/washington/2006ELECTIONGUIDE.html?currentDataSet=senANALYSIS

has even copy to your clipboard function

[FogerRox]

36. Discussion:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2746752

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12. Nat'l Review: College Lessons

July 28, 2006, 3:54 a.m.

What Mexico does wrong points to how we do elections right.

By John C. Weicher


Mexico’s apparent president-elect, Felipe Calderon, says his country’s system of direct voting for president is clearly superior to the American electoral college; under a direct-voting system, “there never would have been any doubt about the triumph of Al Gore.” Meanwhile, his opponent, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, is demanding a national recount of all 42-million paper votes in all 130,000 ballot boxes. He and his lawyers are charging bias by the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) and urging the IFE to annul the entire election, which would necessitate a new election. More than one million of Lopez Obrador’s supporters backed him up in a demonstration in Mexico City, while others transformed an annual teachers’ strike in Oaxaca into a massive people’s movement last weekend.

Suppose Mexico had an electoral college. What difference would it make?

Quite a lot, it turns out. For one thing, Lopez Obrador wouldn’t be demanding a recount, because he would be the winner. He would have 215 electoral votes; Calderon would have 181.

Mexico’s congress includes 300 deputies elected in single-member districts, and 96 senators, three from each of the 31 states and the Federal District. Lopez Obrador and Calderon each won 16 states, but Lopez Obrador carried more of the large ones.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NDlhZjg1YTA5ODkwYmMwYTczNjM3MTA5YmI1OTNjNDc

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13. TN: Early voting slow

2006-07-28
by Lesli Bales-Sherrod
of The Daily Times Staff
Early voting numbers for the Aug. 3 Blount County general election and state primaries are lagging behind those prior to the May 2 county primaries.

As of Thursday morning, with two days of early voting to go, some 2,500 Blount County citizens had voted early, said Administrator of Elections Becky Harrill.

By comparison, more than 3,500 Blount Countians voted early in the May 2 county primaries.

``We're not quite up to par right now,'' Harrill said of the early voting numbers. ``I don't know if there will be an increase (over May 2). I guess we'll just have to wait and see.''

Harrill said there have been no problems during early voting, which continues at the Blount County Election Commission office from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. today and from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday.

http://www.thedailytimes.com/sited/story/html/261877

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14. VA: Info on restoring voting rights ( INFO )

Newsleader.com

STAUNTON — Information and counseling on how to recover your voting rights after being convicted of a felony will be available from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at Central United Methodist Church, Lewis and Beverley streets.

For more information, call 886-3441 or 886-2734.
http://www.newsleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060728/NEWS01/607280321/1002

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15. NY: Voting rights redux

(Original publication: July 28, 2006)

Every now and then, history converges in odd ways. Forty-two years ago, during the steaming Freedom Summer, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Pelham's Michael Schwerner earned a permanent place in civil rights lore: They were killed during a trek through Mississippi, where they had gone to register black voters. The young men — Schwerner was the youngest at 24 — will forever seem stuck in time by virtue of the grainy black-and-white textbook photographs that followed them into history.

Hardly anything good ever flows from such violence, but the "Mississippi Burning" case was different. Outrage followed the loss of Chaney, who was black, and Goodman and Schwerner, both white, whose bodies were found buried 44 days after their kidnapping. In the following year, Congress approved the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965, which did away with poll taxes and literacy tests, and sought to root out the intimidation, violence and other tools long used to discourage blacks from participating in the electoral process.

The measure mandates extra scrutiny for voting fairness in states like Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina, where racial violence and intimidation were long fixtures in electoral politics. But the law also has special application in parts of Michigan, New York and New Hampshire. Indeed, it wasn't just the South that required change. Nor did all the barriers to minority-voter participation disappear when President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law.

http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060728/OPINION01/607280331/1015

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16. New Jersey to get e-voting paper trail by 2008

As reported even in Germany :)


PC Welt (PC World)

New Jersey has passed a new law mandating voter-verifiable paper trails for electronic touchpad voting machines, but election reform advocates in the state are pressing ahead with legal action because the new requirement doesn't take effect until Jan. 1, 2008.

New Jersey has passed a new law mandating voter-verifiable paper trails for electronic touchpad voting machines, but election reform advocates in the state are pressing ahead with legal action because the new requirement doesn't take effect until Jan. 1, 2008.
The measure, signed into law by Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey last week, requires that all e-voting machines used in New Jersey produce a paper record that can instantly be verified by voters to ensure that their votes are properly recorded.
While critics of e-voting are pleased with the law's goal, they argue that voters should not have to wait until 2008 to be sure their votes are properly tallied.
"That doesn't protect people for the next two and a half years, and that to me doesn't seem to be an acceptable state of affairs," said Matt Zimmerman, a staff attorney for the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation, which has filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the legal battle.

http://www.pcwelt.de/news/englishnews/115944/

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17. KS: All systems go at county’s polling places

Lawrence Journal World

By Mike Belt (Contact)
Friday, July 28, 2006

Douglas County’s new voting machines passed their pre-election tests Thursday with high grades, County Clerk Jamie Shew said.

“There were no problems. It went very well,” he said. “Everything is now sealed, secured and ready for delivery.”

The machines will be used by voters for the first time during Tuesday’s primary election. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

If there should be machine problems, teams of people trained to deal with them will be scattered at locations throughout the county to respond, Shew said.

In May, the county took delivery of 160 machines. On Election Day voters will mark paper ballots as they have in the past. The difference in the machines comes in the way the votes are electronically tabulated. Some machines allow people with disabilities to vote without assistance.

The only county primary contests are for clerk in Wakarusa and Palmyra townships. But there are party primaries for several state offices and the 3rd Congressional District for Republican voters. Precinct committee candidates also will be on the ballot, and Eudora voters will decide a referendum on a $3.8 million swimming pool and recreation center.

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2006/jul/28/all_systems_go_countys_polling_places/

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18. OpEd: Lipstick on a PIg

July 28, 2006 at 06:38:07

by Michael Collins

Michael Collins
www.ElectionFraudNews.com

Citizens of the United States of America have the right to know that their votes are marked and counted in a way that assures citizens that the candidates declared the winners are in fact the winners. This is axiomatic.

"The voting system shall produce or require the use of an individual voter-verified paper record of the voter's vote..."

So begins House Resolution 550. It is worth looking at this phrase carefully. The "system" produces a record of the "voter's vote." We are immediately tied to "the system," the very same system that produces incomprehensible results all over the country in a variety of ways. The key to H.R. 550 is that it ties citizens to "the system," one which they trust so little we see snap polls like those on Lou Dobbs showing that well over 80% of respondents favor dumping voting machines of all types entirely and returning to paper.

The primary objection to H.R. 550 is that it puts "lipstick on the pig" that is HAVA. That legislation was cleverly written with the intent of pushing localities into electronic voting with touch screens (DRE's). There is little doubt as to this when you review Section 301 which says clearly

(3) Accessibility for individuals with disabilities. The voting system shall--
A) be accessible for individuals with disabilities, including nonvisual accessibility for the blind and visually impaired, in a manner that provides the same opportunity for access and participation (including privacy and independence) as for other voters;
(B) satisfy the requirement of subparagraph (A) through the use of at least one direct recording electronic voting system or other voting system equipped for individuals with disabilities at each polling place; and ...
(C) if purchased with funds made available under title II <42 USCS 15321 et seq.> on or after January 1, 2007, meet the voting system standards for disability access (as outlined in this paragraph).
SEC. 301. VOTING SYSTEMS STANDARDS. (a)(3)

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_michael__060728_lipstick_on__a_pig.htm

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19. MI: Machine helps disabled cast votes

Published: Friday, July 28, 2006

By Mary Feldhusen - [e-mail]

ESCANABA — Automated voting machines to allow voters with disabilities to mark ballots on their own will be demonstrated Tuesday, Aug. 1, at Escanaba City Hall. The machines are designed to help visually impaired people and those with other physical disabilities to cast votes in private, said Delta County Clerk Nancy Kolich.

The ES&S Automark Voting Systems feature a touch screen format. They are equipped with headphones to allow blind voters or those with severely impaired vision to listen to the choices through headphones. A “puff” tube accessory is available for voters who are not able to use the touch screen, Kolich said. Screens allow a high or low contrast picture and text can be zoomed in and out for viewing.

http://www.dailypress.net/stories/articles.asp?articleID=3271

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20. CO: MacKenzie's voting reform should use Range Voting

Rocky Mountain News - Your Hub.com

Contributed by: Jan Kok on 7/27/2006

Denver Councilwoman Kathleen MacKenzie proposed replacing Denver's election procedures with Instant Runoff Voting (IRV). The intent is mainly to eliminate the expensive and troublesome runoff elections that are sometimes used to choose the mayor, auditor, and most city council members. We agree it's a good idea to eliminate the runoffs but recommend Range Voting as a better replacement.

According to current election rules, if no candidate gets 50% of the votes in the May election, a runoff is held about a month later to choose between the top two. Runoff elections are cruel and unusual punishment for everyone. The candidates have probably spent their last dimes campaigning for the first round election; suddenly, they have to raise more money and campaign for another month. The candidates are exhausted. The voters are exhausted! The election department has to scramble to determine which races need runoffs, print new ballots, and prepare and conduct the runoff election. And after all that, voter turnout for the runoffs is generally poor.

http://denver.yourhub.com/Story.aspx?contentid=107610

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21. BradBlog: CNN's Lou Dobb's: Monumental Failure of Diebold In Ohio

BLOGGED BY John Gideon ON 7/28/2006 9:07AM

Dobbs has this to say (tongue in cheek) when talking about Diebold's denial of any problems while there is evidence of vote tallying problems, "A minor, minor consideration when one is holding an election is to be able to count the vote."

NOTE: Video will be inserted when/if available.

A written transcript follows…

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3135&print=1

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22. GA: McKinney’s voice remains strong

Southern Voice

It’s mind-boggling that gay voters haven’t supported McKinney when she has supported us consistently.

By MATTHEW CARDINALE
Friday, July 28, 2006

As one of the most progressive voices in the U.S. Congress today, Cynthia McKinney deserves our utmost support in her upcoming runoff. It is absolutely crucial we return Congresswoman McKinney to Washington.

Whether speaking on health care for all, peace and justice, the environment, equality for lesbians and gay men, elections integrity, Hurricane Katrina, or other issues that matter, McKinney’s voice continues to be strong after 11 years in Congress.

Hurricane Katrina is a particularly important issue to me as an evacuee from New Orleans. There’s no delicate way to say this: Our government left us poor people there to die. And who gave a darn? Cynthia McKinney organized the only congressional panels on the roles of race and class in the government’s lack of response during Katrina — not a member of Congress from Louisiana, or any other state for that matter.

On voting integrity, McKinney has long been one of the nation’s most outspoken critics of Diebold machines, like those used here in Georgia, and E-voting without the proper audit trail and procedures. Long before it became cool, McKinney traveled to Florida to observe a hack of Diebold machines in Leon County.

http://www.southernvoice.com/2006/7-28/view/columns/cardinale.cfm

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23. KS: Electronic voting still worries some people

Friday, July 28, 2006 - 12:15 PM
By Sarah Kessinger

Harris News Service


[e-mail]

TOPEKA - On next Tuesday's election day voters will have at least one electronic touch-screen voting machine in each polling place across Kansas.

That's a bit nerve-wracking to Cim Roesner. A former information technology manager, the Manhattan voter said he has become concerned with the potential pitfalls of electronic voting.

Likewise, some of the candidates seeking to unseat Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh this year question whether the state has adequate security in place to protect votes cast electronically on new touch-screen machines.

Thornburgh responds that security is a priority.

"We've got about 30 counties with touch-screen systems, and in the other 75 it's a combination of paper ballots and touch screens. But there's at least one touch screen in every polling place," Thornburgh said. "I'm very comfortable with today's system."

The state doesn't require a receipt - known officially as a voter verified paper trail - to be printed out for each person voting electronically.

http://www.hutchnews.com/news/regional/stories/voting072806.shtml

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24. KS: Advance voting off to rocky start

The Wichita Eagle

Posted on Fri, Jul. 28, 2006

BY JON SCHUBIN
The Wichita Eagle
Voters guide, previous election coverage
Advance voting started with a few glitches Thursday, as poll workers struggled with a new computer system and electronic voting machines.

Workers were not able to have all the machines working before the polls opened at noon.

Most machines were operating later in the afternoon, and Sedgwick County Election Commissioner Bill Gale said voting was generally proceeding smoothly.

"We've just had glitches here and there," he said.

Voters unable to use an electronic machine because of the technical difficulties cast a provisional paper ballot.

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/local/15141977.htm

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25. OH: Congresswoman Tubbs Jones Calls for Management Changes at

Cuyahoga County Board of Elections


PR Newswire Press Release

CLEVELAND, July 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs
Jones called for the immediate dismissal of Michael Vu, Director and Gwen
Dillingham, Deputy Director of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections in
light of an independent study released last week. The Election Review
Panel, which was jointly appointed by the Board Members of the Cuyahoga
County Board of Elections as well as the Cuyahoga County Commissioners,
chronicled a long list of deeply flawed administrative decisions by both
the Director and the Deputy Director.
"Both Director Michael Vu and Deputy Director Gwen Dillingham are
intelligent and capable individuals. At the same time their actual
performance during the most significant change in voting procedures in 50
years -- the move to electronic voting -- was extremely poor and very
troublesome. As I mentioned in my testimony last week at a public meeting
at the Board of Elections, I urge all of the Board of Election Board
members to take the immediate action necessary to ensure that the November
elections here in Cuyahoga County have every opportunity of success.
Lastly, I commend both Edward Coaxum, Jr. and Loree Soggs, which happen to
be the Democratic Board members, for taking the initiative last week in
asking for both Vu and Dillingham to step down."
With Secretary of State Ken Blackwell's refusal to intervene to break
the 2-2 deadlock between the Democratic and Republican Board members, local
board members are being forced to develop a compromise position. Among the
findings of the Election Review Panel report, both Mr. Vu and Ms.
Dillingham displayed a tendency to conceal information from Board members
and showed a consistent pattern of disregarding the professional advice of
mid-level managers -- both significant factors in producing the voting
debacle that manifested itself on May 2nd 2006, primary election day here
in Cuyahoga County.
The complete Election Review Panel report can be found at
http://www.cuyahogavoting.org. Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones
represents the Eleventh District of Ohio, and is a member of the House Ways
and Means Committee. The Committee has jurisdiction over tax and
international trade legislation.

SOURCE Office of Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/07-28-2006/0004405920&EDATE=

[Algorem]

34. Vu Who

Vu Who

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

The embattled director of Cuyahoga County’s elections board, Michael Vu, faced another round of criticism Friday as about 50 politicians, labor leaders and voter activists demonstrated in front of the board’s offices demanding his resignation.

Chanting “Who must go? – Vu must go!”, the group vowed to rally there every week until he resigns or is fired.

Two Democrats and two Republicans oversee the board and remain deadlocked on whether to dump Vu and deputy director Gwen Dillingham.

An independent panel recently reviewed the board’s operations and issued a scathing report last week that largely blames Vu and Dillingham for a week-long delay in counting ballots after the May primary...

[rumpel]

26. AL: Almost 2 close to call

Hartselle Enquirer

(Updated: Friday, July 28, 2006 8:43 AM CDT)

Pair of provisional ballots break Livingston, Lyon tie; Livingston to face Shipley in fall

Clif Knight, Hartselle Enquirer

Ken Livingston picked up five provisional votes to Richard Lyon's three and emerged as the winner in the deadlocked runoff race for the Republican Nomination for Morgan County District 2 on Tuesday.

He will face unopposed Democratic nominee Ronnie Shipley in the Nov. 7 General Election.

Both Livingston and Lyons had 4,020 votes after a complete but unofficial tally of the votes cast in the July 18 Republican Primary. The vote Lyons received to tie the count was not properly marked and was rejected by a voting machine. It was set aside and later counted because election officials determined it was meant for Lyons.

The outcome of the race centered on 11 provisional ballots, nine of which were cast by absentee voters. The ballots were sealed in three boxes and placed in the hands of Morgan County Chief Deputy Sheriff Mike Corley for safekeeping. On separate dates, the box containing the absentee ballots was opened under a circuit judge's order. This was necessary to permit the Morgan County Board of Registrars to record information on the back of the sealed ballots for identification purposes.

http://www.hartselleenquirer.com/articles/2006/07/28/news/news4.txt

[rumpel]

27. Elsewhere: Seychelles starts voting in close presidential polls

The Washington Post

By George Thande
Reuters
Friday, July 28, 2006; 11:55 AM

VICTORIA (Reuters) - Seychelles islanders went to the polls on Friday at the start of a three-day presidential election dominated by concerns over economic growth and an acute foreign currency shortage in the Indian Ocean archipelago.

President James Michel faces Anglican clergyman Wavel Ramkalawan and barrister Phillippe Boulle but the poll is expected to be a close race between Michel's Seychelles People's Progressive Front and Ramkalawan's Seychelles National Party.

As polls closed on the country's more remote atolls, motor boats and Twin Otter aeroplanes ferried ballot boxes full of voting cards back to the capital Victoria.

Others prepared to load ballots for shipping to more polling stations on the 115 mostly coralline islands, famed as a tourist paradise of white sands, palm trees and kaleidoscopic reefs.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/28/AR2006072800097.html

[rumpel]

28. Thailand: Thailand jails top election commissioners

INQ7.net

By Raul Pangalangan
Inquirer
Last updated 02:40am (Mla time) 07/28/2006
Published on Page A14 of the July 28, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

BANGKOK, July 26 -- The headlines in Bangkok today are about the three Election Commission (EC) members who were sentenced to four years in prison. They had manipulated the tainted elections of April 2006 to favor the ruling party of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and, the court found, the "balloting outcome was not a true reflection of the people's will." An appeals court denied their request to be set free on bail while they appealed their conviction, and the three are now spending their first days in prison.

In early 2006, Thaksin was implicated in the sandal stemming from the sale of the family owned telecommunications giant through massive tax breaks. He was eventually forced to seek a fresh mandate in parliamentary elections. (House Speaker Jose de Venecia would say, "See, that's why we must shift to a parliamentary system!")

http://opinion.inq7.net/inquireropinion/columns/view_article.php?article_id=12149

[rumpel]

30. UN, Amnesty urged to look into jail sentences for commissioners

Friday July 28, 2006

ANUCHA CHAROENPO

A petition was lodged with the United Nations and Amnesty International yesterday asking them to look into the imprisonment of the three election commissioners. Copies of the petition addressed to the secretaries-general of the UN and Amnesty were delivered to the UN office on Ratchadamnoen avenue yesterday by a group calling itself the relatives of the commissioners.

The petition asked the secretaries to set up fact-finding panels for the sake of justice.

Former commissioners Wasana Permlap, Veerachai Naewboonnien and Prinya Nakchudtree were found guilty by the Criminal Court of mishandling the April elections and sentenced to four years in jail.

The petition writers said they had to remain anonymous to avoid legal consequences. But they were willing to come forward if they were ensured adequate protection, the petition said.

The Asian Human Rights Commission hailed the Criminal Court's verdict as ''one of historic importance in the development of the application of legal principles on ensuring free and fair elections.

''The duty of an Election Commission in a democracy is to ensure that all interference is eliminated and to make it possible for voters to achieve their ends,'' said the Hong Kong-based group.

''The Criminal Court has given proper consideration to the gravity of the actions of the commissioners and has in fact set an example that should be emulated elsewhere,'' the group said.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/28Jul2006_news09.php

[rumpel]

29. Phillipines: Abalos gives up on Mega Pacific refund

The Manila Times

Friday, July 28, 2006

By William B. Depasupil, Reporter

DESPITE the Supreme Court’s decision voiding the Comelec-Mega Pacific contract to automate election-results counting and ordering the poll body to get back the money paid to Mega, the Commission on Elections cannot take the first step of making Mega Pacific take back the counting machines it delivered.

“How can we compel to take back the when in the first place we qualified them, entered into a bidding and they were the best complying bidder?” Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos said Thursday.

Abalos said the Comelec has no choice but to keep and maintain the machines, hoping that the Court would reverse its ruling and allow the machines to be used in the 2007 elections.

“We have investments here. We have to take care of these machines,” he said, adding that the machines were manufactured according to Comelec specifications and had passed the accuracy test. The High Court however saw that the so-called accuracy test was flawed or was not even administered.

As to the money paid for the machines, Abalos said the issue is still pending in court.

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/july/28/yehey/top_stories/20060728top5.html

[Kurovski]

31. Happy to be 5th vote. Thanks, rumpel!

:kick:

[EFerrari]

32. Wow. Look at this **great thread**

Thank you, rumpel. :hi:

[kpete]

33. Biggest citizen election auditing team tries to authenticate June primary

Biggest citizen election auditing team tries to authenticate June primary results

by Save R Vote, Riverside County, CA

http://www.opednews.com

------------------------------------------------------------
Black Box Voting : Latest Consumer Reports from Black Box Voting: 7-27-06: Expensive, Insecure, Illegal, Unqualified and Unaudited
------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by From the Mailbag on Friday, July 28, 2006 - 03:16 pm:

By the fantastic citizen oversight team in Riverside County, Calif.
known as SAVE R VOTE

Verification of the June 6 election was undertaken by the biggest
citizen election auditing team assembled yet in one county:
Approximately 70 Riverside residents set out to see if it was even
possible to authenticate the results of the June primary.

Their conclusion: Impossible.

The reason: Riverside County staff impeded the citizen observer teams.

Riverside officials refused to post poll tapes at the precinct -- a
critically important safeguard, and the main safeguard against
undetected election manipulation through the central tabulator.

Oddly, Riverside chose to invest money in disabling the paper trail.
Why not have one? Why spend money to make it impossible to audit?

more at:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_save_r_v_060728_biggest_citizen_elec.htm

[Wilms]

35. AK: Democrats Defend Public's Right to See Election Data

Alaska: Democrats Defend Public's Right to See Election Data

By Kay Brown, Alaska Dmocratic Party

July 27, 2006

State's Security Argument Is Without Merit

Anchorage - ­The State of Alaska¹s argument that release of election records would jeopardize security and adversely impact upcoming elections is without merit, the Alaska Democratic Party said in court papers filed this week.

Whether the database containing the results of Alaska's 2004 elections should be released to the public under Alaska's public records law is the subject of a lawsuit filed by the Alaska Democratic Party in State Superior Court after the Division of Elections refused to release the database.

snip

The Alaska Democratic Party has been trying since last year to get the public records about the 2004 general election results in order to find out why there are numerous errors and discrepancies in the state¹s reported results. The Division of Elections' latest excuses for refusing to release the election information are that security risks would jeopardize the Division of Elections' ability to carry out the upcoming Primary and General Elections, and that the Party's request came too late.

In papers filed last week in the court suit, the State said release of the electronic database that contains the 2004 votes "will jeopardize the security of the division of elections' computer system, and the division's administration of the upcoming Primary and General Elections." The information the Democrats seek "is not a public record," the State said, because it is covered under a security exemption to the public records act.

snip

http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1577&Itemid=113


Discussion

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x443872

[Kurovski]

37. Kick to the top.(nt)