Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, FRIDAY August 18, 2006

[rumpel]

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Friday 8/11/06

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.

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In resolution 46/137, the General Assembly underscored ‘the significance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which establish that the authority to govern shall be based on the will of the people, as expressed in genuine and periodic elections'. It further stressed ‘its conviction that periodic and genuine elections are a necessary and indispensable element of sustained efforts to protect the rights and interests of the governed', and declared ‘that determining the will of the people requires an electoral process that provides an equal opportunity for all citizens to become candidates and put forward their political views, individually and in cooperation with others, as provided in national constitutions and laws'. In addition, the resolution stated ‘that the international community should continue to give serious consideration to ways in which the United Nations can respond to the requests of Member States as they seek to promote and strengthen their electoral institutions and procedures'.

The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority
of government; this shall be expressed in periodic and
genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal
suffrage and shall be held by secret vote...'
Universal Declaration of Human Rights

http://www.un.org/Depts/dpa/ead/eadhome.htm

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1. IN: State, counties near end of effort to clean up voter rolls

The News Sentinel

Posted on Thu, Aug. 17, 2006

Associated Press
NEW ALBANY, Ind. - A statewide effort enlisting county clerks and mass mailings to revise Indiana's outdated voter registration records is entering its final stages, with about 120,000 names removed from voter rolls so far, officials said.

In the two weeks leading up to a state deadline last Thursday, counties across the state determined the number of voters that they will either take off their rolls or put on "inactive" status - a list of those who may be removed later.

So far, about 320,000 registered voters statewide have been placed on "inactive" status, A.J. Feeney-Ruiz, a spokesman for the Indiana secretary of state's office, said Thursday.

About 120,000 others were removed from the rolls because they were either deceased or their names were listed more than once in voter registration records, he said.

For purposes of verification, the secretary of state's office had sent a card to every voter by last month, asking them to verify their address. If those cards were returned as undeliverable, a second round of mailings was sent to those addresses.

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/local/15298171.htm

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2. IA: New GOP Secretary Of State Nominee Takes Gloves Off

KCCI Channel 8

Mary Ann Hanusa Brings Up CIETC, FBI Investigation

POSTED: 12:39 pm CDT August 17, 2006
UPDATED: 1:07 pm CDT August 17, 2006

DES MOINES, Iowa -- The new state GOP nominee for secretary of state took the gloves off in her first press conference on Thursday.
Mary Ann Hanusa -- a former Bush administration staffer -- will replace republican dropout Chuck Allison.
Hanusa will challenge Democrat Michael Mauro -- Polk County's current election commissioner -- this fall.

Hanusa, a native of Council Bluffs, resigned from her White House job on Monday. She worked with President George W. Bush on his personal correspondence, earning about $58,000 a year.
She's worked for Sens. Greg Ganske and Chuck Grassley, and for George Bush Sr. However, Hanusa has never held public office.
Hansua told reporters she contacted the state GOP when she heard they needed a nominee for secretary of state. She said Mauro may have more experience, but he's still beatable.


http://www.kcci.com/news/9695604/detail.html

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3. FL: Early voters urged to be cautious

news-press.com

Lee County elections supervisor warns of pitfalls with ballots

By Betty Parker
Originally posted on August 18, 2006

With absentee voting in full swing, and early voting starting Monday, Lee County Elections Supervisor Sharon Harrington urges a dose of caution along with the enthusiasm.

Voters enjoy the conveniences of both methods— about 20 percent of all ballots cast in the last election were early and absentee — but there also are pitfalls.

If voters don't follow instructions exactly on their absentee ballots, their vote may not count.

That can be as precise as coloring in the entire oval by your choice as directed. Do not check inside the oval; that may not be read by the machines.

Using red ink also may mean your ballot is unreadable.

"It's all in the instructions," Harrington said. "But you have to be sure to read and follow those instructions."

http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060818/NEWS0107/608180415/1075

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4. CA: Coalition Calls Prop 89 'Fundamentally Unfair'

Santa Clarita Valley - The Signal

Friday August 18, 2006

By Adam Clark
Signal Business Writer

A Sacremento-based coalition has increased its efforts to inform the public and stop state Proposition 89.

Californians to Stop 89 last week launched www.NoProp89.org - a Web site that purports to "reveal the truth behind (Prop 89's) phony reform."

The initiative will not only waste taxpayer's dollars, but increase campaign fraud and make a bad situation worse, coalition members said.

"Election reform is an important subject, but the flawed scheme that the (California Nurses Association) has proposed is patently unfair, one-sided and a waste of precious taxpayer resources," Allan Zaremberg, president of the California Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement.

The self-described "clean-money" initiative proposes to reform campaign financing by funding political campaign with a special tax fund and limit the amount that businesses, nonprofits and unions can contribute to the campaigns.

Supporters argue that the bill is aimed at large special interest organizations, such as oil, drug, insurance and health companies.

However, the limitations placed on these companies would also apply to the small businesses.

http://www.the-signal.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=32203&format=html

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5. CT: Send clear message or relive McGovern moment

August 18, 2006

Ken Bode

NORTH CANAAN, Conn. -- The voters I found in this small, western Connecticut town looked deceptively ordinary. Election official Danille Gaherty reported a heavy turnout, and Anna McGuire, the Republican registrar, allowed that there had been significant re-registration among her co-religionists to vote in the Democratic primary. Neither offered an opinion on whether these were Bush supporters eager to back Joe Lieberman or anti-war Republicans voting for the Ned Lamont's call to bring home the troops. When the results were in, the answer was obvious: Lamont thumped Lieberman 2-to-1 in North Canaan.


I insist these folks all looked like ordinary citizens. Neither at the polling place nor at the two local pubs, Stepping Stone and Katie O'Casey's, did I find among the Lamont voters anything like the cunning, insidious crowd others discovered in their analyses of the election.
These voters, I learned from columnist Charles Krauthammer, were part of the "blame America first Democrats," naïve accommodationists who are now planning to purge the party of its hawkish elements." Matthew Continetti of The Weekly Standard told of finding Lamont activists who were "suspicious of orthodox or evangelical religion, harboring a curious fetishization of science and technology, with a habit of self-affirmation." I don't know where Continetti finds his voters, but he sounds a bit bizarro to me.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060818/OPINION/608180388/1002

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6. MA: Sturdy Memorial holds voter registration drive (announcement)

Norton Mirror

Friday, August 18, 2006

Have you recently moved to Massachusetts? Turned 18? Changed political parties? If so, you'll need to register to vote by Aug. 30, in order to cast your ballot in the Massachusetts state political primaries. Sturdy Memorial Hospital is holding a Voter Registration Drive on Tuesday, Aug. 29 from 2:30 to 5 p.m. in the Hospital's Main Lobby to encourage community participation during this election year. Remember, your vote is important to your health.
Many eligible residents who remain unregistered believe their votes don't count, or that political issues have little direct impact on their lives. However, health care is a universal need, and this election will shape its future in Massachusetts.

http://www2.townonline.com/norton/artsLifestyle/view.bg?articleid=558108

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7. NY: Koppell Goes Too Far for Felder

The New York Observer
The Politicker

FILE UNDER: City Council

Although Councilman Simcha Felder joined yesterday's rally criticizing the way the city's Board of Elections is testing new voting machines under the Help America Vote Act, he ended up protesting the rally itself.

HAVA is the federal law that funds upgrades in local voting machines so hanging chads and punch cards will be a thing of the past. Albany didn't agree on how exactly to comply with HAVA until recently. Now, some worry that the new voting machines will only face their first real test in 2008, during the presidential primaries.

http://thepoliticker.observer.com/2006/08/koppell-goes-too-far-for-felder.html

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8. News Analysis: The Coming Paper-Trail Debacle?

Yuba.net.com

Ohio report finds challenges abound in evaluating voter-verified paper audit trails
By: Dan Seligson, electionline.org
Published: Aug 18, 2006 at 08:42

A 240-page report on failures and foibles during Cuyahoga County's May primary raised more questions about the accuracy and reliability of touch-screen voting machines which researchers say failed to match up electronic ballots to paper versions of the vote.

Perhaps equally significant - and noteworthy - are the details of the considerable woes that plagued the voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) system through careless election administration, printer failures or both.

Buried some 93 pages into the report, which was commissioned by county leaders and produced by the San Francisco-based Election Science Institute, are details of errors that included poll workers loading thermal paper into VVPAT printers backwards, blank audit trails, "accordion-style" crumpling of ballots, long blank spaces between ballots that could have represented missing or unprinted VVPATs, torn and taped-together VVPATs and missing ballot text.

ESI researchers found that nearly 10 percent of VVPAT ballots sampled were in some way compromised, damaged or otherwise uncountable, an alarmingly high proportion for a state that requires that paper be used as the ballot of record in the event of a recount.

http://www.yubanet.com/artman/publish/article_40865.shtml

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9. OpEd: Update on Stephen Heller, Diebold Whistleblower

August 18, 2006 at 06:48:03
by Michele Gregory


Hello to all of our friends and supporters. Thank you for your continued support and all your good wishes. It means more to us than Stephen and I can say.

The current issue of Hustler Magazine has an article about Stephen's case, with a picture of him and everything. Yes, in the legendary Hustler Magazine. That's right - he's finally earned his place in history. They call it the November issue, but it's on newsstands now. Buy it if you dare! ;-)

The article was written by Brad Friedman of BradBlog. www.bradblog.com Brad is one of the greatest of the "citizen journalists" working in America today. He has scooped the mainstream media on a number of stories, many of them related to election integrity in America. Please visit his website for more information, and donate some $$ to www.bradblog.com if you can.

Love to all,

Michele

http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_michele__060818_update_on_stephen_he.htm

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10. IN: Rokita still investigating election problems

Friday, August 18, 2006 8:10 AM CDT

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Indiana's secretary of state is still investigating a voting-system software company linked to problems that created headaches and delays for some voters and election officials during the May primary.

After the May 2 primary, Secretary of State Todd Rokita's office sent an investigator to look into the problems involving Omaha, Neb.-based Election Systems & Software and scheduled a hearing to take testimony on the issues.
Rokita said at the time that the hearing would show that the state would hold those accountable who jeopardized the voting process. But that hearing was postponed so agency officials and the company could try to work out a settlement.

http://www.decaturdailydemocrat.com/articles/2006/08/18/news/news/news08.txt

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11. OH: U.S. Rep. Conyers to speak at Warren County Dems' dinner

The Enquirer

Last Updated: 5:26 am | Friday, August 18, 2006

BY HOWARD WILKINSON | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Warren County was one of the places in Ohio where Rep. John Conyers believes Election Day irregularities may have disenfranchised thousands of voters in the 2004 presidential election.

Saturday night, the Michigan Democrat - the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee - will visit there himself, as the main speaker at a Warren County Democratic Party dinner at Shaker Run Golf Club. It's a dinner that will also feature Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ted Strickland and most of the other statewide Democratic candidates.

But at least one Warren County Democratic leader - state representative candidate Jeff Ruppert - said he doesn't expect to hear much from Conyers Saturday night about the 2004 election and the strange, still-unexplained lockdown of the Board of Elections ordered by election officials that night.

"I think he was invited just as an inspirational speaker who could talk about what we could expect if the Democrats take the House this year,'' said Ruppert, a Franklin lawyer who was an official Democratic election observer at the Warren County Board of Elections that night in November 2004. "We're really not looking back to what is in the past.''

Karen Morgan, press secretary to Conyers, said Thursday she had not seen a copy of Conyers' speech and couldn't say what his topic would be.

In January 2005, after hearings conducted by Conyers in Washington and Columbus, the minority staff of the Judiciary Committee issued a report critical of Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, now the GOP candidate for governor, and saying voting irregularities in Ohio may have disenfranchised thousands.

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060818/NEWS01/608180414/1056

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12. NV: GOP Primary Recount Possible in Nevada’s 2nd District

CQ Politics.com

By Marie Horrigan | 6:58 PM; Aug. 17, 2006 |

Two days out from Tuesday’s Nevada primary, the outcome of the Republican primary in the state’s open 2nd Congressional District remained unsettled and unlikely to be resolved before next week.

Unofficial results provided by the state’s Elections Division indicated Nevada Secretary of State Dean Heller defeated state Sen. Sharron Angle by a margin of 428 votes out of 70,524 votes cast, or 35.1 percent to 34.5 percent.

The two topped a five-candidate field to succeed five-term Republican Rep. Jim Gibbons, who on Tuesday won the GOP primary for governor. The certified winner will face serious competition this fall from state university regent Jill Derby, who won the Democratic nomination without primary opposition.

Officials do not expect to certify the vote before Monday, after the state’s 17 counties conduct audits and send their results to the Secretary of State’s office. Losing candidates cannot contest the outcome until after the official results are released.

Angle is not sure what action she might take once the votes are certified, according to Jerry Stacy, her campaign manager. But Stacy, in a phone interview with CQPolitics.com, said the campaign was concerned about what he called numerous reports of voting irregularities in Washoe County, which includes Reno and is by far the district’s most populous and vote-rich jurisdiction.

http://www.cqpolitics.com/2006/08/gop_primary_recount_possible_i.html

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13. Who Killed Cong. Cynthia McKinney politically?

by ALTON H. MADDOX JR.
Originally posted 8/17/2006

A political party typically protects its incumbents in primary contests. In two primaries, this past August 8, the exception ruled the roost although logic is unable to explain the same election result for different political philosophies amid progressive politics.
One incumbent is from a historically oppressed group that is clearly identified with progressive politics. The other incumbent is from a group that was not excluded from politics at the founding of the country but is, now, generally identified with progressive politics.
This is a problem in logic in which two apparent opposites are either contraries or contradictories. Sen. Joseph Lieberman warmly embraced President-select George W. Bush on the “War on Terrorism” and his political stance incurred the wrath of the Democratic Party. Cong. Cynthia McKinney vigorously opposed Bush on the “War on Terrorism” and her political stance also incurred the wrath of the Democratic Party.
Organized crime is the only paradigm that explains the organizational operations of the Democratic Party. Members are its puppets and the “Don” is its puppeteer. Stated another way, elected officials represent the party and not the people. Voters are simply political pawns. This is a political bait-and-switch.
Blacks have as much chance of surviving organized crime as they have of surviving the Democratic Party. As descendants of enslaved Africans, we are enjoined from making waves in either a criminal enterprise or in the Democratic Party. Both organizations are rooted in racism and they only view Blacks as pawns.

http://www.amsterdamnews.com/News/article/article.asp?NewsID=71859&sID=34

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14. Intermission

due to internet connection being viciously slow :argh:

will be back

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15. WI: John Nichols: Look to Minnesota on election reform

By John Nichols
Wisconsin's secretary of state position has been so disempowered that it is not taken particularly seriously by anyone except the candidates who seek it - as evidenced by the spirited if little noted race between Democratic incumbent Doug La Follette and challenger Scot Ross in anticipation of the Sept. 12 Democratic primary.

In most other states, however, the circumstance is far different.

For the most part in the United States, elected secretaries of state are the chief election officers for the jurisdictions they serve. As such, they have the ability to dramatically enhance or undermine democracy.

The Florida and Ohio debacles of 2000 and 2004, in which Republican secretaries of state bent the rules beyond the breaking point in order to deliver the electoral votes of their states to George Bush, provide a stark reminder of the importance of elections for these positions.

Make no mistake, the state officials who are responsible for running elections should, themselves, be elected. The only thing more dangerous than giving responsibility for the oversight of voting and vote counting to an elected partisan is giving it to an unelected group of partisans - such as Wisconsin's discredited Elections Board, which has most recently embarrassed itself by contracting with the famously inept Accenture firm to develop what has turned out to be an exceptionally costly and much-delayed state voter list.

So what's the answer?

http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/column/index.php?ntid=95229&ntpid=0

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16. AZ: Primaries rapidly approach

The Kingman Daily Miner

8/17/2006 9:00:00 PM

Jennifer Bartlett
Miner Staff Writer

KINGMAN - It's an even-numbered year in Arizona and September is rapidly approaching. Primary elections are just around the corner.

The primary elections are the process by which parties nominate their candidates for election. In this election, according to Mohave County Elections Director Allen Tempert, no one is actually selected for the given offices; it simply narrows the sea of candidates down to an appropriate number given the office.

In Arizona, Tempert said, there are three recognized parties - the Republican Party, the Democrat Party and the Libertarian Party.

If a voter is registered under one of these parties, they will be given the corresponding ballot for the candidates running under the banner of these parties. If a voter is not registered under one of the recognized parties, they are allowed to pick from the three ballots for the primary.

Primaries always occur eight weeks prior to the November general election, which is held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

http://www.kingmandailyminer.com/main.asp?SectionID=13&SubSectionID=18&ArticleID=10008

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17. FL: Howard Gary pulls out of District 3 race

Miami Herald

Posted on Fri, Aug. 18, 2006

CAMPAIGN 2006 | COUNTY COMMISSION

Howard Gary dropped out of the District 3 county commission race amid revelations that he is not registered to vote in Miami-Dade.
BY TERE FIGUERAS NEGRETE
[e-mail]
Howard Gary, the one-time FBI informant and Miami city manager, has dropped his bid to be a Miami-Dade commissioner -- a post he would have had difficulty retaining because he is not registered to vote in this county.

Gary, best known for his role in a public corruption scandal that engulfed Miami politics a decade ago, had filed to run for Miami-Dade's District 3 seat.

But his campaign hit a snag when it was revealed Gary was a registered Broward voter.

Candidates must be registed to vote and live in the district they seek to represent.

Last week, the Miami-Dade Inspector General's office had asked for a court order to bar Gary from the September elections.

He officially withdrew from the race Thursday with a brief, two-sentence letter to Elections Supervisor Lester Sola.

NAME ON BALLOTS

Gary's name will still appear on the ballots, however.

The electronic voting machines have already been programmed and absentee ballots already printed, said Sola.

Elections workers will post signs at precincts announcing that any votes cast for Gary will not be tallied.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15301758.htm

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18. MO: Election board works toward speedier count (incl. video)

The Kansas City Star

Posted on Fri, Aug. 18, 2006

By DAVE HELLING
The Kansas City Star
Members of the Kansas City Election Board said Thursday that their first-ever primary with electronic voting went well — and promised to do better.

The board gave itself passing grades for the Aug. 8 election, despite scattered complaints of ballot difficulties and a tabulation process that ended 15 hours behind schedule.

“We can apologize to the people we have to apologize (to),” said board member Joe Serrano, “but quite honestly I don’t think it was that bad.”

Election directors Ray James and Sharon Turner Buie — responsible for the operation of the election — agreed with that assessment, after submitting three pages of recommended improvements for November.

Among the possible upgrades: better training, more personnel and a different method for collecting computer memory cards after the polls close.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/15300549.htm

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19. Mexico, Oaxaca: a rebellion has started

Indymedia

by esperanza
Friday Aug 18th, 2006 10:45 AM
Mexico, Oaxaca. Since a few months the people stand up to fight the corrupt government of Ulises Ruiz Ortiz. Since june the repression against the movement has grown. Activists were kidnapped, tortured and killed by police and paramilitary units.
The people of Oaxaca have taken control over many states´buildings as well as over police departments and TV and radio stations.

Some police units changed the sides and fight now together with the uprising people against other police units.

In one of the largest demonstrations ever in Oaxaca 300.000 people were on the streets.
More than 200 social organisations and movements already joined the rebellion.
The peole meet and discuss their actions in the university, which has been squatted by the students.

- Indigenous of the (ethnic Contals) captured 12 AFI-agents that have shot on them.

- On august the 8th José Jiménez Colmenares was shot dead while taking part in a demonstration. Other activists managed to capture some of his killers who were on the top of a building and inside a house. They were members of a paramiltary unit.

- Enrique Rueda Pacheco, leader of the teachers´union, said the movement now will not do one step back.

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/08/18/18298409.php

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20. WAPO: blog - Vicente Fox for 'Peace and Harmony'

The Washington Post

Even though he was formally scolded for getting involved in the campaign to succeed him, President Vicente Fox is back in the middle of the brawl. For two full days, the Mexican media has been chronicling Fox's offers to "mediate" the simmering political crisis. Meanwhile, federal officers are descending on downtown Mexico City.

What had been largely peaceful demonstrations by supporters of left-leaning Andrés Manuel López Obrador turned testy on Monday. Several legislators from López Obrador's Democratic Revolutionary Party, or PRD, say they were injured in scuffles with police officers spraying tear gas.

Now 3,000 -- yes, 3,000! -- security agents from both federal and city forces are guarding the Mexican legislative building, known as San Lázaro. By the way, although they are wearing riot gear, the Preventive Police Force, says it is not armed. They are only using high-pressure water guns to subdue trouble-makers. Security officials have also installed a giant fence.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/mexicovotes/2006/08/vicente_fox_for_peace_and_harm.html

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21. Outstanding OP & articles K&R

Oaxaca Rebellion has started...outstanding!!! :hi: