Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Saturday, August 19, 2006

[livvy]

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News

http://www.afsc.org.nyud.net:8090/pwork/0603/060310.jpg

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.
http://z.about.com.nyud.net:8090/d/politicalhumor/1/0/z/4/bush_lyinking.jpg


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

If you can:
1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web.

2. Post stories using the new Spring 2006 Edition of "Election Fraud and Reform News Directory" listed here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x407240

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).

[livvy]

1. Dems Push Primary Penalty

http://www.unionleader.com.nyud.net:8090/images/common/ulbanner-ads.jpg

Dems push primary penalty

By JOHN DISTASO
Senior Political Reporter
Saturday, August 19, 2006
5 hours, 8 minutes ago

A key national Democratic panel yesterday voted to punish its own Presidential candidates if they campaign in a New Hampshire Presidential primary held out of compliance with the party's 2008 nominating contest schedule.

The Democratic National Committee's Rules and Bylaws Committee met in Chicago on the eve of a larger meeting involving the full 300-member DNC and added a provision to a proposed new delegate selection rule that would deny candidates delegates won in states holding primaries or caucuses outside of the specific date set by the DNC.

Today, the full DNC is expected to adopt the new overall rule pushing New Hampshire's primary from second to third on the 2008 Presidential nominating calendar, behind Iowa and, now, three days behind a Nevada caucus.

Gov. John Lynch and state Rep. James Splaine, D-Portsmouth, a longtime defender of the New Hampshire primary, issued last-minute letters asking the DNC to reconsider. But it was expected to fall on deaf ears as the DNC is expected to pass the new rule easily. State Democratic Chairman Kathy Sullivan called New Hampshire's effort today "an uphill battle."

The DNC's action can be seen on the cable news network C-SPAN beginning at 11 a.m.

>more

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Dems+push+primary+penalty&articleId=aa118a43-5789-494d-acaf-39c8e43c6f01

[livvy]

2. Democrats To Shake Up Election Calendar For 2008

http://www.baltimoresun.com.nyud.net:8090/images/standard/baltimoresuncom_175bw.gif

Democrats to shake up election calendar for 2008
Early states' role to be magnified; January to become key month

By John McCormick and Jeff Zeleny

August 19, 2006

CHICAGO -- Upending decades of tradition, Democrats are expected to approve today a presidential nominating calendar that will add further importance to states that vote early and will make January 2008 an extremely busy month for politics.

Members of the Democratic National Committee are poised to insert the Nevada caucuses between the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, the traditional starting points on the road to the White House. South Carolina's primary is expected to follow closely behind.

The proposal is the most significant business at the Democratic National Committee's two-day summer meeting, the largest gathering of Democrats in Chicago since the party's 1996 national convention.

The calendar change would be the first major restructuring in the presidential nominating process in a generation and is meant to boost the diversity of the voters who select the party's presidential nominee.

>more

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.dems19aug19,0,7020603.story?coll=bal-nationworld-headlines

[livvy]

3. Catering To Constituency Groups Rouses Friction Among Democrats

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com.nyud.net:8090/art/ui/stlogo_135.gif

Saturday, August 19, 2006 - Page updated at 12:00 AM

Catering to constituency groups rouses friction among Democrats

By Steven Thomma
McClatchy Newspapers

CHICAGO — Democrats clashed Friday over efforts to make the party more diverse in deference to some of its most loyal constituent groups.

The friction came as the Democratic National Committee's Rules Committee debated and adopted two new proposals, one aimed at creating "inclusion programs" for gays, lesbians, bisexuals, the transgendered and the disabled; the other designed to enforce a new party move to give African Americans and Hispanics a bigger voice in picking presidential nominees.

Both proposals were expected to be approved today by the full Democratic National Committee at its summer meeting in Chicago.

The moves illustrated the power that organized minority groups retain within party councils as Democrats gear up for big elections in November and 2008.

>more

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003209904_dems19.html

[livvy]

4. Democrats May Punish Candidates

http://images.forbes.com.nyud.net:8090/media/assets/forbes_home_logo.gif

Associated Press
Democrats May Punish Candidates
By JIM KUHNHENN , 08.18.2006, 03:29 PM

The Democrats are moving to enforce discipline in the battle between states over early presidential primary slots, punishing candidates who campaign in states that violate the party's rejuggled 2008 schedule.

A rule change recommended Friday by the party's rules and bylaws committee would deny national convention delegates to any presidential candidates who campaign in states that leapfrog their primaries over others.

The tough stance is part of a proposed overhaul of party rules to change the decades-long tradition of keeping Iowa and New Hampshire at the starting gate of presidential nomination voting. The new party plan would insert Nevada between the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary and give South Carolina greater influence by scheduling its primary a week after New Hampshire.

On Saturday, the full Democratic National Committee will vote on the rules changes.

The new schedule is designed to bring more Hispanic and black voters into the early stages of the nominating process.

>more

http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/ap/2006/08/18/ap2959406.html

alternate site if Forbes asks you to register and you don't want to:

http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2006Aug18/0,4670,PrimaryScramble,00.html

[Benhurst]

28. Gosh, maybe they could start by punishing a candidate who runs,

gets defeated, and continues to campaign for the office as an "Independent" Democrat.

But, hey, that would probably be asking too much. :shrug:

[livvy]

5. Opinion: Democratic Senators on Lamont: The Last Tally

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Opinion
Bob Geiger: Democratic Senators on Lamont: The Last Tally

I made a vow when I began hounding Democratic Senators for a firm position on the Lamont-Lieberman race in Connecticut that I would do the legwork for one week to see what level of support there is among these folks for the duly-chosen Democrat Senatorial nominee in the Nutmeg State.

As even the 16 people currently exiled filming the latest version of "Survivor" undoubtedly know, Ned Lamont defeated incumbent Joe Lieberman 52 percent to 48 percent on August 8 to take the Democratic nomination for the Senate seat Lieberman has held for three terms.

So the next move among the other 43 Democrats in the Senate should be a slam dunk, right? Regardless of what deference they showed their longtime colleague, Joe, before the votes were counted, many of us assumed that, if Ned Lamont was chosen by Connecticut Democrats as their standard bearer this year, any self-respecting fellow Democrat would naturally support the party's nominee.

How wrong some of us were and I have the final tally from my week of ongoing contact with the offices of every Democratic Senator.

>more

http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20060818/cm_huffpost/027523

[livvy]

6. Kerry Slams Lieberman By Name

Beyond the headlines, beyond newsprint
The Chicago Tribune's Washington Bureau

Originally posted: August 17, 2006
Kerry slams Lieberman by name

Posted by Frank James at 12:34 pm CDT

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) is raising the volume against Sen. Joe Lieberman, his Democratic/Independent colleague from Connnecticut, calling him out by name for what Kerry says is Lieberman's use of Republican tactics against challenger Ned Lamont.

In an appeal to fellow Democrats that contains an extraordinary attack against a fellow Democrat, Kerry specifically blasts Lieberman for saying that Lamont's call to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq would encourage terrorists, a charge President Bush and other senior Republicans have leveled at Democrats.

Here's an excerpt from an email to his supporters Kerry's office sent out today.

George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Karl Rove should know better, but it's no surprise they don't. For almost five years now, every time they've got their backs to the wall politically, they play "the fear card." The latest example: Dick Cheney claiming that Democratic candidates who dare to challenge the Bush White House on Iraq are "emboldening terrorists."

>more

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/news_theswamp/2006/08/kerry_slams_lie_1.html

[livvy]

7. Latest Poll Shows Lieberman With Huge Lead

The Washington Times

Latest poll shows Lieberman with huge lead

By Charles Hurt
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
August 18, 2006

Sen. Joe Lieberman, running for re-election as an independent in Connecticut, holds a commanding lead over anti-war candidate Ned Lamont, who last week toppled Mr. Lieberman in the Democratic primary, according to the latest poll.

In a three-way race, Mr. Lieberman holds a 53 percent to 41 percent lead over Mr. Lamont, according to the poll released yesterday by Quinnipiac University. The Republican candidate, Alan Schlesinger, netted just 4 percent.

The numbers suggest that Mr. Lieberman maintains much of his support from the primary and would collect most of the Republican and independent vote in November's general election.

On Aug. 8, Mr. Lamont beat Mr. Lieberman 52 percent to 48 percent for the Democratic nomination. His campaign was fueled by liberal Internet bloggers and anti-war advocates from across the country. While virtually the entire Democratic leadership quickly abandoned the three-term incumbent in favor of the party's new nominee, it remains uncertain how enthusiastically Democrats will campaign against their former colleague.

>more

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20060817-114653-4025r.htm

[livvy]

8. NY: Jaffee Reinstated As Independence Party's Assembly Candidate

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Jaffee reinstated as Independence Party's Assembly candidate

By SARAH NETTER
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original Publication: August 18, 2006)


Assembly hopeful Ellen Jaffee has been reinstated as the Independence Party candidate.

The Appellate Division of state Supreme Court has ruled that two signatures thrown out by the county Board of Elections were indeed valid.
The Appellate Division in Brooklyn decided this week that the Supreme Court erred in siding with the Rockland Board of Elections that the signatures on Jaffee's nomination petition — which were printed rather than formally signed — were invalid.

>snip

The Board of Elections commissioners had thrown out five signatures after more than half the petition was challenged by Chestnut Ridge Republican Richard Mitzner.

>snip

But Mitzner said yesterday that he would appeal to the state Court of Appeals in Albany today. He said he was disappointed that he had not been notified of the Appellate Division's hearing until after the decision was made.

The decision, he said, appears to send the message that any type of signature is acceptable.

>more


http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060818/NEWS03/608180402/1019/NEWS03

[livvy]

9. OH: Prosecutor Looking Into Petition Fraud

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Last Updated: 5:26 am | Saturday, August 19, 2006

Prosecutor looking into petition fraud
Allegations arise after failed gay rights referendum attempt
BY DAN KLEPAL | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

The Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office is investigating alleged election fraud in the failed attempt of a group called Equal Rights Not Special Rights to force a ballot referendum on whether over gay people should be protected by Cincinnati's anti-discrimination law.

Equal Rights Not Special Rights officially withdrew its petitions Thursday, saying it discovered one paid signature gatherer had fraudulently signed 18 names in the more than 7,600 signatures that were validated by the Hamilton County Board of Elections last June.

Thousands of those validated signatures were to be challenged Thursday by a pro-ordinance group called Citizens To Restore Fairness, which said the referendum sponsor was systematic in its use of fraud and tampering of petitions to push the issue onto ballots this fall. A protest hearing at the Board of Elections, scheduled for Thursday, was canceled when Prosecutor Joe Deters started his investigation.

Deters wouldn't say Friday if his investigation is focusing on one signature collector, or alleged "systematic" fraud by the petition sponsors.

>more

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060819/NEWS01/608190355/1056

[livvy]

10. ME: Ethics Panel Confirms Complaint Against Democrats

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Ethics panel confirms complaint against Democrats

By BETTY JESPERSEN
Staff Writer

Copyright © 2006 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

FARMINGTON -- The director of the Maine ethics commission Friday confirmed a Franklin County Republican has filed a complaint against the Maine Democratic Party for a mailing that promoted a public forum on consumer fraud hosted by State Sen. Janet Mills, a Farmington Democrat.

A spokesman for the Maine Democrats says the complaint filed Aug. 15 by, is groundless. "This is a meritless complaint entered by an enthusiastic Republican partisan," said spokesman Jess Knox. "The event did not advocate Sen. Mills' campaign, she did not authorize it and it was a 100 percent, independent expenditure, not only in language but in its creation."

Frary said Friday the mailing may not be a direct endorsement of Mills but he has requested it be reviewed by the five-member Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices to put it on the public record. "It is my personal opinion that this is a political mass mailing," Frary said. "It may be permissible within the law but to deny it is a political mass mailing is absurd. The process of mass mailing is to get a name and picture out. The information it conveys is secondary."

Mills said the forum, held Wednesday at the Ethel Walton elderly housing complex in Farmington, featured Maine Attorney General Steven Rowe. He spoke to about 25 people about identity theft, internet "phishing" to get personal information, scams that target the elderly and recent consumer protection legislation. He also answered questions including one about the theft of personal information on veterans from U.S. Veterans Administration computers.

>more

http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/3042035.shtml

[livvy]

11. NC: Crawford Says He's Interested In Speaker's Position

Article published Aug 19, 2006
Crawford says he's interested in speaker's position

State Rep. Jim Crawford says he likely would run for state House speaker if Jim Black, who's in the midst of legal troubles, is no longer in the position for any reason.

"I probably will make a real hard run at the speakership" if Black is no longer the speaker, Crawford said at a political forum Thursday night in Creedmoor.

Crawford, D-Granville, said Black has known for six to months of his interest in the speaker's position. " ... I told him that when he was through, I'm interested in being speaker," Crawford said.

Black has suffered a round of legal troubles since the beginning of August, most recently a court order that he surrender $6,800 in illegal campaign contributions he received from optometrists.

>more

http://www.wilmingtonstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060819/APN/608190584

[livvy]

12. MI: Judge To Rule On Anti-affirmative Action Proposal

Published August 19, 2006

Judge to rule on anti-affirmative action proposal
Initiative's foes cite fraud in appeal in U.S. District Court

By David Runk
Associated Press

DETROIT - The effort to put an anti-affirmative-action proposal before Michigan voters is wrought with racially targeted fraud and should be blocked from the November ballot, lawyers for the proposal's opponents argued in federal court Friday.

But lawyers representing the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative and state elections officials told U.S. District Judge Arthur Tarnow that voters would be harmed if they're not allowed to decide whether to ban race and gender preferences in government hiring and public-university admissions in Michigan.

Tarnow has indicated he would issue a written ruling before Sept. 8, the deadline for printing ballots for the Nov. 7 election.

On Thursday, he heard testimony from witnesses who said they were tricked into signing or collecting signatures on petitions circulated by the MCRI. But the group denies the fraud claims and wants the case dismissed.

>more

http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060819/NEWS01/608190319/1001/news

[livvy]

13. WY: Freudenthal Touts Governing Style

Published on Saturday, August 19, 2006.
Last modified on 8/19/2006 at 12:40 am
Freudenthal touts governing style

By The Associated Press
CHEYENNE - Although there is a race for the Wyoming Democratic Party's gubernatorial nomination on Tuesday, its result is a foregone conclusion.

Popular incumbent Gov. Dave Freudenthal, a former U.S. attorney, faces Al Hamburg, a convicted felon who is ineligible to serve in state office. Even Hamburg says he expects to lose.

After 31/2 years on the job, Freudenthal says he's succeeded in bringing a congenial, respectful demeanor to the governor's office.

"I think the most significant accomplishment has been an open-door, nonpartisan, cooperative tone that has allowed people frankly to put Wyoming first and not worry about who gets the credit," Freudenthal said.

>more


http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2006/08/19/news/wyoming/25-freudenthal.txt

[livvy]

14. FL: (Letter to Editor)Slots Case Justice May Have Arrived

Slots case justice may have arrived

Chuck and Mary
Danielian Naples

August 19, 2006

When Amendment 4 (authorizing Miami-Dade and Broward counties to consider slot machines in pari-mutuel facilities) was placed on the ballot almost two years ago, opponents filed suit, claiming that many of the signatures on the petition necessary to place the amendment on the ballot were fraudulent.

On Jan. 11, 2005, Circuit Judge Nikki Ann Clark sided with the sponsors of the petition, stating that "the courts can overturn the results of an election only when there is evidence of fraud in the election itself, not in events leading up to the election, like petition drives." I guess by her way of thinking if a drug cartel got enough fraudulent signatures on a petition to get an amendment legalizing crack cocaine on the ballot and the people voted for it, it would have to stand.

Well, maybe now, justice will finally be served. An appeals court has ordered a trial, writing, "There is no room in the process for fraud that places an amendment on the ballot."

That's all that's relevant to ERD. The last paragraph thanks them for covering an unrelated issue.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/letters/sfl-brmail830aug19,0,472899.story?coll=sfla-news-letters

[livvy]

15. Runner-up In Mexican Election Keeps Up the Fight

Runner-up in Mexican election keeps up the fight
Recount expected to confirm loss

ALAN FREEMAN

WASHINGTON -- Six weeks after Mexicans went to the polls to elect a new president, leftist candidate and runner-up Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is showing no signs of accepting defeat despite a partial recount that seems almost certain to confirm his narrow loss.

Supporters of Mr. Lopez Obrador have been camping out on the streets of Mexico City for three weeks, blocking traffic and aggravating residents as they press for a complete recount of the July 2 ballot, which was won by only 244,000 votes, or 0.58 per cent of votes cast, by Felipe Calderon of President Vicente Fox's right-of-centre National Action Party (PAN).

Mr. Lopez Obrador's Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) insists that the election was stolen through fraud at the polls and campaign overspending by its opponents and that the only solution is to conduct a total recount or simply annul the result.

While some irregularities have turned up, no evidence has emerged of massive voter fraud of the kind that was reported in the 1988 presidential election, when the Mexican government and political system was still a virtual one-party state controlled by the now-marginalized Party of the Institutional Revolution. Observers from the European Union declared the July election clean.

>more

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060819.MEXICO19/TPStory/TPInternational/America/

[livvy]

16. FL: Democrat Enters Attorney General's Race at Last Second

Article published Aug 19, 2006
Aug 19, 2006

Democrat enters attorney general's race at last second

By LISE FISHER

Sun staff writer
It looked like Democratic state Sen. Walter "Skip" Campbell Jr. and Republican former U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum would both head unopposed to the November election in their bid to become the state's next attorney general.

Then along came last-minute Democratic candidate Merrilee Ehrlich, a South Florida trial attorney and former client of Campbell, who represented her in a personal injury case about two decades ago. She officially entered the race on the last day of qualification.

Ehrlich says she decided to run for the Democratic nomination to give voters a choice.

"I saw only one person who was running for the Democratic position. That's not the way our government is supposed to work. I'm providing an option and a viable one," she said.

>more


http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060819/LOCAL/208190342/1078/news

[livvy]

17. PA: Greens, Dems Get Into Fistfight

Posted on Sat, Aug. 19, 2006

Greens, Dems get into fistfight
Validity of signatures for Senate candidate Carl Romanelli at heart of tension.
From staff and wire reports

HARRISBURG – A scuffle broke out Friday between campaign volunteers counting signatures to determine whether the Green Party’s candidate for U.S. Senate can appear on the November ballot.

About six people filled out police reports after the minor fight in a state Capitol office building was broken up.

Democrats have challenged the validity of some of the signatures on the Green Party’s petition, fearing its candidate, Carl Romanelli of Wilkes-Barre, could siphon votes away from Democrat Bob Casey as he tries to unseat incumbent Republican Sen. Rick Santorum.

“The level of hostility has increased,” Romanelli told a Times Leader reporter after a press conference in Wilkes-Barre on Friday afternoon.

>snip

The Green Party is being aided by volunteers who signed on from Santorum’s campaign, as well as people who were involved with the anti-incumbent group PACleanSweep. The signature counters have been arguing all week, although the fight Friday was the first physical altercation, witnesses said.

>more

http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/15311995.htm

[livvy]

18. MO: Opinion: Court Should Waste No Time Killing Voter ID Law

Posted on Sat, Aug. 19, 2006

Missouri rules could keep thousands of poor, disabled and elderly from casting ballots
Court should waste no time killing voter ID law

A new Missouri law severely narrows what is acceptable identification to vote. A state judge should put a stop to it before it unfairly bars many otherwise qualified voters from the polls in November.

Cole County Circuit Judge Richard Callahan on Monday will hear a lawsuit appropriately challenging the law. According to the secretary of state, the law could disenfranchise as many as 200,000 Missourians. Current Missouri law requires voters to show identification before voting, but doesn’t mandate a government-issued photo ID.

Among the problems with the new law are its quick implementation and potential cost. Voters must show government-issued photo identification. For those without current driver’s licenses, that means acquiring nondriver IDs at driver’s license offices. To do so requires certain documents, such as a certified birth certificate. Obtaining a copy can take time and costs $15, an expense that could be a barrier blocking legal voters from casting ballots.

Certainly, most Missourians have current driver’s licenses. But voting laws are intended to offer all legal voters access to the polls. This law — ostensibly passed to counter fraud — is overkill that works against those least likely to have driver’s licenses: the poor, the elderly and the disabled.

>more


http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/opinion/15309191.htm

[livvy]

19. Ethics CommissionMeetsSept.11 toConfirmFriedman;Michael's Appeal to Follow

Ethics commission meets Sept. 11 to confirm Friedman; Michael's appeal to follow
By Victoria Wallack
Statehouse Reporter

AUGUSTA (Aug 19): The Senate is being called in for a confirmation session Sept. 11 to approve the fifth member of the ethics commission — a move that will clear the way for independent Rep. John Michael to appeal his denied request for $1.2 million in public funding to finance his bid for governor.

Gov. John Baldacci’s nomination of Michael Friedman, a Bangor attorney not enrolled in any political party, to serve on the Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices is the lone item on the Senate’s agenda, so far.

While that short order of business will cost taxpayers $6,400 to pay senators a $100 stipend plus mileage, that’s nothing compared to the price tag of the decision the full ethics commission will make if Friedman is approved. Ultimately at stake is the $1.2 million in Clean Elections funding Michael hopes a full complement of the commission will award him.

Michael, an outspoken former legislator and independent from Auburn, was supposed to have his appeal heard Aug. 1, contesting the decision to deny him funding under the Clean Elections Act.

>more

http://waldo.villagesoup.com/Government/story.cfm?storyID=77073

[livvy]

20. Tape Revives Mexican Conspiracy Theory

Aug. 19, 2006, 12:35AM
Tape revives Mexican conspiracy theory
Recording backs losing presidential candidate's claim of plot against him

By DUDLEY ALTHAUS and MARION LLOYD
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

MEXICO CITY — Claims by Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador that a powerful cabal of politicians and the mega-wealthy have conspired to rob him of this summer's presidential election have long been dismissed by his critics as paranoia.

But the interrogation of a real estate developer, taped two years ago in Cuba and broadcast here Friday on a radio program, might well confirm the notion that just because a man could be paranoid doesn't mean people aren't out to get him.

On the tape, jailed businessman Carlos Ahumada alleges that several Mexican Cabinet ministers, a powerful senator from President Vicente Fox's party and former President Carlos Salinas de Gortari engineered the February 2004 release of other videotapes showing the developer bribing senior aides to Lopez Obrador.

"It's the fight for 2006, that's what they won," Carlos Ahumada, a native of Argentina who had been active in Mexico City construction, says on the tape. "I mean, they practically pulled Andres Manuel out of the presidential race."

>more

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/4127685.html

[livvy]

21. LA: Candidate's Eligibility Questioned in Lafayette

Candidate’s eligibility questioned in Lafayette

By PATRICK COURREGES
Acadiana bureau
Published: Aug 19, 2006

LAFAYETTE — A Lafayette resident has filed suit in district court, claiming that Charles Dennis, a candidate for the Lafayette Parish School Board’s District 4 seat, does not meet residency requirements.

Dennis, a Democrat, is challenging longtime board member Edward Sam, also a Democrat, in the Sept. 30 election.

John Paul Stoshak, a resident of District 4, filed the suit Friday, with a hearing scheduled for Monday.

Stoshak’s suit claims that while Dennis filed for the election by giving a Judy Street address, within District 4, he actually lives on Failla Street in District 9.

>more

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/acadiana/3605661.html

[MysteryToMyself]

22. Are we required to have electronic voting?

Benton County AR had glitches in their voting machines during the primary. They have a 15 million dollar contract with Election Systems & Software. Has Diebold changed their name or what?

Election day did not go as expected
By Jennifer Turner Staff Writer
Posted on Thursday, May 25, 2006

http://www.nwanews.com/story.php?paper=brog§ion=News&storyid=35050

Excerpt:

The Election Commission purchased two new voting systems to comply with the Help America Vote Act of 2002, which requires every polling site to replace punch-card systems and provide voting equipment that is accessible to disabled voters.
The commission purchased, through Election Systems & Software, more than 100 ADA-ready electronic voting machines, plus a system that uses paper ballots and scanners to count votes. All of the parts needed for those machines did not arrive until May 9 — the day before early voting began.
With every county in the state ordering from ES&S, the company oversold itself, McCarthy said. Equipment arrived late, ballots were printed incorrectly several times, and there was very little training on the new machines.

[MysteryToMyself]

27. Yes, we have to have electronic voting

And it looks like almost all of the elected wanted it.

Help America Vote Act
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help_America_Vote_Act

Excerpts:
<snips>
The Help America Vote Act Pub.L. 107-252 (HAVA) is a United States federal law passed on October 29, 2002. The bill passed 347-58 in the House and 92-2 in the Senate.<1> Under HAVA, a new federal voter registration form was created, which has simplified as well as complicated the registration process. ……<more>

..... Some have questioned its usefulness as it is understood to mandate electronic voting systems; automated systems were the cause of some of the problems at the last election…… ……<more>

With the new act, states now have powers that were originally distributed to counties. With this centralization of power comes the new federally mandated computerization of voter rolls……. <snips>

……<more>


Some of this has been disputed on Wilkepedia.

[livvy]

23. WI: Crime Lab Gets Sheriff Forms

Crime lab gets sheriff forms
By Mark Boxley, Daily Register

Columbia County District Attorney Jane Kohlwey has submitted 15 sheriff's race nomination forms to the Wisconsin State Crime Lab for handwriting analysis, she said Friday.

The forms are in support of Republican candidate Roger Brandner and were submitted to the county clerk in June by Caledonia resident Thomas Gullick as part of the process of getting Brandner's name on the Sept. 12 primary ballot.

Two hundred valid signatures were needed. Brandner submitted 329, including 140 on forms signed by Gullick.

The signatures at the bottom of the forms certifying Gullick collected the signatures did not appear to match in some cases, and County Clerk Jeanne Miller said in her opinion, "the signatures are different."

>more

http://www.wiscnews.com/pdr/news/index.php?ntid=95503&ntpid=1

[livvy]

24. FL: Opinion: Cheating the Constitution

Cheating the constitution

Palm Beach Post Editorial

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Slot machines are rigged. Over time, they pay a guaranteed percentage to the house, and the house always wins. That's why another name for people who play slots and other games of chance set to the house rules is "suckers."

Some suckers know they're suckers. They claim that they just like to play. Some suckers delude themselves that they can beat the odds. Where slot machines are legal, that arrangement is between the gambling companies and the suckers who give them their money.

But if gambling companies try to rig elections and make suckers out of the voters, that's a different matter. A three-judge panel of Florida's 1st District Court of Appeal was right this month to reinstate a lawsuit that could shut down four casinos preparing to open in Broward County.

The lawsuit, filed by Floridians Against Expanded Gambling, alleges that gambling companies forged petition signatures to get a pro-gambling constitutional amendment on the November 2004 ballot. That measure, which passed, allowed Broward voters to approve the four casinos in a follow-up vote. Voters in Miami-Dade, the other county given the "opportunity" to put casinos in existing parimutuel venues, rejected slots.

>more

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2006/08/19/m12a_slots_edit_0819.html

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25. NE: Rickets: Grassroots Campaign "is Working"

08/18/2006
Rickets: Grassroots campaign 'is working'
By TERESA WICKENS , The North Platte Telegraph

Voters who elect to send career politicians back to Washington, D.C., shouldn't be surprised when nothing changes, a U.S. Senate candidate told supporters Friday morning during a meet and greet at North Platte's Lee Bird Field.

"The voters are re-electing career politicians who are thinking of the next election, not the next generation," Republican Senate candidate Pete Ricketts said.

Ricketts, at 42, is celebrating his birthday this weekend by traveling around western Nebraska and Friday's stops include a tour of fellow Republican's Tom Hansen's ranch and Marc Kaschke's implement dealership. Both Hansen and Kaschke are seeking the District 42 state legislature seat in November's general election.

Ricketts said he is interacting with voters who want change and who care about the direction Washington leadership is going.
"People need to get out and vote, get involved," he said. "Democracy is only as strong as the people who are willing to do something."

>more

http://www.nptelegraph.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17085090&BRD=377&PAG=461&dept_id=531813&rfi=6

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26. Editorial: West Promoting "People Power" When It Suits

West promoting 'people power' when it suits
The US and the Western media back protests over controversial elections when it is convenient to their interests, but they are keeping silent about the current situation in Mexico

By Mark Almond
LONDON , THE GUARDIAN
Saturday, Aug 19, 2006,Page 9

A couple of years ago television, radio and print media in the West just couldn't get enough of "people power." In quick succession, from Georgia's rose revolution in November 2003 and Ukraine's orange revolution a year later, to the tulip revolution in Kyrgyzstan and the cedar revolution in Lebanon, 24-hour news channels kept us up to date with democracy on a roll.

Triggered by allegations of election fraud, the dominoes toppled. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was happy with the trend.

"They're doing it in many different corners of the world, places as varied as Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan and, on the other hand, Lebanon ... And so this is a hopeful time," she said.

But when a million Mexicans try to jump on the people-power bandwagon, crying foul about the July 2 presidential elections, when protesters stage a vigil in the center of the capital that continues to this day, they meet a deafening silence in the global media.

>more

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2006/08/19/2003323847