Election Reform, Fraud, & News Sunday 10/01/06: Think- Resist- Fight Smart

[freedomfries]

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Sunday 10/01/06

"There is nothing new about disenfranchisement - it's just done electronically."
Rebecca Mercuri
:patriot:

THINK - RESIST - FIGHT SMART



All members welcome and encouraged to participate.

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

If you can:

:argh:

1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web.

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

[freedomfries]

1. IEEE Spectrum: The Next Voting Debacle? Database Problems Disqualify

The Next Voting Debacle?
Database problems may disqualify legitimate voters in upcoming U.S. elections

Steven Cherry
IEEE Spectrum
October 2006

http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/oct06/4663
:argh:

The Help America Vote Act of 2002, or HAVA, has garnered most of its notoriety because it required election officials throughout the United States to replace old paper-based voting machines with controversial new electronic equipment by 2004. But there are other provisions in the law that took effect only in January 2006, and these are quietly creating their own potential for disrupting elections this November—including the 468 House and Senate contests that will determine control of Congress.

The new HAVA rules concern the databases that contain the voter rolls—and in 49 of the 50 states, if you are not on the rolls, you can’t vote. Elections have often turned on the question of who gets to vote and who does not. This time around, voter eligibility will depend in large part on the contents of a number of databases, most of which have been in existence for less than a year and some of which have not been constructed in accord with the best practices of the database industry.

The new HAVA rules sound, at first, fairly innocuous. They require each of the 50 states to maintain a statewide database of registered voters, or create one if none exists. They also call for the states to verify a voter’s registration record either with the state’s driver’s license records or with information in a federal database of all legal residents of the United States, which is maintained by the Social Security Administration.

HAVA gives the states wide latitude in reacting to database mismatches. If a voter’s registration information and the data in the other databases differ, the act does not require that a state keep registrants off the rolls. But it also doesn’t forbid the states to do so. State officials have therefore set up their own rules, which have resulted in mass purges of registrants in California, Iowa, South Dakota, Texas, and Washington, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law, in New York City.

In March, the center published an exhaustive study of the varying ways the states have responded to HAVA’s database requirements, a 300-page document titled “Making the List: Database Matching and Verification Processes for Voter Registration.” Tens of thousands of people could be disqualified in California alone, the nation’s most populous state.
...
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/oct06/4663

[freedomfries]

2. Still Registered to Vote? Check SoS Database Matching

http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/oct06/4663/nvotef1

[freedomfries]

5. IN: Watch Out: Voter Rolls to be Pared

Voter rolls to be pared

Thomas B. Langhorne
Evansville Courier & Press
September 22, 2006
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2006/sep/22/voter-rolls-to-be-pared/
:argh:

About 4,000 registered voters in Vanderburgh County may be declared "inactive" if they don't vote Nov. 7, meaning they would be removed from voter rolls if they don't cast ballots by 2008.

Another 922 voters already have been removed from the rolls because they are deceased.

The changes to Vanderburgh County's list of slightly more than 123,000 registered voters are part of a $1.5 million statewide voter roll cleanup that began in June.

The campaign was preceded by several weeks of wrangling between Republicans and Democrats. Republicans said the changes were needed to fight fraud, but Democrats worried it would disenfranchise voters.

County officials say the statewide campaign was a headache that temporarily diverted them from addressing an equally important and urgent problem: correcting mistakes from computer glitches in the new, statewide registration system.

County Clerk Susan Kirk and the voter registration office's six employees are working to manually correct the mistakes before Oct. 9, the day absentee voters may begin to cast ballots in the election office.

Tony Bushrod, the Democratic Party's voter registration office board member, made what he called a "conservative estimate" of 1,000 Vanderburgh County voters whose registrations are still inaccurately recorded by the new system. "Only God knows how many there were before (corrections began)," Bushrod said.

Bushrod said he and Republican board member Connie Carrier and their four staff members have had to resort to using the county's Geographic Information Systems computer program to manually correct mistakes.
...
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2006/sep/22/voter-rolls-to-be-pared/

[freedomfries]

3. CA: Text Messaging for California Voter Registration

Mobile Voter Uses Text Messaging for California Voter Registration
Grace Stanat
California Progress Report
September 30, 2006

http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2006/09/mobile_voter_us.html
:patriot:

In 2000, youth voting rates reached a nadir at 36.1%. This rate jumped by 11% in 2004, due largely to the remarkable efforts of youth mobilization organizations. While these gains are impressive, there is still a long way to go; youth voting rates lag 19% behind those of older voters. A CIRCLE study states that “traditional approaches to are ineffective with the new generation… In order to truly connect with young voters, the parties must develop novel approaches… need to get hip.” By 2015, Gen Y will be a whopping 37% of the electorate, so it is obviously critical to the future of our democracy to engage youth.

Enter Mobile Voter, a nonprofit nonpartisan organization dedicated to using mobile technology (i.e., cell phones) to engage youth civically. Mobile Voter’s current project is called TxtVoter, which uses text messaging to facilitate voter registration.

Text messaging has the potential to connect with youth in new, exciting, and effective ways. Over 80% of young people own a mobile phone and more than 65% regularly send text messages. They are a generation that has grown up with text messaging; it has surpassed email as their primary means of peer-to-peer communication.
TxtVoter is easy to use, hip, and free. People simply text the keyword ‘voter’ to 75444 (similar to how people vote for their favorite singer on American Idol) and we begin the registration process. People can then choose whether they prefer a pre-filled registration form mailed to them, or to complete the form online and then print and mail it.

Even more exciting is the ability for other organizations to run their own text message based voter registration campaigns using TxtVoter, absolutely free of charge. To date, over 150 organizations are running their own TxtVoter campaigns, including Voto Latino, Working Assets, the Forward Together Pac (Mark Warner), World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), and many others. One local campaign using TxtVoter is Rob Black, running for Supervisor in San Francisco District 6. Each organization has its own keyword (or several). So for example, WWE encourages viewers to text the keyword ‘wwe’ to 75444. Mobile Voter takes care of the rest. See www.txtvoter.org for details.

Another TxtVoter feature provides organizations with the ability to use text messaging to register people’s friends, spreading the word even farther. With Register Your Friends, individuals are prompted to enter their friends’ cell phone numbers on a web page. Then TxtVoter sends each friend a personalize text message asking them to register. These web pages can be branded TxtVoter or easily branded for any organization – Mobile Voter provides all the code free of charge.

And lastly, TxtVoter also has an online component that anybody can use: www.govote.org. This site was built in partnership with Working Assets and is the most comprehensive online voter registration tool currently available. Of course, anyone and everyone is encouraged to send people to this site. Since registration deadlines are very soon, the *best* registration tactic at this time is for organizations to send emails to their contact lists urging them to register. Please contact Mobile Voter if you’d like a special link to GoVote that will allow tracking of all registrants from a specific email.
...

http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2006/09/mobile_voter_us.html:woohoo:

[freedomfries]

4. Txt Voter - Voter Reg - Easy as Calling a Friend

http://www.txtvoter.org/campaigns/txtvoter/index.html

[freedomfries]

6. Reuters: U.S. Muslims bring voter registration to mosques

U.S. Muslims bring voter registration to mosques

Ed Stoddard
Reuters
September 29, 2006
http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2006-09-29T180818Z_01_N29217819_RTRIDST_0_BA-POLITICS-MUSLIMS.XML

DALLAS, Sept 29 (Reuters) - American Muslims are setting up voter registration booths in mosques across the United States, echoing a tactic employed by evangelical Christians to support conservative Republican candidates.

Their target: close contests where Muslim voters could make a difference.

"We have set up booths in 150 mosques across the country in the past two weeks," said Mukit Hossain, a political consultant to the Muslim American Society which is behind the drive.

The booths have a computer monitor with a link to a Web site http://www.masvip.org/ to enable Muslims to register on line during Friday prayers.

Hossain said about 10,000 were estimated to have been registered to date but he expected "tens of thousands" more to be signed up before crucial midterm elections on Nov. 7 that will decide which party controls Congress during President George W. Bush's final two years in office.

Those numbers are small compared to estimates of over 2 million registered Muslim voters nationwide but the drive is targeting areas where a few voters can determine the outcome -- another echo of evangelical Christian political activism.

"We have looked and said do we have enough Muslims to impact this race? And secondly what are the issues, how important are they for the Muslim community and where do the candidates stand?," Hossain said.

One race he highlighted was District 8 in Arizona, where he said the Muslim community was sizable and had concerns about the anti-immigration tone of Republican candidate Randy Graf, who is running to replace an outgoing moderate Republican in a closely watched House contest.
...
http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2006-09-29T180818Z_01_N29217819_RTRIDST_0_BA-POLITICS-MUSLIMS.XML

[freedomfries]

7. WaPo: Why is Wal-Mart Launching Employee Voter Drive

Wal-Mart Launches Employee Voter Drive: Activists Question Retailer's Motives

Ylan Q. Mui
Washington Post
September 30, 200
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/29/AR2006092901318.html

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. yesterday launched a voter registration drive aimed at its 1.3 million U.S. employees in what it describes as the largest such effort by a private company.

The kickoff was held in Iowa, a key battleground in the upcoming midterm elections. Workers at Wal-Mart's roughly 3,800 other facilities across the country also received registration forms yesterday. Although the world's largest retailer said it does not want to influence how its workers vote, David Tovar, director of media relations, said the drive was prompted by recent criticism of the company by politicians.

Wal-Mart workers "read the newspapers and see the headlines, just like you and I do," Tovar said. "They recognize there were some elected officials that were saying some things that didn't really represent the company. They wanted to have an opportunity to have their voice heard."

Wal-Mart is working with Democratic strategist Charles Baker of the law firm DLA Piper and Republican strategist Terry Nelson, founder of Crosslink Strategy, on what it has dubbed the Voter Education Program. The company has prepaid postage for voter registration forms in Iowa and several other states. It is also allowing workers whose shifts do not give them three hours to visit the polls to take paid time off to vote. Before the elections in 2004, they received two hours of unpaid time off.
...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/29/AR2006092901318.html

[freedomfries]

8. Reuters: Wal-Mart counters critics with voter registration

Wal-Mart counters critics with voter registration

Reuters
September 29, 2006
http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2006-09-29T190934Z_01_N29336218_RTRIDST_0_POLITICS-WALMART.XML

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Long criticized by union groups and some U.S. Democrats for not providing employees with adequate pay or benefits, Wal-Mart on Friday gave workers something else: voter registration cards.

The retailing giant kicked off a voter registration drive in Iowa -- the state which hosts the first contest in the presidential campaign -- and said it would give election information to all of its 1.3 million employees before the Nov. 7 midterm vote.

About 30 Wal-Mart employees, most clad in bright blue vests with the phrase "How may I help you?" printed in white on their backs, were given registration forms after being led in morning cheers at the West Des Moines Wal-Mart.

"It doesn't really cross my mind to go register to vote," said 23-year-old Mike Leng, one of the Wal-Mart employees who received the registration kit. "(This is) an opportunity to voice my opinion."

While the retailer said it would not push employees to support a particular party, Wal-Mart media relations director David Tovar said some employees had been upset by a union-led campaign against the company and wanted to counter the attacks.

A bus trip drawing support from scores of big-name Democrats crisscrossed America this summer claiming Wal-Mart, the country's biggest private-sector employer, provides inadequate wages and health-care coverage while shipping new jobs overseas.

It was launched by the UFCW grocery workers union, which ended efforts to unionize the company last year.
...
http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2006-09-29T190934Z_01_N29336218_RTRIDST_0_POLITICS-WALMART.XML

[freedomfries]

9. GA: Court Blocks Law Creating New Obstacles to Voter Registration

Federal Judge Protects the Right to Register Voters in Georgia; Court Blocks Law Creating New Obstacles to Voter Registration

US Newswire
September 29, 2006
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=73475
:patriot:

WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Today, a federal judge in Atlanta blocked enforcement of Georgia state regulations that went into effect earlier this year that imposed needlessly restrictive administrative requirements on voter registration activities. The plaintiffs, civic organizations and voting rights groups, said the laws were in violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA), and would severely limit the effectiveness of efforts to increase and encourage participation in the political process.

"These regulations would have made the operation of an effective voter registration program nearly impossible by removing our ability to check applications," said Dana Williams, chairman of Georgia ACORN. "ACORN helped over 22,000 Georgia citizens register to vote in our 2004 registration drive. We knew we were doing that work with success and with integrity because we had a quality control system that checked the applications collected by our staff and volunteers."

Today's decision is one in a series of victories in the past two years arising from litigation in Florida, Georgia, Maryland, and Ohio blocking enforcement of state laws and regulations that severely burdened third-party voter registration activities and denied traditionally disenfranchised citizens assistance in registering to vote.

"This ruling is a victory for voter registration groups and historically disenfranchised low-income communities in Georgia," said Elizabeth Westfall, senior attorney for the Advancement Project, a national civil rights and racial justice organization. "Voter registration organizations can now restart their operations in Georgia."
...
The ruling by Chief U.S. District Judge Jack T. Camp found that these regulations, which the Georgia State Election Board argued were put in place to prevent voter registration fraud and identity theft, were in violation of the plaintiffs' First Amendment Rights, as they placed an undue burden on voter registration groups' post-voter registration drive activities. "Moreover," Judge Camp said, "Defendants have not offered any evidence that the Regulation is necessary to prevent voter fraud. In short, Defendants have failed to demonstrate that the Regulation is necessary to address a real rather than a conjectural problem (...) And Defendants must show more than the possibility of identity theft to warrant the burdens placed on Plaintiffs' constitutional rights." The Court also noted that Congress' expressed policy in the NVRA of encouraging third-party voter registration drives was not served by Georgia's restrictive third-party voter registration regulations.
...
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=73475

[freedomfries]

10. OpEdNews:Two Words That Can Change the Course of an Election

Two Words That Can Change the Course of an Election

Mary Kiraly
OpEdNews
September 15, 2006


http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_mary_kir_060915_two_words_that_can_c.htm

There are two words that can change the course of an election. We should be watching for them. When we hear them, usually beginning the September before an election, we will know that we are about to see a slumbering bureaucracy spring into action. The goal of that bureaucracy? To prevent a vast, non-existent conspiracy from committing "voter fraud". Voter Fraud has never been demonstrated to be a real threat to our elections. Nevertheless, volunteers who work at election polls work in an environment which is infused with the noise created around this charge, while trying to do the right thing.

On Wednesday, September 13, a panel from the Brennan Center (Executive Director Michael Waldman and attorneys Wendy Weiser and Justin Levitt) briefed members of the Washington Press Club on Five New Voter Suppression Strategies for 2006. They were joined in this effort by Lillie Coney, Associate Director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).
...

(1) New Laws that Crack Down on Voter Registration across the U.S....
(2) Barriers to Voting Rolls. Using databases to keep eligible voters off the rolls....
(3) Inaccurate Purges of the Voter Rolls....
(4) Unfair Voter ID and Citizenship Requirements....
(5) Electronic Voting ...

How large an impact could these voter suppression techniques have? It is estimated that restrictions on voter registration could affect 6% of eligible voters. Barriers could impact between 6-10% of voters, purges could affect 3%, and voter Ids could affect approximately 10-17% of eligible voters. We have only to remember how close the outcomes have been in recent elections, to realize the potential impact of these suppression techniques. The impact of electronic voting is unknown.
...
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_mary_kir_060915_two_words_that_can_c.htm

[freedomfries]

11. USA Today: Don't trust Diebold voting machines, use absentee ballots

Don't trust vulnerable Diebold voting machines, use absentee ballots

ESA Today
Andrew Cantor
September 29, 2006
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/andrewkantor/2006-09-29-diebold_x.htm

When Jeffrey Dahmer was on trial for murder, at one point there was a discussion over whether he was insane at the time.
A DJ at the time made what I consider one of the funniest and most apropos observations I've ever heard. "The guy killed people," he said, "then drilled holes in their heads and poured antifreeze into them hoping to bring them back to life. What else would he have to do to be considered insane — whistle Dixie while he was doing it?"

The same logic applies today to Diebold electronic voting machines.

What more do people need to hear or to see or to read to convince them Diebold voting machines simply can't be trusted? A burning bush?

After the past few years and specifically the past week, we have reached the point where it has become obvious that there is something seriously wrong with Diebold machines.

Let's look at the hard evidence.

Most recent and most damning was the paper and video released by researchers at Princeton in which they not only discussed how simple it was to hack a Diebold AccuVote-TS voting machine and get it to secretly and undetectably rig an election, they demonstrated it in a video.

Once again: Researchers at Princeton demonstrated conclusively that it takes less than five minutes to insert software into a Diebold AccuVote machine and rig an election.

And no, their demonstration doesn't apply only to the AccuVote-TS; that just happens to be the model they were able to get for testing. All Diebold machines are suspect.
...
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/andrewkantor/2006-09-29-diebold_x.htm

[freedomfries]

12. ABC News: Elections Easy to Steal, Say Computer Scientists

Congress Hears About Electronic Voting Issues With Elections Near:
Elections Easy to Steal, Say Computer Scientists

David Hammer, AP
ABC News
October 1, 2006

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=2503196&page=1

WASHINGTON - Sept. 28, 2006 — The chairman of a House committee and several witnesses at a hearing Thursday punched holes in the idea that paper records of voters' selections will solve a slew of problems with new electronic voting machines.

The criticism comes a little more than a month before most of the country uses new computerized balloting.

Rep. Vernon Ehlers, R-Mich., chairman of the Administration Committee, adopted the "Got paper?" catchphrase of activists calling for paper audits of votes.

Ehlers pointed to a photo of a poll worker in the 2000 Florida recount, his one eye appearing massive as it peered through a magnifying glass at a punch-card ballot.

"You can see this man has 'got paper,"' Ehlers said. "Simply saying let's use paper does not mean the problems go away."

Keith Cunningham, elections director in Allen County, Ohio, and the former leader of the Ohio Association of County Elections Officials, testified that a recount of the paper records in Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, showed massive failure of the printouts.

A bill proposed by Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., and backed by more than 200 lawmakers, would require paper audit trails for all new electronic voting machines, which will be used by about 80 percent of voters in the coming Nov. 7 elections.
...
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=2503196&page=1

[freedomfries]

13. CBS Evening News: Are Voting Machines Reliable?

Are Voting Machines Reliable? Congress Is Questioning The Security Of New Electronic Voting Machines

CBS Evening News
October 1, 2006

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/09/28/eveningnews/main2050791.shtml

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28, 2006 (CBS) Nothing stirs political blood quite like an incumbent's own survival, which was a big reason that members of Congress were questioning the security of electronic voting machines Thursday, CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian reports.

The machines in question include the Diebold Accu Vote TSX. Translation: Your ballot box.

This November, for the first time, more than 80 percent of all votes in this country will be cast or counted electronically. It's the result of the federal law that Congress passed in the wake of the Bush-Gore "hanging chad" debacle, requiring that states and counties phase out paper ballots in favor of touch-screens and optical scanners.

"There will be glitches, but I think in the end result, you can have confidence in the system," says Paul DeGregorio, chairman of the Election Assistance Commission.

But lately, trust has been shaken. In a recent Maryland primary, officials forgot to include 13,000 electronic access cards needed to activate machines, resulting in voter chaos. In Ohio’s biggest county, there were problems with the paper backup system — critical in any recount.

"These things are sort of like wrestling octopuses," says Keith Cunningham, an Ohio election official.

"The more people understand computers and the more they work with computers, the less thrilled they are about electronic voting," adds Avi Rubin, a computer science professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

...
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/09/28/eveningnews/main2050791.shtml

[freedomfries]

14. ComputerWorld: E-voting Critic Recounts Maryland Primary Woes

E-voting Critic Recounts Maryland Primary Woes

Marc Songini and Marc L. Songini
Computer World
October 2, 2006

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=Government&articleId=265734&taxonomyId=13&intsrc=kc_li_story

Avi Rubin is at the forefront of the e-voting issue. He is a professor of computer science at Johns Hopkins University specializing in e-voting security issues and an elections judge in Maryland’s Baltimore County. Rubin also wrote Brave New Ballot: The Battle to Safeguard Democracy in the Age of Electronic Voting, a book released last month that is critical of electronic voting. In an interview with Computerworld late last month, Rubin recounted his experience in Maryland’s September primary election and lists what he sees as problems with e-voting machines.

How bad were the e-voting problems during Maryland’s primary on Sept. 12, which included a widespread lack of access cards in Montgomery County? The problems weren’t as bad in Baltimore County. The e-poll books were crashing a lot, and some precincts didn’t get their voter access cards. We had 10 minutes of waiting time, and at some point, up to an hour, and that was too long. One voting machine crashed. One froze up when tallying the votes and then 10 minutes later came back online.

What are e-poll books? They are like a laptop with a smart card and a soft keyboard on the screen where you touch the letters. They control whether or not you get to vote.

Did the security seal, which is used to prevent tampering, work as promised? The tamper tape is on the inside of the machine over the bay that holds the memory card. I noticed one machine had frozen, and I couldn’t get it to work, so we decided to reboot it. To get at the on/off switch, we pulled off the tamper tape and opened the bay. Inside, I could see the memory card. I couldn’t believe the tape was that easy to get on and off.

Can the problems you saw with the primary be fixed in time for the November election? We’re a model of democracy, and we have one of the worst voting systems in the world. We’re doing everything in this country to create doubts in the voters’ and candidates’ minds.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=Government&articleId=265734&taxonomyId=13&intsrc=kc_li_story

[freedomfries]

15. Computer World: Book Review of Avi Rubin's Brave New Ballot

Book review: Avi Rubin's tech memoir on Diebold, e-voting
Avi Rubin's Brave New Ballot fears for democracy

Angela Gunn
Computer World
Deptember 25, 2006

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=Government&articleId=9003579&taxonomyId=13&intsrc=kc_li_story

September 25, 2006 (Computerworld) -- Few things in life, and even fewer things in computing, resolve to yes-or-no questions. Watching geeks contort themselves to explain their work in one-syllable answers, whether in courtrooms or on cable news channels, is an exercise in pain for the tech-savvy -- and it usually leaves the general public less informed than when they started.

That's reason enough to welcome Avi Rubin's Brave New Ballot (304pp., Morgan Road Books, $24.95), which covers the three years of research he's done on Diebold's controversial AccuVote e-voting machines. It gives a good researcher the chance to lay out what his research uncovered -- and why its implications for fair and free elections far exceed the current yes-no, Dem-GOP flaming.

Rubin previously had to contort quite a bit to get the message out, you see. Shortly after he joined Johns Hopkins' computer science department in 2003, he, Rice colleague Dan Wallach and grad students Adam Stubblefield and Tadayoshi Kohno took a few days to examine a copy of Diebold source code for the firm's Accuvote terminals, then in use for elections in 37 states across the nation.

The subsequent "Hopkins Report " (PDF format) described a world of hurt in that code: obvious kludges, flimsy cryptography choices, and random acts of foolishness. (A personal favorite, widely reported in the months after the report was released: The PINs for every single administrator access card were set to the same digits, 1111.) Observers of the e-voting controversy know the subsequent arc of the story -- researcher analyzes code, researcher releases report, researcher gets rafts of flak from e-voting vendors, researcher ends up appearing on (seemingly) every newscast and congressional panel ever convened on the matter, with mixed results.

Rubin's wonderment at those mixed results will resonate with many techies through those 304 pages (with nary a line of code in sight), since his dismay at the growing politicization of the issue is likely to ring true with every geek who's found himself taken aback by ideological criticism of a "purely" technical project. Rubin's the first to admit that was naïve, and the reader senses his nearly frantic determination in Brave New Ballot to lift the discourse back up to a more purely technical conversation -- even while he emphasizes that these are issues every American ought to care about and (to some extent) understand, or at least to understand that they don't understand.

The tech description of the problems with e-voting are here, of course. A book's a great opportunity to get one's message out without the oversimplifications of the yes-and-no world, and Rubin does a fine job of detailing exactly why Diebold's approach to electronic voting raises harrowing security questions -- though the author would be the first to tell you that there's no substitute for reading the research yourself (and includes a fine three-page resource list to that effect).

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=Government&articleId=9003579&taxonomyId=13&intsrc=kc_li_story

[freedomfries]

16. LA: It's a first: Every parish has electronic voting machines

It's a first: Every parish has electronic voting machines

KATC3 News, Baton Rouge
October 1, 2006

http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=5479625

BATON ROUGE, La. -- For the first time, voters in all 64 parishes of Louisiana used electronic, touch-screen voting machines on Saturday, and the state's top election official said he expected voting to be "real smooth."
:shrug:
The newer machines, which are part of a revamped voting system required by federal law, replaced lever-operated voting machines in the last 31 parishes where the older machines were still in use. The state bought 4,482 new machines and upgraded nearly 5,000 others as it complied with the Help American Voter Act of 2002. The machines cost $31.09 million.

The voting machines are wheelchair accessible and every precinct will have an audio bay available for voters with disabilities.

Secretary of State Al Ater said his office is "expecting everything to go off real smooth."

"These machines have been used in this state for years," Ater said. "We have never had a problem _ not one."

http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=5479625
:shrug:

[freedomfries]

17. GA: McKinney wants alternative to electronic voting machines

McKinney wants alternative to electronic voting machines

Giovanna Dell'Orto, AP
The Macon Telegraph, GA
September 30, 2006

http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/15649340.htm

DECATUR, Ga. - Outgoing state Rep. Cynthia McKinney railed against the state's electronic voting machines Saturday, calling them "severely flawed" for their inability to provide a paper trail for each vote.

"I call on (Secretary of State Cathy) Cox to give Georgia voters a choice not to vote on electronic machines and get absentee ballots," she said. "We need to get to a different system or else we can't trust the one we got now."

While McKinney, who blamed the machines in the loss of her House seat in the July Democratic primary, had previously hinted at plans to challenge the legality of state voting laws, she ignored a reporter's repeated questions about those plans Saturday.

In a small room packed with reporters and supporters in suburban Atlanta, McKinney introduced a slate of activists who demanded officials get rid of electronic machines they claimed are open to - and possibly designed for - electoral fraud.

"If we fail to do that, then we surely have a threat to our democracy," McKinney said, adding her office received complaints from all over metro Atlanta from people who said they felt their vote hadn't been counted.
...
http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/15649340.htm

[freedomfries]

18. TX: Dem Federal Lawsuit againt Paperless E-Voting

Democrats question security of e-voting

Aman Batheja
Star Telegram, TX
October 1, 2006

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/15638160.htm

The Tarrant County Democratic Party is preparing a federal lawsuit against the Texas secretary of state's office over what it says is an unconstitutional voting system in Texas.

At issue is the security of electronic voting machines used in several Texas counties, including Tarrant. Despite calls from some election experts and consumer advocates, the machines do not offer a backup paper record that could be used in case of a recount or election dispute.

Local party Chairman Art Brender asked Secretary of State Roger Williams several weeks ago to overrule a decision by his deputy and allow Tarrant County election officials to provide a backup paper system to its new electronic voting machines.

"I think it is essential that we provide the people of Tarrant County assurance that their vote will be counted," Brender said.

Brender said that if he does not have a response by early next week -- or if his request is rejected -- he will file a lawsuit in federal court on behalf of one or more local voters alleging that the secretary of state's office is in violation of the Help America Vote Act of 2002, which he said requires that a voting system produce a "permanent paper record."

Brender said he would also seek to have the Texas voting system declared unconstitutional as a violation of the equal protection clause. In the case stemming from the 2000 presidential election, the U.S. Supreme Court found it was unconstitutional for different jurisdictions to use different methods to recount votes.
....
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/15638160.htm

[freedomfries]

19. A Classic: H2O Post: Regarding the "Great Wit"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2262665

[freedomfries]

20. Have a Great Sun Day!

[Melissa G]

21. Thanks for this Excellent compilation, FF! Vote it up folks! n/t

[FogerRox]

22. KNR ....vote the ERD up

[freedomfries]

23. Thanks MG & RF!

Much obliged

[rumpel]

25. Voted up!

:applause:

Have a great Sunday, too, freedomfries!

[freedomfries]

24. Re-Post - Not To Forget: 2006 Voter Registration Deadlines

Rock The Vote: 2006 Voter Registration Deadlines:

http://www.rockthevote.com/2006-voter-registration-deadlines.php

EDR = Election Day Voter Registration ( Send a reminder to your friends & family )
VR = Voter Registration
State General
2006 Election General VR Deadline In-Person VR
(if Different) Primary
Election

Alabama 7-Nov received by 10/27 6-Jun
Alaska 7-Nov received by 10/8 22-Aug
Arizona 7-Nov received by 10/9 12-Sep
Arkansas 7-Nov received by 10/9 23-May
California 7-Nov received by 10/23 6-Jun
Colorado 7-Nov postmarked by 10/9 10/24 8-Aug
Connecticut 7-Nov postmarked by 10/24 8-Aug
D.C. 7-Nov postmarked by 10/10 12-Sep
Delaware 7-Nov received by 10/14 12-Sep
Florida 7-Nov postmarked by 10/10 5-Sep
Georgia 7-Nov received by 10/10 18-Jul
Hawaii 7-Nov received by 10/9 23-Sep
Idaho 7-Nov postmarked by 10/13 EDR 23-May
Illinois 7-Nov received by 10/10 21-Mar
Indiana 7-Nov postmarked by 10/10 2-May
Iowa 7-Nov received by 10/28 10/23 6-Jun
Kansas 7-Nov received by 10/23 1-Aug
Kentucky 7-Nov received by 10/11 16-May
Louisiana 7-Nov received by 10/9 30-Sep
Maine 7-Nov received by 10/17 EDR 13-Jun
Maryland 7-Nov received by 10/17 12-Sep
Massachusetts 7-Nov received by 10/18 19-Sep
Michigan 7-Nov postmarked by 10/10 8-Aug
Minnesota 7-Nov received by 10/17 EDR 12-Sep
Mississippi 7-Nov postmarked by 10/7 6-Jun
Missouri 7-Nov received by 10/11 8-Aug
Montana 7-Nov postmarked by 10/10 6-Jun
Nebraska 7-Nov postmarked by 10/20 10/27 9-May
Nevada 7-Nov received by 10/8 10/17 15-Aug
New Hampshire 7-Nov received by 10/28 EDR 12-Sep
New Jersey 7-Nov received by 10/17 6-Jun
New Mexico 7-Nov postmarked by 10/10 10/13 6-Jun
New York 7-Nov received by 10/13 12-Sep
North Carolina 7-Nov postmarked by 10/13 2-May
North Dakota 7-Nov none 13-Jun
Ohio 7-Nov received by 10/10 2-May
Oklahoma 7-Nov postmarked by 10/13 25-Jul
Oregon 7-Nov postmarked by 10/17 16-May
Pennsylvania 7-Nov received by 10/10 16-May
Rhode Island 7-Nov received by 10/7 12-Sep
South Carolina 7-Nov received by 10/7 13-Jun
South Dakota 7-Nov received by 10/23 6-Jun
Tennessee 7-Nov postmarked by 10/8 3-Aug
Texas 7-Nov postmarked by 10/10 7-Mar
Utah 7-Nov postmarked by 10/8 10/25 and 10/28 27-Jun
Vermont 7-Nov received by 10/30 12-Sep
Virginia 7-Nov postmarked by 10/10 13-Jun
Washington 7-Nov postmarked by 10/7 10/23 19-Sep
West Virginia 7-Nov postmarked by 10/17 9-May
Wisconsin 7-Nov postmarked by 10/18 EDR 12-Sep
Wyoming 7-Nov received by 10/9 EDR 22-Aug

For information on candidates, elections and ballot initiatives check out Project Vote Smart, a citizen's organization dedicated to providing access information about elections.

* DATES SUBJECT TO CHANGE
http://www.rockthevote.com/2006-voter-registration-deadlines.php

[kpete]

26. Thanks

Lots of good info here

[JimDandy]

27. One of the best power-packed ERD compilations I've seen.

But then I'm biased, since a major focus of mine is Voter Registration Databases.

:applause: