Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, FRI. 12/22/06

[rumpel]

Rumor is that President Bush's brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, may run for president. Rumor is? According to Florida voting machines, he's already won.
-Jay Leno

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush says he wants to be president. Well that's good, somebody will have to pardon his brother.
-David Letterman

as quoted at
http://www.oilempire.us/stolenelection2004.html

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.

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

If you can:

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

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http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph ...

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.


If you want to know how to post "News Banners" or other images, go here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph ...

Link to previous Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph ...

[rumpel]

1. TX: State probing Waller County election

Houston Chronicle

Dec. 21, 2006, 11:10PM

The AG's office impounds records amid claims rights of black voters were violated

By HELEN ERIKSEN
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

HEMPSTEAD — The state Attorney General's Office said Thursday it has impounded election records and launched an investigation into allegations of criminal violations in the Nov. 7 general election in Waller County.

The investigation stems from complaints filed by local black leaders who claim more than 1,000 voter-registration forms may not have been processed.

The action by Attorney General Greg Abbott comes on the heels of the abrupt closure of the county elections office Dec. 7 amid demands from the Waller County Leadership Council for a probe into possible violations of the voting rights of students at Prairie View A&M University, a predominantly black college of about 8,000 students.

Group leader Herschel Smith alleges that voting was delayed Nov. 7 for at least 300 Prairie View students whom he said waited three to four hours to vote and were compelled to cast provisional ballots because their names were missing from election rosters.

He said many grew frustrated with waiting and left without voting.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/4420140.html

[rumpel]

2. GA: Bibb County Vote Experiment Shows Little Promise

WMGT-TV 41 (NBC)

Submitted by Mike Roberts on Fri, 12/22/2006 - 1:40pm

A panel of election experts says that adding paper printouts to Georgia's electronic voting machines is not a guarantee in terms of assuring voters their votes will be counted. The panel says an experiment during the November seventh election at three Georgia precincts found logistical problems with using paper audit trails.
At precincts in Bibb, Camden and Cobb counties, new machines were used that allowed voters to compare the choices they made on the electronic touch screen with a piece of paper produced by an attached printer. The idea is for voters to make sure their ballot choices match, similar to checking a receipt after buying groceries. Election officials were required to count the paper ballots by hand and compare them to the machine totals. But those same officials say setting-up the machines and comparing results was a logistical nightmare.

http://www.wmgt.com/node/604

[rumpel]

3. KS: Challenger does not have to pay for 91st District recount

The Witchita Eagle

Posted on Fri, Dec. 22, 2006


Democratic challenger Walt Chappell does not have to pay for Wednesday's recount of the 91st Kansas House District race, a judge ruled today.

The recount confirmed election results showing that Republican incumbent Brenda Landwehr defeated Chappell by 373 votes.

snip
For more on this story, see Saturday's Eagle.

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/16300572.htm

[rumpel]

4. PA: Dems poised to take state House with victory in disputed race

York Dispatch

MARK SCOLFORO The Associated Press
Article Last Updated: 12/22/2006 11:03:20 AM EST

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- A Republican candidate conceded the final disputed seat in the state House of Representatives yesterday, giving Democrats a one-vote margin going into the coming session.
Six weeks of legal wrangling and ballot review concluded with a hand recount in a Chester County race that gave Democrat Barbara McIlvaine Smith a 28-vote win.

Democrats now have a 102-101 edge after 12 years in the minority.

"We fought until every last ballot was counted and came up a few votes short," said Smith's opponent, Shannon Royer. "It's been a tough year to be a Republican running for an open legislative seat in the suburbs."

GOP tactics: New House members will be sworn in and the speaker elected on Jan. 2. Democrats have nominated Greene County Rep. Bill DeWeese as speaker, but there is a chance Republicans could lure a party-switcher or find another way to return Philadelphia Rep. John M. Perzel to the post he has held since April 2003.

There is recent historical precedent. After the 1994 election left Democrats in control of the chamber by a single vote, Rep. Tom Stish, a Democrat from Luzerne County, changed parties. He was defeated two years later.

http://www.yorkdispatch.com/pennsylvania/ci_4886384

[rumpel]

5. MA: Recount decided by a vote

The Inquirer & Mirror

By Jason Graziadei
I&M Staff Writer

One of the closest political races in Nantucket history got even tighter Saturday after a hand recount confirmed Town Clerk Catherine Flanagan Stover’s election to the Board of Selectmen - this time by just one vote.

Nearly 100 counters, observers, election officials and curious citizens gathered at the Nantucket High School cafeteria Saturday to complete the recount requested by runner-up Patty Roggeveen. As is typical of election recounts – at least on Nantucket – the numbers changed, but the results did not.

Both of the front-runners increased their vote totals, but Flanagan Stover finished with 805 votes to Roggeveen’s 804, ending the disputed election nearly a month after it was held on Nov. 21.

Flanagan Stover, who had already been sworn in as a selectman, will now complete the interim term on the board that was created by Michael Glowacki’s resignation in August due to health concerns. Although Roggeveen could appeal for judicial review of seven blank write-in ballots that were challenged during the recount, she said she will not take the matter to Superior Court and will instead run again in April 2007, when there will be two seats up for election on the board.

http://www.ack.net/Recount122106.html

[rumpel]

6. AP: Paper problems beset bid for verifiable electronic voting

via
The Fayetteville Observer

The Associated Press
GAITHERSBURG, Md.
The paper ballots and hanging chads that marred the 2000 presidential election have almost vanished from polling places, replaced by electronic-voting machines that are supposed to eliminate recount chaos.

But now election directors have a new worry: printer jams.

The new machines spool out a small paper receipt of each vote cast to verify the machine correctly recorded the vote and to provides a hard copy during a re-count.

Some states like Maryland have been using paperless systems, touch-screen ATM-like computers that record and tabulate votes. But that has produced its own problems and legislation is likely to be filed in Maryland next year to switch from touch-screen to optical-scannning devices, leaving a paper trail.

In Cuyahoga County, Ohio, a manual count of the paper record during the May primary didn't match the voting results tallied by touch-screen machines.

Machines in some California, Missouri and Mississippi precincts jammed. In Guilford County, N.C., where the paper record would be used in a recount, an audit of a sample of machines showed 9 percent of printers that were supposed to record touch-screen votes either didn't work properly or had paper problems.

"How many votes were lost as a result of that, with the printer chewing it up?" asked George Gilbert, elections director for the county that includes Greensboro, N.C. "If you don't have a complete paper record, you can't use it for a recount."

http://www.fayobserver.com/article_ap?id=97000

[rumpel]

7. IL: Democrat presses for recount data

Chicago Tribune

Vosicky threatens appeal to his defeat

By John Biemer
Tribune staff reporter
Published December 22, 2006

A week after a partial recount in the election to succeed state Rep. Lee Daniels in northeastern DuPage County confirmed Republican Dennis Reboletti's lead, Democrat Joe Vosicky is pressing on with efforts to probe Reboletti's narrow margin of victory.

Reboletti bested Vosicky by 299 votes out of 26,712 cast in the Nov. 7 election for the open 46th District seat, according to results certified by the Illinois State Board of Elections. The recount Vosicky requested of one-quarter of the district's precincts took two days last week. The DuPage County Election Commission charged Vosicky about $2,000 to cover legal fees and staff time.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/west/chi-0612220240dec22,1,2632784.story?coll=chi-newslocalwest-hed

[rumpel]

22. Recount on the money, House candidate cries foul

The Naperville Sun

December 20, 2006
By Paige Winfield staff writer
After bi-partisan teams conducted two recounts of the race for Illinois House District 46 last week, the numbers still haven't changed: Democrat Joe Vosicky trails his Republican opponent Dennis Reboletti by 299 votes.

But Vosicky is not conceding the race. Instead, he has filed three additional requests under the Freedom of Information Act to view additional documents, including the envelopes in which absentee ballots were mailed.

Vosicky filed for both a discovery recount and a redundant recount, both of which may occur when vote totals are within at least 5 percent of each other, according to state law.

On Dec. 13, DuPage Election Commission staffers did a machine recount of the votes in 25 percent of the county's 87 districts. The next day, they conducted a discovery recount, hand counting the ballots and examining other documentation such as official ballot records and computer logs.

Although a representative from Vosicky's campaign observed and signed the unchanged recount findings, Vosicky's attorney Richard Means says they still do not interpret the vote tallies as giving Reboletti victory.

"That doesn't mean we agree with what the election board found," Means said. "The candidates were running neck-and-neck all evening and then all of a sudden overnight he was down by 299 votes. We want to know what changed."

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/news/179098,6_1_NA20_RECOUNT_S1.article

thanks to AtLiberty

[rumpel]

8. Mexico: IFE releases tally sheets on Internet

The Federal Electoral Institute makes public more than 500,000 tally sheets of the presidential and congressional elections

El Universal
Viernes 22 de diciembre de 2006

The Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) posted on the Internet on Thursday tally sheets from the hotly disputed July 2 presidential election.
The IFE said in a news release that it made public the more than 500,000 tally sheets of the presidential and congressional races for the first time since the agency was formed in 1990 to "advance the path of transparency."

Millions of supporters of former Mexico City Mayor Andrés Manuel López Obrador cried fraud and launched weeks-long protests demanding a recount of the 41.7 million votes cast in the election, which President Felipe Calderón won by less than 1 percent.


http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/miami/22597.html

[rumpel]

9. VT: No more paper ballots in Ferrisburgh?

Burlington Free Press

Published: Friday, December 22, 2006
By Terri Hallenbeck
Free Press Staff Writer

MONTPELIER -- The recount of the auditor's race could change more than one election result. It could change the method by which some Vermonters vote.

The two-week recount revealed several mistakes in the initial tally in the state auditor's race -- from a three-vote differential in Grand Isle County to 115 votes in Windham County.

Director of Elections Kathy DeWolfe said she is encouraging towns and cities that hand-count to switch to optical scanners to help eliminate some of the errors.

The $6,350 machines are available free to municipalities with a federal grant through the end of this year, she said. Municipalities would have to pay the $700-$1,000 programming cost.

Ferrisburgh is among those considering switching, Town Clerk Chet Hawkins said. Town residents will vote on the matter at town meeting in March. The town's hand-counted Election Day tally was off by 18 votes, or 2 percent, he said.

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061222/NEWS01/612220310/1009/NEWS05

[rumpel]

10. PA: TOP 10: Local politics have state and national consequences

Phoenixville News

By G.E. LAWRENCE, Special to The Phoenix
12/22/2006

PHOENIXVILLE - Thursday's announcement of Chester County Deputy Solicitor Thomas L. Whiteman confirming, after recount, the victory of Democrat Barbara McIlvaine Smith over Republican Shannon Royer in the state's 156th House District - by 28 votes out of 23,000 cast - seemed a fitting final act of a fractious and novel political season nationally, statewide, and locally.
It was a local election, the result of which held broader significance: with that decision, Democrats hold control of the state House for the first time in twelve years, but by the slimmest of margins: 102 to 101 seats. Tight races determined major changes in balances of power, statewide and nationally.
That state House seats were so closely contested - and that officials who had been thought to be entrenched would not go back to the Capitol as expected - was just such a historical turn-around. Dr. G. Terry Madonna, Professor of Public Affairs and Director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs and the Keystone Poll at Franklin & Marshall College, wrote in these pages in October, "The number one reason leaders in the Pennsylvania legislature leave office is retirement. Number two is death... Leaders are literally more likely to die or go to jail than be defeated."
The signs of change had been heralded, in fact, by the results of the May 16 primary elections: 17 incumbent legislators lost races, battered, apparently, by voter reaction to the pay raise issue. That surprising new third-rail of Pennsylvania politics emerged with the late-night July 7, 2005, passage of a bill increasing salaries by 16% to 34% for legislators, judges, and top executive-branch officials, which could be taken as "unvouchered expenses" in the current year.
In our own 19th Senate District, a special election on May 16 to fill the unexpired term of the late Robert Thompson, a contest between two County Commissioners, was in the end won handily by Democrat Andy Dinniman of West Whiteland over Tredyffrin's Republican Carol Aichele, 56% to 44%. Dinniman became the first Democrat sent to the Senate from Chester County in over a century.

http://www.phoenixvillenews.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17623208&BRD=1673&PAG=461&dept_id=17915&rfi=6

[Peace Patriot]

11. Venezuela: "Poll: Venezuelans Have Highest Regard for Their Democracy"

By: Gregory Wilpert - Venezuelanalysis.com (12/20/06)

"(venezuelanalysis.com)--Venezuelans view their democracy more favorably than the citizens of all other Latin American countries view their own democracies, except Uruguay, according to a new survey released by the Chilean NGO Latinbarometro last Saturday. Also, Venezuela is in first place in several measures of political participation, compared to all other Latin American countries.

"According to the Latinobarometro survey, Venezuelans rank their democracy as being more fully realized than the citizens of all other surveyed countries do except Uruguay. On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 means a country that is not democratic and 10 is a country that is completely democratic, Venezuelans, on average, gave their own democracy a score of 7.0. The Latin American average was 5.8, with Uruguay having the highest score, of 7.2, and Paraguay the lowest, at 3.9.

"Similarly, Venezuelans say more often than the citizens all other countries except Uruguayans that they are satisfied with their democracy. 57% of Venezuelans are happy with Venezuelan democracy, which is the second highest percentage, with 66% of Uruguayans expressing satisfaction. The average for all countries surveyed was 38%, with citizens of Peru, Ecuador*, and Paraguay, expressing the least satisfaction, of 23%, 22%, and 12% respectively.

"For Venezuela, the percentage of citizens surveyed who indicated satisfaction increased more since 1998, the year Chavez was elected, than any other country. The percentage expressing satisfaction increased from 32% to 57% in those eight years."

(MORE)

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=2179

----------------------------

*(MY NOTE: Ecuador just weeks ago elected the very popular young leftist economist Rafael Correa as president, so I expect that Ecuadorans' view of their democracy will significantly improve over the coming years. Correa endorsed Hugo Chavez's view of Bush as "the devil" (he said it was an insult to the devil) during his campaign. Ecuador now joins Venezuela, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Chile (and, in the next election cycle, Peru) in the new leftist consensus in South America, which is focused on self-determination for Latin countries, and regional political and economic cooperation toward that end. They are recovering from decades, and centuries, of U.S. exploitation, often inflicted by brutal U.S.-backed dictators and local rich elites in collusion with U.S.-based global corporate predators. They have the right idea--Simon Bolivar's idea (of a "United States of South America"): strength in numbers, a regional trade group like the EU, and a common currency (to get off the U.S. dollar)--and have made progress in this regard over the last year or so. That progress has been premised upon impressive work on transparent elections and other improvements in democratic institutions.

---------------------------

The article has an interesting conclusion--that flies in the face of standard disinformation from our war profiteering corporate news monopolies up here in the north:

"The Latinobarometro report contradicted the common perception that Latin America was heading towards more authoritarian regimes with the recent political shift towards the left. 'It is clear that there is no authoritarian regression , which is demonstrated by the fact that 14 presidents were substituted, for various reasons and due to popular pressure prior to the end of their mandate and within the valid legal framework in each of the countries,' said the report."

That's a curious way to put it, but it's the truth. In other words: majority rule! The rich and corrupt fascist elites are out--by popular demand--and the vast poor majority has at last achieved political power comparable to their numbers. And it's all been quite peaceful and democratic. And this is what our corporate news monopolies have disinformed us about--that democracy is winning! --and that government of the people, by the people and for the people has not perished from the earth. It's alive and well in South America!

[Peace Patriot]

13. Venezuela hand-counts FIFTY-FIVE PERCENT of their ballots cuz they don't

trust the electronic voting machines.

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1901 (-article about what it was like in the barrios of Caracas during the recent Dec. 3 presidential election--which contains this information about their hand-count)

I've posted this before, but I thought I would post it again. It seems so amazing to me that we did not require a substantial hand-count of our electronic voting results from the beginning.

[rumpel]

15. thanks

:hi:

[rumpel]

12. NJ: Candidate challenges Mt. Laurel recount

Friday, December 22, 2006

By CAROL COMEGNO
Courier-Post Staff
MOUNT HOLLY
A losing Democratic candidate is continuing his fight for a Mount Laurel council seat by challenging the result of the November election recount.

Lawyer George Great-rex filed another lawsuit Thursday in Superior Court asking that 26 rejected absentee ballots and an unknown number of rejected provisional ballots be included in the recount.

A recount of the Nov. 7 election sought by an earlier lawsuit by Democrats and conducted Dec. 11 did not alter the election outcome for Great-rex. He lost by 13 votes to Mayor Peter McCaffrey, a Republican. The recount changed the results for two council races by only one vote.

http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061222/NEWS01/612220380/1006

[rumpel]

14. Venezuelan Co. to Sell U.S. Subsidiary

North West Indiana Times

By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ
This story ran on nwitimes.com on Friday, December 22, 2006 12:46 PM CST

MIAMI - A major voting machine company owned by Venezuelan investors said Friday it plans to sell its U.S. subsidiary, ending a federal investigation into alleged ties between the company and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

In March 2005, Smartmatic Corp. acquired Sequoia Voting Systems Inc., which produces touch-screen and other machines and is one of the largest voting equipment makers in the U.S.

The U.S. government began informally reviewing the deal earlier this spring after a request by Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., who cited a potential risk to the integrity of U.S. elections.

Smartmatic CEO Antonio Mugica, who has dual Spanish-Venezuelan citizenship, later called for an official investigation to clear the company. He and other company officials insist the Venezuelan government has never had any stake in Smartmatic, which is headquartered in Boca Raton, or in Oakland, Calif.-based Sequoia.

http://nwitimes.com/articles/2006/12/22/ap/business/d8m612000.txt

[rumpel]

16. FL: Testimony given in disputed Congressional race

Tampa Bay News Channel 10

TALLAHASSEE, Florida -- Attorneys for Republican Vern Buchanan told a judge today that Christine Jennings had only "speculation and the circular reasoning" of a pair of university professors supporting her bid for a court order to open up the secret workings of touch-screen voting machines used in her contested congressional race.

But a lawyer for Jennings argued that she has shown "reasonable necessity" to make Elections Systems & Software privately disclose its security "source codes" so experts can find out what happened in the 13th Congressional District election on Nov. 7.

Jennings lost by 369 votes but more than 21,000 ballots registered no choice in the Jennings-Buchanan race. About 18,000 of those "under-votes" occurred in Sarasota County, the population anchor of the district and the only county Jennings carried.

She sued, seeking a court order to let her computer experts examine the inner workings of the iVotronic touch-screen machines. Buchanan, the state and Elections Systems & Software, makers of the equipment, argued that the security codes are protected by Florida trade-secret laws.

http://www.tampabays10.com/news/local/article.aspx?storyid=46003

[rumpel]

17. FL: Touch-screen questions may lead lawmakers to look at voting anew

The Ledger

Published Friday, December 22, 2006

By DAVID ROYSE
Associated Press Writer
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.
When Florida's infamous punch-card ballots went the way of Al Gore's presidential hopes, many thought the state's voting problems had, too. But six years later, policy makers are learning the system still isn't perfect and more changes may be needed.

Confidence is now being shaken in the touch-screen voting machines that some counties chose to replace paper ballots. The issue is likely to come up when the Legislature convenes in March for its regular session.

Legislative leaders haven't committed to any particular fixes, and proposed legislation is only now starting to be filed - none yet includes any major election overhauls. Some election requirements aren't in the law, but left to the individual counties, where 66 of 67 elections supervisors are chosen by voters.

A disputed congressional election in Sarasota County was the latest to raise suspicions for some voters that the electronic machines may have problems recording the right vote. For many, the problem isn't so much whether the devices work, but how difficult it is to know if they do or not since they don't have a paper trail.

http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061222/APN/612224480

[rumpel]

18. CA: Human error to blame for November e-voting snafus

Inside Bay Area

Report outlines where system worked and didn't
By Rebekah Gordon, STAFF WRITER
Article Last Updated: 12/10/2006 07:19:08 AM PST

Electronic voting machine malfunctions in the Nov. 7 election were mostly caused by poll workers, all of whom were new to the system, according to a preliminary report released this week.
The report, which will be presented to the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors at its meeting Tuesday, touches on some successes and struggles that came with implementing eSlate voting machines for the first time.
"The eSlates appear to have performed well," said Supervisor Mark Church. "There were no malfunctions that we're aware of. Overall, the election went smoothly for San Mateo County."
Church, along with Supervisor Rose Jacobs-Gibson, formed a subcommittee to further examine the electronic voting machine implementation after dozens of members of the public raised concerns in August about the county's purchase of some 2,100 machines. The machines, made by Austin, Texas-based Hart InterCivic, were purchased to comply with the Help America Vote Act of 2002.
In September, Chief Elections Officer Warren Slocum scaled back implementation, instead utilizing just one machine per precinct in each of the county's 472 polling places and offering paper ballots for most voters.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/sanmateocountytimes/ci_4814814

[rumpel]

19. CA: Voting rights for jail inmates reinstated

Inside Bay Area

ACLU: Court decision vindicates more than 100,000 Californians
By Josh Richman, STAFF WRITER
Article Last Updated: 12/22/2006 09:47:04 AM PST

County jail inmates serving time for felonies or on felony probation have a right to vote, the state Court of Appeal ruled Thursday.
The state constitutions article II, section 4 bars from voting only those in state prison or on parole for a felony conviction, a three-judge panel concluded, ordering the Secretary of States office to inform county clerks, superior court clerks and voter registrars.
We are thrilled with the courts ruling vindicating the voting rights of more than
100,000 Californians, said Maya Harris, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California. We need more people voting, not less, and the courts ruling makes that possible.
Amy Thoma, spokeswoman for Secretary of State Bruce McPherson, said her office is pleased that it has been clarified and informed counties of the ruling Thursday; more formal directions will follow next week.
The Secretary of States office for years had interpreted the constitutions article II, section 4 in a manner consistent with the appeal courts ruling. But the office reversed its position in December 2005 after requesting and receiving an opinion from the Attorney Generals office; it told local officials the constitutional voting ban also applies to people serving county jail time for felonies, including those serving that time as a probation condition.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald/ci_4884914

[rumpel]

20. FL: DISTRICT 13 Advocates are left off panel to study voting

Herald Tribune

By DOUG SWORD
[e-mail]
SARASOTA COUNTY -- A citizens panel set up to evaluate new voting systems for the county is dominated by business people rather than advocates who engaged in the recent contentious debate over touch-screen machines.

The panel, created by the Sarasota County Commission, is charged with helping figure out what new voting system the county should buy in the wake of a disputed election and a voter-approved mandate for paper ballots.

The ultimate decision is the job of Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent. But since the county will pay for new voting machines to replace the $4.5 million touch-screen system, commissioners will have a say as well. The citizens group will advise the commissioners.

The group is made up of the head of a nonprofit, an insurance agent, a retired chemist, a venture capitalist, a consultant, an accountant and a college instructor.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061222/NEWS/612220526

[rumpel]

21. CA: Nevada County Voting System - if you can attend

snip
For those interested in participating, information on when and where the next meeting will be held will be posted on www.mynevadacouny.com when it becomes available. For more information call the Registrar or Assistant Registrar at 265-1298.

Sierra Sun

By Greyson Howard
Sierra Sun
December 21, 2006

Nevada County has assembled a new committee to select secure and accessible voting machines for the future.

snip

Aside from the seven voting members of the committee, Wilkins said the group is looking for as much public involvement as possible.
snip

Wilkins said the first meeting was held in Nevada City on Tuesday, where members of the committee familiarized themselves with the issues.

The next meeting will be held sometime during the second week of January, when the committee will review the material, Wilkins said.

The third meeting will include a vendor demonstration of the voting machines in late January or early February, and a final meeting with a decision mid-February, Wilkins said.

Acton said the decision would be given to the county registrar, who in turn would make a recommendation to the board of supervisors.

Wilkins said the two voting systems that submitted bids to the county are Diebold Election Systems, the machines used in this year’s election, and Hart Intercivic.
“There are four certified voting systems in California and we were hoping for all four to bid, but it was bad timing for some of the companies after the elections,” Wilkins said.

http://www.sierrasun.com/article/20061221/NEWS/61220007

[autorank]

23. Dave Letterman line - priceless. K&R - Excellent n/t

[autorank]

24. Coalition Paper Ballot Call Spares Vote Villains - Diebold, ESS, & Sequoia to survive

Coalition Paper Ballot Call Spares Vote Villains

and the thread from the irrepressible

kpete

Coalition Paper Ballot Call Spares Vote Villains-Diebold & ESS to Survive!!!

ARE WE HAVING FUN YET?

There will be a thread Christmas Day, Monday 12.25.06.