Election Reform, Fraud & News Wed 12/27/06-PULL THE PLUG ON ELECTRONIC VOTING

[kpete]

Election Reform, Fraud & News Wed 12/27/06-PULL THE PLUG ON ELECTRONIC VOTING

Drop touch-screens

Our position: It's time to pull the plug on the failed experiment of electronic voting.

Posted December 24, 2006

Nothing is more sacred or vital to the survival of democracy than the ability to cast a vote with the confidence that vote will be counted accurately.

And yet the very foundation of this principle was shaken by the fiasco in Sarasota County on Nov. 7, when ATM-styled touch-screen machines showed more than 18,000 voters made no choice in one of the most hotly contested congressional races in the country. After a ridiculous "recount" in name only, the official returns show that Republican Vern Buchanan defeated Democrat Christine Jennings in District 13 by 369 votes out of 238,249 counted.

But that result isn't worth the paper the electronic ballots were not printed on. Without a paper trail to independently validate the electronic vote, the mandatory recount amounted to hitting the rewind button and replaying the machines' sad song.

Ms. Jennings is suing to challenge the election. Congress should do more than pay close attention to the case; it ought to mount its own investigation. The most fair resolution may well be holding a new election.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/orl-ed24106dec24,0,2570714.story?coll=orl-opinion-headlines

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[kpete]

1. Was Major Lobby Firm Behind Nasty Robo Calls?

Was Major Lobby Firm Behind Nasty Robo Calls?
By Justin Rood - December 26, 2006, 5:10 PM

A Florida-based Republican political firm with circumstantial ties to at least two nasty robocalling efforts this year isn't quite as obscure as we thought.

In the last days of the 2006 elections, Direct Strategies, Inc. of Tallahassee saw its name connected to dirty-tricks robo calls in Nebraska and Pennsylvania. Run by two state-level GOP operatives, the firm did not appear to cut a swaggering figure in national politics.

Here's the thing: according to filings with the state of Florida, "Direct Strategies, Inc." doesn't exist. It voluntarily dissolved in April 2005. In its place rose a new company, "Dutko Direct Strategies, Inc.," which appears to be controlled by one of Washington's largest lobby firms.

According to a 2006 annual report, "Dutko Direct Strategies" includes the members of the former Direct Strategies -- two Florida Republicans named Van Poole and Will McKinley. But the company's president, CEO, CFO and board chairman are employees of one of Washington, D.C.'s fastest-growing lobby shops, Dutko Worldwide. Its official address is c/o the Dutko Group in Washington, D.C.

more at:
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002234.php

[kpete]

12. D.C. Lobby Giant May Be Tied to Nasty Calls in 3rd Race

D.C. Lobby Giant May Be Tied to Nasty Calls in 3rd Race
By Justin Rood - December 27, 2006, 1:20 PM

Misleading automated calls designed to turn North Carolina voters against Democrat Heath Shuler may have come from a GOP campaign firm controlled by the D.C. lobbying giant, Dutko Worldwide.

The calls, whose impact favored the (doomed) re-election campaign of Rep. Charles Taylor (R-NC), pretended to come from the Shuler camp, and came as late as 2:30 a.m., according to one report.

Taylor's campaign paid Direct Strategies over $113,000 for "phone calls" and "calling" services, according to filings at FECInfo.com.

Despite the calls Shuler beat Taylor 54 percent to 46 percent, and will represent North Carolina's 11th District when Congress convenes next month.

The race is the third known to have been hit with misleading robo calls that are circumstantially tied to the Tallahassee, Fla.-based firm Direct Strategies. Similar calls against Democrats in Nebraska and Pennsylvania coincide with payments to the firm from the National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC).

more at:
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002238.php

[kpete]

2. FL: A Personal Interest in Florida Voting Bill

December 26, 2006, 4:51 pm
A Personal Interest in Florida Voting Bill

Florida state Sen. Gary Siplin, who lost his right to vote in elections when he was convicted of grand theft charges for having employees work on his 2004 re-election campaign on state time, introduced a bill to restore voting rights for many felons in the state, AP reports. Siplin’s bill would automatically reinstate voting rights after felons finish their sentences. Currently, Florida’s clemency board has to hear each case, a process that can take years. Siplin, a Democrat from Orlando, is the first Florida legislator to remain in office after a felony conviction; the senate decided he could keep his seat while appealing his conviction.

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2006/12/26/a-personal-interest-in-florida-voting-bill/

[kpete]

8. FL legislature contends with problems with e-voting machines

Posted on Tue, Dec. 26, 2006
VOTING

Lawmakers likely to review touch screensWith confidence being shaken in touch-screen voting machines, several groups are pushing for the Florida Legislature to change the system.
By DAVID ROYSE
Associated Press Writer

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - (AP) -- 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, policymakers 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.


more at:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/16317704.htm
http://government.zdnet.com/?p=2799

[kpete]

3. The Voting Rights Act and the Racial Gap in Lost Votes

The Voting Rights Act and the Racial Gap in Lost Votes
Paul Moke and Richard B. Saphire

Recent presidential and gubernatorial elections have exposed serious flaws in the process by which American voters participate in the democratic franchise. Studies have shown that African-Americans who use inferior punch card technology are more likely than non-African-Americans to be disenfranchised because of unintentional errors in the use of voting equipment. Following the disputed 2000 presidential election, several civil rights and civil liberties organizations used section 2 of the Voting Rights Act to challenge state voting technology, arguing that punch card equipment has an adverse impact on racial minorities.

This Article examines the empirical evidence on voting technol-ogy, residual votes, and the disenfranchisement of African-Americans, as well as the difficulties of using this information in legal challenges. The authors then develop a legal framework for pursuing voting technology cases under section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. It explores two mutually exclusive approaches to the causation requirement—the dispositive force test and the external factor test—and concludes that the latter is more consistent with Congress’s goals for section 2. The authors then examine the expert evidence submitted by both sides in several recent voting technology cases, including Stewart v. Blackwell. The Article concludes by offering several justifications for why the racial gap in lost votes should be actionable under section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and warrant an active judicial role.

http://w3.uchastings.edu/hlj/articles_7.htm

[kpete]

4. FL-13th District; possible smoking gun in Charlotte N.C.?

FL-13th District; possible smoking gun in Charlotte N.C.?
by 49erdemocrat
Tue Dec 26, 2006 at 04:08:04 PM PST

While people seem to be forgetting about the situation in Florida's 13th District, they are overlooking the fact that the possible answer is sitting in Charlotte, N.C. Charlotte experienced an unexplainably high dropoff in all three of its congressional districts. Coincidentally, in Charlotte they use the iVotronic voting machine made by ES&S. This is the same machine that was used in Florida's 13th district! The only difference is the machines in Charlotte DO have a paper trail! But the paper trail hasn't been examined yet! If these paper records are examined, they might provide proof that ES&S machines are capable of dropping votes! Maybe an examination of these records won't show anything odd, but what harm is there in looking at them?

more at:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/12/26/183924/32

[kpete]

5. OH: Elections panel has little impact when candidates lie

Posted on Tue, Dec. 26, 2006
Elections panel has little impact when candidates lie
Associated Press

CLEVELAND - The state's panel for fielding election complaints, with no power to sanction wrongdoers, rarely reprimands candidates or refers cases for prosecution.

The seven-member Ohio Elections Commission fielded 65 false-statement complaints last fall, a 50 percent increase from the 2004 election, but dismissed most of them and upheld just 10.

The practical effect of any ruling is limited because the commission has no power to punish. A 1991 federal appeals court decision stripped the commission of its ability to impose fines and force politicians to stop making a false statement.

The commission also made no referrals to prosecutors of potential violations of state election law in 2006. Commission director Phil Richter can remember only one or two such referrals in recent years.

more at:
http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/state/16321738.htm

[kpete]

6. Election study a good starting point for discussion

Election study a good starting point for discussion

A newly released study by a Whitman College student finding that Sunnyside's election system treats Hispanics unfairly in City Council elections is a good starting point for constructive dialogue about election systems in general, and Sunnyside in particular.

As we reported earlier, the research project, titled "The State of the State for Washington Latinos: 2006," concludes that the city's at-large elections violate the federal Voting Rights Act by establishing barriers to political representation of Hispanics. The report concludes that's because allowing every Sunnyside voter to vote for all seven council seats produces different results than if the city were divided into voting districts.

According to the report's analysis of the numbers, Hispanics make up 73.1 percent of the city's population and yet they are ethnically represented by only 14.3 percent of the council members (one member out of seven is Hispanic.)

That's OK, as far as it goes. At the same time, it should be acknowledged that voting by distinct is not a cure-all for representative government and ethnic diversity.

more at:
http://www.yakima-herald.com/page/dis/287818061742376

[kpete]

7. NY: Convention system harms democracy

Convention system harms democracy

By JAMES SAMPLE and FREDERICK A.O. SCHWARZ JR.
First published: Tuesday, December 26, 2006

New York's Constitution requires that the voters -- not unelected political party leaders -- select the state's principal trial court judges. In spite of that, for more than 80 years, party leaders have employed a complex convention scheme to select major party nominees and rob voters of a real choice for Supreme Court justices on Election Day.

Gov.-elect Eliot Spitzer said it best when he described the convention system as "the last vestige of real patronage in the political party structure." This year, two federal courts described it more bluntly: unconstitutional. New York now has a historic opportunity to right this wrong.

The courts held that the conventions violate the First Amendment because they deprive New Yorkers of their right to cast a meaningful vote, and prevent qualified candidates from competing for their own party's nomination. The courts found that through the conventions, political party leaders unconstitutionally "arrogated to themselves a choice that belongs to the people." Candidates, the courts ruled, simply "must be permitted an effective means of appealing to voters when it counts."

more at:
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=547377&category=OPINION&newsdate=12/26/2006&TextPage=1

[kpete]

9. Voting system should be secure and capable of being audited

Voting system should be secure and capable of being audited
Published December 27, 2006

Voting problems in midterm elections last month and a subsequent report that paperless electronic voting machines can't be protected from tampering have further shaken voters' confidence in the election system.

Aside from machine malfunctions that left close elections in question, there is a growing concern about the potential for fraud since many electronic voting machines don't produce a paper trail.

Skepticism about the reliability of electronic voting machines should nudge Congress closer to mandating a system that is more secure and uses machines that have an independent method -- a paper trail -- for verifying votes.

South Carolina is one of five states using electronic machines that don't produce a paper record of votes, while some states have systems that vary from county to county. In the past two years, 27 states passed laws requiring the use of machines with paper trails.

http://www.goupstate.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061227/NEWS/612270304/1022/OPINION

[kpete]

10. County in bid to recover voting machine funds

County in bid to recover voting machine funds
By LEANNE ROOT, Dispatch Staff Writer 12/26/2006

WAMPSVILLE - On Wednesday Madison County supervisors will discuss a resolution asking Congress to reinstate lever machine replacement funds, and if the funds are no longer available, urge New York state to provide the lost funds.


According to the resolution, "because the implementation decisions were made by New York state, New York counties, including Madison County, have had no control over the process and are in no way responsible for the potential loss of those funds."


Because New York state didn't meet the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) deadlines for replacing voting machines, the state lost out on $46.9 million. Madison County's share of that was $202,918.


Supervisors will also discuss accepting $70,494 in HAVA grants meant to help with costs associated with replacing the lever machines for ones more accessible to people with disabilities, but not the actual cost of the machines.


Two grants totaling $29,984 are to assist with improving polling place access to those with disabilities.

more at:
http://www.oneidadispatch.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17635589&BRD=1709&PAG=461&dept_id=68844&rfi=6

[FogerRox]

11. Scranton PA: Old voting machines just junk to salvager

Old voting machines just junk to salvager

BY ROGER DUPUIS II
STAFF WRITER

....... Weighing in at 800 pounds and up, the metallic monstrosities could render the taxpayers one final service by generating a profit through their demise. With more than 400 of them gathering dust, Lackawanna County could, at that rate, haul in more than $20,000 from their sale, majority Commissioner Robert C. Cordaro said.

“This is, we hope, just the first offer,” Mr. Cordaro said of the salvage bid submitted by DMS Shredding of Wilkes-Barre. There’s no deadline for selling them off.

Some 600 of Luzerne County’s lever machines were junked over the summer, netting about $30,000........


http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17636931&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=416046&rfi=6

[kpete]

13. Web site offers to fix elections -- for a price

Web site offers to fix elections -- for a price
Thirty political campaigns reps have already inquired about the services from the seemingly satirical site

By Robert McMillan, IDG News Service
October 26, 2006

"Winning is everything."

That's the mantra of Election Partners Ltd., whose slick Fixavote.com Web site offers such services as "real-time voter correction," and "enhanced retrospective tallying." The site features attractive stock-photography models and inspirational New Age music.

"Using state of the art technology, we overcome the challenges of competition and ensure election results for our clients," the Web site states.

But according to electronic-voting experts the site is most likely satire.

The company's 800 number was answered by a man identifying himself as Darius Parker, who claimed to be a consultant, and then president of the company. He refused to say whether or not the Web site is satire, but said that he had been contacted by representatives of about 30 political campaigns to date. "They're asking me the details of a specific geographic location and what I can do to enhance the election for them," he said.


more at:
http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/10/26/HNfixelections_1.html