Election Reform, Fraud and Related News Thursday, 12/28/06

[EFerrari]

Election Reform, Fraud and Related News Thursday, 12/28/06

Voting machine firm hires ex-elections director

By CARLOS CAMPOS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 12/23/06



The former head of elections for Georgia is going to work for the company that supplied the state's $75 million electronic voting machine system.

Kathy Rogers, director of the secretary of state's elections division, resigned Nov. 30 and has accepted a job with Diebold Election Systems, manufacturer of Georgia's voting machines, according to several state officials. Rogers apparently will serve as a liaison between elections officials throughout the United States and Diebold.

State Election Board member Tex McIver said Friday he is troubled by the move and will meet to discuss Rogers' plans to work for Diebold. Rogers, appointed in 2002 by Secretary of State Cathy Cox, a Democrat, sparred often with Republican members of the election board.

Incoming Secretary of State Karen Handel, elected in November to fill Cox's vacant seat, said she, too, is concerned about Rogers' employment with Diebold.

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2006/12/22/1223metelect.html

(It's a good thing I don't subscribe to conspiracy theories. :crazy:)



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[EFerrari]

1. CA: Oakland to Switch to Instant Run-Off Voting

Oakland to Switch to Instant Run-Off Voting


SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- Oakland is following San Francisco’s lead to switch to ranked choice, or instant run-off voting. Voters overwhelminly passed a measure to change the system so that voters rank candidates in order of preference, instead of picking just one.

Advocates told KCBS’ Melissa Culross the system offers voters more flexibility, and will make races closer.

"Instead of just picking one candidate, with these systems you get to rank a first choice, a second choice, or a third choice. If your first choice can't win, then your vote goes to your second choice as a back up choice," said Steven Hill, political reform director of the non-partisan New America Foundation.

"It's going to make the elections much more competitive. It's going to give voters a range of choices, to their left, to the right, and no matter where you are on the political spectrum, you'll have choices."

http://kcbs.com/pages/152104.php?contentType=4&contentId=263540

[EFerrari]

2. CO: Vote set on electing city clerk (Denver)

Vote set on electing city clerk

By Hector Gutierrez, Rocky Mountain News
December 27, 2006
Denver voters, thousands of whom were unable to vote in November's mid-term elections due to computer problems, will decide in a special election Jan. 30 whether they want to be allowed to vote for a clerk and recorder to serve as an elections chief.

The City Council voted 9-3 Monday in favor of the special election, turning back a bid to amend the bill and push the decision on the clerk question back to May 1.

Currently, the clerk and recorder is appointed by the mayor. A decision by voters to directly elect a clerk also would eliminate the Denver Election Commission.

The election commission now faces the task of sending out mail-in ballots to voters by the middle of next month, a chore that some council members who opposed the January election don't believe the commission can handle.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5239515,00.html

[EFerrari]

3. NM: Election tab rises by $3 million

Election tab rises by $3 million

SANTA FE — Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron has requested an additional $3 million to help pay for last month's elections.

That includes $1.3 million to print ballots, $560,000 for advertising, $88,000 to print the constitutional amendments and bond questions and $225,000 for supplies.

Vigil-Giron said most of the money would help pay for the state's switch over to paper ballots.

Under a law enacted this year, all 33 counties in New Mexico switched from a patchwork of voting methods to a single paper ballot system.

"Since the Legislature passed it, and the governor signed it, it's our responsibility to pay for it," said Rep. Luciano "Lucky" Varela, a Santa Fe Democrat and chairman of the Legislative Finance Committee.

http://www.abqtrib.com/news/2006/dec/26/election-tab-rises-3-million/

[philb]

14. Is the paper ballot system they switched to "Opti-Scan" ?

anyone know what the "surprise" extra $700,000 bill from ES&S was?

Who will be running the New Mexico elections?
Will ES&S be doing the programming and compiling of all votes in New Mexico?
If so, is the new system an improvement over the previous?

(answer probably yes, but perhaps marginal)

[EFerrari]

4. KS: Ford County ends contract with Voting Technologies International

Ford County ends contract with Voting Technologies International
By Ashley Nietfeld
Dodge City Daily Globe

The State of Kansas has decided to end its contract with Voting Technologies International. The decision will affect a total of seven counties, including Ford County.

The State received input from each county's election officers before making the decision.

"All seven Kansas counties support the state's action," said Ford County Election Officer Vicki Wells in a press release.

Wells said that the decision to end the contract was based on service concerns and no problems were reported in regards to machine accuracy.

"Neither the state nor the counties have concerns that the 2006 election results were inaccurate," said Wells.

http://www.dodgeglobe.com/stories/122806/loc_20061228002.shtml

[philb]

19. What type of electronic machines are these counties planning on buying?

anyone know?

Kansas touch screens had irregularities and unreliability reported in 2006

4689 Polling Place Problem Johnson Kansas Rising Star Elementary School Voter reported calibration problems: it took half an hour for her to register vote for proper candidate - she eventually got correct votes cast. (Diebold touchscreen)

Sedgwick County. ES&S iVotronic touch screen voting machines are broken down at all sites except two. http://www.kbsd6.com/Global/story.asp?S=5626254

[EFerrari]

5. Smartmatic bails from e-voting biz after media heat

Smartmatic bails from e-voting biz after media heat

Posted Dec 28th 2006 8:08AM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Smartmatic, of Sequoia Voting Systems infamy, is taking its ball and going home, after becoming fed up with the intense public scrutiny its voting systems have received. "Given the current climate of the United States marketplace with so much public debate over foreign ownership of firms in an area that is viewed as critical U.S. infrastructure -- election technology -- we feel it is in both companies' best interests to move forward as separate entities with separate ownership," said Antonio Mugica, president of Smartmatic. Of course, we really would've just been happy with a voting system that didn't, say, have the ability to register multiple votes per voter, but we suppose that's too much to ask. A big stink has been raised in regards to Smartmatic's Venezuelan ownership and some supposed ties to Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, and it appears Smartmatic isn't up for the fight. Smartmatic had previously agreed to an investigation by the US Treasury Department, but now that they're putting Sequoia on the auction block, they've withdrawn from the review process. Any takers?


http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/28/smartmatic-bails-from-e-voting-biz-after-media-heat

[EFerrari]

6. PA: Old voting machines just junk to salvager

Old voting machines just junk to salvager
BY ROGER DUPUIS II
STAFF WRITER
12/27/2006


For $1.99 a pound, you could buy a holiday turkey at Wegmans. Cooked shrimp, meanwhile, can start at $5.99 per pound.

A piece of Lackawanna County’s electoral history, however, could cost as little as 6 cents a pound.

That’s how much one company has offered the county to junk its decades-old voting machines, rendered surplus by the switch to touch-screen technology this year.

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.

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

[philb]

15. Looks like they made a costly mistake; touch screens are expensive to operate, unreliable,

and unverifiable- worst of almost all options

why would they make such a choice?

There was widespread touch screen switching, disappearing votes, malfunctions, long voter lines, many hundreds of thousands
unable to vote due to unreliable and unverifiable touch screen technology being used

2006
www.flcv.com/eirstss6.html

2004
www.flcv.com/summary.html

[EFerrari]

7. E-Voting Named #3 in PCWorld's 'Biggest Technology Mistakes of 2006'

(Might Have Been #1, But Diebold Handled the Vote Tabulation)

Tech Mag PCWorld named E-Voting #3 on their list of "The 21 Biggest Technology Mistakes of 2006"...

3. Hacking the Vote
Are electronic voting machines insecure? In May, security researchers discovered a previously unknown backdoor in Diebold's AccuVote-TS touch-screen voting machines that could allow an attacker to manipulate votes, cause malfunctions, or create a 'voting virus' that spreads from machine to machine--all in under a minute and with little fear of detection. Meanwhile, Princeton researchers also found Diebold's touch-screen machines could be opened with the same kind of key used for hotel mini-bars, offering easy access to the machine's memory card. Diebold promised to fix the vulnerability eventually, but also said they weren't too worried. Why? Because such hacks would require "evil and nefarious election officials"--who don't exist.


http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3954



:rofl:

[philb]

16. This is also supported by VotersUnite.org documentation

Touch Screens malfunctioned in hundreds of counties all over the country causing major problems and vote inaccuracies

http://www.votersunite.org/electionproblems.asp


and documentation in post 15

[EFerrari]

8. Michael Collins: The Long Road to Democracy (3)

District Challenge Heats Up

"The public deserves to know what is going on with these machines," Jennings said.

What's more important to you: Knowing that your vote is counted, or knowing that the company that sold the county voting machines is able to keep its trade secrets private?

- Daytona Beach News Journal Editorial, 12.21.06

We agree whole heartedly with candidate Jennings!!! Thank you very much for being such a great candidate and representative of the will of the people. Also, highest compliments go to the Daytona Beach News editorial authors. How much more sensible can you get?

Election politics makes for strange bedfellows. Democrat Christine Jennings is challenging the likely fraudulent outcome in her race for Congress. She’s represented in state court seeking evidentiary access to critical software and methods of the ES&S touch screen devices The request is a conflict between Jennings and the public right to know what really happened to the 18 thousand votes versus the “trade secret” status that ESS claims for their source code. Let’s see, democracy versus a last in class tech companies inferior software trade secret? That one will be hard to decide.
ADVERTISEMENT

At the federal level, Jennings has filed a challenge known as an election contest before the House of Representatives. The Jennings Notice of Contest filing by distinguished Miami attorney Kendall Coffey can be seen here. It’s an impressive document that asks the House of Representatives to overturn the election based on a number of compelling arguments. There is a tremendous irony playing out also.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0612/S00367.htm

[EFerrari]

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

Voting system should be secure and capable of being audited

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

[EFerrari]

10. IL: 06 likely a year to remember for Kane Clerk Cunningham

'06 likely a year to remember for Kane Clerk Cunningham

December 28, 2006
BY STEVE LORD Staff Writer

Although he might try to, 2006 will be a year John Cunningham will never forget.

In a way, it was one of those years where the glass was half empty or half full -- and then spilled all over the place.

It was half full in the sense that Cunningham won re-election as Kane County clerk, his second term. That means the oft-times candidate who went about 30 years without winning an election now has won three out his last four (the one blemish being the 2005 Aurora mayoral primary).

It was half empty in that the year also was filled with crises for Cunningham and his office. In March, a routine court filing brought to the attention of the media that Cunningham had hired David Bruun, an old friend, to be his elections director. Bruun is a disbarred lawyer who was convicted in 1998 in federal court of bank fund misappropriation, and by a state court of stealing from the trust fund of a St. Charles teacher who received a settlement from an accident that left him paralyzed.

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/couriernews/news/189315,3_1_EL28_A3JACK_S1.article

[EFerrari]

11. FL: Ballot criteria for election to be decided

Ballot criteria for election to be decided

Winter Garden -- The Winter Garden City Commission tonight will be presented with the criteria officials will use when accepting or rejecting absentee and provisional ballots in Winter Garden's upcoming election.

The 6:30 p.m. meeting will take place at Tanner Hall, 29 W. Garden Ave. The criteria includes whether or not a voter cast their ballot in the correct precinct and provided an acceptable form of identification.

The city's canvassing board will use the guidelines to review ballots and count votes.

How the board operates came under scrutiny during the past election, when results were delayed.


http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-mcfbriefs28_306dec28,0,4654450.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-orange

[philb]

17. Most provisional votes cast in wrong precinct are due to official/poll worker misfeasance or

malfeasance;
in large numbers of cases in Florida and other states based on election hotline (EIRS reports)
provisional votes cast in the wrong precinct appear to be the deliberate intent of those in charge of the system
with major aide of party operatives through systematic illegal dirty tricks including Robo-Calls

2006
www.flcv.com/eirsppp6.html
2004
www.flcv.com/summary.html


systematic dirty tricks
www.flcv.com/eirsdt6.html

[EFerrari]

12. US Urges Free, Fair and Open Turkmenistan Election

US Urges Free, Fair and Open Turkmenistan Election

Thursday , 28 December 2006


The United States Wednesday urged a free, fair and open election in Turkmenistan to replace authoritarian president Saparamat Niyazov, who died last week. The parliament of the Central Asian country has approved a six-member slate of candidates but none from the exiled opposition. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.


The State Department is avoiding direct criticism of the succession plan approved by the parliament Tuesday.

But it says the United States wants to see free elections in Turkmenistan and a new president who represents the aspirations of all the country's people.


The U.S. comments came a day after Turkmenistan's legislature, controlled by loyalists of the late president, approved a slate of six candidates to run in a February 11 election, led by caretaker president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov.

http://www.turkishweekly.net/news.php?id=41889

lol

[philb]

18. Can this be taken seriously coming from a country that doesn't have such?

It should be extremely clear that the U.S. election system is not transparent, and is easily and commonly manipulated,
in addition to being unreliable at producing accurate results

www.flcv.com/eirstss6.html
www.flcv.com/eirsppp6.html
www.flcv.com/eirsdt6.html

www.votersunite.org

[Kurovski]

13. A kick to the top for the late crowd.

Thanks, sfexpat2000!