Election Reform, Fraud, & News Sunday 12/31/06 - FL 13 Shame on You Judge Gary!

[freedomfries]

Election Reform, Fraud, & News Sunday 12/31/06

For this Court to grant Plaintiffs' motion would require this Court to find that it is reasonably necessary for the Plaintiffs to have access to the trade secrets of Defendant, Election Systems and Software, Inc., based on nothing more than speculation and conjecture, and would result in destroying or at least gutting the protections afforded those who own the trade secrets.
Judge William L. Gary, Leon County Circuit Court

Your thinking is sloppy as your grammar, Mr. ES&S Gate-Keeper!
Would you please tell us please what it is that has turned the simple task of counting votes into "trade secrets"? Is it the vote-deleting, the vote-flipping or the vote-patting magic or some miraculous combination of all those mysterious operations that must at be protected at all costs by the force of your court?
For the full text of the FL 13 ruling check
http://electionlawblog.org/archives/ess-pdf.pdf
:argh:

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. FL: Leon Ct Judge: FL 13 "Case Built on speculation and conjecture"

Judge: Case built on 'speculation and conjecture'

Lloyd Dunkelberger
Herald Tribune, Saratosa FL
December 31, 2006
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061230/NEWS/612300599


TALLAHASSEE -- In delivering a major setback to Christine Jennings' bid to prove that faulty voting machines led to her defeat in the District 13 congressional election, a trial judge on Friday denied the Sarasota Democrat's request to review computer codes used to operate the touch-screen machines.

Circuit Judge William Gary said that Jennings provided "nothing more than speculation and conjecture" in a two-day hearing this month where she tried to make her case that she should be allowed to review the software and hardware used to operate the iVotronic machines.
...
But the trial judge sided with the arguments from the voting machine company, Election Systems & Software Inc., that contended the computer codes were a trade secret and that the machines worked properly, pointing to two post-election tests of the voting system that showed the machines were "100 percent accurate."

In his three-page order, Gary said Jennings' legal team "presented no evidence to demonstrate" that the two tests by the state Division of Elections were "flawed and/or the results not valid."

"The testimony of (Jennings') experts was nothing more than conjecture and not supported by credible evidence," Gary wrote.

Giving Jennings and a group of Sarasota voters, who have also joined the lawsuit, access to ES&S' computer technology "would result in destroying or at least gutting the protection afforded those who won the trade secrets," Gary added.
...
Jennings' lawyers immediately announced they would appeal the judge's ruling.

And in a statement, Jennings continued to argue that there is a bigger issue at stake: the reliability of the electronic voting systems that leave no paper trail.

"It's shocking that there is more concern for protecting a company's profits rather than protecting our right to vote," Jennings said. "The secrecy and question marks surrounding electronic voting is creating a real crisis in confidence among America's voters, and the only way to resolve this is by conducting a thorough review by outside experts."

Reginald Mitchell, a lawyer for the People for the American Way Foundation, which is representing a group of Sarasota voters, said his organization would also support an appeal of Gary's decision. "We hope to get at the truth," he said.

Not having access to the computer codes will make the case more difficult, Mitchell said, since arguments over software and hardware failure are "the crux of the case."

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061230/NEWS/612300599

[freedomfries]

2. FL: Judge rules against Jennings, Democrats to seat Buchanan in Congress

Judge rules against Jennings, Democrats to seat Buchanan in Congress

David Royce, AP
The Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville
December 20, 2006
http://www.jacksonville.com/apnews/stories/122906/D8MAO3C85.shtml

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - A judge ruled Friday that congressional aspirant Christine Jennings has no right to examine the programming source code that runs the electronic voting machines at the center of a disputed Southwest Florida congressional race.

Democrats in Congress meanwhile, said they'd allow Republican Vern Buchanan to take the seat next Thursday, but with a warning that the inquiry wasn't over and that his hold on it could be temporary.

The state has certified Buchanan the winner of the District 13 race by a scant 369 votes.

Although she could appeal, the ruling Friday from Circuit Judge William Gary prevents the Jennings camp from being able to use the programming code to try to show voting machines used in Sarasota County malfunctioned. Jennings claims that an unusually large number of undervotes - ballots that didn't show a vote - recorded in the race implies the machines lost the votes.

Jennings still has a complaint filed, however, before Congress, which is the ultimate arbiter of who will fill the seat. The seat is being vacated by Rep. Katherine Harris, a Republican who unsuccessfully ran for the Senate.

"The House has the power to collect evidence and make a decision about who, if anyone, was duly elected to represent the people of the 13th district," U.S. Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., said Friday before the judge's ruling. Holt plans to make an official statement next week making it clear that by seating Buchanan, the House isn't forfeiting the right to reverse that decision later.
http://www.jacksonville.com/apnews/stories/122906/D8MAO3C85.shtml

[rzemanfl]

3. Well, if it wasn't the machines, then it was the design of the ballot

and there is a voter's suit pending about that.

[philb]

19. Its clear the ballot design was faulty and biased, as the results show

on machines that weren't "disappearing votes"

But its also clear from the voters that there were many machines that were "disappearing votes"
and this was due to a systematic "hack" or "glitch" that was not random.

Its clear that the cause of the problem could have been determined by a serious audit that looked
at the ballot design on the screens of the machines with the high undervotes,
and looked at the ballot definition files and programming for those machines.

But the authorities in Florida are agains covering up for another obviously stolen election,
which has happened in Florida in every election since 2000.

[philb]

20. Conservative analysis shows Jennings was the clear winner

The following analysis shows that there is strong evidence the majority of voters in Dist 13 in Sartasota, Florida
favored the Democrat Jennings in the Congressional race, and if the votes had been counted fairly Jennings was the clear winner.

The Precinct data from the Supervisor of Elections Website, http://www.srqelections.com/results/gen2006pct.htm
was compiled for each precinct under the following conservative and reasonable assumptions:

1. an undervote due to voters who chose not to vote in the Congressional race of 2.5% in all precincts
2. undervotes in each precinct over 2.5% spread to Jennings and Buchanan in the same ratio as the Jennings/Buchanan votes in the precinct

Result: adds an additional net 1103 votes to Jennings total

Conservatively, Jennings would have won in a fair count by over 665 votes.

This is conservative since the reports by lots of voters that had disappearing votes were all Democratic voters
whose votes were disappearing, and the audit found similarly that the large majority of those whose vote was not
registered in the District 13 race were predominantly Democratic voters.

Its also unlikely that even 2.5% of the voters in Sarasota chose not to vote in the most hotly contested race in that area.

The spread sheet by precinct and analysis calculations are at:
www.flcv.com/d13panal.html

Its easy to follow.

[freedomfries]

4. FL: Judge denies Jennings access to source codes

Judge denies Jennings access to source codes

Stacey Eidson & Carl Mario Nudi
Bradenton Herald
December 30, 2006
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/local/16349114.htm

Describing the expert testimony in the case as "nothing more than conjecture," a Leon County circuit judge ruled against Democrat Christine Jennings' request for access to the computer software and source codes of Sarasota County's controversial touch-screen voting machines.
...
Jennings said she would appeal.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Democrats had no plans to block Republican Vern Buchanan, who has been certified by the state of Florida as the winner in the District 13 race, from being sworn in next week.

"This is the best way to maintain representation for Florida District 13 while allowing the two appropriate challenges to run their course," said Drew Hammill.

Jennings said she agreed.

"I think it's the right thing to do, to seat Vern Buchanan temporarily while we gather evidence," Jennings said before Gary's ruling. "But I am pursuing this and I do believe I will end up being the representative for the people of the 13th District."
...
Less than an hour after the judge's ruling, Jennings released a statement through her campaign office pledging to appeal the decision.

"It's shocking that there is more concern for protecting a company's profits rather than protecting our right to vote," Jennings said in the prepared statement. "The secrecy and question marks surrounding electronic voting is creating a real crisis in confidence among America's voters, and the only way to resolve this is by conducting a thorough review by outside experts."

During a two-day court hearing last week, Jennings' attorneys called Charles Stewart, chair of the political science department at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to testify that at least a portion of the more than 18,400 undervotes in Sarasota County could be attributed to machine malfunction.

"Even if only 1,500 out of Sarasota County's 18,000 undervotes in the congressional race are attributable to machine malfunction, Christine Jennings still would have won the election because Sarasota County was her political stronghold," Stewart testified in a brief filed last week.
...
"Even ES&S's expert agrees that Christine Jennings won this race and that the will of the voters was denied by the suppression of thousands of votes," Coffey said in the campaign's prepared statement. "But now we need to find out exactly what suppressed those votes, and we feel that the rights of Florida's voters to have their votes count - and be counted accurately - is paramount in this case. And we are very confident that the appellate court will see it that way, too."

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/local/16349114.htm

[freedomfries]

5. Nat: NYTimes: House Democrats to Object to Florida Election Outcome

House Democrats to Object to Florida Election Outcome

Kate Sernike
The New York Times
December 30, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/us/politics/30elect.html?_r=2&ref=politics&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

WASHINGTON, Dec. 29 — Democrats said Friday that they would open the new Congress by formally objecting to the election result in Florida’s 13th District, in the hope that the Democrat who is contesting the narrow outcome there will ultimately take the place of the Republican whom the state has certified as the winner.

The Democrats say that if they were to make no such objection, formally called a parliamentary inquiry, they would essentially be signaling the courts that the House agreed with the state-certified result. By contrast, their move will put the House on record as supporting Ms. Jennings’s challenge.

That move requires no House vote, only the approval of the chair, presumably Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, who is to become speaker next week.

“No one who’s in a disputed election like this should get too comfortable in the House of Representatives,” Representative Rush D. Holt, Democrat of New Jersey, said in announcing the new majority’s plan on Friday. “The evidence will show that a revote is necessary.”
:patriot:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/us/politics/30elect.html?_r=2&ref=politics&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

[freedomfries]

6. FL: Holt supports Jennings, calls for revote

Holt supports Jennings, calls for revote

Steven J. Smith
The Sun Herald, FL
December 30, 2006
http://www.sun-herald.com/NewsArchive2/123006/ew2.htm?date=123006&story=ew2.htm

Rep. Rush Holt of New Jersey's 12th Congressional District announced Friday his intention to support fellow Democrat Christine Jennings in her challenge of the voting system she claims denied the voters of Florida's 13th Congressional District an accurate accounting of ballots cast in her race against Republican Vern Buchanan on Nov. 7.

A self-proclaimed "proponent of restoring trust to our electoral process," Holt said the certification expected from Florida Secretary of State will not reflect the will of the voters and a revote will be necessary. He added he intends to make a formal inquiry on Jan. 4 on the House floor, immediately after new House Speaker Nancy Pelosi takes her chair.

"The inquiry is intended to assure that nothing the House does prejudices the proceedings that are under way in the House administration and then subsequently in the full body of the House, or the legal challenge under way in Florida," Holt said in a press conference Friday.

Holt added that democracy only works when the electorate has confidence that the people representing them are actually the people they've chosen. He referred to the voting machines used in the Jennings/Buchanan election as "unverifiable."
...
In the meantime, Buchanan will take his seat in Congress. Holt warned, however, he shouldn't get too comfortable just yet.

"Each of us serves provisionally or conditionally," Holt said. "If it is determined that any of us doesn't meet the qualifications or was not duly elected, we're out of there."
:patriot:
http://www.sun-herald.com/NewsArchive2/123006/ew2.htm?date=123006&story=ew2.htm

[freedomfries]

7. Nat: Fed News Conference with Rush Holt: the Disputed FL 13 Election

NEWS CONFERENCE WITH REP. RUSH HOLT (D-NJ)
TOPIC: THE DISPUTED ELECTION IN FLORIDA'S 13TH DISTRICT AND THE ISSUE OF ELECTORAL REFORM

Federal News Service
December 29, 2006
http://www.fednews.com/transcript.htm?id=20061229t5440

REP. HOLT: Good morning. I'm Rush Holt. I represent the people of the 12th Congressional District in New Jersey.

And for some time here in Congress I've been working to restore trust in the electoral process. As you know, I have several pieces of legislation to do that. And I point to the fact that in a number of recent elections, both on the federal and local levels, the elections have been marred by results that cannot be believed or confirmed. And our democracy only works when we believe it does. ...
http://www.fednews.com/transcript.htm?id=20061229t5440

[freedomfries]

8. OpEdNews: Dear American Patriot: Amending the Holt Bill

Dear American Patriot: Amending the Holt Bill

Nancy Tobi
OpEdNews.com
December 29, 2006
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_nancy_to_061229_dear_american_patrio.htm

Dear American Patriot,

You have undoubtedly been solicited by several large organizations and others to sign petitions for election reform at the national level. There are many legislative proposals to amend the Help America Vote Act HAVA).

There are divergent opinions on how to make our way out. We represent an affiliation of citizen election reformers working in a direction that we know can WORK and can restore democratic elections to our country.

We are asking for your support of our Request by Voters, and for permission to add your name to our letter to Congress. Please respond with your affirmation of support TODAY. Send your name, state, and organization (if applicable) in a reply to this email or send your reply to [e-mail].

Then, pass on this request to everyone you know. Contact YOUR Congressional representatives and ask them to help amend the Holt Bill to include the remedies and recommendations found in the Request by Voters. Contact Congressman Rush Holt, and tell him you support the Request by Voters.

Contact Congressman Holt here: http://holt.house.gov/contact.shtml
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_nancy_to_061229_dear_american_patrio.htm

[freedomfries]

9. Text of Request by Voters to Amend HR 550

http://www.democracyfornewhampshire.com/files/requestbyvoters.pdf

[freedomfries]

10. BradBlog: Daily Voting News for December 30, 2006

"'Daily Voting News' For December 30, 2006"
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3966

[freedomfries]

11. IN: Civil rights groups to push agenda in new Congress

Civil rights groups to push agenda in new Congress

Deborah Barfield Berry
Gannett News Service
December 31, 2006
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061231/LOCAL21/612310302/-1/ZONES04

WASHINGTON -- With Democrats set to take control of Congress, civil rights groups are pressing for an aggressive agenda that includes a ban on racial profiling, an overhaul in some election practices and stepped up oversight of the Justice Department.

"The next two years are an opportunity for the civil rights community to regain lost ground on the effective enforcement of our nation's civil rights laws," said Wade Henderson, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.
Civil rights advocates say they expect less resistance than in the Republican-controlled Congress, especially with members of the Congressional Black Caucus heading powerful committees, including Judiciary and Ways and Means. The advocates, say civil rights issues are more likely to have a platform.
"At the very least, we are optimistic about the opportunity for oversight hearings to see what is not being done to enforce civil rights" laws, said John Britton, chief counsel for the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. "We're cautiously optimistic that in some areas there may be a chance for fixes."

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061231/LOCAL21/612310302/-1/ZONES04

[freedomfries]

12. CT: Women gained ground in 2006

Women gained ground in 2006
Rising to power, advances in health care and a war of words bring year to a close

Amanda Cuda
The Connecticut Post
December 31, 2006
http://www.connpost.com/women/ci_4920681

Whether reporting the news, giving birth, rising to power or narrowly avoiding getting their power stripped from them, there's no doubt that women were everywhere in 2006.
We saw the election of the first female speaker of the House, and the hiring of the first solo female news anchor. This also was a year of medical breakthroughs, errant beauty queens, and oodles of celeb breakups. Here are some of the ways women made a difference in 2006.

In politics, Democratic Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi of California was picked to take over as speaker of the House next year, after Democrats won control of the House in November's mid-term elections. She will be the first woman to have that title.

With speculation still high on what Hillary Clinton will do, in a "Today" show interview with host Meredith Vieira on Dec. 18, Clinton indicated she was close to a decision on whether she'd enter the 2008 Democratic presidential field.
...
In health, there were a number of breakthroughs that could help defend women against potentially deadly illnesses.
http://www.connpost.com/women/ci_4920681

[freedomfries]

13. MI: Detroit Voting Machines Flawed, Clerks Say

Metro Detroit Voting machines flawed, clerks in Oakland Co. say

Staff Writer
The Detroit Free Press
December 30, 2006
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061230/NEWS05/612300303/1001/NEWS

Machines designed to ease balloting for elderly and disabled voters failed as often as 30% of the time in last month's elections and shouldn't be used again until they are fixed, the Oakland County Clerks Association said Friday.

The group of clerks, who faced hundreds of voters frustrated by the $6,400 AutoMark machines, has asked for them to be recalled.

"I don't think we should use them in February or May unless they are fixed," said Bloomfield Township Clerk Jan Roncelli, who said about 10 of the 29 machines in her township failed during the Nov. 7 elections. No one is saying the failures altered election results, but the problems did slow the tallying and frustrated voters and election workers using them.

Among problems cited:

• Failure to read both sides of a ballot.

• Crinkling of ballots as they passed through.

• Pronunciation errors in audible commands given to blind voters.
...
"A 30% failure rate is not acceptable," Johnson said. "We want to know what's going on."

So does the seller of the machines, Election Systems and Software of Omaha, Neb.
:argh:

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061230/NEWS05/612300303/1001/NEWS

[philb]

22. Machines for disabled failed througout the country, and for lots of regular voters also

plus also the machines for non-disabled voters in many areas of most states
www.flcv.com/eirsppp6.html

along with unreliable results due to switching, disappearing votes, compiler glitches, etc.
www.flcv.com/eirstss6.html

[freedomfries]

14. RI: Ballot counting methods needs a revamp

Ballot counting methods needs a revamp

Editorial
The Narragansett Times
December 29, 2006
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17643605&BRD=1714&PAG=461&dept_id=73826&rfi=6

In the blow-out of Democratic victories this election year, it shouldn't be overlooked that there were some very tight races, including one in East Greenwich that was decided by a single vote.
Understandably, the loser of any squeaker is going to ask for a recount, as happened in several races this year. For nearly a decade, Rhode Islanders have voted by filling out paper ballots that are then fed into an optical scanner called the Optech Eagle. When recounts are requested, the Board of Elections complies - by reinserting the ballots into the scanner.
Some of those ballots are rejected by the machine, and this year's candidates asked to view them to see whether "voter intent" could be discerned. For example, if someone circled a candidate's name rather than completing an arrow, the machine would not count that ballot.
The Board of Elections balked at the suggestion, saying it would open "a can of worms." (We translate that to mean "too much work" for these folks employed by the taxpayers.)
The candidates took their case to Superior Court, where Judge Stephen J. Fortunato, Jr. ruled in their favor. Board of Elections acting chairman Thomas Iannitti appealed, but Fortunato was upheld by the Rhode Island Supreme Court.
The scanners have made voting an easy privilege: no more pulling levers from top to bottom on the former mechanical machines. Instead, simple strokes of a pen are needed before feeding one's choices into the scanner. Results are available almost instantly when the polls close.
By law, the paper ballots must be preserved for 22 months. That's fine; it's a paper trail. But what's the point of having one if they cannot be manually examined when questions arise.
Voting-rights advocacy groups maintain that no electronic machine should be the final word in tabulation. Rhode Island doesn't audit any ballots to ensure accuracy, and we should. Nor does the state - until now - allow manual recounts. And that's the only way to ultimately gauge accuracy.
...
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17643605&BRD=1714&PAG=461&dept_id=73826&rfi=6

[freedomfries]

16. TN: Sweet note, sour note: 2006

Sweet note, sour note: 2006

Opinion
Memphis Commercial Appeal
December 31, 2006
http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/opinion/article/0,1426,MCA_536_5247332,00.html

It's all about you (at least those of you who voted)
Is it just us, or did it seem like 2006 was one big election day? From the Shelby County primaries in May to the November general election, there was no rest from the barrage of political robocalls, mailouts and relentless television ads. Thanks to a Memphis school board runoff, the campaign season extended into this month for some.

Yet Memphis and Shelby County voters persevered. They put up with bad weather, long lines, lengthy ballots and new voting machines. And, for the most part, they made good choices, often reaching across racial or partisan lines to do so. For that, all who participated in the electoral process get this year's sweet note.

Of course, the machinations of the Ford political family didn't always make it easy for people to be enthusiastic about the electoral process. While Jake Ford behaved erratically on the campaign trail, his aunt Ophelia hardly showed up at all. Then there were the indictments against brothers John and Edmund in separate but no less disheartening corruption cases.

Their actions undoubtedly hurt the Senate candidacy of Harold Jr., the one political Ford who doesn't share this year's sour note.
http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/opinion/article/0,1426,MCA_536_5247332,00.html

[philb]

21. Huge problems in the Tennessee election in 2006

widespread voter disinfranchisement
touch screen switching, glitches, failing machines, too few machines, etc.

www.flcv.com/tenness6.html

[freedomfries]

15. Thanks You DUers & A Better New Year to All!

[Kurovski]

17. A kick to the top and the same to you, freedomfries!

Many, many thanks!

[philb]

18. He can't really believe that. Whats the real reason for his decision?

Anyone know anything about the judge and the background on this ridiculous decision.

It should be clear that the evidence strongly supports that Jennings would win in a fair count,
and there is virtually zero chance that 18,000 people chose not to vote in the race.

And surely very questionable "trade secrets" is not as important a principle as voting fairness and transparency.
So whats the real reason for this decision?
And whats the next step? Appeal? to Supreme Court (Florida?) (U.S.?) U.S. Senate?