Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, FRI. 5/4/07 GOP sought to suppress votes

[rumpel]

Featured Article

The Kansas City Star

GOP sought to suppress votes in Missouri, critics say

Missouri is among states where alleged efforts to dampen Democratic turnout were focused.
By GREG GORDON
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON | Before the 2006 mid-term elections, Republicans in Missouri talked a lot about voter fraud.

They filed voter-registration lawsuits, passed a law in Jefferson City requiring voters to show ID cards and fretted that dead people might vote.

Even White House political guru Karl Rove weighed in, telling a talk-show host a couple of days before the election that he had just visited Missouri, where GOP strategists said they were “well aware of” the threat of voter fraud.

The threat to the integrity of the election was seen as so grave that Bradley Schlozman, the acting chief of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and later the U.S. attorney in Kansas City, wielded the power of the federal government to protect the ballot.

Now, disclosures in the wake of the firings of eight U.S. attorneys have led to allegations that that Republican campaign was not as it appeared.

The preoccupation with Missouri was part of a wider effort in several states, critics charge, aimed at protecting the GOP hold on Congress by dampening Democratic turnout. That effort included purges of names from lists of registered voters and tight policing of get-out-the-vote drives by Democrats.

The Bush administration denies those claims. But they’ve gotten traction recently because three of the U.S. attorneys ousted by the Justice Department say they lost their jobs because they failed to prove voter fraud allegations.

http://www.kansascity.com/136/story/94097.html

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1. TX: Democrat returns to help block voter ID bill

El Paso Times

Associated Press
Article Launched: 05/04/2007 12:00:00 AM MDT

AUSTIN-- Sen. Mario Gallegos of Houston, who's been away from the Capitol most of the legislative session after a liver transplant, showed up in the Senate on Thursday to join a bloc of Democrats opposing the voter ID bill.

Under Senate rules, two-thirds of the chamber, or 21 senators, must agree to bring a bill up for debate. With Gallegos present, the 11 Democrats have enough power to block it.

Gallegos said he planned to attend every day for the rest of the session to help stop the bill. The five-month session will end May 28. He said he felt up to being at the Senate for the rest of the month.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/election/ci_5812765

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2. TX: Voters may have been erased

Star-Telegram

By AMAN BATHEJA
Star-Telegram staff writer

A centralized voting database wreaking havoc with early voting statewide may also have inadvertently canceled some voters' registrations.

Don Alexander, Denton County election administrator, said a part of the Texas Election Administration Management (TEAM) system that was supposed to lighten the load for election workers may have kicked thousands of voters off who registered while renewing their driver's licenses.

The latest glitch stems from a program that added voter registrations processed through the Department of Public Safety, Alexander said. The Texas secretary of state's office established the program in March in response to other problems with the database.

However, some Texans who renewed their licenses in counties different from their residences have shown up in the system twice: in the county where they live and in the county where they renewed, Alexander said. The system ended up canceling the voters' original registrations, he said.

"There's no telling how many people were automatically canceled doing this," Alexander said. "It could have been thousands."

http://www.star-telegram.com/189/story/90948.html

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3. TX: Early voting moves at steady pace

The Eagle

Updated 5:42 AM on Friday, May 4, 2007

But bilingual workers still needed on May 12


By JANET PHELPS
Eagle Staff Writer

Severe weather and complications with a new voter registration system haven't kept people away during the first week of early voting for the Bryan-College Station May 12 elections, according to officials.

Nearly two 2 percent of the registered voters in each city have turned out to cast a ballot over the four days since the polls opened.

Of the 32,354 registered voters in Bryan, 476 had voted in person and 74 through the mail by the close of the polls Thursday.

"This is definitely a heavier turnout than we typically see at this stage," said Bryan City Secretary Mary Lynne Stratta.

In College Station, 430 of the city's 39,000 registered voters cast ballots by late Thursday, according to City Secretary Connie Hooks.

Early voting for Bryan and College Station city council and mayoral elections, as well as a College Station school bond election and a proposed amendment to the Texas Constitution, continues through Tuesday.

Hooks said the turnout in College Station so far has been high compared to previous years'.

http://www.theeagle.com/stories/050407/politics_20070504031.php

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4. MA: Ryan objects to support for opponent

Friday, May 04, 2007
By MIKE PLAISANCE
[e-mail]

SPRINGFIELD - Mayor Charles V. Ryan said this week it was inappropriate of Denise Jordan, chairwoman of the city Election Commission, to introduce City Councilor Domenic J. Sarno at the kickoff of his campaign for mayor on Tuesday.

"I think there's a lack of sensitivity on her part and on Domenic's part," Ryan said on Wednesday.

Ryan said Election Commission members should be impartial.

Jordan said yesterday she did nothing wrong, and The Republican was exaggerating the matter.

"I can introduce anybody I want. You're just trying to make a story," Jordan said.

Duties of election commissioners include ensuring elections are properly managed and working with the Election Office staff at City Hall to maintain voter records, according to City Solicitor Edward M. Pikula and the city's Web site.

http://www.masslive.com/springfield/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-9/1178266336269050.xml&coll=1

(having problems posting - changed content to eliminate dupe)

[rumpel]

5. NetworkWorld: U.S. state to dump touch-screen e-voting systems

Network World

By Marc L. Songini, Computerworld, 05/03/07

In a major shift on e-voting that could ripple to other states, the Florida legislature Friday voted to replace nearly all of the state's touch-screen voting systems with optical scan devices.

Florida Governor Charlie Crist, who initially offered up the bill mandating a change in e-voting systems earlier this year, applauded the Florida legislature for acting after the state House approved the measure. It had already been okayed by the state Senate.

The law mandates the replacement of touch-screen systems with optical scan devices and also moves up the date of Florida's presidential primary to the last Tuesday in January. In 2008, that would be Jan. 29.

Touch-screen systems have come under criticism for being unreliable, easily hacked and lacking the transparency voters need to trust that their votes are actually being counted. To address those concerns, Crist offered a bill that would replace the systems in 17 Florida counties with optical scan devices, which require filling out a paper ballot that can later be used for canvassing or recount.

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/050307-us-state-to-dump-touch-screen.html

also other articles linked on site:

Group pushes to monitor UK e-voting next month 4/20/2007
Lawmakers call for e-voting paper trails 4/18/2007
Protesters sue to stop use of French e-voting machines 4/17/2007

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6. Just In- AR: Baker's lawsuit against Election Commission, prosecutor is dismissed

Friday, May 4, 2007 12:29 PM CDT

By E. Alan Long, Carroll County News

BERRYVILLE - Special Circuit Judge John Linebarger dismissed the lawsuit of Berryville attorney Cindy Baker against the Carroll County Election Commission Wednesday.

The suit, which also named Prosecuting Attorney Tony?Rogers, who was Baker's opponent in the 2006 Democratic Primary, was dismissed with prejudice.

Eureka Springs attorney Greg A. Thurman, who represented Rogers, stated that “today's ruling confirms ... that Ms. Baker's allegations are not supported by the law nor were her allegations factual.”

Rogers won the election by 53 votes, but Baker called into question the legitimacy of 88 ballots and called for 286 ballots cast using iVotronic machines to be deducted from the vote total due to procedural irregularities involving testing and certification of the machines; and sought to have the primary election declared void or for her to be found the winner of the nomination.

http://www.eurekaspringstimesecho.com/articles/2007/05/04/news/we1.txt

I will take a break - the DU server won't let me connect....... :(

[philb]

7. Widespread systematic illegal dirty tricks in 2006 and 2004

2006
www.flcv.com/eirsdt6.html

2004
www.flcv.com/summary.html

and voter suppression

www.flcv.com/eirsppp6.html

www.flcv.com/summary.html
www.flcv.com/studentv.html