Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, Tuesday 02/12/08

[Melissa G]

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, Tuesday 02/12/08

Bill Wippert/Buffalo News
Elections Commissioner Dennis E. Ward examines the AutoMark Ballot Marking Device for use by people with handicaps.

Optical scanners to replace lever-type voting machines
New York is last state in the nation to modernize election equipment
see post 5 for details...

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[Melissa G]

1. States n/t

[Melissa G]

5. New York is last state in the nation to modernize election equipment

Optical scanners to replace lever-type voting machines
New York is last state in the nation to modernize election equipment

By Robert J. McCarthy NEWS POLITICAL REPORTER
Updated: 02/12/08 8:45 AM


Bill Wippert/Buffalo News
Elections Commissioner Dennis E. Ward examines the AutoMark Ballot Marking Device for use by people with handicaps.
Those familiar lever-type voting machines, part of New Yorkers’ Election Day experience since the 1940s, are about to join typewriters and buggy whips as technological has-beens.

The Erie County Board of Elections, along with just about all other counties throughout the state, has voted to adopt an “optical scanning” system that will now ask voters to mark a paper ballot to be read and tabulated by a computer.

Though voters will encounter the old lever-type machines one more time come Election Day on Nov. 4, new federal requirements making voting accessible to the handicapped will mean a new and modern system that officials believe will prove just as reliable.

“Come September and the primary, the disabled and anyone else who would like to try it can use it,” said Lee Daghlian, spokesman for the state Board of Elections. “But by ’09, in time for the local elections, there will be no more levers.”

http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/story/274290.html

[Melissa G]

6. CO- Voting machines to be recertified in two weeks

Voting machines to be recertified in two weeks
Gov. Bill Ritter signs a law that gives the secretary of state more flexibility in dealing with voting machine problems.
By CHARLES ASHBY
CHIEFTAIN DENVER BUREAU
DENVER - It will take about two weeks to recertify voting equipment across the state that Secretary of State Mike Coffman declared unusable for this year's elections.

Coffman announced the projected time line Monday moments after Gov. Bill Ritter signed into law a measure that gave him more flexibility in handling appeals to the thousands of electronic voting machines and ballot counters he decertified late last year.

The secretary said his office already has been working with the three vendors whose voting equipment was decertified, saying that much of the security and accuracy problems can be fixed.

Coffman said his office will be hold one massive public hearing - the details for which are to be released today - on all the decertified machines to consider appeals filed by every county that had their machines declared unusable.

http://www.chieftain.com/metro/1202799741/2

[Melissa G]

9. CT- Lack Of Privacy A Concern About New Voting Machines

Lack Of Privacy A Concern About New Voting Machines
Numerous complaints raised at Norwich hearing

By Claire Bessette Published on 2/12/2008

Norwich — A state legislative committee heard complaints about soggy ballots, spilled coffee, lack of privacy, faulty machines and bleeding ink during a public hearing Monday on the state's new electronic voting machines.

Norwich hosted the first of five planned public hearings in various locations by the state Government Administration and Elections Committee on the performance of the new election machines that went into service statewide last year.

About 25 people attended the hearing and expressed a myriad of complaints about the machines. Lack of privacy was a top issue, with complaints that privacy booths are too close together, or that election workers could see voters' ballots if they had questions or problems with the ballot.

Melinda Valencia, a volunteer with a group called CT Voters Count, said state officials recommend that the privacy booths be placed at least 3 feet apart.

http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=abbd3120-b277-4373-a2e3-b82aef50d4d1

[Melissa G]

11. PA- A risk of mishaps with Pa. voting?

A risk of mishaps with Pa. voting?
Report: 'high risk' of malfunctions for Pa. voting machines
Jessica Bell

Pennsylvania is one of 17 states ranked as being at "high-risk" for voting-machine mishaps by the nonprofit organizations Common Cause and the Verified Voting Foundation.

However, state officials and students varied greatly over whether this recent report is cause for concern.

The report classified states' voting machine reliability based on two conditions: whether voting machines produce paper records and whether these records are randomly audited during the post-election period.

Pennsylvania voting machines are considered "high-risk" because they do not produce a separate paper record of the voter's ballot and, according to the report, recovery from voting machine malfunction or tampering would be nearly impossible.

snip
However, Michael Barley, spokesman for the Republican Party of Pennsylvania, said he was concerned about voter fraud and machine failure in the upcoming presidential primary, which will be held April 22. He said he agreed with the report's recommendations.

"I don't understand why it would be a bad thing to have a paper record," he said. There would be "more evidence about where the problem occurred and what happened."

http://media.www.dailypennsylvanian.com/media/storage/paper882/news/2008/02/11/News/A.Risk.Of.Mishaps.With.Pa.Voting-3200602.shtml

[Melissa G]

13. CA- 94,000 Votes Missing in L.A. County

94,000 Votes Missing in L.A. County
by Paul Hogarth‚ Feb. 12‚ 2008

While Hillary Clinton won last week’s California primary, the gap would be narrower if we counted every vote. But in Los Angeles County, the Registrar of Voters disqualified 94,500 ballots from “decline to state” (DTS) voters – because most did not fill an extra bubble to say they were voting in the Democratic primary. These voters requested a Democratic ballot, were given a ballot with only Democratic candidates listed, and a manual re-count would clearly indicate who they meant to vote for. But if they didn’t check the extra bubble, the machine did not pick up their vote – a fatal design flaw beyond any voter’s control. To not count these votes would violate state law, as well as the California Constitution – which requires every vote to be counted. With the close delegate count at stake – along with overwhelming proof that non-partisan voters favored Barack Obama – it is incumbent on L.A. County to count every vote, and to do it now.

Last week, 189,000 “decline-to-state” (DTS) voters in California’s largest County participated in the presidential primary – a 20% increase in turnout over 2006. Each party can choose whether to allow DTS voters in their primary, but only two have done so: (a) the Democratic Party, and (b) the American Independent Party – an ultra-right, nativist party. For a DTS voter to participate, they had to request a ballot in one of these two parties. An overwhelming number picked the Democratic ballot, as poll workers were required to keep track by marking it in the voter rolls.

But here’s where it got tricky. As the sample ballot shows below, DTS voters who got a Democratic ballot were given a list of the presidential candidates. But directly above (and in smaller font), they were also told to mark a bubble that they were voting in the Democratic primary. According to the election machines, 94,500 DTS voters who asked for such a ballot did not pick a candidate. While some may have abstained, it’s clear that a solid majority were disqualified simply because they did not fill in that extra bubble.

http://www.beyondchron.org/articles/94_000_Votes_Missing_in_L_A_County_5360.html

[Peace Patriot]

24. CA: Sign the Petition to L.A. Registrar Logan to count all the votes!

Sign the Petition here:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/s/counteveryvote

-----

Discussion here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3177894

-----

Background on why L.A.'s election system is so bad:
"California Election Integrity Assessment 2008"

Los Angeles has been the leader of a gang of pro-corporate, anti-transparency, "bad attitude" CA counties including also San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino and others, who are acting on behalf of corporate vendors (Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia), not the voters. L.A.'s elections chief, Conny McCormack--one the worst, the leader--just resigned, Dec 07, leaving her hand-picked successor, Dean Logan, in charge of an easily riggable (centrally tabulated), and highly corrupted election system, ripe for major mess-ups--an election system run like the Iraq War, as a corporate looting expedition. For instance, $25 million to ES&S for scanners that do nothing but check for overvotes, and the entire Absentee Ballot concession including uncertified signature recognition machines to Diebold. For more on CA's and L.A.'s system, see...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4380748

[sonias]

27. Latest I've heard is that it is impossible to tell

Who they voted for.

Up to 100K Los Angeles voters likely won't have ballots counted
As many as 100,000 independent voters in Los Angeles did not -- and most likely will not -- have their ballots counted in last week's Democratic presidential primary because of an unnecessarily complex system, inadequately trained poll workers and little effort by elections officials to notify voters of the proper procedures, according to news reports and voting-rights activists

(snip)
Voting rights group the Courage Campaign has started a petition urging LA County registrar Dean Logan to initiate a hand-count of ballots. But elections officials say that may be impossible because the same optical-scan ballot was used for Democratic and American Independent primaries. As the Times explained:

In the American Independent contest, there were three candidates running, while the Democratic Party had eight. The bubbles for the first three candidates in each party were in the same position on the ballot, making it impossible to tell after the fact if a voter was voting Democratic or American Independent -- unless that person also filled in the bubble indicating party preference.

In addition to being the only county to require the extra party-identifying step, Los Angeles County is the only one not to print candidates names directly on the ballot, making a re-count virtually impossible.

:grr:

Sonia

[Melissa G]

17. OH- Ballot restraining order voided

Ballot restraining order voided
Secretary of state's plan to be heard Wednesday
BY PHILIP ELLIOTT | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLUMBUS - A Franklin County judge Monday said a temporary restraining order that blocked the state's election plan was procedurally flawed, but that the court would have a full review of Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner's plans later in the week.

Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Eric Brown said Union County Prosecutor David Phillips didn't give Brunner enough notice to attend the hearing and the matter wasn't so urgent that they couldn't wait.

Brown ordered Phillips and Brunner back to his court Wednesday to discuss whether Brunner overstepped her authority by ordering counties to offer paper ballots.


"We will get to the merits on Wednesday," Phillips said. "We could quibble with the judge's conclusion about who deprived who of a forum. ... So far, it's just been procedural issues the secretary has been throwing out."

Brunner spokesman Patrick Gallaway said the decision squares with the secretary's authority to issue directives. Gallaway also said the office's petition won on its merits.

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080212/NEWS01/802120342/1056/COL02

[Melissa G]

19. NJ- Trial ordered in lawsuit against election board

TOMS RIVER — A Superior Court judge has refused to throw out a lawsuit that contends that the Ocean County Board of Elections failed to safeguard voters' rights in the November 2006 municipal election in Barnegat.

Judge Edward M. Oles, however, did dismiss claims against the board challenging the electronic voting machines used in that contest, deferring to a suit in Mercer County making similar allegations about the AVC Advantage Electronic Voting Machines manufactured by Sequoia Voting Systems.

Oles said the Mercer County ruling "will have statewide effect, and it would be improvident for me to address those issues in light of that particular fact."

Oles ordered the Ocean County Election Board to go to trial on the remaining claims in the lawsuit filed by Rose Jackson of Marblehead Place, Barnegat, and Michele Rosen of Bradley Beach Way in Waretown.

Jackson, a Democrat, lost her bid for a seat on the Barnegat Township Committee in the disputed election.

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080212/NEWS02/802120398/1070

[rumpel]

29. Voter-registration Web site under review

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Gannett State Bureau
TRENTON

It costs nothing to register to vote in New Jersey. And one cannot register online.

Ignorance of those two canons has two state agencies examining what looked like mischief in the run-up to last Tuesday's presidential primary election.

It seems a commercial Web site persuaded an undetermined number of people to pay $9.95 each to fill out a form on their computer screens in the belief they were registering.

The state offers the same form for free, but it must be hand-signed and mailed in.

In at least three cases known to Public Advocate Ronald Chen, people who used the service went to vote, only to be turned away by poll officials who accurately said the three had never registered.

http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080212/NEWS01/802120373/1006

[Melissa G]

22. VA- Windstorm knocks out handful of polling sites

Windstorm knocks out handful of polling sites
Election officials in several localities were busy setting up alternate voting locations.
By David Harrison
777-3523

Update: Westside precinct has been moved to William Fleming High School

Sunday's windstorms knocked power out to a handful of polling places in the Roanoke Valley, sending election officials scrambling to find alternate voting locations for today's presidential primaries.

Officials said Monday that as many as nine polling places in the region could be affected.

In Roanoke, the outages affected four voting locations:

Voters who vote at Highland Park Learning Center will vote at Jefferson Center, 541 Luck Ave.
Voters who vote at Ruffner Middle School will vote at William Fleming High School, 3649 Ferncliff Ave. N.W.
Voters who vote at Fairview Elementary School will vote at Melrose Branch Library, 2607 Salem Turnpike N.W.
Voters who vote at Raleigh Court Elementary School will vote at Patrick Henry High School, 2102 Grandin Road S.W.
http://www.roanoke.com/politics/wb/150463

[Melissa G]

23. WA- 'Inconsistencies' Reported in Results from Snohomish County, WA's GOP Caucus

Thanks to BradBlog for the post and the DU discussion here...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x497269
Mon Feb-11-08 09:32 PM
Original message
'Inconsistencies' Reported in Results from Snohomish County, WA's GOP Caucus
Source: KING 5, BRAD BLOG, HorsesAss



'Inconsistencies' Reported in Results from Snohomish County, WA's GOP Caucus
Caucus Votes, Not Delegates, May Have Been Used to Derive Evergreen State's Still-Incomplete Results
ALSO: State Party Chair, 'Esser the Suppressor', Closely Allied, Beholden to McCain's State Chairman...

FULL STORY: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5683


Read more: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5683

[rumpel]

28. GA: Voters Say Diebold E-Pollbooks Crashed During Primary; Official Says They Didn't

Wired News

By Kim Zetter February 12, 2008 | 11:06:41 AM

I've been getting a number of reports from voters in Georgia that the electronic pollbooks the state used during last week's Super Tuesday primary crashed in a number of counties, resulting in the long lines that I reported about last week and in voters leaving without casting ballots.

Numerous voters in at least five Georgia counties have complained that there weren't enough e-pollbooks and that the machines crashed or were otherwise inoperable. But an election official in Fulton County, Georgia, where many of the crashes were reported, denied that any machine crashed, and said voters were mistaken. (I've posted some .mp3 files below that come from a voter hotline in which voters discuss crashes and inoperable machines.)

The ExpressPoll e-pollbooks, made by Diebold Election Systems, are used to verify that a voter is registered. (Georgia uses an older model of the ExpressPoll pictured above.)

Ralph Presley, who voted at a church in Fulton County, said there were about 200 people waiting in line at his precinct and although the church had fourteen voting machines, only two of them were being used at any one time due to a backup caused by problems with the e-pollbooks.

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/02/diebold-e-pollb.html

[rumpel]

30. MD: Election workers prepare for long day as polls open

The Capital

By E.B. FURGURSON III, Staff Writer
Published February 12, 2008

After an early morning rush, and some computer glitches, the poll workers at Cape St. Claire Elementary school settled into what they suppose will be a steady, and long, day.
Kristine Steinkonig, one of two chief judges at the polling place, reported 91 people voted in the first hour.

That was despite voting machine and polling book snafus that caused some delay when the doors opened.

"No. 3 and 4 machines are back up," she said. "But No. 2 is still down."

They got the two machines going again by basically unplugging and plugging them back in.

Outside, the approach to the driveway and parking lot was festooned with signs, all for Republican office seekers save one for 1st Congressional District candidate Frank Kratovil Jr., a Democrat seeking to unseat Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest, R-Kent.

http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2008/02_12-34/TOP

[Melissa G]

31. IL GOP exposes left-wing group posing as neutral

ed note-It sounds like those IL'pubs are feeling threatened... They put out this press release 'cuz if you are working for ballot integrity you must be partisan right? I hear Bradblog is soon to be doing a story on this.
mg

IL GOP exposes left-wing group posing as neutral
2/11/2008
http://www.weareillinois.org/connect/newsdetail.aspx?newsid=3125
Illinois Ballot Integrity Project linked to George Soros, Barbra Streisand, extreme rhetoric

The Illinois Republican Party has discovered that a group often described in the media as "an election watchdog group" or a "non-partisan" organization is really a far left group that attacks Republicans under a sanitized label.

Known as the Illinois Ballot Integrity Project, the group has strong ties to far left sources and itself uses extreme partisan rhetoric on its website, a State Party examination reveals.

The Illinois Republican Party is issuing this press release to alert the media about the partisan nature of this group and to make sure it is not allowed in the future to issue partisan attacks under disguise of neutrality.

“Every group in America is entitled to speak its mind about politics but the news media needs to make sure to properly label partisan groups so the public can weigh their statements accurately,” said ILGOP Spokesperson Lance Trover. “Partisan groups on both ends of the political spectrum should be identified properly.”

The watchdog group spends much of its time attacking elections in Republican DuPage County despite the county’s spotless record of conducting accurate vote counts. Meanwhile, the group is largely silent about rampant vote fraud in Democratic strongholds such as Cook County and in and around East St. Louis in southern Illinois.

Evidence of the group’s partisan nature includes:

- A current publicity campaign promoted by the Illinois Ballot Integrity Project is titled “Clean Elections.” To advertise that campaign, IBIP, on its website, is using promotional material produced by the Public Campaign, an entity that receives funding from a long list of left wing groups, including George Soros’ Open Society Project and the Streisand Foundation. The radical billionaire Soros spent more than $23 million in 2004 bankrolling various groups in an attempt to defeat President George W. Bush and continues to heavily fund left-wing groups.

- The following language is on the Illinois Ballot Integrity website: “2008 may well be a watershead year for elections in America. Ensuring that the will of the people is expressed through the ballot is vitally important. Democracy in America is under attack! This threat does not originate in far-off lands we only visit on television - nor is it being perpetrated by fanatics whose ideology we can barely comprehend. This attack is being mounted right here at home, by right-wing radicals and corporations that want to control our votes, aided and abetted by a compliant media and corrupt politicians.”

- Other language on the IBIP website that exposes as fraudulent the group’s claim to be a “non-partisan election watchdog group:” “Intelligent, informed and committed people like you are talking about the social injustices in America: the widening gap between rich and poor, the crisis in healthcare, about global warming and the despoiling of our environment. You are finally hearing some truths about the War on Iraq and many other issues that are vitally important. But we suggest to you that without securing our right to vote, the opportunity to correct these societal ills, stop an unjust war, or reverse the destruction of our planet will pass us by.”

- Also according to its website, IBIP is a “member organization” of the Election Defense Alliance, which is funded by the International Humanities Center, a group that bankrolls many left-wing causes.


http://www.weareillinois.org/connect/newsdetail.aspx?newsid=3125

[Melissa G]

2. National n/t

[Melissa G]

8. Chesapeake Tuesday Snapshot

Chesapeake Tuesday Snapshot
By Verified Voting Foundation
February 11, 2008
Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia hold Presidential primaries on February 12. A majority of the votes cast on "Chesapeake Tuesday" will be cast on paperless electronic voting systems which are vulnerable to error and tampering, and which do not not allow meaningful audits or recounts.

Commendably, Maryland and Virginia are taking steps to adopt verifiable voting systems in future elections.

Important statistics about the Chesapeake Tuesday primaries:*

238 Democratic delegates and 119 Republican delegates are at stake.
Maryland has 3,134,077 million registered voters, and 1618 election-day polling places. All of Maryland's election-day polling places will use only paperless touch screen voting machines. Maryland plans to abandon its paperless voting system and convert to a system of optically scanned paper ballots by 2010.
Virginia has 4,585,828 million registered voters, and over 2,300 election-day polling places. Almost 80% of the state's polling places will use paperless electronic voting systems. Virginia is also taking steps toward reform. In 2007, the Virginia legislature banned the future purchase of direct-recording electronic voting systems.
The District of Columbia has 377, 007 registered voters, and 142 election-day polling places. Each polling place will offer voters either a paper ballot option, or a paperless touch screen option. Verified Voting strongly encourages D.C. voters to vote on a paper ballot.

http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2748&Itemid=26

[Melissa G]

14. Presidential primary underway

Voting backups not just in Henrico

Tuesday, Feb 12, 2008 - 07:54 AM Updated: 09:47 AM

9:30 a.m.
Voting backups weren't just in Henrico this morning.

One voter reported that it took her 90 minutes to cast her vote at Marguerite Christian Elementary School in Chesterfield County. She arrived at 6:45 a.m. and there were about 50 people ahead of her. She left at 8:15.

8:45 a.m.
In Charlottesville, competition between Republican and Democrats has been intense enough this morning to lead to complaints about politicking at the polls.

Sheri Iachetta, the voter registrar for Charlottesville, said she has received complaints from voters in three of the city’s 28 precincts who felt harassed with questions about their voting preferences.

“They’d ask if you’re a Democrat or a Republic and try to shove paper in your hands...It’s the competition. This is unusual,’’ Iachetta said.

http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-02-12-0281.html

[Melissa G]

15. Understanding the big day

Understanding the big day
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Electing a president

Chapter 13

A Newspapers in Education Series


Written by Debby and Ned Carroll,


Edited by Ken Bookman,

Designed and illustrated by Roel Wielinga


On Election Day, millions of people will cast their ballots at a polling place. The person with the most votes will be the next president, right?

Not exactly.

Voters may think they are voting for the candidate of their choice but, because of something called the Electoral College, they're not.

Voters aren't actually choosing a candidate. They're picking a group of people known as electors who have pledged to vote for that candidate. Every state chooses as many electors as it has members of Congress. (Members of Congress would be a voter's senators and representatives, so, for example, Indiana has 12 electoral votes, corresponding to its two senators and 10 representatives.)

http://www.nj.com/living/expresstimes/index.ssf?/base/living-1/1202792726217060.xml&coll=2

[Melissa G]

18. Young voters are key in today's primary, experts say

Young voters are key in today's primary, experts say
Tirza Austin and Ken Pitts
Issue date: 2/12/08 Section: News

For the first time in decades, Maryland primary voters - young ones especially - are at the center of a fierce campaign for a presidential nomination.

In past years, with a late scheduled primary, Maryland voters haven't been in the position to tip any scales.

But as the race for the Democratic nomination arrives today in the so-called Potomac or Chesapeake Primary, a sweep of the contests in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., could put Sen. Barack Obama ahead of Sen. Hillary Clinton in the delegate arithmetic.

And the recent rush of candidates not just to the region, but to area campuses, speaks with particular authority to the importance of the youth vote, which is expected to make a strong showing.

"In almost all the states that have voted so far, the youth vote has been dramatically higher than in recent elections," said Peter Levine, a expert on youth politics at the university's school of public policy. "So all the signs are yes, much higher."

http://media.www.diamondbackonline.com/media/storage/paper873/news/2008/02/12/News/Young.Voters.Are.Key.In.Todays.Primary.Experts.Say-3202787.shtml

[Melissa G]

3. International n/t

[Melissa G]

21. The truth about European Union election observers in Venezuela

From The Sunday Times
February 10, 2008

The truth about European Union election observers in Venezuela

When Tom de Castella applied to become an EU observer safeguarding fair elections — and our taxes — in the Third World, he didn’t expect it to turn into a junket. Main portrait: Mark Guthrie
Democracy’s jet-lagged volunteers stumble out of Simon Bolivar international airport into the full glare of the Venezuelan sun. The two security men, locals employed by the mission, hurry us onto the waiting buses, eyes raking the space like Bren guns. We pile on, bemused by the urgency. Our security guy, whose features radiate an expression of permanent concern, welcomes us and begins handing out photocopied sheets.

“Keep the curtains shut, please,” he says in a solemn tone, spotting a flicker of sunlight as someone attempts to take a look outside. I turn to the briefing – it consists of an aerial photograph of our hotel encircled by a dotted line showing the limits of our safe movement, and a sheet of security instructions informing us that there have been 1,416 homicides this year in the capital. It seems that Caracas is up there with Johannesburg and Lagos in the global murder league.

The faces of my fellow Europeans on the bus register shock, suspicion, blankness and mirth. “Keep your heads down, voices low and be ready to die,” I half expect our protector to say. Instead he tells us that we should be at the hotel in a couple of hours. Two hours to travel 16 miles – clearly petrol’s too cheap in this country.

We are observers for the European Union, here to witness the 2006 presidential election involving one of the world’s most divisive figures, President Hugo Chavez. Venezuela is a Petri dish of political change: depending on your political persuasion, either a miracle society where the poor inherit the nation’s oil wealth thanks to Chavez’s 21st-century socialist revolution, or a land headed for Mugabe-style ruin.

Gore Vidal once remarked: “Democracy is supposed to give you the feeling of choice, like the painkiller X and painkiller Y. But they’re both just aspirin.” It doesn’t ring true here, where an ideological chasm separates opposition candidate Manuel Rosales from the incumbent. Somehow the EU’s 150 election staff are going to have to steer a middle course in what is one of the most polarised societies on Earth.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3319910.ece

[Melissa G]

4. Editorial n/t

[Melissa G]

7. Yesterday's Voting news comments from John Gideon

Up to 100,000 votes may not be counted in Los Angeles Co. New Mexico is still counting ballots from the week-old caucus and probably will be for a couple more days. The Washington state GOP has stopped counting caucus votes, with 13% more to be counted, and they have declared a winner. These are not voting machine issues but election administration issues. More voters are affected by these failures than they are by voting machines. When you add in all of the problems with voter registration data bases that have been apparent in CA, AZ, NM, LA and other states so far this year, there is a pattern that should be of great concern. Tomorrow we have primary voters going to the polls in Maryland and Virginia and the District of Columbia. Let’s hope they do much better. If not, we will be reporting their failures.

Daily Voting News ([e-mail])

[Melissa G]

10. Our View: State needs to get voting machine mess cleaned up

Our View: State needs to get voting machine mess cleaned up
Monday, February 11, 2008 11:51 AM EST

When it comes to voting machines in New York, the farce continues.
Almost a month after a federal judge issued a crystal-clear order to state elections officials to have at least one disabled access machine in every polling place by the fall elections, the information for counties that must make the equipment choices has been changing by the day.

Last week, other courts got into the fray, as various companies and government officials battle over which machines will be on the menu of choices for county officials, which must be given some time to get machines ordered and delivered.

Then there's the training that will be needed for poll workers.

On Friday, the latest deadline counties were given to make choices, state elections officials added four machines to their list of acceptable machines.

They then told counties to make their final choices by Tuesday.

So even though it takes Albany six years to get to this point, they expect counties to make informed choices involving millions of dollars in roughly two business days.

http://www.auburnpub.com/articles/2008/02/12/opinion/our_view.txt

[Melissa G]

12. Is voting early a bad idea?

Question of the week
Is voting early a bad idea?
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Some voters cast their ballots in the presidential primary race early with an absentee ballot. But because the political landscape can change quickly, many of those votes went for phantom candidates that had dropped out of the race. Should voters wait until election day to cast their ballot?

13 comment(s)


jersey guy wrote on Feb 11, 2008 1:30 PM:

" Early voting could cause you to vote for someone who has dropped out of the race and if you wait until election day to turn it in, your vote will not be counted for 1-2 weeks. this is why I object to be made into a forced mail by ballot voter.

As far as all of the comments about the security of the voting machines, mail ballots are the least secure in my opinion, because how do you prove who actually mailed the ballots? "



petebo wrote on Feb 10, 2008 7:34 AM:

" The much more important question is why vote in the first place? Voting only supports the existing corrupt system and does nothing to provide a platform for frredom and liberty. Much to the contrary, it emboldens the "Commander-in-Chief" to do whatever it is he wants to do...because we ELECTED the idiot and consented to his tyrannical rule. Open your minds and learn the truth. Otherwise, we as a people will perish in the wake of Hitler again...ooops, I mean Bushie. It is our own fault for being so ignorant and allowing the fraud to continue. A new system must be created that is for the people and not for government and corporations. The time is now! "



justnana wrote on Feb 9, 2008 12:30 PM:

" I saw friends loose their vote when their candidate was no longer on the ballot by election day. And I would have missed the fun at the polling place when the poll worker gave me an independent ballot, and then argued with me about my party registration. She was, of course, mistaken, and a look at the book in front of her confirmed it. "

more...
http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2008/02/12/opinion/poll/doc47a94bef89a35849408348.txt

[Melissa G]

16. Democrats: Are they dumber than concrete?

Democrats: Are they dumber than concrete?
Mike Thomas | COMMENTARY
February 12, 2008

I am not a political analyst. But I was around for the great Florida voting fiasco of November 2000.

And I'm getting flashbacks with talk of a brokered Democratic convention decided by "superdelegates."

Consider this scenario, which no longer seems so far-fetched:

Barack Obama goes into the convention having won the majority of primaries and delegates. But he doesn't have enough delegates to win the nomination.

And so the superdelegates -- a group of politicians and political insiders -- go into their star chamber and pick Hillary Clinton.

The fallout not only would cost Democrats the November election but would haunt them for many elections to come.

Now let's return to November 2000. Many blacks in Florida were blocked from voting when they erroneously popped on lists of convicted felons.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-miket1208feb12,0,3015938.column

[Melissa G]

20. Obama's Biggest Opposition Is Not Clinton, It's Overcoming Voter Suppression

BETWEEN THE LINES: Obama's Biggest Opposition Is Not Clinton, It's Overcoming Voter Suppression
By Anthony Asadullah Samad
(February 12, 2008)
*Is California the "new" Florida? That's what many voters are asking after the nation's largest state, California, was engaged in a massive voter dispute around "Decline To States (DTS) voters (what the rest of the nation commonly refers to as Independent voters) in last week's primary election.

While the political pundits and delegate "bean counters" called the state for Clinton 20 minutes after the polls closed, it was learned that hundreds of thousands of California's independent voters were not being counted.

California has over 700,000 "decline to state" voters - some 94,000 who voted in Los Angeles County alone, and were allowed to vote in the state's Democratic Primary. It was disclosed at the end of Election day that if DTS voters failed to punch a bubble at the top of their ballots, that their vote wouldn't count.

Well, there was only one problem with that: most poll workers didn't inform voters that it was necessary to do so. Invariably, most did not (including myself). Now they're telling us our voter won't count.not in 1868, or 1968 but in 2008. I don't think so. Funny how when change shows up so does oppression and repression. Or in this case, suppression

http://www.eurweb.com/story/eur40831.cfm

[sonias]

25. k&r, baby

Good work!

Sonia

[Melissa G]

32. Thanks for the K&R, Sonia!

:hi: :loveya:

[AllKnowingGuy]

26. Ron Paul won all of the primaries

Someone told me that Ron Paul won all of the primaries but they won't count his votes. Is this true?

Ivan
[e-mail]

[Stevepol]

33. How is it possible to know? You can't audit DREs and you don't audit optiscans.

I guess you can more or less trust the caucuses.

[Melissa G]

34. WOW! Thanks for all those hearts! I love all of you guys and gals, too!

:loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya:
:loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya:
:loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya:
:loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya:
:loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya:
:loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya:

:loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya:
:loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya::loveya:

[livvy]

35. Wow! Well done! knr

:applause:

[Kurovski]

36. Kick to the top!

Thanks Big G! :hug: