Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Friday, 2/22/2008

[Mnemosyne]

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.







Please post Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News on this thread.



If you can:

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Good afternoon everyone! :hi:

[Mnemosyne]

1. National. n't

[Mnemosyne]

12. NY: Bloomberg Backs Off 'Fraud' Charge, Then Hits the Board of Elections Again

Bloomberg Backs Off 'Fraud' Charge, Then Hits the Board of Elections Again

by Azi Paybarah | February 22, 2008

Michael Bloomberg is backing away from his harsh attack on the city Board of Elections' initial, rough reporting of the Super Tuesday primary results, which in some cases incorrectly showed that Barack Obama received absolutely no votes in a number of election districts.

After a New York Times story about the numbers, Bloomberg told reporters, "If you want to call it significant undercounting, I guess that's a euphemism for fraud."

Just now, on his weekly radio show with John Gambling, on 770 AM, Bloomberg backed away from that termonology, saying, "I don’t know if 'fraud' is the right word."

Then he went on to blast the Board of Elections, saying it's full of patronage and stacked with unqualified workers.

http://www.observer.com/2008/bloomberg-backs-fraud-charge

[Mnemosyne]

2. States. n/t

[Mnemosyne]

16. CO: Electronic Voting Machines Could Be Recertified

Electronic Voting Machines Could Be Recertified
Secretary Of State Has Final Say

Steve Saunders, 7NEWS Anchor

POSTED: 5:52 pm MST February 21, 2008

DENVER -- County election officials challenged the secretary of state's voting-machine test results on Thursday, saying problems that led the state to decertify the equipment were either minor or nonexistent.

They said the standards the secretary of state had to use were unrealistically high.

The exchange came at a hearing called by Secretary of State Mike Coffman after he disqualified most of the electronic voting equipment used in Colorado because of accuracy or security concerns.

That threw the election plans into confusion and means this year's voting will almost certainly have to be done on paper ballots.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/15372410/detail.html?rss=den&psp=news

[Mnemosyne]

17. CO: Flap over electronic voting heats up

Flap over electronic voting heats up
Coffman accused of violating law in machines' review

By Myung Oak Kim, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Friday, February 22, 2008
Matt McClain / The Rocky

The cloud over Colorado's electronic voting and tallying machines grew darker Thursday, as voting activists accused Secretary of State Mike Coffman of violating state law during his review of the equipment.

"He's breaking the law left and right," said Claudia Kuhns, executive director of the Public Integrity Project.

Lawyer Paul Hultin said the Attorney General's Office, rather than Coffman, decided which e-voting machines to certify and that Coffman illegally delegated his duties.

Hultin called Coffman's certification process and Thursday's hearing "substantively and procedurally flawed" because Coffman is moving toward approving machines without following the steps laid out in law.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/feb/22/key-voting-machine-hearing-today/

[Mnemosyne]

19. CO: Election Officials Challenge Voting Machines Accuracy

Election Officials Challenge Voting Machines Accuracy

Last Edited: Thursday, 21 Feb 2008, 9:08 PM MST
Created: Thursday, 21 Feb 2008, 4:33 PM MST

By JON BOWMAN, Reporter

DENVER -- A public hearing of sorts, held by the Testing Board looking into the reliability of electronic voting machines in the state, saw vendors line up with County Election Clerks saying the machines are both accurate and secure for use in the November election.

Three of four voting machines were decertified last year by Secretary of State Mike Coffman. He was forced to give the firms more time to get the devices recertified and when the dust settled, the Testing Board ruled that with some tweaks the machines should be fine for use in the upcoming election.

Coffman's ruling threw the election plans a curve prompting Governor Ritter, many in the Legislature and both political parties to call for paper ballots in November. But to comply with federal election access laws, all polling places will have to have electronic voting machines in use.

Still, the Testing Board heard from County Clerks who claim to be in favor of using the electronic machines in a quasi public hearing.

http://www.myfoxcolorado.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=5846486&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1

[Mnemosyne]

20. MS: Lafayette keeps voting machine printers after outcry

Lafayette keeps voting machine printers after outcry

2/22/2008 5:33:22 AM
Daily Journal

BY ERROL CASTENS
Daily Journal Oxford Bureau

OXFORD - After nearly two hours of impassioned testimony, Lafayette County supervisors voted Thursday to leave printers on the county's voting machines.

The Diebold touch-screen voting machines originally were bought with the printers, said District 4 Election Commissioner Cecil Locke, "to have a paper trail (and) to give the voter a sense of satisfaction - a false sense, as it turns out - that their vote has been counted."

The printers allow each voter to see a paper-and-ink recap of his choices but provide no additional security over the voting machines' three forms of electronic recording, election officials contended.

"The paper trail' is going to be exactly what you have on the screen," said Circuit Clerk Mary Alice Busby. "If (the printer) jams, you don't have a paper trail anyway."

http://www.djournal.com/pages/story.asp?ID=266766&pub=1&div=News

[southern_dem]

25. The dumb thing about this

is we use to have the optical scan ballots. I have no clue why the county left those in favor of the lousy Diebold machines.

[Mnemosyne]

21. NJ: Another delay for NJ electronic ballot safeguards

Another delay for NJ electronic ballot safeguards

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS • February 21, 2008

TRENTON — The attorney general says the state will miss an another deadline to retrofit electronic voting machines with paper printers.

The Legislature reluctantly gave the attorney general's office until June to test and certify printers for more than 10,000 paperless voting machines.

The printers would allow voters to see a paper record of their vote selections.

Attorney General Anne Milgram says testing of the refitted machines has been
unexpectedly delayed. She is asking for another six-month extension.

Lawmakers wanted the technology in place by the Feb. 5 presidential primary. However, it appears increasingly likely New Jerseyans will vote without a paper backup in November's general election.

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080221/NEWS/80221024

[Mnemosyne]

22. NJ: Voting machines on verge of delay, likely out for November

Voting machines on verge of delay, likely out for November

By MICHAEL RISPOLI • Gannett State Bureau • February 22, 2008

New voter-verified electronic voting machines with backup paper ballots are on the verge of being delayed yet again, this time until January, making them unavailable for the presidential election in November.

Attorney General Anne Milgram said Sequoia Voting Systems, which has 10,000 machines in 19 of the state's 21 counties, informed her the machines would not be able to be fitted with the backup paper receipts in time for the June 3 deadline.

"It's frustrating for me to wait the additional six months . . . but I think what we will have come out of it is a far better machine and a far better system," Milgram said.

Milgram said Sequoia has passed a second round of testing by the New Jersey Institute of Technology but that federal testing has slowed the process. As a result, the machines aren't yet able to be retrofitted with printers that would generate receipts voters can look at to verify the machine recorded their choices correctly.

http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080222/NEWS01/802220370

[Mnemosyne]

23. NJ: Voting machines' paper backup delayed until January

Voting machines' paper backup delayed until January

By Michael Rispoli • GANNETT STATE BUREAU • February 22, 2008

TRENTON — New voter-verified electronic voting machines with backup paper ballots are on the verge of being delayed yet again, this time until January 2009, making them unavailable for the presidential election in November.

Attorney General Anne Milgram said Sequoia Voting Systems, which has 10,000 machines in 19 of the state's 21 counties, informed her the machines would not be able to be fitted with the backup paper receipts in time for the June 3 deadline.

"It's frustrating for me to wait the additional six months ... but I think what we will have come out of it is a far better machine and a far better system," Milgram said.

Milgram said Sequoia has passed a second round of testing by the New Jersey Institute of Technology but that federal testing has slowed the process. As a result, the machines aren't yet able to be retrofitted with printers that would generate receipts voters can look at to verify the machine recorded their choices correctly.

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080222/NEWS0301/802220404

[Mnemosyne]

24. SC: Jury seated in election fraud case

Jury seated in election fraud case

A jury was seated Tuesday in a rare election fraud case involving the now-suspended mayor of Eastover and his police chief.

Opening arguments are expected to begin today before the six black jurors and six white jurors. Court convenes at 9 a.m.

Chris Campbell is accused of forgery and illegal conduct at elections. Together, he and Police Chief Tim Ford are accused of conspiracy, intimidation of a witness, obstruction of justice and misconduct in office.

Contributing: Staff writers Devon Copeland, Bill Robinson, Tim Flach and Dawn Hinshaw; The Associated Press

http://www.thestate.com/local/story/322161.html

[Mnemosyne]

3. The Youth Vote. n/t

[Mnemosyne]

15. Ohio voting system at risk

Ohio voting system at risk

Allison D'Aurora
Issue date: 2/22/08 Section: Campus

Ohio's voting system has a high number of security vulnerabilities which could allow attackers to manipulate election results, a recent study commissioned by the Ohio Secretary of State discovered.

The state is advised to replace its electronic voting machines with optical scan paper ballots, said Patrick McDaniel, principal investigator of Project Evaluation and Validation of Election Related Equipment, Standards and Testing, Wednesday evening at a forum hosted by Ohio State.

"The systems that we evaluated are of a quality that makes fixing them insufficient. Our recommendation is that the vendors need to go back and re-build security in from the beginning," McDaniel said.

The largest problem with direct-recording electronic touch-screen voting machines, also known as DREs, is their failure to provide trustworthy audits, said McDaniel and Christopher Nance, assistant secretary of state, who led the forum. This process of checks and balances ensures if someone becomes malicious, the system can catch it.

http://media.www.thelantern.com/media/storage/paper333/news/2008/02/22/Campus/Ohio-Voting.System.At.Risk-3228984.shtml

[Mnemosyne]

4. OPED/BLOGS/LTTE. n/t

[Mnemosyne]

6. Analysis: e-voting's success rests on chain-of-custody issue - By Jon Stokes

Analysis: e-voting's success rests on chain-of-custody issue

By Jon Stokes | Published: February 21, 2008 - 05:41AM CT

The 2008 election cycle is turning out to be a bonanza for political junkies from across the ideological spectrum, as an open field and roller-coaster primaries in both major parties have combined to increase primary voter turnout to record levels. This massive turnout, which may well be a preview of what we can expect in November's contest, has functioned as a large-scale stress test on an electronic voting infrastructure that's fragmented, fragile, and still in flux.
As the year progresses, I'll be zeroing in on different aspects of electronic voting in a series of posts aimed at keeping you up to speed and preparing you to read the pre- and post-election press coverage with a critical eye. The first issue that I want to tackle in this post is fundamental for election integrity, and its importance is typically underestimated by reporters who are focused on the more spectacular "hacking"-related narratives that will probably be a persistent feature of America's election coverage from here on out. This issue is ballot chain of custody, and it's absolutely critical.

Chain of custody and burden of proof

In a criminal trial, the state must prove the defendant's guilt to the satisfaction of a jury; in an election, the state must prove its own innocence to the satisfaction of the public. Both scenarios place the burden of proof on the state, and in both of them the state's case will rest on evidence; that evidence must be beyond reproach.

In a nutshell, "chain of custody" is about establishing who has had their hands on some important piece of physical evidence that must not be tampered with. This could be evidence in a court case, or it could be evidence of voter intent, i.e. a marked ballot. If you can't firmly establish that only authorized, trusted parties have handled a ballot from the moment that it left the voter's hands and entered the lock-box, then you can't be certain that nobody tampered with that ballot to change its vote.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080221-analysis-evotings-success-rests-on-chain-of-custody-issue.html

[Mnemosyne]

14. Electronic voting and partial audits - Robert Vamosi

February 21, 2008 10:15 AM PST

Electronic voting and partial audits

Posted by Michael Horowitz

On February 16th fellow CNET blogger Robert Vamosi wrote an item headlined "With improvements, e-voting could be good, says researcher." I think that e-voting is a very bad thing and that no "improvements" will ever convert it to a good thing. But I'm not an expert on the subject, so I asked Rebecca Mercuri, a specialist in computer security and electronic voting, if she would like to respond to the claim made by the "researcher" in question. Mercuri has appeared many times on the Personal Computer Show to discuss electronic voting, which is where our paths previously crossed. Her response is below.

Electronic Voting and Partial Audits -- Let's do the Math
Guest blogged by Rebecca Mercuri
www.notablesoftware.com

I did not attend ShmooCon 2008, but I found Robert Vamosi's synopsis of J. Alex Halderman's talk rather curious. I'm sorry to hear that Dr. Felten was ill, but it's dismaying to hear a report of yet another of his Princeton mentees extolling the praises of a hypothetical future crop of acceptable electronic balloting or counting machines.

Keep in mind, I'm actually a long-time Felten fan who stepped up to his defense a while back, when he was inappropriately trashed by an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Felten and his students are well known for their efforts over the years in exposing the vulnerabilities of electronic voting and tabulation equipment.

First, there was the now infamous 2003 report "Analysis of an Electronic Voting System" co-authored by Avi Rubin and Dan Wallach (both Ph.D. alums of Felten) with two of Avi's students (Felten grandchildren?) that blew open the security risks of the Diebold source code that had been leaked onto the Web. And then, Felten and two of his more recent students (Ariel Feldman and J. Alex Halderman) performed a further analysis of the Diebold AccuVote-TS during 2006 that augmented the earlier list of discovered weaknesses with even more shocking revelations.

http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13554_1-9876062-33.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

[Mnemosyne]

18. Early and often: When voting machines need fixing by DAVID SWANSON

ESSAY- Early and often: When voting machines need fixing

by DAVID SWANSON, published February 14, 2008

We voted in primaries on February 12. How can we be sure our votes were properly counted? We can trust and hope, but we cannot be certain.

Charlottesville uses DRE (directly recording electronic) voting machines. While the city brags that these are not touch-screen machines, because we turn a dial instead of touching a screen, the problems are the same. The machines we use have produced noticeable errors in some places around the country, such as on the final page for confirmation, displaying different selections from those the voter had made.

But the major danger lies in the unnoticeable.

Voters use the same machines in Houston, where a Rice University professor asked half his class to hack into one and leave no trace, and the other half to try to detect the hacking. About half the time, the changes to the software were able to shift the results without being detected. And there's no way for any precinct that uses these machines to know that they haven't been hacked.

http://www.readthehook.com/stories/2008/02/21/ESSAY-howdYourVoteGetCounted-swanson-A.rtf.aspx

Is this our David Swanson?

[Mnemosyne]

5. Foreign. n/t

[Mnemosyne]

7. Thousands rally in fresh Armenian election protest

Thousands rally in fresh Armenian election protest

by Mariam Harutunian 34 minutes ago

YEREVAN (AFP) - Tens of thousands of opposition supporters demonstrated in Armenia's capital Yerevan for a third day Friday vowing to keep protesting until the results of a presidential election are overturned.
ADVERTISEMENT

Opposition leader and former president Levon Ter-Petrosian sought to encourage a crowd of about 30,000 in the latest protest against alleged fraud in last Tuesday's presidential poll, which was officially won by Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian.

"Today we rule the square, tomorrow we will rule the country," he told cheering supporters, who chanted "Levon for president" and waved Armenian flags.

Fellow activist Nikol Pashenian urged the crowd to keep up pressure for the vote to be overturned, calling another rally for Saturday afternoon. "We will continue our protest until we win," he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080222/wl_afp/armeniavoteprotest_080222165947

[Mnemosyne]

8. AP Interview: Election chief says media bias will make Malaysia polls a laughingstock

AP Interview: Election chief says media bias will make Malaysia polls a laughingstock

AP
By JULIA ZAPPEI,Associated Press Writer AP - Saturday, February 23

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - The Election Commission in Malaysia needs more power to prevent one-sided campaign coverage in local media or the entire electoral system will become a "laughingstock," the commission's chairman said Friday.

Top election official Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahim's comments appeared to lend rare support to opposition complaints of pro-government bias in the press.

"If you want free and fair elections, if you want a level playground ... you must be able to have that power to level that playground," Abdul Rahim, head of the Election Commission, said in an interview ahead of the March 8 general elections.

"Without that power, then the whole system becomes a laughingstock," he said. The commission must be able "to control the media when they take sides.

http://malaysia.news.yahoo.com/ap/20080222/tap-as-gen-malaysia-elections-media-bias-b3c65ae.html

[Mnemosyne]

9. Thailand: EC sets up committee to investigate fraud charges against Khamnoon

EC sets up committee to investigate fraud charges against Khamnoon


The Election Commission Friday set up a committee to investigate whether senator Khamnoon Sitthisamarn had cheated some firms.

EC commission Sumet Uppanisakorn said the committee is chaired by Prasongsak Boondej.

Khamnoon was accused of lacking qualifications to become a senator because he had allegedly cheated some companies.

The Nation

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/read.php?newsid=30066199

[Mnemosyne]

10. Thai election agency to rule on suspected electoral frauds of two parties

Thai election agency to rule on suspected electoral frauds of two parties
+ -
08:14, February 21, 2008

Thailand's Election Commission (EC) will later this month rule on electoral fraud allegations that could lead to the dissolution of the Chart Thai Party and the Matchimathipataya Party.

Boontan Dokthaisong, chairman of EC's sub-committee, said his panel has finished the questioning of Chart Thai deputy party Nikorn Chamnong and secretary-general Prapat Photasuthon on the party's role in the Dec. 23 general election and how it did to prevent electoral fraud. Prapat, he said, answered the questions very straightforward.

The gathering of evidence on the Chart Thai case has been completed, Boontan was quoted by the Bangkok Post's webnews as saying.

On the Matchimathipataya party, Boontan said his panel is waiting to testify its secretary-general Anongwan Thepsuthin on Feb. 27.

http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/6357704.html

[Mnemosyne]

11. Nigeria: Presidential Election - Tribunal to Rule on Tuesday

Nigeria: Presidential Election - Tribunal to Rule on Tuesday

Daily Trust (Abuja)

22 February 2008
Posted to the web 22 February 2008

Sunday Ejike Benjamin
Abuja

The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Abuja will on Tuesday next week deliver judgement on the consolidated petitions filed by the presidential candidates of the All Nigeria Peoples party (ANPP), General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) and that of the Action Congress (AC), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who are both challenging the election of President Umaru Musa Yar'adua in the April 21, 2007 presidential polls.

Buhari and Atiku are alleging that the election of Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar'Adua and Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as president and vice president respectively was characterised by fraud and that the machineries of the government were used in favour of the ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Daily Trust reliably gathered from an impeccable source at the Court of Appeal, Abuja, the venue of the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal that the tribunal had already slated the date to deliver its judgement before Wednesday's appointment of its chairman, Justice James Ogenyi Ogebe as a Justice of the Supreme Court by President Yar'Adua.

According to the source who craved for anonymity, the tribunal, in line with the mandate given to it by the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Umaru Faruk Abdullahi, wants to dispose of the presidential election petition as soon as possible, hence the adherence to a Practice Directive agreed to by all parties in carrying out the proceedings of the tribunal.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200802220067.html

[Mnemosyne]

13. New South Korean Leader Cleared in Fraud Inquiry

NYTimes.com

New South Korean Leader Cleared in Fraud Inquiry

Friday February 22, 2:38 am ET
By CHOE SANG-HUN

SEOUL, South Korea — A special prosecutor on Thursday cleared President-elect Lee Myung-bak of South Korea of fraud accusations, four days before his inauguration.

The investigation had tainted Mr. Lee’s landslide victory on Dec. 19.

“The president-elect was not involved in stock price manipulation,” the special prosecutor, Chung Ho Young, said in a televised announcement, clearing Mr. Lee of charges that he participated in a stock fraud engineered by his former business partner, Kim Kyung Joon.

Mr. Lee, the first president-elect in South Korea to go through a criminal inquiry, called the investigation “a waste of national resources.” But he said he was pleased that he could now focus on his campaign promise of revitalizing the slowing economy.

http://biz.yahoo.com/nytimes/080222/1194749042211.html?.v=5