Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, Tuesday 02/26/08

[Melissa G]

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, Tuesday 02/26/08

Free Don Siegelman Banner held by Karl Rove
Check out Bradblog and post #5 here for the scoop...
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5744

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4. Start a discussion thread by re-posting a story you see on this thread.




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[Melissa G]

1. States n/t

[Melissa G]

6. CA- Los Angeles County to count flawed 'double bubble' ballots

Los Angeles County to count flawed 'double bubble' ballots
By DON THOMPSON

The Associated Press

SACRAMENTO

Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan said Tuesday his office will try to count about 50,000 improperly marked nonpartisan ballots from this month's presidential primary election, a decision that could help Barack Obama.

Problems arose in initially counting the ballots because some independent voters failed to properly mark two "bubbles" on the ballot, the first indicating the party primary in which they were voting and the second the candidate they supported.

If they failed to fill in both bubbles, the county's scanning machines could not record their votes for candidates in the Democratic and American Independent presidential primaries, the only two parties that permitted participation by decline-to-state voters.

Both bubbles had to be marked to clarify the result because the candidates' names were on separate lists and the ballots marked by voters contained only numbered bubbles. Three of the numbered candidate bubbles eight through 10 were used for both American Independent and Democratic candidates.
http://www.pe.com/ap_news/California/CA_Independent_Voters_329302C.shtml

[Melissa G]

7. WV- Paper or Touch Screen Voting? Some Say A Battle is Brewing

Paper or Touch Screen Voting? Some Say A Battle is Brewing
Posted Tuesday, February 26, 2008 ; 07:16 PM
Updated Tuesday, February 26, 2008 ; 07:39 PM

Voters who spoke with 7News, don't mind either method.
Story by Dave Elias

STEUBENVILLE, Ohio -- A battle is brewing in Ohio over Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner’s decision to ultimately use paper ballots instead of the touch screen voting machines during the March 4th primary, according to elections officials.

Some local officials are weighing in on the matter.

There are some counties that feel paper ballots are unnecessary and they've gone to court to challenge the ruling.

Jefferson County Elections Director, Dianne Shimp, told 7News, “I feel a lot of money was put into them. We're hoping our voters will continue to use the machines.”

http://www.statejournal.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=35321

[Melissa G]

9. CO- Bill outlines paper-ballot election

Bill outlines paper-ballot election
By John Ingold
The Denver Post

Article Last Updated: 02/26/2008 05:45:01 PM MST


Lawmakers filed a bill today that would mandate that a primarily paper-ballot system be used for the primary and general elections this year in Colorado.

The bill says that counties across Colorado must offer voters a paper ballot and hold polling-place elections. But, it says, voters would be able to use electronic voting machines if they preferred. Voters also will be able to vote by mail if they so request or vote early.

"We want to assure all Colorado voters that their votes are going to be counted," Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon, a Denver Democrat who has been crafting the bill, said at an afternoon news conference.

In addition to Gordon, the bill is sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany, R-Colorado Springs; House Majority Leader Alice Madden, D-Boulder; and House Minority Leader Mike May, R-Parker.

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_8369533

[Melissa G]

10. CO- Lawmakers move ahead with paper ballots; many scanners still in limbo

Lawmakers move ahead with paper ballots; many scanners still in limbo

Associated Press - February 26, 2008 7:14 PM ET

DENVER (AP) - Legislative leaders say they're moving ahead with a proposal to conduct this year's elections mainly by paper ballot. The move comes at a time when most counties still don't know whether they can use their optical scanners to count the ballots.

The bill assumes that most of the scanners will be recertified by the secretary of state but still would set aside $3.5 million to reimburse counties who want to buy more scanners so they can count ballots more quickly. But the price tag could rise if some of the scanners aren't approved for use in this year's primary and general election.

Plans for Colorado's elections were thrown into confusion in December when Secretary of State Mike Coffman decertified most of the state's electronic voting machines because of security and accuracy concerns. He's considering recertifying two brands of optical scanners.

Lawmakers say paper ballots are the best way to ensure that everyone's vote is counted. However they acknowledge that the low-tech approach could mean results may not be available on the election night.
http://www.krdo.com/Global/story.asp?S=7930010

[Melissa G]

11. AL- BREAKING NEWS: Poll workers, machines don't show at some precincts

BREAKING NEWS: Poll workers, machines don't show at some precincts

Tuesday, February 26, 2008 8:46 AM CST


Workers at a precinct at the Dallas County Courthouse in Selma didn't show up to open and let voters in today at 7 a.m.

And by 8 a.m., city workers were asking voters if they wanted to work the polls today.

Voting on the $12.3 million bond issue got off to a rocky start at several other precincts reported they didn't have voting machines.

"This is Selma, and you can't vote?" said Stephen Brooks, who had waited for nearly an hour to cast his ballot.


Selma is known nationally for being the flashpoint for the 1965 Voting Rights Act, passed by Congress after several attempts to march from this Black Belt town to Montgomery. The march is celebrated each year in March in a Jubilee.

http://www.selmatimesjournal.com/articles/2008/02/26/news/local/news%20133.txt

[Melissa G]

12. TX- Commissioner's Court Formally Approves Rental Of 200 Voting Machines

Commissioner's Court Formally Approves Rental Of 200 Voting Machines
by Jamie Mock4 hrs 30 mins ago

Fort Bend County Commissioner’s Court authorized today the emergency expenditure of $62,660 for the rental of 200 electronic voting machines from Denton County. The authorization was more of a formality, as the county already has possession of the machines and is in the process of programming them.

The county possesses 800 machines – which County Judge Robert Hebert says is a sufficient amount for a county the size of Fort Bend. However, due to election laws, machines used for early voting must be locked until after the election is over in case of a recount. The county is using 200 of their machines currently for early voting.

All machines will be programmed for a single ballot. Of the 200 rented machines, 50 will be programmed for the Republican party, for a total of 350, and 150 for the Democratic party, for a total of 450, due to high Democrat turnout expected at the March 4 primary election.

Commissioner Andy Meyers expressed displeasure that the county was incurring expenses to hold the primary election, which is the responsibility of the political parties.
http://www.fortbendnow.com/pages/full_story?page_label=home&id=20273-Commissioner-s-Court-Formally-Approves-Rental-Of-200-Voting-Machines&article-Commissioner-s-Court-Formally-Approves-Rental-Of-200-Voting-Machines%20=&widget=push&instance=home_news_lead_story&open=&

[Melissa G]

13. NJ- Some question A.G.'s voting machine plan

Some question A.G.'s voting machine plan
Opponents say paper verification system needed in coming elections
By DON BENNETT • STAFF WRITER • February 26, 2008

State Attorney General Anne Milgram should reconsider her decision to allow electronic voting machines to be used in the next two elections without a paper verification system, according to two women involved in an Ocean County lawsuit focused on the 2006 municipal election in Barnegat.

Milgram has said she supports a bill that would extend the deadline for having the backup system from June 3 until Jan. 1 because federal testing of a paper verification system for the electronic machines used in New Jersey cannot be completed in time to meet the earlier deadline.

The result will be the use of the machines without the paper verification for the June primary and November presidential elections.

Michele Rosen, Bradley Beach Way, Waretown, and Rose Jackson, Marblehead Place, Barnegat, contend in a prepared release "it makes no sense for the attorney general to acknowledge that need and yet discard the option to order every Board of Elections to use emergency paper ballots until a fully tested voting machine printer is available."

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080226/NEWS02/802260437/1070

[Melissa G]

15. OH- E-Vote: Judge Strikes Down Union County, Ohio, Voting Machine Directive Challenge

E-Vote: Judge Strikes Down Union County, Ohio, Voting Machine Directive Challenge
Feb 26, 2008, News Report

Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Eric Brown, in a 25-page decision, struck down a county's challenge to Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner's Jan. 2, 2008 directive requiring backup paper ballots by boards of elections using touch-screen (direct recording electronic-DRE) voting machines in the March 4 presidential primary election.

The case was brought by Union County commissioners who sought to challenge the secretary's authority to issue the directive, arguing that it unlawfully mandated two types of voting systems.

Calling the secretary's directive one that "merely directs how Union County's existing voting equipment will be used," the judge found that the county commissioners lacked standing to attack the secretary's directive and that the failure of the county board of elections to be a party deprived the court of the ability to proceed on the merits.

The directive requires boards of elections using touch-screen voting machines to provide a 10 percent minimum threshold per precinct of paper ballots as an option to those voters who may request a paper ballot.

In his ruling, Judge Brown clarified the role of county commissions in elections, stating that, despite budgetary control, a board of commissioners has no right to control how elections are conducted or to challenge election decisions made by the secretary of state or local boards of elections.

http://www.govtech.com/gt/266781?topic=117671

[Melissa G]

17. NM- AP Centerpiece: Voters, poll workers question accuracy of lists

AP Centerpiece: Voters, poll workers question accuracy of lists
By HEATHER CLARK Associated Press Writer
Article Launched: 02/25/2008 04:59:32 PM MST


ALBUQUERQUE—Weeks after New Mexico's messy Feb. 5 presidential caucus, voters and poll workers are questioning whether voter registration lists that the state provided to Democratic Party officials were outdated or incomplete.
Democratic Party leaders have been criticized for their handling of the caucus, which was riddled with problems including too few ballots, long lines at polling places and an inordinately large number of provisional votes, which take longer to count.

The final tally for the election—won narrowly by Hillary Rodham Clinton—wasn't known until Feb. 14, nine days after balloting.

In interviews with The Associated Press, several voters and volunteer poll workers pinpointed problems with the voter lists at polling places—and raised the possibility that the trouble may have originated not with the party but with the voter lists Democratic organizers were provided by the Secretary of State's office and county clerks.

In Mora County, for example, where half the voters cast provisional ballots, about 1,000 Democrats were stripped of their party affiliation in the Secretary of State's databank and so were never given to the Democratic Party for the caucus list, County

http://www.lcsun-news.com/ci_8360501

[Melissa G]

2. National n/t

[Melissa G]

5. VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Karl Rove Holds 'Free Don Siegelman' Banner with BRAD BLOG Contributor

BLOGGED BY Alan Breslauer ON 2/26/2008 3:19AM
VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Karl Rove Holds 'Free Don Siegelman' Banner with BRAD BLOG Contributor; Says Republican Operative 'Lied' About Dirty Tricks He Allegedly Asked Her to Commit Against AL's Jailed Former Democratic Governor
Rove Denies Allegations Made by Dana Jill Simpson Sunday on CBS' 60 Minutes, Claims 'I Don't Think I Ever Met the Woman'

Guest Blogged by Alan Breslauer

I got a chance to meet Karl Rove before he spoke at the Gibson Amphitheater in Los Angeles last night. Here's the awkward video (33 seconds, below left) of my brief encounter, which was followed by a Q&A with Rove, in which he denied recent charges made against him by a Republican operative in Alabama concerning the prosecution of Alabama's former Democratic Governor Don Siegelman...


Later, Rove was confronted with a question about Sunday's 60 Minutes report which included a Republican operative claiming Rove had asked her to perform dirty tricks in order to damage Siegelman's chances for re-election. Siegelman would later be convicted and sent immediately to prison, without a traditional stay pending appeal, for a crime which the operative, as well as AL's former Republican Attorney General claims was a setup and an abuse of power by Rove and the U.S. Attorneys who prosecuted the case.
more...
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5744

[Melissa G]

8. ONION VIDEO: 'Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early'"

ONION VIDEO: 'Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early'"

Hilarious...If a little too on-the-money, in too many regards. A MUST VIEW.

Congrats in advance, Mr. McCain. Enjoy...



Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

(P.S - The company name is correctly pronounced DEE-bold, as opposed to DIE-bold. Just so's ya know. Since it drives us crazy. Beyond that, hat-tip John Gideon of VotersUnite.org.)

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5741

[Melissa G]

18. Irrefutable evidence" of election fraud in Ohio

Irrefutable evidence" of election fraud in Ohio
Thanks to kpete for the post and the DU discussion here...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x497983


February 26, 2008 at 07:00:14

"Irrefutable evidence" of election fraud in Ohio - author available to speak

by Richard Hayes Phillips Page 1 of 1 page(s)

http://www.opednews.com

My recently completed book on the fraudulent 2004
presidential election in Ohio will be available in
early March. I hope to engage in book signings and
open discussions in central and western Pennsylvania
in early to mid-April, before the April 22 primary.

My book is based primarily upon forensic evidence --
126,000 ballots, 127 poll books, 141 voter signature
books. My work has been relied upon by John Conyers
in challenging the Ohio electors, by Robert F.
Kennedy, Jr. in his article for Rolling Stone
magazine, and by Judge Algenon Marbley in his order
to protect the ballots from destruction.



Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., in writing, has called my book
a "landmark investigation" which has compiled
"irrefutable evidence" that the 2004 Ohio election was
stolen. He called it "a testament to what private
citizens can accomplish when government officials fail
to protect our right to vote and to count those votes
as cast."

snip
online at http://web.northnet.org/minstrel/dustjacket.htm

http://web.northnet.org/minstrel/dustjacket.htm

I do hope to hear from you.

Richard Hayes Phillips
4 Fisher Street
Canton, NY 13617
[phone]
[e-mail]

[Melissa G]

19. Judiciary Subcommittee to Meet today w Resolution to Subpoena Ken Blackwell

Thanks to modmom for the post and the DU discussion here...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x497979


Judiciary Subcommittee to Meet today w Resolution to Subpoena Ken Blackwell!
Tuesday 02/26/2008 - 9:25 AM
2141 Rayburn House Office Building
Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties
Meeting to consider: A resolution authorizing the Chairman of the committee to issue a subpoena to J. Kenneth Blackwell for testimony and related documents at a hearing before the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties regarding voter suppression

http://judiciary.house.gov /

[Melissa G]

3. International n/t

[Melissa G]

16. India-UNPA demands ballot voting for future polls

The Hindu

UNPA demands ballot voting for future polls
New Delhi (PTI): UNPA leaders on Tuesday demanded the conduct of the all the future elections in the country with the paper-ballot system and stop the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

"EVMs are vulnerable to misuse by the government in power, we have asked the Election Commission to use the fool proof method of ballot voting for the upcoming polls," UNPA spokesperson Amar Singh told reporters here.

The EVMs could be programmed for a particular candidate and the voter may not know whom he has voted for, while in ballot one can see it while they vote, he said.

"Some people allege that candidates may manipulate ballot voting by their muscle and money power..then what is the government for," he added.

The front leaders who called on the election commission today included UNPA party chiefs, Chandrababu Naidu of TDP, Om Prakash Chautala of Indian National Lok Dal, Mulayam Singh Yadav of Samajwadi Party and Brindavan Goswami of Assom Gana Parishad.

Several developed countries have now stopped using the electronic system of voting and are now back to the traditional system, which has been proven best and easiest to use," Naidu said after an hour long meeting of the front with the Election Commission.
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200802270344.htm

[Melissa G]

4. Editorial n/t

[Melissa G]

14. Save it for a real cause

Save it for a real cause
Tuesday, February 26, 2008

The Mississippi Senate has hit upon a solution to the voter fraud problem. This would be a major accomplishment if the problem existed.

The sad fact is that the bill passed last week requiring voters to show identification at the polls is racially divisive in a state where people of good will are trying to move past historic divisions and attempting to build trust between African-Americans and whites.

It doesn't take much in the South to resurrect bitter memories of the efforts to suppress the black voting with poll taxes, literacy tests, "good character" tests and the like, which were banned by the Voting Rights Act.

Strict voter ID laws are widely perceived as an extension of the mindset that triggers suspicion and distrust for people who don't resemble the majority. They're frankly not worth the ill will they cause.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2008/feb/26/save-it-for-a-real-cause/

[Melissa G]

20. NYT editorial: Bush's politicized U.S. Attorneys help GOP win elections -- AND enrich friends

Thanks to DeepModem Mom for the post and the DU discussion here...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x340966

Original message
NYT editorial: Bush's politicized U.S. Attorneys help GOP win elections -- AND enrich friends
Editorial
A Little Help for His Friends
Published: February 26, 2008

Congress is looking into the decision by the United States attorney for New Jersey, Christopher Christie, to hand former Attorney General John Ashcroft a hugely lucrative job monitoring a wayward company. The issue, however, is larger than any one appointment. Congress should conduct a broader inquiry into prosecutors’ selection of richly rewarded monitors and require that appointments are made based on merit.

United States attorneys are supposed to be nonpartisan and beyond favoritism. But we have already seen how federal prosecutors appointed by the Bush administration used their offices to help Republicans win elections. Congress needs to ensure that they are not using their positions to throw patronage to friends and political allies.

The Ashcroft appointment came in a “deferred prosecution agreement,” a fast-growing arrangement ripe for abuse. Rather than file criminal charges against corporations, federal prosecutors — looking to dispose of cases efficiently and to avoid damaging companies needlessly — increasingly are striking deals. These agreements are done without court supervision and sometimes in secret.

In this particular case, Mr. Christie arranged for a medical supply company accused of fraud to hire his former boss to monitor its activities for a payment between $28 million and $52 million. There was no competitive bidding. If Mr. Christie runs for elected office in the future, Mr. Ashcroft could be an important supporter and fund-raiser. This isn’t the only time Mr. Christie’s appointment of a monitor has raised questions....

Mr. Ashcroft has reportedly agreed to testify before the House Judiciary Committee about the monitoring appointment. The committee should insist on hearing from both him and Mr. Christie, and it should inquire into other lucrative appointments made to former Justice Department insiders....United States attorneys have traditionally played an important role in rooting out patronage and corruption. Congress has to ensure that the prosecutors charged with stamping out these practices do not engage in them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/26/opinion/26tue1.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

[Melissa G]

21. That's it for me! I know it's late. Please vote it up! Thanks n/t

[rosesaylavee]

22. K & R