Election Reform, Fraud and Related News. Sunday 04/13/08

[EFerrari]

Emergency Assistance for Secure Elections Act
Monday, 14 April 2008, 9:27 am
Column: Rosalea Barker

Stateside With Rosalea Barker
Emergency Assistance for Secure Elections Act

Rep. Holt’s HR 5036, the Emergency Assistance for Secure Elections Act, is listed among the bills that might come to the House floor the week beginning April 14. After its introduction on January 17, HR 5036 was referred to both the Committee on House Administration and the Committee on Science and Technology “for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker”.


The Committee on House Administration held its markup session on April 2 and made some amendments. The Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation has yet to consider it, so the version that comes to the House next week is the version as amended by the House Administration Committee. The bill has 92 co-sponsors.

The Congressional Research Service’s summary of the Bill as introduced states that the legislation:

Directs the Administrator of General Services to reimburse certain jurisdictions for the costs of: (1) converting from electronic or other voting systems to paper ballot voting systems for the general elections for federal office to be held in November 2008; and (2) providing emergency paper ballots if the jurisdiction uses a direct recording electronic voting system which happens to fail.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0804/S00183.htm

Election Reform, Fraud and Related News. Sunday 04/13/08

Please post Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News on this thread. If you can:


1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web. Here's the link to the News Directory:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x407240

2. Re-post stories and announcements you find on DU, providing a link to the original thread with thanks to the Original Poster, too.

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


Recommendations are much appreciated.

[EFerrari]

1. National.

[EFerrari]

10. SOFTWARE NOTEBOOK: Young tech giants give to Obama

SOFTWARE NOTEBOOK
Young tech giants give to Obama

Todd Bishop, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Employees at two of the technology industry's younger giants, Google and Yahoo, overwhelmingly support a presidential candidate who has positioned himself as the leader of a new political wave.

Elder statesmen Apple and Microsoft? Not as much.

Employees of all four companies have contributed more to Sen. Barack Obama than to any other candidate, in line with his national fundraising lead. But Google and Yahoo employees clearly prefer Obama over his Democratic rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton - giving him a far greater proportion of their contributions than Microsoft and Apple employees do.

That's one pattern evident in a Seattle Post-Intelligencer analysis of Federal Elections Commission data. The analysis looked at personal contributions by workers and executives at 15 major technology companies - including Internet outfits, software companies and hardware makers - based on the employers they listed.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/13/BUV1104G3F.DTL&feed=rss.technology

[EFerrari]

15. Rock the Vote urges you to 'Stop!' and think

Rock the Vote urges you to 'Stop!' and think

By Edna Gundersen
Against Me! is all for voting, and the Florida punk band knew it had the perfect rallying cry in the song Stop! when it approached Rock the Vote about a partnership.

The result is a public service announcement that breaks today, exclusively at usatoday.com until noon ET before going to YouTube, MySpace and broadcast outlets including MTV. It will be e-mailed to 1.4 million people on Rock the Vote's mailing list. The video will also be shown at againstme.net and rockthevote.com; visitors may also register to vote at both sites.

The band performs Stop!, from its New Wave album, in a clip directed by Mark Klasfeld (Foo Fighters, Jay-Z) that raises such hot-button issues as same-sex marriage, abortion and the Iraq war in vignettes. A polling booth at the center of the action explodes in flames.

The tune's chorus drives the message:

"Stop! Take some time to think, figure out what's important to you. You've got to make a serious decision."

http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2008-04-13-rock-vote_N.htm?csp=34

(Yeah, the Foo Fighters! :woohoo:)

[EFerrari]

16. Democrats seeking FEC investigation of McCain's campaign financing

Democrats seeking FEC investigation of McCain's campaign financing
Posted on Sun, Apr. 13, 2008
Associated Press

WASHINGTON --
Democratic Party officials want a federal judge to order an investigation into whether Sen. John McCain violated election laws by withdrawing from public financing, saying federal regulators are too weak to act on their own.

A lawsuit against the Federal Election Commission, to be filed Monday in U.S. District Court, questions the agency's ability to enforce the law and review McCain's decision to opt out of the system. The Republican presidential candidate, who had been entitled to $5.8 million in federal funds for the primary campaign, decided earlier this year to give up that money so he could avoid strict spending limits between now and the GOP's national convention in September.

During a conference call with reporters Sunday, DNC officials said the FEC is unable to act because four of its six seats are vacant. They want a judge to either order the FEC to begin an immediate review, or allow the Democratic Party to file a lawsuit against McCain's campaign challenging his decision.

Tom McMahon, the party's executive director, said ``there is a compelling public interest in determining whether Senator McCain agreed to participate in the matching funds program so he could get a loan for his campaign, then violated the terms of that agreement so he could ignore the spending cap and raise unlimited money from lobbyists and special interests.''

http://www.miamiherald.com/political-currents/story/494550.html

[EFerrari]

17. Rage Against the Machines: Gallery of Gadget Revenge

Rage Against the Machines: Gallery of Gadget Revenge
By Wired.com Photo Department
04.14.08 | 12:00 AM



When the bot uprising is complete, this gallery will be used to output a "flesh-flaying" verdict against Wired.com from our assigned judging unit. Until then, these photos are badges of honor for human freedom fighters around the globe. We asked our readers to terminate their most offensive technology and submit the best photos of the destruction. After weeks of voting, these are the 10 top revenge photos from those who won't kowtow to our future overlords.

Check out the many excellent entries that didn't make it into the top 10 at the Gadget Abuse submission page.

http://www.wired.com/gadgets/miscellaneous/multimedia/2008/04/gallery_gadget_abuse

:)

[Wilms]

25. Did that laptop go hunting with Cheney?

Just askin'... :shrug:

[EFerrari]

26. Looks like an al Qaida laptop that was harshly interrogated.

[EFerrari]

20. Former Ala. Governor Turns Tables on Justice Department

Former Ala. Governor Turns Tables on Justice Department
Siegelman Connects His Case to Accusations of Interference

By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 13, 2008; Page A02

The successful criminal prosecution of former Alabama governor Don Siegelman (D) has become tangled in political charges and countercharges that reflect contrasting views about the independence of the Justice Department.

In the two weeks since his release from prison pending an appeal, Siegelman has sharply increased the volume of his assertions that he was railroaded. He says that Karl Rove, who was a White House adviser, targeted him for prosecution to ensure he did not win reelection to the governor's office and displace a Republican there.

Siegelman is seizing on a theme that is newly popular with politically connected defendants: turning the tables on a Justice Department vulnerable to accusations of interference because of missteps last year under then-Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/12/AR2008041201903.html

[EFerrari]

23. (Here they go again.) Immigrants suing for citizenship and right to vote

Immigrants suing for citizenship and right to vote

A backlog in the processing of citizenship applications by the federal government may prevent thousands from voting in the upcoming presidential elections, leading many to file lawsuits.

BY CASEY WOODS
[e-mail]

Eduardo Zambrano, an Ecuadorean immigrant, has a green card, a candidate he supports in this presidential election -- Hillary Clinton -- and detailed knowledge of her experience as first lady.

The one thing he doesn't have, despite years of trying: the right to vote.

Zambrano, a legal permanent U.S. resident, applied for citizenship more than two years ago, but a large backlog of naturalization applications at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services may lock him out of the November election.

He has now joined growing numbers of prospective U.S. citizens who are suing the immigration service, which under federal law is supposed to respond to naturalization petitions within 180 days of an applicant's interview. Zambrano passed his in June 2006.

''One of the first things I want to do as a citizen is vote, because I want a better world for my children,'' said Zambrano, 38, who is passionately against the Iraq War. ``There are thousands of people like me, and if we can vote, we will change the elections.''

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_dade/story/494021.html

[EFerrari]

2. States.

[EFerrari]

5. IL: Call for better monitoring has fallen flat

Call for better monitoring has fallen flat

April 13, 2008
BY DAN CAMPANA Staff Writer

An attempt to better monitor the accuracy of electronic voting results has collected more dust than supporters in the last year.

Proposed by Moline Democrat Rep. Mike Boland in February 2007, House Bill 1642 calls for an election day audit of results and establishes "certain" federal and independent testing standards for electronic and optical scan voting technology. The bill has languished in the House Rules Committee ever since.

"It would be wise, given Illinois history, that we ought to have some safeguards to protect the system," Boland said, acknowledging Illinois is ahead of many other states because of mandated paper trails. "Unfortunately, (the bill) hasn't gone anywhere."

First elected in 1994, Boland spent time on the House Elections and Campaign Reform Committee and still professes an interest in the topic. He suggests a need for legislators to become more active again because voters have lost confidence in the election system.

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/couriernews/news/892392,3_1_EL13_A1ESLATE_S2.article

[EFerrari]

6. PA: Voting system to take spotlight

Voting system to take spotlight
Anne Danahy

The week after Centre County voters cast their ballots in a high-stakes primary, they’ll be asked to voice their opinions again.

The question won’t be who they want to see elected president or even awarded the Democratic or Republican nomination, but how they want to cast votes. Almost eight years after the term “dimpled chad” became part of everyday English, the question of what type of voting system is best still hasn’t been settled.

The county Board of Commissioners is having a public meeting at 7 p.m. April 30 in the Courthouse Annex to find out what residents think about voting machines, whether they like the ones they have or whether they think it’s time to toss the county’s touch-screens in favor of paper ballots. Paying to replace the county’s $1.1 million system could also be among the top concerns.

“I am truly looking to hear what the residents of the county’s concerns are on many different fronts,” Commissioner Rich Rogers said.

http://www.centredaily.com/news/politics/story/520379.html

[EFerrari]

7. FL: Is the third system the charm?

Is the third system the charm?

By JULIA FERRANTE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 13, 2008

Updated:

For the third time in three presidential elections, Pasco County voters will cast their ballots using a different voting system.

"In 2000, it was punch cards. In 2004, it was ... touch screens, and in 2008, it will be paper ballots with an optical scan," Pasco Supervisor of Elections Brian Corley said.

Elections officials began dismantling the iVotronic touch-screen systems after Tuesday's municipal elections, the last time the equipment will be used in Pasco. The touch-screen ballots will be replaced with machines that produce and collect paper ballots in time for an August primary and the November presidential election.

The Florida Legislature has mandated that counties switch to the new technology by July 1. If they opt in before June 30, the state will pay for most of the optical scanners needed to tabulate the ballots.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/apr/13/pa-is-3rd-system-the-charm/?news-pasco

[EFerrari]

8. IN: System strained by avalanche of registrations

System strained by avalanche of registrations
More Hoosiers preparing to vote than ever before; procedure slow.
VOTE 2008

NANCY J. SULOK
Tribune Staff Writer


SOUTH BEND -- Voter registration offices and county clerks here and around the state are struggling to keep up with a huge increase in voter registrations and absentee voter applications, and some are blaming a state system that they say can't handle the volume.

The Statewide Voter Registration System is an electronic database created in 2006 that links voter registration records in all of Indiana's 92 counties.

Pam Brunette, Democratic member of the St. Joseph County Voter Registration Board, and Linda Silcott, Republican member, said the system is slow and cumbersome. It has taken as long as six to 10 minutes to handle a single registration, Brunette said, and the county is dealing with thousands of them.

Secretary of State Todd Rokita defended SVRS Thursday in a telephone interview, but acknowledged that the large volume of registrations could be slowing things down. More Hoosiers have registered for this primary election than ever before in recent history, he said.

http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080412/News01/804120388

[EFerrari]

9. AL: Alabama senator files ethics complaint against representative

(I don't know why I'm posting this except it might turn out to be something about Alabama as the corruption unravels.)


Alabama senator files ethics complaint against representative

Last Update: 4/11 8:20 pm
Print Story | Email Story

JASPER, Ala. (AP) - A state legislator from Walker County has filed a state ethics complaint against another Walker County legislator.

Republican Sen. Charles Bishop of Jasper said Democratic Rep. Ken Guin of Carbon Hill should not vote on Bishop's legislation to ban electronic bingo in Walker County. In a complaint Thursday to the State Ethics Commission, Bishop contended it is a conflict of interest because Guin is a lawyer for a group of charities that operate a bingo parlor.

Guin said Friday that Bishop's bill is unconstitutional because a statute can't rewrite the constitutional amendment that permitted charities to bingo in Walker County.

The bingo started out as traditional paper bingo, but the county now has 16 electronic bingo halls, with more planned.

http://www.nbc15online.com/news/state/story.aspx?content_id=2b69a27b-a335-42b8-9d25-837b9a261aa5&rss=218

[EFerrari]

19. CA: Election inspiring younger vote

Election inspiring younger voters

By GARY WARTH - Staff Writer | Sunday, April 13, 2008 7:25 PM PDT ∞

NORTH COUNTY ---- Joe Huser had a feeling that the turnout would be good after inviting people to watch election returns with the San Diego County Young Democrats in February.

Yet even Hughes, a 30-year-year Del Mar attorney, didn't expect the dozens that gathered at Wine Steals in Hillcrest to watch the Feb. 5 California primary results.

"I was surprised at how well the turnout went, given that we didn't spend much time organizing it," he said.

The crowd was one more indication that younger people are taking this year's presidential election, and politics in general, more seriously, according to local political party officials.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/04/14//news/sandiego//f4a51aeb9df9412788257426006da023.txt

[EFerrari]

24. IL: Do Kane votes really count with eSlate?

Do Kane votes really count with eSlate?
Federal lawsuit casts doubt on electronic balloting used locally

April 13, 2008
BY DAN CAMPANA Staff Writer

The debate isn't new.

Whether online or in isolated news reports around the country, critics of electronic voting have argued its dangers while elections officials defended the technology as secure and accurate.

A recently unsealed and first-of-its-kind federal lawsuit against Hart Intercivic -- the maker of eSlate voting machines used in Kane County -- is certain to ramp up a new wave of debate. Already in Kane, which has spent $3.1 million on eSlates used in five elections since 2006, the question has resurfaced -- are votes safe?

Although Kane County Clerk John Cunningham insists that "once the ballot goes into the box, it's counted," others aren't so sure.

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/couriernews/news/892396,3_1_EL13_A1ESLATE_S1.article

[EFerrari]

3. International.

[EFerrari]

11. Nepal: voters give Maoists a chance

Nepal voters give Maoists a chance

by Sam Taylor 13 minutes ago

KATHMANDU, April 14, 2008 (AFP) - Successful on the battlefield, Nepal's Maoists appear to have confounded predictions they would fail at the ballot box -- taking a stunning early lead in the count from last week's elections.
ADVERTISEMENT

Behind the numbers emerging from the Election Commission in Kathmandu is what observers and ordinary voters say is a resounding demand for sweeping change in the Himalayan nation and one of the world's poorest places.

Last Thursday's polls -- the first major elections in nearly a decade -- are set to change the history of the country by electing a body whose first job is to rewrite the constitution and most likely abolish a discredited monarchy.

Of the 601 seats up for grabs in a new Constituent Assembly, nearly one third have been decided or were close to being allocated -- with the former rebels taking or poised to win the lion's share.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080414/wl_asia_afp/nepalvotemaoists_080414020536

[EFerrari]

12. Italians vote in general election

Deutsche Welle

Italians vote in general election

Italians have gone to the polls in the first of two days of elections for a new parliament and prime minister. More than 50 million Italians are eligible to cast their ballots in the general election with preliminary results not expected until Monday evening. Centre-right opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi and former Rome mayor Walter Veltroni of the centre-left Democratic Party are the main contenders in the race which comes just two years after Italy's last parliamentary poll. Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi resigned in February when his centre-left coalition lost a confidence vote in parliament's upper house, the Senate.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/function/0,,12215_cid_3264191,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf

[EFerrari]

14. Zimbabwe opposition faces crucial court rulings

Zimbabwe opposition faces crucial court rulings
By Celia W. Dugger
Published: April 14, 2008

LUSAKA, Zambia: Zimbabwe's political opposition is facing crucial court decisions this week that could reshape its electoral stalemate with the governing party of Robert Mugabe, who has been president since the country won its independence 28 years ago.

Zimbabwe's High Court is expected to rule Monday on an opposition demand that the results of the presidential election held two weeks ago be released immediately. On Tuesday, the court is to consider whether to allow a recount that ZANU-PF, the governing party, has sought in 23 parliamentary constituencies.

Official results in the March 29 election gave the opposition party more than half of the 210 seats in Parliament, but a recount of those districts could swing the majority back into the governing party's column.

Zimbabwean election officials have yet to announce the winner of the presidential election, also held March 29, causing widespread suspicions that Mugabe is refusing to accept his own defeat.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/14/africa/14zimbabwe.php

[EFerrari]

18. Italian voter eats ballot paper

Italian voter eats ballot paper
Posted 3 hours 2 minutes ago

The polls have closed after the first of two days of voting in Italy's general elections.

Former prime minister and TV magnate Silvio Berlusconi - one of Italy's wealthiest businessmen - is challenging former mayor of Rome Walter Ventroni to head the Government for the next five years.

Mr Berlusconi is seeking a third term in office.

Almost one in five Italians had voted by Sunday lunchtime, which suggests that a substantial vote will have been recorded by the time the polls finally close on Monday afternoon.

One voter in the southern town of Sorrento, Ciro Desposito, publicly tore up and ate his ballot paper in an unusual form of personal protest.

He said he was disgusted by the failure of Italy's politicians to deal with his country's current economic ills.

The early election was called when the centre-left coalition government of Romano Prodi collapsed in January.

- ABC/BBC

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/14/2215841.htm

[EFerrari]

4. OpEd.

[EFerrari]

21. Citizen Lawsuits vs. Voting Machine Companies

April 12, 2008
Sunday, 4/13, 2-4pm CDT, Citizen Lawsuits vs. Voting Machine Companies

By Vickie Karp

HELLO from VoteRescue Radio - Where Citizens Count, One Vote at a Time!
Tomorrow, April 13th, from 2-4pm CDT, we will be continuing with our "theme" of citizen lawsuits against voting machine companies with our first guest: We are happy to welcome Patricia Axelrod, election integrity activist from Reno, Nevada, who, based on the myriad of problems experienced in her state with the Sequoia voting machines, took on that company in a "pro se" lawsuit which is still ongoing. Patricia will share her story with us and the status of that suit, Axelrod v Sequoia et al. Patricia will also speak on the use of Diebold "DIMS" voter registration system as well as third party beneficiary rights to sue voting machine manufactures. You won't want to miss this fascinating interview!
~
Patricia Axelrod is a weapons system analyst, a military scientist for peace and a past recipient of John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research and Writing Award for her analysis of the failure of the modern high tech electronic battlefield. Her weapons work has also received a "Project Censored" award. She has have taught investigative research at Johns Hopkins University and is the co-founder of the State of California Reserve Officers Association Committee on Persian Gulf War Illness. She now conducts The Desert Storm Think Tank and Veterans Advocate from my home in Reno, Nevada wherein she resides and votes and from where she also conducts the fledgling Elections Litigation Foundation (ELF).
~

In our second hour, we will go back to the subject of the Hart InterCivic company with Austin Public Access TV show host Bob Dacy (of "The Simple Truth"), who several years ago traced back the ownership of the Hart company to discover a very interesting (though somewhat predictable for many of us) extreme conflict of interest there.
~
Bob is a native Austinite; he is the operator/owner of The Hardware Store, Inc., a TrueValue hardware store. Bob is in his 9th year of hosting "The Simple Truth," a cable access television show that covers news and current events from a "strict constructionist" view. He is an occasional contributor to The New American magazine, a nationally distributed periodical. Bob is proud to call himself a "thorn in the side of the Trans-Texas-Corridor promoters", is a contributor to the alternative news website Infowars.com., and frequently guest hosts "The Alex Jones Show," the most popular alternative media radio show in the world.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_vickie_k_080412_sunday_2c_4_2f13_2c_2_4pm_.htm

[EFerrari]

22. Statement Regarding Candidate Albert Howard's NH Recount Appeal

April 11, 2008

Election Integrity Activists' Statement Regarding Candidate Albert Howard's NH Recount Appeal
By Press Release

For Immediate Release -- Election Integrity Activists' Statement Regarding Candidate Albert Howard's NH Recount Appeal

Contacts: Sally Castleman [phone] Vickie Karp [phone] / Abbe Waldman DeLozier [phone]

April 10, 2008

Albert Howard, the Republican candidate on whose behalf we wrote the Petition for Appeal of the New Hampshire recount, yesterday severed his ties with the election integrity volunteers from EDA, the Coalition for Visible Ballots, and several other groups who have been offering assistance regarding the upcoming April 18th hearing with the Ballot Law Commission. He has indicated that he has secured his own attorneys and prefers to move forward withour our involvement or assistance. We take that to include all our support, data, evidence and witnesses.

Given Mr. Howard's recent YouTube video initiating a fund raising campaign for a million dollars "to start off with" for legal fees in his recount battle, claims he has made regarding the recount appeal process and potential outcomes, concerns about his methodologies and other aspects of his behavior, we have determined that severing all ties with him is in the best interests of our election integrity community as well.

We will therefore not be participating in the NH Ballot Law Commission hearing on April 18th, although we will have representatives there as witnesses to, and recorders of, the events and determinations of the Commission.

By New Hampshire law, only a candidate can ask for a recount or an appeal to the Ballot Law Commission (BLC), which is how Albert Howard came into the picture in the first place. While this establishes a situation where the candidate has a decisive role, the election integrity advocacy community also has a part to play, and it is in this capacity that so many activists have been engaged as citizen watchdogs throughout the recount and appeal process.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_press_re_080411_election_integrity_a.htm

[bleever]

13. K&R.

Thanks for working late!

[Kurovski]

27. K&R#5.

At last! Thanks, Beth. :thumbsup:

[livvy]

28. Monday morning knr.

Thanks!

:hi:

[Mnemosyne]

29. Great thread, Beth! An a.m. KnR!

:hi: