OPEN THREAD Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, Wednesday 04/16/08

[Melissa G]

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, Wednesday 04/16/08

Today is yet another Excellent Day to practice being an ER Daily News editor!
We are still needing Daily News Editors For Tuesday, Thursday, and maybe Wednesday. See discussion here...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3155118

It's fun! It's easy! I'll post a few items to get you started.
You can even PM me for help and I'll walk you through it.

It's as easy as 1 2 3! See directions below...



Esteemed DUer's, please consider taking a moment (or more)
to graciously participate by posting Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News on this thread.



If you can:
1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web.



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.



Please "Recommend" for the Greatest Page (it's the link just below).
Thank You!

[Melissa G]

1. States n/t

[Melissa G]

7. PA- A flurry of ballots signals interest

A flurry of ballots signals interest
County voter services get record numbers of absentee applications.

By Scott Kraus | Of The Morning Call
April 16, 2008

Ar
A flood of absentee ballot applications pouring into county offices in advance of Tuesday's deadline has provided another indicator that turnout in Pennsylvania's primary will be heavy.

The influx of paper ballots comes on top of a massive number of new registrations and party switches processed by counties in March. The latest statewide figures put the total number of registered Democrats at just shy of 4.2 million, a record.

Northampton County had gotten nearly 2,200 absentee ballot applications by noon Tuesday, said Deborah DePaul, chief registrar of elections.

''It's considerably more than what typically flows in for a normal primary,'' DePaul said.

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-b1_2absent.6363790apr16,0,3664247.story

[Melissa G]

12. FL Anti-Democracy Activist: Sarasota's Supervisor of Elections, Kathy Dent

BLOGGED BY Brad Friedman ON 4/16/2008 1:29PM
Anti-Democracy Activist: Sarasota's Supervisor of Elections, Kathy Dent

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune's column today on the awful Sarasota, FL Supervisor of Elections, Kathy Dent --- and the criminal complaint against her outrageous, unlawful Election Day, in-precinct campaigning against a 2006 ballot initiative to ban touch-screen voting machines in the county (the initiative passed, despite her best efforts, and carefully placed brochures on voter sign-in tables!) --- is so good that I don't want to quote from it.

I want you to read it.

As the Herald-Trib describes, as revealed in Dent's interview conducted by the Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement, concerning her inappropriate (and illegal) placement of pro-touch-screen brochures in polling places, Dent admits she was aware of a voter's complaint about it, but ignored it "because she had assumed it was from 'one of the activists' that had been criticizing her and her machines."

The FDLE report on the matter, including their interview with the apparently-pathological Ms. Dent, as referenced in the column as "good reading", may be downloaded here .

Dent, of course, is the woman who also presided over the FL-13 U.S. Congressional election that same year, when 18,000 votes disappeared in her county only, and only on her precious, now-banned, ES&S Ivotronic touch-screen machines, as the Republican Vern Buchanan reportedly edged out Democrat Christine Jennings by just 369 votes.

If the linked column doesn't give you enough of an idea of what a horrible, anti-democracy villain Dent really is, perhaps the following lovely, 30-second phone message --- left on the voice mail of Tallahassee' Election Supervisor (and democracy hero), Ion Sancho, moments after he appeared on a Fort Myers radio show, heard in Sarasota, in which he was asked about, and praised, the Sarasota citizen ballot initiative to do away with the touch-screens --- will give you some idea:
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5902

CORRECTION/UPDATE: We originally characterized the phone call from Dent to Sancho, posted above, as being in regard to the FL-13 election fiasco. In fact, Dent's call to Sancho was made prior to the '06 Election, in reference to his radio interview comments on the Election Reform initiative, as now explained above. We touched base with Sancho just now, and he had some additional thoughts about Dent and her inappropriate campaign to defeat the initiative in question. Said Sancho: "This woman knowingly campaigned against an initiative on the ballot. If she wanted to do that, at a minimum, she should have formed a political action committee to do so. Supervisors of Elections don't give up their right to free speech, but they have to follow the law, particularly if they wish to influence anything on the ballot."

[Melissa G]

14. PA- Pennsylvania's Primary: Paperless and Unverifiable

Pennsylvania's Primary: Paperless and Unverifiable

Verified Voting Foundation. Posted April 16, 2008.

Most of Pennsylvania's voters live in counties that use electronic voting. There is no way to ensure that their votes will be counted.

The Presidential primary on April 22 will be essentially unrecountable, unverifiable, and unauditable -- an irony, because state law requires manual audits of a statistical sample of ballots cast in elections.

Over 85% of Pennsylvania's voters live in counties in which paperless electronic voting is the only method of voting at the polling place. Absentee voting requires an excuse in Pennsylvania, and there is no early voting period, so the polling-place equipment will tabulate the vast majority of the votes in the primary. Pennsylvania's Secretary of State has judged that reel-to-reel paper trail printers compromise voter privacy, and none of Pennsylvania's direct-recording electronic (DRE) systems offer voter-verifiable paper records.

Here is a summary of the voting systems used in Pennsylvania:

* According to the Secretary of State's most current voter registration statistics, Pennsylvania has 8,326,564 registered voters. 7,064,129 voters are registered in the 51 counties in which paperless electronic voting is the only method of voting at the polling places.

* Of the 51 counties which use paperless machines, 25 use the paperless ES&S iVotronic touch screen machine as the principal voting system. These counties have over 2.6 million registered voters, comprising 32% of the registered voters in the state. After the state of Ohio's EVEREST voting system review was published, Edward Felten, head of the Center for Information Technology Policy at Princeton University, wrote that the iVotronic is "too risky to use in elections."

* 16 counties, with over 900,000 registered voters, use the Diebold/Premier TSx touch screen as the voting system. California Secretary of State Debra Bowen disallowed the TSx for use as a primary voting system for multiple and grave security vulnerabilities, as well as threats to voter privacy. See Secretary Bowen's withdrawal of approval here, and the full reports of the review teams.

* 6 counties, with over 2.3 million voters, use the push-button Shouptronic voting machine.

* 750,000 voters will use the Sequoia Advantage, which apparently miscounted party turnout New Jersey's February 5 primary. New Jersey county election officials called for an independent investigation of the machine discrepancy. 104,000 voters in York County use the Sequoia AVC Edge, also disallowed for use as a primary system in California.

* 82,000 voters in Blair County will use the Hart Intercivic eSlate as the primary system. The eSlate was also found vulnerable in the EVEREST (p. 228-230) and the California top-to-bottom review.

* Just under 1.2 million voters live in counties in which optically scanned paper ballots are the primary voting system. 740,000 voters live in four counties which use blended systems, with DREs used for accessible voting systems. 420,000 voters live in the 12 counties that use optical scan systems with a ballot-marking device for accessibility.

http://www.alternet.org/democracy/82566/

[tbyg52]

15. CO: Governor’s Campaign Violates Campaign Finance Laws

Governor Bill Ritter released documents on Tuesday that show his campaign violated campaign finance laws last year. The Secretary of State, the Denver District Attorney and Colorado’s Attorney General are now reviewing the documents – but haven’t decided whether to press charges. Bente Birkeland reports from Denver.

Video:
http://krccnews.org/rmcr/2008/04/16/governors-campaign-violates-campaign-finance-laws/

(Edited to replace dupe)

[tbyg52]

18. CA: Supervisors choose to cut voting machine warranties

Shasta County Supervisors hope to save $61,350 by slashing the number of extended warranties they buy for voting machines that aren't being used and eliminating warranties on other election equipment.

Supervisors approved the reduced number of warranties in a 4-0 vote at their Tuesday meeting. Chairwoman Linda Hartman was absent.

The decision came after the board questioned the need to extend warranties on all of Shasta County's 438 touch-screen voting machines, considering the Secretary of State has decertified the use of all but one in each of the county's 118 precincts.

Those touch-screen machines must be available under the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) to allow blind and disabled voters to cast their ballots privately, without assistance.

More:
http://www.redding.com/news/2008/apr/16/supervisors-choose-to-cut/

[Melissa G]

2. National n/t

[Melissa G]

8. GOP Congressman: Private Voting Companies That Fail 'Should be Fired'

BLOGGED BY Brad Friedman ON 4/15/2008 8:05PM
GOP Congressman: Private Voting Companies That Fail 'Should be Fired'
Rep. Vern Ehlers Steps Briefly Off the Reservation at Recent Congressional Hearing, as Election Integrity Advocates Condemn the Privatization and Outsourcing of America's Electoral System
VoterAction's John Bonifaz Testifies: 'Growing Influence by Private Companies in How We Conduct Elections Puts Democracy at Serious Risk'...

snip

The Congressman --- at least momentarily --- stepped off the GOP reservation, to admit that the private corporations that fail in their outsourced election duties "should be fired"...


snip
Bonifaz then summarized as follows in his powerful conclusion...
When private companies deny independent investigation and review of their voting systems --- as they've recently done in New Jersey and in Florida --- the integrity of the election process is undermined.

When voting systems, including privatized voter registration databases and electronic poll books, are found to be unreliable, election officials ought to discontinue their use and employ safer and more accurate systems.

When questions repeatedly emerge every election as to whether votes are being properly counted – as they have in the past several election cycles, rigorous and mandatory audits ought to be required with voter-marked paper ballot systems that are, in fact, auditable.

More than a century ago, the United States Supreme Court stated in the case of Yick Wo v. Hopkins, that the right to vote is "a fundamental political right" which is "preservative of all rights." In 2008, we must remain ever-vigilant in protecting this most basic right.

Democracy demands no less.
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5898

[Melissa G]

10. Republicans reject funding for paper-based voting

Republicans reject funding for paper-based voting
Posted by Anne Broache

Opposition from Republicans and the White House has sparked defeat of a Democratic proposal to reimburse state election officials for converting their electronic voting machines to paper-based systems ahead of November's election.

The U.S. House of Representatives measure, called the Emergency Assistance for Secure Elections Act of 2008, had been called up for what's known as a "suspension" vote on Tuesday. That means in order for it to pass, two-thirds of the House would have had to vote in favor of the bill.

Instead, the bill fell well short of that threshold, garnering a 239-178 vote, with only 16 Republicans voting yes. (Two Democrats voted no.)
Automark Voter Assist Terminal

Paper or electronic? In the case of the Automark Voter Assist Terminal, it's both. The machine is designed to mark paper ballots for voters with disabilities. (File photo from 2005; in January 2008, Election Systems & Software acquired the assets of Automark Technical Systems.)
(Credit: Automark Technical Systems)

Introduced in January by Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.), the bill was designed to encourage states to use paper-based balloting systems and to audit their results in exchange for federal funding to finance those ventures. But taking those steps is not mandatory, unlike some previous efforts by Holt and other politicians to require voter-verified paper records in all machines by this fall.

http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9920030-7.html?tag=ne.fd.mnbc

[Melissa G]

11. Follow Bill Nelson's Lead on Reforming Elections System

Follow Bill Nelson's Lead on Reforming Elections System


By Norman J. Ornstein
Posted: Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) is one of the good guys in Congress--smart, thoughtful, decent and hardworking. Now, fortunately, he is turning his attention and considerable energies to election reform, a broadly defined issue.

It is fortunate for two reasons: First, there are big issues out there and enough people distrustful of the electoral process or cynical about it to create a real crisis of governance the next time we have a very close election. Second, precious few lawmakers have decided to devote their time and attention to this topic.

The fact is that voting at the polls has become a distinctly difficult and unpleasant experience for way too many voters.

Despite the emotions raised by problems with voting, this is not a slam-dunk winner of an issue politically. And those lawmakers who were instrumental in passing the Help America Vote Act in 2002 have either lost interest in the issue, are exhausted from it or believe we should wait awhile before acting again.

They are wrong. We do need to be careful about rushing to major reform without considering the costs and consequences; we are paying now for the rush to employ touch-screen devices known as DREs, or direct-recording electronic machines. And every major reform has to be absorbed by hapless election administrators who have neither the resources nor the trained personnel to make big changes on a frequent basis.

http://www.aei.org/publications/filter.all,pubID.27819/pub_detail.asp

[Melissa G]

13. Dean: Encouraging States To Improve the Integrity of Our Voting Process Should Be a Bipartisan Prior

Dean: Encouraging States To Improve the Integrity of Our Voting Process Should Be a Bipartisan Priority

WASHINGTON, April 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean issued the following statement after Bush Republicans and the White House blocked a bill --which passed in the House Administration Committee with bipartisan support -- to help states ensure the security of our elections by providing a verified paper trail:

"Encouraging states to improve the integrity of our voting process should be a bipartisan priority. But today, Bush Republicans and the White House blocked a bill to help more states ensure the security of our elections by providing a verified paper trail. America has spent millions of dollars on elections in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan yet Republicans don't want to invest in the integrity of our process here at home. It's shameful and the American people will hold Republicans accountable in November."
Website: http://www.democrats.org/
http://sev.prnewswire.com/publishing-information-services/20080416/CLTU14215042008-1.html

[Melissa G]

16. Initiative to Resolve Florida and Michigan Primary Disputes Announced by SaveTheVoters.org

Initiative to Resolve Florida and Michigan Primary Disputes Announced by SaveTheVoters.org


NATICK, Mass. - (Business Wire) SaveTheVoters.org, Inc., a new 501(c)(3)-pending non-profit organization, has launched a website and non-partisan initiative to empower voters and encourage civic engagement with a focus on “people, not politics.” SaveTheVoters.org announced today the launch of its first program, which focuses on giving a voice to disenfranchised voters in the Florida primary and Michigan primary.

A struggle between appointed Democratic Party leaders and local politicians in Florida and Michigan has led to the disenfranchisement of millions of voters in a nationwide presidential election. Until now, no independent, non-partisan group had stepped forward to represent the disenfranchised voter, and therefore it had been left to the individual candidates to debate what they would prefer to see happen.

SaveTheVoters.org gives the voters in the Florida primary and Michigan primary a voice by:

* funding detailed voter research and analyses,
* working with leading experts to conduct scientific studies that report what the voters themselves want,
* letting the people, not party insiders, decide how their delegates should be seated, and
* removing from the conversation the speculation and spin that are currently being used to excuse inaction.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/initiative-to-resolve-florida-and-michigan-primary-disputes-announced-by-savethevotersorg,354991.shtml

[tbyg52]

17. Surprise: Election Reforms Politicized

From an article posted at AlterNet and reposted here with permission of the author. To read the full article please visit AltetNet.

The Bush Administration and House Republicans led to the likely defeat of an election reform bill, HR 5036, sponsored by Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) that would have helped many counties and states buy voting machines with a paper trail before the fall presidential election. The bill, which also would pay for audits to check the accuracy of vote counts, was the first election integrity vote to come before the House in years.

According to Congressional Quarterly, "Democrats put the bill on the part of Tuesday's calendar used for non-controversial measures. It was brought up under suspension of the rules, which required a two-thirds vote for passage. But the final tally, 239-178, fell far short of the margin needed."

More:
http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2820&Itemid=26

[tbyg52]

22. Defense Department Works to Improve Absentee-Voting Procedures, Boost Participation

The Defense Department has made great strides over the past four years to ensure servicemembers, particularly those stationed and deployed overseas, have greater opportunity to vote, a senior defense official told Congress yesterday.

Washington, D.C. - American Forces Press Service - infoZine -Michael L. Dominguez, principal deputy undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, told the House Administration Committee the department is working closely with the U.S. and military postal services and other entities to ensure no servicemember wishing to vote misses out on the opportunity.

The Defense Department's Federal Voting Assistance Program works cooperatively with state and local elections to carry out provisions of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act. This 1986 law safeguards absent servicemembers' and their families' right to vote for federal offices, and also protects voting rights of other U.S. citizens overseas.

More:
http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/27961/

[Melissa G]

3. International n/t

[tbyg52]

20. Zimbabwe: Students Riot At Bulawayo's Nust University

Students at the National University of Science and Technology in Bulawayo rioted on campus Wednesday, demanding that Robert Mugabe step down as Chancellor of the University.

The demonstration is said to have turned violent when riot police entered the campus and started beating up students indiscriminately. Angry students then turned on one member of the police force who was brandishing a pistol, and stoned him. Several cars and buildings were stoned during the skirmishes.

The students are angry about the poor educational standards in the country and blame Mugabe's misrule for their plight. They also demanded a release of presidential election results, which have still not been announced 18 days after Zimbabweans voted. Zimbabwe National Students Union President Clever Bere warned Mugabe that students would make the country 'ungovernable' if he tried to 'steal' the election.

More:
http://allafrica.com/stories/200804161070.html

[Melissa G]

4. Editorial n/t

[Melissa G]

9. Voting accidents and other avoidable tragedies

Voting accidents and other avoidable tragedies

TAGS: Political pandering

When I was in school I learned that the difference between comedy and tragedy is that one of them ends in death and the other in marriage. (But I could never remember which is which, which may be why I have such a hard time holding onto girl friends.) Likewise, I can't really decide if our current e-voting follies are comic or tragic.

At the RSA conference earlier this month, a panel of security wonks who tested California's e-voting equipment declared the machines slightly more secure than a box of Jujubees.

The California audit examined systems from Diebold Elections Systems, Hart InterCivic and Sequoia Voting Systems, ultimately permitting their use in 2008, but only under certain conditions. In testing, Wagner and his team found that they could introduce a computer virus to any of the three systems, which would then spread throughout the county and ultimately skew the vote count.

Anyone who's followed this story knows this is old news. Separate tests by Princeton prof Ed Felten and Finnish security expert Harri Hursti arrived at similar conclusions. (Here's a video of a Diebold AccuVote-TS machine being hacked by Felten and his crew.)

In fact, security wonk David Wagner says we're past the point where we can fix broken voting machines by election day, so he's urging states to audit the results for fraud. Only about a third of states do any auditing at all. So yesterday the US House of Representatives tried to pass a bill offering states money to fund audits and/or use paper ballots instead of machines if they chose to do so. But it failed to get the two thirds majority it needed for passage, largely because many House members were absent.

http://weblog.infoworld.com/robertxcringely/archives/2008/04/voting_accident.html

[tbyg52]

19. Laying a foundation for voting

A LITTLE-NOTICED EFFORT to help enfranchise college students for the Ohio primary elections may have a significant effect in that battleground state and nationwide when Americans go to the polls in November.

At the urging of students from Oberlin College and other Ohio schools, Jennifer Brunner, Ohio’s secretary of state, ruled in late February that colleges and universities can issue utility bills to their students, enabling them to fulfill the state’s voter residency requirements. The bills, which require no action, reflect payment for services such as telephone, Internet access and electricity, already covered by the students’ tuition and fees.

Some critics have assailed that decision, claiming it allows transient “outsiders” who did not grow up in a given community, do not pay local taxes and may leave upon graduation to affect the outcome of elections. Those views contradict our Constitution and the facts.

Voting in America is not restricted to taxpayers or property owners. Federal law guarantees college students the right to vote where they go to school. Many students have jobs and pay state and local taxes on their earnings. All students pay the taxes applied to goods and services, such as sales taxes. And in our highly mobile society, millions of voters do not live where they grew up. Denying such people the right to vote, which even the homeless are guaranteed, would be unthinkable.

More:
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/commentary/commentaryother.asp?file=aprilcommentary462008.xml

[tbyg52]

21. OK: Voter IDs unnecessary requirement for workers

The county staffs who run elections in Oklahoma do a commendable job of making sure voting is accomplished and making sure all votes are properly counted. Rarely is there a problem of unregistered voters intentionally showing up to vote. Most of the voter fraud is committed through absentee voting.

But Oklahoma lawmakers have taken up the mostly Republican initiative that has picked up steam in two dozen other states and passed legislation requiring voters to show an identification card. Court challenges have been instituted in several states. Local Reps. Scott Martin, Randy Terrill and Paul Wesselhoft supported the bill and Reps. Bill Nations and Wallace Collins voted no.

More:
http://www.normantranscript.com/opinion/local_story_107002431

[Melissa G]

5. Action items n/t

[Melissa G]

6. Wanted: ER Daily News Editors

Please Check in on the thread below or PM me.
Thanks!:patriot:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3155118

[tbyg52]

23. Thanks Melissa!

I threw in a couple three things while I was here, but must go now.

[Melissa G]

24. Thank you,tbyg52!

Perhaps if we can get this voted up some new folks might want to practice posting...

[hwmnbn]

25. here's my assist...

K&R

[Melissa G]

27. We appreciate it very much. Thanks!

:hi:

[Kurovski]

26. Lucky#5!

Thanks, beautiful ones, MG and tbyg52! :loveya: 's

[Melissa G]

28. Thanks for being Lucky number 5 so often!

:loveya: