Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, Tuesday 04/22/08

[Melissa G]

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, Tuesday 04/22/08

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

Pennsylvania Mania- It's tough to vote when your candidate's name is not on the ballot.
check post 5 for details...

Post these and any other shenanigans you find here on this thread.
If you can:
1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web.


2. Post stories using the Spring 2006 Edition of "Election Fraud and Reform News Directory" listed here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x407240

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


4. 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]

5. Penn Voters missing Obama on Ballot

DU discussion here...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5616747#5616794
Thanks to ellacott for the post!

Original message
Caller to Stephanie's Show Said Some Ballots in Pa Don't Have Obama's Name

Stephanie Miller said she had heard this and someone emailed her a picture of the ballot.

I haven't seen anything on the web. If true, I hope it gets corrected quickly.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5616747#5616794

[Melissa G]

7. Pennsylvania's Primary: Paperless and Unverifiable

Pennsylvania's Primary: Paperless and Unverifiable
by Verified Voting Foundation

Pennsylvania's 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. (For a key to the map please click here.)

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.

more...
http://by132w.bay132.mail.live.com/mail/ReadMessageLight.aspx?Aux=4%7c0%7c8CA723955ED66A0%7c&FolderID=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001&InboxSortAscending=False&InboxSortBy=Date&ReadMessageId=9c4b6166-f697-49b3-8d7b-81913335d279&n=875415274

[Melissa G]

8. PA- Philly Voting Trouble?

Philly Voting Trouble?
April 22, 2008

Barack Obama's campaign is hearing that there are problems with voting machines in Philly --
that machines are breaking down, and only one or two machines are working in some predominantly African-American precincts,
reports NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan.
http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2008/04/philly_voting_t.html

[Melissa G]

9. PA-Pennsylvania Voters Face Critical Primary

Pennsylvania Voters Face Critical Primary

Listen Now <16 min 49 sec> add to playlist

Tell Me More, April 21, 2008 · Sen. Barack Obama has consolidated support among African American voters, but white voters have been more divided. A panel of white voters from Pennsylvania discusses the upcoming primary and the campaigns of Democratic rivals Sens. Obama and Clinton.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89806109

[Melissa G]

11. PA- Pennsylvania Primary: Polling Place, E-Voting Problem Wire...

Brad Blog

BLOGGED BY Brad Friedman ON 4/22/2008 10:29AM
Pennsylvania Primary: Polling Place, E-Voting Problem Wire...

Problem reports from polling places in PA, including voting machine malfunctions and long lines, began coming in early this morning. That could be an ominous sign, given that on most Election Days, the real extent of problems, at least with voting systems, aren't full revealed until later, and often in the days after the election. See our report yesterday detailing concerns about e-voting equipment, and whether there would be enough machines to go around (presuming they work at all) across Pennsylvania.

NOTE: We'll be updating --- with newer items on top! --- as notable problem reports come in today. (Hit Refresh as needed.)...


http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5918

[Melissa G]

12. Bradblog update PA problems

6:43am PT: Lehigh Valley Live...
Retired Rabbi Jonathan Gerard, 60, of Easton, was concerned --- as were many voters --- that there was just one electronic voting machine in the polling place, where for years there had been two mechanical machines. Poll workers said it was because Northampton County went from 600 uncertified machines to 300 machines from a different vendor.

6:15am PT: Philly Inquirer/Daily News PA Primary Blog...
Both machines were on the fritz as polls opened at St. Andrew’s Lithuanian Church, 19th & Wallace Streets, in the city’s Spring Garden neighborhood.
The polls, five blocks from outgoing state senator Vince Fumo home, are in the 16th division, 15th ward.
Early voters were asked to fill out provisional ballots. More than 20 people did so and left grumbling when they learned their ballots wouldn’t be counted tonight.
By 7:30 a.m. election workers got the two machines up and running on batteries.

6:14am PT: Morning Call...
In Bethlehem...When judge of elections Craig Hynes swung open the doors, 15 people rushed in, including some that had been their since 6:40 a.m....Hynes said. "This is going to be a long day."

Moments later he realized how long it could be when one of his three voting machines malfunctioned. After four people had voted, he realized that it had only registered one voter. He had to reset machine.

"We lost three voters and there's no getting them back," explained Hynes, "and at this point we don't even know who they were."

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5918

[Melissa G]

13. PA- Minor Issues Reported In Phila. Polling Places

Minor Issues Reported In Phila. Polling Places
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ― Few problems were reported throughout the city during the Pennsylvania Primary Tuesday.

Voters reported problems with a polling place near 12th and Grange Streets in the Olney section of Philadelphia in the early morning hours.

Both machines were reportedly down as a long line of voters waited to cast their ballot. Some voters said they were told the power went down and a technician was needed to get the machines to function.

"I come here to vote, that's what I expect to do and I am going to do it before the day is over," said voter Homer Coney.

Many voters reportedly left the location in order to get to work on time, but not Dolores Nicholson.

"I made sure the machine was working. I was going to stay here until I got my vote in," said Dolores Nicholson.
http://cbs3.com/topstories/polling.places.pennsylvania.2.705732.html

[Melissa G]

14. PA- Reports of disenfranchised and uncertain voters

Reports of disenfranchised and uncertain voters

The Coalition for Voting Integrity, headquartered in Bucks County, is out at the polls today, interviewing exiting voters and taking reports of problems.

Mary Ann Gould, the coalition’s executive director, said that the main problem they’ve seen so far is that some people aren’t sure their vote was recorded.

Gould said that she’s hearing from people who’ve voted and then gone home and wondered if they did it wrong. “Even though the machines seem simple, they have the feeling that they’re walking away without having recorded a vote,” Gould said.

Once a voter has finished inputting all of their selections, they have to press a green button in order to submit it. After the button is pressed, the screen should clear and a ding should sound.

“But if you do not push that or don’t push it hard enough and you leave, that’s where your vote can be destroyed. Not can be, will be,” Gould said.

http://blogs.phillyburbs.com/blog.php/?p=28239&cat=197

[Melissa G]

15. PA- PA votes - Clinton or Obama (Turnout Sky high)

PA votes - Clinton or Obama

By Sam Wood and Patrick Kerkstra

INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are making unscheduled, unannounced stops throughout the Philadelphia region as both candidates make a last frantic dash to the finish line of the Pennsylvania primary election.

Turnout at the Pennsylvania polls is "sky-high, much greater than usual" as voters in the Keystone State cast ballots in today's closed watched presidential primary.

In the city and the suburbs, voters streamed to the polls at a rapid clip.

Will it be Obama or Clinton? Who will grab most of the state's 158 Democratic delegates? Will there be a record voter turnout?

"It's impossible to quantify so early, but the anecdotal information is telling us there is definitely high turnout," said Zack Stalberg, president and CEO of the election watchdog group the Committee of Seventy.
http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/17999309.html

[Melissa G]

17. PA- Voters might need to wait in line longer

Voters might need to wait in line longer
Posted by Express-Times staff April 22, 2008 09:01AM
Categories: Breaking News, Elections, Lehigh Valley Live, Pennsylvania

Live from Northampton County polling places...

Terrance Hand, 38, of Easton and his wife, Lisa, say they are not party people, but candidate people and both lived by that belief this morning when voting at New Life Pentecostal Church on College Hill. Hand, a Naval Academy graduate, remained a Republican for the primary, sticking with John McCain, a fellow Navy alum who spoke at Hand's graduation. Lisa Hand, on the other hand, switched to the Democrats to cast a ballot for Barack Obama. "Obama has until November to change my mind," Terrance Hand said. But his wife added, "After seeing the debates ... I felt like I wanted to have a vote count in the primary" and she added that she was inspired by Obama.

Retired Rabbi Jonathan Gerard, 60, of Easton, was concerned -- as were many voters -- that there was just one electronic voting machine in the polling place, where for years there had been two mechanical machines. Poll workers said it was because Northampton County went from 600 uncertified machines to 300 machines from a different vendor. Voting was considerably slower than normal, in a primary in which there were several people lined up outside the polling place before it opened at 7. Many of the voters at the Burke and Cattell street church will be students, Gerard said, adding that he registered many of them to vote. "They will be forced to make a choice" between waiting in line and getting to class. Gerard figures lines favor older voters, thus giving Hillary Clinton a possible advantage.
Express-Times Photo | TIM WYNKOOPBoth Democratic candidates for president were represented in Centre Square, hoping to sway voters who hadn't yet visited their polling places. Get in line to vote until 8 tonight.
Easton Constable Pete Cochran, 55, remained a Republican this time around, saying McCain is the "most electable" of the GOP, although Cochran favors Mike Huckabee, who he calls "a better candidate, but not electable." "Don't expect the Democrats to win the general election," Cochran predicted, adding disappointment with a Bush administration he helped elect. "I think McCain won't be business as usual. I think that will be a change from the Bush administration."

http://blog.pennlive.com/lvbreakingnews/2008/04/voters_might_need_to_wait_in_l.html

[Melissa G]

18. IN- Marion Co. tests voting machines

Marion Co. tests voting machines

Posted: April 22, 2008 07:36 AM

Updated: April 22, 2008 12:14 PM

Lynsay Clutter/Eyewitness News

Marion County - With Indiana's primary just 14 days away, Marion County conducted a public test of its voting machines Tuesday.

Voter turnout is expected to be high and so is the hope for a smooth election. The Secretary of State says 160,000 registrations were processed since January. In Marion County, the primary will include 3,700 ballot styles in 590 precincts.

The public test was held at 10:00 am at the election board warehouse to show the machines are reading those ballots correctly. The county already tested all 590 machines last week. On Tuesday, the goal was to test the different ballot styles as well as some voting machines and make sure every candidate got at least one vote.

snip

Marion County Clerk Beth White said the difficulty is training poll workers who must deal with a lot of different ballots even within the same precinct. Every voter must get the correct ballot and the pressure is on to get it right since Indiana is now playing a national role in determining the Democratic nominee for president.


"There have been a lot of changes. We really hope voters are not confused. I apologize if voters are confused, but change is hard, and in the long run, it's going to be a really good thing for the process, but we really do encourage voters to take the initiative, find out where they need to go to vote," said White.

http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=8207219&nav=menu188_2

[Melissa G]

21. PA- Early Polling Issue Reported In Green Tree

Early Polling Issue Reported In Green Tree

Any voter who experiences a problems at the polls is encouraged to call one of two toll-free hotlines: 1-866-OUR-VOTE (1-866-687-8683) or 1-866-MY-VOTE1 (1-866-698-6831)
The polls had only been open for about an hour before we started to hear from some voters who say they had problems casting their ballots.

Poll workers think a short power outage may have caused an early issue for about two-dozen voters in Green Tree.

According to Debbie Moskala, some voters had to use paper ballots to cast their vote because of a glitch with one of the machines at the Marian Manor senior living facility.

"When we first started voting this morning, one machine wouldn't work," Moskala told KDKA, "…. so we did paper ballots. We had about 20 people go through with paper ballots and vote that way."

"We didn't have much of a problem," Moskala added, "just a delay."

http://kdka.com/local/Poll.Green.Tree.2.705572.html

[Melissa G]

2. National n/t

[Melissa G]

23. Republicans Prepare New US Election Fraud

Republicans Prepare New US Election Fraud

By Prensa Latina


click here for related stories: Elections
4-22-08, 9:58 am

Washington, Apr 15 (Prensa Latina) The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School has found that 25 percent of adult African Americans, 15 percent of adults earning below $35,000 annually, and 18 percent of seniors over 65 do not possess government-issued photo IDs necessary to vote.

Steven Rosenfeld, a fellow at Alternet.org, says in his new book "Loser Take All," edited by Mark Crispin Miller (Ig Publishing, 2008), that since the 2004 election, activist lawyers with ties to the Republican Party and its presidential campaigns, Republican legislators, and even the Supreme Court -- in a largely unnoticed ruling in 2006 -- have been aggressively regulating most aspects of the voting process.

Collectively, these efforts are undoing the gains of the civil rights era that brought voting rights to minorities and the poor, groups that tend to support Democrats.

In addition, notes Rosenfeld, the Department of Justice (DOJ), which for decades had fought to ensure that all eligible citizens could vote, now encourages states to take steps in the opposite direction. Political appointees who advocate for stringent requirements before ballots are cast and votes are counted have driven much of the DOJ's Voting Section's recent agenda.

As a result, the Department has pushed states to purge voter lists, and to adopt newly restrictive voter ID and provisional ballot laws.

http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/6773/1/330/

[Melissa G]

3. International n/t

[Melissa G]

19. India- Notification issued for second phase of polls in Karnataka

Notification issued for second phase of polls in Karnataka

Posted at Tuesday, 22 April 2008 20:04 IST

Bangalore, April 22: Notification was issued today for the second phase of Assembly polls in Karnataka on May 16 covering 66 constituencies in ten districts.

Karnataka Election Commission Head, M N Vidyashankar said 110.26 lakh voters, including 55.02 lakh women, are eligible to exercise their franchise in this phase.

"Checking and certification of electronic voting machines to be used in the first phase on May 10 has been completed", he said.

Meanwhile, around 100 candidates today filed their nominations for the first phase, taking their total number to more than 400. Tomorrow is the last day for filing of nominations for the May 10 polls.

http://www.saharasamay.com/samayhtml/articles.aspx?newsid=98109

[Melissa G]

20. Zimbabwe recount futile, monitors warn

Zimbabwe recount futile, monitors warn



This article was first published on guardian.co.uk on Tuesday April 22 2008. It was last updated at 18:30 on April 22 2008.
A policeman keeps watch over ballot boxes in the rural district of Domboshawa outside Harare, Zimbabwe

A policeman keeps watch over ballot boxes in the rural district of Domboshawa outside Harare, Zimbabwe. Photograph: Howard Burditt/Reuters

Independent election monitors say they have seen significant irregularities, including the illicit opening of ballot boxes, that makes the partial recount under way of Zimbabwe's election an exercise in "futility".

As the recount enters its fifth day, and with the election commission saying it could take many more yet, foreign observers have documented concerns in many of the 23 constituencies where presidential and parliamentary votes are being counted again. All but two of them were won by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, helping it to end Zanu-PF's control of parliament for the first time since independence 28 years ago.

A monitor with the Southern African Development Community, Dianne Kohler-Barnard, says she witnessed tampering in two constituencies that "points to a concerted effort to rig the result in order to bring about a Mugabe 'victory'".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/22/zimbabwe

[Melissa G]

4. Editorial n/t

[Melissa G]

16. Absentee voting in the Legislature

Absentee voting in the Legislature
Posted by Joey Kennedy - Birmingham News April 22, 2008 6:15 AM

With what we're paying our legislators these days, I don't think there's ever an excuse for them to not be present for a vote, unless their colleagues are preparing a memorial resolution for them. These folks get more than $50,000 a year for their part-time work.
Yet, read our editorial here. Some lawmakers in the House weren't around when an important vote on tax reform was taken last week, but they still "voted." Actually, another House member voted their machines for them, and that just shouldn't happen. If a legislator isn't present, he or she shouldn't vote. But such shenanigans shouldn't surprise anybody, and they probably don't. What do you think? Are there circumstances where lawmakers should be able to cast a vote even if they're absent? Or should a member be present if the vote is to count?

ALSO, THE TIME is here for editorial board meetings with candidates for the June 3 Democratic and Republican primaries. The board meets with the candidates, grills them pretty hard, then decides whom to recommend to voters. Most of the races on the ballot this year are judicial races. If you have a question you'd like us to ask the candidates, leave it as a comment here or e-mail me at [e-mail]. I'll make sure your question gets asked.
http://blog.al.com/jkennedy/2008/04/absentee_voting_in_the_legisla.html

[Melissa G]

6. Action n/t

[Melissa G]

22. We still need one or two Daily News Editors

To help Get the Election Reform and Related Issues News out.
You can PM me, Melisa G for more info, or post questions on this thread below...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3155118

Thank You!!!:thumbsup: :hi:

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

10. Lehigh County - 3 machines not working, didn't record votes

Above-average voter turnout reported in Lehigh County

The Morning Call April 22, 2008

...When judge of elections Craig Hynes swung open the doors, 15 people rushed in, including some that had been their since 6:40 a.m.

"It's normally a busy poll, but this already feels like a general ," Hynes said. "This is going to be a long day."

Moments later he realized how long it could be when one of his three voting machines malfunctioned. After four people had voted, he realized that it had only registered one voter. He had to reset machine.

"We lost three voters and there's no getting them back," explained Hynes, "and at this point we don't even know who they were."

After monitoring it, it functioned properly.

...more at the link

[Melissa G]

24. That is probably it for me today. Post away folks! There is lots of News out there! n/t

[Kurovski]

25. Kick to the top.

Thanks, Melissa G! :hug:

[smith7745]

26. election machine menu