Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Wednesday 7//16/08

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All members welcome and encouraged to participate.

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

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

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2. Template: Research Forum

Template by achtung_circus.

A | C | D | | F | G | H | I | | K | L | M | N | O | P | | R | S | T | U | V | W |

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Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas


AL: Validity of upcoming election challenged

By Leesha Faulkner (Contact) | Selma Times-Journal
Published Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Questions have surfaced about a fair election in Selma.

Particularly, some incumbents seeking re-election or election to another position want to ensure nobody will tamper with election machines prior to voters casting their ballots Aug. 26.

The questions came up Monday after Selma City Clerk told council members Election Systems and Software would provide a substantial number of voting machines to the city.

Selma City Clerk Lois Williams said she would store the machines in the basement of City Hall until election day. She assured the council of the machines' safety.

...

The council has gone so far as to ask the city's attorney, Jimmy Nunn, to seek an opinion from the state Attorney General's office about allowing Probate Judge Kim Ballard to oversee this year's municipal election.

Selma Times-Journal

AL: Follow the Money

July 16, 2008
NewsChannel 19
Amber Stuart Reports:

Let the mud slinging begin in the race for the Fifth Congressional seat. It started on NewsChannel 19 This Morning when Wayne Parker accused Parker Griffith of having too many contributions from out of state.

It's a high profile congressional race with potentially millions of dollars pouring into each campaign. Now Wayne Parker is questioning the financial sources of his opponent Parker Griffith.

"49% of his contributors are from out of state that makes you wonder," said Wayne Parker.

...

"What I was pointing out is that while he might tout that he is a Blue Dog and has the endorsement of the Blue Dog Democrats when you look at those who are contributing to his campaign it just really doesn't add up," said Wayne Parker.

WHNT

AL :Election officials take single provisional vote seriously

By David Lazenby
The Cullman Times

A lone provisional vote will not make a difference regarding the ultimate result of Tuesday’s run-off Republican primary. Nonetheless, the cast ballot is important to Probate Judge Leah Patterson-Lust, whose job is to ensure election accuracy.

James Graves became the Republican candidate for Cullman County Commission Chairman Tuesday when he bested incumbent Wiley Kitchens by 56 votes, winning 1,456-1,400.

An extra vote may be added to the final score card of one of the candidates on Tuesday when the state registrar’s office determines whether the vote will count.

...

Although the vote is ultimately meaningless, Lust said it still makes a difference that it be counted if it is valid.

The Cullman Times

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California
Colorado
Connecticut


CA: Rep. Lofgren Issues Statement on Voting Memorandum
By Rep. Zoe Lofgren
July 16, 2008

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) today issued the following statement on a recent Heritage Foundation memorandum on non-citizen voting.

I have recently been made aware of a Heritage Foundation “Legal Memorandum” authored by failed FEC nominee Hans von Spakovsky entitled “The Threat of Non-Citizen Voting.” After reviewing this “legal” memorandum, I’ve come to the realization that it is nothing more than political fear mongering masquerading as scholarly research. I’d go so far as to characterize it as intellectual fraud. The report sites a few anecdotal sources as evidence that undocumented immigrants are actively working to undermine our election systems. Little verifiable evidence exists to support such claims. By far, the largest problem facing our voting systems is not non-citizen voting, it is the continued disenfranchisement of minority and working poor Americans.

Republican operatives have continually used “voter fraud” as a way to justify their own efforts to disfranchise minority voters. This memo is yet another piece of this disinformation campaign, which is designed to stoke the fears of Americans. After participating in numerous hearings and listening to countless hours of testimony on our elections process, the true fear is that Americans from all across the country are being actively denied a voice in our political process. In light of recent votes by my Republican colleagues in the House it’s also becoming quite clear that they prefer disenfranchisement.

Vote Trust USA

CA: Electronic Voting Machines and Election Code Put to the Test

July 16, 2008

As the November election approaches, voting rights advocates say it is vital that California's county election offices allow for technical inspections of their electronic voting equipment. State law (California Election Code 15004) permits what it calls "accredited observers" to review machines and procedures.

But when Jim March, an observer for the Green Party, recently sought inspections in two different counties, he says he was met with very different results. While the Santa Cruz County election office was cooperative, March says, Monterey County was not. He claims Monterey election workers denied him access to the voting machines and did not abide by the law.

"Monterey threw down a gauntlet that we have to pick up, or other counties will be equally obstructive in November."

Monterey County Registrar of Voters, Linda Tulett, denies the allegations and says her office allows public observance of its electronic voting equipment. March says his group, Black Box Voting, may sue Monterey to help ensure that other counties are cooperative.

Public News Service

CO: Grand Lake trustees question efforts to verify voter list

Grand Lake is treading into uncharted territory with its attempts to redeem a voter registration list prior to its September mayoral election.

And at least two trustees are questioning the process.

Town Clerk Ronda Kolinske has been poring over voter names suspected of having illegally voted in the April 1 election and told trustees Monday that she’s having difficulty making progress. The clerk has been trying to access information from out-of-county and out-of-state databases to establish whether certain citizens hold voter credentials in two places.

“It’s been extremely slow,” she told trustees. “I may have eliminated some, but have added others. So we’re where we started.” Her charge is to shorten a list of 50-plus names of people suspected of wrongly voting in the recent election.

“I recently found five individuals registered in two different counties in this state,” she said.

Sky Hi - Daily News

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Delaware
District of Columbia

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Florida


FL: State May Be Getting A Touch Blue

By WILLIAM MARCH
The Tampa Tribune
Published: July 15, 2008

TAMPA - Is Florida turning blue?

Or just slightly bluish? Or even just a less reddish shade of purple?

Florida Democrats contend voter registration figures and recent election results show signs of a shift in the politics of a state dominated for more than a decade by Republicans.

The signs aren't overwhelming - a small but significant uptick in numbers of Democratic voters; a partisan shift in Hispanic voter registration; urban counties including Pinellas turning somewhat more Democratic.

..

Those signals are being heard more loudly after the 2006 election, when Democrats made electoral gains in Florida for the first time in more than a decade.

The Tampa Tribune

FL: The "He Did It / She Did It" Business Model for Elections

Did you know that most advocates of paper ballot technology are fuddy-duddy, itchy-witchy thinking, nervous Nelly, skittish souls over 40? That's the gist of an article that re-circulated recently. Perhaps it was penned by a reporter who never balanced a bank account.

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From a business model perspective, who owns the ultimate responsibility? Nobody. The fox guards the henhouse. Our election business "model" encourages the classic "he did it / she did it" method to problem definition and solution.

• The Secretary of State certifies the machines as a working and acceptable means of recording and counting votes. Except that as underscored in the GAO's Sarasota reports, this process is blatantly inadequate, in part because the Secretary of State tests ES&S machines following ES&S recommendations using ES&S created test data.

• The Election Supervisor relies on that all important Secretary of State certification to establish a baseline from which to implement his or her ballots for each election. Even the most obscure and seemingly benign faults not detected by the Secretary of State could result in catastrophic failures during an election, particularly one with complex ballots and high turnout. The failure very likely would not be caught by the Election Supervisor's cursory testing to make sure a ballot works.

• When a problem occurs, no one wants to publically admit to flaws in the process. So the voter becomes the convenient scapegoat. The voter has no voice. In effect there is no problem.

Except in Florida, voters' voices were heard. So we rushed out to buy new machines, a new solution. But we still haven't corrected the problem. Our business model has not changed.

OP Ed

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Georgia


GA: Despite sign mixup, Powell takes clear lead

By KRISTI E. SWARTZ
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/15/08

Despite signs posted — incorrectly — at several precincts that Public Service Commission candidate Jim Powell's votes would not be counted, the District 4 candidate had a clear lead over Democratic opponent Bob Indech on Tuesday night.

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Powell was one of two Democrats and two Republicans vying for the vacant District 4 PSC seat. His candidacy was thrown into doubt Monday when the secretary of state's office said he was disqualified because of a residency challenge, which claimed he had not lived in District 4 for 12 months before running for the post.

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Even if Powell gets the most votes Tuesday, he will have to appeal Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel's decision before the outcome will be final. The debate started in May when Indech complained that Powell had not lived long enough in District 4.

An administrative law judge ruled for Powell on June 25. Handel overturned that decision July 10 and notified election officials Powell had been disqualified.

On Monday afternoon, however, a Fulton County Superior Court judge said Powell was qualified. Handel's office e-mailed poll managers twice Monday that Powell was a valid candidate.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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Hawaii

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Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa

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Kansas
Kentucky

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Louisiana


LA: Metairie pair start recall against attorney general

By MARSHA SHULER | Advocate Capitol News Bureau | Published: Jul 16, 2008

Two Metairie women have launched a recall election effort against state Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, the Secretary of State’s Office reported Tuesday.

Josephine Lovoi, aligned with no party, and Antoinette Hibbs, a Republican, filed papers to launch a petition drive to recall Caldwell, a Democrat.

Caldwell, a former northeast Louisiana prosecutor, took office in January.

He beat Republican Royal Alexander in a runoff election.

The Advocate

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Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana


ME: Election 2008: The ruling from Maine's highest court gives Melissa Walsh Innes a one-vote win in Yarmouth.
By TOM BELL, Staff Writer July 16, 2008

The state's highest court Tuesday declared Melissa Walsh Innes the winner of the Democratic primary for the House District 107 seat, representing Yarmouth.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled that Innes won the election by one vote: 485 to 484.

At issue was whether optical voting machines were more reliable than human beings when counting ballots.

In ruling for Innes, the court sided with the humans.

"The hand count trumps the machine count," said Harold Pachios, the attorney for Innes' opponent, Kimberly McLaughlin.

Maine Today

MN: Secretary of State Ritchie foresees massive Election Day turnout

Given the large number of people filing to run for political offices and the overflow crowds at caucuses this year, Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie is predicting a massive voter turnout this fall.

Ritchie said there's so much political enthusiasm in the state that he believes more than 80 percent of the state's eligible voters will go to the polls on Election Day. That percentage hasn't been hit since 1956.

Ritchie made the prediction after the close of the filing period Tuesday. Eighteen people each paid $400 for the right to run for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Republican Norm Coleman — including seven DFLers and seven more from the Independence Party.

There are 25 candidates competing for the eight U.S. House seats. In state House races, 314 candidates filing to run for 134 Minnesota House seats.

Minn Post

MO: Federal Court Orders Missouri Department of Social Services to Comply With Federal Voter Registration Law

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 16, 2008

Contacts: Tim Rusch, Demos | Jeff Ordower, ACORN | Stacie Miller, Lawyers' Committee

Finds Widespread Violations of Rights of Low-Income Persons under The National Voter Registration Act

Kansas City, MO--United States District Judge Nanette K. Laughrey issued an order yesterday, July 15, 2008, directing the Missouri Department of Social Services immediately to comply with a federal law requiring agencies to provide voter registration applications and assistance to their clients. The ruling came in a lawsuit filed in April 2008 by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and St. Louis resident Dionne O'Neal charging widespread violations of the federal National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). The NVRA is a federal law enacted in 1993 to ensure all Americans have access to voter registration services.

The ruling yesterday followed written submissions and a one-day preliminary injunction hearing on July 9, 2008, at which lawyers from Demos: A Network for Ideas & Action, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the law firm of Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP and Project Vote, presented evidence that, over the past several years, the Missouri Department of Social Services (DSS) violated the NVRA by failing to provide Ms. O'Neal and tens of thousands of other low-income Missourians with the opportunity to register to vote or change their voter registration address during visits to the offices of DSS agencies. The "substantial evidence" of voting rights violations cited by the Court in its ruling included:

# State documents confirming that over one million Food Stamps applicants could not have been offered voter registration from 2003-2008 because DSS did not order enough of the forms it is required to give each client. The court also viewed field surveys by plaintiffs of agency offices as persuasive evidence of poor compliance.
# E-mails from a DSS employee acknowledging that half the counties in a 21-county survey were not routinely providing voter registration to DSS clients;
# E-mails from one county DSS office showing that voter registration applications completed by clients had been permitted to pile up for an entire year without being turned in to the local election authority for processing.

Demos

MT: Political Practices proceeding with Molnar investigations

By IR State Bureau - 07/16/08

Campaign-finance and ethics complaints against Public Service Commissioner Brad Molnar, R-Laurel, are proceeding at the Office of Political Practices, although no ruling on the merits has occurred.

Commissioner of Political Practices Dennis Unsworth said the campaign-finance complaint is still under investigation, and that the ethics complaint will be handled by an independent hearings officer.

Unsworth said he’s not sure in which order the cases will proceed, or when they’ll be resolved. Complaints before the office usually take at least a few months to be resolved — and sometimes a year or more.

Both complaints were filed by Mary Jo Fox, campaign manager for Molnar’s Democratic opponent, Ron Tussing of Billings.,

Helena IR

MT: Schweitzer lawyer urges dismissal of GOP complaint

By CHARLES S. JOHNSON - IR State Bureau - 07/16/08

The Montana Republican Party complaint that Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer illegally made public service announcements after filing for re-election should be summarily dismissed, Schweitzer’s attorney said Tuesday.

Mike Meloy, a Helena lawyer representing Schweitzer, urged Political Practices Commissioner Dennis Unsworth “to ignore the hyperbole” and toss out the GOP complaint for not stating any legal claim upon which relief may be granted. Unsworth has retained William Corbett, a University of Montana law professor, to serve as hearings officer in the dispute.

The Republican Party filed an ethics complaint against Schweitzer in April. It charged that Schweitzer, helped by two state employees, made radio public service advertisements, or PSAs, to promote National Agricultural Month.

...

Meloy said the law prohibits state funds from being spent by elected officials on ads and PSAs once they are candidates for public office, but does not prohibit the use of “public time, facilities, equipment, supplies and personnel.”

Helena IR]

MT: 19 fail to file campaign finance reports
By Associated Press - 07/16/08

Several state legislative candidates risk fines and not being on the November ballot if they don't file their campaign finance reports, the office of the commissioner of political practices said.

The commissioner's office sent letters to 17 legislative candidates and two unsuccessful candidates for statewide office, giving them five days to file the reports that detail the money they raised and spent in their campaigns. The reports, which were due on June 23, also list any loans the candidates made to their campaigns and any remaining debt.

If they fail to file their reports, Political Practices Commissioner Dennis Unsworth can take them to court or ask their local county attorney to do so, said Mary Baker, program supervisor in his office.

Baker said candidates could face fines of three times the amount of money they failed to report raising and spending.

Helena IR

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Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota


NJ: Rep. Holt Statement on House Voting Legislation

By Representative Rush Holt
July 15, 2008

Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) issued the following statement in support of legislation, similar to his own emergency bill introduced earlier this year, which would reimburse states and localities to make available paper ballots for the November 2008 elections. The bill failed to secure the two-thirds needed for passage:

I rise in support of H.R. 5803, a bill that would reimburse states and localities to make paper backup ballots available for this November's 2008 election.

I want to complement Rep. Lofgren for introducing this important measure that would allow more Americans to vote than might otherwise be able if their only option is failed electronic voting. The bill would allow more Americans to vote when facing long lines, something that has been documented widely.

Passing comprehensive election reform to help ensure the accuracy, integrity, and security of our electronic voting systems and other voting systems has long been a priority for me. At the beginning of the 110th Congress, I introduced legislation to establish national standards of verifiable elections. That bill has not received a floor vote, despite support from a bipartisan majority of members. So in January of this year many of us introduced simplified, optional legislation that would reimburse states that convert to paper ballot voting systems, offer backup paper ballots, and/or conduct random audits in this fall's election. Unfortunately, following opposition from the White House, the vote broke mostly on party lines and the bill was not passed.

Vote Trust USA

NY: Surrogate's Court Candidate Anderson's $225K Loan
by Azi Paybarah | July 16, 2008

A Manhattan Surrogate's Court candidate, Milton Tingling, is calling on the attorney general to investigate the $225,000 loan received by one of his opponents, Nora Anderson.

The loan was disclosed in Anderson’s campaign finance filing (for the period of January 12-July 11, 2008) and the money came from Seth Rubenstein, an attorney in Brooklyn.

Ravi Batra, Tingling's finance chair, said in a letter to Andrew Cuomo's office, dated today, that the loan could "serve to undermine public confidence" in the court. In a brief interview Batra told me he wants an investigation to "insure that there is no pay-to-play violation, and that all contributions are legal and not criminal.”

Batra's complaint is that such a large loan from a trust and estates lawyer could, theoretically, result in that contributor getting a disproportionate amount of work from the court, and, in general, favored treatment from the judge.

NY Observer

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Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon


OH: Ohio county fires back at voting machine company

Associated Press - July 16, 2008 6:55 PM ET

CLEVELAND (AP) - Prosecutors in Ohio's most populous county have accused a voting machine company of breach of contract, fraud and negligence.

Premier Election Solutions Inc. last month asked a Franklin County judge to rule that it had fulfilled its contracts with Cuyahoga County.

County Prosecutor Bill Mason filed a response with the court late Tuesday. He says in a statement that he intends to recover public funds spent on a system that didn't work.

Allen, Texas-based Premier is part of North Canton-based Diebold Inc.

WDTN

OK: Libertarian presidential candidate to go to court for state ballot access

By John Greiner
Capitol Bureau

Libertarian Party presidential candidate Bob Barr will go to federal court in an effort to get on Oklahoma's election ballot this year, he said today.

Barr, a former Republican congressman, failed to obtain the minimum 43,913 signatures needed to qualify for the Oklahoma ballot as an independent candidate for president.

James C. Linger, Tulsa, attorney for Barr, said fewer than 10,000 signatures were collected in Oklahoma on Barr's behalf before today's deadline.

Linger said he plans to file the lawsuit in federal district court in Oklahoma City.

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The Libertarian Party is not officially recognized in Oklahoma so Barr would have to run as an independent presidential candidate if he can get on the Oklahoma election ballot.

News OK

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Pennsylvania

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Rhode Island

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South Carolina
South Dakota

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Tennessee
Texas


TX: Thousands of liberal bloggers linking up in Austin

By Mark Lisheron
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

When Netroots Nation organizers were considering New Orleans as the host site of their convention devoted to the Internet as an instrument of the political left, Texas Netroots members made a convincing case that Texas is at the center of the blogging culture driving the political discussion for liberals.

In an online vote conducted by Netroots Nation, a Web site for liberal bloggers to exchange ideas, the nation overwhelmingly chose Austin for this year's conference, said Vince Leibowitz, a blogger from Tyler. So on Thursday, more than 3,000 bloggers are expected to fill the Austin Convention Center for the four-day Netroots Nation 2008 conference.

"I feel very confident saying we're the most prominent state-level blogosphere in America," said Leibowitz, a founding member of the bloggers' group the Texas Progressive Alliance.

These are heady times for progressives in Texas and across the country, said Leibowitz, the alliance's founder. Political analysts have watched with wonder as Democrat Barack Obama, a relative political newcomer, has harnessed the Web to organize a presidential campaign from the bottom up and raise a previously unthought of $270 million — most of it in small contributions made online.

American Statesman

TX: Many Texas Dems oppose caucus system in survey
Most respondents favor moving caucuses from the night of primary.

By W. Gardner Selby
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Monday, July 14, 2008

Nearly half of respondents to a nonscientific survey by the Texas Democratic Party say the party should break from 20 years of selecting presidential delegates starting with primary-night caucuses.

"Delegates should be elected according to the popular vote" at the polls on primary day, one respondent wrote, "not some chaotic second voting meeting."

Last week, a party-appointed task force fielded the results, which include responses from delegates to the party's state convention last month in Austin.

Asked what fraction of delegates should be awarded through the caucuses, 49 percent of respondents (1,367 of 2,784) said none. About 27 percent favored continuing to choose one third of pledged delegates at caucuses, with 9 percent saying half the state's pledged delegates should be selected beginning with caucuses.

American Statesman

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Utah

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Vermont
Virginia

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Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming


WI: State Senate candidate was wrong to hand out money, board rules

By PATRICK MARLEY | July 15, 2008

Madison - The state Government Accountability Board unanimously said Tuesday that a state Senate candidate was wrong to hand out money to voters at a recent campaign event.

But it will be up to Brown County District Attorney John Zakowski — and not the board — to decide whether to prosecute Chad Fradette, a former Green Bay Common Council president running as a Republican against Sen. Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay).

Zakowski, a Republican, “didn’t seem real interested in the case,” said Kevin Kennedy, director of the accountability board.

Fradette gave out $131 to 34 drivers July 2 to highlight his opposition to the state’s minimum markup law, which requires gas to be priced 9% above wholesale cost. Fradette gave drivers 34 cents per gallon after they filled up their tanks at a Green Bay gas station, saying he wanted to reimburse them for the required markup.

Fradette thought he had a green light from the accountability board to hand out money because Jonathan Becker, director of the board’s ethics division, wrote in an e-mail that such payments didn’t violate a campaign finance law. But Becker told Fradette he should check with the district attorney about whether the payments would violate a bribery statute that says one cannot provide people anything of value to induce them to vote.

JS Online

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3. Commentary, Op Ed, etc.

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4. Obama predicts black voter increase, Southern wins

By MIKE BAKER

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — If Barack Obama's historic campaign to become the first black president boosts black turnout as drastically as he predicts, he could crack decades of Republican dominance across the South.

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Still, an Associated Press analysis of U.S. Census and voting data from the past four presidential elections shows a potentially dramatic impact should Obama fulfill his pledge to elevate black participation by 30 percent.

That would add nearly 1.8 million votes in 11 Southern states, the analysis shows, enough to tip the balance in several that have been Republican strongholds.

Besides the likely increase in black turnout, the Illinois senator also expects a surge of young voters to help him compete in states that have been reliably red since the once solidly Democratic South flipped to the Republicans in 1964.

AP - Goolge

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5. Voting right

By EDITORIAL | July 16, 2008

Why Beacon Hill should adopt same-day voting and join the national popular-vote movement

The Massachusetts Legislature is expected to vote in the next several days on two proposals that would make democracy, well, more democratic. One of these would provide for the direct election of presidents by national popular vote; the other for same-day voter registration, allowing previously unregistered citizens to qualify at their polling places on Election Day. The Phoenix urges the legislature to adopt both.

The national popular-vote proposal would not replace the Electoral College; rather, it would modify its procedures.

The popular-vote plan is an interstate compact, a type of state law allowed by the US Constitution that enables states to enter into a legally enforceable contract to undertake agreed joint actions, such as electing a president.

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So far, the bill has been approved by the Massachusetts House of Representatives and awaits action by the State Senate. Around the nation, Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, and Maryland have already approved national popular-vote legislation. And in 20 other states, one body of the respective legislatures has also done so. The State Senate here should approve the bill.

The Phoenix

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6. 3 States Poised to Vote on Affirmative Action

By PETER SCHMIDT

State organizations affiliated with Ward Connerly's American Civil Rights Institute said this month they had gathered more than enough signatures to get measures limiting affirmative-action preferences on the November ballots in Arizona and Nebraska.

With petitions submitted on behalf of a similar ballot measure in Colorado in March, there appears to be a good chance that three states will vote this fall on the proposals, all of which would bar public colleges and other state and local agencies from granting affirmative-action preferences in employment, contracts, and decisions related to education.

Mr. Connerly, the institute's chairman, hoped to put similar measures on the ballots in Missouri and Oklahoma as well, but his organizations in those states failed to gather enough signatures before deadlines earlier this year.

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A group that has opposed Mr. Connerly's efforts, the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration, and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality by Any Means Necessary, announced that it would file a lawsuit alleging that the petition signatures in Arizona had been gathered fraudulently. The group has filed a similar legal challenge in Colorado.

The Chronicle

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7. The brilliance of the Electoral College

OVER THE LAST two centuries, constitutional amendments to abolish or alter the Electoral College have been proposed in Congress more than 700 times. None has ever come close to being adopted - an indication, perhaps, of the existing system's enduring value. The most recent such proposal, introduced by US Senator Bill Nelson of Florida, would eliminate the Electoral College in favor of direct popular election of the president. "If the principle of one-person-one-vote is to mean anything," Nelson declares, "the candidate who wins a majority of the votes should win the presidency."

Actually, in no more than four of the nation's 54 presidential elections since 1789 has the electoral vote winner not been the candidate who won the popular vote - and in each case, the margin separating the candidates has been minuscule (In 2000, George W. Bush lost the popular vote by about 500,000 votes -- just one-half of 1 percent of the more than 105 million votes cast.). If one-person-one-vote democracy is truly Nelson's highest civic value - he told the St. Petersburg Times that it is "the essential, fundamental principle" - his highest priority should be to abolish not the Electoral College, but the United States Senate.

...

The Electoral College (like the Senate) was designed to preserve the role of the states in governing a nation whose name - the United States of America - reflects its fundamental federal nature. We are a nation of states, not of autonomous citizens, and those states have distinct identities and interests, which the framers were at pains to protect. Too many Americans today forget - or never learned - that the states created the central government; it wasn't the other way around. The federal principle is at least as important to American governance as the one-man-one-vote principle, and the Electoral College brilliantly marries them: Democratic elections take place within each state to determine that state's vote for president in the Electoral College.

To Senator Nelson's credit, he is trying to abolish the Electoral College properly: via constitutional amendment. Not so the backers of the so-called National Popular Vote compact, a scheme to evade the Constitution by persuading a bloc of states to pledge their electors to whichever candidate wins the national popular vote, regardless of the outcome of the vote in each state.

Boston

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8. Dean to lead voter drive

Posted by Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor
July 15, 2008 03:53 PM

The Democratic Party's chief will lead a nationwide voter registration effort, seeking to build on the burst of enthusiasm during the primaries and to follow through on Barack Obama's promise of a 50-state campaign this fall.

Starting Thursday, a bio-diesel bus, decorated to be a huge Obama campaign logo, will tool around the country, the Democratic National Committee announced today.

"People are really struggling. They want different leadership, not more of the same failed Bush policies that John McCain will continue," Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said in a statement. "So we'll be going neighborhood by neighborhood, door by door to bring more people into the process to elect Barack Obama and Democrats up-and-down the ticket to bring change that all Americans can believe in."

The tour kicks off near President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Tex., then to Austin, then to New Orleans, and Shreveport and Baton Rouge, La., and Hattiesburg and Jackson, Miss.

The second swing, July 25-26, will make stops in North Carolina and Georgia -- two traditionally Republican states where Obama hopes to register enough new voters, especially African-Americans, to make them competitive. The tour will hit states in every part of the country, culminating in a swing through the Midwest on its way to the Democratic convention in Denver in late August.

Boston

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9. FEC Approves Matching Funds for 2008 Presidential Candidates

For Immediate Release
Contact: Bob Biersack | George Smaragdis | Michelle Ryan
July 16, 2008

WASHINGTON – The Federal Election Commission (FEC/the Commission) has certified that six Presidential candidates are eligible to receive a total of $7,441,898.38 in federal matching funds for their 2008 primary campaigns. This brings the total matching fund certifications in the 2008 campaign thus far to $26,729,403.03. The Commission has also determined that the independent campaign of Ralph Nader is eligible to receive matching funds.

Candidates who participated in the program in 2004 received a total of $28.4 million in matching funds. During the 2000 campaign the total was $62.3 million and in 1996 primary campaigns received a total of $58.5 million in matching funds.

...

Today’s totals reflect matching funds for contributions submitted by qualified candidates from January through June. The Commission certifies payments to the Secretary of the Treasury, and then funds are disbursed. Although the Treasury had matching funds available for payments to candidates during the latter part of that period, the Commission had been unable to make certifications until recently when its quorum was restored. With a full complement of six members now serving, the Commission unanimously approved this action on July 15. Additional contributions may be submitted for certification depending on specific financial circumstances for each eligible campaign.

FEC

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10. New book on election reform: The Hidden Costs of Clean Election Reform

by Frederic Charles Schaffer

American voters are increasingly aware that the mechanics of elections matter. The conduct of elections—how eligible voters make it onto the voter rolls, how voters cast their ballots, and how those votes are counted—determines the degree to which the people's preferences are expressed freely, weighed equally, and recorded accurately. It is not surprising, then, that attempts to “clean up” elections are widely applauded as being unambiguously good for democracy. In The Hidden Costs of Clean Election Reform Frederic Charles Schaffer reveals how tinkering with the electoral process can easily damage democratic ideals.

Drawing on both recent and historical evidence from the United States and countries around the world, including the Philippines (where Schaffer has served as an election observer), Venezuela, South Africa, and Taiwan, The Hidden Costs of Clean Election Reform investigates why citizens sometimes find themselves abruptly disenfranchised. Schaffer examines numerous incidents in which election reforms have, whether intentionally or accidentally, harmed the quality and experience of democracy. These cases include the introduction of secret balloting in 1890s Arkansas, which deliberately stripped black citizens of the power to vote; efforts to insulate voters from outside influences in nineteenth-century France; the purge of supposed felons from the voter rolls of Florida ahead of the 2000 presidential election; and current debates over the reliability and security of touch-screen voting machines.

Lawmakers, election officials, partisan operatives, and civic educators, Schaffer finds, can all contribute to the harm caused by improperly or cynically constructed election reforms. By understanding how even good-faith efforts to improve corrupt or flawed electoral practices may impede the democratic process, The Hidden Costs of Clean Election Reform suggests new ways to help prevent future breaches of democracy.

CalTech: Election Update

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11. FedEx, voter group hope to ease ballot shipping woes

By Chris Good
Posted: 07/12/08

Seeking to alleviate a top concern for overseas absentee voters, FedEx will team up with a voter participation group and ship ballots for free or at heavy discounts this fall, the company announced this week.

FedEx called the initiative “a natural extension of our ongoing commitment to making strategic use of our physical and digital networks to meet the needs of people worldwide.”

Overnight delivery from FedEx’s Asia/Pacific region will be free. It will cost $23 from Latin America; $18 from Canada; and $23.50 from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and India, a 70 percent discount in that region, a FedEx spokeswoman told The Hill. FedEx branches in 89 countries will participate.

FedEx is partnering with Overseas Vote Foundation (OVF) for the program, which it is calling "Express Your Vote." The groups announced the initiative Wednesday.

...

Overseas voters will be able to print FedEx forms and request ballot pickups on OVF’s website. FedEx will send confirmation emails when votes are delivered, and voters will have access to FedEx tracking tools via OVF's site, allowing them to monitor their ballots' voyages.

The Hill

[tbyg52]

12. Too late to rec, but here's a "hi" and "thanks!"

:hi:

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13. OK. nt

:hi: