Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News 04.17.2006 - HAVA Mascot Edition

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HAPPY EASTER TO ALL

After the traditional Easter family acivities, I took a little walk and reflected
on meaningful subjects. I asked myself, “What would HAVA look like if it
were an Easter Bunny,” a question that plagues me about this time every year.
Here’s my answer.

INTRODUCING HAVA, THE EASTER BUNNY.
HAVA has agreed to be the ERD News mascot for the 2006 primary season.
Say hello to HAVA. HAVA, say hello to our crew…

Never forget the pursuit of Truth.
Only the deluded & complicit accept election results on blind faith.

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News April 17, 2006

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.

Please post Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News on this thread.
1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web.
2. Post stories using the "Election Fraud and Reform News Sources" listed here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x371233
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).

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1. Italy: Felicitazione Romano Prodi!!! Milione pentito Berlusconi, bye bye

He’s gone but not forgotten. Berlusconi, the loser in the recent race for the top office in Italy did his best to hold on to power. He was trailing in the exit polls (which Europeans take seriously). He went and hired an American firm to show him ahead. He owns a huge publishing company so he had them send out glossy bio pieces on him. He even got a special meeting with the Pope. He lost by a hair and claimed fraud (it’s called “projection” – putting your own “stuff” on others). No one took him seriously. Arrivederci Berlusconi!!! Bye, bye.


Prodi Says He'll Start Forming New Gov't
ROME, Apr. 16, 2006
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/16/ap/world/mainD8H17JGGB.shtml

(AP) Romano Prodi, whose center-left bloc won a slender majority in last week's parliamentary elections, said Sunday he is getting ready to lead the future government despite conservative Premier Silvio Berlusconi's refusal to concede defeat.

"Someone won and the other side lost," Prodi told reporters outside his home in Bologna. "Enough is enough. Let's get to work."

"The country needs to breathe, it needs to soar, it needs joy, it needs to recover," added Prodi, who previously defeated Berlusconi in 1996 elections.

Alluding to a bitter election campaign that was taken up more by mudslinging than by serious discussions about a stagnant economy and tight job market, Prodi said it is time to "leave these things aside and begin to work for the country," according to the Italian news agency ANSA.

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2. CA: Meet the Doolittles, “Spousal election fraud” Republican Style

OK, I can’t resist. Julie Doolittle: “My husband John does so little for the people but he get’s so much money. Why shouldn’t I get a cut. Ya know, I’m a modern woman.” Who can make this stuff up. I feel sorry for comedians, the politicans are such a joke, you simply have to read the news. Now, this is real, home grown, election fraud.

This is sweet. It’s not a satire, I promise.

Donations for a Congressman, Profits for His Wife

By Thomas B. Edsall and Zachary A. Goldfarb
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/15/AR2006041500885.html
Sunday, April 16, 2006; Page A05



Remember this guy from Farenheit 911. He was the Congressman who
jumped around to avoid shaking Michael Moore’s hand on TV. Well, guess
what, he’s a real piece of work. This picture was not in the Post, btw.See below.

On Capitol Hill, there is widespread agreement that the annual congressional salary of $165,200 just does not go far enough on today's dollar. The clamor for ethics reform will likely make things tougher, forcing congressmen to pick up lunch and dinner tabs and pay their own way to Redskins games.

One enterprising member of the House, Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-Calif.), and his wife, Julie Doolittle, have found an innovative -- and apparently legal -- way to boost the family salary.

Julie Doolittle has set up a fundraising company, Sierra Dominion Financial Services. Two of her clients are John Doolittle's campaign committee and his leadership PAC, the Superior California Federal Leadership Fund. Julie Doolittle's company gets 15 cents of every dollar raised by her husband's political committees.

The United Parcel Service PAC, for example, has given $15,000 to the leadership PAC and $10,000 to the campaign committee, which, in turn, means a commission of $3,750 for Julie Doolittle's company.

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3. PA: People for American Way Join with Activist Taylor for Suit on iVote

Good news. We need well heeled organizations like People for the American Way on our side. The PA situation is a mess. An unpublished PA Supreme Court opinion ruled that federal law supercedes state law on voting matters. Terrific. We’re at the mercy of HAVA but the locals are fighting back.


Remember this guy from Farenheit 911. He was the Congressman who
jumped around to avoid shaking Michael Moore’s hand on TV. Well, guess
what, he’s a real piece of work. See below.

Republicans claim machine suit could have been averted
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16480829&BRD=1282&PAG=461&dept_id=182121&rfi=6
By PATRICK CLOONAN, Daily News Staff Writer
04/14/2006


Onorato said this week all county voting machines will be upgraded to include voter-verified paper trail technology when it's approved by the General Assembly and certified by Pennsylvania's Department of State.

On Wednesday, a group of county residents led by activistCeleste Taylor joined the non-profit group People for the American Way in filing a U.S. District Court lawsuit over the iVotronic purchase. Gastgeb called the suit well-founded.

"(The iVotronic machines) violate clear provisions of HAVA," plaintiffs claimed in their lawsuit. "(They) use complex technologies entirely new to the voters and election officials of Allegheny County; are inaccessible to many persons with disabilities; have failed repeatedly in other jurisdictions; (and) are impossible to audit meaningfully."

Defendants in the suit include Onorato, state Secretary of the Commonwealth Pedro A. Cortes and U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

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4. PA: Rock on Celeste Taylor and People for the American Way

Oh sure, no problems, new voting machines are all “plug and play.” :rofl:
What a total joke people think our elections are. First of all you can’t see who you’re voting for (inside the machine), you can’t audit the suckers, they could just toss your voe for all you care. I’m glad Taylor is doing this. I hope all across the country just go for it and let the locals, states, and feds have it for this cram down of HAVA madness.


BREAKING: E-Voting Lawsuit Filed against PA County, U.S. Dept. of Justice!
Suit Seeks to Stop Last Minute Implementation of ES&S Voting Machines In Allegheny County.
http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002684.htm

Guest Blogged by John Gideon

Just announced by KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is the news that a group of citizens and People For The American Way have filed suit against the Secretary of State; Dan Onorato, Allegheny County Chief Executive; James Flynn, County Manager; and senior officials at the federal Department of Justice. The citizen group includes members of the disabilities community who want to make sure the County purchases machines that are accessible to all individuals with disabilities.

KDKA reports:
The lawsuit filed today says that decision risks chaos on Election Day because of the lack of time to train election officials and educate voters about the change from lever machines which have been in use for 40 years.

“This rush to a new and flawed technology just weeks before the election threatens to sow chaos in the primary and compromise the fundamental rights of thousands of voters for years to come,” says Harry Litman, the former United States Attorney in Pittsburgh and an attorney for the plaintiffs. “It’s a bad deal for Allegheny County, and, we believe, a violation of federal law.”

The suit, Celeste Taylor v. Dan Onorato asks the court to prevent use of machines manufactured by Election Systems & Software until the County has spent the time necessary to identify voting systems that are secure; reliable; and accessible to voters with disabilities.

[Wilms]

10. PA: 2 Lawsuit Discussions

PA Lawsuit: John Gideon and Joe Hall Illuminate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x423739


PA: Democrat's spokeperson says optical scan does not have a paper trail

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x423510

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5. HAVA: Two sides – “Whats wrong with the Holt Bill”

HAVA: Two sides – “Whats wrong with the Holt Bill”
All things are not as they seem. This is a worthwhile resource. After all, voting and free, fair, and transparent elections are essential to any real reform.

What's wrong with the Holt Bill? Part 3
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_nancy_to_060416_what_s_wrong_with_th.htm

by N. Tobi, April 16, 2006
The movement of informed grassroots activists against the Holt bill is growing each day. This bill, like the Help America Vote Act, was borne from the grassroots but now seems to have been hijacked by special interests. Since the 2000 election, grassroots activists have been struggling to bring about meaningful reforms to ensure the integrity of our elections. Passion at the grassroots level has been repeatedly distorted once it hits Congress. Witness the so-called "Help America Vote Act" (HAVA). Ostensibly passed at the behest of election reform activists, the Act is one of the more heinous examples of Capital Corruption and lobbyist influence in contemporary politics. Rather than helping America Vote, HAVA has brought unprecedented chaos into America's elections, at an obscene cost to the country in dollars and democracy.

Now Congress is ready to do it again, once again with the backing and blessing of large election reform groups. Rather than being a simple piece of legislation responding to grassroots demands for verifiable paper ballots, HR550 has grown into another endorsement for the privatization of elections and the creation of a federalized launch into electoral chaos at the federal, state, and even the local level.

<SNIP>

Proponents of the bill need to at least address the following concerns and make revisions to the bill in order to gain widespread grassroots support:

1. The very real possibility that the EAC will become regulatory, either through de facto litigation outcomes, or in much the same way the FEC did: with a single line of text inserted into a completely unrelated congressional act. It will then become an executive agency, reporting to the executive branch of government.
2. The question of crony appointments creating power over the nation's election systems, as shown in GW Bush's recent recess FEC appointment, a stunning example of how a president can use crony appointments to control election-related issues without the benefit of checks and balances for the American people.
3. The concerns and questions that have already been raised by organizations such as ACCURATE, EPIC, and other ordinary citizens like myself, about the composition of the EAC and the non-transparent manner in which the EAC conducts itself and its decision making process.
4. The fact that the bill would enable the institution of yet another privatized election industry in the form of contracted recount firms.
5. The possible subversion -- through assent of potentially corrupt local officials -- and constitutional conflict with federal oversight of state and local elections.
6. The question of how the parameters for audit are exactly defined, given ambiguous language such as shown in the bolded section: "IN GENERAL.—The Election Assistance Commission shall conduct random, unannounced, hand counts of the voter-verified records required to be produced and preserved pursuant to section 301(a)(2) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (as amended by section 2) for each general election for Federal office (and, at the option of the State or jurisdiction involved, of elections for State and local office held at the same time as such an election for Federal office) in at least 2 percent of the precincts (or equivalent locations) in each State.
7. The absence of any form of real best management practices and guidelines for conducting hand counts that would account for the various and varied precincts in the nation, and enable orderly procedures for the mandated recounts.
8. The possibility of countless unintended consequences stemming from federal audits, such as chaotic hand count management, or litigation resulting in court-appointed rather than elected officials, as we saw in 2000.
9. The fact that election system traditions, customs, and configurations vary from locale to locale, and a one-size-fits-all imperative from above - the Federal level - will cause chaos. We have seen this with campaign finance and the FEC, with the NVRA, and more recently with HAVA.

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6. NE: State in Full Compliance with HAVA

Well that’s good. ESS machines make it irrelevant anyway. This article is interesting due to the interpretations offered by the author. The two purposes of HAVA are defined as improving provisional voting and the second mentions “uniform voting systems” for the state. No mention of voters with disabilities or other HAVA rationales. And how about those 6 million voters who couldn’t vote in 2000? Where did the reporter get this information.


Secretary of State: New mandates will improve elections
http://www.columbustelegram.com/articles/2006/04/15/news/news5gale.txt
By ADRIAN SANCHEZ/Telegram Staff Writer

COLUMBUS, NE - Secretary of State John Gale reported in a Columbus visit that Nebraska was in full compliance with the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002 prior to the Jan. 1 federal deadline.

The act was a result of the 2000 election, when approximately 6 million voters (hmmm...) who tried to vote were denied the opportunity.

HAVA is a two-part mandate. The first was to improve provisional voting.

If an individual's voting registration is challenged, that person may still vote, but the ballot will be secured and, following the election, registration records will be checked and must be validated before the vote counts.

The second mandate required equality among the 2,700 county voting systems, so each state must have uniformity amongst the county voting systems.

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7. IN: “Are you ready for the football!” Indiana Braces for Primary

Indiana’s crack Secretary of State awareded a contract for a centralized voter registraiotn database to a local Indianapolis company that hadn’t done much elections business. Well, that company outsourced it’s business to a Texas hosting service. Someone asked to test the system and it flooped. County officials started making back up lists of their own for registration information. It’s coming, soon, the great “train wreck of 2006.” This article starts out with VoterID issues. Wait until they screw about 5% of some state population on Voter ID, centralized registration, etc. It’s ugly and getting worse.


Posted on Sun, Apr. 16, 2006

Voting officials brace for May 2 primary
Photo ID required for first time in Indiana
By Niki Kelly
The Journal Gazette
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/14355362.htm

INDIANAPOLIS – With about two weeks before the May 2 primary, election officials are gearing up for the state’s first photo identification law and a new statewide voter registration system – both of which could bring glitches for voters come election day.

Other issues also linger, including new voting machines and mistakes by vendors who supply the machines and balloting services, identified mostly in central Indiana.

“We have seen more change in our electoral process in the last several years – and particularly here in this election – than we will have seen since the Voting Rights Act of 1965,” said Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita, the state’s chief elections officer.

“Will it be a perfect election? No. We’ve never had one. In Indiana, there are 30,000 people that put on our elections in 5,500 precincts, and they’re all human.”

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8. IN: Judge rejects Voter ID challenge

The defendant, Indiana’s Secretary of State says all is well, no problems, “it’s cool.” We’ll see. He bases his optimism on the smooth absentee balloting. Oh boy, what a genius. If the IN primary goes well, and we hope it does, it will be due to the efforts of local election officials who are covering up state mistakes.

Judge rejects challenge of new voter ID law

(AP)
http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=4773967&nav=9Tai

Indianapolis, April 15 - Indiana's new voter identification law has been upheld by a federal judge.

Judge Sarah Evans Barker has rejected a suit brought by Democrats who challenged the law requiring most Indiana voters to show a photo I-D issued by the state or federal government before casting a ballot. Supporters say the measure will help curb voter fraud.

The legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana says he's "very disappointed" by Barker's ruling.

The ACLU's Ken Falk says he's still reviewing the decision before deciding whether to appeal

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9. OH: Blackwell has Diebold Stocks in Blind Trust – Remember Taft?

So Diebold stock sucks, a “new manager” takes over the Blackwell account at Credit Suisse, and, well, buys Diebold stock for Blackwell. It sounds like $6-7k but so what. How in the world can this guy own Diebold stock. What a joke.

Gubernatorial candidates discuss their investments
BY JOHN MCCARTHY | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060405/NEWS01/604050385/1056
COLUMBUS

The issue came to light Monday when Blackwell, Ohio's chief elections officer, said that without his knowledge, the investment house Credit Suisse First Boston bought for his account 178 shares of stock in Diebold Inc., the North Canton company that makes the electronic voting machines that will be used in half of Ohio's 88 counties May 2.

Blackwell said he unloaded 95 of the shares but discovered he still owned 83 shares last weekend and ordered them sold Monday, according to a letter to the Ethics Commission. He said his account at Credit Suisse was under a new manager at the time of the Diebold purchase and the manager had not followed instructions to previous managers to avoid certain stocks.

The Ethics Commission filings were at the center of Gov. Bob Taft's admission last year that he had failed to report golf outings and other gifts on disclosure forms. He pleaded no contest to misdemeanor ethics charges.

[EFerrari]

16. Campaign study shows divide in Blackwell, Petro donors

Campaign study shows divide in Blackwell, Petro donors
4/17/2006, 2:57 p.m. ET
By JULIE CARR SMYTH
The Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Attorney General Jim Petro received 46 times more Republican Party contributions in 2005 than rival Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, an analysis released Monday shows.

The finding further highlights the bitter politics at play in the May 2 GOP primary, which pits party insider Petro against outspoken party critic Blackwell.

~ snip ~

"When we think about the nature of the campaign, it becomes about the strong grass-roots support Blackwell has versus the strong party support Petro has," said Catherine Turcer, the group's campaign reform director.

:rofl:

http://www.cleveland.com/newsflash/cleveland/index.ssf?/base/politics-1/114530065338630.xml&storylist=cleveland

[stellanoir]

11. this ? only plagues you this time of year???

Are you sure about that ? LOL

[Algorem]

12. OH-Cluttered ballot aimed to confuse, entice

http://www.cleveland.com/newsflash/cleveland/index.ssf?/base/politics-1/1145247861267630.xml&storylist=cleveland

PERSPECTIVE:Cluttered ballot aimed to confuse, entice

4/17/2006, 1:00 a.m. ET
By JULIE CARR SMYTH
The Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — So you thought the choices in the cereal aisle were becoming mind-boggling? Try entering the Ohio voting booth this fall.

There will be a smoking ban, and an alternative smoking ban. A government spending limit, and an alternative government spending limit. A proposal to expand gambling, and another, and yet a third.

Altogether, Ohio voters are headed toward seeing seven different ballot questions on just three issues, as politicians, grass-roots groups and well-funded lobbyists grapple to manipulate the Election Day lineup to their best political advantage.

Though the state has rarely, if ever, seen so many issues met with similar alternatives, the practice is "as old as the hills," says Caroline Tolbert, an associate professor of political science at Kent State University...

[Algorem]

13. OH- letter to editor, cleveland- Conspiracy theorists, or right on target?

http://www.cleveland.com/letters/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1145090070129980.xml&coll=2

Saturday, April 15, 2006

So CEO Wally O'Dell of Die bold, the company that manufactured some of the voting machines for the 2004 election, promised to deliver Ohio to George W. Bush. And Ken Blackwell, as secretary of state - the man in charge of counting the votes - was Bush's Ohio campaign chair.

And now we also find out that Blackwell's personal money has been tied up with Diebold.

Are the people who question the validity of the 2004 presidential election in Ohio really the paranoid left-wing nuts that the Republican Party and much of the mainstream media make them out to be?

Marcus Whiteamire

Lakewood

[MelissaB]

14. NYT: The Many Parallels Between Watergate And N.H. Phone-Jamming Scandal

The Many Parallels Between Watergate And N.H. Phone-Jamming Scandal...
The New York Times | ADAM COHEN | Posted April 17, 2006 11:30 AM

The Internet is a great breeding ground for political conspiracies, and there is a new one lighting up computer monitors across the country. Bloggers are fascinated by what they see as eerie parallels between Watergate and a phone-jamming scandal in New Hampshire. It has low-level Republican operatives involved in dirty campaign tricks. It has checks from donors with murky backgrounds. It has telephone calls to the White House. What is unclear is whether it is the work of a few rogue actors, or something larger.

In 2002, there was a hard-fought Senate race between Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, the Democrat, and John Sununu, the Republican. On Election Day, Democratic workers arrived at five get-out-the-vote offices to find their phone lines jammed. It turned out that the jamming was being done by an Idaho telemarketing firm that was being paid by a Virginia consulting group. The fee for the jamming, reportedly $15,600, was paid by New Hampshire Republicans.
..............
The parallels drawn with Watergate are a good place to start:

1. The return of the "second-rate burglary." The New Hampshire phone-jamming scandal is being dismissed as small-time, state-level misconduct, but it occurred at a critical moment in a tough election.

In November 2002, Republicans were intent on winning a Senate majority so they would control the White House and both houses of Congress. They saw the Sununu-Shaheen race as pivotal. On Election Day morning, the phone lines were jammed at the Democratic offices and at a get-out-the-vote operation run by a firefighters' union. The police were called, and the lines were eventually freed up. The election wasn't as close as expected. Mr. Sununu won, and Republicans retook the Senate.

more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/17/opinion/17mon4.html?ex=1302926400&en=95d7f18eb564ed89&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

via: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/04/17/the-many-parallels-betwee_n_19271.html

Thanks to kpete here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x948329

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15. IL: Election a mess, Republicans Complain Bitterly Wilms Hot One!

Go show Wilms some love on greatest


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=423751&mesg_id=423751
Election called a mess
Losing candidates, GOP say tallies still aren't accurate

By Josh Noel
Tribune staff reporter

April 14, 2006

Claiming that scores of votes from last month's Cook County primary still haven't been accurately counted, a group of Republicans and losing candidates called for several unprecedented fixes Thursday, ranging from an audit of ballots to an entirely new election.

snip

Avila, a lawyer, said he has lined up close to 30 plaintiffs, mostly Democratic primary losers, for a possible federal lawsuit to seek recounts in every race.

[FogerRox]

17. KNR Peeps . . . .

[JimDandy]

18. Kiiiiiiiicccck'n -- just for the snappy, autorank comments.

[Land Shark]

19. kickin back to jim dandy -- hacky sack?