Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Wed 11/29/06 STILL - No Confidence My Vote Will Be Counted

[kpete]

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Wed 11/29/06 No Confidence My Vote Will Be Counted

"People simply do not have confidence their vote will be properly counted."

Floyd J. McKay / Guest columnist

Congress should revamp our broken voting system

We have less than two years to get it right — and I don't mean Iraq, which will only continue to go further wrong.

I mean voting.

Our national voting system (or non-system) is badly broken, and people simply do not have confidence their vote will be properly counted. And with good reason.

Nothing is more vital to a democratic system, yet we have conducted our last two presidential elections under a dark cloud that lingers in 2006 in some of the same problem areas, Florida and Ohio in particular. Voting problems have become a big item in the blogosphere, and errors will be called to public attention.

......................

"Machines don't make mistakes," said the county elections supervisor, but she failed to add that machines can be programmed or hacked to make mistakes, which is the fear haunting the electronic system.

more at:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2003451877_floyd29.html

And Check Out What Land Shark Has To Say About-

THE "PLAN" FOR KICKING ASS AND TAKING NAMES: ON BEHALF OF DEMOCRACY AND AGAINST HR550
at: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=460763&mesg_id=460763



All members welcome and encouraged to participate.

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[kpete]

1. Protect the Vote Locally

Protect the Vote Locally
Paul Rogat Loeb

Just as cities have adopted environmental and wage laws that exceed federal standards, maybe it's time for local initiatives protecting the integrity of the vote. We've been seeing electoral abuses and manipulations since the Bush Administration took power. So we need to insure the Democrats make national electoral protection a priority. But we can also act on a local level.

Though the Democratic surge took back the Senate and House, some ugly actions quite likely shifted several close Congressional races. The poster race for this election's abuses, appropriately, is in Florida--Katherine Harris's old Congressional district of Sarasota. Whether through manipulation or error, electronic voting machines in that district logged 18,000 fewer votes in this neck-and-neck race than for governor or senator, and fewer than wholly uncontroversial down-ballot races like the Sarasota Public Hospital Board. Whatever the causes, these votes disappeared in a county that Democrat Christine Jennings carried by 53 percent, and would have likely allowed her to defeat Republican Vern Buchanan.

more at:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061211/loeb

[kpete]

2. Voting system still needs fixing

Voting system still needs fixing
By Ray Martinez III and Avi Rubin
Originally published November 28, 2006

After another general election in which technical and human errors at polling places affected the voting process for many Americans, it is clear that a renewed focus on improving the mechanics of our great democracy is in order.

A national voter hotline received more than 40,000 calls, with registration and machine-related problems ranking among the top concerns.

In Denver, the intermittent collapse of new technology designed to verify the registration status of voters caused routine waits of more than two hours and the disenfranchisement of thousands of eligible voters.

In Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana, a number of local jurisdictions encountered problems with the opening of polling places, resulting in the need for judicial intervention to extend voting hours.

more at:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.voting28nov28,0,910904.story?coll=bal-oped-headlines

[kpete]

3. Possible HAVA Violation in Georgia's Provisional Balloting

Possible HAVA Violation in Georgia's Provisional Balloting
New from States - Georgia
By Joseph Hall, Univeristy of California, Berkeley
November 28, 2006

Yesterday, I read Ron Rivest's write-up of his elections observation experience in Georgia this past November ("Trip Report: Election Day 2006: Visit to Atlanta Georgia on 11/7/2006 for election observing" (PDF)).
http://vote.caltech.edu/Elections2006/Atlanta/RivestGApollwatch11-7-06.pdf

I was dismayed, as Ron was (page 3), to hear that voters who were not on the rolls were not offered provisional ballots. Under HAVA, all voters who believe they are entitled to cast a vote should at least be permitted to cast a provisional ballot (of course, it's a different question as to whether those ballots would subsequently count).

Georgia's procedures seem to be illegal under HAVA and constitute a HAVA violation. That is, HAVA says in the section that established provisional voting (§302 or 42 USC 15482):

(a) PROVISIONAL VOTING REQUIREMENTS.-If an individual declares that such individual is a registered voter in the jurisdiction in which the individual desires to vote and that the individual is eligible to vote in an election for Federal office, but the name of the individual does not appear on the official list of eligible voters for the polling place or an election official asserts that the individual is not eligible to vote, such individual shall be permitted to cast a provisional ballot

more at:
http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2083&Itemid=113

[kpete]

4. Alaska Is At Again: Refuses to Release 2006 Election Database Despite Court Order

Alaska Is At Again: Refuses to Release 2006 Election Database Despite Court Order

State Which Fought Release of Diebold Data Showing 200+ Percent Turnout in 2004 is Again Fighting Against Transparency

The state of Alaska which, as avid BRAD BLOG readers will recall, had been fighting tooth and nail to keep from releasing their database of how voters voted back in 2004, is at it again. Now, despite a court order, the state is refusing to release the new 2006 database, according to a press release just issued by the state Democratic Party. (Press release posted in full at the bottom of this item.)

Previously, the outgoing Governor Murkowski went so far as to have his top security man issue a memo saying release of the 2004 database would be a "security risk." The state had argued prior to that that they could not release the database because it was a "company secret" of Diebold's, according to their contract with the Anti-American Voting Company. All of that after Democrats had discovered a 200% voter turnout in some jurisdications across the state.

more at:
http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/linkframe.php?opedpg=http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3855&opedid=26934

[kpete]

5. FL: On day 1 of vote test, numbers don't add up

2006 ELECTION | THE AUDIT

On day 1 of vote test, numbers don't add up


SARASOTA COUNTY -- An audit of the county's touch-screen voting machines Tuesday found several discrepancies, most prominently in the disputed 13th Congressional District race, but state elections officials said it is unclear whether the problems were the result of human or machine error.

All four voting machines that officials used to simulate the Nov. 7 election had miscounts, and three of them had miscounts in the District 13 race.

Republican Vern Buchanan was certified the winner last week over Democrat Christine Jennings by 369 votes.

But there were more than 18,000 undervotes in the race, prompting a recount and now a state audit.

more at:
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061129/NEWS/611290392

[kpete]

8. FL: Sarasota Diaries: November 29, 2006

Sarasota Diaries: November 29, 2006
by BeTheMedia
Wed Nov 29, 2006 at 07:16:50 AM PST

From the diaries. It should be noted that yesterday's audit was conducted on spare machines--that is, not on any machines that are actually said to have malfunctioned during the election. Machines that were actually used in the election will be tested on Friday. -- georgia10

Before I tell you about my adventures in Sarasota, I must begin by saying that there is something completely astounding about the election integrity activist community across this nation. I am honored and privileged to have met and corresponded with dozens and dozens of them and can say from personal experience that they are almost without exception, the most tenacious, the most generous, and the most unbelievably dedicated and driven people I have ever met. They are also off-the-charts smart and inspirational and I am truly humbled to be counted among their number. We have become family in the deepest sense of the word because we have delved deep into the darkest realities of what exactly is at stake if we continue on the current path and methodology of electronic voting adopted by so many jurisdictions across the country.

With all that now said, here we go.

There is something stunning taking place around the widely reported 18,000 undervotes saga continuing to unfold in Sarasota that has yet to be reported. This is the human story of the activists and the leaders who have worked 24/7 to bring our state out of the abyss that is unauditable, paperless touchscreen voting. They have fueled a movement of determination and selflessness: bold and courageous, yet unassuming. Smart and decisive; truly rare and noble. It is breathtaking to witness from a front row seat. It is gratifying to play a role. Ultimately, I have come to realize -- plain and simple-- that there are heroes in our midst. And together, we are making history.

more at:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/11/29/446/14466

[kpete]

10. Florida voting audit raises more questions

Florida voting audit raises more questions

The audit of voting machines begun yesterday in Sarasota County, Florida was supposed to help clarify when happened to the 18,000 ballots which "undervotes" that didn't register a choice for Congress. But puzzling glitches and criticisms of the audit itself means the battle over the U.S. House seat, in which Republican candidate Vern Buchanan was declared the winner by a 369 vote margin, will likely continue.

As the Bradenton Herald reports:

The results of a simulated election held on spare machines didn't exactly match what state elections officials had scripted. Of four machines, the results of which were compared to actual election-day results, three had one to three fewer votes for Democrat Christine Jennings in the 13th Congressional District race.
The responses of the parties involved were predictable. Election officials, who happen to be Republican, called the discrepancies "unsurprising" and the result of "human error." Democrat Christine Jennings' campaign called them "intriguing." Bachanan's rep said it proved the Jennings' case "doesn't hold water."

Voter advocates have contended that the audit is flawed in its very design, and therefore is unlikely to be a useful tool in revealing what happened to the missing votes:

Tuesday's test was designed by state elections officials and an expert retained by Jennings to "duplicate election day as much as possible," secretary of state spokeswoman Nash said.

But critics said it was anything but, citing numerous differences.

The touch-screen machines were hung vertically instead of lying flat as they were on Election Day. Most who cast ballots in the Nov. 7 election did so once in private while standing up, not repeatedly in plain view of onlookers and video cameras while sitting down.

And the test teams, whose members appeared to range in age from the mid-20s to early 50s, also didn't accurately represent real voters, critics said.

"They're professional testers," Coffey said of the state employees.

Critics also said the 10 machines to be used in the mock elections are too few to yield any meaningful results. The county used 1,498 machines in the real election.

http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/2006/11/florida-voting-audit-raises-more.asp

[kpete]

11. Voting Irregularities Probed in Florida Congressional Race

Wednesday, November 29th, 2006
Voting Irregularities Probed in Florida Congressional Race

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Florida, election officials in Sarasota County have begun a review of touch-screen voting machines used in the recent election. They are testing the machines in order to determine why more than 18,000 ballots in the county registered no votes in the highly contested Congressional race between Republican Vern Buchanan and Democrat Christine Jennings.

The undercount was almost 15 % of ballots cast - far higher than in neighboring areas.

Buchanan, with 369 votes more than Jennings, was certified the winner last week. But the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections requested a state audit in response to voter complaints. A few days after the election, more than 100 County residents told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune that their votes were either not recorded or that they never saw the race listed on the ballot. The paper also wrote that if the missing votes had broken for Jennings by the same percentage as the counted votes in the county, - the Democrat would have won the race by about 600 votes. Christine Jennings is contesting the results and the case is now in court. This seat also happens to be the old seat of Katherine Harris who, when she was Secretary of State, was a central figure in the 2000 Presidential re-count battle.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/11/29/1438228

[kpete]

6. Here's how to jam up Election Day

Here's how to jam up Election Day
By Joel Engelhardt

Palm Beach Post Editorial Writer

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

If one election expert has his way, touch-screen voters will don headsets to give themselves the best chance of knowing that machines accurately record their vote.

Voters are a lot more likely to listen to a little voice reading back their choices than they are to scrutinize a printout, said Massachusetts Institute of Technology Associate Professor Ted Selker, co-director of the CalTech/MIT Voting Project. While he told a Senate committee about his study last year, the issue is hot now because in Sarasota County a congressional election is under protest after 18,000 voters made no choice in a race decided by 369 votes.


U.S. Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., plans to reintroduce a bill to require a paper trail on all touch screens. In Sarasota County, 55 percent of voters - casting ballots mostly on touch-screen machines - defied the elections supervisor and backed a measure to throw out the county's $4.7 million touch-screen system in favor of paper fill-in-the-oval ballots.

The worried electorate did not consider the obvious: If touch-screens are so prone to manipulation, why wouldn't the supervisor have manipulated that result?

Most of the attention, however, has focused on why nearly 15 percent of voters didn't pick either Republican Vern Buchanan or Democrat Christine Jennings to succeed U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris. If it's because, as one theory goes, the ads were too negative, that would argue for far more races with unexplained gaps. Besides, the negative ads crossed county lines, but the undervotes did not.

more at:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2006/11/28/a14a_engelhardtcol_1128.html

[kpete]

7. CRITICAL THINKING BY EDUCATED VOTERS BURST NEOCON BUBBLE

Educated Voters Burst Neocon Bubble

by Sherwood Ross

http://www.opednews.com

CRITICAL THINKING BY EDUCATED
VOTERS BURST NEOCON BUBBLE

By Sherwood Ross

The Democrats got their 7-million vote victory majority November 7th and regained control of Congress in good part from educated voters who think for themselves.

Those with post-graduate degrees, people schooled to analyze issues and make critical judgments, were among the first to see through the web of lies spun by the White House.

Eventually, even those who initially believed the lie Iraq had WMD learned over time when none were found they had been lied to and got angry and got active.

By contrast, despite significant defections, Bush kept the majority of his evangelical Christian following. Perhaps people whose belief requires them to accept Biblical miracles "on faith" have a mindset to believe whatever the White House tells them.

It's not that college-educated voters are unswerving Democratic loyalists. If the Republicans put up another Abraham Lincoln, they'd get my vote, too. But Americans will not tolerate blatant liars forever. And after six years of his lies, more and more voters, starting with best educated, have come to regard Mr. Bush as a pariah.

more at:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_sherwood_061128_educated_voters_burs.htm

[kpete]

9. E-voting measures sought to avoid disputes

Posted on Wed, Nov. 29, 2006
E-voting measures sought to avoid disputes
By Frank Davies
San Jose Mercury News

WASHINGTON - This month's election fueled growing anxiety about new electronic voting systems around the country, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California plans to take a hard look at e-voting and a host of other election issues and rules.

With about a third of the nation using new voting systems for the first time, fears of a massive breakdown Nov. 7 were not realized. But serious problems did emerge, and many analysts warn that a replay of the 2000 election debacle in Florida could occur unless security is improved and all voters have a chance to verify how their votes were cast.

With the new Democratic majority in the Senate, Feinstein in January will take over the little-known Rules and Administration Committee, which oversees ethics rules in the Senate and how federal elections are run. She plans wide-ranging hearings on election reform next year, said media aide Howard Gantman.

Even before the election, Feinstein was planning legislation to require a paper trail verified by voters for all electronic systems in the nation. A similar bill in the House has the support of 216 members, two short of a majority.

Twenty-seven states now have a voter-verified paper trail.

more at:
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/16121966.htm

[kpete]

12. Electionline.org gives midterms mixed grades; e-voting failures 'plentiful'

Electionline.org gives midterms mixed grades; e-voting failures 'plentiful'
By Paul McNamara on Wed, 11/29/2006 - 9:31am

A state-by-state report issued this morning by Electionline.org, a non-partisan watchdog group, offers a Clintonian assessment of whether the recent midterm elections can be deemed a success despite "plentiful" problems with technology: It depends, says the group, on what your definition of success is.

Despite that hedging, proponents of electronic voting machines will find little comfort in this 31-page analysis by Electionline, which is releasing its sobering take four weeks after Election Day press coverage that highlighted untold anecdotal problems at the nation’s polls.

One of the report’s conclusions is that there likely will be a renewed call to ensure that all electronic voting machines produce an auditable paper trail. (California Sen. Diane Feinstein plans wide-ranging hearings on this and other election matters in her role as chair of the Senate Rules and Administration committee, according to a story in this morning's San Jose Mercury News.)

But was Election Day a success for democracy?

read the rest at:
http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/9388

[kpete]

13. INT'L: Electronic Vote Distrusted in Venezuela

Electronic Vote Distrusted in Venezuela

By FABIOLA SANCHEZ
The Associated Press
Tuesday, November 28, 2006; 4:18 PM

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Under pressure from opponents of President Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's elections council has adopted safeguards for the country's electronic voting machines to prevent tampering in Sunday's election _ conditions so strict that experts say they surpass some standards in the United States.

The opposition boycotted Venezuela's legislative elections a year ago, saying it couldn't trust that the electronic machines would be used fairly. But after thorough checks of hardware and software and some key concessions by electoral officials, presidential challenger Manuel Rosales says he's satisfied _ as long as the agreed-upon rules are respected.

"The Venezuelan people and I hope that the electoral council doesn't step outside the rules, that it maintains impartiality," Rosales said Monday. "I'm going to defend the transparency and the results of this process, even if it's with my last breath."

Unlike with most U.S. electronic voting machines, Venezuelans will get paper receipts that verify their choices were properly recorded, and must deposit them into boxes before leaving the polls. After Sunday's vote, election officials monitored by representatives of each candidate will count millions of the paper receipts for comparison to the electronic totals.

more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/28/AR2006112800969.html

[kpete]

14. ROME: "We decided to stop the electronic voting machine".

"We decided to stop the electronic voting machine".

ELECTIONS: AMATO, STOP TO ELECTRONIC VOTING

(AGI) - Rome, Nov 29 - "We decided to stop the electronic voting machine". Interior Minister Giuliano Amato announced this during a conference organised by the Assirm, the association of institutes for market research, surveys and social research. Amato explains: "During the 2006 elections we experimented with the machines as a voting system, and not a system that counts the sections, without any reference to the legally valid votes. Now that we arrived at the point in which we decide to continue, passing from the experimental phase to the implementation, using the machines for the counting as well, it is obvious: we decided to stop. It is a suggestion that came from the ministerial offices, I presented it to Prodi expressing my opinion as well, the Premier agreed. It will be the triumph of our ancestors, but for someone of my generation it isn't unpleasant either. Let's stick to voting and counting physically because less easy to falsify".

http://www.agi.it/english/news.pl?doc=200611291344-1085-RT1-CRO-0-NF82&page=0&id=agionline-eng.italyonline

[kpete]

15. VOTING WITH GOD...

VOTING WITH GOD...As we get around to fixing our still-broken voting system, here's another aspect of the problem that perhaps hasn't gotten the attention it deserves.

According to a lawsuit filed today by the American Humanist Legal Center:

"An Illinois member (of the American Humanist Association) voted in a church that displayed a four-foot wooden crucifix right above the election judges. Another member in California was confronted by a large marble plaque dedicated to the 'unborn children' who are 'killed' by abortion, and containing a quote from the Bible justifying the notion that the soul is alive in the womb. And a New York member voted in a room featuring large religious slogans on the wall behind the voting machines."

It's tempting to see this as stuff as small potatoes, especially when we have so far to go to ensure that every vote is even recorded and counted at all. But according to a Stanford University study cited by the AHLC, environmental cues in polling places have a measurable and significant impact on electoral results. And if you're going to ban signs from candidates in and around polling places, it's hard to see the logic for allowing religious statements or images with obviously political implications. Could be an interesting case to watch.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_11/010301.php

[kpete]

16. OH: Commissioners want new voting machines

Commissioners want new voting machines
$17 million touch screens can't handle big elections, Cuyahoga officials say
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Joan Mazzolini
Plain Dealer Reporter

Cuyahoga County commissioners want to dump their new touch-screen voting machines, which cost taxpayers $17 million, and get another system in time for the 2008 presidential election.

"Even though we have a substantial amount of money in it, we're considering scrapping the whole system," Commissioner Tim Hagan said.

Hagan and Commissioner Jimmy Dimora said the county can't afford to spend $14 million to run every election the way they did the Nov. 7 general election. Commissioners threw millions of dollars to the Board of Elections for poll worker training, consultants and extra machines.


more at:
http://www.cleveland.com/election/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1164794175139720.xml&coll=2

[Melissa G]

17. K&R! Excellent thread, kpete! n/t

[kpete]

18. Thanks

I got off to a late start

I appreciate your K&R&!