Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Sat. Dec. 16, 2006

[livvy]

Farewell, Dense Prince
Maureen Dowd, NYT

Far from being run out of town, the defense czar who rivals Robert McNamara for deadly incompetence has been on a victory lap in Baghdad, Mosul and Washington. Yesterday’s tribute had full military honors, a color guard, a 19-gun salute, an Old Guard performance with marching musicians — including piccolo players — in Revolutionary War costumes, John Philip Sousa music and the chuckleheaded neocons and ex-Rummy deputies who helped screw up the occupation, Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith, cheering in the audience.
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/12/16/opinion/16dowd.html?th&emc=th

"Ours is a world of unstable dictators, weapon proliferators and rogue regimes, and each of these enemies seeks out our vulnerability," Rumsfeld said.

Why here comes our little vulnerability now!


And now, for your Saturday reading pleasure...
Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.



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

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

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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).

[livvy]

1. Abbas Calls for Early Elections

Abbas Calls for Early Elections

By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH
The Associated Press
Saturday, December 16, 2006; 7:26 AM

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday that he is calling new presidential and parliamentary elections at the earliest possible date, a dramatic challenge to the ruling Islamic militant Hamas government.

An Abbas aide, Yasser Abed Rabbo, told The Associated Press that the president would set the date within a week, and that new elections would be held within three months.

Abbas' announcement, in a speech at his West Bank headquarters, was met by loud applause from hundreds of supporters.

"I ... decided to call for early presidential and parliament elections," Abbas said, after outlining months of failed coalition talks with Hamas. "Let us return to the people, to hear their word, and let them be the judge."

>more

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/16/AR2006121600274.html

[livvy]

2. Hope for Election Reform

Hope for Election Reform
Published Saturday, December 16, 2006

Florida may finally be ready to give the way elections are conducted the attention it deserves.

Gov.-elect Charlie Crist announced the appointment this week of a seasoned election professional, Kurt Browning, as Florida's next secretary of state. Browning has been supervisor of elections in Pasco County for his entire adult career, dating back to 1980, and is highly regarded by his peers and a former president of the state Supervisors Association.

Strange as it may seem, there is no precedent for Florida's chief election officer - the secretary of state - having hands-on experience in administering elections. The first two appointed secretaries of state - both by Gov. Jeb Bush - had no particular qualifications in the elections field. The last elected secretary of state, Katherine Harris, presided over the 2000 election fiasco and was so ignorant of election laws that she had to resign her office without prior notice in 2002 to avoid violating the long-standing law that requires officeholders to resign before running for another elected position.

In the past, Browning has been a defender of touch screen voting, which he uses in Pasco, and has said a paper trail was unnecessary. However, both he and Crist said they were open to requiring a paper trail, and Browning said Florida may well have to go to a single voting system for the entire state - which the U.S. Supreme Court suggested after the 2000 election. Because touch screen voting remains so controversial, a uniform system likely would be an optical-scan paper ballot such as the one used in Polk County.

There's just one more short paragraph that says that the former gov, Bush, was opposed to this type of reform, and that it's a step forward with the new gov willing to consider it.

http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061216/NEWS/612160380/1036

[livvy]

3. Angelides to Explore Run in 2010

Posted on Sat, Dec. 16, 2006

Angelides to explore run in 2010
Outgoing state treasurer also plans to start an investment firm while working for educational causes
By Edwin Garcia
MEDIANEWS SACRAMENTO BUREAU

SACRAMENTO - Phil Angelides, the Democrat who lost to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in last month's election, announced Friday he plans to launch an investment firm, advocate for education causes and lay the groundwork for a possible gubernatorial run in 2010.

"I'll be active in my business and very active in the public arena -- advocating for the issues I believe in, the issues of economic opportunity -- and I will be doing my level best to advance those issues," the two-term state treasurer said.

"Some people, after they lose an election, they kind of just shrink away," Angelides said. "That's not going to happen with me."

Angelides, soundly defeated in the Nov. 7 election, is spending his final weeks in office reflecting on the past eight years as treasurer, the hard-fought campaign that consumed the last 24 months, and discussing his new business venture, which may include a partnership with his most faithful campaign donor and former business associate, Sacramento developer Angelo Tsakopoulos.

>more

http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/nation/16255224.htm

[livvy]

4. Historic Elections Open in United Arab Emirates

Historic elections open in United Arab Emirates

The Associated Press
Saturday, December 16, 2006

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates

The United First Emirates' first ever elections opened Saturday in two of the seven Emirates, including the capital, of this oil-rich Gulf country.

A small number of voters in the capital Abu Dhabi and the eastern emirate of Fujeirah will become the first Emirati citizens to cast ballots since independence in 1971. Voters in Dubai and the other four emirates that make up the federal state will visit polls Monday and Wednesday.

"Today is one of the most significant days in the history of the United Arab Emirates," declared the editorial of the Gulf News daily on Saturday. "It is the first and cautious step on a long road to democracy that the country now feels able to introduce into society," added the editorial.

"It's a day that will remain engraved in the nation's memory," reads the editorial of Al-Bayan daily.

>more

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/12/16/africa/ME_GEN_Emirates_Election.php

[livvy]

5. Judge Orders Hand Recount of Ballots in Crucial House Race

Judge orders hand recount of ballots in crucial House race
Andrew Cannarsa, Special to The Mercury
12/16/2006

WEST CHESTER -- A hand recount of ballots will determine the outcome of the 156th Legislative District race, Common Pleas Court Judge Howard F. Riley Jr. ordered on Friday.

Riley‘s ruling said the recount of the legislative election, in which Democrat Barbara McIlvaine Smith defeated Republican Shannon Royer by 23 votes, would begin on Tuesday morning at the Department of Voter Services in West Goshen and continue "each day thereafter."

Riley granted the Republicans‘ request for a manual count of 23,000 votes that will be observed by representatives from both parties.

"It was the right decision, and it’s in the best interest of the residents of the 156th District," said Lawrence J. Tabas, an attorney for the Republicans. "This is a race that’s so close -- less than one vote per precinct -- that it’s important that the recount numbers and totals are as accurate as possible."

>more


http://www.pottstownmercury.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17599046&BRD=1674&PAG=461&dept_id=18041&rfi=6

[livvy]

6. IN: Recorder's Recount Going Back To Court

Recorder's recount going back to court
By SETH SLABAUGH
[e-mail]

MUNCIE -- A court-appointed recount commission has finished manually recounting more than 5,000 paper ballots cast in the election for Delaware County recorder, but the winner remains undecided.

Circuit Court 5 Judge Wayne Lennington on Friday scheduled a hearing for 11 a.m. Monday that should determine the outcome of the race.

The county election board last month certified Republican Jane Lasater as the winner over Democrat Claudette King by 15 votes -- 16,324 to 16,309.

King filed a petition for a recount, saying she had "a good faith belief that the votes cast ... were not correctly, legally counted."

King has since filed two objections to the recounting of certain ballots. Those objections will be the subject of Monday's hearing in Title IV-D Court on the third floor of the county building.

>more
http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061216/NEWS01/612160336/1002

[livvy]

7. FL: Paper Vote Trail IS Coming

Paper vote trail IS coming
STEVE BOUSQUET
Published December 16, 2006

A paper trail on touch screen voting machines is coming to Florida one way or another.

It's a matter of time.

Even before the meltdown in Sarasota with 18,000 under-votes in an extremely close race for Congress, Charlie Crist, our next governor, said he liked the idea of giving voters a piece of paper to verify their choices.

His new secretary of state, Pasco County Elections Supervisor Kurt Browning, who is widely regarded as an expert on voting issues, has never seen the need for a paper trail.

But he says he will keep an open mind. "I want to do the best thing for Florida," Browning said.

The problem with a paper trail isn't in the executive branch. It's in the Legislature.

>more

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/12/16/State/Paper_vote_trail_IS_c.shtml

[philb]

12. Florida had widespread touch screen switching, machine problems, delays and long lines in some areas

as well as minority suppression, systematic illegal dirty tricks, etc.

2006
www.flcv.com/florida6.html

2004
www.flcv.com/fraudpat.html
www.flcv.com/fla04EAS.html

There hasn't been a fair election in the last 10 years in Florida, where manipulations haven't caused major swings that resulted in
candidates being declared winner, who clearly were not the choice of the majority of voters.
Its time to return to a democratic voting system in Florida.

[livvy]

8. S.C.'s Flawed Voting Machines

Posted on Sat, Dec. 16, 2006

S.C.’s flawed voting machines

By PHIL LEVENTIS
Guest columnist

In 2003, South Carolina was the first state to buy a statewide system of electronic voting machines. Ignoring the warnings of voting rights advocates and computer experts, the state Election Commission spent $38 million on machines that don’t provide a voter-verifiable paper trail. That decision squandered taxpayer money on a flawed system and further corroded voter confidence in the election process.

This past election saw a number of close races that required “manual recounts,” which amounted to asking the computers to reprint their totals. “The machine numbers don’t change,” said an Election Commission spokesperson. There is nothing to indicate the voters’ intent, just bits of machine code relying on software that is secret. Our current system is fraught with complex technology that may appear efficient but may not count every vote and, worse, cannot be audited.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology recently recommended that the 2007 Voluntary Voting Systems Guidelines promoted by the Election Assistance Commission not certify direct-record electronic machines that don’t produce a paper record, the kind we have in South Carolina. Ours is one of five states to use them statewide. (Along with Delaware, Georgia, Louisiana and Maryland.)

According to the institute, the vote totals on the machines we use in South Carolina cannot be audited because the machines are not software-independent. “A voting system is software-independent if an undetected change or error in its software cannot cause an undetectable change or error in an election outcome,” the report said. “Software independence should be interpreted to really mean complex technology independence.”

>more

http://www.thestate.com/mld/state/news/opinion/16253202.htm

[philb]

13. South Carolina has had major election manipulation, vote switching, glitches,

disappearing votes, inaccurate vote compilation, as well as minority suppression in the 2006 and 2004 elections.

2006
www.flcv.com/SCaroli6.html

2004
www.flcv.com/SouthCar.html

[livvy]

9. NC: Printers On County Voting Machines Had Failures

Article published Dec 15, 2006
Printers on county voting machines had failures
By Mark Binker
Staff Writer

GREENSBORO -- The system meant to produce a paper backup of votes cast on Guilford County's electronic voting machines failed in many cases during the election Nov. 7.

About 9 percent of the printers attached to the county's voting machines had a jam or other problem. In many cases, that problem made the paper record generated unusable for purposes of a state-mandated audit, according to county elections director George Gilbert. The electronic records were not affected and remained intact, he said.

Guilford County voters cast ballots on direct record, or DRE, systems that have a computer touchscreen. During the past several years, some computer scientists and voting advocates have charged this type of system is susceptible to error and fraud.

So in 2005, state lawmakers required each such machine produce a paper record, typically produced on a small reel-to-reel printer. Those printers were what failed on some systems.

>more

http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061215/NEWSREC0101/612150303/-1/NEWSREC0201

[philb]

14. North Carolina had touch screen switching, machines malfunctioned, many unable to vote, etc.

2006
Touch Screen switching, machines malfunctioned, polls late opening, long lines, many unable to vote, Voter Purges/Late Poll Changes w/o notification/receiving misinformation from officials, registration problems

www.flcv.com/NCaroli6.html

2004 similar
www.flcv.com/northcar.html

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

17. question - source for NC info?

Hey, thats some good stuff.

I am pissed that Mecklenburg and Guilford County bought
the toilet paper touchscreens, but their directors
are "Election Center" cronies.

Their BOE's backed them up all the way.

But, what is the official source of the info from the file
http://www.flcv.com/NCaroli6.html

??

Thanks for your help!

:)

[livvy]

10. Unexpectedly Large Turnout in Iran Vote

Posted December 15, 2006

Unexpectedly large turnout in Iran vote
Balloting is the first electoral test since President Ahmadinejad took office in 2005.

By Scott Peterson | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
TEHRAN

TEHRAN - , Iran - Clutching pens and scraps of paper to write personal notes requesting assistance, the black-draped Iranian women waited for their hero to finish voting before pressing him with their problems.

But after casting ballots in joint city council and Expert Assembly elections, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was thronged as he stepped out of a mosque polling station.

The vote is the first electoral test since the archconservative leader was elected in June 2005. Voting was extended three hours to accommodate a far larger turnout than expected, something analysts said was likely to favor reformists, who are currently shut out of every power structure.

Results will also determine the state of a power struggle between competing conservative factions: the "fundamentalist" one led by the president and the "traditionalist" one by the former police chief who is now mayor of Tehran.

>more


http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1216/p00s01-wome.html

[livvy]

11. Bahrain Shiites Boycott Parliament Inauguration

Bahrain Shiites boycott parliament inauguration


MANAMA: Bahrain's main Shiite opposition party boycotted the king's inauguration of parliament Friday, protesting what it called the "marginalisation" of the country's Shiite majority. The leader of Al-Wefaq, which won 43 percent of the assembly's 40 seats in the November elections, said the party might boycott working sessions of the parliament unless the government addresses its demands. Sheikh Ali Salman said the party's members had decided on Friday's boycott, "and it might go on depending on developments." He warned the parliament might "lose its legitimacy" if it held sessions indefinitely without the participation of Al-Wefaq legislators.

Al-Wefaq accused the government of depriving Shiites of their rights, in particular the post of parliamentary speaker. Shiites amount to more than 60 per cent of Bahrain's 700,000 people and have long complained they are squeezed out of power by the Sunni monarchy. "Although Al-Wefaq won 17 seats out of 40, the government formed a coalition among the other lawmakers to obtain a bigger block that had the right to elect the speaker," said Abdul-Hadi Al-Khawaja of the Bahraini Centre for Human Rights, which is linked to Al-Wefaq.

In a statement before the inauguration, Al-Wefaq said it would stage a boycott because of the "marginalisation policies that are being implemented in line with what had been revealed last September by Salah Al-Bandar." A report distributed earlier this year by a former government consultant, Salah Al-Bandar, alleged that top government officials were using accelerated naturalisation and electronic voting, among other tactics, to rig the November elections in favour of the minority Sunnis. The report, which came to be known as "Bandargate", made big waves in the tiny Arabian Gulf kingdom which hosts the US Navy's Fifth Fleet.

The government denied the report's allegations. It charged Al-Bandar, a Sunni Muslim, with sedition and expelled him from the country. Al-Wefaq says that those responsible for the alleged plot to rig the elections have either been promoted or reinstated, and none have been punished. Salman said that for Al-Wefaq's legislators to take their seats in parliament, the government would have to punish those responsible for Bandargate, hold a new election for speaker, and dismiss what he called the "unqualified" ministers in the Cabinet. "We hope that there will be an agreement," Salman said in a phone interview.

>more

http://www.kuwaittimes.net/Navariednews.asp?dismode=article&artid=1686771945

[philb]

15. 2006 elections had major problems and manipulation throughout the U.S.- similar to 2004

Touchscreen switching, disappearing votes, major machine failures and glitches, compiler problems, long lines, millions unable to vote

www.flcv.com/eirstss6.html

as well as major minority suppression, systematic illegal dirty tricks, voter purges, registration and absentee ballot problems,
ballot problems, etc.

www.flcv.com/eirsppp6.html
www.flcv.com/eirsoth6.html
www.flcv.com/eirsdt6.html

[livvy]

16. Thanks for your contributions and links, philb! n/t

[autorank]

18. Ola livvy, KR Very nice!!!

Cliff Arnebeck (Attorney for Ohio recount) greets Rev. Jesse Jackson at Lafayette Park
Rally - January 6, 2005 - "Patriots Day"