Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Sat. Jan. 6, 2007

[livvy]

Posted on Dec 21, 2006

By Mr. Fish

http://www.truthdig.com/cartoon/item/20061221_mr_fish_troop_surge_logic/

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.

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

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

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

4. Start a discussion thread by re-posting a story you see on this thread.



Please "Recommend" for the Greatest Page (it's the link just below).

[livvy]

1. FL: House Committee Unlikely To Rush District 13 Voting Inquiry

House committee unlikely to rush District 13 voting inquiry
By JEREMY WALLACE


POLITICAL REPORTER


[e-mail]

WASHINGTON -- A congressional inquiry into the election problems in Sarasota will proceed at the expected speed of government: slowly.

The House committee that would review the issue wants to give the courts in Florida every opportunity to sort out the issues before an investigation gets going on Capitol Hill, said Thomas Hicks, a top staffer with the Committee on House Administration.

"We'd rather Florida get together and resolve this as much as possible," Hicks said at a forum on election system reform.

Hicks' statement came a day after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., opened the new Congress by acknowledging that Congress would investigate the election results in Sarasota County, even though U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, was being seated.

>more

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070106/NEWS/701060410

[livvy]

2. Vidoes of Statements at Sarasota Hearings

Videos of Hearing
SARASOTA COUNTY -- The week following the Nov. 7 election, scores of Sarasota County voters took to the microphone at a public hearing organized by the People For the American Way Foundation and voiced their experiences at the polls.

Now the organization has edited some of their stories for the whole nation to hear.

The group has created eight short video segments as part of a public education effort about voting rights and Sarasota's contested 13th Congressional District election.

"Our goal is to help educate and activate people all around the country to the importance of this issue," said said Elliot Mincberg, the foundation's senior vice president. "What we tried to do is to go through and find the people who were most representative and most compelling."
The videos are posted on www.pfaw.org and have been distributed to the group's members. They have not yet made the rounds to lawmakers, but it could only be a matter of time, Mincberg said.
Link to page at PFAW:
http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oId=23180

[philb]

18. If straight Dem voter has UV in high undervote race, should officials assume that

the vote goes to the Dem candidate, or disregard the voters with undervotes, even in precincts where undervotes were 20% to 40%?

The authorities in Florida and the courts so far say its better to disregard the votes.

But if one bases the choice on probabilities, what would be the outcome

for straight Dem voter in precinct with 25% undervote

what is the probability the voter intended to not vote in a top level Congressional race(disregard vote)
I say the probability is less than 2%

what is the probability that the voter intended to vote for the Dem Congressional candidate?
I say over 95%.

note: undervotes on paper absentees and on neighboring county opti-scans are less than 2.5%

What is the likelihood that any unbiased individuals probability analysis would be enough different than mine
to change the proper decision.

What decision does the majority of credible evidence support making?




Note that the reason for the undervote could likely have been determined if a serious audit had been carried out.

[livvy]

3. Statement on the Provisional Seating of Vern Buchanan by PFAW President Ralph Neas

Statement on the Provisional Seating of Vern Buchanan by PFAW President Ralph Neas

“The congressional leadership has made clear that the seating of Vern Buchanan as Congressman for Florida’s 13th District is provisional, lasting only until the controversy swirling around the election in Sarasota County is resolved by the courts and by a congressional investigation. We commend the congressional leadership, and especially Congressman Rush Holt, for recognizing the gravity of Sarasota’s election problems and for giving its voters reason to believe that they may yet be represented by someone they know they elected.

“Real and serious doubt has been cast on the election in Sarasota. Indeed, experts from opposite sides in the litigation agree flaws in the election actually reversed the outcome, and that the election would probably have gone to candidate Christine Jennings had the election been properly administered. No matter which candidate ultimately wins and is permanently seated, however, it is crucial that the voters know that the votes of all voters are recorded and counted.

“Many voters have provided firsthand accounts of malfunctioning voting machines and disappearing votes. Only after court proceedings and a congressional investigation seeking answers about the Sarasota undervote have run their course, and only after Sarasota's election problems have been remedied, should someone be permanently seated.

“In addition, this is a teachable moment. The 18,000 Sarasota County citizens whose votes are missing have put a human face on the substantial flaws that remain in our election system, and the attention focused on the Sarasota debacle can and should help members of Congress make the case for nationwide election reform. The problems in Sarasota have been widely reported because the congressional race there was so close—yet voting problems were rampant across the country in 2006. Congress must enact election reform this year in order to prevent similar problems in 2008.”
(end of statement)
http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=23366

[livvy]

8. Dem Objects To State Ruling On District 13: Letter Expresses Concern...

Posted on Sat, Jan. 06, 2007

Dem objects to state ruling on District 13: Letter expresses concern...
LESLEY CLARK
Herald Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - Dem objects to state ruling on District 13: Letter expresses concern over judge denying Jennings access to voting machine software

In the second move in as many days to challenge Rep. Vern Buchanan's standing as a congressman, a top House Democrat on Friday sent a letter to a Florida appeals court saying she is "concerned" that a lower court judge declined to give Democrats access to the software used in the contested voting machines.

"This election contest is, of course, a case of national importance," Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald, D-Calif., the chairwoman of the House Administration Committee, said in the letter addressed to the First District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee.

A spokesman for Buchanan's camp accused congressional Democrats of improperly looking to influence the court.

>more

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/local/16396032.htm

[livvy]

4. What to do when the shoe fits, but you don't want to wear it.

I spent a lot of time watching the House this week. Dreier was really getting on my nerves, so I found this tidbit sent in a Media Matters email today interesting. I just thought I'd share.

Washington Post, June 16, 2003

On many high-profile issues, Dreier, whose committee decides the rules for each debate, has refused to allow Democrats an opportunity to offer a substitute amendment on the House floor. He has infuriated Democrats by denying them votes on their plans for everything from unemployment insurance to tax cuts.

<...>

Republicans have used the Rules Committee to block Democrats from offering more generous unemployment benefits to a bigger pool of workers, greater homeland security funding and smaller tax cuts.

In an interview, Dreier said he "learned quickly" that running Congress as the majority party requires some of the same procedural tricks he complained about a decade ago.

"I was bellyaching. I had not known what it took to govern," he acknowledged. Now, "our number one priority is to move our agenda ... with one of the narrowest majorities in history."

CBS Evening News: January 3, 2007 in a report by Sharyl Attkisson

ATTKISSON: Of course, voters made it crystal clear that's what they want, too. But eight weeks later, Democrats are planning to spend their first 100 hours tackling an ambitious agenda without any input from Republicans -- enacting all the 9-11 Commission recommendations, upping the minimum wage, expanding embryonic stem cell research, bargaining for lower Medicare drug prices, slashing student loan interest rates, and deep-sixing billions of dollars in subsidies for Big Oil.

Republicans cut out of the legislative push are wondering: What happened to all of the nice talk?

DREIER: I am very disappointed. It's totally inconsistent with what we have been promised throughout this campaign process.



http://mediamatters.org/items/200701050002?src=other

[livvy]

5. A Request from Clint Curtis posted in ER by eridani

Our quest is moving ahead and we need your participation once again. So get out your cell phones and your computers and call C-SPAN Washington Journal 202-737-0002 that is on 7 -10 AM everyday of the week and email Journal {at} C-span.org .

Why?

Because yesterday when Congressman Rush Holt pointed out at the opening of the Congress (despite the boos) that the seating of the new Congress does not indicate that the House has decided the elections which are being contested before it pursuant to 2 USC § 381 et seq., the Federal Contested Elections Act, C-SPAN posted a graph that showed only the Jennings Race as being contested. This morning one of Clint’s long time supporters, Karen Landers, was the last caller to make it on Washington Journal. She informed the country that there are in fact 4 contested elections and that C- SPAN needed to correct their chart.

Your calls and emails to C-SPAN letting them know you want them to correct their error can make a difference. They need to know that our Contests that have been filed with the State and in Congress (see below for info from our news release for details) will give the Congress actual data in the form of affidavits that connect votes to voters (unlike the Jennings’ race) showing that the Democrat could in fact have won in District 21, 24 and 5.

>more and discussion at link below
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x463924

[livvy]

9. House Swears in Buchanan (one mention of Curtis and Russell)

House swears in Buchanan

By ANITA KUMAR, Times Staff Writer
Published January 5, 2007

WASHINGTON - At 2:30 p.m. Thursday, after Nancy Pelosi was elected speaker but before members were sworn into office, Sarasota's disputed congressional election made its way to the House floor.

New Jersey Rep. Rush Holt, a strong supporter of election reform, took a few minutes on the historic first day of the 110th Congress to call attention to his fellow Democrat Christine Jennings' battle with Republican Vern Buchanan.

The new Democrat-controlled House ended up swearing in Buchanan on Thursday, but Holt wanted to make sure that would not preclude Jennings from continuing to fight.

"May I ask for the record whether a notice of contest has been filed with the clerk on behalf of Christine Jennings ... and what effect, if any, today's proceedings have on pending contests?" Holt asked.

Republicans interrupted him with a round of boos before Pelosi responded.

>snip
This is the only paragraph relating to Curtis.
Two other congressional candidates from Florida who lost by large margins - Democrats John Russell and Clint Curtis - also asked the House to investigate their elections. Russell said he discovered voting discrepancies in some of the Pasco County touch screen machines used in his race against Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Brooksville. Curtis ran against Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Oviedo.

>more

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/01/05/Worldandnation/House_swears_in_Bucha.shtml

[philb]

17. The other 3 challenges involve major irregularities- only difference is closeness on race

In the Congressional challenges in CD5, CD21, and CD24

there is evidence of high undervotes, touch screen switching
"phantom votes" more votes than voters
major security problems- bags of votes with different seal number than on the original log and bags with no seal
SOE violations of state election process
clearly biased touch screen ballot layout design

much higher percent of Dems and Independents voting Repub on touch screens than polls indicated,
but opti-scan voting very much in line with polling data
etc.
www.flcv.com/Florida6.html

They only difference in these races is that the official results were not as close
Problems of similar magnitude as Dist 13 Sarasota, but only in Sarasota was it clear that the known problems were
enough to swing the election.

In the other cases, the authorities control the basic data and its hard to determine whether the magnitude of the
known problems were enough to swing those races?

Should major irregularities be disregarded if the preliminary evidence doesn't make it clear that the
magnitude was enough to swing the election?

In the attorney General race, the magnitude of undervotes was much more than in the Jennings Dist. 13 race
high undervotes in 6 counties- some counties higher than Sarasota Dist 13 race.
www.flcv.com/Florida6.html

[livvy]

6. Possible Ballot Option: "None of the Above"

Possible ballot option: 'None of the above'
Stephen Majors
the Associated Press

January 6, 2007

TALLAHASSEE -- Voters would have the option of choosing "none of the above" under a bill proposed to avoid confusion over whether people mean to leave ballots blank.

State Sen. Mike Bennett, the bill's sponsor, wants the additional option to prevent a repeat of the congressional race between Republican Vern Buchanan and Democrat Christine Jennings. Buchanan was declared the winner by 369 votes, but more than 18,000 ballots didn't indicate a choice in the race.

Currently, it's impossible for elections officials to determine whether voters purposely meant to leave the race blank or if they, by accident, didn't make a choice.

"What we want to do is give people an option to write on there: 'I don't want to vote in this race. I don't really like any of these people. I don't feel comfortable,' " said Bennett, R-Bradenton.

>more

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-none0607jan06,0,2153579.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-state

[livvy]

7. Changes in E-Voting Likely Coming, Experts Say

Changes in e-voting likely coming, experts say

Zaterdag 6 januari 2007, 10:02 - Rules requiring independent audit mechanisms for electronic-voting machines are likely coming, but the changes won't happen overnight, a group of advocates said Friday.
Grant Gross

More than 18,000 undervotes in a still-disputed Florida congressional election from November show the need for independent audit mechanisms, said panelists at an event sponsored by several advocacy groups, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Common Cause.

"We're at this point ... where I believe there's a consensus that we need to do something," said Trey Grayson, secretary of state in Kentucky. "However, the consensus is ahead of the solution."

All but one of Kentucky's counties use e-voting machines without paper trails, and many local elections officials are opposed to making big changes, Grayson said. Kentucky has used e-voting machines since the 1980s, and only recently have some state residents questioned their security and reliability, he added.
While many e-voting security critics have called for printouts to back up e-voting results, printers currently in use have encountered problems in recent elections, said Courtenay Strickland-Bhatia, president and chief executive of the Verified Voting Foundation. Some printers have jammed, and with some e-voting machines printouts weren't easily accessible for voters who wanted to double-check their votes, she said.

But e-voting machines need audit mechanisms and a "transparent" design that allows voters to understand how votes are counted, she added. Without an audit mechanism, "it simply is not possible to know if a problem has happened" in an e-voting machine, she said.

>more

http://www.webwereld.nl/articles/44435/changes-in-e-voting-likely-coming--experts-say.html

[livvy]

10. 2006: A Year of Growth for Clean Money in California

January 6, 2007.

2006: A Year of Growth for Clean Money in California
By Susan Lerner
Executive Director
California Clean Money Campaign

Two thousand and six was another year of unprecedented growth for the Clean Money public finacing of campaigns movement in California. Thanks to the dedication, determination, and desire of thousands of people, full public financing of campaigns has rapidly risen from relative obscurity to a serious part of California’s political conversation.

While most Californians were still recovering from the 2005 holiday season, our Clean Money activists were gearing up for an uphill battle in the state assembly. In the course of just three weeks, we accomplished something virtually nobody believed possible: By sending over 1,000 letters or faxes to assembly members, making hundreds of calls, and packing the hearings in Sacramento, we generated an amazing groundswell of public support that succeeded in moving AB 583, Assemblymember Loni Hancock's Clean Money bill, sponsored by the California Clean Money Campaign, through two Assembly committees. Then, on Monday, January 30th, in a historic vote, our Clean Money bill, passed the full California Assembly by a count of 47-31!

In his weekly radio address after the vote, Speaker of the Assembly Fabian Nunez took the opportunity to praise his fellow Democrats for supporting AB 583: “ dark cloud looms over our Capitol. That cloud is the public perception that our policy process is tainted by the escalating arms race for campaign funds. That's why I was so proud that Democrats stood up and voted to clean up our election system with a new clean money bill. . .”

Before and after that historic vote, the state’s major newspaper editorialized in favor of Clean Money concept and AB 583. Read what these papers had to say: LA Times, SF Chronicle, SJ Mercury News, Sacramento Bee, and Oakland Tribune. While you're at it, take a look at the incredible number of inspiring letters to the editor about the need for Clean Money that our volunteers have gotten published.

>more

http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2007/01/2006_a_year_of.html

[livvy]

11. 1,500 Activists Arrested in Bangladesh

1,500 Activists Arrested in Bangladesh
Jan 6, 1:40 AM EST
By JULHAS ALAM
Associated Press Writer


Bangladeshi activists chant slogans in support of fallen Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein during a mock hanging of U.S. President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani at a protest in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, Jan. 5, 2007. Hundreds of Saddam Hussein supporters shouting "Long live Hero Saddam" protested against the execution of the former Iraqi leader. (AP Photo/Pavel Rahman)

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) -- Police detained about 1,500 activists ahead of a two-day nationwide general strike aimed at forcing electoral reform and the postponement of a general election this month, a key political alliance said Saturday.

The alliance still plans to enforce the strike and transport blockade on Sunday and Monday, said Obaidul Qader, a spokesman for a 19-party alliance led by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

"Police have detained at least 1,500 activists alone in the capital, Dhaka, since Thursday," said Qader. "We'll enforce the blockade as per our plan."

The alliance has vowed to boycott and disrupt the election, slated for Jan. 22, saying the interim government in charge of the poll favors the alliance's opponents.

>more

http://www.columbian.com/news/APStories/AP01062007news90222.cfm

[livvy]

12. Mississippi: Lafayette County Could Become Early Voting Pilot Project

Lafayette County could become early voting pilot project

1/6/2007 7:33:13 AM
Daily Journal


By Bobby Harrison


Daily Journal Jackson Bureau


JACKSON - Lafayette countians will be allowed to vote up to 25 days before the scheduled election, if legislation approved Friday by the Mississippi House becomes law.


The House passed 115-2 legislation that will make Lafayette County a pilot project for early voting.


"Everybody is on board with this," said Rep. Noal Akins, R-Oxford, referring to his Lafayette County constituents. "We are trying to solve a problem. This is not a Republican-Democratic thing. We have long lines. People have had to leave without voting."


Akins said the early voting will help secretaries at the University of Mississippi, nurses at the county's medical facilities and others with limited time to vote. He said unless action is taken, the long lines will only get worse since Lafayette is a growing county.

>more

http://www.djournal.com/pages/story.asp?ID=234506&pub=1&div=News

[philb]

16. Should absentee ballots be not allowed in such a system?

There have been huge amounts of irregularities regarding absentee ballots in Florida for a long time.
Historically people could vote absentee only if sick and unable to go to polls or out of registered area for a prolonged
period of time.

The Republicans in Florida were having major absentee campaigns and violating the law regularly. Some were indicted for major abuse and punished.
So the Repub controlled Legislature changed the law to allow anyone to submit an absentee for any reason.

What are the rules elsewhere and how did they evolve?
What should the policy be?

[livvy]

13. WY: Three Dems want to review paper ballots

Wyoming briefs

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Trauner applauds hand recount

JACKSON -- Gary Trauner offered encouragement to a group of Sheridan Democrats who plan to recount the paper records from November's election, but insisted that he had nothing to do with the recount.

Trauner, a Democrat from Wilson, failed in his bid to unseat Republican Rep. Barbara Cubin by a mere 1,012 votes out of 193,369 cast.

After the election, he and others said they saw a statistical anomaly in Sheridan County, where Cubin maintained more support than in other counties. But he refused to challenge the election or ask for a recount, in part because the state law only allows for an electronic recount and doesn't allow for an official review of the paper records.

Three Democrats in Sheridan County have said they want to review the paper ballots to make sure they match up with the official electronic count.

>more

http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2007/01/06/news/wyoming/a881767e86ceea5d8725725b0003fb1c.txt

[livvy]

14. Trio To Recount Trauner's Tally

Trio to recount Trauner's tally

By The Associated Press


>snip of same info in previous post

Liz Howell and two colleagues made a public-records request asking to see the paper records from the electronic voting machines; Howell said she'd received a verbal confirmation from the county that they would be allowed to review the records.

"We are trying to verify the accuracy of this machine tabulation system rather than change the world," Howell said. "We just can't believe the Sheridan vote came out so swayed towards Cubin because of our personal experience pounding the pavement."

The recount would not be official, and Howell said regardless of the outcome she didn't think it would change who's in office. Cubin was sworn in this week for her seventh term in the U.S. House; no Wyoming representative has ever served as long.

"We know it's too late to reinstate Trauner, but it's not too late for Wyoming to have better laws," Howell said.

http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/01/06/news/wyoming/55-trio.txt

[philb]

15. Widespread E-Voting Failures throughout U.S. in the 2006 Mid-Term Elections

Report: E-Voting Failures in the 2006 Mid-Term Elections, with analysis of several major system breakdowns

http://www.votersunite.org/info/E-VotingIn2006Mid-Term.pdf

Thousands of touch screen incidents reported throughout the U.S.

http://www.votersunite.org/info/2006E-VotingReports.xls


Widespread switching, disappearing votes, malfunctions, compiler glitches in touch screens throughout the U.S.
www.flcv.com/eirstss6.html