Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Tuesday, 1/23/07

[Melissa G]

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Tuesday, 1/23/07
Texans, former County Judge Kenneth Davis and Precinct #4 candidate Joe Daniel, in connection with the November general election sue claiming every tenth Dem vote flipped to Republicans by uncertified ES&S machine!!!
yea!! fight those wicked machines...see first post for details!..



All members welcome and encouraged to participate.



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

If you can:
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[Melissa G]

1. TX Election Lawsuit Papers Reissued

Election Lawsuit Papers Reissued
A clerical error in civil-service papers in a Hill County election-contest lawsuit led to the papers being reissued last week.

snip
Judge Lewis was served the new papers Thursday, January 18, and Commissioner Harkins was expected to be served Friday afternoon, January 19, according to a Hill County Sheriff’s Department spokesman.

snip
The lawsuit alleges that the iVotronic election-voting machines provided to the county by Elections Systems and Software (ES&S) were programmed so that they flipped every 10th vote for a Democrat to a Republican, regardless of the acts of the voters, which resulted in an error in the vote total.

It also alleges that the ES&S software wasn’t certified by the Secretary of State’s office at the time of the election, and computer logs from the county’s Unity Systems Elections Reporting Manager computer were illegally altered.

http://www.hillsbororeporter.com/default.asp?smenu=54&sdetail=7174&wpage=1&sc=1012

[Melissa G]

2. WY First round of review yields some ballots with problems

Wyoming finds several hundred problems with the count! Thanks to landshark for the link!


First round of review yields some ballots with problems
Monday January 22, 2007
MATTHEW BROWN
Associated Press Writer
SHERIDAN, Wyo. (AP) Several hundred questionable ballots from last November's U.S. House race were identified Monday by three Sheridan County Democrats undertaking a nonbinding review of the close-fought Wyoming contest.

The supporters of Democrat Gary Trauner, who lost by 1,012 votes statewide to Republican incumbent Rep. Barbara Cubin, hope to highlight perceived shortcomings in the state's election system. On Monday, under the watchful eye of election judges at the county courthouse, they extracted from more than 11,000 paper ballots hundreds that bore partially-filled in ovals, multiple votes in the same race or other peculiarities.

Those ballots were placed by the judges into stacks labeled by the county attorney as ``questioned'' and will undergo further scrutiny on Tuesday when the ``document review'' as county officials refer to the effort continues.

Yet even if the effort shows Trauner should have won or came closer than reported, it could amount to little more than an academic undertaking: Wyoming law does not allow for manual recounts of statewide elections.

http://kutv.com/wyomingwire/WY--WyomingHouse_w_n_0wy--/resources_news_html

[Melissa G]

3. Israeli President May Be Indicted

Shall we indict a pResident over here?? There is certainly cause!...OHHHH... This indictment has SEX in it...maybe that is why it is going forward...:eyes:

Associated Press
Israeli President May Be Indicted
By RAVI NESSMAN 01.23.07, 10:00 AM ET

Israel's attorney general said Tuesday he intends to indict President Moshe Katsav on charges of rape and abuse of power, a stunning accusation against the country's ceremonial head of state.

A final decision on the indictment would be made only after Katsav, who was notified Tuesday, presents his case. If indicted, Katsav would be Israel's first sitting president to be charged with a crime.

The decision by Attorney-General Meni Mazuz came just days after authorities launched a criminal investigation into Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's involvement in the sale of a government-controlled bank in 2005. Several other high-level politicians have also been implicated in other scandals.

Katsav has denied the charges, stemming from complaints made by four women who worked for him during his tenure as president and, before that, as a Cabinet minister. Katsav has said he is the victim of a conspiracy by political enemies. The president's office said Tuesday it had no official comment.

[Melissa G]

4. CA Secretary of state very skeptical of voting machines

www.taftmidwaydriller.com
Opinion Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Secretary of state very skeptical of voting machines
By Thomas D. Elias
Published: Friday, January 19, 2007 1:13 PM CST



snip
Now comes Democrat Debra Bowen, elected last fall and just now about to move into her new job as secretary of state, California's top elections officer. As a state senator from Marina del Rey for the last eight years, Bowen was the Legislature's leading skeptic of new-fangled voting machines and their bells and whistles.


snip
“We are going to do a top to bottom review of every voting system in use anywhere in California,” Bowen said in an interview. “Yes, I would consider decertifying machines that my predecessor approved. Unfortunately, we've spent a lot of money on equipment that's not ready for prime time. Any Fortune 500 company would have sent those machines back with a letter saying they just don't do what they're supposed to.”



How bad is the current generation of voting machines? Well, California lucked out for the most part last fall, not falling prey to the worst malfunctions and dicey behavior of the machines. But in one Texas county, ES&S machines counted each vote twice. Plus, incidents of ES&S devices “flipping” votes from the intended recipient to another were reported in Missouri and Florida.

Meanwhile, the rear of Sequoia devices was found to bear a yellow button that could be pushed to cast as many votes as anyone wanted on the machine.

more...
http://www.taftmidwaydriller.com/articles/2007/01/19/news/opinion/opinion03.txt

[Melissa G]

5. FL Election report card due today

Election report card due today
Jim Ash
News Journal capital bureau chief

TALLAHASSEE New Secretary of State Kurt Browning gives a report card today to a Senate panel reviewing the November election.

Browning was a 26-year elections supervisor for Pasco County before Crist named him the state?s top election official in December.

He will address the Ethics and Elections Committee when it convenes at 2 p.m. today in the Knott Building adjacent to the Capitol.

Browning is expected to give the latest canvass high marks. But one race, to replace former U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris of Sarasota in District 13, is still in dispute.

Democrat Christine Jennings is still in court fighting her loss by 369 votes to Republican Vern Buchanan. Jennings wants to study the touch screen voting machines to determine why there were 18,000 ?undervotes,? or no candidates selected in that race.
http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070123/NEWS01/70123012

[Melissa G]

6. Loser in contested race invited to House gallery

Loser in contested race invited to House gallery

By Larry Lipman

Palm Beach Post Washington Bureau

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

WASHINGTON — Christine Jennings, who is still contesting the result of Florida's 13th Congressional District election, plans to be in the House gallery tonight during President Bush's State of the Union address.

Democrats agreed to seat Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Sarasota, after Florida election officials ruled he won the November race by 369 votes. But they left open the possibility that Jennings, a Democrat, could take the seat pending the outcome of her court and congressional challenges.

Jennings has claimed that the election was flawed because more than 18,000 ballots in Sarasota County did not register any votes in the congressional race.

A judge in Florida has denied Jennings' effort to have her experts review the code used by the electronic voting machines, but Jennings has appealed that decision.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/politics/content/nation/epaper/2007/01/23/a5a_JENNINGS_0123.html

[Melissa G]

7. Unlike Ballots, EAC Shouldn't Be Secretive

Unlike Ballots, EAC Shouldn't Be Secretive
By Aaron Burstein and Joseph Lorenzo Hall, Special to Roll Call
January 22, 2007
The Election Assistance Commission has some explaining to do. The secrecy that pervades the EAC, which oversees testing and certification of voting systems, holds dire consequences for our electoral system. Both chambers of Congress need to work to dispel this culture of secrecy.

A recent case illustrates why secrecy is a fundamental problem at the EAC. Last summer the EAC prohibited a lab run by Ciber Inc. from testing new voting systems due to inadequate test plans and documentation. Nonetheless, the voting systems that Ciber previously has tested remained certified and were used in elections in November. The EAC has not disclosed which voting systems Ciber tested using faulty procedures, but according to our calculations, nearly 70 percent of registered voters in the 2006 general elections voted on equipment qualified by Ciber. This was no small misstep.

While Senate Rules and Administration Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) took a step in the right direction by sending a written demand for information from the EAC about its handling of Ciber, she and others must ensure that the commission stops protecting vendors, test labs and itself from public scrutiny.

http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2208&Itemid=26

[Melissa G]

8. Unverifiable Votes

Unverifiable Votes
By Warren Stewart, VoteTrustUSA
January 22, 2007
Our Election System Is Broken. Can the New Congress Fix It?


In the past year, concerns about the accuracy and integrity of computerized elections have entered the general consciousness and become accepted as serious. Issues that I addressed in the March 1, 2006, edition of the Spectator have since been written about in the national media, and the momentum has grown for legislative solutions to be found at the federal level. A new Congress is getting under way, and decisions will be made that will profoundly affect the way Americans cast and count their votes.



While computerized voting has been touted as a way to make elections easier and the results more reliable, an increasing number of voters, poll workers, and election officials have concluded that the process in 2006 was more difficult—not easier—and confidence in the tallies has been undermined. Many activists and legislators now question both the wisdom of relying on software to record votes, and the degree to which our elections depend on computerized voting systems and the manufacturers that sell them.


http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2209&Itemid=26
Read the Entire Article at the Washington Spectator

[Melissa G]

9. New Chair of House Administration Addresses Concern About Electronic Voting Machines

New Chair of House Administration Addresses Concern About Electronic Voting Machines
By Warren Stewart, VoteTrustUSA
January 22, 2007
The incoming chair of the Committee on House Administration, Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-CA) has posted a press release that reaffirms her commitment to the elimination of unverifiable electronic voting machines. "The integrity of electronic voting machines is a number-one priority for the Committee", Mrs. Millender-McDonald assured.



The chair noted the contested election for Florida's 13th Congressional District and the focus that it has brought to concerns about paperless electronic voting machines and the need for independent review of voting system source code. In addition to the ongoing legal action in the state of Florida, the election will also be investigated by the Committee on House Administration.



With the support of the chair it appears certain that legislation to require and independent means of verification for electronic voting systems, mandatory random audits, and strengthened security measures will reach the top of the Committee's agenda. Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) has indicated that he will introduce an enhanced version of his Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act. The bill enjoyed the co-sponsorship of a majority of members of Congress in the last session, but was never addressed directly by the Committee under the chairmanship of Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-MI).



With the new leadership of Rep. Millender-McDonald and her commitment to improving the security of electronic voting machines and her support of the provisions of Rep. Holt's legislation, it seems certain that the bill will finally be addressed.

http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2206&Itemid=26

[Melissa G]

10. Worries about the “Stakes” In Wisconsin Right to Life

Worries about the “Stakes” In Wisconsin Right to Life
By Bob Bauer
January 22, 2007
Is Campaign Finance Deregulation Now In Progress?



This article appeared on Bob Bauer's Blog and is reposted here with permission of the author.



The Supreme Court’s decision to hear Wisconsin Right to Life (WRTL) has moved some to argue that the era of campaign finance deregulation is at hand. Rick Hasen has suggested as much: he projects the "next step toward a deregulated campaign finance system." He and others suspect that, having politely bided their time, Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito may now be ready to take this step. The precise issue before the Court in WRTL—the 30- and 60-day broadcast "black-out" periods for corporations and unions—opens this assault on the campaign finance regulatory structure.


WRTL, while it is an important case, by no means presages a major Court confrontation with the campaign finance laws as a whole. The advertising ban before the Court was always one of the more tenuous provisions of the new law. Here was a prohibition on independent speech without express election-related content. It was grated onto a law otherwise concerned more centrally—and more defensibly—with candidate and party evasion of limits intended to protect against corrupt bargains with special interests. Imposed with little qualification, and on a theory that "everybody knew" that certain advertising run in the specified periods was, in fact, campaign advertising, this "electioneering communication" ban stirred up more opposition, across a broader community of political actors, than any of the other provisions.



Some part of the resistance can be explained by nothing more, or less, than the perceived effrontery of officeholders prepared to decree the illegality of independent speech precisely, and for their benefit, because it was independent. Independent of them; which meant, often, critical of them. Elsewhere in the law the officeholders regulated their own conduct, and (rightly or wrongly), it seems to many tolerable that, if elected officials are convinced of their corruptibility, they may take steps, at their own expense, to do something about it. When national party committees under their control are barred from accepting "soft money" directly from large companies, or when officeholders are separately prohibited from asking for this money, these are cases where those who hold power might have given something up for the greater good. The sacrifice is largely theirs.


Once independent political speech of some kind is proscribed, others, not the legislators, bear the primary burden—and then the question is fairly raised: for whose benefit, the public’s, or those able to impose the limitation?



http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2207&Itemid=26

[Melissa G]

11. People For the American Way on the State of the Union

People For the American Way on the State of the Union


Looking ahead to President Bush's January 23, 2007, State of the Union Address

President Bush will deliver his “State of the Union” address Tuesday night in a very different Washington, D.C. The era of one-party rule is over. Our system of checks and balances is up and running, and, for the first time ever, Congress is exercising real oversight over the Bush administration.

Over the past two years Americans had rejected Social Security privatization and soured on the Iraq War, but they weren’t able to set the nation on a new path until last November.

And did they ever. Strong progressives were elected to Congress from across the nation. The Democrats took the House and Senate—for the first time in a dozen year—and Nancy Pelosi became the first woman to serve as Speaker of the House. After six years of constantly playing defense against the President and ultraconservative Republicans in Congress, progressives, and the nation, have finally turned the corner.

Congress is off to a strong start. Legislation to raise the minimum wage, cut interest on college loans, expand stem cell research, and much more is well on its way to becoming law. And prospects are good for People For the American Way’s priorities. For instance:
Election reform: Congress is working on legislation that would go far in addressing problems with voting machines and deceptive practices in campaigns. Meanwhile, reform efforts are moving ahead in numerous states.


http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oId=23449

[Melissa G]

12. Work set to begin on voting centers

Work set to begin on voting centers
By CURT SLYDER
[e-mail]



Tippecanoe County citizens who plan to vote in the May primary this year will have something they've never had before: a chance to choose where they cast their ballot.

Offered in some other states but untried as of yet in Indiana, vote centers will replace precinct voting locations in Tippecanoe and Wayne counties this year. The two counties will be state pilot sites for the new concept.

Work on how the balloting system will work in Tippecanoe County will begin in earnest this week.
With this system "anyone can vote anywhere," said Heather Maddox, co-director of the Tippecanoe County Board of Elections and Registration. "It's a step away from precincts."

Instead of dozens of precinct voting locations, several large vote centers will be established throughout the county.

http://www.jconline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070122/ELECTION01/701220328/1152/SPORTS06

[livvy]

13. K&R Nice articles! It's nice to read some good news. n/t