Special prosecutor needed for Delay! Election Reform & Related News Tuesday, 3/27/07

[Melissa G]

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Tuesday, 3/27/07

Keep up the heat! Special prosecutor needed for Delay
check post one...



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

If you can:
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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).

[Melissa G]

1. We Need appointment of a special prosecutor to fill Mr. Hillman's vacancy

This is an action item that seems to be lost in a very important story which Is well worth reading. Get the word out in the media and to your elected officials!





President George W. Bush has not made many moves more unethical than offering Noel L. Hillman, the Abramoff prosecutor, a federal judgeship. Hillman has apparently been talking with Bush's representatives since last year, and on last Thursday, he publicly announced he was accepting the appointment.
Let me make this perfectly clear.
At the same time that Mr. Hillman was conducting a grand jury and submitting evidence aimed at Bush's allies and perhaps Bush himself, he was meeting with Bush, who was, in effect, offering him a bribe.

Mr. Hillman, Bush is saying, leave the job, let me put someone else in your stead, someone I want. Forget, says Mr. Bush, that you have been in charge of the investigation for two years, that you have been involved on a day-to-day basis, and that your leaving seriously impedes the investigation.

snip

The Democrats should insist on the appointment of a special prosecutor to fill Mr. Hillman's position. Attorney General Gonzales should not be permitted to designate Hillman's successor.

This, unlike the botched up Alito hearings, is a war we can win. We should not let Bush appoint his own person, someone like Harriet Miers, Samuel Alito, or the man Bush's father said was the best person qualified for a Supreme Court seat, Clarence Thomas
http://www.burntorangereport.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3131

[robinlynne]

16. I just read the linked article. The democrats were a part of this negotiation.

That's why we keep asking, when is Delay going to prison, and in fact he's out and about and on tv.

DDISGUSTINGGGGGGGGGG.
For every step forward, looks like we take 4 steps back.

[Melissa G]

18. Some Dems might have been party to this. The rest of us can make a HECK of a lot of noise!!

But you are right. It is Disgusting!

[robinlynne]

19. oh yeah. count on me for noise!

[Melissa G]

2. Changes Possible For Voting Machines

Changes Possible For Voting Machines
Tuesday, March 27, 2007 6:17:02 AM



State leaders are on the verge of making a major change when it comes to touch-screen voting machines in Florida.

Critics say the machines are vulnerable because they don't produce a paper trail. Two big plans are on the table to change that.

Gov. Charlie Crist is backing one idea to spend $30 million to replace the machines with different optical scan systems.

But, touch screen manufacturers want the state to buy add-on printers.

http://www.cfnews13.com/News/Local/2007/3/27/voting_paper_trail.html

[Melissa G]

3. Judge plans to view machines in Sleepy Hollow election today

http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070327/NEWS02/703270383/1018/NEWS02

Judge plans to view machines in Sleepy Hollow election today
By LEN MANIACE
THE JOURNAL NEWS


(Original publication: March 27, 2007)
A state court judge will attempt to resolve last week's disputed Sleepy Hollow elections today when he goes to Mount Pleasant Town Hall to determine whether votes on 11 voting machines stored there can be counted.

While Democrats asked that a new election be held, state Supreme Court Justice Francis Nicolai told the candidates and their attorneys yesterday that he wanted to inspect the polling machines in the hope of breaking the logjam that has prevented the verification of votes in the March 20 election. Republican Mayor Philip Zegarelli appeared to defeat Democratic challenger Thomas Capossela by 29 votes.

An attempt to recount the elections votes was stopped just as it was beginning last Thursday after a Westchester elections official objected that the voting machines were not properly identified so that they would be linked to the village election district in which they originated. That irregularity led the Westchester County elections commissioners on Friday to defer to Nicolai, before whom a hearing on the election had already been scheduled.

snip
At one point, after listening to Board of Elections attorney Matthew Gallagher explain that the election officials were unable confirm the accuracy of the vote, Nicolai took another tack, asking if a "rational and reasonable inference" could not be drawn from data on the machines.

http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070327/NEWS02/703270383/1018/NEWS02

[Melissa G]

4. Firm sues Mass. over contract for voting machines for disabled

Firm sues Mass. over contract for voting machines for disabled
By Associated Press
Monday, March 26, 2007 - Updated: 07:43 AM EST

BOSTON - One of the nation’s top manufacturers of voting machines is taking the state to court Monday to try to block distribution of machines for the disabled in Massachusetts, saying it was unfairly denied the lucrative contract.

An attorney for Diebold Election Systems Inc. said the company should have been awarded the $9 million contract if Secretary of State William Galvin followed his own criteria when deciding which firm the state should contract with for the new machines.

”Diebold’s proposal provided the best value to the commonwealth,” said William Weisberg, an attorney for Diebold. ”We believe that using those criteria correctly Diebold should have received the award.”



Those criteria include cost, the ability of the company to meet the scope of the request, and the degree to which the machines met technical requirements.

Galvin called the lawsuit ”frivolous” and ”sour grapes on the part of Diebold.”
http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=190940

[Melissa G]

5. Maryland Senate deals blow to voting paper trail idea

Maryland Senate deals blow to voting paper trail idea
By Kristen Wyatt, Associated Press

Posted Tuesday, March 27, 2007 at 9:55 am
ANNAPOLIS — An attempt to require paper voting records in Maryland elections was dealt a blow Monday when the state Senate moved to drop the idea.

The proposal to require paper receipts or some paper records on voting machines was shuffled to a committee Monday, meaning the bill is unlikely to come to a full Senate vote. Even the proposal’s Senate sponsor conceded the paper trail measure is likely dead this year.

The House already has passed a bill to require a paper trail by the 2010 election. A similar bill passed last year, but it, too, died in the Senate. Supporters were hoping that with no statewide election looming this year, senators would be more amenable to adding a paper trail requirement.

However, Senate Democratic Leader Edward Kasemeyer was glum about the prospects for a paper trail being approved this year. “Doesn’t look like it,” Kasemeyer said.
http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070327/NEWS/70327019

[Melissa G]

6. CA County registrar scrambles to hold early presidential primary

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/

County registrar scrambles to hold early presidential primary
By Genevieve Bookwalter
Sentinel staff writer
SANTA CRUZ — As the state gears up for an early presidential primary, County Clerk Gail Pellerin said Monday she is worried the plan will wear out voters and poll workers and cost the county hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Pellerin said she already has encountered poll workers who don't want to work three elections in 52 weeks and is concerned the state won't reimburse the county the expected $450,000 cost of the election.

It's not that her office can't do it, she said. But "we don't plan to take any vacation"

California voters will choose their White House nominees on Feb. 3 next year, four months earlier than originally scheduled.

The decision by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state Legislature to move up the primary was designed to give more clout to the nation's most populous state in picking the Republican and Democratic presidential nominees. The race was previously set for June 5. But by that time, supporters of the change say, many other states would have held their primary elections, and California's vote would hold little sway.

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2007/March/27/local/stories/02local.htm

[rumpel]

13. Battle Over U.S. Attorneys Has Roots in '04 Election

The Politico

By: Jeanne Cummings
March 27, 2007 10:51 AM EST

Some of the political fireworks between President Bush and Congress over fired U.S. attorneys could well be explained by looking back at when the saga began: the 2004 election.

Back then, Democrats were trying to register enough new voters to beat Bush while Republicans were issuing dire warnings that the Democrats were out to steal the election by encouraging voter fraud.

It's an issue the White House had fixated on since the Supreme Court ended the 2000 Florida recount and settled the presidential campaign amid charges that if the ballots of the Sunshine State's black voters had been counted, Democrat Al Gore would have won.

Bush's allies were obsessed with ensuring that his reelection couldn't be questioned as well. So, in the fall of 2004, Republican operatives tucked thick folders of newspaper clippings and other fraud tips under their arms and pitched to reporters their claims that the Democrats' registration program would lead to rampant voter fraud. Their passion was clear, but their evidence was slim, consisting mostly of isolated incidents of voter registration irregularities that were handled by local police or election officials.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0307/3287.html

[Melissa G]

7. City Council Wants New Voting System

:rofl: we need one of those that counts 'ranting' around here!

Memphis Flyer Online

City Council Wants New Voting System

MARCH 27, 2007 - 07:41 AM

Attention, Diebold! Shelby County voters aren’t the only ones getting new voting machines this election season. The city of Memphis is currently taking proposals for a new City Council voting system.
The city wants a state-of-the-art system that will provide digital audio recordings of meetings, provide citizens access to the files on the city’s Web site, and provide each of the council members with a touch screen interface.

The system should also be able to count to 13, in order to collect and track council votes in real-time, including options for “yes,” “no,” “abstain,” and “ranting."


http://www.memphisflyer.com/memphis/Content?oid=oid%3A26385

[Melissa G]

8. Orr says election will be smoother

Orr says election will be smoother

March 27, 2007
By Jonathan Lipman Staff writer
The April 17 election will run much smoother than November's election even though officials have to track far more candidates across many more races, Cook County Clerk David Orr said Monday.

"I don't think people understand the complexity of these elections," Orr said, standing in front of walls covered floor-to-ceiling with examples of the 769 different kinds of ballots his office is producing for the municipal races. About 2,400 candidates are running across the county.

"It's an incredible number," Orr said. "When I tell this to colleagues across the country, they fall over."

But despite that, Orr is more confident about this election than last, because his office has put in so much work on making the process go smoother.

http://www.dailysouthtown.com/news/314485,271NWS9.article

[Melissa G]

9. selection and certification process for new voting machines in New York state will be finalized

WELLSBURG
Voting machines topic of meeting
Chemung County Legislator Andy Patros of Southport, D-15th District, will hold a district meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Wellsburg Fire Hall on Front Street.

Bo Lipari, founder of New Yorkers for Verified Voting, will make a presentation on the current status of the voting machine selection process in the state. The citizens' group works for secure, reliable, accessible and verifiable standards for voting systems and elections. Everyone is encouraged to attend.

"Within the next two to three months, the selection and certification process for new voting machines in New York state will be finalized," Patros said in a news release. "I feel it is important that citizens have an opportunity before it is finalized to know what the new system choices and potential ramifications are."

•More information: www.andypatros.com.

[Melissa G]

10. Crist's pet projects struggling for funds

Crist's pet projects struggling for funds
Gov. Charlie Crist is having trouble persuading the GOP-controlled Legislature to pay for some of his top priorities.
BY GARY FINEOUT
[e-mail]
TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Charlie Crist's popularity with Floridians is not translating to clout with the Legislature when it comes to money: Into the fourth week of the session, lawmakers from his own party are sharply scaling back the governor's budget requests -- or ignoring them altogether.

So far, for example, the GOP-led Legislature has refused to set aside the $30 million Crist wants for new voting machines. His request to spend nearly $37 million to acquire a stockpile of flu vaccine has gone nowhere. And his bid to double the amount of money for teacher merit raises appears unlikely: At most, lawmakers may increase the $147.5 million program by $50 million -- about $100 million less than Crist has said he wants.

The Senate is refusing to go along with some of the tax cuts Crist endorsed, or the money the governor wants for additional reading coaches. Crist wants no tuition hikes this coming year at state universities, but both the House and Senate initial budgets include five percent hikes for both community college and university students.

snip
''There's plenty of time to have the budget be there and be appropriate and be sufficient to do the kinds of things that I think are important to Floridians,'' Crist said in Miami during a visit to the Boys and Girls Club of Miami. ``Based on the past performance of this Legislature, I know they're going to do everything they possibly can.''
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/politics/16978189.htm

[Melissa G]

11. Company's memo involving District 13 draws criticism

://

Company's memo involving District 13 draws criticism
By DUANE MARSTELLER
[e-mail]
MANATEE

- Another memo from the maker of Sarasota County's touch-screen voting machines has mysteriously surfaced, with critics questioning whether this one showed the company tried to influence a review of the machines' source code.

In a Dec. 15 e-mail sent to a top Florida elections official, an Election Systems & Software vice president outlined several "guidelines" the company wanted an independent team of computer scientists to follow in its review. Among them were prohibitions against any statements about possible causes of more than 18,000 blank votes in the disputed 13th Congressional District race, which prompted the review.

The company also said it wanted to review the team's findings before they were made public, and that anything that violated a confidentiality agreement would be "destroyed (all copies hard of (sic) soft) and rewritten."

Critics quickly pounced Monday on the memo, first posted on a Wired magazine reporter's blog last week.

"It's appalling that ES&S . . . is more concerned about protecting their profits than protecting the public's right to vote," said David Kochman, spokesman for Christine Jennings, who is challenging her 369-vote loss to U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan.

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/local/16978007.htm

[Melissa G]

12. HBO's "Hacking Democracy" released on DVD -- a must see film

HBO's "Hacking Democracy" released on DVD -- a must see film
By Russ Michaels
Producer/Director


Mar 27, 2007, 01:22


The controversial HBO documentary ‘Hacking Democracy’ DVD, including extra footage never seen before, will be released today, March 27.

Filmed over three years this exposé follows the investigations of a team of citizen activists from Black Box Voting and the Florida Fair Elections Coalition as they take on the electronic voting industry, targeting the Diebold corporation.

The film reveals incendiary evidence from the trash cans of Texas to the ballot boxes of Ohio, exposing secrecy, votes in the trash, hackable software and election officials rigging the presidential recount. And finally in Florida one brave election official, Ion Sancho, gave Black Box Voting and the film makers access to his county’s Diebold voting system, with dramatic consequences.

Ultimately proving our votes can be stolen without a trace “Hacking Democracy” culminates in the famous ‘Hursti Hack,’ a duel between the Diebold voting machines and a computer hacker from Finland - with America’s democracy at stake.

See the filmmakers new website, Hacking Democracy, for details.
http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_1893.shtml

[rumpel]

14. CA: Elections Officials Worry About Bowen Plan

Capitol Notes

Monday, March 26, 2007

Four days after California's chief elections officer outlined a new review of voting machines used in the state, local elections officials say they have significant concerns about not only the timeline... but about the way the review will be conducted.

This afternoon, the California Association of Clerks And Election Officials (CACEO) submitted a formal response to the voting machine review now being organized by Secretary of State Debra Bowen. Last Thursday, Bowen unveiled a draft of the criteria to be used in the new review.

And the clock is ticking. The secretary set the deadline for public comment to be this Friday, and said she will declare the criteria to be final and official no later than next Friday; that's just 15 days in all.

The CACEO response says Bowen's plans sound reasonable... on the surface, that is. But that seems to be where the happy talk ends.

http://www.kqed.org/weblog/capitalnotes/2007/03/elections-officials-worry-about-bowen.jsp

[robinlynne]

20. I hope they sweat. They deserve it. and then some.

[progressoid]

15. Gaaah! That picture always creeps me out.

[Melissa G]

17. so contact your elected official so I can print a Delay conviction pic already!

[Kurovski]

21. Kick to the top.

Thanks, Melissa G.