Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, Monday 01/07/08

[tbyg52]

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, Monday 01/07/08

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[tbyg52]

1. States nt

[tbyg52]

6. MI: US judge rules against Democrat who sued to stop Mich. primary

A federal judge ruled Monday against a Democratic activist who sued to stop Michigan's Democratic presidential primary election because the candidate she supports is not on the state primary ballot.

U.S. District Judge Robert J. Jonker called the matter a dispute between the state and national Democratic parties.

Earl Erland, a Grand Rapids attorney representing Martha Hayes, a John Edwards backer, initially asked for a halt to the election in the lawsuit filed Dec. 10, saying it would disenfranchise voters whose favorites aren't on the ballot.

On Monday, Erland eased away from that request, asking instead that the judge prohibit the secretary of state's office from certifying the Democratic election results and bar Democrats from using them when selecting delegates for the Democratic National Convention.

More:
http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7588243&nav=0Rcd

[tbyg52]

12. OH: Touch-screen voting vendor maintains low-key reaction

Premier Election Solutions says need for added services may bring electronic voting back to Ohio

CLEVELAND - The company that provides touch-screen voting to Ohio's most populated county has stayed low-key following a decision to stop using the machines.

The reason: Premier Election Solutions believes Cuyahoga County and the state may eventually decide that electronic voting is the best option for voters, a company executive said Friday, even though Ohio now has the opposite view.

"It might have appeared we have taken a back seat," Kathy Rogers, Premier vice president of government affairs, said in a telephone interview from Los Angeles. "But we've had numerous conversations with the board in Cuyahoga County and the Ohio Secretary of State's Office. We've tried presenting options and what our thoughts were if they move to optical scan."

More:
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080107/NEWS01/801070371/1056/COL02

[Wilms]

14. New Jersey lawmakers consider ballot safeguards

New Jersey lawmakers consider ballot safeguards

By ANGELA DELLI SANTI | Associated Press Writer

January 7, 2008

TRENTON, N.J. - The Legislature will impose new voting safeguards by approving two measures Monday aimed at increasing electronic voting security.

The Attorney General would get an extra six months to equip the state's electronic voting machines with backup paper ballots under a bill being considered in the Assembly Monday.

Another proposal would require mandatory audits of election results in randomly selected districts.

The bill extending the deadline to retrofit 10,000 electronic voting machines so they spit out paper receipts was reluctantly approved in the Senate last month after it became clear the state would miss the January 2008 deadline imposed years earlier.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newjersey/ny-bc-nj--votingmachinechal0107jan07,0,6104193.story

See these DU Threads:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x488640

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x488572

[tbyg52]

22. S.C. officials plan to use voting machines banned by other states

South Carolina election officials say they still plan to use touch-screen voting machines despite the fact that other states have banned the use of similar systems made by the same company.

Last month, top election officials in Ohio and Colorado declared that Election Systems and Software's iVotronic is unfit for elections.

The ban was prompted by a study done for the state of Ohio in which researchers found that electronic voting systems could be corrupted with magnets or with handheld electronic devices, such as Treos.

"We've reviewed the report and we remain confident in the security and accuracy of South Carolina's voting system," state Election Commission spokesman Chris Whitmire said.

More:
http://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/story/123571.html

[tbyg52]

26. NY: Bringing the National Popular Vote to NY

The New Jersey legislature passed a bill last week that would essentially destroy the Electoral College, giving the presidency to the candidate who wins the nationwide popular vote. A similar bill has been introduced in Albany, but it's looking like a legislative long-shot—at least for now.

So far the National Popular Vote plan has been approved in Maryland and awaits the signature of the governors of California, Hawaii and Illinois. The Garden State has approved a plan that would bind the state’s votes in the Electoral College to the candidate who wins the national popular vote for president but the bill is also awaiting the signature of Gov. Jon Corzine. The law would only take effect once enough states to comprise a majority of electoral delegates, 270, pass a similar law.

“Electing our President using the national popular vote makes sense,” said Bob Edgar, president of the good-government group Common Cause, which has been the chief supporter of the National Popular Vote movement. “It would ensure that every person’s vote counted equally and that our leaders would be accountable to the nation as a whole, not just voters in a handful of swing states.”

That means New York would matter, should the plan be approved in enough statehouses.

More:
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2008/01/bring_the_natio.php

[tbyg52]

28. (And territories) Guam: Reform: Overhaul election laws, GEC to restore voter confidence

Oops - almost posted this in "international"....

The island's electorate must have confidence that their votes will count in each election. But the oversights and mistakes of the Guam Election Commission throughout recent elections continue to diminish voters' trust in the election process.

While Saturday's special election went more smoothly than previous elections, it wasn't free of problems. It probably helped that voters only had to select one of three senatorial candidates and decide whether to legalize slot machines at the Guam Greyhound Park.

But the errors that did occur -- from releasing the wrong polling sites to an oversight in the tabulation process, which delayed the release of the results -- exemplifies the problems that are inherent with this commission.

More:
http://www.guampdn.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080108/OPINION01/801080311/1014/OPINION

[tbyg52]

35. MI: Voters: 'It's like we don't count'

Democratic ballot in Mich. primary fuels anger, apathy

It's NASCAR on bicycles, Halloween with no costumes and Miss America without swimsuits.

Michigan's Democratic presidential primary on Jan. 15 is a contest in name only, with just one major candidate -- Hillary Clinton -- on the ballot.

While Republicans look forward to choosing from a large field of candidates, Democratic voters are angry and confused.

"It's like we don't count," said Barbara Pegg, 61, a Brownstown Township Democrat.

She said she was excited by the prospects of an open primary at first, but now she doesn't plan to vote Jan. 15.

More:
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080107/NEWS06/801070333

[tbyg52]

36. CA: Alleged Petition Fraud Prompts State Inquiry

Following allegations of fraud, the California Secretary of State’s office has opened an investigation into possible election code violations made by campus petitioners last Nov.

The allegations concern several independent contractors who asked students to sign a petition to “help children with cancer” while tabling in front of the UCen and Arbor from Nov. 12-15. Once students agreed to sign this petition, they were allegedly told to sign two or three additional papers for other unrelated initiatives without their knowledge. The Secretary of State’s Election Fraud Investigations Unit opened the case after it obtained a video of the petitioner’s alleged actions from UCSB sociology graduate student Erik Love.

Love said he sent the video to the Secretary of State’s FIU and later received confirmation from the office about a potential investigation via mail on Dec. 18.

More:
http://www.dailynexus.com/article.php?a=15343

[tbyg52]

41. ND: Counties stampede for mail elections

Twenty counties are planning to take advantage of 2007 legislation permitting the conduct of general elections by mail. While several counties have used previous legislation to conduct primaries by mail, 2008 will be the first opportunity to do so in a general election.

Participating in mail balloting of some kind in 2008 will be Adams, Dunn, Emmons, Grant, Griggs, Kidder, LaMoure, Logan, McHenry, McIntosh, McKenzie, Mercer, Nelson, Pembina, Ramsey, Ransom, Sargent, Sheridan, Towner and Walsh. Steele County may join the group this month.

In the 2004 presidential election, these counties accounted for 48,000 votes, or 15 percent of the 316,000 recorded in that election. It is obvious that most of the counties planning a mail ballot are small and rural. If the 2008 election proceeds smoothly, it is likely that more of the larger counties will start mail balloting in 2010.

More:
http://www.jamestownsun.com/articles/index.cfm?id=59281§ion=Opinion

[tbyg52]

42. NJ Secretary of State taking over elections from AG

Gov. Jon Corzine today signed a bill that transfers the responsibility of running elections from the Attorney General's Office to the Secretary of State.

The bill (S-2449/A-2929) gives the state's smallest department control over the Division of Elections' budget, fiscal, and personal matters at a time when it is struggling to install printers on 10,000 electronic voting machines. The attorney general will still be responsible for prosecuting voter fraud.

"This is a common sense move that is long overdue," said Assemblyman Thomas P. Giblin (D-Essex), who sponsored the bill. "It reestablishes a separation of powers that should exist between the administrators of elections and people responsible for oversight of elections."

More:
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/01/gov_jon_corzine_today_signed.html

[tbyg52]

45. NJ: ROBERTS/CHIVUKULA BILL EXTENDING DEADLINE FOR VOTER-VERIFIED BALLOTS CLEARS ASSEMBLY

Legislation Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts, Jr., and Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula sponsored to give state officials until the June 3, 2008 primary elections to ensure that electronic voting machines statewide would meet the requirement for providing voter-verifiable paper records of votes cast passed today in the General Assembly.

A 2005 state law required all electronic voting machines to provide a paper record for each vote cast - to be inspected and verified by the voter and preserved in case a recount is necessary - as of January 1, 2008. However, an examination of the state's voting machines and available printing technology conducted last summer deemed that goal unattainable. The measure (S-2949/A-4585) would move the compliance deadline to the state's June primary election.

More:
http://www.politickernj.com/roberts-chivukula-bill-extending-deadline-voter-verified-ballots-clears-assembly-15140

[tbyg52]

50. NH: "First in the nation" (with corporate controlled secret vote counting)

81% of New Hampshire ballots are counted in secret by a private corporation named Diebold Election Systems (now known as "Premier"). The elections run on these machines are programmed by one company, LHS Associates, based in Methuen, MA. We know nothing about the people programming these machines, and we know even less about LHS Associates. We know even less about the secret vote counting software used to tabulate 81% of our ballots. People like to say "but we use paper ballots! They can always be counted by hand!"

But they're not. They're counted by Diebold. Only a candidate can request a hand recount, and most never do so. And a rigged election can easily become a rigged recount, as we learned in Ohio 2004, where two election officials were convicted of rigging their recount. (Is it just a funny coincidence that Diebold spokesman is named Mr. Riggall?)

More:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_nancy_to_080107_nh_3a__22first_in_the_na.htm

[tbyg52]

51. MT: Faulty voting machines in Montana counties

Montana's voting machines could have critical security failures. That's according to a new report by the Ohio Secretary of State's Office examining voting machines across the country.

It says 44 of Montana's 56 counties use faulty voting machines that could put your vote in jeopardy.

The machines are made by Election Systems & Software.

More:
http://www.montanasnewsstation.com/Global/story.asp?S=7589933&nav=menu227_6

[tbyg52]

2. National nt

[tbyg52]

20. LAT: Supreme Court will hear voter ID case

Republicans say they want to prevent voter fraud. Democrats say rights will be damaged. Neither has concrete evidence.

WASHINGTON -- Just as the 2008 election is shifting into high gear, the Supreme Court will take up a voting rights case Wednesday that could affect the outcome in some close contests this year and well into the future.

At issue is whether states may require voters to show a driver's license or a passport at their polling places. Voting rights advocates are calling it the most important election-law case since Bush vs. Gore in 2000, and the partisan divide is nearly as sharp.

Republicans say photo IDs are needed to prevent vote fraud by, for example, having ballots cast in the names of the dead or by those who are not legal voters, such as felons, noncitizens or nonresidents.

More:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-voterid7jan07,1,146371.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

[tbyg52]

24. Voter ID Laws Are Set to Face a Crucial Test

My comment: Last paragraph in excerpt *should* make this an open-and-shut case. Yeah, right. And if all these voter ID laws being passed in the face of the *lack* of voter fraud cases, and that precedent, doesn't make it obvious what's going on....

snip

A brief filed with the Supreme Court by the Marion County Board of Elections, the state’s largest voting jurisdiction and a defendant in the case, said Ms. Williams — who is a black Republican — and 31 other voters had to cast provisional ballots because they showed up at the polls without the state-required ID, which can include a driver’s license, a passport, a state-issued ID or some other government-issued photo identification. Because they also failed to appear later at county offices with the identification required to validate their identities, all of these voters had their ballots thrown out, records show. In interviews, many of these voters said they could not find transportation or could not afford the IDs.

All of these voters appeared at the polling place for the precinct in which they were registered, and all of the signatures on their provisional-ballot envelopes matched the appropriate poll book signatures. At least 14 of these voters had voted in 10 elections before last year, according to voting records.

Last year, legislators in 27 states proposed laws like the one in Indiana, seeking to increase identification requirements for registration or voting, according to Justin Levitt, a lawyer for the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law. Mr. Levitt predicted legislative and legal battles in at least that many states, depending on how the Supreme Court ruled.

But the decision will affect more than just the voter-identification issue. In the 1980s and ’90s, the Supreme Court came up with a test for assessing any law that placed hurdles before voters. The justices ruled that courts must weigh the value of the law to the state against the burden it placed on voters.

More:
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080107/ZNYT02/801070645

[tbyg52]

47. Voter ID case could affect election laws

The League of Women Voters has tried to put names and faces on the people who could be hurt by a strict Indiana voter-identification law that the Supreme Court will take up Wednesday.

The league, in a court filing, refers to Mary Wayne Montgomery Eble, 92, who had no driver's license or ready access to the birth certificate she needed to get an alternative ID.

Ray Wardell, a stroke victim, made one trip to a state office for an alternative ID in vain. He did not have the proper document and returned home on foot with the aid of his walker.

Kim Tilman, a mother of seven whose husband, a janitor, is the family's sole source of income, found it would cost $26-$50 to round up the necessary papers for a proper ID.

The league is among the groups backing Indiana challengers to the law who say it impinges on the right to vote and mostly hurts elderly, disabled, poor and minority voters. A Republican-controlled Legislature passed the measure in 2005.

More:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-01-06-court_N.htm

[tbyg52]

49. Voter I.D. requirements reduce political participation, study finds

A new Brown University study reports that U.S. states that require voters to present identification before casting ballots have lower levels of political participation. The research also indicates that voter I.D. policies discourage legal immigrants from becoming citizens, particularly for blacks and Hispanics, reducing odds of naturalization by more than 15 percent.
The full study, released by the American Communities Project at Brown’s Initiative in Spatial Structures in the Social Sciences (S4), is available online at http://www.s4.brown.edu/voterid/.

Since 2000, and stimulated by new security concerns after 9/11, there has been an upsurge in state requirements for voter identification. By 2004, a total of 19 states required some form of documentation of a voter’s identity, sometimes in the form of photo I.D. Proponents of such requirements believe identification is a necessary tool to prevent voting fraud, such as voting by noncitizens or people who are otherwise ineligible to register. Others argue that whatever its intention, I.D. policies have the effect of suppressing electoral participation, particularly among minorities.

The report, co-authored by S4 Director John Logan and graduate student Jennifer Darrah, concludes that voter I.D. is one of many factors that negatively influence civic participation in the United States. The report states, “At a time when many public officials express regret that immigrants seem to lag in their participation in mainstream society, even small suppressive effects on naturalization – the formal step to becoming an American citizen – work in the wrong direction and should be taken into account as people evaluate the benefits and costs of more stringent identification requirements.”

More:
http://www.physorg.com/news118931373.html

[tbyg52]

25. Excluded from debate, Kucinich sells voting machines

With "change" as a watchword in 2008's opening presidential primary contests, Oval Office seekers from both parties are making political hay of sweeping talk about America's future. But hard-fighting Democratic hopeful Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) in recent weeks has been drumming up precious fundraising cash by selling off relics from elections past:

Genuine Palm Beach County voting machines used in Florida's contested 2000 elections.

For a shade over $200, hardcore politicos can claim the ultimate artifact from last century's definitive political debacle -- along with a handful of "actual chads," according to Kucinich's website.

The machines also ship with a replica ballot and a signed copy of "The Stolen Presidential Election of 2000," a Kucinich missive personally signed by the candidate.

More:
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2007/kucinich_voting_machines_0103.html

[tbyg52]

46. OpEdNews: GOP Already at Work to Keep Obama Voters From the Polls

snip

"Any mobile population are the ones that are most affected by election laws," said David Rosenfeld, national program director for Student Public Interest Research Groups, which tracks student voting. "The most mobile populations are young people and poor people."

Student voting is a good example. The real barrier to student voting in 2008 is not admonitions from the Clintons. It is a patchwork of state laws, according to Rosenfeld, that discourage student voting. Arizona, for instance, rejects out-of-state driver's licenses as an acceptable voter ID. The same is true in Indiana. New Hampshire requires students to register at local government offices. Virginia allows local election officials to decide if a dormitory qualifies as a "domicile." Some do, Rosenfeld said, and some do not. New Mexico restricts the number of voter registration forms one person may carry at a time. And Texas has new penalties for "improperly" helping people with absentee ballots.

Many of these laws -- particularly the voter ID laws and restrictions on registration drives -- have come into effect since the last presidential election. State legislatures, usually with Republican majorities, adopted the measures to combat "voter fraud," or what the GOP has said is people impersonating other voters for partisan benefit. What's notable about these laws is they affect an entire state electorate, while the problems provoking their adoption almost always concern a handful of individuals. That disparity has led many voting rights advocates to say these laws are meant to discourage Democratic voters.

More:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_steven_r_080106_gop_already_at_work_.htm

[tbyg52]

48. Discouraged voters swap

Frustrated with being a Democrat in a sea of Republicans, one Utah County woman has found the answer: vote swapping.

Feeling as if her vote simply doesn't matter, she exchanged her vote with a man in Democrat-dominated California during the 2000 presidential election.

And this year she may do it again if the opportunity arises.

The action is called vote swapping, vote exchange or vote pairing.

It is typically done via a Web site such as votepair.org. One person in another state agrees to vote for another person's political choice — and vice versa.

More:
http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695241922,00.html

[tbyg52]

3. International nt

[tbyg52]

7. Thailand: Fraud probes must be fair

To dispel all doubts about its partiality, the Election Commission must investigate all poll fraud cases with utmost transparency and fairness. The Dec 23 general election was held with great enthusiasm among the electorate, with more than 74% exercising their rights on that day.

The EC is handling a number of poll fraud complaints that may lead to more candidates being given yellow or red cards. The investigation into these complaints must be done with utmost transparency and fairness.

More:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/08Jan2008_news20.php

[tbyg52]

8. Kenyan leaders risk losing goodwill, warns Britain

Kenyan leaders risk losing the confidence of the international community if they fail to reach a comprise over the General Election fiasco, Britain has warned.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband, said the leaders must restore the goodwill and support of their people by boldly addressing the flawed electoral process.

“Kenya’s leaders must not forfeit the confidence, goodwill and support of their own people and the international community. The stakes are high for the Kenyan people, and we (Britain) will remain fully engaged,” said Mr Miliband.

More:
http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=1&newsid=114177

[tbyg52]

23. Kenya: Crisis Needs Soberness

The world is looking at Kenya, East and Central Africa's largest economy, with concern. The violence and mayhem caused by the different parties contesting the elections, has led to fuel shortages, a rise in transport costs, goods are stuck at Mombassa port and a string of many other sector encumbrances.

More than 300 people have died since last week's election in Kenya, which the opposition says was rigged.

Uganda, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Southern Sudan and Burundi are already talking to Tanzania as an alternative means of getting supplies through Dar es Salaam port.

So hard is the impact of the impasse that for instance, jet fuel destined for the region and which comes mostly through Mombasa port, is beginning to injure the other alternative but more expensive means of air transport.

More:
http://allafrica.com/stories/200801071031.html

[tbyg52]

33. Kenya: Elections 2007- a Deeper Reflection

Almost all emails I have been receiving from all over the world are asking the one simple question: what is going on in Kenya?

From the disappointment of those who have always viewed Kenya as a model democracy to predictions by many prestigious circles who had indicated that the elections were not going to have any impact on business and society in our country, the naysayers seem to be having a field day. I will attempt to give what I consider a meaningful picture of the issues and the likely turn that things are going to take.

First Things First

There is a saying that all politics are local. In places like the US, the things that affect the Iowans are not the same ones that afflict the Texans. Likewise, in Kenya, all politics are local and the things the people in the coastal habour care about are not the same things people at the farmlands of Rift Valley value the most. Further complicating the issue is that region and tribe are synonymous, giving an impression that Kenyan politics is only driven by tribalism. The truth is more complicated than that.

More:
http://allafrica.com/stories/200801071141.html

[tbyg52]

10. Georgia: Opposition Alleges ‘Fraud’ in Vote Summary Process

Opposition claimed on January 7 that discrepancies have been revealed between actual vote summary protocols of some precincts and figures released by the Central Election Commission (CEC).

Tina Khidasheli of the Republican Party, part of the nine-party opposition collation, backing presidential candidate Levan Gachechiladze, has alleged there were cases when figures indicated in “original vote summary protocols” had been changed in District Election Commissions in favor of the incumbent candidate.

Khidasheli then presented, what she called, “an original summary protocol” of Batumi’s precinct number 73, which showed 205 votes for Levan Gachechiladze and 115 votes for Mikheil Saakashvili. “However, after this protocol passed through the mid-level election administration, which is District Election Commission, figures have been changed. According to new figure Gachechiladze has now 119 votes and Mikheil Saakashvili 550 votes. There are many such cases in Adjara.”

There are 76 District Electoral Commissions, each composed of five members, who formally should not be affiliated with political parties. Unlike Precinct Election Commissions (PEC) and CEC, opposition parties have no representatives in DECs.

More:
http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=16825

[tbyg52]

21. Germany: CCC wants to have voting computers prohibited in Hesse

My comment: I'm sure you've noticed how it's the people who actually know computers who unanimously want these things thrown out....

Chaos Computer Club (CCC) seeks a decision by the Hesse State Court to have voting computers prohibited for the state election on January 27, as reported by Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper today.

A voter had asked for a temporary injunction, which the newspaper claims to have a copy of, for the CCC last Friday. The CCC is of the opinion that voting computers violate three basic principles of electoral law: electoral publicity, officiality, and equality. Eight Hesse cities and communities intend to use voting computers for the upcoming state election. About 100,000 of the 4.37 million voters are to cast their votes this way. If the State Court was to permit the use of the machines for the election, the prosecuting counsel announced that there were "dozens of volunteers who would raise objections against the ballot after the election".

More:
http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/101389

[tbyg52]

37. Thai election agency disqualifies more winning candidates

The Election Commission (EC) of Thailand Monday issued two more red cards and two yellow cards against winning candidates of the Chart Thai Party and the People Power Party (PPP).

The commission said in a statement that two Chart Thai Party winning candidates in Chai Nat Province were disqualified by red cards and two PPP winning candidates in Udon Thani Province were disqualified by yellow cards.

Up to Monday, a total of five red cards were issued to three PPP and two Chart Thai Party candidates, while nine yellow cards were issued to eight PPP and one Democrat Party candidates.

According to the election law, a candidate who was issued with a red card will be disqualified in the by-elections, while a candidate with a yellow card still can re-contest the by-elections.

More:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-01/07/content_7380844.htm

[tbyg52]

38. ARMENIA: PLANNED PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION EXIT POLL CREATES CONTROVERSY

Hey, how about some (that are paid attention to...) for *us*....!

The United States has offered to organize and finance a first-ever exit poll in Armenia as part of an effort to promote a free-and-fair presidential election on February 19. The initiative has been endorsed by the election favorite, Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian, while causing serious misgivings among his main challengers.

The main source of opposition candidates’ concern is the apparent willingness of US officials to rely on an Armenian polling organization with reputed close ties to the Armenian government. Its pre-election opinion polls have long been criticized as misleading by Armenian opposition and civic groups.

Since the Soviet collapse in 1991, most elections in Armenia have been marred by serious instances of fraud, and strongly criticized by Western observers. Western monitors deemed the most recent, parliamentary elections, held in May 2007, to be more democratic than the previous ones, although the divided Armenian opposition again alleged widespread irregularities. . The United States and the European Union have since been pressing the administration of outgoing President Robert Kocharian to make sure that the February 19 presidential vote marks an improvement over the parliamentary polls.

More:
http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav010708.shtml

[Wilms]

59. From the article:

The remarks came amid a growing debate over the credibility of an ongoing series of opinion polls financed by the US Agency for International Development and commissioned by the Washington-based International Republican Institute (IRI).

More background:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x488796

[tbyg52]

4. Blogs, Editorials, LTTEs, etc. nt

[tbyg52]

9. NYT: A Paper Trail for Voting Machines

PARANOIA over electronic voting is the new American consensus. The Democrats who will vote in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday aren’t worried that Hillary Clinton will steal the election from Barack Obama or John Edwards, but a good chunk of them would probably confess to dark fears about a Republican plot in November, even if Karl Rove won’t be involved.

Last month, Colorado’s secretary of state, Mike Coffman, a Republican, decertified the state’s electronic voting machines, after the alarming finding that one model could be disabled with a magnet and others were scandalously inaccurate. He left voters to draw their own conclusions about what this meant for the state’s most recent elections. The California secretary of state, Debra Bowen, a Democrat, took office last year after running on a don’t-trust-electronic-voting platform, and in August she pulled the plug on the state’s voting machines.

But what other options are there? Paper ballots aren’t perfect. Ballot boxes can be stuffed or lost. Indeed, because of Florida’s paper-ballot mess in 2000, electronic voting is probably here to stay.

More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/07/opinion/07poundstone.html

[tbyg52]

11. Computerworld: NYT distrusts e-voting now (and Photoextreme)

(Comments on electronic voting and the NYT story from computer people...)

Vote for IT Blogwatch: in which the New York Times changes its tune about electronic voting machines. Not to mention the Russian not-Photoshop game...

The Grey Lady's Clive Thompson writes:

As the primaries start in New Hampshire this week and roll on through the next few months, the erratic behavior of voting technology will once again find itself under a microscope. In the last three election cycles, touch-screen machines have become one of the most mysterious and divisive elements in modern electoral politics ... they fail unpredictably, and in extremely strange ways; voters report that their choices “flip” from one candidate to another before their eyes; machines crash or begin to count backward; votes simply vanish.

Greg Mitchell adds:

This Sunday's cover of The New York Times Magazine ought to strike a chord. It shows a man inside an exploding voting booth with a WARNING label over it and the words: "Your vote may be lost, destroyed, miscounted, wrongly attributed or hacked" ... One expert says that "about 10 percent" of the devices fail in each election ... During this year's primaries, about one-third of all votes will be cast on touch-screens. The same ratio will likely hold this November, even with some states junking the devices.

More:
http://blogs.computerworld.com/nyt_distrusts_e_voting_now_and_photoextreme

[tbyg52]

13. Ohio's system works well for voters By Rep. DAVID DANIELS

snip

As a result of the study, the secretary of state has suggested that 57 Ohio counties replace their systems and has called on Ohio legislators to mandate local boards to offer paper ballots to those individuals who do not want to use the equipment provided by the local boards.

The cost of this recommendation could be well in the millions of dollars that would be borne by the taxpayers of this state, and in most cases by the counties affected.

In my opinion, our local boards of elections do a great job running elections in this state and in our district.

Local control and decision making at the county level by a bipartisan elections board has always been reliable and accurate.

To force 57 counties to change their system when they have had no evidence of inaccuracy or attempted fraud is costly and unnecessary.

More:
http://www.timesgazette.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=149672

[tbyg52]

18. Ohio election 'quick fix' is dicey

All voters want to know that elections are conducted fairly and honestly, and that their votes are counted accurately.

So Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner deserves credit for commissioning a study that revealed potential problems the state must address. It showed that direct recording electronic (DRE) or touch-screen voting systems used in 57 of 88 counties are vulnerable to security breaches and technical failures.

But the report's timing is troubling - less than three months before a crucial primary in a presidential election year. And Brunner's directives make sudden, sweeping changes to the state's election system that have county officials scrambling to implement fixes that may or may not work for problems that may or may not surface.

What's worse, while Brunner says her aim is to "avoid any loss of confidence by voters," the study itself is likely to fuel a perception that Ohio's electronic votes aren't being counted accurately - even though it doesn't document instances of that happening, and doesn't even evaluate the likelihood of it happening.

More:
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080107/EDIT01/801070302/1090/EDIT

[tbyg52]

15. OpEdNews: Computer election verification: another IT boondoggle

William Poundstone's New York Times January 7, 2008 opinion piece on Rivest and Smith's computer election verification scheme sounds "gee-whiz plausible" - at first glance. A closer look shows not only is the scheme utterly impractical, it's just another inappropriate computer technology solution in search of a problem - a problem, that's already been solved.

Here is the essence of Rivest and Smith's election verification proposal, as described by Poundstone:

" basic idea is to allow each voter to take home a photocopy of a randomly selected ballot cast by someone else.

"The scheme is low-tech. Paper ballots would be tallied by optical scanners or even by hand. The results would be then posted on a Web site. Using a serial number assigned to each ballot, voters could check the site to make sure that their random ballots were posted and had not been altered or misread."

At first glance it sure sounds "gee-whiz" plausible, but to an e-commerce and security professional, well, a few questions immediately spring to mind.

More:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_bruce_o_5c_080107_computer_election_ve.htm

[tbyg52]

16. OpEdNews: NH: "First in the nation" (with corporate controlled secret vote counting)

81% of New Hampshire ballots are counted in secret by a private corporation named Diebold Election Systems (now known as "Premier"). The elections run on these machines are programmed by one company, LHS Associates, based in Methuen, MA. We know nothing about the people programming these machines, and we know even less about LHS Associates. We know even less about the secret vote counting software used to tabulate 81% of our ballots. People like to say "but we use paper ballots! They can always be counted by hand!"

But they're not. They're counted by Diebold. Only a candidate can request a hand recount, and most never do so. And a rigged election can easily become a rigged recount, as we learned in Ohio 2004, where two election officials were convicted of rigging their recount. (Is it just a funny coincidence that Diebold spokesman is named Mr. Riggall?)

More:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_nancy_to_080107_nh_3a__22first_in_the_na.htm

[tbyg52]

17. LTTE: Voters, not media, decide 'first-tier'

snip

Sorry to those in the media elite, but we voters determine who is first-tier when we vote. Stop the voter suppression and media bias and stick to the facts

More:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/0107monlets071.html

[tbyg52]

19. DETROIT FREE PRESS: End the stalemate on FEC vacancies

Although it hardly has the most teeth among government enforcement agencies, this is still the worst of times for the Federal Election Commission to be rendered powerless by the inaction of Congress. It's an election year, for heaven's sake. Money is already flowing into campaigns like sewage after a rainstorm, and if nobody's minding the pipes, who knows what's likely to rush through?

The FEC effectively went dark as a decision-making body on New Year's Day because only two of its six members are seated and four are needed for a quorum. While the FEC staff of lawyers, investigators and auditors remain on the job, there are not enough available votes to authorize an investigation, assess a penalty for campaign law violations, or disburse matching federal campaign funds to qualified candidates. Seven such applications are pending from presidential candidates, and the Democratic and Republican parties also are expecting $1 million each for their conventions.

More:
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/opinion/syndicated/story/3782792p-13307076c.html

[tbyg52]

27. Electronic voting

snip

Whether it's a touch screen or a paper ballot, no system of voting is absolutely fool-proof or otherwise immune to mischief. Digital or otherwise.

Of course, states should take all measures to ensure that their methods of voting are secure. But the key is that all systems must be closely monitored.

Which, incidentally, is precisely where Florida fell on its face in its 2000 presidential election fiasco.

More:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/archive/s_545968.html

[tbyg52]

29. Online poll: Presidential primary changes needed

Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mike Huckabee, victors in Thursday's Iowa caucus, head off to New Hampshire. Chris Dodd and Joe Biden head home. And respondents to our online poll want to head toward change.
Some of the suggestions include:
● Have a national primary day and all vote at once. Every registered voter should be allowed to vote in one party primary of choice, regardless of party affiliation.
● We should have three national primaries. The three highest vote getters in the first one move on to the second. The lowest vote getter in the second drops out. The third primary picks the nominee.

More:
http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/219341

[tbyg52]

30. VoteTrust: New York Times Magazine on E-voting

By Dan Wallach, Rice University
January 06, 2008

This Sunday’s New York Times Magazine has an article by Clive Thompson on electronic voting machines. Freedom to Tinker’s Ed Felten is briefly quoted, as are a small handful of other experts. The article is a reasonable summary of where we are today, with paperless electronic voting systems on a downswing and optical scan paper ballots gaining in popularity. The article even conveys the importance of open source and the broader importance of transparency, i.e., convincing the loser that he or she legitimately lost the election.


A few points in the article are worth clarifying. For starters, Pennsylvania is cited as the “next Florida” — a swing state using paperless electronic voting systems whose electoral votes could well be decisive toward the 2008 presidential election. In other words, Pennsylvania has the perfect recipe to cause electoral chaos this November. Pennsylvania presently bans paper-trail attachments to voting systems. While it’s not necessarily too late to reverse this decision, Pennsylvania’s examiner for electronic voting systems, Michael Shamos, has often (and rightly) criticized these continuous paper-tape systems for their ability to compromise voters’ anonymity. Furthermore, the article cites evidence from Ohio where a claimed 20 percent of these things jammed, presumably without voters noticing and complaining. This is also consistent with a recent PhD thesis by Sarah Everett, where she used a homemade electronic voting system that would insert deliberate errors into the summary screen. About two thirds of her test subjects never noticed the errors and, amazingly enough, gave the system extremely high subjective marks. If voters don’t notice errors on a summary screen, then it’s reasonable to suppose that voters would be similarly unlikely to notice errors on a printout.

More:
http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2706&Itemid=26

[tbyg52]

34. Scrap Diebold Voting Machines Update-4

My comment: This is just a small blog entry that turned up, but I gotta post it just for this paragraph, which is the simple truth. (Although I still don't want electronic voting machines even if they are impeccably programmed....)

snip

“The types of malfunctions we’re seeing would be caught in a first-year computer science course,” says Lillie Coney, an associate director with the Electronic Privacy Information Commission, which is releasing a study later this month critical of the federal tests.

More:
http://toocan.com/lunog/index.php/misblog/2008/01/06/scrap_diebold_voting_machines_update_4

[tbyg52]

39. NewYorker: Fraud Alert

Explicit racism has disappeared from mainstream political discourse in the United States. Jesse Helms made his long career in Washington by muttering about “bloc votes,” but he’s been gone from the Senate since 2003, and he has no similarly outspoken successors. Lest anyone think that racial discrimination itself has been banished from politics, however, Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, a case that will be heard this week by the Supreme Court, provides a disturbing reminder.

One of the lesser outrages of the Supreme Court’s decision in Bush v. Gore was the banal assertion that “after the current counting, it is likely legislative bodies nationwide will examine ways to improve the mechanisms and machinery for voting.” In fact, the chief “improvement” that has come from the legislatures since 2000 is voter-I.D. laws, like the one that gives rise to this week’s case. In 2005, Indiana began requiring voters to present government-issued photo identification before casting a ballot. (Georgia passed a nearly identical law at about the same time, and several other states have tightened voter-I.D. requirements.) These laws, their sponsors assured the electorate (and now the courts), were passed to correct the problem of voter fraud. As the state of Indiana says in its brief to the Justices, the new rule “establishes reasonable, long-overdue election-security reform in a State highly vulnerable to in-person election fraud.”

More:
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2008/01/14/080114ta_talk_toobin

Discussion:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=488712&mesg_id=488712
(Well, OK, there isn't any discussion, yet. Just seven recs.....!)

[tbyg52]

40. Fraudulent Arguments On Voter Fraud

My comment: The "conservative" argument, FYI...

As part of their all out assault voter protection laws, liberal groups will argue before the Supreme Court Wednesday that even though every adult must produce a photo ID in order to fly (or even to enter the Supreme Court to hear the proceedings), producing such an ID before voting is an undue burden on the right to vote.

At issue is Indiana’s voter photo ID law which requires persons voting in person to present a government issued photo ID before they are allowed to vote (unless that person lives in a nursing home). Persons who do not have (or forgot) their ID can cast a provisional ballot and then have 10 days to either procure an ID or file and affidavit claiming indigence. The bi-partisan Commission on Federal Election Reform reports that voters in over 100 democracies world wide are able to exercise their right to vote under similar laws (such democracies include: Belgium, Cost Rica, Germany, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, South Africa, and Spain).

Nobody denies that requiring a photo ID will make it harder for some people to vote. Balanced against that voter inconvenience, however, is the state’s legitimate interest in reducing voter fraud. This is where liberal advocacy groups come in. As Jonathan Bechtle details in his 2006 study “Voter Turnout or Voter Fraud?”, a vast left wing conspiracy including George Soros, America Coming Together, ACORN, and People for the American Way spend vast resources registering as many potential anti-Bush voters as possible. If they played by the rules this would be fine, but often these groups put results above the law and ACORN alone has been the subject of registration fraud reports in eight states.

More:
http://blog.heritage.org/2008/01/07/fraudulent-arguments-on-voter-fraud/

[tbyg52]

44. Fighting Vote Fraud With Photo ID

Another FYI from the other side.

All eyes will be on New Hampshire Wednesday morning for the first true primary in the 2008 elections. But even as hardy New Englanders trudge to the polls, something at least as consequential will happening in Washington, D.C., where the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in a major case on election law.

In Crawford v. Marion County Election Board and Indiana Democratic Party v. Rokita, the court will tackle the issue of vote fraud. The arguments will revive the debate over voter disenfranchisement that raged after the contested presidential election of 2000.

This time the controversy surrounds Indiana’s requirement that voters show photo identification when they cast their ballot. At a time when Americans are asked to show photo ID for routine things such as buying alcohol or getting on an airplane, it hardly seems unreasonable to do the same before voting. There’s also overwhelming public support for voter ID requirements; Rasmussen puts the number at 77 percent approval nationally.

In Indiana, however, a coalition of left-leaning groups -- led by the state Democratic Party and ACLU -- has brought suit against the state, claiming that requiring photo ID at polling places disenfranchises low-income citizens, minorities and seniors -- constituencies considered key to Democratic electoral success..

More:
http://www.theconservativevoice.com/article/30137.html

[tbyg52]

43. Voter ID Laws Are a Menace to Freedom

Most Americans, when asked for a photo ID, will pull out their driver’s license and not think twice about it. After all, we have to show proof of our identity when we drink, when we drive and when we fly. Identification can also be required to rent a movie, borrow a book or write a check. So why shouldn’t we be required to show a photo ID in order to vote? That’s the question presently before the U.S. Supreme Court.

More than 20 states, including Indiana, currently have voter ID laws in place requiring that citizens show some form of valid, government-issued ID such as a driver’s license or passport in order to vote. However, with a presidential election on the horizon, these laws have become the center of heated debate.

The debate is largely divided along partisan lines (Republicans tend to favor ID laws, while Democrats generally oppose them). It pits protecting the integrity of the voting process from voter fraud against making sure as many eligible voters as possible take part in the process. Yet critics argue that these laws do little to protect against fraud and actually prevent legitimate voters from exercising their right to vote.

According to a 2007 report by the Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law, photo ID laws are effective only in preventing individuals from impersonating other voters at the polls—an occurrence “more rare than death by lightning.” Furthermore, as the Brennan Center’s report “The Truth About Voter Fraud” points out, there is a great deal of misunderstanding related to what constitutes actual voter fraud.

More:
http://www.rutherford.org/articles_db/commentary.asp?record_id=513

[tbyg52]

54. THE KUDZU EFFECT The Voting-Industrial Complex Chokes Our Democracy

Computerized voting, promoted by an interlocking cabal of political
operatives and vendors is strangling American democracy, like the parasitic vine of the Japanese kudzu plant. According to Election Data Services, almost 80% of all voters in 2006 voted on electronic voting machines or optically-scanned ballots nationwide. Less than 1% of voters in the U.S. used traditional hand-counted paper ballots.

What has caused this meteoric rise in computerized voting and vote
counting where proprietary secrets destroy the transparency of the election process? A massive public relations campaign by a handful of strategically placed individuals has peddled computer voting as the high-tech wave of the future.

More:
http://freepress.org/images/departments/KudzuEffect.pdf

[tbyg52]

5. The Youth Vote nt

[tbyg52]

31. The Youth Democracy Now: Vote in 2008: Students Flood New Hampshire on Eve of Primary

Students from across the country have flooded New Hampshire on the eve of the nation’s first primary there. We speak with three Princeton University students who are campaigning for different Democratic candidates and the teacher who brought them there.

More:
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/1/7/the_youth_vote_in_2008_students

[tbyg52]

32. Power of the youth vote

THERE is a fundamental campaign axiom that handlers like to repeat: Young people don't vote.

But if the early trends set by victors Mike Huckabee and Barack Obama at last week's Iowa caucuses continue into New Hampshire tomorrow and beyond, that age-old maxim could become well, old news.

The youth vote, that is, those 18-29 years-old, along with those who had never "caucused" before, helped the Illinois senator defeat Hillary Clinton and John Edwards Thursday. Huckabee, a Baptist minister, was helped by the large number of GOP voters who described themselves as evangelicals - about 60 percent. Yet, his populist message may appeal to young Republicans more than that of Mitt Romney and Sen. John McCain, his chief opponents in New Hampshire as well.

While one caucus, even voters in the next primary in the Granite State, does not a trend make, there are factors in play that could awaken a part of the electorate that has been mostly sleeping since 18-year-olds got the right to vote in 1976, with the exception of the slight bump that occurred in the 1992 presidential election.

More:
http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/opinions/ci_7898408

[tbyg52]

52. Young voters brush up on candidates, process

High school seniors Ashley Alcorn and Bryan Garza have some studying to do before Feb. 5, but it’s not English or trig.

They’re studying presidential candidates as they and scores of other area 18-year-olds get ready for the presidential primary to be held that day.

Muskogee and Hilldale high schools are helping their eligible seniors get ready for the election by encouraging them to register to vote at school. People have until Friday to register to vote in the primary.

“Registering at school saved me a lot of time,” said Garza, a Hilldale senior. “This is my first election, and it’s a presidential primary. So I’m excited to take part in it.”

More:
http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/features/local_story_007010849.html

[tbyg52]

53. Young voters a grand prize for candidates

The traffic-clogging lines that curl into Barack Obama's rallies contain a diverse group, from mothers toting young children to bearded professionals in sturdy all-weather boots. But perhaps most desirable are voters like Lynn Xie, who waited in a quarter-mile-long line last week to hear the Illinois senator speak.

"It's really exciting for me," said the Dartmouth College student, boning up for her first presidential election. "I just turned 19."

Obama turned the Democratic contest on its ear last week with a decisive victory in the Iowa caucuses, generated in large part by overwhelming support from voters younger than 30.

Nearly six in 10 in that age bracket supported Obama - more than five times the number that voted for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.

More:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/bal-te.youth07jan07,0,1836222.story

[tbyg52]

55. That's all folks! - most grateful for a couple more recs for the news....! nt

[FogerRox]

56. Holy shit what freakin huge ERD... OMG, Rec'ed, now how about some more recs

What a massive ERd.... kudos

[rumpel]

57. exactly what I say...

I could not believe the flaming thread and had to look again!

:headbang:

[Wilms]

58. And I can't believe what it's like trying to get a rec around here.

[tbyg52]

60. Aw, shucks, y'all...

I just keep posting 'em until they run out.... ;)

[Wilms]

61. K&R n/t