Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Tuesday 2/19/08

[Melissa G]

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Tuesday 2/19/08


Even Willie's telling folks the election game is rigged!

Check out post five for details...
http://www.send2press.com/newswire/2008-02-0219-004.shtml

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.

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

If you can:

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http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=371233#371391

Recommends are much appreciated!

[Melissa G]

1. States n/t

[Melissa G]

5. Willie Nelson: Impeach Bush, 'Throw The Bastards Out'

Even Willie's telling them the machines don't work!


Willie Nelson: Impeach Bush, 'Throw The Bastards Out'

Published: Tue, 19 Feb 2008, 14:31:10 GMT Edited by Carly Zander



AUSTIN, Texas - Feb. 19 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- American icon Willie Nelson says he supports efforts to impeach President Bush and "throw the bastards out," adding that the administration will do anything to stay in power, including staging an event to cancel the election. In his second appearance this month, Nelson told The Alex Jones Show today that he supported Dennis Kucinich's attempt to impeach Bush, adding, "If you break the law you have to pay for it one way or another and if these guys haven't broke the law nobody has."

"The deck's been stacked and we need to figure out a way to get a new fresh deck in there in the deal and I don't know how else to do it except throw the bastards out," said Nelson.

snip
"We went through a couple of elections now and we didn't do anything, we thought we did but come to find out that the voting machines are crooked, everything's stacked against us, the politicians that we vote for won't stay and fight and they won't count the votes."

http://www.send2press.com/newswire/2008-02-0219-004.shtml

[Melissa G]

6. NY Civic Group Calls for Voting Investigation

New York Times

Civic Group Calls for Voting Investigation
By Sewell Chan

On Saturday, Sam Roberts reported that in about 80 of the city’s 6,106 election districts, unofficial results showed Senator Barack Obama without a single vote, including several districts where he ran a respectable race in a nearby area. City election officials said their formal review of the results, which will not be completed for weeks, had confirmed discrepancies between the vote totals reported publicly — and unofficially — on primary night and the actual tally on hundreds of voting machines across the city.

While the discrepancies were not enough to affect the outcome of the race, they could have an effect on a small number of delegates. No one has alleged tampering, but Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has called the New York City Board of Elections a bastion of political patronage, and in a letter today, Dick Dadey, the executive director of Citizens Union, a prominent civic group, called on Gov. Eliot Spitzer to investigate, saying his group was disturbed by the apparent discrepancies.

I write to express the very serious concern of Citizens Union for the reported irregularities in the tabulation and reporting of the initial election results for the Democratic presidential primary on February 5th, and urge you to ask whatever appropriate state authority or the Attorney General, if necessary, to undertake an investigation into what occurred and the reasons for any discrepancies, and explore what remedies are needed to prevent future occurrences of this kind.

… It appears that in as many as 80 election districts in the City of New York, presidential candidate Barack Obama received no votes. Reports also show that this problem was not isolated to his candidacy, but also affected Hillary Clinton’s as well, though to a far lesser extent. The fact that two major presidential candidates would not gain even one vote out of several hundred cast in certain election districts strains credulity, particularly in districts like the one in Harlem where one would think Obama would have demonstrated a respectable, if not strong, showing.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/19/civic-group-calls-for-voting-investigation/

[Melissa G]

7. PA- Commissioners favor e-vote machines, despite protest

Commissioners favor e-vote machines, despite protest with video 4:00 p.m.
BY DAVID SINGLETON / STAFF WRITER 02/19/2008

Lackawanna County is staying the course on its plan to purchase electronic voting machines.

Commissioner Corey O'Brien said Tuesday county officials intend to move forward with the acquisition of 600 touch-screen machines, barring a breakdown in talks with vendor Premier Election Solutions. "So long as we are able to negotiate a contract that is favorable to Lackawanna County, we will use those machines," Mr. O'Brien said.

His comments came after about a dozen people demonstrated Tuesday morning outside the Administration Building on Adams Avenue to protest the proposed deal with Premier.

Carrying signs reading, "Elections need a paper trail," and, "We want secure elections," the protestors urged Mr. O'Brien and fellow majority Commissioner Mike Washo to go with paper ballots for the April 22 primary.

Scott Township resident Alex Allen said electronic voting offers no way to verify the votes after they are cast. "We want paper ballots, not vapor ballots," he said.

http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19309213&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=614635&rfi=6

[Melissa G]

8. WI- State Journal Election Blog: Icy conditions threaten access

Finally, it's our turn. We watched patiently for weeks as other states had their say, wondering if Wisconsin would still be relevant. And we are -- in a big way. Check back here for the latest news, scenes and interviews on Election Day. See something you think ought to be included? Let us know by calling 252-6120 or e-mail us at [e-mail].

Icy conditions threaten access


3:17 p.m. Today's icy conditions are making it difficult for some people with disabilities to vote. "I'm not able to get there," said Annie White Croford, who has severe arthritis and emphysema. "I sure would like my vote to count." Croford, who lives on the West Side, said she has trouble getting up and down stairs. She drives, but not in this weather. "I'm scared if I get out there I'll fall," she said. "There's so much snow and ice." The sidewalks outside of Gordon Commons, a polling place for UW-Madison students, were particularly slick, said Adam Young, chief inspector. "I can't imagine a student in a wheelchair getting here on this snow and ice," he said. UW-Madison has a snow removal service on campus, in which physical plant employees clear sidewalks on request. Madison officials said they would be visiting all polling places today in the city to monitor the level of accessibility for people with disabilities.
http://www.madison.com/wsj/topstories/273109

[Melissa G]

9. OH- Judge says Union County lacks authority to challenge paper ballots

Judge says Union County lacks authority to challenge paper ballots

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A judge says Ohio counties don’t have the power to challenge an order from the state’s chief elections officer that they provide paper ballots to any voter who wants one in the upcoming primary elections.

Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Eric Brown on Tuesday dismissed the lawsuit filed by the Union County commissioners, who had complained about the cost of providing the ballots.

Brown sided with Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, ruling that she has the authority to issue the directive.

Brunner, a Democrat, ordered counties that use electronic touch-screen voting machines to give paper ballots to any voters asking for them during the March 4 primary.

http://www.lancastereaglegazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080219/UPDATES01/80219029/1002/NEWS01

[Melissa G]

10. TX- Elections Administrator J.R. Perez Surprises Election Commission By Resigning

Elections Administrator J.R. Perez Surprises Election Commission By Resigning
by Bob Dunn

Updated: Fort Bend County Elections Administrator J.R. Perez surprised members of the county Elections Commission by tendering his resignation on Tuesday.

The board accepted his resignation during a closed meeting that the commission had called in which, one participant said, it’s possible Perez would have been asked to resign had he not done so on his own.

Perez, who did not return a call seeking comment for this story, has been at odds with members of the county Commissioners Court off and on for more than a year. At issue had been his dislike of the county’s Hart Intercivic eSlate voting machines, and appeared to anger some commissioners a week ago, when he told the court he favored scrapping the county’s $4 million eSlate voting system in favor of a system that would make use of paper ballots.

Before the meeting, Perez told FortBendNow he doesn’t believe the county will be able to handle anticipated high voter turnout during the March 4 primary. He made similar statements in KTRK-TV reports, which appeared to fuel some commissioners’ angst.

http://fortbendnow.com/pages/full_story?article-Elections-Administrator-J-R--Perez-Surprises-Election-Commission-By-Resigning%20=&page_label=home&id=18630-Elections-Administrator-J-R--Perez-Surprises-Election-Commission-By-Resigning&widget=push&instance=home_news_lead_story&open=

[Melissa G]

17. Texas Election Official Pushed Out of Job After Warning of Concerns With County E-Voting System

Texas Election Official Pushed Out of Job After Warning of Concerns With County E-Voting System
Fort Bend County (Tom Delay County) Election Administrator Forced to Resign On Eve of State Primary After Advocating for Paper Ballots...
Another Election Director with the temerity to speak out with concerns about E-voting has been done away with. This time in Texas.

As Early Voting starts today in the crucial Texas Primaries, it looks like we've got yet another new martyr --- from the rare ranks of Election Officials --- who has reportedly been taken out by "the powers that be" during a fight for the ideas of Election Integrity, which he even went so far as to mention on a Houston television news report, if you can imagine such a thing.

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5714#more-5714

[Melissa G]

11. WI- Scattered Problems At The Polls Tuesday

Scattered Problems At The Polls Tuesday
Mick Trevey
Katie DeLong

MILWAUKEE - Voter turnout for the Wisconsin Primary Election was heavy Tuesday, and election officials had to deal with some scattered problems at the polls.

At the East Library in Milwaukee Tuesday morning, the ballot scanner hit a snag Tuesday morning. So did scanners at a few other places in Milwaukee.

Voters at Milwaukee’s German Immersion School had a tough time getting ballot scanners to read their votes.

The city of Milwaukee promises those votes will still count.

“The electors are instructed to put their ballots in a secure box within the machine and as soon as machine is up and running the poll worker will pull them out and they'll process them. They'll all get processed,” Milwaukee Election Director Susan Edman said.

At Marquette’s Student Union, lines were long. Poll workers said they were registering about one voter a minute, but they insist they stocked up with enough ballots to keep up.

Snow and ice caused problems too, especially in Sussex. Plow crews never touched the village's polling place at the National Guard Armory. That is, until poll workers showed up early Tuesday morning and realized the place was thick with ice.
http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/15767172.html

[Melissa G]

12. NY- BARACK BACKERS EYE NY DELEGATE BOOST

BARACK BACKERS EYE NY DELEGATE BOOST
By FRANKIE EDOZIEN
BARACK OBAMA
City votes undercounted.
February 18, 2008 -- Supporters expect Barak Obama to pick up one or two delegates when primary results from New York City are recounted.

The unofficial results were strikingly under-recorded in several districts around the city - in some cases leaving him with zero votes when, in fact, he had pulled in hundreds, Board of Elections officials have said.

Those results gave Obama no votes in nearly 80 districts, including Harlem's 94th and other historically black areas - but many of those initial tallies proved to be wildly off base.

"Every election has problems, but in this case, all the problems seem to have been his," said state Sen. Bill Perkins (D-Harlem). "He got all the zeroes and undercounting.

"Some gross mistakes have been made. Very often, there are clerical errors. In this case, it was strictly with regards to Obama." Perkins told The Post the issue is more than the "one or two delegates" that could be added to Obama's tally, noting that if the results were accurately represented, there would not have been a "false momentum" for Hillary Rodham Clinton.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02182008/news/regionalnews/barack_backers_eye_ny_delegate_boost_98204.htm

[Melissa G]

15. CO- New tests clear some voting devices

New tests clear some voting devices
By Myung Oak Kim, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Clerks in several major counties hope they'll be permitted to use some of their electronic voting and tallying machines in 2008 elections, based on new test results released Friday by the secretary of state's office.

Electronic voting machines used in Denver, Arapahoe, Elbert and Pueblo counties showed no major problems in the second round of tests after new information was provided by the manufacturer, the report said. Tallying machines used to count paper ballots in Mesa and Jefferson counties also passed muster.

But testers still saw security flaws with electronic voting machines in Jefferson and Mesa counties.

And counting machines and software used in 47 counties - including Boulder and Douglas - still aren't properly reading mismarked ballots, the report said.

Secretary of State Mike Coffman still could approve these e-voting and counting machines. But if he does, Coffman likely will order county clerks to follow stricter security procedures.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/feb/19/new-tests-clear-some-voting-devices/

[rumpel]

21. just a diffrent headline: Report: Voting machines not 100% usable

KJCT News (ABC)

GRAND JUNCTION (KJCT) - The fight continues over weather or not Mesa County's voting machines are usable.

And now a new report states the machines still aren't 100% usable.

The Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman released a 156 page document outlining the testing of the county's voting machine.

According to the testing audit board, the elections systems and software's voting system the county uses didn't pass the audit.

The test looked at everything from backup software to security.

According to the report the system did well, sometimes passing the test with a 100% score. One section it didn't do so well is under a trusted build only receiving a 48%.

Mesa County Elections Director Sheila Reiner said. "We're still unsure what type of equipment we can use this fall, we may have to at the very last moment make a change to business process or equipment"

http://kjct8.com/Global/story.asp?S=7889800

[Melissa G]

2. National n/t

[Melissa G]

16. Study: Touch screen voting systems may be unreliable

Study: Touch screen voting systems may be unreliable

Students use the touch screen machines in the HUB. A recent study found the machines to be unreliable.

Katharine Lackey Collegian Staff Writer
Recent Penn State research of touch screen and optical scan voting machines indicated that the systems have exploitable weaknesses and hacking vulnerabilities.

Though the study involved Ohio voting machines, this may mean more trouble for Centre County's voting machines -- touch screens that debuted in the November 2006 midterm elections.

Patrick McDaniel, an associate professor of computer science and engineering, was the principal investigator of Project Evaluation and Validation of Election Related Equipment, Standards and Testing (EVEREST), which evaluated reliability, usability and security of the three different voting systems that Ohio uses.

Project EVEREST was interested in how people who have access to the voting system could manipulate an election, McDaniel said. Three types of attacks were outlined, including changing election results, exposing voter choices and preventing a vote from being cast or counted, he added.

"We use the tools that hackers would use and our expertise, and we attempt to subvert the system just like we were the bad guys," he said. "Ultimately, we were able to substantially compromise all of the systems we evaluated. They all had failures in unique ways."

http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2008/02/19/study_touch_screen_voting_syst.aspx

[Melissa G]

3. International n/t

[Melissa G]

14. Old-Skool Hacking Not Dead Yet, Graying Dutch Hacker Explains

Old-Skool Hacking Not Dead Yet, Graying Dutch Hacker Explains
By Bruce Sterling February 19, 2008 | 6:24:19 AM
From 2600 magazine, Winter issue - #4, 2007

(http://www.2600.com)

What it means to be a hacker

by Rop Gonggrijp

My most recent confrontation with what it means to be a hacker started in March of 2006, after I went to vote for the local council of Amsterdam. At the polling station, I had to use a brand-new electronic voting machine that the city was renting from a company called Sdu. In fact, Amsterdam had contracted the entire election as a turnkey service, Sdu was even training the poll-workers. This "voting machine" was in fact a computer with a touch screen running Windows. To make maters worse: inside each computer was a GPRS wireless modem that sent the election results to Sdu, which in turn told the city. I had not been blind to the problems of electronic voting before, but now I was having my face rubbed in it, and it hurt.

Perhaps I should quickly introduce myself. My name is Rop Gonggrijp and I'm a dutch national that lives in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Some of you will know me as I have been mentioned in this magazine as well as been a regular guest on Off the Hook for almost as long as the show exists. I'm one of the main organizers for these Dutch hacker events. Between 1989 and 1993 I published Hack-Tic, a magazine not unlike 2600 except that it was written in Dutch. During the late Hack- Tic years I co-founded XS4ALL, which still is one of the larger ISPs in The Netherlands.

snip
ast forward to 2006 and the local elections. I was angry because I felt my election had been stolen: there was no way to observe a count, one just had to believe that this wireless-equipped black-box Windows machine was counting honestly. I knew a little bit too much about the risks associated with computer technology to go along with that. I wasn't the only one that was angry: my longtime friend Barry came home from that March 2006 election with the exact same story that I had come home with: trying to reason with poll-workers that clearly felt that only the medically paranoid would distrust such a wonderful shiny box. When we met later that day we vowed to not only get mad, but to do something about it.

Which wasn't going to be all that easy. By the time Amsterdam had gotten electronic voting, it was pretty late in the game: Amsterdam (pop. ~750k) was the last city in The Netherlands (pop. 16.5M) to get electronic voting. Some cities were renting the same system as Amsterdam, but the vast majority was using an older system made by a company called Nedap. While I studied the legal requirements for electronic voting, I became even more convinced that all of these 'machines' (that were all in fact computers) needed to go if we were to have transparent and verifiable elections.

http://blog.wired.com/sterling/2008/02/old-skool-hacki.html

[Melissa G]

4. Editorial n/t

[Melissa G]

13. State officials need to ensure that voting machines produce a paper trail

Editorial | For the record
State officials need to ensure that voting machines produce a paper trail

Pennsylvania's putting all its votes in one basket.

A recent report issued by Common Cause and the Verified Voting Foundation identified the Keystone State as one of 17 states at "high risk" for voting-machine problems.

The reason? While voting machines in Pa. are electronic, they don't produce a separate paper record of the votes. So if a voting machine's software crashes or malfunctions, it can be nearly impossible to recover a tally of the votes.

That's why state administrators should look into installing new voting machines that produce a paper trail. If something goes wrong, officials should be able to refer to a secondary record of the votes.

Pennsylvania's election officials contend that the lack of paper trails protects voter privacy. But fairness in elections is even more important - not only to individual voters but also to the entire nation. As a swing state in this year's competitive presidential race, Pennsylvania will play a crucial role in the general election. If 2000 taught us anything, it's that every vote truly does count.

http://media.www.dailypennsylvanian.com/media/storage/paper882/news/2008/02/19/Opinion/Editorial.For.The.Record-3218183.shtml

[Melissa G]

18. All I can do today... Post away, friends! n/t

[EFerrari]

19. I'm going to bite the bullet and try this format on Sunday.

Thank you, Melissa G. :hi:

[Melissa G]

20. Any format works, but this one gets you to 5 or 6 posts really quick

and is perhaps, a bit easier to read. Whatever you like. Thanks for all you do, Beth! :hi: