Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Friday 7/15/05

[MelissaB]

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.





If you can:

1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web.

2. Post stories using the "Election Fraud and Reform News Sources" listed here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x371233

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

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



If you want to know how post "News Banners" or other images, go here:

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

Link to previous Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x383951

All previous daily threads are available here:

http://www.independentmediasource.com/DU_archives/du_2004erd_el_ref_fr_thr_calenders.htm

[FogerRox]

1. NJ activists make deal to open selection process

Elections superintendent books voting machine demonstration
Friday, July 15, 2005

By PAUL BRUBAKER
of The Montclair Times

In keeping with the agreement he made this week with local voting-rights activists, Essex County Elections Superintendent Carmine Casciano has scheduled an opportunity for up to five voting machine venders to present their federally certified models to the Essex Freeholders and the public.

The demonstrations will be on Wednesday, July 27, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Casciano’s office at 33 Washington St. in Newark, according to voting-rights advocate and Montclair resident Katherine Joyce.


Essex County officials have been negotiating to buy 700 units of the Advantage, but Joyce and those aligned with her have urged Casciano to consider alternatives because the machine, at present, does not provide a voter-verifiable printed record of cast ballots.


Joyce agreed that voting-rights activists would not attempt to block a $7.5 million bond ordinance to buy new voting machines, if Casciano would agree to giving other voting machine vendors to present alternatives to the Advantage. Joyce also told The Montclair Times that acting Gov. Richard Codey, Rep. Rush Holt (Congressional D-12), and state Senators Nia H. Gill, D-34, and Thomas Kean Jr., R-21, have been invited to the demonstrations.




full article

http://www.montclairtimes.com/page.php?page=10109

[wellmaid]

2. Raising Awareness: Pledges in Support of Election Reform Legislation

Election reform is the central issue and highest priority for Women Progressive Activists, a grass roots network based in Ann Arbor MI. We have created two vehicles for citizens to express their need and support for election reform. The first is A PLEDGE TO SUPPORT THE COUNT EVERY VOTE ACT OF 2005. This is Senate bill 450, introduced by Sen. Clinton and co-sponsored by Boxer, Kerry, Milkulski, Lautenberg, Day, and Leahy. The companion bill in the US House is 939, introduced by Rep Stephanie Tubbs-Jones and co-sponsored by 71 representatives including John Conyers.

A summary of the contents of this major reform legislation is provided as well as a link to the full 29 pages of the bill is included on the WPA website: http://www.wpactivists.org/petitions.asp

Anyone registered or eligible to vote is welcome to express his or her commitment to election reform by signing this pledge.

For Michigan residents, WPA offers A PLEDGE TO SUPPORT REMOVAL OF BARRIERS TO VOTING We have four bills introduced by State Senator Liz Brater (D)that would open up voting to many now effectively denied access because of obsolete or unnecessary, restrictive regulations. In particular, college students have been discriminated against by rules introduced by Michigan's Republican Secretary of State. (The current SOS co-chaired the Re-Elect Bush Committee.) Find the Michigan pledge at http://www.wpactivists.org/petitions.asp

WPA aims to raise voter awareness and encourage them to express their support for constructive and badly needed remedies to the badly flawed HAVA Act. I hardly need to remind DU readers that election reform as a national issue does not exist in the MSM. However, we find that "on the ground" real people are very angry and want election reform NOW.

[EFerrari]

3. Welcome to DU, wellmaid

and thank you for this post.

:hi:

[MelissaB]

4. N.J. to get e-voting paper trail, but not until 2008

N.J. to get e-voting paper trail, but not until 2008
A legal battle continues to try to put the law into effect sooner

News Story by Todd R. Weiss


JULY 15, 2005 (COMPUTERWORLD) - New Jersey has passed a new law mandating voter-verifiable paper trails for electronic touchpad voting machines, but election reform advocates in the state are pressing ahead with legal action because the new requirement doesn't take effect until Jan. 1, 2008.

The measure, signed into law by Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey last week, requires that all e-voting machines used in New Jersey produce a paper record that can instantly be verified by voters to ensure that their votes are properly recorded.

While critics of e-voting are pleased with the law's goal, they argue that voters should not have to wait until 2008 to be sure their votes are properly tallied.

"That doesn't protect people for the next two and a half years, and that to me doesn't seem to be an acceptable state of affairs," said Matt Zimmerman, a staff attorney for the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation, which has filed a friend-of-the-court brief (download PDF) in the legal battle.

More: http://www.computerworld.com/printthis/2005/0,4814,103264,00.html

[MelissaB]

5. FL: EFF Supports Disabled Voters in Fight Against Paperless E-Voting

Friday, July 15, 2005 :: infoZine Staff :: page views

EFF Supports Disabled Voters in Fight Against Paperless E-Voting
Hearing Set in Florida

Orlando, FL - infoZine - On Thursday, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Florida attorney Jeff Liggio filed an emergency amicus brief on behalf of Volusia County disabled residents who oppose the purchase of paperless touchscreen voting machines. The brief, supporting Volusia County Council members who are seeking to purchase an alternate voting system that better addresses accessibility issues and also produces a voter-verified paper ballot, was submitted in opposition to a lawsuit filed July 5th by the National Federation of the Blind (NFB).

The NFB suit seeks to force the County to spend approximately $700,000 of state funds on Diebold voting equipment that the County has repeatedly rejected as inferior to the accessible, paper-producing AutoMARK system offered by ES&S.

A hearing in federal District Court that may decide the issue is set for 1:30 pm in Orlando. Handicapped Adults of Volusia County (HAVOC) president David Dixon will be in attendance and will be available afterwards for comment. He can be reached at [phone].

"Accessibility and auditability should not be conflicting values when it comes to voting equipment," said Dixon. "National advocates for the blind do the disabled community of Volusia County a disservice when they presume to speak on our behalf for flawed systems that we do not want. With their support, we could have worked together to promote technology that better assists disabled voters at the same time that it ensured that security and auditability concerns were met. For our part, we will continue to support officials in their efforts to find voting equipment that best protects all voters in the County."

More: http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/9025/

[MelissaB]

6. MS: Don Culpepper Reports On New Electronic Voting Machines

Don Culpepper Reports On New Electronic Voting Machines

Secretary of State Eric Clark believes that these new touch screen voting machines will pay off in the improved accuracy of the state's future elections.

"The Diebold Company makes more than 95 percent of the bank ATM machines in Mississippi," says Clark. "So I think if they can keep up with our money they can keep up with our votes."

Clarks committee of local election officials and technology experts chose Diebold Election Systems as their best answer to the Help America Vote Act, a federal mandate for all states to update their voting machines.

"If the counties take these machines that we are making in this statewide purchase, there will be no expense to the counties. The federal money plus the state money will pay for the machines themselves, for the set up, for training.."

But despite Clark's hard sell of Diebold as the best and the lest expensive of 10 companies they evaluated, some circuit clerks have concerns.

More: http://www.wlox.com/Global/story.asp?S=3597106

[MelissaB]

7. Ohio's high court enters voting-machine dispute

Ohio's high court enters voting-machine dispute

BLADE COLUMBUS BUREAU


COLUMBUS - The Ohio Supreme Court yesterday waded into the battle between Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell and a voting-machine manufacturer that claims Mr. Blackwell's actions have cost it millions of dollars.


At Mr. Blackwell's request, the high court agreed to consider whether a lawsuit filed in Franklin County Common Pleas Court by Nebraska-based Election Systems & Software should be moved to the Ohio Court of Claims, which usually handles monetary claims against state officials.

An agreement with Franklin County Judge Dale Crawford has given the 32 counties that joined the ES&S suit until Sept. 15 to decide which voting machines they want and has given manufacturers until Nov. 1 to win certification for computerized touch-screen voting devices they want to sell.

...snip

Both have certified optical scan devices that employ paper ballots, but most counties have indicated a preference for touch screens.

"ES&S chose to enter into the process with litigation rather then spend its time developing the technology, which would make good business sense," said Carlo LoParo, a spokesman for the secretary of state.

Mr. Blackwell's office contends settlement negotiations with Hart and the counties appear promising but claims ES&S to be focused on money and not a resolution to the deadline issues.

"Why are they afraid to have the discovery process go forward?" asked Jill Friedman, spokesman for ES&S.

"The fact that the secretary of state's office would try to remove from this case is just another example of how hard they will work to eliminate choice from Ohio's voting system selection process."


More: http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050715/NEWS02/507150449

[MelissaB]

8. NC: Carteret elects to ditch voting machines

Carteret elects to ditch voting machines

By LYNN BONNER, DAN KANE AND J. ANDREW CURLISS, Staff Writers

The Carteret County voting machine that lost 4,438 votes and attracted national derision last fall has been unplugged for good.

The Carteret Board of Elections voted unanimously this week to drop their UniLect voting machines for a different system that will be in place in time for municipal elections this year.

"You cannot believe how much damage that has done to the question of voter confidence in the county," said Ed Pond, the Carteret elections board chairman. "We just feel we can't ask people to use that system on which 5,000 people lost their votes."

The board doesn't know for sure what it will use as a replacement, but hand-counted paper ballots or rented machines of some kind are in the running.

More: http://newsobserver.com/news/story/2595048p-9029788c.html

[MelissaB]

9. Carteret County Won't Use Voting Machines That Lost Ballots

Carteret County Won't Use Voting Machines That Lost Ballots

By The Associated Press

(07/14/05 -- BEAUFORT) — Carteret County doesn't plan to use its electronic voting system again after a computer mistake eliminated 4,438 votes cast last fall, delaying results of two statewide races.
The Carteret elections board agreed this week that it will no longer operate the UniLect Corp. Patriot machines that it purchased nearly 10 years ago, elections chairman Ed Pond said.

"We don't want the citizens of Carteret County to face another election with the uncertainty of their vote not being counted," Pond said.

The UniLect system failed to record the votes cast before Election Day when a machine technician failed to change a computer setting, according to a state Board of Elections investigation.

The lost vote threw the close agriculture commissioner's race into confusion. A new statewide election was avoided when Britt Cobb conceded. The superintendent of public instruction race still hasn't been resolved and could be affected by the lost Carteret ballots should the difference between June Atkinson and Bill Fletcher fall under 4,438 votes.

More: http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/news/071405_APstate_carteretvotingmachines.html

[MelissaB]

10. "July 14, 2005 New Jersey Says No to Paperless Voting EFF and Coalition Ba

"July 14, 2005 New Jersey Says No to Paperless Voting
EFF and Coalition Back E-voting Challenge

Trenton, NJ - In the shadow of a lawsuit demanding that New Jersey update state laws to reflect its increasing use of electronic voting machines, New Jersey's acting governor recently signed into law legislation that will require all voting machines to produce a voter-verified paper record by 2008.

While applauding the law's requirement of voter-verified paper records, litigants in the case vowed to continue their suit to ensure that New Jersey voters do not have to wait until 2008 for a secure vote. The case, called Gusciora v. Codey, was filed by the Rutgers Law School Constitutional Litigation Clinic on behalf of New Jersey Assemblyman Reed Gusciora.

Just prior to the signing of the law, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case. Joining EFF was a broad coalition of organizations with proven dedication to voting rights issues, including the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, VerifiedVoting.org, People For the American Way Foundation, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, and VotersUnite!

EFF and fellow amici argued that New Jersey had failed in its obligations to provide laws and regulations appropriate for its use of electronic voting machines. This failure leaves New Jersey voters and election officials at the mercy of an election code aimed at prior generations of voting technology, mandating the use of ill-trained certification technicians and imposing nonsensical mechanical requirements.

More: http://technocrat.net/article.pl?sid=05/07/14/2355230&mode=nocomment

[MelissaB]

11. Suzan Mazur: Diebold & The Mormon Mason Handshake

Suzan Mazur: Diebold & The Mormon Mason Handshake

Friday, 15 July 2005, 12:29 pm
Opinion: Suzan Mazur

Diebold And The Mormon Mason Handshake

By Suzan Mazur

Diebold, the Ohio computer election systems manufacturer, remains under a cloud regarding irregularities in its tabulation of the 2004 US presidential vote, which led to the reinstalling of George W. Bush. So it may be productive to explore what appears to be a significant Diebold-Mormon link, as well as observe how the Mormons are jockeying for a major political role in America. We already know of the Bush tie-in to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (Click here: Scoop: Suzan Mazur: Bush And The Mormons)

First some background on Mormon politics. Historically, Mormons tend to vote Republican, perhaps forever scarred by being driven out of Missouri and elsewhere in the 1830s -- some tarred and feathered -- by Democrats. Mormons subsequently threw their support to the Whig party, forerunners of today's Republicans.

The LDS church has made no fanfare about Diebold CEO Walden O'Dell being a "Saint". And O'Dell's promotion of the serving of alcoholic beverages at political fundraisers would further imply that he is not -- alcohol being a Mormon no-no.

But he was a major contributor to George W. Bush's reelection campaign, organizing a $1,000-a-plate dinner in August 2003 and encouraging supporters to donate $10,000, although Diebold's website now indicates high profile employees of the company should keep a politically neutral public face.

*************
Suzan Mazur's reports have appeared in the Financial Times, Economist, Forbes, Newsday, Philadelphia Inquirer, among other publications, and on PBS, CBC and MBC. She has been a guest on McLaughlin, Charlie Rose and various Fox television news shows.
Email: mailto:[e-mail])


Much more: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0507/S00222.htm

[MelissaB]

12. Web star leaves both light, heat (Seattle Times - Andy Stephenson)

Friday, July 15, 2005 - Page updated at 12:00 AM

Web star leaves both light, heat

By Danny Westneat
Seattle Times staff columnist

In the world of old media, the death last week of Seattle's Andy Stephenson went mostly unnoticed.

But type his name into an Internet search engine, and it's like a wake for an internationally known political figure. Shrines honor him at 20 Web sites, including one from New Zealand. Some dub him a saint fighting for democracy.

"Those who can see will notice the light he cast," reads a memorial at www.TakeBackTheMedia.com . "Those who understand true power in the universe will feel his strength."

On other sites, though, Stephenson is denounced as a con man who faked cancer to scam money. There are hundreds of postings, debating his credibility, his history, even the validity of his health records.

More: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002382738_danny15.html


Thanks to merh here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1630539&mesg_id=1630539

[MelissaB]

13. "AUDITING YOUR ELECTION 101" by Andy Stephenson

The following document contains Andy's course notes for the class he gave at the CASE-Ohio "Teach-In" on May 7, 2005. This course basically contains the complete instructions for auditing an election conducted on a Diebold Optical Scan system, however Andy said that most of these instructions could also apply to ES & S or other vendors' equipment.


AUDITING YOUR ELECTION 101
by Andy Stephenson

What does that mean when I say "audit an election"? Well, an
election audit looks at the election results to ensure that all proper
procedures were followed, and that the votes were recorded correctly.
In an audit, you can see if any votes are missing, or if any votes
have been tampered with. While you're auditing, you will need to
look at every document that the system produces, from the audit log, to
the poll tapes, to the numerous reports that are generated during the
election. It may sound like a difficult process to audit an election,
but really it's quite simple. It comes down to following certain
procedures, gathering the right materials, and taking good inventory
of your records. It's a methodical and detail oriented task that
takes some time and energy, but other than that, it's not that
hard to manage. By the time you leave here today, you will have all
the tools you need in order to audit your local election successfully.


Part One: Background information regarding electronic voting and
terminology.

Electronic voting occurs in nearly every state to some degree. This
might not be directly evident when you visit your polling site. Most
ballots are counted electronically, whether the votes were cast on a
touch screen computer or on paper ballots.

Election night procedure:

Once the polls have closed, paper ballots are collected and then
counted with an optical scan machine. The optical scan machine then
records all of the data onto a memory card. Absentee ballots are also
recorded on separate memory cards. The memory cards are then
delivered by hand to the central tabulator, or the data is uploaded
remotely into the tabulator by modem. Then reports and vote totals
are generated, and sent to the canvassing board. The canvassing board
is a group of about 5-13 appointed members, who service the election.
The canvassing board then certifies the results of the election, and
makes them official.

Terminology:

There are a number of terms that I will be referring to in today's
presentation regarding voting equipment, and voting reports. Here
I'll give you a brief explanation of some of these terms.


Voting Equipment:

GEMS: Global Elections Management System. "GEMS is a state of the
art election management software package that runs on Microsoft's
Windows operating system." (let me editorialize a bit
here...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA)

Unity Election System. This is the central tabulator software. ES&S
product

The ES&S Model 100 is a precinct-based, voter-activated paper ballot
counter and vote tabulator. Utilizing advanced Intelligent Mark
Recognition (IMR) visible light scanning technology, the Model 100 is
a proven mainstay for jurisdictions worldwide utilizing precinct-level
voting and tabulation.

The AccuVote-OS Tabulator: The tabulator is a multi-functional
terminal that counts and tabulates the ballots at precincts on
election day and communicates with the host computer at Election
Central for accurate and timely jurisdiction-wide results.

Voting Reports:

Statement of votes cast (SOVC): It is a breakdown by precinct of
the number of votes cast in each race in every election.

Audit Log: is equivalent to the "black box" on an
aircraft. It contains everything that happens in the voting system,
and tracks the times and dates of all activity that takes place within
the GEMS server.

Modem Log: Records the dates and times that any external
communications commenced with the server.

Windows Event Log: Shows if any changes or patches were made to
Windows, which could affect the operations of voting software.

Poll Tape: A printout, similar to a cash register receipt. Zero
tapes are printed before the election, showing zero votes on the
machine, and at the end of the election, the tape is run again to show
the results of each race in the election. Zero tape and poll tape is
signed by elections workers after they are run.

Interim Report: A report printed each hour on the hour during
election night, that shows the breakdown of votes cast in each
precinct. These are usually timed and dated stamped automatically.
Printing of this report will create an entry in the audit log.

Part Two: Overview of the public records disclosure laws'

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)/Public Records Request: State and
Federal laws that you will use to obtain the documents you need for an
audit.

Background info. on FOIA:

What to ask for in your public records request:
1.Zero tapes and poll tapes, date and time stamped, from the precinct you are auditing.
2.Statement of votes cast
3.Modem logs
4.Audit logs: from two weeks prior to the election, to two weeks after
5.Windows event log
6.Names of all poll workers
7."Key" log and names of everyone who had access to the central tabulator
8.Names of all pollworkers
9.Copies of all "trouble tickets": any recorded
malfunctions, reported by pollworkers.
10.Copies of absentee totals and provisional totals
11.Copies of all e-mail and correspondence between elections office and hardware/software vendors, and their contractors.
12.Certification documents for the AccuVote and certification documents for the GEMS software being used in the county.
13.Lists of all precincts
14.Absentee and provisional reports. (Call Susan T. to get details)

Overview of public records disclosure laws, including Ohio statute.
Also, an example of public records request. And a review of the FOIA,
its guidelines and processes.

Part Three: Auditing the Election

Steps:

1. Inventory the materials obtained from your public records
request/(FOIA). Look to see if anything is missing. Any missing
materials are most likely your most important ones. Look at the audit
logs for any gaps or lapses in time. Check poll tape totals against
the statement of votes cast. Check the statement of votes cast against
the interim reports. Check poll tapes against the interim reports.
Regarding interim reports, they can be obtained through FOIA, but it
is best to obtain one from the central tabulator on election night.
That way it establishes a benchmark, and if any changes take place
later in the process, you will have a document to compare to. Also,
look at the modem log to ensure that the modem was functioning
properly on election night. Look at the trouble tickets to see what
kind of problems were encountered on election night. Pay particular
attention to hardware issues such as modem errors, memory card
failures, and transmission problems. Transmission and hardware
failures will appear on the audit logs and modem logs.

Note any and all discrepancies.

2.Find errors, make a list of the problems that you found. Present
this information to the candidate you are working for, and recommend
further action. This action includes investigation of precincts where
anomalies have been found, and a hand recount of the ballots from the

3.This is people intensive and you MUST organize groups now to train .
You are going to need people in every precinct and at a minimum 5
people watching at central count on election night. Take binoculars.
Pen Paper ASK questions don’t be afraid. Take note...ask the names of
people working on the central count computer. Become a poll worker,
go through the training so you will be able to teach others what the
procedures are. in the event you need them, have lawyers ready to
file injunctions and lawsuits. Find lawyers you can work with locally
that will work for costs only. They are out there.


Thanks to demodonkey here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x384082#384169

[notadmblnd]

14. I was recently watching a episode on front line

in it, the narrator said that initially the repubs thought they had lost the election. but rove went back to the WH where he had a program on his computer and plugged directly to the polls. I hadn't heard this before. Has anyone else here head this?

The statement is in chapter 1

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/architect/view/