Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Sunday 9/25/05

[Melissa G]

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Sunday 9/25/05

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.

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

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=203x394673

All previous daily threads are available here:
http://www.independentmediasource.com/DU_archives/du_2004erd_el_ref_fr_thr_calenders.htm





Please "Recommend" for the Greatest Page (it's the link just below).

[Melissa G]

1. Ballot issues put spotlight on Ohio

Ballot issues put spotlight on Ohio
Election-related reforms could spark national interest
By William Hershey

Dayton Daily News

COLUMBUS | snip
Both states have constitutional amendments on the Nov. 8 ballot to change how their legislative and congressional districts are drawn.

"Just about everybody is interested in what Ohio and California do on redistricting," said political scientist Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia. "If both these key states vote for redistricting reform, it's going to start a national movement in that direction."

The redistricting amendment is just one of four election-related proposals put on the Ohio ballot by Reform Ohio Now, a coalition dominated by Democrats, labor unions and self-styled good government groups.

The other three would allow Ohioans to vote absentee without a reason, lower campaign contribution limits and establish a nine-member board to replace the secretary of state in administering elections.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/localnews/content/localnews/daily/0925reform.html

[Melissa G]

2. Brown sets out agenda to succeed Blair

Brown sets out agenda to succeed Blair

LONDON (Reuters) - Chancellor Gordon Brown has set out his stall to succeed Prime Minister Tony Blair, promising that under his leadership there would be no going back to the Labour Party's old, election-losing ways.

"The programme of reform and modernisation will continue when Tony steps down," he told the Sunday Times.

Brown, whose close but often strained relationship with Blair has so shaped the party that in May it won a record third consecutive term in office, has long been seen as Blair's anointed heir.

But when Blair said he would not stand for a fourth term there was speculation over whether Brown -- credited with deft management of the economy but lacking foreign experience -- would change tone or direction.

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-09-25T004017Z_01_WRI478690_RTRUKOC_0_UK-BRITAIN-BROWN.xml

[Melissa G]

3. Editorial: Demagoguery on voter ID

Editorial: Demagoguery on voter ID
From the Journal Sentinel
Posted: Sept. 24, 2005
Milwaukee has gotten much flak from the rest of Wisconsin for the city's many electoral snafus in November. Well, a new report by the Legislative Audit Bureau shows that Milwaukee's not peculiar; electoral glitches occurred throughout the state.


But in the eyes of Republican leaders, apparently, any electoral problem is proof positive of the need to require photo ID cards to vote. Hence, they seized on the report in an effort to drum up support for an override of Gov. Jim Doyle's third veto of such a requirement. Fortunately, that tactic failed Tuesday, when a motion to override came up one vote short in the Senate. Now, Republican leaders have vowed to push through a constitutional amendment requiring the photo IDs.

Meanwhile, three Republican lawmakers - Sen. Tom Reynolds of West Allis and Reps. Sue Jeskewitz of Menomonee Falls and Don Pridemore of Hartford - opened up another front in what seems to be a GOP drive to restrict voting. Saying that it overwhelmed the system, the three proposed to do away with registration at the polls on election day.

That's the wrong solution. The right solution is to upgrade the system to handle same-day registration, which a fifth of state voters took advantage of in November. Surely, Wisconsin has the wherewithal to do so. Keeping the ballot box as accessible as feasible is, after all, the democratic thing to do.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/editorials/sep05/358068.asp

[Melissa G]

4. Bush under stereophonic attack

Bush under stereophonic attack


By : Fraser Nelson September 25, 2005



PRESIDENT Bush may have made many mistakes in the past few months, but he has made real progress on his promise to heal the wounds of last year’s presidential election campaign. It split America in two, but both sides are now uniting: against him.

In Congress, a revolt is growing among Republicans dismayed by his handling of Hurricane Katrina – seeing it as the last straw of ineptness. Right-wing columnists are fast joining their left-wing enemies to form a stereophonic attack.

Every move the president makes to show he is taking command over Hurricane Rita only serves as a reminder of what he should have done during Katrina. Last year’s hero of the right is now seen as an embarrassment to conservatism.

In New York, from where these words are written, the small but dedicated band of Republicans are in despair. They swallowed hard and backed Bush to the hilt in the election – but now find warnings of the Democrat neighbours coming true. It isn’t that Bush is demonic, stupid or corrupt – though all these labels are attached to him, still, in home-made posters stuck to Manhattan lampposts. There is one charge that Republicans and Democrats are now agreeing on: incompetence.

http://www.thebusinessonline.com/Stories.aspx?StoryID=E22608ED-100F-4061-BA9F-DBA5EC2227DA&SectionID=CE32B1D2-7454-418B-A470-41A635475378

[Melissa G]

5. Discussion here.....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=203

[Melissa G]

6. The Mother of All Anti-War Rallies

The Mother of All Anti-War Rallies
by William Hughes
(Saturday September 24 2005)

"The Anti-Iraqi War rally in Washington, DC., today, 09/24/05, put on by the “United for Peace and Justice” organization, was a highly-spirited event. The Ellipse was overflowing with protesters and the march around the White House seemed to go on forever. MP, George Galloway, blasted George W. Bush and Tony Blair as “war criminals.” He said that we owe it to the world to make it clear that these “war criminals are not acting in our name!”

snip
I then trotted over to the Ellipse, where I heard George Galloway, a member of the British Parliament, give a talk. A splendid Scot, he’s a fierce opponent of the Iraqi War and of George Bush’s poodle, the UK's Prime Minister, Tony Blair. Recently, Galloway had engaged in a series of debates over the war with Christopher Hitchens, a right-wing ranter and shameless basher of the late Mother Teresa. I watched the NYC debate on cable and I think it’s fair to say that Galloway was clearly the winner of that contest.

Galloway, speaking to a huge crowd of activists, said, "There is an absolute need for your country and for my country to stand shoulder to shoulder against the war criminals -Tony Blair and George W. Bush. It is also important to demonstrate to the peoples of the world, particularly the people of the occupied world, that these criminals are not acting in our name. This is not any clash of civilizations! This is not a war between the people of the West and the people of the East. This is not between Christianity and Islam. George Bush does not represent any civilization! George Bush and Tony Blair certainly don't represent Jesus Christ and the great religion of Christianity. Christians believe in the prophets, peace be upon them. Bush and Cheney believe in the profits and how to get a piece of them. Money is their religion! And, that is what they are fighting for." <2>

Other speakers for the rally, included the Rev. Jesse Jackson. He said that America deserved "better leadership," and that the "Gulf states' policies at home and in Iraq have failed." Cindy Sheehan also spoke. She accused the Bush-Cheney Gang of being "out of control." Fred Mason, head of the MD State AFL-CIO, urged "bringing the troops home and ending the occupation." Leslie Cagan, who did a wonderful job, as a leader of the United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) organization, in preparing for this event, said, "The people on Capitol Hill need to hear from us." Brian Becker of ANSWER underscored that, "The real enemy of American people is in the White House!" Rep. Cynthia McKinney D-GA), took the opportunity, to list a litany of wrongs, she labeled as "an ill wind," that mock justice, such as: "fraud in the elections of 2000 and 2004;" "a war started on deliberately faked evidence;" "criminal neglect on 9/11;" and the "occupations of Iraq and Palestine." <3>

http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/20171

[Melissa G]

7. California must retain election transparency

California must retain election transparency


OUR elections are held to transfer political power between the voters and the government, not for the convenience of local election officials.
That's the belief of Kim Alexander, president of the nonprofit California Voter Foundation. Her comments came after members of the California Association and Clerks and Elections Officials wrote to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger claiming that computerized touch-screen voting has made the state's manual recount law obsolete.

snip
State Sen. Debra Bowen, D-Marina del Rey, chairwoman of the Senate Elections and Apportionment Committee, said that doing away with protections and vote recounts that check accuracy is "an enormous mistake."

The clerks and election officials say the paper printouts required by state law in California and 25 other states are jam-prone and create administrative nightmares that would be "onerous and time consuming."

http://www.insidebayarea.com/oped/ci_3058434

[Wilms]

8. NY: Elections will cost counties

September 24, 2005

Elections will cost counties

By Paul Brooks
Times Herald-Record
[e-mail]

The curse of the hanging chad is striking towns in the mid-Hudson. It could cost millions of dollars.

Voters will remember the hanging chad from the 2000 presidential election in Florida. The debacle prompted Congress to pass the Help America Vote Act.

In New York, the law puts county boards of elections in charge. They take over the job from town officials, the ones who have run elections locally for years.

The new job means the county boards are in charge of buying, storing, maintaining and moving the voting machines. New ones are supposed to be coming, but the purchases are behind schedule. The county has to hire and train election staff, manage and keep more records. All that means more staff, six in Ulster County, for example, according to Tom Turco and Kathy Mihm of the county's Board of Elections. They outlined the impact at a meeting of town supervisors this week.

-snip/more-

http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2005/09/24/vote24.htm

[Melissa G]

9. FEMA said to be lax in funeral payouts

FEMA said to be lax in funeral payouts

DU discussion Here
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x394815

By Sally Kestin

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Three of every four funeral claims paid by the federal government after last year's hurricanes in Florida covered deaths unrelated to any of the storms, a state review has concluded.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) gave families up to $7,500 each to bury or cremate loved ones whose deaths were supposed to be a direct result of one of the four hurricanes that struck the state last August and September.

But Florida's medical examiners reviewed 306 deaths approved by FEMA statewide and found that only 74 could be blamed on the storms. In the other 232 cases, the cause of death was suicide, unrelated accidents or natural ailments such as cancer, heart attacks or emphysema.

snip

FEMA's disaster-aid program has been under criticism since the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported last fall on $31 million going to residents of Miami-Dade County, one of the few areas of the state not hit by last year's hurricanes.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002517004_femabury24.html

[Wilms]

11. Discussion:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x394815

[Melissa G]

10. Empower Voters By Region

snip
Under the commission proposal, following the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary the regional primaries would kick in during March, April, May and June, with the order rotating each election cycle. The political parties currently decide when primaries take place, but the commission recommends that if they don't move to regional primaries for 2008, then Congress should legislate the change.

Regional primaries aren't a new idea, but the growing irrelevancy of most voters in the selection of presidential nominees argues forcefully for creating a system that works for voters instead of the party bosses.

Regional primaries also would allow candidates to make better use of regional media markets, such as Philadelphia-South Jersey and New York City-Connecticut-northern New Jersey.

Congress and the states were supposed to correct the problems so evident in 2000, but the 2004 presidential election showed that many areas of the country still had flawed voting systems. Among the 87 recommendations offered to President Bush and Congress last week by the commission are calls for requiring those seeking to vote to present photo IDs, and that electronic voting machines also provide a paper trail of the ballots cast, both good ideas.

http://www.pennlive.com/editorials/patriotnews/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1127553720163900.xml&coll=1#continue

[Algorem]

12. Diebold analysts question reasons behind shake-up

http://www.cleveland.com/business/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/business/1127554827276460.xml&coll=2&thispage=1

Sunday, September 25, 2005

...The shake-up and weaker forecast caught some analysts off guard and left corporate-governance experts questioning whether O'Dell would be wearing too many hats...

"Maybe get down to a one-person company, then it would be appropriate," said James McRitchie, editor of Corpgov.net. "But I don't think it's appropriate when you're a public company, where there should be transparency and accountability."...

Sayan Chatterjee, professor of management policy at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University, said it's very unusual for a chief executive to take on four roles.

"I've never seen it in a large company of Diebold's size," he said...

[Wilms]

13. Discussion:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1804747#top