Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Sunday, March 26

[MelissaB]

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.

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

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x418590

All previous daily threads are available here:

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

[MelissaB]

1. PA: Shortage of voting machines could hinder May 16 primary

Shortage of voting machines could hinder May 16 primary

Sunday, March 26, 2006
BY AL WINN
Of Our Lebanon County Bureau

LEBANON - Lebanon County Commissioner Jo Ellen Litz said she's looking forward to longer lines at polling places in May thanks to the failure of a voting machine company to provide as many voting machines as the county ordered.

In late January, commissioners ordered 255 electronic voting machines from Election Systems & Software, based in Omaha, Neb. New machines are required by the federal government and must be used at all polls in the May 16 primary. At the time, she said the company said it could provide them.

On Monday, county officials got word the company could send only 150. It was the same story in as many as 35 Pennsylvania counties, including several in the midstate.

"Perry County is the same as Lebanon. They anticipate shipping us 50 percent for the primary election. .... We have accepted that," said Perry County Elections Director Bonnie Delancey.

Cumberland County will get 450 of the 629 machines it ordered from the company. "It's the bare minimum to conduct the election in May," said Cumberland County Chief Operating Officer John Byrne.

More: http://www.pennlive.com/news/patriotnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1143368568101050.xml&coll=1

[MelissaB]

2. PA: Voting machines expected for primary

Voting machines expected for primary

Sunday, March 26, 2006
By Karen Kane, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

With just hours to spare, Butler County last week met a company-imposed deadline to ensure delivery of electronic voting machines before the spring primary.

Even so, Election Systems & Software may not be able to provide all of the county's machines until summer, although enough will be available for the expected voter turnout in the May 16 primary, said Elections Bureau Director Regis Young.

County commissioners voted March 1 to buy 490 touch-screen balloting machines from ES&S of Omaha, Neb., with the vote contingent on resolving some contract language.

The company had warned the county it could not guarantee delivery in time for the primary if the contract wasn't signed and delivered by Wednesday. Mr. Young said the paperwork was delivered by overnight mail Wednesday morning. "We made it,'' he said.

The contract was being finalized as the company fielded questions across Pennsylvania about its ability to fill orders in time for the May 16 primary election. Word was circulating that an order from Luzerne County would not be filled, jeopardizing that county's federal funding allocation for compliance with the Help America Vote Act, or HAVA.


More: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06085/675625.stm

[MelissaB]

3. FL: More election shenanigans in Sunshine State

More election shenanigans in Sunshine State
BY FRED GRIMM
[e-mail]

Not even the toadies on the Florida Public Service Commission would allow their corporate buddies to get away with this.

Customers might give the power companies hell. They might rail about FPL's rotten poles or Progress Energy's substandard maintenance or Gulf Power's tardy service. But power companies don't retaliate against even their fiercest critics. They don't dare. Not even the Public Service Commission abides such behavior.

The Florida Secretary of State's office harbors a different ethic. The guardian of Florida democracy raised not a peep of protest when the only three certified vendors of voting machines retaliated against a critic. Diebold Elections Systems, Election Systems and Software (ES&S) and Sequoia Voting Systems all refused to sell machines to Leon County's Supervisor of Elections.

EASY TO HACK

Ion Sancho offended the election machine triopoly last year when he brought in computer security experts who demonstrated how an insider could hack Leon's Diebold voting machines, alter the outcome of an election and then wipe out all signs of tampering.
Diebold cut him off like a betrayed lover. ES&S canceled his order for touch-screen machines, claiming that the company was just too busy to supply Leon County. (Oddly, an ES&S official assured Maryland's election administrator in February that the company could outfit the entire state with new machines.)

More: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/14181959.htm

[MelissaB]

7. discussion

here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x418771

[MelissaB]

4. FL: Goodman: Vote machines can't go wrong, go wrong, go wrong

Goodman: Vote machines can't go wrong, go wrong, go wrong

Published March 26, 2006
Tallahassee · It's simple. In close elections, we need to be able to recount the votes.

That's most obvious in Palm Beach County, where voters booted out the long-serving supervisor of elections, Theresa LePore, in 2004 -- partly because she didn't think the new touch-screen technology, brought in to replace those disastrous punch cards, needs paper backups.

Unfortunately, the paper trail has gone cold under LePore's successor. Instead of leading the charge for change, Arthur Anderson is taking it slow.

But Anderson's complacency isn't the only roadblock to a paper trail.

Here's a potentially bigger hurdle: Florida has rewritten its elections law to eliminate almost all manual recounts in touch-screen voting.

The reasoning is that the computerized touch-screens are incapable of error. After all, the machine won't let you overvote or undervote -- that is, vote for too many candidates or unintentionally leave blanks, the major problems in past election challenges.

Just one problem.

The machines can be wrong.

Ion Sancho, Leon County elections head since 1988, is a self-described maverick and a stickler for making every vote count. In the shambles of 2000, voting here went virtually error-free.

Last year, Sancho discovered the supposedly impossible -- that Diebold Election Systems touch screens and optical-scanning machines had serious security flaws.

And now he's paying for his audacity. Possibly with his job.


More: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/columnists/sfl-phoward26mar26,0,1052337.column

[MelissaB]

5. Election Whistle-Blower Stymied by Vendors (from the Washington Post!)

Election Whistle-Blower Stymied by Vendors
After Official's Criticism About Security, Three Firms Reject Bid for Voting Machines

By Peter Whoriskey
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 26, 2006; Page A07

MIAMI -- Among those who worry that hackers might sabotage election tallies, Ion Sancho is something of a hero.

The maverick elections supervisor in Leon County, Fla., last year helped show that electronic voting machines from one of the major manufacturers are vulnerable, according to experts, and would allow election workers to alter vote counts without detection.




Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho: "I'm
being singled out for punishment."

Now, however, Sancho may be paying an unexpected price for his whistle-blowing: None of the state-approved companies here will sell him the voting machines the county needs.

"I've essentially embarrassed the current companies for the way they do business, and now I believe I'm being singled out for punishment by the vendors," he said.

...snip

A spokesman said Diebold will not sell to Sancho without assurances that he will not permit more such tests, which the company considers a reckless use of the machines.

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/25/AR2006032500805.html

[MelissaB]

6. Discussion

here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x418775

[MelissaB]

8. Editoral: A voting machine test

A voting machine test
-
Thursday, March 23, 2006


THERE ARE lots of ways to boost voting. Let people vote by mail, as 41 percent of the turnout did last November. Hold elections over several days, not just one, as some cities allow. Sign up voters in hospitals, motor vehicle offices and shopping malls.

But when touch-screen voting comes up, watch out for the instant rebellion. Opponents fear political tampering with a new technology that, even under best circumstances, isn't completely foolproof.

This suspicion is a burden that electronic voting doesn't need. It's why a court challenge brought by critics of Diebold Election Systems, a major supplier of touch-screen machines, should be considered in San Francisco Superior Court.

The state's top elections official, Secretary of State Bruce McPherson, believes the machines are reliable. He conducted his own inquiry and invited in Diebold critics. The results: Hackers could still change election results, but the chances were remote and could be stopped by extra precautions, he said.

The findings haven't ended the perception problem. If there's any doubt here, Mr. Secretary, let the court case be heard, promptly.

California deserves the convenience and flexibility of touch-screen voting, but not at the cost of voter fraud.

Page B - 8
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/03/23/EDGU9GJFT41.DTL

[MelissaB]

9. Florida County Supervisor Draws Criticism

Florida County Supervisor Draws Criticism

By BRENT KALLESTAD
The Associated Press
Saturday, March 25, 2006; 5:22 PM

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Elections controversies just seem to stick to Florida. With the memory of a botched 2000 presidential election still etched in the minds of most elections supervisors in the state, Leon County's Ion Sancho is now finding he can't get the equipment he says he needs to guarantee an honest election.

Vendors of the ATM-like electronic voting machines, tired of Sancho's criticisms over the level of security in their software, no longer want to do business with him or the county. All three companies certified to do business in Florida _ Diebold Inc., Election Systems & Software Inc. and Sequoia Voting Systems Inc. _ have said "no."

Ion Sancho, Leon County Supervisor of Elections, works in his office, Thursday, March 2, 2006, in Tallahassee, Fla. Sancho has served in his position for 18 years. With the memory of a botched 2000 presidential election still etched in the minds of most elections supervisors in the state, Sancho is now finding he can't get the equipment he says he needs to guarantee an honest election. Voting machine vendors, tired of Sancho's criticisms over the level of security in their software, no longer want to do business with him or the county. (AP Photo/Phil Coale) (Phil Coale - AP)

Sancho's insistence on quality also has angered several Florida officials, including Gov. Jeb Bush, and has already cost his county more than a half million dollars.

Nonetheless, the feisty 55-year-old has his share of supporters, with the Tallahassee Democrat dubbing him "a zealous soldier in election reform battles."


More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/25/AR2006032500739.html

[MelissaB]

10. one more snip

The whole article is great.


...snip

"Florida is one example of how partisan politics interfere with having folks' votes being counted accurately," Sancho said in his office overlooking a series of mildew-stained white government buildings near the state Capitol. "Americans have taken elections for granted for far too long."

[MelissaB]

11. FL: State and county officials concur

State and county officials concur
By Jeff Burlew
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER


No fault found in closed meeting Attorney General Charlie Crist says he believes Florida's open-meetings laws were not violated when reporters were asked to leave a March 13 meeting at Secretary of State Sue Cobb's office.

But Crist, in a letter received Friday by the Tallahassee Democrat, also said the reporters "have cause to feel wronged" if they were threatened with arrest. Cobb's office called Capitol Police after reporters refused to leave the area outside the office.

Tallahassee Democrat Executive Editor Robert C. Gabordi continued to express concern Friday about the incident.

"We are grateful the attorney general understands why we think it is wrong to call police on reporters who simply show up to a meeting to do their jobs," Gabordi said. "But what we want to know is, is it OK for high-ranking officials to try to intimidate the press in Florida? Are there no repercussions? We would have liked for the attorney general to have been clear on his position. We're disappointed."

Although Cobb hosted the meeting, Leon County had sent out a public notice about it because county officials thought two commissioners - Bill Proctor and Bob Rackleff - would attend. The Florida Sunshine Law requires meetings of two or more commissioners to be open if they are to discuss public business. Both commissioners showed up for the meeting, but Rackleff left to avoid a Sunshine problem.


More: http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060325/NEWS01/603250326/1010

[MelissaB]

12. Weekly Ken Blackwell watch

[MelissaB]

13. Governor candidates reach out via religionLISA CORNWELLAssociated PressCIN

Governor candidates reach out via religion
LISA CORNWELLAssociated Press

CINCINNATI - The voting clout of conservative Christians credited with helping swing crucial states such as Ohio to President Bush two years ago hasn't been lost on the candidates of 2006.

Particularly in the South and in swing states, candidates for governor and other races are paying attention to conservative and moderate faith-value voters with visits to churches and meetings with preachers.

They are talking about their faith in speeches and identifying values such as sanctity of marriage as part of a campaign platform. They quote from the Bible. A candidate for Ohio governor carries his Bible to campaign events.

...snip

Ohio Republican Ken Blackwell doesn't believe his meetings with conservative pastors or habit of carrying the Bible on campaign stops will turn off less religious voters.

"My interaction has been across faith lines," said Blackwell, a Cincinnati native whose support for the state ban on gay marriage and opposition to abortion have earned him high marks with the religious right. "I've never tried to hide that I am a Christian proud of his faith and who carries his faith into the public square."


More: http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/state/14188364.htm

[MelissaB]

14. Blackwell's debatable motives

Blackwell's debatable motives
Sunday, March 26, 2006

Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell said last week he has no intention of debating Attorney General Jim Petro, his opponent for governor in the Republican primary election.

Blackwell will instead spend his time reaching out to GOP voters in other ways and presumably raising funds. If Blackwell presumes that his winning political strategy is properly premised in avoiding face-to-face public discussions with Petro, he's wrong. But it will fall to primary voters to determine the degree of the disservice rendered.

We are puzzled by Blackwell's position.

Not only has he declined a debate invitation sponsored by three of the state's largest newspapers (including this one), but he apparently has no intention of taking on Petro at a Cleveland City Club debate scheduled for April 25. Petro will have the stage to himself that day.

Blackwell is hardly the timid sort. He is the most political secretary of state in Ohio history - perhaps American history. He is a calculating politician who has made a career of sharply questioning the operations of government and those who hold office. He has never been at a loss for words involving matters of state government or, for that matter, nominees to the United States Supreme Court.

...snip

Republican primary voters must ask themselves why Blackwell would deny them the opportunity to assess the virtues and strengths of the two candidates in a side-by-side comparison. What does he have to fear? What does he have to lose in an open exchange in the marketplace of political ideas?

More: http://www.cleveland.com/politics/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1143279374124850.xml&coll=2

[MelissaB]

15. Menaced by Blackwell's knife

Menaced by Blackwell's knife
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Brent Larkin
Plain Dealer Columnist

While Ken Blackwell was campaign ing in Toledo on Wednesday, a per fect storm was gathering around him in Greater Cleveland - the type of storm with the potential to spread throughout Ohio and wipe out his candidacy for governor.

At the suggestion of the Republican mayor of Bay Village, about 140 local public officials gathered in Warrensville Heights to learn details of Blackwell's ballot initiative to limit government spending.

At the end of the two-hour session hosted by the Cuyahoga Mayors and City Managers Association, there was unanimous agreement about the need to wage an aggres- sive campaign against Blackwell's sloppily written Tax and Expenditure Limitation (TEL).


"This whole issue sounds real sexy to voters - until you read the fine print," Bay Village Mayor Deborah Sutherland told the group.

Another speaker dubbed the Blackwell plan the "nexus of evil."

More: http://www.cleveland.com/open/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1143279700124850.xml&coll=2

[MelissaB]

16. Blackwell has 11-point lead with 5 weeks left

Blackwell has 11-point lead with 5 weeks left
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Darrel Rowland
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell holds a double-digit lead in Ohio’s GOP gubernatorial primary race in the first Dispatch Poll before the May 2 election.

While Attorney General Jim Petro trails by 11 points, nearly a third of Republican voters remain undecided. That means Petro must win two out of every three of those uncommitted voters just to draw even as the candidates fire up their TV ad war over the final five weeks of the campaign.

Blackwell’s margin might help explain his decisions not to debate Petro and to limit media access. The front-runner will face a crucial decision as the primary approaches on whether to spend the bulk of his campaign cash to counter a probable all-or-nothing Petro onslaught or to save some money for the fall campaign.

On the Democratic side, U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland has a commanding 43-point lead over former state Rep. Bryan Flannery with 41 percent saying they are undecided. That means Strickland probably can preserve most of his cash reserves, although he is currently airing his first TV ad.



More: http://www.columbusdispatch.com/?story=dispatch/2006/03/26/20060326-A1-02.html

[MelissaB]

17. William Hershey: In lemon grove, GOP leader talks peachy

William Hershey: In lemon grove, GOP leader talks peachy
By William Hershey

Dayton Daily News

COLUMBUS | Spring's not even a week old but that darned Ken Mehlman's already selling lemonade, usually a summertime favorite.

Mehlman, in case you're not tuned in politically, is the Harvard Law School graduate who's now chairman of the Republican National Committee.

He earned that job after running President Bush's successful 2004 re-election campaign. Now Mehlman's interested in getting Republicans elected and re-elected all over the country.

That brings us back to the political lemonade he peddled last week when he set up shop temporarily at Ohio Republican headquarters here.

Lemonade, of course, is what political operatives like Mehlman try to squeeze when they're stuck with bushels of lemons.

...snip

Mehlman declined to say much about another Republican lemon, the nasty, divisive and costly battle for the Republican nomination for governor between Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell and Attorney General Jim Petro.

He managed to squeeze a little lemonade out of this mess, however, by contrasting it with the Democrats.

Mehlman said U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland, D-Lisbon, the Democrats' likely candidate for governor, had been chosen by "party bosses," which didn't sound like a very nice group.

Mehlman did not mention that Ohio's premier political "boss," longtime state Republican Chairman Robert Bennett, worked long, hard and with no success in an attempt to get either Blackwell or Petro to leave the governor's race and avoid a primary.


More: http://www.daytondailynews.com/localnews/content/localnews/columns/daily/0326hershey.html

[MelissaB]

38. Strickland says he's the fighter who can win governor's job

Strickland says he's the fighter who can win governor's job

By JIM TANKERSLEY
BLADE POLITICS WRITER


A young man walked up to Ted Strickland shortly after a candidate forum this week in Canton. He identified himself as a Republican, shook Mr. Strickland’s hand, and delivered a quick but harsh message.

“You’ve got to add details to your answers,” said the Republican, Matt Miller, who is an Ashland County commissioner. He added: “You could win this.”

This is life for Mr. Strickland, a congressman from southern Ohio and the Democratic front-runner in the governor’s race. Democrats and Republicans alike say they want more answers from him. Many also call him the favorite in the general election.

Mr. Strickland detailed positions on a wide range of issues in an interview this week. He accused one Republican gubernatorial candidate of “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic” and called the other “an alarming person.” He dismissed Bryan Flannery, a former state legislator also running in the May 2 Democratic primary, as irrelevant.

The congressman said he would veto an abortion ban similar to South Dakota’s, sign a civil unions bill for gays, and reject a ban on state contracts for campaign donors.


Lots more here: http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060326/NEWS09/60326007

[MelissaB]

39. discussion

here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x418887

[MelissaB]

18. From Texas: Election problems renew electronic voting concerns

Election problems renew electronic voting concerns
By ANNA M. TINSLEYSTAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER

Computer glitches. Overcounts. Improper computer programming. Bad batteries.

These are among the problems that have cropped up in communities nationwide -- including in Tarrant County -- with electronic voting in recent weeks and months.

And although officials say most of the issues have been resolved, the problems have renewed concerns among some critics that electronic voting -- without paper backups -- could lead to widespread problems exceeding those in Florida that slowed the recount of the 2000 presidential votes.
"Election systems are not immune," said Dan Wallach, an associate professor at Rice University who specializes in computer security and electronic voting. "Barring radical advances in computer technology, these machines are basically computers with software that can have bugs and be tampered with.

"If all the numbers add up, then it might have worked and it might not have worked," he said. "When you have a system where the inner workings of the system are a secret, like with electronic machines, you don't know."

More: http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/local/14192074.htm

[rumpel]

19. NY: Voting Rights Act to be Mount Vernon forum's focus

By LIZ ANDERSON
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: March 26, 2006)

The vice chairwoman of the Westchester County Board of Legislators will be one of the guest panelists at an April 5 forum on whether to make the federal Voting Rights Act permanent.

The act, first approved in 1965 and extended in 1982 for another 25 years, gives the federal government the power to oversee voter registration and ensure states do not suppress voting rights.

The forum is sponsored by the group Democracy for Westchester, the local branch of Democracy for America, and co-hosted by Mount Vernon community activist Vicki Camacho.

The panelists will be

• Legislator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, D-Yonkers, who recently announced her second bid for the state Senate.

• Sondra K. Slade, a lawyer and president of the League of Women Voters of Bronxville.

• Gregory Wallance, a lawyer and author.

The discussion will be moderated by the group's chairman, Alan Goldston, a Westchester lawyer and former federal prosecutor.

Democracy for Westchester supports making the Voting Rights Act permanent.

http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060326/NEWS02/603260377/1026/NEWS10

[rumpel]

20. IL: Chaos at the polls means trouble

Chicago Sun-Times

March 26, 2006

BY DAN MILLER

Cook County dodged a bullet in the primary election held Tuesday, but unless major changes are made this summer, we won't be so lucky in the November general election.


Dozens of candidates were nominated in Tuesday's primary, and with Forrest Claypool's classy concession to John Stroger on Wednesday, instead of a messy court challenge to the vote total, County Clerk David Orr and the Board of Election Commissioners could declare the election a success.

But it wasn't. Democracy came this close to a meltdown Tuesday. I know. I saw it happening.

I have served as an election judge for the last several primary and general elections on Chicago's North Side, and although my specific precinct operated relatively smoothly on Tuesday (our touch-screen voting machine did malfunction all day, and our paper-ballot reader jammed a few times), I met dozens of other election judges in dozens of other precincts fuming with frustration over voting machines that jammed or never booted up, and hauling uncounted and unsecured paper ballots and voting cartridges to the Board of Elections receiving station at Sullivan High School. As thoroughly honest as election judges are -- and if there's a dishonest one, I have yet to encounter him or her -- elections in particular and democracy in general lose credibility in direct proportion to the chaos and confusion associated with casting a ballot.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/otherviews/cst-nws-judge26.html

[mopinko]

35. more from illinois

not from today, but this week.

Illinois: No More Payments To Sequoia Until Problems Are Solved
http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1116&Itemid=113

Chicago election officials doing a heckuva a job
http://blackboxvoting.com/s9/index.php?/archives/105-Chicago-election-officials-doing-a-heckuva-a-job.html

Machine Woes Slow Vote-Counting in Illinois
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/22/AR2006032202171.html

[rumpel]

21. NE: State leaders say machine voting system is safe

Journal Star

By NANCY HICKS / Lincoln Journal Star

John Hansen knows all about the fallibility of computer systems.

On the day he spoke at a public hearing for a bill that would allow a hand recount in Nebraska elections the president of the Nebraska Farmers Union was fretting over a 90-member disparity between national and state data bases.

The staff eventually had to trace Nebraska Farmers Union membership payments through the paper records because of a computer glitch.

The paper trail is a common sense back-up when the computer program fails to yield what we think is the bonafide number, Hansen said during a public hearing on the bill (LB1013). The measure would allow a losing candidate to ask for — and pay for — a hand recount.

http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2006/03/26/local/doc4425e26a12298187742811.txt

[rumpel]

22. NC: Machines still need testing

Goldboro News Argus

Wayne County's new voting machines are in, but Board of Elections Director Gary Sims said the tabulators aren't yet ready for the May primary or fall election -- and there is some doubt they will run properly even then.

"It's like having a car without an engine. We haven't been given the data cards to run tests on them," he said.

Wake County officials have been able to test their new machines, Sims said, but with unfavorable results. Wayne County officials would like to know soon if they will be facing the same dilemma.

"Some of theirs failed their testing standards and they might do the same thing here," Sims said.

If any tabulator fails the county's testing standards or doesn't operate properly on Election Day, the machines would have to be shipped to Omaha, Neb., which is Election Systems and Software's headquarters, for repair.

Although the machines were provided by a North Carolina vendor, all responsibility shifted to Elections Systems and Software once they were delivered.

http://www.newsargus.com/news/archives/2006/03/26/machines_still_need_testing/index.shtml

[rumpel]

23. Bill Richardson: New Mexico governor, on a range of issues

Sun Sentinel, FL

Posted March 26 2006


Q. You're in Florida to talk about optical scanners for voting machines. Why?

A. I believe that -- for the purposes of credibility and for the purposes of voters' feeling that they are participating -- the best system is the paper ballot with the optical scanner. Voters want to see a paper trail. They want to be sure that their vote has been counted. I am urging all secretaries of state, county clerks to pursue this new technology.

It's because a verifiable paper trail, I believe, is part of democracy. Voters want to know that their vote counted. They want to see it. It's a matter of civic duty … You have to have the optical scanner, verifiable paper trails, that you use with pen and pencil. I believe that is the best technology right now. With a touch-screen there is still a margin of error.

Q. Is this something Congress should take care of or is it best left to the states?

A. It should be done locally. The Hava Act … the federal law that technologically brings the paper ballot and provides mainly federal funds for training -- that has exhausted its role. They have a good funding source. But I believe it should be done locally. What we did in New Mexico is we mandated the paper ballot but I also put in $11 million from the state budget to complement $29 million from Hava, so that all the county clerks would have their own machines … The Congress, they don't have an appetite to deal with this again. In any event, nothing passes in the Congress, period. So, I would encourage state officials to look at this and pursue it. Of all the states, it would seem to me that Florida and Ohio should be the most serious. Florida, Ohio and New Mexico, if you remember the last election.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/editorial/sfl-opqa26mar26,0,4720109.story?coll=sfla-news-editorial

[rumpel]

24. WI: Some say time is right for political reform in Wisconsin

Published - Sunday, March 26, 2006
Some say time is right for political reform in Wisconsin

By JOAN KENT / La Crosse Tribune

With several Wisconsin legislators headed to jail, speakers at a Democracy Forum held in La Crosse on Saturday said the time is ripe for ethics and campaign finance reform in Wisconsin.

“The planets are lined up,” former Republican Assembly representative Dave Martin told about 30 people attending the forum at the Reinhart Center for Ethics, Science and Technology at Viterbo University. “We have the indictments of leaders of both parties on the way to prison. If we aren’t going to get election reform this year, it will be a long time before we get it in Wisconsin.”

The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a nonpartisan political watchdog group, and the League of Women Voters sponsored the forum.

Two reform bills are before the Legislature, which will hold a mop-up meeting at the end of April, he said. But that session may be taken up with debate on the Taxpayer Protection Amendment, Martin warned, urging voters to request a special session to consider the reform legislation if it isn’t discussed at this session.

State politics is at a low point in its history, said Martin; former Assembly member and former La Crosse mayor John Medinger; and Wisconsin Democracy Campaign director Mike McCabe, noting the scandals in Madison and influence of lobbyists on state politics.

“We are at a point of crisis,” McCabe said. “This will prove to be a very dark moment.”

snip

Proposed legislation

Speakers at Saturday’s Democracy Forum urged people to push their legislators to bring two pending bills regarding ethics and campaign finance reform to the floor for debate. Assembly majority leader Rep. Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, and Assembly speaker John Gard, R-Peshtigo, are key players in determining whether the bills get to the floor, said Mike McCabe, Wisconsin Democracy Campaign director.

Senate Bill 1: Would combine the ethics and elections board into a more effective single body.

Assembly Bill 226: Would allow candidates in state elections to qualify for up to 35 percent public funding if they agree to meet spending limits of $4 million for gubernatorial candidates, $150,000 for Senate candidates and $75,000 for Assembly candidates. The bill would provide money for candidates to respond to last-minute attack ads.

Joan Kent can be reached at [phone] or [e-mail].

http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2006/03/26/news/z00change.txt

[rumpel]

25. LA: Voting Rights Act on table

Symposium focuses on N.O. election

By DAMIANE RICKS
Advocate staff writer
Published: Mar 26, 2006

Legal professionals warned Saturday there is the “opportunity” to dilute” the voter rights of people displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita unless the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is renewed.

Attorneys, judges and legal scholars took part in a symposium at the Southern University Law Center aimed at discussing the importance of the Voting Rights Act and the dangers of living without it.

While most of the act is permanent, three sections will expire in 2007 unless renewed by Congress.

Those sections require state and parish governments to get federal approval before changing election laws and procedures, provides language assistance to voters who do not speak English, and empowers the U.S. attorney general to send federal examiners to monitor elections, said LaShawn Warren of the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington, D.C.

While the Constitution of the United States gives every U.S. citizen the right to vote, the Voting Rights Act prohibits city and state governing bodies from practices — such as imposing literacy tests and gerrymandering — which would exclude a group of voters, said Stanley Halpin, a Southern University Law Center professor.

Gerrymandering is the dividing of a geographic area into voting districts so as to give an unfair advantage to one voting group over others.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/politics/2524406.html

[rumpel]

26. MD: Opinion Our say: Bill would help keep regents out of politics

By THE CAPITAL EDITORIAL BOARD

There has long been a disconnect between the University System of Maryland's goal and its governance. And no one thinks that a bill sponsored by Del. Frank Turner of Howard County - passed by the House Environmental Matters Committee last week, 12-8 - will solve the whole problem. But at least it would be a start.

The university system's goal is excellence - giving Maryland one of the best systems of public higher education in the country, fueling the state's economy and helping to guarantee its future.

And as for its governance? As we wrote in this space more than three years ago: "Conservative or liberal, Democrat or Republican, governors all seem to treat the board of regents of the University System of Maryland the same way. That is, they use their appointment power to make it a cushy nest for some political friends.

"You would expect regents to be chosen for expertise in education. Instead, they're often chosen because of large campaign contributions or close ties to the current governor."

Gov. Robert Ehrlich Jr. hasn't broken with the practice of using the board of regents as a handy perch for political insiders. One of his appointments was his ace fund-raiser, Richard Hug, who has been serving as finance chairman for Mr. Ehrlich's re-election campaign. We thought Mr. Hug should have resigned two years ago, when he also put his fund-raising skills to work for a pro-slot-machine organization.

http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2006/03_26-21/OPN

[rumpel]

27. TX: Election problems renew electronic voting concerns

Star-Telegram

Posted on Sun, Mar. 26, 2006
Election problems renew electronic voting concerns
By ANNA M. TINSLEY
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
Computer glitches. Overcounts. Improper computer programming. Bad batteries.

These are among the problems that have cropped up in communities nationwide -- including in Tarrant County -- with electronic voting in recent weeks and months.

And although officials say most of the issues have been resolved, the problems have renewed concerns among some critics that electronic voting -- without paper backups -- could lead to widespread problems exceeding those in Florida that slowed the recount of the 2000 presidential votes.

"Election systems are not immune," said Dan Wallach, an associate professor at Rice University who specializes in computer security and electronic voting. "Barring radical advances in computer technology, these machines are basically computers with software that can have bugs and be tampered with.

"If all the numbers add up, then it might have worked and it might not have worked," he said. "When you have a system where the inner workings of the system are a secret, like with electronic machines, you don't know."

Election officials say they believe that the bugs will be worked out as local election administrators become more comfortable with new electronic voting machines, which have been installed under a federal mandate to ensure that disabled voters can cast ballots without assistance.

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/local/14192074.htm

[rumpel]

28. FL: Voting supervisor angers critics

Orlando Sentinel

Leon County's Ion Sancho has upset equipment makers by insisting on security.

The Associated Press |
Posted March 26, 2006

TALLAHASSEE -- Elections controversies just seem to stick to Florida.

With the memory of a botched 2000 presidential election still etched in the minds of most elections supervisors in the state, Leon County's Ion Sancho is now finding he can't get the equipment he says he needs to guarantee an honest election.

Vendors of the ATM-like electronic voting machines, tired of Sancho's criticisms over the level of security in their software, no longer want to do business with him or the county. All three companies certified to do business in Florida -- Diebold Inc., Election Systems & Software Inc. and Sequoia Voting Systems Inc. -- have said "no."

Sancho's insistence on quality also has angered several Florida officials, including Gov. Jeb Bush, and has already cost his county more than a half-million dollars.

Nonetheless, the feisty 55-year-old has his share of supporters.

"Ion is one of the few to ask the questions," said Herbert Thompson, chief security strategist for Boston-based firm Security Innovation. "Like, what is this thing actually doing to my vote? How is it processing my vote?"

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-mave2606mar26,0,6876775.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-state

[rumpel]

29. Diebold: Analyst Ratings

Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 03/26/06

Diebold Inc. (DBD) was rated new "buy" in new coverage by analyst Kathleen L. Steinbrecher at Wedbush Morgan Securities. The 12-month price target is $50 per share.

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060326/BUSINESS/603260336/1003

[rumpel]

30. OH: Foreign workers take jobs in Stark

Canton Rep

Sunday, March 26, 2006
By Melissa Griffy Seeton Repository staff writer and MICHELLE POJE REPOSITORY correspondent
CANTON - Companies across the nation are hiring foreign workers without first advertising for their skilled American counterparts.

It’s called the H1-B visa program. And a company near you may be taking part.

Aultman Hospital, Hoover and Diebold are some of the big names in Stark County applying for foreign workers, but there are smaller ones, too. Meals on Wheels of Stark and Wayne counties, for example, hired a dietitian under the program. And Top Echelon, a network for independent recruiting firms, has applied for 41 H1-B visas over the past three years — the highest number in Stark County.

And that number may be rising.

At a Feb. 2 speech in Minnesota, President Bush asked Congress to raise the H1-B visa cap from 65,000 as part of his American Competitiveness Initiative Agenda.

“There are more high-tech jobs in America today than people to fill them,” Bush said.

But some say highly skilled workers in the United States are being overlooked, and the H1-B visa program gives companies an easy way out.

emphasis mine

http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=276924&Category=9

[rumpel]

31. UT: Secure? Vote is no

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Group finds problems with election machines
By Josh Loftin
Deseret Morning News

State elections officials may have gotten more than they bargained for on some of their electronic voting machines.
Diebold Elections System, which built and programmed the ATM-style machines that will be used statewide in this year's elections, is looking at the font files on some of the machines sent to the state last year, primarily to address concerns about insufficient memory caused at least in part by excess font files.
Spokesman David Bear said that some of the machines were programmed with more font options than other machines, which is accounting for most of the discrepancy in available memory, although the types of tests run on the machines before shipping could also take up memory.
What is happening is that the machines are hosting illicit programs that could affect the performance or, in the worst case, actually change election results. They are not used machines.
"These systems have been used in small elections in Utah and received rave reviews from voters and elections officials," Bear said. "This technology has also been used by millions of voters nationwide and has had very few problems."
The memory differences were first brought to the attention of state elections officials by Emery County Clerk-Auditor Bruce Funk, who said he noticed as much as 15 megabyte range of available memory on the 25 megabyte machines.
The machines use flash memory technology.
To help him figure out what was wrong, he called in experts from Black Box Voting, a nonpartisan voting organization that focuses on election accuracy and security. Funk said that they found a number of potential security concerns and even raised the possibility that they were not the new machines Diebold was supposed to deliver.

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,635194578,00.html

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32. WY: American Indians still face voting obstacles

By MARY CLARE JALONICK
Associated Press writer Sunday, March 26, 2006


LAKE ANDES, S.D. -- When Charon Asetoyer went to vote a few years ago, she was met with unfriendly words and an offensive gesture. A white man, apparently unhappy with the idea of an American Indian walking into the polls, asked her in vulgar terms what she was doing there.

She told him she was there because she had a right to vote and went back to her car to wait for him to leave. Only when he sped away did she walk inside.

Discrimination against Indians is commonplace here, she says. And nowhere is that more evident than in the polling booth.

Asetoyer, an American Indian who lives on the Yankton Sioux Indian Reservation in the quiet flatlands of southeastern South Dakota, compares her home to the South in the 1960s.

"It's outright racism," she says.

Many on this reservation say that kind of behavior is normal in Charles Mix County, a poor, rural section of South Dakota farm country where American Indians make up around one-third of the population. Asetoyer, a quietly determined activist who moved here from California years ago, calls it a land-based struggle, where many of the conflicts are "border issues."

The problem is not limited to South Dakota. As Congress looks to reauthorize parts of the Voting Rights Act, many American Indians say they aren't satisfied with federal and state protections of their voting rights. While the landmark law has brought them a long way from the day when some state governments required they be "civilized" to cast ballots, they say they still suffer from intimidation, restrictive voting requirements and long distances to polling places.

"There's no question that there still is some subtle discouragement," says former Republican Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, a member of Colorado's Northern Cheyenne Tribe. "We've come a long way but we have a long way to go."

much more
http://www.jacksonholestartrib.com/articles/2006/03/26/news/regional/88be7af267eafb188725713d0005b6f7.txt

[KoKo]

33. Kick and Recommend!

[rumpel]

34. Seattle Times: Briefs: FEC offers rules on Web politics

Sunday, March 26, 2006 - Page updated at 12:00 AM

Nation Digest
Briefs: FEC offers rules on Web politics
Washington

FEC offers rules on Web politics

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) has proposed rules that would leave almost all Internet political activity unregulated. The proposal would, however, require that paid advertisements for federal candidates on the Internet be regulated by federal campaign law.

There has been an explosion of political activity on the Internet, and political bloggers who offer diverse views say they should be free of government regulation.

In a summary of the proposal, the FEC said Friday the rules "are intended to ensure that political committees properly finance and disclose their Internet communications, without impeding individual citizens from using the Internet to speak freely regarding candidates and elections."

The revised definition includes paid Internet advertising placed on another person's Web site but does not encompass any other form of Internet communications.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002890163_ndig26.html

[Kurovski]

36. kick(nt)

[FogerRox]

37. West Wing just started, 24 votes, I'll make it 25, I'll be back in an hr.

[Imagevision]

40. Guys like Blackwell are dangerous people to be in politics!

the guy is a scumbag from jump street!

[rumpel]

41. SD: New voting machines ready

Argus Leader, Sioux Falls

BRENDA WADE SCHMIDT
[e-mail]

Article Published: 03/26/06, 2:55 am

Sioux Falls and Madison voters will have new technology to help them mark their ballots in the April 11 elections.

City and school district voters in the two communities will have the option of using a touch-screen voting machine. Election officials say it will benefit visually impaired voters and people who are unable to mark their ballots without help.

"The machine will actually fill in the ovals for them," said Bev Chase, election services person for the Sioux Falls School District.

The state bought 658 AutoMARK machines from a company called Election Systems & Software at a price of $5,275 each, South Dakota Secretary of State Chris Nelson said. The $4.6 million voting project also included ballot counting machines for 54 counties, he said.

snip

The machine will prevent voters from voting for too many in a category and will ask them if they want to vote for a second person if they only select one candidate when there are two seats to fill, for example. The state also is working on having Lakota available on the machines in counties where that could be helpful, Nelson said.

With the new machines in use, every precinct still will have several regular voting booths, Chase said.

The machines should not malfunction even in a power outage because they have a back-up battery, Nelson said. Even if a machine breaks down, it won't hold up the election process because voters can use the traditional booths, he said.

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060326/NEWS/603260342/1001

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42. NC: N.C. elections board testimony provides fundraising insight

MyrtleBeachOnline

Posted on Sun, Mar. 26, 2006

GARY D. ROBERTSON


Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. - A row of eye doctors, a disabled woman, chiropractors and a video poker operator. All of them say they had their reasons to give money to House Speaker Jim Black or his allies.

Now, many of them will have to also answer to prosecutors.

The State Board of Elections has asked the Wake County district attorney to start criminal investigations of more than 20 people who testified under oath as part of an investigation into whether Black or others may have broken fundraising laws. Black and two former or current legislators are among those being investigated.

"Many of them I simply didn't believe at all," board member Chuck Winfree said. "Either they think we're very stupid or think they won't get caught."

Despite allegations of perjury, the seven days of testimony did provide some useful insight into how campaign donations are raised, a campaign finance reform expert said.

"The money chase in politics is out of control at this point," said Bob Hall with Democracy North Carolina, whose 2004 complaint led to the board's investigation.

"Special interests feel like that it's a pay-to-play system, so they supply the cash," Hall added. "Different groups are using different techniques to put together large amounts of money to have it identified from their own special interest, to get some credit and to gain some advantage, not only access, but to get favorable policy."

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/local/14192878.htm