Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News 04.25.06 --Free versus Pod People

[autorank]

Paper versus Machines -- A Free People versus a Pod People

If you smoke and you want to improve your health, is it better to::

(A) Stop smoking altogether OR

(B) smoke filtered cigarettes?

If you have lousy voting machines, I mean really lousy, and you want to
improve your elections, is it better to:

(A) Get rid of the lousy machines altogether and replace them with
something that actually works, real paper ballots OR

(B) Make the elections even more reliant on machines by:

a. Having a “voter verified paper ballot” that may or may not be
recognized by your locality and

b. Introduce the examination of source code and machine methods
for thousands of machines all over the country when competent resources
are barely available to do that job today.

Of course, you would choose PAPER. Why?
Because, as we all know, you can’t put lipstick on a pig.

CANADA DID AND THEY HAVE NATIONAL ELECTIONS WITH LITTLE DISPUTE,
FREE AND FAIR, OBSERVED BY ALL WHO WISH TO…AND THERE ARE NO MACHINES.

END OF STORY.

Never forget the pursuit of Truth.
Only the deluded & complicit accept election results on blind faith.

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News April 25, 2006

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.

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

"Recommend"

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

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1. CANADA: Votes on All Paper Ballots. Verified Voting Period, No B.S.

CANADA: Votes on All Paper Ballots. Verified Voting Period, No B.S.
Canada has national provincial, and local elections,…all elections…on paper ballots. They experimented with voting machines and were very unhappy. In Canada they have procedures for taking, storing, counting, observing the vote count, and recounts. IT’S NO PROBLEM. WHAT’S OUR PROBLEM?

Despite this being the age of the internet, and wireless everything, vote counting in Canada is still decidedly low-tech.

http://www.cbc.ca/canadavotes/voterstoolkit/votecounting.html

* Voters mark paper ballots by hand
* Ballots are placed in a cardboard box
* At the end of the day, the DRO holds up each ballot, and announces who the vote is for
* The poll clerk and party scrutineers tally the results on a piece of paper
* Results are phoned in to Elections Canada, and the party offices
* Advance and mail-in ballots are not counted until election day, at the returning office
* Preliminary unofficial results are entered into a computer at the returning office, to be forwarded to Elections Canada, and the media consortium
* Within seven days, the returning officer validates the results, making them official
* Recounts are automatic, if the margin between two candidates is less than 1,000 votes

For 50 years, until the early 1970s, the post office issued special stationery for DROs to mail results to candidates and returning officers. After being phoned in, those results are now delivered in person.

Party representatives (scrutineers) are there as witnesses to make sure the whole process is fair. If none are available (these are volunteer positions), then the people working the registration desk, or regular electors, can serve the purpose. (Scrutineers also keep track of who has voted, and let the campaign office know. The office will then call people to encourage them to vote.)

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2. CA: Counties Return to Paper Ballots (Posted by Nicknameless)

Why not? California has seen Diebold put illegal patches on machines in up to 17 counties, spoilage taking away votes from predominantly minority communities. Arnie win a surprising election and the Democrats allow their Secretary of State to be replaced by an Arnie appointed Republican. Paper now for California.


nicknameless Mon Apr-24-06 06:26 PM
Original message

CA: Many counties returning to paper ballots

Many counties returning to paper ballots

By Chris Metinko
CONTRA COSTA TIMES

One of the first counties in the state to embrace electronic voting is headed back to paper -- and its not the only one.

Alameda County residents going to the polls June 6 will be asked for the first time in five years to fill in ovals on paper ballots rather than casting their votes on costly touch-screen machines.

"It's a little bit of back to the future," joked Elaine Ginnold, the county's acting registrar of voters.

The decision to go back to paper stems from changes in state law that toughens requirements for touch-screen machines and render the county's equipment inadequate.

Merced and Plumas counties also will switch back to paper ballots. And earlier this week Los Angeles officials agreed to upgrade their current optical scan system that counts paper ballots instead of spending more than $100 million to buy a touch-screen system.

[Wilms]

3. Discussion

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x425153

[Peace Patriot]

28. 4/27/06: Seven CA counties have been dismissed from the Voter Action

lawsuit against 17 counties and the state of Calif on illegal Diebold election theft machines (touchscreens), because they have promised the judge to use PAPER BALLOTS this year. They are: Humboldt, Marin, Placer, San Luis Obispo, Trinity, Tulare and Santa Barbara Counties.

The counties still being sued (along with the state of Calif) are: Butte (recently added to the suit), Alameda, Fresno, Kern, Lassen, Los Angeles, Mendocino, Modoc, Plumas, San Diego, San Joaquin and Siskiyou.

Alameda and Los Angeles are huge counties--millions of votes (or, rather, "votes").

This info appeared in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat today, identified as coming from "Press Democrat news services"--so I don't know who really developed the information (the PD is a cannabalizer of other people's reporting)(--owned by the NYT). But it's probably true.

-------

Edit:

Here's a reliable source on this story (--and a great press release):
http://www.voteraction.org/States/California/CA.html

It's true--seven counties have pledged to use PAPER BALLOTS!

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4. IN: MicroVote Counties (reprise)

HAVA nice election! Counties in Indiana are told they cannot meet election standards with MicroVote machines. What do they do, opt for paper. Let’s see how they do.


{b]IndyStar.com Metro & State
3:41 PM April 19, 2006

Time almost up for fixing vote machines

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060419/LOCAL/60419031/-1/RSS

Twenty-two Indiana counties may be forced to use paper ballots on Election Day unless the company that provides the equipment can get its voting system certified for use in the next several days.

The Indiana Election Commission told Indianapolis-based MicroVote General Corp. that it must complete all the legal hurdles before the May 2 primary election or, by Indiana law, the equipment is barred from being used.
"We're going to get this fixed," said Thomas Wheeler, chairman of the Indiana Election Commission.

In addition to the 22 counties whose main voting equipment will not be able to be used unless it quickly gets certified, those counties and 25 additional counties cannot use the voting equipment purchased to meet federal requirements for disabled voters.

Wheeler also told MicroVote President James Ries that after the election, the state will investigate whether to revoke the company's license to do business in Indiana for up to five years for installing the uncertified equipment

[salin]

14. ES & S is also being investigated

and may face big fines as well.

Primary election day in Indiana is shaping up to be a very unusual, messy one. Have to say, though, I am very proud that as opposed to officials in other places who dismiss the problems (denial - or worse), and that the paper ballots option are being discussed in various communities. Nice to see this sometimes backwards state make moves that could have a huge impact (in terms of how communities deal with electronic machine problems) in other areas.

Frankly I have been one to dismiss the idea that we could move back to paper ballots, in the sense that there would likely be so much resistance (time factor for counting) that I thought it would be resisted/refused as an option by election officials - and thus not a realistic solution. Thought I was being pragmatic (ala keep fighting for solutions that are possible to be adopted). Watching this story unfold in Indiana is making me revise that view. It seriously looks like it might happen in this state in a fairly broad way (in terms of number of counties going that direction.) For that reason, I think that this story is very important to follow.

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5. PA: Will Wish it had Paper Ballots

The state is behind the curve installing and training on new equipment. You know what that means, disaster. Watch the primaries and see if they don’t go to paper.

Election machines come to a vote
Hoping to avoid a "train wreck," Pa. is hurrying to get poll workers and voters up to speed on new voting systems.

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/states/pennsylvania/counties/philadelphia_county/philadelphia/14413438.htm?source=rss&channel=inquirer_philadelphia

By Nancy Petersen
Inquirer Staff Writer Mon, Apr. 24, 2006

State officials are crossing their fingers that the May 16 primary election will go off without a hitch, but to some outside observers, there are signs that it won't.

Sixty of the state's 67 counties have acquired new voting machines to comply with federal law, but many waited until the last moment and are only now starting to train poll workers and educate voters.

That's a volatile combination just a few weeks before Election Day, said Dan Seligson, editor of a nonpartisan online election reform newsletter, Electionline.org., which monitors election activities around the country.

"The 2002 primaries in Florida were a pretty jarring example of what can happen if a new voting system is put in place in an abbreviated timetable where neither voters or workers have had enough training," he said. "From the moment the polls opened, you could tell it was going to be a bad day."

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6. TN: More Citizens Choosing to Use Paper

Why not? At least they have a better chance to get their votes counted. DREs just “disappear” you vote. Awful, undemocratic. Volunteers of America starting in Tennessee, changing back to paper.




URL: http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/election/article/0,1406,KNS_630_4638964,00.html

Plans made to handle influx of paper ballots

URL: http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/election/article/0,1406,KNS_630_4638964,00.html
http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/election/article/0,1406,KNS_630_4638964,00.html

By MICHAEL SILENCE, [e-mail]
April 21, 2006

Requests for paper ballots during early voting is on a slight increase, but it is still running less than 10 percent of the total votes cast.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission is making plans to count the unprecedented number of paper ballots, and that process will be open to the public.

Through nearly half of the early voting period, 3,010 people have cast ballots. That's about the same number of people who voted during the first seven days of early voting in 2002.

Of the 3,010 people who've voted, 262 did so on a paper ballot, or 8.7 percent. For the first three days of early voting, that percentage was 7.2.

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7. Nation: Tikkun Magazine Goes for All Paper by 2008

This highly influential magazine takes on the big issues, this time, 2000 and 2004 as unrepresentative elections. This is a well thought out article and should be read in full.

TIKKUN

Hand Counted Paper Ballots in 2008
Document Actions
http://www.tikkun.org/magazine/specials/article.2006-04-10.1693298872
Sheila Parks

The right to vote, as well as the principle of “one person, one vote,” is cornerstones of our democracy. The anti-slavery, women’s suffrage, and civil rights movements as well as the expansion of voting to young people are all part of the history of electoral reform in this country. Equally fundamental is the assurance that each voter knows that her or his vote counts and is counted as intended. At this time in our history, many have lost confidence in our voting system.

The presidential elections of 2000 and 2004, and at least six contests in the mid-term elections of 2002, raised many questions about fraud and electronic voting machines. The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) established by HAVA, and the Carter-Baker National Commission on Federal Election Reform were all created after the 2000 election to improve the electoral process. All of these efforts, however, have been detrimental to the prevention and detection of election fraud and error due to their advocacy of the use of electronic voting machines. One election reform advocate, Bev Harris of Black Box Voting, provides a particularly vivid glimpse into the scope of the problems associated with electronic voting machines. She notes that, at a special Texas meeting of the Carter-Baker Commission, “I asked a member of the Panel why they had not asked a single question about how hacks can be done. He said it is not necessary to understand how the system can be compromised in order to protect it.”

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) in its nonpartisan September 2005 report on elections states in its conclusions: “Numerous recent studies and reports have highlighted problems with the security and reliability of electronic voting systems…the concerns they raise have the potential to affect election outcomes.”

Currently there is no government agency that regulates the voting machine industry in the United States. Roughly 80% of votes in the 2004 presidential election were cast and counted on machines manufactured by two private companies, Diebold and ES&S (Election Systems & Software, Inc.), both controlled by registered Republicans. There are two principal types of machines now in use: (1) touch-screens (DRE – Direct Response Electronic), on which no audit or recount is possible because they have no paper trail and (2) optical scans, which use paper ballots for the vote but are counted by central tabulators (particularly susceptible to fraud).

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8. Nation: Stand Back. Lynn Landes is Kicking A** Stop Paper=Steal Elections

Nation: Stand Back. Lyon Landes is Kicking A** Stop Paper=Steal Elections
Ms. Landes, soon to be before the Supreme Court of the US representing herself is fiercely devoted to paper ballots properly administered and observed. This piece is a classic.

If this Election is Stolen, Will it be by
Enough to Stop a Recount?

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Nov2004/Landes1101.htm

by Lynn Landes
www.dissidentvoice.org
November 1, 2004

First, eliminate paper ballots.Thirty percent of all voters will use paperless computerized voting machines that are easy to rig and impossible to detect. Republicans in Congress successfully fought off legislation sponsored by Democrats in the House and Senate that would require voting machines to produce a paper trail. Even with this legislation, paper ballots were only to be used in case of a "close" election.

Second, make sure the paper ballots that do exist are counted on computerized ballot scanners and not by-hand. This includes absentee ballots. Ballot scanners are also easy to rig and are owned by the same handful of corporations. Even in Nevada, where touchscreens must produce paper ballots, the ballots will only be counted in case of a close election. In California, which is allowing voters to choose paper ballots in the upcoming election, ballots still won't be hand-counted; instead they'll be scanned by computers.

Third, and most importantly, steal the election by enough electronically-tabulated votes so that a recount will not be triggered.

To many observers, that is exactly what happened in the 2002 election. In several upset elections across the country, the vast majority of victories went against Democrats by a margin of 9-16% points off of pre-election polling. Meanwhile, Republican upsets were well within the margin of error. After the election I interviewed John Zogby of Zogby International, a fairly well respected polling company. I asked him, if he had noticed over the years an increased variation between pre-election predictions and election results. Zogby said that he didn't notice any big problems until 2002. Things were very different this time.

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9. DC: Autorank Theorizes on the Demise of the * Administration

EndGame "The Demise of the Bush Administration & the Fury of the People"

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10. MS: Try Using Paper and You Get Conflictingi Input

AS DUer Land Shark has pointed out so well, the focus of HAVA is to enschrine touchscreens as the ballots of choice. Not satisfied with just electronic voting, they want it all…the easiest computers to eat your vote. You never see it again. Just terrific. Here, the election needed to usepaper due to delay sin the machines. Some federal groups said sure then state groups,listening to their federal masters, changed their minds. Amazing. Helping America Vote Republican Again.
Paper ballots might snag elections
Demo Committee wants to pull out


By VIVIAN AUSTIN
SUN HERALD

PASCAGOULA - Melton Harris told the Jackson County Board of Supervisors on Monday that the county's Democratic Executive Committee would not conduct the congressional elections scheduled for June.
Harris, committee president, said the organization would, as required by law, pass on the duties to the Circuit Clerk's Office or the Jackson County Election Commission.

Harris, who was accompanied by executive members Aneice Liddell and Bob Smith, said problems with paper ballots are the reason the group decided to pull out of the process.

He said that after the DEC received verbal clearance from the Justice Department to conduct the congressional primary using paper ballots, the Secretary of State's Office said the ballots would be a violation of state law. They also required Circuit Clerk Joe Martin to undertake preparation of ballots and coordinating training, duties he had not previously performed. As well, absentee ballots must be in the Circuit Clerk's Office by Saturday.

"We had talked to the Justice Department and received pre-clearance, but the Secretary of State's Office began to interfere with that part, and said that we were violating the (rights of) handicapped voters - blind and other physical handicaps - because they cannot determine if they are voting correctly by paper ballots," Harris said

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11. WV: Delay in Ballot Programming Lleads to use of Paper

Don’t delay an election because the DRE won’t be programmed, just switch to paper.
Early Voting Could Start With Paper Ballots
By JOSELYN KING Political Writer


Photo by Joselyn King

The Ivotronic touchscreen voting machine, made by Elections Systems and Software of Omaha, Neb., is shown. Touchscreen voting machines were to be used next week in most West Virginia counties as early voting season begins, but many early voters may find themselves casting paper ballots instead.

West Virginia Secretary of State Betty Ireland announced Tuesday that some counties may have to start early voting with paper ballots due to a delay in ballot programming for the touchscreen voting machines. Primary election information for the new devices is being programmed by the state’s vendor, Elections Systems and Software of Omaha, Neb.

“Sometimes this can happen when sweeping federal legislation affects all 50 states. We understand that ES&S is working hard to meet the demands of all its customers,” Ireland said. “But we still intend to get what we paid for.

“It is unfortunate that some counties will have to open early voting without using their new voting machines. Our county election officials have worked hard to make ready for the primary election. Because of delays in the ballot programming, which was out of the counties’ control, certain counties will have to open early voting with paper ballots.”.

[Peace Patriot]

12. Thank you, Autorank! After Diebold OPTISCANS failed hacking tests

in Florida, conducted by county elections chief Ion Sancho, it became very clear--if it had not been clear before--that the entire system of electronic voting must be chucked. Touchscreens, optiscans, central tabulators--the works. We need to eat the cost ($4 billions in porkbarrel to Bushite-controlled electronic voting corporations!), and go back to paper ballots, hand-counted at the precinct level, like Canada.

I have thought this in connection with the CORRUPTION wrought by the "Hack America's Vote Act"--a terrible piece of legislation, run through the Anthrax Congress by Tim Delay and Bob Ney, which failed to control lavish lobbying, and "revolving door" employment, as well as failing to control secret industry testing of the machines, failing to require any kind of paper trail, let alone a real, countable ballot, and failing to ban "trade secret," proprietary programming code, and partisan vendors. The lavish lobby and "revolving door" employment was just the icing on the Bushites' cake. But the corruption is WHY it has been so hard to achieve no-brainer TRANSPARENCY in our elections. We need to CLEAN HOUSE, was my thought--and remove not only the partisan vendors but all these corrupted election officials, who have purchased these crapass, hackable, insecure, Bushite-controlled machines.

The egregious insecurity, unreliability and hackability of ALL electronic voting equipment means that we cannot trust ANY result. Optiscans may have paper ballots, but if the hack occurs at the central tabulator level and those paper ballots are never counted, what good are they?

And when you add it all--this hotbed of corruption and election theft machinery--clearly we need a BIG BROOM. It all has to go.

[nofurylike]

13. YES!! very well said, autorank! thank you!! eom

[Wilms]

15. Could a sharp eighth grader swing Florida election?

Could a sharp eighth grader swing Florida election?

Published April 25, 2006

Ralph De La Cruz

Tallahassee

snip

Draw your own conclusions. Because Sancho won't.

"I don't talk about conspiracies. I don't talk about stolen votes," said Sancho, a declared independent. "I was asked about that in an interview this morning and I'll tell you what I told them: I don't have any evidence of stolen elections. And quite honestly, that's not my concern. My concern is to have a clear and fair election every time that citizens in Leon County vote. And that's difficult to do if we can't confirm, after the fact, that the vote was counted accurately."

Certainly that must also be the objective of every legislator whose job hangs on an accurate vote count.

You would think.

"Leadership has made a decision that there will not be a verifiable paper trail system in Florida," Sancho said.

snip

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/columnists/sfl-ralph25apr25,0,4443011.column?coll=sfla-features-col

[Wilms]

16. WA: John Gideon Files HAVA Complaint

Washington Voter Files HAVA Complaint

By John Gideon, VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA

April 24, 2006

John Gideon, Executive Director of VotersUnite.org and Information Manager for VoteTrustUSA has filed a complaint according to the procedure detailed in Section 402 of the Help America Vote Act.

The complaint process and Gideon's complaint are detailed below.

http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1225&Itemid=113


Discussion

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x425235

[rumpel]

17. FL: Sancho soon to sign deal for voting machines

Talahassee Democrat

By Jeff Burlew
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER

Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho says he "reluctantly" will sign a new contract for voting equipment from Diebold Election Systems, a company he has been at odds with over security issues.

Today, Leon County commissioners are expected to consider the $691,373 contract with Diebold for touch-screen machines that can be used by blind voters and others. The machines are required by the federal Help America Vote Act and will be used alongside current paper ballots and optical scanners.

Sancho would prefer using a system made by IVS, but it hasn't been certified by the state. And commissioners have been eager to buy new machines since the county missed a Jan. 1 deadline to buy them.

"There are not enough votes on the Leon County Commission to pursue the IVS certification," Sancho said Monday.

Testing of voting machines has become a critical issue. Under the contract the county may consider today, Sancho would be able to test the new equipment - within certain limits.

http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060425/NEWS01/604250320/1010/NEWS01

[rumpel]

18. AR: Benton County Election Commission Facing Voting Challenges

The Morning News

By Christy Attlesey
The Morning News

BENTONVILLE — The Benton County Election Commission raised some concerns Friday about next month’s primary election.

Commissioners are worried the absentee ballots won’t be printed by April 28, the deadline for the ballots to be delivered to the County Clerk’s office. Also, they’re not sure there’s enough time to properly train poll workers on the new touch screen voting machines by the May 23 election.

The commission has not yet received the absentee ballots for the primary election. State election officials are expected to prepare the ballots this weekend and send them electronically to the commission, Commission Chairman John Brown said.

Commissioners and Benton County Clerk Mary Lou Slinkard will make corrections and send them to a Georgia-based printer.

“We have no control,” Benton County Election Coordinator Jim McCarthy said of the situation.

Commissioners expected to receive the voting machines in February or March, but they did not arrive until earlier this month. The delay has shortened the time allotted to train nearly 400 poll workers.

Benton County has 83 voting precincts and 62 polling places. Each polling place requires at least four workers.

The commission expects most voters to use paper ballots, but electronic machines will be available at each site for voters who want to use them. The electronic voting devices are equipped with features such as headphones for the hearing impaired and Braille for the blind.

http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2006/04/23/news/04election.txt

[rumpel]

19. Alternet: Democracy Behind Bars

By Cole Krawitz, AlterNet. Posted April 25, 2006.

Author Sasha Abramsky talks about how mass incarceration -- and the resulting disfranchisement of millions of Americans -- is destroying our democracy.

In his new book, "Conned: How Millions of Americans Went to Prison, Lost the Vote, and Helped Send George W. Bush to the White House," award-winning journalist Sasha Abramsky takes us on a journey across the nation, documenting through personal interviews of people in prison, former prisoners, state legislators and advocates how felon disfranchisement laws fundamentally undermine America's democratic ideals.

Today, nearly 5 million Americans are disfranchised from the right to vote either because they are in prison, on parole or probation, or because they live in a state that extends disfranchisement beyond the end of one's sentence. Racial, ethnic and economic disparities in the criminal justice system, and the "war on drugs" have resulted in the most severe impact hitting communities of color. Where African-Americans comprise only 12.2 percent of the population and 13 percent of drug users, they make up 38 percent of those arrested for drug offenses and 59 percent of those convicted of drug offenses, causing critics to call the war on drugs the "New Jim Crow." Nationally, an estimated 13 percent of African-American men are unable to vote because of a felony conviction. That's seven times the national average.

The United States is the only "democracy" in which people who have served their sentences can still lose their right to vote. As Jamaica S., a 25-year-old on probation in Tennessee who lost her right to vote shared in "Conned," "It seems when you're convicted of a felony, the scarlet letter is there. You take it everywhere with you."

http://www.alternet.org/rights/34773/

[rumpel]

20. IN: Problems aside, new voting system likely to be used

The Star Press

By RICK YENCER
[e-mail]

MUNCIE -- Delaware County voters will likely use a new electronic voting system on May 2 as MicroVote General Corp. moved closer Monday to getting a software upgrade approved by state officials.

"Once this successfully tested system is certified, we want to assure Indiana voters that their votes cast on our systems will be accurately counted and tabulated," James M. Ries, MicroVote president, said in a press release.
MicroVote -- which supplies electronic voting equipment to 47 counties, including Delaware, Blackford, Jay and Grant -- came under fire last week for using software that had not been approved by the state.

Thomas Wheeler, chairman of the Indiana Election Commission, said an emergency meeting could be held Friday to certify the new software.

During a hearing last week, Wheeler said, MicroSoft officials testified that they installed uncertified software and that some county clerks were aware of it.

While the election commission could approve the software change, Wheeler promised more hearings and possible action to fine or even ban MicroVote from doing business in the state.

Republican Delaware County Clerk Karen Wenger said she learned last month that electronic voting machines used to cast absentee ballots contained uncertified software.

That's why local absentee voters have been using a paper ballot -- with a card that resembles a SAT test -- to cast their votes with a pencil.

Jay County Clerk Jane Ann Runyon also believed the software problem was limited to machines used for absentee voting. Jay County used a MicroVote electronic system in 2004 and had no problems.

State Rep. Dennis Tyler, D-Muncie, said state law changed last October, requiring rectification of all election software, adding that county clerks received notice. He questioned why last-minute notice was given of the software problem.

http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060425/NEWS01/604250310/1002

[rumpel]

21. TN: Cities want those who live out of town to vote

Tenneseean

Tuesday, 04/25/06

Provision extends to property owners

By TRAVIS LOLLER
For The Tennessean

When Horace Hughes retired from his family's Franklin grocery after 51 years, he and his wife moved out of town and thought their days voting in city elections were over.
They were unaware of an obscure Franklin provision allowing people who live out of town, but who own property in town, to vote in city elections — a setup that's spreading to cities across the Midstate.

Shortly after they moved, an alderman they supported tied in his re-election bid in 2002. The board of mayor and aldermen broke the tie, voting him out.
"If my husband and I had gone to vote, things would be different today," Betty Hughes said. When the couple learned they could have voted, they vowed never to miss another Franklin election.
About 110 Tennessee cities allow out-of-town property owners to vote in local elections. Last week, the state House approved a bill that could add the small town of Palmer in Grundy County to that number.
Cities such as Franklin, Columbia, Gallatin, Portland, Westmoreland, Mount Pleasant and Mitchellville all have enacted property rights voting through special legislation.
But Spring Hill, the latest city interested in opening its ballot boxes to nonresidents, has a more ambitious task ahead. Because the city is not governed by a local charter, the state's general laws for how cities operate would have to be changed — letting 119 "general law" cities, including Spring Hill, make the voting change without special legislation.
State Rep. Glen Casada, R-College Grove, said he hopes to get such a provision passed this session, which could end in May.
Supporters of the move say it's only right for landowners to have a say in how a city is run.

[rumpel]

22. OH:Voting machine testing begins

Marietta Times

Tuesday, April 25, 2006
— Time: 8:09:32 AM EST

Special to The Times

Officials with the Washington County Board of Elections are confident they are ready for the May 2 primary next week despite concerns raised in other areas of the state over new voting machine equipment.

Concerns were raised after Summit County experienced failures of its new voting machines’ memory cards. Summit County, which uses the same voting machines as Washington County, experienced dead batteries in their memory cards as well as some broken memory cards during their mandatory testing.

The Washington County Board of Elections began mandatory testing of the new machines Monday morning and planned to continue testing throughout the day and possibly into today.

No problems had been detected with the Washington County equipment as of Monday afternoon.

“Until I have problems, I’m not going to worry about it,” said Angie Binegar, director of the Washington County Board of Elections. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

http://www.mariettatimes.com/news/story/new55_425200680932.asp

[rumpel]

23. WV: Secretary of state says electronic ballots progressing

Charlston Daily Mail

By The Associated Press
Tuesday April 25, 2006

Efforts to program West Virginia's new voting machines are progressing as machines in 21 counties are ready for use, Secretary of State Betty Ireland said.

The early voting period began last week, but delays in programming the 4,000 electronic voting machines meant many counties were forced to use paper ballots. Early voting ends on May 6.

By Monday afternoon machines in 21 counties were available for use. Programming for machines in another 23 counties was being proofed for accuracy. Machines in the remaining counties were being programmed, said Ben Beakes, Ireland's chief of staff.

"We have several counties using their machines today and tomorrow we will have several more," he said.

Election Systems & Software has the contract to program ballots into the machines statewide. The delays have occurred as states rush to comply with the federal Help America Vote Act.

http://www.dailymail.com/news/News/2006042524/

[rumpel]

24. AR: Voting machine trouble looms

Arkansas Blog

Voting machine trouble looms

The Pulaski County Election Commission held an emergency meeting this morning to discuss impending problems with voting machines as the May 23 primary election approaches.

"We made the commissioners aware that we are going to be shorted the expected number of touch screen units," said commission director Susan Inman. "The state didn't order enough for us to fulfill our request."

It's not just the machines that are late in arriving. The machines need special software to operate, and the vendor, Election Systems and Software (ES&S), has not provided the software in time to test it before early voting begins.

"We had to order ballots, but we have no method to test the ballots to make sure they properly tabulate," Inman said. "In other words, we are having thousands of ballots printed, but we don't know if they work or not. It makes me nervous."

Inman said they almost certainly will not have enough units in time for the primary voting, as they expected, so they are making alternative plans that include utilizing paper ballots at early voting locations, "which we do not want to do."

http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/arkansasblog/2006/04/voting_machine_trouble_looms.aspx

[rumpel]

25. and elsewhere: Thailand: Democrats ask Election Commission to scrap

by-election result



BANGKOK, April 25 (TNA) - The former opposition Democrat Party has urged the Election Commission (EC) to declare the results of last Sunday's by-elections in the provinces null and void and see to it that
electoral rules will be strictly observed in the next round of by-elections scheduled for Saturday.

Democrat Party secretary-general Suthep Thuaksuban called on the agency not only to scrap the outcome of the recent by-elections, mostly in the southern provinces, but also to take legal action
against the Thai Rak Thai Party led by caretaker prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Mr. Suthep alleged that the Thai Rak Thai Party had hired small, little-known parties to nominally contest constituencies which otherwise would have only a single candidate running unopposed.

The Democrat also called for disqualification of candidates who had allegedly breached the Constitution's Article 108 and organic laws by switching constituencies.

Mr. Suthep quoted the Supreme Court as earlier having ruled against candidates switching individual constituencies.

http://etna.mcot.net/query.php?nid=8435

[rumpel]

26. Nigeria: INEC to establish institute for electoral administration

• Tuesday, Apr 25, 2006
As part of conscious efforts to conduct credible and acceptable elections in the country, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Maurice Iwu said his organisation has established an Electoral Institute to train election administrators

Prof. Iwu disclosed that the first batch of the students for the Diploma Programme of the institute, who would be trained at the University of Ibadan, would soon take-off to set the stage for the production of competent election administrators.

The chairman dropped the hint yesterday when he led other senior officials of the body on a courtesy call on Rivers State Governor, Dr Peter Odili at Government House, Port Harcourt.

The chairman said that INEC would begin the first phase of the preparations for 2007 elections in the country with the commencement of electronic voters’ registration exercise expected to begin soon with the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, before extending to other parts of the country.

Professor Iwu said INEC was bringing to Nigeria an electronic voters’ registration system with special features that would make it impossible to falsify, adulterate or impersonate, as the voters’ card would carry the photograph and fingerprints of the bearer.

http://www.thetidenews.com/article.aspx?qrDate=04/25/2006&qrTitle=INEC%20to%20establish%20institute%20for%20electoral%20administration&qrColumn=FRONT%20PAGE

[Algorem]

27. Blackwell Apparently Wants To Shift Power To Those Who Don't Vote

Minority Rule: Ken Blackwell Apparently Wants To Shift Power To Those Who Don't Vote

http://www.freetimes.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=3357&POSTNUKESID=5fe657ff8724772b78cdab4786c031c7

By Rick Perloff

Majority rules. It's the established way to reach consensus in contests spanning the playground, the boardroom and the state house. Except perhaps in Ohio.

A clause in the proposed Tax Expenditure Limitation (TEL) amendment, embraced by Secretary of State and Republican gubernatorial candidate Kenneth Blackwell, suggests that a school levy that has the support of a majority of voters could still fail. The proposed amendment says that local school levies require the approval of a majority of registered voters in the particular district. So a levy that garners overwhelming voter approval could fail, if the majority of registered voters sit out the election.

This is a weird and disturbing wrinkle on majority rule; people who choose not to vote could trump the will of those who show up at the polls. It's precedent-shattering.

Dr. John Green, director of the University of Akron's Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics, cannot think of one case in which this has occurred. "Americans of all stripes, whatever their ideologies, have a simple understanding of democracy, and the core of this is majority rule. The amendment runs against the grain of hundreds of years of the practice of democracy, including the colonial experience."...




Ohio Politics: There Is Another Way: Instant Runoff Voting Could Help Bridge the Divide

By Greg M. Schwartz

http://www.freetimes.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=3336&POSTNUKESID=5fe657ff8724772b78cdab4786c031c7

...IRV is a system that lets voters rank their preferences. For example, you can rank a Green first and a Democrat second. If no candidate wins a majority in the first tally, all but the top two vote-getters are eliminated and everyone else's second choice is counted until a majority is reached. This way, progressives don't have to worry that voting Green will waste their vote and wind up helping the Republican candidate, as Ralph Nader supporters supposedly did in the 2000 presidential election. Likewise, conservatives who favored Ross Perot in 1992 could have had George H.W. Bush as their second choice. In this way, a true majority consensus is revealed...

Most Ohioans can be excused for knowing nothing about IRV, due to lack of media coverage about it. But it was rather dumbfounding to hear an expert in political journalism say that he had never heard of it. IRV is used in a number of European countries, as well as San Francisco and Burlington, Vermont. It is now being considered in other communities around the U.S. Larkin's answer was a true moment of cognitive dissonance, because he had until then demonstrated a keen grasp of Ohio politics. Yet at the same time, his ignorance of IRV suggested that he is a 20th-century journalist at a time when Ohio desperately needs 21st-century journalism.

One could argue that this anecdote illustrates exactly how the mainstream media's (MSM) paradigm of political journalism is broken. Most MSM outlets follow a horse-race agenda that is set by the two major parties. They do little of their own research into ways that the system might be improved, as if we're living in Utopia here. It's for this reason that independent news sites and blogs are rapidly surpassing the mainstream media for content that delivers any meaningful discussion about improving the state of the planet...

Brown later asked all the students present to find five others who were undecided or unregistered for the 2006 elections and educate them about the issues. During the Q&A, I posed the IRV question, asking if he would support IRV in national elections. Unlike Larkin, he'd at least heard of IRV. But he sidestepped the question and spoke of being vigilant about electronic voting vulnerabilities and other electoral improprieties.

instantrunoff.org

fairvote.org/irv/

[Kelvin Mace]

29. One point you overlook

CANADA DID AND THEY HAVE NATIONAL ELECTIONS WITH LITTLE DISPUTE, FREE AND FAIR, OBSERVED BY ALL WHO WISH TO…AND THERE ARE NO MACHINES.

Canada's ballots are much simpler than US ballots. Hand-counting ballots containing 40, 50, 60 or more ballot items is NOT a simple task and the man power needed is not practical. California had what, 100+ candidates on the ballot for the recall election?

What happens when you want to do instant run-off voting?

Sorry, OpScan is the best solution. DREs should be banned, but until we can, I'll take as many safeguards as I can get.

[Amaryllis]

30. Indiana and West Va file legal actions against ES&S

http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002748.htm