Election Reform, Fraud & Related News Wed 9/6/06 - No More Kool Aid

[kpete]

Election Reform, Fraud & Related News Wednesday 9/6/06 No More Kool Aid


THE THREAT IS ALWAYS GREATEST AT ELECTION TIME!!!



Keith Olbermann To George Bush – “We will not drink again.”




More over, Mr. Bush, you are accomplishing in part what Osama Bin Laden and others seek—a fearful American populace, easily manipulated, and willing to throw away any measure of restraint, any loyalty to our own ideals and freedoms, for the comforting illusion of safety.



It thus becomes necessary to remind the President that his administration’s recent Nazi “kick” is an awful and cynical thing.

And it becomes necessary to reach back into our history, for yet another quote, from yet
another time and to ask it of Mr. Bush:

“Have you no sense of decency, sir?”
Keith Olbermann, September 5, 2006






LAND SHARK: “Every vote needs to be respected. Every vote needs to be counted.”



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.ph ...
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).

[kpete]

1. Website Exploring Electronic Voting Machines Launched by ProCon.org

Website Exploring Electronic Voting Machines Launched by ProCon.org

ProCon.org intends to settle the debate on DREs with nonpartisan and free content.

Santa Monica, CA (PRWEB) September 5, 2006 -- Electronic voting machines were first used in the United States in 1975. In 2004 they were used by 29.5% of all U.S. voters, thereby passing punch card ballots and lever machines for the first time ever. Their use remains controversial, and proponents and opponents continue to debate concerns over security, accuracy, accountability, cost, and efficiency, among other issues. As more and more counties and local governments weigh their voting method options for the 2006 primaries and the 2008 presidential election, the debate has heated up, become highly partisan, and taken national prominence.

ProCon.org, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in California, has invested hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars into a nonpartisan exploration of the pros and cons of electronic voting machines. The result is a free website www.VotingMachinesProCon.org that provides simple responses to dozens of specific questions about electronic voting machines. Examples include:

* Are electronic voting systems vulnerable to hacking?

* Should electronic voting machines have voter verified paper audit trails (VVPAT)?

* Do poll workers receive adequate training to facilitate elections conducted on electronic voting machines?

Each question has at least three pro and three con responses from various experts along with a brief biography of that individual or organization so that readers can put the pro-con statements in greater context.

The website also contains unique resources such as:

* Comparison of electronic voting machines to slot machines

* Timeline and graphs of Voting systems used in U.S. Presidential elections since 1980

* Little Known Facts about Electronic Voting Machines

MORE AT:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/9/prweb432138.htm

[kpete]

2. VRA battle heads into litigation

VRA battle heads into litigation
By David Mikhail

The battle to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act (VRA) has shifted from the halls of Congress to the courts.

Conservative activists and at least one congressional Republican are poised to legally challenge a controversial provision of the VRA measure, picking up where the intense debate left off after President Bush signed it into law this summer.

Conservative activists, led by a leading scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), plan on filing several lawsuits in various federal courts, all centered on Section 5 of the VRA. Congressional Republicans will also play an active role in the litigation, signaling their intent to use the courts to win a battle they lost on Capitol Hill.

GOP members who either support or will participate in the litigation will likely have to fend off accusations by Democrats of engaging in judicial activism, which conservatives have historically spoken out against.

The Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District # 1, a local organization that is recognized as a political subdivision under the VRA, filed suit against Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in D.C. District Court on Aug. 4, requesting that the Department of Justice be released from Section 5 preclearance scrutiny. The district is also claiming that the preclearance requirement is a violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, which requires states to provide equal legal protections to everyone.


more at:
http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/090506/news4.html

[kpete]

3. 2006 Senate Elections Report: Seats Likely to Stay Put

2006 Senate Elections Report: Seats Likely to Stay Put
Submitted by Bob Geiger on September 5, 2006 - 8:24pm.2006 Races

In my Friday column, I talked about the essence of handicapping the 2006 Senate races and the resulting balance of power in the 110th Congress starting in January. When you combine the seats that do not expire this year with the Senators who do face reelections but for which an almost-biblical event would be required for them to lose -- this year's solid "locks" for their parties -- we end up with a starting point of 47 Republicans and 39 Democrats staying put in the next Senate.

That's the landscape we have before we consider the other 14 races. These are the contests that are much more iffy and that will determine which political party gets to the majority number of 51 and which spends the next two years with little legislative power.

I had originally planned this to be a two-part series, concluding today. But as I go over all of the relevant factors in each of these races, it becomes obvious to me that I can serve readers better by extending it to three parts, concluding on Thursday. It's a lot to read, and the piece today would have been enormous, had I included all 14 remaining races.

In part two today, we're going to look at five of the fourteen remaining contests -- the races that are hardly in the bag, but that lean in one direction or the other. While it's possible for the other side to win these seats, there's slightly more than two months until election day and a lot of ground would have to be made up very quickly.

more at:
http://www.democrats.com/node/9935

[kpete]

4. Pentagon Gearing for Overseas Voting

Pentagon Gearing for Overseas Voting

By PAULINE JELINEK
The Associated Press
Tuesday, September 5, 2006; 6:57 PM

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon is counting on its improved Web site to help an estimated 6.5 million Americans _ U.S. troops at war and others living overseas _ vote in the November elections.

Officials said Tuesday that the site includes information on how voters can request and get ballots by fax and e-mail rather than rely on slower postal service. The Defense Department is responsible for the balloting process not only for troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere but for all expatriate voters.

Michael L. Dominguez, principal deputy undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, noted the "special challenge of reaching the deployed warrior on the battlefield."

The potential voters include all 1.4 million active duty service members in the United States and abroad, about 1.4 million of their family members and 3.7 million Americans living outside the country, said Polli Brunelli, director of the Pentagon's Federal Voting Assistance Program. The total includes some 225,000 deployed in the wars and elsewhere around the world.

more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/05/AR2006090501043.html

[kpete]

5. Today's Voting Machines Story

September 5, 2006
Today's Voting Machines Story
At Cracking a Diebold In 4 minutes and 12 Dollars. How easy is it to hardware hack a Voting Machine?

Go see the pictures. In four minutes they had complete access to the memory card without disturbing the official seals that are supposed to certify that the machine could not have been tampered with. And remember, because these seals supposedly guarantee that the machines have not been tampered with, these machines are often allowed to go to people's homes the night before the election or are otherwise allowed to disappear from official supervision.

This is about proving that the vote counts reflect the will of the voters. We need to require paper ballots that the voter looks at and agrees represent the voter's intentions.

These machines should be nothing more than input devices for paper-ballot printing, and the voter should be required to double-check that printed ballot. There is no other way to prove that the vote counts reflect the will of the voters. And with this system we don't need expensive - and ineffective - security measures for the machines.

http://www.seeingtheforest.com/archives/2006/09/todays_voting_m_16.htm

[kpete]

6. New Technology Empowers Disabled Voters

New Technology Empowers Disabled Voters


CHICAGO, Sept. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Sequoia Voting Systems continues to
lead the way with new technology that dramatically enhances the voting
experience for people with disabilities.

Throughout the country, disabled voters in elections using Sequoia
Voting Systems equipment will be able to cast their vote easily, accurately
and in complete privacy.

Sequoia Voting Systems is a leading provider of voting equipment,
including specialized equipment for the disabled. This year, the company
has created new advancements that make voting even easier for the visually
impaired, people with physical disabilities and people with literacy
challenges.

"These systems work well because they were designed by the people who
benefit the most from them," said Jack Blaine, president, Sequoia Voting
Systems. "These new machines will go a long way toward improving the voting
experience for everyone."

Election booths were designed, developed and tested in conjunction with
disability advocates to ensure they fulfill the individual needs of a wide
range of people.

Sequoia's widely used Edge touchscreen and full-faced Advantage easily
accommodate wheelchair access. In addition, the Edge's large 17-inch screen
can be adjusted for people of differing heights.

more at:
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/09-05-2006/0004426970&EDATE

[kpete]

7. MORE ON VOTING MACHINES

MORE ON VOTING MACHINES
Written by ReformNY
Monday, 04 September 2006

As we mentioned, we REALLY don't like full-face DREs. Our usability study shows that voters find these machines more difficult to use and make more errors when they use them. The evidence is overwhelming and quite stark: many more races get missed when these machines are used. We came to this conclusion using the research of Dr. David Kimball, the pre-eminent political scientist and usability expert on this issue, and after looking at his data on several thousand counties over six years of elections.

That's why we found the comments of Robert Nothstein, county commissioner in Monroe County, PA, so unfathomable:

''There's studies on everything this day and age, and we don't buy all the studies that come across the table.''

Um, we suppose there's truth in the fact that not all studies are equal, but does that mean it's okay to ignore facts and just pick the voting machine that comes in the nicest color?

This doesn't mean that full-face DREs should be automatically rejected by jurisdictions in New York. There's a limited choice to be made, because the State Board foolishly decided it wouldn't certify "scrolling" DREs that operate more like ATM machines, and present one race at a time. And jurisdictions must consider many factors when choosing voting machines -- like how secure they are, how accessible they are to the disabled, and how much they cost.

But we don't yet have the answers to these questions. So why have some election officials already made up their minds about picking full face DREs? These machines haven't even been certified yet -- there are no bids, so we don't even know how much things will cost.

http://www.amhersttimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2648&Itemid=27

[kpete]

8. MX: Mexican election complete as political crisis continues

Mexican election complete as political crisis continues
By Veronica Sardon Sep 5, 2006, 22:31 GMT

Buenos Aires - Mexico may finally have its president-elect, but the political crisis that followed July's presidential election is bound to persist regardless.

The Federal Electoral Tribunal of the Judiciary (TEPJF) on Tuesday said in its official vote count that conservative Felipe Calderon won the July 2 election by 233,831 votes, or 0.56 percentage points, ahead of leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

But given that Lopez Obrador insists the vote was fraudulent and refuses to concede defeat, uncertainty remains the word of the day.

The wafer-thin election result, along with the confrontational atmosphere and street protests that have escalated over the past two months, provide for a very divided political scenario.

'The only way in which (Calderon) can obtain political legitimacy and social legitimacy is through good government,' political analyst Ricardo Aleman told the Mexican daily El Universal.

The now president-elect has kept a reasonably low profile since the election, confident that the country's electoral authorities would uphold his victory. He urged his rival to reconsider his confrontational approach and repeatedly called for dialogue.

Lopez Obrador, with little to lose after his initial defeat, launched a determined assault to take the presidency, consistently upping the stakes and warning he would be satisfied with no less than a complete vote recount that left him as the winner.


more at:
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/southamerica/article_1198327.php/Mexican_election_complete_as_political_crisis_continues

[kpete]

9. MEXICO - Chance for Legal Solution Narrows in Mexican Election

MEXICO - Chance for Legal Solution Narrows in Mexican Election (by Laura Carlsen, IRC)
Tuesday 5 September 2006, by Manuela Garza

IRC - By throwing out most of the opposition’s challenges to the July 2 elections on the grounds of filing errors, the Mexican Electoral Tribunal has closed another door to a legal solution and set the nation on a likely collision course.

The tribunal’s decision to discard the challenges inflamed the opposition led by center-left candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The center-left candidate has called for a full recount of the votes.

With few institutional options left, his coalition is now preparing to establish a parallel government or a nationwide civil resistance movement.

The court’s ruling was based on a very narrow and peculiar interpretation of the law. Faced with a widespread popular demand for a recount, accusations of fraud against the conservative National Action Party (PAN), and indications that the Federal Electoral Institute had failed to act impartially, the tribunal agreed to carry out a partial recount involving only 9% of polling places.

more at:
http://www.alterinfos.org/spip.php?article517

[kpete]

17. MX: Protesters defiant as conservative wins Mexico poll

Protesters defiant as conservative wins Mexico poll

Jo Tuckman in Mexico City
Wednesday September 6, 2006
The Guardian


Mexico's highest electoral court has confirmed that the conservative governing party candidate, Felipe Calderón, has won the country's disputed presidential poll, throwing out the argument made by his leftist rival Andrés Manuel López Obrador that the election was so unfair it should be annulled.
An emotional crowd in the capital's great Zócalo plaza - the headquarters of Mr López Obrador's protest movement - greeted the ruling with anger, defiance and some heartfelt sobs.

The former mayor of Mexico City did not give any immediate public reaction, although in recent days he has made it clear that this is far from the end of the story. In speeches foreseeing the adverse ruling, he has begun to transform his claims of fraud into an active challenge to the legitimacy of the country's institutional order.
Calling Mr Calderón a "usurper", Mr López Obrador has floated the idea of forming a parallel government "of the people to rival that of the political mafia and white-collar criminals". Such fiery talk has some observers talking about insurrection and others fearing a violent rightwing backlash.

Even those who predict Mr López Obrador's movement will fizzle out expect a degree of political chaos, at least until outgoing President Vicente Fox hands over to Mr Calderón on December 1.

more at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1865634,00.html

[kpete]

10. Katherine Harris wins GOP nomination

Katherine Harris wins GOP nomination By STEVEN WINE, Associated Press Writer
Wed Sep 6, 6:10 AM ET

MIAMI - Shrugging off critics who derided her campaign as spectacularly inept, U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris ) easily won the GOP nomination for a shot at unseating incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson

"Tonight I say to Bill Nelson: Come home, Bill. Enough is enough," Harris said Tuesday.

As secretary of state in 2000, Harris oversaw the recount that gave George W. Bush the White House. She became a rising star in the Republican Party, parlaying name recognition into two terms in Congress.

But state GOP leaders tried to talk Harris out of running for the Senate, citing fears she would lose to Nelson — a Democrat who had no primary challenger — and spur a large turnout by Democrats in November that would hurt the entire Republican ticket.

more at:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060906/ap_on_el_ge/florida_election

[kpete]

11. FL-24: WESH-TV CALLS IT! CLINT CURTIS IN A LANDSLIDE!!

FL-24: WESH-TV CALLS IT! CLINT CURTIS IN A LANDSLIDE!!

Election Integrity Champion, Vote-Rigging Whistleblower, Trounces Primary Opponent!
'Battle between Good and Evil', November showdown between Curtis and Feeney begins!

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

According to reliable sources, WESH-TV has called Clint Curtis the winner of the FL-24 Democratic primary by a landslide. Curtis had 12,652 votes, compared to 7,990 for Michaud: That's 61% for the vote-rigging whistleblower, with 208 out of 257 precincts reporting, or or 81%.

According to other reliable sources, a reporter from the Daytona Beach News-Journal called Clint and asked whether he wanted to make a statement. Clint said:

It's looking good and we are glad to see it, but I don't want to make my statement yet.

I see no reason to declare victory until every vote in Florida's 24th is counted. The voters deserve that much.

I hadn't planned to either concede or declare victory tonight. We've campaigned for six months. We can wait another 6 hours or 6 days if we have to. Each vote is that precious.

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3395

[kpete]

12. WA: 8 candidates may be tossed from ballot

8 candidates may be tossed from ballot
State turned up conflict in registration

By ERIC MOSKOWITZ
Monitor staff
September 06. 2006


State officials have discovered that eight House candidates on next week's primary ballots are not actually registered members of their declared political party. The attorney general's office has asked the state Ballot Law Commission to decide whether the candidates should be disqualified from running.

Of the eight, one is an incumbent lawmaker: Rep. Jim Danforth of Andover, who has served one term as a Republican and is seeking re-election to the Legislature as a member of that party. But Danforth is registered to vote as a Democrat, the secretary of state and attorney general discovered recently. They found similar problems with seven other candidates. State law requires candidates for office to run in the primary of their registered political party.

Danforth identified himself as a Republican in an interview yesterday. He said he declared himself a Democrat temporarily, to vote in the 2004 presidential primary, without realizing the move had larger implications for his party registration; he said he believed he was still a registered Republican when he filed to run for the House as a member of the party in 2004 and again this year. The Andover town clerk accepted his declaration of candidacy both times.

The secretary of state's office discovered Danforth's discrepancy and the others after consulting a new statewide voter database. Until this year, each city and town in the state maintained its own record of registered voters, maintained by the local supervisors of the checklist. As a result of the federal Help America Vote Act, the state recently linked all of those checklists into a single computerized file, Secretary of State Bill Gardner said.


more at:
http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060906/REPOSITORY/609060371

[kpete]

13. The Pioneer Pollster Whose Credibility You Could Count On

Appreciation
The Pioneer Pollster Whose Credibility You Could Count On

By Richard Morin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 6, 2006; Page C01

Warren Mitofsky was too honest to work in television network news. Or perhaps he was just too candid.

Mitofsky, a pioneering media pollster, died of an aortic aneurysm Friday at 71. For 23 years, he headed the polling department at CBS News, where he was viewed as a guru, a statistical maven, an innovator -- but also as a loose cannon who didn't know when to stop telling the truth to his bosses or to reporters.

While at CBS, he is credited with inventing the Election Day exit poll -- although he hated the name and was frequently dismayed by the way the networks came to use his creation. Since 2003, he had partnered with Joe Lenski to conduct exit polls for all the major television networks and the Associated Press -- including the flawed 2004 presidential exit poll that fueled claims that the election had been stolen.

Mitofsky cared deeply, passionately and sometimes explosively about his profession and his place in it. He didn't tolerate fools, poseurs or corporate tools, and he delighted in telling them so. Even his friends agree that he began too many sentences with the words, "Here's why you're wrong . . ." As he said it, he inevitably smiled that off-kilter, crocodile smile that he flashed whether he was pleased or angry.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/05/AR2006090501477.html

[kpete]

14. Conflict of Interest Spelled “Secretary of State”

Conflict of Interest Spelled “Secretary of State”
Sep 04, 2006 -- 7:00 AM MDT
Nancy Watzman

The cries of partisanship following Secretary of State Gigi Dennis’ recent decision to issue emergency campaign finance regulations that were requested by Republican operatives and are being challenged by unions and others are becoming all too familiar.
Nationwide, ethics experts are saying that secretaries of state have a built in conflict of interest when doing their jobs, or at the very least, a strong appearance of one.

The most infamous case of all, of course, is former Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, who is now running for a seat in the U.S. Senate. It was Harris who made decisions during the recount of votes in the 2000 presidential election that made Democrats cry foul.

Nancy Watzman :: Conflict of Interest Spelled “Secretary of State”
In Ohio, in an effort to avoid the appearance of a conflict, Republican Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, who is running for governor, has handed over his election responsibilities to an aide while he campaigns.
But Blackwell has already been subject to criticism during his gubernatorial bid. In January 2005, Blackwell caught flak for sending out a fundraising letter thanking Republicans for “helping deliver” Ohio for President George W. Bush, and asking for illegal corporate campaign contributions for his race for governor, according to a report in The Columbus Dispatch (available for charge). Blackwell’s campaign said that the inclusion of a sentence saying that “corporate & personal checks” were welcome was an “oversight” and that the campaign would return any contributions from corporations, which are illegal.


more at:
http://www.coloradoconfidential.org/showDiary.do?diaryId=578

[kpete]

15. NY Attorney General Spitzer Voices Concern About Electronic Voting

New York Attorney General Circulates Statement Calling Paper Ballot Optical Scan Voting
By Warren Stewart, VoteTrustUSA
September 06, 2006
Spitzer Calls Optical Scan Voting Systems "Proven Technology", Voices Concern About Electronic Voting

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer (pictured at right) has published a statement voicing concerns about the reliability and even the potential for election fraud with electronic voting after speaking with local activist groups around New York state. In the statement Spitzer asks the state to implement "a vigorous testing regime" or consider an alternative to electronic machines called 'Paper Ballot with Precinct Based Optical Scan', also known as PBOS.

"Albany's implementation of the Help America Vote Act has been a well-publicized disaster," Spitzer said in the statement, "State government's failure of leadership is especially disconcerting in light of widespread reports of the unreliability and potential for fraud of electronic voting machines."

Optical Scan systems are popular in a number of other states. Within the past year, the states of New Mexico and Connecticut have decided to use statewide optical scan systems to comply with the Help America Vote Act (HAVA).The complete Optical scan system includes ballot marking technology which allows a paper ballot based system to provide accessible, private and independent voting for voters with disabilities. HAVA requires new voting machines for New York by 2007.



"Eliot Spitzer has recognized that both public funds and the integrity of the election process are better served by Precinct Based Optical Scanning of Paper Ballots", said Alan Goldston of Democracy for Westchester, a local Democracy for New York group. "Any election officials in New York who ignore his sober advice had better be prepared to explain why they would choose to both waste public money and jeopardize the election process."


The full text of Eliot Spitzer's statement at:
http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1753&Itemid=113

[kpete]

16. NASS Publishes Seven Simple Steps To Voting In 2006

NASS Publishes Seven Simple Steps To Voting In 2006
By NASS Press Release
September 06, 2006
NASS Website www.CanIVote.org Offers Tips to Make Voting Easy

Eligible voters across the United States can click their way to a worry-free Election Day this year thanks to a Web site that provides all of the information voters need to cast their ballots in 2006. Voters who log on to www.canivote.org will find a step-by-step guide to voting and an abundance of voter resources, including links to online voter registration lookup tools and polling place locators and an interactive directory of election officials.

The Can I Vote? site was created by the National Association of Secretaries of State to help make voting easy by outlining seven simple steps for voters to follow:

more at:
http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1754&Itemid=26

[kpete]

18. Twenty-Seven New House Polls Indicate Democratic Takeover

Twenty-Seven New House Polls Indicate Democratic Takeover
by Chris Bowers, Wed Sep 06, 2006 at 01:49:41 PM EST

Major poll dump--most important poll release on the House this cycle by far. These polls are all conducted by Constituent Dynamics, August 27-29. They are done IVR style (automated telephone), and have large sample sizes (close to 1,000), and margin of error of 3.1%. Complete results can be found here. The letter after the number indicates which party is winning. Democratic pickups are in bold.

Republican held seats:
AZ-08: 50-46, D; Generic ballot
CO-04: 47-41, R; Musgrave leads Paccione.
CO-07: 48-46, D; Perlmutter leads O'Donnell
; Courtney leads Simmons
CT-04: 49-42, R; Shays leads Farrell
FL-13: 56-39, R; Generic ballot
FL-22: 52-44, R; Shaw leads Kelin
IL-06: 47-46, D; Duckworth leads Roskam
IA-01: 54-41, D; Braley leads Whalen
KY-04: 49-46, R; Davis leads Lucas
MN-06: 53-42, R; Generic ballot
NV-03: 51-43, R; Porter leads Hafen
NM-01: 48-45, R; Wilson leads Madrid
NY-24: 49-41, D; Generic ballot
NC-11: 50-47, D; Shuler leads Taylor
OH-18: 47-43, D; Space leads Generic Republican
PA-06: 50-45, D; L. Murphy leads Gerlach
PA-08: 53-45, R; Fitzpatrick leads P. Murphy
PA-10: 50-43, D; Carney leads Sherwood
VA-02: 51-43, D; Kellam leads Drake
WA-08: 49-46, D; Burner leads Reichert
WI-08: 48-44, D; Generic ballot

Democratic held seats:
IA-03: 54-43, D; Boswell leads Lamberti
OH-06: 56-40, D; Wilson leads Bladsel
IL-08: 48-45, D; Bean leads McSweeney
VT-AL: 54-40, D; Welch leads Generic Republican
WV-01: 52-42, D; Mollohan leads Wakim

http://chris_bowers.mydd.com/

[kpete]

19. Alabama: governor Given Extension For HAVA Report

Alabama: governor Given Extension For HAVA Report
By Warren Stewart, VoteTrustUSA
September 06, 2006

News services are reporting that U.S. District Judge Keith Watkins has given Governor Bob Riley another week to submit his first progress report as Special Master appointed by the court in the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) case filed by the federal government against the state of Alabama and Secretary of State Nancy Worley. The report was initially due yesterday, the first Tuesday of the month as outlined previously by the court. Secretary of State Nancy Worley filed the mandated accounting documents with the court on September 1.

In the Motion for Extension request filed and granted on September 1, 2006, by the Governor's chief legal adviser, Ken Wallis, Riley says "Though this team is very nearly assembled, there remains one person who has not fully committed to serve and cannot be briefed on the matter until next week. Thus providing the Governor until September 12, 2006, to submit his initial progress report will enable him to then announce the entirety of his implementation team, rather than an incomplete slate."

In August Watkins gave Riley the title of "special master" and placed him in charge of developing an overdue statewide voter registration database. The decision was over the objections of Democratic Secretary of State Nancy Worley and the Alabama Democratic Conference. The request of the Justice Department to move the responsibility for the voter database to a partisan elected official is unusual. Typically, the government would seek an order telling a state official what to do, or it would ask to have a nonpartisan person appointed as a special master. Alabama is one of several states that have missed the deadline for implementing a statewide voter registration database and the Department of Justice (DoJ) has taken strikingly different approaches to the state’s that are not yet in compliance.

Riley is to "develop and implement a single, uniform, official, centralized, interactive computerized statewide voter registration list in elections for federal office which complies with Section 303 of the HAVA Act of 2002." HAVA compliance is to be accomplished on or before August 31, 2007.

http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1755&Itemid=113

[kpete]

20. Immigration rallies haven't yielded voters

Immigration rallies haven't yielded voters

September 5, 2006

BY MICHAEL R. BLOOD AND PETER PRENGAMAN

LOS ANGELES -- Immigration protests that drew hundreds of thousands of flag-waving demonstrators to the nation's streets last spring promised a potent political legacy -- a surge of new Hispanic voters.

''Today We March, Tomorrow We Vote,'' they proclaimed.

But a review of voter registration figures from Chicago, Denver, Houston, Atlanta and other cities that had large rallies found no sign of a new voter boom that could sway elections. There was a rise in Los Angeles, where 500,000 protested in March, but it was more of a trickle than a torrent.

Protest organizers -- principally unions, Hispanic advocacy groups and the Catholic Church -- acknowledge that it has been hard to translate street activism into voting clout, though they insist they can reach their goal of 1 million new voters by 2008.

more at:
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-reg05.html

[Kurovski]

21. Kick to the top.

Thank you kindly, kpete! :thumbsup:

[Algorem]

22. Ohio Libertarians Beat Blackwell in Court

http://hammeroftruth.com/2006/09/06/ohio-libertarians-beat-blackwell-in-court/

The Libertarian Party of Ohio has won its lawsuit against Secretary of State Ken Blackwell. Ohio requires that minor political parties (1) file a petition with the Secretary of State 120 days in advance of the general election and (2) nominate their candidates by primary election. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the requirements are unconstitutional together. Congratulations to the Libertarian Party of Ohio on their victory.

Moving the filing deadline closer to the date of the primary or allowing parties to choose their candidates in another manner may impose some additional costs on the state, but this is the price imposed by the First Amendment. Ohio is well within its authority to mandate primary elections, to limit all parties to one primary date, or to require filing a petition in advance of the primary for administrative purposes. Viewed individually, each of these requirements may only impose a reasonable burden on constitutional rights. In practice, however, the combination of these laws imposes a severe burden on the associational rights of the LPO, its members, and its potential voter-supporters. As the State has not shown that these laws are narrowly tailored to protect a compelling state interest, we find that the Ohio system for minor party qualification violates the First Amendment of the Constitution.

Read the full decision here (PDF). (Hat tip: Jonathan Adler)






Defining Ken Blackwell A deep look at GOP governor candidate's past and present

http://www.athensnews.com/issue/article.php3?story_id=25814

2006-09-05
By Lew Moores
Cincinnati CityBeat


He is both maverick and doctrinaire, one who as a college student in the late 1960s came across as something of a black radical, then matured politically into a collegial Charterite, and within a few years morphed into a conservative Republican who today invokes the rhetoric -- it's evident in his just-published book, "Rebuilding America" -- of the '60s paranoid right.

Yet he bucks the Republican establishment of Ohio, tries to distance himself from what many regard as its culture of corruption, and strives to become the first African-American governor of Ohio.

Upon his primary victory May 2 over Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro, J. Kenneth Blackwell, Ohio's secretary of state, turned his sights on U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland, who won the Democratic primary for governor.

"Message to Brother Strickland: You can run but you can't hide," he announced triumphantly...

[Algorem]

23. Ken Blackwell has a gigantically fat ass

According to a photo in the Cleveland Plain Dealer yesterday,Ken Blackwell has a gigantically fat ass.He is a "pear-shaped loser",as Mr. Krueger would say.Maybe from way too many hours sitting at his Central Scrutinizer Tabulator drinking the kool-aid.



AP
Republican Ken Blackwell, left, shakes hands with Democrat Ted Strickland at the start of the debate.

Uncle Hypocrite

http://www.clevescene.com/Issues/2006-09-06/news/firstpunch.html

Secretary of State Uncle Tom Blackwell is a man of principles. Namely, the principle that he has none.

Four years ago, Blackwell was one of the most vocal advocates for a law forcing shadowy political-action committees to reveal their donors. Now he's benefiting from a loophole he helped create...

GOP punks PD
Speaking of Common Sense 2006, it turns out that the man running it has a second job duping The Plain Dealer.

In an August 20 story about swing voters in Ohio's coming elections, PD political scribe Mark Naymik introduced us to Nathan Estruth, a man who claimed to be a Republican thinking about voting Democrat this year...


Strickland leads money race
He, Blackwell waging Ohio’s most expensive run for governor

http://www.columbusdispatch.com/?story=dispatch/2006/09/07/20060907-B1-02.html

Thursday, September 07, 2006
Mark Niquette
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH


Democrat Ted Strickland widened his fundraising advantage over Republican J. Kenneth Blackwell last month in what already has become the most expensive governor’s race in state history, reports filed yesterday show.

Strickland reported raising $2.4 million during August, which included contributions from former Vice President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper. That compares with $1.6 million that Blackwell raised during the month, and nearly a quarter of Blackwell’s total came from the Ohio Republican Party.

Strickland, a congressman from Lisbon, has raised $11.2 million from all sources since entering the race in May 2005. Blackwell, the Ohio secretary of state, has raised $9.7 million since January 2005, records show.

With two months to go until the Nov. 7 election, the combined amount raised by both candidates already exceeds the record $18 million spent by Republican Bob Taft and Democrat Lee Fisher in the 1998 governor’s race (although donors can give more now)...


August donation totals in Ohio's major races
9/6/2006, 8:53 p.m. ET
The Associated Press

http://www.cleveland.com/newsflash/cleveland/index.ssf?/base/politics-1/115759140794860.xml&storylist=cleveland

(AP) — ...

Democrat Ted Strickland:

...• $7.5 million on hand

Republican Kenneth Blackwell:

...• $5 million on hand...


ELECTION
ROUND 1
No knockouts as Blackwell, Strickland spar in first of four planned statewide debates

http://www.columbusdispatch.com/election/election.php?story=210340

By Joe Hallett
The Columbus Dispatch
Wednesday, September 6, 2006

YOUNGSTOWN — The first gubernatorial debate stuck to the usual story line: a few substantive proposals, a handful of clever lines, the occasional testy exchange.

And as often happens when nervous and risk-averse candidates meet for the first time on television, there was no clear winner. After an hour, neither Republican J. Kenneth Blackwell nor Democrat Ted Strickland was bloody and unconscious on the studio floor at WFMJ-TV here.

Pre-debate spinmeisters agreed that the onus was on Blackwell, trailing by double-digits in the polls, to shake up the dynamics of the race with a decisive win — or, lacking that, a serious gaffe by Strickland. And while Blackwell, considered the better orator, registered a competent performance, Strickland more than held his own.

When it was over, both candidates said they looked forward to the rematch on Sept. 20 in Cleveland, second in the four-debate series to continue defining the differences in their visions for Ohio...

[New Earth]

27. hahaha.

can you please post these few you posted today in my new thread?
thanks :blush:

[Kurovski]

28. Algorem, I already took the liberty of re-posting your contributions

in today's ERD--with acknowledgment to you, per Faye's request. They'll get more play in today's ERD.

Ken Blackwells rear-end is something else...I had no idea.:D

[Algorem]

24. Ohio candidate Sykes sues racist Republican push-polling opponent

http://www.cleveland.com/weblogs/openers/

Sykes takes fight to court


Democrat Barbara Sykes has sued her opponent in the state auditor’s race, Republican Mary Taylor, claiming her civil rights are being violated by a racially charged question in a poll of voters Taylor’s campaign is conducting.

“What we want is for her to stop doing this push poll,” Sykes said. “I can compete for this office, but the fact that I am African-American is not something I can change. It’s not something I run away from and shouldn’t be used against me in this race.”

Neither Taylor nor her campaign manager could be reached for comment Wednesday.

Sykes’ request for a restraining order was filed in U.S. District Court in Cleveland and accuses Taylor of “race-baiting” for political purposes...

[Algorem]

25. Ohio-Fair poll is bad news for board of elections

http://www.mariettatimes.com/news/story/new33_97200674755.asp

By Diana DeCola, [e-mail]

Washington County residents overwhelmingly support the resignation of the four Washington County board of elections members as recommended by the Secretary of State’s office.

That’s according to The Marietta Times’ 2006 Fair Poll conducted over the weekend. While the poll is not scientific, it has in the past been a good indicator of local opinion and how people will vote in the fall.

The poll, which only represents the views of those who filled out the survey at the Washington County Fair and in the newspaper, showed that 62 people said the board members should resign, while only 22 people said the members should not.

Statewide, it appears as though U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland, D-Lisbon, the area’s representative in Congress, will narrowly win the gubernatorial vote in Washington County...

[New Earth]

26. can you please hold on until i post today's?

and then post these in there? i'm at work so it hasn't been easy to post quickly.