Election, Fraud and Related News, Thursday 01/04/07

[EFerrari]

Election, Fraud and Related News, Thursday 01/04/07

U.S. Bars Lab From Testing Electronic Voting


Amy Sancetta/Associated Press

By CHRISTOPHER DREW
Published: January 4, 2007

A laboratory that has tested most of the nation’s electronic voting systems has been temporarily barred from approving new machines after federal officials found that it was not following its quality-control procedures and could not document that it was conducting all the required tests.
Skip to next paragraph

The company, Ciber Inc. of Greenwood Village, Colo., has also come under fire from analysts hired by New York State over its plans to test new voting machines for the state. New York could eventually spend $200 million to replace its aging lever devices.

Experts on voting systems say the Ciber problems underscore longstanding worries about lax inspections in the secretive world of voting-machine testing. The action by the federal Election Assistance Commission seems certain to fan growing concerns about the reliability and security of the devices.

The commission acted last summer, but the problem was not disclosed then. Officials at the commission and Ciber confirmed the action in recent interviews.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/04/washington/04voting.html?_r=1&oref=slogin


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[EFerrari]

1. CA: Modesto City Council Fights Election Reform Ruling

Jan 3, 2007 9:43 am US/Pacific
Modesto City Council Fights Election Reform Ruling

(AP) MODESTO The Modesto City Council is fighting a state court's ruling that would have allowed a Latino group to sue the city for election reforms. That means a 2004 lawsuit claiming that Modesto's citywide elections diminish the power of minority voters is headed to the California Supreme Court.

The city also is challenging the California Voting Rights Act of 2001, which allows people to go to court to demand reforms if they can show that racially polarized elections dilute minority votes.

http://cbs13.com/topstories/local_story_003124515.html

[EFerrari]

2. CO: Ford mourning snarls election

Ford mourning snarls election

Lakewood clerk extends deadline for mail-only ballots on land swap. The deadline had been 7 p.m. Tuesday, but ballots picked up by 4:30 p.m. today at the post office will be counted.
By Ann Schrader
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 01/02/2007 11:01:13 PM MST

Tuesday's mail holiday prompted by a national day of mourning for former President Gerald Ford has put a glitch in Lakewood's special election.

Ballots in the mail-only election were to have been returned by mail or dropped off at the city clerk's office by 7 p.m. Tuesday.

With the additional no-mail day, City Clerk Margy Greer decided to extend the deadline for mailed-in ballots. She will pick up ballots at the post office today at 6:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

No ballots dropped off at city hall after 7 p.m. Tuesday will be counted.

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_4939953?source=rss

[EFerrari]

3. CO: Montrose still studying election problems

Montrose still studying election problems


By BEVERLY CORBELL The Daily Sentinel

Thursday, January 04, 2007

MONTROSE — Problems with the November elections in Montrose were similar to those in Denver: After waiting in long lines for hours, some people gave up and didn’t cast their ballots.

Montrose’s election problems, however, haven’t had Denver’s fallout, including the resignation of the director of the Denver Election Commission and a special election on Jan. 30 to revamp the commission. And, unlike Denver, no conclusions have been reached about the root causes of problems in Montrose on Nov. 7. They’re still being studied.

After the election, when results were not known for days, the Montrose Board of County Commissioners appointed a seven-member Election Fact Finding Task Force to come up with answers as to why some voting machines failed to work and paper ballots were in short supply, particularly at the Montrose Pavilion, where some people waited as long as three hours before voting.

Disgruntled voters will have a chance to air their grievances Jan. 11, when the task force will hold a meeting to gather public comments at 7 p.m. at the county administration building at 161 South Townsend Ave., task force member Virgil Turner said.

http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/01/04/1_4_3a_Montrose_elections.html

[EFerrari]

4. FL: Jennings appeals judge's decision

Jennings appeals judge's decision
D-13 candidate denied access to Sarasota's touch-screen voting machines, source codes
STACEY EIDSON
Herald Staff Writer

SARASOTA - On the eve of Republican Vern Buchanan being sworn into office as the representative of the 13th Congressional District, Democrat Christine Jennings filed an appeal to overturn a circuit judge's decision denying her access to the source code of Sarasota County's touch-screen voting machines.

Leon County Circuit Judge William Gary ruled last week that the expert testimony presented by Jennings was "nothing more than conjecture" and tests on Sarasota County's electronic voting machines indicated the equipment operated with 100 percent accuracy on Election Day.

The judge also agreed with ES&S, the company that manufactured the iVotronic voting machines, that revealing the machines' source codes would "result in destroying or at least gutting the protection afforded those who own the trade secrets."

In her petition filed in the First District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee, Jennings' attorneys insisted that Gary inappropriately ignored ES&S's burden to prove the company would be harmed by allowing Jennings access to the system's hardware and software, including the source code.

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/nation/16378608.htm

:woohoo:

[Peace Patriot]

13. This is OUTRAGEOUS! The rights of 18,000 voters, whose votes were

'disappeared' in FL-13, vs. the corporation's "right" to trade secret vote counting--and the judge protects the corporation?! WHERE is there a better example of our utterly upside-down and backwards election system and the legal/political system that is shilling for the Corporate Rulers? The Red Queen in "Alice in Wonderland" couldn't have made a more bizarre ruling! Paint the white roses red!

[EFerrari]

5. FL: Report details 'failure' of e-voting systems

Report details 'failure' of e-voting systems
DUANE MARSTELLER
Herald Staff Writer

MANATEE - Sarasota County was far from alone in having problems with electronic voting machines during the Nov. 7 general election, three voter advocacy groups said in a report released Wednesday.

Voters and pollworkers in more than 300 other U.S. counties also reported problems, including machines shutting down or not starting on time, switching or losing votes and inaccurately tallying ballots, the groups said in renewing calls to eliminate paperless e-voting systems like the one used in Sarasota.

"This report demonstrates that the promise of easier voting, more accurate tallies, and faster results with electronic systems has not been fulfilled," said Warren Stewart, policy director for VoteTrustUSA, which co-sponsored the report with VotersUnite.org and Voter Action.

In all, the groups compiled 1,022 reports of machine problems from pollworker surveys, media reports and voter calls to two national hotlines.

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/local/16378048.htm

[EFerrari]

6. LA: House panel to review 3 challenges to elections of GOP lawmakers

House panel to review 3 challenges to elections of GOP lawmakers
Posted 1/3/2007 4:53 PM ET
By Ana Radelat, Gannett News Service

WASHINGTON — When Rep. Jim McCrery takes the congressional oath of office Thursday, he'll be one of three Republican lawmakers whose elections to the House are still in dispute because of challenges filed by candidates they defeated.

All three elections may be scrutinized by the House Administration Committee, but in the meantime, McCrery and the other two House members will be allowed to serve.

Their challengers stand only a slim chance of victory.

More than 100 election challenges have been filed by losing candidates since 1933, but nearly all have been dismissed by the House.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-01-03-challenges_x.htm

[EFerrari]

7. MS: Smooth electronic elections expected in 2007 races

Smooth electronic elections expected in 2007 races

By Joseph McCain
The Winston County Journal

Problems at the polls with the new electronic voting machines in 2006 were minor and fewer issues are expected in 2007 elections.

"We hopefully will have many poll workers returning from last year and they will be more comfortable with the electronic voting machines," said Winston County Circuit Clerk. "Also, many of the voters will be comfortable with the machines."

For those fearing or having anxiety about the electronic voting, Ming urged them to come by the circuit clerk's office and practice on a test machine. Ming added that any church group or other group that wanted a demonstration of the machine should contact the circuit clerk's office and they would be glad to schedule a practice session for the group or club.
"We want as many people as possible to see how simple it is to vote on the electronic machines," said Ming.

Voters will go to the poles on Tuesday, August 7 to vote in the primary election and will return on Tuesday, November 6 to vote in the general election.

http://www.winstoncountyjournal.com/articles/2007/01/03/news/news02.txt

[EFerrari]

8. MS: Two new members appointed to county election commission

Two new members appointed to county election commission
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Special to The Mississippi Press

Moss Point's Bessie Polk and Ocean Springs' Alfred Rushing were sworn in on Dec. 29 as the two newest members of the Jackson County Election Commission.

Polk and Rushing were appointed by the Board of Supervisors to fill the unexpired terms of commissioners from District Two and Five.

Polk will serve District 2 in place of Martinna Means who resigned in November 2006. Polk was nominated by Supervisor Robert R. Norvel for her deep involvement in the community and professional background.

Before retiring in 2004, Polk worked in social services for more than 10 years, at Ingalls Shipbuilding for 22 years and in the Moss Point School District for four years. She has served as a Moss Point poll worker for two presidential elections and one local election. Polk is an active member of St. Paul United Methodist Church in Moss Point, the Alcorn University Alumni Association, Temple 995 Daughters of Elk and NAACP.

http://www.gulflive.com/news/mississippipress/index.ssf?/base/news/116790933912320.xml

[EFerrari]

9. NY: (Staten) Islanders can test new voting machines

Islanders can test new voting machines
Thursday, January 04, 2007
By TOM WROBLESKI

Staten Islanders can test drive some new voting machines during a demonstration tonight in St. George.

Manufacturers who want the city to use their voting machines in the 2007 general election will display their wares tonight from 5 to 9 p.m. in the Richmond County Clerk's Grand Jury Room at 126 Stuyvesant Pl.

Five machines, made by the Avante, ES&S, Diebold and Sequoia companies, will be available for testing.

Included will be ATM-style touchscreen machines, as well as those that employ "optical scan" technology, where voters use special writing instruments to mark a paper ballot that's then electronically fed into the machine.

http://www.silive.com/news/advance/index.ssf?/base/news/116791835320870.xml&coll=1

[EFerrari]

10. NY: Rent, buy or build? New Board of Elections home debated.

Rent, buy or build? New Board of Elections home debated.

By LIZ ANDERSON
THE JOURNAL NEWS
Powered by Topix.net
(Original publication: January 4, 2007)

Westchester County legislators debating spending $13.3 million to buy and renovate a new home for the Board of Elections questioned yesterday whether there were other suitable spaces available, and just when a decision must be made on the deal.

The building, at 450 Saw Mill River Road in Ardsley, would be used to house the board's office staff, as well as to store voting machines and equipment that are now the board's responsibility under state and federal election reforms. The board's offices now are in downtown White Plains, next to the main county office building.

County Executive Andrew Spano submitted a proposal to the board in November to spend $6 million to buy the Ardsley building and $7.3 million to overhaul it for the board's office and warehouse needs. The expenditures would be funded by bonds, which would cost the county an estimated $19.3 million, with interest, over 20 years.

The building's owner is now pushing for a decision by the end of this month, claiming through a lawyer that there are other possible buyers in the mix.

http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070104/NEWS02/701040352/1026/NEWS10

[EFerrari]

11. PA: Electronic voting errors detailed in area counties

Electronic voting errors detailed in area counties
By Rich Cholodofsky
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, January 4, 2007

Problems at the polls experienced in November by voters in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties were emblematic of nationwide failures of electronic voting systems, according to a report released Wednesday.

The report, compiled by a trio of national watchdog groups critical of electronic voting systems, found that touch-screen computerized voting resulted in long lines at the polls, people being turned away because of malfunctioning machines and even cases of flipped votes.

Nationally, the report said there were problems attributed to electronic voting in more than 300 counties in 36 states throughout the country.

"We were part of a trend. These machines, while touted by vendors as easy to use and secure, time and time again we've seen these kinds of problems," said Marybeth Kuznik, executive director of VotePa.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribunereview/news/westmoreland/s_486962.html

[EFerrari]

12. WY: Dems plan House recount

Dems plan House recount

Thursday, January 04, 2007

SHERIDAN (AP) -- Three Sheridan Democrats say they will conduct a hand recount of Sheridan County's results in the U.S. House race between Rep. Barbara Cubin and Gary Trauner to see whether the county's new voting machines are accurate.

Cubin, a Republican, beat Trauner, a Democrat, by just 1,012 votes in the Nov. 7 general election. Cubin won the race in Sheridan County by 628 votes.

The recount is not to remove Cubin from office, but to ensure the new voting machines counted the ballots correctly, said Liz Howell, a Sheridan County Democrat and one of those planning to conduct the recount.

"We have to trust the system, and we can't trust the system until we've tested it, and we're willing to do that," she said.

http://www.jacksonholestartrib.com/articles/2007/01/04/news/wyoming/af659a7b64b92fdc8725725900045f8e.txt

[EFerrari]

14. Executive Summary: Request by Voters (re Amend Holt)

Executive Summary: Request by Voters
Submitted by Nancy Tobi

Download an executive summary of the Request by Voters to amend the Holt Bill for election integrity, and use it to encourage other individuals and organizations to sign on!

http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/link.php?id=28470

pdf: http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/linkframe.php?linkpg=http://www.democracyfornewhampshire.com/files/request-by-voters-executive-summary.pdf&linkid=28470

[EFerrari]

15. OH: Groups fault electronic voting machines

Groups fault electronic voting machines
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Patrick O'Donnell
Plain Dealer Reporter

Electronic voting machines like the ones that snarled Cuyahoga County's last election were responsible for nearly three-quarters of all election troubles nationwide in November, according to a report by several voters rights groups released Wednesday.

Although only about a third of voters nationally used electronic voting machines, the systems accounted for 760 out of 1,022 problems reported to watchdog groups, poll monitors and voter hot lines nationwide.

These included votes being recorded wrong in Baltimore and St. Louis and trouble with touch screens and paper records in San Diego and near Chicago.

The report also lists problems with poll workers and voters not understanding the machines, polls not opening on time and voters leaving the polls without voting.

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/116790343573500.xml&coll=2

[EFerrari]

16. NRO: The Loser Who Won’t Concede

The Loser Who Won’t Concede
Democrat Christine Jennings’s losing crusade.

By Byron York

Editor’s note — One of the first things the new Democratic-controlled House is doing today is to authorize an inquiry into the results of the House race in Florida’s 13th Congressional District. Although Republican Vern Buchanan was certified the winner after multiple recounts, Democrat Christine Jennings has refused to concede, and has asked the new House leadership to intervene. What’s going on here? Byron York looked into the question in the December 31, 2006, issue of National Review.

Do you remember the Election Crisis of 2006? In the weeks before November 7, Democrats laid the groundwork for widespread legal challenges to voting results, readying themselves to find irregularities, voter suppression, and outright fraud in precincts across America. Activists on the left established hotlines — call 866-OUR-VOTE! — and assembled platoons of volunteer lawyers. This time, they vowed, Republicans would not get away with stealing an election.

And then Democrats won. The hotlines went quiet. The lawyers went back to work. The crisis went away.

Which left some Capitol Hill Republicans who have worked with Democrats on so-called “election reform” issues feeling a little, well, cynical. “If they lose, they assume something is wrong with the system,” says one top Senate aide. “We lose, we say we lost. We’re not going to court. Had the shoe been on the other foot, they would have been suing until the end of time.”

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZWNhMWVhMWUyOThmMjU1ZjFhMTc0NzdlMWZhMmMyN2M=

[EFerrari]

17. CT: Connecticut test of voting devices charts new course

Connecticut test of voting devices charts new course

Connecticut's decision to opt for the optical scan voting machines appears to have been the right one.

Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz reports that the devices, tested in 25 municipalities in last fall's election, performed admirably. Apparently, the few discrepancies that cropped up were the result of voter error, not an imperfection in the scanner.

We have felt that the OCR devices were the more reliable way to go in replacing the state's now-antiquated mechanical voting machines. For years Connecticut was one of the few states to be totally mechanized — paper ballots were a thing of the past. Now it's deja vu.

We have heard stories about the weaknesses of the touch-screen voting machines. One of the biggest problems was, in some cases, there was no paper trail to back up the recorded vote.

The scanners, such as the ones tested in Connecticut, do provide such a record. The voter fills out a paper ballot by hand, then feeds it into the machine that scans and tabulates the votes.

http://www.thestamfordtimes.com/stamford_templates/stamford_story/358191004094517.php

[EFerrari]

18. CA: 2 in Calif. sentenced for voter fraud

2 in Calif. sentenced for voter fraud

Thu Jan 4, 9:23 AM ET

SANTA ANA, Calif. - Two signature gatherers charged with tricking Orange County voters into registering as Republicans were sentenced to three years' probation.

Jason Holly, 36, and Jessica Sundell, 23, were among a dozen people arrested last fall and charged with fraudulent completion of affidavit of registration, a felony.

According to prosecutors, the recruiters went to shopping malls and campuses and asked residents to sign petitions for lower taxes or stricter sex offender laws, then tricked them into signing voter registration cards for the Republican party. The registration drive paid up to $10 per registrant.

Orange County Republican Party Chairman Scott Baugh said in October that the party did not know about the illegal signature gathering.

Holly and Sundell were sentenced Wednesday and told they couldn't recruit voters or collect signatures for petitions, said Senior Deputy District Attorney Dan Hess. He said the pair, who pleaded guilty in November, will get credit for time served: 24 days for Holly and 30 days for Sundell.

One of the other defendants remains a fugitive.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070104/ap_on_re_us/registration_fraud

[Peace Patriot]

19. Wonderland: "Bush-appointed EAC shuts down secret industry electronic

voting machine 'testing' facility and KEEPS IT A SECRET throughout the MOST IMPORTANT CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS IN U.S. HISTORY." (proper headline!)

The NYT evidently doesn't realize that we're operating by the Red Queen's rules these days--and fails to put this ASTOUNDING confession by the EAC into the context of the Congressional elections. The EAC found such grave violations of quality control at the "testing" facility (Ciber Inc.) "that has tested MOST of the nation's electronic voting systems" that they SHUT IT DOWN and did so LAST SUMMER--prior to the most hotly contested Congressional elections in our history--WITHOUT TELLING ANYBODY, and are only now "confirming the action in RECENT interviews." (emphases added)

As the Red Queen would say: "OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!"

-----------------------

Ref. to the OP: NYT: "US Bars Lab From Testing Electronic Voting" (1/4/07)

Alice's question: Just how many of the voting machines that were "tested" in secret with egregiously bad "quality controls" were USED in the '06 Congressional elections, and what is the relationship of those machines to LOSSES by antiwar Democrats? Is TruthIsAll right that the Democrats should have won 40-50 seats in the House, not just 30?

Lewis Carroll, where are you when we need you?

Impeachment is "off the table." The Iraq War is "off the table" except for in the White House. Rescinding tax cuts for the rich, in the face of a $10 TRILLION deficit, is "off the table." And what's ON the table is a raise in the minimum wage in an economy with no jobs--all outsourced to the cheapest, most unprotected labor markets on earth.

Upside down and backwards. A situation that only jabberwocky can address. It's like Judge Gary in the FL-13 case (above): 'OF COURSE the corporation's RIGHT to TRADE SECRET, PROPRIETARY vote counting TRUMPS the rights of the voters to know what happened to their 18,000 'disappeared' votes! Don't be stupid, darling! You're in the Rabbit Hole now, and common sense is an oyster at the Mad Hatter's Tea Party and We Are The Walrus--heh, heh, heh! And the seeqwet testing of the seeqwet machines in their seeqwet undergwound testing lab came up with bad seeqwets that they kept seeqwet cuz if the people knew the bad seeqwets they might pwotest painting all the white woses wed! Don't ya see? It's wogical if you thwump it! And thwumping is the Law of the Land in BushWowld!"

[Peace Patriot]

20. Thanks for all this info, sfexpat2000! You got my creative juices going on

this beautiful 21st century morning in the land of the free, home of the brave! And what should strike everyone about this thread--besides the jabberwocky "State of the Union"--is the awesome fight that a democratic people are putting up, all over this land, to restore TRANSPARENT elections! Hats off to all the strugglers, protesters and lawsuit filers, and all the letter-writers, DU election reformers, voting rights groups, honest officials (we do have some), and patriotic citizens who refuse to be demoralized, disempowered and disenfranchised, and to all voters in the last election who OUTVOTED THE MACHINES, fifty percent of whom voted by Absentee Ballot to OUTWIT the machines, and to New Yorkers standing up for their old reliable and virtually unriggable, mechanical voting machines, and to all the "huddle masses yearning to breathe free" within our own shores--We, the People! Hats off to us all! This is the Year of the People! This is the Year that The Hangman loses! This is the Year that Thomas Jefferson's dream comes true! This is the Year of American Revolution II!

[EFerrari]

21. It's always my pleasure. I, too, am hopeful that we will make gains

this year -- in many areas.

:)

[emlev]

22. Caption of photo in OP: those are voters you see, not criminals from Ciber, Inc.

Here's the caption:
Electronic voting machines in use on Nov. 7 in Cleveland. The Election Assistance Commission certifies laboratories to test the systems.

[EFerrari]

23. Thank you,emlev. n/t

[Melissa G]

24. Thank you, sfexpat !!! You Rock!