MAKING THE BLACK VOTE COUNT: Election Reform, Fraud, & News Sunday 03/11/07

[freedomfries]

MAKING THE BLACK VOTE COUNT: Election Reform, Fraud, & News Sunday 03/11/07



All members welcome and encouraged to participate.
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If you can:
:argh:

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:patriot:

[freedomfries]

1. CA: The year of keeping up with Obama

The year of keeping up with Obama
Democrat candidates courting black voters

Jonathan Curiel, Chronicle Staff Writer
San Franscisco Chronicle
March 11, 2007
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/11/ING1IOH2Q11.DTL

The 2008 presidential campaign is in its infancy, but for Julian Bond, a positive development has already occurred: Democratic candidates are courting black voters with speeches, pledges and personal appearances.

African American voters were an afterthought in the run-up to the 2004 election, Bond says. This time they're sought-after, thanks to Barack Obama, who -- in his own wooing of the black vote -- has forced his Democratic rivals to follow suit. In high-profile visits last Sunday to Selma, Ala., Obama and Hillary Clinton commemorated the anniversary of landmark civil rights marches, with Obama saying he supported affirmative action, health care for the uninsured, more funding for black schools and more federal aid for Katrina-damaged New Orleans. Clinton, meanwhile, vowed to combat poverty, "growing inequality" and impediments to voting in black districts.

"Three years ago, no (presidential candidate) spoke about urban policy or urban poverty or cities at all," said Bond, chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, in a phone interview. "There was no discussion of that. And it's telling that when the Washington, D.C., Democratic party tried to insert a primary early in the schedule last time around, the Democratic Party threatened to deny them convention delegates -- in effect, saying, 'If you talk about problems we don't want to talk about, we won't let you go to the convention.' "

After that convention crowned John Kerry, black voters went overwhelmingly for the Massachusetts senator. In 2004, black voters numbered 13.2 million, or 11 percent of the electorate. Still, they didn't act as a monolith. In the key state of Ohio, for example, 16 percent of blacks (about 40,000 people) preferred Bush over Kerry, helping to push the incumbent president to a narrow win there -- and back to the White House.

In an effort to boost the number of black voters this year, the NAACP and other organizations are organizing get-out-the-vote drives, and lobbying states to rescind laws that prohibit ex-felons from voting. More than 5 million blacks are ineligible to vote because of state regulations that ban former felons from casting ballots, the NAACP says. Citing a report by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Bond's organization said these laws are "the biggest hindrance to black voting since the poll tax" -- the discriminatory assessment that states leveled on voters in the Jim Crow South.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/11/ING1IOH2Q11.DTL

[freedomfries]

2. FL: Michael Collins: Florida Gov. Crist Makes History [Re-Post]

Florida Gov. Crist Makes History

Opinion
Michael Collins
Thank you!!!
Scoop Independent News
March 8, 2007

Will end permanent disenfranchisement of
Florida’s 600,000 ex-felons who’ve paid their debt
Newly elected Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (right) says “Good bye to all that” and distances from disgraced Bush elections policies.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0703/S00134.htm

TALLAHASSEE, FL (AP) -- Governor Charlie Crist says he will continue working to change the rules so that felons will have their voting rights automatically restored once they have paid their debt to society.This is one of the most revolutionary and far reaching proposals made by a governor in years. The removal of voting rights for ex-felons, those who have served their time and returned to society, is a direct descendent of the 1890 Mississippi Constitution. This document proudly listed a variety of ways Post Reconstruction whites would remove all political power form black citizens.

Crist announced that this campaign promise was a top reform priority. The St. Petersburg Times quoted him as saying, “I am going to keep pushing to get us where I think we need to be." To accomplish this by edict under Florida law, Crist needs the consent of two or three cabinet members. In order to gain support, the Times reported that there would be exclusions for those convicted of murder, rape, or major drug trafficking.

During Reconstruction black American voting rates in the South were very high. Blacks and whites serving together in elected governments for years. When the Republicans traded the presidency for an end to Federal presence in the former Confederate states, the Compromise of 1876, Reconstruction ended and so did the rights of blacks to vote. This effort is part of general trend scholars Christopher Uggen and Jeff Manza termed Democratic Contraction, a means of denying universal suffrage for political advantage.

Once charged with a felony, almost any felony, you lose your right to vote, permanently in 14 states. As a result, 3.9 million Americans are disenfranchised for life due to felony convictions. Over 600,000 Floridians, mostly minority, mostly male, have lost their right to vote even though they have served their sentences. Florida is far from unique.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0703/S00134.htm

[freedomfries]

3. Nat: Boston Globe Editorial: Advancement for all

Advancement for all

Editorial
Boston Globe
March 11, 2007
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2007/03/11/advancement_for_all/

THE ARGUMENT broke out at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People: Should this civil rights warhorse put its energy into social justice, or social services? But it's a debate that affects the whole country.

On one side of the fight is Bruce Gordon, who became president of the NAACP in 2005 and resigned last week, saying his vision of more social services conflicted with the board's commitment to fighting solely for justice.

"It is time to find balance between holding ourselves accountable for what happens in our community, while also holding others accountable for what happens to our community," he said in a December speech. It was a call for African-Americans to take greater personal responsibility for problems while they continue to press for a more just society.

But Julian Bond, chairman of the NAACP board, made it clear that providing services is someone else's work. The NAACP will stick with its mission of ensuring equal rights and ending racial hatred and discrimination.

The country can't choose between tactics. It needs both more personal responsibility and more justice.

Speaking Sunday at a march commemorating 1965's Voting Rights Act, Senator Barack Obama put his rhetorical finger on an issue that is about race but also transcends race.

The Illinois Democrat and presidential candidate called on parents to instill "a sense in our young children that there is nothing to be ashamed about in educational achievement; I don't know who taught them that reading and writing and conjugating your verbs was something white."
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2007/03/11/advancement_for_all/

[freedomfries]

4. Nat: New GAO report on messed-up voting systems

US Gov warned on messed up e-voting systems

Lucy Sherriff
The Register, UK
March 10, 2007
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/10/evoting_report/

As the UK braces for electronic voting trials in the next round of local elections, the US Government Audit Office (GAO) has warned that e-voting systems could undermine the integrity of the whole election process if not properly managed.

It also argued for a greater commitment from government to the various bodies charged with overseeing elections in the US.

In a statement (pdf) entitled: "All Levels of Government Are Needed to Address Electronic Voting System Challenges", Randolph Hite, director of IT architecture and systems at the GAO, writes:

"Voting systems are one facet of a multifaceted, year-round elections process that involves the interplay of people, processes, and technology, and includes all levels of government.

"No voting technology, however well designed, can be a magic bullet that will solve all election problems."

He also acknowledges wider concerns about the security and reliability of machine voting, saying that the concerns are legitimate, and "merit the combined and focused attention of federal, state, and local authorities responsible for election
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/10/evoting_report/

[freedomfries]

5. Nat: "Voting systems inadequate": ITAS Director Hite's statement to AEC

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d07576t.pdf

[freedomfries]

6. Nat: Voters Unite recommended revisions to HR 811

Essential Revisions to HR 811


If you want to endorse this statement, please email to John Gideon
http://www.votersunite.org/info/HR811EssentialRevisions.htm

The groups and individuals endorsing this statement commend Congressman Rush Holt for all that is excellent in HR 811, the “Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2007” -- such as the ban on wireless communications, requirements for disclosed source code and hand audits, and the mandate that testing labs be contractually independent from vendors. However, we cannot, with good conscience, give our endorsement to HR 811 in its current form.
We believe we have a duty to call attention to the bill’s unacceptable shortcomings and to call for the needed amendments.
A brief look at the most urgent
1) We caution against redefining the term "paper ballots" to include printouts from direct recording electronic (DRE) voting machines, more typically called a "voter-verified paper trail" or just a "paper trail." "Paper ballot" should retain its historical definition as a ballot marked by the voter's hand or by a non-tabulating ballot-marking device. We need different names for different things so that people can discuss these issues without confusion.
The bill must be amended to require real, firsthand voter-marked paper ballots<1> (counted by hand or by optical scanner) and to ban the use of direct recording electronic (DRE) voting systems, which have proven themselves to be dangerously unreliable and only produce secondhand machine-printed paper trails that require voter-verification as a separate step by each voter.

Florida's Congressional District 13 race and the report of conflicts between the paper trail records and the electronic ballots in Cuyahoga County, Ohio are only two recent examples of how elections using DRE technology cannot be trusted and how confusing the technology can be to voters. Evidence overwhelmingly confirms that, even with the addition of a voter-verified paper audit trail, DREs cannot be made to serve our nation's need for universal citizen enfranchisement. It would constitute a grievous error to further codify the use of DRE systems, as is currently done by the redefinition of "voter verified paper ballot" found at the beginning of HR 811's Section 2(a)(1).

We believe that all voters should have equal access to accurate, secure, meaningfully observable, and verifiable election systems. DREs have been touted as providing this kind of election system, but America’s experience with hundreds of documented DRE failures and thousands of voters disenfranchised by them proves otherwise.

Any voter required to use a DRE is at once relegated to second-class status, given that other voters can vote on voter-marked paper ballots. Evidence shows that voter-marked paper ballots, combined with existing ballot-marking interfaces, provide both equity and parity to disabled and language minority voters in full compliance with ADA and HAVA.

Banning DREs would encourage the use of voter-marked paper ballot systems — currently available and deployed in many jurisdictions — and would provide America with a fair, consistent, unified, and superior method of conducting elections.

Conversely, HR 811 as written would require upgrading or replacing all DREs currently deployed and would foster a fresh round of DRE technology development, rushed to market and certain to continue the technology's historical pattern of disenfranchising voters as well as wasting taxpayer dollars.

Recommended revisions:

In the proposed HAVA Section 301(a)(2)(A)(i), after "created through the use of a ballot marking device or system," delete "or a paper ballot produced by a touch screen or other electronic voting machine."

At the end of subparagraph (i), add "Paper printouts produced by a direct recording electronic voting machine are specifically excluded."

In the proposed HAVA Section 301(a)(2)(D), change "voting machine" to "tallying machines", and change "voting-machine-to-voting-machine" to "tallying-machine-to-tallying-machine".

In the proposed HAVA Section 301(a)(12)(B)(v), change "voting machine" to "voting equipment".



2) We support continued innovation, and we believe better alternatives will emerge more quickly when DREs cease to distract innovation. To foster this process, the bill must be amended to also allow the development of low-tech innovations to provide accessibility and verifiability to people with disabilities, rather than mandating that such verifiability be accomplished only through computerized means, as HR 811’s proposed HAVA Section 301(a)(3)(B)(ii)(I) currently does.
Recommended revisions:

Change the proposed HAVA Section 301(a)(3)(B)(ii) to:
"(ii) meet the requirements of subparagraph (A) and paragraph (2)(A) by using a system that allows the voter to privately and independently verify the selections marked on the permanent paper ballot itself."

and delete subparagraphs (I) and (II).


In the proposed HAVA Section 301(a)(13), regarding readability requirements for paper ballots, after "clearly readable by the naked eye," change the remainder of the paragraph to:
"and verifiable by a device equipped for voters with disabilities and minority-language needs."




3) Studies show that most voters do not verify the "paper trail" of their ballot, printed by a DRE. By contrast, voter-marked paper ballots are inherently verified by the voters, and thus provide a true record of voter intent. Since all computerized counting methods (including optical scanners) are vulnerable to error, statistically significant audits, conducted by hand counting the paper ballots, are essential for all elections counted by software.
All recounts must also be conducted by hand counting the paper ballots. However, as currently written, HR 811 (unlike its predecessor HR 550) contains a loophole that would allow hand counting to be bypassed in some situations when the hand counting is most important. HR 811 Section 327 provides an exemption from the audit requirements for an election in which a recount is triggered by State law due to a narrow margin. So, if the State only requires a machine recount, the election would be exempted from all hand counting of that narrow race.

HR 811's proposed HAVA Section 301(a)(2)(B) must be amended to require all recounts to be conducted by hand-counting the paper ballots (as HR 550 did), including recounts mandated by State laws for races with narrow margins.

Recommended revisions:

At the end of the proposed HAVA Section 301(a)(2)(B)(iii), after "true and correct record of the votes cast", add ", and"
and delete "and shall be used as the official ballots for purposes of any recount or audit conducted with respect to any election for Federal office in which the voting system is used."


Add the following subparagraph to HAVA Section 301(a)(2)(B):
"(iv) the individual permanent paper ballots produced pursuant to subparagraph (A), and subject to subparagraph (D), shall be used as the official ballots for purposes of any recount or audit conducted with respect to any election for Federal office in which the voting system is used."




4) Connecting voting system components to the Internet or transmitting system information over the Internet facilitates hacking. However, HR 811's proposed HAVA Section 301(a)(11), as currently written, would allow the central Election Management System (EMS) computer of a voting system to be connected to the Internet. The EMS computer of a voting system is arguably the component most critical to protect from Internet connection.
The bill must be amended to ban all Internet connections for all components of a voting system. In addition, the bill should include a ban on the Internet transmission of voted overseas ballots referenced in HR 811's proposed HAVA Section 301(a)(2)(C).

Recommended revisions:

Change the proposed HAVA Section 301(a)(10) to:
"No component of any voting system shall be connected, either directly or indirectly, to the Internet at any time."


In the proposed HAVA Section 301(a)(2)(C), after "the requirements of such Act and this Act,"
delete "except that to the extent that such protocols permit the use of electronic mail in the delivery or submission of such ballots, paragraph (11) shall not apply with respect to the delivery or submission of the ballots."

and add "and are in conformance with paragraph (11)."




5) There must be no undisclosed voting system software. However, HR 811's proposed HAVA Section 301(a)(9), as currently written, fails to exempt software that is truly Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) from public disclosure. The bill must be amended to require true COTS software, such as the Windows operating system and standard printer drivers, to be escrowed and available to officials under confidentiality, but not publicly disclosed.
Recommended revisions to the proposed HAVA Section 301(a)(9):

After "The appropriate election official shall disclose" insert "all system documentation and".

After "executable representation of the voting system software" delete "and firmware" and add ", firmware, and modified off-the-shelf (MOTS) software".

At the end of the proposed HAVA Section 301(a)(9), delete the period and insert ", except that the system documentation, source code, object code, and executable representation of unmodified Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software shall be disclosed only under confidentiality agreement to persons authorized by the State."



6) We believe that the EAC has failed every part of its mission statement. We do not support extending the authorization of the EAC permanently. However, it isn't feasible to remove the EAC without having a structure in place to fill the gap. Therefore, the bill must be amended to extend the authorization through 2008 only, with provisions that enable and encourage the proactive oversight of the EAC by Congress and the public.
Recommended revisions:

In Section 4 of HR 811, change: "each fiscal year beginning with fiscal year 2003'' to "each of the fiscal years 2003 through 2008, contingent on the Commission's compliance with Section 202(7)."

Amend HAVA Section 202 by adding at the end:
"(7) publishing a report, submitted to Congress, made available to the public, and posted prominently on the Commission's website on the first day of every quarter, detailing the activities and actions of the Commission for the previous quarter, explaining how those activities and actions relate to the fulfillment of the Commission's duties and deadlines under HAVA, and including an appendix quoting complaints the Commission has received from officials and citizens regarding its activities and actions and the Commission's responses to those complaints."




In addition to these six essential amendments, we believe HR 811 would be significantly improved by the following revisions.

7) The selection of the audit board should be amended to avoid conflicts with the authority of existing independent election oversight bodies in many states.
Recommended revision:

In HR 811, Section 321(a), change "chief auditor shall appoint" to "the state election oversight body independent of election administration, or where none exists, the chief auditor shall appoint".



8) The bill should state when the audits of precinct ballots should begin, as it does for absentee and provisional ballots.
Recommended revision:

At the end of Section 321(a)(1), add the following:
"The audits shall commence no later than 24 hours after the announcement of specific sample design of the audit."

We urge the appropriate Congressional committees to incorporate these amendments into HR 811 and any companion bill introduced into the Senate.
http://www.votersunite.org/info/HR811EssentialRevisions.htm

[freedomfries]

7. NY: Paper ballots needed to ensure fair elections

Paper ballots needed to ensure fair elections


Letter to editor
Times Union, Albany, NY
March 9, 2007
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=570345&category=OPINION&newsdate=3/9/2007

I think we should return to paper ballots until we can be sure that computerized voting can be more reliable and not be tampered with. Right now, it doesn't seem as if our votes will be counted right and there may be no paper trail to do a recount.

Surely there is a better way to vote and to count those votes without relying on a vote that cannot be insured to a fair count.

I wouldn't allow my bank account to be policed by such means. Why would I allow my vote to be?
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=570345&category=OPINION&newsdate=3/9/2007

[freedomfries]

8. NY: No changes at polling places this fall, despite federal mandate

No changes at polling places this fall, despite federal mandate

Ariel Zangla
Daily Freeman, NY
March 11, 2007
http://www.dailyfreeman.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18065698&BRD=1769&PAG=461&dept_id=74969&rfi=6

THE OLD lever-action voting machines were supposed to become a thing of the past in New York state in time for the 2006 elections, but voters still will be seeing them this fall.

The Help America Vote Act, approved by Congress in 2002 in response to the contested Florida presidential vote in 2000, called for all mechanical voting machines to be phased out by the 2006 elections and replaced with more technologically advanced models. But before local counties can order new machines, the state Board of Elections must certify models for local use.

That certification process is on hold in New York, meaning counties will have to wait to place their orders.

"THE ODDS are slim to none that we will have a certified system for this year," said Thomas Turco, Ulster County's Republican commissioner of elections. He said there is a possibility the state will certify new voting machines in time for the presidential primaries in 2008.

Turco added that for the lever machines to be used again this year, the state Legislature must repeal or change a law prohibiting the use of such machines after Sept. 1, 2007.

ROBERT Brehm, deputy director of public information for the state Board of Elections, said the certification of new voting machines is on hold because of an issue with Ciber, the company hired to do the independent testing. He said the state learned in January that there were problems with Ciber's quality control and test procedures. The state currently is reviewing the situation, Brehm said.
...

"We did not want to spend money on machines that were faulty," he said.
http://www.dailyfreeman.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18065698&BRD=1769&PAG=461&dept_id=74969&rfi=6

[freedomfries]

9. Nat: AlterNet: False Choices in the Debate on Voting Technology [Re-Post]

False Choices in the Debate on Voting Technology

Brad Friedman
AlterNet
Thank you!
February 28, 2007.
http://alternet.org/rights/48427/

American democracy cannot afford another questionable presidential election. Anybody disagree? The good news is that over the course of the last few years -- through the exhaustive and tireless work of an extraordinarily dedicated, rag-tag band of citizen patriots I call "The Election Integrity Movement" -- both the public and most of our politicians have finally come to understand that we have a serious problem with our electoral system.

The bad news is that, while they've finally discovered there's a problem -- unreliable, inaccurate, hackable voting machines, which count our public elections with secret software created by private companies -- the politicians, specifically the Democrats, and many of their public advocacy groups, have gotten the solution wrong. The answer is not "paper trails," that will never be counted, attached to touch-screen voting systems. The answer is paper ballots that are actually tabulated, either by optical-scan or hand-count. Seems simple enough, I know. But apparently not.

At The BRAD BLOG, we've been discussing the pros and cons of Rep. Rush Holt's (D-NJ) new Election Reform bill HR 811 since it dropped about two weeks ago in the House. It has a lot of co-sponsors and traction, and there is much good in it. Some of its features include requirements for publicly-disclosed software, greatly increased restrictions on the use of the Internet and other networking, a ban on insane voting machine "sleepovers" at pollworkers' houses prior to elections, mandatory random audits of results, and a requirement for a "durable and archival paper ballot for every vote cast. Trouble is, Holt's bill never requires that the "durable and archival paper ballot" actually be tabulated. And that was no mistake.

I was allowed to give input to Holt's office with each draft of the new legislation -- an update, and a great improvement, to his Election Reform bill from the last session (HR 550) which, thanks to former-Rep. Bob Ney and the Republicans, never even made it to mark-up in committee. With each successive draft of the new bill, I suggested language that would require those "paper ballots" actually be tabulated, and each time, that language was not added.

Why? Because if such a requirement existed, Direct Recording Electronic (DRE/touch-screen) devices would effectively be banned forever from American elections in the bargain.

Sounds good to me. Given the number of legally-registered voters (thousands, if not millions) who were unable to even cast a vote due to DRE break-downs during the 2006 election cycle -- something that doesn't happen with a paper-based optical-scan or hand-counted system, which allows a voter to vote no matter what -- and the number of votes that were either flipped, recorded incorrectly or not at all by such touch-screen systems, it would seem to be a no-brainer that it's time to ban them all together.

Even the new Republican Governor of Florida now wants to replace his state's DRE machines with optical-scan systems. And, every computer scientist and computer expert I've ever spoken with agrees that op-scans are far safer for use in elections than DRE's.

Yet, Holt won't call for a ban on DREs in his legislation, and a number of the largest Democratic-based public-advocacy and civil rights groups don't want to ban them either. They are willing to support the dangerous Holt bill as is. So what the hell is going on here?

Here's what's going on: Supporters of the legislation are using three false dichotomies opportunistically and/or disingenuously and/or naively to help see it passed by Congress.
http://alternet.org/rights/48427/

[freedomfries]

10. Nat: Felten on Sarasota: Could a Bug Have Lost Votes?[Re-Post]

Sarasota: Could a Bug Have Lost Votes?

Edward W. Felten, Princeton University
VoteTrustUSA
February 28, 2007
This article was posted on Ed Felten's blog Freedom To Tinker and is reposted with permission of the author.
Thank you!
http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2294&Itemid=113


At this point, we still don’t know what caused the high undervote rate in Sarasota’s Congressional election. There are two theories. The State-commissioned study released last week argues that for the theory that a badly designed ballot caused many voters to not see that race and therefore not cast a vote.

Today I want to make the case for the other theory: that a malfunction or bug in the voting machines caused votes to be not recorded. The case sits on four pillars: (1) The postulated behavior is consistent with a common type of computer bug. (2) Similar bugs have been found in voting machines before. (3) The state-commissioned study would have been unlikely to find such a bug. (4) Studies of voting data show patterns that point to the bug theory.
http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2294&Itemid=113

[L. Coyote]

11. HELP WANTED: Newshounds, Daily Work, Fun and Entertaining Topic

The great News Hounds maintaining this tradition may stumble upon useful links to post here:

The Daily Impeachment News: post high crimes and misdemeanor news

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x388192

This thread is an idea being tested.
If the DU Community wants to have a daily thread like this, it will be obvious by your PARTICIPATION.

POST links to DU discussions, web articles, start the thread in the morning with a link to the previous thread and an article, kick only if buried, etc.
I'm not able to continue this daily activity beginning in a few days.
VOTE for this thread by participating.

[L. Coyote]

12. kick ahead of yesterday's thread n/t