10/23. Diebold audit bug investigation, Why ES&S Diebold merger bad for US, Official touts open sour

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

Diebold audit log bug under investigation, Why ES&S Diebold merger bad for NY and US, Election official touts open source

Oct 23, 2009

California investigating Diebold audit log bugs...Absentee ballot blues: 7% of Route County CO absentee ballots undeliverable...Tennessee Judge may force state To provide voting paper Trail and election officials get course on running paper ballot elections....Sequoia voting source code story hits mainstream media...why the ES&S/Premier merger is bad for New York State and the Country...Election official touts the benefits of Open Source programming...Election officials deliver Afghan runoff ballots...Impasse over Iraqi election law may slow U.S. withdrawal...Complaints of tampering with the E-voting machines in India...

All of that and more in today's Voting News below...

CA: California Investigating Problems With Voting-Machine Audit Logs
October 22, 2009 ...The investigation is examining what the audit logs record and whether they can be easily altered or deleted, according to Secretary of State Debra Bowen
...
The state confirmed the problems in a report it released about a month later in which it also found that some versions of the GEMS software had a Clear button that allows anyone with access to the system to permanently delete certain audit logs “that would be essential to reconstruct operator actions during the vote-tallying process.”
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/10/audit-log/

Voting Machines With Disappearing Logs Finally Under Investigation
http://gizmodo.com/5388025/voting-machines-with-disappearing-logs-finally-under-investigation

CA: Tweet - smcvote Sequoia WinEDS v. 3.1.012 Revised Conditional Reapproval http://bit.ly/22iQOV
http://twitter.com/smcvote/status/5051346000

CO: Don’t forget: Ballots need extra postage
October 22, 2009 AURORA County officials are urging voters to take a close look at the postal rates spelled out on mail-in ballots for November’s local election.
...
“Our official policy is that the voters are supposed to put the postage on the ballot. Sixty-one cents is the amount this year,” ...
http://www.aurorasentinel.com/articles/2009/10/22/news/metro_aurora/doc4ae0af6aa6b6e770115288.txt

CO: Clerk: Only 5 percent of voters have completed, returned ballots *
Less than 700 completed ballots received; 1,022 undeliverable
...as of Wednesday afternoon, her office had received only 682 of the 13,440 ballots sent to voters in Routt County’s first mail-only election.
http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2009/oct/23/county_clerk_
only_5_percent_voters_have_returned_b/#
or use this tiny url http://tinyurl.com/absenteeball

MN: St. Paul residents debate instant runoff voting
October 22, 2009 St. Paul, Minn. — Supporters and opponents of instant runoff voting faced off in St. Paul Wednesday night for their first and only formal public debate
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/10/22/st-paul-instant-runoff-voting/#

Audio of debate here
http://twi.cc/qEhB

MN: Election night wins might be tough to call in Minneapolis
The winners in some races in Minneapolis won't be known instantly under the new ranked-choice voting system.
October 22, 2009. Not only will it take weeks before all results are known from the first attempt at ranked-choice voting in Minneapolis, but some of the election-night results will be misleading.
http://www.startribune.com/politics/local/65698537.html?elr=KArks7PYDiaK7DUoaK7D_V_eDc87DUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU

MN: Instant runoff voting and buyer's remorse
October 23, 2009 Chuck Repke, St. Paul, works in neighborhood development and government relations.
He is co-chair of the No Bad Ballots Committee, which is organized to oppose IRV.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/10/23/repke/

NY: why the ES&S/Premier merger is bad for New York State
October 23 2009 Bad for the country, bad for New York
...Is it so hard to imagine a scenario where ES&S makes an offer they can’t refuse and swallows Dominion, bringing New York State’s voting machine contracts under its exclusive control?
...
...it is also critical that local election officials and state Attorneys General weigh in on this, as they are in the best position to represent the interests of voting machine customers and the public.
http://www.bolipari.com/boblog/2009/10/on-the-proposed-ess-merger/

TN: Judge May Force State To Provide Voting Paper Trail (also has video)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A Davidson County judge may force the state to buy new voting machines that would provide a paper trail in the event of allegations of voter fraud.
http://www.wsmv.com/news/21394315/detail.html

TN: Optical scan voting machines discussed
Thursday, October 22, 2009 A group of election officials from across Tennessee held detailed discussions last week about how to properly conduct elections using paper ballots.
...
Committee members also had detailed discussions about the proper chain of custody for ballots before, during and after elections.
http://www.nwtntoday.com/news.php?viewStory=33015

TX: Poll watchers filed criminal complaint against election judge
October 23, 2009...Stevens, Hyatt and Magid said Middleton failed to grant them "the access necessary to observe the processing of voters at the Collin College Spring Creek campus during the early voting period of the November 2008 election as required by Texas Election Code, Sections 33.056 through 33.061," the statement said.
http://www.scntx.com/articles/2009/10/23/news_update/49.txt#

TX: Battle Brewing Over How Upshur County Clerk Handles Elections
...The court voted to request that she have county employees transport election equipment to and from polling places in the Nov. 3 state Constitutional amendment election. Ms. LaGrone rejected it, meaning election judges will continue hauling the equipment.
...The clerk has said having county workers do so instead would put "too much liability" on the county.

http://www.tylerpaper.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091022/NEWS01/910220329#


VA: Va. police investigating voter fraud by felons
RICHMOND Virginia State Police are investigating whether any felons illegally voted in last November's election. Police and election officials aren't saying how many possible offenders are under investigation
http://hamptonroads.com/2009/10/va-police-investigating-voter-fraud-felons

VT: Vermont Legislative Research Shop
Instant Runoff Voting. An Assessment Prepared by Anthony Gierzynski, PhD,
Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Vermont
http://www.uvm.edu/~vlrs/IRVassessment.pdf


Sequoia Source Code - Voting News does applaud
Election Defense Alliance for the amazing success of their FOIA request
Secret Computer Election Codes Made Public
Oct 21, 2009
...The makers of the voting machines tell News Channel 3, "We did remove the proprietary information but did not thoroughly redact it, leaving text base remnants of various database level code "

They add, "Sequoia regrets this error as we work diligently to protect our existing proprietary copyrighted material."
http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=11357302#

Sequoia e-voting code reveals possible FEC rule violations
October 21, 2009. An election integrity advocacy group has found extensive voting machine source code in election databases that were provided in response to public records requests. The code, which powers Sequoia voting machines, is said to be a possible a violation of Federal Election Commission rules.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/10/sequoia-evoting-code-reveals-possible-fec-rule-violations.ars

Election Defense Alliance findings on Sequoia Code http://studysequoia.wikispaces.com/

Sequoia Voting System database laid bare but no secrets found
The Linux Distillery.22 October 2009 ... The Daily Kos sensationally claimed the database violated Federal voting law. A closer examination gives a different story....
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/28715/1141/1/0/

Sequoia Voting System Witch Hunt, err... Study Project
Posted At : October 21, 2009
http://www.codersrevolution.com/index.cfm/2009/10/21/Sequoia-Voting-System-Witch-Hunt-err-Study-Project

National

The Benefits of Open Source Programming
Champaign County Clerk
Open source programming for government provides an opportunity for cost savings, greater efficiency and flexibility, and greatly enhanced services to the public.
...
To begin, government is not in competition with anyone (or shouldn’t be). Unlike the private sector, governments have no vested interest in denying cost effective solutions to others
http://blog.champaigncountyclerk.com/2009/10/23/the-benefits-of-open-source-programming/

Voting Information Project
Cool initiative for those of us trying to make polling place information easily available to our constituents online -

The Voting Information Project has developed an open data format with which state election divisions can publish their voting information.
http://nonprofitvote.blogspot.com/2009/10/voting-information-project.html

Voting Technology in the U.S. and Abroad
OCTOBER 21, 2009. The ongoing debate over the role of technology in elections has provoked a great deal of research on the topic. A recent conference on voting technology featured 11 papers examining evidence in a number of countries and a new working paper discusses the current state of research and development in voting technology.
http://www.electionreformproject.org/Features/4d429767-ea43-48d1-87df-c089c8be60ff/r1/Detail.aspx


Fixing Our Broken Democracy
October 22, 2009 ...Reduce the Role of Money - At Least a Little...Getting the Count Right...Solving the Spoiler Problem
http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/articles/brokenDem.html

Scahill on 'The ACORN Standard'; Grayson on ACORN Bill
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7481

electionlineWeekly — October 22, 2009 Newsletter (and classified ad for internet vendor salesman)
http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/uploadedFiles/wwwpewcenteronthestatesorg/
Reports/Electionline_Reports/electionlineWeekly10.22.09.pdf
or use this tiny url http://tinyurl.com/pew102209


Pew Applauds Congress for Including Military and Overseas Voting Solutions in Final Defense Authorization Bill
Thu Oct 22, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS256934+22-Oct-2009+PRN20091022


Congress approves bill to remove obstacles to military and overseas voting
10/22/09...The legislation would require that states provide military and other overseas voters with ballots at least 45 days ahead of an election to ensure there is enough time to complete and return them. States also must provide registration forms, absentee ballot request forms and emergency ballots electronically — meaning the forms could be downloaded online or sent over e-mail.
http://www.sfexaminer.com/politics/ap/65652797.html#

International


Afghanistan: Election officials deliver Afghan runoff ballots (AP)
October 22nd, 2009 ...International election monitors called on authorities to avert the widespread fraud that marred the first round of voting in August. Scores of election staff accused of misconduct have been axed, and new personnel need to be hired.
http://www.rssnewsonline.com/rssnews/election-officials-deliver-afghan-runoff-ballots-ap.html#

Germany: A Censored Headline and why it Matters: German High Court Outlaws Electronic Voting
Fri, 23 Oct 2009 On March 3, 2009, the German Federal Constitutional Court declared that the electronic voting machines used in the 2005 Bundestag elections for the German national parliament were outside of the bounds of the German Constitution.
http://www.inteldaily.com/news/173/ARTICLE/12343/2009-10-21.html

India: BJP blames Electronic Voting Machines for its poor performance
New Delhi, Oct 22 (ANI): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday said the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) have been turned into the Electronic Victory Machines by the Congress in the recently held assembly elections.

‘We have received numerous complaints of tampering with the EVMs and bulk voting by the Congress from many regions,’ said BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.
http://www.sindhtoday.net/news/1/63468.htm

India: EVMs not responsible for Haryana defeat: BJP’s Goel
NEW DELHI - There is no one reason or one person responsible for the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) defeat in the Haryana assembly elections, its general secretary Vijay Goel said Thursday contradicting a senior party colleague.
http://blog.taragana.com/n/evms-not-responsible-for-haryana-defeat-bjps-goel-203101/

Iraq: Impasse over Iraqi election law may slow U.S. withdrawal
...lawmakers remained deadlocked over how January's scheduled parliamentary elections should be conducted in oil-rich northern Kirkuk province.
http://www.kansascity.com/451/story/1521860.html

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[kster]

1. Germany bans computerized voting; will hand count in 2009

For OpEdNews: Paul Lehto - Writer


Hand counted paper ballots to be used now in Germany's 2009 elections -- computerized secret vote counting banned by constitutional PRINCIPLES!

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Germany-bans-computerized-by-Paul-Lehto-090303-583.html

K&R :)