5/10 Experts decry US overseas Internet vote plan. PA, KY unverifiable elections. UK student voters

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

Experts decry US overseas Internet vote plan. PA, KY unverifiable elections. UK student voters 2nd class citizens

May 10 2010

Concerns about EAC's Overseas/Military Internet vote plan: Experts warn that e-mail messages can be intercepted, voting Web sites can be hacked or taken down by malicious attacks, and the secrecy of ballots is hard to ensure...DOJ asks court to compel Nassau compliance..."Here We Go Again (Again): 100% Unverifiable E-Voting Systems Set for Use in PA, KY, Elsewhere" ~ Brad Friedman...Missouri bill combines early voting & photo id...Illegal ballot harvesting scheme in Jim Wells Co TX...Some UK student voters denied vote, treated as 2nd class citizens...Philippine vote marred by violence and machine failures...

All this and more in today's voting news below...

AL: Many voter registrations need update for elections
http://enewscourier.com/local/x1989608588/Many-voter-registrations-need-update-for-elections
...
Liveoak said 10 percent of the voters in Limestone County still have not updated their voter records and are being carried on the rolls as “Inactive Voters.

AR: Election commissioner was campaign manager for Prosecutor Vaden (conflict of int)
http://thecabin.net/news/local/2010-05-07/election-commissioner-was-campaign-manager-prosecutor-vaden

CA: California: Special election rolls forward despite county protests
http://www.pressbanner.com/view/full_story/7342553/article-Special-election-rolls-forward-despite-county-protests?instance=home_news_lead_story

CA: Sacramento County sends sample ballots with errors
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_15042192

CA: Another sample ballot problem surfaces
http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/ci_15045031 The Mendocino County Elections Office is sending out at least 23,000 new sample ballots this week and next after voters reported two different problems with the original sample ballots.

CO: District attorney's office investigates businesswoman's Aspen elections claims
http://www.kdvr.com/news/sns-ap-co--aspenelectioninvestigation,0,5023827.story
...many allegations concerning the election service the city hired to help it conduct the May 2009 election...

CO: Election Commission Update
http://aspenelectionreview.blogspot.com/2010/05/election-commission-update.html
The Aspen Election Commission met May 5 (the one year anniversary of the controversial 2009 Municipal Election) to hold its first hearing for complaints. The independent commissioners heard Millard Zimet's complaint regarding non-anonymous election processing.

FL: Letter to Governor Crist - Floridians to Veto HB 131
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/electionreform/message/13487
It disrespects people with disabilities where you've pledged to support them. It bulldozes local decision-making and the principle of Home Rule. It poses as support for military and overseas voters while failing to take the meaningful steps needed to truly honor their votes and their service.

IN: Myers says county ballot a misprint *
Mistake not caught prior to Election Day
http://kokomotribune.com/local/x1989604747/Myers-says-county-ballot-a-misprint
Kokomo — Howard County Clerk Mona Myers said a misprinted ballot allowed an uncertified candidate to receive votes in Tuesday’s election.

MO: With one week left, major decisions left for Missouri Legislature
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/politics
/story/B27A1F6FFB6BF7FC8625771F00042085?OpenDocument http://bit.ly/d7k3Rg
...the voter ID issue has been combined with provisions that would help members of the military vote on a timely basis, and it also would allow about four days of advance voting in Missouri elections.

NC: Ballot recount possible, unlikely
http://www2.statesville.com/content/2010/may/08/ballot-recount-possible-unlikely/news-local/
Of the provisional ballots, Galliher said, it appears that in only 24 cases has enough evidence been gathered to substantiate their validity.

NY: DOJ ASKS COURT TO COMPEL NASSAU COMPLIANCE (hearing set May 14)
http://www.bolipari.com/boblog/2010/05/dojaskscourttocompelnassau/
In an effort to force Nassau’s compliance, the DOJ seeks immediate remedial action and has asked US District Court Judge Gary Sharpe who is overseeing New York’s transition to hold the New York State Board of Elections in contempt..

TX: Charged with illegal vote harvesting, a political worker explains how voter fraud works* Jim Wells County(actually it is the worker,not voter committing fraud)
http://www.texaswatchdog.org/2010/05/illegal-vote-harvesting-south-texas-voter-fraud/1273422832.story An assistant isn't allowed to possess the voters' ballots in most situations - the law is designed so that the voter, not a political worker, sees to it that the ballot is mailed. Bueno was charged with violating this rule.

Citizens United

Corporate money in politics
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/08/AR2010050803134.html
Corporate money in politics is bad enough. Secret corporate money is intolerable.

Arkansas: Halter files FEC complaint against out-of-state group
http://arkansasnews.com/2010/05/07/halter-files-fec-complaint-against-out-of-state-group/
LITTLE ROCK — Lt. Gov. Bill Halter filed a complaint today with the Federal Election Commission over an independent group that has targeted Halter’s U.S. Senate campaign with ads claiming he outsourced jobs to India

National

Here We Go Again (Again): 100% Unverifiable E-Voting Systems Set for Use in PA, KY, Elsewhere... http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7831

Childhood Ballot Confessions
http://www.trustthevote.org/childhood-ballot-confessions ...I think that voter confidence depends in part on the voters’ understanding the voting method that they are using.

Internet Voting Watch

United Kingdom: Voting system review demanded by Electoral Commission
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/may/09/voting-system-electoral-commission
The commission has called for a debate not only about increasing its own powers to direct returning officers, but also about online voting, weekend voting and reviewing the timetable of registering to ease the administrative load in the system.

US: 3 million overseas and military voters will be able to cast ballots on Internet this fall http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/us/politics/09voting.html?scp=1&sq=internet%20voting&st=cse
“The commission’s decision basically takes the hazards we’ve seen with electronic voting and puts them on steroids,” said John Bonifaz, legal director of Voter Action

US: UOCAVA Pilot Program Testing Requirements: Comments Submitted (r/e internet voting pilots for overseas military)
http://www.eac.gov/program-areas/voting-systems/military-and-overseas-voting-pilot-project/uocava-pilot-program-testing-requirements-comments-submitted

US: EAC pushes internet voting for uniformed and overseas voters
http://www.earlyvoting.net/blog/2010/05/eac-pushes-internet-voting-uniformed-and-overseas-voters

International

India: Scrap EVMs & introduce paper ballots: Save Democracy Org. writes to ECI.
http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.com/2010/05/scrap-evms-introduce-paper-ballots-save.html

India: Paper Ballots in U.K. Elections Vs. Indian EVMs
http://www.indianevm.com/blogs/?p=85
Therefore, the chest thumping by some of our journalists about Indian voting system being superior is prompted by lack of awareness of the facts concerning electronic voting and lack of transparency in the voting machines that shut out all information and hush up all mistakes.

Philippines: ‎Aquino set for landslide win
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/aquino-set-for-landslide-win-20100511-up2i.html

Philippines: Front-runner sweats it out for four hours
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20100511-269319/Front-runner-sweats-it-out-for-four-hours ...Most of his rivals breezed through the voting process in minutes. The front-runner, Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, had to sweat it out for hours, like many other Filipinos, before he could cast his ballot—because the voting machine in his precinct had conked out.

Philippines: Broken PCOS halts count in Ilolio precinct
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/regions/05/10/10/broken-pcos-halts-count-ilolio-precinct

Philippines: Fluctuating power supply damage 6 PCOS machines in Masbate (catch fire)
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/regions/05/10/10/2-pcos-machines-catch-fire-masbate

Philippines: Software Flaw May Stymie Philippine Voters Tomorrow, Group Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aZkdMOzFbjOE&pos=9
...replacement programming sent to fix a counting glitch discovered last week won’t arrive in time, a monitoring group said.

Philippines: Machine glitch delays voting in Noynoy’s precinct
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/190527/machine-glitch-delays-voting-in-nonoys-precinct
TARLAC CITY, Tarlac — Voting has been delayed at the precinct where Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III is supposed to vote Monday after the Precinct Count Optical Machine (PCOS) stopped functioning in the middle of reading a ballot.

Philippines: Violence precedes troubled Philippine vote
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/International/2010/05/09/Violence-precedes-troubled-Philippine-vote/UPI-98391273441101/ An explosion in a southern village killed one person and injured three, and five other persons died in election-related incidents in two other provinces, The New York Times reported.

Philippines: The Automated Election System Watch
http://aeswatch.org/ ...Citizens Election Monitor put up by AES Watch for the purpose of collecting from volunteers and all reports on the progress of the first ever nationwide automated polls in the Philippines.

Philippines: 5 PCOS machines burned in Iloilo; suspects still unknown
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/190442/5-pcos-machines-burned-in-iloilo-suspects-still-unknown

Philippines: Poll partisans destroy voting machine in Maguindanao
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view/20100509-269006/Poll-partisans-destroy-voting-machine-in-Maguindanao

Philippines: 11 out of 7,555 voting machines in Metro found defective
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/metro/view/20100509-268989/11-out-of-7555-voting-machines-in-Metro-found-defective
MANILA, Philippines -- Eleven vote scanning and counting machines out of the 7,555 units distributed around Metro Manila were reported to be defective and needed to be replaced after they were tested and sealed on Sunday.
...
“The machines automatically shut down and cannot be repaired by the assigned technicians so they will have to be replaced with new machines.”
...
But apart from the reported 11 machines reported by Dioneda, Supt. Jimmy Tiu, Sta. Mesa Station 8 commander of the Manila Police District (MPD) told the Inquirer that two more PCOS machines turned out to be defective in his area.

UK: Election 2010: Anger of student voters put into the 'slow queue'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1275519/Election-2010-Anger-student-voters-slow-queue.html Officials divided voters into two queues at a polling station in Nick Clegg’s Sheffield Hallam constituency – a ‘slow’ one for students, and a ‘fast-track’ for long-term residents.

UK: Voters turned away from polls should go to court, says Liberty
http://www.legalnewscentral.co.uk/2010/05/07/voters-turned-away-from-polls-should-go-to-court-says-liberty/

UK: E-voting call after election night fiasco
Electronic ballot could avoid queues
http://www.thinq.co.uk/news/2010/5/7/e-voting-call-after-election-night-fiasco/#comment_anchor

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