5/25 Unrecountable 2010 elections.WV fraud charges? Need forensics! FFEC to Crist: veto HB131

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Unrecountable 2010 elections.WV fraud charges? Need forensics! FFEC to Crist: veto HB131

May 25, 2010

The 2010 Primaries: More Recounts than Recountable Elections...Doug Jones on the erosion of the secret ballot: "If we allow a weakened right to a secret ballot, how can we ask other countries to set higher standards, and what will we do if the crooks do end up in control of our elections?"...FFEC Urges Crist to Veto Elections Bill HB 131...Absentee Vote Fraud in Charleston, WV? Need Forensics!...A voting system needs 3 elements to be considered credible: Transparency, Verifiability & Accountability says Narasimha Rao, a leading election analyst in India...

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

AZ: Emergency Relief Requested from U.S. Supreme Court in Arizona Public Financing "Matching Funds" Case
http://electionlawblog.org/archives/016060.html

CA: SF returns diligently monitored following mail-in ballot mistake
http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/SF-returns-diligently-monitored-following-mail-in-ballot-mistake-94801649.html

CT: Candidate Leaves Name On Ballot: Causing Unnecessary Primary Vote
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?p=3232
Rob Simmons has ended his campaign, yet is leaving his name on the ballot.

FL: FFEC Urges Crist to Veto Elections Bill HB 131
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/electionreform/message/13548 FFEC's letter to the Governor cites the bill's delay of equitable treatment for disabled voters, its encroachment on local control of elections, and its provisions for insecure, unreliable Internet and FAX voting and communications for military and overseas voters.

FL: ACLU urges you to take action (HB 131)
http://fl.aclu.org/site/MessageViewer?em_id=67921.0

FL: Groups file suit on redistricting ballot measure
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20100522/article/5221041?p=all&tc=pgall

GA: Civil rights coalition targets voter verification
http://www.ajc.com/news/civil-rights-coalition-targets-534504.html
Citing Section 5 of the federal Voting Rights Act, Morales' attorneys argued the regulation mandates those states with a history of racial discrimination in voting rights obtain federal approval prior to enacting changes that affect voting.

ID: County Hopes New Ballot Will Make Voting Less Frustrating (Bingham County)
http://www.kpvi.com/Global/story.asp?S=12536040 ...This new form of voting is called Optical Scan Voting. It is much different and much faster than the traditional punch ballot system for the voters and the poll workers.

IL: Young Voters
http://blog.champaigncountyclerk.com/2010/05/25/young-voters/ Champaign County Clerk. I’m preparing to go back to Springfield today to testify against yet another attempt to force Champaign County to open an early voting site on campus.

KY: Officials: Primary election one of best *
(Calloway County uses Danaher 1242 and Hart Intercivic e-Slate)
http://www.murrayledger.com/articles/2010/05/24/top_story/news01.txt
Other problems reported included temporary polling machine malfunctions and errors on the part of voters in machine operation; primarily due to unfamiliarity.
...
Machine malfunctions included some push buttons “sticking,” some buttons not “lighting up” and other errors which Coursey said were corrected by election officers at the scene when possible or other accommodations made...

Machines by county:http://elect.ky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/4384AC60-AD8F-497F-B62E-EA3E4625618F/225556/VotingEquipmentbyCounty1.pdf

MN: City council actions :: Korbel confirmed
The continuing cost of RCV: $244,000
http://www.downtownjournal.com/index.php?publication=downtown&page=65&story=15355
Barring a change in available technologies, Minneapolis municipal elections could cost almost $250,000 extra every year that ranked-choice voting is in place.

OH: Lorain County Board of Elections director alleges man committed voter fraud
http://www.morningjournal.com/articles/2010/05/25/news/mj2788390.txt
Adams said the man filed an absentee ballot on April 5 at the Lorain County Board of Elections, 1985 North Ridge Road, and then showed up to his polling location on May 4. This was the only violation of election laws that occurred during this election, Adams said.

WV: ABSENTEE VOTE FRAUD IN CHARLESTON, WV? NEED FORENSICS!
http://electionupdates.caltech.edu/?p=3225

WV: Lincoln officials reply after doubt cast on ballots
http://www.dailymail.com/News/201005240769 CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Several officials in Lincoln County are firing back at allegations that voter fraud was involved in its recent primary election, calling the claims "unsubstantiated" and "irresponsible.

Internet Voting Watch

Internet Voting: U.S. Representative Rush Holt responds to the New York Times
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?p=3222

National

The 2010 Primaries: More Recounts than Recountable Elections
http://blog.verifiedvoting.org/2010/05/25/579
Pennsylvania will likely spend over $500,000 in state funds to recount an election that cannot be recounted, just as it did for an election for a Superior Court judgeship last year.

Doug Jones on the Secret Ballot
http://www.trustthevote.org/doug-jones-on-the-secret-ballot?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+trustthevote+ (TrustTheVote+Blog) ...if you look across the current voting system landscape, you find that the right to a secret ballot is being downplayed again and again.
...
It’s important to recall that it was not too long ago that big city political machines routinely violated people’s right to a secret ballot.

May and June Primaries - We're coming up on June, with lots of primary elections happening across the country for House and Senate seats and for governor
http://nonprofitvote.blogspot.com/2010/05/may-and-june-primaries.html

International

India: Why EVMs would go (Part 1): Because they aren’t fraud resistant
http://www.indianevm.com/blogs/?p=159 Elections are all about trust. If the losers and their supporters do not trust the election results and is there is no “physical evidence” or basis to show that their fears are unfounded, the legitimacy of election results would remain perpetually under a cloud.


Philippines faced with questions over Precinct Count Optical Scan machines
http://kathydopp.com/wordpress/?p=71 The entire automated election system, hailed as successful on a national scale, is now put to question by the massive failure of precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines to faithfully transmit results of Monday’s elections in Nueva Ecija which has an electorate of more than a million.

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1. Lecture:Dr. Michael J. Hanmer Discount Voting: Voter Registration Reforms and their Effects

Meet Dr. Michael J. Hanmer assistant professor of government
and
politics at the University of Maryland at College Park on June
7, 2010
at 6:00pm at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library.

He is the author of Discount Voting: Voter Registration
Reforms and
their Effects.

Dr. Hanmer is a research fellow with the University of
Maryland’s
Center for American Politics and Citizenship.  He specializes
in
American politics and political methodology, with a focus on
how
electoral institutions shape behavior. His latest book,
Discount
Voting: Voter Registration Reforms and Their Effects,
investigates the
effects of registration laws on turnout, the composition of
the
electorate, and party behavior in the United States. Hanmer
proposes
that registration laws can structure the environment in which
citizens
decide whether to vote and parties decide whom to mobilize.
This has
important consequences for who gets elected and the policies
they
enact.


The Martin Luther King Memorial Library is conveniently
located near
the the Gallery Place Chinatown and  Metro Center Stations. If
you
have questions regarding this event please call 202-727-1270

DATE:  Monday, June 7, 2010 6:00 pm

LOCATION:

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library
Social Sciences Division Reading Room 220
901 G Street, NW
[phone]