Still trust the internet with your votes? Hackers invade Colorado SOS site-"criminals are altering corporate information through the secretary of state's website and using the falsified data to obtain credit and loans."...NY Ballot case now seeks DNA...Paper please: "The citizens of South Carolina deserve better than buggy, unstable and exploitable elections." says Dr.Duncan A Buell...Hearing Set for North Carolina Ballot Access Case...Is your ballot really secret?...Voter Registration in a Digital Age...
All this and more in today's voting news below...
AL: Autauga Co: DA finds no multiple voting occurred
http://www.votelaw.com/blog/archives/006413.html there was only one vote cast by the person who was alleged to have voted several times..
CO: Hackers falsifying data on businesses to obtain loans (SOS website)
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_15527827 "We created a system in Colorado, which is extraordinarily easy to use, one of the cheapest and one of the most electronic in the country," Buesch er said. "Unfortunately, that opened the doors for the bad guys."
GA: Kemp Announces Expansion of Driver’s License Bar Code Scanner Pilot Project for General Primary
http://www.theweekly.com/news/2010/July/14/bar_code.html The bar code scanners do not change the check-in process in order to vote in an election. Voters must still complete a voter’s certificate at their polling location. As required by Georgia law, poll workers must also check each voter’s photo identification to ensure that it matches the vote
GA: MALDEF and GALEO join lawsuit in order to defend voting rights act
http://romenews-tribune.com/view/full_story/8770584/article-MALDEF-and-GALEO-join-lawsuit-in-order-to-defend-voting-rights-act?instance=home_news_lead_story Today, the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO) filed legal papers opposing an attempt by the State of Georgia to implement new voter registration procedures that discriminate against minority voters. Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) represents GALEO in the legal effort...
IL: Election workers questioned in state's attorney trial
http://register-news.com/local/x961150643/Election-workers-questioned-in-states-attorney-trial MA: Massachusetts Senate Passes National Popular Vote Bill
http://www.ballot-access.org/2010/07/16/massachusetts-senate-passes-national-popular-vote-bill/ On the evening of July 15, the Massachusetts Senate passed H4156, the National Popular Vote Plan bill for electing the president. The bill had passed the House in June. The bill needs one more procedural vote and then it goes to the Governor’s desk
MA: Winner-take-all bill is OK’d by state Senate
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/07/16/winner_take_all_bill_is_okd_by_state_senate/
http://bit.ly/aLB4ey The state Senate approved a bill last night that would give all 12 of the state’s electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the national popular vote, one of three key votes the chamber took during a busy night on Beacon Hill.
MN: MCDONALD ON VOTER FRAUD ALLEGATIONS IN MINNESOTA
http://electionlawblog.org/archives/016434.html The answer to Rick's question "Did Enough Illegal Felons Vote in Minnesota in 2008 to Tip the Balance to Al Franken?" is no. According to a report produced by Minnesota Majority, to date 10 of 2,921,147 ballots were found to be illegally cast in the 2008 Minnesota general election, for a rate of 0.0003%. Even if all of these illegal ballots included recorded votes cast for Sen. Franken, this is insufficient to alter the outcome of a 225 vote margin.
MN: Olmsted County Attorney investigates allegations of voter fraud
http://www.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_story.asp?z=16&a=461402 "We have to verify locally here and look at our records and see that they did vote and in fact that it is that person and not somebody with a very similar name who was an eligible voter," Ostrem said.
NC: N.C. elections investigator says she was held back in Perdue flight probe
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/07/15/97557/nc-election-investigator-says.html RALEIGH — The lead investigator at the North Carolina State Board of Elections said Thursday that board chairman Larry Leake ordered her not to interview some witnesses during a probe into 42 undisclosed campaign flights by Gov. Bev Perdue
NC: Hearing Set for North Carolina Ballot Access Case
http://www.ballot-access.org/2010/07/16/hearing-set-for-north-carolina-ballot-access-case/ This is the lawsuit, filed in 2008, that challenges the number of signatures needed for a U.S. House independent candidate in North Carolina. The law requires 4% of the number of registered voters
NC: Watt faces ethics investigation into fundraising
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/16/583648/watt-faces-ethics-investigation.html NY: Jacon refuses to deal with warrants for DNA collection in voter fraud case
http://www.troyrecord.com/articles/2010/07/16/news/doc4c40525100b44387244138.txt But individuals familiar with the investigation say Jacon had recently been hand¬ed applications seeking DNA from multiple suspects in con¬nection with alleged fraud in the Sept. 15, 2009 Working Families Party primary. That paperwork would include warrant requests and eviden¬tiary exhibits substantiating claims that collecting the DNA could lead to a criminal indictment,
NY: Village Awaits Federal Review to Release Vote Data
The preliminary report will offer insight and statistical analysis on how Port Chester's voters utilized the new cumulative voting system.
http://portchester.patch.com/articles/village-awaits-federal-review-to-release-vote-data (appears to be exit poll data, not real vote data)
NY: Keep old reliable voting machines? (LTE)
http://www.lohud.com/article/20100716/OPINION/7160307/Keep-old-reliable-voting-machines- OK: Adair County man charged with voter fraud
http://newsok.com/adair-county-man-charged-in-voter-fraud/article/3476698 An Adair County man has been charged with forging names on absentee ballots and falsely notarizing absentee ballots.
SC: WHO WILL BE THE FIRST TO FILE A COMPLAINT OVER ALVIN GREENE ACTION FIGURES?
http://electionlawblog.org/archives/016435.html SC: Voting machines ‘buggy, unstable, exploitable’
http://www.thestate.com/2010/07/16/1378910/buell-voting-machines-buggy-unstable.html Dr. Buell is a computer science professor who has provided advice on electronic voting machines since 2004 to the League of Women Voters of South Carolina and who regularly uses the professional analyses of the iVotronics in class as case studies of how not to write code
TN: Most Henderson Co. vote fraud cases end with acquittal or dismissal of charges
http://www.wreg.com/news/sns-ap-tn--votefraud,0,4938079.story WA: SecState: Patrol will probe initiative signature fraud
http://blogs.sos.wa.gov/FromOurCorner/index.php/2010/07/secstate-patrol-will-probe-initiative-signature-fraud/ Election officials have completed a review of apparent fraud by a signature-gatherer who submitted 349 names on 20 petition sheets in support of Initiative 1098. The case will be turned over to the Washington State Patrol.
WV: W.Va. lawmakers take up Senate vacancy bill
http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/briefs/x1653456220/W-Va-lawmakers-take-up-Senate-vacancy-bill WV: Lawmakers debate succession bill
http://www.wvpubcast.org/newsarticle.aspx?id=15689 Since Sen. Robert Byrd died two weeks ago, there have been many ideas and interpretations about how and when his seat will be up for election. Lawmakers met at the Capitol Thursday to debate a bill that would put Byrd’s seat on the ballot this November
Internet Voting Watch
Washington Post Local Politics mentions "The case against BOEE's Internet voting trial (Educated Guesswork)
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/debonis/2010/07/demorning_debonis_july_16_2010.htmlOther voices: Independent Party primary may start new Internet voting trend
http://www.nrtoday.com/article/20100715/EDITORIALS/100719890/1022&ParentProfile=1058 Starting last week, the Independent Party's 55,000 registered members began receiving mailed notices inviting them to cast electronic ballots to choose the party's nominees for the November general election. Voters must cast ballots by July 30.
National
Voting: Is Your Ballot Really Secret?
http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/07/16/voting-is-your-ballot-really-secret/ Voter Registration in a Digital Age
http://www.brennancenter.org/content/resource/voter_registration_in_a_digital_age/