8/12 Pitkin CO touchscreen woes. Foul play in TN vote? Free Xpress for military ballots

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

Pitkin CO touchscreen woes. Foul play in TN vote? Free Xpress for military ballots

August 12 2010

Pitkin CO failure of DREs results in hours of delay and "hand count"...Lee CO FL deserves new election...Precinct mixup in Fulton GA...Not clear how NC will tally 1st statewide IRV judicial contest...VotePA Calls For Withdrawal of Challenges to Candidates...OH SOS announces multi $M settlement with Premier/Diebold, ES&S, DIMS...'Electoral Foul Play or Incompetence' in Shelby TN election -"When a Memphis election goes off without a hitch, that will be the shocker"..Overseas Vote Foundation on waivers & state compliance with MOVE Act"...Overseas voters can mail ballots free via military express mail...

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

CO: Primary turnout breaks records* (voter confusion, touchscreen trouble)
http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/141958
A technical difficulty uploading voting information from the county’s touch-screen machines caused hours of delay and an eventual hand count, Shellman said. Come general election time in November, that issue should be eliminated, Shellman said.
...
As Pitkin County ran both a mail-in and polling place election, some voters showed up to the polling place to cast a ballot, but had previously requested a mail-in ballot. Voters in those cases either had to fill out a provisional ballot or were asked to go to the county clerk’s office and cast an absentee ballot there. This often caused frustrating delays for voters, Shellman said.

CO: PitCo sets voting standard (in praise of polling places)
http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/letter-editor/141966
Few people realize that because of Janice and Dwight’s leadership, unlike most Colorado counties, Pitkin voters could vote in the most secure and verifiable type of election — an election-day polling place election. They bucked the unfortunate trend of most counties to move to an all mail-in primary, and saved money by consolidating polling places.

FL: COMMENTARY: Absentee ballot disaster demands a new election so all the votes are counted. This time.* (Lee County)http://www.bocabeacon.com/?p=4835 First there were the hanging chads. Now this. Has screwing up elections become some kind of organized team sport here in Florida? This year, more than 400 registered voters in Boca Grande asked Lee County to send them ballots for the Tuesday, Aug. 24 election. For Boca Grande, that’s a big number. A huge number. Way more than enough to determine the outcome of a contested local election...

FL: Computer glitch affecting absentee ballots*
http://www.nbc-2.com/global/story.asp?s=12965097
LEE COUNTY: A computer glitch is causing a major problem with Lee County absentee ballots. Some voters are getting their absentee ballots right back in their mailboxes just one day after sending them in to be counted.

GA: Precinct Mix-Up Caused Voter Confusion For Some* (video available)
http://www.wsbtv.com/politics/24601754/detail.html
A wrong address for a Fulton County voting precinct may have cost some voters the chance to cast a ballot in Tuesday’s runoff election.
"I drove up and down Roswell Road, looking for the address printed on the precinct card. Unfortunately, it doesn't exist," said Alexandra Geist.

GA: Verifiable Voting Opponents Suffer Dramatic Defeats in Georgia
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Verifiable-Voting-Opponent-by-Garland-Favorito-100811-676.html

IA: Soldiers reminded: Voting absentee is easy
http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2010/08/11/soldiers-reminded-voting-absentee-is-easy/

MN: Wrong Winona County vote totals released to public
http://www.winonadailynews.com/news/local/article_4e836030-a5c1-11df-917a-001cc4c03286.html Winona County officials mistakenly failed to report more than 1,500 ballots when announcing primary election results to the public Tuesday night

NC: NC judge’s departure means one more election* (uncertified software use?)
http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/8128299/
“This will be a massive undertaking,” he said. “We will have to have an intense education effort, not only for the election officials but also for the voters.”

NC: Handle N.C.'s ballots with care (OpEd)
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/08/12/624627/handle-ncs-ballots-with-care.html
News stories about a lack of competition for ballot printing in North Carolina feed a storyline of political corruption - but before we form conclusions we need to understand why there's a lack of competition for ballot printing, and work for a solution that does not undermine the integrity of our election process.

NE: Nebraska Libertarians Certified for the Ballot
http://www.ballot-access.org/2010/08/12/nebraska-libertarians-certified-for-the-ballot/

NM: Clerk's Office Sure None Registered in 1801 Voted in Primary
http://www.riograndesun.com/articles/2010/08/12/news/doc4c62f77454e4f126853962.txt
The list of Rio Arriba County voters in the June 1 primary election is riddled with questionable registrants, dozens of which appear to violate state statute.

NJ: New Jersey Officials Refuse to Let Voters Register into the Socialist Party
http://www.ballot-access.org/2010/08/12/new-jersey-officials-refuse-to-let-voters-register-into-the-socialist-party/

NY: Ulster Board of Elections asks for additional funding
http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2010/August/11/UC_BOE_funding-11Aug10.html
The Ulster County Board of Elections needs an additional $35,000 for this fall’s elections.

NY: Common Cause/NY Releases a Report on the Board of Elections New Voter Learning Centers http://readme.readmedia.com/Common-Cause-NY-Releases-a-Report-on-the-Board-of-Elections-New-Voter-Learning-Centers/1682863

OH: Ohio Secretary of State's settlement with Premier/Diebold, ES&S, DIMS
http://www.sos.state.oh.us/SOS/PressReleases/2010/2010-08-11.aspx
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner announced Wednesday that a multi-million dollar settlement has been reached with Premier Election Solutions that could benefit more than half of Ohio’s county boards of elections with direct one-time payments and free licensing, equipment and discounted services.

OH: Former Diebold e-voting unit settles Ohio lawsuit
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9180612/Former_Diebold_e_
voting_unit_settles_Ohio_lawsuit http://tinyurl.com/36uaprl
Premier Election Solutions will pay cash, equipment and discounts to settle suit over dropped votes in '08 primary

PA: VotePA Calls For Withdrawal of Challenges to Candidates
http://www.votepa.us/newsarchive/2010/PetitionChallenge8-11-2010.html
August 11, 2010 -- VotePA announced today that it is urging both major political parties and their candidates to withdraw legal challenges filed this week against the nomination papers of third party and independent candidates, unless the challengers are claiming willful election fraud.

TN: When a Memphis election goes off without a hitch, that will be the shocker*
http://politics.nashvillepost.com/2010/08/12/when-a-memphis-election-goes-off-without-a-hitch-that-will-be-the-shocker/ The fact that the wrong voter file was loaded into the system (and I am receiving reports that people who did NOT EVEN VOTE IN MAY were affected by this problem) shows incompetence from the EC
...
Bill Gibbons had to call in the TBI because HE was one of the affected voters, folks, and as such could not investigate it.

TN: Cohen Did The Right Thing Bringing in the DOJ, This is Officially FUBAR
http://leftwingcracker.blogspot.com/2010/08/cohen-did-right-thing-bringing-in-doj.html There was a meeting Wednesday night at the IBEW Hall on Madison, and nearly 500 people showed up to sign affidavits and tell their stories about voting problems on Election Day

TN: Electoral Foul Play or Incompetence Alleged *
http://www.courthousenews.com/2010/08/12/29526.htm
Candidates Minerva Johnican and Regina Newman sued the Shelby County Election Commission, with co-plaintiff Lexie Carter, a voter. They want the Election Commission to hand over all the data gathered and equipment used during the elections for an independent review.

According to the complaint, the Election Committee Chairman Bill Giannini acknowledged that an estimated 5,000 voters were turned away on Election Day.

TN: Cohen's Call for DOJ Probe of Voting Snafu Climaxes First Protest Meeting
http://www.memphisflyer.com/JacksonBaker/archives/2010/08/12/cohens-call-for-doj-probe-of-voting-snafu-climaxes-first-protest-meeting

WA: Voters taking their time getting ballots in mail
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20100812/NEWS01/708129939&news01ad=1
But officials say most people wait until the last minute to submit ballots


National

EVT/WOTE ’10 : Panel on India’s Electronic Voting Machine
http://ergodicity.net/2010/08/09/evtwote-10-panel-on-indias-electronic-voting-machine/
Panel on Indian Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs)
Moderator: Joseph Lorenzo Hall, University of California, Berkeley and Princeton University. Panelists: P.V. Indiresan, Former Director, IIT-Madras; G.V.L Narasimha Rao, Citizens for Verifiability, Transparency, and Accountability in Elections, VeTA; Alok Shukla, Election Commission of India; J. Alex Halderman, University of Michigan

More than Just Waivers: State Compliance with the MOVE Act
https://www.overseasvotefoundation.org/MOVE_Act_waivers Based on the responses received and our contact with election officials at all levels including the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP), we think current condemnation of the states’ implementation fails to grasp the bigger picture of legislative movement that is currently taking place.

The MOVE Act in the News: Our Take
https://www.overseasvotefoundation.org/MOVE_Act_in_the_news
Yes, we should indeed still be debating the impact of the MOVE Act, but not because the Department of Justice is failing to punish states for not acting fast enough. We should keep talking about it because too many people are ignorant of the nitty-gritty details of how elections are run and those details do influence the behavior of voters and non-voters.

Overseas Vote Foundation - Want to track overseas voting news in 2010? Don't forget to check in with our overseas voting newswire.http://ht.ly/2onNk

Your vote counts: ballots free via express mail
http://www.mildenhall.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123217216
American citizens stationed or living overseas can use U.S. Postal Service express mail for free to send their official absentee voting ballots back to the United States.

DNC uses open-source software to ease voter registration
http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/113975-democrats-going-open-source
The Democratic National Committee launched a new website Thursday that showcases the party's open-source software efforts and offers easy access to voter registration tools for campaigns and state parties.

International

US experts say Indian EVMs not tamper-proof
http://www.zeenews.com/news647738.html Washington: A group of IT experts from US have claimed that the Indian EVMs are not tamper-proof and asked the Election Commission to explore other forms of voting that provide "transparency" and security.

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