Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News THURSDAY, 10/06/05

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Never forget the pursuit of Truth.
Only the deluded & complicit accept election results on blind faith.

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News THURSDAY, 10/06/05

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1. AL: “Thank you Jimmy Carter, we needed that.” Your pals, AL Republicans

Thanks Jimmy Carter. You are now helping disenfranchise Alabama voters, mostly minority. Alabama used to allow the use of one of seven available ID’s for voting. Now, thanks to your lousy report and its Jim Crow recommendation for a National Voter ID card, Alabama is getting rid of that and replacing it with a single ID. The Alabama disenfranchise specialists there say that the use of multiple cards hasn’t led to disenfranchisement so why won’t the use of a single card? How stupid do they think we are? They’ll charge for the single card, they’ll make it hard to get, they’ll just have a Georgia Jim Crow law expert come on over and tell them how it works next door. Thanks Jimmy, you really helped out, showed your true colors, showed what the Carter Center is all about! Please note the final paragraphs of this report. The NAACP argues strongly that the Georgia Voter ID card is designed to discourage minority voting. But the article follows with an endorsement for the concept from the Carter Baker Commission.

http://www.theplainsman.com/vnews/display.v/

Debate ensues regarding voter IDs

http://www.theplainsman.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/10/06/4344457f27d0d

By Michael J. Thompson
Assistant State & Local Editor

October 06, 2005

The debate over a new Georgia law that requires voters to show government ID cards to vote has spilled over to the state of Alabama.

Alabama Republican Party Chair Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh said a bi-partisan federal elections panel’s report should prompt Alabama officials into taking immediate steps toward implementing the mandatory showing of photo IDs at polls.

“Alabama’s experiment with its current voter ID system, which allows about 26 different documents or cards to be used as identification, has resulted in no decline in election turnout and no claims of disenfranchisement, as many ID opponents had predicted would occur,” Cavanaugh said.

Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue signed House Bill 244 into law earlier this year, which mandates voters to show one of seven forms of government-issued photo IDs when placing a vote.

By law, the U.S. Department of Justice must review any changes to voting laws in the state, and it approved the new law for Georgia in late August.

“Now it is time for Alabama to take the next step toward ensuring truly honest elections by requiring voters to present government-issued photo ID cards before they cast their ballot,” Cavanaugh said.

People (NAACP) and the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus has called the photo ID requirement an illegal poll tax that affects blacks and other minorities disproportionately.

According to the lawsuit, “the new photo ID requirement ... imposes an unnecessary and undue burden on the exercise of the fundamental right to vote on hundreds of thousands of citizens of Georgia who are fully eligible, registered and qualified to vote, but who do not have Georgia driver’s licenses A lawsuit filed in Georgia by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored, passports, or employer ID cards or other forms of photographic identification issued by the state or federal government.”

However, a bi-partisan elections commission, chaired by James A. Baker, former member of Democrat President Jimmy Carter and Republican presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. Bush’s administrations, released a report this week that recommends all 50 states implement the voter ID requirement within the next five years.

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2. OH: State Democrats Leverage Republican Scandals to Create Fair Voting

This one is for any of those at DNC bold enough to access DU. This is how you do it: leverage their general scandalous behavior to benefit positive election proposals. How unpopular do the Republicans have to become before we unload on them. The 2004 Ohio race was stolen. It was the scene of election fraud of epic proportions. The only vote that day with a paper trail and without corrupt Ohio officials was the Ohio State Exit Poll. It showed Kerry winning the state 51-49%. Here’s the kicker, it’s all there, right before you. The Ohio Democrats are getting the clue, lets hope the national leadership piles on.

Backers of Ohio issues taking advantage of investment scandal

http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/state/12824914.htm

Posted on Wed, Oct. 05, 2005
JOHN McCARTHY

Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Democrats pushing an overhaul of the election system in Ohio - the state that swung the White House race to President Bush last year - are hoping timing truly is everything.

To the Democrats' delight, the four overhaul measures will appear on the Nov. 8 ballot at a time when the long-ruling Republican Party is engulfed in both an ethics scandal and a furor over an ill-fated state investment in rare coins.

"I think the biggest argument for these amendments happens to be the fact that the Republicans are out there saying, `Well, we don't have a problem,'" said Paul Tipps, a former chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party.

Across the nation on Election Day, 39 issues will be decided in nine states, including a redistricting proposal in California backed by Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In Ohio, unions and citizens groups calling themselves Reform Ohio Now are promoting the election overhaul measures as necessary to restore people's faith in state government.

Ohio voters will be asked if bipartisan boards - instead of elected officials - should draw lawmakers' districts and oversee elections and whether campaign contribution limits should be lowered. The state where some voters waited up to seven hours to cast ballots last November also will decide if everyone should be allowed to vote early by mail.

Authority over elections would shift from the secretary of state to a nine-member board. Last year, Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell was criticized for being an honorary chairman of Bush's Ohio campaign and accused of trying to suppress the vote with rulings on registration forms and provisional ballots, a charge he denied.

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"It (a no vote) would protect the integrity of their vote, would keep the power of their vote and it would block special interests from campaign funding advantages," he said.

The ballot measures would also lower individual contribution limits from $10,000 to $1,000 in legislative races. But the amounts some political action committees and parties could contribute would increase.

The state GOP has been hounded this year by scandals that have reached all the way to the governor's office.

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3. MD: Support TrueVoteMD -- They Walk the Walk

MD: Support TrueVoteMD
Maryland should be proud of TrueVoteMD. The organization is a watch dog and activist group that goes after outsourced election, i.e., those with voting machines.

Maryland Stands Alone.
Maryland Stands Alone

.
http://truevotemd.org/content/view/318/2/.

Governor Ehrlich “Receptive to Paper Trails”, Carter-Baker Comes Out for Paper Trails, State of Georgia - Only Other Paperless Voting State Moves to Put in Place Voter Verified Paper Trail… Maryland Stands Alone.

Takoma Park, Maryland. Governor Robert L. Ehrlich went on record today as “receptive to paper trails", according to an Associated Press report. This coincided with The Atlanta Journal Constitution reporting a seismic shift in the elections world today. Lamone counterpart, Georgia Secretary of State Cathy Cox “announced her office is working to implement the so-called voter-verified paper audit trail.”

Yesterday Cox, who is running for governor and had been an ardent opponent of paper records, put out a press release saying: "I support paper receipts. We are pro-actively exploring options to modify and enhance Georgia's voting system to provide a voter-verified paper trail that gives voters even more confidence in our voting process."


On Monday, the prestigious Carter-Baker Commission joined a growing chorus urging a paper trail for electronic voting. Twenty-six states have passed laws requiring a paper record with electronic voting. New Hampshire has banned e-voting. When Georgia makes its transition Maryland will have the only statewide voting system in the United States without a paper record.

“There is a clear trend in the nation toward the conclusion that paper records are required with electronic voting. Computer scientists have expressed security concerns, the machines have malfunctioned, costs have skyrocketed – and it is time for Elections Administrator Lamone to rethink her position and take the common sense approach – voter verified paper records for e-voting,” said Schade. “Maryland needs a paper ballot record in time for the 2006 elections.”

For two years TrueVoteMD.org has been urging a paper record for e-voting. The group was founded when security evaluations by Johns Hopkins University showed votes could be changed on the machines. Two other major reports confirmed the security vulnerabilities. More recently machine failures have come to light in Maryland. The Montgomery County IT report found that up to 12% of their machines had problems in the 2004 election including machines freezing and crashing in the midst of votes, error messages on the machines, blank cards that record the votes and machines being unable to start. In Baltimore County there were such widespread problems that it took four days for the results to be reported and four months to be made official. Even today, there continue to be inconsistencies between the State and Baltimore County reports on the numbers of votes case – a discrepancy of 21,000 votes.

TrueVoteMD is a non-partisan organization working for transparent and verifiable elections in Maryland.

TrueVoteMD Urges Maryland to “rapidly put in place a paper record for independent recounts” The Carter-Baker Commission joined a growing chorus today urging a paper trail for electronic voting. Twenty-six states have passed laws requiring a paper record with electronic voting. New Hampshire has banned e-voting. Maryland is one of only two states that votes paperless.

“Not requiring a paper record for e-voting is becoming an indefensible position. Maryland needs to join the rest of the country and recognize that the only way to have transparent, independent vote counts is to provide a paper record that is verified by the voter,” said Linda Schade, Director of TrueVoteMD.org.

For three years TrueVoteMD.org has been urging a paper record for e-voting. The groups efforts began when security reviews by Johns Hopkins University showed votes could be changed on the machines. Since then two other reports have also found security vulnerabilities. More recently machine failures have come to light in Maryland. The Montgomery County IT report found that up to 12% of their machines had problems in the last election. Problems included machines freezing and crashing in the midst of votes, error messages on the machines, blank cards that record the votes and machines being unable to start. In Baltimore County there were such widespread problems that it took four days for the results to be reported and it was not until four months after the election that the Baltimore County reports were made official. Even today, there continue to be inconsistencies between the State and Baltimore County reports on the numbers of votes case – a discrepancy of 27,000 votes.

“With serious security and performance problems we cannot trust the Diebold machines to count the vote accurately. It is critical for the state to require a paper record for e-voting in time for the 2006 elections. The Gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races in particular are expected to be close and every legislative seat in the Maryland legislature. Voters need to be sure their votes are counted accurately and that cannot be done on the current Diebold machines,” said Schade.

TrueVoteMD is a non-partisan organization working for transparent and verifiable elections in Maryland.

ABOUT TrueVoteMD

TrueVoteMD.org is a volunteer, grass-roots organization of citizens across the State of Maryland who are deeply concerned about the integrity of the election process, in the state and nationally, due to the introduction of electronic voting equipment which fails to provide voters with a printed paper record of their votes.

Without this voter-verified printed ballot, there is no way to audit elections to ensure that votes are correctly recorded and counted, or to conduct a meaningful, independent recount. Through non-partisan public education, grassroots organizing, litigation, research and legislation, we are working to make Maryland's voting system accurate, verifiable, and fully transparent.

TrueVoteMD
7711 Garland Avenue
Takoma Park, MD 20912
301-270-6150

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4. WI: Republican Incited “Vote Fraud” Investigations Floundering Badly

Remember our coverage of the American Center for Voting Rights? They were the group formed 3 – 4 days prior to a Republican House of Reps. hearing to counter the Conyers Report. Then their principals showed up on the advisory committee of the Carter-Baker Commission. (Brad Friedman did this sleuthing). Then they said, Oh, Milwaukee, ‘voter fraud capitol’ of America. Here’s the update. They have come up with a total of 12 individuals charged with trying to vote while not qualified. That’s “voter fraud” – illegal acts on Election Day or otherwise involving an unregistered individual voting. “Election fraud” refers to the theft of entire elections and thousands, hundreds of thousands, and million of votes. I digress. This article is great. You couldn’t get Hollywood to script it any better. N.B. The Republicans tipped off a local television station on the “giant” voter fraud story. The TV crew showed up at a supposed vote fraud perps home early AM to trap him. Guess what, it was the home of a seminarian home for the holiday, one who didn’t even live in the city at the time of the supposed fraud.

Man acquitted in voter fraud trial
Felon had been under supervision at time

http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/oct05/361156.asp

By GINA BARTON
[e-mail]
Posted: Oct. 5, 2005

DeShawn B. Brooks had been charged with voting in the November 2004 presidential election although he was ineligible. At the time of the election, Brooks, a convicted felon, remained under the supervision of the state Department of Corrections and therefore was not allowed to vote, according to the indictment. Brooks' felony record includes convictions for possession with intent to deliver cocaine and for being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to the indictment.

Brooks' trial was the third convened in recent weeks. The trial of Enrique Sanders, 25, accused of voting twice, resulted in a mistrial when the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict. Prosecutors have not yet decided whether to try the case again. A third defendant, Kimberly Prude, was convicted of voting even though she was a felon on supervision at the time of the election. She faces a maximum possible penalty of five years in prison when she is sentenced Jan. 6.

The three were among more than a dozen people charged with illegally voting in last fall's election. The charges were issued as the result of a joint investigation by state and federal officials after numerous irregularities were discovered at Milwaukee's polls.

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5. Wash, DC: DeLay Secures Funds for Self and Roy Blunt’s son, Gov. of MO.

How about some good old election fraud, of the financial type. Tom DeLay raises too much money, gives it to people who end up giving it back to his charity. What time is it? It’s party time at the RNC with the DeLay charity picking up the tab. This was all done with elections in mind. This has nothing to do with voting machines, etc., but shows that for these folks, there is no depth to which they will not stoop.


DeLay and successor Blunt swapped donations between secretive groups

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/politics/12825616.htm

Posted on Wed, Oct. 05, 2005
JOHN SOLOMON and SHARON THEIMER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Tom DeLay deliberately raised more money than he needed to throw parties at the 2000 presidential convention, then diverted some of the excess to longtime ally Roy Blunt through a series of donations that benefited both men's causes.

When the financial carousel stopped, DeLay's private charity, the consulting firm that employed DeLay's wife and the Missouri campaign of Blunt's son all ended up with money, according to campaign documents reviewed by The Associated Press.

Jack Abramoff, a Washington lobbyist recently charged in an ongoing federal corruption and fraud investigation, and Jim Ellis, the DeLay fundraiser indicted with his boss last week in Texas, also came into the picture.

The complicated transactions are drawing scrutiny in legal and political circles after a grand jury indicted DeLay on charges of violating Texas law with a scheme to launder illegal corporate donations to state candidates.

Blunt last week temporarily replaced DeLay as House majority leader, and Blunt's son, Matt, has now risen to Missouri's governor.

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6. OH: Republican Mole at Toledo Blade Spiked Coingate in Jan 2004

That's the charge leveled by Salon. They point out that weasel Fritz Wenzel received information about the devastating scandal, one that's drive Republicans to the ground since The Blade broke in in March-April 2005. Salon asks the pertinent question, had this been broken by Wenzel in January 2004, could Bush have won Ohio, even with all the election irregularities? Great question, great article by Salon.

Saving Ohio
Did a reporter with GOP ties suppress a story that could have cost Bush the White House?

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/10/06/ohio/print.html

By Bill Frogameni
Oct. 06, 2005 | In April 2005, the Blade newspaper of Toledo, Ohio, began publishing a remarkable series of articles about a well-connected Republican donor, Tom Noe, chair of the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign for Lucas County, which encompasses Toledo. The Blade, which had won a Pulitzer Prize for reporting in 2004, discovered that Noe, a Toledo coin dealer, was investing $50 million for the state through the novel practice of coin speculation: buying and selling rare coins to turn a profit. Noe, the Blade revealed, could not account for $10 million to $13 million in the fund.

The paper also divulged that Noe had been placed under federal investigation for allegedly laundering money -- perhaps state money -- to the Bush campaign. The Blade's initial reports on Noe started a chain reaction of related scandals for Ohio's dominant Republicans. Recently, Gov. Bob Taft pleaded no contest to accepting several gifts from influence peddlers -- including Noe -- without reporting them, as law requires. Noe is currently the subject of 13 investigations.

In November 2004, Lucas County was among the most hotly contested areas in the most hotly contested state. Kerry won the county by 45,000 votes, but George W. Bush went on to win Ohio by less than 120,000 votes, which swung the election for him.
But Bush's reelection may have been made possible by a Blade reporter with close ties to the Republican Party who reportedly knew about Noe's potential campaign violations in early 2004 but suppressed the story.

According to several knowledgeable sources, the Blade's chief political columnist, Fritz Wenzel, was told of Noe's potential campaign violations as early as January 2004. But according to Blade editors, Wenzel never gave the paper the all-important tip in early 2004.

Wenzel says that he heard allegations of Noe's misdeeds only in spring 2004 and that he promptly informed his editors of them.

Wenzel, who worked for years as a GOP political operative in Oregon before the Blade hired him, quit the Blade in May 2005 to take a job as a paid political consultant to Jean Schmidt, the Republican congressional candidate who in August narrowly defeated Democratic challenger (and Iraq war vet) Paul Hackett.

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7. MA: Voting made easy - Cam Kerry

http://www.massdems.org/hotissues/mdppr_79_votingeasy.htm

Voting made easy
October 3, 2005
By Cameron F. Kerry

THE TIME has come for Massachusetts to adopt same day voter registration, that is, legislation permitting voters to register on Election Day. The reason is simple and compelling for a Commonwealth with a long history of standing up for freedom: Same day registration enfranchises more voters.

Look at its track record. This system has been implemented successfully in six other states, including New Hampshire and Maine . These six states have 9 percent higher voter participation than other states and, of the five states with the highest voter turnout last November, four have same day registration.

Two same day registration bills are pending in the Legislature, one filed by Representative Gloria Fox, the other by Senator Cynthia Creem. These bills offer a common-sense way to streamline registration, reduce confusion, and increase voter turnout and access to the polls. The Legislature has the important opportunity to allow some pilot programs in municipal elections and to implement same day registration statewide in 2006.

There was a time when voting in Massachusetts was the exclusive privilege of white, male landowners. The more we have expanded voting, the more we have lived up to our democratic ideals. But we have more to do. Excluding citizens who have not registered 20 days before an election is an unnecessary barrier that does not improve the efficiency or fairness of elections.

The current 20-day restriction is a relic of the days of paper records. But Massachusetts was ahead of federal requirements in adopting a statewide voting database that streamlines registration and cross-checking of voter lists. With 21st century technology in place, we can have a voter-friendly registration system.

Historically, efforts to enfranchise additional voters have met with arguments that those excluded are somehow unfit to vote. The suggestion that people who don't think to register before Election Day are just not informed enough to vote calls to mind baseless arguments that women should not be allowed to vote because they supposedly were unqualified ''for the sterner duties to be performed by the intellectual faculties."

It is illogical to assume that registered voters who make up their minds to vote at the last minute are better informed than those who do the same but are not yet registered. All of us live in a hurried, mobile, 24/7 society. Even citizens who are fully engaged and aware of political issues may lose track of voter registration deadlines or fail to realize the need to reregister after changing addresses. And restrictive deadlines have historically had a greater impact on underrepresented racial minorities, the poor, and newly eligible voters.

Under our current system, campaigns target the all-too-narrow segment of the population that is registered and has voted frequently in the past. As voter turnouts shrink, the political playing field gets ever narrower. Same-day registration would include more people in the political conversation.

The many Massachusetts activists who saw same day registration in action in New Hampshire and Maine during the 2004 presidential election will tell you it generally worked well. It simplifies the job for election officials by avoiding the complicated and time-consuming process of filling out and validating ''provisional" ballots for eligible voters whose names do not appear on the voting list. This process confuses many voters and creates additional responsibilities for election workers, and many provisional ballots end up not counted in the final tally. Often, this is because election officials cannot verify that a voter registered in time.

With same day registration, if an eligible voter's name is not on the voting list on Election Day, the voter simply registers and votes. No wonder, then, that many city and town clerks support it.

Same day registration does not increase the risk of fraud. Under the bills being considered on Beacon Hill , registrants will need to present documentation of residency and identity as well as take an oath that the information they provide to election officials is accurate. This is more than is required of other registrants, much less of registered voters who simply show up at a polling place and announce a name and address to vote. The statewide voter database provides an added check that a new registrant has not voted elsewhere in the state that day. Stiff penalties for voter fraud will also deter and punish wrongdoing.

This is a key issue for me as a prospective candidate for secretary of the commonwealth. I believe Massachusetts should lead the way in making elections live up to our democratic ideals. Same day registration is an important step to this goal.

[texpatriot2004]

8. News Release: Was the 2004 election stolen? Two experts...

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=54651

PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 6 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Two experts face-off in lively lectures and discussion about the utility of exit polls when compared to official counts, the potential for election fraud and the role of statistics in adjudicating critical issues of public importance. The University of Pennsylvania's departments of Center for Organizational Dynamics and Political Science and the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Statistical Association (ASAP) will host the debate.

Like most politically savvy Americans, Steve Freeman Ph.D., was glued to the television on election night, 2004. As he poured over exit polling data on CNN's website, he was fairly confident John Kerry was in the lead by a projected 5 million votes. But after all the votes were tallied, especially in the battleground states such as Ohio, the final tally swung well beyond the exit poll's margin of error to favor the President.

But unlike most Americans, Freeman holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Studies, and is a Visiting Scholar at Penn's Center for Organizational Dynamics where he teaches research methods, including polling. His natural curiosity and academic diligence led him to research the issue in as much detail as possible, and the results appear in his forthcoming book on the matter titled, Was the 2004 Presidential Election Stolen? to be published next month by Seven Stories Press. His thesis is that the official explanation for the difference between exit poll and official results ("Within Precinct Error" or WPE) -- that across the country Kerry voters participated at a higher rate -- is unsupported by the data. Instead, the WPE is statistically significantly correlated with election administration variables such as Republican gubernatorial control, state electoral importance and voting technology. These relationships are inconsistent with theses of polling bias, but consistent with theses of electoral fraud.

In direct counterpoint, Warren J. Mitofsky, a fellow of the American Statistical Association, and President of Mitofsky International, which conducted the exit polling for the 2004 election on behalf of the National Election Pool, believes Freeman's view regarding election fraud is not statistically accurate. Mitofsky contends that such "conspiracy theorists" after the election mistakenly claimed the exit polls validated their claim. He believes there was no evidence in the exit polls to substantiate these claims. Instead, he contends that on election day the misinformation about the exit polls was spread by inexperienced people trying to make sense of complex statistical data. Mitofsky is currently writing a book on exit polling.

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9. National Summit Continues: Hartmann, Ellis, Humphrey, Cobb and more

Kip Humphrey, Bernie Ellis, David Cobb, Thom Hartmann, and more...conversge continues.

[Wilms]

10. NEW COMPLAINT FILED AGAINST KARL ROVE WITH KERR COUNTY, TX

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington

October 6, 2005

NEW COMPLAINT FILED AGAINST KARL ROVE WITH KERR COUNTY, TX DISTRICT ATTORNEY TO INVESTIGATE ILLEGAL VOTER REGISTRATION

Texas Officials State That Previous Complaint Filed by CREW Lacked Standing

Washington, DC – Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) announced that Frances Lovett, a registered voter in Kerr County, Texas, sent a complaint this week to Kerr County District Attorney, E. Bruce Curry, urging an investigation into whether Karl Rove, Deputy Chief of Staff to President Bush, violated Texas state law by illegally registering as a voter in Kerr County, despite never residing there.

CREW had filed a complaint regarding this matter with the Elections Division of the Texas Secretary of State’s office on September 6, 2005. On September 8th, however, the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram reported that the Texas Secretary of State’s office does not have jurisdiction over this matter and that it must be investigated by county officials. They also said that CREW does not have jurisdiction to file a complaint, only a Kerr County registered voter can file such a complaint.

“I have lived in Kerr County for the past 15 years and have never even heard that Mr. Rove or his wife lived in the area,” Frances Lovett said today. “Reading about Mr. Rove’s illegal voter registration in the paper, and knowing that a complaint could not be filed unless a Kerr County resident took action, I resolved to take this next step and send a letter to District Attorney E. Bruce Curry.”

According to a report in The Washington Post on September 7, 2005, Mr. Rove and his wife, Darby, registered to vote in Kerr County in 2003 after they sold their Austin, Texas home. County property records show that Mr. Rove and his wife have owned two tiny rental cottages in Kerr County since 1997, the largest of which is only 814 feet and is valued by the county at $25,000. In contrast, the Roves’ Washington, D.C. home is valued at over $1.1 million. Other local Kerr County residents have stated that they have never seen Mr. Rove in the area.

snip/more

http://citizensforethics.org/press/newsrelease.php?view=85

Thanks to BigBearJohn:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1832753#top

[Wilms]

11. CA: Why This Special Election?

Thursday, 29 September 2005
http://acgreens.org/

Why This Special Election?

The November 8, 2005, election was called by Governor Schwarzenegger a mere seven months before the next regularly-scheduled statewide election (June, 2006) — supposedly because the Governor thinks that his “reform initiatives” can’t wait until then. In reality, many political observers think that the Governor is hoping that a low, more conservative voter turnout (typical of most special elections) will help him get his favored initiatives passed.

Whether this special election for the Governor’s pet projects is worth the $50 to $70 million it is estimated to cost is now a question on many minds. Another question is whether the electronic voting machines that are being used increasingly throughout the state (Alameda County has been using Diebold machines since 2000) — which have secret software, are accessible to hackers, and leave no paper trail to do recounts when the vote is in doubt — can be trusted to truly reflect the will of the voters.

snip/more
http://www.indybay.org/news/2005/10/1772872.php

[Wilms]

12. AZ: Maricopa Cty Elections Dept will be the target of legislative hearings

Phoenix New Times

A monumental screw-up by the Maricopa County Elections Department will be the target of legislative hearings early next year.

Published: Thursday, October 6, 2005

State Senator Jack Harper informed me he will hold hearings about the September 2004 District 20 Republican primary recount in which 489 new votes inexplicably appeared. The sudden appearance of the additional votes changed the outcome of the election.

"I think there may be some negligence on the county's part," said Harper, who's chairman of the Government Accountability and Reform Committee.

Harper, a second-term Republican from Surprise, said he's particularly upset over the county's failure to require a representative of Elections Systems & Software, Inc. to appear in court to explain why there was such a wide variation in the total number of votes. Elections Systems' optical-scanner voting machines detected the variance between the primary and recount.

The county deliberately took steps to make sure Elections Systems employee Tina Polich wasn't served with a subpoena to appear in court to explain how the machines could've had such a wide variation in tabulating votes ("All Bark and No Bite," July 14, 2005). Although she's employed by the private company, Polich keeps an office in the elections department.

snip/more --- scroll down for the story
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/Issues/2005-10-06/news/dougherty.html