Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News 04.24.06- Clint Curtis for Congress

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Why am I running for Congress?
My name is Clint Curtis. I am running for the U.S. House of Representatives in Florida's 24th Congressional District. I will need your help.

Now a Democrat, I am a former Republican who became a whistleblower that came forward and testified to Congress under oath, regarding the request from a sitting congressman to build a computer program that could, without detection, flip your vote in an election. This manipulation would allow a person or political party to take control of voting machine and decide who wins the election, regardless of the true vote count. In March of 2005, I passed a polygraph test as to the accuracy of my statements.
I can promise you that:

- My vote will not be for sale
- I will not accept “questionable donations”
- I will not take trips on lobbyist money
- I will not accept money from foreign governments
- I will return honesty and integrity to the 24th congressional office.

Donations

Clint Curtis’ Blog (It’s great)

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

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News April 24, 2006

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.

Please post Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News on this thread.
1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web.
2. Post stories using the "Election Fraud and Reform News Sources" listed here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x371233
3. Re-post stories and announcements you find on DU, providing a link to the original thread with thanks to the Original Poster, too.
4. Start a discussion thread by re-posting a story you see on this thread.
Please

"Recommend"

for the Greatest Page (it's the link just below).

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1. IN: Paper Ballots for MicroVote Infinity Counties!!! Breaking

Looks REAL BIG to me. MicroVote can’t deliver software for absentee ballots and those counties have to use paper for the primaries. Hoosiers! How many MicroVote counties are there? THIS COULD BE A GREAT BREAK. These counties will not have problems while the DRE world will collapse around them in IN, perhaps. That’s what seems to be happening.


Published: April 20, 2006 08:25 pm

Paper ballots possible in May primary - MicroVote software not state certified

http://www.rushvillerepublican.com/rushville/homepage/local_story_110202545.html

Frank Denzler Shortly before 5 p.m. Wednesday Rush County Election Chairman Angie Neeb received a fax from the Indiana Election Division office. According to the notice, as it stands at this time those counties in the state that use the Indianapolis-based MicroVote Infinity voting system cannot use the system for the May primary election. The reason cited was that new software recently added has not yet been certified by the Indiana Election Commission. Rush County is one of the 47 counties in the state that use the MicroVote machines and software.

According to Neeb, the software and hardware additions that were recently made were a direct result of HAVA (Help Americans Vote Act) requirements. The changes had to be completed by January 2006, Neeb said.

“We had our public test on April 13 and everything went smooth. There were no problems of any kind with the machines or the additional programs, and then I received the fax late yesterday afternoon,” Neeb said. “I did not know that the absentee portion was not certified and that is why we are using the paper ballots and not the machines here locally for absentee ballots.”

“I was working late Wednesday and just by coincidence walked by the fax machine before leaving. When I got home I turned on the news to see any updated information, otherwise I would not have known of this and its impact until I received a call from someone or came into work today. It made me sick,” Neeb said.

[salin]

17. More from Indiana, Microvote and... ESS

Counties weigh options heading into election
Associated Press
FORT WAYNE, Ind. -

Officials throughout the state still aren't sure whether they'll be able to use their voting software in next week's primary.

snip

The Indiana Election Commission is working with Indianapolis-based MicroVote General Corp. to certify the software in the new machines. But there is no guarantee that will happen before the primary.

That leaves the counties facing a dilemma - switch to paper ballots or some other alternative, or follow Allen County's lead and use the machines despite a state law that forbids using the uncertified software.

snip

The Indiana Election Commission on Wednesday said it would investigate MicroVote, which has contracts with 47 counties. It also plans to investigation Election Systems & Software, which supplies voting systems to 27 counties.


http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/14412046.htm

[IndyOp]

20. 45 Indiana Counties Use MicroVote!!

Indiana Secretary of State
Optical Scan Ballot Card and Direct Recording
Voting Systems Used by Indiana Counties
Revised February 20, 2006
<http://www.in.gov/sos/elections/voters/vot_sys.html>

DIRECT RECORD ELECTRONIC
TOTAL COUNTIES - DIRECT RECORD ELECTRONIC VOTING SYSTEMS: 58
2,590,714 registered voters (60% of registered voters in Indiana)

MicroVote Infinity
1. Adams
2. Clay
3. Clinton
4. Daviess
5. Decatur
6. Delaware
7. Dubois
8. Greene
9. Jasper
10. Jay
11. Kosciusko
12. LaPorte
13. Miami
14. Morgan
15. Orange
16. Perry
17. Pike
18. Pulaski
19. Putnam
20. Rush
21. Starke
22. Warrick
23. Wells
24. Whitley

MicroVote464
1. Allen
2. Bartholomew
3. Blackford
4. DeKalb
5. Fayette
6. Grant
7. Hamilton
8. Hendricks
9. Huntington
10. Jefferson
11. Knox
12. Lake
13. Lawrence
14. Marshall
15. Monroe
16. Noble
17. Owen
18. Shelby
19. Sullivan
20. Tipton
21. Wabash

On Edit: I have a call into the Monroe County official in charge of elections and will now contact 2 people who are running for office locally. Maybe we can pull for paper ballots hand counted!!

Congressional District 9:

MicroVote -- Bartholomew, Dubois, Jefferson, Monroe, Orange, Perry
ES&S Optech -- Brown
ES&S: Optech 3PE -- Clark, Crawford, Dearborn, Floyd, Harrison, ....................Jackson, Jennings, Ohio, Spencer, Washington
Fidlar Accuvote ES-2000: Ripley, Scott, Switzerland

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2. CA: Election Fraud is Over, So are Crooks in CA Government

Let the news go forth. If you’re a crook and a public official in California, after the new Attorney General is inaugurated, you are finished, period. Jerry Brown, former Governor (two terms), current mayor of Oakland, Jesuit trained and educated Democrat will fry your crooked behind. This is highly significant. Brown is the real deal, brilliant, and indifferent to money or social status – in other words, he does it because he believes in public service. GREAT NEWS. HE’S A PATRICK FITZGERALD (also Jesuit trained) AND HE’LL SCREW ANYONE CHEATINGON ELECTIONS. Arnie, MacPherson, bye bye
]SACRAMENTO BEE

Field Poll: Jerry Brown's the name brand in race
Oakland mayor has huge early lead in primary for attorney general

http://www.sacbee.com/

By Peter Hecht -- Bee Capitol Bureau
Published 2:15 am PDT Thursday, April 20, 2006

They may love him or hate him, but most every California voter has an opinion about Jerry Brown. And, overwhelmingly, Democrats support his latest bid for political reincarnation, a new Field Poll reveals.

Brown, the Oakland mayor, former governor and three-time presidential candidate, leads Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo by 59 percent to 18 percent in the Democratic primary race for state attorney general.

Far and away, Brown is better known than any other candidate in California's down-ballot statewide races, including those for attorney general, lieutenant governor, controller, treasurer and secretary of state.

<snip>

Forty-five percent of voters view him favorably, 35 percent unfavorably and 20 percent have no opinion, according to the Field Poll.

[rucky]

16. I worked on his 1992 Presidential Campaign

Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown IS the real deal.

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19. Don't you think he'd just bust bad guys all day if he could?

:evilgrin:

Normally I don't ask questions onthis thread. I'm a bad example for others (well, that's nothing new) but I can't resist this question.

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3. CA: Calif. Teachers Assn. Stabs Democracy in Back–Endorses McPherson-Et tu

Brutus, Et tu Brutus. California Teachers Association...they are strong, rich, and smart. They have committed the biggest error in their history. They have stabbed everybody in the back, including Republicans by endorsing an candidate so indifferent to democracy. There is a huge back story here and I want to know it. But I know this much, they're playing a dangerous game and they're going to get everybody screwed.

McPherson rallies supporters from both sides in bid for statewide office

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2006/April/20/local/stories/02local.htm

By GENEVIEVE BOOKWALTER
SENTINEL STAFF WRITER

Santa Cruz Republican Bruce McPherson, who represented the fertile Democratic turf of his hometown for 11 years, is proving that he can attract not only local Democrats, but Democrats from across the state as he bids to keep his seat as secretary of state.

The California Teachers Association, a group known for endorsing Democrats, voted earlier this month to support McPherson as he runs to keep the position Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed him to in March 2005. McPherson is also backed by the California Farm Bureau and California State Firefighters Association, among other groups that attract Democrats.

"It's a positive reflection on Bruce McPherson," said Allan Hoffenblum, publisher of the California Target Book, a nonpartisan publication that analyzes and handicaps partisan races in California.

Whether McPherson will have enough Democratic support to win the statewide vote will be seen come November.

Political party members pick their candidate for secretary of state in the June 6 primary election. McPherson, who has no Republican challenger, will wait to face the Democratic primary winner. State Sens. Debra Bowen, D-Redondo Beach, and Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, are competing for that slot.

Bowen's staff said they were shocked the California Teachers Association would endorse a Republican in the wake of Schwarzenegger's defeated ballot initiatives last year, which especially infuriated teachers. If the propositions had passed, teachers would now work five years before receiving tenure, instead of the required two.
"I think, as a lot of people, we were surprised that CTA would endorse Schwarzenegger's hand-picked secretary of state," said Bowen's campaign manager, Sandra Lloyd-Jones.
Or maybe, as some suggest, the California Teachers Association was just looking for a token Republican to back.

"If they're going to endorse a Republican, he would be the type they would endorse," Hoffenblum commented.

[Wilms]

10. CA: SF Chron - She'll (Bowen) Secure Your Vote

EDITORIAL
THE CHRONICLE RECOMMENDS

She'll secure your vote

Sunday, April 23, 2006

snip

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wisely selected Bruce McPherson, a centrist with integrity, to restore calm and confidence in an office that was riven by Shelley's mercurial management style and ethically questionable dealings. McPherson, by all but the most partisan accounts, has restored a level of professionalism to the office.

The Democrats have two primary challengers to McPherson, each a highly capable state senator who is about to be termed out of office.

snip

But for this office, Bowen is the clear choice in the Democratic primary. In her nearly 14 years in the Capitol, Bowen has demonstrated her commitment to what we believe should be one of the guiding principles of society: An individual's actions should be presumed private, while a government's actions should be presumed public. For example, her bills to help consumers guard against identity theft and block "junk faxes" have set national standards.

As chair of the Senate Elections Committee, Bowen has been a determined advocate of bringing more transparency to the political process -- such as getting lobbying expenses online in a more accessibly way -- and installing more rigorous standards on the use of electronic voting equipment. She has done her homework on technological issues and is ready to make the case that California needs a more aggressive secretary of state to restore public confidence in the electoral process.

Bowen is not one to flinch at a challenge. She entered this race at a time when many top Democrats were reluctant to criticize the scandal-drenched Shelley, who was clinging to office. In her typical straightforward style, Bowen explained, "It became clear we were going to need a new nominee."

She was right. And Sen. Debra Bowen should be that nominee.

snip

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/04/23/EDGNSGU2SP1.DTL


Discussion

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x425048

[livvy]

18. Contact Info for the CTA and DiscussionThread.

Discussion thread here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=424890&mesg_id=424925

If you are interested in dropping them a note here is the contact info.

California Teachers’ Association


President:
Contacting Barbara E. Kerr
California Teachers Association
P.O. Box 921, 1705 Murchison Drive
Burlingame, CA 94011-0921
Phone: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]
Background info:
http://www.cta.org/WhoWeAre/President.htm

Vice-President:
Contacting David A. Sanchez
California Teachers Association
P.O. Box 921, 1705 Murchison Drive
Burlingame, CA 94011-0921
Phone: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]
Background info:
http://www.cta.org/WhoWeAre/VicePresident.htm

Secretary/Treasurer:
Contacting Dean E. Vogel
California Teachers Association
P.O. Box 921, 1705 Murchison Drive
Burlingame, CA 94011-0921
Phone: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]
Background info:
http://www.cta.org/WhoWeAre/SecretaryTreasurer.htm

Executive Director:
Contacting Carolyn Doggett
California Teachers Association
P.O. Box 921, 1705 Murchison Drive
Burlingame, CA 94011-0921
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]
Background info:
http://www.cta.org/WhoWeAre/ExecutiveDirector.htm


Link for page with all the regional offices:
http://www.cta.org/ContactCTA/ContactCTA.htm

There is also a list for all the members of the Board of Directors, but no contact info is given.

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4. Nation: Cramdown, Stipdown, Lockdown – HAVA (Land Shark, autorank)

Here we go, the article that’s making Paul Lehto’s point all over America. Don’t tell us HAVA or any version of it can ever be anything other than a crime against democracy. You can’t put lipstick on a pig…well, you can, but who’d want to deal with it. The HAVA cramdown, stripdown, lockdown is here to ruin democracy, no question about it.

SIMPLE QUESTIONS -- TROUBLING ANSWERS

Q&A Session with a Commissioner of the Elections Assistance Commission
Reveals Massive Violations of Citizen Rights

Secret Vote Counting Crammed Down the Throat of Democracy

Permission to quote extensively granted by the author.

Special Report for “Scoop” Independent Media
First in a Series on HAVA and the EAC
by Michael Collins
Washington, DC

INTRODUCTION:

The Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) was passed on the heels of the Florida 2000 presidential election and its “hanging chad” problem. These ambiguous ballot chads riveted and frustrated the nation for a couple of months in late 2000. However, few thought the solution to the ambiguity of hanging chad evidence of a voter’s intent would be to completely eliminate that evidence.

With the help of nearly $4 billion in federal grants, HAVA eliminates the evidence of voter intent by eliminating the paper. Instead of paper ballots we have votes registered and counted on "touch screens" - computer based direct recording electronic (DRE) voting machines. Invisible electronic ballots are the result of these DRE touch screens. Electronic vote counting software does the vital vote tabulation in secret. For citizens and public officials, the vote counting processes are strictly off limits. There is literally nothing to see. As a result, the public records of vote counting are gone. To preserve this secrecy, DRE purchase contracts often pledge the government to cooperate with the vendors to fight the very citizens the government is pledged to serve.
What is this secrecy in vote counting, really? To have the votes counted in secret by your political enemy is the picture of tyranny. To have the votes counted in secret by your political friend is the picture of corruption. To even desire such an unaccountable power is itself corrupt. So how is HAVA cramming this down the throat of American democracy?

<snip>

MR. LEHTO: My name is Paul Lehto. I’m from Washington State. Under our Washington State statutes, we have the right to be in a polling location on Election Day and Night to watch the counting of the vote, the right to be in a counting center to watch the counting of the vote, and there’s a canvassing board that handles appeals in case of questions about voter intent. Now, my question is when the HAVA money comes down from the EAC to fund the purchase of DREs: Suddenly, just by my county signing a purchase contract , I don’t have the right to watch the vote anymore. My question is: By what right or authority did my right to watch the counting of the vote get taken away?

MR. MARTINEZ: Okay, in what way was your rights - how did you get - how did it get taken away?

<snip>

CRAMDOWN, STRIPDOWN, LOCKDOWN

The HAVA cramdown is delivered in the form of twin inducements to counties and states that are nearly irresistible: “We will buy you your voting machines” and “We’ve got language in HAVA that says these types of machines, DREs, will make you largely immune from litigation by those pesky citizens who might object”. When those inducements fail to gain the necessary compliance, the next step in the cramdown of electronic voting is threats of litigation and actual lawsuits by DOJ in behalf of EAC.
Once the machines are purchased and contracted for, the stripdown of our rights takes place. We are no longer able to know where our votes go once they leave the screen, nor can we have someone examine the process for us. We are no longer to challenge the vote because DREs are the final word now. Even if so-called voter-verified paper ballots become part of HAVA, currently HAVA makes the DRE-generated invisible ballots the “ballots of record” only if state law so requires, thus rendering the DREs as the headline-makers, even with full “paper trails”.

The HAVA lockdown will be discussed in depth in the next article in this series of affronts to freedom. Once we have HAVA crammed down our throats and we have been stripped of our most fundamental rights to free, fair, and transparent elections, we will find ourselves in a HAVA lockdown, an iron cage composed of bureaucratic, regulatory, and politically predetermined results in which government and its friendly vendor corporations certify each other’s qualifications, all strictly enforced by a judicial system that may not be able to offer relief if we fail to take up the challenge to defend democracy soon.

[Wilms]

15. Discussion

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x425025

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5. NC & Nation: Eliz. Dole Cant Get Candidates, $$$’s for Senate; 1 word Abr

Fraud impacts elections. In this case Sen. Dole can’t raise money for her Republican Senate Campaign Committee and she’s having trouble getting decent candidates for office. Well, my advice is that she quit the Republican Party today and join the Democrats.

Elizabeth Dole facing big challenges as GOP committee leader

http://www.fayettevillenc.com/local/article_ap?id=84285
The Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. Published on Sunday, April 23, 2006


"There's nowhere I'd rather be today," Dole told the crowd. "He's doing such a great job."

Burns, who Dole called a man of integrity, has close ties to former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who's facing prison time after pleading guilty to charges of conspiracy, tax evasion and fraud. That makes Burns and others with similar ties to Abramoff vulnerable in the November election.

<snip>

She could not convince the GOP's top Senate hopefuls to run in North Dakota and West Virginia, nor keep a Republican challenger out of a primary race in Rhode Island.

Dole, who says the party has outstanding candidates and defends her fund-raising, acknowledges she's working in the middle of a tough political climate.

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6. Great Britain: The Public Won’t Contribute to Any Party Apparently

Labour had a major financial scandal. They received loans which were an easier way to get money. They did this because not many were contributing (wonder why Tony bLIAR? Now it seems the Liberal Democrats were lower than ever before and this fellow, on the lam but apprehended, gave them about half of their funds. The point: People are sick of the crap in Great Britain and they’re not giving a dime to their parties. General fraud produces election finance fraud, another axiom.


Dem donor set to face charges over £5.7m fraud
The Scotsman Saturday April 22, 03:00 AM
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22042006/17/lib-dem-donor-set-face-charges-5-7m-fraud.html

A SCOTTISH business tycoon who helped to bankroll the Liberal Democrats' election campaign will be extradited to Britain on fraud charges, it has emerged.

The arrest in Spain of Michael Brown, a controversial financier, will fuel the debate over the funding of political parties following the ongoing Scotland Yard inquiry into the cash-for-honors scandal.

So far, the Liberal Democrats have been able to avoid the controversy arising from large secret loans made to Labour and the Tories, because the third party has no such borrowings

The arrest is believed to relate to a company called 5th Avenue Partners which was based in London and made the £2.4 million donation. Mr. Brown's donation to the Lib Dems early last year accounted for almost half the party's entire budget for last year's general election.

"We are not aware that this has any connection whatsoever with the Liberal Democrats," said a party spokesman.

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7. Italy: Bush Does His One Good Thing for the Entire Administration

This Berlusconi is taking as long to leave office as it took his soul brother the Dictator Franco to die. Get out Silvia. When Bush calls you opponent and says congratulations, can the guys in white jackets be far behind for you. Arrivederci Silvio, bye, bye!

Berlusconi Pounds the Bully Pulpit, but More Softly Now

By IAN FISHER April 22, 2006


ROME, April 21 — President Bush called Romano Prodi on Friday to congratulate him on his victory in last week's narrow Italian elections, as Mr. Bush's friend and ally, Silvio Berlusconi, continued to leave the door open to a grumpy defeat.

"I haven't done it and I won't do it," Mr. Berlusconi said in Trieste, in the northeast, referring to whether he would concede defeat and follow Mr. Bush's lead and call Mr. Prodi. "It is Prodi who should call me to say he is sorry."

As he has since the close of voting last week, Mr. Berlusconi, Italy's richest man, continued to speak of election fraud and demands for further recounts.

:evilgrin: :evilgrin:
For all his intransigence, however, he appeared to soften the slightest bit, even if some astute reading between the lines was needed to detect it.

Meeting with supporters in Trieste, he spoke of a government led by Mr. Prodi as "only a parenthesis," suggesting that he was, in fact, resigned to the transfer of power. And he said he would let the president, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, make a final proclamation on the election's verdict.

Mr. Ciampi has already made clear his belief that Mr. Prodi won, as has Italy's highest court.

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8. TN: 2 Dead Voters in Close Election Equals Election Reform

Wow, two dead voters show up as votes in a 13 vote margin and they get all excited in the Volunteer State. How about a stolen election, huge problems with DRE’s, voter suppression through registration tricks; not a big enough problem for you? Oh, no, we can’t look at that. We want to talk about 2 instances of “dead voter fraud” rather than massive instances plus the mechanism for huge election fraud.

After flurry of election reform bills, 2 ideas moving forward

http://www.wsmv.com/global/story.asp?s=4806062
April 23, 2006, 02:49 PM

More than a dozen bills were filed, but only two seem to be making any progress -- one to require more frequent purging of voter registration records and another to set up an automatic recount of close elections.

"Lawmakers want to maintain the integrity of the ballot box, but you have to find the right process to do it," said state Rep. Ulysses Jones, a member of the House Elections Subcommittee where several bills failed last week.

<snip>

Eighteen states have an automatic recount process, with varying degrees of specificity, according to the National Conferences of State Legislatures.

Current Tennessee law authorizes a recount in cases that include a tie vote, or an indication of fraud if the number of votes affected would be sufficient to change the result of the election.

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9. CA: San Mateo County Celebrates Election Fraud – Not Kidding (It’s CA;)

This is their notion of pride in their civic history. This is really bizarre. How about New Yorkers getting a kick out of reenacting Boss Tweeds election fraud.

San Mateo born of election fraud, corruption

http://www.examiner.com/a-77886~San_Mateo_born_of_election_fraud__corruption.html


PDF | Email
Beth Winegarner, The Examiner
Apr 14, 2006 9:00 AM (9 days ago)

SAN MATEO, Calif. - San Mateo County is getting ready to celebrate the 150th anniversary of its political birth, including events that earned it a reputation for many years as the most corrupt county in California.

Historians and politicos — including retired judge Quentin Kopp — will gather today dressed in their finest scoundrel garb and re-enact the rigged election of 1856, which put San Mateo County's first leaders into office. On Wednesday, the Fox Theatre will host a gala event to celebrate the incorporation of the county on April 19, 1856.

That incorporation came at the hands of a bill from Assemblyman Horace Hawes, who wanted to create a unified city and county of San Francisco and run the scoundrels — many of whom had been lured to the region by gold prospects — out of the city. It worked only too well.

At the county's first elections in May, ex-prizefighters Chris Lilly and Billy Mulligan, allied with San Francisco politicians who favored the reunification, manned the election with guns and arranged for false ballots to be included in the vote.

[autorank]

11. Mark Crispin Miller's Blog: News from the Underground - "Crucial Essay"

http://markcrispinmiller.blogspot.com/

A crucial essay Posted by MCM

Cramdown, Stripdown, Lockdown Democracy In The USA
Thursday, 20 April 2006, 10:44 am
Article: Michael Collins
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0604/S00233.htm

SIMPLE QUESTIONS -- TROUBLING ANSWERS

* Q&A Session with a Commissioner of the Elections
* Assistance Commission Reveals Massive Violations of Citizen Rights
* Secret Vote Counting Crammed Down the Throat of Democracy

Special Report for "Scoop" Independent Media
First in a Series on HAVA and the EAC
by Michael Collins
Washington, DC

The Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) was passed on the heels of the Florida 2000 presidential election and its "hanging chad" problem. These ambiguous ballot chads riveted and frustrated the nation for a couple of months in late 2000. However, few thought the solution to the ambiguity of hanging chad evidence of a voter's intent would be to completely eliminate that evidence.

[Wilms]

14. A crucial essay - Permalink

http://markcrispinmiller.blogspot.com/2006/04/crucial-essay.html

[autorank]

12. Mark Crispin Miller's Blog: (Main Page) New Lehto Essay

Main Page of MCM Blog...posted by Paul Lehto, aka Land Shark

http://markcrispinmiller.blogspot.com/

DRE emergency!! Stewart v. Blackwell....

From Paul Lehto:

Re: Stewart v Blackwell, to-be-published 6th Circuit case that came down Friday April 21, 2006; opinion at http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/06a0143p-06.pdf

On Wednesday evening our time (Thursday New Zealand time) as you know the "Cramdown" essay was published on the NZ Scoop site, arguing that DREs are being crammed down the throat of American democracy by the structure of HAVA as it interacts with voting rights. See http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0604/S00233.htm

On Friday, the Cramdown just became force feeding with a firehose. It held that punch card and central count optical scan systems were, RELATIVE TO TOUCH SCREEN DRE's, unconstitutional under the Equal Protection of the US Constitution as interpreted by Bush v Gore.To the extent voting technologies have differing error rates, it creates a huge force to require statewide DREs (or other technologies). Uniformity avoids such equal protection claims.

However, as pointed out Wednesday in the cramdown piece, HAVA heavily favors DREs in its structure and probably in its outright intent (though we need not resolve the question of intent to see and prove the actual impact in favor of DREs from the statutes themselves, among other factors)

Previous History: The United States District Court had previously denied the Pro-Touch Screen plaintiff's equal protection claim, which said that punch card and central count optical scan systems violated the Equal Protection clause of the US Constitution by disproportionately disfranchising minority voters. The District Court also held that it would reach the SAME result under either "rational basis review" or the higher and only meaningful standard of review of "strict scrutiny".

Holding: In reversing the District Court's unpublished decision with a decision to be published, the 6th Circuit followed BUSH V. GORE and held that some counties counting a certain way while other counties counting another way violates equal protection. The 6th circuit held that it was bound by precedent of Bush v Gore.

[Wilms]

13. DRE emergency!! Stewart v. Blackwell - Permalink

http://markcrispinmiller.blogspot.com/2006/04/dre-emergency-stewart-v-blackwell.html

[Algorem]

21. OH-Cuyahoga County poll workers worried about primary

Monday, April 24, 2006
Concerns:

Some of Cuyahoga County's 6,000 poll workers -- many of them elderly -- are nervous about managing electronic voting machines in the May 2 primary. They have a difficult time understanding a manual laden with computer lingo.


Election officials say poll workers were trained on the equipment for at least three hours and received a step-by-step-manual. The board sent out a packet last week with a 40-minute refresher DVD and is offering one-on-one training the weekend before the election. Technicians with extra training will also be in each precinct.

Problems elsewhere:

Computer screens froze and one machine exploded during the March primary in Chicago's Cook County. Official vote counting took more than a week. Election officials blamed human error and growing pains. They pledged to increase training for poll workers.

http://www.cleveland.com/election/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1145867571235570.xml&coll=2

[Algorem]

22. law firm papers focus in case of Diebold information leaked to writer

Jones Day papers focus of theft case
Diebold information leaked to writer

Monday, April 24, 2006

http://www.cleveland.com/business/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/business/1145867701235570.xml&coll=2

Alison Grant
Plain Dealer Reporter

A criminal case involving Cleveland law firm Jones Day, Summit County voting machine maker Diebold Inc. and an obscure, part-time Hollywood actor is expected to unfold in a Los Angeles courtroom today.

The actor, Stephen Heller, has been charged with felony theft of confidential records from a Jones Day office where he was temping in 2004.

Heller is alleged to have given the records to an investigative writer who had just published a book saying Diebold had installed uncertified voting systems in California. A copy of the records landed in the hands of an Oakland Tribune reporter who used them to report embarrassing details about Diebold's hasty use of uncertified software with its machines.

The prosecution of Heller has raised eyebrows because it is unusual to bring criminal charges in a case like this. Critics say Heller qualifies as a whistleblower who should be protected. Jones Day scoffs at that, saying Heller stole its legal papers and moreover broke a confidentiality pledge he signed when he started at the law firm. The firm also says it's important to defend attorney-client privilege, which it says Heller violated...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x425126

[Kurovski]

23. Kick to the top.

Hi, y'all.

Hooray for Illinois!!