Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, SUNDAY June 25, 2006

[rumpel]

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.

In Kern County, problems with Diebold voting machine access cards created "a nightmare" throughout the morning, resulting in many voters being turned away and told to "come back in a few hours." In Orange County, broken voting machines and technical glitches were reported at a number of polling places. In San Joaquin County, "people were sent away without casting their ballots in Stockton, Lodi, and Morada." Other complaints were lodged against Diebold voting tabulators in Los Angeles.

These kinds of malfunctions and irregularities are completely unacceptable. California should be a national leader when it comes to conducting fair and accurate elections - not follow the bad examples set in states like Florida and Ohio. And if elected Secretary of State in November, I'll settle for nothing less.

Debra Bowen


inkavote plus

Please post Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News on this thread.



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GEMS Tabulation System


DIMS Voter Registration System

Everyone welcome to post related news

[rumpel]

1. PA: Group questions electronic voting system

State legislators call for paper record to verify results

Sunday, June 25, 2006
BY KATHLEEN HAUGHNEY
For The Patriot-News

A report released Friday is questioning the effectiveness of electronic voting machines and says Pennsylvania is at high risk of finding its election results have been compromised.

Common Cause, an open government advocacy group, released a report that alleges that 20 states, including Pennsylvania, are at risk because many counties use electronic voting machines without a paper backup and do not provide an audit procedure.

"You can't ignore the security flaws," said Common Cause of Pennsylvania Executive Director Barry Kauffman. "What good is it if a person speaking Spanish can vote because of the machine, or a disabled person can vote ... if it doesn't count?"

http://www.pennlive.com/news/patriotnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1151189726228190.xml&coll=1

[rumpel]

2. FL: Officials: Voting systems fair

Herald-Today

Posted on Sun, Jun. 25, 2006

Supervisors insist Sarasota touch-screen machines, Manatee paper ballots are secure
STACEY EIDSON
Herald Staff Writer
Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent was dismayed recently when a group of concerned residents came into her office requesting to recount the absentee ballots from the county's 2004 election.

"They spent two full days in my office counting the votes," Dent said. "I don't know why in the world they wanted to because, of course, the deadline to contest that election has long since passed. But they came in and counted the ballots and I just got a call from them telling me they were perfectly satisfied with the accuracy of our system."

After the chaos surrounding the 2000 presidential election and the implementation of touch-screen voting machines two years later in Sarasota County, Dent said she still expects some voters to have concerns when they head to the polls.

But Dent said history has proven that voters will have nothing to fear when they touch the screen and cast their vote in the upcoming primary election Sept. 5.

"We've had 39 elections since implementing the touch-screen machines and we have never had a problem," Dent said. "They're easy to use, they're reliable and I think there is only a small minority of people who still have a problem with them."

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/local/14896625.htm

[rumpel]

3. NY: POLITICS & POWER (Opinion)

Newsday

Rick Brand
New fix, but voting woes linger

June 25, 2006

One Long Island election official labeled it the start of "HAVA hell."

New York - the only state that has failed to comply with the 2002 federal Help America Vote Act - has just ordered 150 machines, costing as much as $5,000 apiece, the political equivalent of buying a pack of disposable razors. These machines will only be used in this year's primary and November election and then likely junked.

The stopgap equipment, known as ballot marking devices, are a major part of a consent decree reached last month after the Justice Department sued New York for failing to modernize its machines in time for this year's elections, despite an infusion of $49.7 million in federal aid.

While these devices have earphones for the blind and puffers for the paralyzed, they do not come close to complying with the HAVA law since the machines neither count nor record the votes of the handicapped who will use them. That will have to be done manually by election workers. The devices also do not show the full ballot as required under state law.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/politics/ny-lipol264795520jun25,0,7437930.column?coll=ny-lipolitics-headlines

[rumpel]

4. MA: Bonifaz voting card turns up

The Boston Globe

June 25, 2006

A newly discovered voter registration card may bolster Secretary of State William F. Galvin's assertion that his opponent, voting rights lawyer John Bonifaz, has a Green Party past.
The card, dated September 6, 2000, appears to show Bonifaz attempting to register with Boston's election department as a Green Party member.
In freehand, someone wrote the words ``Green Party" on a line identifying the voter's political designation.
But lucky for Bonifaz -- who has insisted he is and always has been a Democrat -- he also appears to have checked ``unenrolled" on the card and then smudged it out.
Boston election workers, apparently unsure of Bonifaz's intent, registered him as ``unenrolled," according to city election official John Donovan.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/06/25/romneys_packed____and_unpacked____a_lot_in_2006/

section starts midpage

[rumpel]

5. Voting Rights: GA: Voting rights law renewal becomes headache for GOP

Gwinnett Daily Post

06/25/2006

Rep. John Lewis is lucky that Georgia has Sonny Perdue as governor. Otherwise, Rep. Lynn Westmoreland and his House allies might succeed in permanently blocking renewal of sections of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
The Perdue administration and its fierce defense of Georgia’s voter ID law have become Exhibit A in the case to keep the Voting Rights Act intact and maintain close watch on Georgia and the rest of the South in matters related to minority voting.
“You still can’t trust the South” is a sentiment that many federal lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans, share.
Even so, the outspoken Republican Westmoreland along with Rep. Charlie Norwood of Augusta managed last week to delay temporarily a House vote on renewing the act. The Republican House leadership is not happy. They see the delay creating problems in the November election for some moderate Northern Republican representatives. Several non-Southern Republicans are fearful of being labeled anti-civil rights.

http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=36&url_article_id=16534&url_subchannel_id=&change_well_id=2

[rumpel]

6. TX: Editorial: Citizens' rights shouldn't depend on fluency

Waco Tribune

Sunday, June 25, 2006

Back before the Voting Rights Act changed everything, some states required a literacy test to vote. It was a device aimed particularly at minimizing the black vote in the South.

Most Americans would emphatically oppose such voter intimidation today. Unfortunately, some of those same Americans support a literacy test of a different stripe.

They want all ballots and official government communication to be in English.

Since millions of U.S. citizens don’t have sufficient English proficiency, just as some poor Americans might have lacked sufficient literacy under poll tests, this effectively would deprive them of their voting rights.

In 1975 the original 1965 Voting Rights Act — which banned poll taxes, literacy tests and more — was amended to protect the rights of voters who lacked sufficient command of English. Jurisdictions in which more than 5 percent of eligible voters lack English proficiency and use another language must provide ballots in the language those voters use.

Indeed, this consideration is what brought Texas under the Voting Rights Act. It had been excluded under the original provisions.

Ballots in other languages may stick in the craw of many voters. But to do otherwise would prevent some citizens from voting.

http://www.wacotrib.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/2006/06/25/06252006waceditorial.html

[acmejack]

9. The Statue of Liberty doesn't say "Your English Speaking Masses"

I always think of Von Stueben in the American Revolution, a hero who only spoke German, there were many patriots who didn't speak English then, just as now.

[rumpel]

7. IL: Tinkering with voting rights

Chicago Tribune

Clarence Page

Published June 25, 2006

WASHINGTON -- A not-too-funny thing happened to the 1965 Voting Rights Act on its way to renewal in the House of Representatives: A real debate broke out.

The act has been protecting the voting rights of minorities for 41 years. Contrary to widespread and Internet-fed rumors, the fundamental right of minorities to vote is not in danger.

Some of the act's more controversial enforcement provisions, however, must be reviewed and renewed by next year. Advocates are hoping for a 25-year extension.

No problem, thought leaders of the elephant party. After a stunning 33-1 landslide endorsement from the House Judiciary Committee, House Republican leaders expected easy passage for the measure.

House GOP leaders hoped to use the bill's passage as a big election-year outreach to minority voters. This would have followed the noble tradition of the late Senate Republican Leader Everett M. Dirksen of Illinois, who helped push President Lyndon B. Johnson's civil rights legislation to passage in the 1960s, despite opposition from Southern segregationist Democrats and Dixiecrats.

But House GOP leaders canceled their scheduled debate and vote Wednesday. A rebellion broke out, mainly over two issues: the law's special requirements for the states of the old segregated South, and the law's requirements that foreign-language ballots and interpreters be provided in precincts where substantial numbers of voters are struggling with English.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-0606250445jun25,1,7203155.column?coll=chi-news-col&ctrack=1&cset=true

[rumpel]

18. VA: Voting act vital, some say

Virginians measure the effect of federal oversight on state as lawmakers delay renewal

BY KIRAN KRISHNAMURTHY
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Jun 25, 2006

While observers predict the Republican delay in Congress to renew the Voting Rights Act won't translate into a lapse of protections, it has afforded a moment for reflection in Virginia.

The Rev. Curtis Harris, national vice president for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said the state should remain under federal oversight because of its past resistance to integration. He also cited the Justice Department's approval of Richmond's new popularly elected mayoral system as evidence that the department has softened on its interpretation of the act.

"I've lived in Virginia all my life. Virginia is a state of laws. There's been a number of instances where Virginia has said, 'Black people, you go to the inferior schools. Black people, you can't ride the bus.' And that was written in the law," Harris, 81, said last week.

http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149188727672&path=!news&s=1045855934842

[rumpel]

8. VT: Voting machines undermine confidence

Rutland Herald

June 25, 2006

The most recent California election is yet another example of how low the Republicans will stoop to get into office. The voting ability of Americans has always been one of the stanchions of democracy, and to steal that from us is appalling. The last elections, starting with 2000 and BushCo, have all been clearly fraudulent, due to the electronic voting systems used, all of which are Republican-owned and have shown repeatedly to be easily hacked.

We must have a hand count of all of the paper votes immediately, and the election should not be certified until this is done. When will this party act with integrity and with the greater good of this country, instead of being driven by corruption, power and greed, regardless of the cost to everyone else, our country and our planet?

It has come to my attention that the California special election on June 6 was conducted on Diebold voting machines, many of which were left unsecured in the homes, cars and offices of poll workers in the weeks prior to the election. Diebold touchscreen and optical scan machines have been proven by California's own secretary of state to be unreliable in the field and vulnerable to hacking in unsecure environments. Because improper procedures were used in this election, no one has proof that these machines were not subject to memory card switches or other easy tampering techniques, such as manipulating the counters.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060625/NEWS/606250308/1037/OPINION02

[rumpel]

10. GA: Marcy Winograd Vows to Keep Fighting

By Matthew Cardinale, News Editor and National Correspondent, Atlanta Progressive News (June 24, 2006)

(APN) ATLANTA – Marcy Winograd may have lost her primary race against Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), but she vows to keep fighting.

She was a bit disappointed after the election, but has already sprung back into action on the issue of questionable electronic voting in the San Diego Busby versus Bilbray race. She will appear in a Town Hall meeting along with Brad Friedman of BradBlog and others next week to discuss that issue.

Winograd will continue to apply pressure upon Harman to represent her constituents, is considering another run for the 36th US House District in California in 2008, and is considering organizing a “Shadow Congress” for her district, Atlanta Progressive News has learned.

“Yes I’m accepting it . We got 38% of the vote. 15,000 to 26,000. We didn’t have enough time. I was a virtual unknown to many of these people 6 months ago. It’s a question of resources,” Winograd told Atlanta Progressive News in a phone interview.

Winograd believes that by the time 2008 comes she may have sufficient name recognition among voters to get that extra 13% to tip the scale.

http://www.atlantaprogressivenews.com/news/0063.html

[rumpel]

11. SC: Majority of voters eligible for Tuesday runoff, low turnout expected

The Times & Democrat

By TUCKER LYON, T&D Government Writer
Sunday, June 25, 2006

Almost 50,000 registered voters in Orangeburg County, plus the majority of voters in Calhoun County and Bamberg counties, are eligible to participate in Tuesday’s statewide Republican primary run-off election for lieutenant governor and treasurer.

“The only groups who can vote are those who voted in the Republican primary and those who did not vote at all on June 13. They’re still eligible,” said Earl Whalen, Orangeburg County’s director of voter registration and elections. “This run-off is just a continuation of the primary. But this time folk won’t have to declare which primary to participate in. There’s only one.”

The only registered voters not eligible to participate are those 7,852 people who voted in the June 13 Democratic primary in Orangeburg County. With 58,374 registered voters in the county, that leaves some 50,500 still eligible.

In Calhoun County, only 567 of the county’s 9,962 registered voters participated in the Democratic primary, leaving the vast majority of voters still eligible.

In Bamberg County, a total of 2,467 of the 8,878 registered voters chose the Democratic primary.

http://www.thetandd.com/articles/2006/06/25/news/doc449e0edd8fc21116406858.txt

[rumpel]

12. FL: Who's the true conservative? It's Crist, of course, flier says

St Petersburg Times

By Times Staff
Published June 25, 2006
Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Gallagher likes to cast himself as the true social conservative in the race for the GOP nomination against Charlie Crist. But a semimysterious group called the Conservative Values Coalition wants Republican primary voters to know Crist is their man.

"Charlie Crist. Preserving Governor Bush's Conservative Legacy," reads the flier hitting Republican households across the state. The slick brochure features pictures of Crist praying, side by side with Gov. Jeb Bush, chatting with Pinellas County sheriff's deputies, and walking with a minister (senior pastor Clark Edwards of St. Petersburg's First United Methodist Church).

State and federal records show the group was created in mid May by Charles W. Hays, a newcomer to Florida politics who listed a Tallahassee address. Records don't show who is helping fund the group, and the Crist campaign said it had nothing to do with it and did not provide the photos. The flier touts Crist's efforts to fight same-sex marriage (a topic Gallagher has been much more vocal on) and supporting "judges who don't legislate from the bench."

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/06/25/State/Who_s_the_true_conser.shtml

[rumpel]

13. CA: Why vote?'

Inside Bayarea

Article Last Updated: 06/25/2006 08:43:28 AM PDT

Dismal area turnout among young people in recent primaries has pundits asking what it will take to get the video game generation to the polls
By Martin Ricard, STAFF WRITER

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT among young people ages 18 to 24 — nationally and locally — has intensified since the 2004 presidential election, according to a recent survey by the University of Maryland's School of Public Policy.
But because of the dismal turnout of young people in the recent primary election, local organizations are focusing on new, young blood for November.
Nationally and locally, turnout of young voters in midterm election years has declined, along with the rest of the population. Yet local experts and activists say the effort to get young people to vote in this month's election is an example of how young people are choosing to flex their civic muscles.
"I don't think there's an easy answer to get more young voters involved in the process, especially when we're talking to them about state, city and municipal elections," said political consultant Charles Heath. "But it's that state government making a lot of decisions that young people would be concerned about."
Experts say two factors may have caused the young-voter turnout to plummet in June: The group is just starting off in the work force and voting may be the last thingon their minds; and politicians don't always pay attention to young people because they think those voters won't cast ballots anyway. The Oakland mayor's race, however, was an exception, with winner Ron Dellums able to recruit dozens of young campaign workers for his election bid.
Locally, though, the issues on the June primary ballot and those in last November's special election didn't stir up much interest among young voters.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/dailyreview/localnews/ci_3979156

[rumpel]

14. CA: Counting the ways to check voter IDs

The Napa Valley Register

By JOHN TUTEUR
Sunday, June 25, 2006 1:14 AM PDT

The writer of a recent letter to the editor published on Sunday, June 11 ("Who knows who votes?") expressed concern that voters are allowed to cast their ballot in Napa County without having to show identification at early voting locations or at their polling place. The question of access to the democratic process, also known as the right to vote, has been a contentious one since the founding of this nation.

In the past, women, paupers, African-Americans, Native Americans, Asian immigrants, and other groups were denied the right to vote. There were religious tests, property qualifications, literacy tests, poll taxes and exclusions on the grounds of race and sex. The U.S. Constitution left the issue of voting rights up to the states.

Litigation is currently underway challenging recent requirements for presenting photo identification in at least one state.

California law on voting access relies primarily on the honor system. Eligible voters registering to vote sign under penalty of perjury that they are citizens of the United States, over the age of 18 and not in prison or on parole for a felony. Recent federal legislation requires that voters who register or re-register after Jan. 1, 2006, include their driver's license number or, if no driver's license or identity card number, the last four digits of their Social Security number as part of their registration data. There is no requirement in California that a voter present any form of identification at the time of registration, when voting in person or when requesting or returning an absentee ballot.

http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2006/06/25/opinion/commentary/iq_3489894.txt

[AuntiBush]

15. I Foresee these Problems Here in Maryland.

Diebold, touch-screen voting and more long, long lines in Democrat districts like Baltimore and surrounding areas.

Thanks for the continuation of these posts!

[rumpel]

16. MD: Pines officials unhappy with move of polling place

By Laura D'Alessandro
Staff Writer
The Daily Times

OCEAN PINES -- Worcester County Commissioner Judy Boggs, along with numerous safety officials, has expressed concern about the newly assigned polling place for Ocean Pines residents and hopes to get the location changed.

"I really think the change is a mistake because of the location," Ocean Pines Police Chief Dave Massey said of moving polling from the Ocean Pines Fire Department to Occasionally Yours Catering Hall on Route 589.

Boggs said she was told by Patty Jackson, director of the Worcester County Board of Elections, that the polling equipment could not be set up the night before election day at the firehouse, causing the board to seek a new location.

The switch was unexpected by commissioners and Boggs said she didn't find out until receiving her voter registration card and updated polling place in the mail.

"No one in the county was informed," she said.

Chief Deputy Reggie Mason of the Worcester County Sheriff's Office said the roadway near Occasionally Yours is very busy and some kind of safety will need to be set up for traffic turning into the parking lot.

"There's a driving school, a State Farm office; it's a very poor location to have an election as far as I'm concerned," he said.

http://www.delmarvanow.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060625/NEWS01/606250316/1002

[rumpel]

17. LA: Civil Rights Groups Share Common Agenda

The Louisiana Weekly
Civil Rights Groups Share Common Agenda
By George E. Curry, NNPA Editor-in-Chief
June 26, 2006

CHICAGO (NNPA) - During Rainbow/PUSH's annual convention, a panel of leaders was assembled to work on a common agenda. However, before moderator Ron Daniels could call on a second panelist, NAACP President Bruce Gordon had articulated what everyone would later agree was a series of common issues. The leaders realized that what they needed was not another agenda, but a plan of action.

Outlining the goal of the session, Daniels asked: "What can we collaborate on becomes the most urgent question. How do we frame an agenda and how do we re-gain the momentum in the current climate?"

Gordon, the panelist with the least experience in his or her current position, listed five key areas: education, health care, criminal justice, civic engagement and economic empowerment.

"I believe that already today, regardless of which organization we bring to the table, we're focused on those five issues," he said. Sounding like a battle-weary veteran, Gordon added, "We can't be satisfied with meetings, discussions and speeches. We need to act on them."

Southern Christian Leadership Conference President Charles Steele Jr. agreed.

"We don't have enough direct action," said Steele. "That's what got you your freedom." The crowd applauded loudly when he urged them to "raise hell."

Jesse Jackson outlined four targets: British Petroleum (BP), whom Jackson accuses of having no Blacks among its 800 gasoline distributors and less than 1 percent of its senior managers, figures the firm say are inaccurate; launching a boycott of CNN, if necessary, to get it to place more people of color on the air; taking on unrepresentative trade unions and marching before the Supreme Court to preserve affirmative action.

snip

Barbara R. Arnwine, executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, urged everyone to pay more attention to political empowerment for concentrating on election reform. She strongly urged the groups to push for election day voter registration.

"Nine states already have it," she stated. "Guess what? The have the highest voter turnout in the country." While most states struggle to reach the 50 percent mark, Arnwine said voting jumps to 65 to 70 percent in states that allow same-day registration.

http://www.louisianaweekly.com/weekly/news/articlegate.pl?20060626f

[rumpel]

19. WI: Election weekly: A look at what's happening in state races

The Post Crescent

Posted June 25, 2006
State Sen. Joe Leibham, R-Sheboygan, will face opposition in his re-election campaign for the state's 9th Senate District seat by Democratic candidate Jamie Aulik of Manitowoc.

Aulik, 26, who served in Iraq in the U.S. Army Reserve from March 2003 to March 2004, has never held public office, but said his political experience includes working as state Senate page and holding internships with Gov. Jim Doyle and Democratic U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl.

Leibham was elected twice to the 26th Assembly District seat in 1998 and 2000 before moving to the state Senate in a narrow 2002 victory. He defeated Democrat Jim Baumgart in a recount that year, winning by 46 votes.

A Congressional scorecard for 2005 by the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy, a non-partisan, nonprofit organization, failed 99 percent of U.S. House of Representative Republicans and 95 percent of Senate Republicans in their support of the middle class based on voting records.

http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060625/APC0101/606250532/1003/APC01

[rumpel]

20. WAPO: WEEK IN REVIEW: GOP Drive to Block Early Voting Fails

Ehrlich Sought to Overturn Law by Referendum

June 18-24
Sunday, June 25, 2006; Page C04

A GOP-led petition drive to block legislation allowing early voting in Maryland elections failed by fewer than 140 signatures, state officials said.

Democratic leaders hailed the news as a rebuke for Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R). The governor led the campaign against early voting, charging that the legislation passed by the General Assembly lacks safeguards against fraud. After his veto of the state Senate bill was overturned by the Democrat-controlled General Assembly, Ehrlich's office helped sponsor the petition drive to overturn the law by referendum.

Assembly Revives Rate Relief PlanEhrlich Vetoed Bill; Law Fires Utility Board

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/24/AR2006062400956.html

[rumpel]

21. MS: Fleming, Bowlin in runoff

Delta Democrat Times

By ELORIA NEWELL JAMES / [e-mail]

GREENVILLE - State Rep. Erik Fleming of Clinton and business consultant Bill Bowlin of Hickory Flat are heading to Tuesday's Democratic runoff for U.S. Senate.

Fleming and Bowlin emerged from the statewide Democratic primary for Senate held on June 13 with four candidates. They pushed past businessman James O'Keefe of Long Beach and retiree Catherine Starr of Hattiesburg.

The Washington County Democratic Party is conducting Tuesday's runoff election.

Marilyn Hansell, a member of the Washington County Democratic Executive Committee, said because neither Bowlin or Fleming received the required 50 percent of the votes plus 1 for a majority in the Democratic primary election, the runoff election is necessary.

snip

During Tuesday's election, voters will be using the new touch-screen voting machines for the second time.

http://www.ddtonline.com/articles/2006/06/25/news/news2.txt

[Melissa G]

22. Truth is All is Better!!!! YEA!!!

Thanks to Babylonsister for posting the good news
Link to DU discussion is here
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1503175

Message from TIA:
snip
I just got home yesterday. I'm here because of your prayers and a wife who fought for me non-stop.

I had heart surgery on Feb. 18 and spent the next four months in two hospitals. The first one wrote me off a month later. They told my wife there was nothing they could do. They said my heart was functioning at 10% and would never go above 15% (the typical range for healthy people is 50%-70%).

Of course, I didn't know this. I was heavily sedated and suffered horrific hallucinations that I will never forget. My wife demanded that I be transferred to another hospital to receive proper care. In the new hospital, my heart progressed to 35% functionality after six weeks. Then I began three weeks of physical therapy. I'm sure I'm over 40% now.

The lesson from all this: Get regular checkups. Know that doctors are human and fallible. And have an advocate (friend, spouse, etc.) who will not just give up but will fight for you when you can't fight for yourself.
Like the media election spin doctors, don't just accept the original diagnoses.

Once again, I was profoundly touched by your prayers and comments. In the meantime, I am continuing my therapy at home. I've covered selection 2004 in many posts. I'm glad my analysis has been well received.

Frankly, there is nothing more for me to say about 2004. I leave that to RFK Jr., Steve Freeman, Ron Baiman, that indefatigble patriot, Autorank, etc..

Cheers,
TIA

:bounce::bounce::bounce: Happy to Hear from TIA!!!

[Melissa G]

23. NC:State Senate to change campaign finance laws

State Senate to change campaign finance laws
Updated: 6/25/2006 12:58 PM
By: Associated Press


House Speaker Jim Black
RALEIGH -- While the state House has spent months this year crafting and passing legislation designed to rework ethics, campaign finance and lobbying laws, Senate members have been largely quiet about what direction they planned to take.

Senate leaders say that's about to change. A judiciary panel is expected to consider ethics legislation this week as that chamber starts to work on its reforms.

snip
"We are concerned, and want to make sure all these bills get a fair hearing in both chambers," said Bob Phillips with Common Cause North Carolina and the leader of a nonpartisan coalition seeking campaign and ethics reforms. Coalition representatives have been visiting local newspapers to build support for change. "It would be a shame if these proposals were weakened or left on the table."

House and Senate Democrats contend they don't plan to leave Raleigh for the year without changing the rules for how they and lobbyists conduct themselves and how the state intends to regulate their conduct and punish wrongdoers.

http://www.news14charlotte.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=122386

[Melissa G]

24. E-mails detail Abramoff's money line

E-mails detail Abramoff's money line
Cash for White House access ran to $100,000


By JOHN SOLOMON
The Associated Press


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
June 25. 2006 10:00AM


Wanted: Face time with President Bush or top adviser Karl Rove. Suggested donation: $100,000. The middleman: lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Blunt e-mails that connect money and access in Washington show that prominent Republican activist Grover Norquist facilitated some administration contacts for Abramoff's clients while the lobbyist simultaneously solicited those clients for large donations to Norquist's tax-exempt group.

Those who were solicited or landed administration introductions included foreign figures and American Indian tribes, according to e-mails gathered by Senate investigators and federal prosecutors or obtained independently by The Associated Press.

snip
Norquist and Abramoff were longtime associates who went back decades to their days in the Young Republicans movement. Norquist founded ATR to advocate lower taxes and less government. He built it into a major force in the Republican Party as the GOP seized control of Congress and the White House.

http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060625/REPOSITORY/606250392/1013/48HOURS

[Melissa G]

25. GA:After long haul, voter ID law to get first statewide test in primaries

After long haul, voter ID law to get first statewide test in primaries
Posted 6/25/2006 1:39 PM ET E-mail | Save | Print | Subscribe to stories like this




In this Jan. 26 photo, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, right, holds up a sample Voter ID after signing the bill into law. The legislation requires the Board of Registrar office in each county to issue photo identification cards for voting purposes free of charge.




ATLANTA (AP) — After a year and a half of political fights and legal wrangling, a Georgia law requiring voters to show a photo ID at the polls looks to get its first statewide test in the July 18 primaries.
Assuming a judge doesn't step in to stop it — far from a certainty based on the law's stop-and-start history — Georgia will be one of seven states to require voters to show some form of government-issued photo identification in this year's elections.

Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue and others say photo IDs are needed to crack down on voter fraud. Opponents, mostly Democrats, call it a political ploy by Georgia's GOP-controlled Legislature, saying requiring the IDs will unfairly impact the elderly, minorities and rural voters, who are among the least likely to have a driver's license.
snip

"Huge numbers of Georgians are in jeopardy of being shut out of the voting process and having their voices silenced," said Secretary of State Cathy Cox, who oversees the state's elections and is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor.

Cox issued that warning when her office concluded that more than 675,000 registered voters in Georgia lack the most common photo IDs — a driver's license or a non-driver ID issued by the state.

"There are a lot of folks who have never had to drive before who don't have a driver's license, but they've been regular voters all their lives," said Emil Runge, spokesman for the state Democratic Party.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-06-25-voter-identification_x.htm

[Melissa G]

26. SECURITY OF U.S. ELECTIONS, VOTING RIGHTS NOT GUARANTEED

SECURITY OF U.S. ELECTIONS, VOTING RIGHTS NOT GUARANTEED
DESPITE FEDERAL LEGISLATION & SIX YEARS OF REFORM, MAJOR SECURITY FLAWS PERSIST WHICH COMPROMISE ELECTION INTEGRITY
25 June 2006
The 2000 election process gave clear evidence that the established system for running elections and counting votes in the United States is not cohesive, not fool-proof and not secure against tampering. Congress took action to reform voting standards nationwide to "Help America Vote". But that legislation suffered one fatal flaw: while promoting the shift to touchscreen ballots, it did not require that electronic balloting machines produce a paper record that could be hand-checked.

Most states elections laws require manual recounts in cases where extremely narrow margins of victory occur, or where there are anomalies or evidence of possible wrongdoing. But as the transition has been made to electronic voting machines, many states have failed to implement solutions that permit their own laws being carried out in such cases.

Repeatedly over the last 6 years, spot tests, "red-team" intensive exercise testing, and scientific studies, have shown that the most widely used touchscreen machines, which lack any hard copy of the voting process, can be tampered with, altering or even erasing vote counts or candidate selections. Without a paper record, there is no way to return to the "will of the voter" to confirm what the real substance of the electoral process was. Votes literally disappear.

Facing public outcry and burgeoning new voter-rights movements, 26 states have tackled the no-recount problem of touchscreen machines by enacting legislation to require paper records of electronically cast votes. These laws are designed to prevent accidental dissolution of election results or outright malicious manipulation or hacking to sway elections.

http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/usnews/elections/2006/06-0625-electsecure.html

[MelissaB]

27. K&R from the Poconos in PA

(I hope I spelled it correctly. I'm tired. :) )

[Melissa G]

28. Hope you are Having Fun MelissaB!

You deserve it! Get some rest!

[rumpel]

29. Yes, have fun.

Thanks also to Melissa G:hi:

:applause: