Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Saturday, Oct. 14, 2006

[livvy]

                  NGU



"Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."~Robert Kennedy

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Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.



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

If you can:
1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web.

2. Post stories using the new Spring 2006 Edition of "Election Fraud and Reform News Directory" listed here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x407240

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).

[Mnemosyne]

1. Love the puppies livvy! Thanks

for the great job you do. :hi:

[livvy]

3. You're welcome and thanks to you, too!

[livvy]

2. Election Glitches "Could Get Ugly"

Election glitches 'could get ugly'

Updated 9/14/2006 12:37 AM ET

By Richard Wolf, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Eight weeks before elections that will decide control of Congress, a rush by state and local governments to prepare new voting machines and train poll workers is raising the possibility of trouble reminiscent of the 2000 presidential election standoff.

Problems range from delayed delivery of new equipment to an insufficient supply of trained technicians to fix anticipated problems, voting experts say.

Already this year, glitches have occurred in Arkansas, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and West Virginia. Maryland became the latest on Tuesday, when technical problems, human errors and staff shortages led officials to keep some polls open an extra hour.

The fall elections shape up as the most technologically perilous since 2000, election officials say, because 30% of the nation's voting jurisdictions will be using new equipment. They include large parts of Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia, scenes of key Senate races. "If you're ever going to have a problem, it's going to be that first election," says Kimball Brace, president of Election Data Services.

>more (be sure to check out the map at the top)

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-09-13-election-glitches_x.htm?POE=NEWISVA

[livvy]

4. SD: Officials Report No Problems With Voting Machines

Posted on Sat, Oct. 14, 2006

Officials report no problems with voting machines
Voters urged to prepare on issues

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PIERRE - South Dakota's new electronic voting machines appear to be working well as preparations continue for the Nov. 7 election, state election supervisor Kea Warne said.

Many people are voting early, and county officials are continuing to test equipment, Warne said.

''We're just moving right along with everything,'' she said. ''Everything is going good.''

Some states have reported problems with the new voting machines that were required by a federal law, but South Dakota's AutoMARK machines have performed well, Warne said. The new touch-screen machines were first used in the June primary, and glitches occurred in only a few machines.

The AutoMARK machine does not count ballots, but instead prints out a normal paper ballot after each voter finishes using the machine.

All optical-scan ballots, whether produced by the AutoMARK or filled out by hand, are counted by machine.

That means paper ballots are available for inspection if any problem occurs.

>more

http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/news/local/15758463.htm

[livvy]

5. AR: Machines Tested For General Election

Machines tested for general election

By Warren Watkins

Friday, October 13, 2006 5:36 PM CDT

The Daily Citizen

With absentee voting set to begin Monday and early voting Oct. 23, the White County Election Commission is busy preparing for the Nov. 7 general election.

“Testing, testing, testing!” Election Coordinator Leslie Miller said when asked how she was spending her time.

Miller is testing data in the new iVotronic electronic voting machines.

“Everything is prepared, so right now we’re doing logic and accuracy programs, so if I push a candidate it reads correctly from the iVotronic to the electric reporting manager, the software that gives you your results.”

The tests are going very well, Miller said.

>more

http://www.thedailycitizen.com/articles/2006/10/14/news/local_news/news01.txt

[livvy]

6. Movie Review: "Man of the Year" Is No Winner

MOVIE REVIEW - ‘Man of Year’ is no winner

By AL ALEXANDER
The Patriot Ledger

Like politicians, ‘‘Man of the Year’’ is a flip-flopping gust of hot air that promises one thing and delivers another.

First it espouses comedy, positioning itself as a tamer, more plausible variation on Warren Beatty’s ‘‘Bulworth,’’ with Robin Williams playing a political satirist entering the presidential race as the most candid of candidates. Then it abruptly takes a harder line, shifting its support from guffaws to thrills by adopting the archaic policies of John Grisham in sending Jeff Goldblum’s corporate honcho on a quest to silence a woman threatening to expose the biggest election fraud since Bush ‘‘beat’’ Gore.

Who wins? Nobody.

>snip

Give Levinson credit, though, for being timely with his central conceit about a seriously flawed computer-voting system not unlike the one built by Diebold Corp., the former IBM subsidiary that came under fire recently when both Chicago and Cleveland experienced glitches that delayed election results nearly a week. And the same system that a Princeton University professor recently found to be highly susceptible to hacking.

>more

http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2006/10/13/life/life02.txt

[livvy]

7. FL: Democrats Battle Plan For Signs on Foley's Race

Democrats battle plan for signs on Foley's race
State party leaders go to court over an idea to inform voters at polling places Nov. 7.
Brian Skoloff
the Associated Press

October 14, 2006

WEST PALM BEACH -- The Florida Democratic Party sought an emergency injunction Friday to stop elections supervisors from telling voters that ballots cast for former Rep. Mark Foley will count for state Rep. Joe Negron.

The supervisors' plans to post notices at polling places on Election Day for the race in the 16th Congressional District is against Florida law, the party said in a motion filed in state court in Tallahassee. Negron is the Republican replacement for Foley, whose name stayed on the ballot after he resigned in an online sex scandal. A hearing on the motion is set for Thursday.

Earlier this week, elections supervisors in the district agreed to post the notices after an attorney for the Florida State Supervisors of Elections Association said it was a legal move. A decision was made not to include the notices with absentee ballots because state law prohibits it.

The intended notices would also tell voters that a vote for Tim Mahoney, Negron's Democratic challenger, will count for Mahoney and a vote for unaffiliated Emmie Ross will count for Ross.

>more

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-district1406oct14,0,3696702.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-state

[livvy]

8. Candidate Upset Over Election Ruling

October 14, 2006


Candidate upset over election ruling
Arnold: Reopening qualifying a misreading of law, disenfranchises absentee voters

By Chris Joyner And Joshua Cogswell

A candidate for the state Senate seat left vacant by the May death of Sen. Bunky Huggins of Greenwood says a judge's ruling to allow the qualifying to be reopened effectively disenfranchises absentee voters and is a misreading of state law.

Jim Arnold, a candidate for the Senate District 14 seat, met the original Sept. 8 qualifying date for the special election, which will be held on the Nov. 7 general election. But the Election Commission reopened qualifying, allowing other candidates to vie for the seat. The new qualifying deadline is Oct. 24.

"They didn't do this until Sept. 21, after the (original) deadline had passed," Arnold said.

The commission voted 2-1 to extend the deadline, with Attorney General Jim Hood and Gov. Haley Barbour voting in favor and Secretary of State Eric Clark voting against the extension. Hood and Barbour argued state law requires the qualifying deadline in a special election to be set 10 days before the election.

>snip

Apart from the fact it opened the race to more competition, Arnold said moving the deadline means there will not be time to get the final ballots printed and mailed to absentee voters and have them returned to be counted.

>more

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061014/NEWS/610140382/1001/news

[livvy]

9. No Hitches This Year With Military Absentee Ballots

No hitches this year with military absentee ballots
Steve Timko ([e-mail])
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
October 14, 2006

While serving with the Nevada Army National Guard in Kuwait two years ago, Elizabeth Liemandt got her absentee ballot five weeks after the election.

"About a third of the unit got them late or never received them, or they came in the night before the election," said Liemandt, a sergeant first class in the 321st Signal Co. "We did the normal soldier griping of 'Fight for freedom, you can't vote for it.'"

Election officials say that won't happen this year. Washoe and Lyon counties report that most absentee ballots were mailed to soldiers by Sept. 28. Carson City reports most ballots went out Sept. 22. Liemandt is a regular voter and, at Camp Buehring in Iraq, was part of the group that oversaw election efforts. The ballots that did arrive were distinctive in their manila envelopes, she said, so she had a high awareness of the voting issue.

"I would say the Army made a huge effort to enable us to vote," Liemandt said. "I don't blame the Army a bit that my ballot didn't get there."

>more

http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061014/NEWS/610140345/1002

[livvy]

14. Advocates Fighting to Ensure Military Votes Count This Election Day

Published: October 13, 2006 11:42 pm

Advocates fighting to ensure military votes count this Election Day
By Jaclyn Houghton CNHI News Service

OKLAHOMA CITY — Air Force Lt. Thomas Terrell may be absent from Florida, but his vote won’t be this November.

Terrell, air weapons officer with the 552nd air control wing at Tinker Air Force Base in Midwest City, lived in Florida about two years ago and still participates in the state’s election process by absentee ballot. The Nebraska native said he has in-laws in Florida and does not know if he may one day call the Sunshine State home again.

“Although I may not be living in the state,” Terrell said, “I want my voice to be heard.”

But election officials are concerned not all military voices are heard in the election process, especially those stationed overseas.

>more

http://www.enidnews.com/localnews/local_story_286234213.html

[livvy]

17. New Military Voting Process Lacks Security, Critics Say

New Military Voting Process Lacks Security, Critics Say

Marc Songini
October 16, 2006 (Computerworld)

An electronic system set up last month by the U.S. Department of Defense to help overseas soldiers and other military personnel and contractors cast ballots in U.S. elections lacks security safeguards, critics say.

The department’s Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) launched a Web site on Sept. 1 to help military personnel and civilian employees access voting information and local ballots.


The program, dubbed the Integrated Voting Alternative Site (IVAS), provides instructions for personnel on how to submit local ballots by fax machine or e-mail, said J. Scott Wiedmann, deputy director of FVAP. The ballots are not directly cast by the agency for security reasons, he said.

Wiedmann noted that the program does not provide encryption for e-mailed ballots.

>more

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=legislation_regulation&articleId=268797&taxonomyId=70&intsrc=kc_top

[livvy]

10. VT: Absentee Ballots Causing Confusion

Absentee ballots causing confusion

October 14, 2006

By David Gram Associated Press

MONTPELIER — Tim Pisonneault was a bit surprised when he got an absentee ballot in the mail from his town clerk.

Pisonneault, a 46-year-old factory supervisor who is running for justice of the peace in Bennington, said he planned to be at his polling place on Nov. 7, Election Day.

"I was kind of wondering why I received one," he said of his absentee ballot.

Pisonneault and his wife, Jean, who also got a ballot, appear to have been caught up in a new campaign strategy: Identify your candidate's likely supporters early and get a ballot in front of them.

>more

http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061014/NEWS/610140326/1003/NEWS02

[livvy]

11. FL: GOP's sure Bets in Florida Now Appear in Question

GOP's Sure Bets in Florida Now Appear in Question
By Carol J. Williams
Times Staff Writer

October 14, 2006

PUNTA GORDA, Fla. — In this conservative sanctuary in Florida's 16th Congressional District, the matrons of the Peace River Federated Republican Women's Forum gathered to hear why they should cast their votes for disgraced former Rep. Mark Foley.

"A vote for Mark Foley is a vote to elect Joe Negron," explained Negron, who took over the GOP spot on the ballot when Foley resigned after explicit messages he sent to teenage male pages were made public.

The Nov. 7 ballot had already been approved and some absentee forms mailed out when Foley resigned. Florida law forbids variation in the voting materials within any district, so Foley's name had to stay.

"People are saying you can't push the button next to Mark Foley's name. But I know that you're smarter than that," Negron said.

>more including info on other races

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-florida14oct14,1,1085674.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&track=crosspromo

[livvy]

12. San Mateo Co. Initiates New Absentee Voting Feature

SAN MATEO CO. INITIATES NEW ABSENTEE VOTING FEATURE
10/14/06 12:05 PDT

Residents of San Mateo County planning to file ballots by mail this November can rest a little bit easier as Election Day gets closer, according to San Mateo County election officials.

A new feature of the county's absentee voting process allows voters to track and confirm when their ballot has been mailed to them and when the elections office has received it.

San Mateo County Chief Elections Officer Warren Slocum hopes that the new track and confirm feature will go a long way toward bringing voting peace of mind to the residents of San Mateo County.

According to Slocum, San Mateo County is the first county in the nation to implement this kind of election service for voters, which will soon be regular practice throughout the state.

>snip
Voters can verify when their ballot has been received by logging onto the San Mateo County Web page, www.shapethefuture.org, and clicking the "track and confirm'' icon to find out if their ballot has been received.
>more

http://cbs5.com/localwire/localfsnews/bcn/2006/10/14/n/HeadlineNews/BALLOT-CHECKING/resources_bcn_html

[livvy]

13. OH: State To Take Up Complaint (Strickland Voter Reg.)

Saturday, October 14, 2006

— Time: 2:27:14 AM EST

State to take up complaint

By Diana DeCola, [e-mail]


A challenge to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ted Strickland’s voter registration has been turned over to the Ohio Secretary of State’s office.

Columbiana County Board of Elections Director Lois Gall said the Strickland hearing was canceled due to a tie vote at a Thursday board of elections meeting.

“A motion was made to dismiss the challenge, which resulted in a tie vote,” Gall said.

The tie was along party lines, with the Democrat members making the motion and the Republican members voting it down. The Columbiana County Democratic Party Chair Dennis Johnson serves as one of the board members for the board of elections. Johnson denied comment Friday at the request of attorneys.

>more

http://www.mariettatimes.com/news/story/new87_1014200622714.asp

[livvy]

15. Jury in Wise Finds Ex-Mailman Guilty (Appalachia Voting Fraud)

Jury in Wise finds ex-mailman guilty
13 others face charges of conspiracy related to Appalachia voting
BY KATHY STILL
MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE
Saturday, October 14, 2006

WISE -- The first person tried in what prosecutors called a voting-fraud conspiracy has been found guilty of conspiring to rig the 2004 Appalachia town election and violating Virginia's absentee voter laws.

Retired mail carrier Don Estridge is among 14 indicted in the case, which put the small coal-mining town in the national spotlight when prosecutors alleged that votes were purchased with snack foods, cigarettes and beer. Stolen and forged absentee ballots were central to the scam, prosecutors said.

After deliberating for 2½ hours Thursday, the Wise County jury decided that Estridge conspired to steal or divert absentee ballots along his postal route and hindered voting rights.

But the jury found him not guilty of conspiring to help others vote more than once.

Jurors recommended that Estridge, 63, serve six months in jail and pay a fine. He is scheduled to be formally sentenced Jan. 11.

>more

http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149191146143&path=!news&s=1045855934842

[livvy]

16. "Pork Rind Voting" Leaves Stench in Virginia Town

'Pork rind voting' leaves stench in Virginia town
The Virginian-Pilot
© October 14, 2006
Last updated: 9:09 PM

Ah, 'tis the election season, and a young man's fancy turns to ballots and buttons, campaign ads and... vote-buying?

Well, not exactly, but a trial that concluded late Thursday in far southwest Virginia is seemingly a throwback. Law enforcement officials say votes were traded for cigarettes, beer and snacks - including pork rinds - in a 2004 town council race in Appalachia, a community of roughly 1,900 people. Also, according to an indictment, blank absentee ballots intended for voters were stolen from mailboxes, forged and mailed back in to the registrar.

Forget the high-priced congressional campaigns currently featuring Sen. George Allen versus Jim Webb, or Rep. Thelma Drake versus Phil Kellam. The negative ads featured in those contests are, thankfully, a world apart from the retail politics in Appalachia, where dirty tricks befouled coal country.

You'd think that such fraud was safely tucked away in the annals of history, especially given the advent of touch-screen voting and Internet fundraising. Apparently not. It's as if we've been transported back in time.

Rumors of such shenanigans occasionally arise during election cycles, but local officials can't recall something similar in Hampton Roads in recent years.

>more

http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=112642&ran=20818

[livvy]

18. Transcript:SenatorBowen Urges Californians to"Register,Vote and Review"...

October 14, 2006

Senator Debra Bowen Urges Californians to “Register, Vote and Review” in Democrats Weekly Radio Address

By Debra Bowen
Chair of Senate Elections, Reapportionment & Constitutional Amendments Committee

In this week’s radio address Senator Debra Bowen, Chair of the Senate Elections, Reapportionment and Constitutional Amendments Committee, urges Californians to register to vote before the upcoming deadline, to vote on Election Day and to review the “paper trail” of their ballot if they use an electronic voting machine.

Below is a transcript of the radio address.

To listen, click here.

>snip of address:

In our last election, only 33 percent of registered Californians voted – even though voting is easier than ever. You can request an absentee ballot at any time through October 31st, plus you can become a “permanent absentee voter” so a ballot will automatically be mailed to you before every election. It’s a great option for busy people, because you don’t have to remember to ask for an absentee ballot for every election. And think of the stamps you’ll save!

If you go to the polls on Election Day and find that you are not listed as a registered voter, don’t leave without voting! California law allows you to cast a “provisional ballot.” Elections officials will check your registration when they are counting the ballots, and your vote will be counted if you were registered but weren’t on the roster due to a clerical error.

If you’re going to vote on an electronic machine this year, keep in mind the law requires those machines to have a “paper trail” that you can review and verify before officially casting your ballot. Take an extra minute to review the paper record of your vote – and if it’s not correct, notify a poll worker so your vote can be cast properly. That paper trail is insurance that your vote will be counted correctly even if something goes wrong with a machine. Under a law I wrote last year, when each county manually audits its election results, that paper trail will be used to verify that the electronic machines recorded your vote accurately.
>more

http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2006/10/senator_debra_b.html

[livvy]

19. Brazil's Electronic Voting Has Safeguards Lacking in US (good article)

Here's a classic quote from the article:

'Brazil's machines are made by Diebold Procomp, the Brazilian subsidiary of Diebold Inc., of North Canton, Ohio, which also makes many of the voting machines now used in U.S. elections.

"The more you introduce paper into a voting system, the more you introduce the possibility of fraud," said Michael Jacobsen, a Diebold spokesman. "Electronic voting is the most accurate and secure voting that is out there."'


Brazil's electronic voting has safeguards lacking in the U.S.

By Stan Lehman, Associated Press
October 14, 2006

SAO PAULO, Brazil -- Elections in Brazil used to be a monumental challenge, with millions of paper ballots to count by hand, many of them delivered by canoe and horseback from remote Amazon villages. Fraud was widespread, and it often took a week or more to determine the winners.

Latin America's largest country eliminated many of these hassles by switching to electronic voting a decade ago, long before the United States and other countries started abandoning paper ballots. When 125 million Brazilians voted Oct. 1, they punched computer keyboards, part of a system Brazil credits for building faith in its democracy.

"The voting machine is so secure that I would say the only way to tamper with it is to smash it with a hammer," said Athayde Fontoura, general director of Brazil's Supreme Electoral Tribunal.

But some computer programmers who have closely examined Brazil's system say such confidence is misguided. Echoing a debate in the United States over the reliability of electronic voting, they say the tribunal needs to do more to ensure Brazil's citizens aren't disenfranchised.

>more of an interesting read!

http://www.redding.com/redd/nw_business/article/0,2232,REDD_17527_5065111,00.html

[livvy]

20. NY: Board Of Elections Try Out New Electronic Voting Machines

Board Of Elections Try Out New Electronic Voting Machines

Oct 14, 2006

Next month will likely be the last time New York voters will be using traditional voting machines, instead of electronic voting machines.

It's coming down to the wire, just a couple of months, for the city to cast its vote on what kind of machine, and voting rights advocates are keeping a watchful, if wary, eye.

"The most important thing is that the machines not only are usable and understandable, but they can be protected against fraud," said Michael Waldman, of New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice.

Some say Albany's dysfunction actually saved the state from making mistakes other states have, for example, it will not allow counties to choose wireless machines, which can be easily manipulated using devices like a palm pilot. Still some say all the other options are rife with problems.

>more

http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=3&aid=63455

[livvy]

21. Elections Ignite Venezuela

Elections Ignite Venezuela



Caracas, Oct 14 (Prensa Latina) Election campaigns have driven Venezuela into a frenzy 49-days before the December 3 presidential polls.

All states are immersed in debates, meetings and campaigning, while President Hugo Chavez is solidly in the lead.

A poll closed October 9 gave Chavez 51.5 percent followed by opposition candidate and main rival Manuel Rosales at 22.7.

As the President calls his followers to secure a victory and the future of the Revolution, Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said it was it important to clear doubts and avoid claims of fraud.

>more

http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7B9B29691C-7815-4E56-8CE6-6EE5F0881506%7D)&language=EN

[livvy]

22. Opinion: Voting is a Right That Has GOP Running Scared

Voting is a right that has GOP running scared

Published on: 10/15/06

Perhaps most of us have forgotten our high school civics classes, but there is one lesson so fundamental to the ideals of this democratic republic that it deserves to be encoded in our civic DNA: Voting is a right.

It is not reserved for the rich or the powerful, those who are tall or those who are pretty, the intellectually gifted or the musically inclined. It is a fundamental right of every American citizen 18 and older. The U.S. Constitution says so. Several times.

Every time I write a column on the contentious issue of voter IDs, I get letters and e-mails from readers insisting that voting is "a privilege," and if Americans want to vote badly enough, they ought to trouble themselves to get a government-sponsored photo ID, such as a driver's license. Well, according to the nation's founding document, that's not the way it works.

Voting is not like driving a car or boarding an airplane or renting a DVD. Governments may impose severe limitations on airline passengers and motorists; several speeding tickets can get your driver's license suspended. Blockbuster, a commercial enterprise, gets to decide whether it will allow you to rent its movies and video games; photo IDs and credit cards are usually required to qualify.

>more

http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/tucker/stories/2006/10/14/1015edtuck.html

on edit: If the above link doesn't allow you to read the article without subscribing, I was able to go directly to the page by clicking on the link in Google. My search term was election fraud, sorted by date. It was about halfway down the page.

[livvy]

23. USA Today: Report Refutes Fraud at Poll Sites

Report refutes fraud at poll sites

Updated 10/11/2006

By Richard Wolf, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — At a time when many states are instituting new requirements for voter registration and identification, a preliminary report to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission has found little evidence of the type of polling-place fraud those measures seek to stop.

USA TODAY obtained the report from the commission four months after it was delivered by two consultants hired to write it. The commission has not distributed it publicly.

NEW LAWS: Thousands of voters shut out | Read the preliminary report

At least 11 states have approved new rules for independent voter-registration drives or requirements that voters produce specific forms of photo ID at polling places. Several of those laws have been blocked in court, most recently in Arizona last week. The House of Representatives last month approved a photo-ID law, now pending in the Senate.

The bipartisan report by two consultants to the election commission casts doubt on the problem those laws are intended to address. "There is widespread but not unanimous agreement that there is little polling-place fraud, or at least much less than is claimed, including voter impersonation, 'dead' voters, non-citizen voting and felon voters," the report says.

>more

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-10-10-poll-fraud-report_x.htm

on edit: link to pdf report (an interesting read-it should be widely reported, but that would only occur in the real world. I keep forgetting about this alternate reality in which we are all unfortunately stuck in):

http://www.usatoday.com/news/pdf/2006-10-11-election-report.pdf

[livvy]

24. AZ: Props 200, 205: Different Paths to More Voting

Tucson Region
Props 200, 205: different paths to more voting
By Howard Fischer
Capitol Media Services
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 10.14.2006

Arizonans will get two chances Election Day to make changes to state law that could result in more people voting.

One measure, Proposition 200, uses a carrot approach, holding out the possibility that doing one's civic duty could win you a $1 million prize.

Proposition 205 offers no prizes, but by sending every registered voter a mail ballot, no one even has to leave home to make their vote count.

The proposals are getting organized opposition from the state's largest business group, however.

>more including background info in the box on the right

http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/151138

[Kurovski]

25. LOL! I'm with the Chihuahua.

Thanks, livvy! Recommended.

[AtLiberty]

26. Brad Blog: DuPage Co. Illinois Election Commission Cronyism and Lies

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3620#more-3620

[rumpel]

27. Great OP!

:rofl:

[freedomfries]

28. K & R

great thread livvy!

[livvy]

29. Thanks! NGU! n/t