Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Sunday Nov. 19, 2006

[MelissaB]

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.

Link to previous Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x459401

[MelissaB]

1. Hang up on 'robo calls'

Hang up on 'robo calls'

AFTER one of the most wearisome election campaigns in memory, most Americans have learned that being on the national "do not call" list didn't protect them from an endless stream of recorded political pitches over the telephone.

These "robo calls," as it turns out, are exempt from the ban on commercial phone solicitation, but we would wager that a majority of highly annoyed citizens now believe they shouldn't be.

And therein lies the rub for the political operatives who produce such calls. They could very well end up being counterproductive, simply by alienating the voters they were designed to influence.


More: http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061119/OPINION02/611180308

[MelissaB]

2. PA: District 13 power players fight for fairness

District 13 power players fight for fairness

STACEY EIDSON
Herald Staff Writer
Politics makes strange bedfellows.

Two years ago, the same law firm that successfully represented President Bush in the 2000 presidential election litigation fought to secure the victory of state Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, during a recount in Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Attorneys Hayden Dempsey and Alexander Heckler were on the law team arguing against legal challenges of Bogdanoff's 12-vote margin of victory, insisting the election and recount were conducted in accordances with Florida law.

Last week in Sarasota County, those same two lawyers were on opposite sides in the recount and related legal wrangling in the 13th Congressional District race between Republican Vern Buchanan and Democrat Christine Jennings. A final tally Friday showed Buchanan as the winner by 369 votes, out of more than 237,000 cast.

Representing Jennings, Heckler carefully kept an eye on the more than 18,300 undervotes in the race. He was hoping to discover unusual patterns in the ballot image reports that could build a case for possible malfunctions of the county's controversial touch-screen machines.


More: http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/nation/16049494.htm

[MelissaB]

3. FL: A mystery that won't unravel

A mystery that won't unravel

Our position: The meaningless recount in Sarasota weakens faith in political system.

Posted November 19, 2006

It is outrageous that voters will likely never know what really happened in Florida's disputed 13th Congressional District race, where 18,000 ballots showed no vote was registered on touch-screen machines. The inability to do a true recount of this election undermines the principle that election results should be proven accurate beyond a shadow of a doubt.

After 11 days, there is more reason than ever to be skeptical of Republican Vern Buchanan's several-hundredvote victory over Democrat Christine Jennings. Without a paper trail to verify the results of the computer touch-screens, it is impossible to know whether 18,000 Sarasota County residents simply chose not to vote in one of the hottest races in the country, or whether a technical glitch omitted their choices.

To make matters worse, the exhaustive audit of the Sarasota County voting system promised by Secretary of State Sue Cobb won't live up to its billing. At the end of this process, the recount and audit will prove to be a waste of time. These machines will not yield a different result no matter how many times they are required to tally the vote. It would be like rewinding a tape recording and replaying it, expecting it to sound different the second time around.

Getting the same results doesn't mean that a programming glitch couldn't have recorded no vote when there really was one. If the machine had printed a paper copy of every voter's vote, then those ballots could be counted now.

There's more at stake here than a seat in Congress. This empty recount weakens the fragile confidence voters have in the system.


Link: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/orl-ed19206nov19,0,7219217.story?coll=orl-opinion-headlines

[MelissaB]

4. FL: Convicted felon Siplin can't vote, but he is working on re-election

Convicted felon Siplin can't vote, but he is working on re-election

Published November 19, 2006

When Florida lawmakers return to Tallahassee for this week's organizational session of the Legislature, convicted felon Sen. Gary Siplin will be among them.

After renewing his oath of office, the Orlando Democrat also looks like he will have ample time to get comfortable. Because of Senate rules and the transition to new committee assignments, there's not much chance of Siplin leaving for a while.

"He continues to maintain and believe that he is innocent," said incoming Senate Democratic Leader Steve Geller of Hallandale. "And I don't think there's any appetite to change Senate rules solely to push him out of the Senate."

Siplin was sentenced earlier this month to three years probation, 300 hours of community service and $1,890 in court costs and fines for having state-paid staffers work on his 2004 re-election campaign.

Orange County Elections Supervisor Bill Cowles said the conviction stripped Siplin of his voting rights under Florida law.


More: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-capview1906nov19,0,2237645.column?coll=orl-news-headlines-state

[MelissaB]

5. FL: Do voting machines need trail of paper?

Do voting machines need trail of paper?

Mark K. Matthews | Washington Bureau
Posted November 19, 2006

SARASOTA -- Touch-screen voting machines were supposed to be the answer, a response to the chaos of the 2000 presidential election.

Instead, the discovery of about 18,000 electronic votes recorded as blank in a tight race for Congress has created a new black eye for Florida elections.

A paper trail might have provided clues to what happened Nov. 7, but Florida officials have balked at requiring such backup. The state Legislature repeatedly has killed measures to require a verifiable paper trail, and neither Gov. Jeb Bush nor the secretary of state's office has pushed the idea.

So six years after late-night comedians joked about "bringing democracy to Florida," the state still has not found a way to hold elections without controversy.


More: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-voteprobs1906nov19,0,2122752.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-state

[MelissaB]

6. Maligned voting machines defended

Maligned voting machines defended

STACEY EIDSON
Herald Staff Writer
SARASOTA - Nothing says Florida like sunshine, pink flamingos, Mickey Mouse and recounts.

After the state's voting record was tarnished by the hanging chads of the 2000 presidential election, 25 counties across the state purchased the exact same version of touch-screen machines as those used in Sarasota County, according to the Florida Department of State.

Of those counties, 13 use the iVotronic machines, made by Election Systems & Software Inc., as their primary voting equipment on Election Day.

During the past week, Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent has faced a pressure cooker of questions regarding the reliability of these touch-screen machines. Voters are demanding the county reject the $4.5 million machines and return to paper ballots.


More: http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/local/16049495.htm

[MelissaB]

7. LTTE: A thumb down

A thumb down

Public Forum Letter
Article Last Updated:11/18/2006 02:44:27 PM MST


I see from Sunday's paper (Opinion, Nov. 12) that you have given the thumbs up to the Diebold touch-screen voting machines in use throughout Utah for the first time this year. You noted that it was not the fault of the machines if many people hit the Personal Choice button thinking it meant "none of the above."
While I did not make that mistake, I did select one of the two major parties on the straight-party page (knowing that I could go back and make changes) just to see what would happen.
I then began to carefully look over the candidates the machine had selected for me, and guess what? I soon came upon an "X" next to the name of a candidate from a different party than the one I had selected. That was more than enough to make me hit the back button so I could vote for candidates individually.
Had I been simple enough to trust the machine and proceed without examining the choices the machine made for me, my vote would have been cast other than I intended.
Give me three nice little older ladies, a punch card, and a metal box with a slot on top any day. Better yet, a paper ballot and a pencil. From now on I'm voting by absentee ballot!

Michele Margetts
Salt Lake City


Link: http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_4685171

[MelissaB]

8. WY: Trauner: Change law to allow hand counts

Trauner: Change law to allow hand counts

By BOB MOEN
Associated Press writer Sunday, November 19, 2006

CHEYENNE -- Because Wyoming law does not allow for hand counting of ballots, Democrat Gary Trauner didn't think there would be any change in the outcome of the U.S. House race by simply having a recount by machine.

In his Thursday statement announcing that he wouldn't ask for a recount in his close race against incumbent Republican Barbara Cubin, Trauner said he believes the state needs to look at changing its election laws to allow counting ballots by hand if necessary.

"What is the purpose of having recounts in tight races and using machines that keep a paper ballot, if the law does not allow for manual checks and balances in counting those paper ballots?" he said.

Peggy Nighswonger, state elections director, confirmed there was no provision for hand counting ballots in Wyoming. The only instance she could think of where a recount by hand might occur is if all the tabulation machines in a county broke down, she said.


More: http://www.jacksonholestartrib.com/articles/2006/11/19/news/wyoming/609a665bf26f56068725722900043474.txt

[MelissaB]

9. Election Forum

Election Forum

By Mary Ann Gould

I believe, as do those who are fighting so hard for the integrity of our voting system, that Americans deserve nothing less than full proof that each vote is recorded,counted and reported fully and accurately ... not an approximation but hard proof. I would like to suggest that there are some basic core decisions to be made.

First, do we believe the vote is the most fundamental right of Americans .... that elections are for the purpose of expressing OUR Voice .... the ultimate freedom of speech?

If so, then does it not become incumbent upon us to ensure that every vote counts .... is counted? Not just rhetoric ....but actions to back and ensure...and present real verification.?

Just like "All men are created equal" is a great ideal which we honor and strive for..... shouldn't the ideal of every vote counts be striven for? Aren't Americans entitled to know .... entitled to proof.... that each and every vote truly is counted?

The ballot casts by each individual IS the REAL vote ..... not a "byte" or a facsimile on/from a machine.....especially when the machine can be subject to influences of its' own design, programming or operation.


More: http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_mary_ann_061118_election_forum.htm

[MelissaB]

10. Election Forum

Election Forum

By Joan Brunwasser

The resistance I have found to hand counted paper ballots has been from:
>>>
>>> 1) my own colleagues in the voters' rights movement who considered it "asking for too much too soon";
>>> 2) computer experts who find it a challenge to find a way to use electronics in elections, and
>>> 3) county officials who consider the task of finding more pollworkers and ballot counters daunting,
>>> 4) corrupt officials who know it would be more difficult to hack the vote.
>>>
>>> I believe it is a mistake to settle for optical scans that preserve the paper ballot. I honestly don't believe that we can overcome most of the ways that this system can be corrupted. To me, it's merely a bandaid on an infected wound. We need to clean out the wound (ditch the current electronic systems), stitch it up (put in place standards for hand counted paper ballots) and apply antibiotics (have safeguards in place even for the hand counted paper ballot system).
>>> With electronic scans:
>>>
>>> 1. Some of the machines will fail on election day, causing voters to leave without voting; with hand-counted paper ballots, you just have to have a sufficient number of ballots (hey, if you run out, run to Staples and make some extra copies!).
>>> 2. The machines are relatively expensive to purchase; in addition, they must be kept in a secure location, handled carefully, and and protected from heat, cold, humidity, dirt, etc.; We know that this isn't happening - these machines are handled roughly, banged and dropped; we know that they are stored in places accessible to would-be bad guys; we know that some pollworkers even take these machines home with them;
>>> With hand-counted paper ballots, no special storage is needed; the expense is really the cost of printing the ballots; and security is limited to the paper ballots themselves;
>>>
>>> 3. Maintenance of the machines, upgrades and "patches" are a continuing expense; no such expense occurs with hand-counted paper ballots;
>>>
>>> 4. We know that "audits" of electronically counted ballots don't work; First, what triggers the audit? In most states, an audit requirement is triggered when the difference in the vote totals is less than one half of one percent. A good hacker will keep the discrepancy within the margin so that no state law is triggered. Even when you have such a law, most states do not automatically assume that the hand count will replace the machine count. Seems stupid, but there it is.


More: http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_joan_bru_061118_election_forum.htm

[MelissaB]

11. BradBlog: 'Daily Voting News' For November 18, 2006

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3810

[MelissaB]

12. SC: Close statewide elections bring calls for voting paper trail

Close statewide elections bring calls for voting paper trail

By JIM DAVENPORT
Sunday, November 19, 2006

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Four close statewide and legislative races this year will bring renewed calls for paper voter records that can assure people their ballots reflect their wishes while providing tools to election officials and candidates challenging election outcomes.

"I'll bring it back up," state Rep. Todd Rutherford, D-Columbia, said.

Rutherford said pressing a button to vote leaves many with an uneasy feeling. "When you go to an ATM, you at least have an option of getting a receipt" to review the transaction, he said.

"That's why adding machines have a tape on them," said Bill Nettles, a Columbia lawyer helping lead state Democratic Party recount efforts. Nettles said he had his own misgivings after punching the vote button on Nov. 7. He said a paper record would let a voter tell a poll worker if a vote was recorded incorrectly.

Without that record, there's no way to know what a voter intended, says Courtenay Strickland Bhatia, executive director of VerifiedVoting.org, a San Francisco-based group advocating for paper voter records. "Close races do bring that into question," she said.


More: http://www.thetandd.com/articles/2006/11/19/ap-state-sc/d8lfoh2g0.txt

[MelissaB]

13. Electronic voting trend may be short-circuiting

Electronic voting trend may be short-circuiting
Sarasota ballot problems fuel calls for change

By VICTOR HULL



[e-mail]

Long after it is decided whether Vern Buchanan or Christine Jennings will serve in Congress as Florida's District 13 representative, the bizarre 2006 vote in Sarasota County could continue to influence elections across the state and nation.

The mysterious outcome has crystallized concerns about electronic voting, which has been widely adopted in the aftermath of the landmark 2000 presidential election.

Many states were already moving toward requiring paper records of electronic voting, and demands for those records -- if not an outright return to paper ballots -- are likely to grow, analysts say.

The recent Sarasota County experience handed powerful ammunition to critics of e-voting systems, who have gained traction in the movement to require an election paper trail over the past two years or so.

The critics, including computer scientists, election reform advocacy groups and grass-roots activists, argue that it is too risky to rely solely on computers to both record and tabulate votes. The congressional election in Sarasota County, in which there were more than 18,000 undervotes, has reinforced those doubts.


More: http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061119/NEWS/611190547/1006/SPORTS

[freedomfries]

18. way to go Victor Hull!

thanks for a great thread MelissaB!
:yourock:

[MelissaB]

14. Votes Still Being Counted in House Races

Votes Still Being Counted in House Races

By ROBERT TANNER Sunday, November 19, 2006

Ten days after Election Day, the outcome is still in dispute in a handful of close contests for the House as election officials count and recount ballots from absentee voters and those who were challenged at the polls.

A North Carolina recount was expected to wrap up Wednesday, and a dispute in Ohio over a new voter identification law will delay results in one race until past Thanksgiving weekend.

Elections in Louisiana and Texas will go to runoffs in December.

And in Florida, a judge is holding hearings over ballots used by electronic voting machines that recorded a much higher number of undervotes in the close contest to replace GOP Rep. Katherine Harris. The Associated Press called that race for Republican Vern Buchanan.


More: http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2006/11/19/ap/politics/d8lf91io0.txt

[MelissaB]

15. TX: Possible future laws filed this week

Possible future laws filed this week

By ELIZABETH PIERSON
The Brownsville Herald

November 19, 2006 - The four-month window for state legislators to file bills opened on Monday, and already several hundred have been filed. The bills will make their way through the legislative process, but most will die in committee without being debated on the House or Senate floors.

The legislative session begins Jan. 9 and continues through May. The last day to file bills is March 9.

...snip

Rep. Aaron Pena, D-Edinburg: House Bill 123 would require that voters receive a paper receipt when they vote with electronic voting machines.


Link: http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/ts_comments.php?id=73943_0_10_0_C

[MelissaB]

16. FL: Volusia vote machine woes outpace other counties

Volusia vote machine woes outpace other counties

By M.C. MOEWE
Staff Writer

DELAND -- This month's Volusia County election suffered at least four times the number of memory card failures due to Diebold Election Systems Inc. optical scan machines as other counties using the machines, an issue that has caused problems here since at least 2000.

On Friday, officials certified the results of the Nov. 7 general election, but Volusia County Chairman and Canvassing Board member Frank Bruno asked that the card failures be investigated.

Diebold spokesman David Bear said his company also plans to investigate the years-old memory card problem.

Elected officials emphasize that no votes have gone uncounted because of the faulty cards. But, those same officials admit that delays caused by the cards may have deterred voters, that the problem adds to the cost of elections and that faulty cards caused egregious errors in some elections.

Deanie Lowe, who was the Volusia County supervisor of elections for 12 years, said she sent problem cards to the company for analysis and in 2003 had Diebold officials come to Volusia to test the machines and the cards.

E-mails between county officials and the voting company during the past six years express confusion and in one instance describe how a troubled memory card caused votes to be lost, with the error being recognized after another issue forced a hand count.

Election watchdogs say the recent discovery that a single memory card could nefariously be used to alter election results adds more urgency to the situation.

During this month's election, 12 memory cards failed in Volusia County, compared to zero to three failures in some other counties that use the same machines. Volusia held a similar distinction during the November 2004 presidential elections, with 25 memory card failures, according to a Diebold e-mail.


Much more: http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Headlines/frtHEAD04POL111806.htm

[MelissaB]

17. CO: Glitches hit other Sequoia systems

Glitches hit other Sequoia systems

STORY TOOLS
By Jeff Smith, Rocky Mountain News
November 18, 2006

Denver's voting machine provider, Sequoia Voting Systems, has become controversial for problems with elections around the country and for its acquisition last year by a company controlled by a Venezuelan national.
In Denver, a panel of business and community leaders is analyzing the Election Day chaos that included delays in electronically verifying registered voters. Sequoia supplied custom software for the process but said the Denver Election Commission was responsible for setting up the system.

Cook County, Ill., which also uses Sequoia equipment, is putting together a panel to examine delays in transmitting results from polling stations. Officials there ended up hand-delivering many of the results to election headquarters.

While early news reports blamed Sequoia, "at this point we're not speculating," said Cook County spokeswoman Kelley Quinn.

In Ocean County, N.J., votes from a Sequoia machine were counted twice, leading an assistant attorney general to ask a judge for permission to open all voting machines to recheck results. Additional discrepancies haven't been found and Sequoia preliminarily has determined a software error was to blame.


More: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5153418,00.html