Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, Tuesday 03/04/08

[Melissa G]

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, Tuesday 03/04/08


Esteemed DUer's, please consider taking a moment (or more)
to graciously participate by posting 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.


Recommendations always appreciated!


:patriot: :)

[Melissa G]

1. States n/t

[Melissa G]

5. TX- Voter turnout 'steady' in El Paso

Voter turnout 'steady' in El Paso
By Chris Roberts / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 03/04/2008 10:11:32 AM MST


Early morning voters trickling into a polling place on El Paso's West side Tuesday were mostly voting for Democrats, but had a wide range of opinions about which candidate and why.
Richard Martinez, a technician for the El Paso Water Utilities who was just getting off the midnight shift, said he was voting for Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. "First of all he stands - he always stood - against going to Iraq. If he's going to get our guys out of there, we don't need to be there, good for him."

He said he also is concerned about how much money is being funneled out of the country to support the war.

Martinez said he always votes because "I want my people in there."

Joann Robles, the 27th Precinct Democratic chairwoman, said she voted for Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-New York. "I think she has the best laid out plan for health care and national defense," Robles said. "But we have two great candidates."
http://www.elpasotimes.com/newupdated/ci_8449508

[Melissa G]

10. Texans expected to head to polls in record numbers

Texans expected to head to polls in record numbers

10:35 AM CST on Tuesday, March 4, 2008

By KIMBERLY DURNAN, TIFFANY GLICK and ANDREW McLEMORE / The Dallas Morning News

Texans continued the early voting momentum Tuesday morning and headed to the polls to participate in a historic primary election that could signal the end for one of the Democratic contenders.

Some polling places reported a crush right when polls opened at 7 a.m. and a 20-minute wait was reported at Western Middle School in Frisco. But voting at several other locations, including the First Baptist Church of Denton, was brisk.

The race between Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama has been close and has electrified voters. The Texas Secretary of State office said early voters last week had already surpassed the total early-voting numbers for both the 1996 and 2000 elections.

That interest was expected to continue today.

“This is the largest I have ever seen in Denton,” said Marsha Keffer, precinct manager at the First Baptist Church of Denton where Democrats were voting. She said the wait time was five minutes or less and that 170 people had already voted by 9 a.m.

http://www.kvue.com/news/state/stories/030408kvuevoters2-cb.20167bb3.html

[Melissa G]

6. OH- Paper Ballot Confusion in Northern Ohio

Paper Ballot Confusion in Northern Ohio

03/04/2008 12:54:19


CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The switch to paper ballots seems to be going smoothly in Cuyahoga County.
Ohio's most populated county is voting on paper rather than with touch-screen machines today.

But there is some confusion. That has to do with paper stubs attached to ballots. The Board of Elections in Cleveland has sent word out to polling places that voters should not remove those stubs. Apparently some have been doing so. The stubs will allow the election workers to match the number of votes cast with ballots scanned.

Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner (BROO'-nur) wants 53 other Ohio counties that use electronic voting machines to switch to paper. For the primary she only required them to make paper ballots available to voters who ask for them.

http://1290whio.com/includes/news/indepth/5279860_Paper_Ballot_Confusion_in_Northern_Ohio_125420.html

[Melissa G]

7. OH- Ohio, especially Cleveland, under scrutiny for voting problems

Ohio, especially Cleveland, under scrutiny for voting problems

Associated Press - March 4, 2008 1:03 PM ET

CLEVELAND (AP) - Ohio has the daunting task of running today's crucial Democratic primary with new voting systems in place in many locations -- particularly trouble-prone Cleveland.

Cuyahoga (ky-uh-HOH'-guh) County had been ordered in December to make a fast-track switch from touch-screen voting to paper ballots. About 250,000 registered Democrats are in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County, meaning the area could be key in deciding the vote.

One poll worker says the printed ballots have been easier for voters to understand, though they took a little longer to fill out.

Most polling place opened on time and officials say balloting has gone rather smoothly. One school in Columbus was without power, so voting machines are working on backup power.

In two precincts in Toledo, officials failed to show up on time with memory cards for the voting machines.

http://www.woi-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7963294&nav=1LFX

[Melissa G]

8. RI- Nation's Eyes on R.I. during Primary

Nation's Eyes on R.I. during Primary


Published on 3/4/2008


PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) _ Rhode Island voters headed to the polls early Tuesday in a presidential primary that, for a change, will have significant sway in the national race.

The tight race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton meant tiny Rhode Island's vote _ and its 21 delegates _ mattered more than in most years.

Sharon Carpentier, 46, said it had been a while since she voted in a primary, but on Tuesday she cast her vote for Clinton at a polling place in the Federal Hill section of Providence.

"Rhode Island is such a small state and it really feels like something is going to happen today," said Carpentier, a medical office worker.
http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=2cff0669-030a-40e2-9942-b9922f69dc1f

[Melissa G]

9. OH- Bomb scare, power outage stalls vote temporarily in Lake County

Bomb scare, power outage stalls vote temporarily in Lake County
DU discussion here...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x498409

Posted by Michael Scott and John Caniglia March 04, 2008 11:17AM

It's been hardly an ordinary primary day so far for Lake County Elections Director Jan Clair -- who has encountered a power failure and a bomb threat already.

Clair said that around 9:30 a.m., she was rushed by police escort to Madison Middle School, where the polls had been abandoned after an anonymous bomb threat was phoned in.

"Fortunately, once they took dogs and the bomb squad through building, voting resumed around 10:55 a.m.," Clair said. "No voter was disenfranchised. Our poll workers took down names and phone numbers of those who showed up and couldn't vote, but each one said they would be able to return to vote later."

She said a power failure in North Perry, possibly due to ice accumulation on power lines, briefly stalled voting there this morning,

Elsewhere around Northeast Ohio:

http://blog.cleveland.com/openers/2008/03/bomb_scare_power_outage_stalls.html

[Kurovski]

15. Thanks MG! Just one thang...

the link to the discussion leads to The Election Forum, not a specific OP. :hug:

Is this it?:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x498409

[Melissa G]

17. Yeppers! Thanks, fixed it! n/t

[Melissa G]

11. OH- Voting going well, elections director says

Voting going well, elections director says
Posted by John Caniglia March 04, 2008 12:18PM
Cuyahoga County elections director Jane Platten promised that every vote would count and said the start of the primary has been "exceptionally good.''


Every polling place opened on time. "That's a huge benchmark for us,'' Platten said.

Platten said a tab on ballots that's used for accounting purposes became a minor issue. She said some of the tabs were removed by accident. Voters who lost the tabs should not worry. Their votes will count.

There have been few lines, and voters appear to like the change from voting machines, Platten said.

The county has a history of voting debacles. Asked how the county will do with the vote count today, Platten said: "We'll shine.''

She said, things "are going better than I thought.''

Platten encouraged voters to vote early in the afternoon, as election officials see a surge between 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
http://blog.cleveland.com/openers/2008/03/voting_going_well_elections_di.html

[Melissa G]

12. OH- Bob Fitrakis- Ohio Primary Voting Off to Slow Start

Ohio Primary Voting Off to Slow Start
March 4, 2008
Columns
Bob Fitrakis

COLUMBUS, OHIO 11:00AM
Free Press reporters returned on Tuesday to the site of long lines and hours-long voting delays in the 2004 election and found low voter turnout, short waits and no major voting problems as Ohio¹s 2008 primary voting began on March 4th.

There were no reports of voter challenges of likely Barack Obama voters by apparent Hillary Clinton supporters. Ohio's primary is open, meaning people can cross party lines to pick a presidential nominee in any party.

At a dozen African-American majority precincts on the east side of Columbus, no more than 12 percent of the voters already cast ballots by Election Day, according to surveys by reporters. Typically, the lines were short, with the longest taking 15 minutes to vote. Compared to 2004 and 2006, there appeared to be twice as many voting machines and voters also were able to vote on a paper ballot if requested.
http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/3/2008/1638
The apparently slow start of inner-city voting also was reported in Cleveland, where election protection staffers for People for the American Way reported a similar early turnout. The weather was rough across Ohio, with sleet in the morning in the north and rain elsewhere.

[Melissa G]

13. NY- New voting machines arrive this month

New voting machines arrive this month
By: Melissa deCordova, Sun Staff Writer

Published: March 4th, 2008


CHENANGO COUNTY – Board of Elections Commissioners here agreed to follow the lead taken by other Central New York counties and purchase Sequoia Dominion ImageCast voting machines.

About $443,000 from the Help America Vote Act grant plus a 5 percent local match will be applied to the purchase 37 new machines.

“We both agreed on this particular machine,” Republican Commissioner Harriet Jenkins said, referring to Democratic Commissioner Carol Franklin. The two were on hand last month at a meeting of the Safety and Rules Committee to report the much publicized and long-delayed purchase.

http://www.evesun.com/news/stories/2008-03-04/3817/New-voting-machines-arrive-this-month/

[Melissa G]

16. liam-laddie's Ohio: Election Integrity Estimate

Thanks to liam_laddie for the work and the DU discussion here...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x498044

Ohio: Election Integrity Estimate

First: many, many thanks to DUer's mod mom, sfexpat2000, Peace Patriot, Patsy Stone, Land Shark, kster, kpete, BradBlog, vickiss, livvy, Melissa G, Wilms...and J30 Coalition members mjcreech, rady ananda and others...all of you have provided input, advice and inspiration to keep at this festering sore which HAVA has inflicted on us. If I've missed anyone, please forgive the oversight. I'll try to add items to this topic thread along the way, both pre- and post-March 4. This will include newspaper links and significant websites and blogs.

Overview for the non-Buckeyes out there...
Ohio has about 11,465,000 residents, about 250,000 less than the combined populations of WA, OR and ID. There are several major urban areas: Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown, Canton, Toledo, Columbus, Dayton, Cincinnati. Ohio currently has 20 electoral votes, probably 18 after the 2010 census. It's fairly evenly split party-wise, with a purplish-blue trend, definitely a swing state.
The Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner (D), is the ranking election official.
Web site <www.state.oh.us/sos> ; Phone: [phone] in Columbus, the state capital.

Election schedule:
March 4 - Primary
August 5 - Special elections, local issues and races
October 6 - deadline for registration to vote on Nov 4
November 4 - the big day
November 14 - out-of-country civilian and armed services absentee ballots, signed and postmarked
by Nov. 4, are due at county BoE's, to be counted.
November 15 - official canvass of ballots may begin; must begin by Nov 19
November 25 - official canvass of ballots must be completed

Voting Systems by County
See <www.sos.state.oh.us/sos/info/EverestMAP.pdf> ; This is an easy-to-read, color-coded map of the state with a key to the type and brand of voting machines used. There are 11,115 precincts in the State. (FYI, the USA has a total of somewhere north of 180,000 precincts.)

There are (88) counties; voting systems as follows:
(47) use Premier (ex-Diebold) Accuvote-TSX DRE for both regular and ADA voters
(28) use ES&S Model 100 DRE for regular, ES&S Automark for ADA voters
(10) use ES&S iVotronic DRE for both voter requirements
(2) use Hart Intercivic eScan op-scan for regular, eSlate DRE for ADA voters
(1) uses Premier Accuvote opscan for regular, Accuvote TSX for ADA voters

A terrific research project was done by The Ohio Election Justice Campaign; Jennifer Alexander (Principal Researcher) and Paddy Shaffer (Director) on Ohio county BoE's, equipment, contact data and so forth. Each county's information is included in a well laid out format.
OEJC home page: <http://www.wakeupandsaveyourcountry.com/oejc.html > The report on the counties was posted Feb 10 on OpEdNews <http://tinyurl.com/2mfqrb > It's a 16 pg. PDF; here're two sample entries:
================

[Melissa G]

21. CA- L.A. County Registrar Chooses to Disenfranchise 12,000 Voters in Final 'Double Bubble' Ballot

L.A. County Registrar Chooses to Disenfranchise 12,000 Voters in Final 'Double Bubble' Ballot Tally
But the Good News: Provisional Ballots, Newly Discovered as Uncounted, as Reported by The BRAD BLOG on Friday, Were Ultimately Counted...by Hand!

Joint Legislative Hearing on 'Double Bubble' and Other Super Tuesday Problems to be Held on Friday in Los Angeles...
As we wait for the next round of thousands of disenfranchised voters to emerge from OH, TX, VT, RI or beyond, Los Angeles County has finally finished counting its infamously disastrous "Double Bubble" ballots from the Feb. 5th Super Tuesday Primary in California.

The final numbers, in just in time to meet today's local certification deadline, are supposed to hearten us because the county Registrar's office chose to only not count some 12,000 valid, legally cast votes in the state's open Democratic Primary.

What a victory! It's kinda like celebrating the great success of the troop "surge" in Iraq where "coalition" fatalities have plummeted from pre-surge levels of 2.39 dead troops per day, all the way down to 2.37 dead troops per day.

http://www.bradblog.com/

[Melissa G]

2. National n/t

[Melissa G]

14. Voting technology remains an issue at the polls

Voting technology remains an issue at the polls
By William Jackson

Could any voting system be worse than the infamous punch ballots of the 2000 presidential election or the electronic systems alleged to have gobbled up votes in a 2006 Florida congressional race? If there is, some researchers say it might just be the system being used in Cleveland today as Ohio voters go to the polls in one of the most closely watched primary elections of the year so far.

Many locations began dumping mechanical lever systems and paper ballots in favor of electronic systems following the 2000 election. But questions about the reliability and security of computer-based touch screen systems have led some precincts to abandon them.

Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland and its suburbs, is retiring its touch screen voting machines in favor of a paper optical scan system with ballots counted at a central location. But this system has flaws that risk greater voter error, say members of a research team from the universities of Maryland, Rochester and Michigan who conducted a comprehensive analysis of the voting technology over the past several years.

The researchers say the problem is that the paper ballots are susceptible to stray marks and voter errors that can make them impossible for optical scanners to read accurately. Because they are counted at a central location, the voter does not have an opportunity to pass the ballot through a scanner at the precinct to ensure it has been properly filled in.

http://www.gcn.com/online/vol1_no1/45919-1.html

[Melissa G]

18. FDL: Siegelman transcript is finally ready.

Thanks to the marvelous sfexpat2000 for the post and the DU discussion here...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2955211

Mon Mar-03-08 05:52 PM
Original message
FDL: Siegelman transcript is finally ready.
Edited on Mon Mar-03-08 05:58 PM by sfexpat2000
First Monday: The Siegelman Case — A Political Prosecution Exposed
By: Scott Horton Monday March 3, 2008 12:00 pm

(FDL is pleased to welcome Scott Horton, who writes No Comment for Harper's, to discuss politicized prosecutions and the Siegelman case for today's installment of First Monday -- our monthly legal discussion in conjunction with Alliance For Justice. As always, please stay on topic and take any off-topic comments to the prior thread. Thanks! -- CHS)


Last Sunday, CBS aired its long-awaited feature on the prosecution and imprisonment of former Alabama Governor Don E. Siegelman.


The CBS piece, for which I was repeatedly interviewed, came through on its promise to deliver several additional bombshells. The most significant of these was the disclosure that prosecutors pushed the case forward and secured a conviction relying on evidence that they knew or should have known was false, and that they failed to turnover potentially exculpatory evidence to defense counsel. The accusation was dramatically reinforced by the Justice Department’s failure to offer a denial. It delivered a fairly elaborate version of a “no comment,” and even that came a full twenty-four hours after it had conferred with the prosecutors in question. The gravity of the accusations made and the prosecutors’ failure to deny them further escalates concerns about the treatment of the former Alabama governor.



http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/03/first-monday-the-siegelman-case-a-political-prosecution-exposed/

[Melissa G]

3. International n/t

[Peace Patriot]

19. South America: Donald Rumsfeld is working on toppling four democracies in

the Andes region of South America, where all the oil is. Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina. See this...

"The Smart Way to Beat Tyrants Like Chávez," by Donald Rumsfeld, 12/1/07
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/30/AR2007113001800.html

and this...

"Plan Colombia: The Real Destabilizing Force in South America"
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/3231

and this...

"Prominent British Figures Call on ExxonMobil to Respect Venezuelan Sovereignty"
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/3209

And then see these threads and comments today...

"Dead Colombian rebel was France's hostage contact"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3207652

"War in South America??"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2958272

"Raul Reyes’ Amazing Laptop of Mystery (All you need to know about the Colombia-Ecuador brouhaha)"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2957407

"Peru's president: Colombia's incursion into Ecuador 'unacceptable'"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3208274

Two other good sources:
www.venezuelanalysis.com
www.BoRev.net (hilarious AND informative)

----------------------------------------

Note to the Election Forum--and news to most North Americans: Venezuela's elections put our own to shame for their transparency. They use OPEN SOURCE CODE electronic voting--anyone may review the code by which the votes are tabulated--and they handcount a whopping 55% of the votes, as a check on machine fraud. We, on the other hand, have rightwing Bushite corporations 'counting' our votes with electronic voting machines run on TRADE SECRET, PROPRIETARY programming code, with virtually no audit/recount controls (--ZERO handcount in many states, a measly 1% in others). This--and the oil--are why Donald Rumsfeld and the Bush Junta want to invade Venezuela, and have been fervently trying to topple the Chavez government for six years, starting with a U.S.-supported, violent, rightwing military coup attempt in 2002. (See the Irish filmmakers' documentary about it, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.") They have not been successful, because Chavez really IS elected, and really has WON his elections, the most recent by 63% of the vote, and really DOES represent the people of Venezuela (70% approval rating). So now they're trying something else--war!

They don't want us to KNOW what transparent elections look like. And, by God, if they can't have Iran's oil, they're going to get Venezuela's, and Ecuador's, and Argentina's, and Bolivia's oil and gas--all with democratically elected, leftist (majorityist) governments! We're looking at the attempted destruction of the biggest democracy and social justice movement in the world, and the theft of resources that are now being used, in these countries, to help the poor--BECAUSE they have real elections.

[liam_laddie]

24. Australian open-source elections system

A re-post from March 1, in the Ohio Elections Integrity Estimate.
===============
This is how they do it in Oz. Plus there's a financial incentive to vote. They have compulsory voting; there's a fine of $20-70 if you don't vote, usually added to a tax-due notice. A decent link is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_electoral_syste...

This is a link to the company who developed the software. Why didn't USA just buy good, off-the-shelf-and-continuously-refined software? I suspect the NIH syndrome, plus greasing of politicians' palms (or other anatomical zones.) Did I write that? Seems I did indeed...sigh...terminal cynicism...well, after all, Bob Ney and Tom DeLay were involved...
http://www.softimp.com.au/evacs/index.html

They get about 95% turnout and they have instant-runoff voting. This is for national, Parliamentary races. The states have variations of the national system, SFAIK. Wonder if they're accepting immigrants from 'Murrica?

[Melissa G]

4. Editorial n/t

[Melissa G]

20. Scoop - "Today America will feast at the table of democracy and yet go home hungry"

Scoop - "Today America will feast at the table of democracy and yet go home hungry"
Thanks to althecat for the post and the DU discussion here...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2958629

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0803/S00057.htm

snip

In This Edition:
Texas & Ohio Primary - Prepare For A Train Wreck
In Election Fraud Terms Ohio and Texas Are Special
Barack Obama & The White Ghosts Of NYC
Did Someone Just Buy All The Votes In Texas And Ohio
Faith Based Voting In The USA - Three Good Videos
Uncounted
Hacking Democracy - HBO
Dan Rather Reports - "The Trouble with Touch Screens" - HDnet
Watch This Space

See also:
Companion Article -
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0803/S00053.htm
Michael Collins: Obama’s "Lost" NYC Votes No Surprise
Tuesday, 8 July 2003 - Sludge Report #154 – Bigger Than Watergate!
Wednesday, 13 June 2007 - Sludge Report #177 – Bigger Than Watergate II


*** # # # ***


Texas & Ohio Primary - Prepare For A Train Wreck





Usually when covering elections its important to wait till the votes are counted before you write your election analysis. However when it comes to US elections in the 21st century this rubric no longer applies.

After the dust settles from today's presidential primary races - "Super Tuesday II" between Obama and Clinton in Ohio and Texas - the lingering story will not be who won.

Rather it will be the stench left behind by an election in which the results are and must remain unverifiable.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2958629

[Mnemosyne]

22. KnR cause it's good work!

:hi:

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

23. Obama just asked that Sandusky and Cuyahoga polls be kept open 2 more hours

Reported by Keith Olberman just a few minutes ago, 7:58 PM Eastern.

they ran out of paper ballots. IDIOTS!

My state prints 1 ballot per registered voter so that this never happens!!!

AGH. We knew something stupid like this would happen.