10/15 N. Carolina Touchscreens flip votes. Will internet voting cause election debacle?

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

N Carolina Touchscreens flip votes. Will internet voting cause election debacle?

Oct 15 2010

Chicago's voting machines mis-spelled Green Pty candidate's name as ‘Rich Whitey’. The election board is reprogramming 4,200 machines...Stunned voters watched touchscreens flip their votes in New Hanover CO NC..Vote PA needs your help in fight for paper ballots...."Overseas and military voters have unprecedented options for requesting, receiving and casting their ballots in 2010." says Pres of Overseas Vote Foundation...Is it possible commit election fraud even without being in a voting booth? (Yes)...Will Online Voting Turn Into an Election Day Debacle?...

All this and more in today's voting news below...

CA: "Am I registered to vote?" Find out from your county. Oct. 18 is the voter registration deadline! http://kimalex.blogspot.com/2010/10/am-i-registered-to-vote-find-out-from.html

CA: Fraudulent voter registration switches rise in Sacramento*
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/10/15/3105831/fraudulent-voter-registration.html
Throughout the county, voters who signed petitions on the street – pledging their support to some cause – have had their party affiliation switched with fraudulent voter registration filings.

CA: Ranked Choice Voting: How does it work? (Alameda County)
http://www.oaklandseen.com/2010/10/14/ranked-choice-voting-how-does-it-work/

CA: Lick Those Stamps, Alameda County Voters
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/politics/Lick-Those-Stamps-Alameda-Co-Voters--104899984.html An estimated 78 cents in postage is needed to return the multiple ballot cards from local, state and federal races and measures, according to the county’s registrar of voters.

CA: Election Day help is a click away
http://www.insidebayarea.com/top-stories/ci_16340135
Election officials remind voters that Monday is the final day to register to vote in the general election. Download a registration form online at www.sos.ca.gov/nvrc/fedform , print and sign it. Voters may also contact their county election offices.
Voters who are not enrolled in the permanent vote-by-mail program have until Oct. 26 to request a vote-by-mail ballot. Obtain a form at your county election office or go to www.sos.ca.gov/elections/vote-by-mail/pdf/fill-in-vote-by-mail-app-instruct.pdf

CT: Connecticut follows MOVE Act, avoids flaws – Others follow the money
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/connecticut-follows-move-act-avoids-flaws-others-follow-the-money/ . But there is big money and momentum behind efforts in other states to exploit flaws in the act.
...
Hopefully, Internet Voting Will be banned before it costs an election. The recent Washington D.C. public test clearly demonstrated that the years of warnings by computer scientists, security experts, and advocates were fully justified

CT: Connecticut Election Commission Finds 'Insufficient Evidence' in Ann Coulter Voter Fraud Case But Ignored Key Evidence, Erred in Investigation
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8124 State Elections Enforcement Commission determines it 'cannot make full and fair determination', but failed to look at documented facts and even Coulter's own admissions...

FL: Absentee ballots had wrong addresses* (Seminole County)
http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/news/seminole_news/101410absentee-ballots-had-wrong-addresses In a batch of 300 or so, Ertel found six with wrong addresses, due to a computer glitch in Tallahassee.

"To make sure those six didn't go out to the wrong locations, we stopped the entire process, so we could make sure all the ballots would go to the right address," says Ertel. "What we have found is that all the supervisors of elections throughout the state have done pretty much the same thing."

FL: Computer glitch in Tallahassee could delay distribution of some
absentee ballots *
http://www.theorbitgroup.com/12749/computer-glitch-in-tallahassee-could-delay-distribution-of-some-absentee-ballots/ TALLAHASSEE — If you changed your mailing address recently and just requested an absentee ballot, there’s a small chance you might not get it quickly because of a glitch in the state’s voter database.

The problem cropped up Monday when the state’s elections division performed scheduled maintenance and found out that somehow old mailing addresses of voters had migrated into the new system.

FL: Voter Database Glitch Fixed*
http://www.flanews.com/?p=10599
Problems with the state’s voter database are keeping dozens of absentee ballots from being mailed. The problems arose earlier this week after the state preformed routine maintenance on the database. As Whitney Ray tells us, the state says the problems have been fixed, but some supervisors of elections are still having doubts.
...
The problem began after scheduled maintenance created a glitch corrupting some voters address information. Leon County Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho says the system is still spotty.

FL: Absentee Ballots Delayed due to Voter Information Corruption*
http://www.wjhg.com/news/headlines/Absentee_Ballots_Delayed_due_to
_Voter_Information_Corruption_105071159.html http://tinyurl.com/28lxo99
A glitch in the state's voter database forced Bay County to delay sending absentee ballots out this week.

FL: Seminole County sample ballots provide express voting
http://www.semcoelections.org/en-us/news/?sf_ses=puvhkgpv
New barcode technology allows for faster check-in at early voting

Every voter in Seminole County received their sample ballots this week in the mail. Added to the sample ballot for the first time in Seminole County is a barcode, which allows for the pollworkers at the early voting sites to check the voters in much more quickly, resulting in lines moving at much faster speeds.

IL: 'Whitey' on machine ballots will be fixed*
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/10/15/Whitey-on-machine-ballots-will-be-fixed/UPI-57841287157741/ The Chicago elections board says the problem of a name misspelled as "Whitey" on 8,000 voting machines will be corrected.

The machines with the misspelled name of Green Party gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney will be fixed by Sunday but city elections board Chairman Langdon Neal said the error won't be corrected on the 5,000 ballots already cast, WGN-TV, Chicago, reported Friday.
...
Whitney's name is spelled correctly on all paper ballots.

IL: Mistake on some Chicago ballots lists candidate as ‘Rich Whitey’
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/mistake_on_some_chicago_ballots
_9eDNUhJiCypHmX8TBprg8H http://tinyurl.com/25vwmzr Voters in some predominantly African-American Chicago neighborhoods will be faced with the prospect of electing a candidate listed as “Rich Whitey” thanks to a mistake made on electronic voting machines in nearly two dozen voting wards, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Thursday.
The glitch means Green Party gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney’s name will be misspelled on voting machines in 23 wards, the report said.

IL: Election Board fixing 'Whitey' spelling error*
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/2803178,rich-whitney-spelling-error-election-101410.article
An embarrassed Chicago Election Board will spend the money and time to re-program and re-test 4,200 electronic voting machines to correct a spelling error that changed the last name of Green Party gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney to "Whitey."
...
But, since the error was made on machines scheduled to be delivered to nearly two dozen Chicago wards, half of them predominantly African-American, there was no choice but to spend the tens of thousands of dollars needed to make the change.
Delivery of 4,200 electronic voting machines originally scheduled for Monday will now be pushed back until Wednesday. After that, the same fix will be made on roughly 500 machines used in early voting.

IL: Voting Machine Mangles an Illinois Candidate’s Name
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/14/voting-machine-mangles-an-illinois-candidates-name/?partner=rss&emc=rss
An error on some electronic voting machines already in use in Illinois identifies Rich Whitney, the Green Party candidate for governor, as Rich Whitey.

IL: Brady threatens suit if ballot extension isn't granted
http://www.wlsam.com/Article.asp?id=1986380&spid=
CHICAGO (WLS) - Illinois GOP Party Chairman Pat Brady is calling for a deadline extension for accepting overseas military ballots after it was found that some Illinois jurisdictions failed to mail absentee ballots on time.

IL: Justice Dept. Investigating IL Over Military Ballots
http://www.newsroomamerica.com/story/65122.html The U.S. Justice Department is investigating allegations the state of Illinois failed to comply with a federal law requiring early mailing of ballots to military personnel overseas, a local radio station reported Thursday.

IN: Neb. election firm reaches deal over trade secrets
http://www.action3news.com/Global/story.asp?S=13323095
Documents filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Omaha show U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Thalken canceled a January trial after being notified of the deal with James Dalton of Granger, Ind.

ES&S attorney Michael Cox declined to give details of the settlement. A message left for Dalton's attorney wasn't immediately returned.

The Omaha company said in its lawsuit that Dalton and his Indiana firm were using copyrighted software to help state and local governments manage elections.

KS: Voting rights for the mentally ill in Kansas
http://nonprofitvote.blogspot.com/2010/10/voting-rights-for-mentally-ill-in.html
Supporters of an amendment on the ballot which secures the right to vote for thousands of Kansans worry an unfair stigma may keep it from passing in November

NC: Instant Run-off Voting to be used statewide for first time in state history
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/pre/news.newsmain/article/0/0/
1711936 /ENC.Regional.News/Instant.Run- off.Voting.to.be.used.statewide.for.first.time.in.state.history
http://tinyurl.com/248kzwl

NC: Instant runoff voting: Unconstitutional? (N-R Editorial Dept)
http://www.news-record.com/blog/54431/entry/100953
An email I received this afternoon:

Per our conversation earlier today, I am attaching a copy of the paper that Professor Joseph and I currently have under review at several law reviews concerning the constitutionality of instant runoff voting in North Carolina.

NC: Some experience early voting woes*
http://www.wect.com/Global/story.asp?S=13333315 NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC
Some people complained that when they voted for certain candidates the electronic voting machines would pick another candidate.

"I was going through county commissioners and made my selection, it went from Republican candidates to Democrat. It did it three different times," said Dean Lambeth, Mayor of Kure Beach.

According to Lambeth, he experienced the same issue when he voted for the congressional race.

"We talked with a technician and said it could have been an interruption in power or it could have been a calibration that wasn't saved," said Bonnie Williams, Board of Elections Supervisor.

NC: Touchscreen voting machine problems: Select Pantano, you get McIntyre!*
http://carolinatalknetwork.com/2010/10/touchscreen-voting-machine-problems-select-pantano-you-get-mcintyre/
On the first day of voting in New Hanover county there was a problem with the screen calibration on some voting machines. When someone touched the screen for Pantano, it would check the box above (McIntyre’s). It happened in other races down ticket too, because the Republican candidate is second on the ballot and the touchscreen would mistakenly record the vote in the box above where you touched. The machines in New Hanover were re-calibrated and the issue seems to have been solved.

NV: Foreclosure Increase Triggering Voter Concerns
http://www.ktvn.com/Global/story.asp?S=13324290 Foreclosed folks are losing their registered address, and missing their sample ballots. Miller says "They think that because they didn't get their sample ballot they're not allowed to cast ballots, and that's just not the case. As long as they still live in Washoe County and voted in 2008, they can go to their old precinct and be able to cast a ballot.

OH: Absentee ballot patterns in Cuyahoga; no party advantage but slow NP returns
http://electionupdates.caltech.edu/?p=3345 I’ve created a quick spreadsheet from the early voting turnout results posted at Cuyahoga County, OH (hat tip to Michael McDonald).

PA: Marybeth Kuznik's Birthday Wish (Keep VotePA, a verified voting org going)
http://www.votepa.us/birthdaywish.html "My birthday is on October 17th and I want to help fund VotePA and its mission for voting rights and fair, accurate elections; moving us closer to the goal of protecting every vote in Pennsylvania with an auditable, recountable, voter-verified paper ballot."

SC: Voter Registration office scrambles to process nearly 500 requests that arrived in single envelope http://www.islandpacket.com/2010/10/14/1407941/voter-registration-office-scrambles.html Marshall said his office deals regularly with voters wondering when their applications or ballots will arrive. Many have sent their applications through a third party, such as South Carolina Victory 2010. Although perfectly legal, Marshall does not recommend the practice because of the potential for delays and identity theft that he cannot control.

TN: FBI hotline to handle election complaints
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/oct/15/fbi-hotline-to-handle-election-complaints/ The FBI plans to set up a hotline to hear citizen complaints of fraud or other problems in the Nov. 2 polls, a step that comes as Shelby County election officials are trying to rebuild trust following a partisan voting dispute.
...
An inquiry by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is ongoing.


TX: Early Voting by mail, do it right
http://www.thevindicator.com/articles/2010/10/14/news/news43.txt

US Virgin Islands: Senators grill Elections chief on paper ballot issue
http://virginislandsdailynews.com/news/senators-grill-elections-chief-on-paper-ballot-issue-1.1048840

VA: F.C. Council Votes to Rescind Move of Local Elections from May to November
http://www.fcnp.com/news/7563-fc-council-votes-to-rescind-move-of-local-elections-from-may-to-november/ The back to May smacks of elitism, Jim Crow and is “inconsistent with the kind of City we want. The City deserves better.

WV: Greenbrier County tries e-poll books
http://www.register-herald.com/local/x1156732040/Greenbrier-County-tries-e-poll-books
LEWISBURG — Greenbrier is one of 10 counties in the state selected for a pilot program to try out electronic poll books, according to Cheryl Yates, who works in the county clerk’s election office.

“Instead of printing out the poll books in paper form, we’ll have miniature laptops — netbooks — with all the information on them,”

Internet Voting Watch

Will Online Voting Turn Into an Election Day Debacle?
http://www.verifiedvotingfoundation.org/article.php?id=6788
Chastened by the exercise, Washington is canceling plans to let voters return ballots digitally. But some states are undeterred by the red flags. "The system we have is totally different. You can't compare apples and oranges," says West Virginia Secretary of State Natalie Tennant.
...
"We've been working to build enfranchisement and increase the ballot count for years. If we thought this was the answer, we'd be doing it. But it's being built on quicksand right now," says Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat, CEO of the Overseas Vote Foundation. "Our ballots are precious cargo ... is the last thing on earth designed to handle private info that should not be tampered with. It's like writing a contract in pencil."

DC: D.C. Not Ready for Internet Voting
http://www.afro.com/sections/news/Washington/story.htm?storyid=2824
WASHINGTON (AP) — A University of Michigan professor who hacked a prototype D.C. elections voting website with his students and had it play the school's fight says that it will be decades, if ever, before voting can be done safely over the Internet.

Florida: SG relives voting discrepancies*
http://www.usforacle.com/news/sg-relives-voting-discrepancies-1.2365438
When some USF students attempted to cast their online votes during the Student Government (SG) Senate midterm election this week, they received an error message that prevented them from doing so.
The election, which occurred Tuesday and Wednesday and aims to fill the Senate's 27 vacant seats, allowed students to vote from any computer.
Graduate adviser for SG Advising, Training and Operations Alyssa Thomas said she doesn't know what caused the problem.
...
Students' U-numbers were distributed to Votenet, the online voting software that is also used in the midterm election, and the company found that 255 were duplicates, causing a delay in the general run-off election between current SG President Cesar Hernandez and his opponent, Andrew Cohen, who was SG director of University and Community Affairs.

Will Older Voters Embrace Online Voting? Studies Say Yes
http://www.voting2point0.com/2010/10/14/will-older-voters-embrace-online-voting-studies-say-yes/ ...The AARP thinks so. In a recent studies by the AARP and the Pew Internet and American Life survey, researchers reported that more than 60% of respondents age 50 and older are comfortable online.


National

Roger Johnston on Security Vulnerabilities of Electronic Voting (Video)
http://blog.verifiedvoting.org/2010/10/15/1131
Is it possible commit voter fraud even without being in a voting booth? One
researcher at the Argonne National Laboratory says it is -- and his team has
...
Roger G. Johnston of the Vulnerability Assessment Team at Argonne National Laboratory gave an interview for WTTW in Chicago about vulnerabilities in electronic voting and procedures to mitigate those vulnerabilities

Overseas Vote Foundation OVF talks to #Fox RE #MOVE Act. Transition year or conspiracy against #military voters? Susan makes our case. Pls. Share! http://ht.ly/2TJJC

Justice Department moves to counter overseas absentee ballot lag
http://www.stripes.com/justice-department-moves-to-counter-overseas-absentee-ballot-lag-1.121774 While some election authorities have had trouble implementing the MOVE Act, most of the 10,000 American election jurisdictions have successfully implemented the new mandates, ushering in unprecedented reform for overseas and military voters, according to Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat, president of the Overseas Vote Foundation.
...
There are also express mail options for military voters, as well as emergency back-up ballots available, she said.

Election Tips from FVAP for October 15, 2010
http://www.fvap.gov/global/news/electiontips_101510.html FVAP.gov: Your Gateway to State Election Resources. It is time to mail back your voted ballot! If you haven’t received your ballot, ACT NOW.

DOJ MOVEs on litigation – but could go further
http://www.ideasactionblog.org/2010/10/doj-moves-on-litigation-but-could-go.html?

Protect Our Elections and Other groups File Complaint With DOJ
http://protectourelections.org/index.php?q=node/49
Watchdog Groups Ask Department of Justice to Use Criminal Statutes to Stop Crossroads GPS and American Future Fund From Violating Campaign Finance Laws

DOJ Has Statutory Obligation To Step In And Enjoin Use Of Tax Exempt Non Profits To Launder Secret Money And Manipulate Elections

"Show Me the Donors: What's the point of disclosing campaign donations? Let's review." http://electionlawblog.org/archives/017377.html

"Voters Say They Want To Know Who Funds Ads": Part 2 of the NPR story on secret money. See also Analysis: Lit... http://bit.ly/cdt63k

Should Cops & Teachers Be Able to Vote?
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2010/10/should_cops_teachers_be_able_to_vote.php

Public Employees and Elections: A Conflict of Interest?
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/249650/public-employees-and-elections-conflict-interest-pat-sajak
In nearly all private and public endeavors, there are occasions in which it’s only fair and correct that a person or group be barred from participating because that party could directly and unevenly benefit from decisions made and policies adopted.


International

India: Paper trail is a must for EVMs
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/et-debate/Paper-trail-is-a-must-for-EVMs/articleshow/6751240.cms GVL Narasimha Rao, Political Analyst
Our EVMs function as ‘black boxes’ and have rendered the entire voting process non-transparent, unverifiable and unauditable. Consequently, this has led to nagging doubts among voters and parties about their reliability.

India: Govt official files for anticipatory bail over EVM theft
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/govt-official-files-for-anticipatory-bail-over-evm-theft/697755/
A senior state government official has applied for anticipatory bail in connection with the theft of an EVM from the Mumbai collector’s office.
...
Bhagwat’s application says the MRA Marg police summoned him on October4 and asked him about the smuggling of the machine from the collector’s office before it reached Hyderabad-based researcher Hari Prasad, who was later arrested

New Zealand: Confusing voting systems turn off voters: Massey
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/politics/131684/confusing-voting-systems-turn-voters-massey
New Zealanders aren't voting in local body elections because they're turned off by the "mishmash" of voting systems, a local government specialist says.

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[OregonBlue]

1. Everyone, please take note. We have all mail paper ballots in Oregon. We are not on these lists. We

are almost never on any of these lists. Our ballots go out 2 weeks early. We can sit at our kitchen table and read our voter's pamphlet and review what candidates say and what are the pros and cons of ballot measures and make informed, careful votes.

Oregon has a wonderful system and I wish you all had the same.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

2. "Why 'Vote-by-Mail' Elections are a Terrible Idea for Democracy"

Here's one article by Brad Friedman, who has spoken with activists in Oregon:

Why 'Vote-by-Mail' Elections are a Terrible Idea for Democracy
....
"Many Oregonians will tell you they believe their system is wonderful, yet many of the Election Integrity advocates on the ground there, including many we've spoke with at the Oregon Voting Rights Coalition, warn that the success of the state's VBM program is largely based on good procedures put in place by Bradbury, and which they fear may disappear, as they are not statutory, when he is someday no longer the state's SoS."
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6003

Other Vote By Mail Problems in the News at this link

http://votingnews.blogspot.com/p/vote-by-mail-problems-in-news.html

[OregonBlue]

3. So far it has worked very well here. The system currently in place is very good. It is administered

at the county level and has been fairly seemless so far. If there is a question, we have the ballots. We have not had problems with mail delivery since the ballots go out very early and, as I said, it is done on a county level. The local post offices are good about getting ballots in and the county seat main post offices have been good as well. It takes longer to count but now that people are used to getting their ballots in early, there is not the flood of ballots at the last moment.

[diva77]

4. It may have the appearance of working well, but unless you are able to verify

that each person received his/her ballot as expected and that each ballot mailed by a legitimate voter made it back to the registrar and that each vote was counted as cast, you have no proof that the election was problem-free.

As Brad points out so clearly in his article (did you read it? :shrug:) the vulnerabilities in the mailing system coupled with the fact that the votes are tabulated secretly with optical scanners run with secret software make this a BAD plan!!

Don't be fooled by appearances.

[tiptoe]

6. Secretly? Try Mandatory Hand-ReCounts of samples+"at least 1 or 2 FULL recounts"- ZERO discrepancies

Oregon Mail-in Ballots & Hand-Recount System vs. New York Lever System : 2000-2008

John Lindback
Director
Elections Division
Oregon Secretary of State's Office

"...I must reiterate here an important fact. No recount conducted in Oregon has ever turned up evidence that a tally machine failed to correctly count votes. A full recount is the ultimate test and with each election we always have at least one or two."

Oregon’s Final Voter Turnout Numbers
5:05 PM December 4th, 2008

For those of you keeping score at home, the final numbers are in on the November general election. Turns out, according to numbers from the Secretary of State’s Office today, that 85.67 percent of Oregon’s registered voters cast ballots in the general election, the third highest turnout in Oregon history

“A turnout above 85 percent is outstanding no matter if it is a new record or not,” Secretary of State Bill Bradbury said in a news release. “We had extremely high interest in the election right from the beginning of this year and it remained high throughout the election season. We may well wind up as national leaders in voter turnout this year and it is real tribute to the commitment Oregonians bring to public policy issues.”

Other didja-know factoids from Bradbury’s office about the 2008 general election in Oregon:

_A new record number of registered voters, 2,153,914.

_The third highest statewide voter turnout, 85.67 percent. The only years with higher turnout were 86.51 percent in 1960 and 86.48 percent in 2004.

_All 36 Oregon counties with a turnout above 80 percent and one, Wallowa County, exceeding 90 percent. All counties were higher than 80 percent in 2004 as well.

_More voters voting than in any previous Oregon election except 2004. The results showed 1,845,251 ballots counted. Four years ago, the number was 1,851,671.

_Barack Obama with more votes, 1,037,291, than any previous presidential candidate in Oregon.

_John Kroger, elected the new attorney general, received more votes than Obama, 1,096,507.

_Oregon’s 85.67 percent turnout may be the highest in the nation this year. Not all states have finished counting, but returns from around the country so far show Oregon with the highest turnout.

[diva77]

7. how can they be sure that the ballots received are actually the ones sent

by the voters - here is what a ballot goes thru in the postal system

[demodonkey]

5. How do you stop the abusive spouse? The abusive boss?

Mark your ballot the way I tell you bitch, or I'll knock your teeth out.

(or at least fire you)

How do you prevent that?

Also it is true there are a lot of good practices being done that are not statutory. You had a good Secretary of State in Bill Bradbury, and you have a good one now, but what happens if/when your state's luck doesn't hold out so well and you get someone with... shall we say... lesser skills in that office???