April 11 Election Fraud, Reform, & Updates Thread

[MelissaB]

In order to organize and document I thought it would be a good idea to have a daily thread to place items related to reform, fraud, protests, and other items. This also make it easier to "catch up" when we are away from the computer for a while.

Please help us. If you see something that isn't here post it with a link to the thread and a thanks to the author. Thanks to everyone who is helping with this project.

Link to the weekend thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x354388

[MelissaB]

1. Election reform speaker: Electronic voting out of hand

(This weekend the National Election Reform Conference was held in Nashville and DU'ers organized and participated.)

Election reform speaker: Electronic voting out of hand

By LAURA LUXOR
For The Tennessean

While many Americans are intrigued by the idea of electronic voting, the process is out of control, creating an unhealthy democracy, experts said at the National Election Reform Conference.

Jonathan Simon, Harvard Law School graduate and author of While America Slept: The Theft of Election 2004 and the Death of American Democracy, told an audience of about 200 Saturday that losing control of voting systems puts citizens at risk of losing control of their government.

Later that afternoon, the energy level rose as the crowd at Jefferson Missionary Baptist Church whooped and hollered in response to former National Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb.
''Privatization is ludicrous,'' Cobb boomed. ''We are not gathering to save our democracy, we are gathering to create a 'real' democracy.''

>>>snip

In an interview earlier in the day, U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney, D-Ga., told a reporter that reforms are urgently needed and ''the system is in serious danger of complete collapse.''


More: http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/05/03/68078488.shtml?Element_ID=68078488

(Andy Stevenson and Jonathan Simon, a Harvard Law School graduate and author of While America Slept: The Theft of Election 2004 and the Death of American Democracy, and others are mentioned and quoted in this article.)

[MelissaB]

2. Discussion

here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x355240

I also posted this in LBN here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1385609

[Wilms]

3. (IA) SoS Opinion: Even Iowa has room for improvement

Even Iowa has room for improvement

April 10th, 2005

Iowa’s good election system will be made even better as we embrace the spirit of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and use improved technologies that will allow Iowans to vote with machines that are accessible, have lower rates of error, and provide the confidence our voters deserve.

As Iowa’s Secretary of State and State Commissioner of Elections, I’ve been involved in the federal election law, HAVA, since its early stages of development. It was formulated in the aftermath of a presidential election in 2000 that exposed flaws and inconsistencies in our nation’s voting process — flaws that Congress believed could be fixed through a concerted effort and partnership between public officials at all levels of government.

-snip-


The Iowa HAVA Plan retains a significant degree of local decision-making. It provides county officials with choices with respect to voting systems, equipment features and manufacturers. They can make the choices deemed appropriate locally and use federal monies to pay for most of the costs.

I invite the public to provide input on these important decisions. For that purpose, I am holding a series of public meetings throughout the state. The eastern Iowa meeting is in Davenport on Tuesday night. Please come. Only through a healthy exchange of ideas and opinions can we produce the best results for all Iowans.


Chet Culver is Iowa Secretary of State. Contact him at [phone]

-snip/more-

http://www.qctimes.com/internal.php?story_id=1048993&t=Opinion&c=22,1048993

[Wilms]

4. (OH) Elections board: Who's running the store?

Elections board: Who's running the store?

Article published Monday, April 11, 2005

Fritz Wenzel

The question on the minds of Lucas County voters may well be "What now?"

This after Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell's office ordered the removal of all four members of the Lucas County board of elections last week as punishment for trouble during the November election.

Now, three weeks before a special election that will involve most of the precincts in the county, the most senior administrator is elections Director Jill Kelly, who has been in her current job only since January.

-snip-

Don't look here for a rehashing of the specifics on Mr. Blackwell's 24-page report denouncing the work of the local elections office. It's been done, and is bound to continue in some circles for a while. The question is who is now watching the store.

-snip/more-

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050411/COLUMNIST28/504110313/-1/NEWS01

[Wilms]

5. BradBlog: Of Polygraphs, Pulitzers, Patriots and Prevaricators...

Of Polygraphs, Pulitzers, Patriots and Prevaricators...

BRAD BLOG Responds With Evidence to the Unfortunate Article in The St. Petersburg Times by the Pulitzer Prize Winning Lucy Morgan

An Object Lesson in the Failures of Today's American Mainstream Media


For months supporters and critics alike have been requesting that Clint Curtis take a polygraph test to help shore up (or debunk) the veracity of his explosive sworn allegations that then-Florida State Senator (and Speaker of the House) Tom Feeney, now a U.S. Congressman from Florida's 24th District, asked Curtis to create an electronic vote-rigging software prototype back in 2000 when Curtis worked at Yang Enterprises Inc. (YEI) where Feeney was also the corporate counsel and registered lobbyist in his "non-conflicting" day job while working as Florida's Speaker of the House.

-snip-

Her article, inappropriately and condescendingly headlined "Blogs spin tale of computers, conspiracies" is loaded with countless points of misleading information, crucial omissions and out and out inaccuracies.

-snip-

Morgan's response to our invitation to comment today: "I have no interest in commenting on your story, you can publish that I have two heads if you want."

http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001314.htm

[Wilms]

7. CannonFire comments on BradBlog/SPTimes Coverage of Clint Curtis

Monday, April 11, 2005

Curtis, again...

If you read one longish piece this day, check out Brad Friedman's point-by-point skewering of the St. Petersburg Times' allegedly independent examination of Clinton Curtis' claims that he was tasked by Republican Tom Feeney to slap together a prototype piece of vote-theft software.

-snip-

What's weird here is that Morgan, in attacking Brad Friedman, insists on saying things that apply more readily to, well, the scurvy likes of me. I am a partisan, and I do think the 2004 vote was stolen.

-snip/more-

http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/2005/04/curtis-again.html

[Wilms]

6. Election Law @ Moritz Expert Blog: Overton on Voter ID

Equal Vote

Monday, April 11

Overton on Voter ID

Voter identification remains the hot topic, with legislatures in Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin among those having considered or enacted a photo ID requirment in the past few weeks. Spencer Overton of the George Washington University Law School has published this op-ed on voter identification requirements.

Prof. Overton argues that ID advocates fail to consider the structural impediments that this requirement would impose. He also notes the absence of evidence that an ID requirement would have much of an impact on voting fraud.

I agree and will have my own take on this subject in the next day or two. - posted by Dan Tokaji @ 4:54 PM

More:

http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/blogs/tokaji/

[berniew1]

8. researchers at Nashville conference-strong case Kerry won Ohio

A combination of documenation and analysis by researchers at the Nashville Conference on 2004 Election Irregularities makes a strong case that Kerry won Ohio, and the national election:

http://www.flcv.com/ohiosum.html

[Wilms]

9. .