Election Reform, Fraud, & Updates Thread for Monday

[Melissa G]

Election Reform, Fraud, & Updates Thread for Monday

In order to organize and document MelissaB 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.

If you see something that isn't here post it with a link to the thread and a thanks to the author. MelissaB is busy for a while so I'm taking over and Need Lots of Help posting news items!
Thanks,
Melissa G

Link to previous thread
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x371607

[Melissa G]

1. Election Investigation/Reform Rally, Teach-In, Public Hearing June 3, 4

Election Investigation/Reform Rally,
Teach-In, Public Hearing June 3, 4 In Cleveland

CLEVELAND — The public is invited to participate in a rally, teach-in, and public hearing on “Election Investigation and Reform” on June 3 and 4. Keynote speaker Friday will be nationally known election reform advocate Bev Harris of Black Box Voting. Plenary speakers include Bob Fitrakis of the Free Press, Bob Koehler of Tribune Media Services, Jonathan Simon of Verified Vote, Dorothy Fadiman, documentary filmmaker, and the Reverend Marvin McMickle of Antioch Baptist Church.
Also on June 3, a rally and film showing will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. at Antioch Baptist Church, 8869 Cedar Ave.
The public hearings, workshops, and discussion groups on everything from campaign finance reform to reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act will be held on Saturday, June 4 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Tri-C Metropolitan Campus.
Suggested donation is $20 with advance registration ($10 for students / seniors / low income) and $25 on the day of the event. However, no one will be turned away for inability to pay.
To register in advance, send name, address, phone number and email to: Ohio Vigilance, P.O. Box 18336, Cleveland Heights, OH 44118.
“Indicate whether you would like to give a three-minute testimony on Saturday about any election irregularities you witnessed.
http://www.iconoclast-texas.com/News/21news08.htm

[Melissa G]

2. Primary concerns

Primary concerns

Monday, May 23, 2005


Gov. Ed Rendell's Election Reform Task Force recommends that the presidential primary be held in early March so that the voters of the sixth most populous state won't be irrelevant in selecting the candidate.

Since the Democrats' Super Tuesday in 1988, the trend has been toward front-loading the primaries. Twenty-six states hold primaries before Pennsylvania.


Pennsylvania hasn't made a difference since 1976 when Jimmy Carter won the state Democrat primary and later infused the nation with "malaise."

Setting Mr. Rendell's idea aside, we could have a national primary or regional primaries. Or we could have rotating primaries that give all the states a chance to be "first" and "influential" every few election cycles.
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/opinion/archive/s_336461.html

[Melissa G]

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

Post Below Thanks to Wilms..
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 "Election Fraud and Reform News Sources" listed here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x371233

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.


If you want to know how post "News Banners" or other images, go here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=371233#371391

[diva77]

4. CA special election '05 - built into strategic plan??

is it usual for cc/rr's to anticipate off-year elections 3-4 years in advance? Seems like the '05 Nov election is written into the strategic plan for LA County from 5/8/03 (planning began as early as the end of '01)

p.56, "the 2 in 2 challenge: Implement 2 new voting systems in 2 years" also, and p. 60 -- Phase III of the "phased approach to Installation of New Voting System" -- "Full Countywide conversion to a DRE touchscreen voting system in all 5000 voting precincts is the future goal. The timing of such a conversion is currently unknown primarily due to insufficient funds (NOT TRUE ANYMORE SINCE MCPHERSON RECENTLY SECURED HAVA FUNDING) . Assuming County matching funds are identified and allocated together with the County's share of Prop. 41 funds and a contract is successfully negotiated, the optimal first large-scale DRE election would be the November 2005 UDEL which encompasses approximately 1000 voting precincts followed by the first Countywide deployment in the 2006 Primary Election.

[Blackdog4241]

5. Breaking News From freepress.org

http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2005/1284

[emlev]

6. Attack on OH election whistleblower & leaked Blackwell threats--Free Press

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x371854

[Melissa G]

7. League of Women Voters Offers Voting RFP Findings

League of Women Voters Offers Voting RFP Findings
Louisiana Politics
Author: Staff Bayoubuzz | 5/23/2005 Home : Politics

The League of Women Voters of Louisiana has carefully reviewed the Request for Proposals (RFP # 2198751) for the Voting System for the State of Louisiana and the subsequent addendums with the following findings:

1. The RFP #2198751 does not make any reference requiring the voting system selected under the RFP to meet the 2002 Federal Voting System Standards ("FVSS"). The only language which refers to any compliance with the voting system standard is the requirement that the voting system meet the HAVA requirements, specifically section 301(a)(5) which requires the system to meet only the error rate requirements of the 2002 FVSS. A vendor asked the State of LA point blank whether or not the system needed to meet the 2002 FVSS and the State referred in its answer to a question which discussed meeting the HAVA requirements, therefore avoiding (dodging) the question.



2. The RFP #2198751does not address optical scan vendors. “The need for inclusion of such systems in the RFP #2198751is cost-based as well as reliability-based. It is appalling that Louisiana should not be afforded this preferable option in the RFP process... whether or not it is deemed to be the best option, once compared with the alternatives is another question. But to fail to allow it on the table is a great injustice to the state´s voters and to the state´s fiscal capacity,” according to Pamela Smith, National Coordinator of VerifiedVoting.Org

http://www.bayoubuzz.com/articles.aspx?aid=4031

[Melissa G]

8. Guest Viewpoint: Ballots cast on machine require scrutiny

May 23, 2005

Guest Viewpoint: Ballots cast on machine require scrutiny

By Kat L'Estrange

Voters typically believe the people have the power to vote unpopular leaders out of office. The reality, as was discovered in 2004, is that dirty tricks and schemes designed to disenfranchise voters make free and fair elections impossible today.
With the proliferation of electronic voting machines, plus partisan secretaries of state, state and county elections officials are having difficulty conducting fair elections in which legally registered citizens get to vote, and to have their votes counted.

Proof comes from yet another bipartisan election commission that convened in late April in Washington, D.C., this time to examine what went wrong in the 2004 election. Former Democratic president Jimmy Carter and former Republican Secretary of State James Baker led the commission. Both claim the nation's leading political parties want the same thing, which Baker describes as "the widest possible access, consistent with voter integrity."

Recommendations of a 2001 commission led to the Help America Vote Act, signed into law by George W. Bush in 2002. As a result of this law, federal funds for updating voting systems now mainly go to Republican-owned electronic voting companies - Diebold, ES&S and others - that have proprietary rules to allow them to conduct business free from public scrutiny.

In 2004, 80 percent of the nation's votes were counted electronically. Thirty percent of votes were cast on machines that use no paper ballots, making recounts impossible. These numbers will increase dramatically by 2006.

http://www.registerguard.com/news/2005/05/23/ed.col.lestrange.0523.html

[Melissa G]

9. Get cracking on voting fixes

Monday, May 23, 2005
Get cracking on voting fixes
For reasons that completely defy logic, New York lawmakers have failed to make the necessary changes to the state's voting laws.

Federal officials, following the 2000 presidential voting mess in Florida, approved many reforms and offered billions of dollars to states to upgrade voting equipment and to devise better ways to weed out fraud and to assure accuracy at the polls.

That was in 2002. Three years later, state leaders still are predictably bickering about how to move forward. The state could lose $200 million in federal money if the changes aren't in place by next year's elections. That means key decisions have to be made now, not later.

So far, lawmakers have agreed to start a statewide database of registered voters, in part to stop fraud and to make it easier for those working the polls to figure out if someone is eligible to vote. But the most difficult issue involves getting rid of old lever-style machines and replacing them with viable alternatives.

http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050523/OPINION01/505230330/1004

[Melissa G]

10. Election Still Unofficial in Lackawanna County

http://www.wnep.com/Global/story.asp?S=3379881&nav=5ka4aBDq
Monday, May 23, 11:54 a.m.
Election Still Unofficial in Lackawanna County

There is still no official word who has won the hotly contested race for mayor in Scranton and it may be days before it's known.

County workers need to court's permission to check out a voting machine before they can tally the official county for the mayor's race.

In the meantime, the unofficical vote showed Mayor Chris Doherty has the Democratic nomination locked up. On election night, it looked as if Doherty had won on the Republican side as well but challenger Gary DiBileo now says he leads Doherty on the Republican ballot by about 100 votes. Final numbers could come out Tuesday.

http://www.wnep.com/Global/story.asp?S=3379881&nav=5ka4aBDq

[Melissa G]

11. Politics takes the stand today

Politics takes the stand today
2005-05-23
by Rebecca Cook
Associated Press

WENATCHEE -- In a nondescript courtroom in this small farming town, America's political system is about to stand trial.

Today's battle over Washington's contested governor's election touches on many of the questions that divide this country between rural and urban, Republican and Democrat, red and blue.

But it probably won't answer the question that fuels the bitterness surrounding the 2004 governor's election, a question that echoes the frustrations of the past two presidential elections: Whose democracy is this, anyway?

Republican Dino Rossi is challenging the 129-vote victory of Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire in the closest statewide election in national history. Rossi won the first count and a machine recount, but the Democratic stronghold of Seattle pushed Gregoire to victory.

http://www.kingcountyjournal.com/sited/story/html/207706