Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Sunday 10/23/05

[Mnemosyne]

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

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


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x398071


All previous daily threads are available here:

http://www.independentmediasource.com/DU_archives/du_2004erd_el_ref_fr_thr_calenders.htm











Please "Recommend" for the Greatest Page (it's the link just below).

[Mnemosyne]

1. Test Run

David Young
Daily Record Staff Writer
Ballot-counting machines warmed up Thursday morning during a trial session that went off without a hitch.

With mail-in ballots arriving this week, a trial session was conducted at the Fremont County Administration Building. The intent was to let the public see the machines are working properly and exactly how ballots will be counted. However, no one from the general public attended to watch the test counts.

But the morning’s work was not in vain. County Clerk Norma Hatfield said the process was required under the Help America Vote Act and that the secretary of state would be coming by to make sure everything was running smoothly.

Three square blue Sequoia Pacific Systems voting machines munched on ballots fed to them by City Clerk Becky Walker, school district election official Sunny Barnes and Florence County Clerk Dori Williams. Once the machine had tallied the votes, the votes were hand-counted to double-check the machines’ accu-racy. They found that every vote had been correctly counted by the machines.


more:
http://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/Top-story.asp?ID=1758

[Mnemosyne]

2. Fed money at stake as voting machine resolution looms

By JAMES MILLER
Staff Writer

Last update: October 22, 2005

The clock is ticking should Volusia County officials want to replace the county's voting system without losing federal grant money intended to make voting more accessible to people with disabilities.

"We're starting to get under the gun again," County Councilman Dwight Lewis said Friday.

In order to keep almost $700,000 of federal grant money, the county must contract to buy disabled-accessible voting equipment by Dec. 31, said Supervisor of Elections Ann McFall.

This summer, Lewis and three other council members vetoed McFall's request to buy touch-screen voting machines to meet a state mandate for disabled-accessible equipment because the machines do not use paper ballots like the county's current system. McFall said the touch-screens would only augment the existing system.

more:
http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/WestVolusia/03WVolWEST04WPOL102205.htm

[Mnemosyne]

3. Wood proceeds with touch screen voting

By PAMELA BRUST
PARKERSBURG - Wood County commissioners on Thursday took the next step toward purchase of the county's new touch screen elections equipment.

Wood was one of 27 counties in the state that opted to go with the total touch screen technology for elections beginning in 2006. All counties were to notify the secretary of state's office by Oct. 15 of what elections equipment they would be using in order to comply with the federal Help America Vote Act regulations.

According to information from Secretary of State Betty Ireland's office, out of 53 counties, 27 chose touch screen, 27 went for optical scan and one is using paper ballots. Neighboring Calhoun County is listed under optical scan, while Doddridge, Jackson, Pleasants, Ritchie and Wirt will all go with touch screen technology.

Under Ireland's plan, a county could receive an optical scan voting system in addition to the mandated touch screen handicap accessible voting machine per precinct at no cost to the county. If the county chose not to use the optical scan system and implement an all-electronic voting system, the secretary of state would give the county a credit equal to the cost of the optical scan system and apply it to the purchase of the electronic touch screen system. Up to half any additional cost the county must bear could be borrowed from the five-year, no interest HAVA revolving loan fund the state is offering.

more:
http://www.newsandsentinel.com/news/story/1022202005_new01_touchscreen102205.asp

[Mnemosyne]

4. Elections overhaul sought

Salas asks county for space, staff

By Brad Turner
The Daily Times-Call

BOULDER — Election officials want 16,000 square feet of extra space for voting equipment and a 64 percent staffing increase added to their 2006 operating budget.

The drastic, pricey overhaul of the department will help prevent train wrecks like the November 2004 election, in which problems with ballot printing and tallying equipment led to a 68-hour vote count, county elections coordinator Josh Liss said Thursday.

“I know we’re asking for a lot here,” Liss said. “I don’t want to see anything like 2004 happen again, and I’m sure nobody else in this county does. We’re just asking for the tools we need to do our jobs.”

Currently, the elections office has the equivalent of 51/2 full-time employees. In her budget requests for the upcoming year, county clerk Linda Salas asked the commissioners for another 31/2 full-time equivalents, for a total staff of nine.

more:

http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=4263

[Mnemosyne]

5. While the Iron is Hot

by Ernest Partridge


Election Fraud is the Linchpin. If election fraud is not addressed and exposed, the Democrat’s cry of “wait ‘till next time” is so much hot air. After all, 2002 and 2004 were “next time,” and while the voter “input” likely favored the Democrats, the output, via the “black box” manipulations of the Diebold and ES&S voting machines, compilers and secret software codes kept the Republicans in power. So they shall again in 2006 – you can count on it -- unless the issue of voting integrity is addressed and favorably resolved.

To those who insist that the 2002 and 2004 elections were legit, I ask again: “give me the evidence.” Bear in mind that “don’t be paranoid!” and “get over it!” are not evidence. In fact, there is no evidence of legitimacy because the e-vote machines were designed that way – no paper trail, secret software codes, and “back door” access to voting tallies. On the other hand, the evidence of fraud is overwhelming, and should be convincing to anyone who dares to examine and come to terms with that evidence. (The Crisis Papers has collected accounts of the evidence here).

Even so, the public simply can’t bring itself to acknowledge that their congressional and presidential elections are fixed, and that the regime in Washington rules without the consent of the governed which, in the past two presidential elections, was overruled through vote manipulation and fraud. The implications are just too much to bear; namely, that our democracy has been effectively overthrown and that we are now living under a one-party dictatorship, despite George Bush’s easy talk about “spreading freedom and democracy.” But when the economy darkens and jobs are lost, mortgages foreclosed, businesses fail, energy costs become prohibitive, the public discovers the true meaning of “tort reform” (no access to the courts) and “credit reform” (no bankruptcy relief), that public will likely become more receptive to the idea that they have also been had at the ballot box. If and when that happens, all bets are off.

Count me among those who believe that today we have lost our democracy. That doesn’t mean that we can’t take it back. But time is of the essence, for the longer we wait the more difficult will be the restoration. Today, Republican-owned companies count the ballots with secret codes, most of our media is controlled by six corporate conglomerates, The Patriot Act is still in force, and so-called “enemy combatants” including some American citizens, are being denied basic rights stipulated by the Geneva Conventions and the US Constitution. Ahead lies total media control and the police state.


more at the bottom of oped:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_ernest_p_051021_while_the_iron_is_ho.htm
http://www.opednews.com

[Mnemosyne]

6. Voting rights revisited

WASHINGTON - Three days after voters in Iraq went to the polls, lawmakers in this country turned their attention to one of the most significant voting rights laws ever adopted in the United States.

Parts of the historic Voting Rights Act of 1965 are up for reauthorization this year. And Congressman Steve Chabot is playing a pivotal role in the review.

A congressional subcommittee headed by the Cincinnati Republican began a series of hearings this week on the history, effectiveness and current state of the Voting Rights Act.

The law, one of the most important pieces of legislation to come out of the civil rights movement, has guaranteed minorities an equal opportunity to participate in the political process. Four decades after its passage, it's still vital to protecting the voting rights of millions of Americans. "The Voting Rights Act has had a tremendous impact in this country on ensuring that every American has not only the right but the opportunity and the ability to vote,'' Chabot said. "It's not perfect. But it's much improved over where we were back in the '60s. I think most people realize that.''

more:
http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051022/EDIT/510220304/1003/EDIT

[Mnemosyne]

7. GAO report: Continued Federal Efforts Needed to Improve Electronic Voting

YubaNet.com
"I never give them hell. I just tell the truth and they think it's hell." - Harry Truman


By: Committee on Government Reform Minority Office
Published: October 21, 2005 at 12:41


Rep. Waxman led twelve members of Congress today in releasing a new GAO report that found security and reliablity flaws in the electronic voting process.

The GAO report found flaws in security, access, and hardware controls, as well as weak security management practices by voting machine vendors. The report identified multiple examples of actual operational failures in real elections and found that while national iniatives to improve the security and reliability of electronic voting systems are underway, "it is unclear when these initiatives will be available to assist state and local election authorities."

Overall Findings

In October 2005, the Government Accountability Office released a comprehensive analysis of the concerns raised by the increasing use of electronic voting machines. Overall, GAO found that "significant concerns about the security and reliability of electronic voting systems" have been raised (p. 22). GAO indicated that "some of these concerns have been realized and have caused problems with recent elections, resulting in the loss and miscount of votes" (p. 23).

According to GAO, "election officials, computer security experts, citizen advocacy groups, and others have raised significant concerns about the security and reliability of electronic voting systems, citing instances of weak security controls, system design flaws, inadequate system version control, inadequate security testing, incorrect system configuration, poor security management, and vague or incomplete standards, among other issues. ... The security and reliability concerns raised in recent reports merit the focused attention of federal, state, and local authorities responsible for election administration" (p. 22-23).


more:
http://www.yubanet.com/artman/publish/article_26726.shtml

[Mnemosyne]

8. Did You Erase Your Own Vote?

By Warren Stewart, Director of Legislative Issues and Policy, VoteTrustUSA
October 22, 2005
In 2004, New Mexico once again led the nation in Presidential undervote rate. Undervotes are ballots cast without a vote for President, and New Mexico had 21, 084 of them – 2.78% of the total ballots cast last November or one out of every 36 voters. New Mexico Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron seems surprisingly untroubled by undervotes, commenting after the election that she doesn't "spend a lot of time on undervote issues, I'm just speculating that some voters are just not concerned with the presidential race." <1>

I never found this very convincing. However, recent testimony from the head of Automated Election Services (AES), the company that provides election services to most of the counties in New Mexico, may offer a more persuasive explanation.

The analysis <2> of the certified results of the New Mexico election that I undertook with Ellen Theisen of VotersUnite.org revealed that more than 80% of New Mexico’s undervotes were recorded (or, more accurately, not recorded) on Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting machines with the main culprits being the Sequoia Advantage and the Danaher Shouptronic - both “push button” electronic machines.

Particularly alarming were cases like Taos County, where optically scanned paper ballots were used in early and absentee voting, and DREs were used on Election Day. In early and absentee voting in Taos County, the presidential undervote rate was well below 1%, while on Election Day the undervote rate soared to almost 10%! Or San Miguel County, Precinct 14 where every single person who voted early (on paper) voted for one presidential candidate or another while 27% of their neighbors who voted electronically on Election Day apparently didn’t vote for any of them.


more:
http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=208&Itemid=51

[Mnemosyne]

9. Election board OKs ethics code

$70 million set aside for new voting machines prompted rules change

By David Ingram
JOURNAL RALEIGH BUREAU


380 Days until the 2006 election

RALEIGH

The State Board of Elections approved a new ethics code yesterday, in an attempt to head off possible ethical concerns as it prepares to order at least $70 million worth of new voting machines.

"We're going to be dealing with a lot of money," said Gary Bartlett, the executive director of the State Board of Elections. "The most important thing is to have a clear understanding from election officials and vendors about what is appropriate behavior and what is not."

The code covers employees of the state elections office and of county and city elections offices. It limits when they can speak with companies that sell election equipment, and it limits when they can attend events sponsored by those companies. It also makes clear that employees cannot profit from their positions by, for example, accepting gifts from companies. Most such activities are already regulated by law.

State and local elections officials are getting ready to spend between $70 million and $90 million to replace old voting machines. Some, such as punch-card machines used in Forsyth County, are considered obsolete. Others, such as touch-screen machines used in Burke County, don't produce a paper record.


more:
http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1128767689987&path=!localnews!article&s=1037645509099

[Mnemosyne]

10. Legislative Action Center - Vote Trust USA

I know this is a call to action, but feel it is important to each do everything we can.



Urge Your Representative to Support HB 2000 and Ensure Verifiable Elections in Pennsylvania!
Demand that the Pennsylvania State Assembly pass HB 2000! Please provide the requested information and the following email will automatically be sent to your Pennsylvania State Representative. Click Here For More Information Write Your Legislators
Demand that Congress Ensures Accessible and Verifiable Elections in 2006 and Beyond!
Urge Congress to reject HR 3910 and pass HR 550 as written! Please provide the requested information and the following email will automatically be sent to your Representative. Your signature will also be added to a paper petition that will be delivered to the House Administration Committee, urging them to bring HR 550 to the Floor for an immediate vote, as written. Click Here For More Information
Write Your Legislators
Compose Your Own Message


link:
http://www.congressweb.com/cweb4/index.cfm?orgcode=VTUSA

[Mnemosyne]

11. Election Day Holiday

Election Day Holiday
Bill # H.R.63

Original Sponsor:
John Conyers (D-MI 14th)

Cosponsor Total: 108
(last sponsor added 09/22/2005)
107 Democrats
1 Independents


About This Legislation:
1/4/2005--Introduced. Democracy Day Act of 2005 - Requires the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November in 2008 and in each even-number year thereafter (Election Day) to be treated in the same manner as November 11 (Veterans Day) for purposes of any laws relating to Federal employment. Urges private employers to give their employees that day off to enable them to vote. Directs the Comptroller General to conduct a study of the impact of such requirement on voter participation.


link:
http://capwiz.com/pdamerica/issues/bills/?bill=8059466

[Mnemosyne]

12. A National Voice for Mark Warner?

No matter how hard he tries, Virginia Gov. Mark Warner can’t escape talk that he will seek the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008.

Gov. Mark Warner, center, shares a laugh with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tim Kaine, left, and Del. Ward Armstrong during a rally in Martinsville on Thursday. (AP Photo)

As Warner emerged from a car in Roanoke yesterday -- the third stop on his campaign swing on behalf of Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine’s (D) gubernatorial campaign -- a supporter greeted him with, "Good afternoon, President Warner." When Warner finally entered the Wilson Museum, a roar went up from the several hundred people packed into the lobby. (Kaine, who will be on the ballot seeking to replace Warner in just 18 days, had entered the room minutes earlier to much less fanfare.)

So it goes of late for Warner, who is simultaneously seeking to cement his legacy in Virginia by delivering a Kaine victory, while also delicately dancing around the question of what the next move is in his own political career.



more:
http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/thefix/

-- Chris Cillizza

[Mnemosyne]

13. Times Endorses Bloomberg for Re-Election

1 hour, 43 minutes ago

NEW YORK - The New York Times enthusiastically endorsed Mayor Michael Bloomberg for re-election, saying he was on course to be one of the best mayors the city has ever had.

The overwhelmingly positive editorial published in Sunday's editions said Bloomberg, a Republican, has not been as entertaining as his predecessors but "has been better at running the city."

"If he continues his record of accomplishment over the next four years, he may be remembered as one of the greatest mayors in New York history," the editorial said.

Recent opinion polls put Bloomberg well ahead of his Democratic challenger, Fernando Ferrer.

The Times praised Bloomberg for accomplishments including bringing down the crime rate, establishing the 311 telephone hot line for reporting city complaints and remaining "focused on getting things done, not getting headlines."


more:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051023/ap_on_re_us/bloomberg_endorsement;_ylt=AnytMKj9g2vuTQybnOKVTkOs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3OXIzMDMzBHNlYwM3MDM-

[Mnemosyne]

14. Arnold Campaign Pulls TV Ad on Initiatives

By TOM CHORNEAU, Associated Press Writer 46 minutes ago

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger's special election campaign said it was withdrawing a television advertisement that featured the governor appealing to voters to support his slate of ballot initiatives.

The move Saturday to drop Schwarzenegger from the airwaves came at a critical time — just 17 days before the Nov. 8 election.

His campaign dismissed the notion that the ad — the only one featuring the governor — was pulled because of Schwarzenegger's falling approval ratings. Instead, they said TV ads are being rotated as part of a plan to educate voters about specific ballot measures.

Still, some observers said Schwarzenegger's ability to sell his ballot agenda might be limited because polls show he has the approval of only about 35 percent of voters.


more:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051023/ap_on_re_us/special_election;_ylt=ApmDqs31tJCp4ZEar6AsZpas0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3OXIzMDMzBHNlYwM3MDM

[Mnemosyne]

15. Diebold Demonstration Video

Posted by wilms
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x398150

Thanks wilms!

[Wilms]

16. History of the Debate Surrounding the Validity of the 2004 Presidential El

History of the Debate Surrounding the Validity of the 2004 Presidential Election

This historical overview is provided to aid media and the public in understanding key events and presentations from both sides of the debate surrounding the validity and accuracy of 2004 presidential election results.

(PRWEB) October 23, 2005 -- NEDA has prepared a historical summary of facts and events in the ongoing debate over the validity of the 2004 presidential election and presented recommendations to ensure vote count accuracy.

Beginning with the discovery that 2004 presidential exit poll numbers were altered late during election eve and forced to match the official vote counts, through subsequent proposed explanations for the unprecedented, statistically implausible disparity between vote counts and exit polls, to the latest analyses of Ohio's precinct-level exit poll results which purports to demonstrate vote fraud, the report presents brief, simplified summaries of relevant milestones.

This report discusses surprising 2004 election results in Florida, New Mexico, Washington, and Ohio, as well as the Carter-Baker recommendations, the latest GAO report on electronic voting, and the U.S. Election Assistance Commission voting system guidelines.

Ensuring fair and accurate vote counting is an essential element of American democracy and is fundamental to each American’s right to vote. This historical overview is provided to aid media and the public in understanding what might be regarded as the most important debate of our era.

NEDA's purpose is to facilitate research of and the formulation of policies dealing with procedures that will ensure accurate vote counts; and making detailed election data and information publicly available. NEDA places particular emphasis on and will devote all of its initial resources to creating a “National Election Data Archive” project with the goal of ensuring the accuracy of U.S. elections.

The full paper "History of the Debate surrounding the 2004 Presidential Election" is available at
http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/US/Presidential-Election-2004.pdf

Press Contact: Kathy Dopp 435-658-4657 or cell 917-656-0066

Press release from:

The National Election Data Archive (NEDA), a nonprofit organization of statisticians and mathematicians devoted to the accuracy of U.S. vote counts. http://electionarchive.org.

snip/no more

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/10/prweb301264.htm

Thanks to helderheid

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5140813

and to sunshinekathy

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x398182

[Wilms]

17. Making a case for how the religious right hijacked the '04 election

When the votes don't add up

Making a case for how the religious right hijacked the '04 election.

By Timothy Dodson
Staff Writer
Posted October 23 2005

Fooled Again: How the Right Stole the 2004 Election & Why They'll Steal the Next One Too (Unless We Stop Them). Mark Crispin Miller. Basic Books. $24.95. 284 pp.

What would it do to Americans' image of themselves, their country and their democracy if it turned out that a presidential election had been stolen?

That's the question Mark Crispin Miller, author of The Bush Dyslexicon, challenges Americans to ask themselves in his latest book, Fooled Again: How the Right Stole the 2004 Election & Why They'll Steal the Next One Too (Unless We Stop Them).

Miller has done his homework, and his sources are numerous and scrupulously footnoted. He comes close to convincing an open-minded reader that the 2004 election was a gigantic fraud. His exhortation to Democrats "not to milk it for partisan advantage but to use it to promote, and realize, electoral reform" is the book's stated purpose, and Miller does make a strong case for reform.

snip/more

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/booksmags/sfl-bktimmilleroct23,0,1064045.story?coll=sfla-features-books

Thanks to helderheid

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5140832

[Mnemosyne]

22. Thanks for the help Wilms! Great find! n/t

[kster]

18. Kick-n-Recommended OFF TO THE GREATEST NO 5.nt

[Mnemosyne]

21. Thanks kster! n/t

[autorank]

19. Recommended -- Excellent work vickiss n/t

[Mnemosyne]

20. Thanks autorank, that means alot! n/t

[Mnemosyne]

23. More proof that the 2004 'election' was compromised

Thanks to ck4829
Original message



Take a look at where all the spoiled ballots were.


link to OP:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5145674

[CalmMan]

24. good thread

this is a really good thread. thx