Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News January, 23, 2006

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CHECK IN HERE IF YOU’RE IN VIRGINIA.
THIS IS BIG. MAJOR BILLS ON PAPER TRAIL AND AUDIT TRAIL, BIPARTISAN!!!>

& the ERD message of the week…


(I am proud to be identified with these people!)

Never forget the pursuit of Truth.
Only the deluded & complicit accept election results on blind faith.

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News January, 23, 2006

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



All previous daily threads are available here:
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Please

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

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1. Nation: Washington Post Online Takes on Election Fraud

I still don’t have to buy the paper edition because this is only in the online edition, I’m pretty sure. I actually bought a Sunday Post today based on hearing about this article. It was not in the print edition. Online and print are two different papers with some cross-polination. Anyway, this is great because it’s still the Washington Post.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/21/AR2006012101051.html?nav=rss_nation

As Elections Near, Officials Challenge Balloting Security
In Controlled Test, Results Are Manipulated in Florida System
By Zachary Goldfarb

Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, January 22, 2006; Page A06

As the Leon County supervisor of elections, Ion Sancho's job is to make sure voting is free of fraud. But the most brazen effort lately to manipulate election results in this Florida locality was carried out by Sancho himself.

Four times over the past year Sancho told computer specialists to break in to his voting system. And on all four occasions they did, changing results with what the specialists described as relatively unsophisticated hacking techniques. To Sancho, the results showed the vulnerability of voting equipment manufactured by Ohio-based Diebold Election Systems, which is used by Leon County and many other jurisdictions around the country.

[Wilms]

8. Discussion

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=410128&mesg_id=410128

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2. TN: Two oldies--election fraud + racism. TN Senate, take a bow.

OK, here we go. The Republican Party is one of tradition. They just can't leave what they love behind. So here in TN, you have a black Democrat elected but the State Senate refuses to seat her. Why? Some bogus excuse. Shame, they have none. This is ALL political. Ms. Ford sums it up quite nicely.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060118/ap_on_el_st_lo/tennessee_public_corruption_1

Tenn. Senate Nears Voiding Election (of Democrat)

By LUCAS L. JOHNSON II, Associated Press Writer Wed Jan 18, 9:19 AM ET

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee Senate took a major step toward voiding a disputed special election that was narrowly won last fall by the sister of an indicted former senator.

Meeting as a special committee Tuesday, the Senate voted 17-14 in favor of a resolution that would nullify Ophelia Ford's special election victory. Another vote is scheduled Thursday on the Senate floor.

According to the state attorney general, the Senate needs only a majority of its 33 votes to void the election.

<snip>

"It's been a Democratic seat for many, many years," Ford said. "I'm black, it's an 85 percent black vote in that district. It's about racism, it's about Jim Crowism and we're going to let the federal courts decide."

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3. VA: Come to Richmond January 24th—Lobby for Verified Voting-Audit Trail

Virginia has two bills, one before the House of Delegates the other before the Senate, which will go a long way to improve election integrity in the state of Jefferson, Madison, George Mason, etc. If you’re in Richmond or can come, sign up. If not, click on the link and write some emails. Virginia deserves the rights it’s founders fought for.


CHECK IN HERE. THIS IS BIG. MAJOR BILLS ON PAPER TRAIL AND AUDIT TRAIL, BIPARTISAN!!!<[br />
Work for Verifiable Elections in Virginia
Come to Lobby Day Tue Jan 24

Now is the time to act!

UPDATE - Senate vote postponed, will be a Tuesday soon at 4PM, but not 1/24, We still lobby on 1/24

Lobby Day is still Jan 24, from 8AM-4PM, but we'll have to return for the committee vote

Plan to attend the hearings soon, the senate will be on a Tuesday afternoon at 4PM and the house will be on a Friday morning at 9:30 AM. We'll post the new date as soon as its announced.

[Wilms]

12. Virginia Verified Voting Endorses SB 424/HB 1243

Virginia Verified Voting Endorses SB 424/HB 1243

By Virginia Verified Voting

January 23, 2006

http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=824&Itemid=113

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4. Nation: Real life election fraud activist offers great ed. Kat L’Estrange

Kat L’Estrange is an election activist who spends the majority of her time working for election integrity and against election fraud. She’s been doing this for years. This article on OpEd News really lays out the issues. Good for you Kat.


http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_kat_l_es_060122_stop_the_lies_2c_fight.htm
January 22, 2006

Stop the Lies, Fight the Fix: Don't Let Them Hide the Bodies

By Kat L'Estrange

GO HERE TO DISCUSS

January 23, 2006

The American people continue to be lied to. The 2004 election was gamed in favor of George W. Bush using unsafe electronic voting machines and a multitude of voter suppression techniques designed to negate get-out-the-vote efforts by the opposition party. Despite being witness to gross malfeasance in this administration, politicians and the national corporate media continue to believe Bush handlers would stop at rigging elections to grab hold of and then hang onto power.

As well, leading progressive voices (e.g., Michael Moore, Arianna Huffington, Moveon.org, The Nation, Mother Jones, Salon, and others) refuse to acknowledge that the Democratic candidate actually won the presidency in the 2004 election. Americans have grown accustomed to the lies perpetrated by the media on behalf of the Bush administration, but it's tough to accept denial from those on the left who appear otherwise dialed in. One can only assume an anti-Bush environment is more profitable for them. A few notable exceptions include Mark Crispin Miller, Bob Fitrakis and Greg Palast, all of whom continue to be ridiculed for exposing the truth about rigged elections and voter suppression.

Just as BushCo will stop at nothing now because they have the elections ‘in the bag,’ the Democrats don't have to put forth much effort to challenge them because they know voters have no other viable option. Democratic leadership can sit back and wait it out until power in all its glory is once again bestowed upon them. This is where two-party politics and corporate representation in Congress have taken American democracy.


Matthew Pascarella of GregPalast.com and activist
Kat L’Estrange discuss the extended day at the conference.

[Wilms]

9. Discussion

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x410269

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5. CA: Confidence "may be waivering" in voting machines. No kidding!

http://www.insidebayarea.com/argus/localnews/ci_3416612
Confidence may be “waivering.” That’s an understatement. There is little confidence and the stories are only local as of now. OUR VOTING SYSTEM IS A SCAM, A FRAUD, A REPUBLICAN PROTECTION RACKET. Thanks for nothing Congress, thanks for your reticence know it all Democratic consultants, thanks for no loyalty to the will of the people all politicians. YOU HAVE NO LEGITIMACY BECAUSE YOU CANNOT PROVE THA THAT YOU WERE ELECTED.

Article Last Updated: 1/19/2006 02:32 AM

Officials assess e-voting glitches
Confidence in electronic systems may be wavering

By Ian Hoffman, STAFF WRITER
Inside Bay Area

SACRAMENTO — As virtually every county in California scrambles for new voting machinery to use in the June elections, the last thing elections officials want to talk about is flaws. :

Sequoia Voting Systems' computers don't reliably add in certain rare primary votes.

Election Systems & Software's computers sometimes count more ballots than voters and can record the wrong choice for voters with long fingernails.

Optical scanners made by Diebold Election Systems can be hacked (and so possibly can scanners sold by other vendors.)

Unlike in years past, the difference is that lawmakers and state elections officials are airing those problems, if grudgingly and with some protests from local elections officials.

"These meetings are tearing the (voters') confidence apart. They're saying every system is bad," complained Debbie Hench, San Joaquin County registrar of voters, in a legislative hearing.

"I'm sorry you feel scrutiny and transparency is bad," said Debra Bowen, D-Marina del Rey, chairwoman of the Senate Elections and Reapportionment Committee. But, she said, making a clean breast of voting problems is essential for fixing them and regaining the voter trust that has been in decline since the 2000 presidential elections.

[Wilms]

10. Diebold fate hangs on whether its voting software can be fixed

Diebold fate hangs on whether its voting software can be fixed

By Ian Hoffman

1/22/2006

Software files have company in double bind with state, feds, STAFF WRITER

For more than two years, Diebold Election Systems Inc. has hit one political or technical snag after another trying to reap more than $40 million in voting-machine sales in California.

Now only a collection of tiny software files on Diebold's latest voting machines stand in the way of those revenues and more. Last summer, a Finnish computer expert using an agricultural device found he could rig the votes stored on Diebold's memory cards and rewrite one of those files to cover his tracks.

The revelation posed a double problem for Diebold: Not only could its optical-scanning voting machines be hacked, but state and federal rules for more than a year have forbidden those files in voting machines.

This week, scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, UC-Davis and a private, testing lab in Huntsville, Ala., are studying those files under strict promises of confidentiality. What they find could bear directly on what kind of voting systems almost a third of California counties will use in the 2006 elections and indirectly on Diebold's viability as a voting company.

snip

http://www.insidebayarea.com/sanmateocountytimes/localnews/ci_3427025


Discussion

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x410161

and

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x410281

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14. Time to call Jeff Dean...or the Urosavich brothers...

Now there's some talent:evilgrin:

It's easy to win when you break every single rule.

Let's see if they can survive with even a modicum of enforcement.

I doubt it.

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6. Nation: Alito, the security vote to stop election fraud cases!

Well, this editorial writer at Op-Ed News certainly has it down. Alito, the final vote to make sure that the next stolen election is locked down, ready to roll, secure as a Swiss bank. It makes sense. You’ve got a crew that screwed us last time. Mr. Roberts took Rhenquist’s place (who was a voter intimidator in his early days, documented) place. Now Alito is installed to take the “O’Connor” Chair on Election Fraud, SCOTUS.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_mark_s___060121_alito_and_the_vote_f.htm

January 21, 2006

Alito and the Vote Fraud
Tell A Friend
How Machiavelli Yet Lives

by Mark S. Tucker

Why? Simple. Should a case regarding Vote Fraud ever be successfully mounted, the BCCS has worlds of pain awaiting it. The matter would ultimately be referred to the Supreme Court, its proper and only last venue on appeal of any negative decision in a lower federal trial court. Without Alito, the outcome of that appeal would be extremely dicey; with him, a positive handing down would be assured: the BCCS would go free. However, whether or not that trial will ever occur in the first place is doubtful. Greg Palast seems to have given up his earlier landmark work toward the objective. Perhaps that’s of no consequence, as Mark Crispin Miller has picked up the lance and is presently sallying forth, but...only two guys? In all this time? In all the country?

Liberal radio talk show hosts are ambivalent about this. It took a while for most to even come around to the issue, and many still carefully shy away from it, Ed Schultz in particular, but, even when they do drop it into their repertoire, the issue gets ridiculously short shrift, usually a toss-off reference or two, or a note of brief frustration. This hideously important keystone to the swift decapitation of the BCCS, the only method by which it can assuredly be slain and all its insanities completely expunged, should be something they’re ceaselessly screaming at the top of their lungs about, but...well, they worry about paychecks, too. Alas, human frailty.

Alright then, the entire NeoCon farrago just may work after all, not for want of information to destroy it but for lack of a spine in key positions to invoke what must be done. However, at the very least, never deceive yourself that the insurgents needed Alito to further their twisted agenda; they don’t - that can be done though any number of agents - what they must have is insurance, a hedge against the dim possibility that either the people or the Congress, the latter being the most dubious, will somehow press the Vote Fraud to its logical conclusion. It’s a Las Vegas style 9-Card Stud game and the dealer must have a hidden ace or all is lost. That’s why the BCCS needs Alito and that’s why the activity behind him will become exceedingly frantic as a fever to whisk him into an “up or down” vote and then immediately into position becomes paramount. Whatever might eventuate afterwards will be gravy. When push comes to shove, what’s needed is a subservient bootlicker to moot everything in a feared reprisal from us. The Supreme Court’s where that can be done, because, when the federal SC decides wrongly in favor of the criminals, where do those aggrieved with such a rigged decision then go? When it comes to appealing a Supreme Court appellate decision, I’m sorry to inform you there's no ‘there’ there.

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7. PA: Making Diebold “Okay” for Pennsylvania

VoteTrust has a great summary of the problems in PA, most of which center around a state government just dying to spend money on voting machines. Why?

http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=814&Itemid=113

Making Diebold "Okay" For Pennsylvania

By John Washburn and Roxanne Jekot, VoteTrustUSA Voting Technology Task Force
January 22, 2006

Last week the Department of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania released a report confirming the certification of the Diebold TSx touch screen voting machine and reversing an earlier decision to deny certification for the Diebold OS central count optical scanner. The state continued to deny state certification of the Diebold precinct count optical scanner. The report reveals how the Department of State of Pennsylvania and their expert consultant worked together with Diebold to fabricate a justification for certifying machines in the state that contain prohibited code and have the same potential of being hacked undetectably that was demonstrated in a well publicized test in Florida last month. The report refers to this test as the “Hursti Exploit”.

On December 13, 2005 in a test election conducted by Leon County Florida Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho, Finnish computer programmer Harri Hursti succeeded in altering the election results from a Diebold optical scan system undetectably, in spite of all the normal election security procedures. As a result of this “exploit”, the California Secretary of State deferred certification for both the Diebold touchscreen and optical scan system until they were reviewed by the Independent Testing Authority (ITA) laboratory that had originally certified them. With 17 California counties heavily invested in Diebold equipment, there is no doubt considerable pressure to dismiss the significance of the defect in Diebold’s software, particularly its presence in their touchscreen system, so that they can be re-certified for use in this year’s elections. There has thus far been no response from the ITA, but the Pennsylvania report may be an indication of the obfuscation and fact-bending to come.

The Pennsylvania Department of State appears desperate to spend taxpayer dollars on Diebold equipment but, like California, they apparently couldn't just ignore the fact that this time concerned citizens and even The Washington Post are paying attention.

[Wilms]

11. Discussion

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x410249

[Wilms]

16. PA: Voting system proposal gets OK

Voting system proposal gets OK

Sunday, January 22, 2006

By Karen Kane, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

snip

Some members of a local citizens group, Butler County Democrats for Change, complained that ES&S is not the best vendor, citing problems the company has had with touchscreens in other locales. Mr. Young discounted the criticism, blaming human errors and not the machines for any problems.

The citizens group had been lobbying the county for several weeks not to undertake a wholesale conversion of the balloting system. It favored purchasing one touch-screen machine per precinct and waiting to get rid of the county's punch-card system.

snip

Mr. Young acknowledged that the federal Help America Vote Act -- which encourages the touch-screen system as a step toward greater handicapped-accessibility at polling places -- doesn't require a whole-sale conversion. But he said the county would likely forfeit most of the $950,000 federal grant it will receive if the changeover were made piecemeal.

snip

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06022/640937.stm

[Wilms]

13. Why Washington State Should Not Pass SB-6242/HB-2479 Without Amendment

Why Washington State Should Not Pass SB-6242/HB-2479 Without Amendment

By John Gideon, VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA

January 23, 2006

The following was sent to members of both the Washington State Senate and House Elections Committees to point out to them how the whole voting system certification process in the state of Washington is broken. 84 rules changes on voting systems in one year alone! They are out of control.

snip

Last year alone, there were five Washington State Registers issued to the Secretary of State that included changes to voting system certification rules. Within those 5 WSRs there are a total of 84 changes to the Washington Administrative Code regarding voting systems, and some codes have been changed up to 4 times. In one case, a permanent change became final on 29 September, and an Emergency change for two of the newly instituted WACs was filed on October 19, less than one month later.

Also troubling is the fact that the Secretary of State's office does not abide by its own administrative rules, even though, according to the Washington State Legislature, "Like legislation and the Constitution, regulations are a source of primary law in Washington State."

On Friday, January 20 I attended a public hearing for certification of Hart Intercivic and Diebold TSx Direct Recording Electronic and optical-scan voting machines. In that meeting I asked about two WACs, 434-335-030 and 434-335-040. Both of these WACs require, in part, that voting system vendors must put their source code into escrow and provide proof of that to the state. I was told in public testimony that the state was going to ignore both those rules and that the rules were going to be changed because the state felt they were no longer needed. In fact I know that those rules have been ignored for the past year.

snip

Because it is difficult to know what the certification process in Washington state will look like from one month to the next, I ask again that no changes be allowed this session to remove the "prior use" portion of SB-6242/HB-2479. I urge you to form a commission with people from outside of the elections community as well as those within that community and require them to report back next session with suggested legislative changes, including definitive actions to be taken on voting system certification. I also urge you to codify the certification process so that it won't remain in continual flux through the frequent use of provisional WACs, emergency WACs, WAC changes, and disregarded WACs. The certification process must be fixed while it is still possible to fix it. Removing the "prior use" restriction will open the flood-gates to uncontrolled, untested, unreliable, and unneeded voting systems.

snip

http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=823&Itemid=113

[Wilms]

15. Canadians head to polls amid warnings of bogus election e-mail

Canadians head to polls amid warnings of bogus election e-mail

Mon, 23 Jan 2006

CBC News

As Canadians prepare to vote in the parliamentary election on Monday, Elections Canada is warning them not to be led astray by a fraudulent e-mail that has been circulating.

Elections Canada said the bogus e-mail bears the agency's logo and the name of Jean-Pierre Kingsley, chief electoral officer, and incorrectly states that people can vote on two days – Monday and Tuesday.

"The only polling day is Monday, Jan. 23," Elections Canada said in a statement posted on its website.

snip

The agency also said there have been reports that some candidates' materials listed incorrect information about the addresses and voting hours for polling stations.

snip

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canadavotes2006/national/2006/01/22/fake-votes060122.html


LBN Discussion

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2059336

[Stevepol]

17. More tumult in GA over voter ID

Looks like folks are getting aroused a little bit. The GA legislature is now Repub (largely because of Diebold?) but the resistance is powerful and getting stronger.



ATLANTA - Voter identification - the issue that in the past year has prompted walkouts, a lawsuit and heated debates that saw some lawmakers singing spirituals and brandishing shackles - is set to return to the state Capitol this week.
On Tuesday, the Senate is expected to take up the thorny issue of requiring Georgia voters to show a picture ID when they arrive at the polls.
The vote, which is expected to pass in the Republican-dominated Senate largely along party lines, would set the new law in motion for the second time in two years and would need a signature by Gov. Sonny Perdue and approval by the U.S. Department of Justice if it is to go into effect before this year's elections.

snip

Staton said he was surprised at the level of resistance the bill met. Last year, Sen. Kasim Reed, D-Atlanta, called it "the most aggressive ... attack on minorities and African-Americans in my tenure in the House or the Senate."
Another senator held up chains, saying the measure reminded him of segregation-era laws and slavery, and in the House, a black Democrat burst into a rendition of the spiritual "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around," drawing a rebuke from the Republican House speaker.

Link:

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/local/13686873.htm

[Wilms]

18. Politics Alleged In Voting Cases - Justice Officials Are Accused of Influence

Politics Alleged In Voting Cases

Justice Officials Are Accused of Influence

By Dan Eggen

Washington Post Staff Writer

Monday, January 23, 2006; A01

The Justice Department's voting section, a small and usually obscure unit that enforces the Voting Rights Act and other federal election laws, has been thrust into the center of a growing debate over recent departures and controversial decisions in the Civil Rights Division as a whole.

Many current and former lawyers in the section charge that senior officials have exerted undue political influence in many of the sensitive voting-rights cases the unit handles. Most of the department's major voting-related actions over the past five years have been beneficial to the GOP, they say, including two in Georgia, one in Mississippi and a Texas redistricting plan orchestrated by Rep. Tom DeLay (R) in 2003.

snip

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and his aides dispute such criticism and defend the department's actions in voting cases. "We're not going to politicize decisions within the department," he told reporters last month after The Washington Post had disclosed staff memoranda recommending objections to a Georgia voter-identification plan and to the Texas redistricting.

snip

One of the officials involved in the decision was Hans von Spakovsky, a former head of the Fulton County GOP in Atlanta, who had long advocated a voter-identification law for the state and oversaw many voting issues at Justice. Justice spokesman Eric W. Holland said von Spakovsky's previous activities did not require a recusal and had no impact on his actions in the Georgia case.

Holland denied a request to interview von Spakovsky, saying that department policy "does not authorize the media to conduct interviews with staff attorneys." Von Spakovsky has since been named to the Federal Election Commission in a recess appointment by President Bush.

snip

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/22/AR2006012200984.html?referrer=email&referrer=email


Discussion

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x410341