Election Reform Daily News: Saturday June 3rd, 2006

[rumpel]

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.

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

Unisyn Voting Solutions is a wholly owned subsidiary of International Lottery & Totalizator Systems (ILTS), a leading supplier of computerized transaction processing systems to government sanctioned lotteries and racing organizations worldwide. Founded in 1979, the Company serves 28 customers in 22 countries on five continents with secure and reliable automated wagering systems and quality support. ILTS has provided integrated systems including more than 50,000 terminals to seven lotteries and nearly 200 racetracks worldwide, processing nearly 50 billion secure transactions annually.
source: itls.com


source: inkavote.com

[rumpel]

1. MT: Rehberg encounters glitch while using touch screen voting system

BILLINGS Representative Denny Rehberg got a firsthand look today at Montana's new touch screen voting system. And he learned it still has a few kinks.

Rehberg attempted to cast his absentee ballot using the new equipment at the Yellowstone County Courthouse. However, a printing problem on the machine forced him to vote the old-fashioned way.

snip

Elections officials in Yellowstone County say a technician will staff the machine during Tuesday's primary.

http://www.kaj18.com/Global/story.asp?S=4983185

[rumpel]

2. Justice Department wants to hear about local voting discrimination

The Arab American News

By Danielle Smith -- The Arab American News -- June 3, 2006:



DEARBORN - John Tanner, Chief of the Voting Section at the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division came to Dearborn to discuss any concerns the Arab American community has regarding its right to vote and the voting process.

The DOJ has identified the Detroit area, along with Houston, Austin, and northern New Jersey as key locations to conduct outreach with the Arab American community.

Tanner wanted to reach out to the Arab American community and make people aware of protections they have under the Voting Rights Act. The DOJ has identified the Detroit area, along with Houston, Austin, and northern New Jersey as key locations to conduct outreach with the Arab American community.

Tanner wants to make sure every local city and town in the area is abiding by the law. He mentioned a case of voter discrimination in Hamtramck. In 1999, the city of Hamtramck agreed to pay $150,000 to 15 people who say they were victims of voter discrimination because of their ethnicity.

http://www.arabamericannews.com/newsarticle.php?articleid=5451

[Kip Humphrey]

3. humorous observation deleted by author as inapproprate for this forum

[rumpel]

4. CO: Blake: Gigi Dennis doesn't help herself by helping Beauprez (Opinion)

June 3, 2006

Secretary of State Gigi Dennis was already a likely pick as Bob Beauprez's running mate. Does her role in sparing him an expensive and divisive primary by bumping Marc Holtzman off the ballot increase her chances?
Probably not. It might even work against her.

That's because Beauprez would be accused of paying her off if he chose her. That wouldn't be a fair claim, of course. Dennis was merely doing what she had to do according to the laws governing petitions. It's a very public process, reviewable by the courts.

But perception is reality in politics, and Beauprez might simply want to spare himself, and her, the inevitable flap.

There's another reason Dennis, a former state senator from Pueblo, might not be chosen - even though she would provide geographical and gender balance. She's going to be very busy between now and Election Day supervising election preparations in 64 counties. That's a process complicated by the various demands of the Help America Vote Act, which requires the counties to go out and buy expensive new voting machines with unproven technology.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/opinion_columnists/article/0,2777,DRMN_23972_4747197,00.html

[rumpel]

5. MO: Petitions backer sues secretary of state

Kansas City Star

Posted on Sat, Jun. 03, 2006

By KIT WAGAR
The Star’s Jefferson City correspondent
The sponsor of two ballot measures rejected by the Missouri secretary of state’s office sued Friday, arguing that disorganized petitions should not override 400,000 signatures in support.

One initiative sought to prohibit the government from taking property for private development projects through a process known as eminent domain. The second sought to set new, more stringent limits on state government spending.

The lawsuits, which were filed by a group called Missourians in Charge, say clerical errors in the petitions do not justify a decision to keep the two measures off the ballot. State law, the lawsuits say, requires the secretary of state to overlook clerical and other technical errors when in the process of validating the signatures.

“On May 7, we turned in 400,000 signatures. On May 25, the secretary of state says she is not going to count them because page numbers were out of order,” said Patrick Tuohey of Kansas City, treasurer of Missourians in Charge. “We believe that the secretary of state is wrong on the law and wrong on the Constitution. Ultimately, the will of the people to have their voices heard trumps any bureaucratic technicality.”

Secretary of State Robin Carnahan rejected the two measures because the stacks of signature pages were submitted in little discernible order with signatures from different counties mixed on unnumbered pages. Her spokeswoman, Stacie Temple, said state law requires lists of signatures on initiative petitions to be submitted by county and on sequentially numbered pages.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/14730284.htm

[rumpel]

6. NC: Elections board goes to wire

Citizens-Times.com

Buncombe talks voting machines as deadline looms

by By Julie Ball, [e-mail]
published June 3, 2006 12:15 am

ASHEVILLE- With time running out and limited options, Buncombe County elections officials will talk Tuesday about the purchase of new voting equipment.

"Certainly their options are limited, but I can't predict what they might do," Elections Director Trena Parker said of members of the county elections board.

Buncombe County commissioners last month rejected the elections board's recommendation to purchase touch screen electronic voting machines. That leaves optical scan equipment, which involves paper ballots fed into a machine.

Commissioners David Young and Carol Peterson said Friday they expect the board to come back with a recommendation for optical scan equipment.

"This is, I believe, the only option we have right now," Young said.

The company providing the equipment told county officials they needed to order the touch screen machines by May 30.

http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060603/NEWS01/606030308/1010

[rumpel]

7. AR: Election commission considering more electronic voting machines

Northwest Arkansas Times

BY DUSTIN TRACY Northwest Arkansas Times
Posted on Saturday, June 3, 2006

The Washington County Election Commission discussed the possibility of using more electronic voting machines in future elections Friday.

John Logan Burrow, head of the commission, said the machines were a big hit when they were debuted in May’s primary elections.

The county has 135 electronic voting machines and only implemented one per precinct during the past election. "The whole excursion has been a learning experience," Burrow said. "I think we’ll be more prepared for November now."

The commission also signed and notarized a state affidavit certifying that they followed all of the state’s regulations for holding an election. "We’re proud to say that we complied and even exceeded the state election regulations," Burrow said.

http://nwanews.com/nwat/News/41385/

[livvy]

21. No Early Voting Yet in 12 Arkansas Counties

No Early Voting Yet in 12 Arkansas Counties

Early voting in the primary runoffs, which was supposed to have started on Tuesday, hasn't yet begun in 12 Arkansas counties. State election officials those 12 have been unable to open sites for early voting for the June 13th runoff because of delays with ballots and electronic voting software.

The secretary of state's office says the counties where early voting hadn't yet begun as of yesterday are Baxter, Bradley, Carroll, Crittenden, Cross, Jackson, Lee, Mississippi, Phillips, Randolph, Saint Francis and Woodruff.

A lack of paper ballots and software for touch-screen voting machines has led many counties around the state to print up their own ballots for the two-week voting period. But those 12 counties have neither paper ballots nor voting machines that are ready to use.

http://www.todaysthv.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=29344

[livvy]

22. Huckabee Calls Voting Problems 'Unacceptable'

Huckabee Calls Voting Problems 'Unacceptable'

The first week of early voting has ended without electronic voting machines in most counties and without any voting at all in four counties. Gov. Mike Huckabee calls that “unacceptable.”

Polling places haven't opened in Baxter, Cross, Phillips and St. Francis counties. They've been advised by the Secretary of State's Office to open by any means possible, but most have had printer problems.

As for the electronic voting machines, the Secretary of State's Office says Election Systems and Software (ES&S) will deliver the necessary software to most counties by Monday.

As of Thursday, only 10 counties were using the machines. Huckabee says he's amazed there hasn't been a greater uproar.

>more

http://www.todaysthv.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=29415

[livvy]

24. AR: Baxter County Primary Votes Certified

Article published Jun 2, 2006
Baxter County primary votes certified
ARMANDO RIOS
Bulletin Staff Writer

The Baxter County Election Commission on Thursday certified primary race results in the Republican, Democrat and nonpartisan races, making the results from the recent election official.

Officials had until today to certify results under election rules.

Meanwhile, election commissioners and Baxter County Circuit Clerk Rhonda Porter hope to be able to start early voting Monday for the June 13 run-off election. Marion County voters started early voting Tuesday.

>snip

Meanwhile, in preparation for the run-off election, Wharton said she had received a call from the secretary of state's office Thursday and was told paper ballots were being printed for absentee and provisional votes. Wharton said election officials still planned to use Election Systems & Software's touch-screen voting machines for voters on election day June 13.

Election officials initially had problems with the software for early voting in the primary but later received corrected software.

Wharton also said she would call an ES&S representative to check on the status of the Personalized Electronic Ballots, which had not been received by Baxter County late Thursday. Many other counties in Arkansas are also still waiting on the ballots.

http://www.baxterbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060602/NEWS01/606020312/1002/NEWS01

[livvy]

26. AR: County Election Woes Blamed on Company: Editorial

County election woes blamed on company

By TONI WALTHALL
Editor

The election problems in Pulaski County had nothing to do with election officials or the clerk’s office, county attorney Karla Burnette told the quorum court Thursday night.

Burnette said the problems were two-fold, resulting from a malfunctioning opening and closing system of the electronic voting machines and mistakes in programming.
“The machines were programmed by precincts instead of polling sites. We have several precincts that go to the same polling site,” Burnette said. “The system did not know where to put those votes. The software couldn’t recognize those votes.”

Optical scan machines, referred to by election officials as “Eagles,” also malfunctioned because of malfunctioning Unity Software for the iVotronic electronic voting machines, supplied by ES&S.

Vote recounts are required. In response to questions from members of the quorum, Burnette explained how the recounts would have to be done.

The iVotronic paper tapes, that record the votes, will have to be unrolled and manually examined and counted.

>more



http://www.jacksonvillepatriot.com/Pages/05-31-06/County%20election%20woes%20blamed%20on%20company.htm

[rumpel]

8. 'THE WHOLE TRUTH' IN THE ELECTION CASES: "I SUPPORT THE FEDERATION"

Saturday June 03, 2006


The long-delayed, recently-concluded Election Petition Trials in St. Kitts have generated much public and private discussion in the media and in homes throughout the land on the significant issues that have arisen in these matters. These Trials have taught us many lessons.

During the trial of the First Petition  LINDSAY GRANT (Petitioner) versus Rupert Herbert and others (the Respondents)  Senior Counsel for the Respondents asked one of the Witnesses for the Petitioner, "Do you support Mr. Grant?" (What that had to do with anything we don''t know). The young man responded, "I support the Federation"!  a splendid answer, which epitomises the reasons why these Petitions were brought. They have been a wake-up call for right-thinking citizens and residents in the Federation.

Despite 18 months of delaying tactics by the Respondents, the LINDSAY GRANT and EUGENE HAMILTON trials proceeded in early May and we await the Judge''s decision on those. The Respondents had sought to have the Petitions struck out in their entirety but Justice Baptiste had ruled that there was a case for the Respondents to answer.

http://www.pamdemocrat.org/Newspaper/Details.cfm?Nz=%247GIJ2%20%20%20%0A&Iz=%24(2TD%220%20%20%0A

[rumpel]

9. CO: Voting system draws lawsuit

Saturday, June 3rd 2006
By Joe Hanel | Journal Denver Bureau
DENVER - A group of Colorado voters has sued La Plata and eight other counties, claiming their electronic voting machines are vulnerable to fraud.

"The system has repeatedly been exposed to glaring security holes that have not been fixed."
-Lowell Finley Voter Action
Montezuma County is not named as a defendant, but if the plaintiffs are successful, the ruling would apply to all Colorado counties.

The voters also sued Secretary of State Gigi Dennis for certifying machines made by Diebold Election Systems, Sequoia Voting Systems, ES&S and Hart InterCivic.

All of the machines have serious flaws, but the Diebold machines used by La Plata County have the longest history of security problems, said Lowell Finley, a lawyer from the group Voter Action, which is supporting the suit and has filed cases in other states.

“The system has repeatedly been exposed to glaring security holes that have not been fixed,” Finley said.

The lawsuit, filed in Denver District Court, asks the judge to forbid Colorado counties from using machines from the four companies.

La Plata County took delivery of new Diebold machines last week, said County Clerk Linda Daley. The county is not replacing its current machines, which are also made by Diebold. Instead, it will use the new machines to help comply with laws on access for disabled people.

But Noel Runyan, a blind engineer who will testify for the plaintiffs, said the machines Dennis certified are difficult for disabled people to use. He started scrutinizing voting machines a few years ago, after he had a series of problems in trying to vote in another state.

He examined one machine he said “looks so poorly put together that it really looks like a junior high school science project.”

http://www.cortezjournal.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/06/news060603_3.htm

[livvy]

32. CO: Vote? We'll Sue

C U And Boulder

Vote? We'll sue!

By RICHARD VALENTY Colorado Daily Staff Writer
Thursday, June 1, 2006 7:39 PM MDT

Boulder County is beginning to receive new electronic voting machines, but citizens and staff might not know for a while if the county can actually use the equipment in 2006.

A bipartisan group of citizen plaintiffs has filed a legal complaint against Secretary of State Gigi Dennis and the county commissioners of eight Colorado counties, including Boulder County, regarding the possible use of Direct Record Electronic (DRE) voting equipment in 2006.

>big snip

WTK attorney Andrew Efaw said independent examinations of some DREs have shown that it is possible for people to defeat the digital security safeguards. He said examiners have been able to “flip” results, or get the machine to record a cast vote for one candidate as a vote for a different candidate.

“More disturbingly, they've been able to do this in five to ten minutes,” said Efaw.

He also said there have been reports of DREs producing undervotes or even “phantom voting,” where the system would record more cast votes than the number of voters who came to a polling place.

>more



http://www.coloradodaily.com/articles/2006/06/01/news/c_u_and_boulder/news1.txt

[rumpel]

10. CA: Alameda County could delay statewide vote tally

Posted on Fri, Jun. 02, 2006

By Chris Metinko
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Alameda County's decision to go back to pen-and-paper voting for Tuesday's election might leave California's hotly contested Democratic gubernatorial primary still up in the air the following day.

For the first time in five years, Alameda County voters will mark paper ballots at the polls. The county had to leave behind its quicker e-voting ways when a new state law toughened requirements for touch-screen machines and rendered the county's equipment inadequate.

It comes at a bad time. Alameda is a heavily Democratic county, with 5.7 percent of the state's Democrats. Meanwhile, polls show that party's statewide primary for governor is a statistical dead heat between state Treasurer Phil Angelides and Controller Steve Westly.

Turnout is also expected to be heavier in Alameda County. Secretary of State Bruce McPherson predicts that 38 percent of registered voters statewide will actually cast ballots while Alameda County's acting registrar, David MacDonald, predicts 45 percent in his county.

Alameda County is now borrowing a Diebold optical scanning system along with about 50 touch-screens until it decides later next week what permanent system to purchase.

What it means for Tuesday's primary is that each of about 200,000 ballots cast on Election Day will be scanned by hand at a central location in Oakland. With only 60 optical scanners, results may not be available until Wednesday afternoon or later, leaving the Westly-Angelides contest in limbo.

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/14728983.htm

[rumpel]

11. ME: Two more file on time for election funds (public funding)

Saturday, June 3, 2006

By GLENN ADAMS, Associated Press

AUGUSTA — Two independent candidates for governor met Friday's filing deadline for campaign funding through the Clean Election Act, bringing to five the number who may qualify for public financing this year. Meeting Friday's deadline for independents or nonparty candidates for governor were Barbara Merrill, a state representative from Appleton, and 2002 gubernatorial candidate John Michael of Auburn.

Four years ago, Michael received 2.1 percent of the general election vote as Democrat John Baldacci won his first term as governor.

So far this round, Baldacci has been the leading fundraiser in the race, getting all of his donations from private contributors.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/state/060603clean.shtml

[rumpel]

12. WY: Candidates Register For Primary Election

CBS-Channel 5

Cheyenne- Posted 6/3/06
Associated Press
Friday was the deadline to file for office. By the close of business, both Democrats and Republicans had registered in all statewide races except for the position of secretary of state.

In the secretary of state's race, Republican Mary Ann Collins of Casper will face outgoing state auditor Max Maxfield for the nomination. No Democrat registered for the race.

In the democratic primary race for governor, incumbent Governor Dave Freudenthal will face Al Hamburg of Torrington. Hamburg is barred from holding public office because of a 1989 election fraud conviction, but state law does not prohibit him from running for office.

Republican Ray Hunkins of Wheatland will face John Self of Sheridan for the GOP gubernatorial nomination.

In the race for state auditor: Democrat Bill Eikenberry of Wheatland is running unopposed in his party's primary race. Republicans Bruce Brown of Devils Tower and Rita Meyer of Cheyenne will face off in the GOP primary.

In the state treasurer's race: Democrat Ron Redo of Cheyenne is unopposed in the primary. Republican Joe Meyer, the outgoing secretary of state, will face Fred Parady in the Republican primary.

http://www.kgwn.tv/home/headlines/2924811.html

[rumpel]

13. UK: Election fraud inquiries in 14 boroughs

This is Local London

By Martina Smit

Alleged fraud in the recent local elections is being investigated in nearly half of London's boroughs.

Between 25 and 30 offences have been reported in 13 boroughs, the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) revealed on Thursday.

MPA member Tony Arbour said his colleagues would be "absolutely astonished to find out that in half of all the London boroughs there have been complaints".

The Met's Special Branch is investigating allegations of fraud in Barnet, Bexley, Croydon, Ealing, Greenwich, Harrow, Hounslow, Kensington and Chelsea, Lambeth, Merton, Richmond, Southwark and Sutton.

An inquiry is also underway in Tower Hamlets to identify victims, witnesses and evidence.

More complaints could follow, as the law allows 12 months to bring prosecutions for such electoral offences.

http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/topstories/display.var.772810.0.election_fraud_inquiries_in_14_boroughs.php

[rumpel]

14. OpEdNews: Ann Coulter - Trying to Beat an Election Fraud Rap

June 3, 2006
by Steven Leser

This is one of those articles where the ironies could be listed for about eight hundred pages. Ann Coulter, who says in almost every article how she believes in the absolutes of law and order and how criminals should receive maximum penalties with total disregard to circumstance, is accused of Felony Vote Fraud. According to this article in the Huffington Post, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/06/02/coulter-accused-of-voter-_n_22097.html:

“A poll worker reported to his supervisors that he saw Coulter try to vote in the precinct closest to her Palm Beach home. But when she was told the address on her voter's registration was elsewhere, Coulter ran out instead of correcting it and ended up voting in a precinct that wasn't hers. Knowingly voting in the wrong precinct in Florida is a felony.

Elections Supervisor Arthur Anderson gave Coulter until April 30 to explain what happened, but she has yet to answer his registered letters. Now with Jimenez, Kelly said, officials will wait "a few more weeks" before starting a procedure that could strip Coulter of her right to vote here and refer the case to State Attorney Barry Krischer for possible prosecution.”

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_steven_l_060603_ann_coulter___trying.htm

[rumpel]

15. CA: Local poll officials brace for problems

Sacramento Bee

By Robert D. Dávila -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:01 am PDT Saturday, June 3, 2006
Story appeared in Metro section, Page B1

Local election officials are bracing for possible glitches and delays at the polls Tuesday as new technology and registration requirements are used for the June primary.
For the first time, voters in El Dorado and Yolo counties will mark their choices on paper ballots fed into optical-scan machines. New equipment allowing disabled voters to cast ballots unaided at the polls also will be available in El Dorado County but not Yolo County, prompting complaints from an advocate for people with visual impairments.

In Sacramento County, officials expect many absentee voters will wait until Tuesday to return ballots in person. Volunteers will help direct traffic at polling places where precincts have been consolidated, election official Brad Buyse said.
Meanwhile, poll workers will use rosters based on a new statewide voter database intended to eliminate dual registrations and fraud. State officials are matching the information against other databases, including Department of Motor Vehicles records.

Many counties already have notified voters to clear up discrepancies. On Tuesday, voters whose names don't appear on local registration rolls could be asked to cast a provisional ballot, which would be counted after the information is verified, officials said.

http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/14263757p-15076586c.html

[rumpel]

16. MD: Delegates: Another session of partisan politics

Published on June 3, 2006

By Ed Waters, Jr.
News-Post Staff
FREDERICK -- It was another session of partisan politics in Annapolis, according to local GOP delegates on Thursday, heightened by the fact that it is an election year.
Six delegates and a representative of Sen. Alex Mooney were on hand for the monthly meeting of the Frederick County Association of Realtors.

"Listening to some people today, I think I must have been in a different legislature," said Delegate Galen Clagett, the lone Democrat in the local delegation.

Delegate Joseph Bartlett and Michael Hough, Mr. Mooney's representative, criticized the proposal for early voting as open to fraud and costly to taxpayers.

Mr. Bartlett had petitions on hand for Realtors to sign, hoping to get 50,000 signatures by the end of the month to push for placing the measure on the ballot.

"The early voting, focused on the most Democratic controlled areas of the state, would be five days before the primary election. There is no security for the machines and it will cost extra money for that. It is open to fraud. I don't think anyone wants to put their fingerprints on this. It is the most important election reform we have seen and the people should decide it," Mr. Bartlett said.

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?storyid=49489

[rumpel]

17. AR: TOP STORY>> Three republicans get recounts (missed 6/2)

Arkansas Leader

Friday, June 02, 2006

BY JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader staff writer

IN SHORT: Two Lonoke County JPs, apparently turned out of office in an intraparty feud, say they distrust the results of a
troubled vote count and will have recounts, as will a Cabot alderman.

At the petition of three Republican candidates, one of whom lost by a single vote, the Lonoke County Election Commis-sion has scheduled recounts in their races for 10 a.m., Saturday, June 10 at the county courthouse, according to Jean McCanliss, commission chairman.


Carl Schmidt, who lost 586 to 585 to Virgil Teague Jr. in a Republican primary race for Cabot alderman Ward 2, Position 1, was the first to ask for a recount.

snip

Stumbaugh said he was disturbed that the amount of his loss so far has increased from 18 votes to 26. “How did that happen?” he asked.


He blamed Randy Minton and JP Lynn Clarke by name for contributing to his defeat, although Stumbaugh said his promotion to shift commander at the Cabot Fire Department had kept him too busy to campaign door to door.


“I want to show the (counting) inconsistencies. (The commission) refused to count by hand Tuesday night, Thursday and Friday and I'm leery."

http://www.arkansasleader.com/2006/06/top-story-three-republicans-get.html

[rumpel]

18. TOP STORY>> Paper ballots used for runoff

Arkansas Leader

Friday, June 02, 2006

BY JOHN HOFHEIMER and JOAN McCOY
Leader staff writers

IN SHORT: Pulaski, Lonoke and White counties will put aside electronic voting for
June 13 contest.

Among the counties not depending on electronic touch-screen voting machines for the primary runoff election already underway are Pulaski, Lonoke and White, none of which reported heavy voting in the May 23 primary election.


In the first week of early voting for the primary runoff elections which began Tuesday, 265 people had cast ballots at the courthouse as of Thursday afternoon.


Beginning Monday, voters may cast paper ballots in the runoff at any one of the eight satellite locations as well, according to Susan Inman, director of the county election commission. Among those voting locations are the Jacksonville Community Center and the Bill Harmon Recreation Center in Sherwood.

snip

Although all early voting sites will be active, the IvoTronic touch-screens may not be in use again (in Pulaski County) until early voting for the Nov. 7 general election, according to O’Brien.

http://www.arkansasleader.com/2006/06/top-story-paper-ballots-used-for.html

[rumpel]

19. Fitrakis: RFK and Rolling Stone nail Ohio's stolen 2004 election

Freepress

RFK and Rolling Stone nail Ohio's stolen 2004 election, but much more must be done
by Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman
June 3, 2006

At Last!!!!

The story of the stolen election of 2004 has FINALLY busted into the mainstream media, thanks to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Rolling Stone Magazine.

We all owe them great thanks.

Now we'll see if there's any further media follow-up. And if the Democratic Party actually DOES SOMETHING about the fact that America is about to be hijacked again in 2006, and then for the third straight presidential race in 2008.

The massive article in this week's RS focuses on the impossible contrast between exit polls showing a clear and overwhelming Kerry victory versus bogus "official" vote counts giving George W. Bush four more catastrophic years in the White House. It also details some of the horrific intimidation, manipulation and outright theft used by Ohio's GOP Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell to deny hundreds of thousands of mostly Democratic voters their right to a ballot. And it discusses in some depth the fact that Diebold and other electronic voting machine and software producers make it possible for any inside operator to use a laptop and a few keystrokes to flip an entire election in a matter of seconds.

It reminds us that the one good thing that can be said about George W. Bush is that the American people have never actually elected him president of the United States.

http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2006/1995

[rumpel]

20. CA: California working hard to avoid being an Ohio

San Gabriel Tribune

IN the annals of election corruption, three places stand out more than all others: Chicago and New York, with their legendary tales of stuffed ballot boxes and the voting dead, and the old South, where African-Americans were systematically excluded from the vote for almost a century.

Mechanized balloting, cleanups of the rolls and federal voting rights laws changed much of that, and there wasn't much talk of election cheating through the last two decades of the 20th century.

But with the new millennium came new voting technology and a spate of cheating allegations. It's more than merely the hanging Florida chads that helped spur still ongoing charges of fraud. There is also Ohio.

By 2004, most Ohio counties were using touch-screen voting machines made by Diebold Election Systems, an Ohio-based company whose chairman and founder loudly promised President Bush he would "bring in Ohio for you." When Ohio was narrowly decided that year, with counties using Diebold touch screen machines essentially providing Bush's national margin of victory, charges of fraud rang out loudly from the left.

There were more such charges in an Ohio special election last fall, some activists even moaning that what happened might mark "the end of democracy."

What happened there was indeed striking: The lone reputable pre-election poll done in that state, conducted by the Columbus Dispatch newspaper, found four major election-reform propositions either winning handily or too close to call. An initiative designed to ban corporate campaign donations, for one, led by 61-36 percent in the pre-election survey published two days before the vote.

But all four propositions lost, and the campaign finance restrictions went down by a 2-1 margin, almost an exact reversal of the pre-election poll. How could that poll have been so wrong on election reforms, when it was dead-on accurate on the only other issue on the ballot, a bond measure that passed easily?

http://www.sgvtribune.com/opinions/ci_3893768

[rumpel]

23. GA: How They Stole Ohio And Watch Out In 2008 (Editor's Corner:Palast)

Macon Daily

By: Greg Palast

Sat June 3, 2006 11:28 AM ET



MACON,GA.- This is a fact: On November 2, 2004, in the State of Ohio, 239,127 votes for President of the United States were dumped, rejected, blocked, lost and left to rot uncounted.

And not just anyone's vote. Dive into the electoral dumpster and these "spoiled" votes have a very dark color indeed.

In another life, I taught statistics. And these statistics stank: the raw data tells us that if you are a Black voter, the chance of you losing your vote to technical errors in voting machinery is 900% higher than if you were a white voter.

Any guesses as to whom those African-Americans chose for president on those junked ballots? Check Ohio's racial demographics, do the numbers, and there it is: Kerry won Ohio. And that, too, is a fact. A fact that could not get reported in the USA.

But the shoplifting of those votes in Ohio was just the tip of the theft-berg. November 2, 2004 was a national ballot-box bonfire. In total, over three million votes (3,600,380 to be exact) were cast -- marked, punched, pulled -- YET NEVER COUNTED. I'm not talking about the Ukraine or Uganda. I'm talking about the United States of America "with liberty and justice for all."

http://www.maconareaonline.com/news.asp?id=14234

(site: has annoying "congratulation you won ad" swirling above aticle)

[rumpel]

25. PA: Fleagle-Rock vote recount set

Public Opinion.com

By JIM HOOK Senior writer

Democratic write-in votes in the 90th Legislative District contest will be recounted at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

Todd Rock, a Mont Alto masonry teacher, won the Republican nomination on May 16 from Rep. Pat Fleagle, a former Waynesboro mayor and vice chairman of the House Appropriations committee.

Fleagle holds an unofficial 339-337 lead on the Democratic side. Both Republicans campaigned for the Democratic nomination.

Both also have asked the Franklin County Board of Elections to consolidate votes under various spellings of their names.

But before the election board consolidates the votes, the court will recount Democratic write-in votes from eight precincts.

Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Judge Douglas Herman on Friday ordered the recount at Rock's request.

Lisa Shover and Meranda Kohlenberg are to open the boxes in Courtroom Four and count the ballots. They are county employees who did not participate in the count on election night, according to Jean Byers, Franklin County Commissioners' deputy clerk. One is a Democrat and the other a Republican.

http://www.publicopiniononline.com/ci_3894286

[rumpel]

27. MO: Write in stickers join chad on the electoral scrap heap

POLITICAL FIX
By Phil Sutin
06/02/2006 10:08 pm
Write-in candidates always face long odds of being elected. New equipment that many voters will use for the first time on Aug. 8 will make their task even harder.

That’s because the equipment wipes out a key tool of write-in candidates — the stickers candidates give voters to place on the write in spot on secrecy envelopes. Stickers are useful because they insure the candidate’s name is spelled correctly and is in proper form for counting.

Supporters of write-in candidates can put stickers in designated spaces on the paper ballots that are part of optical scanning systems. But the slot in the machine where voters insert their ballots for counting can cause the stickers to come off, said Judy Taylor, Democratic director of elections for the St. Louis County Election Board.

http://www.stltoday.com/blogs/news-politicalfix/2006/06/write-in-stickers-join-chad-on-the-electoral-scrap-heap/

[rumpel]

28. CA: ALAMEDA CO. IN NEED OF POLL WORKERS

CBS Channel 5

06/03/06 9:20 PDT
The Alameda County Registrar of Voters is in desperate need of poll workers to help staff the 830 polling places that will be open on Election Day.

About 150 of the nearly 4,000 recruits have canceled their plans to help out on Tuesday, prompting the registrar to make an urgent call for staffing assistance.

The county's plans to use paper ballots rather than electronic touch-screen voting machines is adding to the urgent call for help since the vote-counting method for paper ballots is "expected to be relatively slow.''

We are planning an extraordinary effort to make sure our ballots are counted accurately and efficiently on Election Night,'' Alameda County's Acting Registrar of Voters Dave Macdonald said in a statement. "But for that to get off to a good start, it is essential that our polling places are sufficiently staffed.''

The registrar reported "the county is in particular need of people with automobiles who would be willing to be in charge of a polling place.'' Potential poll workers must be registered to vote in California and will be paid between $95 and $170 for a day's work.

Anyone interested in being a poll worker should call the registrar at [phone]. Phone calls will be taken between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. today and Sunday.

(posted the entire thing - hope it's ok - public service message?)

http://cbs5.com/localwire/localfsnews/bcn/2006/06/03/n/HeadlineNews/POLL-WORKERS/resources_bcn_html

[rumpel]

29. LA Times: Ballot Firm's Ties to Venezuela Criticized

Some American officials worry that Sequoia Voting Systems' foreign link could compromise the integrity of the U.S. election process.
By Marc Lifsher, Times Staff Writer
June 3, 2006

An Oakland company that provides electronic voting machines in California and 19 other states is drawing scrutiny over its acquisition last year by a group of Venezuelan investors with past business ties to the government of President Hugo Chavez.

Voters in 20 California counties Tuesday will use voting machines provided by Sequoia Voting Systems, the country's oldest maker of election equipment. Sequoia's ownership has barely caused a ripple in California, but it has prompted elected officials in Chicago and New York to raise questions about possible foreign influence in U.S. elections.

Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.) last month wrote U.S. Treasury Secretary John W. Snow asking whether the Bush administration had weighed the national security implications of "a company with possible ties to the Venezuelan government" selling touch-screen voting machines for U.S. elections.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-sequoia3jun03,1,2530644.story?coll=la-headlines

[livvy]

30. UT: Emery County: Ex-clerk At Center of Machine Politics

Article Last Updated: 6/02/2006 07:41 AM
Emery County: Ex-clerk at center of machine politics
By Glen Warchol
The Salt Lake Tribune

Salt Lake Tribune

Emery County's former and would-be future county clerk, Bruce Funk, is many things to many people.
To electronic elections giant Diebold Election Systems, Funk is a nuisance in an obscure rural Utah county who asks embarrassing questions.
To the Utah Lieutenant Governor's Office, he is a renegade election official who put a pothole in the $27 million transition to electronic voting.
To anti-electronic voting activists, the 23-year veteran clerk, forced out of office in March after he allowed independent computer experts to examine an Emery County voting machine, is nothing less than a martyr to democracy.
To shocked computer experts and electronic voting certification officials from California to Pennsylvania, Funk is a whistle-blower who uncovered a severe security problem in Diebold's machines.

>large snip to get to the best part- a statement from Diebold...

After Black Box issued its report on the Emery County machine, Diebold acknowledged it had a "theoretical security vulnerability." Diebold spokesman David Bear says the so-called security hole is really a "functionality" that allows the software to be efficiently updated. What critics call a fix, Bear prefers to call a "redundant enhancement." "Keep in mind, this is not a vulnerability," Bear says. " are just asking for an enhancement to the existing system." The machines are already well-protected through standard procedures, including integrity tests, seals and, of course, honest elections officials, Bear says.
"It's only a vulnerability to those who would commit a felony ," he says, adding, "You are not going to take advantage of it on a thousand machines and it go unnoticed."
>more

http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_3890918

As noted in BradBlog:
"And why would anyone, with millions and billions of dollars at stake in each and every one of these elections ever have any interest in committing such a felony? Good lord.

Bear's classic 'Orwellian/Bushian Doublespeak' concerning a "redundant enhancement" is one for the hall of fame. Keep slingin' it, Dave!"

http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002902.htm

[rumpel]

31. UT: Diebold's reassurances are not enough (Tribune Editorial)

Salt Lake Tribune

Article Last Updated: 06/03/2006 12:13:45 AM MDT

The more they tell us not to worry, the more we should worry.
Experts are becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the Diebold Elections Systems machines and the opening they reportedly present to any semi-skilled hacker with a little spare time and a charge account at Radio Shack.
Pennsylvania and California have ordered fixes. Wisconsin is having second thoughts. The Maryland Assembly voted to ban the machines, only to have their Senate kill the bill.
But in Utah, where we are spending $27 million to adopt the touch-screen voting system statewide, the only official to express any concern is now an ex-official. Those still running our elections, all the way up to Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert, insist that none of us need worry our pretty little heads about it and the June 27 primaries should go off without a hitch.
Frankly, it would be a lot more comforting if our officials were eager to be seen as solving the problem instead of denying that there is one. Because, according to some very heavily credentialed experts, there is one.
Top tech-heads from Finland to Stanford have taken a look at the Diebold system, particularly the biopsy allowed recently by then-Emery County Clerk Bruce Funk, and pronounced the Diebold system stunningly vulnerable to sabotage. The picture they draw is of a system that has taken some pains to lock the front door while removing the back door altogether.

http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_3894209

[livvy]

45. UT: Utah's OK With Voting Machines

Saturday, June 3, 2006

Utah's OK with voting machines
By Josh Loftin
Deseret Morning News
A report detailing numerous security flaws in the electronic voting machines that will be used in this year's Utah elections has been met with a yawn from state elections officials, despite increasing national attention to the problems.
"Yeah, and ... ?" said Joe Demma, the chief of staff for Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert, whose office supervises elections in Utah, when asked for his response to the report from nonprofit voting accuracy organization Black Box Voting. The report was released in May and stems from voting machine tests the group did in Emery County earlier this year.
"It's like learning that if you put a match to paper, the paper will burn. It's not new information," Demma said.
The security flaws Black Box Voting found in Diebold voting equipment range from physical, such as plugs that can be easily kicked out of sockets, to technical, such as the boot loader that "seems to enable a malicious person to compromise the equipment." Other vulnerabilities include:

• The embedded versions of Windows CE could allow individual files, and possibly the operating system, to be altered.

• The machine casings can be removed with a Phillips screwdriver, allowing access to PC card slots and memory cards.

• Memory card slots might be usable to install wireless networking capabilities, potentially allowing hacking of the machine without physical access.

• An unmarked button that is "completely accessible for all voters in the standard voting booth" could allow a manual reset of the machine.

>more

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,635212549,00.html

[livvy]

33. FL: Election Integrity Group challenges Uncertified Voting Machines

Florida: Election Integrity Group Challenges Uncertified Voting Machines

By Florida Fair Elections Coalition
June 02, 2006

Complaint to Attorney General with all Exhibits
Cover Letter to Attorney General
Supplemental Evidence



A complaint filed today with Florida ’s attorney general challenges the shipment of uncertified voting machines to Volusia, Putnam, Polk, and Glades counties, a felony under Florida law. Florida Fair Elections Coalition (FFEC), the Volusia-based election watchdog group that brought the complaint, has asked the attorney general to initiate an investigation of the actions of both the state officials who gave permission for the delivery of the equipment and those of Diebold Election Systems, Inc., the supplier of the machines.

FFEC’s action came in response to the recent discovery by Volusia elections’ staff that the voting machines delivered by Diebold were not certified by the state as called for in the county’s contract with the vendor and as required by state law. According to Volusia Supervisor of Elections Ann McFall, a member of her staff, Laurie White, discovered the problem during routine acceptance testing. When McFall confronted the vendor about the issue, the company produced a letter signed by David Drury, chief of the Bureau of Voting Systems Certification, giving it permission to ship the uncertified Model D, Accu-Vote TSx (touch-screen) voting machines to its customers in Florida .

“It is an embarrassment to Diebold and to the division ,” McFall told a reporter from the Daytona Beach News Journal. “I am happy my department caught this.” Officials in the other three counties—Polk, Putnam, and Glades—learned of the problem from newspaper reporters after the discovery in Volusia. A fifth county, Leon , had been scheduled to receive the machines on or about May 30. That delivery has now been postponed because of the publicity surrounding the uncertified equipment.

It is a third-degree felony for a supplier to provide an uncertified voting system, component or upgrade to a local governing body or supervisor of elections. Florida law also requires the supplier to sign a sworn statement attesting to the certification of any equipment provided. A Diebold representative did, in fact, sign an "Affidavit of Certification" for the uncertified equipment.

>more

http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1334&Itemid=113

[rumpel]

34. CA: Bowen trailing

:(

FIELD POLL: A look at Proposition 82 and statewide offices

http://www.sacbee.com/static/richmedia/pdf/prop82_poll.pdf

Ortiz Bowen Undecided
25% 19% 56%

[livvy]

35. MD: Lamone Finds A Firm That Will Approve Diebold Paperles Voting

Maryland: Lamone Finds A Firm That Will Approve Diebold Paperless Voting

By TrueVoteMD
June 02, 2006
SBE Responds to Calls for Independent Testing of Diebold Machines By Hiring a Diebold Apologist Rather then a Security Expert to Conduct Tests.
TrueVoteMD Calls Review a "Whitewash in the making"

Over the past five months, a Finnish security expert Hari Hursti has tested Diebold voting systems used in many states. He found serious security vulnerabilities both in the software, PCMCIA cards that record votes and in the procedures surrounding the voting machines. One of these vulnerabilities was detected by a Maryland security assessment two years ago, but Diebold never fixed the vulnerability. The newest attack is so serious that experts are afraid to talk about its details publicly.



As these security vulnerabilities became known Governor Robert Ehrlich expressed his view that he no longer trusted the machines. Candidates and citizens called for independent testing of the machines and John Hopkins Computer Expert Avi Rubin challenged the State Board of Elections to find computer scientists who would verify that the system is secure.



In response to this widespread pressure from citizens, voting security experts and political leaders, including TrueVoteMD, The Maryland State Board of Elections recently hired Freeman, Craft and McGregor Group Inc., to do an assessment of Diebold’s voting system security. However the selection of this Florida firm to do the analysis has itself raised questions.


Paul Craft is a partner in Freeman, Craft and McGregor. "We did some research into Paul Craft’s firm and have serious concerns as to their qualifications as security experts. There has been a lot of criticism of Mr. Craft in regards to the weakening of security procedures during the time he was assisting NASED in creating voting system standards in 2005," said Alex Zeese of TrueVoteMD.org. "We have some of the best computer experts in the country right here in Maryland who have been very critical of the Diebold machines. The SBE should have had these well-qualified critics test the machines in order to restore confidence of voters and political leaders. The selection of this group is a whitewash in the making. With this firm conducting the test the outcome is predictable."

>more

http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1335&Itemid=113

[livvy]

36. NC: Opinion- Chatham Primary Elections, Good and Bad

Chatham primary elections, good and bad

By John Bonitz
Posted Friday, June 2, 2006

Silk Hope, NC - Well, the primary election went off without many obvious problems.

Most all anecdotal reports from May 2 were of diligence and vigilance from our poll-workers and elections staff. They are a hard-working bunch, and I for one, am very grateful for their efforts using the paper ballots. The paper ballot system once again proved its robustness, and voters' trust was affirmed.

Early voting was a different story, however. The computerized DRE voting machines showed a few voters how dangerous they can be. The 60-something extra votes for David Price were a clear sign of the inherent flaws of computerized voting: This problem was discoverable -- imagine the problems that could remain invisible! Numerous voters (including Pittsboro Mayor Randy Voller) reported touchscreen malfunctions, and had to repeatedly select their choice before the machine "got it." Many voters are still sore about the perceived arrogance and bias of BOE decisions over the past few months: In my precinct, a shocking 10% of registered voters used "absentee ballots" to vote early, probably out of mistrust for the computerized system.

A lawsuit against the BOE proceeds with questions of illegal meetings and public documents violations hanging overhead.

Handicapped and early voters should not be relegated to use of untrustworthy voting systems. The public's confidence in our elections should not be theatened by inscrutable black-box machines and the risk of 1,000s of votes being lost irretrievably. Chatham taxpayers should not be burdened with expensive, unreliable, untested contraptions.

As an attempt to heal the distrust, a petition has been composed to request that the BOE remove electronic voting machines from service here in our county.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/RemoveDREs/

I encourage all Chatham Citizens who are grateful for trustworthy elections to sign, and ask your friends to sign. It only takes a minute.

http://www.chathamjournal.com/weekly/opinion/chatlist/chatham-primaries-good-bad-60602.shtml

[livvy]

37. PA: VotePA Joins Call For Improvement As...Problems Are Reported...

Voting Machine Problems Reported Statewide In PA
Friday, 2 June 2006, 2:27 pm
Press Release: www.VotePA.us
www.VotePA.us
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

VotePA JOINS CALL FOR IMPROVEMENT AS VOTING MACHINE PROBLEMS ARE REPORTED STATEWIDE FOLLOWING PRIMARY ELECTION

June 1, 2006. VotePA announced today that is joining forces with other groups of concerned citizens, including People For the American Way Foundation, The Black Political Empowerment Project, and the League of Young Voters to urge Allegheny County to adopt a safe and verifiable system of elections so that the integrity of the vote can become evident to all citizens. The current security model used by the county is unworkable and leaves us with little basis for trusting our election results.

Reports of problems with voting machines used in the May 16th primary elections have been flowing in to VotePA’s offices from across the Commonwealth. More than two weeks after the polls closed, VotePA volunteers continue to receive and compile reports from observers and voters in many counties.

In Allegheny County, approximately ten percent of ES&S iVotronic machines failed. In many cases the machines suffered battery failure, and poll workers had difficulty reaching the County’s assistance lines, which were tied up for hours with calls from poll workers. In at least one Pittsburgh precinct, the zero report made when the machines were turned on did not list several candidates. A floating technician arrived hours after the polls opened and citizens had voted on the machine, to inform the Judge of Elections that he would use a “secret code” to cause the machine to print out a tape showing the vote count at zero. Similar incidents were reported in other Allegheny County precincts, in Centre County, and other areas using the iVotronic system.

Additional problems discovered by members of VotePA and other groups included discrepancies between the number of voters signing the poll book and the number of ballots cast, and the operation of several versions of iVotronic machines and software when only one version of each was certified for legal use in Pennsylvania by Secretary of State Pedro Cortés.

>more examples of the problems encountered

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0606/S00061.htm

[livvy]

41. Groups Cite Flaws In Electronic Voting

Groups cite flaws in electronic voting
County is urged to set up citizens advisory panel

Friday, June 02, 2006
By Moustafa Ayad, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Citing voter problems with new electronic machines during the May primary, advocacy groups yesterday urged Allegheny County to establish a citizens advisory panel.

The People for the American Way Foundation monitored polls in 15 districts in Allegheny County during the primary and concluded there were wide-ranging problems with the new iVotronic electronic voting machines.

>snip

"These aren't vending machines. They're voting machines," said Dr. David A. Eckhardt, a lecturer in the computer science department at Carnegie Mellon University and an author of the report. "What's at stake is more than 50 cents or filling out a refund form. Don't we deserve the best available assurance that these machines work right every time?"

>snip

"Every eligible Allegheny County voter must be guaranteed the right to vote and have that vote counted," the People for the American Way Foundation wrote in the conclusion of its report.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06153/695166-103.stm

[livvy]

38. MO: Blunt Rejects Call For Special Session On-Voter ID

Posted on Fri, Jun. 02, 2006


Blunt rejects call for special session on voter ID

By KELLY WIESE
The Associated Press

JEFFERSON CITY — Secretary of State Robin Carnahan wants Gov. Matt Blunt to call a special legislative session to allocate money for implementing a voter identification bill.

Blunt quickly dismissed the suggestion.

Blunt has said he plans to sign the measure, which will require voters, starting in November, to show a photo ID issued by Missouri or the federal government before casting a ballot.

Among other things, the bill requires the secretary of state’s office to publicize the requirement and the Revenue Department to go to nursing homes and elsewhere to help people who lack a state ID card obtain a free one.

Carnahan, a Democrat, sent a letter to the Republican governor Wednesday asking him to call a special session so lawmakers could set aside funding to meet the bill’s requirements. Blunt spokesman Spence Jackson said the governor did not plan to call a special session.

>more

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/politics/14721087.htm

[livvy]

39. Localities Look to Used Equipment to Meet Voting Machine Demand

Localities Look to Used Equipment to Meet Voting Machine Demand
Experts, activists concerned over growing practice

By M. Mindy Moretti
electionline.org

We drive used cars, we wear used clothes, we lounge on used furniture and some work on used computers. Now, in an effort to meet supply demands and deadlines, some voting machine vendors and elections officials are making arrangements that would have voters cast ballots on used or borrowed voting machines.

But unlike that comfy, funky pair of used jeans purchased at the local Goodwill that look good and feel great, some believe purchasing or borrowing previously used machines threatens the very fabric of elections because of inherent problems with the machines.

Although the practice of buying, selling – and, in some instances loaning – used equipment is not widespread, the deadlines and requirements of the Help America Vote Act have spurred an expansion of the practice.

Earlier this year officials in Lake County, Ohio were trying to sell Sequoia machines that the locality purchased but Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell (R) did not certify.

>more

http://www.electionline.org/Newsletters/tabid/87/ctl/Detail/mid/643/xmid/191/xmfid/3/Default.aspx

[livvy]

40. KY: Attorney General's Office to Audit Six County Elections

Attorney General's office to audit six county elections

FRANKFORT, Ky. Six Kentucky counties are facing an election audit meant to reveal potential irregularities.
Hickman, Mercer, Spencer, Montgomery, Nelson and Trimble counties were picked at random by the Attorney General's office for the audit.

The audits following the May 16th primary elections will include a check of election forms. Also, county officials will be interviewed.

Meanwhile, the attorney general's office says it's following up on complaints that came in to the state's election fraud hotline. More than 500 calls from 77 counties were received.

http://www.wkyt.com/Global/story.asp?S=4975204&nav=4CAL

[livvy]

42. RI: R.I. To Revisit Felons' Voting Rights

R.I. to revisit felons' voting rights
Updated 5/31/2006 11:39 PM ET
By Charisse Jones, USA TODAY
Andres Idarraga is a sophomore at Brown University in Providence studying comparative literature and economics. He dreams of putting his Ivy League education to good use and one day casting a ballot. But he will be 58 before he can legally vote in his home state for the first time.

That's because Idarraga, 28, spent about six years in prison for drug and gun possession. Under current Rhode Island law, convicted felons can't vote until they have completed parole and probation, a date 30 years away for Idarraga. So he is speaking out to support a state ballot initiative in November that would allow felons to vote after they leave prison.

>snip

An estimated 5.3 million people cannot vote because of a felony conviction, says Ryan King, policy analyst for the Sentencing Project, a research group that favors changes in prison and sentencing rules. Thirty-six states deny that right to felons while they're on parole, and 31 of them also bar voting by felons on probation.

King and other advocates of changing those rules say the restrictions punish people who have served their time and disproportionately affect the poor and people of color.

"In states where there's 20% to 30% of African-Americans who are prohibited from voting, that's a significant portion of the population not being represented by their state or federal legislators," King says.

>more
Voting restrictions in each state-chart
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-05-31-felons-voting-rights_x.htm#table

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-05-31-felons-voting-rights_x.htm

[livvy]

43. Peru: "Chavez Factor" In Play As Peru Votes

'Chavez Factor' in Play As Peru Votes


Saturday June 3, 2006 7:16 PM

AP Photo LIM104

By MONTE HAYES

Associated Press Writer

LIMA, Peru (AP) - When Peruvians elect a new president Sunday, they won't just be deciding their own fate for the next five years. Their choice could have far-reaching consequences for Latin America and its leftward surge of recent years.

It will also test the prestige of a highly visible noncandidate - Hugo Chavez.

The Venezuelan president's intervention has been a highlight of the race between former President Alan Garcia, a center-leftist who favors free markets, and Ollanta Humala, an antiestablishment nationalist tapping into discontent among the poor. Garcia's lead over Chavez-backed Humala, while shrinking in some polls, remains strong.

The runoff vote in South America's third largest country comes amid a contest for ideological pre-eminence on the continent - between moderate-left, market-friendly governments such as those in Brazil and Chile, and anti-American, populist ones with authoritarian tendencies such as Venezuela's and Bolivia's.

>more

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5863408,00.html

[livvy]

44. Czech Republic: Opposition Party Wins Czech Elections

June 3, 2006, 1:47PM
Opposition Party Wins Czech Elections

© 2006 The Associated Press

PRAGUE, Czech Republic — The opposition Civic Democratic Party won the Czech parliamentary elections but will have to form a coalition government, according to preliminary results released by the government Saturday.

The center-right party received 35.36 percent of the votes cast, the state statistical office said.

The governing Social Democratic Party of Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek finished second with 32.33 percent, according to the results from 99.87 percent of voting stations.
>one more paragraph

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/3924774.html

[livvy]

46. CA: Opinion- California Working Hard To Avoid Being An Ohio

California working hard to avoid being an Ohio

San Gabriel Valley Tribune

IN the annals of election corruption, three places stand out more than all others: Chicago and New York, with their legendary tales of stuffed ballot boxes and the voting dead, and the old South, where African-Americans were systematically excluded from the vote for almost a century.

Mechanized balloting, cleanups of the rolls and federal voting rights laws changed much of that, and there wasn't much talk of election cheating through the last two decades of the 20th century.

But with the new millennium came new voting technology and a spate of cheating allegations. It's more than merely the hanging Florida chads that helped spur still ongoing charges of fraud. There is also Ohio.

By 2004, most Ohio counties were using touch-screen voting machines made by Diebold Election Systems, an Ohio-based company whose chairman and founder loudly promised President Bush he would "bring in Ohio for you." When Ohio was narrowly decided that year, with counties using Diebold touch screen machines essentially providing Bush's national margin of victory, charges of fraud rang out loudly from the left.

>snip



http://www.sgvtribune.com/opinions/ci_3893768

[livvy]

47. AL: Trials Color alabama's Grubernatorial Race

Trials color Alabama's gubernatorial race

By PHILLIP RAWLS, Associated Press Writer2 hours, 1 minute ago

One of the candidates in Alabama's gubernatorial primaries Tuesday is a former governor whose campaigning is limited because he's on trial on corruption charges. Another is the "Ten Commandments judge" who was booted from the Supreme Court for ignoring a federal court order.

On the Democratic side, former Gov. Don Siegelman has spent the last five weeks in federal court facing racketeering and bribery charges — and likely will be there on election day, too — while his main opponent, Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley, has been campaigning around the state. Polls show Baxley beginning to pull away from Siegelman after they initially ran close.

On the Republican side, former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore is staging his first political race since getting expelled from office in November 2003. A state judicial court ousted Moore because he refused to obey a federal court order to remove his granite monument of the Ten Commandments from the state judicial building.

>snip

"I've never heard of anybody seeking a party nomination and being on trial at the same time," said Merle Black, an expert in Southern politics at Emory University in Atlanta.

Siegelman has blamed his legal problems on Republicans, who he says are trying to ruin his political career.

>more

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060603/ap_on_el_gu/alabama_governor;_ylt=AlInwavwVjr5OPgZ3oEAobyM5QcF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMTQ4BHNlYwN5bnN1YmNhdA--

[livvy]

48. Kentucky Governor Taps New Running Mate

Kentucky governor taps new running mate

By BRUCE SCHREINER, Associated Press Writer 15 minutes ago

Moving quickly after being spurned by his lieutenant governor, Gov. Ernie Fletcher on Saturday announced a new running mate for his re-election campaign next year.

Fletcher introduced state Finance Secretary Robbie Rudolph at a meeting of the state Republican Central Committee.

"I'm very excited about running and I've got the fire in the belly to do it and we're going to get it done," Fletcher told reporters.

Fletcher, Kentucky's first Republican governor since 1971, was recently indicted on misdemeanor charges of conspiracy, official misconduct and political discrimination. He is accused of rewarding political supporters with protected state jobs after he took office in 2003.

>more

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060603/ap_on_el_gu/kentucky_politics;_ylt=AsI7SHKtSHrLQP1S4_pGgYmM5QcF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMTQ4BHNlYwN5bnN1YmNhdA--

[livvy]

49. Fitrakis: Airbrushed From History

Airbrushed From History

With the clamor over Bobby Kennedy’s article in Rolling Stone, that has thankfully re-ignited interest in the theft of the 2004 election, I want to make sure that certain people aren’t airbrushed out of the picture. This important grassroots history was left out of the article.

First, let me make it clear that the original Kennedy article included specific references to the Free Press (the paper and website I publish) and my good friend Harvey Wasserman. Harvey and I wrote a piece prior to the 2004 election outlining how Bush was planning to steal the vote. Most of the evidence turned up about Ohio was a result of public hearings about election irregularities held on November 13 and 15, 2004 in Columbus, Ohio under the auspices of the Columbus Institute for Contemporary Journalism/Free Press. The co-sponsors of the hearings included: the Alliance for Democracy, CASE-Ohio, and the League of Pissed Off Voters. Cliff Arnebeck of the Alliance and Susan Truitt of CASE played key roles in the hearings and were two of the four lawyers who challenged the election results in Ohio. Amy Fay Kaplan and Jonathan Meier of the League were invaluable in organizing the public hearings where sworn testimony was taken.

The election challenge team also included the tireless Pete Peckarsky and myself. The Rev. Bill Moss and his wife Ruth courageously served as the lead plaintiffs in the Moss v. Bush challenge. Benson Wolman and Susan Gellman graciously lent their office and pro bono assistance to allow the challenge to go forward. But the media wasn’t really covering the theft until the arrival of Rev. Jesse Jackson. His appearance in Columbus forced the national media to focus on the racist nature of the voter suppression in Ohio. Also, with his ally Congressman John Conyers, Democratic members of the Judiciary Committee held a historic forum covered by C-SPAN on voting irregularities in Ohio on Dec. 8, 2004. Jackson played a key role in lobbying for the challenge to Ohio’s votes in Congress on January 6, 2005 by Ohio Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones and Barbara Boxer. Tubbs Jones really displayed unprecedented courage for an Ohio politician and history will reward and record her efforts. Jackson’s role as the catalyst is usually overlooked, but for those of us in Ohio, he is the real hero.

Investigative reporter Greg Palast wrote one of the very first non-Free Press reports about the theft and raced into Ohio on Dec. 4, 2004 to speak and urge voting rights activists to fight back. That same night Rep. Barbara Lee of Texas became the first Congressional representative to come into Ohio. Rep. John Conyers would later hold a forum at the Columbus City Hall.

>more

http://fraudbusterbob.com/blog/2006/06/03/airbrushed-from-history/#more-82

[livvy]

50. CA: Bill to Bolster Election Clout Gains

Bill to Bolster Election Clout Gains
The Assembly passes a measure to pledge the state's Electoral College votes to the presidential candidate who wins the national popular vote.
By Nancy Vogel
Times Staff Writer

May 31, 2006

SACRAMENTO — Seeking to force presidential candidates to pay attention to California's 15.5 million voters, state lawmakers on Tuesday jumped aboard a new effort that would award electoral votes to the candidate who wins the popular vote nationwide.

As it is now, California grants its Electoral College votes to the candidate who wins the popular vote in the state. Practically speaking, that means Democrat-dominated California spends the fall presidential campaign on the sidelines as candidates focus on the states — mostly in the upper Midwest — that are truly up for grabs.

Under a bill passed by the Assembly, California would join an interstate compact in which states would agree to cast their electoral votes not for the winner in their jurisdictions but for the winner nationwide. Proponents say that would force candidates to broaden their reach to major population centers such as California.

The bill is part of a 3-month-old movement driven by a Bay Area lawyer and a Stanford computer science professor. The same 888-word bill is pending in four other states and is expected to be introduced in every state by January, its sponsors say. The legislation would not take effect until enough states passed such laws to make up a majority of the Electoral College votes — a minimum of 13 states, depending on population.

>more


registration is required, but it's very basic info asked
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-me-vote31may31,1,7954080.story?coll=la-headlines-politics&ctrack=1&cset=true

[eppur_se_muova]

51. The "Doonesbury" voting hack came in under the radar -- cross-posting link

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=431067&mesg_id=431067