Election Reform, Fraud, & News Tuesday 1/02/07 Pelosi Rocks! 100 Dem Hours!

[Melissa G]

Democrats To Start Without GOP Input
Quick Passage of First Bills Sought
See post number 1 for details!

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Tuesday, 1/02/07

Try Posting an Article Yourself!

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.Or Post stories using the new Spring 2006 Edition of "Election Fraud and Reform News Directory" listed here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x407240

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.




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

[Melissa G]

1. Democrats To Start Without GOP Input

Democrats To Start Without GOP Input
Quick Passage of First Bills Sought

By Lyndsey Layton and Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, January 2, 2007; Page A01

As they prepare to take control of Congress this week and face up to campaign pledges to restore bipartisanship and openness, Democrats are planning to largely sideline Republicans from the first burst of lawmaking.

House Democrats intend to pass a raft of popular measures as part of their well-publicized plan for the first 100 hours. They include tightening ethics rules for lawmakers, raising the minimum wage, allowing more research on stem cells and cutting interest rates on student loans.

But instead of allowing Republicans to fully participate in deliberations, as promised after the Democratic victory in the Nov. 7 midterm elections, Democrats now say they will use House rules to prevent the opposition from offering alternative measures, assuring speedy passage of the bills and allowing their party to trumpet early victories.

Nancy Pelosi, the Californian who will become House speaker, and Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, who will become majority leader, finalized the strategy over the holiday recess in a flurry of conference calls and meetings with other party leaders. A few Democrats, worried that the party would be criticized for reneging on an important pledge, argued unsuccessfully that they should grant the Republicans greater latitude when the Congress convenes on Thursday.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/01/AR2007010100784.html?referrer=email&referrer=email&referrer=email

[Melissa G]

2. The Best and Worst in Election Reform, 2006

The Best and Worst in Election Reform, 2006
Tova Andrea Wang, The Century Foundation, 12/26/2006

It was a roller coaster of a year in the area of election reform and voting rights. Yet hopes are high for better times in the year to come for the cause of advancing political participation.

The Best:

New Leadership Elected in the States

Thanks to the 2006 elections, across the country, we can expect a far great number of pro-voting rights advocates in the state legislatures, state houses, and perhaps most importantly, the offices of the secretaries of state.

Although it is often remarked upon how state partisan control can impact the fortunes of presidential candidates in the states, few think about how important who is determining the rules of the game of getting elected is. Election administration and election law are largely matters of state control. The governors and state legislatures determine the statutory rules of the voting process, while secretaries of state control the regulatory rules. These rules have huge potential impacts on who can and cannot vote and thus election outcomes.

There are several examples of where changes in leadership may make the right to vote the primary goal of election rules again, but Ohio is the obvious stand out. Reciting the egregious manipulation and abuse of the rules of the electoral system by former Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell would require far more space than allowed here. Suffice to say that over the past three years, Secretary Blackwell, through a series of misguided directives and regulatory edicts seemed to take every action under his power to make it harder for Ohioans to register, vote with relative ease and free from intimidation, and have their vote counted. (See this among numerous other reports detailing Blackwell’s actions). The Secretary was at constant loggerheads with the communities of interest, rather than seeking to work with them to ensure a smooth and fair election process. Moreover, under his leadership and with the cooperation of the governor and legislature, a new voter identification law was passed that created multiple problems for voters on election day 2006, leading to wide disenfranchisement

The potential contrast with a new Governor and new Secretary of State could not be starker. For example, new Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner plans on setting up a Voting Rights Institute within the Secretary of State’s office. The mission statement of the Institute says, in part, “The Voting Rights Institute will work with communities, partner with organizations and implement programs that will ensure a safe, reliable and trustworthy process that fosters and enhances access to voting by all of its eligible citizens.” In her plan, Secretary-elect Brunner states, “Every person who is eligible to vote and who wants to vote should be able to do so in a process that is free, fair, open and honest.” She also pledges to “encourage the highest level of participation in our democracy.” Highlights of her campaign platform, according to the Secretary of State Project, included ensuring equal distribution of voting machines, increased voter education efforts, and proactive measures to reduce voter intimidation at the polls. She was also one of the state’s foremost opponents of Ohio’s ill-advised voter identification law and will hopefully work to offset its most disenfranchising potential effects.

http://www.tcf.org/list.asp?type=NC&pubid=1467

[Melissa G]

3. Big changes coming very soon for Iowa government

Big changes coming very soon for Iowa government

by O. Kay Henderson

In ten days, the state of Iowa will have a new governor and in just six days, Democrats will take over the debate agenda in the Iowa Legislature because Democrats won a majority of seats in the November election. Governor-elect Chet Culver says he's already held meets with both Democratic and Republican leaders. "I've been in this building for eight years as the Secretary of State working with the legislature on some pretty tough and contentious issues having to do with election reform," Culver says. "So I've had some experience which I think will be beneficial when it comes to the legislative process."

Culver says Patty Judge, his Lieutenant Governor, will also help establish connections with legislators because she served in the state senate for eight years. "We bring a great deal of experience to this job and I look forward to rolling up my sleeves and getting to work and trying to build consensus," Culver says. "Bipartisanship will absolutely be required if we want to get anything done and I expect that we will be able to get a lot done."

Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs has met frequently with Culver and the governor-elect's staff in the weeks since the election. "(Democrats in the legislature) will have a great relationship with Chet Culver. We're having great discussions, great communication and building a great team effort," Gronstal says. "Ninety-five percent of the issues that (Democratic legislative candidates) ran on are the same as the issues that he ran on, so we think this is going to go well."

Kevin McCarthy of Des Moines, the incoming House Democratic Leader, has known Culver for about 12 years. "I started my career in politics working for Attorney General Tom Miller on his 1994 campaign and then I went to work as an executive officer in the attorney general's office," McCarthy says. "Chet at that time was an investigator for the underground storage tank division (of that office) so from time to time we would hang out." McCarthy believes Democrats will have a close working relationship with the new governor.

http://www.radioiowa.com/gestalt/go.cfm?objectid=5181CB7D-ADB5-4EB3-9D7828EBD2498178&dbtranslator=local.cfm

[Melissa G]

4. Bye Bye Blair.. you Bush enabler you...

I had such hopes for Blair when he started out...what a shame for the world that he became such a Bush lapdog...


Tony Blair sets plan for New Labour
Tuesday, 02 Jan 2007 10:34
Tony Blair released his final New Year's message today

Released today by his office, this year's message will be the tenth and the last by the prime minister, who is planning to resign before the next election.

"We are not the party of the status quo but should constantly be seeking to improve life for the people of our country," he said.

"We must be restless, not complacent. It means setting ourselves new challenges and goals.

"It needs us to recognise that just as the challenges of the last ten years will not be those of the next decade, neither will the solutions.

http://www.inthenews.co.uk/news/news/politics/tony-blair-sets-plan-new-labour-$1035969.htm

[Melissa G]

5. U.S. historians rate their president

I still think Bush rates Higher on the low list but see what you think...
DU discussion here...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3037724




U.S. historians rate their president

Bush is bad, but there were worse

MICHAEL LIND



Richard Nixon




Andrew Johnson



(Jan 2, 2007)

It's unfair to claim that George W. Bush is the worst president of all time. He's merely the fifth worst. In the White House Hall of Shame, Bush comes behind four others whose policies were even more disastrous: James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Richard M. Nixon and James Madison.

What makes a president horribly, immortally bad? Poor luck is not enough. Some of the greatest presidents, such as Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt, inherited crises and rose to the occasion. The damage must be largely self-inflicted. And there's another test: The damage to the nation must be substantial. Minor blunders and petty crimes do not land a president in the rogues' gallery.

Doing nothing can be even worse than doing something wrong. Take the worst president of all time, Buchanan. In office when Lincoln's election in 1860 triggered the secession of one Southern state after another, Buchanan sat by as the country crumbled. In his December 1860 message to Congress, three months before Lincoln was inaugurated, he declared that the states had no right to secede, but that the federal government had no right to stop them. By the time he left office, seven states had left the Union, and the Confederates had looted the arsenals in the South.

If Buchanan had exercised his powers as commander in chief, the rebels might have been stopped at far less than the eventual cost of the Civil War -- more than half a million American dead and the ruin of the South for generations. (After he left the White House, Buchanan explained that he did not stop secession for fear that hostile blacks would overrun the North.)

http://www.therecord.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=record/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1167691813637&call_pageid=1024322168441&col=1024322596091

[Melissa G]

6. Two GOP challengers to Craddick study united front

For those of us who fought against mid decade re redisticting in Texas the fall from power of Tom Cradick, Tom Delay's hachet man and personally installed speaker would indeed be a cause for celebration!

Two GOP challengers to Craddick study united front


By CLAY ROBISON
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle


AUSTIN — The two Republicans vying to unseat Rep. Tom Craddick as speaker of the Texas House have discussed combining support to ensure he is removed, a Democrat who has met with them said today.

"I don't think there is a deal. I know they have been talking and continue to talk," said Rep. Craig Eiland, D-Galveston, who met with the two insurgents — Reps. Brian McCall, R-Plano, and Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie — for lunch in Dallas on Sunday.

Eiland supports McCall, who claims he already has enough votes to wrestle the speakership from Craddick when the Legislature convenes Jan. 9.

Craddick's camp, however, said the speaker still had enough support to win re-election to a third term. The votes of 75 House members, or a majority of the 149 current members, will be necessary to win the speakership. One seat is vacant.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4438193.html

[Melissa G]

7. November election shows spread in vote-by-mail trend

November election shows spread in vote-by-mail trend

January 2, 2007

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon may have pioneering early voting, but now voters elsewhere are following suit, forsaking the traditional Election Day trip to the polling places.

Paul Gronke, director of the Early Voting Information Center at Reed College in Portland, estimates that about 30 percent of voters in the November election either cast their ballot by mail or filled it out in the early election centers set up by some states.

That’s more than double the 14 percent of voters who cast an early ballot in 2000, the year Oregon began conducting all of its voting by mail.

And Gronke said he thinks the trend is on the upswing.

http://www.oregonnews.com/article/20070102/NEWS/70102003

[Melissa G]

8. Lawmakers likely to try changing voting, election laws

http://www.abc2news.com/news/Baltimore/07-1-2-lawmakers.html

Lawmakers likely to try changing voting, election laws


ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Maryland lawmakers just wrapped up an election season, but they may be talking about political campaigns long before their next races four years from now. Democrats, who control the General Assembly, have mentioned several election-related matters that may come up in the legislative session that begins next week. Early voting, paper records of ballots cast on electronic voting machines and new campaign rules are in the mix for consideration this session. First up may be early voting. Democrats have passed bills in the past allowing citizens to vote 10 days before an election, even overriding a veto by Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich. But Maryland's highest court ruled early voting illegal under the state constitution. That means a constitutional amendment would be needed to bring early voting to Maryland.

Legislative leaders have said they'd like to see such an amendment, which would require a three-fifths vote to pass both the House of Delegates and the Senate. "There's enough legislators who want to see this resolved for voters," to pass an amendment this term, House Speaker Michael Busch said. Successful legislative passage of an amendment would set up a 2008 statewide referendum on the issue. Another topic may be a question of how politicians campaign. Many Democrats were outraged at campaign tactics Republican Lt. Gov. Michael Steele used in his failed bid for the U.S. Senate. Just hours before polls opened, campaign workers distributed fliers around heavily black Prince George's County falsely indicating that Steele, who is black, was endorsed by Kweisi Mfume, a Democrat and former head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Mfume had run in the Democratic primary against Rep. Ben Cardin, who defeated Steele for the seat. "There is a line where you can't mislead voters," said Delegate Samuel "Sandy" Rosenberg, D-Baltimore, who plans to introduce an anti-fraud campaign bill.

Rosenberg acknowledged that it'll be tough to set campaigning rules without treading on free-speech rights, and that Democrats have flirted with ethical lines themselves in the past. "Nobody's a virgin on this stuff," he said, "but I think the things they did were beyond the pale." A spokeswoman for the Maryland Republican Party, Audra Miller, warned that lawmakers would face a formidable challenge in crafting a constitutional law regulating campaign language. "You have politicians who have said they've done a lot of successful things in Annapolis, and that could be restricted," she said.

snip
The idea has bipartisan support. "The problem with the electronic voting machines is there is no way to recount any votes," Miller said. Paper ballots or voting receipts "will give voters some semblance of assurance their vote was counted properly," she said. Busch said some sort of nonelectronic backup is certain. "We will deal with a verifiable paper trail," he said.

http://www.abc2news.com/news/Baltimore/07-1-2-lawmakers.html

[Melissa G]

9. 'Older' precincts added to problem

'Older' precincts added to problem
Undervote larger in congressional race

By MAURICE TAMMAN


[e-mail]

Sarasota County voting precincts with large numbers of older voters also registered large numbers of undervotes in the disputed congressional race, according to a Herald-Tribune analysis of recently released data from the Nov. 7 election.

In precincts where the median age was greater than 65, the undervote rate in the congressional race was 18 percent, 40 percent higher than in younger precincts, the analysis shows.

The trend suggests older voters either chose to skip the congressional race in greater numbers than younger voters, or they had more difficulty casting their vote in that race.

Several experts said the trend supports the theory that poor ballot design made the District 13 race hard to see on Sarasota County's touch-screen machines and that the age of a voter compounded the problem.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070102/NEWS/701020554

[Melissa G]

10. FL- Crist surrounded by 'best, brightest'

Crist surrounded by 'best, brightest'


Aaron Deslatte
News Journal capital bureau

TALLAHASSEE -- The mantra for Gov.-elect Charlie Crist this winter has been to attract the "best and brightest" into a fledgling new administration with big shoes to fill.

And by most measures, Crist has filled the void with professional agency heads charged with rolling out an ambitious agenda for his administration.

He has promoted from within and rewarded political allies, consulted former governors and big companies. Political observers say Crist is making more stable, less controversial choices than his predecessor, Gov. Jeb Bush.

snip
One splashy example was the selection of Bob Butterworth, a Democratic icon in Florida who served 16 years as attorney general, to take over the problem-plagued Department of Children & Families.
The job has been a magnet for controversy for years.

http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070102/NEWS01/701020321/1006

[Melissa G]

11. Until Jan 31 to Propose Questions to be Included in a National Survey ( Elections)

I received this from an email list I belong to..
Thought it might be of interest to the Election Reform Crew..

DU discussion here...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x463699


mailto:[e-mail] ]
Sent: Thursday, December 21, 2006 17:00

To: [e-mail]

Subject: 41 Days Left to Propose Questions to be Included in a National Survey for Free

If you would like to propose questions to be included in a multi-wave panel survey of a representative national sample of American adults (at no cost to you), now is the time to submit them to the American National Election Studies (ANES) review process.

For the 2007-2009 ANES Panel Study, we will interview a panel of respondents (1,800 people initially) six times between September 2007, and May 2009. The questionnaires for these surveys can be filled with any questions that will help scholars understand the causes or consequences of people's decisions about whether or not to vote in the 2008 election and for whom to vote. The schedule of reinterviews will allow researchers to study changes in individuals' attitudes, beliefs, behavior, and more, and to study causal impact of one variable on another.

The data will be collected via self-administered questionnaires completed over the Internet, and the panel of respondents will be recruited especially to participate in this study. The entire data set will be made available to all interested scholars at no cost.

The questions to be included on the six waves will be selected through a public and transparent peer review process. Proposals will be accepted only via the ANES Online Commons (OC), a web-based system for the posting and review of proposals:


http://www.electionstudies.org/onlinecommons.htm
There are only 41 days left to submit a proposal to include questions on the first waves of the 2007-2009 ANES Panel Study. The deadline for submitting proposals is January 31, 2007, after which the OC will remain open for a short period to allow comments and proposal revisions to be posted.

As of right now, the questionnaires are wide open. This is the largest open opportunity in years to place questions on an ANES study. We thank NSF for making this possible and hope to be able to accommodate your proposal in this study.

Sincerely,

Jon Krosnick and Arthur Lupia

Principal Investigators

American National Election Studies (ANES)

Please address questions to: [e-mail]

----------------------------------------------------

Archives:

http://lists.asu.edu/archives/aapornet.html .

Register ALL the People! Count ALL the Votes! Make the process Transparent and Verifiable! And do it NOW

[Melissa G]

12. Breaking: Analysis of FL House Race-Official Diebold Report-Significant Misreport of Numbers

Thanks to kpete for the post and the DU discussion here...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x463690


Original message
Breaking: Analysis of FL House Race-Official Diebold Report-Significant Misreport of Numbers
Edited on Tue Jan-02-07 11:17 AM by kpete

IMPORTANT BREAKING NEWS:
National Election Data Archive
January 2, 2007
by Kathy Dopp

http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/FL/2006/Analysis-FL-CD24-ElectionResults-2006.pdf

Analysis of Curtis-Feeney race in Florida District 24 shows that:

The official Diebold reports of vote counts in the Curtis-Feeney U.S. Congressional District 24 2006 election significantly misreport the number of voters who voted and the number of under-votes. The pattern of votes counted in Florida's US Congressional District 24 is unusual and consistent with a pattern that would be caused by vote fraud or innocent miscount. Further investigation is warranted.

http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/FL/2006/Analysis-FL-CD24-ElectionResults-2006.pdf

The National Election Data Archive is urging people to contact their U.S. House Representative and ask them to investigate Florida's U.S. Congressional Elections!

http://www.house.gov /

On Tuesday, January 3, the U.S. Senate and House will be swearing in new members. Several of the nation's foremost election integrity experts have spent the last several months grappling with some of these issues and have come up with 14 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FEDERAL LEGISLATION TO ENSURE THE INTEGRITY OF OUR DEMOCRACY.

In light of the continuing problem of questionable election outcomes in jurisdictions all over the country, where tens of thousands of votes appear not to have been recorded correctly, these recommendations are crucial to reestablishing trust in U.S. elections. Just five of these recommendations would prevent the wrong candidate being sworn into office as it appears may be happening in Florida's House District 13 election. Due to the untimely release of complete vote count data, investigators are just now turning up statistically improbable vote outcomes and election challenges are still underway. Those five recommendations, with just the briefest of definitions, are:

read the rest at:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_kathy_do_070101_breaking_3a_analysis_o.htm

[livvy]

13. Off to the Greatest! K&R n/t

[Melissa G]

14. Thanks livvy! Happy New Year!

[Melissa G]

15. QUESTION: DOES DIEBOLD CONTROL YOUR VOTING RECORDS? THEY THINK THEY DO!

Thanks to Bill Bored for the post and the DU discussion here..
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x463681

Original message
From Cynthia McKinney: New Year Message and an Invitation!
Hello All! I know, I know. I'm in the process of rebuilding the website and everything. You'll hear from me on a more regular basis. But for today, Happy New Year, hopefully!

QUESTION: DOES DIEBOLD CONTROL YOUR VOTING RECORDS? THEY THINK THEY DO!

What will you be doing the day after New Year's Day? Wanna spend January 2nd with me? I'll be in court with anti-Diebold forces in Georgia who think that election results ought to belong to the people, not Diebold. Unfortunately, Georgia's outgoing Secretary of State, Cathy Cox, has decided that Diebold owns the election results and therefore we, the members of the public, don't have any access to them unless Diebold says we do. And now she has utilized the apparatus of the State of Georgia to ensure that we don't get what we're asking for. So, we're asking all of our friends in the area to join us in Judge Gail Flake's courtroom on Tuesday morning 9:00 to watch our fantastic lawyer, (you saw him in American Blackout), Mike Raffauf give all the arguments on why election results ought to belong to the people. If you want something interesting to do that is also a lesson in the state of our Republic, then please come. Here's the info below:

WHO: You! Present to protect your right to vote in the people versus Diebold
WHAT: Court Arguments to obtain access to GA voting records
WHEN: Meet us in front of the courthouse at 8:45 am
WHERE: 405 DeKalb County Courthouse 556 N. McDonough Street Decatur, GA 30030
WHY: Because this is about your right to vote and who makes decisions for you in office!

For those of you not in the Atlanta area, you can find information about this lawsuit on the internet under Cox v. DeKalb County, Philip Smith - intervenor.

Support our right to vote and your right to know that those who represent you deserve to be there.

http://www.countthevote.org/dekalb/

[freedomfries]

16. thanks for another great thread melissa!

:yourock:

[Melissa G]

18. We have a great ER team ! You rock too, freedomfries!

[Melissa G]

17. Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing Heads to DC

Thanks to WillYourVoteBCounted for the post and the DU discussion here...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x463711

Original message
Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing Heads to DC



January 01, 2007
The Fox in the Henhouse Series, Part III


Does the Election Center lobby for the voters' or for the interest of the voting industry?

This week a “wolf in sheep’s clothing”, The Election Center, will be in Washington DC in full force to lobby our Congressmen. The Joint Election Officials Liaison Committee, comprised of election administrators associated with a range of professional organizations, will be gathering on the first days of the new legislative session to influence decisions, like they influence the actions and decisions of state election directors across the country.




According to the meeting’s description on the Election Center website:


“We have booked rooms for the nights of January 3- 6, 2007 at the Grand Hyatt Washington, 1000 H St, N.W., Washington, DC, for the next meeting of those elections and registration administrators who wish to be involved on a national level for Congressional liaison and activity with the Federal agencies affecting voter registration and elections at the local level.
Come to Washington to talk directly with Congressional staff about the new legislation. Additionally, we invite the Federal Voting Assistance Program, the Commissioners and staff of the Election Assistance Commission, the U.S. Justice Department and the GAO to present.”


They plan to lobby hard.

It is safe to assume that the Election Center will continue its advocacy of paperless DREs. In May of 2003, R. Doug Lewis of the Election Center widely distributed a letter stating that DREs cannot be tampered with. Lewis's opinion carries a great deal of weight with election officials. As a spokesman, Lewis has steadfastly defended the machines and blamed voters and pollworkers for any election problems....

http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2152&Itemid=26

[EFerrari]

19. Thanks, Melissa!

Great picture of our new Speaker.

:woohoo:

[Melissa G]

21. Hi sfexpat 2000, Our new speaker and her agenda have me grinning, Bigtime!

[Melissa G]

20. Analysis of Curtis-Feeney U.S. House Race in Florida Supports Curtis

Thanks to helderheid for the post and the DU discussion here...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x3024982

IMPORTANT BREAKING NEWS: Analysis of Curtis-Feeney U.S. House Race in Florida Supports Curtis
Election Challenge


National Election Data Archive
January 2, 2007

Analysis of Curtis-Feeney race in Florida District 24 shows that the
official Diebold reports of vote counts in the Curtis-Feeney U.S.
Congressional District 24 2006 election significantly misreport the
number of voters who voted and the number of under-votes. The pattern
of votes counted in Florida's US Congressional District 24 is unusual
and consistent with a pattern that would be caused by vote fraud or
innocent miscount. Further investigation is warranted.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x3024982

Curtis has filed an election challenge in the U.S. House of Representatives.
http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/FL/2006/CCURTISHOUSECongressionalcontestFINAL.doc

The National Election Data Archive is urging people to contact their
U.S. House Representative and ask them to investigate Florida's U.S.
Congressional Elections!
http://www.house.gov /

On Tuesday, January 4, the U.S. Senate and House will be swearing in
new members. Several of the nation's foremost election integrity
experts have spent the last several months grappling with some of
these issues and have come up with 14 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FEDERAL
LEGISLATION TO ENSURE THE INTEGRITY OF OUR DEMOCRACY.

In light of the continuing problem of questionable election outcomes
in jurisdictions all over the country, where tens of thousands of
votes appear not to have been recorded correctly, these
recommendations are crucial to reestablishing trust in U.S. elections.
Just five of these recommendations would prevent the wrong candidate
being sworn into office as it appears may be happening in Florida's
House District 13 election. Due to the untimely release of complete
vote count data, investigators are just now turning up statistically
improbable vote outcomes and election challenges are still underway.
Those five recommendations, with just the briefest of definitions,
are:

• Manual Audits, enough votes have to be manually hand counted to
ensure that the machine counts are not outcome-altering;

• Auditable Voting Systems, the system must provide a voter-verified
permanent paper copy of the vote that is sturdy enough for handling in
recounts and/or storage;

• Public Election Records, rapid access to paper and electronic
election records, and detailed vote counts in all vote types to ensure
that over or under votes in different vote types don't cancel each
other out and thereby obscure vote irregularities, before a race is
called;

• Public Right to Observe, genuine observation, not just presence in
the room is vital to the maintenance of fairness and transparency;

• Teeth in the Legislation, civil and/or criminal penalties or a
reduction of funding for failure to live up to the standards of a fair
and open election process, do not swear in new members until election
contests are satisfied.

To read the recommendations with details in full go to
http://electionarchive.org/ucvInfo/US/EI-FederalLegislationProposal.pdf

This highly qualified group of election integrity authorities is
comprised of attorneys, election law specialists, state election
officials, computer scientists, mathematicians, a designer of systems
for people with disabilities, and a public administration and election
policy expert. The complete list of experts, including their
qualifications, is available at
http://electionarchive.org/ucvInfo/US/ExpertsList.pdf

Best Regards,

Kathy Dopp
http://electionarchive.org
National Election Data Archive
Dedicated to Accurately Counting Elections