Election Reform and Related News: Sunday, July 13, 2008

[livvy]

Election Reform and Related News

Sunday, July 13, 2008




Everyone is welcome to participate. Feel free to:

:web: Post stories and announcements you find on the web.

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

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph ...

:thumbsup: Re-post stories and announcements you find on DU, providing a link to the original thread with thanks to the Original Poster, too.

:think: Start a discussion thread by re-posting a story you see on this thread.




Recommendations for the Greatest Page are always welcomed. It's the best way to share the news with members who don't frequent this forum. It's the link below.

[livvy]

1. Blogs, OpEds, Opinions, Editorials, etc. n/t

[livvy]

2. Quelle Surprise! E-Voting Fails in France Too!

Quelle Surprise! E-Voting Fails in France Too!

Blogged by Brad from the road...

A study conducted by a researcher in France has uncovered that polling locations which use electronic voting machines exhibit a higher number of discrepancies than those using conventional paper ballots. Unsurprising to those who have followed the problems plaguing e-voting since its introduction, the revelation has fueled renewed calls for greater scrutiny of electronic voting technology in France.

The study was conducted at over 21,000 polling stations by comparing electoral registers, which voters sign after voting, with the total vote counts from machines and paper ballots in several elections. Discrepancies were found at almost 30 percent of polling stations that use electronic machines and only at about 5 percent of those using paper ballots.

More at ars technica...
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080709-french-latest-to-realize-the-perils-of-e-voting.html

The findings of the French study are hardly surprising to those of us who haven't been ignoring the exact same problems for years here in the U.S.. The difference, of course, will likely come in the way that France --- like other European countries, and decidedly unlike the U.S. --- responds to the findings...

In Ireland, several years back, the country was set to go entirely electronic, until problems were discovered in the new e-voting systems and they were immediately and permanently warehoused and taken out of use even though thousands of them had already been purchased by the state. Earlier this year, in the Netherlands, e-voting was met with the same swift response once the failures were discovered.



more...

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6169

[livvy]

12. Phil Lewis: Amendments will require some thought (FL)

Phil Lewis: Amendments will require some thought
By PHIL LEWIS (Contact)
11:58 p.m., Saturday, July 12, 2008

The Daily News editorial board got a close look at how we are all going to be voting this election year.

Collier County Supervisor of Election Jennifer Edwards and her crew brought in one of the new optical-reader voting machines and answered questions about the upcoming August primary and the general election in November.

The new machines are simple, but quite different from the electronic machines that had been in use the last few years. Instead of pressing a computer screen to select a candidate or to vote on an issue, everyone will get an ink pen and paper ballots. You’ll use the pen to color in the “bubble” next to a candidate’s name. When all your selections are made, you feed the ballot into the new machine and it electronically stores your vote.

snip...

But, watch out for November. Turnout will be high — it always is when we elect a president — and the ballot will be packed.

Statewide there will be nine constitutional amendments to consider after you get your ballot card and ink pen.

more...

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2008/jul/12/phil-lewis-amendments-will-require-some-thought/

[livvy]

15. Sorting Ourselves Out by Politics

Posted on Sun, Jul. 13, 2008

Sorting ourselves out by politics

This excerpt is from The Big Sort, Why the clustering of like-minded America is tearing us apart (Houghton Mifflin) by Bill Bishop with Robert G. Cushing


By Bill Bishop


I kept a file of the more outrageous examples of political anger in 2004. They ranged from the psychotic to the merely sad. There was the Sarasota, Fla., man who swerved his Cadillac toward Rep. Katherine Harris as she campaigned on a street corner. (Harris had been the Republican secretary of state in Florida during the presidential vote recount in 2000.) ”I was exercising my political expression,“ Barry Seltzer told police. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported just a week before the election that ”when an 18-year-old couldn't convince his girlfriend that George W. Bush was the right choice for president, he became enraged, put a screwdriver to her throat and threatened to kill her.“ The man told her that if she didn't change her vote, she wouldn't ”live to see the next election.“ Two old friends arguing about the war in Iraq at an Eastern Kentucky flea market both pulled their guns when they got tired of talking. Douglas Moore, age 65, killed Harold Wayne Smith because, a witness said, ”Doug was just quicker.“


The destruction of campaign yard signs and the vandalism of campaign headquarters was epidemic in 2004. The Lafayette, La., Democratic Party headquarters was struck twice; in the second assault, miscreants wrote ”4 + GWB“ on the building's front windows in a mixture of motor oil and ashes collected from burned John Kerry signs. The most pathetic display of partisan havoc started at the Owens Crossroads United Methodist Church near Huntsville, Ala. The youth minister at the church sent children on a ”scavenger hunt“ shortly before the election. On the list of items to be retrieved were John Kerry campaign signs. Once the kids toted the placards back to the church, the minister piled them in the parking lot and set the signs on fire. The scavengers did the best they could, but in Republican Huntsville they found only eight signs, barely enough for kindling. Had the same hunt taken place in, say, Seattle, the kids could have rounded up enough fuel to signal the space shuttle.


Living as a political minority is often uncomfortable and at times frightening. In 2000, more than eight out of 10 voters in the Texas Hill Country's Gillespie County cast ballots for Bush. Two years later, Democrats prepared a float for the Fourth of July parade in the county seat of Fredericksburg. ”We got it all decorated,“ county party chairman George Keller recalled, ”but nobody wanted to ride.“ Nobody wanted to risk the stigma of being identified as a Democrat in an overwhelmingly Republican area. ”Thank goodness we got rained out,“ Keller said of the orphaned float.


Gerald Daugherty used to live in the hip and shady section of Austin known as Clarksville. When he became active in a campaign against a proposal to build a light rail system in town, Daugherty put NO LIGHT RAIL bumper stickers on his car and on his wife's Mercedes. That apparently didn't go over too well in Democratic and pro-rail Clarksville. Somebody ”keyed“ the Mercedes at the local grocery and for good measure punched out the car's turn signal lights. Was Daugherty sure the damage had been politically motivated? Not really. But then one morning he found his car coated with eggs. ”There must have been two dozen eggs all over my car,“ he remembered. ”Splattered. And then deliberately rubbed on the "No Rail' bumper stickers. You knew where that was coming from.“

more...

http://www.kentucky.com/589/story/459759.html

[livvy]

18. Our View: Don't Abandon the electoral College

Published: July 13, 2008 04:59 am

Our view: Don't abandon the Electoral College


Let's begin with a premise: James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and the other members of the Constitutional Convention that met in Philadelphia in 1787 understood the nation they were creating and the people in it better than do Michael Dukakis and the activists at Common Cause.

Madison, Hamilton and the other Founders crafted a Constitution that has stood the test of time. Thanks to their foresight, the people of the United States enjoy a stable republic that has provided them with democratic, representative government since 1789.

But now, following the advocacy of former Gov. Dukakis and Common Cause, the Massachusetts House has voted to abandon one of the principles of that Constitution, the selection of the president by electors, in favor of a scheme by which all of the state's electoral votes would go to the presidential candidate who wins the national popular vote.

The state Senate is expected to take up the matter next week. If it approves, and Gov. Deval Patrick signs the bill into law, Massachusetts would become the fifth state to join a compact to subvert the intent of the Founders that the election of the president be a battle to win states, not a national popularity contest.

more...

http://www.eagletribune.com/puopinion/local_story_193165929.html?keyword=topstory

[livvy]

23. Could 2008 Be a McCain Landslide?

Aaaaakkkkk!!!!

July 13, 2008
Could 2008 Be a McCain Landslide?
By Kyle-Anne Shiver

Ah yes, dear readers, this title has nailed me. I'm an unconventional thinker, a woman who is wont to go madly against the grain, in nearly all matters. I'm usually in the unpopular camp, the one who disdains conventional wisdom and consensus science. I'm just too darned independent-minded for my own good sometimes.


And 2008 is one of those times.

snip...

I'm basing my assessment here on 3 factors: Time, the Anti-Obama vote and Obama's own arrogance.


Time


It's only July 13th, folks. There are 113 days remaining until November 4th. In this internet era, when news travels around the globe faster than a speeding bullet, 113 days are long enough for even the most polished, eloquent orator in American history to put both feet in his mouth dozens of times.


And every time Obama has one of his infamous verbal slips, it's recorded for profit or just plain fun, and spun into enough YouTube entertainment to last into the next decade. Every gaffe, every misstep, every flip-flop, turn-around and attempted take-back that the candidate utters, every single day for the next 113, will be viewed by hundreds of thousands of people, who then take their impressions to the office, the diners, the bus stops, the hairdressers and the assembly lines. The NYT could only ever dream of such influence.

more...

http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/07/could_2008_be_a_mccain_landsli.html

[livvy]

25. A must-read interview with David Iglesias

A must-read interview with David Iglesias
1:47 AM Sun, Jul 13, 2008

Tod Robberson

On December 6, 2006, the Bush administration's Justice Department carried out an unprecedented decision to fire seven U.S. attorneys - all Republicans - in a single day. It was originally portrayed as a performance-related issue in which the attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, was exercising the administration's discretion to hire and fire political appointees as they saw fit. But when Congress came into session the following month with a Democratic majority, it slowly emerged that the firings occurred because these U.S. attorneys had refused to carry out politically motivated investigations and prosecutions.

Then-U.S. Attorney David Iglesias, in New Mexico, was ordered to investigate potential election fraud involving Democratic Party campaigners ahead of the 2006 elections. Iglesias recounts in his new book, "In Justice: Inside the Scandal that Rocked the Bush Administration," how he pursued the investigation until he realized there was nothing to the allegation. But when he failed to prosecute, he came under intense political pressure to proceed anyway. He refused. Little did he know that other U.S. attorneys were under similar pressure. They also refused. So they were fired en masse.

It was only afterward, when he was trying to piece together what had happened, that Iglesias received confirmation from western Texas's own U.S. attorney, Johnny Sutton, that the motivation behind the firings was political. I interviewed Iglesias, 50, by telephone on Wednesday, and I regard this man as having some of the most important insights into the fundamental problems dogging the Bush administration.

Here's a key quote from the book that drives home the irrational behavior behind what the administration tried to do. Iglesias, a staunch Republican and conservative evangelical, was absolutely loyal and dedicated to the administration: "From a political standpoint, why would they let go an evangelical, Hispanic veteran? I represent three major voting groups."

more...

http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/07/interview-with.html

[livvy]

3. States n/t

[livvy]

4. U.S. court hears Texas e-voting case

ELECTRONIC VOTING

U.S. court hears Texas e-voting case
Three-judge panel to rule on reinstating Democratic Party's lawsuit against eSlate machines.
By Michael Kunzelman

ASSOCIATED PRESS


Thursday, July 10, 2008

NEW ORLEANS — Thousands of Texas voters could be disenfranchised unless the state orders changes to a widely used electronic voting system, a lawyer for the Texas Democratic Party told a federal appeals court Wednesday.

The party is asking the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to revive its lawsuit against the secretary of state's office over the use of eSlate voting machines in roughly 100 counties in Texas and including Austin, Houston, Fort Worth, Corpus Christi and El Paso. A federal judge in Austin threw out the lawsuit last year.

Party lawyer Chad Dunn claims the machines are prone to undercounting votes in general elections when a voter tries to cast a "straight-party" ballot for either a Democratic or Republican slate of candidates.

At issue is how votes are recorded when someone who casts a straight-party ticket also continues down the ballot to vote for selected candidates from the same party as if to emphasize his or her decision. What happens is that those candidates are "de-selected" and the vote for them is not counted. On a paper ballot, the lawsuit says, all the votes would be counted.

more...

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/07/10/0710voting.html

[livvy]

5. MI: An Unconstitutional Amendment

An unconstitutional amendment
July 13, 2008

What happens when a constitutional amendment is so complicated that the amendment itself becomes unconstitutional?

We might be about to find out. Here's why.

A group calling itself Reform Michigan Government Now! — but won't tell us anything about its members or where it gets its funding — has filed signatures for a state constitutional amendment that involves wholesale changes to four different articles and 28 different sections, with a complicated implementation schedule and more fine print than a subprime mortgage.

Here's the rub: The Michigan Constitution requires that the ballot voters will see explain the "purpose" of this proposal in 100 words or less.

In 100 words? Or less? Impossible.

Just look at one set of provisions.

In Article 2, Section 4, this proposed amendment requires the enactment of new laws dealing with election and petition fraud, mandates post-election audits, requires absentee ballots to be given to all electors without requiring a reason, requires voting machines to produce a durable paper record so the voter can verify that their vote was accurately recorded and specifies that no state or local government official administering an election can endorse any candidate or ballot question at issue in that election.

(sounds like some good ideas to me...to fully appreciate all the negativity in the article, note the author: Saulius "Saul" Anuzis is chairman of the Michigan Republican Party . And oh, yes, they are almost a secret society!...web page:
http://www.reformmichigangovernmentnow.com/ )

more...


http://www.livingstondaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080713/OPINION03/807130322/1014/OPINION

[flashl]

7. GA: Judge tosses voter photo ID challenge

By BILL RANKIN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia voters must present a government-issued photo ID when casting ballots at the polls in Tuesday's primary elections, a judge ruled Friday, rejecting a request to temporarily halt enforcement of the controversial ID law.

The Georgia Democratic Party, which is challenging the law, had asked for a temporary restraining order from Fulton County Superior Court Judge Tom Campbell.

"After considering the evidence and balancing the harms alleged by each party, the court finds that the plaintiff has failed to meet the legal standard for the granting of a temporary restraining order," Campbell wrote in a two-page order.

During a hearing before Campbell on Thursday, Secretary of State Karen Handel testified there would be "mass chaos" at the state's 3,000 precincts if the judge were to grant the party's request so soon before the July 15 primaries.

...

The state Democratic Party's lawsuit contends the photo ID law violates the Georgia Constitution by imposing an unauthorized qualification on the right to vote. It also claims the law places an illegal, undue burden on poor, disabled and minority voters.

Emmet Bondurant, a lawyer for the party, said Friday he was not surprised Campbell ruled the way he did, given how close it is to the primaries. But Bondurant expressed satisfaction that Campbell found that the Democratic Party had standing to bring the lawsuit.

AJC

[livvy]

8. NY: New Election Equipment Will Have Limitations at Start

New election equipment will have limitations at start
By Nate Robson / The Citizen

Saturday, July 12, 2008 11:21 PM EDT




Jill Connor / The Citizen
Debbie Calarco, the deputy commissioner of Cayuga County Board of Elections, points to where the cursor is on the screen of the ballot marking device that will be available in every polling place in the upcoming elections. On Wednesday, Calarco was at the Throop Town Board meeting, the first of many meetings where she will demonstrate how the unit works. The state Board of Elections said optical scanners used to count votes made on new machines will not be available until 2009, so ballots cast with that equipment this year will need to be hand-counted.

Although new voting machines will be available in every polling place for the first time this fall, most people will still be using the 50-year-old, lever-operating equipment.

One reason for making the 2008 election the last year for using the lever machines was to avoid fully implementing new technology in the middle of an election that is expected to see a higher than usual turnout, said state BOE spokesman Bob Brehm. Voting activity is expected to increase this fall because of the presidential contest.

But the state still had to meet a court order to have at least one machine in place in every polling location by this fall, and much of the burden getting ready for that implementation is falling on individual counties.

In Cayuga County, the new Sequoia-Dominion Optical Scanner has been chosen. It's one of the machines that complies with the 2002 Help America Vote Act, which was meant to ensure that individuals with disabilities had access to a private voting booth. New York will be the last state to comply with the legislation.

more...
http://www.auburnpub.com/articles/2008/07/13/local_news/news01.txt

[livvy]

9. FL: Voter Law Threatens to Cloud Elections

Last modified 7/12/2008 - 10:25 pm
Originally created 071308

Voter law threatens to cloud elections

The law charges a fee for registration drives; a group is fighting it.
By DEIRDRE CONNER, The Times-Union


Confusion over how citizens can register to vote is threatening to muddle upcoming elections in Florida.

Voter registration drives statewide are under fire from a new state law that establishes stiff fees for groups who undertake them. The League of Women Voters is challenging that law.

It's leading to confusion over what's allowed right now, said Jennifer Davis, spokeswoman for the Florida Department of State.

Locally, elections officials are trying to reach out to "inactive voters," or people who haven't voted recently or have moved without updating their address.

More than 100,000 people in Northeast Florida are on inactive voter lists, which means they could face trouble at the polls as early as August.


more...


http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/071308/met_303114996.shtml

[livvy]

10. KS: County Hopes Advance Votes Will Cut Waits

Posted on Sun, Jul. 13, 2008

County hopes advance votes will cut waits
BY BRENT D. WISTROM AND HURST LAVIANA
The Wichita Eagle

When advance voting ballots for the Aug. 5 primary go out Wednesday, it will be something of a test for November's general election.

Unlike previous elections, at least a third of voters will have to vote in advance to avoid the one- to two-hour waits many experienced last time they picked a president.

Quite simply, the county doesn't have enough voting machines for the large turnout expected.

An Eagle analysis showed that in the five busiest polling places, for the projected turnout to use voting machines, everyone would have to cast his or her vote in about 1.6 minutes.

more...


http://www.kansas.com/news/story/462145.html

[livvy]

11. FL: No Matter How YOu Vote, Be Ready for Election Day

No matter how you vote, be ready for Election Day
David Stafford • Supervisor of elections, Escambia • July 13, 2008

Record numbers of Floridians went to the polls in January for the Presidential Preference Primary. And before we choose our next president in November, we will cast ballots in the Aug. 26 primary. In advance of next month's election, there are some important details to know.

First and foremost, if you are not registered to vote or wish to change your party affiliation, you must do so before July 28. Visit www.EscambiaVotes.com or call 595-3900 for more information. Be sure to update your information with our office if you have moved since the last time you voted.

Florida is a "closed primary" state, which means that only voters who are registered members of political parties may vote for their respective party's candidates in a primary election. However, if all candidates for a particular office are from the same party and will be unopposed in the general election, all qualified voters, regardless of party affiliation, may vote in the primary.

There are also non-partisan races for School Board on the ballot in some parts of the county. However, "No Party Affiliation" and third-party voters in 34 of Escambia's 90 precincts have nothing to vote on in this year's primary.

more...

http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080713/OPINION/807130310

[flashl]

13. PA: County to cut voting precincts

BY BEN WOLFGANG
STAFF WRITER
Published: Sunday, July 13, 2008 4:24 AM EDT

Forty-five county polling sites are on the chopping block.

“I think all of the commissioners feel there are too many precincts in Schuylkill County,” county Commissioner Frank J. Staudenmeier said last week.

The commissioners, along with election bureau Director Elizabeth Dries, voiced support for a “reconfiguration” of the county’s 167 voting precincts, citing extremely low turnout at some locations and overwhelming turnout at others.

However, officials said there is no chance of the consolidation being completed in time for November’s presidential election, largely due to pending state and county judicial approval of the plans.

The most recent estimates, according to Dries, would reduce the number of polling places to 122. Shenandoah Borough would be most affected, with 11 polling sites potentially cut down to five.

Republican Herald

[livvy]

14. FL: Voting Machines Debut in August Primary

Voting machines debut in August primary
By Steve Bousquet, Tallahassee Bureau Chief
In print: Sunday, July 13, 2008

TALLAHASSEE — You used to push a button to cast your vote. Now you'll use a pen to fill in an oval or connect two arrows.

Sounds simple, right?

This being Florida, the change is accompanied by hitches and glitches — and the first real test, a statewide primary, is six weeks away.

For the third presidential election in a row, Florida is converting its voting machinery, from punch cards in 2000 to touch screens in 2004 to optical scan ballots in 2008. And once again, elections experts are fretting over the possibility of trouble, from long lines at voting sites to a close race that would require a recount of ballots.

snip...

Browning worries about what might happen if a razor-close race requires a recount.

By law, a candidate who loses by less than one-quarter of 1 percent is entitled to a manual recount, but the law requires only a review of overvotes and undervotes.

To Browning's frustration, the Legislature did not change the law to require a manual count of all paper ballots, even though Crist repeatedly promoted paper ballots as a way of providing "receipts" for wary voters.

"What good is giving a voter a piece of this paper if no one has access to it?" Browning said, holding up a sample ballot. "And under current law, no one has access to it. No one."

more...

http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/state/article696188.ece

[flashl]

16. AR: Ark. mulls paying counties for general elections

By Andrew DeMillo
AP

Hot Springs -Election officials said Thursday they may ask state government to pick up general election costs for Arkansas' 75 counties — a proposal that could cost more than $2 million annually.

Secretary of State Charlie Daniels and one of his office's attorneys, Tim Humphries, said they're mulling the funding plan as they work on legislation that would require each county to appoint an election coordinator to be paid for by the state. A similar election coordinator proposal failed in the Legislature last year.

...

The state currently pays the cost of conducting primaries in the state, which Daniels said costs the state between $2 million and $2.5 million. Daniels said his office doesn't have an estimate on how much it would cost the state to pay for general election costs.

Humphries said that, in 30-35 of the state's counties, the county clerk or deputy clerk currently serves as the election coordinator in charge of preparing for the primary and general elections.

"There, it's the county clerk who rounds up poll workers, it's the county clerk that tests the machines and all those sorts of those things," Humphries said.

The Daily World

[flashl]

17. LA: Jindal spikes bill on hiring campaign donors

By Ed Anderson

BATON ROUGE -- Gov. Bobby Jindal killed three more bills with his veto pen Thursday, including one that its chief sponsor said would have "let the sunshine in" on elected officials' hiring of campaign donors for public jobs.

...

Rep. Neil Abramson, D-New Orleans, the sponsor of House Bill 176, said Jindal's action spiking his bill "sends the wrong message to the people of Louisiana. It tells the people that this bill is too much sunshine, that there is something to hide. This is a dark day for our efforts at true ethics reform," a focus of Jindal's first special session.

Abramson said his bill would have applied to elected officials who represent a voting district of more than 5,000 people -- which would include legislators and statewide elected officials like Jindal. It would have required disclosure of anyone who made campaign donations of $1,000 or more and was later given a political appointment or provided a public job.

Abramson said his bill was a way "the public could see whether political jobs and appointments were political paybacks and patronage or legitimate decisions. My bill was true transparency, real ethics reform and a good-government bill." It passed the House 94-0 and an amended version cleared the Senate 36-0.

...

Abramson said that he worked with the governor's office on the bill for five months and suggested that Jindal's office might have found a "technical reason" to kill it because it applied to the governor.

Times Picayune

[livvy]

19. WY: Group Advocates Broader Voter Registration Access

Group advocates broader voter registration access

By JOAN BARRON
Star-Tribune capital bureau Sunday, July 13, 2008

CHEYENNE -- The Wyoming League of Women Voters wants the secretary of state's office to encourage the 23 county clerks to provide more voter registration outside their offices as allowed by state law.

"Part of the reason for the resolution is it's very hard for people in managed care residences, like assisted living facilities, to get out and go to register to vote," said Amy Williamson of Laramie, the league state president.

She was referring to the resolution adopted at the league's recent state convention in Casper.

Williamson acknowledged that it is easy to vote in Wyoming because residents can register and vote the same day at the polls.

"But we are thinking also of people for whom it's difficult to get to the polls, people who are going to have to vote absentee because of that."

more..

http://www.jacksonholestartrib.com/articles/2008/07/13/news/wyoming/91644c74a37e509a87257484007c7c89.txt

[flashl]

20. VA: Hispanics look to play key role in November

By DAVID SQUIRES

With some 130,000 Hispanic voters in Virginia, they could decide whether we go red or blue.

NEWPORT NEWS - America's largest ethnic minority, the diverse Hispanic community, finds itself in an important strategic position for the 2008 presidential election. Voting as a unified bloc, the community can provide the swing votes that land hotly contested states — and perhaps the White House — into the hands of either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party.

Observers expect a competitive race in Virginia, which has gone to the Republicans in every election since Lyndon B. Johnson won for the Democrats in 1964.

"Virginia is being looked upon for the first time as a priority state," said Andrew Rivera, an Alexandria-based board member of the Democratic Latino Organization of Virginia, also known as DLOV.

"There are about 137,000 Hispanic-surname registered voters in Virginia right now ... about 2 percent to 3 percent of the total Virginia electorate," Rivera said. "It's a vote that's going to be courted assiduously," he said. "You're going to see more constituent outreach beyond the traditional that you've seen in the past."

Daily Press

[livvy]

26. WA: Prominent Democrat is Charged With Voter Fraud

7/12/2008 11:28:00 AM
Prominent Democrat is charged with voter fraud

By Allison Arthur and Patrick J. Sullivan

Todd Stuart McGuire, a longtime Jefferson County Democratic Party supporter, was charged July 2 with voter fraud.

He's accused of either repeating a vote or impersonating his wife, Rebekah, by casting her ballot in a Feb. 6, 2007, special election. Both charges are Class C felonies and carry a maximum penalty of five years in jail and/or a $10,000 fine, according to charging documents.

Neither the McGuires nor Todd McGuire's attorney Ben Critchlow could be reached for comment last week or Monday.

Todd McGuire is scheduled to appear in Jefferson County Superior Court at 8:30 a.m. Friday, July 18.

more...

http://www.ptleader.com/main.asp?SectionID=36&SubSectionID=55&ArticleID=21355&TM=54936.07

[flashl]

27. AZ: National Dems target 2 congressional races

Campaign panel plans $3.4M for 1st, 5th districts

By Amanda Lee Myers
The Associated Press

PHOENIX — House Democrats have reserved $3.4 million worth of television advertising for two Arizona candidates for Congress, signaling the party's push to turn the state's congressional delegation blue.

Documentation obtained by The Associated Press shows the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has reserved $1.7 million in ads each for Ann Kirkpatrick and Harry Mitchell to begin in September and October.

"That's a great deal of money, frankly, and it really just gives them a tremendous advantage," said Bruce Merrill, a pollster and political scientist at Arizona State University.

"It really means the national Democrats believe they can continue to make significant inroads in Arizona."

AZ Starnet

[flashl]

30. CA: Mexicans become Americans in much larger numbers

LOS ANGELES -- The number of Mexican-born immigrants who became U.S. citizens swelled by nearly 50 percent last year amid a massive campaign by Spanish-language media and immigrant advocacy groups to help eligible residents apply for citizenship, according to a new government report.

Despite historically low rates of naturalization, the number of Mexicans who became citizens increased to 122,000 from 84,000 over the previous year, with California and Texas posting the largest gains. Salvadorans and Guatemalans also showed significant increases at a time when the overall number of naturalizations declined by 6 percent.

At the same time, the number of citizenship applications filed doubled to 1.4 million last year, the report by the U.S. Office of Immigration Statistics found.

The surge, which represents the largest year-to-year increase in Mexican naturalizations this decade, came amid pitched national debate over immigration reform. In their report last week, U.S. immigration officials cited the campaign by Spanish-language media, along with a desire to apply before steep fee increases took effect, as two major reasons for the jump in naturalizations.

Herald Net

[livvy]

6. I will post more in about an hour (9:00EST)...have a daily walking "date"...

ahhh...the joys of trying to be healthier!

Meanwhile, anyone is welcome to add to the thread.

[livvy]

21. Youth Vote n/t

[livvy]

22. The Young Don't Vote -- Why Should 2008 Be Different?

RON DZWONKOWSKI
The young don't vote -- why should 2008 be different?
BY RON DZWONKOWSKI • FREE PRESS COLUMNIST • July 13, 2008

Polls show that young Americans prefer Democrat Barack Obama for president by a pretty solid margin over Republican John McCain. But if Obama expects to be carried into the White House on the strength of the youth vote, he'll need more than polls. Millions of young people don't vote.

It's an odd thing, really, how so many in the generation that fights the wars take a pass on picking the people who start them. The generation that will be paying taxes for the most years abdicates on selecting the authors of tax policy. The kids who will be stuck with the bills don't seem to care who runs them up.

In 2006, a nonpresidential year, just 22% of 18- to 24-year-olds voted nationwide, 21.3% in Michigan. In the 2004 presidential contest, voting among 18- to 24-year-olds was up around 42%, with Michigan at 44%. Meantime, voters age 55 or older consistently show up in the 60%-70% range.

In Michigan, voters age 18-24 accounted for just 8% of the ballots cast in 2004, and only 6.6% in '06, well under their share of the voting-age population. Voters 55 and over cast 40%-plus of the votes.

more...

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080713/COL32/807130491/1081

[livvy]

24. National n/t

[livvy]

28. New...animated 'toons!

Here are some links to some animated 'toons that I thought were amusing.

The Meeting: Hillary and Obama and Bill
http://weblogs.newsday.com/news/opinion/walthandelsman/blog/2008/06/animation_the_hillarybarack_me.html

The lying weasel and darth sing a duet
http://weblogs.newsday.com/news/opinion/walthandelsman/blog/2008/04/animation_those_were_the_days.html

Gas Prices
http://weblogs.newsday.com/news/opinion/walthandelsman/blog/2008/05/animation_high_gas_prices.html

[livvy]

29. Thank you flashl for the assist! Much appreciated!

That'll do it for me today.

Have a great week ahead!

[flashl]

31. Thanks. nt