Election Reform, Fraud and Related News, Friday July 18, 2008

[EFerrari]

Push to move votes to weekends an uphill effort

BY JANIE LORBER |[e-mail] July 18, 2008

WASHINGTON - Rep. Steve Israel had just one question for tourists and lawmakers on Capitol Hill yesterday: Why do we vote on Tuesday?

But after interviewing nearly 40 people in the last two days, Israel (D-Huntington) found only two who had a clue.

"Don't be embarrassed if you don't know the answer because hardly anybody does, including most members of Congress," said Israel, who videotaped the responses to his question and is posting them on WhyTuesday.org, a nonpartisan Web site dedicated to increasing voter turnout by election reform.

Israel submitted legislation in June that would switch voting for federal elections from Tuesday to Saturday and Sunday - an update to a law that has not been changed in 163 years. If passed, weekend voting could begin as soon as the 2010 midterm elections.

http://www.newsday.com/services/newspaper/printedition/friday/nation/ny-usvote185767922jul18,0,2266015.story




1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web. Here's the link to the News Directory:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x371233

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

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

Recommendations are always appreciated!

[EFerrari]

1. National

[EFerrari]

14. 2008 Bibliography of Scientific Studies on Software Driven Voting Systems

July 17, 2008

2008 Bibliography of Scientific Studies on Software Driven Voting Systems

By Rady Ananda

SCIENTIFIC STUDIES, TESTIMONY & COMMENTS ON SOFTWARE DRIVEN VOTING SYSTEMS

Consulted in Preparation of Litigation
Contemplated by Election Transparency Coalition
Andrea T. Novick, Esquire
Compiled by Rady Ananda with
Contributions by Howard Stanislevic

Appel, Andrew (Princeton University professor, Dept. of Computer Science). How I Bought Used Voting Machines on the Internet. Princeton University, February 8, 2007.

Bishop, Matt. Overview of Red Team Reports. University of California, Davis under contract to the California Secretary of State, Top to Bottom Review, n.d. (July 2007).

Blaze, Matt, Arel Cordero, Sophie Engle, Chris Karlof, Naveen Sastry, Micah Sherr, Till Stegers, and Ka-Ping Ye. Source Code Review of the Sequoia Voting System. University of California, Berkeley under contract to the California Secretary of State, Top to Bottom Review, July 20, 2007.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/2008-Bibliography-of-Scien-by-Rady-Ananda-080717-468.html

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15. GOP cyber-security expert suggests Diebold tampered with 2002 election

July 18, 2008

GOP cyber-security expert suggests Diebold tampered with 2002 election

By Larisa Alexandrovna

GOP cyber-security expert suggests Diebold tampered with 2002 election

~
By Larisa Alexandrovna and Muriel Kane

originally posted at:
http://rawstory.com//news/2008/Cybersecurity_expert_raises_allegations_of_2004_0717.html

A leading cyber-security expert and former delegate for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) says he has fresh evidence regarding election fraud on Diebold electronic voting machines during the 2002 Georgia gubernatorial and senatorial elections.

Steven Spoonamore is the founder and until recently the CEO of Cybrinth LLC, an information technology policy and security firm that serves Fortune 100 companies. At a little noticed press conference in Columbus, Ohio Thursday, he discussed his investigation of a computer patch that was applied to Diebold Election Systems voting machines in Georgia right before that state's November 2002 election.

Spoonamore is one of the most prominent cyber-security experts in the country. He has security clearances from his work with the intelligence community and other government agencies, as well as the Department of Defense, and is one of the world’s leading authorities on hacking and cyber-espionage.

In 1995, Spoonamore received a civilian citation for his work with the Department of Defense. He was again recognized for his contributions in 2004 by the Department of Homeland Security. Spoonamore is also a registered Republican and a John McCain delegate who until recently was advising the McCain campaign.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/GOP-cyber-security-expert--by-Larisa-Alexandrovn-080718-741.html

[EFerrari]

18. Cyclists pedaling voter participation

Cyclists pedaling voter participation
By Adrian Sanchez [e-mail]
Friday, Jul 18, 2008 - 11:33:51 am CDT

COLUMBUS -- Vermont cyclists are making their way to Columbus in the hopes of getting area voters moving and involved during the 2008 presidential election.

The Great American Voter Trek is scheduled to arrive 6 p.m. Tuesday at El Tapatio, 2721 13th St. Participants will have dinner and converse with area residents about their journey and from 7-9 p.m. hold a voting registration event.

The group consists of seven cyclists from colleges and universities in Vermont who are cycling across the eastern half of the nation with the goal of meeting with elected and chamber officials as well as encourage people to register to vote.

The bikers will provide giveaways during the event that consist of Vermont items and everyone who attends can register for the grand prize, a trip to Vermont.

http://www.columbustelegram.com/articles/2008/07/19/news/local/doc4880c1f7288d0355805813.txt?orss=1

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2. By State

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5. AZ: County meetings to offer information for voters

County meetings to offer information for voters

By Shar Porier
WICK NEWS SERVICE

BISBEE — The Cochise County Elections Office will begin holding public information meetings next week throughout the county.

County staff will be on hand to sign up unregistered voters, provide information about early voting and voter identification requirements, as well as show potential voters what the voting process entails, said Pat Viverto, voter outreach coordinator.

In order to register to vote, a resident of the county must provide some form of photo identification — a driver’s license, non-operating identification license, tribal enrollment card, valid U.S. federal, state or local government-issued identification card.

Without a photo identification card, a resident is required to provide at least two of the following: utility bill dated within 90 days of the date of the election, bank or credit union statement dated within 90 days of the date of the election, valid Arizona vehicle registration, Indian census card, property tax statement or a recorder’s certificate.

http://www.douglasdispatch.com/articles/2008/07/17/news/doc487faa64c9648604244026.txt

[EFerrari]

6. CO: Making sure votes count

Making sure votes count
County officials test machines before and after elections
July 18, 2008 - 12:18AM
By PERRY SWANSON
THE GAZETTE

El Paso County elections officials and political party volunteers completed testing Thursday on the county's vote-counting equipment.

The tests are an elaborate process designed to satisfy elections officials, political party activists and voters that every vote will count. They're required by law and conducted by a testing board that includes one member each from the Republican and Democratic parties.

"We want them to have the comfort that their candidates are going to be represented and counted correctly," said John Gardner, information systems manager for the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder's Office. The office manages most local elections.

http://www.gazette.com/articles/count_38354___article.html/making_sure.html

[EFerrari]

7. FL: Absentee Ballot Mailing Delayed

Absentee Ballot Mailing Delayed

By ELLEN GEDALIUS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 18, 2008

TAMPA - A candidate's withdrawal from a state House race this month has caused the Supervisor of Elections Office to delay the mailing of more than 19,000 absentee ballots.

The delay has prompted criticism from some local campaign officials, who complain they timed mail pieces to coincide with the expected arrival of absentee ballots in voters' mailboxes.

On July 3, write-in candidate Geraldine Emmons withdrew from the District 59 House race. That forced the elections office to redo the ballots, which were at the printer but hadn't been printed, said Kathy Harris, chief of staff for Supervisor of Elections Buddy Johnson.

"We lost a day and a half or two days," Harris said. The elections office didn't receive the ballots until Wednesday and planned to mail them late Thursday or today, Harris said.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/jul/18/me-absentee-ballot-mailing-delayed/

[EFerrari]

8. GA: Quitman Co. election called into question

Quitman Co. election called into question

Posted: July 17, 2008 02:45 PM

By Chauncy Glover

GEORGETOWN, GA - (WTVM) - Longtime Sheriff Lon Ming was defeated Tuesday night, and his supporters say family members of his opponent helped count the ballots and even left the courthouse with them.

"I don't know the man. Never seen him. But I think elections should be fair and legal and that wasn't right from the get go," says Jennifer Ming.

The big fuss is over the Sheriff's election between Lon Ming, the incumbent Sheriff, and Steve Newton.

Residents say the probate judge was not proper in handling the elections or the ballots, and Steve Newton's victory isn't right.

http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=8694135&nav=menu37_2

[EFerrari]

9. MO: Voter fraud nets home confinement

Voter fraud nets home confinement
By Robert Patrick
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
07/18/2008

St. Louis — A St. Louis man was sentenced to a month of home confinement and a $2,000 fine Thursday for using his dead mother's absentee ballot to vote in Missouri's presidential primary
Joel L. Neal, 55, was living with and caring for his ailing and elderly mother when she died on Oct. 29, 2007.

Neal's attorney, Paul D'Agrosa, said that Neal's mother, Helen Neal, was a "religious voter" and that Joel Neal had often gone to the polls and "shared that joy of voting" with his mother. He suggested that Neal knew how his mother planned to vote and was simply carrying out her wishes when he applied for an absentee ballot on Jan. 2, 2008, saying his mother was too ill or disabled to make it to the polls. Neal later filled out and mailed in her ballot.

Neal also had voted on his own.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/901F2200A2F07CD38625748A000DD8F4?OpenDocument

[EFerrari]

10. NY: Essex County gets new voting machines

Essex County gets new voting machines


By LOHR McKINSTRY
Staff Writer

ELIZABETHTOWN -- Essex County received 22 new electronic voting machines this week, but where to keep them may be a problem.

The county intended to store the machines in the modular jail that was emptied out after the new County Jail in Lewis opened late last year.

But a letter from the State Board of Elections cautioned counties about storing voting machines in a secure place, so the modular jail will have to be protected.

County Democratic Election Commissioner David Mace said it will cost about $1,500 to replace locks on the old modular jail, but the state may reimburse the county.

http://www.pressrepublican.com/homepage/local_story_199224545.html

[EFerrari]

11. TX: Payne Springs Council discusses voter fraud

Payne Springs Council discusses voter fraud
By Art Lawler Cedar Creek Pilot

PAYNE SPRINGS — Newly elected Mayor J.T. Nobles is doing his best to bring order to what has been some of the lake area’s most contentious city council meetings.

Noble’s insistence on everyone following Roberts Rules of Order has led to more orderly meetings in recent weeks, but old feuds die hard in Payne Springs.

“We’re still arguing,” he admitted after Tuesday night’s meeting. “But it’s orderly arguing now.”

Another one of those eye-popping Payne Springs moments presented itself when the council was asked to vote on whether people who had voted in the recent liquor election, who weren’t citizens, should have their names turned over to the District Attorney’s Office for prosecution.

http://www.athensreview.com/local/local_story_200021408.html

[EFerrari]

12. WI: Special Voter Registration Deputies are trained

Special Voter Registration Deputies are trained

by Steve Benton

ROCK COUNTY — There are over 30 more Special Voter Registration Deputies in Rock County, thanks to two special training sessions held Thursday. The event was set up by the Janesville League of Women Voters.

Janesville League President, Kay Deupree, says there are a lot of eligible voters who haven't signed up yet and the new deputies could help ease the work load at the polls in November. The deputies will be able to go out into their communities and hold neighborhood registrations.

While Wisconsin law allows for registration at the polls, the sheer number of unregistered voters could overwhelm poll workers. Deupree is urging people to pre-register.

A representative from the Government Accountability Board held the training sessions at the Rock County Court House.

http://wclo.com/news/2008/jul/17/special-voter-registration-deputies-are-trained/

[Wilms]

21. Lever Lawsuit Gears Up; "Stealing America" Premiers Aug. 1st

Lever Lawsuit Gears Up; "Stealing America" Premiers Aug. 1st

Andi Novick
Re-Media Election Transparency Coalition
http://re-mediaetc.blogspot.com

July 17, 2008

New Yorkers are privileged to be the only state with a secure, transparent, reliable lever voting system. Why would we abandon our trustworthy theft-deterring lever voting system for theft-enabling, defective optical scanners? Join with the rest of New York VOTERS who will be asking the state court for a ruling that forcing us to vote on concealed, undetectably mutable optical scanners violates our constitutional right to a reliable, open, electoral process, as we have enjoyed for so many decades with our current lever voting system.

Go to http://re-mediaetc.blogspot.com / and we'll keep you informed of how you can participate and support the lawsuit to save our secure lever voting system.

To see close up and personal, why is it so important that we preserve the only secure voting system left in America, come see what has happened across the nation where every state has privatized and computerized their elections. Huge opening in NYC, August 1st through 7th - STEALING AMERICA, Vote by Vote is a "must see" film which will be appearing in movie theatres across America, beginning with its New York City premiere on Friday, August 1.

Eight-minute trailer for STEALING AMERICA:
www.stealingamericathemovie.org

Northeast Citizens for Responsible Media (Re-Media)

Andi Novick Northeast Citizens for Responsible Media www.re-media.org


http://www.opednews.com/articles/Lever-Lawsuit-Gears-Up---S-by-andi-novick-080717-198.html


Discussion:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x505712

[EFerrari]

3. International

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17. E-voting flawed in London election, say campaigners

E-voting flawed in London election, say campaigners

Tom Espiner ZDNet.co.uk
Published: 18 Jul 2008 16:24 BST


Digital rights campaigners have repeated assertions that the May 2008 London mayoral election results were potentially flawed due to e-voting problems.

The mayoral elections were won by Conservative candidate Boris Johnson. However, Open Rights Group (ORG) campaigners asserted that as many as 41,000 votes could have been miscounted, and that the final result could, therefore, have been skewed.

At a Greater London Authority meeting on Thursday, called to examine issues around e-voting during the London mayoral elections, ORG representatives said that e-voting had potentially led to a miscount of votes.

"The software was weak in design and testing," said ORG campaigner Jason Kitcat. "The counts were hard to measure. We never saw if votes were valid, only if they were invalid."

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/security/0,1000000189,39448969,00.htm

[EFerrari]

4. OpEd

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13. GOP whistleblower names Karl Rove in Ohio's 04 election theft

July 18, 2008

GOP whistleblower names Karl Rove in Ohio's 04 election theft

By steveheller

Ohio Attorney Files Motion to Lift Stay in Ohio Case of King Lincoln Bronzeville v Blackwell

At a press conference this morning in Columbus, Ohio, Cliff Arnebeck, lead attorney for the plaintiffs in the case of King Lincoln Bronzeville v. Blackwell, announced that he is filing a motion to "lift the stay in the case proceed with targeted discovery in order to help protect the integrity of the 2008 election."


Arnebeck will also "be providing copies of document hold notices to the U.S .Chamber Institute for Legal Reform and the U.S. Justice Department for Karl Rove emails from the White House."


This case has the potential to put some of the most powerful people in the country in jail, according to Arnebeck, as he was joined by a well-respected, life-long Republican computer security expert who charged that the red flags seen during Ohio's 2004 Presidential Election would have been cause for "a fraud investigation in a bank, but it doesn't when it comes to our vote."


"This entire system is being programmed in secret by programmers who have no oversight by anybody," the expert charged, as Arnebeck detailed allegations of complicity by a number of powerful GOP operatives and companies who had unique access both to the election results as reported in 2004, as well as to U.S. House and Senate computer networks even today.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Ohio-Attorney-Files-Motion-by-steveheller-080718-804.html

[EFerrari]

16. Mail Ballots - cost, convenience, voter turnout, and other lies

July 18, 2008


By Charles Corry

Mail ballots - Cost, convenience, voter turnout, and other lies
~
In Colorado we are approaching a primary election on August 12th and bumbling county clerks and other election entities are scrambling to promote mail balloting. Ostensibly they are doing this for the convenience of the voters, to save money, and to increase turnout. At least those are the reasons we've been given in the past for why we should use this fraud-prone method of voting.
But in 2008 a record turnout of voters is expected so the latter reason doesn't apply.
~
Now convenience is used. However, in El Paso County the only time we've had significant lines at the polls are when the clerk let a few precincts in the eastern part of the county run out of ballots. Some counties have been experimenting with vote centers using electronic poll books together with DREs and huge lines have formed when things went wrong with those experiments. So again the problem is with the county clerks, not precinct voting. However, voters are now so scared of what the county clerk has done to precinct voting that mail ballots may seem the better alternative to them. At least they won't have to stand in line until 1:30 AM the next morning to vote as many have had to do in recent Colorado failed election experiments.
~
So we are down to cost as a reason that has been given in the past for promoting mail ballots. But in a presidential election Colorado law requires county clerks to have all precincts open for voting in any case. Where is the cost savings?
~
Why then are county clerks repeatedly spending tens of thousands of dollars to send out promotional materials for mail ballots at public expense? Ostensibly, election officials should be neutral as to the choice of voting. But tens of thousands more mail ballots have now been sent because of intense and expensive promotion by our, and other Colorado county clerks.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Mail-Ballots---cost--conve-by-Charles-Corry-080718-18.html

[EFerrari]

19. Netroots Summit Grapples with Bipartisan Attacks on Rule of Law

Netroots Summit Grapples with Bipartisan Attacks on Rule of Law

Ari Melber

Politicians, legal experts and progressive activists grappled with Republican abuses of power at the third annual netroots convention on Friday, debating how an Obama administration might restore the rule of law. Cass Sunstein, an adviser to Barack Obama from the University of Chicago Law School, cautioned against prosecuting criminal conduct from the current administration. Prosecuting government officials risks a "cycle" of criminalizing public service, he argued, and Democrats should avoid replicating retributive efforts like the impeachment of President Clinton -- or even the "slight appearance" of it.

"Give me a break," responded former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman, when told about Sunstein's advice during an interview with The Nation. Siegelman took a court-sanctioned trip to tell attendees about his conviction for corruption, currently on appeal, which he says was motivated by a malicious Republican effort to destroy his career. Discussing alleged White House abuse of the Justice Department, which led to Alberto Gonzales' resignation, Siegelman said "what Karl Rove has been accused of doing would make Watergate look like child's play." The former governor also urged activists to press Congress to hold Rove in contempt for defying a House subpoena in a related investigation. His supporters have launched an Internet campaign, ContemptforRove.org, to advance the cause. Noting that Rove's potential testimony "could not impact" his appeal, Siegelman said he was still pressing the issue because it was fundamental to "restoring justice and preserving our democracy." He learned how blogs were scrutinizing the Republican corruption at the Justice Department when supporters sent him print-outs from TalkingPointsMemo while he was serving the first 9 months of his prison sentence.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ari-melber/netroots-summit-grapples_b_113706.html

[Wilms]

20. NY Times: Check That Vote

Opinion

Check That Vote

Published: July 16, 2008

Electronic voting is notoriously vulnerable to technical glitches and vote theft. By now, most states have passed good laws requiring paper records of every vote cast — an important safeguard. But that is not enough. States also need strong audit laws to ensure that machine totals are vigilantly checked against the paper records. That is the only way that voters will be able to trust electronic voting.

snip

Unfortunately, states don’t require such scrupulous audits. A 2007 study co-authored by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law found that most of the 38 states with voter-verifiable paper trails did not even require audits after every election. The states that do have audits do them inadequately.

snip

Supporters of honest elections won an important victory when a majority of states enacted paper-trail requirements for electronic voting. But those paper trails will have little value unless they are backed up with audits that are able to detect errors and fraud — and to ensure that the candidate who gets the most votes wins.

snip

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/16/opinion/16wed1.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Discussion:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x505719

[EFerrari]

22. Thanks, Wilms. I'm on a loaner

and this thread was The Best of What Can Load. lol