The Voting News Daily: 8/17. Hack intercepts NEDAP voting machine signal, New research database on US voting systems, NM Judge convicted of vote fraud

A new voting machine hack, intercepts NEDAP voting machine signal. Online Poll: Should Aspen’s ballots be disclosed for an independent audit? There’s a new Research Database on the U.S. Voting System and Voting Technology by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. NC Verified celebrates 4 yr anniversary of paper ballot law. A NM judge convicted of vote fraud. With all the new hacks, what are we doing about it and Brad Friedman asks – where’s the mainstream media?

CO. Do you think Aspen City Council should disclose the ballots from last May’s election? (Poll)
http://www.aspendailynews.com/poll/do-you-think-aspen-c

NC Verified Voting Meetup Aug 26 Celebrates 4 Year Anniversary of paper ballot law
http://ncvoters.blogspot.com/2009/08/nc-verified-voting-meetup-aug-26.html

NC.North Carolina Elections – Protecting The Vote
New voting hack uses machines decommissioned by a North Carolina county
http://ncvoters.blogspot.com/2009/08/new-voting-hack-uses-machines.html

NM. Former Sunland Park judge convicted of voter fraud
8/17/09 a jury convicted Favela of falsely declaring himself a resident of Sunland Park in 2008 so he could run for judge, falsifying a document that declared him a qualified voter, and voting twice in the 2004 general election — once in El Paso, Texas and once in Doña Ana County.
http://newmexicoindependent.com/34148/former-sunland-park-judge-convicted-is-another-voter-fraud-case-coming

TN. Computer Scientist Says Yes to Paper Ballots » LIBERADIO(!)
…We could have the kind of secure election the professor suggests with paper, paper ballots as ballot of record, and random audits because that’s what the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act mandates…
http://www.liberadio.com/2009/08/17/computer-scientist-says-yes-to-paper-ballots/

WA. County’s top elections official discusses the vote-by-mail process
All but one county in the state vote by mail, so the idea of going to the polls on “election day” has been replaced with a three-week period in which ballots are mailed out, received, marked, signed and returned
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/aug/17/vicky-dalton/

US. New Research Database on the U.S. Voting System and Voting Technology provided by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
The Research Database on the U.S. Voting System and Voting Technology provides access to empirical and analytical research about voting and elections to inform evidence-based reforms.
http://votingtech.aaas.org/default.aspx

US.Census Bureau begins printing 2010 questionnaires
…For the first time, more than 13 million questionnaires will be bilingual in English and Spanish..
http://nonprofitvote.blogspot.com/2009/08/census-bureau-begins-printing-2010.html

US. “Is Your 401(k) Used to Influence Congress?”
http://electionlawblog.org/archives/014276.html

US. The BRAD BLOG : New Hack of Sequoia Voting Machine Changes Votes …
Hacks of our electronic voting systems used to be big news. Now though, it’s been done so many times, and is apparently so simple to do, that the news hardly registers in the corporate mainstream media (if it ever did in the first place). Yet, almost nothing has been done about virtually any of it to date.
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7362

AFGHANISTAN. Threat of violence looms over Afghan vote
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gH6zTk0ZvJGljIu7bpEh3P2uECEwD9A4S6AO0

Germany. Voter Machine Van Eck Radiation Intercept Demonstrated
By Marc Handelman on August 17th, 2009
News is spreading of a successful voter machine signal intercept hack. German Chaos Computer Club’s member Andreas Bogk, utilizing a Van Eck radiation detection technique has apparently intercepted European Nedap voting machines data, and has thereby entered into the hallowed halls of so-called TEMPEST intercept attacks
http://infosecurity.us/?p=10613

The Voting News Daily: 8/17 Why the “new hack” matters-video, CA SOS Bowen at OpenSource-video, Double voting in an online election

More articles on the “new hack”. 2 excellent videos: Video of Computer scientist Hovav Shacham explaining what the new hack is and why it matters. Video of California SOS Bowen at OpenSource World event. CA’s SOS used cloud computing to handle peak election night loads on the SOS website. Alabama lawmakers defend voting the machines of others. A group pushes for Vote By Mail in Idaho. Online election for a union in Wichita needs do-over after some people voted twice. Budget cuts continue to impact elections, this time in NC. A Texas county gets e-poll books. In Netherlands, the CCC demonstrates TEMPEST measurement of voting machines. Iran tries more activists in post-election turmoil. *News is light considering it came from 150 alerts for voting issues. *Try to take a minute watching one of the videos to learn why the “new hack” matters.

AL. Legislature really can be efficient
August 16, 2009 House rules allow members to vote the machines of fellow members who are not present when recorded votes are taken, as long as no one objects ahead of time. …Legislators defend voting the machines of others as simply a harmless practice that is a courtesy for the missing legislator. And if lawmakers only voted when their colleagues were away from their desks for a few minutes and asked them to so, there probably would be no harm in it… The best way to ensure integrity in the legislative voting process would be to require that no one vote ever on any machine but his or her own.
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/20090816/OPINION01/908150314

AZ. Good to see county address privacy concern
August 13, 2009 There is an expectation of privacy when voting, so when people found their signatures were visible on the outside of Yuma County mail-in ballots in recent elections, there was reason for concern…Something has now been done about that issue. Most of the early mail ballots sent out for the Sept. 1 Yuma primary election have an extended flap on the ballot envelope that hides the signature of the voter returning the ballot.
http://www.yumasun.com/opinion/mail-52129-ballots-concern.html

CA.Open-source voting: Secure over obscure? (has video of SOS Debra Bowen)
At the OpenSource World event in San Francisco, California Secretary of State Debra Bowen says open-source software can help improve security in voting systems. Even with built-in security measures, though, potential human error among thousands of volunteers will put them at risk.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=22684

CA. OpenSource World 2009 …She (SOS Bowen) also told a great story of how her office decided to try using cloud computing to handle the peak election night loads on the Secretary of State’s website. The result was that instead of spending $800,000 on computer upgrades, they paid a $7 bill to Amazon for EC2 usage.
http://blog.freemodelfoundry.com/2009/08/14/opensource-world-2009/

CO. Release the ballots
Aug 15. Aspen’s election process is in doubt. Denying access to the May election ballots is a barrier to truth, not a protection of voters’ rights. The integrity of Aspen’s voting system requires that they be released now.
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20090815/LETTER/908159995/1020

ID Idaho group will proceed with petition to put vote by mail initiative on 2012 ballot 08/14/09 A group is proceeding with a initiative petition to put a vote by mail initiative on the ballot for the 2012 election.