The Voting News Daily: Hanging chads in Afghanistan? PA voter database flaws, Dual for Aspen ballots continues
U.S. officials eye hanging chads — in Afghanistan. “The citizens of Aspen are asking: Whose election is this anyway? Does it belong to the government — made up of the very officials who are candidates in each election? Or is it the people’s election?”. That question posed by voting activists Harvie Branscomb and Al Kolwicz, when Aspen City officials refused to allow independent review of ballots cast in Aspen’s May election. In PA, a trial over a petition drive reveals deep flaws in PA voter registration database. A Washington paper says look before leaping, learn from HAVA mistake. Afghani women find obstacles to voteing – male family members can vote their ballots by proxy.
CO. Show us our ballots!
Letter to the Editor Friday, August 21, 2009
Editor:
Is this Iran? I implore you to assign a reporter to investigate the issue of why the city refuses to let the public see CDs of the anonymous ballot images from the May election….Ballots are anonymous, and not personal. What is the city’s real objective here after hailing their “transparency” for this election?
http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/letter-editor/136197
CO. Whose election is this anyway? OpEd.
by BY HARVIE BRANSCOMB AND AL KOLWICZ Friday, August 21, 2009
…The city says trust: but don’t verify….The record of the collective intent of the voters is contained on ballots and on a disk which, although made for the purpose of transparency, is being withheld from the public- locked away in the “ballot box.”
http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/columnist/136195
http://aspenelectionreview.blogspot.com/2009/08/gues-editorial-august-20-2009-on-aspen.html (cached version)
CO. Secret ballots: A matter of law
August 21, 2009 The city of Aspen has not released the ballots or images of the ballots for the 2009 spring election because we have a legal responsibility rooted in the state constitution, statutes and Supreme Court decisions to protect every citizen’s right to a secret ballot.
http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/columnist/136196
FL. Fla elections commission inquiry prompted WellCare to disclose illegal campaign funds
…Of the company’s 142 violations, all except 32 were before June of 2007, meaning they can’t be held accountable for them because of a 2-year statute of limitation.
http://blog.taragana.com/n/fla-elections-commission-inquiry-prompted-wellcare-to-disclose-illegal-campaign-funds-145285/
MA. Dennis will recycle outdated voting machines
By Nicole Muller
Fri Aug 21, 2009, 06:00 AM EDT
DENNIS – Where do voting machines that have outlived their use go? Is there a voting-machine graveyard or a special recycling center for this equipment?
At Town Clerk Terri Bunce’s request, Dennis selectmen have declared as surplus eight 1995 Optech Eagle voting machines that were replaced earlier this year with five new AccuVote machines used for the first time at the May town election.
…The Optech machines cost $6,300 each in the mid-1990s, and six of them still function. “
http://www.wickedlocal.com/dennis/news/x2145968136/Dennis-will-recycle-outdated-voting-machines
NM. New Mexico Attorney General Responds to Libertarian-Green Ballot Access Lawsuit August 21st, 2009 On August 18, the New Mexico Attorney General filed this 37-page brief in response to the ballot access lawsuit Woodruff v Herrera, filed by the Libertarian and Green Parties on May 7.
http://www.ballot-access.org/2009/08/21/new-mexico-attorney-general-responds-to-libertarian-green-ballot-access-lawsuit/
PA. Pennsylvania Hearing Reveals Problems in Checking Petitions
August 21st, 2009
On August 20, a Commonwealth Court in Pennsylvania disqualified Wieslaw Niemoczynski from the November 3, 2009 ballot as an independent candidate for Monroe County Common Pleas Judge.