The Voting News Daily: Why Rig Elections? Because it works. Diebold on EFFs TakeDown Hall of Shame

Diebold can’t seem to get away from the bad publicity its disgraced election division keeps churning. The latest disgrace of many: EFF launches a “Takedown Hall of Shame” to fight censorship and – Diebold makes the list…Why Rig Elections? Because it Works….Low Tech, Computer Hack…Sens. McCain and Feingold defend campaign finance laws that Supreme Court threatens to roll back…President Obama Set to Sign Overseas Voter Act…Cool free online redistricting tool in preparation the 2010 Census!…Newspaper Condemns North Carolina Ballot Access Law…Big Week for Election Integrity in The Big Apple… 16 Va. localities fail to meet absentee-ballot deadline…Pilot is beginning of Wyoming County NY switch to electronic voting, officials incorrectly cite HAVA as requiring they ditch lever machines…Internet voting whack-a-mole in Canada: one Canadian city promises paperless online voting for 2010, another city rejects online voting as insecure…

All of that and more in today’s Voting News below…

CT: Low Tech, Computer Hack
October 28, 2009. Just a little reminder that we can have all the physical security, encryption, open source, and source disclosure in the world and there are still low tech ways to hack systems available to high school “D students”.
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?p=2499

FL: Lake Park To Change Voting Method In 2010
Change Comes After Lawsuit Claimed Blacks Not Getting Fair Shot In Elections
…”In the consent decree, the town of Lake Park conceded that there is a factual and legal basis for concluding that the current at-large method of electing the town’s commissioners results in an unfair dilution of the African-American vote,” said U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Sloman. “
http://www.wpbf.com/news/21436468/detail.html

FL: Broward’s Advancement Project Report
The Advancement Project and other 501c3 groups have been meeting with SOEs around the state discussing problems with provisional ballots, voter registrations, early voting etc. They are working to create legislation for 2010 to address the problematic issues uncovered in their public records requests from the November 2008 election. They did a comprehensive request to determine the cause of rejected provisional ballots and voter registration applications.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/electionreform/message/12682

MD: Open meeting squabble in Prince George’s leads to new policy
Elections administrator won’t attend closed-door meetings with delegates
http://www.gazette.net/stories/10262009/polinew181149_32537.shtml

ME: Pilot Program Encourages Early Voting
AUGUSTA (NEWS CENTER) — Nine communities are participating in an early voting pilot program in Maine. Early voting is not the same as absentee voting. Registered voters show up to a polling place, fill out a ballot and that ballot is immediately counted.
http://www.wcsh6.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=110486&catid=2

MN: Candidates, like city, slow to grasp instant-runoff voting
October 27, 2009
…Now the city that once made the world’s fastest supercomputers expects to employ 100 election judges for eight weeks to conduct a full hand-count of next month’s city election. Judging by their campaigns, candidates for city office haven’t cottoned much faster to the new system.
http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/news/2009/10/26/candidates-city-slow-grasp-instant-runoff-voting

NC: Nonpartisan voting issue brings Fox News to Kinston
October 26, 2009 KINSTON — The national media spotlight shone a little brighter on Kinston Monday as a crew from the Fox News Channel rolled into town to interview various local figures in the ongoing nonpartisan voting issue.