The Voting News Daily: Suit against Webb CO TX voting machines, Obama push for voting rights, Chinas hackers
A candidate for Webb County, TX Judge has filed a lawsuit to stop the use of voting machines except for disabled voters…. The Champaign County IL Clerk shares results of post election audits…
…When you read articles promoting internet, email or fax voting, be sure to keep in mind the risks inherent to the internet. See today’s article “Cyberwar: How China’s Hackers Threaten the U.S. Armed Forces” . Daniel Darling, Defense Industry Reporter writes “the beauty of cyberwarfare is not just the favorable cost-versus-benefits ration, but the inability of the victim to provide solid proof of their involvement.”…
All this and more in today’s voting news below….
AZ: Judges and Politics Don’t Mix
http://www.brennancenter.org/blog/archives/judges_and_politics_dont_mix/
Last year, the Institute for Legal Reform of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — a group that’s not exactly known for radical, left-wing politics — endorsed Arizona’s system of selecting judges, saying that “Arizona leads the nation with the procedures it has put in place to fulfill the promise of true nonpartisan ‘merit’ selection” of judges
AZ: Arizona voters living abroad given options
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2010/02/12/20100212politics-overseas0212.html
Arizona voters serving in the military or living overseas will soon have some new ways to assure their ballot has been counted
…
Arizona already allows overseas and military voters to vote via e-mailand already had been close to meeting the 45-day requirement.
CA: California Top-Two Open Primary Would Increase Election Administration Costs, According to County Elections Officials
http://www.ballot-access.org/2010/02/11/california-top-two-open-primary-would-increase-election-administration-costs-according-to-county-elections-officials/
CA: More California Dysfunction: Not Clear If Assembly Rejected Candidate for Lt. Gov.
http://electionlawblog.org/archives/015270.html
CO: Sec. of state explores mail-in ballots
http://www.fortmorgantimes.com/ci_14387846
DE: Delaware Elections Officials Ask for Legal Advice on Whether to Disqualify Certain Minor Parties Immediately
http://www.ballot-access.org/2010/02/12/delaware-elections-officials-ask-for-legal-advice-on-whether-to-disqualify-certain-minor-parties-immediately/
GA: Staton, Kemp back online voter registration
http://www.macon.com/741/story/1019584.html
IL: Good Gets Better (post election audit results)
http://blog.champaigncountyclerk.com/2010/02/12/good-gets-better/
Champaign County Clerk. After each election, we conduct a retabulation of 5% of our precincts pursuant to state law. As post election audits go, it’s not much. We’ve beefed ours up a bit by adding a redundant hand count of a race in each of the 6 precincts retabulated in Champaign County.
IL: State Board Memo On Undervotes
http://blog.champaigncountyclerk.com/2010/02/12/state-board-memo-on-undervotes/
Champaign County Clerk. Mark Mossman from the State Board of Elections has a memo regarding the Primary Election in the packet of information for next week’s SBE meeting in Chicago. It points out a number of problems with the undervote law that I and other Clerks had predicted.
MA: PRE-OWNED, PRE-VOTED BALLOTS
http://www.handcountedpaperballots.org/documents/blog.php?entry_id=1265948229&title=pre-owned%2C-pre-voted-ballots
February 11, 2010 On January 19, 2010, the MA Senate special election, there were some pre-owned, pre-voted ballots
…How many other pre-owned, pre-voted ballots were there that we did not see, because they were put in the “right” box – away from public view and there only for the counting?
PA: Ballots opened early in Robinson, elections judge says
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10042/1034961-57.stm
County official to discuss with solicitor what action, if any, to take over absentee ballot violation in Robinson
TX: Lawsuit Against Webb County’s Elections Department
http://www.laredosun.us/notas.asp?id=3902
LAREDO, Tx.- Louis Bruni, who is running for Webb County judge, filed a formal lawsuit against the Department of Elections and the Democratic Party so that only disabled people can use the electronic machines in the primary elections.