The Voting News Daily: KS vote flipping. NASS-overseas vote must be recountable! DISCLOSE Fails

NASS resolution – State Election Officials: Recountable Process A Must for Overseas Voters. (internet or email voting does not provide that)…The DISCLOSE Act fails…”MONEY & POLITICS: Aetna, Humana, Other Insurers Mull New Group to Influence November Races”…Candidate reports touchscreen vote flipping in Johnson County Kansas…Michigan Sleuths Find Link Between Dem Party Official and the Ballot-Qualified Tea Party…Allegations in Bell, CA that off duty police officers were recruited to to distribute absentee ballots in last year’s election and tell people which candidates to vote for…

All this and more in today’s voting news below…

CA: DA probes voter fraud allegations in Calif. city (Bell, CA)
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/7127322.html It was only one of several allegations the district attorney is looking into in the city where three top officials resigned last week after it was disclosed they were being paid salaries totaling about $1.6 million a year.

CO: KDNK Reports on SOS Memo Looking to Deny Inspection of Ballots
http://aspenelectionreview.blogspot.com/2010/07/kdnk-reports-on-sos-memo-looking-to.html

CO: Aspen mulls vote-counting options
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20100728/NEWS/100729825/1077&ParentProfile=1058
ASPEN — City attorneys are drafting language for a November ballot item that could replace the controversial voting method known as instant runoff voting for Aspen’s May election.

CO: Aspen considers replacing IRV in November
http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/141729

CT: Complex voting proposal in charter criticized
http://www.theday.com/article/20100728/NWS01/307289880/1019&town=
Registrar of Voters Bill Giesing said he was concerned that the rank voting plan – which would allow for instant results rather than a runoff election at a later date -as well as one that would have four city councilors represent specific wards, would violate state law.

CT: IRV New London: Residents, Registrar, and Candidate concerns
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/irv-new-london-residents-registrar-and-candidate-concerns/

FL: New voting machines to be used throughout Saratoga County in upcoming September primary and November general election
http://saratogian.com/articles/2010/07/26/news/doc4c4cfa7b17c02632792487.txt
BALLSTON SPA — An army of election inspectors is being trained to operate the new machines county voters will use to cast their ballots in the upcoming September primary and November general election.

GA: Voting chief vows no more tabulation glitches in the future
http://www.thecitizen.com/articles/07-27-2010/voting-chief-vows-no-more-tabulation-glitches-future That “glitch” was due to the fact that elections officials decided to run the early and advance voting numbers through the system first, said Elections Supervisor Tom Sawyer. Because the early and advance voting included voters from each Fayette precinct, the computer system used that information to report that all 36 of Fayette’s precincts had voted when in fact, they had not, Sawyer explained.

KS: Problems Possible with Some Touch-Screen Voting Machines * (also video)
http://www.fox4kc.com/news/wdaf-story-joco-election-machines-072710,0,2795262.story?track=rss “The calibration, just like they would on an iPad or any kind of touch screen kind of thing, can be slightly off,” said Newby. “If you press a button and you mean to hit candidate a and candidate b comes up, just uncheck it and vote for who you want. Then you get a review screen at the end so you really have two chances to, what we call ‘second chance voting’, you really have two chances to do that before you hit cast ballot.”

KS: “Touchy” vote screen: Toplikar tries to vote for himself but “X” appears for opponent * http://kansas.watchdog.org/4366/touchy-vote-screen-toplikar-tries-to-vote-for-himself-but-x-appears-for-opponent/

Verified Voting Blog: State Election Officials: Recountable Process a Must for Overseas Voters

Last week, the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) adopted a resolution acknowledging both serious security and privacy concerns related to Internet voting and the need for a verifiable, recountable election process. Verified Voting applauds NASS for adopting this official position. Military and overseas voters (also called "UOCAVA voters" after the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act) were a major topic at NASS"s summer conference last week in Providence, Rhode Island. States are now working hard to implement a recently enacted amendment to UOCAVA, the Military and Overseas Voter Emplowerment Act of 2009 (MOVE). The MOVE Act's requirements include delivery of ballots to military and overseas voters 45 days prior to Federal elections and the option for electronic delivery of blank ballots to UOCAVA voters. One of the primary topics at the conference was a policy not required by MOVE: the use of the Internet for the return of completed ballots to election officials. Some states, for example West Virginia and Arizona, are experimenting with various forms of Internet voting, and over 30 states now allow, under varying circumstances, e-mail or fax delivery of voted ballots from UOCAVA voters.