Monthly Archives: November 2010

The Voting News Daily: Minnesota recount a long feisty process. Just How Bad Was Bush v. Gore?

Saguache County CO election problems the result of computer errors…Recount of Bridgeport CT ballots under way..Indiana’s newly elected SoS is accused of “Voter Fraud” because his voter registration has incorrect address…Minnesota ‘Happy Recount Day’: First day is the start of a long and sometimes feisty process..NYC Election board stuck in time warp – voters get outdated voting guides…NY Court moves closer to expanding audit, hand recount possible in 7th Senate Race…..The EAC will discuss commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products in mtg Dec 2…

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

Just How Bad Was Bush v. Gore?
http://www.nationaljournal.com/dailyfray/just-how-bad-was-bush-v-gore–20101129?page=1

AK: Judge moves Miller lawsuit to Juneau
http://www.adn.com/2010/11/29/1578269/miller-makes-false-claims-murkowski.html
Judge Douglas Blankenship said the case brought by Republican nominee Joe Miller raises statewide issues and that he believes it’s inconvenient for the state to be involved in a case in Fairbanks, about 620 miles from Juneau.
[Judge didn’t want the ballots to be moved in case they must be reviewed]

AK: Alaska certifying nearly all its election results
http://www.adn.com/2010/11/29/1578666/alaska-certifying-nearly-all-its.html

AK: Murkowski Gets a Write-in Vote in Concrete Sidewalk
http://www.ballot-access.org/2010/11/30/murkowski-gets-a-write-in-vote-in-concrete-sidewalk/

AZ: U.S. Supreme Court to take on Arizona Clean Elections
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2010/11/30
/20101130cleanelex1130.html http://tinyurl.com/34eq62s

AZ: Election canvass sets up first known recount of ballot measure
http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/113010_election_recount

CA: CALIFORNIA ELECTION UPDATES: ATTORNEY GENERAL RACE DECIDED, OTHER NEWS http://electionupdates.caltech.edu/?p=3659 Also later today, the first eight members of the new California redistricting commission will hold their first meeting.

CO: Saguache County election problems the result of computer errors
http://crestoneeagle.com/?p=2175 Sec. of State gives the all-ok; Saguache County election problems the result of computer errors
…
The mandatory recount, due to the closeness of the race, for the Northern Saguache County Ambulance District has been scheduled for November 29

CT: Recount of Bridgeport ballots under way
http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Recount-of-Bridgeport-ballots-under-way-840037.php “People think you just throw everyone in a room and say, `Count,’ ” said Cheryl Dunson, of the League of Women Voters in Connecticut. “But a credible outcome is dependent on a credible process.”

Guam: Guam Tabulators Imbalanced? “We Have A Real Problem!”
http://guamnewswatch.com/201011303725/2010-Election/Guam-Tabulators-Imbalanced-We-Have-A-Real-Problem-Commissioners-Sign-Certificates-Anyway.html

Guam: GEC to discuss election complaints
http://www.guampdn.com/article/20101130/NEWS01/11300301

IN: Panel to meet Sunday on secretary of state race
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2010/nov/29/panel-meet-sunday-secretary-state-race/
State Democrats say Republican Charlie White shouldn’t become Indiana’s chief election officer even though he won the November race. They say he committed vote fraud by using his ex-wife’s home instead his condo as his address in the May primary.

KY: Bullitt jailer race recount halted; Knox declared winner
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20101130/ZONE10/311300058/Bullitt
+jailer+race+recount+halted+;+Knox+declared+winner http://tinyurl.com/39mgvke
“It was costing me too much money,” Watkins said. “We just fell a little short, and to me, the recanvass and recount and all this stuff, you just need to have the money hand over fist to fight the system.”

MA: Taunton officials eye discrepancy between Election Day and precinct recount vote tallies* http://www.tauntongazette.com/campaign2010/x1966826229/Taunton-officials-eye-discrepancy-between-Election-Day-and-precinct-recount-vote-tallies With the district-wide recount for the 3rd Bristol House District quickly approaching, city officials are still investigating why there was an 18-vote discrepancy between results from Election Day and the Nov. 20 precinct-level recount.
…
O’Connell said she was concerned that there were 18 fewer votes from precinct 1B in the recount.

The Voting News Daily: NYC war against the machines. Bridgeport CT recount ‘will take as long as necessary’

Is challenge to Alaska write-ins a ‘literacy test’?..Bridgeport recount: Luther Weeks, executive director of the Connecticut Citizen Election Audit Coalition, said the recount beginning Monday will take as long as necessary, but will probably end this week…..W&M School of Law writes on “Optical Scanners, Punch Cards, and Levers: New York City’s Continuing War Against the Machines”…Trust the internet with your vote? Massive Chinese Net Reroute Exposes Web’s Achilles’ Heel…

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

AK: Miller’s write-in challenges face high hurdle
Is Republican’s spelling demand an illegal ‘literacy test?’
http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/112910/sta_743006893.shtml

AK: Miller opposes Murkowski motion to intervene in suit
http://www.ktuu.com/news/ktuu-miller-murkowski-lawsuit-intervention-112610,0,1385788.story

CA: Election crews work weekend to finish official tally (of a recount)
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_16728823 From 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, about 23 people worked in teams of four, double checking the latest figures, which were last updated on the County Clerk’s website on Nov. 24.

CA: Recounts requested in two O.C. elections (close contests)
http://www.ocregister.com/news/votes-277844-race-recounts.html

CA: Humboldt County Transparency Project – Progress Update 3
http://democracycounts.blogspot.com/2010/11/progress-update-3.html
Humboldt County released the remaining ballots for us to scan late last week. As of
Sunday night, we have fewer than 1500 ballots remaining to be scanned (each ballot is two sheets). That means we’re 97% done with the scanning

CT: Bridgeport Ballot Recount Beginning In Governor’s Race
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2010/11/29/bridgeport-ballot-recount-beginning-in-governors-race/
He (Luther Weeks) says about 30 to 40 volunteers are helping and he hopes to have a few more.

CT: Voter registration owes a debt to the typewriter, house numbers
http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Voter-registration-owes-a-debt-to-the-typewriter-839783.php “The real potential for fraud is not at polls, but rather with mail-in ballots,” he said. “A person could very easily buy an unmarked mail-in ballot from someone for, say, five bucks, mark it up the way he wants, and mail it in.”

CT: Recount could be a new vote on optical scanning
http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Recount-could-be-a-new-vote-on-optical-scanning-836169.php This week’s independent recount of Bridgeport’s Nov. 2 voting results will show how well — or how poorly — residents of the state’s largest city understood the four-year-old paper ballot and optical-scanner technology.

CT: Registrars of Voters to shed unused ballots
http://www.thehour.com/story/495127 it’s better than running out of ballots on Election Day as happened in Bridgeport..

FL: New voting system is no cure for late returns
Editorial. ISSUE: Some local pols renew talk of touch screen voting.
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2010-11-27/news/fl-voting-system-editorial-nb-20101127_1_touch-screens-new-voting-system-sequoia-voting-systems Broaching the idea of spending money the county doesn’t have on a system switch, just to buy a few hours on election returns, shows neither responsible leadership nor sound fiscal judgment. For one thing, returning to touch screens would be foolish. The higher-tech machines were easy and more efficient, but they were thrown out because voters didn’t like them or trust them.

KS: Kansas election results certified; few irregularities
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2010/nov/29/election-results-certified-few-irregularities/ Biggs, a Democrat, was defeated by Republican Kris Kobach, who had said during the campaign that voter fraud was a major problem in Kansas.

MN: Another statewide recount puts Minnesota politicos back in familiar territory
http://ballotnews.org/2010/11/29/another-statewide-recount-puts-minnesota-politicos-back-in-familiar-territory/ If the expected mid-December certification leads to a lawsuit, outgoing Governor Tim Pawlenty, a Republican, will not leave office on January 3, 2011

MN: Emmer observers make more ballot challenges
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/11/29/recount-day-one-ballot-challenges-mark-dayton-tom-emmer/

The Voting News Daily: A ‘toxic’ idea for Florida elections. CT Post, advocates to recount Bridgeport election

Palm Beach CO Commish Karen Marcus wants to lobby for return to touchscreen voting. FL Voters Coalition Pres Dan McCrea:”We all understand the pretty picture that is painted of a clean electronic push-button election that’s over and gives everybody an early night and reliable results..It remains fantasy with today’s technology.”..Illegal 6-foot barrier blocks CO poll watchers..Bridgeport recount starts Monday..Wikileaks: China’s politburo directed hacks on Google. Still think internet voting a good idea?..

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

AK: Despite Alaska Senate race results, Joe Miller presses on in principle
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/27/AR2010112702896.html
Miller, a tea party favorite who beat Murkoswki in the GOP primary, has alleged bias on the part of state officials as well as voter fraud, arguing that some of the ballots have suspiciously similar handwriting.
…
And he has asked for a hand recount of all the ballots saying the machine-counted votes that went largely for him should receive the same scrutiny – and potentially benefit of the doubt – as the write-in ones cast for Murkowski

AK: Joe Miller Lawsuit Over Lisa Murkowski Write-ins Gets Tangled Up in Side Issues
http://www.ballot-access.org/2010/11/26/joe-miller-lawsuit-over-lisa-murkowski-write-ins-gets-tangled-up-in-side-issues/

AZ: ‘Early’ voting causes count delays
http://azstarnet.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/elections/article_ed24dc19-b440-5953-880b-95b1a970a9ea.html
Ballots Dropped Off at Polls Need to be Verified, Then Recorded

CA: San Leandro mayor won’t challenge election, but won’t concede, either
http://www.insidebayarea.com/dailyreview/localnews/ci_16718681

CA: On the perils of ‘Instant runoff’ voting
A blindfold and a dartboard
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/27/INQT1GEP3A.DTL

Co: Illegal 6-foot barrier blocks Colorado poll watchers
http://coloradovotergroup.blogspot.com/2010/11/illegal-6-foot-barrier-blocks-colorado.html

CO: What if “none of the above” were to win an election?
http://www.denverpost.com/recommended/ci_16718136

CT: How the recount will take place
http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/How-the-recount-will-take-place-836087.php
Who are the counters? How can I help?
The point man for the recount is Luther Weeks, the executive director of the Connecticut Citizen Election Audit Coalition, which formed in 2007 after the state switched to optical-scanning voter machines.

FL: Is Palm Beach County’s voting system too much paper?
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/is-palm-beach-countys-voting-system-too-much-1075923.html (Palm Beach County Commissioner Karen Marcus)says touch screens should be made legal again, which she says is a better system with fewer problems. She wants the county to lobby for the law to be changed and says she will bring it up with the rest of the commission Tuesday.

MN: Will ballot-challenge warfare be waged again? Even with new rules, it’s complicated – Recent decision may cause trouble
http://www.twincities.com/ci_16722404?nclick_check=1

MT: Legislator wants to cut 2 paid holidays (Election day and Columbus day)
http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/article_6490dada-01c9-5eea-8bad-b93a1dcdc9bf.html Sands said she intends to tie her proposal to another legislator’s separate bill to change Montana’s current election system to a statewide vote-by-mail system.

NC: Instant runoff not so quick
http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/news/instant-runoff-not-so-quick-182937
The county’s elections board and staff will meet at 10 a.m. Monday inside the auditorium of the Nash County Agriculture Center to count tallies for Court of Appeals Judge candidates Cressie Thigpen and Doug McCullough. They are the two leading vote-getters in this year’s judicial race, which had 11 other candidates.
…
Thigpen garnered 20.3 percent of votes cast, or 395,220 votes, while McCullough captured 15.2 percent, or 295,619 votes

TN: EDITORIAL: Election hiring to be closely watched
http://www.dnj.com/article/20101128/OPINION01/11280314

The Voting News Daily: New York, Colorado vote tabulator troubles. Internet Vote hacked – for Palin?

Alaska GOP repudiates all of Joe Miller vote count allegations…Open Records request for Georgia election data denied…Minnesota starts recount of gubernatorial election Monday..Was internet vote for ‘Dancing with the Stars’ rigged?. In real internet elections Canadian citizens in Township of Huron-Kinloss council worried more about system crashes or not getting to vote rather than tampering…John Sebes of TrustTheVote writes about Colorado & New York tabulator troubles…

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

AK: Murkowski argues election delay could cost seniority
http://newsminer.com/pages/full_story/push?blog-entry-Murkowski+argues+election+delay+could+cost+seniority%20
&id=10439318&instance=blogs_editors_desk http://tinyurl.com/2793jwr
Murkowski responded …by filing as an intervener, saying she could suffer a “gap in service” if she isn’t sworn in with her colleagues on Jan. 3, 2011.

AK: Alaska lieutenant governor calls Miller’s lawsuit over write-in ballots ‘baseless’ http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/senate-races/130655-alaska-lt-gov-calls-millers-lawsuit-baseless “…the state courts have erred on the side of enfranchising voters when their intent is clear,” Campbell said.

AK: ALASKA REPUBLICAN PARTY OFFERS POINT BY POINT REPUDIATION AGAINST JOE MILLER’S CHARGES OF PROBLEMS IN ALASKA VOTE COUNT http://electionlawblog.org/archives/018088.html

AL: R.I.P. — ANNIE LEE COOPER
http://www.votelaw.com/blog/archives/006481.html
The Selma Times-Journal reports: Annie Lee Cooper, a civil rights hero, died Wednesday afternoon at Vaughan Regional Medical Center. She was 100 years old.

Cooper became known worldwide in 1965 for a confrontation with Sheriff James G. Clark.

AL: Voting Rights Act still vital, representatives of Shelby County blacks tell judge
http://blog.al.com/sweethome/2010/11/voting_rights_act_still_vital.html The law, in part, requires certain areas of the country with a history of voter discrimination to have their voting-related activities pre-screened by the Justice Department to ensure minority voters are not disenfranchised.

CA: Cooley concedes California attorney general race to Harris
http://www.scpr.org/news/2010/11/24/cooley-concedes-california-attorney-general-race-h/ Facing a more than 50,000 vote deficit, with a little over 100,000 votes to count, Cooley conceded in a morning telephone call
…
In a statement, the Harris campaign said the Democrat would wait until the vote count concludes next week before she declares victory.

CA: Ballots mislaid in Indian Wells (absentee ballots, Riverside County)
http://www.mydesert.com/article/20101122/NEWS0301/11220305/
1006/NEWS01/Ballots+mislaid+in+Indian+Wells http://tinyurl.com/2fx2se6 The Desert Sun learned last week that 137 vote-by-mail ballots from an Indian Wells precinct were mistakenly stored away with unused ballots so their results weren’t reported until 10 days after the election.

CA: Final Sonoma County votes in; school bonds win
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20101124/ARTICLES/101129760/1349?Title=Final-Sonoma-County-votes-in

CA: Federal voting rights cited in Watsonville Council appointment lawsuit: Lawyers says plaintiffs seek to deprive District 2 people of representation
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_16683722

CO: Canvass board members withdraw certification
http://www.centerpostdispatch.com/v2_news_articles.php?heading=0&page=72&story_id=1393 SAGUACHE — After meeting all day Friday Nov. 19 to audit the contentious Nov. 2 election and signing election certification documents then forwarded to the Secretary of State (SOS), four canvass board members withdrew their signatures on Monday.
…
“In every instance,” the letter continues, “we were either informed that those reports were not available, that the data from Nov. 2 was no longer available as it had been corrupted, or that we, as a canvass board, did not have the authority to make those requests — including the request for a hand count as was made numerous times. Reports of election results by precinct were not provided to many of the canvass board members until shortly before we convened on Friday, Nov.19, making it virtually impossible to independently assess the outcomes.

The Voting News Daily: NY Count the ballots – ‘best way to settle disputes.’ Bridgeport Conn to have recount

Indiana voter describes “Voting as a deaf blind person” ..Bridgeport Conn to allow recount…Colorado Sunshine law partly cloudy after Election Day..Palm Beach Election sup changes mind,will consider new modems instead of whole new voting system. Modems are $1,500 each??.Minn. canvas board launches recount, battle over rules…Nevada SoS says time to replace old voting machines…New York: “It’s time to count the paper ballots. That is the best way to settle these disputes and get on with governing.” ~NY Times…

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

Voting as a deaf blind person (the challenges she faced)
http://hearnoevil-seenoevil.blogspot.com/2010/11/voting-as-deaf-blind-person.html
So yeah- for the time being I’ll still vote at the polls, however I reluctantly realize that my time is drawing near, much sooner than I care to admit, where I am probably going to have to retreat to the ranks of others who vote via absentee ballot in order to perform my duty as a citizen to vote.

AK: Miller Brings Alaska Senate Election Lawsuit To State Court
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7020614695?Miller%20Brings%20Alaska%20Senate%20Election%20Lawsuit%20To%20State%20Court

CA: STILL ALMOST 500,000 VOTES LEFT TO COUNT IN CA IN UNDECIDED AG RACE
http://electionlawblog.org/archives/018062.html

CA: San Leandro mayor’s race drawing to a close
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_16683848
Santos has until Wednesday to challenge

CA: Our View: Of instant runoffs and our democracy (Pasadena)
http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/opinions/ci_16688670

CO: Sunshine law partly cloudy after Election Day – The Denver Post
http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_16494067#ixzz148ysNuLw
When public records are withheld, they cease to be open public records. And with a trend in Colorado to prevent citizen and media oversight and verification of election results, the electorate should be asking, “Are these our elections?”

CO: SOS-elect Gessler dubbed ‘real activist in support of voter suppression’
http://coloradoindependent.com/68221/sos-elect-gessler-dubbed-real-activist-in-support-of-voter-suppression

CT: City agrees to unseal ballots for recount by Post, citizen groups (Bridgeport)
http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/City-agrees-to-unseal-ballots-for-recount-by-826193.php A recount “will answer the questions that a lot of people are asking,” said Luther Weeks, executive director of CTVotersCount.org and the CT Citizen Election Audit Coalition. “It will resolve those questions.”

FL: Bucher changes mind: Now willing to fix voting system instead of buying new one
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/bucher-changes-mind-now-willing-to-fix-voting-1070029.html
She said she is now telling the company that sold the county its equipment to show her modem options – options she had previously called too unreliable to trust with voting results.
…
Bucher said she’s been told each modem would cost about $1,500 plus an install fee. She thinks she might need as many as 450 or 500.

FL: Osceola Complaint attached (Contest-of-Election Lawsuit)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/electionreform/message/14372
This contest-of-election complaint (attached) filed yesterday in Osceola District Court includes absentee ballot fraud (individuals shown as having voted by absentee ballot who never voted; and people who voted for one candidate but are shown as voting for the other candidate); memory card failures; the forceful and extensive shaking of voting machines; the unlawful rejection of Provisional ballots; the failure to count military overseas ballots; the failure of the optical scans to read certain colors and types of ink; and much more.

GA: Fraudsters Target Absentee Ballots (McIntosh County)
http://www.gpb.org/news/2010/11/23/fraudsters-target-absentee-ballots The women were charged with three felony counts of mishandling absentee ballots, after a local postal worker tipped off authorities that one of them mailed a stack of ballots before the November 2nd general election.

The Voting News Daily: Osceola CO Florida voting machines shaken too hard? E-voting ‘vulnerable’

Osceola County candidate sues over election loss, cites irregularities. “While absentee ballots were being scanned, election workers shook the machines vigorously and often, at times even banging the wall with them.”..Tues night Brad Friedman radio interview outgoing Ohio Sec of State Jennifer Brunner…NYT: What the Secret Donors Want..No internet voting for Singapore: “The internet platform while convenient is vulnerable to power outage, hacking and service attacks..”~ Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng….

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

CA: Editorial: Setting a vote-count standard
http://www.insidebayarea.com/opinion/ci_16662610 More than two weeks after Election Day, the California Republican Party is pursuing a lawsuit against Contra Costa County over whether vote-count observers have the right to challenge specific signatures on mail-vote ballots.

CA: Ranked-choice voting complaints mount
http://californiawatch.org/watchblog/ranked-choice-voting-complaints-mount-6839
Meanwhile, Oakland election data shows that vote-by-mail voters were far more likely to make mistakes in the mayor’s contest than voters who cast ballots at the polls.

CA: Busy weekend for elections staff: Final results may be available by Thanksgiving
http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_16666518 Humboldt County Registrar of Voters Carolyn Crnich said Friday that her office is still sorting through the almost 1,700 provisional ballots that were cast on Election Day, trying to determine if the voters who cast them were eligible and, if so, where they were registered to vote.

CO: State review confirms Myers-Joseph win – Saguache County
http://www.centerpostdispatch.com/v2_news_articles.php?heading=0&story_id=1385&page=72
(County officials initially blocked media from observing claiming meeting was not public. Officials were wrong on legal code & reversed decision after SoS & Colorado Press Assoc. Atty were contacted.)

CO: Election discrepancies explained* Saguache County
http://www.centerpostdispatch.com/v2_news_articles.php?heading=0&page=72&story_id=1384
One of the primary issues revolving around the retabulation of the votes cast on Nov. 2 was the cause of the error that resulted in the generation of additional votes.
…
Other than the one error loading the wrong group totals into the mail-in group, King said he did not see any procedural issues in his review of the ERM system log.  “My only suggestion is to print the final reports on the 650 itself and use those to verify that the reporting software totals match,” he concluded.

CT: A few bucks for a few more ballots would have changed history
http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/A-few-bucks-for-a-few-more-ballots-would-have-823774.php
For less than $1,000, there would have been enough ballots in Bridgeport to handle the flow of voters and there would have been no need to use makeshift photocopies or seek a judge’s order to keep a dozen precincts open an additional two hours.
…
Cliff Heintz, who heads the printing operation at Adkins Printing Inc. in New Britain, said that when Bridgeport faxed through its initial request for 21,100, he thought it wasn’t going to be enough. “I’m sure that we said that was pretty low,” he said, recalling that the price was 30 cents a sheet.

FL: Former Osceola County candidate sues over his election loss
County Commission candidate Armando Ramirez says he lost because of election irregularities http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/osceola/os-osceola-elections-lawsuit-20101122,0,1261357.story One of Brett’s main contentions has to do with 304 ballots the county’s optical scanners didn’t read.

The Voting News Daily: New York Dems mull recount in 60th. CA GOP challenges provisional ballot signatures

California GOP challenges signatures on provisional ballots…Update on 2 “lost” voting machines in NY..Dems mull recount in New York’s 60th District: “Make no mistake, this is really bad. The state put into law that there has to be a paper trail precisely so that when there are irregularities of exactly the type we’re seeing in this race we can ensure that the votes are counted properly.” ~ Downstate Senator-Elect Mike Gianaris & attorney overseeing count..My Florida Recount Memory… CT voters says no patchwork solutions please… Wisconsin: Better way than photo ID?..

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

AK: Abstention in Alaska
http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/ …there seems little likelihood that either a state or federal court would end up nullfying the outcome of this election

AK: Federal Judge Rules for Miller, Temporarily Halts Certification of Murkowski in AK Senate Race http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8203
Question of misspelled write-in ballots belongs in state court, says judge…
…
Miller would be performing a service to the voters of Alaska and the rest of the country if he used his standing to insist on a full, public hand-count…

CA: GOP challenges signatures on provisional ballots
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/opinionshop/detail?entry_id=77478
Contra Costa County Registrar Steve Weir: “We cannot allow a ‘casual’ observer to challenge a voter’s right to participate when he or she is not present.”

CA: Harris’ lead over Cooley grows in attorney general race
The Democrat is ahead by about 40,000, with about 300,000 ballots left to count.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-attorney-general-20101120,0,4410535.story
Most of the remaining votes statewide are provisional ballots, given to voters when polling places do not have a record of their registration, often because a voter has moved.
…
About 80% to 85% of provisional ballots are usually deemed valid, said Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean C. Logan.

CA: Bay Area races increase scrutiny of ranked-choice voting
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ranked-choice-20101120,0,6759361.story
The method avoids runoffs by having voters pick candidates in order of preference. Some question its fairness, but all agree it will transform the nature of campaigning.

CO: Boyd brings election complaint to BOCC* (asks for recount)
http://www.southforktines.com/v2_news_articles.php?heading=0&page=72&story_id=1278
Boyd also brought an affidavit from Sheila Saudevs Casias, who worked as an Elections Assistant, that reported “at the main Elections Polling Precinct, there were several mechanical problems that occurred while the Rio Grande County Elections Officials were tallying the ballot votes using the scanner machines” and that “due to inconsistencies… the ballots had to be rescanned numerous times, because the numbers kept changing.”

CT: Bysiewicz: Secretary of the State powerless to enforce election laws, count ballots http://www.ctvoterscount.org/bysiewicz-secretary-of-the-state-powerless-to-enforce-election-laws-count-ballots/ We caution agains patchwork solutions. The problem goes well beyond the number of ballots printed; voting integrity and confidence call for a much broader study and action than proposed by the current Secretary

FL: My Florida Recount Memory
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/opinion/21florida.html
Ten years ago this month, all eyes were on Florida ..The Op-Ed editors asked some of the people at the center of the recount to share their reminiscences.

MN: New voting not as simple as 1-2-3
http://www.startribune.com/politics/local/109543404.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aU6:iPhD_oD3aPc:i_kchO7DU
Minneapolis’ 2009 foray into the ranked-voting system showed promise for statewide use but pitfalls, too.

The Voting News Daily: ‘new’ voting machines turn up in Buffalo. Ballot removal for Minnesota?

US Senate candidate Miller(R)wins delay on Alaska election cert…Palm Beach officials building their case for touchscreen voting, now claim its about disability access…Now That He’s Been Elected, KS Sec. of State-Elect Kris Kobach Can’t Find Any ‘Voter Fraud’…Minnesota GOP lays groundwork to “remove” alleged phantom ballots. Ramsey County says suit should be rejected…2 ‘new’ voting machines turn up in Buffalo 3 weeks after election…”Tabulator Troubles in New York:What actually malfunctioned? Could the glitch have effect the election result?”..Unique Challenges of Election Administration…

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

AK: U.S. District Court in Alaska Tells Joe Miller to File Case on Vote-Counting in State Court; Tells State Not to Certify Election Until State Court Rules
http://www.ballot-access.org/2010/11/19/u-s-district-court-in-alaska-tells-joe-miller-to-file-case-on-vote-counting-in-state-court-tells-state-not-to-certify-election-until-state-court-rules/

FL: Sarasota ‘Conduct of Election Report’ offers little elaboration on early vote glitch* http://floridaindependent.com/15327/sarasota-conduct-of-election-report-offers-little-elaboration-on-early-vote-glitch The report describes the early vote failure as the result of an “intermittent signal on network port switch.” Dent told The Florida Independent the morning after the glitch that the voting site lost “connectivity” with her main office, which delayed voting by around 40 minutes. The report indicates that elections staff replaced the “network switch and network cables” to correct the problem, and offers no other information. (report at link)

FL: PB County commissioner joins elections chief in push for return to touch screens
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/pb-county-commissioner-joins-elections-chief-in-push-1056815.html In conjunction with Bucher’s announcement, County Commissioner Karen Marcus said she will lobby to have that part of the law overturned, saying that “touch screens are a better system” with “less opportunity for human error.”

Bucher said she hopes to speak to the county commission in January. She wants to replace all of her equipment before the 2012 election, with touch screens if Marcus is successful and with newer optical machines if she is not.

FL: Disabilities Act might force PB County to replace all voting machines by 2016
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/disabilities-act-might-force-pb-county-to-replace-1060662.html

Guam: Lawsuit Seeking to Overturn 2010 Gubernitorial Results Expected To Be Filed By End of Today http://www.pacificnewscenter.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9459:lawsuit-seeking-to-overturn-2010-gubernitorial-results-expected-to-be-filed-by-end-of-today&catid=45:guam-news&Itemid=156

IA: District 13 Senate recount hits a snag
http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=302806 Democrat Tod Bowman holds a 71-vote lead against Republican Andrew Naeve.
After hand-counting the absentee ballots, the Dubuque County recount board came up 11 ballots short and decided to recess until Wednesday, Nov. 24. After the board left, election officials searched through the ballots and found all 11 by 5:45 p.m., according to Tom O’Neill, deputy commissioner of elections for Dubuque County.

IN: Critic claims a voting machine shortage in suburbs*
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/article_f38cedc4-6110-5216-ba40-591bc26c632f.html
Republican activist claims election officials were practicing voter suppression “by accident or design” by failing to provide enough electronic voting machines in suburban communities.
“I’m not blaming anybody, but it’s a situation that needs to be looked at,” Joe Hero said.

IN: “DEMS CONTEST CHARLIE WHITE’S ELIGIBILITY AS SECRETARY OF STATE“
http://electionlawblog.org/archives/018030.html

IN: Decision On Charlie White Charges Expected Next Month
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/25843447/detail.html
Embattled Secretary of State-elect Charlie White may learn his fate within the next 30 days
…
White got into trouble when it was discovered he had voted in the primary from his ex-wife’s home where he used to live, not his new home across town, 6News reported.

The Voting News Daily: Palm Beach to ‘retry touch-screen voting’? NC election protest cites vote flipping

Brad Friedman writes “Why Joe Miller is right to call for a ‘hand count’ in Alaska’s Senate Race”…Clarification – Bridgeport Questions its Legal Authority to Revisit Balloting”…Bad news: “Palm Beach County Elections Chief Susan Bucher wants to retry touch-screen voting” & she promises to lobby legislature to bring back touchscreens…Meanwhile, touchscreen vote flipping was cited in a demand for new election for North Carolina House District 45…

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

AK: Miller seeks to stop Alaska Senate election certification
http://newsminer.com/view/full_story/10370038/article-Miller-seeks-to-s top-Alaska-Senate-election-certification-?instance=home_news_window_left_top_1
The GOP candidate in the Alaska U.S. Senate race asked a federal judge Thursday for a preliminary injunction stopping officials from certifying the election.

An attorney for Joe Miller sought the injunction as part of a previous lawsuit challenging write-in ballots for Lisa Murkowski, the incumbent senator.

AK: Murkowski triumphs in Alaska Senate race
Alaska’s Murkowski appears to be first write-in candidate to win Senate since 1954
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2013461497_murkowski18.html
The state Republican Party, which backed Miller, called the race for Murkowski and asked him to withdraw.

AK: Joe Miller May Seek ‘Hand Count’ in Alaska’s U.S. Senate Race – He’d Be Wise To Do So. http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8199 A fully transparent reconciliation would well serve democracy, particularly given AK’s dreadful election history..

AK: Alaska is not Florida
http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/111710/sta_737414986.shtml
State officials say they are using the “voter intent” standard adopted by Alaska courts over the years.

CA: State GOP will go after Contra Costa County election officials
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_16640379?nclick_check=1
The California Republican Party says it will pursue its lawsuit against Contra Costa County over whether election count observers have the right to challenge specific signatures on vote-by-mail ballots, calling it a critical statewide issue.

CA: Citizens picked to draw political boundaries
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/california-politics/2010/11/citizens-picked-to-draw-political-boundaries.html
State officials Thursday selected a handful of everyday Californians to tackle the politically incendiary task of redrawing the state’s voting districts — a job that voters decided to take away from political insiders.

CO: Final election results in Colorado expected by Friday
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_16632233

CO: Crippled hand count and recount
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20101118/LETTER/101119860/1020&ParentProfile=1061
The court-ordered count is deliberately crippled. It is limited to solely adding counts to Curry’s total. In Eagle during this “examination” judges noticed an uncounted vote for Roger Wilson — the box was fully filled in — but in pencil. It remains uncounted as probably others also are…

CT: BRIDGEPORT QUESTIONS ITS LEGAL AUTHORITY TO REVISIT BALLOTING
http://scullycommunications.com/archives/1199 Bridgeport city officials say they are not “refusing” to participate in a recount of their troubled election night voting precincts but rather doubt their legal authority to do so. Such an undertaking would also create a logistical nightmare, they say.

CT: Two weeks after election, Bridgeport voters still frustrated
http://www.ctmirror.org/story/8480/two-weeks-later-bridgeport-voters-still-frustrated-about-election

FL: GOP state senator says he’ll support Brown’s lawsuit
http://staugustine.com/news/local-news/2010-11-18/gop-state-senator-says-hell-support-browns-lawsuit at least one Republican state senator says he will help a Democrat, U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown of Jacksonville, in her quest to derail a constitutional amendment that would change the way political boundaries are drawn.

FL: Palm Beach County Elections Chief Susan Bucher wants to retry touch-screen voting http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/palm-beach-county-elections-chief-susan-bucher-wants-1056815.html

The Voting News Daily: Bridgeport CT refuses election audit. Recounts everywhere, what are the laws?

AP news says Murkowski won Alaska Senate Race.Miller did not concede..The Connecticut city with too few ballots – “Bridgeport Embarrasses Itself Once Again, Refusing to be Audited”…Will California ever finish counting absentee ballots?..Who Stole Election Day? (Early voting)…Machine recounts in NC 2nd CD. Election fraud charged in Madison,Yancey Co NC..Photo ID proposed in OK and TX, plans to propose in NC, with LWV filing suit in Oklahoma…Cuomo Seeks Expedited Senate Recount…

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

State Recount Laws Searchable Database:
http://ceimn.org/ceimn-state-recount-laws-searchable-database

AK: Murkowski emerges as winner in Alaska Senate race
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101117/ap_on_el_se/us_alaska_senate
Sen. Lisa Murkowski on Wednesday became the first Senate candidate in more than 50 years to win a write-in campaign..
…
Murkowski has a lead of 10,400 votes, a total that includes 8,153 ballots in which Miller observers challenged over things like misspellings, extra words or legibility issues.

AK: State to provide Miller with voter rolls
http://www.adn.com/2010/11/16/1557705/state-to-provide-miller-with-voter.html
The state will provide GOP nominee Joe Miller with voter rolls his campaign requested to ensure there was no voter fraud or irregularities in the Alaska Senate race.

AK: Senator leads; Miller wants hand recount
BUT HANG ON: Miller team, citing “suspect” computer system, wants entire election recounted by hand http://www.adn.com/2010/11/16/1557873/murkowskis-lead-more-than-10000.html

AK: Judge denies AFN in election lawsuit
http://www.adn.com/2010/11/16/1558190/judge-denies-afn-in-election-lawsuit.html
A federal court judge has denied a request by the Alaska Federation of Natives to intervene in the write-in election lawsuit brought by U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller.

AL: Election officials plan recount for Jefferson County Circuit Court Place 20 judicial race http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2010/11/election_officials_plan_recoun.html

AL: Alabama: Vendor Supplies Pencils for Marking Ballots (Trust the Vote Commentary)
http://www.trustthevote.org/alabama-vendor-supplies-pencils-for-marking-ballots
I guess that what Etowah County deserves, but does not have today, is a voting system with optical scanners that are “functionally compatible” with a “marking device” that local election officials can easily buy by the hundred dozen at a local store.

AR: Benton County OKs Election Changes
OFFICIALS APPROVE PLAN FOR VOTING MACHINE SOFTWARE
http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2010/nov/17/benton-county-oks-election-changes/ …which would eliminate sending information and material back and forth between Bentonville and Omaha, Neb..

CA: Vote count tight, messy in California attorney general race
http://www.scpr.org/news/2010/11/17/AG-race-rhetoric/

CA: Registrar of voters continues count of remaining absentees, work on election certification http://lakeconews.com/content/view/16964/919 Still being counted are 4,500 vote by mail ballots turned in between Oct. 29 and Nov. 2. Of those, 1,834 were turned in on election day, Fridley said.

CA: City, county, state votes still being counted
http://www.willitsnews.com/ci_16637892 While several Mendocino County candidates are still waiting for votes to be counted, the statewide contest for attorney general also remains to close to call. As of noon, November 16, there were 774,065 votes left to be counted statewide, and Kamala Harris was leading Steve Cooley by only 18,064 votes.
There were only 12 counties that have completed counting votes.

CA: Riverside County names acting registrar of voters
http://blogs.pe.com/news/digest/2010/11/riverside-county-names-acting.html
Luna appointed Chief Deputy Registrar Rebecca Spencer to the post.

CA: Reilly and Kelly concede D2 and D10 races
http://www.sfbg.com/politics/2010/11/17/reilly-and-kelly-concede-d2-and-d10-races
For Reilly, the disappointment was sharpened by the knowledge that she received more first-place votes than any other D2 candidate.

The Voting News Daily: In favor of paper ballots,recounts. Internet Voting is ‘an affront to democracy’

Bo Lipari on “Pulling the Lever for Paper”..Virginia needs paper ballots by 2012 to avoid fiasco: “It’s been a few years since Fairfax County got through an entire election cycle without a piece of voting equipment breaking down, a handful of votes vaporizing or an election result being delayed.”..Internet voting is “an affront to democracy..It does not fulfill the requirement of one person, one vote and a guarantee of a secret ballot..it excludes people who are intimidated by it.”~Stratford,Canada..”The Great Cyberheist”: our security on the web is an illusion…

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

National: Undecided Race Round Up: Nine Still Hang in the Balance
http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/11/16/undecided-race-round-nine-still-hang-balance

AK: Sitkan sees no wrongdoing in Fairbanks precinct*(ballot jammed in Accuvote)
http://kcaw.org/modules/local_news/index.php?op=centerBlock&ID=1012
A poll watcher for the Democratic Party in Fairbanks says he too was concerned by a malfunctioning voting machine in his precinct on election day, but saw no wrongdoing.
…
Kreiss-Tomkins arrived at the Tanana Valley Fairgrounds precinct a little after 7 AM to find poll workers struggling with an Accuvote machine that wasn’t feeding properly. They had opened the machine up, and were extracting a jammed ballot.

AK: Murkowski passes Miller in vote count
http://www.adn.com/2010/11/15/1555926/murkowski-passes-miller-in-vote.html
Miller spokesman Randy DeSoto said he still thinks the court challenge could get enough votes thrown out for Miller to win.
…
Miller was hoping to get a boost from absentee ballots. But Monday was the last big count of absentees and there turned out to be more write-ins than Miller votes.

AK: AFN seeks to intervene in Senate voting lawsuit
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2010/nov/15/afn-seeks-to-intervene-in-senate-voting-lawsuit/
Alaska’s largest Native organization on Monday sought to intervene in a lawsuit filed against election officials by GOP Senate candidate Joe Miller, claiming he seeks to disenfranchise Alaska Natives by invalidating their votes if they do not spell another candidate’s name perfectly.

AK: State allowed spelling mistakes in 1998 on write-in ballots, news reports say
http://newsminer.com/pages/full_story/push?blog-entry-State+allowed+spelling+mistakes+in+1998+on+write-in+ballots-+news+reports+say%20&id=10321605&instance=blogs_editors_desk

AZ: Arizona Prop. 112 recount triggered
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2010/
11/16/20101116arizona-prop-112-recount.html http://tinyurl.com/2wbe2gg
Measure to move up deadline to file citizen petitions failed by 123 votes

CA: Nevada County Election Results Update Nov.15
http://yubanet.com/regional/Nevada-County-Election-Results-Update-Nov-15.php
All absentee ballots for the 2010 General Election have been counted. Only a few provisional ballots remain to be incorporated, if they are deemed to be valid.

CA: The Ranked-Choice Voting Debate
http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2010/11/16/rankechoicevoting/

CO: HD-61 hand counts happening today
http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/143718 Election officials from Glenwood Springs to Gunnison are sorting through undervoted ballots in the House District 61 race (hand count of undervotes for write-ins only)

CT: Bridgeport Ballot Issues To Be Discussed At Meeting
Panel To Review Polling Issues In City http://www.wfsb.com/politics/25807914/detail.html

CT: 86 Voting Precincts to Be Audited
http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/ctnj.php/archives/entry/86_voting_
precincts_to_be_audited/ http://tinyurl.com/395egpl In addition to the dozen Bridgeport voting precincts, which were allowed to stay open until 10 p.m. based on a judge’s order, 74 voting precincts throughout the state will be audited before Nov. 22.

CT: Post-Election Audits Announced
http://wtic.cbslocal.com/2010/11/15/post-election-audits-announced/
Connecticut’s tight race for governor, which came under close scrutiny after Bridgeport poll workers ran out of ballots on Election Day, has been selected as one of several state races that will undergo a post-election audit
…
Bysiewicz said she supports proposed legislation that would require every municipality to order at least enough ballots for every registered voter
…
Lesley Mara, the deputy secretary of the state, said she’s not aware of any other state with optical scan voting machines that requires cities and towns to order a certain percentage of ballots.

The Voting News Daily: Colorado poll watchers need binoculars? Time for a Recount New York

”Election Day has come and gone, but for elections officials across California who must provide complete and accurate results, the election truly does not end until Nov. 30,”~ SoS Debra Bowen..Coloradoans need binoculars to observe processing of mail ballots..CT lawmaker drafts bill requiring 1 ballot per reg. voter..Ga. wants new voters to prove citizenship…100,000 Maryland ‘Relax’ Election Day Robocalls Violated Law..Missouri election robo calls used fake caller IDs..Montana eyes vote by mail…Several NC contests to be recounted…Key New York Races Undecided…

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

AK: Alaska’s Miller sees hope in military vote
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/articles/2010/11/15/ alaskas_miller_sees_hope_in_military_vote/ http://tinyurl.com/2blmp9j The state has so far recorded more than 98,500 write-in ballots cast.

AK: Alaska elections director thrust into spotlight
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jMOx8d_eEIbYX6hvuyG4Kp
Ey1n2w?docId=eb57ba42fc9742d1baae9c1eb1c128af http://tinyurl.com/2bva2ky
She presses a ballot close to her red glasses, pauses to scrutinize the botched spelling and declares in a singsong voice: “Murkowski.”
“Challenge,” comes the reflexive retort from an observer.

AK: Alaska Division of Elections Posts Write-in Totals for All Declared Write-in Candidates for U.S. Senate http://www.ballot-access.org/2010/11/14/alaska-division-of-elections-posts-write-in-totals-for-all-declared-write-in-candidates-for-u-s-senate/
The Alaska Division of Elections has posted a tentative tally of the number of write-in votes for all declared write-in candidates. Other than Lisa Murkowski, no declared write-in candidate for U.S. Senate received more than eleven votes.

AK: Absentee Senate ballot count slated to start Monday
http://www.ktuu.com/news/ktuu-2010elect-senate-ballot-count-update-111410,0,1653487.story

AR: Changes Ahead For Early Voting
http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2010/nov/14/changes-ahead-early-voting/

CA: Voting Group Demands Grand Jury Look (Fresno County)
http://www.kmjnow.com/pages/landing_news?Voting-Group-Demands-Grand-Jury-Look=1&blockID=351750&feedID=806
Sabina Gonzalez of Communities for a New California told reporters at a news conference that county clerk Victor Salazar’s decision to cut the number of polling places in half because of budget cuts may have discouraged as many as 20,000 voters.

CA: Registrar tried, not hard enough; balloting system needs to change
http://www.mydesert.com/article/20101114/COLUMNS26/11130361/Registrar-tried-not-hard-enough-balloting-system-needs-to-change …She is the victim of very unequal voting laws plus a computer system that cannot handle the upsurge in absentee ballot voting. It continues to increase as voters find it much easier to vote from home and let the Postal Service do the legwork.
…
It is state law that the ballot must be in the registrar’s office by the close of Election Day. This is a horrible penalty for the citizens of the Coachella Valley, because we do not have direct mail access to the Riverside post office…

CA: ‘Grinding on’: Elections office continues to sort through ballots; final results likely more than a week away http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_16603456
In Humboldt, Crnich said elections staff is still working through the process of auditing materials returned from the polls and updating voter histories, which she said need to be completed before the county can even begin to sort through the almost 13,000 ballots that remain to be counted. Crnich said she’s hopeful those processes will be completed by the end of next week, at which point staff will be able to begin verifying signatures on the outstanding vote-by-mail ballots, sorting them and counting them…

CA: Jumping the gun
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20101115/A_OPINION01/11150304/-1/A_OPINION
Harmer wise not to concede to McNerney just yet in 11th District race
…
Harmer still refused to concede.

The Voting News Daily: Broken voting machine seals in Putnam TN raise doubts. Clash over recount for NY 1st

In Alaska, the write in votes favor Murkowski so Miller awaits the military ballots..Another bad idea for elections in the Ohio Dayton Daily News: “Unused paper ballots are big waste for Ohio”. The Dayton DN editors should read the New Haven Register editorial: “Scrimping on ballots proved foolish”…Tennessee GOP requests investigation of possible voting machines tampering in Putnam Co…Clash over vote recount for NY 1st Congressional Dist…Philippine officials learn to use “glitch” now that they have computer vote counting…

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

AK: Alaska Senate Race Ballot Madness: The STRANGEST Write-In Votes (PHOTOS)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/12/alaska-senate-race-write-in-ballots_n_782724.html#s180931

AK: Little Ammunition Found in Fight Over Alaska Votes
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/us/politics/14alaska.html?_r=2&ref=politics
JUNEAU, Alaska — The lawyers have started leaving.
…
With each passing day that election workers here in the state capital manually count write-in votes cast for Senator Lisa Murkowski, it appears increasingly likely that Alaskans spell too well for Mr. Miller’s math to work

AK: GOP Senate hopeful awaits military vote
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/nov/14/politics-scene-360299773/ GOP nominee Joe Miller said he won’t spend a lot of time, energy and effort fighting over ballots in Alaska’s undecided U.S. Senate race if the math doesn’t add up in his favor.

But Mr. Miller said Saturday that he won’t make any announcements until after absentee ballots arrive next week from military voters – a constituency the Army veteran thinks could go heavily for him.

AK: Enough already–Miller campaign adviser has endless allegations but no evidence
http://newsminer.com/bookmark/10305887/Enough%20already%E2%80%93Miller%20campaign%20adviser%20has%20no%20evidence%20of%20election%20fraud

CA: Progress Update (Humboldt County Election Transparency Project)
http://democracycounts.blogspot.com/2010/11/progress-update.html
Scanners have now reached the 100,000 images count for the November 2010 election.

CA: NEW VOTE COUNTS INCREASE CASSIDY’S LEAD
http://www.sanleandrobytes.com/archives/012501.html
This gives Cassidy 50.57% of the continuing ballots cast to 49.43% for Santos. There were 2,134 exhausted ballots out of 23,493 ballots cast and a total of 20,321 continuing ballots in the final round.

Santos has not conceded the race and has recommended that the San Leandro City Council revoke the ranked choice voting ordinance and that the City return to run-off elections.

KY: Recount Hearing Set in Boyd County
http://www.wsaz.com/home/headlines/Boyd_County_Races_106585618.html There were only six votes separating him from the candidate who won the final commission seat.

MN: With Dayton’s big lead, recount so far not mirroring ’08
http://www.startribune.com/politics/recount/107613378.html “This number is virtually unchanged,” said Ken Martin, Dayton’s recount manager. “It will be mathematically impossible for Tom Emmer to overturn these results, barring some unforeseen problem.”

MO: Voting Group Challenges State Senate Election; Wash. U. Students Turned Away at Polls http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2010/11 / v oting_group_challenges_state_senate_election_missouri.php
http://tinyurl.com/3ysen26

In a statement yesterday on behalf of Advancement Project, St. Louis attorney Denise Lieberman (former legal counsel for the ACLU of Eastern Missouri), questioned why Washington University students who voted in the 2008 presidential election were turned away from the polls on November 2.

“We received reports that students who were duly registered and voted at the polling site on Washington University’s campus as recently as two years ago could not be found on the voter rolls at all, were turned away without being directed to their correct polling location and were expressly refused provisional ballots,” said Lieberman.

The Voting News Daily: Dust settles on voting machine failures. Beware the Perils of Internet voting

Arizona Pot smokers ‘edgy’: Prop 203 still undecided..Colorado SoS to investigate Saguache County election after discovery of uncounted absentee ballots…Minnesota Recount part 2? Fewer absentee ballot rejections in 2010 vote…Spokane WA County Ballot Copying — Problem?..Six House Races Remain in Limbo..Africa election commission mulls EVMs for “ensuring free elections”..Beware the Perils of Internet Voting says Kyle Geske of www.WinnipegElection.ca…The dust settles – for now…

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

US: Six House Races Remain in Limbo
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/12/six-house-races-remain-in-limbo/?partner=rss&emc=rss

AK: Write-ins still going for Murkowski
http://community.adn.com/adn/node/154312 More than 90 percent are unchallenged for her. The Miller campaign challenged an additional 7.7 percent of Murkowski votes, but was overruled by Elections Director Gail Fenumiai.

Those are “counted but challenged” and could go to court.

The Miller campaign’s ballot observers have successfully challenged 1.48 percent of the 56,088 write-in ballots reviewed.

AK: On Alaska’s ‘Hinky’ Elections & the Fight for Oversight of Their U.S. Senate Write-In Count http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8193 (podcast available)
Where Brown is inappropriately suggesting “voter fraud” without evidence to back it up, he is exactly right in calling for the right for the campaign to be allowed to reconcile the poll rosters to determine if the lower-than-expected number of ballots so far tabulated are, indeed, accurate.

AK: Miller campaign plans to sue state over alleged voter fraud
http://www.wsbt.com/news/elections/ktuu-2010elect-miller-voter-fraud-state-lawsuit-111110,0,1111649.story

AZ: Pot smokers ‘edgy’: Prop 203 still undecided
http://tucsoncitizen.com/tucson-progressive/2010/11/12/pot-smokers-edgy-prop-203-still-undecided/ With tens of thousands of ballots to count in Maricopa County, Props 110 and 203 are losing by about 3000 votes, while Prop 112 is winning by less than 2000 votes, according to the Star. All three propositions have gained ground in the past week.

AZ: Appeals court won’t force Arizona to count ballots from citizenship dispute
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/arizona/article_7d0ec6f8-edef-11df-90b1-001cc4c002e0.html
In an unsigned order Thursday, the three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals acknowledged its earlier ruling that the citizenship-proof requirement imposed by Arizona voters in 2004 runs afoul of federal statutes.
But the judges said that ruling came weeks after the deadline to register to vote in Arizona had closed on Oct. 4. That was also the day that early ballots were mailed.

CA: Santos not ready to concede
http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_16588954
Santos says “questions” remain about the election

SAN LEANDRO — Mayor Tony Santos said Thursday that he is not set to concede the mayor’s seat for the next four years, despite unofficial results that show him losing his re-election bid by less than 200 votes.

CA: The Winning Strategy in Oakland: Concentrate on Being 2nd or 3rd Choice
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/12/us/politics/12bcvoting.html

CA: Public Supports Ranked-Choice Voting
http://www.beyondchron.org/articles/Public_Supports_Ranked_Choice_Voting_8669.html
For the first time in San Francisco Bay Area history, ranked choice voting gave victories to candidates who did not win the most first-placed votes.

CO: State to investigate Saguache County election*
http://www.alamosanews.com/v2_news_articles.php?heading=0&page=72&story_id=18643
SAGUACHE — The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office (SOS) announced Tuesday that it will launch an official investigation into the reversal of the Nov. 2 election results following the discovery of mail-in ballots not counted on election night.

CO: Election Update: Saguache County Clerk presents report to County Commissioners; computer and scanner errors blamed for discrepencies in ballot tallies*
http://crestoneeagle.com/?p=2107

The Voting News Daily: Perry Co KY vote flipping. Epstein:”What happens when there’s no recount possible?”

Perry Co KY candidates report voting machine probs: voters would push button & wrong name lit up..John Sebes of TrustTheVote.org on flakey voting machines: “North Carolina Voting Machines Lessons Learned,Part Two” (not just NC)…Expert Jeremy Epstein on Virginia’s paperless voting: “What happens when there’s no recount possible?”…Veterans Day & the MOVE Act…Audio reveals Afghan election fraud…Election night probs for 33 Canadian munis using internet voting..Think internet voting is a good idea? See video of V for Vendetta Hacker hits WSU…

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

Like voting news? Please tell a friend…

AK: Judge Denies Joe Miller’s Request to Halt Write-In Ballot Counting
http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2010/11/judge-denies-joe-millers-request-to-halt-write-in-ballot-counting.html

AK: The Election that Won’t End
http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/11/11/election-wont-end
Alaska officials had anticipated three days of counting
ballots, but now they say they’ll be tallying write-in votes through the end of
next week. Welcome to Alaska elections.

Officials hope to finish counting all the votes cast at
precincts on Election Day by Sunday afternoon. But then they’ll start counting
15,000 early votes, more than 30,000 absentee votes and over 10,000 challenge
ballots. They won’t certify this election until after Thanksgiving.

CA: RIVERSIDE COUNTY: Officials pledge accurate final vote count
http://www.pe.com/localnews/stories/PE_News_Local_D_vote11.46daf35.html

CA: Quan is mayor-elect, Perata considers lawsuit
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/abraham/detail?entry_id=76832

CA: Garcia: Ranked-choice voting an undemocratic nightmare (opinion)
http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/columns/ken_garcia/Ranked-choice-voting-an-undemocratic-nightmare-107126493.html

CA: More than a week after the election, San Leandro has a mayor: Stephen Cassidy
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_16578745?nclick_check=1

FL: Supervisor of Elections finds box of 500 uncounted absentee ballots*
Discovery could skew School Board, Lake Worth Commission, Riviera Beach marina votes
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2010-11-10/news/fl-palm-ballots-found-20101110_1_ballots-local-races-results

In a county known for hanging chads, slow recounts and chaotic elections, the marathon recount for the Palm Beach County School Board District 6 seat has started to carve its own place in history.

KY: Candidate says voting machines may have been tampered with* (Shouptronic 1242)
http://www.wkyt.com/wymtnews/headlines/Candidate_says_voting_machines_may_have
_been_tampered_with_107074553.html http://tinyurl.com/25fct95 Perry County. However, on Monday, he says several candidates who lost their races came to his office and told him some voting machines may have been rigged.

“That the light would light up for a different candidate, or they would have to push a button several times for the candidate they wanted to vote for, the light would shine up beside of that,” said David Sandlin, Perry County PVA candidate.

MD: Telephone Consumer Protection Act complaint in Maryland robocall case seeks $168 million penalty http://politicalactivitylaw.com/2010/11/11/telephone-consumer-protection-act-complaint-in-maryland-robocall-case-seeks-168-million-penalty/
“The conduct that occurred here was an attempt to suppress voter turnout,”

NC: North Carolina Voting Machines Lessons Learned, Part Two
http://www.trustthevote.org/north-carolina-voting-machines-lessons-learned-part-two
When I say “flakey voting machine” I simply mean that the machine in question is prone to mis-behavior that leaves the voter with low confidence that their votes were recorded correctly.
…
“This is not your typical iPhone running an award-winning iPhone app…but rather a somewhat hastily-assembled system created about 8 years ago to cheaply and quickly get to market to be the first to soak up HAVA funding.”

NC: On Veterans Day, thanking N Carolina State Board of Elections for helping troops vote http://ncvoters.blogspot.com/2010/11/on-veterans-day-thanking-n-carolina_11.html

NY: Suffolk elections workers review ballots
http://riverheadlocal.com/local-news-content/1093-suffolk-elections-workers-review-ballots

The Voting News Daily: Fairfax ‘should junk electronic voting machines’. NY Election night-mare

Miller campaign challenges mis-spelled write in votes for Murkowski in Alaska election…IL Appeals court rejects Barrow’s redo effort of ’09 mayoral election…Philadelphia voter forced to swear on Bible before casting vote…Junk the paperless machines: Computer scientist Jeremy Epstein describes his day as a poll worker in Fairfax,VA. “..one of the touch screen machines was crashing all day…If I had a laptop that crashed three or four times in one day, I’d get a new one.” Touchscreen machines failed to record 800 ballots & some precincts had more votes than voters…

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

AK: Miller Cites ‘Bush v. Gore’ in Arguments‎
http://www.frumforum.com/miller-cites-bush-v-gore-in-arguments
The Miller campaign says that write-in votes for Lisa Murkowski that misspell “Murkowski” should be called “protest votes” and hence disregarded. ..

AK: In early write-in counting news, Miller team challenging about 10% of vote for minor misspellings http://electionlawblog.org/archives/017914.html

AK: State regulation does allow misspelled names on some ballots
http://newsminer.com/pages/full_story/push?blog-entry-State+regulation+does+allow+misspelled+names
+on+some+ballots%20&id=10223786&instance=blogs_editors_desk
http://tinyurl.com/3yatkjr Joe Miller probably chose federal court instead of state court for his lawsuit about the validity of misspelled write-in ballots because of concerns that he would lose in the Alaska Supreme Court.

AK: Ballot counting begins in Alaska Senate races
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/10/AR2010111004751.html?hpid=topnews Election officials were set to begin poring over more than 92,500 write-in ballots in the Alaska Senate race on Wednesday.

AR: Election recount yields same results
http://www.bentoncourier.com/content/view/237169/1/

AZ: State, county lawyers warn of chaos in provisional ballot count
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/arizona/politics/article_26c3d804-ec89-11df-b211-001cc4c002e0.html She said there were about 84,000 provisional ballots cast. Brennan said, though, nothing on any of the ballots identifies why they were set aside, whether due to being unregistered or some other reason like voter ID at the polls.

CA: ELECTION UPDATE: About 5,000 vote-by-mail ballots remain uncounted in Orinda
http://www.ibabuzz.com/lamorindasun/2010/11/09/election-update-about-5000-vote-by-mail-ballots-remain-uncounted-in-orinda/

CA: County vote still untallied, but vote by mail is out front
http://www.timesheraldonline.com/ci_16571650 (Solano County)
With a few hundred damaged ballots and nearly 4,900 provisional ballots still needing to be counted, the turn-out for last Tuesday’s election now stands at 58.74 percent.

CA: It’s Wednesday … do you know who your next Oakland mayor is?
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/inoakland/detail?entry_id=76754

CA: Election Day Gone Wrong (Humboldt State U)
http://www.thejackonline.org/mobile/news/election-day-gone-wrong-1.2399800
But, some students could not vote on election day. Errors ranged from students not knowing where their polling places were to mail-in ballots and registration forms not turned in on time.

CA: Riverside County, CA’s Oft-Failed Registrar Barbara Dunmore Finally Succeeds At Getting Fired http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8189

CO: Eagle County clerk working overtime to hand count ballots in sheriff’s race, disputed House contest http://www.realvail.com/article/251/Eagle-County-clerk-working-overtime-to-hand-count-ballots-in-sheriffs-race-disputed-House-contest Military overseas ballots and ballots with corrected signature discrepancies continue to trickle in to the Eagle County Clerk and Recorder’s Office, with the sheriff’s race between Republican incumbent Joe Hoy and independent challenger James Van Beek unlikely to be decided until late next week.

CT: Courant Editorial: “State Must Review Ballot Blunders” – We agree and disagree
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/hartford-courant-editorial-state-must-review-ballot-blunders/
We note that there are two registrars in Bridgeport, elected to use their two eyes and two brains to represent opposing interests toward voting integrity and access.

The Voting News Daily: Spokane must duplicate 30,000 mail ballots. Some elections still too close to call

More bad ideas for Connecticut elections…Rep Tim Bishop wants hand count of 184,000 Long Island 1st dist ballots after vote swing. 10,000 absentee ballots uncounted…Was Stark CO, OH student’s video report of touchscreen vote-flipping just an isolated incident? Brad Friedman reports…Spokane WA officials busy duplicating 30,000 ballots that were damaged, poorly marked or unreadable…Dust Settles on Election Results, But Not Voting System Troubles..4 electronic voting machines smashed in India election violence…Update On Deadlocked Races…

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

US. Too Close To Call: Update On Deadlocked Races
http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2010/11/too-close-to-ca-2.php

AK: Absentee vote count today
http://www.adn.com/2010/11/08/1543964/absentee-vote-count-today.html
Joe Miller hopes to make a comeback in Alaska’s U.S. Senate race when the Division of Elections today starts counting more than 30,500 absentee ballots.
…
The vast majority of the 83,201 write-ins are expected to be for incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski. The Division of Elections on Wednesday in Juneau will start the process of opening the write-in ballots to see how many of them actually have Murkowski’s name.

CA: Latest absentee ballot counts still show tight races* (damaged mail ballots)
http://www.kget.com/news/local/story/Latest-absentee-ballot-counts-still-show-tight/BJ128lqc_0mwN8_1w8373g.cspx
For the 20th congressional district, Andy Vidak is leading Jim Costa with 145 votes, but tens of thousands of ballots still need to be counted in Fresno County.

Here in Kern County, elections employees are now focusing their efforts on duplicating more than 5,000 ballots damaged in the mail.

CA: Some San Luis Obispo County ballots still need tallying
Votes in close SLO and Morro Bay mayoral races among those to be counted this week
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2010/11/08/1361976/some-san-luis-obispo-county-ballots.html

CA: Riverside County Registrar of Voters Barbara Dunmore fired after delayed vote counts http://www.mydesert.com/article/20101109/NEWS03/101109036/Registrar-fired-after-delayed-votes

CA: Oakland ranked ballot: Least-hated tops most-liked
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/08/BA3K1G91HH.DTL
In an election where second- and third-place count, you are far, far better off being the least-hated candidate than the most popular.

CA: COUNTY REGISTRAR VIOLATED AGREEMENT WITH CITIES ON RANKED CHOICE VOTING http://www.sanleandrobytes.com/archives/012441.html
When the Alameda County Registrar of Voters ran the ranked choice algorithm on November 5, 2010, it violated a Memorandum of Understanding it agreed to with the cities of Berkeley, Oakland, and San Leandro.

CA: Confusion about Oakland’s voting system may have affected election results
http://californiawatch.org/watchblog/confusion-about-oakland-s-voting-system-may-have-affected-election-results-6491

CO: Clerks to hand count undervotes in House District 61
http://www.realaspen.com/article/294/Clerks-to-hand-count-undervotes-in-Colorado-House-District-61
Judge James Madden ordered the clerks in the district to count any ballots that the voter wrote unaffiliated incumbent Kathleen Curry’s name on the line for that race regardless of whether the oval or box next to it was marked. Curry currently trails Roger Wilson of Missouri Heights by 495 votes. There are 2,001 undervotes in the race, opening the door for her to theoretically make up the difference
…
Harvie Branscomb, co-chair of the Democrats in Eagle County, maintains Judge Madden’s ruling is unfair because it is limited to a hand count of the undervotes, and not of the entire HD61 election.

CT: Bridgeport Fiasco Proves We Need To Change Our Voting System
http://www.newhavenadvocate.com/featured-news/bridgeport-fiasco-proves-we-need-to-change-our-voting-system-034113 (suggests everything expect print enough ballots)

IL: GOP Poll Watcher Wears U.S. Immigration Agency Hat at Hispanic Polling Place in IL on Election Day http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8186

The Voting News Daily: OH student records Vote flipping on iPhone. Paper vs. Plastic Voting in Houston

California STILL counting absentee ballots..CT,NM, NY having post election audits…Young, Russo file complaint to end electronic voting in Rhode Island…Dan Wallach describes voting experience & struggle to get paper ballot in Houston TX..Parties scramble as recounts loom in several House races..Congrats to Princeton Prof Ed Felton,e-voting expert for appointment as Chief Technologist of the FTC..

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

US: Parties dispatch staff, money in battle for last 10 House seats
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/house-races/128257-parties-scramble-as-recounts-loom-in-several-house-races

AR: ‘Success’ Looks Rough
http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2010/nov/06/success-looks-rough-20101106/
“Election Commission Chairman Bill Williams said final, unofficial results were compiled at 1:54 a.m. Wednesday and posted on the Benton County web site by 2:30 a.m. Despite the technical difficulties and complaints about paper ballots being unavailable at some polling places, Williams regarded the election a success.”
…
Next election, go out and hire some six-toed sloths to help with the counting.
Sloths would give the election commission extra toes to count on and probably move faster.
Thursday’s report detailed, “ … Internal clock errors, sticky rolls of printer paper and a cutback on paper ballots added up to long lines for some Benton County voters Tuesday …”

AR: HOW WE SEE IT: Vote Count No Disaster, But …*
http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2010/nov/07/how-we-see-it-vote-count-no-disaster-20101107/ Benton County.. Williams told us people are not entitled to paper ballots.

However, there are those who prefer paper because they don’t trust the machines. Those people deserve the peace of mind the paper ballot provides them. There’s no excuse for failing to provide paper ballots. The commission also had problems with the machines because their internal clocks were on standard time, not Daylight Saving Time, which forced officials to bring numerous machines back to the commission offices to be closed and processed. If the clocks caused problems for any other county, we’re not aware; how did it happen here? Lastly, the commission did not have final totals for the night until 2 a.m.

AR: Pettus paying $2,500 for recount
http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2010/nov/07/pettus-paying-2500-recount/?latest
Martin received 10,326 votes to Pettus’ 5,120 votes, but talk of voting problems in Russellville spurred Pettus supporters to donate the money for a Monday recount, he said.

AZ: Hispanic civil rights group seeks to force provisional ballot count
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/arizona/politics/article_e712b39a-e960-11df-afa8-001cc4c03286.html …And the reason they didn’t show up on the rolls is that they didn’t get registered because they didn’t provide proof of U.S. citizenship as required by a 2004 voter-approved Arizona law.
On Oct. 26, though, the appellate court declared that requirement invalid. Based on that, MALDEF attorney Nina Perales said those who were wrongfully denied registration should have their votes counted.

CA: 2 California congressional races remain close
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/11/08/politics/p145541S01.DTL&type=politics

CA: Registrar On Hot Seat Over Smudged Ballot Delay
http://losaltos.patch.com/articles/registrar-on-hot-seat-over-smudged-ballot-delay
As vote counting drags on, Supervisor Liz Kniss calls for an investigation into the response to defective absentee ballots

CA: California Attorney General
http://www.ksro.com/LocalNews/Story.aspx?ID=1308297
It could be weeks before we know who won the race for California Attorney General.
…
Around the state, local elections officials are still counting vote by mail, provisional and other ballots. They have until November 30th to report their final results.

The Voting News Daily: CA has 1 M uncounted mail ballots. AK to hand count write ins. CT gets bad advice

Alaska to hand count 83,000 write-in votes…CA still has est 1-1.4 Million mail ballots to count….Newspaper-Listening to voting vendor, suggests unsafe sophisticated voting system to Connecticut…ES&S apologizes to Alabama probate judges for problems arising when ES&S sent pencils instead of pens to polling places…Georgia’s Tammy Adkins Becomes the New Alvin Greene…Mississippi’s dis-functional elections…Hand recount called in a NY Assembly Seat..Recount sought in Texas 27th CD-can it be done?

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

AL: Marking pens to return for future elections in Etowah County*
http://www.gadsdentimes.com/article/20101106/NEWS/101109833/1016/NEWS?Title=Marking-pens-to-return-for-future-elections-in-Etowah-County
Voters who didn’t like using pencils to mark their ballots Tuesday will be pleased to know pens will return for the 2012 elections, according to Etowah County Probate Judge Bobby Junkins.

Junkins said Friday that Election Systems and Software, the election supplies vendor, included pencils in supply packets because of a shortage of pens.
…
Junkins said the pencils were not “as sensitive” as the pens and that resulted in more spoiled ballots. Some machines also rejected the pencil-marked ballots and voters had to remark their ballots, which took time.
[some states that have ES&S optical scanners mark ballots with black Bic stick pens which cost under $4.00 a dozen]

AK: Murkowski account to help pay for vote count
http://www.adn.com/2010/11/05/1538424/murkowski-says-colleagues-in-both.html
The legal fight will shift next week to Juneau, where more than 83,000 write-in ballots — most, presumably, for Murkowski — must be counted by hand. The write-in vote total is ahead of Miller’s by 13,439 votes. More than 37,800 absentee, early and questioned ballots remain to be counted as well, beginning Tuesday.

AK: “GOP’S MILLER SAYS SPELLING SHOULD COUNT IN ALASKA VOTE“
http://electionlawblog.org/archives/017861.html However, the WSJ article writes that “On Friday, [Division of Elections Director] Ms. Fenumiai pointed to two previous Alaska cases in which ballots were counted for a candidate when voter intent was clear, even if the ballot wasn’t filled out correctly.”

AZ: Changes needed so early voting works properly
http://www.yumasun.com/opinion/early-65251-ballots-election.html
Far too many voters, both here in Yuma County and throughout the state, are not returning their early ballots early, as intended. Instead, they turn them in at the polling places on Election Day.

That is a big problem because they have to be counted separately and it can delay final results for days.

CA: Elections officials: Ballot-counting takes time
http://www.bakersfield.com/news/local/x2086921025/Elections-officials-Ballot-counting-takes-time
As of Friday, 1.9 million ballots remained to be counted in California, including more than 1.4 million vote-by-mail ballots and another 451,056 provisional ballots.

CA: Cooley’s lead in attorney general widens Sunday
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/california-politics/2010/11/cooleys-lead-in-attorney-general-race-appears-to-widen-sunday.html The lead in the attorney general’s race has see-sawed between the two candidates since election night, and with considerably more than 1 million ballots remaining to count, could easily reverse again.

CA: Registrar: Mail-in ballots counted (Riverside County)
http://www.mydesert.com/article/20101107/NEWS0301/11070347/Registrar-Mail-in-ballots-counted 2,000 damaged, 28,800 provisional ballots remain

Nearly 2,000 ballots that were damaged had to be duplicated and were expected to be counted by early today.

CA: Voters complain about vote-by-mail ballots* (absentee by mail)
http://www.ksby.com/news/voters-complain-about-vote-by-mail-ballots/
One Oceano voter said she showed up to cast her ballot yesterday, only to be told she was registered to vote by mail instead of at the polls.

The Voting News Daily: Widespread Diebold failure in Utah Co UT. Columbia CO NY orders full hand count

Update on Still-Undecided ‘Top-of-Ticket’ Races…They had ballot shortages: Auburn Lake Trails, CA & Ellsworth village,WA insufficient paper ballots created lines & long waits.. MN Recount to start Nov. 29 & end Dec. 14..Columbia County New York began a full hand count of ballots yesterday. Election Commissioner Virginia Martin wants independent check against machine tally…ES&S sofware failures in Sumter SC were blamed on “human error” but no evidence cited. On Tuesday ALL Diebold touch-screen voting machines across Utah County, Utah failed. There were no paper ballots so no voters couldn’t vote until officials got the machines working…

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

AZ: Law broken when voters went unidentified
http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/state/law-broken-when-voters-went-unidentified

CA: Lack of ballots, power outage present unique Election Night*
http://auburnjournal.com/detail/164128.html (El Dorado County)
Residents of the Auburn Lake Trails subdivision in Cool weathered hours of waiting and a power outage in order to vote Tuesday night.
…
Liz Hanley, a Gold Country Media employee who lives in the area, said she returned to the polls at 7:45 p.m. to see if the ballots had been delivered, but wasn’t able to vote until 9:15 p.m.

CA: Registrar defends speed of vote tally (Riverside)
http://www.mydesert.com/article/20101105/NEWS0301/11050316/Registrar-defends-speed-of-vote-tally “Would I like to not be in last place? Definitely,” Dunmore told The Desert Sun on Thursday. “But the most important thing to me is that the votes we counted are accurate, and that the integrity of the election is maintained.”

CA: Harmer Sues Over Vote Counting in CA-11
http://calitics.com/diary/12820/harmer-sues-over-vote-counting-in-ca11
Now Harmer has filed a lawsuit against the Contra Costa County election officials claiming the right to challenge the signatures on absentee ballots, even as those voters are not present to respond.

CA: Stolen ballots recovered; update on supervisor, school board races
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/cityinsider/detail?entry_id=76376
The 75 San Francisco ballots allegedly stolen on Election Day Tuesday by a poll worker in the Excelsior District were recovered across town Thursday in the pond at the Palace of Fine Arts. “They’re very soggy,” said city elections chief John Arntz.
…
Still missing is the memory pack that electronically records the votes. The elections worker suspected of taking off with the ballots and memory pack, Karl Bradfield Nicholas, 50, of San Francisco, faces felony counts of burglary and two election code violations.

CT: Cops Hand-Deliver Bungled Tally
http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/foley_lets_just_take_our_time/ Cops drove from Bridgeport to Hartford Friday afternoon to deliver hard-copy results from a vote count that kept getting revised up until the last minute—and that purports to give Dan Malloy the margin of victory to become Connecticut’s first Democratic governor elected since 1986.

CT: Bungled To The End, Tally Goes To Malloy
http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/ctnj.php/archives/entry/malloy_wins_bridgeport_–_state/
An all-night recount in Bridgeport gave Democrat Dan Malloy a 13.000-vote lead in Bridgeport in the election for governor and 5,000 statewide—enough to give him the job. Yet even after an “official” announcement Friday morning, voting registrars were still making adjustments to the tally.

CT: ‘Found’ Bag Of 335 Ballots Opened, Counted
http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/ctnj.php/archives/entry/itll_be_officialany_minute_now/

FL: Voting glitches like St. Lucie’s miscount not uncommon, expert says*
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2010/nov/04/voting-glitches-like-st-lucies-miscount-not-says/

The Voting News Daily: CA,CO mail ballot holdup. CT ballot fiasco. AR, PA voting machine fails. MN recount?

Alameda Cnty CA has 122, 000 ballots to count. Other CA counties still counting mail ballots…Weld, & Arapahoe Cnty CO still processing mail ballots…Bridgeport CT ballot shortage fiasco leaves gov race un-decided…Reduction of polling places in Paulding, GA & Collins TX caused long lines &, long waits for voters…More vote flipping in NC, PA…Sumter SC touchscreens shutdown…MN braces for potential recount, other state’s races undecided…US College students still routinely disenfranchised… Canadians frustrated with slow Internet voting system…

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

Minnesota braces for potential recount, other races undecided
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20101104/el_yblog_upshot/minnesota-braces-for-potential-recount-other-races-undecided Below we run through the Senate, gubernatorial and House races that remain undecided…

AR: Computer glitch skews Baxter County election count; tally corrected*
http://www.baxterbulletin.com/article/20101104/NEWS01/11040326
the processing error occurred in data stored on an electronic media or “flash” card as it fed data to a computer that tabulates and displays vote totals on a spreadsheet.

Consultants from Election Systems & Software Inc., an election management firm, and technician Tammy Johnson with the Arkansas Department of Information Systems, attending Tuesday night’s election, found a file on the problem flash card apparently from a previous election. The card was used to download the record of voting on an I-Vote machine in the Gassville Community Center polling place.

The glitch caused a portion of the vote from precinct 10-3, including 110 known votes from voter machine taped records, to be displayed as 7,006 votes. The error was spread through the computer grid, creating the appearance of an election with 21,462 votes cast and an erroneous voter turnout of 72.1 percent.

AR: Computer Woes Stall Vote Tallies*(uploading votes,files corrupted,printer probs)
http://www.swtimes.com/news/article_8d0871c6-e81d-11df-9c3a-001cc4c002e0.html
Officials in Sebastian County weren’t able to begin county votes until about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, said Jerry Huff, county election coordinator. A final report of unofficial results ran shortly after 1 a.m. Wednesday.
…
(Sebastian County, uses M100 & iVotronic) But when election officials began to input absentee and early voting ballots, the computers failed to calculate them.
With technical support from Election Systems & Software, the county’s election software/hardware vendor, it was determined several files were corrupted when data was installed on the computers in Fort Smith and Greenwood used to count the ballots, Huff said.
The databases then had to be rebuilt and re-installed on the Fort Smith and Greenwood computers.
…
(ES&S iVotronic) Crawford County Clerk Teresa Armer said software issues were also responsible for delaying election results there.
As officials were counting votes Tuesday night, they discovered discrepancies among the voter list, tally sheet and printouts from the personal electronic ballots (PEB) – all of which should match – for some precincts, Armer said.
Armer said the election commission initially intended to pull “flash cards” from the machines in precincts with discrepancies, but when they convened Wednesday morning, they decided to pull and collect the flash card from each of the 110 voting machines in the county.
…
(ES&S iVotronic) Franklin County Clerk Sharon Needham said the vote count there was delayed by printers malfunctioning on a handful of voting machines and a hardware or software problem with the computer used to tabulate vote totals.

The Voting News Daily: Electronic voting, election problems pour in. MN may see another statewide recount

Why didn’t Bridgeport CT order enough ballots?…Hennepin Co MN reporting error showed 880,000 votes cast instead of 470,470..MN Governor’s Race Likely Headed For A Recount…Nassau County (NY) Suing To Get Old Voting Machines Back..Paper vs. Electronic Voting in Today’s Election in Houston…Google Glitch May Have Sent 700000 People to the Wrong Poll..Colbert Goes ‘Inside’ The U.S. E-Voting Problem…Key Post-Election Disputes in the States..

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

Readers – expect more reports to come in this week and next, its not over on election day.

Hotspots: Key Post-Election Disputes in the States
http://electls.blogs.wm.edu/2010/11/03/hotspots-key-post-election-disputes-in-the-states/

AL: Election officials make sure every vote is counted despite ballot issues*
http://www.waff.com/Global/story.asp?S=13429628
Madison County Probate Judge Tommy Ragland says they’ve had reports of bad ballots in eight of 74 precincts today. Ragland says there are several reasons some of the ballots are not being read. One is printing.

Poll workers say some ballots are being cut off on the very bottom of the page, which means voting machines aren’t counting the votes like they should.

AR: Glitch in Gassville delays ballot counting*
http://www.baxterbulletin.com/article/20101102/UPDATES01/101102028
/1002/NEWS01/Glitch+in+Gassville+delays+ballot+counting http://tinyurl.com/23vraa2
Two precincts in Gassville have not reported in the 2010 election. Officials blame the delay on the voting

AZ: 35,000-plus ballots may still need counting* (absentee ballots)
http://azstarnet.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/elections/article_27034224-27c7-520d-8e5d-99fe78296ecd.html Pima County will be waiting until at least late today – and possibly until Saturday – to find out the winners of some closely contested races because more than 35,000 ballots could remain uncounted as of this morning.
…
County Elections Director Brad Nelson said one in four ballots cast Tuesday were early ballots hand-delivered to the polls. Because the Pima County recorder must verify signatures, those votes can’t be counted on Election Day.
The county hopes to have early ballots counted by Friday.

CA: Calif. poll worker arrested for stealing ballots*
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/11/03/state/n100331D65.DTL&type=newsbayarea
San Francisco police arrested a polling inspector Wednesday on suspicion of stealing up to 75 ballots, a voting roster and other election material in a bizarre Election Day heist.
…
Nicholas was in charge of a polling site in the city’s southern most district when he inexplicably made off Tuesday afternoon with the ballots, a memory pack that records information from the ballots, the voter roster and another poll worker’s cell phone, said John Arntz, San Francisco’s director of elections.

CA: Repeat of slow ballot count raises ire*(49,300 absentee ballots)
http://www.pe.com/localnews/stories/PE_News_Local_D_webpoll.a209aa.html
Elections officials finished counting the ballots cast in person on Tuesday at 11:20 a.m. today. There are still about 49,300 vote-by-mail ballots to count. That will be done by Saturday, officials reported on the registrar’s website.

Also, an additional 28,800 provisional ballots must still be counted.

CA: Watchdog: LA voters told to vote after election*
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_16502648
LOS ANGELES—About two dozen Los Angeles residents received Spanish-language robocalls and mailers instructing them to vote a day after Election Day, a polling watchdog group said Tuesday.
Election Protection said the Hispanic voters in central and southern parts of the city received the reminders telling them to vote on Wednesday, Nov.

The Voting News Daily: Vote flipping in Indiana, Maryland, Penn. 10,000 calls to 866OURVOTE

866-OUR-VOTE received over 10,000 calls today. Top states include California, Georgia &Pennsylvania. Some in today’s news. Would you believe Alabama didn’t have enough pens, so used pencils to mark ballots, causing probs? ..Maryland Diebold touchscreens flip votes from GOP to DEM!..California awaits millions of mail ballots..Various probs with epoll books, paper poll books, power outages, locked up ballots, polling place moves, voting machine shutdowns, vote flipping, missing contests, bi-partisan tricks, voter registration problems.. poll locations…

All this and lots more in today’s very big voting news….

AL: Pencils causing problems for some voters *(voting w/pencil, pens hard to find?)
http://annistonstar.com/view/full_story/10135701/article-Pencils-causing-problems-for-some-voters?instance=top_center_featured
Regular voters in previous Alabama elections may have noticed a change at the polls today, as election workers handed out pencils to complete ballots instead of the familiar black pens.

Calhoun County Probate Judge Alice Martin, the county’s chief election official, said the pencils have caused some problems here and elsewhere in the state. Voters who bear down too hard with the pencils in some cases are leaving an impression on the other side of their ballots, causing the machines that read them to reject the ballots.
…
Representatives of the company that provides election equipment and services to nearly every Alabama county said the change was made because it was becoming increasingly difficult to find enough pens.

AZ: #10720 Nov. 2 2010 / 2:40p.m. ET Tucson, Pima, AZ
http://www.ourvotelive.org/report/10720 darcyelgin Precinct: 82 2010 General Election, Polling place problem: Volunteer reported 4 polling sites within a mile. People who live in the same household are all given different sites to vote and voters seem generally confused about where they are supposed to be.

CA: Glitch Shuts Down Coto de Caza Voting Machines for Two Hours
http://voiceofoc.org/politics/article_60bde12c-e6c5-11df-b0ea-001cc4c03286.
Voters at the Coto de Caza fire station had to use paper ballots early today when glitches shut down all 12 voting machines for about two hours, poll workers said
…
“We had to use paper ballots,” she said…
…
Poll workers said today was the first time all machines at the fire station were knocked out. They blamed a faulty main connection that only took a few minutes to fix once the repairman arrived.

CA: Millions of California vote-by-mail ballots unreturned
http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_16499667 The state’s 58 counties had reported receiving just under 3 million absentee ballots as of early afternoon Monday — less than 40 percent of the 7.6 million ballots requested statewide for the general election, according to the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials.

CA: Santa Clara election workers use erasers to clean mail ballots*
http://www.news10.net/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=103841&catid=2
An ink smudge on Santa Clara County ballots caused a mechanical glitch at the county elections office last week, forcing officials to reprocess mail-in ballots and re-inspect ballots being sent to polling precincts for Tuesday’s election.

About one in six of the first 100,000 vote-by-mail ballots processed were incorrectly flagged by an “optical character reader” as ballots containing write-in candidates, county officials said.

The error was the result of the smudge, which was caused by toner used by the company that printed the ballots, elections officials said.

The Voting News Daily: Is internet voting secret & safe? Vote help 866-OUR-VOTE. Where 2 vote – vote411.org

Do you wonder why “If we can bank by ATM, why not vote by the Internet?”~ CTVoter explains… Fox news report: Internet Voting Arrives -But Is It Secret and Safe?…Chuck Tyson, Craven County NCGOP Chair on NC’s touchscreen problems: “I think every vote cast should get to the right party no matter what party they put the vote for,”…”Dead Voters” and the early vote…Call 1-866-OUR-VOTE for help or reporting problems voting…See vote411.org to find your polling place…

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

Please email voting news and reports to us at votingnews (at) earthlink.net

AR: Arkansas Supreme Court Won’t Decide Republican Nominee Eligibility Until After Election http://www.ballot-access.org/2010/11/01/arkansas-supreme-court-wont-decide-republican-nominee-eligibility-until-after-election/ On November 1, the Arkansas Supreme Court issued a one-sentence order in Fite v Kilgore, 10-1112. This is the case over the eligibility of the Republican nominee for state house, 83rd district, Tommy Fite

CA: Thousands of Ballots Hold Error on Prop 23*
http://www.cbs47.tv/news/local/story/Thousands-of-Ballots-Hold-Error-on-Prop-23/lWjxauZTRkKs5SYH4z_Nrw.cspx Fresno County Elections Chief, Victor Salazar, admitted his office made an error when it sent out tens of thousands of ballots with some incorrect language to describe proposition 23.

The ballot states the measure would suspend laws requiring “major polluters” to report and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

CO: Slow voter turnout is perplexing (Larimer County)
http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20101101/LOVELAND01/101101001
Doyle said. “I would say if you are going to a vote center, you might plan on being there a while.
We could have some pretty good lines.”

CT: Sign-Up for the November 2010 Post-Election Audits Now!
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/sign-up-for-the-november-2010-post-election-audits-now/
Investment? One Day. Value to Democracy? Priceless

DE: Disabilities Law Program to monitor accessibility of voting site
http://www.doverpost.com/news/election/x1696241354/Disabilities-Law-Program-to-monitor-accessibility-of-voting-sites

FL: Judge says Sarasota vote recount unnecessary
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20101029/ARTICLE/10291061/2055/NEWS?Title=Judge-says-Sarasota-vote-recount-unnecessary …a circuit judge declined to order a recount in Bolam’s close race for Charter Review Board in the August 24 primary election. The judge also cleared Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent of wrongdoing in the case.

IN: Indiana BMV expands hours to provide voter IDs
http://www.thestarpress.com/article/20101101/NEWS01/11010332 INDIANA — Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles license branches will offer extended hours today and Tuesday to issue state ID cards and driver’s licenses that can be used for identification at polling places.

MI: Americans overseas can cast votes easier, faster
http://www.freep.com/article/20101101/NEWS15/11010347/Americans-overseas-can-cast-votes-easier-faster

MN: Amid voter intimidation, the right information
Here’s the information you need to know about how to vote
http://www.mndaily.com/2010/11/01/amid-voter-intimidation-right-information

MN: Federal District Court in Minnesota rejects request for TRO in Tea Party Garb /”Please ID Me” button lawsuit http://electionlawblog.org/archives/017731.html

MO: New Electronic Machines Will Check-In Voters
http://www.ksmu.org/content/view/7566/66/ (Greene Co)
Struckhoff says a voter can simply type his or her name into these machines, or they can use a bar code found on the back of their Missouri driver’s license to scan in.

MS: Questions About Fairness For Hinds County Elections (video available)
http://www2.wjtv.com/jtv/news/local/article/questions_about_
fairness_for_hinds_county_elections/212722/ http://tinyurl.com/37kozn6
Commissioner complains about lack of training
Questions about whether someone could tamper with voting machines

NC: Judge orders that voters be warned about voting machine issues
http://www.newbernsj.com/news/machines-91889-voting-warned.html
…Judge Malcolm Howard also required in his temporary order that records from the iVotronic Voting Machines be preserved..