The Voting News Daily: Antitrust and Your Vote.Clay KY vote buying by the mighty.Palm Beach paper ballots save day. ACORN funding ban stricken.

The resignation letter of Former New Mexico State Elections Director A.J. Salazar is now available online. The letter outlines allegations against SoS Herrera and Deputy SoS Don Francisco Trujillo: ethics violations, cronyism, political activity at the office, concerns about chain of custody of voting machines, and retaliation….WHO didn’t buy votes in Clay County Kentucky?… Good…

National: Schumer Applauds Justice Department for Requiring ES&S to Sell Off Voting Machine Unit Purchased from Diebold

U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer, chairman of the Senate committee that oversees election issues, today applauded the Department of Justice’s decision to require Election Systems & Software to sell off the voting systems unit it purchased from Diebold last November. The consent decree in this case lasts for ten years, ensuring that competition is protected in the voting system industry. Schumer raised serious questions about the merger of ES&S Inc. and Premier Election Systems when it was first revealed in September 2009, because it created one company that would control at least 70 percent of the U.S. market for voting systems. The merger had been completed without any advance notice or consultation with the Justice Department.

“This decision will restore competition to an industry that is critical to our democracy. If left unchallenged, this merger would have created a virtual monopoly that could have done serious harm to the idea of free and fair elections,” Schumer said. “This action will prevent one company from garnering three times the market of its next closest competitor. Localities need choices in their voting machines, just like voters need choices on the ballot.”

National: Feds Move to Break Voting-Machine Monopoly | Wired

Citing anti-competitive concerns, the Justice Department sued Election Systems & Software in order to force the company to divest itself of the voting machine assets it obtained from Premier Election Solutions last year. The department’s antitrust division, along with nine state attorneys general, filed the civil antitrust lawsuit (.pdf) in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., charging that the acquisition threatened competition. The department proposed a settlement that, if accepted, would dissolve the merger and force ES&S to sell its Premier business to a buyer approved by the Justice Department. “The proposed settlement (.pdf) will restore competition, provide a greater range of choices and create incentives to provide secure, accurate and reliable voting-equipment systems now and in the future,” said Molly S. Boast, deputy assistant attorney general for the antitrust division in a statement. The nine states that joined the suit are Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Tennessee and Washington.

The Voting News Daily: DOJ: Voting Firms Cant Merge. Internet Voting Utopianism. Hawaii finds $1.3 M election funds it forgot

“The nation’s two primary electronic voting machine manufacturers cannot merge their operations, the Justice Department announced on Monday”…How did the merger ever get so far so fast? The NY Post reports that critics believe the DOJ didn’t give this as much attn because of the anti trust head Christine Varney recusing herself. Varney’s former election…

The Voting News Daily: KY $250K vote buy. TX Terrible Tues contd. DOJ may clear monopoly merger. ACORN update

My favorite quote from Texas Terrible Tuesday: “I thought the electronic voting machines were supposed to be more efficient.” ~ John Muns, candidate for county judge…Postcards detailing CT voter’s records spur complaints…FL blind decry bid to stall paper ballot…KY court hears testimony about vote rigging from 2002-2007: Former Clay clerk describes $100,000 worth of vote-buying…

The Voting News Daily: NY DA clears Brooklyn ACORN. Idaho house passes Voter ID. Online voting ‘security stuff’

Nearly 60% of voters in Texas cast ballots on paperless direct record machines…Columbia County Joins With Nassau to Contest ERMA: Counties Want to Keep Their Lever Voting Machines…NY D.A. Clears Brooklyn ACORN: ‘No Criminality Found’… Online Voting in Alberta or Elsewhere – How easy is looking after “all that security stuff”?…Unofficial results – Burlington VT…

The Voting News Daily: Minnesota civic groups refute recount claims, 2 NY counties seek more $ for voting systems. Iraq poor sell votes

There’s ALOT of news today…Project Vote releases new policy paper on “No Match, No Vote”. “…matching voter data with other govt databases is an unreliable, error-laden process, and that conditioning the right to vote on such a flawed system will inevitably disenfranchise eligible citizens.”… …The Supreme Court ruling on Citizens United has a loophole that…

The Voting News Daily: Iowa needs post-election audits. Internet voting spreads in Canada local elections, Closing in on the Google hackers

Maryland might not have enough money to conduct the November election?…..Upshur Co TX will pay $30K to Hart InterCivic program machines, print ballots and tally results for the March 2 primaries. The county clerk would have charged $2K…Wisconsin U state senate rejects internet voting, cites i-vote fiasco in 2008… Sean Flaherty asks fellow Iowans, and…

The Voting News Daily: Responsible tech use for Overseas Vote,VT rejects email voting, Dominion sues over NY ES&S contract

Just in from Verified Voting: “Responsible Use of Technology for Overseas Voting”. From the report- “The security challenges posed by the electronic transmission of voted ballots are too formidable to allow the use of such systems at present. Before experimenting with voted ballots transmitted through cyberspace, we must together create a transparent public process to…

Verified Voting Blog: Responsible Use of Technology for Overseas Voting

Last November, the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) contacted each State with recommendations for meeting the new requirements established in the MOVE Act with the goal of bringing the absentee voting success rate for Uniformed Service members, their families and citizens residing outside the U.S. in line with that of the general population. Verified Voting strongly supports FVAP’s specific recommendations: providing a 45 day period for ballot transit, removal of notary and witnessing requirements, participation with the Uniform Law Commission efforts towards regularizing rules for overseas voters, and the responsible use of technology to aid in providing voting materials to military and overseas citizens. As an active participant in the Alliance for Military and Overseas Voting Rights (AMOVR), we agree with the principle that “transmitting blank ballots electronically does not risk voters’ privacy while improving the process in all States.” Through these recommendations each state can meet the requirements of the MOVE Act without undue risk to the integrity of the electoral process, and greatly facilitate the voting process for the citizens serving our nation in uniform and others living overseas.

However, some States are considering going beyond these recommendations in ways that could be harmful. Experts in technology such as NIST, the GAO and internal reviewers of Department of Defense projects cite significant concerns with respect to the electronic submission of voted ballots. Such systems would rely on computers, servers and/or networks outside the control of election officials, for which criteria for testing and secure operation have yet to be established. Attacks on such systems could significantly threaten the integrity of elections or the ability of voters to cast ballots. Even minor phishing and spoofing attacks could trick voters into giving up their voting credentials to an attacker.

The Voting News Daily: Groups warn ES&S merger is security threat, Future of CA Voting comments posted, VA officials sued over voter files

The news is fairly light today so be sure to read the public comments on the Future of Voting in California now posted at the CA SOS website. The comments come from experts, advocates, interested citizens and also voting vendors including internet voting vendors…ES&S Diebold Purchase: Groups Endorse Remedies for Unlawful Concentration of Market Power……

Florida: Groups and Election Officials Warn Department of Justice that Voting Machine Vendor Merger will Inflate Costs to Taxpayers, Threaten Election Accuracy and National Security

Experts propose remedies to prevent U.S. monopoly of Voting Equipment and Election Services

In a letter to Attorney General Holder, election administrators, computer experts and fair election advocates warned that last year’s merger of the largest and second largest voting machine manufacturers has “broad-based detrimental public impact.”  They outlined serious threats to national security and election accuracy. The experts cautioned the merger produces greater capacity for predatory pricing and coercive contractual terms that raise costs to taxpayers and harm other commercial vendors. The letter suggests actions the Department of Justice Antitrust Division should take to correct major market injuries and fortify election and national security.

In September 2009, Election Systems and Software, Inc. (ES&S) announced it had purchased Premier Election Solutions, Inc. (formerly known as Diebold Election Systems, Inc.), consolidating over 70% of the U.S. voting system market into one private company.  In December, the Florida Attorney General announced its office was investigating the merger over concerns it constituted anti-competitive behavior that may seriously harm consumers. In their letter, experts cite a record of anti-competitive market practices by ES&S that include contract clauses which prohibit ES&S governmental customers from hiring other vendors to service, program or administer ES&S voting equipment and predatory pricing of goods and services to drive other vendors out of business. They claim taxpayers and election offices have been harmed by Election Eve threats to cut off services if local governments did not accept higher prices for previously contracted Election Day services.

The Voting News Daily: TX court: only disabled to e-vote in Webb Co., IL undervote law shames some voters

A Reminder: You Don’t Want Voting Controlled By One Company…Kansas SOS Issues New Instructions About Interestate Database Matching…The 49th District Court in Texas ruled that only disabled voters will use the touchscreen voting machines….Election integrity expert Dr. Charles E. Corry hopes to administer elections and is running for El Paso County Clerk and Recorder. Corry…

The Voting News Daily: Virginia touchscreen voting tug of war, an Indiana County limits ties to voting vendor

Some Virginia Registrars are pushing state lawmakers to let them keep buying touchscreen voting machines. This goes against the 2007 law meant to phase out touchscreen voting machines and replace them with paper ballot systems… Hawaii considers law to keep voting vendors lawsuits from delaying next voting machine purchases…How will Citizens United affect your state’s…

The Voting News Daily: NJ Star Ledger:Verify our votes and stop delay, NM not enough funds to conduct 2010 elections, CA group: ditch e-voting

At today’s public hearing about the future of voting in California, when the issue of new voting machines was brought up, some citizens urged the officials to get rid of electronic voting, period. Tom Courbat with the Sacremento group “Save Our Vote” said: “We’re not convinced there is enough security in these voting systems to…

The Voting News Daily: Understanding Citizens United, Murphy’s Law on Voter Interface, Automatic Voter Registration

The S.D. Legislature eyes pilot of ‘precinct-less’ voting for school board elections…A Technologist in Philippines considers the impact of Murphy’s Law on the Voter Interface of the Automated Election System and how to avoid problems…The Champagn County Clerk in Illinois writes about automatic voter registration and what goes on behind the scenes… “Understanding Citizens United:…