The Voting News Daily: NY certifies voting machines, OH touchscreen flaws, Aspen election lampooned, I-voting squibs

Lampooned: Aspen’s chronic election problems via YouTube video. The portrayal of the ballot box just outside the mayor’s office during “early early” voting was outrageous yet true…
Calibration issues with Montgomery County Ohio Diebold touchscreens but the vendor will “fix” them for free…No machines, no money, no state election director: .Hawaii can’t afford a special election…NH’s electronic voting panel issuing report after meeting with Finnish e-voting expert Harri Hursti today… NY Board of Elections certified new voting machines,flaws and all in time to avoid federal intervention..Want Fair and Accurate Elections in Tennessee? Call Your Senator Today…Internet voting continues to metastasize in Canada…

AL: Cedar Bluff election results (finally) in
CEDAR BLUFF — It took over 16 months to seat them, but the Cedar Bluff Town Council finally has three new members…
http://www.postpaper.com/cbelection09.htm

CO: ASPEN ELECTION NOT OUT OF CONTROL (Satire – on YouTube)
Produced by betterbadnews December 14, 2009
…In Colorado early voting is taken very seriously. A ballot box set up near the mayors office gives voters something to do while waiting for their appointment with the boss.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1F5Jlzs6a8&videos=IyVyyTQY27Q

CO: Who decides what the people may know?
Aspen….What is the city hiding, and why?
…
Aspen has chronic, unseen but undeniable election integrity problems.
…
Election integrity, the fundamental building block of our society, is waved off as unimportant detail in Aspen….
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20091215/LETTER/912149987/1020&ParentProfile=1058

CT: Miles Rapoport: Demos Leader and former CT Secretary of the State
December 15, 2009 http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?p=2689

HI: Election chief says special vote would be difficult
Dec 11, 2009 The state Office of Elections has not made a decision on how, or even if, a special election would be held once U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie decides to vacate his seat in Congress.

Abercrombie says he will announce Sunday his intent to step down to concentrate on his run at the governorship in 2010.

“That is a possibility,” Cronin said at a press conference today. “It would be a matter of discussing among all the election officials the question of the capacity of the Office of Election to administer an election when we’re already experiencing significantly reduced staffing, virtually no funding to get us to June 30, 2010, and no voting machines.”
http://www.starbulletin.com/news/bulletin/79107482.html

IL: Board nixes funding for voting machine upgrades
December 13, 2009 JERSEYVILLE — The Jersey County Board hopes to send a message to state legislators by refusing to fund changes in voting equipment that will be required by a new “under-voting” law.
…
Jersey County Clerk Steve Pohlman asked the board for $4,000 from the general fund to pay for reprogramming of election computers so that the equipment can immediately report when a voter fails to fill in a space on the ballot.
http://www.thetelegraph.com/news/upgrades-34133-board-voting.html

IL: Policitican accused of buying votes with $2 bills says ‘that’s just crazy’
EAST ST. LOUIS — Politician Will McGaughy says he’s been mailing envelopes to voters in his precinct at Christmastime for 30 years, wishing them holiday cheer and including a crisp $2 bill as a “keepsake.”
…
But what makes this year different said Dancy is what McGaughy conceded is his first combined Christmas and candidacy message.

The Voting News Daily: National Expert warns FCC of internet voting dangers, Vendor put on EAC advisory panel, Tennessee stall n crawl

In answer to the question “With existing technology, is it possible to enable and ensure safe and secure voting online today?”, Verified Voting responded, “in a word, no.” It is likely that no one in the country has studied the subject of internet voting more intensely than David Jefferson, senior scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Jefferson warns: “Even if an Internet election is apparently ‘successful’, the results are absolutely unauditable in any meaningful sense of the word….You may hear claims that many elections and election pilots have been conducted in the past without the loss or misrecording of a single vote. This claim is false on several levels.” Internet voting seems even more insane as the Guardian UK reports that “Russia and US in secret talks to fight net crime”…

Hawaii Oh No: Hawaii’s election dept faces new budget woes – the state will have to come up with $2 million to run a special election to replace U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, who is leaving congress to run for governor. Add this to the fact that Hawaii’s election dept is woefully under funded, is in the process of creating new election rules, is considering cutting half of its polling places and does not have a voting system in place…Randolph County Indiana’s 2 year struggle to get SOS to reimburse costs of voting machines that should be paid by HAVA funds…

The End of Innocence — NY State Board of Elections Says Ballot Scanners Switched Votes in 2009 General Election…Local Groups Urge VA Gov Kaine to Restore Voting Rights… Tennessee continues ‘stall ‘n’ crawl’ tactics…

BradBlog reports: “Disgraceful: Discredited E-Voting Vendor VP Appointed to U.S. EAC Advisory Panel”

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

CT: Secretary of the State Candidate Criticizes Exploratory Committees
December 12. “In our view exploratory committees represent a loophole in the current public financing law. Candidates can collect and spend huge sums in the name of exploring runs for office.”
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?p=2671

FL: The Advancement Project warns of problems with upcoming elections
A report released Thursday by the Advancement Project calls for changes in poll hours and voter registrations rules.
TALLAHASSEE — Even though Election Day last year went relatively smoothly across Florida, a civil rights advocacy group that focuses on elections warned that stricter voter registration laws could prevent thousands of eligible voters from joining the rolls in upcoming elections.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/story/1376506.html

HI: Abercrombie will quit Congress to focus on Hawaii governor race
Quitting Congress to prepare for likely battle with mayor
…Abercrombie’s decision throws a curve into the 2010 elections and triggers a special election to fill the remaining months of his two-year term.
…
The unexpected vacancy could lead the state Office of Elections to try to come up with as much as $2 million to pay for a special election and scramble to find a voting system because legal challenges have left the state with no voting machines.
http://twi.cc/HDjv

IN: County Council OKs voting reimbursement
Randolph County Council Tuesday approved County Clerk Claudia Thornburg’s submission of an application for the county to be reimbursed $194,048 for the purchase of its current voting machines.

Verified Voting Blog: Comments to the FCC on Internet Voting

It is likely that no one in the country has studied the subject of internet voting more intensely than David Jefferson, senior scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Part of his job is to help devise strategies to defend against the relentless attacks we see every hour of every day against U.S. networks, both government and corporate, from sources ranging from self aggrandizing students to foreign intelligence and cyber warfare agencies. He has also been deeply involved in voting and election security for over a decade as a voting technology advisor to five successive Secretaries of State in California, and is a coauthor of most of the best known peer-reviewed scientific publication on Internet voting, the SERVE Security Report.

[pullquote align="left"]“The integrity of a general election is as important as the integrity of many of our national defense secrets.[/pullquote]In his comments to the FCC, Jefferson emphasizes that election security is an aspect of U.S. national security. He observes that, “few people have any idea how tiny is the fraction of votes that, if selectively lost or switched, could swing a presidential election, or swing the balance of power in a house of Congress. The controversial 2000 presidential election that was decided by a few hundred votes in one state was only the most extreme object lesson, but other elections such as the recent Minnesota senatorial election, have been as close. This is all the more true in these times in which the electorate is nearly evenly divided on several key national issues. It is vital that we protect the security of every vote, or the legitimacy of our government will be rightly called into question--a situation that is very damaging in a democracy.”

Verified Voting Blog: Verified Voting Comments to FCC on Internet Voting

In the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), Congress directed the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), as part of its development of a National Broadband Plan, to include “a plan for the use of broadband infrastructure and services in advancing …civic participation.” On December 10, 2010 the Federal Communications Commission issued a request for public comments “…on how broadband can help to bring democratic processes—including elections, public hearings and town hall meetings—into the digital age…” Verified Voting, in submitted comments, answered the question – “With existing technology, is it possible to enable and ensure safe and secure voting online today?”, simply – “In a word, no.” As a recent report from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) indicates, “…The security challenges associated with e-mail return of voted ballots are difficult to overcome using technology widely deployed today.” And “…Technology that is widely deployed today is not able to mitigate many of the threats to casting ballots via the web.”

Despite the short window allowed for public comment, numerous organizations and individuals, including Verified Voting submitted comments. Much of Verified Voting’s commentary was informed by the "Computer Technologists’ Statement on Internet Voting”, published last year and signed by dozens of leading technology professionals and computer security experts. This post is the first in a series that will highlight the commentary submitted to the FCC on the issue of the role of the internet in the electoral process. In answer to the question “With existing technology, is it possible to enable and ensure safe and secure voting online today?”, Verified Voting responded, “in a word, no.”

The Voting News Daily: A NO vote on certifying NY’s voting machines,TX polling place burglary, UT troops internet voting guinea pigs?

Still think internet voting is a great idea? The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has set up a bi-partisan taskforce on cybersecurity to evaluate potential online threats and provide recommendations for action to the US intelligence community….Although the US is struggling to prevent online threats, there’s a 50 state whack-a-mole agenda to promote internet voting/non secret ballots to our overseas troops. Next to drink the kool-aid: A Utah govt commission recommends Internet voting for military…Yesterday was the deadline to comment to the FCC about internet voting….

No decision on Citizens United for at least a month…Romania court orders recount of 138,000 void votes, Romanian spy chief questioned over election fraud…

The new voting systems do not meet New York’s standards for voting systems, says voting machine expert/activist Bo Lipari. Bo blogs today about being the only “no” vote on a NY citizens committee that makes recommendations on voting systems: “…the findings show that as of today, while the two voting systems have managed to meet most of the New York’s requirements, they have not yet met all of them, including some which to me, as a technologist, are important.” Meanwhile, Brad Friedman writes has a guest column at the Gouverneur Times titled “Officials Were Warned”…

Congratulations to Douglas W. Jones, associate professor of computer science at University of Iowa for his appointment to the EAC’s Technical Guidelines Development Committee…

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

CA: Longtime Vernon mayor, scion of ruling family, convicted of voter fraud *
December 4, 2009 A former mayor of Vernon and his wife were convicted today of voter fraud and conspiracy, capping a three-year legal saga that ended the family’s long grip on the tiny industrial city in southeast Los Angeles County.

Prosecutors accused Leonis and Dominica Malburg of engaging in an elaborate sham in which they pretended to reside in Vernon while they actually lived in a large home in the Hancock Park area of Los Angeles, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Max Huntsman.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/12/longtime-vernon-mayor-scion-of-ruling-family-convicted-of-voter-fraud.html

FL: Pasco County supervisor of elections recruiting volunteer poll workers
Thursday, December 10, 2009. Pasco Supervisor of Elections Brian Corley is looking for volunteers who like to work with people and serve the community as poll workers. These volunteers help with the voting process in precincts across Pasco County on election days.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgovernment/pasco-county-supervisor-of-elections-recruiting-volunteer-poll-workers/1057733

IL: State Certification Has Election Officials Up Against a Wall
Champaign County Clerk I’ve written a couple times about the MOVE Act, a recently passed federal law that mandates among other items that election officials mail ballots to military and overseas voters at least 45 days in advance of the election.
…
We’ve basically have a day to create, proof, and get the ballots out in time to meet the new federal standard. While the new law doesn’t apply to this particular election, it does highlight the practical difficulties that election officials will face in upcoming elections.
http://blog.champaigncountyclerk.com/2009/12/11/state-certification-has-election-officials-up-against-a-wall/

IL: Unfunded mandate protested
Dec. 10, 2009 The Iroquois County Board on Tuesday approved a resolution recommended by board member John Dowling to protest “another unfunded mandate” from the state — this one the required equipping of voting machines with computer chips to let voters know they “under-voted.”

Verified Voting Blog: Polling Place Burglary Raises Specter of Fraud

The burglary at one of Houston's early voting locations (“Computers stolen at early polling location; Ballot board to check electronic voting machines for tampering,” Page B2, Tuesday) raises the specter of election fraud. Some computers were stolen, and as far as we know, the voting machines stored at Hester House were untouched. But if the burglars wanted to tamper with the election outcome, what could they have accomplished? In 2007, California Secretary of State Debra Bowen put together a team to conduct a security analysis of the state's electronic voting systems. I was part of the team analyzing the Hart InterCivic voting system — the same type we use here in Harris County. Our report concluded that the Hart system has a wide variety of security flaws and that it can be attacked in a manner that makes it hard to detect and correct. We further concluded that these attacks can be carried out by a single individual without extensive effort and without long-term access to the equipment. Our results were corroborated by a follow-up study conducted by the Ohio secretary of state.

Did the Houston burglars tamper with the voting machines? I hope not. Could they have tampered with the voting machines? Absolutely. Could we determine if tampering had occurred? Only if we got lucky and found clearly incriminating evidence, such as the burglar's fingerprints near the connectors on the backs of the voting machines.

Verified Voting Blog: My Vote on NY Voting Machine Certification

During the week of December 7, 2009, the New York State Citizen Election Modernization Advisory Committee met and reviewed certification test data results from the state’s testing program, and to vote on recommending approval of the two voting systems to the four Commissioners of the State Board of Election. The Commissioners will vote on final certification at their December 15, 2009 meeting. On December 10, 2009, the Advisory Committee approved recommendation by a vote of 10 For and 1 Against. I was the only vote opposing the recommendation. Below is the statement I made prior to the committee vote.

I believe in New York State’s certification process. It is rightfully called the best in the nation. We have required vendors to conform to a higher standard than ever before, we have conducted extensive testing with independent oversight, and as a result we have a huge trove of data upon which we can base our decision on whether these new voting systems are ready to be certified. Just the fact that we even have this substantial set of test results against a large number of very specific standards is a credit to New York’s process. Arguably, we have more data available to us about these systems than has ever been made available to a public body such this Advisory Committee before. It is because of this comprehensive approach that we can even be talking about some of the test findings, which never would have been revealed in a typical voting system certification program.

The Voting News Daily: Next Hawaii election a slow-moving train wreck? MOVE to expedite troop ballots free, Election Center ponders e-voting

The Election Center, a group that promoted the use of paperless voting, will meet Jan 7 & 8 to discuss voter reg, provisional ballots, and “the continued push to eliminate or restrict use of DREs” (The Election Center is a group that advises election officials while accepting donations from voting vendors)…Voter Action letter to Senate Rules committee about ES&S’s purchase of Diebold: “With this acquisition, ES&S has even less of an incentive to respond to the growing demand for improved accountability and product reliability.”…

…Did you know that the MOVE act guarantees free expedited mail service to return troops’ ballots?…Hawaii Uh-OH: “This (upcoming election) is a slow-moving train wreck and we’re still far enough away that we can get everything off the track,” says attorney Lance Collins. The state’s elections department is grossly underfunded, considering cutting polling places in half, and is in process of making new election rules: Bob Babson hopes rules will ban sending any election results via the Internet or telephone lines…Learn more about Tennessee’s proposed voting machines…

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

CA: Voter ID intiative backers get green light in California
Dec 10, 2009 – Backers of an initiative that would require voters to produce identification at the polls were given approval to begin gathering signatures Tuesday by Secretary of State Debra Bowen.
http://www.presstelegram.com/breakingnews/ci_13959475

CA: Council votes to delay decision on ranked-choice voting
12/09/2009
SAN LEANDRO — The City Council has delayed a decision on whether to use ranked-choice voting in its 2010 elections until Oakland decides if it will hold a similar ranked-choice election next year — giving San Leandro more time to explore ways to mitigate the costs of such an election.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_13955369

GA: Oops: Group charging voting fraud admits mistake
“I acknowledge we had a huge misunderstanding about the data we were working with,” said Erica Long, co-chair of Citizens for Fair Atlanta Elections. “I would not have raised the issue with the Secretary of State if I did not believe it was correct.”
http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/oops-group-charging-voting-234563.html

HI: State proposes major revision of election rules
Dec 10, 2009 …Circuit Judge Joseph Cardoza decided that the state needs to hold a public hearing to come up with administrative rules governing electronic voting before new voting machines can be used in next year’s elections.
…
Written testimony can be e-mailed to elections@hawaii.gov or faxed to 453-6006. Written testimony will be accepted for the next two days.

“This (upcoming election) is a slow-moving train wreck and we’re still far enough away that we can get everything off the track,” Collins said.
…
Bob Babson, the lead plaintiff in the Maui lawsuit, said he is opposed to sending any election results via the Internet or telephone lines.

“It’s not secure,” Babson said. “They could easily just put it on a jet and fly it over.”
http://www.starbulletin.com/news/hawaiinews/20091210_
state_proposes_major_revision_of_election_rules.html
or use this url http://bit.ly/6tvKZz

Il: County to follow law on voting issue (machine notify voters of undervote in certain contests)
Iroquois County Clerk Lisa Fancher said she wants voters prepared for a new change in the election equipment.

The Voting News Daily: Unisyn voting machines for Tennessee? Secret ballot retreats in Canada

We apologize, there was no voting news sent out yesterday due to blogging burnout. We’ll make it up to you.
“What happens when inmates control the asylum?” – A look at redistricting reform by William and Mary Election Law Society…NVRA Analysis by American Constitution Party is flawed, says Champaign County Clerk… “Claymates” can rest easy now: No voter fraud charges to be leveled against Clay Aiken in North Carolina…Georgia’s State Board of Elections will consider rule requiring voters to prove citizenship….Some members of the Warren County (NY) Board of Supervisors may join voting machine lawsuit….

Tennessee SOS Trey Hargett’s approach to implementing the new voting machine law shows the downfall of electing your election officials rather than hiring them. There’s a huge learning curve and the office is administrative and requires years of experience. Hargett seems to be unaware that HAVA funds can be used not just to buy voting machines but to implement them….

…Sheesh. What next, no elections? Washington County Texas commissioners abolished the Washington County elections administrator job, meanwhile Putnam County Tennessee custs voting places cut from 44 to 25….

….Utah Commission Recommends Automatic and Portable Voter Registration… The secret ballot retreats in Canada little by little as Internet voting continues to spread in municipalities…Oh no, Ghana Inches Towards Electronic Voting System…

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

CO: Election outcome may face challenge
Dec 8th, 2009 ANTONITO — No matter what Antonito voters may have decided casting their ballots in the recall election Tuesday, the outcome may be up for challenge because at least two board of trustee members feel that the legal notice of the time and location of the election was not properly advertised.
http://www.alamosanews.com/v2_news_articles.php?heading=0&page=75&story_id=15051

GA: Roswell mayoral results hold up in recount
Fulton County election officials completed their recount of the mayoral race in Roswell this morning, and were set to do a recount of ballots in the Atlanta runoff
http://www.ajc.com/news/north-fulton/roswell-mayoral-results-hold-232698.html

GA: Voting rule on proof of citizenship up for adoption
One proposes a need to prove citizenship to be a registered voter.
Dec. 9, 2009 ATLANTA – A controversial rule requiring voters prove their citizenship comes up for adoption Thursday by the State Elections Board.

The rule will apply to people registering to vote after Jan. 1, or as soon at the U.S. Department of Justice determines whether it is an unfair burden to minority voters. Many critics of the proposed rule plan to speak out against it during public hearings before the board decides, arguing that it is indeed a burden to African-Americans, Asians and Hispanics…
http://jacksonville.com/news/georgia/2009-12-09/story/voting_rule_on_proof_of_citizenship_up_for_adoption

MA: Wellington ballot wording causes problems
Mon Dec 07, 2009 Belmont, Mass. – Officials are working to straighten out confusion over the wording of the ballot question authorizing a Proposition 2 1/2 debt exclusion for construction of the new Wellington School that has held up the project on the state level.
http://www.wickedlocal.com/belmont/news/education/x1964352937/Wellington-ballot-wording-causes-problems

NC: Wake Elections Board Will Not Refer Allegations Of Clay Aiken Voter Fraud To State Board
Dec. 9 RALEIGH, N.C.

The Voting News Daily: Michigan voter purge investigation, Illinois undervote law vs secret ballot, UK: Does E-counting make sense?

“Does it really make sense to splurge a huge sum of money on e-counting when we know a manual count would be cheaper, let alone easier to verify and more trusted by voters and politicians alike?” ~ Jason Kitcat, Green city councillor in Brighton & Hove, London…Missouri troops can continue to vote by email?…Bo Lipari’s issued his “Statement on NY Voting System Certification:…New Yorkers try to write-in Simpsons character Charles Montgomery Burns for mayor…Illinois Military and Overseas Voters, Submit your Ballot Request for the February 2, 2010 State Primary!..Nonprofit sues Virginia to avoid revealing source of voters personal data….Burglars steal computers from Houston polling place… New Iraqi election law approved…

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

AL: Alabama Files Brief in 11th Circuit in Ballot Access Case
December 7th, 2009 On December 7, Alabama filed its brief in Shugart v Chapman, the case pending in the 11th circuit over whether a state can require an independent candidate for US House to obtain more signatures than an independent candidate for president.
http://www.ballot-access.org/2009/12/07/alabama-files-brief-in-11th-circuit-in-ballot-access-case/

CA: Local Politician Convicted of Fraud *
Fri, Dec 4, 2009 The former mayor of the tiny municipality of Vernon and his wife were convicted Friday of voter registration fraud and fraudulent
voting.

Leonis Malburg, 80, who had been mayor of Vernon for more than 50 years before resigning this summer, and Dominica Malburg, 83, did not live in Vernon, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Johnson found in a non-jury trial.

Leonis Malburg was convicted of conspiracy to commit a crime, being a public official aiding illegal voting, falsifying a declaration of candidacy, voter registration fraud, false voter registration, perjury under oath, fraudulent voting and assisting an unqualified voter….
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local-beat/-Local-Politician-Convicted-of-Fraud-78576127.html

CA: Secretary of State approves county’s ranked choice voting system
12/07/2009 California’s secretary of state has officially certified Alameda County’s upgraded voting machines, paving the way for instant runoff voting in some cities’ elections, likely including next year’s Oakland’s mayoral race.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_13945823

FL: Resident claims election fraud in Groveland
GROVELAND — An elections fraud complaint was filed with the Florida Department of State, claiming the City of Groveland did not advertise its Nov. 3 municipal election in accordance with state statutes.
http://www.dailycommercial.com/localnews/story/120609ballots

GA: Group suspects illegal voting in mayor’s race
A newly formed group has asked the Secretary of State for voter eligibility information that may allow a challenge to the result in the Atlanta mayoral race
…
Erica Long, co-chair of the group formed last week, said it discovered that 1,314 voters in the general election on Nov. 3 had invalid addresses.

“They were empty lots,” Long said.

She said the addresses had belonged to federal housing projects or apartment complexes that had been knocked down.
…
Fulton County elections chief Barry Garner, however, said his investigation of the questioned address shows that the concern may be premature, at least in terms of election results. Only 33 of the 1,314 people on the list voted in the general election, Garner said.

“I don’t know where they got their numbers but they’re just not true,” Garner said.

Verified Voting Blog: Statement on New York Voting System Certification

This is my opening statement for today’s meeting of New York’s Citizen Election Modernization Advisory Committee, which was created by the State Legislature to advise the Board of Elections on adoption of the new systems. Testing is now completed and results are being evaluated, with the State Board of Elections scheduled to make a determination on certifying systems on December 15th. We have come to an important moment in New York’s saga in adopting HAVA compliant voting systems. The long and rigorous testing required by New York State’s laws and regulations, arguably the best in the nation, has now been completed. Remaining is the difficult part – determining whether the systems have met the high standards required by New York State.

We have been presented with a huge amount of data to evaluate, and have only an extremely short time in which to do so. I’m pleased the Board staff has set aside this day to answer all our questions, but I am concerned that even the long, intense session we are embarking on may be insufficient to thoroughly assess the volume of data before us. Nevertheless, I look forward to today’s session and getting answers to the literally hundreds of questions I have about the test results.

The Voting News Daily: Internet Voting Virus threatens Hawaii, CTs ballot custody issues, Clay Aikens voter registration case

The most troubling story today is that Hawaii is proposing 100% internet voting. Internet voting was bust in Honolulu Hawaii this May – voter turnout was only 6.3 percent.. Experts say that internet voting can not at this time be made secure or transparent….Meanwhile, a reminder! The FCC wants comments on internet voting by Thursday,Dec. 10 of this year. Speak up or watch democracy erode…

In Connecticut “stronger chain-of-custody protections for our ballots are required” says Luther Weeks of CTVoters Count…A month after the lowest turnout election in over 100 years, Minneapolis first “instant” runoff election results certified…Clay Aiken case was heard today in Wake County, North Carolina…
Greed was motive for forged ballots in Montgomery CO Ohio…

In Texas, a patent case: Franklin Inventions, LLC v. Election Systems & Software, Inc. et al
…Election judges are the ‘unsung heroes of democracy’: “It’s a tough job that requires patience, intelligence, personability and stamina,” Orr said. “Election judges are critical to an efficient Election Day.”…Report examines Civil Rights during Bush years…

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

CA: Our View: City elections need protection of a third party
12/03/2009 …While many cities conduct their own city council elections in either March or April, and often do a fine job, we lean in favor of consolidating city elections with those held in November and contracting with the Los Angeles County
Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk to conduct the election.
…
La Puente is also going in the wrong direction by moving its city election from November to April in even-numbered years. As Councilman Dan Holloway said, who voted against the move, it will reduce voter turnout and unnecessarily extends the terms of city council members.

And we would add that moving back to a city-run election adds the specter of conflict of interest to the most precious of all democratic principles – the right to vote.
http://www.sgvtribune.com/opinions/ci_13920589

CT: More On Chain-Of-Custody
December 4, 2009 Last month we commented on reports of chain-of-custody problems in Haddam and on a Courant Editorial on the need for two people of opposing parties whenever ballots are accessed. The problem goes deeper
…
For voters to have confidence there must be no opportunity for compromise; it is critical that ballots be protected from clandestine access.
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?p=2655

HI: OPPOSE PROPOSED ELECTIONS RULES (total internet voting)
The Office of Elections is in the process of issuing new Administrative Rules that will govern future elections. To read the proposed new rules, please go to www.hawaii.gov/elections. This is their home page, and they are at the top of the page.
Section 3-172-93 of these proposed new rules will LEGALIZE sending votes over the INTERNET.
If you are as concerned as I am about these new proposed rules, please e-mail the Office of Elections with your testimony asking them to ban the use of the internet. Their e-mail address is: elections@hawaii.gov… more at the link
http://www.lahainanews.com/page/content.detail/id/500407/LETTERS-for-December-3-issue.html?nav=18

HI: Low turnout mars Hawaii’s digital vote (Repost -Hawaii’s one internet election)
May 28, 2009 They built a new digital voting system, but the voters didn’t come.

The Voting News Daily: Hawaii Elections Uh-O? Court: NO to voter caging, Experts on open source code

Experts David Dill, Jeremy Epstein and Joe Hall weigh in on Sequoia’s source code disclosure….
…LA County has a report on efficacy of eliminating polling places for Vote By Mail…Hawaii election chief resigns, elections dept might not have funds or planning to implement 2010 elections…Scotts Co Iowa studying accuracy and efficiency of e-poll books….IRV poll of Hendersonville NC voters out, apathy? 15% polled would be upset if they didn’t use IRV for council or mayor in future elections, 35% would NOT be upset and 39% didn’t care at all….
New York is in the news for: the pilot program, a new voting method that to help hispanic voters in Port Chester, (as soon as they devise a plan on how to educate voters), on eliminating runoff elections, and a state lawmaker is purged from voter rolls.
False Vote Counts in Four Counties in NY-23…

…ACORN/Ohio lawsuit means that Ohio will now enforce Section 7 of the NVRA, that is, govt agencies will now offer voter registration to their clients…Bad ideas for election reform: Internet voting spreads in Canada as areas gain broadband access…Mexican cartels sinking drug money into political campaigns…

CA: L.A. Clerk says vote-by-mail could bring dramatic boost in turnout — and costs
December 3, 2009 Switching to vote-by-mail citywide elections in Los Angeles — and doing away with traditional polling places — could increase voter participation but be costly and pose a threat to the integrity of elections, a report by the Los Angeles City Clerk concluded today.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/12/la-clerk-says-votebymail-could-bring-dramatic-boost-in-turnout-and-costs.html
Link to the study:
http://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2009/09-1222-S1_rpt_clk_11-18-09.pdf

HI: Resignation intensifies worries about elections
Four county clerks say that planning for 2010 is “significantly behind schedule”
Dec 03, 2009 Voter advocates were outraged by Cronin’s last major decision to close nearly one-third of the state’s voting sites.
…
The resignation of Chief Election Officer Kevin Cronin is renewing concerns about whether there is enough money, manpower and time to plan successful elections next year.
http://www.starbulletin.com/news/20091203_Resignation_
intensifies_worries_about_elections.html
or use this url http://twi.cc/VnNQ

IA: Electronic Pollbooks Continue to Show Impressive Results
During the 2009 municipal elections the Auditor’s Office expanded its experiment with the electronic poll book (e-poll book) to a total of five precincts. Our objective is to evaluate how much e-poll books will increase accuracy and efficiency in the polling place, and save costs in after election processing of voter history.
…
The cost savings for post-election processing promises to be very significant. In the five precincts using the e-poll books we processed history for 1080 voter records in 26 minutes. A comparable number of records in three precincts processed by hand took 182 minutes.
http://scottcountyauditor.wordpress.com/2009/12/02/electronic-pollbooks-continue-to-show-impressive-results/

NC: New Data Support Use Of Instant Run-Off Voting (data contradicts title)
Cobb also cautions that, while voters support IRV, their support is not strong. When voters were presented with a list of reasons cited by advocates to defend IRV, a majority of voters polled did not personally agree with any of them. “Voters seemed indifferent to these traditional justifications for using IRV and simply liked or disliked the experience of ranking for their own reasons,” Cobb says.

Verified Voting Blog: Tinkering with Disclosed Source Voting Systems

In October, Sequoia Voting Systems, Inc. ("Sequoia") announced that it intended to publish the source code of their voting system software, called "Frontier", currently under development. (Also see EKR's post: "Contrarianism on Sequoia's Disclosed Source Voting System".) Yesterday, Sequoia made good on this promise and you can now pull the source code they've made available from their Subversion repository here. Sequoia refers to this move in it’s release as “the first public disclosure of source code from a voting systems manufacturer”. Carefully parsed, that’s probably correct: there have been unintentional disclosures of source code (e.g., Diebold in 2003) and I know of two other voting industry companies that have disclosed source code (VoteHere, now out of business, and Everyone Counts), but these were either not “voting systems manufacturers” or the disclosures were not available publicly. Of course, almost all of the research systems (like VoteBox and Helios) have been truly open source. Groups like OSDV and OVC have released or will soon release voting system source code under open source licenses.

I wrote a paper ages ago (2006) on the use of open and disclosed source code for voting systems and I’m surprised at how well that analysis and set of recommendations has held up (the original paper is here, an updated version is in pages 11–41 of my PhD thesis). The purpose of my post here is to highlight one point of that paper in a bit of detail: disclosed source software licenses need to have a few specific features to be useful to potential voting system evaluators. I’ll start by describing three examples of disclosed source software licenses and then talk about what I’d like to see, as a tinkerer, in these agreements. The definition of an open source software product is relatively simple: for all practical purposes, anything released under an OSI-approved software license is open source, especially in the sense that one who downloads the source code will have wide latitude to copy, distribute, modify, perform, etc. the source code. What we refer to as disclosed source software is publicly released under a more restrictive license.

The Voting News Daily: Ballot Transparency Project for Arizona? Smartmatic does Mexico, Stopping MOVE Internet voting trojan

Arizona Election Transparency Project is seeking graphic ballot image scanning to protect against and expose fraud…Should the city of Aspen release the ballots from the spring City Council election to anyone who wants to see them?(the ballot images, which are already recorded)…Hawaii’s Chief Election Officer Cronin resigns, Hawaii plan would slash number of polling places….Judge won’t end NJ order targeting voter intimidation…More on NY-23 good and bad… OVF and Scytl Announce – The Power to MOVE: will this slow down or stop internet voting pilots/trojans in MOVE act and provide safer solutions?…Did Smartmatic mislead Mexican authorities, by presenting itself as a Dutch company?…

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

AZ: Ballot Image Scanning Sought as “Prospective Relief” in Pima County
As matters stand today, having strong evidence of election fraud is not sufficient to obtain legal remedy. Even if proof is obtained (such as a sworn statement that a computer operator had been ordered to rig the election and did so), a Pima County Superior Court judge has decided that the Court is powerless to act.
…
That’s why the Arizona Election Transparency Project (AZTP) of EDA and AUDITAZ, is seeking graphic ballot image scanning as “prospective relief” to fix what’s broken in our electoral process, and protect the integrity of future elections. Graphic ballot image scanning can reliably expose attempted election fraud, no matter what method might be used to try to cheat. The following short video explains how.
http://electiondefensealliance.org/eda-blogs/john_r_brakey/310809/ballot-image-scanning

CA: Thadeus Greenson/The Times-Standard
12/02/2009 The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to certify the county’s results from the November election, leaving anyone who feels they have a gripe a five-day window to request a recount or contest the final numbers.

But, before diving headlong into demanding and paying for a recount, Humboldt County Registrar of Voters Carolyn Crnich suggests anyone who thinks there may be a problem with the results to check for themselves with the Humboldt County Election Transparency Project.
…
The first-of-its-kind Transparency Project sends every ballot cast in an election through an optical scanner after it is officially counted. Images of the ballots are then placed online and available for download, allowing any member of the public to view, sort and count all the ballots in a given election as they please.

http://www.times-standard.com/ci_13906913?IADID=Search-www.times-standard.com-www.times-standard.com

CO: Aspen Times poll about releasing ballots
As of Dec. 02, 2009: Should the city of Aspen release the ballots from the spring City Council election to anyone who wants to see them?
http://aspenelectionreview.blogspot.com/2009/11/aspen-times-poll-about-releasing.html

HI: State elections chief announces resignation
Kevin Cronin, the state’s chief elections officer, has told the state Elections Commission that he will resign at the end of the year
…
The state Office of Elections was hit with challenges to an award for new electronic voting machines last year that has left the state with no voting machines for the 2010 elections.
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20091201
/BREAKING01/91201075/State+elections+chief+announces+resignation
or use this url http://twi.cc/Oo8x

HI: Hawaii plan would slash number of polling places
HONOLULU — Hawaii’s chief elections officer on Tuesday proposed closing more than a quarter of the state’s polling places in response to deep budget cuts imposed by the Legislature and the state’s governor.

The Voting News Daily: WV troops as internet voting guinea pigs, NY 23 election updates, Un-rigging FL districts

A chance for Floridians to redraw rigged districts…Husband of NJ state Sen. Teresa Ruiz indicted for absentee ballot fraud…Some Muscogee County GA voters given provisional ballots because of e-poll book problems…
Madison County KY Judge-Executive Kent Clark on switch to paper ballots: “It’s quicker, it’s easier and it’s honest,”…“If there are any questions (about voting results for certain precincts), the boxes are unlocked and the paper ballots are counted. There are no computer glitches.”

…Group that supported IRV in St. Paul fined for deceptive endorsements
New York group ETC to file lawsuit to keep lever machines…Brad Friedman writes “NY-23, Sequoia and the Private Corporate Takeover of Your Once-Public Democracy”…
Vote Recount in Nassau (NY) Executive Race Ends, judge to rule on 700 to 800 contested ballots…
Monongalia County WV plans to use military as internet voting guinea pigs. This is part of the trojan horse put in the MOVE act. They should read – Internet Voting Too Dangerous -ESPECIALLY for Our Military…Yesterday evening, Sequoia Voting Systems released the first portion of source code…A writer in Ghana warns against e-voting, cites US problems…

CA: Maywood activists seek probe into alleged voter fraud
December 1, 2009 Community activists from Maywood plan to file a complaint with the L.A. County district attorney’s office today, seeking an investigation into voting discrepancies during last month’s city elections.

Members of the group, Maywood for Better Community, said some residents were unable to vote in the Nov. 3 election because someone had already voted for them. The group also alleges that some voters lived in other cities, such as Southgate and El Monte, and that other Maywood residents were allowed to vote more than once.
…
The group said it has video footage, photographs and signed affidavits by several witnesses. Marlene Mortley, 42, who served as a poll watcher, said she observed at least two people vote twice.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/12/maywood-elections.html

CO: The cost of botched elections
LTE…I believe that the expensive November 5A lodging tax election snafu could have been prevented if city management had taken election-quality issues seriously in early summer.
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20091201/LETTER/
912019998/1020&ParentProfile=1058
http://twi.cc/bdmP

FL: A chance for Floridians to redraw rigged districts
November 28, 2009 …The good news is, Florida voters will likely have the opportunity to inject some competition back into legislative races next November. Fair Districts Florida, a nonpartisan issue committee, is sponsoring two ballot measures that will establish fair and impartial standards for redrawing state and congressional district boundaries every decade.
http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/article1054593.ece

FL: Much ado about nothing? Debate over early voting hours in Florida neglects most empirical research
There is a heated debate going on in the Florida state legislature over a permanent extension to early voting hours.
…
My friend and colleague Bob Stein of Rice University has been studying the relationship between early in person voting and partisanship for more than a decade, and he has consistently shown that early voting conveys no partisan advantage. It only benefits the party or candidate with more money and more organizational resources.
http://electionupdates.caltech.edu/?p=3008

GA: Minor voting problems arise in Georgia House 129 race *
A small number of voters casting ballots early this morning in the runoff race for the vacant Georgia House District 129 seat encountered delays at several Columbus precincts, Muscogee County Elections Director Nancy Boren said.

The Voting News Daily: Humboldt’s Nov 3 ballots go public, NY 23 election pilot update, Glasgow KY ditching e-voting

Humboldt County CA’s Nov 3 ballots are now publicly viewable…Meanwhile, the struggle goes on in Aspen – a poll shows over 66% want ballots released to the public….So you think e-voting is as safe as using an ATM? Then consider this: “Hacking ring steals $9 million from ATMs globally”…

Bo Lipari’s testimony about New York’s optical scan pilot…What does the outcome of New York’s pilot with optical scanners mean? Is part of the problem the Dominion Imagecast? Are testing programs insufficient? In some states, like New Mexico and North Carolina, optical scanners have been a great improvement – over paperless electronic voting systems that they used to have. Undervote rates were greatly improved in these states….
The Tennessee Voter Confidence Act: “what began as a bipartisan effort to ensure electoral integrity has now devolved into something quite the opposite.”…

…A hand recount verifies results of a recall election in Clatsop County….Pennsylvania to increase voter registration at state agencies…
Champaign Co Illinois Clerk sues over notification about undervotes :
“Because such an error message will take the form of an audible beep, accompanied by a message on a screen on the tabulation machine, the secrecy of a voter’s choices is necessarily compromised,” Shelden said in his lawsuit. “There is no more fundamental right than the right to vote and to cast a secret ballot.”

Glasgow Co Kentucky may ditch paperless voting and use HAVA funds to buy new optical scan machines at $4,500 each….

CA: Humboldt County Election Transparency Project (ballots made public online)
Ballot Scans from the Election of November 3, 2009
http://www.humetp.org/20091103/

CO: Aspen Times poll about releasing ballots (from Aspen Election May 5 2009) http://apps.aspentimes.com/utils/polling/poll_results.php?poll_ident=1465
Should the city of Aspen release the ballots from the spring City Council election to anyone who wants to see them?
As of 8:30 AM 11/26/09: Yes 66.24%
http://aspenelectionreview.blogspot.com/2009/11/aspen-times-poll-about-releasing.html

CT: Connecticut Governor Wants Non-Discriminatory Public Funding
November 29th, 2009. Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell has asked the legislature to amend the state’s public funding law so that it does not discriminate for or against any candidate on the basis of the candidate’s partisan affiliation
http://www.ballot-access.org/2009/11/29/connecticut-governor-wants-non-discriminatory-public-funding/

FL: South Florida election observers head for Honduras
With government institutions declining to send election observers to Honduras, about 300 people from a variety of groups left Miami on Friday to fill the void.
…
`AT ODDS’

“If the U.S. sends election observers before President Zelaya is restored, it would prepare the ground for recognizing the coup regime and its election as legitimate, putting the U.S. at odds with the rest of the hemisphere,” wrote Robert Naiman, policy director of Just Foreign Policy, a left-leaning think tank.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/5min/story/1354995.html

FL: Two ballot proposals stir fears
A push for new redistricting standards could inspire legal challenges
November 27, 2009 …Two little-noticed constitutional amendments that could be on the 2010 ballot are so potentially threatening to the status quo that there is already talk of lawsuits, disenfranchisement of minority voters and fears of a Democratic takeover of the GOP-controlled state government.

The push by FairDistrictsFlorida.org

Verified Voting Blog: Report on New York Voting System Pilot

Testimony on the voting machine pilot I gave at the New York State Senate Election Committee’s hearing on November 30, 2009. Full submitted testimony is posted here.

New York State was wise to do a pilot of our new voting systems. It provides an opportunity to work out the kinks in new systems and the procedures for managing them, allows us to learn from the inevitable mistakes, and to apply what we learn in the future. In my opinion, New York’s just concluded pilot was extremely valuable and revealed some important areas that need improvement. Certainly, privacy and ballot design issues often came up. However, given my limited speaking time I will submit comments on those two issues with my written testimony. Today I will discuss another pilot experience from which important lessons can be learned – the failure of some of the new voting machines and how New York can benefit from this failure.

Questions Raised in NY-23 Congressional Race
The NY-23 Congressional race had national attention, with 9 of 47 pilot counties holding elections in this race. Despite assurances from vendors, some of the new machines were inoperable on Election Day. In cases where machines failed, paper ballots were treated according to New York State emergency ballot rules, assuring that all votes were counted. Indeed, this is the great strength of New York’s new voting system – it ultimately relies on the marked paper ballot which contains a software independent record of voter intent.

The Voting News Daily: Gouverneur Times vs NYS Board of Elections, Arkansas paper ballot battle, Voter Verified Inc?

Benton county citizens fight to keep their paper ballots….A new Florida corporation calling itself “Voter Verified Inc” files patent infringement against ES&S (and Diebold/Premier)…Bloomberg Spent $102 Million to Win 3rd Term yet won by fewer than 5 percent points…Complaint filed with Westchester County NY Board of Elections when two candidates names were missing from ballot at one of the polling sites…”FACT CHECK: Gouverneur Times vs. NYS Board of Elections”….

For some in military, power of vote now guaranteed…Franklin County PA used a central count scanner to do a recount, and says that it proved the precinct count to be accurate….

Philippine Elections and Murder Inc: “Elections in the Philippines are historically and perennially — they’re always violent — they only vary in degrees, for instance in the number of people killed every election period,” he said. “It has always been a problem for the Philippines, particularly in Maguindanao.”

AR: PUBLIC VIEWPOINT: Don’t Throw Away Paper Ballots
November 27, 2009 …Benton County proposes to be all-electronic, trusting our entire election to electronic voting machines that have documented vulnerabilities. In fact, counties across the country are scrapping these machines. Either the Election Commission knows something most of the country does not know, or they are way behind the curve.
http://smn.nwanews.com/news/2009/nov/27/public-viewpoint-dont-throw-away-paper-ba-20091127/

Optical Scan cheaper to own and operate, see
Voting System Cost Studies and Reports
http://www.votersunite.org/info/CostStudies.asp

States rush to dump touch-screen voting systems
States are increasingly abandoning touchscreen voting, scrapping multimillion-dollar systems purchased since 2000.
Arstechnica. August 20, 2008 It’s a good time to pick up an electronic voting machine on the cheap—provided you’re not a stickler for things like “accuracy” or “security.” States are scrapping tens of thousands of pricey touchscreen systems in response to mounting concerns about the machines’ reliability.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2008/08/states-rush-to-dump-touchscreen-voting-systems.ars

CA: City unveils improved election Web site
VoteSantaClarita.com provides voter essentials in English and Spanish
…VoteSantaClarita.com includes links with information on how to register to vote, how to vote by mail as well as an interactive form that shows voters their nearest polling place…
http://www.the-signal.com/news/article/21239/

FL: Voter Verified, Inc. v. Election Systems & Software, Inc.
RFC Case Number: P-V09-1969E
Court Case Number: 6:09-cv-01969-ACC-GJK
File Date: Thursday, November 19, 2009
Plaintiff: Voter Verified, Inc.
Plaintiff Counsel: Anthony I. Provitola of Anthony I. Provitola, PA
Defendant: Election Systems & Software, Inc.
Cause: 35:271 Patent Infringement
11/19/2009 1 COMPLAINT against Election Systems & Software, Inc. with Jury Demand (Filing fee $ 350 receipt number 32920), filed by Voter Verified, Inc. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibits, # 2 Civil Cover Sheet)(LAM) (Entered: 11/20/2009)
11/19/2009 Summons issued as to Election Systems & Software, Inc. (LAM) (Entered: 11/20/2009)
http://www.rfcexpress.com/lawsuit.asp?id=52130

Voter Verified, Inc. v. Premier Election Solutions, Inc. et al
RFC Case Number: P-V09-1968P
Court Case Number: 6:09-cv-01968-PCF-KRS
File Date: Thursday, November 19, 2009
Cause: 35:271 Patent Infringement
11/19/2009 1 COMPLAINT against Premier Election Solutions, Inc., Diebold, Incorporated with Jury Demand (Filing fee $ 350 receipt number 32919) filed by Voter Verified, Inc. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibits, # 2 Civil Cover Sheet)(LAK) (Entered: 11/20/2009)
http://www.rfcexpress.com/lawsuit.asp?id=52129

Florida Profit Corporation
VOTER VERIFIED, INC.

The Voting News Daily: Impossible Numbers Certified in NY-23? Florida SOS says trust us, blue ink suddenly ok, Internet voting creeps up in Canada

Reporting Error about election audits in Westport CT news story……Illinois petition challenge process must go… Voter turnout in VA Governor’s race went up in 2009…

Impossible Numbers Certified in NY-23 says Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D. an election fraud investigator. Phillips is known for his book, “Witness to a Crime: A Citizens’ Audit of an American Election” and lives in St. Lawrence County, NY…

Canada’s election integrity erodes as more towns adopt internet, phone or mail balloting….Violence in Elections: Suspect in Philippine Election Massacre Surrenders… The International Criminal Court seeks investigation into Kenya’s 2007 post-election violence that brought Kenya to the brink of civil war….

CA: Soapbox: Monterey County election has been certified, and here’s how
November 24, 2009…The day after the election, the department reported that 8,500 vote-by-mail, provisional and damaged ballots cast and received by the close of polls on Election Day remained. Now what? Let the “official canvass” begin
http://www.thecalifornian.com/article/20091124/OPINION04/911240301/1014/OPINION

CT: Reporting Error In Westport News Story
Story in Westport News: Audit ensures election accuracy
…
The State, as far as we know, does not observe the local audits and bases all of its reports on data supplied from the registrars and investigations not open to the public. With perhaps 130 audit observations to date, our observers have never reported the presence of an observer from the State:
…
We believe the audits are a small. critical, incremental investment. The statewide cost of audits represents less than 10% of the costs of printing the paper ballots. We estimate $72,000 in Nov 2008 for local audit activities vs. more than $750,000 for ballots in that election. Both of these costs are small when compared to the total costs of conducing elections, not to mention the risk to democracy if the voters intentions are not consistently realized in the official election results.
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?p=2638

FL: Ensuring smooth state elections
By KURT S. BROWNING Guest Columnist
Thursday, November 26, 2009
“While we continue to encourage election-equipment vendors to search for ways to improve or enhance their voting equipment, let me be clear: The current equipment performs as it should –with blue or black ink.”
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20091126/COLUMNIST/911261041/2127?Title=Ensuring-smooth-state-elections

IL: Illinois Challenge Process Must Go
This week, Free and Equal, Inc. has been working overtime in Chicago, defending candidates of all three recognized parties in Illinois from challenges to knock them off the ballot.

Illinois’ challenge process is inherently corrupt. Its only purpose is to rob the voters of their choices on Election Day. Naturally, the process favors the rich and powerful and places citizen candidates, regardless of party, at an undemocratic disadvantage.
https://www.freeandequal.org/2009/11/illinois-challenge-process-must-go/

NJ: Dalina seeks recount due to 31-vote margin
Hearing set for Dec. 3 in state Superior Court
With vote tallies indicating that he lost by a margin of less than 1 percent, Monroe Township Council candidate Stephen Dalina has filed for a recount of votes in the Ward 3 election.
http://ebs.gmnews.com/news/2009/1126/front_page/002.html

NY: Impossible Numbers Certified in NY-23 *
…Fundamentally, the fault does not lie with the Board of Elections, although perhaps they should have noticed the negative numbers before certifying them.

The Voting News Daily: Aspen voters-don’t ask questons! IL:Undervote lawsuit filed, NC BCBS campaign triggers probe

Giving thanks and a great tribute: A reader/activist writes that although John Gideon is no longer with us, his work continues to make a difference today –
“John Gideon continues to battle on through his Daily Voting News legacy. What a resource he’s left people everywhere who need the information required to work on attempting to save their votes. I can’t tell you the number of people he’s assisted in my state just by having DVN handy to reference.” Lisa Burks, Founder, National Coalition of Verified Voting AR Headquarters.

Ellen Theisen at Voters Unite continues to update a database of voting problems and news articles.

“Don’t ask, don’t think; trust us”
~Harvie Branscomb about Aspen Colorado’s shameful efforts to keep the election process closed to the public and the McCarthy-style tactics used against local voting activists….

Hans von Spakovsky: Bob Bauer Wants To Criminalize Talk About Voter Fraud…
Something good! It is good to see reports of post election audits, something almost unheard of several years ago…The Champaign County Clerk of Illinois has filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the undervote notification in Champaign County Circuit Court…
…NC Lawmakers join call for Blue Cross probe of anonymous robo calls, political campaigning, ethics issues…We wish all voting news readers a safe and happy Thanksgiving…

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

CO: Don’t ask, don’t think; trust us
Dear Editor:

Message from: The city
To: Our citizens

1) Don’t ask to see any copies of your anonymous ballots — something about them is just too dangerous for the public to handle — we will keep them briefly and destroy all copies for you…
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20091125/LETTER

/911259992/1020&ParentProfile=1058
or use this http://twi.cc/FWnM

CO: Should the city of Aspen release the ballots from the spring City Council election to anyone who wants to see them? (scroll poll 2/3 way down the page)
http://www.aspentimes.com/

CT: Audit ensures election accuracy
11/25/2009 Westport’s elected officials have already been sworn into office, but the results of the Nov. 3 election had yet to be put to rest until Friday evening
http://www.westport-news.com/ci_13862874

IL: Champaign County Clerk. lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the undervote notification in Champaign County Circuit Court
http://blog.champaigncountyclerk.com/2009/11/24/undervote-lawsuit-filed/

MO: Fighting corrpution like fighting H1N1? (campaign finance)
November 25, 2009
http://politicalactivitylaw.com/?p=6480

NC: Lawmakers join call for Blue Cross probe (anonymous robo calls, non profit campaigning, ethics issues)
November 24, 2009
http://projects.newsobserver.com/under_the_dome/lawmakers

_join_call_for_blue_cross_probe
or use this http://twi.cc/z2El
[it may not be against the law for BCBS to engage in campaigning, but many issues call for investigation]

NC: Twenty state lawmakers have signed a letter calling for an investigation into a campaign by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of N.C. (actual letter)
“…Further, given BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina’s status as a not-for-profit with a share of 96.8% in our individual insurance market built on over 60 years of preferred tax exemptions, we are concerned as a matter of public policy and ethical business practices that they have inappropriately engaged in political advocacy. As a corporation that claims to deliver innovative health care products and services to its members, BlueCross BlueShield appears to be engaging in a blatant political campaign utilizing the premiums paid by their customers.”

The Voting News Daily: NJ Sequoia counties no recourse, PA mostly digital recount to cost $1.3 mill, Philippines election related massacre

New Jersey needs a lemon law for voting machines: Counties that purchased voting machines from Sequoia Voting Systems, which provides the majority of voting systems in the state, in many cases entered into contracts that leave them little recourse if the machines malfunction or require repairs, according to a report issued today by New Jersey Public Advocate Ronald K. Chen…

As Aspen Colorado backs away from election transparency, they suddenly remember their election commission wasn’t properly appointed and new commission must be appointed. Will that be a bi-partisan commission?…Costly waste of time department: It will cost Pennsylvania $1.3 million to do a recount, much of it on paperless voting machines. Guess the losing candidate hasn’t heard about GIGO, Garbage in, Garbage Out….ACORN has flaws, but: Have the Media ‘Falsely Framed’ ACORN?…

Philippines declares state of emergency after brutal election related massacre..

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

AR: Paper Ballots Will Be Available To Benton County Voters
November 24, 2009 BENTONVILLE — Paper ballots will be available to anyone who wishes to use one during the 2010 elections.
…
Last week, Bill Williams, chairman of the Benton County Election Commission, said that the commission hoped to have 100 percent electronic voting by 2012’s elections with the exception of provisional and absentee ballots.
http://www.nwanews.com/news/2009/nov/24/paper-ballots-will-be-available-benton-county-vote/

AZ: City staff eye potential savings of all mail-in ballot election
November 22, 2009 BULLHEAD CITY – During Thursday’s two-hour Bullhead City council retreat, City Clerk Diane Heilmann presented a report on the cost comparison of a traditional city election versus an all mail-in ballot election
…
Heilmann’s study indicates an all mail-in ballot election would be less labor-intensive. Mohave County Elections Director Allen Tempert would continue to need people to open the ballots, prepare them for the tally machine “and he still needs to adhere to the testing and reporting legislation,” the report states.
http://www.mohavedailynews.com/articles/2009/11/23/news/local/local3.txt

CO: Council moves to appoint new election commission
November 24, 2009 http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/137748

NJ: Public Advocate releases review of voting machine contracts
11/24/09 TRENTON — Counties that purchased voting machines from Sequoia Voting Systems, which provides the majority of voting systems in the state, in many cases entered into contracts that leave them little recourse if the machines malfunction or require repairs, according to a report issued today by New Jersey Public Advocate Ronald K. Chen.

Read Report: The Purchase of Voting Systems in New Jersey: How Government Can Better Protect Taxpayer Rights and Voting Security
http://www.state.nj.us/publicadvocate/news/2009/approved/
091124_dpa_review_of_voting_machine_contracts.html
or use this http://twi.cc/REL7

NY: Hoffman considering challenge in NY-23
Nov 24, 2009 – Conservative Party candidate Douglas L. Hoffman passed his self-appointed deadline Monday without declaring whether he’d challenge results in the 23rd Congressional District race. Robert H. Ryan, Mr. Hoffman’s spokesman, said the candidate would announce his decision today. He would not say what Mr. Hoffman’s intentions were. Jude Seymour, Watertown Daily Times.
http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20091124/NEWS03/311249966

NV: Former ACORN official in Las Vegas gets probation
LAS VEGAS — A former Las Vegas supervisor for the political advocacy group ACORN was sentenced Monday to up to three years’ probation for his role in a plan to pay canvassers to register Nevada voters during last year’s presidential campaign.

The Voting News Daily: NY-23 election questions, Benton AR flirts with election disaster, E-vote secrecy hack

NY-23 E-Vote Failures Merit Full Hand-Count in Response, An update to the reports of an e-voting ‘virus’, and other failures, in New York’s recent Special Election for the U.S. House…New Yorks CD-23 had a source code bug not virus, but questions remain…Hoffman to Decide About N.Y. 23 Challenge This Weekend…

HAVA chuckle in Nassau County, New York? A total of 17 votes were cast on $3.5 million worth of disabled accessible voting machines…

Aspen Colorado officials still not ready to make ballot image files public…Luther Weeks describes a breach of chain of custody in a Haddam, CT election…
North Carolina GOP contests Clay Aiken vote…VOOGLE: From Idea To Reality, Virginia Poling Place Information Gadget!…

International: Brazilian Breaks Secrecy of Brazil’s E-Voting Machines With Van Eck Phreaking…Concerns about India’s paperless e-voting and push for biometric ID…21 dead in bloodiest pre-election violence in Maguindanao, Mindanao…

AR: COMMENTARY: County Flirts With Disaster
Benton County is seriously considering going to all-electronic voting. At least their election commission chairman is.

This is a particularly terrible idea at a uniquely awful time.
…
37 percent of the county’s voters demanded paper ballots in the last election.

I’m sure the fiasco in 2006 contributed to that. I’m also sure, however, that long lines to the machines contributed to that too. Voting on paper was simply faster during the peak times.

I hate to see the issue of filling a legitimate need for moremachines get tangled up in what now could be perceived as a referendum on paperless voting.
http://rmn.nwanews.com/news/2009/nov/22/commentary-county-flirts-disaster-20091122/

AR: Paper option needed
November 21, 2009. LITTLE ROCK — I sense a bipartisan storm brewin’ in Benton County as election commissioners urge county government to save money by virtually abandoning paper ballots.

They favor purchasing an additional 200 used electronic voting machines for $360,000, but there appear to be both Democrats and Republicans who aren’t too keen on trusting the outcome of elections solely to electronic machines without also having the familiar and verifiable paper ballots.
…
This sort of thing just looks suspicious in a system that must rely on credibility, and no doubt it fuels debate with those who place their trust in paper ballots. In Benton County, that’s apparently no small number. No fewer than 37 of every 100 Benton County voters in the 2008 general election used paper ballots. I’d say it was a big mistake morally and politically to basically deny nearly four our of every 10 voters their voting preference to save an estimated (and debatable) $95,000.

If I were on the Quorum Court and was working with a new, well-intentioned but relatively inexperienced election commission, I’d be wanting to see proven facts about how much money would actually be saved by abandoning paper ballots and purchasing hundreds of used machines. Then I’d be weighing that estimate against the public’s will and desire.
http://adg.nwanews.com/news/2009/nov/21/paper-option-needed-20091121/

CA: November 3rd election, scanning in progress
Humboldt County Election Transparency Project
We’ve started scanning ballots from the November 3rd election. Due to the horribly light turnout, we’re almost done.

The Voting News Daily: FCC considers Internet Voting, WV oks internet voting for military, NY Voting Machines had bug not virus

The biggest threat to democracy quietly sneaks forward: The FCC seeks public comment on internet elections by Dec. 10 of this year… Clearly the e-voting movement is not keeping up. Problems with voting machines pale compared to the risks of internet voting. Voting online is not secure and is not secret according to many tech experts…Meanwhile, West Virginia just passed a law allowing online voting for military, it goes to the governor to be signed…

“Voting is not a commodity or industry, it’s a democratic right…Anti-trust officials must stop this monopolization of America’s most basic democratic process. More fundamentally, though, we must restore full public ownership and management of our voting systems.”~Jim Hightower…This should be true everywhere: “Registration of voters should never be seen as a political act.” – European Commission Head of Delegation to Zambia…
…
There is good news and bad news about New York’s voting systems. The problems with some New York voting machines were not due to a virus, as reported yesterday by the Gouverneur Times, but were due to a flaw/bug in the source code. The problem was not caused by election workers but by the voting vendor. The good news is that there are paper ballots. But the bad news is that elections are still being used as beta tests for voting vendors. We all know there is no perfect voting system but is it too much to ask that these voting systems work correctly? Bo Lipari has a write up on his blog and we have a press release from the New York State Board of Elections…In Utah New ID Check-In scans your drivers license….

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

IL: Undervotes and the AccuVote
Champaign County Clerk under Elections. The formerly Diebold, formerly Premier, now ES&S Accu-Vote ballot tabulation system is under the gun to meet the state standards for rejecting undervotes. (We do not use the Accu-Vote) At the State Board of Elections meeting yesterday we learned that their first go around on testing failed, and now they are making programming changes and retesting.
http://blog.champaigncountyclerk.com/2009/11/18/undervotes-and-the-accuvote/

IL: Illinois Newspaper Story on Challenge to Green Party U.S. House Candidate in 14th District
November 20th, 2009 The Daily Herald, a newspaper in Arlington Heights, Illinois, has this article about a Democratic Party-connected challenge to the Green Party’s candidate for U.S. House in the 14th district.
http://www.ballot-access.org/2009/11/20/illinois-newspaper-story-on-challenge-to-green-party-u-s-house-candidate-in-14th-district/

MA: BREAKING NEWS: Vote-Rigging Alleged in UC Presidential Election
November 19, 2009 In an unprecedented reversal following allegations of fraud and vote-tampering, the Undergraduate Council Election Commission decided to “de-certify” the results of the presidential election released today, pending further notice.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2009/11/19/11-bowman-votes-seiler/

MN: Kummer wins Park Board seat without a majority
Candidate is first under ranked-choice voting to be elected without support from a majority of voters.
November 19, 2009 …Incumbent Kummer amassed 46 percent of the vote to almost 42 percent for Jason Stone in a replay of their 2005 finish. Her election without a majority occurred because 957 ballots, or 12 percent of those cast, were exhausted.

Verified Voting Blog: No Voting Machine Virus in New York-23 Election

Erroneous reports are circulating that a virus caused a problem in the scanners used in the NY-23 Congressional race. The reports, based on an inaccurate article published in the Gouverneur Times, are incorrect. There was no virus in the NY-23 machines. How do I know? Well, in the first place, the Dominion ImageCast scanners in question run the Linux operating system, which is nearly immune to viruses due to its inherent ability to lock out programs that lack explicit permission to run, unlike the highly vulnerable Windows operating system. Second, the State Board of Elections gave an account of the problem at their public meeting on November 10, and which I confirmed in a phone conversation with staff earlier this week. Here’s what really happened:

Let’s be clear. While no votes were lost due the ability to independently count the paper ballots, a problem did occur that affected certain machines around the state. The issue was a bug in the Dominion source code that caused the machine to hang while creating ballot images for certain vote combinations in multiple candidate elections (the ImageCast, like the other scanner used in New York, the ES&S DS200, creates digital images of each ballot which can be reviewed after the election). So if, for example, a “vote for three candidates out of five” race was voted in a certain way, the scanner would hang. This is one reason why the defect affected some, but not all machines with ballots containing this type of race, because only certain combinations of votes caused the memory problem. But here’s the thing – the problem was discovered before the election.

The Voting News Daily: Virus in NY voting machines, Myrtle SC’s missing 260 votes found, ACORN ?

Hot story today: VIRUS found in the VOTING MACHINES Tainted Results in NY-23…Myrtle Beach’s missing 260 votes “found” when “correct” memory card put into machine to gather votes, voters will just have to trust the delayed digital count since there are no paper ballots – does that inspire confidence?…Benton County Arkansas officials do their citizens a disservice by proposing to ditch paper ballot voting systems, the officials claim this will save money, but cost studies show otherwise! Arkansas has a paper ballot law that grandfathered paperless voting in some counties….Indiana County PA officials are “irked” that they had to do a real recount and not just read off the voting machine tape like PA’s paperless counties do…PPP survey finds that 52% of GOP believe Acorn stole the election for President Obama…Readers, we apologize that for two days in a row feedburner did not send you the voting news. You can find those missing editions at http://votingnews.blogspot.com/ and we are working on a backup plan to avoid this happening again….

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

AR: Paper Voting Ballots Could Be A Thing Of The Past
Election Commission Looks To Make Changes
November 19, 2009. Should the Benton County Quorum Court approve the expenditure of $360,000 for the Election Commission to purchase 200 new electronic voting machines, paper ballots could soon be a thing of the past.

“Right now, it is an idea that is open for discussion,” Bill Williams, chairman of the election commission, said.
http://www.nwanews.com/news/2009/nov/19/paper-voting-ballots-could-be-thing-past/

Paper ballot voting cost less than all electronic voting
Voting System Cost Studies and Reports
http://www.votersunite.org/info/CostStudies.asp

NY: VIRUS in the VOTING MACHINES: Tainted Results in NY-23
GOUVERNEUR, NY – The computerized voting machines used by many voters in the 23rd district had a computer virus – tainting the results, not just from those machines known to have been infected, but casting doubt on the accuracy of counts retrieved from any of the machines.

Cathleen Rogers, the Democratic Elections Commissioner in Hamilton County stated that they discovered a problem with their voting machines the week prior to the election and that the “virus” was fixed by a Technical Support representative from Dominion, the manufacturer. The Dominion/Sequoia Voting Systems representative “reprogrammed” their machines in time for them to use in the Nov. 3rd Special Election. None of the machines (from the same manufacturer) used in the other counties within the 23rd district were looked at nor were they recertified after the “reprogramming” that occurred in Hamilton County
…
At least one County official thus far has raised concern that it’s possible that ALL of the machines used in the NY-23 election had the ‘virus’ but only a few malfunctioned as a result. The counts from any district that used the ImageCast machines are suspect due to “the virus” discovered in Hamilton County, last-minute “reprogramming” by Dominion workers, and security flaws in the systems themselves. A manual paper-ballot recount of the vote could resolve computer vote accuracy questions.

http://www.gouverneurtimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8144:virus-in-the-voting-machines-tainted-results-in-ny-23&catid=60:st-lawrence-news&Itemid=175

PA: Vote recount irks commissioner; tallies remain virtually unchanged
November 19, 2009 The recount Wednesday of Indiana County votes for Pennsylvania Superior Court judges resulted in no change in the total for one candidate, and changes ranging from one to six votes for other candidates.

The Voting News Daily: Myrtle Beach missing 260 votes, Ohio voter rolls in disarray, Phantom districts

Our apologies if you did not receive a Voting News yesterday, there was a problem with our feedburner delivery… 260 votes lost or uncounted in a Myrtle Beach SC muni runoff election…Lackawanna PA will use a machine to recount its other failed machine count. Which machine count would you trust?….Phantom congressional districts get stimulus money…In Iran 5 Post Election Protesters Sentenced to Death…Congratulations: Citizens for Election Integrity Minnesota Celebrates its 5th Anniversary!…Bob Fitrakis reports: On voter registration, the Columbus Dispatch gets it right, almost…
Retail Fraud – A Stitch In Time Could Save Democracy, Luther Weeks writes about absentee ballot fraud and disenfranchisement…Judge orders recount in Rutherford NJ squeaker…
Project Vote Releases New Report on Composition of the 2008 Electorate …We used to look to Canada for accurate and transparent elections, but that is at risk now as more Canadian municipalities adopt internet voting…

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

Voting News for November 17 (if you missed it)
Public Opinion and Election law shocker, NY 26 absentee ballots, Acorn -Bill of Attainder
http://votingnews.blogspot.com/2009/11/public-opinion-and-election-law-shocker.html

CT: Chain-Of-Custody Education In Haddam
November 18, 2009…Unfortunately, in Connecticut, election laws, regulations, procedures and common sense are often not followed. The Coalition Post-Election Audit Reports have documented many lapses in procedures, including the chain-of-custody. It is quite possible that in this case there was a violation of state law subject to enforcement, as the registrar points out
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?p=2603

CT: Retail Fraud – A Stitch In Time Could Save Democracy
November 15, 2009. There is no agreement on the demarcation between retail vote fraud and wholesale vote fraud. In general retail fraud represents fraud that involves individual voters and individual votes, while wholesale fraud would represent fraud an a large scale by insiders or hackers.
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?p=2595

MA: Massachusetts Military and Overseas Voters, Submit the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot (FWAB) NOW for the December 8, 2009 Special Primary
On Tuesday, December 8, 2009, Massachusetts will hold a special primary election to fill the vacancy left as a result of the passing of Senator Edward M. Kennedy. A special State election will follow on Tuesday, January 19, 2010.

Massachusetts jurisdictions are currently express mailing ballots to military and overseas voters.
http://www.fvap.gov/global/news/nr17-2009.html

MA: MassVOTE on Boston’s phantom precinct
…This phantom precinct, made up of Boston’s Harbor Islands, where no ballots have been cast in the last four elections, is a quirk of the city’s intricate electoral landscape, which because of an obscure legal exemption has not been redrawn in almost a century.
…
“This one little voting place is so out of whack that it is an indication that all the precincts in Boston are in need of adjustment,’’ said Avi Green, executive director of MassVOTE
http://nonprofitvote.blogspot.com/2009/11/boston-globe-massvote-on-bostons.html

MN: Citizens for Election Integrity Minnesota Celebrates its 5th Anniversary!
http://www.ceimn.org/citizens_election_integrity_minnesota_
celebrates_its_5th_anniversary_0
or use this http://twi.cc/Szjl

NC: Kinston rejects nonpartisan appeal despite pleas from residents
November 17, 2009 KINSTON — Despite a series of passionate pleas from local residents and political activists, the Kinston City Council voted 3-2 Monday against appealing the U.S.

The Voting News Daily: Public Opinion and Election law shocker, NY 26 absentee ballots, Acorn -Bill of Attainder

A national survey of the public’s attitudes towards basic voting rights would shock the activist community – the poll shows majority support (55%) for literacy tests…
Was Acorn defunding and “bill of attainder…an example of class warfare?”…
The University of Connecticut’s analysis of the state’s 2008 post election audit is out…NY 23 can Doug Hoffman un-concede?…its a short news day but we will catch up tomorrow, if you think we missed something please email us as ncvoter(at)gmail.com…

All this and more in today’s voting news below

AK: Court ruling reverses Haines election (decision on approved write-ins)
Nov 16, 2009 Five forlorn questioned ballots have been counted, and Haines has a new borough assemblyman.

Judge Patricia Collins’ decision to accept the five ballots means write-in candidate Daymond Hoffman has bounced from losing the election to Gary Lidholm by two votes to winning by three. The ballots in question included two votes for “D. Hoffman,” one for “Hoffman,” and two absentee ballots that arrived without postmarks.
http://www.alaskadispatch.com/news/politics/2935-court-ruling-reverses-haines-election

CA: Lawyer Who Wrote Voting Law Sues & Collects, as Gov’t Officials Steam Over $4.3M Won
Nov 16, 2009. Only one legal group in California is suing to enforce the state’s unique voting rights law. And a key attorney in that group helped draft it and get it enacted.
…
the California statute. It is intended to protect minority candidates from being shut out of the political process by at-large elections that dilute the power of minority voting districts.

But all of the litigation brought under the voting rights law was initiated by Rubin or Avila and pursued by attorneys working with them, the AP reports. While there is nothing illegal about that, it has been another aggravating factor in an already-annoying situation to those defending the litigation.
http://www.abajournal.com/news/lawyer_who_wrote_law_
sues_collects_as_govt_officials_steam_over_4.3m_won/
or use this http://twi.cc/wMSq

CO: IRV still fails after all of the provisional ballots counted
November 17, 2009
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The advisory question, although split nearly down the middle, will likely compel City Council to place a binding charter amendment question on a future ballot.
http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/137664

CT: Analysis of the Connecticut November 2008 post-election audit
The University of Connecticut’s Voting Technology Research Center has recently made available the results of their analysis of the State of Connecticut’s post-election audit of the November 2008 election
http://electionupdates.caltech.edu/?p=2997

FL: Anthony Westbury: Today is election day in Fort Pierce, again
November 17, 2009…Today’s election may not even be legal, and it’s conceivable Perona could be declared ineligible if he prevails.

His failure to step down from the Fort Pierce Utilities Board while running for the City Commission has prompted two formal complaints to the 19th Circuit Court.
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2009/nov/16/no-headline—sl_anthcol/

NY: NY-23: Absentees (Still) Point to a Democratic Win
11/16/09
http://washingtonindependent.com/68016/ny-23-absentees-still-point-to-a-democratic-win

NY: Hoffman wants a do-over
Doug Hoffman has fanned the flames surrounding the New York 23 special election, telling Glenn Beck yesterday that he would “un-concede” the election, “if that’s possible.”

Problem is, it’s not possible – or at least won’t affect the seating of Rep. Bill Owens (D-N.Y.) — unless the New York Board of Elections certifies Hoffman as the winner of the race.

Verified Voting Blog: Enfranchising Military Voters: Michigan Legislators Protect Verifiable, Secret Ballots

In a move to enfranchise soldiers deployed overseas, the Michigan House of Representatives has passed legislation that would allow blank absentee ballots to voters overseas by fax or e-mail. If House Bill 5279 passes the Senate and becomes law, local election officials will be able to send and receive applications for absentee ballots via fax or e-mail, and also be able to send blank absentee ballots to voters electronically. Voters will then print, mark and send the completed physical ballots to their local Michigan election officials. H5279 passed the House unanimously on November 5. Senate committee action is likely in December, according to Emily Carney, an aide to Senate Campaign and Election Oversight Committee chair Sen. Susan McManus.

House Bill 5279 implements a central recommendation of the Pew Center on the States's January 2009 report "No Time to Vote". The Pew report stated that Michigan currently does not allow overseas and military voters sufficient time to vote because ballots have to be sent and received via postal mail. The Pew Center recommended that Michigan allow election officials to e-mail blank absentee ballots to overseas and military voters, and accept completed ballots beyond the current election-day deadline.

Verified Voting Blog: Email Ballots – A Threat to the Security and Privacy of the Military Vote

Last week  the state Massachusetts, intending to improve military voters access to the ballot while serving overseas, approved a law which throws the integrity and security of those ballots into question by allowing their return by email. The original bill contained excellent provisions which would have helped solve one of the biggest problems facing overseas military personnel - timely receipt of absentee ballots. Currently, absentee ballots are sent by conventional mail, which can take two weeks to reach military voters. The problem is further exacerbated when soldiers are deployed in the field where they may not receive mail for long periods of time.

In its original form, the Massachusetts bill allowed military only to acquire an absentee ballot online. The downloaded blank ballot could then be printed, voted on and sent back, greatly enhancing the availability of ballots. But, in an ill conceived last minute addition, the bill was modified to also allow return of voted ballots by email. In terms of voter privacy and ballot security, email return of ballots is one of the worst choices and should never have been inserted in the bill let alone been approved. It's not like the data wasn't available. All lawmakers needed to do was consult a 2008 NIST research document which lays out the problems with email return of ballots in gruesome detail.