Author Archives: Warren Stewart

The Voting News Daily: Diebold audit log bug under investigation, Why ES&S Diebold merger bad for NY and US, Election official touts open source

California investigating Diebold audit log bugs…Absentee ballot blues: 7% of Route County CO absentee ballots undeliverable…Tennessee Judge may force state To provide voting paper Trail and election officials get course on running paper ballot elections….Sequoia voting source code story hits mainstream media…why the ES&S/Premier merger is bad for New York State and the Country…Election official touts the benefits of Open Source programming…Election officials deliver Afghan runoff ballots…Impasse over Iraqi election law may slow U.S. withdrawal…Complaints of tampering with the E-voting machines in India…

All of that and more in today’s Voting News below…

CA: California Investigating Problems With Voting-Machine Audit Logs
October 22, 2009 …The investigation is examining what the audit logs record and whether they can be easily altered or deleted, according to Secretary of State Debra Bowen
…
The state confirmed the problems in a report it released about a month later in which it also found that some versions of the GEMS software had a Clear button that allows anyone with access to the system to permanently delete certain audit logs “that would be essential to reconstruct operator actions during the vote-tallying process.”
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/10/audit-log/

Voting Machines With Disappearing Logs Finally Under Investigation
http://gizmodo.com/5388025/voting-machines-with-disappearing-logs-finally-under-investigation

CA: Tweet – smcvote Sequoia WinEDS v. 3.1.012 Revised Conditional Reapproval http://bit.ly/22iQOV
http://twitter.com/smcvote/status/5051346000

CO: Don’t forget: Ballots need extra postage
October 22, 2009 AURORA County officials are urging voters to take a close look at the postal rates spelled out on mail-in ballots for November’s local election.
…
“Our official policy is that the voters are supposed to put the postage on the ballot. Sixty-one cents is the amount this year,” …
http://www.aurorasentinel.com/articles/2009/10/22/news/metro_aurora/doc4ae0af6aa6b6e770115288.txt

CO: Clerk: Only 5 percent of voters have completed, returned ballots *
Less than 700 completed ballots received; 1,022 undeliverable
…as of Wednesday afternoon, her office had received only 682 of the 13,440 ballots sent to voters in Routt County’s first mail-only election.
http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2009/oct/23/county_clerk_
only_5_percent_voters_have_returned_b/#
or use this tiny url http://tinyurl.com/absenteeball

MN: St. Paul residents debate instant runoff voting
October 22, 2009 St. Paul, Minn. — Supporters and opponents of instant runoff voting faced off in St. Paul Wednesday night for their first and only formal public debate
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/10/22/st-paul-instant-runoff-voting/#

Audio of debate here http://twi.cc/qEhB

MN: Election night wins might be tough to call in Minneapolis
The winners in some races in Minneapolis won’t be known instantly under the new ranked-choice voting system.
October 22, 2009. Not only will it take weeks before all results are known from the first attempt at ranked-choice voting in Minneapolis, but some of the election-night results will be misleading.
http://www.startribune.com/politics/local/65698537.html?elr=KArks7PYDiaK7DUoaK7D_V_eDc87DUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU

MN: Instant runoff voting and buyer’s remorse
October 23, 2009 Chuck Repke, St. Paul, works in neighborhood development and government relations.
He is co-chair of the No Bad Ballots Committee, which is organized to oppose IRV.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/10/23/repke/

NY: why the ES&S/Premier merger is bad for New York State
October 23 2009 Bad for the country, bad for New York
…Is it so hard to imagine a scenario where ES&S makes an offer they can’t refuse and swallows Dominion, bringing New York State’s voting machine contracts under its exclusive control?

The Voting News Daily: Pima CO fights ballot audit, 9,000 Absentee ballots returned-to-sender, Sequoia laid bare

Is a Fair Election in Afghanistan Possible?…Tuscon wants hand count audit, Pima County says NO…9000 absentee ballots undeliverable in El Paso County Colorado… Indiana Secy of State gives up on criminalizing use of election data…Nevada is prosecuting ACORN itself, not just individuals…Employee for Ohio pro casino group indicted on 5 counts voter registration fraud -Casino group not blamed… Group complains about WVA’s electronic voting machines… National Academy of Sciences reviews voter registration databases… McCain, Feingold Speak on Senate Floor About Citizens United…Sequoia Voting System database laid bare…

All of that and more in today’s Voting News below.

AZ: City, Pima at odds over vote hand-count
Dispute over audit of ballots could affect Nov. 3 tallies
Tucson, Arizona 10.21.2009. A dispute between Tucson and Pima County could lead to no hand-count of November’s election results — a practice that could help uncover voting machine malfunctions and fraud.
…
The heads of the Pima County Republican and Democratic parties asked the council to take the hard line to force a hand count, given the county’s history with the 2006 Regional Transportation Authority election, where some observers alleged votes were flipped to change the outcome of the election, and the county was forced to pay $230,000 in attorney’s fees for losing a public records suit.
http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/314130

CO: No ballot? No problem, contact county clerk *
October 20, 2009 If you’re a registered voter but didn’t get a ballot in the mail last week, it’s probably because you moved but didn’t update your address with the county clerk’s office.

The office of the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder, Bob Balink, said Tuesday that out of 278,000 ballots mailed last week for the Nov. 3 election, about 9,000 ballots had been returned as undeliverable. To cut down on voting fraud, the Postal Service is forbidden by law to forward ballots
http://www.gazette.com/articles/ballot-64099-clerk-contact.html

CT: Al Lenge Named Director of State Elections Enforcement Commission
October 21, 2009
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?p=2474

IN: Funding for new voting machines approved
21, 2009 The Harrison County Council Tuesday, Oct. 13, unanimously approved new voting equipment for the county.
The machines, produced by Hart Intercivic based in Lexington, Ky., and Harp Interprises, were purchased for a reduced price of $227,250 because they were used for one election cycle in Hawaii.
…
New voting machines became an issue after Election Systems & Software, the company which provided upkeep for the county’s 40 Optech Eagle machines, said technical support no longer will be available for the machines.
http://www.corydondemocrat.com/Articles-i-2009-10-20-212291.114125_Funding_for_new_voting_machines_approved.html#

IN: Rokita rolls out redistricting proposal
Secretary of State Todd Rokita today urged lawmakers to change how Indiana draws legislative and congressional districts.

But he backed off an earlier recommendation that they make it a felony to consider political data, including the addresses of incumbents and the voting history of constituents
http://www.indystar.com/article/20091020/NEWS05/910200367/
Rokita+rolls+out+redistricting+proposal
or use this tiny url http://tinyurl.com/yjqx9gh

IN: Ind. Decisions – Petitions to transfer filed in the Indiana voter ID case
Briefs have now been filed re the Court of Appeals decision in League of Women Voters v.

The Voting News Daily: Sequoia e-voting code out, Vote flipping in Tennessee, Will Afghan voters turnout for do-over?

Aspen Colorado citizen wins effort to stop destruction of May 5 ballots…New Jersey’s anti-exit polling law…Election Defense Alliance has election databases from Riverside County that Sequoia insisted on “redacting” first, Sequoia Voting Systems inadvertently released the SQL code for its voting databases…Wow! Diebold (OSX) scanners are picky about ink colors on ballots…”The next question is whether these machines can actually count.” ~ Voting Matters Blog…Touch Screen Vote flipping in Franklin Tennessee…Breaking: Supreme Court Reverses Ninth Circuit, Reimposes Stay in Washington Referendum Signer Case…Afghan Leader Said to Accept Runoff After Election Audit, Do-over? “Neither Karzai nor Abdullah are worth the lives of our children.” ~ Sadruddin Khan, a tribal elder in Kandahar.. Oh goodie Nigeria wants e-voting…

AZ: City of Prescott appeals election ruling
…Claiming “irreparable harm,” the city filed a request this morning for a stay of the ruling that Yavapai County Superior Court Judge Michael Bluff issued this past Thursday, prohibiting the city from continuing with its November general election.

…The case centers on the city’s decision in September not to place City Council candidate Paul Katan’s name on the general election ballot. Katan, the seventh-place finisher in the Sept. 1 city primary, maintained that he should have moved up and onto the ballot after fifth-place finisher Bob Bell withdrew from the race in mid-September.
http://www.dcourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&subsectionID=1&articleID=73637

CA: E-Voting Code to Receive ‘First-Ever’ Public Scrutiny Following Public Records Request Sequoia’s ‘proprietary’ source code now available on the Internet
ALSO: Company yet to come clean to federal investigators, election officials, public about Chavez-tied Venezuelan firm’s ownership of vote machine Intellectual Property…
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7477

CA: The Election Defense Alliance filed a public records request under California law for a copy of the final election databases from recent elections in Riverside County California. Riverside coughed them up, after sending them first to Sequoia for “redaction of trade secrets” and forcing EDA to pay a substantial amount for this “service.”

As near as we can tell, instead of stripping out proprietary stuff of any sort, Sequoia simply committed vandalism:
http://studysequoia.wikispaces.com/

CO: Ballots will be kept past Nov. deadline
Saturday, October 17, 2009
A judge has issued an order requiring the city of Aspen to keep ballots from the May election past the November date when they otherwise would have been destroyed.

The ruling, issued Friday by District Court Judge James B. Boyd, granted a preliminary injunction sought by Marilyn Marks in her lawsuit against the city, which has the ultimate goal of forcing the city to release the ballots.
http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/137091

GA: Ballot confusion: Candidates, issues, polling places vary in Nov. 3 voting
The Nov. 3 Douglas County election presents a variety of candidates and issues, and the ballots that voters receive depend upon their city or county locations.

This may cause confusion for some voters, Laurie Fulton, county election supervisor, confirmed Friday.

“Voters in city precincts must request both city and county ballots,” Fulton said. “Signs are posted at these locations showing the two separate voting places.”
http://www.times-georgian.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Ballot+confusion-+Candidates-+issues-+polling+places+vary+in+Nov-+3+voting%20&id=4038469-Ballot+confusion-+Candidates-+issues-+polling+places+vary+in+Nov-+3+voting&instance=west_ga_news

MN: Not-so-instant runoff voting
Results of the first IRV city election may not be in for weeks.

The Voting News Daily: Calls for Open Source voting systems, Diebold OSX WARNING, Afghanistan election disaster

SOS project call on Sen Schumer for Open Source voting machines… Pre-Election Diebold Op-Scan Failure in FL; ‘Reform’ or Legislative Obscenity? – WARNING on Diebold OSX optical scanner…California considers how to regulate electronic campaigning…DOJ spikes Georgia voter voter registration matching/citizenship checks again…Washington State OP: “Ballot secrecy is being eroded.”…Afghanistan: anatomy of an election disaster…Estonia automatically registers voters at 18 but also issues national ID, the latter controversial in the US…India goes to polls and 18 killed in violence, candidate alleges that e-voting machines were rigged…

All of that and more in today’s Voting News below…

CA: State watchdogs consider regulating campaigns’ electronic messages
October 19, 2009 Between tweeting, YouTube videos and text messaging, the age of the Internet means political candidates now rely on more than snail mail to reach voters, and California’s ethics watchdog agency is responding to the changing times.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/10/state-watchdogs-consider-regulating-campaigns-electronic-messages.html

CT: The Day: New London has problem with math
October 19, 2009 New London has problem with math…Actually it is more a problem of complexity and communications:
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?p=2468

D.C: Voting Plan Could Be Attached To Defense Bill

WASHINGTON (AP) A plan to give D.C. residents a voting member of Congress could be attached to a defense funding bill.
http://wjz.com/local/DC.voting.plan.2.1253234.html

FL: Pre-Election Diebold Op-Scan Failure in FL; ‘Reform’ or Legislative Obsenity?…
Diebold’s Optical-Scan System FAILS in Sarasota, FL
County election director Kathy Dent’s ‘solution’ as bad or worse than the actual problem…as usual…
…
Today, it’s our old friends in Sarasota, under the continuing and now-legendarily failed direction of Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent and her latest failed voting system, this one an optical-scan system made by Diebold, featured in the Charlotte Sun’s “Scanning glitch in vote machine test”:
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7472

FL: Scanning glitch in vote machine test * Premier’s OSX can’t read blue ink (Premier Release 1.20.2, Version 1 Gems 1.20.2 Accuvote OSX)
http://www.sunnewspapers.net/articles/pnnews.aspx?NewsID=70156&a=newsarchive3/101709/vn1.htm&pnpg=0

FL: Sarasota’s Diebold scanners flunk test, fail to read blue ink on ballots *
Saturday, October 17, 2009 VOTING NEWS BLOG
WARNING: Voters in jurisdictions that use the newer Diebold/Premier optical scanners OSX with 1.0.2 firmware should use black ink to mark their ballots. The machines may not read markings made with blue ink. The OSC also has trouble reading markings by a number 2 pencil according to other reports. This is an intermittent problem.
http://votingnews.blogspot.com/2009/10/sarasotas-diebold-scanners-flunk-test.html

GA: Voting Checks Rejected Again
ATLANTA — The U.S. Department of Justice has rejected Georgia’s voter verification process for the second time. Last May, the DOJ ruled the process has “a discriminatory effect” on minority voters.
http://www.gpb.org/news/2009/10/16/ga-voting-checks-rejected-again

GA: DOJ spikes Ga. voter citizenship checks again
ATLANTA — The U.S. Department of Justice has for the second time rejected Georgia’s system of using Social Security numbers and driver’s license data to check whether prospective voters are citizens.
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/ga/story/875653.html

IN: State voter ID law could go before Supreme Court
October 16, 2009 A The question of whether Indiana can require voters to show government-issued ID could be headed to the state Supreme Court.

State Attorney General Greg Zoeller filed a petition to bring it before the high court Friday, after the Indiana Court of Appeals declared the state’s voter ID law unconstitutional last month.

The Voting News Daily: Sarasota’s Diebold scanners flunk test, fail to read blue ink on ballots

WARNING: Voters in jurisdictions that use the newer Diebold/Premier optical scanners OSX with 1.0.2 firmware should use black ink to mark their ballots. The machines may not read markings made with blue ink. The OSX also has trouble reading markings by a number 2 pencil according to other reports. This is an intermittent problem.

In the logic and accuracy testing of Premier Optical Scanners, which will be used in Sarasota elections beginning October 19th, test ballots were run with blue marking of ovals. The result was an under vote in races where blue ink was used to fully fill out voting ovals. The machine tested was the Diebold/Premier AccuVote OSX Digital Scan Tabulator (Hardware Model A) with Firmware 1.0.2 .

Scanning glitch in vote machine test Saturday, October 17, 2009
A voting machine test this week didn’t go off without a hitch.

A handful of individuals were on hand this week at the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections office where Supervisor Kathy Dent and staff tested 16 ballot scanners that will be used in the Nov. 3 city council election.

In one test a ballot with both blue and black ink was unable to be scanned. Officials pulled that scanner from service and substituted another. It didn’t work either.
…
“One big factor is this is an intermittent problem,” Parish said. “Until the defect in the pickup of votes is discovered and fixed and then tested to stress levels, you will not have a solution. To do that the state needs to go after the problem and get it fixed.”

According to the SOS website, the machine tested, is the AccuVote OSX Digital Scan Tabulator (Hardware Model A) with Firmware 1.0.2 (WCER7-500.3.1, BLR7-1.3.9)

The following counties are listed by the FL SOS website as having the Premier AccuVote OSX model optical scan machine :

HILLSBOROUGH*, LEON, LEVY, MADISON, MONROE, OKALOOSA (some), OKEECHOBEE, OSCEOLA, PUTNAM, SARASOTA*, SEMINOLE, TAYLOR,VOLUSIA, AND WALTON. Only Hillsborough and Sarasota use the Premier/Diebold OSX exclusively for in person and absentee.

Another snafu in the making? Sarasota Florida is challenged once again with a flawed system under the leadership of Election Supervisor Kathy Dent. This is same Kathy Dent who presided over the Sarasota FL 13 2006 Jennings/Buchanan Race election debacle. Sarasota suffered a shocking 18,000 under votes causing doubt of the election outcome, and resulted in investigations, lawsuits and national embarrassment

The debacle might have been avoidable: Kathy Dent failed to heed the warning letter that the voting vendor sent August 15th. ES&S warned of a problem with the touch-screen smoothing filter that could cause voters to under vote. The letter urged Dent:

“train your poll workers and voters to expect this slightly delayed response time for their highlighted selections. We have included with this mailing a sample voting booth instruction sign for your review and use.”

But Kathy Dent did not put the signs up in polling booths. During that same election, there was a initiative on the ballot to get rid of the paperless touch-screens and replace them with paper ballot based systems.

The Voting News Daily: Florida hogs HAVA $ that counties need, Virginia violated overseas voters rights, Aghanistan runoff?

Interview with Dr. Ulrich Wiesner who won Germany lawsuit claiming E-Voting unconstitutional…Colorado mail elections raise issue of electioneering at the post office…Show us the money, SOS Browning: Florida State earns interest on $67 million in HAVA funds while counties like Bradford and Miami Dade can’t afford new paper ballot systems…Judge Says Virginia Violated Rights of Overseas Voters…Afghans Await Election Fraud Report and there may be a runoff election…Are you checking twitter for election news?…Voting news is light today…Remember you can visit Voting News on the web…Did we miss something? Send to us at ncvoter (at) gmail.com

All of that and more in today’s Voting News below…

CA: (Tweet) smcvote San Mateo County on Twitter: Hopefully you’ve already started following the Elections Office on Twitter at @smcvote.. http://bit.ly/35284A

CO: Mail-in vote blurs the lines
Steamboat Springs, Routt County. Postal Service spokesman: Campaigning at post office illegal Routt County’s first mail-only election is forcing elections and Postal Service officials to take a closer look at election law and oversight
http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2009/oct/16/mail_vote_blurs_lines/

CT: Volunteer 1 Day For Democracy: Sign-Up for the November Post-Election Audits Now!
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?p=2460

FL: Supervisors want extension on new voting machine purchases
October 16, 2009. Bradford Supervisor of Elections Terry Vaughan is joining other elections supervisors in the state by calling for an extension of the deadline to have new voting equipment in place for the disabled.
The requirement grew out of the move to make all ballots paper ballots, which is in itself an outgrowth of the mistrust many have of all-digital voting systems.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20379808&BRD=2150&PAG=461&dept_id=403301&rfi=6

FL. Miami Dade may have to fork over $7 million next year for voting systems
(REPOST)…County commissioners voted Tuesday to urge the Legislature to extend its deadline to 2016 ­ unless the state agrees to pay for the new equipment it’s requiring…commissioners lashed out at the state for not only requiring new equipment without paying for it, but also for holding on to federal money passed to the state years ago to reimburse localities for past equipment switches.
The state still has $67 million “that in our opinion belongs to the counties,” Mr. Sola said.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/electionreform/message/12625 archived (original link requires subscription )

MO: Voting Rights Groups Set Record Straight on Lawsuit Targeted by State Republican Party FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 16, 2009
…Today the voting rights organizations Dēmos, Project Vote, and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law issued the following joint statement in response:

As organizations with a longstanding commitment to protecting the voting rights of all Americans, we are disappointed that the Missouri Republican State Committee has created an ad and website that seek to use the vital issue of voting rights for political gain…
…
Through this lawsuit and the settlement, Missouri is once again becoming a leader in this area after years of neglect by previous administrations, with some 147,000 low-income Missourians joining the democratic process…
http://www.lawyerscommittee.org/newsroom/press_releases?id=0048

NC: Candidates fear voter registration may skew election results
October 16, 2009. There is concern circulating that people who don’t live on Wrightsville Beach are voting on Wrightsville Beach.

The Voting News Daily: FVAP: unsecure means ok for troop vote, Scientists blast approval of faulty voting systems, Citizens assail GA Supreme Court ruling

October 15. Who will stand up for our troops vote? Soldiers to Choose Risking Democracy on Electronic Voting – FVAP says ok for troops send ballots by “unsecure electronic means” as long as its voluntary…CA Computer Scientists Charge U.S. EAC Misused Security Findings from Landmark E-Voting Study…Citizens Assail GA Supreme Court Voting Decision…Applause: NC State Board of Elections asks DOD to become voter registration agency…Guilty pleas in Atlantic City NJ absentee ballot fraud…Clermont County OH says vote by mail or you might get swine flu…Real cause of low turnout: lack of issues, disconnect with voters…
Irony warning: Tennessee SOS Tres Hargett says state can comply with voting machine law by 2010 if court orders him to…Ireland finally planning disposal of its banned e-voting machines…Plenty of internet voting whack-a-mole today…

All of that and more in today’s Voting News below..

AK: Recount scheduled in North Pole mayor race
October 15, 2009 NORTH POLE, Alaska (AP) – North Pole City Clerk Kathy Weber says the city will conduct a recount in the mayor’s race.
…
Jacobson tells the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner that an election worker told him the city’s voting machine malfunctioned on Election Day.
http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=11317627

CA: CA Computer Scientists Charge U.S. EAC Misused Security Findings from Landmark E-Voting Study
In letter to federal Election Assistance Commission, investigators from CA’s unprecedented e-vote review blast the approval of flawed protocols in certification tests for new Diebold e-voting system…
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7470

CA: (Tweet)smcvote Can you increase turnout using emails & texts from a Chief Elections Officer-Drs. Michaelson/CSU East Bay & Malhotra/Stanford will find out.
(No link just go to www.twitter.com type in smcvote)

GA: Citizens Assail GA Supreme Court Voting Decision
October 15, 2009 Press Release
…Plaintiff Mark Sawyer stated: “This decision authorizes the Secretary of State to continue pretending to conduct elections. Not one of the 100+ million actual votes that have been cast on Election Day since 2002 can be audited for correctness of vote recording. No state election official can prove that any election result ever produced by these machines is correct.”
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Citizens-Assail-GA-Supreme-by-Garland-Favorito-091015-216.html

IA: Recount Board Verifies Results of Davenport Third Ward Primary
…The following process was used to recount the votes in each precinct.

Each board member reviewed each ballot and agreed on the candidate for which the ballot was cast. As the board reviewed each ballot the ballots were separated by candidates. After all ballots had been reviewed for a particular precinct each board member hand counted the results. Each board member then publically stated the vote total for each candidate.
http://scottcountyauditor.wordpress.com/2009/10/15/recount-board-verifies-results-of-davenport-third-ward-primary/

MD: Maryland Delegate plans revision to state law allowing felons to vote
October 14 …Once introduced, Impallaria’s bill will require ex-convicts to register with the State Board of Elections as a “restored voting rights felon,” and the felon will only be permitted to vote by absentee ballot.
http://www.examiner.com/x-9913-Maryland-Statehouse-Examiner~y2009m10d14-Maryland-Delegate-plans-revision-to-state-law-allowing-felons-to-vote

MI: Michigan considers e-mailing absentee ballots overseas
House bill would allow U.S. military, others out of the country more time to cast votes
Lansing — Chances of getting their votes counted are so slim for U.S.

The Voting News Daily: Hasta La Vista Transparency, Absentee ballot blues, E-voting spreads in Texas

Schwarzenegger Vetoes Election Integrity Bills…Absentee Ballot Blues: Santa Barbara Mayor warns of lost ballots in Vote-by-Mail election, and 800 Franklin County OH voters told to redo absentee ballot requests… Panel to evaluate Hawaii elections chief’s work…Bo Lipari report on New York’s Voting Machine Pilot Part 1…Paperless voting spreads in Texas…Wisconsin Lawmakers approve plan to study email balloting…High turnout, violence and damaged voting machines at the polls in India… Systest chosen to test Philippines voting source code…

All of that and more in today’s Voting News below…

CA: Schwarzenegger Vetoes Election Integrity Bills.
CA SoS Bowen ‘laments’ rejection of ‘common-sense election bills aimed at enhancing government transparency’ So do we. Please help demand Bowen now take corrective action on her own.
…
According to a press release from CA Sec. of State Debra Bowen [PDF] today, CA Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed one bill for improvement to state election law, while using his veto pen to terminate three other “common-sense elections bills … aimed at enhancing government transparency.”
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7465#more-7465

CA: New law allows emergency crews to vote where they are serving
October 13, 2009. Public safety workers will be able to vote wherever they are serving in a government-declared emergency. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently signed AB 1440, closing out the 30-day session.
http://tinyurl.com/ca-absentee

CA: Santa Barbara, Mayor Warns of Lost Ballots in Vote-by-Mail Election*
Tangled Up In Ads Oct 13. …Ballots have been sent out for the city’s first vote-by-mail election, but some ballots destined for apartment complexes may have been misplaced, resulting in their being delivered to wrong addresses, or tossed as junk mail, or both.
http://www.independent.com/news/2009/oct/13/mayor-warns-lost-ballots-vote–mail-election/

HI: County officials blast state elections chief
Oct 13, 2009. Four county clerks that help implement statewide elections are criticizing state elections chief Kevin Cronin. The clerks of Honolulu, Maui, Kauai and Hawaii counties testified before the state Elections Commission today. They said Cronin is not collaborating with them enough. They warned that could impede the smooth conduct of two major elections next year.
http://www.starbulletin.com/news/breaking/64159307.html

HI: Panel meets to get a grip on elections
Oct 13, 2009 With less than a year before the primary election, the state Elections Commission will discuss today the troubled preparations for that event and the performance of the state’s chief election officer.
Kevin Cronin, the Elections Office chief, has been under fire from legislators for weeks over his handling of election equipment contracting, his leadership skills and for not providing sufficient information about his agency’s budget woes.
http://www.starbulletin.com/news/20091013_Panel_meets_to_get_a_grip_on_elections.html

KY: Mercer gets 19 new eScan voting machines
October 14, 2009 HARRODSBURG..At its meeting Tuesday the court approved the purchase of 19 new eScan voting machines.
http://www.amnews.com/stories/2009/10/14/loc.530537.sto

MN: Legislature may address proposals for early voting in ’10 session
Oct 14. WILLMAR — With memories of a long Senate recount still lingering, and a lively governor’s race looming, the Legislature is expected to take up a variety of voting issues in the 2010 session.
http://www.wctrib.com/event/article/id/58642/

MN: Times editorial columnist
Oct 13. Ranked-choice voting has appeal, but it’s too complicated
In Pierce County, Charter Amendment 3 seeks to repeal ranked-choice voting, also called instant-runoff voting.

The Voting News Daily: To EAC: Fix problems BEFORE voting systems certified, Tenn. can avert election fiascos, New Jersey Bad Ballot

TTBR Investigators letter to EAC – fix vulnerabilities before systems are certified and sold…More Media complaining about a low turnout elections but as usual forget their own part in stoking voter interest….Minneapolis election could take 8 weeks to count…Recount Confirms Voting Machines’ Tally In Pott County Nebraska…Instant Run-Off Voting Debate Returns in Burlington.. Common Cause TN op-eds supporting paper ballots for 2010: “the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act must, and can be, implemented for the 2010 election…The strongest argument for adoption was that paperless systems are subject to unintended errors and possible hacking and that votes might not be recorded as intended by the voter.”
The news is brief today, we’ll have a big day tomorrow….

All of that and more in today’s Voting News below…

CA TTBR Investigators Send Letter to the EAC
Today we sent a letter to the Election Assistance Commission signed by a number of the investigators involved in the California Secretary of State’s Top-to-Bottom Review of voting systems.
The letter points out that the EAC, and a lab that performs certification testing of voting systems, disregarded technical information about voting system security from state-level evaluations of a particular voting system
http://josephhall.org/nqb2/index.php/2009/10/13/ttbreacletter
“The EAC should use its VSTL oversight to require test labs to conduct thorough evaluations of voting system vulnerabilities during conformance testing, so that vendors will fix vulnerabilities before systems are certified and sold.”
http://accurate-voting.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/ttbr-letter-eac-200910.pdf

CT. How Much Are Election Officials Paid In Norwalk?
October 13, 2009 Part-time workers hired by registrar may get pay hike
The argument for a raise seem to make sense:
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?p=2445

FL. Election costs thousands; hundreds elect Thrasher
Taxpayers spent thousands so hundreds of voters could choose a new state senator for a district that includes Amelia Island
http://www.fbnewsleader.com/articles/2009/10/12/news/00newselectioncosts.txt

GA. ACLU Urges Department Of Justice To Object To Changes In County Board Elections In Georgia (10/13/2009)
The proposed changes would alter the boundaries of two commissioner districts, reducing their minority populations, and implement an at-large election system for the chair of the board. Currently, the chair is elected by the commissioners who represent individual districts.
http://www.aclu.org/votingrights/minority/41278prs20091013.html

MN. Not again? Minneapolis says city election next month could take 8 weeks to count
Oct 12 2009 As if we haven’t suffered enough with delayed election counts, Minneapolis officials now say it could take up to eight weeks to determine the winners in next month’s city election.
http://www.minnpost.com/politicalagenda/2009/10/12/12382/
not_again_minneapolis_says_city_election_next_month_
could_take_8_weeks_to_count or use this tiny url
http://tinyurl.com/mn-irv-slow

MN. How will Instant Runoff Voting work? (+ podcast)
Broadcast: Midday, 10/12/2009. MIDDAY offers a primer on what’s also called Ranked Choice Voting, which will be used in the Minneapolis general election in November. St. Paul voters will decide if they want to employ IRV in future elections.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/10/12/midday1/?refid=0

NE. Recount Confirms Voting Machines’ Tally In Pott. County
Recount Confirms Machines’ Tally; Bates Ousted (+ podcast) Recount Requested By Ousted City Councilman Darren Bates A recount of primary election ballots in Council Bluffs has found no changes, upholding the removal of Darren Bates from the city council…Not a single vote changed, said election officials.

The Voting News Daily: Internet Voting Pilot in Washington, More HAVA audit shocks, Tennessee nears paper ballot finish line

Larimer County Colorado voting by mail in Nov…Colorado allows all mail elections in odd years…Fulton County GA Elections backroom debacle –

“There is no practical way to know how many Fulton County voters,who requested absentee ballots, ultimately did not vote,” Attorney Norman Underwood …

Audit questions thousands spent by the Palm Beach County elections office…Lawsuit filed for Aspen Colorado’s May ballots…5,000 absentee ballot applications rejected in Cuyahoga Co Ohio…Tennessee officials preparing for voting machine transition!…Internet voting pilot in Franklin Co Washington:

“Lenhart hopes the project will show lawmakers that online voting is the wave of the future, and that they’ll change the law that requires paper ballots.”

A Call to Protect Indian Voting Rights…How the Afghan Election Was Rigged…Big thanks to readers who sent in news clippings…

All this and more below…

CO. Aspen’s Marks sues for release of city’s May ballots
…Marks filed a lawsuit Thursday, against Aspen City Clerk Kathryn Koch, asking a judge to order the city show cause for its reason to withhold photographic ballot images from the election. If the city can’t show cause, Marks’ complaint demands that she be allowed to inspect the ballot images.
also seeks a temporary restraining order and injunctive relief to stop the city from destroying records from the election. Her suit claims the city plans to destroy the records no later than Nov. 5 — exactly six months after the May 5 contest.
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20091010/NEWS/910109997/1077&ParentProfile=1058

CO. Referendum 2A — Aspen Instant Runoff Voting
Aspen voters will vote this fall on how they’d like to vote in the future.
…the Aspen City Council this past summer agreed to put an advisory question on the November ballot that asks residents whether IRV should be scrapped or kept in place.
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20091011/ASPENWEEKLY/910099985/1077&ParentProfile=1058

CO. Ballots to hit mail this week
Larimer County. CO mail-in election
Doyle said voters should be careful to sign the backs of their ballot envelopes before returning them. They also should make sure to put the proper amount of postage on the return envelope.
“Elections by mail also have proved to be a boon for the U.S. Postal Service, spokesman Al DeSarro said.”
http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20091012/LOVELAND01/91012005

CO. Weld County, CO moves to all mail-in election (first time since early 90s) For the first time since the early 1990s, Weld County will conduct an election exclusively by mail beginning when ballots are sent out this week.
State law allows counties to conduct odd-year elections exclusively through the mail, Weld County Clerk and Recorder Steve Moreno said…
“All eligible voters in the database will receive a ballot,”
http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20091012/NEWS/910089980/1008/NONE&parentprofile=1001

CT. Connecticut Legislative Hearing on Changes to Public Funding Law
October 12th, 2009. On October 22, Thursday, the Connecticut legislature will hold an informational hearing on to discuss whether the public funding law should be amended, to eliminate or reduce the parts of the law that discriminate against minor party and independent candidates.
http://www.ballot-access.org/2009/10/12/connecticut-legislative-hearing-on-changes-to-public-funding-law/

FL. Audit questions thousands spent by the Palm Beach County elections office in ’07-’08. * October 10, 2009. WEST PALM BEACH — As Palm Beach County’s top elections official, Arthur Anderson spent big: $40,450 for children’s books, $10,000 for a Haitian cultural festival, $3,697 for jar openers bearing his name and thousands more for computer equipment that has never been found.

The Voting News Daily: Senate panel to review Diebold sale,Florida’s $67 Mill HAVA hoard, Federal Bills moving along

The Senate Rules and Administration Committee will examine Diebold sale…California Top-2 ballot measure would shrink ballot access…Corporate ‘personhood’ must be challenged in Citizens United v FEC…Recount in West Haven CT ends lawsuit…Florida withholding $67 million 2002 HAVA funds from counties…Federal Bill to help military vote goes to conference…H.R.1719 the Voter Registration Modernization Act of 2009 to get hearing…Shouldn’t all this talk about a voting machine monopoly also include investigation into issue of election transparency? Re-post of Minneapolis MN city report on IRV counting process because of bad link yesterday.

All this and more below:

CA. California 2010 “Top-Two” Proposal Is More Restrictive for Voters than the California 2004 “Top-Two” Initiative
October 7th, 2009 In June 2010, Californians will be voting for the second time on the “top-two” election system…A detailed look at the 2010 ballot measure shows that it is significantly less respectful of voter rights than the 2004 California proposal had been…If this passes, California would be one of only 7 states in which no voter could cast a write-in vote for Congress or state office in a November election, and have that write-in counted…The termination of write-in voting is especially disappointing, given that three times, Californians have elected someone to Congress by write-in votes at the general election, in 1930, 1946, and 1982…if it becomes law, the only way a party will be able to remain on the ballot will be to have registration above 1% of the last gubernatorial vote.
http://www.ballot-access.org/2009/10/07/california-2010-top-two-proposal-is-more-restrictive-for-voters-than-the-california-2004-top-two-initiative/

CA. Monterey County ballots may arrive before booklets
http://www.thecalifornian.com/article/20091008/NEWS01/910080318/1002/NEWS01/Monterey-County-ballots-may-arrive-before-booklets

CT. Lawsuit targeting 2 West Haven officials in election recount is withdrawn
October 7, 2009… WEST HAVEN — A Superior Court lawsuit filed against two city election officials alleging mishandling of last month’s recount was withdrawn Tuesday.
The suit was filed by Democrat Stacy Riccio after a recount in the 4th District ended with her opponent, Steve Wydra, remaining victorious.
http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2009/10/07/news/metro/b1-whlawsuit.txt

FL. Miami Dade may have to fork over $7 million next year for voting systems
…County commissioners voted Tuesday to urge the Legislature to extend its deadline to 2016 ­ unless the state agrees to pay for the new equipment it’s requiring…commissioners lashed out at the state for not only requiring new equipment without paying for it, but also for holding on to federal money passed to the state years ago to reimburse localities for past equipment switches.
The state still has $67 million “that in our opinion belongs to the counties,” Mr. Sola said.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/electionreform/message/12625 archived (original link requires subscription )

IA. Bates Claims Flaw In Voting Machines, Demands Recount
Omaha Company Touts Accuracy Of Machines
October 9, 2009 COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — Ousted Council Bluffs City Councilman Darren Bates has called for a recount, citing a lack of confidence in the systems electronic voting machines.
Bates claimed the system used to count Tuesday’s primary election ballots is flawed.
…The voting machines come from Omaha-based Electronic Systems and Software.The recount will take place Monday in the Pottawattamie County Courthouse.
Porter and Bates will each have a representative present at the recount, along with an independent person.

The Voting News Daily: Maryland paper ballots on track, saving the Military vote, Open Source Momentum

U.S. House Passes Military and Overseas Voter Act…Verified Voting comments on voting system guidelines…Disenfranchised prisoners used to gerrymander districts… Maryland’s new voting machines on track…Post election audits proposed for Massachusetts…Minneapolis explains ranked choice voting process…New York’s 23rd Absentee ballots missing Congress candidates..Voting glitch in Franklin Co Tenn…Courts best resort for Tennessee paper ballot law?….Should Judicial Elections Be Abolished?…Verified Voting Oct 09 Newsletter…

AL. Defeated primary candidate claims election fraud
October 08, 2009 MONTGOMERY — A candidate for the state House of Representatives who lost a primary election last month by margin of 80 percent to 20 percent has asked officials to investigate what he contends was a conspiracy to steal the election.
Ozelle Hubert sent letters alleging election fraud to everyone from Clarke County’s probate judge to the president of the United States.
http://www.al.com/news/press-register/metro.ssf?/base/news/1254993347186020.xml&coll=3

CA. Pelosi Adds Voice to Open Source Voting Systems Momentum
“Everywhere I go, no matter what else people have to say, they ultimately ask one question: ‘Why should we work our hearts out if the fix is already in?’” Pelosi said during a keynote speech at a fundraiser last week held to benefit Open Voting Consortium (OVC). “When we look at the elections and look at how close everything is, you know that there’s something happening in that machine that we need to know about.”…momentum is now building to replace proprietary systems with open source systems. Los Angeles County is OVC’s most promising prospect and is considering using OVC’s system by 2012, he said.
http://www.fogcityjournal.com/wordpress/2009/10/07/pelosi-adds-voice-to-open-source-voting-systems-momentum/
http://www.openvoting.org/our_solution

CA. Mistake delays mailing of county’s absentee ballots *
Posted: 10/08/2009 A mistake in the Humboldt County Elections Office has officials scurrying to re-send some of the county’s sample ballots and to get absentee ballots in the mail in advance of the Nov. 3 election… Crnich said elections staff made the mistake of only listing candidates for the Eureka City Schools board race on sample and absentee ballots for voters in the city’s 1st Ward, when the board members are actually elected at large. ”We’re working with a brand new voter registration and elections management systems, and a brand new voting system, and we just built that one portion of the data base incorrectly,” Crnich said.
Crnich said her office will be sending Eureka voters new, clearly marked sample ballots on colored paper so they stand out.
http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_13512841

IA. The Prison Town Advantage
Inmates who can’t vote nevertheless add to the power of the politicians who don’t represent them.
October 08, 2009 …in Young’s Ward 2, fewer than 100 of those residents were eligible to run for the Council seat, or even to vote. That’s because the ward is dominated by Anamosa State Penitentiary, a maximum-security prison where about 1,300 men are incarcerated…They are, however, counted by the U.S. Census Bureau for data used to draw congressional, state and municipal legislative districts…Counting disenfranchised prisoners to draw up legislative districts “makes no sense,” Wagner said, “and is actually offensive to our notion of democracy.”
It also bears, in the words of Boston-based voting rights attorney Brenda Wright, an “uncomfortable resemblance” to the “three-fifths” compromise between Southern and Northern states written into the U.S.

The Voting News Daily: WA’s voter reg system crash, E-voting not safe says hacker, Hursti wins award

Famous cyber expert Rop Gonggrijp says: “electronic voting does not work.” …..E-Voting Investigator Harri Hursti wins Pioneer Award from EFF…Albuquerque Muni Election -confusion and accessible equipment broken and not set up…Early voting increases campaign costs… Florida spends $700K on single candidate contest…Hamilton County OH suspects absentee ballot fraud… New Jersey’s unfair ballot design discriminates…Allen County TX studying vote centers, cutting polling places… Washington’s online voter registration system crashes…Welfare reform/voter registration myths debunked…

All of that and more in today’s Voting News below…

CA. Voting Systems Announcements from the California Secretary of State
Sequoia WinEDS v. 3.1.012 Revised Conditional Reapproval_
(http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/VotingSystemsAnnouncements/~3/aXXg4n_z-z4/sequoia_100109.pdf)
Posted: 06 Oct 2009 04:59 PM PDT
The Sequoia WinEDS v. 3.1.012 Conditional Reapproval has been revised. To
view the changes that were made, a redlined version is available at
(http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/voting_systems/ttbr/sequoia_redline-100109.pdf) .

CO. Voting Equipment Certification Rules (audio)
The state is updating how it certifies voting machine equipment in preparation for future elections. The secretary of state’s office held an initial meeting on Friday to go over the details, another public hearing is scheduled for later this month. Bente Birkeland reports from Denver.
http://krccnews.org/rccnews/voting-equipment-certificaiton-rules/2009/10/05/7111

CT. A Candidate’s View – Early Voting, Vote-By-Mail
October 6, 2009 …a candidate’s view from FL, where early voting has changed the campaign calendar, increased cost, and perhaps reduced voter knowledge along with costing some voters their votes
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?p=2433

FL. Florida Spends $700,000 on a Special Election with One Candidate on the Ballot
October 6th, 2009 …The cause of so many one-candidate elections is that Florida filing fees are so large
http://www.ballot-access.org/2009/10/06/florida-spends-700000-on-a-special-election-with-one-candidate-on-the-ballot/

MA. State eyes allowing teenagers voting rights
Oct 07, 2009 “At the Election Laws hearing, municipal clerks from Sherborn and North Andover urged lawmakers to form a task force to advise them on changes to election laws, arguing that the people charged with implementing the laws should have a more prominent role in shaping legislation.”
http://www.wickedlocal.com/belmont/news/x576542902/State-eyes-allowing-teenagers-voting-rights

NC.Chatham ponders moving town elections to November
October 7, 2009 Chatham Town Council will hold a public hearing Tuesday, Oct. 13, on changing the town’s charter to hold elections in November.
..Chatham elects its mayor and town council members every two years in May.
…Moving elections to November is expected to save the town $2,000 to $5,000.
According to Pittsylvania County Registrar Jenny Lee Sanders, the state is cutting expenses and passing election costs on to localities.
Beginning in 2010, localities will be responsible for the cost of paper poll books and other election expenses, she said.
http://www.wpcva.com/articles/2009/10/07/chatham/news/news56.txt

NC. What was your Voting Experience 09?
Oct 6. http://www.newraleigh.com/articles/archive/your-voting-experience/

NJ. Daggett gets little help from ballot position *
After his spirited performance in last Thursday’s debate, independent candidate for governor Chris Daggett has seen the number people Googling him increase by 40 times over last year.
…His obstacle: New Jersey laws reserving the top two spots on any ballot for the two major-party candidates. Last month, Daggett – along with Libertarian Party candidate Kenneth Kaplan – took the step of filing suit against the practice.
The suit argued the system was unconstitutional because it gives an unfair advantage to those backed by major parties.

The Voting News Daily: Public Option in voting? Iowa HAVA $ audited, ACORN rules for Corp Cheats

What do voting machines, laser speed guns, and parking meters have in common?…Voter machine monopoly promotes election fraud…Is Ken Blackwell ignoring the facts about voter registration?…”In Citizens United v. F.E.C., the court could wipe out a longstanding ban on corporate spending on federal elections, which would allow big business to swamp democracy.” ~ NY Times OP…Connecticut election audits fall short… Economy v Elections: Lake County IL cuts polling places to pay for new vote-by-mail program…Delaware Co. NY cuts polling places to offset voting machine cost. EAC audit of Iowa’s HAVA costs trigger investigation….Senate right to apply ACORN standard to defense contractors. Voter Action says we need a public option for voting systems…

All of that and more in today’s Voting News below…

CA. Vote By Mail Election Underway in Santa Barbara
Process Could Save the City $50-thousand dollars
A vote by mail election has begin in Santa Barbara. The city says it will save an estimated $50-thousand dollars. Ballots began arriving today. They must be received by 8 p.m. on November 3rd…The ballots come with a prepaid envelope. Voters must sign the envelope and the signature has to match the one on file in the elections office
http://www.keyt.com/news/local/63567782.html

CT. Greenwich Registrar and Deputy Secretary Mara Discuss Today’s Audit
October 2, 2009 …We would prefer audits that were intended to do more than just check the machines, that they also were intend to verify the election results as well…Not every count has gone well in the past. As the Coalition Report of the November 2008 Audit stated:…the November post-election audits still do not inspire confidence…Among our greatest concerns are the discrepancies between machine counts and hand-counts reported to the Secretary of the State by several municipalities
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?p=2426

HI. What do voting machines, laser speed guns, and parking meters have in common?
Oct 5. Answer: You can’t be sure they are properly calibrated.
…I can only guess, but the laser speed guns may seldom, if ever, be tested at all. If that’s the case, then the city will have learned a valuable lesson as speeding cases are thrown out…For voting machines in Hawaii there is an administrative rule covering testing, and it applies to all computers used for elections:
…Anyone wanna bet on whether every computer is tested? I’ve been told that only a sample are tested, but I don’t have the last word on this…If any poll people know the answer to the voting machine question, though, I’d be curious to have your comments. I’d ask Kevin Cronin, the Chief Elections Officer, but he has enough headaches these days without a new challenge to deal with.
http://disappearednews.com/2009/10/what-do-voting-machines-laser-speed.html

IA. Feds question Culver’s voting promotion costs *
A federal audit of the Iowa secretary of state’s office has found questionable spending totaling $2.5 million of roughly $30 million that the state’s elections division received from the federal government while Gov. Chet Culver was secretary of state.
In particular, auditors questioned more than $1.2 million in spending related to a 2005 promotion to celebrate voting and milestones of voting rights.

The Voting News Daily: New York Military ballots at risk, Tenn. voting issue drags on, ES&S-Diebold monopoly game cont’d

Kenneth Blackwell of Ohio 04 fame wants a BIG overhaul of US.voter registration. system..Early voting makes candidates work harder, spend more in ST.Petersburg FL… NY voting system tests, Final day finds bug.. New York’s military votes at risk but help available from Overseas Vote Foundation. Tennessee courts may trump lawmakers in Tennessee voting machine decision. Texas Vote Centers a “model for the future” or “model for risk”? Russian media cites US’ voting machine monopoly.. Corporations are not people – are they? Supreme Court Decision in Citizens United v FEC may give corporations more say in elections.

All of that and more in today’s Voting News below…

FL. Early voting reshapes campaigning in St. Petersburg elections
October 4. The growing numbers of people voting by mail has changed the strategies and timing of campaigns for mayor and City Council in St. Petersburg. More than half of the 37,360 ballots cast in the Sept. 1 primary were done by mail ballot.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/early-voting-reshapes-campaigning-in-st-petersburg-elections/1040813

NY. Report on the final day of New York State voting machine testing now posted *
at http://www.bolipari.com/boblog, including notes on a DS200 EMS user interface bug that turned up…Here a problem popped up on the DS200 EMS, which refused to import the election data from the scanner cards. This took some time to figure out, but eventually some careful troubleshooting revealed that the problem was that the order of the candidate names in the EMS database was not set up correctly.
http://www.bolipari.com/boblog/2009/10/day-5-of-nys-voting-machine-tests/

NY. Overseas Vote Foundation tweet:
Voters from NY-23: ballot time line will be tight. Story today Syracuse.com: http://ow.ly/sBEc – Use Fed Write-in Ballot http://ow.ly/sBED

NY. Military ballots at risk in New York’s special election
October 04, 2009
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/10/military_ballots_at_risk_in_ne.html

NY. Update: Absentee ballots running late for 23rd Congressional District *
October 02, 2009 FORT DRUM, N.Y. (AP) — Military and election officials insist that hundreds of deployed Fort Drum soldiers will have enough time to return their absentee ballots in next month’s special election in New York’s 23rd Congressional District, even though they won’t be mailed out for another two weeks…For this election, county boards will accept ballots until Nov. 16, although they still must be postmarked by Nov. 2, elections officials said.
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/10/update_absentee_ballots_runnin.html

TN. Election issue heats up
Time of the essence in resolving voting machine dispute
NASHVILLE – A dispute over the voting machines Tennesseans will use in the 2010 elections moved from the Legislature into the partisan political arena during the summer and is now the subject of a lawsuit that brings the court system into play as well.
The convoluted situation raises the possibility of creating confusion in the election system during an election year unless the courts or the Legislature can resolve it in reasonably short order.
Resolution of the dispute – at least outside the political arena – could also boil down to whether a court ruling comes before legislative action
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/oct/05/election-issue-heats-up/

TX. Countywide ‘vote centers’ could be election model for the future
Collin County will participate in a pilot program in November that could become the model for Texas elections.

The Voting News Daily: Hawaii election chief postpones problems,Diebold ES&S a “worst case scenario”, Georgians need paper ballots

John Oxendine, GOP rival of Georgia SOS Karen Handel did not like the Georgia Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the use of the paperless voting machines. Oxendine’s reaction: ”With all due respect and appreciation for the Supreme Court of Georgia, I am deeply disappointed in the decision today to reject the challenge to touch-screen electronic voting machines.….[M]any Georgians will suggest, and I agree, that the 2000 presidential election demonstrates the exact need for a back-up paper system to establish the integrity of the voting process.”

SPLOST? Then vote twice. Fayette County, GA is warning voters that they need to vote in two different polling places to cast votes in both the muni elections and county referendum this November.

Hawaii’s troubled election chief has issued an addendum to the state’s RFP for voting machines. The addendum seems to keep the RFP alive with the objectionable language intact, with postponed deadlines.
Allen County, Indiana considers feasibility of cutting 2/3 of polling places for Vote Centers. The move would also increase dependency on technology.

A losing candidate for Amesbury, MA mayoral race filed election complaint about the results but neglected to request a manual recount.
I-Report: Bo Lipari reports on Day 4 of New York voting system testing.

The Diebold ES&S merger: “Election reformers in and out of government have for years advocated for full public control of elections and strict transparency as the only way to run legitimate elections. This new merger is perhaps a worst-case scenario, giving one company control of much of the nation’s election infrastructure.” ~ Progressive States.

GA. Your morning jolt: Al Gore’s champion in Republican ranks
September 29, 2009 Within hours of a Georgia Supreme Court decision upholding the use of touch-screen voting machines, Secretary of State Karen Handel celebrated with a press release. “Georgia has the most secure elections in the nation due to our four levels of security testing on touch-screen voting machines,” crowed the Republican candidate for governor. But if Handel is fer it, then GOP rival John Oxendine must be agin it.
http://blogs.ajc.com/political-insider-jim-galloway/2009/09/29/your-morning-jolt-al-gores-champion-in-republican-ranks/?cxntfid=blogs_political_insider_jim_galloway

GA. County to warn 9,000 voters of precinct two-step for SPLOST *
Tue, 09/29/2009 – More than 9,000 Fayette voters will be forced to travel to two different voting precincts in November, at least if they want to vote in their municipal election and also on the countywide SPLOST referendum.
But those voters will get a postcard notice in the mail from the county’s elections department notifying them of the issue. Some on the Fayette County Commission initially balked at the idea several weeks ago because the postcards could be construed as “promoting the SPLOST,” a violation of Georgia law.
http://www.thecitizen.com/~citizen0/node/39663

HI. Office of elections takes baby step to appease the judge
Hawaii’s Office of Elections has finally responded to Judge Joseph Cardoza’s order handed down orally in May. An addendum was added to the RFP for voting machines, posted on the Office of Elections website, and emailed to all legislators today:
http://disappearednews.com/2009/10/office-of-elections-takes-baby-step-to.html

IN. Feasibility Of Vote Centers To Be Studied In Allen County
Oct 1.

The Voting News Daily: Common Cause sues Tennessee SOS over voting machines, ES&S-Diebold anti-trust court date, internet whack-a-mole cont’d

Common Cause Tennessee filed a suit today to compel the State of Tennessee to comply with the paper ballot law. “Tennessee voters deserve a voting system that they know will accurately record and count their votes” said Dick Williams, Chair of Common Cause Tennessee. “That is why the legislature passed this bill in 2008 and the Governor signed it into law. We are going to court today to see that the will of Tennessee citizens is honored and the law is enforced by 2010.”

Update on ES&S/Diebold monopoly: “Judge Robert Kugler of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey didn’t immediately rule on a request for an injunction that would block the merger of two large voting machine manufacturers, instead setting a hearing for Nov. 12.” ~ Carrie Levine.

The state of Maine will conduct the first ever voter registration drive in a prison. Meanwhile, in Wisconsin, officials will seek to prosecute 195 felons for voting (illegally).

I report: Bo Lipari blogs his observations of New York’s 3rd day of voting system testing.

Good point: “Now, is convenience something that we should be striving for in elections? Yes, but it’s not traded off against integrity but rather against cost and against the rights of others… Integrity involves many items. It should mean only eligible people vote. It should mean that every ballot is counted as intended by the voter. It should mean that the winners of elections actually won.” ~ Mark Sheldon, Champaign County Clerk.

Today’s internet whack-a-mole target is: the city of Vaughn,in the York Region of Ontario, Canada. Internet voting is being recommended by a city task force.

Dominion Voting Systems is the second fastest growing tech company in Canada this year according to an industry ranking

CT. ‘Short and sweet’: Voting results to be audited
Thursday, 01 October 2009. It turns out the town is not quite done with last month’s tax collector primary between Bill Grad and Rick Novakowski.
As part of state law, anytime there is an election, either primary or general, districts from around Connecticut are randomly chosen to have their results audited to make sure that a hand recount matches machine totals from the optical scanning voting machines in use throughout the state.
http://www.acorn-online.com/joomla15/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=37841:short-and-sweet-voting-results-to-be-audited&catid=10:greenwich-local&Itemid=1092

GA. Georgia Supreme Court Rules Unauditable, Unverifiable Elections Are Just Fine
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7445

ME. First In The Nation Prison Voter Drive Held
…Maine and Vermont allow even convicted felons to cast ballots.
Yesterday the NAACP sponsored a voter registration drive throughout Maine’s correctional system. It’s the first of it’s kind in the nation and organizers are hoping it helps prompt change in other state laws
http://www.wcsh6.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=109634&catid=2

MS. Hattiesburg city wards upheld (hat tip to Rick Hasen of ElectionLawBlog ) September 30, 2009 Hattiesburg didn’t hurt minority participation on the city council when it counted university students as city residents while redrawing ward lines, a federal appeals panel ruled Tuesday.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans had been asked to overturn a Mississippi judge’s ruling upholding the city’s decision to include dormitory students in population calculations used to draw the city’s wards.

The Voting News Daily: Threat of Internet Voting Looms, Siegleman fraud case claims another victim, Twittering election officials

The threat of internet voting looms closer as the Defense Authorization bill (S1390), that allows for military email voting, is on the verge of passing from a conference committee. The dangerous idea of email/internet voting has spread to North Carolina: the popular NC paper, the Greensboro News and Record ran an OpEd that endorses having overseas military cast their ballots by email, over the internet. Insecure voting does not honor our troops one little bit. My blog on that is in this edition of news. Internet/email voting is a problem, not a solution. At this time, we should seek simple, cost-efficient and effective measures, not big expensive ineffective things like internet voting that carries multiple security risks with it. Then we can reassess the situation.

The Siegleman election fraud case claims another victim – whistle blower, Tamarah Grimes fired. The FEC is already making it easier for LLCs to influence elections.
Some less scary news: Bo Lipari is reporting on Day 2 of New York’s voting machine exams.
Election issues and services are hitting twitter, Voting News, Verified Voting, Overseas Vote Foundation, even San Mateo County election office are tweeting. Check it out.

The news is short today because of the internet voting issue raised today in North Carolina. I’m in North Carolina and we now have a new issue to fight. Internet voting is also your problem because of the federal DOD bill which would serve as the trojan horse for internet voting nationwide. We’ll catch up tomorrow on voting news. Meanwhile, Voting News is happy to publish your articles and blogs about e-voting when possible. Just send them to ncvoter (at) gmail.com. If we can use them we will. Thanks

CA. Tweet from smcvote: Election and voting news from the Office of Warren Slocum, Chief Elections Officer, San Mateo County, California: “We are currently performing functional testing of each piece of voting equipment for use in the Nov. election. It should take about 10 days”

GA. Siegleman Election Fraud Claims Another Victim
September 29, 2009 This is the case of election fraud in the reelection bid of Alabama Governor Don Seigelman. The 1st victims were the people of Alabama. Governor Seigelman was not reelected due to fraud in the election. The next victim was Don Seigelman..Most recently a whistle blower, Tamarah Grimes, sent Attorney General Eric Holder a letter detailing more misconduct in the case. Three days later Ms. Grimes was fired, becoming the latest victim..
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?p=2422

NC North Carolina Internet Voting Whack-a-Mole,military vote by email not secure, not private
It is Internet Voting Whackamole Time – this time in North Carolina. The Greensboro News and Record is running an OpEd that endorses having overseas military cast their ballots by email, over the internet. Does anyone believe that if email/internet voting were allowed for overseas that it would not spread to the rest of our elections? Making military votes go over e-mail is unsafe in the first place.
http://ncvoters.blogspot.com/2009/09/north-carolina-internet-voting-whack.html

NY. Day 2 of NYS Voting Machine Tests
September 29 2009 The second day of New York State’s Voting Machine Certification testing again focused on completing ballot programming on the Election Management System (EMS) systems for the Dominion ImageCast and ES&S DS200/Automark.

The Voting News Daily: Voter Action challenges Diebold sale, Tennessee 2 step, NJ worries over e-voting

The group Voter Action is challenging the merger of Election Systems and Software and Diebold. “This transaction threatens the democratic process itself,” Voter Action’s letter states. “The ES&S/Premier acquisition is absolutely unique in its potential for disturbing U.S. election processes and results.” Meanwhile, Diebold is cutting jobs at touchscreen factory in Lexington NC. Could ES&S be ending the troubled Diebold voting machine line?

Indiana’s voter ID law still stands for the November election although that law was struck down by a State Appeals Court.

Tennessee Two Step – Tennessee Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey will introduce a bill to delay implimenting paper ballot law, thus risking that will be the next state to have a Florida-style election nightmare. Meanwhile SOS Hargett plans to find voting machines compliant with the law in time for 2010.

Now that its the 21st Century, isn’t it time to end the use of blended voting systems and give everyone a paper ballot? “Why should voters with disabilities continue to be forced to vote on segregated ballot systems that are far too complicated for the pollworkers to operate and that make us vulnerable to disenfranchisement because of poor machine reliability and inadequate training and/or poor attitudes on the part of the pollworkers?” ~ Noel Runyan, electrical engineer and computer scientist.

Citizens report: New York began end to end testing of voting machines yesterday – Bo Lipari gives a firsthand report with photos.

Meanwhile, the New York media whines about low turnout/high cost elections without accepting any responsibility of spurring voters’ interest in interesting voters in the elections.

CA. Runner sues Attorney General over ballot wording (measure in favor of voter id)
Runner blasts ‘biased’ summary of his initiative to prevent voter fraud
September 28, 2009 SACRAMENTO • State Sen. George Runner is suing California Attorney General Jerry Brown for crafting what Runner calls an “overtly biased” summary of a ballot measure the senator created to prevent voter fraud.
http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/sues-14749-attorney-wording.html

CA. Riverside County supervisors may discuss to discuss registrar’s response to audit
Sept 26. (podcast available) The audit, led by former District Attorney Grover Trask, said the election was successful but presented 36 recommendations for improvement. In her response, Dunmore says she has already heeded 31 of them and has partially implemented five.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_registrar27.45a50a0.html

CA. Collection of my Electronic Voting Experiences on the Sequoia Edge II
by Noel H. Runyan September 24th, 2009 …the government should refuse to buy any more systems, unless they are completely redesigned and made reasonably useable…It took me 30 minutes to work my way through the ballot and make my selections. After that, I had quite a bit of trouble getting into the review mode, to get a full list of all my selections. When I did, it went on and on, for 23 minutes,
https://www.verifiedvotingfoundation.org/article.php?id=6717

GA. ACLU Files Lawsuit Against Georgia Restriction on Absentee Voting
September 29th, 2009
http://www.ballot-access.org/2009/09/29/aclu-files-lawsuit-against-georgia-restriction-on-absentee-voting/

GA. Georgia Supreme Court Rules that Unauditable Elections are A-OK
September 28, 2009 …In our current world order, U.S. electoral management bodies (EMBs) have consciously chosen to ignore the science and rely on the electronic tally, preserving the ballots only for some potential future recount.

The Voting News Daily: GA Court rules e-voting OK, Where’s the paper, EAC?, NY Levers, Internet voting in Halifax

Georgia’s State Supreme Court threw out the e-voting case because the voters could not prove fraud on the paperless voting machines. What a pity. After all, the whole point is that we voters should be able to prove that our election results are legitimate, but without a tangible record of the vote we cannot do so.

Where’s the paper in EAC’s new voting system guidelines? ACCURATE comments on the US EAC’s Voluntary Voting System Guidelines: “Most notably omitted is any requirement for software independence, which would require systems to be designed so that undetected flaws in the voting system software could not cause undetectable changes in the vote count.”~Joseph Lorenzo Hall ACCURATE.

Internet whack-a-mole in Canada: Halifax Nova Scotia’s recent municipal election was held over the internet.
E-voting push for London: Leo Boland, chief executive of London City Hall says city is seeking e-voting proposals whether the Electoral Commission gives go ahead or not.

WHY Citizens United Matters: If Citizens United v FEC unleashes corp money into elections, the outcome could stifle the voices of youth voters.
“While our political idealism and passion run deep, our pockets generally do not. We do give what and when we can, but we certainly cannot afford to match the kind of massive expenditures corporations and unions can make. “ ~ Nate Frentz

GA. GA High Court Rules Electronic Voting OK (audio available)
In 2006, a group of Georgian voters sued the state complaining that touch screens didn’t provide enough protection against voter fraud.
They argued without tangible records that could be recounted, it’d be too easy to manipulate election results.
Today, the state supreme court voted unanimously to throw out the lawsuit.
WABE legal analyst and Atlanta trial lawyer, Page Pate says it was a simple case because the group of voters had no real evidence of voter fraud.
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wabe/news.newsmain/article/1/0/
1559619/Atlanta/GA.High.Court.Rules.Electronic.Voting.OK
or use this smaller URL: http://tinyurl.com/ga-court

NJ. Will early voting change campaigns? (Has it done so already?)
A story in today’s NJ Courier-Post speculates about the change that will occur in NJ politics as a result of the new permanent absentee balloting law.
http://electionupdates.caltech.edu/?p=2889

NY. Martin favors lever machines
September 26, 2009 As part of a continuing campaign to keep lever voting machines in use in Columbia County and New York State, Democratic election commissioner Virginia Martin held her ground last week as a member of a panel concerning the machines and their use, speaking at the New York State Association of Counties (NYSAC).
“Two of the counties said their budget had tripled because of this,” Martin said.
…“I actually love the technology of the optical scanners,” McGivney ( Doug McGivney, D-Kinderhook) said. “But their safety has not been proven, certified, or in any way assured. As expensive as they are, they are cheaply made and nowhere near the security of an ATM machine. And we need the same quality for voting as we do for handling our money.”
http://www.registerstar.com/articles/2009/09/26/news/doc4abda3ed27502588422063.txt

National.

ACCURATE Comment on VVSG v1.1
28 Sep 2009.
A Center for Correct, Usable, Reliable, Auditable and Transparent Elections (ACCURATE) submitted public comment today to the U.S.

The Voting News Daily: Machine Gun Fundraiser in SC, Military ballots failure rate? Diebold return our money

Diebold return our money: group says Diebold should refund $100 million to California taxpayers.
Extreme fundraising? South Carolina politician holds a “Machine Gun Social” to raise funds.
Unintended consequences? The House legislation meant to defund ACORN may apply to a wide range of organizations and corporations.
Mass. fills seat left by death of Senator Edward Kennedy.

Boulder County adds more stringent testing for voting machines and ballots this year.

Unethical polling: Polling company Strategic Vision LLC failed to disclose methadology and basic polling data violates basic principles of scientific research.

Bo Lipari of NY Verified Voting fame has launched a new blog on how modern technology impacts elections, and what readers can do to…”Bo admonishes readers, “…it’s up to you to pay attention, and above all, to get involved.”

What is the solution? An overwhelming majority of military and overseas voters did not return ballots to the United States in 2006… 660,000 of 990,000 military ballots not returned.

CA. Diebold Return Our Money.
As A Result Of The California Secretary Of State’s Findings and Diebold/Premier’s Own Admissions That Its Voting Systems Do Not Meet Federal Standards, Velvet Revolution Calls on the Company to Return the Well Over $100 Million in Taxpayer Funds Spent by Californians on Failed, Faulty Voting System Hardware and Software
California officials recently revealed that ALL of Diebold/Premier’s voting systems violate federal certifications guidelines!…Send an email to Diebold/Premier, California Secretary of State Debra Bowen and California Attorney General Jerry Brown.
http://www.velvetrevolution.us/db_money/

CO. Boulder County tests voting equipment
Clerk and recorder adds new procedures to the test
09/24/2009 …Following last year’s Boulder County election — when it took election workers three days to get a final vote count — the clerk and recorder has added extra testing procedures to this year’s logic and accuracy tests, which will likely be completed this afternoon.
…This year, the ballots for the test have not only been folded, but they’ve also been run through the mail-processing machines at the post office.
There are 363 different combinations of ballots that will be voted in the county in November, and state law requires that at least one of each style be tested. Boulder County is testing 600.
But the biggest change to last year’s logic and accuracy testing is the addition of procedures that will make sure the optical scanners are properly calibrated. A properly calibrated scanner — one that has the correct device driver installed — would not count a speck of paper dust as a vote, for example.
http://www.dailycamera.com/ci_13415390

MA. Kirk Sworn In to Fill Kennedy’s Seat
September 25, 2009
Paul G. Kirk Jr. of Massachusetts was sworn in Friday to fill the Senate vacancy left by the death of Edward M. Kennedy, giving Democrats a crucial 60th vote heading toward a health care debate and becoming only the second person to hold that Senate seat in nearly half a century…Mr. Kirk is the sixth appointed senator to join the Senate this year, given deaths and resignations.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/25/kirk-sworn-in-to-fill-kennedys-seat/?scp=1&sq=kirk&st=cse

NC. Election boards wonder if military ballots are too costly?

The Voting News Daily: ES&S Diebold heads to court, Tennessee seeks voting machine proposals, Election polling fraudulent?

ES&S Diebold shotgun wedding comes to a halt: Federal Judge Robert Kugler in Camden, NJ., agreed late Friday to hear a request for an emergency injunction that could halt Election Systems & Software’s Sept. 2 announced acquisition of Diebold Inc.’s Premier Election Solutions. “…when one considers ES&S’ reckless performance as an election provider the real issue is much more basic. Should we even do business with these people?” ~ Lani Massey Brown in “ES&S for Dummies, 2009..”
Huge news: Tennessee SOS is issuing a request for proposal to vendors for paper ballot systems and in January 2010 the TN GOP speaker will seek to delay the Public Confidence (paper ballot) law through legislative remedy.

Aspen’s non secret ballot election: “..if we don’t defend our constitutional rights we will lose them. I respect the fact that there are those in the community who disagree with me, and who prefer non-secret ballot elections.”~ Millard Zimmet, an attorney in Aspen, Colorado.

Unique idea: “To fix democracy, start with the voters.”
I-Report from Alameda Co polling place – no one willing to vote on DRE/touch-screen.
Lessons and more from Minnesota Recount: “The bottom line is, as much as it pains me to say it, we probably did this as well as it could be done,” said Fritz Knaak, a Coleman attorney who fought the recount battle from the beginning until his man lost. “There’s no crying need, coming from all of this, for massive reform — unless (the reform) is a runoff.”

A disgusted New York voter comments about both the new and old voting machines malfunctioning: “We need to be a good example for the world, not a joke. Fix the voting system.”

Polling Data questioned: “There is a substantial possibility — far from a certainty — that much of Strategic Vision’s polling over the past several years has been forged.”~Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com

How does Germany vote, what do their ballots look like, WHY did their high court rule that the use of electronic voting machines like Nedap ESD1 and ESD2 is unconstitutional? “In a republic, elections are a matter for the entire people and a joint concern of all citizens. Consequently, the monitoring of the election procedure must also be a matter for and a task of the citizen. Each citizen must be able to comprehend and verify the central steps in the elections.”

CA. Some Local Access Voting Stories *
September 24th, 2009 Last night I got a call from a livid Alameda County voter who called me about 6:30 PM, after he was told that he couldn’t vote on the Sequoia DRE unless they could find four other people to vote on the system. Note, our Sec. of State requires that five or more must vote voluntarily on the conditionally certified DREs. Completely oblivious to my friend’s embarrassment, the pollworker actually went down the line of voters asking for volunteers to vote and saying something like, “so that blind guy can vote on the voting machine”. No one was willing to vote on the DRE!

The Voting News Daily: Sarasota FL: ES&S is baack!, Lucas Co OH forgotten ballots, ACORN good and bad

Sarasota County officials thought they saw the last of ES&S after booting them out 2 years ago. Now, unless the Justice Dept intervenes, Sarasota officials will once again have to deal with a vendor they ditched thanks to ES&S’ purchase of Diebold:
“I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt as much as I can,” he said. “But I kind of feel like Charlie Brown with Lucy holding the football. How many times do you go to kick the ball and ‘Swoosh!’ through the air and end up on your derriere.” ~County Commissioner Jon Thaxton

Absentee ballots and audits: “…most absentee ballots are not subject to the Connecticut Post-Election Audit Law – an opening for errors to go undetected and an opportunity for fraud.” ~ Luther Weeks, CT Voters Count.
Meanwhile, Lucas Co Ohio forgot to count 166 absentee ballots.*
ACORN in North Carolina: “The negative costs so much aggravation, it almost takes away the good work [ACORN] did,”…”Because they registered a lot of people. But a few bad apples hurt the good work they did.” ~Mike Ashe, Election Director, Durham County NC.

“A day as a poll worker”: “After lending a helping hand within this election, I felt empowered as an African American and honored to continue the legacy which once was prohibited for Blacks in America.” ~ Aisha Brown.
Workshop Aims to Establish Standards for Voting Machine Data

CT. Absentee Ballots Can Be Decisive – yet Unaudited
September 24, 2009 Story in ConnPost, Primary loser declines to challenge absentees…As we and others have pointed out, there are many issues and risks with any type of mail-in voting, including absentee voting.
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?p=2419

FL. Trial lawyers group admits role in racially charged election flier
September 24, 2009 TALLAHASSEE — In a highly embarrassing mea culpa, Florida’s powerful trial lawyer lobby admitted Wednesday that it was behind an ugly race-baiting flier in a recent North Florida Senate election.
http://tampabay.com/news/politics/legislature/trial-lawyers-group-admits-role-in-racially-charged-election-flier/1038739

FL. 3 years after vote furor, machine vendor is back (ES&S purchase of Diebold)
MERGER: ES&S, once again the provider in Sarasota, now dominates the field
September 24, 2009 Two years after being shown the door for its role in an election that local officials would just as soon forget, voting machine maker ES&S is once again overseeing the system Sarasota County residents will use to cast their votes.
…Opposition locally, though, is less legal and more emotional, stemming from the role of the ES&S iVotronic voting system in the disputed November 2006 election.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20090924/ARTICLE/909241064/2055/NEWS?Title=3-years-after-vote-furor-machine-vendor-is-back

FL. Editorial: The votes are in the mail
September 24 Given the choice between a mail election and a special election that asks voters to go to the polls to decide on the proposed new Pensacola city charter, voting by mail is more likely to draw a higher turnout, which is needed on such a crucial decision…The City Council’s committee of the whole approval of a mail ballot makes sense…But there are drawbacks.
Voting by mail is vulnerable to fraud. No one can know for sure who is filling out a mail ballot.

The Voting News Daily: Internet Voting for Australia and Oshawa Ontario? E-voting for London? ACORN probed, ACORN sues

Internet Voting Whack-A-Mole continues: Australia considers internet voting. Oshawa Ontario politicians want internet voting but will put it off until 2014.
London plans to use electronic voting in 2012.
The Justice Dept is probing ACORN and meanwhile ACORN is suing the film producers who secretly recorded embarrassing videos.
Is New York ready for voting machines yet? A local paper issues a call for more robust auditing, more stringent protocols. The paper also urges that “undervote” reporting function on the voting machines be turned on, so that voters will be warned if they leave a contest unvoted.

Data, Modernization, and Reform…”the practical concerns of election officials seem to get minimal hearing as policy makers proceed.” Mark Shelden, Champaign County Clerk
Early voting promo: The Hammer and the Wild Thing.
Video: “Voting Machines Elect One Of Their Own As President”

News is light today. (No glitches reported). Got a great article? Send it to ncvoter (at) gmail.com

CA. Instant runoff voting debate leads to council meltdown
09/23/2009 http://www.presstelegram.com/breakingnews/ci_13401783

FL. Lawsuit Over Florida Green Party Mystery Candidates Enters New Phase
September 23rd, 2009
http://www.ballot-access.org/2009/09/23/lawsuit-over-florida-green-party-mystery-candidates-enters-new-phase/

MN. Mathematics expert: IRV not the answer
Minnesota Public Radio September 23, 2009
St. Paul, Minn. — A mathematician who’s spent years analyzing voting systems told a Minneapolis audience Tuesday that instant runoff voting is not the answer.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/09/23/mathematician-criticizes-instant-runoff-voting/

NC. Reidsville has unique election cycle
September 22, 2009
WENTWORTH — The city of Reidsville is in a class all its own when it comes to elections. The city votes for its mayor and council in October rather than in November, and that usually means confusion for its residents, said Tina Cardwell, deputy director of the Rockingham County Board of Elections.
http://www.news-record.com/content/2009/09/21/article/heads_up_reidsville_your_election_will_be_in_october

NY. State and city unready for voting machine headaches
September 22nd 2009…the state Board of Elections has to listen to auditing experts now, and develop protocols that guarantee votes were counted properly. So far, the board’s proposals fall far short of that goal.
The state board should also be faulted for directing counties to turn off a feature that would alert voters if they missed or “undervoted” a ballot.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/queens/2009/09/22/2009-09-22_state_and_city_unready_for_voting_machine_headaches.html#ixzz0RyYRShUk

OH. Ohio SOS Brunner rules State Sen. Husted is not a resident of his elected district
September 22,Ohio Secretary of State (SOS) Jennifer Brunner, broke a tie vote by the Montgomery County Board of Elections (MCBOE) by ruling that State Sen. Jon Husted of Kettering…is not a resident for purposes of voting of his district..According to Brunner’s research, Husted’s wife has been a registered voter in Franklin County and has voted there starting with the general election of 2002.
http://www.examiner.com/x-23537-Columbus-Government-Examiner~y2009m9d22-Ohio-SOS-Brunner-rules-State-Sen-Husted-is-not-a-resident-of-his-elected-district

SC. Voting fraud case ends
September 23, 2009
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2009/sep/23/voting-fraud-case-ends/

United States

“Voting Machines Elect One Of Their Own As President“
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/voting_machines_elect_one_of

Data, Modernization, and Reform
Champaign County Clerk
…At the same time, the practical concerns of election officials seem to get minimal hearing as policy makers proceed.
http://blog.champaigncountyclerk.com/2009/09/23/data-modernization-and-reform/

ACORN Shutting Down Tax Clinics, Vows to Continue Voter-Registration Efforts
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/09/23/acorn_shutting_down_tax_clinic.html?wprss=44

ACORN sues filmmakers
September 23rd
WASHINGTON (CNN) — ACORN filed suit Wednesday in Baltimore, Maryland, against two filmmakers who secretly recorded videos embarrassing to the agency, claiming the pair violated state law by recording their conversations without permission of the employees involved…O’Keefe and Giles also attempted to capture similar videos at ACORN offices in other cities but failed.

The Voting News Daily: ES&S-Diebold sale a symptom, Corporations aren’t people yet,TN Paper Ballot law threatened

The ES&S Diebold monopoly is a problem, but it is also a symptom of the way the US runs elections. “ES&S acted like a monopoly even before it decided to become a monopoly,”~Ion Sancho, Supervisor of Elections in Leon County Florida. “We need to deploy a system that our election administrators and voters can understand and trust, and we’re not there yet,” ~ Candice Hoke, election law professor at Cleveland State University.

Issues with Aspen’s May 5 election not resolved yet: “It’s time for the city leaders to be transparent and responsible by embracing a thorough review, a resolution of serious questions, and any reforms needed to protect future elections.” ~ Marilyn Marks, oped about Aspen May 5 election.

Obion County TN trying to enlist other counties to block paper ballot law implementation. A federal bill has been introduced in the US House that would restore voting rights to all felons not currently incarcerated: “If you’re paying taxes, you should be allowed to vote.” ~ Kenneth Harrigan, at The Fortune Society

The Brazilian Superior Electoral Court is challenging geeks to find flaws in security of electronic voting machines.

CO. Millard Zimet’s commentary about his complaint
Sept 22. I recently filed a complaint with the Aspen Election Commission, asking the Commission to determine whether Aspen’s May 2009 election was a secret ballot election as required under the Colorado Constitution…We’ve got to establish the precedent now that computerized voting data must be handled in a manner that preserves voters’ constitutional rights to a secret ballot.
http://aspenelectionreview.blogspot.com/2009/09/millard-zimets-commentary-about-his.html

CO. Big changes needed to election system
Sept 22…It is not just IRV. The most troublesome issues are not IRV-driven. Dumping IRV is not a panacea. We need fundamental improvements in simple procedures, from appropriate security for physical ballots to acceptable post-election audits, and accurate, timely reporting by the city.
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20090922/LETTER/909219992&parentprofile=search

CO. IRV worked, lets move on
9/22/09
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20090922/LETTER/909219993&parentprofile=search

IL. Detroit Voters Will Vote on Changing City Council from At-Large to Districts
September 22nd, 2009 For many years, Detroit has been the only large city in the United States that elects all its city council members at-large, instead of by district. An initiative petition to switch to districts was submitted this year
http://www.ballot-access.org/2009/09/22/detroit-voters-will-vote-on-changing-city-council-from-at-large-to-districts/

IN. After ruling, make voter ID law better
Indiana legislature should also mandate early voting periods, vote centers
If the Indiana Supreme Court acts quickly, as the state requests, to reverse a ruling last week by a three-judge appellate court striking down the state’s tough voter identification law, it could deny Hoosiers a needed opportunity to improve its law.
http://www.pal-item.com/article/20090921/NEWS0301/909200343

MA. Voter turnout soars past 61,000 in election *glitch optical scanner and automark used
September 22, 2009 ..one person who voted at Cathedral High school complained he was not given the proper ballot…She said voting scanners at three polling locations had to be turned off and turned off again because of a minor glitch. Cuddyer added the scanner issue did not delay voting at the three locations.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/mayoral_race/view.bg?articleid=1199161
http://www.verifiedvoting.org/verifier/map.php?state=Massachusetts&county=Suffolk&ec=mixed&year=2008

MA. Massachusetts Legislature Passes Bill for Temporary Gubernatorial Appointments for Senate Vacancies
September 22nd, 2009
http://www.ballot-access.org/2009/09/22/massachusetts-legislature-passes-bill-for-temporary-gubernatorial-appointments-for-senate-vacancies/

The Voting News Daily: ES&S-Diebold’s “Ominous Monopoly”, ACORN, NY “Count the Vote”, Internet Voting Whackamole in FL

ES&S purchase of Diebold “The Most Ominous Monopoly”. Congratulations to Brad Friedman, who has a piece about the Acorn controversy published in the Guardian UK.
Florida has a bill, HB 131 that would allow overseas voters to cast ballots by email.
New Jersey’s early voting (by mail) could diminish effect of “October Surprise”?

Boulder Co releases report blaming software problems for the slow count of the 2008 election. Al Kolwicz, a member of the CO. Voter Group said: “There were thousands of dollars spent to ensure that this kind of problem that was exhibited didn’t happen,” he said. “If it’s possible to circumvent that procedure (with an incompatible device driver), what could be happening with the counting software?” . This is an all too common story, elections as beta tests for overpriced electronic voting systems.

Shelby Co TN has been “aggressively” paring its voter rolls, but officials say they are acting in accordance with federal law.

New York voting activists oppose replacing lever machines ” until paper ballot security and proper auditing is mandated by state law or regulations.” Teresa Hommel of http://www.wheresthepaper.org/ worries that “”Once we give up the lever machines, we will never get the law to require better security or audits,”. More transparency measures are needed with computerized voting. Hommel says “When the levers are broken, everyone can see it. When computers are programmed incorrectly, no one can see it.”

The Wisconsin DOJ defends code that prevents judges from joining political parties: “I believe that justice is blind. When someone walks into a courtroom they shouldn’t have to worry about whether or not the judge sitting there has an ‘R’ or a ‘D ‘behind their name,” ~ Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen. Does the First Amendment Apply to Corporations?
Congratulations! New Zealand women have been voting for 116 years.

CA. The Future of Voting Systems in Los Angeles County
September 19th, 2009
http://la.metblogs.com/2009/09/19/future-voting-systems/

CA & FL. Residual votes in LA and Palm Beach Counties *
…In 2008, the residual vote rate for Florida was 0.7%, compared to 1.3% in California. If California could reduce that rate to Florida’s, over 82,000 additional votes would be recovered among Golden State residents in presidential years. The number for LA County alone is over 20,000.
http://electionupdates.caltech.edu/?p=2846

CA. Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter Writes in Support of “Top-Two”
September 19th, 2009 Newsweek’s latest issue carries this column by its columnist Jonathan Alter, in favor of “top-two” election systems. Here is his column, which is titled, “The Jackass-Reduction Plan.” Here is the text of a letter Ballot Access News has just sent to Jonathan Alter, outlining six reasons why he should change his mind:
http://www.ballot-access.org/2009/09/19/newsweeks-jonathan-alter-writes-in-support-of-top-two/

CO. More to the story
Dear Editor: I was surprised to read that Aspen’s City Council is still denying access to the digital images of ballots
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20090918/LETTER/909179976/1020

CO. Slow Boulder vote count blamed on software glitch *Hart Intercivic ballot scanners. 9/19/2009 (AP) — BOULDER, Colo. – Boulder County election officials say a software problem led to the delay in counting votes last November, when the county processed 172,531 ballots.

The Voting News Daily: Correction:Florida Voters Alert: Rule 1S-2.041 would make caging easie

Our apologies. A representative of the Florida Voters Coalition advised me that I had incorrectly referred to the Florida Voters Coalition in the first paragraph of this blog, when I should have referred to the Florida Fair Elections Coalition. The only change is within the first paragraph, and typed in bold:

Concerned citizens: Florida is set to adopt a dangerous rule that that could make voter caging easier. The Florida Department of state has issued new notice regarding the proposed rule 1S-2.041 “to address and eligibility records maintenance.” The Florida Fair Elections Coalition warns that “If Florida passes proposed Rule 1S-2.041, it will permit officially sanctioned caging (vote suppression) to occur.”

Warning Florida Voters – Voter Caging may become easier thanks to new rule 1S 2.041 Sept 10, 2009. The Florida Fair Elections Coalition warns that rules proposed by the Florida Dept of Elections would make voter caging easier. Rule 1S-2.041 is intended to address maintenance of voter registration rolls.

TAKE ACTION NOW: Concerned voters should contact Maria Matthews, Assistant General Counsel Florida Dept of State to request a workshop on be held on rule 1S-2.041 (email mimatthews@dos.state.fl.us ) .Only if you request it will there be a workshop to discuss the rules and allow comments. If there is no workshop, then voter caging may yet become easier in the state of Florida.

Here is the email notice about opportunity to request a workshop:

From: mimatthews@dos.state.fl.us

· Rule 1S-2.041: A Notice of Rule Development Workshop was published today in Volume 35, NO. 37 of the Florida Administrative Weekly on proposed rule 1S-2.041 relating to address and eligibility records maintenance. If this workshop is requested, it will be held on October 5, 2009 at 2 pm in Room 307, R.A. Gray Building here in the Florida Department of State.

The latest draft is not yet available. The Division of Elections’ website will include the latest draft on Monday or Tuesday of next week. · Rule 1S-2.033, relating to Standards for Nonpartisan Voter Education, was filed for adoption and became effective on September 13, 2009. The rule is available at:
http://election.dos.state.fl.us/rules/adopted-rules/index.shtml

Remember, if you have not already signed up for electronic notice of rulemaking, please subscribe www.flrules.org

Have a good day!

Respectfully,

Maria Matthews
Assistant General Counsel
Florida Department of State

R.A.Gray Building
500 S. Bronough Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32399

850.245.6536
850.245.6127 (fax)

Please note: Florida has a very broad public records law. Written communications (including e-mail content and addresses) to or from state officials regarding state business constitute public records and are available to the public and media upon request unless the information is subject to a specific statutory exemption. If you do not want your e-mail address released in response to a public-records request, do not send electronic mail to this entity. Instead, contact this office by phone or in writing.

Voting News by Joyce McCloy.
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