Author Archives: Warren Stewart

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The push by FairDistrictsFlorida.org

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Florida Profit Corporation
VOTER VERIFIED, INC.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

All this and more in today’s voting news below

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Voting News Daily: Sarasota voting machine blues, Lackawanna GOP distrust machines, Virginia laws need overhaul

The Herald Tribune says Sarasota Florida new voting-machine problems must be remedied, and statistically significant audits should be implemented state wide…Did you think the ballot you cast in the 2008 election was secret? Think again if you live in Hawaii…Three Indiana county precinct election results flipped….
Northern Kentucky set to get new scanning machines, why isn’t Tennessee?…In Michigan, Saginaw Chippewa Tribal members protest private election recount…Ohio lawmakers are considering electronic voter registration in addition to regular methods…. Lackawanna PA GoP party disappointed that recount of 51,000 Nov 3 will be done by ES&S machine, not hand…

Branchville South Carolina town council election results thrown out – election change wasn’t pre-cleared with DOJ…Virginia’s election laws need to undergo a major overhaul says the ACLU of Virginia after operating an Election Day hotline… Washingtonians tire of watching elections drag on and show new interest in requiring ballots returned by Election Day…
…The Supreme Court might announce Citizens United this week…
…India’s electronic voting machines impresses Clinton…Kosovo Votes in First Election

All of this and more in todays voting news below….

CA: CA to Provide Precinct-Level Data
elections, standards, open source, berkeley, friends, research, policy, usability Add comments Today, UC Berkeley Professors Philip Stark, Jasjeet Sekhon and Henry Brady, along with me, sent the California Secretary of State a brief comment about her effort to provide precinct-level elections data for all 58 California counties.
http://josephhall.org/nqb2/index.php/2009/11/16/cappldp

CA: Mail-Only Elections Are Likely Here to Stay in Santa Barbara
Decision not final but city officials tout turnout, price and trends as reasons to continue.
…
Some common issues with the ballots this year were people forgetting to sign their ballot envelopes or signatures that didn’t match voter registration papers. Up until Election Day, city staff mailed letters to or called local residents to try to fix the issues before it was too late.
http://www.noozhawk.com/local_news/article/111509_
santa_barbara_vote_by_mail_elections/
or use this http://twi.cc/P5MJ

CT: OUR VIEW: A tale of two elections
…this recount is a reminder of what a miracle our election process is — voters choosing freely, poll officials determining the results honestly, winners peacefully taking office, while defeated incumbents quietly step down.
http://www.bristolpress.com/articles/2009/11/13/
opinion/doc4afe1580f086e652453892.txt
or use this http://twi.cc/EHDD

CT: In Monroe, Southbury and Washington
Election Audit Plans Detailed
11/14/2009 HARTFORD – According to a Tuesday, November 10, press release from Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz, 60 of 597 voting precincts will have ballots hand counted and matched against machine totals to ensure the integrity of voting.

As required by Public Act 07-194, An Act Concerning the Integrity and Security of the Voting Process, 10 percent of the polling precincts used in the election are subject to an audit.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20388023&BRD=1380&PAG=461&dept_id=157525&rfi=6

CT: Morehead alleges voter fraud (absentee ballot)
Ward 22 alderman to accuse opponent of tampering with absentee ballots
November 10, 2009 Ward 22 Alderman-elect Greg Morehead is expected to file a complaint with the state government today accusing one of his opponents in last Tuesday’s election of voter fraud
…
Morehead said he has received statements from two New Haven senior citizens, both of whom he said approached him with concerns about their absentee votes.

The Voting News Daily: Did Hoffman Win NY-23? Dominion scanner issues, Lancaster VA multiple machine malfunction

A ‘Post-Racial’ America? Not yet….On the law surrounding lines at polling places…Pay to play in New Jersey ?…Ex-first selectman has lawyer probe Middlebury CT voting, machine malfunction and some ballots photocopied…They don’t float: Clark County Indiana found out the hard way that if you store voting machines in a basement they may get water damage, we saw this happen in Gaston County NC after the 2004 election…. Meaningless recounts held in Carroll County Georgia and New Brunswick New Jersey on paperless e-voting machines, why even bother?…Post election audits in New York next week…

Did Hoffman Win NY-23? Does It Matter If He Did?…Hand counts needed in three Lancaster County Virginia precincts after multiple Diebold OS machines malfunctioned…
Oregon voters increasingly none-of-the-above…A handful of machines in Lewis, Seneca and Schuyler County New York froze due to memory problems…Pierce Council still hearts polling places, state’s last holdout for poll-site voting…Denmark Strips Away the Right to Privacy from Blind Voters…

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

CA: “Assessing California’s Hybrid Democracy”
…One lesson of this decade is that the devices of direct democracy remain too blunt and expensive as tools for anything but interstitial governance. From 2002 through 2008 voters were asked to approve 63 ballot measures – 43 voter initiatives and 20 ballot measures proposed by the legislature…Despite this flurry of activity, California’s governance appeared in shambles for much of the decade, http://electionlawblog.org/archives/014754.html

CT: Ex-first selectman has lawyer probe Middlebury voting *
MIDDLEBURY — Former First Selectman Edward B. St. John has hired an attorney to investigate ballot irregularities in the Nov. 3 election.

Dennis M. Buckley, a Waterbury-based attorney, is reviewing documents filed by poll workers and election officials for St. John.

St. John, who ran as a write-in candidate, raised concerns immediately following the election after he learned one of the voting machines had broken down Tuesday evening, forcing poll workers to switch to a separate machine to count the remaining ballots. Some of the ballots had been photocopied because election officials believed they had run out of the official ballots. It was later revealed that officials had more than 1,000 unused ballots locked in the registrar of voters’ office.
http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2009/11/12/news/local/449082.txt

GA: Recount confirms Rick Ford’s victory (recount by memory card-not a real recount)
Election Supervisor Patti Brown-Traylor and members of the Carroll County Board of Elections held a recount Tuesday because Ford’s margin of victory was less than 1 percent. The recount consisted of again running through the votes on computer memory cards from election night, as well as the early voting memory card ballots that were cast in the Office of Elections and Registration.
http://www.times-georgian.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Recount+confirms+Rick+Ford-s+victory%20&id=4430999-Recount+confirms+Rick+Ford-s+victory&instance=west_ga_news

MD: Cryptographic voting debuts
November 13, 2009
http://www.physorg.com/news177324972.html

IN: Clark County Commissioners: More costs pour in for Clark County
Replacing voting machines and shortfall from workers’ compensation pinch thin wallet
…Voting machines stored in the basement of the Clark County Government Building received water damage and the equipment will need to be fixed or replaced before the next election in May.

The Voting News Daily: Georgia Court: E-vote at your own risk, some NY votes up in air, Diebold miscount in Santa Barbara

Internet voting whack-a-mole and its inherent security risks and privacy loss – done on the backs of our troops: National voter groups urge MA Gov Deval Patrick to ask Legislature to remove dangerous e-mail voting provision from veterans bill, a Michigan bill would have military vote by email….Aspen CO seeks dismissal of suit for ballot images of May election…How To NOT Instill Confidence In Election Integrity (in Connecticut)…Georgia Court: E-Vote at Your Own Risk… Coin Toss Decides Whitsett NC Town Council Race…Activist security concerns – “New York counties don’t have the money to secure the ballots or verify the scanners.”…Port Chester NY’s new election system confusing…Ohio Ballot Access Bill Advances…GOP 1, TVCA 0 …Misplaced election reform priorities in Washington?…Verified Voting’s national newsletter is available online now!…

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

AL: Calera finally has six new council members
November 10, 2009. More than a year after voters originally headed to the polls, Calera has six new council members.
…
City officials submitted a new voting plan in July that called for six at-large council seats instead of the five districts used in the 2008 election.

Justice Department officials approved the new plan in September. The plan “reflects a good faith effort to effectively remedy the concerns raised in our objection,” according to a letter that Loretta King, acting assistant attorney general, sent to the city’s attorneys.
http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2009/11/calera_finally_has_six_new_cou.html

CA: Recount Called for City Election * Voting Machine Malfunctioned
(Premier/Diebold Accu-Vote ES 2000 and ES&S Automark)
November 11, 2009
Santa Barbara City election officials will be conducting a complete recount of all ballots cast in last week’s election, because one of the vote-counting machines failed to adequately count all the votes cast on the “B” side of the ballot.
…
it could affect the final outcomes of the city council races as well as Measures D and E.
…
The discrepancy in ballots counted is in the range of five percent to 15 percent. After counting 800 ballots by hand, city election officials concluded there was a problem…
http://www.independent.com/news/2009/nov/11/recount-called-city-election/

CO: City seeks dismissal of Marks suit (city does not want to release ballot images)
November 12, 2009 The city of Aspen has filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Marilyn Marks, who is trying to force the city to release ballot images from the May election.
http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/137594

CT: How To NOT Instill Confidence In Election Integrity * (photo copy ballots, “extra ballots”)
Waterbury Republican: Ex-first selectman has lawyer probe Middlebury voting
…St. John, who ran as a write-in candidate, raised concerns immediately following the election after he learned one of the voting machines had broken down Tuesday evening, forcing poll workers to switch to a separate machine to count the remaining ballots. Some of the ballots had been photocopied because election officials believed they had run out of the official ballots. It was later revealed that officials had more than 1,000 unused ballots locked in the registrar of voters’ office.
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?p=2587
[Thank you Luther Weeks and here is article Luther linked to
MIDDLEBURY — Former First Selectman Edward B.

The Voting News Daily: Massachusetts passes flawed vet voting bill, Vote By Mail concerns, Johnson City NY miscount

Unfortunately Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick signed military internet voting bill Wednesday even after National and State Voting Rights Groups urged him not to …Verified Voting has a new blog, you can sign up for updates…. …D.C. takes up same day registration, so should Congress…Brad Friedman on Acorn and “protecting” the taxpayers….Study shows permanent mail voting worsening lack of diversity among California voters….Vote by mail biggest perceived problem in OR and WA -slowness in election results…

…Glitches, snags, snafus and hiccups reported in IL, NC, NY, OH, PA, AND SC…Campaign website spoof results in formal complaint in Cary NC…Half of Johnson City NY election districts machine counts differ from hand counts…Diebold technician “fixes” election results for Miami County Ohio….2 candidates in Lackawanna PA request recounts after voting machines straight ticket error… Former Aiken SC GOP official admits to robo-calls scam….In the Port Hope (Canada) council opts for Internet voting, Mayor Linda Thompson was the only opponent…

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

CA: Study finds demographic differences between vote-by-mail voters and registered voters
…Kim Alexander, founder of the nonpartisan California Voter Foundation, says permanent mail voting may be exacerbating the lack of diversity among California voters. “Policy-makers need to be mindful of that,” she said.
http://calvoter.org/news/blog/2009_11_01_
blogarchive.html#5954396140451513928
or use this url http://twi.cc/9mRT

IL: Prosecutor alleges pair tainted vote in 50th Ward*(absentee ballot fraud charged)
Precinct captain, volunteer said to have manipulated absentee ballots, cast absentee votes for Ald. Bernard Stone
November 10, 2009. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-voter-fraud-trialnov10,0,5858164.story

IL: Ald. Stone ally on trial for vote fraud *
November 10, 2009. Four members of a West Rogers Park family testified Monday that Ald. Bernard Stone’s (50th) ward superintendent Anish Eapen coaxed them to vote absentee, collected their ballots and then mailed them during the heated 2007 aldermanic race
http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/1874511,CST-NWS-eapen10web.article

Mass. voting advocates say veterans bill flawed (email voting inserted at last min)
November 11, 2009 Gov. Deval Patrick signed the bill Wednesday.
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1211192

MA: National and State Voting Rights Groups Urge Massachusetts Governor Not to Sign Internet Voting Bill
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 By Citizens for Election Integrity Massachusetts, Common Cause, ACLU-MA, Oiste, Voter Action, VerifiedVoting
Governor Patrick Must Protect Military Voters’ Right to a Secure, Private Ballot
To exercise their voting rights, Americans in uniform serving overseas must have better access to the process of casting a ballot. Equally important, the process of casting a ballot must be no less secure and verifiable for them than it is for voters at home….
http://blog.verifiedvoting.org/2009/11/11/165#more-165

MA: Last Minute Change in Massachusetts Veterans Bill Puts Soldiers’ Votes at Risk
Nov 10, 2009 Breaking news: It appears that at the last minute Massachusetts lawmakers changed language in a bill designed to benefit military voters – taking a good provision and unfortunately making it dangerous. The bill could have improved the voting process for our service men and women in uniform overseas by allowing them to obtain a ballot online so it could be printed, voted and mailed back in time to be counted.

The Voting News Daily: Expert:No way to secure internet voting, Talk–A Poor Substitute For Integrity?

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission: Will Voters’ Choice Be Outdone by Sponsorship?…Security expert: no way to secure Internet voting…Hackers cracked military systems and cut mains power…Internet voting too dangerous, especially for our military….

D.C. passes same day voter registration…Audit finds that Venice FL ballots were counted properly…Vanderburgh County Indiana wrangles with voting monopoly ES&S over pricing…”Don’t Count Your Ballots Up in Massachusetts. That Sort Of Thing Just Isn’t Done.”…”Massachusetts does not have a post-election audit”…Ballot Design Still Matters…Bo Lipari writes about Paper Ballots, Photocopiers, and Security as pertains to New York’s voting machine pilot….Nobody could vote in the race for mayor in Limaville,Ohio…Calls for complete hand recount of Lackawanna County PA election….Gregoire pushes to make WA election results more timely…We’re still sweeping up after Nov 3 with voting glitches, snags,snafus and hiccup reports in CA, MA, NC, NY,OH AND PA…

CA: Letter: Frustrating vote
Editor: My apologies to my candidates, Michelle Gabriault-Acosta, Bill Blake and Mary-Michal Rawling. I tried to vote Tuesday but had a very frustrating experience.

I had requested a “vote by mail” ballot, which I never received. I thought, “No big deal.”

I went to my polling place a few minutes before they opened. When the polls opened, I was second in line but was unable to vote because I was marked as a mail-in voter.
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/opinion/story/1155563.html

CA: Lobbyists sue to block state public financing proposition
Over the weekend the Sacramento Bee published this story by Andy Furillo reporting on recent legal actions taken by California’s association of lobbyists to block a proposition that, if passed by voters would create a public financing system for the Secretary of State’s elections in 2014 and 2018. The measure relies on fees paid by lobbyists and lobbying firms to fund the public financing system
http://calvoter.org/news/blog/2009_11_01_blogarchive.html#467239205392319216

DC: D.C. passes same day voter registration
The DC Council has unanimously passed an election reform bill that includes Same Day Registration and asks the District to look at implementing a system of universal voter registration.
http://nonprofitvote.blogspot.com/2009/11/dc-passes-same-day-voter-registration.html

FL: Venice ballots were counted properly
An audit finds no problems caused by the ink voters used
…The unusual proxy audit — one of only three that election workers could recall over the last decade — was conducted by the Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections on a total of 1,028 absentee ballots.
…
“This gives me more peace of mind in the reliability of the machines,” Muntz said.
…
Dent said that future absentee ballots will carry instructions that voters only use black ink.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20091106/ARTICLE/911061021/2055/NEWS?Title=Venice-ballots-were-counted-properly

IN: Elections Board having issues with voting machines co. (ES&S)
Nov 09, 2009 …The attorney said County Clerk Susan Kirk isn’t happy with the way the company is responding to her requests.

“Part of this actually has to do with obtaining the software which is actually needed to conduct the elections,” Vanderburgh County Elections Board Attorney Doug Briody said. “We had an original contract which expired last year and so we need some additional software from them in order to go forward with elections happening in 2010.

The Voting News Daily: US Troops as Internet Voting guinea pigs, Texas let voters eat cake, CO, NJ, NY, PA, TX, UT, VA and WA glitch snag reports

We’re still seeing articles on Nov 3 voting problems… Ellen Theisen has updated Voters Unite’s database on Voting Problems By State to the November elections. This database has been key evidence used to help get paper ballot laws passed in several states and was key to passing a law in my home state of North Carolina. So thank you Ellen!…

INTERNET VOTING WHACK-A-MOLE: Three states plan to use our troops as internet voting guinea pigs: We reported last week that Alabama Rep. Jimmy Martin, D-Clanton is re-introducing an internet/military voting bill. This week, we see that Colorado has passed legislation to allow internet voting pilots for military, and the pilots will be partially funded by “private” parties. Will these private parties be identified? Could any of these private parties have a conflict of interest?…Massachusetts Senate President Therese Murray, D-Plymouth hopes to have their troops voting over the internet this December, 2008. Considering that Cyber Warfare is the weapon of choice now for China and North Korea, is this a good idea?…

Let them eat cake: In Texas an editorial board considers running out of ballots to be a mere ‘hiccup’. If you are a voter being disenfranchised, it is hardly a hiccup, now is it? This wouldn’t happen if Texas joined other states in requiring that enough ballots be printed for all voters. No voter should go to the polls and be told “I’m sorry, we don’t have any ballots right now” and no voter should have to vote on a makeshift ballot. In Harris County Texas, it took a court order to make the voter registration office follow the law after impeding the registration of 66,000 people…Minneapolis Minnesota held its first instant runoff voting election and had the lowest voter turnout for mayor since 1910…In Lackawanna County PA, faulty computer coding cause of 2,452 straight ticket votes to go uncounted…860 ballots found in vandalized King Co. drop box…Plaintiffs Comment on Court Order regarding TN Voter Confidence Act…Miss an email or don’t want to wait? See our home page…

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

AL: Commission OKs polling place changes (from schools to mostly churches)
November 5, 2009. Where voters go to cast their ballots in 2010 will undergo a major change as a result of action taken by the Morgan County Commission at a regular meeting Oct. 27.

The commission acted on a recommendation from Probate Judge Greg Cain to remove nine Decatur elementary schools from the county’s polling places list and replace them with alternate locations. The move is subject to the approval of the U.S. Department of Justice and would become effective with the Primary Election next June.

In a discussion prior to the vote, District 2 Commissioner Ken Livingston said several of the new polling places are at churches and questioned if a violation of the separation of church and state could be involved.
http://www.hartselleenquirer.com/articles/2009/11/05/news/news4.txt

AL: State may be on fast track to pass military voting bill (military internet voting) The Alabama military voting bill, House Bill 30, has
been pre-filed by Rep.

The Voting News Daily: Tennessee seek machines in Dec or Jan, 2452 straight ticket votes missed in Lackawanna, Moritz on uncounted ballots

Tennessee Judge Says No to Tennessee Voter Confidence Act Injunction, Yes to Crucial Plaintiff Claim, the Secretary of State will issue requests for proposals for NEW voting equip sometime in December or January…A programming error caused 2,452 straight-party votes to go uncounted in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania…Cuyahoga County sheds its reputation for troubled elections with smooth vote count Tuesday night…

…Moritz law talks about 3 types of uncounted ballots…6.8 percent of Virginians have permanently lost their right to vote (as long as they live in Virginia)….
Today we try to catch up on election day glitch-snag-snafu-hiccup reports in Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Utah and Virginia…….If you think we missed something, please send us a link to the story at joyce (at)ncvoter.net and we will post it…if you think you’ve missed an issue of Voting News check online at our home page

CO: Provisional ballots could change IRV outcome in Aspen
Clerk and recorder said it’s too early to speculate
November 6, 2009 ASPEN — There are between 25 and 40 provisional ballots in Pitkin County’s mail-in election that have yet to be counted, and depending on how many of them are from Aspen residents, they could change the outcome of the Instant Runoff Voting result.
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20091106/NEWS/911069987/1077&ParentProfile=1058

MD: Maryland Voters Test New Cryptographic Voting System
Wired News… The Scantegrity code is written in Java and uses a Fujitsu high-speed scanner for reading ballots. Chaum owns the IP for the system and has promised that the first jurisdiction — county, city, state or country — that wants to implement the system can have it fully licensed in perpetuity for free.

“I’m not doing this to make money,” he told Threat Level. “I’m doing it because I want to make it happen.”

Chaum says he hasn’t decided on a cost yet for jurisdictions who will license it after the initial adopter but says he can easily sell it for half the cost of current optical-scan voting systems, which run about $6,000 apiece.
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/11/scantegrity

MI: Election Night in Washtenaw County * After polls close, work continues for county clerk’s staff (ballot misfeeds, blank memory cards)
November 4, 2009…some ballots aren’t feeding into voting machines property, or aren’t being read. In Ann Arbor, for example, in several precincts there’s a one-ballot discrepancy between the machine count and the actual number of ballots. That count has to be resolved before delivering results to the county.

Brooks describes how the printer misaligned the perforation between the main ballots and the ballot stubs, which are torn off before the ballots are fed into the voting machine. “It looks like a six-year-old cut it with scissors,” he quips.
…
Throughout the evening, Yankee processes memory cards, uploading the information on them into the software program GEMS (Global Election Management System). A couple of times, Yankee encounters memory cards that have been wiped clean. This requires that he get the poll book and enter the results manually.
http://annarborchronicle.com/2009/11/04/election-night-in-washtenaw-county/

NJ: Voting machines absolved of blame *
November 06, 2009…The cartridge readers did produce counts of zero votes in districts spread through 10 municipalities, but they only did in response to an as-yet unknown problem in their connection to a county computer server, said Robert Giles, director of the state Division of Elections.

The Voting News Daily: Tennessee judge denies injunction, Election pilots crash, Sarasota ballot disinfo

Many states run elections as if they are beta tests. An prime example are the Vote Centers in Galveston County Texas. Officials ran into surprises when all vote centers tried to start up at beginning of day, causing the state’s voter registration database to crash. And since these vote centers are dependant on the online database, voting was held up 30 and 40 minutes.Another surprise – firewalls blocking access to the county central voting system. So much for the “convenience” of Vote Centers, never mind the other problems with them but the media says it was all good….

…Brad Friedman reports: Sarasota Sample Ballots Urged Voters to Use Blue Ink, Though New Op-Scan Systems Can’t Read It. Another screw-up for notorious Election Director Kathy Dent…
…Update on Tennessee Paper Ballot Law! Judge Denies Injuction In Paper Ballot Case
Secretary Of State Should Begin To Implement Voter Confidence Act, Recommends Judge…

…A few South Carolina races trigger an automatic recount but SC uses paperless voting so if there’s a programming flaw nothing will change….Texas finally pulls IBM off voter reg database project, 13 day system outage in Aug final straw…

What Sequoia’s Source Code Publication Means…Joe Hall has more on EAC testing and Top To Bottom Review…

….There’s too many glitches, snags, snafus and meltdowns for me to do summarize, so please read about those and more in the news below…

CA: Hawthorne used car dealer turns polling place workers, voters away *
11/03/2009 …Saunders said Finance Auto Sales workers also called police to try to get the volunteers to leave after they set up voting booths on the sidewalk in front of the dealership at 11604 Prairie Ave.
Police allowed the workers to stay on the sidewalk for several hours until a nearby business agreed to let them set up inside. Hi Tech Auto Collision and Glass Centers allowed voters to use their office until polls closed.
http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_13707170

CT: A Day As Absentee Ballot Moderator
November 4, 2009 This election day was spent as moderator for central counting of absentee ballots, once again, in Vernon, CT.
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?p=2542

CT: Reporter’s notebook: Brooklyn voters complain about ballot layout*
…St. Jean said because there were three candidates on the ballot for first selectman, many residents voted for two candidates rather than just one.

When that happens, the voting machine returns the ballot and an election moderator gives the voter a new ballot to fill out, she said.
http://www.norwichbulletin.com/news/x1156075453/Reporters-notebook-Brooklyn-voters-complain-about-ballot-layout

FL: Sarasota Sample Ballots Urged Voters to Use Blue Ink, Though New Op-Scan Systems Can’t Read It *
Another screw-up for notorious Election Director Kathy Dent…
On October 17th, we reported that World’s Worst Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent of Sarasota, FL had discovered in pre-election tests that her new Diebold/Premier optical-scan voting systems failed to properly read paper ballots marked with blue ink.
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7502

IN: For voters, county maps were a source of confusion *
…St. Joseph County provided a map to help voters find their special election polling place. The information was on WSBT.com