The Voting News Weekly

The Voting News Weekly: TVN Weekly September 26 – October 2 2011

Researchers at the Argonne National Laboratory demonstrated a low cost and relatively low tech method of remotely hacking electronic voting machines. Activists in in Ohio gathered more than enough signatures to put the State’s controversial election law on hold for the 2012 elections. The Maine Secretary of State sent a letter to out-of-state college students encouraging them to re-register in their home States. The Colorado Court of Appeals ruled that electronic images of voted ballots should be open for public inspection. Two computer science professors began a forensic auit of Venango County’s iVotronic voting system. The New York Times posted an editorial examining the worldwide disillusionment with the democratic political process and the Charleston Post and Courier called for an independent audit of South Carolina’s voting systems. And Saudi King Abdullah announced that the nation’s women would gain the right to vote and run as candidates in the next municipal elections in 2015.

The Voting News Weekly: TVN Weekly September 19-25 2011

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="260" caption="Counting Ballots in Latvia"][/caption]

Princeton computer scientist Andrew Appel details concluded his series of posts on New Jersey’s voting equipment with a discussion ballot programming errors and discrepancies between the printed ballot and the electronic ballot definition files in a primary election earlier this year. Pennsylvania Republicans proposed legislation that would change the way the state’s electoral votes are awarded. A shift to all vote-by-mail has created a controversy about whether ballots should be mailed to “inactive” voters. A Federal District Court upheld the Voting Rights Act in a case brought by Shelby County Alabama. An agreement allowed thousands of descendants of slaves once owned by the Cherokee Nation to vote in this week’s re-election for principal chief. A taxpayer-funded review by the Secretary of State found that none of students accused of voter fraud by Maine GOP chairman Charlie Webster had voted twice or broken any laws. In an election marred by violence, Zambia elected Michael Tata president and OSCE observers applauded the administration of Latvia’s election.

The Voting News Weekly: TVN Weekly September 12-18 2011

In an ongoing series, Princeton computer scientist Andrew Appel details how New Jersey election officials failed to improve voting system security. The Election Assistance Commission released a survey on Internet voting. The re-vote for Cherokee Nation chief will proceed despite legal challenges related to the voting rights of descendants of freed slaves. Denmark elected their first female prime minister and the Hill compared the Danish electoral process to that of the United States. The Centre for Open ICT Policy Analysis has noted, with grave a concern, similarities between Ghana’s impending e-voting system and that of the Uganda. Local councils continue to lobby for online voting in British Columbia. A referendum on same-day registration will be on the Maine ballot this November and the decision of Mahoning county Ohio to move to a paper ballot voting system reflects changes in the nationwide market for voting systems.

The Voting News Weekly: TVN Weekly September 5-11 2011

The Senate Judiciary committee, chaired by Senator Durbin, held a hearing on new voting laws in states across the country. The chairman of the Maine Republican Party accused more students of voter fraud. A memo from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation informed employees not to mention that voter ID cards are free – unless they are specifically asked and a state employee was fired for alerting his friends of this policy using a government email address. Reports from British Colombia and India cast doubts on the security of online voting proposals. The Atlantic analysed Arizona’s challenge to the Voting Rights Act. The Muncie Star Press raised concerns over Indiana’s plan to remove the names of unopposed candidates from ballots and The Denver Post noted that democracy didn’t come to a halt when citizen volunteers were allowed to inspect ballots from Saguache County.

The Voting News Weekly: TVN Weekly August 29-September 4 2011

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="260" caption="Examining Ballots in Saguache County"][/caption]

Barbara Simons posted a report of security vulnerabilities in the Estonian Internet Voting System and the election commission of British Colombia released a discussion paper examining the possibility of internet voting in the province. After two weeks of heated debate a compromise was reached between the Ohio Secretary of State and Cuyahoga County concerning the mailing of absentee ballot applications. A New Jersey Superior Court judge ordered a new election in Fairfield Township as a result of irregularities related to the Sequoia Advantage voting system. Continuing his efforts to disenfranchise student voters, Maine GOP Chairman Charlie Webster suggested that paying taxes should be a prerequisite for voting for students. A recount of ballots from the last year’s controversial election in Saguache County Colorado got underway and South Carolina’s Voter ID legislation is on hold pending a review by the Department of Justice.

The Voting News Weekly: TVN Weekly August 21-28 2011

Congressman John Lewis marked the dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington DC with an editorial in the New York Times. The Arizona Attorney General filed a lawsuit challenging the Voting Rights Act. Election integrity activists and computer scientists were quick to point out that the statewide upgrades to New Jersey’s Sequoia Advantage electronic voting machines would not address fundamental flaws in the system. Defying a ban imposed by the Ohio Secretary of State, Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald announced plans to continue sending absentee ballot applications to all registered voters. Maine’s voter registration system was infected by malicious software. The earthquake that shook the mid-Atlantic caused some disruption of primary elections in Virginia. Libya’s National Transitional Council announced plans for elections within eight months and the League of Women Voters is preparing a legal challenge to Wisconsin’s Voter ID requirement.

The Voting News Weekly: TVN Weekly August 15-21 2011

Elections Canada announced their support for online voting on Wednesday, leaving others to point out the security vulnerabilities such a plan would introduce. The Jones County Mississippi clerk convinced his county’s Board of Supervisors to allow the removal of voter verified paper audit trail printers with the astonishing claim that there is no way to tamper with Diebold TSx touchscreen voting machines. An audit of South Carolina’s 2010 elections revealed widespread discrepancies and irregularities with the state’s ES&S iVotronic touchscreen voting machines. Also this week, the Department of Justice determined that South Carolina’s new voter ID requirement could not be enforced this year at least. The Wake County North Carolina District Attorney noted that none of the nine people charged last week for voting twice in the 2008 elections would have been deterred by a photo ID requirement, though of course all were caught under current law. Though a concealed weapon license can serve as identification for voting under emergency legislation signed by Texas Governor Rick Perry, a Veteran’s ID apparently can not. At least 38 people have been killed in election-related violence in the run-up to the Guatemalan elections and thousands protested in Kabul after an Independent Election Commission recommended the removal of 62 legislators due to irregularities in last year’s elections.

The Voting News Weekly: TVN Weekly August 8-14 2011

A district court ruled that Saguache County clerk Melinda Myers must turn over ballots from 2010 election to the Colorado Secretary of State. In a related decision the same court threatened to hold Election Systems and Software in contempt for failing to appear for depositions retaed to their M650 central count tabulators and related software. Though charges of double voting against three Wake County North Carolina residents were quickly used in support of a voter ID bill recently vetoed by Governor Perdue, the law would not have stopped the voters from attempting to vote twice. Current law did, however. Post-election ballot counting in the Hinds County Mississippi primary election marred by voting machine malfunctions became chaotic. Florida’s new election law received pre-clearance by the Department of Justice – except for its most controversial provisions. The Post and Courier gave an account of the obstacles faced by one South Carolina citizen in trying to obtain required identification to allow her to vote. And from the Verified Voting Blog, a plea to let the provisions of the Federal MOVE Act have a chance to work before considering the electronic return of voted ballots.

The Voting News Weekly: TVN Weekly August 1-7 2011

Tuesday’s primary election in Mississippi was plagued with voting machine malfunctions – candidates’ or entire contests missing from screens and machines that failed to boot up – highlighting national concern about the accuracy and reliability of electronic voting heading into next year’s Presidential election. The 46th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act was marked by an editorial in Politico and efforts by the Secretary of State of Florida to avoid Department of Justice pre-clearance of the most controversial sections of that state’s new election law. Several groups have also asked the DoJ to review South Carolina’s voter ID law. Wisconsin is reconsidering its plans to close 16 DMV offices just as new voter ID requirements go into affect. Meanwhile many voters in the state are receiving absentee ballot applications and other campaign material with incorrect filing deadlines and election dates. A Portland Press Herald editorial recommends that Maine voters reinstate same-day registration and massive cyber attacks against the IOC, UN and several governments underscored concerns about plans for the transmittal of voted ballots over the Internet.

The Voting News Weekly: TVN Weekly July 25-31 2011

The Maine GOP chairman accused university students of committing a felony for voting in the state while paying out-of-state tuition though the University residency requirements are entirely unrelated to the residency requirements for voting in the State. A Wisconsin mother filmed her son’s effort to obtain a voter ID from the DMV and discovered that sufficient bank activity has apparently become a prerequisite for the right to vote. And finding a DMV office in Wisconsin in order to prove that sufficient bank activity will become more difficult – at least in some areas – under Governor Walker’s new plan. Budget cuts in California are threatening county election offices’ ability to mail absentee ballots. India’s pilot of voter verified paper audit trail printers encountered problems. The North Carolina House fell five votes short of overriding Governor Perdue’s veto of a voter ID requirement. Kentucky legislators consider whether a fixed address is required before exercising the right to vote and a proposed internet poll for Presidential candidates fails to consider the evidence of past experiments with online voting.

The Voting News Weekly: TVN Weekly July 18-24 2011

Youth, especially students, will face new challenges in states that have passed restrictive voter ID laws, many of which specifically exclude student IDs as accepted forms of identification. Estonia’s internet voting system continues to be questioned. After two recounts, the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court threw out the election for chief and called for a re-vote. Fox News offered an editorial in support of Voter ID laws, while Congressional Democrats voiced their concerns to the Department of Justice. The hardships that some individuals will face in order to vote in South Carolina were are described in an article in The State. Election integrity activists, with the support of the Secretary of State, stopped a bill that would have allow the electronic submission of voted ballots through email in California. And the Thai election commission certified Yingluck Shinawatra’s election as MP, setting the stage for her to become that nation’s first female Prime Minister.

The Voting News Weekly: TVN Weekly July 11-17 2011

Wisconsin taxpayers paid just under a half a million dollars for a round of six primaries this week in which ‘fake’ Democrats challenged ‘real’ Democrats in order to give the Republican Senators facing ‘real’ recalls an extra month to campaign and raise funds. The election also allowed what officials called a “soft launch” for the State’s new Voter ID law, which will cost those same taxpayers over $7 million to implement. Sussex County New Jersey officials are withholding service and maintenance payments to their election vendor ES&S until they get an adequate explanation and remedy for tabulation errors that occured in several contests earlier this year. The GOP candidate for Kentucky Secretary of State is challenging the incumbent’s practice of allowing homeless American citizens to write “homeless” in the address line of their voter registration application. Egypt announced it would not pursue internet voting in upcoming elections, which were also postponed. Recall fever has reached Arizona, where State Senate President Russell Pearce will face an election this November after petitions were submitted and approved. After their crushing defeat in parliamentary elections last week, the Thailand Democrat Party has challenged the winner of the election, Yingluck Shinawatra in part because she cooked noodles at a campaign event and then provided the results of her culinary efforts to attendees, which thelosing party interprets as bribery. And in Malaysia election reform protesters were met with tear gas and water cannons in what had become a very volatile situation.

The Voting News Weekly: TVN Weekly July 4-10 2011

Next week will see the first of the recall elections in Wisconsin, which will feature acknowledged “fake” Democratic candidates running to force primary elections that will cost taxpayers nearly half a million dollars. The controversy over the Cherokee Nation election stretched into a third week with allegations of mishandling absentee ballots and non-citizen voting. The Democratic legislature in Rhode Island passed a voter ID bill that is much less restrictive than the bill proposed in Ohio, which is opposed by Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted. A coalition of civil rights and election protection advocates have challenged the voter ID bill signed by South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. Though the severity of the breach has been questioned by Florida election officials, a hacker going by the name Abhaxas has claimed a second hack of the State’s election database. In New Jersey, a ballot programming error that was not caught in pre-election testing is being blamed on “human error.” Former President Bill Clinton described new GOP laws  restricting access to voting as the most determined disenfranchisement effort since Jim Crow. And Egypt joined Bangladesh, Namibia, Nigeria, Kenya, The Philippines and Russia with plans to use electronic voting machines in upcoming elections in the news this week.

The Voting News Weekly: TVN Weekly June 20-26 2011

Bills requiring voters to present a photo ID have passed Republican-dominated legislatures in many states and several have been vetoed by Democratic Governors, including Governor Perdue’s veto this week in North Carolina. Republican Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted challenged the Voter ID provisions included in an omnibus election bill by legislators from his own party. Indiana Secretary of White testified before the State Recount Commission regarding the status of his voter registration during the May 2010 primary – a decision on whether he can remain in office is expected next week. In a suspension vote requiring a two thirds majority, the US House defeated a bill that would have eliminated the Election Assistance Commission. An LA Times article reported on the explosion of recall elections across the country and a Washington Post editorial considered how the flurry of GOP-backed changes in state election codes will effect the 2012 election. Maine Governor LePage signed a controversial bill that would end nearly four decades of election day registration in the state, while a coalition of organization vowed to bring the measure to the ballot as a referendum in November. The Bangladesh National Party has announced it will boycott elections using electronic voting and computer scientist David Jefferson writes about the national security threat posed by email and fax delivery of voted ballots.

 

The Voting News Weekly: TVN Weekly June 13-19 2011

Embattled Secretary of State Charlie White has sought immunity before he testifies to the Indiana State Recount Commission that is investigating him for voter fraud. A Voter ID bill failed in the Maine legislature, another was vetoed by Missouri Governor Jay Nixon and yet another will most likely be vetoed by North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue. Claiming that they are an international agent somehow exempt from the jurisdiction of the State of Colorado, ES&S failed to appear for deposition in a case stemming from the 2010 election in Saguache County. Another Canadian city has discovered the expense of internet voting. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney was accused of voter fraud by one of his fellow Republican Presidential candidates, Fred Karger. India will field test voter verified paper audit printers on their electronic voting machines and Republicans running as fake candidates to force primary elections before the recall elections in Wisconsin will cost taxpayers over $400,000.

The Voting News Weekly: TVN Weekly June 5-12 2011

The Voting News Weekly: TVN Weekly May 30-June 4 2011

A hearing was held in the dispute between Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler and Saguache County Clerk Melinda Myers over access to ballots from the 2010 election. Barely finished with a grueling statewide recount, the Wisconsin Government Accountability Office came under partisan fire for their request for extension to complete the review of challenges…

The Voting News Weekly: TVN Weekly May 21-29 2011

Laws requiring that voters produce a photo ID were signed into law in Texas and Wisconsin this week – and vetoed in Minnesota. John Tanner, former chief of the voting section of the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, has an interesting perspective on how the Texas bill might fare in the inevitable court challenges…

The Voting News Weekly: TVN Weekly May 14-20 2011

Over the past week, several issues have dominated the voting news. The coordinated effort to establish restrictive voter identification requirements in state election codes and limiting early voting periods continued in spite of fierce opposition, with bills reaching governor’s desks in Florida, Texas, Wisconsin and South Carolina. All face legal challenges and the Department of Justice…