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 fault lies with computerized vote counting and our willingness to trust it.
It has already been reported that zero votes were incorrectly reported in numerous precincts in Jefferson, Madison, and Oswego Counties for one of the Congressional candidates, and that voting machine failures occurred in dozens of polling places in at least three different counties
…
In St. Lawrence County, ballots from eight polling places had to be hand counted due to voting machine failure. Machines in Louisville, Waddington, Clare, and Rossie “broke” early in the voting process on Election Day. Republican Commissioner Deborah Pahler said that the machines kept “freezing up… like Windows does all the time”. Machines in Hermon, Lawrence, Colton’s 2nd district, and Massena’s 1st and 2nd districts failed to print the results…
http://www.gouverneurtimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8425:impossible-numbers-certified-in-ny-23&catid=60:st-lawrence-news&Itemid=175
or use this url http://twi.cc/P8cJ
NY: The Plunging Pilot Project: Impossible Vote Totals in NY-23
…While the pilot project is clearly in a nosedive, the State is proceeding with its plan to certify the very electronic voting system responsible for the impossible numbers in the NY-23 race. This certification would be meaningless and would lead to elections that are just as meaningless
http://electiontransparencycoalition.org/2009/11/26/the-plunging-pilot-project-impossible-vote-totals-in-ny-23/
or use this url http://twi.cc/MuZn
VA: Believe It or Not, Turnout Was Up in Virginia
Virginia’s governor’s race earlier this month was a blowout election in which one party was supposedly deeply demoralized. But, based on the most relevant metric, turnout was actually up.
…
Reflecting the strong Republican vote and the weak Democratic vote, the turnout in Virginia’s counties was 45.47 percent, while in the cities it was 39.81 percent.
So, we have a split decision. More Virginians voted than four years ago, but a smaller percentage of registered voters showed up.
http://ballotbox.governing.com/2009/11/believe-it-or-not-turnout-was-up-in-virginia.html
Canada. Town eyeing vote-by-mail method again
25 November 2009 …“More and more municipalities in Ontario are taking advantage of available technology and opting for alternative methods for holding elections, including vote-by-mail, telephone voting, Internet voting, and others,” Town of Fort Frances Clerk Glenn Treftlin…
http://www.fftimes.com/node/229318
Suspect in Philippine Election Killings Surrenders
SHARIFF AGUAK, Philippines — A politician identified as the prime suspect in the massacre of more than 50 people this week surrendered to the authoritie on Thursday and is expected to be charged Friday with multiple murders in the worst carnage in the country’s long history of election-related violence.
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The victims were abducted while on their way to file paperwork to register Mr. Mangudadatu as a candidate.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/27/world/asia/27phils.html?_r=1
Kenya: ICC: Prosecutor Seeks OK on Kenya Inquiry
26 Nov 2009 12:30:00 GMT
The Hague) – The request today by the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor to the court’s judges to open a Kenya investigation is a decisive step toward justice for the country’s 2007 post-election violence, Human Rights Watch said. The move comes after more than a year of inaction by Kenya’s authorities on national prosecutions. The violence that followed Kenya’s flawed 2007 general election left 1,200 people dead, caused 600,000 to flee their homes, and brought Kenya to the brink of civil war
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HRW/0ab0dcb422e7a937bc5fd6d8c1247b42.htm
Voting News by Joyce McCloy.
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