The Voting News Daily: Montgomery PA voters thwarted by Sequoia machines. Why CT Finance Ruling matters.

Must read: Old style ballot box facing electronic poll threat. “The most effective fraud is done by changing results after the count is done–how much easier is that going to be to do undetected when there is no paper trail to trip you up?” ~ Silvana Puizana,electoral expert..Richard Winger of Ballot Access News says “2nd Circuit Reverses U.S. District Court, Says Constitution Permits Massive Discrimination Against Minor Parties and Independent Candidates in Public Funding.” The ruling is a ” major campaign finance decision with important national implications.” says Rick Hasen of ElectionLawBlog…

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

AL: Justice Department to Monitor Elections in Alabama
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/justice-department-to-monitor-elections-in-alabama-98250769.html
WASHINGTON, July 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ –The Justice Department announced today that it will monitor the primary runoff elections on July 13, 2010, in Barbour, Lee and Russell Counties, Ala., to ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

CA: ACORN Worker Sues O’Keefe
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7940

CT: Two Courts Rule For And Against Citizens Election Program
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?p=3359 Its a mixed bag, disappointing in my view.
It makes no sense that giving supplemental grants to one candidate limits the free speech of an opponent, or that erecting higher standards for third party candidates serves a vibrant democracy.

CT: 2nd Circuit Reverses U.S. District Court, Says Constitution Permits Massive Discrimination Against Minor Parties and Independent Candidates in Public Funding
http://www.ballot-access.org/2010/07/13/2nd-circuit-reverses-u-s-district-court-says-constitution-permits-massive-discrimination-against-minor-parties-and-independent-candidates-in-public-funding/

CT: SECOND CIRCUIT PANEL ISSUES TWO IMPORTANT DECISIONS ON CONNECTICUT CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAW http://electionlawblog.org/archives/016413.html In a major campaign finance decision with important national implications, a Second Circuit panel in Green Party of Connecticut v. Garfield agreed with a federal district court that the “trigger provision” of Connecticut’s campaign finance law (giving additional funding when a participating candidate faces a self-financed opponent or large independent spending against the candidate) is unconstitutional.

CT: Second Circuit Campaign Finance Rulings
http://www.brennancenter.org/content/resource/green_party_of_
connecticut_v_jeffrey_garfield_et_al/ http://is.gd/dr1px
Today, the Second Circuit upheld the majority of Connecticut’s campaign finance reform system – including its groundbreaking public financing program – against a sweeping constitutional challenge.

CT: Connecticut public financing opinion announced
http://politicalactivitylaw.com/2010/07/13/connecticut-public-financing-court-opinion-announced/ Today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit overturned the subsidies that Connecticut provides to publicly funded candidates for state office so they can match the campaign spending of their privately funded opponents.

GA: Vaccinations offered at early voting (ouch!)
http://www.rockdalecitizen.com/news/headlines/98287894.html
“Vote and Vaccination” program offered by the Rockdale County Board of Health.

NY: EDITORIAL: Let’s get voting right in New York ($ for full article)
http://www.newsday.com/opinion/editorial-let-s-get-voting-right-in-new-york-1.2099927
The comfortable era of lever voting machines is likely to end in New York in September. So we’ll have to get used to marking paper ballots and stuffing them into scanners that will read and count our votes – except when they won’t.

OR: A vote by mail glitch
http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2010/07/12/a-vote-by-mail-glitch/
Most people probably won’t encounter this, but it’s worth considering as we think about the long-range future of vote-by-mail, which is probably growing, and of the U.S. Post Service, which has been slowly spiraling downward.

PA: Election Board Response to ERN Study on Vote Discrepancies: “We’re Happy”
http://www.electionreformnetwork.us/node/235 After 14 years with the Sequoia machines, too many voters are still confused and poll workers still make blunders. Either we’re just stupid in Montco or the machines aren’t designed well to work with humans. Will our county officials investigate to get to the root of the problems? Sorry, they’re just too happy.

PA: A Report on Staffing Levels at the Polls for the 2008 General Election
http://www.electionreformnetwork.us/node/236 …69 districts or 17 percent were understaffed. Of the 44 districts with staffing records with disparities between the numbered poll list and the machine count of at least nine voters, 11 or 25 percent were understaffed (see Chart below).

VT: Early primary voting will impact race for governor (video avail)
http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=12787826
Early voting for the August 24th primary starts today. It’s the earliest Vermonters have been able to vote and the change could have a big impact on the outcome…