At today’s public hearing about the future of voting in California, when the issue of new voting machines was brought up, some citizens urged the officials to get rid of electronic voting, period. Tom Courbat with the Sacremento group “Save Our Vote” said: “We’re not convinced there is enough security in these voting systems to justify continuing to purchase them. We have seen demonstrations over and over again of machines being hacked…”
UKRAINE orange revolution reversed? RUSSIA Tymoshenko accuses winner Yanukovich of election fraud…
All this and more in today’s voting news below….
CA: California’s Electronic Voting Booths Need An Upgrade But It Won’t Be Cheap
http://www.capradio.org/articles/articledetail.aspx?articleid=7779
…At a public hearing on the issue in Sacramento, some citizens urged the officials to get rid of electronic voting, period.
CA: Monday update: Morales indicted for voter fraud
http://www.sthelenastar.com/articles/2010/02/08/news/local/doc4b7093681d58b608400389.txt
February 08, 2010 …The Napa County district attorney’s office alleges that Morales voted twice in the Nov. 3 mail-in election
CO: Questions Mailed to Aspen Special Counsel Jim True
http://aspenelectionreview.blogspot.com/2010/02/questions-mailed-to-aspen-special.html
CT: Democracy Too Costly for Seymour?
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?p=2869
February 9, 2010 …With both Gov. M. Jodi Rell and Sen. Christopher Dodd stepping down, voting registrars in town expect to hold primaries for both major political parties this year.
That means more money in the budget that hasn’t much to begin with
ID: Bill Would Require Idaho Voter ID
http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/hbo/2010/feb/09/bill-would-require-idaho-voter-id/
IN: Review of Vote Centers Study by the Bowen Center for Public Affairs
http://www.in.gov/sos/elections/files/BowenCenterVoteCenterSummary_for_SOS.pdf
IL: Election Code Growing
http://blog.champaigncountyclerk.com/2010/02/09/election-code-growing/
Champaign County Clerk Just received my new annotated election code from Westlaw. It’s now grown to three volumes from two.
IL: Lawmakers head back to Springfield with a list of problems
http://www.pjstar.com/news/x1522834498/Lawmakers-head-back-to-Springfield-with-a-list-of-problems
…Rep. Jim Watson, R-Jacksonville, is the chief sponsor of House Bill 4687, which would undo a state law that requires voters to be alerted if they cast an undervote.
KS:Kansas secretary of state resigns
http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics/story/1735838.html
MO: Annual Missouri Voter ID back as constitutional amendment
http://bit.ly/98IlsR
NH: New Hampshire Hearing Seems Favorable to Ballot Access Reform Bill
http://www.ballot-access.org/2010/02/09/new-hampshire-hearing-seems-favorable-to-ballot-access-reform-bill/
February 9th, 2010 On February 9, the New Hampshire House Election Law Committee held another hearing on HB 1264
NJ: N.J. voting machines: Verify our votes and stop delaying paper backup
By Star-Ledger Editorial Board
http://blog.nj.com/njv_editorial_page/2010/02/nj_voting_machines_verify_our.html
February 08, 2010…”New Jersey had the gold standard of statutes” when it passed the 2005 law, says Rutgers-Newark Law School professor Penny Venetis, “but at this point, the vast majority of people in the country vote on machines that produce paper and New Jersey is lagging.”
NM: Sec of State: Not enough money for 2010 elections
http://newmexicoindependent.com/46641/sec-of-state-not-enough-money-for-2010-elections
NM: New Mexico Secretary of State Tells Legislature She Has Insufficient Funds to Hold 2010 Elections
http://www.ballot-access.org/2010/02/09/new-mexico-secretary-of-state-tells-legislature-she-has-insufficient-funds-to-hold-2010-elections/
February 9th, 2010 The New Mexico Independent newspaper of February 9 has this story, which says that New Mexico’s Secretary of State Mary Herrera has told the legislature that her budget is over $1,000,000 short of having enough money to pay for the 2010 primary and general elections
NY: New York: Four Legislative Specials
http://ballotbox.governing.com/2010/02/new-york-four-legislative-specials.html
Today, we have four special elections for the New York Assembly.
OH: Checks of voter records coming
Brunner wants notices sent if registration info conflicts with file data
http://bit.ly/aivjpL
VT: Vermont Bill for Disaggregated Fusion
http://www.ballot-access.org/2010/02/09/vermont-bill-for-disaggregated-fusion/
WA: Election day: Still time to replace a ballot
http://crosscut.com/blog/crosscut/19326/
…For anyone who has lost his or her ballot, King County has several last-minute options, including sending a replacement by email. Someone receiving an email ballot could then print it out, vote and sign the oath.
National
Citizens United, foreign nationals, and the China Investment Corp.’s “vast U.S. holdings” http://politicalactivitylaw.com/?p=7918
Why the “Christmas Day Intelligence Failure” might be of interest to election scholars and administrators
http://electionupdates.caltech.edu/?p=3052
the important lesson for election administrators and scholars at this moment in time is that as we begin to design systems for database matching using state voter registration data, we ought to make sure that they are being designed to have the very intelligent properties that Jeff discusses in his essay.
International
Costa Rica: Female Leader Elected
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/09/world/americas/09costarica.html
February 8, 2010 MEXICO CITY — Costa Ricans elected a former vice president, Laura Chinchilla, as the country’s first female president, giving the ruling party a resounding victory.
Iraqi Elections in Turmoil – A Synopsis
http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/3958.htm
In mid-January, a largely unknown body called the Justice and Accountability Commission (Hayat Al-Masaa Wal-‘Adala, or the de-Ba’thification Commission in its earlier incarnation), issued an order disqualifying 511 candidates from participating in the Iraqi general election, slated for March 7, 2010, on grounds of membership in, or sympathy to, the dissolved Ba’th Party which ruled Iraq for 35 years.
Nigeria: Glitches emerge in closely-watched Nigerian state poll
http://bit.ly/bE4bxG
February 8, 2010 AWKA/ONITSHA, Nigeria (Reuters) – Polls opened late and voters complained they were not on electoral lists on Saturday in a Nigerian state election seen as a test of the country’s ability to hold credible national polls next year.
UK: Brown under fire over plans to reform the voting system and win over the Lib Dems
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1247846/Gordon-Browns-voting-reform-plan-comes-fire.html
Gordon Brown is facing a Labour backlash over his ‘deathbed conversion’ to plans to ditch the first-past-the-post voting system.
UK: Vote to retain election night drama
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article7021296.ece
At the eleventh hour ministers supported a cross-party call to force returning officers to start counting votes within four hours of polling stations closing.
RUSSIA Tymoshenko accuses winner Yanukovich of election fraud
http://bit.ly/ag1cj9
Tymoshenko to challenge Ukraine election result
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/308245,tymoshenko-to-challenge-ukraine-election-result.html
Ukraine’s Voters Speak, in Two Voices
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/08/ukraines-voters-speak-in-two-voices/
Ukraine’s presidential election on Sunday seems to have reversed the results of the country’s Orange Revolution…
Voting News by Joyce McCloy.
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