Opposition to emailing and faxing ballots builds – See Jason Osgood’s letter to Washington state representatives in opposition to email and fax voting that would be made legal by the Overseas and Service Voters bill (HB 2483 / SB 6238)…
Lots of news about the Illinois primary, with some reports of machine malfunction and some voter registration issues and voters confused by the undervote warning on voting machines. Too much caffeine? A coffee break kills voting machine….
All this and more in today’s voting news below…
AZ: 9th Circuit Keeps Arizona Public Funding Alive At Least Through April 2010
http://www.ballot-access.org/2010/02/03/9th-circuit-keeps-arizona-public-funding-alive-at-least-through-april-2010/
CA: The Future of Voting in California: The People, the Equipment, the Costs
(watch the proceedings live)
http://www.sos.ca.gov/voting-systems/hearings/
Secretary of State’s Office, First Floor Auditorium, February 8, 2010, 10:00 a.m
CO: Marks v. Koch – Ballot Image Transparency Litigation – Aspen CO- 2nd conference
http://aspenelectionreview.blogspot.com/2010/02/marks-v-koch-ballot-imagetransparency.html
…During that conference the Judge did not decide on the motion to dismiss. He ruled to allow a deposition of True Ballot Inc. The City of Aspen advised that it would file a motion for a protective order preventing the deposition.
GA: Unscheduled elections cost thousands in taxpayer dollars
http://www.nbcaugusta.com/news/local/83362027.html
IL: Primary election: A few polling problems reported * (video available)
http://bit.ly/c1cjjg
…In Bloomington, a machine was replaced at Precinct 11, Fairway-Knolls Church of the Nazarene. Ballots were put into an auxiliary slot to be read and tabulated after the polls close, said Paul Shannon, executive director of the Bloomington Election Commission.
The procedure is the same for precincts covered by the McLean County clerk’s office. In Precinct 3 in Normal, for instance, early voters manually inserted their ballots into a machine whose automated function was on the fritz.
IL: County clerk to look into voter registration problems *
http://www.sj-r.com/breaking/x562895298/County-clerk-to-look-into-voter-registration-problems
Posted Feb 02, 2010 Sangamon County Clerk Joe Aiello said his office will look into why some voters showed up to the polls Tuesday, but their registrations weren’t reflected in the usual paperwork.
…
Earlier Tuesday, Aiello said tabulating machines at five polling places in the county had to be replaced by backups. One of the machines had printing that wasn’t dark enough on a test tape that printed Tuesday morning, Aiello said. Others had problems with the electronic display part of the machine.
IL: Voters Confused By Software*
http://visitpontiac.com/components/news/community/article.php?a=3cef3e8f52fd537e050fde5578979cfb
Feb 03, 2010 A minor software issue with electronic voting machines caused some voter confusion during Tuesday’s primary.
When a voter used the electronic voting machine, the computer would display a summary of the voter’s selections. However, there was a red box in the summary, which indicated the voter did not vote for one of the questions.
IL: Campus voting slowed by issues of residency, identification *
http://www.dailyillini.com/news/campus/2010/02/03/campus-voting-slowed-by-issues-of-residency-identification
IL: Oops! Coffee spill breaks $5000 voting machine *
http://www.bnd.com/breaking_news/story/1114862.html
IL: Some counties don’t use mandated computer chips in voting machines
http://www.tribstar.com/local/local_story_033235746.html
IL: Snow hits primary: How bad weather changes elections
http://bit.ly/d8SefU
IL: Voters have mixed reactions to law alerting them to undervotes *
http://bit.ly/be3fWv
IL: Absentee Return Possibility
http://blog.champaigncountyclerk.com/2010/02/03/absentee-return-possibility/
Absentee ballots automatically sent to the military and overseas voters were returned at a 59% rate that election and just 23% of those outstanding on the day of the election ended up showing up in time to be counted.
Ballots that were affirmatively requested by voters were returned at an overall rate of 91% and 60% of those outstanding on election day were returned in time to be counted.
IL: Election Day Comments
Published by Champaign County Clerk
http://blog.champaigncountyclerk.com/2010/02/03/election-day-comments/
Please let us know any thoughts you have on how election day went for you
IL: eVoter Is Responsive
Published by Champaign County Clerk
http://blog.champaigncountyclerk.com/2010/01/27/evoter-is-responsive/
I remain concerned about this venture, if for no other reason than its sheer size and intricacy. On top of the technical issues that will have to be continually overcome, there is the issue of just where this leads us in the future.
MN: Caucus night: Seifert wins GOP poll, DFLers vote Rybak (online voting)
http://bit.ly/cKyCJD
The Independence Party held only eight caucuses statewide, as it stages a month-long online caucus. With only 262 party activists voting, former Republican commentator Tom Horner had gotten nearly half of the votes.
The polls are not binding
NJ: Verified Voting Foundation -NJ Judge Issues Mixed Order on Use of E-voting Machines
http://www.verifiedvotingfoundation.org/article.php?id=6749
NJ: Voting Machine Court Decision Got it Half Right
http://www.bluejersey.com/diary/14367/voting-machine-court-decision-got-it-half-right
My one hope is that this new panel of experts, who have actual knowledge of computers and computer security, will see the flaws in our current system and make the recommendation the court did not; to mandate new machines with paper trails.
NY: New York City Selects New Electronic Voting Machines
http://electls.blogs.wm.edu/2010/02/03/new-york-city-selects-new-electronic-voting-machines/
February 3, 2010 On January 5th, Election Systems and Software was selected to provide the new voting machines. Why wasn’t Dominion Voting chosen? The main reason, according the Board of Elections, is that ES&S is easier to read and use for two important demographics: the disabled and immigrants.
PA: Clearfield commissioners unveil plans for Gray building
http://www.theprogressnews.com/default.asp?read=21102
February 03 …The garage will be used to house the county’s electronic voting machines. From there they can be programmed and delivered much more easily than the current system. Currently, the county places the voting machines in the HAZMAT building prior to the election, forcing them to remove all of the HAZMAT vehicles…
WA: Olympia Embraces Internet Voting (letter to Reps opposing email and fax voting)
Feb 03, 2010 Message sent to my representatives in the 46th LD. Please write to your own representatives and party chairs…
http://www.washblog.com/story/2010/2/3/132651/7781
WA: John Washburn’s Creedal Statement on Election Transparency
http://washburnsworld.blogspot.com/2010/01/gab-johnny-yoo-of-election.html
WV: Raleigh Commission hears voting machine complaint
http://www.register-herald.com/local/local_story_033220247.html
A local leader of the conservative Constitution Party told the Raleigh County Commission on Tuesday it needed to re-evaluate the touch screen voting machines currently used in elections because the machines are flawed.
National
More Citizens United at Rick Hassen’s Electionlaw blog
Feb 3 http://electionlawblog.org/archives/015192.html
2010 Electronic Voting Technology Workshop/ Workshop on Trustworthy Elections
http://www.usenix.org/events/evtwote10/cfp/evtwote10cfp.pdf
Papers are solicited in all areas related to electronic voting
EVT/WOTE ’10 will be co-located with the 19th USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX Security ’10), which will take place August 11–13, 2010.
Submissions due: April 16, 2010, 11:59 p.m. PDT
Voting News by Joyce McCloy.
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Disclaimer: Articles and commentary included in “Voting News” do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors of Voting News,or its allied organizations. Articles are selected for inclusion to inform subscribers’ability to draw their own conclusions based on noteworthy and credible news,research, legislation, and debate bearing on the integrity of elections.