Election Reform, Fraud, & Updates Thread for Friday

Election Reform, Fraud, & Updates Thread for Friday

In order to organize and document MelissaB thought it would be a good idea to have a daily thread to place items related to reform, fraud, protests, and other items. This also make it easier to "catch up" when we are away from the computer for a while.

If you see something that isn't here post it with a link to the thread and a thanks to the author. MelissaB is busy for a while so I'm taking over and Need Lots of Help posting news items!
Thanks,
Melissa G

Link to previous thread
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x368287

night time, you are great!

Pennsylvania Election Reform Task Force Issues Final Report; Recommends Moving Presidential Primary Day to the First Tuesday in March


HARRISBURG, Pa., May 12 /PRNewswire/ -- PA Secretary of the Commonwealth
Pedro A. Cortes today presented Governor Edward G. Rendell with the
Pennsylvania Election Reform Task Force's Final Report with recommendations
that include moving up the presidential primary.
The Task Force recommended moving the presidential and state primary
elections to an earlier date to provide Pennsylvanians with a greater voice in
the selection of the President considering its electoral importance based on
population. The Task Force recommended establishing the first Tuesday in
March as the date of the primary election on a trial basis during the 2008 and
2012 presidential election years.
Established on December 13, 2004, by Executive Order 2004-11, Governor
Rendell created the 13-member Task Force to review several critical aspects of
the election process. The Task Force members were appointed by the Governor,
leaders of the General Assembly's four caucuses, the County Commissioners
Association of Pennsylvania (CCAP) and the Pennsylvania League of Woman
Voters.
"The Task Force believes that the recommendations in the Final Report
provide a solid foundation for election reform and further the ultimate goal
of increasing voter participation in the Commonwealth," Cortes said. "I
commend my fellow Task Force members for their hard work, diligence and
commitment to this project, and their willingness to improve Pennsylvania's
electoral processes. I look forward to working with Governor Rendell and the
General Assembly to continue guaranteeing open and fair elections for all
citizens of the Commonwealth."

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/05-12-2005/0003597647&EDATE=

WASHINGTON - (KRT) - In a town better known for turning its back on friends in need, the embattled House majority leader, Tom DeLay, was saluted Thursday night as a hero to the conservative movement in a glittering hotel ballroom packed to capacity.

"We don't run from our wounded," declared Paul Weyrich, president of the Free Congress Foundation.

snip
"The only way the left can win is if we break with him and we're holding the dinner to say, `That's not going to happen,'" said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform.

But outside the Capital Hilton, a liberal carnival had taken over - literally - to allow passers-by to spin "the wheel of corruption" or take a swing with "the hammer of corruption." A tall man with a pink balloon and a sign that said, "DeLay is Slime," barked out derogatory information about the Republican leader. And a woman passed out bars of soap that read: "Help Tom DeLay clean up his act."

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/politics/11633180.htm

Man, that would have been just a scream on the news. Can you imagine Leno's take on this if it were one of Clinton's people being protected in this manner?

Court eyes FEC role in campaign finance

PETE YOST

Associated Press


WASHINGTON - The Federal Election Commission tried to convince a skeptical federal appeals court Thursday that the agency did not water down rules that are supposed to limit the influence of money in politics.

Two judges on the three-member panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia suggested the FEC had defined terms in the realm of political fundraising too narrowly, making a landmark 2002 reform law easy to circumvent.

At issue are the FEC rules implementing the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, which bans corporate, union and unlimited donations to national political parties. That practice had flooded the political system with big special-interest checks.

Is it a solicitation when a U.S. senator says to donors, "It's important for our state party to receive at least $100,000 from each of you in this election?" Judge David Tatel asked.

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/politics/11632645.htm

A Homeowner Nails Bob Perry

In extraordinary lemon-home case involving Texas’ most powerful homebuilder has homeowners and builders reversing their traditional roles in such disputes.


snip
PREJUDGING DISPUTES
This appeal by Perry Homes makes one other fascinating claim that consumers typically invoke: arbitrator bias. As evidence, Perry Homes cites the fact that arbitrator Robert Prather previously had represented some homeowners in construction litigation. By contrast, homeowner plaintiffs in other cases repeatedly have claimed that an arbitrator had close ties to the homebuilding industry or favored an industry that brings arbitrators so much business. The bias claim in this case is extraordinary, coming as it does from Texas’ largest individual campaign contributor. Apparently, someone who has built so much bias into the political system knows it when he sees it.

The $4.6 million that Bob Perry gave to Texas candidates and PACs in the 2004 election cycle alone makes him the state’s leading kingmaker. Perry is one of the top underwriters of Texans For Lawsuit Reform (TLR). This pro-arbitration business group runs Texas’ largest PAC. It spent $31 million in 2004 to make it harder for consumers to hold businesses accountable in court. Perry Homes’ top in-house lawyer, John Krugh, helped draft 2003 legislation to create the nine-member Texas Residential Construction Commission, a state agency dominated by building-industry representatives—including Commissioner John Krugh. This special-interest coup prompted Rep. Garnet Coleman (D-Houston), to tell the Austin American-Statesman, “In Texas you can buy your own state agency, then regulate yourself.”

Many state judges also are beneficiaries of Bob Perry’s political largesse. Bob Perry and his wife personally have given more than $100,000 to Texas judicial candidates since 2000. Perry has not directly contributed to the appeals judges who now are mulling Cull v. Perry Homes. Nonetheless, their chief justice, John Cayce, got $13,430 from Perry-backed TLR in 2002 for his failed Texas Supreme Court run. In fact, three of the Texas Supreme Court’s sitting justices have taken a total of $25,000 directly from Bob Perry. It’s the court of last resort for Cull. v. Perry Homes.

Andrew Wheat is research director of Austin-based Texans for Public Justice.

http://www.mollyivins.com/showArticle.asp?ArticleID=1953

The Bermuda Triangle of American Politics

By Ilya Shapiro



PAGET PARISH, BERMUDA -- The aftershocks of the 2004 election still resound in this outpost of "Benedict Arnold CEOs." Yes, long after the Swift Boats Vets exited stage left and the pundits exhausted their unique takes on the real significance of "moral values," one rocky campaign outpost remains in the ocean of Social Security reform and "nuclear options."


Bermudians aren't overly concerned about the policy implications of President Bush's "ownership society." Nor are they debating the wisdom of filibustering judicial nominees. Instead, if we are to believe The Royal Gazette -- the paper of record in the commonwealth -- islanders are upset that their homeland remains the scapegoat for outsourcing and tax avoidance.



Or at least that's the impression one gets from an article covering a symposium hosted by the Professional Liability Underwriters Society (PLUS) last week. The keynote duet at this affair, which was staged at the swanky Fairmont Hamilton Princess, was given by the unlikely pair of Mary Matalin and Jim Carville -- unlikely not for being the consummate red-blue couple, which was a cliché a decade ago, but for gracing such a random event. (For which I'm sure they were well compensated, and not in the colorful local scrip that trades at par with the dollar.)



No doubt dazzled by the coral and pearls on display among the marble and teak, the crossfiring couple treated the professional liability underwriters -- don't ever confuse them with accountants -- to a behind-the-scenes tour of the state of American politics. The only thing that both agreed on was that, contrary to local fears, Bermuda was not the central concern of either politicians or the electorate on the mainland
http://www.techcentralstation.com/051305D.html

Posted on Thu, May. 12, 2005





Senate takes third crack at voter ID; governor wants different bill

JR ROSS

Associated Press


MADISON, Wis. - Shot down twice by the governor already, Republican lawmakers came back with a third attempt Thursday to require voters to flash a photo ID at the polls as a way of cleaning up state elections.

Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat, indicated he still opposed the bill but would be open to a different photo ID requirement for voters - if it includes other forms of ID they can show so they're not shut out at the polls.

Less than two weeks after the latest voter ID bill was vetoed, the state Senate gave preliminary approval Thursday to the new version, turning away Democratic complaints that it would not address serious election problems.

Republicans countered requiring voters to show a state or military-issued ID was a commonsense reform that most Wisconsinites support and argued anything less would not fix a broken system.

http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/politics/11632580.htm

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=368598&mesg_id=368598&page=

May 13, 2005

Records of 2 Democrats Are Subpoenaed

By PHILIP SHENON

WASHINGTON, May 12 - A federal grand jury has subpoenaed the files of a former executive director of the Democratic National Committee and another Democratic political consultant in a criminal investigation of Jack Abramoff, the Washington lobbyist at the center of corruption and influence-peddling inquiries by the Justice Department and Congress, the consultants say.

Brian Lunde, executive director of the committee in the mid-1980's, and his consulting partner, George Burger, said in interviews that they had provided the grand jury with records for a $50,000 contract they received three years ago to help win Democratic support for legislation allowing an Indian tribe to reopen its shuttered casino in West Texas.

Although Mr. Lunde and Mr. Burger said they did not know it at the time, the tribe was working with Mr. Abramoff, one of the best-paid Republican lobbyists in Washington. The consultants said they had been given the contract by Mr. Abramoff's partner, Michael Scanlon, a former House Republican aide who is also under scrutiny by the grand jury.

"I have never met Jack Abramoff," Mr. Lunde said. "I never knew he was involved."

-snip/more-

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/13/politics/13abramoff.html?ei=5088&en=06a42bf9a0734dd0&ex=1273636800&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=print

-snip-

Even better news, we have booked HBO Sports commentator Jim Lampley for this week's BRAD SHOW lineup!!!

(See this item http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001385.htm

and this followup http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001386.htm

for why that's very cool news if you don't know already!)


Now all we have to do is find a broadcast studio in Southern California.

If there's anyone who can help, please email me ASAP. mailto:thebradblog@cville.com

Thanks.

-snip/more-

http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001388.htm


Discussion:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x368664

LOS ANGELES ELECTIONS

City Clerk Is Counting on a Smoother Vote

Inkavote ballots slowed the tally in the March 8 mayoral contest. For Tuesday's runoff, a method that's less prone to error will be used.

By Steve Hymon, Times Staff Writer

As elections go, the evening of the March 8 vote in Los Angeles was hardly the best of times for City Clerk Frank T. Martinez.
snip

Gone, for now, is the Inkavote system in which a narrow ballot card is placed in a holder and marked with a special pen.

Replacing it will be a simple paper ballot that lists each race or issue and requires voters to use a marker to fill in an oval next to their choices. The ballots are already being used by absentee voters.

The benefit: It's hard for anyone to mess up, says Martinez, although he can foresee that some people will manage to either miss the oval or instead circle the candidate's name.

-snip/more-

http://www.latimes.com/news/columnists/la-me-votes12may12,0,1688005.story?page=1


Thanks to rumpel for making the discussion happen:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x368666

DU Press

TN DUers meet with our SOS & state legislators to discuss VVPB & MRMR

Posted Wed May-11-05 08:23 PM

by Fly by night

Summary of a meeting we participated in yesterday with our TN Secretary of State and three legislators (one blue, two red) to discuss VVPB and MRMR (mandatory random manual recounts).

I thought you DUers who are also working on state-level reforms might enjoy hearing about our process and progress.

With the good example of so many DUers around the country, we're taking the bull by the horns (or the balls -- whichever works) here in the Orange State.

Enjoy.

-snip/more-

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x368274

Kansas City Info Zine

Thursday, May 12, 2005

infoZine Staff

Election Reform Victories Increase Voter Confidence

Colorado Common Cause Commends Legislature's Passage of Voting Reforms Looks Forward to the Governor Signing Both Bills

Colorado - infoZine - Colorado Common Cause hailed the passage of two essential election reform bills late yesterday in the waning hours of the 2005 legislative session. The bills will increase voter confidence by creating voter verifiable paper trails and a meaningful audit of voting machines, and expanding the list of races that will be counted on provisional ballots. The bills passed with broad bi-partisan legislative support after extensive work with the Blue Ribbon Election Panel, the Secretary of State, the Governor's office, election reform allies including The Bighorn Center for Public Policy, and citizen advocates.

"These critical election bills will enhance voter confidence and trust in our elections and will ensure that every vote is properly cast and counted." said Jenny Flanagan, Colorado Common Cause's Associate Director.

Senate Bills 198 and 206 were amended sothey both reflected key election reform elements. Highlights of the bills include:

-snip/more-

http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/7675/

Opinion

Posted on Sat, May. 07, 2005

Florida a leader in election reform

The April 29 editorial Election proposals aren't voter-friendly states that Florida's election laws are designed to discourage voters. To the contrary, Florida continues to lead in election reform. But today, as elections become more complex, provisions are necessary to prevent voter fraud.

-snip/ :puke:

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/11586772.htm

Folks,

Just a reminder that there'll be a program on Election Reform in Philadelphia this Sunday. Entitled 'Election 2006: How to Make Sure All Votes Are Counted', the panel discussion will include some well-known members of the election reform community: journalist Lynn Landes, activist Marybeth Kuznik of VotePA, and exit-poll statistician Josh Mitteldorf.

It will be Sunday 2PM-4PM, at the Philadelphia Ethical Society, 1906 Rittenhouse Square.

Take a look at the program at www.phillyethics.net/site/agenda.pdf.

After the panel discussion, there'll be a meeting at a nearby restaurant to savor pasta and discuss whether there should be another Philadelphia election reform event.

It would be great to see you!

Bob=Moore

The GOP's Attack On Voting Rights
Rep. John Conyers Jr.
May 13, 2005

John Conyers, Jr. is a United States Congressman representing Michigan's 14th district.

190: The number of days since Election 2004 and the second consecutive presidential election in which the integrity of this nation’s democracy was questioned. This past November, this country witnessed a flawed election process in which there were biased election officials, overt voter suppression tactics and improper ballot counts and recounts. We know too well the stories about the illegal demands for voter identification, the voting machine shortages, the voting machine malfunctions and the improperly disqualified provisional ballots. More than six months after the election, now is the time to ensure that our second very sad election in a row does not become a third. There is agreement in America that real election reform is necessary and a consensus and focus is needed to guarantee such election reform.

12: A conservative count of the number of election reform proposals currently pending in Congress. While we must continue to assess and debate the accounts of Election 2004 improprieties and irregularities for the sake of history and truth, we must move forward. We need to come to agreement on what election reform should encompass and pursue that agenda with a single-minded focus. The Republicans have made clear the parameters of an election reform bill they will advance this Congress—one that does nothing or even takes us backwards by imposing onerous new requirements on voters. As we go back and forth on paper ballot or no paper ballot and assign ourselves to the pro-theft camp or the anti-theft camp, are we devoting the same energy to developing a consensus about what must be done to reform elections?

22: The number of times the phrase "voter identification" or "voter ID" was said at the first Carter-Baker Commission on Federal Election Reform hearing on April 18, 2005. The mantra of Republicans is that dogs, dead people, and cartoon characters are allowed to cast fraudulent votes. Republicans are advancing that strict voter identification requirements are the means to eliminate such voter fraud and state legislators are passing voter identification legislation as fast as they can with little debate or delay. In recent months, Indiana and Georgia have enacted voter identification requirements that have been characterized as some of the most severe and unreasonable voter identification requirements in the country. Several other state legislatures have similar legislation pending. At this first Carter-Baker Commission hearing, executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Barbara Arnwine told of the real-world consequences of these measures: More than 10 percent of eligible voters currently lack government-issued photo ID, and would be arbitrarily disenfranchised.

6: The number of days the American Center for Voting Rights, a new, "non-partisan," "voting rights" organization, had been in existence before it was called to testify by Republican members of Congress before a House Administration Committee hearing on March 22. The American Center for Voting Rights was formed by a lawyer for the Bush-Cheney campaign and the notoriously anti-voting rights Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri, who described the group as a non-partisan, voting rights advocacy group. He testified and submitted a report on Ohio election irregularities, which highlighted the Mary Poppins Conspiracy in this country. If you haven't heard about it, the Mary Poppins Conspiracy consists of many, many ineligible voters—using the names Mary Poppins, Dick Tracy and Jive F. Turkey—fraudulently voting in elections.

More:
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050513/the_gops_attack_on_voting_rights.php

Thanks to Amarylliss for posting the discussion:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x368738

Election official doubts ballot boxes were stuffed

00:00 am 5/13/05

Phil Brinkman Wisconsin State Journal

The state's top election official said Thursday there may be several innocent explanations for why the number of votes cast in Milwaukee in November exceeded the number of people recorded as having voted - a figure many are citing as evidence, if not proof, of widespread election fraud.

-snip-

But were ballot boxes actually stuffed?

Likely not, said Kevin Kennedy, executive director of the state Elections Board, who said current practices leave plenty of room for mistakes in recording how many people vote.

Moreover, Kennedy said, fraud on the scale suspected in Milwaukee defies logic because it ignores how elections are conducted in Wisconsin. The only way that many phony ballots could enter the system would be through a broad conspiracy involving poll workers at dozens of wards, he said.

-snip/more-

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/index.php?ntid=39799&ntpid=4

Thanks to Passy for posting the discussion and a question:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x368719

Black Box Voting

Posted on Thursday, May 12, 2005

Internal memos from state elections directors, secretaries of state, legal counsel and others, spanning 2001 - 2004.

Each of the following 35 .pdf files contains about 100 pages of letters, emails, and documents. Most is rather mundane, but not all of it. Those of you in Colorado will find hundreds of pieces of correspondence from Donetta Davidson and others.

At times, they call voting integrity advocates "berserkers" and we also see the insecurities of Elections Center's R. Doug Lewis surface, as he writes everyone in sight saying "It won't be pretty," concerned about an upcoming article by Adam Cohen of the New York Times.

There are interesting insights into the planning (and talking points) for inserting Homeland Security into our election process.

Colorado's Donetta Davidson and New York's Tom Wilkey refer to each other in endearing terms.

Again, most are unexciting, but if you are working on litigation you will want to go over these with a fine tooth comb, as they may provide important details. The correspondence also makes reference to many attachments, not provided, but they should all be available through public records requests.

http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/2197/5680.html

Thanks to Amarylliss for posting the discussion:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x368746

Thanks to Will Your Vote Be Counted for posting:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x368821