Election Reform Daily Thread for friday, 04-07-06

Welcome to the "ERD"

Its the software, dummy!

Please post Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News on this thread.




1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web.

2. Post stories using the "Election Fraud and Reform News Sources" listed here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x397093

3. Re-post stories and announcements you find on DU, providing a link to the original thread with thanks to the Original Poster, too.

4. Start a discussion thread by re-posting a story you see on this thread.


If you want to know how post "News Banners" or other images, go here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=371233#371391

for MAC users-- IIRC its hold down control- and click on the image to view its source.

Problems in Penn. with voting firm used here

April 7, 2006

BY STEVE PATTERSON Staff Reporter Advertisement


The company that provided voting machines for the problem-plagued primary here two weeks ago is under fire in Pennsylvania, where software problems and concerns about the potential for fraud have led one county to shift its contract to a competing firm.

>snip<

Systems 'totally different'

Sequoia spokeswoman Michelle Shafer said the systems -- and problems experienced -- in Pennsylvania "are totally different" from those in Chicago and Cook County.

While voters here used optical-scan and touch-screen machines, officials in Pennsylvania tested push-button machines, said Kevin Evanto, spokesman for the Allegheny County chief executive.

But he said a software problem, followed by a computer science professor's ability to manipulate vote totals during testing, caused concern among officials and, with their May 16 primary looming, the move to another voting system.

.

Full story-

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-voting07.html

Thumbs up, thumbs down on ballot machines: Assurances not enough after out-of-state problems arise, activists say

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

By ERICA ZARRA
of The Montclair Times

Electronic voting machines built by Sequoia Voting Systems have experienced critical software problems in two different areas of the nation.

>snip<


“What happened in Chicago and Pennsylvania has absolutely nothing to do with New Jersey,” said Michelle Shafer, Sequoia Voting Systems’ vice president of communications and external affairs. “The software in New Jersey is a different version.

>snip<

Katherine Joyce, a Montclair resident and member of the Essex County Task Force on Voting, a citizens group formed by residents concerned with Essex County’s purchase of electronic ballot boxes, believes the Sequoia Advantage is seriously flawed.“There is no difference between the machine that failed in Pennsylvania and the machine that we will use. And, if there is a difference, I’d like to see the documentation,” said Joyce, who spoke on behalf of the citizens’ task force.

>snip<

“How can they verify that the same problems won’t happen here? We are headed for disaster,” Joyce said. A Sequoia representative acknowledged in a New Jersey court last month that he cannot assure that the company will have its machine’s paper-trail function ready by the Jan. 1, 2008, deadline, as required by state law.

>snip<

However, municipal officials in five Essex County municipalities — Newark, Irvington, Orange, West Orange, and Belleville — have been granted waivers by the state to continue using lever voting machines in two upcoming elections this May. The local officials expressed fear that voters have not been properly instructed on how to use the electronic models.

>snip<

Still, activists like Joyce maintain that adequately trained poll workers will not alleviate their concerns.

“We find ourselves in a very sad position to use a machine that we don’t believe in,” Joyce said. “We don’t want a disaster, but it would be interesting for us to be proven right.”

Contact Erica Zarra at zarra@montclairtimes.com

The Sequoia Advnatge voting machine is an older "pushbutton" Computerized voting machine, first introduced in the mid 1980s. The Advantage has been in the news recently, concerning "problems in Chicago and Pennsylvania.

In Pennsylvania Dr. Shamos changed results in the WinEDS tabulation software. TO me it sounds like DRE advocate Dr. Shamos hacked the Sequoia tabulator.

This picture is of a ACLU Lawwyer at the July 2005 Voting Machine demo in Newark NJ. I have annotated the picture to indicate the basic dimensions of the ballot face of the Advantage DRE.



Here is a page from the 2005 voting system standards. The annotations are mine.




These Wheelchair standards state the the top of the ballot face cannot exceed 48 inches. In a vertical position the top of the ballot face of the Advantage DRE is 58 inches high. If the ballot face is angled back, as in the top photo, the top is 54 inches high. There is no way the Advantage DRE can even come close to meeting these standards. NO matter how the ballot face is positioned, it is a good 10 inches too high.

Roger Fox.

Founder, Essex County Task Froce on Voting.


Discussion:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2557225

Allegheny County to buy 4,700 touch-screen voting machines

The county decided to buy the iVotronic machines after Pennsylvania Secretary of State Pedro Cortes last week said machines the county wanted to buy from Sequoia Voting System of Oakland, Calif. likely wouldn't be certified for use in the state due to software concerns, Onorato said.

More than 20 Pennsylvania counties have also decided to buy the iVotronic machines under the federal Help America Vote Act. The law requires counties with lever- or punch-card voting systems to change machines to prevent problems like those encountered in Florida during the 2000 presidential election.

Onorato said the county will start educating poll workers and voters who have used lever machines for more than 40 years.

"Are we going to have problems on election day?" Onorato said. "Every single county in Pennsylvania is going to have problems."

Full story:


http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/14274118.htm

12-05-05:

Michelle Shafer Joins Sequoia Voting Systems as Vice President,

http://www.sequoiavote.com/article.php?id=70

Google search "Alfie Charles Sequoia"

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&tab=wn&ie=UTF-8&q=Alfie+Charles+Sequoia+&btnG=Search+News

It used to be that you would get some hits on Alfie, but alas, no more.

Smartmatic-Sequoia CEO faces interrogation in the US

The Chicago City Council Committee's on Finance Friday is conducting a hearing for the president of Smartmatic and Sequoia Voting Systems, Jack Blaine, in connection with the operation of the touch screen balloting machines they sold the Cook County for some USD 40 million and which failed to transmit the results of a poll conducted two weeks ago.

Last week, Michelle Shaffer, a spokeswoman for Sequoia, argued the machines "worked very well during the election."

She added the firm would continue to work with Chicago city to solve problems regarding training of the operators.

Nevertheless, Langdon Neal, president of the Chicago Electoral Board, branded as "shameful" the fact that the touch screen machines did not transmit the results, forcing electoral officials to use manual vote count procedures.

Sequoia Voting System and Smartmatic merged in mid-2005.

Here:

http://english.eluniversal.com/2006/04/07/en_pol_art_07A691397.shtml

Neal questioned by council over voting night delays
by Meghan Streit
April 6, 2006

Chicago aldermen will call officials responsible for last month's primary election disaster on the carpet, asking what went wrong and how they will make sure it does not happen again in November's general election.

Langdon Neal, chairman of the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, and
Jack Blaine, president of Sequoia Voting Systems, the provider of the touch screen voting machines used throughout Cook County on March 21, will both be at the hearing to answer questions.

"These hearings are a fact-finding mission," said Donal Quinlan, media liaison for the City Council Committee on Finance. "We simply don't know whether there was poor training of the election judges, if there was mass confusion, or if there was a problem with the equipment."

Quinlan said Ald. Edward Burke (14) also intends to question Blaine about the ownership structure of his Oakland, Calif.-based company. Recent newspaper
reports that Sequoia's parent, Smartmatic International, was accused of aiding Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in fixing elections, have raised questions about who controls Sequoia.

Full story--

http://www.chicagodefender.com/page/local.cfm?ArticleID=4708

http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002661.htm

OHIO '04 RECOUNT: 'The Fix Was In', Says County Prosecutor

http://www.cleveland.com/election/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1144312870224340.xml&coll=2&thispage=1

than the Plain Dealer did-

"Cuyahoga County rigged 04 recount, official says"

http://www.dispatch.com/news/news.php?story=dispatch/2006/04/07/20060407-B3-00.html

http://www.dispatch.com/news/news.php?story=dispatch/2006/04/07/20060407-B4-01.html

Friday, April 07, 2006
Robert Vitale
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH


A "random and miniscule" problem with the write-in feature of Franklin County’s new touch-screen voting machines has led to a nationwide fix by their manufacturer.

In pre-election testing of more than 4,200 machines for the May 2 primary, one machine recorded a write-in candidate’s name incorrectly on the paper tape that is designed to reassure voters that their choices are properly recorded.

"It was garbled, just jumbled," said Matthew Damschroder, director of the Franklin County Board of Elections.

Election Systems & Software, which makes the county’s new iVotronic machines, already had alerted jurisdictions nationwide about the programming flaw, company spokeswoman Jill Friedman Wilson said...

I hate that pig Damschroder ..... with voting lines going on for up to
7 hours and more ...... Damschroder held back 70 voting machines and
deleted their numbers from official roosters.

He is as dirty as it gets. When I gave sworn testimony about voting crimes I saw
and heard at a public hearing I had to go into the hall and walk right past that fat
turd as he was lying to a Ch 10 (columbus, oh = Dspatch = wolf family = repugs)
reporter .... I wanted to slug him.

http://www.dispatch.com/news/news.php?story=dispatch/2006/04/07/20060407-A1-05.html

Friday, April 07, 2006
Mark Niquette and Joe Hallett
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Secretary of Sate J. Kenneth Blackwell is on record opposing any constitutional amendment to expand gambling.


Although he opposes potential November ballot initiatives to permit slot machines at Ohio’s horse-racing tracks, Republican gubernatorial candidate J. Kenneth Blackwell holds stock in the world’s leading maker of slot machines.

Critics say Blackwell’s investment in Reno, Nev.-based International Game Technology is inconsistent with his views on gambling because he could profit if the company ever puts slots in Ohio.

Brian Rothenberg, spokesman for the Ohio Democratic Party, said that as an owner of IGT stock, Blackwell "stands to make a profit off something he says he’s ideologically opposed to. How does he reconcile his conscience from his pocketbook? "...

The commercial says the sewage dumping led to an FBI investigation.

http://www.vindy.com/content/local_regional/285805410375177.php

By DAVID SKOLNICK

VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER

The congressional campaign of state Sen. Charlie Wilson says a Republican commercial critical of the candidate should be taken off the air because it's factually incorrect...



The Wilson campaign provided The Vindicator with a copy of a letter Thursday from Michael E. Brocks, the FBI's chief division counsel of its Cincinnati office, stating a review "failed to disclose any record of an FBI investigation concerning" the EORWA.

http://www.cleveland.com/weblogs/openers/

Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell's chief of staff is under review by the Ohio Ethics Commission after she failed to disclose income and gifts from the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow, a charter school that has been plagued by controversy.

While on Blackwell's payroll, Sherri Dembinski also has served as an ECOT board member and vice president of a foundation related to ECOT. Beginning in 2000, she disclosed her relationship with ECOT but her 2005 financial disclosure statement did not include $5,000 she received from the school in 2004. She has called the omission an "oversight" and filed an amended report.

Under the commission's rules, efforts to amend an ethics statement trigger an automatic inquiry. The agency will decide whether it believes the omission was inadvertent - or done knowingly, just as it did when Gov. Bob Taft failed to disclose receipt of golf games and other gifts.

Blackwell spokesman James Lee said he is confident the commission will conclude that Dembinski made an honest mistake...

--Sandy Theis

Officials sent letters to voters regarding irregularities

By ANNA M. TINSLEY
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
As many as 20 Tarrant County voters may have voted in both the Republican and Democratic primaries last month.

Local election officials this week sent letters to the unidentified voters to determine whether there were errors or deliberate wrongdoing in the March 7 election.

“It’s very seldom that we have found that a person intentionally did vote in both primaries,” said Gayle Hamilton, Tarrant County’s interim elections administrator. “There’s usually some kind of explanation.”

>snip<

“We have looked at this before,” said Ann Diamond, a deputy chief in the DA’s civil division. “We have not run into a situation where we found criminal intent.

“We want people to vote. But we want them to follow the law.”

Anna M. Tinsley, (817) 390-7610
atinsley@star-telegram.com

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/14272453.htm

Computer woes delay ASM elections again
Written by Lexie Clinton
Thursday, 06 April 2006

The Student Elections Committee decided to halt the Associated Students of Madison candidate election for a second time, throw away all the existing votes and construct a new election system within the next few days, in response to a Department of Information Technology report that 436 of the electronic votes were invalid Wednesday night.

>snip<

SEC head chair Tim Leonard confirmed, “electronic voting will not happen in this election.”


Instead, the committee has vowed to create a paper ballot system where students would physically obtain a paper ballot in order to cast their vote and have their student identification number verified at a polling location.


As of now, SEC has not set an official date for the reopening of polls, but Leonard said SEC is “shooting for next week.”

Whole story-

http://www.dailycardinal.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=553&Itemid=40

Paper ballot bill crumbling: Electronic voting machines seem likely to be retained

(Baltimore Sun, The (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Apr. 7--

The Maryland General Assembly appears close to abandoning a proposal for paper ballots this fall, opting instead to retain the state's electronic voting machines.

>snip<

"What we've done in a series of bills is ... set up an environment that should someone want to come into Maryland to stir up voter fraud or try to steal an election, we have the classic situation to allow that to happen." said Del. Anthony J. O'Donnell, the House minority whip from Southern Maryland. "I just hope that for political reasons these folks have not jeopardized our democracy."

House lawmakers of both parties hoped a new voting system would assure accuracy and security. But the Senate has not moved on the House bill and, twice this week, lawmakers postponed a floor debate on a Senate version of the measure.

At one point, Sen. Paula C. Hollinger, a Baltimore County Democrat and head of the committee that considers elections issues, proposed a mail-in election modeled after an Oregon system. But lawmakers nixed that idea.

More-

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/04/07/1549998.htm

Voting machine issues raised at Bradford County commissioners' meeting

BY JAMES LOEWENSTEIN 04/07/2006

TOWANDA - The Bradford County commissioners on Thursday passed a resolution to purchase 165 touch-screen voting machines from Diebold Election Systems, despite concerns about the company raised by a Sheshequin Township resident.

"I feel that that Diebold is a good machine," Bradford County Commissioner Nancy Schrader said.

You don't need to be a "computer person" to use the machines, said Janet Lewis, county commissioner. "You just touch the screen and read (the instructions on the machine)."

>snip<

.
"I think voters can be assured that the machines are accurate," she said.

James Loewenstein can be reached at (570) 265-1633; e-mail: jloewenstein@epix.net.

Full story-

http://www.thedailyreview.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16444207&BRD=2276&PAG=461&dept_id=465049&rfi=6

Newsday.com

The electoral debacle of 2000 has proved a boon for a Long Island assembler of voting machines

BY JAMES BERNSTEIN
Newsday Staff Writer

April 7, 2006

Talk about being in the right place at the right time.

Joel Girsky, chairman of Jaco Electronics Inc., has been there more often than not as he built the Hauppauge-based components distributor into a $200-million business.

But Girsky, 67, may never have been in the right place as much as he was in 2000. Then, Jaco, which he founded with his brother Charles in a Brooklyn garage in 1961, won a $1-million contract - relatively small by company standards - to design flat-panel displays for electronic voting machines being built by Sequoia Voting Systems of Oakland, Calif.

Then came the electoral disaster in Florida in late 2000, in which election officials had to comb through hanging chads before the winner of the presidential race was decided. With hopes of avoiding a repeat, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act. The law offered states $3.9 billion to upgrade voting machine technology.

Every state in the country - except New York - raced to get hold of the federal money and improve voting machines.

Orders from Sequoia soared. Jaco won a Sequoia contract to assemble the entire electronic voting machine, which works much like an ATM. Screens display entire ballots that voters use to choose their candidates. The machine also provides a paper record.

http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzvote074692458apr07,0,3024881.story?coll=ny-business-print

Baltimore Sun

Electronic voting machines seem likely to be retained
By Kelly Brewington
Sun reporter
Originally published April 7, 2006
The Maryland General Assembly appears close to abandoning a proposal for paper ballots this fall, opting instead to retain the state's electronic voting machines.

For months, a bipartisan group of politicians and advocates has clamored for a voting system that provides paper audits. Without them, they assert, it would be impossible to detect whether the state's Diebold Elections System software had been hacked or had produced inaccurate results.

The measure seemed on a fast track to approval after the House of Delegates unanimously voted last month to switch to an optical scan system, and the governor included money in his budget to pay for it.

But the Senate is on a different course, and it appears unlikely the voting issue will be resolved by the time lawmakers adjourn on Monday.

Republican lawmakers and Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. say they are frustrated by the inaction and are concerned that this fall's voting could be riddled with problems.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.voting07apr07,0,946294.story?coll=bal-local-headlines

San Francisco Chronicle

Leslie Fulbright, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, April 7, 2006

Legislation to renew three provisions of the federal Voting Rights Act is expected to be introduced sometime this month, prompting debate across the nation as some conservatives and elected officials argue the sections are outdated and unfair.

Set to expire next year are requirements that certain states and counties, including four in California, clear any changes to their election process with federal authorities and have federal observers present if there is evidence voters have been intimidated. Also expiring is a requirement that any county with a significant non-English-speaking population provide bilingual ballots.

Other sections of the 1965 act that ban literacy tests and other practices that can be discriminatory will not expire.

Proponents of reauthorizing the provisions argue that other methods -- such as ID card requirements, inaccessible polling places and election-day misconduct -- still suppress the non-white vote across the country. Immigrant voter advocates and civil rights attorneys say many people again will be disenfranchised if Congress allows the three provisions to expire.

Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., who leads the House Judiciary Committee, has said repeatedly that he would work during his chairmanship, which ends in December, to renew the provisions.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/04/07/MNGS9I4SP51.DTL

Special election will be first run of new optical scan precinct counters.

By AIMEE TABOR

atabor@thehawkeye.com

FORT MADISON — Although the city will have a special election next week to vote on changes to the penny sales tax, it will be special for another reason as well.

When voters head to the polls to decide the 1–cent local sales and services tax, they will do so on new voting machines that count the ballots on the spot.

Lee County will be using for the first time some of its new Help America Vote Act equipment in Fort Madison during the special election. Although it's not required, the county will use the new M–100 optical scan precinct counters for the first time.

For the June primary, all counties will be required by state law to use new HAVA machines, which include handicapped accessible machines. The handicapped–accessible machines won't be used Tuesday.

http://www.thehawkeye.com/daily/stories/ln3_0407.html

Published: Friday, April 07, 2006

AccuVote tabulator expert Dave

Carmody, left, and Pete Dishnow of the State Bureau of Elections present to a crowd of 170 potential election workers at the Calumet Coliseum Thursday

By JANE NORDBERG, Gazette Writer

CALUMET — The technology of democracy was the focus of a presentation held Thursday at the Calumet Coliseum and Community Center.

An audience of 170 prospective and veteran election workers came out for voter inspection training. Pete Dishnow of the State Bureau of Elections and Dave Carmody of vendor Fidlar Election Co. worked as a tag team, with Dishnow providing the legal nuts and bolts of the process, and Carmody demonstrating the mechanics behind the AccuVote tabulator machine.

Dishnow began his talk with a description of the provisional ballot, explaining how the state of Florida disenfranchised voters who had the same last name as convicted felons by not allowing them to vote. Michigan, he said, has no such restrictions but that the use of a provisional ballot would have allowed voters six days to prove their legitimacy.

In a section regarding ballot control, Dishnow advised election workers to balance voters in the poll book against the number of ballots cast, to verify the serial number on the ballot after the voter exits the ballot station, and most importantly, to watch out for voters who want to leave the voting station area with their ballot in hand.

“It’s not their ballot, it’s yours,” he said.

http://www.mininggazette.com/stories/articles.asp?articleID=1440

Apr 07, 2006

About 200 "citizen lobbyists" who descended on Washington, D.C., this week called for the U.S. Congress to require that electronic voting machines include paper-trail records.

The activists called on Congress to move ahead on a bill called the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act, introduced in February 2005, but stalled in the House of Representatives committee. The bill would require all e-voting machines used in federal elections to include a voter-verified paper trail, and it would require the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to conduct random hand counts of e-voting machine records.

As many U.S. states move toward electronic voting systems since problems in Florida with paper ballots in the 2000 presidential election, critics of e-voting have questioned the accuracy of the newer technology. Without a paper trail, e-voting machines could be manipulated, and there would be little chance of catching the fraud, e-voting critics say.

snip
Despite some reports of e-voting problems during the 2004 general election, the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) called e-voting in 2004 and in off-year elections in 2005 a "major success." ITAA represents a group of e-voting vendors.

http://www.cio.com/blog_view.html?CID=20049

Herald Today.com

Posted on Fri, Apr. 07, 2006

BILL KACZOR
Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Civil rights activists urged Friday that parts of the Federal Voting Rights Act be renewed, as labor unions amended their lawsuit accusing the state of violating another section of law by using confusing voter registration forms.

Requirements for federal clearance of certain election changes as they affect minority voting rights and protections for non-English speaking voters will expire next year unless renewed by Congress.

"Floridians, more than any other citizens in this country, know firsthand the power of the vote and the need to protect it," said Nancy Zirkin, deputy director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights in Washington, D.C.

The importance of every vote was driven home in 2000 when President Bush won Florida and, as a result, the presidency by only 527 votes after a protracted recount dispute.

It took Voting Rights Act lawsuits by the Justice Department to force some Florida counties to provide voter materials and assistance in Spanish. The state in 2000 and 2004 also distributed flawed lists of convicted felons, who cannot vote unless that right is restored on a case-by-case basis, to county elections officials.

The amended lawsuit challenging registration forms initially was filed by three voters and unions affiliated with the AFL-CIO after the 2004 election. A federal trial judge in Miami rejected the suit, but the U.S. District Court of Appeals in Atlanta reinstated it last year.

Department of State spokeswoman Jenny Nash said agency officials had not yet seen the amended complaint so she couldn't comment on it. She said Secretary of State Sue Cobb supports renewing the Voting Rights Act provisions and "recognized the significant contributions of this important legislation."

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/breaking_news/14290535.htm

ES&S Fails to Show for Election Board Meeting

April 7, 2006 05:55 PM EDT


By Pam Elliot
24-Hour News 8

Primary Election Day is less than a month away, and there are still no assurances that your vote will count.

I-Team 8 has reported all week about mistakes that worry Indiana election officials.

Earlier this week I-Team 8 reported that the Johnson County clerk had yet to receive ballots, and that other counties were without as well. That's a violation of state law.

On Friday morning it was the election board in Marion County that held an emergency meeting because of mistakes made by the same election management company that deals with Johnson County.


>snip<

http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4743036&nav=0Ra7

INDIANA TV NEWS: ES&S Breaks State Law -- Again! No Early Voting Ballots Provided, Just Electronic Touch-Screen Voting Machines that Don't Work

Paper Ballots Are Used in the Meantime as ES&S Succeeds at Failing Yet Again…
THE GOOD NEWS: A Local TV News Outlet That Reports Actual News!

Pam Eliot reporting actual news on TV ...


Guest Blogged by John Gideon

Proving that local TV News stations actually can serve their viewers by actually investigating stuff that matters, and then reporting on it, Indianapolis' WISH-TV 8 does it again. In yet another report on local election problems, WISH-TV has been keeping their viewers informed with a series of stories on voting issues.

"Well, once again, a Voting Machine Company is breaking Indiana law and violating county contracts," the story by reporter Pam Elliot began.

Last night, WISH TV 8 reported on the failure of Elections Systems & Software (ES&S) to perform up to their contract with their customers. That contract: to provide ballots to voters and touch-screen voting equipment that actually works.

Johnson County Indiana was supposed to have their ES&S iVotronic DRE (touch-screen) machines set-up and in use for "absentee voting". However, contrary to their contract and, as WISH TV reports, in violation of state law, ES&S has failed to program the counties "smart cards" with ballot definitions. Which means the voting machines are of no use.

The whole friggin story:


http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002653.htm

Counties dealing with ballot problems

By Vic Ryckaert
vic.ryckaert@indystar.com


Marion County Clerk Doris Anne Sadler blasted a voting machine company this morning saying it supplied error-filled ballots for next month's primary election.Meanwhile, clerks in Johnson and Hancock counties, also are upset with the company because it did not deliver absentee ballots in time ............
.......did not print instructions on ballots .........
..Sadler said .......... "But given the history of the last two weeks, I'm afraid of what will crop up again."

The company supplies the county's optical scan and touch-screen voting machines. The county's elections are complicated, Sadler said. Ballots in the 914 precincts have more than 2,000 variations, depending on where a voter lives and what political party they claim.

Two weeks ago, ES&S delivered its first batch of ballots for this election and Sadler said they were rife with mistakes. County officials found new errors in the replacement ballots and sent those back too. They received the latest batch late last week, Sadler said, and spent the weekend proofreading.

"They don't proof anything before they send it to us," Sadler said. "I would love to fire them. ......Johnson County received its absentee ballots on Thursday, two weeks after the ballots were supposed to have been mailed to voters who submitted absentee applications, according to Johnson County Clerk Jill Jackson. ........ES&S also failed to program Johnson County's touch screen voting machines. Jackson said ES&S technicians are on site and expect a computer disk today to update the machines.

Full story:

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060407/NEWS02/604070535/1006/NEWS01

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x421414

see my post (#11) in the above link...

and to think that Johnson, and Marion counties knew of these vulnerabilities since 2003?!?

The Hearld-Standard

By Amy Zalar, Herald-Standard
04/07/2006

The Fayette County Election Board has establ shed a policy requiring notification of any complaints or election irregularities be reported in writing witing 24 hours of their occurence.
In a report signed last month by board members Angela M. Zimmerlink, Joseph A. Hardy III and Thomas Frankhouser, the board gives six recommendations regarding future hearings.

In addition to providing written notification within 24 hours, the findings and recommendations of the election board include a directive to schedule a hearing as soon as possible and within 30 days. In the event a complaint is withdrawn or if the person who signed the complaint is not present for the hearing, the election board will have the discretion to determine if a hearing will be held. The recommendations also include stipulations that the election board may "sua sponte" schedule a hearing on its own, meaning without a formal complaint, and also may subpoena witnesses and make requests for production of written documentation to insure an orderly proceeding.

In a separate ruling, the election board recommended, "A judge of election shall not take any steps to close an election machine until the polls are officially closed."

The ruling dealt with a complaint filed by Dana Sanders regarding a German Township voting precinct, alleging that votes were counted before the polls officially closed. Although Sanders withdrew the complaint prior to the scheduled hearing date, the election board previously heard informal testimony from Robert Belch in the matter before making the recommendation.

http://www.heraldstandard.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16443270&BRD=2280&PAG=461&dept_id=480247&rfi=6

Computerworld.com

The troubled system was built to comply with federal law

News Story by Marc L. Songini

APRIL 07, 2006 (COMPUTERWORLD) - California’s new voter registration database — whose creation the federal government once called a model for other states — may prevent thousands of eligible voters from casting ballots in a June 6 statewide election, officials fear.
Since the database was implemented last December, the voter registration process has been invalidating numerous registrations, mostly as a result of minor data-entry problems.

For example, 14,629 out of 34,064 voter registration forms — or 43% — were “kicked out,” or rejected, in Los Angeles County between Jan. 1 and March 15. Such results have election officials statewide fearing that the new registration system will bump eligible voters from the voter rolls.

The problems could first affect a small number of local elections starting this month, including a special congressional election on Tuesday in San Diego County.

The registration database, run by Secretary of State Bruce McPherson, was mandated by the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA). The law requires that each state establish a centralized voter registration database.

In an e-mail response to questions, a spokeswoman for McPherson wouldn’t provide technical details of the system, nor would she talk about the nature of the problems. She did note that 74% of voter registrations are cleared on the first try. The rest, she said, require manual validation by county elections workers.


http://www.computerworld.com/databasetopics/data/story/0,10801,110353p2,00.html

of Voter Registration Fraud

By: Office of the Attorney General
Published: Apr 7, 2006 at 15:41

Attorney General Bill Lockyer and Secretary of State Bruce McPherson today announced the formation of a joint investigation into allegations of voter registration irregularities in Riverside and Orange counties. Secretary McPherson had previously opened his own inquiry into the allegations and requested the Attorney General's assistance.

"The right to free and fair elections is fundamental to our democracy," Lockyer said. "The allegations of voter fraud not only involve serious crimes, they also strike at the heart of our constitutional form of government. We will aggressively investigate these claims and vigorously prosecute those who broke state laws."

"Ensuring that eligible voters have the ability to vote is my top priority," said Secretary McPherson. "This office has zero tolerance for fraud. I will continue to do everything within my power to make sure that the integrity of our democratic process is protected and the rights of our citizens are preserved."

As the state's chief elections officer, the Secretary of State is in charge of overseeing the elections process and partnering with local election officials to ensure fair and accurate elections. McPherson's Elections Fraud Investigation Unit vigorously responds to allegations of voter fraud and recommending for prosecution of those who would corrupt the people's basic right to a free and fair election.

Under state law and the state Constitution, the Attorney General has concurrent jurisdiction with county district attorneys to enforce criminal laws. The state Elections Code establishes criminal penalties for specified acts of voter registration fraud. Although district attorneys are primarily responsible for investigation criminal wrongdoing within their own county, the Attorney General often will get involved where related acts of criminal conduct allegedly occurred in multiple jurisdictions.

http://www.yubanet.com/artman/publish/article_34037.shtml