ERD for May, 12th, 2006. The E-Voting HAVA Meltdown continues

Welcome to the "ERD"

Botched primary vote counting, late delivery of software, incorrectly printed ballots, legal action. HAVA is driving the E-Voting train wreck. Here is fridays edition of the implosion.



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

Reversing Course on Electronic Voting

Some Former Backers of Technology
Seek Return to Paper Ballots,
Citing Glitches, Fraud Fears
By JEANNE CUMMINGS
May 12, 2006; Page A4

WASHINGTON -- Some advocates of a 2002 law mandating upgrades of the nation's voting machinery now worry the overhaul is making things worse.

With the 2006 midterm elections approaching, proponents of the Help America Vote Act are filing lawsuits to block some state and election officials' efforts to comply with the act.

The Help America Vote Act called for upgrading election equipment to guard against another contested outcome such as the 2000 presidential vote. Among the flaws in balloting almost six years ago were antiquated hand-operated voting machines and punch-card ballots that were difficult to read. To redress that, members of Congress pushed for modernization, which could include touch-screen voting machines, on which ballots are cast and recorded solely electronically. At the time, the electronic voting machines were seen as a reliable contrast to the older technology.

The lawsuits -- nine so far -- coincide with a stampede by state and county officials to spend $3 billion allocated by Congress to help pay for upgrades. To comply with the Help America Vote Act, a number of states and dozens of counties purchased touch-screen voting machines. The deadline for spending the money is tied to each state's 2006 primary dates.

Arizona was sued this week over such purchases and Colorado election officials are likely to be sued next week. >snip<



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http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB114739688261250925-q5rh2ocioxu6mgjmS6bZPCZL0HY_20060610.html?mod=tff_main_tff_top

New Fears of Security Risks in Electronic Voting Systems

By MONICA DAVEY
Published: May 12, 2006
CHICAGO, May 11 — With primary election dates fast approaching in many states, officials in Pennsylvania and California issued urgent directives in recent days about a potential security risk in their Diebold Election Systems touch-screen voting machines, while other states with similar equipment hurried to assess the seriousness of the problem.



Retrieving votes from an electronic machine in Cleveland on May 3.


"It's the most severe security flaw ever discovered in a voting system," said Michael I. Shamos, a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University who is an examiner of electronic voting systems for Pennsylvania, where the primary is to take place on Tuesday.

Officials from Diebold and from elections' offices in numerous states minimized the significance of the risk and emphasized that there were no signs that any touch-screen machines had been tampered with. But computer scientists said the problem might allow someone to tamper with a machine's software, some saying they preferred not to discuss the flaw at all for fear of offering a roadmap to a hacker.

"This is the barn door being wide open, while people were arguing over the lock on the front door," said Douglas W. Jones, a professor of computer science at the University of Iowa, a state where the primary is June 6.

The latest concern about the touch-screen machines was only the newest chapter in an emerging political and legal fight around the country over voting machines. While some voting officials defend the ease of touch-screens (similar to A.T.M.'s), some advocacy groups argue that optical scan machines, using paper ballots, are far more secure.

The wave of high-tech voting machines was prompted by the 2000 election in Florida, which spotlighted the problems of old-fashioned punch card ballots. But the machines that soon followed have spurred division. Here in Chicago, where voters used both touch-screen and optical-scan systems in a March primary, it took officials a week to tally all the votes because of technical problems and human errors, touching off a flurry of criticism over the Sequoia Voting Systems equipment.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/12/us/12vote.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Wall Street Journal Covers E-Voting Train Wreck

Glad They've Noticed! But that said...

An article in the conservative Wall Street Journal tomorrow covers a number of E-voting meltdown/train wreck issues around the country, including the nine lawsuits currently in progress around the country...

An article in the conservative Wall Street Journal tomorrow covers a number of E-voting meltdown/train wreck issues around the country, including the nine lawsuits currently in progress around the country to push back these damned, untested, unsecure, hackable machines and other points of which The BRAD BLOG has been reporting over the last many many months.

We're glad to see them finally take notice and report on these problems to the nation.

The niceties now set aside, the article minimizes the myriad severe problems and security issues throughout. One way of doing that, is referring to these problems as "glitches" no less than five times by our count. Another way of doing that, is quoting Election Integrity attorney Lowell Finley of VoterAction.org in half a sentence. And devoting the rest of the quotes in the piece to spokespersons from Diebold (known liar, David Bear) and ES&S, along with unsecure electronic voting proponent (and cowardly disinformation expert), AZ Sec. of State, Jan Brewer.

None of the many Election Integrity advocates, computer science or security professionals, apparently, were allowed to refute the silly apologists disinformation statements of Brewer, Bear or Ken Fields of ES&S.

More-

http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002816.htm

City auditor: No deal for voting machines
Official questions contract, possible conflict of interest

May 12, 2006
Denver City Auditor Dennis Gallagher announced Thursday he won't sign a contract with the company supplying Denver with voting machines until two issues are clarified.

In a letter to Alton Dillard, interim director of the Denver Election Commission, Gallagher said he wanted to know whether the relationship between a top city election official and an employee of Sequoia Voting Systems is a conflict of interest.

The auditor also said he wanted to know why the Election Commission's contract appears to sharply limit Sequoia's liability if something goes wrong with its machines.

The relationship that has caught the auditor's eye is between Matt Crane, the commission's interim operations director, and Lisa Flanagan, a Sequoia employee.

The two were recently married.

Flanagan attended at least one commission meeting where voting procedures were discussed, according to Election Commission minutes.

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http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4693390,00.html

Sequoia Voting Systems Responds to Venezuela-Related Rumors and Misinformation
OAKLAND, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 11, 2006--Sequoia Voting Systems:


-- Sequoia and Its Parent Company Smartmatic Are Independent, Privately-Held Corporations

-- With Track Records of Excellent Performance, Both Sequoia and Smartmatic Are Leading Providers of Electronic Voting Solutions with Voter Verified Paper Audit Trails

Sequoia Voting Systems today responded to Venezuela-related rumors and misinformation about the company's ownership, operating structure and past performance.

"Contrary to current misguided conspiracy theories, Sequoia Voting Systems is a U.S. company dedicated to providing Americans accurate, reliable and fair voting systems as we have been for more than 100 years. All of Sequoia's software has been tested by federal Independent Testing Authorities, qualified by federal authorities and certified by individual states," said Jack Blaine, president Sequoia Voting Systems.

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http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20060511005982&newsLang=en

Waukesha County split on voting firm

Equipment vendor owned by citizen of Venezuela
By SCOTT WILLIAMS
swilliams@journalsentinel.com
Posted: May 11, 2006
Elections in Waukesha County could become more cumbersome and costly because of disagreement emerging from a $600,000 effort to make voting easier for people with disabilities, officials have suggested.

The fear is based partly on concerns among some local officials that an equipment vendor, approved by the state and recommended by the county clerk, is owned by an individual from Venezuela.

Officials in Menomonee Falls and Mukwonago are among those considering breaking ranks with the rest of the county to steer clear of products made by Sequoia Voting Systems, based in Oakland, Calif. Sequoia spokeswoman Michelle Shafer said the firm's parent company, Smartmatic Corp., is owned by a citizen of Venezuela, a South American nation whose leftist president is allied with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

Shafer said the Venezuelan government, led by controversial President Hugo Chavez, has no role in the company, but the ownership question has dogged the company elsewhere in recent months.

"We've addressed these questions before," she said. "There's a lot of misinformation."

more-

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=422768

Sequoia and Essex County - the outrage continues
by: Kate

May 11, 2006 at 16:27:46 EST
(Why do counties keep wasting money with this company, and who in the state isn't allowing them to purchase machines from any other company? The Vote-Trakker systems have a verifiable paper trial technology and cost much less than Sequoia systems, for example. Something fishy is going on, and it's costing us a LOT of money.

Why did Essex County this week approve emergency funds to pay Sequoia Pacific an additional $120,000 to remedy a problem Sequoia itself caused by failing to meet contractual obligations?
This is a question Essex County's adhoc Task Force on Voting has been asking itself all day. The Task Force began the struggle against the purchase of Sequoia Advantage DRE voting machines a full year ago.

After succeeding in delaying approval of the county's contract with Sequoia from May 2005 through November (cynics may wish to note the contract was approved at the first Freeholder meeting after election day), the fight seemed lost.


Kate :: Sequoia and Essex County - the outrage continues
All of the information provided to Freeholders and the Election Superintendent in Essex pointed to a number of important facts about these new machines:

they are not new at all, but rather use 1980s-era processing technology;

they are among the most costly voting systems out there;

they fail to provide for the private, independent vote for disabled citizens that Help America Vote Act (HAVA) dollars were allocated to ensure in the first place;

they fail to comply with numerous federal voting systems guidelines, including being certified to the 2002 standard (1990 standard is the best Sequoia can do); computer scientists predicted as a consequence of the antiquated technology, Advantages would not be able to be retrofitted to comply with state law mandating a voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) by the deadline of 1/1/2008 (an opinion affirmed in Mercer Superior Court last month), and if and when possible, the cost will exceed the already-exorbitant price of $2,000 per machine for what amounts to the addition of a printer;

finally, the legion of problems the Sequoia company has been complicit in should give pause to any purchaser who had choices -- and Essex County did have choices (thanks to the efforts of the citizen group), but none the Attorney General's office seemed willing to support.

So, $8,000 apiece for a 1980s-era computer and $2,000 apiece for printers. Would you buy one of these for your home or office?

After paying top-dollar for antiquated voting systems, then seeing the vendor fail to deliver these machines by February 28, as specified in the contract, Essex County's Election Superintendent Carmine Casciano came back to the well to seek funds from the County capital budget -- $58,000 -- to pay Sequoia money to help receive and prepare the machines for use in June elections. The Elections Clerk, Linda Von Nessi, asked for a similar amount to help the county train poll workers. $120,000 in all.

Let's go over this slowly:

(1) virtually no negotiation for competitive pricing on a proven flawed voting system;

(2) vendor failure to deliver as contractually obligated;

(3) resulting time crunch for county officials to conduct needed testing and training and

(4) the wayward vendor is rewarded with additional dollars to fill the void created by its earlier failure.

Way to advocate, Essex County!

Why isn't Essex terminating its contract with this vendor, at this point, or at very least suing for damages? And why on earth should *taxpayers* pay *Sequoia* a single cent more for its screw up?


more-

http://www.bluejersey.net/showDiary.do;jsessionid=D8E060C98F8486686603F19B022E541F?diaryId=1491

Experts see new Diebold flaw: They call it worst security glitch to date in state's voting machines and a 'big deal'

(Baltimore Sun, The (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) May 12--Computer security experts say they have found the worst security flaw yet in the oft-criticized touch-screen machines that Maryland voters will use in this year's elections, leaving one computer scientist to warn that the state should have "stacks of paper ballots" on hand in case of a complete Election Day breakdown.

The machines, made by Diebold Elections Systems, are "much, much easier to attack than anything we've previously said," said Avi Rubin, a Johns Hopkins University computer science professor who first cast doubt on the reliability of the technology in a 2003 report.

"On a scale of one to 10, if the problems we found before were a six, this is a 10. It's a totally different ballgame," he said.

The new problem is being described as an intentional hole left in the system to allow elections workers to update voting software easily. Instead of using pass codes or other security protocols, anyone with access to a voting machine could install new software that could easily disable a precinct full of machines, Rubin said.



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http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/05/12/1647862.htm

Diebold Names Edwards Regional Business Manager; Gannon Promoted to Strategic


NORTH CANTON, Ohio, May 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Diebold, Incorporated has promoted Sandra S. Edwards to the newly created position of general business manager for the Hawaii region. In her new role, Edwards is responsible for sales, professional services and all support activities, including service and installation.

Edwards has helped key customers achieve strategic goals by increasing profit margins and reducing costs. She joined Diebold in 1997 as a service sales specialist in Memphis, Tenn. She served as a regional sales manager in the Denver, Colo. area for four years.

Vincent P. Gannon has been promoted to account manager in Diebold's strategic accounts group. In this position, he will oversee sales in Southern California. Gannon joined Diebold in 1999 as a key account executive in Honolulu, where he served as a sales manager in the Hawaii region from 1999 to 2006, and was instrumental in aiding numerous customers with upgrading their ATM networks to include advanced functionality.

"These promotions allow our associates to better utilize their individual skill sets and strengths to further support and advance customer initiatives," said David F. Wetzel, Diebold's vice president of sales for the western area. "Edwards has a strong sales, service and administration background, and Gannon's primary strengths are in sales and marketing."

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http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060511/clth061.html?.v=45

BusinessWeek - May 10, 2006
MAY. 10 6:56 PM ET The Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into why voting-machine maker Diebold Inc. changed the way it reports revenue.

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http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8HH6VJOA.htm?campaign_id=apn_tech_down&chan=tc

Voting machines lack state approval

New touch-screens in Volusia and 4 other counties need to be certified, officials say.

Kevin P. Connolly | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted May 12, 2006

Brand-new touch-screen voting machines can't be used in Volusia, Polk and three other Florida counties because they still require state approval, officials said Thursday.

The problem, uncovered by an election official in Volusia County, apparently violates a state law prohibiting vendors from selling "uncertified" equipment in Florida, according to Susan Pynchon, a voting-equipment activist.

Not so, said Jenny Nash, a spokeswoman for the state Division of Elections, who said the machines from Diebold Election Systems are nearly the same as those already certified.

"It's just a modification," Nash said. She compared it to a routine software update on a home computer. "It's very similar to that."

Nash said a routine examination of the new machine is set for May 30 and June 1 in Tallahassee. Because no elections are planned before those dates, it's not a problem, she said.

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http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-vvote1206may12,0,6042112.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-state

Arizona Voters File for Preliminary Injunction to Halt Purchase and Use of Diebold and Sequoia Electronic Voting Systems
Wednesday May 10, 2:00 pm ET
Security, Verification and Disability Access Problems Cited


PHOENIX, May 10 /PRNewswire/ -- A group of Arizona voters, including Judith Leiken, Sonja Elison, PhD, and Dr. Alejandro Chavez announced that today they filed a Motion for Preliminary Injunction against AZ Secretary of State Jan Brewer to halt the purchase and use of Diebold TSx and Sequoia Edge II touch-screen electronic voting systems in time for the 2006 elections, due to security, verifiability, and disability access problems with these systems. To view the complaint, visit www.VoterAction.org.


"Because of security and reliability concerns, the Pima County Board of Supervisors postponed its decision on the two million dollar purchase of the Diebold touch-screen system in the last week," said Paul Eckstein, Co-counsel for the Plaintiffs and a partner at Perkins Coie Brown & Bain PA in Phoenix. "Earlier this year, New Mexico became an all-paper balloting state, and as of last week, eight California counties that had been considering Deibold electronic systems have pledged all-paper balloting in response to voters' litigation. The Arizona voters we represent want to prevent the expenditure of millions of dollars on electronic voting systems that are neither trustworthy nor transparent, and that would affect election security well into the future in our state."

"All voters, including those who cast a vote in Spanish or are disabled, have a right to cast their ballot and have it counted and recorded as intended -- without the risk of fraud or manipulation," said Charles Blanchard, Co- counsel for the Plaintiffs and a partner at Perkins Coie Brown & Bain PA. "There are less risky and verifiable alternatives to electronic voting that also accommodate Spanish speakers and those with a broad range of disabilities."

"There is a crisis in voter confidence caused by problems inherent in electronic voting technology, and Arizonans are taking action, as are voters in California, Colorado, New York, Pennsylvania and several other states," said Lowell Finley, Counsel for the Plaintiffs and Co-director of Voter Action. "Diebold and Sequoia touch-screen electronic voting systems have proven vulnerable to hacking and lost and switched votes -- in expert testing and actual elections across the country. Sequoia has proven problematic with the recording of Spanish language ballots. These electronic voting systems are also are difficult if not impossible to audit. All-paper balloting is more reliable, transparent and secure, which is why it is being selected by prudent counties nationwide."


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http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060510/sfw091.html?.v=43

Diebold voting systems critically flawed
Robert Lemos, SecurityFocus 2006-05-12

Michael Shamos remembers that the call came late at night, during the last week of April.



“ It is like the nuclear bomb for e-voting systems. It's the deal breaker. It really makes the security flaws that we found (in prior years) look trivial. ”

Avi Rubin, computer science professor, Johns Hopkins University The call--from election watchdog BlackBoxVoting.org--described a critical vulnerability in Diebold Election Systems' touchscreen voting systems that could allow any person with access to a voting terminal the ability to completely change the system code or ballot file on the system. As a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University and adviser to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on electronic voting, Shamos realized that, at the very least, a workaround for the flaw needed to be in place by Pennsylvania's next election--at the time, less than three weeks away.

"This one is so bad, that we can't do just nothing," Shamos told the state's election officials at the time. "Any losing candidate could challenge the election by saying, 'How do I know that the software on the machine is the software certified by the state?'"

Late Thursday, BlackBoxVoting published a redacted version of a paper describing the design flaw in Diebold AccuVote TSX and TS6 touchscreen election systems. Because of the seriousness of the flaw, the full report detailing the issue has only been distributed to a limited group of computer scientists, state and federal election officials, and security groups.

"We have elections every single week this month, and there is no way to do meaningful remediation at this point," said Bev Harris, founder of BlackBoxVoting.

Three states have already issued alerts on the flaws to election officials. The Pennsylvania Department of State told county clerks to reinstall the software on election devices and then lock them up in a secure location until the May 16 general primary.

more-

http://www.securityfocus.com/news/11391

Ireland files complaint against voting machine contractor


CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - Secretary of State Betty Ireland says she's filed a complaint against the contractor who supplied voting machines for Tuesday's election.

Ireland says Election Systems and Software let the state down because several counties experienced mechanical problems with their machines, forcing delays in vote counts. She filed a complaint with the federal Election Assistance Commission outlining the company's performance.

The secretary of state says delays in the Nebraska-based company's programming of the new electronic voting machines placed undue hardship on local efforts to get ready for the primary election.

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http://www.woay.com/news.cfm?showarticle=4332C7A3-6F7C-48BF-97282E033156C647

ES&S MELTDOWN: West Virgina Files Formal Complaint with Feds
Sec. of State, Formerly an ES&S Supporter, 'More than Upset About Broken Promises' by Country's Largest E-Voting Company

Sec. of State, Formerly an ES&S Supporter, 'More than Upset About Broken Promises' by Country's Largest E-Voting Company

Guest Blogged by John Gideon:

Just hours ago Betty Ireland, the Secretary of State of West Virginia filed a formal complaint against ES&S with the federal Elections Assistance Commission.

>snip<

There have been failures all over the state. A small sampling of problems gives us:


Taylor County's votes could not be counted last night because the main computer would not read tabulators from individual voting machines.


Upshur County's counter was in such bad shape that as of midnight the county was trying to get a similar machine from a neighboring county


Mineral County's optical scan ballot counter was producing skewed results


Ohio County could not count about 800 absentee votes because it was not given the equipment to do so

- and –


Clay, Gilmer, Greenbrier, Putnam, McDowell and Webster that all violated provisions of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 when they were not able provide any voting machines for their voters with disabilities,

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http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002812.htm

Voting machine snafu holds up election count

By MARLA PISCIOTTA Tribune News Editor
Editors note: Due to the malfunction of the voting machine at the courthouse, the results of the election were not available at presstime.

Concerns this past week expressed by two of the Mineral County Commissioners came true last night. Commissioner Wayne Spiggle and Janice LaRue said they were concerned that the electronic voting system put in place in the last minute on Sunday evening, could cause a problem. Spiggle said he was concerned that it “might not work.”

On Tuesday evening, around 9:30 p.m., all precinct voting was in at the courthouse. By 10 p.m., the concern of the commissioners proved to be correct.

The electronic machine votes had to be melded with the paper votes, and the machine that is used to put the two counts together malfunctioned. Mineral County Clerk Lauren Ellifritz was on the phone with ES&S Mfg. (the maker of the machine) at 10:15 Tuesday evening.

Ellifritz was trying to work through the “glitch” with the manufacturer. The combining of the votes wasn't workingŠ.not printing out.

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http://www.newstribune.info/articles/2006/05/10/news/news01.txt

By David M. Kinchen Editor, Huntington News Network

Hinton, WV (HNN) – This is where reporters and editorial writers pull out their hair – if they have any left – grousing about the miserable turnout for the primary election we’ve just had. According to the Summers County Clerk’s office, only 26 percent of the county’s registered voters turned out to vote in the primary – about the same as the statewide total of 25 percent.

I would have guessed a higher turnout, given our large number of senior citizens, who tend to vote in larger numbers than younger people. Summers County has one of the highest percentages of retirees in the state – because we’re a great place to retire!

Frankly, I’ve given up complaining. In the past, I’ve suggested changing the election day to Saturday, as it is in some places, or Sunday, as it is in many industrialized countries. A lot of people don’t have time to vote on a weekday, juggling a job or two and family responsibilities. Early voting, which I use, is a good solution, but it should be more heavily publicized. What it all comes down to is those who have the proper spirit will vote, regardless of the day of the week; those who don't, won't. It's that simple.

>snip<

Finally, good for feisty Secretary of State Betty Ireland, whose office has filed a formal complaint with the federal Election Assistance Commission regarding the performance of Omaha-based Election Systems & Software (ES&S), West Virginia’s voting machine vendor.

ES&S’s delays in programming ballots for the new electronic voting machines placed great hardship on state and county election officials, Ireland stated in the complaint filed on May 10, 2006.

“I am more than upset that our county clerks and their staffs and the county commissions had to withstand stress and anxiety over the broken promises and delays ES&S put them through,” she said. Earlier this week, we posted a statement from Ireland about the problems the state has had with ES&S. Look for it on all three sites. The complete text of Ireland’s formal complaint is on the Secretary of State’s web site at: http://www.wvsos.com/pressoffice


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http://www.huntingtonnews.net/columns/060512-kinchen-comment.html

Ireland Files Complaint Over Voting Machines
Posted 5/10/2006 04:05 PM

Vendor ES&S blamed for causing hardships for counties.
Story by Jack Kane

Secretary of State Betty Ireland filed a formal complaint with federal Election Assistance Commission. "I am more than upset that or county clerks and their staffs and county commissions had to withstand stress and anxiety over the broken promises and delays ES&S put them through".

And, Ireland says, now that the election is over, strategy talks about the problems with Election Systems and Software will begin...but, "We will not and cannot discuss publicly our legal strategy. As before, we continue to work with the Attorney General's Office to address our options".

The state's selection committee chose ES&S because of it's past service in the state and it's knowledge of West Virginia election deadlines and procedures. Ireland says, "Unfortunately, we now feel ES&S let West Virginia down".

The Secretary's staff will now begin a survey of the counties to get a true picture of the problems that came up during the primary election process. Ireland had nothing but praise for local officials saying their work was above and beyond the call of duty.

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http://www.wvnstv.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=10786

Also posted in Politics - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2621537&mesg_id=2621537

John Bonifaz, candidate for Massachusetts Secretary of State, has qualified to be on the ballot! With 5000 certified nomination signatures required, we have 7,900, and counting.

Your help and resources are needed more than ever. To donate or more information, please visit www.johnbonifaz.com If you live at a distance, you can help by phone banking. If you are local you can help at the office in Jamaica Plain. Send an email to info@johnbonifaz.com

by email:

I wanted you all to be the first people to know the great news from the
Secretary Galvin's office:

The Secretary of State is releasing statewide certified signature totals
to the campaigns. As of yesterday afternoon at 3:30, we had over 7,900
certified signatures - and some of the clerks are still counting!

Congratulations to everyone who worked so hard to get us past this first
hurdle. John's campaign is officially moving ahead, and we've got
serious momentum.

===============================================================

Keep on!

Group pushes for paper ballots in Dutchess


Supporters of paper ballots gather in front of
Dutchess County Office Building in
Poughkeepsie

Voters and voting activist groups teamed up with Dutchess County public officials Thursday at county building in the City of Poughkeepsie in an attempt to push the legislature towards giving paper ballots a new shot in the county.

Representatives from MidHudson Verified Voting and the New York Citizens for Clean Elections met in front of the county building with several legislators who support bringing a resolution regarding paper ballots to the floor.

“I think clearly the majority is making it a political issue,” said Mid-Hudson Verified Voting Executive Director Vicky Perry. “They’re trying to use their majority leverage to keep this out of discussion. They want to keep the public disconnected from this decision.”

The county legislature hasn’t brought the discussion to the floor during their monthly meetings because it has been shot down in the Government Services Committee.


Supporters of paper ballots gather in front of
Dutchess County Office Building in Poughkeepsie

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http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/DC_votingMach-12May06.htm

SANTA CLARA CO. INTRODUCES ELECTRONIC VOTING PAPER AUDIT TRAIL
05/12/06 3:50 PDT
SAN JOSE (BCN)

The Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters demonstrated an upgraded version of the Sequoia Electronic Voting System Thursday, which for the first time includes a paper audit trail that allows users to verify the accuracy of their selections in print.

The Direct Recording Electronic voting machines used by the county since 2003 have been modified to include the new VeriVote printers, which store a voter-verified paper audit trail, called VVPAT.

Efforts to reinstate voter confidence in the electronic voting process brought about the now state-mandated requirement that all ballots cast leave a record on paper. The law, passed in 2004, took effect Jan. 1 and will be applied for the first time at the June 6 gubernatorial election.

"The VVPAT will let voters see on paper that their ballot is being recorded correctly, and it will also serve as a back-up record of the vote that can be used to conduct manual recounts," Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters Jesse Durazo said.

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http://cbs5.com/localwire/localfsnews/bcn/2006/05/12/n/HeadlineNews/VOTING-SYSTEM/resources_bcn_html

Voting in retro fashion

Glitches force early voting by paper ballot

By Frank Scott

This was supposed to be the election of the future, with Arkansas switching to state-of-the-art touch-screen voting machines.

However, because of a glitch in delivering the computer program for the new machines, early voters, at least, will use a method as old as democracy itself — the paper ballot.

Arkansas Secretary of State Charlie Daniels sent a memo to election officials last week saying that the state’s touch-screen voting equipment supplier, Election Systems & Software (ESS) of Omaha, NE, would probably not have the software necessary to use the machines ready for early voting, which started Monday.

The Arkansas County Election Commission made the decision last week to use paper ballots for early voting.

“We don’t have a choice,” Election Commission chair Janie Long said at the commission’s meeting last Wednesday afternoon. “We haven’t gotten the PEBs , so we’re going to have to do early voting with paper ballots.”

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http://www.dewitt-ee.com/articles/2006/05/10/news/news03.txt

Primary’s paper ballots spark memories of long-ago election

By BARBARA HAWKINS
Bluefield Daily Telegraph

A paper ballot election. I never thought I would see another one.

The first election I covered for the news media after moving to Princeton in the early 1970s was Mercer County’s last paper ballot election before the “voting machines” were put into place. These machines ended up being abolished later due to Florida’s “chads.”

This year, the election workers had the use of computers in doing their tabulations before sending the results out to the public. But, there were glitches with the courthouse processing after the ballot boxes finally reached the courthouse.

Everybody knew it would be a long process.

Thankfully, computers reduced the time somewhat and everybody was gone by 4 a.m.

That election more than 30 years ago wasn’t finalized until the next afternoon when one precinct in the east end of the Princeton area finally completed counting.

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http://www.bdtonline.com/columns/local_story_131172916.html

VOTERS FACE PAPER BALLOTS


By Larry Ault/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Tuesday, May 9, 2006 9:20 AM CDT

For some of Jefferson County’s older citizens, voting early on a paper ballot Monday was easy even though many of them hadn’t done it in nearly half a century.

Asked how he felt about using a paper ballot, Ignatius Elkins of Pine Bluff said, “It’s fine for me.”

“It’s fine for us,” his wife of 54 years, Viola Elkins, added.

A poll worker who was trained to use new electronic touch screen machines, Elkins said it had been years since he voted using a paper ballot.

“We’ve been living in the same house 50 years,” he said of he and his wife, explaining he doesn’t like change much. “I’m for the new machines,” he said.

Elkins and his wife were among 287 people who voted early Monday at the Jefferson County Courthouse, the first day of early voting for the May primary election.

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http://www.pbcommercial.com/articles/2006/05/09/news/news4.txt