Election Reform, Fraud & Related News Thursday 10/12/2006

Election Reform, Fraud & Related News Thursday 10/12/2006

Bowen better suited to be secretary of state PDF Print E-mail
San Jose Mercury News Oct 10, 2006
Editorial

LEGISLATOR'S SKEPTICISM NEEDED IN MOVE TO ELECTRONIC VOTING

The rapid introduction of electronic voting systems has elevated the visibility and the complexity of the secretary of state's office. Security flaws and machine breakdowns have undermined voters' confidence even as the new systems made voting easier and quicker.

For the most part, California has been spared the electronic voting failures that have afflicted other states, as a result of strong legislation and wise actions by the last two secretaries of state. But serious potential problems remain, and the next secretary of state must be vigilant and proactive to deal with them.

In next month's election, California is fortunate to have a choice between incumbent Secretary of State Bruce McPherson and state Sen. Debra Bowen, D-Redondo Beach. The office would be in good hands with either one. But while thanking McPherson for his service, we recommend Bowen, who has been the smartest and most diligent legislator on voting issues.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/15721589.htm

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Feinstein to introduce bill for e-voting paper trail

Bay City News
U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein announced Thursday plans to introduce legislation that would require electronic voting machines in federal elections to print a paper record that could be verified by the voter and would be subject to an independent audit.

Feinstein, D-San Francisco, said she plans to introduce the bill, the Ballot Integrity Act of 2006, as soon as Congress returns from the pre-election recess. If no action is taken, according to a statement from the senator, it will be reintroduced on the first day of the new Congress in January.

Feinstein cited vulnerability to fraud and the possibility of computer hacking attacks as reasons to create a print paper trail in federal elections.

Feinstein's bill would also include a prohibition on a state's chief election officer from participating on a political campaign committee on behalf of any federal candidate.

http://www.paloaltodailynews.com/article/2006-10-12-all-voting

Mixed Picture on Felons' Voting Rights

Filed at 6:13 p.m. ET

Almost 4 million Americans who have completed their prison terms remain unable to vote because of laws in most states that prevent them from doing so, according to a new report. But moves to restore those voting rights are spreading -- even making the Nov. 7 ballot in Rhode Island.

The Sentencing Project, a Washington-based group supporting criminal justice reform, said in a report Wednesday that 16 states have expanded voting access for ex-convicts in the past 10 years, enabling more than 600,000 people to regain voting rights.

Most of the changes have been made by legislatures, including those in New Mexico and Nebraska, which repealed lifetime prohibitions on felons voting.

This Election Day, however, a statewide electorate will have a say for the first time on a measure specifically aimed at expanding such voting rights. Rhode Islanders will consider a proposed state constitutional amendment that would allow felons to vote upon release from prison; they currently cannot vote until completing probation and parole, as is the case in more than 30 states.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Felons-Voting-Rights.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Rivals for state office go over election woes

BY MICHAEL R. WICKLINE
Posted on Thursday, October 12, 2006

CONWAY — Secretary of state candidate Jim Lagrone on Wednesday blamed incumbent Charlie Daniels for “a colossal mess” in the May 23 primary.

But Daniels said Arkansas and other states have had “growing pains” as they changed election equipment to comply with the federal Help America Vote Act. State elections will improve, he said.

Lagrone, a Republican from Benton, and Daniels, a Democrat from Bryant, debated for about 45 minutes on the Arkansas Educational Telecommunications Network in Conway.

Daniels, who has been the secretary of state since 2003, said his top priorities are election reform, further streamlining of his office’s business services, and preserving and maintaining the state Capitol.

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/169420/

:mad:



Riverside County Absentee Ballots Need Two Stamps
By Sara Lin, Times Staff Writer
October 11, 2006

Riverside County voters have some hefty issues to decide in the November election — so many that voters will need an extra stamp when mailing their absentee ballots because the envelopes will be so heavy, elections officials said.

The six ballot cards that voters will mark together weigh just over an ounce, requiring 63 cents postage to mail the ballot to the county registrar of voters.

A combination of 13 state measures, 15 local measures, and state and federal contests helped thicken the ballot.

At least two other California counties appear to have ballots requiring extra postage this year. Heavy ballots occur occasionally, said Nghia Nguyen, a spokeswoman for California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ballot11oct11,1,3957458.story?coll=la-headlines-california&ctrack=1&cset=true

New ballot may confuse area voters

By Chris Metinko, MEDIANEWS
Article Last Updated:10/12/2006 02:54:06 AM PDT

For the second time in five months, Alameda County voters will see a different paper ballot when they go to their polling places Nov. 7.

The county's decision to purchase a new voting system, manufactured by Oakland-based Sequoia, means voters will be asked to fill out a different ballot from the one used in this past June's election — one that may seem unusual to some. Instead of the old, standby, fill-inthe-oval ballots, the Sequoia paper ballot features a complete-the-arrow marking to cast a vote.

"We were concerned about it," said David Macdonald, the county's acting registrar of voters. "However, so far people seem to have caught on."

The concern, he said, has faded somewhat after no problems were reported during the first days of early voting this week.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/timesstar/ci_4480389

Campus machines make voting easy

Students and professors cast ballots early at Fresno State.

By Tim Eberly / The Fresno Bee

(Updated Wednesday, October 11, 2006, 4:34 AM)

Edward Adame came from his physical education class, with beads of sweat still on his brow. His next class was social work.

In between, he stood at a machine in the corner of the Student Union on Tuesday afternoon at California State University, Fresno, and helped make history. He voted.

For the first time, Fresno County officials brought voting to the students and professors, allowing them to cast ballots early and without leaving campus. The event kicked off the county's effort to hold seven early-voting events before the Nov. 7 election, most of them at local colleges.

"I don't want to drive to the polling place and go back home," said Adame, a 22-year-old junior from Fresno. "I'm already here. Why not take advantage of it?"

http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/12862199p-13544912c.html

Officials combat election delays
Poll workers still needed for Nov. 7
By Cheryl Winkelman, STAFF WRITER
Article Last Updated:10/11/2006 02:38:53 AM PDT

San Joaquin County officials are streamlining what happens after the polls close so that election results are tallied more quickly than they were during June's primary.

"We're trying to change things to make it faster," said Deborah Hench, San Joaquin County's Registrar of Voters.

The county uses a touch-screen voting system that tracks results on a memory card. Once the polls close, election officials at the various voting precincts take the memory cards to six collection centers throughout the county. Delays sometimes happen at this step of the process because officials can get stuck waiting in line.

Hench said she hoped to get people through the collection centers with lightning speed — so that they drop off memory cards without even getting out of their cars.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald/localnews/ci_4474347

Absentee-ballot mistake found
Answers transposed on Referendum F; clarification to be mailed out

By George Merritt
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated:10/12/2006 03:08:45 AM MDT

The first round of absentee ballots sent to Denver voters has a mistake on them, putting the Denver Election Commission on the defensive once again.

The commission Wednesday said 44,000 residents started receiving ballots that transposed the voting boxes for Referendum F. The mistake was made by Sequoia Voting Systems, the vendor for Denver's voting machines, the commission said.

"This is really not good," said state Sen. Paula Sandoval, a supporter of the ballot question affected. "I was hoping this would be one of the less controversial ballot questions, but this really complicates things."

Referendum F would remove deadlines for elected officials who are protesting recall petitions.

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_4478455

County kicks in more money for election security
By KEVIN DUGGAN
KevinDuggan@coloradoan.com

Larimer County officials will ante up more money to meet mandates for security in the upcoming election, but not enough everything ordered by the Secretary of State’s Office.

The county commissioners Tuesday authorized County Manager Frank Lancaster to take up to $100,000 from county emergency reserve funds to cover costs associated with state security directives.
The allocation was short of the $671,000 county election officials estimated would be needed to meet all of the state’s requirements.

But combined with $200,000 in reserves from the county clerk’s budget and reducing costs by enlisting employees from other county departments to handle election tasks, officials said the funding should be enough to handle a secure election.

“I’m not willing to put a half a million dollars into something that’s a knee-jerk reaction,” Commissioner Glenn Gibson said.

http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061010/NEWS01/61010006

1 in 4 voters use touch-screen
Posted October 12, 2006

DELAND -- -More than one-fourth of Volusia County voters -- 14,036 -- used the new touch-screen voting machines in last month's primary, according to a report released Wenesday by Volusia County Elections Supervisor Ann McFall.

That number includes 2,092 votes cast on touch-screens during two weeks of early voting, when about half of voters used the new touch-screens. In all, 51,692 voters cast ballots in the Sept. 5 election.

The 26-page analysis also includes the results of an audit McFall did of several voting precincts where "zero tapes" turned up missing.

Zero tapes are printed from voting machines the morning before ballots are cast to verify that no votes are reflected yet in memory cards.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/volusia/orl-vbriefs12_506oct12,0,930414.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-volusia

October 12, 2006

Election changes made to ensure transparency, accuracy
By JAMES MILLER
Staff Writer

DELAND -- Early voting ballots will be fed into machines only in public and election night results reporting will be changed, Volusia County Supervisor of Elections Ann McFall said Wednesday.

The changes are among 10 to be made before the general election to ensure transparency, accuracy and staff morale in the wake of questions raised by the media and an elections watchdog group, McFall said. They were included in a Department of Elections audit of the September primary released Wednesday afternoon.

"No one should be apprehensive or afraid of auditing. It tells you where you can improve, what you did great, what you did wrong," she said. "People in the Department of Elections work really, really hard. When they think there's a blemish on one, there's a blemish on everyone."

http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Local/newEAST01POLL101206.htm

Voting early is option in Illinois once again
By Terry Hillig
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
10/11/2006

Illinois voters will get a second go at early voting this fall, their first in a general election.

Early voting allows registered voters to cast ballots before election day on Nov. 7 even if they don't qualify for an absentee ballot.

It will begin Monday and continue through Nov. 2. During that period, people can vote when it's convenient for them, without providing a reason or excuse.

Authorized by legislation in 2005, early voting was first allowed in the March 21 primary elections.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/metroeast/story/417C071B378E60B38625720400522B1C?OpenDocument

Dardenne taking office after election

By MARSHA SHULER
Advocate Capitol News Bureau
Published: Oct 11, 2006

Incoming secretary of state Jay Dardenne said today he will wait until after the Nov. 7 election to take over the job he won when his runoff opponent quit the race.

Dardenne, R-Baton Rouge, said he has asked current Secretary of State Al Ater to stay on through the election.

Dardenne said he will be working “hand-in-hand” with Ater during the next weeks to start learning the ropes.

The early exit of state Sen. Francis Heitmeier, D-New Orleans, “affords me a wonderful opportunity to assure a smooth transition,” Dardenne said during a morning news conference.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/4372796.html

welcome back! :hug:

Md. Orders 1.6 Million Paper Ballots
Oct 12th - 5:27am

BALTIMORE (AP) - Diebold Election Systems Inc., the company that manufactures Maryland's electronic voting machines, is scrambling to print 1.6 million paper ballots for next month's general election amid worries by some that the machines could suffer the same problems as in September's primary.

The state has ordered the paper ballots, about one for every two registered voters, for possible use on Nov. 7. A spokeswoman told The (Baltimore) Sun Wednesday that it had not expected such a large order and delivery for some will be delayed a week.

At least 66,000 of those paper ballots will be mailed to voters as absentee ballots. The rest will be available as provisional ballots, which were used last month, and some precincts ran out.

http://www.wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=941068

City councilwoman asking constituents to work polls

10/12/06
By Adam Bednar and Larry Perl

There won't be a shortage of election judges at the polls in north Baltimore if Mary Pat Clarke can help it.

The Baltimore City Council member is on a personal crusade to recruit both Republican and Democratic judges, as well as computer technicians, in time for the Nov. 7 general election.

Her efforts come as the city Board of Elections tries to raise the number of judges by as many as 700 citywide in the wake of widespread absenteeism among judges in the Sept. 12 primaries.

"I figured this was something I could do," said Clarke, who is trolling for judges at 14 polling places districtwide and has gotten commitments from 32 people so far.

http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.cfm?pnpID=574&NewsID=754063&CategoryID=8012&show=localnews&om=1

Harrison County cries out for poll workers
Officials getting edgy for Nov. 7 general election
By J.R. WELSH
jrwelsh@sunherald.com

GULFPORT - Wanted: Poll workers.

When: Yesterday.

Qualifications: Must be a registered voter in Harrison County, over age 18.

Phone: 865-4007.

Call it yet another unforeseen Hurricane Katrina spinoff. With the Nov. 7 general election heaving into sight, county officials are getting edgy because they may not have enough workers to man the polls.

"I haven't slept since we started on this," said Toni Jo Diaz, chairman of the Harrison County Elections Commission.

Her lack of nocturnal bliss stems from several issues. But the most pressing is the lack of qualified poll managers who station themselves at sites and assist voters from opening until closing on Election Day.

Poll workers in the county, who receive $75 for working the election, are called poll managers. With more than 89,000 registered voters countywide, Diaz ordinarily employs 350 managers or more.

http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/15737389.htm

Fraud Alleged in St. Louis Voter Sign-Up

By JEFF DOUGLAS
The Associated Press
Wednesday, October 11, 2006; 6:55 PM

ST. LOUIS -- Election officials say hundreds of potentially bogus registration cards, including ones for dead and underage people, were submitted by a branch of a national group that has been criticized in the past for similar offenses.

At least 1,500 potentially fraudulent registration cards were turned in by the St. Louis branch of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, leading up to Wednesday's registration deadline for the Nov. 7 election, said Kim Mathis, chairwoman of the St. Louis City Board of Election Commissioners.

Invalid registrations solicited by ACORN workers included duplicate or incomplete ones, a 16-year-old voter, dead people registering, and forged signatures, Mathis said.

"Fifteen hundred may not sound like a lot, but it is a big deal and it disenfranchises the election process," she said. "It's time someone be prosecuted. There's a lot of taxpayer dollars being wasted on this."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/11/AR2006101101486.html

ACORN Statement on AP's Voter Registration Article

Tue Oct 3, 10:02 PM ET

To: National Desk

Contact: Kevin Whelan of ACORN, 651-642-9639, ext. 111 or communications@acorn.org

WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Monday Oct. 2, the Associated Press distributed an inaccurate and misleading news story ("Allegations trip up voting rights group") regarding ACORN's national voter registration program, which has helped enfranchise more than 1.6 million voters since 2004.

Maude Hurd, ACORN's national president, said: "ACORN does not commit voter fraud. We work hard to bring new people into the democratic process and work to maintain good quality control. We have even gone to court to overturn regulations that would prevent us from checking registration cards for errors. In the rare cases where an employee has done something wrong, ACORN has not only fired that person, but worked to have them prosecuted where appropriate."

Associated Press reporter Andrew Welsh-Huggins wrongly conflates alleged fraudulent applications, incomplete applications, duplicate applications, and even complaints about bad handwriting, treating them as a manifestation of the same problem on ACORN's part. An incomplete card or one with messy handwriting represents a legitimate attempt by a person to register to vote. While ACORN makes every effort to make sure applicants complete their applications, including calling them, before submitting them, this is not always possible. Duplicate applications are often the result of applicants who may not remember whether or not they are already registered to vote at their current address.

The reporter knowingly excluded from the story the fact that some of the applications in question have proven to be legitimate. In Summit County, Ohio, for example, officials cut off the bottom of an application where an elderly woman noted she helped her husband complete the form because his handwriting was difficult to read, before alleging that the card was an ACORN forgery. In Franklin County, Ohio, ACORN has obtained signed statements from some of the 400 applicants whose cards allegedly "questionable" cards attesting to their authenticity.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20061004/pl_usnw/acorn_statement_on_ap_s_voter_registration_article323_xml

Missing ballots from Omaha company finally turn up — 300 miles away
By KEVIN O'HANLON Associated Press Writer

The last of the missing ballots supplied by an Omaha, Neb.-based election company have been accounted for — some 300 miles from where they were supposed to be.

Election Systems and Software was criticized after several counties in Montana and Wyoming received absentee ballots for the Nov. 7 election after the deadline for starting to mail them to voters had passed.

On Wednesday, the last of the ballots arrived — no thanks to ES&S.

JoAnn Johnson, who runs elections in Chouteau County, said she got her ballots last week. But she then discovered that 650 precinct ballots, which had been due from ES&S on Sept. 22, had been mistakenly sent to Carbon County, some 300 miles away.

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061012/NEWS01/610120322/1002

Political scientists choose Ohio to examine election
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Karen Farkas
Plain Dealer Reporter

Akron- Political scientists who want to take a close look at the nation's election process will be in Summit and Franklin counties on Election Day, to survey whether poll workers and voters have confidence in the process.

The scientists chose Ohio because of the controversy over voting methods and its status as a battleground in national races.

"It is purely an academic exercise to examine the experience voters have at the polls on Election Day," J. Quin Monson, assistant professor of political science at Brigham Young University, told the Summit County Board of Elections on Tuesday.

He and Daniel Coffey, an assistant professor at the University of Akron's Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics, have received $400,000 in grants to hire people to conduct exit polls of voters and interview 500 election workers by telephone after the election. The plan is to use 200 undergraduate students from the University of Akron and Kent State University to do the polling.

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/summit/1160566307220460.xml&coll=2

:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

Cuyahoga poll workers go back to school on voting machines
M.R. KROPKO
Associated Press

CLEVELAND - Vanessa Lawrence was happy to be back in class Wednesday.

The 41-year-old has been a poll worker for about 20 years and didn't want to repeat the uncertainty she endured in May during Cuyahoga County's first primary election involving electronic voting.

She and thousands of other poll workers in the state's most populous county are not just getting instructions for the general election Nov. 7. This time they have to pass a written test on procedures at the end of a four-hour training session and demonstrate that they can perform basic tasks involving a touch-screen voting machine, such as encoding a voter card and changing paper.

Under a $730,000 contract, Cuyahoga Community College is taking over training after a disastrous primary in which poll workers were blamed for not knowing how to operate new electronic voting machines, losing vote-holding memory cards and, in some cases, not even showing up.

http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/15734671.htm

Elections overseer is needed, panel says

Official would serve at least 6-year term; some are skeptical of the plan

PETER WONG
Statesman Journal

October 11, 2006

A public review panel proposed Tuesday that Oregon voters elect a new nonpartisan official to take over elections and other tasks from the secretary of state.

The new official would be modeled after the federal comptroller general, who is appointed for a fixed term to lead the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of the U.S. Congress. The official would serve a term of at least six years and would have to wait two years before running for another office.

"What we do not want is to have this become another steppingstone office," said Hans Linde of Salem, a former Oregon Supreme Court justice and a member of the panel.

But Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, a Democrat, criticized the proposal.

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061011/STATE/610110344/1042

Higher tech equals lower cost
BY ROGER DUPUIS II
STAFF WRITER
10/12/2006

Lackawanna County is finding that bigger isn’t always better when it comes to voting machines.

The county’s new, lightweight electronic voting terminals will cost half as much to transport and set up at polling places as their hulking predecessors, Commissioner Robert C. Cordaro said.

Scranton-based Cawley Brothers Van Lines’ $10,106 bid was the lone proposal for this year’s machine transport contract. The commissioners approved Cawley’s bid at their meeting Tuesday.

Last year, it cost $19,000 for delivery and setup of the old-fashioned lever machines, Mr. Cordaro said, and in some years the price topped $20,000.

http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17316650&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=416046&rfi=6

(Who is this guy, the Cadillac Man?)

County voter registration office set for upcoming mid-term elections
By MONICA DUTKO
For The Evening Sun
Article Launched:10/11/2006 11:36:00 AM EDT

The Federal Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) and Pennsylvania's Act 150 of 2002 (amending the Pennsylvania Election Code) placed significant additional responsibilities on the county boards of elections and district election officials in an effort to standardize elections and build voter confidence in the electoral process.

HAVA and Act 150 both include voter identification requirements. The Election Code now requires that voters who appear to vote in an election district for the first time must present identification before being allowed to vote.

In addition to the requirements regarding voter identification, HAVA also requires at least one voting system in each precinct in every county to "be accessible for individuals with disabilities, including non-visual accessibility for the blind and visually impaired, in such a manner that provides the same opportunity for access and participation (including privacy and independence) as for other voters."

Under HAVA each county is required to update their voting systems to inform voters, at the time of voting, whether or not they have completed their ballot correctly. In other words, if an office on the ballot is a "Vote for One" and the voter casts a vote for more than one, this is considered an "overvote" and that particular race (the two votes) would not be counted. The new scanner system will alert the voter of the "overvote" and allow them to correct this by spoiling their ballot and obtaining a new ballot, to enable them to cast their vote correctly.

http://www.eveningsun.com/adamsweekly/ci_4475501

Official defends Diebold voting machines

Oct 11, 2006 03:48 PM

With election day less than one month away, Wednesday officials from Diebold were in Memphis to refute claims their voting machine, the AccuVote TSX, is vulnerable to hacking.

"The system is a stand-alone system," said Diebold spokesperson David Bear. "The system isn't plugged into anything more than your toaster is plugged into the wall: for power, and that is it."

Shelby County election commissioners say the new Diebold voting machines are fitted with various safeguards designed to prevent situations, such as voter fraud charges that lead to a recent lawsuit.

"My position is there should be no expected lawsuits following the upcoming election," Bear said.

http://www.wmcstations.com/Global/story.asp?S=5528405

Demo says Comal is trying to exclude some voters

Web Posted: 10/11/2006 01:15 AM CDT

Roger Croteau
Express-News Staff Writer

NEW BRAUNFELS — A former chairman of the Comal County Democratic Party accused Republican officials of trying to suppress turnout by fighting efforts to expand early voting times and locations.

Larry Horton said he has repeatedly asked county officials to add one of its temporary early voting locations in Precinct 3, which has a large Hispanic population, for two years without success. He also asked for a day of early voting on a Sunday.

"I reached the conclusion that this was an intentional effort to exclude certain segments of our population from voting," he wrote in a prepared statement.

In September, Horton submitted a petition, signed by 15 voters, asking for a day of Sunday early voting in New Braunfels' west side, which is predominantly Hispanic.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA101106.02B.VoteDispute.359ee45.html

Carper says votes will be counted 2 hours after polls close

Matthew Thompson
Daily Mail staff

Thursday October 12, 2006

Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper is declaring the county will have all votes counted for next month's general election two hours after the polls have closed, and longtime observers believe that would be a record.

That will happen only if no technical glitches occur, Carper said.

"I have required vendors and technical support people to be there at all times," Carper said. "I have no control over how the equipment works, but if things fall into place, we should be done by 9 p.m. "

If that happens, County Clerk Vera McCormick said it would be a new record finish. McCormick, who has worked for the office for 19 years, said the earliest time votes had been counted in the past was 10 p.m.

http://www.dailymail.com/news/News/2006101231/

Oct 11, 3:02 PM EDT

State approves loan for Berkeley County voting machines

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. (AP) -- The state's fastest growing county has ordered new touch-screen voting machines, but officials say they won't arrive in time for the November election.

The State Election Commission has approved a loan request by county officials for purchasing 155 touch-screen voting machines, Berkeley County Clerk John W. Small Jr. said Tuesday.

The loan will pay half of the $480,500 bill for Ivotronic voting machines, which have already been ordered.

The state has agreed to provide Berkeley County with 28 "loaner" Ivotronic machines, which will be placed at the largest precincts in the county. The state's revolving loan program generally requires the county to repay the money within five years.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WV_BRF_BERKELEY_VOTING_WVOL-?SITE=PAPIT&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=home.htm

New equipment provides independence for voters

(Published Wednesday, October 11, 2006 11:41:55 AM CDT)

By Gina Duwe
Gazette Staff

Ann Hough got her first opportunity to vote alone Tuesday.

Granted, she was only voting for her favorite ice cream flavor and vocal artist, but she did it by herself.

After a presentation by deputy city clerk Tim Kitzman, Hough tested the new AutoMARK ballot marking machine, which guides a voter through the ballot using a touch screen menu and a recording that instructs and reads the text aloud.

Macular degeneration has reduced Hough's eyesight enough that in the past she has needed help in the voting booth.

http://www.gazetteextra.com/votingmachines101106.asp

Kuff's World / Charles Kuffner

I don't cross-post stuff from my blog very often, but this is one of those times. Dan Wallach is a computer science professor at Rice University who has become a leading expert on electronic voting machines and their flaws. With the recent news about more serious vulnerabilities in Diebold machines and open questions about eSlate machines, I wanted to ask him some questions about what we know about these things, and what we should do about them. I think you'll be very interested in what he has to say.

(Video at link)

http://blogs.chron.com/kuffsworld/2006/10/interview_with_electronic_voti.html

BLOGGED BY Brad ON 10/11/2006 3:54PM
U.S. Elections Assistance Commission Withheld Report Showing 'Voter Fraud' (as Opposed to ELECTION Fraud) Not a Problem!

Democracy Hater, GOP Operative, Thor Hearne of the Phony Anti-American Front Group 'American Center for Voting Rights' is Back Spreading Propoganda for the Republicans! And the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is Set to Help Them in a Hearing this Friday…

The U.S. Elections Assistance Commission (EAC) is now doing the bidding of the RNC, according to an article today from USA TODAY.

It seems that the EAC commissioned, received, and then buried a report concerning the issue of Voter Fraud (as opposed to Election Fraud and other legitimate disenfranchisement issues) when they didn't like the results they received. The report, which the commission received four months ago but failed to release, found "little evidence" of the "problem" now being pushed nationwide by GOP operatives as evidence that disenfranchising Photo ID requirement laws should be passed in states across the country.

Such laws have been passed, and found unconstitutional from Georgia to Arizona to Missouri, yet the proponents of this scam — who have shown themselves willing to stoop to any level to keep Democratic-leaning voters, who are far more likely to lack drivers' licenses, from voting — have been keeping up their ongoing and expensive propaganda campaign.

Members of the commission were reportedly split on whether to release the report publicly. That internal battle four months ago may have led to at least one resignation from the commission, The BRAD BLOG has learned. Now chaired by outgoing Bush-appointee Paul DiGregorio since the original chair Rev. DeForest Soaries resigned in frustration, citing lack of support for true electoral reform from both the White House and Congress, the EAC has been much criticized for their failure to oversee implementation of and standards for new Electronic Voting Systems across the country.

The item today from USA TODAY suggests that the commission may now have become entirely politicized and polarized…

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3609

Report refutes fraud at poll sites
By Richard Wolf, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — At a time when many states are instituting new requirements for voter registration and identification, a preliminary report to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission has found little evidence of the type of polling-place fraud those measures seek to stop.

USA TODAY obtained the report from the commission four months after it was delivered by two consultants hired to write it. The commission has not distributed it publicly.

At least 11 states have approved new rules for independent voter-registration drives or requirements that voters produce specific forms of photo ID at polling places. Several of those laws have been blocked in court, most recently in Arizona last week. The House of Representatives last month approved a photo-ID law, now pending in the Senate.

The bipartisan report by two consultants to the election commission casts doubt on the problem those laws are intended to address. "There is widespread but not unanimous agreement that there is little polling-place fraud, or at least much less than is claimed, including voter impersonation, 'dead' voters, non-citizen voting and felon voters," the report says.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-10-10-poll-fraud-report_x.htm

By WILL LESTER, Associated Press Writer Wed Oct 11, 12:34 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Politics is a water-cooler topic, a dinner-table subject, an issue to discuss after Sunday services, and this year the interest of American voters is at its highest level in more than a decade.


That renewed attention could translate into higher voter turnout on Nov. 7, according to an Associated Press-Pew poll.

Seventy percent say they are talking politics with family and friends, and 43 percent are debating the issues at work. Among churchgoers, 28 percent share their political views, a number that rises to 34 percent among the congregations in the South.

(snip)

The embrace of the democratic process comes despite the view of some that it is flawed, with significant percentages saying their votes don't count.

Only 45 percent of Democrats are very confident their votes will be counted, and only 30 percent of blacks are confident.

Almost six in 10 of all voters polled had a lot of confidence their votes will be counted, according to the AP-Pew survey.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061011/ap_on_el_ge/motivated_voters_ap_poll

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