Election Reform, Fraud and Related News. Sunday 04/20/08

Ohio debates scrapping its touch-screen voting machines


COLUMBUS (AP) - Four years after Ohio decided the presidential election, a partisan debate has erupted over whether the must-win state should scrap its touch-screen voting machines.

The sour attention Ohio got for equipment malfunctions and all-day lines to vote in 2004 not forgotten, the new elections chief is pushing to return to paper ballots because she believes the machines are vulnerable to tampering.

Similar concerns prompted Florida to do the same last year and California to limit use of the touch-screen machines.
Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner's effort has been trounced by many county election officials who say their machines are secure and that a switch ahead of the November election would be rushed. The Republicans who control the Legislature have refused to act on the request from Brunner, a Democrat, for $64 million to switch to paper.

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner's effort has been trounced by many county election officials who say their machines are secure and that a switch ahead of the November election would be rushed. The Republicans who control the Legislature have refused to act on the request from Brunner, a Democrat, for $64 million to switch to paper.

http://www.coshoctontribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080419/NEWS01/804190310



Please post Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News on this thread. If you can:


1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web. Here's the link to the News Directory:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x407240

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

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


Recommendations are much appreciated. :hi:

Digital Ballot Ban Sought

Todd R. Weiss, Computerworld

A bill that would have helped states pay to switch to paper election balloting systems and for random audits after elections died out of a House committee this week, but its prime sponsor said he is not giving up the fight.

U.S. Rep. Rush Holt, a New Jersey Democrat, said the bill he sponsored, House Bill 5036, the Emergency Assistance for Secure Elections Act, would help make the nation's elections more accurate and secure by helping states move to paper ballots over touch-screen electronic machines.

"I'm still hopeful that it's possible to get some of this done before this year's November elections," Holt said. "Anything we can do to reduce the unresolved questions and disputes this November we should do," he said, referring to past problems in U.S. elections including the troubled 2000 presidential election.

"Can we still do things before November? Yes, but time is running out," he said.

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/144857/digital_ballot_ban_sought.html

House committee asks Rove to testify about Alabama governor
By The Associated Press
Published: Friday, April 18, 2008 12:40 PM EDT
WASHINGTON — The House Judiciary Committee on Thursday asked former White House adviser Karl Rove to testify about claims that he influenced a federal corruption case against former Democratic Gov. Don Siegelman of Alabama.

The panel also called on the Justice Department’s inspector general to investigate allegations that political motivations drove the Siegelman case and several other federal prosecutions during the Bush administration.

Issuing a lengthy report on possible “selective prosecution,” the committee cited cases against Pennsylvania coroner Cyril Wecht and Wisconsin state procurement official Georgia Thompson as other examples that are ripe for review.

Like the Siegelman prosecution, both cases had political undercurrents, with critics saying they were engineered by White House-appointed prosecutors to hurt Democrats during election season. A judge recently declared a mistrial in the Wecht case, and a conviction against Thompson was overturned last year.

http://www.journalinquirer.com/articles/2008/04/20/national_and_world/doc4808ce8a6c7b7282287566.txt

Essex County must scrap old voting machines


By LOHR McKINSTRY
Staff Writer

ELIZABETHTOWN -- Essex County might have taken possession of all the lever-action voting machines in the county, but it can't do much with them after this year.

County Republican Election Commissioner Lewis Sanders said the State Board of Elections told them they must scrap the old machines.

"After November of 2008, no one can use the old voting machines for anything. It will be against the law."

The machines had been owned by towns and were turned over to the county under provisions of the federal Help America Vote Act.

http://www.pressrepublican.com/0127_politics_and_elections/local_story_111051557.html

Voting equipment to be tested

The Daily Sentinel

Saturday, April 19, 2008

On Wednesday, Elections Office officials will publicly test the voting equipment to ensure the machines are working properly for upcoming elections.

The test, conducted every election year, also aims to provide an opportunity for the public to witness how the machines accurately count votes.

At 5 p.m. on Wednesday, April 23 in the Elections Office located in the county courthouse annex building, ballot counting machines will be tested for the Garrison ISD, Cushing ISD, city of Nacogdoches, city of Garrison and city of Chireno upcoming elections.

For the test, he said the elections office receives a deck of pre-marked ballots to scan in and to vote with electronically. If the test is accurate, each item marked should have two votes by his/her name — one electronic vote and one paper ballot vote.

http://www.dailysentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2008/04/20/Election_Test_0421.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=10

When does your vote not count? When it isn't counted

By BRITTONY LUND
The Lufkin Daily News

Saturday, April 19, 2008

If you voted electronically in Box 13 in the Angelina County primary, your vote doesn't count — yet.

Angelina's county and district attorneys filed a petition Friday asking for a recount of the primary election votes after an electronic error caused some votes to not be counted and others to be counted multiple times.

County District Attorney Ed Jones didn't have the exact numbers Friday, but gave amounts of discrepancies he thought were "close." Electronic votes from Box 13, which was at the Chambers Park rock house, were under-counted by 305 votes; Precinct 6 was over-counted by 573 votes; Precinct 11 was over-counted by 275 votes; and Precinct 11B was over-counted by 204 votes, Jones said.

The problems were discovered a couple weeks ago, according to Jones, when Thelma "Midget" Sherman, Angelina County tax assessor-collector/election administrator, and Jim Wark, Angelina County's Democratic Party chairman, both noticed that the number of voters who signed up didn't match the number of votes counted at certain voting boxes.

http://www.lufkindailynews.com/news/content/news/stories/2008/04/19/election.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=9

Philadelphia Hip-Hop event to get out the vote

By Kathy Brady Shea

INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Who would think voter registration in Philadelphia would draw crowds of thousands?

Granted, perhaps the line that started forming early this morning outside the Liacouras Center on Temple University's North Philadelphia Campus had more to do with the hip-hop headliners that were scheduled to perform as part of the voter-registration and get-out-the-vote event.

Whatever the reason, a long line of mostly 20-somethings had formed by 9:15 for what was billed as the launching of the National Hip-Hop Team Vote 2008 Campaign.

Shortly before 2 p.m., when the extravaganza aimed at amplifying the youth vote was due to get . . . hopping, the 10,000-seat Liacouras Center was nearly half full.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20080420_Philadelphia_Hip-Hop_event_to_get_out_the_vote.html

Caucus drew few ineligible voters

Associated Press - April 20, 2008 3:14 PM ET

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - The 2008 Iowa caucuses saw a flood of new participants, but that did not translate into large numbers of ineligible voters trying to participate.

That's according to an analysis of state voter registration data in a copyright story by The Des Moines Register.

The Register's review of data from all of the state's 99 counties reveals a low rate of new voter applications filled out on caucus night by persons whose address could not later be verified.

According to the review, about 1.5% of the new voter identification cards mailed to voters who registered on caucus night were returned to county auditors as undeliverable, indicating that the vast majority of new caucus-night voters had a bona fide address in Iowa.

http://www.woi-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=8199228

(A good question for all of us post HAVA.)



Are you registered to vote?


If you’re unsure whether or not you are registered to vote, or if you would like information about where to vote on election day, click here.

This will take you to the state’s voter registration system, which provides you with your registration status, polling place information, and will even offer driving directions to the polls. Be ready to fill in your county, name, and date of birth to access your information.

Don’t miss your chance to cast a ballot in the Indiana Primary Election on Tuesday, May 6. Polls are open in Warrick County from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. You must have a valid state or United States government-issued photo identification to vote. For the primary, you must declare a party or you may request a nonpartisan School Board ballot to vote for the school board candidates only.

For more useful voter information, along with 2008 election dates and Warrick County Election Office information, click here.

http://www.tristate-media.com/articles/2008/04/20/warricknews/news/06voterinfo.txt

Appeal Of NH Primary Re-Count Dismissed

Web Editor: Erin Lewis, News Producer
Created: 4/20/2008 4:33:51 PM
Updated: 4/20/2008 4:35:29 PM

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -- More than four months later, New Hampshire has closed the books on its 2008 presidential primary.

The numbers didn't become official until Friday, when the state Ballot Law Commission dismissed a Michigan man's appeal of a re-count of Republican ballots.

The re-count gave Albert Howard, a chauffeur from Ann Arbor, a total of 43 votes, one less than the election-night count. He appealed the re-count but failed to show up for a hearing last week.

About 250,000 votes were cast statewide in the Jan. 8 primary. Arizona Sen. John McCain won the Republican primary with more than 88,000 votes.

http://www.wlbz2.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=85219

Paraguay Election Too Close to Call

From Tom Hennigan in Asuncion

After a vicious election campaign marked by character assassinations and accusations of fraud, Paraguayans went to the polls today in the first major test of the country's precarious 19-year old democracy.

All opinion polls indicate Paraguay's 2.8 million voters will elect Fernando Lugo, a former Catholic bishop, as their new president. If he wins he will be the first opposition leader to take power peacefully since the country's independence from Spain in 1811.

Mr Lugo heads a broad alliance that stretches across the political spectrum, built around the promise of change after decades of Colorado party rule. Under the Colorados Paraguay has become notorious for rampant corruption by the ruling class in what is one of the Americas' poorest nations.

But many voters are afraid that the ruling Colorado party, in power through dictatorship and democracy for almost 62 years, will use fraud to steal the result for their candidate Blanca Ovelar, a former education minister who would become the country's first woman president.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article3785445.ece

and by a big margin 43% (Lugo), to 37% (closest opponent, in a 3-way race).

Leftist ex-bishop ends Colorado Party rule in Paraguay: exit polls

AFP - 14 hours ago

ASUNCION (AFP) — Leftist coalition leader and former bishop Fernando Lugo won Paraguay's presidential vote Sunday, trouncing rival Blanca Ovelar by 43-37 percent and ending her Colorado Party's 61-year rule in the country, according to exit polls.

Lino Oviedo, 64, a retired army chief who helped stage a coup that ended the 35-year military dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner, was in third place with 16 percent of the vote, according to the poll by ABC/Nanduti radio.

An Ultima Hora/Coin/Telefuturo exit poll gave Lugo's Patriotic Alliance for Change 40.1 percent of the vote to 37.2 for Ovelar.

There is no runoff vote in Paraguay. (MORE)

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hL-uFf-4fkRqLVv2lRQCSaMpJXuA

Zimbabwe sees fresh vote delay
Apr 21, 2008 8:28 AM

Zimbabwe announced a delay in the partial recount of its disputed March 29 election, extending a political deadlock in which the opposition says 10 of its members have been killed and hundreds arrested.

The delay increased opposition concern about possible vote-rigging by veteran President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party.

The recount could overturn the results of the parliamentary election, which showed ZANU-PF losing its majority to the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) for the first time.

Results of the parallel presidential election have not been released, but MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai says he has won.

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/1318360/1729215

EXTRA: Reports of election fraud in Paraguay
Posted : Sun, 20 Apr 2008 18:08:04 GMT
Author : DPA

Asuncion, Paraguay - Election observers in Paraguay have accused the Partido Colorado, which has ruled the country since 1947, of election fraud in Sunday's presidential election, national media reported. Observers from the Organization of American States and the Paraguay section of the non-government organisation Transparency said that persons not on electoral rolls were allowed to vote, ballot papers were provided that already had the ruling party crossed in, personal IDs was "bought," and voters were escorted into voting booths by Colorado supporters.

The opposition and independent observers in the capital Asuncion in the past days had warned of possible fraud by the Partido Colorado.

Opinion polls showed that Colorado candidate Blanca Ovelar would run a neck-and-neck race with opposition former bishop Fernando Lugo. However, one poll said that the majority of voters assumed Ovelar would win.

"There is a prevailing mood of pessimism in the country, because everyone assumes election fraud," high school teacher Tomas Palau told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/200163,extra-reports-of-election-fraud-in-paraguay.html

April 20, 2008

Election Fraud in Pennsylvania?

By Michael Collins

They've got a Secret

Michael Collins
"Scoop" Independent News
Washington, D.C.

The Pennsylvania primary could lock up the Democratic nomination process once and for all. The campaign that Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean asked to be finished by July 1 could be over this Tuesday. Regardless of your candidate or party, you're probably like the vast majority of citizens who insist on fair elections that are open to the public for examination.

Citizens want to know that the candidate taking office is the same candidate who won a majority or a plurality of the votes. A 2006 Zogby poll of 1018 registered voters nationwide found that 92% believed that they, as citizens, have the right to witness vote counting for the election of their paid public servants.

That will not be the case in Pennsylvania any more than it was the case in Florida, Ohio, California, South Carolina, and most other primary states. Almost all states bar any real inspection of vote counting, the process that determines the election result. Even if they did allow you to watch the count, all you would see is a whirring third-rate computer system run by a private company that won't allow anyone to take a comprehensive look inside.

Post election audits are either absent or randomly selected by the people who run the election. Recounts require an exceptionally close election, less than a 1% difference typically. And citizen recounts after the election, where paper records exist, are barred by law in Florida and Virginia and barred almost everywhere else by bureaucratic fiat.

April 20, 2008

God Damn America?

By Dallas Blanchard



June 1963 to June 1965 I was pastor of First United Methodist Church in Fort Deposit, Alabama.

Lowndes County, Alabama, had at that time about 1,900 whites of voting age and around 2,100 registered voters, none of them black since Reconstruction. Yet there were over 6,000 blacks of voting age. A county Registrar told me they had one black farmer come to register, they handed him the forms to take home to complete, and advised him strongly not to bring it back, which he did not.


Black maids in Mobile at that time were being paid $6.00 a day, plus lunch and bus fare. Black maids in Fort Deposit got $1.50 a day and "tote," meal left-overs.


My wife hired a maid but we told her there was no way we could pay her less that $6.00 a day. She replied that she could not accept that. "If I did, the word would get out and I'd be the one to pay, not you. They'd take it out on me."


A black woman working as a maid five days a week could make $390 a year. If she worked 6 days a week, she would earn $468 a year. If she could not work and had three children, Alabama welfare would pay her about $500 per year.


http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_dallas_b_080419_god_damn_america_3f.htm

Thank you! :loveya:

Pennsylvania Yanks Voter Site After Data Leak

A Web programming flaw on the State of Pennsylvania's Web site has exposed sensitive voter registration data.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008; 10:19 AM

With voting in Pennsylvania's presidential primary just a month away, the state was forced to pull the plug on a voter registration Web site Tuesday after it was found to be exposing sensitive data about voters in the state.

The problem lay in anonline voter registration application formthat was designed to simplify the task of registering to vote. State residents used it to enter their information on the Web site, which then generated a printable form that could be mailed to state election officials. Pennsylvania's Department of State disabled the registration form late Tuesday after being informed of the vulnerability by IDG News Service.

Because of a Web programming error, the Web site was allowing anyone on the Internet to view the forms, which contained data such as the voter's name, date of birth, driver's license number and political party affiliation. On some forms, the last four digits of social security numbers could also be seen.

"Upon learning of this situation, the Department of State acted immediately to disable the specific page," said Department of State Spokeswoman Leslie Amoros in an e-mail message.

"The Department is reviewing the facts to determine how this information became available," she said. "We are also taking all necessary steps to correct the situation and are implementing processes aimed to prevent future occurrences"

(read all//)

The last four digits of a social security number are often used as a security question, required to access certain types of billing accounts, and a skilled identity thief could use a driver's license number, name and address in a check forging scheme, according to privacy experts.

"There are so many alarming things about this," said Kim Alexander, president of California Voter Foundation, which hasstudiedvoter privacy across the U.S. "It just seems to be a case where you have government agencies using sophisticated technology in thoughtless ways."

With an important presidential primary set to occur in Pennsylvania on April 22, it's particularly worrisome that this data could have been accessed by anyone, she added. "All kinds of dirty tricks could be played," she said. "In heated campaigns we've seen cases where someone will call a whole bunch of voters and tell them that the election date has been changed."


full text at

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/19/AR2008031901259.html

:yourock: