Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Wednesday 10/26/05

[Wilms]

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.

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

If you can:

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

2. Post stories using the "Election Fraud and Reform News Sources" listed here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x371233

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

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


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

Link to All previous Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News thread:

http://www.independentmediasource.com/DU_archives/du_2004erd_el_ref_fr_thr_calenders.htm


Please "Recommend" for the Greatest Page (it's the link just below).

[Wilms]

1. Press Release: Hart InterCivic

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Hart InterCivic Introduces the Technologically Advanced and Federally Certified eScan Digital Ballot Imaging System for Precinct Voting

AUSTIN -- eScan's Digital Voting Technology is More Accurate and Secure than Optical Scanning Systems

Austin-based Hart InterCivic, a national leader in election technology solutions, announced today the introduction of the eScan(TM) System, a digital ballot imaging system for precinct-based voting.

The eScan is a precinct-based voting system that digitally captures voter selections on printed ballots and integrates vote totals from other absentee-by-mail and electronic voting systems, including Hart InterCivic's widely successful eSlate(R) Electronic Voting System, to produce a single set of election reports.

Hart InterCivic's eScan successfully completed its federal certification process this week. The National Association of State Election Directors (NASED) Technical Subcommittee has completed review of the Independent Testing Authority (ITA) reports for Hart System 5.0 (which includes the eScan) and has issued the following NASED number for this system: N-1-04-22-22-003. The NASED website (www.nased.org) will be updated shortly to reflect this new qualification information.

snip/more

http://austin.dbusinessnews.com/shownews.php?newsid=48494&type_news=latest

[Wilms]

2. WI: Photo ID debate dominates hearing on election policies

Photo ID debate dominates hearing on election policies

U.S. House committee visits Milwaukee to hear litany of problems that marred state's results

By GREG J. BOROWSKI

[email protected]

Posted: Oct. 24, 2005

A U.S. House committee came to Milwaukee on Monday to hear about the state's many election problems, but members mostly got an earful on a familiar issue: photo ID.

And witnesses representing the two sides of the issue reached a predictable conclusion on whether the controversial requirement is needed: disagreement.

snip

Only two of the committee's nine members - Ehlers and Ney - attended the hearing.

State Democrats bashed the initial witness list, which was heavy on Republicans, as too partisan. Ney said Democrats on the committee had not submitted any names for potential witnesses. Once names were suggested, more witnesses were added, including two City of Milwaukee officials.

snip/more

http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/oct05/365363.asp

[Wilms]

3. PA: Patriot fails certification again

Patriot fails certification again

By: J.D. Prose, Times Staff

10/25/2005

Pennsylvania's secretary of state declined Friday to certify UniLect Corp.'s updated Patriot touch-screen voting system, which was overwhelmingly favored by county residents in an informal poll earlier this month.

Secretary of State Pedro Cortes, whose department oversees elections in the state, issued a report that included the major concerns he had with the system, which was tested Aug. 15.

During the test, the Patriot system's high-speed optical-scan ballot reader failed to correctly tabulate a sample absentee ballot on paper, although a slow-speed reader correctly tabulated the ballot.

Cortes also questioned UniLect's methods to ensure the security of data, writing that the company's "encryption standards" do not meet recommendations of industry groups.

http://www.timesonline.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15445278&BRD=2305&PAG=461&dept_id=478569&rfi=6

[Wilms]

4. NM: Deadline nears to purchase voting machines

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Deadline nears to purchase voting machines

SANTA FE (AP) - New Mexico is not alone in its struggle to find reliable voting machines that meet state standards and are accessible to disabled and non-English-speaking populations.

"A lot of states are committed to accessible machines but don't want to have to retrofit those machines," said Doug Chapin of Electionline.org, an organization that tracks election reform efforts across the nation.

New Mexico hasn't settled on a machine and it is nearing a federal deadline to do so.

A 2002 federal law requires all states to purchase a certain number of machines for use by disabled voters. New Mexico was allotted $9 million for the purchase.

The machines must be in place by Jan. 1 or the state risks a lawsuit by the U.S. Attorney General's office that would force the purchase, officials said.

"We're running out of time," said Bernalillo County Clerk Mary Herrera. "They are not going to come in one month. They will take three months."

snip/more

http://www.lamonitor.com/articles/2005/10/24/headline_news/news17.txt

[Wilms]

5. WI: (Gwen) Moore: Voter ID card disenfranchises

Moore: Voter ID card disenfranchises

It helps fight fraud, Green says

By Dimesh Ramde
Associated Press
October 25, 2005

MILWAUKEE - Requiring voters to show a photo identification card would disenfranchise minorities, the elderly and the poor, U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, told a congressional committee Monday.

But Rep. Mark Green, R-Green Bay, told the Committee on House Administration that a voter ID requirement is a simple way to restore people's trust in the integrity of elections.

The committee held the hearing in Milwaukee at Green's request to discuss problems from last year's presidential election in Wisconsin.

"Requiring voters to show a government-approved photo ID is the only way for us to protect the fundamental American principle of one man, one vote. Every American has the sacred right to cast their vote, but only once," Green said.

snip/more

http://www.madison.com/tct/home/topstories/index.php?ntid=59079&ntpid=3

[Wilms]

6. Accurate and Secure Voting Systems

Equal Vote

by Dan Tokaji

Tuesday, October 25

Accurate and Secure Voting Systems

Commissioner Ray Martinez of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission has a comment in today's Roll Call on "How to Ensure Accurate, Secure Voting Systems." The comment discusses EAC's efforts to use the National Software Reference Library maintained by NIST, to serve as a repository for voting systems software. The basic idea is to require voting system vendors to deposit their software in the library upon completion of the certification process. A subscription is required to view the comment, but here's a snippet:

In the coming weeks, the EAC is expected to vote on a series of proposed final standards which, among other things, would require that all voting system software, including installation programs and third-party software, be deposited with the NSRL upon completion of a national voting system certification process, in which 41 states currently participate.

This means that a local election administrator will be able to verify that the operating software installed in the election management systems used in that local jurisdiction is exactly the same as the software for that particular system that was certified by an independent testing authority and deposited with the NSRL. Additionally, any irregular or suspicious files could be identified when a local election administrator utilizes the NSRL....

ven the most avid critics of electronic voting systems concede that the use of the NSRL in the election process is a practical step toward providing added security measures for electronic voting machines.

snip/more

http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/blogs/tokaji/2005/10/accurate-and-secure-voting-systems.html

[Wilms]

7. The Technological-Human Interaction

Election Update

by Thad Hall

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

The Technological-Human Interaction

The recent GAO report on electronic voting has a great figure in it that is very important in the ongoing discussions about e-voting. Figure 1 on page 7 of the report notes that elections are a multi-stage process starting with (1) voter registration, then (2) early and absentee voting, (3) election administration/vote casting, and (4) vote counting and certification.

At each point, an election process--one of the four items noted above--is affected by two interactions. First, there is a human interaction, when people--voters, election officials, observers, and third-parties--enter the process. Second, there is a technological interaction--with voter rolls, ballots, and ballot counting systems (human or mechanical). As Mike noted in his blog from yesterday and on Saturday from Argentina, the legal and cultural norms of a community also interact here as well, but the GAO focuses on the human, technological, and process interactions.

snip/more

http://electionupdates.caltech.edu/2005/10/technological-human-interaction.html

[Wilms]

8. DOJ official urges Voting Rights renewal

Tue, Oct. 25, 2005

DOJ official urges Voting Rights renewal

JEFFREY McMURRAY

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - A Justice Department official urged Congress Tuesday to renew an essential part of the Voting Rights Act, saying it deterred local election changes that could discriminate against minorities.

snip

"The declining number shows it has had a very valid deterrent effect," Schlozman said.

snip

Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Fla., dismissed that argument, saying it was akin to doing away with meat inspectors just because there has been a drop in the number of infected cows.

snip/more

http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/breaking_news/12996073.htm

[Wilms]

9. Rosa Parks 1913 - 2005

[Wilms]

10. kick n/t