Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Sunday 11/13/05

[Mnemosyne]

Dream picture! Anything if he'll just leave!

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:



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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.







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http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=371233#371391

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

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=401072&mesg_id=401072



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

[Mnemosyne]

1. Arizona - Voting lawsuit is an insult

The Arizona Republic
Nov. 12, 2005 12:00 AM

Regarding "Vote-machine suit designed to protect election process" (Letters, Saturday):

Readers should know the letter writer has filed a frivolous lawsuit against my office about decertifying voting machines. The lawsuit is absolutely baseless, and worse, a waste of taxpayer money.

An allegation that no efforts have been made to decertify voting equipment is insulting. The author is clearly oblivious to the immense amount of work my office has done to establish such standards. In fact, I was the one who drafted the very laws he now complains are not being implemented.

In truth, my administration has done more to strengthen Arizona's voting-equipment certification laws than all of my predecessors, including:


• Establishing new voting-equipment certification and decertification standards.


• Imposing stiff penalties on manufacturers who use uncertified equipment.


• Requiring voting machines to produce a paper audit trail.


• Strengthening the testing of voting equipment.


• Commissioning the most comprehensive review of voting systems in our state's history.

more:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/1112satlet4-121.html

[Mnemosyne]

2. WAPO - The Political Center Makes a Comeback

By David S. Broder

Sunday, November 13, 2005; Page B07

In Congress and in constituencies across the country, last week demonstrated a powerful and welcome trend: After a long eclipse, the people in the political center, the moderates, have regained their voice and are reasserting themselves.

Beginning in the mid-1990s, and increasingly from 2000 onward, American politics was dominated by a notion that Republicans had found the key to mobilizing their voter base on issues of taxes and conservative social beliefs. In response, Democrats went back to their base -- the pro-government constituencies and the liberal interest groups -- to mount a resistance effort.


In the past decade, national elections became largely contests to see which side could turn out more of its committed partisans. The tools of motivation were highly emotional appeals. Persuasion of the undecided became a matter of secondary or minimal importance.

Both sides succeeded -- for a time. In 2004 John Kerry far outran Al Gore's 2000 vote but lost because George Bush improved on his own first run by even larger numbers.

more:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/11/AR2005111101638.html

[Mnemosyne]

3. WAPO - Democrats Losing Race For Funds Under Dean

By Chris Cillizza
Special to The Washington Post
Saturday, November 12, 2005; Page A01

The Democratic National Committee under Howard Dean is losing the fundraising race against Republicans by nearly 2 to 1, a slow start that is stirring concern among strategists who worry that a cash shortage could hinder the party's competitiveness in next year's midterm elections.

The former Vermont governor and presidential candidate took the chairmanship of the national party eight months ago, riding the enthusiasm of grass-roots activists who relished his firebrand rhetorical style. But he faced widespread misgivings from establishment Democrats, including elected officials and Washington operatives, who questioned whether Dean was the right fit in a job that traditionally has centered on fundraising and the courting of major donors.

Now, the latest financial numbers are prompting new doubts. From January through September, the Republican National Committee raised $81.5 million, with $34 million remaining in the bank. The Democratic National Committee, by contrast, showed $42 million raised and $6.8 million in the bank.

"The degree to which the fundraising has not been competitive is obviously troublesome," said former congressman Vic Fazio (D-Calif.), who is now a lobbyist here. He expressed confidence in Tom McMahon, Dean's executive director at the DNC.

more:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/11/AR2005111101833.html

[Mnemosyne]

4. MI- The Republican hopes to defeat Rep. Joe Schwarz in the 2006 primary.

Walberg says he will appeal to conservatives


Friday, November 11, 2005 11:01 PM EST
Tim Walberg pauses in his shed after removing the blanket that had covered his campaign signs from the 2004 7th Congressional District race. Walberg, a Republican, is running for the seat again in an effort to defeat Rep. Joe Schwarz. - Telegram photo by Erik Gable


By Erik Gable

Daily Telegram News Editor

TIPTON - When Republican Tim Walberg won a seat in the Michigan House of Representatives in 1982, he did it by waging an anti-tax, anti-abortion campaign against an incumbent from the same party.

Now he's hoping to repeat that performance by beating Rep. Joe Schwarz in the 2006 primary for Michigan's 7th Congressional District.

Walberg, 54, who served 16 years in the Michigan Legislature before term limits forced him out, ran for the 7th District seat in 2004. He drew 18 percent of the vote, placing third in a six-way primary. Schwarz, a former state senator from Battle Creek, received 28 percent of the vote, while Brad Smith, son of retiring congressman Nick Smith, received 22 percent.

This time around, Walberg thinks he can win. Conservatives who felt Schwarz's voting record was too liberal had five candidates to choose from in 2004. Next year, they may only have one - and while Schwarz received the most votes in the primary, he didn't have a majority.

more:
http://www.lenconnect.com/articles/2005/11/12/news/news02.txt

[Mnemosyne]

5. VT - Don't muddy the issues -

Article Published: Saturday, November 12, 2005 - 2:15:21 AM EST


A recent WCAX-TV/Research 2000 poll reveals that Congressman Bernard Sanders has a 64-16 lead over businessman Richard Tarrant in next year's race for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by James Jeffords.

These numbers aren't surprising. Sanders remains the most popular politician in Vermont, with support that cuts across party lines. Tarrant, the co-founder of IDX and the likely Republican nominee, is not a bad guy, but he lacks the name recognition of Sanders.

What also isn't surprising, that Sanders' enemies outside Vermont are already revving up the slime machine.

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth spokesman John O'Neill recently wrote a fundraising letter on behalf of Greg Parke, the Rutland Republican who is also running for the Senate.

more:
http://www.reformer.com/Stories/0,1413,102~8854~3127544,00.html

[Mnemosyne]

6. OH - Poll workers blast use of 'rovers'

Poll workers blast use of 'rovers'
System is blamed for slowing down tabulation of votes

By JOSHUA BOAK
BLADE STAFF WRITER

At 9:45 on election night, Larry Dargart was tired of waiting for the polling station at Rogers High School to officially close. Voting had ended two hours ago, but poll volunteers needed a "rover" to dismiss them.

Their rover, one of 52 drivers who collected the electronic and paper votes from each of Lucas County's 324 precincts, had yet to appear, Mr. Dargart said.

After a diabetic colleague said she needed food, Mr. Dargart phoned the Lucas County Board of Elections. "I have a person here getting sick," he recalled saying. "Do you want that responsibility?"

"I'll have to talk to a supervisor," Mr. Dargart said he was told.
Poll workers yesterday rejected claims made by Jill Kelly, director of the the Lucas County Board of Elections, that many of them were "frightened" of the Diebold touch-screen voting machines used during the election. They said the board's rover system actually held up the ballot count.

more:
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051112/NEWS09/511120462

[Mnemosyne]

7. Federal Case Could Affect Future Campaigns

By DAVID HAMMER, Associated Press Writer Sat Nov 12, 4:04 AM ET

WASHINGTON - The federal case against one of
President Bush's boosters in Ohio is a signal to political campaigns that they will suffer more grief than usual if their biggest fundraisers run afoul of campaign finance laws.

Criminal provisions of the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, also known as "McCain-Feingold," were invoked in the Oct. 27 arrest of coin dealer Tom Noe, a leading GOP fundraiser in the Toledo area. The Justice Department says it's the largest case of its kind under the law.

Noe pleaded innocent Oct. 31 in federal court in Toledo to charges that he illegally funneled $45,400 to the Bush re-election campaign. He had pledged to raise $50,000 for the campaign at an event in Columbus on Oct. 30, 2003, but, according to the indictment, paid friends to contribute money when the event fell short of the goal.

In the past, schemes to launder campaign money were considered civil cases for the
Federal Election Commission to handle or had to be prosecuted criminally in a roundabout way, under the guise of causing false statements to be made to the government

more:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051112/ap_on_el_st_lo/campaign_fundraising;_ylt=AsqXxUX9pceseh6cqA6outCM5QcF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMTQ4BHNlYwN5bnN1YmNhdA--

[Mnemosyne]

8. New voting machines generate positive response

Precinct judge: Turnout akin to presidential election

Friday, November 11, 2005

The dreary weather on Tuesday didn’t prevent residents from casting their votes and testing out the new voter machines.

Barbara Whelpton, a judge for the township precinct, kept herself busy as she handed out small, white cards to the steady stream of residents walking in the Kramer Elementary polling site.

Claude Spencer, a judge for the city precinct located in Kramer Elementary, was excited to see such a good turnout on a rather gloomy day.

“I’m surprised by the turnout. We have had as good a turnout as a presidential election,” Spencer said.

He believed the positive turnout may have something to do with the new voting system.

more:
http://www.oxfordpress.com/hp/content/news/stories/2005/11/11/OP1111voting.html

[Wilms]

9. NM: Plaintiffs Blocked During Discovery Phase of ... '04 Election Lawsuit

Plaintiffs Blocked During Discovery Phase of New Mexico '04 Election Lawsuit

Kept From Inspecting Voting Machines as Promised

Process So Far Has Revealed Votes Changed from One Candidate to Another, Disappearing All Together...

Blogged by Brad

11/12/2005

We've failed to report too terribly much on it to date, but there is a very important law suit quietly proceeding in New Mexico which is challenging the results of...

We've failed to report too terribly much on it to date, but there is a very important law suit quietly proceeding in New Mexico which is challenging the results of the 2004 Presidential Election there. The final result of that election was very close, and Election Reform advocates -- and indeed a great deal of evidence -- suggests that something was amiss there. Michael Collins wrote a good article about the suit a couple of weeks ago for New Zealand's SCOOP.
Yesterday, VoterAction.org sent out an email about some roadblocks that the plaintiffs are suddenly facing in the discovery phase of the trial. They were supposed to have been allowed to have experts inspect -- for the first time -- the Electronic Voting Machines that were used in the '04 Election, along with the actual results that they gave.

All of a sudden, Voter Action says, the county clerks have flat-out refused to permit the inspections by the plaintiff's experts. That, after some interesting evidence has already been found by the experts during discovery, like tests where they were able to see votes for one candidate being registered for their opponent (as has been so widely reported as happening in so many elections of late!) and ballots being confirmed with NO choice for President at all, which wasn't supposed to have been possible on at least one of the machine types being looked at.

Voter Action didn't post the article from their email on their website, so we'll post it here in its entirety. Check it out...

snip/more

http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002008.htm

Thanks to Nothing Without Hope

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x401174#401209

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2245871

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5346819

Pick one and kick it.

[Mnemosyne]

10. Is this the man to put the Democrats back in the White House in 2008?

Edward Helmore in Richmond, Virginia, meets Mark Warner, a bluegrass-loving former hi-tech venture capitalist, who is tipped to 'do a Clinton'

Sunday November 13, 2005
The Observer

A company of redcoat drummer boys signals the entry of Mark Warner, his Excellency, the Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, to Richmond's annual folk music festival. In this state, with its dense history, the drums echo defeat for the British forces, but not so for Warner, its popular outgoing governor.

Last week Warner emerged as a new darling of the Democratic party and the man some are saying has a chance of winning the presidency in 2008. Compared with other hopefuls in the race, such as Hillary Clinton, he is a virtual unknown, but there is a discernible political excitement that this former hi-tech venture capitalist is the Democratic party's dream: a southern governor who appeals to moderate southern Republicans.

The latest poll of Democrats shows that 41 per cent of party members presently back Hillary as their contender for the next election. John Edwards has 14 per cent of the support, John Kerry has 10 per cent, Senator Joe Biden has five per cent and Wesley Clark four (Rudy Giuliani and John McCain are the favoured candidates for the Republicans).

But such early polls rarely predict the future accurately, and the chatter in Washington is that the next presidential election could be an all-Virginia derby between Mark Warner, the governor, and John Warner, the state's powerful Republican senator, who was once married to Elizabeth Taylor.

more:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1641435,00.html

discussion here:

Thanks to Up2Late!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1921638

[Catamount]

11. Oh if only!

:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

[Wilms]

12. NM: Deadline nears to purchase voting machines

Sunday, November 13, 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.

snip

Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron said this week that she hasn't made up her mind about the machines.

Meanwhile, a lawsuit in state court seeks to block the state's use of the two machines, which are electronic touchscreen models. Plaintiffs' attorneys allege irregularities with those machines during the 2004 presidential election, claiming they occasionally switched votes.

The state has moved to dismiss the lawsuit as groundless.

snip/more

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

[Wilms]

13. GA: County to hold partial recount

County to hold partial recount

By Kate Lewis

The Augusta Chronicle

November 12, 2005

The Augusta-Richmond County Board of Elections on Monday will conduct a recount of votes cast in touch-screen early voting precincts after election officials discovered Friday that 27 absentee ballots were not counted Nov. 8.

snip

Lynn Bailey, the executive director of the Richmond County Board of Elections, said officials discovered the discrepancy Friday when computer voting records did not match manual reports.

The 27 uncounted ballots originated from touch-screen machines at the Warren Road Recreation Center, the Henry Brigham Recreation Center and the Board of Elections office in the Municipal Building, she said.

Voting via absentee ballot on touch-screen machines began Oct. 17 at the Board of Elections office, and advance voting ran from Oct. 31 to Nov. 4, she said.

None of the uncounted ballots was submitted Election Day, she said.

snip

Mrs. Bailey said she believes the 27 ballots were not counted because they were inadvertently flagged as "challenged" ballots.

snip/more

http://www.votersunite.org/article.asp?id=6328

[Wilms]

14. OH: 'Human error' creates doubt about failed vote in Carlisle

'Human error' creates doubt about failed vote in Carlisle

Unofficial results show 77 more votes than registered voters

By Ed Richter

Cox News Service

CARLISLE | A judge may have to determine what to do about "human error" that may have contributed to the apparent defeat of a tax levy here Tuesday, Montgomery County's top elections official said.

The Montgomery County Board of Elections used new electronic voting machines for its residents in Tuesday's general election, including 148 registered voters who live in that county's section of Carlisle.

snip

He said he had issued separate encoders for various voting districts to the county's 2,200 poll workers.

The encoders, operated by poll workers, program vote-access cards with the voting district information for each voter.

snip/more

http://www.daytondailynews.com/localnews/content/localnews/daily/1112carlislevote.html

[Wilms]

15. GA: Voting group leery of state contractor, pending lawsuit

November 13, 2005

Voting group leery of state contractor, pending lawsuit

By Mark Binker
Staff Writer

RALEIGH -- The man hired to help North Carolina determine which voting machines counties should use has extensive experience working for two of the manufacturers submitting bids to the state.

snip

As recently as Oct. 1, 2004, Long worked for Diebold Election Systems, and between 1983 and 1992 he worked for Sequoia Pacific Voting Systems. Both Diebold and Sequoia are bidding to work in North Carolina.

snip

According to his resume, Long was the project manager responsible for installing 22,000 Diebold voting machines throughout Georgia in 2002.

snip/more

http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051113/NEWSREC0101/511130328

[Mnemosyne]

16. LA - State GOP wants presidential primary held earlier

11/12/2005, 4:54 p.m. CT
The Associated Press

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The presidential primary in Louisiana should be held one month earlier — in February — and displaced voters who have registered by mail should not be allowed to vote by mail, according to the state Republican Party.

The Republican State Central Committee voted 86-23 Saturday to hold the state's presidential primary on the second Saturday in February, instead of the second Tuesday in March. Pushing up the primary will give Louisiana a more visible role in selecting a candidate for president, committee member Cecilia Giannobile said.

The state election code would have to be amended this spring or during a general session of the state Legislature for the change to take effect, she said.

The state Democratic Party would also have to agree to the shift, said Rep. Peppi Bruneau, R-New Orleans. serves on the House committee that reviews election laws.

more:
http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?/base/news-21/113183634864220.xml&storylist=louisianaBruneau

Discussion here:

Thanks to Judy Lynn!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1921839

[Mnemosyne]

17. UT - Green Party's Hatch to Take on Sen. Hatch

Fri Nov 11,10:01 PM ET

SALT LAKE CITY - Five-term incumbent Sen. Orrin Hatch (news, bio, voting record), R-Utah, will face a challenge from a distant member of his own family, Green Party candidate Julian Hatch, in the November 2006 election.

The Green Party of Utah announced Friday that the 51-year-old environmental activist and disabled veteran accepted the party's nomination at a convention this week.

"I am opposing my own relative so citizens of Utah will finally have a real choice since Democrats have adopted so many Republican policy positions in recent years," said Hatch, a lifelong Utah resident. He works as the state's coordinator for the Western Watersheds Project, a public lands policy group based in Hailey, Idaho.

Julian Hatch opposes the war in
Iraq and will also campaign for abortion rights, affordable health care, tax reform and public land protection.

"We are building a populist third party to challenge the ruling two-party system that has become immersed in big money and entrenched in fascist ideology," he said.

link, but no more:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051112/ap_on_el_se/hatch_challenger;_ylt=AhqMlNQXMBCn8dFg6Xbj0dmyFz4D;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--

[Algorem]

18. "Where it all went wrong for Reform Ohio Now"

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/sandy_theis/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1131877802200640.xml&coll=2

Sunday, November 13, 2005
Sandy Theis
Puny Deceiver Columnist

Reform Ohio Now, the Demo crat-leaning group that placed four election reform measures on Tuesday's ballot, finished the night 0 and 352.

Not one of the RON issues won in any of the 88 counties. Not in Athens County, where Democrat George McGovern prevailed over Richard Nixon in 1972. Not in Cuyahoga or Lorain counties, which joined Athens in favoring Tim Hagan over Bob Taft for governor in 2002.

Many analysts blame voter confusion for the trouncing, noting that both sides of the issue employed TV ads featuring nearly identical people, along with an admonition to send the politicians a message.

But more than confusion was at work...

[Algorem]

19. OH- top critic of scandal to announce he's running for Attorney General

http://www.cleveland.com/search/index.ssf?/base/ispol/1131885184190350.xml?ispol&coll=2

BWC critic plans run for attorney general

Sunday, November 13, 2005
Sandy Theis
Puny Deceiver Bureau Chief
Columbus

-- State Sen. Marc Dann, the most vocal critic of a mushrooming Statehouse investment scandal, hopes to grab a bigger megaphone by becoming Ohio's next attorney general.

The Shaker Heights native plans an official announcement Monday.

Since the Bu reau of Workers' Compensation rare-coin invest ments became public last April, the 43-year-old lawyer has used a combination of lawsuits and one-liners to try to learn how the losses occurred and why Republicans in power failed to act sooner to protect taxpayers.

He has flooded the state with public-records requests. He has also sued to get access to Gov. Bob Taft's records and to question the governor and his top advisers under oath. The case is under review...

[Wilms]

20. Civil Rights Focus Shift Roils Staff At Justice

Civil Rights Focus Shift Roils Staff At Justice
Veterans Exit Division as Traditional Cases Decline

By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 13, 2005; Page A01

The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, which has enforced the nation's anti-discrimination laws for nearly half a century, is in the midst of an upheaval that has driven away dozens of veteran lawyers and has damaged morale for many of those who remain, according to former and current career employees.

Nearly 20 percent of the division's lawyers left in fiscal 2005, in part because of a buyout program that some lawyers believe was aimed at pushing out those who did not share the administration's conservative views on civil rights laws. Longtime litigators complain that political appointees have cut them out of hiring and major policy decisions, including approvals of controversial GOP redistricting plans in Mississippi and Texas.

snip

At the same time, Ashcroft implemented procedures throughout Justice that limited the input of career lawyers in employment decisions, resulting in the hiring of many young conservatives in civil rights and elsewhere in the department, former and current lawyers have said.

snip/more

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/12/AR2005111201200.html

[Wilms]

21. NYT Op-Ed: While We Weren't Looking

While We Weren't Looking

Op-Ed New York Times November 13, 2005

snip

Here is a particularly troubling new example: While we were all busy with elections, the New York State Board of Elections issued a draft proposal for buying $220 million worth of new voting machines. Apparently, manufacturers will be allowed - perhaps even encouraged - to push for one type of machine, while many civic groups and concerned voters are pushing for something else.

And what the manufacturers are peddling will probably cost the government a lot more money than the machines that the others want. What in the world could be going on here?

To back up a moment, the federal government, after the disastrous presidential vote in 2000, passed the Help America Vote Act, which gave money to states that improve their voting systems. The idea was to make it easier for citizens to vote and to provide an accurate, tamper-proof record.

But imagine, for a moment, that you own a voting machine company. If you can persuade a state like New York to certify your machine, you'll win the lotto. Lobbyists and politicians with rich contributors have therefore been swarming around this pot of molasses in Albany - for so long, in fact, that New York is the last state to settle on machines with money provided by the Help America Vote Act.

snip/more

http://www.votersunite.org/article.asp?id=6330

[Wilms]

22. AZ: Hearings to focus on recount/Results in 2004 Repub primary disputed

Hearings to focus on recount
Results in 2004 Republican primary disputed by some

Corinne Purtill
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 13, 2005 12:00 AM

A Republican state senator will hold hearings next year on a disputed 2004 legislative recount, reopening a case that has divided Republicans between those still questioning the election's handling and those who would like to see the matter dropped.

The action will revive a lingering mystery over a recount that unearthed more than 400 new votes, raising questions about the accuracy of vote counts in state elections.

Sen. Jack Harper of Surprise said he plans to hold legislative hearings on the 2004 District 20 primary race recount before the Government Accountability and Reform Committee that he chairs, shortly after the Senate reconvenes in January.

snip

A judge certified the election in favor of McComish after a subpoenaed employee of Election Systems & Software, the voting machines' vendor, failed to appear in court to testify about the machines' accuracy.

snip/more

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/1113recount13.html

[Wilms]

23. PA: Ballots counted again in judge race

Ballots counted again in judge race

By John Hilton, Nov 12, 2005

snip

Initial vote totals recorded Tuesday night showed Keating won by a 1,650 to 1,468 margin.

However, a programming error by the county’s ES&S voting machines awarded all votes by Democrats casting a straight-ticket ballot to Keating. The problem involved a software coding error in which Keating’s political affiliation was mislabeled as Democrat.

snip/more

http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2005/11/12/news/news08.txt

and an earlier one here...

http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2005/11/11/news/news02.txt

[Wilms]

24. VCC Calls Humboldt's First Parallel Election a Success

VCC Calls Humboldt's First Parallel Election a Success

Voter Confidence Committee Holds First Parallel Election

Media Contact: Dave Berman, Voter Confidence Committee

Voter Confidence Committee Calls Humboldt’s First Parallel Election a Success
Over 55% of Voters Participate in Citizen-Run Exit Poll at Arcata City Hall Precinct

Friday, November 11, 2005 – On Election Day, over 55% of all voters who placed their official ballot at the Arcata City Hall precinct also chose to participate in the region’s first “Parallel Election,” staffed by the volunteers of local citizens group the Voter Confidence Committee of Humboldt County (VCC). The VCC undertook this important project to compare the results and verify the accuracy of the official vote tally performed on electronic machines with secret programming code.

VCC co-founder Dave Berman was optimistic about results of the Parallel Election, saying, “Participation was much greater than expected.” He added, “Moving forward, voters can expect the VCC to remain vigilant about monitoring election results, and we will conduct this same experiment in the 2006 Primaries.”

The VCC and other election reform advocates have raised serious concerns about Humboldt County’s vote counting program called GEMS, manufactured by Diebold. On the whole, this software contains trade-secret (“proprietary”) programming kept private from election officials and the public at large. While no one can explain precisely how the program works, it is known that GEMS operates on Microsoft’s Access platform that has been proven unsecure by industry experts. The citizen-run Parallel Election was conducted largely to increase awareness of this with Humboldt’s voting public.

snip/more

http://guvwurld.blogspot.com/2005/11/press-release-vcc-calls-humboldts.html


Thanks to GuvWorld for posting

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x401279

[MelissaB]

25. Bonifaz: A Candidate for the Rest of Us

Bonifaz: A Candidate for the Rest of Us

by David Swanson



http://www.opednews.com

John Bonifaz is seriously considering running for election next year as Massachusetts Secretary of State, or more properly, Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. A victory for him would be a victory of national importance for election reform and voting rights.

John's Voters' Bill of Rights includes "a guarantee of open and transparent elections with verified voting, paper trails, and access to the source codes for, and random audits of, electronic voting machines …a guarantee that we the people, through our government, will control our voting machines — not private companies."

John is apparently not planning to model his service on that of Katherine Harris or Ken Blackwell.

But John Bonifaz is also not your typical liberal candidate. He is one of the nation's leading experts on voting rights. Further provisions in his Bill of Rights reflect that background. They include:

--election day registration;
--early voting;
--ensured absentee voting;
--publicly financed elections and campaign spending limits;
--instant run-off voting;
--cross endorsement voting (fusion voting);
--proportional representation;
--redistricting reform;
--eliminating language barriers;
--non-partisan election administration;
--and support for congressional re-authorization of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and for a constitutional amendment that affirmatively guarantees the right to vote.

Are you getting the picture? Electing Bonifaz Secretary of State would mean putting in office someone who actually cares deeply and passionately about the right to vote and who knows more about protecting that right than does almost anyone else alive.

More great stuff here: http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_david_sw_051113_bonifaz_3a_a_candidate.htm

Okay, I really wanted to bold every word in this article. :)

[Wilms]

26. Bonifaz discussion

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x401287

[MelissaB]

27. GD discussion

here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5352009#5352361