Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, SUNDAY August 6, 2006

[rumpel]

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Sunday 8/6/06

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.

An interesting look at 2000


source: http://a-lex.smugmug.com/keyword/results


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

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[rumpel]

1. OH: Officials worried about rule being tested in special elections

Posted on Sat, Aug. 05, 2006

CONNIE MABIN
Associated Press
CLEVELAND - More than two dozen Ohio counties are preparing for special elections Tuesday, the state's first with a rule that requires voters to show identification before casting a ballot.

Among the 27 counties with elections for various local issues, mostly school tax proposals, is Cuyahoga, the state's most populous county where the May primary was disastrous even without workers worrying about checking ID.

Results from the May 2 primary were delayed six days when roughly 18,000 absentee ballots had to be hand counted because they were improperly formatted for the new optical scan system.

The county, and many others across the state, also had problems at polling places voting electronically for the first time.

Many elections officials anticipate the new machines, combined with the new ID rule, could spell long lines, frustrated voters and overworked poll workers in November, when Ohioans will pick a new governor.

Tuesday's special elections, which affect only a fraction of the state's 7.6 million registered voters, are a dress rehearsal.

http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/state/15207327.htm

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2. OH: New Registration Rules Stir Voter Debate in Ohio

The New York Times

By IAN URBINA
Published: August 6, 2006
CLEVELAND — For Tony Minor, the pastor of the Community of Faith Assembly in a run-down section of East Cleveland, Ohio’s new voter registration rules have meant spending two extra hours a day collecting half as many registration cards from new voters as he did in past years.

Republicans say the new rules are needed to prevent fraud, but Democrats say they are making it much harder to register the poor.

In the last year, six states have passed such restrictions, and in three states, including Ohio, civic groups have filed lawsuits, arguing that the rules disproportionately affect poor neighborhoods.

But nowhere have the rules been as fiercely debated as here, partly because they are being administered by J. Kenneth Blackwell, the secretary of state and the Republican candidate in one of the most closely watched governor’s races in the country, a contest that will be affected by the voter registration rules. Mr. Blackwell did not write the law, but he has been accused of imposing regulations that are more restrictive than was intended.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/06/us/06ohio.html?

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3. OH: Voting needs reconsidered

Tribune Chronicle

Sunday, August 06, 2006 — Time: 11:52:15 AM EST

By STEPHEN ORAVECZ Tribune Chronicle


Since at first Ron Knight did not succeed, he is going to try, try again to convince Democrats on the Board of Elections to cut the number of precincts in half.

Knight, a Republican member of the Trumbull board actually has tried twice already, insisting at the June and July board meetings that his plan will save more than $100,000 per year because it would require fewer poll workers.

Each time, the board deadlocked on 2-to-2 party-line votes. Fellow Republican Craig Bonar joined Knight, but Democrats Sherron Platt and Barbara Katzenberger opposed the plan.

It’s expected Knight will reintroduce his plan to reduce the number of precincts from 274 to 135 or fewer again at Tuesday’s meeting.

Knight’s plan proposes combining two or three smaller precincts into one larger jurisdiction. He wants each precinct to have an average of about 1,050 registered voters, with a minimum size of about 850 and a maximum of about 1,250. The state law says there can be no more than 1,400 electors per precinct.

If Knight’s plan goes through, even Trumbull’s smallest precinct would hold more voters than the statewide average of 680. The average in Trumbull County now is 517 voters per precinct.

http://www.tribune-chronicle.com/News/articles.asp?articleID=7080

[rumpel]

4. FL: HOUSE OF LIES

Miami herald

Posted on Sun, Aug. 06, 2006

Housing firms donated to Dade commissioners
Companies that failed to deliver on projects for the Miami-Dade Housing Agency have contributed to the election campaigns of commissioners, who have now promised action in the recent building scandal.
BY DEBBIE CENZIPER AND TIM HENDERSON
[email protected]

contributions from firms with delayed
housing projects.

Key county commissioners vowing to rid the Miami-Dade Housing Agency of widespread misspending have reaped thousands of dollars in campaign donations from developers and consultants involved in some of the agency's most troubled building projects, The Miami Herald has found.

The flow of money to commissioners -- dating back years -- underscores the ties between county leaders and companies whose overdue loans and delayed projects have outraged Miami in recent weeks and sparked local, state and federal investigations.

In a county with one of the most dramatic affordable-housing shortages in the nation, the Housing Agency has paid millions of dollars to developers for homes they never built, allowed delays to repeatedly postpone vital construction projects, diverted $5 million to build a massive new headquarters, and spent $22 million on a floundering Liberty City project that in six years produced just three of 411 promised houses.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15207485.htm

[rumpel]

5. MO: Boone County offers electronic voting system, likened to ATMs

Missourian

August 6, 2006

By LEE LOGAN

In addition to being the voice of democracy, Boone County voters will get a chance to try out some new gadgets during the primary election on Tuesday.

The primary will allow voters from individual political parties to choose their nominees for an array of offices, including U.S. senator, state auditor and state representative.

They’ll also choose nominees for judge and circuit clerk and decide whether to extend the state parks-and-soil tax. Columbia voters will say yes or no to a proposed $60 million bond issue for the city’s electric utility.

New voting machines mandated by federal law will be used for the first time, enabling voters to ensure their ballot is correct and providing access to voters with disabilities.

Boone County Clerk Wendy Noren compared the machines to ATMs but said their graphic displays are much more sophisticated.

“They’re quite good because it flows through and presents a ballot to people,” Noren said. “It’s not relying on you to turn a piece of paper over.”

http://columbiamissourian.com/news/story.php?ID=20910

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6. MO: What voters need to know before going to polls

Missourian

August 6, 2006

Compiled by LEE LOGAN

Poll information

Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m Tuesday.

What to bring

Take your voter registration card with you.

If you do not have it, you will need another form of identification. Acceptable forms of ID include a driver’s license (either out-of-state or Missouri), state ID card, a Social Security card, student ID card, a passport, Medicare or Medicaid card, or a copy of a current utility bill, paycheck or other government document containing your name and address. The new voter ID law that requires voters to bring a photo ID will not be in effect until the November elections.

Change of Address

If you have moved since you registered to vote in Boone County and have not notified the Boone County Clerk’s Office, you’ll need to do so before you can cast a ballot Tuesday.

http://columbiamissourian.com/news/story.php?ID=20911

[rumpel]

7. OpEd: Amend or End HR 550

August 6, 2006 at 08:32:55

by Tobi, Nancy

What's wrong with the Holt Bill in three easy bullets

Common Cause, MoveOn.org, TrueMajority, VerifiedVoting.org, and many other large election reform groups are pushing - and pushing hard - for passage of HR550 (the Holt Bill), national legislation aimed to amend the Help America Vote Act. The bill is being sold as a way to put "auditable paper trails" into national law. Sounds like a great idea. But many activists disagree with the approach to support "paper trails" that might be audited when what we want are real paper ballots that are - not might be - counted.

The other problem with HR550 is that it is about much more than paper trails. Read below the dangerous details that the groups pushing for passage of HR550 "as written" aren't talking about.

The democratic processes of the American Republic are based on decentralized power. Centralized power led to the American Revolution. Centralized power is the antithesis of a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

1. Centralization of Executive Power-White House Control over Counting the Votes: HR550 extends beyond the existing expiry date the power and authority of the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), establishing a Presidential Commission authorized to control the counting of votes in every election--federal, state, and local--in the nation.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_tobi_2c_na_060806_what_s_wrong_with_th.htm

[Bill Bored]

21. Discussion here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x445238

[rumpel]

8. NV: Incline flush with early voters for primary

North Lake Tahoe Bonanza

Tom Meyer
Bonanza staff writer
August 6, 2006

At latest count, Washoe County residents had cast 4,825 early ballots in the 2006 primary election, setting a pace to double the number cast in the last non-presidential primary.

"The more people that turn out now, the better," said Mike Wolterbeek, Washoe County public information officer. "It takes the stress off the primary election day."

Sandy Robert, who manages the polling station at the Incline Village Library, agreed.

"(The county) predicts that 10 percent of voters will vote early," she said. "I think more of them should, because it's so easy to do."

Lester Weaver of Incline Village, who brought his sample ballot (recommended by the county) to vote on Friday, was scanned-in and voting within two minutes of his arrival.

http://www.tahoebonanza.com/article/20060806/News/108060023

[rumpel]

9. BradBlog: Donzella James Contesting GA Primary!!

BLOGGED BY Winter Patriot ON 8/6/2006 12:22AM

Lawsuit Calls Results 'Meaningless' Because There's No Paper Trail, No Audit System
Article by APN's Matthew Cardinale includes quotes from Paul Lehto and Brad Friedman!
Cardinale: 'The lawsuit is believed to set a national precedent.'

Matthew Cardinale has the details:
BREAKING: Donzella James Contesting Primary in Georgia

A few choice excerpts:

"Good, I’m glad she’s challenging, she should!" Brad Friedman of the noted elections integrity website, BradBlog, said in a phone interview.
The Donzella James Campaign isn’t taking the same approach as say, Kerry/Edwards 2004. They aren’t trying to calculate the known malfunctions to see if they add up to greater than the margin of vote difference between more progressive James and the moderate Scott (35%). The point is, because of the lack of a paper trail, there is no way to determine how many unknown malfunctions there are.

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3186

[rumpel]

10. CA: Oakland Voters To Decide Whether to Join Other California Cities in

California Progress Report

Using Instant Runoff Voting

August 6, 2006

By Patricia Kernighan
Oakland City Council

Last week, Councilmember Nancy Nadel and I succeeded in persuading a majority of our fellow Oakland City Councilmembers to put a measure on the November 2006 ballot allowing Oakland voters to decide whether they want to implement Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) for City elections. We were backed up by great advocacy and election expertise by several community-based organizations. I’ve been working toward this moment for the last five years and, frankly, the going has been very slow.

It’s high time Oakland voters had the chance. In November 2000 voters approved Measure I, which provided that alternative legal voting methods such as instant runoff voting (IRV) be used to the greatest extent feasible in order to increase voter participation. In January 2002 an Elections Task Force, on which I participated, submitted a report recommending in part that the June Nominating elections with their notoriously low turnouts be eliminated by consolidating all municipal office elections into the November General election and by implementing IRV.

http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2006/08/oakland_voters.html

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11. OH: How many voters see a black-white contest?

The Columbus Dispatch

OHIO’S RACE FOR GOVERNOR

Sunday, August 06, 2006
Joe Hallett and Mark Niquette
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

On a day too hot for contemplation, Cornell Bradberry rolled a cigarette on a front step of his Near East Side home and forced himself to think about the historical opportunity at hand.

For the first time in Ohio’s 203-year history, Bradberry, a 65-year-old black man, will have the opportunity on Nov. 7 to vote for another black man for governor.

Even so, Bradberry said, race won’t determine his vote.

"I look beyond that," he said. "What is to be considered is the person who’s best able to help us out of the job crisis in the African-American community, whether that person is black or white."

Republican J. Kenneth Blackwell, who would become only the second elected black governor in the nation’s history, said he wants it no other way.

http://www.columbusdispatch.com/?story=dispatch/2006/08/06/20060806-A1-02.html

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12. CO: Primaries ready for disabled voters

Publish Date: 8/6/2006

New voting machines an advancement for Boulder county

By Brad Turner
The Daily Times-Call

BOULDER — When Judy Neal steps into a voting booth this year, it will mark the first time she is able to cast a ballot independently since losing her sight.

New federal laws and computer-based voting technology are helping disabled voters enjoy the same privacy in the voting booth as everyone else during the 2006 election cycle.

But the biggest voting-rights advance in a generation — for Boulder County, it begins with Tuesday’s primary — is happening with little fanfare, said Neal, development manager for the Center for People with Disabilities in Boulder.

“The general public has been able to walk into voting booths and cast ballots privately and independently. People don’t think about disability until it happens to them,” Neal said.

http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=9168

[rumpel]

13. NC: State board to hear challenge on Monday

The Free Press

August 06,2006
BOB SHILES
STAFF WRITER
Members of the State Board of Elections will be in Kinston on Monday and possibly Tuesday to hear state Rep. Stephen LaRoque’s challenge to the results of the May 2 Republican primary.

LaRoque, of Kinston, lost his bid for the 10th District House seat nomination to challenger Willie Ray Starling, of Mount Olive, by 11 votes — 913-902. The 10th House District includes parts of Lenoir and Wayne counties, as well as all of Greene County.

The five-member state elections board decided to come to Kinston to further investigate possible election irregularities after July 12 hearing in Raleigh did not provide enough information for them to determine if the results of the primary should be upheld or a new election held.

“Basically, the board needs more facts so that a fair decision can be rendered,” Don Wright, general counsel to the elections board, said Friday. “This is a ‘de novo’ hearing, meaning it is starting from scratch. There was just an insufficient finding of facts presented at the (Raleigh) hearing. The board could not reach any conclusion that could be supported by law.”

http://www.kinston.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=/GlobalTemplates/Details.cfm&StoryID=38319&Section=Local

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14. ME: Publicly funded candidates should have public support

Morning Sentinel

Sunday, August 06, 2006
MAINE COMPASS: Eric Johnson

The citizens of Maine worked hard to pass a law establishing public financing of state elections. Our Clean Election system has been used successfully by hundreds of candidates since it went into effect in 2000 and is a model for other states. The law's success is a result of strong citizen participation, broad popularity among candidates, and vigorous enforcement by the state's ethics commission.

As with all reform legislation, continual vigilance is needed to ensure that the law in practice continues to live up to the voters' intent in passing it.

This point is well illustrated by the recent flap over an apparent exchange of qualifying contributions between Independent candidate Barbara Merrill and Republican candidate Chandler Woodcock, who are both running for governor.

http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/view/columns/2995696.shtml

[rumpel]

15. AZ: Pima County disabled will have touch-screen voting

AZ Central

Aug. 6, 2006 12:00 AM
Disabled voters in Pima County will be able to use touch-screen technology in the September primary and the November general election.

The county Board of Supervisors authorized the use of the Diebold TS-X voting machines, bringing the county into compliance with the Help America Vote Act. That law requires that the disabled have the ability to vote in secret, rather than with assistance.

However, dozens of political activists said the decision actually jeopardizes the rights of the disabled. They said the machines have enough security flaws that the public cannot be sure votes will be counted as they are cast.

The supervisors asked for an audit of all electronic votes.

Most voters will continue to vote using bubble sheets and optical scanners.

- Associated Press

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0806B1-talker0806x.html

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16. MI: MASON: Voting problems expected with new machines (News brief)

Detroit Free Press

August 6, 2006
New touch-screen voting machines to help people with disabilities are failing in test runs ahead of Tuesday's primary, Ingham County Clerk Mike Bryanton said Thursday. Test ballots aren't fitting into tabulators. That could cause longer lines Tuesday.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060806/NEWS06/608060563/1008

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17. TN: Voting Delays Long Ballot, Trial Of New Machines Seen As Causes

The Greeneville Sun

By: By Tom Yancey/Staff Writer
Source: The Greeneville Sun
08-05-2006
A long ballot and the first real trial of the county’s new iVotronic touch-screen voting machines combined to make voting here in Thursday’s election take considerably longer than usual for many citizens.

None of the county’s 36 election precincts was able to actually close at 8 p.m., the official closing time, Greene County Administrator of Elections Jo Roberts said in an interview Friday.

Several polling places, including both Tusculum precincts, the large Mosheim precinct and several others did not finish voting until 10:30 p.m.

Some reportedly had to wait as long as two hours in line to vote at many precincts, and some persons waited even longer than that.

The first factor was the 11-page-long ballot itself, Roberts said. Votes were possible in 52 different local, state and federal offices. Some of those offices, notably the congressional and governorship races, offered multiple choices.

Many voters seemed to be surprised when they encountered the 27 “yes-or-no” retention questions about judgeships across the state, Roberts said, although the judgeships were featured in sample ballots published twice in The Greeneville Sun.

http://www.greene.xtn.net/index.php?table=news&template=news.view.subscriber&newsid=132738

[rumpel]

18. NC: LaRoque, Starling hearing set for Monday in Kinston

Goldsboro News-Argus

The North Carolina State Board of Elections should make a decision this week in the District 10 congressional battle between Rep. Stephen LaRoque and Willie Ray Starling.

The state board decided last month to meet in Kinston beginning Monday to decide which candidate will receive the Republican nomination to face Democrat Van Braxton in November.

In the May primary, Starling upset LaRoque, R-Lenoir, by a 913-902 margin across the district, which consists of all of Greene and parts of Lenoir and Wayne counties.

LaRoque filed a protest claiming that some unaffiliated voters in Lenoir County were not given a chance to vote for him, as election law allows.

Lenoir County's Board of Elections heard his protest in May, upheld it and sent the case to the state board for a decision.

The state board could have certified Starling as the Republican nominee, but Chairman Larry Leake, Lorraine Shinn and Robert Cordle prevented that through a majority vote over Charles Winfree and Genevieve Sims.

Then, the board members voted unanimously to travel to Lenoir County to hear arguments from both sides.

In Kinston on Monday, Leake said both sides will not be able to use information from affidavits to present their cases. Instead, each side will be responsible for providing witnesses, testimony and information to prove or disprove the claim that voting irregularities occurred.

http://www.newsargus.com/news/archives/2006/08/06/laroque_starling_hearing_set_for_monday_in_kinston/index.shtml

[rumpel]

19. Mexico presidential challenger vows protests after court rejects full

recount
Jurist

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Mexico leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has vowed to continue with street demonstrations after the Federal Electoral Tribunal on Saturday rejected his request for a full ballot-by-ballot recount of all votes cast in the July 2 presidential election , which Obrador lost by less than a percentage point to conservative Felipe Calderon . Obrador slammed the seven judges' unanimous ruling, telling followers that "we're going to continue our movement of peaceful civil resistance...If they refuse to open all the polling stations and count all the votes, it is complete proof that we won the presidential election." Chief Judge Leonel Castillo in turn defended the decision , saying that fraud in the count was practically impossible because the people doing it were chosen at random.

http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2006/08/mexico-presidential-challenger-vows.php

[rumpel]

20. AZ: English-only proposal has many flaws

East Valley tribune

Tribune Editorials

August 6, 2006
The Legislature has asked Arizona voters to reaffirm the state’s commitment to English as our official language, another reaction to the ongoing frustration about the porous border with Mexico and the lack of a sane immigration policy.

Proposition 103 comes to the ballot box even as some local governments are stepping up their efforts to talk effectively with a growing Spanish-speaking population. Tribune writer Andrea Falkenhagen reported Thursday that the Mesa Unified School District posted some advertising signs in Spanish to help recruit bus drivers. These positions have been tough to fill even though the district pays more than double of the federal minimum wage.

Meanwhile, Mesa and Phoenix held special police forums this week for Spanish-speaking residents to share information about the hunt for two serial killers and to seek additional tips from the public that might lead to their capture.

Considering such recent events, we have to question the practical value of Prop. 103 as another amendment to the state constitution.

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=71148

[Land Shark]

22. kickin florida map