OPEN thread Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, Wednesday 04/09/08

[Melissa G]

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, Wednesday 04/09/08

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[tbyg52]

1. States nt

[tbyg52]

7. TX: County considers scan voting machines

Critics of the electronic voting machines used in Fort Bend County might have another option at their disposal this November. The Fort Bend County Commissioners Court took a step Tuesday toward the purchase of optical scanning machines, which would be used in addition to electronic voting machines.

The commissioners court in 2005 approved the purchase of about 800 voting machines in 2005 at a cost of $2.5 million, with the state of Texas funding $1.9 million of that. The commissioners court in 2005 chose what are called eSlate voting machines, manufactured by Austin-based Hart InterCivic.

Tuesday's vote called for the county's purchasing agent to examine the possibility of purchasing scan-card readers, also manufactured by Hart InterCivic, that would be placed at each polling station in Fort Bend County.

More:
http://www.herald-coaster.com/articles/2008/04/09/news/news04.txt

[tbyg52]

8. Meanwhile.... Court Members 'Sweep' $8.5 Million Into Commissioners' Projects Fund

At the same time Fort Bend County commissioners began thinking about how to pay for an extra $1.49 million in voting devices, they quietly “swept” nearly $8.5 million into a fund earmarked for commissioners’ projects.

Without discussion, Commissioners Court members agreed Tuesday to a an “annual budget sweep” that essentially took away about $10.2 million from county departments with budget surpluses of $50,000 or more.

“After adjustment of the departmental deficiencies, the remaining balances are suggested to be distributed to multi-year projects,” according to a document from County Auditor Ed Sturdivant to court members.

More:
http://www.fortbendnow.com/pages/full_story?page_label=home&id=56979-Court-Members--Sweep---8-5-Million-Into-Commissioners--Projects-Fund&widget=push&article-Court-Members--Sweep---8-5-Million-Into-Commissioners--Projects-Fund%20=&instance=home_news_lead_story&open=&

[truedelphi]

17. All across the nation, there are funds available to County Commissioners

These funds have come about through the seizure of assets in drug raids.

They are then dispersed to various individuals who are instructed who to offer the funds to.

In Marin County CA what happens is that each County Supervisor receives abt 135 K in funds.

They give them to various projects and when these projects are announced in the newspapers, it all "looks" very kosher.

So for instance, The Elder Care Project might be offered 42,000 for its work.

What the public doesn't realize is that the person running the Elder Care Project will be expecrted to "re-imburse" whichever Supervisor gave them taht funding, by giving them say $ 5 K at election time.

I have been told that this is going on all over the country.

[tbyg52]

9. OH: Butler Co. votes not counted

A recently discovered computer glitch caused at least 105 votes in West Chester to go missing after the March 4 primary election, Butler County election officials said.

Two computer cards containing votes from touch-screen voting machines were not uploaded on election night - even though the computer reported that all cards had been read. Those votes have since been counted and were included in final, official results approved last week.

Officials say they don't yet know whether the same glitch may have affected results from previous elections in Butler County or elsewhere. Forty-four of Ohio's 88 counties - including the urban counties of Lucas (Toledo), Montgomery (Dayton) and Stark (Canton) use the same software - from Premier Election Solutions - as their primary vote-counting system.

More:
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080409/NEWS01/804090352/1077/COL02

[tbyg52]

14. Voting machine maker looks at complaint

From the :rofl: department....

snip

Premier Election Solutions, a part of North Canton-based Diebold Inc., says it hasn't had any similar complaints and is investigating.

More:
http://zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080409/UPDATES01/80409012/1002/NEWS01

[tbyg52]

11. MN: Photo ID for voting plan rejected

Democrats who control the Minnesota House rejected a GOP attempt Monday to require photo identification for voting, claiming it could disenfranchise people who do not have a photo ID.

“The issue here is nothing more than proving who you are” when you show up to vote, said Deputy Minority Leader Tom Emmer, who said his proposal was meant to prevent voter fraud. The Delano Republican’s amendment to an election bill failed 70-59.

More:
http://www.woodburybulletin.com/articles/index.cfm?id=9586§ion=mnnews,Minnesota%20News&property_id=20

[Melissa G]

19. NJ- Voting machines ordered turned in

Voting machines ordered turned in
Discrepancies found in 6 counties' tallies
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
BY DIANE C. WALSH
Star-Ledger Staff

Subpoenas were issued yesterday in six New Jersey counties demanding that election officials turn over all the voting machines where discrepancies were found in the presidential primary tallies for testing by an independent consultant.

Superior Court Judge Linda Feinberg ordered election officials in Bergen, Gloucester, Mercer, Middlesex, Ocean and Union coun ties to submit the machines by Tuesday after activists, seeking to have the electronic voting machines discarded, succeeded in convincing her that examining the counties' machines is critical to their case.


"We're entitled to this," said Penny Venetis from the Rutgers University law clinic, which is representing the activists pursuing the case before Feinberg.

"In order to succeed in our case and show Sequoia machines are insecure and can be hacked into, we need to look at these machines," Venetis said. Clerks in these six counties uncovered discrepancies in 60 machines when they double- checked the vote tallies after the Feb. 5 presidential primary.

Michelle Shafer, a spokeswoman for Sequoia in California, said her company would seek to have the subpoenas quashed. But when state Superior Court in Trenton closed yesterday, no motions were filed with Judge Linda Feinberg, who is presiding over the case, or the main processing unit in the courthouse.
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-10/1207716794218700.xml&coll=1

[tbyg52]

2. National nt

[tbyg52]

10. Groups Step Up Efforts to Avert Voting Mishaps

On her way to vote in Georgia's Feb. 5 Democratic primary, the usual music and celebrity gossip on Carcola Tippit's favorite radio show was set aside in favor of host Tom Joyner's repeated calls for listeners to report voting problems.

"Report any trickery! Call 1-866-MYVOTE1," implored Joyner, whose show is heard by 8 million listeners nationwide. "Let us know what's happening out there."

After waiting more than an hour in line, Tippit, 46, tapped the number into her cellphone. "This is crazy," she recalled telling the hotline's answering service. "Everybody was complaining. . . . People had to get out of line to go to work. It was a disaster."

Joyner's call-in line is at the center of an expansive effort -- run largely by African Americans independent of political parties and election officials -- to make sure every vote is counted in this year's elections. The NAACP National Voter Fund and the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation are also tracking voter complaints, and more than 1,000 lawyers have volunteered to staff polling places and call centers to guard against voter suppression.

More:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/08/AR2008040802973.html

[Wilms]

22. Discussion

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x500322

[Melissa G]

20. Lessons learned so far from the 2008 primaries and caucuses

Lessons learned so far from the 2008 primaries and caucuses
April 9th, 2008 by Staff · No Comments

The Committee on House Administration held a hearing on “2008 Presidential Primaries and Caucuses: What we’ve learned so far” to discuss problems at the polls, the message to states that they need to get ready for the November election, the important role of poll workers and how to train them, and how the committee can help, said Chairman Robert Brady (D-PA). Ranking member Vernon Ehlers (R-MI) said he was concerned about anyone being denied a chance to vote.

The first witness was radio host Tom Joyner, of the Tom Joyner Morning Show. He discussed his partnership with the NAACP National Voting Fund and the voter hot line 866-MYVOTE1. He said people call the hot line for questions on poll locations and with complaints on problems they faced at their polling places, such as not enough machines or machines not working. He said he is urging the committee to get more voting machines and voter identification machines to polling places, to train poll workers better so they can fix the problems with machines, and to establish national voting standards.

Gregory Moore, executive director for the NAACP National Voter Fund, said the data from the 866-MYVOTE1 hot line can be analyzed to prepare for the Nov. 4 election. John Bonifaz, legal director for Voter Action, said a growing concern with elections is outsourcing to private vendors for key functions, and that “citizen-led monitoring of our elections, such as the MYVOTE1 effort, is critically needed to identify election concerns and to collect the data from voters on Election Day.”

Cecilia Martinez, executive director for The Reform Institute, suggested that election administrators implement tools to improve voter access to basic information, possibly through collaboration between election officials and private sectors. Martinez also suggested that groups registering voters give election officials a “heads up” on their efforts so officials can provide enough computers and resources at the polls.

Ken Smukler from InfoVoter Technologies said that he hoped this hearing will alert officials of the hot line database, and that cooperation with media organizations will promote the hot line to voters. Joyner said that this has been a historic election season, and election officials need to be prepared for the large number of people who will show up in November.
http://talkradionews.com/2008/04/lessons-learned-so-far-from-the-2008-primaries-and-caucuses/

[Melissa G]

21. Dallas voters complaints heard in Congress

Dallas voters complaints heard in Congress

05:00 PM CDT on Wednesday, April 9, 2008

By MACIE JEPSON / WFAA-TV

For more than a month Tom Joyner has waited for the day to become the voice of weary Texas voters who waited hours in line in a presidential primary turn out that caught elections officials off guard. But not too weary to pick up the phone and blow off some steam.

"They got six booths, for almost 1200 to 1300 people in line, and it's after 7 o'clock. And they're still in line. You know, that's just ludicrous!" said Tommy Davis, Dallas County voter.

Davis made that call from inside Nimitz High School in Irving that night, to a hotline established by the Tom Joyner Morning Show and the NAACP. His complaints, along with those of nearly 5000 other Texans, were cataloged, transcribed, and prepared for the day when Joyner would take the complaints to Congress.

“They had one machine. Two machines. One or two poll workers to serve those voters. The whole pace and process is just discouraging and we don't want that to happen in November,” said Joyner.

Joyner joined other national voting rights activists to appear before the Committee on House Administration, which regulates federal elections. The panel is investigating voter irregularities.

http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/localnews/news8/stories/wfaa080409_jh_dallasvoting.4a34d4fe.html

[tbyg52]

3. International nt

[rumpel]

13. Nepal: top UN official urges restraint following pre-poll killings

9 April 2008 – The top United Nations official in Nepal has called on all parties to exercise restraint after at least seven people died in two separate incidents on the eve of Constituent Assembly elections in the South Asian nation.

In a statement issued today in Kathmandu, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Nepal, Ian Martin, said he was “deeply shocked” by the deaths.

At least six members of the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M) were killed and several others injured as a result of firing by security personnel in Dang district. The second incident involved the shooting death of Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) candidate Rishi Prasad Sharma.

“All parties should exercise restraint and avoid provocations of one another, including detention of party workers,” said Mr. Martin.

Voicing his deep concern about the violence ahead of Thursday’s polls, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged all parties “to remain calm while cooperating to allow this election to take place in a peaceful atmosphere.

“The Nepalese have worked hard to reach this historic moment and deserve a credible ballot to cement democracy in Nepal,” he said in a statement issued by his spokesperson.

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=26255&Cr=nepal&Cr1=

[tbyg52]

16. Hey, & thanks!

:hi:

[tbyg52]

4. Blogs, Editorials, LTTEs, etc. nt

[tbyg52]

6. Yes, the democracy is busted, but Electoral College isn't the problem

My comment - well, another one who doesn't know the difference between vote fraud and election fraud. Oh well.....

snip

While I applaud the California-based advocacy group National Popular Vote Inc. for trying to fix democracy, there are a few problems with this approach.

The one thing we shouldn't do in a democracy is "fix" something that isn't broken. The issue in 2000 wasn't that Gore was denied the presidency because of the popular vote. He was denied the presidency because of vote fraud and the undemocratic way in which the race was decided.

More:
http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/election08/132

[tbyg52]

5. The Youth Vote nt

[tbyg52]

12. Why the GOP lost the youth vote

A generation ago, Republicans owned the youth vote.

In 1984 and 1988, first Ronald Reagan and then George H.W. Bush won first-time voters and under-29 voters by big margins: 20 points in 1984. The twentysomethings of the 1980s remain the most Republican cohort in the electorate to this day.

(Illustration by Suzy Parker, USA TODAY)

But since 1990, the GOP has lost its connection to the young, and the problem gets worse with every passing election. Today's twentysomethings are the most anti-Republican age group in the electorate.

More:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20080409/cm_usatoday/whythegoplosttheyouthvote

[tbyg52]

15. That's all (I've got time to do) folks!

I just skimmed the top of the searches, and closed out what didn't load fast enough, but I've gotta go now.

I'll get more on my regular day - just happened to be around tonight. :hi:

[Melissa G]

18. Thanks, tbyg52! you rock!

:yourock: