Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Saturday, 10/22/05

[FogerRox]

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.





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





If you can:

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

[Melissa G]

1. GAO REPORT CONFIRMS CONCERNS ABOUT SECURITY OF ELECTRONIC VOTING

Thanks to Liberty Belle for the post and DU discussion here...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x397988

Blogged by Brad on 10/20/2005 @ 7:02pm PT...

BREAKING: NON-PARTISAN GAO REPORT CONFIRMS CONCERNS ABOUT SECURITY OF ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINES!
REPORT: 'Loss and Miscount of Votes in Recent Elections'!
House issues BI-PARTISAN Press Release: Report 'A Wake Up Call', 'Foundation of Democracy Rests Upon Security, Integrity of our Voting System'


"Concerns about electronic voting machines have been realized and have caused problems with recent elections, resulting in the loss and miscount of votes." That's just one of the chilling revelations...

"Concerns about electronic voting machines have been realized and have caused problems with recent elections, resulting in the loss and miscount of votes."

That's just one of the chilling revelations from the non-partisan Government Accountability Office's (GAO) 107-page report on the security of Election Voting Machines in America as just released moments ago. The report confirms many of the greatest concerns expressed by those who have called for Election Reform since the deeply flawed 2004 Presidential Election.
report here..
http://www.bradblog.com/Docs/GAOReport_ElectionSecurity_102105.pdf

http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001940.htm

[FogerRox]

4. Ellen Theisen from Votersunite.org refers to audits in GAO report

Page 41 Recommendations for Operations
"A postelection audit of voting systems should be conducted to
reconcile
vote totals and ballot counts, even if there is no recount scheduled."
and
"An audit of the election system and process should be conducted after
election day to verify that the election was conducted correctly and to
uncover any evidence of security breaches or other problems that may
not
have surfaced on election day."

Perhaps just doing a text search for specific words isn't sufficient to
determine the overall quality and tone of the document.

Ellen

[FogerRox]

2. Sequoia missprints ballots, Eureka CA.

Voters receive ‘real, live, wrong ballots’
Sara Watson Arthurs


A Rohnerville voter was surprised to get a chance to vote in the Cuddeback school district.

The names of candidates for the Cuddeback school board, which is located in Carlotta, appeared on absentee ballots sent to Rohnerville voters, Humboldt County Elections Manager Lindsey McWilliams said Thursday.

He said the error was made by Sequoia Voting Systems, the Porterville-based company the county contracted with to print the ballots. McWilliams said a Rohnerville voter called to tell him she’d received the incorrect ballot on Thursday.

”As best we are able to determine, at least 900 voters are affected,” he said.

Rest of story--
http://www.times-standard.com/local/ci_3138723

[FogerRox]

3. County replaces vote machines, Ann Arbor Mich.

County replaces vote machines

By Julia F. Heming, Daily Staff Reporter
October 21, 2005


In compliance with the Help America Vote Act, Washtenaw County has upgraded its voting technologies to ensure accurate vote tabulations and limit errors during elections.

Every community in Washtenaw county has switched to optical scanners, replacing more outdated voting apparatuses. The system works like a Scantron; voters complete a ballot and feed it into a machine that tallies the votes. When the polls close, election officials retain the paper ballots in case they are needed for a recount.

Under the Help America Vote Act of 2002, the federal government is funding a required update of voting technologies within all states. HAVA phased out punch-card and hand-counted ballots, two older forms of voting technology. Michigan is in the midst of transitioning to optical scanners, a technology chosen by Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land in 2003. The plan calls for the entire state to transition to one uniform technology — optical scanners — by 2006.

Derrick Jackson, the director of elections for Washtenaw County, said the only problem with the machines has been the occasional paper jam.

rest of Story-
http://www.michigandaily.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/10/21/4358871042d35

[FogerRox]

10. Delivery of absentee ballots delayed by printing woes -Santa Clara county

SANTA CLARA COUNTY

Delivery of absentee ballots delayed by printing woes; deadline expected to be met

Printing problems have delayed delivery of absentee ballots by a week in Santa Clara County, but the registrar of voters will be mailing them out over the next few days, well before the Nov. 1 deadline. The election is Nov. 8.

The registrar's office can begin mailing the ballots 29 days before the election, and hoped to have sent them out last week, said Assistant Registrar Elaine Larson. But when the ballots arrived from the printer, there were problems with the bar coding that ensures only one ballot goes into each envelope, and with the scoring that ensures folds don't interfere with votes.

The contracted printer, Oakland-based Sequoia Voting Systems, which also manufactures the touch-screen voting machines used by the county, had to send another batch, Larson said.

rest of story-
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/peninsula/12950024.htm

[FogerRox]

5. Iraqi constitutional referendum

Stumbling toward democracy


First published: Friday, October 21, 2005
It turns out that elections in our very own showcases of democracy were as messy as purple ink.
Allegations of stuffed ballot boxes? More votes cast in key districts than the number of registered voters living there? Partisan operatives used as election monitors? Post-election audits needed to get to the bottom of anomalies?

The Iraqis and the Afghans really are just like us.

The Iraqi constitutional referendum, hailed by President Bush as laying the foundation for "lasting democracy," had much in common with elections in the lasting democracy of the United States. So did the recent parliamentary balloting in Afghanistan, where international observers say indications of fraud and voter intimidation need urgent investigation. The United Nations fired about 50 of its elections staff in Afghanistan for suspected fraud. Monitors have excluded about 3 percent of ballot boxes from the official count because of suspicion they are tainted. The outcome of legislative elections, however, is not expected to change.

In Iraq, the government election commission does not suspect outright fraud but is nonetheless investigating dramatically high "yes" votes in favor of the constitution. In districts dominated by the majority Shiites and Kurds, voters were expected to support it. But by 99 percent?

rest of story-
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=411198&category=OPINION&newsdate=10/21/2005

[FogerRox]

6. What has neutered the Democrats?

While the Iron is Hot

by Ernest Partridge



http://www.opednews.com

The Republican Party and the Bush Administration are reeling, enmeshed in corruption and failure, and the ideology of the regressive right is in retreat.

The iron is hot – now is the time to strike.

Unfortunately, it appears that the congressional Democrats and the Democratic Party would prefer to throw cold water on the hot iron.

What in the name of God and the US Constitution has neutered the Democrats?

Clearly, if the alleged “opposition party” won’t lead, then we the people must do so. Perhaps, out of this inchoate and widespread resistance, a movement will coalesce and effective leadership will emerge. They must, if we are to rescue ourselves and our republic from this morass.

rest of story-
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_ernest_p_051021_while_the_iron_is_ho.htm

[FogerRox]

7. Statisticians debate validity of 2004 election results

Statisticians debate validity of 2004 election results
By eric chen
October 21, 2005

Eleven months after the 2004 presidential election, statisticians continue to debate the exit poll results.
Last Friday, researchers Steve Freeman and Warren Mitofsky gave a joint presentation in Logan Hall about the debate.

On Election Day last year, exit polls showed Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry leading President George Bush by 51 percent to 48 percent. However, when officials released the vote count later that night, it was Bush who prevailed by about two and a half percentage points.

The reason for the discrepancy between the official vote count and the exit poll estimate is a point of contention for many statisticians. Freeman blamed the deviation on election fraud, while Mitofsky disagreed.

Freeman, a member of Penn's Center for Organizational Dynamics, said that massive vote-count corruption -- on the scale of 8 to 10 million votes -- was to blame. He said that vote suppression and manipulation as variables tied to fraud.

rest of story-
http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/10/21/43589c6ab3b9f

[FogerRox]

8. More on Freeman/Mitofsky- Was 2004 presidential election stolen?

Was 2004 presidential election stolen?

Bucks County Courier Times
Sen. John Kerry won Bucks County by two points and took Pennsylvania by three, but lost the national race to George W. Bush.

Like me, you probably thought this was old news and that Election '04 was settled.

Not Stephen Freeman, a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania, whose soon-to-be-published book will make a case that the Bush/Kerry election was riddled with "corrupted counts" that deserve high scrutiny, perhaps a recount.

Freeman stops short of saying Bush stole the race, but he comes close. His case is this. On the afternoon of Election Day, exit polling - which Freeman said is quite accurate - showed Kerry was winning with 51 percent of the vote, to Bush's 49 percent.

When the polls closed, however, the numbers reversed. Bush won.

rest of story--
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/219-10202005-557661.html

[FogerRox]

9. hot off the presses--- Santa Cruz Chooses Promises Over Evidence

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0510/S00347.htm


Sana Cruz Chooses Promises Over Evidence
Thursday, 20 October 2005, 3:58 pm
Press Release: www.votersunite.org
Media Release
For Immediate Release

Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors Chooses
Promises Over Evidence

19 October 2005 - The Santa Cruz County Board of
Supervisors agreed yesterday to allow the County
Clerk, Gail Pellerin, to enter into a contract with
Sequoia Voting Systems, a recently purchased
subsidiary of Smartmatic, Inc. which is a
Florida-registered, Venezuelan-owned, company.

The 94-page report Pellerin presented to the Board
contains 69 pages of information supplied by citizen
opponents of the purchase, including documented
failures of the systems in past elections, analyses
showing the higher operating cost of the system, and
testimony by disabled individuals explaining the
difficulties they had using the system. Read the
report here (
http://sccounty01.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/bds/Govstream/BDSvData/non_legacy/agendas/2005/20051018/PDF/047.pdf
)

One member of the Public Advisory Committee
established to provide counsel to the current voting
systems evaluation and selection process states the
following reasons why the Sequoia system is not a good
choice:

# It is only conditionally certified in California
and is not certified for the primary election.

# It currently provides no features to allow
manually disabled individuals to vote independently as
required by HAVA.

# Blind voters have complained about the audio
interface of the Sequoia DRE since 2004, and while
Sequoia promised at that time to fix those problems,
it has not yet done so.

He adds that the other option for Santa Cruz County,
the ES&S AutoMark system, was the top-rated system in
a recent survey of over 100 disabled voters conducted
by the Oregon Secretary of State's office and that the
ES&S AutoMark system would fulfill all state and
federal requirements with just the addition of a
readily available privacy sleeve.

Pellerin acknowledges that the Sequoia system is not
state certified and that the acquisition cost is
$171,000 more than the ES&S AutoMark system.
Nevertheless, she recommended the purchase of
Sequoia's system, citing promises from Sequoia that
the system will meet state and federal requirements by
December. She also acknowledges that the county could
find itself out of compliance with HAVA if Sequoia
fails to receive California certification for its
system.

According to eye witnesses at the public hearing on
Tuesday, October 18, every member of the public who
spoke to the Board objected to the purchase of the
Sequoia voting system and preferred the AutoMark
system. Only the county clerks from the cities of
Santa Cruz and Watsonville supported Pellerin. The
Board voted unanimously to accept Pellerin's
recommendation.

John Gideon, Information Manager for VotersUnite.Org
says, “I am shocked that any county board would
base such an important and costly decision on promises
from a vendor and recommendation from the county clerk
that ignore the voices of the voters. The Board
members are all elected officials. The voters of Santa
Cruz County need to make them painfully aware that
they answer to the people and not to Sequoia Voting
Systems.”

In a related incident the day before the hearing,
California Attorney General Bill Lockyer filed suit
against Santa Cruz County for violations of the
federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), citing
the lack of access to many polling places for voters
with disabilities. The AG's press release states,
"Some of the violations found in Santa Cruz included
polling sites with no wheelchair accessible paths of
travel, steep ramps as much as four-times the legal
slope limit, improperly sized disabled parking spaces,
non-compliant door thresholds and door widths that
were too narrow, and ramps without handrails or edge
protections." The press release can be found here (
http://ag.ca.gov/newsalerts/release.php?id=1228 ).

Ellen Theisen, Executive Director of VotersUnite.Org
said, "The Board's decision to buy non-accessible
voting machines to meet the accessibility requirements
of HAVA would be laughable if it weren't so serious.
Add to that the fact that they aren't even providing a
way for voters with disabilities to get to the
machines, and you have to wonder if they're paying
attention."

*************

This press release can be found at
http://www.votersunite.org/info/releaseSantaCruz10-19-05.htm

[FogerRox]

11. Illinois Elects to Implement Optical Scan and Electronic Voting Technology

from-
http://www.sequoiavote.com/article.php?id=63
Cook County, Illinois Elects to Implement Optical Scan and Electronic Voting Technology from Sequoia Voting Systems


OAKLAND, CA - After months of discussions, demonstrations and research, David Orr, County Clerk of Cook County, Illinois announced today that suburban Cook County voters will have the option of voting on either an optical scan voting system or an accessible electronic voting machine with voter verifiable paper records. Both machines will be supplied by Sequoia Voting Systems of Oakland, California.

"Cook County worked with the City of Chicago to conduct the most extensive review of voting technology options in the nation," said Sequoia President Tracey Graham. "We are proud that the Sequoia optical scan and verifiable electronic voting technology was chosen as the best match for the County's exacting specifications."

Cook County voters will be able to cast a paper ballot at the polls that is read by a Sequoia Insight ballot scanner which will immediately warn voters if they have made errors in marking their ballot. To comply with the accessibility mandates of the Help America Vote Act, the county will also deploy the Sequoia AVC Edge touch screen with VeriVote printers that can be used by voters with and without disabilities to accurately and securely record their selections.

In addition to federal election reform requirements for accessibility and voter notification, the State of Illinois also requires that electronic voting equipment provides a voter verifiable paper record for each voter's ballot. Sequoia pioneered the voter verification concept during the 2004 primary and general elections in the State of Nevada. During the presidential election, Nevada posted the lowest voter falloff rate in the country at .237% which was just a fraction of the national average fall-off rate of 1.1%.

The county will use federal Help America Vote Act grant funding to purchase the $23.8 million voting system.

Able to read up to 400 ballots per hour--

[Wilms]

12. LAT: Official Says U.S. Rushed to War in Iraq

October 22, 2005

THE NATION

Official Says U.S. Rushed to War in Iraq

A top diplomat accuses the administration of sending the country to war too soon and poorly prepared because of 'clear political pressure.'

By Paul Richter, Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — A top U.S. official for aid to Iraq has accused the Bush administration of rushing unprepared into the 2003 invasion because of pressures from President Bush's approaching reelection campaign.

Robin Raphel, the State Department's coordinator for Iraq assistance, said that the invasion's timing was driven by "clear political pressure," as well as by the need to quickly deploy the U.S. troops that had been amassed by the Iraq border.

Soon after the invasion, Raphel said, it became clear that U.S. officials "could not run a country we did not understand…. It was very much amateur hour."

snip

Many analysts speculated in 2003 that the timing of the invasion might be affected by Bush's desire to complete the war before the beginning of the 2004 political campaign. But Raphel is apparently the first government official closely involved in the effort to publicly level such an accusation.

snip

But the combined pressures of politics and military requirements "made us move before we were remotely ready for the post-conflict situation," said Raphel.

snip

Raphel didn't fully explain what led to her conclusion that reelection politics compelled the decision to go to war in March 2003. The diplomat, who plans to retire soon from the foreign service, declined through a spokeswoman to discuss the views she expressed in the Institute of Peace project.

snip/more

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-usiraq22oct22,0,5442173.story?coll=la-home-nation

Thanks to DeepModem Mom

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1869563

[kster]

13. Tickets, TICKETS! Next stop the greatest. ALL ABOARD !!.nt