Election Reform, Fraud and Related News, Thursday 11/09/06

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Election Reform, Fraud & News Thursday, 11/09/06

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.
Please post Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News on this thread.


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.

Please "Recommend" for the Greatest Page.

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1. AR: Waiting for results

Waiting for results

By Jennifer Turner Staff Writer // [email protected]
Posted on Thursday, November 9, 2006

BENTONVILLE — Possible errors in reporting stalled the Benton County Election Commission’s attempt to verify election results Wednesday.

“ We have reason to believe that some of the (electronic files ) that were put in are corrupted, ” Election Coordinator Jim McCarthy said. “ We are in the process of finding out if there were errors” in the results of Tuesday’s election.

McCarthy wouldn’t go into detail about what might have caused the possible electronic errors or how extensive they might be. He said the commission is working with programmers from Election Systems and Software to solve the problem.

McCarthy would not estimate how many precincts could be affected.

http://nwanews.com/bcdr/News/41901/

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2. AR: (Carroll) County’s absentee method disputed

County’s absentee method disputed

BY TRACIE DUNGAN

Posted on Thursday, November 9, 2006

Carroll County election officials will recount Tuesday night’s general election results this morning after a former candidate challenged the county’s absentee ballot box.

In neighboring Northwest Arkansas counties, election officials cited glitches related to new voting equipment or procedures but knew of few reports of people being thwarted from voting.

The recount of the 175 returned absentee ballots will begin at 9 a. m. at the county’s Berryville courthouse, Carroll County Clerk Shirley Doss said Wednesday.

Cindy Baker filed a challenged-ballot form on behalf of the Republican Party about half an hour after the polls closed Tuesday night, according to county records. She claims election officials violated Arkansas Code Annotated 7-5-416 by opening absentee ballot envelopes “outside the public view.”

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/172446/

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3. CA: Election glitches, absentee ballots bog down vote tally

Election glitches, absentee ballots bog down vote tally

By Leslie Wolf Branscomb
STAFF WRITER

November 9, 2006

Election Day is over, but the vote-counting isn't.

The final outcome of some local races may not be known for days or weeks, because roughly one-fourth of the 800,000 ballots cast still need to be counted.

They include absentee ballots turned in on Election Day, photocopied absentee ballots mailed to some 5,000 voters after regular ballots ran out and paper ballots cast at the polls Tuesday by those who either didn't want to use the electronic voting machines or couldn't because the units were not functioning.

“We'll be going into next week, easily, to get all these done,” Registrar of Voters Mikel Haas said yesterday.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20061109/news_7m9vote.html

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4. CO: Vote centers "a total fiasco"

Vote centers "a total fiasco"
New system to ease ballot-casting a frustrating exercise for many
By Monte Whaley and Joey Bunch
Denver Post Staff Writers
Article Last Updated:11/09/2006 01:54:21 AM MST

Vote centers were designed to make casting ballots easier and more convenient, but on Tuesday, they produced jangled nerves, technological gaffes and long lines across Colorado.

From urban Denver to suburban Douglas County to rural Routt County, there were long lines at vote centers.

Douglas County voters may have been hit the hardest, as some lined up more than four hours for a chance to cast a ballot.

Some left in frustration without voting and lashed out at election officials.

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_4627496

:eyes:

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5. CO: Pueblo vote count moving slowly

Pueblo vote count moving slowly

y MARGIE WOOD
THE PUEBLO CHEIFTAIN

Pueblo County clerk's employees and citizen election judges worked through the day Wednesday on almost 20,000 absentee ballots cast in Tuesday's election, but progress was slow and results elusive.

The process involves putting the large paper ballots into stacks of 25, then running the stacks through a counting machine that sorts out any ballots it can't read. The "out-stacked" ballots then are given another chance to be read by the machine, and if they are rejected again, election judges will duplicate them on a clean ballot, to be read by the machine.

There are several reasons why a ballot might be illegible to the machine but not to the human eye. "Nail polish, chewing gum, glitter pens," one judge said with a wry smile. Some ballots were marked with yellow highlighters, and some voters marked an X by their preference instead of connecting the lines with a black pen as instructed. Others changed their minds and erased marks or used white correcting fluid, which confuses the machine.

The judges work in teams of two, one Republican and one Democrat. Watchers from the Republican party took turns during the day, and a representative of the secretary of state's office and a consultant from Sequoia Voting Systems also were present. Only four of 24 large boxes of ballots had been run through the counter at midafternoon.

http://www.chieftain.com/metro/1163063274/1

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6. CO: Disabled machine drags out vote tally

Disabled machine drags out vote tally

By Joe Garner, Rocky Mountain News
November 9, 2006
Many Denver voters had to wait hours to cast their ballots Tuesday, but the wait to learn the final results is taking days.

Two races - whether to add a 0.12 percent sales tax to help Denver parents pay for preschool, and the race for University of Colorado regent-at-large - hang on the count, which may be completed today but could take until Friday.

That's because one of two machines used to count 65,000 absentee ballots broke down.

The supplier of the optical-scanning devices that tabulate the four-page paper ballots was scheduled to deliver a loaner machine Wednesday afternoon and it is expected to go into operation today, said Alton Dillard, Denver Election Commission spokesman.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/elections/article/0,2808,DRMN_24736_5129648,00.html

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7. CO: Douglas official contrite over breakdown at polls

Douglas official contrite over breakdown at polls

By Bianca Prieto And Charley Able, Rocky Mountain News
November 9, 2006

CASTLE ROCK - Douglas County's Election Day delays, which kept voters at some voting centers in line until after 1 a.m., resulted from too few voting machines and a lengthy ballot, County Clerk Carole Murray said Wednesday.

"The reason we called this press conference today was for me to apologize to the citizens of Douglas County," Murray said. "I am just heartbroken about what happened at the polls. There are a lot of angry people out there, and I don't blame them."

While Murray blamed the number of machines, voters sent her office e-mails telling a different story - one of confusing procedures, idle voting booths and disorganized vote centers.

Murray conceded that there were some other glitches including a problem that shut down some voting machines because they were not communicating with the paper-ballot accessory backing up each machine.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/elections/article/0,2808,DRMN_24736_5130489,00.html

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8. CT: Vote machines hardest on poll workers

Vote machines hardest on poll workers

Thursday, November 9, 2006

BY GEORGE KRIMSKY

Copyright © 2006 Republican-American

The new voting machines that everyone will have to use next year did the job they were supposed to do in 25 Connecticut towns Tuesday, but the system left some poll workers hanging on the ropes.

"The voting went just fine," said Litchfield's Democratic Registrar Marie H. Wallace, "but our people are complaining about the paperwork. It's just too much."

A welter of new and sometimes-confusing instructions, plus extensive reporting requirements from each town using the optical scan machines, delayed the final tally from some towns. Litchfield registrars worked into the night and Wednesday to compile vote totals. One holdup came from confusion about how to close and lock the computerized scanner after the polls closed.

Part of the overload was caused by an unexpectedly high turnout in many municipalities. A near-constant line formed outside the Litchfield Fire House over the 14-hour voting period. Salisbury, another town using the new technology, reported the highest number of voters ever for a midterm election.

http://www.rep-am.com/story.php?id=15099

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9. FL: Manual Recount Set In Sarasota Race

Manual Recount Set In Sarasota Race
Posted Nov 8, 2006 by Clarisa Gerlach
Updated Nov 8, 2006 at 02:23 PM

By TODD RUGER and DOUG SWORD
of The Sarasota Herald-Tribune

SARASOTA - Republican Vern Buchanan’s 368-vote win over Democrat Christine Jennings in the 13th Congressional District is headed for a recount.

Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent confirmed at a press conference today that elections officials are expecting a manual recount.

A timeline for the recount process means the final tally wouldn’t be completed until Nov. 18, Dent said.

Jennings was meeting today with staff and recount attorneys, discussing options for vote recounts or a possible legal challenge.

http://www.tboblogs.com/index.php/newswire/story/manual-recount-set-in-sarasota-race/

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10. FL: Firm's role in voting at issue

Firm's role in voting at issue
Pinellas relies heavily on Sequoia to keep its voting system running.

By WILL VAN SANT
Published November 9, 2006

On Tuesday night, the Pinellas elections office needed eight private contractors to provide support for its electronic voting system.

For the primary election, the number was 13.

The dependence on outside contractors concerns voting integrity activists, who argue that election officials around the country have ceded control of the ballot box to private companies that are too free of public oversight.

"Very few people understand that ... the mechanics of the elections are being handled by a private entity," said Warren Stewart, policy director of the national advocacy group Vote TrustUSA. "I think there is going to be a time when people say this is insane."

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/11/09/Tampabay/Firm_s_role_in_voting.shtml

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11. Il: Second time not the charm for new voting equipment

Second time not the charm for new voting equipment

November 9, 2006
BY KATE N. GROSSMAN Staff Reporter
New voting equipment flopped again in suburban Cook County on Tuesday, just as it did during its March debut, prompting county officials to launch an investigation.

Voting went far smoother than in March, but delayed results from the suburbs left the outcome of the hotly contested Cook County Board president race uncertain until midday Wednesday.

Both candidates stormed Cook County Clerk David Orr's office Wednesday morning. Republican Tony Peraica called the election "a disaster."

Orr insisted changes he instituted since March produced significant improvements in voting and ballot tallying Tuesday but said speed remained a major problem.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/130363,cst-nws-vote09.article

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12. Il: County to probe slow count

County to probe slow count
Computer glitches cause repeat of primary election woes

By John McCormick and David Kidwell, Tribune staff reporters. Tribune staff reporter Hal Dardick contributed to this report
Published November 9, 2006

Half of Chicago and suburban Cook County precincts failed to transmit vote results after the polls closed, officials said Wednesday, despite improved training and extra pay for technology specialists in polling places.

The biggest stumbling block, as in the March primary, was a small computer used to transmit results, a key component in the new, $50 million-plus electronic balloting system.

Although poll workers in both the city and county struggled to operate the identical machines, the city quickly overcame the problems. The county could not.

The difference: The county's problems snowballed because of a failed backup system, which resulted in overnight delays in close contests.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0611090201nov09,1,6967474.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true

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13. IL: Voters: More electronic machines needed

Voters: More electronic machines needed

By JOHN REYNOLDS
STAFF WRITER

Published Thursday, November 09, 2006

While Sangamon County’s new electronic voting machines made it through Election Day without any major glitches, some voters complained that there weren’t always enough to go around.

To alleviate the problem, county officials are considering revising the formulas used to determine how many machines are put at each polling place. Instead of basing the number on registered voters in an area, election officials may distribute the machines based on turnout trends.

“We are going to analyze the number of machines by precinct and by voter turnout. We are going to look at the number of registered voters and try to get a better handle on things,” Sangamon County Clerk Joe Aiello said Wednesday.

Tuesday marked the first time the county’s new machines were used in a general election.

http://www.sj-r.com/sections/news/stories/100233.asp

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14. IN: Voting-machine glitches begin and end the day

Voting-machine glitches begin and end the day
Setup problems affect more than 200 polling places in Marion County

By Kevin Corcoran

Indiana's voter ID law produced few complaints Tuesday, but a series of election missteps -- many related to computerized voting systems -- caused widespread problems in Marion, Delaware and other counties.

In perhaps the most serious election problem of the day, the FBI was investigating allegations that a Democratic volunteer at a Monroe County polling site was found with unprocessed absentee ballots in her possession.

The ballots were found after officials began counting absentee ballots. It's not clear what the worker was doing with them, but Monroe County is in the 9th Congressional District, where U.S. Rep. Mike Sodrel lost a tight race with Democratic challenger Baron Hill.

The problems in Marion County were perhaps less serious but affected more people. More than 200 polling places in the county got off to a rocky start when poll workers could not immediately get electronic machines to work properly.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061108/LOCAL19/611080530/1006/LOCAL

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15. IA: Voting snags are resolved quickly, Iowans report

Voting snags are resolved quickly, Iowans report

In Butler County, machines erroneously tell some voters that they made mistakes. Counting is delayed in Pottawattamie County.

By JENNIFER JACOBS
REGISTER STAFF WRITER

November 8, 2006


While malfunctioning voting machines have bedeviled some states, the glitches reported in Iowa on Election Day were scattered and minor, election officials said.

There were no reports that a problem caused a person's vote to not be counted, said Charles Krogmeier, deputy secretary of state.

The biggest challenge, election officials said, was dealing with the influx of voters when turnout proved larger than expected.

"It's been unbelievable for a nonpresidential year," said Gene Krumm, auditor in Dallas County, where some voters reported wait times of an hour and a half at the Waukee Christian Church.

http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061108/NEWS09/611080391/1056

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16. KY: Machines, write-ins slow election

Machines, write-ins slow election
High turnout keeps lines long at some locations
BY MIKE RUTLEDGE AND CINDY SCHROEDER | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITERS

Voter turnout was heavy in some Northern Kentucky areas on Tuesday.

"We've had over 60 percent" of registered voters cast ballots, poll worker Mary Vogelpohl said around 5 p.m. as she manned Fort Mitchell Precinct 3 at the Fort Mitchell City Building. "We've been busy all day. We have not stopped. We have had someone here all the time."

As she spoke, eight people stood in line for two machines.

New voting machines were slowing people down a bit, Cold Spring Precinct E poll worker Bob Hahn said.

http://news.nky.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20061108/NEWS0103/611080369

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17. MA: Heads may roll over ballot bungle

Heads may roll over ballot bungle
By Michele McPhee
Boston Herald Police Bureau Chief
Thursday, November 9, 2006 - Updated: 04:57 AM EST

Mayor Thomas M. Menino said city staffers face “reassignment” as the state seeks legal oversight of Boston’s Elections Department after a ballot shortage forced police to make rush deliveries to angry voters at the polls.

“I am very, very angry. This should not have happened,” Menino told the Herald. “Will people be reassigned? It’s possible. We certainly need a management plan for the Elections Department.”

Secretary of State William Galvin told city officials he plans to utilize his legal right to manage the city Elections Department.

Meanwhile the mayor has said he will hire a consultant to “shake up” the department and file quarterly progress reports to Galvin.

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=166397

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18. MT: Same-day registration has minor problems

Same-day registration has minor problems

By The Associated Press
HELENA - The Montana statewide database of voters suffered a technical glitch Tuesday that prevented at least two counties from registering new voters for about an hour, the secretary of state's office said.

Those counties were instructed to let voters seeking same-day voter registration to instead cast provisional ballots, said spokesman Bowen Greenwood.

He said only counties that had logged out of the computer system and tried to get back in experienced the problem. Both Missoula and Lake counties reported the problem, but others may have encountered it as well, Greenwood said.

He said the provisional ballots would be counted. "We have no idea how many provisional ballots might have been cast," he said.

http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2006/11/08/news/state/48-minor-probs.txt

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19. MT: After tabulation goof, Winslow presses on

After tabulation goof, Winslow presses on
Election crew ends Yellowstone County count at 6:49 a.m.

By ED KEMMICK
Of The Gazette Staff
Duane Winslow went home from work Wednesday morning at 9 a.m., showered, brushed his teeth, slept on the couch for 15 minutes and went back to work.

He was feeling refreshed enough to be interviewed for a "Good Morning America" segment, and a couple of hours later he was interviewed as part of a story that was scheduled to appear Wednesday evening on "Nightline."

That's what happens when you're the election administrator in the largest county in a state whose votes could change the balance of power in the U.S. Senate - and you decide at 12:30 a.m. that it's time to starting counting ballots all over again.

"It was a no-brainer," Winslow said Wednesday morning at his office in the Yellowstone County Courthouse. "I'm not going to put out wrong numbers just so I can be home by midnight."

http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2006/11/09/news/local/25-election_z.txt

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20. NV: Voters report hurdles at polls

Voters report hurdles at polls

ZAMNA AVILA
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
Posted: 11/8/2006

Northern Nevadans stopped at polling places before rushing to work Tuesday morning, but some say technical and other difficulties at their stations caused frustration.

Voters at The Rock Church in Sparks experienced delays because of a technical snafu.

"I know everybody at the polls is a volunteer, but when you are on a schedule, it's really important that they time the elections process smoothly," said 47-year-old Sparks resident Carol Healy, who waited 20 minutes in line to vote at the church.

Washoe County Voter Registrar Dan Burk said the problem at the church was a common oversight.

http://edit.rgj.gannettonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061108/NEWS19/611080359/1232

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21. NJ: Quirks, oops marred smooth vote Tuesday

Quirks, oops marred smooth vote Tuesday
Thursday, November 09, 2006
BY ANDREW KITCHENMAN

When area voters went to the polls Tuesday, they managed to use electronic voting machines without major problems, but the process was not without quirks, glitches and the occasional human error.

For the third straight general election, Mercer County residents voted on electronic machines, which officials said worked smoothly for the most part.

County Superintendent of Elections Bettye Monroe said nearly all results from the electronic voting machines in the county's 255 voting districts were reported quickly. The results from one voting machine in Trenton were not reported after the machine was locked after it was replaced early Tuesday.

Monroe said that few or no votes were recorded in the machine before it was locked.

http://www.nj.com/news/times/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1163049086136650.xml&coll=5

(Quirks? Maybe these POS machines need a psych eval?)

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22. OH: Vote-counting machine goes on blink, causes long delay

Vote-counting machine goes on blink, causes long delay
2006-11-09
By Nick Claussen
Athens NEWS Associate Editor

Athens County's $45,000 high-speed vote counting machine wasn't so high-speed after all.

Problems with the Election Systems & Software Model 650 optical scanner made it impossible for the Athens County Board of Election to finish counting the absentee ballots until 9:15 a.m. on Wednesday. Athens County was among the last, if not the last, county in the state to finish its election count.

This resulted in Athens County residents remaining in the dark for part of Wednesday about who won the county auditor's race, the 92nd House District race involving Jimmy Stewart and Debbie Phillips, and the many local issues on the ballot in various parts of the county.

"We have a major problem," confirmed Debbie Quivey, director of the Athens County Board of Elections, early Wednesday morning. "It did not read as fast as we thought... We've tried to baby this machine through."

http://www.athensnews.com/issue/article.php3?story_id=26607

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23. OH: Thousands of votes still uncounted

Thousands of votes still uncounted
Absentee ballots still being scanned in Stark, Cuyahoga, other counties
By Lisa A. Abraham
Beacon Journal staff writer

They were still counting absentee ballots in Stark County late into the evening.

The Stark Board of Elections began scanning its 17,000 absentee ballots early Monday afternoon, and by late Wednesday night was still feeding the two-page documents through eight scanning stations.

The board met Wednesday afternoon to get a progress report. Republican Board member Curt Braden said he expected that scanning would continue late into the night. Officials hoped to finish them by midnight, but that wasn't a certainty.

Braden said it has become clear that the county needs to invest in more equipment to scan absentee ballots.

http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/15968088.htm

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24. OH: Election success cost an extra $17 per voter

Election success cost an extra $17 per voter
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Joan Mazzolini
Plain Dealer Reporter

After the mess of the May primary in Cuyahoga County, where results were delayed for a week because of technological glitches, county commissioners opened their checkbook to make sure the general election would go well.

They spent an extra $8 million.

That's more than $17 for every voter who cast a ballot Tuesday.

Commissioners originally budgeted $1.9 million to run Tuesday's election, which ran much more smoothly than the May primary. They spent nearly $8.4 million. And that does not include $1.5 million for an extra 900 touch-screen voting machines, to ease lines at polling places, and carts to move the machines around.

http://www.cleveland.com/election/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/isele/11630759884820.xml&coll=2

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25. OH: Vexed voters include Chabot

Vexed voters include Chabot
BY JENNIFER MROZOWSKI | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

New electronic voting machines and identification requirements left voters frustrated Tuesday at polling places across Greater Cincinnati.

Early in the day, scanners were down in Clifton, Drake Center in Hartwell and the Five Points Building in Milford.

Some Clermont County voters were nearly turned away because of a mix-up over change-of-address forms, and dozens of people reported problems to the Enquirer's new voter hot line.
ADVERTISEMENT

Even Rep. Steve Chabot was asked to retrieve additional identification when he tried to vote at Westwood First Presbyterian Church. The address on his driver's license was for his business - not his home.

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061108/NEWS01/611080400

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26. PA: Two Hazleton area voters file complaints about new machines

Two Hazleton area voters file complaints about new machines

One says she was unable to choose Santorum. Other says pick changed every time she went to next race.
By JENNIFER LEARN-ANDES [email protected]

Two Hazleton-area residents have filed official complaints concerning problems they say they encountered with Luzerne County’s new electronic voting machines.

County officials said they will continue investigating all complaints, though they haven’t found evidence of machine malfunctioning to date.

Evelyn Graham, a Hazleton City Councilwoman, said she touched the box for Republican gubernatorial candidate Lynn Swann, and it highlighted as her selection. But when she moved on to the next race and picked Republican senatorial candidate Rick Santorum, Graham said she noticed that Rendell’s name had become highlighted as her selection. Graham said she returned to the governor’s race, de-selected Rendell and selected Swann.

“I did it four to six times, and each time it changed back to Rendell.”

http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/news/15967078.htm

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27. SC: Errors, equipment issues delay results

Errors, equipment issues delay results
BY PETER FROST, The Island Packet
Published Thursday, November 9, 2006
Comments (0) Add Comment

A combination of human error and system failures kept some Beaufort County voters and candidates on ice Wednesday morning as they waited for the results of about 7,200 votes to be posted to the county's Web site.

There were 42,331 ballots cast in Beaufort County on Tuesday.

Results from nearly 6,000 absentee ballots and about 1,200 more from Bluffton Precinct 2B weren't tabulated until 3 a.m. Wednesday and weren't posted to the county's Web site until nearly 10:30 a.m.

"We thought we plugged results into the computer and refreshed the system, but we didn't," said Agnes Garvin, county election director. "Then (Wednesday) morning at 9 a.m., I pulled up the site and said, 'Oh Christmas, those are the numbers from last night.' "

http://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/story/6222092p-5435333c.html

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28. SC: Mecklenburg voters met by lines, technical glitches

Mecklenburg voters met by lines, technical glitches
Rain also slowed what started as a strong showing
DAVID PERLMUTT
[email protected]

A crush of morning voters and voting machine glitches caught poll workers off guard in Mecklenburg County and elsewhere in the Carolinas, forcing long waits at dozens of precincts.

Voting was heavy across the Carolinas in the morning, but it dropped off as the weather soured, state elections director Gary Bartlett said.

"In the morning, everyone was bragging that we were going to have an historic turnout," Bartlett said. "The voting was steady, but turned to a trickle when the heavy rain came."

In the mountain counties of the 11th congressional districts, turnout was expected to exceed 50 percent, with residents eager to cast votes in the hotly contested U.S. House race between Rep. Charles Taylor and former NFL player Heath Shuler.

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/politics/15956810.htm

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29. TN: Voting goes smoothly despite power trouble

Voting goes smoothly despite power trouble
By Marc Perrusquia
November 8, 2006

Minor glitches aside, voting went smoothly Tuesday in Shelby County and across Tennessee, where a contentious Senate race and recent election scandals had officials on edge.

Power trouble at some Memphis precincts forced electronic voting machines onto backup batteries, while paper ballots temporarily replaced machines in some Tennessee counties.

"Nobody was denied the right to vote,'' said state Coordinator of Elections Brook Thompson.

Voters used paper ballots briefly in the morning at a Jackson, Tenn., precinct and even longer in East Tennessee's Hawkins County, where officials failed to properly prepare voting machines, Thompson said.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/politics/article/0,1426,MCA_1496_5125683,00.html

(Why does this seem incredible to me? Is this the same TN? :shrug: )

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30. TX: Three counties wrestled with voting miscues

Three counties wrestled with voting miscues

Thursday, November 09, 2006

By Mike Anderson

Tribune-Herald staff writer

At least three Central Texas counties hit snags in the voting process Tuesday night, but apparently none of the problems were related to newly required voting machines rolled out last year.

Most area counties, including McLennan County, reported the election went off with little disruption. But Falls, Hill and Bosque counties reported glitches either with counting votes or long waits for residents wishing to cast ballots.

The problems apparently were not caused by electronic voting machines that went into use in every Texas county last year. The machines were the result of the Help America Vote Act of 2002, in which Congress mandated that every election site across the country offer machines designed to help elderly, disabled and blind residents vote.

A shortage of paper ballots apparently was the culprit behind long lines that kept voters waiting at one Falls County polling place.

http://www.wacotrib.com/news/content/news/stories/2006/11/09/11092006wacelectionsnags.html

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31. VA: Election troubles and turnout

Election troubles and turnout
In Maymont area, confusion the result of mistake by Democrats

BY TYLER WHITLEY
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

Nov 8, 2006


The State Board of Elections forwarded to the FBI more complaints of possible election fraud yesterday as voters turned out in heavy numbers for the election.

Jean R. Jensen, secretary of the board, said most of the complaints came from people who were given incorrect information about their voting precinct.

She said there was not a pattern to indicate that the misleading information came from one political party or political campaign.

Complaints came from Chesterfield County, Colonial Heights, Accomac, Covington, Arlington County, Fairfax County, Hampton and Newport News, she said.

http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149191573734

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32. VA: Voting machine froze at end of day

Voting machine froze at end of day
BY SETH FREEDLAND
247-7840
November 9, 2006
ISLE OF WIGHT -- A touch-screen voting machine in Isle of Wight County froze at the close of Election Day, preventing officials there from sending results to the state database.

Votes from the Raynor precinct hope to be revealed this afternoon after a Richmond-based technician from Sequoia Voting Systems unseals the machine, said Ann Edwards, the county's general registrar.

Raynor is home to 383 registered voters, but officials don't know yet how many voted.

The other machine used in Raynor, a paper ballot scanner, worked, but officials are waiting for the AVC Edge's data in order to tally the precinct's votes in one shot.

http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/dp-74649sy0nov09,0,1177172.story?coll=dp-news-local-final

[Bill Bored]

33. FL CD-13: 18,000 votes in U.S. House race may be lost

<http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/15965769.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp>



Posted on Thu, Nov. 09, 2006

SARASOTA
18,000 votes in U.S. House race may be lost
Thousands of votes were either not counted or not cast in Sarasota's nationally watched congressional race.
BY MARC CAPUTO
[email protected]

SARASOTA - The latest Florida election whodunit, replete with a razor-thin vote margin and a looming recount, played out here Wednesday as state and county officials were at a loss to explain why 18,382 votes weren't cast or recorded in the nationally watched congressional race to replace Katherine Harris.

Already, the specter of the botched 2000 elections has gripped the area, owing to the mere mention of Harris, the former Florida secretary of state, as well as partisan battle cries, with Republican Vernon Buchanan saying it's time to move on after he claimed a 368-vote victory near 1 a.m. Wednesday.

Democrat Christine Jennings said voters were ''victimized'' because the ''staggering number'' of so-called ''undervotes'' were disproportionately higher here compared with the other four counties in House District 13 and other races. More votes were recorded for the Hospital Board Southern District.

Hanging in the balance: voter faith in the ATM-style touch-screen voting machines -- the same type used in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. By chance, Sarasota voters were the first in Florida to amend their county's charter Tuesday to call for a paper-trail ballot system.

-snip-

Discussion here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x457470

[EFerrari]

34. WY: Automatic recount may not be needed in Wyoming House seat

Automatic recount may not be needed in Wyoming House seat

By The Associated Press
CHEYENNE - Incumbent Republican Barbara Cubin appears to have narrowly avoided an automatic recount in her race against businessman Gary Trauner, according to preliminary results of Tuesday’s election.

The Associated Press still considered the race too close to call and was waiting for official results; results will become official after the State Canvassing Board meeds Nov. 15.

But unofficial returns compiled by the Secretary of State’s office Wednesday morning had Cubin with 93,197 votes, or 48.3 percent, Trauner with 92,227 votes, 47.8 percent. Libertarian Thomas Rankin had 7,465 votes, or 3.9 percent.

If the results stand, Cubin would win a seventh two-year term, and the 970 vote spread between her and Trauner would not trigger an automatic recount by the state. The vote spread would have to be no more than 931 for an automatic recount to take place.

http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2006/11/08/news/wyoming/20-cubin-trauner.txt

[EFerrari]

35. ARIZONA CONDUCTS FIRST OFFICIAL AUDIT OF ELECTION MACHINES

ARIZONA CONDUCTS FIRST OFFICAL AUDIT OF ELECTION MACHINES
By Michael Shelby

Despite significantly flawed election reform legislation with a built in "failsure" requirement designed to prevent an audit from ever happening, despite numerous obstacles and obfuscations, despite objections and maneuverings by Arizona's exceedingly partisan Republican Secretary of State, and despite insufficient Republican Party auditors that could have triggered an end to the audit; Arizona's first official and legal audit of a general election will begin Thursday, August 9, 2006.

Arizona election reform bill, SB 1557 mandates, with strict adherence to the law, that 72 members from each major party, a minimum of 144 auditors, be present or an audit cannot be conducted. No amount of common sense or accommodation can be made by law, no exceptions, no wiggle room, non-negotiable. In an earlier post on Op Ed News, Designed to Fail...Auditing Elections In Arizona, I described this prohibitive maneuver in detail. At the beginning of today's audit we started 18 short of the necessary quorum.

Eighty D's made themselves available by the 1:00 PM start time. However, only 46 R's, 26 short of the minimum, made the deadline. With just 126 of the necessary 144 present the audit was in serious danger of being cancelled. If not for the integrity of Maricopa County Elections Director Karen Osborne acting as a true public servant, extending the deadline one hour, conducting the audit didn't stand a chance. Director Osborne negotiated with the two major party chairs in attendance for the D's and R's to accept members from either party and the Libertarian Party to fill the vacancies. People fired up their cell phones and "beat the bushes" for bodies. Some late comers began straggling in causing those of us in the seats to count them off enthusiastically one by one, "136...137...138!" To which they responded with quizzical stares for bestowing instant celebrity on them for just coming through the door. For a moment it appeared as if the operatives from both parties had trolled the local public golf courses for retirees. Then the entire staff of "20 and 30 something's" from the AZ Democratic Party Headquarters paraded in as if recruited from a scene in, Animal House. Add to that some mothers with sleeping infants in their carriers, a college freshman here or there, some more late comers, and a wonderful lady whose first vote was probably cast for FDR and VOILA! In less than an hour, working together, in a spirit of cooperation with the people's desire to make this important check on the cornerstone of our democracy a success, we pulled together a total of 160 people, 16 more than the minimum and 34 more than we started with, for tomorrow's comparison of the ballots against the machines.

There is much suspicion surrounding election reform in Arizona. Clearly, much of the suspicion around the sincerity and veracity of the AZ Secretary of State, partisan legislators Hell-bent on at least marginalizing if not destroying election reform, and elections officials not wanting work added to their already overburdened responsibilities to enact bona fide election reform has come from this author and others who have been intimately involved in the election integrity movement in Arizona for several years. However, those gathered together today unmistakably realize that election integrity is not about right or left, but about right or wrong. They take their civic responsibility to assure that every ballot is counted as cast, accurately and honestly, seriously and beyond petty party politics. The patriots in the room this day realize that election integrity is not a partisan issue . . . election integrity is a civic responsibility.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_michael__061109_arizona_conducts_fir.htm

[rumpel]

36. thanks!

:yourock:

[rumpel]

37. CA/LA: DU: E-Voting After Action Report (LA Country)

extensive report from pollworker

thanks to Vyan

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2951220&mesg_id=2951220

[Algorem]

38. Ohio's election website still sent real-time results to GOP mirror server(?)

http://scoop.epluribusmedia.org/story/2006/11/9/61233/1283

Ohio's election website still sent real-time results to GOP mirror server
by intranets
Thu Nov 09, 2006 at 06:12:33 AM EST

A follow up story on Ohio's election webpage. Did the ePMedia article cause Blackwell to keep the site on his own servers this election?

Ohio's live 2006 election results fed to GOP mirror server
On Election Day, November 7, 2006, ePluribus Media reported on technology developed for live reporting of election results by the Secretary of State of Ohio was programmed, hosted, and operated by companies that are related to the Republican National Committee...