Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Saturday, Feb.24, 2007

[livvy]

The Election Reform Forum is in need of a volunteer to take over the responsibilities for the Thursday thread. We are also considering a new format for each Thursday also. See the following threads for details. PM Melissa G or me to volunteer, pass along some ideas, or if additional information is needed.

See post #10 for the new idea.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x468197

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x256420

In the news....Audit: Fla. Voting Machines Didn't Err

By STEPHEN MAJORS, Associated Press Writer

Friday, February 23, 2007

(02-23) 15:08 PST Tallahassee, Fla. (AP) --

An audit of touch-screen voting machines at the center of a dispute in a congressional election found no evidence of malfunction, the Florida secretary of state said Friday.

>snip

"Governor Crist and I are committed to ensuring that every Floridian's vote is counted and I am confident that the race in Sarasota County was fair and accurate," said Secretary of State Kurt Browning in a statement about the official audit report.
>more at link below:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/02/23/national/a150810S18.DTL
Discussion
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x468300


Friday, February 23, 2007
MEDIA ALERT
CONTACT: David Kochman, 954-703-0245

State Audit of Sarasota Voting System Flawed, Incomplete

Tallahassee, FL – The audit of Sarasota County’s voting system was flawed, incomplete, and provides even more compelling reasons for the Christine Jennings campaign to seek a thorough investigation by outside experts.

The audit contained several critical flaws:

- The investigation was incomplete: Experts were not allowed access to the machines, causing Princeton professor Ed Felton to call the audit “far from the complete, independent study I had initially thought they wanted,” and forcing the team to rely on the flawed parallel testing conducted by the Secretary of State’s office. On page 19 of the final report from FSU’s SAIT lab, the researchers acknowledge “We did not conduct a comprehensive election audit…The team’s task was not to examine the iVotronic systems or the PEBs used in the election, or to perform forensic analysis on those systems to determine whether a problem in them caused the undervote.”

- The audit ignored the analysis of MIT’s Dr. Charles Stewart, who found a strong statistical correlation between the date of machine set-up, number of machines prepared that day, and increased undervote rates.

- The report added even more credibility to the belief that the undervote changed the outcome of the race, a fact supported even by ES&S’ expert Dr. Michael Herron. The report acknowledged, “There is no dispute that this undervote is abnormal and unexpected and that it cannot be explained solely by intentional undervoting (p.7).”

“A doctor can’t diagnose a medical problem without examining the patient, so how can you diagnose an election problem without examining the machines?” said Jennings Communications Director David Kochman. “It’s unfortunate that the state’s election officials were more concerned about sweeping the problem under the rug than finding out the truth about what went wrong with Sarasota County’s voting system.”

“This issue is too important for anything less than a real investigation by outside experts – not just for District 13, but for the millions of voters nationwide who vote on touchscreen machines,” added Kochman.

###

Christine Jennings for Congress * PO Box 49135 * Sarasota, FL 34230 * 941-366-8121 * www.christinejenningsforcongress.com



http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4183



Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.



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

If you can:
1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web.

2. Post stories using the new Spring 2006 Edition of "Election Fraud and Reform News Directory" listed here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x407240

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 (it's the link just below).

[livvy]

1. Florida/Jennings: Voting Machines Worked

Voting machines worked
Audit suggests ballot design might have muddled Sarasota results

Jim Stratton and Mark K. Matthews | Sentinel Staff Writers
Posted February 24, 2007

The voting machines used in Sarasota's disputed congressional election worked properly despite an unusually high number of blank ballots and widespread complaints that votes were lost, Florida officials said Friday.

The audit concluded that "there is no evidence that the results are in error." and suggested that the design of the ballot caused voter confusion. sigh...spin, spin, spin

>snip

Ralph Neas, president of People for the American Way, called the investigation "a whitewash" that "papers over" evidence of widespread voting-machine malfunctions.

A spokesman for Jennings -- who lost to Buchanan by 369 votes -- said too few tests were run and that auditors were not allowed to inspect the machines.

"I think this report just confirms the need for a through investigation by outside experts," David Kochman said. "The report has so many parts that are missing."

>more

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-voting2407feb24,0,2075468.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-state

[livvy]

2. Another article: Audit: No Evidence of Voting Machine Malfunctioning

Audit: No evidence of voting machine malfunctioning

(Last updated: 7:16 AM)

TALLAHASSEE (AP) - An audit of touch-screen voting machines at the center of a dispute in a congressional election in Sarasota County found no evidence of malfunction, the Florida secretary of state said Friday.

"Gov. (Charlie) Crist and I are committed to ensuring that every Floridian's vote is counted and I am confident that the race in Sarasota County was fair and accurate," said Secretary of State Kurt Browning in a statement about the official audit report.

Well, apparently, that would be every Floridian's vote-18,000.

>snip to end

People for the American Way Foundation President Ralph Neas said the audit couldn't be trusted because it was performed by the state, which approved the equipment to begin with.

"This audit's a whitewash," Neas said in a statement. "It is the result of a flawed process overseen by people with a stake in the outcome, and it will not be the last word on this matter."

http://www.sun-herald.com/breakingnews.cfm?id=1270

[livvy]

3. And one more...Machines Not Cause of D-13 Undervotes

There are many articles posted today. I chose just a few. If you are interested in looking at more reports, Google "Jennings Florida", then sort by date.



Posted on Sat, Feb. 24, 2007

Machines not cause of D-13 undervotes
DUANE MARSTELLER
Herald Staff Writer

MANATEE - A state audit of Sarasota County's touch-screen voting machines and an independent review of their source code found no evidence that they caused 18,000 non-votes in the 13th Congressional District race, according to two reports released Friday.

>snip

Kathy Dent, the county's elections supervisor, said the audit "was a beneficial exercise" that validated her belief the machines didn't malfunction.

As part of the audit, a team of computer experts from four states examined the machines' computer source code. Although they found some programming defects and security vulnerabilities, there was nothing in the code that could have caused the undervotes, the experts said.

>snip

But critics vowed to keep fighting, accusing the reports' authors of not looking hard enough out of self-interest. Among their charges:

• The audit was led by the state official who certifies voting machines.

• Auditors tested only a small sample of machines used in the election.

• Not all of the source code was examined.

>more

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/local/16771270.htm

[livvy]

4. The Presidential Candidates on Iraq (NYT)

The Presidential Candidates on Iraq
The war in Iraq is, as expected, one of the threshhold issues of the 2008 presidential election. A look at the candidates and what they have said on various aspects of the issue. - FARHANA HOSSAIN AND BEN WERSCHKUL

I copied only the first listing, to give you an idea. The layout is much better at the site. No preference of candidates intended.The Dem candidates are listed first, and the Repugs after them.

THE CANDIDATE POSITION ON THE 2002 INVASION POSITION ON PRESIDENT BUSH'S
TROOP INCREASE POSITION ON WITHDRAWAL
Joseph R.
Biden Jr.
Democrat

Related Article
Biden Opposes a Troop Increase in Iraq (Dec. 27, 2006)
VOTED YES IN 2002, NOW OPPOSED
It was a mistake to assume the president would use the authority we gave him properly...We gave the president the authority to unite the world to isolate Saddam. And the fact of the matter is, we went too soon. We went without sufficient force. And we went without a plan.
-- November 27, 2005

OPPOSED TO TROOP INCREASE
I believe the president's strategy is not a solution...I believe it's a tragic mistake...We've tried that kind of escalation twice before in Baghdad, and it's failed twice in Baghdad, and I fear it will fail a third time.
-- January 11, 2007

WITHDRAWAL BY THE END OF 2007
The idea is to maintain a unified Iraq by decentralizing it and giving Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis their own regions...It would allow us to responsibly withdraw most U.S. forces from Iraq by the end of 2007.
-- The Biden "Plan for Iraq"



http://www.nytimes.com/ref/us/politics/IRAQPOSITIONS.html

[livvy]

5. NYT: Retired Politicians Spend Unused Campaign Funds

February 24, 2007
Retired Politicians Spend Unused Campaign Funds
By MIKE McINTIRE

When Michael J. Bragman, a onetime Assembly majority leader, retired from the New York State Legislature in 2001, his campaign committee had about $1 million in the bank. Six years later, Mr. Bragman is still retired, and $400,000 of that money is gone.

Mr. Bragman did not run for office again. But he did pay his wife $24,000 a year to work for a campaign committee that did no campaigning. And he spent thousands more on bottles of wine, meals at a yacht club, Christmas gifts and office rental payments to a company that he appears to control.

>large snip

New York’s campaign finance laws have been widely criticized by public interest groups as being riddled with loopholes that permit excessive contributions from special interests and inappropriate expenses by candidates. Over the years, the Board of Elections has lent its approval to candidates who wanted to spend money on car payments and repairs, baby-sitting expenses and luxury gifts, provided such expenses were somehow connected to political activities.

The law does prohibit candidates from converting campaign contributions to personal use “unrelated to a political campaign or the holding of a public office or party position.” But the elections board has interpreted that to mean that former officeholders can keep spending money on the chance, however slim, that they will one day run again.

>much more

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/24/nyregion/24retire.html?ref=politics

[livvy]

6. NYT: Proposal by Obama on Public Financing Appears to Gain

February 23, 2007
Proposal by Obama on Public Financing Appears to Gain
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 — The staff of the Federal Election Commission has drafted an opinion that would allow the two major parties’ presidential nominees to adopt what amounts to a fund-raising truce.

The draft opinion would allow the nominees, if both agreed, to return contributions they had solicited for the general election campaign and limit themselves to public financing for it instead.

The opinion is a response to an inquiry by Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, a leading candidate for the Democratic nomination. It is an indication of how the commission, which released the document Thursday, is likely to rule on the idea. The commissioners are expected to issue their decision after a meeting next Thursday.

Mr. Obama sought the ruling after all the front-runners in both parties rejected public financing for the primary campaign, already under way, and prepared to forgo it for the general election as well, to avoid the spending limits that it imposes. That would make the 2008 general election the first outside the system since its creation in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal more than three decades ago.

>more

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/23/us/politics/23fec.html

[livvy]

7. The list:2008 White House Derby: The Field So Far

February 23, 2007
2008 White House Derby: The Field So Far
By CQ Staff

The following are breakdowns of the current and potential candidates for the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations in 2008.

The lists for each party are divided into the following categories: officially announced candidates, possible candidates who have formed “exploratory” campaign committees, political figures frequently mentioned as likely or possible candidates, and potential candidates who have officially announced that they will not run for president.

The lists will be updated promptly as developments warrant.

Read the latest 2008 Presidential Developments

list at link below:

http://www.nytimes.com/cq/2007/02/23/cq_2054.html

[livvy]

8. Eighth U.S. Attorney Dismissed From Post

So,what are they hiding (now)?



February 24, 2007
Eighth U.S. Attorney Dismissed From Post
By DAVID JOHNSTON

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 — A United States attorney in Grand Rapids, Mich., is leaving her job, the eighth federal prosecutor to be removed in a Justice Department shake-up of prosecutors, government officials said Friday.

The prosecutor, Margaret M. Chiara, told her staff that she would leave office on March 16, making her the latest casualty of Justice Department dismissals that Democrats in Congress have criticized as politically motivated.

Like the other ousted prosecutors, Ms. Chiara is a Republican. She took office in 2001 after twice being elected a county prosecutor. She had also served as policy director of the Michigan Supreme Court. Her office has said that she has emphasized reducing gun violence and improving law enforcement programs for American Indians.

Justice Department officials declined to comment on Ms. Chiara’s removal, which was first reported on Friday by The Grand Rapids Press. A telephone call to her office was not returned, but other officials confirmed that she had been asked to leave.

>a bit more including note that Schumer plans to investigate

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/24/washington/24attorney.html

[livvy]

9. 'Toon Break

http://www.uclick.com/client/nyt/ta/

[livvy]

10. Ooooh...Another good one...

http://www.uclick.com/client/nyt/po/

Love the chest of outfits!

[livvy]

11. Paper Trail Printer Jams Can Gum Up Vote Recounts

'Paper trail' printer jams can gum up vote recounts

By George Bennett

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Saturday, February 24, 2007

It may seem as straightforward as giving a customer a receipt at a gas pump or ATM, but some elections experts say adding a "paper trail" to electronic voting machines could create new headaches in close races.

>big snip to get to these words of wisdom from Lomax:

In Nevada, the paper trail is used for a post-election audit of 2 percent of electronic votes to make sure the touch screens are working properly. No discrepancies have been found between the electronic and paper results, says Clark County's Lomax. He says the paper trail has silenced critics of electronic voting.

"For those that are really wrapped up and hate government and are concerned there's some scandal going on, it shut them up ... so I like that part of it," Lomax says.

While Lomax praises the paper trail for audits, he says the printouts shouldn't be the official record in a recount because "I can assure you some of those are going to get hung up in a paper jam. ... It does not happen often. But when you do a recount, you're only doing a recount because it was close."

Even without paper jams or other complications, Lomax says, trying to manually count the paper record of electronic votes is "extremely boring, gruesome, tiring work" because the printouts are on continuous rolls of paper that can be 300 feet long.

Now that's the way to honor the voice of the people, Larry! Here's what Larry should do to himself, so he no longer has this heavy burden to bear as the top election official in Nevada's Clark County.
>much more


http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/state/epaper/2007/02/24/m1a_PAPER_TRAIL_0225.html

[livvy]

12. Questions Linger For Electronic Voting Machines

Now here's a picture worthy of a group scream.


"...Billy Chavez, storekeeper at the Registrar of Voters storage warehouse in Stockton, removes a voting machine from the massive stack at the site Friday morning."

Questions linger for electronic voting machines

By Greg Kane
February 24, 2007
Record Staff Writer

STOCKTON - Questions continue to surround San Joaquin County's electronic voting machines, despite their being used for two elections in the span of five months last year.

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., asked federal investigators last week for a "top-to-bottom" review of several electronic voting systems, including the Diebold TSx used in June and November by San Joaquin County voters. The request specifically asks that the printers attached to the TSx last year to provide a state-mandated paper trail be inspected for paper jams, durability and other bugs.

Also, state Secretary of State Debra Bowen plans in the coming weeks to unveil criteria for a separate review - also billed as "top to bottom" - of the TSx and other so-called e-voting systems certified last year by her predecessor, Bruce McPherson, according to spokeswoman Nicole Winger. Bowen in the past has criticized e-voting manufacturers and featured a video of hackers manipulating a Diebold system on her 2006 campaign Web site.

Systems that do not pass the state's investigation could be decertified for 2008, when as many as three elections are scheduled, Winger said, including the general and presidential elections. State lawmakers are debating a bill that would move the 2008 presidential primary election to February.

>more

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070224/A_NEWS/702240323

[livvy]

13. E-voting Testers Accredited

E-voting Testers Accredited

U.S. Election Assistance Commission approves SysTest and iBeta Quality Assurance to check machines.
February 23, 2007

By Michael Cohn

The United States Election Assistance Commission has named two Colorado companies, SysTest Labs and iBeta Quality Assurance, to begin testing voting systems as e-voting technology continues to prompt questions about security and reliability.

The companies will be able to test e-voting hardware and software under standards and procedures dictated by the National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP), which is run by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in accordance with the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002.

That system is in transition as responsibility for the accreditation of the testing labs has passed from a voluntary organization, the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED), to a government agency, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC).

However, the standards and procedures for testing have also been evolving from one set in 1999 to another in 2002 to the current standards written in 2005. Voting system makers are still trying to adapt their equipment to the 2005 standards, even as a new set is being readied this year.

>more


http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=21432&hed=E-voting+Testers+Accredited§or=Regions&subsector=Americas

[livvy]

14. A Report from the Public Monitor of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections

A Report from the Public Monitor of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections

By Joseph Hall, Univeristy of California, Berkeley
February 24, 2007

This article was posted at Joseph Hall's Not Quite A Blog and is reposted here with permission of the author.

After the 2006 primary disaster in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, where tens of thousands of absentee ballots had to be hand-counted due to a printing problem, the County Board of Elections appointed a public monitor to oversee the conduct of elections. That public monitor effort is lead by Candice Hoke, a law professor at Cleveland State University's (CSU) Cleveland-Marshall College of Law and Director of CSU's Center for Election Integrity.

Cleveland's local Fox News broke a story today about a report from the public monitor on possible legal noncompliances at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections (CCBOE) ("I-Team Investigates Election Security"). The Fox reporting focuses on a few serious issues raised by the report:

* there was one administrative level of access and only one user account (admin) for the Election Management System (EMS) server used by five different people;
* while two keys from different political parties are needed to open the ballot vault, these keys are stored side-by-side, on the same key ring, in an unlocked compartment;
* the surveillance footage from the tabulation room was destroyed four weeks after the election, and;
* a "cable" was mistakenly left attached to the EMS server before election day.

These things are serious from a physical and computer security perspective, but there's more to this story than simply these issues. I'd like to focus on what the report points out that wasn't highlighted in the Fox News story.


>more

http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2285&Itemid=113

[livvy]

15. Earlier piece: Public Monitor Reports Serious, Possibly Illegal, Security Breaches...

Public Monitor Reports Serious, Possibly Illegal, Security Breaches During Ohio Mid-term Elections
By VoteTrustUSA
February 23, 2007

Secretary of State to Appoint Independent Investigator

Download the Full Report and Appendix

The Public Monitor appointed by Cuyahoga County’s (Cleveland) Board of Elections has issued a report that identifies significant security breaches and “points of possible legal non-compliance” by the Board and its staff in
their conduct of the November elections. In response, the Board has asked the Secretary of State to assist in appointing a software engineer to examine the computer records of the voting system.

The Monitor’s report identifies failings of the Board and its staff to enact or comply with election administration and security procedures required by State regulations or State and/or Federal law, regarding supervision of the
voter registration database, poll worker management and eligibility, ballot security, and the tabulation and security of election results. .

The report identifies several areas of non-compliant procedures associated with the tabulation of results and technical security which could have compromised the security of the election totals. Analysis of the election
tabulation system log indicated that reports may have been printed summarizing the absentee ballot totals prior to Election Day. Printing vote totals before the end of Election Day would violate a State directive issued in response to a court order specifying that “at no time, any person has any access to the count or any portion of the count before the polling places close”. The report notes “This concern is especially acute where the
proportion of the votes cast by absentee ballot is extremely high, such as was the case in the November, 2006 election in which nearly 25% of votes were cast via absentee ballot.”

According to the report, further analysis of the Windows event logs indicated that the tabulation server was connected to a network cable at 11:38PM Nov. 5,th shortly after it had been disconnected following the
testing of the scanners. It remained connected to the network cable over the weekend. When the tabulation room was unlocked to prepare for absentee ballot scanning, the server’s system clock had advanced many hours over the correct time. Then the report notes, “The oddity here is that the clock had been running accurately at other times when it was observed by Monitor staff. But apparently over the night when the tabulation room was reportedly locked and sealed, but with the network cable to the basement remaining attached to the server instead of unplugged, the clock had somehow become over 11 hours ahead of the correct time.”

>more

http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2283&Itemid=113

[livvy]

16. Link to last post.

I don't know what is the deal, but I couldn't get the last post to work.
Here's the link:
http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2283&Itemid=113

on edit: here's the remainder of the paragraph

(server) clock had been running accurately at other times when it was observed by Monitor staff. But apparently over the night when the tabulation room was reportedly locked and sealed, but with the network cable to the basement remaining attached to the server instead of unplugged, the clock had somehow become over 11 hours ahead of the correct time.”

[rumpel]

18. there we go - DIMS!

The report also found the Diebold DIMS software used to manage the voter registration database may have erroneously deleted valid voter registrations and provided no remedy to recover them, a problem originally identified two years ago but never corrected. The report suggests, “Given the documentation of the lost voter registrations dating back to the DIMS installation August 2004, the CCBOE’s failure to act to remedy the voter registration losses may constitute a serious breach of CCBOE’s legal duty to safeguard voter registration records.”

must be a twin of VIMS!

thanks livvy - it works fine from the link I am on Safari

[kster]

17. ‘Paper’ tigers issue warnings - Greens lead fight to scrap electronic voting machines

Thread here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3132283



By Helen Klein 02/24/2007

Forget electronic voting.

That’s what the New York Green Party wants the state to do, opting instead for old-fashioned paper ballots.

Braving a chill wind that created real feel temperatures in the zero range, and bundled in hats and gloves, members of the Brooklyn Greens took to Cadman Plaza, right behind Borough Hall, to make the case for their preference.

“We are calling for voter marked paper ballots that get counted by hand,” said Colby Hamilton, the presiding officer of the Green Party of Brooklyn. He said that many countries, including Canada, use paper ballots, and have results of elections within 24 hours.

“Voters expect accountability,” as they would get at ATMs, Hamilton noted, “but, for some reason, election officials don’t seem to think they have to have that level of accountability.”

http://www.brooklynheightscourier.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17894573&BRD=2384&PAG=461&dept_id=560113&rfi=6

[babylonsister]

19. Rec! Thanks so much, livvy! nt