More Broken Diebold Machines Election Reform& Related News Tuesday, 3/20/07

[Melissa G]

Election Reform& Related News Tuesday, 3/20/07

More Broken Diebold machines appearing in Dayton.
See post number 1 for details!

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).

[Melissa G]

1. Problems Surface In Tests Of Dayton Voting Machines

Problems Surface In Tests Of Dayton Voting Machines

POSTED: 10:27 am EDT March 20, 2007

DAYTON, Ohio -- Elections officials in the Dayton area said they're finding problems as they test touch-screen electronic machines in response to voter complaints.

Officials with the Montgomery County Board of Elections said they tested 62 of their machines Monday, and more than two dozen failed to properly record votes. They plan to test more machines Tuesday.

The elections board is following up on claims made by 20 voters that their votes didn't register on Election Day in November.

An official with Diebold is defending the company's voting machines, saying the problems have turned up in just a small number of the 2,500 used in Montgomery County.
http://www.whiotv.com/news/11306171/detail.html

[SharonAnn]

2. Wow, that's where I learned about vote counting on punch card ballots.

I used to work for the computer vendor in Dayton and was occasionally one of the team "on-site" on election night to be sure the hardware and software worked correctly for vote counting. We always had several hardware people there and at least one software person. Of course, we were only overseeing the cards being fed into the card reader , making sure it didn't jam, etc. and making sure the software on the mainframe didn't crash. We had no involvement with anything before the cards were loaded into the hopper.

Anyway, that's where I first learned about voting "machinery", and learned that "chads were everywhere". Flying, hanging, falling, floating, etc. The sheer quantity of chads created by the punches in all those cards meant that if even a few of them were loose in each group, that made lots of chads.

[Melissa G]

3. Machines record votes inaccurately in tests

http://www.daytondailynews.com/

Machines record votes inaccurately in tests
Touch-screens failed in more than 24 of 62 devices tested in Montgomery County after voters complained.

By Lynn Hulsey

Staff Writer

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

DAYTON — Voting machines malfunctioned repeatedly during testing Monday as Montgomery County officials responded to complaints that the touch-screen electronic machines inaccurately recorded votes during the November election.

Officials found more than two dozen machines out of 62 tested recorded votes inaccurately; they anticipate finding more problems today when they test another 63 machines.

snip
Officials believe the machines properly tally the votes recorded, said Steve Harsman, director of the Montgomery County Board of Elections. The problem is that the machines did not always accurately record the vote in the first place.

For example: In the Ohio Supreme Court race the tester touched the edge of the box for Ben Espy and the machine instead marked his opponent, Robert Cupp. In another case a "yes" vote for State Issue 1 repeatedly resulted in the machine recording a "no" vote.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2007/03/20/ddn032007elex.html

[Melissa G]

4. Judge: Electronic voting machine advisors needed

Judge: Electronic voting machine advisors needed
Posted by The Star-Ledger March 19, 2007 6:47PM

A state judge voiced concerns today that state volunteers who approve electronic voting machines lack technical expertise and must rely too heavily on vendors to explain how the machines work.

The judge suggested creation of an oversight committee of computer scientists to advise the panel.

"What really concerns me is, at the end of the day, everyone wants a system with integrity. We don't want it to be vendor-driven . . . Technology standards today bode in favor of individuals with highly sophisticated computer technology backgrounds," Superior Court Judge Linda Feinberg said at a court hearing in Trenton.

Feinberg is monitoring whether the state can meet a January deadline to retrofit electronic voting machines with paper printouts that voters can verify, and which can be recounted if discrepancies arise.

http://blog.nj.com/ledgerupdates/2007/03/judge_sees_need_for_electronic.html

[Melissa G]

5. OH SOS DEMANDS IMMEDIATE RESIGNATION OF CUYAHOGA BOARD MEMBERS, THEY VOW TO FIGHT IN COURT

Thanks to BradBlog for the post and the DU discussion here...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x449022
Original message
OH SOS DEMANDS IMMEDIATE RESIGNATION OF CUYAHOGA BOARD MEMBERS, THEY VOW TO FIGHT IN COURT


OHIO SOS DEMANDS IMMEDIATE RESIGNATION OF ALL CUYAHOGA COUNTY ELECTION BOARD MEMBERS
Robert Bennett, Ohio's GOP Chair and President of the Board of Elections in Ohio's Most Democratic County, Vows to Stay On
Growing Battle Underscores a Host of Other Myths, Disinfo Campaigns Concerning Buckeye State Election Administration...


CLEVELAND (AP) - All four election board members for Cuyahoga County, troubled by recount rigging charges and voting machine problems, have been told to resign or face being fired, a state official said Monday.

Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner said she called the four board members of Ohio's most populous county late Sunday, asking them to leave by close of business Wednesday.


The issue comes in the wake of two Cuyahoga County Election Officials recently found guilty of rigging the 2004 Presidential Election recount and subsequently sentenced to the maximum 18 months in prison after they refused to cooperate with the state's special prosecutor, Kevin Baxter.

Both Baxter and the district court judge, Peter J. Corrigan, indicated they believed the conspiracy to game the recount was part of a larger, higher-reaching conspiracy. "It seems unlikely that your superiors wouldn't know what you were doing," Corrigan declared during the sentencing.

In a news conference this morning, Bennett vowed to fight Brunner in court rather than leave on his own accord...

FULL REPORT, MORE ANALYSIS:
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4292

[Melissa G]

6. Forced resignations and stiff prison sentences intensify the escalating blowback from Ohio's 2004 st

Thanks to kster for the post and the DU discussion here...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x469386
Original message
Forced resignations and stiff prison sentences intensify the escalating blowback from Ohio's 2004 stolen election

by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman
March 20, 2007

In a bold move "to restore trust to elections in Ohio," Ohio's newly-elected Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner, has requested the resignation of all four members of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections. The two Democrats and two Republicans were formally asked to resign by the close of business on March 21. Cuyahoga County includes the heavily Democratic city of Cleveland. Brunner is a Democrat who was elected to be Ohio's Secretary of State in November, 2006.

Felony convictions have also resulted in 18-month prison sentences for two employees of the Cuyahoga BOE as a result of what the county prosecutor in the case calls the "rigging" of the outcome in the recount following the 2004 presidential election. Further problems surfaced in the conduct of Cuyahoga County's May, 2006 primary, in the wake of which Michel Vu, Executive Director of the county's Board of Elections recently resigned.

In tandem, the shake-up in Ohio's biggest county reflects a widening storm surrounding the outcome of the 2004 presidential election and the conduct of elections overall in the nation's most pivotal state.

Among those Brunner has asked to resign is Cuyahoga County BOE Chair Robert Bennett, who chairs Ohio's Republican Party. Voting rights attorney Cliff Arnebeck and others have long charged that Bennett worked closely with White House advisor Karl Rove and Ohio's then-Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell to secure Bush's 2004 victory in Ohio.

http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2007/2503

[Melissa G]

12. DU discussion here!

Thanks to kster for the post...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x469386

[Melissa G]

7. A Challenge to Opponents of a Ban on Electronic Ballots

From Bradblog...

BLOGGED BY Ellen Theisen ON 3/19/2007 6:05AM
A Challenge to Opponents of a Ban on Electronic Ballots
Seeking Just One Democracy-Serving Reason to Keep DREs Allowable Under the Holt Bill
Any takers?...
Guest Blogged by Ellen Theisen of VotersUnite.Org

I challenge anyone to put forward an actual disadvantage of amending Representative Rush Holt's bill (HR 811, "The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2007") to ban electronic ballots. With a few moments' thought, I can list five bad things (which opponents might anticipate) that such an amendment would NOT do and fifteen good — actually, critical — things it WILL do.

Is there even one way in which electronic ballots serve our democracy better than true paper ballots?

I claim that an amendment banning electronic ballots has LOTS of advantages and NO disadvantages — for our country and its democracy, anyway. And I challenge anyone to think of a democracy-serving reason why NOT to amend it. "The bill won't pass with the amendment" doesn't count. I'm looking for a genuine disadvantage of the amendment.

Here's what I see. Tell me if I've missed something….


The amendment WILL NOT:

increase the number of jurisdictions that have to update their equipment under HR 811,
nor diminish HR 811’s accessibility requirements for people with disabilities or language needs,
nor increase the appropriations required for HR 811 or the costs incurred by the states,
nor delay elections results,
nor increase the work of election directors. On the contrary, some New Mexico clerks even said that after they eliminated electronic ballots, they had the smoothest election ever.
more....
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4279

[Melissa G]

8. Are "impurists" threatening US democracy?

This below from Mark Cripin Miller...


Are "impurists" threatening US democracy?

I pass this piece along out of my great respect for Steve Rosenfeld, a seasoned champion of election reform, who has done great work not just as part of Bob Fitrakis's team but in various progressive roles. I've learned a lot from him. Because of that, and as the issue here is vital, I
urge you to consider carefully his argument in favor of Rush Holt's bill.


I'd like you to consider it, as well as the full range of counter-arguments against the bill--
which, like those other "purists" mentioned in Steve's piece, I don't support. While I respect Steve's point about the frequent need, in politics, for incremental measures, I think that HR 811
could easily do more harm than good. I oppose it only for that reason, and not because it isn't
perfect.


I do believe that halfway measures are a bad idea in certain instances. You wouldn't ask a serial rapist merely to cut back on his offenses, or urge a crack addict to restrict his drug abuse to certain evenings of the week. (For a less fanciful analogy, there was chattel slavery, and the Holocaust; and now there's the war in Iraq, as well as most of BushCo's other policies, both foreign and domestic.) In short, it's sometimes wrong to act as an "impurist." The problem with this bill, however, is the fact that it will leave the process highly vulnerable to fraud in the next election, while also giving people a false sense of security.


My view, as you no doubt know, is that we ought to be primarily engaged in getting out the word--as far and wide as possible-- about the vast election fraud committed by the Busheviks in 2002, 2004 and 2006. Once that's been done, not just by us but by the Democrats, the media and honest members of the GOP, it will no longer seem "unrealistic" to demand that DRE machines be banned, and that a range of other tough reforms be put in place. As one of those who's toured the nation speaking on the subject, I have no doubt that most Americans (by far) would not just acquiesce in revolutionary change, but would in fact demand it, especially once they know what's really happened to (what they believe is) their democracy.


In order to promote the necessary debate, I'll gladly follow this with other pieces on the subject of HR 811.


MCM
http://markcrispinmiller.blogspot.com/

This was in reaction to this next post from alternet...


Are Voting Machine Purists Standing in the Way of Reform?

By Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet. Posted March 19, 2007.



While a proposed law in Congress does not try to ban touch-screen machines outright, it may just regulate them out of existence -- but that's not good enough for some election activists. Tools


Are Internet election integrity activists going to derail an attempt in Congress to regulate some of the biggest problems with touch-screen electronic voting machines? Will they scare off federal legislators who are going out on a limb to make it very hard for local, county and state election officials to keep using these problem-plagued machines?

There's the old political expression: Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. But some election integrity activists are letting their vision of a perfectly justifiable solution -- purging all touch-screen voting machines -- get in the way of backing a very good election reform bill now moving through Congress that will bring significant oversight, transparency and accountability to electronic voting systems.

The bill, HR 811, "The Increased Accessibility and Voter Confidence Act," introduced by Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., regulates electronic voting machines for the first time. After many well-publicized problems in recent congressional and presidential elections, from 18,000 missing congressional votes in Sarasota, Fla., to thousands of disenfranchised voters in Cleveland, the bill fills a gaping hole in federal election law: the current lack of any regulation on the newest generation of voting technologies.

The bill would require that all software used in the counting and recording of votes to be readily available to the public, which is not now the case. It would require all voting machines to produce or use a durable voter-verified paper record of all votes cast, which is not now the case. It would require mandatory audits of voter-verified paper ballots to check the accuracy of electronic tallies and deter fraud, which also is not law now. It would require that the audit process be open to the public, which has not happened in recent presidential and congressional elections.

http://www.alternet.org/story/48967/

[Melissa G]

10. kster's DU discussion is here...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x469371

and babylonsister's is here...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x469364

[Melissa G]

9. Secretary of state gets marching orders from Crist: No election fiascos in Florida

Secretary of state gets marching orders from Crist: No election fiascos in Florida

By Brendan Farrington
The Associated Press
Posted March 19 2007


TALLAHASSEE – The Department of State keeps a list of all businesses, promotes and preserves the state's history and culture and maintains the state archives.

But the office doesn't receive much attention unless a presidency is decided by 537 votes or a congressional seat is decided by 369 and its role overseeing the state's elections pushes it into the spotlight. And it's that unkind glare Gov. Charlie Crist wants to avoid by appointing Pasco County Supervisor of Elections Kurt Browning as secretary of state.


"I love his attitude, I love his base of knowledge, I admire his integrity," Crist said. "His expertise in the elections arena is second to none."

And when Crist's transition office called Browning and the governor later hired him, he was given this simple mission: Don't let Florida be embarrassed by another questionable election.

"He made it very clear to me that he wanted me to deal with elections. No bones about it," Browning said. "He said, `I don't want any problems with elections. I just don't want any problems.' I told him, `It is my goal to make elections nonevents in Florida.'"

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-fstate19mar19,0,7488651.story?coll=sfla-news-florida

[Melissa G]

11. House forms task force on Florida’s 13th district

Campaign 2008

House forms task force on Florida’s 13th district
By Aaron Blake
March 19, 2007
The House Administration Committee will convene a special task force to look into the ongoing controversy of Florida’s 13th district congressional race, breaking with tradition by delving into a contested race while the state is still acting.

The nine Democratic members of the Florida delegation last week asked committee Chairwoman Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-Calif.) to create a task force in response to news that the voting machines used in the district had previously undisclosed problems. Committee spokeswoman Janice Crump confirmed yesterday that the task force was being formed.

In Sarasota County, 18,000 voters failed to cast a vote in the congressional race, an abnormally high “undervote” that Democratic nominee Christine Jennings has alleged was due to voting machines malfunctioning.

In addition to contesting the race with the committee, Jennings is suing for access to the machines’ software so she can conduct a private review. She has called into question the integrity of government-run audits, which found that the machines worked properly.

http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/house-forms-task-force-on-floridas-13th-district-2007-03-19.html

[Melissa G]

13. Why Audits Are Necessary

DU discussion here...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x469419




Why Audits Are Necessary
By Ion Sancho, supervisor of Elections, Leon County, Florida
March 20, 2007
"Opponents to mandatory audits may cite increased costs and a lack of time as reasons against mandating audits. All I can tell the critics is look at Florida. Today, the lack of trust in our election procedures, the lack of trust in our election administration is too high a price to pay."



The following testimony was submitted to the Elections Subcommittee of the Committee on House Administration on March 20, 2007.



In my testimony today I will focus on the problems Florida has encountered over the past six years and how audits, or more accurately, the lack of audits, have contributed to the current crisis in confidence Floridians have in their electoral system.

What are audits? One dictionary definition refers to an official examination and verification of accounts and records. Merriam-Webster includes “a methodical examination and review”. Audits are essential to validate the accuracy truth of a whole range of activities, in private as well as public entities and financial institutions. The financial transactions of every branch of government are subject to audits. It is these audits which verify the correctness and accuracy of the actions taken by the organization and without a complex overlay of audits, whole sections of our economy and government could be open to attack and criticism as to the validity or propriety of policy and actions, unless confirmed through the process of auditing. But we don’t require audits of votes.

Which leads me directly to Florida and the 2000 elections. In Florida, audits for any election are not required. The word ‘audit’ is mentioned only six times in our election code, and before last year, the State of Florida, the Division of Elections had never conducted an audit of any election in history! The closest thing to an audit in Florida law was our pre-2000 recount provisions, in Chapter 102, which depending upon the closeness of the contest could mean that every ballot had to be manually examined.



Recounts are generally rare events. In my almost 20 year career, I have overseen four recounts and only one of these – the Presidential election of 2000 – involved a Federal race, and that recount, the only audit we could use was terminated by the U.S. Supreme court. The embarrassment suffered by Floridians, including election officials, arising from that unfortunate event, forced our Legislature to act.

http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2335&Itemid=26

[Melissa G]

14. SCI requests county voting machine files

DU discussion here...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=469422&mesg_id=469422



SCI requests county voting machine files

Saturday, March 17, 2007

By OSHRAT CARMIEL
STAFF WRITER



The State Commission of Investigation has asked Bergen County to produce volumes of paperwork about voting machine and absentee-vote-counting scanner purchases.

The March 13 request also was sent to at least two other counties, Union and Essex, election officials say.


snip
The letter sent to Bergen County is "in lieu of a subpoena," it reads, and casts a wide net for any and all records about the purchase of voting machines, equipment and software from Sequoia Voting Systems Inc. and its subsidiaries.

Sequoia is cited in an ongoing lawsuit in state Superior Court which challenges the reliability of electronic voting machines used in the state. Bergen and Union both use Sequoia machines.

Last month, Judge Linda R. Feinberg gave state officials a May deadline by which to prove that existing machines can withstand voter fraud -- and if not, to have them replaced.
http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2MDYmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTcwOTQzOTYmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXky

[Melissa G]

15. The Nation: Fair Elections Now

Thanks to babylonsister for the post and the DU discussion here...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x469394
Original message
The Nation: Fair Elections Now
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion?bid=15&pid=177282

Fair Elections Now
Ari Berman


The cost of elections doubled in the past four years. The average price tag of a top tier Senate race came out to $34 million in '06. The next two years promise to shatter all campaign finance records, as Hillary and her competitors embark on a $500 million money chase.

At least two prominent Senators have had enough. Today Senators Dick Durbin and Arlen Specter introduced the "Fair Elections Now Act" to create--for the first time--a voluntary publicly financed system to cover Congressional campaigns.

Durbin is the number two Democrat in the Senate. Specter is the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee. Thus their views carry considerable weight. Both voted for lobbying reform legislation earlier this year, but believe it didn't go nearly far enough.

"We can pass all the lobbying and ethics reforms in the world and it's won't solve the real problem," Durbin says. "Special interest money will always find new loopholes to work its way into campaigns until we change the system fundamentally." Says Specter: "Public financing will go a long way toward restoring public confidence in our electoral system."

Their legislation is based on clean election laws already in place in Arizona and Maine, which are fueled by hundreds of $5 contributions, rather than $2,100 checks written by lobbyists, big business and rich donors. The Maryland House followed suit last year. In recent days, New Jersey passed a fair elections pilot program for a select number of state legislature and Senate districts. Reps. John Tierney and Todd Platts will introduce companion legislation to the "Fair Elections Now Act" in the House of Representatives shortly.

[Melissa G]

16. N.H. Dems want fresh look at phone-jamming

Thanks to MaineDem for the post and the DU discussion here...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2774300
Original message
N.H. Dems want fresh look at phone-jamming
Source: AP/Boston Globe

CONCORD, N.H. --State Democrats want Congress to investigate whether politics delayed prosecution of a Republican phone-jamming plot in New Hampshire until after the 2004 presidential election.

The national furor over alleged politics in the firings of eight federal prosecutors prompted the move, state party Chairwoman Kathy Sullivan told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The scheme devised by state and national Republicans jammed local Democratic ride-to-the-polls and a nonpartisan get-out-the-vote phone bank for about 90 minutes on Election Day 2002, the year of a hotly contested U.S. Senate race between then-Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat, and then-U.S. Rep. John Sununu, a Republican, who won. The case resulted in four criminal convictions, including that of strategist James Tobin, of Bangor, Maine, who was New England chairman of President Bush's re-election campaign two years later.

Allegations of Tobin's involvement led him to resign that post the month before the election and he was indicted the month after it -- timing that has prompted Democratic suspicions before. But members of Congress seeking answers to questions about the prosecutor firings should seek some about phone-jamming at the same time, Sullivan said.

Read more: http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2007/03/20/nh_dems_want_fresh_look_at_phone_jamming/?rss_id=Boston.com+%2F+News

[In Truth We Trust]

17. HCPB's NOW!!! k&r ..... HAND COUNTED

[Kurovski]

18. Thanks for a great crop of ERD, Melissa G!

You are terrific. :-)

[Melissa G]

19. Back atcha, Kurovski!

:toast: