forgive me if I take a day off -Election Reform-Fraud & Related News-Wed 3/12/08

[kpete]

Election Reform-Fraud & Related News-Wed 3/12/08

forgive me if I take a day off
kpete


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. Here's the link to the News Directory:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph ...

2. Re-post stories and announcements you find on DU, providing a link to the original thread with thanks to the Original Poster, too.

3. Start a discussion thread by re-posting a story you see on this thread.

Recommendations are much appreciated.

[Mnemosyne]

1. TX: Disenfranchised Voters Seek Investigation By Secretary of State

March 12, 2008
REGIONAL POLITICS

Disenfranchised Voters Seek Investigation By Secretary of State

By Terri Hall
special to Bulverde Standard

CANYON LAKE, Texas (STPNS) -- New Braunfels, TX, --Concerned voters, including San Antonio Toll Party members in District 73, gathered on the steps of the Comal County Commissioners Court today to demand the Secretary of State investigate voting irregularities and possible election fraud in the State Representative Nathan Macias (R - Dist 73) vs. Doug Miller race.

"It's paramount that all voters in District 73 are assured that this was a legitimate election result. It's outrageous that Doug Miller's relatives were allowed anywhere near ballots much less without Macias pollwatchers present," said Terri Hall, Founder of the San Antonio Toll Party during a press conference held this morning. According to eyewitness accounts by pollwatchers on election night, members of Doug Miller's family were among the vote counters of paper ballots, the Republican Party Chair for Gillespie County (where the irregularities took place) was allegedly repeatedly on the phone with former Macias opponent and former State Representative for District 73 Carter Casteel while ballots were being counted, and members of the "counting team" in Gillespie County took over four hours to hand-count 160 copied paper ballots which changed the outcome of the election from a 58 vote win for Macias to a 38 vote win for Miller.

Fact: Polls closed at 7 pm. The final box to be counted in Gillespie County was missing and unaccounted for several hours after the polls closed, and was not finally reported until roughly 6 to 6.5 hours after the first six precinct totals were given. The final results were finally posted after 4 am with the last precinct remaining to report being Precinct 5 of Gillespie for the final 4 hours.

Fact: Members of the original "counting team" in Gillespie County included the Republican Party Chair, Pauline Cusack, who has allegedly openly opposed Representative Macias since the last election and was allegedly repeatedly on the phone with Carter Casteel during the process. She was also reported as having conversed with Miller supporters as to the number of votes needed for Miller to win. Comal County Commissioner Jan Kennady was also reported to have been on the phone with Cusack while ballots were being counted. Dave and Debbie Campbell, who openly opposed Representative Macias, contributed to Miller's campaign and held signs for Miller on election day, were also counting votes, along with Miller's brother-in-law and his wife.

http://www.stpns.net/view_article.html?articleId=86943199781008391

[Mnemosyne]

2. VA: Mark Tate’s election fraud trial receives a court date: Sept. 8-12

Mark Tate’s election fraud trial receives a court date: Sept. 8-12

By Drew Houff
The Winchester Star

LEESBURG — Former Virginia Senate candidate Mark David Tate must wait six months for his trial on nine counts of election fraud.

During a hearing on Tuesday, substitute Loudoun County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Fortkort set Tate’s trial for Sept. 8-12.

Fortkort also scheduled a June 9 hearing regarding evidence and other motions from Tate’s Middleburg attorney Edward B. MacMahon Jr.

During the Tuesday hearing, Fortkort denied motions by MacMahon to subpoena state Sen. Jill H. Vogel, R-Warrenton, and others considered by MacMahon to be crucial to his client’s defense.

http://www.winchesterstar.com/article_details.php?ArticleID=5252

[Mnemosyne]

3. FL: Deltona interim attorney, donor deny election fraud claim

March 12, 2008

Deltona interim attorney, donor deny election fraud claim]/b]

By BOB KOSLOW
Staff Writer

DELTONA -- Interim City Attorney George Trovato is the subject of a complaint to the State Attorney's Office alleging possible election law violations, an office spokeswoman said Monday.

However, spokeswoman Linda Pruitt said she could not provide any details or estimate how long any investigation would take.

Trovato and another resident named in the complaint said the claims are not true.Resident Jeff Ensminger said Tuesday he filed the complaint March 6 -- two days before the City Commission selected Trovato as its permanent city attorney -- based upon information shared with him by "several sources," including former City Commissioner David Santiago. Ensminger supplied The News-Journal with a notarized copy of the complaint.

"I just want honest and effective government so the city can get on with the business it needs to get done," Ensminger said Tuesday.

http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Politics/LocalWVGov/wvlWEST02POL031208.htm

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

4. VA: Who Is Barry Ocamaca?..It sounded like 'Barreer Obahkah'...

Visually impaired report trouble with voting machines that speak
Who is 'Barry Ocamaca'?

Wednesday, Mar 12, 2008 By KIRAN KRISHNAMURTHY
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

Linda Broady-Myers, who is blind, said she'd never heard of the
presidential candidate whose name was verbalized by a computerized
Richmond voting machine when she went to vote in last month's primary.

"Barry Ocamaca," she said the machine spit out, presumably for
Democratic contender Barack Obama.

"When I heard 'Barry Ocamaca,' I didn't know what primary I was
voting in because I wasn't aware that this person was one of the candidates,"
she said.

...Glenwood Floyd, who also is blind, said he encountered problems while trying to vote for Obama in the city, too.

"It sounded like 'Barreer Obahkah,' he said yesterday.

"I wasn't sure if the computer was locking up. I felt my attempt to vote had been abrogated."
Floyd said he was frustrated but did not file a formal complaint because he was suffering from the flu.

more at the link

This is the ex-AVS WinVote mac hines

[Melissa G]

5. The Problems with All-Mail Elections

The Problems with All-Mail Elections

With the Clinton and Obama camps at odds over whether to seat Florida and Michigan delegates, the idea of holding an all-mail election has emerged as a possible solution. The New York Times reports today that Democratic Party officials are "close to completing a draft plan" for a mail-in primary in Florida that would take place in early June. Proponents of all-mail voting often cite Oregon's experience in support of their arguments. If they can do it, the argument goes, why can't we?

Given that Democratic Party rules set clear standards for having delegates recognized, which Florida and Michigan just as clearly failed to abide by, it seems obvious that the delegates selected through those states' prior primaries shouldn't be recognized. At the same time, there are reasons to be very cautious about exporting all-mail elections to these states, especially in a hotly contested and undeniably important race like this one. Here are a few of those reasons:

- Lack of experience. All-mail elections would be new to Florida. It's certainly true that some voters in Florida and other states already vote by mail, in the form of absentee ballots. But having everyone vote by mail is a major change that raises a different set of issues. In Oregon, the transition to all-mail elections was made gradually, over two decades as summarized in this timeline. Trying to implement all-mail voting on an extremely accelerated schedule would invite trouble. This is particularly true for a state like Florida, to put it mildly, doesn't exactly have a trouble-free history of election administration. With so much at stake, this isn't a great time to experiment.

- Security. The likelihood of fraud and other forms of electoral manipulation is frequently exaggerated. But to the extent foul play happens, it's most likely to occur with mail-in ballots. That's partly because the anonymity of the ballot is compromised, allowing people to buy and sell their votes in a way that's not possible with in-precinct voting, as Rick Hasen has pointed out. It's also because lots of things that can happen to a ballot between the time it's goes from election authorities to the voter and back again. Suppose some election insider has a list of "deadwood" on the rolls (i.e., people who've died or moved yet remain on the rolls) and is able to intercept those ballots before they get into the mail? Or suppose someone has a connection at the post office? This isn't to argue that these things often happen -- there's not much evidence of such fraud in Oregon, according to this report by Paul Gronke. But again, Oregon's got a long history of dealing with the problems with mail voting, and not much history of corruption. By contrast, there has been fraud with mail ballots in Florida, specifically in a Miami mayoral election in which absentee ballots were found at the home of a local political boss, as noted by Prof. Gronke (at p. 2).

more
http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/blogs/tokaji/2008/03/problems-with-all-mail-elections.html

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

6. Dan Rather Report & The Ohio Vote,the Primary Vote & Beyond

Here is the latest Dan Rather Report Video and Transcript Online
regarding the Ohio Transition to paper ballots, the electronic voting dilemma
regarding the March 4 primary election and beyond.

Dan Rather Reports

Episode Number: 307

Episode Title: A Safe Place to Shoot Up

Description: Vancouver, Canada is often called one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
It will host the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. But it is also home to the highest HIV rate in the
western world. And the city is supporting a controversial measure that allows for a safe place
to inject drugs and, they hope, lower the risk of AIDS transmission.
Also, as the presidential campaign moves to Ohio, more controversy over voting machines.

The Ohio Vote:

Link

307 View online PDF Transcript 02/19/08 A Safe Place to Shoot Up

[Wilms]

7. Surging Support For Hand-Counting Paper Ballots in Humboldt

Put it on the Greatest page!

Surging Support For Hand-Counting Paper Ballots in Humboldt

By Dave Berman
3/11/08

First, let's be clear that there has never been more support than there is right now for hand-counting paper ballots (HCPB) in Humboldt County. The Voter Confidence Committee (VCC) has led the charge, with recent support coming from the Redwood ACLU, Democratic Central Committee and Veterans For Peace Chapter 56.

I'll be joined by members from each of these groups in a Thursday afternoon meeting with Registrar of Voters Carolyn Crnich. This isn't about lobbying her that day. We are seeking information that will further our ability to create tangible forecasting of time, cost and labor needed to conduct a fully hand-counted election here.

This emerging coalition will also have an opportunity to display solidarity at this Saurday's Peace March in Eureka. The VCC will be tabling at the Gazebo in Old Town, and we will have several to many people roaming the crowd in pursuit of sign-ups for our list of willing hand-counters (the VCC site also allows sign-ups).

An e-mail newsletter circulated yesterday by the VCC asked volunteers to print this page and bring it on a clipboard on Saturday to help us gather more names. In almost an afterthought, the VCC also issued this press release yesterday documenting some of the problems we observed during the February Primary. Bob Olofson took point on this one and he will be interviewed on KMUD radio later in the week.

snip

http://wedonotconsent.blogspot.com/2008/03/surging-support-for-hand-counting-paper.html


Discuss (and recommend)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x499011

[L. Coyote]

8. FYI BlackBox released new videos of the NH chain of custody chase

Here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x104651