Election Reform, Fraud and Related News. Thursday, 04/24/08

[EFerrari]

Homeless, But Not Voteless
A program tries to make the homeless a meaningful political constituency.

by E. James Beale
Published: Apr 23, 2008

The Bridge House for Women, at Belmont Avenue and Monument Road, is a transitional housing facility for homeless women. You have to be substance-free to move in; for many of the residents, the lifestyle is a change. One of the current occupants is Anita Adams, a tall, shy woman with large, dark eyes and a bright nose ring. Last Tuesday, Anita voted. "It's been years since the last time," she says, unable to even recall her previous voting experience.

Anita is not the only voter living in transitional housing. For the past nine years, local advocacy group Project H.O.M.E. has headed up the Vote for Homes coalition (VFH) — 61 local sponsors who work to bring out the homeless vote. The idea is to make the homeless a political constituency to which politicians have to cater, and VFH has succeeded in registering more than 12,000 current and formerly homeless and ex-offenders. They estimate that about 3,000 of them have voted in each of the past two elections.

Throughout our "Politics Lost" series, City Paper has focused on neighborhoods where residents are disillusioned with politics. For some people without permanent homes, interestingly, disillusionment doesn't seem to be the problem.

"Most of the homeless are actually surprisingly politically aware," says George Smith, a formerly homeless vet volunteering for VFH.

http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2008/04/24/homeless-but-not-voteless

Election Reform, Fraud and Related News. 04/24/08

1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web. Here's the link to the News Directory:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x407240

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. :hi:

[EFerrari]

1. National.

[EFerrari]

14. Groundbreaking Book Documents Widespread Election Fraud

Groundbreaking Book Documents Widespread Election Fraud; Warns Elections Vulnerable to Theft
by Jason Leopold

"There's that all-too-human tendency to turn a blind eye to enormous threats because they're just too devastating to acknowledge. Better, therefore, to pretend they don't exist,” says author and voting fraud documenter Mark Crispin Miller.

Earlier this month, at a conference in San Francisco, several renowned computer scientists warned that electronic voting machines remain vulnerable to computer hackers due to serious security flaws in the operating software, calling into question the integrity of a presidential election that is still seven months away, as well as all other elections in the U.S. where paper ballots have been replaced by these paperless electronic machines.

There wasn't anything particularly new in the scientists' revelations, other than the fact that the magazine PC World covered the issue, as did several other mainstream news organizations.

Arguably, any mainstream coverage these days of election fraud, voter fraud—a topic of such national significance that it literally affects anyone who has ever cast a ballot—can be credited to a handful of hard-core voting rights activists and muckraking citizen journalists who have made it their life's mission to overhaul the way people vote and restore much needed integrity to the process.

The scientists' warnings that this year's historic presidential election can be tinkered with came on the heels of the publication of a groundbreaking new book, Loser Take All, a collection of eye-opening investigative reports into past issues of election fraud authored by voting rights experts, activists, and journalists who used old-fashioned gumshoe reporting to expose the seedy side of the business of counting votes.

Unlike the reportage leading up the invasion of Iraq, which relied heavily on anonymous sources who spoon-fed mainstream reporters wild tales of Iraq's vast weapons cache, lapped up by Pulitzer Prize winning journalists and printed as fact, the reports in Loser Take All about stolen elections, the massive purge of minorities and poor people from voter rolls are backed up by smoking gun evidence in the form of documents and on-the-record accounts from public officials and behind-the-scenes executives employed by e-voting companies.

http://www.baltimorechronicle.com/2008/042408Leopold.shtml

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19. Discussion:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x501226

[EFerrari]

2. States.

[EFerrari]

5. AZ: Brewer says history-making candidates stoke 2008 election

Brewer says history-making candidates stoke 2008 election
April 23, 2008 - 9:20PM
BY WILLIAM ROLLER, SUN STAFF WRITER

Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer is urging residents to be prepared before going to polls to ensure the election's integrity due to an expected large voter turnout for the presidential race.

Even if a person's name does not appear on voter rolls or if their identification does not match a registered address voters should always cast a provisional ballot, Brewer reminds the state's residents.

"Voting is a very important privilege we're afforded and we've seen in Arizona just one vote can make a difference in an election outcome," she said.

She was referring to the 1992 tie vote between Republicans Richard Kyle and John Gaylord for the Arizona District 6 House race.

http://www.yumasun.com/news/brewer_41233___article.html/election_residents.html

[EFerrari]

6. CO: Fear of litigation influences voting machine decision

Steamboat Springs — The specter of lawsuits aimed at eliminating the use of electronic voting machines is discouraging the purchase of additional machines in Routt County.

At a meeting with the Routt County Board of Commissioners on Monday, Clerk and Recorder Kay Weinland was directed to return next week with a request to purchase five machines and an additional optical scanner to count paper ballots. The county previously budgeted for the purchase of 15 voting machines in 2008 and did not plan to buy a second scanner. The five voting machines will cost about $15,000. The scanner will cost about $20,000.

“I try to be a conservative, but it’s hard when you’re trying to avert disaster,” Weinland said. “There’s nothing worse than an Election Day disaster.”

Weinland said a “beefier” scanner is needed so the county has a backup and to handle an increasing number of mail-in ballots. When the county’s current scanner was purchased, Weinland said, the county was experiencing an average of about 300 mail-in ballots a year. Now, Weinland said, that number is in the 3,000 to 5,000 range. Also, because the county is scaling back its original plan to purchase 15 voting machines, there will be a heavier reliance on paper polling booths this year.

http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2008/apr/22/fear_litigation_influences_voting_machine_decision/

[EFerrari]

7. MO: Civil rights groups sue state officials over voter registrations

Civil rights groups sue state officials over voter registrations
By Adam Jadhav
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
04/24/2008

Voting-rights activists filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against Missouri public aid officials and election authorities in St. Louis and Kansas City, saying that agencies have failed to help poor people stay active on the voter rolls.

The suit, filed in Kansas City by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, focuses on a 1993 federal law that requires voter registration to be offered at drivers license facilities and government assistance offices — those that offer aid such as food stamps, Medicaid and welfare. But although registering at drivers license offices is now commonplace, activists claim the Missouri Department of Social Services has shirked its obligations.

ACORN, represented by lawyers from national groups Project Vote, Demos and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, also says election authorities need to better instruct local public aid offices.

The lawsuit carries all the overtones of a traditional political brawl, pitting groups allied with minorities and the poor — who typically lean Democratic — against a key department of a Republican administration.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/missouristatenews/story/AEF05DD4F42B034B86257435001008FA?OpenDocument

[EFerrari]

8. NJ: Voter registration better linked to DMV services

Voter registration better linked to DMV services

TRENTON- Voter registration opportunities for New Jersey residents will expand as the statemoves to fully implement a federal law.

The federal "motor voter" law requires the stateMotor Vehicle Commission (MVC) to link voter registration withmotor vehicle transactions. The state's Department of the PublicAdvocate began examiningNew Jersey's compliance with the law in late 2006 after receiving complaints from voting rights advocates, according to a press release from the Department of the Public Advocate.

The public advocate verified gaps in New Jersey's motor voter implementation by working with the MVC to review its practices and analyzing federal voter registration studies.

In February 2007, the public advocate sent personnel to 11 MVC agencies throughout New Jersey to survey customers whose just-completed transactions should have triggered motor voter activities. State personnel discovered only 8 percent of the 494 individuals surveyed were offered the opportunity to register to vote.

http://atlanticville.gmnews.com/news/2008/0424/Front_Page/029.html

[EFerrari]

9. PA: Few problems with new voting machines with video

Few problems with new voting machines with video
BY GRETCHEN M. WINTERMANTEL AND MEGAN REITER
STAFF WRITERS
04/23/2008

An Election Day with record Democratic turnout saw few problems in Lackawanna and Wayne counties. Both counties used the new Election Systems & Software optical-scan system Tuesday.

Election Systems & Software’s optical-scan system worked well. Lackawanna County spokeswoman Lynne Shedlock said. There were, however, a few minor issues.

The AutoMark touch-screen machines provided for handicapped voters malfunctioned in at least seven precincts, Mrs. Shedlock said.

Those problems were easily fixed when election workers cleaned and reset the inkjet cartridges in each machine.

http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19509198&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=415898&rfi=

[EFerrari]

10. SC: Florence County elections director charged with embezzlement

Florence County elections director charged with embezzlement
The Associated Press


FLORENCE, S.C. --
The Florence County election director has been charged with embezzlement.

Federal prosecutors say Mike Young took more than $40,000 in disability benefits from the Federal Railroad Retirement Board that he was not entitled to.

Young told the Morning News of Florence that he thinks he did nothing wrong.

Prosecutors say Young collected the benefits after reporting he was unable to earn income from February 2006 to last August.

Authorities say he was interim elections director during much of that time and also ran a voting machine consulting business.

http://www.thestate.com/statewire/story/384959.html

[EFerrari]

11. TN: Davidson wants paper ballots

Davidson wants paper ballots
Officials urge switch now, but state says election too soon

By MICHAEL CASS • Staff Writer • April 23, 2008

Davidson County should replace its electronic voting machines with paper ballots in the August elections so it can work any kinks out before the November presidential vote, the chairman of the county's election commission said this week.

But state election officials aren't in the same hurry. If voters and poll workers have to use and understand new technology, then forget August, forget November and plan for 2010, they say.

"I think we're way too deep into this election cycle to be changing systems," state elections coordinator Brook Thompson said Tuesday.

The General Assembly is debating legislation that would require all 95 Tennessee counties to use paper ballots filled in by voters and read by optical scanners. About $30 million in federal money would cover the costs of the conversion now that the U.S. Election Assistance Commission has approved the expense.

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080423/NEWS0202/804230425/1009/news01

[EFerrari]

12. WV: Residents swarm Voter Registration Office

Residents swarm Voter Registration Office
By GREG JORDAN
BLUEFIELD DAILY TELEGRAPH (BLUEFIELD, W.V.)

PRINCETON, W.Va. — Will Clinton or Obama get the Democratic nomination for president? Plenty of local voters have taken steps to make sure they will have a say in the matter.

Tuesday was the deadline to register to vote in West Virginia’s May 13 primary, the contest that could help the Democrats decide between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

By 4:45 p.m. 57 residents had arrived at the Mercer County Courthouse to register, said Marie Hill, a registrar with the Voter Registration Office. Most of them were Democrats, she added.

“I still have a stack of forms we’ve received in the mail and other sources that we still have to put in,” Hill said. “That’s what we’re doing now and we’re going to be a while putting this in.”

http://www.bdtonline.com/statenews/cnhinsall_story_114083446.html

[EFerrari]

13. CO: Voting methods settled

Voting methods settled
County enlarges tax rebate to Weiss
By DAN BARKER Thursday, April 24, 2008 2:43 PM MDT
Times Staff Writer

Morgan County voters will have the choice to vote on a computerized voting system or use paper ballots at the next election.

That happens because the Board of Morgan County Commissioners approved buying three e-scanners for Fort Morgan, Brush and Wiggins for $17,040 during its Tuesday meeting.

The commissioners also approved changing a tax rebate agreement with Weiss Master Manufacturing.

Voting

Actually, voters will have four choices during elections. They can vote early on a machine, use a mail-in ballot, use the computerized system at the polls or a paper ballot at the polls, said Vickie Wiederspan, chief election deputy county clerk.

http://www.fortmorgantimes.com/articles/2008/04/24/news/local_news/voting%20machines%20%204-24.txt

[EFerrari]

18. NY: It's Official! Paper BALLOTS for the State of New York!

It's Official! Paper BALLOTS for the State of New York!
Last of the DRE (Touch-Screen) Voting Machine Vendors Withdraws Attempt for Certification in the Empire State
Though There Remains Plenty About Which to Remain Vigilant...

Congrats to Bo Lipari and the NY Verified Voting crew, on a milestone in their long, and continuing fight for election integrity in the state of New York. Writes Lipari this morning:
It's now official. Liberty Election Systems has withdrawn their DRE from the New York State and has informed the State Board of Elections that they will not pursue further certification testing or fill their one current order. LibertyVote/Nedap was the only remaining vendor offering a DRE in New York. The move represents the end of an era in New York State, and could be a harbinger for what lies ahead in the rest of the nation...
...
So for the first time since HAVA passed in 2002, New York State has no DREs of any type being purchased by any county, or undergoing NYS certification testing for 2009 purchases. For the vendors who for 6 years told us “New York is a DRE state”, we tell you now as we told you then, “Wrong. New York is a paper ballot state.”

Now, of course, the fight will continue to make sure the state actually bothers to count those paper ballots when they get them, as it will be error-prone, hackable, optical-scan devices that are purchased across the state.

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5922

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3. International.

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15. Canada: Electronic tabulation machines to do tally for municipal elections

Voters in New Brunswick could know the results of municipal and school board elections on May 12 within an hour of the polls closing.
VOTE CRUNCHERS: On Wednesday, Elections New Brunswick officials tested the vote tabulation machines to be used in the May 12 municipal and school board elections.

The province will become the first in Canada to use electronic tabulation machines to count ballots for every community.

"It's difficult to come down to exact times, but instead of 12 o'clock or one or two o'clock in the morning - which is quite often the case - we expect all the results will be done within 90 minutes, and perhaps 60 minutes," said Michael Quinn, New Brunswick's chief electoral officer.

Quinn said the machines will count the ballots throughout the day as they are cast, but won't reveal the results until a returning officer inserts a key and a code after the polls close.

Dominion Voting has been contracted to provide 229 of the machines, which look like a combination printer-scanner used for a home computer.

http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/rss/article/276791

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16. New South Wales: Disabled 'deserve secret ballot'

Thursday April 24, 09:28 AM
Disabled 'deserve secret ballot'

The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission says it is time for New South Wales to introduce better voting methods for people with disabilities.

The call comes after the New South Wales Electoral Commission was found to have discriminated against a blind man, who was not able to cast a secret ballot in braille during the 2004 local government elections.

Darren Fittler asked for an application in braille four weeks before the Randwick City Council election so he could vote in secret.

But the commission failed to provide him with one.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/080423/21/16li0.html

[EFerrari]

4. OpEd.

[EFerrari]

17. We Can't Afford Even One E-Voting Morris Worm

from the catastrophic-failure dept

Over at CNet, Declan McCullagh has an interview with probably the most prominent computer scientist who supports paperless e-voting, Michael Shamos. In a wide-ranging discussion, Shamos acknowledges that e-voting isn't perfect but insists that every voting system has its flaws, and that e-voting can be made to work better than either paper ballots or touch-screen machines with paper trails (which he points out tend to jam a lot). Mike already pointed out some problems with Shamos's analysis, and you can check out Dan Wallach's post for a comprehensive rebuttal. But I found one of Shamos's comments particularly striking. He says:

Remember Robert Tappan Morris and the Internet worm? I would get worried if we start to see systematic evidence (of increasingly robust) attacks. But we've never seen any of those.

Shamos is referring to probably the most famous malware attack in the history of the Internet. In 1988, a grad student named Robert Morris created a worm that infected hundreds, if not thousands, of computers across the Internet. It was by far the most damaging Internet worm up until that time, and as a proportion of all hosts on the Internet, probably still ranks among the most successful worms in Internet history. The important point for our purposes is that nobody saw the Morris worm coming. The security vulnerabilities exploited by the Morris worm were known ahead of time, but few people other than the worm's author realized their seriousness.

Of course, once the Morris worm brought the Internet grinding to a halt for several days, everyone became acutely aware of the importance of security, and so they quickly fixed the bugs Morris had exploited. And luckily, at this point the Internet was still a relatively small, academic network, so while it cost millions of dollars of work to clean up the mess, no irreparable damage was done. But there wasn't a series of "increasingly robust" attacks leading up to the Morris worm that could have provided fair warning to Internet users of the day. The Morris Worm was a lot more sophisticated and successful than anything that had come before it. And by the same token, there's no reason to think that the bad guys will give us some advance warning by incompetently trying to steal a few city council seats before they disrupt a presidential election. If we continue to vote on insecure e-voting machines, we run the risk that our first clue that something is wrong will be when the voting machines in a key swing state "malfunction," throwing the presidential election into turmoil. I don't think we can afford to take that risk.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080421/200852907.shtml

[bleever]

20. Thursday is a great day for me

to recommend this to the Greatest Page.

:yourock: