Election Reform, Fraud and Related News. Sunday, 05/04/08

[EFerrari]

NAACP lodges call complaint
Group wants investigation of automated phone campaign

Titan Barksdale, Staff Writer
RALEIGH - The N.C. NAACP sent a complaint Saturday to the state Justice Department requesting an aggressive investigation into recent automated calls it suspects were meant to confuse voters and suppress the black vote.

A group identified as Women's Voices Women Vote has said it was behind the calls made to voters in North Carolina that provided misinformation about voter registration.

The calls told voters to expect a "voter registration packet" in the mail, though the calls were made after April 11 -- the registration deadline in North Carolina.

When voters answered the call, a man who identified himself as Lamont Williams provided the misinformation. Williams is a professional voice talent, according to information the NAACP said it received from Women's Voices.

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1060266.html



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. The Nation.

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12. Supreme Court ruling reignites debate

Supreme Court ruling reignites debate

Brown’s voter ID bill should be poised for further review next year
By Marcus Funk: [email protected]
Published: Sunday, May 4, 2008 6:14 AM CDT

A Supreme Court ruling on voter identification has re-ignited the passions of several Texas legislators, although its most direct impact focuses on Indiana.

On Monday, justices voted 6-3 in favor of the Hoosier State’s three-year-old voter identification program, considered one of the most restrictive in the nation. Pundits have spent the last week discussing the potential impact on next Tuesday’s Indiana Democratic Primary, but the long-term effects relate more to the 23 states without any kind of voter identification program.

That includes Texas, where a 2007 bill sponsored by State Rep. Betty Brown (R-Terrell) survived a close vote in the house before stalling in a contentious senate debate. Brown has promised to resurrect the bill next year.

The intent is to prevent non-U.S. citizens and illegal aliens from voting, which the Supreme Court acknowledged and Brown said would be “a step in the right direction” toward immigration reform. Her proposal requires some form of state-issued photo identification to be shown at the polls, but calls for free IDs, exceptions and special provisions for elderly or indigent voters.

http://www.terrelltribune.com/articles/2008/05/04/news/doc481ba78d02822798065718.txt

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23. House committee threatens Rove with subpoena

?hl=en

House committee threatens Rove with subpoena
By BEN EVANS – 2 days ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Judiciary Committee threatened Thursday to subpoena former White House adviser Karl Rove if he does not agree by May 12 to testify about former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman's corruption case.

In a letter to Rove's attorney, committee Democrats called it "completely unacceptable" that the Republican political strategist has rejected the panel's request for sworn testimony even as he discusses the matter publicly through the media.

"We can see no justification for his refusal to speak on the record to the committee," the letter states. "We urge you and your client to reconsider ... or we will have no choice but to consider the use of compulsory process."

Committee Democrats are investigating whether Rove and Republican appointees at the Justice Department influenced Siegelman's prosecution to kill his chances for re-election. It is part of a broader inquiry into whether U.S. attorneys were fired for not aggressively pursuing cases against Democrats.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i_LLY8gc6av_Whr8kdxbeuy5EFXwD90D3UA00

[Wilms]

31. Democracy Now: SoS Debra Bowen of California and Robin Carnahan of Missouri on Voting Issues

Secretaries of State Debra Bowen of California and Robin Carnahan of Missouri on Voting Issues in a Year of Soaring Turnout

We speak to the top election officials from two states—California Secretary of State Debra Bowen and Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan—about some of the contentious issues facing the American electorate ahead of the November presidential election. Earlier this week, the Supreme Court upheld an Indiana law requiring voters to show photo identification. Many Democrats and civil rights groups have opposed the law, saying it is a thinly veiled effort to suppress elderly, poor and minority voters, those most likely to lack proper ID and who tend to vote for Democrats.

http://i2.democracynow.org/2008/5/2/california_secretary_of_state_debra_bowen

mp3 audio begins at 38:45
http://media.switchpod.com/users/democracynow/ftp/dn2008-0502-1.mp3


Discussion:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=501886&mesg_id=501886

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2. By State.

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6. MA: Speaker, GOP seek to rid House of voting abuses

Speaker, GOP seek to rid House of voting abuses
By Matt Murphy, [email protected]
Article Last Updated: 05/03/2008 12:45:10 PM EDT

BOSTON -- House Speaker Sal DiMasi joined with Republicans last night in calling for the House to upgrade its electronic voting system to prevent future abuses.

The move was a reaction to the mini scandal brewing the past two weeks over "phantom voting," prompted by seven votes that were recorded on behalf of Rep. Charlie Murphy while he was in the Virgin Islands on business.

"There is no doubt our roll-call voting system needs to be upgraded and I am pleased the members of the House agree the integrity of our voting system must be assured," said DiMasi, referring to the 20-year-old push-button system.

Murphy, a Burlington Democrat, has denied directing anyone to vote for him while he was out of state, but the Massachusetts Republican Party has called for Attorney General Martha Coakley to investigate the breach of public trust.

http://www.lowellsun.com/ci_9142359?source=rss

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7. WV: Clerks Will Still Release Precinct Tallies

Clerks Will Still Release Precinct Tallies
State Association Wants to Protect Provisional Ballots

By CARRA HIGGINS, Staff Writer
POSTED: May 3, 2008

As votes are tallied precinct by precinct at courthouses around the area on election night, people anxiously await the results. However, the release of individual precinct results may be a cause for concern for county clerks, according to the West Virginia County Clerks Association.


A recent meeting allegedly took place with county clerks and the manufactures of the voting machines. At that meeting, manufactures told clerks that it would be best to not release the precinct results but instead release running totals throughout the night.


The County Clerks Association has, however, not taken an official stance on whether clerks should or should not release the voting results precinct by precinct, according to the association’s president Jeff Waybright.

http://www.theintermountain.com/page/content.detail/id/506711.html

Waybright, who serves as the Jackson County Clerk, explained that if there is only one provisional ballot in a precinct, the voter will be known to the candidates and general public, therefore potentially subjecting themselves to harassment and/or ridicule.

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13. KY: Error costs candidate vote -- her ow

Error costs candidate vote -- her own

Associated Press • May 4, 2008

LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- A woman running for a Tippecanoe County post missed a chance to vote for herself when she realized too late that she'd been given the wrong party's ballot.
Advertisement

Taletha Coles is seeking the Republican nomination for a county commissioner's seat against two others in Tuesday's primary. She went last week to a voting site to cast an early ballot.

Coles said she told workers she wanted to vote in the Democratic presidential race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama but also vote for Republicans in the county races.

Voters, however, may choose only one party's ballot for the primary.

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080504/NEWS02/805040554

[EFerrari]

14. Porter election board gets poll watch requests as primary approaches

Porter election board gets poll watch requests as primary approaches

May 4, 2008


By James D. Wolf Jr. Post-Tribune correspondent


VALPARAISO -- Of the 13 requests for poll watchers for Tuesday's primaries, the Porter County Board of Elections turned down a request for 10 from Hillary Clinton's campaign Saturday and approved three from Barack Obama's campaign.

Someone had phoned in a request for 10 unspecified watchers from Clinton's people, Clerk of Courts Pamela Fish said.

They did not give written application or specify people and polling sites.

The Obama campaign sent in requests for attorney Kenneth Allen to watch at the Jackson Township site at Jackson Elementary School, for attorney Hugo Martz to watch at the Westchester Precincts 2 and 3 at the Porter County Recreation and Visitor's Bureau and for attorney Cynthia Minor at Valparaiso Precincts 2 and 3 at the Valparaiso Public Library.

Porter County's denial of the Clinton campaign's poll watcher request is not a problem, Jonathan Swain, communications director of Hoosiers for Hillary said Saturday afternoon.

http://www.post-trib.com/news/930924,pcelect.article

[EFerrari]

15. NC: Elections reveal new face of race and gender

Elections reveal new face of race and gender
By Lorraine Ahearn
Staff Columnist
Sunday, May. 4, 2008 3:00 am

He voted early. And how.

Trevon Stapler is only 17, but seeing as he turns 18 by Nov. 4, the rules let him vote in the primary. So he did, for Sen. Barack Obama, in early voting at the Forsyth Board of Elections.

"A lot of people talk about it," said Stapler, who skipped school at Mount Tabor High last week to volunteer at an Obama rally. "But you don't know how many will actually go vote."

Stapler hadn't yet hit kindergarten the last time a Democrat who looked like him — Harvey Gantt, the African American former Charlotte mayor — ran a viable statewide campaign.

In 1996, Gantt was trounced by Republican Sen. Jesse Helms, the same way he lost to Helms in 1990, despite electrifying his party and attracting record turnout. He lost not in the cities, but in outlying areas, town by one-horse town from the western counties to the Big East.

http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080504/NRSTAFF/852500961

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16. AL: Siegelman given hero’s welcome by Alabama Democrats

Published Sunday, May 4, 2008
Siegelman given hero’s welcome by Alabama Democrats
Former governor attends Democratic Party’s annual dinner

By Bob Johnson
The Associated Press

MONTGOMERY | Former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman received a hero’s welcome from Alabama Democrats at the party’s annual dinner Friday night.

Siegelman was released on appeals bond from federal prison in March. He had served nine months of a more than seven-year conviction in a federal government corruption case before being ordered released on bond by an appeals court.

He has claimed that his conviction was the result of a pattern of political prosecutions of Democrats by the Justice Department.

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recognized Siegelman during her speech to the party’s annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner when she promised to reform the U.S. Justice Department.

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20080504/news/78757645&tc=yahoo

[EFerrari]

17. AL: Feds Admit Error In Siegelman Release

Feds Admit Error In Siegelman Release
Posted: May 3, 2008 05:51 PM


WASHINGTON - Federal court officials acknowledged Friday that they erred this week in classifying former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman as a special offender who required an extra layer of approval before traveling to New Orleans.

Probation officials in Alabama and Louisiana mistakenly applied rules governing offenders who are on probation. Siegelman is not on probation; he is free on bond pending appeal, said Karen Redmond, spokeswoman for the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts.

"They made an honest mistake," Redmond said. "They were giving him conditions for a special offender under probation. He's not. He's pretrial."

Siegelman, a Democrat who was convicted in 2006 on corruption charges, complained this week that he had been placed under new travel restrictions after appearing in several national media outlets and traveling to Washington to criticize his prosecution, which he claims was politically motivated.

http://www.waaytv.com/global/story.asp?s=8266910

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18. IN: Power failure hits absentee vote

Power failure hits absentee vote

May 4, 2008

BY KAREN SNELLING Post-Tribune staff writer

CROWN POINT -- Absentee voting was delayed three hours Saturday by an morning power outage at the Lake County Government Center in Crown Point.

The outage forced the county election officials to temporarily turn away hundreds of voters who started lining up at 8 a.m.

It also forced officials to move a training session for more than 700 poll workers from the building's auditorium to a cafeteria illuminated only by sunlight.

"This has never happened before," said Sally LaSota, director of the Lake County Board of Election and Voter's Registration.

http://www.post-trib.com/news/930945,lcabsentee.article

[EFerrari]

20. NC: MAKING THEIR MARK

MAKING THEIR MARK

African-Americans, young people help fuel growing number of voters
May 3, 2008 - 10:26PM
By Mike Wilder / Times-News

How hot is this year's presidential race among North Carolina voters?

Here's one indication: More than three times the number of previously unregistered North Carolinians have signed up to vote so far this year than at the same point in 2004.

The number of people ages 18 through 24 who have registered is greater than the number of people of all ages who registered during the same time in 2004.

The increase appears to be fueled by interest in the fiercely fought Democratic presidential race, which has brought rivals Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama here in the weeks leading up to the state's primary on Tuesday.

http://www.thetimesnews.com/news/voters_13164___article.html/obama_people.html

[EFerrari]

21. OH: Brunner seeks to speed up approval

Brunner seeks to speed up approval

Saturday, May 3, 2008 7:01 AM
By Mark Niquette
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner wants to eliminate a requirement that Ohio use only federally tested and approved voting systems, a move that would allow counties to buy new equipment certified only by the state as soon as the Nov. 4 election if they want.

The state would do its own testing, paid for by voting-machine vendors, using federally certified labs and new state standards that will exceed federal guidelines for accuracy, security and reliability, Brunner said.

Florida and other states are pursuing similar action, saying it is taking too long for the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to approve up-to-date federal standards and certify new voting systems with the latest technology.

But critics say Ohio should not rush into use new voting systems that haven't been federally approved and tested for problems -- especially with the Buckeye State expected to play a key role in this year's presidential election.

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/05/03/voting_machines.ART_ART_05-03-08_B1_DJA3NHT.html?type=rss&cat=&sid=101

The move would require changing a stat

[EFerrari]

3. International.

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5. India: Left Front manipulated EVMs to win Tripura polls: Congress

Left Front manipulated EVMs to win Tripura polls: Congress

Agartala, May 3 : The opposition Congress party in Tripura has accused the Left Front of winning the February assembly elections in the state by manipulating the electronic voting machines (EVMs).

"Due to the manipulated EVMs, the result of the election was not the true reflection of the peoples' mandate," Samir Ranjan Burman, president of the Tripura Pradesh Congress, said Friday.

"The state's chief electoral officer, G.S.G. Ayyangar, was the chief architect of the manipulation and the Election Commission failed to ensure a free and fair election," Burman told journalists.

The Congress has demanded an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Burman hinted that the party may file a petition in the Supreme Court.

http://www.newkerala.com/one.php?action=fullnews&id=55804

[EFerrari]

8. Italy’s elections go from bad to worse

Italy’s elections go from bad to worse
Saturday, 3 May 2008, 2:04 pm
Column: Stephanie Westbrook

As Italy’s elections go from bad to worse, Vicenza remains the silver lining

By Stephanie Westbrook

Just when it seemed things could get no worse on the Italian political landscape following the first round of elections, run-off elections this past Sunday and Monday proved the contrary. But the northern city of Vicenza, home to a vibrant citizens’ movement against a second US military base in their city, proved to be the silver lining.

Round One
In the mid-April elections that came after the collapse last January of the center-left government led by Romano Prodi, the center-right coalition led by media magnate, billionaire and staunch Bush ally Silvio Berlusconi not only beat out former Rome Mayor and leader of the newly formed Democratic Party, Walter Veltroni, but also with a very comfortable 9-point lead.

In a campaign run on fear of immigrants, aided by the all too fresh memory of the Prodi government that managed disillusion across the board, and with the benefit of his 3 television networks, Berlusconi’s newly formed coalition, Popolo della libertà, People of Freedom – comprised of his Forza Italia party and Alleanza Nazionale, which has its roots in the neo fascist party MSI – together with the Lega Nord, Northern League, gained a whopping 98 seat margin in the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house, and 42 in the Senate.

With Forza Italia and Alleanza Nazionale running under the umbrella of Popolo della Libertà, which aims to become a full fledged party this year, the numbers for individual parties are unclear. This is not the case, however, of the xenophobic Lega Nord, which chose to retain its identity and managed to double its numbers from the 2006 elections, scoring as much as 27% in Veneto and over 20% in Lombardy, and making a decisive contribution to the right’s victory.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0805/S00029.htm

[EFerrari]

9. Zimbabwe opposition mulls conditions for run-off

Zimbabwe opposition mulls conditions for run-off
04 May 2008 13:53:12 GMT
Source: Reuters
By MacDonald Dzirutwe

HARARE, May 4 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's main opposition party is discussing possible conditions for its leader Morgan Tsvangirai to contest a run-off election against President Robert Mugabe, a senior MDC official said on Sunday.

The Movement for Democratic Change has not yet decided whether to contest the second round, rejecting official results of the March 29 election showing the former union leader won with less than the outright majority he needed to defeat Mugabe.

But if Tsvangirai does not stand, it would automatically hand victory to Mugabe, accused by opponents of ruining Zimbabwe's once prosperous economy during his 28 years in power.

The MDC official said party leaders were hammering out conditions they would demand for Tsvangirai's participation in a second round -- including a strong international observer mission and the speedy release of results.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L04403453.htm

[EFerrari]

10. Bolivian state begins key, and defiant, autonomy vote

Bolivian state begins key, and defiant, autonomy vote
By DAN KEANE, Associated Press Writer

SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia - Indigenous socialism clashed with global capitalism on Sunday as residents of this self-reliant flatland state voted on an autonomy referendum whose likely passage is seen as a rebuke to the country's leftist president.
ADVERTISEMENT

Minor scuffles were reported in the outskirts of Santa Cruz's namesake capital shortly after the polls opened. Pro-autonomy groups battled backers of President Evo Morales, who were trying to halt the vote with sticks and rocks. Scattered injuries were reported.

"We won't let them stop this vote, because there are so many of us that want to be free," said 26-year-old autonomy supporter Ivan Morales, brandishing a tree branch in front of a cardboard voting booth after a brief street fight in Plan 3000, a poor pro-government neighborhood.

Evo Morales, Bolivia's first Indian president, has seen his vision of a communal state ruled by traditional Andean values face fierce opposition in the eastern lowlands, where freewheeling global capitalism rules.

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4. OpEd.

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11. Friedman: Who will tell the people?

Who will tell the people?
By Thomas L. Friedman
Published: May 4, 2008

Traveling the United States these past five months while writing a book, I've had my own opportunity to take the pulse, far from the campaign crowds. My own totally unscientific polling has left me feeling that if there is one overwhelming hunger in our country today it's this: People want to do nation-building. They really do. But they want to do nation-building in America.

They are not only tired of nation-building in Iraq and in Afghanistan, with so little to show for it. They sense something deeper - that we're just not that strong anymore. We're borrowing money to shore up our banks from city-states called Dubai and Singapore. Our generals regularly tell us that Iran is subverting our efforts in Iraq, but they do nothing about it because we have no leverage - as long as our forces are pinned down in Baghdad and our economy is pinned to Middle East oil.

Our president's latest energy initiative was to go to Saudi Arabia and beg King Abdullah to give us a little relief on gasoline prices. I guess there was some justice in that. When you, the president, after Sept. 11, tell the country to go shopping instead of buckling down to break our addiction to oil, it ends with you, the president, shopping the world for discount gasoline.

We are not as powerful as we used to be because over the past three decades, the Asian values of our parents' generation - work hard, study, save, invest, live within your means - have given way to subprime values: "You can have the American dream - a house - with no money down and no payments for two years."

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/04/opinion/edfriedman.php

[EFerrari]

19. Don't trivialize voting; do study lack of dads

Don't trivialize voting; do study lack of dads
By Chris Powell
Published: Saturday, May 3, 2008 11:52 AM EDT

What’s the right balance between encouraging participation in elections and protecting the integrity of individual votes? The U.S. Supreme Court determined the other day that the right balance may require voters to produce photographic identification cards such as Indiana has been requiring.

While Democrats in that state and around the country charge that such an ID card requirement imposes too much inconvenience on the poor, the elderly, and minorities, this complaint seems more partisan than genuine, rooted in the belief that people without proper documentation will vote more Democratic than Republican, a belief Republicans seem to share, as Republicans provide most of the support around the country for greater verification of voting credentials.


But the Republicans have the better case on the merits.

For obtaining the photo identification needed for voting is hardly more difficult than registering to vote itself. Indiana and other states with photo ID card requirements happily provide such cards to people who don’t have other adequate documentation, like driver’s licenses and passports. There probably should be a little ceremony in voter registration anyway, since it ordinarily involves the taking of an oath, the oath to uphold the responsibilities of citizenship when one is called to vote. Such ceremony can be a bit instructional and is a small price for preventing people from walking into a polling place and misrepresenting themselves.

http://www.journalinquirer.com/articles/2008/05/04/chris_powell/doc481b22aa922c7641125195.txt

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22. Voting Rights Are Too Important to Leave to the States

May 2, 2008

Editorial Observer
Voting Rights Are Too Important to Leave to the States

By ADAM COHEN

It would be hard for Florida to surpass its disastrous performance in the 2000 election, but give the Sunshine State credit for trying. Its latest assault on democracy: a law threatening volunteer groups with crippling fines if they make small mistakes in registering voters. The law seems clearly aimed at keeping new voters — especially minorities and the poor — off the rolls. And it is working.

The League of Women Voters, which has registered Florida voters since 1939, has called off its registration drive this year.Florida is not the only state trying to stop eligible people from voting.

Georgia passed a law in 2005 that made voters pay for their voter ID cards — a modern poll tax. The fee was eventually removed, but the law could still block as many as 300,000 registered voters without the right ID from casting ballots.

In 2004, Ohio ordered counties to throw out voter registration forms that were not on thick enough paper.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_adam_coh_080502_perhaps_the_most_imp.htm

[EFerrari]

24. The 50 most influential US political pundits (Telegraph)

The 50 most influential US political pundits
By Toby Harnden, US Editor

With just over six months before United States citizens choose their 44th president, the 2008 election is already proving to be the most fascinating and potentially one of the closest contests in living memory.
US most influential pundits

Among those who will help Americans decide are the ubiquitous political pundits who help drive the national conversation and shape public opinion.

With the internet revolution and the growing popularity of cable television, the multitude of voices can seem be bewildering and, occasionally, deafening.

The Telegraph today unveils its list of the 50 most influential political pundits to help readers sort through whose opinions matter. These are the people who make voters sit up and take notice. They are the ones who political candidates and campaigns are constantly seeking to woo and influence. They include television presenters, newspaper columnists, bloggers and talking heads.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/1904702/The-50-most-influential-US-political-pundits.html

[kster]

25. K&R.nt

[tiptoe]

26. K & R!

Simple MATH and Graphs: What Obama needs to Clinch

[flashl]

27. K&R

[livvy]

28. KnR and a sheepish apology for no thread yesterday.

Just one of those days. I will make amends next Saturday.

[EFerrari]

30. Everybody has those days. It's a slow weekend (knock on formica)

so, no harm or foul. :hi:

[tbyg52]

29. K,R,&thanks! nt

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

32. Robo caller that targeted African Americans in NC faces HEFTY fines

Fines Could Exceed $1 Billion for NC Robocalls

May 4, 2008 at 6:04 AM by David

Women’s Voices, Women Votes (WVWV), a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit organization, may be subject to more than $929 million in fines for generating tens of thousands of robocalls to North Carolina voters last week. According to the state’s Attorney General’s office, WVWV may have violated the state’s telephone solicitation laws.

In addition to the $929 million in fines the state may levy on the non-profit, WVWV may also be liable for paying recovery fines to residents of N.C. that may, depending on the actual number of voters called, range anywhere from $91.1 million to $911.2 million. If the maximum amounts are levied (criminal and civil) on the non-profit, WVWV would face fines and penalties totaling a staggering $1.841 billion. It should also be noted the penalties discussed here are for violating the telephone solicitation laws only. Any alleged voter suppression matters are separate and not covered in this post. I felt that $1.841 billion was enough for at least today.

Chris Kromm of The Institute for Southern Studies (Facing South) published an investigative report last Wednesday that resulted in a firestorm on the Internet, and widespread concerns throughout the country and in the N.C. Attorney General’s office.
Kromm’s report strongly implied that robocalls made by WVWV and its affiliates were targeting African Americans with an objective to suppress votes.

…more at the link

edited to repair link.