Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, Monday 06/16/08

[tbyg52]

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, Monday 06/16/08

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[tbyg52]

1. States nt

[tbyg52]

8. UT: Prosecutor quits vote-fraud case

The prosecutor in the Daggett County voter-fraud scandal is quitting the case.

County Attorney Bryan Sidwell removed himself before 20 of 51 defendants could be arraigned.

Sidwell refused to say why he was dumping the case.

Now the Utah attorney general's office will have to step in or appoint a special prosecutor.

The voters are accused of illegally registering in Daggett County even though they don't live or maintain a primary residence there.

More:
http://www.localnews8.com/Global/story.asp?S=8494343&nav=menu554_2_3

[tbyg52]

12. AR: Fight over disputed runoff not over

Moments after his colleagues voted to keep him in the Senate despite a election they called rife with fraud, Jack Crumbly said he believed the two-year battle over his victory was finally over.

"I'd like to ask for unity now, regardless of how people voted," the Democratic senator from Widener said.

Attaining that unity in his district or in the Senate chamber will not be easy.

A low-profile freshman senator who was more known for the legal battles over his victory in a 2006 Democratic runoff than any piece of legislation he backed, Crumbly now faces the task of trying to be seen as relevant in a chamber that rendered a virtually unanimous decision that his election was flawed.

More:
http://www.thecabin.net/stories/061608/opi_0616080016.shtml

[tbyg52]

13. NV: POLITICAL NOTEBOOK: Voter registration gap shrinks

The gap between Republicans and Democrats in statewide voter registration narrowed in the most recent report from the secretary of state's office, mostly because of a technicality.

Democrats say it shouldn't be seen as a sign their stupendous registration pace is slackening, but Republicans say it may be a sign they're starting to gain ground. Both parties say the next report will prove them right.

In the report posted last week of active registered voters as of the end of May, Democrats counted 437,543 voters, Republicans 387,523, for a difference of 50,200 more Democrats than Republicans.

That was down 753 from the end of April, when there were 449,002 registered Democrats and 398,229 registered Republicans, a gap of 50,773 more Democrats than Republicans.

More:
http://www.lvrj.com/news/19968144.html

[tbyg52]

15. AR: Just How Bad Can Software Screw Up An Election?

What just occurred during our recent primary election in Faulkner County, Arkansas involving two candidates running for a District 45 House of Representative race should disturb everyone who cares about their right to vote and Liberty. It seems that it's not about just your vote being cast, counted or recounted accurately. It's about your vote being cast in races you didn't plan for it to go into on electronic voting machines. So much for the intent of the voter and casting your vote for the candidate of your choice.


The reason? Software, well one of them anyway. Ineptitude another? Terry Fiddler ran against Linda Tyler for a position in the AR House of Representatives in the recent primary election. Fiddler was declared the winner, rejoiced overnight, then was declared the loser in yet another upset on Arkansas touch screen voting machines and their software. To compound this debacle, the election commissioner resigned after the recount. Faulkner County is election commissioner-less and facing a presidential election in November. Talk about left in a lurch.

Please keep in mind the story has changed, but I'll give it the old college try regarding the explanation:

The former election commissioner stated in several interviews that the night before the election the county clerk noticed that the District 45 House race was not programmed on the personal electronic ballot (PEB) in the E. Cadron B precinct and that they printed paper ballots for that race only and allowed voters to vote on the touch screens for all other races. Voters were issued paper ballots for the House race in this one precinct.

More:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Just-How-Bad-Can-You-Screw-by-Lisa-Burks-080615-458.html

[tbyg52]

16. OH: Ohio prepares for long ballots, long lines

With many Ohio elections officials still haunted by the memory of long lines at the polls in the 2004 presidential election, they are watching the lengthening list of possible state and local issues for the Nov. 4 ballot with growing trepidation.

A long list of issues not only would increase the time it takes voters to cast a ballot when a record turnout is expected, it means higher costs for counties to print and mail absentee ballots, too.

"I think everybody's thinking about it," said Shannon Leininger, president of the Ohio Association of Election Officials.

In addition to the presidential race and other candidates on the Nov. 4 ballot, seven statewide issues are being proposed -- although only three have been approved so far and at least one appears to be a long shot.

More:
http://dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/06/16/long_ballot.ART_ART_06-16-08_A1_I2AGJ4O.html?sid=101

[tbyg52]

18. OH: Brunner discusses election, staying nonpartisan

Editor's note: Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat serving her first term in office, sat down last week with News-Herald Staff Writer John Arthur Hutchison to discuss election-related issues while she was in Painesville visiting the Lake County Elections Board. In today's edition is the second half of the interview.

The News-Herald: What are your expectations for statewide issues on the November ballot? How many do you think might get on there?

Brunner: That's a good question.
There are some new things being filed right now, where they have to go through the initial stages and have the language checked by the Attorney General and get 1,000 signatures and we check those and go forward from there.
We know for sure the issue about deadlines for actual initiative and referendum petitioning and we could have the Healthy Family Act, which is the mandatory sick leave act. We could have a referendum on payday lending. We could have a casino statewide ballot issue and then there was some language that was relating specifically to labor organizations and their ability to participate in elections through political contributions, that's at least some initial language that has been submitted.
The legislature has changed a lot of the requirements for statewide initiative and referendum petitioning, making it much more difficult for citizen initiative legislation or constitutional amendments to occur, so oftentimes these efforts start but they don't come to fruition because the legislature has made the requirements much more difficult than before.

More:
http://www.news-herald.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19776066&BRD=1698&PAG=461&dept_id=21849&rfi=6

[tbyg52]

19. MI: State ballot proposal seeks broad reform

A potential ballot proposal for the November election is rattling some of Michigan's political establishment, especially the Republican side.

The number of state lawmakers would be reduced, along with pay and benefits under the proposal by Reform Michigan Government Now. The way boundaries are drawn for legislative districts would change. Two state Supreme Court justice positions would be eliminated. Proposal organizers, who aren't required to file a campaign finance report until later this summer, haven't said who's paying their bills or how much money they've raised.

The campaign is running short on time. Supporters must turn in more than 380,000 valid voter signatures by July 7 to qualify for the ballot. They'd also need state election officials to approve the form of their petitions.

More:
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080616/POLITICS/806160391/1022/POLITICS

[tbyg52]

21. CT: Newspaper: more votes cast than voters in Bridgeport primary

In Bridgeport's contentious Democratic mayoral primary last year, 105 more votes were cast than there were voters who checked in at polling places, according to an examination by the Connecticut Post of ballots cast.

Bill Finch, then a state senator, defeated state Rep. Christopher Caruso by 270 votes of about 9,000 cast to win the party nomination. He was elected in November.

Caruso quickly appealed his Sept. 11 primary loss in Superior Court, claiming that numerous election laws were violated. The judge dismissed his case and he was rebuffed in an appeal to the state Supreme Court.

Following the newspaper's ballot count, which it reported Sunday, Caruso told the Connecticut Post he believes ballots were passed illegally through voting machines to increase his opponent's vote.

More:
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/connecticut/ny-bc-ct--bridgeportprimary0616jun16,0,2944705.story

[tbyg52]

34. MO: Take Time to be a Poll Worker Because This Year It's Your Turn

Before we know it, summer will start changing into fall and Missourians will start to focus more on the choices to be made in this year's elections. Missourians turned out in record numbers to participate in the February Presidential Primary, and I expect to see another record turnout in this year's General Election.

In 2006, my office launched Missouri's first statewide poll worker recruitment program that has signed up nearly 2,500 potential poll workers to help on Election Day. It's Your Turn. Be a Poll Worker is an ongoing partnership between my office and Missouri businesses, universities and civic and labor organizations. The program encourages voters from across the state to serve as poll workers.

More:
http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/28913/

[tbyg52]

2. National nt

[tbyg52]

7. Voting commission plagued by problems, limited funds

It was not an auspicious beginning. The year was 2004 and the newest federal agency had no desks, no computers, and no office to put them in. It had neither an address nor a phone number. Early meetings convened in a Starbucks near a Metro stop in downtown Washington.

Somehow, Congress had neglected to fund the Election Assistance Commission, a small group with a massive task: coordinating one of the most sweeping voter reform packages in decades.

"It sounds incredible, but it's true," said Paul DeGregorio, a Republican from Missouri and former commission chairman. "All we wanted to do was hit the ground running."

But from the beginning, the commission stumbled. Now, long after Congress passed the Help America Vote Act — designed to prevent a repeat of the Florida recount fiasco of 2000 — the four-member, bipartisan commission still struggles under its heavy workload and accusations of playing politics, foot-dragging and whitewashing reports that could appear detrimental to Republican interests.

More:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jgOXndrnNmSMN92M0Uh15YPkZ99wD91AQN900

[tbyg52]

9. Investigation Advances For U.S. Attorneys Scandal

Justice Department lawyers have filed a grand-jury referral stemming from the 2006 U.S. attorneys scandal, according to people familiar with the probe, a move indicating that the yearlong investigation may be entering a new phase.

The grand-jury referral, the first time the probe has moved beyond the investigative phase, relates to allegations of political meddling in the Justice Department's civil-rights division, these people say. Specifically, it focuses on possible perjury by Bradley Schlozman, who served a year as interim U.S. attorney in Kansas City, Mo.

Mr. Schlozman left the Justice Department last year after he was challenged over his hiring of conservative lawyers at the civil-rights division and his decision later as U.S. attorney to bring voter-fraud charges against members of a left-leaning voter-registration group days before the 2006 election.

Mr. Schlozman declined to comment.

More:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121358634983076541.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

[tbyg52]

20. Voter Registration Drives Heat Up

Although the official start of summer is still a few days away, street fairs are in full swing in New York City. This year, Obama voter registration tables have been added to the mix of food vendors, schlock merchants, and "I hated Bush before it was cool" T-shirts.

As previously reported, the good times are not rolling in Louisiana where nearly a third of the 70,000 voter registration applications submitted by Voting Is Power were "fake, incomplete or duplicates." Secretary of State Jay Dardenne has launched an investigation:

We want to safeguard the integrity of the process by making sure any group seeking to register Louisiana voters provide specific information and it's not bogging down registrars offices with work premised on false information. ...

Meanwhile, VIP, which reportedly was hired by "national Democrats," has already left the state. BTW, it is disturbing that Democrats would entrust such a critical responsibility to a group that apparently does not have a website or Google juice.

As voter registration drives pick up steam in Georgia, Florida and other states, a lot of folks may get steamed when they show up to vote in November.

More:
http://www.blackvoices.com/blogs/2008/06/16/voter-registration-drives-heat-up/

[tbyg52]

24. Voter registration problems are already starting

How big is the registration drive among blacks? Among young people? When applications aren’t filled out properly, do officials tell people—or do they just put those applications aside, setting up major Election Day problems? These are stories everywhere; news organizations can be working on them now.

Q. How is voter registration going in your area? How many new voters have been registered until now? What kind of problems have there been?

Q. Is there a voter registration deadline? What is it?

Q. Are extra staff needed, and are any being hired, to help register new people?

Q. What’s the breakdown among those newly registered—how many Democrats, Republicans and independents?

Q. How did colleges in your area handle registration, and what are their plans for the fall?

Q. Are officials taking steps now to avoid problems on Election Day, or—perish the thought—are they hoping to create Election Day problems?

More:
http://niemanwatchdog.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=ask_this.view&askthisid=00346

[UncountedMary]

49. Election Day Problems Already Being Set Up

Last week’s article in the NY Times, Democrats’ Vote Drive in Louisiana Stirs Concern, raised a red flag, but not because of the actual topic of the article - that a Democratic sponsored voter registration drive “has raised complaints from registrars about large numbers of duplicate, invalid or incomplete applications, and has led to an investigation by the Louisiana secretary of state, Jay Dardenne, a Republican.” No, the red flag is in the subtext, a.k.a. the third paragraph:

"Election officials have expressed concern that large numbers of people who believe they are registered will show up at the polls in November, only to find that they cannot vote because their application had been improperly submitted."

And so the stage has been set for another game of “blame the voter.” It’s easy to play - just open your eyes real wide, shrug you shoulders and say, “So many of you weren’t listed on the registry of active voters because you didn’t fill our your applications properly.

Read more:
http://uncountedthemovie.com/blog/2008/06/16/setting-us-up/

[tbyg52]

26. Key US states to watch

As the two main candidates for the US presidency - John McCain and Barack Obama - kick off their campaigns in earnest, pollster John Zogby takes a look at the key battlegrounds.

As in the previous two presidential elections, there are about a dozen states that could swing in 2008.

For the time being, the general election between Barack Obama and John McCain looks to be very close, although there is the potential for a last-minute landslide similar to the pattern that emerged in 1980 when Ronald Reagan pulled away from a tie to wallop Jimmy Carter.

One of the many things that makes this election so intriguing is that perhaps the old paradigm of Red States (those that voted for George W Bush) and Blue States (Al Gore or John Kerry states) may be less relevant.

Indeed, some states that were comfortably in one column or the other now seem to be in transition demographically and politically.

Let's take a look...

More:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7449629.stm

[tbyg52]

27. Mapping the ‘08 Battlegrounds

Politics is a business with sometimes bizarre rules. But like any enterprise, there are benchmarks that let managers know if they are going to reach their goals.

That being the case, here is an early guide to evaluating progress toward the presidency - that is, winning the needed 270 votes in the Electoral College - for Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain.

There is one unusual aspect of this business that no company, whether it sells computer chips or potato chips, has to deal with: Every aspect of the presidential campaign is zero-sum, and winner takes-all.

In presidential politics, second place is worthless. In the world of money, a Chevron can do quite well even though Exxon Mobil Corp. may be the top dog in the energy industry.

More:
http://blogs.wsj.com/politicalperceptions/2008/06/15/mapping-the-08-battlegrounds/?mod=googlenews_wsj

[tbyg52]

32. Sen. Bill Nelson looks to end Electoral College

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Florida, has introduced an election reform package that calls for abolishing the Electoral College and setting up regional, rotating presidential primaries.

"Let's come back to the essential fundamental principle, which is one person, one vote," Nelson said in his downtown Tampa office Friday. "A democracy like ours will work if you honor that."

The 2000 election, when George Bush won the presidency with the required electoral votes even though Al Gore won the popular vote, and the chaos of the 2008 presidential primaries underscored the need for reform, he said.

More:
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/jun/16/sen-bill-nelson-looks-end-electoral-college/

[tbyg52]

36. Court says campaign finance rules too weak

A federal appeals court on Friday invalidated campaign finance rules that give wealthy donors broad latitude in underwriting expensive political ads.

Limits on coordinated campaign spending apply too narrowly to time frames just before elections and should be toughened, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said in the decision.

Judge David Tatel said in the ruling that interest groups often engage in early advertising, in some cases more than a year before an election.

The restrictions the Federal Election Commission imposed apply only to spending within 90 days of a congressional election and 120 days before a presidential primary.

More:
http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080613/APP/806130951&template=apart

[tbyg52]

38. Time to Fix the Electoral Process, Panelists Say

It's probably not a big surprise, but there was a good deal of consensus at the American Constitution Society that the electoral system in the United States is a flat-out mess.

Agreeing on how to fix the problems is another matter.

In a Saturday discussion titled "Picking the President: Parties, Primaries, and the Democratic Process," panelists discussed the numerous hiccups that arose during the 2008 primary season and paid particular attention to the Democratic nominating process.

Panelists included Chris Bowers, co-founder of the OpenLeft Web site; Jan Baran, a partner at Wiley Rein; Hendrik Hertzberg, a former Jimmy Carter speechwriter and senior editor and staff writer at The New Yorker; Stanford Law Professor Pamela Karlan; Ronald Klain, vice president and general counsel at Revolution LLC and former chief of staff for former Vice President Al Gore; Joe Trippi, chief executive officer and long-time Democratic presidential campaign adviser. Melody Barnes, executive vice president for policy at the Center for American Progress, moderated the discussion.

More:
http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2008/06/time-to-fix-the.html

[tbyg52]

39. Voting System Standards: All Form and No Substance

I have been a long time critic of the 2002 Voting System Standards (2002 VSS) and of the 2005 Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (2005 VVSG). In fact, both sets of standards are virtually worthless. There are two reasons for this. First, the requirements enumerated in the standards are, in and of themselves, much too weak for something as vital as administering an election. Second, both sets of standards have an explicit loophole that allows almost all the requirements — weak as they are — to be ignored. This second objection was first brought to my attention two years ago by Howard Stanislevic.

We now have proof that this loophole is used by the labs in order to “pass” systems that don’t meet the standards. In the most recent certification test report submitted to the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), SysTest labs (one of the labs accredited by the EAC and the NIST) recommended certification for a voting system. SysTest recommended the system certification even though their findings showed 79 specific failures to meet the standards.

More:
http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2886&Itemid=26

[tbyg52]

3. Foreign nt

[tbyg52]

10. Macedonia Sees Re-run of Voting in Volatile Regions

The former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia is holding a re-run of voting in dozens of ethnic-Albanian areas where the June 1 election was marred by fraud, intimidation and violence that killed at least one person. Stefan Bos reports for VOA from Budapest that the European Union is closely monitoring the ballot after warning that more violence could delay Macedonia's bid for membership of the organization.

Amid tight security, about 10 percent of Macedonia's population of two million people could vote again Sunday. Most voting took place in mainly ethnic Albanian areas where two rival parties are vying for control across the north and west of the country.

More:
http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-06-15-voa25.cfm

[tbyg52]

11. Thousands protest at Thai Election Commission

About 4,000 anti-government protesters marched Monday to Thailand's Election Commission to protest at what they claimed was a bias towards ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, police said.

Members of the so-called People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) marched past the capital's busy shopping district before demonstrating for two hours outside the EC offices, a senior Bangkok police officer told AFP.

PAD leaders, whose protests in early 2006 preceded a coup later that year, claim the EC favoured the Thaksin-backed People Power Party which won elections in December last year, marking a return to democracy in Thailand.

"The PAD thinks that the current political crisis was caused by some members of the EC who worked with bias to protect the Thaksin system," the group said in a statement.

More:
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gbHF2CDy5G37QQhgI7mxIvPY3L0g

[tbyg52]

14. India: District court accepts plea on bogus voting in PCB election

The District and Sessions Court on Thursday accepted the election petition about bogus voting during the Cantonment election, which had been filed by Pune Cantonment's defeated Congress candidate Meher Irani, and directed the respondents to file their reply by June 27.

Last week, Irani's lawyers had filed an election petition in the court alleging that the election of Meher's rival candidate Shailendra Bidkar was the 'outcome of illegalities, malpractice and fraud'.

Additional District and Sessions Judge B D Kapadnis accepted the petition and set the next date for hearing on June 27, ordering the nine respondents to be present.

More:
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/District-court-accepts-plea-on-bogus-voting-in-PCB-election/323384/

[tbyg52]

25. Brazil disqualifies 1.8 million registered voters on eligibility suspicion

Brazil's Superior Electoral Court has temporarily suspended the voting rights of 1,866,020 registered voters in 24 states on suspicion that not all the registered voters are eligible, local media reported Friday.

The disqualification came under a court decision adopted in September 2007 as it found that the total number of voters registered exceeded 80 percent of local population. The big numberled the court to review their qualifications.

In July, following investigations on the data base, the electoral court will release the lists of eligible voters for the municipal elections slated for October.

More:
http://mathaba.net/news/?x=595352

[tbyg52]

35. Bangladesh: 'Now how to get my voter ID card, Sir?’

Voter ID cards ready for distribution at DCC ward 50. Photo: STAR
Many people in the city are yet to get their voter ID cards and in a fix since they do not know from where to collect those.

Who missed the date of collecting the ID cards are in trouble. There is a lack of adequate publicity on the part of the authorities to let people know from where they will have to collect the cards.

“Around three months ago my entire family and I went to take pictures for voter ID cards. We all were very enthusiastic. But till now we have not get the cards,” said Nazli, a resident of Mirpur.

“After the voter listing work was over, we got a notice that anyone can go to the centre to correct mistakes in their forms. But after that we did not get any further notice,” she said.

More:
http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=41293

[tbyg52]

37. Future of Zimbabwe hangs in the balance

A nation once again holds its breath. As next week's runoff election approaches, the future of Zimbabwe hangs in the balance. A victory by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai means renewed hope for a country torn apart by decades of corruption. Another stolen election by President Robert Mugabe can only lead to more instability and violence.

Most world leaders recognize these stakes and calls for a peaceful transfer of power continually grow louder, only to fall on deaf ears in Harare. But ironically -- and unfortunately for Zimbabwe's 12 million people -- the one man who might be able to convince Mugabe to step down, South African President Thabo Mbeki, is also the only man unwilling to speak up.

Mbeki's allegiance to Mugabe is unwavering, despite the Zimbabwe leader's transformation from liberator to dictator. Their friendship dates back to the 1980s, when a young Mbeki was tasked with improving relations between the African National Congress and Mugabe's ZANU-PF party.

Since then, Mbeki has grown to admire Mugabe, even as he systematically destroyed Zimbabwe's economy, instilled fear in his citizens, attacked his opponents and alienated himself from the international community.

More:
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/editorial/story.html?id=965421b3-cedd-4f0f-aa94-303b95c595a3

[tbyg52]

4. Blogs, Editorials, LTTEs, etc. nt

[tbyg52]

17. BradBlog: Still Going, Please Help Us Continue...

I think we've kept our oft-made promise so far to bring you coverage of the 2008 Election that you will find nowhere else.

From the first Primary mess out of the box in NH; to Rep. Heather Wilson's vote-buying scandal in NM (she lost her bid for the Senate nomination, btw, poor dear); to thousands of "Double Bubble" ballots left uncounted on Super Tuesday in Los Angeles; to miscounted votes on Sequoia machines in NJ and the dope the company tried to put in charge of the "investigation"; to being called to testify to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission on their utter failures of federal oversight; to the federal fraud suit filed against Hart InterCivic; to their attempted takeover of Sequoia and our exclusive findings that the company doesn't even control its own software or intellectual property and their CEO has been busy lying about it; to nuns, students, vets, the elderly being disenfranchised altogether by the Supreme Court upholding unconstitutional Photo ID restrictions; to multiple races flipped by e-voting machines in Arkansas; to the continuing saga of voter fraud felon Ann Coulter and Fox "News'" attempts to ignore it; up to my very own e-votes getting flipped in L.A. the week before last; and so much more in between.

All that, just since the first few days of January this year.

We promised to keep an eye on the track conditions, even as everyone else was obsessed with the horse race, and so far, I think we've delivered.

If you are able to express your support with an online donation, it would be as appreciated as it is needed.

More:
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6077

[tbyg52]

28. Instant voting beats a runoff

snip

You'd think we would have learned this lesson in 2004, when the runoff race for the Democratic nominee for superintendent of public instruction cost taxpayers $3.5 million even though less than 3 percent of North Carolina voters went to the polls.

There is a better way. It's called instant runoff voting.

Last year two successful tests of this simple but effective voting method were conducted in the state. Pilot-program elections, for town council seats in Cary and Hendersonville, proved that we're ready to eliminate costly, low-turnout runoffs by using instant runoff voting for statewide primaries and for local elections where three of more candidates are running for one seat. Recently the N.C. League of Women Voters unanimously voted to endorse instant runoff voting.

More:
http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/columns/story/1109531.html

[tbyg52]

29. Voting by mail: Better safeguards needed

How easy should it be to vote?

"Pretty darn easy" is the commonly accepted answer. After all, voting is what we're all about in this country. The idea isn't to disenfranchise people who are legally qualified to vote - the idea is to be as inclusive as possible.

But how easy is too easy?

That's a question of particular concern in Atlantic County, where the apparent manipulation of absentee ballots and messenger ballots (absentee ballots delivered by hand by someone other than the voter) has become a routine election tactic, particularly by the political organization associated with former Atlantic City Council President Craig Callaway, who is currently incarcerated.

As state Sen. Jim Whelan, D-Atlantic, noted last week, Atlantic City has seen "some absolutely amazing election results with messenger ballots where you might have a complicated school-board election with nine candidates, two ballot questions and a budget, and one messenger brings in 300 ballots, and they all vote miraculously for the same three of nine people (and) yes on this question, no on that question."

More:
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/146/story/183892.html

[UncountedMary]

41. We're Being Set Up. Again.

Last week's article in the NY Times, Democrats’ Vote Drive in Louisiana Stirs Concern, raised a red flag, but not because of the actual topic of the article - that a Democratic sponsored voter registration drive "has raised complaints from registrars about large numbers of duplicate, invalid or incomplete applications, and has led to an investigation by the Louisiana secretary of state, Jay Dardenne, a Republican." No, the red flag is in the subtext, a.k.a. the third paragraph:

Election officials have expressed concern that large numbers of people who believe they are registered will show up at the polls in November, only to find that they cannot vote because their application had been improperly submitted.

And so the stage has been set for another game of "blame the voter." It's easy to play - just open your eyes real wide, shrug you shoulders and say, "So many of you weren't listed on the registry of active voters because you didn't fill our your applications properly.

What's worse is that the Times plays along:

Much of the enthusiasm, and some of the chaos, may be repeated in the months to come in other states where Democrats and liberal groups are planning similar drives in an effort to change the demographics of the electorate.

"Chaos?" It's four months until the election, what "chaos?" The chaos of an election commission doing their job to make sure people who want to vote can? Or is this prediction of "chaos" a way to get us to accept manufactured chaos and the desired result - widespread disenfranchisement?

Registering voters is not an easy job and yes, mistakes do occur. But to label these initiatives and any subsequent mistakes as "the Dems’ phony registration drive," which the Louisiana Republican Party chairman did, is to once again set up these massive registration movements as failures.

And that is by design.

It's also no coincidence that, according to the Times article, "the biggest complaints about the drive have come from Republican registrars in Caddo Parish, which includes Shreveport; East Baton Rouge Parish, which includes Baton Rouge; and Jefferson Parish, just outside New Orleans."

The registrar in Jefferson, Dennis A. DiMarco, said that about 35 percent of the 4,000 cards his office had sorted were invalid because they had no address, the applicant was already registered or was a felon, or the signature did not match one on file at the Department of Motor Vehicles.

The signature did not match one on file? And who is overseeing the very subjective process of matching these signatures?

This reminds me of the 2004 election when the TV talking heads shrugged their shoulders and accepted Karl Rove's assertion that, well, I guess the young people just didn't turn out to vote for John Kerry after all. Problem was, they did turn out - about 4.6 million more of them. In 2000, about 42.3 percent of citizens ages 18 to 29 voted. In 2000, it was 51 percent. (Read more about the amazing power and potential of the youth vote at The Nation.)

The lesson here is, do not let the results of the 2008 election be defined by lies, manipulation, and obfuscation.

[tbyg52]

44. The Endless FEC Fight

The prolonged Senate standoff that has kept the Federal Election Commission dysfunctional since January may finally be drawing to a close. But for the five nominees poised to step in as FEC commissioners, the battle is just beginning.

A Senate vote to approve pending FEC nominees may come as early as this week. That would restore the agency to its full complement of six commissioners and allow it to reopen for business. The agency has been limping along with only two commissioners, too few for a quorum, since the beginning of this year, due to a bitter Senate dispute over who should run the FEC.

In the meantime, election law complaints, advisory opinion requests and legal disputes have been stacking up, creating a massive agency backlog for incoming commissioners. Digging out from under this backlog will pose a huge challenge for the reconstituted FEC, experts say. The agency must also settle several pressing, high-profile questions involving the 2008 presidential campaign.

More:
http://www.nationaljournal.com/njonline/rg_20080616_9574.php

[tbyg52]

5. Campaign Finance nt

[tbyg52]

33. NJ: Let people vote on Clean Elections?

Bill Schluter wants the Legislature to let the people of New Jersey vote this fall on whether to launch a full-scale Clean Elections program next year that would offer public funds to qualifying candidates for state office if they turn down large private contributions and cap their campaign spending.

The former Republican state senator and independent candidate for governor says it's time to stop inching toward the goal with experimental efforts every two years, as the state has been doing.

More:
http://www.nj.com/news/times/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1213589124278590.xml&coll=5

[tbyg52]

43. N.Y. campaign finance reform pushed

A trio of good-government groups is calling for real, comprehensive reform to the state's campaign finance laws.

In a recent press conference, Barbara Bartoletti, legislative director for the League of Women Voters of New York State, said that two bills recently proposed by Gov. David A. Paterson and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, are meaningless.

"These are 'cover your butt' measures," Ms. Bartoletti said. "They would be serious proposals had they been raised in January. But there's been none of what passes for negotiation in Albany. They have no chance of passage."

Thus, she said, the League decided to make public its proposal to highlight the need for major reform in how the political campaigns in New York are funded. Other groups supporting the League's stance are the New York Public Interest Research Group and Common Cause.

More:
http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20080616/NEWS01/70631927

[tbyg52]

6. The Youth Vote nt

[tbyg52]

22. Young Voters, Engaged and Online

Whoever wins the White House come November, this much is true: Web-savvy young voters will have been a crucial voting bloc.

The 2008 primary campaign, and especially the protracted and historic Democratic battle, buried the tired old adage that young people don't vote. Turnout among voters under 30 has increased since the 2004 election, and young voters now, by large margins, lean Democratic (as books such as "Youth to Power" convincingly argue). Two recent studies by non-partisan organizations -- by CIRCLE (The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement), released Friday, and by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, released today -- outline the growing trend.

Some 6.5 million voters under 30 voted in this year's primaries and caucuses, according to data compiled by CIRCLE. That's a record figure, said CIRCLE director Peter Levine, and the first time the youth vote has risen in three consecutive election cycles (2004, 2006 and 2008) since the voting age was lowered to 18 in 1971. CIRCLE's data shows that the overall national youth voter turnout rate almost doubled in eight years; it was 9 percent in 2000 and grew to 17 percent this year. In addition, of the 17 states in which primary exit polls were conducted in both 2000 and 2008, 16 saw increases in youth voter turnout, with some states showing a triple or quadruple jump. In the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, for example, the youth vote comprised 18 and 16 percent, respectively, of the total share of voters.

More:
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/06/16/young_voters_engaged_and_onlin.html

[tbyg52]

23. Colleges again help find poll workers

Muhlenberg College and Northampton Community College have been tapped to recruit hundreds of students in the fall to serve as poll workers during the general election.

Both colleges are among 27 organizations in 18 states that will receive part of a $750,000 federal grant to replenish a national shortage of poll workers created by retiring older volunteers.

Muhlenberg and NCC professors are using the opportunity to get students engaged by incorporating poll duties into required political science course-work and service learning credits.

More:
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-5vote.6451194jun16,0,4156243.story

[tbyg52]

31. Musicians try to get out the vote at Bonnaroo

Are they here to party or to change the world?

That's the question many clipboard-wielding volunteers ask themselves as they solicit festival-goers at Bonnaroo, the massive annual music festival better known for dancing and campsite carousing than political activism. But going back to Woodstock, music festivals have long had a political connection, and some organizations are seeing a shift in eagerness from fans.

Headcount is a nonprofit organization founded by Marc Brownstein, the bassist from the jam band the Disco Biscuits, and Andy Bernstein to get people registered to vote. What makes Headcount an interesting barometer of political interest at music festivals is that it does almost all of its work at festivals and concerts.

More:
http://www.macon.com/553/story/378889.html

[tbyg52]

40. Oakland journalist will "Rock the Vote"

Oakland journalist Raldon "Donny" Lumpkins, 20, is among five selected from among hundreds of applicants from across the nation to be one of Rock the Vote's campaign reporters this year.

From the Web site: "Raldon Lumpkins is a content producer for YO! Youth Outlook Multimedia, a youth media organization based in San Francisco. He is the host of YO!Radio, a weekly radio segment that airs on KMEL 106.1's Street Soldiers and around the Bay Area, including YO!TV on the local CW network. His favorite thing to do is sit at home and drink all of the orange juice."

I couldn't immediately track Lumpkins down for his comment this afternoon, but here's an interesting look at who he is posted less than two weeks ago.

Rock the Vote's 2008 campaign aims to register 2 million young people through online and offline efforts, and will include an interactive mobile program, a national public service announcement campaign, a youth journalism program, volunteer street teams, and a platform outlining youth demands of the next President.

More:
http://www.contracostatimes.com/bayandstate/ci_9599587

[UncountedMary]

42. They Said The Youth Vote DIdn't Turn Out. Now They're Saying the Registrations Are Bad.

Last week's article in the NY Times, Democrats’ Vote Drive in Louisiana Stirs Concern, raised a red flag, but not because of the actual topic of the article - that a Democratic sponsored voter registration drive "has raised complaints from registrars about large numbers of duplicate, invalid or incomplete applications, and has led to an investigation by the Louisiana secretary of state, Jay Dardenne, a Republican." No, the red flag is in the subtext, a.k.a. the third paragraph:

Election officials have expressed concern that large numbers of people who believe they are registered will show up at the polls in November, only to find that they cannot vote because their application had been improperly submitted.

And so the stage has been set for another game of "blame the voter." It's easy to play - just open your eyes real wide, shrug you shoulders and say, "So many of you weren't listed on the registry of active voters because you didn't fill our your applications properly.

What's worse is that the Times plays along:

Much of the enthusiasm, and some of the chaos, may be repeated in the months to come in other states where Democrats and liberal groups are planning similar drives in an effort to change the demographics of the electorate.

"Chaos?" It's four months until the election, what "chaos?" The chaos of an election commission doing their job to make sure people who want to vote can? Or is this prediction of "chaos" a way to get us to accept manufactured chaos and the desired result - widespread disenfranchisement?

Registering voters is not an easy job and yes, mistakes do occur. But to label these initiatives and any subsequent mistakes as "the Dems’ phony registration drive," which the Louisiana Republican Party chairman did, is to once again set up these massive registration movements as failures.

And that is by design.

It's also no coincidence that, according to the Times article, "the biggest complaints about the drive have come from Republican registrars in Caddo Parish, which includes Shreveport; East Baton Rouge Parish, which includes Baton Rouge; and Jefferson Parish, just outside New Orleans."

The registrar in Jefferson, Dennis A. DiMarco, said that about 35 percent of the 4,000 cards his office had sorted were invalid because they had no address, the applicant was already registered or was a felon, or the signature did not match one on file at the Department of Motor Vehicles.

The signature did not match one on file? And who is overseeing the very subjective process of matching these signatures?

This reminds me of the 2004 election when the TV talking heads shrugged their shoulders and accepted Karl Rove's assertion that, well, I guess the young people just didn't turn out to vote for John Kerry after all. Problem was, they did turn out - about 4.6 million more of them. In 2000, about 42.3 percent of citizens ages 18 to 29 voted. In 2000, it was 51 percent. (Read more about the amazing power and potential of the youth vote at The Nation.)

The lesson here is, do not let the results of the 2008 election be defined by lies, manipulation, and obfuscation.

[kpete]

30. The Greatest Unknown Scandal of Our Time

The Greatest Unknown Scandal of Our Time
Posted June 16, 2008 | 12:44 PM (EST)
Huffington Post
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The 2000 presidential election was not decided by hanging chads, recounts, a flawed felon list, or intervention by the Supreme Court. It was decided by a far worse scandal that remains unknown to the American people but stands as a warning that our votes are still not safe and secure.

Al Gore lost Florida's vote and the presidential election because Florida officials tossed into the trashcan as invalid more than one out of every ten ballots cast by African-Americans throughout the state. In some counties, nearly 25 percent of ballots cast by blacks were set aside as invalid. In contrast, officials rejected less than one out of every fifty ballots cast by whites statewide.

Most of the rejected ballots cast by African-Americans were not under-voted ballots on which no vote could allegedly be discerned, but over-voted ballots that allegedly included marks for more than one candidate. Ballots were also rejected as over-votes if voters wrote in the same candidate they marked on the ballot. Over-votes were not included in Florida's recount process.

Florida's vast racial disparity in ballot rejection rates defeated Al Gore. If black ballots had been rejected at the same minimal rate as white ballots, more than 50,000 additional black votes would have been counted in Florida's presidential election. Given that more than 90 percent of blacks favored Gore over Bush, Gore would have won Florida by at least 40,000 votes, prevailed in the Electoral College, and become President of the United States on January 20, 2001.

more at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/allan-lichtman/the-greatest-unknown-scan_b_107359.html

[tbyg52]

45. 'Toon - "You want a *what*?!"

[livvy]

48. A 'toon! Love it! Nice thread and thanks! n/t but a KnR.

[tbyg52]

46. That's all, folks! nt

[EFerrari]

47. Thank you!

:hi:

[Wilms]

50. .