Election Reform, Fraud & Related News 6/21/06-DEAN DOESN'T TRUST MACHINES

Election Reform/Fraud/Related News 6/21/06-DEAN DOESN'T TRUST MACHINES EDITION





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http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_06_18_atrios_archive.html#115080553225497186

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and return to paper ballots.

The Fitrakis Files, Part One: The Enquirer’s “Formal Propaganda”

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

On Monday, June 12, Editor and Publisher ran this story about Robert Kennedy’s Rolling Stone article concerning voting irregularities in Ohio, 2004. The Enquirer’s Carl Weiser was quoted in the article, saying “The folks who know Ohio elections best checked into it and found there was no conspiracy.” Despite several attempts (as demonstrated in the letters copied below) to discover the names of these “folks,” The Enquirer will not release such information. We recently talked with Dr. Bob Fitrakis, Green candidate for Ohio governor and international elections observer, to discuss the anomalies.

Read More
http://www.cincinnatibeacon.com/index.php/magaddiction/comments/the_fitrakis_files_part_one_the_enquirers_formal_propaganda/

The Fitrakis Files, Part Two: Ohio’s Uncounted Votes
Tuesday, June 20, 2006

See international elections observer Bob Fitrakis with some shocking documentation about the uncounted votes from Ohio in 2004. See the lists of names of the disenfranchised, the ridiculous expenses Counties want to charge for simple access to seeing the ballots, etc.

(Video hosted here through YouTube.)
http://www.cincinnatibeacon.com/index.php/magaddiction/comments/the_fitrakis_files_part_two_ohios_uncounted_votes/

Democracy Will Survive Voting System Flaws If Voters, Candidates, and Political Parties Act

To overcome the threats to U.S. democracy from flawed voting equipment, the National Election Data Archive recommends that voters, candidates, and political parties each take unique steps to ensure that correctly elected candidates are sworn into office.

Salt Lake City, UT (PRWEB) June 20, 2006 -- CNN's Lou Dobbs, Newsweek, the New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Rolling Stone magazine have all recently reported on the security flaws of electronic voting machines which can be used to undetectably rig elections.

To respond to the new threats to U.S. democracy from flawed voting equipment, the National Election Data Archive (NEDA) recommends that voters, candidates, and political parties each take unique steps to ensure that correctly elected candidates are sworn into office.

According to the National Archive's June 20th recommendations, "candidates, prior to conceding, should obtain detailed vote count data that is normally with-held from the public and have it independently analyzed."

Kathy Dopp, President of the National Election Data Archive, says that "One insider could undetectably rig an election in the absence of independent audits. If all voters do is vote on Election Day, they may be just providing more votes to tamper with. Extra steps can be taken to ensure that correctly elected candidates take office. Candidates should register for 'parallel citizen vote counts'; and request detailed data and manual counts. Political parties are in a unique position to observe vote-counting. Voters have a right to know that our votes are counted accurately!"

National Data Election Archive (NEDA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational and scientific research organization comprised of volunteer mathematicians, statisticians and election activists. Its mission is to build a public election data archive for independent analysis of election data; educate the public; and to ensure verifiably accurate election results. The Archive's statistical work on the 2004 election results has been cited in Rolling Stone and Harpers magazines, in the book "Fooled Again" and was wrongly "debunked" in a November 9, 2004 New York Times article.

Manual audits of vote counts are recommended by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the Carter-Baker Commission, the Verified Voting Foundation, and "A Center for Correct, Usable, Reliable, Auditable, and Transparent Elections" (Project ACCURATE) which is funded by the National Science Foundation. The elections industry is one of the only U.S. industries in which virtually no independent audits to detect errors are performed.

more at:
http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2006/6/emw400783.htm

House Considers Renewing Voting Rights Act With Some Revisions
Wednesday, June 21, 2006

WASHINGTON — A bill to renew the Voting Rights Act for an additional quarter-century is moving toward approval in the House with Republicans and Democrats concurring that the law remains necessary to keep the polls open to all U.S. citizens.

Still, controversy follows the legislation 40 years after it first prohibited policies that blocked blacks from voting.

Several Southern Republicans, led by Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia, forced their leaders to allow an amendment to be considered during Wednesday's floor debate that would ease a requirement that nine states win permission from the Justice Department or a federal judge to change their voting rules.

The amendment's backers say the requirement unfairly singles out and holds accountable nine states that practiced racist voting policies decades ago, based on 1964 voter turnout data: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia.

MORE AT:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,200372,00.html

Tongue-Tied Over Bilingual Voting
NRO: On Language, Senate Speaks Out Both Sides Of Its Mouth

June 20, 2006

The Senate is in the midst of hearings concerning reauthorization of the temporary provisions of the Voting Rights Act. The House version of the bill that would reauthorize such provisions for another 25 years is named the Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006. It's difficult for any politician to oppose, or even propose amending, a piece of legislation with a name like that, regardless of its merits, without being vulnerable to considerable demagoguery. This is especially the case in an election year.

Indeed, it looks as if Congress is moving rapidly toward reauthorization, although the Senate Judiciary Committee seems to be considering a few amendments that might strike most Americans as just common sense. Yet, because the amendments would be attached to a bill that's at least tangentially related to race/ethnicity, passage is far from assured.

MORE AT:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/06/20/opinion/main1732941.shtml

Voting Rights Act up for vote in House

WASHINGTON - Long after the literacy tests and poll taxes of the Jim Crow South have faded into memory, the House of Representatives is set today to vote on another 25-year extension of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
The act outlawed ballot tests and required several states and jurisdictions -- including 40 counties in North Carolina, most of them in the east -- to get federal clearance before making election changes, such as moving polling locations or drawing new districts.

The preclearance requirement is among parts of the act that are set to expire in 2007.

In the 21st century, proponents of the act say, the issue isn't whether African-Americans can get to the ballot box -- but whether their political choices can win election.

The preclearance requirement makes local officials think about how they're ensuring that minority voters can elect their choices, said Anita Earls, of the UNC Center for Civil Rights in Chapel Hill, who testified about the act at a congressional hearing this spring.

MORE AT:
http://www.newsobserver.com/114/story/452857.html

Wexler's bid to outlaw paperless voting fails on appeal
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 21, 2006

A federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected Democratic U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler's claim that paperless electronic voting violates the constitutional rights of Floridians.

The ruling by the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a federal district judge's 2004 ruling against a Wexler lawsuit that sought to outlaw paperless voting in Florida, where 15 counties use paperless systems and 52 counties use paper ballots that are read by optical scanners

Paper ballots can be manually recounted in a close election while those cast on electronic touch screens cannot. That different treatment, Wexler argues, amounts to a denial of the equal-protection and due-process rights of the voters who use paperless systems.

The appeals court, however, said there can be different voting systems within a state and the inability of some voters to have an electronic vote manually recounted does not unduly burden voters.

Tuesday's ruling "reaffirms Florida's sound election processes and systems," Secretary of State Sue Cobb said.

"That is disappointing," Wexler said. "But I'm going to pursue all other options."

Wexler said there may be differences between Tuesday's ruling and a 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in an Ohio elections case that would merit a review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/politics/content/local_news/epaper/2006/06/21/s3b_wexler_0621.html

Voting Lawsuit Hearing

Osceola County will be in Federal Court in Orlando Wednesday, defending the at-large election of County Commissioners.

The Justice Department has sued Osceola, claiming such elections dilute the voting strength of Hispanics.

Osceola has five county commission districts, but for the last decade voters in every district get to vote for every county commissioner.

The last time there was single district voting, in 1996, was the only time an Hispanic was elected.

"If you look at the rapid population growth of Hispanic voters,” said University of Central Florida Professor, Dr. Aubrey Jewett, “you look at the fact that at one time did adopt a single member district, and were able to elect an Hispanic, and then immediately they changed the system, and it went back to at large, and they haven't had an Hispanic representative since.

To me, the facts suggest the justice department has a pretty strong case."

http://cfn13.com/StoryHeadline.aspx?id=16606

Audit: Voting troubles linger

The state struggles to comply with a federal law, the report found.

Compiled From Wire Reports |
Posted June 21, 2006

TALLAHASSEE -- With a statewide election just over two months away, Florida still is struggling to comply with a federal law designed to ensure fairness at the ballot box, a state auditor general's report has found.

The report released last week listed a dozen problems with the state's efforts to comply with the federal Help America Vote Act. Auditors found that the secretary of state's office should improve the way it identifies duplicate voters and felons in a central voter database and must track the types of voting machines used by counties.

"This was an audit the department asked for to get a road map to make sure we are in compliance," Gov. Jeb Bush said.

"On Election Day, we will be in compliance."

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-elections2106jun21,0,376235.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-state

Tucson Region

Hand-count vote bill may get hearing
Plan responds to concerns about touch-screen tallies

By Daniel Scarpinato
arizona daily star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 06.20.2006

Coming on the heels of local concerns about election accuracy and Pima County's purchase of $2 million in touch-screen voting machines, a proposal likely to be considered by the Legislature this week could help ease those fears.

The measure would subject Arizona elections to automatic hand-counted audits — something currently illegal in the state.

The bill — which Rep. Ted Downing, a Tucson Democrat, has been instrumental in drafting — also would require areas of rapid population growth to have an adequate number of voting booths and workers.

Requiring hand recounts could help pacify local activists who are worried that the county's new touch-screen voting machines could be easily rigged or hacked into, Downing said, because recounts would pressure programmers to ensure that the machines tally votes correctly.

more at:
http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/134383.php

Campaign to stop early voting prompts opposition
Democrats, Republicans trade attacks over effort to put the question on the ballot, predict the issue will end up in court
Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Democrats and Republicans continued their battle over early voting this week.

Opponents have collected enough signatures to meet the first threshold in petitioning the law to a referendum this fall. They still need 52,000 by the end of the month for the issue to be on the ballot.

But their petition drive may be fruitless, according to an opinion issued by the Maryland Attorney General’s Office, which questions the legality of the referendum. Republicans and Democrats alike are predicting the matter will end up in court.

On Monday, Democrats held a news conference in Annapolis criticizing Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) for trying to suppress voter turnout. They said early voting encourages participation for voters whose jobs make it difficult for them to go to their polling place on election day.

more at:
http://www.gazette.net/stories/062106/montcou182027_31949.shtml

No Confidence in Election to Replace Cunningham; Momentum Builds for 100Percent Count of Paper Ballots in CA-50 Busby-Bilbray Race

6/20/2006 11:16:00 AM

To: National and State desks, Political Reporter

Contact: Ilene Proctor PR, 310-271-5857

WASHINGTON, June 20 /U.S. Newswire/ -- VelvetRevolution.us, a network of over 130 organizations, is leading a campaign to require a 100 percent paper ballot count of the special election between Democrat Francine Busby and Republican Brian Bilbray to replace convicted Congressman Duke Cunningham in CA-50. The reason for this challenge is that federal and state laws and procedures were violated when poll workers were allowed to take home the Diebold machines and memory cards in the days and weeks prior to the election.

All applicable laws and standards require that vote machines and memory cards used in California elections be kept totally secure to prevent tampering or manipulation of the machines. Recent tests in the state by security experts have demonstrated that a person with access to a Diebold vote machine for less than three minutes can insert a malicious software code that can rig an election. Accordingly, California's Secretary of Sate, Bruce McPherson, recently allowed these machines to be used in California under very strict conditions, including maintaining their security at all times and never letting them be in the possession of less than two persons. If the machines used are not kept secure, the election results should be considered compromised and untrustworthy.

In the past several days, VelvetRevolution has sent thousands of emails to the Busby campaign, the San Diego County Registrar's Office, and the Secretary of State's Office demanding a 100 percent count of all the paper ballots and paper trails from the Diebold voting machines used in the CA-50 election. Numerous others have joined VR with this campaign including the California Election Protection Network, Progressive Democrats of America, VoteTrust USA, California Congressional candidate Jeeni Criscenzo, Florida Congressional candidate Clint Curtis, Massachusetts Secretary of State Candidate John Bonifaz, Maryland Senate candidate Kevin Zeese, and Tribune Columnist Robert Koehler.

Citizens cannot have confidence in an election that is conducted in violation of the law, especially on Diebold vote machines that have been proven to be easily manipulated. VelvetRevolution is seeking an even broader coalition of groups, officials, individuals and the press to join in this campaign of No Confidence in the CA-50 special election.

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=67808

NEWS RELEASE
For Release Monday, June 19, 2006
Contact: Dan Ashby 510-233-2144
Contact: Jim Soper 510 258-4857 technical specialist

“NO BASIS FOR CONFIDENCE IN PRIMARY ELECTIONS”
SAYS CALIFORNIA ELECTION PROTECTION NETWORK

NEWS RELEASE For Release Monday, June 19, 2006
Contact: Dan Ashby 510-233-2144

Contact: Jim Soper 510 258-4857
technical specialist “NO BASIS FOR CONFIDENCE IN PRIMARY ELECTIONS” SAYS CALIFORNIA ELECTION PROTECTION NETWORK

The California Election Protection Network (CEPN), a nonpartisan coalition of more than 25 election integrity organizations throughout California, is calling for a full hand count of all ballots and paper audit trails from San Diego County’s June 6 primary election. CEPN has posted a Voters’ Resolution of No Confidence on its website citing violations of California and federal election regulations, and describing the vote counting process as “secret,” without means for verification by voters, elections officials, or the newsmedia.

“There is no proof of this election’s legitimacy,” said CEPN member Jim Soper. “Despite a mountain of proof that these machines are easily hackable, Secretary of State McPherson certified the system claiming a set of handling procedures would keep the machines safe. Now we learn that machines were unsecured in pollworkers’ homes before the election, rendering those procedures useless.”

more at:
http://www.califelectprotect.net/home.html

California: Sequoia Quietly Leading State E-voting
By Ian Hoffman
June 20, 2006
Foreign ownership an issue for rising Oakland company

This article appeared on Inside Bay Area. It is reposted here with permission of the author.

For three years, the nation's two largest suppliers of voting machinery have driven feverishly for sales and shown the symptoms of overextension — missed deliveries, faulty equipment and breach-of-contract lawsuits.

Until recently, the supplier running a close third kept a lower profile than competitors Diebold and Election Systems & Software, though quietly snapping up sales of voting systems on both coasts, all of Nevada and Louisiana, as well as Chicago and Cook County.

With a $13.3 million contract signed Friday by Alameda County, Sequoia Voting Systems arguably became the dominant voting-system maker in California, with more counties than any other.

Outside California, a controversy has sprung up over the foreign ownership of Oakland-based Sequoia.

Politicians in the Windy City and CNN journalist Lou Dobbs suggested recently that the federal government was derelict in not having investigated Sequoia and its acquisition last year by Smartmatic, a Boca Raton, Fla., firm largely owned by Venezuelan businessmen.

more at:
http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1411&Itemid=51

Election Integrity in California -- A Thing of the Past?
Ralph Miller is the Executive Director of Latinos for America. Democracy for America welcomes LFA columnists every Tuesday.

Yesterday, the California Election Protection Network (CEPN), a nonpartisan coalition of more than 25 election integrity organizations throughout California, called for a full hand count of all ballots and paper audit trails from San Diego County's June 6 primary election in which Democrat Francine Busby came within three percentage points of taking away the seat held by disgraced Republican Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham.

"There is no proof of this election's legitimacy," said CEPN member Jim Soper. "Despite a mountain of proof that these machines are easily hackable, Secretary of State McPherson, a Republican appointed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, certified the system claiming a set of handling procedures would keep the machines safe. Now we learn that machines were unsecured in poll workers' homes before the election, rendering those procedures useless."

For every vote to count, we must Count Every Vote!

As we are seeing what is happening in California, election honesty needs to be the basis for any group that is serious about elections. Without protection of the most basic voting rights—i.e. registration, accurate vote counting—we will lose even more than we already have lost. The voters have had low confidence in election honesty in the past and it is only getting worse. Reforming elections will mean nothing if the very votes are not counted to begin with and candidates themselves need to be held responsible for seeing that every vote is counted and counted accurately.

This is an issue we must take a public stand on, beginning with California now: We must insist that the San Diego vote be fully counted!

http://www.blogforamerica.com/archives/008006.html

Distrust spurs absentee voting
By: The Californian - Commentary:

There is a growing trend in this country toward voting by absentee ballot.

Year after year, the percentage of the electorate choosing to vote by this method increases. In the June 6 primary election in Riverside County, the birthplace of electronic voting, 49 percent of those voting used an absentee ballot.

There is little question that a large percentage of these voters have selected to do so due to concern about the accuracy of electronic voting. No election passes without the horror stories of machine failures from touchscreen anomalies to machines recording more votes than registered voters using them.


Controversy concerning ownership of the companies manufacturing electronic voting machines, as well as persistent reports of unapproved software being used in them, adds fuel to the fire.

more at:
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/06/21/opinion/commentary/20_51_146_20_06.txt

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: Lawsuits are coming over 2004
In an interview with PRWeek, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says he'll follow up on his Rolling Stone story about the 2004 presidential election by bringing lawsuits against as-yet undisclosed defendants.

In his Rolling Stone piece, Kennedy said that he has "become convinced that the president's party mounted a massive, coordinated campaign to subvert the will of the people in 2004." Now he says he's meeting with lawyers to devise a "litigation strategy" to address the problems raised in his article. "And I would say very soon we'll be announcing lawsuits against some of the individuals and companies involved," Kennedy tells PRWeek.

Kennedy declined to identify possible defendants, but he notes that many of the "same people" involved in suspicious activities in 2004 are "up to the same shenanigans" with respect to upcoming elections.

If Kennedy files suit over the 2004 election, he won't be the first: The Democratic Party of Ohio, among many others, has engaged in litigation over the voting in that state. But a lawsuit from Kennedy -- even if it didn't reverse the results of the last presidential election, which seems beyond unlikely at this point -- would bring renewed public attention to what happened in 2004 and could make it harder for Republicans like Kenneth Blackwell to continue with the voter-suppression tactics they're already employing for 2006 and 2008.

-- Tim Grieve
http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2006/06/20/votesuit/index.html

Bipartisan Poll Shows Strong Support for Public Financing and Voters First Pledge

M E M O R A N D U M
To: Interested Parties
From: Celinda Lake, David Mermin, and John Norris, Lake Research Partners; Christine Matthews, Bellwether Research

Subject: Recent National Survey on Campaign Finance Reform

Date: June 21, 2006

A recent bipartisan survey of likely voters nationwide by Lake Research Partners and Bellwether Research (1) shows a significant majority of voters, across party lines, support publicly-funded elections. In the wake of lobbyist scandals, the soaring costs of campaigns, and discontent with Washington, voters are hungry for a more open, clean, and fair system of campaign funding.

• Three out of four voters support a voluntary system of publicly funded campaigns. (2) Seventy-four percent of voters support a proposal for voluntary public funding of federal elections (57% strongly) with only 16% opposed.

• Support for public financing of Congressional elections cross all party lines. Eighty percent of Democrats, 78% of Independents, and 65% of Republicans support this reform.

• Support of this reform is strong across demographic and regional groups. This reform enjoys strong support across gender lines, age groups, and regionally—garnering no less than 60% support and in most cases around three-quarters support.

• Support for public financing of elections helps Congressional candidates. Respondents were given a generic congressional profile ballot, with standard “Republican” and “Democratic” issue platforms. On this initial test, the “Democratic” candidate outpaces the “Republican” candidate by 53% to 37%. Then half the respondents were told the “Republican” signed a pledge to support the reform and that the “Democrat” refused, and vice versa for the other half of respondents. In both cases the congressional candidate who signed the pledge was able to increase their lead substantially over an opponent who refused to sign it. The “Republican” candidate supporting reform wins 49% to 39% over an anti-reform Democrat. The “Democratic” candidate supporting reform wins 58% to 29% over an anti-reform Republican.

• Voters support this reform because of the positive changes they overwhelmingly believe will come from it. Fully 82% of voters believe it is likely, as a result of publicly financed elections, that candidates will win on their ideas, not because of the money they raise, and 81% believe it is likely politicians will be more accountable to voters instead of large contributors. Additionally, voters also feel it is likely citizens with good ideas will have a fair shot at winning rather than just the rich and powerful (79% likely), and that special interests will not receive as many favors, tax breaks, and deals from politicians (77% likely).

• The low perception voters have of congressional ethics is driving their support for this reform. Voters’ unfavorable views of Congress (36% favorable, 52% unfavorable) and lobbyists (14% favorable, 66% unfavorable) spell trouble for the Washington status quo. Voters are angry about business as usual and are demanding significant change.

(1) The telephone survey of 1000 likely 2006 voters nationwide was conducted June 8-15, 2006, by Lake Research and Bellwether Research. The margin of sampling error is +/-3.1%. This survey was conducted for Public Campaign Action Fund and Common Cause.

(2) Text of proposal: "Under this plan, candidates who agree to spending limits and who agree to take no private contributions would qualify for a set amount of money from a public election fund. Each candidate would receive the same amount. Candidates would not be allowed to raise or spend additional money beyond what they receive from the fund. There would be tough enforcement and accountability with published reports open to the public."

http://www.campaignmoney.org/polling

WHERE'S THE OUTRAGE OVER BUSH'S ELECTION FRAUD?
by Randolph T. Holhut

http://www.opednews.com

DUMMERSTON, Vt. — Ever since the somewhat murky outcome of 2004 presidential election in Ohio, there have been numerous reports of how Republicans engaged in widespread and intentional cheating and fraud to ensure that George W. Bush would win.

Unfortunately, the story has never gained traction in the mainstream press. Just like it is considered impolite to say that the Bush administration repeatedly lied to gin up a war with Iraq, it is considered equally impolite to say that Bush stole both the 2000 and 2004 elections.

Maybe that might change with the publication of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s story in latest issue of Rolling Stone magazine. Kennedy put together a lengthy and well documented summation of the extent of the vote manipulation in Ohio. There was very little new in the Rolling Stone piece, but it is the most complete examination of voting fraud to appear so far in a major American publication.

The mainstream press, particularly in Ohio, pooh-poohed Kennedy's story.

"I read it and there really was nothing new," Carl Weiser, government and public affairs editor at the Cincinnati Enquirer, told Editor & Publisher magazine last week.

"They were things we already reported on and issues we did not see to have much substance," Eva Parziale, Ohio bureau chief for the Associated Press, told E & P.

"In the end, there were problems, but they were not of the magnitude that would have made any difference," Doug Clifton, editor of The Plain Dealer of Cleveland, told E & P.

In other words, it's old news and not really a story worth talking about.

Except that it is. Kennedy's story is this summer's Downing Street Memos.

more at:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_randolph_060621_where_s_the_outrage_.htm

http://www.freetimes.com/story/343

YOUR LIBERAL MEDIA AT WORK

It's nauseating enough to listen to Republicans getting all defensive over evidence that the 2004 election in Ohio was a farce. It's downright stomach-turning when a journalist joins their chorus.

On Sunday, Plain Dealer "reader representative" Ted Diadiun weighed in on the '04 vote. The occasion was Bobby Kennedy Jr.'s recent article in Rolling Stone, which details the many questionable pre-election decisions by Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, who was also state co-chairman for the Bush-Cheney campaign. Kennedy asked, among other things, why papers like the PD weren't covering the issue.

Diadiun admitted that there were many mistakes made in 2004 but, echoing GOP talking points, asserted that "they were bipartisan in nature and not a result of Republican chicanery." He further stated that the miscounted ballots "didn't add up to nearly enough votes to swing Ohio from Bush to Kerry."

Fact: At least 357,000 Ohioans did not have their votes counted correctly, according to the only investigation of the Ohio vote. Bush won Ohio by a mere 118,601 votes. If roughly half of those improperly counted votes were for John Kerry — as one would expect if the cock-ups truly were random and/or "bipartisan in nature," right? — then Bush lost Ohio...

"Let Dean be Dean" I say.

Great OP, simply outstanding news, elegantly presented.

I thank you...

and How about those Dean Statements - Yeah Baby!

Eminent Computer Scientist Criticizes ES&S "Real Time Audit Log"

“The Real time Audit Log places high cognitive burdens on the voter, is extraordinarily error prone for the auditor, and is possibly illegal in states that are strict about voting privacy."

By Warren Stewart, VoteTrustUSA

June 21, 2006

At a recent North Carolina State Board of Election symposium in NewBern, it was disclosed that ES&S will be making changes to the way the iVotronic Touchscreen paper voter verified audit trail is printed. Currently the iVotronics fulfill state requirements for a voter verieid paper record through the use of a “Real Time Audit Log" (RTAL), a printout that records every action that the voter performs but does provide the voter with a summary to review before casting the vote.

In his comments to the State Board of Elections David Jefferson (pictured at right) of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, who serves on the California Voting System Techology Assessment and Advisory Board, described (RTAL) as a terrible design for a voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT), that should never have been seriously considered for certification. His full commentary follows.

snip

For the auditor the problem with the RTAL is that in order to determine how a voter voted on a particular race, he must read each voter session on the paper audit log *backwards* in order to find the *last* recorded event for each office to know who was finally voted for. Earlier audit lines printed for the same office represent tentative choices the voter changed during the voting process. This RTAL design is certain to lead to a very high audit error rate, as auditors mistakenly record a tentative voter choice instead of the final choice as representing the voter's true intent. The only way to reduce such errors with the RTAL design is to further slow down the already slow audit process.

snip

In my opinion there is no reason why this RTAL design should ever have been contemplated for public elections, and I do not understand how it could have been certified. I personally told ES&S about these problems almost two years ago in a public hearing in California. I think ES&S should be asked to change their RTAL design to a more conventional vote summary VVPAT."

snip

http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1414&Itemid=51


Discussion

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x435647

Florida Audit Reveals Serious Problems With State's Election Administration

Activists Welcome Aduit's Finding But That It Only Scratches the Surface

Download The Auditor General's Report

By Warren Stewart, VoteTrustUSA

June 21, 2006

snip

According to the audit, the Department does not have a procedure in place to evidence for the public record that voting systems being certified had met the requirements of Florida law and does not prohibit the Secretary of State and any examiners from having a financial interest in the examination of and approval of voting equipment.

Further, the audit reveals that the Department does not maintain a current, reliable control listing of voting systems certified and in use by the counties, nor does it have a procedure in place to ensure that voting system information was on file with the Department.

The audit also found that the state incorrectly calculated the required maintenance costs that were included in the State of Florida HAVA Plan and also did not maintain the required level of expenditures for the 2004-05 fiscal year and salary certifications required for employees who worked solely on the HAVA Program were not maintained. The state has not instituted sufficient procedures to ensure that voter education programs are in compliance with Florida law and the state has not always followed Federal requirements with regards to awards to other State agencies.

snip

Florida election integrity activists welcomed the audits find but were quick to note that the findings only scratched the surface of problems with the state’s election administration. “The audit hasn’t covered half of it,” commented Anita Lapidus of Florida Fair Election Coalition (FFEC). “There is no security testing of these machines at the State or federal level. There is no way to recover lost votes.”

snip

http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1415&Itemid=113


Discussion

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x435649

Wexler may take voting machines case to U.S. Supreme Court

Jun. 21, 2006

BRIAN SKOLOFF
Associated Press

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Democratic U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler said Wednesday he was considering an appeal of a federal court ruling that said Florida could use electronic voting machines that don't leave a paper trail.

In 2004, Wexler sued Florida's secretary of state and Palm Beach County's elections supervisor, alleging the state disenfranchised voters by approving the machines that don't create a paper record for use in a recount in close elections.

Wexler said he was considering asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case after the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected his claim in ruling Tuesday that paperless machines don't violate Floridians' constitutional rights.

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The appeals court acknowledged that a recount would differ in counties using touch-screen machines but noted it did not rise to the level of unequal treatment of voters.

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http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/breaking_news/14869941.htm


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