Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, Monday 05/12/08

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, Monday 05/12/08

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A Citizens' Exit Poll of 20 Precincts in Eight Ohio Counties for the Presidential Primary on March 4, 2008

Study completed on May 3, 2008
Calculations and report written by Marj Creech, Election Defense Alliance.
Assisted by Victoria Parks, who organized the citizen poll takers.
See attached pdf chart of summary data.


SUMMARY:

Volunteer citizens conducted written exit polls in eight counties in Ohio, many at multi-precinct polling sites, making a total of 20 precincts, on the day of the Primary election in Ohio for both Democrat and Republican Presidential candidates, on March 4, 2008. 1787 surveys were collected, an average of 31 % of the voters in those precincts. A spreadsheet contains the raw numbers of both the exit poll surveys and the machine count for corresponding candidates. The machine counts were obtained ( except for Franklin County, which posted the results at the precinct that was surveyed) from the county Boards of Election, since Ohio no longer makes precinct posting mandatory. Obtaining these results from the County Boards proved to be the most time-consuming and difficult part of this study. In two of the eight counties, the board would not provide machine counts without the absentee ballot totals already added in. Despite the difficulty in getting machine counts, comparisons of the parallel results from the exit poll proved that citizen exit polling is a highly accurate check of machine counts, when taken in a summary of all the precincts together. In the summary, the discrepancy between exit polls and machine counts was fewer than five percentage points, in all candidate contests. But when broken down by Optical Scan counties vs. Touchscreen (DRE) counties, the discrepancies between exit poll and machine counts of the Democrat candidates, showed a 2 point spread discrepancy for OS counties, but a 9 point spread for DRE counties. There could be many explanations for this discrepancy, but a possible one would be that touch screen machines in some or all of the three DRE counties that were surveyed, were manipulated or rigged to give Clinton a larger margin of victory than the exit polls indicated.

More:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_mj_creec_080509_was_there_election_m.htm

The battle over voting rights will expand this week as lawmakers in Missouri are expected to support a proposed constitutional amendment to enable election officials to require proof of citizenship from anyone registering to vote.

The measure would allow far more rigorous demands than the voter ID requirement recently upheld by the Supreme Court, in which voters had to prove their identity with a government-issued card.

Sponsors of the amendment — which requires the approval of voters to go into effect, possibly in an August referendum — say it is part of an effort to prevent illegal immigrants from affecting the political process. Critics say the measure could lead to the disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of legal residents who would find it difficult to prove their citizenship.

More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/12/us/politics/12vote.html

Missouri senators are set to consider a ballot item that could require Missourians to present photo identification in order to vote.

A constitutional amendment passed out of a Senate committee today that would allow the General Assembly to enact legislation that would require voters to present photo identification at the polls. The measure passed by a 5-4 vote out of the committee.

Proponents have argued that the measure assures the integrity of elections. They also argue that many other routine activities — such as renting a video or boarding an airplane — require photo identification.

Opponents charge that there is not enough evidence of voter fraud to justify a constitutional amendment. They also say that the measure could make it harder for the elderly, disabled and students to vote because a corresponding document — such as a birth certificate — is required to receive identification.

More:
http://www.columbiatribune.com/2008/May/20080512News051.asp

Secretary of State Robin Carnahan and AG/gubernatorial candidate Jay Nixon both came out last week against the proposed constitutional amendment that would require photo ID at the polling place. Today, Jeff Harris, a Dem running to replace Nixon, did too. His release fifteen minutes ago:

“This bill is unpatriotic and un-American. It denies Missourians their fundamental right to vote, which is a cornerstone of our system of government. Republicans are poised to lose the Governor’s Mansion and every other statewide election in November, so instead of trying to win more votes, they are engaging in an effort to keep Missourians from casting their votes against them.”

snip

Harris has set up this web link specifically on the photo ID measure. Will we see a landslide of other candidates drawing lines on this issue?

(A little) more:
http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/political-fix/political-fix/2008/05/more-photo-id-anyone/

West Virginia law requires voter-verifiable paper records on all voting systems, and a manual count of 5% of precincts is required as part of the canvass under §3-4A-28(d) of the West Virginia Code. ES&S is the only vendor currently providing equipment in West Virginia.

* According to the Secretary of State's web page, 34 counties, with almost 59% of the state's registered voters, live in counties in which the only voting system for polling-place voting is the ES&S iVotronic DRE.

* In 15 counties, the iVotronic is used for accessibility at the polls, but the primary system is centrally counted optical scan ballots, with the M650 counting the paper ballots. About 21% of the voters live in these counties.

More:
http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2850&Itemid=113

Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson is visiting Carlisle County and six other counties this week to highlight newer voting equipment that will be in use there. The system provides a voter verified paper record, something Grayson has encouraged counties to consider when they adopt voting systems. "This new equipment is user-friendly and provides voters with a very important tool in today’s elections—a voter verified paper record," said Secretary of State Trey Grayson. "I applaud the County Clerks and Fiscal Courts in these counties for taking the lead in moving to these systems." The equipment, called eScans, is a precinct-based voting system that digitally captures voter selections on printed ballots and integrates vote totals from absentee-by-mail and electronic voting systems to produce a single set of election reports. In fact, over 90 counties in Kentucky already use the machines for absentee balloting. The new systems should help reduce the time for unofficial vote totals to be tabulated on election night. Voters will recognize the ballot casting procedure as similar to standardized tests where citizens fill in an oval to mark their selection. With the digital scan technology, the system reads the ballot, tabulates the results and preserves a digital image of the ballot. Multiple voters will be able to mark ballots at one time, reducing lines at the polls. eScan’s capabilities include functionality to reject overvoted and blank ballots thereby providing second chance voting at the precinct, just as voters would have through the use of the Direct Recording Equipment, commonly known as "electronic voting machines."

More:
http://www.wkyxwngo.com/local-news-details.asp?NewsID=5984

Primary elections are over and political signs are disappearing from yards and roadsides. With a few months left before everyone starts humming about the November elections, Bladen County Elections Director Larry Hammond encourages voters to take the time to check their registration status.

Hammond said of last week’s polls, “Some people thought they had registered, which they hadn’t. Some had turned in their registrations through other people, and for some reason, we never got them.

“The best way for any voter to be sure they won’t have a problem on election day is to pick up the phone and call us,” he added. “It’s a very simple process that takes 15 to 20 seconds of their time.”

More:
http://www.bladenjournal.com/articles/2008/05/12/news/doc4828862b9c37a693225728.txt

n his last news conference as Assembly speaker, Fabian Núñez was true to form: He feigned favoring political reform while plotting against it.

Núñez announced last week that he would press the Legislature to place a plan for redistricting reform and extended term limits on the November ballot. His press conference coincided with the announcement that a non-partisan coalition had gathered enough signatures to put its own initiative before voters.

Núñez's maneuver can mean one of two things: Either he wants to kill redistricting by confusing voters with two similar measures on the same ballot, or he wants to stir up enough undeserved doubt about the California Voters First Initiative to turn Democrats against it.

Núñez may have met his match, however. The Voters First initiative has the backing of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has thrown $2.5 million of his political money behind it. It's also supported by political reform groups including Common Cause, AARP and the League of Women Voters.

More:
http://www.thereporter.com/editorials/ci_9232273

A proposal that would require a paper record for voters' ballots in Tennessee is headed for a full Senate vote.

The measure sponsored by Sen. Joe Haynes, a Goodlettsville Democrat, unanimously passed the Senate Finance Committee on Monday. The companion bill is scheduled for a full House vote on Tuesday.

The bill would require that the paper trail process be in place no later than 2010.

(A little) more:
http://www.wztv.com/template/inews_wire/wires.regional.tn/2ed804ac-www.fox17.com.shtml

More than 2,600 people are still without power in Kanawha County after Sunday's Storm.

Phil Moye with Appalachian Power says most of the power outages are in the Eastern part of the County. The biggest areas effected include Elkview, Glasgow, Cedar Grove, Quick, Clendenin, and Pinch.

We're told most of the power will be restored by Monday night, but some won't have their power restored until Tuesday night.

(A little) more:
http://www.wsaz.com/news/headlines/18859679.html

State and county elections officials will find out this week whether a local ballot-counting mishap has further implications.

Ballots are counted using memory cards located in separate voting machine at precincts. The cards are supposed to be read by special computers — or servers — that tabulate votes once the polls are closed.

But in the days and weeks that followed the March 4 Primary, Butler County Board of Elections officials found inconsistencies in two separate "runs" of memory cards.

The votes were eventually counted by hand, but McGary immediately alerted the Secretary of State and Premier Elections Solutions, the Diebold subsidiary that sold Butler County its voting machines.

More:
http://www.middletownjournal.com/hp/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/05/11/hjn051208electionscounty.html

Two officials who challenged the reliability of electronic voting systems were honored today at the John F. Kennedy Library for their efforts to maintain the integrity of the vote in their respective states.

California Secretary of State Debra Bowen and Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner were presented with Profile in Courage Awards, annual honors named for a 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning book written by John F. Kennedy.

"Our political system depends on voter trust. Debra Bowen and Jennifer Brunner’s efforts to earn that trust have made them true profiles in courage," said Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President Kennedy and head of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation which administers the awards.

More:
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1093445&srvc=home&position=recent

(I'm told - you know me and my dialup....)

http://www.progressohio.org/page/community/post/daveharding/C2Hr

The solution should have been a no-brainer, voting experts say. After all, it was a badly designed ballot that enflamed the 2000 election meltdown and introduced the vagaries of chads to the political lexicon — pregnant, hanging and otherwise.

So it would seem that redesigning ballots to make them simpler should have been a high priority. But that hasn't been the case, voting experts say.

Eight years after the fiasco in Florida's Palm Beach County, confusing ballots continue to stymie voters and plague elections in this primary season.

More:
http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/238537

Says Our 'Political System Is Vulnerable To Continual Theft', Alleges 'Huge Electronic Miasma' of Voting Machines, 'Politicians That are Crooked and E-Voting Companies that Seduce Them Into Dishonesty'
Proposes Adopting Canadian System of Hand-Counted Paper Ballots...

Presidential candidate Ralph Nader held a press conference in Los Angeles on Saturday where The BRAD BLOG asked him about whether the upcoming election would turn out any differently than the 2004 election which Nader believes was hijacked by the Republican Party and the 2000 election which the Supreme Court decided. The video (2:37) of the exchange follows below...

More (including transcript):
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5976

Elections to provincial councils in eastern Sri Lanka were only a “fraud” which President Mahinda Rajapakse’s ruling coalition used to impose itself on its adversaries using “violence and intimidation,” this according to Nimalka Fernando, head of an elections monitoring organisation called the Campaign for Free and fair Elections (CAFFE).

For CAFFE well as other groups and opposition political parties these elections were “manipulated” to consolidate the stranglehold of the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and the controversial Tamileela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) party.

For the first time in 20 years voters in mixed Sinhalese and Tamil Ampara, Batticaloa and Trincomalee cast their ballot to choose among 1,300 candidates to the local provincial council. The UPFA took 20 of the 37 seats.

The elections were made possible by government forces’ takeover of the area last year after being under Tamil Tiger rebel control for years.

More:
http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=12227&size=A

With the parliamentary elections less than two weeks away, Georgians are swamped with opinion poll results and left to deduce what they mean. While generally, polls are regarded as important because they give decision makers and potential voters an idea of public opinion, this year they have become a contentious issue, stirring up disagreements between parties about the validity of polling.

The polling campaign kicked off last week, as Georgian ACT and international polling firm American Greenberg Quinlan Rosner (GQR) unveiled the results of its survey, which found that Saakashvili’s United National Movement (UNM) Party is likely to receive 44% of the votes.

The survey, which was ordered by the ruling party was based on face-to-face interviews with 1,200 voters throughout Georgia and conducted between April 14-20. It was based on a nation-wide, random sample, reflecting the distribution of the Georgian electorate across all regions (excluding Abkhazia and South Ossetia) and across rural and urban areas. The survey asked a variety of questions about voting likelihood to identify a sub-set of 636 respondents (53 % of the sample) who are most likely to vote on May 21. The methodology and questionnaire were designed by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, under the direction of its Executive Vice President Dr. Jeremy Rosner and the field work was conducted by the Georgian company ACT Research Ltd. The margin of error is reported by GQR to be plus or minus 2.8%.

More:
http://www.geotimes.ge/index.php?m=home&newsid=10708

The House of Representatives may junk the P30-million electronic voting system project of ousted Speaker Jose de Venecia, after lawmakers discovered that the state-of-the-art biometric system failed in a recent dry run.

A dry-run last month showed that the e-voting system failed to recognize the thumbprints of those whose data were inputted.

Out of 50 prints submitted by House employees, the system recognized only 11.

More:
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/94699/House-e-voting-system-may-be-junked---solon

CHURCH leaders have released a statement condemning revenge attacks against people who failed to vote for Robert Mugabe in the elections – abducting, wounding and even murdering their victims.
In a strongly-worded document, sent to Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, Catholic and Protestant leaders spoke out against the organised violence “unleashed” against people “accused of campaigning or voting for the ‘wrong’ political party”.

The statement, issued by the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the Zimbabwe Council of Churches, described a crisis sparked by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission’s failure to release the results of the 29th March presidential elections.

Expressing “deep concern” about the country’s deteriorating human rights situation, the statement continues: “People are being abducted, tortured and humiliated…and ordered to attend mass meetings where they are told they voted for the ‘wrong’ candidate… and in some cases, people are murdered.”
Those attacked were warned against voting for “the ‘wrong’ candidate” again in the forth-coming run-off Presidential elections.

The statement went on to say that, “Victims of organized torture who are ferried to hospital find little solace as the hospitals have no drugs or medicines to treat them.”

More:
http://members4.boardhost.com/acnaus/msg/1210543986.html

Congratulations to the Indiana Legislature, whose harsh voter ID law has ferreted out a suspicious bunch who tried to cast ballots without proper identification in the Democratic primary last Tuesday. Who do those old ladies think they are, American citizens?

Actually, that's exactly who they are. Several retired nuns who have been voting all their lives were prohibited from casting ballots in South Bend because they didn't have proper ID. The nuns, who live at a convent, went to their polling place on the ground floor. There was absolutely no doubt about their identity, because the poll workers included other nuns from St. Mary's convent, near the University of Notre Dame.

A couple of sisters showed expired passports, but the law doesn't allow those, either. (If you were born in the U.S.A., that doesn't change, no matter how outdated your passport.) Indiana's law is so restrictive that even out-of-state driver's licenses are not accepted, a significant problem for college students who register to vote while attending Notre Dame, Indiana University or other colleges.

If the absurdity of punitive voter ID laws - adopted in several states with GOP-dominated legislatures, including Georgia - was not apparent before now, this case ought to help all but the most partisan see the fallacy. Two weeks ago, in a ruling that spurns the universal franchise, the Supreme Court upheld Indiana's ID requirements. Writing for the 6-3 majority, Justice John Paul Stevens asserted that there was no "concrete evidence of the burden imposed on voters who now lack photo identification."

More:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/11/EDRS10JELD.DTL

Twelve elderly nuns were turned away from the polls in Indiana last week because they lacked photo IDs, now required by Indiana law to vote. None of the nuns drives, and they didn’t have up-to-date driver’s licenses.

They are the latest examples of how we have gotten so obsessed in this country with making sure that the wrong people don’t vote that we are leaving behind scores of citizens whose rights are denied: elderly persons who no longer drive, persons who cannot find their birth certificates to prove citizenship because the records were destroyed or never existed, the poor who don’t own a car, persons with disabilities.

And, now — nuns.

Last week, Sister Sandy Schwartz of the Franciscan Sisters of Mary in St. Louis assessed what would happen in her order if Missouri passes a photo ID requirement.

Of 35 nuns there, she said, 15 lack government-issued photo identification.
“This may sound like a good idea at first,” she said, “but once you stop to think about who would really be affected, this is going to keep a lot of our loved ones from being able to vote.”

More:
http://voices.kansascity.com/node/1182

Missouri's Republican-controlled legislature is rushing to pass one of the country's most draconian voter ID requirements less than two weeks after the Supreme Court upheld Indiana's similarly restrictive photo ID law -- a law that's best known for serving as a vital bulwark against nuns voting. Missouri trumps that: It now seems that the state that brought us the likes of GOP anti-voting fraud zealot "Thor" Hearne and became "Ground Zero" for GOP vote suppression schemes in 2006 could take the brass ring from Florida and Ohio as the state most hostile to its own voters' rights.

There's a good reason that the Republicans are moving so quickly to pass a proposed constitutional amendment that could thwart at least 240,000 Missouri citizens from voting in November. The state is a presidential battleground state where recent gubernatorial and Senate races have been decided by margins as little as 21,000 votes.

"If you exclude 240,000 people from the electorate, that is plenty to swing the election in Missouri," says John Hickey, the executive director of the Missouri Progressive Vote Coalition (ProVote). He and other advocates are urging Missouri residents to contact their legislators to protest.

More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/art-levine/after-id-ruling-missouri_b_101261.html

Making voting more like airport security: Like drunken sex and accidental conception, voter disenfranchisement begins in the parking lot outside Sidepockets, or, if you're on a budget, at home. Sedalia Republican Stanley Cox wants to have a constitutional amendment on the August ballot enabling election officials to demand elaborate proof of identification and citizenship in order to vote in the state of Missouri. This is ostensibly about Mexicans, and — I guess — the fear that Mexicans will attempt to overthrow the United States by voting it out of office. It could happen! Remember when people were afraid of killer bees advancing across the American Midwest? That totally happened, too. We have to protect the virginal sanctity of the ballot, obvs, and disenfranchising actual Americans is just a side effect, like flipper hands on thalidomide babies.

More:
http://blogs.pitch.com/plog/2008/05/daily_briefs_constitutional_vo.php

Indiana, Florida and Georgia.

They are the three states in America that require voters display a government nissued photo ID, like a driver’s license, to vote.

The U.S. Supreme Court in a 6-3 decision ruled that Indiana’s strict photo ID requirement is constitutional. The law had previously been upheld by a federal judge and by a panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in his opinion that the state of Indiana had legitimates interests in its photo ID law, including, “protecting the integrity and reliability of the electoral process, deterring and detecting voter fraud,” and safeguard voter confidence.”

Stevens in his opinion also quoted a report by the Commission on Federal Election Reform chaired by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James A. Baker III that said:

“A good registration list will ensure that citizens are only registered in one place, but election officials still need to make sure that the person arriving at a polling site is the same one that is named on the registration list. In the old days and in small towns where everyone knows each other, voters did not need to identify themselves. But in the United States, where 40 million people move each year, and in urban areas where some people do not even know the people living in their own apartment building let alone their precinct, some form of identification is needed.

More:
http://www.tomahjournal.com/articles/2008/05/11/opinion/03lazichopin.txt

snip

Sponsors of the amendment — which requires the approval of voters to go into effect, possibly in an August referendum — say it is part of an effort to prevent illegal immigrants from affecting the political process. Critics say the measure could lead to the disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of legal residents who would find it difficult to prove their citizenship.

Voting experts say the Missouri amendment represents the next logical step for those who have supported stronger voter ID requirements and the next battleground in how elections are conducted. Similar measures requiring proof of citizenship are being considered in at least 19 state legislatures. Bills in Florida, Kansas, Oklahoma and South Carolina have strong support. But only in Missouri does the requirement have a chance of taking effect before the presidential election.

Theoretically, this seems reasonable enough. What’s the point of requiring advance voter registration if not to confirm that people are in fact eligible to cast a ballot?

Practically, however, this could be problematic. While a drivers’ license or other government issued photo ID ought to serve as proof of citizenship, it doesn’t. Not everyone has a passport, either. So would-be voters would have to produce a birth certificate or some comparable document, which will certainly discourage some people from voting.

More:
http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/2008/05/voter_id_and_proof_of_citizenship_/

snip

In 1977, Texas set up voter registration by prepaid post cards to the state. And in 1987, early voting was set up, allowing those qualified to vote to do so during a 17-day early voting period without being required to swear they would be gone from their home county on election day.

Now, it appears the judicial wind is blowing in the other direction, allowing ID laws that might discourage voters. Sen. Gallegos and the other Democratic senators will be poised in 2009 to block the bill again. And Democrats in the House hope their numbers can swell enough in November that they can keep it from ever getting to the Senate in the first place.

More:
http://ourtribune.com/article.php?id=3535

After inching past Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in the official tally of superdelegates last week, Senator Barack Obama is looking to extend his lead, and his campaign is hoping a little star power might do the trick.

Actor Kal Penn, who currently stars in the movie, “Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay,” fired off a letter today to the two remaining uncommitted college superdelegates, urging them to get in Mr. Obama’s corner.

The two students, Lauren Wolfe and Awais Khaleel, the president and vice president of the College Democrats of America, are among the youngest Democratic superdelegates and their endorsements are up for grabs.

More:
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/12/can-actor-sway-college-superdelegates/

He's a Republican, for starters. He describes himself as "older than dirt." And he makes no apology for an Iraq war that is especially unpopular on college campuses.

Doesn't sound like a recipe for winning the hearts of young voters. And yet John McCain has vowed to make a serious play for the 18- to 29-year-old crowd that's often identified with "Obama-mania."

Could the 71-year-old grandfather possibly have a shot?

Several polls, including a recent AP-Ipsos survey, show Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton faring far better with that age bracket when pitted individually against McCain.

More:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jN4N1TnTxf4wuhEVs7OJtnQrUPawD90JV0K80

that McCain may be breaking campaign finance laws

Summary: Reuters reported that Sen. John McCain's campaign "is preparing to take $84 million in public funding after the Republican Party convention in September and he is challenging Obama to stick by last year's pledge to use public money and its accompanying spending limits," but did not note that Federal Election Commission chairman David Mason has taken the position that McCain cannot opt out of public financing in the primary without FEC approval, as McCain has attempted to do, or that McCain could be breaking federal laws by exceeding spending limits within the public financing system for the primary.

More:
http://mediamatters.org/items/200805090007?f=h_latest

A new campaign finance loophole in Utah has sprung up, and it should be closed as soon as possible.

Deseret News investigative reporter Lee Davidson and I stumbled upon what could become a standard operation of top GOP and Democratic incumbents' fundraising, a way to keep secret much of their campaign contributions until after party nominating conventions and primaries.

And in so many areas of the state — where Republicans or Democrats win without any real competition — the current loophole in campaign finance reporting could mean incumbents are renominated and, thus, re-elected with little meaningful campaign finance reporting.

More:
http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695277711,00.html

Lost about five things when Firefox crashed and didn't reload some things when I started it up again - who knows why. Time constraints prevent repeating all searches on my dialup. So if I've missed anything juicy, please add it!

:)

:hi: