Daily Voting News For October 13, 2006
Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org
"A broad coalition of more than 50 election integrity groups and individuals sent letters today to all 50 governors,
secretaries of state and directors of elections calling upon them to provide emergency paper ballots for the November
midterm elections: "All voters must have the option to vote on an Emergency Paper Ballot if necessary, and all such
ballots must be counted as regular, not provisional, ballots."" / "A report to the Election Assistance Commission (EAC)
on voter fraud and voter intimidation was released yesterday by USA Today over four months after it had been presented
to the commission. The report confirmed that there is little verifiable evidence to support anecdotal accounts of
polling place fraud involving voters voting more than once, non-citizens or otherwise ineligible voters voting, or
voters voting in the name of deceased voters."...
NAtional: Report on Voter Fraud and Voter Intimidation Released LINK
National: Election Integrity Organizations, Leaders Urge States to Plan for Emergency Paper Ballots, Procedures for Nov.
Election LINK
National: Groups mobilize to defend voting rights on Nov. 7 LINK
National: Report downplays voter fraud, highlights systemic problems LINK
National: Election Officials: Five Simple Rules For Testing Voting Equipment LINK
Arkansas: Secretary of state candidates' debate focuses on voting woes LINK
California: San Diego County - Photo IDs will limit turnout LINK
Colorado: Denver - In latest ballot flub, postage is misfigured. The post office pledges to deliver the completed
absentee ballots, billing Denver for the difference. LINK
Colorado: Denver - Another Problem Reported With Denver's Absentee Ballots LINK
Colorado: Denver - Assurances offered on Denver vote count LINK
Florida: A glimpse into day of precinct workers LINK
Florida: Demand for absentee ballots overwhelms local elections officials LINK
Florida: Democrats sue to stop Negron ballot signs LINK
Florida: Jacksonville - Rocky Start To Election 2006 Raises Concerns LINK
Florida: Volusia County - More sun to shine at Elections Office LINK
Florida: Volusia County - Election changes made to ensure transparency, accuracy LINK
Illinois: DuPage County - DuPage Co. Illinois Election Commission Cronyism and Lies. The Revolving Door Seems To Be
Working Fine For Ex-Insiders LINK
Maryland: Ehrlich, O'Malley spar over ballots LINK
New Mexico: Bernalillo County - No. 2 pencils are No. 1 ballot tool LINK
Pennsylvania: Luzerne County - Area blind and voting booths: Alone at last LINK
Texas: Secretary of state committed to fighting voter fraud LINK
Texas: Straight-ticket voters urged to change ways LINK
Virginia: Wise County - Guilty verdict in Appalachia. Former letter carrier Don Estridge is the first to be convicted in
the election-fraud scam. LINK
Wisconsin: Wisconsin needs improvement in some voting areas, study says LINK
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Daily Voting News For October 14, 2006
Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org
In the September Maryland primary the Diebold E-Poll Book failed miserably throughout the state. It seems that when more
than 40 names were entered into the machines they tended to crash and require rebooting. When they did crash some voters
who had not voted were listed as having voted. In order to fix this problem it is reported that Diebold wrote two
software patches and one of their sub-contractors wrote another. These were all installed on Maryland's equipment and
tested. There was also a problem with the touch screen part of the E-Poll Book. Touching the screen caused some machines
to crash. Diebold reportedly solved this problem by providing the state with over 5,000 'mouses' to replace the touch
screen. These machines are part of an Independent Test Authority (ITA) tested and NASED qualified voting system. Until I
talked to Sandy Steinbach yesterday, NASED knew nothing about any changes made by Diebold. But, NASED no longer
qualifies new modifications or any voting system submitted for testing after July 10. The EAC now does that work. They
too knew nothing about those modifications and, in fact, tried to point to NASED as the authority. The questions: Who is
minding the store? What happens for other states that are required to have federally certified voting systems and are
going to use the E-Poll Book? Will Diebold fix every E-Poll Book that will be used in November or will they try to keep
this fix a secret because it has never gotten any federal testing and certification?...
National: Statewide Databases: Some Missed Milestones, Temporary Fixes LINK
National: Opinion - Crash and re-boot. The wrong kind of voting machine could bring chaos to the mid-term elections LINK
National: Information Quality Professionals Issue Urgent Alert Regarding United States Elections LINK
National: The Next Katharine Harris? Article 1 Section 4 US Constitution LINK
National: Rep. Hoyer Asks for Clear Guidelines For Contested Elections LINK
Arkansas: White County - Machines tested for general election LINK
Mississippi: New voting machines concern senior citizens. State representatives work to train voters LINK
New Jersey: Monmouth County - Disabled voters can try out new machines LINK
Pennsylvania: Montgomery County - Voting machines will be ready for Election Night LINK
South Dakota: Official: S.D. Has No Voting Problems Electronic Machines Appear To Be Working Well LINK
Texas: New machines shouldn't scare off voting public LINK
West Virginia: Northampton County - Voting machines reported ready for duty LINK
BRazil: Brazil's electronic voting has safeguards lacking in the U.S. LINK
GUam: Error reduction sought LINK
**"Daily Voting News" is meant as a comprehensive listing of reports each day concerning issues related to election and
voting news around the country regardless of quality or political slant. Therefore, items listed in "Daily Voting News"
may not reflect the opinions of VotersUnite.Org or Scoop.**
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John Gideon
Executive Director www.votersunite.org and
Information Manager www.votetrustusa.org