INDEPENDENT NEWS

Daily Voting News For February 5-11, 2007

Published: Tue 13 Feb 2007 12:30 AM
Daily Voting News For February 5, 2007
Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org
According to an ‘Opinion’ in the New York Times today, “Governor Crist is asking the Legislature to finance the purchase of new optical-scan machines, and it is expected to agree. Choosing optical scans is Governor Crist’s second good move. In optical-scan voting, voters mark a paper ballot that is then read by a computer. Polling place lines are shorter, because many voters can fill out ballots at the same time. These paper ballots are the official ballots, and can be recounted by hand to resolve a dispute. More than half the states — including large ones like California, New York, Illinois and Ohio — require computerized voting machines to produce a paper record. The addition of Florida would be a major defeat for election officials and voting-machine companies that have stubbornly opposed paper-trail requirements.”...
NAtional: Editorial - Good Election News From Florida LINK
National: Holt pushes paper to back up election results LINK
Florida: Quest for voting certainty leads back to paper LINK
Florida: Florida still searching for an election fix Our Opinion: A Paper Trail Improves Odds Of An Accurate Vote Tally LINK
Florida: Editorial - Restore trust Our position: It's crucial for Florida to ban touch-screen voting machines. LINK
Florida: Editorial - Paper trail To assure every vote in Florida counts LINK
Florida: FL-13 - Florida Lied About 'Investigative Team' in State Report on Voting Machine Audit LINK
Florida: Bay County - Andersen: Voting-machine plan may cost little LINK
Florida: Sarasota County - Senate to hold hearing on Sarasota voting issue LINK
Maryland: Professor casts vote in debate for machines to provide paper trail LINK
Missouri: Decision on voting machines could run into the millions If Congress requires a paper trail, Johnson County must upgrade or replace its inventory. LINK
New Hampshire: If you thought election law battles were over, think again LINK
Pennsylvania: Florida’s decision could affect electronic voting LINK
Pennsylvania: A Pennsylvania Response to Florida Governor Crist's Plan to Dump Touchscreen Voting Machines LINK
South Dakota: Teaching Long a lesson? J.A.I.L. amendment proponents blame official for its failure LINK
Utah: Opinion - Caution on voter registration LINK
Wisconsin: Bill offers suffrage to some 17-year-olds 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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Daily Voting News For February 6, 2007
Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org
Today has been a huge news day. Two bills were filed in Congress; one that we support (HR-756) and one that we don’t. HR-811 (the new HR-550) was filed, with 168 co-sponsors, and became the new Holt Bill. Newspapers began writing editorials and voicing their opinions before any of them could have read the bill. Many groups tripped over themselves in a race to endorse the bill; some without ever having read its contents. One group began, two weeks ago, asking their members to begin making calls to support the bill which was then changed more than once in the ensuing period. VotersUnite will not support this legislation because of its allowance for the continued use of DREs and its corruption of “paper ballot”. At this time, we will also not work against those groups who wish to support the bill. Instead we will stand neutral and report the facts, and an occasional opinion, as we have always done. // It appears that beleaguered Cuyahoga Co. Ohio elections boss, Michael Vu, is to be removed from his job. // Also being reported from Ohio is that the new SOS has asked the state auditor to do a complete audit of the SOS office over the past two years. Blackwell seems to have left a mess and a few problems....
NAtional: The U.S. Election Assistance Commission's Executive Director Oversaw Failed Voting Machine Test Labs in Earlier Role as Well LINK
National: Rep. Holt's New Election Reform Legislation Filed Today in U.S. House LINK
National: Split vote on election machines LINK
National: Editorial - Electronic vote backup will keep elections honest LINK
National: Representative Rush Holt Introduces Election Reform Legislation LINK
National: Rep. Holt reintroduces bill to require paper trails for voting LINK
National: Holt Reintroduces Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act LINK
National: Rep. DeGette Introduces Legislation Calling for Electronic Pollbook Standards LINK
National: Congressman renews push for e-vote paper trails Holt wants to mandate transparency, chain of custody, verifiability LINK
Florida: Opinion - Voting reform needs more than paper trail LINK
Florida: Opinion - 'Charlie and Rob Show' touches reality LINK
Florida: Opinion - Back to the future in Florida LINK
Florida: Voting officials in a frenzy again Broward and Miami-Dade election officials are scurrying to learn more about the governor's plan for new voting machines. LINK
Florida: Explore options for voter verifiable paper ballot LINK
Florida: Florida: Let’s Clarify the Real Choice in Election Systems LINK
Florida: Sarasota County - Limited Investigations LINK
Minnesota: Townships seek help from state on voting mandate LINK
New Jersey: Require a paper trail of all votes LINK
New Jersey: Ulster County - Ulster County to explore voting by mail LINK
New York: GOP and Dems spar over voter intimidation LINK
Ohio: Secretary of state wants office audited LINK
Ohio: Cuyahoga County - BOE Chairman: Michael Vu To Leave Elections Post LINK
Ohio: Cuyahoga County’s Election Problems LINK
Ohio: Cuyahoga County elections chief resigns LINK
Ohio: Cuyahoga County - Board Of Elections Statement On Michael Vu's Resignation LINK
Ohio: Stark County - Cold weather won't stop election or voters LINK
Virginia: Touch-screen voting is a failed experiment 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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Daily Voting News For February 7, 2007
Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org
As related by John Bonifaz of Demos and the National Voting Rights Institute, in a blog on BradBlog.Com, “[Yesterday], Congressman Rush Holt introduced H.R. 811, a bill trumpeted as requiring “a voter-verified permanent paper ballot.” But before we all jump on this train as the new guarantee that our votes will be properly counted in future elections, we ought to beware of the warning flag. A paper trail from DRE (Direct Recording Electronic, usually touch-screen) machines cannot protect the integrity of our elections.” And “the Holt bill tries to say it is requiring a paper ballot even for DREs, but, in the end, a DRE "paper ballot" is nothing more than a paper trail, which requires voters to verify their votes after they have cast them in the DRE machines. Studies show that most voters will not spend the time to verify their votes after casting them into DRE machines. Thus, the "voter-verified paper ballot" is a fiction when it comes to DREs.” // In the wake of the resignation of Cuyahoga Co Ohio’s election director is the news that memory cards used in local elections in the county failed again[see below]. // Officials in California and Idaho are calling for legislation to allow counties to use the Oregon Vote-By-Mail plan....
NAtional: Why the Holt Election Reform Bill Must Be Amended to Guarantee a Real Paper Ballot LINK
National: Legislation would demand paper trail of voting records LINK
National: Senate Rules Committee Hearing Testimony LINK
National: Politicians call for e-voting paper trails by '08 election LINK
National: E-Voting Machines Get The Fish-Eye LINK
National: Key senator calls for paper trail of 2008 presidential votes LINK
California: Mail-only elections on considered LINK
California: San Benito County - No Problems with SBC Voting Machines LINK
Florida: Victory Video: New Florida Secretary of State Says He's 'Physically and Mentally Exhausted from Defending Touch-Screen Voting' LINK
Florida: Advocates renew call for paper voting trail LINK
Florida: Study: Blank ballots less likely with paper LINK
Florida: Polk County - Charlie and the Paper Trail LINK
Florida: Sarasota County - Feinstein wants federal audit of Sarasota's voting machines LINK
Idaho: County clerks push vote-by-mail measure LINK
Kansas: Lyon County - A paper trail to safe voting LINK
Kentucky: Webster County clerk opposes election system change LINK
Mississippi: Itawamba County - More [DRE] voting machines requested LINK
Nevada: County officials ask Nevada legislators for election-law changes LINK
Ohio: Oh My Ohio: Cuyahoga County Election Director Resigns! New SoS Requests Audit of Blackwell, Shredded Documents! LINK
Ohio: No changes are expected, state official says LINK
Ohio: Elections not keeping up with the times LINK
Ohio: Cuyahoga County - Glitch hits Cuyahoga County election...again LINK
Pennsylvania: Cambria County - Broken water pipe soaks voting screens LINK
Texas: Anderson County – Commissioner’s Election Will Be Heard Again 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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Daily Voting News For February 8, 2007
Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org
Some things stay the same and some things change. It keeps things interesting. The Associated Press is reporting the following from Cuyahoga Co., Ohio; “Vote totals couldn't be pulled from memory cards of some electronic voting machines used in a special election, forcing poll workers to transport the machines to Cuyahoga County's election headquarters for results to be counted.” This happened the day that the county’s election director, Michael Vu, was resigning under duress. The failed memory cards have failed before. No one has yet got a clue that they need to change the way they are holding elections and the first step should be to get rid of the Diebold TSx machines. // Meanwhile in Sarasota Co, Florida the county Supervisor of Elections and constant proponent of paper-less voting, Kathy Dent, is pushing to get rid of her failed ES iVotronic DREs so she can get the optical-scan system that the voters demanded. My how people suddenly change their tunes when the voters speak loudly in an election. ...
NAtional: Opinion - Rebeca Chapa: Still too many blips in electronic voting LINK
National: Touch-screen voting machines face ban Democrats push for paper trails LINK
National: Paper trail needed for electronic ballots, Nelson says LINK
National: Statement of the Chairman LINK
National: Feinstein will pursue paper record at polls Bill would also require routine audits of voting systems LINK
National: Feds defend oversight of lab that tests e-voting machines LINK
California: Early Primary Bill On The Fast Track LINK
California: Contra Costa County - Election official to pursue mail-only voting LINK
Colorado: Douglas County - Douglas poll line debacle: Never again LINK
Delaware: Calio: Paper voting backup is likely Machines probably will need to be set up to record votes on paper as a backup for electronic data tabulations LINK
Florida: Good on paper. But will vote-tracking system cost taxpayers more? LINK
Florida: DeFede: Let's Not Rush Into A New Voting System LINK
Florida: The Real Choice In Election Reforms LINK
Florida: Opinion - Our view: Counting every vote Gov. Crist's plan to dump touch-screen voting machines deserves strong backing LINK
Florida: Opinion - Restore vote integrity: Crist's call for paper trail welcomed LINK
Florida: Good on paper. But will vote-tracking system cost taxpayers more in Lee, Collier? LINK
Florida: Sarasota County - Key senator calls for probe of voting machines in Fla. contest LINK
Florida: Sarasota County - Feinstein orders federal investigation of Florida vote LINK
Florida: Sarasota County - Feinsten calls for review of machines in Sarasota race LINK
Florida: Sarasota County - Paper ballots on fast track LINK
Indiana: Tippecanoe County - County aims to avoid vote center mistakes LINK
Ohio: Opinion - It was time to go LINK
Ohio: Cuyahoga County - Some voting machine memory cards unreadable in special election LINK
Ohio: Cuyahoga County - Vote cards fail, delaying results 'Everything has been accounted for' as backup system works LINK
New York: Ulster County mulls vote-by-mail option LINK
Pennsylvania: Northampton County - Voting machines questioned Panel wants to know if machines same ones that were certified. 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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Daily Voting News For February 9, 2007
Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org
I highly recommend that everyone reading this take the time to read Lowell Finley’s “Testimony to Senate Committee on Rules and Administration”[see below]. It is excellent. // The New York Times editorializes, “It is good news that Ms. Feinstein has called for the federal investigations — and that she is pushing a bill to require paper trails nationally. As long as there are no paper records, and voting machine manufacturers continue to insist that the software that runs the machines is a “trade secret,” voters cannot be expected to trust that votes are being counted correctly. The leadership in Congress needs to focus on making sure that Ms. Feinstein’s paper-trail bill becomes law, along with a companion House measure from Rush Holt, Democrat of New Jersey.” We need to add that we hope that Senator Feinstein will fix the varied problems that are in the Holt bill. We don’t expect that she will ban the use of DREs though we encourage her to do that and we cannot support any legislation that does not include that ban. We do hope, however, that she fixes audit language that would allow a county to easily skirt the bills requirements; language that squelches the use of alternate, low-tech voting systems amongst other; and the co-opting of “paper ballot” when the legislation uses that term to describe what is really a voter verified paper audit trail. These are only three of a short list of items that must be addressed. ...
NAtional: Testimony to Senate Committee on Rules and Administration LINK
National: Editorial - Making Democracy Credible LINK
National: Banned Voting Machine Test Lab Given More Time to Fix Problems by Friendly Director of U.S. Election Assistance Commission LINK
National: The Flaws that Need Fixing in Holt's HR811 LINK
National: Submission to Feinstein Hearings On Election Rules LINK
National: A push for paper trails in voting machines LINK
National: Hart InterCivic CEO to resign LINK
California: Group investigates Riverside County’s electronic voting system LINK
California: Orange County - Janet Nguyen tries to close seven-vote margin LINK
California: Orange County - Janet Nguyen won't seek legal action today LINK
Florida: Opinion - Electronically stored data is the issue in voting LINK
Florida: House panel links primary date to New Hampshire's LINK
Florida: Committee hears appeal for voting-system accountability LINK
Florida: Editorial - Don't dump touch-screen machines LINK
Florida: Opinion - Gov. Crist scores again with plan for touch-screen voting LINK
Florida: Palm Beach County - Optical-scan switch to cost $4.3 million in printing costs LINK
Florida: Sarasota County - Clearing of D-13 evidence opposed LINK
Ohio: Ohio's firebrand elections chief gone but controversy remains LINK
Ohio: Cuyahoga County - Vu's Waterloo LINK
Utah: Legislator proposes presidential preference poll LINK
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Daily Voting News For February 11, 2007
Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org
Ex-New Mexico SoS Rebecca Vigil-Giron was term-limited out of office in Nov. The Governor then named her to a new position as the head of the state’s new film museum. Now that job has been put on hold by the Governor until a $3Million shortfall in the SoS office can be explained. // It appears that the state of New Jersey may have violated its state laws when it certified the Sequoia AVC Advantage machines they have been using for years. There is no documentation to show that the system was ever inspected. Also a team at Princeton purchased five of the machines from an on-line government clearance house for $86. The same machines cost one New Jersey county $8000 per machine. The Princeton team put them to good use as they picked the locks within 7 seconds. They quickly learned how to manipulate the software to switch votes....
NAtional: Paper trail wanted for voting machines LINK
California: Contra Costa County - Contra Costa elections chief pushes mail-only voting LINK
Florida: Opinion - Crist's election plan bold, but it carries huge risks LINK
Florida: Sarasota County - Columnist - Is study of voting machines flawed? LINK
Idaho: Debating the ballot box Bill that would let counties shift to all-mail voting meets resistance LINK
Maryland: Voting-bill opposition irks senator Elections Board officials speak against his measure for paper record of ballots LINK
New Jersey: N.J. voting machines face twin challenge A lawyer calls them uncertified. A professor calls them easy to rig LINK
New Jersey: Sequoia Touch-Screen Voting Machines Hacked, Found Vulnerable To Vote-Flipping by Princeton University! LINK
New Jersey: Electronic voting machines to get legal challenge LINK
New Mexico: Governor puts Vigil-Giron's new job on hold LINK
New Mexico: Audit puts Vigil-Giron's new job on hold LINK
New Mexico: Deficit in Vigil-Giron's office tops $3 million LINK
Ohio: Cuyahoga County - Ohio's spreading stolen 2004 election scandal claims another victim 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
Member www.votetrustusa.org

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