Daily Voting News For February 27, 2007
Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org
“Florida's Congressional District 13 race and the report of conflicts between the paper trail records and the
electronic ballots in Cuyahoga County, Ohio are only two recent examples of how elections using DRE technology cannot be
trusted and how confusing the technology can be to voters. Evidence overwhelmingly confirms that, even with the addition
of a voter-verified paper audit trail, DREs cannot be made to serve our nation's need for universal citizen
enfranchisement. It would constitute a grievous error to further codify the use of DRE systems, as is currently done by
the redefinition of "voter verified paper ballot" found at the beginning of HR 811's Section 2(a)(1). We believe that
all voters should have equal access to accurate, secure, meaningfully observable, and verifiable election systems. DREs
have been touted as providing this kind of election system, but America’s experience with hundreds of documented DRE
failures and thousands of voters disenfranchised by them proves otherwise. Any voter required to use a DRE is at once
relegated to second-class status, given that other voters can vote on voter-marked paper ballots. Evidence shows that
voter-marked paper ballots, combined with existing ballot-marking interfaces, provide both equity and parity to disabled
and language minority voters in full compliance with ADA and HAVA.”...
NAtional: Essential Revisions to HR 811 LINK
National: John Bonifaz makes the case for amending Holt's HR 811 LINK
National: A Return To Sanity – Why We Must Eliminate Computerized Control Of Our Election System LINK
National: States work on proposals to make voting easier LINK
National: Opinion - Fixes for accurate vote counts LINK
National: Unreliable voting machines LINK
California: Orange County - Janet Nguyen is expected to be named winner in disputed O.C. supervisor's race LINK
California: Riverside County - California Focus LINK
Colorado: Montrose County - Report blisters Montrose over election trouble State finds ‘flagrant violations,’ demands
change immediately LINK
Colorado: Montrose County - State lambastes county election LINK
Connecticut: Bysiewicz to ask this week for vote audits LINK
Florida: CD-13 – Opinion - Never-ending campaign LINK
Florida: Sarasota County - Secretary of State’s FL-13 Audit Report Whitewashes Evidence of Voting Machine Problems in
Sarasota LINK
Florida: Touchscreen voting: vote of no confidence? LINK
Illinois: Call for new election audit rules in Illinois LINK
New Mexico: Paper Ballots are Better (NM Case Study) LINK
Texas: Bowie County will get new election equipment 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 26, 2007
Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org
While organizations like People For The American Way, Common Cause, and Miami-Dade Election Reform Coalition argue that
the continued use of DRE voting machines is necessary to support the foreign language speaking minority, they ignore
that those machines may, in fact, serve to disenfranchise more voters from that community than they help. A new study
from VotersUnite.Org proves that the undervote rate in minority communities in New Mexico plummeted when those
communities changed from DRE to optical scan voting systems. // According to BradBlog; “California's new Secretary of
State, Debra Bowen, has flatly rejected a request from Riverside County, CA County Supervisor Jeff Stone to participate
in a "hack test" challenge originally proposed to Election Integrity Advocates in response to their concerns about
security and accuracy for the county's electronic touch-screen voting machines.” ...
NAtional: 2004 and 2006 New Mexico Canvass Data Shows Undervote Rates Plummet in Minority Precincts When Paper Ballots
are Used LINK
National: REPORT: Undervote Rate Plummets 85% in New Mexico's Native American Precincts after Statewide Switch from
Touch-Screen Voting to Paper Ballots LINK
National: EAC Research Finds Polling-Place ID Laws Reduce Minority Voter Turnout LINK
National: Feinstein Calls for Probe Into E-voting Machines Senator asks GAO to look at potential for DRE malfunctions,
election fraud LINK
National: Fixes for accurate vote counts LINK
California: EXCLUSIVE: California SoS Finds No State Law to Prohibit Proposed Riverside County 'Hack Test' of Sequoia
Touch-Screen Machines! LINK
California: On Election Day, you've got mail LINK
Florida: Opinion - Accurate and Fraud-Free Elections Now: Florida's Solution LINK
Florida: Sarasota County - Computer Scientists Defend Voting Machines LINK
Florida: Sarasota County - Florida e-vote audit criticized by Jennings, activists State report says machines didn't
cause undervote of 18,000 LINK
Massachusetts: Royalston to try out new vote machines LINK
Maryland: Opinion - Don't replace voting system LINK
Missouri: Commentary - Make it easier, not harder, to cast ballot LINK
New Jersey: How to Fix Our Broken Voting System LINK
Texas: Texas Bill Would Require Voting Machine Paper Trail LINK
Texas: Matagorda County - Statewide election costly for county 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