Daily Voting News For November 4, 2007
Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org
Two elections so far this year and Cuyahoga Co Ohio is 0-2 in successful recounts. Both recounts were in small municipal
elections and in both cases the recounted voter verified paper trail (vvpat) votes failed to match the official machine
results. Why? Mistakes in counting? Not according to the county. The problem is that the vvpats are at times difficult
and sometimes impossible to read. These vvpats along with audits of those vvpat ballots are supposed to be an acceptable
solution to the problems with DREs. Cuyahoga Co is now concerned that they may have a close county-wide race that will
require many days of trying to decipher what is on the vvpat tapes. Remember that in Ohio the vvpat is the vote of
record in an audit so any damaged or unreadable ballots may be lost ballots and they could affect the results of an
election. This, again, is proof that adding a vvpat printer to a DRE is like adding a seat belt to a Pinto. Let’s “Rage
Against The Machines” and recall them all....
NAtional: Diebold/Premier Admits Memory Card Failure On Popular Optical-Scan Voting Machines With Elections Impending
Next Week, Company Downplays, Hides Failure Rate LINK
National: TIME: The 'Stampede Away from Touch-Screen' LINK
California: Monterey County - Pushing paper ballot envelope Electronics will be used only for counting LINK
Connecticut: Longing For The Certainty Of Levers, Curtain LINK
Florida: Sarasota County - Voting group plans to appeal ruling Appeals court struck down extra audits; state Supreme
Court is next LINK
Florida: Dent said complaint has no merit LINK
Indiana: Marion County - No replay of primary, officials say Election staff says plan is in place to ensure polls run
smoothly LINK
Ohio: Activists mourn 2004 election, Democracy LINK
Ohio: Cuyahoga County 0-for-2 in recounts Run-up to election gives officials pause LINK
Ohio: Cuyahoga County - Recount procedures, paper jams worry Cuyahoga elections officials LINK
Pennsylvania: Bradford County - Election officials provide voting tips LINK
Pennsylvania: Lackawanna County - A step-by-step look at voting on paper ballots LINK
Texas: State voter database working better LINK
Virginia: Voting problems mostly corrected LINK
Virginia: Botetourt County voters to get write-in help Voting involves typing the candidates' names using a touch-screen
keypad. 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 Co-Director and Information Manager VotersUnite.Org http://www.votersunite.org