Daily Voting News For December 5, 2008
Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org
The Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) was signed into law in Oct. 2002. Amongst other things HAVA required the
formation of the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) and provided some mandates, in Title III of the law, for federal
elections including some standards for voting systems. Those standards include, but are not limited to, accessibility
for voters with disabilities and accuracy in the vote count. Testing by experts in accessibility has shown that none of
the Direct Recording Electronic voting systems presently in use meet the requirements for accessibility. Failures in
testing and vote counting in real elections have also proven that, at times, the voting systems presently being used
across the country do not meet the federally mandated requirements for accuracy.
So what guidance has been provided by the EAC to the states with regards to Title III? Well, actually none. In fact
even though voting systems presently in use do not meet federal law the EAC is just now getting around to issuing
guidance to state and local election officials and, according to the draft of the plan ‘featured’ below, it is going to
take another two years before the EAC can complete the guidance.
Why can’t they just tell the vendors and the states that the law is clear and if they fail to follow that law
violations will be referred to the DoJ? The fact that the vendors misrepresent their products as being accessible is a
clear violation of the law. It is time they are held responsible and it doesn’t take two years of studying Title III of
HAVA to make that clear....
Featured: National: US EAC Draft Strategic Plan: Fiscal Years: 2009 through 2014 LINK
National: Election Reform and the Right to Vote: Part I
National: Fix The Voting System Now
The New Republic: The Election May Be Over, But The Problem Is Far From Gone LINK
California: Riverside County – Opinion - Registrar rallied to count votes LINK
Colorado: Colorado Election Reform Commission, Dec. 2, 2008 LINK
Georgia: Appeals court hears argument on voter ID LINK
Minnesota: Opinion - Not Every Vote Counts LINK
Minnesota: U.S. Senate recount results by county LINK
Minnesota: Franken Camp Claims To Be Winning Recount LINK
Minnesota: Franken pulls closer, but Coleman leads in Minn. LINK
Minnesota: More Missing Ballots in Coleman-Franken Race; Recount Extended LINK
Ohio: Senate pursues quick action on election reform
Bill would do what Brunner's summit warned against: rush changes into law LINK
Ohio: GOP move to alter Ohio voting law in lame-duck session sparks criticism LINK
Ohio: Ohio Election Summit starts to evaluate the 2008 election LINK
Oklahoma: Bill requiring photo ID is a bad idea ... once again LINK
Pennsylvania: Clarion County - County LWV hears concerns about electronic voting LINK
Vermont: Officials recount towns at random LINK
Washington: Coffee and Politics hosts secretary of state
Sam Reed spoke about improving the ballot system, illegal voting and other election issues. LINK
West Virginia: Ireland sticks by voting machines 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.**
*************
John Gideon
Co-Executive Director
VotersUnite.Org
www.votersunite.org
"To encourage citizen ownership of transparent, participatory
democracy." The Creekside Declaration March 22, 2008