Tuesday 3/29 Election Fraud, Reform, & Updates Thread

[MelissaB]

In order to organize and document I thought it would be a good idea to have a daily thread to place items related to reform, fraud, protests, and other items. This also make it easier to "catch up" when we are away from the computer for a while.

Please help us. If you see something that isn't here post it with a link to the thread and a thanks to the author. Thanks to everyone who is helping with this project.

Link to the thread from yesterday: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x349744

[dzika]

1. Videos - Selected news clips

Video - Daily Show: "George W. Bush has huge balls" - 3/28

This is a re-run that you might have missed. Be warned that there are some rude visuals.

Jon Stewart attempts to understand why Wolfowitz is nominated to head World Bank.



Video in Real Media format (6 minutes)

Video - CNN: Jesse Jackson at hospice supporting Schindler family - 3/29

Video in Real Media format (7 minutes)

Video - CNN: Man runs for hospice and is tasered by police - 3/29

As attention is focused on Jesse Jackson, a man makes a break for the hospice and makes it to the front door. He is eventually tasered and wrestled to the ground by police.



Video in Real Media format (3 minutes)

Video - MSNBC: Boy Scout director will plead guilty to child porn - 3/29

Not related but strange... In Dallas, TX, the National Director of Programs for the Boy Scouts of America will plead guilty to charges of child pornography.

Video in Real Media format (2 minutes)

[dzika]

2. BradBlog: Ring-Leaders of GOP 'Voting Rights' Front Group Active Partisans

March 28, 2005

'Non-Partisan' Ring-Leaders of GOP 'Voting Rights' Front Group Currently Very Active Partisans!

Hearne didn't bother to mention that he worked for Bush/Cheney '04 as their top attorney in his testimony. We're not positive, but fairly certain that no high-level Kerry/Edwards employees were invited to testify, whether they represented a phony "non-partisan" group like the ACVR or not.

-snip-

Jim Dyke, the group's press spokesman and website administrative and technical contact who, as well as being the 2004 Communications Director for the Republican National Committee, is also a current Fox News GOP Analyst according to Joseph Cannon (though he mentioned to us that, so far, he was unable to confirm that information). He does, however, offer a fine analysis of just one of the likely true missions for this group, and why they have suddenly appeared. And for the record, Cannon made note of this nascient and suspicious ACVR popping up the day before we did!

-snip-

Meanwhile, Ron Brynaert, a frequent BRAD BLOG commenter, and editor of Why Are We Back in Iraq? has been digging into more on our friend Thor (here and then here) and has uncovered, amongst other chestnuts, Hearne's featured speaking engagement at the Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA) shindig down at the Florida Chapter's 2005 kick-off on April 14th!

more here

DU thread

[Wilms]

24. Mystery Surrounds �American Center For Voting Rights� Group

Crawford Texas

Crashing The Party?

Mystery Surrounds �American Center For Voting Rights� Group


COLUMBUS, Ohio � A new voting rights group appeared last week, just in time to testify at U.S. Congressman Bob Ney�s (R-Ohio) House Administrative Committee hearings on the 2004 presidential election in Ohio. That state was fraught with voting inconsistencies, as documented by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) in reports to Congress earlier this year.

-snip-

Friedman claims that when he asked the name and location of the company that designed AVCR�s website, he was told it was done by a company in Dallas, but Dyke couldn�t remember the name of the company. Friedman published the Internic record of AVCR, whose domain name is ac4vr.com, where he says that Dyke is listed as both the administrative and technical contact for the domain and the address is listed as 8409 Pickwick Lane 299, Dallas, which Friedman says is a post office box at the UPS Store located there.

Said Friedman, �They claim to be a not-for-profit, non-partisan, tax exempt 501(c)3 organization, but have neither produced the paperwork for it as required by law, nor do they seek donations from the public on their website.�

-snip/more-

http://www.iconoclast-texas.com/News/13news02.htm

[dzika]

3. Brad Blog: Help Counter the ACVR/GOP Disinformation Campaign!

March 28, 2005

Help Counter the ACVR/GOP Disinformation Campaign!

Take Action Now!

The entirely and purposefully misleading 31-page report on Election Problems in Ohio that was produced by the fake "voting rights" group calling themselves the "American Center for Voting Rights" (ACVR) is now serving it's purpose by being propigated on Rightwing blogs and Internet sites who either don't bother to look into something before posting it, or (perhaps more likely) look, but don't care.

You are now needed to counter this dis-info!

A Google search for "American Center for Voting Rights" will produce several sites which are now running this report and which refer to this group as "non-partisan" (which all BRAD BLOG readers should know by now is a scam...See this, this, this and this if you don't already know that!)

more here

DU Thread

[dzika]

4. Cannon Fire: The propaganda doesn't stop (Election Reform Fraud)

From Cannon Fire:
March 23, 2005

The propaganda doesn't stop

Nice to know that I can still occasionally sneak ahead of Brad Friedman. I mentioned the American Center for Voting Rights (ACVR) a day before he did (though not by name, for some odd reason) -- although he was the first to note the eerie similarities between this allegedly "non-partisan" voting rights organization and Talon News.

Even though it had been in existence for less than a week, the ACVR was invited to testify before Congress on voter fraud. Odd. Why do left-wing groups have such a hard time getting into such forums? Did the ACVR make headway because the folks running this "non-partisan" organization all seem to have strong ties to the G.O.P.?

-snip-

Instead, the good folks at ACVR focus on an alleged epidemic of false registrations. As long-time readers will know, this topic has long been the G.O.P.'s preferred battlefield. Why? Because if the nation becomes sufficiently upset about registration issues, the Republicans will feel justified in harassing black voters at the polls with demands for two forms of identification.

-snip-

This issue provides right-wing operatives with an excellent opportunity to embroil the Democrats in a classic frame-up: As I've noted before, anyone can sign up a corpse as a Democrat. By "uncovering" crimes secretly committed by co-conspirators, the ACVR can stir up a phony scandal

-snip/more-

more here

DU Thread

[dzika]

5. Raw Story - The Paper Chase: (Be The Media-like Effort)

March 27, 2005

The paper chase is a way to help bypass government purchased pre-packaged news, as well as the mainstream media's lack of substantive reporting. The danger the lack of real information making its way to the people is apparent in the current state of affairs.

What the paper chase asks people to do is to simply: print, copy, and leave news wherever you go on a daily basis for twoweeks. We cannot simply reach the people on the Internet, because people generally go to the sites they like and the people we want to reach are largely unaware of our sites and may be disinterested.

We have to show them that what they are missing is the truth.

more here

DU Thread

[dzika]

6. Jerseyans on election reform: Who cares?

March 28, 2005

Jerseyans on election reform: Who cares?

By HERB JACKSON

Hundreds of thousands of New Jerseyans are sending the state a message that they're not happy with the political system. Yet even though the state makes the effort every year to ask people what they think, no one is listening to what they say.

This public survey comes on state income tax returns, when taxpayers are asked if they want $1 of their taxes set aside to provide public matching funds to candidates running for governor.

It could be just apathy, or it could be downright antipathy, but the number of taxpayers checking "yes" to this question has plummeted over the past decade. During the same period, political parties' soft money has made a mockery of the spending limits that were the original justification for public financing, and general public cynicism about government has mounted.

Just 603,000 taxpayers supported public financing last year, down 48 percent from 1994 and a faint echo of the all-time high of 1.9 million in 1981.

If taxpayers think checking "no" en masse will send a jolt into the political system, however, they don't know the system. The truth is, the checkoff has no effect on how much public money is spent on the governor's race, and it never has.

It doesn't matter if 300 taxpayers or 3 million check the "yes" box to earmark $1 into the Gubernatorial Elections Fund. State law says that all qualified candidates are entitled to receive matching funds regardless.

more here

[dzika]

7. Election Reform Conference 4/8-4/10 Nashville, TN

March 28, 2005

Election Reform Conference 4/8-4/10 Nashville, TN

Press Release: freepress.org

*National Conference on the 2004 Election and the Need for Election Reform

*Nashville, Tennessee, April 8-10, 2005

*BACKGROUND*

Since November 3, 2004, there has been a groundswell of concern, and a plethora of evidence, that the conduct of the 2004 Presidential election in the United States was highly problematic.

To date, most of the discussion and information sharing on the problems with the 2004 election have occurred in the virtual world of the Internet.

This three day Gathering To Save Our Democracy - A National Conference will provide the appropriate forum for expanding public awareness, for congregating the accumulated knowledge under one roof and for providing a platform for mobilizing support for election reform and justice.

*Nashville, Tennessee* is the setting of this conference. Nashville has a proud history of early successes in the 1960s civil rights movement, we are centrally located within a day's drive of 60% of the U.S. population, we have an international airport serviced by a dozen major airlines, and we have an energetic (and growing) band of citizen-activists for election reform in Tennessee to insure the successful implementation of this conference.

This conference will be a comprehensive and historic event that will bring together the "major players" who have surfaced in the dialogue over the problems with the 2004 election and the need for election reform. We hope that this conference will help break the media silence about the problems with the 2004 election within our country and provide a forum for increasing the world's attention to our threatened democratic principles. In addition, we will hold discussion sessions before and after the conference to exchange ideas and build coalitions to pursue the necessary elements of election reform and to redress our concerns with the 2004 election.

http://www.freepress.org/conf.php
Register:

http://www.freepress.org/conf_reg.php
Speakers Here:

http://www.freepress.org/conf_speakers.php

source

[dzika]

8. The Bush Bolsheviks Rock Kyrgyzstan

March 28, 2005

The Bush Bolsheviks Rock Kyrgyzstan

by Mike Whitney

�Ever since the continents started interacting politically, some five hundred years ago, Eurasia has been the center of world power�. America is now the only global superpower, and Eurasia is the globe's central arena. Hence, what happens to the distribution of power on the Eurasian continent will be of decisive importance to America's global primacy and to America's historical legacy.�

-- Zbigniew Brzezinski, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy And It's Geostrategic Imperatives (Basic Books, 1997)


�This isn�t a revolution; this is vandalism.�

-- unidentified 70 year old Bishkek woman commenting on the massive looting of the capital following last Friday�s coup.

Washington�s coup in Kyrgyzstan was an extraordinary example of imperial muscle flexing. Like the other recent regime changes in Ukraine, Georgia and Serbia, the fomenting of the �tulip revolution� was financed and supported by American NGOs working with opposition groups inside Kyrgyzstan. The pattern is unmistakable, but nonetheless breathtaking. Within a matter of hours the 14-year-old regime of Askar Akayev was swept away under the pretext of fraudulent elections and replaced with Washington�s favorite Kurmanbek Bakiev. Currently, the situation is fluid and there is no certainty as to whether Bakiev or the new head of security, Felix Kulov, will retain the top spot in the new government.

For those who are interested in America�s faux-revolutions, the �Secret report of the US Ambassador to Kyrgyz Republic Steven M. Young� makes for interesting reading. In its December 30, 2004 pre-election report there are more than a few choice nuggets that suggest the US was directly involved in toppling the Akayev government.

Excerpts from Ambassador Young�s memo: �Our primary goal -- according to the earlier approved plans -- is to increase pressure upon Akayev to make him resign ahead of schedule after the parliamentary elections Realizing the plan is of key importance as, we think, the present opposition is not strong enough to challenge the present authorities.�

Or this: �According to the materials we sent to the Department of State earlier, at present two formations are shaped on the political arena of Kyrgyzstan . . . Kurmanbek Bakiev, ex-prime minister and MP, as their single candidate for the presidential post. I think he is the most acceptable candidate in the aspect of fruitful development of relations between the USA and Kyrgyzstan.�

Okay, let�s summarize: Washington was directly involved in deposing a democratically elected leader (Remember, it wasn�t Akayev�s election that was being challenged, but the parliamentary elections) in a nation that poses no threat to America�s national security. According to the memo, the State Department contributed to the planning of the coup d�etat, even to the point of selecting an opposition leader.

more here

[dzika]

9. Journalist Is Contractor With Officials in Florida

March 29, 2005

Journalist Is Contractor With Officials in Florida

By CHRIS DAVIS and MATTHEW DOIG

At the same time one of Florida's most visible television reporters brought news to viewers around the state, he earned nearly a million dollars from the government agencies he covered.

The reporter, Mike Vasilinda, a 30-year veteran of the Tallahassee press corps, does public relations work and provides film editing services to more than a dozen state agencies.

His Tallahassee company, Mike Vasilinda Productions Inc., has earned more than $100,000 over the last four years through contracts with Gov. Jeb Bush's office, the secretary of state, the Department of Education and other government entities that are routinely part of Mr. Vasilinda's news reports. Mr. Vasilinda, a freelance journalist, was also paid to work on campaign advertisements for at least one politician and to create a promotional movie for Leon County. One of his biggest state contracts was a 1996 deal that paid nearly $900,000 to film the weekly drawing for the Florida Lottery.

Meanwhile, Mr. Vasilinda's reports continued to be shown on CNN and most Florida NBC stations.

...
"Journalists should be guided by a principle of independence," Professor Steele said, "and their primary loyalty should be to the public. When journalists have loyalties to a government office or government agencies, those competing loyalties can undermine journalistic independence."

more here

[garybeck]

10. do y'all know about the Voters Unite news page?

John Gideon does an amazing job of finding news stories relating to election:

http://www.votersunite.org/news.asp

If you send him an email you can get the daily list by email too.

-Gary

[MelissaB]

25. Thanks, Gary!

:hi:

I had that site bookmarked, but didn't know about the articles. It has been a while since I've been there.

[dzika]

11. Partisan Polarization Intensified in 2004 Election

March 29, 2005

Partisan Polarization Intensified in 2004 Election

Only 59 of the Nation's 435 Congressional Districts
Split Their Vote for President and House

By Dan Balz

Political polarization intensified during the 2004 elections, continuing a trend that has defined voting behavior for most of the past decade and that has left the two major parties increasingly homogenized and partisan.

Only 59 of the 435 congressional districts went in different directions in presidential and House elections last year, according to newly released data from the political analysis firm Polidata. In the remaining districts, voters either backed both President Bush and the Republican House candidate or John F. Kerry and the Democratic House candidate.

The findings came as no surprise to election experts but as confirmation of patterns that now appear ingrained in American politics. In 2000, there were 86 such "split-ticket" districts, and in 1992 and 1996, there were more than 100 such districts.

...
"You have parties that are ideologically more homogenous than they used to be and you have congressional parties that are more active in partisan activities all the time, rather than just closer to the election," said Mark Gersh of the National Committee for an Effective Congress, an organization that provides Democrats with analysis and advice about congressional and presidential voting patterns.

more here

[dzika]

12. Facts not hard to find

March 29, 2005

Facts not hard to find

Marco Chinchay's letters are usually diatribe, but his most recent one attacking former candidate Roberts Braden was particularly disgusting, this time bringing his students into the fray.

Now to address what Chinchay was denying (and yes, Chinchay's 12-year-olds could easily do a Google on these facts but let's leave the kids out of this one). In his letter, Chinchay denies "the companies that manufacture software to tally vote counts have ties to the GOP." His letter would have made more sense if he simply stated it is a non-issue (which is debatable). But for a teacher to claim that there are no ties with the overwhelming evidence to the contrary is at best irresponsible.

His has been typical of conservative letters of late. Not only have these letters been wholly untrue but vehemently deny the obvious to obfuscate the real discussion an argument that is worthy of discussion. But if our educators cannot even acknowledge the issues, we are in worse trouble than we thought.

Here's the information Chinchay failed to Google: Walden O'Dell, chief of Diebold, is "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year." Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, after approving Diebold voting machines broke the law by requesting corporate donations to re-elect Bush.

Randall Stone, Chico

more here

[dzika]

13. Ohio group's soul purpose is political

March 29, 2005

Ohio group's soul purpose is political

by Roberta deBoer

If Russell Johnson has his way, it won't be your parents' Republican Party much longer.
"In their little political gatherings and cocktail meetings at the country club, they can't build that kind of loyalty . They can't spend millions to buy what our people will give for free," the Ohio pastor told the New York Times.

Thought Ohio's culture wars would settle down after November? Wrong.

In a fascinating story, the Times outlined a plan by the religious-right wing of the GOP to wrest control. First backing Ken Blackwell for governor, "the group hopes to build grassroots organizations in Ohio's 88 counties and take control of local Republican organizations."

The Times described "a blueprint calling for Patriot Pastors to register 500,000 new voters ��.��. . then inform and energize them with voter guides, rallies, and so-called e-prayer networks."

Hoping to raise $1 million, the group might create a political action committee to fund candidates.

In a March 14 letter, Tony Perkins, head of the ultra-conservative Family Research Council, reported on his recent Ohio visit, including a speech to nearly 3,000 people at one church.

more here

[dzika]

14. Turning on DeLay

March 29, 2005

Turning on DeLay

By Howard Kurtz

In media terms, it's an earthquake almost as loud as Walter Cronkite turning against the Vietnam War.

Tom DeLay has got to be thinking: Et tu, Wall Street Journal?

Let's be clear: The Journal's editorial page, champion of conservatives and scourge of liberals, has a biblical quality for many on the right. They look to it for guidance, if not divine inspiration.

...
The Journal editorial summarizes what it calls the "rap sheet" against DeLay: The earlier citations, such as offering to endorse then-congressman Nick Smith's son for office if Smith would vote for the Medicare prescription drug bill. The fundraising probe by a Texas prosecutor (a "partisan Democrat"). The junkets, such as one to the Northern Marianas Islands with lobbyist-under-investigation Jack Abramoff, who represented the garment industry there. And guess what? DeLay later led an effort to extend the Islands' exemption from U.S. immigration and labor laws.

...
The Beltway wisdom is right. Mr. DeLay does have odor issues. Increasingly, he smells just like the Beltway itself."

It gets more pungent as it goes on:

"The problem, rather, is that Mr. DeLay, who rode to power in 1994 on a wave of revulsion at the everyday ways of big government, has become the living exemplar of some of its worst habits. Mr. DeLay's ties to Mr. Abramoff might be innocent, in a strictly legal sense, but it strains credulity to believe that Mr. DeLay found nothing strange with being included in Mr. Abramoff's lavish junkets.

more here

[dzika]

15. Bush Shows No Remorse for Fake Newscasts

March 29, 2005

Bush Shows No Remorse for Fake Newscasts

by William Fisher

NEW YORK, Mar 29 (IPS) - Despite a rising chorus of condemnation from journalists and media critics, the George W. Bush administration shows no signs of abandoning its distribution of taxpayer-funded "news" to U.S. newspapers, radio and television stations.

Free press advocates are up in arms about what they say is the covert dissemination of propaganda by government agencies.

In one case, the administration -- seeking to build support among black families for its education reform plans -- paid a prominent African American pundit, Armstrong Williams, 240,000 dollars to promote the "No Child Left Behind" law on his nationally syndicated television show and through his newspaper column, and to urge other black journalists to do the same.

Two other nationally known journalists, Maggie Gallagher and Michael McManus, have also admitted accepting thousands of dollars to endorse government programmes.

Since 2001, the Army and Air Force Hometown News Service has fielded 40 reporters, producers and public affairs specialists to create "good military news" to be beamed to home audiences via local news stations. The service's "good news" segments have reportedly reached 41 million Americans via local newscasts -- in most cases, without the station acknowledging their source.

More than 20 different federal agencies used taxpayer funds to produce television news segments promoting Bush administration policies. These "video news releases," or VNRs, were broadcast on hundreds of local news programmes without disclosing their source.

And the military's TV outlet the Pentagon Channel, which formerly targeted the armed forces, is now available to U.S. citizens via every satellite and cable operator.

more here

[Wilms]

16. (FL) Senate OKs statewide voter catalog - ...Thousands could lose vote

Senate OKs statewide voter catalog

Sancho: Thousands could lose voting rights

By Bill Cotterell

DEMOCRAT POLITICAL EDITOR

Tue, Mar. 29, 2005

A Senate committee approved creation of a statewide voter-registration master list Monday, with Leon County Elections Supervisor Ion Sancho warning that thousands of voters have lost their rights every time the state has tried to set up a database.

The Senate Ethics and Elections Committee also approved abolition of runoff primaries. The runoffs were suspended in 2002 and 2004 but will come back next year if the Legislature doesn't stamp them out.

-snip-

But Sancho told the committee that "since 1998, through 2004, we have not been error-free on elections" due to faulty list-keeping at the state level. He cited repeated attempts to purge convicted felons from registration rolls, which resulted in county supervisors refusing to use lists, sent from Tallahassee, because of numerous errors.

"One of the reasons that we run into problems is what I call the over-bureaucratization of the election process," Sancho said. "We've let too many lawyers run this process."

-snip-

Sancho said the division tried to create voter databases in 1998, 2000 and 2004. He said the state got so many complaints in 1998 that it told counties to stop using the database and that in 2000, "no stop-order was given" and it was estimated that "between 5,000 and 50,000 voters were disenfranchised" by inaccurate listings.

-snip/more-

http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/11253860.htm

[Wilms]

17. (OH) Diebold to tally local votes

Diebold to tally local votes

2005-03-28

By David Laber
Athens NEWS Writer

Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell has chosen Canton-based Diebold, Inc., to provide Athens County its optical-scan voting system after the Athens County Board of Elections deadlocked on the choice in February.

On Feb. 9, the Athens County Board of Elections voted 2-2, with Democrats Susan Gwinn and William Lavelle voting for the Elections Systems & Software machines, and Republicans Howard Stevens and Dick Mottl voting for the Diebold Election Systems machines. Both systems operate with optical-scan ballots.

On an optical-scan ballot, voters fill in circles with pencils to designate for whom they want to vote, and then a machine scans in the results. The process is like taking a standardized test that's graded electronically.

As a result of the tie vote, Kathy Kyle, Athens County Board of Elections director, asked Blackwell to break the deadlock, which he did on Friday.

-snip/more-

http://www.votersunite.org/article.asp?id=5075

Discussion thanks to GaryBeck:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x350243

[Wilms]

18. MoveLeft: Voting Rights: The Bizarro World's Panel to Improve Elections

MoveLeft.com

Voting Rights: The Bizarro World's Panel to Improve Elections

by Eric Jaffa, Tuesday, March 29, 2005

In 2000, Al Gore and George W. Bush finished so close in the first count of the votes in Florida, that the state's recount law went into effect.

James Baker, however, stopped Florida's recount law for close elections from being carried out.

Would you want James Baker on a Voting Rights panel?

Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) refused to cosponsor the "Voter Confidence Act" to require paper ballots.

Would you want Tom Daschle on a Voting Rights panel?

The company VoteHere opposes elections in which votes are verified with paper ballots stored at the polling place. It says, we'll give you a code-number receipt to walk away with instead, just TRUST US (more in Notes section).


Would you want the Chairman of the Board of VoteHere on a Voting Rights panel?

Apparently, someone does.

-snip/more-

http://www.moveleft.com/moveleft_essay_2005_03_29_voting_rights_the_bizarro_world_version_of_a_panel_to_improve_elections.asp


DU Discussion, thanks to the author:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x350353

[tommcintyre]

19. The Digital Voting Dilemma Continues

Original thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1350767

2004 ER&D thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x350413

GNN, March 29, 2005
The Digital Voting Dilemma Continues

In mid-February, Black Box Voting, together with computer experts and videographers, under the supervision of appropriate officials, proved that a real Diebold system can be hacked.

This was not theoretical or a "potential" vulnerability. Votes were hacked on a real system in a real location using the actual setup used on Election Day, Nov. 2, 2004.

<SNIP>

This hack stunned the officials who were observing the test. It calls into question the results of as many as 40 million votes in 30 states. We are awaiting the response of the House Judiciary Committee to this new development for their investigation.

Full Article: http://gnn.tv/headlines/1716/Blackbox_Voting_Investigation_Update

[dzika]

20. Video - Crossfire: Bush, Hastert running away from DeLay

March 29, 2005

Video - Crossfire: Bush, Hastert running away from DeLay - 3/29

Republicans are moving away from Tom DeLay. Mentions Wall Street Journal article on DeLay ethics scandal.



Video in Real Media format (1 minute)

[Wilms]

21. (IA) Counties find problems in buying new voting equipment

Counties find problems in buying new voting equipment

by Tim Harwood, KKRF, Stuart

March 29, 2005

The state of Iowa is distributing funds for voting equipment, but local officials are still faced with challenging options as they try to comply with the Help America Vote Act. Guthrie County's 85-hundred registered voters cast their ballots at 17 polling locations. But state funding would only cover a little more than half of the county's expenses for putting a new, approved voting machine in each precinct.

As a result, County Auditor John Rutledge says local leaders are considering precinct consolidation, as are other counties around the state. "Everybody sees the financial benefit from consolidating, but there's a lot of emotional ties to the precincts people have always voted at, and each county is trying to address that in a manner that is both responsible, but yet conscious of the fact that it's going to make it harder on voters."

-snip-

He says "We know that it's going to create some controversy, because it's going to increase the travel time for a lot of people. What we're trying to stress is that this is not our decision, it's just something we're forced to comply to."

-snip/more-

http://www.radioiowa.com/gestalt/go.cfm?objectid=97B88A64-1DFA-4DF4-8AD360DF6E9CDAAD

[Wilms]

22. (CT) Vote verification a big question with electronic machines

NEW BRITAN HERALD

Vote verification a big question with electronic machines

By PENNY RIORDAN, Staff Writer

29 March, 2005

Lawmakers at all levels of government agree that electronic voting machines will improve voting on Election Day, but before the machines are in the possession of registrar of voters across the state, a number of concerns need to be worked out in pending state legislation.

-snip-

As legislators and the Secretary of the State�s Office are working out the details of the bill that would establish guidelines for the machines, the question of how to verify a vote is being debated.

Most computer experts and lawmakers agree that a vote needs be verified through a paper copy that is printed before a person officially votes on a computer screen, but it is unclear how that paper copy will be made accessible to those who are blind.

-snip/more-

http://www.newbritainherald.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14238485&BRD=1641&PAG=461&dept_id=10110&rfi=6

[Wilms]

23. (CT) State to replace old voting machines

State to replace old voting machines

NEW BRITAN HERALD

By ERIC REED
Staff Writer

29 March, 2005

NEW BRITAIN -- The state of Connecticut is replacing its voting machines, and the League of Women Voters believes that everyone should understand exactly how this may affect them.

-snip-

According to True Vote Connecticut�s website, the touch screen variety of electronic machines also comes in two distinct forms: one which simply keeps track of the votes on a computer, and which simultaneously tracks the votes on a computer as well as paper ballots. The optical machines through their nature keep simultaneous computer and paper records.

The group asserts that the change from mechanical voting to electronic voting is in response to two stipulations of HAVA, the first being that each precinct must allow those with disabilities access to a voting machine, and the second requiring a permanent paper record from each machine. The group estimates that this compliance could cost the state as much as 12 to 18 million dollars.

The League of Women Voters has its concerns regarding just how well these machines will serve Connecticut�s voters, and is holding a discussion tonight at 7:15 p.m. to address the issue.

-snip/more-

http://www.newbritainherald.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14232015&BRD=1641&PAG=461&dept_id=10110&rfi=6

[MelissaB]

26. Teresa Heinz Kerry get a mention again.

(This is negative, but at least people will know that some people doubt the results of the last election.)

Jewish World Review March 29, 2005 / 18 Adar II, 5765
Thomas Sowell

Random thoughts
http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | Random thoughts on the passing scene:


Nolan Ryan's baseball career was so long that he struck out seven guys whose fathers he had also struck out. (Barry Bonds and Bobby Bonds, for example.)


Why do some people use a fancy mathematical term like "parameters" when all that they really mean is boundaries?


Teresa Heinz Kerry's latest loony statement � that pro-Bush hackers could have gotten into the electronic voting machines during last year's election � gave me my first misgivings about having criticized her. She may not be playing with a full deck.

More: http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell032905.asp

[MelissaB]

27. This also appears

The Conservative Voice: http://www.theconservativevoice.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=4266

and Random thoughts: http://www.townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/ts20050329.shtml

[Wilms]

28. (NY) Lawmakers should offer optical-scan mode choice for local government

How we will vote

N.Y. lawmakers should offer optical-scan mode as choice for local governments.

Opinion for Tuesday 3/29/05

New York legislators face more than a budget deadline. Time also is running out on them to make a decision about new voting machines to replace the state's 20,000 lever-style dinosaurs now in use.
If lobbyists for the voting-machine companies have their way, the lawmakers will be smooth-talked into high-priced, touch-screen equipment that looks and feels high-tech but carries liabilities.

A better alternative, in voting security, cost and ease of storage, would be the optical-scan systems that have been used safely and successfully for the past 20 years in a number of states. Oklahoma, for instance, has all but one of its 3,000 optical-scan machines still in operation after 15 years, says Bo Lipari, an Alpine resident and director of New Yorkers for Verified Voting.

-snip-

Scan machines make more sense for cash-strapped counties. They also make sense for voters, who deserve the peace of mind that their vote has been counted and noted on a nonelectronic record. For lawmakers, this really should be a simple choice. The optical-scan ought to be their pick, but if not, at least a local option.

-snip/more-

http://www.star-gazette.com/headlines/Tuopin1.html

[Wilms]

29. .