Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Mon. 06.19.06– Father’s Day Edition

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FATHER’S DAY EDITION…



THEY SACRIFICED IN MANY WAYS.

SELMA ALABAMA—VOTING RIGHTS ON THE LINE.
THEY SACRIFICED IN MANY WAYS.
ARE YOU READY FOR THE NEXT SELMA?

Never forget the pursuit of Truth.
Only the deluded & complicit accept election results on blind faith.
Denying that 2004 was stolen is like denying global warming.

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Monday June 19, 2006

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.

Please post Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News on this thread.
1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web.
2. Post stories using the "Election Fraud and Reform News Sources" listed here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x371233
3. Re-post stories and announcements you find on DU, providing a link to the original thread with thanks to the Original Poster, too.
4. Start a discussion thread by re-posting a story you see on this thread.
Please

"Recommend"

for the Greatest Page

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1. Mark Crispin Miller’s Open Letter to Salon – Which Salon Did NOT Print

Can you believe those people. Anti intellectual and now anti free and open debate.

WHY WON’T YOU REPRINT THIS SALON?

BECAUSE IT MAKES THEM LOOK LIKE FOOLS ON A “fools erand.”

IT SEEMS THAT ‘the professor and the political forum” have Salon on the run.

("This is truly breath taking. Manjoo has cast aside the all-powerful Fitrakis and provided new culprits, the users of DemocraticUnderground.Com and the ubiquitous Mark Crispin Miller. We have no room but to conclude that either (a) Kennedy independently concluded what the axis of the blogosphere, DU and Miller discovered, or worse; (b) he has fallen under the spell of a powerful mind control unit represented by the professor and the political forum.)"

Mark Crispin Miller: Some Might Call It Treason
Monday, 19 June 2006, 11:23 am
Opinion: Mark Crispin Miller
Some Might Call It Treason: An Open Letter To Salon

By Mark Crispin Miller
Link: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0606/S00246.htm

Two weeks ago, Rolling Stone came out with "Did Bush Steal the 2004 Election?" -- a masterful investigative piece by Robert Kennedy, Jr., arguing that Bush & Co. stole their "re-election" in Ohio, and pointing out exactly how they did it. Primarily because of Kennedy's good reputation, and the mainstream credibility of Rolling Stone, the article has finally opened many eyes that had been tightly shut to the grave state of American democracy.

One week after Kennedy's article appeared, Salon posted an attack upon it by Farhad Manjoo, the magazine's technology reporter. That piece contained so many errors of fact and logic, and was throughout so brazenly wrong-headed, that several hundred readers sent in angry letters, many of them brilliantly refuting some of Manjoo's misconceptions and mistakes, and quite a few demanding that Salon cancel their subscriptions.

A few days later, Joan Walsh, Salon's editor, tried to calm the storm with a defense of Manjoo's writings on the theft of the 2004 election -- a theft that he had frequently addressed before, as he had been trying to "debunk"it ever since that infamous Election Day. Walsh did not answer any of the criticisms of Manjoo's attack, but merely re-asserted Salon's confidence in all his work for them.

At this point I decided to reply, both to Manjoo's piece (which, as I note below, had wrongly used my own work on election fraud to further slander Kennedy's) and to Joan Walsh's apologia. My point was not just to pile on (there was no need for that), but to attempt an explanation as to why so many reasonable people -- many of them self-described "progressives" -- keep refusing to perceive the copious and ever-growing evidence that this regime has never been elected. It was my hope that Salon might at least consider moderating its position on election fraud, which now demands more serious treatment than the magazine has thus far given it.

I sent the letter to Salon on Tuesday. June 13. Two days later, I received an email from them telling me that they would not be posting it. "In terms of the Ohio election fraud issue," wrote Jeanne Carstensen, "we don't feel your letter, as passionately argued as it is, adds anything substantially new to the debate, which we've covered the hell out of already."

I believe that that assertion too is wrong, and that the issues here are far too grave for "the debate" to be thus prematurely halted; and so I'm very pleased that HuffPost has agreed to run my e-mail as an open letter.


www.electionfraudnews.com

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2. THE LETTER: Mark Crispin Miller’s Letter to Salon

THE LETTER SALON WAS AFRAID TO PRINT

June 13,2006

Dear Joan,
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0606/S00246.htm

I'd like to thank Salon for touching off this spirited debate on Farhad Manjoo's argument with Robert Kennedy, Jr., and also want to thank you in particular for your own personal defense of Manjoo's writings on election fraud. I am especially impressed by your desire "to place this debate in its proper political context." Such careful explanation is exactly what we need; and so I'd like to help shed just a bit more light upon that context, by clarifying the record as you have described it.

In defense of Manjoo's writings since Election Day 2004, you claim (just as he has often claimed) that Salon cares tremendously about the problem of election fraud, and always has: "Salon has aggressively covered Republican efforts to suppress Democratic voter participation going back to December 2000," and has "followed the story doggedly ever since." In 2002, you claim, "Manjoo expanded Salon's coverage of our flawed election system with a special focus on the problems with electronic voting." Since then, you write, "e has approached his stories on the massive problems with voting in this country in the same way, with an open mind." In his zealous drive to learn the truth, you say, "he did not find evidence" of any widespread fraud in Georgia in 2002 (where Democrat Max Cleland lost his Senate seat, surprisingly, to Saxby Chambliss, and Democrat Roy Barnes was, also surprisingly, ousted as governor by Sonny Perdue). And, two years later, you remind us, Manjoo found nothing to confirm the view that fraud decided Bush's re-election in Ohio.

And so Salon has, for the last six years, been searching earnestly for "evidence" of fraud, and finding nothing but "unproven charges." If I may say so, this version of your history is not credible. First of all, it begs the question -- for there is vast evidence of fraud, as the letters you've received make wholly clear. Certainly you have the right to keep insisting that there is no evidence, and Manjoo certainly has every right to quibble with whichever single claim he may perceive as bogus or exaggerated. Neither move per se, however, can negate the copious, precise and ever-growing evidence of massive fraud in 2004, any more than the tobacco companies could negate the evidence that cigarettes are lethal, or the US religious right suppress the evidence of natural selection, or of global warming. As it's the evidence that matters above all, Salon's readers ought to be encouraged to study it themselves, and not accept mere claims about it, whether yours or mine.

So let me move beyond that fundamental argument, and make a more specific criticism of your recent statement in defense of Salon's treatment of election fraud. That statement obscures the fact that Manjoo's attitude toward his subject -- and, therefore, Salon's position -- has been strangely inconsistent. On the one hand, you are surely right to say that he has done some excellent reporting on the looming danger of election fraud -- before Nov. 2 of that fateful year. Back then he did a fine job covering several sinister developments, including the shenanigans of Nathan Sproul, a theocratic activist whose firm, Sproul & Associates, conducted bogus voter-registration drives in at least six states, covertly registering people as Republicans without their knowledge, and often trashing forms filled out by Democrats. (As I point out in Fooled Again, my book on the 2004 election, SEC records suggest that Sproul may also have abetted the subversion of the recount in Ohio.) In fact, I thought so highly of Manjoo's reporting pre-Election Day that I was often guided by it in my own research for Fooled Again, and therefore even thanked him warmly in the book's acknowledgments (p. 349). Considering such trenchant work throughout the presidential race, it seemed, to say the least, quite odd that Manjoo suddenly and absolutely shifted ground as soon as Bush's unexpected victory was official. Where he had indeed been dogged and impartial in exposing some real threats to the integrity of the election, ex post facto he seemed far less interested in dealing with the evidence of GOP malfeasance than in jeering every effort to discuss it. Instead of careful scrutiny of that evidence, he resorted mainly to sarcastic hooting and ad hominem assault -- the same tactics that the Bush Republicans themselves have always used to cast all argument about their unexpected win as sheer insanity.

See entire letter at “Scoop”
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0606/S00246.htm

Mark Crispin Miller is the author of "Fooled Again: How the Right Stole the 2004 Election & Why They'll Steal the Next One Too (Unless We Stop Them)".


www.electionfraudnews.com

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3. Distinguished Election Law Attorney Arnebeck Speaks – Defends RFK Jr.

Link: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0606/S00196.htm

Cliff Arnebeck was the attorney of record in 2000 and 2004 presidential challenges. He’s an Ohio attorney who practices with fellow activist and attorney BOB FITRAKIS. He’s knowledgeable and incisive. Read the whole article. It’s great.

Arnebeck Response To RFK Jnr. 04 Election Article
Thursday, 15 June 2006, 11:03 am

Opinion: Guest Opinion
My Response To Manjoo's Salon Critique

By Cliff Arnebeck

I was counsel of record in litigation over both the 2000 Ohio Supreme Court election and the 2004 Ohio Presidential election.

I write in response to the Salon Magazine article challenging Robert Kennedy, Jr.'s Rolling Stone Magazine article which asserts that the 2004 Presidential election was stolen.

In his response to RFK Farhad Manjoo correctly points out that in the 2000 election, Democratic state supreme court candidate Alice Resnick got more votes than Al Gore in dozens of counties -- and by 126,000 more votes throughout the state.

However, this was a truly exceptional situation, and those familiar with it would not argue that it disproves Kennedy’s thesis.

As part of their plan to pack the Ohio courts with business friendly justices, the Ohio and US Chambers of Commerce in year 2000 spent a total of some $7 million of illegal corporate money attacking Justice Resnick.


www.electionfraud.com

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4. Cliff Arnebeck’s Work in Our Behalf – Ohio 2004 – He knows theft!!!

Ohio's Election Challenged by Recount and Lawsuit

Link: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0412/S00175.htm

Wednesday, 15 December 2004, 12:36 pm
Article: Between The Lines
****************
Between the Lines Q&A
A weekly column featuring progressive viewpoints
on national and international issues
under-reported in mainstream media
for release Dec. 13, 2004
http://www.btlonline.org
****************

Ohio's Official Presidential Election Results Challenged by Recount and Lawsuit Filed in State Supreme Court - Interview with Cliff Arnebeck, lawyer representing the Alliance for Democracy, conducted by Scott Harris

H

Listen in RealAudio: http://www.btlonline.org/arnebeck121704.ram

After a series of citizen-initiated hearings, protests and independent investigations into voting irregularities in Ohio, Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell certified the results of Ohio's Nov. 2nd presidential election, declaring George W. Bush the winner over John Kerry by a margin of 119,000 votes. However, critics immediately launched two separate challenges against the official tally.

The Green and Libertarian parties jointly filed a request for a recount of the votes cast in all of Ohio's 88 counties, backed by $113,000 raised to pay required state fees. Cliff Arnebeck, an attorney representing the Alliance for Democracy and 25 Ohio voters, will or has filed a lawsuit with the Ohio Supreme Court contesting the validity of the state's election results based on documented cases of voter suppression, miscounts of thousands of votes and a pattern of shortages of voting machines in predominately African American precincts.

In addition, Democratic Rep. John Conyers of Michigan convened a congressional hearing Dec. 8th to investigate voting irregularities in Ohio, supported by outgoing Democratic National Committee Chair Terry McAuliffe, who called for a study of the problems experienced by voters there. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with attorney Cliff Arnebeck, who describes the evidence of voting irregularities which led him to file a lawsuit before Ohio's Supreme Court -- and the potential for overturning the results of the national election.

Cliff Arnebeck: Citizen groups here in Ohio have been raising questions about the irregularities that occurred in this election and there are two procedures under Ohio law for challenging, and after-election challenge. Both of them are actually supposed to commence after the certification of the election by the secretary of state. The Green Party candidate and Libertarian Party candidate will file a request for a recount, a recount on a statewide basis. Also, on behalf of 25 voters we will be filing an election contest. And this is more like a conventional litigation in a special statutory procedure before the Ohio Supreme Court. In that process, we will conduct discovery and seek to prove that the irregularities in this election, if corrected would produce a different result, and indeed, John Kerry was the person who Ohioans voted for.

www.electionfraudnews.com/

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13. Arnebeck was Bob Dole's camapign attorney in 1988. Lucky for our side, he

has seen the light. That is why Fitrakis is often the brunt of attacks while few attempt to take on Cliff. BTW Dole was expected to win NH over HW in 1988, (but a giant swing in the polls) found HW the winner. Perhaps the bush family has Sununu to thank.

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5. Katherine Yurica Weighs In--Supports RFJ Jr on Stolen Election 2004

Activist Katherine Yurica Responds and Supports RFK Jr & Claim of Stolen 2004

Link: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0606/S00211.htm

Katherine Yurica: A Vast Political Misfortune
Thursday, 15 June 2006, 3:57 pm
Opinion: Katherine Yurica

A Vast Political Misfortune

Or Why Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is Correct in His Assessment
of the Late 2004 Election (which was sadly murdered by the G.O.P.,
may it rest in peace). And Why Salon .com’s Article Attacking Kennedy is Wrong.
By Katherine Yurica
June 11, 2006

It has been reported that Lysenko, the Soviet biologist, made the following demonstration during a lecture: he put a flea on his desk and said, "Jump!" Presently the flea jumped. He then removed the flea's hind legs and said, "Jump!" again. This time the flea did not jump. "Observe, gentlemen," said Lysenko: "This proves that when you remove the flea's hind legs, its hearing is impaired.
- Monroe Beardsley

If one is an old Ent, one does not like to be hasty. However, circumstances have a way of forcing themselves upon us and occasionally we are called upon to analyze something minutely, which nowadays goes against the grain, in as much as thinking, itself, is out of style. This latter fact is lamentable, but let us not tarry on it. Instead, let us go forward, analytically speaking.

On June 3, 2006 Farhad Manjoo, a 27 year old writer for Salon .com, penned a denunciation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s article, “Was the 2004 Election Stolen? ” published by Rolling Stone. Mr. Manjoo mentioned that many major studies and analyses of the 2004 election existed, and then lamented that those studies were followed by “legions of activists, academics, bloggers and others who’ve devoted their post-Nov. 2 lives to unearthing every morsel of data that might suggest the vote was rigged.”

You can easily note that Mr. Manjoo and Salon .com are not in a generous mood in their essay. The very best of his ungracious statements is this one: “If you do read Kennedy’s article, be prepared to machete your way through numerous errors of interpretation and his deliberate omission of key bits of data.” Oh dear, Mr. Manjoo’s words are so, so violent—so uncharitable to the innocent sentences as well as to the guilty ones, if there are in fact any guilty ones at all. For starting with Mr. Manjoo’s very first assertion, which I admit was so convincing on the surface that the Yurica Report posted a warning to its readers to drive by with caution when reading and slow down to a crawl when passing Mr. Kennedy’s powerful imagery.

Alas, Mr. Manjoo and Salon.com make the mistake of holding Mr. Kennedy to the literal meaning of words and quotes, much like critics of the Bible do, but just as metaphors are not meant to be taken literally by the poets who penned them, statistics are not meant to be taken literally either. Numbers are metaphors that need interpretation (a fact Mr. Manjoo admits, but transgresses when he asks us to anoint him:

www.electionfraudnews.com/

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6. GA: Voting Rights Violation in Process—Voter ID’s Not done! 30 days to El

...ection!!!

Nice work Carter-Baker Commission. You called for a national Voter ID against the objections of many. Right here on ERD News, we predicted that this would give cover to some states anxious to further disesnfranchise minority and poor voters. Well, guess what, Georgia passed a law that many objected too and other staetes did as well. AND now Georgia is taking it’s sweet time to get the ID’s out. What an obvious ploy to deny people the vote. You know Carter opposed Voter ID laws previous to the Commission hearings. Wonder why he changed his mind? Maybe it’s his son Chip’s Senate bid in Nevada. Dad wants to make sure only those qualified vote. Chip is looking good after popular Las Vegas Mayor, Oscar Goodman dropped out before the primary

accessNorthGA.com
Less than month to Georgia primaries, new voter IDs not issued

06.18.06

The Associated Press – ATLANTA
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/politics/14848894.htm
Georgia's July 18 primary elections are less than a month away and still the state's voter ID cards haven't been issued.

The state Board of Elections on Monday is expected to approve final rules governing the state's new photo voter IDs. The rules must still be approved by the U.S. Department of Justice but state Elections Board Chairman Tex McIver said that will be little more than a formality and could come as soon as Monday afternoon. The Justice Department has already approved the state's new voter ID law.

McIver said that barring intervention by the courts, officials could probably begin issuing the voter ID cards by the end of the month.

"I think we are going to be ready for the primary," McIver said. "It's just down to a ministerial function now."

The rules the board will consider Monday involve who gets the photo ID cards, what hours the issuing sites must be open, and what documents can be used to obtain the cards.

Only voters without a driver's license, passport or other valid government-issued photo ID will need the new ID cards.


www.electionfraudnews.com/

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7. No Voter ID”s in Georgia – Associated Press Coverage

Here’s what the Associated Press distribution of the story got in a few hours. Not ½ bad. Remember, AP did a release after the Kennedy article that garnered some good stories.

Google News Search: election fraud


Georgia voter IDs still not issued
The Westfall Weekly News, Canada - 6 hours ago
... to have a driver‘s license. Supporters, including Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue, say it is needed to crack down on voter fraud

.
Georgia voter IDs still not issued
Sacramento Bee, USA - 6 hours ago
... vote. Bondurant said that allowing such documents undermines what supporters say is the purpose of the law, preventing voter fraud
. ...
Georgia voter IDs still not issued
Pierceland Herald, Canada - 6 hours ago
... to have a driver‘s license. Supporters, including Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue, say it is needed to crack down on voter fraud
.
Georgia voter IDs still not issued
Hinesberg Journal, Canada - 6 hours ago
... to have a driver‘s license. Supporters, including Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue, say it is needed to crack down on voter fraud
.
Georgia voter IDs still not issued
CBS News - 6 hours ago
... vote. Bondurant said that allowing such documents undermines what supporters say is the purpose of the law, preventing voter fraud
. ...
Sort by relevance Sorted by date
Georgia voter IDs still not issued
Brocktown News, USA - 6 hours ago
... to have a driver‘s license. Supporters, including Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue, say it is needed to crack down on voter fraud
.
Georgia voter IDs still not issued
Jackson News-Tribune, WY - 6 hours ago
... to have a driver‘s license. Supporters, including Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue, say it is needed to crack down on voter fraud
.
Georgia voter IDs still not issued
The Kindred Times, Utah - 6 hours ago
... to have a driver‘s license. Supporters, including Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue, say it is needed to crack down on voter fraud
.
Georgia voter IDs still not issued
Ottawa Recorder, Canada - 6 hours ago
... to have a driver‘s license. Supporters, including Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue, say it is needed to crack down on voter fraud
.
Georgia voter IDs still not issued
Herald News Daily, ND - 6 hours ago
... to have a driver‘s license. Supporters, including Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue, say it is needed to crack down on voter fraud
.
Georgia voter IDs still not issued
Leading The Charge, Australia - 6 hours ago
... to have a driver‘s license. Supporters, including Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue, say it is needed to crack down on voter fraud
.
Georgia voter IDs still not issued
Olberlin, KS - 6 hours ago
... to have a driver‘s license. Supporters, including Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue, say it is needed to crack down on voter fraud
.
Georgia voter IDs still not issued
Ely Times, USA - 6 hours ago
... to have a driver‘s license. Supporters, including Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue, say it is needed to crack down on voter fraud
.
Georgia voter IDs still not issued
Sky Valley Journal, USA - 6 hours ago
... to have a driver‘s license. Supporters, including Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue, say it is needed to crack down on voter fraud
.
voter IDs still not issued
Boston Globe, United States - 6 hours ago
... vote. Bondurant said that allowing such documents undermines what supporters say is the purpose of the law, preventing voter fraud
. ...

Georgia voter IDs still not issued
phillyBurbs.com, PA - 6 hours ago
... vote. Bondurant said that allowing such documents undermines what supporters say is the purpose of the law, preventing voter fraud
. ...
Georgia voter IDs still not issued
Mcalester News Capital, OK - 7 hours ago
... vote. Bondurant said that allowing such documents undermines what supporters say is the purpose of the law, preventing voter fraud
. ...
Left-winger ignites Mexican poll
The Standard, Hong Kong - 7 hours ago
... that they are also going to respect the outcome of this election and the ... chief campaign strategist said their camp would accept defeat "unless there is fraud
.". ...
Georgia voter IDs still not issued
Seattle Post Intelligencer - 7 hours ago
... vote. Bondurant said that allowing such documents undermines what supporters say is the purpose of the law, preventing voter fraud
. ...
Georgia voter IDs still not issued
Times Picayune, LA - 7 hours ago
... vote. Bondurant said that allowing such documents undermines what supporters say is the purpose of the law, preventing voter fraud
. ...
Georgia voter IDs still not issued
San Francisco Chronicle, USA - 7 hours ago
... vote. Bondurant said that allowing such documents undermines what supporters say is the purpose of the law, preventing voter fraud
. ...
Georgia voter IDs still not issued
Guardian Unlimited, UK - 7 hours ago
... vote. Bondurant said that allowing such documents undermines what supporters say is the purpose of the law, preventing voter fraud
. ...
Georgia voter IDs still not issued
Contra Costa Times, CA - 7 hours ago
... vote. Bondurant said that allowing such documents undermines what supporters say is the purpose of the law, preventing voter fraud
. ...
Georgia voter IDs still not issued
Forbes - 7 hours ago
... vote. Bondurant said that allowing such documents undermines what supporters say is the purpose of the law, preventing voter fraud
. ...
Georgia voter IDs still not issued
phillyBurbs.com, PA - 6 hours ago
... vote. Bondurant said that allowing such documents undermines what supporters say is the purpose of the law, preventing voter fraud
. ...
Georgia voter IDs still not issued
Mcalester News Capital, OK - 7 hours ago
... vote. Bondurant said that allowing such documents undermines what supporters say is the purpose of the law, preventing voter fraud
. ...
Left-winger ignites Mexican poll
The Standard, Hong Kong - 7 hours ago
... that they are also going to respect the outcome of this election and the ... chief campaign strategist said their camp would accept defeat "unless there is fraud
.". ...
Georgia voter IDs still not issued
Seattle Post Intelligencer - 7 hours ago
... vote. Bondurant said that allowing such documents undermines what supporters say is the purpose of the law, preventing voter fraud
. ...
Georgia voter IDs still not issued
Times Picayune, LA - 7 hours ago
... vote. Bondurant said that allowing such documents undermines what supporters say is the purpose of the law, preventing voter fraud
. ...
Georgia voter IDs still not issued
San Francisco Chronicle, USA - 7 hours ago
... vote. Bondurant said that allowing such documents undermines what supporters say is the purpose of the law, preventing voter fraud
. ...
Georgia voter IDs still not issued
Guardian Unlimited, UK - 7 hours ago
... vote. Bondurant said that allowing such documents undermines what supporters say is the purpose of the law, preventing voter fraud
. ...
Georgia voter IDs still not issued
Contra Costa Times, CA - 7 hours ago
... vote. Bondurant said that allowing such documents undermines what supporters say is the purpose of the law, preventing voter fraud
. ...
Georgia voter IDs still not issued
Forbes - 7 hours ago
... vote. Bondurant said that allowing suc


www.electionfraudnews.com/

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20. AP: About 675,000 Georgia voters lack photo ID, state analysis says

AccessNorthGA.com

The Associated Press - ATLANTA
More than 675,000 Georgia voters lack the photo identifications most commonly used in the state to vote, according to an analysis released Monday by Secretary of State Cathy Cox.

A database match between the state's files of registered voters and records of the state Department of Drivers Services shows 676,246 had no record of a drivers license or non-driver photo ID.

http://www.accessnorthga.com/news/ap_newfullstory.asp?ID=76688

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8. MO: BoE Official Says NO to ID Law—MO Voter ID Law Challenged

Thanks WENDY NOREN, believer in democracy from Boone County Missouri….There are good people out there…it’s time for citizens to take charge. Challenge the lies and deceit put forth by HAVA and its friends.

Missourian
Officials may challenge voter ID law
Boone County Clerk Wendy Noren says the law might keep eligible voters from the polls.

http://columbiamissourian.com/news/story.php?ID=20295

By DARLA CAMERON

June 18, 2006

Boone County election officials might challenge a new law that requires most voters to show Missouri-issued photo identification at the polls, Boone County Clerk Wendy Noren said Friday.

Noren said she plans to discuss the law with a lawyer because it was not funded by the General Assembly. She is also angry because she said the law might keep eligible voters from the polls.

“Let’s say your purse gets stolen the day before the election,” Noren said. “Should I not let you vote? Is that appropriate in America?”

The bill was signed into law by Gov. Matt Blunt on Wednesday, and on Thursday the state had already issued one voter identification card in Columbia and 28 statewide, said Maura Browning, spokeswoman for the Department of Revenue.

www.electionfraudnews.com/

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9. TN: Queasy about E-Voting, Columnist Wont take Stand on Likely Corruption

I almost feel sorry for Kelly and the people of this district. There are some very good questions in this article and it’s “balanced.” What has happened is rational people no longer fear that abuse of the public trust will take place. The author acknowledges that the machines can be misused for fraud he just doesn’t take a stand and say, bull shit., throw them in the lake; which would be appropriate given the corruption rampant in government today. Don’t news people assume corruption given ample opportunity, as in electronic voting? They should.

June 18, 2006Test of faith on the ballot

commercialappeal.Com. Memphis, TN. Michael Kelley
Electronic voting, which has backers and detractors,gets first big test here in August voting

June 18, 2006
If Mississippi can hold an election with electronic voting machines, by golly, Tennessee can, too. And if that pep talk isn't persuasive, we can all cross our fingers and hope for the best.

We'll find out if there really is anything to worry about on Aug. 3 in Shelby County, when voters go to the polls to make dozens of decisions in the county general election and state and federal primaries.

It will be the first large-scale deployment of the county's new $4.2 million fleet of Diebold Elections Systems state-of-the-art direct-recording electronic (DRE) machines with touch-screen technology.

Most Mississippi counties inaugurated a new Diebold system in primary elections earlier this month (DeSoto County was an exception, having opted for an electronic competitor), and it was a largely positive experience.

Last month's primary in Arkansas, in which another brand of electronic machines was used, was fraught with difficulties. But those problems were largely attributed to training and readiness issues, not essentially to the machines themselves.


www.electionfraudnews.com/

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10. NJ: Serious Charges of Tabulation Manipulation in Jersey

OK, what’s the book on this…5 to 1 the fraud took place. No bets accepted after midnight. FogerRox, you know anything about this.

pressofAtlanticCity.com
Depositions set to begin in challenge to A.C. BOE vote

By MICHAEL PRITCHARD Staff Writer, [phone]
Published: Sunday, June 18, 2006
Updated: Sunday, June 18, 2006
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/story/6444595p-6300218c.html
ATLANTIC CITY — A hearing in Board of Education candidates George Crouch and John Devlin's challenge of the April 18 board elections has been set for July 24 and depositions in the case are set to begin.

Among those to be deposed in the case are City Council President Craig Callaway, who participated in collecting about 1,500 absentee ballots — which included about 900 messenger ballots — in the election.

Crouch and Devlin, along with board member Shay A. Steele, appeared to have a substantial lead at the polls April 18, but they ended up losing to Callaway-backed candidates Pam Jones, Scott Evans and Joel Nunez after the absentee ballots were counted.

A later recount then gave Steele a seat over Nunez.

Crouch and Devlin have charged fraud in the handling of the absentee ballots, especially messenger ballots, which are used to allow people too sick to reach the polls to vote.


www.electionfraudnews.com/

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11. CA: Sequoia Ownership Questioned

http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_3952365

Article Last Updated: 6/18/2006 02:52 AM

InsideBayArea.Com Oakland Trubune
Sequoia's ownership raises new concerns
Foreign firm controls local voting systems company, causing scrutiny by politicians

By Ian Hoffman, STAFF WRITER

Inside Bay Area
For three years, the nation's two largest suppliers of voting machinery have driven feverishly for sales and shown the symptoms of overextension — missed deliveries, faulty equipment and breach-of-contract lawsuits.

Until recently, the supplier running a close third, Sequoia Voting Systems, kept a lower profile than competitors Diebold and Election Systems & Software, while quietly snapping up sales of voting systems on both coasts, all of Nevada and Louisiana, as well as Chicago and Cook County.

With a $13.3 million contract signed Friday by Alameda County, Oakland-based Sequoia arguably became the dominant voting-system maker in California, with more counties thanany other.

But a controversy over Sequoia's foreign ownership could upset its quiet, sell-what-you-can service strategy.

Politicians in the Windy City and CNN newsman Lou Dobbs suggested recently that the federal government was derelict in not having investigated Sequoia and its acquisition last year by Smartmatic, a Boca Raton, Fla., firm largely owned by Venezuelan businessmen.

[Wilms]

12. VoteTrustUSA: CNN Continues Coverage Of E-Voting - Warren Stewart Guest

CNN Continues Coverage Of E-Voting

By Beth Feehan, VoteTrustUSA
June 18, 2006

CNN's Lou Dobbs has continued to cover the threat of Electronic voting to our Democracy. On his June 13 program he focused again on security vulnerability. His guests included Warren Stewart, VoteTrustUSA's Director of Legislative Issues and Policy. A video of the segment can be downloaded and viewed here. A transcript of the segment follows:

snip/link to video

http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1405&Itemid=26


Discussion

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x434943

[rumpel]

14. CA: Touch-screen voting's steep learning curve

San Francisco Chronicle

John Wildermuth, Chronicle Political Writer
Monday, June 19, 2006

While 21 more California counties made the leap into touch-screen voting in this month's primary election, problems continued to surround the controversial electronic systems.

Across the state, troubles linked to the high-tech systems delayed voting, slowed counting and left people questioning the results of tight elections.

"I'm still feeling that electronic voting is not ready for prime time," said Kim Alexander, president of the California Voter Foundation, a nonpartisan group that deals with issues of voting and technology.

While the election featured the usual glitches and hiccups that accompany any statewide vote, a number of problems stood out:

-- In Kern County, early morning voters were told to come back later when numerous voting machines could not be used because county election officials failed to purge the voter access cards of the codes from the last election.

-- In at least one Stockton precinct, state-required security seals were pulled from the voting machines, which then were not taken out of service, as state rules require.

-- Precinct workers in San Diego were allowed to keep the touch-screen machines in their homes, under minimal security, for as long as three weeks before the June 6 election, leading Democratic activists to call for a hand count of all ballots in a close congressional race.

The continuing complaints and problems with various electronic voting systems probably will force the state and its counties to take a hard look at whether the move toward high-tech voting is worth the trouble.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/06/19/EVOTING.TMP

[rumpel]

15. WI:Incumbent Secretary of State Douglas La Follette has a primary opponent

Wisconsin State Journal

MON., JUN 19, 2006 - 1:25 PM

PHIL BRINKMAN
608-252-6145
[e-mail]
To understand just how marginalized the office of Wisconsin's secretary of state has become, one need only dial the department's main phone line.

Callers are greeted by the voice of longtime officeholder Doug La Follette, who informs them if they're calling about corporations and filings under the uniform commercial code - and many are - to "press one."

Doing so transfers the caller to another agency altogether, the Department of Financial Institutions, which has handled such registrations since former Gov. Tommy Thompson created the department 10 years ago.

Press 2 to go to the operator and ask about elections, another common question, and you'll be instructed to call the state Elections Board. Want to register as a lobbyist? That would be the state Ethics Board.

Over the years, the once-powerful office - the secretary is third in the line of succession to the governor - has been largely disassembled and now serves primarily as a repository for the official acts of the Legislature.

Most descriptions of the office begin by noting the secretary is the keeper of the Great Seal of the state, a hulking 19th Century cast-iron press used to stamp official documents.

But now La Follette, who has owned the office for 28 of the last 32 years, is facing his first Democratic primary fight since 1990.

While challenger Scot Ross has never run for public office before, the longtime campaign operative is at least as well known as La Follette among party insiders and, if a recent straw poll of Democratic activists is any indication, better liked.

The winner of the Sept. 12 primary will take on the winner of the Republican primary between R.J. DeBaufer of Sun Prairie and Sandy Sullivan of Mauston.

Why the interest? Why the sudden interest in the office that time forgot? Ross said he wants to restore to the office the authority to oversee elections, taken away in 1974.

http://www.madison.com/wsj/mad/top/index.php?ntid=88078&ntpid=1

[rumpel]

16. OH: Problem found in optical scan voting system ( Blackwell in action!)

Akron Beacon Journal

Posted on Mon, Jun. 19, 2006

Hudson candidate sees flaw with write-in vote procedure
By Lisa A. Abraham
Beacon Journal staff writer
Mike Moran is positive that he voted for himself May 2 as a Democratic committeeman from Hudson precinct 1C.

He's sure that he not only wrote his name on his ballot next to ``write-in,'' but also filled in the oval on the ballot next to ``write-in'' -- both of which are required by Ohio law.

He's also convinced that other friends and family members wrote his name in as well.

Yet, somehow, Moran managed not to get elected to the precinct post.

The Summit County Board of Elections has the paper ballots. To Moran, the situation is a no-brainer -- go back and look at the them to find out.

But Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell's office said no -- the ballots can't be touched.

Moran is one of 28 write-in candidates for precinct committee spots -- 25 Democrats and three Republicans -- who failed to get elected in the primary.

Their nonelections have revealed a problem with the county's new optical-scan voting system, and are giving election officials a lesson in the kind of issues they have to be on the alert for in the future.

snip

According to directives from Blackwell's office, when the board conducted its official count -- it was to use the information stored on the precinct memory cards -- not run all of the ballots through tabulators again. So the ballots from Hudson 1C -- which could show whether Moran was elected -- were not touched by the board.

snip

Once the election was certified May 31, candidates had five days under the law to request a recount. Moran said he got a letter in the mail on Saturday, June 3, telling him that he had not been elected. By the time he was able to ask about his race, it was Tuesday, June 6, and too late to request a recount.

http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/14852113.htm

[rumpel]

17. MI: ROCHELLE RILEY: Facts, fiction, votes

Election reformers enlist county clerk
Backers of instant-runoff voting want Ann Arbor council to amend city charter
Monday, June 19, 2006
BY ART AISNER
News Staff Reporter
Unable to garner enough signatures to place instant-runoff voting on the city's ballot, a group of local residents who want to bring the unconventional voting back to Ann Arbor are trying a different approach.

The Ann Arbor Fair Vote Coalition, comprising people from multiple political parties, recently enlisted Washtenaw County Clerk Larry Kestenbaum to draft a proposal asking the Ann Arbor City Council to approve placing the measure on the ballot this November by amending the city charter.

Instant runoff voting (IRV) is a ranked-choice system that accommodates more than two candidates in an election for a single-winner seat. Voters rank the candidates in order of preference and if no candidate designated as a first choice receives a majority, the one with the fewest votes is eliminated. Those votes then transfer to the second-ranked candidate, the ballots are recounted, and the process repeats until one candidate has a 51 percent clear majority and is declared the winner.

Citing frustration with "wasted votes'' for candidates not aligned with either major political party who often play spoilers in heated partisan contests, supporters say the initiative is a fair way to include all political views in the process and ensure the winner has true majority support.

http://www.mlive.com/news/aanews/index.ssf?/base/news-18/115072821639590.xml&coll=2

[rumpel]

18. CO: Judge orders Holtzman off GOP primary ballot

NBC Channel 9 News

posted by: Dan Viens Web Producer
Created: 6/19/2006 9:05 AM MST - Updated: 6/19/2006 3:02 PM MST


DENVER (AP) - A judge ordered Republican gubernatorial candidate Marc Holtzman's name taken off the August primary ballot Monday.

The ruling came after Holtzman said he planned to take his legal battle to get into the primary to the state Supreme Court.

Denver District Court Judge Robert Hyatt stayed his order for 48 hours to give Holtzman time to appeal. Holtzman said he was asking the state's high court to take the case because it would end up there on appeal anyway.

The rapid-fire developments were the latest in Holtzman's weekslong quest to get on the ballot after the secretary of state ruled he had not gathered enough valid signatures to qualify.

Holtzman said his campaign workers have been verifying signatures, but the process takes six minutes per signature. Going through the remaining signatures would take more than two weeks.

Holtzman is asking the the State Supreme Court to lift a law requiring 1,500 signatures from each district to petition to get on the ballot. Secretary of State Gigi Dennis says Holtzman is short a few hundred signatures in the 1st and 7th congressional districts.

http://www.9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGNAME=KUSA&IKOBJECTID=ecd2ed20-0abe-421a-01d1-a2514ada81a0&TEMPLATEID=0c76dce6-ac1f-02d8-0047-c589c01ca7bf

[rumpel]

19. KS: WyCo’s Haley to run for Kansas Secretary of State

Kansan.com

Published: Monday, June 19, 2006 10:13 AM CDT

State Senator David Haley this week announced that he will run for Kansas Secretary of State, saying that voters, businesses and taxpayers are searching for new leadership and a new direction in how the statewide office operates.

“We can do a better job of protecting the right to vote and have that vote count,” Haley said. “We can do a better job of providing small business with accurate information to expand, and a better job of promoting open government and holding elected officials accountable for following our campaign finance laws.”

“We can do it all — if we realize that our job isn’t just to govern but to inspire,” Haley said.

Haley, known as a fiscal conservative, hopes to implement measures to curb waste and abuse in state government to save taxpayers money and guarantee continued support for public schools, criminal justice, and access to health care. He has sponsored a range of important reforms, from campaign finance and reporting to prohibiting unfair seizures of private property.

http://www.kansascitykansan.com/articles/2006/06/19/news/news3.txt

[rumpel]

21. TX: State Officials Checking Friedman, Strayhorn Petitions (e-validation)

June 19, 2006 10:47 AM
The Associated Press

Election officials will do final checks of voter signatures collected by independent gubernatorial candidates Carole Keeton Strayhorn and Kinky Friedman.

Both seek to make the November ballot and challenge Republican Governor Rick Perry.

The Democratic nominee is Chris Bell.

snip

The Secretary of State's Office hired a private firm, TELA Technologies of Houston, for electronic data entry on the petitions.

Those electronic documents were due back to the state Monday. An announcement on whether Strayhorn and Friedman make the ballot could come by Wednesday.

http://www.kxan.com/Global/story.asp?S=5049787&nav=0s3d

[rumpel]

22. California Election Protection Network Issues 'NO CONFIDENCE' Declaration

for Busby/Bilbray Election!

Bradblog

BLOGGED BY Brad ON 6/19/2006 12:06PM

'Election Conducted Under Illegal Conditions…No Proof of Legitimacy,' Says Statement
Calls for Manual Hand Count of Ballots Paid for by Registrar Whose 'Bungled Procedures Invalidated Original Machine Count'

The California Election Protection Network (CEPN) has issued a 'No Confidence' Resolution in regard to the Busby/Bilbray Election held on June 6th in San Diego County.

The non-partisan election watchdog network, comprised of more than 25 election integrity groups, has also issued a press release this morning announcing that the elections held in SD County "were conducted under illegal conditions" due to the Registrar having sent voting machines home for overnights with poll workers for days and weeks prior to election day, in direct violation of state and federal rules, laws and provisions.

The statement goes on to call for a manual hand count of the ballots to be paid for by the SD County Registrar, charging that the office has the "obligation to conduct a proper election, not bill the people to pay for his blunder."

A few grafs from that news release today:

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=2979&print=1

[Wilms]

32. Discussion

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x434957

[rumpel]

23. OH: Stop complaining, fix election errors (editorial)

News Herald

Monday 19 June, 2006

Instead of learning from past failures and taking steps to mend them, Cuyahoga County Elections Director Michael Vu is fanning the flames of more gloom and doom.
Vu envisions long lines and litigation stemming from the new state requirement that voters provide a form of identification beginning in November.
Acceptable forms of identification include: a driver's license, state photo ID, military ID, utility bill, bank statement, paycheck, government check or other government documents showing the voter's name and address.
Vu should take care of his own back yard. He should insist from every county elections employee and poll worker that Cuyahoga County quickly reverse its reputation for bungling elections.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16807719&BRD=1698&PAG=461&dept_id=21846&rfi=6

[rumpel]

24. CO: County target of federal lawsuit

Voting machines touch off debate



June 19, 2006
By Thomas Munro | Herald Staff Writer
The touchscreen voting machines recently purchased by La Plata County have come under vociferous attack by voting-rights advocates and have made the board of county commissioners a target in a federal lawsuit.

The complaint by a group of Colorado voters, which claims several voting machines certified by Colorado's secretary of state are vulnerable to fraud, spends a page each on machines built by three other companies but devotes more than three pages to the Diebold AccuVote-TSX. It features an analysis of the machine by security expert Harry Hursti that the complaint said "rocked the computer security world."

"The most interesting thing about that flaw is that it's dumb," said David Dill, professor of computer science at Stanford University. "It's like having a shared computer with no password on it."

Hursti claimed that, with little more than a standard PC memory card and a minute or two of physical access to the machine, he could install malicious code that could alter the outcome of an election without ever being detected.

County Clerk Linda Daley said there were many checks and balances safeguarding the machines in La Plata County.

"I feel confident they cannot be tampered with," Daley said.

http://durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/06/news060619_1.htm

[rumpel]

25. CA: Bush Election Theft Saga Heats Up In Ohio

Media Monitors Network

by Evelyn Pringle
(Monday June 19 2006)
"In any event, between the media coverage and the involvement of Republican politicians all over the state, critics say it would be next to impossible to find a jury pool anywhere in Ohio who has not heard about the scandal."

Ohio's Governor Bob Taft, and his partner in crime in stealing the 2004 election in Ohio, President George W Bush, have a lot in common. Bush holds the record for the lowest approval ratings of any President in US history, and at a whopping 26%, Taft holds the title for the lowest approval rating for any Ohio governor since the University of Cincinnati started the poll 25 years ago in 1981.
And Taft's numbers are not likely to head upward any time soon. In what can only serve as another reminder of his conviction in 2005 on ethics charges, on June 13, 2006 the Ohio Supreme Court ordered Taft to turn over documents in response to a request by state Senator, Marc Dann, a Democratic candidate for attorney general, which Dann contends may help determine what happened to the money missing from state's Bureau of Worker's Compensation Fund.

http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/31541

[rumpel]

26. UT: SL County Seeking Alternate Poll Workers

KCPW Newsroom, Saltlake City

Jun 19, 2006 by Julie Rose
New Voting Machines Require Extra Training

(KCPW News) New touch-screen voting machines promise simplicity for voters, but they're proving a logistical headache for elections officials. Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen is in a rush to round up 100 back-up poll workers to train on the new equipment:
"Because of the training involved with the new equipment, we can't any longer rely on just pulling a registered voter in on election day," says Swensen. "So we had to put in a process to train people in advance and be on stand-by in case a poll worker doesn't show up."

Swensen says the County's 1,700 poll workers have received up to five times as much training as previously required, and in some cases are being paid three times as much to run the new machines on Election Day. Primary elections in other states using touch-screen machines have struggled with poll workers not showing up and others not trained to fill in. Swensen says Salt Lake County's poll workers have responded well to the extra training.

http://www.kcpw.org/article/978

[rumpel]

27. AZ: Suit alleges enfringement of disabled voters' rights

Nogales International.com

Monday, June 19, 2006
By Gabriel R. Romero

Santa Cruz and 12 other Arizona counties are being sued along with Secretary of State Janice Brewer for allegedly attempting to infringe upon the voting rights of the disabled.

Judy Leiken, Alejandro Chavez, Thomas Ryan and Sonja Elison filed the lawsuit in Maricopa County's Superior Court last month against Pima, Greenlee, Yuma, La Paz, Apache, Coconino, Gila, Maricopa, Mohave, Navajo, Pinal and Yavapai counties.
Leiken and Ryan reside in Pima County while Elison and Chavez reside in Maricopa County.

Arizona, which has been an all-paper ballot, optical scan voting state, entered contracts at the end of December 2005, with the three major system vendors for Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting equipment. Brewer intends to use funds from the Help America Vote Act passed by Congress in 2002 to purchase these machines. The machines are intended to satisfy the federal mandate for providing one disability accessible voting system in every polling place.

But according to Maricopa Superior Court records, the plaintiffs "seek to prevent (the counties) from using electronic voting systems that do not satisfy state requirements for accuracy and disability access and that present unacceptable risks of inaccuracy, vote manipulation and malfunction."

The DREs do not accommodate individuals who are visually impaired or physically unable to punch in a vote, the court records stated.

Some of the machines are not certified by the secretary of state, which violates Arizona statutes.

Response

http://www.nogalesinternational.com/articles/2006/06/19/news/news11.txt

[rumpel]

28. GA: Voting rights high on black elected officials' agenda

By S.A. REID
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/20/06

Preserving black voting rights and honoring civil rights icon the Rev. Ralph David Abernathy top the agenda this weekend in Savannah for the convention of the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials.

Hundreds of delegates from around the state are expected to attend the 36th annual summer conference that runs Thursday through Sunday at Savannah State University.

Ambassadors from Ghana and Namibia are scheduled to be at the convention, an annual opportunity for black elected officials to network and discuss and organize around issues of importance to GABEO members and their constituents. Founded in 1970, the group meets three times a year.

Other luminaries invited include Oprah Winfrey, the Rev. Al Sharpton, NAACP Chairman Julian Bond, National Urban League president and CEO Marc Morial, Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan, Rainbow/PUSH Coalition founder the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and former Atlanta mayor and U.N. ambassador Andrew Young.

"Last year, we had over 1,000 delegates," said Tyrone Brooks, a state representative from Atlanta and GABEO president. "We're expecting a similar turnout this year. This is going to be a very exciting weekend."

For the second consecutive year, GABEO will salute a civil rights legend and former Southern Christian Leadership Conference president.

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/0620metgabeo.html

[rumpel]

29. MD: Lawmakers: Early Voting Rights Will Boost Ballot Numbers

WPTO Radio

Jun 19th - 4:28pm

Darci Marchese, WTOP Radio

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Do you find it difficult to vote on Election Day because of your hectic work schedule?

Maryland Democrats think many residents do, and joined together outside the Statehouse on Monday to rally for early voting laws.

The rally comes as the state Board of Elections determines whether to certify or reject approximately 20,000 petitions submitted by a group trying to restrict early voting. Marylanders for Fair Elections seeks to to prevent early voting this November and instead put the question on the ballot.

But Democrats say the time is now to allow nurses, firefighters, police and others the right to vote early, since they can't always make it to the polls.

http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=25&sid=825629

[rumpel]

30. elsewhere...Bangladesh: Tall order to be a voter

Front Page
Tue. June 20, 2006
Applicants have to submit a raft of documents
Shakhawat Liton

People applying for being registered as voters will have to submit receipts of municipal tax or house rent or payment to local guards, and affidavit on age or attested copy of SSC certificate with their applications in prescribed form.
"No one will get the prescribed Form No-2 to get his or her name on the voter list if he or she fails to submit the required documents with the application for this," a senior official at the EC Secretariat told The Daily Star yesterday.

Such strict provisions, in addition to the Election Commission's (EC) decision that there will be no door-to-door visit for preparing voter list for the next parliamentary election, will further discourage people to get listed as voters, election officials fear.

On the procedure the EC on June 12 decided to follow for amendment, correction and inclusion of names in the existing voter list, several district election officials said people eligible to be voters will now face tremendous difficulties to get listed.

"Will the villagers be able to meet the requirements to apply for being enrolled as voters?" one official questioned.

http://www.thedailystar.net/2006/06/20/d6062001022.htm

[rumpel]

31. India: Observers to monitor local body polls

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 19, 2006

Special Correspondent

They can stop counting of votes

Notification says observer will have the powers to stop counting of votes
Observers can also withhold declaration of result

CHENNAI: The State Election Commission will appoint observers to oversee the conduct of local body polls scheduled later this year.

A government notification to amend Tamil Nadu Third Grade Municipalities and Municipal and Corporation Councils (Elections) Rules, 1996, said: "The State Election Commission may nominate an observer who shall be an officer of the Government to watch the conduct of election or elections in a third grade municipality or municipality or corporation or a part or a group thereof within a Revenue Division or a part of Revenue Division or a group of Revenue Divisions and to perform such other functions as may be entrusted to him by the State Election Commission."

The notification, issued on June 15, said the observer would have the powers to stop counting of votes and withhold declaration of result, if convinced that booth capturing had taken place in a large number of polling stations or that ballot papers or electronic voting machines were unlawfully taken out of the custody of the presiding or returning officer.

http://www.hindu.com/2006/06/19/stories/2006061916360600.htm

[Algorem]

33. OH - Cuyahoga says they counted wrong so now Republican is on ballot

Correction revives contest
GOP write-in makes cut for Nov.; election worker idled

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1150792278190860.xml&coll=2

Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Joan Mazzolini
Plain Dealer Reporter

A counting mistake recently discovered by a Cuyahoga County Board of Elections employee changed the results in the May 2 primary for a Republican running for the Ohio House.

The miscount incorrectly showed that write-in-candidate John Patrick Hildebrand did not have the 50 votes necessary to get on the November ballot, meaning no one would have appeared as the Republican candidate for state representative in the 13th District.

With the corrected count, Hildebrand will be the Republican candidate, facing Democrat Mike Skindell.

Elections board director Michael Vu said the employee who made the mistake is on administrative leave...




can't trust them to tell you their own number

Elections board mails out a wrong number
Saturday, June 17, 2006http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1150533162181290.xml&coll=2v
Joseph L. Wagner
Plain Dealer Reporter

The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections is still having trouble with its numbers.

The latest problem came recently when the board mailed letters to 45,000 registered voters in Fairview Park, Gates Mills and North Olmsted in preparation for special elections in those towns Aug. 8.

The letter explains what documents voters need to take to the polls to prove their identification before voting, under a new state law. And it closes by telling voters that they can call the board if they have additional questions.

...The telephone number listed on the letter is wrong...