Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, FRI. Oct. 27, 2006 -

[rumpel]

For my daughter - Happy 18th Birthday!
We want to pass on to you, a World that has all the foundations of a harmonious existence for your generation to build on.


enjoying our home planet...
http://www.jplrecclubs.caltech.edu/hiking/main.html


All members welcome and encouraged to participate.

Please post Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News on this thread.

If you can:

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.ph ...

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.


If you want to know how to post "News Banners" or other images, go here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph ...

Link to previous Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph ...

All previous daily threads are available here:
http://www.independentmediasource.com/DU_archives/du_20 ...

[rumpel]

1. Recap: Autorank/TIA: Election Fraud 2006 – Quantifying Risk - Where & How Much

thanks to althecat

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2474379

[rumpel]

2. A Call For Volunteers To Maintain VOTE FRAUD INTELLIGENCE THREADS.....

thanks to althecat

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=post&forum=203&topic_id=454985&mesg_id=454986

[rumpel]

3. VideoTheVote! [Video]

thanks to emlev

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2481730&mesg_id=2481730

[rumpel]

4. OH: Petro to appeal voter-ID ruling over Blackwell's objections

The Columbus Dispatch

By Alan Johnson
The Columbus Dispatch
Friday, October 27, 2006 10:30 AM

Attorney General Jim Petro has decided to appeal a federal judge's ruling on voter identification requirements — over the objections of Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell.

Petro this morning filed a notice of appeal with the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals contesting the ruling made just last night by Judge Algenon L. Marbley of U.S. District Court in Columbus.

Blackwell, the Republican candidate for governor, decided last night not to appeal Marbley's ruling putting new voter ID requirements on hold.

But his morning Petro, also a Republican, proceeded with the appeal.

“Our goal is to protect the right to vote and make sure no voter is disenfranchised and to defend the lawfully enacted state law,” Petro spokesman Mark Anthony said.

A Blackwell spokesman last night said the secretary of state “has an election to administer and doesn't have the time to get caught up in endless litigation.

http://www.columbusdispatch.com/news-story.php?story=222472

[rumpel]

5. WA: Secretary of state expects 67 percent voter turnout

Associated Press
Last updated: Friday, October 27th, 2006 06:18:33 AM

OLYMPIA -- Washington's top election official is predicting a 67 percent voter turnout for the general election on November seventh.

The forecast by state Secretary of State Sam Reed is for the largest turnout in more than three decades for a nonpresidential election. Democrats say they expect to benefit from a larger turnout -- and so do Republicans.

http://www.kxly.com/news/index.php?sect_rank=4§ion_id=603&story_id=5833

[rumpel]

6. KY: Registration numbers second largest in state’s history

By: Sheldon Compton - [e-mail], News Editor
See more articles by Sheldon Compton
Published: 10/26/2006

Now that the time for registering is over, Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson says the task becomes getting all the voters to the polls.

This task will be even greater, considering more Kentuckians registered for this election than any other in the history of the commonwealth.

The number of voters eligible to cast ballots in this year’s general election is the largest since 2004, resting at 2.76 million. This is more than voted in the May primary, by two full percentage points.

The record of registered voters, set in the general election of 2004, totaled 2,794,286. Currently there are 2,766,288, making this year’s election the second largest in Kentucky’s history, and giving election officials plenty of work keeping up.

“We are confident that Kentucky has one of the best voter registration databases in the country and these registration figures reflect our efforts to ensure a fair and honest election while maximizing the number of registered voters in the commonwealth,” Grayson said. “These healthy registration figures are hopefully an indication of a potentially strong turnout on election day.”

http://www.medicalleader.org/pmc_news.html?id=1540

[rumpel]

7. MN: Secretary of state candidate pushing for even higher voter turnout

Friday, October 27, 2006

By Marshall Helmberger

Mark Ritchie wants to know what makes the Iron Range tick. Ritchie, who is the DFL candidate for Minnesota Secretary of State, has long taken a keen interest in boosting voter participation, and he wants to understand how it is that the Iron Range regularly leads the nation in voter turnout.
“Part of my interest is to find out why,” he said, “so I can help the rest of the state catch up.”

Ritchie, who began his political involvement as a member of the Perpich administration, was in Tower on Tuesday as part of an Iron Range campaign swing. Not surprisingly, he has made increased voter participation the centerpiece of his election effort. While Minnesota typically leads the nation in voter turnout, Ritchie said he’s still not satisfied.

Indeed, during a visit with college students at Mesabi Community College on Tuesday, he learned that as many as 100 of them were denied the right to vote in the last election, because of questions of residency. Ritchie said most of the students left frustrated and upset— definitely not a good introduction to the electoral process. But Ritchie wasn’t content to just listen to the complaints. He brought the matter up with college officials and suggested ways to improve the situation this time around.

http://www.timberjay.com/current.php?article=2716

[rumpel]

8. CA: Secretary of State holds student mock elections

Indybay

by John Crockford
Friday Oct 27th, 2006 5:53 AM

Peace and Freedom favorite 3rd party of student voters
Results of a statewide mock student election released on October 25 show Peace and Freedom Party leading all other third party candidates for Governor and U.S. Senate.

Marsha Feinland, Peace and Freedom Party candidate for U.S. Senate, has 16.44% of the vote. Her Republican and Democratic rivals have 21.58% and 39.31%, respectively. The nearest third party candidate, Todd Chretien of the Green Party, has 11.86%.
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/10/27/18323728.php


Results
http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/studentmockelection_06_results.htm

[rumpel]

9. NC: Duke supports voter registration

The Chronicle Online

10/27/06

Guest column
John Burness

Over the past few weeks, questions have been raised about Duke University's position on voter registration, especially surrounding a decision by Duke Athletics not to permit voter registration in Wallace Wade Stadium and surrounding parking lots during the Duke-UVa game Sept. 30. On behalf of Duke, I'd like to clarify Duke's commitment to ensuring its students are engaged in voting-an action that defines our democracy.

By long-standing practice of the Athletics Department, a wide array of activities are not permitted in Wallace Wade or in Cameron Indoor Stadium without prior permission. A volunteer coach for the women's lacrosse team had asked permission a week or so before the UVa game to conduct a student voter registration drive in Wallace Wade. Athletics Department officials, concerned about the possibility that the effort could be seen as a political statement regarding the District Attorney's race, told her "no." Athletics historically has said no to any seemingly partisan political activity in the facilities for which Athletics is responsible. Admittedly, voter registration is not a partisan political activity, but given the visibility and controversy surrounding the District Attorney's race, one can imagine why people in Athletics were concerned it might be perceived as such.

http://www.dukechronicle.com/media/storage/paper884/news/2006/10/27/Columns/Duke-Supports.Voter.Registration-2406770.shtml?norewrite200610271446&sourcedomain=www.dukechronicle.com

[rumpel]

10. VA: Elections board tells 3 localities to add backup voting equipment

RICHMOND, Va. The State Board of Elections has ordered three Virginia localities with flawed voting machines to add machines in case the equipment causes confusion on Election Day.

Alexandria, Charlottesville and Falls Church have touch-screen machines that don't spell out the full names of several candidates on the summary page.
Among them is the Democratic candidate for U-S Senate, James "Jim" Webb Junior. His last name is not completed on the page.
The full names of the candidates appear on the ballot where voters make their choices. The shortened name shows up on a summary page, where voters can review their selections before hitting the button to record their votes.

http://www.wdbj7.com/Global/story.asp?S=5597889&nav=S6aK

[rumpel]

11. TX: Trail Mix: Ads offering coupons to voters pulled

The Dallas Morning News

07:27 AM CDT on Friday, October 27, 2006

AUSTIN A Vietnamese community group has pulled radio ads that offered merchandise and food coupons to people who voted early in the statewide election – an offer that Harris County officials say was probably illegal. The Harris County clerk's office advised the group that state and federal bribery laws prohibit the offering of an item of value in exchange for a vote. While the group initially pulled the ads from two Vietnamese-language stations, it has asked the Harris County attorney for a legal opinion on whether the spots violated the law.

Terrence Stutz

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/local/stories/DN-trailmix_27tex.ART.State.Edition1.3f2e4af.html

[rumpel]

12. NV: Incline library popular county spot for voting early

Nevada Appeal

Lucy Redoglia
Bonanza Staff Writer
October 27, 2006

This election season marks the first time the Incline Village Library has participated as an early voting location.

For the primary elections in August, the library had 743 voters in eight days, said library manager Pam Rasmussen. It was even the county's most frequented polling site one day during that cycle.

There are no precinct restrictions for early voting, which may be why the library had some 196 voters Saturday when early voting began for this election.

Incline Village Library is the only early voting location in Incline. County officials expect some 1,400 Washoe County residents to vote early.

http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/TB/20061027/News/110270030/-1/REGION

[mirandapriestly]

13. "To the Point" on NPR having guest from Wall Street Journal now

He is saying that there is "NO PROOF" of electronic fraud and that it is just "conspiracy theories". OF COURSE there is not proof, the software leaves no indication that they have been hacked! Then he went on to say that "electronic fraud" is not the problem, but "VOTER" FRAUD is and that requiring i.d. is one way of solving this problem. The others are debunking him, but he was given a lot of air time and people are going to hear that and not the rebuttals, because he is easier to understand , because his points are simple. He says he supports "giving free id" to anyone who doesn't have one. (He is told that this is the same as a "poll tax", but he says that it is the same as paying for parking when you go vote.) I am really disgusted with NPR. It was supposed to be a show on election fraud and they are giving him a lot of time and the host just says it is a "disagreement" on the issues.

[Kurovski]

16. He's an asshole. He deserves to live in an old Soviet Russian Gulag,

because he doesn't give a squashed fig about votes in a Democracy.

he doesn't know the first thing about what a secure vote means. He doesn't get the whole "transparency" thing. He must think his kindly old granny runs the election systems coast-to-coast.

Fuck him. Like I say, he's an asshole.

Or else he's one of the enemies of the people.

[rumpel]

14. VoteTrustUSA: EAC Testimony on Voting System Testing and Certification

By Michael I. Shamos, School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University

October 27, 2006

The following testimony was delivered at the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) Public Hearing on the Draft Voting System Testing and Certification Program Manual in Washington, DC on October 26, 2006. It is reposted with permission of the author.

In testimony before the House of Representatives Committee on Science in June 2004, I offered the opinion that “the system we have for testing and certifying voting equipment in this country is not only broken, but is virtually nonexistent. It must be re-created from scratch or we will never restore public confidence in elections. I believe
that the process of designing, implementing, manufacturing, certifying, selling, acquiring, storing, using, testing and even discarding voting machines must be transparent from cradle to grave, and must adhere to strict performance and security guidelines that should be uniform for federal elections throughout the United States.” Not only do I still hold that view, but election events over the past two years have convinced me even more that it is the correct one.

As a state examiner, I often feel like a pathologist, my examination table littered with the dead bodies of voting systems that passed federal testing but failed at the state level. The average pass rate for federally qualified voting systems in Pennsylvania is approximately 50%, when it should be well above 90%, and I often ask aloud during
examinations how a particular flaw could possibly have gotten past an Independent Testing Authority (ITA) . But my question is rhetorical, for I cannot find out. Even when I see an ITA Qualification Report, it is obscure. It contains a lengthy list of tests allegedly performed and an indication whether the system passed them or not, but no information on how the tests were conducted, how close the system came to failing or how many times a test had to be performed for the system to pass.

http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1930&Itemid=26

[rumpel]

15. Intermission with Jerry Van Amerongen

http://www.comics.com/creators/ballardst/archive/ballardst-20061026.html

[rumpel]

17. MS: Arnold sues over Eastland's candidacy

The Greenwood Commonwealth

10/27/2006
By: Tim Kalich, Editor

A dispute over the residency of state Senate candidate Hiram Eastland III has now been taken to court.

Jim Arnold, one of the other five candidates seeking to fill the vacancy in Senate District 14, filed a lawsuit Thursday in Hinds County Chancery Court asking that Eastland be disqualified.

The lawsuit follows the state Election Commission's earlier rejection of a similar challenge to Eastland's candidacy raised by the Mississippi Republican Party.

The lawsuit, which is only one side of a legal argument, names the Election Commission and Eastland as defendants.
The Election Commission is composed of Gov. Haley Barbour, Attorney General Jim Hood and Secretary of State Eric Clark.

The Election Commission split Oct. 19 on the GOP's claim that Eastland has not been a resident in Senate District 14 for two years prior to the Nov. 7 special election, as required by the state constitution.

Clark voted to disqualify the Greenwood attorney, while Deputy Attorney General Onetta Whitley, standing in for Hood, voted to keep him on the ballot.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17386982&BRD=1838&PAG=461&dept_id=104621&rfi=6

[rumpel]

18. CO: Up to 30,000 ballots will be hand-recopied

Denver Post

Groups blast "potential for human error"
By George Merritt
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated:10/27/2006 12:02:37 AM MDT

An editing mistake on Denver's absentee ballots has turned a little-discussed referendum on recall protections into an issue that could affect controversial statewide campaigns.
The concern is actually not with the mistake, but the solution: On election night, Denver plans to have election judges hand-copy as many as 30,000 voted absentee ballots onto new ballots.
The same process of "duplication" is a common practice in elections, but not on the scale Denver plans to attempt.
The idea has prompted "very serious concerns" from watchdogs such as Colorado Common Cause.
"It is hard to believe that this is the best solution," said Jenny Rose Flanagan, the executive director of the group. "The potential for human error is enhanced exponentially."
Although the misprint was the vendor's mistake, it is just the latest in a string of questions and criticisms that have dogged the Denver Election Commission since the 2004 elections.
On Thursday, the city auditor released a long-awaited audit that highlighted a number of those issues. It called on the commission to increase warehouse safety and security, develop a detailed operational plan, and increase written procedures in all areas, including staffing and training.

http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_4557485

[rumpel]

19. Alternet: A Candidate Who Hears Our Election Systems' SoS

By Phoebe Connelly, In These Times. Posted October 27, 2006

Democrat Mark Ritchie is one of a handful of hero candidates running for Secretary of State across America who will do everything to make sure voters have the best democracy possible.

Mark Ritchie knows how to get people to the polls. In 1986, he founded the League of Rural Voters and in 2004, he founded November 2, a nonpartisan voter registration that registered five million voters. So this year, instead of returning to his job at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he decided to run for secretary of state.

"I became aware that free and fair elections are the way we pick policymakers who really matter," says Ritchie. "The secretary of state in my state, like in other states, had transformed her office into a partisan arm of the Republican Party. Nonpartisan administration of voting, he says, is the only way to guarantee "free and fair elections to pick the policy makers who then make the rules about food and agriculture and trade."

An elected office in 38 states -- secretaries of state implement election-related legislation, such as the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), hire and train poll workers and vet new voting technologies. The mechanics of voting are increasingly a concern for Americans. In August, a Zogby poll found that 60 percent of those surveyed were aware of reported problems with electronic technology and 92 percent supported election transparency.

http://www.alternet.org/story/43408/

[rumpel]

20. PA: Scanning process to ease county voting

The Dispatch

By Dan Scifo
Friday, October 27, 2006

INDIANA--Indiana County officials have taken steps to make the voting process run more smoothly for the upcoming Nov. 7 election.
At Wednesday's meeting of the county commissioners, John Luko, the county's director of information services, explained changes officials have instituted to make it easier for poll workers to tabulate votes.

Commissioners Chairman Rod Ruddock said there will be no change in the way most voters cast their ballots: darkening ovals alongside candidates' names.

However, the county hopes to achieve easy, quick, accurate results of the polling by using a new machine that counts votes electronically at polling places and then stores the paper ballot in a separate compartment.

"I think Indiana county citizens will be very pleased at the fact that we have not changed the way that they vote," Ruddock said. "What we have changed is the method by which the count occurs for the vote. We're simplifying the process electronically, but at the same time providing a backup plan in case there is a problem at the precincts."

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/blairsvilledispatch/s_476838.html

[Kurovski]

21. Happy Birthday to your daughter! Will she be able to vote this cycle?

And thank you for the ERD! :thumbsup:

[rumpel]

32. Hi, thanks. Still checking with registrar

claiming they have not received her signed docs - yes mailed in on 10/12.

holding for supervisor as I type.......ok they are saying:

call back on Tuesday - they may still be processing, worst case she will have to vote provisional


:mad:

[Kurovski]

33. Well, good luck. ( how awful is it that we have to wish one-another

"good luck" when voting?) :mad:

[rumpel]

34. exactly

it should be so simple....

[rumpel]

22. CA: 11 in O.C. charged with voter registration fraud

LA Times

Dozens of people who thought they were signing up to be Democrats ended up Republican. Those accused in the case are low-level, per-signature workers.
By Christian Berthelsen and Christine Hanley, Times Staff Writers
October 27, 2006

The Orange County district attorney's office has charged 11 people with fraudulent voter registration stemming from a Republican registration drive this year that resulted in dozens of Democrats unwittingly being signed up as Republicans.

Those charged had been paid as much as $10 for each voter they registered as part of a Republican Party effort to recruit more voters in central Orange County. The area includes the district represented by Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez, a regular target of Republicans, and a competitive state Senate race.

The cases were filed Tuesday, and three defendants were arrested Wednesday and Thursday. They are in custody and are scheduled to be arraigned today and Monday. The district attorney's office refused to release any information about them, including details usually available, such as the names and charges.

Sources said a press conference is scheduled for Monday, a week before the Nov. 7 election, with Republican Secretary of State Bruce McPherson, who is locked in a tight election battle with Democratic state Sen. Debra Bowen.

"The only thing I can say is it is our policy to not make comments on pending matters, and I don't have any information to share at this time," said Susan Kang Schroeder, spokeswoman for Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas. "That's all I'm saying."

A spokeswoman for McPherson declined to comment.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-me-votefraud27oct27,1,6873497.story?coll=la-headlines-politics&ctrack=1&cset=true

[rumpel]

23. VA: State, county at odds on IDs

Times Dispatch

Chesterfield defends registrar's request for Social Security data

BY TYLER WHITLEY AND JULIAN WALKER
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITERS
Oct 27, 2006

The State Board of Elections threatened yesterday to go to court to enforce an election law that it says the Chesterfield County voting registrar and electoral board are defying.

The elections board also directed three Virginia localities with flawed voting machines to add machines in the event the equipment causes confusion on Election Day.

Alexandria, Charlottesville and Falls Church have touch-screen machines that do not spell out the full names of several candidates on the summary page.

Among them is James H. "Jim" Webb Jr., whose last name is not completed. Webb is the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate.

Jay Myerson, counsel to the Democratic Party of Virginia, told the board that the race for the Senate is so close that any amount of confusion could affect the outcome. If nothing else, he said, confused voters might take more time to vote, causing long lines at the polls and discouraging some from casting ballots.

http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149191369172&path=!news&s=1045855934842

[rumpel]

24. CO: Early Voting Going On Now

Published:10/27/06

By Josie Jay

While some may relish going to the polls on election day and standing in line with their fellow citizens to cast a vote for democracy, others prefer to have their say with as little hassle as possible. For those, early voting and voting by mail is the way to go.

And even though Election Day is less than two weeks away, it’s not too late to vote early or by mail, but time is running short.

Early voting began on Monday, Oct. 23, and is available to any eligible elector in San Miguel County. Early voting takes place at the San Miguel County Courthouse through next Friday, Nov. 3, during regular business hours, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Identification is required.

“We need identification any time you’re going to vote,” said San Miguel County Clerk Doris Ruffe. “If you don’t have a photo ID, bring your bank statement or a utility bill.”

The last day to request an absentee ballot to vote by mail is also Friday, Nov. 3. However, to get a ballot mailed to you, instead of picking it up in person, the deadline to apply is Tuesday, Oct. 31.

As of Tuesday, Ruffe said her office had received 350 requests for absentee ballots, out of 5,691 registered voters in San Miguel County.

http://www.telluridewatch.com/102706/early_voting.htm

[rumpel]

25. WAPO: Ehrlich's Dollar-Bill Mailer Not Illegal, Official Says

By John Wagner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 27, 2006; Page B02


A state prosecutor has found no criminal violations stemming from a recent fundraising solicitation from Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. that included real dollar bills.

Last month's mailer was referred to the Office of the State Prosecutor by a state election official who determined that there was "probable cause" that Ehrlich's campaign had run afoul of the law.

But a letter received yesterday by the Ehrlich campaign stated that the prosecutor's office had "found no criminal violation of the election laws in connection with this fundraising solicitation" and that it was closing its file on the matter.

In the mailing, Ehrlich (R) wrote that he had "taken the extraordinary step of sending . . . a real dollar bill" and asked potential donors to return it along with a contribution of $25 or more for his reelection campaign.

Election officials said that the tactic raised two potential problems. In Maryland, it is illegal to give people money to garner their vote. And the law requires campaign expenditures to be made by check. Under the law, the dollar bills could be construed as cash expenditures.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/26/AR2006102601582.html

[rumpel]

26. PoynterOnline: Friday Edition: Public Radio Wants Device Recall

Poynter

Voting problems nationwide... Every polling place must serve people with disabilities... Human errors, too... The torture question.

By Al Tompkins

Voting Problems Nationwide

With the election a week away, I am very interested in the number of stories I am seeing nationwide about problems with balloting.

Just look at this collection from the last week.

Electionline.org says 10 states, and possibly others, could encounter trouble on Election Day. The report names Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington, detailing what to watch for in each. (Click here to read the report .)

In case you think this is boring stuff that folks won't read or watch, HBO is betting that you are wrong. Nov. 2, HBO will air a documentary called "Hacking Democracy," which takes a look at the computer systems that now record and report 80 percent of America's votes in county, state and federal elections.

Electionline says the troubles are being caused by new and untested voting-machine technology, confusion and legal fights over voting procedures, and the usual problems caused when races are so tight. The Washington Post has more on the report. The Los Angeles Times has a nice piece on problems nationwide. CBSNews.com has an in-depth opinion piece that looks at the problems with new electronic-voting methods.

and more
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=2&aid=112934

[rumpel]

27. BradBlog: Bush's U.S. Elections Assistance Commission is Hopelessly Compromised, Misleading America

and Utterly Failing in Their Job of Overseeing U.S. Elections

Current Chairman Paul DeGregorio Now Running a Desperate Misinformation Propaganda Campaign Just Days Before Election…
I only have a second as I've got to hit the road to get up to Santa Barbara to speak at tonight's Jefferson-Jackson Dinner (along w/ Wes Clark), so I'll try to be quick about it…

The U.S. Elections Assistance Commission (EAC) is a complete and utter failure. The current commissioner, Paul DeGregorio, has done nothing to instill confidence in elections or provide a lick of oversight in the deployment and use of these voting systems across the nation in the Midterm Election. In his latest interviews and editorials, he is reprehensibly doing nothing but echoing Voting Machine Company propaganda and Election Officials who choose to be apologists for them.

See DeGregorio's latest editorial here from the Tallahassee Democrat, in which he posts completely unfounded and unsupported "opinion" in contradiction of virtually all scientific evidence.

Contrast DeGregorio's nonsense with that of his predecessor, the honest Bush-appointed, non-crony, Rev. DeForest Soaries' comments from this unaired network interview, in which he flatly states there are no standards for electronic voting systems in place and that 'elections in America are ripe for stealing.'

The EAC, under the "leadership" of DeGregorio, has become hopelessly compromised as he's allowed even the disinformation experts, such as "Thor" Hearne from the phony GOP front-group "American Center for Voting Rights," to set the agenda for the commission. Note that DeGregorio and Hearne are old St. Louis GOP colleagues. What a scam.

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3677#more-3677

[rumpel]

28. Touch-Screen Votes Reportedly Hopping to Republicans During Early Voting in Texas, Missouri and

and Arkansas…


We didn't much report on these incidents back in 2004 because they seemed anectodal at the time and couldn't be independently confirmed. After two years now of thousands of such reports from '04 — almost always showing votes hopping to Republican candidates only — and still the Voting Machine Companies and Elections Officials saying "it never happened," it seems appropriate to report a few of these incidencts as we hear of them before Election Day, during Early Voting, so folks can look into them.

Here are three different reports over the last day or two of touch-screen votes flipping from Democrats or Libertarians over to Republicans.

http://www.bradblog.com/

[rumpel]

29. CA: Neighbor: Bilbray being investigated by grand jury

North County Times

By: WILLIAM FINN BENNETT - Staff Writer

NORTH COUNTY ----- A neighbor of Republican 50th District Rep. Brian Bilbray said Thursday that he was subpoenaed to testify before a San Diego County grand jury in August and spent about an hour and a half answering questions about whether Bilbray lived in his Carlsbad neighborhood.

Meanwhile, an official with the Republican Party of San Diego County has asked for an investigation into Democratic candidate Francine Busby's alleged use of illegal immigrants in her campaign.

Speculation has swirled around the Bilbray's residence issue for days, with Democrats and Busby's campaign claiming they had received calls from several of Bilbray's Carlsbad neighbors, saying they had been called to testify before a grand jury investigating the congressman's residence.

The allegations that Bilbray was not living where he said he was first surfaced in May, just weeks before a special election to pick a temporary replacement for the seat formerly held by the now-imprisoned Randy "Duke" Cunningham. The Vietnam War ace pleaded guilty to bribery and tax evasion late last year and is now serving an eight-year, four-month prison sentence.

On a voter registration form that Bilbray signed in June 2005 and his statement of candidacy, which he signed in February, he lists his official residence as Carlsbad. His mother owns the home and Bilbray has said that he moved into the house in mid-2005 to help care for the woman, who uses a wheelchair.

However, because he has three homes, one in Carlsbad, one in Imperial Beach and one in Virginia ---- and on different documents has claimed each of them as his residence ---- Democrats called on the district attorney's office in May "to investigate whether Mr. Bilbray committed perjury or voter fraud."

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/10/27/election2006/sandiego/20_50_4910_26_06.txt

[rumpel]

30. WAPO: Diebold Quietly Repaired Vote Machines

The Associated Press
Thursday, October 26, 2006; 4:57 PM


BALTIMORE -- Diebold Election Systems quietly replaced flawed components in several thousand Maryland voting machines in 2005 to fix a "screen-freeze" problem the company had discovered three years earlier, according to published reports Thursday.

State Board of Elections Chairman Gilles W. Burger said Diebold's failure to fully inform board members of the repairs at the time raises questions about whether the company violated its state contracts.

"This demonstrates the level of contractor oversight that Diebold requires," Burger told The (Baltimore) Sun. "On Monday, I'm going to ask our attorneys to report back to me if there was any violation of the contract and what financial remedies are available to me."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/26/AR2006102601119.html

[rumpel]

31. CS Monitor: For many, the voting is already over

A rising number of Americans are casting ballots early, well ahead of final campaign drives.

By Linda Feldmann | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
WASHINGTON – It's nearly Election Day, and campaigns are strategizing about last-minute tactics. In some races candidates are preparing for their final debate. And election officials are working overtime to make sure voting machines and ballots are ready by Nov. 7 - especially after all the problems with new equipment that emerged during some states' primaries.
But here's the catch: Millions of Americans already have voted, either by going to early- voting sites or by sending in absentee ballots. What began as a trickle in the 1980s and '90s has turned into a flood, as more and more states adopt pre-Election Day voting mechanisms. In 1980, 1 in 20 voters cast a vote early. By 2004, nearly one-quarter of the total vote took place early. In 2006, a nonpresidential election year, overall turnout will be lower than in 2004. But given the expansion of early voting practices in many states, including a big rise in "no excuses" absentee ballots, experts predict the percentage of early votes will rise.

snip

But even if early voting is here to stay, election experts raise concerns about the trend. Voters are making their selections on incomplete information, they say, and even potentially voting for someone who will not be a candidate on Election Day (as happened in the 2002 Minnesota Senate race, when Sen. Paul Wellstone died less than two weeks before Election Day). Absentee ballots filled out away from a polling place - while an important option for shut-ins, students, and out-of-town travelers - leave voters open to coercion or even fraud, and subject to the vagaries of the postal service.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1027/p01s02-uspo.html

[rumpel]

35. Will Pitt: Andy's Election

Andy's Election
By William Rivers Pitt
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Friday 27 October 2006

My bar has been running this neat gimmick for several years now. If you drink every kind of beer they have in the place - about 130 labels when you combine the bottles, the taps and the unutterably wretched stuff they keep buried under the dumpster out back - your reward is a 25-ounce mug that can be filled from the taps for the regular pint price. Moreover, you get to emboss your mug with the name of your favorite author. The only caveat: the author has to be dead.

I got my own mug approximately ten thousand years ago, and the author I chose was H.L. Mencken. It seemed a good choice, as it was Mencken who once said, "The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." Given the times, I could not imagine a more accurate statement.

But then, in the summer of 2005, my friend Andy Stephenson passed away due to pancreatic cancer. Andy had devoted years of his life to sounding an alarm over the unbelievable flaws in the new electronic voting machines that had been foisted on the American public by the Help America Vote Act. He went so far as to run for Secretary of State in Washington on a platform centered around making sure elections had a verified paper trail to follow once the voting was done. Even while ill, Andy gave himself to this issue, teaching classes on how to audit your election and writing as much as he could on the matter.

After he died, I had the folks at my bar change the name on my mug. It says "Andy Stephenson" now, and I will be raising his name in a toast on Tuesday, November 7th. Whether it will be a toast to success or yet another farewell to American democracy remains to be seen, but one thing is certain. In my mind, this is Andy's election.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102706A.shtml

[EFerrari]

36. Thank you, rumpel. And Happy Birthday, rumpel's daughter!

:toast:

[rumpel]

37. pleasure and thanks

and a very liberal one - she is -


I had nothing to do with it - O8)

well, maybe a little :)

[kpete]

38. thanks for all you do

Love the planet

Peace!