Election Reform, Fraud & News Wed 2/7/07 HALT HOLT!

[kpete]

Election Reform, Fraud & News Wed 2/7/07 HALT HOLT!

There should be a warning sign put on the new Holt bill.

“Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) says he’s optimistic about achieving his longstanding legislative priority this year — requiring electronic voting machines to have paper backups so election results can be verified.” Hold reintroduced his paper trail bill on Monday, and it is “widely expected to become law.” http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070204/NEWS01/702040380/1006

I am telling you the new Holt bill's a fraud.
Paul Lehto
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=466910&mesg_id=466910

Calling the same old same old paper records "ballots" would be a deceptive and fraudulent practice on consumers because the average reasonable person WOULD THINK that a "ballot" would get counted in the first count, on election night. Nope. Wait, voters are consumers too! No wait, we're in charge --- We the People --- and this is what we GET??

Holt only makes sense as a response to evoting, right, but within the world of e-voting:
(1) Paper "ballots" (records, whatever) NEVER get counted on the first count.

(2) If an automatic state machine recount is triggered based on a percentage margin, Holt Audit provisions do not apply and the machine recount just reprints the DRE totals (for DREs) and uses the same fraudulent programming for opscan recounts...

So paper ballots don't EVER get counted under Holt II, but only if you're in a close race. Or if it's a corrupt state with only machine recounts because state law trumps Holt then, according to Holt.

When it really matters, Holt fails, in other words.

http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/linkframe.php?linkpg=http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4125&linkid=30392

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[kpete]

1. Why the Holt Election Reform Bill Must be Amended to Guarantee a Real Paper Ballot

BLOGGED BY John Bonifaz ON 2/6/2007 3:51PM
Why the Holt Election Reform Bill Must be Amended to Guarantee a Real Paper Ballot

Guest Blogger and Constitutional Attorney John Bonifaz on Concerns About Holt's 'Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2007' (HR 811)
Guest Blogged by John Bonifaz

Ed Note: John Bonifaz is a constitutional attorney, the founder of the National Voting Rights Institute and a Senior Legal Fellow of Demos' Democracy Program. He further serves as co-counsel for VoterAction.org on behalf of the voter plaintiffs in the Sarasota FL-13 case.

Earlier today, The BRAD BLOG posted a short article about the new Holt Election Reform bill in the U.S. House urging readers to read it before either endorsing or rejecting the legislation. We hope to have a thorough analysis of the bill in the coming days and weeks. For now, Mr. Bonifaz, given his background, credentials and current work on the FL-13 case, provides a useful and important perspective on the new legislation.

We can and we should press for the principled position here: an amendment to the Holt bill that would ban the continued use of DREs and require a real paper ballot.
Today, Congressman Rush Holt introduced H.R. 811 , a bill trumpeted as requiring “a voter-verified permanent paper ballot.” But before we all jump on this train as the new guarantee that our votes will be properly counted in future elections, we ought to beware of the warning flag. A paper trail from DRE (Direct Recording Electronic, usually touch-screen) machines cannot protect the integrity of our elections.

Here’s the bottom line: The DRE technology is fundamentally flawed for recording and counting our votes. The Holt bill, unless amended, will further codify into law the use of this technology, piling onto the disaster of HAVA (the Help America Vote Act of 2002) a new disaster.

more at:
http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/linkframe.php?linkpg=http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4125&linkid=30392

[kpete]

2. FL: Voting reform needs more than paper trail

Posted on Tue, Feb. 06, 2007
ELECTION EQUIPMENT
Voting reform needs more than paper trail
BY LIDA RODRIGUEZ-TASEFF
[e-mail]

If Gov. Charlie Crist's announcement last week that he is recommending that $32.5 million be appropriated to ''establish a paper trail for all votes cast in Florida elections'' appeared too good to be true, it's because it is.

Under the governor's proposal, which was long on rhetoric and short on details, the appropriated funds would allegedly be used to ''replace touch-screen voting machines with optical-scan machines in all precincts statewide.'' But read the fine print. Touch screens are not out the door, not by a long shot. Touch screens, retro fitted with printers, would still have to be used for early voting, to accommodate voters with disabilities and, although not stated by the governor, to accommodate citizens who vote in languages other than English.

The continued use of touch screens for early voting is necessitated by the fact that in 2005, the Legislature approved a law requiring all early-voting results to be reported by precinct. Early voting is, by definition, out-of-precinct voting -- meaning that a voter who lives in Homestead, for example, can vote early at the Government Center in downtown Miami. Thus, this new law, which benefits political candidates and not voters, places the burden on supervisors of elections to have every conceivable ballot style at every-early voting sites -- meaning more than 1,000 ballot styles during primaries in Miami-Dade -- and to produce any of those ballot styles on demand for voters. Obviously, this would be an impossible task if the ballots were of the optical scan variety.

Under the governor's plan, the elephant in the room is the fate of voters with disabilities and non-English-speaking voters.

more at:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/16631077.htm

[kpete]

3. FL: Voting officials in a frenzy again

ELECTIONS
Voting officials in a frenzy again Broward and Miami-Dade election officials are scurrying to learn more about the governor's plan for new voting machines.
BY AMY SHERMAN
[e-mail]

South Florida elections officials will have to prepare quickly to transform their voting systems and manage the mechanics of a 2008 presidential election that will be scrutinized across the globe.

Since Gov. Charlie Crist announced last week his determination to spend $32.5 million to replace the infamously balky, glitchy touch-screen voting machines, local election officials have compiled a long list of questions, and a longer to-do list.

The biggest question: cost. Crist has pledged state funds to pay for new, optical-scan equipment that would read voters' marks on paper ballots. Those ballots are the key to restoring confidence in the state's election system, advocates say.

But officials from the counties are not certain how much of the $32.5 million pie each would get. Also, the state will not cover every cost associated with transforming the system.

For example, the cost of staging a general election in Broward County could increase by about $500,000 because of the need to print more than a million ballots, said Pete Corwin, assistant to the county administrator.

''That's the guess at the moment,'' Corwin said. ``It may be higher.''

more at:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/16630800.htm

[kpete]

4. Florida: Let’s Clarify the Real Choice in Election Systems

Florida: Let’s Clarify the Real Choice in Election Systems
By Karen Burns, Director of Election Reform, League of Women Voters of Florida
February 06, 2007

The League of Women voters of Florida applauds Governor Crist’s announcement endorsing voter verifiable paper ballot based systems as the foundation of our election systems in Florida. It is a step with the right intention and a step in the right direction.

The public discussion has reached a crucial point where we must be clear about terminology and the real choices we are facing. If we are not asking the right question - we won’t find the right answer.

Indeed some commentators have interpreted Crist’s plan as trading “touch screens” for “hand-marked” systems and they raise concerns about potentially serious problems.

These concerns are based on a false choice: “touch screens” versus “hand-marked” systems. Defining the choice this way unnecessarily pits the disabled and minority language communities against the broader population.

We urge our public officials and the media to focus on the real choice: it’s between DRE based systems vs VVPB based systems.

Touch Screen DREs are a PROBLEM and should be completely eliminated.

more at:
http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2246&Itemid=113

[kpete]

5. EAC Executive Director Oversaw Failed Voting Machine Test Labs in Earlier Role

EAC Executive Director Oversaw Failed Voting Machine Test Labs in Earlier Role As Well
By Michael Richardson
February 06, 2007

Thomas Wilkey, Executive Director of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) seems to bear more direct responsibility for the growing voting machine test lab scandal than any other person. Let's connect a few dots and sift through a bit of murky alphabet soup.


For nearly a decade, Wilkey has overseen the testing process of electronic voting machines keeping recently revealed problems with the so-called “Independent Testing Authorities” (ITA) a secret from public and elections officials alike. Wilkey also tried to prevent federal oversight of the testing process during the development of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), and worked to keep the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) out of his hidden world.



The EAC inherited the responsibility of qualifying voting machine test laboratories from the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED) where Wilkey strategically positioned himself to control the test laboratories. When HAVA eventually assumed responsibility for the test laboratories from NASED and handed it to the EAC, Wilkey worked behind the scenes to try to keep control over the labs for himself.

more at:
http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2244&Itemid=26

[kpete]

6. Elections chief in Ohio's largest county resigns

Elections chief in Ohio's largest county resigns
By M.R. KROPKO
Associated Press Writer

CLEVELAND - The embattled elections chief in the state's most populous county resigned Tuesday, ending a tense term that thrust Cuyahoga County into the national spotlight as it weathered a rough transition from punch-card to electronic voting.

The elections board announced the decision by executive director Michael Vu after a nearly two-hour closed-door meeting. Under Vu, the county had a botched primary election and saw the convictions of two workers who mishandled the 2004 presidential recount.

The resignation is effective March 1, and Vu has agreed to stay on through June as a consultant to help the board as it looks for and trains a new director.

The board, which oversees elections in the largely Democratic-voting county with more than 1 million registered voters, has formed a search committee to find Vu's replacement.
Vu, 30, was hired at about $119,000 a year in 2003 to take over the largest and arguably most problematic elections system in the bellwether state during a hard-fought and close presidential campaign.

In November 2004, Cuyahoga was among the counties with long lines and complaints over provisional ballots. The election ended with Ohio giving President Bush the electoral votes needed to narrowly win the White House over Democratic U.S. Sen. John Kerry.

more at:
http://www.coshoctontribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070207/NEWS01/702070315/1002

[L. Coyote]

15. Latest Breaking News

OhioChick was the early bird on this news: Tue Feb-06-07 12:17 PM

Cuyahoga Co. Elections Director Resigns (OH) UPDATED: 1:30 pm EST February 6, 2007

CLEVELAND -- NewsChannel5 has confirmed that embattled elections chief in Cuyahoga County has resigned.....

LINKS to numerous articles here, as story developed:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2719564&mesg_id=2719564

[kpete]

7. In Campaign 2008, Candidates Starting Earlier, Spending More

In Campaign 2008, Candidates Starting Earlier, Spending More

By Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 7, 2007; Page A01

Starting as early as last June, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was hiring staffers and consultants in New Hampshire and Iowa and building the foundation for his 2008 presidential bid at a time when those in early battleground states typically get a breather from national politics.

Campaign filings released last week show that he spent more than $375,000 on staffing and consulting, getting an early jump in those states. One campaign cycle earlier, a single candidate -- Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) -- had started hiring in-state advisers at that point, and by the end of 2002 he had spent only $4,200 paying those aides.

Sen. John McCain of Arizona visited with potential voters at the Iowa State Fair last August as part of his effort to have a more visible presence earlier in key states as he seeks the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. (By David Peterson -- Des Moines Register Via Associated Press)


The financial reports begin to document the underpinnings of a drive for dollars that is expected to make 2008 the nation's first billion-dollar presidential campaign. Top-tier candidates are hard at work courting wealthy political enthusiasts who can deliver scores of thousand-dollar donors. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) held a gathering for 70 of those "bundlers," as they are known, last night at her Washington home.

more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/06/AR2007020601598.html

[kpete]

8. State lawmakers consider change to electoral college voting—

State lawmakers consider change to electoral college voting—

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) -

There's talk in Annapolis about changing the way the state casts its Electoral College votes in presidential elections.
Under the current system, the candidate who carries the state gets all the state's electoral votes. The proposed legislation would award the electoral votes to the candidate who wins the nationwide popular vote, regardless of which candidate carries the state.

Supporters hope most states will approve the change and thereby prevent elections in which a candidate gets more popular votes but loses the election in the Electoral College. In effect, the Electoral College system would be bypassed without an amendment to the Constitution.

But critics say the change could mean huge recounts in close national elections and cause candidates to ignore smaller states and rural areas.

more at:
http://www.wmdt.com/wires/displaystory.asp?id=58383412

[Joe Chi Minh]

12. Nothing's perfect in this world, but major improvements with

unavoidable, residual imperfections, obviously of a lesser order, are surely to be welcomed as progress of a significant order, rather than wittered about on essentially footling grounds.

Democracy surely trumps the cavils/maunderings of a relatively small minority of marginalised malcontents.

[kpete]

9. GOP Views Clinton As Virtually Unbeatable

GOP Views Clinton As Virtually Unbeatable

By: Carrie Sheffield and Jim VandeHei
February 7, 2007 12:43 PM EST


What many conservatives regard as the nightmare scenario -- President Hillary Rodham Clinton -- is increasingly seen by veteran Republican politicians and strategists as a virtual inevitability.

In GOP circles, the Democratic front-runner is seen as so strong, and the political climate for Republicans so hostile, that many influential voices -- including current and former lawmakers, and veterans of President Bush's campaigns -- have grown despairing. These partisans describe a political equivalent of the stages of grief, starting with denial, then resentment and ending with acceptance.

For now, these Republicans say the party needs good luck, including a change of fortune in Iraq, and a revival of organization and leadership in the conservative movement to avert another Clinton presidency.

"If the conservative movement and Republicans don't understand how massive the Clinton coalition is, she will be the next president," former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said in an interview last week, after giving a private talk to GOP lawmakers. Clinton will win, he added, "if we don't use everything available to us and motivate our base, the people that believe in us."

more at:
http://www.rawstory.com/showarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.politico.com%2Fnews%2Fstories%2F0207%2F2654.html

[Joe Chi Minh]

14. "What many conservatives regard as the nightmare scenario -- President Hillary Rodham

Clinton -- is increasingly seen by veteran Republican politicians and strategists as a virtual inevitability."

I think that's utter BS. They know they don't have a hope in Hades of getting in, and Hilary is now their best option, (after the unrealistic prospect of Clark).

There was, of course, a time - at the end of Bill's tenure, when they truly were terrified of her standing for the highest office. However, as she intimated in her autobiography, Hillary understood the truth of Martin Luther King's words, "There is a place of longevity." She knew they were desperate at that time to regain the reins of power and would stop at nothing, and bided her time until the omens looked more propitious.

However, in terms of the Democrats' support, I believe her opportunity is well and truly in the past at this juncture, and these Republicans know it, but like the homicidal maniacs in thrillers, they never give up, and even manage to sit up, dagger in hand... until definitively despatched by the hero/heroine. This desperate little scenario is one of their final attempts on the democratic life of the US (relatively speaking, of course. Every decent American knows that the Clintons are essentially good souls).

[kpete]

10. Edwards’s Bloggers Cross the Line, Critic Says

Edwards’s Bloggers Cross the Line, Critic Says

By JOHN M. BRODER
Published: February 7, 2007
WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 — Two bloggers hired by John Edwards to reach out to liberals in the online world have landed his presidential campaign in hot water for doing what bloggers do — expressing their opinions in provocative and often crude language.

Mr. Edwards, a former North Carolina senator, is among the leading Democratic presidential candidates.

Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, said in a statement on Tuesday, “John Edwards is a decent man who has had his campaign tarnished by two anti-Catholic vulgar trash-talking bigots.”

Mr. Edwards’s spokeswoman, Jennifer Palmieri, said Tuesday night that the campaign was weighing the fate of the two bloggers.

more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/07/us/politics/07edwards.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

[Land Shark]

11. KS: ACORN turns in workers that falsify voter reg forms, Guilty Plea in Kansas

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/state/16636900.htm

[MissWaverly]

13. receipts are not going to work

after much ado, we now have paper receipts when we diebold in Maryland, the election workers
collect them and throw them away, there is no impact on the voting process that I can see,
there is no qc of the voting machine results and no possibility of a recount, so the
result is neglible. Remember Congress brought us the Help America Vote for Bush Act,
and the architect of which, Rep. Bob Ney is now in the slammer.

[Kurovski]

16. Thank you Kpete! Lehto's threads on the Holt Bill are a must-read.

Say no to appeasing the makers of election fraud machines!

[Land Shark]

19. Thanks Kurovski, and thanks kpete for that great warning sign

you can comment on CommonCause's press release on Holt and elections by signing in/up for free and making comments here, like I did:

http://www.commonblog.com/story/2007/2/7/133244/3307#1

[kpete]

17. Feinstein: Knowing What We Know Now-Can We Afford To Wait & NOT Require Voter-Verified Paper?

Knowing what we now know – can we afford to wait, and not require a voter-verified paper record of each voter’s vote?

Statement of Chairman Feinstein at Rules Committee Hearing
to Evaluate Electronic Voting Systems

February 7, 2007


Yes, there will be those who will testify today and at future hearings that the electronic count is largely accurate and it will be very difficult for election officials to change rapidly.

But as is the case now in Florida, a growing number of states are recognizing the danger of relying on these electronic systems without an independent verification that is subject to random, manual audits.

Governor Crist and other state officials across the country are recognizing that the best way to safeguard security and ensure voter confidence is with an independent paper record.

And I believe that the time has come for Congress to help ensure that we have such a record in all federal elections.

I look forward to the advice that the witnesses will provide to the Senate as we closely review this issue.”

Read the rest at:
http://feinstein.senate.gov/07releases/r-rules-hearing0207.htm

[Algorem]

18. Cuyahoga- (whatever this is) from Cleveland Scene weekly

http://www.clevescene.com/Issues/2007-02-07/news/firstpunch.html

Under the scapegoats

On January 24, election board employees Jacquie Maiden and Kathy Dreamer were convicted of mishandling the 2004 presidential recount ("Guilty by Association," January 31).

In reality, they were simply following orders from superiors, who in turn were following rules dating back to 1981 -- and approved by Assistant County Prosecutor Reno Oradini. Now the two women face up to 18 months in prison.

But according to investigative memos between Oradini and his boss, Prosecutor Bill Mason, the original plot was to crucify election board director Michael Vu. When they couldn't hit Vu, they took out two lower-level workers. (Vue announced his resignation on Tuesday.)

You can see the documents for yourself -- and how justice is done around here -- in C-Notes at clevescene.com.



http://www.clevescene.com/blogs/?p=641

February 7, 2007
Inside the Election Board Convictions
Filed under: News

On January 24, two Cuyahoga County Board of Elections employees were convicted of criminal charges for mishandling the 2004 presidential recount <”Guilt by Association,” January 31>.

Jacquie Maiden and Kathy Dreamer now face possible prison sentences of as long as 18-months for simply obeying orders based on the board’s past practices and Assistant Prosecutor Reno Oradini’s advice.

Don’t believe us? Then check out the internal memos between Oradini and his boss, Prosecutor Bill Mason.

After the Green Party complained that the recount had been rigged, Oradini set out to investigate. It was an odd move – lawyers don’t usually launch criminal investigations into their own clients to expose their own shoddy work...


http://www.clevescene.com/blogs/?p=640

February 7, 2007
More Elections Board Misadventures
Filed under: News

Last month, the bosses at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections allowed three female employees to take the fall for the board’s decades of incompetence <”Guilt by Association,” January 31>.

Ballots manager Kathy Dreamer, along with two other women, faced seven criminal charges, accused of rigging the 2004 presidential recount. It didn’t matter that they were simply following orders from higher-ups.

Dreamer hired lawyer Roger Synenberg to represent her. After all, Synenberg knew the faulty workings of the board all too well.

In 1992, Synenberg, who served as the board’s Republican chairman, was also accused of rigging the vote. “There was never any rigging back then at all,” Synenberg says. “In some respects, it wasn’t much different from what these ladies did.”...


http://www.clevescene.com/blogs/?p=641

[L. Coyote]

20. Apparently, that page has been removed ???

Did you copy/save the entire text?

[L. Coyote]

21. BACK ONLINE NOW n/t