Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, Monday 01/28/08

[tbyg52]

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, Monday 01/28/08

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[tbyg52]

1. States nt

[tbyg52]

8. CA: Switch to paper ballots ensures long night

San Francisco probably won't see a repeat of November's vote-counting fiasco, but the Feb. 5 presidential primary could be a long night - or week - for other counties across California.

New state rules severely limiting the use of touch-screen voting machines in California have left many counties scrambling to prepare for elections using paper ballots. Napa, Santa Clara and about 20 other counties will have to move from their all-electronic systems for the first time in years.

"We're estimating that it's going to be 6 a.m. Wednesday before we get all the precinct votes counted," said Elma Rosas, a spokeswoman for the Santa Clara County registrar of voters. "Our goal is to have 90 percent of the votes counted by Friday afternoon."

More:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/28/BAIFULUNC.DTL

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11. WA: Legislature: Same-day voting

Having read much about the voter turnouts in Iowa and New Hampshire -- final numbers aren't in yet, but early indicators point to record turnouts in those primaries -- we're encouraged to see our state lawmakers are working on bringing Washington voters out in record number.

Senate Bill 6778 aims to change Washington's voter registration process by allowing same-day registration for special, general and primary elections starting in October 2010.

More:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/348950_sameed28.html

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12. NY: Ballot dispute hits New York again

Eight years ago, when state Republican officials were working to defeat Sen. John McCain in a presidential primary, the rules were different. For one thing, delegate selections involved petition filings, and a court battle was fought by McCain just to win ballot access.

That was also the last time the GOP held a presidential primary here, because George W. Bush got an incumbent's free ride in 2004.

After the bitter internal wars of 2000, however, state Republicans changed their selection system. Today, with "Super Duper Tuesday" approaching, a new dispute has sprung from the new method. The legal question is whether GOP election officials - newly empowered to place presidential candidates on the ballot on their own - may also remove them. Democratic officials insist they cannot.

More:
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/politics/ny-lijani285554916jan28,0,6024836.story

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13. OH: ACLU Sues Over Paper Ballots in Ohio

The American Civil Liberties Union asked a federal judge on Monday to block the March 4 presidential primary in Ohio's biggest county if it switches to a paper ballot system that doesn't allow voters to correct errors.

In a follow-up to a suit it filed Jan. 17, the ACLU of Ohio asked for a preliminary injunction against any election in Cuyahoga County if the switch is made.

The lawsuit argued that the proposed paper-ballot system would violate voters' constitutional rights because it doesn't allow them to correct errors on ballots before the ballots are cast.

Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland and has more than 1 million registered voters, plans to send all paper ballots from precincts to a central location to be scanned and counted.

The ACLU alleges that the optical-scan system and centralized vote tabulation would not give voters notice of ballot errors -- such as voting for two candidates for one office.

More:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/sns-ap-ohio-voting,1,6935644.story

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32. ACLU Press Release

ACLU Asks Federal Court to Block Use of Unfair Voting Technology

The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Ohio filed a motion today asking federal Judge Kathleen O'Malley of the Northern District of Ohio to prevent Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner and the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections from using balloting technology that does not give notice to voters of problems with their ballot. The motion follows a lawsuit filed by the ACLU on January 17 challenging the constitutionality of this technology.

"Every voter who goes to the polls must have the opportunity to verify his or her ballot is free from errors," said ACLU Voting Rights Project attorney Meredith Bell-Platts. "The evidence is overwhelming that when voters do not have access to technology that notifies them of ballot errors, many more ballots are left uncounted."

More:
http://www.aclu.org/votingrights/gen/33828prs20080128.html

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14. NY: Board of Elections selects voting machine

The Tompkins County Board of Elections voted Monday to request Sequoia ImageCast voting machines for the September primary elections, following a decision Thursday, Jan. 24 by the state Board of Elections to give counties the choice of using any of three recommended voting machine.

The state board decided late last week to approve optical scanning machines over Direct Recording Electronic voting machines that the federal government said need to be in polling places.

More:
http://www.theithacajournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080128/NEWS01/80128012/1002

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15. AZ: Ballots online: Can do but may be forbidden

Pima County's plan to make scanned copies of election ballots universally available online has taken a technological step forward and two legal steps back.

A Washington, D.C.-based company that has been scanning ballots and making them available on CD for years has contacted the county to offer its services, and the county's top technology adviser said the method appears secure.

But Secretary of State Jan Brewer sent the Pima County Board of Supervisors a stern letter warning them that any procedural changes would need approval from her office and possibly from the Legislature.

More:
http://www.azstarnet.com/dailystar/222469

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18. TN: Deadline nears to ensure verifiable vote

Tomorrow the House State and Local Government Committee meets in Room 16, Legislative Plaza to consider the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act (HB 1256), a critical measure that could mandate voter-verified paper ballots in Tennessee will be in place for the November 2008 election.

VoteSafeTN and Gathering to Save Our Democracy are making a final push to support this measure, and are encouraging Tennessee voters to the same by doing the following:

* Email members of the House and Senate State and Local Government committees. Tell them we still have the time to make the changes necessary to scrap unsafe, unverifiable, insecure and problem-prone DREs in Tennessee for opscan voting systems or hand-counted ballots in time for the November 2008 election.

More:
http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2008/01/28/deadline-nears-to-ensure-verifiable-vote/

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22. NH: Activists had eye on each step of recount

About a dozen reporters observed the first hours of what would be a five-day recount of Democratic primary ballots and eventually went on to pursue other news.

But the whirring of video cameras and a steady line of questioning didn’t end on that first day, Jan. 9, for Secretary of State William Gardner. Several activists stayed longer than the mainstream media to watch and challenge how the state handled the recount of more than a third of roughly 290,000 Democratic ballots.

Many activists hailed from beyond New Hampshire, and they represented various groups that advocate a reworking of how Americans cast their votes.

More:
http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080128/NEWS08/480564814/-1/news08

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33. BradBlog: Republican Candidate Calls for 'Tightening Up' of New Hampshire Election Contest

Republican New Hampshire primary candidate, Albert Howard, whose election contest hand count is currently ongoing in Concord, once again demonstrates how to call for a legitimate and reconcilable "recount".

He has just sent us a copy of the following letter, which was hand delivered to NH Secretary of State Bill Gardner earlier today ...

More:
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5616

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25. TX: Watauga voter mad over registration card mistake

The hairs on the back of Ruby Mitchell's neck stood up when she received her voter registration card in the mail. It listed her address as Haltom City, not her beloved Watauga.

The 64-year-old Mitchell, who volunteered in the city's elections from 1968 until she retired as election judge two years ago, said she called Tarrant County Elections and "raised heck" last week.

More:
http://www.star-telegram.com/407/story/436118.html

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26. PA: Pennsylvania Voters Seek Injunction to Block Purchase of Electronic/Touchscreen Voting Systems

Cite Machines’ Inability to Verify Votes, Secretary’s non-compliance with law

Pennsylvania voters filed a motion today to block the purchase of electronic voting equipment citing Pennsylvania election code that requires all voting systems produce a “permanent paper record”. Three Pennsylvania counties, Lackawanna, Northampton and Wayne, must replace the voting system they were using, the AVS WINVote, because the Secretary recently decertified it for use in Pennsylvania after it was discovered the vendor had misrepresented the systems to testing authorities. The motion for preliminary injunction was filed in Commonwealth Court as part of a pending lawsuit, Banfield v. Cortes, originally filed in August 2006 which names Secretary of State Pedro Cortes as defendant and challenges the legality of all electronic and touchscreen voting based on the Pennsylvania election code.

More:
http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2730&Itemid=113

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28. OK: Absentee voters may vote absentee in person

Registered voters in Garfield County who want to vote by absentee ballot in the presidential preferential primary and the annual school elections at Waukomis I-1, Pioneer-Pleasant Vale I-56, Pond Creek-Hunter I-90, Hennessey I-16 and Mulhall-Orlando I-3 on Feb. 5, 2008, have until Wednesday, Jan. 30, to register for a mailed absentee ballot, said Lue Ann Root, County Election Board secretary.

If the voter does not register for a mailed absentee ballot, there is still another possibility for them to vote absentee.

“They aren’t out of luck,” Root said.

More:
http://www.enidnews.com/presidentialcandidates/local_story_028115553.html

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29. CA: A paper jam roils California vote

Riverside County was in the vanguard of a new electronics era in 2000, when it became the first county in the nation to convert to computerized voting machines.

With the new technology, voters were able to cast their ballots up to 10 days early and miles outside their own precincts at shopping malls. An RV outfitted as an electronic polling station was sent to senior centers, Indian reservations and places deep in the desert.

But after what Riverside Registrar Barbara Dunmore calls 40 successful elections on the $25-million system, those programs are dead. The county has more than 3,000 of the machines in a warehouse, stacked up to the rafters, perhaps never to be used again.

More:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-calvote28jan28,1,4034804.story?track=crosspromo

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34. CO: Clerks warning of long lines, delayed results

Some county clerks are concerned that the plan to open up polling places for Election Day voting could cause long lines and delay election results in some large counties.

Most of the state's electronic voting machines have been decertified although the secretary of state's office thinks the problems could be fixed in time for them to be used in the primary and general elections. Because of the uncertainty, the governor and legislative leaders want voters to be able to cast paper ballots in person on Election Day and vote by mail.

But clerks say they don't know how many electronic voting machines they'll be able to use, including the scanners needed to count all those paper ballots. And now that many counties have switched away from paper, they say counting the ballots on a limited amount of scanners could delay results for several days.

More:
http://fox21news.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=89302

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37. FL: Florida Voters May Use Numerous Forms of ID at Polls

People wanting to vote early may be able to do so using an employee badge or buyers’ club card and forms of identification, in spite of new election laws that took effect Jan. 1 that eliminated their use.

In 2007, the Republican-laden Legislature restricted the types of photo IDs that voters could use, but the new law has been stalled because the U.S. Department of Justice has not signed off on the change as of yet.

Top election officials in Florida told election supervisors to ignore numerous voting law changes because federal authorities are still looking over them to see if and how they would affect minority voters negatively.

Florida has had issues in the past with discrimination against minority voters in five counties – Monroe, Collier, Hillsborough, Hendry and Hardee. Because of this, the federal government must sign off on any changes before they take effect.

More:
http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=1c15da3f82142fcbb913ba9e3187d870

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41. OK: Most of state's provisional ballots in recent years not valid

The overwhelming majority of provisional ballots cast in Oklahoma over the past six years were not valid.

Since 2002, these ballots have been given to voters whose eligibility could not immediately be verified. Election officials sort out eligibility questions before these ballots are counted. The process, intended to preserve voting rights, grew out of problems with the 2000 presidential election in Florida.

A provisional ballot could also be issued to a person who registered by mail, is voting for the first time in a federal election after registration and doesn’t have identification as is required in such cases.

An analysis by The Oklahoman shows only 13.9 percent of provisional ballots cast in statewide elections were deemed valid.

More:
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20080128_1__OKLAH52803

[tbyg52]

2. National nt

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23. VerifiedVoting.org Statement in Support of HR5036: “Emergency Assistance for Secure Elections Act”

As 2008 begins, over 30 million voters face the prospect of depending upon unverifiable and insecure electronic voting equipment in the November elections. Millions more will vote on paper ballot systems without the reassurance of a routine hand counted audit of the vote tallies. Already we have seen voters turned away from the polls in South Carolina as a result of machine malfunction and insufficient emergency paper ballots.

There is an excellent way that Congress can improve confidence in the 2008 elections: by quickly passing HR 5036, the Emergency Assistance for Secure Elections Act. HR 5036 would reimburse counties, states, and other jurisdictions for the cost of replacing paperless voting equipment with paper ballot systems purchased in time for the November elections, the cost of emergency paper ballots in locations that use electronic machines, the cost of hand counted audits of the 2008 federal elections, and even for the cost of hand-counting the ballots on election night if a jurisdiction chooses to do so.

More:
http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2732&Itemid=26

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31. Voters confused by e-voting technologies

My comment: just another thing wrong with these electronic monstrosities that were foisted on us....

A study led by the University of Maryland suggested that electronic U.S. voting technologies are efficient but too many voters ask for help too often.

The researchers, including scientists from the universities of Rochester and Michigan, found any problems associated with e-voting systems -- especially touch-screen technologies -- cannot be addressed by just adding paper trails.

"Recent history is clear: The election problem most likely to tilt a close race is not security but the inability of voters to cast their ballots the way they intended," said Paul Herrnson, principal investigator and a University of Maryland political scientist.

More:
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Science/2008/01/28/voters_confused_by_e-voting_technologies/8319/

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42. Paperwork backlog could prevent millions from voting

More than a million people who want to vote in November's general election probably won't get the chance because of a delay in processing applications to become U.S. citizens, according to the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services.

A backlog processing naturalization applications could keep over a million immigrants from voting this fall.

The dream of voting in the upcoming presidential election -- along with a scheduled increase in fees -- motivated 1.4 million people across the country to apply after June 1 last year to become naturalized U.S. citizens -- double the previous year's number, the bureau said.

The huge jump in applications also increased the time normally needed to process them from about seven months to as many as 18 months.

More:
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/25/immigrations.vote/

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3. International nt

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35. Australia: Govt pushed to curb election donations

The New South Wales Opposition wants to restrict the amount of money that is spent during election campaigns because there are concerns big donors wield too much influence over the State Government.

Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell says the proposal will be discussed at an Upper House inquiry set up to review the state's electoral donation laws from next month.

The inquiry will look at restricting the amount of money that candidates, political parties and third parties can spend. Mr O'Farrell says such restrictions would clean up the system.

"Limits of say $30,000 per candidate, per electorate $1.5 million in addition for parties across the state are the sorts of proposals that I'm hoping the parliamentary party can discuss," he said.

More:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/01/28/2147944.htm

[tbyg52]

4. Blogs, Editorials, LTTEs, etc. nt

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6. Voter ID: stopping fraud, or voters?

There's the poor, 32-year-old mother of seven who says it would cost her at least $50 to vote in person. There's also the 92-year-old woman who's voted for decades in the same polling place, but now can't vote there because she let her driver's license expire when her eyesight began to fail.

These folks live in Indiana, home of the country's most restrictive photo-identification voter law. The U.S. Supreme Court is now scrutinizing whether that statute violates the first and 14th amendments.

If the law is upheld, voting rights advocates fear it will encourage conservative lawmakers across the country to enact equally restrictive measures. The high court's decision is expected in the summer - leaving time to impact November's general election.

More:
http://www.cdispatch.com/articles/2008/01/28/local_news/local02.txt

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7. Upcoming Voter ID Decision Could Have Lasting Impact On U.S. Election System

With the presidential race in full swing, the U.S. Supreme Court is currently considering a case that could have a huge impact on the nation's electoral system forever. It revolves around an Indiana statue that requires voters to show current state-issued photo identification when they cast their ballots.

Last Election Day, 61-year-old Valerie Williams attempted to vote in the lobby of her retirement home as she had the past two elections. This time around, poll workers turned her away because she lacked a current Indiana-issued photo identification card.

Her telephone bill, social security letter and an expired Indiana driver's license weren't enough to prove I.D. though they had been in previous elections.

So, Williams, who requires a cane to get around, was permitted to cast a provisional ballot, which was ultimately discarded when she couldn't secure a ride to the local voting office to verify her identity within10 days as required by state law.

She and 31 others affiliated with the case recounted similar experiences. Most failed to comply with the law because they lacked the transportation to get to the local voting office to convert their provisional ballots into actual votes or couldn't afford state-issued identification. They represent as much as 12 percent of all voters, a disproportionate number of them elderly, poor, minorities or disable, who do not have government-issued photo identification. And a recent hearing of oral arguments over the case by the nation's top court did little to give them hope. Major media outlets predicted it would rule in favor of the law.

More:
http://www.louisianaweekly.com/weekly/news/articlegate.pl?20080128j

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9. Voter Identification requirements at the poll

While going through my fathers papers a few years ago, I found the receipt for his $5 1963 poll tax payment.

It was a dramatic moment.

In my hand was a 40 year old document that was less about giving him permission to vote than it was about preventing poor African Americans and Hispanics from having a say in their government.

snip

Advocates of photo ID claim we currently suffer massive election fraud.

And pretty much everyone does agree there is a problem with mail-in ballot fraud and voter registration lists that include non-citizens and the dead.

But a photo ID wouldn't deal with those frauds.

More:
http://www.news8austin.com/content/headlines/?ArID=198998&SecID=2

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39. MIKE MOORE: Can’t split election safeguard down middle

You’ll have to be patient with the Madison crowd. They’re a little rusty at this compromise thing.

Of all the places to experiment with it, they picked the voter identification issue. One of the more bruising partisan battles, the back-and-forth bout has already gone three rounds. Republican state legislators muscle through a bill to require photo ID at the polls and Gov. Jim Doyle thumps it down to the canvas.

Thrice-bitten, quadruply shy, I guess. Covered in Band-Aids, legislators tiptoed into this session with a more politically palatable alternative: Any voter can choose to sign up to have his own ID checked. In other words, it’s optional.

At the public hearing earlier this month, Rep. Bill Kramer of Waukesha testified the bill “allows people to have confidence in the process.”

You betcha. I’m sure any future troublemakers will be first in line to volunteer.

More:
http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2008/01/27/columns/doc479d596dad38b301685718.txt

[tbyg52]

10. Make it convenient to vote in elections

Work or school conflicts kept millions of people from voting in the 2004 election. Such barriers must be eliminated.

Some civic organizations and congressional members, notably U.S. Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., have raised justifiable concerns about electronic voting machines. Without a back-up system, it is impossible to verify voters' intentions on electronic machines. Yet, there is another problem that deserves as much attention, and it won't require costly retrofitting.

State lawmakers in New Jersey and across the country ought to consider making voting more convenient. It might appear that holding the vote open for 12 hours or more, from early morning until dinner time, would be convenient enough. But a recently released Census Bureau report found that 20 percent of U.S. voters didn't cast a ballot in the 2004 presidential election because they were too busy or had conflicting work or school schedules.

Of course, no one can make voting a priority for someone who takes this privilege for granted. Too busy to vote? In Iraq and most recently in Kenya, people risked their lives to elect their nations' leaders. In this country, casting a vote doesn't take a lot of courage -- just a commitment to maintaining a political system that has ensured a peaceful transfer of power for more than 200 years. That should be worth people in this country putting voting at the top of their to-do list.

But government must show more flexibility for people who would like to vote, but are prevented from doing so because of work or school obligations.

More:
http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080128/OPINION/801280302/1046

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19. WaPo: Touch and hope no way to vote

Election Day began with voting machines refusing to start up. It ended with them refusing to shut down.

"It was a very stressful day," says Sandy Martin, director of registration and elections in Horry County, S.C.

She still doesn't know the precise reasons her county's computerized, touch-screen machines balked at starting up Jan. 19 as the polls opened for the state's Republican primary. Some voters who showed up early complained they were turned away from polling places, and about 6,000 votes wound up being cast on paper -- some on printed ballots, others on any piece of paper a poll worker could find. The leading theory for the starting-up problem is that election workers who prepared the equipment failed to run a final procedure meant to set the computers' vote counters to zero.

More:
http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/Opinion/Editorials/opnOPN78012808.htm

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27. LTTE: Paper ballots help ensure truth

Paper ballots are a must in our elections! Honest, truthful, trustful paper ballots give voters the truth. If we need to recount, paper ballots give Americans a means with which to find truth. Having nothing for which to seek the honest truth is criminal.

(A little) more (letter and quite a few comments):
http://www.dailypressandargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080128/OPINION03/80128004/1014/OPINION

[tbyg52]

5. The Youth Vote nt

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24. Kids Voting connects kids, democracy

If you’re a politics wonk, you love this stuff.

If you’re not, you’re probably already a bit weary of all the presidential primary talk — and Wisconsin hasn’t even begun to gear up for our Feb. 19 vote. We still could be swamped by ads and fundraisers and presidential hopefuls staging photo-ops at farms and coffee houses and diners.
But whether you love it or dread it, you’re obligated as a citizen in a participatory democracy to be aware of the primary and what it means.
Mike Otten wants that awareness to start at a young age.

Otten is executive director of Kids Voting USA-Marathon County. The former teacher now is visiting at least 40 area schools to spread the word about the election process and instill in kids a respect for the rights Americans have and that so many other people on this earth covet.
“I want students to get enthused about voting and see it as an important part of their lives as citizens,” Otten said.

More:
http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080128/WDH06/80128144/1636

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30. The Election Challenge for Campuses

Although we have a long way to go until the end of primary season, the turnout of younger voters has been high so far. As one of many watching CNN, and waiting patiently for our turn to weigh in, I’m impressed with those crowds of cheering college students bobbing their candidate signage. High school and college students are out in force for most all of the candidates (particularly Paul, McCain as of late, and Obama), although the youth vote leans Democratic at this moment. Journalists witness their passion as we do, with surprise and delight. For researchers who have spent our academic careers puzzling over elections, public opinion, and political communication, it simply couldn’t be a more promising start to an election year. Time will tell whether the so-called “youth vote” will sustain, build, or diminish come November. But at this point, thanks to the lack of an incumbent, some interesting candidates, YouTube, and the new structure of the primary season, scholars of political behavior and those who want to promote student engagement have many positive developments to scrutinize.

Public Service and Elections

Since the late 1960s and early 1970s, when college students were a force in both electoral politics and the shape of political culture, campuses became quieter, although certainly not silent. We have seen compelling moments of intense student political activity since then, during election campaigns and in response to American policies abroad. Students made impressive showings on campuses across the nation in the 1980s, for example, protesting U.S. involvement in Central America or pleading with their administrative leaders to re-examine investment in South African apartheid. But there is no question that campuses are quieter than they once were, with regard to national electoral politics.

More:
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2008/01/28/herbst

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36. Student interest in election is growing

It was cold and dreary last Thursday, not the kind of weather to prompt teens and young people to venture out at night. And certainly not the kind of conditions to encourage high school students to attend, of all things, a political debate.

Yet there was Wendi Andersen, a senior at Mayo High School, among scores of teens to flock to a forum featuring Republican candidates for Congress in the 1st Congressional District. An estimated 120 people attended, many of them students.

Andersen said she wanted to know as much as possible about the congressional candidates before heading to her first precinct caucus set for Feb. 5.

"You know, I just don't want to vote with someone after a two-minute clip of them. I want to be informed," Andersen said.

More:
http://www.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_story.asp?a=325559&z=2

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38. Student project proposes 17-year-old voting (PA)

— State lawmakers are pushing for hearing on a proposal to let 17-year-olds vote in Pennsylvania’s primary elections, an idea that began as a civics projects by three high school students.

The students want 17-year-olds to be able to vote in the April 22 primary if they will be 18 – old enough to vote – before November’s general election.

“If we can pick between those final two candidates, we should be able to help pick who they are,” said Julia Hazlet, who developed the project with Fox Chapel Area High School classmates Doug Weisband and Kevin Pflumm.

Hazlet turns 18 in March, so she’ll be old enough to vote in both elections, even if the proposal doesn’t become state law.

More:
http://www.timesleader.com/news/national/20080122_22voting_1a_ART.html

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40. Viewpoint: 'U' not helping voter registration

Voter turnout for Michigan's primary was embarrassing. For a university that prides itself on political activism and civic engagement, the apparent lack of interest was stifling - but more importantly, it was representative of a more complicated problem that needs to be addressed. The most obvious scapegoat is the student body itself. Our generation is constantly accused of political apathy, and in some cases this may be warranted. But more often a lack of a unified message or organization is better representative of the problem, rather than apathy. Students actually have an interest in politics, but we generally lack an understanding of or belief in the enormous impact we can have in politics.

snip

Professors do not grant the organization access to their classes for voter registration, nor do the department heads urge them to. University buildings have not yet allowed Vote Your Vote to place voter registration drop boxes at easily accessible locations around campus. Housing allows Voice Your Vote access to the dorms once a year but does not currently have any self-sustainable voter registration policy. Voice Your Vote is hoping to train resident advisers directly, have available registration forms at all residence hall front desks and make voter registration a priority rather than an afterthought for housing. Moreover, the University's seeming lack of interest in providing its students with either information about voter registration or actual registration forms is in direct violation of the Higher Education Act of 1998, which is a federal law requiring public universities to make a "good faith effort" to provide voter registration forms to its students.

More:
http://media.www.michigandaily.com/media/storage/paper851/news/2008/01/28/Viewpoints/Viewpoint.u.Not.Helping.Voter.Registration-3171116.shtml

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16. Marginally related nt

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17. Are breathalyzers accurate? DWI defendant wants source code

Audio and video cables are notorious for being overpriced, but they have nothing on breathalyzer accessories. Law enforcement can buy a 10-foot direct connect cable for the Intoxilyzer 5000 for only $98, while a 2400-baud external modem (I kid you not) goes for a mere $297.

But it's not the price of such accessories that has DUI defendants agitated; it's the fact that breathalyzer software is secret. Across the country, attorneys are increasingly turning to the "source code defense," claiming that they have no idea if cops' breath detection equipment is accurate without peering through the device's software. In the most recent challenge of this kind, the Kentucky Court of Appeals has demanded that the source code be opened for review.

The "source code defense" has become a popular one, in part because the companies that make the devices are so reluctant to reveal their proprietary code that cases are often dropped instead. That's what happened in Minnesota, where Dale Lee Underdahl also requested the source code to the Intoxilyzer 5000 and got it. CMI, the makers of the device, didn't want to disclose it, though, and eventually the case was dropped after CMI tried to impose conditions on the code release.

More:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080128-are-breathalyzers-accurate-dwi-defendant-wants-source-code.html

[tbyg52]

20. Humor nt

[tbyg52]

21. Supreme Court Declares George Bush Winner of Florida Democratic Primary

In 2000, it took a decision of the Supreme Court to declare George W. Bush the winner over Al Gore in Florida, and recipient of the state's electoral votes. In anticipation of a close primary race this year (2008), involving ballot stuffing, voter fraud, and more hanging chads, the Supreme Court declared George W. Bush the winner again. This time, he beat out Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards.

Bush was also declared the winner of the Republican Primary over McCain, Romney, Huckabee, and Guiliani.

More:
http://www.thespoof.com/news/spoof.cfm?headline=s2i29557

[tbyg52]

43. That's all folks! - may I have (at least) a few more recs for the news? nt

[rumpel]

44. great work, tbyg52

thank you.

Where are the "r"'s!

[Mnemosyne]

45. Thanks tbyg! n/t

:hi: