Election Reform, Fraud and Related News. Sunday 02/24/08

[EFerrari]

Election Reform, Fraud and Related News. Sunday 02/24/08


Happy Birthday, Governor Siegelman.



Sand Mountain Lawyer Blows the Whistle on 60 Minutes This Weekend
Submitted by WDEF on February 22, 2008 - 6:52pm. News | Politics

Alabama partisan politics will be on full display Sunday night on 60 Minutes.

And the whistleblower comes from right in our own backyard.

Jill Simpson is an attorney from Rainsville who worked for the Republicans on opposition research.

She has long questioned the prosecution of former Governor Don Siegelman. Because she was once asked to dig up dirt on him for the Republicans.

http://wdef.com/news/sand_mountain_lawyer_blows_the_whistle_on_60_minutes_this_weekend/02/2008


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. Here's the link to the News Directory:
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2. Re-post stories and announcements you find on DU, providing a link to the original thread with thanks to the Original Poster, too.

3. Start a discussion thread by re-posting a story you see on this thread.


Recommends are much appreciated.

[EFerrari]

1. National.

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6. Precinct hiccups blamed on poor training

Precinct hiccups blamed on poor training
Some complain that huge one-day work force not prepared for vital job
updated 1:34 a.m. PT, Sun., Feb. 24, 2008

When things go awry at the voting booth, as they have several times in this hectic primary season, much of the blame often falls on ill-trained poll workers who are paid a pittance.

And there have been some head-scratching moments:

* While folks in Washington were waiting hours to vote under record turnout Feb. 12, poll workers hid electronic voting machines because they didn't like the touch-screen devices.
* On Super Tuesday in Chicago, poll workers passed out pens meant for e-voting machines. When those instruments made no mark on paper ballots, election workers said they were full of invisible ink — an explanation that was upheld by onsite precinct judges.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23310210/

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12. Supervisor says there's no guarantee your vote counts (Sancho)

Supervisor says there's no guarantee your vote counts
By M.C. MOEWE
Staff Writer

DELAND -- Saying America has a rich history of people in power stealing votes, the Leon County elections supervisor said Friday night he plans to contact the presidential candidates to seek support for a U.S. constitutional amendment that protects citizens' rights to vote.

"Most Americans believe they have that right but they don't," said Ion Sancho, speaking to a group of about 80 during the Third Annual Florida Election Reform Conference in DeLand on Friday. "You have no federal right to have your vote counted."

Florida judges chose Sancho to oversee the short-lived 2000 presidential hand count. And he gained national recognition in 2005 after he granted a computer expert access to an electronic voting machine for security tests that revealed election results could be changed without detection. Since then, several states have conducted tests that confirm the security problem and found others.

He said he got the idea for a constitutional amendment while reading the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Bush v. Gore, which stopped the Florida 2000 hand count. He pointed out that individuals have no federal constitutional right to vote for president of the United States.

http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Politics/Florida/polHEAD03POL022308.htm

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2. States.

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7. CA: Internal Affairs: Just a friendly visit? No, not really

Internal Affairs: Just a friendly visit? No, not really
By the Mercury News
Article Launched: 02/24/2008 01:38:59 AM PST

During the thick of the recent election season, IA spotted an unusual visitor at the office of county Registrar of Voters Jesse Durazo: former San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales.

When asked why the former mayor had paid him a visit last month, Durazo at first said Gonzales had stopped by to "bless" the upcoming election and wish the staff well.

But wait, IA pressed. Didn't we hear something about the mayor's new consulting firm, Presencia Technology, representing a group of folks from Gigafin Networks and the Security Consortium, who are trying to market a security solution for the state's disallowed electronic-voting machines?

OK, Durazo conceded, that's why the mayor was there. But Durazo said he put the kibosh on Gonzales' hopes.

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_8351045?source=rss

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8. CO: Clerks hold out hope for optical scanner

By Katharhynn Heidelberg
Daily Press Senior Writer
Published/Last Modified on Saturday, February 23, 2008 4:11 AM MST
DENVER — County clerks are crossing their fingers in hopes Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman will re-certify optical scanning equipment.

“Now we’re just waiting,” Montrose County Clerk and Recorder Fran Tipton Long said Friday, as she returned from a public hearing held in Denver Thursday.

At the hearing, Long and other county clerks asked Coffman to reconsider his decision to de-certify most electronic voting equipment used in the state, including Hart InterCivic equipment used in Montrose County.

Coffman de-certified some equipment from three of four vendors in December 2007. All four vendors were required to undergo re-certification after a lawsuit and court order from 2006, concerning electronic voting machines.

Long has already decided to hold a paper-ballot election for 2008.

http://www.montrosepress.com/articles/2008/02/24/news/doc47bfc407b9df1876683364.txt

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10. MS: Judge: New Democratic Party primary election needed in Wilkinson Co.

Judge: New Democratic Party primary election needed in Wilkinson Co.

Last Update: 2/23 12:26 pm

WOODVILLE, Miss. (AP) - Chancery Judge Jim Persons has notified the attorneys involved in the long-running Wilkinson County Democratic primary election contest that he intends to call a new election.

Earlier this week, Persons decided that absentee, affidavit or curbside ballots from the Aug. 7 primary election would not be counted because it could not be determined that the ballots had been kept safe from tampering.

"The court cannot rely on the authenticity of the ballots, that they have not been tampered with," Persons said. "None of the contents of those ballot boxes are to be relied on by the court. I have no confidence in the security of those boxes."

Persons said without those ballots the will of the voters could not be determined and a new election must be called.

http://www.nbc15online.com/news/state/story.aspx?content_id=d8f9e2a6-837c-4eb7-9877-53c474392d3e&rss=218

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11. CA: State official says few delays resulted from ballot decision

Contra Costa Times
State official says few delays resulted from ballot decision
# Super Tuesday tally was on time despite some shifts to paper ballots, Secretary of State says
By Lisa Vorderbrueggen

STAFF WRITER
Article Launched: 02/23/2008 03:05:23 AM PST

Predictions of widespread delays in posting results of the Feb. 5 presidential primary due to a shift to paper ballots in nearly two dozen counties failed to materialize, said California Secretary of State Debra Bowen.

"In 57 of 58 counties, the election results came in roughly at the same time as they had in previous elections," Bowen told a crowd of several hundred people at the Lamorinda Democratic Club on Thursday night in Walnut Creek.

In front of a visibly supportive crowd, the secretary delivered a lively and humorous speech on a broad range of election topics including the presidential primary, unprecedented turnout, voting machine security and ways to attract pollworkers.

She outlined fixes to problems of the past election, such as the lack of a notification system in the event of a court order that extends poll hours.

http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_8345102?source=rss

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18. OH: Five things to keep an eye on in Ohio - Edward Foley

Five Things to Keep an Eye on in Ohio

By Edward Foley, Election Law @ Moritz. Posted February 22, 2008.

Ohio's primary will play a central role in determining the Democratic presidential nominee. Let's make sure we do it right.

It is widely believed that Ohio's primary on March 4 will play a pivotal role in determining the Democratic candidate for President. If Obama wins the statewide popular vote, the pundits proclaim, his victory likely would propel him to similar success in Pennsylvania (on April 22), and the party's "superdelegates" -- who by all accounts will control the outcome of the party's national convention in


Denver -- will fall in line. Conversely, if Clinton prevails in the Ohio primary's popular vote, then she would be expected to do the same in Pennsylvania, and these two victories in states that will be major battlegrounds in the general election campaign will cause the superdelegates to favor her.

Consequently, the conduct of Ohio's election officials in administering the primary vote is now important, not only as a "test run" of technologies and procedures to be used again in November, but also in its own right. While it is the prerogative of the Democratic Party to make what use of the Ohio primary vote as it wishes -- including any significance the superdelegates may find in the results about the electability of these two candidates in the fall -- it remains the responsibility of the state's election officials to manage the casting and counting of primary ballots properly, so that its results are accurate.

Whether we care about the performance of Ohio's election system for one or both of these reasons, what should we look for on March 4 to evaluate whether or not it worked satisfactorily?

Here are five things to keep an eye on. While this short list is inevitably incomplete -- indeed, one important truth about election administration is the need to maintain flexibility given the good chance that something unexpected will occur -- this is a reasonable set of priorities as we come within two weeks of the primary date.

http://www.alternet.org/democracy/77540/

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19. VA: Chesterfield's election count OK, officials say

Chesterfield's election count OK, officials say

Saturday, Feb 23, 2008 - 12:09 AM

By WESLEY P. HESTER
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

Chesterfield County election officials said yesterday that they have accounted for all votes and voters in last week's presidential primary election. They say a state review panel incorrectly read the county's results.

The State Board of Elections had asked the Chesterfield Electoral Board to review its tabulation of the election results after the state review found that more votes had been cast in the Feb. 12 election than the number of voters who showed up at the polls.

Chesterfield Electoral Board Chairman John N. Clifford said yesterday that was not the case.

http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-02-23-0149.html

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20. AZ: Dems seek more election database info

Dems seek more election database info

GARRY DUFFY
Tucson Citizen
Feb 22

The Pima County Democratic Party will be back in court Monday seeking greater access to all electronic elections databases dating back to the late 1990s.

Pima County Superior Court Judge Michael Miller in December ruled partly in favor of the Democrats' demand to the Pima County Elections Division, giving them access to the electronic databases from the 2006 primary and general elections. of 2006.

That did not include the electronic databases for the 2006 Regional Transportation Authority election.

Democrats got access to that database from the Pima County Board of Supervisors in January.

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/local/77765.php

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3. International.

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9. India: Tripura polls peaceful, huge turnout of 80pc

Tripura polls peaceful, huge turnout of 80pc
(IANS)

24 February 2008


AGARTALA — Voting to elect a new government in the north-eastern state of Tripura ended peacefully yesterday evening with more than 80 per cent people exercising their franchise.

"Over 80 per cent of the 2.03 million voters have cast their ballot across the state," said G.S.G. Ayyangar, the chief electoral officer.

"The voting passed off peacefully with no incident reported from anywhere in the state."

Voters in large numbers queued up well before polling opened and many voted until the last hour.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/subcontinent/2008/February/subcontinent_February767.xml§ion=subcontinent&col=

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13. Cyprus: Communist wins Cyprus presidential vote

Communist wins Cyprus presidential vote
by Charlie Charalambous

NICOSIA (AFP) - Communist party leader Demetris Christofias won the presidential election in Cyprus on Sunday and immediately pledged to work to reunify the island after 34 years of division.


Greek Cypriot parliament speaker Christofias, 61, garnered 53.36 percent of the vote against 46.64 percent for conservative former foreign minister Ioannis Kasoulides, according to final results of an election billed by the local media as one of the most crucial in the history of Cyprus.

"Tomorrow is a new day and there will be many difficulties before us, we need to gather our strength to achieve the reunification of our homeland," said Christofias, who is due to be sworn in on Friday.

He has pledged to renew contacts with the rival Turkish Cypriots in a bid to end the partition of the strategic eastern Mediterranean island after negotiations stalled under outgoing president Tassos Papadopoulos.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080224/wl_afp/cyprusvote_080224183325

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14. Cuba: Cuba's National Assembly has convened to select new leaders

Cuba's National Assembly has convened to select new leaders on the island
By PABLO BACHELET AND FRANCES ROBLES
[e-mail]

National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcón was named to a third time as the Cuban legislative body's leader Sunday, Radio Havana reported.

Alarcón's appointment is considered significant, because some Cuba observers had wondered whether as a member of the old guard -- he's 70 years old -- Alarcón would be pushed aside in favor of younger leadership more inclined toward reforms.

The National Assembly convened at exactly 10 a.m. Sunday to begin making history. Alarcón has been prsident of the assembly since 1993.

After being sworn in by 18-year-old student assembly deputy Liaena Hernández Martínez, the assembly ratified Vice President of the National Assembly Jaime Crombet. Secretary Ernesto Suárez was replaced by Miriam Brito.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/cuba/story/431206.html

[samplegirl]

4. Signed sealed and forgotten about.

No way. K&R

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5. Opinion.

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15. Mark Crispin Miller: It's the media, stupid!

February 24, 2008

It's the media, stupid!
By Mark Crispin Miller

Here is a bouquet of items on Bomb-Bomb McCain, who's long been whoring
for the worst players in the corporate media--especially Sinclair Broadcasting,
which, back in 2004, stood out for the brazenness of its pro-Bush agenda. It was
Sinclair that first screened Stolen Honor, the anti-Kerry propaganda hit piece that was financed and assembled by the Bush machine. (So much for Bomb-Bomb's solidarity with a fellow vet.)

Of course, these guys (and gals) are all corrupt--a larger problem that we must address, whoever wins, or seems to win, the next election. In Bomb-Bomb's case, however, the hypocrisy is staggering, because of his meticulously cultivated image as an honest fella who won't cave to any "special interests."

It's also staggering that, despite his reputation as a "moderate" or "independent" type, he's actually been carrying a lot of water for a far-right media corporation that did all it could to help Bush/Cheney's "re-election" in 2004.

The vast corruption of our media system is an issue of profound importance--
an issue as important as, and fundamentally related to, the corruption of our
voting system. So what really matters isn't whether John McCain was schtupping Vicki Iseman. It's that Ms. Iseman was but one of many pricey lobbyists who have helped McCain schtup all the rest of us.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_mark_cri_080224_it_s_the_media_2c_stup.htm

(Don't forget to digg the article at the link. :hi: )

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16. Notice: Impeachment and Movement Building Show with David Swanson, Cynthia Papermaster

**MONDAY, FEB 25***



Impeachment and Movement Building Show with David Swanson, Cynthia Papermaster and Larry Pinkney Feb 25, 10-12 pm CST
Submitted by davidswanson on Sun, 2008-02-24 11:55. Impeachment

By Carol Brouillet, http://www.wethepeopleradionetwork.com

Listen 10:00- 11:00 pm (CST) to the WeThePeopleRadioNetwork.com and to our guests- in the first hour David Swanson and Cynthia Papermaster speaking about the growing Impeachment Movement.

Listen 11:00- 12:00 pm (CST) to the WeThePeopleRadioNetwork.com and to our guest- in the second hour Larry Pinkney on building movements.

David Swanson is the creator of www.impeachcheney.org/, the Washington Director of democrats.com/ and of www.impeachpac.org/. He is co-founder of the www.afterdowningstreet.org/ coalition, creator of www.meetwithcindy.org/, and a board member of Progressive Democrats of America, of the Backbone Campaign, and of Voters for Peace. He was the organizer in 2006 of Camp Democracy. He serves on the steering committee of the Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice and on a working group of United for Peace and Justice.

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/31284

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17. Borowitz: Nader Announces Plan to Wreck Election

Nader Announces Plan to Wreck Election
February 24

Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press" today, consumer activist Ralph Nader told host Tim Russert that he has officially decided to wreck the 2008 presidential election.

Mr. Nader had been huddling with prominent crackpots over the weekend to determine whether he had enough support among his natural constituency, self-absorbed whack-jobs, to mount an entirely meaningless campaign.

"If I wreck the 2008 election, I intend to wreck it in all fifty states," Mr. Nader told Mr. Russert today. "I have no intention of being merely a regional spoiler."

When asked if his candidacy could hurt the chances of the first African-American nominee for president, Mr. Nader put his fingers in his ears and started going, "Lalalalalalalala I can't hear you."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-borowitz/nader-announces-plan-to-w_b_88173.html

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21. And kick.