Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, Monday 03/24/08

[tbyg52]

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, Monday 03/24/08

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[tbyg52]

1. States nt

[tbyg52]

11. NJ: Sequoia Voting Thwarts New Jersey Investigation

Discrepancies in the vote recording by machines provided by Sequoia Voting Systems for the New Jersey primary spurred calls for an investigation, one that Sequoia fought off with legal threats.

Union County, New Jersey, voting showed some oddities on about 60 Sequoia machines. Yet the concerns of the county could not be addressed through an independent investigation.

Columnist Robert X. Cringely said on his blog a play for Union County to enlist the assistance of Princeton professor and electronic voting authority Ed Felten suffered legal interference for both Felten and the County. Once the threats arrived, the County dropped its plans to investigate:

Felten has a long history of finding flaws in voting machines; in past years he has demonstrated how easily a Diebold machine could be hacked and made to display inaccurate voting totals.

But Felten never got the chance to fiddle with the Sequoia machines, because the company sicced its attorneys on him and the county.

Sequoia says any independent investigation would violate its trade secrets.

More:
http://www.securitypronews.com/news/securitynews/spn-45-20080324SequoiaVotingThwartsNewJerseyInvestigation.html

[tbyg52]

13. CO: Paper ballots are top pick

The majority of Colorado's counties will still hold primarily paper ballot elections this year, despite the failure last week in the legislature of a plan mandating such elections.

A survey of Colorado's 64 counties reveals that at least 60 percent of the state's registered voters will have the option of casting a paper ballot at a polling place on Election Day. In at least 35 of the state's counties — representing at least 1.3 million registered voters — paper is the primary method of voting. Those counties range from the biggest, Denver, to the smallest, San Juan.

At least another nine counties will offer a hybrid system, where voters can choose to vote on either electronic voting terminals or by paper ballot.

And two of the largest counties that normally run all-electronic polling place elections — Arapahoe and Jefferson — are considering also having paper ballots.

More:
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_8672912

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15. IL: Chicago election officials probe votes cast using ‘magic’ invisibile ink pens

Chicago election officials Tuesday afternoon were trying to unravel the mystery of the incredible invisible ink.

It’s no Agatha Christie novel but a real case for election investigators sent to the 49th Ward’s 42nd precinct Tuesday morning, after 20 ballots were cast with “magic” invisible ink pens.

Election officials just smirked, shook their heads in disbelief and called it the most bizarre election snafu in recent memory.

Apparently, said city election board spokesman James Allen, the poll workers told incredulous voters—including one spouse of an election judge—that the stylus used for touch-screen voting was actually an inkless pen to fill out paper ballots.

More:
http://www.methodsreporter.com/2008/02/05/chicago-election-officials-probe-votes-cast-using-magic-invisibile-ink-pens/

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16. PA: Uncounted: The New Math of American Elections Jenkintown Showing at Hiway Theater April 16.

With election fever mounting for the Pennsylvania primary, the Election Reform Network is proud to be hosting the Philadelphia area theatrical premier screening of. Uncounted: The New Math of American Elections Wednesday, April 16 at 7 p.m. at the Hiway Theatre in the center of Jenkintown on Old York Road. Tickets are $8 and will be available at the door. RSVP to to the Election Reform Network.

Join Emmy award-winning filmmaker David Earnhardt for a lively and strategic conversation afterward about what we can learn from the recent American elections. Find out what steps we in the greater Philadelphia area can take now to protect the vote in 2008 and beyond.
Emmy award-winning director David Earnhardt.

Uncounted is an explosive new documentary that shows in graphic detail the vulnerability of American elections and the inspiring stories of true heroes working in the trenches of democracy to protect the vote. It is a stunning wakeup call -- making clear that this year it is not enough merely to vote.

Uncounted shows well documented stories about the callous disregard for the right to vote.

More:
http://www.pjvoice.com/v34/34003uncounted.aspx

[tbyg52]

17. CT: Protecting Poll Privacy

Protecting voters' rights isn't all lofty rhetoric. It also requires a lot of regulatory minutiae.

"An Act Concerning Certain Revisions and Technical Changes to the Election Laws" is a little mind-numbing in detail, but its provisions will help ensure voters' privacy as they get more comfortable with the state's new optical-scan voting machines.

The optical-scan equipment is turning out to be one of the simplest and most dependable voting technologies available. But it does take some getting used to.

More:
http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/editorials/hc-votenext.artmar24,0,3440535.story

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18. NJ: After threats, NJ clerks call for e-voting investigation

Not taking Sequoia's blame (or bullying) as their answer

A group representing county clerks in New Jersey has asked the state's attorney general to step in and investigate voting discrepancies observed in e-voting machines used in last month's presidential primary election.

The Constitutional Officers Association of New Jersey wrote to state Attorney General Anne Milgram on Wednesday, asking her office to investigate problems in the state's Feb. 5 election.

"We want to know what the problems were and how do we fix them," Michael Dressler, the group's president, told IDG News Service.

More:
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9069999&taxonomyId=14&intsrc=kc_top

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22. AZ: Idea of National Popular Vote weighed by Ariz. lawmakers

What if the United States held a presidential election and the candidate with the most votes won?

That's the simple but radical idea behind a movement called the National Popular Vote.

The fledgling drive aims to change the way states pick electors to the Electoral College. It would award a state's electors on the basis of the nationwide vote for president, instead of the statewide vote tally.

More:
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0324nationalvote0324.html

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27. MT: Hanging chads, historic ballot boxes in Montana State exhibit

A new Montana State University exhibit on voting includes chads from the 2000 presidential election, historic ballot boxes and a signed speech by President John F.Kennedy.

The American Computer Museum in Bozeman, with help from MSU's Humanities Institute, organized the "Technology and Democracy" display on the history of voting technologies.

"With political memorabilia from important presidential campaigns in the past and reminders that voting in this country has never been just a given, this exhibit invites us to think hard about both who we vote for and how our votes are counted," said Robert W. Rydell, MSU history professor and director of the Humanities Institute.

The exhibit contains a voting machine and ballot box used in Lee County, Fla., during the highly contested general election of 2000. Photos show election officials using magnifying glasses to examine punch card ballots and determine if their chads were hanging, swinging or dimpled in favor of George W. Bush or Al Gore.

More:
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2008-03-24-montana-election-exhibit_N.htm

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28. CA: Machine vendor miscalibrated vote scanners, county officials say

Improper maintenance of some of Sacramento County's voting machines – and the tint of the Feb. 5 ballots – were to blame for malfunctions that sidelined vote-counting scanners and delayed results of last month's presidential primary, according to the county's top election official.

The problems have been corrected and the scanners are expected to be used in the June election, Registrar of Voters Jill LaVine said in a report to the county Board of Supervisors.

During a routine pre-election test in January, some ballots were being rejected or misread, including some valid votes that were not recognized at all by one particular scanner model used at precincts across the county.

Because of the malfunction, all ballots had to be counted in the election department's central command in south Sacramento – instead of some being processed as usual at the precincts.

More:
http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/806732.html

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33. NY: Vendor to sue NY again to allow DREs

I told you the DRE vendors are like zombies, and will never, ever stop trying to force DRE machines on New York State voters. Once again, LibertyVote and their Dutch partner Nedap are preparing to go to Court to challenge county purchases for accessible paper ballot systems, and to overturn New York State’s right to test our voting machines to the strict standards we worked so hard to achieve.

On Thursday, March 20, the Cattaraugus county Board of Elections informed the State Board that they wanted to change the order placed last month for 57 Ballot Marking Devices, and instead want to substitute LibertyVote DREs for the paper ballot systems. This is an astonishing request for several reasons – for one, orders have already been placed for the ballot markers and contracts have been completed, signed and sealed; and for another, the LibertyVote DRE has yet to undergo any testing whatsoever! Yes, that’s right, testing to New York’s rigorous standards has not yet even started, and won’t be completed until this summer at the earliest. But Cattaraugus county is telling the State Board they want to purchase the LibertyVote DRE now, essentially asking them to bypass all testing and simply approve the machine at the next Board meeting on Wednesday, March 26.

More:
http://www.nyvv.org/boblog/2008/03/22/the-law-litigation-and-libertyvote/

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35. WA: Seattle to revisit election finance

During the fall election, the head of Seattle's elections office noticed a curious pattern of contributions.

The Seattle firefighters union sent money to campaigns in Spokane, South King County and Puyallup, and in each case, firefighter unions in those cities later gave the exact same amount to Tim Burgess' campaign for Seattle City Council.

Wayne Barnett, executive director for the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission, began investigating to see if this was an attempt to skirt contribution limits. Union officials told him no deal had been struck to exchange donations.

Barnett last month said there was not enough evidence to prove the firefighters had violated elections law.

Still, the commission plans to draft a new rule clarifying exactly what would amount to a violation.

More:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2004301606_burgess24m.html

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36. AZ: Griswold campaign donation violated state law

Mayoral candidate Rex Griswold has been found in violation of an Arizona campaign finance law that forbids political donations by corporations.

Griswold said Monday the error was inadvertent. An attorney retained by Mesa to look into the matter said it has been corrected and recommended no sanctions against Griswold.

Mesa began looking into the issue after Mesa resident J. Hines raised questions based on Griswold's Dec. 3, 2007, campaign finance report.

That report listed in-kind donations of food totaling $500 for a fund-raiser held Nov. 13 at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theater.

Although the donations were listed in the names of theater owners Will and Andrea Prather, Hines asked Mesa to examine whether the theater itself, as a corporation, had actually donated the food.

Arizona law prohibits candidates from accepting corporate donations.

More:
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0324mr-griswold0326.html

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37. CA: State Sen. Migden fined for campaign finance violations

State Sen. Carole Migden has agreed to pay a record $350,000 in fines for 89 violations of state campaign finance laws that include using political funds for personal benefit and failing to disclose what her political committees purchased with credit cards, according to documents released Tuesday.

The San Francisco Democrat, who is chairwoman of the Senate Democratic Caucus, also admitted raising funds for her current reelection campaign before filing the proper papers and failing to report contributions by state deadlines.

Migden, campaign treasurer Roger Sanders and campaign aide Eric Potashner committed campaign reporting and related violations over a four-year period, according to a report prepared by enforcement staff of the state Fair Political Practices Commission.

More:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-migden19mar19,1,3826386.story

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38. TX: Former lawmaker fined $10,000

Former state Rep. Toby Goodman, R-Arlington, has been fined $10,000 for allegedly violating laws designed to prevent politicians from using campaign money to buy second homes.

Goodman said Thursday that he did nothing wrong and that he plans to appeal the ruling, which was issued by the Texas Ethics Commission last week in response to a formal complaint filed by Democrats in 2006. The order carries a civil penalty and does not allege criminal wrongdoing.

"They're just wrong," said Goodman, who predicted that the courts will vindicate him.

Goodman is one of four Tarrant County legislators who used campaign funds to rent residences in Austin from their spouses. Critics said that amounted to using campaign money to buy property.

More:
http://www.star-telegram.com/state_news/story/540847.html

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39. CA: City Council Appoints Subcommittee to Study Campaign Finance Reform

Two members of the Palm Springs City Council were appointed Wednesday to a City Council subcommittee to study campaign finance reform issues.

(A little) more:
http://www.mydesert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080320/GETPUBLISHED/803200391

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2. National nt

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8. Newly released DoJ memo confirms that McKay's "investigation" of the 2004 election was a sham

A year ago fired U.S. Attorney John McKay was being lionized by the mainstream media for supposedly resisting partisan political pressure to conduct a baseless investigation into Washington's 2004 gubernatorial election. The media accepted as settled fact McKay's insistence that he conducted a thorough investigation and found "no evidence" of crimes. When I interviewed McKay last May it came out that his "investigation" was limited to reviewing trial documents, that he demanded an implausibly high standard of "evidence" (amounting to a confession of participation in a conspiracy to tip the election) before he would proactively investigate or even interview election workers, and he denied knowledge of the hundreds of unlawfully counted votes that were discovered only after the trial ended.

McKay suggested that I FOIA his "close out" memo of the investigation, which would document his investigation in great detail. EFF Legal Counsel Jonathan Bechtle made the FOIA request and received the memo earlier this month. The memo confirms: the investigation was a sham. The FBI and DoJ wouldn't even acknowledge post-trial reports of unlawful vote counting.

Bechtle comments:

Generally, the memo verifies McKay's account of his reasons behind not pursuing an investigation: that he wouldn't have investigated unless someone dropped concrete forensic evidence of a crime in his lap. His office's great reluctance to get involved is shown throughout the document, as demonstrated by the following paragraph:

"After an extensive review of the applicable law, however, I concluded that even if the affidavits had been forged, because the federal issues on the ballot had already been decided by mid-November and because the conduct did not involve state action, the federal government did not have jurisdiction over the alleged conduct. Therefore, I informed BIAW that it may wish to report the conduct to State authorities and the political parties."

More:
http://soundpolitics.com/archives/010428.html

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19. Study: Voters prefer e-voting, but tech has limits

Voters generally prefer electronic voting machines to paper-based alternatives, but some e-voting machines have error rates of 3 percent or more, according to a study released Friday.

Voters generally were most comfortable with some models of touch-screen e-voting machines, often called direct record electronic (DRE) machines, when tested against paper ballots and e-voting machines using buttons and dials, said the study, published by the Brookings Institute, a centrist think tank.

In five DRE systems researchers tested, the error rate of the worst-performing machines was 3 percent in a simple task such as voting for president, researchers said. In more complex races, the error rate, the rate at which voters voted for the wrong candidate, was higher. Researchers urged voting machine manufacturers and elections officials to focus more on ballot design, saying badly designed ballots caused many of the problems.

More:
http://www.itworld.com/Tech/2987/voters-prefer-evoting-says-study-080324/

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20. High Court Tackles Ala. Voting Case

Supreme Court justices expressed skepticism Monday about the federal government's authority to block the governor of Alabama's appointment of a fellow Republican to a vacant county commission seat representing a mostly black and heavily Democratic district.

The case is over whether Gov. Bob Riley needed clearance from the Justice Department under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which requires Alabama and several other states — most of them in the South — to get federal approval before changing election procedures that affect minority voters.

Alabama did not directly challenge the law, and the state's lead attorney acknowledged during oral arguments Monday that it was an "oddball" case with peculiar circumstances. But critics view the state's litigation as an effort to chip away at federal protections for minority voters.

In 2005, Riley appointed Juan Chastang, a black Republican, to a Mobile County Commission seat made vacant when Commissioner Sam Jones became Mobile's first black mayor.

More:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hQFPeVuavJG3aOtRjHyVwv8nInegD8VK1DA00

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3. Foreign nt

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6. Kenya: Election Fraud Whistle Blower On the Run

A team has been sworn-in to look at how the Electoral Commission of Kenya handled the General Election last year.

As the team gets down to business, one man remains on the run for having blown the whistle on breach of rules during the tallying of presidential results.

Mr Kipkemoi arap Kirui became a marked man immediately he addressed a press conference.

On December 27, last year, shortly before the presidential poll results were announced, one man -whose actions could either be described as courageous or sheer foolishness - came out in the full glare of local and international media.

He confessed anomalies were taking place at ECK offices at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre, Nairobi.

More:
http://allafrica.com/stories/200803240143.html

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7. Zimbabwe president accused of election fraud plan

Zimbabwean opposition group Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) on Sunday accused President Robert Mugabe of plotting to commit election fraud by printing millions of surplus ballot papers in advance of the March 29 presidential vote. MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti said that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission leaked information showing that at Mugabe's request, 9 million paper ballots were printed for the country's 5.7 million registered voters; 600,000 of those ballots were designated as "postal ballots" for police officers, soldiers and civil servants living abroad, a group which Biti estimates to total no more than 50,000. Biti accused Mugabe of "stealing" the 2002 election , which he won by a margin of 350,000 votes. Judge George Mutandwa Chiweshe, chairman of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission since his appointment by Mugabe in January 2005, has rejected all suggestions that the extra papers might be misused.

(A little) more, and links to more:
http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/03/zimbabwe-president-accused-of-election.php

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10. Zimbabwe: Opposition vows to fight election fraud

A Zimbabwean opposition leader has told supporters to keep a close watch on polling stations in Saturday's election to stop what he said was a bid by President Robert Mugabe's government to rig the vote.

Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the larger faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), charged that Mugabe had stolen past elections but vowed that his fractured party would fight any fraud in the March 29 vote.

Mugabe's 28-year hold on power faces a serious test from a resurgent Tsvangirai and former finance minister Simba Makoni, both who are campaigning on a platform of ending a severe economic crisis that has ravaged the once promising country.

"We expect the enemies of justice to engage in every trick in the book. We are ready for them (and) those who want to subvert the will of Zimbabweans," Tsvangirai told thousands of jubilant supporters at a huge rally in the capital Harare.

More:
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/536641/1654487

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26. UK: Ministers back radical plan for voting reform

A significant overhaul of electoral legislation to give voters a second vote, open polling stations at weekends and make it compulsory to participate is being proposed by the government to increase turnout and improve the legitimacy of the Commons.

Ministers will begin a consultation effort on the plan after local elections in May, and hope the measures will increase the authority of MPs and reduce voter disengagement. In the 2005 general election, only 61% of those eligible participated. Under the alternative voting system, ballot papers would allow for a second preference vote which would be redistributed from the lowest-scoring candidate's share until one candidate has more than 50% of the vote.

News of the proposals came as Jack Straw, the justice secretary, prepares to publish a draft constitutional reform bill tomorrow, before a separate green paper on a British bill of rights and responsibilities and the opening of discussions on a statement of British values.

A white paper on party funding, which proposes capping donations and campaign spending, is also expected shortly together amounting to a substantial programme of constitutional reform.

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/mar/24/localgovernment.voterapathy

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4. Blogs, Editorials, LTTEs, etc. nt

[tbyg52]

9. Chicago “magic pen” snafu illustrates deeper problem for electronic voting

Amy, a Rogers Park resident, posted a truly harrowing story to her blog earlier today.

She was one of about 20 Illinois Primary voters in Chicago’s 49th Ward told to use a push-vote machine stylus to record their votes on paper ballots. When the styluses failed to leave marks on the paper, they were told by election officials that the pens used “magic invisible ink” to write down the votes.

From her blog:

“Jim and I went to vote at 7 a.m. We were given Democratic ballots and pens. But when I got to the booth, my pen didn’t work — it was like a felt-tip marker with no ink. So I went back to the desk and was told — along with several other confused voters trying to swap out their nonfunctional pens — that these were “invisible ink” pens that would not leave marks on the ballot but would absolutely be read by the scanners.

Except that they weren’t. The optical scanners were spitting out ballots until one of the election judges used a key to override the system and get the ballots into the box. After my ballot was rejected once, I got a confirmation that my vote “counted” (when the number on the ballot box blipped from 19 to 20), but Jim was given a regular ballpoint to fill in his, and it counted right away.”

More:
http://www.methodsreporter.com/2008/02/05/chicago-voting-magic-pen-primary/

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12. Sequoia and e-voting: The best government money can buy

I don't know if you've noticed lately, but our elected officials are being determined by people who can't do simple math or write a comprehensible sentence in English. And no, I don't mean people who voted for Rudy Guiliani. I'm talking about companies like Sequoia Voting Systems.

Though it hasn't received huge media coverage, New Jersey's recent presidential primary had a number of electoral snafus. About 60 of the state's Sequoia voting machines recorded the wrong number of votes cast. In other words, if 200 people in a precinct voted, and the votes were split evenly between the Democrats and Republicans, the voting machines would show a tally of either 201 or 199 votes cast. (You'll find evidence and an explanation of it here.)

One vote here or there goes askew, no big deal, right? But it does raise the question what else the machines might have gotten wrong. And a reasonable person, concerned about the effect on our democratic process, might want to dig a little deeper into the question. That's what New Jersey's Union County officials thought when they asked Princeton researcher and e-voting wonk Ed Felten to take a look at the machines and figure out what went wrong.

More:
http://weblog.infoworld.com/robertxcringely/archives/2008/03/sequoia_and_evo.html?source=rss

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14. Americans still wary of voting machines

Eight years after glitches marred the 2000 presidential elections, Americans are still struggling over voting machine technology amid growing concerns about the reliability of electronic systems.

Many jurisdictions are reconsidering new technology and moving away from paperless and touch-screen voting machines – systems which had been seen as a cure for the problems of punch cards that notably failed to correctly tally votes in 2000 in Florida.

A growing movement of activists, including many computer scientists, are leading calls to shift away from paperless systems, saying they are vulnerable to software and hardware glitches or manipulation by hackers or others.

About 80 percent of Americans use systems where votes are cast or tabulated by computer including 38 percent who used so-called direct recording electronic voting machines (DRE), according to a study by John McCormally of the University of Iowa.

More:
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Americas&month=March2008&file=World_News2008032475527.xml

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21. The future of casting ballots

snip

Let’s break down the case for and against online voting, which is currently being used in pilot programs across the country and internationally.

The good:

Americans Abroad - The group Democrats Abroad held primaries for the presidential election this year. The groups has been allocated 11 delegates at the Democratic National Convention representing the interests of many traveling Americans.

snip

The bad:

Discrimination - “In March, Arizona Democrats used the Internet for the first time to cast ballots in a legally binding election in that state’s presidential primary race. Nearly 40,000 Arizona Democrats cast online ballots in the polling conducted by Garden City, New Jersey-based Election.com. A voter group tried to stop the election with a lawsuit on behalf of a Hispanic woman and an African-American man, charging the plan discriminated against the poor and minorities.”

More:
http://glassbooth.org/blog/2008/03/24/the-future-of-casting-ballots/

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34. The Swiftboating of Secretary Of State Brunner

For awhile now, we've been telling you about the Ohio GOP's constant effort to create controversy surrounding Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.

Yesterday's Big Winner in Ohio? Jennifer Brunner!

The ORP using their media machine, has been predicting a doomsday scenario for the primary voting process ever since that secret meeting they held in January with Republican Election Officials.

With Deputy Chairman, Ohio Republican Party Kevin Dewine, heir apparent to out going Chairman Bob Bennett, as the mouthpiece, they have been releasing press release after press release disparging every action Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner has taken to restore trust to Ohio Voting.

Of course, the copy and paste media printed their claims in what a conspiritist would say indicates some level of coordination in helping to get their messages against Secretary Brunner out into the main stream media.

It has gotten so bad that in their quest to smear Brunner, they threw the presumptive Republican Presidential candidate John McCain under the bus in their retort to Secretary Brunner's recent winning of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.

More:
http://www.progressohio.org/page/community/post/daveharding/C32M

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5. The Youth Vote nt

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23. League wants young voters to help pick the president

Pick a president.

The Marion League of Women Voters isn't telling local high school students how to pick, but members are trying to educate students a bit on how the nation's next president will be chosen.

The league has donated copies of the book "Choosing the President 2008: A Citizen's Guide to the Electoral Process" to middle and high schools in Marion County. The book explains the presidential process including what roles political parties play and how the electoral college works.
"The League of Women Voters, one of our strong interests is voter participation in the Democratic process," said league member JoAnn Zimmerman. "The more voters know about what is going on the better voters they will be. The earlier voters learn about their responsibility the better."

More:
http://www.centralohio.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/BE/20080324/NEWS01/803240309/1002

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29. Youth Congress aims to draw young generation to the polls

The 24th annual Youth Congress, a program of youth leadership, discussion and participation for all area high school students, will be held April 5 in Oak Park, officials said.

The event will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Oak Park Community Center and Gardens, 1000 N. Kanan Road.

A 24-member planning committee has been meeting since December to design this year's congress, which is sponsored by the Conejo/Las Virgenes Future Foundation.

The topic will be "i-Vote: Pop Culture Goes Political."

The event's student organizers want their peers to learn about the importance of getting registered to vote and taking an active part in democracy.

More:
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/mar/24/youth-congress-aims-to-draw-young-generation-to/

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30. Nation’s youth get involved in Pennsylvania primaries

This year’s elections have seen an unprecedented level of excitement among the nation’s youth. This election atmosphere has prompted a number of national efforts to inform, encourage, and indulge today’s youth with election information.

Several different grassroots efforts have emerged designed specifically to engage and inform young voters.

Declare Yourself ((www.declareyourself.com)) is a non-partisan organization designed to encourage 18- to 24- year olds to register to vote. The website provides up-to-the minute election coverage, including both national news and state-by-state information about primaries and other area events.

More:
http://www.thetartan.org/2008/3/24/news/primaries

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31. Voter-Palooza registers voters

For years, the youth have been branded as an apathetic portion of the national electorate. However, this year’s election seeks to defy these stereotypes, as recent voting patterns indicate a surge in political awareness for the teenagers of today.

From the earlier caucuses to Super Tuesday, the nation’s youth is voting in historically large numbers. In fact, for most states, youth turnout has tripled — and even quadrupled — the turnout in 2000 and 2004.

(A little) more:
http://www.insidevandy.com/drupal/node/7024

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24. Campaign finance nt

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25. Will Wall St. donations sway candidates?

Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, who have run for president as economic populists, are benefiting handsomely from Wall Street donations, easily surpassing Republican John McCain in campaign contributions from the troubled financial services sector.

It is part of a broader fundraising shift toward Democrats, compared to past campaigns when Republicans were the favorites of Wall Street. But some Democrats worry that the influx of money will make their candidates less willing to call for reforms to increase regulation of financial markets, which have been in turmoil following a wave of foreclosures on subprime mortgages.

These concerned Democrats argue that their candidates, and McCain, should be willing to push hard for financial institutions to accept more government regulation - in exchange for likely future bailouts, such as the recent deal the Federal Reserve orchestrated for JPMorgan Chase & Co. to take over Bear Stearns.

More:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/politics/bal-id.infocus23mar23,0,3592199.story

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32. U.S. Supreme Court Won’t Hear Campaign Finance Case

On March 24, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Citizens United v Federal Election Commission, 07-953. This is the case brought by people who wanted to make and advertise a film that would be shown in theaters and would try to make a profit. Yet the subject of the film would be to attack Hillary Clinton. The group wanted to be free of campaign finance reporting requirements.

(A little) more:
http://www.ballot-access.org/2008/03/24/us-supreme-court-wont-hear-campaign-finance-case/

[tbyg52]

40. That's all, folks! nt