Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, Wednesday 05/14/08

[Melissa G]

Today, We feature an Excellent Rant by John Gideon that appeared in yesterday's Daily Voting News
Re Voter ID From John...

Do you know where your passport is? Do you have one? Do you know where your birth certificate is? How about your marriage license? In Missouri, and probably more states to come, some law makers want you to prove your citizenship before you can register to vote. This is clearly an attempt to stop the hoards of Mexicans and Canadians who stream over our borders each Nov. just to vote in our elections; or more likely just an attempt to keep some people from the polls. If you don’t have a birth certificate you have to pay to get a copy. If you are a woman and married the birth certificate is not enough; you need a marriage license to prove your maiden name. Can’t afford the copies if you don’t have them? You don’t vote. Born without a birth certificate? You don’t vote. Birth certificate or marriage license originals no longer exist because of fire, flood, hurricane (Katrina, Rita)? You don’t vote. Who is affected? The poor, people of color, citizens with disabilities, homeless. This has got to stop.

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, Wednesday 05/14/08



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[Melissa G]

1. States n/t

[rumpel]

8. IN: Lake County got bad rap, will improve vote tallying

Post Tribune

May 14, 2008


By Rudy Clay Post-Tribune guest columnist

Notwithstanding the admittedly lingering and pressing need to implement election reform in Lake County and the fact that CNN is gone and much of the world's attention has now shifted from the Indiana presidential primary, there remains a need to address the damage done to Lake County's image by excessive partisanship displayed on CNN.

First, the unsubstantiated barbs of "hanky-panky" and corruption -- without, apparently, exercising the due diligence of even checking with appropriate county election officials who were on the ground and in a position to empower the media with information that better would have served CNN viewers in general and Lake County citizens in particular --were most unfortunate.

Specifically, Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott missed a tremendous in-studio opportunity to defend the integrity of Lake County and to support county election workers who were busy tabulating 11,000 absentee ballots by hand, not including the machine votes, which had to be tabulated as well.

http://www.post-trib.com/news/opinion/947144,clay.article

[rumpel]

9. PA: Sellersville joins call for paper records of electronic voting

The Morning Call

With Doylestown Township, says they aren't totally reliable.

By Charles Malinchak | Special to The Morning Call
May 13, 2008

Sellersville Borough Council passed a measure Monday night urging county election officials to install a system on electronic voting machines that provides voters with a paper record of their vote.

Council unanimously approved the measure, which came to their attention through a letter from Doylestown Township officials. The letter urged the borough to join a movement to provide a paper record in light of several instances and studies showing the electronic machines can be unreliable or are vulnerable to tampering.

Council Vice President Greg Castelli said council discussed the matter at council's public management meeting earlier this month during which council members agreed it made sense.

''We decided to go ahead with this primarily because of the need for having a backup to verify the electronic vote. This just sounds like it makes a lot of sense,'' Castelli said.

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-b4_2sellersville.6404705may13,0,758989.story

[rumpel]

10. OR: Make sure your vote counts

KVAL-13 CBS

Story Published: May 14, 2008 at 10:53 AM PDT

If you haven’t mailed back your ballot yet, Lane County Elections recommends that you do so by this Friday, May 16.

After Friday, voters are urged to drop off their ballots at one of the many official drop locations on the map below. If you don't see a Google map interface below, please click here.

All voted ballots must be received by 8 p.m. on May 20, 2008. Postmarks do not qualify your ballot.

There are several common errors voters make when they return their ballots which could prevent their ballot from being counted, so be careful to follow the directions and avoid these pitfalls:

http://www.kval.com/news/18934604.html

[Melissa G]

11. OH- Primary paper ballots costly

Primary paper ballots costly
880,000 printed; only 13,400 used
Tuesday, May 13, 2008 3:15 AM
By Mark Niquette

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

AP
It cost Ohio counties using touch-screen voting machines at least $358,000 combined to provide paper ballots for the March 4 primary, or about $27 per vote cast with those ballots, preliminary data show.

Franklin County and the 52 other counties with touch screens printed more than 880,000 paper ballots for the primary at the direction of Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, but only about 13,400 votes were cast using those ballots, according to initial numbers from Brunner's office requested by The Dispatch.

That's less than 1 percent of all votes cast in those counties combined. The totals do not yet include information from Belmont and Lorain counties, and Brunner's office is verifying the numbers reported by the other counties, a spokesman said.

snip
Brunner had posters printed to inform voters of the choice, but most counties did not use them and instructed poll workers not to offer voters a "paper or plastic" option.

She points to Mahoning County, which did have the posters displayed at the polls and had the highest number of paper ballots cast statewide at 2,674.

http://dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/05/13/official_vote.ART_ART_05-13-08_A1_SBA6DQ3.html?sid=101

[Melissa G]

14. TX- Another election error surfaces in Williamson County

Another election error surfaces in Williamson County
5/13/2008 6:48 PM
By: Chelsea Hover


A lot of ballot counting has been going on in Williamson County since Saturday's election.
Election officials in Williamson County have now discovered at least two incorrect ballots given out at a Hutto precinct during Saturday's election.

A lot of counting, piling and tallying have been going on at the Williamson County Elections Office since then.

"Ironically, Saturday night, that was the smoothest election night we've had," Williamson County Elections Administrator Rick Barron said.

But since then, things have gotten a little rocky.

First, a voter in the Hutto school district claimed he was allowed to vote in the city elections because of an incorrect ballot.

http://www.news8austin.com/content/your_news/default.asp?ArID=208666

[Melissa G]

15. SC- Just Trust Us

Just Trust Us
Where have we heard that before?

BY WILL MOREDOCK


More (682)...Before he was famous as an economic analyst and an investment guru, Al Parish had a contract job working for the State Ports Authority. During that time, he came up with some numbers that helped the SPA justify a massive expansion in 2002. Parish reported that state ports had created 281,660 jobs in South Carolina, ergo, it was a good idea for taxpayers to fund the investment.

Charleston commodities trader Frank Heindel was instantly suspicious, in part because the Legislative Audit Council had studied the question and found that the state's ports directly created a mere 5,326 jobs. When Heindel asked Parish to reveal the input and process for his analysis, the professor sent him an e-mail, which Heindel has kept and cherished: "I will be glad to provide you with copies of the survey questionnaire," Parish wrote, "but once the data is collected, I shred the responses to ensure confidentiality; if that bothers people, too bad."

snip
Why didn't Heindel simply trust Parish and accept his numbers on faith? Well, a lot of people did just that recently, turning over more than $100 million for him to invest in his proprietary investment programs, which promised 30 percent returns. As the world now knows, the good professor has since pleaded guilty in state and federal courts to running a giant Ponzi scheme. He is awaiting sentencing.

snip
As South Carolina has followed the rest of the nation in the use of electronic voting machines, Heindel is concerned that hackers can tamper with these devices. Voting machine manufacturers say their machines are tamper-proof, yet they refuse to offer machines that will print a paper receipt to verify a voter's choices. In other words, there is no way for citizens or candidates to verify what goes on in that electronic black box on Election Day. When critics complain that this is a recipe for disaster, the manufacturers take the Al Parish defense: Just trust us.

http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A45281

[Melissa G]

2. National n/t

[Melissa G]

5. Citizenship Proof Next Up in Voter ID Battle

Citizenship Proof Next Up in Voter ID Battle
By Mark Impomeni
May 12th 2008 7:30PM



In the wake of the Supreme Court's approval of an Indiana law requiring voters to present a state-issued photo identification card at the polls, voting security activists are seeking to take the argument over voter ID one step further, just in time for the presidential election. Missouri lawmakers plan to vote on an amendment to the state constitution that would require voters to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote. The amendment would tighten the proofs required for registration in the state. The Missouri Constitution already requires that voters be citizens, but currently, Missourians can show a utility bill as proof of residency and are not required to provide a birth certificate to register to vote.

Nineteen other states are also considering similar measures, but only Missouri's stands to have an impact on the November elections. The amendment, if passed by the legislature, could go before the voters for ratification on the August primary election ballot in the state. If passed into law, it would be in effect for the presidential and congressional elections in the fall. Supporters of the bill say that it is necessary to prevent illegal aliens from voting while detractors say that the bill would do more harm than good by disenfranchising poor and elderly voters. Those arguments were made against the Indiana law at the Supreme Court and were soundly rejected.

Arizona already requires proof of citizenship for registration and its impact on the electorate are under debate. Michael Slater, of Project Vote, said that the law is hindering his group's voter registration efforts. "The requirement is having a devastating effect on our voter registration work in Latino communities because so many citizens simply don't have a passport or original birth certificate," he said. But Thomas Hearne, a Missouri lawyer and supporter of the proposed Missouri law was not swayed.

http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2008/05/12/citizenship-proof-next-up-in-voter-id-battle/

[Melissa G]

6. 'Hello,' They Lied: NH, TX Sec. of State Officials Continue to Deceive Voters

Bradblog

'Hello,' They Lied: NH, TX Sec. of State Officials Continue to Deceive Voters
TX Official Claims 'Machines Not Faulty'; NH Official Claims Not to Know Whether They Use Same Diebold Op-Scan Voting System Seen Hacked in HBO Documentary (It Was)...
Miller-McCune's David Rosenfeld files a good story on the dreadful state of the hackable, insecure, error-prone machinery --- both DRE/touch-screen and paper-based optical scan --- still used across our electoral landscape in 2008.

Despite a few small-ish errors, Rosenfeld succeeds where so many before him have been unable: Properly quoting both the scientists and Election Integrity experts who know what they're talking about, while giving fair opportunity to respond from voting machine company and elected officials who are either in denial, uninformed, or simply willing to lie.

Folks like Ellen Theisen of VotersUnite.org, Bev Harris of BlackBoxVoting.org, computer scientist David Wagner of UC Berkley, and yours truly (from The BRAD BLOG) are quoted from the truth-telling side.

On the misleading and/or state of denial and/or lying side, we hear from a Diebold spokesman, and officials from both the NH and TX Secretaries of State offices.

The latters' comments --- particularly those from the SoS offices, where one would think they have a duty to both be informed and tell the truth about their voting systems (unlike Diebold, where we might expect them to continue their long, unfettered, and desperation-built reputation for lying) --- are simply stunning.

snip
"The machines were not proven to be faulty," TX SoS spokesperson Scott Haywood lied to Rosenfeld, by way of just one example.

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5982

[Melissa G]

12. Mark “Thor” Hearne is working to enact an amendment that may suppress the vote in the key battlegrou

Mark “Thor” Hearne is working to enact an amendment that may suppress the vote in the key battleground state of Missouri this November. Tools



Mark "Thor" Hearne, Bush-Cheney's national counsel in 2004 and now a partner in the St. Louis, Missouri, firm of Lathrop & Gage, has been collaborating with Missouri's Republican state Rep. Stanley Cox, the sponsor of the constitutional amendment, Cox's office confirmed this week.

For years, Hearne has been a leading Republican figure demanding stricter voter-identification laws and popularizing claims about widespread voter fraud, although many election experts dismiss such alarms as hyperbole.

During the 2004 campaign, Hearne reportedly worked with White House political adviser Karl Rove on "voter fraud" issues and spearheaded GOP efforts to challenge voter-registration drives by pro-Democratic groups.

According to a posting at his law firm's Web site, "Hearne traveled to every battleground state and oversaw more than 65 different lawsuits that concerned the conduct of the election."

Hearne also has shown up as a background figure in the Bush administration's scandal that erupted over the firing of nine federal prosecutors, some of whom came under White House criticism for not seeking pre-election voter fraud indictments in 2006.

http://www.alternet.org/democracy/85419/

[Melissa G]

16. Voting rights activists say America is unprepared for Nov. 4 election

Voting rights activists say America is unprepared for Nov. 4 election
Tuesday, May 13, 2008 5:54 PM CDT

WASHINGTON (NNPA) - Record turnouts at polling places across the nation during the Barack Obama-Hillary Clinton battle for the Democratic nomination have revealed a continuation of serious flaws in America’s electoral process that could cause a fiasco Nov. 4, according to a non-partisan report.

“The report demonstrates that most of the state and county and local election machinery was unprepared for a real heavy turnout,” says Barbara Arnwine, executive director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, a primary partner in the Election Protection Coalition that has manned voter protection hotlines since January. “It really demonstrates that our democracy has deep fault lines and is not being administered well…We are not prepared. We actively count on a low voter turn out and count on voter apathy.”

The 15-page, “Election Protection 2008 Primary Report”, jointly compiled and distributed by the Lawyers Committee and the National Campaign for Fair Elections, says lawyers and other volunteers who manned voter question and complaint hotlines over the past five months fielded more than 5,000 calls that include complaints and charges revealing everything from serious mechanical flaws to apparent intentional shenanigans and voter intimidation at the polls.

Few problems have occurred in affluent areas, but they are mainly happening in low income, Black and Hispanic neighborhoods. Because Black voters typically cast 90 percent of their ballots for Democrats, mishaps at the polls could cause another Election 2000-styled fiasco in the event of a close race between the Democratic nominee and Republican John McCain.

“snip
Among the worse states was Pennsylvania, where more than 1,000 calls flooded the 1-866-Ourvote hotlines April 22.

http://www.stlamerican.com/articles/2008/05/14/news/local_news/localnews0000000000001.txt

[Melissa G]

17. AJC Deeply Concerned Over States Voter ID Initiatives

AJC Deeply Concerned Over States Voter ID Initiatives

May 13, 2008 – New York – The American Jewish Committee is deeply concerned over state-proposed constitutional amendments and legislation requiring proof of citizenship from some Americans registering to vote.

“These state initiatives place an unwarranted and unconstitutional burden by unfairly discriminating against the elderly, the poor, the handicapped, students and minorities, who are more likely to find it difficult to prove their citizenship,” said Jeffrey Sinensky, AJC’s general counsel.

A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision upheld an Indiana law that requires voters to present government-issued photo ID at the polls. In the wake of that ruling, new initiatives, now being considered in at least 19 state legislatures, would allow far more rigorous demands.

California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and Washington are considering harsher regulations.

"Measures requiring proof of citizenship raise the bar higher, because they offer fewer options for documentation," said Sinensky. "In most cases, aspiring voters would have to produce an original birth certificate, naturalization papers or a passport."

http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=849241&ct=5360873

[Melissa G]

18. Voter ID by the Numbers

This is an excellent article that shows some true costs of voter ID.
DU discussion here...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=502600&mesg_id=502600

Voter ID by the Numbers
May 14, 2008

Missouri’s state legislature this week may well vote to put an amendment to the state constitution on the ballot requiring proof of citizenship from anyone registering to vote. The proposal is even more restrictive and threatening to the right to vote than Indiana’s law, which requires a government-issued photo ID and was recently upheld by the Supreme Court.

Showing ID has become commonplace for many Americans: It's required to board an airplane, open a bank account, or enter a government facility. But even as showing ID becomes more widespread, the ID divide grows wider between those who have IDs and those who do not, including 20 million voting age Americans who do not have driver's licenses.

The costs of proving citizenship, or even obtaining ID, are anything but free. And the benefits of requiring an ID to vote—ostensibly as a means to prevent voter fraud—are anything but proven. The evidence of widespread voter fraud is nonexistent, and the effects of fraud are insignificant. Yet laws meant to prevent this non-problem are proliferating—preventing thousands of American citizens from exercising their right to vote.

The By the Numbers below shows just how costly these requirements can be for those who can least afford them:
How much does it cost to get a driver’s license or prove citizenship?

$45: Fee for a six-year driver’s license in Missouri. A non-driver’s identification card costs $11.

$15: Cost of a birth certificate, the most commonly used document to obtain a driver’s license, in Missouri.

$100: Cost of a passport, as of February 1, 2008. Obtaining other forms of citizenship documentation can cost even more (up to $460 for a citizenship application). Any form of documentation can take months to process.

25: Number of states, including Missouri, that require some form of identification be presented at the polls. Seven of those, including Indiana, require or can request photo ID.
Who do voter ID requirements affect?

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/05/id_numbers.html

[truedelphi]

22. For us it wasn't the money - it was the wait

Mr Delphi was to get employment IF and or AFTER he got his birth certificate.

Bear in mind that he is in his fifties, has a driver's license and was born in the USA.

If Utah is considered the USA.

It took ten intensive days on the part of his family (Who still live in Utah) to get the information that his GRADE SCHOOL information will have to count as ID.

Luckily his employer accepted that, and local election officials accept merely a CA driver's license each time we vote. (Once a piece on election day! Not the ol' Chicago style at this house!).

But we are screwn if we move somewhere else and they want a birth certificate in order for him to vote.

[Melissa G]

23. Thanks for the story, truedelphi

I believe many, many folks will be 'screwn' and that unfortunately seems to be the point.
Disenfranchisement, instead of really helping folks vote.

[Melissa G]

3. International n/t

[Melissa G]

7. Canada- Unregistered voters need homes

The Week


May 14 2008

Unregistered voters need homes

Among the provisions of Bill 42, one of eight bills the provincial government is trying to ram through the legislature before the end of the current session of parliament on May 29 is a provision that promises to extend the right to vote only to those who have identification showing a permanent residential address.

The bill will require any non-registered voters to produce identification listing their name, residence and a photograph, or, failing that, two documents with the person’s name and current address. Critics say the move is a direct attack on the growing number of homeless in the province who, in addition to lacking necessary documentation, don’t have an address to call home.

Attorney General Wally Oppal told the legislature on April 30, “Voter identification requirements are being strengthened to ensure that only those who are entitled to vote may do so. These requirements are modelled on recent changes to the federal law and help to prevent voter fraud while still ensuring voter accessibility.”

Of course, those “recent changes to the federal law” are now being challenged in the country’s supreme court by the British Columbia Public Interest Advocacy Centre, whose lawyers argue that the federal rule has the potential to disenfranchise up to five percent of the electorate, as concluded by former Canadian chief electoral officer Jean Pierre Kingsley.

http://www.mondaymag.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=117&cat=23&id=1217124&more=0

[Melissa G]

13. England: Electronic voting system tested at University

England: Electronic voting system tested at University

http://www.ncl.ac.uk/press.office/newslink/?ref=1210758300

Posted Wednesday, 14 May 2008, 10.45am


Electronic voting system tested at University


An electronic vote capture and counting system, designed to overcome the problems which have dogged computerised voting systems throughout the world, was given its first major test at the University on Tuesday, 13 May.

The 'Pret a Voter' system was invented by Professor Peter Ryan, of the School of Computing Science, and implemented by a team of computer scientists at Newcastle and Surrey Universities. It is hoped that that once the system is tried and tested it could attract global interest.

The designers say that Pret a Voter is far less prone to error, hacking and corruption than either manual counting or the electronic systems which have been tried before - notably the touch screen voting machines in the US and pilot schemes run in the UK. In addition, individuals can check that their votes have been cast and auditors can easily verify that voting has been fair and error-free.

Many countries have tried electronic voting systems, with little success. Last year, the Electoral Commission said that web and phone voting experiments in the UK should be stopped following widespread concern over security of pilot schemes run during the May 2007 elections.

The trial run, supported by the Electoral Reform Services (ERS) and Newcastle University’s Centre for Software Reliability and School of Computing Science, took place in the King's Road Centre at Newcastle University.
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/press.office/newslink/?ref=1210758300

[Melissa G]

20. Canada- Recount procedure makes process quicker, less expensive

Recount procedure makes process quicker, less expensive

FREDERICTON - New Brunswick election officials did their best to thrust Monday's municipal elections into the 21st century with high-tech vote counting machines.

However, in electoral races that were still hotly contested yesterday, there will undoubtedly be several candidates calling on an old-fashioned mechanism in the coming days: the recount.

But even though there is nothing new about a recount, Elections NB is taking steps to make recounts more accessible in the 39 races that are eligible for recounts until May 22.

In those races, no more than 25 votes separate the first and second place candidates, and in two races in the Acadian Peninsula the top two candidates are actually tied.

The two deadlocked results trigger an automatic recount, but in the other 37 cases, candidates will be able to conduct an informal recount.

http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/news/article/295807

[Melissa G]

4. Editorial n/t

[Melissa G]

19. NYT: Republicans are as Determined as Ever to Only Grant Voting Rights to the Privileged Few

Thanks to kpete for the post and the DU discussion here...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x502539

Original message
NYT: Republicans are as Determined as Ever to Only Grant Voting Rights to the Privileged Few Updated at 7:49 PM

NYT Editorial: "The imposition of harsh new requirements to vote has become a partisan issue, but it should not be. These rules are an assault on democracy itself." The Republicans are as Determined as Ever to Only Grant Voting Rights to the Privileged Few, Rather Than the Entitled Many.
http://www.buzzflash.com /

Editorial
The Myth of Voter Fraud

Published: May 13, 2008

Missouri and at least 19 other states are considering passing laws that would force people to prove their citizenship before they can vote. These bills are not a sincere effort to prevent noncitizens from voting; that is a made-up problem. The real aim is to reduce turnout by eligible voters. Republicans seem to think that laws of this kind will help them win elections, but burdensome rules like these — and others cropping up around the country — pose a serious threat to democracy and should be stopped.

The Missouri legislature is, as Ian Urbina reported in The Times on Monday, on the verge of passing an amendment to the State Constitution that would require proof of citizenship from anyone registering to vote. In addition to the Missouri amendment, which would require voter approval, Florida, Kansas, South Carolina and other states are considering similar rules.

There is no evidence that voting by noncitizens is a significant problem. Illegal immigrants do their best to remain in the shadows, to avoid attracting government attention and risking deportation. It is hard to imagine that many would walk into a polling place, in the presence of challengers and police, and try to cast a ballot.

................

The imposition of harsh new requirements to vote has become a partisan issue, but it should not be. These rules are an assault on democracy itself. The current conservative Supreme Court showed last month, in its ruling upholding the Indiana ID law, that it will not perform its historical role of protecting voters. That puts the burden on state legislators, governors, state courts and ordinary citizens to ensure that the right to vote is not taken away for partisan political gain.

more at:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/13/opinion/13tue1.html?_r=2&th&emc=th&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

[midnight]

21. Doesn't everybody resent the distraction from the real

problem that needs to fixed. Paper ballots. Let's see the vote being counted......

[demodonkey]

24. You can't count votes that are never cast due to disenfranchisement.

We learned that in Ohio.

These ID laws will disenfranchise millions, and make real election reform unlikely if not impossible.

What I resent is the distraction this incessant whining about Hand-Counted Paper Ballots creates in this once-productive forum.

[Melissa G]

25. The assault on our votes is multi pronged.

Counting the votes on easily manipulated voting machines is a problem.

Having our votes stolen at the state level databases where thousands of valid registrations are deemed invalid is a huge wholesale assault on the franchise.

The 'voter ID' garbage is yet another preemptive wholesale assault at both the registration level and the polls- a two fer wholesale disenfranchisement.

The list goes on and they are ALL important fights in protecting our right to vote.