Web Note: Two days of voting news from around the country. The nation is moving into early voting for about one-third of voters and is seeing longer lines than usual as well as machine problems — large and small — in many parts of the country. Vote flipping all from Obama to another candidate has been seen in a few states — West Virginia (Obama to McCain in two counties), Tennessee (Obama to McKinney) and in Texas people voting straight party switched from Democrat to Republican. FYI the WV and TN machines are the same iVotronic machines that lost 18,000 votes in Sarasota, FL in a 2006 congressional election. The WV Secretary of State does the usual – blames the voter. While more commentators and election officials are realizing the ACORN registration issue has a small effect on actual voting (if at all) but it is still interesting to see the different reaction in some of the media between votes flipping on machines and Mickey Mouse registering to vote. In Florida they started early voting and found machines breaking down and optical scans not being able to read the ballot — claiming the ballots were too long. Registration problems continue and the head of a Republican voter registration effort was arrested for registration fraud in California. Lawyers are already litigating voting issues and Obama has assembled “the largest” U.S. law firm on voting issues. By the way, we’re encouraging people to take action by writing elected officials and election officials in seven states that were found to be supplying inadequate machines in precincts dominated by college students and African Americans. You can send a letter by clicking:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1331/t/6410/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=26109. We want these officials to know that a thousand eyes are watching and they will be held responsible for their actions. Feel free to forward this email to people you think might be interested.
Kevin Zeese, Voters for Peace
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10/20/08: A McCain “Win” Will Be Theft, Resistance Is Planned
http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=329
By David Swanson
AfterDowningStreet
If your television declares John McCain the president elect on the evening of November 4th, your television will be lying. You should immediately pickup your pre-packed bags and head straight to the White House in Washington, D.C., which we will surround and shut down until this attempt at a third illegitimate presidency is reversed.
» Read More http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=329#more
10/20/08: SC League of Womens Voters questions voting machines
http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=328
McClatchy-Tribune Information
South Carolina’s League of Women Voters Sunday made clear its belief that using electronic voting systems is a mistake.
Eleanor Hills, of the Clemson Area LWV, laid out what she saw as flaws in the machines, their interactions with the humans who use them and the possibility of the loss and even creation of votes.
“It’s a computer and that’s what gives it the problems it has,” she said.”You have to trust a machine. It’s not really in the principle of American democracy to trust a third party.”
» Read More http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=328#more
10/20/08: Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth Outraged at Partisan Lawsuit Attempting to Undermine Voter Confidence
http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=327
PRNewswire-USNewswire
HARRISBURG, Pa: Expressing outrage, Secretary of the Commonwealth Pedro A. Cortes today called “completely unwarranted” the Oct. 17 complaint filed by the Republican Party of Pennsylvania and others against the Department of State regarding voter registration processes, and noted that Pennsylvania is ready to conduct a fair, accurate, accessible and secure election.
“The plaintiffs either do not know how voter registrations are processed or– worse yet — they know but are purposely trying to misinform voters,” he said. “This complaint hides behind the guise of protecting the electoral process when, in fact, it undermines the very foundation of our democracy –solely for political gain.” »
Read More http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=327#more
10/20/08: Our election systems still beset by flaws
http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=326
Editorial: Princeton Packet
America has had seven years, 11 months and two weeks since the disputed 2000 presidential election to get its act together and ensure that citizens can trust the integrity, validity and accuracy of the electoral process.
Yet here we are, two weeks before the 2008 presidential election, and the integrity, validity and accuracy of the Nov. 4 balloting are very much in question.
» Read More http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=326#more
10/20/08: Ga. secretary of state faces slew of voter issues
http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=325
By Greg Bluestein
Ft. Mills Times
ATLANTA – A down-ticket political race took center stage in Georgia’s top court Monday as a Democratic candidate for the Public Service Commission argued he was unfairly disqualified from the race by Georgia’s Republican elections official. The debate over Jim Powell’s eligibility is one of several voting complaints against Republican Secretary of State Karen Handel, who has been under persistent fire from Democrats in the weeks before the Nov. 4 election.
» Read More http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=325#more
10/20/08: Past voting gaffes put Palm Beach County in spotlight
http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=324
By Thomas C. Tobin and Steve Bousquet
St. Petersburg Times
If there is a case study for what could go wrong in Florida on Election Day, it might well be Palm Beach County’s bungled handling of voting results in the Aug. 26 primary.
A staff accustomed to administering touch-screen machines was confronted with a new dynamic – lots and lots of paper to process in a short time. The statewide conversion to optical scan technology threw the elections officein Florida’s third-biggest county into chaos.
» Read More http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=324#more
10/20/08: Machine Problems Plague 1st Day Of Early Voting
http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=323
Voting Brisk In Metro Counties With No Problems
News4Jax.com
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — People lined up to be among the first to vote at several early voting sites around Jacksonville Monday morning had an extra long wait and some left frustrated when machines at several locations refused to record the ballots.
“It was very shocking to have the very first ballot at 10 o’clock this morning not go into the machine,” said state Rep. Audrey Gibson, who hoped to be first to vote at the Gateway location. The Duval County elections office confirmed problems with voting machines at the Gateway Shopping Center and libraries on Edgewood Avenue, at Regency Square and Webb Wesconnett. Channel 4 heard from voters experiencing problems at other polling places, as well. »
Read More http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=323#more
10/20/08: Colorado will be under watchful eyes of media, monitors on Election Day
http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=322
Myung Oak Kim
Rocky Mountain News
All eyes are on Colorado for the presidential election. National media outlets, voting rights groups and election experts are coming to Colorado – or already are here – to monitor voting on Nov. 4. The reasons: Colorado has had a history of voting problems and it’s a key state in the race for the White House. »
Read More http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=322#more
10/20/08: California Clerks fear a ‘tsunami’ on election day
http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=321
Some counties double up on workers, polling booths to handle surge in registrations and mail-in ballot requests.
By Jennifer Oldham
Los Angeles Times
An intense, last-minute surge of voter interest has election officials across California scrambling to keep up with a record number of voter registrations and applications to cast ballots by mail. In many of the state’s 58 counties, registrars have hired twice as many temporary workers as they did in 2004, and put them to work in split shifts in a race to enter reams of information into databases from thousands of incoming forms.
» Read More http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=321#more
10/20/08: Count The Ballots (CTB) Calls for ‘Citizen Audits’ on Election Day -Warns of Widespread Fraud
http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=320PR
Newswire
CountTheBallots (CTB), a Philadelphia-based voting rights group, is calling on voters nationwide to conduct “Citizen Audits” at their polls on Election Day. The purpose of a “citizen audit” is to verify election results, document complaints, and demonstrate how to run a transparent election. The group warns that election results can be easily manipulated nationwide by the handful of corporations who control the software programs that count most votes. Two companies, ES&S and Diebold, will count 80% of all votes.
» Read More http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=320#more
10/20/08: Eight Years After Bush v. Gore, Why is There Still So Much Election Litigation and What Does This Mean for Voter Confidence in the Electoral Process?
http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=319
By Richard L. Hasen
FindLaw
With Election Day just a few weeks away, newspapers and blogs are filled with reports about election litigation. In Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and other battleground states disputes are working their way through state and federal courts-with one already leading to a Supreme Court decision. Why is this happening, eight years after the 2000 Florida debacle in which public officials promised to fix the way we conduct elections? And what does it mean for future public confidence in the electoral process?
» Read More http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=319#more
10/20/08: YouTube, PBS urge Americans to record voting problems
http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=318
By Jordan Robertson
The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO – If American voters see problems on election day, YouTube and PBS want them to whip out their video cameras and throw the footage onto a new website for documenting voters’ experiences on Nov. 4. But the organizations also have a stern warning for overzealous would-be documentarians: Be careful of state laws about filming in or near polling places or you might wind up tossed out or in handcuffs.
» Read More http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=318#more
10/20/08: Obama Assembles U.S.’s `Largest Law Firm’ for Voting
http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=317
By James Rowley
Bloomberg
Barack Obama and John McCain have a litigation game plan to accompany their election strategy. Both candidates have armies of volunteers to ring doorbells and get voters to the polls. They are also forming squadrons of lawyers who are filing challenges and preparing in case Election Day doesn’t settle the contest for the White House.
» Read More http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=317#more
10/20/08: Are voting machines reliable? DVICE looks at every type — in every state
http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=316DVICE
Going to vote in this year’s election? If you’re like most of the country,your vote will never be read by a human. According to Election Data Services, a bipartisan election research firm, for 99.8% of the U.S. population, your vote will be handled by a machine. Voting technology is diverse – more than 40 different types are in use across the nation, divided into four broad categories: lever, punch card, optical scan, and electronic (the last 0.2% use paper ballots, checked by human eyes). Machines by their nature can’t have biases, but how do you know the technology won’t spoil your vote? Or worse, could a technologically minded person tamper with your vote?
» Read More http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=316#more
10/20/08: Ballots not being recorded at two Leon County polling places
http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=315
By Angeline J. Taylor
Tallahassee Democrat
Leon County Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho has reported that ballots at the Woodville and Northeast branches are not being read properly. The problem, he said, rests with a new machine that has been purchased for polling sites throughout the state. The machine, deemed the OSX, has what Sancho called a sensitivity problem.
» Read More http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=315#more
10/20/08: Vote Flipping in Davidson County, Tennessee
http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=314
David Earnhardt
Uncounted
The Move
This political season, more than any other in recent memory, is irony-filled. So why this incident involving my friend and the wife of UNCOUNTED filmmaker, David Earnhardt, (as reported by David) surprises me, I can’t tell you. My wife, Patricia Earnhardt, had an early voting experience here in Nashville, Tennessee, where she saw her vote momentarily flip from Barack Obama to Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney. She voted on a touch-screen paperless machine. Here is her story:
» Read More http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=314#more
10/20/08: Startling Video: Protecting Democracy
http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=313
Startling and entertaining new 20-minute elections video, aired recently on British television, by Russell Michaels and Simon Ardizonne, the producers/directors of the Emmy-nominated HBO documentary film “Hacking Democracy,” Their new video, “Protecting Democracy” (comprised of Parts I and II) can be seen by clicking on the links below and shows the following:
» Read More http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=313#more
10/20/08: Texas Early Voting Long Lines and Machine Problems
http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=312
Voters turn out in force for historic campaign
By Alan Bernstein and Allan Turner
Houston Chronicle
Energized by disputes over a collapsing economy, foreign wars, a female vice-presidential hopeful and a historic first African-American presidential candidate, thousands of area voters trooped to the polls this morning for the first day of early balloting. The result was part exercise in statesmanship, part circus. But it clearly seemed a day few of the participants would forget. As of 1 p.m., Harris County early voting totals had already surpassed the first-day total in 2004 of 20,868, according to the County Clerk’s office.
» Read More http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=312#more
10/20/08: Ireland Says No Major Problems With Early Voting
http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=311WV
Metro News “There’s no conspiracy here, absolutely none,” according to Secretary of State Betty Ireland when it comes to reported early voting problems in Jackson and Putnam counties. A few voters say the touch screen machines didn’t correctly record their votes. They say they voted Democrat, but the machines said Republican. County clerks in both counties say hundreds of other voters have cast ballots with no problems and the situation could be due to voter error.
» Read More http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=311#more
10/20/08: Florida Early Voting off to Rough Start: Machines Not Reading Votes
http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=310
By Dave Wax
First Coast News
JACKSONVILLE, FL — Reports have been coming in from all over the city that indicate problems in some of the early voting locations. The problems stem from ballot-reading machines not working.
» Read More http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=310#more
10/19/08: Glitches fill Ohio voter rolls
http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=309
Eligibility questions could bring confusion, spur conflicts
By Gregory Korte
Cincinatti Enquirer
In Hamilton County, 17 people are registered to vote from riverfront addresses south of Mehring Way – places with street numbers that would put their homes somewhere in the Ohio River. Another 46 voters are registered at addresses that would put their homes in the middle of the Paul Brown Stadium parking lot, or at the riverfront project known as The Banks – which hasn’t been built.
» Read More http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=309#more
10/19/08: Election machines sit idly by in Indian River? What a brilliant idea!
http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=308
By Russ Lemmon
TC Palm *
Why would Supervisor of Elections Kay Clem spend more than $350,000 on technology designed to streamline the voter check-in process and not use it on Election Day? She purchased 104 Electronic Voter Identification units from 2005 to 2007, yet only a handful of them have ever been used. They are used at the three early voting sites, but that’s it.
» Read More http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=308#more
10/19/08: Head Of GOP Voter Registration Outfit in California Arrested For Registration Fraud
http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=307
GOP voter registration fraud case leads to arrest
Mark Jacoby, who was arrested in Ontario and owns a firm hired by the California Republican Party, violated state registration laws, authorities say.
By Evan Halper
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
SACRAMENTO — The owner of a firm that the California Republican Party hired to register tens of thousands of voters this year was arrested in Ontario late last night on suspicion of voter registration fraud. State and local investigators allege that Mark Jacoby fraudulently registered himself to vote at a childhood California address where he no longer lives so he would appear to meet the legal requirement that signature gatherers be eligible to vote in California.
» Read More http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=307#more
10/19/08: Voting issues play out in court
http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=306
Fraud suspicion has risen sharply since 2000 race
By Ronald J. Hansen
The Arizona Republic
With early voting underway in some states and with Election Day just over two weeks away, the 2008 race is proceeding in court as well as at the ballot box. In Ohio, election officials got a reprieve from the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday, sparing them a tedious battle over 200,000 newly registered voters with verification problems. In Michigan, lawyers are battling to ensure that qualified voters, including those who lost their homes to foreclosure, can still cast a ballot. In Colorado, tens of thousands of people have reportedly been purged from the voter rolls by officials who, in trying to verify eligibility, relied heavily on a federal database with known problems.
» Read More http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=306#more
10/19/08: Specter of voter fraud arises in election
http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=305
By Ronald J. Hansen
The Arizona Republic
With early voting under way in some states and with Election Day just over two weeks away, the 2008 race is playing out in court as well as at the ballot box. In Ohio, election officials got a reprieve Friday from the U.S. Supreme Court, which spared them a tedious battle over 200,000 newly registered voters with verification problems. In Michigan, lawyers are battling to ensure that qualified voters, including those who lost their homes to foreclosure, can still cast ballots. In Colorado, tens of thousands of people reportedly have been purged from the voter rolls by officials who, in trying to verify eligibility, relied heavily on a federal database with known problems.
» Read More http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=305#more
10/19/08: Tide of voters could swamp US electoral system
http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=304AFP
As millions of Americans gear to vote in the thrilling 2008 White Houserace, experts are warning that the expected huge turnout could strain the voting system, triggering an electoral meltdown.
» Read More http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=304#more
10/19/08: More W.Va. voters say machines are switching votes
http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=303
In six cases, Democratic votes flipped to GOP
By Paul J. Nyden
Charleston Gazette
WINFIELD, W.Va. — Three Putnam County voters say electronic voting machines changed their votes from Democrats to Republicans when they cast early ballots last week. This is the second West Virginia county where voters have reported this problem. Last week, three voters in Jackson County told The Charleston Gazette their electronic vote for “Barack Obama” kept flipping to”John McCain”.
» Read More http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=303#more
10/19/08: New Mexico: Anxious voters find long lines, grief
http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=302
Heavy turnout, some confusion at Santa Fe polling site for early balloting
The New Mexican and wire services
Turnout was heavy at polling sites in Santa Fe and Albuquerque as early voting started Saturday. In fact, waiting times were so long at a south-side Santa Fe location that some people who wanted to cast their ballots ahead of the Nov. 4 election gave up and left.
» Read More http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=302#more
10/19/08: GOP ELECTION FRAUD SOARS
http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=301
WATCHING THE COUNT
Progressive Review
Seattle Post Intelligencer
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/383894_acornvoters18.html
King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg, a Republican, said last year that the ACORN case in Seattle had nothing to do with manipulating outcomes and everything to do with the workers’ efforts to keep their $8-an-hour jobs. If anyone was defrauded, it was ACORN, an acronym for Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. “The defendants … cheated their employers to get paid for work they did not actually perform,” Satterberg said. “The defendants simply realized that making up names was easier than actually canvassing the streets.” In the Seattle case, temporary workers hired by ACORN for a voter registration drive gathered at the downtown Seattle library to fill out bogus registration forms. They copied names from newspaper stories — such as those of actress Katie Holmes, New York Yankees relief pitcher Mariano Rivera and New York Times columnist Frank Rich –pulled them from baby-name books and telephone directories or just made them up.
» Read More http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=301#more
10/19/08: Voter Fraud – The Dog that Didn’t Bark
http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=300
By Michael Collins
ACLU Blog
We’re having our quadrennial encounter with the menace of voter fraud. Weare to believe that gangs of undocumented aliens and the unemployed willvote illegally or, if registered, on multiple occasions. They’ll do this to capitalize on the fraudulent registrations secured by paid operatives who can’t make money in any other way. We’re told that this alleged pattern is a menace to democracy.
» Read More http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=300#more 10/19/08:
THE REPUBLICAN FRAUD OVER VOTER FRAUD
http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=299
Progressive Review
Although the poddle press continuous to play into the hands of the GOP on the issue, it is clear that fraud by a voter is a miniscule part of overall election corruption and mismanagement. For voter fraud to work on any scale, you need a large number of people who are not qualified to vote engaging in a conspiracy with a campaign or election officials. Since it is extremely difficult in America to get even registered voters to cast ballots, the idea that there are mass of illegal voters lining up to sway the polls falls on its face. In this election what has been called vote fraud involving ACORN has actually been fraud against ACORN, i.e. registrants who fill up sheets with false names to make their quotas. The idea of one of these non existent voters – let’s say Mickey Mouse – actually showing up at the polls is absurd.
» Read More http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=299#more
10/19/08: Moyers Interviews Crispin Miller
“Saving Our Democracy”
http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=298
Bill Moyers Journal
BILL MOYERS: Many years ago one of my mentors, Arkansas Congressman Brooks Hays, used to tell of a constituent who was asked how she intended to vote on Election Day. “Oh,” she replied, “I never vote. It only encourages them.” That skepticism may be justified but it’s certainly not fashionable thisyear. Voter turn out all across the country is expected to be at record highs.
But another kind of skepticism is in order… when you vote, will your vote be counted? Since the fiasco in Florida in 2000 and the questions about Ohio in 2004, fears abound about the security of our election system. » Read More http://truevote.us/nucleus/index.php?itemid=298#more