Daily Voting News For October 13 & 14, 2006

"A broad coalition of more than 50 election integrity groups and individuals sent letters today to all 50 governors, secretaries of state and directors of elections calling upon them to provide emergency paper ballots for the November midterm elections: "All voters must have the option to vote on an Emergency Paper Ballot if necessary, and all such ballots must be counted as regular, not provisional, ballots."" / "A report to the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) on voter fraud and voter intimidation was released yesterday by USA Today over four months after it had been presented to the commission. The report confirmed that there is little verifiable evidence to support anecdotal accounts of polling place fraud involving voters voting more than once, non-citizens or otherwise ineligible voters voting, or voters voting in the name of deceased voters."...

• 
  NAtional: Report on Voter Fraud and Voter Intimidation Released LINK
• National: Election Integrity Organizations, Leaders Urge States to Plan for Emergency Paper Ballots, Procedures for Nov. Election LINK
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• National: Groups mobilize to defend voting rights on Nov. 7 LINK
• National: Report downplays voter fraud, highlights systemic problems LINK
• National: Election Officials: Five Simple Rules For Testing Voting Equipment LINK
• Arkansas: Secretary of state candidates' debate focuses on voting woes LINK
• California: San Diego County - Photo IDs will limit turnout LINK
• Colorado: Denver - In latest ballot flub, postage is misfigured. The post office pledges to deliver the completed absentee ballots, billing Denver for the difference. LINK
• Colorado: Denver - Another Problem Reported With Denver's Absentee Ballots LINK
• Colorado: Denver - Assurances offered on Denver vote count LINK
• Florida: A glimpse into day of precinct workers LINK
• Florida: Demand for absentee ballots overwhelms local elections officials LINK
• Florida: Democrats sue to stop Negron ballot signs LINK
• Florida: Jacksonville - Rocky Start To Election 2006 Raises Concerns LINK
• Florida: Volusia County - More sun to shine at Elections Office LINK
• Florida: Volusia County - Election changes made to ensure transparency, accuracy LINK
• Illinois: DuPage County - DuPage Co. Illinois Election Commission Cronyism and Lies. The Revolving Door Seems To Be Working Fine For Ex-Insiders LINK
• Maryland: Ehrlich, O'Malley spar over ballots LINK
• New Mexico: Bernalillo County - No. 2 pencils are No. 1 ballot tool LINK
• Pennsylvania: Luzerne County - Area blind and voting booths: Alone at last LINK
• Texas: Secretary of state committed to fighting voter fraud LINK
• Texas: Straight-ticket voters urged to change ways LINK
• Virginia: Wise County - Guilty verdict in Appalachia. Former letter carrier Don Estridge is the first to be convicted in the election-fraud scam. LINK
• Wisconsin: Wisconsin needs improvement in some voting areas, study says LINK

In the September Maryland primary the Diebold E-Poll Book failed miserably throughout the state. It seems that when more than 40 names were entered into the machines they tended to crash and require rebooting. When they did crash some voters who had not voted were listed as having voted. In order to fix this problem it is reported that Diebold wrote two software patches and one of their sub-contractors wrote another. These were all installed on Maryland's equipment and tested. There was also a problem with the touch screen part of the E-Poll Book. Touching the screen caused some machines to crash. Diebold reportedly solved this problem by providing the state with over 5,000 'mouses' to replace the touch screen. These machines are part of an Independent Test Authority (ITA) tested and NASED qualified voting system. Until I talked to Sandy Steinbach yesterday, NASED knew nothing about any changes made by Diebold. But, NASED no longer qualifies new modifications or any voting system submitted for testing after July 10. The EAC now does that work. They too knew nothing about those modifications and, in fact, tried to point to NASED as the authority. The questions: Who is minding the store? What happens for other states that are required to have federally certified voting systems and are going to use the E-Poll Book? Will Diebold fix every E-Poll Book that will be used in November or will they try to keep this fix a secret because it has never gotten any federal testing and certification?...

• National: Statewide Databases: Some Missed Milestones, Temporary Fixes LINK
• National: Opinion - Crash and re-boot. The wrong kind of voting machine could bring chaos to the mid-term elections LINK
• National: Information Quality Professionals Issue Urgent Alert Regarding United States Elections LINK
• National: The Next Katharine Harris? Article 1 Section 4 US Constitution LINK
• National: Rep. Hoyer Asks for Clear Guidelines For Contested Elections LINK
• Arkansas: White County - Machines tested for general election LINK
• Mississippi: New voting machines concern senior citizens. State representatives work to train voters LINK
• New Jersey: Monmouth County - Disabled voters can try out new machines LINK
• Pennsylvania: Montgomery County - Voting machines will be ready for Election Night LINK
• South Dakota: Official: S.D. Has No Voting Problems Electronic Machines Appear To Be Working Well LINK
• Texas: New machines shouldn't scare off voting public LINK
• West Virginia: Northampton County - Voting machines reported ready for duty LINK
• BRazil: Brazil's electronic voting has safeguards lacking in the U.S. LINK
• GUam: Error reduction sought LINK

**"Daily Voting News" is meant as a comprehensive listing of reports each day concerning issues related to election and voting news around the country regardless of quality or political slant. Therefore, items listed in "Daily Voting News" may not reflect the opinions of VotersUnite.Org or Scoop.**

John Gideon
Executive Director www.votersunite.org and
Information Manager www.votetrustusa.org

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