Daily Voting News For February 5-11, 2007

According to an ‘Opinion’ in the New York Times today, “Governor Crist is asking the Legislature to finance the purchase of new optical-scan machines, and it is expected to agree. Choosing optical scans is Governor Crist’s second good move. In optical-scan voting, voters mark a paper ballot that is then read by a computer. Polling place lines are shorter, because many voters can fill out ballots at the same time. These paper ballots are the official ballots, and can be recounted by hand to resolve a dispute. More than half the states — including large ones like California, New York, Illinois and Ohio — require computerized voting machines to produce a paper record. The addition of Florida would be a major defeat for election officials and voting-machine companies that have stubbornly opposed paper-trail requirements.”...

• NAtional: Editorial - Good Election News From Florida LINK
• National: Holt pushes paper to back up election results LINK
• Florida: Quest for voting certainty leads back to paper LINK
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• Florida: Florida still searching for an election fix Our Opinion: A Paper Trail Improves Odds Of An Accurate Vote Tally LINK
• Florida: Editorial - Restore trust Our position: It's crucial for Florida to ban touch-screen voting machines. LINK
• Florida: Editorial - Paper trail To assure every vote in Florida counts LINK
• Florida: FL-13 - Florida Lied About 'Investigative Team' in State Report on Voting Machine Audit LINK
• Florida: Bay County - Andersen: Voting-machine plan may cost little LINK
• Florida: Sarasota County - Senate to hold hearing on Sarasota voting issue LINK
• Maryland: Professor casts vote in debate for machines to provide paper trail LINK
• Missouri: Decision on voting machines could run into the millions If Congress requires a paper trail, Johnson County must upgrade or replace its inventory. LINK
• New Hampshire: If you thought election law battles were over, think again LINK
• Pennsylvania: Florida’s decision could affect electronic voting LINK
• Pennsylvania: A Pennsylvania Response to Florida Governor Crist's Plan to Dump Touchscreen Voting Machines LINK
• South Dakota: Teaching Long a lesson? J.A.I.L. amendment proponents blame official for its failure LINK
• Utah: Opinion - Caution on voter registration LINK
• Wisconsin: Bill offers suffrage to some 17-year-olds 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.**

Today has been a huge news day. Two bills were filed in Congress; one that we support (HR-756) and one that we don’t. HR-811 (the new HR-550) was filed, with 168 co-sponsors, and became the new Holt Bill. Newspapers began writing editorials and voicing their opinions before any of them could have read the bill. Many groups tripped over themselves in a race to endorse the bill; some without ever having read its contents. One group began, two weeks ago, asking their members to begin making calls to support the bill which was then changed more than once in the ensuing period. VotersUnite will not support this legislation because of its allowance for the continued use of DREs and its corruption of “paper ballot”. At this time, we will also not work against those groups who wish to support the bill. Instead we will stand neutral and report the facts, and an occasional opinion, as we have always done. // It appears that beleaguered Cuyahoga Co. Ohio elections boss, Michael Vu, is to be removed from his job. // Also being reported from Ohio is that the new SOS has asked the state auditor to do a complete audit of the SOS office over the past two years. Blackwell seems to have left a mess and a few problems....

• NAtional: The U.S. Election Assistance Commission's Executive Director Oversaw Failed Voting Machine Test Labs in Earlier Role as Well LINK
• National: Rep. Holt's New Election Reform Legislation Filed Today in U.S. House LINK
• National: Split vote on election machines LINK
• National: Editorial - Electronic vote backup will keep elections honest LINK
• National: Representative Rush Holt Introduces Election Reform Legislation LINK
• National: Rep. Holt reintroduces bill to require paper trails for voting LINK
• National: Holt Reintroduces Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act LINK
• National: Rep. DeGette Introduces Legislation Calling for Electronic Pollbook Standards LINK
• National: Congressman renews push for e-vote paper trails Holt wants to mandate transparency, chain of custody, verifiability LINK
• Florida: Opinion - Voting reform needs more than paper trail LINK
• Florida: Opinion - 'Charlie and Rob Show' touches reality LINK
• Florida: Opinion - Back to the future in Florida LINK
• Florida: Voting officials in a frenzy again Broward and Miami-Dade election officials are scurrying to learn more about the governor's plan for new voting machines. LINK
• Florida: Explore options for voter verifiable paper ballot LINK
• Florida: Florida: Let’s Clarify the Real Choice in Election Systems LINK
• Florida: Sarasota County - Limited Investigations LINK
• Minnesota: Townships seek help from state on voting mandate LINK
• New Jersey: Require a paper trail of all votes LINK
• New Jersey: Ulster County - Ulster County to explore voting by mail LINK
• New York: GOP and Dems spar over voter intimidation LINK
• Ohio: Secretary of state wants office audited LINK
• Ohio: Cuyahoga County - BOE Chairman: Michael Vu To Leave Elections Post LINK
• Ohio: Cuyahoga County’s Election Problems LINK
• Ohio: Cuyahoga County elections chief resigns LINK
• Ohio: Cuyahoga County - Board Of Elections Statement On Michael Vu's Resignation LINK
• Ohio: Stark County - Cold weather won't stop election or voters LINK
• Virginia: Touch-screen voting is a failed experiment 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.**

As related by John Bonifaz of Demos and the National Voting Rights Institute, in a blog on BradBlog.Com, “[Yesterday], Congressman Rush Holt introduced H.R. 811, a bill trumpeted as requiring “a voter-verified permanent paper ballot.” But before we all jump on this train as the new guarantee that our votes will be properly counted in future elections, we ought to beware of the warning flag. A paper trail from DRE (Direct Recording Electronic, usually touch-screen) machines cannot protect the integrity of our elections.” And “the Holt bill tries to say it is requiring a paper ballot even for DREs, but, in the end, a DRE "paper ballot" is nothing more than a paper trail, which requires voters to verify their votes after they have cast them in the DRE machines. Studies show that most voters will not spend the time to verify their votes after casting them into DRE machines. Thus, the "voter-verified paper ballot" is a fiction when it comes to DREs.” // In the wake of the resignation of Cuyahoga Co Ohio’s election director is the news that memory cards used in local elections in the county failed again[see below]. // Officials in California and Idaho are calling for legislation to allow counties to use the Oregon Vote-By-Mail plan....

• NAtional: Why the Holt Election Reform Bill Must Be Amended to Guarantee a Real Paper Ballot LINK
• National: Legislation would demand paper trail of voting records LINK
• National: Senate Rules Committee Hearing Testimony LINK
• National: Politicians call for e-voting paper trails by '08 election LINK
• National: E-Voting Machines Get The Fish-Eye LINK
• National: Key senator calls for paper trail of 2008 presidential votes LINK
• California: Mail-only elections on considered LINK
• California: San Benito County - No Problems with SBC Voting Machines LINK
• Florida: Victory Video: New Florida Secretary of State Says He's 'Physically and Mentally Exhausted from Defending Touch-Screen Voting' LINK
• Florida: Advocates renew call for paper voting trail LINK
• Florida: Study: Blank ballots less likely with paper LINK
• Florida: Polk County - Charlie and the Paper Trail LINK
• Florida: Sarasota County - Feinstein wants federal audit of Sarasota's voting machines LINK
• Idaho: County clerks push vote-by-mail measure LINK
• Kansas: Lyon County - A paper trail to safe voting LINK
• Kentucky: Webster County clerk opposes election system change LINK
• Mississippi: Itawamba County - More [DRE] voting machines requested LINK
• Nevada: County officials ask Nevada legislators for election-law changes LINK
• Ohio: Oh My Ohio: Cuyahoga County Election Director Resigns! New SoS Requests Audit of Blackwell, Shredded Documents! LINK
• Ohio: No changes are expected, state official says LINK
• Ohio: Elections not keeping up with the times LINK
• Ohio: Cuyahoga County - Glitch hits Cuyahoga County election...again LINK
• Pennsylvania: Cambria County - Broken water pipe soaks voting screens LINK
• Texas: Anderson County – Commissioner’s Election Will Be Heard Again 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.**

Some things stay the same and some things change. It keeps things interesting. The Associated Press is reporting the following from Cuyahoga Co., Ohio; “Vote totals couldn't be pulled from memory cards of some electronic voting machines used in a special election, forcing poll workers to transport the machines to Cuyahoga County's election headquarters for results to be counted.” This happened the day that the county’s election director, Michael Vu, was resigning under duress. The failed memory cards have failed before. No one has yet got a clue that they need to change the way they are holding elections and the first step should be to get rid of the Diebold TSx machines. // Meanwhile in Sarasota Co, Florida the county Supervisor of Elections and constant proponent of paper-less voting, Kathy Dent, is pushing to get rid of her failed ES&S iVotronic DREs so she can get the optical-scan system that the voters demanded. My how people suddenly change their tunes when the voters speak loudly in an election. ...

• NAtional: Opinion - Rebeca Chapa: Still too many blips in electronic voting LINK
• National: Touch-screen voting machines face ban Democrats push for paper trails LINK
• National: Paper trail needed for electronic ballots, Nelson says LINK
• National: Statement of the Chairman LINK
• National: Feinstein will pursue paper record at polls Bill would also require routine audits of voting systems LINK
• National: Feds defend oversight of lab that tests e-voting machines LINK
• California: Early Primary Bill On The Fast Track LINK
• California: Contra Costa County - Election official to pursue mail-only voting LINK
• Colorado: Douglas County - Douglas poll line debacle: Never again LINK
• Delaware: Calio: Paper voting backup is likely Machines probably will need to be set up to record votes on paper as a backup for electronic data tabulations LINK
• Florida: Good on paper. But will vote-tracking system cost taxpayers more? LINK
• Florida: DeFede: Let's Not Rush Into A New Voting System LINK
• Florida: The Real Choice In Election Reforms LINK
• Florida: Opinion - Our view: Counting every vote Gov. Crist's plan to dump touch-screen voting machines deserves strong backing LINK
• Florida: Opinion - Restore vote integrity: Crist's call for paper trail welcomed LINK
• Florida: Good on paper. But will vote-tracking system cost taxpayers more in Lee, Collier? LINK
• Florida: Sarasota County - Key senator calls for probe of voting machines in Fla. contest LINK
• Florida: Sarasota County - Feinstein orders federal investigation of Florida vote LINK
• Florida: Sarasota County - Feinsten calls for review of machines in Sarasota race LINK
• Florida: Sarasota County - Paper ballots on fast track LINK
• Indiana: Tippecanoe County - County aims to avoid vote center mistakes LINK
• Ohio: Opinion - It was time to go LINK
• Ohio: Cuyahoga County - Some voting machine memory cards unreadable in special election LINK
• Ohio: Cuyahoga County - Vote cards fail, delaying results 'Everything has been accounted for' as backup system works LINK
• New York: Ulster County mulls vote-by-mail option LINK
• Pennsylvania: Northampton County - Voting machines questioned Panel wants to know if machines same ones that were certified. 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.**

I highly recommend that everyone reading this take the time to read Lowell Finley’s “Testimony to Senate Committee on Rules and Administration”[see below]. It is excellent. // The New York Times editorializes, “It is good news that Ms. Feinstein has called for the federal investigations — and that she is pushing a bill to require paper trails nationally. As long as there are no paper records, and voting machine manufacturers continue to insist that the software that runs the machines is a “trade secret,” voters cannot be expected to trust that votes are being counted correctly. The leadership in Congress needs to focus on making sure that Ms. Feinstein’s paper-trail bill becomes law, along with a companion House measure from Rush Holt, Democrat of New Jersey.” We need to add that we hope that Senator Feinstein will fix the varied problems that are in the Holt bill. We don’t expect that she will ban the use of DREs though we encourage her to do that and we cannot support any legislation that does not include that ban. We do hope, however, that she fixes audit language that would allow a county to easily skirt the bills requirements; language that squelches the use of alternate, low-tech voting systems amongst other; and the co-opting of “paper ballot” when the legislation uses that term to describe what is really a voter verified paper audit trail. These are only three of a short list of items that must be addressed. ...

• NAtional: Testimony to Senate Committee on Rules and Administration LINK
• National: Editorial - Making Democracy Credible LINK
• National: Banned Voting Machine Test Lab Given More Time to Fix Problems by Friendly Director of U.S. Election Assistance Commission LINK
• National: The Flaws that Need Fixing in Holt's HR811 LINK
• National: Submission to Feinstein Hearings On Election Rules LINK
• National: A push for paper trails in voting machines LINK
• National: Hart InterCivic CEO to resign LINK
• California: Group investigates Riverside County’s electronic voting system LINK
• California: Orange County - Janet Nguyen tries to close seven-vote margin LINK
• California: Orange County - Janet Nguyen won't seek legal action today LINK
• Florida: Opinion - Electronically stored data is the issue in voting LINK
• Florida: House panel links primary date to New Hampshire's LINK
• Florida: Committee hears appeal for voting-system accountability LINK
• Florida: Editorial - Don't dump touch-screen machines LINK
• Florida: Opinion - Gov. Crist scores again with plan for touch-screen voting LINK
• Florida: Palm Beach County - Optical-scan switch to cost $4.3 million in printing costs LINK
• Florida: Sarasota County - Clearing of D-13 evidence opposed LINK
• Ohio: Ohio's firebrand elections chief gone but controversy remains LINK
• Ohio: Cuyahoga County - Vu's Waterloo LINK
• Utah: Legislator proposes presidential preference poll LINK

Ex-New Mexico SoS Rebecca Vigil-Giron was term-limited out of office in Nov. The Governor then named her to a new position as the head of the state’s new film museum. Now that job has been put on hold by the Governor until a $3Million shortfall in the SoS office can be explained. // It appears that the state of New Jersey may have violated its state laws when it certified the Sequoia AVC Advantage machines they have been using for years. There is no documentation to show that the system was ever inspected. Also a team at Princeton purchased five of the machines from an on-line government clearance house for $86. The same machines cost one New Jersey county $8000 per machine. The Princeton team put them to good use as they picked the locks within 7 seconds. They quickly learned how to manipulate the software to switch votes....

• NAtional: Paper trail wanted for voting machines LINK
• California: Contra Costa County - Contra Costa elections chief pushes mail-only voting LINK
• Florida: Opinion - Crist's election plan bold, but it carries huge risks LINK
• Florida: Sarasota County - Columnist - Is study of voting machines flawed? LINK
• Idaho: Debating the ballot box Bill that would let counties shift to all-mail voting meets resistance LINK
• Maryland: Voting-bill opposition irks senator Elections Board officials speak against his measure for paper record of ballots LINK
• New Jersey: N.J. voting machines face twin challenge A lawyer calls them uncertified. A professor calls them easy to rig LINK
• New Jersey: Sequoia Touch-Screen Voting Machines Hacked, Found Vulnerable To Vote-Flipping by Princeton University! LINK
• New Jersey: Electronic voting machines to get legal challenge LINK
• New Mexico: Governor puts Vigil-Giron's new job on hold LINK
• New Mexico: Audit puts Vigil-Giron's new job on hold LINK
• New Mexico: Deficit in Vigil-Giron's office tops $3 million LINK
• Ohio: Cuyahoga County - Ohio's spreading stolen 2004 election scandal claims another victim 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
Member www.votetrustusa.org

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