Daily Voting News For April 23, 2008

Two and a half years ago Sangamon Co Illinois (Springfield) purchased 930 new Populex voting machines for $1.7M. The state will not accept them for use to count vote-by-mail (absentee) ballots so the county has been hand-counting those ballots and using a machine to check the hand-count. Now Populex has said that they don’t plan on continuing the federal testing and certification process that they had begun over a year ago. The county will probably have to scrap these new machines and go elsewhere. An expensive mistake.

How can election officials in Pennsylvania find problems but not do all they can to ensure every vote is counted? There was more than one report of votes on machines that had problems but officials not being interested unless it is “necessary”....

NAtional: Is Talk of Election Day Disaster Nothing But Fearmongering? Hardly LINK

National: Voter Suppression and the Major Parties LINK

National: Cybercrime and Politics: The Dangers of the Internet in Elections LINK

National: Vote-count bill's rebuff doesn't add up LINK

Arizona: Pima County – Editorial - Public should be able to see election records
Our view: Technology shouldn't negate the people's right to check voting results LINK

Illinois: Sangamon County - Sangamon may need new voting machines
Current system not certified for mail-in LINK

New York: LibertyVote Leaves New York
Last of the DREs pull outs of the Empire State LINK

Pennsylvania: Translation Poses Voting Challenges In Chinatown, Philadelphia PA LINK

Pennsylvania: Voting in Pennsylvania LINK

Pennsylvania: Election Protection Coalition Fields Over 1,000 Calls Reporting Scattered Problems Throughout Pennsylvania LINK

Pennsylvania: Rumors of e-vote Fraud in Pennsylania, but Voters Like Machines LINK

Pennsylvania: Fayette County - New paper ballots a popular choice among area voters LINK

Pennsylvania: Lackawanna County - Ballot error confuses voters LINK

Pennsylvania: Lackawanna and Wayne Counties - Few problems with new voting machines LINK

Pennsylvania: Lawrence and Mercer Counties - Mostly smooth sailing at polls, election officials in 2 counties say LINK

Pennsylvania: Luzerne County – Election Notes LINK

Pennsylvania: Montgomery County - Request to extend voting hours denied LINK

Pennsylvania: Montgomery and Northampton Counties - Region's Democrats crowd into polls
Even some too young to vote gather outside to cheer on favorites. LINK

Pennsylvania: Northampton County - Voters encounter few glitches at polls LINK

Pennsylvania: Philadelphia - Compared to Other Primary Contests, Fewer Black Voters Turn Out for Barack Obama LINK

Tennessee: Davidson County - Davidson wants paper ballots
Officials urge switch now, but state says election too soon LINK

Canada: New Brunswick to use provincewide electronic vote tabulation 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.**

"To encourage citizen ownership of transparent, participatory
democarcy." The Creekside Declaration March 22, 2008