Miami-Dade elections officials find 2002 voting data thought lost
Rachel La Corte, AP - July 31, 2004
MIAMI — Miami-Dade County elections officials said Friday they have found detailed electronic records from the 2002 gubernatorial primary that were originally believed lost in computer crashes last year.
Read More >>
31 July 2004
30 July 2004
E-voting critic calls on hackers to expose flaws
Robert Lemos - CNET News.com - July 30, 2004
LAS VEGAS--Electronic voting systems have major security problems and hackers should make it their mission to find the flaws, an e-voting critic told security researchers on Thursday.
Speaking at the Black Hat Security Briefings here, Rebecca Mercuri, a fellow at a Harvard-affiliated research center and a noted e-voting critic, called the current voting process a statistical game of shells, one that e-voting machine makers are playing for profits.
Read More >>
Robert Lemos - CNET News.com - July 30, 2004
LAS VEGAS--Electronic voting systems have major security problems and hackers should make it their mission to find the flaws, an e-voting critic told security researchers on Thursday.
Speaking at the Black Hat Security Briefings here, Rebecca Mercuri, a fellow at a Harvard-affiliated research center and a noted e-voting critic, called the current voting process a statistical game of shells, one that e-voting machine makers are playing for profits.
Read More >>
Lost Florida Voting Records Found
Jul. 30, 2004
MIAMI -- Miami-Dade County elections officials said Friday they have found detailed electronic voting records from the 2002 gubernatorial primary that were originally believed lost in computer crashes last year.
Seth Kaplan, spokesman for the Elections Supervisor office, said the records were found on a compact disc in the office. "We are very pleased," he said.
When the loss was initially reported earlier this week, state officials had stressed that no votes were lost in the actual election. The record of the votes had been believed lost during the crashes in April and November of 2003, and county officials had said they did not have a backup system in place until December.
The lost records marked the latest in a series of embarrassing episodes involving Florida voting since the turmoil of the 2000 presidential race.
Despite the discovery of the disc, local activists expressed skepticism.
"There are now more questions than before," said Lida Rodriguez-Taseff, chairwoman of the Miami-Dade Election Reform Coalition. "I certainly want the disc, I certainly wish someone would test the original disc they are now claiming they found and determine when that disc was made, where it came from, whether it's been tampered with and if anyone's opened it."
Read More >>
Jul. 30, 2004
MIAMI -- Miami-Dade County elections officials said Friday they have found detailed electronic voting records from the 2002 gubernatorial primary that were originally believed lost in computer crashes last year.
Seth Kaplan, spokesman for the Elections Supervisor office, said the records were found on a compact disc in the office. "We are very pleased," he said.
When the loss was initially reported earlier this week, state officials had stressed that no votes were lost in the actual election. The record of the votes had been believed lost during the crashes in April and November of 2003, and county officials had said they did not have a backup system in place until December.
The lost records marked the latest in a series of embarrassing episodes involving Florida voting since the turmoil of the 2000 presidential race.
Despite the discovery of the disc, local activists expressed skepticism.
"There are now more questions than before," said Lida Rodriguez-Taseff, chairwoman of the Miami-Dade Election Reform Coalition. "I certainly want the disc, I certainly wish someone would test the original disc they are now claiming they found and determine when that disc was made, where it came from, whether it's been tampered with and if anyone's opened it."
Read More >>
GOP apologizes over voting flier; glossy mailer warns against touch-screens
Mark Hollis, Christy McKerney and Jeremy Milarsky
July 30 2004
An embarrassed state Republican Party apologized Thursday for a GOP campaign brochure that urged voters to use absentee ballots, undermining efforts by Gov. Jeb Bush and Secretary of State Glenda Hood to inspire confidence in new touch-screen voting machines.
Democratic Party officials and several civil rights groups eagerly pounced on the flier as either a laughable foul-up or a sign that maybe Republican leaders also question the reliability of the ATM-like equipment.
Read More >>
GOP Flier Questions new electronic voting equipment >>
See the Flier Here >>
Mark Hollis, Christy McKerney and Jeremy Milarsky
July 30 2004
An embarrassed state Republican Party apologized Thursday for a GOP campaign brochure that urged voters to use absentee ballots, undermining efforts by Gov. Jeb Bush and Secretary of State Glenda Hood to inspire confidence in new touch-screen voting machines.
Democratic Party officials and several civil rights groups eagerly pounced on the flier as either a laughable foul-up or a sign that maybe Republican leaders also question the reliability of the ATM-like equipment.
Read More >>
GOP Flier Questions new electronic voting equipment >>
See the Flier Here >>
29 July 2004
Michael Moore to tackle voting rights issues in Florida
Ken Thomas - AP - July 28, 2004
BOSTON - Coming soon to Florida: Filmmaker Michael Moore
Moore, the director of "Fahrenheit 9/11," said Wednesday he would make stops throughout Florida in October to focus attention on voting rights issues and try to prevent a repeat of the 2000 election debacle.
"I am going to be in Florida," Moore said to cheers at a delegation breakfast, "and together - together, we will guarantee to every Floridian that their vote will be counted this year.
"I will have my cameras. We will put a huge spotlight on them. They will not get away with it this time."
[...] He promised to donate money to bring "an army of lawyers" who will serve as poll watchers in November.
"The second anyone tries to prevent a voter from voting, we will go down to the courthouse, we will get the judge immediately and we will stop it at that moment," Moore said.
His speech followed news of more voting problems in Florida: officials in Miami-Dade County said Tuesday a computer crash erased detailed records from the 2002 primary, the county's first widespread use of touchscreen voting machines.
Earlier this month, the state's top elections official ordered a review of the state's voter database after the discovery that a list of 48,000 potential felons was flawed and scrapped. The list held thousands of people who are eligible to vote and was flawed by a technical glitch that excluded many possible Hispanic felons.
[...] The filmmaker was mobbed by supporters after his speech and led a crowded pack of reporters and delegates down the hotel hallway. About a half dozen Boston police officers responded to the scene to maintain order.
Read More >>
Ken Thomas - AP - July 28, 2004
BOSTON - Coming soon to Florida: Filmmaker Michael Moore
Moore, the director of "Fahrenheit 9/11," said Wednesday he would make stops throughout Florida in October to focus attention on voting rights issues and try to prevent a repeat of the 2000 election debacle.
"I am going to be in Florida," Moore said to cheers at a delegation breakfast, "and together - together, we will guarantee to every Floridian that their vote will be counted this year.
"I will have my cameras. We will put a huge spotlight on them. They will not get away with it this time."
[...] He promised to donate money to bring "an army of lawyers" who will serve as poll watchers in November.
"The second anyone tries to prevent a voter from voting, we will go down to the courthouse, we will get the judge immediately and we will stop it at that moment," Moore said.
His speech followed news of more voting problems in Florida: officials in Miami-Dade County said Tuesday a computer crash erased detailed records from the 2002 primary, the county's first widespread use of touchscreen voting machines.
Earlier this month, the state's top elections official ordered a review of the state's voter database after the discovery that a list of 48,000 potential felons was flawed and scrapped. The list held thousands of people who are eligible to vote and was flawed by a technical glitch that excluded many possible Hispanic felons.
[...] The filmmaker was mobbed by supporters after his speech and led a crowded pack of reporters and delegates down the hotel hallway. About a half dozen Boston police officers responded to the scene to maintain order.
Read More >>
Howard Dean, Democrats sound off on e-voting security
They want a paper trail for votes cast using e-voting machines
Paul Roberts - JULY 29, 2004 (IDG NEWS SERVICE)
Former Vermont governor and Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean joined prominent Democrats yesterday to call attention to the need for election machines that are accurate and secure and can be audited.
Dean joined Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) at a news conference with the Campaign for America's Future and Rock the Vote to call attention to a plank in the Democratic Party's 2004 platform that calls for voting systems to be "accessible, independently auditable, accurate and secure," and to excoriate Republicans in Congress and state governments who have blocked legislation mandating a paper trail for votes cast using electronic voting machines.
"We can spend millions on security; surely we can do just as much to safeguard the central piece of representative government -- the voting process," Holt said. He spoke in a hotel in Cambridge, Mass., across the Charles River from Boston, where Democratic Party delegates and luminaries from across the country are meeting in the FleetCenter to nominate presidential and vice presidential candidates.
Holt was joined briefly by Dean, who said that he initially heard of the now-notorious security problems of e-voting machines while running for the Democratic nomination and dismissed the complaints as coming from "conspiracy whackos." A closer look convinced Dean of the seriousness of the issues, which he said threatened to undermine democracy in the U.S. if left unaddressed.
Read More >>
Special Coverage page on e-voting >>
They want a paper trail for votes cast using e-voting machines
Paul Roberts - JULY 29, 2004 (IDG NEWS SERVICE)
Former Vermont governor and Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean joined prominent Democrats yesterday to call attention to the need for election machines that are accurate and secure and can be audited.
Dean joined Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) at a news conference with the Campaign for America's Future and Rock the Vote to call attention to a plank in the Democratic Party's 2004 platform that calls for voting systems to be "accessible, independently auditable, accurate and secure," and to excoriate Republicans in Congress and state governments who have blocked legislation mandating a paper trail for votes cast using electronic voting machines.
"We can spend millions on security; surely we can do just as much to safeguard the central piece of representative government -- the voting process," Holt said. He spoke in a hotel in Cambridge, Mass., across the Charles River from Boston, where Democratic Party delegates and luminaries from across the country are meeting in the FleetCenter to nominate presidential and vice presidential candidates.
Holt was joined briefly by Dean, who said that he initially heard of the now-notorious security problems of e-voting machines while running for the Democratic nomination and dismissed the complaints as coming from "conspiracy whackos." A closer look convinced Dean of the seriousness of the issues, which he said threatened to undermine democracy in the U.S. if left unaddressed.
Read More >>
Special Coverage page on e-voting >>
How They Could Steal the Election This Time
Ronnie Dugger - The Nation - July 29, 2004
On November 2 millions of Americans will cast their votes for President in computerized voting systems that can be rigged by corporate or local-election insiders. Some 98 million citizens, five out of every six of the roughly 115 million who will go to the polls, will consign their votes into computers that unidentified computer programmers, working in the main for four private corporations and the officials of 10,500 election jurisdictions, could program to invisibly falsify the outcomes.
The result could be the failure of an American presidential election and its collapse into suspicions, accusations and a civic fury that will make Florida 2000 seem like a family spat in the kitchen.
Read More >>
Ronnie Dugger - The Nation - July 29, 2004
On November 2 millions of Americans will cast their votes for President in computerized voting systems that can be rigged by corporate or local-election insiders. Some 98 million citizens, five out of every six of the roughly 115 million who will go to the polls, will consign their votes into computers that unidentified computer programmers, working in the main for four private corporations and the officials of 10,500 election jurisdictions, could program to invisibly falsify the outcomes.
The result could be the failure of an American presidential election and its collapse into suspicions, accusations and a civic fury that will make Florida 2000 seem like a family spat in the kitchen.
Read More >>
28 July 2004
MICHAEL MOORE, GREG PALAST, REPS. BROWN AND DEUTSCH: "DON'T LET THEM STEAL FLORIDA AGAIN!"
July 28, 2004
Author-filmmakers Michael Moore and Greg Palast joined with Representatives Corrine Brown (D-Jacksonville) and Peter Deutsch (D-Ft. Lauderdale) to demand steps, as Palast said, "To prevent Republican hacks in Florida swiping the election of 2004 as they did four years ago."
At a press conference Wednesday morning before the Florida delegation to the Democratic Convention in Boston, Moore endorsed a bill introduced by Brown to make it easier for Congress to challenge an election tainted by apparent fraud.
"Don't let them steal Florida again," said Palast, the investigative reporter who in 2000 first uncovered for BBC Television that Katherine Harris and Jeb Bush had wrongly removed tens of thousand of Black citizens from voter rolls. Palast's reports on the theft of the elections are featured in Moore's film "Fahrenheit 9/11."
Palast has discovered that current lists of 47,000 "felon" voters which Florida has targeted for removal is at least 90% wrong."
Read More >>
July 28, 2004
Author-filmmakers Michael Moore and Greg Palast joined with Representatives Corrine Brown (D-Jacksonville) and Peter Deutsch (D-Ft. Lauderdale) to demand steps, as Palast said, "To prevent Republican hacks in Florida swiping the election of 2004 as they did four years ago."
At a press conference Wednesday morning before the Florida delegation to the Democratic Convention in Boston, Moore endorsed a bill introduced by Brown to make it easier for Congress to challenge an election tainted by apparent fraud.
"Don't let them steal Florida again," said Palast, the investigative reporter who in 2000 first uncovered for BBC Television that Katherine Harris and Jeb Bush had wrongly removed tens of thousand of Black citizens from voter rolls. Palast's reports on the theft of the elections are featured in Moore's film "Fahrenheit 9/11."
Palast has discovered that current lists of 47,000 "felon" voters which Florida has targeted for removal is at least 90% wrong."
Read More >>
Florida officials: Some voting records wiped out
July 28, 2004
MIAMI, Florida (AP) -- A computer crash erased detailed records from Miami-Dade County's first widespread use of touchscreen voting machines, raising again the specter of election troubles in Florida, where the new technology was supposed to put an end to such problems.
The crashes occurred in May and November of 2003, erasing information from the September 2002 gubernatorial primaries and other elections, elections officials said Tuesday.
Read More >>
Lost Record '02 Florida Vote Raises '04 Concern
Abby Goodnough - July 28, 2004
MIAMI, July 27 - Almost all the electronic records from the first widespread use of touch-screen voting in Miami-Dade County have been lost, stoking concerns that the machines are unreliable as the presidential election draws near.
The records disappeared after two computer system crashes last year, county elections officials said, leaving no audit trail for the 2002 gubernatorial primary. A citizens group uncovered the loss this month after requesting all audit data from that election.
A county official said a new backup system would prevent electronic voting data from being lost in the future. But members of the citizens group, the Miami-Dade Election Reform Coalition, said the malfunction underscored the vulnerability of electronic voting records and wiped out data that might have shed light on what problems, if any, still existed with touch-screen machines here. The group supplied the results of its request to The New York Times.
Read More >>
July 28, 2004
MIAMI, Florida (AP) -- A computer crash erased detailed records from Miami-Dade County's first widespread use of touchscreen voting machines, raising again the specter of election troubles in Florida, where the new technology was supposed to put an end to such problems.
The crashes occurred in May and November of 2003, erasing information from the September 2002 gubernatorial primaries and other elections, elections officials said Tuesday.
Read More >>
Lost Record '02 Florida Vote Raises '04 Concern
Abby Goodnough - July 28, 2004
MIAMI, July 27 - Almost all the electronic records from the first widespread use of touch-screen voting in Miami-Dade County have been lost, stoking concerns that the machines are unreliable as the presidential election draws near.
The records disappeared after two computer system crashes last year, county elections officials said, leaving no audit trail for the 2002 gubernatorial primary. A citizens group uncovered the loss this month after requesting all audit data from that election.
A county official said a new backup system would prevent electronic voting data from being lost in the future. But members of the citizens group, the Miami-Dade Election Reform Coalition, said the malfunction underscored the vulnerability of electronic voting records and wiped out data that might have shed light on what problems, if any, still existed with touch-screen machines here. The group supplied the results of its request to The New York Times.
Read More >>
27 July 2004
Getting every vote counted
The Freedom delegates came 40 years ago to seek their rights.
Today many see more to do.
Anne-Marie O'Connor - LA Times - July 27, 2004
BOSTON — It was the typical round of Democratic National Convention parties, except the reigning celebrities on this particular evening were not Hollywood stars. They were the elderly members of the 1964 Mississippi Freedom delegation, among the 63 black delegates who traveled to the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, N.J., demanding to be seated — just like the official all-white delegation.
The historic civil rights showdown turned into a showcase, dramatizing the delegates' stories of black people being threatened or even murdered for trying to vote.
Forty years later, the issue of voter enfranchisement — and the disputed 2000 elections — was the subject of heated discussion at several parties Sunday night, including an event sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus and honoring the Freedom delegation and a tribute to the late Maynard Jackson, a former mayor of Atlanta.
Not since the birth of the pregnant chad has so much casual conversation revolved around the technicalities of the electoral process. As delegates circulated at various parties, members of the caucus and other black leaders discussed how to try to ensure that in 2004 every vote would count.
Read More >>
The Freedom delegates came 40 years ago to seek their rights.
Today many see more to do.
Anne-Marie O'Connor - LA Times - July 27, 2004
BOSTON — It was the typical round of Democratic National Convention parties, except the reigning celebrities on this particular evening were not Hollywood stars. They were the elderly members of the 1964 Mississippi Freedom delegation, among the 63 black delegates who traveled to the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, N.J., demanding to be seated — just like the official all-white delegation.
The historic civil rights showdown turned into a showcase, dramatizing the delegates' stories of black people being threatened or even murdered for trying to vote.
Forty years later, the issue of voter enfranchisement — and the disputed 2000 elections — was the subject of heated discussion at several parties Sunday night, including an event sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus and honoring the Freedom delegation and a tribute to the late Maynard Jackson, a former mayor of Atlanta.
Not since the birth of the pregnant chad has so much casual conversation revolved around the technicalities of the electoral process. As delegates circulated at various parties, members of the caucus and other black leaders discussed how to try to ensure that in 2004 every vote would count.
Read More >>
Fear of Fraud
By PAUL KRUGMAN
07/27/04 "New York Times" -- It's election night, and early returns suggest trouble for the incumbent. Then, mysteriously, the vote count stops and observers from the challenger's campaign see employees of a voting-machine company, one wearing a badge that identifies him as a county official, typing instructions at computers with access to the vote-tabulating software.
When the count resumes, the incumbent pulls ahead. The challenger demands an investigation. But there are no ballots to recount, and election officials allied with the incumbent refuse to release data that could shed light on whether there was tampering with the electronic records.
This isn't a paranoid fantasy. It's a true account of a recent election in Riverside County, Calif., reported by Andrew Gumbel of the British newspaper The Independent. Mr. Gumbel's full-length report, printed in Los Angeles City Beat, makes hair-raising reading not just because it reinforces concerns about touch-screen voting, but also because it shows how easily officials can stonewall after a suspect election.
Read More >>
By PAUL KRUGMAN
07/27/04 "New York Times" -- It's election night, and early returns suggest trouble for the incumbent. Then, mysteriously, the vote count stops and observers from the challenger's campaign see employees of a voting-machine company, one wearing a badge that identifies him as a county official, typing instructions at computers with access to the vote-tabulating software.
When the count resumes, the incumbent pulls ahead. The challenger demands an investigation. But there are no ballots to recount, and election officials allied with the incumbent refuse to release data that could shed light on whether there was tampering with the electronic records.
This isn't a paranoid fantasy. It's a true account of a recent election in Riverside County, Calif., reported by Andrew Gumbel of the British newspaper The Independent. Mr. Gumbel's full-length report, printed in Los Angeles City Beat, makes hair-raising reading not just because it reinforces concerns about touch-screen voting, but also because it shows how easily officials can stonewall after a suspect election.
Read More >>
[Jeb] Bush takes back good move on voting
July 27, 2004
We were premature in praising Gov. Jeb Bush for taking the high road in the matter of restoring voting rights for felons who have served their sentences and been released from prison.
No doubt it's our fault for underestimating the politics involved. And for thinking that the embarrassing hash the state had made of its efforts to purge the rolls of ineligible voters had shamed the governor into seeking a good-faith fix.
Now it looks as if the governor simply sees political benefit in keeping people off the voting rolls.
Read More >>
July 27, 2004
We were premature in praising Gov. Jeb Bush for taking the high road in the matter of restoring voting rights for felons who have served their sentences and been released from prison.
No doubt it's our fault for underestimating the politics involved. And for thinking that the embarrassing hash the state had made of its efforts to purge the rolls of ineligible voters had shamed the governor into seeking a good-faith fix.
Now it looks as if the governor simply sees political benefit in keeping people off the voting rolls.
Read More >>
26 July 2004
The Fight For Fair Elections
The movement for an honest election picked up steam but then landed right in the comfortable lap of the enemy. Will your vote be counted in November? Maybe.
Elaine Kitchel - July 26, 2004
For a few moments there was hope. It finally looked as if we might actually see daylight past the tangled web of inaccuracies and lies spun by the voting machine industry. Citizens all over the country have been crying out for fair elections in which every vote gets counted. July 13th saw the “Computer Ate My Vote Day” in which action groups in several states demonstrated for fair elections with verifiable results. Numerous states, including the pivotal state of Ohio, decertified electronic voting machines because of the inability to perform recounts on the machines and because of their proven failures in many state primary elections. The average Joe suddenly became aware that his vote might not get counted. He’s finding that possibility unacceptable and beginning to shout about it.
That’s a good thing. But don’t expect the voting machine industry to stop their sneaky tricks just because they’ve been exposed. The lengths to which they are willing to go and the lack of conscience they display are bad enough, but now we learn that the watchdog of the industry is actually its lapdog.
Read More >>
The movement for an honest election picked up steam but then landed right in the comfortable lap of the enemy. Will your vote be counted in November? Maybe.
Elaine Kitchel - July 26, 2004
For a few moments there was hope. It finally looked as if we might actually see daylight past the tangled web of inaccuracies and lies spun by the voting machine industry. Citizens all over the country have been crying out for fair elections in which every vote gets counted. July 13th saw the “Computer Ate My Vote Day” in which action groups in several states demonstrated for fair elections with verifiable results. Numerous states, including the pivotal state of Ohio, decertified electronic voting machines because of the inability to perform recounts on the machines and because of their proven failures in many state primary elections. The average Joe suddenly became aware that his vote might not get counted. He’s finding that possibility unacceptable and beginning to shout about it.
That’s a good thing. But don’t expect the voting machine industry to stop their sneaky tricks just because they’ve been exposed. The lengths to which they are willing to go and the lack of conscience they display are bad enough, but now we learn that the watchdog of the industry is actually its lapdog.
Read More >>
24 July 2004
Making Votes Count
An archive of New York Times editorials on the flaws in the mechanics of our democracy.
In this presidential election year, the Times's editorial page is examining the flaws in the mechanics of our democracy, including the reliability of electronic voting machines, obstacles to voter registration and turnout, and the lack of competitive congressional elections due to partisan drawing of district lines. The project is being led by editorial writer Adam Cohen, who will be traveling throughout the country to research these issues. The following is an archive of editorials from the series:
Insurance for Electronic Votes
With millions of voters set to use electronic voting machines of questionable reliability, the public should insist that protections be put in place right away. (July 23, 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/23/opinion/23fri1.html
Felons and the Right to Vote
Denying the vote to felons is antidemocratic, and undermines the nation's commitment to rehabilitating people who have paid their debt to society. (July 11, 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/11/opinion/11SUN1.html
An Umpire Taking Sides
A major flaw in America's electoral system is that the top election officers are often publicly rooting for the Democratic or Republican side. (July 9, 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/09/opinion/09FRI1.html
Indians Face Obstacles Between the Reservation and the Ballot Box
Mistreatment of Indian voters in South Dakota is a discredit to American democracy that the state government and the Justice Department must address. (June 21, 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/21/opinion/21MON4.html
Gambling on Voting
If election officials want to convince voters that electronic voting can be trusted, they should be willing to make it at least as secure as slot machines. (June 13, 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/13/opinion/13SUN1.html
The Disability Lobby and Voting
Disability-rights groups are clouding the voting machine debate by suggesting that the nation must choose between accessible voting and verifiable voting. (June 11, 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/11/opinion/11FRI1.html
Who Tests Voting Machines?
The process of testing voting machines is riddled with problems, including conflicts of interest and a lack of transparency. (May 30, 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/30/opinion/30SUN1.html
Voting Reform Could Backfire
There is a real danger that provisional balloting will be undermined by a lack of commitment and diligence by local election officials. (May 09, 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/09/opinion/09SUN2.html
A Compromised Voting System
There are compelling reasons for California's secretary of state to decertify the state's electronic voting machines, even at this late date. (April 24, 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/24/opinion/24SAT1.html
Bad New Days for Voting Rights
Minority vote suppression persists, often under the guise of programs that are supposed to deter fraud at the polls. (April 18, 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/18/opinion/18SUN1.html
The Confusion Over Voter ID
The process by which voters prove who they are has largely been left to election professionals. It shouldn't be. (April 4, 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/04/opinion/04SUN3.html
When the Umpires Take Sides
The system that allows partisanship to creep into the administration of elections should be dismantled. (March 29, 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/29/opinion/29MON1.html
Florida as the Next Florida
Four years after Florida made a mockery of American elections, there is every reason to believe it could happen again. (March 14, 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/14/opinion/14SUN1.html
An archive of New York Times editorials on the flaws in the mechanics of our democracy.
In this presidential election year, the Times's editorial page is examining the flaws in the mechanics of our democracy, including the reliability of electronic voting machines, obstacles to voter registration and turnout, and the lack of competitive congressional elections due to partisan drawing of district lines. The project is being led by editorial writer Adam Cohen, who will be traveling throughout the country to research these issues. The following is an archive of editorials from the series:
Insurance for Electronic Votes
With millions of voters set to use electronic voting machines of questionable reliability, the public should insist that protections be put in place right away. (July 23, 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/23/opinion/23fri1.html
Felons and the Right to Vote
Denying the vote to felons is antidemocratic, and undermines the nation's commitment to rehabilitating people who have paid their debt to society. (July 11, 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/11/opinion/11SUN1.html
An Umpire Taking Sides
A major flaw in America's electoral system is that the top election officers are often publicly rooting for the Democratic or Republican side. (July 9, 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/09/opinion/09FRI1.html
Indians Face Obstacles Between the Reservation and the Ballot Box
Mistreatment of Indian voters in South Dakota is a discredit to American democracy that the state government and the Justice Department must address. (June 21, 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/21/opinion/21MON4.html
Gambling on Voting
If election officials want to convince voters that electronic voting can be trusted, they should be willing to make it at least as secure as slot machines. (June 13, 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/13/opinion/13SUN1.html
The Disability Lobby and Voting
Disability-rights groups are clouding the voting machine debate by suggesting that the nation must choose between accessible voting and verifiable voting. (June 11, 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/11/opinion/11FRI1.html
Who Tests Voting Machines?
The process of testing voting machines is riddled with problems, including conflicts of interest and a lack of transparency. (May 30, 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/30/opinion/30SUN1.html
Voting Reform Could Backfire
There is a real danger that provisional balloting will be undermined by a lack of commitment and diligence by local election officials. (May 09, 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/09/opinion/09SUN2.html
A Compromised Voting System
There are compelling reasons for California's secretary of state to decertify the state's electronic voting machines, even at this late date. (April 24, 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/24/opinion/24SAT1.html
Bad New Days for Voting Rights
Minority vote suppression persists, often under the guise of programs that are supposed to deter fraud at the polls. (April 18, 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/18/opinion/18SUN1.html
The Confusion Over Voter ID
The process by which voters prove who they are has largely been left to election professionals. It shouldn't be. (April 4, 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/04/opinion/04SUN3.html
When the Umpires Take Sides
The system that allows partisanship to creep into the administration of elections should be dismantled. (March 29, 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/29/opinion/29MON1.html
Florida as the Next Florida
Four years after Florida made a mockery of American elections, there is every reason to believe it could happen again. (March 14, 2004)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/14/opinion/14SUN1.html
23 July 2004
Insurance for Electronic Votes
Insurance for Electronic Votes
NYT - July 23, 2004
This November, millions of voters will use electronic voting machines of questionable reliability. The election is by now too near for the sort of major overhaul that electronic voting requires. But there is still time for states and localities to protect the integrity of the voting and build public confidence in the results. The public should insist that election officials put these protections in place right away.
There has been extensive documentation of the problems with electronic voting. Several studies have found that it is vulnerable to vote theft and to inadvertent errors that can alter the outcome of an election. These inherent flaws are made worse by the reckless, and possibly illegal, actions of voting machine companies. This spring, California banned 14,000 Diebold voting machines because of allegations of "fraudulent actions" by the manufacturer.
In a well-run election system, electronic voting machines costing millions of dollars would not have been purchased before there were adequate standards for ensuring that they work properly. But given that nearly one-third of voters may be voting electronically this fall, it is fortunate that a number of private groups - including the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University Law School and the Caltech/M.I.T. Voting Technology Project - have stepped forward with ideas for how election officials can minimize the risks. Kevin Shelley, the California secretary of state and a pioneer in the field, has also issued useful directives, many of which are on his official Web site.
Here are some things voters should demand:
Read More >>
Insurance for Electronic Votes
NYT - July 23, 2004
This November, millions of voters will use electronic voting machines of questionable reliability. The election is by now too near for the sort of major overhaul that electronic voting requires. But there is still time for states and localities to protect the integrity of the voting and build public confidence in the results. The public should insist that election officials put these protections in place right away.
There has been extensive documentation of the problems with electronic voting. Several studies have found that it is vulnerable to vote theft and to inadvertent errors that can alter the outcome of an election. These inherent flaws are made worse by the reckless, and possibly illegal, actions of voting machine companies. This spring, California banned 14,000 Diebold voting machines because of allegations of "fraudulent actions" by the manufacturer.
In a well-run election system, electronic voting machines costing millions of dollars would not have been purchased before there were adequate standards for ensuring that they work properly. But given that nearly one-third of voters may be voting electronically this fall, it is fortunate that a number of private groups - including the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University Law School and the Caltech/M.I.T. Voting Technology Project - have stepped forward with ideas for how election officials can minimize the risks. Kevin Shelley, the California secretary of state and a pioneer in the field, has also issued useful directives, many of which are on his official Web site.
Here are some things voters should demand:
Read More >>
JEB Bush eliminates form prisoners used to start applying for rights
The Associated Press - July 23, 2004
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- One week after a court ordered Florida officials to help felons to fill out an application that could start the process of restoring their voting rights as they exit the prison system, Gov. Jeb Bush eliminated the form.
Read More >>
The Associated Press - July 23, 2004
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- One week after a court ordered Florida officials to help felons to fill out an application that could start the process of restoring their voting rights as they exit the prison system, Gov. Jeb Bush eliminated the form.
Read More >>
Elections, what elections?
by George Ochenski- 7/22/2004
Introducing the U.S. Election Assistance Commission
You’ve probably never heard of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (USEAC), but it exists. Like so many of the Bush administration’s antithetical labeling tendencies—where “Clear Skies” means more pollution, “Healthy Forests” means clearcuts, and “Iraqi Freedom” means occupation—the Election Assistance Commission is trying to get Congress to give it the sole power to “assist” this year’s national elections by canceling them.
Read More >>
by George Ochenski- 7/22/2004
Introducing the U.S. Election Assistance Commission
You’ve probably never heard of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (USEAC), but it exists. Like so many of the Bush administration’s antithetical labeling tendencies—where “Clear Skies” means more pollution, “Healthy Forests” means clearcuts, and “Iraqi Freedom” means occupation—the Election Assistance Commission is trying to get Congress to give it the sole power to “assist” this year’s national elections by canceling them.
Read More >>
21 July 2004
Democrats Blast GOP Lawmaker's 'Suppress the Detroit Vote' Remark
AP - 21 July 2004
Detroit - Democrats on Wednesday denounced a Republican lawmaker quoted in a newspaper as saying the GOP would fare poorly in this year's elections if it failed to "suppress the Detroit vote."
State Rep. John Pappageorge, R-Troy, acknowledged using "a bad choice of words" but said his remark shouldn't be construed as racist.
Pappageorge, 73, was quoted in July 16 editions of the Detroit Free Press as saying, "If we do not suppress the Detroit vote, we're going to have a tough time in this election."
"I'm extremely disappointed in my colleague," state Sen. Buzz Thomas, D-Detroit, told reporters Wednesday during a conference call. "That's quite clearly code that they don't want black people to vote in this election."
Blacks comprise 83 percent of Detroit's population, and the city routinely gives Democratic candidates a substantial majority of its votes.
Read More >>
AP - 21 July 2004
Detroit - Democrats on Wednesday denounced a Republican lawmaker quoted in a newspaper as saying the GOP would fare poorly in this year's elections if it failed to "suppress the Detroit vote."
State Rep. John Pappageorge, R-Troy, acknowledged using "a bad choice of words" but said his remark shouldn't be construed as racist.
Pappageorge, 73, was quoted in July 16 editions of the Detroit Free Press as saying, "If we do not suppress the Detroit vote, we're going to have a tough time in this election."
"I'm extremely disappointed in my colleague," state Sen. Buzz Thomas, D-Detroit, told reporters Wednesday during a conference call. "That's quite clearly code that they don't want black people to vote in this election."
Blacks comprise 83 percent of Detroit's population, and the city routinely gives Democratic candidates a substantial majority of its votes.
Read More >>
20 July 2004
Michael Moore Comes Out in Support of Election Reform
July 20th, 2004
Some of the most powerful footage in Fahrenheit 9/11 comes from the Joint Session of Congress that convened on January 6, 2001. It was during this session that then Vice-President Al Gore presided over the verification of the Electoral College vote in the face of fierce Congressional protests. U.S. Rep. Peter Deutsch was the first to attempt to halt the proceedings and was followed shortly thereafter by U.S. Reps. Alcee Hastings and Corrine Brown.
Because no Senator would sign their inquiries into the Florida recount, the electoral vote was verified and the way was cleared for George W. Bush to be sworn in as the nation's 43rd president. Had U.S. Representatives Deutsch, Hastings and Brown been successful with their protests on January 6th, 2001, further investigations would have been conducted into the voting irregularities in Florida.
These three Members of Congress filed a bill today that would remove the current requirement that a Senator and a Representative must both sign a challenge to the certification of the Presidential election results. Instead, a single member of either the Senate or the House would be able to protest the certification of the election.
Michael Moore issued the following statement of support:
I applaud and support the efforts of members of Florida's Congressional delegation to introduce election reform legislation to make sure that what happened with the certification of the 2000 Presidential election does not happen again. Representatives Brown, Deutsch and Hastings are showing great courage in standing up for the African American voters who were disenfranchised in 2000 and in standing against a system that is broken and not serving the values of democracy.
Read More >>
July 20th, 2004
Some of the most powerful footage in Fahrenheit 9/11 comes from the Joint Session of Congress that convened on January 6, 2001. It was during this session that then Vice-President Al Gore presided over the verification of the Electoral College vote in the face of fierce Congressional protests. U.S. Rep. Peter Deutsch was the first to attempt to halt the proceedings and was followed shortly thereafter by U.S. Reps. Alcee Hastings and Corrine Brown.
Because no Senator would sign their inquiries into the Florida recount, the electoral vote was verified and the way was cleared for George W. Bush to be sworn in as the nation's 43rd president. Had U.S. Representatives Deutsch, Hastings and Brown been successful with their protests on January 6th, 2001, further investigations would have been conducted into the voting irregularities in Florida.
These three Members of Congress filed a bill today that would remove the current requirement that a Senator and a Representative must both sign a challenge to the certification of the Presidential election results. Instead, a single member of either the Senate or the House would be able to protest the certification of the election.
Michael Moore issued the following statement of support:
I applaud and support the efforts of members of Florida's Congressional delegation to introduce election reform legislation to make sure that what happened with the certification of the 2000 Presidential election does not happen again. Representatives Brown, Deutsch and Hastings are showing great courage in standing up for the African American voters who were disenfranchised in 2000 and in standing against a system that is broken and not serving the values of democracy.
Read More >>
19 July 2004
Maryland Activists Want E-Voting Receipts
July 19, 2004
Robert MacMillan, washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Melanie Vaughan-West arrived at the Maryland State House in Annapolis last Tuesday to demand something she never had before -- a receipt for her vote.
The pastor of the nearby Broadneck Baptist Church gathered with approximately 100 other people in front of the state capitol to add her voice to the small-but-growing chorus of complaints that electronic touch-screen voting machines are more susceptible to fraud and manipulation than their paper-based predecessors.
"They're not dependable," she said. "There are so many things that can go wrong."
A piece of paper taped to Vaughan-West's back read, "Will your vote count?" Others carried picket signs and wore pins saying, "Make sure your vote counts -- demand a paper ballot," and "Don't let the computer eat your vote."
One man wore a black box, with his head and feet sticking out at either end, designed to look like a computer screen with a gaping maw, fangs and malevolent eyes, ready to swallow votes on Election Day.
They sweated through a dank, cloudy July afternoon on the little square at Lawyer's Mall as activists predicted that e-voting machines could result in lost votes and a compromised election this November.
The event, organized by the Maryland-based Campaign for Verifiable Voting, was part of the "Computer Ate My Vote" day, which saw activists gather in 19 states to call on their governors and state election boards to require that touchscreen electronic voting machines produce a paper record of each vote cast.
[...] After the speeches and the applause at the Annapolis rally, the crowd shuffled from the small brick courtyard at Lawyer's Mall to the State House steps. The plan was to march up the stairs to the governor's office, where they would hand-deliver their 13,000-name petition.
In the end, they stayed outside and chanted ad hoc slogans while Dels. Bobo and Montgomery got a brief audience with Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele (R). As it turned out, the governor's office would not accept the hand-delivered petitions -- for security reasons.
And Melanie Vaughan-West is considering what might be the only legal way to vote on paper this November: absentee ballot.
Read More >>
July 19, 2004
Robert MacMillan, washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Melanie Vaughan-West arrived at the Maryland State House in Annapolis last Tuesday to demand something she never had before -- a receipt for her vote.
The pastor of the nearby Broadneck Baptist Church gathered with approximately 100 other people in front of the state capitol to add her voice to the small-but-growing chorus of complaints that electronic touch-screen voting machines are more susceptible to fraud and manipulation than their paper-based predecessors.
"They're not dependable," she said. "There are so many things that can go wrong."
A piece of paper taped to Vaughan-West's back read, "Will your vote count?" Others carried picket signs and wore pins saying, "Make sure your vote counts -- demand a paper ballot," and "Don't let the computer eat your vote."
One man wore a black box, with his head and feet sticking out at either end, designed to look like a computer screen with a gaping maw, fangs and malevolent eyes, ready to swallow votes on Election Day.
They sweated through a dank, cloudy July afternoon on the little square at Lawyer's Mall as activists predicted that e-voting machines could result in lost votes and a compromised election this November.
The event, organized by the Maryland-based Campaign for Verifiable Voting, was part of the "Computer Ate My Vote" day, which saw activists gather in 19 states to call on their governors and state election boards to require that touchscreen electronic voting machines produce a paper record of each vote cast.
[...] After the speeches and the applause at the Annapolis rally, the crowd shuffled from the small brick courtyard at Lawyer's Mall to the State House steps. The plan was to march up the stairs to the governor's office, where they would hand-deliver their 13,000-name petition.
In the end, they stayed outside and chanted ad hoc slogans while Dels. Bobo and Montgomery got a brief audience with Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele (R). As it turned out, the governor's office would not accept the hand-delivered petitions -- for security reasons.
And Melanie Vaughan-West is considering what might be the only legal way to vote on paper this November: absentee ballot.
Read More >>
Kerry's legal teams will be poised for vote recounts
By David M. Halbfinger
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE
July 19, 2004
Mindful of the election problems in Florida four years ago, aides to Sen. John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, say his campaign is putting together a far more intricate set of legal safeguards than any presidential candidate before him has, in an effort to monitor the election.
Aides to Kerry say the campaign is taking the unprecedented step of setting up a nationwide legal network under its own umbrella, rather than relying, as in the past, on lawyers associated with state Democratic parties. The aides said they were recruiting people based on their skills as litigators and election lawyers, rather than rewarding political connections or big donors.
Lawyers for the campaign are gathering intelligence and preparing litigation over the ballot machines being used and the rules concerning how voters will be registered or their votes disqualified. In some cases, the lawyers are compiling dossiers on the people involved and their track records on enforcing voting rights. The disputed 2000 presidential election remains a fresh wound for Democrats, and Kerry has been referring to it on the stump while assuring his audiences that he will not let this year's election be a repeat of the 2000 vote.
"A million African-Americans disenfranchised in the last election," he said at the NAACP convention in Philadelphia on Thursday. "Well, we're not just going to sit there and wait for it to happen. On Election Day in your cities, my campaign will provide teams of election observers and lawyers to monitor elections, and we will enforce the law."
Read More >>
By David M. Halbfinger
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE
July 19, 2004
Mindful of the election problems in Florida four years ago, aides to Sen. John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, say his campaign is putting together a far more intricate set of legal safeguards than any presidential candidate before him has, in an effort to monitor the election.
Aides to Kerry say the campaign is taking the unprecedented step of setting up a nationwide legal network under its own umbrella, rather than relying, as in the past, on lawyers associated with state Democratic parties. The aides said they were recruiting people based on their skills as litigators and election lawyers, rather than rewarding political connections or big donors.
Lawyers for the campaign are gathering intelligence and preparing litigation over the ballot machines being used and the rules concerning how voters will be registered or their votes disqualified. In some cases, the lawyers are compiling dossiers on the people involved and their track records on enforcing voting rights. The disputed 2000 presidential election remains a fresh wound for Democrats, and Kerry has been referring to it on the stump while assuring his audiences that he will not let this year's election be a repeat of the 2000 vote.
"A million African-Americans disenfranchised in the last election," he said at the NAACP convention in Philadelphia on Thursday. "Well, we're not just going to sit there and wait for it to happen. On Election Day in your cities, my campaign will provide teams of election observers and lawyers to monitor elections, and we will enforce the law."
Read More >>
16 July 2004
Court Upholds Calif. E-voting Ban
Advocates for the disabled claimed it was discriminatory
News Story by Dan Verton
JULY 12, 2004 (COMPUTERWORLD) - A federal judge last week upheld a California directive that decertified touch-screen voting machines and withheld future certification until vendors of those systems can meet specific security requirements.
The decision arose from a lawsuit, Benavidez v. Shelley, brought by disability rights advocates and four California counties that oppose California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley's requirement for voter-verifiable paper audit trails. The counties also oppose Shelley's order to decertify direct-recording equipment (DRE) voting systems.
The plaintiffs argued that banning the systems would disenfranchise visually or physically impaired voters.
In an order issued by the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Judge Florence-Marie Cooper wrote that "the evidence does not support the conclusion that the elimination of the DREs would have a discriminatory effect on the visually or manually impaired."
Read More >>
Advocates for the disabled claimed it was discriminatory
News Story by Dan Verton
JULY 12, 2004 (COMPUTERWORLD) - A federal judge last week upheld a California directive that decertified touch-screen voting machines and withheld future certification until vendors of those systems can meet specific security requirements.
The decision arose from a lawsuit, Benavidez v. Shelley, brought by disability rights advocates and four California counties that oppose California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley's requirement for voter-verifiable paper audit trails. The counties also oppose Shelley's order to decertify direct-recording equipment (DRE) voting systems.
The plaintiffs argued that banning the systems would disenfranchise visually or physically impaired voters.
In an order issued by the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Judge Florence-Marie Cooper wrote that "the evidence does not support the conclusion that the elimination of the DREs would have a discriminatory effect on the visually or manually impaired."
Read More >>
Ohio Counties Can't Switch Vote Machines
July 16, 2004
By JOHN McCARTHY, Associated Press Writer
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Three counties that were considering electronic voting machines made by Ohio-based Diebold Inc. cannot switch by November because tests have shown security problems, Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell said Friday.
Hardin, Lorain and Trumbull counties will stick with their current systems, Blackwell spokesman Carlo LoParo said. Mercer County decided earlier this week to stick with its current system — punch-card ballots.
Some of the state's 88 counties already were using electronic voting machines, and the decision does not affect them.
Thirty-one Ohio counties had planned to replace their machines, but most backed out as the November election neared. Most of those counties use punch-card ballots, the type that plagued the Florida vote in the 2000 presidential election.
Read More >>
July 16, 2004
By JOHN McCARTHY, Associated Press Writer
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Three counties that were considering electronic voting machines made by Ohio-based Diebold Inc. cannot switch by November because tests have shown security problems, Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell said Friday.
Hardin, Lorain and Trumbull counties will stick with their current systems, Blackwell spokesman Carlo LoParo said. Mercer County decided earlier this week to stick with its current system — punch-card ballots.
Some of the state's 88 counties already were using electronic voting machines, and the decision does not affect them.
Thirty-one Ohio counties had planned to replace their machines, but most backed out as the November election neared. Most of those counties use punch-card ballots, the type that plagued the Florida vote in the 2000 presidential election.
Read More >>
Senate and House Democratic Leaders Call for Pre-Election Investigation
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT
July 16, 2004
Members Cite Concerns about Hidden Threats to the Integrity of the November Election
Washington, D.C. – As public concern continues to rise over the potential for serious problems with the national elections in November, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and a group of leaders from both Houses of Congress have, today, asked for a thorough independent review of the threat. “We already know of the potentially serious problems posed by the widespread use of electronic voting machines. There are, however, other problems that have received little notice but have great potential to disrupt the election process and cause voters to be disenfranchised on November 2nd.”
The Congressional leaders have sent a letter to the General Accounting Office (GAO), seeking a thorough study of these problems in all 50 states. The authors of the letter have urged the GAO to complete its work quickly – by September 15 – so that issues identified can be addressed before Election Day.
Read More >>
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT
July 16, 2004
Members Cite Concerns about Hidden Threats to the Integrity of the November Election
Washington, D.C. – As public concern continues to rise over the potential for serious problems with the national elections in November, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and a group of leaders from both Houses of Congress have, today, asked for a thorough independent review of the threat. “We already know of the potentially serious problems posed by the widespread use of electronic voting machines. There are, however, other problems that have received little notice but have great potential to disrupt the election process and cause voters to be disenfranchised on November 2nd.”
The Congressional leaders have sent a letter to the General Accounting Office (GAO), seeking a thorough study of these problems in all 50 states. The authors of the letter have urged the GAO to complete its work quickly – by September 15 – so that issues identified can be addressed before Election Day.
Read More >>
15 July 2004
Florida Faces Vote Chaos in 2004, Commission Hears
July 15, 2004
By Alan Elsner
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Florida faces another debacle in the upcoming presidential election on Nov. 2, with the possibility that thousands of people will be unjustly denied the right to vote, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights heard on Thursday.
In a hearing on the illegal disenfranchisement of alleged felons in Florida, commissioners accused state officials of "extraordinary negligence" in drawing up a list of 48,000 people to be purged from voter rolls, most of them because they may once have committed a crime.
"They have engaged in negligence at best and something worse at worst," said Mary Frances Berry, chairperson of the commission, an independent bipartisan body whose members are appointed by the President and Congress.
She said the commission would ask the Justice Department to investigate the matter.
"It does seems to me there is a smoking gun here," said commissioner Christopher Edley. "There has been extraordinary negligence in the way the felon purging process has been conducted. ... If it was intentional, this could be a violation of the federal Civil Rights Act."
Read More >>
July 15, 2004
By Alan Elsner
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Florida faces another debacle in the upcoming presidential election on Nov. 2, with the possibility that thousands of people will be unjustly denied the right to vote, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights heard on Thursday.
In a hearing on the illegal disenfranchisement of alleged felons in Florida, commissioners accused state officials of "extraordinary negligence" in drawing up a list of 48,000 people to be purged from voter rolls, most of them because they may once have committed a crime.
"They have engaged in negligence at best and something worse at worst," said Mary Frances Berry, chairperson of the commission, an independent bipartisan body whose members are appointed by the President and Congress.
She said the commission would ask the Justice Department to investigate the matter.
"It does seems to me there is a smoking gun here," said commissioner Christopher Edley. "There has been extraordinary negligence in the way the felon purging process has been conducted. ... If it was intentional, this could be a violation of the federal Civil Rights Act."
Read More >>
Demand for Paper Trail Escalates
By Kim Zetter - July 14, 2004 - Wired News
Paper has become a big issue in the controversy over electronic voting machines. So activists in 19 states dumped a lot of it on election officials Tuesday as they delivered petitions bearing 350,000 signatures asking officials to mandate voter-verified paper audit trails for touch-screen voting machines in their states.
The Computer Ate My Vote campaign, led by MoveOn, TrueMajority and six other organizations, urged secretaries of state to follow California's lead and adopt measures for improving the integrity of elections this November. They also wanted to rally support for federal legislation that would require a paper trail on voting machines nationwide, which has been stalled in Congress for more than a year.
In addition to demanding a paper trail, the activists urged state and county officials to sign a pledge to support voting processes that are "controlled by public officials, not vendors" and that are verifiable and transparent to the public. This could include demanding that vendors give the source code for their machines to states so that experts could review the code if problems arose.
Read More >> (2-page article)
By Kim Zetter - July 14, 2004 - Wired News
Paper has become a big issue in the controversy over electronic voting machines. So activists in 19 states dumped a lot of it on election officials Tuesday as they delivered petitions bearing 350,000 signatures asking officials to mandate voter-verified paper audit trails for touch-screen voting machines in their states.
The Computer Ate My Vote campaign, led by MoveOn, TrueMajority and six other organizations, urged secretaries of state to follow California's lead and adopt measures for improving the integrity of elections this November. They also wanted to rally support for federal legislation that would require a paper trail on voting machines nationwide, which has been stalled in Congress for more than a year.
In addition to demanding a paper trail, the activists urged state and county officials to sign a pledge to support voting processes that are "controlled by public officials, not vendors" and that are verifiable and transparent to the public. This could include demanding that vendors give the source code for their machines to states so that experts could review the code if problems arose.
Read More >> (2-page article)
Machines to print voting receipts
Adrienne Packer
Las Vegas Review-Journal
July 13, 2004
Nevada voters to have at least one printer at each site
Nevada counties will be the first in the nation to offer a verification printout of a completed ballot, allowing voters to review their choices before processing them, state election officials said.
The voter verification printers are one part of the 2002 Help America Vote Act, which became federal law following the Florida election debacle of 2000. Key elements of the law mandated replacing all punch-card voting machines and allowing each voter to privately verify and correct errors on a ballot before casting the vote.
The software necessary for the printouts was approved by the federal government last week. Nevada is the only state aiming to work out all the bugs and have the computer program running by September's primary election, Clark County Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax said.
"Nevada will be the first and only state to use this verification trail," Lomax said. "The whole country is heading this way to watch."
Clark County will have one print-out machine at each polling place. The county's older machines are not capable of providing printouts.
Rural Nevada counties soon will receive new touch-screen voting machines to accommodate the software.
Nevada entered a $9 million contract with Sequoia Voting Systems for 2,000 new computers and 3,000 printers, Lomax said. The county's older machines will be retrofitted after the election to accommodate printers.
The new program is federally funded.
[...] All early voting polling places in Clark County will have only the touch-screen voting machines with the printer, George said.
When voters enter their polling place, they will be given receipts that are assigned numbers.
Those numbers appear on the voting machine's computer screen and the printout, which scrolls up behind a plastic window. Voters can then verify the printout coincides with the computerized ballot by checking whether the numbers match.
"The printer scrolls out all the candidates you voted for," Lomax said. "You verify who you voted for, and if you accept it, you cast your ballot. It provides an independent paper record of what's in the computer's memory."
Voters who unintentionally cast the wrong vote can re-enter their choice.
The printouts will be stored in a county vault, Lomax said.
Lomax said the fact the number appears on the printout does not compromise a voter's privacy.
Read More >>
Adrienne Packer
Las Vegas Review-Journal
July 13, 2004
Nevada voters to have at least one printer at each site
Nevada counties will be the first in the nation to offer a verification printout of a completed ballot, allowing voters to review their choices before processing them, state election officials said.
The voter verification printers are one part of the 2002 Help America Vote Act, which became federal law following the Florida election debacle of 2000. Key elements of the law mandated replacing all punch-card voting machines and allowing each voter to privately verify and correct errors on a ballot before casting the vote.
The software necessary for the printouts was approved by the federal government last week. Nevada is the only state aiming to work out all the bugs and have the computer program running by September's primary election, Clark County Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax said.
"Nevada will be the first and only state to use this verification trail," Lomax said. "The whole country is heading this way to watch."
Clark County will have one print-out machine at each polling place. The county's older machines are not capable of providing printouts.
Rural Nevada counties soon will receive new touch-screen voting machines to accommodate the software.
Nevada entered a $9 million contract with Sequoia Voting Systems for 2,000 new computers and 3,000 printers, Lomax said. The county's older machines will be retrofitted after the election to accommodate printers.
The new program is federally funded.
[...] All early voting polling places in Clark County will have only the touch-screen voting machines with the printer, George said.
When voters enter their polling place, they will be given receipts that are assigned numbers.
Those numbers appear on the voting machine's computer screen and the printout, which scrolls up behind a plastic window. Voters can then verify the printout coincides with the computerized ballot by checking whether the numbers match.
"The printer scrolls out all the candidates you voted for," Lomax said. "You verify who you voted for, and if you accept it, you cast your ballot. It provides an independent paper record of what's in the computer's memory."
Voters who unintentionally cast the wrong vote can re-enter their choice.
The printouts will be stored in a county vault, Lomax said.
Lomax said the fact the number appears on the printout does not compromise a voter's privacy.
Read More >>
Guess Who's Going to Dinner with Diebold, Sequoia, and Electronic ES&S? The Groups Responsible for Insuring Electronic Votes Are Secure.
by Amanda Lang
OpEdNews.Com
When speakers from the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) attend the August 24-28, 2004, Election Center's conference for federal and state election employees in Washington, DC, they will be participating in a huge conflict of interest as they eat, drink, and make-merry at the Diebold, Sequoia, and ES&S (voting machine vendors) sponsored events. Sequoia Voting Systems is co-sponsor for a dinner cruise on the Potomac and a monuments by night tour. A welcome reception compliments of Diebold with ES&S throwing in a graduation luncheon and awards ceremonies. It being Washington, members of the House and Senate are also invited.
The EAC, supposedly an independent bipartisan agency, was appointed by President George W. Bush following the Election Fiasco of 2000, and is authorized by the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) to serve as "...a national clearinghouse and resource for the comparison of information" on various matters involving the administration of Federal elections. The EAC wants to be more than a clearinghouse apparently -- EAC Chairman, DeForest Soaries**, recently authored a letter to Homeland Security czar, Tom Ridge, requesting his agency be "the statutory authority to cancel and reschedule a federal election" if a terrorist attack is launched in the U.S. As a result, Ridge's office has requested that the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel analyze what legal steps would be needed to permit the postponement of the election were an attack to take place. **Soaries, a Bush appointee, two years ago was an unsuccessful GOP candidate for Congress.
The Election Center is a nonprofit organization, which trains election workers and advises Congress and government agencies on election process issues. The Election Center also provides staff services to the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED) for the voting systems program. NASED is responsible for the testing and certification (through independent laboratories) of voting systems hardware and software manufactured by Diebold, Sequoia, and ES&S Disturbing -- It could not be more inappropriate for this non-profit, non-partisan organization to accept money and funding from Diebold, Sequoia, and ES&S whose machines they are tasked to monitor. The Election Center executive director, R. Doug Lewis, confirmed in March that the Center has taken donations from all three vendors. The Sequoia donations surfaced on the Center’s latest 990 IRS filing. It revealed donations of $10,000 per year from 1997 through 2000.
According to the conference schedule, one of the big topics of the day is "The Media: Fighting Back--Getting the Story Straight." Is the Election Center suggesting that it is now the responsibility or duty of election officials to influence media coverage and reporting that has in the past, been highly critical of the many documented failures and flaws of these companies voting machines? (One analysis reveals that votes were not recorded for one out of 100 votes using the new ATM-style machines -- eight times more than pencil marks on paper ballots in the same election!)?
Write, email or call the EAC and the Election Center. Ask them to seek other sponsorship or funding that does not reflect such an egregious conflict of interest. Ask your representatives or senators in the 108th Congress to get off their butts, and practice a little oversight. Maybe they could even pass some legislation that would actually secure that most basic American right – the right to vote and be counted.
Amanda Lang - Augusta , GA
Link >>
by Amanda Lang
OpEdNews.Com
When speakers from the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) attend the August 24-28, 2004, Election Center's conference for federal and state election employees in Washington, DC, they will be participating in a huge conflict of interest as they eat, drink, and make-merry at the Diebold, Sequoia, and ES&S (voting machine vendors) sponsored events. Sequoia Voting Systems is co-sponsor for a dinner cruise on the Potomac and a monuments by night tour. A welcome reception compliments of Diebold with ES&S throwing in a graduation luncheon and awards ceremonies. It being Washington, members of the House and Senate are also invited.
The EAC, supposedly an independent bipartisan agency, was appointed by President George W. Bush following the Election Fiasco of 2000, and is authorized by the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) to serve as "...a national clearinghouse and resource for the comparison of information" on various matters involving the administration of Federal elections. The EAC wants to be more than a clearinghouse apparently -- EAC Chairman, DeForest Soaries**, recently authored a letter to Homeland Security czar, Tom Ridge, requesting his agency be "the statutory authority to cancel and reschedule a federal election" if a terrorist attack is launched in the U.S. As a result, Ridge's office has requested that the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel analyze what legal steps would be needed to permit the postponement of the election were an attack to take place. **Soaries, a Bush appointee, two years ago was an unsuccessful GOP candidate for Congress.
The Election Center is a nonprofit organization, which trains election workers and advises Congress and government agencies on election process issues. The Election Center also provides staff services to the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED) for the voting systems program. NASED is responsible for the testing and certification (through independent laboratories) of voting systems hardware and software manufactured by Diebold, Sequoia, and ES&S Disturbing -- It could not be more inappropriate for this non-profit, non-partisan organization to accept money and funding from Diebold, Sequoia, and ES&S whose machines they are tasked to monitor. The Election Center executive director, R. Doug Lewis, confirmed in March that the Center has taken donations from all three vendors. The Sequoia donations surfaced on the Center’s latest 990 IRS filing. It revealed donations of $10,000 per year from 1997 through 2000.
According to the conference schedule, one of the big topics of the day is "The Media: Fighting Back--Getting the Story Straight." Is the Election Center suggesting that it is now the responsibility or duty of election officials to influence media coverage and reporting that has in the past, been highly critical of the many documented failures and flaws of these companies voting machines? (One analysis reveals that votes were not recorded for one out of 100 votes using the new ATM-style machines -- eight times more than pencil marks on paper ballots in the same election!)?
Write, email or call the EAC and the Election Center. Ask them to seek other sponsorship or funding that does not reflect such an egregious conflict of interest. Ask your representatives or senators in the 108th Congress to get off their butts, and practice a little oversight. Maybe they could even pass some legislation that would actually secure that most basic American right – the right to vote and be counted.
Amanda Lang - Augusta , GA
Link >>
807 told voting status in doubt
Galey says names won't be removed from purge list
BY PAIGE ST. JOHN - FLORIDA TODAY - July 13, 2004
TALLAHASSEE -- With the U.S. Justice Department and national civil rights groups keeping watch, some counties that used Florida's voter-purge list are now unsure what to tell those threatened with removal.
Florida elections supervisors initially were told state law required them to immediately send such letters to 47,112 voters, giving them 30 days to appeal.
Brevard County mailed notices to 807 people. Elections Supervisor Fred Galey said those voters now won't be removed from the rolls. He is undecided, however, whether to send notices telling them that.
Secretary of State Glenda Hood abandoned the statewide matching list on Saturday after repeated attacks on the accuracy of the suspected-felons list and the threat of litigation. Her office has yet to give county supervisors instructions on what to do with the voters already threatened with removal -- something the Brennan Center for Justice insists needs to be done.
[...] Republican advisers discredited the notion that could seriously hurt President Bush's re-[S]election chances in a state that gave him the presidency four years ago by 537 votes.
Records show 8,500 of the 47,112 voters on this year's now-inoperative purge list voted in the 2000 presidential election. Those included 5,549 Democrats and 1,835 Republicans.
Read More >>
Galey says names won't be removed from purge list
BY PAIGE ST. JOHN - FLORIDA TODAY - July 13, 2004
TALLAHASSEE -- With the U.S. Justice Department and national civil rights groups keeping watch, some counties that used Florida's voter-purge list are now unsure what to tell those threatened with removal.
Florida elections supervisors initially were told state law required them to immediately send such letters to 47,112 voters, giving them 30 days to appeal.
Brevard County mailed notices to 807 people. Elections Supervisor Fred Galey said those voters now won't be removed from the rolls. He is undecided, however, whether to send notices telling them that.
Secretary of State Glenda Hood abandoned the statewide matching list on Saturday after repeated attacks on the accuracy of the suspected-felons list and the threat of litigation. Her office has yet to give county supervisors instructions on what to do with the voters already threatened with removal -- something the Brennan Center for Justice insists needs to be done.
[...] Republican advisers discredited the notion that could seriously hurt President Bush's re-[S]election chances in a state that gave him the presidency four years ago by 537 votes.
Records show 8,500 of the 47,112 voters on this year's now-inoperative purge list voted in the 2000 presidential election. Those included 5,549 Democrats and 1,835 Republicans.
Read More >>
Democrats Sue New Hampshire Republican Party Over Phone-Jamming
By Anne Saunders Associated Press Writer
Published: Jul 13, 2004
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - Democrats sued the Republican Party's state committee and its former executive director over the jamming of telephones set up to take calls from Democrats seeking rides to the polls on Election Day 2002.
The lawsuit also names the head of a telemarketing firm who has been charged in a separate federal investigation with conspiring to jam five telephone lines at Democratic Party offices, party officials said Tuesday.
"Dirty politics has no place in our electoral process," said state Sen. Lou D'Allesandro.
Ovide Lamontagne, attorney for New Hampshire Republican Party, said the lawsuit disrupts the federal investigation, confusing "an orderly and appropriate process."
The lawsuit seeks an injunction preventing the GOP from engaging in illegal activities in the November election and seeks damages for the cost of setting up offices and telephone lines for getting voters to the polls in 2002. Prosecutors say the lines were jammed for about 1 1/2 hours.
Many state and federal races were decided in the 2002 election, including a close U.S. Senate contest between outgoing Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen and Republican Rep. John Sununu, who won.
Besides the GOP committee and former executive director Charles McGee, the lawsuit names Allen Raymond, head of a Virginia-based telemarketing firm called GOP Marketplace. McGee and Raymond have been charged by the Justice Department with conspiring to jam five phone lines. Raymond pleaded guilty on June 30. McGee is scheduled to enter a plea on July 28.
The government alleges McGee, in his role as the GOP's top state staffer, had the state committee pay Raymond's firm $15,600 to hire a vendor to jam the lines.
Read More >>
By Anne Saunders Associated Press Writer
Published: Jul 13, 2004
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - Democrats sued the Republican Party's state committee and its former executive director over the jamming of telephones set up to take calls from Democrats seeking rides to the polls on Election Day 2002.
The lawsuit also names the head of a telemarketing firm who has been charged in a separate federal investigation with conspiring to jam five telephone lines at Democratic Party offices, party officials said Tuesday.
"Dirty politics has no place in our electoral process," said state Sen. Lou D'Allesandro.
Ovide Lamontagne, attorney for New Hampshire Republican Party, said the lawsuit disrupts the federal investigation, confusing "an orderly and appropriate process."
The lawsuit seeks an injunction preventing the GOP from engaging in illegal activities in the November election and seeks damages for the cost of setting up offices and telephone lines for getting voters to the polls in 2002. Prosecutors say the lines were jammed for about 1 1/2 hours.
Many state and federal races were decided in the 2002 election, including a close U.S. Senate contest between outgoing Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen and Republican Rep. John Sununu, who won.
Besides the GOP committee and former executive director Charles McGee, the lawsuit names Allen Raymond, head of a Virginia-based telemarketing firm called GOP Marketplace. McGee and Raymond have been charged by the Justice Department with conspiring to jam five phone lines. Raymond pleaded guilty on June 30. McGee is scheduled to enter a plea on July 28.
The government alleges McGee, in his role as the GOP's top state staffer, had the state committee pay Raymond's firm $15,600 to hire a vendor to jam the lines.
Read More >>
Don't even think about it
San Francisco Chronicle - Editorial - July 13, 2004
OFFICIALS OF the Bush administration are said to be pondering what power they have -- or should seek -- to postpone national elections in November in the event of terrorist strikes aimed at disrupting the democratic process.
The Bush people should drop the idea, lest the hint that terrorism could curb the rights of Americans be an added incentive to our enemies.
The suggestion that acts of terrorism might delay the election, in which President Bush seeks a second term, apparently originates with an appointee of the president, DeForest Soaries Jr. He heads the Election Assistance Commission created to help states replace punch-card ballots and head off other problems that marred the 2000 presidential contest.
Soaries urged Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge to acquire power from Congress to put off the election if terrorism justifies this course. Ridge's department is consulting with the Justice Department on the legal aspects.
The administration should heed the words of two Democratic members of the congressional intelligence committees, both from California. Rep. Jane Harman said talk of postponing the election is "excessive, based on what we know," and she described Ridge's latest cries of alarm as "more chatter about old threats."
Sen. Dianne Feinstein noted, "We hold elections in the middle of war, in the middle of earthquakes, in the middle of whatever it takes. The election is a statutory election. It should go ahead, on schedule ... "
This nation, which already ceded far too many liberties in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, needs to demonstrate its resolve and fearlessness. America's message to the world should be: We're prepared to vote on Nov. 2, no matter what.
Read More >>
San Francisco Chronicle - Editorial - July 13, 2004
OFFICIALS OF the Bush administration are said to be pondering what power they have -- or should seek -- to postpone national elections in November in the event of terrorist strikes aimed at disrupting the democratic process.
The Bush people should drop the idea, lest the hint that terrorism could curb the rights of Americans be an added incentive to our enemies.
The suggestion that acts of terrorism might delay the election, in which President Bush seeks a second term, apparently originates with an appointee of the president, DeForest Soaries Jr. He heads the Election Assistance Commission created to help states replace punch-card ballots and head off other problems that marred the 2000 presidential contest.
Soaries urged Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge to acquire power from Congress to put off the election if terrorism justifies this course. Ridge's department is consulting with the Justice Department on the legal aspects.
The administration should heed the words of two Democratic members of the congressional intelligence committees, both from California. Rep. Jane Harman said talk of postponing the election is "excessive, based on what we know," and she described Ridge's latest cries of alarm as "more chatter about old threats."
Sen. Dianne Feinstein noted, "We hold elections in the middle of war, in the middle of earthquakes, in the middle of whatever it takes. The election is a statutory election. It should go ahead, on schedule ... "
This nation, which already ceded far too many liberties in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, needs to demonstrate its resolve and fearlessness. America's message to the world should be: We're prepared to vote on Nov. 2, no matter what.
Read More >>
Exclusive: Election Day Worries
Newsweek
July 19 issue - American counterterrorism officials, citing what they call "alarming" intelligence about a possible Qaeda strike inside the United States this fall, are reviewing a proposal that could allow for the postponement of the November presidential election in the event of such an attack, NEWSWEEK has learned.
Read More >>
Newsweek
July 19 issue - American counterterrorism officials, citing what they call "alarming" intelligence about a possible Qaeda strike inside the United States this fall, are reviewing a proposal that could allow for the postponement of the November presidential election in the event of such an attack, NEWSWEEK has learned.
Read More >>
Analysis reveals flaws in voting by touch-screen
Jeremy Milarsky and Buddy Nevins - Staff Writers
July 11 2004
Florida's relatively new touch-screen voting machines, touted as a solution to the state's 2000 presidential election meltdown, didn't perform as well as machines that use an older technology during a statewide election earlier this year, according to a South Florida Sun-Sentinel analysis.
Records from the March 9 Democratic presidential primary show that votes were not recorded for one out of 100 voters using the new ATM-style machines. That's at least eight times more than the number of flawed votes cast in the same election with pencil marks on paper ballots tallied by an optical scanner.
[...] If the March undervote rate repeats in the November presidential election and the turnout is the same as in 2000, Broward and Palm Beach counties alone could generate 7,800 flawed votes, a number that worries political leaders who remember the 537 votes by which George W. Bush beat Al Gore.
"That's frightening," Broward County Democratic Party Chairman Mitch Ceasar said. "I thought these machines would correct the incredible situation we had four years ago. I'm angry and disturbed."
Read More >>
Jeremy Milarsky and Buddy Nevins - Staff Writers
July 11 2004
Florida's relatively new touch-screen voting machines, touted as a solution to the state's 2000 presidential election meltdown, didn't perform as well as machines that use an older technology during a statewide election earlier this year, according to a South Florida Sun-Sentinel analysis.
Records from the March 9 Democratic presidential primary show that votes were not recorded for one out of 100 voters using the new ATM-style machines. That's at least eight times more than the number of flawed votes cast in the same election with pencil marks on paper ballots tallied by an optical scanner.
[...] If the March undervote rate repeats in the November presidential election and the turnout is the same as in 2000, Broward and Palm Beach counties alone could generate 7,800 flawed votes, a number that worries political leaders who remember the 537 votes by which George W. Bush beat Al Gore.
"That's frightening," Broward County Democratic Party Chairman Mitch Ceasar said. "I thought these machines would correct the incredible situation we had four years ago. I'm angry and disturbed."
Read More >>
Calif. Whistleblowers Sue Diebold
July 11, 2004
SAN FRANCISCO -- Critics of electronic voting are suing Diebold under a whistleblower law, alleging that the company's shoddy balloting equipment exposed California elections to hackers and software bugs.
California's attorney general unsealed the lawsuit Friday. It was filed in November but sealed under a provision that keeps such actions secret until the government decides whether to join the plaintiffs.
Lawmakers from Maryland to California are expressing doubts about the integrity of paperless voting terminals made by several large manufacturers, which up to 50 million Americans will use in November.
The California lawsuit was filed in state court by computer programmer Jim March and activist Bev Harris, who are seeking full reimbursement for Diebold equipment purchased in California. Issues cited by the case include Diebold's use of uncertified hardware and software, and modems that may have allowed election results to be published online before polls closed.
They are asking California to join the lawsuit against Diebold. The state has not yet made a decision. State election officials have spent at least $8 million on paperless touchscreen machines. Alameda County, for one, has spent at least $11 million.
Read More >>
July 11, 2004
SAN FRANCISCO -- Critics of electronic voting are suing Diebold under a whistleblower law, alleging that the company's shoddy balloting equipment exposed California elections to hackers and software bugs.
California's attorney general unsealed the lawsuit Friday. It was filed in November but sealed under a provision that keeps such actions secret until the government decides whether to join the plaintiffs.
Lawmakers from Maryland to California are expressing doubts about the integrity of paperless voting terminals made by several large manufacturers, which up to 50 million Americans will use in November.
The California lawsuit was filed in state court by computer programmer Jim March and activist Bev Harris, who are seeking full reimbursement for Diebold equipment purchased in California. Issues cited by the case include Diebold's use of uncertified hardware and software, and modems that may have allowed election results to be published online before polls closed.
They are asking California to join the lawsuit against Diebold. The state has not yet made a decision. State election officials have spent at least $8 million on paperless touchscreen machines. Alameda County, for one, has spent at least $11 million.
Read More >>
12 July 2004
Essay: Postponement of the November Election
Michael C. Ruppert - From the Wilderness - July 12, 2004
The Bush administration has asked for legislation enabling it to postpone the November election as a result of a terror attack. While worded very carefully to suggest that an attack must take place for such a move; I do not see either of the below stories unequivocally state that, if granted, these powers might not also permit elections to be “postponed” on merely a well-publicized threat. Don’t believe the press stories. Read the legislation when it is introduced to see what it says there. If that discretion is included then we are at the edge of an abyss more dangerous than anything we have ever faced.
Read More >>
Michael C. Ruppert - From the Wilderness - July 12, 2004
The Bush administration has asked for legislation enabling it to postpone the November election as a result of a terror attack. While worded very carefully to suggest that an attack must take place for such a move; I do not see either of the below stories unequivocally state that, if granted, these powers might not also permit elections to be “postponed” on merely a well-publicized threat. Don’t believe the press stories. Read the legislation when it is introduced to see what it says there. If that discretion is included then we are at the edge of an abyss more dangerous than anything we have ever faced.
Read More >>
10 July 2004
U.S. legislators want U.N. to observe election
By Tamara Lytle
Washington Bureau
Posted July 10 2004
Haiti. Indonesia. Sierra Leone. They're among the hot spots where international observers have battled violence, corruption and chaos in an attempt to ensure fair and free elections.
Could their next stop be Florida? If U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown and about a dozen others in Congress have their way, the answer is yes.
This week, they called upon the United Nations to monitor U.S. elections in November and said they also will ask the Carter Center to do the same. Both scenarios are unlikely.
Read More >>
By Tamara Lytle
Washington Bureau
Posted July 10 2004
Haiti. Indonesia. Sierra Leone. They're among the hot spots where international observers have battled violence, corruption and chaos in an attempt to ensure fair and free elections.
Could their next stop be Florida? If U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown and about a dozen others in Congress have their way, the answer is yes.
This week, they called upon the United Nations to monitor U.S. elections in November and said they also will ask the Carter Center to do the same. Both scenarios are unlikely.
Read More >>
Florida List for Purge of Voters Proves Flawed
By FORD FESSENDEN
Published: July 10, 2004
Florida election officials used a flawed method to come up with a listing of people believed to be convicted felons, a list that they are recommending be used to purge voter registration rolls, state officials acknowledged yesterday. As a result, voters identifying themselves as Hispanic are almost completely absent from that list.
Of nearly 48,000 Florida residents on the felon list, only 61 are Hispanic. By contrast, more than 22,000 are African-American.
About 8 percent of Florida voters describe themselves as Hispanic, and about 11 percent as black.
In a presidential-election battleground state that decided the 2000 race by giving George W. Bush a margin of only 537 votes, the effect could be significant: black voters are overwhelmingly Democratic, while Hispanics in Florida tend to vote Republican.
Read More >>
By FORD FESSENDEN
Published: July 10, 2004
Florida election officials used a flawed method to come up with a listing of people believed to be convicted felons, a list that they are recommending be used to purge voter registration rolls, state officials acknowledged yesterday. As a result, voters identifying themselves as Hispanic are almost completely absent from that list.
Of nearly 48,000 Florida residents on the felon list, only 61 are Hispanic. By contrast, more than 22,000 are African-American.
About 8 percent of Florida voters describe themselves as Hispanic, and about 11 percent as black.
In a presidential-election battleground state that decided the 2000 race by giving George W. Bush a margin of only 537 votes, the effect could be significant: black voters are overwhelmingly Democratic, while Hispanics in Florida tend to vote Republican.
Read More >>
Voter Registration Methods Questioned
Last Update: 7/9/2004 10:55:42 AM
Duval County Democrats say they've heard the rumors for years and say there is now proof local Republicans are using shady tactics to recruit new American citizens into their party.
The local Democratic Party says it received a complaint last week following a citizenship ceremony in which voter registration forms were partially filled out by Republicans.
Immigration officials have been called in to investigate.
Read More >>
Last Update: 7/9/2004 10:55:42 AM
Duval County Democrats say they've heard the rumors for years and say there is now proof local Republicans are using shady tactics to recruit new American citizens into their party.
The local Democratic Party says it received a complaint last week following a citizenship ceremony in which voter registration forms were partially filled out by Republicans.
Immigration officials have been called in to investigate.
Read More >>
ES&S iVotronic Audit Log Bugs
A news article published May 13, 2004 tells about a "serious bug" found by Orlando Suarez in Miami-Dade's ES&S election equipment nearly a year earlier. ES&S had known about this serious bug for nearly a year and has not fixed it.
Read More >>
A news article published May 13, 2004 tells about a "serious bug" found by Orlando Suarez in Miami-Dade's ES&S election equipment nearly a year earlier. ES&S had known about this serious bug for nearly a year and has not fixed it.
Read More >>
Voter clemency upheld
State reverses course with plan
By Paul Flemming and Paige St. John, News-Press Tallahassee Bureau
Published by news-press.com on July 8, 2004
TALLAHASSEE — A day after Secretary of State Glenda Hood said 2,465 felons granted clemency should be thrown off voting rolls and have to register again, the state reversed field and will abandon that policy.
“Upon further review, the Department has determined that a felon granted clemency, regardless of when he or she registered to vote, should be eligible to vote,” Hood said in a statement.
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State reverses course with plan
By Paul Flemming and Paige St. John, News-Press Tallahassee Bureau
Published by news-press.com on July 8, 2004
TALLAHASSEE — A day after Secretary of State Glenda Hood said 2,465 felons granted clemency should be thrown off voting rolls and have to register again, the state reversed field and will abandon that policy.
“Upon further review, the Department has determined that a felon granted clemency, regardless of when he or she registered to vote, should be eligible to vote,” Hood said in a statement.
Read More >>
Every Florida Vote Will Be Counted This Time - Kerry
Thu 8 Jul 2004
Democrats John Kerry and John Edwards, on their first trip together to the state that narrowly put President George Bush in the White House after a fierce recount and court fight in 2000, promised today that “every vote is going to be counted” this year.
The presidential candidate told thousands of screaming supporters gathered in an airport hanger in Broward County, Florida, that he had discovered that Edwards’ two young children, aged six and four, were “good at maths.”
“Those kids really know how to count,” Kerry said. ”I’ve given them a special duty in this election. We’re sending Jack and Emma Claire down there to help those Republicans in West Palm Beach count those votes.”
As the crowd erupted, Kerry boomed: “In 2004, not only does every vote in Florida count but every vote is going to be counted.”
Kerry said elections officials in Florida were still trying to fix voting machines. “I’ll make a deal with them,” he said. “They fix those machines and we’ll fix America!”
Read More >>
Thu 8 Jul 2004
Democrats John Kerry and John Edwards, on their first trip together to the state that narrowly put President George Bush in the White House after a fierce recount and court fight in 2000, promised today that “every vote is going to be counted” this year.
The presidential candidate told thousands of screaming supporters gathered in an airport hanger in Broward County, Florida, that he had discovered that Edwards’ two young children, aged six and four, were “good at maths.”
“Those kids really know how to count,” Kerry said. ”I’ve given them a special duty in this election. We’re sending Jack and Emma Claire down there to help those Republicans in West Palm Beach count those votes.”
As the crowd erupted, Kerry boomed: “In 2004, not only does every vote in Florida count but every vote is going to be counted.”
Kerry said elections officials in Florida were still trying to fix voting machines. “I’ll make a deal with them,” he said. “They fix those machines and we’ll fix America!”
Read More >>
Senators ask for probe into voting machine contracts
7-8-2004
The Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Two lawmakers want state agents to investigate how the South Carolina Election Commission awarded statewide voting machine contracts.
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7-8-2004
The Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Two lawmakers want state agents to investigate how the South Carolina Election Commission awarded statewide voting machine contracts.
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State: 1,600 ex-felons eligible to vote
Posted on Thu, Jul. 08, 2004
Florida election officials abandoned a controversial plan forcing 1,600 former felons to reregister to vote before November's election -- or risk losing their voting rights.
Read More >>
Posted on Thu, Jul. 08, 2004
Florida election officials abandoned a controversial plan forcing 1,600 former felons to reregister to vote before November's election -- or risk losing their voting rights.
Read More >>
E-Voting Causes Concern
July 8, 2004
(AP) From New York to California, a growing number of lawmakers are expressing doubts about the integrity of paperless voting terminals that as many as 50 million Americans will use to cast ballots in November.
Computer scientists say so-called touch-screen machines are no more reliable than home computers, which crash, malfunction and fall prey to hackers and viruses. They're demanding paper records of every ballot cast, in case of recounts.
Read More >>
July 8, 2004
(AP) From New York to California, a growing number of lawmakers are expressing doubts about the integrity of paperless voting terminals that as many as 50 million Americans will use to cast ballots in November.
Computer scientists say so-called touch-screen machines are no more reliable than home computers, which crash, malfunction and fall prey to hackers and viruses. They're demanding paper records of every ballot cast, in case of recounts.
Read More >>
Lawsuit Challenges Florida Ballot Recount Rules
July 7, 2004
MIAMI (Reuters) - Voting rights groups sued Florida election administrators on Wednesday to overturn a rule that prohibits manual recounting of ballots cast with touch-screen machines, a lawsuit with echoes of the state's disputed 2000 presidential election voting.
The lawsuit said the rule was "illogical" and rested on the questionable assumption that electronic voting machines perform flawlessly 100 percent of the time. It also said the rule violated a Florida law that expressly requires manual recounts of certain ballots if the margin in an election is less than 0.25 percent of the votes cast.
Read More >>
July 7, 2004
MIAMI (Reuters) - Voting rights groups sued Florida election administrators on Wednesday to overturn a rule that prohibits manual recounting of ballots cast with touch-screen machines, a lawsuit with echoes of the state's disputed 2000 presidential election voting.
The lawsuit said the rule was "illogical" and rested on the questionable assumption that electronic voting machines perform flawlessly 100 percent of the time. It also said the rule violated a Florida law that expressly requires manual recounts of certain ballots if the margin in an election is less than 0.25 percent of the votes cast.
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Activist: E-Voting to Be a 'Train Wreck'
July 6, 2004
By RACHEL KONRAD, Associated Press Writer
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Ambushing registrars and tracking down executives at their homes and offices, a literary publicist has uncovered conflicts of interests and security flaws inside the companies that make electronic ballot machines.
Searching the Web and poring over newspaper clippings, Bev Harris has unearthed obscure arrest records, ties to conservative political groups and other embarrassing secrets of senior executives at voting companies.
Her conclusion: there will be so many problems with the more than 100,000 paperless voting terminals to be used in the November presidential election that the fiasco will dwarf Florida's hanging chad debacle of 2000.
"We have a train wreck that's definitely going to happen," Harris said. "We have conflict of interest, we've taken the checks and balances away, and we know the votes are already being miscounted fairly frequently. This is going to be huge."
Read More >>
July 6, 2004
By RACHEL KONRAD, Associated Press Writer
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Ambushing registrars and tracking down executives at their homes and offices, a literary publicist has uncovered conflicts of interests and security flaws inside the companies that make electronic ballot machines.
Searching the Web and poring over newspaper clippings, Bev Harris has unearthed obscure arrest records, ties to conservative political groups and other embarrassing secrets of senior executives at voting companies.
Her conclusion: there will be so many problems with the more than 100,000 paperless voting terminals to be used in the November presidential election that the fiasco will dwarf Florida's hanging chad debacle of 2000.
"We have a train wreck that's definitely going to happen," Harris said. "We have conflict of interest, we've taken the checks and balances away, and we know the votes are already being miscounted fairly frequently. This is going to be huge."
Read More >>
Group challenges Florida rule on touchscreen recounts
By BRENDAN FARRINGTON
Associated Press Writer
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A group sued the state Wednesday, hoping to reverse a Division of Elections rule that tells elections supervisors that they don't have to include touchscreen ballots in manual recounts.
The rule ignores the fact that machines can malfunction or be tampered with, according to the suit filed by a group calling itself the Voter Protection Coalition Round Table.
"The prohibition of a manual recount does in fact cover up — perhaps not intentionally or maliciously — malfunctioning machines and ... covers up when there is malicious tampering involved," said Alma Gonzalez, a lawyer representing the group.
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By BRENDAN FARRINGTON
Associated Press Writer
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A group sued the state Wednesday, hoping to reverse a Division of Elections rule that tells elections supervisors that they don't have to include touchscreen ballots in manual recounts.
The rule ignores the fact that machines can malfunction or be tampered with, according to the suit filed by a group calling itself the Voter Protection Coalition Round Table.
"The prohibition of a manual recount does in fact cover up — perhaps not intentionally or maliciously — malfunctioning machines and ... covers up when there is malicious tampering involved," said Alma Gonzalez, a lawyer representing the group.
Read More >>
09 July 2004
Votes at risk in some states
By Thomas Hargrove and Michael Collins
Scripps Howard News Service
07-09-2004
Call them the dirty dozen of democracy.
Election officials in 12 states did not report how many ballots were cast when they certified 26,349,619 votes for president four years ago, making it impossible to know how many votes were lost because of inaccurate counting machines or other tabulation errors.
Most are still unprepared to check for missing votes this November, increasing the odds that America will face another uncertain presidential election. Experts warn that the mistakes painfully discovered in Florida in 2000 could be repeated.
"This is really embarrassing," said Deforest Soaries Jr., chairman of the new U.S. Election Assistance Commission created by Congress to fix Florida-like voting problems. "How can we ever measure the error rate without having the global vote numbers?"
Read More >>
By Thomas Hargrove and Michael Collins
Scripps Howard News Service
07-09-2004
Call them the dirty dozen of democracy.
Election officials in 12 states did not report how many ballots were cast when they certified 26,349,619 votes for president four years ago, making it impossible to know how many votes were lost because of inaccurate counting machines or other tabulation errors.
Most are still unprepared to check for missing votes this November, increasing the odds that America will face another uncertain presidential election. Experts warn that the mistakes painfully discovered in Florida in 2000 could be repeated.
"This is really embarrassing," said Deforest Soaries Jr., chairman of the new U.S. Election Assistance Commission created by Congress to fix Florida-like voting problems. "How can we ever measure the error rate without having the global vote numbers?"
Read More >>
07 July 2004
Study Says State Felon Voting Bans Deliberately Anti-Black
By Bill Alexander, BET.com Staff Writer
Posted July 7, 2004 – Jim Crow-like voter disfranchisement laws established to thwart the “menace of Negro domination” during Reconstruction are still in place in states with large African American electorates, a new study says.
The report cites Florida, Georgia, Texas, Virginia and Kentucky among the states where recent close elections for the U.S. Senate (and the 2000 presidential race) went to Republican candidates, in part because of restrictive felon disenfranchisement laws that deny former felons, probationers and parolees the right to vote.
[...]
“In the wake of the Civil War, states and municipalities enacted a wide range of Black Codes and later Jim Crow laws to minimize the political power of newly enfranchised African Americans,” it says.
By 1920, three-fourths of the states banned ex-felons from voting.
Today, according to the D.C.-based Sentencing Project, almost all states have disenfranchisement laws that have “significantly affected the political voice of many American communities.”
Sentencing Project research reveals that:
Some 1.4 million African American men -- 13 percent of all Black men in the country – are disenfranchised currently or permanently, representing seven times the national average. Disenfranchised Black women number some 245,000, or more than one in 50 of the Black women in America.
In six of the seven states that deny the vote to ex-offenders (Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, Virginia, Iowa), one in four Black men is permanently disenfranchised.
Forty-eight states and the District of Columbia prohibit inmates from voting while incarcerated (Maine and Vermont permit inmates to vote); 35 states prohibit felons from voting while they’re on parole, and 31 of the 35 exclude felony probationers as well.
Of the 1.7 million Black and White disenfranchised ex-offenders nationwide who had completed their sentences but were unable to vote in 2000, Florida alone had at least 600,000 citizens who were unable to vote in the Bush-Gore presidential election. Nearly 40 percent of those Floridians were Black.
Read More >>
By Bill Alexander, BET.com Staff Writer
Posted July 7, 2004 – Jim Crow-like voter disfranchisement laws established to thwart the “menace of Negro domination” during Reconstruction are still in place in states with large African American electorates, a new study says.
The report cites Florida, Georgia, Texas, Virginia and Kentucky among the states where recent close elections for the U.S. Senate (and the 2000 presidential race) went to Republican candidates, in part because of restrictive felon disenfranchisement laws that deny former felons, probationers and parolees the right to vote.
[...]
“In the wake of the Civil War, states and municipalities enacted a wide range of Black Codes and later Jim Crow laws to minimize the political power of newly enfranchised African Americans,” it says.
By 1920, three-fourths of the states banned ex-felons from voting.
Today, according to the D.C.-based Sentencing Project, almost all states have disenfranchisement laws that have “significantly affected the political voice of many American communities.”
Sentencing Project research reveals that:
Some 1.4 million African American men -- 13 percent of all Black men in the country – are disenfranchised currently or permanently, representing seven times the national average. Disenfranchised Black women number some 245,000, or more than one in 50 of the Black women in America.
In six of the seven states that deny the vote to ex-offenders (Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, Virginia, Iowa), one in four Black men is permanently disenfranchised.
Forty-eight states and the District of Columbia prohibit inmates from voting while incarcerated (Maine and Vermont permit inmates to vote); 35 states prohibit felons from voting while they’re on parole, and 31 of the 35 exclude felony probationers as well.
Of the 1.7 million Black and White disenfranchised ex-offenders nationwide who had completed their sentences but were unable to vote in 2000, Florida alone had at least 600,000 citizens who were unable to vote in the Bush-Gore presidential election. Nearly 40 percent of those Floridians were Black.
Read More >>
03 July 2004
New election for Lee Co. Dem primary over claims of voter disenfranchisement
By Catherine Reynolds
(Bishopville) July 2, 2004 - A vocational school in Lee County is where a controversy started nearly a month ago. Mary Grant and E. Sutton say in the June 8th primary, African-Americans had trouble voting.
Grant spoke to News 10, "From the way they were spoken to, until the way their eligibility was questioned. We had calls from voters who were told their drivers license was not enough ID."
Sutton filed a complaint with the Lee County election commission. It was denied, so he took his concern to the state Democratic Party.
Sutton says people in sworn statements wrote about problems they experienced when voting at the precinct. It was enough for the party to approve a new election, "We demonstrated and proved clearly that African-Americans were terribly affected by the way they were treated and they were turned away from polls."
Grant is more succinct in her assessment, "This was absolutely outright racist."
Read More >>
By Catherine Reynolds
(Bishopville) July 2, 2004 - A vocational school in Lee County is where a controversy started nearly a month ago. Mary Grant and E. Sutton say in the June 8th primary, African-Americans had trouble voting.
Grant spoke to News 10, "From the way they were spoken to, until the way their eligibility was questioned. We had calls from voters who were told their drivers license was not enough ID."
Sutton filed a complaint with the Lee County election commission. It was denied, so he took his concern to the state Democratic Party.
Sutton says people in sworn statements wrote about problems they experienced when voting at the precinct. It was enough for the party to approve a new election, "We demonstrated and proved clearly that African-Americans were terribly affected by the way they were treated and they were turned away from polls."
Grant is more succinct in her assessment, "This was absolutely outright racist."
Read More >>
Former GOP consultant pleads guilty to jamming Democratic phones on Election Day
--The former head of a Republican consulting group has pleaded guilty to jamming Democratic telephone lines in several New Hampshire cities on Election Day two years ago. The jamming involved more than 800 computer-generated calls and lasted for about 11/2 hours on Nov. 5, 2002, the day voters decided several races, including a close Senate contest between outgoing Gov. Jeanne Shaheen and GOP Rep. John E. Sununu, who 'won' by fewer than 20,000 votes. "There is, short of murder, not much that is more horrific in America than purposely trying to stop people from voting," said Raymond Buckley, vice chairman of the state Democratic Party.
Read More >>
The Potential Felon Match List of the Florida Division Of Elections:
Check It For Yourself! (People For the American Way) "On July 1, People For the American Way Foundation received from the Florida Division of Elections an electronic copy of a list of more than 47,000 registered Florida voters who the Division thinks may be ineligible to vote because of felony convictions. This list is now a public record available for inspection and copying by anyone as a result of the decision on July 1 by the Leon County Circuit Court in CNN v. Florida Department of State."
Read More >>
Voter-Purge List of 'Felons' Made Public
--Florida's error-prone list of 47,763 suspected 'felons' who could be tossed from voter rolls before November's presidential election contains nearly three times as many registered Democrats as Republicans. Almost half are racial minorities.
Read More >>
Judge rules for media on Florida voter list -- Upholds both 'right to inspect' and 'right to copy'
--A state court judge in Florida ordered Thursday that the board of elections immediately release a list of nearly 50,000 suspected 'felons' to CNN and other news organizations that last month sued the state for access to copies of the list.
Read More >>
Doubts cast on voter database
--More questions are raised about the accuracy of the state's central voter database, used to come up with a list of nearly 48,000 voters who have been identified as possible felons ineligible to vote. The accuracy of Florida's $2 million central voter database came under fire again Monday, following revelations that the list does not include the names of thousands of former criminals whose right to vote was restored prior to 1977. Since the central voter database relies on both clemency information and arrest information from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, there is the potential that someone could show up as an ineligible voter when that person actually had their rights restored.
Read More >>
Watchdog group urges voting system audit
(FL) A Miami-Dade elections watchdog organization is traveling to the state capital today to turn up the heat on the governor: The group wants him to order a statewide audit of voting systems to check if the machines will work on Election Day.
Read More >>
All of the excerpts and links in this post from:
Citizens for Legitimate Government >>
--The former head of a Republican consulting group has pleaded guilty to jamming Democratic telephone lines in several New Hampshire cities on Election Day two years ago. The jamming involved more than 800 computer-generated calls and lasted for about 11/2 hours on Nov. 5, 2002, the day voters decided several races, including a close Senate contest between outgoing Gov. Jeanne Shaheen and GOP Rep. John E. Sununu, who 'won' by fewer than 20,000 votes. "There is, short of murder, not much that is more horrific in America than purposely trying to stop people from voting," said Raymond Buckley, vice chairman of the state Democratic Party.
Read More >>
The Potential Felon Match List of the Florida Division Of Elections:
Check It For Yourself! (People For the American Way) "On July 1, People For the American Way Foundation received from the Florida Division of Elections an electronic copy of a list of more than 47,000 registered Florida voters who the Division thinks may be ineligible to vote because of felony convictions. This list is now a public record available for inspection and copying by anyone as a result of the decision on July 1 by the Leon County Circuit Court in CNN v. Florida Department of State."
Read More >>
Voter-Purge List of 'Felons' Made Public
--Florida's error-prone list of 47,763 suspected 'felons' who could be tossed from voter rolls before November's presidential election contains nearly three times as many registered Democrats as Republicans. Almost half are racial minorities.
Read More >>
Judge rules for media on Florida voter list -- Upholds both 'right to inspect' and 'right to copy'
--A state court judge in Florida ordered Thursday that the board of elections immediately release a list of nearly 50,000 suspected 'felons' to CNN and other news organizations that last month sued the state for access to copies of the list.
Read More >>
Doubts cast on voter database
--More questions are raised about the accuracy of the state's central voter database, used to come up with a list of nearly 48,000 voters who have been identified as possible felons ineligible to vote. The accuracy of Florida's $2 million central voter database came under fire again Monday, following revelations that the list does not include the names of thousands of former criminals whose right to vote was restored prior to 1977. Since the central voter database relies on both clemency information and arrest information from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, there is the potential that someone could show up as an ineligible voter when that person actually had their rights restored.
Read More >>
Watchdog group urges voting system audit
(FL) A Miami-Dade elections watchdog organization is traveling to the state capital today to turn up the heat on the governor: The group wants him to order a statewide audit of voting systems to check if the machines will work on Election Day.
Read More >>
All of the excerpts and links in this post from:
Citizens for Legitimate Government >>
Voting Official Seeks Terrorism Guidelines
Friday June 25, 2004
Washington (AP) - The government needs to establish guidelines for canceling or rescheduling elections if terrorists strike the United States again, says the chairman of a new federal voting commission.
Such guidelines do not currently exist, said DeForest B. Soaries, head of the voting panel.
Soaries was appointed to the federal Election Assistance Commission last year by pResident Bush. Soaries said he wrote to National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge in April to raise the concerns.
[...] Soaries noted that Sept. 11, 2001, fell on Election Day in New York City - and he said officials there had no rules to follow in making the decision to cancel the election and hold it later.
Events in Spain, where a terrorist attack shortly before the March election possibly influenced its outcome, show the need for a process to deal with terrorists threatening or interrupting the Nov. 2 presidential election in America, he said.
"Look at the possibilities. If the federal government were to cancel an election or suspend an election, it has tremendous political implications. If the federal government chose not to suspend an election it has political implications," said Soaries, a Republican and former secretary of state of New Jersey.
Read More >>
Friday June 25, 2004
Washington (AP) - The government needs to establish guidelines for canceling or rescheduling elections if terrorists strike the United States again, says the chairman of a new federal voting commission.
Such guidelines do not currently exist, said DeForest B. Soaries, head of the voting panel.
Soaries was appointed to the federal Election Assistance Commission last year by pResident Bush. Soaries said he wrote to National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge in April to raise the concerns.
[...] Soaries noted that Sept. 11, 2001, fell on Election Day in New York City - and he said officials there had no rules to follow in making the decision to cancel the election and hold it later.
Events in Spain, where a terrorist attack shortly before the March election possibly influenced its outcome, show the need for a process to deal with terrorists threatening or interrupting the Nov. 2 presidential election in America, he said.
"Look at the possibilities. If the federal government were to cancel an election or suspend an election, it has tremendous political implications. If the federal government chose not to suspend an election it has political implications," said Soaries, a Republican and former secretary of state of New Jersey.
Read More >>
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