since last week:
Voting machines weren't tested
Checks would've found straight-ticket error, panel told
FRANKFORT - Election officials in Kenton County and most of Kentucky
have repeatedly violated state regulations that mandate testing of
some voting machines before elections.
The tests were not performed in Kenton County or any of the almost 100
other counties - including Boone and Campbell counties - that use
voting machines provided by Lexington-based Harp Enterprises, the
company's president told the Kentucky Board of Elections on Friday.
A test that local officials are required to perform would have almost
certainly detected a programming error made by Harp Enterprises that
rendered almost 80 of its E-slate machines incapable of tabulating
straight-ticket voting on Election Day in Kenton County.
http://nky.cincinnati.com/article/AB/20081122/NEWS0103/811220364
Thanks to MikeAmundsen who
posted
a link to this on FriendFeed.
Concerns About CA's Prop 8 Election Prompt Calls for
Investigation, Official Complaints, Fraud Tips
Following reports of concerns from voters, election monitors,
observers, and election integrity advocates about the voting equipment
and procedures used during the November 4th election in which Prop 8
--- a constitutional amendment banning marriage equality for all
Californians --- is said to have passed, Velvet Revolution is
requesting that official complaints from citizens be filed with the CA
Sec. of State, by Monday if possible. Any voters who may have
witnessed unusual activity, or problems with voting equipment that may
have affected the casting or counting of votes on Proposition 8, are
asked to contact SoS Debra Bowen's office as soon as possible. More
details are posted here...
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6692
Speaking of http://VelvetRevolution.us, here is a related story from their blog:
VR To California Secretary Of State: Investigate
Proposition 8 Vote Count
VR has called on California Secretary of State Debra Bowen to
order an immediate investigation into the accuracy of the vote count
on Proposition 8, the ballot measure to amend the state's Constitution
by repealing marriage equality.
VR believes an investigation is warranted due to witnessed failures in
election auditing procedures, complaints from voters and election
monitors, equipment failures, and more, including:
http://www.velvetrevolution.us/#112608
Every Vote Matters in MN's U.S. Senate Hand-Count. Every.
Single. One.
Missing Ballots, Uncounted Absentees and the GOP PR Battle That
May Trump Both...
Math/statistics/poll-wiz Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight.com predicts
the race between incumbent MN Sen. Norm Coleman (R) and challenger Al
Franken (D) could result in a 27 vote win for Franken. That's right,
just 27 votes.
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6698
That last post links to another post at Politico which covers the
Franken campaign's contention that there are many missing ballots
across the state. The post also claims to have possible photographic
evidence of an uncounted ballot (suggesting more are uncounted):
Missing ballots concern Franken camp
Things are getting even dicier in the Minnesota Senate recount.
Al Franken's campaign is contending that Minnesota election officials
may have lost several dozen ballots across the state. Their basis for
the charge is that the number of recounted ballots in certain counties
does not match the total numbers of votes tallied on Election
Day.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/scorecard/1108/Franken_campaign_concerned_over_missing_ballots.html
The
photo in question does not present any evidence as far as
I can tell--it's just a piece of paper sticking out of the back of
what looks like a ballot machine.
You can follow the Minnesota recount fun on the state's official
unofficial recount results page here:
http://electionresults.sos.state.mn.us/20081104/SenateRecount.asp
Here's a little sumthin'-sumthin' about the 2002 election--yep, some
people just won't let go! Especially when it comes to democracy! Go
figure. Anyway, here you go:
Stealing Georgia - Let's Hope Not Again
But How Would We Know? The State Uses 100% Unverifiable Voting Machines
America Needs to Wake Up to Election Reform...
Why Georgia? There's strongly suggestive evidence that the 2002
senatorial election in Georgia was stolen. That was the first election
in which Diebold DRE (Direct Recording Electronic, usually
touch-screen) voting machines were used statewide. Republican Saxby
Chambliss beat front runner Democrat Max Cleland, with an astounding
12-point reversal of the vote count compared to pre-election polls. A
last-minute "patch" had been applied covertly by Diebold staff to
multiple voting machines throughout the state.
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6682
Catch a nice nutshell explanation of the Saxby Chambliss story in the
following video
clip from Stealing America (a
documentary I helped make, in case you hadn't heard ;P):
And here's some of the aftermath of the Chambliss mess:
'Document Hold' Served by OH Attorney to GA SoS in Advance
of State's U.S. Senate Run-off Election
Diebold Touch-Screen Memory Cards and Other Documents Sought for
Retention as Allegations of Racketeering Scheme 'to Corrupt Elections
in the U.S. Over the Course of This Decade' Spread to Encompass '02
and '08 Senate Races in the Peach State...
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6696
There are PLENTY more stories on the news page over at VotersUnite.org
which you can check out here: http://www.votersunite.org/news.asp
There's also BradBlog.com which, by now, you know I recommend, too.
The short of it all is that democracy isn't pretty or even easy.
However, shouldn't we make it simple if we can? Why bother with
machines and technology if we're just going to have to second-guess
everything when the machines screw up? Why not take a week to let
everyone vote and just take another week and have humans hand count
the ballots once all the voting is done?
Sure, making everyone vote on a certain day and having the ballots
mostly counted by the end of that day is SO much more dramatic, but
which do you want? A democracy or a drama-cracy?
Why are we all being so childish about this?
When a guy with a logo like mine calls you childish, you know it's bad!
Posted by email from thepete's posterous
Orignal From: Democracy In Danger: Three Weeks Later, Election '08 is Still a Mess
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