Threat of Internet Voting Looms, Siegleman fraud case claims another victim, Twittering election officials

The threat of internet voting looms closer as the Defense Authorization bill (S1390), that allows for military email voting, is on the verge of passing from a conference committee. The dangerous idea of email/internet voting has spread to North Carolina: the popular NC paper, the Greensboro News and Record ran an OpEd that endorses having overseas military cast their ballots by email, over the internet. Insecure voting does not honor our troops one little bit. My blog on that is in this edition of news. Internet/email voting is a problem, not a solution. At this time, we should seek simple, cost-efficient and effective measures, not big expensive ineffective things like internet voting that carries multiple security risks with it. Then we can reassess the situation.

The Siegleman election fraud case claims another victim - whistle blower, Tamarah Grimes fired. The FEC is already making it easier for LLCs to influence elections.
Some less scary news: Bo Lipari is reporting on Day 2 of New York's voting machine exams.
Election issues and services are hitting twitter, Voting News, Verified Voting, Overseas Vote Foundation, even San Mateo County election office are tweeting. Check it out.

The news is short today because of the internet voting issue raised today in North Carolina. I'm in North Carolina and we now have a new issue to fight. Internet voting is also your problem because of the federal DOD bill which would serve as the trojan horse for internet voting nationwide. We'll catch up tomorrow on voting news. Meanwhile, Voting News is happy to publish your articles and blogs about e-voting when possible. Just send them to ncvoter (at) gmail.com. If we can use them we will. Thanks

CA. Tweet from smcvote: Election and voting news from the Office of Warren Slocum, Chief Elections Officer, San Mateo County, California: "We are currently performing functional testing of each piece of voting equipment for use in the Nov. election. It should take about 10 days"

GA. Siegleman Election Fraud Claims Another Victim
September 29, 2009 This is the case of election fraud in the reelection bid of Alabama Governor Don Seigelman. The 1st victims were the people of Alabama. Governor Seigelman was not reelected due to fraud in the election. The next victim was Don Seigelman..Most recently a whistle blower, Tamarah Grimes, sent Attorney General Eric Holder a letter detailing more misconduct in the case. Three days later Ms. Grimes was fired, becoming the latest victim..
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?p=2422

NC North Carolina Internet Voting Whack-a-Mole,military vote by email not secure, not private
It is Internet Voting Whackamole Time - this time in North Carolina. The Greensboro News and Record is running an OpEd that endorses having overseas military cast their ballots by email, over the internet. Does anyone believe that if email/internet voting were allowed for overseas that it would not spread to the rest of our elections? Making military votes go over e-mail is unsafe in the first place.
http://ncvoters.blogspot.com/2009/09/north-carolina-internet-voting-whack.html

NY. Day 2 of NYS Voting Machine Tests
September 29 2009 The second day of New York State’s Voting Machine Certification testing again focused on completing ballot programming on the Election Management System (EMS) systems for the Dominion ImageCast and ES&S DS200/Automark. While one team member reads through the steps of the test plan on a spreadsheet, the other performs that step. ...By the end of the day, ballot programming was wrapping up. Ballot programs were installed on the machines, and sample ballots were printed to verify that they were accurate before the PDF files were sent out to the printer.
http://www.bolipari.com/boblog/2009/09/day-two-of-ny-voting-machine-tests/

NY. Military voters may be shut out in special election for N.Y.'s 23rd Congressional District *
September 29, 2009. Gov. David Paterson’s decision to call for a special election Nov. 3 in the 23rd Congressional District will likely disenfranchise thousands of military voters deployed overseas, a former top U.S. Justice Department official said Tuesday.The short 35-day window before the election makes it impossible for overseas ballots to be printed, mailed and returned in time to be counted, said Hans A. von Spakovsky, who enforced the federal Voting Rights Act at the Justice Department.
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/09/military_voters_may_be_shut_ou.html


SC. South Carolina Green Party Files Strong Brief in 4th Circuit
September 29th, 2009. On September 28, the South Carolina Green Party filed this brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals, 4th circuit...Most states don’t permit fusion. And among the states that do permit it, none of the other fusion states have ever had a law like the South Carolina law at issue. http://www.ballot-access.org/2009/09/29/south-carolina-green-party-files-strong-brief-in-4th-circuit/

Defense Authorization bill (S1390) includes language to allow overseas military to cast voted ballots by email.
here's the Thomas link for the bill
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?r111:1:./temp/~r111UtIb7T:e482155:

Congressional Bills on Puerto Rico, and Public Funding, Gain Co-Sponsors
September 29th, 2009
In the last nine days, bills in the U.S. House of Representatives to provide for public funding of congressional candidates, and to provide for a plebescite on the political future of Puerto Rico, have continued gaining co-sponsors
http://www.ballot-access.org/2009/09/29/congressional-bills-on-puerto-rico-and-public-funding-gain-co-sponsors/

FEC Opens a New Avenue for Weathy Donors
Sept 29. A decision by the Federal Election Commission on Monday makes it a whole lot easier for individuals to use LLCs to wage sophisticated political campaigns for or against candidates in next year’s midterm elections and beyond.
The decision is latest blow to the 2002 McCain-Feingold law and its attempts to reduce the influence of money in politics.
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/09/29/fec-opens-a-new-avenue-for-weathy-donors/

Computer Technologists' statement on internet voting - Verified Voting
http://www.verifiedvoting.org/article.php?id=5867

Voting News by Joyce McCloy.
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