Calls for Open Source voting systems, Diebold OSX WARNING, Afghanistan election disaster

SOS project call on Sen Schumer for Open Source voting machines... Pre-Election Diebold Op-Scan Failure in FL; 'Reform' or Legislative Obscenity? - WARNING on Diebold OSX optical scanner...California considers how to regulate electronic campaigning...DOJ spikes Georgia voter voter registration matching/citizenship checks again...Washington State OP: "Ballot secrecy is being eroded."...Afghanistan: anatomy of an election disaster...Estonia automatically registers voters at 18 but also issues national ID, the latter controversial in the US...India goes to polls and 18 killed in violence, candidate alleges that e-voting machines were rigged...



All of that and more in today's Voting News below...

CA: State watchdogs consider regulating campaigns’ electronic messages
October 19, 2009 Between tweeting, YouTube videos and text messaging, the age of the Internet means political candidates now rely on more than snail mail to reach voters, and California's ethics watchdog agency is responding to the changing times.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/10/state-watchdogs-consider-regulating-campaigns-electronic-messages.html


CT: The Day: New London has problem with math
October 19, 2009 New London has problem with math...Actually it is more a problem of complexity and communications:
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?p=2468

D.C: Voting Plan Could Be Attached To Defense Bill

WASHINGTON (AP) A plan to give D.C. residents a voting member of Congress could be attached to a defense funding bill.
http://wjz.com/local/DC.voting.plan.2.1253234.html

FL: Pre-Election Diebold Op-Scan Failure in FL; 'Reform' or Legislative Obsenity?...
Diebold's Optical-Scan System FAILS in Sarasota, FL
County election director Kathy Dent's 'solution' as bad or worse than the actual problem...as usual...
...
Today, it's our old friends in Sarasota, under the continuing and now-legendarily failed direction of Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent and her latest failed voting system, this one an optical-scan system made by Diebold, featured in the Charlotte Sun's "Scanning glitch in vote machine test":
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7472

FL: Scanning glitch in vote machine test * Premier’s OSX can't read blue ink (Premier Release 1.20.2, Version 1 Gems 1.20.2 Accuvote OSX)
http://www.sunnewspapers.net/articles/pnnews.aspx?NewsID=70156&a=newsarchive3/101709/vn1.htm&pnpg=0

FL: Sarasota's Diebold scanners flunk test, fail to read blue ink on ballots *
Saturday, October 17, 2009 VOTING NEWS BLOG
WARNING: Voters in jurisdictions that use the newer Diebold/Premier optical scanners OSX with 1.0.2 firmware should use black ink to mark their ballots. The machines may not read markings made with blue ink. The OSC also has trouble reading markings by a number 2 pencil according to other reports. This is an intermittent problem.
http://votingnews.blogspot.com/2009/10/sarasotas-diebold-scanners-flunk-test.html

GA: Voting Checks Rejected Again
ATLANTA — The U.S. Department of Justice has rejected Georgia’s voter verification process for the second time. Last May, the DOJ ruled the process has "a discriminatory effect" on minority voters.
http://www.gpb.org/news/2009/10/16/ga-voting-checks-rejected-again

GA: DOJ spikes Ga. voter citizenship checks again
ATLANTA -- The U.S. Department of Justice has for the second time rejected Georgia's system of using Social Security numbers and driver's license data to check whether prospective voters are citizens.
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/ga/story/875653.html

IN: State voter ID law could go before Supreme Court
October 16, 2009 A The question of whether Indiana can require voters to show government-issued ID could be headed to the state Supreme Court.

State Attorney General Greg Zoeller filed a petition to bring it before the high court Friday, after the Indiana Court of Appeals declared the state’s voter ID law unconstitutional last month.
http://www.indystar.com/article/20091016/NEWS05/91016041/

State+voter+ID+law+could+go+before+Supreme+Court

or use this tiny url: http://tinyurl.com/yjnyexu


MA: Quincy investigating complaint about officer on election day
Oct 17, 2009, QUINCY - The police department is investigating complaints that a Quincy police officer violated the law by wearing a T-shirt supporting Mayor Thomas Koch’s election opponent at a polling station during the Sept. 22 preliminary
...
State law prohibits campaign paraphernalia within 150 feet of a polling place.
http://www.wickedlocal.com/quincy/news/police_and_fire/x824164610/Quincy-investigating-complaint-about-officer-on-election-day

MN: Minneapolis to educate baffled voters about Instant Runoff Voting
Oct. 19 2009
In the dark about how this Instant Runoff Voting jive actually works? Unsure what Instant Runoff Voting even means? Fret not. The city of Minneapolis has got you covered.
http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2009/10/mpls_to_educate.php

NC: Kids Voting needs volunteers on Election Day
October 19, 2009 ASHEVILLE — Kids Voting Buncombe County, a nonpartisan nonprofit that gives children a hands-on civics lesson every Election Day, needs community volunteers to serve as precinct captains, poll staffers and vote counters on Nov. 3.

The Kids Voting program, a nationwide effort, encourages parents to bring their children along to polling stations, where they can fill out ballots identical to their parents’.
http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091019/NEWS01/910190310

OH: Caller poses as worker: Elections director files complaint with Secretary of State's office *
October 17, 2009 LORAIN — Someone posing as a Lorain County Board of Elections worker called a voter about absentee ballots, prompting elections Director Jose Candelario to contact the Ohio Secretary of State's office.

Candelario said he knows the caller was not an elections worker because the voter who was called is employed by the board of elections
http://www.morningjournal.com/articles/2009/10/17/news/mj1764247.txt

PA: Election ballot can’t be updated for change
This is the second time this year that a candidate can’t be removed from ballot.
WILKES-BARRE – Assuming Allen Bellas resigns from the Wyoming Valley West School Board and is ineligible to hold office if re-elected Nov. 3, he will be the second school official this year who shouldn’t have appeared on the ballot but could not be removed because of the timing of charges against him. Can changes be made to keep it from happening in the future?
http://www.timesleader.com/news/Election_ballot_can_rsquo_t_be_updated_for_change_10-18-2009.html

VA: BALLOTS MUST BE COUNTED! Mil & overseas citizen voting rights UPHELD - little ink given to big story http://ow.ly/v2B1 & http://ow.ly/v2Bq


VA:Va. Violated voting rights, Judge rules a second time
Oct 19, 2009 - A federal judge in Richmond has ruled for the second time that Virginia violated the voting rights of American military personnel and overseas citizens by failing to mail absentee ballots in sufficient time for them to be counted in last year's presidential election
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/state_regional/state_regional_govtpolitics/article/VOTE17_20091016-222406/299882/

WA: Ballot secrecy is being eroded
...
The onset of electronic voting machines, while helpful for charting voter accountability and fighting voting fraud, brought into question the sincerity of the “secret ballot.”

Then there was the period where voters were forced to declare a party, also a threat to the concept of the “secret ballot.”
...
The mandatory mail-in ballot is a threat to the secret ballot concept of our American democracy, and so is publishing names of petition signers.
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20091019/OPINION02/710199841

National

Justice Kennedy Tells Washington State Not to Release Names and Addresses on Petition Yet
October 19th, 2009
http://www.ballot-access.org/2009/10/19/justice-kennedy-tells-washington-state-not-to-release-names-and-addresses-on-petition-yet/

Sandra Day O’Connor Participates in 9th circuit Oral Argument in Voting Rights Case
October 19th, 2009
On October 19, the 9th circuit held oral arguments in Coronado v Brewer, 08-17567. The main issue is whether the 24th Amendment requires Arizona to let ex-felons register to vote, even if that ex-felon owes restitution or fines.
http://www.ballot-access.org/2009/10/19/sandra-day-oconnor-participates-in-9th-circuit-oral-argument-in-voting-rights-case/

Demand Open Source Voting Machines
Secretary of State Project. (Take Action)
This just in - Senator Chuck Schumer announced that the Senate Rules and Administration Committee will be investigating the Diebold/ES&S sale, signaling that election reform is a possibility if we demand it now!

We have Senator Schumer's attention - now is the time to tell the committee to make the open source voting machine software a focus of its investigation of the Diebold / ES&S deal.
http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/1356/t/5231/content.jsp?content_KEY=2913

Tweet this: http://twitter.com/?status=@ChuckSchumer:+I+want+open+source+voting+machines!+SIGN:+http://bit.ly/4nG6zx+%28h/t+@sosproject%29

Electoral Laws and Turnout: 1972-2008
This paper examines the impact of electoral laws on turnout in elections. The authors find that by aggregating turnout among different demographic groups, they can estimate the impact of electoral reforms over time.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1443556

International

Afghanistan: anatomy of an election disaster
It was, everybody agrees, a tawdry and inept attempt to rig an election. But are we in the west as much to blame as anyone?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/20/afghanistan-election

Estonia E-Voting — Voter Registration
We had a great discussion with various people in Estonia about the country’s voter registration system. In Estonia, when you turn 18, you are automatically registered to vote at your address at that time. In addition, the person obtains a national identification card that has both a photo identification component and a digital signature.
http://electionupdates.caltech.edu/?p=2924

India: Third Front's candidate to take EVM matter to court
Aurangabad, Oct 17 (PTI) Alleging manipulation of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), the Republican Left Democratic Committee (RLDC) candidate from Latur City Assembly Constituency said today that he will take the matter to court.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/335856_Third-Front-s-candidate-to-take-EVM-matter-to-court

India goes to polls and 18 killed in violence
October 17, 2009 , Posted by Actress and Models at 6:47 AM
The first phase of Indian parliamentary elections yesterday was marred by Naxalite violence in four states killing 18 people, including five polling officials and 10 security personnel, and it witnessed a voter turnout of 60 percent.

A landmine set up by Naxals destroyed a bus carrying Border Security Force personnel in Jharkhand state killing seven of them and two civilians.
http://portugal-actress.blogspot.com/2009/10/news-india-goes-to-polls-and-18-killed.html

Switzerland: E-voting makes slow but sure progress
October 18, 2009. Sixteen cantons want to make e-voting possible, but the path to implementation is complex and time-consuming because of Switzerland's federal structure.

"It will be decades before internet voting becomes nationwide and at all levels. E-voting cannot be compared with e-banking," Hans-Urs Wili, head of a federal electronic voting project, told swissinfo.ch.
...
Basel City will introduce online voting for the anti-minaret initiative on November 29 and Zurich will launch e-voting for non-residents in a pilot in 13 communes from June next year.
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/front/E_voting_makes_slow_but_sure_progress.html?siteSect=105&sid=11357408&cKey=1255883148000&ty=st


Voting News by Joyce McCloy.
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