Massachusetts passes flawed vet voting bill, Vote By Mail concerns, Johnson City NY miscount

Unfortunately Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick signed military internet voting bill Wednesday even after National and State Voting Rights Groups urged him not to ...Verified Voting has a new blog, you can sign up for updates.... ...D.C. takes up same day registration, so should Congress...Brad Friedman on Acorn and "protecting" the taxpayers....Study shows permanent mail voting worsening lack of diversity among California voters....Vote by mail biggest perceived problem in OR and WA -slowness in election results...

...Glitches, snags, snafus and hiccups reported in IL, NC, NY, OH, PA, AND SC...Campaign website spoof results in formal complaint in Cary NC...Half of Johnson City NY election districts machine counts differ from hand counts...Diebold technician "fixes" election results for Miami County Ohio....2 candidates in Lackawanna PA request recounts after voting machines straight ticket error... Former Aiken SC GOP official admits to robo-calls scam....In the Port Hope (Canada) council opts for Internet voting, Mayor Linda Thompson was the only opponent...

All of this and more in today's voting news below...


CA: Study finds demographic differences between vote-by-mail voters and registered voters
...Kim Alexander, founder of the nonpartisan California Voter Foundation, says permanent mail voting may be exacerbating the lack of diversity among California voters. “Policy-makers need to be mindful of that,” she said.
http://calvoter.org/news/blog/2009_11_01_
blogarchive.html#5954396140451513928
or use this url http://twi.cc/9mRT

IL: Prosecutor alleges pair tainted vote in 50th Ward*(absentee ballot fraud charged)
Precinct captain, volunteer said to have manipulated absentee ballots, cast absentee votes for Ald. Bernard Stone
November 10, 2009. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-voter-fraud-trialnov10,0,5858164.story

IL: Ald. Stone ally on trial for vote fraud *
November 10, 2009. Four members of a West Rogers Park family testified Monday that Ald. Bernard Stone's (50th) ward superintendent Anish Eapen coaxed them to vote absentee, collected their ballots and then mailed them during the heated 2007 aldermanic race
http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/1874511,CST-NWS-eapen10web.article

Mass. voting advocates say veterans bill flawed (email voting inserted at last min)
November 11, 2009 Gov. Deval Patrick signed the bill Wednesday.
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1211192

MA: National and State Voting Rights Groups Urge Massachusetts Governor Not to Sign Internet Voting Bill
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 By Citizens for Election Integrity Massachusetts, Common Cause, ACLU-MA, Oiste, Voter Action, VerifiedVoting
Governor Patrick Must Protect Military Voters’ Right to a Secure, Private Ballot
To exercise their voting rights, Americans in uniform serving overseas must have better access to the process of casting a ballot. Equally important, the process of casting a ballot must be no less secure and verifiable for them than it is for voters at home....
http://blog.verifiedvoting.org/2009/11/11/165#more-165

MA: Last Minute Change in Massachusetts Veterans Bill Puts Soldiers' Votes at Risk
Nov 10, 2009 Breaking news: It appears that at the last minute Massachusetts lawmakers changed language in a bill designed to benefit military voters - taking a good provision and unfortunately making it dangerous. The bill could have improved the voting process for our service men and women in uniform overseas by allowing them to obtain a ballot online so it could be printed, voted and mailed back in time to be counted. Instead the new language opens up a Pandora's box by allowing voting by email - what some experts call the most insecure way possible.
http://bit.ly/2fDwI2

MN: 'Instant' voting system could have more results Wednesday, eight days after election
Tue, Nov 10 2009. The new Instant Runoff Voting system that was used for the first time in Minneapolis last week could show some more final results Wednesday, which is, amazingly, faster than originally expected, the Star Tribune says.

This brings a different meaning to the word "instant," notes a commenter on the paper's website. And maybe that's why it's often called Ranked Choice Voting.
http://www.minnpost.com/politicalagenda/2009/11/10/13320/
instant_voting_system_could_have_more_results_wednesday_eight_
days_after_election
or use this smaller url: http://twi.cc/GQtR

NC: Complaint filed over Cary election
...DavisandHighHouse.org, a political action committee of slow-growth activists, filed a complaint with the State Board of Elections on Wednesday, arguing that the unidentified creator of the Web site DavisAndHighHouse.com broke elections law.
...
The DavisandHighHouse.org complaint, filed by treasurer Vickie Maxwell, says that on the day before the election, the dot-com knockoff sent a misleading e-mail message to voters that made it appear as if DavisandHighHouse.org was endorsing Robinson.
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/counties/
wake_county/story/183645.html
or use this url http://twi.cc/UsF9

NC: Cary Campaign Hijinks Result In Formal Complaint
And here's where it gets a little more confusing: earlier this week, the two competing DavisandHighHouse sites sent out identical looking emails, with the dot-org asking people to vote for Lori Bush, and the dot-com endorsing Jennifer Robinson.
...
The dot-org folks say they have no reason to believe the imposter Web site and e-mail came from the Jennifer Robinson camp itself.
"I'm guessing it's just a very exuberant supporter went out on their own and acted a little bit sophomoric," Thor said.
http://wake.mync.com/site/wake/news/story/44029/cary-campaign-hijinks-result-in-formal-complaint

NC: Election dropouts still grabbed votes
Candidates abandoned campaigns, but still found success
Election dropouts still grabbed votes
As the votes were counted in the final round of elections last week, some candidates celebrated and some licked their wounds. And another handful shared a small victory, knowing they weren't supposed to get any votes at all.
http://www.carynews.com/news/story/14374.html

NY: Vote recount yields no significant errors*(BUT machine and hand counts differ)
Absentee ballots will decide results Thursday
...
In Johnson City, totals from Tuesday's hand count don't exactly match totals taken from voting machines in about half the village's election districts, meaning ballots from those districts will again be counted by hand. In Binghamton, workers were not able to complete the hand count in two of the 46 voting districts.
...
Why hand-count ballots recorded on machines that were billed as being extremely accurate? Because New York was not able before the election to "certify" the machines as accurate...
http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20091110/NEWS01
/911100406/1112/Vote-recount-yields-no-significant-errors
or use this url http://twi.cc/Nrty

NY: Double-Checking Every Vote in Binghamton* (optical scan voting machines. also article incorrectly says that Hand recounts are less accurate than the voting machines, studies show otherwise)
Nov 11, 2009 It's still uncertain as of Wednesday night whether there's a one vote margin against dissolving the Village of Johnson City.

The board of elections audited a five voting districts where the hand recount did not match the numbers from voting machines.

Every vote has been counted, recounted and in some cases counted again.
http://www.wbng.com/news/local/69799432.html


NY: Martville LTE. New voting system was absolute atrocity (argues for levers or unfortunately for new touch-screens, going from frying pan to fireplace)
November 10, 2009 "My suggestion would be to never use this system again. Either return to the mechanical voting machines or come up with an electronic device that would simulate the voting process that everyone is used to. It should be well within the realm of technology to make a computer touch screen that would be simple and quick and would look identical to the normal voting machine that everyone is used to."
http://www.auburnpub.com/articles/2009/11/10/opinion/letters/letters01.txt

OH: Election night goes smooth except for one ‘hiccup’* (Diebold memory card)
TROY — Election night was rolling along just fine, until a familiar nemesis struck at the Miami County Board of Elections.

Ballot tabulating equipment was unable to read a voting machine memory card.

That resulted in a near two-hour delay to get the final unofficial vote results as election workers headed to Piqua to retrieve voting machines in the precinct where votes were cast on the card Nov. 3.

After attempts to retrieve the information on a card were unsuccessful, election officials were preparing to hand count the 93 votes in the affected precinct. One last attempt to pull the information, using a advice from a Premier Election Equipment technician working in another county, was successful, allowing the board to finish ballot counting before 11:30 p.m.
http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/election/election-night-goes-smooth-except-for-one-hiccup-396423.html?showComments=true

PA: Two candidates in Lackawanna County's election file requests for recounts
November 10, 2009 As Lackawanna County's official election vote count proceeded Monday, two candidates filed requests for recounts based partly on a computer coding error that cost two Scranton candidates up to 2,452 votes.
Mayoral candidate Gary DiBileo and school board candidate Bob Sheridan filed recount requests, despite assurances by county election officials that the coding error was limited to vote totals for Councilwoman Janet Evans and tax collector candidate Bill Courtright.
http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/two_candidates_in_lackawanna_county_s_election_
file_requests_for_recounts?localLinksEnabled=false
or use this url http://twi.cc/sElP

WA:The real Oregon vote by mail example (really about WA's vote by mail)
11/10/2009 Writing in the Washington Post in the wake of the 2004 presidential election, Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury pitched his own state’s vote-by-mail system as an answer to touch screen and polling place staffing controversies experienced elsewhere. But in doing so, he obviously felt the need to spin one of vote-by-mail’s biggest perceived weaknesses: its relative slowness in reporting results.
...
If the goal of Washington Sec. of State Sam Reed, and now Gov. Chris Gregoire, is to provide near complete returns on election night, changing the ballot deadline to Oregon’s received by election day standard simply won’t do it. Rather, the only reliable solution would be to scrap vote-by-mail altogether.
http://horsesass.org/?p=22175

PA: Rule stalls probe of Point election * (violation)
SUNBURY — Someone might have tried to help a Point Township write-in candidate by illegally writing his name on a voting machine, Northumberland County officials said.

The allegation can’t be investigated now because the machines are on a mandatory 20-day lockdown.
http://www.dailyitem.com/0100_news/local_story_313223950.html

SC: Ex-GOP official admits part in robo-calls scam * (fraud, deception)
11/10/2009 Almost a year after first being charged with setting up illegal, automated phone calls in an attempt to sway the outcome of an election, a former Aiken Republican party board member has admitted to the activity and is "deeply sorry."
...
Investigators said Allen manipulated the caller ID to show the number of "REI Incorporated," a business owned and operated by Sen. Ryberg but did not have the senator's permission to do so.

Virginia "Ginny" Allen of Driftwood Circle in Aiken is charged with six counts of making unsolicited consumer phone calls. Allen is accused of paying to have political robo-calls made to Aiken County residents in early June without properly disclosing the person behind the calls, South Carolina Law Enforcement Division said at the time.
http://www.aikenstandard.com/Local/1111GinnyAllen

WI: GAB delays vote on system (holds off on purchase of new ES&S machines)
Machines cause concern because of overvote possibility
The Wisconsin Government Accountability Board voted Monday to postpone a decision on implementing controversial new electronic voting equipment to a later date, citing possible confusion for voters as the reason for its decision.
...
At the GAB meeting, Paul Malischke, spokesperson for Fair Elections Wisconsin, told the board the electronic voting machines do not adequately notify voters when they have placed a vote for more than one candidate
http://badgerherald.com/news/2009/11/10/gab_delays_vote_on_s.php

National

Protect the Tax-Payers!ACORN must be stopped!
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7511

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D.C. takes up same day registration, so should Congress (Sen. Russ Feingold)
By Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.)...In 2007, two states, Iowa and North Carolina, adopted Same Day Registration (SDR) proposals.
...
As the Council prepares to vote on this measure, we want to share our experience with Same Day Registration in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Both states have allowed Same Day Registration since the 1970's and since then both states have consistently ranked among the top states in the nation in voter turnout. In fact, in the 2008 election, Minnesota and Wisconsin joined three other SDR states -- Maine, New Hampshire and Iowa -- on the top five list. That's not a coincidence.
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/campaign/66137-dc-takes-up-same-day-registration-so-should-congress-sen-russ-feingold

International

Port Hope council opts for Internet voting (Internet Voting Whack-a-Mole)
- After a lengthy discussion on the pros and cons of various voting systems for the 2010 municipal election, and even the 2014 election, Mayor Linda Thompson put a motion on the floor to stick with the tried and true method of voting by regular ballot due to the demographics of Port Hope voters.
http://www.northumberlandtoday.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2170151


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