Dallas Co. violated law in voting machine use, Diebold Sale may see recount

WA SOS to introduce bill in 2010 to "allow overseas and military residents to return their ballots by fax or e-mail." ...A three-judge panel has ruled that Dallas County election officials violated federal law when they did not inform the Department of Justice about changes in the way straight-party votes are counted on electronic voting machines....The trial of former NM SOS Rebecca Vigil-Giron..."has been set for July"...Update: see Pennsylvania Court voting machine ruling r/e Banfield Order 121509...Open source voting system development is alive and well....

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

CA: Voters sue over Novato Sanitary election *
http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_14044648?nclick_check=1
12/21/2009 A pair of voters, claiming they were disenfranchised because they weren't given the chance to vote, filed a lawsuit late Monday to contest the results of the Nov. 3 election for three seats on the Novato Sanitary District board.

FL: Sumter Elections office wants delay of Florida law
http://www.dailycommercial.com/localnews/story/121709machines
BUSHNELL -- You can say the cost adds up to about $60,000 per disabled voter in Sumter County.
...
Although the office said the county only has six voters that its deems as needing the disabled accessible machine, a law requires Florida counties to have the equipment for each of its precincts by 2012.

GA: Handel resigns as Ga. secretary of state
http://atlanta.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2009/12/21/daily17.html
Karen Handel announced Tuesday she is resigning as Georgia’s secretary of state to concentrate on the 2010 governor’s race

HI: In Hawaii, Cuts Reach to Core Functions
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/20/us/20hawaii.html?_r=1
The State Elections Office said it might not be able to afford a pending special election, which could leave half of the state’s population without a voice in the House of Representatives until September.

HI: CommonCauseHI
http://twitter.com/CommonCauseHI/status/6906370244
Elections Comm meets Dec 30 at 10am to discuss special election and new elections chief

KS: An update on election news from Kansas Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh
Double voting leads to conviction in Nemaha County.
http://www.kssos.org/forms/communication/canvassing_kansas/dec09.pdf

IL: eVoter Specimen Ballot Mistake
Champaign County Clerk
http://blog.champaigncountyclerk.com/2009/12/22/evoter-specimen-ballot-mistake/

IL:Ballots tossed in State’s Attorney election*(absentee ballots & residency issues)
http://www.register-news.com/local/local_story_354195232.html
MT. VERNON — A circuit court judge has invalidated a number of ballots in the November 2008 election between Jefferson County State’s Attorney Jeff Bradley and Nicole Villani.

IL: Voter Resources — Absentee Voting in the Illinois Primaries Begins on Thursday, December 24th
http://centralillinois912project.com/?p=2341
The actual primary election here in Illinois will take place on February 2nd. There are a variety of resources (especially online resources) that you can use to ensure that your vote is an informed one!

NM: Trial of Vigil-Giron, others set for July
http://fwix.com/albuquerque/share/e7ba658fa7/trial_of_vigil-giron_others_set_for_july
Vigil-Giron, lobbyists Joseph Kupfer and Elizabeth Kupfer and media consultant Armando Gutierrez, who headed the company Vigil-Giron hired to help the state implement a federal voter education program, each face 50 counts including money laundering, fraud, soliciting or receiving kickbacks and tax evasion. They allegedly took the money between 2004 and 2006 using the secretary of state’s contract with Gutierrez by falsifying invoices.

NY: Senate working to avoid voting problems in 2010
http://www.legislativegazette.com/Articles-c-2009-12-21-64421.113122_Senate_working_to_avoid_voting_problems_in_2010.html
December 21, 2009 The Senate Elections Committee heard testimony last month from county officials on how to best implement optical scan voting statewide for the 2010 elections.

NY: Former Yonkers city councilman charged with voter fraud
http://www.lohud.com/article/20091218/NEWS02/912180331/Former-Yonkers-city-councilman-charged-with-voter-fraud
YONKERS — Former City Councilman Wilson Soto has been charged with fraud in the Sept. 15 primary election, accused of voting in a district where he doesn't live.

NY: Rushing to the polls: After years of inaction, Board of Elections is buying in haste
Editorials December 21st 2009,
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2009/12/21/2009-12-21_rushing_to_the_polls.html

PA: Pennsylvania Court Ruling Banfield Order 121509
http://voteraction.org/files/Banfield%20Order%20121509.pdf (pdf file)
Pennsylvania state court ordered ES&S/Diebold, Sequoia, Hart Intercivic, and Danaher to produce the source codes and electronic voting machines for an independent expert examination by the petitioners. The Protective order for ES&S and Sequoia was denied. Petitioners (Banfield and clients) have 20 days to arrive at a mutually satisfactory protective order.

TX: Federal judges disallow Dallas County's use of voting machines*
http://bit.ly/5XBvOe (ivotronic, in 150-200 counties)
A three-judge panel has ruled that Dallas County election officials violated federal law when they did not inform the Department of Justice about changes in the way straight-party votes are counted on electronic voting machines.
...
"Given the likelihood that today's ruling will impact other Texas counties, it is now time for the secretary of state to stop defending the indefensible and require the manufacturers to address the serious defects in the way these machines count straight-ticket votes,"...

TX: New developments in Winona voter fraud investigation
http://www.ketknbc.com/news/new-developments-winona-voter-fraud-investigation
WINONA - New developments on why the second Winona local option for alcohol election took place.
Bill Chaney petitioned the Smith County 7th District court and Judge Joel Baker to ask for another election implying voter fraud on the first election in May 2009.

WA: Military tests online voting
http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/east_king/iss/opinion/79856497.html
Dec 21 2009...Secretary of State Sam Reed will introduce a bill to the 2010 Legislature in an attempt to simplify and speed up the process for these voters. The bill would allow overseas and military residents to return their ballots by fax or e-mail. Last year, a similar but unsuccessful bill included a provision for casting ballots online.

National

Open source voting system development is alive and well (screen shots shown)
http://disappearednews.com/2009/12/open-source-voting-system-development.html
This is fascinating. I’m playing with a prototype open source voting system, the SHARP voting machine. Yup, source code is available to look at or modify. It runs on any of my home computers.

The Election Sabotage Commission
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/20/opinion/20sun3.html?th&emc=th
December 19, 2009 No one is in charge these days at the Federal Election Commission, the agency that is supposed to enforce campaign law. Repeated stalemates engineered by Republican members raise the potential for runaway abuses in next year’s Congressional elections.

EACs Disappointing Election "Glitch" -- We can't fix the voting machines, so let's blame the ballots.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/EACs-Disappointing-Electio-by-Lani-Massey-Brown-091105-183.html
In answer to the EAC's concern about paper ballots, their Technical Guidelines Development Committee (TGDC) expanded its voting system guidelines to include a new class of standards: the paper ballots class. Hand counted paper ballots must be . . . technology enabled.

Diebold may see recount
December 21, 2009 The Department of Justice could vote down an already-completed merger of the two biggest makers of voting machines.
http://bit.ly/5pwqyK

Justice Department May Unwind Diebold E-voting Sale To ES&S
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20091221/1423227448.shtml
Honestly, I don't see what the value is in unwinding the deal. Then you'll have two awful e-voting companies with terrible track records with security and accuracy, rather than one. Instead, why aren't we focusing on requiring truly open solutions so that we actually verify that an e-voting system is both secure and accurate?

Fourth Annual UOCAVA Summit 2010
https://www.overseasvotefoundation.org/initiatives-UOCAVAsummit-summit2010
This March - it's Munich! 

Overseas Vote Foundation will host the 
Fourth Annual UOCAVA Summit
in Munich, Germany - please join us! 



International

Canadians support online voting: poll (YouTube)
http://kempton.wordpress.com/2009/12/17/canadians-support-online-voting-poll/
From CBC, “Canadians support online voting: poll“. Reminds me of this Yes, Prime Minister sketch. Enjoy. P.S. On a serious note, how can we ensure a strong minded individual (a father or a mother or a parent) cannot vote for the whole household? You see, reporting your family member to the police is not a real option unless they don’t mind putting them in jail



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