Kanawha Co WV considers military internet vote, Philippines gets voting machines from China

As we post the news on the last day of year 2009, we take a moment to honor John Gideon (1947-2009), the editor of the original "Daily Voting News". John founded the "Daily Voting News" February 6, 2004 . John's tireless work brought increased awareness of voting machine problems around the country. The "DVN" was a must read for citizens, voting activists, advocacy groups and public officials. During these past 5 years, state after state abandon paperless voting. On New Years eve, this edition of Voting News is dedicated to John Gideon.

The news includes a fascinating interview with Lisa Burks of Arkansas who remembers an election meltdown so bad in Arkansas that "they were voting on paper towels & on hoods of cars...."...

Experimenting with the military vote: Kanawha Co. WVa to consider Internet voting for military. BUT: "if we acknowledge that voting systems connected to the Internet are inherently insecure, how is it that we can even consider online voting systems which have the Internet at their core?" ~ Bo Lipari, Verified Voting Researcher....Pentagon Discuses Servicemember Voting Laws Changes...

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


AR: Interview With Lisa Burks (voting activist who led push for paper ballots)
http://bluearkansas.blogspot.com/2009/12/interview-with-lisa-burks.html
...The problems were too numerous for this article, to name a few; from electronic ballot cartridges not arriving in time to begin early voting, (the cartridges boot up the machines. load the election information on the screens, have the election information programmed into them, store the vote totals afterwards until they are downloaded to the software to be transmitted via the internet to the SOS office) to election totals being placed in the software and being 'scrambled', to voters & candidates touching the screens to vote for their candidate then seeing their vote flip to a different candidate, to the election workers not being able to shut the machines down as the clocks were incorrectly set. If you can't shut them down, you can vote on them all night. It was so bad in Phillips County, they closed the polls down and put a sign on the door. In another AR county they were voting on paper towels & on hoods of cars....

CO: Aspen Election Review: Response to Mike LeBonte
http://www.aspentovail.com/2009/12/aspen-election-review-response-to-mike-lebonte/
December 30, 2009 Interpreted contents of each ballot, scanned by True Ballot, were publicly released. Open records requests for a CD of image scans were denied. Aspen has been sued to protect records from destruction and to allow inspection of the …

CO: YouTube - ASPENISTAN MAYOR HOLDS ASPEN BALLOTS HOSTAGE PT 2 (satire)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCoveBPmm7c
Was the Aspen city election commission illegally dismissed for questioning election irregularities in a recent municipal election?

FL: Former supervisor of elections writing a book
http://www.wpbf.com/news/22092761/detail.html
Dec 31, 2009 - A former Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections is telling her side of the Butterfly Ballot story in a book. Theresa LePore is still working on the finishing touches of her book but she hopes the it will set the record straight.

OH: No easy fix seen for ballot delays (shading in circle on ballot)
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20091230/NEWS01/912310307/No+easy+fix+seen+for+ballot+delays

WV: December 30, 2009
http://wvgazette.com/News/200912300398
Kanawha to consider Internet voting for military
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Kanawha County officials will decide next week whether they want to be part of a pilot program to allow overseas military personnel to vote via the Internet.

2009 Issues – Internet Voting
http://blog.verifiedvoting.org/2009/12/17/272


National

John Gideon, RIP National Election Integrity Hero Tributes dedicated to John Gideon from around the country
http://ncvoters.blogspot.com/2009/04/tributes-to-john-gideon-rip-national.html

Verified Voting's 2009 Year in Review
http://www.verifiedvotingfoundation.org/article.php?id=6742

Ten stories that shaped the South
http://www.southernpoliticalreport.com/story.aspx?sid=1194
Southern Political Report December 31, 2009
...Computerized voting machines, the presumed remedy to butterfly ballots and hanging chads, became a lingering source of controversy themselves.

Pentagon Discuses Servicemember Voting Laws Changes
http://thetension.blogspot.com/2009/12/pentagon-discuses-servicemember-voting.html
WASHINGTON, Dec. 31, 2009 -- Laws have changed and servicemembers who want to vote need to be aware of these changes, the director of the Federal Voting Assistance Program said.
...
One of the bigger changes in the process is that military voters must send in a federal postcard application -- again available at www.fvap.gov -- as soon as possible

Democrats Revisit Presidential Race Rules
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/30/dem-group-recommends-presidential-nomination-changes/
A group of Democratic leaders said Wednesday that it has recommended revamping the party’s presidential primary calendar and eliminating the much-talked-about superdelegates from the presidential nomination process.

ADIOS 2009! Under/mis-reported stories of the year/decade, and some old friends...
UPDATE: AUDIO ARCHIVES NOW POSTED BELOW (voting issues included)
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7617

International

Philippines: Comelec upbeat after first voting machines arrive
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/180519/comelec-upbeat-after-first-voting-machines-arrive-from-china
12/30/2009 More than 7,000 Chinese-made voting machines were received by the Philippines’ poll body early this week in a move that will try to beat the government’s deadline for automated elections.

Philippines: PSA: Automated polls a disaster waiting to happen
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/12/28/09/psa-automated-polls-disaster-waiting-happen
12/28/2009 ...In a report, the Asia-based Pacific Strategies and Assessment (PSA) expressed concern whether the country could pull off the ambitious nationwide automation, echoing fears of critics that “there are simply too many potential human, procedural and/or technical breakdowns that could lead to a major disruption or most drastically a complete failure of the May 2010 elections.”


Voting News by Joyce McCloy.
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Disclaimer: Articles and commentary included in "Voting News" do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors of Voting News,or its allied organizations. Articles are selected for inclusion to inform subscribers'ability to draw their own conclusions based on noteworthy and credible news,research, legislation, and debate bearing on the integrity of elections.