Madison Co KY gets paper ballots, Hawaii ponders mail-in special election, IL no secret ballot? Voting News wants to hear from you

Too broke to hold elections? Hawaii considers vote by mail for upcoming special election. New Mexico's Secretary of State says will have to borrow money to hold upcoming primary...More concern in Illinois about special state law that requires undervote notification- the machines make an audible noise if a voter leaves certain contests blank....Madison KY switches back to paper ballot voting systems...NY approves voting machines, requires vendors to bring them into full compliance....Security Heavyweights predict 2010 threats.....

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Well, here's today's voting news.....

CA: Supervisors end contract with voting vendor
12/15/2009 As Los Angeles County seeks to replace a voting system that has been subject to sharp criticism from state officials, the Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to terminate a contract with one of the system's main vendors.
...
Logan's office has been seeking input on what kind of new voting system the public would like in the county. For more information, log onto http://www.lavote.net/Voter/VSAP
http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_14003230

FL: Federal Voting Assistance Program News
Florida Voters, Submit Your Ballot Request NOW for the February 2, 2009 Special Primary!
http://www.fvap.gov/global/news/nr21-2009.html

HI: Hawaii Ponders All-Mail Ballot Election in Next Special Congressional Election
http://www.ballot-access.org/2009/12/16/hawaii-ponders-all-mail-ballot-election-in-next-special-congressional-election/

IL: Illinois State Board of Elections “No Right To Secret Ballot”
Champaign County Clerk, IL
http://blog.champaigncountyclerk.com/2009/12/16/illinois-state-board-of-elections-%e2%80%9cno-right-to-secret-ballot%e2%80%9d/

KY: County preparing for paper ballot voting
Madison County...This year, a paper ballot voting system will be used, which is the same process that was used before electronic voting machines became mainstream.

“We’ve gone back to voting the way we did 25 years ago,” said Madison Judge/Executive Kent Clark.
http://www.richmondregister.com/localnews/local_story_350075220.html

NM: Secretary of state: Election funding is lacking
12/16/2009 FARMINGTON — Secretary of State Mary Herrera complained Tuesday of a lack of funding for the primary election, but insisted she and her staff were trying to make progress amid budget cuts from the legislature.
...
She also complained that the department has $814,000 to hold the primary election in June, but needs almost $4 million total. She said the state must borrow the rest of the money to hold the primary.
http://www.daily-times.com/ci_14006966

NY: FYI - Bo Lipari writes: "Here’s a paper I did on it some years ago which describes the two specific sections of HAVA which preclude retaining lever machines."
http://www.nyvv.org/newdoc/2009/LeverMachinesAndHAVA020909.pdf

NYS Certifies Non-Compliant Voting Machines
Commentary Written by Howard Stanislevic
15 December 2009 Editor's Note: The NYS Board Of Elections certified both the Dominion ImageCast and the ES&S Electronic voting systems at 1:10 p.m. today (Dec. 15th, 2009) .. noting in the process that the machines were still "non-compliant." The state passed an additional resolution requiring the operations department to work with the two vendors to bring the machines into full compliance.
http://www.gouverneurtimes.com/frontpage-news/9221-nys-to-certify-electronic-voting-machine-today.html

NY: Ballot Scanners Switched Votes/New York SBoE Certifies Ballot Scanners
http://re-mediaetc.blogspot.com/2009/12/ballot-scanners-switched-votesnew-york.html

NY: New York votes, and creates jobs
December 15, 2009 ...One of the companies apparently has a lot of NY ties, at least in terms of the components made and jobs maintained in the Empire State...
http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/20859/new-york-votes-and-creates-jobs/

VA: Op Ed: Take Jim Crow Out of the Virginia Constitution: Restore Voting Rights for All
December 16, 2009 After the 15th Amendment was passed, giving blacks the constitutional right to vote, Southern states enacted Jim Crow laws, designed to keep blacks from actually voting.
http://electls.blogs.wm.edu/2009/12/16/op-ed-take-jim-crow-out-of-the-virginia-constitution-restore-voting-rights-for-all/

VA: City council reinstates registrar's pay
Radford moves $2,500 back to Tracy Howard's salary and will ask the attorney general for an opinion.
RADFORD -- In what Councilman Bruce Brown called "a bandage," city council chose Monday not to cut Registrar Tracy Howard's salary -- for now.
http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/229849

WI: Election Administration
Research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison on the conduct of U.S. elections
The election administration project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison seeks to understand and improve the conduct of U.S. elections at all levels.
http://electionadmin.wisc.edu/index.html

WI: WisPolitics: Panel urges modernization of Wisconsin voters laws, restoration of felon's voting rights
12/16/2009 Speakers at a voter education summit Tuesday urged a series of changes in Wisconsin law to make it easier to register and vote, while advocating for restoring the voting rights of felons once they’re released from prison instead of after they complete their sentences.
http://www.wispolitics.com/index.iml?Article=179801

National

MOVE Act and 2010 primary dates
The new Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act, which stipulates a 45-day deadline for states to send general election ballots to military and overseas voters, has many states scrambling to either push back their 2010 primary date or receive a compliance waiver in order to avoid violating the Act.
http://nonprofitvote.blogspot.com/2009/12/move-act-and-2010-primary-dates.html

Evaluation & Certification of (Internet) Voting Systems (Report)
11.26.2009. Center for Advanced Security Research Darmstadt
http://www.coe.int/t/dgap/democracy/Source/EVoting/E-voting%202009/E-voting%20workshop/Volkamer_presentation.pdf

Security heavyweights predict 2010 threats
On: 16 Dec 2009 ...Unique predictions include a potential cryptographic algorithm break, botnet turf wars, attacks on voting mechanisms for elections and reality shows, a major utility breach in the U.S. and hijacked computers held for ransom.
http://www.itworldcanada.com/news/security-heavyweights-predict-2010-threats/139601

Voting News by Joyce McCloy.
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