Military Bases to aid voter registration, One company to count 70% of US votes

Big news: The Department of Defense has agreed to formally designate all military installation voting assistance offices as official “voter registration agencies". The move “will provide these brave Americans and their families with ‘motor voter’-style registration assistance on military installations, where they spend most of their time,” Cornyn said. Schumer called the change “a bold step by the Pentagon that will turn U.S. military bases across the globe into one-stop shops for active-duty troops who wish to vote.”
...
Regarding voting machine merger: "ES&S, of course, told the Herald/Times that their acquisition of Diebold 'will result in better products and services for all customers and voters alike.' And, if you believe that, we've got an unhackable voting machine to sell you" ~ Brad Friedman at Bradblog....FL: Attorney General Bill McCollum responds to voter advocate's letter...Verified Voting has several updates of interest...

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

FL: Florida AG Probing ES&S/Diebold Merger for Anti-trust Violations
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7584
Demon coupling will result in company counting 92% of Sunshine State votes, at least 70% nation wide...

FL: Attorney General Bill McCollum responds to voter advocate's letter
http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2009/12/mccollum-responds-to-voter-advocates-letter.html
As part of his investigation of a voting-machine company merger that would create a near-monopoly over voting machines, Attorney General Bill McCollum has sent the following letter to Dan McCrea of the Florida Voters Foundation...

HI: US funds for Hawaii special election possible
http://www.kpua.net/news.php?id=19233
HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii's chief election officer is suggesting the state ask federal officials if the state can use federal funds to conduct a special election to fill the remainder of the term of Rep. Neil Abercrombie.

IL: Recount nearly over, Barrow still claims fraud in mayor's race *
http://www.detnews.com/article/20091218/METRO/912180452/1361/Recount-nearly-over--Barrow-still-claims-fraud-in-mayor-s-race
Detroit-- Former mayoral candidate Tom Barrow is continuing to allege voter fraud in the Nov. 3 election, claiming he's found empty ballot boxes and several others whose security seals were breached.

Barrow, who filed a recount after losing to Mayor Dave Bing 58-42 percent, said the breech should disqualify tens of thousands of votes from being recounted


IL: Election commission registering some voters at home
http://www.mysuburbanlife.com/carolstream/newsnow/x1431156019/Election-commission-registering-some-voters-at-home
Downers Grove, IL — The DuPage County Election Commission is offering in-home voter registration for elderly and disabled residents leading up to next year’s state and national primaries

IL: Suit against optical scanning machine rejected
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2009/12/18/suit_against_optical_scanning_machine_rejected
December 18, 2009 URBANA – Despite efforts by Champaign County Clerk Mark Shelden to prevent it, voters in the primary election in February may hear their voting machines beeping...
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Shelden argued, according to court documents submitted in support of his request, that "the right of Champaign County voters to a secret ballot has been compromised" by a change in the state election laws, which require all optical scan ballot tabulation machines to produce an error message when a voter "undervotes" or fails to vote for one or more statewide constitutional office races.

NJ: Tally wavers on legal representation in Atlantic City voter fraud case *
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/breaking/article_9b33458e-ec2c-11de-a1c3-001cc4c03286.html
Tally is among 14 people - including Atlantic City Councilman Marty Small - charged with improperly handling messenger ballots in Small's failed mayoral bid. One man has pleaded guilty. Several could not afford lawyers and had to be assigned one by the Public Defender's Office. At a management conference in the case Friday, all had counsel - except Tally.

OH: Board of Elections to combine precincts and polling locations
http://www.coshoctontribune.com/article/20091218/NEWS01/912180307
COSHOCTON.The moves will reduce the number of polling locations in the county from 25to 15. This will subtract 24 poll workers total, reducing the number from 136 to 112.

National

All Military Installations to Aid in Voter Registration
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/18/us/politics/18vote.html?_r=1
The Department of Defense said this week that it would require every military installation around the world to help troops register to vote, the latest move in Washington to eliminate what are considered longstanding obstacles to voting by military personnel.

Schumer, Cornyn secure voter registration at military bases
http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/20953/schumer-cornyn-secure-voter-registration-at-military-bases/
The designation means that military bases will offer the same kind of voter registration services provided at motor vehicle departments and state agencies all around the country under the so-called “motor voter” law of 1993.

2009 on Capitol Hill
http://blog.verifiedvoting.org/2009/12/17/275
Thursday, December 17, 2009 ...part 2 of 4 in the series Looking Back on 2009.
Having a presence on Capitol Hill this year has allowed Verified Voting to be more fully involved in hearings and conferences that complement our traditional areas of concern. In particular the interest in using internet technology in the administration of elections has highlighted the importance of cyber security policy in Verified Voting’s activities.

2009 Issues – Developing Standards for Election Data
http://blog.verifiedvoting.org/2009/12/17/269
December 17, 2009 By John McCarthy, Verified Voting
One of the challenges faced by advocates of election audits and transparency is that current voting systems each record and store election file data in unique ways.

2009 in the States
http://blog.verifiedvoting.org/2009/12/17/278
Thursday, December 17, 2009 By Sean Flaherty

2009 Issues – Internet Voting
http://blog.verifiedvoting.org/2009/12/17/272
December 17, 2009 By Bo Lipari. "For years, technologists with the expertise to understand issues of security, the Internet and voting have warned about the challenges presented by Internet voting. Nonetheless,2009 saw growing interest in online ballot casting."

Judge urged to reverse ruling over ACORN funding
http://twi.cc/aIfF
NEW YORK — The government is arguing that a judge should reverse her ruling that its cutoff of ACORN funding was unconstitutional.

International

Canadians support online voting?
http://papervotecanada.blogspot.com/2009/12/canadians-support-online-voting.html
Given that paper voting works well now, is easy to understand, and is quick to count, would you rather stay with that, or try a system that computer experts say may be impossible to create?

Few Participate in Informal Online Vote on Icesave
http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/?cat_id=16539&ew_0_a_id=355604
A total of 7,454 people, 3.2 percent of registered voters in Iceland, participated in an informal online election on whether the Icelandic parliament, Althingi, should pass the bill on the state guarantee on the Icesave agreement with the UK and the Netherlands



Voting News by Joyce McCloy.
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