MN Court makes 2008 absentee ballots public, Michigan voters wrongly purged?

A MN Court says the public may view 2008 absentee ballots...With a 94% cut in its budget, Hawaii’s Office of Elections can’t pay for any election in 2010...
Do Voters Deserve Same Protections As Small Businesses, Schools, and Non-Profits?....Barrow asks Michigan Attorney Gen to investigate alleged voter fraud in Detroit...Paul Gronke finds "Even MORE on newspaper registration forms??"...

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

CA: Instant-runoff voting a go for Oakland
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_14132699
01/06/2010...There will be an upfront cost: the county says it will charge up to $1.5 million to pay for voter education and equipment upgrades to launch instant-runoff voting in Oakland, Berkeley and San Leandro.

CA: Bloggers come out swinging for IRV
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/inoakland/detail?&entry_id=54632

CT: Do Voters Deserve Same Protections As Small Businesses, Schools, and Non-Profits?
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?p=2748
The American Bankers Association has issued guidelines that small businesses should use separate computers for banking transactions to avoid viruses that can steal funds.

HI: Constitutional amendment sought to establish secretary of state in Hawaii
http://bit.ly/6UeP5A
Jan 06, 2010 - Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona said today that he would propose a constitutional amendment to establish an independent, elected Secretary of State to administer elections. The Secretary of State would replace the state Elections Commission and the chief elections officer

HI: Hearing shows Hawaii special election funding is still in limbo
http://disappearednews.com/2010/01/hearing-shows-hawaii-special-election.html
...Now it has an additional challenge since Congressman Neil Abercrombie announced he will resign to run for governor on February 28...
...
Much more important is what happens when the Chief Elections Officer does issue the writ of election. Whether the election takes place by mail or in traditional polling places, it can’t be paid for by IOUs.

IL: Champaign County Clerk - Taking the Job Seriously
http://blog.champaigncountyclerk.com/2010/01/05/taking-the-job-seriously/
In the bustle of election day, mistakes can happen. Every election we try to do more to prevent those mistakes. The number of judges going through training should give every voter confidence that their election judges are doing their best to bring them a fair, honest, and efficient election day.

MA: Concerns over measure to let Bay State voters register on Election Day
http://www.lowellsun.com/todaysheadlines/ci_14118454
01/04/2010 BOSTON -- Supporters of a bill to allow Massachusetts voters to register on Election Day say it will improve citizen participation as it has in nine states that allow the system.
...
Barnstable Town Clerk Linda Hutchenrider says the trade-off between provisional ballots and same-day registration makes the proposed law change worthwhile.

"Instead of there being a great confusion and individuals needing a provisional ballot and signing 75 sheets, let them just fill out the card, vote and that's it," she said.

MI: Barrow asks Cox to investigate alleged voter fraud in Detroit
http://www.detnews.com/article/20100106/METRO/1060407/1361/Barrow-asks-Cox-to-investigate-alleged-voter-fraud-in-Detroit
Jan 6, 2009. Detroit -- The man who lost to Dave Bing in November's mayoral election today asked Michigan's Attorney General for a criminal investigation of what he claims is evidence of massive ballot tampering and a conspiracy to cover-up the manipulation.

Tom Barrow earlier this month called for the Detroit Election Board to resign and a full investigation launched after the Wayne County Board of Canvassers ruled none of the 41,485 absentee ballots cast in the Nov. 3 election could be recounted after problems were found with security seals on ballot storage boxes. Another 8,001 ballots cast live in neighborhood precincts also got tossed.

MI: Report: Michigan voters wrongly purged from rolls
http://michiganmessenger.com/32680/report-michigan-voters-wrongly-purged-from-rolls
Group claims Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land removed voters under pressure from Bush administration
1/5/10 Thousands of people may have been wrongly removed from the state’s registered voter database due to a botched list management effort undertaken by the Michigan Bureau of Elections under pressure from the Bush administration.

MN: MN Court Allows for the Viewing of 2008 Absentee Ballots
http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/news/articles.php?ID=7027
January 6, 2010 In the aftermath of Coleman v. Franken, several Minnesota television news organizations filed an action seeking a declaratory judgment to have absentee ballots from the November 2008 general election classified as accessible to the public.

NY: Machines 'Elected'
http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/3753811
Democratic Commissioner William Biamonte told The Post he and his GOP counterpart in Nassau opted to buy Elections Systems & Software machines after using the ballot-marking device for some machines made by rival Dominion in the 2008 elections and finding problems with more than half of them.

NY: ES&S Wins Voting Machine Vote
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2010/01/ess-wins-voting-machine-vote.html January 5, 2010 City Board of Elections commissioners today handed Election Systems and Software of Omaha a multimillion-dollar contract to replace the city's old lever voting machines with new, electronic models.

NY: Company that promised NY jobs doesn’t get lucrative contract
http://statepolitics.lohudblogs.com/2010/01/05/company-that-promised-ny-jobs-doesnt-get-lucrative-contract/
...Toronto-based Dominion Voting, which has offices in upstate New York, did not win the contract. Company officials had told the city board that selecting Dominion would mean more jobs for New Yorkers.

NY: As Clout Grows, Working Families Party Faces a Question: Has It Reached Too Far?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/nyregion/06wfp.html?pagewanted=1

OR: Tax survey sparks Ore. election complaint
http://www.ktvz.com/Global/story.asp?S=11780121
January 6, 2010 SALEM, Ore. (AP) - Election officials are looking into a complaint that a consultant who's running the campaign to defeat two Oregon tax hikes has been sending surveys to voters that look too much like actual ballots.

TN: Election commission discusses voting machine legislation
http://bit.ly/6ZMqfy
January 6, 2010 ...Members of the Dyer County Election Commission discuss legislation which would delay the use of optical-scan machines in the upcoming 2010 elections.

WA: Even MORE on newspaper registration forms?? (photos included)
http://electionupdates.caltech.edu/?p=3035
I discovered that the Washington Bus Project actually tried the newspaper “wrap” registration form last year.

National

Rebecca Mercuri's Dissertation
http://josephhall.org/nqb2/index.php/2010/01/04/mercuriphd
One of the godmothers of electronic voting is Rebecca Mercuri. Her PhD dissertation introduced the concept of the voter-verified paper audit trail. I've wanted to read a copy of this thesis for a while and recently had a renewed interest in it.

International

Canada: Pembroke Residents To Vote Online
http://www.myfmradio.ca/1049/wire/news/04012_P_Voting_Method_1-web_075945.php
06 Jan 2010 This year will be a little different for Pembroke residents when they go to vote. Pembroke Council has approved the use of phone and internet as the alternate voting method for the 2010 Municipal Elections.

UK: London : 21 January 2010 : Election Ballot Usability with Clare Barnett and Caroline Jarrett http://ballotusability.blogspot.com/2010/01/london-21-january-2010-election-ballot.html
The UKUPA is proud to announce our first 2010 event with a very timely look at a usability study carried out on online voting for the UK Electoral Commission.

Voting News by Joyce McCloy.
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