John Gideon remembered. New Voting Rights Act challenge. Internet Voting update

Today marks one year since the passing of John Gideon, editor of the original Daily Voting News. Ellen Theisen describes John: "I would say he was a watchdog in the truest sense. He watched Congress, the EAC, WA state legislature and SoS, as well as election related events around the country. Then when he sensed something wrong, he announced it loud and strong to anyone who would listen, and often to those who would rather he quit barking."... Brad Friedman has a special blog about John today - "Has Anybody Here Seen My Old Friend John?"...On the news front: Another challenge to Sect 5 of Voting Rights Act, this time from Alabama...Unilect lawsuit in PA...Hushed money...Key Canadian official tells House of Commons that the integrity of internet voting cannot be assured...

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


Has Anybody Here Seen My Old Friend John?...
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7814

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


AL: Alabama county to sue DOJ over Section 5 constitutionality
http://www.votelaw.com/blog/archives/006368.html
...(Shelby) County attorney Butch Ellis said Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act forbids cities and towns in nine states, including Alabama, from making changes in voting practices or procedures without approval from the federal government.

CA: Merced County seeks removal from Federal Voting Rights Act's restrictions
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2010/04/27/1401088/merced-county-seeks-removal-from.html
Merced is one of only four counties in state subject to rules of section of voting law

CA: Rally Tuesday: Voters Say Lancaster Election Should Be Dumped *
http://newsblaze.com/story/20100426173412zzzz.nb/topstory.html
...an ineligible candidate, Victoria Zavala, was not properly vetted (she lived in Quartz Hill, not Lancaster) and appeared on the ballot. She received more than 2,000 votes.

CO: Colorado Town Debates Mandatory Voting Law
http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/colorado-pub-owner-proposes-mandatory-voting/story?id=10481451 Citing Poor Turnout, Brewer and Pub Owner Pushes for Mandatory Voting in His Small Town

CO: Bill letting parolees vote moves
http://www.thedenverdailynews.com/article.php?aID=8209

CT: Updated: Candidate Withdraws Bounty On Republican Registrations
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?p=3121

CT: Nov 09 Election Audit Reports – Part 2 – Inadequate Counting, Reporting, and Transparency Continue http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?p=3101
...closed counting of ballots leaves an opening for fraud and error to go undetected and defeats the purpose and integrity of the audit...

CT: Nov 09 Election Audit Reports – Part 1 – Problems Continue and Some Good News
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?p=3092

NY: County Sues to Retain Lever Voting Machines
http://www.nytowns.org/web/2010/04/county_
sues_to_retain_lever_voti.aspx http://bit.ly/bn39L1
Nassau County has filed a lawsuit against the New York State Board of Elections in an attempt to block the use of optical scan voting machines.

OH: Man Sentenced For Lying About Levy Vote *
http://www.whiotv.com/news/23277860/detail.html
SIDNEY, Ohio -- A Sidney man, who recanted his claim that he was paid $2,500 to vote for the Sidney School Levy last November, was sentenced Tuesday morning.

OR: Online Registration
http://kohd.com/news/local/171497 New voters can register at www.oregonvotes.org and those already registered can update information.

PA: Pennsylvania Military and Overseas Voters, Request your Ballot for the May 18, 2010 State Primary Now! http://www.fvap.gov/global/news/nr9-2010.html

PA: Appeals court sets Unilect argument
http://sharonherald.com/local/x563633118/Appeals-court-sets-Unilect-argument
MERCER COUNTY — U.S. Court of Appeal for the Third Circuit has set argument for May 19 in Pittsburgh in the case of Mercer County suing the company that provided a former voting machine system.

PA: Bucks Commissioners spar over Primary Election inspectors
http://www.buckslocalnews.com/articles/2010/04/27/
bucks_news/doc4bd745f8be112911723953.txt http://bit.ly/9wZpaP

TN: Purge voters with care
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/apr/27/purge-voters-with-care/
Contrary to popular belief, voter turnout among the dead is quite low in Tennessee. Voting fraud of any kind, in fact, is so rare it's not worth worrying about

TN: Tennessee’s “deficient” voter registration problem
http://www.brennancenter.org/blog/archives/tennessees_voter_purging/
Another benefit of modernizing the voter registration system is that it would remove politics from what should be a purely administrative function

TX: Plastic Ballot Box Debacle in Rio Hondo
http://www.valleycentral.com/news/story.aspx?id=448929 ...there was a problem with one of the locks on the steel ballot box and therefore he was instructed by the Cameron County Elections Administrator to use a plastic bin as a

TX: Dodson requests recount (Hale County, recount by Hart machines)
http://www.myplainview.com/articles/2010/04/26/breaking_
news/doc4bd622c526365396427279.txt http://bit.ly/cQY8ld

VT: Instant run-off voting experiment ends in Burlington
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100427/
NEWS03/4270339/1004/NEWS03 http://bit.ly/dhJpdo

WI: FEW meeting this Wednesday 6:30 - Agenda Fair Elections Wisconsin Wednesday April 28 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fairelectionswisconsin/message/2347

Citizens United

Lyle Denniston's Must-Read Preview of *Doe v. Reed*
http://electionlawblog.org/archives/015818.html

Hushed Money
Could Karl Rove's new 527 avoid campaign-finance disclosure requirements?
http://www.slate.com/id/2249952/
We may soon be going retro, back to the pre-Watergate era of secret campaign cash.

National

American Statistical Association Endorses Risk-limiting Audits of Election Results
http://blog.verifiedvoting.org/2010/04/27/444

“Voter Fraud Agenda,” Indeed
http://www.brennancenter.org/blog/archives/john_
funds_voter_fraud_agenda_indeed/ http://bit.ly/9Qso5F
... critiquing the fraud that absentee ballots may foster, Mr. Fund repeats his support for requiring strict voter ID at the polls. Which, of course, does nothing to address the absentee problem he’s just mentioned

Election Legislation Hearings of the Week Project Vote Blog (for CA & TN)
http://www.projectvote.org/blog/?p=414

Internet voting watch

Canada: Council to look at ‘electronic’ voting
April 27, 2010 By John McPhee
http://www.walkerton.com/news/article/88396 Brockton council is considering switching to Internet and telephone voting for the next municipal election.

Canada: City council dismisses online voting
http://www.chroniclejournal.com/stories_local.php?id=260070
Thunder Bay city Coun. Trevor Giertuga worries ballots could be bought if the city allowed municipal voting over the Internet and by telephone.

Canada: No online option
http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/89755/No-online-option
Giertuga said with online voting, a person could sell their vote and no one would know. One person could also cast votes for an entire household he added.

Canada: Bill before Commons would add advance polling days to federal elections
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Bill+before+
Commons+would+advance+polling+days+federal+elections/2953963/story.html
http://bit.ly/d7prNB The Manitoba MP, the Harper government's minister of state for democratic reform, introduced legislation in the House of Commons Monday to add two more advance voting days to national elections...
...
Fletcher suggested moving to a system of Internet voting would be risky, because the integrity of the system cannot be assured.

US/CT: Computer Glitch Pauses SGA Election (Central CT State University)
http://centralrecorder.com/2010/04/27/computer-glitch-pauses-sga-election/
Students who were the first to vote in the Student Government Association elections on Monday morning were subject to a voting glitch that shut the system down. Student had to e-cast their ballots again after the system failure

International

Philippines: Protecting the vote
http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view/20100427-266661/Protecting-the-vote
Everyone is agog with speculations about the failure of elections come May 10. The possible reasons for failure range from what some have termed an “electronic Garci,”

Philippines: STEPPING UP TO PROTECT OUR VOTES
http://gelsantosrelos.typepad.com/my-blog/2010/04/stepping-up-to-protect-our-votes.html

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.