SC lawmaker: probe Primary, 2 other races . Monroe KY vote buying conspiracy

Sen Clyburn suspects a "plant": Alvin Greene,unknown & who did not campaign, won the South Carolina Dem primary for US Senate. Unemployed & with only $114 in campaign acct, Greene paid a $10,440 filing fee. Greene received 100,233 votes. Vic Raul, who did campaign, is an ex-judge, has served 4 terms in the state leg received 69,771..Garland Co AR voting lawsuit dropped...Indictments in Monroe Co.KY vote buying scheme..West Virginia SoS Tennant touts "high participation rate" for the overseas internet pilot but only 54 ballots cast from 5 counties..CT Voter asks "How’s that votie integrity thing goin’ for us?"..India says no to internet voting..

Editor Note - I made a mistake yesterday, attributed Saugatuck article to PA state, but should be MI. Corrected and reposted today. Thanks for letting me know any errors you see!

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


AL: James seeks statewide recount (paper ballots according to Verified Voting)
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20100610/NEWS/100609548/1007/NEWS02?Title=James-seeks-statewide-recount Tuscaloosa County’s recount for the governor’s race in the Republican primary will begin Monday morning, said Jim Zeanah, chairman of the Tuscaloosa County Republican Executive Committee.

James will have to pay for the recount in each county. James decided to go statewide after the 40 counties’ proposed recount costs came in below the campaign’s anticipated budget of $200,000, spokesman Brett Hall said.

AR: UPDATE: Garland County voting lawsuit dropped
http://arkansasnews.com/2010/06/10/lawyer-considers-dropping-garland-county-voting-lawsuit/
“Since Mr. Tapp resigned as chairman, coupled with the limited remedies, we decided to … dismiss the case,” Hooten said today.

AR: Garland County: Tapp Resigns, Not Over Yet
http://bluearkansasblog.com/?p=3072 One of the better things that has come out of this is the real mandate for election reform in this state. Not only were problems reported in Garland County in the runoff, but there were some really bizarre things that happened in Monroe County in the initial primary.

AZ: Activist U.S. Supreme Court Demolishes AZ's 'Clean Elections' Law,
States Rights http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7888

CA: Monterey County election done, but counting ballots remains
http://www.montereyherald.com/local/ci_15268353?nclick_check=1
County registrar Linda Tulett estimated Wednesday there are about 24,000 ballots remaining to be counted — mail ballots turned in at the polls Tuesday and...

CA: Registrar moves to 24-hour operation to finish count
http://www.mydesert.com/article/20100610/NEWS03/100610017/County-to-go-over-election-procedures-with-a-fine-tooth-comb- Riverside County Registrar Barbara Dunmore said her office is moving to a 24-hour operation and hopes to have all the 106,000 outstanding ballots counted by noon Friday.

CA: 43% of Riverside County ballots uncounted
http://www.inlandnewstoday.com/story.php?s=14631

CA: County's vote tally slowest in state
106,000 ballots have yet to be tallied by registrar
http://www.mydesert.com/article/20100610/NEWS0301/6100307/County-s-vote-tally-slowest-in-state
In a release, Registrar Barbara Dunmore said nearly 30,000 vote-by-mail ballots were dropped off at polling places Tuesday. Another 40,000 were received in the two days before the election.

CA: 26,000 mail-in ballots yet to be tallied in county
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20100609/ARTICLES/100609497/1350?Title=Ballots-remain-uncounted&tc=ar Sonoma County

CA: POLLING PLACES THAT DON’T OPEN ON TIME
http://electionupdates.caltech.edu/?p=3238

CA: Controversy surrounds Fresno council runoffs
http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/06/09/1964376/controversy-surrounds-fresno-council.html
Medical-marijuana clinic owner Rick Morse has said he brought a group of homeless people to vote and offered to buy them hamburgers, but not in exchange for votes for any candidate...
The allegations come on the heels of another claim against Briggs -- that he doesn't live in the district. He says he lives in an apartment owned by a longtime...

CT: GOP Head: Wife's signature forged
http://www.thehour.com/printstory/487597/ Norwalker Patricia Risley says she didn't sign a petition endorsing Easton Republican Tom Herrmann's request for a primary election for the 4th Congressional District seat.

KY: Monroe County judge exec, others indicted in vote buying scheme
http://www.wfie.com/Global/story.asp?S=12630497
BOWLING GREEN, KY (WFIE) - A federal grand jury in Bowling Green has indicted Wilbur P. Graves, age 53; Gary M. "Meathead" Bartley, age 52; Wanda L. Moore, age 23; and Ronald D. Muse, age 33, all of Tompkinsville, Kentucky, in Monroe County, on charges of conspiring to buy votes in the 2006 General Election there, and for buying votes during the election.

MD: Miserable failure to get proposed Maryland rules for political use of social media http://politicalactivitylaw.com/2010/06/09/miserable-failure-to-get-proposed-maryland-rules-for-political-use-of-social-media/ Well, I tried. I emailed and called the Maryland State Board of Elections to get a copy of recently proposed rules involving political uses of social media...

MI: CORRECTION, MI (not PA): Who made mistake that spoiled Saugatuck Township recount? Clerk and election officials disagree http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2010/06/who_made_mistake_that_spoiled.html

NC: First Independent Candidate for U.S. House in North Carolina May Have Qualified for Ballot http://www.ballot-access.org/2010/06/10/first-independent-candidate-for-u-s-house-in-north-carolina-may-have-qualified-for-ballot/
On June 10, Wendell Fant submitted approximately 30,000 signatures to be on the North Carolina ballot as an independent candidate for U.S. House, 8th district.

SC: S.C. lawmaker calls for investigations of Democratic primary, 2 other races
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/10/AR2010061004943.html

SC: The Manning-churian Candidate
http://www.free-times.com/index.php?cat=1992209084141467&act=post&pid=11861006100935349
In the small town of Manning, where Greene had grown up and moved back to a year and two days before, things were weird the morning after Election Day.

SC: Clyburn Alleges Conspiracy To Plant Candidates In Three Dem Primaries In S.C.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/06/clyburn_ alvin_greene_not_only_suspicious_candidate.php?ref=fpblg http://is.gd/cKKQd

SC:S.C.'s Alvin Greene a mystery man despite becoming Democratic Senate nominee
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/10/AR2010061002499.html
MANNING, S.C. -- Alvin M. Greene never gave a speech during his quixotic campaign to become this state's Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate. The mystery man of South Carolina politics didn't launch a Web site or hire consultants or plant lawn signs. There's only $114 in his campaign bank account, he says, and the only check he ever wrote was to cover his filing fee.

SC: Greene's Filing Fee Check Featured Hand-Scrawled 'Alvin M. Greene For Senate'
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/06
/alvin_greene_filing_fee_check.php http://is.gd/cKKSx
In March, unemployed veteran Alvin Greene showed up at the Democratic party headquarters in Columbia, South Carolina, to register as a candidate for U.S. Senate. To pay the filing fee, he was bearing a personal check for $10,440

SC: Election Results for Democratic Primary for US Senate Race
http://www.enr-scvotes.org/SC/16117/27707/en/md.html?cid=202
SC uses Clarity Elections by Florida Co SOE Software to report results
www.clarityelections.com or http://www.soesoftware.com/

SC: Clyburn: Alvin Greene is 'someone's plant' in South Carolina
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2010/06/clyburn-alvin-greene-is-someon.html?wprss=44 ...that the state's baroque political culture has given rise to fake candidates in the past...

SC: Warr protests Lamar No. 1 in Darlington County Council race
http://www2.scnow.com/scp/news/local/pee_dee/article/warr_files_
protest_of_lamar_1_in_darlington_county_council_race/184728/
http://is.gd/cKKUJ

SC: South Carolina Restriction on Fusion Backfires on Democratic Party
http://www.ballot-access.org/2010/06/09/south-carolina-restriction-on-fusion-backfires-on-democratic-party/

TX: Texas Democrats Sue Green Party
http://www.ballot-access.org/2010/06/10/texas-democrats-sue-green-party/
On June 10, the Texas Democratic Party filed a lawsuit in state court in Austin, seeking a court order to prevent the Green Party from certifying the names of its nominees to the Secretary of State

UT: Fewer polling stations will save money in primaries(voters will be notified)
http://www.clippertoday.com/view/full_story/7788836/article-Fewer-polling-stations-will-save-money-in-primariescondary_stories_left_column
FARMINGTON — Primary elections don’t tend to draw tens of thousands to the polls.
...
Voting places have been cut more than half, from 69 to 29, for the June 22 primary.


National

How’s that votie integrity thing goin’ for us?
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?p=3249
From reading local papers and watching news channels we get the impression that there were no election glitches to worry about either.

Federal Election Commission Expands Definition of “Press”
http://www.ballot-access.org/2010/06/10/federal-election-commission-expands-definition-of-press/
Specifically the FEC voted that Citizens United is “press”. Citizens United has made fourteen movies about politics. Because it is now recognized as “press”

The End of Public Financing?
http://www.brennancenter.org/blog/archives/reports_of_public_
financings_demise_are_greatly_exaggerated/24Z http://is.gd/cKKWE
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court issued an order that can only be described as irresponsible. About two months from the primary election and five months from the general, the Court blocked the state of Arizona from providing its publicly-funded candidates with so-called trigger funds...

Rise of the Richies
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/10/opinion/10collins.html
Whenever we try to come up with a system that will even the playing field, the Supreme Court calls foul.

What the Court Did—and Why
http://www.the-american-interest.com/article-bd.cfm?piece=853

Preview for November 2010 midterms: Ballot questions
http://nonprofitvote.blogspot.com/2010/06/preview-for-november-2010-midterms.html

Internet Voting Watch

Online Voting a Success in West Virginia
http://www.cbs59.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=81145
VN Editor note: WV SoS Tennant is touting 5 county internet vote pilot as success, but funny she doesn't mention that there were only 54 ballots cast @ about $1,333 per ballot. We also don't know why all voters who asked for pin did not register a vote.

[reference to actual voting numbers reported May 20 in Electionline http://is.gd/ctI2d and West Virginia SOS PR http://is.gd/ctI4c ]

WV: Online voting pilot program sees high participation rate
http://wvgazette.com/News/201006091022

India: GoM to discuss voting rights for NRIs today
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/GoM-to-discuss-voting-rights-for-NRIs-today/articleshow/6029575.cms
The proposal to allow internet voting to 50 lakh Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) has been shot down by the Election Commission citing feasibility problems...


Secretary of State’s office releases election numbers from the online pilot program.
Voting News by Joyce McCloy.Archives here at http://votingnews.blogspot.com/
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