SC Voting machine lawsuit heads to court. Target 'sorry' political donations offend

NC taxpayers overcharged for election ballots?...Some problems with Michigan polls but state has paper ballots...South Carolina Federal voting machine case clears first hurdle...The Federal Voting Assistance Program has opened a 24X7 call center to assist overseas military voters...Target President and CEO “genuinely sorry” that their political donations offend...

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


AZ: Sheriff Arpaio Political Ad Under Investigation
County Attorney: Ad Violates State Law
http://www.kpho.com/news/24503664/detail.html

CA: LA city councilman indicted on felony voter fraud
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_15676906?nclick_check=1
A Los Angeles city councilman and his wife were indicted on a total of 24 felony counts stemming from allegations he lived outside his district, prosecutors announced Wednesday.

CT: CT Elections Enforcement Commission rules free social media must have campaign expense disclaimer http://www.deliberatect.com/node/355

CT: New link to check your CT Voter Registration
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/new-link-to-check-your-ct-voter-registration/

IL: Former political workers sentenced for vote fraud *
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-08-04/news/ct-met-vote-fraud-sentence-0805-20100804_1_eapen-and-ramos-anish-eapen-absentee-ballots
Two former political workers for Ald. Bernard Stone, 50th, were each sentenced to nearly a year in Cook County Jail on Wednesday for attempting to manipulate absentee ballots in Stone's hotly contested 2007 election.

KS: County commission results delayed *
http://www.dodgeglobe.com/news/local/x1137371715/County-commission-results-delayed
Unofficial results from the Ford County Commission race were not available by press time Tuesday, due to a glitch at the Ford County Clerk's office.
Ford County Clerk Sharon Seibel said her staff had to enter one voting card into the system by hand, so full results would not be available until today.

MI: One vote separates 1st District competitors
Recount likely in Republican race to beat Gary McDowell
http://www.freep.com/article/20100804/NEWS15/100804020/1435/1-vote-separates-1st-District-competitors
According to the Michigan Secretary of State’s Web site, political newcomer and Tea Party candidate Dr. Dan Benishek of Crystal Falls led state Sen. Jason Allen of Alanson by a single vote, 27,091-to-27,090. The Associated Press’ tally had the difference only a little larger – Benishek led by 12 votes out of some 71,000 cast.

MI: Allen accepts 1 vote shortfall; recount looms
http://record-eagle.com/latest/x1243785828/Allen-accepts-1-vote-shortfall-recount-looms
TRAVERSE CITY — State Sen. Jason Allen of Alanson withdrew his claim of victory and accepted an unofficial, single-vote margin that awarded the Republican nomination in the 1st Congressional District to Crystal Falls physician Dan Benishek.

MI: Genesee County elections officials say they issued wrong voting results on election night *
http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2010/08/genesee_county_elections_offic.html
GENESEE COUNTY -- County elections officials say they released incorrect voting results after Tuesday's primary election, never realizing they left out absentee ballots until early this morning.

"There's no excuse. We should know how to run our own reports," county Elections Supervisor Doreen D. Fulcher told the county Board of Canvassers today.

MI: Learning curve with new e-pollbook system causes some delays in tallying votes*
http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2010/08/learning_curve_with_new_e-poll.html
...She said some workers issued a paper ballot and forgot to hit "proceed" in the e-pollbook, causing voters' ballots to be misnumbered, which meant workers had to go back and inspect the voter applications.
...
Kent County Clerk Mary Hollinrake said processing absentee and regular ballots also caused a problem. When absentee ballots were entered into the database, she said, they would override the regular ballots already there, causing county workers to backtrack.

MI: Voting machine links: The quirks of using AutoMARK *
http://www.annarbor.com/vielmetti/voting-machine-links-automark/
Once the machine recognizes the ballot, I have not had problems. The problems generally arise before the ballot is marked, where the AutoMARK system spits out the ballot as unrecognized. Most of the problems arise when the ballot stub is not detached. (Some states do not have a ballot stub, some do)

MN: Letter - Proud of recount process
http://www.echopress.com/event/article/id/77081/group/Opinion/
At this point, Norm Coleman is silent about the election; no public official is willing to own the allegation that there was widespread voter fraud.
...
Minnesota Majority opposed legislation, SF 763 and HF 1053, in 2009, that would help detect and prevent felons from voting.

MN: Minnesota Forward: Target President and CEO “genuinely sorry”
http://politicalactivitylaw.com/2010/08/05/minnesota-forward-target-president-and-ceo-genuinely-sorry/
Steinhafel also said Target would set up a review process for future political donations after the company’s first one created a growing political firestorm.

NC: NC taxpayers overcharged for election ballots?
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=7594874
Wake County uses Commercial Printing in Raleigh and gets its ballots for about half of that. An internal e-mail from Franklin County estimates $0.42 per ballot from Printelect, while an invoice from Wake County averages $0.13.

OK: Hearing set for today over voting problem claims in Tulsa-area primary
http://newsok.com/hearing-set-for-today-over-voting-problem-claims-in-tulsa-area-primary/article/3482239

SC: Federal voting machine case clears first hurdle
http://www.scpronet.com/wordpress/2010/08/04/federal-voting-machine-case-clears-first-hurdle/
On July 28, Federal Judge Cameron Currie ruled that the SC Election Commission had until Aug. 20 to defend itself against a complaint that the voting machines in South Carolina do not meet federal requirements for record keeping.

SC: Voting machine lawsuit headed to court, Election Commission to respond (AUDIO)
http://www.southcarolinaradionetwork.com/2010/08/04/voting-machine-lawsuit-headed-to-court-election-commission-to-respond-audio/ “I believe that the Election Commission doesn’t want a full system audit for fear that it would conclude, like a recent audit in Iowa did, that these machines should be scrapped,” Bursey says.

Internet Voting Watch

STATE ELECTION OFFICIALS: RECOUNTABLE PROCESS A MUST FOR OVERSEAS VOTERS
http://www.ceimn.org/Elections_oversees_military_UOCAVA_NASS_MOVE_voting_recountable

National

FVAP ANSWERS QUESTIONS 24 /7
http://www.fvap.gov/global/news/nr21-2010.html
AGENCY LAUNCHES CALL CENTER AND CHAT OPTION FOR REAL-TIME AVAILABILITY

International

India: New strategy to switch from electronic voting to paper ballots
http://gulfnews.com/news/world/india/new-strategy-to-switch-from-electronic-voting-to-paper-ballots-1.664007
The strategy is to put up more candidates for the Bihar legislative assembly elections in each of the 243 constituencies than the machines can cope with.

Voting News by Joyce McCloy.
Archives here at http://votingnews.blogspot.com/
Also on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/VotingNews and at Twitter http://twitter.com/VotingNewsSubscribe to Voting News at this link: http://tinyurl.com/votingnews To assist with Daily Voting News, please send links to news articles to us at votingnews@earthlink.net

=============================================

"The Voting News is a free service made possible in part by support from Verified Voting Foundation. You can help support the Voting News by sending a check to Verified Voting Foundation, PO Box 4104, Carlsbad, CA 92018. Be sure to note "for Voting News" in the memo line of your check! Your contribution is tax deductible to the extent permitted by law."Donate online at this link: http://tinyurl.com/donate-vnDisclaimer: 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.