Virginia State Election server still down. DC internet vote experiment delayed

13 candidates file for statewide contest for NC appeals court, to be tallied by IRV and counties don't yet have procedures...TrustTheVote announces that District of Columbia will delay their internet voting experiment that uses overseas troops as guinea pigs. DC has advertised this pilot as "Digital Vote By Mail Service", but it still is internet voting, inherently insecure. Overseas military votes will instead be experimented with in November...NASS Designates September National Voter Registration Month...

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

AK: Senate race grows heated over ballot counting
http://www.adn.com/2010/08/30/1431794/miller-calls-for-trooper-guard.html
Elections officials said Roman did request access to the computer with the state's voter registration system but was not allowed. Alaska Division of Elections Director Gail Fenumiai said he would have not been able to compromise the system anyway. "There is no GEMS server in the Wasilla office, so there's no way the state ballot tabulation system was compromised," Fenumiai said.

AR: Early voting controversy in Cabot gets heated (video available)
http://www.fox16.com/news/local/story/Early-voting-controversy-in-Cabot-gets-heated/8LM42oBqaUG9SEGy8ruT0Q.cspx?rss=315
One election commission chair says it was a big misunderstanding that actually had one commissioner fearing for her safety. After a heated meeting, voters in Cabot will keep their early voting, just not all of it.

AZ: Arizona Democratic Party alleges voter fraud
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2010/08/31/20100831arizona-democratic-party-voter-fraud.html
The state Democratic Party is alleging possible voter fraud in what it called a scheme to undermine its candidates by recruiting "sham" Green Party hopefuls.

CA: San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors will consider response to grand jury report
http://www.lodinews.com/news/article_ce5bb451-2869-5447-b524-69e1549116f5.html
...The Grand Jury recommends that the county seek state legislation allowing it to conduct elections by mail only...The Grand Jury also advised the county to reduce the number of precincts with voting machines for special-needs voters to five.

CT: Hand count in Brookfield shows voting machines were accurate
http://www.newstimes.com/local/article/Hand-count-in-Brookfield-shows-voting-machines-639226.php The results of audits will be analyzed by the University of Connecticut and then presented to the secretary of the state's office and the State Elections Enforcement Commission.

FL: Edge to conduct own ballot review in Port St. Lucie mayor's race *
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2010/aug/30/edge-to-conduct-own-ballot-review-in-port-st /
“I just have some issues with the care, custody and control of the ballots,” Edge said. “Where did we get 257 missing ballots all of the sudden? At the very least, there’s a problem with the issue of an accurate count. If we go with the numbers from Saturday night, they have to order a state-mandated manual recount

FL: Fla. Supreme Court Rejects Last-Minute Challenge to Redistricting Initiative
http://electionlawblog.org/archives/016851.html

IL: Judge strikes down nonprofit's bid to keep donors private
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-0831-chicago-law-20100831,0,6013130.column Center for Individual Freedom had challenged Illinois law requiring disclosure of campaign contributions

NC: 13 candidates file for open NC appeals court job
http://www.thesunnews.com/2010/08/31/1666901/13-candidates-file-for-open-nc.html
Voters will receive optical scan ballots for this race even if they are in a county that uses touch-screen machines. (there is no legal software to tally IRV and North Carolina and counties do not yet have tallying procedures)

OH: 5,800 dead in Ohio still on voter rolls
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/08/30/copy/5800-dead-in-ohio-still-on-voter-rolls.html
The process to cancel a registration starts after a voter doesn't cast a ballot for four years or two federal elections. Counties also remove deceased voters after getting a monthly report of deaths from the state Department of Health.

But spokeswoman Jen House said that when an Ohioan dies outside the state - and about 3,000 do each year - it can take months or even into the next year for the other state to notify the Department of Health about the death.

TN: More on Election Day Glitches
http://blogs.knoxnews.com/humphrey/2010/08/more-on-election-day-glitches.html
Meanwhile, in Memphis. Jackson Baker gives an overview of how the Aug. 5 election "refuses to go away" in Shelby County.

TX: Vote fraud vs. voter supression debate returns to Texas
http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/08/six-years-ago-attorney-general.html


VA: Update: Some State Computers back up: DMV still affected* (5 days so far)
24 of 27 state agencies back online (Video)
http://www.wdbj7.com/news/wdbj7-story-roanoke-state-computers-down-083010,0,6417013.story
Three agencies are still having troubles, including the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Department of Taxation and the State Board of Elections
...
But the state board of elections also can't submit any absentee applications or voter registration forms; all of this the result of a massive server failure in Richmond where all state agencies share space.


Internet Voting Watch

D.C. Resets Timeline for Digital Vote By Mail Service
http://www.trustthevote.org/d-c-resets-timeline-for-digital-vote-by-mail-service
... The project has been given some breathing room and will launch during the general election in November as publicly announced this morning.
...
Meanwhile the D.C. Elections Executive Director Rokey Suleman stated earlier this morning:

We are delaying this project to take the time to properly configure the hardware and software, conduct a public evaluation and feedback period, and educate overseas voters about their choices.

National

OVF Research Newsletter July - August 2010
http://cts.vresp.com/c/?OverseasVoteFoundati/f3b2bb489b/6892a3d86f/0b8b5a32ef
The American Diaspora by Judith Murray, These are our numbers: Civilian Americans Overseas and Voter Turnout by Dr. Claire M. Smith,When Citizenship Doesn’t Equal Voting Rights


NASS Designates September National Voter Registration Month
http://nonprofitvote.blogspot.com/2010/08/nass-designates-september-national.html
The goal of designating September 2010 as National Voter Registration Month is to make eligible voters aware of registration deadlines and requirements for this year's November 2 general election.
...
For more information visit www.canivote.org and http://www.nonprofitvote.org/ .

International

India: Hari Prasad to present his ‘EVM paper’ at Chicago
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/hari-prasad-to-present-his-evm-paper-at-chicago/674796/
Two days after his release on bail, Hyderabad-based researcher Hari Prasad is busy preparing for a presentation of his controversial paper on security aspects of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) at a conference in Chicago on October 5

Philippines: Prisoners gain freedom to vote
http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/274283/prisoners-gain-freedom-vote
The Bureau of Jail and Management and Penology (BJMP) said that inmates can now decide the fate of local candidates in the next local election citing that the 20,000 detainees who registered for the May 10 national elections and the newly registered inmate voters is enough to make a difference in the next elections.

Philippines: CA upholds Comelec execs suspension tied to poll folder
http://www.mb.com.ph/node/274273/ca-uphold
The six-month suspension slapped by the Office of the Ombudsman against Commission on Elections (Comelec) officials linked to the botched P690-million ballot secrecy folder (BSF) contract remains in effect.

This developed as the Court of Appeals (CA) refused to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the Ombudsman and order placing the Comelec executives under preventive suspension for the alleged overpriced contract for folders that were supposed to be used in the May 10 automated elections

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