New York warned of 'Electoral Chaos'. Sarasota Fl - Recounts belong to the voters

On Sarasota FL: Tom Lyons says "Recounts belong to the voters" and not a tired candidate or election supervisor...New York Warned of 'Electoral Chaos' in Transition to Electronic Voting: In the Wednesday hearing.."It seems to me that these new machines are more prone to fraud on a mass scale than a lever machine,"~Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs...Harris County Texas Update on the dueling vote fraud press conferences...

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

CA: Lawsuit over Identity of the Officers of the American Independent Party Moves Ahead http://www.ballot-access.org/2010/09/02/lawsuit-over-identity-of-the-officers-of-the-american-independent-party-moves-ahead/

CA: Berkeley council race draws three out candidates
http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=5040
As San Francisco has seen, the implementation of IRV tends to draw more challengers to a race but has not hurt incumbents. And only rarely does the top vote-getter in the first round lose the election.

CO: Obama, McCain and IRV
http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/letter-editor/142290

DC: Glitch affects 7,500 D.C. voters * (voter reg card)
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-breaking-news/dc/glitch-affects-7500-dc-voters.html
The D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics - grappling with early voting and new machines - announced that 7,529 voters in four precincts were issued registration cards that listed them as living in the wrong ward,

DE: Delaware prison-based gerrymandering bill signed
http://www.prisonersofthecensus.org/news/2010/09/01/de_signed/

FL: LYONS: Election recount belongs to voters
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20100902/COLUMNIST/9021085&tc=email_newsletter
Of course Dent would rather not have to do a recount. Ever. What supervisor of elections would? It is extra work. There is some chance of an embarrassing result.

And Dent, especially, has long expressed too much confidence in her voting systems, including the virtually uncheckable touch-screen machines that voters made her get rid of because the public did not share her confidence.

GA: Former Twiggs sheriff, son being investigated for voter fraud (absentee)
http://www.macon.com/2010/09/02/1249522/former-sheriff-in-vote-probe.html
A former Twiggs County sheriff and his son, who ran unsuccessfully for that office in 2008, are facing allegations of voter fraud.
Former Sheriff Doyle Stone and his son Greg Stone have been investigated for allegedly interfering with absentee ballots from some of the county’s voters, according to state officials.

GA: Election officials probing vote fraud in 4 counties (absentee)
http://www.atlantaunfiltered.com/2010/09/02/election-officials-probing-vote-fraud-in-4-counties/
A dozen people, including a former sheriff, mishandled scores of absentee ballots cast in elections in four Georgia counties in 2008, state elections officials were told this week.

HI: Ninth Circuit Upholds Disparity in Hawaii Ballot Access Petitions
http://www.ballot-access.org/2010/09/02/ninth-circuit-upholds-disparity-in-hawaii-ballot-access-petitions/ On September 1, the 9th circuit upheld the disparity in Hawaii’s petition requirements for the two different ways to get on the ballot for president. Nader v Cronin, 08-16444. Here is the 9-page decision...

NY: NY Warned of 'Electoral Chaos' in Transition to Electronic Voting
http://www.courthousenews.com/2010/09/02/30069.htm
MANHATTAN (CN) - In a hearing before the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, Nassau County Attorney John Ciampoli warned that the transition from lever-pull to electronic voting machines will cause "electoral chaos" in the primaries, and that all it will take to "fix" an election is a flash drive that anyone can buy at Staples. Ciampoli said a person with a flash drive would need "approximately 5 minutes of access" to fix an election.

RI: Judge refuses to ban party-line voting option
http://www.projo.com/news/content/HEALEY_HEARING_09-02-10_BVJONE4_v23.21ce431.html
One testifying plaintiff had actually won his elections, Smith said, and another could only say he thought party-line voting might have been a factor in his 2008 defeat.

TN: Hawkins election officials squabble over blame for snafu;
http://timesnews.net/article.php?id=9025939 ROGERSVILLE — There was a lengthy argument during Monday’s Hawkins County Election Commission meeting about who is at fault for failing to hold the minimum number of Saturday early voting dates prior to the Aug. 5 election.

TN: Editorial: Election panel not out of mess
http://www.dnj.com/article/20100902/OPINION01/9020324
As the old saying goes, better late than never.

That's our initial reaction to Monday's vote by the Rutherford County Election Commission to reverse course a bit and reinstate longtime Administrator Hooper Penuel after his abrupt firing last week amid likely Sunshine Law violations.

TX: Update on the dueling vote fraud press conferences
http://www.bloghouston.net/item/8545 Indeed, the most damning data points in the story emerged on the day the story originally broke: The documents posted by voter registrar Leo Vasquez in support of his criticism of the Houston Votes registration efforts

TX: Tax assessor, nonprofit spar over Harris County voter rolls
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7182556.html
Both sides have called for the U.S. Department of Justice to referee the dispute. Whatever the outcome, the public posturing could mark the start of a replay of the 2008 election season, which culminated with the state Democratic Party alleging in a lawsuit that then-registrar Paul Bettencourt was too slow and too picky in processing voter registration applications. The suit eventually was settled with no admission of wrongdoing.

VA: VITA says state computers fixed
http://www2.starexponent.com/news/2010/sep/01/vita-says-state-computers-fixed-ar-483786/ “Getting the ballots ready is pretty much done for Culpeper — they’re nearly ready to go. The hang-up is sending my overseas ballots,” said White, who assumed the registrar’s role in 2007.

White said the bigger problem for her has been the lack of access to VERIS, the state’s election and registration information system. That’s a problem because address information from the post office is used to update voter rolls.

WA: Military voting: 51-day transit exceeds feds’ 45-day rule
http://blogs.sos.wa.gov/FromOurCorner/index.php/2010/09/military-voting-51-day-transit-exceeds-feds-45-day-rule/

Internet Voting Watch

Canada: Should Toronto introduce online voting?
http://www.blogto.com/city/2010/09/should_toronto_introduce_online_voting/

India: Internet voting an option, says Ravi
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=383345&version=1&template_id=40&parent_id=22
The Election Commission will explore ways to implement a new law adopted by the parliament this week giving voting rights to non-resident Indians, a senior minister said yesterday.

US: New on VoxPopuLII: Hall on Electronic Voting and Direct Democracy
http://legalinformatics.wordpress.com/2010/09/01/new-on-voxpopulii-hall-on-electronic-voting-and-direct-democracy/ In his post, Dr. Hall describes the shortcomings of current electronic voting and Internet voting (e-voting) technology, and how those shortcomings are magnified when that technology is applied to citizen lawmaking processes, such as ballot initiatives.

National

Foreclosures Could Pose Trouble on Election Day
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/02/us/politics/02voting.html?_r=1&ref=politics
Each state differs in its definition of a citizen’s “domicile.” Certain states allow people to vote from an old address, if they have not established a new one; others do not. Some allow voters to update their voting registration up until Election Day, while others enforce a deadline of 30 days before. Only a handful of states provide additional leeway for voters who move into the state at the last minute.

International

Afghanistan: NDI Afghanistan election update
http://digest.electionguide.org/2010/09/02/ndi-afghanistan-election-update/
The UN spent over $100 million (including $65 million from the U.S.) to improve voter registration in 2009, but election officials told NDI that some candidates paid women in particular to obtain multiple voting cards because no photo is required for the female card. Also, on July 22, the AIHRC reported, “in some southeastern provinces, such as Paktia and Khost, candidates are buying voter cards for 200 to 500 Pakistani rupees ($2.31 to $5.77).

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