Touchscreens flip votes in N.Carolina, Texas. NY City flubs ballot instructions

Voting absentee by mail? Check postage!..Riverside CO CA starts 24 hour work days processing absentee ballots for Nov 2 election...Touchscreen voting flipping in Craven County NC, also in Dallas and Collin County TX..New York City's Nov 2 ballots instructions may disenfranchise voters...Beware hinky vote by mail applications sent out in NY ...Open Source Non profit group Trust the Vote comments on the DC internet voting hack in "D.C. Reality Check – The Opportunities and Challenges of Transparency"..

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

AK: Democrats threaten to sue state over write-in lists
http://www.ktuu.com/news/ktuu-2010elect-democrat-write-in-lawsuit-threat-102110,0,1747796.story ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The Alaska Democratic Party says it may go to court if the state Division of Elections continues to provide the names of write-in candidates to voters at polling places.

CA: RivCo Registrar of Voters office to start 24-hour operations on Friday
http://www.swrnn.com/southwest-riverside/2010-10-21/news/rivco-registrar-of-voters-office-to-start-24-hour-operations-on-friday Registrar of Voters Barbara Dunmore has predicted about half of the votes cast will be done by mail.

Beginning tomorrow, the Riverside County Registrar of Voters’ Office will go into 24-hour mode to start processing absentee ballots cast in the Nov. 2 general election.

CA: Misinformation from Registrar Could Disenfranchise Voters in San Diego
http://www.projectvote.org/blog/?p=1010 Until this week, the San Diego County Registrar of Voters wrongfully denied the federal voter registration form that thousands of San Diegans completed after downloading it from the California Secretary of State Web site, including CityBeat reporter and voter hopeful, Dave Maass, who contacted Project Vote director of advocacy, Estelle Rogers, after his voter application was rejected, twice.

CA: Ballot mishap*
http://www.martinezgazette.com/news/story/i1586/2010/10/21/ballot-mishap
Two Martinez voters residing on Augustine Drive alerted the Contra Costa County Elections Division this week that they received their permanent vote-by-mail ballots as usual. However, the ballots listed Walnut Creek races instead of Martinez.

CO: Larimer County clerk reveals ballot processing center’s inner workings
http://www.reporterherald.com/news_story.asp?id=29875

CO: Mail-in ballots will be delivered despite postage confusion
http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20101022/NEWS03/10220345
When Larimer County voters take their ballots to the post office for mailing, they'll be charged 44 cents. Or 61 cents.
...
"We took our ballot package and went to the Old Town Post Office, and it was 61 cents. When we went to Boardwalk, it was 44 cents," said Doyle, who expressed frustration about the situation.

FL: Hanging Chads II: Is Palm Beach Worthy of Suspicion or Just Incompetent?
Glitch-plagued county last in state to report returned absentee ballots
http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/hanging-chads-ii-palm-beach-stalls-absentee-ballots ...The reports show Bucher's office has accounted for just 14.55 percent of the domestic absentee ballots and only 10.48 percent of the military/overseas and non-Florida ballots.

That compares to a statewide average of 33.56 percent and 29.21 percent.

GA: State of Georgia Successfully Increasing Voting Opportunities for Military and Overseas Voters http://www.theweekly.com/news/2010/October/21/Overseas_Voters.html

IL: Justice Department agreement with Illinois officials extends time to count military ballots http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2010/10/justice_department_agreement_w.html

IL: Oddities With Illinois Elections
http://illinois.statehousenewsonline.com/4357/oddities-with-illinois-elections/
SPRINGFIELD – Hidden within the seriousness of the election time period are some unique tidbits for Illinois voters to ruminate over.

MN: 5 charged in Clay County with felony voter fraud say they didn't know they couldn't vote http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/295798/
Five convicted felons told Clay County authorities they voted in the 2008 general election, but each also said they didn’t know they weren’t allowed to vote.

MN: Supreme Court hear KSTP-TV's absentee ballot case
http://www.wkbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=13367359
The Minnesota Supreme Court has agreed to hear KSTP-TV's attempt to gain access to rejected absentee ballots that were never counted in the 2008 U.S. Senate race.

NC: Voting Machines Marking Ballots For The Wrong Candidates*
http://www.wcti12.com/news/25482180/detail.html
New Bern -- Voters in Craven County are complaining that voting machines are selecting people they do not want to vote for. Sam Laughinghouse of New Bern and Diana Creel say the machines marked off candidates they did not want to vote for when they touched the screens on the voting machines.

NC: Problems At The Polls* (video)
http://www.wcti12.com/news/25483049/detail.html
Creel says a red flag went up for her while voting in Havelock when the woman in front of her began having problems with the voting machine.
"She had problems, whenever she checked a candidate, it always popped to another one," says Creel.
Creel says she had the same problem and she notified an election official who helped her sort out the machine, but then...
"I pressed confirm and the screen went totally black," tells Creel.
Now she says she isn't sure if her vote was counted.

NC: Voting irregularities discovered in Craven
http://www.beaufortobserver.net/Articles-c-2010-10-22-248252.112112-Voting-irregularities-discovered-in-Craven.html It has been reported that some voting machines in the state are malfunctioning. But we have been told by Kellie Hopkins, Elections Director of Beaufort County that no such problems have been identified in Beaufort County. Beaufort County does not use the same kinds of machines that have been reported to be causing problems.
(also talks about DC internet voting pilot hack)

NC: Political E-Mails Spark Complaints at Winston-Salem State U.
http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/political-e-mail-messages-spark-complaints-at-winston-salem-state-u/27779 ...The Republican Party has also asked the Forsyth County Board of Elections to take Winston-Salem State University off its list of eight early-voting sites scheduled to open on October 25.
...
The county’s elections director, Robert H. Coffman, said the university, which has been hosting early voting on its campus since 2004, simply provides a venue for voting. Closing the site will affect everyone in the surrounding community, he said, not just the university. “I’m confused on the logic on exactly who’s being punished,” he said.

ND: Secretary of State finishes reviewing voter fraud allegations against Charlie White http://www.indystar.com/article/20101022/NEWS05/101022017/Secretary-of-State-finishes-reviewing-voter-fraud-allegations-against-Charlie-White?odyssey=tabtopnewstextIndyStar.com Rokita’s office didn’t make any recommendations on the matter because Hamilton County has appointed two special prosecutors to decide if charges should be filed, according to a statement Rokita’s office released this afternoon.

NY: It's another 'royal screwup' as sample ballots are printed with wrong directions for voters http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/10/22/2010-10-22_its_royal_screwup_redux_as_sample_ballots_are_printed_with_wrong_instructions_el.html
A vote for Republican Carl Paladino could actually be a vote for Green Party gubernatorial candidate Howie Hawkins - if you follow the directions printed on the November ballot.

NY: Board of Elections Practices Damage Control For Their Incorrect Ballots*
http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/127583/voting-instructions-incorrect-on-ballots

NY: About those "Vote by Mail" applications hitting statewide...* (scans included)
http://www.thealbanyproject.com/diary/8981/about-those-vote-by-mail-applications-hitting-statewide These mailers claim that they are "vote by mail" applications. New York doesn't have voting by mail last time I checked. They also include no "paid for" information and no return address, only the address of the local county Board of Elections.

They have so far turned up in Long Island, Westchester, the Hudson Valley, Capitol Region, the Southern Tier, WNY and the North Country. They're showing up everywhere and I hear some local BoEs have even started to receive them with the propaganda still attached.

OH: Board of Elections continuing its voting machine lawsuit
http://www.journal-news.com/news/hamilton-news/board-of-elections-continuing-its-voting-machine-lawsuit-983331.html
HAMILTON — The Butler County Board of Elections made no decision Thursday to opt into the Ohio secretary of state’s settlement with Premier Elections Solutions regarding faulty voting machines, so it will continue with its own lawsuit.

OK: It's Official: No Problems for State Military Voters
http://www.edmondsun.com/local/x1744208903/Official-No-problems-for-state-military-voters

OH: A LEADER IN OUR EFFORTS TO SERVE MILITARY AND OVERSEAS VOTERS
http://www.progressohio.org/blog/2010/10/secretary-brunner-ohio-a-leader-in-our-efforts-to-serve-military-and-overseas-voters.html

PA: Republicans cry foul over letters to voters
http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/courier_times/courier_times_news
_details/article/28/2010/october/22/republicans
-cry-foul-over-letters-to-voters.html http://tinyurl.com/26v9lg4
Party leaders said a series of letters the Democratic Party sent to Bucks County voters urging them to apply for absentee ballots appeared to be part of a scheme to screen out applications by GOP voters.

TN: State task force on the watch for election trouble
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/oct/23/state-task-force-on-the-watch-for-election/
(for voter fraud, no mention of probs with voting machines, voter reg, access to vote)

TX: Video Shows Touch-Screen Voting Machine Purportedly Flipping Vote From Republican Perry to Green Party Candidates in Dallas County, TX* http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8141
Incident challenged by election official, reported to D.A., highlights familiar problem with unverifiable machines
ALSO: Vote said flipped from Dem to Repub in Collin County..

TX: Paperless Voting to Continue, for a While
http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/News/Blogs/index.html/objID1101367/blogID/
If you distrust Travis County’s electronic, paperless voting machines, you’re out of luck until at least 2013.
...
"Although optical/digital-scan ballots systems are on the market now, they do not meet the Group’s standards for security, software design, and cost effectiveness," the report noted.

TX: RUD voter fraud information gets shipped to Austin
http://www.hcnonline.com/articles/2010/10/23/conroe_courier/news/voterfraud102310.txt
The Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office has submitted information to the Texas Secretary of State for possible prosecution relating to potential voter fraud crimes in The Woodlands Road Utility District No. 1 election.
...
In June, visiting Senior District Judge P.K. Reiter ruled there was “clear and convincing” evidence that the 10 Montgomery County residents who voted for the three challengers – Richard McDuffie, Peter Goeddertz and Bill Berntsen – did not reside within the boundaries of the RUD.

TX: New voter complaints surface (Harris County)
Charges of intimidation fly from both parties during early balloting
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7258517.html
Allegations continued to surface on Thursday of poll watchers intimidating voters and of poll watchers themselves being harassed.

WA: GOP pressures Franklin County auditor to fix ballot problem
http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/10/23/1393503/gop-pressures-franklin-county.html
Lenhart said the state Republican Party has been pressuring her office to mail notices to voters after an unusual number of voters requested replacement ballots this week.


Internet Voting Watch

D.C. Reality Check – The Opportunities and Challenges of Transparency
http://www.trustthevote.org/d-c-reality-check-%E2%80%93-the-opportunities-and-challenges-of-transparency ..We advocated for the public review, cautioning that the digital ballot return aspect should be restricted to qualified overseas “UOCAVA” voters, but at all times, the BoEE, and the D.C. I.T. organization “called the shots” on their program.
And to go on record with an obvious but important point: we did not have any access to the ballot server, marked ballots, handling of voter data, or any control over any services for the same. And no live data was used for testing.

Internet Voting Watch

Canada's Minister of Industry uses Internet voting
http://papervotecanada.blogspot.com/2010/10/canadas-minister-of-industry-uses.html
Tony Clement, Canada's Minister of Industry and head of Canada's Digital Economy Strategy, used Internet voting in his municipal election and found it convenient.

National

Watch out for voter suppression efforts!
http://www.866ourvote.org/newsroom/news?id=0263

International

India: Modis office tampered EVMs, alleges Congress
http://www.prokerala.com/news/articles/a176227.html
“People noticed that whatever button they pressed, the vote was going to the BJP. Fortyfour votes had been cast but when the machine was brought to zero, it showed 110 votes,” Prakash said.

India: Excuses and EVMs
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Excuses-and-EVMs/701233

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