‘Whiteygate” and blackbox voting. New Hanover NC vote flipping 'no conspiracy'

Chicago official blames vendor Dominion for misspelling Rich Whitney's name as "Rich Whitey" on IL gubernatorial ballot. Whitley asks: "Why is something as vital to our society as the integrity of the vote being left to a private, for-profit contractor?"..New Hanover NC BoE Chief says 'no conspiracy' causing touchscreens to flip votes. Yet voters were disenfranchised. This would not happen with paper ballots, optically scanned...MORE vote buying in KY...Lawsuit against EVMs in India..Peru to adopt electronic voting...

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

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CO: We need your help!
http://coloradovotergroup.blogspot.com/2010/10/we-need-your-help.html The Colorado Attorney General’s office has issued an opinion (October 15th email below) that, if left unchallenged, would essentially shut down independent oversight of elections.

FL: Broward man forms 340 PACs, 40 political parties — and is running for governor
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2010-10-04/news/fl-josue-larose-election-20101004_1_political-parties-republican-ken-pruitt-josue-larose

Guam: Major election changes needed (argues FOR electronic voting)
http://www.guampdn.com/article/20101017/OPINION02/10170318/1014/OPINION/Major-election-changes-needed Electronic voting machines prevent party crossovers and voting for more than 15 senators, because the machines will not permit the voter to do so. Blind voters, who could vote using an audio feature, no longer can vote alone and require someone to assist them in marking their ballots.

IL: ‘Whiteygate” Reveals Serious Problems With Black-Box Voting Machines
Statement by Rich Whitney, Green Party Candidate for Governor
http://www.whitneyforgov.org/%E2%80%98whiteygate%E2%80%9D-reveals-serious-problems-with-black-box-voting-machines
On October 12, we learned from an early voter in Chicago that there was a problem with the early voting machines. He cast his ballot for me, Rich Whitney, Green Party candidate for Governor. My name was spelled correctly on the first screen, but when it went to the “review screen,” my name appeared as “Rich Whitey,” with the letter “n” missing. At the review screen, any voter who was confused or troubled by the thought of voting for “Rich Whitey,” then had an option to change his/her vote.
...
Mr. Neal attributed the error to a Toronto-based private contractor known as Dominion Voting, probably the largest single provider of electronic voting machines in the nation.

IL: Correction: Illinois Ballot Mistake story
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/15/AR2010101507013.html
CHICAGO -- In a story Oct. 15 about a mistake in Chicago's electronic voting machines, The Associated Press erroneously reported the way a gubernatorial candidate's name appears on a ballot review touch-screen. The screen lists the candidate as "R. Whitey," not "Rich Whitey" as the AP reported

IL: Batavia Cares coordinator upset over ballot mishap*
http://www.kcchronicle.com/articles/2010/10/15/75351233/index.xml
The fact that 21 counties in Illinois – including Kane – missed the deadline to mail out military and overseas ballots bothers the leader of a Batavia organization that offers support to U.S. military members.
...
Kane County Clerk Jack Cunningham said Thursday that the ballots were mailed two days late because of a snag that occurred when county board member John Fahy, R-West Dundee, withdrew from the ballot.

Cunningham said if the office had sent out the ballots on time, he would have had to re-mail them later at an additional cost, and said the re-mailing would have gone out Sept. 27 or 28.

KY: Elliott officials indicted for vote buying
http://themoreheadnews.com/local/x154634954/Elliott-officials-indicted-for-vote-buying Elliott County Judge-executive David Blair and his son Barry Blair have been indicted by a federal grand jury for misuse of government funds and vote buying.

A federal indictment summons was served Oct. 13 on Barry Blair, retired fish and wildlife officer and former Elliott County deputy judge-executive. David Blair’s summons was served Oct. 14.

KY: Felony vote-buying conviction won't stop Knott official's run
http://www.kentucky.com/2010/10/15/1481465/felony-vote-buying-conviction.html
Knott County Judge-Executive Randy Thompson may run for re-election despite a federal felony vote-buying conviction, a state appeals court ruled Friday.
Because Thompson's appeal of his 2008 conviction is pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, he is eligible to run.

NC: Elections chief says 'no conspiracy' in voting machine glitch
http://fwix.com/wilmington/share/cbbb8291a6/elections_chief_says_no_conspiracy_in_
voting_machine_glitch http://tinyurl.com/24dk639 New Hanover County Elections Director Bonnie Williams says during that first day voting machines were choosing the wrong candidate. That has some people questioning the integrity of the board of elections.
...
"I know this sounds disturbing, but it's simply an issue that the touch screen lost its calibration," Williams said. "There's no conspiracy. The Board of Elections operates in a non-partisan fashion, and we really don't have a preference as to who wins the election."

NC: Instant runoffs mean changes on the ballot
http://fayobserver.com/articles/2010/10/14/1039292?sac=Home
Attempts to explain the process have the candidates worried about potential voting problems.

"No one seems to really know about it," Hill said. "I'm very concerned."

NY: Many Villages Will Likely Switch to Paper Ballots for March Elections
http://newrochelle.patch.com/articles/many-villages-will-likely-switch-to-paper-ballots-for-march-elections-3 Most of Rockland and Westchester's villages run their own elections, and county officials on the east side of the Hudson don't want to lend out their new electronic machines.

NY: State Board of Elections Extending Deadline for Overseas Ballots
http://www.wben.com/State-Board-of-Elections-Extending-Deadline-for-Ov/8366652
The New York State Board of Elections announced Friday that it is extending the deadline to receive ballots back from overseas voters by an additional nine days.

NY: WFP, Conservatives Lose Out On Double-Vote Case (Updatedx2)
http://capitaltonight.com/2010/10/wfp-conservatives-lose-double-vote-case/
As things stand, voters who select the same candidate on two different lines on the paper ballots used by the new voting machine system will see their vote counted for the first party that appears on the ballot.

TX: Dallas County voting machine case is appealed to Supreme Court
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-regionalrdp_16met.ART.State.Edition1.33c1f08.html
Dallas County is appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court a federal court's decision that the county violated federal law by using voting machines during the 2008 election that didn't count certain votes.

WA: Real Voter Fraud. Against Absentee Voting, Ctd - The Daily Dish By Andrew Sullivan http://robwolfe.blogspot.com/2010/10/real-voter-fraud.html Sullivan: "As a Washington state resident, let me tell you that your concern about the effective abandonment of the secret ballot in mail-only voting states is well-merited

Internet Voting Watch

Canada: Voters concerned about accuracy of electronic voting options*
http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2803467
Elizabethtown -Kitley township residents are concerned about the accuracy of electronic voting after receiving voting PIN numbers for dead people and others who moved away years ago.

"I had a person tell me that his mother died five years ago, and he got a PIN for her," Coun. Earl Brayton said during a council meeting this week

National

With Voting Rights Groups Reeling, New Registrations Decline
Fears of Voter Fraud Weaken Registration Efforts
http://washingtonindependent.com/100775/with-voting-rights-groups-reeling-new-registrations-decline

International

India: Litigation filed against reliability of voting machines
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/international/2010/October/international_October727.xml§ion=international AHMEDABAD — Hours after Congress leaders in Gujarat complained of large-scale rigging of electronic voting machines in the just-ended municipal polls in six major cities, a public interest litigation challenging the reliability of these gadgets has been filed.
The High Court has admitted the PIL and fixed the hearing for October 19 even as political parties were gearing up for the October 21 elections to 25 district panchayats, 208 block panchayats and 53 municipalities in the state.

Peru: Peru congress approves electronic voting
http://www.livinginperu.com/news-13345-2011-elections-peru-congress-approves-electronic-voting Peruvian congress overrode President Alan García's veto of a law to implement electronic voting.
Yesterday, the Peruvian congress approved by a majority the law authorizing the National Office for Electoral Processes (ONPE) to issue the regulations for the gradual and progressive implementation of electronic voting.

UK: Three ballots on the same day
http://sluggerotoole.com/2010/10/15/three-ballots-on-the-same-day/
So despite Peter Robinson’s concerns that it will confuse voters if the ballot on voting reform, it seems that the AV Referendum will happen on the same day as both the Assembly Elections and the local council elections – 5th May 2011.



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