Michigan recount uncovers ballot probs. Internet voting in age of Cyber War

Michigan recount mess: 1000s of ballots in Huron & Tuscola Cnty weren't secured properly so cant be recounted...NC Statewide IRV contest faces recount..MY City, How Do You Lose Nearly 200,000 Votes? "This calls into question the whole validity of the process." — Sam Roberts..India missing 4,000 electronic voting machines..Dr. Barbara Simons on internet voting...All out Cyber War over Wikileaks shows risk of using internet for elections..

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

AK: Miller disputes Senate vote count at Juneau hearing
http://www.ktuu.com/news/ktuu-miller-senate-suit-hearing-120810,0,3656395.story
Miller argues that write-in votes must name “Lisa Murkowski,” exactly as her name appears on her declaration of candidacy, to be counted.

AK: Alaska judge to decide Senate challenge by Friday
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/08/AR2010120800930.html
A decision in Miller's favor could result in thousands of challenged write-in ballots for incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski being tossed and lead to a recount

AR: Losing candidates file lawsuit over missing absentee ballots in Arkansas' Phillips county http://www.kspr.com/sns-ap-ar--newsnow,0,7936274.story
Phillips County election officials say 65 absentee ballots from the Nov. 2 general election are missing and now several candidates who lost close races are filing a lawsuit.
...
The list showed 608 absentee votes were cast, but only 543 were turned over to commissioners for certification on Nov. 15.

CA: After losing, politician rethinks ranked-choice voting
http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/after-losing-politician-rethinks-ranked-choice-voting-7291
San Leandro Mayor Tony Santos was a big booster of ranked-choice voting, the controversial new system for conducting local elections in California

FL: December 12th is the 10th Anniversary of Supreme Court Decision to Halt Florida Recount in 2000 Presidential Election http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/december-12th-is-the-10th-anniversary-of-supreme-court-decision-to-halt-florida-recount-in-2000-presidential-election-111481979.html

IL: Judge to Naperville: Return candidates to ballot
http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20101207/news/712089915/
A DuPage County judge on Tuesday ordered the city of Naperville to allow two city council candidates back on the April 5 ballot.
They were among four kicked off the ballot due to what they called misleading paperwork issued by the city. In the wake of that ruling, two other candidates, forced off for the same reason, also were reinstated.

IN: Secretary of State-Elect Tries Again to Halt Election Challenge
http://www.wibc.com/news/Story.aspx?id=1322622 Parker claims White is ineligible to take office because he registered to vote at the wrong address. Brooks says that's a misstatement of the law, which requires only that candidates be registered in the district they intend to serve -- in White's case, the entire state.

MA: Plymouth County election results official despite missing names
http://www.wickedlocal.com/norwell/news/x1921990420/Plymouth-County-election-results-official-despite-missing-names “The mantra is supposed to be ‘count every vote,’ ” Markham said, “but though the commonwealth must have known there was a problem with several towns when they didn’t report the names of their top write-ins, they did nothing.”

MI: Election recount uncovers ballot problems
http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=news/local&id=7831069 Trouble first showed up in Huron County, where about 25 percent of the ballots could not be recounted....
A state election official says at least 10 of the 32 precincts in Tuscola County cannot be recounted because of these and other mistakes made by precinct officials.
(Huron & Tuscola Cnty,ballots not properly secured can't be recounted)

MI: Cost costs $250,000 and rising for Saugatuck Township in legal battle with developer Aubrey McClendon http://www.hollandsentinel.com/topstories/x1757248538/Cost-costs-250-000-and-rising-for-Saugatuck-Township-in-legal-battle-with-developer-Aubrey-McClendon The filing on behalf of township residents Walter Hanlin and John Latini is funded by Aubrey McClendon. It alleges township officials inappropriately handled the ballots from the May 5 election and botched a recount.

MN: Tom Emmer concedes gubernatorial election to Mark Dayton
http://ecmpostreview.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6868&Itemid=1
Following a statewide recount and after receiving a written opinion from the Minnesota Supreme Court, reaffirming its earlier opinion that dismissed a key Emmer argument that election officials across the state had not acted appropriately in reconciling precinct returns.

MN: Supreme Court says counties correctly reconciled results
http://ceimn.org/Minnesota_recount_Dayton_Emmer_Governor_supreme_court_elections
The Supreme Court today released the reasoning behind its decision last month to deny Republican Tom Emmer's request to order counties to re-do a process known as reconciliation

NC: N.C. Appeals Court Runoff Heads for Recount
http://www.thevoterupdate.com/articles/2010/12_8_10_irv_recount.php
More than a month after voting ended in North Carolina, the only statewide race still without a winner is headed for a recount.

NC: Thigpen wants re-count in N.C. Court of Appeals race
http://www.news-record.com/content/2010/12/08/article/thigpen_wants_re_count_in_nc_court_of_appeals_race Spokesman Reid Overcash says Thigpen wants to make sure the count was performed properly because instructions may have been confusing to county officials

NC: Buncombe County Board of Elections finishes weeklong hand count
http://www.mountainx.com/news/2010/buncombe_county_board_of_elections_completes_week-long_vote_tally

NC: Instant runoff flop
http://www.news-record.com/blog/54431/entry/106453 Well, it's still not settled -- belying the "instant" component of this hare-brained scheme.

NC: Hearing Held in Lawsuit by Voters in Kinston, North Carolina, Who Want Non-Partisan City Elections http://www.ballot-access.org/2010/12/07/hearing-held-in-lawsuit-by-voters-in-kinston-north-carolina-who-want-non-partisan-city-elections/
On December 3, U.S. District Court Judge John D. Bates, a Bush Jr. appointee, held a hearing in Laroque v Holder, 10-0561. The case is in federal court in Washington, D.C.

NY: Johnson to appeal ruling of Martins victory
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/johnson-to-appeal-ruling-of-martins-victory-1.2522022

NY: Altschuler Concedes House Race In Suffolk
http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/new_york/altschuler_concedes_house_race_suffolk
Although initial returns showed Bishop the winner, additional votes were later discovered that gave Altschuler the edge. But when absentee and affidavit ballots were counted, Bishop regained the lead.
...
There were calls for a hand recount, but the Suffolk County Board of Elections conducted an audit of 3 percent of the voting machines, found that they had performed without error and certified the election.

NY: City, town officials balk at paying election costs
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20101207/NEWS/12070325/-1/SITEMAP (Goshen)

NY: New York, NY - Bloomberg: New Voting Machines Are Worse Than Paper Ballots
http://www.vosizneias.com/70620/2010/12/07/new-york-ny-bloomberg-new-voting-machines-are-worse-than-paper-ballots/

NY: How Do You Lose Nearly 200,000 Votes? (podcast available)
http://www.wnyc.org/articles/its-free-country/2010/dec/07/lose-nearly-200000-votes/
On today's Brian Lehrer Show, Sam Roberts, urban affairs correspondent for The New York Times, talks about the discovery of nearly 200,000 unreported votes from the mid-term elections.

OH: Election lawsuit looming? County commish race in court? (Lucas County)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=506Da8YyPzc
Republican candidate George Sarantou is marshaling his political forces behind an effort to find out whether hundreds of provisional ballots were properly included in the recent vote certification...

TX: Harris Co. voter registration changes cause a stir
http://www.khou.com/news/local/Department-of-Justice-Looks-Into-Harris-County-Voter-Registration-Changes-111410974.html new process for newly naturalized systems might not include voter registration

WI: Few faults found with Waukesha County clerk's election system
http://www.jsonline.com/news/waukesha/111555214.html Among the recommendations from Internal Audit Manager Lori Schubert: assigning different IDs and passwords to three employees who now use the same one; never connecting certain PCs to the county network or Internet; and storing periodic back-up of programming data in some place other than the courthouse.

Internet Voting Watch

Barbara Simons on internet voting (presentation slides available)
http://fsi.stanford.edu/news/barbara_simonsinternet_voting_an_idea_whose
_time_has_not_come_liberation_technology_series_summary_20101207/
http://tinyurl.com/24sg6vk There are a plethora of powerful technologies that make Internet voting inherently unsafe.

'ALL-OUT CYBER WAR' OVER WIKILEAKS
Extraordinary battle underscores serious threats to our very democracy, in more ways than one.. http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8237 Despite the proven ability of a small group of hackers to take down several of the most secure financial sites in the universe, with ease, in what appears to be incredibly short notice, there remain those who believe that voting over the Internet and e-voting at local polling places, can be carried out safely and securely --- even with, often, trillions of dollars riding on the outcome of such elections.

Leaked Cables: Chinese Hackers Used Microsoft Source Code To Attack Google & US Government http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/69455
WikiLeaks cables have shown that Chinese security firms, with ties to the Chinese military, hired hackers, including the group responsible for the original Blaster worm, to exploit Windows vulnerabilities, attack Google and conduct cyber warfare against U.S. government websites.

Symantec Predicts 2011 Security Trends
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2373894,00.asp
Given the "huge sums of money available to criminal enterprises at low risk of prosecution," Symantec predicts further attacks on non-PC devices, possibly smartphones, electronic voting systems, or power grid controllers.

National

Procedural Manual for the Election Assistance Commission's Voting System Testing and Certification Program, Version 2.0 http://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2010/11/30/2010-30101/procedural-manual-for-the-election-assistance-commissions-voting-system-testing-and-certification This article has a comment period that ends in 55 days

Commentary Suggests that Gerrymandering in the United States is On the Way Out
http://www.ballot-access.org/2010/12/08/commentary-suggests-that-gerrymandering-in-the-united-states-is-on-the-way-out/

International

Canada: How votes are counted (uses ES&S optical scanners)
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/902470--how-votes-are-counted
As Peel Regional Police investigate allegations of voting fraud, Mississauga and the company that supplies voting machines are defending the reliability of the technology

Egypt: Elections Monitor: Violence in run-offs and calls to dissolve parliament
http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/news/elections-monitor-violence-run-offs-and-calls-dissolve-parliament

India: Vijayawada police recover 6 stolen EVMs, 4 persons arrested
http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/vijayawada-police-recover-6-stolen-evms-4-persons-arrested/520504.html

India: Missing EVMs beep an alarm
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/119245/missing-evms-beep-alarm.html
The recent recovery of some EVMs from a scrap dealer at Vijayawada strengthens fears about the efficacy and safety of polling machines. It also corroborates a campaign launched by political parties and certain NGOs in Andhra Pradesh, which estimate that an astounding 4,000 EVMs have gone unaccounted since the 2004 parliamentary elections.

Nicaragua, Venezuela: Venezuela aided Nicaragua vote-buying, U.S. leak says
http://www.americas-forum.org/content/venezuela-aided-nicaragua-vote-buying-us-leak-says Nicaragua received "suitcases full of cash" from Venezuela that may have helped to sway tainted elections in 2008, according to U.S. diplomatic cables that throw light on Nicaragua's increasingly authoritarian leader Daniel Ortega.

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/VotingNews
Subscribe 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-vn

Disclaimer: 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