Monday, December 6, 2010

NY SD 7 recount battle rages on. NC instant runoff wipes candidate's 100K lead

Saturday a judge ruled against manual count of NY's Sen Dist 7 contest. Prof. Philip Stark (Dept of Statistics, UC Berkeley)expert witness for Nassau Cnty DEMS was not allowed to testify but some remarks were read into the record: "The potential for error in this contest is large: In total, the 242 unaudited machines could hold enough error to account for the apparent margin 186 times over. Sixty-six of the 242 unaudited machines could individually hold enough error to account for the apparent margin." hat tip to Lonna Atkeson at Election Updates blog. Johnson filed appeal ..

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


AK: Judge allows Murkowski to participate in election challenge
http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/120310/loc_745154655.shtml

AR: Man Linked To Explosive Device Found At Polling Place Arrested
http://www.4029tv.com/r/26020238/detail.html ...members of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested Mark Krause, a 40-year-old Arkansas man, in connection with an explosive device found at a polling place in Osage, Ark., in Carroll County in June 2010.

CT: Registrars' busy Monday: mayoral panel, recount nearing finish
http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Registrars-busy-Monday-mayoral-panel-recount-864481.php The Connecticut Post and the Connecticut Citizen Election Audit Coalition, which were granted access to the election materials by the city, will finish compiling the recount data over the next day or two. Meanwhile, the registrars are inspecting the figures -- which were broken up by voting district and ballot type -- and raising any concerns they have before the numbers are made public.

CT: Just who are the people counting the ballots? (in Bridgeport)
http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Just-who-are-the-people-counting-the-ballots-860614.php Most of them are members of the Connecticut Citizen Election Audit Coalition, which joins the League of Women Voters in Connecticut, Common Cause, CTVoters.org and Connecticut Citizen Action Group.

CT: End in sight as Bridgeport recount breaks for the weekend
http://www.ctpost.com/default/article/End-in-sight-as-Bridgeport-recount-breaks-for-the-859431.php While finalizing the recount numbers from one district, Weeks compared his team's numbers for photocopied ballots with the city's figures. He showed the comparison to Santa Ayala, Bridgeport's Democratic registrar of voters. The numbers weren't in alignment, so the two agreed to check for a recounting fault.

Guam: 1st Court Hearing Set for Election Fraud Lawsuit
http://guamnewswatch.com/201012063772/Local-News/1st-Court-Hearing-Set-for-Election-Fraud-Lawsuit.html

KS: Coalition says proposed voter ID law is costly, unneeded
http://www.kansas.com/2010/12/06/1620624/coalition-says-proposed-law-is.html

MN: Emmer Zooms in on Voter Database in Minn. Gov Race
http://kstp.com/news/stories/S1869158.shtml?cat=1 But routine post-election updates to the system won't be completed anytime soon. And officials caution that the system can't be used the way Emmer wants - to pair the number of votes and eligible voters.

NC: McCullough overtakes Thigpen in NC court race
http://www.thesunnews.com/2010/12/06/1854375/mccullough-overtakes-thigpen-in.html
Nearly complete results from the instant runoff race for the North Carolina Court of Appeals show the second-place candidate overtaking the leading candidate from the first round of voting. (goes from 100,000 votes ahead to 6,700 votes behind)

NC: N. Carolina GOP to push for voter photo IDs
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/12/06/1959602/nc-gop-to-push-for-voter-photo.html Republicans who take control of the General Assembly in January want to make North Carolina the 10th state requiring voters to show a driver's license or other photo ID. House leaders hope to pass a bill in their first 100 days

NJ: Jurors in voter fraud trial involving Atlantic City Councilman Marty Small caught in legal marathon http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/press/atlantic_city/article_9eebd822-00d4-11e0-95de-001cc4c03286.html There are 760 people on the witness list.

NJ: Republicans petition Superior Court over election results
http://www.northjersey.com/news/politics/111385549_Re
publicans_petition_Superior_Court_over_election_results.html
http://tinyurl.com/23lb58p ...challenge includes allegations of illegal electioneering tactics, equipment difficulty - with one machine already the subject of an earlier court order, and denial of voter access.

NY: NEW YORK JUDGE RULES IN FAVOR OF MACHINE COUNTS
http://electionupdates.caltech.edu/?p=3669 The Democrats were seeking a full recount of all optical scan machines because apparently the 3% post election recount showed that some ballots were not counted –there were more ballots in the box than counted by the machine.

NY: 7th SD: Johnson files appeal
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/politics/spin-cycle-1.812042/7th-sd-johnson-files-appeal-1.2521241

NY: Testimony Proffered to New York Supreme Court Judge Ira Warshawsky Regarding the November 2010 Senate Contest in NY Senate District 7
http://statistics.berkeley.edu/~stark/Preprints/nysd7-4-12-10.htm
The potential for error in this contest is large: In total, the 242 unaudited machines could hold enough error to account for the apparent margin 186 times over. Sixty-six of the 242 unaudited machines could individually hold enough error to account for the apparent margin.

NY: Republicans Lay Claim to New York State Senate
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/nyregion/05elect.html?_r=1
“The judge’s decision to deny a recount is wrong on the letter and spirit of the law,” Mr. Shafran said. “In a race where the margin is less than half of 1 percent, the failure to count every vote is a disservice to every voter.”

NY: Bloomberg and Sharpton Seek Changes to NY Election Rules
http://www.wnyc.org/articles/wnyc-news/2010/dec/06/bloomberg-and-sharpton-seek-changes-ny-election-rules/ ... offering "no-excuse" absentee ballots, the creation of an early voting period, extending the deadline to register for or switch enrollment in a political party, and allowing ballots to be filled out outside of the polling station where they are deposited.

OH: Election lawsuit looming? Sarantou mulls options (over provisional ballots)
http://www.foxtoledo.com/dpp/news/local/election-lawsuit-looming
Elections officials in Lucas County counted nine of every ten provisional ballots. The rates in other urban counties in Ohio were much lower. There is a court challenge involving provisional ballots already pending in Hamilton County to decide a Cincinnati-area judge’s race.

Internet voting watch

WikiLeaks cables reveal fears over Chinese cyber warfare
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/04/wikileaks-cables-china-cyber-warfare
State department dispatches show US concerns about links between Chinese government, military and hackers

National

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