Beware Absentee Ballots. Judge nixes Sarasota audits. OR online primary hype

Absentee ballot fraud & corruption inquiries in Bell CA., Bladen Co NC, & Troy NY...Atty Bill Risner seeks to depose Iron Mountain over Pima Co AZ election materials...A judge overrules Sarasota voters on election audits that would make sure the tallying machines work correctly...Facts v hype in "The So-Called Online Internet Primary in Oregon" ...Election snafu trips up Columbia voter..Citizens United ruling may WV Coal Industry elect friendly judges... BlackHat, Defcon Conferences...

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

Editor's note: Kansas, Michigan and Missouri voters go to the polls Tuesday to vote in primaries for governor, Senate and the House. Please email news reports or blogs on election problems to us at votingnews (at) earthlink.net Thanks!

AL: Alabama's judicial campaign finance law unenforced for 15 years
http://www.votelaw.com/blog/archives/006418.html The Birmingham News reports: A 15-year-old state law meant to discourage big­-dollar donations to judicial cam­paigns has never been enforced, and each of the three branches of government in Montgomery blames another for the failure.

AZ: More Details Emerge About Missing RTA Poll Tapes
http://weeklyintercept.blogspot.com/2010/07/more-details-emerge-about-missing-poll.html ...A whistleblower has come forward with a sworn affidavit testifying that Bryan Crane told him privately while at the Boondocks Lounge that he had “fixed” the RTA election under direction from his bosses...

AZ: Atty Bill Risner Motion for Deposition of Iron Mountain Company
http://www.fatallyflawedthemovie.com/media/MotionforDepoIronMountain.pdf

AZ: Missing Poll Tapes
http://www.tucsonweekly.com/TheRange/archives/2010/07/18/missing-poll-tapes
...the Sept. 14, 2008 discovery that despite a court order for release of unaltered election data to the Pima County Democratic Party, the designated Democratic Party's database containing the hard drive had gone missing from the Pima County vault. It was only upon Bill Risner's visit to the County Clerk's office that the box of hard drives reappeared: in the hands of John Moffat, who had only a garbled explanation for why he was illegally in possession of the hard drives.

CA: L.A. County D.A. expands probe into Bell government* (absentee ballot)
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/28/local/la-me-bell-elections-20100728
Investigators are looking into allegations of voter fraud and conflicts of interest, as well as the $100,000 salaries paid to four council members. The D.A. says several elections are targeted.
...
Sources with knowledge of the investigation said that among the subjects that prosecutors are looking at is the use of absentee ballots during the March 2009 City Council election...

CO: Kathleen Curry Will Sue Against Discriminatory Campaign Contribution Limits
http://www.ballot-access.org/2010/08/01/kathleen-curry-will-sue-against-discriminatory-campaign-contribution-limits/ Candidates for the State House may receive contributions of $400 if they are running as members of a party. But if they are independent candidates, no one may contribute more than $200.

FL: Sarasota voting machine audit called off
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20100730/BREAKING/100739983/2416/NEWS
But a judge this week ruled that state election laws trump the county charter requirement, the latest turn in a back-and-forth legal battle that went all the way to the Florida Supreme Court.
...
The president of Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections, which has fought for four years to uphold the county charter, urged county officials to appeal the latest decision.

“They should stand up for our charter, they should stand up for the will of the voters,” SAFE president Kindra Muntz said.

GA: Rodents force voter office to move
http://www.coastalcourier.com/news/article/23437/
Liberty County Board of Elections and Voter Registration Office

IA: Beware Absentee Ballots
http://iowavoters.org/2010/08/01/beware-absentee-ballots/
The Iowa Democratic Party lives and dies by its absentee ballot campaign. Iowans had best take notice of the latest absentee ballot investigation in New York.'

MO: Man Pleads Guilty Of Voting Twice In 2008 Presidential Election
Faces 5 Years in prison and or $10,000 in Fines
http://www.kplr11.com/news/ktvi-st-louis-man-votes-twice-election-073010,0,7142459.story St. Louis, MO (KTVI-FOX2Now.com) - A St. Louis man has pleaded guilty to voting in two different states during the 2008 election.

NC: ONLY ON 3: Bladen County voter fraud accusations investigated
http://www.wwaytv3.com/only_3_6_bladen_county_being_investigated_voter_fraud/07/2010
Randall Corbett is a long haul trucker from Bladen County, but he spends most of his time on the road. Corbett says a detective with the Sheriff's Office contacted his family because there was a problem with his absentee ballot.
...
The problem is Corbett says he never voted at all. "I didn't apply for or request an absentee ballot," he said.

Corbett says he told Sheriff's Capt. Herman Dunn about the situation, and that Dunn said not to do anything because he would take care of the problem.

NY: Saliva Samples wanted from 9 Troy Democrats
http://www.cbs6albany.com/news/wanted-1276672-albany-democrats.html

NY: Troy councilmen, officials named in voter fraud case* (absentee ballot fraud)
http://www.troyrecord.com/articles/2010/07/29/news/doc4c51b3842d7f3606735697.txt
One of the suspects, Democratic committeeman and former Troy Housing Authority employee Anthony DeFiglio, said it was “common knowledge” in the Sept. 15, 2009 Working Families Party primary election and other prior that voters would never see absentee ballots that were cast in their name, according to court documents not made available to The Record until Thursday.

SC: Election snafu trips up Columbia voter *
http://www.columbiadailyherald.com/articles/2010/07/30/top_stories/04snafu.txt
Sampson was listed in the wrong voting precinct and was given the wrong ballot for county seats.
...
...election officials have to make their “best guestimate” on where a street is located, and Auburn Lane is on the line separating the two voting districts.

TN: Two Memphis men indicted in 2006 voter fraud
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/jul/30/two-memphis-men-indicted-2006-voter-fraud/

WV: Citizens, or corporations, united?
Election funding decision could have major impact on W.Va. races
http://sundaygazettemail.com/News/201007310443
Roger Nicholson, senior vice president for the International Coal Group, sent e-mails to other mining executives last month, suggesting they might want to take advantage of the decision that allows companies to directly fund independent political committees created to support or defeat a candidate.
...
This year, ICG and Massey are backing Elliott "Spike" Maynard, a former West Virginia Supreme Court justice who lost his seat in the 2008 Democratic primary, in his race against Rahall.

Maynard, who switched his party registration in Mingo County to Republican earlier this year, lost his 2008 campaign after photographs surfaced showing him vacationing with Massey CEO Don Blankenship on the French Riviera.

Internet Voting Watch

The So-Called Online Internet Primary in Oregon
http://votingmatters.wordpress.com/2010/07/31/the-so-called-online-internet-primary-in-oregon/ Right now there’s a lot of hype, hoopla and hyperventilating about the nominating process of one of Oregon’s minor parties, the “Independent Party.” Party leaders called it a “primary” and the media has followed suit. ...
It is important to note that the online voting procedure used by the Independent Party to select it’s nominees is not in conformance with Oregon elections law regarding primary elections

Workshop on UOCAVA Remote Voting Systems
http://vote.caltech.edu/drupal/http%3A/252Fwww.nist.gov/itl/csd/ct/uocava_workshop_aug2010.cfm Start: 08/06/2010 Purpose: The Election Assistance Commission (EAC), Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) of the Department of Defense, and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are sponsoring a workshop to explore the technical issues associated with remote electronic absentee voting systems for military and overseas voters.

A tale of two conferences: Black Hat and Defcon photo gallery
http://venturebeat.com/2010/08/01/a-tale-of-two-conferences-black-hat-and-defcon-photo-gallery/
Attendees are warned to stay off the wireless networks or risk being put on the Wall of Sheep, a projected image on a wall that shows usernames and partial passwords of those who have been “powned,” or hacked.
...
Dan Kaminsky, who discovered a fundamental flaw in the internet’s address system in 2008, was entrusted as one of seven people who has a key to reboot the internet in case of a catastrophe


National

First quarter lobbying reports: Millions spent to influence Congress
http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/first-quarter-lobbying-reports-millions-spent-to-influence-congress/

The Proof is in the Numbers: Surge in Low-Income VR Applications follows Successful NVRA Lawsuits http://www.projectvote.org/blog/?p=747

International

Philippines: Voters disenfranchised, harassed the BEIs – SWS (voters names not on rolls)
http://newsbreak.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8004&Itemid=88889051 MANILA, Philippines--More poll workers in the 2010 elections said that voters were not able to vote because they could not find their names in the list of voters, according to a survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS).

The Philippines’ e-election miracle
http://www.futuregov.asia/articles/2010/jul/30/philippines-e-election-miracle/ But in the end, the 2010 general election was, in comparison to previous Filipino elections, fairly uneventful. Technical issues were resolved in time, and the Philippines survived its quickest, most orderly and peaceful (six people died in election-day violence, a low number historically) election ever.

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