All this and more in today's voting news below..
Editor's note: we did not send out news yesterday, it is combined with today's news.
AK: On the ballot in Alaska: transparency
http://www.stateline.org/live/details/story?contentId=497502 To some Alaskans, the fight against Proposition 1 has morphed into a fight to guard their state's initiative process from those who would take advantage of its loopholes.
http://www.votelaw.com/blog/archives/006416.html A 15-year-old Alabama law that says judges should not hear cases in which one of the parties donated at least $2,000 to their campaigns has never been enforced, locked in a stalemate over whether it first needs to be reviewed by the U.S. Department of Justice for evidence that it would not disenfranchise minorities.
CO: Vote early and...not at all? Ballot TRACE glitch has some worried *
http://www.examiner.com/x-41664-Denver-Top-News-Examiner~y2010m7d22-Voter-early-andnot-at-all-Ballot-TRACE-glitch-has-some-worried
CO: Uh-oh, technical glitch baffles Denver voters *
http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=144870&catid=188 That "hiccup" sent emails to approximately 170 voters telling them that their completed ballots had already been received by the Post Office despite the fact that those voters had yet to receive the actual ballots personally.
CT: What do [Connecticut] voters think?
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/what-do-connecticut-voters-think/
A new Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project Report provides insight into the opinions of voters on several voting reform issues. We comment on Connecticut specific results and editorialize on voting integrity implications of the survey.We recommend the survey and commentary be contemplated by activists, legislators, and future Secretaries of the State
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We caution against recommending a reform or opposing a reform based on public perception reported in a single, or several surveys providing simple reform descriptions.
FL: Voting by mail has increased in popularity, but has unintended consequences
http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/political/elections_local/voting-by-mail-has-unintended-consequences Absentee voting by mail has its risks for candidates and voters. The method is considered more vulnerable to mischief and outright fraud. In 2009, voters in a special State Senate election were persuaded to send their ballots to a private mail box instead of the elections office in an apparent attempt to void their votes.
GA: Computer woes a headache for Wilkinson election officials*
http://www.macon.com/2010/07/22/1203319/computer-woes-a-headache-for-election.html
A computer system crash and difficulties with a memory card created an unexpected delay in counting votes in Wilkinson County late Tuesday night.
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"We had the server go down around 10 p.m., and we had three precincts left to report," she said. "We've never had problems like this before. Normally there's no trouble."
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as of Wednesday afternoon, Barfield said she was unable to confirm whether officials were able to read the final votes from the last memory card.
GA: Voter Fraud Alleged in Brooks County (opposition to absentee ballots)
http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/99140784.html
Brooks County residents are concerned there may be irregularities with the outcome of several local races. And now the GBI has launched a probe into these allegations.
GA: Congressional election redos costly, confusing
http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/congressional-election-redos-costly-575715.html North Georgia voters are preparing to go to the polls for the fourth time in as many months to elect a 9th District congressman, costing cash-strapped counties hundreds of thousands of dollars.
HI: Congressional Special Election Cost $670K
Abercrombie Defends Decision To Resign
http://www.kitv.com/news/24361976/detail.html
MD: Lasting effects of prison-based gerrymandering in Maryland
http://www.prisonersofthecensus.org/news/2010/07/22/wypr/ ...no local action been taken to correct the imbalance that has allowed the First District seat to be held for 20 years by James Ring, an elderly white man who benefited from a shrunken electorate that musters fewer than 500 total votes.
NM: Secretary of State Opens Investigation into County Clerk*
click here
da8c094745080678.txt http://bit.ly/cqpRv3
The New Mexico Secretary of State's Office last week opened a formal investigation into whether the Rio Arriba County Clerk broke election law after the June 1 primary by opening ballot boxes without legally required supervision.
NY: Judge Wants New York's Voting Machines Tested (Nassau ES&S DS200 machines) http://www.courthousenews.com/2010/07/23/29079.htm MINEOLA, N.Y. (CN) - A state Supreme Court judge ordered that the New York Board of Elections submit the electronic voting machines it approved for the September primaries to a testing facility in Connecticut... the machine at issue, the ES&S DS-200, malfunctioned in Florida during the 2008 presidential elections.
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"Since Nassau is not using Dominion's system, it would probably be very helpful for a Dominion county to arrange to have their machines evaluated by joining the lawsuit," said Howard Stanislevic, founder of the E-Voter Education Project, in a mass email.
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