The Long Road to Democracy
19 March 2007 *** Published every Monday
The Election Fraud News Weekly Collection
of Links to Key Articles in the Public Media.
Link to this page
Most of these news items are gathered from the Election Reform, Fraud, & News produced daily on the Election Reform forum of DemocraticUnderground.Com. This news thread of 15 to 30 stories has been produced seven days a week since well before the 2004. Current DU users who produce these threads include: rumpel, FreedomFries, livvy, kpete, Melissa G, & autorank,
1. Weekly Comment on Key News in the Public Media
2. Featured Links to Articles & Resources
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Election Fraud
Fired Federal Prosecutors and Election Fraud
A look at what's behind the U.S. attorney flap
Ohio "Rigged Recount" Sentencing: 18 months and the judge thinks higher ups were involved.
Two Cuyahoga County Board of Elections workers have received the maximum sentence for taking illegal shortcuts in the 2004 pres recount.
Judge Peter Corrigan sentenced Jacqueline Maiden and Kathleen Dreamer to 18 months in prison.
They were accused of rigging the recount to avoid extra work of a full recount.
Sarasota Board of Elections chief faces Congressional Inquiry
Mechanical Glitch Ignored In Now Contested Florida Congressional Race
The Huffington Post, Melinda Henneberger
Posted March 13, 2007
WASHINGTON - Last August, Election Systems & Software sent Florida election officials a letter informing them of a glitch in their electronic voting equipment -- a problem that should be fixed before Election Day in November "to avoid any potential issues at the polls."
Instead, the problem was ignored, said Sam Hirsch, a lawyer for Democratic congressional candidate Christine Jennings, who has petitioned the court and the Congress for a new election in Katherine Harris's old district in Sarasota.
Random sample test for FL 13th e-voting machines...are these people illiterate
Sarasota voting machines tested
Bradenton Herald, FL
March 16, 2007
SARASOTA - The controversial touch-screen voting machines in Sarasota County are scheduled to be tested next week prior to the April 10 runoff election.
Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent is inviting the public to observe the logic and accuracy testing of the county's voting and tabulating equipment to be used in the runoff election of Sarasota's District 2 race between incumbent Commissioner Mary Anne Servian and her challenger Richard "Dick" Clapp.
According to a county press release, logic and accuracy testing is performed on a random sampling of all the voting machines that will be used on election day.
Ed. This is the wildest thing I’ve heard in a long time. You do not randomly test mission critical devices (i.e. voting devices) in any field. You test them all. Each voting machine is vital to the election. Testing a few and saying the many are fine is not acceptable and risks the right of a majority of citizens to have their votes counted properly. This is really amazing stuff…random sample of ballots is what the BoE chair is thinking of, not random sampling of voting machines. Test them all. It’s called routine maintenance.
People for the American Way shocked that BoE chief knew of e-voting flaw.
Ed. PFAW endorsed Holt 811 which perpetuates e-voting. What’s up with that? My surprise is feigned. PFAW was an original supporter of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). They’ve supported it all along even as candidates representing their views went down to defeat in “close election” after “close election.” Did they fail to notice that it’s the company and the people in that company who cause these voting machine “malfunctions” that almost always favor Republicans? Don’t they know that Diebold and ES&S, two strong supporters of Republican causes will continue to be primary vendors for optical scan readers? Guess not. Were they born yesterday? We’re taking tips.
People for the American Way shocked that BoE chief knew of e-voting flaw.
Ed. I’m shocked that PFAW endorses Holt 811 which perpetuates e-voting. What’s up with that? Did they forget that it’s the company and the people in that company who cause these “malfunctions” that almost always favor Republicans? Don’t they know that Diebold and ES&S, two strong supporters of Republican causes will continue to be primary vendors for optical scan readers? Guess not. Were they born yesterday? We’re taking tips.
Talk Left blog nails WH for nonsense on concerns about clean elections
Voter Suppression
Disenfranchisement News from The Sentencing Project
March 09, 2007
Disenfranchisement News
National: The Cause and Effect of Disenfranchisement; Sen. Clinton Sponsors Disenfranchisement Legislation
Florida: Automatic Voter Restoration is ‘Excellent'
Colorado: Parolee Re-enfranchisement Denied Support from Newspaper
Issue Area(s): Felony Disenfranchisement
State(s): Colorado , Florida National: The Cause and Effect of Disenfranchisement; Sen. Clinton Sponsors Disenfranchisement Legislation
As a consequence of the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist's 1974 decision in Richardson v. Ramirez, five million Americans cannot vote as a result of a criminal conviction, states a Legal Times article written by Frank Askin. The decision, based on what Askin terms a “cynical sleight of hand” by Rehnquist, was based on a contentious interpretation of Section 2 of the 14th Amendment.
On the 42nd anniversary of Bloody Sunday, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH) announced the reintroduction of the Count Every Vote Act in both chambers of Congress. The legislation includes vote restoration for formerly incarcerated individuals for federal elections.
Florida: Automatic Voter Restoration is ‘Excellent'
A New York Times editorial called Gov. Charlie Crist's recent automatic vote restoration proposal an “excellent idea.” The editorial applauded Crist's efforts to restore voting and civil rights for ex-offenders in Florida, and stated the move would speed up the current bureaucratic process.
“Northern and Midwestern states are gradually backing away from voting bans for ex-offenders. But these antidemocratic laws remain entrenched in the Deep South, where they were enacted in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as part of a broad effort to restrict the political influence of African-Americans. And Florida has the most restrictive laws and the highest number of disenfranchised ex-offenders of any state in the country,” the editorial stated. For additional coverage, see Scoop and the Daytona Beach News Journal....
Colorado: Parolee Re-enfranchisement Denied Support from Newspaper
A change to Colorado Senate Bill 83 would allow parolees to vote – an issue that has the Rocky Mountain News editorial board opposes. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Peter Groff, D-Denver, won preliminary passage and is expected to go to the Senate next week. A clarifying statute in the Colorado Constitution states no person “serving a sentence of parole” is eligible to register or to vote.
“Whether parolees should vote is a close call, in our view. On balance, however, we stand with the current law, which was upheld by the Colorado Supreme Court as recently as last year,” the editorial stated. For more coverage, see the Colorado Senate Web site.
Mass Districting Trial – key disenfranchisement case based on drawing districts
The Republican
By STEPHANIE BARRY
Friday, March 16, 2007
"Districts by themselves increase opportunity," said Harmon, a professor at Central Connecticut State University, who reviewed district-based maps submitted by plaintiffs who filed suit against the city to replace the current at-large system. They argue the current method hinders fair representation of blacks and Latino residents by favoring the "white bloc" vote.
Voting Processes
Hand Counted Paper Ballot bill introduced in Texas Leg by Ft. Worth Rep.
Feds to Sue New York State over voting machines.
Inclusion Daily Express
By Dave Reynolds,
March 3, 2006
WASHINGTON, DC--In its first legal action designed to enforce the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA), the U.S. Justice Department announced Wednesday that it is suing the State of New York for violating the federal law by failing to adopt voting systems that are accessible to voters with disabilities and that have a paper record, and to develop a statewide computerized voter registration database.
Ed. “Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here” (maxim above entrance to Dante’s Inferno - Hell). That’s what the Feds will see if they take on the New York State Attorney General’s office on voting machines. New York is a big state filled with far too many very smart lawyers and a number of those smart lawyers work for the state. They’ll mop the floor with just about any lawyer out of Alberto Gonzales shop and they’ll do it in front of a judge who lives in New York State. It won’t be a pretty sight. New York State has resisted the EAC and HAVA better than any state in the country – three cheers for the Empire State!!!
Diebold stock up on news it may divest e-voting business.
More on Diebold wanting out of e-voting...before they're caught!
The "Holt Bill" - H.R. 811 "corrections," like a paper shredder maybe
Random sample test for FL 13th e-voting machines...are these people illiterate
Sarasota voting machines tested
Bradenton Herald, FL
March 16, 2007
SARASOTA - The controversial touch-screen voting machines in Sarasota County are scheduled to be tested next week prior to the April 10 runoff election.
Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent is inviting the public to observe the logic and accuracy testing of the county's voting and tabulating equipment to be used in the runoff election of Sarasota's District 2 race between incumbent Commissioner Mary Anne Servian and her challenger Richard "Dick" Clapp.
According to a county press release, logic and accuracy testing is performed on a random sampling of all the voting machines that will be used on election day.
Ed. This is the wildest thing I’ve heard in a long time. You do not randomly test mission critical devices (i.e. voting devices) in any field. You test them all. Each voting machine is vital to the election. Testing a few and saying that the many are fine is not acceptable and risks the right of a majority of citizens to have their votes counted properly. This is really amazing stuff…random sample of ballots for a recount is probably what the BoE chair is thinking about, not random sampling of voting machines. Test them all. It’s called routine maintenance.
Lawmakers push bills restricting petitions
Gainesville Sun, March 18, 2007
Gov. Charlie Crist has given the general idea behind the proposals a cool reception.
"When you talk about making it harder to amend that constitution, don't forget whose constitution that is,'' Crist said, "It's the peoples and they have the right to change it.”
Colorado still recovering form 2006 mid term election disasters
END
IMPEACHMENT - THE TIME IS NOW!