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BREAKING NEWS ARCHIVE

"Undervotes" Cast Doubts in Florida

"Most of the post-election attention Thursday remained focused on Sarasota County, where more than 18,000 blank ballots -- representing 13 percent of the 142,284 ballots cast -- could have affected the outcome of one of the most hotly contested congressional races in the country."

"In that race, Republican Vern Buchanan defeated Democrat Christine Jennings by only 373 votes -- triggering a likely recount."

"But an Orlando Sentinel review of results among the 24 other counties that use the same electronic-voting machines as Sarasota found three other instances -- in Sumter, Lee and Charlotte counties -- where an even higher percentage of ballots failed to show any vote cast in the race for state attorney general."

"By comparison, undervotes in those same counties in the U.S. Senate race were no higher than 1.5 percent." -Orlando Sentinel


Zogby "Exit Poll" of San Diego's CA50 Busby/Bilbray Election Shows 6-Point Distortion from Announced "Results"

"The exit poll shows the race much tighter than the results published by the San Diego Registrar of Voters as of the day after the election, six percentage points closer. Moreover, after adjustment for an oversampling of Bilbray voters, the adjusted poll shows Democrat Francine Busby well within the margin of error, making the race uncertain in actual outcome. Paper based votes yet to be counted favor Francine Busby, such as paper ballots obtained at the polls, which constitute 6.4% of all voters and favor Busby 58% to 39%." -Paul Lehto, BradBlog.com

DIRTY TRICKS IN NEW MEXICO
Blogged by John Gideon on BradBlog

NEW MEXICO - The following email has been sent to various listservs by the party who received these phone calls. It is only one complaint from one party but it is probably indicative of phone calls made to hundreds of voters in the state of New Mexico. Everyone needs to be wary of any phone calls alerting them to last minute changes of polling places. Call your county to find out if there are any changes and then call 1-866-OUR-VOTE and report the incident:

Yesterday (11/04), about 1pm MST, I rec'd a phone message from the Republican Party of NM telling me that my polling location was John Adams Middle School. My polling place is usually Longfellow Elementary about 1 block away. John Adams is about 7 1/2 miles away. In my horror and disgust I quickly deleted the message.

Thinking that maybe my polling place changed, I then called the **Republican Party** here and simply asked if they could tell me my polling place. They asked my address only, I told them, and they said, "You vote at Longfellow." This is correct and I hung up.

About 5pm MST, the Republican Party of NM called AGAIN and left a message telling me that my election day polling place was West Mesa High School, even further away than John Adams. They gave the full address and zip code. My Caller ID shows "REPUBLICAN PART." I DID NOT DELETE THIS MESSAGE.

Then around 7pm MST, the same thing happened. The Republican Party of NM called and left a message telling me that my election day polling place was back to John Adams Middle School. My Caller ID shows "NEW MEXICO VICT." I did a Google search on the phone number and this entry came up:

New Mexico Republican Party :: CalendarSummary:, Contact your local county party or call the Victory Office at (505) XXX-XXXX to find out what you can do to help our 2006 Republican candidates. …

I DID NOT DELETE THIS MESSAGE.

If you want the actual phone numbers, I can give them to you.

I've heard that this has been happening in other parts of the country, and I want to help get the word out that it's happening in NM. I called TV news stations, contacted the newspapers, and progressive talk show hosts. I'm warning people to be on the lookout. Please help me spread the word.

Follow-up: The aggrieved party contacted DNC attorneys who got an injunction against the state Republican party to stop them from giving polling location information to non-Republican voters. There is thought that voters with Hispanic surnames were targeted. More...

November 4, 2006
http://www.kfmb.com/stories/story.68972.html
Debate rages over electronic voting machine hacking
News 8 On-Line

SAN DIEGO COUNTY, CA --Less than a week until election day, and this time around, San Diego voters will be using electronic voting machines. But not everyone thinks that’s a good thing. Many voters are worried the voting machines can be hacked.

Just how easy is it to hack into a Diebold voting machine? Pretty easy, according to a demonstration video posted on the internet by researchers at Princeton University. They pick the lock on the side of the machine in less than 10 seconds. Then, they introduce a computer virus using a standard PC memory card.

The virus tricks the Diebold machine. Votes originally cast for pretend candidate George Washington are later printed out and recorded as votes for Benedict Arnold. But could it happen here in San Diego County? Many voters think yes. More...

November 4, 2006
http://www.kfoxtv.com/news/10239275/detail.html
El Paso's Electronic Voting Machines Have Problems
KFOX News

EL PASO COUNTY, TX -- The El Paso county attorney said he realized there was a problem when El Pasoans called into Paul Atrlezin's radio program on 1650 AM Friday morning.

"He had received from his morning show approximately 11 different callers, basically registering their complaints about the malfunctioning of the electronic voting machines," said El Paso County Attorney Jose Rodriguez.

The problem showed up when some voters reviewed their ballot and found the candidate who was marked was not the one for whom they voted. Along with the calls to the radio show, four El Pasoans also called the county attorney Friday to complain about the same problem. More...

November 4, 2006
http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/dp-70292sy0nov04,0,1968190.story?coll=dp-news-local-final
Two Newport News election lawsuits dismissed
Newport News Daily Press

NEWPORT NEWS, VA -- A panel of Newport News Circuit Court judges has dismissed two lawsuits that accused the mayor, the voter registrar and a councilman of fraud in connection with the May 2 election.

Pricillia Burnett, who tried to unseat Mayor Joe Frank, filed a lawsuit against Frank and Voter Registrar Vicki Lewis on June 2, claiming that faulty voting machines and equipment kept some votes from being counted.

Shaun D. Brown, who ran against Councilman Joseph Whitaker, filed a similar suit on June 2 against Lewis and Whitaker, but Brown also accused Whitaker's campaign of giving "the perception that votes are being bought and sold from election to election." More...

November 4, 2006
http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/politics/article/0,1426,MCA_1496_5117573,00.html
Voting cards missing; no alarm Republican fears are groundless, says Election Commission
Memphis Commercial Appeal

SHELBY COUNTY, TN --But election officials say the missing cards pose no threat of poll fraud for next week's long-anticipated election, contrary to reports by the Tennessee Republican Party and the Internet news site, The Drudge Report.

"These cards can't be reused," said Shelby County Election Commissioner Nancye Hines, who confirmed Friday that a small number of cards turned up missing during early voting that ended on Thursday.

Drudge and the GOP created a nationwide stir by reporting that voting cards disappeared in Shelby County, the state's largest election district, just days before the upcoming U.S. Senate face-off Tuesday between Republican Bob Corker and Democrat Harold Ford Jr. More...

November 3, 2006
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-9/1162536860121120.xml&coll=1
Computer scientists alarmed by voting system for troops
New Jersey Star-Ledger

A new electronic system meant to simplify voting for overseas troops may compromise their confidentiality and expose them to identity theft, computer scientists warn.

Citing those concerns, Rep. Rush Holt (D-12th Dist.) yesterday asked Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to establish more secure voting procedures for next week's elections.

A Pentagon spokesman said the system is intended as a convenience for service members, who are advised of security tradeoffs up front and voluntarily waive their rights to a secret ballot. More...

November 3, 2006
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-11-02-counting-ballot-delays_xhtm
Delays loom in counting ballots
USA Today

WASHINGTON — As the battle for control of Congress enters its final weekend, election experts warn that the number of voters forced to cast provisional ballots Tuesday because of eligibility questions could delay some results in tight races for days or weeks.

New statewide voter databases, strict ID requirements and other factors may increase the percentage of voters whose paper ballots must be reviewed by local officials.

Provisional ballots are often used when a voter is not listed as registered, shows up at the wrong precinct, lacks required identification, has moved recently but returns to his or her old polling place, or is listed by a slightly different name in state databases. More...

November 3, 2006
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/02/AR2006110201897.html
Voter ID problems predicted
Washington Post

On Indiana's primary day, Rep. Julia Carson shoved her congressional identification card in a pocket, ran out of her house and raced down the street to be at her polling site when it opened at 6 a.m. The Democrat, seeking to represent Indianapolis for a sixth term, showed the card to a poll worker, who told her it was unacceptable under a new state law that requires every voter to show proof of identity.

The law compels voters to show an ID, issued by Indiana or the federal government, with a photograph and an expiration date. Carson's card was for the 109th Congress, but did not say when the session ends. "I just thought I was carrying the right thing -- if you have a card that has a picture and shows it is current," she said. More...

November 2, 2006
http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/breaking_news/15906677.htm
Ohio suspends voter ID law for absentees
The Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Lawyers for the state and groups that opposed Ohio's voter identification rules claimed victory Wednesday in a settlement that suspends the law for absentee voters and clarifies and expands it for voting in person.

The agreement clears up confusion in key areas and allows more citizens to vote, said Subodh Chandra, one of the lawyers who filed a federal lawsuit challenging the law.

The plaintiffs, including the Service Employees International Union and the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, had argued that county elections boards were disenfranchising voters by inconsistently applying the law. More...

November 2, 2006
http://www.freepress.org/images/departments/2209.pdf
Official states electronic voting system added votes never cast in 2004 Presidential election; audit log missing
Free Press

MIAMI COUNTY, Ohio - An electronic vote counting system included votes never cast in the total vote count reported for the 2004 Presidential election according to an official directly in charge of conducting the election, the Republican Director of the Miami County (Ohio) Board of Elections. More...

November 2, 2006
http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1957&Itemid=51
Who is counting your votes? - A closer look at Hart InterCivic
Vote Trust USA

Once upon a time, hardly anybody in America had ever heard of Diebold. But then, its CEO visited George W. Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, returned to his home state of Ohio, and penned a fundraising letter. He invited people to a $1,000-a-plate fund-raiser to benefit Republicans, saying he was, "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year." Walden O'Dell, then-CEO of Diebold, seemed stunned by the firestorm of criticism he had ignited. He apologized, later resigning as CEO. More...


Citizens find critical security issue with Sequoia - the Yellow Button
www.bbvforums.org Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Anyone who can get at the yellow button can ruin the election. It takes no password, no computer knowledge, no equipment.

The formula is printed in materials that have been distributed to thousands of people. The machines will count millions of votes.

Citizens -- not scientists or certifiers or testing lab authorities -- identified the problem and have now notified the California secretary of state, and emergency measures are reportedly being taken in California, but not yet in Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, or any other state using Sequoia Voting Systems, the third-largest voting system vendor in the U.S. More...

http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print.cgi?file=/views06/1031-31.htm
Could a New GOP Court Victory and Karl Rove's Attack on Ohio 2006 Doom the Democrats Nationwide?
by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman

Tuesday, October 31, 2006 A major GOP federal court victory has plunged the Ohio 2006 election into the calculated chaos that has become the trademark of a Karl Rove election theft, and that could help keep the Congress in Republican hands nationwide.

Through a complex series of legal maneuvers, and now a shocking new 2-1 decision from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the GOP has thrown Ohio's entire process of voting and vote counting into serious disarray. The mess is perfectly designed to suppress voter turnout, make election monitoring and a recount impossible, and allow the Republican Party to emerge with a victory despite overwhelming evidence the electorate wants exactly the opposite.

The disaster in Ohio began immediately after the theft of the presidential election here in 2004. Though the majority of Ohioans are registered Democrats, the gerrymandered state legislature is overwhelmingly Republican. Soon after John Kerry conceded, it passed House Bill 3, a draconian assault on voter registration drives, voting rights and the ability to secure reliable recounts of federal-level elections.

In brief, HB3 stacked a virtually impossible set of requirements onto the voter registration process. As elsewhere nationwide, voting has traditionally involved citizens coming to the polls and signing a poll book. Upon a signature check from a poll worker, a ballot has been given. A similar process has been in effect for absentee ballots. There is no recent evidence this method has encouraged significant voter fraud.

But the GOP's HB3 has imposed a series of draconian requirements for voter ID, including the demand for certain documents very difficult to obtain by many poor, homeless, elderly or other largely Democratic demographic groups. More...


Some Voting Machines Chop Off Candidates' Names in Virginia

Computer Glitch Affects Voters in 3 Jurisdictions; Error Cannot Be Fixed by Nov. 7
By Leef Smith
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 24, 2006; B04

U.S. Senate candidate James Webb's last name has been cut off on part of the electronic ballot used by voters in Alexandria, Falls Church and Charlottesville because of a computer glitch that also affects other candidates with long names, city officials said yesterday.

Although the problem creates some voter confusion, it will not cause votes to be cast incorrectly, election officials emphasized. The error shows up only on the summary page, where voters are asked to review their selections before hitting the button to cast their votes. Webb's full name appears on the page where voters choose for whom to vote. More...

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OHIO VOTER PURGES
Oct. 20, 2006
http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_rob_kall_061020_fitrakis_ohio_voter_.htm
Since we last spoke Fitrakis reports he has seen or had read to him letters from two different counties.

"Letters were sent out on or about August first, (in Miami county August 6th.) We talked to one person who read us the letter and told us what was in it. And we got a change of address letter that was sent about that time."

Fitrakis reports that, though some basic elements were required by the state, different counties created different letters. That means there could have been as many as 88 different letters sent out. He determined that in Ohio's Miami county, the letters did not require a response which, failing, would cause a purge. The vendor managing the registered voter roll was instructed not to purge voters. But Fitrakis added that all registered voter databases created at the county level are sent up to the Ken Blackwell's central state voter databank, and that it is possible they were purged there, in spite of the local county official's instructions to the vendor managing the records at the local level.

To ascertain just what has been going on with letters to voters, Fitrakis says, "This weekend, we are requesting the letters of all 88 counties."

Fitrakis says, as he reported to OpEdNews earlier, "If we find after our due diligence invstigation there was any inappropriate purging-- if mistreatment for minorities or young people, we will move for an injunction.

"What we're trying to do now is to examine the letters and also, compare the data bases, electronically, from all 88 counties, with the secretary of state's office (database.) But there is the possibility that exists that the private companies that have been contracted to run the voter registration may have taken action, unless otherwise authorized (instructed) not to by the board of elections. And the possiblity remains that the secretary of state's office could have taken action (purged voter names from rolls) and this is still under investigation. It's not a settled issue." More...

October 17, 2006
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003309033_webimmigrants17.html?syndication=rss
Some Calif. latinos receive letter warning them not to vote
The Associated Press

SANTA ANA, Calif. — The state attorney general's office is investigating a letter received by some Southern California Hispanics that says it is a crime for immigrants to vote and tells them they could be jailed or deported if they go to the polls next month.

"It's a very malicious and degrading letter. It's to pull Latinos down and make them afraid," said Benny Diaz, who is running for City Council in Garden Grove. He said his wife and five other people he knows had received the letter.

The letter, written in Spanish, tells recipients: "You are advised that if your residence in this country is illegal or you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime that could result in jail time." More...

Read letter and commentary HERE

REPORTS EMERGING OF PURGED VOTER ROLLS.
For IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wed., Oct 18, 2006

Officials in 3 unnamed states and in Ohio allegedly involved in plot to purge voter rolls.

Network of Citizens has learned from Daily Kos that efforts to purge the voter rolls have been put into effect through the development of expansive caging lists. Kos, citing an unnamed source, writes

“A friend, in a position to be present at lunches of GOP insiders here in DC …was present as a group of Moderate GOP members with Ohio ties lamented how far the party had strayed. Then, one insider… stopped the conversation. He told table that it was impossible they would lose either house. He also predicts an Ohio GOP sweep.

He informed the group that over the last year, in four critical states the GOP needs to hold huge purges of the voter rolls have just been finished. The insider did not say which four states, but did say Ohio was among them.

His claim was a new Diebold voter registry system had been installed over the last year. The last week of July and the first week of August a "test run" was made of the systems ability to purge ineligable voters. The purge generated names and test letters sent out to 1.2 million Ohio addresses with a focus on University's, Apartment addresses with high turnover. He claims they made the letters seem just functionary, but they have an action component to avoid being purged from the rolls.

He further added, that since it was conducted as a "test" they only sent letters to a limited number of suspect addresses and "I suspect Blackwell chose criteria very very favorable for us."

Note, this is breaking news from this source only. Election reform activists are busy trying to verify information, and identify other sources. It is critical that voters check with their county officials and verify that their registrations are current, even if they successfully voted in the primaries.