'Daily Voting News' For January 22, 2008

 

A group of political scientists from the Universities of Maryland, Rochester and Michigan have done a study and written a book to let us know that touch screen voting leaves the voter satisfied and confident. They have decided that most critics have been focusing on the wrong issues. The wrong issues? They begin by blaming recent election problems on the inability of the voter to correctly cast their ballot. According to the information in their press release they seem to ignore ballot programming errors, voting machines that will not start on election morning and shut down on polls closing. They ignore vote switching and voting machines that are supposed to be accessible but will not allow most voters with disabilities to vote without assistance. They ignore over 18,000 undervotes in Sarasota Co Florida and 108 blank ballots cast in a one-contest election in Florence Co South Carolina. It’s not security so much as the problem is poor, amateurish design of voting machines made cheaply and sold expensively. They also found that usability concerns cannot be addressed by adding a paper trail. No argument here but no one has been claiming that they would be. The paper trail is not for usability but for verifiability.

 

NAtional: Touch Screen Voting a Hit; Critics Miss Mark on Security

http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/537110/

 

NAtional: Wed: Ohio Secretary of State to Talk Live With Citizens on Radio and the Internet & Important News from S.C.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_mary_ann_080122_wed_3a_ohio_secretary_.htm

 

NAtional: Every Vote Counts

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-belzer/every-vote-counts_b_82704.html

 

AL: Morgan County - Probate judge secures voting machines, makes changes for elections

http://www.decaturdaily.com/stories/3752.html

 

AR: Sec. of State’s office says voting problems possible

http://www.stuttgartdailyleader.com/articles/2008/01/22/news/news03.txt

 

CA: Superior Court Decision In San Diego v Bowen [Word Document]

http://www.bradblog.com/Docs/%20SuperiorCourt_SanDiegoVBowen_012208.doc

 

CA: Les Scharnberg: A hands-on solution to election hackery

http://www.arcataeye.com/index.php?module=Pagesetter&tid=2&topic=4&func=viewpub&pid=818&format=full

 

CA: Instant Runoff Voting Probably Dead for Oakland, San Leandro

http://www.berkeleydaily.org/text/article.cfm?issue=01-22-08&storyID=28985

 

CA: Riverside County - Forget About Privacy with Absentee/Vote-by-Mail Ballots in Riverside County, CA

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5588

 

CA: San Francisco County - SF settles lawsuit with voting machine vendor; city to collect $3.5 million

http://www.sfgate.com/flat/archive/2008/01/22/chronicle/archive/2008/01/22/MN4AUJQ2D.html?tsp=1

 

CA: San Francisco County - City, e-voting vendor settle multimillion dollar suit

http://www.examiner.com/a-1173519~City__e_voting_vendor_settle_multimillion_dollar_suit.html

 

CO: Boulder County - Clerk, council to talk voting machines

http://www.timescall.com/News_Story.asp?id=6009

 

CO: Frisco goes to mail-in voting

Residents must make sure they are registered in time to receive ballots

http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20080122/NEWS/167636918

 

CT: Connecticut: Coalition Says Changes Needed in Election Audits

http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2719&Itemid=113

 

FL: Opinion - Our view: Another major snafu

More problems with Florida's messed-up election system must be corrected fast

http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080122/OPINION/801220319/1004

 

FL: Pinellas County - Early voting locations unfair to North Pinellas

http://www.sptimes.com/2008/01/22/Northpinellas/Early_voting_location.shtml

 

FL: Sarasota County - County likely to schedule two mail-in special elections

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080122/BREAKING01/972631227/-1/newssitemap

 

GA: Habersham County – Opinion - Habersham must improve voting process

http://www.thenortheastgeorgian.com/articles/2008/01/22/news/opinions/opinion.txt

 

MD: Election officials: Voting problems will not reoccur

http://www.examiner.com/a-1171902~Election_officials__Voting_problems_will_not_reoccur.html

 

NH: Response to factual errors in Salon: "Was the New Hampshire vote stolen?"

http://www.electiondefensealliance.org/response_factual_errors_salon_was_new_hampshire_vote_stolen

 

NH: Results largely the same after recount

http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080122/NEWS01/572585355/-1/YOUTH

 

NH: NH Election Contest Update: 7.5% Vote Count Discrepancy Found in Nashua, Ward 4 for Clinton, Edwards

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5591

 

NH: NH Recount Uncovers Discrepancies Result of Human Error Officials Say

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/01/nh-recount-unco.html

 

NJ: Bill Would Help States Ditch Electronic Voting

http://www.extremenano.com/article/Bill+Would+Help+States+Ditch+Electronic+Voting/223702_1.aspx

 

NY: Krueger calls on elections commissioners to choose new voting machines

http://www.empirestatenews.net/News/20080122-4.html

 

NY: New York: Breakthrough at the Board?

http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2720&Itemid=113

 

OH: Questions about voting machines linger as primary approaches

http://www.athensnews.com/issue/article.php3?story_id=30390

 

OH: Cuyahoga County - ACLU Challenges Ohio’s Unequal Voting Technology

http://www.northcountrygazette.org/news/2008/01/21/ohio_unequal_voting/

 

OH: Cuyahoga County - Frantic preparations for March Election in Cuyahoga County

http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=81856&provider=gnews

 

OH: Hamilton County - 'Why does my ballot smell like Marley?'

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080122/COL05/801220313/1009/EDIT

 

PA: Wayne County - Replacing Wayne County's Voting Machines Could Cost $500,000-$650,000

http://www.wayneindependent.com/news/x142933055

 

SC: SC Voting Machines Prompt Calls for Federal Action

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/viewstory.asp?Page=/Politics/archive/200801/POL20080122a.html

 

SC: Results are in: McCain wins

[Florence Co reveals they had the same close-out problem as Horry Co.]

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/local/story/322852.html

 

TX: Mistrust of voting machines on the rise

Texas sticking with electronic balloting despite reports of flaws

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5473152.html

 

TX: Texas Debates On Electronic Balloting System For Presidential Election Use

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7009794741

 

**Articles and commentary included in “Daily Voting News” may not all reflect the opinions of VotersUnite.Org or its allied organizations. The articles are all included for the information of the subscribers of “Daily Voting News” though we realize that the subscribers may not agree with the opinions given in all articles or in the commentary**

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