'Daily Voting News' for June 11, 2009
Ellen Theisen, Dave Klein, and John Washburn

Does a polling place have an accessible voting system (as required by federal law) just because it contains "accessible" equipment, or do you have to be able to get into the building to use it?

Nearly seven years ago, the federal government provided billions of dollars for states to use to among other things make voting in every polling place accessible to people with disabilities. States rushed to purchase now-discredited electronic voting machines that the vendors claimed allowed people with disabilities to vote privately and independently. States put the machines in every polling place, but what did they do to make the polling places physically accessible? Very little, according to a new report from the GAO. 73% of the nation's polling places remain physically inaccessible to many voters an improvement of 11% since 2000.

National: GAO Report VOTERS WITH DISABILITIES: More Polling Places Had No Potential Impediments Than in 2000, but Challenges Remain
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09685.pdf

National: ElectionLine Weekly includes a summary of 2009 election-related legislation across the states.
http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/uploadedFiles/wwwpewcenteronthestatesorg/Reports/Electionline_Reports/electionlineWeekly06.11.09.pdf

CA: CA Bills Aim to “Drive” Voter Registration to 100 Percent
http://www.lawattstimes.com/life-and-style-mainmenu-31/community/805-community-meetings.html

FL: Get out the vote, sign up for class
http://www.centralfloridafuture.com/get-out-the-vote-sign-up-for-class-1.1761586

GA: A Victory for Voter ID - Hans A. von Spakovsky
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MmM4YzVlODZkYzIxYTViODRkYWEwN2MxMjViYTY5MmQ=

NM: MALDEF voter intimidation lawsuit dismissed — civil rights group says suit sent ’strong message’ MALDEF says
http://newmexicoindependent.com/29278/maldef-voter-intimidation-lawsuit-dismissed-civil-rights-group-says-suit-sent-strong-message-maldef-says

NY: 15 Counties Reject Voting Machine Mandate
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/2009/06/11/reject_mandate/

TX: Associate registrar moonlights by selling voter data
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hotstories/6469960.html

VA: Election Day 2009 - report from the trenches
http://abqordia.blogspot.com/2009/06/election-day-2009-report-from-trenches.html

Amsterdam: Trustworthy Voting: From Machine to System
http://boole.computer.org/portal/cms_docs_computer/computer/homepage/May09/r5pra.pdf
"The authors describe an electronic voting approach that takes a system view, incorporating a trustworthy process based on open source software, simplified procedures, and built-in redundant safeguards that prevent tampering."

Europe: Breaking down barriers for accessible IT
http://www.vnunet.com/computing/analysis/2243766/breaking-barriers-4709810

Europe: European Elections 2009 - My personal voting experience
http://eurout.org/2009/06/11/european-elections-2009-my-personal-voting-experience

Philippines: Awarding of automation project hailed as a step closer to credible polls
http://richardgordon.blogspot.com/2009/06/awarding-of-automation-project-hailed.html

Published by VotersUnite.Org
Ellen Theisen (ellen@votersunite.org), Director and Managing Editor
Dave Klein (Klein.David@VotersUnite.org), Editor
John Washburn (Washburn.John@VotersUnite.org), Editor

Daily Voting News was founded on February 6, 2004 by John Gideon (1947-2009). To assist with Daily Voting News, please send links to news articles to dvn-tips@votersunite.org. To donate, click here: http://www.votersunite.org/donate.asp.

"To encourage citizen ownership of transparent, participatory democracy." The Creekside Declaration March 22, 2008

**Articles and commentary included in “Daily Voting News” do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors of Daily Voting News, VotersUnite.Org, or its allied organizations. Articles are ed for inclusion to inform subscribers' ability to draw their own conclusions based on noteworthy and credible news, research, legislation, and debate bearing on the integrity of elections. **