Chicago voter database hacked by civics group trying to prove it can be done http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=2601085&page=1 Report warns of potential voting problems in 10 states http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/24/AR2006102401 168.html
102706 Less than 2 weeks from the midterm elections, a new Gallup poll finds that only about 1 in 4 Americans are "very confident" that votes across the country will be accurately cast and counted and that workers at voting facilities will be capable of resolving any problems. "The public places equal trust in electronic or computerized ballots and paper ballots to correctly record its votes this year," Gallup relates. "Republicans and Democrats differ in their overall confidence in the country's voting system, with Republicans much more likely than Democrats to express confidence in the accuracy of the vote counts, in the workers at polling facilities, and in the trustworthiness of electronic ballots." http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content _id=1003315816 FYI, Video the Vote is one group encouraging citizens to bring video cameras with them to the polls, and photograph anything suspicious in terms of vote suppression. They are being told to use their cell phones to call local news crews. Also everyone who can, please Take the Day Off Nov. 7th so you can vote without any competition for time. Ohio is a bee's hive of activity. After the scandals of 2004 and 2006, Ohio voters are angry. Blackwell's campaign for Governor is reaping what he sowed. The DEM challenger Ted Strickland has been ahead since this summer. In fact, the state may go from Red to Blue. "Ohio, a swing state in presidential elections, is usually kind to Republicans: The party has controlled the governor's office in 32 of the last 44 years, and both U.S. senators and 12 of 18 House members are Republicans. Not this time. Besides Strickland, Democratic Representative Sherrod Brown, 53, leads incumbent Senator Mike DeWine, 59. Three incumbent Republican House members are also in jeopardy: Deborah Pryce, 55; Steve Chabot, 53; and Jean Schmidt, 54. In addition, Democrat Zack Space is favored to beat Republican Joy Padgett, 59, for the seat held by Republican Representative Bob Ney. The lawmaker, 52, pleaded guilty on Oct. 13 to taking gifts, including a golf trip to Scotland, from Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff in exchange for legislative favors. Ney, who said he is resigning from Congress, faces up to 10 years in prison." http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=a6hAxAhmTsLE&refer=polit ics Ohio sued for violations of 'motor-voter' law (passed in 1993) requiring registration forms to be placed in public assistance offices that would make it easier for low income citizens to register (since many don't have cars and don't frequent auto registration offices). National Voting Rights Institute http://www.nvri.org/updates/e-updates/update_special_september_2006.html The response from Sec. of State Kenneth Blackwell's office on this was that it was "another frivolous lawsuit." Federal judge rules Ohio's restrictions of voter registration are unconstitutional "The plaintiffs contested a procedure required by the Ohio Secretary of State that would have changed the process for returning voter registration forms collected by non-partisan civic groups conducting voter registration drives. In the past, citizens working to register voters were able to turn in the completed forms to a civic group or church that would review the forms for accuracy, turn them into the registrar, and follow up later to make sure the voter was actually registered. The rule enjoined today would have made it a crime to designate one person to hand in the forms collected in a drive; each volunteer or worker would have had to go personally to the election offices to deliver every form collected. Plaintiffs also successfully argued that rules that require online training excluded low-income citizens and civic groups who don't have computers, as well as individuals with disabilities." http://votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1745&Itemi d=113 Media challenges Ohio exit polling rules: "Ohio's new guidelines on conducting exit polls on Election Day, written after a judge threw out the old rules, are vague and confusing and should be rejected, a coalition of national news organizations argues in a lawsuit. In the suit, television networks ABC, CNN, CBS, Fox News and NBC and The Associated Press ask US District Judge Michael H. Watson to spell out the rules for county election boards in his own words and force Sec. of State Ken Blackwell to post them so the plaintiffs can interview voters leaving polling places on Nov. 7. The judge last month had ordered the state to produce a new directive when he struck down Blackwell's 2004 order against exit polling within 100 feet of a voting place. Watson granted a temporary order suspending the 2004 order, allowing exit polling that year. The lawsuit filed Monday says Blackwell's latest guidelines, issued Oct. 13, begin by stating that loitering and delaying voters are prohibited and only later say that the judge specifically allowed exit polling." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/24/AR2006102400 675.html Note: This 100 foot setback is also an issue in Florida and Nevada. Lawsuit calls Ohio's voter ID law a mess, asks court to void it http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1161765345260 920.xml&coll=2 _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
