|
|
|
Election Integrity News - May 12, 2008
| In this issue ... National Stories VA Retreats on Voter Registration Efforts for Wounded Veterans ACCURATE Submits Comments on the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines Wallach on Shamos on Paper Trails EAC Selects D.C. Elections Director for Chief Operating Officer Post Brennan Center Criticizes Supreme Court Decision to Uphold Indiana Voter ID Law Feingold, Klobuchar, Ellison Work to Make Voting Easier for All Americans News From Around the States Guam's Razor-Thin Caucus Vote Shows the Need for Paper Ballots Nuns Turned Away from Polls Due to Indiana Photo ID Law Grayson Issues Warning to Kentucky Citizens about Voter Registration Effort North Carolina NAACP Files Formal Vote Suppression Complaint Against Women's Voices Women's Vote South Dakota: Secretary of State Warns Against Bogus Mailings Click Here for Previous Issues Two Years Ago: The May 9, 2006 Issue of Election Integrity News One Year Ago: The May 14, 2007 Issue of Election Integrity News Subscribe to Election Integrity News! Put the Election Integrity News on your Website or Computer with our RSS Newsfeed |
|
|
VA Retreats on Voter Registration Efforts for Wounded Veterans by Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet Press Release - May 8, 2008 |
This article was posted at AlterNet
and is reposted here with permission of the author.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has retreated on a recently announced policy
to allow voter registration drives at its facilities where veterans' groups
and others would assist wounded former soldiers to participate in the 2008 presidential
election.
"It is VHA (Veterans Health Administration) policy to assist patients who
seek to exercise their right to register and vote; however, due to Hatch Act
(Title 5 United States Code (U.S.C.) 7321-7326) requirements and to avoid disruptions
to facility operations, voter registration drives are not permitted," the
new policy directive by Michael J. Kussman, Under Secretary for Health said.
The Hatch Act restricts political activities by federal employees.
The VA directive rolls back a new policy announced in late April where the agency
agreed, after mounting public and political pressure, to assist wounded veterans
with registering to vote and voting for federal elections. While the VA still
says it will help former soldiers on an as-requested basis with registration
and voting, curtailing voter registration drives brought swift condemnation
from Capitol Hill and advocacy groups. Read
More
|
ACCURATE Submits Comments on the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines A Center for Correct, Usable, Reliable, Auditable, and Transparent Elections (ACCURATE) - May 5, 2008 |
Download
ACCURATE'S Comments on the Draft VVSG
A Center for Correct, Usable, Reliable, Auditable and Transparent Elections
(ACCURATE) submitted public comment today to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission
on their draft Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG), urging the Commission
to adopt certain key features fo the draft. The VVSG provides a national certification
framework for U.S. voting systems against which 40 states require their voting
systems to be certified.
ACCURATE's comments laud the new draft as a groundbreaking and badly needed
overhaul of our national voting system standards while making constructive suggestions
for further development.
The most significant element of the draft VVSG is the requirement for
*software independence*, which would
require voting systems to be designed so that undetected flaws in the voting
system software cannot cause changes in the vote count. ACCURATE fully supports
requiring software independence as the backbone of a robust and comprehensive
next-generation voting system certification regime.
The commentary goes on to emphasize the importance of welcome features of the
draft: adversarial vulnerability testing, volume testing, the new framework
for usability and accessibility testing and comprehensive voting system documentation
requirements. The comment closes by pointing out areas of the VVSG that will
require increasedinstitutional support outside of the VVSG process, including
the crucial innovation class and a closed loop for incident reporting and feedback.
ACCURATE plans to participate further as the draft VVSG is modified and extended.
|
|
Wallach on Shamos on Paper Trails by Dan Wallach, Rice University - April 28, 2008 |
This article was posted on Ed Felten's Freedom
To Tinker Blog and is reposted here with
permission of the author.
In
an interview with CNet, Michael
Shamos talks about paper trails. Shamos (pictured at right) is a professor
at Carnegie Mellon University who has served as a voting system analyst for
the Pennsylvania Secretary of State. In this article, a transcript of an interview
conducted by Declan McCullagh, he spends a fair bit of time trashing paper trails,
and by that, he’s referring to the “toilet paper roll” thermal printer attachments
that are sold by the major U.S. voting system vendors.
He’s correct, to a limited extent. He discusses a “20%” failure rate, which he probably gets from some problems in Ohio. It’s certainly the case that these things are poorly engineered. The ostensible reason for the continuous paper roll, as opposed to cutting the sheets individually, is that you’d have better reliability. However, having the votes recorded in the order they were cast is a clear violation of voter privacy. A more serious concern with paper trails is that it’s unclear whether voters will bother to double-check them at all. I’ve pointed Freedom to Tinker readers at Sarah Everett’s PhD thesis before and it’s worth doing it again. The punchline is that roughly two thirds of the test subjects didn’t notice when our homebrew DRE system was lying on its summary screen. In fact, they gave our machine exceptionally high marks. They loved it.
Shamos criticizes the EFF, VerifiedVoting, the League of Women voters, and anybody else he can think of because they advocate for paper trails. The preferred solution that they generally advocate is hand-marked optical scan ballots. These appear to have better accuracy, and paper ballots are, inherently, paper trails that give us an unfiltered window into the voters’ original intent. Don’t interpret Shamos’s criticism of toilet-paper rolls as a criticism of hand-marked paper ballots. Read More
|
|
EAC Selects D.C. Elections Director for Chief Operating Officer Post EAC Media Release - May 9, 2008 |
The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) today announced that Alice P. Miller will join the EAC as its chief operating officer, effective June 2, 2008. Ms. Miller currently is in charge of elections
in the District of Columbia, where she serves its 340,000 active voters
and manages a $5.2 million budget.
"We are very pleased to have someone with Alice's unique experience,
both as a manager and an election official," said EAC Chair Rosemary
Rodriguez. "The EAC has a lot of work ahead, and I am confident that
she will help us make sure election officials have the tools they need
to conduct accessible, accurate and secure elections."
Ms. Miller will oversee the day-to-day operations at the EAC in six
program areas: Voting Systems Testing and Certification, HAVA Funding,
Election Administration Improvement Programs, Research, Administration
and Human Resources. Her leadership role will also figure centrally as
the agency focuses on developing and integrating policies and
procedures aimed at improving efficiency and transparency.
Ms. Miller is the executive director of the District of Columbia
Board of Elections and Ethics. During her 12 years in this role, she
has been responsible for overseeing and managing all aspects of
elections, from voter registration to ballot access for candidates and
measures. She also has directed the management of voter rolls and
supervised the recruitment, training and deployment of 2,500 poll
workers.
In addition to her duties as chief elections official for the District of Columbia,
Ms. Miller also served in 2003 as president of the National Association of State
Election Directors. She holds a juris doctor degree from Northeastern University
School of Law and a bachelor of arts from Boston College.
|
Brennan Center Criticizes Supreme Court Decision to Uphold Indiana Voter ID Law by The Brennan Center for Justice - April 28, 2008 |
While Court Leaves Door Open For Future Challenges
to Restrictive ID Laws, Center Calls on Lawmakers Across Country to Enact Laws
That Protect the Right to Vote
Today the Brennan Center for Justice criticized the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision
to uphold Indiana’s voter identification law the strictest in the country
but noted that the decision did not give other states a blank check to block
eligible voters. The Brennan Center called on lawmakers across the country
to reject similar laws and to pass affirmative legislation protecting the right
to vote.
“This year, millions of new voters are surging into the political process.
Lawmakers should be encouraging full participation by eligible citizens, not
erecting new barriers to voting. This is precisely the wrong message for
the Supreme Court to send in this critical year. We shouldn't give partisans
an excuse to find ways to keep people from voting," said Michael Waldman,
the Brennan Center’s Executive Director.
The Court’s 6-3 opinion in Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, widely
considered the most important voting rights case since Bush v. Gore, recognized
that ID laws may have negative impact, even when there is not sufficient evidence
to find them unconstitutional. As six Justices agreed, Indiana’s law places
a heavier burden on some eligible citizens, particularly elderly and low-income
persons who could be blocked from voting without the proper documentation.
The Brennan Center urged lawmakers to heed the disenfranchising impacts of ID
laws acknowledged in today’s decision.
"Today’s decision is not the end of the story on voter ID. Although
the Court upheld Indiana’s voter ID law, it did not say that states must or
even should pass restrictive ID laws. Now it’s up to legislators and courts
in states like Texas, Missouri, and Florida to decide if they are going to follow
Indiana’s lead and disenfranchise American citizens, or if they’re going to
protect the right to vote for all Americans as we head into a critical national
election,” stated Wendy Weiser, Deputy Director of the Democracy Program at
the Brennan Center for Justice. “In doing so, they should keep in mind
that the Court left open the possibility of future lawsuits against restrictive
ID laws that prevent people from voting.” Read More
Statement from Robert A. Brady, Chairman, Committee on House Administration
Asian American Groups Dismayed by U.S. Supreme Court Decision Upholding Voter ID Law
Lawyers’ Committee Disappointed with Supreme Court Decision to Uphold Indiana’s Voter ID Law
People For the American Way: Supreme Court Won’t Stand Up For Voters
Election Experts: Supreme Court Ruling Will Add to Long List of Hurdles Facing American Voters
|
|
Feingold, Klobuchar, Ellison Work to Make Voting Easier for All Americans Senator Feingold Press Release - May 1, 2008 |
Bill Allowing Election Day Registration is Introduced Following Supreme Court Decision Allowing Laws Impeding the Right to Vote
U.S. Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN) are introducing legislation to help more Americans register to vote by allowing Election Day registration at polling places for all federal elections. The Election Day Registration Act addresses chronic problems with the American electoral process – low voter turnout and archaic voter registration laws.
Election Day registration is also seen as preferable to advance registration since voters are actually present when they register, reducing opportunities for fraud. The bill’s introduction comes days after the Supreme Court upheld an Indiana voter ID law that seriously impedes the ability of elderly and low-income Americans to vote. Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Jon Tester (D-MT), who represent states that recently enacted Election Day registration, are also cosponsors of the bill.
“The right to vote is at the heart of our democracy, and we should constantly be looking for ways to make it easier for Americans to exercise that right,” Feingold said.
“Election Day registration has worked well in Wisconsin for more than 30 years and is a major reason why Wisconsin is a national leader in voter turnout. By allowing people to register in person on Election Day, we can bring more people into the process, which only strengthens our democracy.” Read More
From Around the States
|
Guam's Razor-Thin Caucus Vote Shows the Need for Paper Ballots Verified Voting Foundation Press Release - May 5, 2008 |
The extremely close vote in Guam's Democratic Presidential caucus shows the
need for recountable and verifiable voting systems, the Verified Voting Foundation
said Sunday. Only seven votes separated Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator
Barack Obama out of over 4,500 cast. The caucus used voter-marked paper
ballots, and a recount was ordered.
“Since the election was conducted using voter-marked paper ballots, they can do a recount,” said Warren Stewart, Senior Project Director for Verified Voting. “If the caucus had used paperless touch screens, all they would get would be a reprint,” Stewart said. “Imagine the Electoral College this November is hanging on the results from one state Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia where the winner is determined by a razor-thin margin and there is no way to conduct a meaningful recount. Add to that inevitable machine failures in a handful of precincts in the state that will have resulted in long lines or anomalous results, and we have a constitutional crisis.”
Prominent computer scientists have warned strongly that all electronic voting
systems are vulnerable to error and tampering. Verified Voting estimates that
over 30 per cent of the ballots in the November Presidential election will be
cast on paperless electronic machines. In Pennsylvania, Virginia, and
Tennessee, most votes will be paperless, and in Georgia, New Jersey, and Maryland,
electronic systems with no paper record will be the only voting method at the
polls. In all, 14 states will have some paperless electronic voting on
November 4. “Unfortunately, over one fourth states are not as ready for
a close Presidential race as the Guam Presidential caucus,” said Stewart. Read
More
|
Nuns Turned Away from Polls Due to Indiana Photo ID Law by Deborah Hastings, Associated Press - May 6, 2008 |
About 12 Indiana nuns were turned away Tuesday from a polling place by a fellow bride of Christ because they didn't have state or federal identification bearing a photograph.
Sister Julie McGuire (pictured at right) said she was forced to turn away her fellow sisters at Saint Mary's Convent in South Bend, across the street from the University of Notre Dame, because they had been told earlier that they would need such an ID to vote.
The nuns, all in their 80s or 90s, didn't get one but came to the precinct anyway.
"One came down this morning, and she was 98, and she said, 'I don't want to go do that,'" Sister McGuire said. Some showed up with outdated passports. None of them drives.
The convent will make "a very concerted effort" to get proper
identification for the nuns in time for the general election. "We're
going to take from now until November to get them out and get this done.
"You can't do this like school kids on a bus," she said. "I wish we could."
Elsewhere across the pivotal state, voting appeared to run smoothly, despite the fears of some elections experts that the Supreme Court's recent refusal to strike down Indiana's controversial photo identification law could cause confusion at the polls.
In a primary expected to draw record numbers, a voter hot line set up by the secretary of state's office mostly received calls concerning precinct locations, spokeswoman Bethany Derringer said.
But a group of voting rights advocates
that established a separate hot line reported receiving several calls
from would-be voters who were turned away at precincts because they
lacked state or federal identification bearing a photograph.
|
Grayson Issues Warning to Kentucky Citizens about Voter Registration Effort by Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson - May 12, 2008 |
Secretary of State Trey Grayson issued a warning to Kentucky citizens that
his office has learned that a voting group has sent thousands of potentially
confusing mailings to women across Kentucky asking them to register to vote.
These mailings could cause confusion for Kentuckians because the deadline to
register to vote in the upcoming May primary has already passed. According
to the group, “Women’s Voices. Women Vote.” (WVWV), the voter registration mailings
were part of a larger nationwide mailing. Grayson encouraged voters to still
consider registering to vote so that they will be eligible for the fall general
election, but wanted to make sure that citizens understood that any new registrants
registering after the April 21st deadline will not be able to vote in the May
primary.
“I appreciate Women’s Voices Women Vote letting us know about this possibly
confusing situation for Kentucky voters,” stated Secretary Grayson. “It
is important to stress that citizens can still register to vote for the November
general election, but they will not be eligible to vote and in the upcoming
primary.”
Page Gardner, President of WVWV, stated in her letter that:
“…Kentucky residents will receive this mail after the deadline for registering to vote to participate in the upcoming primary election. Please be aware that the mailing is not intended to encourage registration specifically for the primary, but simply to encourage voter registration in general. The mailing clearly indicates that the deadline to register to vote by mail for a particular election in Kentucky is 29 days before the election … We hope that this unfortunate coincidence in timing does not lead to any confusion or aggravation for either your state’s voters or registrars.”Grayson had previously noted at a March press conference that many third-party registration groups are in Kentucky now and are trying to register voters. He stated that there have been some complaints to the State Board of Elections about some of these voter registration efforts. While most voter registration efforts are very helpful, they sometimes can confuse voters. Read More
|
LibertyVote Leaves New York by Bo Lipari, New Yorkers for Verified Voting - April 23, 2008 |
Last of the DREs pull outs of the Empire State
It is now official. Liberty Election Systems has withdrawn their DRE from the New York State and has informed the State Board of Elections that they will not pursue further certification testing or fill their one current order. LibertyVote was promoting the Dutch Nedap DRE in New York State, but needed to post another $750,000 bond to cover the costs of ongoing certification testing as required by state regulations. Apparently LibertyVote and their partner Nedap decided it was time to stop throwing good money after bad and pulled the plug. LibertyVote/Nedap was the only remaining vendor offering a DRE in New York. The move represents the end of an era in New York State, and could be a harbinger for what lies ahead in the rest of the nation.
From way back in 2002, voting machine vendors were licking their lips at New York’s big $220 million dollar chunk of the HAVA pie. And right from the start they pitched the idea that “New York State was a DRE state”, a phrase which pretty much everyone bought into except for the citizen advocates who fought a long hard campaign to overcome this ‘accepted wisdom’.
The DREs pitched in New York, while sharing all the same problems and vulnerabilities of models used in other states, had a unique requirement the touch screen needed to be very, very, very large, to accommodate New York’s full face ballot, resulting in a typically huge machine that weighed hundreds of pounds; was difficult to transport and store; and begged the question what’s it going to cost to replace that big touch screen? Read More
|
North Carolina NAACP Files Formal Vote Suppression Complaint Against Women's Voices Women's Vote by North Carolina NAACP - May 5, 2008 |
The North Carolina NAACP has filed a
formal complaint of possible voter suppression against Women's
Voices Women Vote, the D.C. nonprofit that as we revealed
earlier this week was behind the deceptive and illegal
robo-calls made to state residents. The N.C. NAACP hand-delivered its complaint
today to state Attorney General Roy Cooper and State Board of Elections Executive
Director Gary Bartlett. It's also alerted the U.S. Department of Justice that
it's collecting more information from its national network and is contemplating
filing a formal complaint with that agency.
N.C. NAACP President Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II announced the filing of the
complaint at a press conference held this afternoon outside the N.C. Department
of Justice. He was joined by his group's attorney, Al McSurely, and Bob Hall
of Democracy North Carolina.
The state Attorney General's office is already investigating Women's Voices,
but the N.C. NAACP and Democracy North Carolina want to be parties to that investigation.
"When you mess with the right to vote, you're messing with everything that
is fundamental in our democracy," Barber said. Read
More
|
South Dakota: Secretary of State Warns Against Bogus Mailings by Rapid City Journal Staff - May 8, 2008 |
This article appeared in the Rapid City Journal.
Secretary of State Chris Nelson is warning
South Dakotans that a Boston organization called the "Voter
Participation Project" is sending mailings into South Dakota, saying
residents -- under "state law" -- must re-register to vote. The mailing
lists the Secretary of State's address, adding the appearance of
credibility.
"The language in this mailing is not true," Nelson said. "This
organization is misleading our citizens into thinking they need to fill
out another voter registration form in order to vote."
Nelson said he has received a number of complaints about the
mailings and that some of the mailings have gone to deceased South
Dakotans. Others have targeted older citizens.
"My elderly mother received a mailing and was concerned that she needed to fill it out in order to vote," Nelson said.
He
noted that voters aren't required to re-register when they move, but he
does encourage the practice. Nelson said any voter wishing to view
their registration status should go to www.sdsos.gov and click on the
Voter Information Portal. The site shows where voters are registered,
where polling places are and offers a sample ballot for the primary
election.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Election Integrity News Editor: Warren
Stewart
VoteTrustUSA is a project of The Verified
Voting Foundation
Please forward Election
Integrity News to your friends!
West
Virginia law requires voter-verifiable paper records on all voting
systems, and a manual count of 5% of precincts is required as part
of the canvass under 
