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GOP objects to bill allowing recounts
NJ machines to be inspected, after all
New Jersey voting rights advocates will have the chance to have independent experts inspect electronic voting machines they say malfunctioned during the recent presidential primary election, a state judge has ruled.
Sequoia Voting Systems, the manufacturer of the touch-screen machines, previously forced New Jersey officials to scrap plans for an independent review after threatening legal action. Lawyers for the company claimed the audit would violate its trade secrets.
We advocate the use of voter-verified paper ballots (VVPBs) for all elections in the United States, so voters can inspect individual permanent records of their ballots before they are cast and so meaningful recounts may be conducted. We also insist that electronic voting equipment and software be open to public scrutiny and that random, surprise recounts be conducted on a regular basis to audit election equipment. verified voting
This is how it works: The private companies making voting machines pay the testing labs (only a couple do this kind of work). The testing process and results are all secret. The system was cobbled together years ago by some elections officials and vendors, with little government oversight (or funding - a big problem) and over the years has become a joke.
The passage of HAVA and creation of the EAC gave at least some hope that the process would change and there would finally be some oversight. But, as the NY Times reported last week, the EAC decertified of one of the testing labs, but didn't see fit to tell us, the voters, about it.
Back to the drawing board. Here's what the NY Times says today in an editorial:
The veil of secrecy that hangs over certification is good for the companies that make voting machines and for the ones that test them. The government should not be protecting those private interests. It should be protecting the voting public. CommonCause
HARTFORD, Conn., March 5, 2008 --
United Technologies Corporation remains committed to its offer.
United Technologies Lobbiest Group=Lincoln, Charlie Black,head of Lincoln is Political adviser to John McCain. Black is CEO of BKSH which is owned by Burson- Masteller and the CEO would be the same Mark Penn who is the political adviser to Hillary Clinton. Oh, did I fail to mention... United Technologies is now planning a hostile take over of DEIBOLD yes the same Diebold with all the Voting irregularities from past elections. A new level of corruption? Is this the experience Hillary is referring to? BuzzFlash
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SOME CAST DOUBTS ON VOTING MACHINES
At Florida Polls, Touch Screens and Crossed Fingers
The new touch-screen machines were in place in Sarasota for the election, and they were assumed to be an improvement. But after the polls closed, a troubling anomaly appeared in the results.
There were 18,000 "undervotes" in Sarasota County -- that is, 18,000 people showed up to the polls and chose candidates in other contests but not in the prominent and hard-fought congressional race. In the four other counties where voters cast ballots in the same race, the undervote percentage was far smaller.
What happened?
If the machines had left a paper trail of each voter's actions -- such as the punch cards or the lottery-ticket ballots -- many believe auditors would have had important clues to what happened.
In the wake of the investigations and ambiguity, the Florida legislature moved earlier this year to switch to voting machines that leave a paper trail.
But if they're reliable, why did the legislature move to get rid of them? "Floridians have said they want to be able to cast a ballot on a piece of paper," Ivey said. "We're moving to a paper system to help restore confidence." WP
Voting bill advances
Paper-ballot plan clears committee despite opposition
A paper-voting proposal cleared its first legislative hurdle Wednesday, despite stiff opposition from county clerks and Secretary of State Mike Coffman.
A Senate committee unanimously approved Senate Bill 189, which calls for voters statewide to cast paper ballots at polling places but also would allow those who ask to use electronic voting machines. Rocky Mountain News
More than 400,000 voters went to the polls yesterday in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, using a new optical-scan system that appears to have worked with no more than the usual number of complaints in an election day plagued by foul weather and a closely contested race. GCN
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