Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Wednesday May 10, 2006

[stillcool]

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.

Please post Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News on this thread.
1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web.
2. Post stories using the "Election Fraud and Reform News Sources" listed here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x371233
3. Re-post stories and announcements you find on DU, providing a link to the original thread with thanks to the Original Poster, too.
4. Start a discussion thread by re-posting a story you see on this thread.
Please
"Recommend"
for the Greatest Page (it's the link just below).

[stillcool]

1. New security glitch found in Diebold system

Officials say machines have 'dangerous' holes
By Ian Hoffman, STAFF WRITER

Elections officials in several states are scrambling to understand and limit the risk from a "dangerous" security hole found in Diebold Election Systems Inc.'s ATM-like touch-screen voting machines.

Armed with a little basic knowledge of Diebold voting systems and a standard component available at any computer store, someone with a minute or two of access to a Diebold touch screen could load virtually any software into the machine and disable it, redistribute votes or alter its performance in myriad ways.

This newspaper is withholding some details of the vulnerability at the request of several elections officials and scientists, partly because exploiting it is so simple and the tools for doing so are widely available.

Scientists said Diebold appeared to have opened the hole by making it as easy as possible to upgrade the software inside its machines. The result, said Iowa's Jones, is a violation of federal voting system rules.
"All of us who have heard the technical details of this are really shocked. It defies reason that anyone who works with security would tolerate this design," he said.

Contact Ian Hoffman at [e-mail].
http://insidebayarea.com/timesstar/localnews/ci_3805089

[stillcool]

2. Arizona: Lawsuit targets voting machines

Paul Davenport
Associated Press
May. 10, 2006 12:00 AM

Voter Action, a Berkeley, Calif.-based not-for-profit, said the lawsuit it planned to file today in Maricopa County Superior Court would challenge the security and reliability of Diebold Election Systems and Sequoia electronic voting machines and contend they don't accommodate the needs of voters with a broad range of disabilities.

The lawsuit will name Secretary of State Jan Brewer and some county election officials as defendants, Voter Action said.
Brewer and a top aide expressed confidence in the reliability and security of the machines.
I cannot understand for the life of me why they would want to prohibit the disabled from voting privately and independently like you and I," Brewer said. "Every piece of equipment that we have has a paper trail."
Nearly all of Arizona's 15 counties will use Diebold machines. Maricopa County will use Sequoia machines, and Graham and Cochise counties will use machines produced by Elections Systems and Software.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0510votingmachines0510.html

[stillcool]

3. Oh...Now this is Priceless...Voting machine sale in question

By Pablo Bachelet | The Miami Herald

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a New York Democrat, wrote to Treasury Secretary John Snow, asking whether the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States (CFIUS) had cleared last year's purchase of the California-based Sequoia Voting Systems by the Smartmatic Corp.
The transaction drew little scrutiny until Sequoia-supplied equipment for a March 21 election in Chicago was marred by technical glitches and delays. One local official suggested Venezuela was trying to infiltrate the U.S. electoral system.

Michelle Shafer, a Sequoia-Smartmatic spokeswoman, said the Venezuelan government no longer has an investment in the company and that the CFIUS review was unnecessary. Maloney is a ranking member on the subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade and Technology, which has jurisdiction over CFIUS, the U.S. government entity that can probe foreign purchases.

Source The Miami Heraldhttp://www.vcrisis.com/index.php?content=letters/200605100326

[stillcool]

4. West Virginia: Few Problems at Ohio County Polls

By MICHELLE BLUM Staff Writer

WHEELING — With Tuesday’s balloting the first under the touchscreen voting system, Ohio County elections officials reported a few minor problems but nothing major.

Stewart said balloting went “fairly well” with few problems experienced by voters. Several precincts experienced paper jams in the voting machine printers throughout the day with Stewart and other election officials traveling to those areas to assist in solving the problems.
And after the polls closed, poll workers at several precincts had difficulties with using the card readers to tabulate the results from the machines at the sites. “We had to talk them through it by phone,” Stewart said.

Stewart said feedback from voters on the new system was positive.“In fact, people were pleased with the large print (on the ballot),” he said.“One woman said she didn’t even have to put her glasses on.
”http://www.news-register.net/News/articles.asp?articleID=5863

[stillcool]

16. West Virginia:County elections hit glitch

Wednesday, May 10, 2006
— Time: 12:31:09 AM EST
Berkeley, Jefferson experience software problems, late in reporting results
By NAOMI KIMBLE and KANIKA J.G. GEORGES / Journal Staff Writers

MARTINSBURG -Berkeley County Commission GOP candidates sat quietly in an upstairs courtroom Tuesday evening, waiting to learn who had earned a spot on November's ballot. But by nearly 10:30 p.m., no precincts had been counted, officials said.
"The software that was loaded up on the optical scan system was incorrect," said County Commission President Howard Strauss.
The new touchscreen voting equipment was working without a glitch, he said. But software issues with the older machines left all of the county's nearly 60 precincts uncounted.
There was no clear picture of what had caused the problem, County Clerk John Small said during a press conference on the issue.
"We don't know who to point the finger to," he said late Tuesday evening.

- Staff writer Lauren Hough contributed to this story.

- Staff writers Naomi Kimble can be reached at 263-8931 ext. 183, or [e-mail] and Kanika Georges can be reached at 725-6581
http://journal-news.net/news/story/0510202006_new01_glitch_051006_n.asp

[stillcool]

17. WV: Frustration accompanies machines' debut

Matthew Thompson
Daily Mail staff
Wednesday May 10, 2006

Some areas faced delays and frustrations with new voting machines, but state and county officials said they were pleased with the first test of new electronic voting systems during the primary election.
-Putnam County's vote count was delayed by about an hour because optical scan ballots jammed in counting machines, several counties could not meet voting requirements for the handicapped and a few more counties faced brief delays.
-Kanawha County Commissioner Kent Carper expressed frustration that the votes still were being counted after midnight today.

Reports surfaced early Wednesday morning of problems in various counties involving the machines. None of the votes in Taylor County could be counted because of problems with the main computer not reading the tabulators from individual voting machines. Beakes said the problems in Taylor were fixed and all votes were counted within 30 minutes.
Mineral, Ohio, and Jefferson also suffered various processing problems with voting tabulation.
In Putnam County, the vote was delayed for a short time Tuesday because the optical scan ballots jammed in the tabulation machines. County Clerk Brian Wood said an ES&S official came on site and resolved the problem after a one-hour delay.

The Kanawha County Commission purchased M-100 vote-counting machines for all precincts designed to stop people from voting for too many candidates for a particular office.
The machines also offer the ability to give officials instant vote tallies rather than having to wait for results until the end of election night.

http://www.dailymail.com/news/News/2006051013/?pt=15

[stillcool]

18. WV: Penalize Company For Election Woes

By the News-Register

West Virginia Secretary of State Betty Ireland was right when, before Tuesday’s primary election, she treaded carefully in her criticism of the company responsible for serious problems in the voting process. But the election is over now — and Ireland should turn her full wrath on Election Systems & Software Inc.

Many Mountain State elections officials were let down badly by the Nebraska company, which simply didn’t deliver on pledges to have new voting machines ready for the primary election. Six counties didn’t use the ES&S equipment on Tuesday, either because some of it didn’t work at all or because there was no time to test the new machines and software.

Ireland and her chief of staff, Ben Beakes, have been very critical of ES&S on several occasions. In explaining why they have not threatened the company with legal action, Beakes noted on Monday that Ireland feared such comments might make it impossible to work with ES&S during the last few crucial days before the election.“We would not be able to get ready for this election” under such circumstances, Beakes said.

[stillcool]

5. Nebraska: Praising innovation

Web-Posted May 10, 2006
Chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission tours Grand Island's voting facilities
By Tracy Overstreet
[e-mail]

Paul DeGregorio, chairman of the four-member U.S. Election Assistance Commission, was here to see how Nebraska has spent the $18.5 million of its share of $3.1 billion of federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) dollars that Congress allocated for improving voting equipment, voter registration and poll worker training.
"Nebraska is ahead of the curve," DeGregorio said as he talked with Hall County election officials and inspected the county's ballot counting machine.

DeGregorio said the election reform that has occurred in the last six years is more change in voting in this country than what has occurred during the last 200 years.
But more changes are coming,with states beginning to compare their statewide voter registries to ensure against double balloting across state lines and with an Internet voting pilot project that will begin in a few months for members of the military.

DeGregorio is a former election director in St. Louis. He was named to the Election Assistance Commission in 2003.
He watched polls open in Lincoln, then observed voting in Goehner, Grand Island and Kearney, before watching polls close in North Platte.
DeGregorio was in North Carolina last week, will be speaking about election issues Wednesday in Wyoming and travels to Pennsylvania next week.

http://www.theindependent.com/stories/051006/new_innovation10.shtml

[stillcool]

6. North Carolina: No major changes are reported in vote tally

May 10,2006
Sue Book and Zac Goldstein View stories by reporter
SUN JOURNAL STAFF

Craven County’s first try at voting with new equipment was classified as a resounding success, though just about 8 percent of registered voters used the equipment.

Elections Director Tiffiney Miller told the county Board of Elections that provisional votes they viewed at a May 4 hand-eye recount of two precincts approved one ballot that, on review before the staff entered the numbers, could only partially be counted.
With the 69 provisional ballots approved completely, 11 not approved and one partially approved,(huh?) board Chairman Bill Miner, and members Esther Hardin and Ray Wood signed off on the results.

In the Pamlico County canvass, slight discrepancies between the official and unofficial results are due to the number of curbside votes being entered incorrectly, according to Deborah Todd, county elections director.

The primary was the first opportunity for the county to test out its new voting machines. Todd reported minimal complaints, with only one machine requiring a brief restart.
“The overall experience was very good,” she said.

http://www.newbernsj.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=/GlobalTemplates/Details.cfm&StoryID=27738&Section=Local

[stillcool]

20. North Carolina: LaRoque will challenge primary vote

05/10/06 — LaRoque will challenge primary vote

Willie Ray Starling won the Republican nomination for the North Carolina House of Representatives District 10 seat by 11 votes following Tuesday's canvass, but incumbent Rep. Stephen LaRoque said he has filed for a recount with the state Board of Elections and plans to file a protest of the election by Thursday.
"I'm looking for a new election," LaRoque said Tuesday.
LaRoque said he will file the protest on the grounds of voting irregularities in his home county of Lenoir. The district includes all of Greene and parts of Lenoir and Wayne, but most of the voters live in Lenoir.

The final tallies from the canvasses in each county varied slightly from last week's primary. In Wayne County, Starling won his home county 277-57, with LaRoque gaining two votes. In LaRoque's home county of Lenoir, Starling gained six votes, but still lost the county 733-500.
The official results from Greene County had Starling with 136 votes compared to LaRoque's 112. The entire district's total favored Starling 913-902.

By Andrew Bell
Published in News on May 10, 2006 01:51 PM
http://www.newsargus.com/news/archives/2006/05/10/laroque_will_challenge_primary_vote/index.shtml

[kpete]

7. CRANKS AND KOOKS: KERRY WON IN '04

CRANKS AND KOOKS: KERRY WON IN '04
... HEAR ONE OF THEM--LARRY DAVID--TELL YOU THE STONE-COLD EVIDENCE THAT, YEP, GEORGE BUSH STOLE IT IN 2004. AGAIN.
>From Armed Madhouse, the new book by Greg Palast
Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Hear Larry David, auteur of HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm," and principal writer of the "Seinfeld" series reading Palast's new book, Armed Madhouse, Chapter 4: The Con-Kerry Won at www.GregPalast.com

(Excerpt)
The Uncounted.

In Ohio, there were 153,237 ballots simply thrown away, more than the Bush "victory" margin. In New Mexico the uncounted vote was fives times the Bush alleged victory margin of 5,988. In Iowa, Bush's triumph of 13,498 was overwhelmed by 36,811 votes rejected. In all, over three million votes were cast but never counted in the 2004 presidential election. The official number is bad enough-1,855,827 ballots cast not counted, reported to the federal government's Election's Assistance Commission. But the feds are missing data from several cities and entire states too embarrassed to report the votes they failed to count. Correcting for the under-reporting of the undercount, the number of ballots cast but never counted goes to 3,600,380. And there are certainly more we couldn't locate to tote up.

Why doesn't your government tell you this? Hey, they do. It's right there in black-and-white on a U.S. Census Bureau announcement released seven months after the election -- in a footnote to the report on voter turn -- out. The Census tabulation of voters voting "differs," from ballots tallied by the Clerk of the House of Representatives for the 2004 presidential race by 3.4 million votes.

This is the hidden presidential count which, excepting the Census' whispered footnote, has not been reported.

Unfortunately, that's not all. In addition to the 3 million ballots uncounted due to technical "glitches," millions more were lost because the voters were prevented from casting their ballots in the first place. This group of un-votes includes voters illegally denied registration or wrongly purged from the registries.

In the voting biz, most of these lost votes are called "spoilage." Spoilage, not the voters, picked our president for us.

tons more at:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/10192

[kpete]

8. Strayhorn submitting documents for ballot

Strayhorn submitting documents for ballot spotBy JOHN MORITZ
STAR-TELEGRAM AUSTIN BUREAU

Star-Telegram / Rodger Mallison
Carol Keeton Strayhorn speaks at the Tarrant County Bar Association luncheon at the Fort Worth Club on Tuesday. She announced that she had obtained more than enough signatures to be placed on the ballot as an independent candidate for Texas governor and planned to fly back to Austin after the luncheon to turn in her petition signatures two days early.AUSTIN — Boasting that she “blew the barn doors off this petition drive,” independent candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn on Tuesday trucked 101 boxes containing about 223,000 signatures to the Texas Secretary of State’s Office to have her name placed on the gubernatorial ballot in November.

The number, if certified by the state’s top elections official, would be nearly five times the 45,540 signatures she needed, of registered voters who did not vote in either major-party primary, to qualify her independent candidacy. Strayhorn, a two-term state comptroller who in January dropped her bid for the Republican nomination to run for governor independently, said the signatures demonstrate deep public support.

more at:
http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/state/14538066.htm

[kpete]

9. Booker Is Elected Newark Mayor in a Landslide

Booker Is Elected Newark Mayor in a Landslide

By DAMIEN CAVE
Published: May 9, 2006
Cory Booker, the young, Ivy League-educated lawyer who fought an unsuccessful battle four years ago against the domineering incumbent Sharpe James, has been elected mayor, marking the start of a new political era in New Jersey's largest city.


George Olivar/Associated Press
Ronald L. Rice, the former deputy mayor of Newark, is one of four candidates today battling to lead New Jersey's largest city. More Photos >
With 160 of 168 districts reporting, Mr. Booker was leading his closest challenger, Ronald L. Rice, a former deputy mayor in the administration of Mayor James, by three to one, 30,717 to 10,088.

Voters who had shunned Mr. Booker, 37, in 2002 indicated that they were ready for change after seeing only two mayors in the past 36 years. He has made safety his top priority, promising to overhaul the police department and fight gangs in schools. He has also promised to bring professionalism, accountability and fresh ideas to the city, which has long had a reputation for mismanagement.

more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/09/nyregion/09cnd-newark.html?hp&ex=1147233600&en=500125a22bbb83e3&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Shortly after the polls closed at 8 p.m., Mr. Booker's supporters were gathering in a balloon-filled gymnasium at Essex County College.

[kpete]

10. Immigrant-Voter Drive Announced

Immigrant-Voter Drive Announced

By Sonya Geis
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 10, 2006; Page A03

LOS ANGELES, May 9 -- The same coalition of labor leaders, Latino activists, Catholic priests and radio deejays responsible for massive pro-immigrant demonstrations in Los Angeles described a new coordinated campaign on Tuesday that they hope will register 1 million new voters before the November elections.

Under the umbrella of the newly formed We Are America Alliance, organizers will make similar announcements in New York, Chicago and other cities, including a news conference in Washington on Wednesday. In Los Angeles, they gave details for the first time of a strategy voiced repeatedly during marches: "Ahora marchamos, mañana votamos" -- Today we march, tomorrow we vote.

"We need to reach out to our youth -- the first, second and third generation -- to make sure they vote," Spanish-radio deejay Renan Almendarez Coello, better known as "El Cucuy" or "The Bogeyman," said at a news conference.

more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/09/AR2006050901463.html

[kpete]

11. Electoral Laments in Major and Minor Keys

Electoral Laments in Major and Minor Keys

Edward B. Foley
Director, Election Law @ Moritz
May 9, 2006

So many things can—and do—go wrong with the administration of elections that it is important to distinguish the serious problems from the relatively minor inconveniences.

Last week's primary elections in Ohio illustrate this point. The headline grabber was the week-long delay in announcing results in Cuyahoga County because machines purchased to read absentee ballots were unable to do so. It became necessary to count 15,000 absentee ballots by hand. (Just think if more Cleveland voters had really utilized their new ability to cast "no excuse" absentee ballots. Less than ten percent of the vote in this primary was by absentee ballots, but it might have been much higher.) The consequence was a colossal embarrassment for the county's Board of Elections and a huge frustration for the campaigns and members of the public waiting eagerly to know the results.

But so far there has been no allegation that this unfortunate and annoying delay has compromised the integrity of any of the Cuyahoga County elections. Accordingly, the problem should be classified as relatively minor.

To be sure, hand counting 15,000 ballots is likely to be significantly less accurate than counting these same ballots by machine—when, that is, the machines work properly. In this respect, the problem could convert from being merely inconvenient to jeopardizing the integrity of the results, a consequence of an entirely different order of magnitude. But right now we can laugh at, rather than weep over, the ineptitude that this malfunction revealed.

more at:
http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/comments/2006/060509.php

[kpete]

12. Federal Court Denies Preliminary Injunction

Posted May 9, 2006

Federal Court Denies Preliminary Injunction in Christian Civic League of Maine v. FEC

A three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia today denied the Christian Civic League of Maine’s (CCL) motion for preliminary injunction in CCL v. FEC. The CCL sought to enjoin the enforcement of BCRA’s prohibition on the use of corporate general treasury funds to pay for “electioneering communications,” arguing that its proposed ad constitutes “grass roots lobbying” and may not constitutionally be regulated.

The Campaign Legal Center serves as part of the legal team representing defendant-intevenors Senators McCain and Feingold and Representatives Shays, Meehan and Allen.

The court noted that the CCL has conceded it could publish its proposed ad without running afoul of BCRA if it: (1) funded the ad through a PAC; (2) published the ad in a medium other than “broadcast, cable, or satellite; or (3) altered the script of the ad to refrain from clearly identifying Senator Snowe. The court concluded:

"Given this concession, inter alia, we conclude that the League has established neither a substantial likelihood of success on the merits nor that it will be irreparably injured in the absence of the 'extraordinary remedy' of a preliminary injunction. We therefore also conclude that the requested preliminary injunction would substantially injure the Commission and not serve the public interest. Accordingly, . . . an accompanying Order denies the League’s motion for a preliminary injunction."

more at:
http://clcblog.org/blog_item-18.html

[kpete]

13. Lawsuit questions legality of ID rules for elections - Law hurts Latinos

Lawsuit questions legality of ID rules for elections
Law hurts Latinos, groups say

Matthew Benson and Robbie Sherwood
The Arizona Republic
May. 10, 2006 12:00 AM


A lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court asks that voter-identification and registration requirements imposed under the 2004 election law known as Proposition 200 be declared unconstitutional.

Several Latino advocacy groups brought the suit on behalf of a handful of Arizona residents. The lawsuit says that Proposition 200, approved by voters, should be stricken down because of its dampening effect on minority voting.

It's unclear when the court will decide the issue, but the plaintiffs are seeking a temporary restraining order against Proposition 200, potentially putting the measure on ice for next week's local elections. advertisement

Longer term, the suit asks for a court injunction against the measure. Critics say the measure's requirements for proof of citizenship when registering to vote and proper identification when voting have a disproportionate impact on minority voters, who are less likely to meet the requirements.

"By requiring people to have to purchase forms of identification, whether it's a birth certificate or a driver's license, whether it's to register to vote or also to appear and vote in person on Election Day, is a modern-day poll tax," attorney Nina Perales said Tuesday at a news conference.

more at:
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0510voting-lawsuit0510.html

[kpete]

14. Political showdown emerges on voter photo ID requirement

Political showdown emerges on voter photo ID requirement
KELLY WIESE
Associated Press

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - Senate Democrats delayed a vote on a bill Tuesday that requires voters to show photo identification at the polls starting this fall, prompting Republicans to try to force them to swallow a tougher measure.

The key provision in the bill requires voters to show a photo ID issued by Missouri or the federal government, including such things as driver's licenses or military IDs.

The legislation arose from a negotiating committee that reconciled differences between previously passed House and Senate versions. To become law, a final version must be passed by both chambers before the Legislature's 6 p.m. Friday adjournment.

Among other differences, the House bill had eliminated the option of voting a straight-party ticket. The negotiated bill did not, but Senate sponsor Delbert Scott, R-Lowry City, carried through on a threat to send the bill back to negotiators and get rid of straight-ticket voting if Democrats delayed the legislation.

"If the Democrats don't want to play well, we'll go to straight ticket," Scott said, adding later, "we provided lots of opportunities to work together for a meaningful bill."

more at:
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/14539382.htm

[kpete]

15. Lawsuit seeks to void Prop 200 voting provisions

Lawsuit seeks to void Prop 200 voting provisions
By Howard Fischer
Capitol Media Services
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 05.09.2006

PHOENIX -- A Hispanic rights law firm filed suit Tuesday asking a federal judge to void the voting provisions of Proposition 200.

The lawsuit by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund attacks provisions of the law which requires proof of citizenship to register to vote and certain forms of identification to cast a ballot. Attorney Nina Perales said Latinos are less likely to have the kinds of ID required.

"As a result, significant numbers of Latinos attempting to register and turn out to vote are denied the right to vote,'' she said. And Perales said because Hispanics are a significant proportion of the people who are naturalized - people who need different documents - the law has a harsher effect on them, making it illegal.
And Lydia Camarillo, vice president of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, said the legislation and the practices of state officials in enforcing it amount to "attacking and profiling the Latino community and other communities of ethnic color."

more at:
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/128385.php

[kpete]

19. Voting glitch said to be 'dangerous'

Voting glitch said to be 'dangerous'
By Ian Hoffman, STAFF WRITER

Elections officials in several states are scrambling to understand and limit the risk from a "dangerous" security hole found in Diebold Election Systems Inc.'s ATM-like touch-screen voting machines.

The hole is considered more worrisome than most security problems discovered on modern voting machines, such as weak encryption, easily pickable locks and use of the same, weak password nationwide.

Armed with a little basic knowledge of Diebold voting systems and a standard component available at any computer store, someone with a minute or two of access to a Diebold touch screen could load virtually any software into the machine and disable it, redistribute votes or alter its performance in myriad ways.

"This one is worse than any of the others I've seen. It's more fundamental," said Douglas Jones, a University of Iowa computer scientist and veteran voting-system examiner for the state of Iowa.

"In the other ones, we've been arguing about the security of the locks on the front door," Jones said. "Now we find that there's no back door. This is the kind of thing where if the states don't get out in front of the hackers, there's a real threat."

The Argus is withholding some details of the vulnerability at the request of several elections officials and scientists, partly because exploiting it is so simple and the tools for doing so are widely available. A Finnish computer expert working with Black Box Voting, a nonprofit organization critical of electronic voting, found the security hole in March after Emery County, Utah, was forced by state officials to accept Diebold touch screens, and a local elections official allowed the expert to examine the machines.

Black Box Voting was to issue two reports today on the security hole, one of limited distribution that explains the vulnerability fully and one for public release that withholds key technical details.

more at:
http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_3804675

[kpete]

21. Aha! So Jack Abramoff Dumped $20,000 into NH Not Just $15,000

Abramoff in New Hampshire
By Paul Kiel - May 10, 2006, 4:01 PM
Aha! So Jack Abramoff, via the Mississippi Choctaw and Agua Caliente tribes, dumped $20,000 into New Hampshire just prior to Election Day, 2002, not $15,000, as had been previously reported.

The Mississippi Choctaw cut a $10,000 check, and now a GOP attorney has admitted that the Agua Caliente gave $10,000 too.

The good people at the "shadowy" Senate Majority Project think the money might have something to do with the phone jamming. The GOP calls that "ludicrous."

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/000607.php

[stillcool]

22. Alabama: Sessions advises Voting Act caution

Questions necessity in targeted states
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
MARY ORNDORFF
News Washington correspondent

WASHINGTON - The Voting Rights Act and its protections for minority voters may no longer be necessary in parts of the South and Alabama but Congress should consider expanding it to northern cities and states, Sen. Jeff Sessions said Tuesday

The civil rights-era law is up for renewal this year, and a group of leading Republicans and Democrats are actively supporting its extension. Sessions is not among them, and instead is advising caution because parts of the law have become burdensome and irrelevant he said

Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act - which requires local government officials to get Department of Justice approval of changes to voting rules and procedures applies to nine states, including Alabama. The section also applies to individual counties or townships in seven other states, all with a long history of discriminating against groups of minority voters. In 41 years, it has not only protected the right of blacks to vote, it has led to historic numbers of black elected officials. In 1970, there were 565 across the South; in 2000, there were 5,579.

Sessions also said it should be easier for states to break free of the law. Although the Voting Rights Act currently allows for such "bail outs," only a handful of counties in Virginia have demonstrated 10 years worth of a clean record on discrimination, and are no longer subject to Section 5. Alabama has never applied for a bail out.

I'm not saying there wouldn't be some areas that attempts at discrimination would occur, but I'm pretty confident that the Alabama Supreme Court and the attorney general would deal with that in an effective and fair way," Sessions said.

http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/114725312269830.xml&coll=2
E-mail: [e-mail]

[Algorem]

23. Die!Bold!Die! ( Machine Smashing Man said it was his "civic duty")

Die! Bold, Die!

Man smashes voting machines, will be canonized soon.

By First Punch

Article Published May 10, 2006

http://www.clevescene.com/Issues/2006-05-10/news/firstpunch_full.html

...Patrick Wallenhorst, who was trying to vote at the time, says Fenster was "just smashing away at it with both arms."

But while Diebold's machines suck at actually collecting votes, they're apparently manufactured to take quite a beating. Fenster's repeated blows hardly dented the machine. So he picked it up and smashed it on the ground. "That's when it just went into pieces," says Wallenhorst, who grabbed Fenster and escorted him outside as volunteer workers called the cops.

Yet Fenster would not be deterred. He pushed his way back in and picked up another machine, trashing it on the ground.

Wallenhorst says that Fenster, who was eventually arrested, described the assault as his "civic duty."


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x427169

[Kurovski]

24. Kick to top, and thanks stillcool47 &kpete!

:thumbsup:

[autorank]

25. Excellent, as always. Like the red headline!!!

And Kurovski is even contributing news. Holy Cow, "Thread Killer Repents"

nice html color chart