[FDRfollower]

This just in on CNN.com

WEBB'S OFFICIAL MARGIN OF VICTORY JUST 9,329 VOTES, OR .4%: It's official -- Democrat Jim Webb won the U.S. Senate race by 9,329 votes over Republican incumbent George Allen. The state Board of Elections yesterday officially certified the results of the Nov. 7 election. Webb edged Allen by four-tenths of 1 percent. Webb, making his first bid for elective office, took 1,175,606 votes, or 49.6 percent of the vote, to Allen's 1,166,277 votes, or 49.2 percent. Independent Gail Parker got 1.1 percent of the ballots cast, or 26,102 votes. Statewide, 53 percent of registered voters went to the polls. Richmond Times-Dispatch: Webb won race by 9,329 votes

And there were similar very close races in other locations. Some by a thousand or so. This kind of narrowness just proves what Jane D'arc and any sane person is saying about implementing the highest standards in voting technology to ensure things are as accurate as possible.

[MAGI]

Proof of questionable e voting machines' miscounting, and resulting consequences:

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3858#more-3858


FL-13: First Day of State Run 'Audit Testing' in Sarasota Reveals 7% Error Rate in Testing on Paperless ES&S Touch-Screen Machines
State Officials Blame 'Human Error' of State Officials Who Performed Tests in the State's Official Testing…
…While County Commissioners Make Plans to Scrap Their $4.5 Million Dollar Touch-Screen System…
Yesterday Sarasota County, FL began their state-run test audits of the paperless ES&S touch-screen systems used in Florida's 13th District House race where 18,000 votes disappeared, resulting in a 369 vote margin between Christine Jennings (D) and Vern Buchanan (R) to fill the seat vacated by former Secretary of State of Katherine Harris.

The first day of testing, revealed miscounting errors on all four of the machines used during the test according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, and at least two citizen observers who blogged their account of the days testing.

State officials who convened the panel blamed the miscounting on …wait for it…human error!


SKIP

Secretary of State Sue Cobb's reliable spokesliar and Buchanan's attorney both downplayed the problems as expected, pulling out the old "human error" explanation employed frequently in the wake of any such revelations of failures in electronic voting systems:

Of the 251 ballots cast, five additional votes were counted for Jennings, including three extra votes in one precinct. There were also miscounts in five other races.

"Most likely it's human error," said Jenny Nash, spokesperson for the State Division of Elections.

Representatives for both Jennings and Buchanan said Tuesday's results support their original contentions.

"They said beforehand in all likelihood there would be human error," said Buchanan lawyer Hayden Dempsey.

Jennings spokeswoman Kathy Vermazen said she found the results "intriguing."

Jeannie Dean, a District 13 citizen who has been on hand as well to witness much of the brouhaha each day since the Election, took glee in yesterday's flawed results in light of Buchanan's attorney's initial attempts at "information control" earlier in the day:

Today's State n' Egg-on-Face routine makes Hayden Demsey, council for the Buchanan campaign as well as Bush's lead attorney in 2000, WRONG again. At an 11:30 am press conference he asserted, "If there were truly a 15% error rate, as the Jennings' camp has claimed, it would have already shown up. We've had half a day of voting….we would have seen it by now. The machines are testing exactly as we expected, which shows that they worked on election day…there was no error rate…"
Jennings, who we previously described as a role-model for all candidates in her fight to assure the voter's voices are actually heard and hear accurately, continues to win our respect. She tells the Herald-Trib today that she's in for the long haul: "This could go on for months, and I'm prepared for that," she said. "I will never give up."

Hear, hear. Neither will we, Christine. And thank you again.

In the meantime, in direct contradiction of the wishes of SoS Cobb and Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections, Kathy Dent (neither of whom have yet to resign), the County's Board of Commissioners are readying plans to scrap their entire $4.5 million touch-screen system in the wake of the controversy and, more importantly, at the mandate of the voters who decided in favor of a paper ballot system (ironically enough) by approving an initiative for it on the November 7th ballot. They county's 1600 machines, purchased just five years ago, would be trashed (or sold to unsuspecting suckers elsewhere) in the bargain.

But, of course, Cobb and Dent are again fighting to thwart the will of the very voters they are supposed to be serving. As reported by the Herald-Tribune in another piece today…

The county’s switch to a paper trail system must clear at least one legal challenge: a lawsuit by the secretary of state, the county and Dent seeking to overturn the voter-imposed requirement.

:thumbup:

[MAGI]

Even better news
November 29th, 2006

http://www.brad blog.com/

NATIONAL STANDARDS INSTITUTE TO RECOMMEND SCRAPPING DIRECT RECORDING ELECTRONIC TOUCH-SCREEN VOTING MACHINES!
Says Machines Should be Decertified! Also Says So-Called 'Voter Verified Paper Audit Trails (VVPAT) Should Not Be Used' in Voting Systems!
Huge news. Michael Hickens of InternetNews.com has the scoop. Here's the highlights…

A federal agency is set to recommend significant changes to specifications for electronic-voting machines next week, internetnews.com has learned.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is recommending that the 2007 version of the Voluntary Voting Systems Guidelines (VVSG) decertify direct record electronic (DRE) machines.
…
According to an NIST paper to be discussed at a meeting of election regulators at NIST headquarters in Gaithersburg, Md., on Dec. 4 and 5, DRE vote totals cannot be audited because the machines are not software independent.

In other words, there is no means of verifying vote tallies other than by relying on the software that tabulated the results to begin with.

The machines currently in use are "more vulnerable to undetected programming errors or malicious code," according to the paper.

The NIST paper also noted that, "potentially, a single programmer could 'rig' a major election."

This is incredibly tremendousNovember 29th, 2006


NATIONAL STANDARDS INSTITUTE TO RECOMMEND SCRAPPING DIRECT RECORDING ELECTRONIC TOUCH-SCREEN VOTING MACHINES!
Says Machines Should be Decertified! Also Says So-Called 'Voter Verified Paper Audit Trails (VVPAT) Should Not Be Used' in Voting Systems!
Huge news. Michael Hickens of InternetNews.com has the scoop. Here's the highlights…

A federal agency is set to recommend significant changes to specifications for electronic-voting machines next week, internetnews.com has learned.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is recommending that the 2007 version of the Voluntary Voting Systems Guidelines (VVSG) decertify direct record electronic (DRE) machines.
…
According to an NIST paper to be discussed at a meeting of election regulators at NIST headquarters in Gaithersburg, Md., on Dec. 4 and 5, DRE vote totals cannot be audited because the machines are not software independent.

In other words, there is no means of verifying vote tallies other than by relying on the software that tabulated the results to begin with.

The machines currently in use are "more vulnerable to undetected programming errors or malicious code," according to the paper.

The NIST paper also noted that, "potentially, a single programmer could 'rig' a major election."

This is incredibly tremendous news!
more

[cat's meow]

A simple paper record will solve a lot of problems...

[Jane of Arc]

Please sign the following paper ballot petition to Nancy Pelosi. She didn't have voting on her 'to do' list at all. Geesch.

Thanks.

http://www.democracyforamerica.com/paperballots

[MAGI]

Please sign the following paper ballot petition to Nancy Pelosi. She didn't have voting on her 'to do' list at all. Geesch.

Thanks.

http://www.democracyforamerica.com/paperballots

Thanks Jane of Arc,
The DFA is a "good thing"!

************************************************** ******************************************

another source telling us how it is:

"Why are we doing this at all? is the question people are asking," said Warren Stewart, policy director of VoteTrustUSA, a group critical of electronic voting systems. "We have a perfectly good system -- the paper-ballot optical-scan system."


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/30/AR2006113001637.html?nav=rss_politics

[FDRfollower]

Nancys not my congresswoman, (the next district over) but I'll fax her office a little note.

[Jennifer_SFBA]

Thank you, Jane of Arc, MAJI, FDRFollower and everyone elso too who is working on getting Federal paper ballots legislation so the vote of We, the people can be counted and verified. I signed the petition for putting PAPER BALLOTS on the agenda for the new Congress's first 100 hours and then sent the petition on to friends by e-mail. Voting is fundamental to democracy, and without that, there is none.

[MAGI]

:thumbup:

[MAGI]

Page 2.

Consequently, we expected something to be offered by the Senate to accompany Dennis Kucinich's HR 6200, but something which would do exactly the opposite of what we desired. All the while being told , "This is just what you asked for."

And, since most of us want hand marked paper ballots, counted at the precinct under the watchful eye of the citizenry, we fully expected to hear someone say,

"Here is the paper you wanted! Aren't you lucky?",

while they pass the Senate bill and slip out the side door.


Thus, it was no surprise to learn that Senator Dianne Feinstein has proposed legislation which mentions paper, but does little (if anything) to solve the problems which plague us every two years.

So, though Dennis Kucinich thrilled us in Cleveland with his proposal for an honest to goodness boon to citizens and voters, the "other shoe" was heard dropping in the Senate just today.

Here is the news so far.
Please read it carefully, and let's keep each other informed about this.

First, Senator Feinstein has issued a two page .pdf report entitled, Senator Feinstein: Report Highlights Need for New Legislation to Reform Electronic Voting. Even the title is menacing, as it assumes "Electronic Voting" needs fixing instead of replacement.
But read the .pdf piece and see if you can tell exactly how her suggestions will fix things, rather than make them worse. A deal?

The pdf. file can be found, and downloaded, at http://feinstein.senate.gov/06releases/r-voting-reform1201.htm.

Second, you can find an article by Nicole Belle, titled Feinstein Calls for Legislation Mandating Paper Trails and Audits, which was published Sunday evening in Crooks and Liars.

It can be found at: click here

Now, while reading the article, you might try counting on your fingers just exactly how many of this year's elections were decided by, or reversed by, or how many thefts of elections were prevented by, those "paper trail and audits" she is concerned about.

While you do that, consider the race in Florida-13 (Katherine Harris' old district) where 18,000 largely Democratic "undervotes" just "disappeared". Then ask yourself how Dianne Feinstein's plan would solve that problem!

And if, after you finish totalling up all the races affected by those "paper trails and audits", you see two balled up fists in front of you, shake them in rage for a few minutes. Aerobically, it will be good for you.

Last of all, when you finish the shaking, you may just want to skip on over to SMTV post #1 and sign that petition, if you have not already done so. Or try this addy.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/signatures/282696758?page=1

Then send the petition on to all of your friends to sign, because Rep. Kucinich needs to hear from as many people as he possible can.

That is because Senator Feinstein is soooooooo far away from Representative Kucinich on this matter, that it will take a terribly loud outcry for him to hear what is going on over in the NeverNeverLand of the Senate.



www.ShowMeTheVote.org

Voting Rights activist and HCPB advocate in Missouri. Founded ShowMeTheVote.org in 2005. Co-Convenor of Diversity Coalition-KC Chairman, and current President, of The Kansas City Minority Museum.

[MAGI]

Page 1!

Diane Feinstein shenanigans! Wonder WHY?

Hope you do as I intend, that is call & write my representative & Senators to deep six Feinstein's crafty (as well as crappy) bill & put in place HR 6200!

Found on oped.com

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_phil_lin_061204_other_shoe_hits_the_.htm

December 5, 2006 at 08:08:46

Other Shoe Hits the Floor !!

by Phil Lindsey

http://www.opednews.com




On October 2, 2006, Rep. Kucinich chose to announce to the participants of the We Count 2006 conference, then in session in Cleveland, Ohio, that he had introduced a new bill in Congress, HR 6200. This bill would amend the HAVA law to, among other things, provide:


(7) SPECIAL RULES FOR PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS- Notwithstanding any other provision of this subsection, in the case of a regularly scheduled general election for the electors of President and Vice President (beginning with the election in November 2008), the following rules shall apply:

(A) The State shall conduct the election using only paper ballots.

(B) The State shall ensure that the number of ballots cast at a precinct or equivalent location which are placed inside a single box or similar container does not exceed 500.

(C) The ballots cast at a precinct or equivalent location shall be counted by hand by election officials at the precinct, and a representative of each political party with a candidate on the ballot, as well as any interested member of the public, may observe the officials as they count the ballots. The previous sentence shall not apply with respect to provisional ballots cast under section 302(a).'


There was a moment of stunned silence when the announcement was made. Not out of respect, so much, as out of disbelief, or awe. Then a thunderous roar of approval swept throughout the packed room, an explosion of jubilation which has probably not been rivalled since V-E Day.
And I say that, noting that I was not even alive on V-E Day!

So, with such wonderful news regarding Congressional electoral bills in the recent past, what prompted me to make the inaugural SMTV post an urgent call to sign a petition to Rep. Kucinich?

Well, it was not just to ask for a tweaking of the language to get even closer to our goal of hand counts of paper ballots, though the removal of all machines would do that. It was because all of us who have been fighting for electoral transparency, and citizen oversight of our elections, realized that those forces opposed to our wishes would look for the very first opportunity to give the deep-six to our goals, and to derail HR 6200.

Given the election results this past November 7th, many of us expected the attempt, to thwart open and accountable elections, to happen sooner rather than later. Further, we expected the "poison" to come in a candy wrapper.

It is always easier to tell the public, "Here, this is exactly what you were wanting! Be happy!", while actually giving them something else, which only seems to be what was asked for, instead of what actually is needed to accomplishes the needed ends.

Doing this lets the "givers" to be long gone by the time the public finds that the candy wrapper is empty or, possibly, that the flavor of candy turns out to be something like "sugared frog eyes".

After the 2000 elections, we all learned this trick when we were given the gift of "HAVA". Either HAVA with a choice of plain DREs, or with useless paper trails.

[MAGI]

http://www.bradblog.com/

"MORE THAN 35 ELECTION INTEGRITY ORGS ISSUE OPEN LETTER DEMANDING 'A PAPER BALLOT FOR EVERY VOTE CAST'
Campaign to End Use of Electronic DRE Voting Systems Launched by Several Former Supporters of Rep. Rush Holt's HR550 Election Reform Bill
Citizens Asked to Join Effort and Send Letter to Their Own Congress Members...


skip


We've also discussed the need here for citizens to rise up and help take their democracy back. Now is the moment for us to make that happen. We ask that all citizens join us by Emailing the following letter to their Congress Members. We've made it simple for you, and ask that you take the matter into your own hands by circulating this address far and wide to help spread the message":

http://www.VelvetRevolution.us/Campaigns/PaperBallots


The time is now...

December 14, 2006

Open Letter to all Members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives:

We, the undersigned non-partisan election integrity organizations, strongly urge you, as a first order of business in the 110th Congress, to enact new federal legislation to protect the integrity of our elections. While there are many areas of concern for any such legislation, none is more essential to the accuracy of our elections and the confidence among our electorate than for there to be a paper ballot for every vote cast. Not a paper "trail" or a paper "record," but a paper ballot.

In light of lessons learned during the 2006 primary and general elections --- with myriad contests resulting in uncertainty and thousands of voters in state after state turned away from the polls unable to cast a vote on DRE systems which failed throughout the day --- we now hold that a paper ballot, whether counted by optical-scan system or hand, is the minimum requirement for any Election Reform legislation in which voters may have confidence. Such a requirement is needed to help ensure Americans that every legally registered voter can vote, that every vote is recorded precisely as the voter intends, and that every vote is counted and, if necessary, re-counted accurately.

This year's elections have made crystal clear that electronic voting machines --- both those without paper ballots, such as Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) touch-screen systems, and even those with so-called "Voter Verified Paper Audit Trails" --- caused massive disruptions, undermined the results of crucial elections, and forced thousands of voters to leave the polls without being able to exercise their franchise.

Paper trails and paper records are not sufficient to safeguard elections and restore confidence among the electorate. Unless there is a paper ballot for every vote cast, three fundamental principles of democratic elections are violated:

Observable tallies. It is impossible for citizens to observe the counting of electronic ballots and audit the results.

Equal access. Requiring voters to cast votes on computers discriminates against those who are not familiar with the technology.
Accurate results. It is impossible to ensure that the reported results are accurate. In fact, a voter-verifiable paper audit trail cannot be depended on to provide the certainty lacking in electronic tallies. Clear evidence from several recent elections reveals instances in which:
The electronic screen record did not reflect the voter's intent.
The electronic count did not match the paper trail produced by the e-voting machine.
The summary review screen did not match the paper trail produced by the e-voting machine.
Voters did not know to verify the paper trail or were prevented from doing so by improper design, incorrect setup, or malfunction of the printer.
Computer systems introduced unnecessary complexity into the entire election process and therefore increased the likelihood of errors by voters, poll workers, and election officials.
Computerized voting relinquished control of the final outcome to the technical skills of those who programed the software.
While it is not easy to reconcile the money already spent on new DRE systems, it would be worse to continue using election equipment that is not accomplishing its critical task. If this were a public safety matter, no one would question the ban on the continued use of a dangerous product, even if it had been funded by billions of public dollars. Why should we act any differently when it comes to protecting the safety of our electoral process?

Ultimately, the true price of free, fair, reliable, accurate, and transparent elections in America cannot be judged by dollars alone.

We therefore urge you to immediately enact legislation which requires a paper ballot for every vote cast. Now is the moment for action, in time to take effect for the 2008 primaries and general election.

Respectfully yours,

The Undersigned

VoterAction.org
VotersUnite.org
VelvetRevolution.us
National Voting Rights Institute
Demos
TrueMajorityAction
Dolores Huerta Foundation**************************************** ********************************
skip..........more