Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

Today a judge found that Diebold has no right to not follow North Carolina state elections laws. If they are going to sell their systems in the state they must comply with the software escrow requirements. Diebold says they can't meet those requirements because they use some third-party software and they cannot allow others to see that software; it's not theirs legally. Diebold may now decide to pull out of the state. Does your state require source code escrow and is that requirement being fully enforced?...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon, of VotersUnite and VoteTrustUSA

As an introduction, the "DVN Top 5" is a feature that I have been providing in the weekly voting newsletter of VoteTrustUSA. The November 21 edition can be found here. The selection of what will be the "Top 5" for each week and where it goes on the list is all mine. The fact that you may disagree with my choices is great because it shows that you have been reading the DVN articles that I've posted throughout the week here on BRAD BLOG!...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

Just 4 weeks ago the Athens Banner-Herald in Georgia editorialized in favor of the repressive new Georgia Voter ID law. This law had, just 3 days prior to the editorial, been found by a federal judge to be an example of a "Jim Crow-era Poll Tax" and thus the law was suspended. Critics have charged that the requirement for Photo ID at the polls will disenfranchise millions of mostly Democratic-leaning minorities, elderly, poor and urban-dwellers who don't own driver's licenses.

But things have changed since the Banner-Herald's original Op/Ed. One of the Georgia bill's sponsors, Rep. Sue Burmeister (R-Augusta), got caught with her sheet down when she made statements to the U.S. Department of Justice who had been tasked with determining the legality of the new law under the Federal Voting Rights Act. Her statements were released along with a story revealing that 4 of the 5 career staff members in the DoJ who were advising on the matter had recommended against giving approval to Georgia's new law. That advice was then overruled by the Bush-appointed Attorney General and the law was given DoJ approval just prior to be ruled as unconstitutional by two Federal courts.

In her statements, Burmeister is said to have told DoJ officials looking into the law that blacks in her district only vote when they are paid to do so. Those remarks are contained in the 51-page report from the DoJ's analysis recommending against approval of Georgia's law. Burmeister reportedly told officials that "when blacks in her precinct are not paid to vote, they do not go to the polls."

Perhaps it is not so strange then that on November 22, after the release of the statements from Burmeister, the Athens Banner-Herald has admitted that perhaps there are changes that need to be made to Georgia's voter ID law. Perhaps it is not right, the paper now admits, to force all voters to have a state-issued voter ID card that costs the voter between $20 and $35. Perhaps it is not right to force a voter who cannot afford to pay for the card to sign a "Pauper's Affidavit" as the original law required.

So today, in a remarkable reversal, the Athens Banner-Herald's Executive Editor, Jason Winders, editorialized in a scathing article against Burmeister...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

In New York it seems like a majority of voices, including the MSM, have come out in favor of optical-scan voting machines. Unfortunately the vendors working the state have all made the decision that they will not sell optical-scan machines no matter who, including the county officials, wants to buy them. In New Jersey we have another case of stupidity as elections officials conduct a recount on DRE voting machines....

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

It seems that the reports from California are less than accurate. They say that the test machine will be chosen from among machines used in 17 counties. That has never been agreed to by the state or Diebold. In fact, Hari Hursti has never been invited to fly over from Finland and no details have been set-up with BBV, according to Bev Harris. For some reason either the state or Diebold, or both, are misrepresenting the facts. A call to the California Elections Division found that everyone seems to be taking the day off....

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

It appears that the voters in New Mexico have been given a Thanksgiving present (or early Christmas present) and not the ‘turkey' they were going to have for elections. Their SoS, Rebecca Vigil-Giron has suddenly had an epiphany and has decided that the counties in the state should have an option between DREs and optical-scan systems. This is a complete change from her recent statements against the use of optical-scan systems. We also have an excellent article from our friend, Bob Koehler who talks about the recent Ohio election debacle....

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

In yesterday's ‘DVN' I mistakenly characterized the California SoS's Diebold hearing as being in a room that was difficult to find and with people only speaking to a microphone and tape recorder. Unfortunately, I reported from the wrong article. The room used was, in fact, the same hearing room that had been used in past meetings and there were members of the elections staff in attendance. What is important is that there were very few members of the public who defended the Diebold TSx and there were many from the disabled community who all spoke about the complete lack of accessibility provided by these machines. Thank you to all of those who pointed out my error. I would also like to take this opportunity to join my associate, Ellen Theisen, in wishing all of you a Happy Thanksgiving. Please be safe and enjoy the holiday....

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

Yesterday the CA SoS held a hearing regarding the state certification of the Diebold TSx DRE. The hearing was held in a room that was difficult to locate and was held in front of a microphone attached to a tape recorder. This is what the SoS seems to think of as democracy. In regards to the Diebold machine and Diebold's actions so far, Jim March of BlackBoxVoting had this to say, "If you don't want to be accused of cheating at cards, don't let aces fall out of your sleeves at every step." Bev Harris and Jim March are going to be allowed to do their ‘hack' into a Diebold machine on Nov. 30....

ADDITIONAL INFO FROM BRAD: The California Secretary of State's office will accept public comment on the certification of the Diebold TSx touchscreen voting machine until next week. To submit a comment, visit www.ss.ca.gov/elections/elections_vs.htm, call (916) 653-6814 or email votingsystemcomment@ss.ca.gov.

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

The amount of news has finally dwindled down to a normal amount for a Monday. Of interest today are two opposing editorials in the Atlanta Journal Constitution regarding the Voter ID issue. Also of interest are the articles from Lucas County, OH where they have finally decided that they had better do an investigation to figure out what went wrong and why it happened....

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

Ohio is continuing as the ‘poster child' for how not to run elections. One presiding judge in a polling site in Lucas County, OH reported that at the end of election night the paper record was blank on the two busiest voting machines at one polling site. The rovers who came to close his precinct told him they hoped the votes were stored on the memory cards or in the machines themselves, but did not appear as concerned as Mr. Small. He said he left with no confidence that the votes from those machines were counted. And on the day following the election Blackwell told the press that the election was a complete success? Meanwhile the news from Georgia is unbelievable as it pertains to the VoterID issue. See the articles below for more on this story. ...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

It must be made clear that the lawsuit in North Carolina is NOT a suit against Diebold. Joyce McCloy only intervened in Diebold's legal action with the state. The News-Observer (see below) got it incorrect in their headline. And, it looks like the folks in Pasquotank Co., NC have decided to ignore that fact that their voting machines (ES&S Votronic DREs) accounted for 42 fewer ballots cast than voters who voted. This is an unprecedented, in that county, number of blank votes. That is 42 people who took the time to go to the polls, stood in line, signed-in, went to the machines, decided not to vote, signed-off of the machines and left after getting their “I Voted” sticker; and this was the only race on the ballot....

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

Today it appears that California has decided to change their procedures for certifying voting systems so those procedures favor certification of the Diebold TSx. At the same time a lawsuit has been filed against favors to Diebold in North Carolina.

From Georgia we learn that the chief sponsor of Georgia's voter identification law told the Justice Department that if black people in her district "are not paid to vote, they don't go to the polls," and that if fewer blacks vote as a result of the new law, it is only because it would end such voting fraud. And DoJ staff recommended that the Attorney General object to this law, but the AG ignored that advice and he gave his approval. Last month a judge suspended the law because it represents a poll-tax....

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

The new Secretary of State in Colorado has told 10 counties to be prepared to conduct hand recounts of all of their paper ballots. An audit of the results from those counties ES&S optical-scan machines has caused some question as to whether the results are correct. Also, on the front of this morning's Washington Post is an article that reports that not everyone in the Department of Justice was in agreement that Georgia's voter ID law is constitutional. Political appointees overruled career employees....

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

While Ohio SoS Ken Blackwell characterizes last weeks election as a success the dirty truth is just now coming out. In Lucas County, for instance, the election board's call logs for the Nov. 8 election, reviewed yesterday by The Toledo Blade, show that paid poll volunteers made more than 180 requests for help. Many of the calls involved broken machines. Does that sound like a success Mr. Blackwell? In Detroit, the city elections director suspects there are problems with their Nov. 2 vote count and she wants to do a 5% hand recount. The state is keeping her from doing that....

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

"We fondly remember Mayberry; but it was a fictional town. We have to move on."

So said Catherine Carpenter, the Administrative Assistant and self-described "Queen of Town Hall" and "Jill of All Trades" in the once sleepy little southern town of Bluffton, South Carolina.

Last night was the last time that the citizens of Bluffton would vote using paper ballots after going to the only polling place they ever needed: Town Hall. It has been a long-standing tradition that at the end of the day, when the polls closed, the citizens of the town would gather in the hall and watch as the votes are counted.

Each vote is marked with a slash mark on a chalk board and audience members call out "tally " each time a group of five votes is recorded.

But now, according to Carpenter, the town has grown too large to do that anymore. Since 2000 this once little town has grown from 1278 citizens to over 4800. They are very quickly being swallowed up into the retirement community craze that has swept north from Florida. And that means Tuesday's gathering of citizens to watch the tally of the votes and to call out "tally" will move on too...