Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA.Org

An inquiry by the state of Indiana into actions by ES&S is still ongoing. Money that would be paid by counties to ES&S is being withheld by the state to ensure the funds are not paid to the company until the investigation is complete. / Today is primary day in Nevada. / Registered to vote? Are you sure? Use www.canivote.org to ensure you are registered and for other important information. / 25 voters filed a lawsuit today in Pennsylvania against paperless voting systems used in the state / The Pentagon has been given funds to help overseas military to vote in a program called Interim Voting Assistance System (IVAS). ...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA.Org

Why is it that some states talk about their voting systems and mention that they use AccuVote? In Connecticut papers they talk about the "AccuVote-OS system, sold by LHS Associates of Massachusetts". Are they afraid to say 'Diebold'? / The Massachusetts primary is on Sept. 19 yet the state still has no voting system that is accessible. They have not even settled on a choice but they still hope to have the machines in time. Counties are concerned about training but the state says they are all easy to use. Why doesn't anyone look outside of their own fences to see the failures of not training? / Poll workers in Jefferson Co. Missouri voiced their frustration of vowed to never do the job again due to the new voting machines and lack of training. ...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA.Org

As has been previously reported in this space the voters in Tennessee were faced with new voting machines and an extremely long ballot (up to 21 screens in one county). To go with the machines and ballots is a state law that only allows each voter 5 minutes to vote when there are others in line to vote and 10 minutes otherwise. Now losing candidates are using the time-limits as a reason to contest the election. When counties choose to use only DRE voting their polling places are limited as to the number of voters who can vote at one time. When using paper ballots the only limit is the number of pens or pencils and the amount of space people can use to mark their ballots....

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA.Org

A grand-jury is investigating complaints of voter fraud in Alton, Texas where, amongst other complaints, there were some from elderly residents alleging the mayor’s wife took their mail-in ballots before they had selected a candidate. The mayor was losing in early voting and on the voting machines but won on all but a handful of mail-in ballots. ...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA.Org

In St Louis Co. Missouri some voters found the ES&S iVotronic touch-screens too sensitive. For machines not calibrated properly, all it took to enter a vote was an accidental graze of the palm over a candidate's name. In other places in the county, voters complained it was too easy for others to spy on how they were voting. / What is the message when county election officials encourage voters to vote absentee so they don't have to use the machines? / Arizona is proposing giving one lucky voter in November a $1M prize in a voter lottery scheme / Bruce McDannold appears to have violated confidentiality agreements in his quest to smear Vote-PAD and damage it's ability to be used in California elections / Indiana is now finding a large number of mistakes in their voting roll purges. ...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA.Org

Fraus omnia vitiate, “Fraud vitiates everything” and when it may apply to Diebold it means a lot such as Diebold machines have no valid federal certification. / Diebold has announced that the Securities and Exchange Commission is now involved in a formal investigation into some of the corporation's practices. / Michigan reports that voting machines purchased for voters with disabilities are seeing little use across the state. / Election procedure questions in Tennessee? Don't call the state; call the vendor. ...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA.Org

Missing candidate names seems to be one of the stand-out problems for today. A candidate for Gov. in Connecticut has reports that his name was missing from at least one machine. That machine was removed from service. It is also reported that Lieberman's name was missing on the same machine. In Georgia, McKinney voters are reporting that her name is missing from some ballots. / Voters in Connecticut are still using their old lever machines at the polls. / The first head has fallen in Cuyahoga Co. Ohio as the Ballot Manager has resigned under fire....

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA.Org

Voters with disabilities are being unfairly used in the recommended denial of certification of the Vote-PAD by the SoS of California. It's unfortunate that an unfair test procedure was used in testing. Why were no other systems purporting to be accessible sent through comparable testing? / Tennessee is shaking off their primary night failures while other states prepare to enter the fray tomorrow. / Primaries tomorrow in Colorado, Connecticut, Michigan, and Missouri, with a run-off in Georgia and local elections in Ohio. ...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA.Org

Jan BenDor, a Pittsfield Township Michigan deputy clerk, is so concerned about the Diebold machines used in her township that she filed a formal complaint with the Washtenaw County Election Commission on Monday. Ten percent of machines failed in a recent test, she claimed. She also cited changes Diebold made to the machines, including installing modems, without providing written documentation of the work. "I'm a voice in the wilderness," she admitted, saying that some have accused her of paranoia. "I'm more concerned about normaloia than paranoia. That's when you think everything is OK, no matter what." / Washington Co. Arkansas has decided to put ES&S out the county's ballot programming business. They will buy their own equipment and do the job themselves. / Ohio is holding special elections in 27 counties, including Cuyahoga, on Tuesday....

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA.Org

Carteret County, North Carolina is selling their old Unilect Patriot voting machines back to the vendor for $3000 total for over 200 machines. / Tennessee counties faced an overly long ballot of up to 21 screens and a projected large turnout of voters yet many polling places had as few as two DREs resulting in two hour waits to vote. / Next Tuesday is Primary Election Day in Colorado, Connecticut, Michigan and Missouri. / Pima Co. Arizona Board of Supervisors voted 3 to 1 to use Diebold TSx machines for accessibility along with a 100% hand count audit of the vvpat / It looks like Williamson Co., Tennessee may have gotten bit by the ES&S Ballot Programming bug where votes swapped between candidates....

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA.Org

Chris Zachmeyer, executive director of the Catskill Center For Independence, said Tuesday that voting-machine manufacturers have tried to contribute money to her organization, which has given testimony on which voting machines Otsego County should buy. / The final results of the Connecticut primary, on Aug. 8, may not be reported until Aug. 25 depending on how close the races are. The reason is an agreement between the state and the DoJ over late mailing, or lack of mailing, of ballots to the military voters. / A federal judge agreed with the DoJ and stripped voter registration duties from the Alabama SoS and gave them to the Gov. This was done because the state does not yet have a viable voter registration data base. When will the same happen in other states where there is no viable data base, i.e. Washington, California, Maine, New York? / Tennessee Governor Phil Brednesen when asked about the new voting machines he used for the first time today, "I'll probably hear about that from whoever makes the machines, but I voted this morning. I have to be honest, I didn't care for it that much. The machines were complicated. I'm fairly computer-literate, and there were a couple issues that I found confusing, and I think there's going to be some elderly people who have trouble with it. More than that, I didn't like the lack of privacy. I was just standing there, kind of in the middle of the floor voting at my voting place. At one point, one of the poll workers walked behind me and certainly could see whatever I had on the screen at that point. I really believe in the secret ballot, and people are entitled to that. I think that's very fixable, but something I didn't like about it this morning"....

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA.Org

Three disability advocacy groups have filed suit in California against the SoS and five counties for using voting systems that are not accessible, according to the groups. The list of systems includes AutoMark and Hart eSlate and Diebold TSx but not Sequoia Edge / "We have lousy voting machines and no results. When I voted this afternoon, there were three men standing behind me who could've seen how I voted." said Park City, Kansas Mayor Dee Stuart about Sedgwick Counties ES&S voting system. / Shelby Co. Tennessee sent their Diebold voting machines home with election workers for the night tonight, ignoring the federal certification memorandum....

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA.Org

"We are headed for a train wreck on Election Day," said Republican Tom Leatherwood, who is seeking re-election as Shelby Co. Tennessee register and is calling for more machines to be stationed countywide. / Today is Kansas' primary election / A state Senate investigative panel in California queried the Asst. Registrar of Voters in Kern Co. as to why precinct workers were told they didn't need to test their machines before election day, and why volunteers weren't trained in the use of paper ballots should their machines fail and why inexperienced workers were allowed inside the elections secure area that night. / The so-called "Battle of Athens" began Aug. 1, 1946, when veterans opened fire on the local jail to stop corrupt local officials from stealing an election in Athens, Tennessee. / "The root cause of our troubled elections is that, unbelievably, the U.S. provides less security, testing, and oversight of our nation's voting equipment and election administration than it does to slot machines and the gaming industry." Steven Hill in his WaPo column....

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA.Org

Upon examining the inner workings of one of the most popular paperless touch screen voting machines used in public elections in the United States, it has been determined that with the flip of a single switch inside, the machine can behave in a completely different manner compared to the tested and certified version. "Diebold has made the testing and certification process practically irrelevant," according to Alan Dechert. "If you have access to these machines and you want to rig an election, anything is possible with the Diebold TS --- and it could be done without leaving a trace. All you need is a screwdriver." ...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA.Org

The normal primary turnout in Shelby Co. (Memphis) Tennessee is right at 30%. That means that close to 110,000 voters will attempt to vote on 1300 Diebold TSx voting machines on an extremely long ballot that has as many as 141 races on it. If each voter takes only 10 minutes every voter can vote in a normal 14 hour day. If the voters average 15 minutes, the election day will stretch into 20 hours. That, of course, assumes that no voters walk away because of long lines and that no voting machines break down during the day. Of course, if the county used precinct based optical scan machines voters could mark their ballots while sitting at desks or on the floor and there would be no long lines and if machines broke down ballot boxes could be used....