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

A hearing will be held on Monday in Kern Co. California to investigate problems in the recent primary election. / "We had polling places that didn't open until several hours after they were supposed to, voting machines that didn't work at all, and hundreds of voters around the state who were told to 'come back later' once the problems had been sorted out," said Sen. Debra Bowen, D-Redondo Beach, who chairs the committee. "That's not acceptable and we need to begin addressing these problems now to ensure they don't repeat themselves in November." / When discussing expected problems in Shelby Co., Tennessee, David Bear of Diebold has already started blaming problems on the voters and the elderly, ""There's going to be hiccups,'' said David Bear, spokesman for Diebold, manufacturer of the 1,500 voting machines the county bought this year for about $4.2 million. Most troubles involve the elderly or voters unfamiliar with computers, yet that generally changes quickly once on the machines, he said."...

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

Arizona readers responded to the Arizona Star editorial from July 24. The paper has passed some of the letters on to Pima County and staff will be responding on Sunday. / Early voting started on Thursday in Kansas with immediate problems with ES&S machines not starting-up in the morning or failing during the day. / August is primary election month again. Primaries in order are Kansas, Tennessee, Colorado, Connecticut, Michigan and Missouri and all on or before August 8. ...

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

"I'd love to tell you about the technology," said Connecticut Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz "but we're still sorting out the details." An announcement about what they will be using in elections will be made next week according to the news. / Officials in Huron Co., Michigan are justifiably concerned about the late delivery of some voting equipment by ES&S and the lack of delivery of other equipment....

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

A new report, from the National Research Council, is out and it "Blasts Cost, Inadequate and Compromised Testing of E-Voting Systems and Inappropriate Involvement of Voting Machine Vendors". "This is a moment of truth for electronic voting" warns former Republican Governor of Pennsylvania and U.S. Attorney General, Richard Thornburgh. "The report confirmed many of the concerns that voter advocacy groups have been voicing for years and even acknowledged the influence that such groups have gained in the electronic voting debate. “Many of these groups focus on security issues and play an increasingly important role in focusing public attention on the conduct of elections and in stimulating state legislative action intended to mitigate security risks.”"...

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

In Parke Co. Indiana a candidate canceled his election complaint but only after the county agreed to address some issues including a thorough testing of voting machines and software before the election; an adequate number of voting machines to allow for efficient operation of the polls; and thorough training for all poll workers on the use of electronic voting machines. Also, the parties acknowledged that several votes on one of the machines had not been counted election night because of a “systemic failure”. Why would it take a threatened election challenge for a county to agree to do their jobs? / The Committee on Foreign Investment (CFIUS) has announced that they, for the first time, are reviewing the sale, as regards to national security, of a company to foreign interests – Sequoia Voting Systems....

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

One result of the exorbitant cost of purchasing and maintaining DRE voting machines is that counties must now find ways to save money. Texas will have a pilot project in Lubbock Co. that will allow voters to vote in any of 35 super precincts within the county in November. This is already being done in states across the nation and it may open up a new set of, as yet unforeseen, problems. / "Most computer scientists have long viewed Diebold as the poster child for all that is wrong with touch screen voting machines. But we never imagined that Diebold would be as irresponsible and incompetent as they have turned out to be." From "The Diebold Bombshell"...

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

David “None of the Above” Gatchell is challenging the Tennessee Election Commission in court to get his middle name listed on ballots. He is running for governor and US Senate. / Concerned voters in 15 Florida counties are closely watching Sarasota Co.'s paper-ballot referendum this fall before considering similar initiatives....

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

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has released their written opinion explaining the seven justices' March ruling that allowed electronic voting statewide last spring despite a local group's contention that voters should have decided for themselves. / Meanwhile in Ohio the 6th Appeals Court has given approval, at the request of the state, for rehearing a case that found that voters who used punch-card did not have the same rights as voters who used other voting systems. ...

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

Today the release of two much awaited reports has been in the media. One report on the Arkansas and ES&S and the other report is on the failures in the primary election in Cuyahoga Co., OH. / An Arkansas election official wrote about ES&S and the recent state primary, "This was the most disorganized bunch ever to run an election in Arkansas. They were untruthful in their responses. Their performance left the burden of this election on us and greatly increased the cost." / A report prepared by InfoSentry for the state of Arkansas said this about vvpat printer failures, "Such an occurrence could cause a very serious problem in the event of an audit or a recount in which the verified voting paper audit trail becomes an official ballot," the report said. "There would be some unknown number of ballot transactions that would print on a single, unreadable, and unverifiable line."...

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

While Tuesday's primary in Georgia was not a "train wreck" it certainly was not error free. There were many memory card, modem, and other equipment failures. There were also statements about "vote switching" on DRE touch-screens. All of those problems were ignored by the Baltimore Sun in an article that was surely written as propaganda pointed toward voters in Maryland. / Salon did a good job with an article on yesterday's successful congressional hearing on voting systems standards....

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

Today the House Science Committee held hearings on the voluntary voting systems guidelines (VVSG). "We've seen security defects that allow a single person with insider access and some technical knowledge could switch votes, perhaps undetected, and potentially swing an election," Prof. David Wagner testified. "These problems should be weeded out by the independent testing process, but it is clear that this system isn't working." / "We're looking at every aspect of elections," said Donetta Davidson, a member of the Election Assistance Commission. "We haven't found any problems with equipment. The problems we find are human error. The more elections officials train their people, the fewer problems we will have." Meanwhile hearings are being held around the country to find out why machines failed and what needs to be done to fix them....

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

Some Missouri counties and the city of St. Louis are now joining a lawsuit just filed against the state to stop the voter ID requirement. / Today is primary day in Georgia and reports began almost immediately of machines switching votes on the monitor and they have no vvpat / An investigation into primary election failures in Cuyahoga Co., Ohio has pointed the finger of failure at election officials and Diebold. They are blaming the paper ballots and a too-heavy line on those ballots. What happened to the L&A tests that are supposed to find those problems before election day? / ...

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

It appears that the ballot format was changed in Tennessee in order to accommodate the voting system vendors. In changing the format officials may now be violating state law. / In a next step, after winning against the state of Georgia and their Voter ID law, the ACLU has now announced they are taking action in Missouri / The NEA, one of the nation's largest unions, has come out in support of a voter verified paper ballot and audits ...

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

The Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States is now looking into the purchase of Sequoia by a Venezuelan owned company. / A grand-jury in Clarke Co., Georgia "expressed concern about "the overall security of the voting machines, the handling of the voting results, and the verification process used to detect potential voting fraud." In particular, the presentment said it's possible to tamper with the Diebold voting machines used across Georgia, and criticized the Clarke County Board of Elections employees for losing a CD copy of voting results from the 2004 election." ...

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

ES&S has still not solved their problem with a lack of ability to deliver purchased voting equipment to the counties who have spent their money on those machines. Boone Co. Missouri's machines are a month past due and Williamson Co. Tennessee went into today's start of early voting without promised PEBs. ...