Daily Voting News For November 24-26, 2006

A majority of today's news is about the audit to be held by the state in Florida's 13th Congressional District and the controversy over the people who will do that audit. I'll leave it to the readers to decide for themselves. / In North Carolina there is more testimonial to the fact that accessible voting systems are, in fact, not accessible for all voters who are supposed to be able to use those machines. / New York is the last state to make a decision about a voting system for their voters. Let's all hope the people who will be making the decisions have seen what DRE voting does to destroy voter confidence. ...

• National: When Votes Disappear LINK
• National: Krugman way off base on Alec Yasinsac LINK
• National: An Electronic Canary LINK
• National: WaPo's Dionne, NYTimes' Krugman: 'Sarasota is Canary in Electronic Voting Coal Mine' LINK
• National: It's Getting Ugly: Remaining House Races Devolve Into Lawsuits and Hand Recounts LINK
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• California: Oakland - Oakland’s IRV Author Believes System Will Work LINK
• California: Riverside County - Failures during elections bring registrar’s policies into question LINK
• Florida: Florida still can't count all the votes LINK
• Florida: FL-13 - District 13 Ballot Dispute A 'Test Case' LINK
• Indiana: Marion County – Editorial - Everyone should vote for reform LINK
• Maryland: Anne Arundel County - Recount Likely In Close Delegate Race LINK
• North Carolina: Election journal 2006: The sweeping panorama and the warty close-up LINK
• New York: Touch Screen Trauma: Concern Grows Over New Voting Machines LINK
• New York: New Voting Machines Need Paper Trail, Many Warn LINK
• New York: Touch Voting Needs Paper Trail: Critics LINK
• New York: Madison County - Department heads want 5 new jobs on county payroll LINK
• Ohio: Franklin County - Board making sense of 40,000 confused votes LINK
• Ohio: OH-18 - High price of democracy: Special election for Republican successor cost $621,000 LINK
• Utah: Recount process ready to go
  Three races hang in the balance, but initial outcome is unlikely to change LINK

“If the success of an election is to be measured according to whether each voter’s voice is heard, then we would have to conclude that this past election was not entirely a success,” said Doug Chapin, director of Electionline.org, a nonpartisan election group that plans to release a report Wednesday with a state-by-state assessment of voting. “In places where the margin of victory was bigger than the margin of error, we looked away from the problems, but in 2008 we might not have that luxury.” The preceding from an article in the NY Times....

• National: Experts Concerned as Ballot Problems Persist LINK
• National: Election Won, Election System Broken LINK
• Alabama: Montgomery County - County sells voting machines LINK
• Colorado: Mesa County’s voting machines garner high scores for accuracy LINK
• Florida: Editorial - Democracy's failure LINK
• Florida: Did rush to e-vote backfire on state? LINK
• Florida: Miami-Dade County - Election chief: Voting went smoothly overall LINK
• Florida: Sarasota County - County to weigh purchase of voting machines LINK
• Florida: Sarasota County - Voting 'model' under scrutiny
  Florida's highly touted electronic voting machines have thrust the state back into the national spotlight over vote-counting after a close congressional race. LINK
• Florida: Sarasota County - Voting machines test starts Tuesday: Jennings' attorneys want state's focus on undervote areas LINK
• Florida: Sarasota County – Editorial - Another Florida fiasco LINK
• Maine: Columnist - A Salute to Paper Ballots and Election Clerks LINK
• Pennsylvania: Luzerne County - Touch machines get more protection
  Luzerne County official says machines will be recalibrated after setup at polling spots. LINK
• Utah: Re-count could be finished next week LINK

"One of the great hazards of the way electronic voting has been introduced in the United States is that it could end up undermining democracy by producing unreliable election results that cannot be truly audited or corrected. This month, that nightmare became a reality. Voting machines in a Congressional race in Florida ­ where else? ­ may have swallowed about 18,000 votes, far more than the nominal winner’s razor-thin margin of victory. Because those votes were in the loser’s strongest county, if there was a computer glitch it probably changed the outcome of the race." NYTimes Editorial. ...

• National: Editorial - Déjà Vu in Florida LINK
• National: NYTimes and 'Experts' Finally Notice: 'It is Impossible to Say How Many Votes Were Not Counted That Should Have Been' LINK
• California: Feinstein to lead e-voting scrutiny LINK
• Connecticut: Election officials get ready for 2007 vote LINK
• Florida: More voting reform sought LINK
• Florida: Sarasota County - Help Sarasota Voters With Lawsuit for Revote in Congressional Race LINK
• Florida: Sarasota County - Missing votes validate touch-screen critics' claims LINK
• Florida: Sarasota County - State's fair elections model under scrutiny LINK
• Florida: Sarasota County – Columnist - Working backward on the District 13 undervote problem LINK
• Montana: Electronic voting, counting machines can be troublesome
  Montana law requires that all voting methods use paper ballots LINK
• Montana: Paper ballots ensure best elections
  Montana's close U.S. Senate race uncontested because of paper trail LINK
• Montana: New machines help at the polls and at the courthouse LINK
• Oklahoma: Upgrades Sought In State Eelection System For 2008 Presidential Race LINK
• Wyoming: Wyoming law requires count and recount by machine LINK

**"Daily Voting News" is meant as a comprehensive listing of reports each day concerning issues related to election and voting news around the country regardless of quality or political slant. Therefore, items listed in "Daily Voting News" may not reflect the opinions of VotersUnite.Org or Scoop.**

John Gideon
Executive Director www.votersunite.org and
Member www.votetrustusa.org

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