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May 09, 2008 Providing legal resources and election news to California election officials and the attorneys who represent them. |
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« May 2005 | Main | July 2005 » June 30, 2005 "Voluntary Voting System Guidelines"From the EAC: "The Voluntary Voting System Guidelines were developed under the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) Section 202 mandate that the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) update the 2002 Voting System Standards to address increasingly complex voting system technology. They were designed for state and local election officials to help ensure that new voting systems function accurately and reliably. The Guidelines are provided for comment by the public for the next 90 days. All comments will be posted on the EAC website. Comments may also be sent to votingsystemguidelines@eac.gov or by fax to Voting System Guidelines Comments at (202) 566-3127. Comments may also be mailed to Voting System Guidelines Comments, U.S. Election Assistance Commission, 1225 New York Ave., NW, Suite 1100, Washington, D.C. 20005." The guidelines can be found here. Posted by Randy Riddle at 01:20 PM | Permalink. . . "National Task Force on Election Reform Report"The May 2005 report is available at the Election Center website. Posted by Randy Riddle at 12:50 PM | Permalink. . . "Sutter allotted extra state funds for electronic voting""Sutter County will receive an extra $432,000 from the state to help purchase electronic voting machines that will go into service next year, according to Sutter County Clerk-Recorder Joan Bechtel. Secretary of State Bruce McPherson announced this week that his office will distribute $169 million in federal Help America Vote Act funds, including $8 million for Northern California counties." The story is here. Posted by Randy Riddle at 08:29 AM | Permalink. . . June 28, 2005 "Alameda weighing whether to invest in paper-based optical scanning system""It's shopping time for elections officials, the moment to buy the means of democratic choice for the next congressional and presidential elections. And some of the nation's largest jurisdictions — Los Angeles, Chicago and greater Miami — are headed toward voting on paper. "Could it be a sign of things to come? I'm not sure," said Sean Greene, research director for the nonpartisan reform group, Electionline.org. A real test of whether the nation's big urban places are moving away from electronic voting could come today in Alameda County as supervisors consider a voting system upgrade. The same county supervisors who three years ago spent $12 million on Diebold touch-screen voting machines and turned the county into a West Coast e-voting pioneer are weighing whether to invest more heavily or trade in for a paper-based optical scanning system. That makes this morning's hearing a battlefield, with Texas-based Diebold Election Systems sending top executives to keep their foothold here and a coalition of e-voting critics arguing the company and its products are not trustworthy." The story is here. Posted by Randy Riddle at 09:20 AM | Permalink. . . "Senate Dems present redistricting plan"The story is here. Posted by Randy Riddle at 08:04 AM | Permalink. . . June 27, 2005 "Voting system needs $6 million upgrade""Four years after Alameda County purchased its touch-screen voting system for $12 million, the manufacturer wants the county to sink nearly $6 million more into upgrades to meet pending state requirements that voters be given paper receipts confirming their votes. The proposal is sure to meet its share of criticism, given that the manufacturer is Texas-based Diebold Election Systems, whose equipment has had numerous problems since its installation. The county's chief elections official supports the proposal, saying it would be far cheaper to upgrade than to buy a new system in time for the July 1, 2006 deadline for voter-verified paper trails for all electronic voting systems in California." The story is here. Posted by Randy Riddle at 08:56 AM | Permalink. . . June 22, 2005 "Touch screen not best choice for disabled voters""A key point seems to have been lost in the varying and various arguments for and against touch-screen voting machines. The spirit and intent of the accessible voting law are to allow every disabled person the opportunity to cast his or her vote in private. The key word in the preceding sentence is "every." It is not acceptable to accommodate some of the disabled community and expect the rest of us to live with "business as usual." That is discrimination, and it is not legal. Accommodating people with differing disabilities requires great flexibility in an accessible voting machine. What works for the visually or hearing or cognitively impaired does not necessarily work for people with mobility impairments. That is one specific shortcoming with the touch-screen machines which have been under consideration in Volusia County. People with limited use of their hands and arms may not be able to use the touch-screens. Quadriplegics (people who are disabled from the neck downward like the late actor Christopher Reeve) cannot use a touch-screen in the same way as someone who has use of their hands. They require a sip/puff device which uses air to activate the voting machine, much like one uses a straw to sip a soda." Here is the story. Posted by Randy Riddle at 08:38 AM | Permalink. . . "Senators question e-voting paper trail""Calls for the U.S. government to mandate a voter-verified paper trail with electronic voting machines ran into opposition today from two powerful members of a Senate committee, with one senator objecting that a printout would discriminate against blind people. Voting accuracy advocates, and some lawmakers, have repeatedly called for printers to be attached to electronic voting machines. Advocates of voter-verified paper trail ballots say they would allow voters to check a printout to see what happened inside the direct electronic recording machines (DRE)." The story can be found here. Posted by Randy Riddle at 08:37 AM | Permalink. . . "County leery of state promise to pay for Nov. 8 election"
The state is supposed to repay the county for the price of the election, but San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters Deborah Hench is skeptical. “I don’t think there’s any guarantee until it’s in writing,” Hench said. “It has to be conducted, and we’ll do it, but it would be better for the cou"nty to get paid.” The story is here. Posted by Randy Riddle at 08:34 AM | Permalink. . . June 20, 2005 "County to front bill for special election""Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's recent call for a special election to be held Nov. 8 to ask the people of California to make budget solution decisions, among others, for the state legislature, will cost the state $80 million, including $80,000 for Calaveras County. The county would fund the money up front and be reimbursed in the 2006-2007 state budget year. "Being a specially called election, it's not currently in our budget," County Clerk Karen Varni said. "We'll need to add that at final budget." The story is here. Posted by Randy Riddle at 09:42 AM | Permalink. . . June 19, 2005 Senate Hearing on Voter Verification in the Federal Elections ProcessThe Senate Committee on Rules and Administration will conduct the hearing. The agenda for the hearing is here. Posted by Randy Riddle at 12:09 PM | Permalink. . . "County election workers 'embarrassed'""Half the election workers in King County are embarrassed to work in their department, which suffers from low employee morale, poor internal communications, inadequate training, excessive workloads and an atmosphere of fear, the workers said in a survey released yesterday." Here is the story. Posted by Randy Riddle at 10:09 AM | Permalink. . . "Panel directs ire toward voting system""The manufacturer of Boulder County’s new $1.4 million voting system made unrealistic claims about the machines’ capabilities both before and after the messy 2004 election, according to an investigative panel and government records. Neil McClure, vice president of Hart InterCivic, estimated the system could tally the November 2004 election in nine hours when he spoke to county commissioners in January 2004 as they were mulling whether to purchase the equipment. When election week came, printing problems and improperly trained volunteers contributed to a 68-hour ballot tally, according to the Election Review Committee report released earlier this week. County commissioners appointed the nine-member team in December to investigate the causes of the tumultuous tally." The story is here. Posted by Randy Riddle at 10:08 AM | Permalink. . . June 16, 2005 "County cost for special election is $700,000""Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's special election will cost Placer County an estimated $700,000, but the money will be repaid from state coffers, election officials said. Ryan Ronco, assistant registrar-recorder for Placer County, said the exact figures won't be known until after the election, but the county is prepared to serve the 175,000 registered voters who are eligible to vote at the county's 250 polling places. Keeping costs away from counties' funds, Ronco said the governor's election proclamation declared that the state would bear the financial burden and would reimburse any county election expenses incurred on Nov. 8." Here is the story. Posted by Randy Riddle at 11:12 AM | Permalink. . . "Man charged with vote fraud""A Tracy man faces five felony counts of forging voter registration cards for the November 2004 election, the California secretary of state's office said Wednesday. It was the second time prosecutors have filed registration-fraud charges related to last year's election in San Joaquin County, where the Democratic and Republican parties invested tens of thousands of dollars to increase voter rolls." The story is here. Posted by Randy Riddle at 09:54 AM | Permalink. . . June 15, 2005 "Governor Agrees to Have State Pay for Special Election""County election officials say they are relieved the governor is vowing to reimburse them for the costs of the special election he called for on Monday. Yolo County Clerk Freddie Oakley has been an outspoken critic of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's call for a special election, mainly because of the cost to local government. She had spoken to TV reporters, written to newspapers, and contacted the governor personally, begging him to provide the money for a special election if he called one." Here is the story. Posted by Randy Riddle at 08:37 AM | Permalink. . . June 14, 2005 " Counties fear fiscal squeeze of special election""Gov. Schwarzenegger has expensive tastes. He likes a good cigar, he wears Prada suits and alligator-skin boots, he skis in Sun Valley, Idaho, and he still can't find an acceptable home in Sacramento for his family. He also doesn't scrimp on unscheduled elections. After all, they've been kind to him before, like the October 2003 recall of Gray Davis that put him in office. Now that he's called a special election for Nov. 8 — featuring his government-reform proposals — Schwarzenegger says the state should pay to open the polls and print all those ballots. Counties generally are responsible for local election costs." The story is here. Posted by Randy Riddle at 09:28 AM | Permalink. . . June 13, 2005 "Measure of concern over initiative process "Here is the strory. Posted by Randy Riddle at 08:23 AM | Permalink. . . "Vote-recount probe raises some issues""A Maricopa County Attorney's Office investigation has revealed inaccuracies and problems associated with a controversial vote recount that decided a race for the state House. The investigation has yielded no charges, but a May 5 letter from Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas to Larry Pickard, chairman of the Maricopa County Republican Committee, raises questions about the recount, particularly the voting machines used to help decide the Sept. 7 District 20 primary race." The story is here. Posted by Randy Riddle at 08:20 AM | Permalink. . . June 10, 2005 "Word up: Felton water ballot OK'd"The story is here. Disclosure: I represented the proponents of the measure, who authored the challenged ballot argument. Posted by Randy Riddle at 08:48 AM | Permalink. . . "State expected to OK new voting system"The story is here. Posted by Randy Riddle at 08:46 AM | Permalink. . . June 09, 2005 Governor to Call Special ElectionDan Weintraub has this item on his California Insider blog: "It's been the worst-kept secret in Sacramento for weeks (months?), but now it's not even that. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger confirmed last night that he will call a special election for this November and will issue the proclamation on Monday. He let the very obvious cat out the bag during informal comments to cartoonists from around the nation gathered in Sacramento for their annual convention." Posted by Randy Riddle at 02:28 PM | Permalink. . . June 06, 2005 "Washington state judge upholds election results""A judge on Monday upheld Washington's 2004 gubernatorial election, rejecting Republicans' bid to nullify the 129-vote victory of Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire. Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges denied Republican claims that election errors, illegal voters and fraud stole the election from GOP candidate Dino Rossi. He announced his decision in court, saying the state's election process was flawed but that he was not the proper person to remedy those flaws. "This court is not in the position to fix the deficiencies in the election process," Bridges said. "However, the voters are in a position to demand of their legislative and executive bodies that remedial measures be taken immediately." Here is the story. Posted by Randy Riddle at 11:09 AM | Permalink. . . "Miami-Dade's elections chief wants to boot touch-screen system""A new South Florida elections chief wants to dump the electronic touch-screen voting system he inherited from a previous administration. The recommendation isn't from Palm Beach County's Arthur Anderson, who campaigned with much fanfare against paperless voting last year, but from new Miami-Dade Elections Supervisor Lester Sola, who was appointed in April." The story is here. Posted by Randy Riddle at 08:39 AM | Permalink. . . June 05, 2005 "Washington State Judge To Rule Monday On Governor's Win""The long contested election of 2004 in the state of Washington will take a new turn come Monday when Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges will announce his decision on whether the results were valid amid accusations of massive fraud." The article is here. Posted by Randy Riddle at 01:22 PM | Permalink. . . June 02, 2005 "What Went Wrong In Ohio: The Conyers Report on the 2004 Presidential Election"Should be an interesting read. Posted by Randy Riddle at 08:48 AM | Permalink. . . "County elects to scan ballots""El Dorado County voters will abandon punching for penciling when they go to the polls this fall. The Board of Supervisors last week agreed to contract with Diebold Election Systems Inc. of Granite Bay for a new electronic voting system." You can find the article here. Posted by Randy Riddle at 08:42 AM | Permalink. . . "S.B. County names new voting official""San Bernardino County has named a veteran Riverside voting official to run its voting operations. Kari Verjil, former chief deputy registrar for the Riverside County registrar of voters, will become San Bernardino County's registrar of voters on June 27. She replaces Scott Konopasek who left in November after personality clashes with supervisors and delayed election results in the March 2004 primary." Best of luck to Ms. Verjil. Posted by Randy Riddle at 08:40 AM | Permalink. . . "Mail-ballot bill stuck in committee""State lawmakers will wait until at least next year before voting on a bill that would make San Benito County a testing ground for all-mail ballot elections along with several other California counties. Assembly Bill 867 is being held by the Assembly Election Committee because of unspecified concerns some committee members had about the bill, which would be a preliminary step towards creating all-mail ballot elections throughout California." The article is here. Posted by Randy Riddle at 08:38 AM | Permalink. . . June 01, 2005 "Will suit cancel sewer vote?""Los Osos community leaders could take two seemingly contradictory actions Thursday: schedule a special election and file a lawsuit to prevent part of that election from taking place." The story is here. Posted by Randy Riddle at 06:35 AM | Permalink. . . |
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