By Luther Weeks on February 18, 2008
Another excellent Talk Nation Radio <read listen> Dr. Rebecca Mercuri, Professor Alex Shvartsman, Deputy Secretary of State Lesley Mara, and Connecticut Registrars discuss problems with the voting machines and security protocols set up to use them. The Deputy Secretary of State Lesley Mara reported nineteen voting machine failures last year, but at least some failures [...]
Posted in Chain of Custody, CT, Electronic Vulnerability, National
By Luther Weeks on February 17, 2008
Update: Bloomberg Charges ‘Fraud’ in NYC Primary, But Believes ‘No Legal Issue at Stake’ <Brad Blog Summary> So if we have all of that straight, the NYC Mayor’s office confirmed they believe there was “fraud” at work in the city’s Primary Election, but don’t believe there are any “legal issues at stake.” Interesting position… How [...]
Posted in CT, National, Skulduggery and Errors
By Luther Weeks on February 15, 2008
71 Districts were selected today in a random drawing for the Presidential Primary post-election audits. Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz also announced the formation of a Voting Security and Accessibility Board. <read> Secretary Bysiewicz with CTVotersCount member Melinda Valencia ten percent of the polling precincts used in the election are subject to an audit. [...]
Posted in CT, Post-Election Audits
By Luther Weeks on February 13, 2008
Testimony submitted and posted at GAE site. Update: Testimony of Beth Angel, East Hampton <read> in my hometown, East Hampton, at the last municipal election. The results of the election required a recount effort, which ended up necessitating 3 recounts. Each recount delivered differing results from the initial count after the November 6 election. Those [...]
Posted in Chain of Custody, CT, CT Law, Post-Election Audits
By Luther Weeks on February 12, 2008
Company #1 keeps some of us warm: Breaks the law and hides information from consumers. Company #2 is the state’s sole source for maintaining our democracy: Previously under SEC and DOJ investigation, now admits hiding financial woes. This is the second time in recent months that utilities have been caught red handed and the second [...]
Posted in CT, Electronic Vulnerability, National, Skulduggery and Errors
By Luther Weeks on February 9, 2008
Stamford Advocate discusses Public hearings starting next week. <read> See the schedule our our Calendar. “We’ve got to do everything humanly possible to ensure the integrity of the electoral process. I think it’s incumbent upon us to be vigilant and seek information from the public,” said state Rep. Chris Caruso, D-Bridgeport, chairman of the General [...]
Posted in Chain of Custody, CT, CT Law, Post-Election Audits
By Luther Weeks on February 8, 2008
Update: According to the Journal Inquirer <read> Bysiewicz said there were relatively few problems with the new optical scan voting machines. Six out of the 825 devices used across the state had to be replaced with back-ups. Two jammed and three were not properly programmed, she said Sounds to me like they were not properly [...]
Posted in CT, National
By Luther Weeks on February 8, 2008
Yesterday I attended the spring symposium at the UConn Law School by the Connecticut Public Interest Law Journal: e-Democracy: Democratic Values In A Digital Age. There were three panels: Campaigning On The Web The Mechanics of Voting Political Speech and the Internet I found all three very interesting. Christine Stuart has an excellent article on [...]
Posted in Chain of Custody, CT, Electronic Vulnerability, National
By Luther Weeks on February 4, 2008
Representative Rush Holt (D-NJ) is a physicist who has been working for some four years to provide integrity and confidence in voting. While waiting for a longer term solution, he has introduced an emergency bill, H.R. 5056 to encourage states to move to paper ballots and sound audits in time for the 2008 presidential election. [...]
Posted in Electronic Vulnerability, National, Post-Election Audits
By Luther Weeks on February 1, 2008
We have covered the memory card issues and the reports from Dr. Shvartsman’s team at the UConn VoTeR Center <here> and <here>. This week, Dori Smith of TalkNationRadio interviewed Dr. Shvartsman <audio and transcript>. The UConn reports reported 3.5% and 8% failure rates. These are outrageous. Not only do they represent a huge and unacceptable [...]
Posted in CT, Electronic Vulnerability, National, Post-Election Audits