2012

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Big Bird and Charlie Rose know what the CT Legislature does not!

By Luther Weeks on October 6, 2012

See Charlie Rose interview Dr. Barbara Simons, co-auther of Broken Ballots. <view >

Big Bird and Charlie Rose now know that Internet voting, email voting, Virgina elections, and inadequately audited elections – do not merit our trust.

Posted in Electronic Vulnerability, Internet Voting, Legislature2012, National | Leave a response

Registrars trade complaints, official and unofficial

By Luther Weeks on October 4, 2012

Is it voter suppression? Laziness? or Trumped up conflict? In any case, it does not serve voters and democracy.

It is hard to argue for the current system when these conflicts breakout, even harder to argue for the election of a single partisan registrar in each municipality.

Posted in CT, Skulduggery and Errors | 1 Response

Roundup – VotER fraud vs. VotING fraud

By Luther Weeks on October 2, 2012

Several states continue to argue about voter ID laws allegedly intended to prevent fraud by individual voters, in the face of little evidence of such fraud. Meanwhile the documented fraud which occurs regularly around the country is multiple vote absentee vote fraud. And now evidence of massive voter registration fraud.

Posted in Mail/Absentee Voting, Skulduggery and Errors | Leave a response

Issues with NPV vs. a strategy of overwhelm

By Luther Weeks on September 27, 2012

Around this time in the presidential election cycle we see a variety of articles touting benefits of the National Popular Vote Agreement vs. the Electoral College for determining the president. One of the latest is a piece in the Stamford Patch pointing to Rep Fox’s support of the Agreement, largely quoting Ryan O’Donnell, a lobbyist for NationalPopularVote.org.

I suggest you read the Patch article along with the comments to get a taste of NPV.org’s arguments, relevant, irrelevant, and questionable and their apparent strategy of overwhelm. Often when one of these articles appears, I post a comment to articulate what they are not telling you, the risk of the National Popular Vote Agreement. Much like DDT the issue is not the touted benefits, even if overblown. The issue is the potential harmful consequences.

Posted in CT, National | Leave a response

USA Today: Electronic voting – The Real Threat

By Luther Weeks on September 22, 2012

Fortunately our Legislature has not wasted time on raising Connecticut’s adequate voter I.D. law to the level of voter suppression. Unfortunately, the Legislature has continued to ignore science, experience, and the Constitutional requirement for preserving the secret vote.

Posted in CT, Internet Voting, National, Other Editorials | Leave a response

Candiate qualifies to run on three lines for registrar – Case made for third registrar in Hartford

By Luther Weeks on September 17, 2012

Connecticut has 169 towns with a Democratic and a Republican registrar. If anyone else runs and comes in 1st or 2nd then there are three (or even four registrars). Currently Hartford has three registrars. For several years we have been articulating the reasons this makes sense, how it can be done without additional cost, and the potential cure of “Doing for Elections what we have done for Probate”.

Two recent news items are relevant. A defense of three registrars in Hartford by Ed Vargas. And candidate Doug Lary running on three 3rd party lines for registrar Windham/Willimantic.

Posted in CT | 2 Responses

Electronic Voting Debate Continues – Defying Science and History

By Luther Weeks on September 15, 2012

Computer Scientists say safe Internet voting is impossible, unless unanticipated theoretical discoveries are made.

The World is not round*, leeches are not medically useful, electronic only voting and Internet voting cannot be made safe for the foreseeable future.

Posted in Internet Voting, National | Leave a response

Supreme Court to decide ballot layout and sovereign immunity

By Luther Weeks on September 10, 2012

I am not a lawyer, however: The law reads like the Secretary of the State is correct in interpreting the law. But it will be a tough precedent if the court accepts the sovereign immunity argument – I would think that would make it harder to sue over any election issue, including when the Secretary has declared an election winner. UPDATED

Posted in CT, CT Law | 1 Response

We still disagree with the Courant on reforming the office of registrar

By Luther Weeks on September 8, 2012

The comprehensive solution is to “Do for Elections what we have done for Probate“. Consolidation, Professionalization, and Regionalization. Not a panacea, but in our opinion a prerequisite. And change it in the Legislature by following the requirements of State law.

Posted in CT, CT Law | Leave a response

UConn Memory Card Report: More garbage in, some good information out

By Luther Weeks on September 4, 2012

Once again, we applaud Dr. Alexander Shvartsman and his team for developing the technology to perform these innovative tests, the diligence to perform the tedious tests, and the fortitude to report the facts. Compliance by officials leaves much to be desired:

Prior to the primary 110 out of 598 districts sent cards, that is 18.5% compliance
After the primary 105 out of 598 districts sent cards, that is 17.6% compliance,
however, only 49 of those cards were used in the election, a compliance rate of 8.2%

Posted in CT, Post-Election Audits, Reports | Leave a response