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

Some California counties are becoming a bit nervous about whether they will be able to use their voting machines in upcoming elections. At the same time, the talk in Northern California is about Vote-By-Mail. Meanwhile in Bucks County, PA activists have brought suit against the county to stop them from going to paperless voting. ...

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

The rhetoric is escalating in Arizona and a hearing will follow soon. Maricopa County may be the 'poster child' for election fraud and it's not something that will be fixed by voter ID cards. The California SoS seems to have taken a hard-line against the Registrars as he has told them that he won't just certify voting systems to make them happy. And to keep with today's emphasis on the Southwest corner of the country, New Mexico's governor has pledged $11M for a new, paper-based voting system....

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

In Virginia today, Omnibus election bills requiring voter verified paper records, mandatory hand counted audits, and public disclosure of voting system software have been introduced in both chambers of the state legislature. Virginia Verified Voting and The New Electoral Reform Alliance for Virginia together with VoteTrustUSA have launched a citizen action in support of legislation introduced in the Virginia legislature. Concerned citizens in Virginia are urged to visit the Virginia Action Page where you can send a message to your state legislators calling on them to support accurate and verifiable elections....

Guest Blogged by John Gideon

In an attempt to beat the inevitable and still save some face, Rep. Bob Ney has announced that he will agree to step down from his seat of power as the House Administration Committee Chairman.

According to the Associated Press:

It appears that Bob Ney will continue in the same vein as Tom Delay and kick and scream and deny all the way to court.

If you haven't already, please see BRAD BLOG's exclusive expos� from last week revealing Ney's previously unreported connections to Abramoff, Diebold and HAVA.

Guest Blogged by John Gideon, of VotersUnite and VoteTrustUSA

The "DVN Top 5" is a feature in the weekly voting newsletter of VoteTrustUSA. The January 9 edition can be found here. The selection of what will be the "Top 5" for each week and where it goes on the list is all mine. The fact that you may disagree with my choices is great because it shows that you have been reading the DVN articles that I've posted throughout the week here on The BRAD BLOG!...

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

After making claims for over 6 months that CT state law requires a voting system that will handle a full-face ballot the Secretary of State is now surprised that there is no such law. ES&S backed out of promises made to Leon Co., FL as they pull the rug out from under the counties plans to replace their present Diebold system. Vermont has now finalized plans to use their telephone voting system for disabled voters. Citizens have generated more than 15,000 emails and over 2,000 letters from concerned citizens across the country. VoteTrustUSA has been told by the EAC that NASED will release a report by the end of the month responding to the issues that we and others have raised about interpreted code in voting systems. We look forward to reading the report....

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

In Arizona there has been a quiet (media nearly silent) battle about the Precinct 20 vote in last November's election. There may have been election fraud, machine mistakes, procedure mistakes, or no problems at all. Doug Jones, UofIowa, was asked by a state senator and a local newspaper to look at everything that he could look at and then report back. His report is an amazing read. In New Mexico Governor Richardson and the SoS are now fully in favor of a vvpat. It's amazing what a lawsuit can do to frame your thinking. And in Florida, ES&S has turned on Leon County and refuses to sell their equipment to the county. Those of you who have responded to the Action Alert from VoteTrustUSA have sent 15,372 emails to the EAC along with 1890 letters demanding the ITA be made to do their job....

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

Today has been a very busy day as you can see from the length of this list. It was announced that the lawsuit in New Mexico is being joined by 6 more plaintiffs and then the Governor announced that he wants to do away with all of the paperless DREs and move to optical-scan only. Boulder Co., Colorado decided to scrap their plans to purchase new voting machines because there is nothing out there that can be trusted to do as advertised. The Montgomery Co., PA lawsuit has been sent to state court. The DoJ has announced that they may be filing a suit against the state of New York for not complying with HAVA. And the Georgia House passed, in a heated floor debate, another voter ID bill. Those of you who have responded to the Action Alert from VoteTrustUSA have sent 15,242 emails to the EAC along with 1875 letters demanding the ITA be made to do their job....

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

While a dozen Northern California counties consider going vote-by-mail in order to get themselves out of the 'voting machines morass' Riverside Co. decides to pay over $6M to upgrade their present Sequoia voting machines to newer machines. These 'newer' machines are federally qualified to 1990 standards and do not meet HAVA mandates for accessibility. Those of you who have responded to the Action Alert from VoteTrustUSA have sent 15,097 emails to the EAC along with 1870 letters demanding the ITA be made to do their job....

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

Surprise! I was able to find someone to help me out and to put together articles for DVN so we will continue chugging along for the time being. There is rumor from good sources that the DoJ has decided to take action against the state of New York for non-compliance to the Help America Vote Act. Those of you who have responded to the Action Alert from VoteTrustUSA have sent 14,747 emails to the EAC along with 1840 letters demanding the ITA be made to do their job....

Guest Blogged by John Gideon, of VotersUnite and VoteTrustUSA

The "DVN Top 5" is a feature in the weekly voting newsletter of VoteTrustUSA. The January edition can be found here. The selection of what will be the "Top 5" for each week and where it goes on the list is all mine. The fact that you may disagree with my choices is great because it shows that you have been reading the DVN articles that I've posted throughout the week here on The BRAD BLOG!...

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

There is not a lot of news today but the content is important. Alameda Co., CA announces they are looking at going to 'vote-by-mail'. Voting activists, and a state senator, have filed a lawsuit in Westmoreland County, PA to get the choice of voting system to be a voter's choice and not a boards choice. And a non-descript article today may portend something going on in 'Diebold-world'. Marion Co., IL is concerned that they may not get delivery on their Diebold voting machines through Fiddler Elections Co. Is Diebold having a problem delivering what they have sold? In the meantime, those of who have responded to the Action Alert from VoteTrustUSA have been making a lot of great noise! Keep it up! 12,272 Emails and 1620 letters sent so far!...

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

Today there is a mixed-bag of news and opinion. We have more on Connecticut canceling plans to purchase Danaher machines because Danaher could not get anything federally qualified. There is also additional information on the hold-up in New Mexico due to the temporary restraining order that is stopping the state from buying Sequoia DREs. Virginia's legislature is getting closer to putting the state into the vvpat column. And Debra Bowen, in California, is going to hold hearings on open source voting. In the meantime, those of who have responded to the Action Alert from VoteTrustUSA have been making a lot of great noise! Keep it up! 12,272 Emails and 1620 letters sent so far!...

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

According to a January 3 article on VoteTrustUSA, Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron delayed the purchase of 800 Sequoia Edge touch screen voting machines that some New Mexico counties had chosen to meet federal accessibility requirements.

On January 5 Voter Action amplified and corrected the statements of the Secretary. In their press release, Voter Action said:

NOTE: There is presently NO Sequoia voting system that meets the presently in force voting systems standards. The best that Sequoia can do is to meet standards that are 15 years old. Today this reporter called the Election Assistance Commission and I was told that Sequoia has nothing close to federal qualification at this time. This means that counties who have purchased their voting machines on the promise of being compliant by January 1, 2006 cannot meet the Help America Vote Act of 2002 accessibility mandates.

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

Today Arizona SoS Jan Brewer, who is buying Diebold for her voters, was shouted down by voting activists as she announced that she was running for another term in office. She called us "anarchists". I'll proudly wear that badge though she misused the word unless she used it as Bertrand Russell used it; "He was inclined to anarchism; he hated system and organization and uniformity"

In the meantime, those of who have responded to the Action Alert from VoteTrustUSA have been making a lot of great noise! Keep it up! 14,000 Emails sent so far!...