Over a week ago Sequoia issued a press release and a blog item that were misleading in their content. In both cases the headline intimated, amongst other things, that Princeton Professor Andrew Appel was ordered by a New Jersey judge to apologize to Sequoia for supposed violations of a court order. In our featured article the Professor responds to the misleading statements made by Sequoia....

Today we have more from Maryland where the state’s Attorney General has filed a claim against Premier/Diebold to force the vendor to pay for the problems the state’s voting machines have encountered. If every state would do the same thing the vendors might actually realize it is their responsibility to put out a product that they test and warrant against defect. Maybe it is time for the EAC to actually do their job and ensure federal laws with regards to voting systems are met. ...

Yesterday in this space I told you that yesterday would be the last DVN for the week. Well, that was before today’s news. I just couldn’t stay away and there are three stories that I feel are important. First in ‘National’ news are two articles for those interested in Internet voting. Second, as you know I have been discussing Hillsborough Co Florida and the fact that lame-duck election supervisor Buddy Johnson was trying to get $2.3M out of the county to cover cost overruns. Instead of doing as Buddy expected and just giving him the money they began an audit and they are finding more questions than answers. Buddy may have a lot to explain for in the coming months. And from Maryland comes the news that the state has filed an $8.5M claim against Diebold/Premier to cover the state’s costs to fix flaws in the voting system the state purchased from the vendor.

Enjoy the day tomorrow....

This will be the last DVN until this coming weekend. VotersUnite.Org would like to express our wishes for a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all who have done so much for our democracy over this past year. Those of you who have been a part of the Election Integrity Community, Election Officials, concerned citizens and voters have all done a masterful job in helping to make our democracy work. Our job is not done yet but we have made strides and we will, with everyone’s help, continue to make strides to protect our democracy. Thank you for your assistance when we have asked for donations. Your help has been very much appreciated and has helped to keep us moving forward. Thank you....

Posted on Thursday is the featured blog by New Jersey computer scientist Andrew Appel. In the blog and linked video Professor Appel shows how easy it is to remove and replace new security seals installed on the machines in New Jersey by Sequoia and the state. The professor also points out that the addition of these security seals is just another smoke-screen from Sequoia. It took him 7 minutes the first time he removed and replaced the seals.

This weekend also finds more from Minnesota including an article by one of the non-partisan observers to the whole recount procedure. Good job by all who have been involved in that process.

We also have an article about Buddy Johnson, the soon to be out of work Hillsborough Co Florida election supervisor who has now dropped his request for $2.3M to cover cost overruns in this past election. Could it be he is nervous that the county has threatened to audit his office to find out how they spent their money? ...

Colorado has a new Secretary of State; the Senate vote recount in Minnesota may have finally shown who won the election; Mississippi and Oklahoma are two of a few states that are looking at how to suppress the vote by requiring VoterID; and more on the Pennsylvania court decision of Tuesday. These and more below:...

From a VoterAction.org press release today...

Hillsborough Co Florida outgoing election chief, Buddy Johnson, wanted $2.3M from the county to cover election cost overruns from the Nov. election. Stupidly Johnson did not bother showing up to appear before the county supervisors so they could ask him questions. The supervisors took his no-show as an insult and they have deferred any decision until they can review the election office’s records.

Meanwhile the Maryland Board of Public Works has approved a contract between the state and Premier/Diebold for $974,000 for six months to cover municipal elections within the state. That contract could add up to $1.4M if two three month options are exercised. All of this even though the state is scrapping their paperless DREs at the end of next year in place of a paper based system.

And, after the reports of Diebold accuracy failures in Humboldt Co., California, the county has decided to scrap their present system and replace it with machines provided by Hart Intercivic. The selection of Hart is a bit strange in light of the fact that Hart has removed themselves from all EAC certification testing. They will not, in the future, have a voting system that has been tested to the voting system standards and certified by the EAC....

A large majority of the news today is from Minnesota where they are still trying to count the votes and figure out just who is the man going to DC. ...

The news has not been written yet but I am hearing from New Jersey that the bill that would have forced the state’s voters to continue to use Sequoia Advantage DREs with no paper audit trail was defeated in one house of the state legislature and the bill in the other house never went to the floor for a vote. Now the state needs to decide whether to wait and hope Sequoia can get a vvpat printer certified or do the right thing and change over to a paper-based voting system....

Another check of the accuracy of Diebold/Premier voting machines has found that they fail in that department. While performing a state mandated audit Montgomery Co, Ohio, elections officials found that a memory card from one DRE voting machine read five more votes when read a second time during the audit. The county and state are investigating.

What does Diebold/Premier have to say? "We have not seen this particular condition anywhere else in Ohio or anywhere else in the country,” according to spokesman Chris Riggall. Clearly Riggall is joking. Of course they haven’t seen this condition in Ohio because Ohio has not done these audits in the past and the lack of audits across most of the rest of the country would ensure that no problems would have been found in the past.

Where there are audits that may have found this condition, the condition is ignored or just shrugged-off. What they ignore is that there is a federal law that dictates accuracy of voting systems and even the loss of these 5 ballots in a county that saw over 280,000 ballots cast is a violation of that law. ...

Three years ago, the New Jersey Legislature passed a law requiring voter-verifiable paper records by January 2008. Then twice in 2008, the Legislature extended that deadline, first to June 2008, then to January 2009.

Now verifiable voting in New Jersey will be delayed indefinitely unless you act. The bill S2380, and its companion A3458, would undo the the requirement, and establish a "pilot program" for voter-verified paper records. If enacted, S2380 and A3458 could well mean that New Jersey voters will not have verifiable voting in time for the next election for Governor in 2009. The only reasonable course of action now is to require the deployment of a better voting system to meet New Jersey's legal requirement for voter-verified paper records --- paper optical scan ballots --- as soon as feasible, but not later than the gubernatorial election.

New Jersey has had many problems with their Sequoia voting machines in the past. There is still a court case that is not complete. Why, in the face of the history of Sequoia in New Jersey, would the state legislators even think to change the law to allow the status quo? What action has been taken in the state by any vendor to make this happen? One can only wonder.

Below are links to a statement on the legislation made by Congressman Rush Holt and an action page that can be used by New Jersey voters, and others, to make their voices heard about this step backwards. We hope you will take action....

Long time Harris Co. Texas registrar, Paul Bettencourt ran for re-election recently and won that race. Before even being sworn into office again, he resigned to take a job in the private sector, or so he claims.

In today’s featured articles from the Houston Chronicle there is information that may answer the question as to why he resigned. It seems that a lawsuit was filed today in state district court by J. Goodwille Pierre who unsuccessfully ran for a judicial position. He lost by 230 votes. His lawsuit echoes a lawsuit brought against the county elections office in federal court. One of the issues brought forth is evidence that the chairman of the county ballot board had reported that some ballots, after being processed by Bettencourt’s staff, had information obscured by correction fluid. About 5,800 ballots were denied, according to Bettencourt’s office, because the voters had not been properly registered. We will follow both lawsuits....

Today’s line-up of news is varied. Enjoy....

This evenings DVN includes more from Humboldt Co. plus a video of the outrageous arrest of an Election Integrity Advocate in Broward Co. Florida. And why is it that many in the New Jersey legislature don’t want any transparency in their elections? ...