Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

It has just been revealed that an investigation is taking place in Franklin Co, Ohio, stemming from problems noticed by Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner on her DRE voting machine last Nov. 6. Brunner claims that when she got to a municipal court race a gray banner appeared over one candidate's name to let her know that he had withdrawn from the race. In fact that candidate had withdrawn the day after the machines were programmed. The problem is that her husband voted on a machine next to hers and he had no warning. Voters in other precincts have now reported the same thing to investigators, so it appears that not everyone had the same ballot. Investigators have also found that it appears that ES&S, the county’s vendor, told election workers that it was not necessary to do pre-election testing on every voting machine so only one machine per precinct was tested. They have also found that ES&S instructed the county’s “board programmer” on how to turn off the “audit logs” on the machines while doing any work on them. This act hinders any investigation into what was done with software changes. How will these bad acts by ES&S affect what seems to be a good relationship between Brunner and the vendor?...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

It has been pointed out to me that many states allow you to check your voter registration on-line. Here is a list of those states with links. Again we encourage all voters to ensure they are still registered to vote and that their registrations are correct in all regards.

It appears that Colorado is getting closer and closer to a paper-ballot election this November. One of the driving forces is a concern that the state will, again, face a law suit from the voters if they don’t change to paper ballots. The Governor is concerned enough about making the change that he has doubled the amount of funds that can be spent to make the conversion in the state....

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

The Colorado media are beginning to pick up on something we have been saying for awhile. Secretary of State Coffman cannot seem to make up his mind on anything. He was for decertifying almost every voting system in the state; then he recertified them ignoring the reports that led him to do the decertification in the first place; then he was for paper ballot voting and now he is against paper ballots.

VotersUnite is going to mention the following over and over again. Please verify your voter registration. Voter rolls are being scrubbed across the nation. New data bases are being put into use and may not be totally accurate. The only way you will be assured of being able to vote in November is to ensure you are on the voter rolls....

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

It appears that not many officials in New Jersey believe Sequoia’s explanation of the problem 6 counties found following the state’s primary on Super Tuesday. Sequoia has attempted to blame the poll workers for a problem where, on some machines, the internal paper memory does not match the internal memory, and neither match the facts from the poll books. The issue is with how many votes were cast for each party and not vote totals for candidates. Election officials have questioned Sequoia’s theory. Now a large association of state constitutional officers has voted unanimously to demand an investigation. Machines will be shipped to Ed Felten at Princeton University for possible inspection. Our gratitude is given to those state officials in New Jersey who have questioned the excuse that it is the poll workers or the voters who are at fault. The vendors almost never accept responsibility. One vendor may now have their excuse proven to be wrong.

VotersUnite encourages all voters to check their registration and ensure they are still on the voting rolls and that all of their information is current. It should only take a few minutes and may save your ability to vote in November....

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

Another good reason that a mail-in primary do-over cannot happen in Florida? It is against the law. State law only allows referendums to be on a mail ballots and doesn’t allow for candidates to be named on ballots via stamp and carrier. An executive order or a law change would be needed to allow the presidential primary to be recast.

On top of today’s Mississippi primary we also had a special election for Indiana’s 7th CD and municipal elections in Florida.

Today the Iowa senate approved a bill (47-1) that will change the state to a paper ballot and op-scan state from one that had a mix of optical-scan and DRE counties. The bill now goes to the House where it is expected to pass. ...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

Tomorrow is Mississippi voters' opportunity to cast their primary votes. Most of the counties use Diebold/Premier TSx machines with a vvpat. One county recently decided to remove the vvpat printers because they caused too many problems on election day. Another good reason to scrap DREs, even when they have vvpat printers.

There has been a lot of discussion about Florida’s primary. Is it going to happen or not? One thing I have seen in the Florida papers that seems to have been missed by the national press is that all of the Florida counties that used to use DREs no longer have those machines, or are getting rid of them as we speak. They are bringing in optical scan but they have all said it would be nearly impossible for them to conduct a primary election in June. ...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

There isn’t much to say this evening so here is the news....

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

Today gives us a hard fought, tight special election for an open congressional seat in Illinois’ 14th Congressional District. DuPage County is one of the counties in the 14th. Reports from the county are that their Diebold/Premier DREs flashed the word “REPUBLICAN” when the voter began the voting process. This subliminal message, if that is what it is, is something new in the dirty tricks bag and another good reason to get rid of DREs. No vvpat will solve this tactic....

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

Have you already voted in your state’s primary? Attended your state’s caucus? Maybe you are in a state that is yet to have a primary? Are you registered to vote? Are you sure? We encourage everyone to check before your primary, if you haven’t already voted. We also encourage you to check your voter registration at least once before November. States are removing voter’s names from the rolls for a lot of reasons and they are getting a lot of valid names while they remove a few invalid ones. Call and check your registration....

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

A request from the election integrity community to New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram was sent on March 4. We have asked her to allow an independent investigation of the recent problems with the state’s Sequoia Advantage voting machines. Clearly Sequoia’s response to the problem, that it is the poll workers who are at fault, is false and colored by Sequoia’s greed as they stand to pocket over $20M in vvpat printer sales in the state. These are the same machines used by two counties in Pennsylvania. So far the EAC has ignored this problem just as they have ignored all other problems with NASED qualified voting systems even though members of the EAC in management positions were directly involved in the NASED process. Press Release ...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

There have been no media reports of any huge meltdowns in yesterday’s primaries. The reports may still come but so far all of the reports have been of minor problems. The one major issue is that after all of the previous primaries and caucuses it seems as if the four states that held primaries yesterday were all surprised that turnout was going to be high. How can any jurisdiction be caught without enough paper ballots? How can voters be sent home without voting because there was not enough paper to go around? Listen up Mississippi and Pennsylvania…turnout is going to be high. Prepare for it.

One of the issues we heard from the Ohio media is the reports that very few voters asked to use paper ballots even though they were there to be used. Instead they chose to use the touch-screen machines. Of course, the reports don’t mention if the voters were offered paper ballots as a choice or if the ballots were kept hidden unless a voter specifically asked for one. The reports come from county election officials who were not happy about having to provide paper ballots so any news may be slanted.

Meanwhile legislation is moving in Colorado that will force counties to use paper ballots in November. Iowa is another step closer to paper ballots and away from touch-screen voting. Franklin Co Ohio has announced that they are seriously considering scrapping their touch-screens for optical-scan and paper ballots....

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

Today was as busy as expected but most of the reports of problems are minor. Turnout in Ohio was high even though the weather did not support people going to the polls. Power outages were reported in different areas but no mention was made of any occasion where voting changed to paper ballots during the outages. Flooding in some counties forced the moving of some poll sites and added an hour on to the polling time in ten counties. There were problems with Diebold TSx memory card programming that left races off of the ballot in two counties. There was also a complaint from the GOP in Cuyahoga Co that only Democratic poll workers were involved in the SOS mandated mid-day pickup of ballots from polling sites. In Texas, turnout was high and there were some concerns about whether some counties had enough ballots for voters. Rhode Island also reported high turnout. If everything works out as normal tomorrow will be another big news day and it will probably feature more reports of system failures. I hope I am wrong and that all of the counting goes well but history tells us there will be problems. Time will tell.

Today's stories are all linked below...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

The voting news today has been dominated, not by tomorrow’s primary news, but by an attempted takeover of Diebold by the military industrial complex in the form of United Technologies, which also owns Sikorsky Helicopter and jet engine maker Pratt and Whitney. Diebold received the offer for takeover and has rejected it so far. Remember Dwight Eisenhower’s warning: “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

Is your name on the voter registration list? Have you voted in your state’s primary or will you be voting when the time comes for your state? Are you sure your name is on the voter registration list?

Every voter, even if you voted in your state’s primary without any problems, should contact your county election officials and ensure you are registered to vote according to their records and that your name and address are correct in their data base. The best time to do this is later in the year but before it is too late to register if there are any problems.

Voter registrations and the voter data bases will be the problem of this election year. Vendors have made a lot of money setting-up state voter registration data bases and there have already been reports of many problems in many states. We encourage every voter to play it safe and make a phone call or visit your county election office. Make sure that when the time comes your vote will be counted and you will not have to be on a provisional ballot that may not get counted.

As usual, today's notable voting news headlines all follow below...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

Bits and Pieces today. As reported here yesterday Sequoia Voting Systems has blamed one or two poll workers in 6 counties for doing something strange at the back of the counties' Advantage DREs that would cause the correct ballot to be voted yet would report that ballot as being from a different party. And, that incorrect report is only on one of two internal, redundant memories. It all sounds very wrong to me and it’s probably a good thing this problem may only happen during the primaries when party preference means something.

All but one of Cuyahoga Co Ohio’s ES&S optical scan machines seem to have tested satisfactorily.

Los Angeles Co election officials owe it to the voters to count every ballot possible. They don’t seem to understand that simple premise for some reason.

Tuesday will be another busy day though the news from Rhode Island and Vermont will be pretty slim with not a lot to report. However, Texas and Ohio will more than make up for a lack of news from the other two primary states. We look for a busy week next week....