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

According to the AP, "Activists filed a civil-rights lawsuit Thursday claiming Secretary of State Ken Blackwell deprived people of their voting rights during the 2004 presidential election and seeking to have him removed from overseeing the general election in November." / Florida's primary is next Tuesday. The following Tuesday is Arizona, Delaware, DC, Maryland, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin. / Georgia's repressive voter ID requirements are back in effect....

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

Under pressure from activists Blackwell has decided to stop any plans to destroy 2004 voting records for several months at least. This seems to be a win for those who are still looking going through the mounds of data. / Ballot access (whether a person or party have the right to be named on the ballot) issues seem to be picking up in the courts. / Summit Co. Ohio has no money left to run the Nov. general election. They are asking for $1.7M from the county but they are getting a lot of questions in return. ...

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

Foreign-born, US citizens have filed a suit in Ohio against a law that could require that they provide citizenship papers at the polls when they go to vote. This seems to be a violation of their right to equal protection. Included in the group bringing suit is the wife of an ex-Governor. / In Missouri a state auditor candidate has requested a state-wide hand recount of his race. The state and county clerks want to do a machine recount only. / Ex-GOP Congressman Bob Barr speaks out against voting machines ...

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

A federal judge ruled against Florida governor Jeb Bush and struck down a Florida law that imposes hefty fines on third parties that take too long to submit voter registration forms, saying it threatens free speech rights and unfairly exempts political parties. As reported by the Brennan Center this ruling may affect similar laws in Ohio, Colorado, New Mexico and Georgia. / It appears that Franklin Co. Ohio intends on putting all voting files on line so anyone who wants can download all of the ballots and audit the election themselves. Of course, this is probably subject to change if they find that their ES&S machines had problems and it will happen following all audits and election certification. ...

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

Today we have articles in the Washington Post and New York Times and a release of another Brennan Center Report. / A Republican state senator in Arizona is highly upset that the Arizona Secretary of State has not been able to do everything necessary so a mandated hand-counted audit can be done in the September 12 primary. / Vote-PAD was denied certification in California based on unfair and unreasonable test and test results....

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

A Maryland court has found the state's 'early voting' provision to be illegal and one candidate has been removed from the ballot. This will probably require new ballots to be printed and reprogramming and re-testing of the state's DREs in order to be ready for the Sept. 12 primary. It also means that overseas and military voters will again have problems. / Why is Sequoia being asked for an estimate to do a state-wide recount in Nevada? They quoted $175,000 for their part in doing that recount. What work do they have to do? The state is supposed to have a VVPAT. This large charge is, in part, forcing the candidate to challenge the election in court rather than ask for a recount. Just who is conducting elections in Nevada?...

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

Diebold machines failed in the state of Alaska requiring hand counts of ballots in some locations. / Arizona is supposed to have a hand-recount law for this year's primary, however, the SoS has not managed to do her duties that will lead up to implementation of that law. She is not sure that the state will be ready to implement the mandated audits for the primary. / It seems that questions about the validity of any pronouncements in favor of ES&S are flying around the state / In Maryland the state Court of Appeals found that early voting was against the state constitution and told the state they had to cancel it for this year....

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

It is important to note that the Cuyahoga Co. Ohio County Commission contracted with Election Science Institute (ESI) to investigate the counties voting system and the results of how it was used in the May primary. It is the Board of Elections (BoE) who selected and purchased the Diebold voting machines used in the county. It is the BoE that has joined with Diebold to question the ESI report. The County Commission still seems to be supporting ESI....

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

ES&S denies any wrong-doing for it's failures in Indiana while agreeing to pay $245,000 to the state and provide other services such as training through 2007. Total cost to ES&S $753,130. Sounds to me like they are admitting they were wrong. / Cuyahoga Co. Ohio paid $342,000 for an investigation into the failures of their May primary. The report from the investigators, ESI, is scathing and shows an error riddled, difficult to administer voting system (Diebold TSx). The county didn't hear what they wanted to hear so they are now joining with Diebold to attack ESI. / Teton Co. Wyoming reported a ballot programming error. Another ES&S failure. / Diebold machines failed in Alaska requiring hand counting and manual uploading of results....

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

Unlike some California counties who have chosen to remove themselves from a law suit against the use of Diebold TSx voting machines by choosing to use optical-scan systems, Nevada Co. have decided, today, to go the opposite way. They are spending $250,000 to RENT machines for Nov. / ES&S has agreed to give Arkansas counties credit for $388,000 of the vendors mistakes in the state primary. / A new paper on Independent Verification has been released today. /...

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

Early voting started in Florida today. Tomorrow is primary election day in Alaska and Wyoming / It looks like officials in Auglaize Co. Ohio may have some problems responding to a new law suit that was filed today. They are accused, in part, of artificially swelling the voter rolls just to get a bigger piece of the HAVA funds pie./ Zogby will release a new poll tomorrow that shows that 92% of Americans Oppose Secret Vote Counting...

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

Franklin Co. Ohio is planning on putting the results from each of their voting machines on-line for anyone to see. This will happen after all vote counting takes place and after the final canvass. They are also asking the County BoE for funds to do an independent hand-count of the paper ballots. Is this another attempt to discredit the vvpat and will Election Sciences Institute (ESI) do that hand-count? / ...

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

"There's a lot to be concerned about here," said Maryland Gov. Ehrlich recently about the state's Diebold TS voting machines. "I think the system is fabulous," said Linda Lamone, administrator for the state Board of Elections. "It's probably the most secure system in the country." / "Is it even possible to ensure the trustworthiness of the hardware and software in a voting system? My opinion is no," said David Dill, a professor of computer science at Stanford University and a critic of electronic voting. / "Basically, all election officials say, 'We're as pure as the driven snow, and nobody has ever cheated,' " said John Washburn, a Milwaukee software analyst. "It's the same as if you're a bank and you say, 'OK, I'm going to assume that my tellers will never steal money from the till.' "...

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

A recount was done in Georgia and, guess what? The results on the Diebold TS machines were the same the second time they were run-off as the first. It goes to show that computer memory does not change all by itself. That is all it proves because no one knows that these were really the people's votes; only the machines. / The ACLU filed a lawsuit in Missouri against the state's VoterID law. / Was the ESI/Cuyahoga Co. report just a sham to make the voter verified paper audit trail printers look as bad as possible? If so, some seem to believe that. ...

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

The big news today is still the ESI report on Cuyahoga Co. Ohio. Diebold claims the only flaws are in ESIs report. Democrats are asking for a complete investigation. Even the Republican candidate for SoS is asking for a complete inventory of Blackwell's office. / A press conference was held in Arizona yesterday with Congressmen Holt and Grijalva discussing future legislation on voting rights and vote administration / There may be a recount in the Nevada Republican 2nd Congressional District primary. It will be interesting to see how this turns out especially because the winning candidate is the SoS so the recount would be against him. ...