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

Today was the release of the Brennan Report which calls into question the security of e-voting machines. News services across the country have picked-up this story and it was big news on Lou Dobbs this evening. Lou Dobbs asked why none of the vendors have been on his program to defend their machines. Kitty Pilgrim said that Diebold has not returned calls, ES&S denied there are any problems and Sequoia said that the Brennan Report was not just about them so they didn't feel a need to respond. / Lou Dobb's on-line 'QuickPoll' question is "Do you believe that e-voting machines should be disallowed until their integrity can be assured?" 98% of the voters answered 'yes' as of the time of this report....

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

Most states rely on national certification/qualification of voting systems. They tend to tout the fact that voting systems have been inspected and tested by some Independent Test Authority, though they ignore the fact that the tests are bought and paid for by the vendors. Then they point with steadfastness to the National Association of State Elections Directors (NASED) who reviews the ITA findings and gives a voting system its final 'stamp of approval'. Now we learn that the people applying that 'stamp of approval' are not even qualified to put ink on the stamp, let alone review the paperwork and give their approval. Imagine how the states will feel about this information. On the other hand, don't waste your time because the truth is inconvenient so they will just ignore it....

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

The Pottawattamie Co. Iowa vote counting problem from earlier this month has now spread to Polk Co., where a five-term incumbent lost by a wide margin to a newcomer. The incumbent is now demanding a hand recount to prove one way or another whether the Polk machines had the same problem as the Pottawattamie machines. Unfortunately, the Polk Co. Auditor is campaigning to be Secretary of State so some don't want the hand count because it may make the Auditor look bad. Since when is it OK to not ensure every vote is counted correctly? If there is any dispute, a hand count must be done....

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

CommonCause's report on voting machines seems to have stirred-up the hornet's nest, as it were. States are scrambling to defend their machines and their elections. If they would only spend as much time listening and learning, everyone would be much better off. / South Carolina may have some problems being ready for their run-off elections as ES&S has not delivered ballot programming to some counties yet. / Qualifications of the people who certify our voting systems have now been questioned and rightfully so it appears. Why is it that some will listen to people with experience in bars and restaurants but not listen to computer scientists and elections experts? ...

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

Imagine this! A recount from the memory of 8 Sequoia DREs in Monmouth Co. New Jersey gave the same results as the original count. Of course, no one can say that either count is accurate just that they agree. / States designated as high risk in a newly released CommonCause report, because they use DREs with no paper backup, are: Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. / A statewide primary on Diebold TSx machines will be held in Utah next Tuesday. ...

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

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the claim of Florida Congressman Robert Wexler in ruling Tuesday that paperless machines don't violate Floridians' constitutional rights. Congressman Wexler is now considering an appeal to the Supreme Court. “Primary elections will give people a chance to ‘test drive’ the new voting machines," says Thad Hall, a voting expert and assistant professor of political science at the University of Utah. Since when are primaries, or any other election for that matter, a time to 'test drive' voting machines? Voters are not 'test dummies' and no election is a test medium. I would think a 'voting expert' would understand that....

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

"Candidates, prior to conceding, should obtain detailed vote count data that is normally withheld from the public and have it independently analyzed." (Proposal from the National Election Data Archive)

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

Arthur Anderson, famous for his broken campaign promise to have a paper trail in Palm Beach Co. Florida, has now come out in favor of the SoS proposed state voting system testing plan. No surprise there. / From Arkansas comes an article that gives us a peek into the inner workings of an ES&S contract printer....

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

Quote of the Day - Doug Jones, a computer science professor and voting systems examiner in Iowa. "If we had sufficient transparency in our elections systems, the devil himself could build our voting systems and we could still hold honest elections."...

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

There seems to be a new vendor on the block. Precise Voting is still at least a month away from ITA testing and federal qualification of their DRE voting system. What is amazing is that, according to their website, a vvpat printer is part of their system and the printer actually cuts each vvpat off and puts it into a ballot box. Amazingly this system also has a binary switch that allows 'sip-n-puff' and other technology to make their system actually accessible for voters with disabilities. What's wrong with Diebold, Sequoia, and ES&S? Are they really "technicallogically challenged"? / It now appears that the Arkansas legislature may step-in and investigate what went wrong with ES&S in the state primary and what legislation needs to be written to protect the voters from this vendors questionable service....

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

Another slow news day today. The next primary is in Utah on 27 June with run-off elections in Mississippi and South Carolina. / Arkansas has started an investigation into the failures by ES&S in early voting, the primary and the run-off election. It will be interesting to see what they actually decide was the problem. / To the Fathers on the list. Thank you and Happy Father's Day....

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

It has been a very slow news day even with "No Confidence" press releases from various groups in response to security breaches in San Diego Co. California during the recent state primary. / The one bit of news is a new "Quick Start Management Guide for New Voting Systems". The "Quick" in the title seems to point to how fast the document was rushed out. There is nothing there but a reminder of things most elections officials probably got in classes held by the Election Center. The EAC needed to look at the melt-down in recent primary elections and put out a guide to officials with emphasis on how to keep from being affected by poor vendor service....

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

The hardest part in preparing the machines was setting up the audio. Try getting a computer to say 'Sprynczynatyk,' or 'Motschenbacher,'" said Burleigh Co., North Dakota County Auditor Kevin Glatt about their AutoMark's and referring to two candidates in Tuesday's election. / An injunction against the use of paperless voting machines has been filed in Texas / Officials in Saline Co. Arkansas revealed that they had to hand-count boxes of ballots due to the ballots being miss-cut by the printer, ES&S....

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

A must read is an "Opinion" piece from a Miami Herald columnist, Fred Grimm. "Florida['s] first priority is to protect the vendors. We'll let California worry about the damn voters" says Grimm. / VotersUnite would like to applaud the decision by the National League of Women Voters who have now come out in support of a voter verified paper audit trail / EAC Commissioner Ray Martinez has agreed to stay in his position until a suitable replacement can be named and confirmed ...

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

Utah's chief election's spokesman, Joe Demma, went to Mississippi to watch their elections because the two states are using the same voting machines, Diebold TSx. Demma will probably not be welcome in Mississippi again as he reported that "educationally, it was a worthwhile trip, because a fair number of Mississippi's electronic voting experiences were bad to the point of absurdity" / Webb County, Texas (Laredo) is now considering a law-suit against ES&S for failure to meet their contractual duties. / Emery County's Bruce Funk is stunned by San Diego County procedures allowing Diebold voting machines to be sent home with poll workers prior to last Tuesday's special run-off election for the U.S. House...