Guest Blogged by John Gideon and Ellen Theisen, VotersUnite.Org

There can be little doubt that, of the issues springing from elections held since George W. Bush signed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002, two are among the most significant. Those issues are failures of voting systems to meet the HAVA mandates for accuracy and accessibility and the confusion over the proper use of provisional ballots.

The states should have been able to look to the federal Election Assistance Commission (EAC) for guidance on both issues, but the EAC has failed to give the necessary Assistance, thus failing to fulfill duties assigned to the agency by federal law.

Now the EAC is proposing to extend its dereliction of duty for another two years. The result will be the publication of these important guidelines a full eight years after HAVA was enacted. The delay is inexcusable and intolerable, and the cost to American elections, on many fronts, is nearly incalculable...

Majority leader Sen. Harry Reid and the rest of the Senate Democrats have long said they'd refuse to seat anybody that Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich appointed to fill Obama's seat.

But as of yesterday's Meet the Press, Reid stated that "he's always ready to negotiate."

Will Harry Reid fold on Burris nomination, and allow him to be seated after all?

• Yes, he always folds
• No, he'll stick to his guns this time
• I haven't a clue

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I guess the best I can say about today’s DVN is that it is a little bit of this and a little bit of that....

We would like pass on our hopes that you have a wonderfully successful year in 2009. There will be struggles and there is certainly a lot of work to do including with elections. VotersUnite.Org will spend this year doing all we can to decrease vendor control over elections and hold vendors accountable for their failure to provide the goods and services they promise. We will also work hard to hold those who are supposed to have oversight over elections responsible for their failures. In other words, it will be a busy year this year....