Guest Blogged by John Gideon, of VotersUnite and VoteTrustUSA
The “DVN Top 5” is a feature in the weekly voting newsletter of VoteTrustUSA. The February 13 edition can be found here. The selection of what will be the “Top 5” for each week and where it goes on the list is all mine. The fact that you may disagree with my choices is great because it shows that you have been reading the DVN articles that I’ve posted throughout the week here on The BRAD BLOG!…
#5 – In Arizona the state legislature ignored past voting machine counting errors as they refused to adopt legislation to require a 5% hand-counted audit. As reported by the Arizona Daily Star the legislation did not even make it out of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
#4 – Meanwhile, next door neighbor New Mexico, VoteTrustUSA reports that in the last few hours of the legislative session the legislature passed a bill to require optical-scan voting and to ban DREs. This bill had the approval of the Governor, Attorney General, and Secretary of State and was a result of hard work from voting activists from across the state and nationally. Groups like Verified Voting New Mexico, United Voters of New Mexico, and Voter Action deserve a lot of credit for the work they did to get this passed.
#3 – The state of Illinois seems to be in an awful hurry to certify Sequoia voting machines for use in the state. Maybe because Chicago and suburban Cook County have already signed a contract for more than $50M with the Venezuelan owned Sequoia Voting Systems. As reported by Robert A. Wilson of the Illinois Ballot Integrity Project in VoteTrustUSA, the system that has been state certified and has already been contracted for is not even 2002 compliant.
#2 – The lines are being drawn in Maryland. On one side are voting activists and the governor. On the other side is the state elections chief, Linda Lamone and her friends at Diebold. Last week was a busy week in the state. The Baltimore Chronicle announced that the state legislature and civic groups had united for voter verified paper ballot legislation with the filing of SB713, with 23 co-sponsors. Then Avi Rubin opined that flawed election machines were leaving state voters guessing. Following this the Baltimore Sun announced that Governor Erlich had stated that the state was not ready to hold elections and that he was now coming out with his support for a paper trail. In the meantime, RawStory revealed that documents show elections and a primary were held on uncertified voting machines. And, The Brad Blog reported on the potential damage that the news would have on Diebold. In an attempt at ‘damage control’ Linda Lamone and Diebold ignored the facts and told all who would listen that the state’s voting system was the best in the nation.
#1 – This week was a big news week in California. State Senator Debra Bowen held a hearing to discuss open source voting software and voting systems certification. In that hearing one county election official, Warren Slocum of San Mateo County, questioned the use of vendor provided software and voting systems. Then on Friday afternoon just before a holiday weekend, the Secretary of State announced that he was going to conditionally certify two Diebold voting systems; the Accuvote OS and Accuvote TSx. This surprise certification was welcomed with amazement from some in the activist community and with questioning comments from Sen. Bowen. Why was the announcement made late on a Friday afternoon? Why did the SoS see fit to send a letter to Diebold, the Independent Test Authorities, the National Association of Secretaries of State, and the National Association of State Elections Directors but not to the Election Assistance Commission?
OT: Haha check out the MSN homepage http://www.msn.com and see the headline
Biden: I won’t be taken alive
Click the link and see that they meant Bin Laden, but perhaps a premonition?
What horseshit. I’ve voted for a generation in Canada and **never** used a voting machine of any kind. The ballots are PAPER and they are counted by HAND, not with some electron-sucking optical scanner. After the polls close, all the scrutineers gather around big tables and the ballot boxes are dumped out on the table and the counting begins. It kills me how Yanks have to have a f’kin’ MACHINE to do everything. I guess ya get the election system you deserve.
I have a theory about why some of the voting machine issues switch back and forth.
For reference, consider the recent California Secretary of State flip flopping on the Diebold certification issue.
The theory is that most of the regime’s strength is exercised by stealth and behind the scenes (link here).
That works because the republicans march in lock step which makes for a rubber stamp congress, since the republicans are in the majority in the house and in the senate.
The republicans are marching us lock step into one disaster after another.
Spam removed. Not here please.
What is political "science"?
The majority on a lot of BLOGs sometimes seem to not be aware of the way the senate and the house of our own nation work. I don’t like how it works but I do know how it works.
The majority party controls. They control who is the chairperson of each and every committee. The chair governs the committee.
The majority party controls. They control who, therefore, can subpoena witnesses and subpoena documents. And who is given a subpoena or not.
The majority party controls. They control what subjects are covered or covered up in each committee.
The majority party controls. They control the makeup of the committees so that they have a majority of votes on those same committees.
Are you aware that for TWELVE YEARS there has not been an oversite hearing concerning Whistleblower Protection? Until last week a hearing began on that issue (that is because they know November is close).
Twelve years … is how long the republicans have been in control, and they are now the ultimate rubber stamp to the fascist regime.
The democrats are the only other party that has the potential for becoming the majority party. The other parties do not have that potential according to the polls.
So rather than doing the republican talking point dance, and blaming the democrats for what the republicans have done, blame the republicans.
And hold them accountable in the November elections so that democratic chairpersons will subpoena documents about the lies, torture, spying on Americans, giving up of our ports to foreign nations, and ruining our good reputation in the world.
Any hodgepodge of parties (independent, green, libertarian, and some democrat), will still be the minority party which can do nothing under the current structure of congress.
This is not the time for elegant perfection of political parties, because we are bleeding to death. This is not the time for smiley face bandaids on our wounds.
It is time to take back the house and the senate or face the death of democracy due to its bleeding to death.
SUPPORT CLINT CURTIS
The political science of Senate committees (link here).
The House Committees (link here).
The most transparent corruption in our government can be witnessed throughout our country when one looks into how restaraunts, hotels and other service industry related businesses are being rewarded for stealing the financial benefit of the tips our public is giving workers in the service industry.
Our corrupt governement is actually rewarding businesses for stealing their worker’s tips.
The tip credit is the bill that has allowed business to pay their tipped employees $2.13 an hour. However, the tip credit can only be taken if an employee receives tips. Employees who do not receive tip income must be paid $5.15 or more depending on the state laws governing minimum wage. If an employer will steal part of his tipped employee’s tips and give them to other workers whom customers have not tipped, our government will reward them by allowing the employer to pay these other workers wages below the minimum wage requirements of this country.
Our federal government has passed a bill that rewards business owners for stealing the tips our public presents certain workers in the service industry. This criminal act by our federal government is now officially exposed and as such we the people will expect that this injustice cease. Our government is expected to uphold and protect our country, not blatantly reward people for stealing other people’s property. Either the tip credit must be repealed or our current government must be repealed. The choice is their’s.
The most transparent corruption in our government can be witnessed throughout our country when one looks into how restaraunts, hotels and other service industry related businesses are being rewarded for stealing the financial benefit of the tips our public is giving workers in the service industry.
Our corrupt governement is actually rewarding businesses for stealing their worker’s tips.
The tip credit is the bill that has allowed business to pay their tipped employees $2.13 an hour. However, the tip credit can only be taken if an employee receives tips. Employees who do not receive tip income must be paid $5.15 or more depending on the state laws governing minimum wage. If an employer will steal part of his tipped employee’s tips and give them to other workers whom customers have not tipped, our government will reward them by allowing the employer to pay these other workers wages below the minimum wage requirements of this country.
Our federal government has passed a bill that rewards business owners for stealing the tips our public presents certain workers in the service industry. This criminal act by our federal government is now officially exposed and as such we the people will expect that this injustice cease. Our government is expected to uphold and protect our country, not blatantly reward people for stealing other people’s property. Either the tip credit must be repealed or our current government must be repealed. The choice is their’s.
The most transparent corruption in our government can be witnessed throughout our country when one looks into how restaraunts, hotels and other service industry related businesses are being rewarded for stealing the financial benefit of the tips our public is giving workers in the service industry.
Our corrupt governement is actually rewarding businesses for stealing their worker’s tips.
The tip credit is the bill that has allowed business to pay their tipped employees $2.13 an hour. However, the tip credit can only be taken if an employee receives tips. Employees who do not receive tip income must be paid $5.15 or more depending on the state laws governing minimum wage. If an employer will steal part of his tipped employee’s tips and give them to other workers whom customers have not tipped, our government will reward them by allowing the employer to pay these other workers wages below the minimum wage requirements of this country.
Our federal government has passed a bill that rewards business owners for stealing the tips our public presents certain workers in the service industry. This criminal act by our federal government is now officially exposed and as such we the people will expect that this injustice cease. Our government is expected to uphold and protect our country, not blatantly reward people for stealing other people’s property. Either the tip credit must be repealed or our current government must be repealed. The choice is their’s.