It's A Double-Whammy --- And Just In Time For The Primaries!!
By Winter Patriot on 9/12/2006, 10:22pm PT  

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

Election integrity advocates in Arizona got a double-whammy Tuesday --- just in time for their primaries!

First we have some bad news from Erica Meltzer of the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson:
Backup verifying of votes unlikely: Hand-recount procedures not cleared for touch screens

The hand recount that was supposed to guarantee the integrity of the touch-screen voting machines being used in today's election probably won't be done because the secretary of state didn't submit its procedures for federal review until Thursday.

The widespread use of electronic voting machines to comply with the Help America Vote Act raised concerns among some political activists that the machines could be used to tamper with election results.

In response to those concerns, the Legislature passed a bill requiring a random recount of 2 percent of all precincts, and the Pima County Board of Supervisors said it would require a 100 percent hand recount.

The Justice Department signed off on the bill last month, but the secretary of state didn't submit procedures for the recount until late Thursday.

What??? Late Thursday? To get the recount procedures approved for use when?

In a special meeting Monday, the supervisors said that made it very unlikely they would receive clearance in time to conduct a recount before the Sept. 19 deadline to canvass the election results.
...
The supervisors laid the blame on Secretary of State Jan Brewer.

"It has been her choice and her choice alone to put us in this position," Supervisor Ramon Valadez said. "Any reasonable person would expect her to get this done."

Deputy Secretary of State Kevin Tyne said the secretary of state followed the appropriate process for getting the voting counting procedures approved.

Oh, yeah, right. uh huh.

Here's a good place to read more.

Meanwhile... from AP's Paul Davenport via CBS News via Raw Story:
Judge Won't Block Ariz. Voter ID Law

(AP) A federal judge on Monday refused to block a law that requires Arizona voters to present identification before casting a ballot.

U.S. District Judge Roslyn Silver's order came a day before Tuesday's primary, the first statewide election for which voters will be required to show identification. The law has already been used in some municipal elections.

The 2004 law requires that voters at polling places produce government-issued picture ID or two pieces of other non-photo identification specified by the law. It also requires proof of citizenship when registering to vote.
...
Secretary of State Jan Brewer said the law was a protection against voter fraud. "Today's court ruling assures the integrity of this process by retaining the requirements established by Proposition 200," she said in a statement.

It's quite clear that Secretary of State Jan Brewer cares very deeply about "the integrity of this process".

Is it not?

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Article Categories: Arizona, Election 2006