Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

A new study supports the contentions of Election Integrity advocates who oppose Rush Holt's election reform bill on the basis that it allows for the use of Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) touch-screen voting systems. Supporters of the bill claim that the bills mandate to require so-called "Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail" (VVPAT) printers on such DRE systems mitigate the concerns about the machines notorious inaccuracy and proven tamperability. The new study strongly indicates otherwise.

In her recently released doctoral thesis, “The Usability of Electronic Voting Machines and How Votes Can Be Changed Without Detection” [PDF], Rice University researcher and Doctoral candidate Sarah P. Everett reveals that review screens, presented to voters at the end of the voting process on DRE voting machines, fail to be effective.

Of 66 participants from the general Houston population, with a median age of 45 and an even distribution of educational levels only 32% of the voters noticed that malicious changes had been made to their review screens during mock election testing.

A further test was accomplished with 101 participants, with an even gender split (51 males, 50 females), a median age of 40, with most having either some college education or holding a degree. Of those, only 37% of the participants noticed that vote flipping had occurred on their review screens during mock election testing.

Also shocking is that of those 101 participants 6% walked away from the voting machine without pushing the button to cast their ballot. Instead, they just left the voting process at the final review screen. Thus, had this been a real election, a full 6% of the voters would not have had their ballots counted at all.

So when only about one-third of the voters actually review their ballot on the ballot review screen and notice problems why would anyone think that adding a "Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail" printer to a DRE will solve any problem? Rather than adding useless and expensive printers; why not just get rid of these machines all together?

In fact, Ms. Everett states, when it comes the use of DRE voting systems [emphasis added]...

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*** Special to The BRAD BLOG
*** by Libby/CIA Leak Trial Correspondent Margie Burns

On November 29, 2005, the Boston Globe ran a nice Letter to the Editor by Mr. Ralph West of Philly, under the headline “REMOVE CANCER IN ADMINISTRATION”:

Mr. West's concerns may now have come to fruition, The BRAD BLOG has learned, as "a Robert Bork" has emerged --- in fact, Robert Bork himself --- along with eleven other law professors from some of the nation's most highly regarded law schools, and Pepperdine, to file an amici brief in the Scooter Libby perjury and obstruction of justice case in order to argue that the Special Prosecutor's assignment to the case was unconstitutional...

Voter Fraud zealot Bradley Schlozman takes his do-over concerning testimony he gave last week to the Senate Judiciary Committee concerning his assertion (made 10 times in all), that it was Craig Donsanto of the Election Crimes division at the DoJ's Public Integrity unit who gave him the go ahead to bring voter fraud charges in Missouri days before last November's election. The indictments were in strict violation of the DoJ's written policies --- written by Donsanto, in fact --- that bar such indictments at times that they may have an impact on an election.

Says Schlozzie, in his freshly-filed and obviously-forced about face: "I want to be clear that, while I relied on the consultation with, and suggestions of, the Election Crimes Branch in bringing the indictments when I did, I take full responsibility for the decision to move forward with the prosecutions related to ACORN while I was the interim U.S. Attorney."

To which Sen. Leahy --- who pressed Schlozman hard on this precise point in a memorably heated exchange during the hearing (see angry video at left)-- says: "It is deeply troubling that after weeks of preparation Mr. Schlozman appears to have misled the Committee and the public about his decision to file an election eve lawsuit in direct conflict with longstanding Justice Department policy."

Also related...Hans von Spakovsky, Schlozman's GOP "voter fraud" partner at DoJ, comes before the Senate tomorrow for a hearing concerning his appointment as chair of the FEC. He had been previously recess-appointed to the position by Bush, but his Get Out of Jail Free Card is now up, and tomorrow he'll finally face questions on his role in gutting the Voting Rights Act at the DoJ against the advice of the decades-long experience of civil rights attorneys in the Voting Unit there. Five of those former DoJ staffers have written a letter to Congress urging them to reject von Spakovsky's nomination.

Paul Kiel at TPM Muck has many more details on both the Schlozman do-over and von Spakovsky's DoJ chicanery in advance of tomorrow's hearing.

Mark F. "Thor" Hearne must really want to hide something about his discredited past as the front man for the GOP front group calling themselves the American Center for Voting Rights (ACVR).

In the latest chapter of a string of attempts by Hearne to cleanse his public record as lead snake-oil salesman for the mysteriously-funded "non-partisan" group that he founded to push propaganda about a massive (if non-existent) Democratic 'voter fraud' epidemic, it seems his Wikipedia page has been expurgated of all references to the ACVR.

Loyola election law professor Rick Hasen reports at his Election Law Blog today...

As BRAD BLOG readers know, Hearne was formerly the national general counsel for Bush/Cheney '04 Inc. and continues to be both a friend of Karl Rove and a big time GOP operative in Missouri via his big time GOP law firm of Lathrop & Gage.

Since the spotlight has shone on the "voter fraud" fraud at the heart of the DoJ Attorney Purge, Hearne has been running for cover. The ACVR site was shut down, references to them have been purged from Thor's resume as various exposés have been run on his scam, by Murray Waas at National Journal, Hasen at Slate, and even on the once-ACVR and Thor-friendly NPR.

Of course, several of the scrubbed references and links on Thor's page were to our site, as we originally outed Hearne and his ACVR scam just days after he and fellow "non-partisan" "voting rights" activist Jim Dyke, Communications Director for the RNC, first started peddling their deceptive information. We first noticed them back in March of 2005 when Hearne testified before a Congressional hearing on the 2004 Election, claiming to be little more than a "long time voting rights advocate." Despite promises to the contrary, neither he nor Dyke have ever explained who was really behind the group, and who funded them to the tune of $1 million back when they set up shop out of a PO Box in a strip mall in Dallas, TX, where neither of them lived. The bogus information they peddled from coast to coast was --- and still is --- used by the folks throughout the DoJ and the Bush administration in hopes of affecting elections and seeing disenfranchising Photo ID restrictions legislated for polling places.

Hearne's powerful MO lawfirm, Lathrop & Gage, has also come into the spotlight of late in relation to a state fee office scandal said to have been under investigation by Arkansas US Attorney Bud Cummins at the time he was fired by the DoJ.

Recently, in one of the rare interviews he is now willing to grant to the media, Hearne blamed The BRAD BLOG specifically for many of his current woes.

You're welcome, Thor. Ready to come clean? Or will it take a subpoena for that? (We're guessing it'll take that subpoena.) Either way, unlike you, we've got nothing to hide, and we're not going anywhere...

UPDATE 6/13/07: Wiki info on ACVR restored, but Lathrop & Gage un-restores it. Twice. Plus, ACVR lied on their 990 public disclosure forms. Details on both matters now here...

For more information on the "non-partisan" tax-exempt ACVR "Voter Fraud" scam and the snakeoil salesmen who invented it, Bush/Cheney '04 National General Counsel Mark F. "Thor" Hearne and RNC Communications Director Jim Dyke, please see BRAD BLOG's full Special Coverage of the "American Center for Voting Rights" at https://BradBlog.com/ACVR.

Guest blogged by Ellen Theisen, Co-Director of VotersUnite.Org

Yesterday I discussed the dangers presented by Rush Holt's Election Reform bill, HR 811, now pending a floor vote in the House. I detailed seven points which, taken as a whole, lead me to believe that the bill does more harm than good.

Senator Dianne Feinstein’s bill S. 1487, “The Ballot Integrity Act of 2007,” was introduced on May 24, 2007. Some were expecting it to be a companion to, and improvement on, Holt’s bill, H.R. 811. Far from an improvement, S. 1487 introduces surprising — and disturbing — new provisions.

It includes many of the most troubling points of the Holt bill, but goes even farther in the wrong direction away from what is needed for Electoral Integrity in America, presenting instead a grave danger to our democracy.

The bill systematically dismantles government by the people, and it provides a legal excuse for expanding the disenfranchisement of “distinct communities” such as racial minorities.

(The following excerpt discusses only how S. 1487 functions like a Voting Rights Act in reverse. I've posted a more complete analysis of the bill at VotersUnite.org.)

Historically, racial minorities have been prevented from voting by violence, poll taxes, highly subjective literacy tests, police dogs, and so on. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was landmark legislation to remove such obstacles and clear the path for all voters to have a voice in elections.

A shameful provision in S. 1487 functions as a Voting Rights Act in reverse. “They” (historically disenfranchised communities) would get to vote, but the bill allows for the future massive loss of “their” voices through machine malfunction or other means, while limiting the vote loss that would be acceptable in jurisdictions where “they” aren’t as predominant....

In today's "Daily Voting News" John Gideon mentions the "banter back and forth between members of the Election Integrity community" over Rush Holt's controversial HR 811 Election Reform bill. "Banter" is a very nice way, for the very polite Mr. Gideon, to describe it. I'd call it just short of a shooting war.

In any case, while debate over such sweeping attempts at reforming our entire electoral system are essential, the continuing efforts by the pro-Holt folks to lobby in favor of their bill by offering deceptive and misleading information about it are certainly not useful to anyone. The bill itself is misleading by describing paper trails created by touch-screen voting machines as "paper ballots." The fact is, such trails aren't ballots. They are simply records (perhaps accurate, perhaps not, there is no way for any voter to know for certain) of the voters' votes. They are not actually used in the tally of results on Election Night, and almost never thereafter either.

BRAD BLOG readers are likely well familiar by now with various, and, worse, misleading claims about the bill from Holt's office staffers themselves and People for the American Way (PFAW) in particular, the biggest lobbyist/proponent for the bill. Much of that is covered in articles on our Holt Bill Special Coverage page.

The latest entrant into the mislead sweepstakes is Pam Smith, President of Verified Voting. John points to her editorial today in the DVN, which begins this way...

Guest Blogged by Alan Breslauer

The one George W. Bush supporter who spoke up against the debacle of Ohio's 2004 election in a March, 2005, Vanity Fair article titled, "Ohio's Odd Numbers," told The BRAD BLOG at a book signing last Tuesday in Santa Monica that E-votng is a "racket and fraud" which "should never have been allowed to happen." The outspoken controversialist told us that although he recently became an American citizen he has no plans to vote, believing that his vote would not count in any case "as long as there are machines."

Hitchens, who found the 2004 Ohio results "impossible to swallow," says during the short video-taped encounter that "there has to be a paper ballot." In his 2005 Vanity Fair piece detailing the many problems discovered during Ohio's presidential election, he contended that without reforms to the system Americans will continue to be "treated like serfs or extras when they present themselves to exercise their franchise."

The short video-taped encounter with Hitchens follows in full below...

Democratic Presidential Candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich announced plans to drop his support of Congressman Rush Holt (D-NJ)'s controversial election reform bill, HR 811, during a telephone appearance at a New Hampshire activist event over the weekend. The Ohio congressman and outspoken critic of the Iraq War also announced that he plans to re-introduce "The Paper Ballot Act," (HR 6200) a bill he filed in the last Congress, requiring the hand counting of paper ballots in Presidential elections.

Kucinich "announced he will advise Rep. Holt that the he will not be supporting HR 811, a voter reform bill rapidly losing support," according to a press release issued today by his New Hampshire campaign spokesman....

(NOTE: Spoilers at all the linked URLs)

We agree with Frazier Moore of AP. We do not agree with Nikki Finke of Deadline Hollywood. We also agree with Charlie McCollum of Mercury News, who said:

What did you think?

Guest blogged by Ellen Theisen, Co-Director of VotersUnite.Org

(This is the first of a two-part series. Tomorrow: An excerpt from the author's companion article, “Senator Feinstein’s Election Reform Bill: A Constitutional Heresy,” describing even graver concerns about S. 1487, a bill recently introduced in the Senate.)

In September of 2003, when I was working with VerifiedVoting, Greg Dinger, Keone Kealoha, and I coordinated the first national activist effort in the current grassroots election integrity movement. We had a calling campaign to get more co-sponsors for Representative Rush Holt’s (D-NJ) election reform bill, then called HR 2239. In two months, the number of co-sponsors more than doubled — from 29 to 61. After the disastrous November 2003 Fairfax, Virginia, election, we rejoiced when Republican Representative Tom Davis (R-VA) signed on and the bill became bipartisan. By the end of 2003, there were 94 co-sponsors.

But Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) was chairman of the House Administration Committee, and the bill never even got a hearing. Nor did Holt’s subsequent version of the bill in the 109th Congress, HR 550. But this year’s bill in the 110th, HR 811, has been marked up in committee and is expected to soon come to the House floor for a vote. This should be a time for celebration for me, but it’s not.

After more than three years of supporting election reform bills introduced by Representative Rush Holt, I am saddened to see the many severe flaws in the version of HR 811 as it was passed out of committee last month. This year’s bill had serious flaws when it was introduced in January. Primarily, it failed to accommodate a nearly unanimous agreement among citizen activists and computer scientists who have watched election disasters over the past three years — the agreement that electronic voting machines (DREs) should not be used in U.S. elections. I worked with many people to try to get an amendment requiring a paper ballot, one that was actually to be counted, for every vote cast. To my mind, that one significant improvement would have been worth tolerating the other flaws.

But the bill that was passed out of committee still allows for invisible, unverifiable, electronic ballots on DRE touch-screens as the official ballot for the all-important initial count where electronic voting systems are used. Adding a "paper trail" to those machines makes no real difference. Voters still can’t verify the electrical charges that make up the ballots that are counted on Election Night by the DRE.

In addition to other flaws that remained in the bill as it came out of committee, some changes removed valuable safeguards from the bill, and other changes introduced new problems. (Both versions of the bill can be viewed by inputting "HR 811" at the government's legislation search engine, Thomas.gov. The complete text of the current version is here. )

In my opinion, HR 811 will cause more problems than it will solve.

My primary objection is the extreme shift in the concept of “democracy” that the bill institutes legally. Specifically, it gives a federal stamp of approval to “ballots” that will never be counted, and it endorses secret vote-counting.

Let me explain seven of the bill's severe failures....

Following up on last night's exclusive in which we reported that progressive Los Angeles talk radio host and former TV news anchor Bree Walker had purchased Cindy Sheehan's "Camp Casey" property in Crawford, TX.

As expected, AP, CNN, et al. picked up the story today after we reported it here. Also as expected, though we were the only outlet to have the story and neither Walker nor Sheehan issued press releases, none of the MSM outlets bothered to give us credit for having reported it here on The BRAD BLOG. So we won't bother to link to their reports either, but at least we told you they exist.

We reported last night that Sheehan was to appear live in studio this afternoon on Walker's radio show to hand her the deed to the property, and that we were also scheduled as a guest on the program as well.

The audio from our guest appearance today along with the two women follows below. The clip includes Sheehan's transfer of the deed for her land near George W. Bush's "ranch" to Walker, along with some thoughts on her plans for Camp Casey's future.

Walker told us yesterday that by purchasing the land, she was "cashing out [her] capitalist corporate stocks and buying into a legacy of peace." Today she expanded on her hopes to move forward within the anti-war movement. "I will be learning what my role is to be, in being the new caretaker and landowner of Camp Casey," she explained to listeners during her weekend broadcast on KTLK AM1150.

"Like Cindy says, this is not a movement of Right or Left, it's a movement of right or wrong. So my goal will try to be a unifying person there in Crawford, Texas. And if I'm not welcome in my anti-war activities? Well, too bad. Look out. You think Cindy Sheehan was tough? You just wait," Walker vowed.

She reiterated, during her comments about Camp Casey, that she hoped to continue its historic legacy. "That hallowed ground," Walker promised, "will remain a place for protest against war, and a place for peace and freedom."

-- Click below for selected clips from Walker's show this afternoon, with Brad Friedman on the phone and Sheehan in studio to present the deed to her land in Crawford, TX. [Appx 18 minutes]

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD!...

Guest blogged by DES

The last week here at BRAD BLOG has been dominated by the concept of Justice: the dispensing of it and the perversion of it.

Tuesday was the Big Day: in the morning, former Cheney Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was sentenced to 30 months in prison for perjury in obstructing the investigation of the unprecedented outing of a CIA agent by senior Bush Administration officials. (Be sure to read BRAD BLOG D.C. Correspondent Margie Burns's analysis of the sentencing.) That afternoon, Bradley Schlozman appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to explain his many partisan, anti-democratic, anti-voter activities during his many jobs in the Bush Administration's Department of Justice. BRAD BLOG's DoJ source called Schlozman's words "on the razor's edge of perjury." "Schlozzie" may want to revise his testimony...

But the most fun this week came from BRAD BLOG stories you won't get anywhere else (at least until the MSM swipe them without attribution)... Like Bush-Cheney operative Mark "Thor" Hearne, who is miffed that BRAD BLOG has stuck a wrench into his Republican dirty tricks machine, exposing his now-defunct astroturf organization, ACVR, devoted to spreading the Republican Myth of Voter Fraud, and slamming renewed attempts to push through disenfranchising Voter I.D. laws in the State of Missouri --- Hearne's especiales de la casa --- along with exposing other Bush Administration shenanigans intended to muck with your legitimate right to vote...

Other stories you saw here first: L.A. talk radio host Bree Walker stepped up to the plate to take ownership of Cindy Sheehan's Peace House in Crawford, TX... Democratic Congressional Candidate John Russell, on his ongoing battle to get a fair hearing of the evidence in his election challenge... BRAD BLOG's exposure of PFAW's disinformation regarding the Holt bill, HR 811... The questionable editing practices of the KC Star in anti-Bush Administration stories...

It's all here --- the good, the bad, the ugly, and the chipmunk...

A former Los Angles newscaster turned progressive talk radio host, Bree Walker, will be purchasing Cindy Sheehan's 5-acre property near the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas, The BRAD BLOG has learned.

Walker, currently a resident of San Diego, was previously a television news anchor in Los Angles and New York. She confirmed the news to us moments ago, in an exclusive interview, that she intends to keep the property "as a ground for freedom and peace" and is considering erecting a memorial there for troops killed in Iraq. She hopes to create a meditation garden on the grounds and to keep it open to the public.

"I'm cashing out my capitalist corporate stocks and buying into a legacy of peace," she told The BRAD BLOG moments ago. Sheehan will be selling the property for the same price she purchased it for so as not to be seen as profiting from the sale, Walker explained.

Walker is the host of the The Bree Walker Show on the Los Angeles Air America affiliate station KTLK AM1150 on Saturdays from 2-4pm PT.

Sheehan will appear in studio with Walker for the entirety of tomorrow's broadcast where, Walker says, she'll "give Cindy the check, and Cindy will give me the deed to the property."

She tells us that she'll be taking calls from listeners during tomorrow's show as she wants "listener input on what should be done with the land."

The BRAD BLOG's creator and publisher, Brad Friedman, is scheduled to appear on Walker's show Saturday as well, at 3:00pm PT, by phone.

(On the imaginary premise that Paris doesn't matter...)

Schlozman may be revising his Senate testimony in which he blamed Craig Donsanto, of DoJ's Public Integrity Unit (responsible for Election Crimes), for giving him the "all clear" to bring indictments for "voter fraud" in Missouri just days before the '06 election. The move was in violation of written DoJ policy which specifies that such cases that may have a political effect on elections are not to be filed until after such elections. In his testimony, Schlozman admitted (great video here) that he could have waited, but didn't.

Background and video on his previous testimony here, with a follow-up including details from a BRAD BLOG DoJ source here.

In not necessarily unrelated news, Bush lawyers up with nine additional attorneys today. Must be gettin' hot in there.

(Hat-tip to TPM for both items!)

Here endeth the news for this week...

There is no reason to scroll down below this item. Nothing else, other than this, that actually happened today (or this week) either happened or matters...