News from other states

Virginia: Paper ballots are making a comeback in Pittsylvania and Carroll Counties

March 28, 2013

 

In with the old out with the new in Pittsylvania County. Paper ballots are coming back after voters complained about touch screen voting booths. Voters now color in an oval beside the name of a candidate instead of touching their choice on a screen. The ballot is fed into a machine that stores it and calculates the votes. It tells operators if the person voted correctly. The county voter registrar predicts it will cause less confusion. 

Editorials: Internet voting for overseas military puts election security at risk | Pamela Smith/Hartford Courant

March 23, 2013

Connecticut lawmakers are considering legislation to allow military voters to cast ballots over the Internet. The intention of this legislation is well-meaning — Connecticut does need to improve the voting process for military voters — but Internet voting is not the answer. Every day, headlines reveal just how vulnerable and insecure any online network really is, and how sophisticated, tenacious and skilled today’s attackers are. Just last week, we learned that the U.S.

Utah : Recount bill passes House

February 6, 2013

 

A bill attempting to make the requirements for a candidate to seek a recount consistent throughout the state passed the House Tuesday and now goes to the Senate. Rep. Craig Hall, R-West Valley, the sponsor of HB85, said the current law allowing recounts only if a candidate loses by no more than one vote per precinct is “bad policy.” He said that the number of precincts in legislative districts, for example, varies from 16 to 56. 

Voting Blogs : Forget About Fresno: How One California County Clerk Stopped Prop 37′s Oversight ‘Recount’

February 6, 2013

 

What happened last November in California’s Prop 37? Is it really possible that progressive California doesn’t want Genetically Engineered Foods to be labeled as such? According to the reported results of that election, that would seem to be the case. But did Californians really vote against such labeling? Unfortunately, thanks to a lack of overseeable public hand-counts on Election Night, and a gaping weakness in the state’s otherwise liberal “recount” law, we’re unlikely to ever know for certain.

Kentucky : Military voting proposal raises fraud concerns in Kentucky | The Courier-Journal

January 25, 2013

Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes’ proposal to make it easier for members of the military to vote has been hailed by legislators of both parties and even given the honorific designation as Senate Bill 1 for this year’s legislative session. But the proposal drew opposition Wednesday from groups that say a key provision allowing electronic voting from overseas makes votes vulnerable to fraud.

Connecticut: Merrill's office selects precincts for post-primaries audit

September 29, 2011

Connecticut: Merrill's office selects precincts for post-primaries audit

By Secretary of the State Denise Merrill's office

 

South Carolina: Votes were miscounted, laws ignored

September 24, 2011

Votes were miscounted, laws ignored

BY ELEANOR HARE

Sunday, September 25, 2011

 

Thousands of votes in the 2010 general election were counted incorrectly in South Carolina. Not only were these votes counted incorrectly, the State Election Commission (SEC) is ignoring state law that requires a recount and federal law that requires that the entirety of the data files from an election be retained for 22 months.

South Carolina: Independent vote audit needed

September 24, 2011

Independent vote audit needed

Sunday, September 25, 2011

 

During the last legislative session, a Senate judiciary subcommittee heard testimony from the State Election Commission and its critics about problems in the 2010 elections. The committee suggested that the two sides work together to recommend improvements to the process.

Indiana Secretary of state Charlie White indicted

March 3, 2011

By Robert Annis and Mary Beth Schneider, INDYSTAR.COM

NOBLESVILLE, Ind. -- Almost as soon as he was indicted on seven felony charges Thursday afternoon, pressure began mounting for Secretary of State Charlie White to step aside, with people in both parties -- including Gov. Mitch Daniels -- saying it's wrong for Indiana's top elections official to serve under the cloud of alleged voter fraud, theft and perjury.

White's immediate reaction: No.

Iowa county elections officials oppose bill to require photo ID to vote

February 13, 2011

by Jennifer Jacos, DesMoinesRegister.com

A proposed requirement that Iowans show a photo identification in order to vote would be expensive, would pinch voter turnout — and is unnecessary, several county election officials said Monday.

“We already have a very secure elections process. It doesn’t seem to make good sense in tough economic times to increase the costs and make it more difficult to vote,” said Tom Slockett, Johnson County’s 34-year elections chief. “It could be a chilling factor to people who aren’t real motivated to vote anyway.”

Independent Audit of Richland County, SC, Vote in November 2010 Reveals Uncounted Votes

February 13, 2011

A citizens group including Dr. Eleanor Hare, board member, Dr. Duncan Buell, a member and consultant on voting technology issues, Mr. Chip Moore, a computer scientist from Boston and originally from Myrtle Beach, and Mr. Frank Heindel, a commodities trader from Charleston, have obtained by FOIA the election data from a number of counties in South Carolina. Moore and Buell have written programs to analyze the data and reconcile it with the official election results. Their reconciliation is proceeding on a county-by-county basis.

Richland County

Coalition Releases Audit Report on CT August Primary:

October 13, 2008

Raises concerns with audit credibility and potential problems for November post-election audit

Hartford, Connecticut –Today, the Connecticut Citizen Election Audit Coalition released a report summarizing the observations of 46 citizen observers at 27 state-mandated post-election audits conducted by local officials following the August primary election. In its 3rd observation report, the Coalition noted continuing improvements in procedures and compliance, while finding additional areas of concern.

Big Presidential Vote Count Error Found and Fixed in New Mexico

October 3, 2008

A test in Santa Fe County finds and fixes an error that could have cost Democrats thousands of votes

by Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet

An electronic voting machine test in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, on Friday revealed a programming error that, had it not been caught and corrected before the start of early voting next week, would not have counted hundreds -- or possibly thousands -- of votes for president and U.S. Senate in this Democratic stronghold.

Paper ballot deal disappoints

June 8, 2008

by Catherine DolinskiThe Tampa Tribune
 

TALLAHASSEE — What's the use of paper ballots if no one looks at them? That is the question that election watchdogs continue to press, even as the state's election supervisors race to implement the 2007 election law requiring every Florida county to vote on paper ballots.

Maryland Funds New Voting System

April 5, 2008

By SaveOurVotes.org      Yesterday the Maryland General Assembly approved the Fiscal Year 2009 budget, including funding to move Maryland by 2010 to a less expensive, recountable voting system based on optically scanned paper ballots. This highly popular switch, favored by nearly two thirds of voters statewide, was enacted last year in matching bills sponsored by Sen. Edward Kasemeyer (D - Baltimore and Howard Counties) and Del.

Editorial - Unreliable Voting in New Jersey

March 21, 2008

New York Times

Voters nationwide have seen that electronic voting cannot be trusted, and New Jerseyans are the latest to learn this unfortunate lesson. It is now clear that the state’s machines produced suspicious results in the Feb. 5 presidential primary. Rather than working to put doubts to rest, the machines’ manufacturer is resisting a proper inquiry. New Jersey needs to quickly get to the bottom of the problem to ensure voters that in November their ballots will be counted accurately.

Iowa Citizen Groups Applaud Paper Ballot Legislation

March 20, 2008

By Common Cause and Iowans for Voting Integrity      Press Release - Iowans for Voting Integrity and Common Cause applauded the state House of Representatives' passage of Senate File 2347 Thursday night by a 92-6 vote. The bill requires all counties to use optical scan voting systems in the November election. Last week, the measure passed the Iowa Senate 47-1.

Election-machine problems spur call for study

March 11, 2008

Independent analysis requested after lack of explanation from Sequoia
BY DIANE C. WALSHStar-Ledger Staff

New Jersey's county clerks remain troubled by the errors uncovered in the February presidential primary election, and yesterday a statewide association representing the clerks called for an independent study of the state's voting machines.

Machines get vote of no confidence after errors in primary

February 19, 2008

BY DIANE C. WALSH
Star-Ledger Staff

As Union County Clerk Joanne Rajoppi tried to verify returns in this month's historic presidential primary, she kept coming up with errors for a handful of voting machines.

The numbers from the cartridges that print out vote tallies and the paper-tape backup within the machine didn't match. Rajoppi asked her colleagues in other counties to perform the same test, and similar problems were found in voting machines for Bergen, Gloucester, Middlesex and Ocean counties.

Florida 13th: GAO Report Not a Clean Bill of Health for Voting Machines

February 7, 2008

By Verified Voting Foundation        Limited Scope Investigation Not Conclusive

Verified Voting Foundation concluded after reviewing a leaked copy of a draft GAO test report that the findings were not sufficient to exonerate the voting machines in determining what caused a massive undervote in the Florida District 13 contest of 2006.

Mauro: Update all of Iowa's Voting Machines

January 22, 2008

by Jennifer Jacobs, The Des Moines Register
January 23rd, 2008  

Look to Minnesota for vote-counting solution

December 17, 2007

By Edward B. Foley, The Columbus Dispatch

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner is concerned that computers used to count ballots at precincts are vulnerable to hacking. In a major report released last Friday, she recommends instead counting ballots centrally at Ohio's 88 county boards of election.

Whatever the risk of hacking, however, it is a mistake to eliminate the counting of ballots at local precincts.

Ohio Study: Voting Systems Vulnerable

December 13, 2007

By Ohio Secretary of State Jenniefer Brunner MEdia Release     

EVEREST Report of Findings (PDF)
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio’s electronic voting systems have “critical security failures” which could impact the integrity of elections in the Buckeye State, according to a review of the systems commissioned by Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.

CA: Secretary of state casts doubt on future of electronic voting

December 1, 2007

     By John WildermuthThe San Francisco Chronicle
December 2nd, 2007
 

Electronic voting systems used throughout California still aren't good enough to be trusted with the state's elections, Secretary of State Debra Bowen said Saturday.

Post-Election Audit Standards Working Group Reports Recommendations to California Secretary of State

July 29, 2007

By California Secretary of State Debra Bowen Press Release

  In her continuing effort to ensure the security, accuracy, reliability and accessibility of California voting systems and the elections in which they are used, Secretary of State Debra Bowen today received a final report from the Post-Election Audit Standards Working Group, a group created in June to examine whether California’s post-election audit standards should be strengthened.

 

California Report Slams E-Voting System Security

July 26, 2007

Researchers commissioned by California have found security issues in every electronic voting system they tested, California Secretary of State Debra Bowen said today. PCWORLD
Robert McMillan, IDG News Service

Researchers commissioned by the State of California have found security issues in every electronic voting system they tested, California Secretary of State Debra Bowen said Friday.

Model for the Nation: New Jersey May Do Audits Right (And Other Needed Reforms)

June 5, 2007

COALITION INTRODUCES GROUNDBREAKING ELECTION REFORM LEGISLATION
Bills seek to improve the administration of elections to ensure accuracy, security, inclusiveness and integrity

Audit Finds Many Faults in Cleveland’s ’06 Voting

April 19, 2007

By BOB DRIEHAUS, New York Times

CINCINNATI, April 19 — An audit of last November’s general election in the Cleveland area has found that hundreds of votes were lost, that others were recorded twice and that software used to count the ballots was vulnerable to data problems.

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