Iraq veterans against the war arraigned in debate arrests

Election reform savior could be close Senate races

While overall election reform may have fallen to the wayside, at least for the General Accounting Office and the mainstream media, there is a silver lining this year that could keep the issue in the national spotlight: Three close Senate races are still undecided.

In Alaska, serious concerns are being raised about election results where turnout numbers were substantially down from 2004 despite the state's own governor being on the ticket, a record12 percent increase in the August caucuses and never-before-seen record crowds at Obama rallies leading up to Election Day. Check out this post by Shannyn Moore, an Alaska blogger along with this story in the Washington Post. Alaska, by the way, uses optical scanners by Premier Election Solutions (formerly Diebold) and it has a history of fishy (Halibut sized) wholly nontransparent election results. Here's Nate Silver's take at Fivethirtyeight.com where he asks, "What in the hell happened in Alaska?"

In Georgia, the runoff election between Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R) and Jim Martin (D) will be conducted once again on paperless, touschreen Accuvote voting machines made by Premier, the same machines also used in 2002 when Chambliss unseated Sen. Max Cleland (D) in another extremely stinky situation. The story, reported most extensively by Raw Story, involves a security patch that was hand-delivered by Diebold/Premier CEO Bob Urosevich and installed in just two Democrat-heavy counties. Regardless of a suspect security patch, touchscreen/DRE voting systems -- especially without a paper trail as is the case in GA -- are the most prone to failure and manipulation based on report after report by computer scientists. These same machines used in much of Georgia were used in Pennsylvania as well where a judge impounded yesterday all 185 of the completely unverifiable Diebold touchscreen voting machines. The same machines also had trouble in Colorado.

Touchscreen machines by ES&S, by the way, shown to be easily recalibrated had considerable difficulty in several states and reported two years ago by Dan Rather.

Finally, in Minnesota, the recount of the Franken (D) v. Norm Coleman (R-incumbent) race -- now within something like 200 votes -- will undoubtedly shed light on the ES&S M-100 optical scanners that caused problems in Michigan last week. Also, two of Minnesota's three largest counties use the Diebold Accuvote OS scanners, the same devices shown in the documentary Hacking Democracy to be easily hacked. Don't these election officials get the Internet? Good stories are at the Bradblog here and at Wired magazine's Threat Level blog here

For a complete rundown of how machines for all four of the top voting machine manufacturers failed misserably this year, read John Gideon's Daily Voting News here. But don't consult the Associated Press or CBS News, among other sources, who declared that the voting system worked. Guess what schmuckos? It worked because the election was a landslide. Check out the close Senate races and the countless vote flipping and malfunction stories (they seemed to sprout up everywhere on Tuesday: here's another rundown) and you'll see a world of hurt that if not addressed soon will continue to amount to a serious national security risk.

Will widespread election problems be forgotten with Obama landslide?

Today, we may breath easier. Our image in the eyes of the world has instantly been redeemed. We have turned the tide of history. This is a victory for the middle class and the poor, a victory of hope over fear that says we don't want to hear one more word from Sarah Palin and John McCain. Thank God.

Besides the overwhelming historical significance, Barack Hussein Obama will be a tremendous president.

In Portland, Oregon the streets were filled with revelers. An impromptu rendition of the Star Spangled Banner broke out at Pioneer Square. (see video below) People marched down Broadway in celebration complete with what looked and sounded like the March Fourth Marching Band (though I can't find the video I saw on TV last night). It was nice to see the city filled with celebration rather than riots, which I'm sure was planned had McCain won.

I was on the radio last night broadcasting live at KBOO 90.7 FM in Portland. You can listen to some of what we put out here.

Two noteworthy observations: #1 CNN used a hologram to beam reporters into the studio. I can't wait to see it on the Daily Show. #2 Sometime in the late afternoon the McCain-Palin campaign put out their last and final press release, like a final shot from a pistol as they go down, in which they detail alleged voter fraud in several battleground states. Topping the list is a claim that a "black panther" is threatening voters in Pennsylvania. Read this hilarious press release here, the last gasp of the McCain campaign.

As I write this on Wednesday morning, several states are still undecided. In Missouri, McCain is ahead by just about 6,000 votes. In North Carolina, Obama is up by about 12,000 votes.

In the Senate races, Al Franken (D) is calling for a recount with results showing he's behind by just 700 votes in Minnesota. Franken raised the issue of irregularities in a statement this morning saying, for instance, that in Minneapolis, poll workers ran out of registration materials. Funny thing is, just the day before, the GOP leveled yet another attack on ACORN, this one is Minnesota alleging the voter rolls were rife with irregularities. The only difference is the GOP claims have nothing to do with actual voters and Franken's claim does.

In Oregon, It looks like Sen. Gordon Smith (R) took a 7,000 vote lead over Jeff Merkley overnight, but neither side has declared anything yet still with 67 percent of precincts reporting. Several pollsters are calling it for Merkley because of how many votes remain to be counted from Democrat-rich Portland. Saxby Chambliss (R) looks like he might keep his senate seat (barely) in Georgia, now with a lead of about 14,000 votes. But reports are saying there will be a runoff election in December because Chambliss failed to get more than 50 percent of the vote. So a lot could change.

In Alaska, Ted Stevens (R) is maintaining a 4,000 vote lead against Mark Begich. Hello Senator Palin.

California meanwhile passed a ban on gay marriage (Measure 8) while at the same time passing Measure 2 that gives chickens and other farm animals the right to free range. So let me get this straight: Something like 900,000 Californian's prefer giving animal rights to chickens rather than civil rights to homosexuals. What a bizarre group of people we are. One civil rights barrier at a time I guess.

The real danger with this landslide win for Obama is that the major issues that emerged this year with the election system will be forgotten from the many barriers to voting, outright suppression, voting machine malfunctions and the long, long lines that sprouted up virtually everywhere yesterday.

There are several good sources to get a handle on what people experienced yesterday. One is the Ourvotelive blog based on the 200,000 reports (80,000 on Election Day) called in to 1-866-our-vote.

Here's a quick summary of their reports:

IMPROVE VOTER REGISTRATION PROCESS
The most prevalent and alarming challenge to our electoral process today came in the form of voter registration problems. Voters across the country arrived at the polls to find that their registrations had never been processed, that their names had been purged from voter lists, or that they had missed the registration deadlines altogether. Our first priority for improving this flawed system should be to make the registration process fair, accurate and efficient.

COMBATTING DECEPTIVE PRACTICES
Voters in nearly a dozen states today received misinformation about polling locations, times and rules. It’s easier than ever to disseminate deceptive information quickly – and with new mediums – and our election system needs to adapt accordingly to combat these practices and minimize the effects of partisan tricks.

UPGRADE THE ADMINISTRATION PROCESS
Today in Ohio, Missouri, Virginia and numerous other states, eligible voters were forced to cast provisional ballots because of ballots shortages, and were hampered by poorly trained poll workers, and broken voting machines. These problems could have been avoided if the administration of our electoral process provided officials and poll locations with the resources needed to handle the weight of full participation.

EXPANDING THE VOTE
We saw fewer problems in states with early voting. Early voting takes pressure off the system by easing the crush on Election Day, and by providing a margin for error when testing new systems of election administration. Today’s voters should not be constrained to a single day in which to cast a ballot.

Also, check out the roundup of election snafus at Alternet and the always incredible tally of election problem reports at VotersUnite.org. We should not forget that our election system is seriously flawed. We should push for universal registration and hand-counted paper ballots. Period.

Democrats won't say a word about this (mark my words) because they won, and it would risk sounding like a sore winner. Why else would they say nothing about the seriously unprepared states of Pennsylvania and Virginia and the purging that went on in Colorado. Because they knew they would win anyway. Change will still not come easy. The fight must continue to restore the most basic fundamental component of Democracy: our right to vote.

Here's a news story from last night showing the reaction just a few blocks from my house.

Election Day voting problems MO, NV, MI, PA, FL

Startling reports of voting problems have already started coming in from Missouri, Nevada, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Florida.

In Missouri, Ourvotelive.org is reporting that more than 700 voters waited over eight hours to cast absentee ballots in Kansas City. The voters were reportedly given misinformation and told to return to the polls after they closed.

Bradblog.com is reporting widespread problems in Nevada and Michigan.

Here's a CNN story that details various problems in nearly a dozen states. CBS news has a similar roundup along with hundreds of other reporters instantly clued in to the disastrous election system in this country.

As expected in Philladelphia, voting machines have broken down forcing poll workers to hand out emergency paper ballots. You can thank the NAACP and not the Obama campaign or the Democratic secretary of state.

Here's an interesting bit of information about absentee voting in Florida. Those in Oregon, where we vote entirely by mail, and Washington where they vote almost entirely by mail, take for granted that we are notified when our signature doesn't appear to match and we have until 10 days after the election to correct it. If there is no signature, however, the ballot is thrown out.

In Florida, any absentee ballot that a poll judge deems the signature doesn't match, that ballot is immediately thrown out. Roughly 500 ballots out of 1,600 in Jacksonville, Florida were thrown out because of this. No ifs ands or buts about it. That's it. No notice. No nothing.

Also in Florida, long lines are being cause by the voter registration computer system, and not the optical scanners.

By the way, are we so jaded in this country by the low expectations of "democracy" that we accept having to wait in enormous lines to cast a ballot. As one African American woman ured at Videothevote.org said in Florida about the lines, "People need to just get over themselves." I'm sorry but eight-hour lines, one-hour lines for that matter, are unacceptable in the United States of America. These election officials knew there would be high voter turnout. These long lines are no accident.

Our Vote Live hot-line reports and judges weigh in from Virginia, Colorado

I've reposted below from Ourvotelive.org. This is a daily summary of the 8,000 reports received yesterday alone into its 1-877-Our-Vote hot line to report problems facing voters throughout the country.

But first, I'm starting to lean toward problem states being Pennsylvania, Virginia and Colorado, but they each may have large enough margins for Obama not to matter. Both PA and VI were identified along with Ohio for being ill-prepared for voter turnout by the Advancement Project. There was a lawsuit by NAACP and others in PA over paper ballots that we've read about here and the Bradblog, which reports many PA counties still can't comply.

In Virginia, last week a similar suit was filed over disparities in how polling place sites were distributed and how ill-prepared the state is to handle voter turnout, especially in poor and minority areas. A judge is expected to hear the case today.

In Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman is a dilinquint who thinks he can do whatever he wants.

Just hours after agreeing to restore 20,000 voters to rolls who a judge ruled were improperly purged, Coffman just plain flaunted the judges ruling and purged another 145. The judge on Friday demanded Coffman restore those voters too.

Get this, according to this Denver Post story:

In a statement, Coffman said he believed the judge's original order did not require him to stop the purges but rather said the settlement left the "processes leading up to Election Day" unchanged.

So a judge tells you not to do something and you think he's just referring to that something you did before, and not the same something you plan to continue doing. How interesting. Coffman's going to make a great Congressman.

By the way, be sure to check out PBS Now's terrific coverage of America's election system.

Some key issues from the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law's OurVoteLive.org:

• Katrina displacement: People who moved out of their damaged homes after hurricane Katrina are reporting confusion about their registration status and voting precinct to Election Protection's 866-OUR-VOTE hotline. Voting rights experts are working to resolve these questions to ensure that all eligible voters from the New Orleans area can exercise their right to vote in this historic election.

• Absentee voting problems are being widely reported, with particularly high rates in Virginia, Ohio and Florida. In one example, a caller from Florida had requested absentee ballots for herself and her husband, a stroke survivor who is unable to go to the polls. Neither ballot has arrived and if they don’t, she will be unable to vote as she is unable to leave her husband’s side to go to the polls.

• Polling place problems – such as extremely long lines – are of great concern to voters in Florida and Georgia, particularly in Miami-Dade and Broward counties in Florida, and Fulton County in Georgia.

Election protection toolkit by Black Box Voting

Bev Harris at Black Box Voting sent out an email today featuring the following four videos showing what anyone can do to monitor the polls in their area. I pasted the email below and embedded the Youtube clips for easy viewing. If you're having trouble viewing these through Firefox, download this Flashblocker. It's a clean program and will actually block many of those annoying ads that bog down your web browser. Then click on the 'F' to activate a video.

1. Protect the Count - most locations in America(4 min)
Takes 90 minutes on Election Night. You can even go out after polls have closed. Please also view video # 3, because it shows what to look for to identify tampered poll tapes and the kinds of small errors on tapes that can appear with memory card tampering. Upload any video you take to http://www.videothevote.org - Post link or comments for what you found in the state and jurisdiction at http://www.blackboxvoting.org

2. Protect the Count - Absentee / Central Count (8 min)
(Applies to 13 states with CENTRALLY COUNTED ballots and/or HEAVY ABSENTEE VOTING)
These are the most challenging Protect the Count locations.

3. Protect the Count - New England / New Hampshire(5 min)
If you live anywhere in New England and can drive to any voting machine location in New Hampshire to observe and video poll closing, please do so. If you live anywhere in America that has polling place results tapes, please look at this video to see what tampered tapes look like.
Contact Protect the Count - New Hampshire organizers at protectthevote@gmail.com
You can view the list for which New Hampshire locations use voting machines here:
http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/157/157.html

4. Protect the Count - New York (9 min)
New Yorkers are probably in the best shape for Election 2008, but not for long. This shows the details of how the counting of the lever machines proceeds after polls close, and gives you the details of the fight New Yorkers will have on your hands in 2009.

We're counting on you to be as proactive as possible to fight for your voting rights. The actions in the Protect the Count series are self-serve, simple to do, and designed for just grabbing a neighbor or a buddy and taking action. Don't worry about blanketing every area or organizing the whole state. Don't worry about redundant efforts -- the more the merrier! Just pick a place and DO it. I guarantee it will be a fascinating and important experience, and could provide THE crucial evidence in the very undesirable event that the election turns out not to be fair.

Finally, here's why we should pro-actively protect the vote in places such as Philadelphia. This video was produced by citizen journalists Danielle Ivory and Lagan Sebert for the American News Project.



For more noteworthy citizen reports check these out at videothevote.org.

Are you a real American?

Voting irregularities everywhere: Watch them Live on your PC and do something

Any journalist looking for a story of voting irregularities doesn't have to look much further than a personal computer.

An amazing resource at Our Vote Live runs a live ticker of reports from voters coming into its hot line at 1-866-Our-Vote. I'm noticing a lot of absentee ballot problems and vote-flipping reports happening everywhere. I don't know about you, but I can't watch these reports roll by for very long because it actually makes me feel as though my internal organs are turning inside out. In fact, all this voter suppression news and court battles taking place everywhere is having the same effect.

For instance, check out this story showing two hour lines in Colorado Springs on the last day of early voting where the county decided to go from six polling places two years ago to three polling sites this year despite record breaking turnout. A woman in line reports that she wasn't provided any confirmation of her registration and wasn't granted the absentee ballot she requested.

Or this college kid in Virginia who had his voter registration denied because he used two different types of pens. He explains that the ink ran out in the first pen.

These stories are endless. For a summary of what they are hearing thus far, read this blog post by Joseph Lorenzo Hall, one of the computer scientists who worked on Ohio's Everest report. In particular I thought this was interesting:

A caller from Manassas, Virginia reports (OVL#14318) a possible miscalibration of the machine; however, in this case the extent of the miscalibration seems to vary across the screen. In the EVEREST study of voting systems in Ohio (I was part of that team), we pointed out (see pg. 71) that selective miscalibration could be used as a way to frustrate voter intentions. However, Manassas uses the Sequoia AVC Edge, and in the EVEREST report that attack was specific to the ES&S iVotronic which has a more complicated calibration algorithm (involving 20 individual calibration targets instead of a handful). Anyway, this isn't direct evidence that this is happening or that anyone intentionally miscalibrated a machine, it's just the first evidence I've seen of a voter noting a difference in miscalibration across the screen.

Another really cool way to feel like you're everywhere all at the same time (Isn't that what the Internet is all about?) is to keep an eye on Videothevote.org. Some are innocuous, but others like the ones I posted yesterday will blow your mind. It makes me so unbelievably furious that we allow these corrupt corporations and their worthless machines into our voting system.

Call the Secretaries of States and your elected officials: Tell them you demand paper ballots.

For citizens concerned about their own vote, Alternet has a story that lists a handful of online and high-tech tools to find your polling place and successfully cast a ballot.

And read Steal Back Your Vote by Greg Palast, RFK Jr., and company.