Uphold the Voting Rights Act

New York Times

Some people claim that Barack Obama’s election has ushered in a “postracial” America, but the truth is that race, and racial discrimination, are still very much with us. The Supreme Court should keep this reality in mind when it considers a challenge to an important part of the Voting Rights Act that it recently agreed to hear. The act is constitutional — and clearly still needed.

Section 5, often called the heart of the Voting Rights Act, requires some states and smaller jurisdictions to “preclear” new voting rules with the Justice Department or a federal court. When they do, they have to show that the proposed change does not have the purpose or effect of discriminating against minority voters.

When Congress enacted Section 5 in 1965, officials in the South were creating all kinds of rules to stop blacks from voting or being elected to office. Discrimination against minority voters may not be as blatant as it was then, but it still exists. District lines are drawn to prevent minorities from winning; polling places are located in places hard for minority voters to get to; voter ID requirements are imposed with the purpose of suppressing the minority vote.

After holding lengthy hearings to document why the Voting Rights Act was still needed, Congress reauthorized it in 2006 with votes of 98 to 0 in the Senate and 390 to 33 in the House. Now, a municipal utility district in Texas that is covered by Section 5 is arguing that it is unconstitutional, and that it imposes too many burdens on jurisdictions covered by it.

If the Supreme Court — which is expected to hear arguments in the case this spring — strikes down Section 5, it would be breaking radically with its own precedents. The court has repeatedly upheld the Voting Rights Act against challenges, and as recently as 2006 it ruled that complying with Section 5 is a compelling state interest. It would also be an extreme case of conservative judicial activism, since the 14th and 15th Amendments expressly authorize Congress to enact laws of this sort to prevent discrimination in voting.

A perennial criticism of Section 5 is that it covers jurisdictions it should not, or fails to cover ones it should. There is no way to construct a perfect list, but Congress has done a reasonable job of drawing up the criteria, and it has built flexibility into the act. Jurisdictions are allowed to “bail out” if they can show that they no longer need to be covered, and courts can add new jurisdictions if they need to be covered.

In last fall’s election, despite his strong national margin of victory — and hefty campaign chest — Mr. Obama got only about one in five white votes in the Southern states wholly or partly covered by Section 5. And there is every reason to believe that minority voters will continue to face obstacles at the polls.

If Section 5 is struck down, states and localities would have far more freedom to erect barriers for minority voters — and there is little doubt that some would do just that. We have not arrived at the day when special protections like the Voting Rights Act are not needed.

Republican IT Specialist Dies In Plane Crash

Democracy Now

A top Republican internet strategist who was set to testify in a case alleging election tampering in 2004 in Ohio has died in a plane crash. Michael Connell was the chief IT consultant to Karl Rove and created websites for the Bush and McCain electoral campaigns. Michael Connell was deposed one day before the election this year by attorneys Cliff Arnebeck and Bob Fitrakis about his actions during the 2004 vote count in Ohio and his access to Karl Rove’s email files and how they went missing.

WATCH VIDEOS HERE

$100,000 Reward For Election Rigging Information

Saxby Chambliss

Velvet Revolution (“VR”), a non-profit dedicated to clean and honest elections, today offers a $100,000 reward for hard information leading to the arrest and conviction of any person or persons who helped to rig the 2002 Senate race in Georgia in favor of Saxby Chambliss.  That election pitted the war hero Max Cleland, a popular incumbent, against far-right novice Saxby Chambliss.  The pre-election polls showed Cleland with a comfortable lead–and yet Chambliss “won” by a wide margin.

To date, the truth behind that upset “victory” (and the equally surprising win by Sonny Perdue, the rightist candidate for governor) has been confirmed by three different whistle-blowers–including Chris Hood, who worked for Diebold in 2002.

In a video interview with VR, Hood has stated that, not long before Election Day, he was ordered by Bob Urosevich, president of Diebold‘s voting-machine division (and a self-proclaimed GOP partisan) to place illegal software patches on hundreds of voting machines in the Democratic-leaning counties of Fulton and DeKalb.  Hood, and the other Diebold employees involved in that stealth operation, were told not to discuss these patches with any state officials. Documents provided to VR by Hood show that Cathy Cox, then Georgia’s Secretary of State, had no knowledge of those patches at the time.

 

Hood’s account has been corroborated by cyber-security expert Stephen Spoonamore, who has stated that Hood gave him a copy of the Georgia patch, which he analyzed and then turned it over to the FBI Cyber Squad in Washington for investigation. According to Spoonamore, the patch could have been used to flip the votes cast on Diebold’s machines from Cleland to Chambliss. In his expert opinion, Max Cleland was the real winner of that election, which Saxby Chambliss stole with Diebold’s help.

 

Georgia still uses Diebold’s paperless touchscreen machines for its elections. Computer scientists have shown that those machines are highly vulnerable to rigging via computer patches, or viruses, that can be installed in seconds. This is a matter of grave concern, as Georgia is about to hold a runoff election between Chambliss and his Democratic challenger, Jim Martin. The runoff will start on Dec. 2 (while early voting starts tomorrow, on Nov. 18).

 

VR wants to ensure that this contest is not manipulated electronically by partisans intent on helping Chambliss keep his Senate seat. In order to prevent another stolen race in Georgia, those involved in rigging the 2002 election must now be exposed and prosecuted.  

All tips will remain confidential and can be left by phone: 1-888-VOTETIP or by email: tips (at) velvetrevolution.us.

 

Source:  Velvet Revolution

Washington, DC

Ilene Proctor PR

(310) 858-6643

GOP Continues to Steal Elections

This isn’t over yet.

From John Gideon:

As we suspected tabulation of ballots has revealed problems with voting systems from all of the vendors. Hillsborough Co Florida is rethinking their contract with Premier/Diebold for $6M after having big problems counting votes. Manatee Co Florida also had a problem with Premier. Palm Beach Co had bad memory cartridges from Sequoia. Counties in Pennsylvania and South Carolina had problems with their ES&S system. We also have a run-off for senator from Georgia and a recount for senator from Minnesota. This election will last for another month at least.

National: Malfunctioning Machines, Ballot Glitches, Election-Law Litigation — and a Busy Day for Lawyers
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202425803382

National: Voting Rights Watch: Relatively few e-voting problems, but GOP still readies for possible action
http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/2008/11/voting-rights-watch-relatively-few-e.asp

AZ: Pima County: 10 precincts and number of early, provisional ballots still uncounted
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/265824.php

CA: Santa Cruz County – Vandals hit Santa Cruz County polling places, campaign offices
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_10904483

FL: Hillsborough County – Count Resumes With Hillsborough Elections Chief Race In Limbo
[Johnson said Premier, which he hired for $6 million this year, was dishonest with him and at fault for much of Tuesday’s problems with voting machines.]
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/nov/05/051256/state-monitoring-hillsboroughs-tight-elections-chi/news-politics/

FL: Hillsborough results tied up by software glitch
http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=7794805&version=10&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1

FL: Hillsborough vote count likely to continue until Thursday
http://www.tampabays10.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=93568&catid=8

FL: Count Resumes With Hillsborough Elections Chief Race In Limbo [Diebold/Premier admits the system was bogged down and stalled due to overload]
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/nov/05/051711/state-monitoring-hillsboroughs-tight-elections-chi/news-politics/

FL: Manatee County – Manatee solves vote-counting problem [Premier/Diebold]
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20081105/BREAKING/811050262?Title=Still_no_solution_to_vote_counting_woes_in_Manatee_County

FL: Manatee County – Small glitch causes big problems in Manatee
http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=7798848&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1

FL: Palm Beach County vote results still incomplete [Bad Sequoia memory cartridges]
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2008/11/05/1105stillcounting.html

GA: The OTHER Election Night Story in Georgia: No Early Votes Included in Reported Results
http://savdailynews.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=19&ArticleID=20488

GA: Chambliss and Martin prepare for another four weeks
http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=9300183&nav=menu37_2

GA: Gwinnett County – Gwinnett Officials Still Counting Ballots Day After Election
http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=7797006&version=4&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1

KY: Kenton Co. Judge Rules For Vote Recount
http://www.kypost.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=ba97601c-a01a-431e-a8ac-acc0d2bc399e

KY: Madison County – Local turnout heavy as computer glitch delays count
http://www.richmondregister.com/localnews/local_story_310073742.html?keyword=secondarystory

MN: Ritchie: Senate recount will involve hundreds, cost $90K
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/11/05/recount_details/

MN: E-Voting Machines Used in Franken, Coleman Race Failed Tests
http://www.pubrecord.org/politics/474-e-voting-machines-used-in-franken-coleman-race-failed-tests.html

NC: Onslow County – Padgett wants recount
http://www.enctoday.com/news/padgett_60506_jdn__article.html/votes_county.html

NH: Long night of ballot snafus marks voting in Kennebunk
http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20081105-NEWS-81105056

OH: Montgomery County election results delayed until late this evening
http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/11/05/ddn110608elexboardweb.html

PA: Centre County Recounts Ballots After Discrepancy [ES&S M-100 precinct based op-scan]
http://www.wjactv.com/news/17900285/detail.html

PA: Northumberland County – PA County’s Voting Machines Impounded Following Complaints
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/11/pa-countys-voti.html

SC: Charleston County suffers voting problems on Election Day [ES&S problem. The county had to hand input the results from 17,000 ballots]
http://www.live5news.com/Global/story.asp?S=9300365

 

 

VOTE, VOTE, VOTE!

This is your eight millionth reminder to go vote today!

Find your polling place over here.

Remind your parents, friends, and coworkers to vote today. If possible, vote on paper ballots, and if you have any problems, call 1 866 OUR VOTE and report it.

If you have a car, offer to drive friends to polling places.

ATTN Pennsylvania. Misleading Calls Say Vote Nov. 5

 

Huffington Post

A registered Democrat in Pennsylvania writes the Huffington Post to report that she has received an anonymous phone call telling her she should go to the polls on Wednesday.

“I received a phone call from an unidentified caller yesterday telling me that because of the expected high voter turnout, Democrats will need to vote on Wednesday, November 5th,” she writes.

The calls are obviously misleading, as voting ends on Tuesday. And apparently they have been going on for quite some time. This past Friday the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported“robocalls making the rounds in Pittsburgh region” disseminating the misleading information. The reader who contacted Huffington Post was from the Philadelphia suburbs, at the opposite end of the state.

Contacted by the Huffington Post, a spokesman for the Obama campaign’s Pennsylvania operations said he was aware of the misleading calls but “not worried about” their impact.

If you hear anything more about this or other last-minute election tactics, please contact the Huffington Post.

Mark Crispin Miller and Others Explain Voter Fraud

Attorney Cliff Arnebeck, cyber-sleuth Steven Spoonamore and author Mark Crispin Miller explain the background the ‘Connell Anomaly,’ named for Mike Connell, allegedly Rove’s IT fixer, who, in a late-breaking story, has been ordered by District Judge Solomon Olive to testify on Monday.According to Arnebeck’s press release,”Connell was a key inside IT contractor for Ken Blackwell in the administration of the 2004 and 2006 elections, while managing the IT function for the Bush Presidential campaigns andother Republican partisan campaigns in 2000, 2004 and 2006. Plaintiffs’ counsel and Plaintiffs’ cyber security expert Stephen Spoonamore in the King Lincoln case before US District Judge Algenon in Columbus have identified Connell as a key witness to Karl Rove’s various maneuvers affecting elections during this decade.”

Remember: Mike Connell, Rove’s boy, is the guy who said he helped steal the election to “Save the babies.”

View the video here.

National Voting Updates

From MCM

3 days until Election Day.

Amongst all of the stories of failures, lawsuits, voter purges and voter suppression there is an occasional story that begs to be read and passed on to others so they will read it. This morning’s featured  article is one of those. Imagine wanting to exercise your right to vote so strongly that you are willing to travel from Bangalore, India to New York City just to step into the voting booth and pull the lever. It’s a story worth the read.

Featured – National: When Use It or Lose It Means Traveling 9,300 Miles to Vote
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/01/nyregion/01about.html?em

National: Voting Shouldn’t Be a Game of Chance
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/custom/2008/10/31/CU2008103103511.html

National: Will This Election Be Stolen?  Mark Crispin Miller
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122550597058490345.html?mod=todays_us_weekend_journal

National: Will This Election Be Stolen?  Hans A Spakovsky
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122550203122290071.html?mod=todays_us_weekend_journal

CO: Voters line up now to avoid lines on Tuesday
http://www.examiner.com/a-1667328~Voters_line_up_now_to_avoid_lines_on_Tuesday.html

CO: Judge orders Colorado secretary of state to stop voter purge
Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman must stop canceling voters 
from the state registration rolls
http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20081031/NEWS/810319932/1062&title=Judge%20orders%20Colorado%20secretary%20of%20state%20to%20stop%20voter%20purge

CO: Federal judge rails at Secretary of State Coffman to stop purges
http://coloradoindependent.com/13576/federal-judge-rails-at

CO: Colorado Judge Angered Over Secretary of State’s Continued 
Purging of Voter Names
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/10/colorado-judge.html

CO: Judge orders Coffman to stop continued voter purge
http://www.denverpost.com/commented/ci_10866716?source=commented-news

CO: Voter turnout already nears halfway point
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/nov/01/voter-turnout-already-nears-halfway-point/

CO: Moffat County – More than half of voter roll votes early
http://www.craigdailypress.com/news/2008/nov/01/more_half_voter_roll_votes_early/

FL: Troops overseas miss out on voting
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/politics/content/local_news/epaper/2008/10/31/a1a_ballots_1101.html

FL: Palm Beach County – New Wrinkle.. That is, Crease.. in Tabulating Votes
http://www.cbs12.com/news/ballot_4710488___article.html/vote_absentee.html

GA: Counties report record turnout for early voting period
http://www.macon.com/198/story/511072.html

GA: GA Voting Problems
http://www.wctv.tv/news/headlines/33618104.html

GA: Federal Court Intervenes in Handel’s Voter Purge
http://www.atlantaprogressivenews.com/news/0395.html

GA: Russell County – Voting machine lands in driveway
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/story/494575.html

IL: Video: Oprah Sees Own Presidential Vote Dropped by Touch-Screen 
Voting Machine
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6603

IN: Marion County – Judge rules for GOP on absentee ballots
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081101/LOCAL18/811010463

MI: ACLU Stops Illegal Voter Purges in Michigan
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0811/S00007.htm

MS: Voter Coalition Debut Massive Voter Watch; Criticizes Hosemann
http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/index.php/site/comments/voter_coalition_debut_massive_voter_watch_criticizes_hosemann_103108/

NC: Craven County – Voter complains about refusal to allow use of paper ballot
http://www.enctoday.com/news/paper_42755_nbsj__article.html/ballot_county.html

NC: Guilford County – Today’s voting could set a record
http://hpe.southernheadlines.com/index.cfm?section=6&story=5745

NJ: How safe is your vote?
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/investigators&id=6464800

NJ: Will your vote count?
http://www.northjersey.com/news/njpolitics/33681029.html

PA: Some PA Counties May Ignore Paper Ballot Court Order
http://www.alternet.org/democracy/105681/some_pa_counties_may_ignore_paper_ballot_court_order_/

PA: Plenty of paper ballots to be available just in case
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribunereview/news/westmoreland/s_596259.html

PA: Paper ballots are prepared if needed, officials say
http://www.pennlive.com/news/patriotnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1225495518228240.xml&coll=1

PA: Lancaster County – He’s running an election marathon
http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/229584

SC: Both parties gear up for potential legal challenges as voting begins
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/751006.html

TX: Civil rights group expresses concerns that machines are ‘flipping’ votes from Obama to McCain
http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_10866680?source=most_viewed

VA: Civil rights group renews Va. election lawsuit
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gTdy6-2Gfd3EfLv9c0daJKhP3_rgD945QTQO0

VA: Va. voters wait in long lines; NAACP seeks injunction
http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-10-31-0219.html

VA: Cast your ballot for early and weekend voting
http://hamptonroads.com/2008/10/cast-your-ballot-early-and-weekend-voting

WA: King County – And the winner is …? State rules on mailed ballots could delay results for days
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/386011_election01.html

**Articles and commentary included in “Daily Voting News” may not all reflect the opinions of VotersUnite.Org or its allied organizations. The articles are all included for the information of the subscribers of “Daily Voting News” though we realize that the subscribers may not agree with the opinions given in all articles or in the commentary**

Download the Voter Incident Report

From MCM

Dear Mark,

Please inform your readers around the country:

When you go to the polls, take an incident report with you.  Collecting signed, dated, paper-based evidence of voter fraud, suppression, or inefficiency is the most important action

any concerned citizen can take in this “once-in-a-century election.”

This is the simplest measure any voter can take:  Stand at their own polls, watch what happens,

report evidence on the (downloadable) Incident Report, and then fax it in to the Election Defense Alliance.

The Incident Report comes with the EDA’s fax number, legal help phone numbers and guidelines

for poll monitors.

The Indient Report will be used widely in Los Angeles–the largest voting county in the

nation–by Work the Vote LA org.

One more thing: If election results go bump late in the night, it may be less of a shock if

people are educated in advance.

Votes are being flipped in West VA, Texas and Tennessee.   Here’s a timely video.

Wake Up and Save Your Country has just released Part Two of the “Turdblossom Lecture Series” to explain HOW voting machines can be preprogrammed to crash or change vote totals using proprietary software.  

Please take a look, and share this with your audience.

Thank you for your tremendous leadership during this time.

 

Sheri Leigh Myers

Vern Tuck Taylor

& The Wake Up and Save Your Country Team

http://wakeupandsaveyourcountry.com/

 Here is a cool visual of our Voters Guide.    Here is a visual of the incident report to grab attention

The Wake Up and Save Your Country Team www.wakeupandsaveyourcountry.com

What to Do November 5th

 

MCM:

ALERT 7 – Register your Voter Assemblies now!

This may be the most important message you’ll receive today. Make plans to attend, or if need be, to organize a Voter Assembly in your community on the evening of Wednesday, November 5, the day after the election. Your participation in a Voter Assembly is very important.

A growing database of Voter Assemblies is here:
http://www.nomorestolenelections.org/va

You should register the Voter Assembly you are organizing here:
http://www.nomorestolenelections.org/addva

Here is the plan. Regardless of the declared presidential victor, this Wednesday, we will gather in Voter Assemblies, and we will act:

    A.    If there is reason to believe that the election is likely to be stolen, as was the case in Florida 2000, we will act to prevent this from happening – pressing to prevent the theft and, if that is impossible, demanding a new, honest election.

    B.    If it is unclear whether voting rights violation rise to the level of election theft, as was the case in Ohio 2004, we will mobilize everywhere to demand a full and complete count of the vote.

    C.    If it appears that the election result was defined by the rigging of the process, we will rally nationwide to press for progress in enacting democratic reforms.

By Election Day, millions of people’s right to vote will have been violated. In the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” This is especially true with voting: Voting rights violations anywhere threaten voting rights everywhere. So please, don’t wait for a repeat of Florida 2000, or Ohio 2004, or worse, and don’t think that your community is too distant from the problem to be involved. Get organized, and plan to assemble on November 5. Thank you.