Voting Rights
About the Author
Ensure the protection of voting rights and protect against abuses such caging lists, unverified match lists and other voter disenfranchisement tactics.

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The Orange County, Florida canvassing board had a 7 AM logic and accuracy test this morning. Two words got me out of bed, "butter-fly ballot."

A lesson of 2000 is that if you are offered the opportunity to preview part of the voting process; take it or you will regret it for the next 8 years.

The DS200 is a scanner that is slightly larger than a laptop computer that has a flip up LCD screen. The DS200 scans a voter inserted paper ballot and the ejects the ballot into a ballot box.

Three issues:
1. OVERVOTE OVERRIDEIf there is an over vote the machine returns the ballot with an informative message and the voter is offered two on screen buttons, "Accept" or "Return." If the voter touches "Accept" the over voted ballot is done the over voted ballot is accepted (but not counted), if the voter touches "Return" they can have their ballot spoiled and be given the opportunity to vote again (up to three times under Florida law). The override is a little too easy and may lead the type of problems we had at Catalina Elementary where a clerk simply pressed the override switch and accepted overvoted ballots.

2. WRONG PRECINCT/CRYPTIC ERROR MESSAGE - During Early Voting a ballot on demand (BOD) is printed along with a pink sheet that the voter has to sign, acknowledging their address and specifying their precinct and ballot type number. The precinct has to be hand typed into the DS200 and then the inserted ballot has to match. If the number typed into the DS200 does not match the ballot a cryptic error message appears that only refers to a sequence error -- not to the precinct number.

3. RECOUNT LAW -- Under Florida Statute 102.141(7) if the vote is within one-half percent or less the ballots are "recounted" by feeding through the scanners again. Under Florida Statute 102.166 if the vote is within one-quarter of one percent, the canvassing board shall order, "a manual recount of the overvotes and undervotes cast in the entire geographic jurisdiction of such office or ballot measure. A manual recount may not be ordered, however, if the number of overvotes, undervotes, and provisional ballots is fewer than the number of votes needed to change the outcome of the election. "

There is no law requiring a complete manual recount. There is also and audit that takes place only after the results have been certified by the canvassing board. The audit is not part of the election results. The certified results can be contested in court.

One the whole the machines and processes seemed pretty good. The scanners did reject ballots with small creases and during the test at one point the DS200 was a fickle as a dollar bill changer machine rejecting paper money.

The machines are programmed by a USB (flash memory) stick and the USB port is behind a locked panel, so the USB stick would not be casually replaced.

The DS200 plugs into a wall AC power outlet, but are battery powered like a laptop computer. There is an icon on the LCD screen indicating that it is plugged in and the status of the battery power. SOE testing indicated the DS200 had a 3 hour battery life under heavy use.

On power up a message indicates the DS200 has a VIA technologies main board. Also at power up the DS200 indicates it is zeroed out on a paper tape similar to an adding machine or cash register, except that the tape is thermal paper. The DS200 also has a brief onscreen message saying it is zeroed out. The Orange County Supervisor of Elections (SOE) has a detailed checklist for the poll clerk to use, "DS-200 INSTRUCTION MANUAL." Step 30 is "DO NOT REMOVE THIS ZERO TAPE!!" Step 31 is "make sure the tape reads zero counts then roll up the tape using a paper clip. Initial on the "Ballot Box Report" on the Election Media Control Form."

The DS200 reports its results by both modem over the phone and by hand delivery of the USB stick. During the day, a voice line and a laptop computer are plugged into phone jacks in the wall of the polling location. After the polls close, the laptop is unplugged and the DS200 is plugged into the phone jack so the DS200 can modem in the results. The DS200 is NOT connected to the phone network during the election and thus is not vulnerable to direct dial up attack. Social engineering attacks are another issue, but at least it is not connected to a communications network until after the election is over.

Jim Callahan
acting as in my capacity as
Board Member at Large of the
Orange County, FL Democratic Party
Orlando, FL
URGENT for users who import large data files into MS ACCESS 2007 data base.

Microsoft admits a problem, "Access 2007 takes more time to import large [30 megabyte] .csv files than Access 2003 does," but claims slow import is fixed in MS Office 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1).   Read More »
New databases are prone to coding errors, so preliminary results are to be taken with a grain of salt. A very odd result from a crosstab:

Looking only at Orange County, FL voters registered since January 1, 2008, in some African American precincts, the "Socialist of Florida" party (Party=9) appears to be out registering Republicans!!!

A very, very preliminary result subject to verification next week.

Jim Callahan
Orlando, FL
If you didn't have reason enough to join an Obama voter registration drive this 4th of July, check out this PDF of a Republican Party of Florida(RPOF) voter registration flier posted on the Miami Herald "Naked Politics" blog.

Blog:
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2008/07/gop-voter-broch.html

Flyer PDF:
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/files/gop_voter_registration_flyer.pdf

nothing positive or warm and fuzzy about the GOP but, as a harbinger of the negative tone of this campaign season, the Republican Party mailer is a predicably filled with scare tactics. For example, if Obama wins the White House he will:

"put the safety and security of Americans at risk both abroad and here at home....businesses will face greater bureaucratic regulations...The tax and spend Democrat machine in Washington will continue spending at alarming rates...Floridians will be forced into a system of socialized medicine...and (liberals will be) creating special rights for special interest groups."


Jim Callahan
Orlando, FL
Exit polls provide a valuable cross-check on the voting process.
Networks, AP sue in South Dakota over exit polling
Tuesday May 13, 11:52 am ET
By Chet Brokaw, Associated Press Writer

Networks, Associated Press sue South Dakota officials over exit polling restrictions

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- The three major networks, CNN, Fox News and The Associated Press filed a lawsuit Monday asking a federal judge to strike down a South Dakota law that prevents exit polling within 100 feet of a voting place.

The law violates the First Amendment because it restricts the news organizations' speech and commentary about the political process and limits their opportunities to gather information about that process, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Sioux Falls, asks that the case be handled quickly because South Dakota's primary election is June 3, just three weeks away. It seeks a preliminary ruling before the primary to prevent South Dakota officials from barring exit polling within 100 feet of polling places.

The lawsuit was filed by ABC, CBS, NBC, Cable News Network, Fox News Network and the AP.

Poll representatives working for the news organizations have conducted exit polling within 100 feet of South Dakota voting locations in past elections, according to the lawsuit.

However, South Dakota Secretary of State Chris Nelson told polling representatives in an April 2 e-mail that exit polling would only be allowed within the bounds of the state law that bars exit polling within 100 feet of a polling place, the lawsuit said. Nelson warned in the e-mail that a violation of the law "will be dealt with by all legal means including prosecution."

The accuracy and reliability will be harmed because exit pollers may not be able to question some voters, the lawsuit asserts. Some voters may get into cars and leave before exit pollers can ask if they want to fill out questionnaires, hurting the accuracy of the polls, it says.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080513/exit_poll_lawsuit.html?.v=1
Jim Callahan
Orlando, FL
A private individual is funding a protest to be held April 30 [in front of the Democratic National Committee HQ] in Washington, DC.

All expenses will be paid for including hotel, transportation, and meals.

We need 50 people per bus - the busses will leave from any location in which we can get 50 people

The buses will leave April 28th and the protest will be in front of the DNC on April 30th - the busses will leave from Washington April 30th - you will be back in town May 1 * * *


We have an unfortunate tradition in Florida with respect to African American neighborhoods. Certain white politicians would avoid African American neighborhoods except for an annual BBQ and 72 hours before the election. The Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King holiday added one additional day. The rest of the year the neighborhood, its people and its needs could be ignored.

Now the entire state is being "gheto-ized." Both Barrack Obama and Hillary Clinton to this very date have refused to campaign in Florida. They held fund-raisers, they attended a debate broadcast on Univision TV held on a University campus in Miami, but to this very date, April 16, BOTH CANDIDATES have yet to hold a single campaign event in this state in this election cycle.

Now some special interest money enters the ghetto to offer a free bus trip with free food to protest against the Democratic party at party HQ creating a great photo op for the Republicans. Naturally, a few freeloaders can be found in the neighborhood to take the trip. They will be disowned by the NAACP and the legitimate leadership of the neighborhood, but no matter, the Republicans will have their photo op of Democrats protesting against their own party leadership.

Or perhaps it is more personal, maybe it is just past DNC chair Terry McAuliffe's way of getting a dig against current DNC chair Howard Dean.

According to the Wikipedia,
Terence Richard "Terry" McAuliffe (b. 1957) is an American business and political leader. He served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from 2001-05. He currently serves as chairman of the Hillary Clinton for President committee.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_McAuliffe

Not surprising, Terry doesn't even live in Florida anymore, according to the Wikipedia "McAuliffe lives in McLean, Virginia."

On behalf of the voters I represent in precinct 401, I ask that both candidates campaign in Florida, BEFORE the convention in Denver.

I may be explaining this ghetto-ization scenario to you; but it doesn't require much explanation to the voters of the "500" or "600" precincts (predominately African American precincts) here in Orange County, Florida who have experienced it first hand before.

The scenario doesn't require much explanation to the Union leader who wants the candidate to show up and meet the rank and file membership and not just schmooze the PAC committee that cuts the check.

I ask BOTH CANDIDATES to voluntarily campaign in Florida before the convention, but if they refuse to do so, then I think Florida is justified in adding a Presidential Preference Primary to the already scheduled primary election the Tuesday during the national convention. In a brokered convention, that will get Florida's voters voices heard.

There is more to getting Florida to count than simply announcing votes in a roll call at the convention. What good are votes in a roll call if the candidates refuse to campaign in our state.

Selling out our state's interests for a free bus trip to Washington is politics at its cheapest, tackiest and most cynical.

The facts are:
1. The Florida Democratic Party did not hold a straw poll at its convention in the Fall of 2007 and party delegates were deprived of the chance of meeting candidates and the campaign team.

2. Both candidates (and others who have since dropped out) signed and observed a pledge not to campaign in Florida before January 29 (Republican candidates campaigned in the state).

3. Both candidates have not campaigned in the state since January 29 to date (April 16).

4. Neither candidate has pledged to campaign in Florida between now and the convention.

5. Neither candidate has pledged to campaign in Florida between the convention and the General Election in November.

6. In 1991, Democrats had an influential straw poll at the Florida Democratic Convention. In 1992, there was a bus tour across Florida. In 2000, all 4 principal showed up at Lake Eola park in Orlando. In 2004, Kerry/Edwards filled the lower half of the Orlando Arena. In 2008?

Yet, instead of working to get the candidates to appear in Florida, some of our people have been persuaded to board a bus to turn over our delegations votes without any campaign appearence by the candidate or even any promise of any future campaign appearence by the candidate.

Whether you understand it or not, by boarding that bus you are selling out the state and setting the precedent that it is not necessary to campaign in Florida -- all a Presidential candidate has to do is charter a few buses to Washington!

You have the freedom.
You have the power.

But do YOU (not your candidate) have the judgment.

Jim Callahan
Precinct Committeeman, Precinct 401
Orange County Democratic Party
(personal opinion, not the position of the local party)
Orlando, FL

PS A more effective protest against the "Gang of 4" state chairs that created the pledge not to campaign in Florida or Michigan would be to boycott Iowa's ethanol and Nevada's casinos.
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If the Democratic Party had stuck to the rules and only had not seating half the delegates as the penalty (like the Republican Party) we would not be in the situation we are now.

Four Democratic state party chairs (in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Caroline and Nevada) used their position to extract a destructive pledge from the candidates, that went far beyond the party rules, pledging the candidates not to campaign in Florida.

It is the campaign blackout imposed by the pledge, not party rules that is the problem. The failure to campaign in Florida (or for more, than one candidate to get on the ballot in Michigan) invalidates the candidate results.

Following the January 29 primary, the party did a good job of holding caucuses to elect the persons to serve as delegates. At least here in Central Florida, the delegates elected for both Obama and Clinton were people who were either active in the meetup groups for the Presidential candidates or active in local political campaigns. These are good people who deserve to be seated. One of the delegates is first term state representative Scott Randolph who represents one of the most diverse districts in the nation.

On the other hand, because of the failure to campaign in Florida, the candidate results are invalid. With good delegates, but invalid candidate results, the delegates should be seated, but released from their pledges.

Florida voters still deserve the opportunity to see the candidates campaign in Florida. There is one last chance to vote.

"Denver will host the 2008 Democratic National Convention Monday, August 25 to Thursday, August 28."
http://www.democrats.org/a/convention_2008/

Florida will hold a regularly scheduled Primary Election on Tuesday, August 26, 2008, the second day of the Democratic National Convention.
http://election.dos.state.fl.us/online/elecdate.shtml

Imagine the drama of the convention, as the roll call is called out, "Florida passes," as vote counting in Florida is still underway.

At the convention, the seated, but unpledged, Florida delegation eagerly seek out Primary results in their own districts. Each of the delegates had campaigned hard for their candidate prior to the convention so tonight's vote would validate their choice.

The irony under this scenario is that Florida voters would get the last word.

Jim Callahan
Precinct Committeeman, Precinct 401
Orange County Democratic Executive Committee
Orlando, FL
Well I know everyone listens to iPods these days ;) but back in the day, when we listened to stereo systems with loudspeakers, sometimes one speaker would work, but the other did not.

Well the lopsided effect of having only one speaker playing is what the Nevada Caucuses and the South Carolina Primary were like. Senator Hillary Clinton is said to have won Nevada because of the Women and Latino vote, while Senator Barack Obama is said to have won South Carolina because of the Black vote.

While that is an improvement over Iowa and New Hampshire, where neither Blacks nor Latinos were represented; why can't we have a primary state that sounds like the nation?

We do; it is called Florida.

Unfortunately, the DNC Chair and the "gang of 4" are going deaf (guess we shouldn't pick on the handicapped).

The four self interested state chairs put their states' advantage above the national interest and so we have four states primaries yielding noise or at best distorted sound with at least one stereo channel missing.

Perhaps the gang of 4 are going deaf because the have been listening to the chairman's scream at high volume through a bad sound system.

Can you hear me now?

Don't tase me bro!

Jim Callahan
Orlando, FL
"In 1995, Barack Obama sued Illinois over its voter registration rolls on behalf of the radical group ACORN"

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120053210112396131.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

"Radical Group"?
Working within the system to register voters is radical in the eyes of the Wall Street Journal?

In the 1950s they asked about communism.

In the 21st century the question is:

Are you now, or have you ever been a member of a group that engages voter registration?

Jim Callahan, MBA
(and sometimes Wall Street Journal reader)
Orlando, FL

PS This comes as a shock to me because I just started a new job, with yes, ACORN. And yes, I am working on voter registration.
U.S. District Judge Steve Mickle ruling overturns a Florida Statute 97.053(6) requiring that a person's name on a voter registration form include a Social Security or driver's license number matching those in federal or state databases.

"Public interest is strongly in favor of ensuring that every eligible person in Florida is guaranteed the right to vote," Mickle wrote in overturning the year-old state mandate. He added the requirement "unlawfully restricts the right to vote."

The lawsuit challenging the law was filed by the NAACP. Among the 14,000 applications rejected, many were from black or Hispanic Floridians and the bulk were from South Florida. Officials on both sides of the fight acknowledged that the popularity of hyphenated names among Hispanic and Haitian-American voters contributed to the difficulty in matching identifications.

But Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning defended the state's ID provision, saying it is consistent with the federal Help America Vote Act.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2007/12/state-will-figh.html

Jim Callahan
Orlando, FL
Huckabee hired Ed Rollins who helped Christine Todd Whitman suppress the black vote in her NJ Governor's race.

According to the Wall Street Journal...
Mr. Huckabee will soon open his first Florida campaign offices in Orlando and Miami. His campaign also announced Friday that veteran strategist Ed Rollins was joining his campaign as national chairman. Mr. Rollins is best known for helping to engineer Ronald Reagan's decisive 1984 victory.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119768014042230767.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

According to Wikipedia
Rollins worked as the campaign manager for Christine Todd Whitman in her 1993 New Jersey gubernatorial race. After organizing a campaign that led to Whitman's come from behind victory, Rollins claimed to TIME magazine that he secretly paid black ministers and democratic campaign workers in order to suppress voter turnout.

"We went into black churches and we basically said to ministers who had endorsed Florio, 'Do you have a special project?' And they said, 'We've already endorsed Florio.' We said, 'That's fine, don't get up on the Sunday pulpit and preach. We know you've endorsed him, but don't get up there and say it's your moral obligation that you go on Tuesday to vote for Jim Florio.'" After public outcry and calls for an investigation, Rollins partially retracted some of these claims telling People magazine that his comments were "an exaggeration that turned out to be inaccurate."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Rollins


The Sourcewatch.org account of the incident is:
Following the 1993 elections, during a breakfast debriefing, Rollins admitted to journalists that one factor in the success of Christine Todd Whitman in the New Jersey governor's race against incumbent Democrat Jim Florio had been the distribution of "walking around" money to influential persons in inner-city precincts, including African-American pastors.

According to Rollins, workers who had been hired to help get out the Democratic vote were told, "How much have they paid you to do your normal duty? . . . We'll match it. Go home, sit, and watch television." In addition, Rollins said, "We went into black churches and we basically said to ministers who had endorsed Florio, 'Do you have a special project?' And they said, 'We've already endorsed Florio.' And we said, 'That's fine, don't get up on the Sunday pulpit and preach. . . . Don't get up there and say it's your moral obligation that you go out on Tuesday and vote for Jim Florio.'" Ministers who cooperated, Rollins said, received contributions to their "favorite charities." As a result, Rollins said, "I think, to a certain extent, we suppressed their vote."

Subsequently, the Democrats launched a lawsuit as Rollins' comments were alleged to be an admission of illegal behavior. When cross-examined by Democratic attorneys, Rollins claimed that his comments had been no more than part of a "psychological warfare" game he was playing with James Carville, the campaign manager for Whitman's opponent. A federal grand jury investigation proceeded, but eventually the grand jury concluded that no evidence had been presented to show that any laws had been broken.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ed_Rollins

Jim Callahan
Orlando, FL
Congressional Quarterly (CQ.com) is reporting that the the California Republican ballot initiative for an end to the winner take all allocation of California's electoral voters has failed to gather the required number of signatures by the deadline.

CQ TODAY
Dec. 7, 2007 " 1:00 p.m.
California Electoral Initiative Dead " At Least for Now
By Rachel Kapochunas, CQ Staff

The initiative to allocate California’s presidential electoral votes by congressional district instead of by a state “winner take all” approach appears to be over. After months of Democratic efforts to kill it, Republican supporters announced that their attempts to place the initiative on the June 3 ballot were unsuccessful.

Multiple news sources reported Friday morning that Dave Gilliard, campaign manager for California Counts, the group spearheading the initiative signature-gathering effort, indicated that time ran out for the group to submit the required signatures.

The group had been aiming to submit 650,000 to 700,000 signatures by the end of November...

Link

Jim Callahan
Orlando, FL
As a Florida Democrat, I urge you to permit delegates to run as committed Gore Delegates at least through the Credentials Committee hearings at the Democratic National Convention scheduled to be held in Denver, Colorado in 2008.

The Florida Presidential Preference Primary will be held on January 29, 2008. Applications to be a committed delegate nominated at a caucus following the primary, are due in by noon on January 29, 2008.

The candidates for the Democratic nomination for President who appear on the debate stages (except for Senator Mike Gravel) have signed a pledge not to campaign in Florida before January 29, 2008.

Florida voters are being told by the national party that the Florida Delegation will not be seated. State and local party officials, citing historical precedent say that the Credentials Committee will have to seat the Florida delegation.

This leaves two main scenarios:
1. The Democratic nomination will already be decided by Denver (based on the outcome in the other states) in which case seating the Florida (and Michigan) delegations would only be symbolic; or

2. There is a brokered convention and the seating of committed Florida delegates is tied to whether the surviving contending candidates for the nomination see an advantage for their candidacy for delegates, so committed, being seated.

As a Floridian, I would prefer that the DNC Credentials Committee be put in the position of debating whether to seat a Gore delegation from Florida.

As someone who stood by Florida, up until the point, when the 100 US Senators refused to join the motion brought forth by Congresswoman Corrine Brown of Florida on behalf of her constituents who had been denied the right to vote (and thus costing you the election); you are someone Florida voters trust to protect their right to vote.

Once the Florida delegation is seated by the Credentials Committee, you (Al Gore), can decide whether to release the delegations unconditionally, conditionally based on the addition of one or more climate change planks in the platform or conditionally based on other factors that may not be apparent right now.

In the unlikely trifecta that:
1. There would be a brokered convention
2. That the convention would turn to Al Gore
3. That Al Gore would accept

the delegates would remain bound to Al Gore as a candidate for the Democratic nomination.

Otherwise, once released, the Florida delegation would be the largest uncommitted delegation at the convention. The Florida convention could then caucus about whether to negotiate to throw their support as a group or whether to negotiate and decide as individuals.

If Florida Democratic party convention delegate are denied the opportunity to be automatically seated as committed delegations (early binding) then they should pursue a strategy that would enable them to remain officially uncommitted in a passionate, but dignified way (late binding).

In the midst of the Civil Rights movement, the Credentials Committee of the 1964 Democratic National Convention, after hearing from civil rights worker Fannie Lou Hammer, managed to seat a Mississippi delegation that included portions of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. In these times, can the party refuse to seat a Florida delegation?

I urge for your consideration, President Gore, allowing delegates to run based on a write-in campaign for Al Gore in Florida. If the write-in campaign receives 15% of the vote in any Florida Congressional District then the Gore candidacy would be awarded a proportionate number of delegates.

Jim Callahan
Orlando, FL
A member of the US Congress who voted against the Gulf War received a grim diagnosis this Thanksgiving Holiday weekend.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Six-term Democratic Rep. Julia Carson has told a newspaper she has terminal lung cancer but did not say if she intends to hold onto her seat or seek a seventh term.

Link

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Rep. Julia Carson, a former secretary who rose to become Indianapolis' first African-American congresswoman, has announced she has terminal lung cancer, a newspaper reports.
* * *
Representing the Hoosier State's 7th District since 1997, Carson opposed the Iraq war resolution in 2002 and worked to honor historic civil rights figure Rosa Parks. Fellow Democrats praised her as a bright personality who successfully fought against abuse of the welfare system.
* * *
Carson was the first woman and first African-American Indianapolis had ever sent to Congress, according to her Web site.
* * *
She's the sponsor of the House National Defense Rail Act, legislation before Congress which would provide more than $40 billion to develop high-speed rail connections and short-distance corridors between larger cities, her Web site said.

Link

OFFICIAL WEB SITE
http://juliacarson.house.gov/

Jim Callahan
Orlando, FL
This Monday, November 5, 2007, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse(D,RI), along with 12 Democratic co-sponsors introduced Senate Bill 2305, "A bill to prevent voter caging." If enacted, would be cited as the "Caging Prohibition Act of 2007."

In addition to outlawing caging lists, also outlaws an unverified match list:

No State or local election official shall prevent an individual from registering or voting in any election for Federal office, or permit in connection with any election for Federal office a formal challenge under State law to an individual's registration status or eligibility to vote, if the sole basis for such decision or challenge is evidence consisting of--

(1) a voter caging document or voter caging list;

(2) an unverified match list;


Jim Callahan
Orlando, FL
For FULL TEXT of the bill and press coverage...   Read More »
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