By Luther Weeks on February 11, 2015
As we have mentioned before, turnout is the “Holy Grail” of elections. Any election reform is touted as a means of increasing turnout. From touch screens to early voting that is one of the justifications, yet in actuality touch screens create annoying lines and early voting actually DECREASES turnout.
To increase turnout, lets avoid the gimmicks with integrity risks or unproven claims. Lets start with the hard work of rooting out corruption. There is a worse alternative, we could avoid looking. Maybe the public would be more likely to vote if corruption were ignored.
Posted in CT, Skulduggery and Errors
By Luther Weeks on February 6, 2015
Three simple ideas standout among the many things I learned and relearned:
- When we are concerned about every cost associated with voting, small and large, compare those costs to what we spend “spreading democracy” elsewhere.
- Contemplate what people spend in time and expense for the excitement of the Superbowl. Why are we not similarly engaged in Election Day, where the who wins is much more significant to our lives?
- Should we be at least as concerned with protecting and auditing paper ballots, as we are with the footballs used in the semi-finals?
Posted in Chain of Custody, Costs, CT, National
By Luther Weeks on February 1, 2015
Paper Ballots Return to Maryland Elections. Once Maryland implements optical scan, there will only be five states left without a voter verified paper record for voting.
Posted in National
By Luther Weeks on January 27, 2015
Our friends across the pond are thinking of Internet Voting. Tech unsavvy elders apparently want to entice young voters. Hopefully, the young are savvy enough to understand the security risks and are too smart to trust democracy to smart phones.
Editorial in ComputerWorldUK highlighted at TheVotingNews: Digital Democracy? – Yes, Please; but Not Online Voting
Posted in CT, Internet Voting, Other Editorials
By Luther Weeks on January 21, 2015
SOTS Office makes improvements, significant Registrars of Voters flaws continue
Improvements noted by the Citizen Audit include:
- Small, yet significant improvements in and corrections to the Official Audit Procedures made by the Secretary of the State’s Office (SOTS Office) at the request of the Citizen Audit.
- Increased integrity and credibility of the audit based on a Citizen Audit of the random drawing of districts and races. (As reported separately on 1/21/2015)
- Significantly fewer errors in the random drawing list in November 2014 compared to November 2013.
- Public and transparent drawing of races to be audited after the November election.
The audit observation report concluded that the official audit results do not inspire confidence after eight years and fourteen audits, because of the continued:
- Lack of consistency, reliability, and transparency in the conduct of the audit.
- Discrepancies between machine counts and hand counts reported to the Secretary of the State by municipalities.
- Lack of investigation of such discrepancies, and the lack of standards for triggering such investigations.
- Weaknesses in the ballot chain-of-custody.
The audit observations also uncovered tabulator errors and inadequate election procedures which cause some votes for registered write-in candidates to not be counted.
Citizen Audit spokesperson Luther Weeks stated, “We appreciate improvements made by the Secretary of the State’s Office. We remain disappointed after eight years that significant improvements remain to achieve a credible audit, especially by local election officials, in too many municipalities.”
<Full Report (.pdf)> <Press Release>
Detail data/municipal reports <Nov> <Aug>
Posted in CT, CT Law, Post-Election Audits
By Luther Weeks on January 18, 2015
As they and we often say, “Diagnosis before cure”. Lest the cure be ineffective or worse than the disease.
The Hartford Common Council empowered a Committee of Inquiry to gather facts on the widely reported late opening of polls on election day, the long known disfunction in the Registrars Office, and the less reported inaccurate, yet to be corrected reports of election results. We recommend reading the whole report. It is an easy read, yet sad, disappointing, and as some have said outrageous
Posted in CT Skulduggery and Errors, Legislature 2015
By Luther Weeks on January 14, 2015
Yesterday, Where We Live, with John Dankowski, was a discussion of Cyber Security for consumers and business.
At about 17:49 into the show, I called in and reminded John Dankoski of the Secretary of the State’s Symposium on Online voting that he moderated just over three years ago. In response to my comment, Professor Bryan Ford of Yale, gave a very thorough summary of the potential risks of Internet voting.
Posted in CT Law, Internet Security Issues, Internet Voting
By Luther Weeks on January 9, 2015
Last week Paul Krugman had an interesting Economics editorial that by analogy can apply to some election reformers as well. In general, I agree with Mr. Krugman when it comes to Economics. Beyond that he has a skill making readable opinion pieces that make single points well, even if they are based on very detailed economic theory or analysis. This article is a little different in subject, yet makes an important, useful point that applies widely, including to election reformers
Posted in National
By Luther Weeks on January 2, 2015
In Wednesday’s print edition of the Courant, one in a series of editorials setting an agenda for the State, Agenda Toward A More Open Government. There is much to like and agree with in the editorial: Stronger investigative subpoena for state prosecutors; closing the cash spigot for campaign finance; and strengthening the watchdog agencies.
While we are skeptical of the benefits of open primaries, their potential, and ultimately the value of “more moderate nominees”, we are particularly in disagreement with one section, Do-Over for Early Voting.
Its been said that when you only have a hammer, you see that as a cure to every problem.
Posted in Legislature 2014, Mail/Absentee Voting, Other Editorials
