By Luther Weeks on February 28, 2013
Coalition Finds Continuing Problems with Election Audit and A New Flaw
Post-Election Audit Flawed from the Start by Highly Inaccurate List
of Election Districts
The report concluded, the official audit results do not inspire confidence because of the:
- Lack of integrity in the random district selection.
- 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 and the lack of standards for determining need for further investigation of discrepancies.
- Weaknesses in the ballot chain-of-custody.
Coalition spokesperson Luther Weeks noted, “We found significant, unexplained errors, for municipalities across the state, in the list of districts in the random drawing. This random audit was highly flawed from the start because the drawing was highly flawed.”
Cheryl Dunson, President, League of Women Voters of Connecticut, stated,, “Two years ago, the Legislature passed a law, at the Secretary of the State’s request, which was intended to fix inaccuracies in the drawing. For whatever reason, errors in the drawing have dramatically increased.
Weeks added, “Some officials follow the audit procedures and do effective work. This year one town investigated discrepancies and found errors to correct in their election procedures – that is one value of performing the audits as intended.”
Without adherence to procedures, accurate random drawings, a reliable chain-of-custody, and transparent public follow-up, when discrepancies are reported, if there was ever a significant fraud or error it would not be recognized and corrected.
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Posted in CT, CT Skulduggery and Errors, Post-Election Audits, Reports
By Luther Weeks on December 20, 2012
Elected initially to the Legislature last month, Christina Ayala, has been arrested for a hit-and-run shortly after the election, arrested for a domestic dispute, and then ordered to move to the district before being sworn in, is no under investigation for illegally voting and registering in that district. Also under investigation is her mother, the Registrar of Voters.
Posted in CT, CT Skulduggery and Errors
By Luther Weeks on June 23, 2012
We believe that the law should be followed, but in cases like this courts should normally rule in favor of candidates that do their part in complying with the law and clearly have the support required. Last year in similar circumstances, with allegations of fraud and a clear conflict of interest a court ruled in favor of the candidate
Posted in CT, CT Skulduggery and Errors
By Luther Weeks on April 12, 2012
We applaud Dr. Alexander Shvartsman and his team for developing the technology to perform these innovative tests, the diligence to perform the tedious tests, and the fortitude to report the facts.
We do not applaud the lack of cooperation of officials in the audit or the lack of official compliance with memory card procedures. We are left wondering if this is the level of compliance and cooperation when officials know their efforts will be disclosed: “What is their compliance when their actions are unlikely or impossible to scrutinize?” Can you imagine such numbers from any other technology or Government function? Where is the outrage?
Posted in CT, CT Skulduggery and Errors, Post-Election Audits
By Luther Weeks on March 20, 2012
Absentee fraud may have changed the apparent winner in New Haven. The solution is not more absentee or mail-in voting.
Posted in CT, CT Skulduggery and Errors, Legislature2012, Mail/Absentee Voting
By Luther Weeks on March 1, 2012
Evelyn Cruz filed a complaint accusing another resident, Clorinda Soldevila, of hand-delivering three absentee ballots to her home on Bond Street, and then picking up those ballots and delivering them to city hall.
Posted in CT, CT Skulduggery and Errors
By Luther Weeks on February 28, 2012
Connecticut has little reason to take comfort in New York’s latest election embarrassment. We do not expect an official system to recognize unofficial counts, yet we do expect a system that recognizes problems, and reacts by taking reasonable steps to correct errors.
Posted in CT, CT Skulduggery and Errors
By Luther Weeks on October 24, 2011
In Bridgeport, a hallmark of Democratic Party politics has been the aggressive use of absentee ballots — so aggressive, in fact, that more than a dozen consent decrees have been signed since 1988 with the State Elections Enforcement Commission stemming from allegations of wrongdoing by party operatives.
Posted in CT, CT Skulduggery and Errors, Mail/Absentee Voting
By Luther Weeks on September 30, 2011
Was the “online tampering” done by outside hackers? Or was it an insider? Does the Courant have the expertise to determine the cause in this instance and actually create effective controls to prevent future online voting attacks? If so, the editors should be advising the likes of the Department of Defense, banks, and Google.
Posted in CT, CT Skulduggery and Errors, Internet Voting
By Luther Weeks on September 21, 2011
Who says there is little a single legislator can do to affect election integrity and confidence? Human error can change an election result or serve as a ready excuse to cover-up fraud.
Posted in CT, CT Skulduggery and Errors, Mail/Absentee Voting
