2008

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Voters Registering Like Their Life, Liberty, and Persuit of Happiness Depends On It

By Luther Weeks on March 28, 2008

AP Story, Official predicts Conn. voter registration could reach 2 million Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz says nearly 20,000 people have registered to vote since Connecticut’s presidential primary last month. She says there’s lots of enthusiasm and interest in the political process this year. Nearly a quarter of the new registrations since the Feb. […]

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Why We Vote: To Keep A Republic

By Luther Weeks on March 28, 2008

Robert Koehler, Huffington Post, Keep The Republic, <read> The ground feels a little soft, but we’re going to stand it. Premise one: Having a fair election — all votes counted, all who are eligible and want to vote allowed to vote — is far, far more important, even in 2008, than who wins. Premise two: […]

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Connecticut vs. New Jersey

By Luther Weeks on March 26, 2008

Pam Smith, President of VerifiedVoting, editorial in the NJ Times <read> pointing out how long it has taken New Jersey to actually obtain paper ballot election equipment: Why hasn’t New Jersey done in three years what New Mexico, Connecticut, North Carolina and other states — even Florida! –were able to do in far less time? […]

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Courant Editorial: Don’t Overlook The Assumptions

By Luther Weeks on March 24, 2008

We agree with the overall thrust and purpose of the editorial, to support the encoding in statute of privacy measures in the polling place to protect secret ballot and voters’ confidence in privacy.

Where we disagree is with some of the assumptions of the ediorial which subtely reaffirm the Courant’s blind faith in the integrity of our optical scan systems

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The Perils Of Online Voting – PA Voter Reg System Vulnerable

By Luther Weeks on March 21, 2008

Pennsylvania has taken down its voter registration system. It seems that a hacker can easily change voter registration information for other people. <read> Online voter registration PDFs are left unsecured on the server for anyone to access. Simply change the request ID at the end of the URL. Valid IDs appear to be working from […]

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E-Voting Is Very Different From E-Banking

By Luther Weeks on March 19, 2008

One more time, in detail from techdirt <read> the security model of an ATM is totally different from the security model of a voting machine. The most important line of defense against ATM fraud is not the machines themselves, but the fact that they produce a lengthy paper trail. If a hacker breaks into a […]

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American Statistical Association: Hard Copy Audits Critical To Election Integrity

By Luther Weeks on March 18, 2008

Press Release: American Statistical Association Calls for Audits to Increase Confidence in Electoral Outcomes, ASA Board adopts position on Electoral Integrity <release> . This should erase all lingering doubt on the part of legislators, election officials, and non-statisticians: â€œTrustworthy elections demand integrity throughout the entire electoral process, from voting laws and regulations to details of […]

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HB 5888 – New Audit Law – Including Hand Count Recounts

By Luther Weeks on March 13, 2008

Update 3/16/2008 Please see the 1st comment from George Cody correcting my impression that he was against the bill. Yesterday, I testified in favor of HB 5888 recommending some suggested changes. With some improvements the bill would be a big step forward providing an Independent Audit Board, more effective statistics based audits, removes some of […]

Posted in CT, CT Law, National, Post-Election Audits | 3 Responses

Secretary Bysiewicz Responds To CTVotersCount Petition

By Luther Weeks on March 9, 2008

About three weeks ago we delivered the CTVotersCount petition to the Government Administration and Elections Committee and to Secretary of the State, Susan Bysiewicz. Secretary Bysiewicz sent a letter in response to the petition to each signer <letter> <petition> Special thanks to each Connecticut voter who signed the petition. Your support will substantially contribute to […]

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Voter Registration System – Lots Of Finger Pointing

By Luther Weeks on March 7, 2008

Stamford Advocate article has Registrars, Secretary of the State, and the Department of Information Technology statements about the unreliable voter registration system <read> A few years ago, registrars of voters in Stamford and Norwalk faced off with the state over their reluctance to join the new centralized voter registration system. The registrars unsuccessfully argued the […]

Posted in CT, CT Skulduggery and Errors, National | 1 Response