2008

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Comments On The Presidential Primary

By Luther Weeks on February 8, 2008

Update: According to the Journal Inquirer <read> Bysiewicz said there were relatively few problems with the new optical scan voting machines. Six out of the 825 devices used across the state had to be replaced with back-ups. Two jammed and three were not properly programmed, she said Sounds to me like they were not properly […]

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e-Democracy Symposium – Recounting/Auditing By Machine – The Devil Is In The Details

By Luther Weeks on February 8, 2008

Yesterday I attended the spring symposium at the UConn Law School by the Connecticut Public Interest Law Journal: e-Democracy: Democratic Values In A Digital Age. There were three panels: Campaigning On The Web The Mechanics of Voting Political Speech and the Internet I found all three very interesting. Christine Stuart has an excellent article on […]

Posted in Chain of Custody, CT, Electronic Vulnerability, National | Leave a response

ComputerWorld Interview With Rep. Rush Holt

By Luther Weeks on February 4, 2008

Representative Rush Holt (D-NJ) is a physicist who has been working for some four years to provide integrity and confidence in voting. While waiting for a longer term solution, he has introduced an emergency bill, H.R. 5056 to encourage states to move to paper ballots and sound audits in time for the 2008 presidential election. […]

Posted in Electronic Vulnerability, National, Post-Election Audits | Leave a response

TalkNationRadio: Dr. Shvartsman Outlines Memory Card Failures

By Luther Weeks on February 1, 2008

We have covered the memory card issues and the reports from Dr. Shvartsman’s team at the UConn VoTeR Center <here> and <here>. This week, Dori Smith of TalkNationRadio interviewed Dr. Shvartsman <audio and transcript>. The UConn reports reported 3.5% and 8% failure rates. These are outrageous. Not only do they represent a huge and unacceptable […]

Posted in CT, Electronic Vulnerability, National, Post-Election Audits | Leave a response

Press Conference: Bysiewicz “Tried To Rest Lingering Skepticism”

By Luther Weeks on January 31, 2008

Christine Stuart has an accurate report of yesterday’s Press Conference and the post-election audit discussion: <read> Asked why the machines tend to over count by one vote, Dr. Alex Shvartsman, director of the voter research center, said he didnâ€™t know. â€œThatâ€™s a very good question,â€ he said, adding that the center would continue to look […]

Posted in CT, CT Skulduggery and Errors, National, Post-Election Audits | Leave a response

Post-Election Memory Card Tests, 8% “Junk Data”

By Luther Weeks on January 30, 2008

Last week Dr. Shvartsman of the UConn VoTeR Center released a report on Pre-Election testing of memory cards, that report showed 3.5% of the memory cards had “Junk Data” (the cards could not be read) and that many election officials had difficulty following pre-election testing procedures. This week Dr. Shvartsman released another Post-Election study of […]

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Bysiewicz Prepared To Eliminate Manual Recounts

By Luther Weeks on January 29, 2008

Update: The word “prepared” does not not necessarily imply “will”. Â Apparently no decision has been made.Â However, we now have a member of the GAE committee who has suggested machine recounts, the Secretary has mentioned it before, and the GAE leadership mentioned the possibility at the press conference announcing public hearings.Â This remains a […]

Posted in CT, CT Law, Recounts/Recanvasses | 1 Response

96.6% Of Memory Cards OK, Half Of Registrars Follow Last Minute Procedures

By Luther Weeks on January 26, 2008

At the request of the Secretary of the State, Dr. Alex Shvartsman and his team at the UConn VoTeR Center tested memory cards which were shipped to UConn by registrars across the state. <full report> From the summary: The total of 522 cards were received and tested by the VoTeR Center, out of which 378 […]

Posted in CT, CT Skulduggery and Errors, Post-Election Audits, Reports | 1 Response

Legislature To Hold Public Hearings On Optical Scan Elections

By Luther Weeks on January 25, 2008

The leadership of the Government Administration and Elections Committee(GAE) announced a series of five public hearings at a press conference yesterday. One hearing will be held in each of the five congressional districts in the state. Towns where the hearings will be held were announced with no specific dates or locations. Their goal is to […]

Posted in Chain of Custody, CT, CT Skulduggery and Errors, National, Post-Election Audits | 1 Response

TalkNationRadio On NH, CT, Outsourcing, and Audits