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New Britain – Shortage of Election Officials. Questionable Procedures? Short Fuses?

By Luther Weeks on November 1, 2007

Update 11/3, more arguments <read>, no wonder they are having problems recruiting. Between pay increases for poll workers and a candidate’s company moving voting machines, New Britain voting officials have had their share of the news lately. Now Rick Guinness reports on a shortage of poll workers, a shortage of cooperation between registrars, and frustration […]

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What I learned at the Post Election Audit Summit

By Luther Weeks on October 31, 2007

Update 10/31: 1) Some grammar improvements courtesy of D. Weeks. 2) The good news: Connecticut is a Voter Intent State. 3) The not so good news: Connecticut does not require that andit or recount observers be able to viably verify that paper ballots are counted correctly. Thanks to Ted Bromley of the Secretary of the […]

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The Case Against Voting By Mail

By Luther Weeks on October 30, 2007

In an effort to increase participation, from time to time, we hear calls for unlimited voting by mail. Oregon provides for vote by mail. While well intended, vote by mail opens up the opportunity for fraud, buying votes, and voter intimidation. John Foster, makes the case to the Committee on House Administrations, Elections Subcommittee in […]

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Voting Machine Security Enhanced By SOTS Office

By Luther Weeks on October 28, 2007

The Secretary of the State’s Office has taken action to reduce the chance of tampering with voting machines in Connecticut by requiring three additional tamper evident seals added to the Diebold AccuVote-OS optical scanners. The problem was outlined in a recent FAQ at CTVotersCount.org – the canvass bag and plastic seal are vulnerable, while the […]

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Ballots More Costly Than A Sufficient Audit

By Luther Weeks on October 26, 2007

We have been saying that a sufficient audit would cost $0.20 to $0.50 per ballot cast. Now we have an example in Connecticut demonstrating that at least for one town, ballots cost $0.40 each to print. Given that extra ballots must be printed, it is clear that counting the paper is less costly than printing […]

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Case Dismissed in Bridgeport – Reason Missed In Hartford

By Luther Weeks on October 25, 2007

Update: Glitch in the Webmaster’s work, which is unaudited!!!: An earlier versions cut off part of the quote and the editorial comment making the point. From the Channel 30 report: A state Superior Court judge on Wednesday dismissed state Rep. Christopher Caruso’s lawsuit challenging the results of the Bridgeport Democratic primary for mayor.Caruso lost the […]

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New Britain Keeps Candidate Moving

By Luther Weeks on October 21, 2007

Rick Guiness has a follow-up to last week’s story in the New Britain Herald : <read>

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Diebold Source Code – CA Top-To-Bottom Review

By Luther Weeks on October 21, 2007

In August, the Secretary of the State of California decertified electronic voting equipment from Diebold, ES&S, and Sequoia. Her action was based on the Top-To-Bottom Review, which consisted of four reports on each vendor. Two of those reports, Documentation and Source Code were not released at the time. On October 5th, I highlited the Documentation […]

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Election Lottery

By Luther Weeks on October 19, 2007

I cannot resist commenting on the idea expressed in the Courant today in the article A Proposal To Sweeten The Ballot Box ,with opposing positions by Dr. Mark Osterloh, ophthalmologist and political activist, and Susan Bysiewicz, Secretary of the State. <read> Dr. Osterloh’s suggestion is to award a lottery prize of $1,000,000 to voters in […]

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FAQ – How can the scanner be hacked? It is kept in a canvas bag protected by a tamper-evident seal!

By Luther Weeks on October 17, 2007

Update 10/28: The Secretary of the State’s Office has taken action to mitigate these concerns by requiring three additional tamper evident seals to indicate when the case has been open and to protect the ports. <read the details> Our democracy hangs, literally, by a vulnerable plastic thread – that can be compromised with a few […]

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