Luther Weeks

Testimony on eight bills, including the National Popular Vote

By Luther Weeks on March 11, 2011

Today the Government Administration and Election Committee (GAE) held hearings on a variety of election related bills. We testified against seven bills and lukewarmly for one.

Since 2007, I have been the only person to testify against the National Popular Vote (NPV) Compact in Connecticut. Finally, this year I was not alone. But I remain the only Connecticut citizen to testify against the NPV Compact.

I challenge anyone to a responsible public blog debate on any and all of the issues we raised in our testimony on the National Popular Vote Compact.

Posted in CT Law, Internet Voting, Legislature2011, National Popular Vote, Our Editorials | Leave a response

Clerks: No-Excuse Absentee Voting Creates Problems

By Luther Weeks on March 6, 2011

The opinion piece hits all of the bases, articulating the costs, the increased opportunity for fraud, increased disenfranchisement, and that it will not increase turnout.

Posted in Legislature2011, Mail/Absentee Voting, Other Editorials | Leave a response

Once again, myth of accurate official vote counting debunked

By Luther Weeks on March 3, 2011

South Carolina voting system audited by citizens shows votes lost, images of ballots do not support numbers. Like Bridgeport, this is an example of where transparency, FOI, and independent citizen investigation eventually provided the facts. Yet, again where government and the official system failed to certify accurate election results. Machines, hand counting, and communication procedures should be expected to occasionally breakdown, but the official system should be expected to find and correct those errors.

Posted in CT, Skulduggery and Errors | Leave a response

Yale Daily News: Absentee voting may not attract students

By Luther Weeks on February 25, 2011

At Yale, the biggest challenge campus organizers face is not getting people to the polls on Election Day. Instead, the problem is getting people to register to vote in Connecticut in the first place, said Marina Keegan, president of the Yale College Democrats

Posted in CT, Mail/Absentee Voting, Other Editorials | Leave a response

WFSB: What It Takes To Be A Registrar – Politics Play Out In Registrar’s Office

By Luther Weeks on February 23, 2011

Connecticut is the only state where a registrar from each political party is elected into office. Many registrars told the I-Team while this may seem inefficient, it has worked literally for centuries.

Posted in CT, CT Law, CT Skulduggery and Errors | Leave a response

NY: Hard lesson in why we need recounts and uniform election laws

By Luther Weeks on February 22, 2011

Supermajority and candidate doomed by vague election law crafted by his own lawyer.

Posted in National, Recounts/Recanvasses | Leave a response

Merrill adds experienced election official to team

By Luther Weeks on February 18, 2011

Peggy’s many years of experience dealing with elections at the local level as a Registrar of Voters and at the state level as a member of General Assembly on the GAE committee are invaluable assets to our office as we work to reform and improve elections in Connecticut.

Posted in CT | Leave a response

Public hearings for 15 election related bills – Update: Our Testimony

By Luther Weeks on February 14, 2011

Today we provided testimony on ten bills. We talked six times and complemented the Committee on their new format of handling bills one at a time, allowing each person who wanted to the opportunity to testify on each bill separately. It worked very well and did not take as much time as one would expect over the old format of one opportunity per person for the day. Most of the testimony today was agreement or friendly disagreement between registrars, town clerks, state officials, and advocates. In the end we expect that better laws will result.

Posted in Chain of Custody, Legislature2011, Mail/Absentee Voting, Our Editorials, Post-Election Audits | Leave a response

Nov 2010 Election Audit Observation Report

By Luther Weeks on February 9, 2011

Coalition calls again for legislature to act.
Citizen observation and analysis show little, if any, improvement in
November post-election audits.

The Coalition noted significant differences between results reported by optical scanners and the hand count of ballots by election officials across Connecticut. Compared to previous audits, the Coalition noted little, if any, improvement in the attention to detail and in following procedures in the November 2010 audits.

Posted in CT, Our Editorials, Post-Election Audits | Leave a response

HB 5732: Bill would eliminate the secret ballot at each voter’s option

By Luther Weeks on February 7, 2011

The secret vote was implemented in the United States to prevent the selling and coercion of votes. Subjecting the secret ballot to each voter’s choice would negate its purpose and value. Each voter’s vote being secret, preserves the the value everyone’s vote, because my vote’s value depends on yours not being sold or coerced.

Posted in Legislature2011 | Leave a response