It’s early. 5:43AM in California. We’re headed to Larimer County, Colorado where in 2004 147,112 out of 157,903 people voted. Unreal, right? We’re going to meet up with County Clerk Scott Doyle and see what the deal is! After that we’re on to Iowa where we’ll be brining the Why Tuesday? Candidate Challenge to the presidential candidates. I’m looking forward to seeing some Larimer blue sky, pictured left. The smoke from the wildfires here has filled the horizon for days. (more…)

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Posted in Election Reform, Colorado, Electronic voting | Comments Off

Remember the moment some years ago when the CEOs of Big Tobacco were called before Congress to be sworn under oath and forced to testify about what they knew concerning the health effects of their product? Today, there is another industry that could meet the same fate: the voting systems industry. This time, the products in question affect the health of our democracy.

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Posted in Election Reform, Election administration, California, Electronic voting | Comments Off

Following the messy 2000 election that made Florida’s punchcard voting system famous, many of the Votomatic machines at the center of the controversy got a glamorous second act, Abby Goodnough writes in today’s New York Times. Fox News anchor Greta Van Susteren, the Smithsonian Institution and even New York art galleries made an effort to get ahold of the machines.

Seven years later, the Votomatic’s replacement, the touch-screen voting machine, is losing favor amongst election administrators, voting rights and research groups nationwide because of security concerns. In Florida, the machines will all but disappear by the 2008 election. Goodnough says that unlike their predecessors, these machines may not get the same star treatment on the way out the door. Possible destinations: a Veterans Affairs hospital and the scrap pile. (more…)

Posted in Election Reform, Optical scan machines, Florida, Electronic voting | Comments Off

Don’t try hacking votes in the Swiss canton of Geneva. According to an AP article, the level of technology being used to encrypt votes there is so advanced that if someone successfully hacks into the voting system, “it will explode like a soap bubble,” according to the physics professor who helped come up with the technology.

How does it work? “A computer in Geneva, provided by the company id Quantique, will fire photons, or particles of light, down a fiber-optic link to a receiver 62 miles away,” the AP reports. (more…)

Posted in Election Reform, Electronic voting | 1 Comment »

Engadget has the story, and the background.

Thanks to my friend John Sciarrino for the heads up via our Facebook group.

More to come on electronic voting machines in next Tuesday’s vlog, when I’ll go to Sacramento to visit with California Secretary of State Debra Bowen.

Posted in Election Reform, Electronic voting | 1 Comment »

In the last few days there’s been talk of abandoning touch-screen voting in New York, Brad Friedman retraced his summer election reform journey around the country, and there was discussion (transcript, via electionline.org) of a new regional primary plan in the Senate. That Senate plan drew a harsh response from both political parties, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

[The] plan faces opposition and skepticism, notably from the Democratic and Republican national committees, which both registered their opposition, and said the parties should control the nominating process.

“The responsibility for establishing the rules, procedures and dates for selecting delegates to national presidential nominating conventions lies, as it always has, with the national parties, not Congress,” GOP Chairman Robert Duncan wrote Alexander.

We’ll stay on top of it. Look for a vlog about our primary election calendar and why its important to the health of our elections in the weeks ahead.

Posted in New York, Election Reform, Roundups, Friends of WT?, Primary schedule, Electronic voting | Comments Off

It was a busy week for us behind the scenes at Why Tuesday?, and in the world of election reform. What is election reform exactly? And who is the guy in the photo? Get the answers, and much more election reform news, by clicking below. Photo by Cheryl Senter for the New York Times.

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Posted in New Hampshire, Indiana, Michigan, Colorado, Arkansas, Election Reform, West Virginia, Election Day registration, Election 2006, Audits, Roundups, Existing laws, Legislation, Iowa, Election 2008, Election administration, Electronic voting | Comments Off