All this and more in today's voting news below...
AK: Over 20,000 Votes Still To Be Counted(absentee mail ballots)
http://www.ktva.com/ci_15917459
On Friday, the Alaska Division of Elections said there are more than 20,000 ballots that have not yet been counted. Over 11,200 are absentee ballots with much of the rest being question ballots.
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All ballots have to be postmarked election day, and if it's postmarked within the United States, it has ten days following the day of the election to be received, which would be September 3, and if it's postmarked outside the U.S., fifteen days to be received, which is September 8,"
AK: Miller's lawyer warns of vote tampering by Murkowski campaign
http://www.alaskadispatch.com/blogs/political-animal/6598-millers-lawyer-warns-of-voter-tampering-by-murkowski-campaign In the letter, Miller attorney Thomas Van Flein accuses the observer, who he calls Mike, of accessing the Division of Elections computer database for 20 minutes to "check voter records." That Mike had access to private data was bad enough, Van Flein said in a letter, but the Diebold voter software used by the state is also vulnerable to voter hijacking.
AK: More accusations made in close Alaska Senate race(SENATE RACE)
http://www.adn.com/2010/08/28/1429399/absentee-ballots.html
Miller campaign spokesman Randy DeSoto said in an e-mail Saturday that there are many calls going out to Alaskans who voted absentee ballots, asking them who they voted for in the primary.
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"I believe, and time will prove it, (the calls) are being done for nefarious purposes," DeSoto said in the e-mail. "It is definitely not being done by the Joe Miller campaign. It is being done, I believe, by the National Republican Senatorial Committee or someone they contracted with as the beginning of a legal battle to throw out ballots."
...He then includes the affidavit he filed. Basically, he spotted a Sequoia employee hooked into the central tabulator, via an ethernet cable from his own laptop, and he saw that the laptop had an EVDO card from Sprint...
CA: Ballots redesigned for machine to verify them(Riverside CO absentee mail)
http://www.mydesert.com/article/20100830/NEWS0301/8300305/Ballots-redesigned-for-machine-to-verify-them The system, which banks also use to verify signatures on checks, is supposed to cut down the steps it takes to manually verify and process the increasingly popular vote-by-mail ballots.
CO: (Aspen) Election Commission Inherits Complaints from 2009 Election
http://www.glassballotbox.org/storage/Times8.27.10EC.pdf
http://www.aurorasentinel.com/articles/2010/08/30/news/metro_aurora/doc4c78262dd9241177562425.txt
Officials from the Arapahoe County Clerk and Recorder's office have said the legislation amounts to an unfunded mandate from the state, insisting that providing drop-off mail facilities at more than 200 polling places would cost the county at least $80,000 in 2010.
CT: State recanvass law inadequate for close elections(Luther Weeks OP)
http://ctmirror.org/node/7495 Experience shows that the current law is not well understood by election officials, candidates, and the media. The recanvass is often referred to as a recount, yet it is a far cry from the thorough, transparent, and adversarial recount process in other states.
FL: Dent accused of influencing election in recount flap
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20100830/BREAKING/100839986/2055/NEWS?Title=Dent-accused-of-influencing-election-in-recount-flap Not only is Bolam requesting a recount, but she claims Dent influenced her decision and consequently the election results by suggesting that moving forward with a recount probably would not make a difference in the vote count anyway and would have forced her staff to work the weekend.
IN: Vanderburgh County Commissioners reconsidering how contracts awarded *
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2010/aug/29/primary-to-see-new-voting-machines-county-clerk/
(voting machines damaged,late) ...County Clerk Susan Kirk warned the commissioners that using a first-time vendor in such a specialized job could result in broken machines at a cost as high as $5,000 each. She begged them to select second-lowest bidder Kinder Moving and Storage, which has experience moving the county's voting machines.
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Now the commissioners find themselves asking PD&S for $802.50 for repairing four machines that were dropped.
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Armed with the unanimous support of the bipartisan Vanderburgh County Election Board and a list of alleged mistakes and contract violations by PD&S, Kirk plans to ask the commissioners not to engage the company again.
The alleged violations include failing to deliver voting machines to all 101 polling places by 6 p.m. the day before the primary.
MA: Clerical error keeps county candidates off November ballot*
http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100827/NEWS/8270313
Five people vying for the Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates will have to wage write-in campaigns after a combination of errors left their names off the Nov. 2 general election ballot.
The five candidates had errors in their paperwork that were initially overlooked by a county election official but identified earlier this week, after a critical state elections deadline had passed, Barnstable County Clerk of Courts Scott Nickerson said
MD: Absentee voting glitch?*
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/readersrespond/bs-ed-early-vote-glitch-letter-20100830,0,1456545.story I attempted to access the on-line ballot and it won't pull up. I am fairly computer knowledgeable and it frustrates me so I can only imagine how this is going to put other people off and limit the number folks who use the service.
MD: Md. withdraws military voting act waiver request
http://www.cecilwhig.com/news/statenews/article_7549bc84-b1fe-11df-b653-001cc4c002e0.html
...the Defense Department found Maryland in compliance with the new law's mandate...
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