2005 Elections

California seeks nearly $15 million from voting machine company
Associated Press

SACRAMENTO - Secretary of State Debra Bowen sued a major voting machine company Monday, accusing Election Systems & Software of selling unauthorized machines to San Francisco and four counties.

The lawsuit seeks nearly $15 million in penalties and reimbursements. Bowen contends that ES&S sold 972 of its AutoMark A200 voting machines to San Francisco and Colusa, Marin, Merced and Solano counties in 2006 even though the state had not tested and certified the machines.

"ES&S ignored the law over and over again and it got caught," Bowen said in a statement. "California law is very clear on this issue. I am not going to stand on the sidelines and watch a voting system vendor come into this state, ignore the laws and make millions of dollars from California taxpayers in the process."

Republicans lost badly in Virginia and New Jersey, despite vicious and expensive campaigns, in part because the leader of their party, George Bush, is so widely despised by voters.

Republicans in Congress must now worry about losing control of the Senate and the House just one year from now.

One way they could save themselves would be to impeach George Bush and Dick Cheney, just as they impeached Bill Clinton in 1998.

Will they throw Bush and Cheney under the bus? Stay tuned!

This Just in from BradBlog.com:

LA County Registrar, Diebold Supporter Admits 'Protocol Breached in Advance of Election'
Governator First Instructed to Use a Provisional Ballot, Given Normal Ballot Anyway!

Due to a problem with Electronic Voting Machines in Los Angeles County, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger himself was told he had already voted when he showed up at the polls today in Sacramento to cast his ballot in the Special Election that he himself declared for California today!

He was told he'd have to use a provisional ballot, but unlike most American voters, he was eventually allowed to use a regular ballot anyway.

Thanks to Bayard Brewin for sending this along:

From RaisingKaine.com this eve ...

In yet the latest Republican dirty trick, people in Northern Virginia -- myself included -- are getting calls purporting to be from the Kaine campaign. However, at the end of the message it says "Paid for by Honest Leadership for Virginia PAC." Wait a minute, what on earth is THAT? Well, according to the Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP):
Honest Leadership for Virginia supports the election of conservative Republican candidates in the state of Virginia, including 2005 gubernatorial candidate Jerry Kilgore.
All told, this (ironically named) group has given $2,852,603 (100%) of its money to Republicans, and $0.00 (0%) of its money to Democrats. Hmmm...doesn't sound like a Tim Kaine supporter to me. So how can the group be making robocalls that begin, "I'm Tim Kaine and I want you to know where I stand on the issues." Isn't that a bit strange, at the minimum? Illegal? Obviously, that's up to the State Board of Elections to determine. But in the meantime, I would strongly urge everyone to be EXTREMELY skeptical about robocalls in the next 24-36 hours. Probably, the best bet is simply to ignore them, given all the smarmy, slimy tactics being employed by Scott Howell and Company.

Susan Brenner-Morton never guessed what the remainder of 2005 would hold for her as she dutifully cast her absentee ballot for the March 15 mayoral election in Irvington, New York. The mayor's race in this scenic town of 6,700 people on the banks of the Hudson River, had been won by Democrat Erin Malloy, in a one-vote victory over Dennis Flood, the Republican incumbent who had held office, unchallenged, for 12 years.

This is the story of how Erin Malloy, Irvington residents – and especially Susan Brenner-Morton – discovered the true depths of the national Republican strategy for "winning" elections by disenfranchising voters and turning perfectly good votes into bad votes.

In Ohio's 2nd CD race, Paul Hackett graciously accepted his close 52%-48% defeat.

But bloggers and activists who watched the GOP steal Ohio for Bush in 2004 think they may have stolen this race too.

Billmon lays out some of the early statistical evidence, which can be suggestive but is rarely conclusive.

The best way to evaluate statistical claims like these is to analyze the precinct-by-precinct results:

1. Compare the precinct vote tallies (how many votes each candidate received) with the sign-in sheet tallies (how many voters signed in). These should be identical - if not, any significant discrepancies would be a red flag.
2. Compare the precinct vote percentages by candidate in this election, with the same precinct percentages by candidate in November 2004. These would not be identical, but they should be pretty similar.
3. Examine the sign-in sheets to make sure the voters who voted were true local residents, not outsiders bussed in (or mailed in) by the GOP.

If you see any work like this posted on the Internet, please link to it below.