07.04.09
Why does it have to be either/or?
I get frustrated by those who see CIA conspiracies lurking under every rock and hiding in the shrubbery every time there is an international incident. The recent situations in Iran and Honduras are both prime examples of this kind of thinking. Read the rest of this entry »
New questions about Iran’s election
Aspects of the Iran election remind me of a TV commercial for men’s pants. There are several variations but the basic storyline concerns some guy who is shown going through a variety of spills and disasters only to return home to the question: “Where have those pants been?”
While the pants are unscathed the guy appears disheveled and somewhat worse for the wear, the pants are free of stains and wrinkles. The sales pitch is that one should prefer pants that stay crisp and clean no matter what.
But what does the Dockers commercial have to do with the Iran election, you might wonder. The answer is simple — photos of paper ballots being recounted have been shown on Iranian TV. But the pictures just raise new questions about the integrity of Iran’s electoral process. The question that must be asked: “Where have these ballots been?” Read the rest of this entry »
06.22.09
‘Where is my vote?’
The sign says it all: “Where is my vote?”
Throughout the ongoing street marches in Iran the sign eloquently expresses the underlying sense of many Iranians that their votes were simply not counted. Their voices at the ballot box were not heard.
One marcher eloquently expressed the feelings of many as she was interviewed on TV: “There was so much energy for Mousavi — we knew he was winning.” Read the rest of this entry »
06.21.09
Will 4th time be the charm for Holt’s bill?
After months of behind-the-scenes discussions Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) has introduced the latest incarnation of his Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility bill.
Beginning in 2003 in the aftermath of HAVA Holt has introduced various versions of this bill in every Congress, the latest being HR 2894. The main provisions of the “new and improved” VCIAA bill would move the nation toward universal voter marked paper ballots and post-election audits for Federal elections. The bill was introduced with 75 co-sponsors, demonstrating widespread support in the House. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s official: More votes than voters in 50 Iran cities
Shocking admission of election fraud from Iran’s Guardian Council: in at least 50 cities more votes were recorded in the reported tally than there where eligible voters. They estimate that at least 3 million of the 40 million plus votes cast in Iran’s recent presidential election are impacted by this finding. The Guardian Council published its conclusions on the Iranian government website: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=98711§ionid=351020101
The council’s Spokesman Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei, who was speaking on the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) Channel 2 on Sunday, made the remarks in response to complaints filed by Mohsen Rezaei — a defeated candidate in the June 12 Presidential election.
“Statistics provided by Mohsen Rezaei in which he claims more than 100% of those eligible have cast their ballot in 170 cities are not accurate — the incident has happened in only 50 cities,” Kadkhodaei said. Read the rest of this entry »
06.07.09
MN Supremes: Show Us the Evidence
It took seven long months for the Franken-Coleman election contest to wind its way to oral arguments before the Minnesota Supreme Court. Now it appears that the day of final decision is finally near and the certificate of election will be issued.
The consensus of court-watchers is that Al Franken is likely to be seated as the junior U.S. Senator from Minnesota.
The basis for this consensus is the persistent quest for solid evidence from the Coleman legal team. Over and over again the various justices asked for evidence of how many votes there might be to overturn Franken’s 312-vote lead. The justices wanted a witness list, suggestions of what their testimony might be and hard numbers about the ballots in question, not statistical sampling or nebulous
theories. Read the rest of this entry »
Minneapolis Takes the ‘Instant’ Out of IRV
Those who have been watching the long (seven months and counting!) slog toward a final resolution the Coleman-Franken election contest will not be amazed to discover that the same slow methodical approach will be applied to Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) in Minneapolis. There won’t be any cutting corners for Minnesotans, unlike what was done elsewhere (Cary, NC and Aspen, CO spring to mind here!). http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/05/21/irv_voting/ Read the rest of this entry »
SD ‘Glitch’ adds 5000 phantom votes
An unexplained ‘glitch’ nearly doubled the reported vote count in a recent local election in Rapid City, SD. Election officials were quick to note that the error was caught and did not change election results.
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2009/06/04/news/local/doc4a26be929b134639509302.txt?show_comments=true#commentdiv
Comment: election officials always assure the voting public that every thing is OK after a glitch like this is found, metaphorically pat us on the head and tell us to ‘move along … nothing to see here.’ They expect us to ignore the signs that something went wrong that they can’t explain — or how they plan to prevent similar glitchy events in future elections. Read the rest of this entry »
05.25.09
HI tries public campaign financing
The Aloha state’s first publicly funded elections will be tested on the Big Island next year. Hawaii will join jurisdictions throughout the U.S. that are instituting the public financing option.
Candidates for city council will need to make a decision by February 1, 2010 if they wish to participate. Meanwhile, there is a lot of work to do in developing rules and procedures. http://www.pddnet.com/news-ap-big-island-testing-publicly-funding-elections-052409/
The state Campaign Spending Commission must comply with the law by hiring and training new staff, creating an online filing system, creating a candidate’s guide, providing training classes and developing an independent and nonpartisan review committee for the funding program.
“We have a long way to go,” said commission Executive Director Barbara Wong. “There’s a lot of questions that need to be asked as we’ve gone through the law.” Read the rest of this entry »
05.24.09
Welcoming Texas to the 21st century?
With the speed of a Texas drawl, the Texas legislature finally got around to ratifying the 24th Amendment. Footdraggingly they acted 45 years after the amendment was ratified by sufficient states to become the law of the land. Read the rest of this entry »
