[CTGP-elections] RE: {news} Fw: Post-Election Audit Observation Report
Mike DeRosa
smderosa at cox.net
Wed Jan 28 22:20:47 EST 2009
From: CTGP-elections at yahoogroups.com [mailto:CTGP-elections at yahoogroups.com]
On Behalf Of Mike DeRosa
Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2009 4:12 PM
To: 'David Bedell'; ctgp-news at ml.greens.org; ctgp-elections at yahoogroups.com;
CTVOTER at yahoogroups.com; RecountTheVotes at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [CTGP-elections] RE: {news} Fw: Post-Election Audit Observation
Report
Greens:
The non-counting of our write-in votes for President are not mentioned in
this report because write-in votes are not audited under present CT law.
Three Greens (Richard Duffee, Scott Deshefy, Mike DeRosa) and a Libertarian
officer (Andy Rule) met with the two co-chairs of the Government and
Elections committee( a week ago) about changing the law so that write-in
votes would be included in the audit. We also presented them with other
proposals to make ballot access law fairer (see attachment). We have not
heard anything back from them yet, but two other members of the GAE
committee are interested in meeting with us next week.
If you would like to attend, let me know and you can come and tell them why:
All political parties are equal in CT, But some political parties are more
equal than others. See attachment for details(See bill 4-Bullet #2)
Sincerely,
Mike DeRosa
Here is the attachment, just in case you can't open the above attachment.
SUGGESTIONS FOR BALLOT ACCESS BILLS
SUBMITTED BY THE GREEN PARTY OF CT TO GOVERNMENT AND ELECTIONS COMMITTEE
1/21/09 MIKE DE ROSA 860-919-4042
Bill Number 1 -Reduce the number of signatures required for entry on to the
ballot.
We suggest that the legislature reduce the number of signatures required for
ballot access for state wide office, congressional districts, and for
President. Presently the number of raw signatures required for state wide
office and president is 7500 valid signatures on 169 separate petition forms
(one for each town and city in CT). The real raw signature requirement is
really closer to 15,000 signatures because between 40-50% are rejected for
various reasons by town and city clerks.
We suggest that the legislature reduce the number of required signatures for
state wide office to 1000 valid signatures for state wide office and
president. We further suggest that the legislature reduce the number of
required signatures for U.S. Congress or U.S. Senate to 500 and 1000
respectively. This would apply to all minor parties and all independent
candidacies. We suggest that the state legislature reduce petitioning
requirements for all other offices from 1% to .5%. Many states in New
England and the state of N.J. have similar reduced signature requirements
for ballot access.
Bill Number 2-All signatures on ballot access petitions should be checked by
CT SOTS not city or town officials.
We suggest that all signatures be checked by the CT SOTS not by 169
different town clerks and other people in 169 different towns. The present
procedure creates 169 standards for what is accepted as a valid signature
for ballot access. The SOTS requirement that a voter include their date of
birth should make it easier for the SOTS to use computer records to identify
and validate names on petitions. Both the Libertarian and the Green Parties
of CT have encountered 50% drop off rates in many towns in CT in 2008.
These rejection rates are the highest we have ever encountered in 30 years
of petitioning. Something unusual happened in 2008 with the petitions and
the process of checking those petitions.
Bill Number 3-Ballot Access petitions should consist of one petition form
for each office not different forms for each town or city
Petitions should not be collected on 169 different forms but should be done
on one petition form for each office. The CT SOTS requires that the date of
birth to be recorded on all petition sheets. The SOTS has a master computer
list that includes the dates of birth for all registered voters. This
should make it fairly easy for the SOTS office to validate or reject
signatures on one sheet.
Bill Number 4-Other Important Issues:
. Legislation that would require the CT SOTS to post the names of
officially recognized write-in candidates at every polling place.
. Require that CT SOTS include write-in votes in required audits.
. Require that an official appeals process for rejected signatures
on petitions be put in place to allow minor parties due process when names
are rejected by ballot access officials.
. Legislation establishing a system that would allow minor parties a
procedure by which they would be able to obtain permanent ballot access
without having to get 20% of the vote for Governor or 20% of the registered
voters to join their party.
. Clarify the nature of Provisional Ballots and how they will be
officially recognized.
. Create reasonable, fair, and uniform standards for minor parties
that will legalize their existence for the purposes of ballot access,
registration, and access to the polls.
. Require all party voter registration forms to list all "minor
parties" by name on registration forms in the same fashion as "major
parties"
. Study Instant Runoff Voting and Proportional Representation(blue
ribbon commission?)
-----Original Message-----
From: ctgp-news-bounces at ml.greens.org
<mailto:ctgp-news-bounces%40ml.greens.org>
[mailto:ctgp-news-bounces at ml.greens.org
<mailto:ctgp-news-bounces%40ml.greens.org> ] On Behalf Of David Bedell
Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2009 2:21 PM
To: ctgp-news at ml.greens.org <mailto:ctgp-news%40ml.greens.org> ;
ctgp-elections at yahoogroups.com <mailto:ctgp-elections%40yahoogroups.com> ;
CTVOTER at yahoogroups.com <mailto:CTVOTER%40yahoogroups.com> ;
RecountTheVotes at yahoogroups.com <mailto:RecountTheVotes%40yahoogroups.com>
Subject: {news} Fw: Post-Election Audit Observation Report
Connecticut Green Party - Part of the GPUS
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There's still a lot of room for improvement in CT's election procedures.
David Bedell
----- Original Message -----
From: <Update@ CTElectionAudit.org>
To: <dbedellgreen@ hotmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2009 1:49 PM
Subject: Post-Election Audit Observation Report
Dear Coalition Observer,
Today we released the fourth Coalition Observation Report. This one
covering the November 2008 post-election audits, based on your observations
and the official reports submitted by election officials.
The text of the press release follows.
The press release, full report, and excerpts are available at
http://www.ctelectionaudit.org/?p=40
Without your time and commitment to democracy, nobody but a few election
officials in each town would know how the audits were conducted.
Thank you,
Luther Weeks
Luther@ CTVotersCount.org
860-918-2115
****************************************
Press Release
****************************************
Connecticut Citizen Election Audit Coalition
Connecticut's November 2008 Post-Election Audits Report
Large Differences From Optical Scanner Totals
Coalition Calls On Legislature To Act
Hartford, Connecticut -Today, the Connecticut Citizen Election Audit
Coalition released its report on the November 2008 post-election audits.
The Coalition noted large differences between reported results by electronic
voting equipment and the hand count of ballots by election officials across
Connecticut. In some cases as many as twenty-four (24) fewer ballots were
counted by hand than recorded by optical scanners. For individual candidate
races, vote counts between hand counts and scanner tapes varied by as much
as three-hundred-sixty-six (366) votes in one race or as much as 46% in
another. Most officials attributed the widespread differences to the
inability to count votes accurately by hand.
Coalition spokesperson Luther Weeks noted, "Given the variation in the
counting procedures used, there is no way to distinguish when officials or
machines counted accurately or inaccurately. When differences are dismissed
as human counting errors, it is unlikely that an audit would identify an
election error or fraud should that occur."
>From the report:
We conclude, based on our observations and analysis of audit reports
submitted to the Secretary of the State that the November post-election
audits still do not inspire confidence.Among our greatest concerns are the
discrepancies between machine counts and hand-counts reported to the
Secretary of the State by several municipalities. In many cases, these
discrepancies are not thoroughly and reasonably explained. We believe that
the ad-hoc counting procedures used by many municipalities were not
sufficient to count ballots accurately and efficiently.
Cheryl Dunson, League of Women Voters of Connecticut's Vice President of
Public Issues, stated, "We have reorganized our recommendations to the
Secretary of the State and the Legislature. Along with improvements to laws,
and audit procedures, we recommend that an Independent Audit Board be
established."
Cheri Quickmire, Executive Director, Connecticut Common Cause said, "Gaps in
ballot chain-of-custody, election accounting, and the post-election audits
must be addressed to assure integrity and provide confidence to the voters
of Connecticut"
Tom Swan, Executive Director, Connecticut Citizen Action Group, said "This
is our fourth report showing similar weaknesses in the post-election audits.
After these reports and five public hearings around the state, it is time
for the Legislature to act."
Observers came from the membership ranks of the coalition partners -- The
League of Women Voters of Connecticut, The Connecticut Citizen Action Group,
Common Cause Connecticut, and Connecticut Voters Count. The coalition's
reports are available online at: http://www.CTElectionAudit.org
*****
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