Election integrity timeline 2007
From dKosopedia
Contents |
December 2007
- December 21: Arizona: county judge rules that local Democratic Party is entitled to see two electronic voting databases from 2006 primary and general election
- December 19: Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner criticized for proposed remedies to election integrity threats
- December 18: Florida: federal judge blocks law preventing individual from registering to vote if Social Security or driver's license number cannot be matched to a state database
- December 17: Voting Section Chief John Tanner steps down amid allegations that he used his position to aid a Republican strategy to suppress African-American votes
- December 17: Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman decertifies 3 out of 4 electronic voting systems; Diebold/Premier is only one not to be decertified. (see detailed report in PDF format and Daily Kos diary: Colorado decertifies 3 of 4 electronic voting machine manufacturers).
- December 15: Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner releases a study finding that all five of the state's voting systems had critical flaws, and were vulnerable to tampering. (Source: "Ohio Elections Official Calls Machines Flawed", New York Times, Dec. 15, 2007; see Brunner's overview, executive report, Brad Friedman's interview of Brunner)
- December 10: Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) adds "opt-in" provision to H.R. 811-110 to authorize federal reimbursement for states that offer paper-based options to voters by Nov. 2008
- December 1: VoteTrustUSA to be folded into Verified Voting
November 2007
- November 25: Kathy Dopp (of National Election Data Archive) compiles list of studies of Diebold/Premier, including recently released unredacted version of SAIC study
- November 2: Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) thanks Senators Nelson and Whitehouse for their companion bill (see November 1)
- November 1: Senators Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) introduce S. 2295-110 to ban DREs by 2012; legislation takes the form of a modified version of H.R. 811-110, to which it serves as a companion bill
October 2007
- October 25-27: Election audit summit brings together statisticians, election officials, and advocates
- October 3: Kathy Dopp of National Election Data Archive files federal complaint; says Utah election law conflicts with federal law; see Park Record article
- October 2: KY report encourages state to move to optical scan voting machines
September 2007
- September 11: Republicans on Ohio's Controlling Board block SoS Jennifer Brunner's proposed contract for voting machine testing; see "Republicans Block Voting Machine Testing in Ohio" by "markthshark" (September 18, 2007)
- September 4: H.R. 811-110 scheduled to reach the House floor this week (but postponed)
August 2007
- August 29: lawsuit against former SoS Bruce McPherson (CA-R) withdrawn; plaintiffs state that Bowen's August 3 action addressed their concerns
- August 14: "Dan Rather Reports: The Trouble with Touch Screens" airs on HDNet; see Brad Blog post as well
- August 3: SoS Debra Bowen (CA-D) places rigorous security conditions on voting equipment used in dozens of counties and limits the use of two of the most widely used machines statewide.
July 2007
- July 31: "Diebold E-Voting Flaws Could Compromise Elections" article by Marc L. Songini in Computerworld cites FL SoS's report stating that Diebold optical scan machines are vulnerable to vote manipulation by illicitly inserting a pre-programmed memory card into a voting terminal
- July 30: Sacramento, CA hearing on reviews of Sequoia and Diebold voting machines scheduled for 10:00 a.m.
- July 27: "Top-to-bottom" review of voting security completed by CA SoS Debra Bowen; see Daily Kos diary by "juls"
June 2007
- June 19: Bill Richardson, presidential candidate and long-time paper ballot proponent, writes editorial in "The Hill"
- June 18: Georgia Supreme Court rejects challenge to voter ID requirement
- mid-June: Oregon governor signs bill that disallows payment on the basis of number of voters registered
- June 10: Richard Hasen writes "The fraudulent fraud squad: The case of the incredible, disappearing American Center for Voting Rights" in the Dallas News about the quiet disappearance of a Republican-staffed think tank focused on voter fraud; see also Daily Kos diary on Thor Hearne by "Glic"
- June 7: U.S. Senate Committee hearing: "Prevention of Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation in Federal Elections: S. 453" (chaired by Ben Cardin of MD)
- June 4: Greg Gordon reports for McClatchy Washington bureau: "Justice Department actions expected to draw congressional scrutiny"
May 2007
- May 24: S. 1487 referred to Senate Committee
- May 18: Richard L. Hasen of Slate reports that the American Center for Voting Rights— the only prominent nongovernmental organization claiming that voter fraud is a major problem, a problem warranting strict rules such as voter-ID laws—simply stopped appearing at government panels and conferences.
- May 16: H.R. 811 placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 91 (released from committee and added to queue of bills to be heard on the floor)
- May 13: Brad Friedman reports in Computerworld that a worm attacked Sarasota County database in 2006 net result was that early voters could not be verified for two hours; see diary by "sharonmg"
- May 9: Christine Jennings files a motion in FL First District Court of Appeal to defer to House investigation (see diary by "markthshark")
- May 3: Florida House unanimously passes CS/HB 537, which provides almost all voters paper ballots in time for the 2008 Presidential election and bans paperless DREs outright by 2012 (bill already passed in the Senate, and will be signed by the governor)
- May 3: task force to probe voting machines in Sarasota recount 2006
- May 2: "U.S. attorneys: 2006 Missouri's election was ground zero for GOP" by Greg Gordon for McClatchy Newspapers
- May 1: EAC meeting on whether to allow Florida to use its remaining HAVA funds to replace its paperless electronic ballot voting machines
April 2007
- April 24: state and local officials mounting coordinated effort to block H.R. 811-110, USAToday article claims
- April 22: OH votes in 2004 (including phantom votes) were reported on same RNC network that hosted missing e-mails
- April 21: audit committee finds 1 in 4 votes recorded incorrectly on Diebold system in Cuyahoga County in 2006 (see full "Collaborative Public Audit" report (PDF format)
- April 19: House approves voting representative for Washington, DC
- April 17-18: scheduled ACLU conference in Miami, FL on felon enfranchisement
- April 16: WI State Elections Board reports that 82 felons may have voted in 2006 election (82 felons / 2.16 million state residents = .0038%; 82 felons / 41,500 felons being supervised = .20%); one felon jailed for a year after voting while on probation
- April 16: "DC Emancipation Day": scheduled march for DC citizens' right to vote
- April 12: PA court rules that voters have right to challenge unverifiable and unauditable voting machines
- April 11: NYT article by Ian Urbina cites claims that the EAC altered its original report on voter fraud and intimidation (see also additional dKos diary on the subject)
- April 11: Bob Bennett, Republican chairman of Cuyahoga County (OH) elections board, resigns
- April 11: 75,000 active voter registration forms found in dumpster in Fulton County, GA
- April 10: FL passes measure to restore voting rights to some non-violent felons
- April 10: MD passes paper ballot bill; governor expected to sign it
- April 2: MD House of Delegates passes National Popular Vote plan 85-54
March 2007
- late March: MO Secretary of State report on 2006 midterm election says "As in previous elections, the absence of reports of voting impersonation or voting fraud in the 2006 election in Missouri was notable"
- late March: IA Senate approves election-day registration bill (HF 653)
- March 29: Joseph Rich claims that Bush administration skewed law enforcement to skew election outcomes Joseph Rich was chief of the voting section in the Justice Department's civil rights division from 1999 to 2005 and 35-year veteran of the department; now works for the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
- March 30: NJ decides on maximum amounts for Clean Election funding
- March 28: Rep. McNerney (D-CA) releases election protection task force report
- March 26: judge refuses three emergency motions by Diebold in its case against MA for voiding its contract
- March 21: IA House approves election day registration
- March 21: NYT editorial by David Iglesias points out that he was one of just two U.S. attorneys to create voter-fraud task force in 2004; he reviewed more than 100 complaints, but felt there was only one that should be prosecuted federally and as much as he wanted to prosecute the case, he could not overcome evidentiary problems; was eventually fired despite his excellent job performance
- March 20: judge rules that statue under which Tobin was convicted in NH phone-jamming case not a "close fit" but did not void conviction
- March 20: hearing by the Committee on House Administration's Subcommittee on Elections
- March 16: NYT editorial says there's no evidence that any of the fired US attorneys ignored real instances of voter fraud; "[b]y resisting pressure to crack down on 'fraud,' the fired United States attorneys actually appear to have been standing up for the integrity of the election system."
- March 16: Steve Ansolabehere reports on the initial findings of the 2006 Cooperative Congressional Elections Study many voters found to have been asked for photo ID although only two states required it
- March 15: DC Voting Rights Act (H.R. 1433-110th) moves to House floor
- March 15: "Voter Fraud: A Tough Crime to Prove" by Pam Fessler, Morning Edition, NPR
- March 15: testimony by David Wagner before the Committee on House Administration's Subcommittee on Elections (PDF format) addresses source code disclosure
- March 15: hearing by the Committee on House Administration's Subcommittee on Elections
- mid-March: lawyer for Christine Jennings uncovers August 15 letter from ES&S warning of slow software response times; recommendation for applying patch or notifying voters was rejected
- March 14: Hawaii House approves election-day registration bill (HB1133)
- March 14: statement by disabled voters calling for accessible and secure voting systems
- March 13: Washington Senate approves election-day registration bill (SB5561)
- March 13: two Cuyahoga County election workers sentenced to 18 months in prison for rigging 2004 election recount so they could avoid longer review
- March 13: "Evidence Indicates EAC’s On-Going Failure Will Continue" (PDF format) Ellen Theisen of Voters Unite testifies before the House Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Financial Services that the EAC "should immediately appoint well-qualified, competent Commissioners and Executive Director to replace those now in office, or it should refuse to authorize further funding for this agency"
- March 9: Avi Rubin testifies before House subcommittee that DREs with or without paper trails are not reasonable for use, thus reversing his 2003 belief
- March 7: Judiciary Committee hearing: "Protecting the Right to Vote: Election Deception and Irregularities in recent Federal Elections" Panel I: Sen. Barack Obama (Ill), Sen. Ben Cardin (Md.), Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill), Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), Rep. Peter King (R-IA), and Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-CA); Panel II: Ms. Donna Brazile, Chair, DNC Voting Rights Institute, Professor Eve Sandberg, Oberlin College, Mr. Ralph Neas, President and CEO, People for the American Way, and Mr. John Fund, Columnist, The Wall Street Journal.
- March 7: House Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Financial Services hearing: "Ensuring the Integrity of Elections" Witnesses: EAC chair Donnetta Davidson, former EAC commissioner Ray Martinez, Randolph Hite, GAO Director on Information Technology Architecture and Systems, and Avi Rubin, Director of ACCURATE
- March 7: GAO report: "All Levels of Government Are Needed to Address Electronic Voting System Challenges" (PDF format); statement of Randolph Hite, GAO Director on Information Technology Architecture and Systems]
- March 5: ProjectVote releases "Politics of Voter Fraud" report (PDF format) ("At the federal level, records show that only 24 people were convicted of or pleaded guilty to illegal voting between 2002 and 2005... The available state-level evidence of voter fraud... is also negligible.")
- March 5: ACLU-MA and Disability Law Center applaud SoS Galvin (MA) for approving accessible devices for marking paper ballots (PDF format)
- March 3: John Edwards becomes first presidential candidate to ask for ban on DRE voting machines
February 2007
- February 21: Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) withdraws her support for H.R.811
- February 7: Senate Committee on Rules and Administration hearings: "The Hazards of Electronic Voting: Focus on the Machinery of Democracy"
- February 6: [http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/nj12_holt/020607.html Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) reintroduces Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act, now numbered H.R.811 (was H.R.550)
- February 1: FL Gov. Crist (R) announces state plans to mandate a paper trail (front-page Daily Kos article by kos)
- February 1: nine election integrity experts send letter to Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) supporting tiered audits
January 2007
- January 24: Two OH election workers convicted of rigging the 2004 presidential election recount (see also dKos diary by StevenLeser)
- January 12: CT SoS Susan Bysiewicz unveils proposal for mandatory annual audits of one-fifth of all polling places
- January 8: Lowell Finley, co-founder of Voter Action, tapped by Debra Bowen (CA SoS) for deputy SoS (dKos diary by dday)
- January 5: Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald, new chair of Committee on House Administration, sends letter to FL First District Court of Appeal expressing concern with judge's decision not to allow review of ES&S voting machine source code letter (in PDF format)
- January 5: State Sen. Mike Bennett in FL wants to introduce "none of the above" option on ballot
- January 5: EAC chair Donetta Davidson orders Ciber to stop testing machines after assessor finds problems with their methods
- January 3-6: Election Center (with financial ties to voting machine vendors) to conduct intensive lobby effort in Washington, DC
- January 3: Christine Jennings files for appeal in FL-13 recount case
