Voting Day… no… Voting Month!

Just wondering when the last vote will be counted this year? With the holiday, I would guess some of the vote counting will slow for awhile. Once again, the point is that election day no longer takes a day.  Nov. 28th is just 3 days away, which is the last day in the nation for any state to certify the November’s election, [...]

Vote By Mail Project Op-Ed

Bill Bradbury, Oregon’s Secretary of State, recently wrote an editorial that appeared in the Nov 19th issue of the Washington Post. In this editorial Mr. Bradbury argues that Vote By Mail is a huge success in Oregon. It is also the answer to those pesky problems like long-lines and touch screen voting machines:
We don’t suffer [...]

Another Op-Ed On Vote-By Mail Problems

This article, published by The Century Foundation, is very interesting. One because it references a conference in Seattle about voting, last year… which is my hometown, and two because it’s about my favorite subject–problems with voting by mail. Here’s a highlight:
While many legislators vigorously pursue enactment of voter identification requirements, [...]

Two Weeks Of Vote Counts Still Going… Going… Going

These news reports here, and here, detail races still being counted or recounted as of today. Folks, tomorrow is the second Tuesday since the election! What used to take a day or two to count by hand, at the precinct in your local gym, church, or civic hall, can now take weeks, as ballots drift [...]

San Juan County Lawsuit — VoteHere Ballot Tracking Software

Tim White, from the San Juan County Greens updates the story that is unfolding in San Juan County where Green Party members are suing the county over the use of ballot tracking software that compromises the integrity of the secret ballot:
November 15th, 2006 at 1:22 pm
Here’s an update on the early Nov comment reporting Green [...]

The Oddest Op-Ed On VBM versus Touch Screens Ever

From the Oregon Statesman Journal, comes the oddest letter to the editor ever. In the letter the author calls for the return to poll based voting, which is less vulnerable to fraud than vote by mail… which I agree with. But then calls for a return to voting machines made by ATM manufacturers, [...]

Many races around the country still too close to call

As the country moves increasingly to forced vote by mail systems, many races this year remain too close to call more than a week after this year’s election.
In Creswell Oregon, Election Director Annette Newingham, had this to say to the local paper:
Read the Full Story
“Oregon’s vote-by-mail system is easy for the voters, but labor intensive [...]

The Candidates Agree!

From the AP Newswire:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/14/ap/politics/mainD8LCLIG80.shtml
Reichert said Burner called to congratulate him on a second term, and the two shared their frustrations about the slow pace of Washington’s largely vote-by-mail elections.

“Finally, something we agree on,” Reichert told The Associated Press in a phone interview from Washington, D.C.

New Editorial In The Albany-Democrat Herald

http://www.dhonline.com/articles/2006/11/13/news/opinion/8edi01_excitement.txt
Excerpt below:
Television news last Tuesday reported the excitement of election day across the United States. Voters watching in Oregon might have felt a little left out. No excitement here. No outward sign of an election — such as “Vote here” signs in front of polling places.
The rain that day might have made old-style [...]

Spokane Review Op-Ed on Vote By Mail

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/local/story.asp?ID=159067
Excerpt from the Spokane Review Editorial:
Remember “New Coke”? All the experts agreed it was the wave of the future. It would taste better and outsell Pepsi forever.

Everything was perfectly planned, except none of that happened. The public hated it, the experts were wrong, and New Coke was one of the biggest product bombs of the [...]