Vote observers: access to US polling places difficult
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An international human rights group said its observers for the 2004 US election found access to polling stations difficult in Florida and Ohio.
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Even non-Americans can cast a vote in the upcoming U.S. presidential election thanks to a Web site tracking world opinion on the race for the White House.
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I just registered to vote in the upcoming US elections, even though I live in Canada.  I was able to register through the help of the Federal Voting Assistance Program, which provides a simple registration form that can be used to register in every US state and territory except American Samoa and Guam.    US Citizens living overseas can register to vote in the US state they last physically resided in.  I lived in Owl's Head, Maine before I moved to Nova Scotia, so that's where I registered.    I meant to submit an article about my experience to help other US expatriates who are k5 readers, but life intervened and I didn't get around to registering until after the deadline for most states.    You might still be able to register depending on your state, and in any case your registration will still be valid for the 2006 elections.      The deadline for absentee voters in Maine is tomorrow.  Fortunately, Maine accepts the Federal Post Card Application by fax.  Not every state does, one reason the instructions are complex and hard to understand.    Read on for details of how you can register from overseas.
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Want to be an armchair analyst and guess the results of the American presidential election on Nov. 2, polling day, before anyone else?
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(InfoWorld) - With hotly contested nationwide elections just weeks away, several computer experts Thursday questioned the reliability and security of e-voting systems during a congressional committee hearing. Access doors of thousands of Diebold AcuVote-TS touch-screen systems can all be opened with the same key -- a type commonly used for office furniture, jukeboxes and hotel minibars, Princeton University computer science professor Edward Felten told the committee. That door protects the removable memory card that stores votes. "Though some claim that election procedures will prevent the kinds of problems we identified, the rigid procedures described in vendor manuals are often ignored in practice," said Felten, co-author of a study that was highly critical of Diebold Election Systems' AccuVote TS. Also today, the Committee on House Administration took no action on legislation proposed by Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) aimed at remedying e-voting vulnerabilities. The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act (HR 550), introduced last February, now has more than 200 bipartisan co-sponsors. Among its various provisions, HR 550 would mandate that each machine produce a paper receipt that could be used in a recount. The bill also calls for e-voting vendors to offer greater transparency to their software. By not sending the bill to the floor for a vote, the committee missed any chance of ensuring that November's elections would produce auditable results, Holt said. The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002 was aimed at preventing the sort of notorious failures such as occurred in Florida in 2000 due to disputes over manually operated punch-card systems. Some $3 billion was earmarked under HAVA to fund state compliance, with most of that money going to purchase e-voting gear, said committee chairman Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.) in his opening remarks for the hearing. "Though HAVA did not require the adoption of any particular kind of technology, many jurisdictions purchased electronic voting systems because they felt these systems were best able to meet the requirements of HAVA," said Ehlers. "Not surprisingly, some jurisdictions using this new equipment for the first time have encountered some difficulties," he said. Ehlers cited recent problems with e-voting gear in Montgomery County, Md. Earlier this week, Ehlers submitted an amendment to HAVA to reimburse any voting jurisdictions that print out paper ballots for voters who prefer not to cast their votes on touch-screen voting gear this November. Similar legislation was filed by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) in the Senate. The bill calls for up to 75 cents to be spent per paper ballot. Ehlers estimated that it would probably cost no more than $10 million, based on the estimate of the number of voters in precincts using touch-screen gear that don't offer a paper trail. He told Computerworld he offered the amendment because he didn't expect HR 550 to be passed this year. "We thought in light of the problems we've seen, most recently in Maryland, that collectively, these problems were shaking voters' confidence," he said. "We thought if jurisdictions want to give voters another choice, we should support them in that." Ehlers declined to predict when or if the emergency amendment would pass. Like all House members, Ehlers is up for re-election this year, and his district uses e-voting gear. "Certainly, any voting system that is not verifiable and auditable is of concern," he said.
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For those U.S. residents still unsure which presidential candidate to vote for -- and there appear to be quite a few who can't make up their minds less than a week before the election -- there's a new Web-based tool that can help voters match their positions to those of the major presidential candidates.
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For technology experts concerned about how electronic voting systems will perform on election day, what better tools to use to monitor the situation than those of their trade: the Web and open source development.
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One of my favorite philosophers, Yogi Berra, once said you can observe a lot by just watching. Between now and Election Day there is some important polling information to watch for to track how the race between
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In the weeks leading up to November in the US, it&#8217;s abundantly clear that this is not &#8220;election season&#8221; but rather &#8220;polling season&#8221;; with the actual voting still some ways off, our pundits must resort to polls and surveys as an estimate of what the will of the people will be on Election Day. But just how accurate are the samples in those polls?
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The 100,000 electronic voting machines in use in Tuesday's election have a big downside: Candidates who dispute the results won't have a way to conduct a meaningful recount. Analysis by Kim Zetter.
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On the internet, no one knows if you're a voter By now, you've most likely heard of Democrats Abroad, the organization that for the first time in history is allowing US citizens to use the internet to cast ballots in a presidential primary.â¦
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Hoping to avoid the problems of dimpled ballots and hanging chads, election officials around the U.S. will rely on electronic voting machines for tomorrow's presidential vote. But are the machines secure?
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Learns that technology is no panacea Florida, the epicentre of hopelessly confused US elections, is chucking touch-screen ballot machines in favour of optical scanners, the Associated Press reports.â¦
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WASHINGTON As we enter the last days before the presidential election, Americans seem skeptical about the voting process. A new Associated Press Ipsos-Public Affairs poll finds that 60 percent of those asked
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Most area voters won&#39;t need a lawyer Tuesday when they go to the polls. But they may need a little patience. &quot;Bring ID, and don&#39;t get discouraged when the lines are long,&quot; said St.
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Observers, both Republican and Democrat, have become a new addition to early voting precincts throughout South Florida. At most early voting sites, they&#39;re found sitting quietly in a corner
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A new open-source search engine lets users vote on results.