Electronic Voting in Ireland

The United States isn't the only country with a controversy over voting technology. See this report from RTE News, reporting that:

An independent commission has told the Dail that electronic voting machines which cost 52 million [euros] can be used again, but only if millions of euros are spent on modifications and new software.

The Commission on Electronic Voting said it is satisfied with the security and accuracy of the machines, but that the separate software to count the votes is not suitable and should be replaced.

Its report, which was laid before the Dail this afternoon, also calls for further testing and improved security measures.

Keeping Felons on Florida's Registration List?

The Palm Beach Post has this story reporting that: "In sharp contrast to the 2000 elections, when thousands of eligible voters were mistakenly purged from the rolls because of an error-riddled felon voter list, elections supervisors say the state is going to the other extreme, thoroughly checking and removing new registrants but too often allowing felons already registered to remain." There's a dispute between state and local election officials over who has the authority to remove people from the new statewide registration list.

"DeLay's Two-Step"

John Fortier has this analysis of LULAC v. Perry and its impact, on the American Enterprise Institute site.

"Democrats Not Eager to Emulate Texas's Redistricting"

The Washington Post has this report, which says that there are perhaps four states where Democrats might reap gains from a mid-decade redistricting (Illinois, North Carolina, New Mexico and Louisiana) but that they're not likely to try "because of factors that include racial politics, Democratic cautiousness and even a hurricane's impact."

Recount Demanded in Mexican Election

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is now requesting a vote-by-vote recount of ballots in Mexico's election, in which the initial count showed he lost to Felipe Calderon by just over 1%. The NY Times has this report and the AP this one, which reports that it's not clear whether the demand for a full recount will be met. Election officials acknowledge that at least three million of the 41 million votes cast weren't counted, but say this is because they were marked incorrectly or otherwise appeared to be invalid.

Does any of this sound familiar?

Trouble with Statewide Voter Registration Lists

The Help America Vote Act requires that every state have in place a statewide registration database for this year's elections. The Madison Capital Times reports here that Wisconsin is having trouble making its work: "The state's new voter registration system can't process absentee ballots and is five times slower than the city of Madison's current system, says Mayor Dave Cieslewicz." The software for the system was developed by Accenture.

How well statewide registration databases work is a big issue to watch this year. Unfortunately, there's not been a whole lot of media coverage, but you can find more on the status of each state's database (including the vendor it's using) on the votingindustry.com website -- a great source of information for those interested in the subject. It also has information on each states' voting equipment.