Election 2006

FL-13: Dem Sends Shot across The Bow

Paul Kiel | January 8, 2007, 11:26AM

If there was any doubts as to whether Democrats would take a hands-on approach to the election dispute in Florida's 13th District, Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-CA) resolved them late last week.

Millender-McDonald, the Chairwoman of the committee in charge of handling Democrat Christine Jennings' challenge of the election results, sent a pointed letter last Thursday to the Florida appeals court hearing the case, warning that if the courts did not adequately investigate the case, then Congress would be forced to get involved.

In February, the appeals court will decide whether to uphold a lower court's ruling preventing Jennings from examining the voting machines' source code as part of her election contest. Jennings' lawyers, who've offered testimony from dozens of voters about problems with the machines and say they could offer hundreds more, say they need access to the source code in order to adequately investigate the cause of the problems.

In the letter, Millender-McDonald wrote that her "Committee is closely following the course of the litigation now underway in Florida" and that it was "of concern" that Jennings hadn't received access "to the hardware and software (including the source code) needed to test the contestant's central claim: voting machine malfunction."

"[R]esolution of these issues may obviate the need for the House to address them," the Chairwoman noted.

Election 2006

FL-13: GOPer's Wife Had Voting Troubles

Paul Kiel | January 4, 2007, 3:19PM

Well, well, well. Another wrinkle in the post-election battle down in Florida's 13th District.

Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) has taken every opportunity to blast Democrat Christine Jennings for challenging the results of November's election in the district, even accusing her of "destroying democracy." But now it turns out that his own wife came to him about her own voting problems on Election Day.

"Mrs. Sandy Buchanan indicated on November 7, 2006 that she had difficulty registering her vote for Buchanan. [Vern Buchanan] did not respond to this complaint as the period for voting had nearly ended," reads a recent court filing by Buchanan (you can read it here). A memo by Buchanan's spokeswoman also turned over to Jennings as part of a court filing gives more detail:

"...on Election Day... Mrs. Buchanan indicated that she had to hit the button more than once, I think she said three times -- to record her vote for Mr. Buchanan."

Jennings has cited the testimony of hundreds of Sarasota County voters who had difficulties voting just like Sandy Buchanan to buffer her contention that electronic machine glitches cost her the election.

Election 2006

In Calif., GOP Tricksters Get Probation

Paul Kiel | January 4, 2007, 10:49AM

From the AP:

Two signature gatherers charged with tricking Orange County voters into registering as Republicans were sentenced to three years’ probation....

According to prosecutors, the recruiters went to shopping malls and campuses and asked residents to sign petitions for lower taxes or stricter sex offender laws, then tricked them into signing voter registration cards for the Republican party. The registration drive paid up to $10 per registrant.

Election 2006

FL-13: Judge Denies Access to Voting Machine Code

Justin Rood | December 29, 2006, 4:25PM

In a ruling handed down today, a Florida judge denied access to voting machines' source code by experts for Democrat Christine Jennings and others.

Jennings, along with the ACLU, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, People for the American Way Foundation and others, had asked the court to allow them access to the source code on voting machines used in Sarasota County, where they allege 18,000 votes were not counted.

Judge William L. Gary called their request "nothing more than conjecture and not supported by credible evidence," and said that making the secret code available for scrutiny "would result in destroying or at least gutting the protections afforded those who own the trade secrets."

A senior attorney on Jennings' side of the suit called Gary's ruling "an order without any legal basis whatsoever."

The judge "denied the voters of Sarasota County the ability to look inside the ballot boxes, essentially, that they're using to cast their ballot," David Becker, attorney for the People for the American Way Foundation, told me. "We're going to use every available avenue to see that this order is overturned."

Update: Here's the ruling.

Election 2006

FL-13: Jennings Won't Challenge Buchanan's Seating

Justin Rood | December 29, 2006, 2:14PM

Florida Democrat Christine Jennings said today she won't try to block Republican Vern Buchanan from being sworn in to represent the state's 13th District, despite her efforts to have that election declared unconstitutional.

In November's elections, Buchanan beat out Jennings by fewer than 400 votes to win the seat, but Jennings has contested the election both in Florida courts and before Congress.

"Christine is not conceding," her deputy campaign manager Robert Kellar explained to me by phone. After consulting with constituents, her staff and Democratic leadership, she "decided it would be best for the district to allow [Buchanan] to be seated temporarily," until the election disputes are sorted out.

Kellar said Jennings had the option of filing an official challenge to seating Buchanan in the 110th Congress, but opted not to. "If a constituent has a problem with Social Security or something, they need someone to go to," Kellar explained. She has, however, "contested" the election with Congress, which is a different process.

Kellar said that staffers for the House Administration Committee have received Jennings' formal contest and are currently investigating the matter. More on that soon.

Update: An earlier version of this post reported that election results showed Buchanan beat Jennings by 18,000 votes. That was incorrect; results showed Buchanan won by 369 votes. At issue in the dispute are an estimated 18,000 votes that may not have been properly registered.

Election 2006

FL-13 Update: House Dem Says He'll Support Jennings

Justin Rood | December 29, 2006, 10:41AM

Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) is set to announce he will back a challenge to the FL-13 election lodged by Democratic candidate Christine Jennings.

According to a press release from Holt's office, the congressman will announce at noon today that "he intends to take steps to put the House on record that no action taken on January 4, 2007 regarding the disputed election in Florida will prejudice the legal case or any investigation of the House Administration Committee."

Jennings, who is contesting her November loss to Republican Vern Buchanan, has already won the support of Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has so far remained silent on the issue, other than to say she is "monitoring" the situation.

Election 2006

D.C. Lobby Giant May Be Tied to Nasty Calls in 3rd Race

Justin Rood | December 27, 2006, 1:20PM

Misleading automated calls designed to turn North Carolina voters against Democrat Heath Shuler may have come from a GOP campaign firm controlled by the D.C. lobbying giant, Dutko Worldwide.

The calls, whose impact favored the (doomed) re-election campaign of Rep. Charles Taylor (R-NC), pretended to come from the Shuler camp, and came as late as 2:30 a.m., according to one report.

Taylor's campaign paid Direct Strategies over $113,000 for "phone calls" and "calling" services, according to filings at FECInfo.com.

Despite the calls Shuler beat Taylor 54 percent to 46 percent, and will represent North Carolina's 11th District when Congress convenes next month.

The race is the third known to have been hit with misleading robo calls that are circumstantially tied to the Tallahassee, Fla.-based firm Direct Strategies. Similar calls against Democrats in Nebraska and Pennsylvania coincide with payments to the firm from the National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC).

Read more »

Election 2006

Was Major Lobby Firm Behind Nasty Robo Calls?

Justin Rood | December 26, 2006, 5:10PM

A Florida-based Republican political firm with circumstantial ties to at least two nasty robocalling efforts this year isn't quite as obscure as we thought.

In the last days of the 2006 elections, Direct Strategies, Inc. of Tallahassee saw its name connected to dirty-tricks robo calls in Nebraska and Pennsylvania. Run by two state-level GOP operatives, the firm did not appear to cut a swaggering figure in national politics.

Here's the thing: according to filings with the state of Florida, "Direct Strategies, Inc." doesn't exist. It voluntarily dissolved in April 2005. In its place rose a new company, "Dutko Direct Strategies, Inc.," which appears to be controlled by one of Washington's largest lobby firms.

Read more »

Election 2006

State To Investigate Robo Calls

Paul Kiel | December 26, 2006, 10:58AM

A new investigation into harassing robo calls from November´s election may lead to the National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC).

The Nebraska Public Service Commission has launched an investigation into one of one of the more egregious examples of attempted voter suppression this year. In the 3rd District there, voters reported receiving repeated (often back-to-back) calls featuring a recorded voice that seemed to belong to Democrat Scott Kleeb. The calls, which went out to an unknown number of Nebraskans, prompted a flood of complaints to Kleeb´s campaign office.

Read more »

Election 2006

FL-13: Voting Company Expert Says Problems Cost Dem Race

Paul Kiel | December 21, 2006, 2:06PM

Next year, the House of Representatives will have to decide what to do about the contested election in Florida's 13th District. Republicans have characterized the Democrats' challenge of the results as a desperate power grab. But here's something to crystallize the issue -- a voting expert representing the manufacturer of the machines has written that there were certainly major problems in the election, and that those problems cost Democrat Christine Jennings the election.

Yesterday, Prof. Michael Herron of Dartmouth testified on behalf of Election Systems & Software Inc. in the state court battle over the election results. He argued that the design of the ballot (which you can see here) was at fault for the large "undervote" in Florida's Sarasota County, where voting machines did not register a vote in the congressional race for approximately 14% of voters. But while he may argue that machine glitches weren't at fault for the result, he doesn't dispute that something went wrong on Election Day.

“It is hard to imagine that the Sarasota result reflects deliberate voter choices," reads a report (pdf) issued earlier this month by Herron and his colleagues on Florida's 13th District. Even more tellingly, Herron found that "there is essentially a 100 percent chance that Jennings would have won the CD 13 race had Sarasota voters" voted in another county.

So keep that in mind as the battle heads further along in court and into Congress. The dispute is not whether voting irregularities cost Jennings the election -- among experts, even opposing experts, that issue is largely settled. It did. The dispute, in court at least, is whether those irregularities were caused in significant part by glitches in the machines, as Jennings has argued, or simply by bad ballot design.

Election 2006

Poll: Most U.S. Voters Hit By Robo Calls

Paul Kiel | December 21, 2006, 11:27AM

Any way you cut it, it's clear that the robo call really arrived this year -- and was mostly overlooked as a prominent new weapon in campaign strategists' arsenals.

Underscoring its reputation as a "stealth" campaign tactic, a new poll shows that two-thirds of registered voters got at least one robo call during the midterm election season.

The poll, conducted by The Pew Internet and American Life Project, found that 64% of registered U.S. voters got at least one recorded phone call in 2006. And that's across the country -- you can bet that percentage was much higher in competitive districts.

Only direct mail was a more popular method for campaigns, reaching 71% of voters. But the robo call blew out other more traditional forms of campaigning like going door to door (only 18% of voters were reached that way) or getting a phone call from a real live human being (24%). Pew didn't even bother to track robo calling in 2004.

So, what percentage of those who got a robo call got two, three, or a dozen more? How many got six calls in a row? We still don't know.

Election 2006

FL-13: Dem Lodges Election Contest with House

Paul Kiel | December 20, 2006, 5:34PM

It's official -- the election mess in Florida's 13th District is heading to the House of Representatives. January will be an interesting month, indeed.

Meanwhile the court case in Florida proceeds along. Today, an expert testifed on behalf of Democrat Christine Jennings that glitches with the voting machines cost her the election.

Details about the challenge are provided in the Jennings campaign press release below. You can read our prior coverage of Florida's 13th here.

Read more »

Iraq

Baghdad Residents Hit By Robo Calls

Paul Kiel | December 15, 2006, 12:26PM

Who says we're not spreading democracy in Iraq?

Not long after Republicans harrassed tens of thousands of Americans with automated phone messages in November's election, news comes that the robo call, that staple of American democracy, is being deployed in Iraq. And it's literally terrorizing city residents.

Nir Rosen of the new blog Iraqslogger reports, calling it a "mysterious psychological operations campaign," that Baghdad residents have reported "receiving phone calls that the caller ID shows to be originating from outside Iraq." What follows is a "recorded message from an anonymous man speaking formal Arabic" who goes on to condemn the Mahdi Army, the Shiite militia headed by the powerful cleric Muqtada al Sadr that's been a continual thorn in the U.S.'s side.

The Mahdi Army has also infiltrated police ranks, and run assassination squads. Fearing that the militia's inside men have access to wiretapping technology, ordinary Iraqis live in fear that their robocall will be picked up and intepreted as proof they are anti-Mahdi -- and face execution at the militia's hands. The call reportedly left one Iraqi woman in tears.

Like the non-lethal American variety of robo call, the source of the Iraqi calls has been cloaked, and no one has figured out where they're coming from. Or how to stop them.

Election 2006

FL-13 Update: Fight Heads To Congress

Paul Kiel | December 7, 2006, 6:19PM

Democrat Christine Jennings will challenge last month's election results in the House of Representatives. What will Democrats do about it?

Jennings spokeswoman Kathy Vermazen told me today that there's no doubt that she'll be lodging a contest with the House -- it's only a matter of time. Most likely, it'll happen close to the December 20th filing deadline. So when the new Congress starts up in the new year, they'll find this thorny issue on the doorstep.

While it's crystal clear what Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean thinks about it, the woman who'll be in charge isn't showing her hand. Nancy Pelosi's office has been responding to comment requests by saying that she's "monitoring" the situation.

Election 2006

FL-13 Update: Dem is "Destroying Democracy," GOPer Says

Paul Kiel | December 6, 2006, 12:56PM

Republican Vern Buchanan made a rollicking, rambling appearance on Hannity and Colmes last night, during which he accused Democrat Christine Jennings of "destroying democracy" by contesting the election results.

The issue in the race, of course, is that electronic voting machines failed to register a vote in the congressional race from more than 13 percent of Sarasota County voters -- a rate far higher than other counties and absentee ballots. That statistical aberration or "undervote" has led experts and other reasonable people to declare that something went wrong in the race. But not Buchanan, who enjoyed a victory by a 400-vote margin, and not Sean Hannity.

For those even passingly familiar with the details of the race, the segment is excruciating. You can watch it here:

In the segment, Hannity and Buchanan refer repeatedly to the recounts of the race (despite the fact that paperless electronic voting machines prevent a meaningful recount), which showed no significant shift in the vote counts, to buttress the notion that Democrats are attempting a power grab. Hannity falsely asserted that Democrats "want the court to declare that the Democrat won," when in fact Democrats are asking for a new election (as Hannity had actually stated earlier in the segment).

In response to questions from Alan Colmes as to why the undervote occurred, Buchanan gave a glass-is-half-full spin, emphasizing "the 238,000 people that did vote in this race." He had no explanation for the undervote, only offering, "I just think it was a competitive race; there’s a lot of speculation out there you can read.”

Speaking of speculation you can read, a group of political science professors have issued a study (pdf) on the election, finding that the undervote was caused mainly by ballot design -- a similar conclusion as that drawn in an analysis by The Sarasota Herald Tribune -- and that had there not been a high undervote, Christine Jennings would have won the election.

Election 2006

FL-13 Update: Official Pooh-Poohs Audit, Paper Says Ballot Design The Culprit

Paul Kiel | December 5, 2006, 3:11PM

More fun down in Florida, where Democrat Christine Jennings is challenging the official tally that shows she lost by fewer than 400 votes to Republican Vern Buchanan.

First, a little inappropriate commentary from the officials: in today's Sarasota Herald Tribune, David Drury, who's overseeing the audit, opined on its probable outcome:

... [Drury] said he expects "nothing" to be revealed from [the audit's examination of voting machines' source code]. "They're not going to find anything. It is my belief, and I rarely like to speculate but it is based upon the parallel testing, that there will be nothing found in the source code that will explain the undervote."

Hey, it's Florida! What do you expect from the election officials down there?

A little better than what we're getting, apparently. As People for the American Way protested in a statement reacting to Drury's remarks, one doesn't want "the guy in charge of the audit announcing his predictions about the outcome before the investigation of software code even begins."

Second, an analysis of Election Day data by the Herald Tribune has led the paper to declare that they know the primary reason that more than 18,000 Sarasota County voters failed to register a vote in the race: ballot design.

The reason they think that? Take a look at the ballot:

Read more »

Election 2006

FL-13 Update: Test Runs Show No Problems

Paul Kiel | December 4, 2006, 1:00PM

The post-election dispute in Florida's 13th District won't have an easy answer, it seems.

The state completed their second test run of the machines on Friday without a hitch in the congressional race. Election officials will continue on to the next phase of the audit, which involves a variety of tests on the machines' hardware and software, but hopes (never very high among Democrats) are diminishing that the state's tests will find the reason that the Sarasota County machines failed to register more than 18,000 votes in the congressional race Election Day.

As election officials continue a less public array of tests on the machines (here's a good rundown on the audit), Democrat Christine Jennings, whose lawyer has argued that Florida's audit is hopelessly inadequate, will argue in court that she should be able to run outside checks on the machines. No court date has yet been set for that showdown. Jennings also has until December 20th to contest the election in the House of Representatives.

But as all that moves forward, it's worth giving this a look -- video of some of the dozens of Sarasota County voters who showed up to a recent People for the American Way meeting to recount their troubles voting on the machines. Jennings' lawsuit challenging the election results also included a host of voter testimonials.

Election 2006

FL-13 Update: Audit Blames Test "Discrepancies" on Human Error

Paul Kiel | November 30, 2006, 3:46PM

We hear that the state's audit team has concluded their examination of Tuesday's mock vote, and attributed any discrepancies that cropped up during the exercise to human error.

On Tuesday, the state's "mock vote" -- its first run of tests on electronic voting machines in Florida's Sarasota County -- unexpectedly handed five extra votes to Democrat Christine Jennings, out of 251 ballots cast. At the time, Florida Division of Elections officials predicted they were the result of human error. After monitoring video of the votes they reaffirmed that belief, deciding that all five votes were the result of mistakes by election officials doing the voting.

On Friday, the audit moves on to its second phase, a similar run of tests on five machines that were actually used on Election Day.

Meanwhile, Jennings' legal contest of the election results is on hold pending the state's audit. If the process concludes without discovering any system errors, Jennings' camp would have to convince the state judge to allow them to run independent tests. Jennings' lawyer has strongly criticized the audit as insufficient.

More later.

Update: Jennings has added ES&S to their lawsuit challenging the election results, a step necessary to force the company to grant access to the machines' "source code," the company's software embedded in each machine.

Election 2006

FL-13: Officials Continue Search for Human Error

Paul Kiel | November 30, 2006, 11:00AM

As we noted yesterday, the state's first run of tests on electronic voting machines in Florida's Sarasota County unexpectedly handed five extra votes to Democrat Christine Jennings.

Since then, the Division of Elections has been busily trying to figure out what went wrong. But despite a full day of analysis that did not explain the discrepancy, the department's spokesperson is still insisting that "human error" is to blame. They just need more time to figure out how.

Meanwhile, evidence continues to mount that whatever problems caused electronic machines not to register a vote in the congressional race for more than 18,000 voters in the county on Election Day, the problem affected Democrats more than Republicans.

From The Orlando Sentinel:

...Tuesday, Stanford University professor David Dill said his examination of ballot data supported that conclusion.

Dill, an electronic-voting expert, found that 5,304 people whose ballots showed no selection in the congressional race voted a straight Democratic ticket on the five statewide races. He found that 3,290 voted straight Republican. [Republican Vern Buchanan won the official tally by fewer than 400 votes.]

"Something's going on there," Dill said. "But I'm not sure what yet."

Election 2006

FL-13: Audit Run Brings "Intriguing" Results

Paul Kiel | November 29, 2006, 11:23AM

Yesterday, Florida's Division of Elections began its audit of the election results in Florida's Sarasota County. The results? "Intriguing," according to Democrat Christine Jennings' lawyer Kendall Coffey.

All day yesterday, election workers sat in glass booths and voted accorded to a predetermined script designed to mimic the voting on Election Day. The entire process was videotaped and monitored by the campaigns and the press.

The tests, performed on backup machines, didn't really turn out the way anyone expected. "Of the 251 ballots cast" in the audit, "five additional votes were counted for Jennings, including three extra votes in one precinct," according to The Herald Tribune.

Jennings has contested the official election results, of course, because the electronic machines didn't register votes in the congressional race for more than 18,000 Sarasota County voters, about fifteen percent, an abnormally high rate. But yesterday's results didn't register an unexpectedly high "undervote" rate. Instead, the tests seemed to give a few extra votes to Jennings.

But an incorrect result is an incorrect result, and so Coffey, who has denounced the audit for being insufficiently rigorous, said in a prepared statement that "the discrepancies are intriguing."

The spokesperson for the Division of Elections, meanwhile, was quick to attribute the discrepancies to "human error." Today, the audit team will doublecheck their math and monitor the video of yesterday's mock election to see if that's the case.

On Friday, the second round of the audit will involve similar tests on machines actually used on Election Day.

Election 2006

FL-13 Update: State Audit to Begin, But Dems See Flaws

Paul Kiel | November 27, 2006, 3:57PM

The election battle continues in Florida's 13th District this week, as the state begins its audit of electronic voting machines. At issue is why Sarasota County's electronic voting machines failed to register a vote in Florida's 13th District congressional race for more than 18,000 voters, an "undervote" rate far higher than the 13th's other counties. Analyses of those undervotes show that they cost Jennings (who lost the official tally to Republican Vern Buchanan by fewer than 400 votes) the race.

But that audit, conducted by the state's Division of Elections, has drawn criticism for a number of reasons. As we noted last week, the state's lead computer expert is a die-hard Republican. The conditions of the audit have also drawn fire from Democrat Christine Jennings camp.

Speaking earlier today, Jennings lawyer Kendall Coffey pointed to what he saw as key deficiencies in the audit, which might undermine Jennings' efforts to contest the election results. Jennings' lawsuit is on hold until the state completes its audit this Friday.

Above all, Coffey said that the state's process went against "the basic notion of an audit that it's supposed to be independent." Instead, "the same state agency that is responsible for the reliability of voting systems and software are now conducting an audit to find out where that agency created problems."

Read more »

Election 2006

Paper: Missing Votes in FL-13 Favored Dems

Paul Kiel | November 22, 2006, 12:01PM

There was already strong evidence that the worryingly high "undervote" in the congressional race in Florida's Sarasota County had skewed the results of the election there.

But The Orlando Sentinel actually went through nearly all of the roughly 18,000 ballots on electronic voting machines where voters had failed to register a vote in the congressional race, but had voted in the other races, and found that the voters were mostly Democrats.

From the Sentinel:

The group of nearly 18,000 voters that registered no choice in Sarasota's disputed congressional election solidly backed Democratic candidates in all five of Florida's statewide races, an Orlando Sentinel analysis of ballot data shows.

Among these voters, even the weakest Democrat -- agriculture-commissioner candidate Eric Copeland -- outpaced a much-better-known Republican incumbent by 551 votes....

Republican Vern Buchanan's 369-vote victory was certified by state officials Monday. His camp says that, although people may have skipped the race -- intentionally or not -- there is no evidence that votes went missing.

But the results of the Sentinel analysis, two experts said, warrant additional investigation.

"Wow," University of Virginia political analyst Larry Sabato said. "That's very suggestive -- I'd even say strongly suggestive -- that if there had been votes recorded, she [Jennings] would have won that House seat."...

The analysis of the so-called "undervotes" examined the races for U.S. Senate, governor, attorney general, chief financial officer and agriculture commissioner.

The results showed that the undervoted ballots skewed Democratic in all of those races, even in the three races in which the county as a whole went Republican.

Election 2006

Watchdogs File Suit in Florida Election Battle

Paul Kiel | November 21, 2006, 4:20PM

Activist groups have filed a second lawsuit contesting the election results in Florida's 13th, arguing that electronic voting machines may have robbed voters of their true choice.

The suit, filed by watchdog groups Voter Action, People For the American Way Foundation, the ACLU of Florida, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, follows swiftly on Christine Jennings contest filed yesterday. You can read Jennings' suit here, which includes a number of voter testimonials about problems on Election Day.

Elliot Mincberg, Legal Director for PAWF, said that he expected the judge to consolidate the two suits and have them proceed together.

The lawsuits, however, comrpise just one of the avenues by which the election's results will be challenged.

Read more »

Election 2006

BREAKING: FL Dem Contests Election Results

Paul Kiel | November 20, 2006, 11:59AM

Now the fight really gets started. Democrat Christine Jennings has filed an official contest of the election results.

As we've noted many times here before, the central dispute concerns the "undervote" in one county, where about 13% of voters didn't select a candidate in the congressional race -- a rate far above those in the other counties. The Jennings campaign faults the electronic voting machines for the problem. Republican Vern Buchanan won the race by fewer than 400 votes, according to the official tally.

The complaint, filed today, notes that "The failure to include these votes constitutes a rejection of a number of legal votes sufficient to place in doubt, and likely change, the outcome of the election."

More soon.

Update: Press release from Jennings campaign follows.

Read more »

Election 2006

Anti Robo Call Legislation To Be Introduced in PA, VA, CT

Paul Kiel | November 17, 2006, 6:17PM

It's a movement! As we mentioned earlier this week, the attorney general in Missouri has introduced legislation that would protect citizens on the state's "No Call" list from automated political calls.

Well, you can add Virginia and Pennsylvania to the list, and likely Connecticut.

In Virginia, state Delegate Bob Brink (D-Arlington) has announced that he will introduce legislation outlawing robo calls in the state.

In Pennsylvania, where a barrage of robo calls targeted Dem Lois Murhpy in the state's 6th District, state Rep. Mike McGeehan, D-Phila., says that he will announce the introduction of a bill next week that would add political robo calls to those covered by the state's "Do Not Call" Act.

And in Connecticut, where the state GOP sent out robo calls prior to the election promising to end robo calls, a number of legislators have been reported to be interested in an anti-robo call bill.

Are there any other states moving this way? Let us know.

Late Update: You can add Florida (the bill would add political calls to the state's Do Not Call list) and Wisconsin (the bill would ban all automated calls) to the list.

Election 2006

FL-13 Update: Recount Rambles On, Court Clash Nears

Paul Kiel | November 17, 2006, 3:09PM

The fight rages on in Florida's 13th District, where Democrats say malfunctioning electronic voting machines may have cost them the election.

The latest developments: to lead the audit team, the state of Florida has tapped a die-hard Republican who vowed during the 2000 recount controversy to "never be a passive political participant again." However, Republican candidate Vern Buchanan has won court approval to delay the start of the audit. Democrats say it's a partisan stalling tactic.

The controversy in the district revolves around an unusually high rate of "undervotes" in Sarasota County. Thirteen percent of voters -- about 18,000 people -- voted in the county but did not select a candidate in the congressional race. In other counties, that total "undervote" rate was approximately 11 percentage points lower*.

Read more »

Election 2006

Robo Callers Punished Under New Obama Bill

Paul Kiel | November 17, 2006, 12:13PM

I think it's fair to say that there's a movement among Democrats to prevent the dirty tricks of 2006 from happening again.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) has introduced legislation that seeks to punish harassing robo calls and other attempts to mislead voters -- a bill distinct from one Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) has talked about introducing, which he said would be among the first 10 bills in the new Senate.

"We look forward to working with Sen. Reid to getting this passed," Obama's spokesman Tommy Vietor told me, who added the bill was "specifically written" to include the NRCC's robo calls in its targetted dirty tricks. "I know it's an issue important to him. It's important to Sen. Obama as well."

The full release follows...

Read more »

Election 2006

Reid: Robo Calls Make Legislative Hit List

Paul Kiel | November 16, 2006, 4:43PM

From Salon:

Remember those abusive Republican robo-calls and the sample ballots that suggested -- falsely -- that Michael Steele is a Democrat? The soon-to-be Senate majority leader does, and he's prepared to do something about them.

In a breakfast meeting sponsored by the American Prospect, Harry Reid told reporters today that the calls and the phony campaign literature were "absolutely wrong," and that one of the first 10 bills he introduces in the next Senate will deal with such abuses. "We need to make these criminal penalties," Reid said, saying that civil liability was apparently not enough to deter what happened in the run-up to last week's election.

Reid's legislation seems like it will be targeted against harrassing robo calls like the ones the NRCC deployed. But as we noted yesterday, there's movement against all robo calls on the state level.

Election 2006

The End of The Robo Call?

Paul Kiel | November 15, 2006, 1:34PM

This was the year the robo call came into its own, as millions of voters around the country were bombarded with push polls and repetitive, misleading calls from the NRCC. But the tool, heralded by its practioners for its cheapness and effectiveness, may have simply angered too many voters.

In addition to calls for Congressional hearings on the use of robo calls, the robo call phenomenon has sparked state-level movements to pass legislation that would stifle the practice in future elections.

Today, the Missouri Attorney General announced that he's urging the state legislature to pass a law that would protect voters on the state's "No Call" list from automated political calls. In that, the state is emulating New Hampshire, where voters on the federal "Do Not Call" registry are protected for robo calls -- a protection that saved them from the NRCC's robo call onslaught after the state Attorney General stepped in to enforce the law.

Missouri wasn't hit by the NRCC's robo call harrassment campaign -- although voters did get the nasty push poll from the Common Sense group -- but things were bad enough there to prompt the AG to take immediate action.

This year's election no doubt left many citizens envious of states like Indiana (where automated calls are completely banned) and New Hampshire, where voters were spared a glut of calls. So it'll be interesting to see how many take action. Is there any movement in your state?

Election 2006

Update: In FL-13, Court Battle Begins As Counting Continues

Paul Kiel | November 14, 2006, 12:56PM

Lawyers for Democratic House candidate Christine Jennings threw down the gauntlet yesterday, asking a state court to secure electronic voting machines and data used in the election.

The move would preserve the equipment in Florida's Sarasota County for scrutiny by Jennings' legal team. A hearing on the suit is scheduled for this afternoon.

It's just the first step of what is likely to be a litigious aftermath to a close and ugly election (thanks in part to the NRCC's rampant robo calling in the district). The state began a recount and audit of the election yesterday. Once the audit and second recount is completed and the results certified on November 20th, the Jennings campaign has ten days to contest the results of the election if they still show Jennings down. Before the recounting began, she was down 386 votes.

The fight will center around the district's Sarasota County, where the electronic machines did not register a vote in the Congressional race for 18,000 voters (13%) -- what's called an "undervote." That's compared to only 2.53% of voters who did not vote in the race via absentee ballots.

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Election 2006

Did Nasty NRCC Robo Calls Win Elections?

Paul Kiel | November 10, 2006, 4:39PM

As we did our best to document, the National Republican Congressional Committee was responsible for repetitive, often harrassing robo calls in more than two dozen districts across the country in the runup to the election.

In at least seven of those districts, the Democrat failed to unseat the incumbent by only a couple thousand votes. The NRCC's calls may have been the difference in those races.

Consider, for example, Florida's 13th District, where Christine Jennings is currently locked in a recount battle. The final tally shows her down 386 votes. In the last three weeks of the election, the NRCC spent $58,326.78 on robo calls against Jennings, according to FEC reports. At five to fifteen cents a call, the NRCC bought itself between 388,000 and 1.17 million calls in the district. Approximately 250,000 people voted in the 13th on Tuesday.

Voters there report being inundated with calls -- so much so that some decided not to vote for Jennings. From The Herald Tribune:

"We're just glad it's all over," said Betty Beatty...

"They bugged us with their phone calls something terrible," said Betty, who voted for Buchanan because "with all her calls, Jennings, Jennings, Jennings, I wouldn't have voted for that woman if she were the only one running."

The NRCC's calls, you'll remember, began by saying something like "Hi, I'm calling with information about [the Democratic candidate]," then continued to give negative information about the candidate. They did not identify the true source of the calls until the very end, when they informed the listener (if he/she bothered to stay on the line until the end of the call), that the NRCC had paid for it. Voters reported being called again and again. A number of Democratic campaigns reported receiving complaints from voters who thought that the calls were coming from the Democrat, because of the calls' lead-in. We catalogued a number of the calls here.

Democrats have asked the FEC, FCC and Justice Department to probe the calls. DCCC spokesman Bill Burton told me that the Dems are still "committed to pursuing the issue of these calls" and are "discussing the next steps.... We are absolutely not letting this drop."

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Election 2006

FL-13: County Supervisor Asks for Election Audit

Paul Kiel | November 9, 2006, 4:16PM

More on that recount mess in Florida's 13th. The local election supervisor -- who had earlier expressed skepticism about the likelihood of voting discrepancies in the district's congressional race -- has now changed course and is asking the state to conduct an audit. From The Herald Tribune:

Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent has asked the Florida Department of State to audit Tuesday's election after the recounts are completed....

"Because of the hullabaloo and the focus on this race, I just think it's a good idea to have this audit," Dent said. "They would look at everything ... soup to nuts."

Of course, the Secretary of State has refused to investigate the reported problems. Let's see if that changes now.

Election 2006

Homeless Man to GOP Pol: "No One Has the Right to Use Me That Way"

Justin Rood | November 9, 2006, 12:59PM

A Philadelphia Daily News columnist tracked down one of the unfortunate locals who had been tricked by the Michael Steele for Senate campaign to hand out deceptive pamphlets outside Maryland voting places. The result: a refreshingly candid indictment of the failed GOP candidate Steele, who now hopes to head up the Republican National Committee.

"I might not have a home," an outraged Yusuf El-Bedawi told the Daily News' Ronnie Polaneczky, "but that doesn't mean I don't care about right and wrong. No one has the right to use me that way."

The Steele campaign recruited six busloads of poor and homeless Philadelphians to hand out flyers to Maryland voters portraying Steele and his ticketmate, governor Bob Ehrlich, as Democrats. Steele is currently Maryland's lieutenant governor; Ehrlich is governor.

"People started screaming, at us, 'Do you think we're that stupid? What are you trying to pull?' " El-Bedawi told the writer. "I said, 'I didn't know it was a lie! I'm from Philly!' And they said, 'Then go back to Philly!' "

"I am so angry and upset, I don't know what to do," said El-Bedawi, who's particularly shattered that he and at least 200 other Philadelphians didn't get home from Maryland in time to vote here.

"These people think we're too stupid to understand the magnitude of what we did."

What they did, said El-Bedawi, was cheat an entire community of unsuspecting voters.

And just because they didn't know they were doing it doesn't mean it doesn't feel awful.

Election 2006

A Muckraker Tribute to the Fallen

Justin Rood | November 8, 2006, 12:28PM

Well, the American people certainly gave a what-for to scandal-plagued incumbents last night, as their votes and the media's exit polls showed. At least nine mucked-up politicos from the Schemin' 109th got strapped to a raft, metaphorically speaking, and pushed out to sea by an angry electorate. For us rakers, it's a bittersweet moment.

Some we will miss: Rep. Katherine Harris (R-FL), who lost her kamikaze bid for a Florida Senate seat, won't be around when we need her anymore. Also missed will be the Entertainer himself, Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA), who lit up our days and spiced up our nights with paranoid conspiracies and FBI raids. It's true, Curt: not only are they all out to get you, they just got you.

Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), whose backers attempted literally every cheap or dirty trick in the book, will also leave a hole in our hearts. (It was sad to see his son crying on national television last night during his dad's concession speech, wasn't it?)

The absence of others won't be so remarked-upon in the Muckraker office. Rep. Charles Taylor (R-NC), an almost cartoonish embodiment of the perpetually cranky, self-interested banker, was never much fun -- except when he was trying to explain when a fundraiser isn't a fundraiser. Likewise the Abramoff-philiac Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA), whose haircut and mustache were oftentimes more interesting than his ties to the disgraced lobbyist. Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ), also a Friend of Jack, never really got our eyebrows wiggling, either. And Rep. Jim Ryun (R-KS), who made a play for our affections with a shady house deal, never really followed through.

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Election 2006

In CO, Dems Allege Threats to Latino Voters

Paul Kiel | November 7, 2006, 4:23PM

From Roll Call:

In automated and live calls, Democrats allege, Latinos have been told that their ethnicity makes them ineligible to vote in today’s elections. The calls also threatened that Latinos would be arrested at polling places if they did attempt to vote, party sources said.

Although it remains unclear who is responsible for the calls — and how widespread the alleged intimidation is — aides to Democratic House candidate Angie Paccione said they have received two complaints today from Latinos in Weld County, which is part of the district held by GOP incumbent Rep. Marilyn Musgrave....

Oralia Ramirez, a 24-year-old resident of Gilcrest, Colo., said she received one of the automated calls, which began with a menu of party affiliations. When she pressed three for “you don’t know,” she was transferred to a person who asked her who she was voting for today and what her party affiliation was. When Sanchez responded that she was unsure, “He asked, ‘Are you Hispanic, Latino, black?’” and when she said she was a Latina, the caller said “‘Oh so you are Hispanic. You’re Hispanic, so you can’t vote. You aren’t even registered to vote, so don’t waste your time. Just by looking in my records you can’t vote.’ Then I just hung up.”

Salazar said the campaign has received at least one other complaint from a voter, who received a similar phone call two weeks ago in which a caller threatened the voter with arrest if he attempted to vote.

Election 2006

From Idaho, More Election Day Violence

Justin Rood | November 7, 2006, 4:02PM

It's a mean season. From the Associated Press:

A northern Idaho man has been charged with aggravated assault after police say he pulled a knife and threatened to stab a co-worker while the two were arguing over politics.

Forty-year-old Duane Owens of Spirit Lake could face up to five years in prison if convicted.

Police say Owens and a co-worker regularly debated politics at the logging equipment sales office where they work.

But things got out of hand Friday when Owens, a Republican, remarked to his Democratic co-worker that "Democrats cheat and lie," to which the co-worker replied, "All politicians lie and cheat."

The argument escalated until Owens allegedly pulled a knife and held it below the coworker's waist. Owens fled when the co-worker grabbed a phone and called police.

More, after the jump.

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Election 2006

NRCC Robo Calling in Nebraska?

Paul Kiel | November 7, 2006, 3:35PM

More robo harrassment, this time in Nebraska's 3rd District, where Dem Scott Kleeb is running against Adrian Smith. From Nebraska's Grand Island Independent:

Prerecorded telephone messages supposedly from Kleeb, a Third Congressional District candidate, have been repeatedly calling people in Central Nebraska, and Ben Lumpkin, Kleeb's communications director, is concerned about the effects...

However, Lumpkin said he has received numerous complaints about the prerecorded messages calling repeatedly -- as many as six times an hour.

"Our robocalls don't do that," he said.

Lumpkin hadn't heard the complaints about recordings as of Monday night but said it had been reported that the recordings were of low quality, prompting him to believe they may be recordings of actual Kleeb recordings.

Adams County Democratic Party Chairwoman Deb Quirk, who also volunteers with the county's phone bank, said she and other volunteers had called people who were irritated at the Democratic party because of the Kleeb calls.

The Kleeb campaign doesn't know who is behind the calls, but we can make a good guess: last week, the NRCC paid GOP political firm Direct Strategies for approximately $3,500 for phone banking in Kleeb's district, according to FEC filings.

Election 2006

MD GOP Candidate Recruits Homeless to Pass Out Deceptive Flyers

Justin Rood | November 7, 2006, 3:32PM

Misleading flyers were handed out at several Maryland polling places by men and women recruited by the GOP governor's campaign from out-of-state homeless shelters, the Washington Post reports. The flyers, given to voters in a heavily Democratic area, showed GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob Ehrlich as a Democrat:

Erik Markle, one of the people handing out literature for Ehrlich, who is seeking reelection, and Steele, the current lieutenant governor who is campaigning to replace retiring Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D), said he was recruited at a homeless shelter in Philadelphia.

After a two-hour bus ride to Maryland, Markle said the workers were greeted early this morning by first lady Kendel Ehrlich, who thanked them as they were outfitted in T-shirts and hats with the logo for Ehrlich's reelection campaign. Nearly all of those recruited, Markle said, are poor and black. Workers traveled to Maryland in at least seven large buses.

Ehrlich's GOP ticketmate, Senate candidate Michael Steele, is also listed as a Democrat on the flyer.

Update: Maryland's Gazette newspapers have more. "We’re just down here trying to make some money," one Philadelphia homeless man tells a reporter. Then, pointing to a picture of Ehrlich: "I don’t even know if this cat’s a Democrat or Republican."

Election 2006

Voter ID Laws Keeping GOP Lawmakers From Polls?

Paul Kiel | November 7, 2006, 3:08PM

There's been ample concern from civil rights organizations that recently passed voter ID laws would serve to suppress minority turnout. But what about the rights of Republican politicians?

In South Carolina, Republican Gov. Mark Sanford was turned away from a polling location because he didn't have his ID. Thankfully, he was able to return 90 minutes later, ID in hand.

And in Ohio, Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH) had some problems:

Chabot went into the polling place at Westwood First Presbyterian Church about 9:30 a.m. and pulled out his Ohio driver’s license to show the poll workers. They looked at his license, and told the congressman that, even though they know perfectly well who he is, his driver’s license was issued to his business office, not his home, which is his voting address.

Somewhat sheepishly, Chabot went back out into the parking lot, jumped in his 1993 Buick - the one he talked about on his campaign commercials - and started heading back to his home a few blocks away to find a proper ID.

“I guess I’ll see if I can find a utility bill,” Chabot said. “That’s the law. You have to have proper ID.”

Chabot returned about 10 minutes later with a bank statement and a Social Security Administration statement in hand.

Of course, civil rights groups aren't worried about Republican lawmakers. They aren't technically a minority. Yet.

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