Just received this from the Secretary of State's office regarding the new optical scanning machines, recounts, and audits.
Hartford: One day after Connecticut ’s historic general election – the first since lever machines were decertified in July 2007 – Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz is announcing that her office will help coordinate three post election procedures to ensure that every vote is counted.
“The new optical scan machines performed well across the state, with only minor glitches reported,” said Bysiewicz. “ Connecticut voters should feel confident that every vote was counted. Still, I’m not asking anyone to simply take my word for it: that’s why these post election procedures are so important. We want to shine the light on the electoral process, before and after all votes are cast.”
Recounts: The Secretary of the State’s office will advise local election officials who are conducting mandated recounts. Under state law recounts are required when the margin of victory is one-half of one percent - or 20 votes or less. Hand recounts must be conducted within five business days after the election and must be done with representatives from each party present.
The partial list of towns conducting recounts include: Newtown , Middlefield, New Britain , Brookfield , Bethlehem , East Haven, Chaplin, North Branford, Washington , Eastford, Trumbull , East Lyme, Southbury, and Norwalk . In the town of Bethlehem the margin of victory in the 1st Selectman’s race was just four votes. (575 – 571)
Audits: As part of Connecticut ’s new audit law, believed to be the toughest in the U.S. , Secretary Bysiewicz will hold a public ceremony on Tuesday November 13th in order to publicly and randomly select the polling precincts which will have their election results audited. Under state law, ten-percent of all precincts (approximately 750) used in the election will be subject to an audit. Such audits consist of hand counts of all paper ballots for selected races and then a comparison of those results with the tally from the optical scan machines. Audits are conducted in public with representatives from all parties invited. Results will be analyzed by UCONN, made available to the public, and sent to the State Elections Enforcement Commission.
Memory card analysis and audit: The Secretary of the State’s office has formalized an historic partnership with the University of Connecticut ’s Voting Technology Research Center that will help protect the state’s elections from computer hackers, and programming errors. Under the agreement before and after the election, scientists will test a sample of all memory cards used in the optical scan voting machines to ensure that each card is programmed correctly. The pre-election scans will also detect evidence of tampering, and any irregularities that might affect election results. Before the election UCONN tested more than 300 memory cards and a similar number is expected to be analyzed after the election.
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On September 26, 2007, ten plaintiffs filed suit in response to an arrest of aday laborers at a public park in Danbury, Connecticut. Plaintiffs amended their complaint on November 26, 2007.
The amended complaint states that plaintiffs sought to remedy the continued discriminatory and unauthorized enforcement of federal immigration laws against the Latino residents of the City of Danbury by Danbury's mayor and its police department.
Plaintiffs allege that the arrests violated their Fourth Amendment rights and the Connecticut Constitution because defendants conducted the arrests without valid warrants, in the absence of exigent circumstances, and without probable cause to believe that plaintiffs were engaged in unlawful activity. In addition, plaintiffs allege that defendants improperly stopped, detained, investigated, searched and arrested plaintiffs. Plaintiffs also allege that defendants violated their Fourteenth Amendment rights when they intentionally targeted plaintiffs, and arrested and detained them on the basis of their race, ethnicity and perceived national origin. Plaintiffs raise First Amendment, Due Process and tort claims.
Plaintiffs request declaratory relief, damages and attorneys fees.
Just received this from the Secretary of State's office regarding the new optical scanning machines, recounts, and audits.
On September 26, 2007, ten plaintiffs filed suit in response to an arrest of aday laborers at a public park in Danbury, Connecticut. Plaintiffs amended their complaint on November 26, 2007.
