The talk around the blogosphere today focuses on the chaos in East Haven regarding the bizarre discrepancies in the vote totals. You can read Connecticut Local Politics and My Left Nutmeg's take on the matter or you can go to East Haven Politics and read about the horror yourself.
Challenger, and now mayor-elect, April Capone Almon won on election day by a margin of 21 votes, triggering an automatic hand recount. That recount, which took place on Sunday, resulted in a tripling of her margin of victory to 63 votes. However, the town moderator, Lori Jaffe, is refusing to certify these final results because of a discrepancy - of about 130 - between the total number of ballots counted in the recount and the total number of voters who were appeared to have voted on election day. The town moderator is insisting on guidance from Sec. of State Bysiewicz before continuing. According to East Haven Politics, Bysiewicz shares some of the blame here for not being proactively involved.
From East Haven Politics, here's video footage of the announcement.
Although this didn't happen in Danbury, we all should be very concerned about this matter as it goes to the heart of new voting system. This is not good news for the Secretary of State.
UPDATE: Coming on the heels of the insanity in East Haven, The Connecticut Citizens Action Group (CCAG), League of Women Voters, CTVoters Count, and Connecticut Common Cause, formed a coalition named Connecticut Citizen Election Audit Coalition and are looking for volunteers to act as observers during the optical scanning machine audit.
To ensure the integrity of the election and generate voter confidence in the new voting machine, Public Act 07-194 mandates audits of randomly selected districts and races in each primary and election.
Non-partisan, independent observation of post-election audits will support voter confidence in the integrity of Connecticut elections by helping to identify any specific problems with the audit process and providing feedback on audit procedures.
What will volunteers do? Volunteers agree to be available for one day to observe one entire post-election audit in a town near their residence, to participate in training via telephone prior to the audit, and to agree to a code of conduct during the audit observation.
The coalition will provide a Citizen's Audit Kit, training via telephone, and volunteer scheduling. The audits will take place between November 21 and November 26.
Where will the audits take place? Voting districts will be selected by a random drawing currently scheduled for November 14. Audits will take place between November 21 and November 26. Volunteers will not be asked to observe in their town of residence.
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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.
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.
