Election day totals from Danbury's 3rd ward (Broadview School) were picked at random from the Sec. of State's office to be audited.Photo by CTBlogger
In ensure the integrity of last week's voting, the Secretary of State's office just announced that Danbury's 3rd ward's (Broadview School) votes will be audited.
Here's the statement from the SoS office:
Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz joined voting rights advocates from across Connecticut at a new conference at the State Capitol on Thursday November 13th to randomly select the voting precincts which will have election results audited following the November 4th presidential election.
As required by Public Act 07-194, An Act Concerning the Integrity and Security of the Voting Process, ten percent of the polling precincts used in the election are subject to an audit. All told, 833 polling precincts were used on November 4th meaning that 84 precincts will have their election results audited.
“November 4th was an historic day for voters in Connecticut ,” said Secretary Bysiewicz. “As voters came to the polls in droves they must have continued confidence that their votes were recorded accurately and that’s why the independent audits are so vital.”
The audits can begin no sooner than November 19, 2008 and must be completed by November 24, 2008. All offices on the ballot will be audited.
“Auditing election results isn’t just a good idea, it’s absolutely essential in order to guarantee the integrity of our elections,” said Secretary Bysiewicz. “Record numbers of Connecticut residents cast ballots on November 4th, and we don’t just take the machines’ word for it. So we will have every ballot cast in a full 10% of all our precincts hand counted and matched against the machine totals. Connecticut has the toughest elections audit law in the country and I am confident at the end of this year’s audit the numbers will match.”
[...]
The law requires a hand audit 10% of all polling places in all elections and primaries. (Polling precincts which are already part of a recount are exempt from audits by statute). The provisions in the law, developed in close cooperation with the computer science department at the University of Connecticut , give Connecticut one of the strictest audit statutes in the country. Connecticut is the first state in New England to require a comprehensive audit of election results.
Public Act 07-194 states that local Registrars of Voters, “… shall conduct a manual audit of the votes recorded in not less than ten per cent of the voting districts in the state, district or municipality, whichever is applicable. Such manual audit shall be noticed in advance and be open to public observation.” The results of audits will be analyzed by the University of Connecticut and then presented to the Secretary of the State’s Office and the State Elections Enforcement Commission, and ultimately made available to the public.
The law contains a detailed description of the audit process:
“The manual audit... shall consist of the manual tabulation of the paper ballots cast and counted by each voting machine subject to such audit. Once complete, the vote totals established pursuant to the manual tabulation shall be compared to the results reported by the voting machine on the day of the election or primary. The results of the manual tabulation shall be reported on a form prescribed by the Secretary of the State which shall include the total number of ballots counted, the total votes received by each candidate in question, the total votes received by each candidate in question on ballots that were properly completed by each voter and the total votes received by each candidate in question on ballots that were not properly completed by each voter. Such report shall be filed with the Secretary of the State who shall immediately forward such report to The University of Connecticut for analysis. The University of Connecticut shall file a written report with the Secretary of the State regarding such analysis that describes any discrepancies identified. After receipt of such report, the Secretary of the State shall file such report with the State Elections Enforcement Commission.”
Here's a listing of all the places that will be audited:
04.25.22 (RADIO): WSHU Latino group call on Connecticut lawmakers to open a Danbury charter school
06.03.22 (OP-ED): KUSHNER: "Career Academy ‘a great deal for Danbury"
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.
