On June 25, California Secretary of State Debra Bowen became the first election official in the United States to take legal action to force a vote-counting vender to reveal its source code. See this article. The dispute concerns ES&S.
Reply
On June 17, supporters of an initiative to have the voters choose the King County, Washington, Elections Director, submitted 74,000 signatures. The initiative would amend the County Charter, and it needs 54,732 valid signatures. The drive was fueled by a perception by some that the incumbent county elections director is biased in favor of the Democratic Party.
On Wednesday, June 27, the California Assembly Elections Committee will hear SB 924, the bill that would direct the Secretary of State to place a ballot question on the February 2008 ballot, asking the voters about Iraq policy. The bill has already passed the Senate. The committee hearing will be televised on Cal Channel, but it may be broadcast later than the hearing itself. Cal Channel covers the California legislature much as C-SPAN covers Congress.
Oklahomans who are working to improve ballot access in that state are meeting on Sunday, 1:30 pm, July 8, in Stroud, Oklahoma (between Tulsa and Oklahoma City). The exact location is Best Western Motor Lodge, 1200 N. 8th Ave. The group will discuss plans for the initiative that would ask the voters to make it easier for parties to get and remain on the ballot.
On June 25, a federal court jury in Tallahassee, Florida, unanimously ruled that the action of the national party convention in June 2005, changing national party officers, was invalid. Therefore, the officers who were in office prior to that convention (and the faction that supports them) are the valid national party officers. Shawn O’Hara, who had been national chair during 2004 and 2005, had since resigned and Rodney Martin of Yuma, Arizona, had taken his place.
The Tampa convention had been called over the objection of Shawn O’Hara. The Tampa convention had chosen Charles Foster of Texas as national chair. Foster and his faction had then sued the O’Hara/Martion faction, alleging that the law on trademarks was being violated by their use of the name “Reform Party.” However, the jury ruled in favor of the defendants. The specific question answered by the jury was, “Do you find by the greater weight of the evidence that the vote changing officers at the June 2005 Tampa convention was valid?” The jury answer was “No.”