[MCM] DC Council wants Sequoia to yield documents
DC Council Special Committee asks judge to enforce subpoena http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2009/04/dc-council-special-committee-asks-judge-to-enforce-subpoena.htmlhttp://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2009/04/dc-council-special-committee-asks-judge-to-enforce-subpoena.html A special D.C. Council committee investigating widespread errors in two primary elections last year asked a D.C. Superior Court judge yesterday to enforce a subpoena against the company that provides voting machines to the District. Lawyers from Jenner Block and Hunton Williams, who are representing the committee, argue that Sequoia Voting Systems voting machines failed during primary elections held on Feb. 12 and Sept. 9, and source code and other voting materials will show whether sleeper glitches are to blame for glaring errors. One of the errors mentioned in court filings are election returns that showed nearly 4,759 votes were cast in the Sept. 9 primary election in Precinct 141 even though the precinct has only 2,388 registered voters. Lorelie Masters, a partner at Jenner Block representing the special committee, tells the BLT that similar errors were replicated in several other precincts. She adds that outside of Sequoia's software failing, there's no logical explanation for how these anomalies occurred. On Sept. 18, the special committee slapped Sequoia with a subpoena to obtain documents and other materials, including the source code data. Sequoia, which has provided voting materials and machines to the District for over 20 years, has so far refused to comply with the subpoena, saying that the materials either aren’t relevant or are proprietary. In court filings, Masters says the special committee has tried to reach a compromise with Sequoia, offering to have the source code data sealed under a protective order. But Sequoia fired back that the District must post a $20 million bond before it would turn over source code data. Masters says, I've never seen anything like this happen before, and the special committee obviously did not pursue it. The company has argued previously that the fault lies not with its software or equipment, but on some type of electrical or static discharge that might have taken place. In a statement, Councilmember Mary Cheh, chairwoman of the Council Board of Elections and Ethics Investigation special committee, says Sequoia has no legal justification for its position. Sequoia's source code is critical to our investigation, Cheh says. We can[t move forward without it. The special committee has spoken to all of the people who ran the election, now we need to look at the software that administered it. In addition to Masters, the team of lawyers representing the special committee includes Jenner Block associates Kristina Filipovich, Caroline Lopez, Damien Specht and Nicholas Stephanopoulos. Hunton Williams has partner Virginia Albrecht and associates Aaron Flynn, and E. Carter Chandler Clements working on the case. Sequoia does not have a lawyer listed on the docket. A spokeswoman for Sequoia was out of the office, and did not immediately return voicemails. Posted by Jeff Jeffrey on April 24, 2009 at 02:57 PM in http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/dc_courts_and_government/D.C. Courts and Government --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] Tedisco throws in the towel
Yet another sign that the Republicans are finished. (All the more reason to watch out for them) MCM April 24, 2009 http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_04/017898.phphttp://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_04/017898.php TEDISCO CONCEDES, STEELE SWEATS? It took a little longer than expected, but Republican Jim Tedisco http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/04/goper-tedisco-concedes-ny-20-special-election.phpconceded the special election in New York's 20th today, and Rep.-Elect Scott Murphy (D) is headed for Capitol Hill. Murphy takes over in the seat from its previous Democratic occupant, Kirsten Gillibrand, whose appointment to the United States Senate set up the special election for this marginal district. The election was on March 31, three and a half weeks ago, but it took this long to get a winner because it was so close and involved a lengthy process of counting and litigation of absentee ballots. Still not all of the ballots have been reported in, but it became very clear over the last few days that there was really no way Tedisco could have pulled it off. Murphy's victory, while expected as the vote tallies came in, is nevertheless something of an upset win for Democrats. New York's 20th is a Republican district -- as recently as 2006, GOP voter registrations in the district outnumbered Democratic registrations by 15 points -- and Republicans http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2009/03/31/the-race-to-watch-today/invested heavily to win this race. For that matter, Tedisco is a well-known leader in the state legislature, while Murphy only moved to the district three years ago. It was, at least on paper, a race Republicans should have won. They didn't. Which leads us to the next question: just how painful is this defeat for RNC Chairman Michael Steele? He not only poured a lot of money into this race, Steele also pointed to New York's 20th as a race that would help turn things around for the Republican Party. Back in January, http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/01/31/rnc-chairman-steele-three-elections-the-gop-can-win/Steele boasted, That win will send a powerful signal to the rest of the country ... that our game is not up, That seemed like safe bravado in January, when Tedisco looked like a sure thing. But that win has become that loss. Does that mean, by Steele's reasoning, that a powerful signal has been sent to the rest of the country that the Republican Party's game is up? There were some rumors in February that a GOP defeat in this special election would put Michael Steele's job in jeopardy. Something to keep an eye on. -mailto:sbe...@washingtonmonthly.comSteve Benen --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~--- inline: image001 68.gif
[MCM] Sam Seder's absentee vote also challenged by Tedisco
Tedisco's having given up the fight should not distract us from how dirtily he and his party waged it, fighting tooth and nail to force a victory in the election to fill Kirsten Gillibrand's House seat. This is how he would have won--indeed, the only way he could have won. The fact that the Republicans are over as a national party doesn't mean that they won't keep on trying to win. On the contrary: They will continue trying to play exactly as they've played it since 2000. MCM Tedisco Tries To Make Roadkill Of Sam Seder's Ballot By http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/kleefeldEric Kleefeld - April 23, 2009, 5:39PM http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/04/tedisco-tries-to-make-roadkill-of-sam-seders-ballot.php We can now add another illustrious name to the list of absentee voters whose ballots in the NY-20 special election have been challenged by the campaign of GOP candidate Jim Tedisco: Sam Seder, the liberal talk-radio host with Air America! Sam http://twitter.com/SamSeder/status/1588124171posted a message on Twitter yesterday: NY20th race Tedisco challenged my absentee ballot. 4 days before the election I was jury foreman for a trial in NY20th. Challenge Fail. The Tedisco camp had previously challenged U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's ballot -- the person that Tedisco is seeking to replace in Congress -- and now Sam is on the list, too. The jury had served on March 26 and March 27, and Election Day was March 31. Since this past October, Sam has maintained a second place in New York City for his radio job, and voted absentee because he would be at work on Election Day. Other than the need to be in New York City for work, he has been living full-time in Columbia County. In fact, I was able to confirm with Columbia County Democratic election commissioner Virginia Martin that Sam's ballot has indeed been challenged by the Tedisco campaign -- on the grounds that he does not legitimately live in the district. Martin overruled the challenge, while the Republican deputy commissioner sustained it, keeping the vote out of the count until further notice. Sam told me that he found out through a friend of his who had contacted the county for the list of challenged ballots. He was sending out e-mails to people saying, check on this list to see if your name was on it, Sam said. And he was quite surprised to find his name on the list: I thought there was no way that my ballot was gonna be challenged. Sam was none too impressed when I told him that the Tedisco campaign alleged that he wasn't a resident of the district. Jerks, he said. I mean, I could tell you I've attended far more Livingston town meetings than Jim Tedisco has. He added: I just think it's ironic that this guy doesn't live in the 20th, and he's challenging my residency. And Sam's service on a jury should be proof enough that he's a resident. Columbia County commissioner of jurors Loretta Salvesvold could not confirm for me the circumstances of any individual juror, but she could explain to me the general law that eligibility for jury service is dependent on a person's primary residence being in that area -- that this is where the person spends most of their time. An e-mail for comment to the Tedisco campaign has not been returned. (Also, it is indeed true that Tedisco doesn't live in the district. However, the federal Constitution does not have a district-residency requirement, only a state-residency requirement. There are in fact House members on both sides of the aisle right now, who either don't live in their districts or didn't at the time when they were first elected -- and this number goes up significantly if we count the ones who really live in Washington.) --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~--- inline: sam-seder-dc.jpg
