This morning I was asked to monitor my old home state of Pennsylvania for the Common Cause Protect the Vote project.  Our operations in PA are aided by more than 80 poll monitors across the state and by the operations of our colleagues in the Election Projecting coalition.  Here is what we learned:

Perhaps the biggest news maybe that Philadelphia Election Authorities may not count emergency ballots cast by voters because of broken machines until Friday.  John Bonifaz of Voter Action is challenging the decision but if the vote is close tonight it might be that we won't have the results in Pennsylvania until Friday.  Under the law, these ballots are to be treated the same as regular ballots.

Overall Pennsylvania is receiving the second most calls on the 1-888 Our-Vote hotline, just behind New York.  The majority of problems are occurring in Philadelphia, Allegheny and Delaware counties.  Like elsewhere in the country the primary problems people are experiencing deal with long lines caused by high voter turnout, voting machine breakdowns, and too few poll workers.  Another issue particular to the poll workers in Pennsylvania deals with the amount and type of training they receive to prepare for Election Day.   The law requires that counties "instruct election officers in their duties," but does not specifically require that each election officer be trained before s/he serves.

Below are some other issues that have arisen during the course of the morning vote that we will be monitoring throughout the day.

Baby steps. Who knows if and when this thing will get to the floor, but you have to celebrate even small victories. The bill that was just passed out of the House Administration Committee would allow states that choose to upgrade their voting machines to ones that have a paper trail to use money made available under the Help America Vote Act, which was passed in the wake of the 2000 Florida debacle. As we all know, there are some pretty sketchy voting machines out there, and some states are having buyers remorse after rushing to replace their antiquated lever systems.

Last Sunday's Dispatch article titled "Ousted," suggects Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner has been heavy handed in her removal or rejection for reappointment of some election officials.  Among the  published list is the former Chair of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections and Chair of the Ohio Republican Party, Robert Bennett, notorious for his role in the Ohio election of 2004, where voter suppression and voting anomalies were evidence of a strong partisan interference to sway the vote.  Keith Cunningham, former Republican member of the Board of Machine Examiners, was another infamous character out of the drama of 2004, who attempted to interfere with the Green Party Recount by not using a random system.

The article claims the former "fair-minded" judge (Brunner) has been accused by a prominent Republican legislator as "injecting a culture of fear and intimidation" into the county BOE's.  It would seem that it is the Dispatch which is injecting fear by their relentless criticisms of Brunner who is just trying to fix the broken system she inherited, including inherently flawed voting machines.

I think I voted today.  I know I was excited about voting this morning in Virginia. A presidential primary that counts!  I touched the screen on the slick-looking machine like the one in the photo.  But who knows what happened?  A few years ago the same machines flipped every 100 votes for a Republican candidate over to the Democrat.  My own computers at work and home flip out every once in awhile.  Who knows what's happening with these voting machines?  I hope I voted today.

Common Cause/Ohio wants to congratulate Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner for her efforts to "Get it Straight in 2008," at least in Ohio.  She promised to work for open, fair and honest elections, and having implemented one of the most extensive testing programs in the country, she has bravely taken on vendors and election reform activists alike.  Her recommendations released last week brought compliments for her efforts, but also some criticism for the substance.  

From Sarah:
After three hours of testimony yesterday, the Rules Committee recessed without taking any action.

The bill must go through the Rules Committee before it gets to the floor. It's now looking like it might be early next week before there will be a House vote -- so keep up those calls to your members of Congress!

Many thanks to the thousands of you who have already called.

That was the word from Sarah Dufendach, our chief lobbyist, when the staff got together yesterday to talk about the Holt voting machine bill.

This bill - which Common Cause has been fighting to get passed for at least the past two years - looks like it's coming to the floor on Thursday. That's the good news. The bad news is that there's a chance for the Holt bill opponents to throw a major wrench in the works by adding so-called "poison pill" amendments.

We'll keep you posted - here on the blog, and in your email (you are on CauseNet, right?). In the meantime, the most important thing you can do is call your member of Congress and ask him or her to support the Holt bill (HR 811) and oppose any poison pill amendments.

Then tell us about your call.

This is the moment. We can't afford to have another election with suspect voting machine technology. It's too important. Protect your vote. Make the call.

In 2000, this country experienced an election meltdown. In every federal election since, we have suffered through equipment malfunctions, administrative snafus, partisan manipulation, and more.

One of the biggest and most easily corrected threats to the integrity of our elections is the use of paperless electronic voting machines (DREs). These machines do not allow a voter to verify that her vote will be counted accurately, nor do they allow their totals to be checked through an acceptable audit procedure. Computer scientists in major universities across the country have decried the machines' lack of security. Yes, votes cast on these machines are hackable.

New Jersey Representative Rush Holt introduced a bill in May of 2003 that would have corrected these problems. From 2003 to 2006, the bill never made it out of the Republican-controlled Committee on House Administration, even though by 2006 a majority of House members had signed on, including scores of Republicans.