project tracker: 2004-11-05

boxcar online inventory: Due to concerns about disk usage, I reworked the backup script so it backs-up to my PC via ssh.

I also sent an e-mail to the jwebunit-users mailing list about the document.form.action = "checkout2.php" problem I'm having with the tests. I found this page that seems to indicate that it should work.

posted by geoff on 11/05/2004 11:39:05 AM
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idea: outside projector

I was thinking of trying to project "what happened?" on a public wall using an old overhead projector powered by an inverter and a car battery.

Maybe look at the IU surplus store for the projector.

posted by geoff on 11/04/2004 03:21:26 PM
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project tracker - 2004-11-02

6 dozen cookies slideshow: I found a page that talked about how the size of CD audio in MB for calculating how big I can make the slideshow. This page says:
Every 1 Minute of Digital Audio or Video equals 8.75MB’s of Data
So, since Jad says that the audio is about 50 mins, then it would take up about 50 * 8.75M = 437.5 MB leaving me either 650 MB - 437.5 MB = 212.5 M or 700 - 437.5 M = 262.5 M (I'm not sure how much data can fit on a hybrid CD). This page has some info but I haven't really interpretted it yet.

I also e-mailed Mary to ask how Bellweather wanted the enhanced CD to be submitted.

posted by geoff on 11/02/2004 11:10:13 AM
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projects

Defiance, Ohio
Voting (completed 2004-10-31)

Boxcar Online

Classroom Blog
6 Dozen Cookies Animation

F&R Website

Wirless Network

House

posted by geoff on 11/02/2004 11:10:07 AM
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HOWTO: IDE Cable Rounding/Folding

http://www.overclockersclub.com/guides/sleeving_cable_guide.php
http://www.tokenasians.com/articles/rounding.html

posted by geoff on 11/02/2004 10:55:12 AM
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Voter Protection: Everybody

I posted some information about Indiana voter rights and contact information if you feel your rights have been violated earlier. Here are some resources for everyone else:

1-866-OURVOTE (1-866-687-8683)

# Are you registered, but your name is not on the voting list?
# Have you been told you went to the wrong precinct, but don't know how to find your correct voting place?
# Has someone tried to stop you from going to the polls, or tried to intimidate you?
# Has someone tried to "help" you fill out your ballot?
# Are you confused about the actual voting day?

We Can Help
Election Protection is a nonpartisan coalition of civil rights and civic organizations committed to protecting your right to cast your ballot. Our hotline (1-866-OURVOTE/687-8683) is an immediate, on-the-spot resource staffed by lawyers and law students trained to resolve your problem.

If you have any problems casting your ballot, call us. We can help!
1-866-MYVOTE1
is a toll-free telecommunications system that allows voters who are experiencing difficulty in the voting process to record (in English or Spanish) a brief statement of their problem, and transfer, at no cost, to their local county/municipal board of election. Voters can also call the Voter Alert Line to find their polling location. The Voter Alert Line is up and running, and thousands of calls have already been processed.

posted by geoff on 11/01/2004 01:19:04 PM
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voter protection

In response to the article suggesting scary Republican tactics at the polls that I blogged here. I'm posting some resources for voter protection for Indiana voters.

Below is some information from the Secretary of State's web site. These are some of your rights as an Indiana voter and some contact information if you feel these rights have been violated:

Fail Safe Procedures

(when your name is not on the poll list)

If you are registered to vote but your name does not appear on the poll list, you are still allowed to vote if one of the following fail-safe procedures applies to you:

1. Certificate of Error – If your name does not appear on the poll list because of an error by the county, the county must issue a Certificate of Error before you are allowed to vote.

2. Written Affirmation – If you were at one time registered in this precinct, but your name does not appear on the poll list now, and you are willing to sign a written statement (or make an oral affirmation in the presence of the inspector or one of the judges) that you still live at the address in the precinct that county voter registration records show as your former address, then you may vote after making the statement or affirmation.

3. Receipt from Voter Registration – If your name does not appear on the poll list, but you have a receipt from a voter registration application form indicating that you applied to register at a voter registration agency while the registration period was still open (before the last 29 days before the election), and the county voter registration office does not have any record of receiving the voter registration application, then you may vote after the information on your receipt is recorded on the poll list.

Fail Safe Procedures

(when your name or address does not match what is on the poll list)

If your name is on the poll list but the name or address on the poll list does not match your current name or address, you may still qualify to vote if one of the following fail-safe procedures applies to you:

1. Moved within the precinct or name changed - If your name is on the poll list but you have moved within the same precinct or your name has changed, you may vote if you sign the poll book with the new address or new name (example: married name, change of name due to divorce or adoption).

2. Moved more than 30 days before the election but still live in the same county and congressional district –

If you moved more than 30 days before the election outside of the precinct to another precinct that is still in the same county and congressional district, you may vote at your old precinct one last time by signing an affidavit provided by local election officials or by making an oral affirmation of these facts in the presence of the precinct election board and then proceeding to vote.

3. Moved within the State of Indiana in the last 30 days before the election - If you moved outside of the precinct to any other precinct in Indiana within the final 30 days before the election, you may vote at your old precinct one last time by signing an affidavit provided by local election officials.

4. Moved outside the State of Indiana in the last 30 days before a presidential election – If you moved from an Indiana precinct to a new residence outside of Indiana and moved within the final 30 days before Election Day, you may vote at your old precinct one last time by signing an affidavit provided by local election officials. However, you may only be given a ballot to vote for president and vice-president.

Unless you qualify to use one of these fail-safe procedures, you are committing a felony if you vote at a polling place that you know is not your legal polling place.

How to cast a Provisional Ballot

What is a provisional ballot?

A provisional ballot allows you to cast a vote if you believe you are registered to vote in a precinct but your name does not appear on the precinct’s poll list (or if you have been challenged as not qualified to vote in your precinct). Your provisional ballot will be kept separate from the other ballots cast in that precinct. After the polls close, the county election board will decide whether you were qualified to vote in that precinct and whether your ballot should be counted. You will be able to contact your county election board after Election Day to find out whether your ballot was counted, and if it was not counted, why not.

There are several situations in which you may use a provisional ballot as a voter:
  1. Your name does not appear on the poll list AND you do not qualify to vote by using one of the "Fail Safe" provisions highlighted separately on this form.
  2. Your name appears on the poll list AND you do not qualify to vote by using one of the "Fail Safe" procedures highlighted separately on this form.
  3. Your name appears on the poll list, but you have been challenged as not eligible to vote at the precinct for some reason.
  4. Your name appears on the poll list, you are identified as being required to present additional documentation to the county voter registration office, but you are not able to present this documentation to the poll workers.
  5. An order has been issued by a court extending the hours that the polls must remain open.

How do you cast a provisional ballot?

Generally, the same rules and procedures that apply to casting a traditional paper ballot apply to casting a provisional ballot, but there are some special procedures that are similar to casting an absentee ballot:

  1. You must mark the provisional ballot privately, unless you are entitled to assistance and request it.
  2. You enclose the provisional ballot inside a provisional ballot secrecy envelope provided for this purpose (Form PRO-2) and seal the envelope.
  3. You return the sealed envelope, with the ballot inside, to the inspector.

Please note: If you have a spoiled provisional ballot, the spoiled ballot must also be returned to the inspector before you can receive a replacement provisional ballot.

Other Voter Protections

Voters Needing Assistance – If you need assistance at the polls because you are disabled or cannot read or write English, you have the right to receive assistance to cast a vote in every election. The person assisting can be a poll worker or someone you choose. However, your employer or union representative cannot assist you. The person you choose must fill out an affidavit before assisting you to vote.

Accessible Polls – You have the right to a polling place that is accessible to a person with disabilities.

Traveling Voting Boards – If you are confined due to illness or disability, you have the right to vote absentee at your place of confinement before a traveling absentee voting board.

Spoiled Ballots – Your ballot is "spoiled" if you vote for too many candidates running for the same office or if you vote by mistake for a candidate for whom you did not intend to vote. If you spoil your ballot, you may return the spoiled ballot to a poll worker and receive another ballot in order to cast a vote in that election.

Waiting at the Polls at Closing – If you have begun the process of voting, or are waiting in the chute to begin the process of voting, before the closing of the polls at 6:00 p.m., you have the right to cast a vote in that election.

Challenged at the Polls

If you are challenged at the polls, you have the right to sign an affidavit affirming that you meet all of the voting qualifications and the right to then vote. You may be challenged at the polls by another voter who believes that you do not meet all of the requirements to vote. If you are willing to sign an affidavit affirming that you do meet all the

requirements, you can vote.

If you knowingly vote at an election when you are not authorized to vote, you are committing a felony and can be fined up to $10,000, jailed for up to three years, or both.

Instructions for mail-in registrants and first time voters

If after January 1, 2003 you submitted an application to register to vote by mail and have not previously voted in a general election (or a special election for federal office) in the county, you must provide additional documentation to the county voter registration office prior to voting. The identification documentation required may be either (1) a current and valid photo identification or (2) a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or government document that shows your name and address (at the address shown on the your registration). Identification documents may be submitted in the mail with the registration application or by mail or in person at the county voter registration office at a later date prior to the closing of the polls at 6 pm on election day. The documentation requirement does not apply to an absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter or to an individual entitled to vote an absentee ballot under federal law due to a determination by the election division that a permanent or temporarily accessible poling place cannot be provided for that individual or for any other reason under federal law.

Who to contact if your rights have been violated

If you feel your rights have been violated or if you have been witness to any form of voter fraud, please contact any of the following local, state, or federal offices:

Indiana Secretary of State

Indiana Election Division

Direct (317) 232-3939

Toll Free (800) 622-4941

Indiana State Police

Criminal Investigation Division (317) 232-4338

Federal Department of Justice

Civil Rights Division (202) 307-2767or (800) 253-3931

Public Integrity Section, Election Crimes Branch (202) 514-1421

posted by geoff on 11/01/2004 01:08:01 PM
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Scary voter intimidation tactics

I got forwarded the following article from the Herald-Times. This is scary and fucked up. Keeping elections up to board is fine, not discussing your tactics and motivations is shady.

Voters may face challenges
Monroe County GOP plans to check on voters at polls
By Katy Murphy, Hoosier Times
October 31, 2004

Republicans in Monroe County plan to assign challengers to the polls on
Tuesday, GOP county Chairman John Shean said Saturday.

"We're going to have people trained to look for people who might not be
properly registered," he said.

The news distressed Monroe Democratic Party Chairman Dan Combs, who fears
the challenges will target low-income and homeless voters.

"If it happens, it will be appalling," he said. "It is really the lowest
technique there is."

Earlier in the week, Shean said he planned to conduct an audit of the
12,000-some newly registered voters before deciding whether to use
challengers.

"If we believe that there is a real potential for voter fraud, then we
will probably have challenges," he said on Thursday.

That evening, however, Shean said he had not begun the audit and that he
had not determined how party activists would go about looking for "red
flags."

Shean would not comment Saturday on the methodology to be used to identify
potentially invalid voters, such as non-U.S. citizens.

"I'm not going to discuss that," he said. "I don't see the wisdom in
divulging all of that to a reporter."

Poll challenging is not a new practice, but it has come into prominence in
many swing states across the country amid an exceptionally tense and
polarized presidential election.

Republicans, who are organizing the bulk of the challenge campaigns, tend
to see it as a way to protect the integrity of the system, while Democrats
say it is merely a way to suppress the vote of low-income or minority
voters.

While the presidential race is hardly close in Indiana, many state and
local races are competitive and contentious. Kip Tew, chairman of the
Indiana Democratic Party, said Democratic volunteers and attorneys will be
stationed in polls statewide, especially in parts of Marion County, to
counter what he sees as vote-suppression efforts.

Combs earlier in the week dismissed the practice by local Republicans as
unlikely. On Saturday, he said he had heard rumblings that low-income and
homeless voters who list the Shalom Center or other shelters as an address
will be targeted.

"The people most susceptible to challenges are new voters, low income
voters," he said.

While the Democrats don't plan to challenge voters on Tuesday, Combs said,
they do plan to post poll watchers and pollbook holders at each site. The
party's volunteers are equipped with cellular phones, he said, which they
will use to contact party lawyers if anything out of the ordinary is
taking place.

Combs said the Democratic volunteers would not interfere with voting or
any challenges made, but that they will follow challenged voters outside
and make sure they were given provisional ballots.

Indiana law gives any citizen the right to challenge the election process.
It also entitles each political party to station at each polling site a
partisan challenger who is credentialed through the party chairperson. In
Monroe County, the clerk receives a list of challengers and other party
volunteers on Election Day.

When someone has reason to believe that a voter is under 18, lives out of
the district or isn't a U.S. citizen, among other qualifications, they
fill out an affidavit provided by the election staff that indicates their
suspicion.

In Monroe County, bipartisan election staff (a Republican inspector; and a
judge and a clerk from each party) would then give a challenged voter a
counter-affidavit, in which he or she swears to be a legitimate voter.
Then the person casts a provisional ballot, and the county's bipartisan
election board must decide by Nov. 8 whether it should be counted.

That process would likely require the voter — and the challenger — to
return to the election offices later that day or week and present evidence
to the election board, said Steve Hogan, the board's president. Depending
on the number of provisional ballots cast, that could mean that close
elections might remain open for nearly a week.

While many Democrats, like Combs, see challenging as a suppression tactic,
Republicans who support the practice say it is important for the system's
validity.

"We know that voter fraud can and does happen," Shean said. "I agree: I
want everyone who's qualified and registered to vote, to vote — once."

He added, "I don't accept the premise that properly registered voters
might be intimidated that there might be a challenge at the polls. It's
typically only those who are breaking the law that are intimidated by the
process."

Clarence Gilliam, president of the Monroe County chapter of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People, expressed concern that
voters will become intimidated if confronted. He said his organization
advises voters to stay calm and "see what the remedy is" in the event of a
challenge.

"It's going to be very important that every vote counts," Gilliam said.

Although registered voters cannot be required to show identification at
the polls, Gilliam recommended that people bring a photo ID and proof of
address, such as a utility bill, bank statement, or a number of other
documents.

Monroe County Clerk Jim Fielder, the nonpartisan member of the election
board, initially downplayed concerns about challengers. But later, he
said, "That would certainly complicate things a great deal if we had a
major challenge campaign this fall. Hopefully, that will not be the case."

posted by geoff on 11/01/2004 01:00:42 PM
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Bloomington Election Summary

Here is a summary of the races and some of my perspective based on things that I've seen and read.

These pages have some good information on candidate's positions for statewide races:

http://www.vote-smart.org/
http://www.issues2000.org/states/in.htm

I compiled this list which should reflect, pretty closely, the ballot. The list is based on info from http://www.co.monroe.in.us/clerk/Candidates.html :

* = I'm pretty sure this race will be on the ballot for me. If you live in Bloomington, you can use this tool to see a sample ballot for your precinct.
~ = Point I think is interesting but doesn't have a positive/negative connotion
+ = I somewhat agree with this
- = I somewhat disagree with this
-> = sub-point
(i) = incumbent

State and Federal Offices
Republican: George W. Bush & Dick Cheney
Democrat: John F. Kerry & John Edwards
Libertarian: Michael Badnarik & Richard V. Campagna
Independent (Write-In): Lawson Mitchell Bone
Independent (Write-In): Ralph Nader & Peter Miguel Camejo
Democrat (Write-In): John Joseph Kennedy
Green (Write-In): David Cobb & Patricia LaMarche
Socialist (Write-In): Walt Brown & Mary Alice Herbrt
Republican: Richard D. Bray
Democrat: Kristin Szczerbik
Republican: To Be Announced
Democrat: Vern Tincher
County Judicial Offices

My perspectives on these candidates comes from watching the candidate forums available here:
http://stream.hoosier.net:8080/ramgen/LeagueofWomenVotersCandidateForumJudge20041014.smil

The fact that 2 of these races are uncontested, I think, shows that there's not much difference between the candidates. In this case, that's a good thing. I think that all these candidates are pretty much on the same page. They favor treatment and rehabilitation over punitive measures. They seem more interested in fairness and making the courts function well than in politics.
County Offices
School Board Offices

MCCSC *

This race has been dominated by talking about "slates" of candidates. Since the school board race is a non-partisan race, candidates have been forced to align themselves by other means, I guess. In this case, a "slate" involves candidates with similar policy perspectives getting support and endorsement from the same people. It might also suggest a more narrow motivation for running. It is important to note that all candidates deny the existence of such a "slate" or "counter-slate".

The Herald-Times in a 2004-10-28 article summarizes the perceived "slate" and the "counter-slate". The "slate" is perceived as

Githens, Brewington, Sallee, and Boyd (who is no longer running).

They tend to have a somewhat adversarial relationship with the administration and current superintendent John Malloy. On the other hand, the "counter-slate" is comprised of candidates

Wanzer, Muehling, Grossi, Sabo-Skelton.

I get the impression that they are mainly grouped together by their exclusion from the "slate" group. The latter group tends to be more supportive of the current administration. I don't really know much about John Malloy or the current administration, but I did find a quote that I like from John Malloy weighing in on the No Child Left Behind initiative in this IDS article:

"The No Child Left Behind Act sets a tone of failure for schools, and more importantly for school children. We are all for accountability and continuous improvement, but we need to make it fair for all schools and students," Maloy said. "It does not account for where kids start when they enter our education system, especially those of high risk and those living in high poverty. In this case, even progress doesn't matter."
This quote echoes sentiment by my mom, who is deeply critical of No Child Left Behind policies and their disconnect with the reality of education and lives of many children.

Special education is an important issue in this race, though an ambiguous one. Grossi and Wanzer were members of a MCCSC work group that issued a report on special education. Githens and Brewington were part of the Concerned Parents Group which offered up a counter-report arguing that the MCCSC report doesn't realign special-ed resources fast enough.

You can view video of these candidate's at a candidate forum here. Unless otherwise noted, my comments are in response to these videos. This forum is really interesting because many of the questions posed to the candidates come from students.


RBB

Richland Seat
Carl E. Harrington
Robert Pate
Janice B. Stockton

Bean Blossom Seat
Jimmie Dale Durnil

At-Large
Edwin E. Macatangay

Public Questions


Ratification of State Constitutional Amendments


posted by geoff on 10/31/2004 01:35:54 PM
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