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Going Local: The Daily Wrap
6.2.07 - Misleading Statements
When I read Ms. Nicole Winger's (Secretary of State spokeswoman) statements
in a recent San
Mateo County Times article regarding the Secretary's "Top
to Bottom Review of Voting Systems" in California, I was stunned.
Read More.
South San Francisco Teacher Receives
Award
Ashely Gray, a teacher from the
South San Francisco High School received the
J.Russell Kent Award
for innovation from the San Mateo County
School Boards Association. The award was given at the board's annual
Celebrating Innovation dinner on May 14th.
Mr. Gray's program called the Voter
Education Program is designed to educate students in the senior government
classes on the importance of participatory government and more specifically
on every citizen's responsibility to vote. Two programs comprise the Voter
Education Program: the Student Poll Workers program and the Vernon Dahmer
Voter Hall of Fame. The poll worker program allows students to work at
polling stations during elections and the Hall of Fame recognizes high
school students of voting age who have exercised their right to vote.
Mr. Gray was also the
San Mateo County Teacher of the Year - Congratulations to one of San
Mateo County's truly outstanding teachers, Ashely Gray!
Top To Bottom Voting Machine Review
Delayed
The
nation's largest suppliers of voting equipment have handed their machines
over to California elections officials for what experts say is the toughest
testing the industry has experienced.
But several vendors and Los Angeles County,
the largest voting jurisdiction in the country and technically a
voting-equipment vendor itself because of its custom-made voting system,
remained in talks Monday with state elections officials about the extent of
the review, what would be done with its findings and more.
Those talks are likely to delay scrutiny of
California's main voting systems by teams of computer scientists, security
experts and voting policy analysts until at least the end of this week.
Read More.
New Publication Provides Valuable
Resources to Those Starting a Business In San Mateo County
A newly published guide to help people contact appropriate government
agencies, file statements, pay taxes and find out what regulations may apply
to their business is now available online and in print.
Read More.
Homeowners Beware!
Homeowners should be wary of a property tax assessment company known for
charging customers for a service already provided for free. The
Property Tax Assessors Records Corp. has been soliciting through the mail to
new homeowners a chance to reduce their property taxes for a $25 fee. Every
county in the state, however, offers the service to property owners free of
charge.
Typically, a homeowner can receive up to $70 a year in annual property tax
savings. But if a homeowner has already filled in the form from Property Tax
Assessors Records Corp., they will be charged the fee and have what could
have been a full return diminished by nearly 35 percent.
Read More.
H.R. 811 Clears Committee
While the Republicans in the Committee on
House Administration argued that they were representing the interests of
state and local election officials concerned about the implications of the
election reform legislation, the Democrats thwarted their attempts to amend
the bill as it passed out of committee.
Read H.R.
811.
Secretary of State Forms Review Team
Debra Bowen, California Secretary of State, has formed an e-voting review
team that will be charged with the responsibility of conducting a "top to
bottom" review of voting systems.
Read More.
Voting Exhibition
The "Get Out The Vote" exhibition examines the
process of campaigning and electioneering through partisan artifacts,
symbols and ballots.
Visit
the Exhibit
How Votes Are Counted, And Who Counts Them,
Are Issues As Important As Who Votes
Vote: The Machinery of Democracy, an
exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, explores
how ballots and voting systems
have evolved over the years as a response to
political, social, and
technological change, transforming the ways
in which Americans vote.
The earliest elections
were conducted by voice vote or with paper ballots put into
ballot boxes. These paper ballots, called party tickets, listed
names from just one party. As the United States grew and the
electorate expanded in the decades following the Civil War,
improvements appeared in the form of the Australian or
blanket ballot (which listed the names of all
candidates), and ballot boxes with new security features.
Learn
More
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