[MAGI]

Keeping up the HEAT

from Brad's Blog:

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3105#more-3105

Cuyahoga Co., Ohio Primary Was A Disaster

Just Published Report Condemns The Election Director and His Top Assistant

County Elections Board Decides, On a 2 To 2 Vote, To Keep The Director In His Job

Posted By John Gideon On 21st July 2006 @ 20:46 In Diebold, Election Irregularities, Ohio, Election 2006 | 3 Comments

Guest Blogged by John Gideon

According to an article [1] in today's Cleveland Plain Dealer the recent Cuyahoga County primary fiasco was the result of widespread dysfunction in the county's election offices, where officials ignored specific warnings of the looming calamity, according to a report also released today that blames election chief Michael Vu and deputy chief Gwen Dillingham.

According to the paper:

"In the 394-page report, a three-member panel concludes its investigation of the flawed May 2 primary with descriptions of breakdown after breakdown at every level of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections. The problems included poorly trained poll workers, too few workers, the rehiring of poll workers with histories of poor performance, a lack of crucial supplies, error-filled and ambiguous manuals for poll workers, a careless or reckless disregard for security of the voting machines, and the refusal to accept help from outsiders with expertise.

"The dysfunction was made worse by a rushed changeover from punch-card voting to electronic machines.

""Director Vu and [Deputy Director] Dillingham effectively ordered workers to do the impossible, or nearly impossible, with inadequate resources," the report says. "This is an across-the-board failure to plan and manage the first countywide endeavor in electronic voting."

"The panel found that even when presented with 13 warnings of potential crises four months before the election, Vu forged ahead. In June, after most of the 13 predicted problems came to pass, Vu "had yet to grasp the enormity of the issues. . . . During a recent interview with panel members he said, 'There's not much that I would change at all.' "

In a companion
article the Plain Dealer reports on the 13 warnings and gives some examples:

"Scanning machines might be unable to read thousands of absentee ballots.

Votng machine memory cards might not get to the election headquarters for counting.

Election workers might be unable to operate the machines.

Vu's system for counting votes might break down.

All of that came to pass."


Joe Lorenzo Hall, Polytechnologist and PhD student at UC Berkeley has read the report and broken it down into easily read "nuggets" on his blog "Not Quite A Blog 2.0" [2]. A few of Joe's "nuggets":

Here, they wanted to record absentee votes on DREs, but the OH SoS office instructed them not to produce a paper trail (and to do this, they had to load the paper rolls backwards):

6.4 Finding: Although the DRE units are designed to function only with the VVPAT printer units properly installed, and the DRE printer could have created a paper trail recording the votes, the SOS instructed the CCBOE not to permit the DREs to print the paper receipt. The CCBOE accomplished that instruction by loading the paper backwards so that the printers did not have a surface on which they could print.

The CCBOE did not agree with the SOS's decision, which it had given orally, to have the DREs set up so they were unable to create a VVPAT.

Here we see that people didn't realize they should look at the VVPAT due to the TSx's design where an opaque cover is placed over the VVPAT window.

2.70 Finding: Many voters did not know that they could check the printer display for verification of their vote because the DRE printer’s opaque cover had to be opened in order to see the VVPAT print of their votes. If voters are not well informed about the VVPAT they will not be able to use it to verify their vote. The VVPAT display was very difficult to read for some voters because of the font size/ type and the magnifying plastic cover. The CCBOE was aware that some voters might not check the VVPAT and states that “A voter is not going to know why it is even there unless they open it up. The cover should either be eliminated or in the open position all of the time.”

Here we see "testing" of the election modem pool by sending 60 DREs home with election administration staff.

5.4 Finding: Immediately prior to the May 2nd election, the CCBOE performed the final testing of the election night data transmission procedure they had designed. The CCBOE facilities did not have a sufficient number of telephone lines to test the modem transmission procedure prior to the election. Due to this limitation, approximately 60 CCBOE employees were selected to take one or more DREs home with them for the weekend before Election Day. They were to connect their home telephone lines to upload test voting data to the CCBOE computer. This testing was problematic on a number of grounds. [Interviews with CCBOE staff; IS staff; Deputy Director Dillingham; Director Vu]

Releasing DREs to employees to take home was a troubling breach of security. It created an opportunity for tampering and raises doubts about the CCBOE’s commitment to election security and to promoting public confidence.

So we have more than enough evidence to say that the primary election in Cuyahoga Co., OH was a "train wreck" thanks in large part to the incompetence of the county elections director and his assistant. So was he removed from his job? Fired? Told to return to his old job in Salt Lake City, UT? No, he get's to stay in his job.

According to the Associated Press [3] today the county election board split 2-2 on a party line vote with the Republicans voting to let Vu keep his job.

[MAGI]

Found @ Op-Ed:

August 3, 2006 at 03:10:17
Legal Challenges to Election Conditions From Coast to Coast
by Dave Berman

http://www.opednews.com

http://wedonotconsent.blogspot.com/2006/08/legal-challenges-to-election.html

August 2, 2006
Legal Challenges to Election Conditions From Coast to Coast

The Contra Costa Times reported Tuesday that CA Secretary of State Bruce McPherson was named as a defendant in yet another lawsuit. The suit was filed by the Paralyzed Veterans of America, the California Council of the Blind and the American Association of People with Disabilities. Also named as defendants are the counties of Alameda, San Francisco, Marin, Sonoma and Yolo. The case is based on the failures to comply with the Help America Vote Act (HAVA).

Also Tuesday, a Federal judge in Seattle ruled that voter registrations must not be contingent upon registration forms matching perfectly with DMV records. In an e-mail newsletter, CA State Senator and Secretary of State Candidate Debra Bowen explained the importance of this ruling and its relevance to California:

skip

Meanwhile, in Florida, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is making good on the strong words he recently wrote for Rolling Stone. Together with attorney Mike Papantonio, the two have filed a qui tam suit, a whistleblower action alleging the government has been defrauded. Computerworld reported on Wednesday:
August 02, 2006 (Computerworld) -- A federal whistleblower lawsuit has been filed against the e-voting industry, alleging that one company sold electronic voting devices that did not to perform as promised.

But details about the suit are sketchy because of secrecy rules surrounding whistleblower litigation, according to Matt Schultz, an attorney at Levin, Papantonio Thomas Mitchell Echsner & Proctor PA, the Pensacola, Fla., law firm that is handling the case. Schultz was assigned to the suit, but the lead attorneys are Mike Papantonio and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

[snip]

The lawsuit was filed approximately four weeks ago, but Schultz was unable to divulge in which federal district the filing took place. Nor could he discuss which e-voting machine vendor is targeted because the document is currently under seal.

According to Schultz, insiders at one of the four major e-voting vendors in the U.S. have testified to misrepresentations by the unnamed company about the accuracy, reliability and security of the direct recording electronic (DRE) devices. DRE usually signifies a touch-screen voting system.
BradBlog recently published a lengthy in-depth interview with RFK, following that on Wednesday with a conversation with Papantonio.

Watch the We Do Not Consent Blog for continued coverage of these cases, as well as the Bilbray/Busby contested election in San Diego.

http://WeDoNotConsent.blogspot.com

Dave Berman is the author of We Do Not Consent, both the book and blog. http://WeDoNotConsent.blogspot.com.

:thumbup:

[MAGI]

Since this is out there, see how easy it is!

Thanks to Op-Ed:

http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_black_bo_060903_four_minutes_to_pene.htm

September 3, 2006 at 09:42:47

Four minutes to penetrate voting machine security seals! Just how secure did you say your elections are?

by Black Box Voting


http://www.opednews.com

A couple of 54-year old women with $12 worth of tools penetrated the memory card seals, removed, replaced the memory card, and sealed it all up again without leaving a trace. The seals do nothing whatever to protect against access by insiders after testing, and the seals also are worthless in jurisdictions where voting machines are sent home with poll workers before the election.

See photos below - a couple of 54-year old women from Black Box Voting bought $12 worth of tools and in four minutes penetrated the memory card seals, removed, replaced the memory card, and sealed it all up again without leaving a trace. This experiment shows that the seals do nothing whatever to protect against access by insiders after testing, and the seals also are worthless in jurisdictions like Washington, Florida, California, and many other locations where voting machines are sent home with poll workers for days before the election.

The Busby-Bilbray contest in San Diego now has proof that the optical scan machines sent home with poll workers subjected the tamper-friendly memory cards to an non-recoverable lapse in chain of custody. The recipe for tampering has been on the Internet for over a year: http://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbvreport.pdf

The photos below blow apart claims by elections officials that voting machine "sleepovers" -- sending voting machines home with poll workers for days or weeks prior to elections -- are secure because of seals over the memory card.

Two Black Box Voting studies in Leon County, Florida proved that election results can be altered in such a way that the supervisor of elections cannot detect the tampering. Not to worry, we were told by elections officials. The memory cards are sealed inside the machines.

But then Black Box Voting purchased an optical scan machine and obtained discarded voting machine seals from King County, Washington. Here's what we found:

(photo)
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/accuvote-memory-door-inside-nut.jpg

The cover can be removed without detection by removing five screws. Inside, all that stands between a pollworker (or an insider at the warehouse or elections office) and the open-for-business memory card is a washer which you can unscrew.

Much more!

[MAGI]

How much more proof do we need? Time to kill the e voting machines!


September 13th, 2006
Full article on the Brad Blog:

http://www.bradblog.com/

"HACKED: VIRUS IMPLANTED, SPREAD ON DIEBOLD TOUCH-SCREEN VOTING MACHINE!
New, First-of-Its Kind, University Study Reveals Malicious Code Can Be Easily Inserted into Voting Machine, Spread from One System to the Next, Resulting in Flipped Votes, and Stolen Elections…All Without a Trace Being Left Behind
Study Also Confirms that Voter Access Cards Can Be Created At Home to Defeat Security Protocols, Allowing Voters to Vote Multiple Times in a Single Election!
– Brad Friedman, EXCLUSIVE
– (Salon.com has posted a shortened version of the following report right here: "Hack Hack the vote? No problem")

A vote for George Washington could easily be converted to a vote for Benedict Arnold on an electronic voting machine and neither the voter, nor the election officials administering the election would ever know what happened. It wouldn't require a "conspiracy theory" or a "conspiracy" at all. It could be done by a single person with just a few moments of access to the voting systems.

Those new findings are detailed, and illustrated on video-tape, in a new first-of-its-kind study released today by computer scientists and security experts at Princeton University's Center for Information Technology Policy.

(The version of the video demo at the Princeton website is being hit hard, and thus, slow to download and view currently. We've got a quick flash version available here for your convenience, courtesy of David Edwards.)

The scientific study has revealed, for the first time, that a computer virus can be easily implanted on an electronic voting machine which could, in turn, result in votes flipped for opposing candidates. The virus, as well, could be written to then spread itself from one machine to the next resulting in a stolen election. The malfeasance would likely never be discovered, the scientists have said."

Ever so MUCH MORE

:dissapointed:

http://www.bradblog.com/

[MAGI]

This is the conclusion of a very fine article by Brent Bodowsky published in BuzzFlash news:

"It is high time and long overdue for the leaders of the Party to gather their financial supporters and call them to action, to raise real money, in real time, for the real cause and the common sense of this is as clear as Katherine Harris' ambition.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton: you have the power the raise this money in a New York Minute and be the leading champion of voting rights in America and receive standing ovations from the believers in democracy throughout our grateful nation. Be bold. Join us.

Senator John Kerry: It is great to hear your battle cry about the war you will wage against the Swift Boat veterans in 2008. Why don't you wage it now, and beat them now. You have the power, through yourself, your family and your financiers to raise this money in a Massachusetts minute and mobilize forever the grassroots base of the party who will give you a standing ovation that could carry you to the Oval Office you should be sitting in right now.

Vice President Gore: the best single thing you could do to combat global warming is to elect a Democratic Congress that will stand with you, and the earth. If there is one man on the face of the planet who would emerge as the great victorious champion of the right to vote in America, you have the power to mobilize your vast support to achieve $25 million so the Florida recount in 2000, and the suppression of minority voters in Ohio in 2004 will never, ever, happen again in our country.

George Soros, you who did so much to support grassroots democracy for the freedom fighters of Eastern Europe who you stood with so wisely, have the power with the stroke of the pen to take a stand for American Democracy that will put you in the history books, for the ages, with us.

The battle for a voter mobilization, a voter turnout and an honest vote count could provide the golden moment for a live, 24/7 war room that combines the potential power of Air America broadcasts with the potential power of the blogosphere and grassroots democracy.

Imagine in the critical period from now until the votes are done being counted, Air America hosts are issuing the call to action and giving voice on a daily basis to the grassroots activists who are fighting on the ground, and the real Democrats are supporting Air America 24/7 as instant inter-active megaphone for the cause, and instant-reaction war room when abuses are revealed.

More on this theme soon, but imagine that on the first abusive poll closing in the poorest precinct in Cleveland on election day morning, the activists on the ground contact the party officials, who alert Air America, who report the bulletin and issue the call to action, then commucate it to the blogsphere, who mobilize thousands of people on site to get those polls re-opened and provide a morale boost to voters who will stay long enough to be counted, no matter how long it takes.

This would be low cost, high impact, easy to organize and in a close election that is now most likely, could provide the boost that will change the world.

The common sense is clear: the danger is real and the fight is now.

The common sense is incontrovertible: we should launch a maximum impact letter writing campaign that is easy for us to do, to create the pressure to put this danger on the front page of the paper, editorial, Op-Ed and letter to the editor pages.

The common sense says now: every person can do something, and together we can make the difference that can turn the election.

The common sense is beyond debate for Democrats who must stand up from the mat and move forward to fight, and fight, and fight, harder than we have ever fought, truer than have ever been truer to ourselves, to each other, and to the things that make America the stuff that dreams are made of.

The danger is so severe, it is beyond a simple description, but the common sense of the solution is within our power to control, if we use every means at our disposal to wage the fight, with a determination to win that exceeds anything we have seen in 2000, 2002, and 2004.

Thomas Paine championed the notion that the cause of America was the cause of the world. Nothing is more important to America, to our cause, to our country, to our world, than the right of a free people to vote in free and fair elections. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

Without that right, all others are endangered.

This is not 2000, 2002, 2004, and America this November must not be like the election in Maryland, this September. It must be the America that our founding fathers envisioned with elections that belong to us all, one person, one vote, one democracy.

Paine said we have the power to remake the world. And we do. And we can. So let's roll."

Brent Budowsky

************************************************** **************
:thumbup: full article:

http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/contributors/416

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION

Brent Budowsky served as Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen, responsible for commerce and intelligence matters, including one of the core drafters of the CIA Identities Law. Served as Legislative Director to Congressman Bill Alexander, then Chief Deputy Whip, House of Representatives. Currently a member of the International Advisory Council of the Intelligence Summit. Left goverment in 1990 for marketing and public affairs business including major corporate entertainment and talent management. He can be reached at brentbbi@webtv.net.

[MAGI]

After reading haus's presentation of "The Next Congress-POL" by David Kowalski, I agree, he "did a nice job".

I was thinking, On Target with the committee leaders, & felt elated until I read the New Republic responses.

OMG! Where is ALL THAT HATE and MISINFORMATION coming from?

Anyone looking at all sides of issues know Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter and the rest of the HATE mongers distort the truth, and will NOT let their guests tell the complete story & outright LIE!

It is apparent MOST of their disciples are fools and the only information they listen to is from the hate mongers who are being well paid by fascist CORPORATE America!

Knowing the followers ignorance,
knowing of all the lies and corruption we have witnessed since the beginning of bushCo's reign, the majority of us on POL know full well there is much at stake for bushCo to lose.

NOTHING is beneath them and they will pull EVERY dirty trick possible to hold the power.

We must have HONEST elections or our Democracy will be totally lost!

from:

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_joan_bru_060919_why_smoke_is_coming_.htm

September 19, 2006 at 23:21:50

http://www.opednews.com

"Why Smoke Was Coming out of my Ears
or My Reaction to The Princeton Center's Nine- Minute Video
Joan Brunwasser, Voting Integrity Editor, OpEdNews

Last week, I wrote an article/review on electronic voting and DeLozier/Karp's new book Hacked! My piece ended with the breaking news of Princeton's Center for Information Technology Policy Report on the Diebold machines. That report, "Security Analysis of the Diebold AccuVote-TS Voting Machine," http://itpolicy.princeton.edu/voting/ is the jumping off point for today's OpEd piece.

After reading numerous articles about the implications of the Princeton team's discoveries, this morning, I finally watched the video of their hack and the simulated vote. http://youtube.com/watch?v=lwwp-n1hqt0 It affected me in the same visceral way that "Invisible Ballots: A Temptation for Electronic Vote Fraud" did a little over a year ago. It's a good thing this doesn't happen to me that frequently. I felt like steam was coming out of my ears and it wasn't because I'm a "woman of a certain age", although I am. As in "Invisible Ballots", the tone is far from hysterical. In a matter-of-fact way, the narrator takes us through the hack of a Diebold Accu-Vote-TS. This voting machine is widely used across the country by millions of American voters. Maryland and Georgia are long-time Diebold customers. They have suffered through a number of election cycles, most recently, the meltdown in Maryland's primary last week. In fact, The Accu-Vote-TS and its newer cousin, the Accu-Vote-TSx, account for almost 10% of registered voters nationwide. And, lest Diebold-less states feel complacent, we know that machines offered by other vendors are no better. ES&S has just revealed that they had a serious break-in three years ago in Minnesota. Valuable personal data was stolen and we're just hearing about it now. http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3482 The vendor did not notify any election officials although this seems to be a significant breach of security for Minnesota's elections. Needless to say, ES&S made no attempt to inform individuals affected by the theft.

The Princeton Center video covers a lot of ground in nine minutes. The malicious software which has infected the Diebold Accu-Vote-TS is so crafty that it knows when the machine is being merely tested and when the election is 'for real'. Remember when you were little and used to play hide and seek? You'd wait impatiently to be discovered, anticipating the moment you could jump out and shout triumphantly "ta-da!" Well, this little virus plays hide and seek with a small but critical twist: it hides, coming out only when the coast is clear and never reveals itself at all. After the virus infects the innards of the voting machine so that the incorrect results all agree (on the paper receipt as well as the memory card), it ingeniously self-destructs so that no evidence remains of its fraudulent activity. Yet fraud has surely taken place, as the video clearly shows.

The virus can spread from machine to machine via the memory card, which acts as a carrier. In this way, the fraudster can maximize his reach. And lest you think that the vendor has taken major steps to keep the bad guys out, think again. Prof. Ed Felten, one of the Princeton Three, just posted an article entitled "'Hotel minibar' keys open Diebold voting machines".
http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/?p=1064 The odds are quite good that you have one of these very keys in your junk drawer at home. A member of their team did.
"A little research revealed that the exact same key is used widely in office furniture, electronic equipment, jukeboxes, and hotel minibars. It's a standard part, and like most standard parts it's easily purchased on the Internet. We bought several keys from an office furniture key shop - they open the voting machine too. We ordered another key on eBay from a jukebox supply shop. The keys can be purchased from many online merchants."

(skip)

She quotes Brent Bodowsky:

"Without that right, all others are endangered.

This is not 2000, 2002, 2004, and America this November must not be like the election in Maryland, this September. It must be the America that our founding fathers envisioned with elections that belong to us all, one person, one vote, one democracy.

Paine said we have the power to remake the world. And we do. And we can. So let's roll."

http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/contributors/416

:thumbup:

[MAGI]

Bradblog has a message and form which makes it easy to contact our representatives, telling them we want paper ballots ensuring our votes are counted accurately.

The form is here:

http://www.democracyinaction.com/dia/organizationsCOM/secstateproject/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=1811

The article:

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3513#more-3513

[MAGI]

http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/24/rolling-stone-interviews-a-diebold-whistleblower/

Rolling Stone interviews a Diebold whistleblower
Posted Sep 24th 2006 1:31AM by Cyrus Farivar
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

In what is perhaps the most astonishing turn of events in the ongoing Diebold fiasco, a new article in the latest issue of Rolling Stone -- with extensive information direct from a named former company consultant -- makes one of the most damning cases against the embattled company. The article weaves an elaborate tale of how Diebold had at the very least some extremely skeezy deals signed in 2002 with the state of Georgia, which allowed Diebold to replace all existing voting equipment, and to speed things up by the fall election: "The company was authorized to put together ballots, program machines and train poll workers across the state - all without any official supervision." As if that weren't enough, days before the primaries, the president of Diebold's election unit, Bob Urosevich, personally distributed a patch to the elections software. The article goes on: "Georgia law mandates that any change made in voting machines be certified by the state. But thanks to Cox's [Georgia's Secretary of State] agreement with Diebold, the company was essentially allowed to certify itself." Before the election, the two Democratic candidates in the two major races (for one Senate seat and the state governorship) had been ahead in the polls, and on Election Day, Republicans won the two races by a slim margin -- and given that no paper trail exists there is no way to prove or disprove that the election wasn't tampered with in some way. And you wonder why we continue to insist on paper ballots for the time being?

[MAGI]

BLOGGED BY Brad ON 9/26/2006 12:36PM
BREAKING EXCLUSIVE: BOXER, DODD INTRODUCE 11th HOUR EMERGENCY PAPER BALLOT LEGISLATION IN SENATE!
Calls for 'Contingency Paper Ballots' in States, Counties this November to be Paid for by Feds!
Co-Author of HAVA is Co-Sponsor of New Bill Answering Our Call for a 'LET AMERICA VOTE ACT', Makes Paper Ballots Optional to States Rather Than Mandated…But We'll Take it! Sources Say House Bill to Follow Soon!


Full article:

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3531

__________________________________________________ _________________________________________________


- The BRAD BLOG - http://www.bradblog.com -

Posted By Brad On 26th September 2006 @ 12:36 In Election Reform, Election 2006, Emergency Paper Ballot Legislation | 18 Comments

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) introduced emergency legislation to amend the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) this afternoon to offer funding to states and counties who make 'contingency paper ballots' available to voters to be used at the voter's option instead of electronic voting systems.

The so-called contingency paper ballots are intended to be counted as normal ballots, as opposed to Provisional Ballots which must be vetted first to determine the integrity of the voter's registration. Provisional ballots are frequently counted only several days after Election Day, and often, not at all. The Senate legislation as filed, however, does not spell out the intended difference between "contingency" and "provisional" ballots specifically.

The BRAD BLOG [1] has learned from a source currently working on similar legislation in the House, said to be filed there shortly, that the House version will include such specific language if possible to ensure such contingency ballots are counted as normal ballots on Election Night. Several Capitol Hill sources have confirmed that such legislation is currently in the works. We hope to have more details on the House version later today.

The inclusion of Dodd as a co-sponsor on the Senate legislation is no small coup, as he was one of the original co-sponsors of the HAVA legislation of 2002 which this bill would amend. Until now, he and the other bi-partisan co-sponsors of that original legislation have been reluctant to open HAVA to amendment.

The legislation, filed just after 4pm ET this afternoon, would refund state and county voting jurisdictions that offer paper ballots as an option to voters, and requires such jurisdictions post "in a conspicuous manner at the polling place, a notice stating that contingency paper ballots are available at the polling place and that a voter may request to use such a ballot at the voter's discretion."

Election integrity advocacy groups and citizens alike have been rallying members of both the U.S. House and Senate to pass such legislation since The BRAD BLOG initially called for [2] what we had called, the "LET AMERICA VOTE ACT" last Tuesday. The act we called for would mandate emergency paper ballots at all polling places this November in light of thousands of voters having been sent away without having been able to cast a vote in primary after primary election so far this year when new electronic voting machines either malfunctioned or were otherwise unavailable.

The short Boxer/Dodd bill does not mandate the use of such ballots, but rather offers federal payment to local jurisdictions that choose to make such 'contingency paper ballots' available at either the voter's request or in the event of machine malfunction.

The bill is now being referred to informally as the "Confidence in Vote Act of 2006". It's a simple bill, three pages long in total, and is posted in full at the bottom this article. The final version of the bill to be filed momentarily (it may have already been) may be downloaded here in PDF format [3].

The bill introduced today is notable in no small part in that it's co-sponsored by Dodd — one of the original co-sponsors of HAVA along with Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in the Senate and Reps. Bob Ney (R-OH) and Steny Hoyer (D-MD) in the House. HAVA was the bill which had set in motion the nationwide implementation of electronic voting systems paid for by the federal government. That bill gave states and counties some $3 billion dollars for voting systems "upgrades" around the country, and has led to a panoply of problems at polls, criticism from computer scientists, security experts and non-partisan election integrity organizations.

Dodd, and the other bi-partisan co-sponsors of HAVA, including the now-disgraced lead author Ney (R-OH), have been reluctant up until now to modify the legislation in any way, despite repeated calls from Election Integrity advocates, and a host of bills filed in both the House and Senate which have not been allowed to move forward.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Bill & full account:
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3531

[MAGI]

Page 2.

As Walter Rantanen, “perhaps the country’s leading forensic paper analyst,” delivers nothing less than a bombshell on the program. His analysis showed that none of the card stock tested from Palm Beach County was actually produced by Boise Cascade, despite Sequoia’s assurances, faux (Xeroxed) labels, and shipping invoices to the contrary. Boise Cascade confirmed Rantanen’s claim when it examined a sample Florida 2000 ballot he sent them. So, where did the low-quality, chad-prone paper come from? A huge and highly relevant question. Further, the manner in which the ballots were produced was counter to traditional guidelines and standards. This practice threw the ballots out of alignment, and aggravated by the poor quality paper stock, could easily have led to the infamous hanging chads. This threw 2000 into question, launching HAVA and the next sordid chapter in our election history.

After the election, Brian Lehrman, the plant manager in Exeter, ordered the crew to “get rid of everything” that had anything to do with Florida because news teams wanted to tour the plant. The workers’ fearful assessment was in fact correct – 2000 had spelled the end of punch-card voting. And after that election, Sequoia went from successful purveyor of a winning punch-card system to the far more lucrative sales of touch-screen voting machines, worth millions of dollars in Florida alone. The evidence brought forth in this special indicates that this company was poised to take advantage of a situation that they precipitated themselves.

As one of the Sequoia employees points out, if it’s true that the company purposely subverted our elections, they should be made to pay. It’s a serious charge that should be fully investigated. But, if the allegations are substantiated, how exactly would the guilty parties pay? Could a monetary fine of whatever magnitude make up for what’s been done to our country, to our dead and wounded soldiers, to our devastated economy, badly tarnished national image, to our courts skewed irrevocably rightward, and to the broken and battered citizens of New Orleans? The list goes on and on. While we might all wish to press the rewind button and somehow go back prior to Election Night 2000, that simply is not an option. What can we do besides throw up our hands?

What is possible is to go forward into any proposed election reform with our eyes wide open. We should not accept what anyone says without proof – whether they are vendors, supposed experts, elections officials, or legislators in our nation’s capital. Computer security analyst Bruce Schneier, in his August 15 newsletter, discusses the California “top-to-bottom” review of the voting systems. http://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-0708.html Unlike others who have rushed to praise SoS Bowen for the unprecedented analysis, Schneier assesses it differently. It’s worth taking a close look at his perspective. He says,

skip





Hope you read the whole article...........
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_joan_bru_070822_the_dan_rather_votin.htm

[MAGI]

Page 1.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_joan_bru_070822_the_dan_rather_votin.htm

August 22, 2007 at 15:10:21

"The Dan Rather Voting Machine Special, A Recipe for Election Disaster, and Serious Food for Thought"

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I’m sure you’re wondering what the heck this has to do with the state of our elections. Well, there is a connection – quality and pride, or in this case, their polar opposite. In every report ever done on the electronic voting machine systems used across the country, the unifying theme is shoddy construction, sophomoric programming, and inadequate or non-existent security. Add to that the ITAs – the (not so) Independent Testing Authorities – that are actually paid by, and answerable only to, the vendors. There you have what I deem a recipe for disaster.

Let’s check out the second part of Dan Rather’s special report, “The trouble with touch screens,” which aired last week. http://www.hd.net/drr227.html Rather looked into the actual paper ballots that were sent in 2000 to Palm Beach County, Florida. Virtually everyone recalls with a collective wince those ubiquitous photographs of election officials squinting and peering at hanging, pregnant, and otherwise problematic chads. People who had never heard of a chad beforehand have that image etched in their minds. I know I do. The investigation that Rather launched turned up some interesting information on how those troubled ballots ended up, coincidentally enough, in a county that determined the 2000 election. Lest you think that I’m exaggerating, please cast your mind back to that election, which was decided by a margin of 527 votes. Palm Beach County, somehow, had more than10,000 under votes – voters who ostensibly came to the polls and voted, but abstained from the contentious presidential race. Statewide, there were 50,000 over votes and at least 7,000 ballots that had three or more presidential candidates marked. Please note: not two candidates for the same race, but three or four. Is this claim even credible?

We now turn to Exeter, California, and the mill that turned out hundreds of millions of punch-card ballots over a period of 30 years for Sequoia Voting Systems. In an interview with seven former Sequoia employees, we find a possible answer for what suddenly turned the country away from punch-card voting towards computerized voting machines. The employees, many of whom had worked for Sequoia for 20 or even 30 years, all shared pride in the quality of their work. In fact, what they produced was referred to by Sequoia as a “no-defect product.” The paper was high quality, as were the tools and inspection process.

In the months leading up to the 2000 election, however, this all began to change. Management suddenly stopped using James River and International Paper, despite the fact that these two suppliers had a superb track record that stretched back decades. Sequoia inexplicably switched to Boise Cascade – a company that lacked experience in the voting field – and the quality of the paper took a nosedive.

one of the former employees put it, “The paper is a large factor in the quality of the ballot. It’s the flour for the bread; I mean, you can’t make good bread without good flour. If you don’t have good paper, you won’t make good ballots.”

Quality control was relaxed, and management stopped listening to employees’ comments and complaints. The drop in quality was quite noticeable and clearly rankled, and the workers’ sense of pride was severely compromised. Said one, “Everybody’s opinion was that this 2000 election was going to be our demise.”

Let’s go to the transcript of the Rather special.

Linda Evans [who did quality control for Sequoia for more than seven years] recalls the chad testing of ballots manufactured for the 2000 election.

Linda Evans: Chads were falling out. Chads were hanging up. We've got a machine that we call a gang punch, which in a sense punches out all the holes at the same time. You slide the card in there and you pull down the handle and it punches out all the holes. They weren't punching out. They were hanging up all over the place. They were aware of that. Oh, management was aware of it. We told 'em.

The behavior of the Sequoia management in the days leading up to the election was highly suspicious. When employees complained about the falling quality of their product, they were continually reassured, “It’ll be okay.” For those of us who have been following the computerized election machine debacle over the last few years, that sounds remarkably similar to the vendor mantra, “Trust us.”


:eek:

continued on Page 2.

[MAGI]

"Fooled Again" Series: Exclusive Interview with "Diebold Whistleblower" Steve Heller

by Joan Brunwasser Page 5 of 5 page(s)

http://www.opednews.com



I want the laws to have real penalties for those who violate election laws. Serious financial penalties, and for more egregious cases, state penitentiary time. Our elections are what our republic is based on. Those who would knowingly violate election laws or suppress voters need to suffer real consequences both as punishment and as a deterrent to other potential election criminals.

Again, we own our elections, and we own our ballots. We have a right to watch our property - our elections and our ballots - being counted.



If we encode these things into federal law, we'll have a good chance to returning accuracy and security to OUR elections. Democracy will be the stronger for it, and we'll all benefit.

Q. Any last words to our readers?

A. Keep fighting "The Man." Bite 'em right on the ass! The constitution can't defend itself. It needs citizens to actively protect it. Whether or not that will happen... I guess time will tell. I'll try to do my best to do my part to defend our democratic republic, along with millions of other Americans from all over the political spectrum. And I hope millions more will join us. Our liberty and our freedom depend on it.

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*Former CA SoS Shelley quotes are taken from this NYT article: click here


http://www.opednews.com/articles/5/opedne_joan_bru_070826__22fooled_again_22_serie.ht m

for so much more...........

http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/showtags.php?tid=4552

[Magi2]

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Velvet-Revolution-Launches-by-the-web-080815-995.html

August 15, 2008 at 17:22:29

Headlined on 8/15/08:
Velvet Revolution Launches Campaign to Protect Elections and Prosecute Rove

by the web (Posted by Joan Brunwasser) Page 1 of 1 page(s)

www.opednews.com


Velvet Revolution Launches Campaign to Protect Elections and Prosecute Rove

August 15, 2008


Velvet Revolution (VR) is working with Ohio election attorneys Cliff Arnebeck, Bob Fitrakis and Henry Eckert to discover the truth about recent information indicating that Karl Rove was the architect and director of a strategy to manipulate elections through the use of computers. Rove's cyber guru, Michael Connell, has worked for the Bush family for over 20 years and helped Bush Sr., Jeb and Bush Jr. "win" their elections using his computer skills. Whistleblowers, including a Republican cyber security expert, say that several of these and other national elections have been rigged through various invisible and illegal means, including vote tabulation manipulation, improper partisan use of the Justice Department to target Democrats and uncooperative U.S. Attorneys, and the laundering of hundreds of millions of corporate dollars funneled into fake advocacy groups directed against Democrat candidates running for public office. Ex-Alabama Governor Don Siegelman has stated publicly that Rove was the person who directed Siegelman's rigged election and criminal prosecution. GOP cyber sleuth Stephen Spoonamore has stated publicly that the leadership of the GOP has been "lying and stealing elections" and doing so through computers.

According to the attorneys, Rove's goal with this strategy is to establish a unitary executive branch with a supportive judiciary, a weak legislature and a fearful press. Corporate sponsors of this strategy, such as tobacco, energy, telecom, and pharmaceutical companies, are rewarded with hands-off government, deregulated oversight, stringent limits on class-action damages, and the stacking of high courts with pro-business/anti-consumer Justices.

VR's campaign is in support of the Ohio attorneys' use of a federal civil lawsuit in a new legal strategy of taking targeted discovery and depositions of those who have been identified as being involved with, or having knowledge of, Rove's "CyberGate," including Rove, Michael Connell, Jack Abramoff, Michael Scanlon, Bob Ney, Brett Rapp, Ken Blackwell and others. The attorneys intend to file a racketeering lawsuit, under RICO, against those identified in this case and will refer any proof of criminal activity to both state and federal authorities for criminal prosecution.

This legal strategy will require significant resources for lawyers, expert witnesses, videotaped depositions, public relations, and investigators. The attorneys will need to go toe to toe with the top lobbyist law firms, which will be hired to represent these targets. One of those targets is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has spent close to a half billion dollars on lobbying since George Bush was inaugurated. The attorneys assert that Rove has used the Chamber to bankroll many of the illegal attacks by using fake front groups posing as advocacy organizations. The attorneys will need to respond immediately to what we expect to be a smear campaign by those implicated in this attack on democracy. Press and FEC reports show that Rove and Connell are now working for the McCain presidential campaign.

Are these people now working for John McCain because they have promised him a win no matter what? The "Protect Elections, Prosecute Rove" campaign will ensure that McCain knows exactly what these people have done and hold him to his promise of a clean election.
Your support is needed for the campaign to succeed.
DONATE HERE TO SUPPORT THE "PROTECT ELECTIONS, PROSECUTE ROVE" CAMPAIGN. Let's get to the bottom of this scandal before it's too late.


An idea......Put in CT."s system of voting.............

:thumbup:

[seekingaction]

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Velvet-Revolution-Launches-by-the-web-080815-995.html



An idea......Put in CT."s system of voting.............

:thumbup:

True, as if we all don't want a clean election.

[progressivenooks]

These're some pretty helpful news links --- we DO want clean elections --- wouldn't want to see any of the party's efforts go to waste.

[Magi2]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndDZA_JKrAU

Turd Blossom:
"Hack The Vote"...................................

I would NOT leave the machine that changes my vote right before my eyes! I would not use a machine ...........ever!

"We The People" can eliminate these easily hacked machines!
Let's Demand paper ballots and rid ourselves of e voting unverifiable machines once and for all!


Do you have the paper ballot option in your state?

:confused:

http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/editorblog/131

Republican Leaders Who Participate in Attacks on ACORN Could be Prosecuted as Part of a Criminal Conspiracy
Submitted by mark karlin on Mon, 10/20/2008 - 7:02am. EditorBlog
MARK KARLIN'S EDITOR'S BLOG

October 20

Let the GOP muck-a-mucks across the nation who are participating in a nationwide RNC/McCain diversionary campaign against ACORN be warned: In a new administration of light and truth – instead of Cheney’s dark shadows and Bush’s lies – you may be subject to prosecution for participating in a criminal conspiracy to suppress votes and violate the Voting Rights Act.

We do not exaggerate.

The unrelenting and profoundly dishonest and misleading attempt to brand a national community organizing group as some sort of minority enterprise of ghetto thieves is nothing more than a GOP tradition of using ACORN as a scapegoat to justify voter suppression. And organized voter suppression is a crime. In fact, a creative prosecutor under Obama could apply the RICO Act to the RNC/McCain daily deluge of attempts to get voters to believe that ACORN is engaged in voter fraud and then using that cover to disenfranchise voters.

As most BuzzFlash readers know, voter registration errors and voter fraud are two entirely different issues. If you register to vote as Mickey Mouse, it doesn’t mean you vote as Mickey Mouse. Does anyone believe that Mickey Mouse will show up to vote, except at Disneyworld? Republican voter drives regularly yield tons of false registrants, as do petition drives in states like California. But very few individuals commit actual voter fraud, the casting of a ballot during an election.

In fact, in the last five years the DOJ own’s statistics indicate that there have been way less than 20 people in the entire United States convicted of voter fraud, and none of them were connected with an ACORN registration drive. You read that right, less than 20, according to a Washington Post analysis. In fact, the LA Times announced the only actual arrest we have read of this year for voter registration fraud (not voter fraud), and that’s of a Republican in California!

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[Magi2]

Too late to add:
http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/20/almost-heaven-early-machine-vote-switching-in-wv/#more-32895

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Early voting began in WV on October 15th. Counties here use a mix of electronic voting, optical scan paper ballots, and old-style paper ballots. Both counties reporting recent errors use machine voting, but this comes on the heels of multiple reports of problems with calibration of software for the optical scan machines.

Carper said the mistake was made by the vendor, Election Systems & Software Inc. in Nebraska. State and county election officials repeatedly have had problems with ES&S missing deadlines and making mistakes on voting materials....

Carper is unhappy with the voting glitch. "The problem is this is the day before the election starts," he said. "This does not instill confidence in the voting system.

Gee, ya think?!? WVBlue has more here, including a number WV voters can call to report problems to Obama/Dem HQ: (304) 341-0205. You can also report problems nationwide to 1-866-OUR-VOTE.



Please use PAPER BALLOTS in WV.........ONLY!
Is it ANY wonder Rethugs have had Dominion in WV all these years?


:eek: