Hanging Chads have been Replaced by Hanging Bytes

RECOUNT OHIO PRINTERS IN PRECINCTS 2006 (Rush Holt’s bill)

rbaneth@mindspring.com

You like fast food, how about fast voting? Here is a miracle technology. It is called paper. If the U.S. had simple paper ballots — and no voting machines for voters at all — how long do you think the lines would have been in Ohio? Answer: 700 people could vote in 15 minutes in one large auditorium, like a college classroom (copying neighbor’s work allowed, but not encouraged). While precincts could still be open all day, in theory poll workers could knock it out in a morning and then off to Starbucks. Some Ohioans waited 13 hours to vote, why? Because of MACHINES: http://www.theneighborhoodnetwork.org/Video/Vote/Vote.html

Remember machines are supposed to make life better? I think that includes shorter lines.

Indeed, hanging chads have been replaced by hanging bytes.

One of my points is that it IS the machines that are the problem at least at the "point of vote." The machines should be used to do mundane tasks like add up the votes at the end of the night. But filling out a paper form to vote is FUN. Even confidence-inspiring. Even quicker! Results should be transferred by car to county office, NOT MODEM. Each ballot could have a pre-keyed serial number and voter tears off seral number for later checking of vote on the internet (see no printers). Let the machines tabulate at the end of the night at the I:in office. In front of bi-partisan witnesses!

I love machines. I fix them for a living. But America, fellow IT professionals, please dispute the following if you can: ONE person can change the results of a national election in less than one hour if they have the modem phone numbers or IP address of the particular central tabulator personal computers in key counties in key battleground states. That person would possibly be a current or ex-Diebold employee, say a CEO that promised the election to Bush or one of his employees who prefers Diebold to Iraq (where the unemployed go). Or his neighbor’s hacker kid. Or Jeb Bush himself. We are not talking large scale conspiracy here. This is well within the realm of possibility (well, not the Jeb thing). Prove me wrong! I bet my two masters degrees and 20 years IT experience and Keith Olbemann’s career on
it : ). For you techies: all it takes is to ftp in a revised mdb file. The GEMS program sits on top of unpassworded Access files!! If one whack-job will burn down a clinic, one will hack a computer. You used to have to be smart to hack, now you probably just need to Google "Hack GEMS." I could do it in 90 seconds. Oh yeah, I am NOT a whack job. Really.

For all of you unware of the vulnerabilities of these machines, please go to the non-partisan site www.blackboxvoting.org

Do you know that machine malfunctions account for over 50% of all voting issues?
http://www.votersunite.org/...

We feel so strongly that these machines are "defective" that we have decided to pursue a class action product liability case against Diebold Corporation on behalf of citizens of North Carolina. It could be extended to our State Board of Elections as a negligence case. This could be a federal case much like the "under God pledge" but hopefully one that the American people can get behind.

Diebold, Incorporated
5995 Mayfair Road
P.O. Box 3077
North Canton, Ohio USA 44720-8077
330-490-4000

While there are numerous product liability issues and instances with Diebold software and hardware, I would look at what occurred http://www.votersunite.org/article.asp?id=3820 here in NC, "Office records from election night, kept by a staff member, showed that information was received, Page said. She believes the computer system recorded a successful transmission without receiving any data. Mark Radke, Diebold’s marketing director, said his company had no reports of a problem in Gaston County. Generally speaking, he said, a false transmission was unlikely. There were no reports of similar problems from the many other jurisdictions across the nation that use the machines, he said. "It’s prone to human error," he said when asked about problems with the system."

If his system is more prone to human error than, say "paper ballots," then why do we use these systems? They cost millions and need to be replaced every couple of years. I am a usability designer by education and know usability errors can be minimized through good systems design. It must be superior to the system it is replacing. Please someone be reading this.

I have singled out Diebold of the three major voting corporations because it is their GEMS software that resides on the central tabulating personal computer that is common to many disparate company’s machines. This is the machine and software that combines the votes at the end of the evening from all of the precincts. For instance, I could look closer at Carteret county’s debacle here in NC with push-button voting machines, UniLect Corp., acknowledges it told county officials the machines would hold more than 10,000 votes. The machines actually held 3,005 because the computer software had not been updated (by the manufacturer) http://www.votersunite.org/article.asp?id=3820

I am an information technologist by trade for the last 20 years. I am well aware of the general vulnerabilities of these systems and to me they are guilty until proven innocent. The crux of the case is that they claim to count votes reliably and accurately, nevertheless known "machine malfunctions" account for over 50% of all voting problems in North Carolina and across the country. In 2000, Volusia County, Florida, negative 16,000 votes were registered for Gore after the valid transmission using a different memory card. This is supposed to be impossible according to the manufacturer. It caused Gore to make an early concession phone call to Bush which he later retracted but the psychological dynamics later played out to his peril. I’d love to get Gore to join my case.

I speak for millions, Republicans and Democrats, who believe that rigged elections are bad. Right, you millions? Taken one problem report at a time, the harm is not that bad, but when an entire election is manipulated then there should be a case. What more do we need to know...all the machines were certified even though the security checklist item next to "penetration testing" was left unchecked. Jeepers, creepers..
I believe Diebold must prove their machines are reliable and accurate or remove them from market (like Vioxx). They must also justify policies regarding certification and why their machines provide no verifiable paper trail. There are hundreds of poll judges who will testify!

Only academics need read on: The recent Berkeley study showed you can tell who someone was going to vote for based on what method they used to vote with. That is, people who used electronic methods were MUCH more likely to vote for Bush. While I believe a simple correlational analysis would make it easier to understand this study, they wisely focused on potential problem areas (battlegound states) rather than looking at some national conspiracy. These Ohio and Florida machines and methods are GUILTY until proven innocent. Please someone prove these machines to be perfect!! Hundreds of regional reports to the contrary; thousands at national level. Every discrepancy in Bush’s favor. If it quacks like a duck...how many freakin’ ducks do we need?

There are now five investigative angles on 2004 election issues:
– 1) exit polling abberations,
– 2) voting method predicting candidate choice,
– 3) late reporting precincts tended to go for Bush,
– 4) distribution of voting machines in Ohio;
– 5) Where did Bush get 8 million new voters?

We in the tin foil hat crowd, just want printers in precincts if we cannot go back to paper. What is the argument against? Please see Rush Holt’s (House NJ)

Legislative bill:

http://holt.house.gov/issues2.cfm?id=5996

http://holt.house.gov/display2.cfm?id=6282&type=Home

Diebold is a highly partisan company that promised to deliver election to Bush in a fund raising letter. In addition, their top IT staff has felony convictions in check fraud with computers and drugs, all verifiable.
Lastly, this brand new Volusia County thing with county officials throwing out poll tapes is about to get legs.
http://www.news-journalonline.com/... Some conspiracies are true. You know it. I know it. They know it.