More Voting Machine Problems

Are we on the verge of another stolen election? Is anything being done about it?
By Elaine Kitchel

Something stinks in Riverside County, California, and it’s not the local dump. The nasty odor assailing the residents’ nostrils is the smell of rotten politics. But it’s Riverside, so why should you care? Well there’s just one reason. What’s happening in Riverside County is a snapshot of what’s happening all over the country, probably in your state. And this is a story best told by a young man named Jeremiah Akin.

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Will computers eat their votes?

Machines crash, lose results, leave no paper trail Critics see a train wreck ahead — and not just in Florida

LYNDA HURST - Aug. 29, 2004

The debacle of the Florida recount in 2000 may look like the good old days come the even more hotly contested U.S. presidential election this November.

Punch-card ballots won't be to blame this time.

The infamous paper "chads" that caused such vituperative chaos when the Democrats demanded recounts in several counties are no more.

In an embarrassed flurry of modernization, the State That Couldn't Vote Straight has gone high-tech.

Like 35 million other Americans in 29 states, voters in 15 of Florida's largest counties — including Miami-Dade, ground zero of suspicious recounts last time — will be casting their ballots electronically on ATM-like touch-screen computers, with nary a paper ballot in sight.

A failsafe solution?

Not a chance. A fast-growing anti-electronic movement spearheaded by computer scientists says an electoral train wreck is in the works for Nov. 2.

And it won't be confined to Florida. They say touch screens have repeatedly been tested in various state elections over the past two years with disastrous results.

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Felons take their case to governor

More than 100 felons ask Gov. Jeb Bush and the Cabinet to restore their rights. About half of them get their wish.

TAMARA LUSH- Published June 18, 2004

[...] Here's how it works: Felons who are released from prison or finish probation or parole can apply to have their civil rights restored. Some felons can have their rights restored automatically.

But those convicted of serious offenses such as drug trafficking, sex crimes, battery or DUI manslaughter must request a hearing before the Clemency Board.

The governor and the Cabinet - the agriculture commissioner, the state's chief financial officer and the attorney general - review the cases. The governor wields the most power under the state constitution: He can make decisions unilaterally regarding pardons and restoration of civil rights.

Which could be why, at Thursday's meeting, the governor's questions were more akin to a probation officer than the top politician of the nation's fourth largest state.

"You still drinking?" Bush asked one applicant, who answered no.

"I would urge you to stay sober," Bush said, before restoring the man's rights.

One man - the former mayor of a small, Brevard County community convicted of cocaine charges - was crying so much he was barely able to speak.

"I made very poor life decisions," Todd Deratany said. "I'm very sorry."

The state's executive clemency laws have remained virtually unchanged since 1868, when Florida lawmakers put the rules in place to deter ex-slaves from voting.

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Votergate

Welcome to the Votergate trailer download page

The filmmakers have already successfully produced a piece on this subject for BBC television and are now seeking funding to continue to take advantage of unique opportunities to document the unfolding story and produce a full length TV documentary and DVD in time to affect the November 2004 election.

This work brings together all of the key players who have been working on touch screen voting and election fraud. It has a unique potential to galvanize public opinion and action on the issue before the election. But only if they are able to continue to find funding now. For more information about the Votergate film project, or to request a copy of a DVD with more detailed substantive material from the broadcast quality documentary film already in production, please contact the film makers

America's votes are being counted in secret by a few powerful corporations on computers designed to be so insecure that they can be hacked without detection. The Republican and Democrat votes can be swapped or even totally rewritten. At best the electronic voting machines fail to count votes accurately. At worst they could be used to steal the presidency. 'Votergate' is the investigative documentary uncovering the secrets and lies behind America's newly computerised election system.

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The Long Shadow of Jim Crow: Voter Intimidation and Suppression in America Today

A Report by PFAW Foundation and NAACP

In a nation where children are taught in grade school that every citizen has the right to vote, it would be comforting to think that the last vestiges of voter intimidation, oppression and suppression were swept away by the passage and subsequent enforcement of the historic Voting Rights Act of 1965. It would be good to know that voters are no longer turned away from the polls based on their race, never knowingly misdirected, misinformed, deceived or threatened.

Unfortunately, it would be a grave mistake to believe it.

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Missouri Plan to Let Military Cast Votes by E-Mail Draws Criticism

Jo Becker - Washington Post - August 27, 2004

A plan to make the presidential battleground of Missouri the first state to allow military voters serving in combat zones such as Iraq to cast their absentee ballots via e-mail is renewing concerns about the security of online voting.

Missouri Secretary of State Matt Blunt, a Republican running for governor, announced the plan Wednesday, saying that "simplifying the voting process for these heroes is the least we can do." The move surprised some computer security experts and voting watchdog groups, who said yesterday that the new rules could lead to Election Day fraud.

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State to receive $32 million for electronic voting

Susan Haigh - AP - August 27, 2004

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Connecticut has received $32.7 million from the federal government to help buy new electronic voting machines and make other upgrades in the wake of the 2000 presidential election.

Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz announced Friday that some of the money will be used to buy an electronic voting machine for each of the state's 750 polling places for the November 2005 municipal election, as required under federal law.

The state will seek offers from voting machine companies this fall.

After the 2005 elections, cities and towns can apply for funding to replace all of their old lever voting machines. The state will provide the money on a first come, first-served basis.

None of the new voting machines, which often resemble ATM machines, will be used in this year's presidential election in Connecticut. About 30 percent of the nation will be using them this November.

Bysiewicz said she wants to see how the machines perform in those states before Connecticut begins using them.

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Florida judge rules that ban on touchscreen hand recounts violates state law

David Royse - AP - 08-27-04

TALLAHASSEE, Fla - A state rule barring the 15 Florida counties with touchscreen voting from conducting manual recounts is at odds with state law, which requires hand recounts in some close elections, a judge ruled Friday.

A coalition including government watchdogs and other interest groups sued the state, arguing the law requires provisions for hand recounts in every county, no matter what voting technology is used.

Administrative Law Judge Susan Kirkland agreed, writing that state law clearly contemplates "that manual recounts will be done on each certified voting system, including the touchscreen voting systems."

With a primary election Tuesday and more than half the state's voters in counties that use touchscreens, it is not clear what those counties will do.

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Absentee Ballot Info for Every State - Paper Ballot Links

Make SURE your vote counts! (scroll down for State links)

Completing an Absentee (paper) Ballot may well be the only way you will be able to have your vote matter at all or at least in a re-count (wherever electronic voting machines without verified paper trail are in use).

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Diebold Wines and Dines Officials

David Corn - 8/26/2004

At a time when there is much controversy over electronic voting and some election experts are raising concerns about the integrity of such voting, should the leading manufacturers of electronic voting machines be wining and dining state and local officials responsible for conducting elections? Well, they are.

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Voting Machine Mess-up Du Jour

Sacramento, California - August 2004

Paper trail showed the machine missed votes in Spanish.

In a demonstration of its Direct Recording Electronic voting machine with a paper trail, Sequoia demonstrated that its machine failed to report four votes in Spanish.*

Notice that this demonstration CAN ONLY mean one of two things:

1) The voting machine didn't record the votes correctly, or
2) The printer didn't print what the voting machine recorded.

Yet, 30% of Americans will be voting on electronic voting machines in November.

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Thousands illegally register in both New York City and Florida

Russ Buettner - NY Daily News - Aug. 25, 2004

NEW YORK - (KRT) - With debate over the 2000 election still raging, thousands of people illegally register in both New York City and Florida, which could swing an election.

Some 46,000 New Yorkers are registered to vote in both the city and Florida, a shocking finding that exposes both states to potential abuses that could alter the outcome of elections, a New York Daily News investigation shows.

Registering in two places is illegal in both states, but the massive snowbird scandal goes undetected because election officials don't check rolls across state lines.

The finding is even more stunning given the pivotal role Florida played in the 2000 presidential election, when a margin there of 537 votes tipped a victory to George W. Bush.

Computer records analyzed by The News don't allow for an exact count of how many people vote in both places, because millions of names are regularly purged between elections.

But The News found that between 400 and 1,000 registered voters have voted twice in at least one election, a federal offense punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

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Discrimination at U.S. Polls Now 'Subtler, More Creative'

Aug 25, 2004

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The old methods of U.S. discrimination at the polls have been replaced by "subtler and more creative tactics," according to a report released on Wednesday.

Julian Bond, the board chairman of the civil rights group NAACP, voiced special concerns about attempts to turn away minority voters.

"Minority voters bear the brunt of every form of disenfranchisement, including pernicious efforts to keep them away from the polls," Bond said in a statement.

The statement said the report, by the NAACP and People for the American Way Foundation, found that the kinds of voter intimidation found in the past -- discriminatory literacy tests, poll taxes and physical violence -- have been supplanted by other methods, including:

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Hoodwinked

Why is Florida's voting system so corrupt?

Ann Louise Bardach - Aug. 24, 2004

[...] About the only thing that could restore confidence in Florida electoral procedures would be Hood's immediate resignation; her successor should then be chosen by a bipartisan commission. And as Gov. Bush cannot possibly be an impartial observer in his brother's quest for another term, he should recuse himself from every aspect involving the vote count in Florida. He also needs to flex his power with his famously compliant Legislature to repeal the new laws eliminating manual recounts and witnessed absentee ballots. In addition, all felons who have repaid their debt to society, following completion of their sentences, should have their voting rights restored.

If these changes are not made, Florida cannot conduct a credible election come November.

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Lawmakers Want Ashcroft to Probe Recent Voter Intimidation in Florida

By Christine Phillip, BET.com Staff Writer

Posted August 23, 2004 – Six Democratic Congressmen from Florida are calling on Attorney General John Ashcroft to investigate immediately charges that elderly voters were intimidated by the Florida law enforcement agents.

The call comes amid charges from Democrats that Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents, looking into suspected absentee ballot fraud during the Orlando mayoral race in March, targeted Black voters for questioning in an effort to suppress voter turnout.

“Injustice and voter intimidation are again showing their ugly faces in Florida,” Representatives Alcee Hastings, Corrine Brown, Kendrick Meek, Robert Wexler and Peter Deutsch wrote in a letter to Ashcroft; Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, also signed the letter. “These tactics, possibly knowingly and thoughtfully orchestrated, echo our continuous struggle for voting rights and must be stopped. We request that the Department of Justice immediately investigate and prepare to enjoin this threatening behavior.”

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Lawyers for Fla. congressman argue for paper ballots

Doug Gross - AP - August 20. 2004

Lawyers for a Florida congressman argued Friday to keep alive a push to require the state's voting machines to create a paper ballot to go with each vote.

Attorneys for U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, a Democrat, told members of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that a district judge wrongly threw out Wexler's lawsuit.

In dismissing the federal complaint, U.S. District Judge James Cohn said he couldn't get involved because the issue also was being considered by state courts. Also, Cohn ruled that the lawsuit would require the federal courts to become deeply involved with election procedures, which typically are left to the states.

"The judge basically mixed apples and oranges," said Wexler's attorney, Robert Peck, who said the federal and state cases argued different issues.

Attorneys for Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood, Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore and Indian River Supervisor of Elections Kay Clem said the judge acted properly because Wexler's federal lawsuit was merely an effort to make the same arguments in two courts.

Wexler's attorneys have asked the appeals court to speed their decision so state election officials could make changes before the November elections.

Earlier this month, a state appeals court threw out the case.

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National Guard members to vote by fax

Dara Kam - The Palm Beach Post - Aug. 20, 2004

TALLAHASSEE — National Guard members who vote in the 10 Florida counties ravaged by Hurricane Charley will be able to cast their ballots by fax machine under an “elections emergency” declared Thursday by Gov. Jeb Bush.

A story in The Palm Beach Post today incorrectly said all voters in the 10 counties hit by Charley were eligible to vote by fax machine. That decision applies only to Florida National Guard members in the area.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Glenda Hood, who toured the hardest-hit counties — DeSoto, Charlotte and Hardee — said she was confident the primary would be held as scheduled in all counties.

[...] Bush's order said that although no county reported damage to voting systems or ballots, the counties are “still in the process of assessing the availability of poll workers and the damage to any equipment and polling places for the conduct of the state primary on Aug. 31.”

His order also allows the suspension of early voting in the 10 affected counties. Early voting began Monday throughout the state and is under way in all of the affected counties except Charlotte.

[...] Elections workers in Hardee County, already battered by Charley and further devastated by the death of Elections Supervisor Dean Cullins in the aftermath of the storm, are distributing fliers in English and Spanish, and delivering absentee ballots to people in shelters, Faraj said.

Bush has not yet reopened qualifying for Democrats to replace Cullins, who was running unopposed.

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Saving the Vote

Paul Krugman - August 17, 2004

Everyone knows it, but not many politicians or mainstream journalists are willing to talk about it, for fear of sounding conspiracy-minded: there is a substantial chance that the result of the 2004 presidential election will be suspect.

[...] It's horrifying to think that the credibility of our democracy - a democracy bought through the courage and sacrifice of many brave men and women - is now in danger. It's so horrifying that many prefer not to think about it. But closing our eyes won't make the threat go away. On the contrary, denial will only increase the chances of a disastrously suspect election.

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Suppress the Vote?

Bob Herbert - August 16, 2004

The big story out of Florida over the weekend was the tragic devastation caused by Hurricane Charley. But there's another story from Florida that deserves our attention.

State police officers have gone into the homes of elderly black voters in Orlando and interrogated them as part of an odd "investigation" that has frightened many voters, intimidated elderly volunteers and thrown a chill over efforts to get out the black vote in November.

The officers, from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which reports to Gov. Jeb Bush, say they are investigating allegations of voter fraud that came up during the Orlando mayoral election in March.

Officials refused to discuss details of the investigation, other than to say that absentee ballots are involved. They said they had no idea when the investigation might end, and acknowledged that it may continue right through the presidential election.

[...] Not surprisingly, many of the elderly black voters who found themselves face to face with state police officers in Orlando are members of the Orlando League of Voters, which has been very successful in mobilizing the city's black vote.

[...] The vile smell of voter suppression is all over this so-called investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

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Court rejects U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler’s lawsuit over touch-screen voting machines

Jeremy Milarsky - August 7 2004

A panel of state appellate court judges dismissed U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler's lawsuit over touch-screen voting machines Friday, saying that while the right to vote is fundamental state officials don't need to guarantee a perfect voting system.

Wexler, D-Boca Raton, sued in both federal and state court to compel the state government to install paper receipts for Florida's ATM-style touch-screen machines. Fifteen counties -- including Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade -- currently use the electronic voting systems.

Wexler still has an active appeal in the federal court system.

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Louisville Republicans ask for local party chairman to resign

Aug. 03, 2004 - AP

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Some Republicans are calling for the resignation of their local party chairman because he plans to use vote challengers in the November election.

About a dozen people, about half of whom were black, demonstrated outside the Jefferson County Board of Elections Monday to ask Jack Richardson IV to step down.

Last week, Richardson announced he would use poll watchers, if necessary, in predominantly Democratic precincts as a way to keep the election fair. Opponents argue that their presence is a way to intimidate minority voters.

The protest group called that plan "rogue and racist behavior."

The demonstators asked U.S. Rep. Anne Northup, who represents Louisville, to tell Richardson to step down.

"We are unhappy with the way this situation has been handled, and we will communicate that directly to the chairman," said her campaign manager, Patrick Neely. "In every precinct we need two good Democrats and two good Republicans to work the polls as the law prescribes. We do not need challengers."

Ron Burrell, a black Republican running for state Senate, said his campaign will suffer because young blacks have told him they won't vote if they will be confronted at the polls.

The Democratic and Republican parties are each allowed to place two challengers at every poll to challenge voters they believe may be ineligible. Democrats don't plan to use challengers in GOP precincts.

Richardson said Monday that the party may not need to have vote challengers, but he is reserving the right to use them. He said he would not step down from his position.

The GOP placed party members in 18 precincts last November to watch voting.

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Voter Registration Card Mailing Causes Political Stink

Democrats Claim Plan Is GOP Trick To Keep Voters From Polls

August 6, 2004

INDIANAPOLIS -- An attempt to reconfirm the registrations of Marion County voters is causing a political stink.

Tens of thousands of voters have received cards in the mail and returned them with no problems, but about 15,000 cards have come back as nondeliverable, officials said.

If those named on the cards don't vote in the next two elections, they can be removed from the rolls.

Democrats say the mailing is a Republican trick to keep voters from the polls.

Ed Treacy, chairman of the county Democratic Party, said the program could confuse voters and make them think that if they didn't return the card, they are no longer eligible to vote.

GOP officials say the cards comply with state law.

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Official: Absentee votes may go uncounted – again

Erica Werner - AP - August 04, 2004

Thousands of votes from U.S. troops overseas could go uncounted again in November without emergency legislation extending deadlines for the ballots, a Chicago election official warned President Bush in a letter Tuesday. Nearly 30 percent of military voters who requested ballots in 2000 didn’t get them in time to vote.

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Possible voter fraud has AG's office on hunt

Susan Greene and John Ingold -Denver Post - August 04, 2004

State prosecutors are investigating possible fraud involving suspicious voter registration forms filed in at least three metro Denver counties.

Secretary of State Donetta Davidson asked Attorney General Ken Salazar to look into the matter after county clerks reported irregularities in voter registration forms and some voters complained that their party registrations had been changed without their consent.

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Florida GOP keeps its delegate list secret

Larry Wheeler - Gannett News Service - Aug 3, 2004

WASHINGTON -- GOP officials in Florida are refusing to release the names of state delegates to their party's national convention in New York later this month, saying some delegates have expressed concerns about privacy and security.

"We have nothing to hide or shadow or keep from anyone," Florida GOP spokesman Joseph Agostini said.

The state will identify a few delegates as official representatives to speak for the group, Agostini said.

Florida will send 112 delegates to the national convention to be held from Aug. 30 to Sept. 2 at Madison Square Garden.

GOP officials in other states have published the names of their delegates and in some cases have provided delegates' phone numbers and home addresses.

The secrecy took some Florida Republican delegates by surprise.

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Plan to Ease Voter Registration for Spanish Speakers Stalled

Translated Form Still Not Available on FEC Web Site

Michelle Garcia - Washington Post - August 2, 2004

Federal promises to make registering to vote easier for Spanish-speaking voters by posting the required forms on the Internet have been lost in translation. Seven months after the government hired a company to translate the material, and nearly a year after the English version was made available, nothing appeared online.

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Is Florida facing a new polling fiasco?

Linda McQuaig - Toronto Star - Aug. 1, 2004

[...] On the floor of the Democratic convention, CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked Florida Senator Bob Graham if the state had solved the problem of hanging chads and punch-card ballots, which had caused such havoc in the last presidential election.

Graham noted that those problems had been solved, but pointed to another problem: about half of Florida voters will use electronic voting machines in November, even though "(We) do not have any verifiable backup in case one of those machines malfunctions or there's a challenge to the accuracy of the machines."

Blitzer seemed shocked by this. "Well, how is that possible in this day and age you don't have a backup?"

Graham's answer was stunning: "Because I'll say (Florida) Governor (Jeb) Bush and his administration have stonewalled the efforts to get a paper trail behind these electronic machines."

Here, then, was an issue with some real meat on it, an issue that throws into question the very viability of the U.S. democratic process.

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