Daily Democracy in Danger Post: 1 Day Left News Round-Up

It's right around now when I get butterflies--tomorrow will be either the best Christmas ever--or the worst! Regardless, there is still plenty of coverage of voting irregularities out there, though it was a slow weekend (hence the lack of a Sunday "daily" DID post). Here is the latest news from around the web:

Even early risers see long lines for weekend voting
Hundreds stood in line Saturday in Plantation, Florida, before polling center opened
More than 23 million early ballots had been collected in 25 states by Friday
WRAL: Early-voting line four hours long Saturday in Charlotte, North Carolina
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/01/early.voting/index.html

Excitement, frustration as early voters brave long lines
Six-hour wait at early-voting center in Columbus, Ohio, caller tells CNN Voter Hotline
Some callers express surprise at waits around country; others frustrated
More than 4 million early ballots have been cast in Florida
CNN Voter Hotline,1-877-462-6608, will track voter problems through Election Day
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/02/early.voting/index.html

If I can just jump in here--I don't get why there are all these long lines--how do our leaders get off not supplying enough machines for early voting? The American people are finally working out how important this election is and this is how we are treated when we show up early? Sheesh. I am glad CNN is covering this, though. Kudos to them for, you know, doing their job.

Prepare for chaos: U.S. electoral system warned it 'can't cope' as historic number of voters cast their ballot for McCain/Obama
The American presidential election could descend into electoral chaos on Tuesday as unprecedented numbers of voters turn out to cast their ballot in a system that is largely untested.

The United States has an electoral system that is not organised, designed or funded to cope with 'anywhere near a 100 per cent turnout', a director of a leading independent electoral reform group has said.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1082591/Prepare-chaos-U-S-electoral-warned-cope-historic-number-voters-cast-ballot-McCain-Obama.html

High Turnout May Add to Problems at Polling Places
Millions of voters will encounter an unfamiliar low-tech landscape at the polls on Tuesday. About half of all voters will vote in a way that is different from what they did in the last presidential election, and most will use paper ballots rather than the touch-screen machines that have caused concern among voting experts.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/03/us/politics/03voting.html
Not sure what the heck the NYT is talking about here since from everything I've read it's more likely to be the opposite--with more people using computerized balloting. Regardless, the NYT article begins with a picture of an 81 year-old man who says the machine on which he voted for Obama almost registered a vote for someone else. Vote Flipping--yaaaay! WAIT--I mean--BOOOOO!!

E-voting worries linger as Election Day nears
After a presidential election eight years ago that seemed like it would never end, politicians pledged to prevent a second round of hanging chads, manual recounts, and U.S. Supreme Court arguments. The idea was to spend up to $3.9 billion to replace punch card voting machines of the sort that Florida accidentally made famous.

By including strict requirements that newly purchased machines "be accessible" to blind and disabled voters, Congress all but mandated electronic voting machines with touch screens. But Washington politicians--not known for their tech-savvy in the best of times--neglected to include even rudimentary security and verifiability requirements.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10080863-38.html
Nice to see CNET covering this story, though I think that headline is pretty funny seeing as the article is dated today. REALLY, Mr. CNET Headline-Writer?? Is Election Day near? (It's tomorrow!)

Obama: Do Not Concede!
Mark Crispin Miller said it: There are two types of people in the world; those who address election integrity issues, and the happy people.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-jay/obama-do-not-concede_b_140478.html
TELL me about it. I've been following this stuff just a bit longer than Michael Jay, the writer of the above-linked blog post at HuffPo, and yeah, it's downright scary to realize that we have no hard numbers that prove Bush has been rightfully in the White House all of this time. Regardless of who wins on TV, tomorrow, I hope things are MUCH clearer than they were in 2000 and 2004, and if they aren't I really hope the loser does not concede until we know for sure (even if it's McCain).

Wow--what's really scary is that I haven't even gotten to the coverage over at BradBlog.com! Just do a Google News search for the phrase "vote flipping" and you'll see just how many news sources (mainstream and not) are talking about this problem. But I digress:

Democrats Continue to Defend Their Indefensible Election Protection Efforts
Still in Denial, Obama's Attorney Describes Serious Concerns About Voting Machines and More as 'Hyperbole'
Argues 'More Votes Lost From Incompetence Than Fraud or Oppression'...
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6607
See, this is JUST like the Democrats to assume the best (that incompetence is more likely than straight-up fraud). Regardless, facts are facts, and computers can be programmed to do anything--including vote-flipping. I don't know why the damn Dems are so trusting!! They trusted the system to work the last two presidential elections and look who "won"!! They trusted Bush to use the power to go to war wisely and look what happened! They trusted him when he said Saddam was a threat and look what happened. 911, Katrina, the economy?

W. T. F.

Judge Orders CO to 'Cease And Desist' Voter Purges, Demands Ballots Be Counted
Important Ruling Places Onus On Elections Officials to Prove Voter Ineligibility...
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6602
Imagine that, the concept of being "innocent until proven guilty" still exists in America! I thought it had gone extinct! How nice of the Colorado state gov to assume you are telling the truth when you open your mouth.

How cynical a world do we live in??

What's the Matter with Voting in Philadelphia? Answer: Marge Tartaglione (D)
Jesus. This is what/who voters in Philadelphia are being forced to deal with,
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6606
The "this" Friedman refers to in that excerpt is Marge Tartaglione, the Dem who is, in part, in charge of elections in Philadelphia. This woman is a train wreck. Usually I just link to the stories at the BradBlog, but Brad includes a great video that features Tartaglione comparing voters waiting in line to vote to gadget freaks standing in line for iPods. That has got to be the modern equivalent to the phrase "let them eat cake."

Anyway, so here's the video so you can see for yourself just how frivolously this Pennsylvania election official takes the responsibility of voting:



That woman is the Wicked Witch of Philly!

Finally, on Friday, it seems that the mighty Oprah, herself, had trouble voting:

VIDEO: OPRAH SEES OWN PRESIDENTIAL VOTE DROPPED BY TOUCH-SCREEN VOTING MACHINE
'I went back to check it, it had not recorded my presidential vote!' Says Terrified, Potentially Disenfranchised Queen of Television...
NOW UPDATED With Much More Useful Info for Oprah and Others Who Do Not Understand These Voting Systems, or What to do If the Same Thing Happens To You...
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6603
Yep, the Queen of all Media had trouble voting. Luckily, she was doing her job as a citizen and was paying attention when the machine didn't show that she had voted for You-Know-Whobama. Eventually things were worked out and she was satisfied that she had her proper vote registered. Too bad she voted on a computerized ballot machine. This means there's ultimately no way to know for sure her vote will be counted.

OK, that's all for now! Please stay tuned for more election-related posts, including a post on what you should do if you have trouble voting.

Daily Democracy in Danger: MSNBC.com's "10 Choke Points" Disected

In yesterday's DID post, one of the articles I linked to was called "10 Choke Points for Election Day" and it was written by Alan Boyle. Now, color me a bit biased, but I feel like he's MUCH too trusting of technology--especially for being the "Science editor" of MSNBC.com. So trusting that I decided to take his article apart, piece by piece, and point out how he and others in the media downplay the dangers of election irregularities in subtle, but effective ways. As always, the original article is italicized and my comments are smart-assy.

Here we go:

10 choke points for Election Day
What could go wrong? E-voting glitches, legal challenges and more
By Alan Boyle
Science editor
updated 10:32 a.m. ET, Fri., Oct. 31, 2008

So far, so good...

In the year 2000, we suffered through Florida's hanging chads and lingering lawsuits.

Ain't democracy a bitch?

So, we "suffered" through "hanging chads and lingering lawsuits," did we Mr. Boyle? What we quite literally suffered through was a misapplication of the Constitution that ended with the American people not having definite numbers from the 2000 election. Not having definite numbers means not being sure that the guy in the White House is even supposed to be there.

Just think about all the things Bush has screwed the pooch on and now think about the odds of someone else screwing up as badly. Yeah, Boyle, you MIGHT have left a few things out there in your lovely attempt at alliteration there.

In 2004, we agonized over the long lines at polling places, plus Ohio's provisional ballots.

Once again, was that all we agonized over? It wasn't the mysterious terrorism-related evacuation order claiming to be from the DHS that eventually denied having been given? It wasn't the exit polls that literally inverted the results of the election?

What about when a handful of people in Congress tried to get the election investigated but everyone else shrugged them off?

That was agonizing to me--and not just because I voted for Kerry but because I want to know for sure who ever gets into the Oval Office deserves to be there! Isn't that the whole point of democracy?

On Election Day this year, what problems will emerge as the choke points for the voting process?

Oh, Election Day! How many ways can you screw up? Let me count the ways! 1, 2, 3...

Damn, Boyle only came up with 10?

The bad news is that glitches have been popping up for weeks, during an early-voting period that has almost overwhelmed some election officials. The good news? Election officials have now had weeks to see exactly what kinds of problems are popping up, and to take care of them before the big day on Tuesday.

The badder news? Election officials have had YEARS to research, test, implement and FIX these election systems and they're such morons they STILL haven't pulled it off.

I'm just SURE in the remaining THREE DAYS before the election they'll be able to suss out all the problems and make sure every American's vote is counted!

O_O

"If there are problems on Election Day, it will be because of something unexpected, not because of a lack of preparation," said Doug Chapin, director of Electionline.org at the Pew Center on the States.

Well, let's hope the Pew-man is right. Though, logic would dictate that he's not. Scores of experts and regular joes like me have been pointing out the problems with these machines for years--if any of them pop up on Election Day we will not consider them "unexpected."

One problem that's totally expected will be long lines at polling places. "We knew that by midsummer," said Douglas Jones, a computer science professor at the University of Iowa who serves as a researcher and consultant on voting technologies.

Voter registration levels have risen to what appear to be historic proportions. If it weren't for the expanded use of early voting and vote-by-mail schemes, polling places might well have experienced the logistical meltdown that some observers feared.

Give them a chance! Why do you assume that early voting has completely averted the meltdown, sir?

I fully expect that the meltdown has been lessened by the early voting, but not every state has done early voting as far as I know.

Daily Democracy In Danger Post (Brad Friedman Should Get a Pulitzer ed.)

If you haven't noticed, a lot of the links in these daily "Democracy in Danger" posts I've been writing have sent you to BradBlog.com. The man behind the BradBlog is one Brad Friedman, a guy absolutely bent on protecting our democracy--but not by fighting terrorists or bailing out the banks, but by doing his best to call attention to voting problems.

Yep, voting is the most basic of rights we have in this country and is, quite literally, the way we make sure we get to keep all of our other rights. See, that's the big myth our country is founded upon--the idea that there are certain inalienable rights granted to us by our creator. The reality is that our rights are actually granted to us by each other. That's right--each one of us agrees that every human should be allowed to do certain things. You and I protect our own rights and the rights of each other. The way we make sure our government doesn't take those rights away is by voting the right people into office. If the voting process itself is flawed someway, well, you can see how democracy can find itself in danger.

This is where Brad Friedman comes in. He has spent years covering voting irregularities here in the US. He's done absurd amounts of research and dedicated nearly every post in his blog to presenting news and information regarding voting rights in America. Vote switching, voter caging and voter suppression in general are some of the specifics he covers. The man is an Internet superhero for voters across the country.

So, I don't know if they give the Pulitizer Prize to bloggers, but if they do, Brad Friedman should get it for his dogged blogging on the topic of voting.

He is truly fighting the good fight and deserves to be recognized for it. Oh and he's a fellow-independent--he goes after both parties for their tactics, even blaming the Democrats for not standing up for themselves as sections of America that are likely to vote Democrat have their votes threatened.

So, NOTE TO PULITZER PEOPLE: BRAD FRIEDMAN FOR THE PULITZER, PLEASE!

Brad Friedman is the Internet's Edward R. Murrow for voting rights.

OK, now on to the news round up for today's Democracy In Danger:

PA Counties Said Unprepared to Serve Voters, Meet Court Order for Emergency Paper Ballots
Election Official: '80 percent of Counties Do Not Have Emergency Ballots'...
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6597
What this story boils down to is this: counties in Pennsylvania aren't likely to have enough paper ballots should half of the electronic machines fail (as required by a recent directive). If that many machines fail, that means a huge number of people will be unable to vote with them. Think of this like not having enough lifeboats on the Titanic for everyone aboard.

Early & Absentee Voting Scandals in D.C. & L.A.
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6594
It turns out that thousands of voters in DC never got their absentee ballots and will now have to vote in person. Meanwhile LA, "the world's largest voting jurisdiction," according to Friedman, has just a single early voting location. Well, if I were still an LA resident, you can bet I'd be heading over there right now to check it out. As it is, I don't believe NYC does early voting, but I should look into it.

I couldn't find anything new on voting irregularities as CNN.com this afternoon, so I checked out MSNBC.com instead and found a couple stories worth checking out. Here they are:

10 choke points for Election Day
What could go wrong? E-voting glitches, legal challenges and more
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27464554/
Sadly, while this article does talk about voting problems, it calls the intentional suppression of votes and illegitimate voters as "funny business," also managing to make this a partisan issue, rather than pointing out that everyone should want all votes counted. The article goes on to show a serious lack of understanding of the challenges facing voters. The author seems to think of election laws as forces of nature, where the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) came down from On High, requiring states to use voter registration databases that can be matched to IDs. If there's a typo in the database some "persnickety" states will not allow the voter to vote. The author of the article also seems to think "vote-flipping" is just a magical "phenomenon" that "will allocate your vote to the wrong candidate."

Isn't that neat? He calls it "misallocation" due to "miscalibrated" touchscreens--instead of calling it what it is: faulty technology. Once again, I fall back to my position that if my iPhone touchscreen doesn't need calibration, why does American democracy's touchscreen?

I think I'm going to have to tear that article a new one in a separate post. It serves well as an example of how the MSM (MainStream Media) thinks our democracy is not important. Why else would author, Alan Boyle, use words like "persnickety" to describe the states that take the HAVA seriously?

Here's the other MSNBC.com article:

Voter registration smashes records
States say 188 million have signed up to vote — but experts add caveats
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27459551/
This article, while not directly reporting on voting irregularities, does provide a symbolic warning for all of us to expect MAJOR voting issues on November 4. Even if half of those 188 million new voters actually show up to vote on Tuesday, that means 94 million more people will be showing up at polling places compared to previous years. That's a lot more pressure than those poling places are likely used to. Already (see above) we see that Pennsylvania won't have enough paper ballots should more than 50% of their electronic ballot machines crash. This is going to be the messiest damn election EVER. Geh--that article is written by Alan Boyle, too. Sheesh--doesn't MSNBC.com have anyone else on board to write about elections?? HEY! MSNBC.com! I'm looking for work! Why not hire me? I seem to know WAY more than this Boyle guy when it comes to elections!!

:P

Voter machine erratically switches selection
Equipment picks Ralph Nader when John McCain is chosen
http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=79565
This is more coverage of that video that shows a West VA election official demonstrating how sometimes touchscreen machines need to be recalibrated. The funny thing is, even after he recalibrates it, the machine still switches to a candidate other than Obama when Obama is touched.

Video spurs concerns over West Virginia voting machines
http://www.timeswv.com/westvirginia/local_story_304194135.html
Here's more coverage of the video. However, this time it seems like West VA officials are claiming it doesn't show anything wrong at all. The article refers to comments made by DepSecO'State Sarah Bailey who apparently explained that:

...the machines allow voters to select a straight ticket and then depart from that for individual races. She said Secretary of State Betty Ireland plans to complain about the video to the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

I've just watched the video again and I think I see what Bailey means here. For some odd reason the official touches the button for "straight Democrat" and Obama lights up--but then, without saying anything, he inexplicably hits the "Nader" button. Then he does something else, the screen flashes and then he sees the Nader choice and apparently forgets that he, himself just pressed it seconds ago. So, it's possible that the machine works fine.

Of course, this still doesn't excuse why an uncalibrated machine was actively taking votes during early voting. It also doesn't explain why voting machines are so crappily made that they have touchscreens that need to be calibrated when technology as ubiquitous as the iPhone doesn't. It also doesn't excuse the fact that there is no way to prove you voted one way or another with an electronic ballot machine. You simply must trust the technology to not fail.

W. Virginia Gives E-Voting VP an Award While Machines Malfunction
A day after West Virginia secretary of state Betty Ireland held a press conference to address vote-switching problems with touchscreen voting machines made by Election Systems & Software, she presented an award of merit to an ES&S vice president, who had abruptly and mysteriously left the company in May after 11 years of service, according to the Charleston Gazette.
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/10/w-virginia-give.html
This just shows you how absurd our leaders can be. Giving awards to people for designing generally untrustworthy machines that can't provide absolute proof that a citizen voted one way or another.

So, that's it for today regarding election irregularity news. I'll post more later if anything new comes along, but today is Halloween so I may not hear about it until tomorrow. Either way, I'll be posting about voting irregularities when ever I think it's necessary.

Democracy In Danger: Election Irregularity News

This crap is NOT going away. The good thing is that the MSM is sort of hobbling along, trying to at least pay lip-service to the incredibly serious issue of election irregularities.

I mean, it's only our democracy, right?

ANYway, so, amazingly enough, CNN.com actually did report on voting problems--kinda. If you have a look at that screengrab there, you'll see the headline as being worthy of the "Duh Award". Come on, guys--you think something might go wrong when half-the-country votes for president next week?

GOSH YOU'RE SMART, CNN.COM! Geh...

All that said, here are some links and headlines for election irregularity coverage around the web today:

Voting machines could bring Election Day glitches
http://www.cnn.com/…index.html

More than 3,000 registered Coloradans barred from voting
Thousands of Coloradans have been denied the right to vote because of a policy that may violate federal law.

Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman has authorized county clerks to purge newly registered voters under the so-called 20-day rule. Here, county clerks must send non-forwardable letters to newly registered voters. If the mail bounces back to the clerks, then they must remove the voter applicants’ names from the rolls.
http://coloradoindependent.com/…coloradans
This is some scary stuff--it's been going on for years--even back in 2004. It's called "voter caging" and whether it's illegal or not, it's a form of voter suppression and because we humans are imperfect and make mistakes, so does this system and plenty who should be able to vote end up not being able to. (Though voter caging really is an absurd and unfair way to judge whether a person has registered legally or not.)

Listen Up Karen Handel!
http://www.ireport.com/…DOC-129137
This is a video of a voter in Atlanta waiting in line for hours to vote. Isn't that great? HOURS. I've missed one presidential election in my entire adult life and have never spent more then 40 minutes in line.

Lawsuits, Machine Malfunctions and Missing Absentee Ballots Among Voting Rights Issues Facing Jittery Election
Early voters across the country are reporting long lines and problems with electronic voting machines. Republicans, meanwhile, continue to file lawsuits that could stop thousands from voting. We speak to Harvey Wasserman of Free Press and Brad Friedman of the Brad Blog.
http://www.democracynow.org/…g_absentee
Good stuff from yesterday's Democracy Now broadcast. They interview two guys who know a LOT about election irregularities--both having appeared in a documentary I helped with called "Stealing America". Check it out (in full!) at StealingAmericaTheMovie.org.

Court Backs Penn. Voter Rights Suit on Electronic Machines
A federal judge has ordered state election officials to provide emergency paper ballots if half or more electronic voting machines become inoperable at any polling site in the state.
http://www.democracynow.org/…/headlines
Personally, I don't get why we shouldn't all have the right to vote on paper over a machine if we so choose. It seems like it would be unconstitutional to force us to use voting equipment we don't trust. Still this is good news--just a shame that Penn voters need to wait until half of the machines fail to get to vote with something more trustworthy.

Speaking of which, here's another story on this from BradBlog.com:

Federal Judge Rules in Favor of Plaintiff Demand for Emergency Paper Ballots in PA
http://www.bradblog.com/
According to this post, PA law says county clerks can give out paper ballots if just one machine fails. Though this ruling seems to supersede that law. Still, this ruling is better than nothing. Though if it inspires voters to "discover" their machines "break"ing down violently, we know which judge to blame for not going far enough. ;)

Not that I'm endorsing any violent acts, of course.

Election Protection by Amy Goodman
http://www.truthdig.com/…rotection/
This is a blog post from Democracy Now's Amy Goodman and it focuses on all of the issues facing us regarding our ability to vote. Whether you agree with her or not, it's just good people are having this discussion.

Tool Developed to Detect Possible Fraud in Election Tabulating Software
Pima County, AZ Election Integrity Group Creates Software to Analyze Diebold GEMS Databases, Wants to Share Capability With Others...
http://www.bradblog.com/
This is more good news--software has been developed that can scan databases from Diebold-brand voting machines and find errors. For now it's only used in Arizona--why this software hasn't been developed sooner is anyone's guess. However, I'm going to guess that it's because Diebold always claimed their technology was proprietary (aka they could tell us, but then they'd have to charge us a lot of money).

Vote-Flipping Diebold Machine Removed, Quarantined in CO
Karen Long, Adams County Clerk Takes Action After Voter Sees Vote Flip Repeatedly to Republican Candidate in State With Long History of E-Voting Failures
http://www.bradblog.com/
Won't our leaders ever learn? Or maybe they have and like this kind of confusion? While this is good news, it points out serious issues with our leaders' ability to decide what is right for us. If Colorado has had a history of e-voting problems, why are they failing to learn from that history? OH yeah, it's all part of the "All History Left Behind" program spear-headed by the White House. Bush ignored his own father's history in a war with Iraq, so I suppose it's contagious to other government types, too.

In closing this post, I'd like to point out a couple new sites I've come across that are concerned with election irregularities:

http://www.projectvotecount.com/
http://voteraction.org/

Check out both sites if you had trouble voting or if you want to get involved.

WHEW. This stuff is tiring! I hope all of these problems magically go away on November 4th!

:P

For more links to coverage of election irregularities and commentary on the situation, please check out ThePete.Com. I've been working my ass off :)
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Democracy in Danger: USMSM Ignoring, Other Sources Not

The US Mainstream Media (USMSM) is sadly blowing off stories of voting irregularities. I just trolled CNN.com a few minutes ago and saw almost nothing regarding reports of vote-problems. Luckily, loads of online sources seem to be covering this story. Let's hope it continues and let's also hope CNN.com decides to do more than just offer their "voter problem" page (here: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/category/voter-problems/ ). Talk about treating a problem improperly. What they do by putting all the stories about voting problems on one page and nowhere else is, essentially, ghetto-izing news about our democracy failing us.

If you think a few votes here and a few votes there are no big deal, you clearly don't recall how tight the Bush wins were in 2000 and 2004. Also, a handful of reports can often be the tip of the iceberg. Not everyone is going to notice or be sure that they just had a problem voting. This is why it's so important that election irregularities stay on the front page of EVERY news source on the planet (yes, the planet, since the guy running the USA tends to bomb a lot). If you know of election stories that aren't being covered, why not start your own blog and post about it? Or email your favorite news sources and ask them why they aren't covering these stories? It's just our democracy in the balance.

All this said, plenty of stories are reaching the 'net on non-USMSM sites. Here's a nice round up for you:

Phony Flier Gives Va. Dems Wrong Election Date
In Virginia, a phony flier purporting to come from the state election board has circulated to prevent Democrats from voting on Election Day. The flier tells Democrats and independents to vote on November 5th, the day after the election.
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/10/29/headlines#4
How are we not supposed to blame the Republicans for something like this? (Mind you, I'm a registered independent.)

Report: Sequoia Voting Machine Prone to Hacking
a new Princeton University report... ...says a machine made by the California-based Sequoia Voting Systems can be hacked in about seven minutes.
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/10/29/headlines#5
NICE! Sequoia were the blokes said to be behind the "hanging-chads" from 2000.

Your Last Chance to Pull That Big Red Lever
This Tuesday is supposed to be New Yorkers’ last chance to use the old-fashioned voting machines! That is, if everything goes as planned. New York state is already behind in the attempt to switch to newer voting technology in accordance with the Help America Vote Act. According to City Limits, “Using New York state’s old-fashioned lever machines is difficult for people who aren’t able to see the choices or flip the levers.”
http://idealistnyc.wordpress.com/2008/10/29/your-last-chance-to-pull-that-big-red-lever/
I was unaware of this--and I'm a New Yorker now. Sheesh. I should say that I think the argument using disabled voters as the excuse to switch entirely to electronic "ballot marking devices" (or BMDs) is a weak one since disabled voters are a fraction of the people who vote. Also, forcing them to use BMDs isn't fair to them, either. Can't we just create a job where someone is in charge of helping disabled folks vote?

ELECTION DAY TEST LOOMS FOR NEW VOTING DEVICES
Nov. 4 should be the beginning of the end for the city's lever voting machines, as New York continues its belated effort to comply with the Help America Vote Act.
http://www.citylimits.org/content/articles/viewarticle.cfm?article_id=3643
This is a decidedly positive view of the same story from IdealistNYC. These guys seem to really only care about these complying with federal law and not with the possibility that these devices work or are at all trustworthy. It's funny, I'm a total tech-head and I'd never trust technology with my democracy.

More Vote-Flipping in TX by Machines Other Than Those Made by ES&S
Direct Recording Electronic Voting Systems Made by Hart InterCivic and Diebold Also Reportedly Now Flipping Votes From Democratic to Republican in TX...
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6584
Previously, I've blogged about reports that all the vote switching has occurred on just one kind of machine from just one company--the iVotronic from ES&S (blogged here and here). However, according to BradBlog.com the problems are popping up in voting machines from a number of different companies, so no voter using an electronic/computerized voting machine is safe from this kind of "glitch."

National groups laud W.Va.'s response to vote switching
A pair of national voting rights groups say other states should follow West Virginia's lead when it comes to touch-screen voting machines.

The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University and Verified Voting are touting Secretary of State Betty Ireland's decision to urge counties to recalibrate their machines each morning.
http://wvgazette.com/News/200810290417
While this sounds like good news, it really isn't. These machines shouldn't need to be recalibrated EVER. As I blogged last night, my iPhone has a touchscreen, too and I never have to recalibrate it--why is it that American Democracy seems to have a crappier touchscreen than my iPhone?

The Vote Grab: Voting machines are unreliable and inaccurate
As early voting in the US presidential elections gets underway, ES&S iVotronics touch-screen electronic voting machines have been observed in four separate states flipping the votes – mostly from Barack Obama to John McCain but sometimes to third party candidates too. This has already occurred during early voting in the states of West Virginia, Tennessee, Missouri and Texas.
http://blogs.independent.co.uk/openhouse/2008/10/the-vote-grab-1.html
This is somewhat old news, but at least they're covering it. Also, just because it's old news doesn't make it untrue. What's nice about this piece (written by Peter Tatchell) is that it goes into some nice detail into the background of these kinds of problems. This makes it a good primer for anyone who hasn't been following this stuff for years.

So, while it's nice to see some print and foreign news sources covering this stuff, it's still not reaching as many people (or as many Americans) as it needs to. Back in 2004 a bunch of us screamed about it, but were ignored. We all need to scream about this stuff. Regardless of who "wins" on November 4, the win won't mean a thing to anyone who respects the truth and the will of the American People.

I'm one of those people.

For the latest news on vote switching your best bet is to do a Google news search here:
http://news.google.com/news?q=vote%20switching

If you see any weirdness at your polling place please one or all of the following (especially the first two items):

Call 877-GOCNN-08 That's CNN's voter problem hotline

Call 866-MYVOTE1 That's an independent hotline run by the guys behind http://www.infovoter.net/

Go here: http://www.votersunite.org/electionproblems_submit.asp and describe what you experienced.

Comment here at ThePete.Com or at any other blog covering election irregularities

Blog about it yourself

If you brought a camera with you to vote, take pictures or video and upload it to the VideoTheVote.org.

In the end, it's up to every American citizen to not just vote, but to do their part in making sure that vote means something.

Democracy in Danger: the Voting Dramacracy Continues

Wow, take a couple days off and the world keeps going without ya! Sheesh! Sadly, this includes voting irregularities. I was really hoping this would stop happening long before election day, but since the reports keep coming in, I can only assume what we're seeing is the tip of the iceberg.

Why do I feel like our democracy is the Titanic...

Here's the latest coverage on the 'net, well, from my favorite sources, anyway:

VIDEOS: Vote Flipping on Touch-Screens in WV
Failure Seen Persisting Even After Election Official 'Recalibrates' Failed Machine!
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6576
The second video in that post is pretty good, too--shows a guy demoing how flaky the touchscreen really is (though I'm not sure he means to). What ticks me off is how they talk about the screen needing to be "calibrated" after it is moved (this is the excuse given for why it comes up McCain when you touch Obama's name). I never have to calibrate my iPhone's touchscreen. Are you telling me democracy has a shittier touchscreen than my iPhone? Weeeeak!

FL Governor Extends Early Voting Hours
ALSO: Broward County Backs off on Strict 'No Match, No Vote' Voter Registration Directive...
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6583
This is good news! Extended voting hours and backing down on NMNV means more people get to vote. WHEW!

Diebold's 'Express' Voter Registration Computers (Again) Lead to Long Waits in GA's Early Voting
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6581
I love this new emphasis on "express" and how ultimately the systems crash and make everything take longer. Shouldn't we take our time with our democracy so we make sure to get it right? Look what happened back in 2000? Can we ever be sure who really won? Wouldn't you like to PROVE to me that your candidate was the man America wanted?

Too bad you can't.

ES&S Touch-Screens Keep Flipping in WV, Now in At Least 6 Counties
Same ES&S iVotronics Flipping Votes from Democrats to Republicans (and others) in At Least 4 States
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6572
So the reports of vote switching that were originally said to be isolated in two different counties in West VA, have now started coming in from SIX counties. That's a LOT of isolated instances!

Election Unspun Oct 28 - Vote Switching At Voting Machines
In Nashville Tennessee, Patricia Earnhardt, attempted to early vote. On her electronic touch screen voting machine, she tried to vote for Barack Obama - but her vote didn't register. Earnhardt requested the help of a poll worker, who tried to high light the Obama button but nothing happened. Finally, the machine chose selected Green Party Candidate Cynthia McKinney, whose name was located 5 rows below Obama's. A poll worker helped her start the process over and her vote finally registered Barack Obama.
http://www.fsrn.org/content/election-unspun-oct-28-vote-switching-voting-machines/3635
I think the above story is important because it illustrates how much extra effort some voters have to go to in order to actually vote. Of course, since these are still touchscreen voting machines, we still have to worry about whether the vote itself will actually be counted by the machine (it call tell us one thing and then do another, in theory).

Voting Rights Watch: One company's machine behind vote-switching reported in early balloting across the South
http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/2008/10/voting-rights-watch-one-companys.asp
BradBlog.com reported it earlier this week, and SouthernStudies.org is now reporting that the iVotronic machine from ES&S continues to be the culprit in every case of vote switching reported across the American southeast.

Wondering what all this "election irregularity" stuff is? Wondering why I and so many other folks are worried about this election? Well, Lisa Rein (my good friend and SIL) has written a great primer that covers a great deal of the controversy. Check that post out here:

Voting Irregularities Starting Already - This Year, We're All Detectives
http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/002836.php

Going to blog about VideoTheVote.org soon--I promise. Why wait for me? Go check it out for yourself!

Vote Switching In More States

Not sure what "vote switching" is? The video clip above comes from a documentary called "Stealing America" and I snagged it from YouTube (here: http://www.youtube.com/watch ). It demonstrates the vote switching that occurred in the 2004 presidential election. See the end of this post for more info on "Stealing America."

Yep, Vote Switching is reportedly happening again and while all of the votes have been Democrat-to-Republican switches, it's important to note that this is an AMERICAN issue--not a Dem or Repub issue.

If you're a Republican, don't you want to know for sure that McCain won fair and square? If you don't want this, you should really take a second look at your morals since a fair democracy should be what everyone wants.

Aaaanyway...

BradBlog.com is reporting (here: http://www.bradblog.com/ ) on more instances of vote switching from Texas, Tennessee and Missouri on top of the so-called "isolated" cases in West Virginia.

From the BB post:

This is just getting worse and worse. Now it's happening in Texas. (And in MO, if you read to the end of the article). And the vaunted "thousands of attorneys" from the Obama campaign and the DNC are still nowhere to be found.

With every incident so far reported of touch-screen vote-flipping during early voting in this year's general election --- from county to county in WV and in Nashville, TN) --- it's been the ES&S iVotronic touch-screen machine that has failed, flipping votes from one candidate to another not chosen by the voter. In most every instances (see update below), it's been an attempted Democratic vote, flipped to a Republican, or another party.

Yep, it's the same type/brand of machine that's messing up--the ES&S iVotronic touch-screen machine. The BB post also says something interesting about electronic voting in general:

...no voter should ever cast a vote on a touch-screen machine unless they are forced to. There is absolutely no way that any vote ever cast on a touch-screen machine --- with or without a so-called paper trail --- can ever be shown as having been recorded accurately.

Brad is right--you have to have blind faith in technology and if you've used a PC or a Mac you know that even the best machines are still fallible. Why we can't take our time by voting with pencil and paper is beyond me. This isn't a pizza, we're ordering--it's a president.

The same post at BradBlog goes on to explain what to do if you see your vote switch:

* Call poll supervisors to observe the problem
* Fill out a problem report
* Refuse to vote on that machine
* Request that the machine be taken out of service
* Get a serial number of the machine if possible (may be unlikely in many cases)
* Tell other voters not to vote on that machine
* Call county/town election office
* Call local reporters
* Call voter problem hotlines (eg. 866-MYVOTE1 and 866-OUR-VOTE)
* Contact bloggers and Election Integrity websites.
* Raise holy hell.

Brad also mentions that the supposed legions of Democratic lawyers ready to defend Obama voters are nowhere to be found.

So, the Democrats are falling down on the job again.

If you didn't follow this stuff back in 2004, this is a direct replay of those events--obvious irregularities ignored by almost everyone--including those Dems who would directly benefit from pursuing the truth.

Of course, every American benefits from knowing the truth.

The video clip at the top of this post comes from a documentary covering the irregularities surrounding recent elections. The movie is called "Stealing America" and is now on DVD and can also be watched entirely online at my website here:
http://thepete.com/…tch-it-now

Or check it out at the official site: http://stealingamericathemovie.org/

Also, when you go to the polls to vote, be smart and bring your camera. If something goes wrong, snap a picture or shoot some video. I'll be posting more on this soon. Don't want to wait? Check out http://VideoTheVote.org/

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