my god, this is so depressing. scott
Begin forwarded message: > From: "Black Box Voting" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: 7 November 2006 11:02:40 AM CST > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: VOTE! What to expect and look for on Election Day > Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Permission to excerpt or reprint granted, with link to http:// > www.blackboxvoting.org > > The best defense is a good offense, so VOTE! > > Now is not the time to retreat. Vote, and then find evidence to > tell the story of what's really happening in U.S. elections. > > Things may look relatively smooth on election day, but the real fun > begins after the polls close. That's when we see a lot of strange > things. Look for: > > - Missing memory cards -- and remember, a memory card is a BALLOT > BOX. This happens every election, to weird shrugs by election > officials. About 70 ballot boxes went missing in Cuyahoga County > during the May primary; a bunch went missing in Detroit last > spring, and they've gone missing in places like Dekalb County > Georgia, and various other locations. This is nothing to shrug about. > > Remember when a single ballot box was missing in Florida in the > 2000 election? Everyone was going crazy, but now, you have dozens > and dozens of these memory cards, cartridges, and "PEBs" -- all are > small digital ballots boxes -- they are going missing. Very > troubling. Watch for it. See if you can spot it. Report it! > > - Phantom votes -- this is when you have more votes than voters. > There were about 100,000 more votes than voters in Tarrant County > Texas during the primary, and more votes than voters in Ohio > locations in 2004. > > What to look for: Do a quick check of the number of registered > voters and compare with the number of votes that show up. Bizarre > anomalies appear almost every election. > > Stage 2 is comparing the number of sign-ins in the pollbook with > the number of votes that show up. > > - Sometimes you see disappearing votes. The number of votes goes > DOWN while the number of precincts counted goes UP. This happened > in Mohave County Arizona in the 2004 primary, and in Memphis in the > Aug. 2006 primary. Alert watchers of county Web results often spot > this and capture it in screen saves. > > What to do: Assign someone to capture screen shots each time the > totals are updated and check for disappearing votes. > > - Obstructed vote counting -- we often see obstructions to being > able to see the vote counting, even beyond the obstruction of > counting inside a black box. In San Diego in 2005, a member of the > Black Box Voting board of directors, Jim March, was arrested for > trying to view the vote counting. I myself was surrounded by six > members of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's department when I had > the audacity to ask if I could view the vote counting there, which > was taking place in a room no one could see. We expect to get many > reports from citizens who are not allowed to view vote counting. > > If you are obstructed from viewing the central tally process, > report it. > > - In the 10 days following the election, you can expect to see many > unusual things pop up in the public records that are obtained by > candidates. > > Of particular interest are the "event logs" that you get from > Microsoft Windows, which runs most of the tallying software. This > can show extra programs being run. > > Also of great interest are the voting machine event logs, which can > show crazy voting dates -- like in Palm Beach County in 2004, where > more than 4 dozen voting machines had votes time and date-stamped > weeks before the election, sometimes in the middle of the night, > and Volusia County Florida in the same election, where a machine > had votes date-stamped more than 10,000 years in the future. In San > Diego in the June 2006 primary, the voting system event log shows > that it dialed out to Diebold at 9:31 pm during the middle of its > counting. > > - We also anticipate many peculiarities with provisional votes, > extra optional paper ballot votes, absentee votes and various > obstructions to voting around the country. > > - Another thing we look for is strange statistical patterns, like > voting machines from one manufacturer giving results different from > all the others, or one type of machine giving discrepant results, > as happened in New Mexico in 2004. We saw three candidates in a row > get 18,181 votes in Comal County Texas and one district in > Minnesota had all the minor party candidates get the same vote > percentage -- despite very big differences in how well known the > candidates were. > > On election day itself, we'll see vote-flipping, where people vote > for one candidate and another one's name pops up. And we'll see > many other unusual things. > > I expect surprising new problems, like the new electronic poll > books having problems finding themselves, and voting machines that > don't match themselves (for example, having different results on > their paper tape than they do on their screens). > > Document. Think photos, videos, and most of all, cleverly > constructed requests for documents. You have the right to obtain a > copy of just about any document you can think of, as long as it > exists. Go hunting. See what you find. > > When you find important information, propagate it. Don't just call > it into one place, but e-mail it, send it to bloggers, give it to > reporters, provide it to public officials. > > We want to improve elections, but first we need to make a solid, > indisputable case. And to do that, we all need to get into action. > > Use your own common sense. Document. Propagate. Then push solutions > through for true citizen oversight. Now is your chance to take back > your electoral process! > > > * * * * * > > Be very clear about your job as a citizen right now: It is to > reverse the swing of the pendulum. It's been swinging away from > citizen control -- your job is to take back your government. Start > at the local level. > > You own your government -- not the other way around. It is time to > get out of your chair, step away from the Internet, and get > involved in citizen oversight. > > We salute the extraordinary citizens who are taking back America. > Bev Harris > Founder > Black Box Voting > > * * * * * > > Black Box Voting is a nonprofit, nonpartisan 501c(3) elections > watchdog group supported entirely by citizen donations. We refuse > funds from any vendor or vested interest. > > To support Black Box Voting: click to http://www.blackboxvoting.org/ > donate.html or send to: > Black Box Voting > 330 SW 43rd St Suite K > PMB 547 > Renton WA 98055 > > * * * * * > > You are receiving this occasional bulletin because you signed up > for it or donated and thus, receive updates. If you wish to be > removed from any further updates, hit "reply" and type the word > "remove" in the subject line. > > Please plan to participate this fall to restore control of > elections to the citizenry. Thank you for your stewardship of our > republic. > > Be part of the solution: Please sign up for the NATIONAL HAND COUNT > REGISTRY: http://www.bbvforums.org/cgi-bin/forums/board-profile.cgi? > action=register > > Citizens Tool Kit: http://www.blackboxvoting.org/toolkit.html > > > _______________________________________________ CWE-LUG mailing list [email protected] http://www.cwelug.org/ http://www.cwelug.org/archives/ http://www.cwelug.org/mailinglist/
