Let’s Put an End to Voting Machine Snafus

I have a better idea. Let's put an end to republican snafus by putting an end to republicans any way we can.

In 06 we had ES&S implemented to replace the 'chad ballots'. The primary [light turn out] results were delayed by two weeks with little assurance that the results were accurate. ES&S, long story short, did a lot of yada and had a 'training session for officials in charge of the election'.

The general election proceeded with the option of a paper ballot to be marked by permanent marker given. At my precinct it looked like the majority of voters were selecting the paper ballot with the ES&S machines still being used. After 5 recounts with varying results, they just gave up and certified the last count. In many cases the winner had actually won at least 3 out of 5 counts.

Personally, given the option I will select a paper ballot with a permanent marker, hopefully with a ballot number on the ballot.

The 'paper recount' in the bill is, I believe only a copy of what's on the machine. Any Techno Geeks can weigh in, but unless the paper is independent of the machine this is no safe guard.

It's to both (or all) political parties' benefit to have transparent, secure, anonymous voting! This is such a basic element to democracy, it's crazy how long it's taken.

Besides making sure the machines aren't corrupted, we need to insure that the voting officials aren't corrupt, and that requires a non-political Justice Department. It's all connected.

I am not sure that this reform would have made any difference in the Sarasota returns. Though tampering or malfunctioning voting machines might have caused the massive undercount, I believe the result is adequately explained by the bad layout of the ballot on the screen, which drew the eye away from the race.

Here's a pretty good analysis of the various possibilities, including pictures of the ballot layout on the machines in use in the precincts with the undercounts:
http://www.nae.edu/nae/bridgecom.nsf/weblinks/MKEZ-744KWK?OpenDocument

Preventing something like this requires intelligence and vigilance on the part of the people in charge of reviewing the ballot. (Sadly, this is a lesson that wasn't learned from the "Buchanan" turnout of 2000.)

While voting technology is important, there's a greater danger to democracy - the Republican party's crusade to discourage or disqualify Democrats from voting. This is a central part of the "enduring Republican majority" plans of Rove et. al. which continues to this day. It which should be a prime focus of the investigations into the US Attorneys scandal and Hatch act violations by the Bush administrations.

We need as national standard, not state level, on voting infrastructure. I don't think that people should give up their rights to a paper reciept for their votes. People shouldn't tolerate a piecemeal "states rights" approach to this problem, either.

With the fiascos engineered by Rove still officially unacknowledged and unstudied, it would be difficult to make our voting infrastucture, as well as our votes, safe and secure. A start would be recognition that a paper trail needs to be generated at every point from the aqisition of a vote, to its' aggregation with others at the polling place, on up the chain to and including the point the vote appears as part of the running total of votes posted by the various media.

Technology is good, but safety and security is paramount given Republican propensity for tactics designed to either degrade the opposition vote or impede it through starvation of the infrastructure. It does no good to have a secure vote in a vulnerable infrastructure.

This means to me that very stringent laws and yes, even mandates, must exist to prevent back-door tactics such as those practiced in 2004, and in-your-face tactics practiced in 2000, 2002, and 2004 (I havn't heard much about 2006).

People such as Rove are a perfect example of who we need to stop. He has no doubt left a legacy in the form of "fully trained" fellow "workers" to carry on at least some of the tactics he has pioneered, and to give them pause before trying anything in our next elections, severe penalties should be in place as well as the legal powers and infrastructure to destroy the Republicans' and anyone else's ability to interfere with our elections.

There is so much leeway in the entire process right now that if we Democrats were to be lucky enough to be able to rule unfettered by oversight like the Republicans have, even we might be tempted to adapt some of these practices simply because "if we don't do it to them, they'll do it to us". This is already the case in our campaign structure and attendant accepted practices, so why foul up our voting rights as well. After all, we can be lied to till the cows come home, but at least we still have our votes.

The excersizing of the right to vote is the complementary and THE primary process around which the "insane politics" even Gingrich complained of. Without votes, we'll never be able to fix either one, and our democracty just as illusory as intelligent Neoconservative foreign and domestic policy!

People.

Make the voting machine software open source, make everyone use the same software.

Let's address this, just as soon as we get out of Iraq and impeach Bush.

All well and good.

Will you also then agree that...

1. Pulaski County, Arkansas sheriff's deputies are NOT allowed to handle ballot boxes?

2. Brownsville, Texas police are NOT allowed to handle ballot boxes?

3. Oakland, California former SDS members are NOT allowed to handle ballot boxes?

4. Chicago, Illinois mayoral clerks are NOT allowed to handle ballot boxes?

5. South Boston, Massachusetts drunken Irish party hacks are NOT allowed to handle ballot boxes?

Get back to us when you can handle the TRUTH about leftist crime feigning as "election fairness".

Idiot.

How about some damned paper ballots...they seem to work fine elsewhere...hand counting even. It's really not that hard to do.

Hell...declare Election Day a National Holiday and let everyone take it off. I'd love to work a precinct helped people vote, but I have to work.

When the voting is done, all the precinct helpers take a stack and start counting.

How a democrap counts to 3 in Broward County...

"One, five, leventeen."

And the libs wonder why their bogus ballots keep getting screwed up.

Bows - shut up and go to iraq and die for bush's illegal war.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9EmpS6AoR0

Democracy Lyrics (Leonard Cohen)

Leonard Cohen - Democracy Lyrics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9EmpS6AoR0

It's coming through a hole in the air,
from those nights in Tiananmen Square.
It's coming from the feel
that this ain't exactly real,
or it's real, but it ain't exactly there.
From the wars against disorder,
from the sirens night and day,
from the fires of the homeless,
from the ashes of the gay:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
It's coming through a crack in the wall;
on a visionary flood of alcohol;
from the staggering account
of the Sermon on the Mount
which I don't pretend to understand at all.
It's coming from the silence
on the dock of the bay,
from the brave, the bold, the battered
heart of Chevrolet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

It's coming from the sorrow in the street,
the holy places where the races meet;
from the homicidal bitchin'
that goes down in every kitchen
to determine who will serve and who will eat.
From the wells of disappointment
where the women kneel to pray
for the grace of God in the desert here
and the desert far away:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Sail on, sail on
O mighty Ship of State!
To the Shores of Need
Past the Reefs of Greed
Through the Squalls of Hate
Sail on, sail on, sail on, sail on.

It's coming to America first,
the cradle of the best and of the worst.
It's here they got the range
and the machinery for change
and it's here they got the spiritual thirst.
It's here the family's broken
and it's here the lonely say
that the heart has got to open
in a fundamental way:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

It's coming from the women and the men.
O baby, we'll be making love again.
We'll be going down so deep
the river's going to weep,
and the mountain's going to shout Amen!
It's coming like the tidal flood
beneath the lunar sway,
imperial, mysterious,
in amorous array:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Sail on, sail on ...

I'm sentimental, if you know what I mean
I love the country but I can't stand the scene.
And I'm neither left or right
I'm just staying home tonight,
getting lost in that hopeless little screen.
But I'm stubborn as those garbage bags
that Time cannot decay,
I'm junk but I'm still holding up
this little wild bouquet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Finally, something that most people can agree with Neas on.

mike says: "Make the voting machine software open source, make everyone use the same software."

Unfortunately, determining that it's the "same software" is impossible in computer terms. The software that tries to determine that it's the same may have been compromised. The software that determines the diff program hasn't been compromised may in turn have been compromised. And, so on down to the CPU and even lower levels, and all the software and hardware designed to test the CPU, the sw/hw designed to test the CPU testers, and on into infinity.

In other words, you're going to need some sort of print out to make this safe; computers alone can always be compromised.

Which one of you silly liberals in here came up with this latest example of stupidity? ec? rococo?

__________________________________________________
Embattled NFL quarterback Michael Vick, facing federal charges related to his alleged participation in dogfighting, has been hit with a "$63,000,000,000 billion dollar" lawsuit filed by a South Carolina inmate (of the DU??) who alleges the Atlanta Falcons star stole his pit bulls and sold them on eBay to buy "missiles from Iran," FOX News has learned.

Jonathan Lee Riches filed the handwritten complaint over "theft and abuse of my animals" on July 23 in the U.S. District Court in Richmond, Va.

Riches alleges that Vick stole two white mixed pit bull dogs from his home in Holiday, Fla., and used them for dogfighting operations in Richmond, Va. The complaint goes on to allege that Vick sold the dogs on eBay and “used the proceeds to purchase missiles from the Iran government.”

The complaint also alleges that Vick would need those missiles because he pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda in February of this year.

“Michael Vick has to stop physically hurting my feelings and dashing my hopes,” Riches writes in the complaint.

Riches wants $63 billion dollars “backed by gold and silver “ delivered to the front gates to the Williamsburg Federal Correctional facility in South Carolina. Riches is an inmate at the facility serving out a wire fraud conviction.

Sounds like a 9/11 conspiracy theorist democrat Kos Kid to me...

"Bows - shut up and go to iraq and die for bush's illegal war."

..........

"We are in possession of what I think to be compelling evidence that Saddam Hussein has, and has had for a number of years, a developing capacity for the production and storage of weapons of mass destruction. ...without question, we need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal, murderous dictator, leading an oppressive regime ... He presents a particularly grievous threat because he is so consistently prone to miscalculation. And now he has continued deceit and his consistent grasp for weapons of mass destruction ... So the threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real ... " “I will be voting to give the president of the United States the authority to use force - if necessary - to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security." SENATOR JOHN F KERRY (D, MA), in 2003

"We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction."SENATOR TED KENNEDY (D, MA), in 2002

"As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, I am keenly aware that the proliferation of chemical and biological weapons is an issue of grave importance to all nations. Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process." – NANCY PELOSI, in 1998

"Iraq does pose a serious threat to the stability of the Persian Gulf and we should organize an international coalition to eliminate his access to weapons of mass destruction. Iraq's search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to completely deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power." – AL GORE, in 2002

"In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al Qaeda members .. It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons." - Sen. Hillary Clinton (D, NY), in 2002

"Iraq is a long way from [here], but what happens there matters a great deal here. For the risks that the leaders of a rogue state will use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons against us or our allies is the greatest security threat we face." - Madeline Albright, in 1998

"Hussein has ... chosen to spend his money on building weapons of mass destruction and palaces for his cronies." - Madeline Albright, Clinton Secretary of State, in 1999

"He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten times since 1983." - Sandy Berger, Clinton National Security Adviser, in 1998

"The community of nations may see more and more of the very kind of threat Iraq poses now: a rogue state with weapons of mass destruction, ready to use them or provide them to terrorists. If we fail to respond today, Saddam and all those who would follow in his footsteps will be emboldened tomorrow." – BILL CLINTON, in 1998

............

Sorry Maddie, what IS that, again?

LET THE RE-COIMPEACHMENT HEARINGS COMMENCE.

I'm not in favor of national standards for voting infrastructure. We have seen how operatives like Karl Rove can corrupt our national infrastructure with impunity, and how impotent and helpless the judicial and legislative branches have turned out to be to protect us from a radical executive.

In my own state we have worked at the state and local level to insure election integrity. It starts with the Secretary of State. In the most egregious cases of election fraud, Ohio and Florida, you had Republican operatives occupying that office conspiring with national Republican organizations and designated people in the executive branch. There is indisputable evidence here. Rep. Conyers has detailed some of it.

It is easier to pressure local officials into adopting rigorous standards for voting technology than to deal with apathetic representatives and corrupt pols at the national level. Those guys aren't on our side.

Simple. A machine that tallies voting on paper immediately during voting would provide a paper trail for election officials and a paper receipt for the voter.

Why is that difficult?

I understand that. If the standards applied equally to every state then, well, maybe ok. I'm not married to the idea of doing it at the national level.

The problem is that we already have that problem. In Ohio, they are still starving the non-Republican districts and the politicos won't let go. We can't have (ostensibly) "red" states intentionally failing to protect their infrastructure and only "blue" states making changes. Then what do you have?

Say they do what grape says and everything's great on the paper trail end. Say the problems with security are solved and you know your vote will be safe?

What good would all that be if you couldn't find the time to cast your vote because delays were so bad you had to go to work instead. Or, after work, the polls closed while you were still in line? That's what happened in Ohio.

That's why I think there should be at least a national level mandate with a deadline.

Bows and Anonymouse aren't capable of thinking.

They are great "copy/paste" artists, especially from right wing websites.

I suggest to them that the old, tired, Rovian rhetoric isn't washing any more. They sound like lost puppies whining in the woods for their master to retrieve them.

I suggest to both of you that you should go stand up for you "constitutional rights" to say anything you wish by going to the nearest bar patronized by Black Americans and put on display your "honest" opinions! Remember, "shoot from the hip"!

PS. You'll get a very, VERY nice surprise!

Election reform, yes. Paper ballot, yes. But until we fix our election laws to be on par with technology, to protect us from machine and human error, and HUMAN INTERPRETION of election results our election process will continue to be broken. The courts should not decide the people's choice. In 2006, it was the failure of Florida's revised election laws that permitted an election with statistically improbable results to stand (18,000 undervotes). 2000's debacle with the pregnant chads resulted from failure to maintain the voting equipment properly. However it was the failure of Florida's election laws that permitted the chaos that followed. Had Florida's election laws caught up with technology, both elections would have been an automatic re-do.

Moreover, if we are to achieve one voter, one vote…every time, we must go back to basics. Apply sound business practices to ensure the voting systems we purchase fully meet our needs for election integrity. And ensure those machines work…all of them. Not just a sampling.

Until we implement high-bar guidelines for voting machine providers and elections officials to uphold, no hedging, no exceptions we are at risk. And while the heroine of novel, "A Margin of Error: Ballots of Straw" scoffs at the notion of a silent coup marching across the country in her fictitious voting machines…. It could happen more easily than any of us want to believe.

But the problem with doing this at the national level is the lobbyists. That's what happened to Rush Holt's HAVA, which ended up making the whole election process WORSE in 2004 than it was in 2000. We cannot trust our elected representatives at the national level to make our elections honest. They are incapable, and have proven themselves so, even if their intentions were good. The process is too vulnerable to corruption inside a runaway executive, lobby money, and dishonest power brokers.

Sure, in the ideal a national standard would be admirable. But I'm not confident that our national pols will EVER be capable of making it work. And, the people of Ohio themselves are changing things.

TLB, you're not correct, I've typed a rather lengthy explanation as to why, but it comes down to the fact that the executable in the firmware can be checksummed, and I dismiss w/o argument both the idea that a 'checksum program' can be widely hacked or that a hacker can come up with a 'cheating executable' that matches the proper executable's checksum.

Proper design and some simple and clear procedures would make hacking a gigantic nightmare and an incredibly huge risk.

That said, I believe in a paper trail also.

mike: don't bother, since you're wrong. Software runs on hardware, and the hardware can be programmed to provide any information you want. And, the software and hardware designed to double-check the hardware can likewise be programmed to do anything someone wants. On into infinity.

Rep. Holt has been pushing for paper-trail voting for a several years now. He was my Rep. when I lived in NJ. Awesome dude.

FLV to Ipod converter is a powerful software which can convert FLV to Ipod with hight outputquality. 1: extract audio from FLV to ipod supported audio, such as AAC, MP3, WAV. 2. convert FLV video to Ipod supported video formats, such as mp4, m4v, mov, H.264, MPEG4.flv to ipod
FLV to iPod Mac OS X Converter is currently the best Mac FLV to iPod Converter, which is designed for mactonish users to convert flv files to common video and audio files, such as flv to avi, mpeg, mp4, mp3, 3gp, wmv and so on. Such freeware FLv to iPod Mac Converter can easily to use for almost Mac users.flv to ipod mac