Reply #2: Don't be too quick to approve this

[consciousobjector]

The problem with the optical scan machines is that they still rely on easily hacked software for the tabulation of votes. There has been discussion about it on the "2004 Election Results and Discussion Board" here at DU...I'll try to find the links. These were the machines involved in the Volusia Co.,Florida incident where Bev from BBV found poll tapes in the trash and the same system is used in all of the counties in Florida where most of the registered voters were registered as Democrats, yet the counties went to Bush by extremely high percentages, this anomaly was never adequately explained. Also, Blackwell has stated that the systems must be purchased from one of only two suppliers: Diebold and ES&S - both bad news:

Orlando Weekly News
By Alan Waldman
Published 11/18/04:
A quartet of companies control the U.S. vote count. Diebold, ES&S, Sequoia and SAIC are all hard-wired into the Bush campaign and power structure. Diebold chief Walden O'Dell is a top Bush fund-raiser. According to "online anarchist community" Infoshop.org, "At Diebold, the election division is run by Bob Urosevich. Bob's brother, Todd, is a top executive at 'rival' ES&S. The brothers were originally staked by Howard Ahmanson, a member of the Council For National Policy, a right-wing steering group stacked with Bush true believers. Ahmanson is also one of the bagmen behind the extremist Christian Reconstruction Movement, which advocates the theocratic takeover of American democracy." Sequoia is owned by a partner member of the Carlyle Group, which is believed to have dictated foreign policy in both Bush administrations and has employed former President Bush for quite a while.

Blackwell has also said that the purchases of the machines must be made by February 9th because he "has to meet a federal timetable"...That doesn't leave much time if we want to speak to these problems...

I don't trust Damschroder either, but doesn't Franklin county have DRE machines? He may be opposing the change simply because it will mess up the BOE County budget.