Reply #29: the undervotes in Mecklenburg County

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

Mecklenburg/NC 08 not same as Sarasota/NC 13

Sarasota had

-drastically high undervotes (18,000)
-paperless iVotronics
-no recounts allowed (of paper if you have it)
-candidate has not conceded
-reports of votes being changed

Meck had

-moderate undervotes (6,300 or 4%)
-new iVotronics with VVPAT
-manual recount was ordered for 10 counties (NC 08 Dist)
-candidate conceded and stopped the recount after 5 counties
-no reports of votes being changed

Several of us already reviewed the NC 08 election weeks ago, looking for a story.
Some reviewed the vote data after the election. I spoke with an observer for the Kissell
campaign, and the reporter who observed the recount in Mecklenburg County.

We did not find any "dirt", and certainly no "Sarasota-Size" undervote.

The actual problem in Mecklenburg is that:

The county is reporting incorrect turnout figures on the website, a fact that can be easily seen by examining the precinct data. available from the County website. Go here and select the second link from the top on the left side. http://www.sboe.state.nc.us/enrs/main_primary.asp?ED=11xx07xx2006&EL=GENERAL&YR=2006&CR=A

You will see that the numbers of "ballots cast" are grouped together for vote-by-mail precincts, curbside "precincts", and provisional ballot "precincts". These groups of ballots cast are then attributed to every contest -- even when they don't apply, so that the total ballots cast is too high for every contest.

If the Mecklenburg precinct details are correct, the problem is that the county officials have reported inaccurate numbers on the website, not that the undervote is excessive.

I am familiar with NC's law since I pushed to get it drafted and introduced,
beginning in March of 2004.
I nominated 2 of the people (David Allen being one) on the committee that drafted the law,
I provided information and testimony regarding electronic voting problems in NC.
I found Computer Experts Justin Moore and Chuck Herrin to testify to the committee.

As imperfect as the law is, it is much better than what many states have.

I am familiar with the election breakdowns in NC going back to 1998, as they are
documented on my website, www.ncvoter.net

As for touchscreens, we lobbied county by county for 100 counties to push for optical scan
and automark, and only 23 counties wanted touchscreens. We set up a network of activists
and regional directors to handle this push. Verified Voting specially re-designed
their action database to use to email the 100 counties' commissioners.

NC has gone from 40 paperless touchscreen counties to 23 VVPAT counties and 77 optical scan.

Accurate information has been an essential ingrediant to our fight - opponents will take
incorrect information and use it to discredit everything else that is said.

Tomorrow will mark the third year that NC Verified Voting has existed.
Our work is not done, but we have accomplished alot.