Florida's Computers Have Already Counted Thousands of Votes for GWB

[Q]

Published on Thursday, October 28, 2004 by Greg Palast

Florida's Computers Have Already Counted Thousands of Votes for George W. Bush

by Greg Palast

 
Before one vote was cast in early voting this week in Florida, the new touch-screen computer voting machines of Florida started out with a several-thousand vote lead for George W. Bush. That is, the mechanics of the new digital democracy boxes "spoil" votes at a predictably high rate in African-American precincts, effectively voiding enough votes cast for John Kerry to in a tight race, keep the White House safe from the will of the voters.

Excerpted from the current (November) issue of Harper's Magazine
by Greg Palast

To understand the fiasco in progress in Florida, we need to revisit the 2000 model, starting with a lesson from Dick Carlberg, acting elections supervisor in Duval County until this week. “Some voters are strange,” Carlberg told me recently. He was attempting to explain why, in the last presidential election, five thousand Duvalians trudged to the polls and, having arrived there, voted for no one for president. Carlberg did concede that, after he ran these punch cards through the counting machines a second time, some partly punched holes shook loose, gaining Al Gore160 votes or so, Bush roughly 80.

“So, if you ran the ‘blank’ ballots through a few more times, we’d have a different president,” I noted. Carlberg, a Republican, answered with a grin.

So it was throughout the state—in certain precincts, at least. In Jacksonville, for example, in Duval precincts 7 through 10, nearly one in five ballots, or 11,200 votes in all, went uncounted, rejected as either an ‘under-vote’ (a blank ballot) or ‘over-vote’ (a ballot with extra markings). In those precincts, 72 percent of the residents are African-American; ballots that did make the count went four to one for Al Gore. All in all, a staggering 179,855 votes were “spoiled” (i.e., cast but not counted) in the 2000 election in Florida. Demographers from the U.S. Civil Rights Commission matched the ballots with census stats and estimated that 54 percent of all the under- and over-voted ballots had been cast by blacks, for whom the likelihood of having a vote discarded exceeded that of a white voter by 900 percent.

Votes don't "spoil" because they are left out of the fridge. Vote spoilage, at root, is a class problem. Just as poor and minority districts wind up with shoddy schools and shoddy hospitals, they are stuck with shoddy ballot machines. In Gadsden, the only black-majority county in Florida, one in eight votes spoiled in 2000, the worst countywide record in the state. Next door in Leon County (Tallahassee), which used the same paper ballot, the mostly white, wealthier county lost almost no votes. The difference was that in mostly-white Leon, each voting booth was equipped with its own optical scanner, with which voters could check their own ballots. In the black county, absent such “second-chance” equipment, any error would void a vote.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1028-02.htm

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. Please clarify point:

Is Palast talking about the 2004 touch screening? Or is he talking about paper ballots in 2000?

[Q]

4. Read the rest of the story for clarification...

...essentially...Palast is saying that little has changed from the 2000 fiasco. The factors are numerous: from shitty voting machines where the voter can't double-check that they voted for whom they intended to vote...to 'spoilage' of mostly Dem votes...to intimidation by GOP operatives at the polls.

- This election will be a 'clusterf**k'. It seems that most of the fraud is taking place in the shadows by local (GOP) election officials...difficult to prove after the fact.

[The Backlash Cometh]

16. Thanks Q

[Q]

2. Note: Palast is on Democracy Now...

...explaining how the GOPers have this election rigged to 'spoil' ballots of Democrats. This will literally eliminate the votes of thousands of Kerry voters.

[Rambis]

3. kick

:spank:

[Q]

5. Palast just quoted...

...statistics that say that more than a million votes 'disappeared' in the last election and that it's happening again. (From 'errors', spoilage, under/over votes) What's troubling is that they're mostly votes from minority, Democratic voters.

[liberal_in_GA]

6. Please tell me the DNC has people down there

putting a stop to this outrage? Or challenging it? Or something?

:mad:

[Q]

8. It will most certainly be challenged...

...but it seems this type of 'fraud' is built into the voting system. That is...many ballots are simply thrown away as 'spoilage' because the machine screwed up and couldn't read it. Or ballots are simply rejected for minor mistakes.

[Q]

7. MOST IMPORTANT EXCERPT:

"Before one vote was cast in early voting this week in Florida, the new touch-screen computer voting machines of Florida started out with a several-thousand vote lead for George W. Bush. That is, the mechanics of the new digital democracy boxes "spoil" votes at a predictably high rate in African-American precincts, effectively voiding enough votes cast for John Kerry to in a tight race, keep the White House safe from the will of the voters."

[Renew Deal]

9. That's an misleading title.

That's not what the article says. They are taking possible vote spoilage and implying fraud.

[Q]

10. It's the title to the article...

...so you'll have to complain to them if you don't like it.

- I believe Palast proves his point. Either that...or it's simply a coincidence that the majority of ballots 'spoiled' are from Democratic or minority voters.

[Renew Deal]

12. Right. I am not complaining about you.

I should have been clearer. ;) As far as the point. You are correct.

[Q]

14. The real issue here is that the GOPers have found a way...

...to 'spoil' Dem ballots and keep it below the radar. The problem: it won't be noticed unless there is a recount.

[gulfcoastliberal]

17. Nefarious nazis

I've already votd early; it's abaout 1 50/50 town as far as race. Huge line waiting to vote, majority with Kerry pins on. The Kerry turnout in my hyperfundie area was very encouraging. But your're right: we need to fight their dirty tricks tooth and nail here, Ohio, Wisconsin, wherever they try these games.

[Cocoa]

20. quite misleading

it detracts from his probably valid point that scanned paper ballots cause less spoilage than electronic voting machines.

And something else evident from his article, but which the article fails to highlight, is that the electronic voting machines are probably a great improvement over the punch cards. He doesn't express the spoilage rate for punch cards, but it's probably much greater than the 1% for touchscreens.

[Q]

11. "...spoiled votes three times the rate of votes lost in white districts.."

Palast:

Florida’s computerization had its first mass test in 2002, in Broward County. The ES&S machines appeared to work well in white Ft. Lauderdale precincts, but in black communities, such as Lauderhill and Pompano Beach, there was wholesale disaster. Poll workers were untrained, and many places opened late. Black voters were held up in lines for hours. No one doubts that hundreds of Black votes were lost before they were cast.

Broward county commissioners had purchased the touch-screen machines from ES&S over the objection of Elections Supervisor Miriam Oliphant; notably, one comissioner's campaign treasurer was an ES&S lobbyist. Governor Bush responded to the Broward fiasco by firing Oliphant, an African-American, for "misfeasance."

Even when computers work, they don't work well for African-Americans. A July 2001 Congressional study found that computers spoiled votes in minority districts at three times the rate of votes lost in white districts.

Based on the measured differential in vote loss between paper and computer systems, the fifteen counties in Florida, can expect to lose at least 29,000 votes to spoilage—some 27,000 more than if the counties had used paper ballots with scanners.

[Snivi Yllom]

13. another nightmare

except you dont wake up from this one

[Q]

15. Well...this is why they call him Jeb 'crow' Bush*...

- And we shouldn't forget that the same 'felon' list that was used in 2000 to deny the vote to thousands of mostly black citizens will be used again this year.

- Blacks were given the right to vote...but many in power...like Jeb Crow Bush...still can't accept reality. So they have found ways to negate these votes using a system where 'spoiled ballots' won't be counted for their opponents.

[realFedUp]

18. kick

If I were Kerry, I'd give Palast the job as
FEC head.

[progressivebydesign]

19. Rather than running snarfy ads.. the 527s and the Dems should have..

.. spent more money on voter education! If I ran the Democratic Party, I would have understood that the MOST important issue of this election is NOT the economy, NOT the war, NOT the war on terror.. it's havign every vote COUNTED.

I applaud the tireless efforts of the BBV crowd, the volunteers, and those that are fighting... BUT too much money has been spent on Italian suited consultants, fat lunches, and big parties, when the money should have gone to very, very basic voter programs:

1) an ALL OUT effort, phone calls and postcards, to confirm polling places for Democratic voters. Because many people are finding their polling place moved, or their registration screwed with, it's ESSENTIAL that they have the correct precinct information. Now that provisional ballots are being tossed, voters are being set up for challenges at the voting sites, it is CRUCIAL to get that info out there.

2) Voter information about WHAT to bring to the polls, in case they are challenged. I think the 1-866-OUR-VOTE is a WONDERFUL step! But often, it's too late!

3) An informational ad blitz about the expected attempts to challenge and nullify voters at the polling places. Also, information about potential intimidation tactic. Last time? The right had a disinformation campaign in minority areas, saying that you had to pay up all your parking tickets, etc., before you could vote. GOTV is great! But.. making those votes count, is equally important.

4) Campaign to educate people on the new machines in their area. Have you ever been behind people at those self-checkouts at the store, the ones with the touch screen? It takes a few times to really get the hang of those things...

We did a great job getting people registered, and motivating them to vote. NOW the efforts need to be more about educating the voters about what to expect. This election day will feel more like a day in the '60's for many people, and that is a very bad thing.

[Q]

21. What's frightening is that America has simply accepted...

...the fact that millions of votes are simply not counted. There is no excuse for this...considering technology is advanced enough that every vote could easily be counted using TRANSPARENT voting systems.

- I agree that voter education is a very important matter...especially given that the 'other side' has found a way to exploit the weaknesses in our system of elections. We have to find a way to put an end to a system that throws away thousands of ballots instead of making every effort to count them.