Black Box Voting recives new legal threats from ES&S (X)

[kster]

Posted by: Higans
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2845237

This is the fourth time Black Box Voting and/or its founder, Bev Harris, have received legal threats from voting machine vendors who believe they have the right to sell secret software that miscounts elections.

Attached below is a copy of a peculiar cease and desist order from ES&S, which asks Black Box Voting to remove links that don't exist on its Web site. Black Box Voting does not even have access to the information ES&S is demanding.

ES&S machines have demonstrated proven miscounts in Texas, Florida and Arkansas in the Nov. 2006 election, but exactly how the software miscounted is supposed to be a secret, knowable only to people who work for this privately held company.

Even the county officials, who in some cases have been crying out for assistance -- and are unhappy with the level of service they've received from ES&S and its contractors -- are not permitted to look at the ES&S software that miscounted their votes.

Details on those stories follow, after some additional records are received from Freedom of Information and public records requests to further document those situations. In the mean time, some of the ES&S miscounts can be found through news searches.

Here is a link to the latest ES&S threat letter, which is full of factual inaccuracies:

http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/1954/ES_S_Slas...

The files in question have been floating around amoung various voting integrity researchers for more than a year, and Black Box Voting contends that no copyright violation has occurred anyway, as review of these files is clearly in the public interest.

This is what you get when you privatize voting companies. Unlike Diebold, ES&S is privately held and discloses no public information on its owners, which have included Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, his campaign finance director Michael McCarthy, the Omaha World Herald (which controls many of the newspapers in Nebraska and has failed to cover the conflict of interest of its own state senator). Other owners that have been listed, but whose current involvement is not confirmed since ES&S's stock transactions are a secret, are: A consortium of owners of the former Cronus/Business Records Corp. from Texas. This involvement was mentioned in 1997. Also, an entity called "Normal Investments LLC" was listed by ES&S on documents submitted to Santa Clara County, Calif. during a procurement process.

We will refer the cease & desist from ES&S to our Board of Directors. It's hard to know what to do with it, since nothing in the letter appears to address anything Black Box Voting has control over.

PERMISSION TO REPRINT AND DISTRIBUTE THIS ARTICLE IS GRANTED, WITH LINK TO http://www.blackboxvoting.org

[philb]

1. In addition to high undervotes on ES&S machines in 6 Florida counties, I've found another race in

New Jersey with voter reports like Sarasota/Jennings in Florida & very high undervotes

Cong. Dist 7 in N.J. Undervotes in this race as high as in Jennings race; this one was simiarly close also

see the close race thread


ES&S touch screens should be out of business

[Joe Chi Minh]

2. Why do Democrats always read from the Republican "hymn sheet"?

As someone ponted out on another thread. They are not undervotes, they are MISSING votes! It is truly outrageous. Like "vote fraud" for "election fraud".

So often, framing the discourse will not be a partisan action on the part of Democrats, but a simple correction of a falsehood, deliberately misleading euphemisms for their acts of villainy.

Not having a shot at you, philb. Just pointing out.

[salin]

3. Please forgive me, but I feel an echo and hear/read:

wah wah wah wah (ala charlie brown's teacher's voice)... "Crisis, Crisis" if we just have a little more money would could do X for this crisis... Send now and quick or it will be too late..."

After nearly three (or does it go back four?) years - once being quite supportive, I would have to say that while it could be real - to some folks (myself included) there is a big streak of "Boy crying Wolf" syndrome - mixed with some cynicism of well timed (just before elections - and after/during recount times) 'crises' that are timed with 'asks' (for donations.)

[Kelvin Mace]

4. According to the latest 990 potsed by BBV

Donations dropped from just under $1 million in 2004-2005, to $174,000 in 2005-2006. Bev gave herself a 50% raise (from $60K to $90K, as well as paid money to other members of the board. All told, $178,000 was spent on salaries with only $174,000 collected.

Yeah, it's an emergency all right.

Still no evidence that Bev ever donated the $70K she got from the Qui Tam settlement as she promised last year.

Still no explanation for the bogus 990 from last year.

Still no explanation as to why she failed to properly register as a non-profit in her home state.

Still no explanation as to why her name is on the 990, but a different signature appears on the signature line.

[troubleinwinter]

5. The 990 that is posted is also incomplete.

A complete 990 must include Schedule A. There is no current Schedule A shown with this 990.

IF she actually donated the Qui Tam money, it would have to be shown on Shedule A. WHY is there no Schedule A????

IF the Qui Tam money is included in that $174,000, it means donations are down to about 10% of the previous year, and salaries alone outrun income by about $72,000. Great time to give yourself a 50% raise?

Still no explanation why she never posted the QT donation check as she claimed she'd do in May.

Still no explanation why payroll withholdings from employee checks were not deposited as required for a year (while sucking in nearly a million bucks). Was donor money spent on IRS interest payments for late deposits? It appears so.

Interesting that she claims to have donated $10,000 to Stephen Heller, yet lines 22 "Grants and allocations" and line 23 "Specific assistance to individuals" are empty.

"money to other members of the board." Yes, good ol' gun-totin' Jim March, wanna-be millionaire, is now a paid Board Member. She also added her husband to the Board (joining her sister-in-law).

It all makes one wonder.

[Kelvin Mace]

6. The more info that dribbles out,

the more question it raises.

[troubleinwinter]

9. Another lingering question

Yet AGAIN this supposed 990 has not been prepared or signed by a professional. Other 501(c)(3) organizations nearly universally do, particularly those anywhere near approaching this amount of donor money. Can't she find a CPA to sign off on it?? Does she not want to be transparent with her donors and assure them that the money is being responsibly and correctly handled?

[Kelvin Mace]

12. I don't think a CPA will touch it.

Too many questionable expenses.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

7. Heller said this

After agreeing to pay Diebold attorneys $10,000 in restitution, and
a plea agreement that reduced the charges from 3 felonies to 1,
(which may be reduced to a misdemeanor following 1 year of good behaviour) -
Heller says this about electronic voting -

"In my view, Diebold has shown they cannot be trusted to run elections in America.
We must not allow a private corporation to run our elections for us in secret,
using secret machines and secret software.
The only thing secret about our elections should be the secret ballot.
I urge all Americans to insist Congress enact Federal legislation requiring
that all voting machines must have a voter verifiable paper ballot,
be run on open source software code, be subject to inspection by
independent computer experts, and that each election have a random
sample ballot recount.
Only then will we have a chance of restoring true integrity to American elections."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brad-friedman/exclusive-convicted-whis_b_34815.html

[kster]

8. You guys are not going to win, but I give you guys credit for trying

THEIR COUNTING THE GODDAMN VOTES IN SECRET, WE WILL PUT A STOP TO IT, WITH OR WITHOUT YOU!! COUNT ON IT!!

[troubleinwinter]

10. We will win Voter Verified PAPER BALLOTS without Bev's antics and histrionics

sucking the sunlight and energy from the issue.

[kster]

11. While you guys are still talking about Bev, we will be

HAND COUNTING THE PAPER BALLOTS and RECORDING THE TOTALS OF THEM BALLOTS AT THE PRECINCT.

WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT.

[Kelvin Mace]

15. Not.going.to happen.

You might as well say that we going to Mars next year and terraforming the planet into a paradise while we are still here arguing about global warming.

[truedelphi]

22. Glad to hear it - while we are hand counting I will finally

Get to meet you and thank you for the topics you have so often posted
to keep us all informed.

Paper ballots now and forever.

[Kelvin Mace]

13. You will NEVER get HCPB

in this country unless you RADICALLY change the way voting takes place, which is.not.going.to.happen.

When you propose this to legislators, they will smile at you politely, and look for a more rational solution.

No one questions that the "secret" counting has to stop, but the solution will be OpScan, or TS with VVPB.

The longer people like Bev Harris can promulgate there fantasy solutions, the longer she can collect cash to support her lifestyle.

[kster]

21. Everyday more people are knowing and understanding

what these Politicians are able to get away with when using these electronic vote counting machines, You said "they will smile at you politely, and look for a more rational solution". of course they will, BUT IT WON'T WORK to many people know and understand, the Politicians have got to understand that the secret vote counting that they have become so accustom to, IS OVER.

[Kelvin Mace]

23. Again, secret counting IS over

but you will never, EVER, get HCPB in large complicated elections.

I AGAIN invite you to show me a single large venue (200,000 or more ballots) containing 30+ races are that is counted ACCURATELY by hand, in a reasonalble amount of time (majority of the results in 24 hours).

Until you can demonstrate that, all such claims are meaningless.

[kster]

25. Heres a demonstration

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=456594

[Kelvin Mace]

26. No, it is NOT

we have already addressed elections in the UK and they do NOT meet the criteria outlined above. UK elections have fewer races and more frequent elections. They do not have 30+ races on a single ballot in the UK.

Why do you insist on presenting evidence which does not support your claim?

[kster]

27. I showed you pics of people counting ballots

what more do you want? We see from the pics that you can indeed count the ballots by hand, what I believe you are saying is that we have to many races on one ballot, and that makes it totally impossible for us in the USA to hand count the ballots, but now if you look at the pics, you see that their are people sitting around a table hand counting ballots, if they are able to hand count a single race that would be my evidence that the ballots can be counted by hand, look at the pic again.

You would have to do the math, 30+ may require more tables, filled by more people, but that does not make it impossible to hand count ballots, even in the great USofA.

[Kelvin Mace]

29. The more people you have handling ballots

the more chances you have for fraud, error, and damage to the ballot.

[kster]

30. You are joking, Right?..........nt

[Kelvin Mace]

32. No, that is reality

If you do not understand why this is so, then you fundamentally do not understand the process.

We did the math on this in earlier posts. If you don't understand why having ballots handled hundreds of times by dozens of people is a BAD idea, then there is no hope of ever having a rational and meaningful discussion with you on the matter.

[kster]

35. I AM NOT AT ALL SURPRISED

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=460763&mesg_id=461545

[Kelvin Mace]

37. The post of a man claiming to be Heller

has no bearing on what we are discussing. Even when this man's ID is confirmed, it still has no bearing on what we are discussing.

[eridani]

41. No he isn't. People cheat, period.

They can cheat when counting ballots by hand, and cheat far more easily by programming machines. Bottom line is that it is always people behind the cheating. The only thing that beats this is checks and balances.

[QuestionAll...]

44. ? *gasp*! ! nt

[eridani]

40. Opscan ONLY, NO TS under any circumstances!

Aside from reliability problems (complex machinery that isn't used often enough to get the bugs out of it makes every election a beta test), TS is an extremely expensive voter disenfranchisement mechanism because it conflates the slow process of voting with the fast process of tabulation. Mr/Ms Pokey hogging machines at lunch hour or after work can disenfranchise hundreds. All you need for opscan is a flat surface. As a poll worker I saw people spread out all over the school library when the privacy booths were all in use, and the line for the scanner moved pretty quickly--if ballots were rejected the voter just had to get out of line and get another ballot from poll workers.

The only conceivable legitimate use of TS is to help a few people with disabilities or language problems print out a paper ballot that can then be scanned, and even then, it ought to be backed up with a Vote-PAD system.

[Febble]

43. Excellent

I'd so like to see this point made more often!

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

28. 990 second year net assetts EOY $304,959

From Guidestar

There are 3 990s posted for the first year, 7/02/2004 through 6/30/2005

BBV took in $972,304 in gifts, grants etc during that time period.


Stamped May 24 06
Ogden UT
http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2005/201/242/2005-201242136-026537ef-9.pdf

Stamped Jul 24 06
Ogden UT
http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2005/201/242/2005-201242136-0277c895-9.pdf

Stamped Aug 7 06
Ogden UT
http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2005/201/242/2005-201242136-027b6706-9.pdf

The 990 for BBV's second year, 7/01/2005 through 6/30/2006

BBV took in $175,578 in gifts, grants, etc in the second year of
filing.

Net assetts at end of that year are $304,959.
BBV spent $40,897 on printing and publications.
BBV claims $10,000 in casualty and theft.

990 file here -
http://anonymouse.org/cgi-bin/anon-www.cgi/http://www.blackboxvoting.org/f990bbv.pdf

[kster]

31. Excuse me, excuse me

People don't GIVE A SHIT about Bev's personal life, what they do care about, I believe, is the fact that VOTES ARE BEING COUNTED IN SECRET. I hope your silly post helps you out, but I DOUBT that it will.

[Kelvin Mace]

33. This is not about Bev's personal life

it is about money donated for this cause that she is failing to properly account for.

You are saying it is perfectly OK to steal as long as the thief agrees with you politically?

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

34. transparency of a registered non profit is not "personal"

BBV is a 501 C3 and their 990s are required by law to be
made available to the public upon request.

BBV's first 990 (three of them for same year) are posted
at Guidestar.

The second one is posted at her website.

[salin]

14. the link to the ESS letter, doesn't appear to work.

[Kelvin Mace]

16. Interesting.

I wonder why?

[kster]

17. LINK..........

http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/1954/ES_S_Slashdot-45355.pdf

[salin]

20. thanks

going to take a quick peek. In the meantime, have a great week! See ya next weekend.

[formercia]

18. Elections are Big Business

time to get Big Business out of Elections.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

19. more here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2845237&mesg_id=2850962

[Kelvin Mace]

24. Reading over ES&S' letter...

they seem to say that Bev has posted a link to Slashdot, that links to zip files on a server under her control (blackbox1.org) containing programs ES&S own.

IF true, then Bev would be in violation of the law.

Now, a look up of blackbox1.org shows the owner is hidden by a proxy. One might assume that ES&S' legal teem would have picked up the phone/FAX/FedEx envelope and told the proxy to fork over the name of the domain holder. One could be absolutely wrong, since my experience with these things tells me that most law firms are completely clueless on IP law and the DMCA.

Now, if Bev REALLY doesn't own this server, or have ANYTHING to do with the files being posted, then her lawyer should simply send a letter back saying in essence "We don't own the server, try doing your homework. Now piss off!"

Instead, Bev is turning it into yet another "fundraising moment" by getting it posted over here.

ES&S are being idiots about this for two reasons. 1) Their attorneys, who claim to be experts on copyright law, chose to send a C&D letter to demand the files be removed. If they really knew what they were doing they would simply have used the DMCA to pull the files themselves. A "pull down" notce happens at once, it does not have to wait for "due process" (a power I totally disagree with). 2) Instead, they have sent a C&D letter, which Bev posted (and any moron would know that she would post it), which tells the world the location of the files. I just checked, the files are still there and still there and still accessable. Also, a DMCA order would also have revealed the actual owner of the server.

If Bev truly doesn't have anything to do with it, they have made Bev look the hero, giving her more means to raise money, and they have opened themselves up for counter litigation from Bev.

These people shouldn't be allowed to write grocery lists, never mind write voting software.

[kster]

36. AFTER READING THIS I DO NOT BELIEVE YOU!!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=460763&mesg_id=461545

[Kelvin Mace]

38. I don't care what you believe or don't believe

and you hardly believed me prior to this post, so why pretend you've had a revelation?

You keep following your personal voting messiah, and we'll see where you are in two years.

I'm patient.

[kster]

39. You got me, I have a

hard time believing anyone who tells me that Americans are incapable of counting their own ballots without the help of electronic vote counting machines.

[Higans]

42. Canada makes it look easy.

[QuestionAll...]

45. thanks for that link... someone(s) doth protest too much, eh? nt

[hunter]

46. Someone explain to me what Steve Heller accomplished...

He violated client-attorney privilege and got in a lot of trouble for it.

But we already knew Diebold was rotten.

I suppose if someone Land Shark had hired had stolen Land Shark's own privileged records, he'd be a little upset. You just don't do that.

Oh, but I forgot. We are fighting evil here! :sarcasm:

Color me skeptical. Sometimes I have this bad vibe, as if someone is screaming "RED ALERT! RED ALERT! These voting machines didn't work! Let us retreat to the good old days, when ballots were counted by hand, and elections were never corrupt!"

:eyes:

There never were any good old days. Elections in the United States have always had an unpleasant odor about them.