Out of 11 Nader Ward Recounts 7 are Diebold and 4 are Optech!

[spooked]

Nader requested hand recounts in Litchfield, Sandown, Newton, Danville, Salem, Pelham, one ward in Somersworth and four wards in Manchester.

According to this site http://www.sos.nh.gov/voting%20machines.htm
this is the voting method in each of these 11 wards:

Litchfield: Diebold Accuvote
Sandown: Optech Optical Scan
Newton: Diebold Accuvote
Danville: Optech Optical Scan
Salem: Optech Optical Scan
Pelham: Optech Optical Scan
Somersworth: Diebold Accuvote
Manchester: Diebold Accuvote

THIS IS OUR BIG CHANCE!!! We're going to see the difference in the Optical Scan and Diebold machines! Many many wards in NH are hand counted. Not one was requested in the recount.

[ewagner]

1. Were any of those

wards included in the exit polling?

[spooked]

2. They must be because

that is Nader's point...that Kerry won the state by 1%, yet exit polls showed Kerry winning by 15%.

Nader would like to know how many votes HE REALLY GOT.

[spooked]

4. Nader's quote on that

"We have received reports of irregularities in the vote reported on the AccuVote Diebold Machines in comparison to exit polls and trends in voting in New Hampshire," Nader wrote Secretary of State William M. Gardner. "These irregularities favor President George W. Bush by 5% to 15% over what was expected."


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38000-2004Nov9.html

I think they may be surprised because according to research posted here on DU, the fraud may have actually been accomplished with the optical scan machines rather than the Diebold machines.

[Blue in the face]

12. 4:59pm

"New Hampshire uses Diebold machines at 132 polling places. Gardner's office received Nader's fax at 4:59 p.m. Friday, one minute before the deadline. Under state law, if a candidate requesting a recount finished more than three percentage points behind, he must pay for the process. Gardner said that if the Nader campaign sends a check for $2,000 and promises to pay any additional charges, he will round up the ballots and initiate a hand count."

He faxed it at 4:59pm? He cut it close, didn't he? What if he'd faxed it to a Freeper with a fast watch?

What I didn't see was when the recount was going to happen. Ralph, just waiting for my paypal transfer, the money is one it's way!

[KaryninMiami]

3. Finally, a breath of good news..

It's about time we got some uplifting news. Now let's all close our eyes and visualize HUGE, MASSIVE, UNMISTAKABLE IRREGULARITIES...

Ready? Breathe in-- visualize numbers all out of whack. Breathe out, visualize the next state to be counted....

[IdaBriggs]

5. Both types are optical scan w/paper trails. :) nt

[spooked]

6. Excellent!!

n/t

[GregD]

18. Good point Ida - IMPORTANT FOR ALL TO READ PLEASE

Folks, let me chip in with this:

Bill Gardner, I believe firmly, is a good guy.

He was one of the earliest officials to endorse David Dill's (Verified Voting) resolution for a paper trail, and he took a leadership role by insisting that no paperless voting systems would be used in NH.

If I recall correctly, he was (is) a member of Dill's advisory board. That, to Dill, is a big deal. Dill does not do anything to risk his reputation or career. Nothing. Period. He would not align with Gardner if he did not trust the guy entirely.

If the audit/recount ends up revealing anything about the NH election, my guess is that Gardner knew nothing of it. And with software which sucks as bad as Diebold, I suspect that anything it is designed to do (maliciously) is done without knowledge of many people.

On edit: And no, this is not to say Dill is without faults, but I suspect his trust of Gardner is well-placed.

[Matariki]

7. And if the actual hand counts are different

Diebold & Optech should be fined - or assets seized - and made to pay for a country wide hand count of all the votes.

[Generator]

8. I had a horrible thought

I'm not very high tech literate so..

If the votes were changed to Bush on election night, won't they still show that? How can you find out the voters intent? Is there a way to track the code..so you know that it was changed?

[spooked]

9. My understanding is that the ballots would be read without

the aid of the machines this time.

Can anyone else verify how this works?

[TorchTheWitch]

13. Total hand recount

The opti-scans read punch card ballots. They can be read by hand but the purpose for the opti-scan machines was to have the machine read them (instead of people) to make the counting of the ballots faster. Because it seems evident that the theft of the votes occurred when the totals from each precinct were sent to the central tabulator computer to add them all up, recounting by hand - and totaling by hand (without the central tabulator computer being involved) - would reveal the ACTUAL correct ballot count.

The recount is a HAND recount - NO machines involved.

As I recall, the results of the hand recount decides the election even if the results of the recount flip the election to another candidate... In other words, the recount results become the election results.

[Eloriel]

16. I don't think opti-scan are punchcards -- they're OPTICAL SCAN

of paper ballots where the voter fills in little dots or draws lines or similar. Then they're fed thru the optical scanners to register the votes.

They start with a voter-verified paper ballot.

[TexasChick]

20. Eloriel, they're still counted by hand, right? Sorry, I'm kind of dumb

about this sort of stuff.

[veggiemama]

23. The ballots in Salem, NH are not punch-card type, but connect-the-arrows

paper ballots that are then run through an OptiScan machine. You hand your ballot to the ward worker as you exit and actually watch your ballot being feed into the machine. Although I no longer reside in Salem, NH, I'm still registered there as a US citizen living abroad and I did vote for every Dem candidate this year, but I did not use the "straight ticket" option because of the "irregularities" that occurred in NH in 2002. Remember Jeanne Shaheen? All the NH exit polls declared her the winner in the US Senate race, but strangely, John Sununu won. Go figure!

[Hobbes199]

10. NH recount -- Nader's done good.

[spooked]

11. So the NH recount IS NOT to

absolve Diebold.

4 of the 11 wards being recounted in NHuse the optical scan!

[Seattlewaguy2004]

14. This is exciting. I never voted for Nader but....

...I hear that he has changed many things for the better of all americans. ie. Safer automatic car windows. He must really think there is snake in the grass here. Its so ironic that problems with the machines would be shown in a state Bush lost.

[Hobbes199]

19. Nader 2008

I don't care whose running, or that my vote just might not count anyway... I'm gonna get out my vote for him. And if he's back with the Greens, then that's a double payback.

Thank folks!

[newyawker99]

25. Hi Seattlewaguy2004!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Buddyblazon]

15. When will they start the recount?

[spooked]

29. Wednesday the 24th at the earliest

There are many other contested elections that are being recounted in the state, of course Democrats lost nearly all of those.

http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AI...

"The earliest this recount could begin is Nov. 24, the day before Thanksgiving Day. That’s because the next two weeks are already packed with more than a dozen recounts of legislative races.

The recount of votes in eight communities could take more than a day depending on how many teams of volunteers are assembled to help, Gardner said."

"The recount covers all but one Manchester ward in state Senate District 18 where Republican Sen. Andre Martel of Manchester narrowly defeated Manchester Democrat David Gelinas.

Gelinas has filed for a recount that will take place next Friday.

“We had questions about some of the totals for our candidate in Manchester wards, so maybe Ralph Nader is raising the same questions we are,’’ said Dick Bouley, a Gelinas supporter assisting with the recount."

[milkyway]

17. Optech is a voting machine made by ES&S. Numerous threads here at DU

about them, and numerous problems.

Link to NH equipment models and manufacturer:

http://www.verifiedvoting.org/verifier/map.php?topic_string=5std&state=New%20Hampshire&county=Belknap

http://www.sos.nh.gov/voting%20machines.htm

[lostnfound]

21. Vote Growth Statistics in Recount Wards ( Be HAPPY)

I just created a 3d bubble chart for the counties and particularly the recount wards in NH, showing 2004 vs 2000 growth in votes for Ds and Rs.

Whatever doubts I had about the NH recount are gone. The wards that they picked for the recount are really good ones -- places where the Democratic growth was much lower than Republican growth.

Ward...|...Bush 00...|...Bush 04...|...Gore...|...Kerry...|...Growth Rs...|...Growth Ds
Litchfield...|...1742...|...2386...|...1480...|...1747...|...37%...|...18%
Pelham...|...2641...|...3725...|...2295...|...2755...|...41%...|...20%
Danville...|...887...|...1261...|...781...|...929...|...42%...|...19%
Newton...|...862...|...1160...|...988...|...1103...|...35%...|...12%
Salem...|...5713...|...7797...|...5711...|...6472...|...36%...|...13%
Sandown...|...1105...|...1655...|...990...|...1158...|...50%...|...17%

Not sure which wards they are going for in Manchester & Somersworth, but I think I can guess that it's Somersworth #4 and Manchester #7, 8, 9, and possibly 11.

[shelley806]

22. This is great news; if NH recount casts a big doubt on these

Diebolical cheating machines, then the dooors will be opened for more investigations and recounts in other states with disputes..Shine the light on truth!

[YellowDoginthehouse]

24. YEAH!

Perfect!

[bigbluestate]

26. Yea what? Can it Backfire?

Why is everyone so happy? What happends if there are no problems what so ever? WHat happends if the votes stay exactly the same? Doesnt this hurt us?

If this recount of the Diebold Machines goes smooth. Lets just say there isnt a SINGLE error. What happends then? You know as well as i do.. EVERY headline.. NH uses E-voting.. worked perfect.

[EST]

27. I, for one

Wish to see absolute integrity-whatever the count. The issue is not about a bunch of sorehead losers: it's about reclaiming democracy and assuring the most fundamental right of free citizens is not abridged, no matter party affiliation.

[Critical Thinker]

31. ditto EST

If the voting patterns seem fishy, they should to be investigated.

The outcome of that investigation is what it is.

[spooked]

28. The only thing that could BACKFIRE is if

the count shows that Kerry got far more votes than was reported, and NOTHING IS DONE ABOUT IT!

We know that Kerry was leading in exit polls by 5%-15% in NH. EXIT POLLS don't LIE. Remember, exit polls are used to PREVENT fraud!

If the vote stays the same, I'll take down my Kerry sign, and resign myself to 4 more years.

However, we all KNOW that Kerry REALLY WON the election.

[idiosyncratic]

30. Does this look like it could really happen? Exit polls=prediction