CA Diebold Failure, Lost Ballots Reveals Federal E-Vote Scam

[BradBlog]

''Humboldt Transparency Project' Reveals Diebold's, U.S. Federal E-Voting Scam
Hundreds of Lost Ballots, Illegal Voting System, and the Scam Behind Billions of Federal Dollars Spent on Voting Machines That Don't Work All Illustrated by Simple Citizen Oversight, Free Open-Source Voting System in One California County...

-- By John Gideon and Brad Friedman

"Some people have called those who have long decried our nation's move toward voting machines nuts or just sore losers... The recent discovery, thanks to the Humboldt County Election Transparency Project, of a discrepancy in election results due to flawed software reveals that these activists were right to make noise, and right to complain about a company that has been less than responsible in dealing with the problem," reads the editorial from yesterday's Eureka Times-Standard.

Thanks for noticing, Times-Standard. Now will the rest of the country notice? Specifically, will the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, responsible for testing and certifying these machines at the federal level, and the U.S. Dept. of Justice, responsible for enforcing federal laws --- which again seem to have been violated by Diebold (whose election division now calls themselves Premier) --- notice and take action?

Interviews with and responses from CA officials from Humboldt County Registrar Carolyn Crnich to Sec. of State Debra Bowen's office indicate a serious problem, yet again, with Diebold's handling of the software failure which the company has known about for four years, even as they allowed election officials to continue using the same system in several states.

The BRAD BLOG has obtained a copy of Diebold's original terse, emailed notice of the software failure, sent to Crnich's predecessor in 2004, but never sent to CA's new Sec. of State, despite her "Top-to-Bottom Review" of all e-voting systems in the state which she undertook after taking office in 2007.

At the same time, local software programmer Mitch Trachtenberg, who developed the simple, transparent, open-source optical-scan software, using off-the-shelf hardware for the citizen's project --- including the ability to post all scanned ballots onto the web for citizen review --- may have inadvertently revealed the scam perpetuated by the nation's electronic voting machine vendor's who were allocated some $3.9 billion federal tax dollars for their efforts at creating proprietary systems, which don't even work as promised...or as required by federal law.

Enough is enough...

FULL STORY: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6733

[annabanana]

1. I wish I wish I wish in vain...

that Corporate Media would do a few high profile, 6 O'Clock News reports on this subject. . People should know.

[Greyskye]

2. K & R

Nice job, Brad.

[Stevepol]

3. I hope I live long enough to see every one of the voting machine vendors

bankrupted and/or otherwise disgraced and destroyed.

Every last one of them.

[sonias]

8. Three cheers on that one.

I hope I live to see that day too.




Sonia

[blm]

23. Double that....

.

[Enthusiast]

36. I hope the same! nt

[vanboggie]

43. Plus Rover, Chimp 'n Cheney

I can wish, can't I?

[AntiFascist]

4. K&R, great to see Brad following up on GEMS tabulator problems....

more counties need to implement open-source systems. Who knows if Prop. 8 really should have passed?

[truedelphi]

31. That has been somethng I've been thinking ever since I heard it didn't pass

It's bad enough that it didn't pass, but I get really steamed when I realize maybe it was stolen.

[Stevepol]

5. Brad you need to check in with the recount going on in WV too

Link: http://www.statejournal.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&st...

Here's a quote from the article about the recount going on in a not very populous area I think but it could throw off some sparks. Here's a little bit from the article:

"Our goal is to make sure every vote cast is counted. And its apparent already today to me, that's not happening with these machines," said Diane Parker.

Parker says she does not have faith that the electronic voting machines accurately count votes.

"Again, today we've looked at one precinct, 2 tapes and the numbers just aren't adding up," said Parker.

With over 6,000 votes to go, the counting is not going quickly.

"We've had a recount in the past, but we were always using the paper ballot in the past when we had a re-count. This is our first recount using the electronic," said Taylor County Clerk Nancy Fowler.

Parker says her intention is to count ballots until she feels there is enough evidence of mistakes in the electronic machines, to return to paper ballots.

[Wilms]

6. Thanks Brad. Thanks John.

And my hat is off to the Humboldt crew.

[bertman]

7. Many thanks to the Bradblog and the folks in Humboldt County. You're doing the lord's work.

[amborin]

9. i hope we keep on this crucial issue; voter fraud could make palin prez

[HillWilliam]

24. Actually, no

ELECTION fraud could make her prez. There aren't enough stupid/crooked/moran/amoral voters to put her in office. There is sufficient electoral misconduct to do so, which sadly as yet is still unpunished.

[defendandprotect]

10. Remember, the big computer counters used by media came in during mid-1960's ....

These steals have been going on since then --

And back that far two journalists investigated ...

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=votescam+the+stealing+...

[DCKit]

11. Still wondering just how big Obama's margin had to be to win the election. n/t

[Hekate]

14. My guess all along was Obama had to have a big margin & a ton of new voters to pull off a slim win

I chewed my nails until October 26 before the election when a letter from the campaign was posted here. A DUer wrote to them asking about electronic fraud and other forms of vote theft and suppression. She got back a very nice letter that indicated they knew about it. The key phrase was Not This Time.

Not This Time. The years of denial from the Democratic Party honchos was over. Or, at least, there was no denial in the Obama campaign.

We still have an enormous amount to do, precinct by precinct and county by county, to dump all electronic vote-theft machinery in the nearest recycling center. We need the help of informed voters.

We need help from the new Obama administration, and they have so much on their plate already. Has anybody emailed them recently about this issue?

We could sure use some help from the MSM -- which reminds me: has anyone emailed Keith and Rachel yet?

Hekate

[defendandprotect]

17. They are aware -- What would it take to get going on this ....???

[Kaleko]

12. Lots more eyeballs need to turn in this direction.

Kick to the top.

[Selatius]

13. Vendors like Diebold oppose open-source, simply because it means they lose money.

Why pay a premium for proprietary equipment when one could purchase machines that do the same thing or can do it even better except without the profit mark-up added onto the sticker price? It is illogical to continue to throw money after bad in light of such observations.

[Hekate]

19. Lack of open-source software should have been an enormous red flag from the get-go to any honest....

... professional programmer. Money is only part of the issue. Accountability is everything.

As with every other damned privatized scheme sponsored by the Bush admin, money flowed out of the taxpayer's Treasury into the pockets of thieves and subversives who were accountable to no one.

Any kind of incompetent code could be hidden in this "proprietary" software, with no way for any independent auditor to check or correct it. Any kind of dishonesty could likewise be hidden.

It helped a great deal in getting the original legislation passed that members of Congress are as scientifically and technologically illiterate as the rest of America. By and large, they think this stuff is all magic, and because they think it's magic they don't even try to understand the issues that might be involved.

Hekate

[Senator]

15. K&R

[Bonn1997]

16. If the Dems do nothing, they don't deserve a Democracy

We the citizens still do but I won't have any sympathy for the any elected Democrats if they lose due to cheating in 2010 or beyond after doing nothing between now and then.

[pleah]

18. K&R

[mod mom]

20. k + r

[beac]

21. K&R

Every time I read one of these stories, my stomach cramps with anxiety.

[JohnWxy]

22. obviously, extremely important post. Diebold machines are NOT "buggy" they are set up to screw with

the vote. The Diebold management should spend a decade of two at GITMO and be given classes in the dangers of totalitarian government.

RECOMMENDED. BOOKMARKED.

BRIAN WILLIAMS, NBC, CHARLIE GIBSON, ABC WILL NEVER TOUCH THIS. THE REPUBLICAN PARTY WOULD HAVE THEM OFF THE AIR COVERING HURRICANES IN THE PHILLIPINES IF THEY DID.

Carolyn Crnich and Brad should be given the Medal of Freedom for fighting for democracy in the United States!

[lovuian]

35. More proof these men stole the elections from the people

Biggest crime

[Occulus]

37. Whenever anyone ever said the Diebold machines were "buggy",

I always reminded them that Diebold also makes ATM machines, which usually function flawlessly. Those machines dispense your cash- AND A RECEIPT.

But we're expected to believe their voting machines can't add properly? We're expected to believe a paper trail isn't possible?

Riiiiiight.

18181.

[Peace Patriot]

25. Kudos and laurel wreaths for Hunboldt County CA's election reform activists!

They are wonderful folks, been at it a long time, persistent, nagging, cajoling, informing, agitating, thinking, observing, analyzing, organizing, ON IT! ON IT big time!

This is where this movement is happening, and where it has to happen--at the local/state level. Congress ain't gonna do nuttin. Mark my words. Except make it worse. Or if they make it better--like by mandating a ballot for every vote, and a 100% audit for the next four major elections or no 'TRADE SECRET' code allowed--or by bannning these privately coded machines now and forever--I will eat my keyboard.

It's we, the people, who must change this--and our best hope is the local/state venues. Nobody is going to give us our democracy back. We have to take it back. And this is step one, and the most crucial, the most fundamental step of all: restoring transparent vote counting!

Again, my profound thanks to the Humboldt activists, and to all election reform activists across the land!

[tnlurker]

26. K&R

[Downtown Hound]

27. I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn

that this was how Prop. 8 got passed.

[noiretextatique]

30. just what i was thinking eom

[Capn Sunshine]

28. Brad, I'm sending this article to Debra Bowen

one of the things she mentioned about this issue is that everyone assumes she has seen the latest news study or whatever, and due to the nature of State Offices, the opposite is often true.

Debra is good people and definitely on our side. This will get attention.

[Joe Chi Minh]

29. K&R

[GreenTea]

32. Where in the fuck is Precinct 1E-45?

Humboldt, (larger than the whole state of Delaware) is a very liberal county and I'm not surprised this was exposed by a local dude who's a programer, a progressive and politically active & aware...

But where in the fuck is 1E-45 was my vote counted?

[2Design]

33. kick

[nykym]

34. Charge them

all with TREASON!

[QueenOfCalifornia]

38. Damn!

Error: you can only recommend threads which were started in the past 24 hours

Great job Brad. This needs to be kicked to the top of the forum forever - until something is done about it.

[HowHasItComeToThis]

40. I TRIED TOO

[stubtoe]

41. Oh crap. Well, Kick, anyway.

[lelgt60]

39. You can make plenty of money with open source software

If I were running a company making voting machines, I would...

1) Only use open source software. I would set up an ad supported developer web page where programmers could review the software, submit patches, etc.
2) Same for mechanical/electrical design.
3) Set up a public ad supported page where people could see the result of scanning their ballot. I think the ad people would be happy with the number of hits.
4) Charge government agencies for customization, installation, and support.

Unfortunately, I like hand counted paper ballots better. They may be theoretically more error prone, but are less likely to have systematic (read: criminal) errors. We could still have a web site where we could look up when our ballot was counted, and maybe even what they think we voted for.

[AlbertCat]

42. I like hand counted paper ballots better.

Me too! I'd rather put an X or an O on a scrap of paper. fold it and slip it into a slit in the lid of a cardboard box than trust some huge for-profit corporation to come up with some secret way to count votes....which is exactly what the USA has done.

Why must machines do everything? What's the big hurry? Inauguration Day used to be in March! (though this year I wish it was in Dec....like tomorrow!)

[lelgt60]

46. I want to sell targeted ads in the booth while you're voting...

Now that you've voted for Gov. Palin, how about a nice Uzi. On special only right now! 399.95!

[valerief]

45. You make more money from the thieves buying the election fraud. nt

[valerief]

44. K&R