How absentee ballots are counted in Wisconsin (from 2008);

[elocs]

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/wivoteguide/

Myth: Absentee ballots are not counted on Election Day and only count if the vote is close.
Fact: Absentee ballots are processed on Election Day by the same election officials who process ballots cast in person.

The municipal clerk, on Election Day, has couriers deliver the absentee ballots to the appropriate polling site. At some point on Election Day, officials follow a specific procedure to count the absentee ballots. In Milwaukee, absentee ballot will be processed in a central location for the entire city.

If the ballot is completed properly, the enveloped is opened, the voter is checked off the registration list as having voted absentee and the ballot is run through the machine – the same as the ballot cast by a voter who is present in the polling place. Wis. Stat. 6.88(3)(a).

Just for any who wondered.

[AleksS]

1. Oh.

Doggone. I had a vision of piles of Kloppenburg absentee ballots just waiting to be counted in Dane cty.

:(

[BlueDemKev]

7. Don't Give Up Yet....

....there are still 2 unreported precincts in Milwaukee which hopefully will offset the 3 remaining outstanding precincts from the rural counties of Jefferson, Juneau, and Taylor.

[yellerpup]

2. Thanks!

I wondered. Now, I know. :hi:

[msongs]

3. run through a machine. dems have not done a thing to correct that in the past 8 years. nt

[Scuba]

4. thx

[elocs]

5. I voted at my city hall here in La Crosse the first day we could vote,

so I wondered when my ballot would be counted.

[Peace Patriot]

6. "...and the ballot is run through the machine...". Ah, there's the rub!

"If the ballot is completed properly, the enveloped is opened, the voter is checked off the registration list as having voted absentee and the ballot is run through the machine – the same as the ballot cast by a voter who is present in the polling place. Wis. Stat. 6.88(3)(a)."

--------------------

Who owns the 'TRADE SECRET' code--code that you and I are forbidden to review--that then tabulates the "votes" in that electronic system?

WHY is any part of our election system a "TRADE SECRET"?

How many of the actual ballots are actually counted against the machine totals? (In half the states in the U.S., the answer to that is ZERO. In the other half--and probably in Wisconsin--the answer is 1%--completely inadequate for detecting fraud in an electronic voting system.) (10% is the minimum needed.)

--------------------

There is a misrepresentation in this post that is typical of the misrepresentations I've seen in promotion of the private, corporate vote tabulation system that was spread like the plague throughout the U.S. during the 2002 to 2004 period. And it is this: The post gives the impression that officials COUNT the absentee ballots. I will point out the specific language that tells this lie in a moment. The truth is that NO ONE counts the ballot. They only verify the voter validity (check it off the registration roll) and a PRIVATE, CORPORATE, 'TRADE SECRET'-CODED **MACHINE** tabulates the votes. It is NOT counted by human eyes and hands.

--

"The municipal clerk, on Election Day, has couriers deliver the absentee ballots to the appropriate polling site. At some point on Election Day, officials follow a specific procedure to count the absentee ballots. In Milwaukee, absentee ballot will be processed in a central location for the entire city.

If the ballot is completed properly, the enveloped is opened, the voter is checked off the registration list as having voted absentee and the ballot is run through the machine – the same as the ballot cast by a voter who is present in the polling place. Wis. Stat. 6.88(3)(a)."

--

The ballot is "run through the machine" in the same appalling process that the ballots of those present in the polling place are subjected to. The officials DO NOT "follow a specific procedure" "to count the absentee ballots." They "follow a specific procedure" to feed the ballot into a 'TRADE SECRET' coded machine!

Don't know about Wisconsin, but EIGHTY PERCENT of these tabulations in the USA are conducted with 'TRADE SECRET' code owned and controlled by ONE, PRIVATE, FAR RIGHTWING-CONNECTED corporation--ES&S, which just bought out Diebold (aka Premier). But even if it isn't ES&S, there is simply no way that a 1% or even 3% audit (comparison of paper ballots to machine totals) verifies that election, no matter which corporation's 'TRADE SECRET' code is being used. It is NOT verified.

This is our situation. The corporations have PRIVATIZED our actual vote-counting (in addition to their filthy campaign money and controlled press). And, very unfortunately and outrageously, our Democratic Party leaders have let them get away with this.

Transparent vote counting--vote counting that everyone can SEE and understand--is the bottom line of democracy. Without, we don't really have a democracy. And, furthermore, there is ONLY ONE PURPOSE TO PRIVATIZED 'TRADE SECRET' VOTE COUNTING, and that is FRAUD.

They have this capability--the EASY capability--of fraud everywhere. They may not use it everywhere, in every election. In fact, they may cleverly "lose" a few elections, to make it look good. But clearly the far rightwing has been "going for it," in the last Congressional and gubernatorial and state legislative (s)elections, and are now activating their plan to destroy our government (to "drown government in the bathtub," as Grover Norquist prescribed) and our progressive way of life. They're going for Social Security, Medicare and unions. It's so obvious. And what is also obvious is that these far rightwing operatives--(s)elected by 'TRADE SECRET' code--DO NOT REPRESENT THE PEOPLE.

One.

Private.

Far rightwing-connected.

Corporation.

Using.

'TRADE SECRET.'

Code.

With.

Virtually.

No.

Audit.

Controls.

------------

It is still a doable project to change this--but it will take a widespread citizen movement at the local/state level, where--Wisconsin to the contrary notwithstanding--local people have more potential influence (certainly more than we do in Congress and the Presidency). Your local voter registrar may live right down the street from you. Most Americans don't live that far from their state capitols. We need to get rid of these 'TRADE SECRET' voting systems NOW, before it's too late. Currently, there is no federal requirement to use these private, corporate vote tabulation systems. It was all done with filthy corruption. So the decision-making power over the voting system still resides at the local/state level. But this could change--especially with this illegitimate Scumbag Congress--who could well make it illegal to count votes in public view.

It is doable and it is very urgent. Without transparent vote counting, all of our efforts at organizing and rallying people will be for naught--locally, nationally.

Another thing we must do is learn to distrust the pre-election polls. The polling organizations are also corporate and are very corrupt. The hanky-panky with the exit polls in the 2004 (s)election of Bush-Cheney was plain evidence of this. They also weight these polls toward rightwing views. And I believe that they work in tandem with ES&S to produce and then "confirm" fraudulent election results.

Our multinational corporate/war profiteer rulers FEAR us. They really do. That's the WHY of 'TRADE SECRET' vote counting. It's a left-handed compliment, really. But it is a lethal power that they and their rightwing political operatives now have--given to them, gratis, by our corrupt or fearful (or stupid?) party leaders. We MUST take this lethal weapon out of their hands. We MUST! We need to take back our voting system and count all the ballots IN PUBLIC VIEW, as of old--until an OPEN SOURCE code system can be developed, that we can trust.