Reply #223: Need tech help on "Bush default & deliberate mis-calibration"

[BushSpeak]

In 2004 there was much speculation about the default value being set to Bush on purpose. Then if the voter didn't hit the precise zone, it would default to Bush. If the machines were mis-calibrated deliberately, so that the zone for Kerry was smaller and off-center, then it would be quite plausible that several voters would touch a zone and continue without catching the error. Not everybody checks the review page. (Can finger pressure also be programmed?)

Thus, some voters would fall through the safety net and others would catch the error and try to correct the vote several times, creating long lines, while others would get lucky on the first try. Just let lady luck decide which vote is recorded accurately.

See http://web.northnet.org/minstrel/youngstown.htm">DEFAULT SETTINGS IN MAHONING COUNTY by Richard Hayes Phillips

He also states that
"Mahoning County utilized ES&S Ivotronic touch screen machines. The administrative password for these machines was reported on the ES&S website itself. By default, the password is 1111."
So it is fairly easy to alter "default values and calibrations".

Black Box Voting did a FOIA in Palm Beach Co. in 2004 for the Dre logs and found that nearly 1500 of the 4500 Dre's had to be recalibrated during the election.

There's also less risk of doing time in prison for machine calibration than vote switching.

Could a tech person give me feedback on this idea to see if it's credible?

I plan to do an information campaign on e-voting here in France, and this would be one argument, although minor, that I could use.