NY TIMES MAGAZINE TO RUN 'MASSIVE, SCARY' COVER STORY ON AMERICA'S E-VOTING DISASTER THIS SUNDAY(X)

[kster]

Source: BRAD BLOG, E&P

NY TIMES MAGAZINE TO RUN 'MASSIVE, SCARY' COVER STORY ON AMERICA'S E-VOTING DISASTER THIS SUNDAY
Cover Graphic Said To Show Exploding Voting Booth with 'WARNING' Label: 'Your vote may be lost, destroyed, miscounted, wrongly attributed or hacked'

The entire debate over e-voting may well be just about to change. Hopefully for the better. Big time.

Editor & Publisher's editor Greg Mitchell, has tipped off The BRAD BLOG late this afternoon, that the New York Times Magazine is set to run a "massive" cover-story this Sunday, on the entire e-voting disaster titled "The Bugs in the Machines."

Better late than never?

Mitchell describes the story as "quite chilling". Here's the first coupla grafs from his scoop...


Coming between the Iowa and New Hampshire tallies, this Sunday's cover of The New York Times Magazine ought to strike a chord. It shows a man inside an exploding voting booth with a WARNING label over it and the words: "Your vote may be lost, destroyed, miscounted, wrongly attributed or hacked."

The massive Clive Thompson article, titled "The Bugs in the Machines," is quite chilling. "After the 2000 election," it opens, "counties around the country rushed to buy new computerized voting machines. But it turns out that these machines may cause problems worse than hanging chads. Is America ready for another contested election?" One key passage: "The earliest critiques of digital voting booths came from the fringe --- disgruntled citizens and scared-senseless computer geeks --- but the fears have now risen to the highest levels of government."

One expert says that "about 10 percent" of the devices fail in each election.

FULL STORY, DEVELOPING: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5513

Read more: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5513

(X) http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3125116

[Berry Cool]

1. All the more reason to say, hurray for Jennifer Brunner

She's going to see to it that all Ohioans get to vote on paper this time if they want to. And she's trashing the Cuyahoga County touchscreen machines. Great day in the morning!

[kster]

5. Some want Hand Counted Paper Ballots, some want Audits

I thank the people in the DU and all the other Activist that have carried the torch and handed it to the likes of Brunner/Bowen so that they can do WHAT IS RIGHT with the information.

Hats off to the activist that kept this election fraud story ALIVE. We are all adults and we all know the right way to have our ballots counted.

:thumbsup:

[autorank]

2. Very nice! K8R

:)

[demodonkey]

3. This Is an Article Long and Well-Researched by the Author

Clive Thompson did tons of traveling and spoke to tons of people to learn about this issue. He interviewed me, and a bunch of others in Pennsylvania for this article... he sent me a heads-up earlier this week that unfortunately the section on Pennsylvania had to be limited due to space. I am not quoted in the final version (which heck, certainly wasn't the goal on my part as long as the article is good!)


When he said that they had to limit the section on Pennsylvania (he also wrote about other states, such as Ohio, that have active problems going on recently) I had to think that it's scary to me that our precarious situation in targeted PA is still somewhat under the radar. When writing back to thank Clive for the heads up I said that I hope he will keep following this issue both in the Keystone State and nationally. I hope he gets it in this article strongly about how bad things could go in here. Indeed he sure heard about it from all of us who spoke with him.

As I told him it feels a bit like we are living on top of a quietly rumbling volcano in Pennsylvania.

Yup scary.

[demodonkey]

4. Article is up now, HERE.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/magazine/06Vote-t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine&pagewanted=print

COVER STORY of the January 6 New York Times Magazine. Get a paper copy in Sunday NYT. Don't miss the cover because it is a hoot.

Marybeth

[Fly by night]

6. It's like we're waking up from a three year long bad dream. Oh wait, we've been awake ...

... it's the corporate media that missed its 11/04 wake-up call.

This articvle is a God(dess)-send and we will use the heck out of it in the Orange State.

K&R

[mod mom]

7. Here are some early comments by EI folks from MCM list serv:

From Steve Rosenfeld:

This article conveys the new mainstream consensus: that these machines are not ready for prime time. But it does not broach the crucial idea that it is not the public, but insider politicos, who have the access, and therefore the potential knowledge, to tweak election results.

I read it quick, but do you see any reference to the central tabulation process-other than how it failed in Cleveland last fall? That is the eye of the storm, which the Pima AZ case pointed to-and where the judge pulled a slick one and wouldn't release the sought-after election records.

The piece criticizes the technology, which is safe to do, and skirts the question of politicos manipulating races from the inside. I mean, again, look at Pima. They looked at who was winning in early balloting, which is better than any pre-election poll. That's as much of a tactic as possibly flipping the results.


From Jonathan Simon:

Sorry Folks--
They always do this. Lou Dobbs did it in 2006. "There are these vulnerabilities, oh my!"--See, we are covering the story.
They'll be all over this before the election. The day after the election? Nada.
"Well those exit polls were off again, and of course there are some loony sore losers who won't accept the results; very destabilizing isn't it, Bob?" "Reminds me of Kenya, Jack." "Oooh, all those heads chopped off with machetes; we can't let partisan zeal interfere with the orderly transfer of power here in America, Bob." Etc. etc. Get me a bucket.
Somebody please read this Times thing (I'm under strict medical instructions not to take so much as a peek) and tell me if they actually manage to get beyond, you know, "glitches" and "bugs," to "fraud" and (help me Ronda) "theft;" and then if they manage to actually propose a remedy that makes vote counting visible again (i.e., something better than central opscans with spot audits), and while we're at it, whether they even bother dealing with the millions of voters being scrubbed from voting rolls by those database programs--in short, whether they remotely get it.
I'm willing to be surprised but I won't hold my breath.


From Nancy Tobi:

Also: The article carries the standard MSM baggage. Conclusion: we need a better technological fix, and oh my, we are so screwed there is no way out. The frigging "computer experts" are quoted as saying we have no reason to believe any hacking has ever occurred, breathing new life into their questionable careers, where they can continue to be poised to jump the line as soon as we are all ready for the "good" computer guys to run our elections for us instead of big bad Diebold. And of course, optical scanners are the holy grail - no mention of secret vote counting or Al Gore's negative 16,022 votes from Diebold opscams, and NO MENTION OF HAND COUNTS.

I say F**K the MSM. They are either completely corrupt, stupid, complicit, or disgustingly ignorant. And the problem with pieces like this one is they appear oh so well researched and credible, they appear to actually have some reasonable perspective on the situation.

This one did raise one interesting point - the comparison of our "good" guy technoelection activists saying "no reason to believe in fraud" and the vendors pointing to hackability as their biggest challenge. Holy crap. Now we have to turn to the vendors for some sort of acknowledgement that hacking is a possibility? Through the looking glass again.


From William Benzon:

Mark,

This is nonsense: " Chris Riggall, a spokesman for Diebold, said that
machine flaws were not necessarily to blame for the problems. The paper
rolls were probably installed incorrectly by the poll workers."

I have no trouble believing that the paper was incorrectly installed. But
how robust is the design and construction? A tool that is routinely misused
by the people intended to use the tool is a badly designed tool. And if the
people who use the tool happen to be semi-decrepit old geezers -- no offense
meant to geezers -- then you design to their capabilities. Make labels BIG,
knobs and buttons and screws, BIG, etc. Period. And that goes triple for
such a critical tool as a voting machine.

And what's this nonsense of having the paper-check print in 8 point type?
Who the hell can read 8 point type? Young people with fine vision have
trouble reading 8-point type. Older folks with glaucoma and cataracts and
coke-bottle lenses don't have a chance. Noticing this is not rocket science.
It's elementary industrial design.

Yeah, the small type means you can use a small printer and small paper. But
this is the integrity of the political process that's at stake. This is no
place to be making a profit by pinching pennies. But then this is the crew
that sends soldiers into battle without body armor and stuffs socks into
their pants so they can do a dramatic crotch grab while declaring victory.

[Yellow Horse]

8. Why do these people want to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory?

We finally get a huge, well-written article in the New York Times for Gods sake, one that can realistically be used to educate elected officials and perhaps get them to change their way of thinking about these DREs, and ONCE AGAIN along come people like Tobi and MCM to bash it. Not good enough for them. Not PERFECT (and not THEIR version of PERFECT.)

Nancy Tobi, as the so-called "Legislative Director" of the Election Defense Alliance publicly saying "F**K the MSM" is a prime example of why I, and many others, will not support or join the Election Defense Alliance. It's a shame because despite Nancy they actually do a lot of good work otherwise. Having a spokesperson like Nancy Tobi is just too much of a poison pill for many of us to overcome. I am so tired of her oh-so-clever name calling (opSCAM, traitorous bill, etc.) It's sickening. Language like "F**K the MSM" serves only to undermine the good that so many other activists are doing and serves to keep our movement divided. I won't be a part of it, nor will a lot of other people.

MCM is just too sad for words. He writes great stuff about the danger our elections are in, then marginalizes himself by demanding a solution that is not realistic.

And Jonathan Simon, if he is under medical order not to 'peek' at articles like this should be also under order not to write about what he has not seen.

[mod mom]

9. Where was mention of the multiple cases of vote flipping? and...

So in past elections with THE PROBLEMS REMARKABLY ALL FAVORED ONE PARTY, should point to just bad equipment instead of malfeasance? A little too much of a coincidence, don't you think?

[Febble]

12. Exactly

That was a really very nice article. Beautifully done.

[Bill Bored]

10. Well, at least they're consistent!

Hope it's OK for you to divulge the contents of that listserv though. Did you have to get permission or is it just easier to accept the consequences? ;)

[kster]

11. OUCHHHHH!!!

SNIP...Some elections officials next adopted lever machines, which record each vote mechanically. But lever machines have problems of their own, not least that they make meaningful recounts impossible because they do not preserve each individual vote.

An old version of the all new and improved electronic DRE?

EVERYONES GETTING BUSTED......

TIME FOR EVERYONE TO COME CLEAN.......

PUT YOUR HANDS UP!!!

Hand Counted Paper Ballots, AT THE PRECINCT, totals posted on the door/INTERNET before them ballots leave the precinct.

You can argue every which way from sunday, but the facts remain, more people know and understand the election SCAM, than there are CROOKS to keep it covered up.

GOOD LUCK TO YOU!!!

[mod mom]

13. Guess they're consistent because they are in agreement as experts.

and btw...I meant to say list not list serv. This is the info MCM sends out to get info out to many people and can be found at his blog-Notes from the Underground:

http://www.markcrispinmiller.blogspot.com/

nice try at intimidation.

[OnTheOtherHand]

14. experts in what, specifically?

What qualifies Jonathan Simon to critique an article he says he is under orders not even to peek at?

What qualifies Nancy Tobi to curse out the "computer experts" at large and insinuate that they are lying in hopes of making more money in the future? Silly me, I thought computer experts had been kind of helpful in building the case against DREs in the first place -- and as far as I can tell, they don't really need the money (and if they did, then they would pick a surer thing). But they had damn well better not disagree with Tobi, I guess.

Anyone who has read the article can find something to disagree with. There's work to be done. Personally, I don't think burning heretics in effigy is a big part of the work.

[Bill Bored]

15. No intimidation intended. You're anonymous right? So how could I

intimidate you, and why would I?

When any of those folks actually gets something done, let us know.

When Congress does, let us know about that too.

I think they both have about the same chance of actually getting something done on this issue.

Meanwhile, I hope you and I and the rest of us can get something done. Otherwise, we're all wasting our time, aren't we?

[kster]

16. Hand Count the Paper Ballots

at the Precinct level and post them totals on the door/INTERNET, BEFORE those ballots leave that precinct.

I can't be more honest the that, I want you and every one else to see the ballots counted out in the open for all to see.

FOR ALL TO SEE!!

The CROOKS job is to explain to us why we need to continue to let our votes be counted in SECRET with their secret count machines.

Its not a complicated argument/debate.

KEY WORDS... FOR ALL TO SEE!!

Their... Argument/Debate, no need for all of us to view the Counting of ALL the Ballots.

Why would anyone want to limit another American citizen from counting/viewing ALL the ballots being Counted, out in the open, by Hand, for all to see?

Their argument just DOES NOT MAKE SENSE anymore.

[KaryninMiami]

17. Anyone see any coverage of this HUGE STORY in the NY Times?

I had the news on all day and not a mention anywere about this story. I realize election rigging not nearly as sizzling of Obama's surge or Hillary's tears but for God's sake, if our votes don't count and the dame machines can and have been rigged, then there's no point in having elections. When will America wake up?