BREAKING: U.S. Senate Candidate Files Challenge to SC's 'Unreliable, Unverifiable' E-Vote Results

[BradBlog]

BREAKING: U.S. Senate Candidate Files Challenge to SC's 'Unreliable, Unverifiable' E-Vote Results
Vic Rawl says inexplicable Democratic primary contest casts 'cloud' over state election; Notes 'irregularities', problem reports from voters, poll workers, vows 'electoral reform', calls for 'full and unblinking investigation of overall integrity' of state's ES&S voting system...

A formal challenge to the announced results of South Carolina's Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate has now been filed by Judge Vic Rawl, the candidate who wasn't announced the winner by the state's oft-failed, easily-manipulated, 100% unverifiable ES&S e-voting system.

Rawl released an official statement on his website today, in conjunction with the filing and a press conference he held in Charleston this afternoon.

The statement points generally to a number of findings being made by the campaign as independent experts have analyzed the results, voting patterns and problems being reported by poll workers and voters on Election Day where the unknown, unemployed candidate Alvin Greene defeated Rawl on the unverifiable ES&S iVotronic touch-screen voting systems, performing 11 points better on those machines than he did in the paper-based absentee results. The oft-failed, easily-manipulated ES&S election results reporting system gave Greene a 59% to 41% "victory" over Rawl.

Greene did no campaigning, had no name recognition, had no campaign website, faces felony obscenity charges and managed, somehow, according to the electronic results, to best Rawl, a four-term state legislator to win the nomination to face incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint in this November's general election.

Rawl's official statement today reads as an indictment of the state's electronic voting system and, frankly, as a summary of years of The BRAD BLOG's oft-ignored reporting (and warnings) about the ES&S e-voting system's disastrously failed record...

FULL REPORT: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7894

[tnlurker]

1. K & R

[Atlatl]

13. Elections in S. C.

Does anyone know how they run elections in S. C. Do they have Democratic and Republican members on the election commissions and D & R machine technicians?

[BeFree]

16. No direct knowledge of SC elections

... but lots of it in general, so, I'll say this...

The use of the ES&S machines removes control of the counting from local and public officials and places that control of the count solely in the hands of a few computer programmers who are employed by the very private ES&S.

The code which operates the counters is secret. Judges have been asked in the past to let examiners look at the code to determine how miscounts have occurred and were denied on the basis that the ES&S code was a privately held secret.

These SC machines have no way of being audited. What the computer spits out is all she wrote, unless we could look at the code. We can't look at the code so.....

Many states have outlawed these machines due to the problem listed above. In the SE, Florida and NC have and gone to paper ballots. Ga and SC still cling to these DRE's that have no way of being audited.

Rawl will probably be denied his challenge so that ES&S can be protected.
In other words, screw the people, ES&S profits are more important.

[Old and In the Way]

2. Good...while we're at it, let's investigate Greene's porn charge.

I'd really like to know the details of this porn charge. I'm beginning to think that this guy was set up and entrapped. Once entrapped, he's easily manipulated. Maybe offered a deal that if he runs in the primary, his campaign expenses (and the charge) would be taken care of. Then ES&S takes care of the vote count and DeMint and the Republicans no longer have to worry about the GE.

Think about it...why would a guy of no means and no real reason to run, with such an embarrassing charge lurking in his background, take on a high profile campaign, unless he thought that would be fixed...but only if he ran?

Greene needs to come clean...I think there's way more to this story then we know to date.

[LisaL]

12. Give me a freaking break.

His obscenity porn charge was months before primary. He is accused of going to a computer lab on a college campus and showing porn to a student. The student did not go out to find him, the student was in the computer lab where she was supposed to have been. From what is reported, the incident is on video.
Not everything is a freaking conspiracy.

[Old and In the Way]

14. I know what you mean, LisaL.

Republicans would never stoop to something like this.

:rofl:

[philly_bob]

17. Agreed. Something fishy about it being a felony.

The only account I read says he went up to a young woman and asked if she liked football. She said yes, and then he showed her some porn on a computer screen. Weird story. Seems like a clumsy and awkward pass, a lapse of judgment worth kicking him off campus, or even a misdemeanor, like harassment. But a felony? Note: the woman was white.

From Wikipedia: "Crimes commonly considered to be felonies include, but are not limited to: aggravated assault and/or battery, arson, burglary, illegal drug use/sales, grand theft, robbery, murder, rape, and vandalism on federal property."

[bluestateguy]

3. I've got to hand it to this guy

He's fighting for a worthless Senate nomination to shed some light on a defective voting system.

[BradBlog]

6. Kudos to Vic Rawl, indeed!

If every candidate fighting to assure that every vote was counted accurately and transparently we'd have ended this disaster long ago!

[customerserviceguy]

8. He's also taking a very big risk

He's going to look like the bad guy who's trying to take away Greene's win, and that's not likely to endear him to African-American voters in the future. Without AA votes, a Democratic candidate cannot win in SC.

[Winterblues]

18. Are you suggesting African Americans will only vote for black people?

Because that is how I read your post.. Just because a white man finds fault with either the system or the candidate, even though the candidate is black, does not mean all black voters will stop voting...

[blm]

20. I find the post odd, too. Like AA in SC are clueless to GOP trying to manipulate their vote.

.

[customerserviceguy]

22. I'm suggesting

that when both candidates in a race are fairly unknown, identity politics will probably triumph.

Also, this would be a case of a black man winning, and a white man taking over his place with nothing to back it up besides some "this really couldn't be true" sort of reason, unless somebody comes up with some hard evidence very soon.

It mimics the thinking of the tea partiers, who can't believe that Barack Obama could really win the Presidency without some kind of cheating, including matters that might be on his birth certificate.

Unless Mr. Greene voluntarily gives up his nomination with an explanation that he was a plant financed by the Repukes, I don't expect African-American voters in SC to take his replacement by Mr. Rawl lightly.

[blm]

25. your concern is unwarranted...most AA voters in SC know GOP deceits against them better than you do

.

[customerserviceguy]

33. I'm not saying that they'll vote for DeMint

What I am saying is that large numbers of them will either undervote this race, or will vote third party. There's even a Green Party candidate on the fall ballot, what better way to show solidarity with Alvin Greene and contempt for Vic Rawl than to vote Green?

If Rawl had a snowball's chance in hell to win in the November election, they might get over it, but if DeMint's going to win anyway, why not cast the protest vote?

[blm]

35. that's quite a stretch...you obviously haven't a clue about AA voters there.

They TRUST Clyburn with a CAPITAL T.

and...I wasn't alluding to them voting for DeMint...I said they know GOP deceits well...they could easily envision a dirty trick like planting a candidate.

btw...deliberately obtuse replies are something I don't trust, either.

[customerserviceguy]

38. Sorry if you thought I was being obtuse

I really don't mean to be, but I guess it sometimes comes across that way to people.

I'm sure Rep. Clyburn has the trust of African-American voters in most things, but unless some hard evidence turns up that Greene was a plant, and/or the Repukes tinkered with the electronic voting machines, he's going to look pretty silly. His charges are quite specific, and if they don't pan out, he's going to lose some credibility over this.

Like I've said, can you think of a time when a white candidate was ever asked to drop out in favor of a black one? There were legions of Hillary supporters who thought that Barack Obama was not as "electable" as she was, we see how that turned out, 'crooked' voting machines and all.

[blm]

19. I doubt it...you think AA vote is unaccustomed to the manipulations of GOPs in SC?

They are very aware of it for the most part. Odd that you would see it as you do.

[customerserviceguy]

23. Indeed, they're used to the manipulations of the GOP

They'd probably be pretty upset if they perceived that the Democratic Party in SC was doing the same thing.

Like I say, unless there is some solid evidence, or a full public confession by Alvin Greene of being a plant, this is not going to go down well with African-American voters.

[blm]

24. I disagree....many AA in SC already believe GOP set this up. Your concern is unwarranted

.

[customerserviceguy]

30. Is that an impression you have

or is there some polling data to back that up? If Rawl takes over as the nominee, I'm going to look at exit polls this fall to gauge what African-Americans really feel about this.

[blm]

34. You really think AA voters in SC are going to ignore Clyburn's view about Greene being used

as a GOP plant?

You don't know SC, eh?

[customerserviceguy]

39. I'll admit, I've only been to SC a few times

but I don't think the majority of the African-American community there lets Rep. Clyburn do all their thinking for them. If evidence does not turn up, then he's just one lonely voice out there who got a bit freaked out by what he figures was his own 'plant'.

[blm]

41. Clyburn is VERY deliberative and one of the most unlikely people to ever be 'freaked' over ANYTHING

You are grasping at straws of your own invention on this story.....gee...wonder why.

[bobburgster]

4. Great news!

Now if the media jumps on the bandwagon, and it starts steamrolling, we may see some laws against these "no verification" voting machines.

If not, we might as well use Iran's vote tabulation system.

[cui bono]

5. KnR

[B Calm]

7. Be nice to know who was behind all this and hopefully this will come out!

[LawnKorn]

9. Another Dibold deception

The Republicans manipulate the voting machines, and have their adversaries field a sure loser insuring a win by DeMint.

This time the voting irregularities are on the Democratic side, but the funny thing is the Republicans are the ones who benefit.

[Overseas]

10. K&R! //nt

[glitch]

11. Now we're talking. nt

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

15. They trusted the voting machines until now. MD Democrats protect their all electronic voting too

which is part of the problem. They are a perfect storm waiting to happen.

[mahina]

21. good luck!

[L. Coyote]

26. The Republicans voted Greene in, of course.

In SC, you can cross-over vote in a primary.
So the Rs were organized, had a plant, and they elected him as the Dem candidate!

[fatdogsc]

27. Cross over

As someone who lives in SC, and received a TON of Robo calls, I did not receive the cast a vote outside of your declared party call. Seems that this would have to be highly organized, there has to be emails, or a paper trail that can be traced. most of the people I have seen interviewed that say they voted for Greene, state that it was the most African American sounding name, and that he was listed first on the ballot

[customerserviceguy]

31. All the while

ignoring their red-hot gubernatorial primary. Yeah, right...

[blm]

36. ya know...you really are protesthing too much over this

aren'tcha?

[customerserviceguy]

40. On the contrary

I would say you are way too far into the conspiracy theory.

But we all have our right to have our own separate views of this. I appreciate the intellectual excercise of jousting with you. I will give you credit, you've stuck to what you see as the facts, and have not engaged in ad hominem attacks over this.

It's debate like ours that keeps this place from being an echo chamber.

[MikeMc]

28. ES&S Ivotronics

I've worked the polls in Pittsburgh for several years, and we use the paperless ES&S Ivotronic voting machine. In the November of '07 election, a tech expert came from the County Elections Department, and used the master PEB cart to 'check the voltage' on the machines, near the end of the voting day. We have nearly 4 registered Democrats to 1 Repug, in this district, but the repug candidate for mayor 'won' big, according to the machine. We haven't had a repub mayor here since the Depression.
The next time that I was being trained for elections, by the County Elections Department in '08, I asked if it was legal for the off-site election officials to send someone to access the voting machines' diagnostics on our site, with the Master PEB, near the end of the voting day. Boy, did they get mad! Hopping mad.
To put it simply, one back door (of possibly two dozen) in the ES&S Ivotronic's programming may be: 'Check Voltage' = Vote flip. Candidate A's results become Candidate B's. Just one more tool to help candidate Greene get 60 to candidate Rawl's 40.
We had a test of the integrity of the ES&S Ivotronic here in '08, before the presidential election. The company that 'certified' our machines' software, SysTest of Denver, CO, was itself decertified by the Federal Elections Commission's EAC, before the same '08 presidential election. The EAC certifies SysTest, SysTest certifies ES&S for the election, the EAC then de-certifies SysTest, then ES&S holds a 'certified' election. It's an electoral game of three card monty.

[sulphurdunn]

29. Nothing to see here.

Black box voting was designed for this very purpose. The only difference in this case is how crude and unsophisticated the theft was. However, if it is allowed to stand, vote riggers won't need to invest the time and money into being stealthy about it anymore. :smoke:

[spanone]

32. k&r

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

37. Anyone know what Rawl's stance RE BBV support/nonsupport is?

Just curious about if he supported it or came out against it at any time in the past.