General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The reality about "vote flipping" machines in NC and elsewhere [View all]Sancho
(9,067 posts)Originally in 2004, I saw a machine that changed from the initial vote to a different candidate on the review page. I tried to impound the machine, but was escorted out by the repub ES. The manufacturer's rep "reset" the machine and put it back in service. The flip was on the Buchanan/Castor race.
We started watching and reporting similar "flipping". About 2008, we started seeing strange patterns that might be hacking, but were not demonstrated on screen. That includes:
Some precincts recording a larger number of undervotes, particularly in important races and located geographically in selected locations. For example, why would someone in a majority registered Democratic precinct vote for dog catcher or local magistrate and NOT vote for the Senate candidate? Undervotes might be 2-4% and jump to 8-10% on given machines in certain locations and races. No weird undervotes seem to occur where ballots are mailed or in some early voting locations. I interpret that as likely hacking where a formula was introduced to the programming. What is your explanation?
In the few cases that I could get exit poll or parallel voting data, we also see some strange patterns in selected races (some state office, some national). An example would be a school tax referendum in a Democratic district that passes easily while the GOP candidate for state office narrowly wins. Again, the strange results are often overlooked or buried in a large ballot, but difficult to explain unless a subset of machines or tabulators were manipulated.
How would you catch programmer manipulation in the cases that code was altered in such a way that did not show on screen?
I would say that most of the possible manipulations occur in districts where voter suppression would be quite difficult because of the demographic stability. Also, I don't see such patterns in every race - just selected ones. We've seen all kinds of tricks here in addition to voter registration manipulation, ID requirements, and suppression tactics. Mail ballots tossed, signature checking games, and ballot design.
BTW, we've complained that machines were stored in unsecured locations, not tested, etc. Depending on the ES it's hard to get cooperation for observers and security. Some of our ES's and Secretary of State are openly repubs. Remember Katherine Harris?