BREAKING: CA Judge To Order New Election After Diebold Touch-Screen Election Records Destroyed

[BradBlog]

Source: BRAD BLOG



BREAKING: California Judge To Rule County Must Rehold Election After Diebold Touch-Screen Election Records Destroyed by County Officials
Judge to Nullify Election Results of 2004 Alamada County Ballot Measure, According to Tentative Ruling
County Had Refused to Allow Public Examination of Electronic Votes and Audit Logs on Diebold Voting Systems After 'Numerous Machine Malfunctions' in Medical Marijuana Election...

In Breaking News late this afternoon, we find yet another reason why Direct Recording Electronic (DRE, usually touch-screen) voting systems are incompatible with democracy: When an election held on them is contested, the machines themselves --- which are said to hold the ballots internally --- cannot be used in another election until the contest is settled.

Late news this afternoon, sent to The BRAD BLOG moments ago, reveals that a judge in an Alameda County, California election contest is set to rule that a contested ballot measure election from 2004 must now be reheld since the county destroyed data from the election when they sent the Diebold DRE voting systems back to the company in Plano, Texas.

All but 4% of election data, records and audit logs was overwritten in subsequent contests, according to the following release from the Electronic Frontier Foundation which has supported the plaintiffs in the contest.

The unprecedented decision to re-hold an election after plaintiffs were denied the right for a proper recount could have reverberations around the country.

The astounding details and the judge's tentative findings in full, follow at the link below...

COMPLETE DETAILS:
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4811

Read more: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4811

[IndyOp]

1. YES! YES! YES! Excellent precedent! And may I add...

California's New Secretary of State - Debra Bowen - ROCKS! :yourock:

[FogerRox]

3. Bless you Ms Bowen.

Knr

[ronnykmarshall]

19. That's our girl!!!

:bounce:

I'm so glad she won the election!!!

[jaysunb]

23. Ya Got That Right !

THIS is why we worked so hard to get her elected . YES !!

[Fly by night]

70. Let's give credit where it is due. Americans for Safe Access brought the case ...

... and fought it to a win. ASA is the largest medical cannabis patient advocacy group in the country and very savvy in using the courts to bring sanity to the medical cannabis issue. They are currently behind a suit under the federal Data Quality Act which, if won, would re-classify marijuana as a medically beneficial substance, unlike its current classification as more harmful than cocaine and methamphetamine. DUers should educate themselves about ASA ( www.safeaccessnow.org ) and support their efforts.

The organization has also been very supportive of my own efforts to keep the federal government from confiscating my farm in a medical marijuana case. More information at this link:
http://www.nashvillescene.com/Stories/Cover_Story/2007/04/26/Marijuana_Martyr/index.shtml

[truedelphi]

93. As a state, California voted for Medical marijuana back in the nineties?

So what was this 2004 case in Alameda about?

By the way, the woman Elayne Grinnold, who was heavily involved in Alameda County's Registrar of Voter office back in 2004 is now the Registrar of Voters in Marin County.

Do have the skinny on her?

[Fly by night]

97. The Berkeley vote had to do with setting a higher limit ...

... on the amount of useable cannabis that patients could possess and the number of plants that approved medical cannabis patients and/or their caregivers could grow. In California, counties set the plant limits under that state's med pot program, with some counties allowing fewer than 10 and others allowing up to 99 plants. As I understand it, Berkeley was voting to change its plant limit and the amount of useable cannabis (i.e., dried female flowers) that patients and caregivers could possess.

Once again, we owe ASA a big debt of gratitude for fighting this good fight. The benefits of their efforts go far beyond the medical cannabis community to the heart of our democratic process.

[truedelphi]

98. Thanks for this information Fly By Night

I don't know why everyone doesn't understand the importance of de-criminalizing marijuana.

There is supposedly no monies for a National Health Care System (Single Payer) but yet there seems to be enough money to incarcerate everyone in the culture - average yearly cost to keep a warm body in prison in CA is currently $ 38K. And the whole drug criminalization situation allows for the entire political structure to be corrupted - something called Discretionary Funding here in California is used to line the pockets of politicians and their campaign chests. (The Funds come from monies received by the state when Drug users assets' are seized.)

[shanti]

77. exactly!

we WORKED HARD to get her in!

[tblue]

60. Oh I could kiss her feet! And as goes CA, so goes the rest of the country, eventually. nt

[lovuian]

79. Awesome News

Diebold should have never even got in the door to voting

[Kikosexy2]

81. Love that Judge...

now KKKarl will have the Judge replaced soon...

[LiberalFighter]

87. Why were the machines returned to Diebold in Plano, Texas?

Last April, Judge Smith ruled that Alameda County and its Registrar of Voters violated both the Elections Code and three separate provisions of the California Constitution by denying voters their right to examine these election records during the recount of the 2004 election. At a hearing on the voters' Motion for Sanctions in May, Judge Smith criticized County officials for having returned the voting machines to Diebold, without first preserving the data they contained, while the ongoing legal battle over the recount was pending. She held off ruling on the sanctions motion to allow elections officials time to fulfill their promise to locate the missing election data.

While this case began in Berkeley, the search for the electronic voting records led to a warehouse in Plano, Texas where only 20 of the 482 Diebold computer voting machines used in that election still held any of the election data being sought. Copies of the votes from 96% of the machines used in the election had been destroyed. No audit logs from any individual machine were found. The County now acknowledges in its Court filings that these election records may have been overwritten and destroyed when they failed to copy those records before using the voting machines and data disks in subsequent elections.

[LiberalFighter]

88. Can those responsible for running the election be prosecuted with felony convictions

Thereby having them removed from office?

[mzmolly]

90. Great news!

:toast:

[Robson]

2. It should have been done in 2000 in Florida

When elections are in dispute they should be re-voted. There is no other way to audit or recount ballots that are corrupted.

[Turn CO Blue]

5. Yep. I was screaming for a re-vote saying forget the

recount - or just counting certain counties -- just get a whole new vote.

[rpannier]

7. But that would have been following the rules of the Florida Constitution to have revoted

But, the republikkans fixed that problem by removing the provision that stated if the ballots are incorrectly prepared the election is thrown out, new ballots must be prepared in accordance with Florida law and a new election held.

[Speaker]

68. It wouldn't have helped.

Even if a revote had been ordered, we would not have won. The Florida legislature is the final arbiter of which electors are sent to Washington. Feeny (sp?) and the pubbie majority were prepared to send the pubbie electors if they didn't win in the courts.

[yardwork]

73. I'm confused. I thought we were talking about the popular vote, not electors.

If the Florida election had been held again, in accordance with state law, wouldn't everyone have had another chance to go to the polls, using corrected ballots?

What would electors have had to do with the popular vote?

[kansasblue]

18. One of our favorite election victories from 2006!

SOS Bowen D-CA.


(year correction...thanks!)

[ronnykmarshall]

21. Damn right!

She won in 2006 by the way.

[kansasblue]

31. Thanks ronny. The Ohio Gov race was the best!

[kansasblue]

32. and Harris losing in Florida.... ohhhh the memories!

[harpboy_ak]

65. If electroncally scanned paper ballots are used, this problem wouldn't exist.

Alaska has been using machine readable black in the circle paper ballots for years. A hand recount of randomly sampled precincts in each district is used as part of the verification process. If the election results are within a certain percentage, any candidate can request a free hand recount. All recounts and verification counts take place in a public meeting place, with the public & press roped off from the counters and poll watchers for candidates and parties.

It works just fine.

[Recursion]

66. Or even better...

...electronically printed, human-scanned ballots. All the built-in trustworthiness checks of to old system with no more hanging chad or misvotes.

[Pacifist Patriot]

69. The random hand count audit is the key.

We use opti-scan, but our county's SOE refuses to acknowledge the vulnerability and will not allow random audits for verification purposes. Apparently he fears the taxpayer's balking at the cost more than alleviating their uncertainty over election results. He's an old fart who really has to go in the next election. Guess what party he's in. Come on, I bet you can get it in one try.

[kiteinthewind]

4. K and R!!

[robinlynne]

6. seems to me there is still time to recount ohio 2004...

[cui bono]

8. Or to re-elect Kerry. n/t

[Robson]

10. But Kerry rolled

I've said for 3 years that Kerry and the Democrats should have demanded a recount in Ohio OR have promised to put 20 million Americans on the streets. I said the same about Gore.

It could have been done if we had leadership with balls. But we don't have leadership with balls....only the typical same ole same ole non-confrontational rhetoric that Gore displayed in 2000.

[cui bono]

11. I agree. nt

[Robson]

12. If Kerry said we needed 20 milliion Americans in the MALL

It would have happened. Many were waiting for the call to action. There were legitimate issues that only could have been resolved by re-voting. That is what was needed....not another 4 years of Bush without question, and not a new Speaker of the House that says impeachment should be off the table.

Leaders need to display guts and fortitude. Except for Webb and some others, I don't see it.

[tblue]

61. Yep, come hell or high water, I'd've gone. All he'd have had to do was say the word.

[robinlynne]

15. but a group of people did demand a recount in ohio, and it is still in the courts.

[ProudDad]

40. That would be the "hated" Green Party

and the Libertarians...

http://www.iwantmyvote.com/press/2004/nov/pr2004-11-22.php


Let the flames begin... :eyes: :eyes:

[tblue]

62. No flames from me. Why in hell the Dems didn't at least back them the hell up, I'll never

understand.

[mdmc]

74. alternatives to the two party system make baby Jesus cry

:cry:

[jaksavage]

26. Bonesmen to the end. n/t

[Robson]

41. If politicians don't have the cojones to call a mass protest,

then they shouldn't attempt to run for major office. There should have been mass protests in November 2000 and in Nov 2004 and they should have been called at the time by Gore and Kerry respectively to let the courts and the political forces know that Americans will not tolerate crooked elections. Impeachment is a similar issue that needs put on the table.

[tblue]

63. Yep, a lotta Dem politicians could use a visit from the Cojones Fairy. nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

47. I've got a small quible here

Gore fought all the way to the USSC. He has told you repeatedly what were the choices after they decided.... and quite frankly he decided against civil war.

Now kerry, on the other hand, rolled fully and completely

Makes you wonder what that warrantless spying has yielded in the form of skeletons you know

Of course there is also Ft Diegrich, the gift that keeps on giving, if you get me drift

[ooglymoogly]

50. yes I remember that ...Gore fought right up until the SCOTUS

made a treasonous power grab and overstepped its constitutional authority. Kerry however capitulated instantly almost before idiot claimed victory, even after we had sent a lot of money for Kerry to have lawyers there for just that possibility. Never knew where the money went and I have never forgiven Kerry for that capitulation.

[AndreaCG]

78. I second this wholeheartedly.

[jahyarain]

91. thank you

President Gore took it as far as he could. WE allowed the pigs to unconstitutionally appoint the idiot king. i don't care for guns, at all, but THAT was THE reason they were protected in the Constitution in the first place.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

49. Mexico can do it, America can't.

:cry:

[roody]

58. That is the day I went Green.

[truedelphi]

94. According to someone else here at DU, James Carville kept whispering to Kerry that K.

Did not have enough votes in Ohio - and remember the Republicans controlled the administration of the voting process there - it was not exactly clear as to what the real story was. (Clarity came months or years later after voting activists - helped along by the third party candidates and their money - sorted through the mess there)

Kerry was lied to about how many votes were really uncounted. He was lied to about how much of a chance that he had to win in Ohio. He certainly could not turn to Blackwell and ask whether Carville's statements were true or not.

I have never forgiven Kerry for conceding so quickly. But Carville did not help any.

And Hill Clinton was too busy admonishing Edwards for his "grandstanding" to help him. (Edwards was trying to make a case to the American people on why he and Kerry had the right to NOT concede.)

[Patsy Stone]

9. Excellent!

K&R

[electron_blue]

13. Wow - thanks for posting this.

[caseycoon]

14. GREAT NEWS!

I hope this happens more & more until all those DREs are GONE!

[hunter]

16. Berkeley, Marijuana, California DRE...

Congratulations, boys! We've shot a dead horse!

[David Zephyr]

17. K&R. Thanks, BradBlog.

Great news for the health of American democracy.

[whistle]

20. Let's redo the 2000 presidential election just in Florida

[Pastiche423]

22. I would love to see the same thing happen

for the CA govenor recall election in Alameda County. It was the 1st time Alameda used the DREs. I stayed up to 3 am that night waiting for the Alameda County results.

I was still waiting the next day.

[hunter]

36. Yeah. That. The Davis Recall is the core rotten.

The bad guys needed someone to cover up the dirty, and that was Arnold. They pulled out all the stops and turned that entire election into a farce to hide their desperation.

I won't apologize for my pessimism here folks, but too often it seems these smaller "victories" are engineered to trip up more substantial victories.

"Berkeley & Marijuana" are not sound bites that play well in much of the nation.

Ah, fuck it, I'll play:

Reporting Breathlessly from the land of Fruits and Nuts,

With a rocket it my pocket and a cigarette dangling from my lips,

your intrepid reporter with the inside scoop

(I mean, GOLLY, someone sent me an email and I posted it on my blog!!!)

:woohoo:

Hunter

:patriot:

[John Q. Citizen]

52. Actually, medical marijuana plays well across the nation. You must be living in the past

Or watching TV.

Where has it ever lost?

In New Mexico the legislature just passed it and Richardson signed it into law.

[hunter]

54. It's all about how they play it on television.

The rational argument doesn't matter, what matters is that enough people who see something is rotten still have such doubts that they can believe "yeah, all those people could've voted for Bush -- he's a guy the "average" American would like to drink a beer and watch a baseball game with."

I don't think that was ever true. The majority of Americans probably get an icky vibe from the man, and would not like to share a beer with him.

Even if most people in the United States do support medical marijuana, the plutocracy can still use it as a smear, and promote it in theircircus of smoke and mirrors with a parade of clowns who clearly support medical marijuana not because they are ill, but because they simply like to smoke marijuana. It's that association that is exploitable.

Personally I don't believe there is any good reason to criminalize marijuana, especially since we as a society tolerate (if not celebrate) the greater hazards of alcohol and tobacco use. I also don't believe there is any reason to combine the issue of recreational use with the seperate and much more straightforward issue of medicinal marijuana use.

Personally, I think existing drug laws are counterproductive and often used by unethical forces within our government to quickly raise cash for covert operations and to destabilize entire communities or nations.

Within our current US political system the large scale drug producers and smugglers who get busted are simply the ones who don't have the right friends. The "drug war" fuels corruption.

[John Q. Citizen]

56. I agree. But people aren't as stupid as they portray them to be on television.

her in Montana, MMJ passed with something like 63% of the vote. It was the second largest vote getter on the ballot that year only surpassed by an anti-gay marrige initiative that got 66%.

Yet the national media barely reports it. They don't do panel shows on it, and they act as if people were suckered into it and as if it's an anomoly - even though almost all the Western States with initiative have passed it by big margins.

[J R]

71. Medical Mari-Hoohoo

Actually, many states have voted medical marijuana laws down, mostly in the south. Arkansas voted down a proposal for medical marijuana, as did Michigan. However, as we speak there is a HUGE swing back toward sanity and cultural growth in the US. I look for the powers-that-be to slowly loosen their grip on marijuana laws. By the way, how many people do you think the US government has imprisoned for just marijuana? Answer: MILLIONS! If we freed those people, victims of a modern day Prohibition, the corporate prison system would lose LOTS of money. EMANCIPATE OUR POT-SMOKING BROTHERS AND SISTERS!!!

[John Q. Citizen]

80. All I can find on google is that a petition drive in AR didn't get enough signitures to

qualify for the ballot. Can find it in MI either

Did the voters get to vote on a mmj proposal in MI and AR?

[Vidar]

24. Great news on one front.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

25. This balances out the bad news about HR 811

Mark Crispin Miller reporting how HR 811 has been so altered as to be harmful.

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

[grizmaster]

27. K & R, we may just save democracy yet

best news I've heard in weeks

[lonestarnot]

28. Most fucking excellent!

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

29. It will up to citizens to keep saying...

...no to the machines and get back to physical ballots with humans counting, and we MUST do it.

[nolabels]

30. Quick Mr. Bush call congress and tell them to enact a new law.........

that will be ex post facto. We need keep that viability and legitimacy of Diebold intact :scared:






It probably will get a little harder on * each time he remembers that the republicans in congress no longer have a majority

[badgervan]

33. Finally

Sure wish we would return to paper ballots. Paper ballots leave physical proof, giving dems a level playing field. Not too much to ask, I believe.

[trashcanistanista]

34. I absolutely can't believe this!

This is the best news of the day.

[Pierre.Suave]

35. this is great

lets hope this spreads to other elections, investigations, and inprisonings of those guilty.

[SharonRB]

37. Woo hoo!

:woohoo:

Can we recount Ohio and Florida presidential ballots, too, and have new elections? I only wish!

[nashville_brook]

38. finally some sanity.

[ProudDad]

39. I didn't vote on the damn things

When I lived in Alameda County - I always voted absentee.

Gave me a slight edge on getting my vote counted...

[Peace Patriot]

42. Didn't Bill Richardson's regime in NM do the same thing--destroy election data

after the Greens/Libertarians' challenged the 2004 presidential results?

I'm not sure if there was a lawsuit in progress at the time of the destruction of those 2004 records, but it was similar in the sense of challenged results and destroying evidence.

I suspect that the medical marijuana issue may not have been the reason for Alameda destroying the data, but the challenge and court case by the medical marijuana group would have revealed, a) fraudulent programming, and b) a fraudulent PRESIDENTIAL result in the same election, with vast implications for the overall 2004 result--and that is why the data was destroyed.

The same thing should be done in FL-13, the 2006 Congr race won by the Repig--naturally--with only a 300 or vote so margin, while ES&S 'disappeared' 18,000 votes for Congress in Democratic areas. A re-vote should be required. The judge in that case--obviously a Bush fascist, or a frightened or 'bought and paid for' lib/centrist--agreed with ES&S that its sacred private property right to "trade secret" code in our elections trumps the right of the voters to know how their votes are counted. But the matter is also pending in Congress, which should trump that judge right on his patootie, and mandate a re-vote.

And if we had a Democratic Party that wasn't traitorous and collusive on "trade secret" vote counting, we would have a re-vote of the entire 2004 election (--and of the 2002 Senate races as well).

Elections in which the vote 'counting' is done with 'trade secret,' proprietary programming code, owned and controlled by rightwing Bushite corporations, are not elections. They are fascist coups.

That's what we had in 2002 in several Senate races, in 2003 in California in the recall election that Schwarzenegger 'won' (first full e-fascist machine election), in 2004 in the presidential and many other races, in 2005 in the election reform initiatives in Ohio (predicted to win by 60/40 votes, flipped over on election day into 60/40 LOSSES--a Bushite e-voting experiment in large flipovers, I believe), and in 2006 in many races including those of 30-40 'Blue Dog' Democrats who want to cut everything in the federal budget except war funding and were carefully (s)elected to blockade stopping the war, impeachment and all significant reform.

We have suffered, and continue to suffer, a fascist coup. They don't use brownshirt thugs stuffing the ballot boxes and beating up voters, as Hitler did. But the effect is the same. Electronic vote counting with secret code is tyranny!

[Demeter]

43. HOLY COW! Let's See the Supremes Suffer This One!

What are the chances that it will get quashed by the Deciders?

[va4wilderness]

44. Repeat after Me!: 'Numerous Machine Malfunctions' in Medical Marijuana Election'...

I've wanted to be able to say that for a long time. Just to be able to say it makes me a little stoned. :silly:

Plus ... is grreeatt news....

[hunter]

48. And we're off and running!

.

[bonito]

45. Good news

Yep:bounce:

[nadinbrzezinski]

46. Damn activist judges

:sarcams:

Didn't he get the memo? We want a fourth reich, damn it!

[ooglymoogly]

51. This is truly good news....thank you for the post...nt rec.

[Rage for Order]

53. Excellent news

I hope this is the start of a nationwide trend. Give me back my paper ballot!

[HCE SuiGeneris]

55. Best friggin news I have heaard in weeks!

Thanks BB. K & R

[BlooInBloo]

57. Can this be used as precedent to demand new elections down the line...

... and even as the basis of a case to outlaw paper-trail-free voting mechanisms tout court?

[junior college]

59. I hope this isn't another teaser nt

[Richard Steele]

64. Excellent news! K&R!

[Stevepol]

67. K&R!!

[Nothing Without Hope]

72. Outstanding! I hope this is upheld after the inevitable appeals.

The criminal cartel has done all it can to pack the appelate and Supreme courts.

And I hope the obvious implications of this decision actually, finally SINK IN to the American public which is still in denial that election tampering could actually happen in America. (My sister-in-law's outburst a couple of years on hearing me answer a question by saying that the 2004 election was stolen, "Oh come on!! This is still America! I didn't see anything about that on TV!" I'm sure she still just as far into denial. And she's a registered Democrat.)

K & R. Thank you.

[KansDem]

75. ENOUGH!!! Let's go back to paper ballots...NOW!!!

...recycled paper, of course.

[mvd]

76. Great news that goes beyond just this one case

Thanks for posting!

[valerief]

82. Winnie is a winner! nt

[Kurovski]

83. K&R.

Say no to HR811. Say no to electronic voting.

[BearSquirrel2]

84. If it gets to the Supreme Court ...

Expect this to be challenged. If it reaches the Supreme Court I fully expect the Conservalogues to strike this down. Crooked voting machines put two of these men on the court. Crooked elections have helped conservatives across the nation. Why would they rule against them. After all we already know that these men have no respect for either the law or the Constitution.

[BearSquirrel2]

85. If it gets to the Supreme Court ...

Expect this to be challenged. If it reaches the Supreme Court I fully expect the Conservalogues to strike this down. Crooked voting machines put two of these men on the court. Crooked elections have helped conservatives across the nation. Why would they rule against them. After all we already know that these men have no respect for either the law or the Constitution.

[stranger81]

86. folks, this is a TENTATIVE RULING

keep your fingers crossed that oral argument today and Judge Smith's written order go our way as well. The fight's not yet over.

[Melissa G]

89. I think Plano TX is an interesting place for Berkeley CA to have to talk about

chain of custody issues with. Especially when the records are sitting in a Diebold warehouse.

[Tiggeroshii]

92. My guess is it'll get overruled.

But it is a very good step inthe direction of more transparent elections. :)

[BornagainDUer]

95. WOW!! K&R! Let's hope this happens elsewhere.

[proud patriot]

96. woo hoo