Georgia Primary Heats up - Voting Machines breakdown - make a Buzz at DNC

[the ether]

http://www.americanether.net/georgia.html


Georgia Primary Heats up - Voting Machines breakdown in DeKalb and Chatham Counties




This is some info from VotersUnite.org/ballotintegrity.org about how Georgia voting activists witnessed a whole slew of disasters from start to finish on the recent July 20th Georgia primary election.

How many machines overheated or will overheat in your county?

Please pass this information on to you're Representatives in Congress and ask them to speak out on this issue - especially at the upcoming Democratic Convention. - Contact info below.

This is one state, but what is going to happen with our country on election day, while these election machines are blowing up and glitching our votes out of existence?



The 2004 Solution from http://www.ballotintegrity.org/mpacs.html

Tell your Representatives to take a look at the best solution I've seen for the Electronic Voting disaster-waiting-to-happen.

MPACs: MPACS (Manual Parallel Accounting Control System) The MPACS Solution consists of simply running the manual systems in parallel with the automation (electronic voting machines), as a check on the accuracy of the automation now being integrated into America's election systems. Top computer security and accounting systems experts have reported that parallel systems checks have long been standard practice, in industry, in periods of transition between manual and automated systems. These experts add that it is unheard of for an organization to plunge into automation without first running a parallel systems check.







"One precinct reported almost upon opening of the polls
that all machines (10) were failing." - Georgia pollwatcher



It was a very ordinary primary election day.
~ Georgia Secretary of State Cathy Cox
July 20, 2004


What do you think? Do you trust Cathy Cox?




Voting Machine Mess-up Du Jour

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DeKalb County, Georgia. July 20, 2004.
Diebold TS paperless voting machines and County
election procedures. Over 150 Georgia citizens
volunteered as poll watchers in the Tuesday primary.
They observed machine malfunctions and insecure
election administration procedures. Here are excerpts
from one observer's report.*

When the polls opened ...

We had a poll watcher in every precinct, informed
and trained with the things to look for and how to
address the problems the moment they cropped up. We
insured the law was followed to the letter.
The calls from the poll watchers began promptly at
7:00 AM with every irregularity, improper behavior and
machine malfunction they saw reported to the
attorneys.

One precinct reported almost upon opening of the polls
that all machines (10) were failing. Voters inserted
the access card and the card was immediately ejected.
The pollwatcher reported that voters were offered
provisional paper ballots, but they were prepared with
only 25 of these ballots and ran out within 10
minutes. It took almost 2 hours to rectify the
situation even though our HQ personnel reported it to
the County office immediately.





Attempting to observe at the election office ...

I was badged as a NAACP Pollwatcher as was another
member of our team. We arrived at the Election
Supervisor's office at 9:00 AM and asked to observe
the operation throughout the day. The employees were
disconcerted by the request and we were asked to
repeat it several times. 20 minutes later, the
Elections Supervisor explained to us that we would
not be granted access because the center was "too
small and there just isn't room for you." Our
response was that we would do anything necessary to
stay out of the way and make ourselves unobtrusive.
We also offered to have only one observer in the
room at a time, trading off throughout the day. The
Elections Supervisor refused every alternative and
offered us a 10 minute tour, but we would have to
leave.
... The end result of the negotiations with the
attorneys was that we would not be granted access
until the polls closed at 7:00 PM so we returned to
our HQ location.


When the machines overheated at the polls ...

At 4:15 we received a call from one of the
precincts. The poll manager had announced to the
pollworkers that all the DREs were malfunctioning
because the polling place was unairconditioned and
unventilated.
We arrived at the polling place and asked to speak to
the Poll Manager who explained that they were
experiencing some problems but they had a technician
on the way.

Our Pollwatcher had asked the technician to note the
problems on his forms. He signed his name, wrote in
the time (1:00 PM) and noted "All machines running
hot."

We spoke with the technician and he explained that the
machines were behaving erratically. Because of the
heat, when a voter placed their hand on the
touchscreen, their chosen candidate would change (the
red X would jump all over the screen) and voters would
have great difficulty casting their vote for the
candidate of their choosing. He informed us the
problem began occurring at 12:15 and was getting
progressively worse as the environment in the polling
place was heating up with the daytime heating.

Voting continued on the overheated machines until the
polls closed at 7:00 PM.


At the election office after the polls closed ...

Modem communications are not monitored by anyone at
any time. No one is assuring what is being moved
between the computers, nor that someone might be
connecting to the GEMS server inappropriately. One
can hear the modem connections being made, see the
screen on the GEMS server moving lines of text, but
no one is monitoring it.
As poll workers bring the reports and PCMCIA
cards back to election center:

1. HQ Poll workers receive the envelopes, checking the
seal. ...
4. At no time during this process does any HQ poll
worker check, monitor or verify the serial numbers or
any other identifying information on the PCMCIA cards.


5. HQ Poll workers return to the envelopes and check
off that it contains "tapes." The tapes are not
removed from the envelope, they are not read, they are
not documented and the envelope is dumped into a bin
with other envelopes. These "tapes" contain the Zero
Total Report and the End of Day Precinct Totals.


Talking to the Elections Director ...

One of the questions we asked involved the 13
overheating machines and she repeated the "human
failure" response saying it was the humans who
overheated and overreacted. She went on to explain
that the Diebold DREs were "certified to operate to
200 degrees" and the humans weren't.

* Wish us luck! Poll Watching in Georgia. National Ballot
Integrity Project Discussion Forum. Posts by Roxanne Jekot.
July 20-22, 2004. See: Diebold in the News


--------------------------------------------------------------------


It was a very ordinary primary election day.
~ Georgia Secretary of State Cathy Cox
July 20, 2004



http://www.votersunite.org/info/content/mess-up_072304.asp






DeKalb and Chatham Counties, Georgia. July 20, 2004.
Diebold AccuVote TS paperless electronic voting machines.

In what Georgia Secretary of State Cathy Cox called "a very ordinary primary election day," voting problems ranged from incorrect summary pages ... *

Ziyadah Sabir said she's concerned the touch-screen machine didn't properly record her vote. The summary page, which allows voters to review their choices before casting their ballots, failed to show some of her choices and showed incorrect choices for others, Sabir said. Poll workers could not fix the problem, she said.

"That's not very reassuring," said Sabir of DeKalb County, who was voting for the first time on the machines.

... to incorrect ballots ... **

Voting problems seemed widespread enough in Tuesday's primary election to prompt the two candidates in the District 1 Chatham County Commission race to pledge a challenge if the vote were close.

Colin McRae said he asked for the Democratic ballot because he wanted to be sure to vote in the 12th Congressional District race. He double-checked with the poll worker, asking if the computer card really activated the Democratic slate.

When the poll worker said it did, he put the card in the machine. But it only showed the nonpartisan judicial candidates.

The poll workers called a technician and held up the line until the problem was solved - 45 minutes later.

... to lost ballots.*

Craig Kidd of Buckhead said he voted last week as part of the state's advance voting program, which allows people to cast ballots during a five-day period before an election.

Kidd said on Tuesday he went to his precinct to make sure his vote had been recorded. Poll workers said they had no record of his vote and advised him to cast another ballot, Kidd said.

"I find that a little distressing," said Kidd. "I like the concept of advance voting, but if this is a common thing, you could have hundreds or thousands of people who think they voted but they actually haven't."

* Few snags seen at polls: Technical problems small, but unsettling. Atlanta Journal Constitution. July 20, 2004. By Carlos Campos.

** Problems plague primary: From incorrect addresses to improper instructions and confusing ballots, many found it difficult to cast their ballots Tuesday. Savannah Morning News. July 21, 2004. By Bret Bell.


http://www.votersunite.org/info/content/mess-up_072204.asp






Original source for the Georgia reports, which keep getting updated with more information:
http://www.ballotintegrity.org/DCForumID1/61.html#10




Send this stuff to John Kerry, please ask him to protect your vote against the threat of electronic voting and to talk about this issue at the Democratic National Convention.


Send a Free Fax by putting this in your email's "send" box and click "send". If you fax doesn't send - you have up to 3 chances to send a fax

remote-printer.bob_ney/[e-mail]

remote-printer.sen_kerry/[e-mail]

Washington D.C.
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[phone] - Phone
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http://kerry.senate.gov/text/contact/email.html


To find your own elected official go here:

http://congress.org/congressorg/dbq/officials/

[hedda_foil]

1. This is urgent, folks.

Please send the faxes and also sign up for the forum at www.ballotintegrity.org.