Question: Which Battleground States Are Using Which BBV Machines?

[althecat]

Hi DU... and BBVers in particular.

I've just been looking at the polls. In particular the strange polling info coming out of New Mexico it occurred to me that we should be thinking carefully about where the BBV machines are being deployed and comparing it to the poll results to get a feel for where the dirty tricks are most likely to occur.

As was pointed out at the beginning of the BBV controversy.. the stealing of elections is no simple matter. To get away scot free you need to have your hands both in the pre-election polling basket as well as in the exit polling and in the vote tabulation software.

Therefore...

Is there an up to date map of election machinery?

If not can someone tell me what the story is in each of the battlground states... I know what the situation is in Florida and Ohio.

Ohio was to have gone Diebold but didn't and is now mainly punch cards (I think...)

Florida has converted to DREs in many of the big counties both ES&S and Diebold. Much of the rest of the state is on optical scan.

Al

[Philostopher]

1. Briefly, as regards Ohio.

Six or seven counties bought Sequoia machines. Everybody else here uses punch card or optical scan. Carry on!

[endnote]

11. Really? I thought Ohio had a ton of EVMs...

[Philostopher]

14. Nah. We were supposed to ...

but the state BOE (which is bipartisan) overruled Blackwell. Diebold got the boot because their machines didn't test adequately when the Ohio BOE tested them, I think it might have been August. Only seven counties had signed contracts with anybody by then, and Sequoia was the only company. So the counties that had contracts at that point have Sequoia machines, and everybody else keeps using what they used in '02 -- either optical scan or punch card. That's why Blackwell's kept going with voter suppression efforts -- because they can't make our votes disappear through voting machines. They'll have to prevent us from voting, that's the only ultimate control the GOP has over Ohio's vote this year.

[Radio-Active]

15. Anyone know anything about Sequoia?

I've never heard of them.. Big GOP company, like Diebold?

[althecat]

18. Their software is if anything more hackable than Diebold's

... it is written in visual basic... Sequoia like Diebold and ES&S is generally regarded in the BBV community as highly unreliable.

[Philostopher]

22. All the EV companies have GOP connections, apparently.

They may be no better than Diebold, for all I know -- just provided the company name because that's what I knew about it. Fortunately, their effect will be limited because they'll be used by a limited number of people.

Would be interesting, for Ohioans who live in EV precincts, to note if there are any poll challengers in their polling places. If there aren't, I'd certainly think that smelled pretty funny, wouldn't you?

[althecat]

25. Here's a great link on the background story on the E-Voting Cos.

http://www.ecotalk.org/VotingMachineCompanies.htm

[gristy]

2. MN is mostly optical scan (with inherent paper trail)

[endnote]

19. But I thought that Diebold was counting most of the optical machine votes.

The optical scanners don't leave a paper trail that can be used legally, anyway... You cannot contest anything...

[Rjnerd]

3. verifiedvoting.org

has an active map that tells what each county is using. (they also have the manuals for some of the machines online)

[althecat]

6. Thanks Rjnerd.. here's the link...

http://verifiedvoting.org/verifier/index.php?topic_string=5std

[Eric J in MN]

4. New Jersey is mostly using electronic voting machines, and

if they were using an accurate method of counting the votes, obviously Kerry would win, but since their using a method which is easily rigged by the manufacturer, the Republicans may steal New Jersey.

[althecat]

10. Looks like is mainly Sequoia...

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. It's a mix in Florida

Most counties are using optical scanners, but most of the counties in the southern part of the state are using touch screens. Of course, these are also the same counties that tend to go Democrat and had the most trouble in 2000.

Up here in Gainesville, we've been using optical scanners since the mid 90's. You at least get a paper ballot and a pen. Plus the whole set up is rather low tech and inexpensive.

[althecat]

7. New Mexico - anyone know anything about Shouptronic?

Seems to be a mix of Optical scan and E-Voting...

The E-Voting seems to be a mix of Sequoia and Shouptronic...

[althecat]

16. Shouptronic - the lowtech high tech solution...

Shouptronic voting machine
Electromechanical machines like the Shouptronic bridge the recent past of the lever machine and the future of fully electronic touch-screen voting. The Shouptronic resembles a traditional lever voting machine, right down to its privacy curtain. The candidate slate is printed over a backlit grid of illuminated buttons. A green VOTE button locks in and records the choices. Votes are recorded to a hard-drive memory. Recording features include a memory cartridge, a backup battery, and the means of printing a paper tally. This Shouptronic machine was used in Fairfax County, Virginia, from 1981 to 2002.

[althecat]

8. Pennsylvania...

Is a big mess from the look of things

http://verifiedvoting.org/verifier/map.php?&topic_string=5std&state=Pennsylvania

They are mostly lever, punch card and optical scan (mostly ES&S).

A few counties seem to be using something called the Unilect Patriot system (never head of before) and several others using Danaher and Sequoia systems.

[althecat]

9. Michigan is mainly optical scan

http://verifiedvoting.org/verifier/map.php?&topic_string=5std&state=Michigan

[althecat]

12. & Wisconsin is a black hole :)

http://verifiedvoting.org/verifier/map.php?&topic_string=5std&state=Wisconsin

According to the map the voting system is unknown...

:)

[Cheesehead]

20. Wisconsin is indeed a black hole - full of optical scan machines

[althecat]

13. Iowa is optical scan

[Shopaholic]

17. I encourage everyone to go to the GD forum--

Bev has a SOS message there regarding BBV.

[althecat]

21. A link... it has fallen off the fp now....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=2564408

Just had a read...

If you want a BBV thread of old... with intrigue, personal attacks and all manner of bubbly jubbly.. then head over there... :)

[nostalgicaboutmyfutr]

23. Colorado Diebold...at lest El aso County (COS) EOM

[althecat]

24. Maine is optical scan too...

[VirginiaDem]

26. It's Diebold in my VA precinct n/t

[althecat]

27. To answer my own question.... The Battleground BBV Sweep Spots

From a cursory look at the above apart from Florida none of the Battleground states are significantly DREed up. Ohio would have been a huge prize for Diebold had it got its feet on the ground but thanks to the efforts here it didn't.

That means that Optical scan voting systems will need to be targetted in order to steal this election via electronic hacking. Otherwise old fashioned vote stealing on punch card machines may play a part in some states particularly Pennsylvannia and Ohio.

In terms of optical scans I would think it is probable that Opitical Scanning systems based around central counting will be more vulnerable than precinct based systems.

On the BBV front this in turn means that it will be central tabulators that will be the main target. And it was this subject that was the target of Bev's SOS yesterday. It seems someone doesn't want her to get the word out that the tabulator modem banks are wide open hacker targets.

It is vital that the DNC apparatus realise the significance of this vulnerability.

For starters we know this has happened before {I.e. a hacking attempt on a central tabulator}... somewhat clumsily in Volusia Florida.. - and that it possibly occurred at the same time in other places too.

Meanwhile in my mind the sweepspots in BBV terms will be..

- Arizona (all Optical scan Diebold)
- Florida (all Optical scan / DRE heavily ES&S and Diebold... and scene of the last known theft)
&
- Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota (all Opitical scan heavy)

al