Voting Machine Chicanery--A Hypothetical Solution

[Demeter]

I work as a poll inspector in my fair state. We have brand-new, error-prone Diebold optical scanning machines. I know from working at the polling station that if irregularities result at the polls themselves, it is because the piss-poor mechanical design causes the ballots to jam up the machine and then there is no proper counting going on. We have to watch it like a hawk and unjam it every tenth ballot. In a presidential election year, this would be unbearable. But the real site for mischief and stolen elections is the next several steps up, where individual results are added up and reported.


My hypothetical thought is for a guerrilla action:

Seize and disable the machines, do not touch the ballots inside at all. Have plenty of witnesses and videotape.

Insist on a public hand counting at each polling station, with a witnessed copy of the results signed by all in attendance during the counting. Send second copy to an independent tabulating committee, outside the election system, for comparison purposes.

Reinstitute exit polling--track accuracy rates between those stations hand counted, and those which do not get successfully "guerrillized".


Any comments on this Gedankenexperiment, folks?

[Peace Patriot]

1. Well, if you "seize and disable" the machines, you're going to have a lot

of "Homeland Security" on your case, not to mention local Bushite thuggees. If we're going to keep this legal, and civil, we should demand that the Democratic Party fund INDEPENDENT EXIT POLLS in every Congressional election in '06 (and I'd like to see them in the primaries as well). The Dems owe us this, for their lack of vigilance--and in some cases corruption--on electronic voting. Independent exit polls are the best tool--used worldwide--to verify elections and check for fraud. The war profiteering corporate news monopoly exit polls cannot be trusted. They "match" their exit poll numbers to the non-transparent "official result"--the opposite of what they should be doing.

And we should be putting as many eyes and ears into precincts and central counting locations as possible, to watch and document as much as possible--gathering evidence for challenges and recounts, and ultimately for making the case against the machines. The Bushites would love another Florida 2000-type "election", this time with Americans engaging in fisticuffs against each other, and unruly activists being hauled off to jail. They thrive in chaos. We need to be methodical and civil. (See www.UScountvotes.org.) And even if some are moved by the utter outrage of these "black box" voting machines, to commit some kind of technically illegal act--such as "seizing" the machines--it should be done in a Gandhian spirit--in the tradition of Martin Luther King--whereby you are prepared for, and take, the full consequences of your action, without resistance. We need to RESTORE order in this country, not create more disorder--so easily exploitable by fascists.

Finally, no matter how much you hate having to vote on machines that are controlled by Bushite corporations, using "TRADE SECRET," PROPRIETARY programming code, with virtually no audit/recount controls, IF you take unauthorized possession of any machines or ballots, the election would very likely be invalidated, and so, if you have proof of a miscount, your candidate will lose anyway (or have to run again). (And, if they can successfully tag your candidate with civil disorder, it will be the worse for your candidate--at least in the corporate news media.)

Here is a better idea: Get everyone to request ABSENTEE BALLOTS. AB voting is not the final answer, by any means, but it does: a) provide a tangible paper record of your vote, outside of any machine influence, and is helpful for challenges and investigations (AB's were very useful to investigators in 2004); and b) it is a protest against the machines--if enough people do it, the machines will be obsolete, and then we can work on getting rid of the central tabulators.

Keeping secret control of the 'counting' of our votes is of vital importance to Bushites, warmongers and corporate shills. They will guard it closely, and will not hesitate to use force to protect its secrets. Do not underestimate what you are dealing with.

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For those who need the info...

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Practical suggestions:

1. Request absentee ballots. See above.

2. Join with others to closely monitor the elections and gather and document evidence. See UScountvotes.org, below. They need donations!

3. Demand that the Democratic Party fund INDEPENDENT EXIT POLLS. See above.

4. Think long term. Saving our democracy promises be a long hard struggle. We obviously can't get rid of these machines before the '06 elections, so focus on doing our best with the Diebold/ES&S handicap (a 5% to 10% "thumb on the scales" for Bushites and warmongers), and getting rid of them afterward, for '08. These machines are DEATH to our democracy. They ARE the problem. Without them, Bush and his "pod people" Congress would be long gone.

5. Tell people the truth. They NEED to know it. Engage them in the fight. Bumper sticker: "Help Us Beat the Machines--VOTE!" There is nothing more demoralizing or disempowering than constantly losing and not knowing WHY. The machines CAN be beaten by massive turnout--and can be heaped with ridicule, for their fraudulence, by massive absentee ballot voting.

Never give up on our right to vote! NEVER!

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SOME RESOURCES FOR AMERICAN REVOLUTION II:

Hopeful signs - latest news:

California voters sue the state over Diebold:
www.VoterAction.org is suing the state of California and 18 Calif county registrars on behalf of 25 California voter/plaintiffs, on the illegal Diebold "certification" by Schwarzenegger appointee Bruce McPherson.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2180496
Seven of these counties just promised the judge they would use PAPER BALLOTS, and were dismissed from this lawsuit (4/27/06).
http://kcbs.com/pages/29285.php
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2249205

Maryland rejects Diebold:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x418263

Florida - anti-trust accusations against Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia, re: heroic Florida election official Ion Sancho:
(FLA AG subpoenas the companies)
http://www.computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/legalissues/story/0,10801,110192,00.html
http://www.tbo.com/news/politics/MGBKSY8W8LE.html
(info & discussion)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2183630

Utah county clerk fights back!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x419226

(Tide turning?) New York Times: "New Fears of Security Risks in Electronic Voting Systems" (5/12/06)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2278829

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More resources for American Revolution II:

www.votersunite.org (MythBreakers - easy primer on electronic voting--one of the myths is that HAVA requires electronic voting; it does not.)
www.UScountvotes.org (statistical monitoring of '06 and '08 elections--they need donations)


(Activist sites with links to state activist groups or info)
www.votetrustusa.org (news of this great movement from around the country)
www.votersunited.org (good general info, and state links)
www.verifiedvoting.org (great activist site)
www.solarbus.org/election/index.shtml (fab compendium of all election info)

www.freepress.org (devoted to election reform)
www.bradblog.com (also great, and devoted to election reform)
www.TruthIsAll.net (analysis of the 2004 election)* :patriot: :applause: :patriot:
www.votepa.us (well-organized local group of citizen activists in Pennsylvania, where important legal issues are at stake, including state's rights over election systems)
Provisions of the PA lawsuit:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x423739

The Voter Confidence Resolution
http://tinyurl.com/rlnr2 (“We Do Not Consent”)
http://guvwurld.blogspot.com (GuvWurld blog main page)
http://tinyurl.com/amryg (Voter Confidence Resolution

www.debrabowen.com (Calif Senator running for Sec of State to reform election system)
www.johnbonifaz.com (running for Massachusetts Sec of State on strong election reform and antiwar platform)

*Some tributes to TruthIsAll, who is very ill:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x417007
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x417231
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x675477

Congressional bills:

Russ Holt's HR 550 requires a real paper ballot, bans secret software in "voting machines", and has more than 170 co-sponsors, but the audit required is too weak, it promotes electronic voting and centralized power, and the secret software might be permitted to continue in the central tabulators (the bill is not clear). To sign the HR 550 petition: http://www.rushholt.com/petition.html
At lot of discussion at DU of the loopholes/pitfalls in HR 550:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x422926
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x421136
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=422967&mesg_id=422967
(Note: Senate Bill-SB 330 and House-HR704 simply require a "voter verified paper audit trail" (VVPAT), which may be best for the moment.)


Also of interest:

Michael Collins (Autorank)'s searing election reform article for New Zealand's Scoop.com
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x971363

Bob Koehler (-- four recent election reform initiatives in Ohio, predicted to win by 60/40 votes, flipped over, on election day, into 60/40 LOSSES!--the biggest flipover we've seen yet; the election theft machines and their masters are now dictating election policy! Title: "Poll Shock" 11/24/05)
http://commonwonders.com/archives/col321.htm

Bob Koehler's latest: "Trust us: Take this box and stuff it" (3/16/06)
http://commonwonders.com/archives/col337.htm
More Koehler:
www.tmsfeatures.com/tmsfeatures/subcategory.jsp?file=20051124ctnbk-a.txt&catid=1824&code=ctnbk

Amaryllis (Diebold, ES&S, Sequoia lavish lobbying of election officials - Beverly Hilton, Aug. '05)
www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x380340

HOWARD DEAN remarks on electronic voting machines 04/06
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x994507

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Throw Diebold, ES&S and ALL election theft machines into 'Boston Harbor' NOW!

:think: :patriot: :woohoo: :patriot: :think:

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"That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it." --Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence