RoxanneJ and team hacking the vote in GA. Literally. Great read.

[madfloridian]

This really needs to be shared around.

Report from Georgia on Voter Verified Paper Ballot, and the bill in the Georgia House

Today was an interesting day. As expected, the Chairman (Powell) of the committee cancelled the hearing this morning as we all arrived. Then they made a fatal mistake - they recessed from 10:00 AM until 2:00 PM.

This was fatal because we cornered members of the house, dragged them into the meeting room, and demonstrated on laptops how to hack an election. We even used the Cobb County, Georgia (CORRECTED) file we found on the Diebold FTP site to do the demo.

They were stunned. The look of "oh, SHIT" on their faces as we changed Max Cleland's votes to -3,000 was priceless. The display of astonishment as we deleted entries from the audit log, while explaining that this was a "Cathy Cox policy and procedure" which protected the system was laughable.

Every member of the house who saw the demo pledged to bring the bill to the floor for a vote and to support it. Many promised to force the Chairman into putting the bill to a vote.

We have one more legislative day to get this bill passed. We'll be down there tomorrow demonstrating Hack-A-Vote to the members we missed....."END SNIP

UPDATE from Roxanne:
"Now, for the latest news:
I just got off the phone with Mark at True Majority. They are calling in all the activists registered at True Majority to get on Alan Powell and Buddy DeLoach about our legislation." No promises,but progress.

(Posted originally at a website that can't be mentioned here. I have Roxanne's permission to post here. Wanted to clarify. This is really powerful stuff.)

[never cry wolf]

1. Bravo

Thanks for sharing and congrats and thanks to you and Roxanne!!

[flpoljunkie]

2. Great work! Thanks for your report!

It will be interesting to see what they do tomorrow. A paper trail won't solve electronic voting problems if these machines can be hacked into and leave no trace.

[madfloridian]

4. Not me, but I wish.

I just write letters and make phone calls. This team does the work.

[liberalnurse]

3. I new it, I really new it.....

I just couldn't prove it.......OMG this is great!

[Bread and Circus]

5. Saving democracy.....how amazing

[Thrill]

6. Why can't we steal the election

this time? Don't we have hackers?

[madfloridian]

7. It is amazing. They have one more day to do this.

SNIP..."We have one more legislative day to get this bill passed. We'll be down there tomorrow demonstrating Hack-A-Vote to the members we missed....."

It is amazing what they have all accomplished for us.

They are beyond the "first they ignore you" stage, beyond the "then they laugh at you" stage.

They are now well into the "then they fight you" stage.

Then they will win.

[Joanne98]

8. Great news

Keep this kicked. Who can we e-mail to get them some media support tommorrow. OMG This is hugh.

[madfloridian]

9. I tried to email it to Air America, but it bounced back.

Said server unavailable and my ISP was banned. I think that is computerese for being busy. :evilgrin:

[Joanne98]

13. Lou Dobbs

Let's e-mail Lou. He's interested in this story. We can e-mail him tommorrow too. Maybe he can do it on Monday so we will have all week to talk about it.
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/lou.dobbs.tonight/

:)

[59millionmorons]

10. Zogby

I remember Zogby had the Cleleand race about a point for Cleland, then he loses by a landslide.

[napi21]

11. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!! I live in Ga. Is there anything I can do tonight?

I've been gripeing about this no audit trail voting for 2 years now. Cox's office doesn't care, I've contacted my State Rep and Sen. and all you get from them is don't worry BS. I've talked about it at meetups and everybody thinks I'm a doomsdayer.

THAT YOU FOR DOING WHAT I FAI;ED TO DO!

Is there anything I can do tonight or tomorrow to help get this passed?

I am a member of the Dean for American Meetup Group so I should be able to get a message to all of the folks on that list if it will help.


Please let me know!

[madfloridian]

15. Note in inbox.

You sound great!

[Zorra]

12. Wow.

Thank you so very much.

[madfloridian]

14. UPDATE from RoxanneJ

Phone, Fax and email these two Congressmen - DEMAND they bring SB-500 to the floor for a vote WITHOUT the Hooks amendment (no VVPB until 2006):

Chairman Alan Powell
P.O. Box 248; Hartwell GA 30643
401 State Capitol; Atlanta GA 30334
Capitol: 404-656-7856
Capitol Fax: [phone]
Work: 706-376-4422
Email: [e-mail]

Representative Buddy DeLoach
P.O. Box 51; Hinesville GA 31310
LOB 507, State Capitol; Atlanta GA 30334
Capitol: 404-656-0202
Capitol Fax: [phone]
Home: 912-876-4953
Work: 912-876-5115
Fax: [phone]

But most importantly, DEMAND a vote on this bill on the floor of the house. We'll deal with the poison pill amendment (Hooks) there.

[napi21]

17. Here's my email to Powell, I'll call DeLoach tomorrow.

Dear Chairman Powell,

I understand you are almost at the end of the session and still haven't presented SB-500 for a vote! This bill is very important to me as a Georgia voter and I want it voted on before you go to recess!!!!

I was embarrassed for my country during that insanity in Florida in 2000, and I that God it wasn't Georgia. I bet you felt the same. I happened to like the simplicity of electronic voting, and it does have the atvantage of preventing voters from making silly mistakes. But I have been an accountant for 40 years, and I know NOTHING should ever be done without an auditable paper trail. CERTAINLY not something as important as voting!

You are the Chairman of this committee. Get this thing to a vote!!!

Sincerely,

[madfloridian]

24. Great letter, Napi21.

Inspired one for sure.
:hi:

[Jawja]

28. Thank you RoxanneJ

I will call them. Thank you so much for your good work!

:hi:

[madfloridian]

16. Article at Salon about her. "Will the Election be Hacked?"

http://archive.salon.com/tech/feature/2004/02/09/voting_machines/

SNIP..."Feb. 9, 2004 | A few weeks after Election Night 2002, Roxanne Jekot, a computer programmer who lives in a northeastern suburb of Atlanta, Ga., began fearing demons lingering in the state's voting machines. The midterm election had been a historic one: Georgia became the first state to use electronic touch-screen voting machines in every one of its precincts. The 51-year-old Jekot, who has a grandmotherly bearing but describes herself as a "typical computer geek," was initially excited about the new system.

"I thought it was the coolest thing we could have done," she says.

But the election also brought sweeping victories for Republicans, including, most stunningly, one for Sonny Perdue, who defeated Roy Barnes, the incumbent Democrat, to become Georgia's first Republican governor in 135 years, while Rep. Saxby Chambliss upset Vietnam veteran Sen. Max Cleland. The convergence of these two developments -- the introduction of new voting machines and the surprising GOP wins -- began to eat away at Roxanne Jekot. Like many of her fellow angry Democrats on the Internet discussion forums she frequented, she had a hard time believing the Republicans won legitimately. Instead, Jekot began searching for her explanation in the source code used in the new voting machines...."

Posting without asking her, but it is worth a read for sure.

[madfloridian]

18. Latest update on this.

Roxanne's note: "I just heard back from Mark at True Majority and they will be send out an action item to the 7,727 Georgia activists tonight or tomorrow to get SB-500 moved out of committee and onto the floor for a vote.

Mark said "We'll be asking our members to fax these two (Powell and DeLoach) instead of email. Because, while it's annoying to get 7,000 emails, it's downright hair pulling time when you get 7,000 faxes."

Did I mention I love True Majority? <g> ....."

[KoKo]

30. Great News! Thanks for posting this and keeping us up-to-date!

:toast: to Roxanne and all who worked so hard on exposing this!

[Joanne98]

19. Im dying

Did she do her demo again today? Has anybody reported what happened yesterday? Roxanne used to be a DUer. How come she doesn't post hear anymore? Madfloridian, did you hear Rhandi Rhodes rant yesterday about florida changing their recount laws? :)

[madfloridian]

21. Waiting to hear more.

I did hear Randi Rhodes do that. Our state is a sin and should be kicked out of the 50 states until we straighten up....but I forgot. We can't as long as we have Jeb. :evilgrin:

It is bad here.

[Joanne98]

26. Florida is shaped like a penis LOL

Rhandi Rhodes is gooooooooood. I love her.:)

[Joanne98]

20. kick

[madfloridian]

22. True Majority sends out email to GA activists!

Congrats to Roxanne and all our voting machine activists! If we can save GA maybe there is hope for Florida.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Act Now to Preserve the Integrity of Georgia's Elections

Urgent action is needed to preserve the integrity of Georgia's elections. This Tuesday, April 6th, the state legislature will hold its final day of deliberations for the year. A bill to require voter-verified security for Georgia elections must pass Tuesday.

After the 2000 election debacle in Florida, Congress made funds available to states to upgrade their balloting technology. Georgia used these funds to purchase touch-screen voting machines from the Diebold Corporation. Unfortunately, Diebold voting machines have been shown, in Georgia and other states, to be notoriously problematic. Machines have failed to start or have crashed with votes in them. In several studies the touch-screen machines were found to be vulnerable to tampering.

When something goes wrong with these paperless voting machines, there is no way to recover lost votes, nor is there any way to conduct recounts or settle disputed elections.

There is a simple solution. Electronic voting machines can be fitted with printers to produce a paper version of each ballot, which the voter can check for accuracy and then turn over to election officials for recounts or random audits. State Sen. Tom Price has introduced legislation (SB-500) to require all Georgia voting machines to produce a voter-verified paper ballot. That legislation is now stalled in the Committee on Governmental Affairs. The committee must act on this bill on Tuesday, or it will die.

To send a fax to Election Subcommittee Chairman Buddy DeLoach and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Alan Powell, just click "reply" and "send" in your e-mail program (text below). Let them know you want to protect the integrity of Georgia's elections, and that they should do it by passing SB-500.

If this was forwarded to you, click here:

http://action.truemajority.com/index.asp?a...gaa1&ref=496115

About This Campaign:

TrueMajority members have urged passage of federal legislation requiring these simple remedies, but the congressional leadership refuses even to grant the bills a hearing. So TrueMajority launched a campaign to urge state election officials protect their citizens from these inaccurate voting machines.

Through grassroots pressure of faxes and phone calls, news conferences, op- eds, letters to the editor and paid advertising -- TrueMajority members have organized to protect America's votes. Eight states have committed to providing a solid paper trail for their elections; Georgia should too.

Matt Holland,
"Computer Ate My Vote" campaign co-ordinator

PS: For more information about our campaign, check out http://action.truemajority.org/ctt.asp?u=496115&l=458. For more information about computer voting systems, check out http://action.truemajority.org/ctt.asp?u=496115&l=459 or http://action.truemajority.org/ctt.asp?u=496115&l=460.

Here is the letter we'll send to Rep. Buddy DeLoach and Rep. Alan Powell:

Georgia's touch-screen electronic voting systems have some benefits, but without a voter-verified paper trail these machines threaten the reliability of our elections. Even leaving aside the questions which have been raised over the security of the machines, common software bugs or hardware glitches can lose votes. It's just common sense to back up the electronic machines with a voter- verified paper trail.

As the chair of your committee, you have the ability to protect our elections by passing SB-500. I urge you to make this a top priority, and not to let us go into the 2004 presidential election with unreliable machines.

Officials in Nevada, West Virginia and Missouri have already used their own authority to protect their citizens by requiring that computer voting systems there provide a voter-verified paper trail. I deserve the same protection.

Sincerely, (We'll put your name and address here.)

[Zhade]

23. Amazing! Great job!

Pro-democracy KICK!

[w4rma]

25. Fantastic news!!! (nt)

[Joanne98]

27. Kick

[Joanne98]

29. kick