How To Vote Repeatedly on Touch Screens (Connect the dots)

[Land Shark]

FACT: As discussed in our report linked below, the "manual mode" allows a voter to vote more than once, and is triggered by pressing the yellow activate button on the back of the machine, twice. A soft beep is heard. In fact, the Troubleshooter's guide specifically advises pollworkers that voters have to be watched to insure they do not vote more than once, in the event manual mode is triggered.

The procedure for doing a "screen recalibration" is so similar to entering manual mode that in four out of 81 cases the pollworkers triggered manual mode instead of a screen recalibration, and then got into screen recalibration immediately thereafter. Since in every case a screen calibration is followed by "Auto Activate Enabled", it appears that manual mode is replaced, perhaps automatically, at the conclusion of the screen recalibration, or else in each case the users correctly restored automatic mode after entering manual mode and doing a screen recalibration in manual mode.

Manual mode's basic legitimate function would be if the machines that otherwise create the cards to authorize voting break down, there is a work-around so voting can still go on. (Though one may wonder why the workaround is both published to pollworkers and not password-protected) The legitimate purpose of screen recalibration is to reset the program's interpretation of data coming from the screen.

Let's connect the dots: Why would initiation of screen recalibration and manual mode (multiple voting) be so similar in approach? And What does this mean?

Report: www.votersunite.org/info/SnohomishElectionFraudInvestigation.pdf

http://www.votersunite.org/info/SnohomishElectionFraudInvestigation.pdf

[KaliTracy]

1. that is really weird. Why wouldn't screen calibration happen

on the screen? In the software company I work at, one of our products is touch screen -- I've seen them recalibrate them On the Screen.

Even in 1990-93 when I was waitressing we used computers with touch screens to order and make the bils, etc. It was very simple to touch in a sequence to get them back on track -- we touched the Monitor screens. Not anything in the back of the machine.

[Land Shark]

2. Screen calibration DOES involve pressing defined screen points

but is TRIGGERED in a different way

[KaliTracy]

6. I see... so they are pushing this yellow button, and then

going into the Calibration mode to touch the screen?

Seems like a weird way to go about it.

[KaliTracy]

7. also seems weird that some poll people knew how to do this and

others would just blow people off or move them to another machine.

[emlev]

3. link doesn't work

This seems possibly very big to me. Can you get the link to work and then let's kick this thread hard?

[Land Shark]

9. Here's correct link: http://www.votersunite.org/info/SnohomishElectionFrau

http://www.votersunite.org/info/SnohomishElectionFraudInvestigation.pdf

[Land Shark]

11. once you pull up the whole study at this corrected link

if you want to jump to how to vote repeatedly, do a pdf search on manual mode

[KaliTracy]

4. a few things I've found...

From: Embedded.com -- How to Calibrate Touch Screens (talks about their own software which helps people create touch screen products) -- From 2002

http://www.embedded.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=9900629

<snip>"...The calibration method requires that three targets or test points-no more, no less-be displayed and touched in sequence to determine the screen's individual calibration factors. These calibration factors are then used to translate screen coordinates into true display coordinates. "

<snip>

From Neomtron: Hardwar support: Industrial Control Computer(ICC) Family General Issues...
http://www.nematron.com/Hardware_Support/support_icc_general.shtml#faq8

Why isn’t my touchscreen working properly?
The problem could be:

Calibration: The touchscreen may only need to be calibrated due to age or changes in user viewing angle.

To calibrate in Dos, change to the touch directory and enter Elocalib. Select the appropriate display resolution and follow the instructions on the screen. Answer Yes or OK to all the questions regarding saving the calibration parameters in the Autoexec file. If this is not done, the new calibration points will be lost when the unit is restarted.

To calibrate in any Windows environment, open the Control Panel, click on the Elo Touch Icon, and click on Calibrate. Press the targets as instructed and answer Yes to the question regarding accuracy once you are satisfied with the operation. This will return you to the Elo configuration screen. Click on the Apply or OK box to save the calibration. NOTE: On 640 x 480 resolution screens, the task bar at the bottom of the display may hide the buttons. Hide the task bar or move the Touch window up to access the buttons. Click OK or the close button to return to normal operation.

<snip>{emphasis mine}

Article on Early Voting problems in Computer World:
http://msn.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,118351,00.asp

<snip>
"Of the 666 incidents reported in Florida, 33 have been linked to alleged voting machine malfunctions in Broward, Duval, Lee, Marion, Miami-Dade, Orange, Palm Beach, Sarasota and Volusia counties.

In Broward County, for example, some voters complained of electronic touch-screen systems that presented incomplete ballots.

Alia Faraj, spokeswoman for Florida Deputy Secretary of State Dave Mann, said contrary to news reports, there have been no problems during early voting related to any of the touch-screen electronic voting systems in Florida. The only problems that did occur, she said, involved laptop computers that were used to check voter registration rolls in some of the counties.

Those problems were fixed immediately by a simple reboot of the computers, said Faraj. "The touch-screen systems have been operating as planned," she said.

Will Doherty, executive director of the San Francisco-based Verified Voting Foundation, said despite Florida's assertion that the malfunctions of the laptops handling voter registrations were minor, his organization is aware of dozens of voters who were turned away from the polls "because of that minor system crash."

Doherty also said there have been multiple reports related to touch-screen calibration problems. Some voters have reported that when they touched the screen next to their candidate's name the screen highlighted the opposing candidate, according to Doherty."
<snip>


From a Linux Software Site
http://www.touch-base.com/main.asp?item=21

To calibrate, double click the calibration icon on the desktop or run the calibration program and touch the calibration crosses, or arrows, as they appear.

[shraby]

12. I have a question about this statement..

Alia Faraj, spokeswoman for Florida Deputy Secretary of State Dave Mann, said contrary to news reports, there have been no problems during early voting related to any of the touch-screen electronic voting systems in Florida. The only problems that did occur, she said, involved laptop computers that were used to check voter registration rolls in some of the counties.

Those problems were fixed immediately by a simple reboot of the computers, said Faraj. "The touch-screen systems have been operating as planned," she said.
-----

What did laptops have to do with the touch screen systems? The way this is worded, they had to reboot the computers (touch screens?) and the laptops worked okay then.

[Land Shark]

13. The laptops were used to check registrations, separate from the screensn/t

[Carolab]

5. One thing I have wondered about.

When the techs "recalibrated" the machines, could it be that the "incorrect votes" (for Bush or third-party candidate instead of Kerry) were not deleted? Wouldn't this be a software instruction that could be programmed in as well as a default command code?

[KaliTracy]

8. wouldn't that come out as more votes than voters? n/t

[Land Shark]

10. Probably it would, but

There are more votes than voters in 44/148 polling locations and fewer votes than voters in 45/148 poll locations. While a few of the 89 discrepant polling locations may in fact be due to a miscount of the poll books, there's still quite a few poll books that are off.

More importantly, you can have offsetting forms of fraud and still have the books balance at the end of the day. For example, if a pollworker accidentally or purposely "forgets" to get a voter's signature, then there will be an "extra" vote, but then one vote could be lost by the machines and the poll book would equal the machine total. No story here, just move on....

[Land Shark]

14. Votes can not properly be deleted

Either the incorrect votes were created by accident, in which case the machine has no reason to "believe" they are "incorrect" (i.e. the machine really "thinks" a Kerry press means Bush because the screen calibration is way off) so a recalibration would affect only future votes, or the incorrect votes were not accidental from the machine's perspective, in which case the machine is not going to go back and correct what it did "on purpose".

In no case would a recalibration go back and change any votes, it would be like a tuneup on a car, affecting future performance. In addition, a good system would have safeguards against the later deletion of votes (for almost any reason).