There will be an AUDIT this November in Vermont!

[garybeck]

I just got off the phone with the Secretary of State's office. They told me that our SoS has decided there will be an audit on our Diebold Opscan system this November! They don't have any details yet on number of precincts, how they will be chosen, etc, but they will release public statement soon and more details as they are decided.

We still have a ways to go but this is a significant step in the right direction. This is not a mandatory audit; it is being conducted at the discretion of the Secretary of State Deb Markowitz. Vermonters for Voting Integrity will watch very closely for the details of the audit and raise alarms if it seems it will not be conducted properly (in public view, chosen randomly, quantity counted...)

And we will continue to push for mandatory audits on all elections, so we don't have to knock down the SoS's office door every year asking for it.

We are still waiting for a response to Deb's statement that we are in compliance with the Brennan recommendations, which is not true. Brennan states there should be automatic mandatory audits on every election, while this is voluntary and there is no assurance that there will be another audit next time. I (we) feel that Deb has misrepresented the facts by stating we are in compliance with Brennan when we are not. My guess is they'll get back to us and say that they made a mistake in claiming we are in compliance.

To everyone --- this goes to show that you can really have an effect at the local level if you get organized. We have a small group here in Vermont and what we've mainly been doing is pestering her with emails asking her to conduct an audit this fall. I can't say we were the only reason this is happening but I'm sure the emails showed her that people are concerned about this and if there are no audits in Vermont we will continue to gain support for the idea and she'll be getting more bad press and more emails until it happens. Sooo.... keep fighting on the local level and you may get results!

Now it looks like Bernie Sanders actually has a chance!

Gary Beckwith
Vermonters for Voting Integrity
http://solarbus.org/vtvoters

[babylonsister]

1. Great news! If Diebold is on the up-and-up, an audit shouldn't matter.

I wish every state would follow suit.

[garybeck]

2. it is a deterrent...

of course what Diebold has done in the past is one issue.... as far as this particular audit goes, if it is conducted in good faith and with a statistically significant sample, it will be a deterrent for fraud and it will catch glitches.

[AndyA]

3. This is such great news! Thanks for posting.

I just wish some of the states that REALLY need to do this would. Florida, Ohio, California, to name a few.

Vermont is such a great state, hopefully they will be at the forefront of a new movement to audit elections!

[garybeck]

4. don't count on it...

Vermont has a great reputation,,, but the fact is that our Democratic Secretary of State has been much like Cathy Cox in Georgia - an apologist for Diebold. It's my feeling this is only happening because of the pressure on her to do it. We will have to watch them every step of the way.

[AndyA]

5. That is somewhat sobering. It's amazing how wide spread the corruption

goes. It seems everywhere you turn, there's some good little Kool Aid drinker willing to give all for the cause. Disgusting and disgraceful.

Let us know how it goes, and good luck!

[garybeck]

6. personally I think it is not a coincidence

something is going on here. There's a reason all these SoS's are in love with Diebold and many of them are Dems. It could be campaign contributions, or even worse. But the pattern is clear and things like that don't happen by coincidence.

[Amaryllis]

7. Not credible that it is just gross stupidity on their parts, right Gary?

They of course have to be reading all the reports...and yet they continue to defend the indefensible; not just SOS's - also Linda Lamone, Conny McCormack...

[garybeck]

9. yup, something is up, i just don't know what.

and i'm not sure it matters what it is. we keep fighting, whether or not we know the true nature of the problem. stand up for what is right and let the chips fall.

[tbyg52]

15. Part of what's up is laziness, in my opinion

I recently had my nose rubbed in the fact that these paperless wonders save the local election officials a whole bunch of work, not to mention eliminating any possiblity of a recount of paper ballots.

[Amaryllis]

16. I think that is a lot of it; they are such nice guys and they make the job

so much easier! So helpful...but now that they've oversold their services and cant service their contracts, that may change people's perception of how much work they save them. sure makes more work when they mess up on ballot programming and then they have to do a hand count.

[Bill Bored]

8. Maybe she really did read the Brennan Center Report?

Time for you to start doing the math and find out how much of an audit should be done. How many scanners you got statewide?

It's good news anyway because it's a start. It needs to be codified though.

[garybeck]

10. here ya go

from the horse's mouth

we have 246 communities (precincts) in vermont

72 are using diebold opscans

the rest are HCPB

however the opscans are all in the population centers, so more PEOPLE are voting on opscans, even though more PRECINCTS are HCPB.

[OnTheOtherHand]

17. gary, any idea how many _scanners_ are in use in those jurisdictions?

I've been 'thinking about' finding this out....

[IndyOp]

11. Specific recommendations for manual audits?

I talked with Kelvin Mace yesterday and I looked at the North Carolina law that requires manual audits.

I am trying to explain why/how of audits - but I need helP! Can you direct me to a paper?

I tried watching the Democracy for New Hampshire videos, but they won't play on my computer.

:(

[garybeck]

12. NEDA

NEDA has some reports on audits.

http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/US/paper-audits/Paper_Audits.pdf

and

and NEDA's Spreadsheet AuditCalculator.xls for
Determining Audit Percentages that would Detect Outcome-Altering Vote
Miscounts has been updated:
http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/US/paper-audits/

[IndyOp]

18. Thank Gary! (n/t)

[Wilms]

13. K&R n/t

[eridani]

14. Excellent!!

:toast: :bounce: :beer: :thumbsup: :yourock: :applause: :woohoo:
:toast: :bounce: :beer: :thumbsup: :yourock: :applause: :woohoo: