Morons.org analysis of today's Berkeley report

[Newsjock]

http://web.morons.org/article.jsp?sectionid=6&id=5738

File this under "things that must be corrected for the 2006 and 2008 elections." A team of researchers at Berkeley has found a discrepancy between the predicted vote totals and the actual vote totals that suggests that electronic voting machines may have awarded 130,000 or more excess votes for President George W Bush. They also compared the results in counties with electronic voting to counties with paper ballots and found the increases in support were significantly more likely to show in the counties with e-voting.

The probability that the statistical analysis is incorrect is a paltry 0.1%; the team is 99.9% certain that their analysis is correct. Their methodology is presented in detail in their working paper.

... So for the next election, e-voting has got to change. Every electronic voting machine must produce two serialized receipts. Voters must be able to retain possession of one copy of this receipt, and the other one must be secured in the event a recount is necessary. Voters must also be able to either call a phone number or access a web site using their serial number to validate that their vote was correctly tallied. I assure you this sort of thing is NOT rocket science. The computer science behind such a system is really quite trivial, well within the ability of any junior year CS major.

But the only way this is going to change and our elections be secured is if there's sufficient public outcry. This Congress cannot be expected to investigate possible vote fraud; some members may even owe their seats to this sort of impropriety. The right wing extremists will dismiss this report as a product of liberal sore-losers, no doubt guffawing at its origin of Berkeley. Only public outrage and demand will instigate reform. It's up to you.

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[Mister K]

1. Great Idea!

I would take it a step further however....

In addition to being able to phone in, I would like to be able to access my local county website and drill down to my individual vote and serial number. In other words, take a look at my county vote totals. Then look at my district, drill into that, and see my vote in the list as part of the total.

[Straight Shooter]

2. Very ingenious.

:thumbsup:

[Red State Blues]

3. problem

The problem with the receipt has always been that it allows people to sell their vote (and later prove to the buyer that they voted as instructed.)

[Liberal Gramma]

4. Gee, without a receipt the Repugs don't even have to pay people to vote

They can just steal the votes. More in keeping with their morality.

[AmyCrat]

5. as opposed to the incredibly honest system we have now???

At least in your example, voter-fraud could be PROVEN

[magellan]

6. Maybe I'm tired

but how does one sell one's vote if it's already cast and all you've got is a receipt that identifies that particular vote as being yours?

[Wordie]

7. The other person (buyer) could collect the receipts and access the site

so that wouldn't work. A simpler system is for the machine to spit out a paper reciept at the time of voting, which the voter could check to confirm it was what he/she voted, and then the paper vote would be dropped into some sort of collection bin right in the polling place, before the person could leave. That allows the individual to check his/her vote, AND provides the paper trail that is so crucial.

[Red State Blues]

8. Right

This seems to be the way to do it. I must say that I like the idea of being able to check MY (counted) vote but I don't see how any system that allowed it could ultimately work. In my Red State view it seems that one of the things we have going for us is that a guy can hang out with all his republican buddies but still vote his concience when he gets into the booth and no one will ever know. (Same thing for wives of Republicans)

[newyawker99]

10. Hi Red State Blues!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Zeebo]

9. Here is what Republicans say about paper trails...

After the election I sent e-mails to hundreds on media outlets and my elected representatives with the idea of a voter receipt and or database that could be accessed by the voter or auditors (recounts)to insure their vote was recorded correctly. Here is the response I received from Republican Congressman Henry Hyde:

--
Thank you for your letter and your intriguing suggestions.

I am not in favor of legislation that would create a paper trail of
anyone's vote, and here's why. Voting is a private matter, and
there should not be any paper trail of who voted for whom. I could
imagine a scenario of a spouse demanding to see another spouse's
vote receipt, or worse yet, a union boss using the voting receipt to
threaten those who do not vote the way the union wants a person to
vote. Just think about how many similar receipts, ie., ATM and
banking receipts, are crumpled up and left in wastebaskets for
anyone to see. I, for one, would not want anyone knowing the way
I voted, nor would I want there to be a risk of anyone knowing
how someone else votes.

Your suggestion about requiring county election commissions to
create a database of votes also is intriguing, but unfortunately,
unrealistic. Our Constitution guarantees that each state sets its
own voting practices and thus sets its own penalties for violating
such practices and procedures. In most states, tampering with
ballot boxes or ballots themselves is already a felony.

I do agree, however, that it would be better if all of the states, if not
a majority of the states, would use the same balloting procedures.
Uniformity of these procedures would make it easier to prevent
fraud and also to count election results. However, again, the
Constitution prevents the federal government from mandating such
procedures.

Again, I thank you for your insight on this issue.




Very Truly Yours,

Henry J. Hyde


---

Is this the best they could come up with to defend the position of no paper trails? This is unbelievable! Does anyone else have other arguments the people against paper trails give?