4,000 extra votes in Ohio - How was it found?

[sabra]

In Columbus, Ohio, a machine malfunctioned and gave 4,000 extra votes to Mr. Bush for a still-unexplained reason. This was one of the first reports of voter irregularities that came out after the November 2 election. And how was it discovered, because some one like us, downloaded and analyzed the results and noticed the discrepancy in that specific precinct. However the only reason it was detected was because the numbers heavily exceeded the total number of votes casted in that precinct, other wise it wouldn't have stuck out like a sore thumb.

Which leads me to my point, with reports from UPenn and UC Berkeley about the numbers just not making sense, begs for further investigation. However, these reports don't have any hard proof, such as the Ohio report, because the numbers are still proportionally "valid".

Back in the days of ballot box stuffing, people would figure what margin they had in regards the number of extra ballots they could stuff with out making things too obvious (going over 100% of possible votes).

What if in that little Ohio precinct, too many ballots (electronic) were stuffed?

In my opinion, the Ohio case alone, is proof that it could happen anywhere. I hope that it's not considered a one time glitch. I hope that coupled with the UC Berkeley report, some eyes beyond these blogs will start to open, and seek and investigate for the truth...

[ShaneGR]

1. I'm sorry, but to you have a link to the 4000 story...

I'd be overwhelmed if this was true or had actually been caught/proven. But, I'm leaning towards just another urban myth.

[sabra]

2. In Franklin County, Ohio, voting machines gave Bush 3,893 extra votes

This is a known fact...

[driver8]

6. extra votes

A freeper on another forum that I post on had this to say about the extra votes:

"I'm not going to lose sleep over a few thousand votes..."

They just don't get it, do they??

[sabra]

8. Exactly...

However we perceive it as being very big, as it shows that it could happen anywhere. This instance was just obvious because the numbers were overwhelmingly off...

[Clark2008]

19. No, they don't

Yahoo's got a story up and I stopped by the message board.
All the freepers are yammering on about is that JK is a sore loser and that libs can't win, etc.
I kept trying to pin one down and ask why they didn't care about democracy and protecting voting. Why they didn't care that a 9-year-hold could hack the Windows OS's on these touch-screen and GEMS machines.
They could only spout RNC talking points and Insannity/Rush rhetoric.
I left after challenging one to go ONE WEEK without listening to the right-wing media and read newspapers from around the world online to see if his perspective cleared. I don't know if he took me up on it.

I also repeated about a zillion times that BushCo. was fascist. I threw the world "fascim" around like it was on sale. I think we need to get down to one- and two-word mantras to slap the stupid out of these people with. They don't understand reasoning and they don't understand anything over two or three sentences. Pop 'em with a one- or two-word mantra a week and maybe that will get through the muck that's so filled their gray matter.

[Zuni]

3. no it is true---even reported by mainstream media

It was reported on quite a bit in the days after the election, in the papers on the news particularly on Olbermann's show on MSNBC

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[mikelewis]

5. Here's 4, there are about 100,000 more

http://www.indystar.com/articles/3/193880-4433-102.html

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/11/05/voting.problems.ap/

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/11/05/politics1149EST0515.DTL

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/evoting/2004-11-06-ohio-evote-trouble_x.htm?POE=TECISVA

[masshole1979]

7. maybe she didn't know ganahawhatever=columbus?

To be honest I didn't know quite where it was either. All this ohio geography has me messed up.

Of course, I should know more about their geography...lots of important stuff has happened there before this, right? What is Ohio famous for again? Aside from Howard the Duck, Drew Carey, and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame?

The history you learn in mass is kind of like...someone in mass did something...followed by much foot-dragging, then the rest of the country caught up. but that was not fair and balanced...

[rockedthevoteinMA]

10. have to agree masshole -

I am a product of the great (sarcasm) education system in MA. We stopped learning history at about 1812. Anything after that didn't seem important or so my teachers implied. And never learned about govt.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

17. I am also a product of the (truly) great education system in MA

Sorry but not every schoolboy and girl in Mass. grows up to be smart.
Bush I and II are living proof.

[IdaBriggs]

9. Here's a link to 52 different stories in Ohio alone (documented).

http://www.votersunite.org/electionproblems.asp?sort=date&selectstate=OH&selectproblemtype=ALL -- Enjoy! :) Best, Ida

[sabra]

12. Thanks, great link!

How are things in NH, btw?

[Eloriel]

11. You seem to have

a lot of catching up to do. You might want to start here:

VOTE FRAUD LINKS - A DU Compendium - Thread #3
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=201x4927

VOTE FRAUD Links Compendium - Thread #2
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=201x3223

VOTE FRAUD Links - a DU Compendium
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=201&topic_id=1984#

[LisaL]

14. Seems like some of us have been living under a rock.

:spank:

[jhgatiss]

15. Not an urban myth.

I'm in Columbus Ohio and it was in the Columbus Dispatch the day after it happened. They explained it as a "glitch" but no one could do any better.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/11/05/voting.proble... /

There you go. How bad is it that I need to re-bunk the truth for doubters now LOL. My advice is to turn to http://www.votersunite.org/electionproblems.asp for fairly comprehensive coverage of election issues. They also have maps in PDF format that point out some of the most severe issues.

[AusTexDem]

13. and you just know that if the shoe was on the other foot

the FBI would be all over this shit. oh, yeah and homeland security too.

[kk897]

16. here's an article about the Gahanna problem:

Clipped from http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/110604W.shtml Friday, November 5, 2004 5:51:34 PM:

Machine Error Gives Bush Extra Ohio Votes
    By John McCarthy
    The Associated Press

    Friday 05 November 2004

    COLUMBUS, Ohio - An error with an electronic voting system gave President Bush 3,893 extra votes in suburban Columbus, elections officials said.

    Franklin County's unofficial results had Bush receiving 4,258 votes to Democrat John Kerry's 260 votes in a precinct in Gahanna. Records show only 638 voters cast ballots in that precinct. Bush's total should have been recorded as 365.

<snip>

   
    In the Ohio precinct in question, the votes are recorded to eight memory locations, including a removable cartridge, according to Verified Voting Foundation, an e-voting watchdog group. After voting ends, the cartridge is either transported to a tabulation facility or its data sent via modem.

    Kimball Brace, president of the consulting firm Election Data Services, said it's possible the fault lies with the software that tallies the votes from individual cartridges rather than the machines or the cartridges themselves.

    Either way, he said, such tallying software ought to have a way to ensure that the totals don't exceed the number of voters.

    County officials did not return calls seeking details.

    Matthew Damschroder, director of the Franklin County Board of Elections, told The Columbus Dispatch that on one of the three machines at that precinct, a malfunction occurred when its cartridge was plugged into a reader and generated a faulty number. He could not explain how the malfunction occurred.

    Damschroder said people who had seen poll results on the election board's Web site called to point out the discrepancy. The error would have been discovered when the official count for the election is performed later this month, he said.

    The reader also recorded zero votes in a county commissioner race on the machine.

  ----

there's more at the above link. I believe Damschroder changed his story at some point to say that it was human error, but I can't find that now. I'll keep looking.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

18. OMG!!! "the software ought to have a way..."

"the software ought to have a way to ensure that the totals don't exceed the number of voters."

Oh I see.
So long as it just tallies in a way that eludes obvious detection of vote tampering by staying within the realm of possibility.

[sabra]

21. Exactly...

We could only prove something is wrong when the votes casted are more than possibly votes. However if the numbers are still in a possible proportion, that's where it gets difficult... Because we can bring forward the UC Berkeley report, which shows something is odd, but as long as the numbers are still in that range of possibility, they can immediately try to dismiss it...

[kk897]

20. The Dispatch

Following up on what Damschroder said about the Gahanna episode, here's from the Nov. 5 Columbus Dispatch story (sorry, didn't keep a link):


" Damschroder said he received some calls yesterday from people who saw the error when reading the list of poll results on the election board's Web site.

"It's why the results on election night are unofficial," Damschroder said.

The error would have been discovered when the official canvass for the election is performed, he said."

----

In other words, bloggers found it, probably.