Anybody know anything about election machine storage and security (particularly in Pennsylvania)?

[bbernardini]

I'm wondering if there's any kind of official protocol for the storage of voting machines and/or scanners. (A silly question, I know, considering everything we know about voting these days.) I ask because my place of employment (a school) is also a voting place. The machines for Tuesday's election have been sitting unattended in the back of our gym since at least Wednesday. It's like they're asking for something to be done to them.

[Peace Patriot]

1. Here are some folks you can contact...

Protect the Vote April 22
http://www.electionreformnetwork.us/node/61

The Watch the Vote Project's Pennsylvania Primary Watch
Hotline: 1-866-MyVote1

http://www.voteraction.org/

http://www.electionreformnetwork.us/

Contact page: (send them an email, asking your question)
http://www.electionreformnetwork.us/contact

Voter Action Legal Team
http://www.voteraction.org/legalteam

Voter Action Staff
http://www.voteraction.org/about

The above are all connected in a PA Voter Watch effort.

[bbernardini]

2. Thanks. Just sent an e-mail to the Election Reform Network.

Might try some more later if I get a chance.

[bbernardini]

3. UPDATE: Heard back from the Election Reform Network.

This was their response:

"This is one of the key questions we're trying to answer. Thanks for
contacting us. When we asked this question last week at the Election Board
meeting, we were told that that there are secure storage locations for all
machines. We know this to be false, but we need documented evidence. First,
where are you located, what school,what town? Second, the best thing you
can do right now is to take a picture getting as close as possible while
showing that they are out in the open. Please respond to this as soon as
possible. Thanks."

Just sent them some pictures. Hope this helps in some small way.

[VP505]

4. Don't know what kind of machines

you have there but here they are delivered to the polling place several days ahead of the election. They have a numbered metal seal on them so if someone opens them when the Presiding Judge goes to open them it would probably be known. That is unless someone has the ability to duplicate the seals.

[Peace Patriot]

5. Good work! I was thinking it was a very important question/issue.

I'm very glad they're onto it. And smart you, for taking pix!

I do think, though, that the most serious problem is insider rigging--systematic rigging of the "trade secret" code at the corporate factory or tech maintenance level. We really have no protection against it. The best protection is a 100% paper ballot handcount. Some states do ZERO handcount. The best of states do only 1%--totally inadequate in a "trade secret" code system. Venezuela--which has an OPEN SOURCE CODE system (anyone may review the code by which the votes are tallied)--handcounts a whopping 55% of the votes as a check on machine fraud. (That's why they have a president who is an advocate of the poor, enourages maximum citizen participation in government and politics, spends the country's oil revenues on education, medical care, loans and grants to small businesses and worker co-ops, land reform and local development, and we have Bush, who kills, tortures, maims, sickens and makes refugees of millions of innocent people. Transparent vote counting = democracy.)