Blogged by Brad from the Road…
Yup, still on the road, and largely “off the grid” for another day or so (with much going on, sorry, I’ll catch up soon, I hope! Not even able to check email!) — but caught this in the carbon-based version of the NY Times this morning. No time for context other than to mention our previous report on Maryland’s Republican Governor who wants to see Diebold’s paperless touch-screens banned in the state along with the Democratic-majority House which voted a bi-partisan 137 to 0 to ban them recently, along with the Democratic Board of Elections Director, Linda Lamone, who has been fighting for them since Day 1, and still is. Search BRAD BLOG for the links to all of those stories.
Point is, as we’ve always said, this ain’t an issue of Right and Left, it’s an issues of Right and Wrong. That said, here’s the letter printed in this morning’s NY Times (who has been horrendously delinquent in reporting on any of these matters, and still buys into the Voting Machine Company’s “it’s just glitches” meme)…
To the Editor:
Re “Common Sense in Maryland” (editorial, March 23):
I am the chief Democratic election judge for District 21, Precinct 2, in Prince Georges County, Md. We have used the Diebold AccuVote-TSX machines since the 2002 primary election. From the start they did not encourage confidence in them.
When they were turned on in the 2002 elections, some of them refused to start unless we reseated the memory cards. In the 2002 primary, one of the machines chose to lock up just as the poor voter pushed the “cast ballot” button on the screen. The technician we got in to check the machine insisted that the vote was counted. Then why did we have 30 paper voter authority cards for the machine and only 29 votes recorded?
In the 2004 general election, two of our machines refused to start up. We got in another two machines, and one of them refused to use the electricity from the wall. Its internal battery was not enough to run the rest of the day, so we shut it down. These machines are quality only if you spell quality with a capital K.
Surely the Free State could find a far more reliable replacement than Diebold’s TSX machines. The rest of the nation should, too. Preferably one with a good paper trail.
Paul D. Motzenbecker Jr.
University Park, Md.
March 23, 2006
Letters to the Editor — especially from Elections Officials, but regular old Voters are just as good — make a difference. Especially to papers like the Times who refuse to properly investigate and report on this stuff! Please write one today!
More and more people are catching on to this scandal every day. Maybe we’ll get somewhere in getting rid of these damned machines, after all!
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**’Expose Tom Feeney’**
"SUPPORT CLINT CURTIS!"
__www.clintcurtis.com__
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Thanks Brad, for throwing this letter in. It’ll be handed out here in TN to our state legislators. We got a bill – HB 3211/SB 3457 that we’re trying to pass for Voter Verified Paper Ballots. We’ve got a great group of patriots that is talking to legislators every day the Capitol here in Nashville. Please all y’all fighters against electile disfunction, call everybody you know in Tennessee and let them know the bill numbers and tell them it’s HUGELY important for them to call their state senators and reps in favor of our bills.
As we’ve seen in other states, we get a lot of support from the people and from legislators; but the powers that be (mainlyTN Elections Coordinator Brook Thompson and his boss, SOS Riley Darnell) are fighting for DREs using the same bulls*** stuff we see around the country:
"We test our DREs in Tennessee, so there are never any problems." (answer *** they "test" ’em everywhere, but still have gigantic problems – many times with the tests – see FL and Leon Sancho – see CA)
"Paper reciepts take away the privacy of the ballot." (*** nobody is looking for a reciept that the voter takes with ’em, only a paper ballot)
"We don’t have time to count paper." (*** It’s your job. The rest of the 1st world counts paper. It ain’t hard and it can be done, and it doesn’t confuse Poll Worker Granny like computers often do. Why do we need instant questionable results over verifiable correct results that may take a few hours longer?)
"Y’all must be working for a printer." (***The expenses associated with DREs are so much bigger than those associated with paper ballots, it’s amazing. You must be working for a DRE vendor!)
"People have been stuffing ballot boxes forever." (*** Yes, and that’s why we need to get away from voting systems that allow MILLIONS of stuffed votes and no paper trail to even find them. The physicality of paper is still the safest way to go.)
"We need to use new technology." (Sometimes old technology is better. They used to use Astroturf in football stadiums, now they’re back to "old-fashioned" grass.)
Now’s the time in Tennessee. Can y’all help us?
peace out,
shw
BREAKING NEWS from BBV
http://www.bbvforums.org/forums...4268#POST19198
Diebold attempts to explain TSx memory defects
On March 18, Black Box Voting released the first part of findings from an examination of the Diebold TSx touch-screen machines in Emery County, Utah.
Diebold has responded. Harri Hursti and also Security Innovation Inc. have rebutted Diebold’s initial explanation. Diebold then came up with a new explanation, while trying to maneuver Emery County’s elections chief into resigning.
Bruce Funk, the elected official who has run elections in Emery County for 23 years, noticed a critical shortage in flash memory/storage in seven of his 40 brand new Diebold machines. He arranged for an independent evaluation, a right granted to Utah county officials in the Diebold contract. Black Box Voting secured the services of Harri Hursti and also Security Innovation, Inc. for the Emery County evaluation.
The initial assessment was not encouraging: The memory was so low it appeared likely to compromise elections held on the affected machines, and the most likely explanations were all pretty bad: 1) Different programs on the machines 2) Data already residing on the machines from use elsewhere 3) Flash memory near the end of its life cycle.
[more, including screen shot, in the full article Maybe a good slogan would be "Diebold = Diabolical"]
Shannon Williford –
Thanks for the info, I’m in Tennessee and I’ve not even heard of those bills.
I’m on activist legistlative alert lists for arts and education issues, is there a similar one for election issues in Tennessee?