He’s taking mail on the question right now to read on the air during Blitzer’s Situation Room.
You can send him email here. “Should electronic voting machines be outlawed?”
UPDATE: Here’s the transcript of today’s show. The snippet from that transcript, including the questions Cafferty ended up reading on the air, is posted below…
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Wolf.
Colorado’s November election, the midterms is “headed for a train wreck.” So says a lawyer who wants to have computer voting banned from the upcoming midterm elections. He is representing the plaintiffs in a lawsuit to stop the use of electronic voting machines.
According to a deposition in that case, a state employee says he certified some voting computers in about 15 minutes even though he has no training in computer science. That would be like me trying to certify them.
Further, the plaintiffs say an expert would need no more than two minutes to reprogram the machines and distort the vote count. That’s comforting.
The deputy attorney general says Colorado is safe from any tampering because the state requires a printout of each computer ballot. And this is all not just about Colorado either.
Nationwide, more than 80 percent of voters will use electronic voting machines in November. One third of all precincts are using this technology for the very first time this year.
And we all know what happened down in Maryland a few weeks ago. They used these things for the first time. It was a nightmare.
The question is this: Should electronic voting machines be outlawed?
E-mail your thoughts to caffertyfile@cnn.com or go to cnn.com/caffertyfile — Wolf.
BLITZER: Good question, Jack. Thank you.
Jack Cafferty in New York.
…
BLITZER: Let’s check back with Jack Cafferty for “The Cafferty File” — Jack.
CAFFERTY: Wolf, the question this hour: Is should electronic voting machines be outlawed?
There are serious questions about how reliable they are and how tamper-proof they may or may not be.
Mark in Colleyville, Texas, writes: “I’m a software engineer with many years of experience on many different computing and controller platforms. E-voting, as we have it implemented now, should be banned. No self-respecting software engineer implements any kind of software without hard-copy/paper audits. It blows me away anyone would allow implementation of any kind of automation without audits.”
Jeannette in Florida: “Jack, everyone is wondering if democracy is at risk because of electronic voting machines. How do we know democracy wasn’t already lost in 2000 and 2004? We will never know with certainty that those elections weren’t tampered with. Back to paper ballots and hand counting. If it takes longer, so be it. At least we will know our votes counted.”
Bobby in California: “Should electronic voting machines be outlawed? No. But they should give out paper receipts as proof of the voter’s input.”
Jim in Texas: “Jack, this is how to fix it. The electronic vote would tally and then kick out a printed receipt. If Wal-Mart can do this with every sale, how difficult can it be? The voter would then verify their votes were counted and correct. The voter would then insert the printed ballot in a software-free reader, like IBM used in the ’50s, to tally the votes. If the tallies didn’t balance at the end of the day, there’s something rotten in Denmark.”
And Sam in Oceanside, California: “How come we can get a paper record for our financial transactions, but we can’t get a simple paper trail receipt for the most important right we have as citizens: the right to vote? I will tell you why. The people in power don’t want us to.”
If you didn’t see your e-mail here, you can go to CNN.com/CaffertyFile, and read some more of these online — Wolf.
Thanks for the “heads up”. Message written and sent.
YES
There are choices for three different time periods that Jack asked questions. Which was the voting question? 4 – 5 p.m. , 5 – 6 p.m. , or 7 – 8 p.m.
Thanks.
Charlie
Thanks for the heads-up on this. Sent this message to Jack Cafferty:
‘Re your question:
“Should electronic voting machines be outlawed?”, my answer is a resounding YES.
Reports have shown that these machines are rife with problems. Judging from the many documented tests and video demonstrations–the most recent example of which was done by Princeton University–hacking into them without leaving a trace is apparently child’s play.
Bradblog.com has copiously documented dozens & dozens of electoral problems experienced by voters in numerous states across the country. Unconscionably–since our electoral process is supposedly the sacrosanct bedrock of our democracy–Congress has chosen to ignore the issue or belittle it, as have the majority in our mainstream media. Both are a disgrace to their country.
Canada votes with pen and paper, as does the UK if I am not mistaken. Those tools, along with a healthy multitude of election observers, would be simpler, cheaper and far more reliable than the terrible mess in which we presently find ourselves with electronic voting.
Many thanks for addressing this critical issue.’
little plug for our boy there…;)
Charlie,
It was 5 pm. If you click the link in Brad’s post & then click on “click to view latest questions”…scroll down & you’ll see it.
That’s a retorical question if i ever heard one.
NO
BRAINER.
Don’t hold your breath because human mismanagement WILL NOT allow this to happen.
Good old Jack…!! I like his style…..he doesn’t hold anything back when talking about your prez and the present government. Too bad we can’t clone him, Lou Dobbs and all you tireless BB’ers. You are all doing a wonderful job for your country.
I get soooooooooo frustrated when I read of all the corruption and lies that continue on a daily basis from your leaders. I can only guess at YOUR frustration of having to live with this and fight for your democracy at the same time.
ITMFA
Thanks for the help.
Here’s what I wrote:
It’s amazing to see more and more of the corporate MSM slowly trying to cover this issue.
Maybe they did some reading and saw exactly how UNNECESSARY the media was once the Hitler dictatorship was solidly in place. They are smart enough to realize that neither the Rovian criminals nor the Chertoffian monsters have any love for the media or those who work in it beyond what it/they can DO for their vile mission.
While I want to hate 99.7% of the people in the MSM (minus Oberman, Dobbs, and a few others) for what they allowed to happen in the last six years by their acquiescence, complacency and in some cases outright collaboration, I’ve decided to take the “better late than never” approach and accept their help now before it is too late.
Here is a cc: copy of my response:
“Dear Mr. Cafferty: Thanks for your question about e-voting. My response is this:
Yes… outlaw them. Regrettably, this will not stop the terrorists in both political parties from manipulating the votes. Remember: “When in Chicago, vote early and often!” That was long before e-voting came out. Election fraud has been around as long as there have been elections.
But banning the e-voting will take one more tool out of Karl Rove’s toolbelt.”
This is my first post to this forum.
There’s a lot of smart posters in this forum, as I’ve read a lot of responses and do follow Brad’s valuable ballot blogging. Three cheers for Brad and three cheers for us folks who care about re-countable voting.
Here’s what I sent to Jack Cafferty, to wit:
“If paper ballots were outlawed, then only outlaws will be in charge of the electronic voting.”
In other words, if we Americans were to NOT to ban the electronic DREs, then, by default, our documentable, re-countable paper ballots will have been outlawed; furthermore, it has been well-demonstrated that white-collar criminals dominate the DRE industry, so, quite literally, we really do have outlaws ALREADY in charge of our most important cog in our democracy[sic]–counting our votes.
Proven criminals in charge of the counting of our precious votes? Huh?
IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT, AMERICA? I rest my case.
Is anyone encouraging registered voters to vote by absentee ballot to create a paper trail that can be recounted? It’s not too late to sign-up with your local board of elections via the internet for November’s election.
I wrote:(but think it’s too late now?)
“Yes outlaw them and get Gore back in his rightful place as President, retroactive to 2000.
Sue Diebold and other voting companies for all the damage selecting bush has caused.”
Like a Catholic divorce have bush annuled…as if he didn’t exist. We can dream 🙂
Isn’t Jack Cafferty great? Give ’em hell, Jack! One of the only honest voices on CNN, or actually all corporate news. How does he get away with being honest and “telling it like it is”? What gives?
We got 2 on CNN: Lou and Jack. And I got my local talk radio show to mention it today, I sent them the youtube of hacking into a DIEBOLD machine. And btw, I’m pissed that traffic was tied up today in my area of Pa. because Dick(head) Cheney was stumping for Mistress Beater Don Sherwood of Tunkhannock, who cheated on his wife and beat his mistress, all while voting to impeach Clinton (ironically same time) for the blowjob. He “settled” with Cynthia Ore for $5million. So Cheney stumped for him at a $1500/plate dinner (that leaves me and the rest of NEPA out) to get out the Republican “family values” message. I guess the “family values” message is that it’s “OK” to choke mistresses, but not family members. Can you believe these fucking clowns are running our country???
http://www.outsidethebeltway.co...oking_scandal/
Here was my comment to Jack:
Absolutely, all electronic voting machines should be outlawed. In fact, some honest judge should put an immediate injunction on their use. Smart states should be suing to force the reimbursement of the millions of Taxpayer dollars tossed at the vendors of these shoddy, unreliable, and totally insecure pieces of junk. Just read the GAO report, the restrictions currently on the books for electronic voting machines, and Congressman Conyers’ brilliant work and reports on behalf of the American citizen, and you have all the ammunition you need to force these machines out of our elections. Problem is- we have dishonest judges (see the recent ruling on CA50 Busby-Bilbray election), and corrupt officials- see Ohio SOS Kenneth Blackwell’s actions during the 2004 election, and the current denial of voter concerns by CA “installed” SOS Bruce McPherson. As long as we are mired down and suppressed by corrupt officials, we cannot reach any form of justice.
The enormous damage already suffered by the nation and the world during the last 2 stolen presidential elections is testament to the disastrous effects of these thefts. Can the nation survive one more?
Perhaps our inept and unresponsive media (what used to be the 4th estate) will yet react and help the people of this nation before it is too late?
Killer comments..You guys can write. Proud of you for the e mails sent to Jack Cafferty.
A possible strategy to deal with this evil menace?….
The polls are bought and sold, as are our electronic elections. We are left with no Truth and can only wonder in disheartened disbelief if the majority of our fellow Americans are as brainwashed as we are led to believe they are.
A recent reader comment over on alternet.com had a very interesting suggestion:
What if after this next election, every American and true patriot who thinks our Nation is headed in the wrong direction or that the election was stolen, were to boycott work for say three days? It would be a way for each of us “to vote” in a manner than nobody could manipulate or conceal from us.
If our nation came to a grinding halt because 70% of the population was a no-show – we would all finally know that we are NOT alone, and that we DO IN FACT have a common consensus that those in power have tried to keep hidden from us.
It would be less dangerous than an anarchic revolution in the streets, a well needed rest and a moment of utter clarity immune from the machinations of Diebold and the Media, for us all to consider what the next step should be to reclaim our Democracy.
Absolutely! Our right to vote and to have that vote counted correctly is what our democracy has been based on since its foundation. As demonstrated by the Princeton Univeristy team, the Diebold electronic voting machine now being used is hackable and not secure. And it is highly probable that all other types of electronic voting machines in use are hackable. Their use should be banned in all elections.
Has an exit-poll site been set up online somewhere for the November election? I know it was being talked about awhile ago….
You know that bridge that Stephen Colbert is getting signatures for, to have it named after him? Last time he mentioned it, signatures were up to over 17 million.
Wonder if his show or the Daily Show could sponsor an exit poll. ?? Am I dreamin’? What do people think?
Dixiecrat # 11—- Absentee ballots aren’t the way to go. Ken Blackwell here in ohio is pushing for them. They are counted on MACHINES ! (unless I’m wrong about this… hope I am) He isen’t bothering to get out the word that we have to bring I.D. with us in Nov. He has his bases covered.
Okay here’s what I wrote ……
With Abramoff whispering in the now criminally indited Representative Bob Ney’s ear while he was writing HAVA you can be damn sure those things are corrupt as hell and should be banned. I mean really, secret source code is one too many secrets for democracy!
I guess I should have said the felony convicted Representative Bob Ney. Oops.
Joan #20
I totally agree! I think that’s why Clint Curtis was able to win so convincingly, (not 49% to 51% against Curtis). Because of his record compiled from the internet, there was no way for his opponent to SAY he had X amount of votes without knowing what Clint had tabulated.
I don’t even know what kind of voting system they used there, but I’ll bet that had something to do with the apparent honesty of the election.
#21 if we get fed up with the machines, the absentee ballots have to be counted by hand at the precinct level. AT least there will be evidence to count. There has to be a paper trail and absentee ballots are all we have right now. We have to think about this November’s election first and get the house and senate back. It’s too late to pass legislation in time to save November’s results. After that, we can concentrate on EVM paper trails. We need evidence now!
Does anyone know what kind of response Jack received – what % said they should be outlawed?
There is an online campaign to convince CNN to give Jack Cafferty his own show.
Go to http://www.givecaffertyashow.com and sign the petition.
Jack Cafferty is one of the few journalists in the mainstream media who are willing to discuss important issues like electronic voting. Just imagine what he could do if he had an entire hour to voice his opinions instead of the short 3-minute segments he has now. Even if CNN does not want to give him a show, the campaign will hopefully convince the cable news executives that viewers are ready for a change.
Mike #26
Thanks Mike! I signed the petition.
Mike #26
I signed….thanks from me also…. 🙂
The New York Stock exchange operates five days a week using computers. I have never heard of the NYSE making a mistake as everyone fears will happen in the upcoming election if we use computers. If the NYSE can operate on computers, why can’t the upcoming election use computers? I think it’s because many people don’t want them to work. If those fat cat Republicans ever found a mistake by the NYSE not in their favor – you could hear their yelling all the way to Mars and they would go to court immediately.