The Town of Middleboro is being asked to appropriate funds for those new glitzy touch screen machines that lack a paper audit trail and seem to have a pattern of glitches, like actually miscounting votes.
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For those of us who have watched the issue, those little GLITCHES such as significant UNDERVOTES and OVERVOTES have been problematic.
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One must wonder how a computer produces more votes than are cast or a significant undervote in hotly contested races.
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And then of course, there are power outages and fluctuations that can be blamed for the results. How will we know?
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Below, are just a few articles that are readily available regarding the importance of a paper audit trail for research and consideration prior to Middleboro's Annual Town Meeting on Tuesday, May 13, 2008.
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Make your Town Meeting vote informed.
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Middleboro's Voting Machines.
GOP objects to bill allowing recounts
Voting rights activists who hoped the federal government would help local governments pay for paper trails and audits for electronic voting machines have gone from elation to frustration as they watched Republicans who supported such a proposal in committee vote against bringing it to the House floor. The result: The elections in November will likely be marred by the same accusations of fraud and error involving voting machines that arose in the aftermath of the 2004 presidential race.
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While some election reform activists would have preferred a mandatory bill, many saw it as the best they could hope to get in time for the next election. “On Election Day, if machines are breaking down and there are no paper ballots, the failure of this bill will be one place to look for explanations,” said Norden. Holt is predicting exactly that: Ultimately, he said, the bill’s failure will mean that “millions of voters will leave the 2008 election questioning the process and whether their vote means anything.” Politico
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HAVA explained on the Secretary of the Commonwealth's site.
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Judge muzzles Sequoia e-voting attack dogs
NJ machines to be inspected, after all
New Jersey voting rights advocates will have the chance to have independent experts inspect electronic voting machines they say malfunctioned during the recent presidential primary election, a state judge has ruled.
NJ machines to be inspected, after all
New Jersey voting rights advocates will have the chance to have independent experts inspect electronic voting machines they say malfunctioned during the recent presidential primary election, a state judge has ruled.
Sequoia Voting Systems, the manufacturer of the touch-screen machines, previously forced New Jersey officials to scrap plans for an independent review after threatening legal action. Lawyers for the company claimed the audit would violate its trade secrets.
Superior Court Judge Linda R. Feinberg of Trenton gave the go-ahead for the experts to test software and firmware of Sequoia machines that were used in the February 5 presidential primary in New Jersey. Officials from New Jersey's Union County requested the review after discovering that paper-tape backups showing the number of Democrats and Republicans casting ballots didn't match the same data contained on cartridge printouts. Officials from four other counties later identified the same errors. The Register
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The BreakdownsIn Los Angeles, badly designed ballots kept a quarter of a million independents from voting in the Democratic primary. In Arizona, Louisiana, and New Mexico, thousands of voters found their names missing from registration lists, because of new statewide voter databases that scrambled names and assigned people to other political parties, or mistakenly indicated that they had to vote by mail. Across the country, election officials underestimated voter turnout and ran out of ballots. Meanwhile, the administration is not allowing volunteers onto V.A. campuses to ensure that wounded veterans are properly registered to vote.
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Will your vote count in the next election? Maybe not! How will we even know?
The Verified Voting Foundation champions reliable and publicly verifiable elections in the United States.
We advocate the use of voter-verified paper ballots (VVPBs) for all elections in the United States, so voters can inspect individual permanent records of their ballots before they are cast and so meaningful recounts may be conducted. We also insist that electronic voting equipment and software be open to public scrutiny and that random, surprise recounts be conducted on a regular basis to audit election equipment. verified voting
We advocate the use of voter-verified paper ballots (VVPBs) for all elections in the United States, so voters can inspect individual permanent records of their ballots before they are cast and so meaningful recounts may be conducted. We also insist that electronic voting equipment and software be open to public scrutiny and that random, surprise recounts be conducted on a regular basis to audit election equipment. verified voting
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Jan 08, 2007
When Congress passed the Help America Vote Act four years ago, one of the problems it was intended to eliminate was the incestuous system of testing voting machines. Now, we find that the system is not improved -- rather the Election Assistance Commission has joined in the incestuous relationship among the vendors and testing labs.
This is how it works: The private companies making voting machines pay the testing labs (only a couple do this kind of work). The testing process and results are all secret. The system was cobbled together years ago by some elections officials and vendors, with little government oversight (or funding - a big problem) and over the years has become a joke.
The passage of HAVA and creation of the EAC gave at least some hope that the process would change and there would finally be some oversight. But, as the NY Times reported last week, the EAC decertified of one of the testing labs, but didn't see fit to tell us, the voters, about it.
Back to the drawing board. Here's what the NY Times says today in an editorial:
The veil of secrecy that hangs over certification is good for the companies that make voting machines and for the ones that test them. The government should not be protecting those private interests. It should be protecting the voting public. CommonCause
This is how it works: The private companies making voting machines pay the testing labs (only a couple do this kind of work). The testing process and results are all secret. The system was cobbled together years ago by some elections officials and vendors, with little government oversight (or funding - a big problem) and over the years has become a joke.
The passage of HAVA and creation of the EAC gave at least some hope that the process would change and there would finally be some oversight. But, as the NY Times reported last week, the EAC decertified of one of the testing labs, but didn't see fit to tell us, the voters, about it.
Back to the drawing board. Here's what the NY Times says today in an editorial:
The veil of secrecy that hangs over certification is good for the companies that make voting machines and for the ones that test them. The government should not be protecting those private interests. It should be protecting the voting public. CommonCause
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UTC reaffirms $40 per share cash proposal to Diebold
HARTFORD, Conn., March 5, 2008 --
HARTFORD, Conn., March 5, 2008 --
United Technologies Corporation (NYSE: UTX) today issued the following statement regarding its offer to Diebold Inc.’s (NYSE: DBD)
United Technologies Corporation remains committed to its offer.
United Technologies Corporation remains committed to its offer.
Diebold’s financial and stock performance and the inability of Diebold’s leadership to file timely financial statements are not valid reasons to avoid a dialogue with UTC. UTC
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War Machines/ Voting Machines McCain/ Clinton "The Connection"
United Technologies Lobbiest Group=Lincoln, Charlie Black,head of Lincoln is Political adviser to John McCain. Black is CEO of BKSH which is owned by Burson- Masteller and the CEO would be the same Mark Penn who is the political adviser to Hillary Clinton. Oh, did I fail to mention... United Technologies is now planning a hostile take over of DEIBOLD yes the same Diebold with all the Voting irregularities from past elections. A new level of corruption? Is this the experience Hillary is referring to? BuzzFlash
United Technologies Lobbiest Group=Lincoln, Charlie Black,head of Lincoln is Political adviser to John McCain. Black is CEO of BKSH which is owned by Burson- Masteller and the CEO would be the same Mark Penn who is the political adviser to Hillary Clinton. Oh, did I fail to mention... United Technologies is now planning a hostile take over of DEIBOLD yes the same Diebold with all the Voting irregularities from past elections. A new level of corruption? Is this the experience Hillary is referring to? BuzzFlash
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Diebold rejected a $2.6 billion takeover bid from United Technologies. Diebold makes cash machines and security systems,
but is best known for electronic voting machines, a relatively small part of its business. Conspiracy theorists had a field day when some Diebold gizmos malfunctioned during an election in California in 2004.
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SOME CAST DOUBTS ON VOTING MACHINES
At Florida Polls, Touch Screens and Crossed Fingers
The new touch-screen machines were in place in Sarasota for the election, and they were assumed to be an improvement. But after the polls closed, a troubling anomaly appeared in the results.
There were 18,000 "undervotes" in Sarasota County -- that is, 18,000 people showed up to the polls and chose candidates in other contests but not in the prominent and hard-fought congressional race. In the four other counties where voters cast ballots in the same race, the undervote percentage was far smaller.
What happened?
If the machines had left a paper trail of each voter's actions -- such as the punch cards or the lottery-ticket ballots -- many believe auditors would have had important clues to what happened.
In the wake of the investigations and ambiguity, the Florida legislature moved earlier this year to switch to voting machines that leave a paper trail.
But if they're reliable, why did the legislature move to get rid of them? "Floridians have said they want to be able to cast a ballot on a piece of paper," Ivey said. "We're moving to a paper system to help restore confidence." WP
Voting bill advances
Paper-ballot plan clears committee despite opposition
A paper-voting proposal cleared its first legislative hurdle Wednesday, despite stiff opposition from county clerks and Secretary of State Mike Coffman.
A Senate committee unanimously approved Senate Bill 189, which calls for voters statewide to cast paper ballots at polling places but also would allow those who ask to use electronic voting machines. Rocky Mountain News
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Optical scan voting works in Ohio
More than 400,000 voters went to the polls yesterday in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, using a new optical-scan system that appears to have worked with no more than the usual number of complaints in an election day plagued by foul weather and a closely contested race. GCN
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