Black Box Voting

Ohio-duh steals Flori-duh's Butterfly Ballot Design.  Ohio may go down in history this November when 12 counties use a butterfly ballot.  The design is hauntingly similar to the one that made Florida notorious in November 2000.  Recently the Brennan Center for Justice urged Ohio election officials to redesign a ballot planned for 12 counties. The problem - the design is a modern day butterfly ballot, splitting the presidential contest over two columns on their paper ballots for this November's election. The difference between the Ohio butterfly ballot and the Florida butterfly ballot is that Ohio is using optical scanners, and Florida was using punch card. I guess this proves that there is more than one way to spoil an election.

Potential Ballot Trouble In OH: Split Contests

By Lawrence Norden – 10/01/08

By our count, at least twelve Ohio counties have split the presidential contest over two columns on their paper ballots for this November's election. This "column split" often confuses voters and results in double voting in the presidential race — and an uncounted vote. Today the Brennan Center urged election officials and advocates in Ohio to make sure that voters are aware of the split, and to make sure they vote only once for president. Unfortunately, the design meets legal guidelines and a directive issued by the Secretary of State.

The twelve Ohio counties whose ballots spilt the presidential race over two columns are: Ashtabula, Athens, Auglaize, Champaign, Delaware, Lawrence, Logan, Madison, Ottawa, Seneca, Shelby, and Wyandot.

A picture of the butterfly ballot and some further comments after the jump

Marybeth Kuznik, Executive Director of VotePA warns "Plan On Long Lines In Bucks Co, PA". In her testimony to PA lawmakers, she warned that officials that state there  will not be enough voting machines in counties using paperless computerized machines. The state is basing its estimates on the use of lever machines, instead of considering the fact that it takes much longer vote on computerized machines.  The Intelligencer backs this up in an article today.  

Is Bucks County more concerned about their own convenience and budget, instead of making sure that all voters can cast a ballot?  Bucks County did not purchase enough machines, probably because they chose the  more expensive electronic machines. Buck's electronic machines cost from 5-10 times more optical scanners.    Bucks County's Election Director Deena Deen isn't sure how many machines Bucks County will need in November, but thinks the county would need 808 machines. The county currently has 765. But the state Elections Commissioner Chet Harhut recommended that counties using  like Bucks that use the Danaher electronic machines should have one machine per 350 voters. Deen plans  to allocate half as many machines as that in most cases.

According to today's Philadelphia Intellgencier:

Dean said polling places with 1,400 or fewer voters need two machines, 1,401 to 1,900 voters mean three machines and more than 1,900 voters require four machines.

Marybeth Kuznik, Executive Director of VotePA issues a dire warning about circumstance on the ground in PA:

"Plan On Long Lines In Bucks Co, PA". 

Yes, we are expecting long lines in a lot of places in Pennsylvania next month. With fifty of our most populous counties are using DREs (all without VVPAT, btw) and with many of these counties having purchased machines based on an excessively high recommended voter-to-machine ratio,  we know this will happen. My own county, Westmoreland (suburban Pittsburgh) is likely to be one place this will occur, but there are many more counties that will probably be affected.

New Jersey Superior Court Judge Linda Feinberge has prohibited the scheduled release of a report on the security and accuracy of the Sequoia AVC Advantage voting machine. These are "direct record electronic" machines used in most  New Jersey voting locations.  They do not have a paper ballot or "paper trail" to use to check the machine count. The  examination and subsequent report by computer scientists is our chance to find get to the root of the problems with the Sequoia machines and software.   

Judge Suppresses Report on Voting Machine Security By Andrew Appel - Posted on October 2nd, 2008

...The question of whether this report can legally be suppressed was already argued once in this Court, in June 2008, and the Court concluded then that it should be released; I will discuss this below. But as a matter of basic policy--of running a democracy--the public and legislators who want to know the basic facts about the reliability of their elections need to be able to read reports such as this one. Members of the New Jersey Legislature--who need to act now because the NJ Secretary of State is not in compliance with laws the legislature passed in 2005--have asked to read this report, but they are precluded by the Court's order. Members of the public must decide now, in time to request an absentee ballot, whether to cast their ballot by absentee (counted by optical scan) or to vote on paperless DRE voting machines. Citizens also need information so that they can communicate to their legislators their opinions about how New Jersey should conduct elections. Even the Governor and the Secretary of State of New Jersey are not permitted, by the Court's order, to read this report in order to inform their policy making.

What can New Jersey Voters do?  Request an absentee ballot:

From http://www.state.nj.us/state/elections/absentee_doe.html:

In New Jersey, any voter can now vote by Absentee Ballot for any election. You do not need a reason to vote by Absentee Ballot. Don't feel like going to the polls? Simply vote by mail. Now there is "no excuse" not to vote!

A voter may apply for an absentee ballot by completing an Absentee Ballot Application (see below) and mailing the application to their County Clerk by mail up to 7 days prior to the election. A voter may also apply in person to the County Clerk until 3:00 p.m., the day before the election. The County Clerk cannot accept faxed copies of an Absentee Ballot Application since an original signature is required.

Absentee Ballot Application (24k pdf)

The AVC Advantage (as used in New Jersey) even has a built in ballot stuffing feature (you can press a button on the back of the machine to allow you to cast more votes.)  Computer Scientist Andrew Appel has had unfettered access to these machines before, when he purchased some off of the internet, originating from Buncombe County North Carolina.  Even Sequoia's paper ballot based optical scan machines have trouble counting votes.  Perhaps the problems with Sequoia's voting machines is in the basic core of the design that the only solution is to ditch them and start fresh.  There are already many reported problems with the WinEDS software that tabulates the votes from both the electronic and the optical scan machines. 

Sequoia optical scan voting machines in Washington DC, Palm Beach County Florida, and Pierce County Washington have been in the news recently:

Earlier this month, (Washington) "DC's machines somehow managed to inflate the vote totals in some races by more than 100 percent, making up thousands of write-in votes and adding thousands of votes to the totals of candidates on the ballot." according to Government Computer News.

Thursday, October 2. 2008 Test Shows Palm Beach Voting Machines Not Accurate!

September 14. 2008 Pierce County Instant Runoff Voting System has new bug, says WA SOS - may affect San Francisco 

July 9, 2008 Instant runoff update for San Francisco: federal agency unlikely to certify any voting systems before November

June 27, 2008 Instant runoff forces Pierce County Washington to use uncertified voting systems

September 24. 2008 Palm Beach Election Nightmare Finally Over After 7th Recount

Tests run yesterday in Palm Beach County Florida show there is a real problem with their voting machines.  The optical scan machines, made by Sequoia, can't count the same ballots the same way two times in a row! They get a different count each time.  Washington DC, another customer of Sequoia, is also having trouble with their voting machines, high speed optical scanners.  Earlier this month, "DC's machines somehow managed to inflate the vote totals in some races by more than 100 percent, making up thousands of write-in votes and adding thousands of votes to the totals of candidates on the ballot." according to Government Computer News. Pierce County Washington found problems with their Sequoia precinct optical scanners and could not allow them to be used to count their Instant Runoff Voting ballots. San Francisco uses the same machines for IRV. What can be done to protect the voters in these districts, come November?

Palm Beach County's ballot-counting machines off by dozens in tests

Rejected under-votes and over-votes tallied; totals off by dozens By Brian Haas | South Florida Sun-Sentinel October 2, 2008

Palm Beach County's high-speed ballot counting machines couldn't count the same ballots the same way twice in tests performed Wednesday evening.

As part of a challenge to a disputed judicial race, elections officials tested two Sequoia 400-C counting machines to see how they handled ballots they previously rejected as either over- or under-votes.

Wednesday's tests were simple. Election workers took 262 ballots previously rejected by the machines as over- or under-votes in the judicial race and ran them through two machines. All of them should have been rejected again in the tests.

That didn't happen.

On the first two tests of 160 ballots, the machines accepted three ballots as good votes. On tests on 102 more ballots that should have been rejected, the machines first accepted 13 ballots as good votes and then 90 on a second run....more at the link

Sequoia officials did not attend the testing. It would be too embarrassing and they would be asked to explain everything. 

Related:

CBS had a piece on their nightly news that addressed the issue of people who have
been wrongfully removed from voting rolls because of the exact matching
requirement of HAVA. There is no transparency in how these voters are removed from the rolls. Worse, 19 states are ignoring the federal ban against purging in the 90 day lead up to the election, which means disenfranchising more voters. CBS has two video interviews up on the site, "Vanishing Voters" and "Voter Purging".

Red Flag On Purging Voter Rolls

CBS Evening News Investigates Little-Known, Problem-Ridden Process That Could Endanger Your Vote    NEW YORK, Sept. 30, 2008 (CBS) This story was written by Investigative Producer Pia Malbran.

...States and counties regularly update their voter registration rolls for accuracy, removing people who have moved, died, or committed a felony. It is known as "voter purging."

But, the new report by the non-partisan public policy and law institute, the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law provides troubling new insight into the process. There are no national standards and as a result, the cleaning up of voter rolls is not as precise as it should be and eligible voters are often wrongly removed.

The Brennan report calls the nationwide process "chaotic," "shrouded in secrecy", "riddled with inaccuracies", "prone to error" and "vulnerable to manipulation."

..."Officials are making tons of errors, and voters aren't given a chance to correct the errors," he said.

Waldman also says some voters will show up on Nov. 4 who are supposed to be registered to vote and will be told they are not listed that way. If that happens, he says, “don't take 'no' for an answer. Cast a provisional ballot and call a voter hotline.”

....Read the Brennan Center report on voter purges

...more at the link 

Marybeth Kuznik, Director of VotePA is worried about the voting systems in Pennsylvania. She has good reason to be. In 2004, in Pennsylvania, 7 or 8 out of every 10 votes for President were thrown away in 41 precincts. Thanks to alot of hard work of Pennsylvania activists, two voting systems were decertified.  Unfortunately, the state has certified some different yet also unreliable voting systems to take their place. Marybeth, who is in the movie Uncounted, tells why you should see this movie, and why more of us need to host viewings of this movie:

Here in Pennsylvania, we have been using "UNCOUNTED" to grow our 
organization with new sign-ups for mailing lists, etc.

If this film can get citizens who otherwise wouldn't be aware of 
those problems to get involved and put pressure on our officials that 
results in improvement, it will have done us all a great service.  To 
that end, we are doing everything we can to get as many screenings as 
we can.

Pennsylvania has decertified two DRE systems since 2004 -- Unilect 
and WINvote....

The great thing about the 1-866-OUR-VOTE hotline is that you will get a live person to help you on election day.  This hotline also coordinates with many others, so there is no need to worry about duplicate efforts. 

All you need to remember is 1-866-OUR-VOTE and www.866OURVOTE.org . You can get help at the hotline, and you can share your voting experiences at the website. This helps identify problems and trouble spots.

Nation's Largest Election Protection Coalition Launches Hotline, Website By Kat Zambon, electionline.org. Posted September 29, 2008.

More than 100 partner organizations prepare to help voters for November

With record voter turnout expected at the polls this November, the Election Protection coalition, which includes the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and Rock the Vote say they have prepared the largest and most comprehensive election watch effort ever undertaken.

"We’re confident that we can help millions of Americans overcome obstacles to make sure their votes count," said Jonah Goldman, director of the National Campaign for Fair Elections, part of the Lawyers’ Committee.

The primary tool will be a toll-free phone number, 1-866-OUR-VOTE (and its Spanish counterpart 1-888-VE-Y-VOTA), a nonpartisan confidential voter services hotline.... more at the link 

Common Cause is worried that the internet will be used for dirty tricks and deceptive election information.  They are asking that you report any misleading or deceptive emails or websites to them so that they can track and expose these scams. Please pass this on.

We've already seen how misinformation spread over the Internet can have an impact on the political campaign: the emails falsely claiming Obama is a Muslim; fake Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani websites with misleading statements; a website offering to register people to vote for $9.95, a process that is free; and the head of the NAACP having to release a statement that an email listing "10 Reasons Not to Vote for Hillary Clinton" supposedly authored by him was a hoax.

Will we see similar online misinformation campaigns regarding how to vote, who can vote, where to vote, and when to vote?
Think about how fast rumors and misinformation can circulate on the Internet. We can't afford to have this year's election called into question because of online dirty tricks.

If you see a website or receive an email with questionable voting information between now and Election Day, please let us know about it. 

We're on the lookout for:
* Emails that appear to be from the Secretary of State or other election official, advocacy organizations, or some other supposed authority that contains false information about the voting process.
* Spoofed election administrator, government or advocacy organization websites with misinformation on the voting process.
* False information about how, when or where to vote spread through social networking sites like Facebook.

We're not looking for:
* Emails containing false information about a candidate, his/her record, or his/her policies.

Please let us know about any online deceptive practices that you see by going to www.commoncause.org/DeceptivePractices or forwarding suspect email messages to DeceptivePractices2008@gmail.com.  And please share this message with your friends.

Rady Ananda has posted a review of The Clint Curtis Story over at OpEdNews that has me heading right over to Link TV to watch it. It has appearances by Attorney Bob Fitrakis, computer security expert Harri Hursti, Gore Vidal, Mavis Georgalis, Cynthia McKinney, and Richard Hayes Phillips. Read Rady's view over at OpEdNews and you'll want to watch this movie.

I saw Clint in the movie Uncounted, so I know I want to see this movie.  Clint Curtis is a fascinating and compelling figure in the e-voting movement, a computer programmer, hired to develop some vote switching source code. He is notable chiefly for making a series of "whistleblower" allegations about his former employer and about Republican Congressman Tom Feeney, including an allegation that in 2000, Feeney and Yang Enterprises requested Curtis's assistance in a scheme to steal votes by inserting fraudulent code into touch screen voting systems.  Read the review and you'll want to see the movie.

Murder, Spies & Voting Lies: The Clint Curtis Story

WARNING:  Graphic images included. 

Released on DVD and now airing on Link TV, Murder, Spies & Voting Lies: The Clint Curtis Story, is the most explosive documentary produced in recent memory, involving murder, espionage, coverup, electoral cyber fraud and a United States Member of Congress with ties to the Bush Administration.... more at the link

Ohio voters will get to both register and vote in person during a one week period through October 6 thanks to a ruling by the State Supreme Court AND a Federal Judge. This is a huge improvement in access for voters who 4 years ago faced waiting in line for as long as 13 hours!  The State Supreme Court voted 4-3 that SOS Brunner was right and the early voting and registration was constitutional. This is a bi partisan vote, given that the 6 of the state justices were republican, and 1 was Democrat. U.S. District Judge George  ruled that party poll observers must be allowed during early voting in the state's 88 counties. Brunner appealed that decision to a federal court in Cincinnati.

State, federal courts uphold early voting in Ohio By STEPHEN MAJORS Monday, September 29, 2008

State and federal courts cleared the way Monday for a weeklong period in which new voters can register and cast an absentee ballot on the same day in Ohio, a defeat for Republicans who challenged it.

The early voting window, which begins Tuesday, became a partisan battle in this swing state where President Bush narrowly clinched re-election in 2004.

The court decisions were a victory for Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat who was criticized by Republicans for telling county election boards to allow same-day registration and voting through Oct. 6.

"This ruling is a victory for all Ohio voters," Brunner said in a statement. "It should send a message to the forces of confusion and chaos that our top goal must be protecting Ohioans' voting rights."

The Ohio Republican Party didn't say if it would appeal....

Florida SOS Kurt Browning puts lipstick on a pig in his Oped Even the unverified can vote Browning is talking about decision to enforce the "No Match No Vote" law during the last few weeks of voter registration.  The "No Match No Vote" law orders that a registrant provide either a drivers license or the last four digits of their social security number, and then the Elections dept tries to match that against the DMV or the Social Security databases. 

By waiting until the last minute, Florida makes it harder for voters who don't match - to clear up the bureaucratic mess.

The law will only apply to the newest voters - only those registering after Sept 8 are singled out for this database "verification".  Many through no fault of their own will fail to match.  The law won't apply to the 10.7 million voters who registered before September 8. Arbitrary? Unfair? Bad Law? Exactly! Boneheaded!  45 other states either never adopted the "no match no vote" law, or abandoned it. Browning says that no one is disenfranchised because the those who didn't get the matching problem cleared up can always vote a "provisional ballot".  What Browning doesn't tell you is that provisional ballots are not counted on election day, in fact often arent counted for several days, or that as many as 30% are rejected and not counted. He didn't mention the recent report by the Advancement Project outlining how states like Florida and Ohio had disenfranchised voters by over using provisional ballots, ballots which often don't count!

Funny, Florida will let you clear this up BEFORE the election, or up to 2 days AFTER the election, but WON"T let you clear it up ON election day.  Your ID is not good enough! But you must have it or you can't vote!  Hipocrisy anyone?  Aribitrary law, anyone.

Provisional Voting – Fail Safe or Placebo? 

““Our investigation reveals that instead of functioning as a fail-safe means of voting, provisional voting often creates a serious risk of disenfranchisement,” Elizabeth Westfall, Voter Protection Program deputy director, Advancement Project.   

The Advancement Project just issued a report on how Provisional ballots, rather than helping voters, may in some cases be disenfranchising thousands of voters.  The report focuses on Florida and Ohio in particular, noting that there was an over use or perhaps an inappropriate use of provisional ballots in those states. In some states (Florida is one) a provisional ballot only counts if the voter is at the “right” precinct. In those cases, giving a voter who is at the wrong precinct a provisional ballot will disenfranchise them.  Many voters could vote a regular ballot instead of accepting a provisional ballot, if all they needed to do was go to the correct polling place or perhaps bring ID. Few voters realize that a provisional ballot will not be counted on election night, and will have to be reviewed and approved before it can be counted. Not all will be approved, and the rate of approval varies by state. 

Advancement Project Report Shows Provisional Ballots May Disenfranchise Voters

September 24, 2008 (September 24, 2008, WASHINGTON DC) — Today, Advancement Project, a leading voter protection organization, released “Provisional Voting: Fail-Safe Voting or Trapdoor to Disenfranchising Voters.”...

Bad timing or last ditch effort to supress new voters? A recent alert by the Social Security Administration announces that the agency plans to shut down its databases for maintenance from October 11 through October 13. How will this hurt new voters?  Election officials would lose 4 days of processing time needed to handle new registrants.  Elections staff are already overworked at this time of the year and this is another straw on the camel's back.

This 4 day shutdown occurs at a critical time for most states - it is just past the average cutoff date to turn in new voter registrations. (25 days before the election). Thanks to the "Help America Vote Act" passed in 2002, officials now must check either the registrant's last 4 digits of their social security number against the government database, or the voters drivers license number against the DMV. This shut down would mostly hurt voters who do not have a car or drive.

Voter Registration Shut Down? By Wendy R. Weiser – 09/24/08

Updated (5:30pm): Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) writes to Social Security Administration seeking delay of shutdown. A copy of the letter is here. 

A recent alert by the Social Security Administration announces that the agency plans to shut down its databases for maintenance from October 11 through October 13. While this might not sound like an election issue, it turns out that this could significantly impede registration of first-time voters as well as the re-registration of eligible citizens.

I have seen email after email warning Obama supporters that if they wore their "Obama Gear" to the polls, that they would be blocked from voting. Or they would be told they could stay and vote if they "turned their shirts inside out" or other rubbish. 

None of those rumors are true, but please don't take my word for it. If you wear your Obama t-shirt, McCain t-shirt,  Bob Barr t-shirt, or Cynthia McKinnie t-shirt, will you get turned away from the polls? To clear matters up, I emailed Don Wright, the General Counsel for the North Carolina State Board of Elections today.  He replied in a matter of minutes:

From: Don Wright

To: Joyce McCloy

Subject: RE: electioneering question

Date: Sep 24, 2008 3:16 PM

This rumor has been circulating for several days.

We allow voters to wear items inside the polling place in North Carolina. But other
states may differ (I understand Tenn. does not allow it)

A NC voter may enter a voting place to vote wearing political items as long as they...