800 Votes Disappear After 'Partial Recount' on Faulty Tabulation Systems in FL-18 U.S. House Race

[BradBlog]

Source: BRAD BLOG



Hundreds of Votes Disappear After 'Partial Recount' on Faulty Tabulation Systems in FL-18 U.S. House Race Between West and Murphy
Republican West gains 500 votes after memory card 'issue' on Diebold op-scan systems prompts partial re-tally in St. Lucie County
West and supporters cry foul, charge election being 'stolen'...

On Sunday, election officials in St. Lucie County, Florida re-tallied votes from the last three days of Early Voting, citing what county officials described cryptically as "an issue with the memory cards that record the ballots when they're fed through the machines originally."

Among the races which saw a partial re-tally of paper ballots, as they were sent through the same optical-scan systems which scanned them the first time, was the contentious and very close U.S. House race in Florida's new 18th Congressional district. As The BRAD BLOG reported in detail late last week, Democratic candidate Patrick Murphy was said to have been leading Republican Rep. Allen West in the race by a very slim margin --- just .78% at the time --- after initial Election Day tallies in all three counties which comprise the new district. The extreme and often extremely controversial, far Rightwing West currently represents Florida's 22nd District, but is now running in the new, redistricted 18th.

Following Sunday's re-tally, both candidates reportedly lost votes. West lost 132 votes while Murphy lost an extraordinary 667, for an overall pickup by West of some 535 votes.

On Friday, Murphy was said to have been leading West --- whose attorneys have already been in court, unsuccessfully demanding that voting systems and paper ballots be immediately impounded --- by just 2,456 votes out of approximately 318,000 tallied at the time.

After Sunday's partial re-tally, Murphy is still said to be leading West, according to the Florida Division of Elections website, but by just 1,907 votes. The current .58% margin of difference puts West just barely outside of the .5% margin that would trigger an automatic "recount" (albeit by the same faulty machines) in the state of Florida.

In our report on Friday, supporting West's demand for a hand-count of all paper ballots in the race, we detailed the three different electronic tabulation systems used in each of the counties --- St. Lucie, Martin and Palm Beach --- which now comprise FL-18, and how each of those systems have a long track record for failure during elections, mistallies and the ability to be easily manipulated by both hackers and election insiders alike.

Following the partial re-tally on Sunday, West's attorneys and supporters were predictably outraged and claiming, without presenting any actual evidence to support them, that "liberals" and/or St. Lucie's Supervisor of Elections Gertrude Walker, a Democrat, was attempting to "steal" the race...

FULL STORY: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=9724

Read more: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=9724

[hrmjustin]

1. These ^&*(((s are trying to steal this from the democrats, and the media will let them.

Remember in 2006 Vern Buchanan won his district in FL because many dem votes went missing only in the congressional race.
I think that picture above is the wrong Murphy. I think that is the former congressman from PA.

[Dubster]

2. Spam deleted by gkhouston (MIR Team)

[BradBlog]

14. Unfortunately, you have no idea that's the case...

"West, The Leading GOP Tea Party Scumbag was voted out. Plain and simple."

Unfortunately, you have no idea if that's the case. Nobody does. And, I suspect, if it was Patrick Murphy down by less than 2000 votes out of some 300,000 cast, you might even be first in line demanding that some human being actually counted them to find out who actually won and who actually lost.

Has nothing to do with how much of a "GOP Tea Party Scumbag" he is or isn't. It's about election integrity, and when it's your guy being told he "was voted out, plain and simple" without any actual proof of that, you'll be sorry you didn't stand up and support a public, transparent count this time around.

[Unca Jim]

22. In a word...

AMEN!

[jonthebru]

3. I despise Allen West, really!

But what is the frickin' problem with counting votes in this country?
Is it a symptom of our lackadaisical regard for the public good?
Partial re-tally your ass.

[Renew Deal]

4. If they can't count with a computer, they should count by hand

[davidwparker]

10. +1

[BradBlog]

16. +2, and...

I would suggest they count by hand anyway, since we can't KNOW if the machines counted correctly, UNLESS WE COUNT THE BALLOTS BY HAND!

Duh.

[wordpix]

19. +3 and have lots of onlookers counting, too

[hay rick]

5. Let the chips fall where they may.

The picture on the right doesn't look anything like Patrick Murphy. Think that is a picture of Pennsylvania's Patrick Murphy.

My post on this race: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021798362

[BradBlog]

17. Thank you, Hay Rick...

And, yes, originally I had a photo of the wrong Patrick Murphy there. My bad. Now fixed.

[HereSince1628]

6. Stalin would be feeling pretty smug at this moment.

"Those who cast the votes decide nothing.

Those who count the votes decide everything."

[William Seger]

7. "Memory card issue" sounds bogus

That might be plausible if there were votes missing or unreadable, but how does a "memory card issue" just add a few hundred votes? Maybe not impossible, but not very plausible.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

8. Damn voting machines. Insist on paper audit trails or paper ballots. nt

[BradBlog]

20. There are ALREADY paper ballots here. That's the point...

Even though there are already paper ballots, they are only tabulated by faulty machines which, in this case, have already mis-tallied some 800 votes.

We've got paper ballots already, now we need to publicly hand-count them so we can KNOW that they've been tallied accurately!

Please read the original article.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

26. Keep on doing what you're doing, Brad. And, thank you!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

28. Thanks for clarifying my misunderstanding. nt

[Dawson Leery]

9. Rethugs stealing another election.

[Ms. Toad]

11. Where are the observers watching the scanning?

From my stint watching these in the county I'm observing (same machines), there are marks which don't read well - and there is no warning they are not being read since people are allowed to skip races. The only warning is if NONE of the marks on a page are read (which is how I discovered what reads and doesn't).

Small marks (centered or off center), check marks, and Xs do not read well. Several ballot sheets with only two races read as blank, when it was clear that the races were marked - but not marked properly. (The corresponding first pages - with about 20 races - went through without complaint as long as the machine could read a single mark - the machines are programmed to do that so a manual override is not required every time someone skips a race.)

People who are not used to scantron type sheets do not necessarily complete the bubbles properly - and an elderly population is more likely not to have encountered these kinds of sheets anywhere it counted. Erased marks (light but complete) seem to read as if they are still there. Dark but less complete marks (like those described above) do not seen to be reliably read reliably as present. And I expect there is some variation from scanner to scanner - so if the ballots were scanned on a more sensitive machine the first time, then rescanned on a less sensitive one for a recount, votes could "disappear."

If I ruled the world, I would require a visual once over of each ballot and set aside any ballots with less than complete marks for remaking with complete marks before being scanned

[defacto7]

12. West is the worst... He was one of the tops on my shit list.

Now, what would have prompted him to demand that the tally was inaccurate? How would he have wind of such a thing? Or is it just a coincidence? Or is he a psychic?

Something sounds screwy.

[wellspring]

13. The national Democratic party seems to be in a bubble on vote hacking.

They will fight against vote suppression and things like that. But when it comes to electronically hacking the vote we seem to hear silence. Everyone seems to be so petrified of being called a conspiracy nut that they are utterly cowed by the "Electric Ridicule Machine" and do nothing about vote hacking. Even in 2008 the vote totals for Obama in the official count were, in state after state, lower than the exit polls said. A statistician said the odds against this being chance were astronomical. In other words, in 2008, Obama should have won by more, with more Democrats winning down-ballot races. Electronic voting is just a one-armed bandit Vegas slot machine. A crap shoot. Ever hold an electron in your hand? With electrons zig-zagging all over the place you can't impound them or have them examined by a court of law. So where is our party on vote hacking and electronic issues? We can't bring that up! Somebody might call us a conspiracy nut! What are you gonna do, say this is a banana republic??????? We can't bring up electronic vote rigging! It has been charged that the electronic vote hackers only skim a certain percentage of the vote off the Democratic totals in order to cover their tracks. And they use all the other election rigging as cover and diversion. With more holes in the election dike than we have fingers, the electronic hacking issue always gets shoved under the rug. EVERY TIME. But vote hacking, not voter intimidation, is the big enchilada, the "family jewels" of election rigging. You don't touch the family jewels. Remember, with electronic vote hacking the GOP can rig elections fair and square! What's not to like!??? We have the best elections money can buy. And we have the best elections hackers can rig! What a country!

&feature=fvsr

[Prana69]

25. +1 to that!

You know that if the Democrats (or Republicans for that matter) acknowledge that there is in fact an issue with the integrity of elections, the whole facade of American democracy will disintegrate, walls will come tumbling down..... and a second American Revolution against "the fixers" (the 1%) will ensue.

That 1% also includes many Democrats who continue to benefit from this great charade...hence, their silence.

P69

[Swede Atlanta]

15. I suggest there should be an investigation of the assertions....

This is classic attempt to steal an election by confusing the public with techno-geek talk. Someone with experience in this area should be following this.

[Melissa G]

18. Thanks, Brad.

Great work as always.

[progressoid]

21. Ohferfucksake.

FLORIDA!!

[blkmusclmachine]

23. It's a coincidence, I tell ya.

Nothing to see here. Move along.

[LisaL]

24. This really doesn't inspire much confidence in our voting process, does it?

[HooptieWagon]

27. Counting by hand has errors too, no?

Auto races used to be scored by hand, and errors were quite common. I would think the scanners would have a lower error rate, provided they're properly programmed and tested, and verified.