Reply #27: Pol Sci Major and Master Degree, in fact so number crunchin' is my hobby [View All]

[ISUGRADIA]

Good question, not all voting was via mail in absentee, there were "satellite" or early voting stations on the ISU campus and other sites in Ames accd. to the newspapers. No breakdown of what was early and what was mail-in but absentees are handled the same. That is ballots sealed in envelopes, counted by the absentee board, no early voting on tabulators.

The 2004 satellite voting was a major news story TV, Ames , Iowa State, Des Moines newspapers) that the Secretary of State was involved with. Rules were not followed as to allowing students who were waiting in line the chance to vote. Big mess up.

Since this was a precinct count county, I do think any vote hacking would be difficult. There would have to be access to the tabulator memory cards in advance and knowlege of individual precincts to make sure a "funny" result would not stand out. I'm just not sure about hacking tabulators as the main way of supressing the vote. I see DREs as the perfect media for manipulation with no trail. A paper ballot will always be there (or at least for 22 months following a federal election in Iowa).

ANd good old voting roll purges, felon lists, pollwater intimidation, requiring photo ids, and reventing college students from voting (in many states, Iowa has not seem to have this problem).