YEE-HAAAA! WHOOPEE! Got A Call Last Night To Help As A

[ChiciB1]

representative to oversee the elections here in my District. District 13, formerly of The Witch Cruella! There were approximately 18,600 votes not recorded for the seat that Cruella just gave up to run for senator!

While this county has always been very "red" the county voted for Davis over Crist for Governor which indicates that is was voting MORE for Democrats than Repukes. Vern Buchanan decided he won by anywhere from 364 to 373 votes depending on who is reporting it, but most people here feel he actually DIDN'T win. Anyway, we are slated to have at least TWO recounts, but that may change because there is a possibility that we can get more information from "screen recapturing" on the ES&S Electronic machines that had NO PAPER TRAIL!! Our paper trail initiative passed by a large margin and they tried to keep that off the ballot too! Despite our local Supervisor of Election and her "rantings" she finds her back against the wall on this one, and it's about time. This isn't the first time she's been in the middle of controversial decisions. I think Cruella et al must have given her quite a few pointers from time to time! She's really a piece of work!

I'm going to orientation tonight and the recount will start on Wednesday. I'll probably have more information after Wednesday once we see how the process will proceed!

I'm so EXCITED and am looking forward to being part of the "over-site" process for local Democrats!

Just had to share!

[SharonAnn]

1. Good for you! Good for us! Glad to have someone like you helping

with this.

For honest elections and honest "recounts", a wide variety of citizens need to be involved. It cannot be just a small group in the proverbial back room doing this.

Thank you for working on this.

[ChiciB1]

8. I Get Back With Details When I Can... And I Hope there Will Be

many many people there. I certainly don't want the RECOUNT to turn into a "controversial" food fight!

Jennings is more on the reserved side, but a real fighter too. She REALLY believes she won, and I told her I KNOW she won. And I'm just a regular citizen here. And to be totally honest, I actually voted for her opponent in the Primary, so it's not like I'm somebody who has any kind of worship thing going on. I've just lived in this area for a long time and my gut tells me that this isn't the FIRST election or governmental problem to crop up here. Well, I think most of us know this isn't the first time they've tried to grab power.

The current Supervisor of Elections has made several controversial moves in the past and is very partisan! She's pretty harsh!

[demo dutch]

2. Go Chichi!

[yellerpup]

3. You'll be great!

Isn't it a pleasure to serve?

[ChiciB1]

6. Yes, I'm Very Excited About This!

I recall watching all those people back in 2000 looking at all those "chads" and found it kind of humorous because I have a son named Chad.

There will no "chads" this time around and I will say that I'm not sure what they mean by "screen re-capturing" but I plan to be extremely observant.

As a woman, I rely on my intuition a lot so my antennae will be up, and I've always been one to ask LOTS of questions. I'm planning on being as professional as possible, but will also want know for sure that this isn't just some "dog & pony show" being played out because their backs are against the wall.

It's my understanding that the man who will run this is a partisan Repuke, but I can control myself. I'm more the "kill 'em with kindness" type, but assertive in my own way.

[yellerpup]

9. Kill 'em with kindness is effective.

I'm thinking of how effective Nancy Pelosi is with that tack. Your plan sounds tight, keeping the intuition tuned in, wearing professional face, and playing close attention. I'm glad you'll be standing up for truth and fairness for all of us who can't be there. You seem "tough enough" to me! Go git 'um, gal!

[ChiciB1]

10. I'm Tempted To Say "Locked & Loaded!" But I'm Not That Military Even

though I was raised as an Army brat! The phrase just came to me because of a show I watched recently.

[bonito]

4. Great news!

Be looking for results.

[calimary]

5. Yep - just always remember what "Mad-Eye Moody" warned Harry

Potter in the "Defense Against the Dark Arts" class:

"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!!!!"

Good going! Glad you shared this!

:thumbsup:

[ChiciB1]

7. Thank You... I Look To Learn Something From This Too! n/t

[jumpoffdaplanet]

11. Be careful with any identifying info

I would not put it past freepers trying to get you dismissed just because you post here.

It's been done to people before, getting them fired or dismissed for merely posting here.

Good luck and know lots of people are jealous and wish we could be there too. :)

[ChiciB1]

17. So We Should Stop Comments... Maybe! n/t

[jumpoffdaplanet]

22. Maybe, but do keep a journal to share later

I don't know what would be best for you.

But I know I've read of problems people have had in the past.

As much as we love to know up-to-date info, I'd rather you be safe and allowed to do your job now.

And share later, in great detail of course. :)

Good luck!!

[Peace Patriot]

12. Thanks so much for being there, ChiciB1! --for being available, for being

willing, for making the time, and for being observant and vigilant. What you are doing is so important! It IS our democracy! Transparent vote counting!

Thank you a thousand times! I look forward to your reports!

[ChiciB1]

14. Thanks For the Encouragement! I Feel Kind Of Honored Myself!

Given what so many of us have thought and felt these past 6 years, activism has become second nature to me now.

I always think that I have something to learn each and every day, and try to remember most events as "lessons learned." This is an opportunity to see first hand some of the inner workings of the election process here in Florida! I do wonder if they know how very serious I am about this.

This IS our Democracy and one that I feel has been trampled on for quite some time now.

[davidlynch]

13. Very Interested In Hearing The Results On This--Theory on Screen Recapturing Inside....

And please explain this "screen recapturing" when you learn more. I think I know what it means, but I'm not sure. It may be that the ES&S machines are actually scanning an image of the entire ballot as it is being processed, in addition to trying to read and register the marks. If this is true, it might provide an audit trail of sorts, although being 100% electroinc, one that might be easy to hack.

[ChiciB1]

16. I'll Be Taking Notes If Allowed... I Would Prefer To Record But

feel they might not allow that! Someone has to be recording though, and being there I'll be able to connect more closely.

[SharonAnn]

21. I think they "Re-create" the ballot from the data in the file.

[flpoljunkie]

15. Please read this from Avi Rubin on the "recount" on touchscreen voting in Sarasota

http://avi-rubin.blogspot.com

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

A Worst Case Scenario for a midterm election?

The DRE vendors like to pretend that they can perform recounts. They take the vote totals on the machines and print corresponding ballots, and then count them by hand. Let me give an analogy to demonstrate how silly that is. It would be comical if vendors weren't actually doing it and convincing people that they were performing a recount.

Imagine if you had a word document on your computer, and the document stated some fact. You were not sure if the fact was true. So, to verify the fact, you print the word document, and then you read it out loud and say, "Ah, if that's what it says, then it must be true because I'm looking at a printout." What the vendors are doing is printing out the questionable results and then counting them. Of course they are going to match what was on the machine, but they do not provide an independent count. The so-called recounts of DREs are really just print and count, not RE-count. It is a waste of time.

Now, we hear that in Sarasota County, there were 18,000 undervotes in the race for the 13th congressional seat. The race is expected to be decided by fewer than 400 votes. If paper ballots had been used, the huge number of undervotes could be investigated. Without them, there is no recourse - no way to figure out why this happened. I have several theories. Perhaps that many people just did not care about that race. Unlikely in my opinion. Most likely is that the human interface, that is, candidate placement on the ballot caused many people to miss that race. The next possibility is that a software glitch caused votes in that race not to be counted. Finally, it is possible that someone actually did something to cause this. The problem with paperless voting is that we'll never know, and there will never be any way to find out.

It is unbelievable that the control of the US senate is coming down to a close race that cannot be recounted, and for which there are no physical ballots. The vendors may come out with their "emperor's clothes" recounts, but the public should understand that these are not really recounts, they are just print and count.i

Posted by Avi Rubin: at 4:09 PM

[ChiciB1]

18. I Think I Did Comment On This...

Like is it merely a Dog & Pony Show. One thing though, Jennings is actually in D.C. right now along with Buchanan for the Orientation of Congress.

My curiosity is high and I'm not saying that any recount here would be conclusive. But, I think many here feel there should a separate election here in this county. What they are also going to be relying on are those people who actually had difficulties when voting. That is the main focus, and the main verification. Jennings has called for anyone who had personal problems to please come forward. This election may not be decided for quite some time, I just don't know. I do know that many are very very cynical about it.

[flpoljunkie]

20. "Screen recapturing" will undoubtedly show no votes were cast. Only fair resolution is new election

in Sarasota, which a judge would have to order, because you can be damn sure Jeb and his Secretary of State Sue Cobb will not.

[Senator]

19. Congrats. And a suggestion, FWIW

It's natural of course to keep your eyes open for "stuff" from the GOPers running the show and from their trained operatives. By all means do that.

But something you could run into that you could really help with is a Dem "leadership" that is in disarray or ill-prepared for the nature of the endeavor. Mr. Coffey is certainly an exceptional election lawyer, but this DRE "stuff" is new to everyone. You can't tell what might come up or who might be pressed upon to "approve" something.

If possible I would suggest having real-time access to the DU "experts" in the Election Reform forum. Even if it means borrowing a WIFI laptop and running to Starbucks for a "coffee break."

The lament you want to avoid is "had we known at the time." It turns out that way far too often.

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