Why I Worry about PA This Election…

[Junkdrawer]

This is a long story, but I’ll try to keep it short.

After the 2002 midterms, I was one of the original DU Election Reform posters. I read everything I could get my hands on and soon realized that the key was that elections (and voting machines) needed to be auditable and audited.

Now, it just so happens that my best friend (who now lives across the state from me) was an active advocate for the disabled. Because of this, he was asked to be a member of the Governor’s HAVA advisory committee. (I’m certain they thought he was a sure thing to support the new machines. At the time, handicapped advocates were almost all in favor of touchscreen voting.) I emailed him a lot of what I was reading and soon he got the committee to agree that voter verified paper ballots were necessary. However, once it was clear that the committee wouldn’t rubberstamp unauditable machines, the PA Secretary of State refused to meet with them in person and, instead, sent a secretary to one of their meetings to get their findings. None of the committee's recommendations made it into the rules governing the purchase of new voting equipment.

Forward to 2005. The Pittsburgh City Paper ran a long article about voting machines. I nearly choked when I read this:

…

"The voter gets to keep this?" one of the Beaver poll workers asks.

Nope. The paper stays at the poll. If there were ever need for a recount to verify whether the election, or even just one machine, were accurate, the VVPATs can be compared to the machine tallies.

That sounds great.

Except, as Schulte never explains to the ladies, Pennsylvania won't approve any electronic voting machine that also records the vote on paper. The Accupoll 1000 got certified on Aug. 4 with the proviso that their VVPAT will be disabled.
…

http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A29155

Yes, you read that right. In order to get approval in Pennsylvania, voting machines have to be unauditable. An effort by Democrat Dan Frankel was made to change this by legislation, but the Governor didn’t help and the Republican-controlled legislature bottled up the bill.

There was one remaining ray of hope. The PA constitution states that the electorate must approve by referendum any change of voting equipment. A judge in Westmorland County agreed and Voting machine purchases were put on hold. That’s when Governor Rendell swung into action. An emergency appeal was made to the State Supreme court and the justices ruled that HAVA trumps the state constitution. Seems to me that a referendum could have been made, but "shut the public out of this decision" seems to be the motto in PA.

Why was Rendell so pro-touchscreen? Well, one reason was that the Feds were threatening to pull the HAVA money, and leave behind the HAVA requirement, for all states that didn’t make the change in 2006. Another reason was that Pennsylvania (and Texas) has long used the services of part-time CMU prof (and infamous pro-touchscreen advocate) Mike Shamos as their computerized voting consultant. Yet a third was hinted at when, during the Allegheny County voting machine hearings, one of Rendell's main campaign advisers showed up to argue in favor of Diebold over all other vendors.

So, here we are. Here’s a map of the current situation:



If you want to believe elections in PA will still be on the up-and-up, be my guest. I don’t.

[Thrill]

1. Were the touchcreens an issue in 06?

[helderheid]

4. Obama was 10 points ahead there during the primary. n/t

[Thrill]

11. That was that ridiculous Zogby Poll

[Teaser]

16. No. wrong. fail.

that was Zogby. The majority of the polling had Obama behind. Gaining, or close, at times, but behind. The polling before the primary was largely on target.

[LSK]

2. Senator Bob Casey n/t

[helderheid]

3. I'm with you.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

5. Explain 2006. (nt)

[Junkdrawer]

6. To all who want 2006 explained:

The voting machines were brand new and controversial. Casey was way ahead in the polls. It would have been the height of folly to try to flip that particular election.

Also, I've been following the votes of Bob Casey and he's one of the most conservative Democrats in the Senate.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

8. What about Altmire, Sestak, Murphy, and Carney? (nt)

[Junkdrawer]

12. Take the FISA law vote. All four you cited voted FOR the bill...

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2008/roll437.xml

2006 was the year of the Blue Dog DINOs

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

19. I'm sorry, what does this have to do with election theft?

Are you saying that it was selective and that only Democrats whom would have voted for such laws were "allowed" to win? Because that's an exceptionally specious argument, and one where the burden of evidence falls heavily onto your lap.

[Junkdrawer]

23. Many DUers celebrated the "win" in 2006. Fewer celebrate that win today. n/t

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

31. Okay, but I was disputing your election theft theory.

Apples, meet oranges.

[Marnieworld]

7. I am a poll worker in one of those red counties

Last night I received my training. It broke my heart to see that there is paper in the machines but voter verified ballots aren't printed. It's like a register tape. At the start of the day we will print a tally that lists zero votes. At the end of the day we print out another report of the votes for each candidate. There is no modem, no memory card. All of the votes are recorded on to the hard drive. The only problem is that there is no way to verify the results. The programming could be that every third vote for Obama is switched to McCain and there is no way of knowing that. We can only verify the number of votes cast. That is all. At the end of the night we write out the results on a giant piece of paper and it is these written results based on the reports from the machines that are used to tabulate vote totals. The machines aren't even touched on election night and perhaps never if there is no recount. The end voting report can be programmed in advance I bet just inputting the total number of votes at the end as a factor in a calculation. It's a big sham. We just have to hope that it is legitimate. It's very depressing.

I'm there to help people vote and I guess to keep my eye out for shady patches in the day or clear machine malfunctions but without that VVPAT it all seems so pointless. There should be one way to vote everywhere and always verifiable. I'll never understand why not. As if elections should be faith-based?

On edit: I forgot to mention that all machines were Diebold. :cry:

[Junkdrawer]

9. Very, very depressing. The City Paper article I cited has an interview...

with Mike Shamos. Mike is both a PhD Computer prof and a lawyer - he's quite the sophist. His "reasoning" is that VVPATs are imperfect and therefore unnecessary.

Also, as there is no provision in PA law to change an elections result in the event that an audit showed a discrepancy. So what did PA do? Change the law? Nope, they prohibited audits. Problem solved.

[ieoeja]

18. Can't you test it? Sit down with the machine one day and cast 100 votes for each candidate? n/t

[Marnieworld]

27. unfortunately I can't

We played with demo machines last night for training purposes simulating an election day. I thought of doing that but I never had complete control over a machine and didn't have the authority for such a test. We don't get the real machines until election day and there is no way to test the whole cycle, start the machine, vote a bunch of times and formally close the machine down without the machine not offline for the real voting. Even if the machine would work again after closing it from voting, the machines tally every vote ever cast on them so the actual votes with the additional test votes wouldn't add up at the end to match the number of people signed in to vote. I was assured that this testing has already occurred but once again there's this issue of trust vs. verifiability.

[Junkdrawer]

29. Besides, most theft scenarios involve code that would be designed...

to execute only during an actual election.

There are so many ways to steal an election with electronic voting, that VVPAT audits are really the only thing that would make a thief think twice.

Hand counted paper is really the best solution.

[JimGinPA]

30. Here In Lancaster Co. We're Given The Option Of A Paper Ballot

I used paper in 2006.

[ellie]

10. What should we do to fix this?

Or is there nothing to do? Are the machines checked at all before the election by the Secretary of State? Are they tested at all? Is there anyone we can call or e-mail?

[Junkdrawer]

13. I attended every hearing I could. The public was humored at every step....

It will take SEVERAL controversial elections before the issue will be reopened.

[GrizzlyMan]

14. So then what's the point of threads like this?

If there's nothing that can be done to remedy it before this year's election.

[Junkdrawer]

17. Because unless there is awareness of the problem, even bizarre results...

will be attributed to other causes.

Change always STARTS when a small group is made aware of the exact nature of the problem. I can't tell you how many times I've seen "PA is 100% safe. There's a Democratic Governor and SOS there watching over things."

[blm]

20. State by state and under the radar is EXACTLY how elections are stolen.

I will send the DNC a letter about Pennsylvania - I hope like hell he doesn't take Rendell at his word, either.

[Junkdrawer]

24. Thanks.

:hi:

[ellie]

21. So we can

assume that Obama will lose PA then? I think he will lose FL too because of election fraud. We have a Dem SOS in Ohio who has said she will make sure that all votes are counted, so hopefully the repukes stay home that day and Ohio turns blue. I am not counting on it though. Nate of 538 says that the scenario where Obama loses FL/PA/Ohio but wins the election is 1.72%.

I guess we have to get used to saying President McCain and Vice President Palin.

[Junkdrawer]

22. IF, big if, they steal it, PA will be necessary....

There is a line of thought that the Economy is so bad that The Powers That Be may well want a Democrat in office to take the blame.

I'll tell you this: if they want to steal PA, there's nothing to stop them.

[KamaAina]

15. Once again, HAVA does NOT mandate a wholesale switch to touchscreens.

In Hawai'i, we have ONE accessible touchscreen machine at each polling place. The elections official specifically decided NOT to buy Diebold after he heard the CEO's remark about "delivering Ohio's electoral votes to Bush". (He has since been dismissed by our slimy repuke governor!)

Therefore, these judges saying "HAVA trumps the state constitution" are as full of it as a sewer line after halftime of the Super Bowl. :eyes:

[FatDave]

25. Obama is 13 points up and the gap is widening.

http://www.pollster.com/polls/pa/08-pa-pres-ge-mvo.php

Gonna be tough to flip that one.

[FUCK_BUSH]

26. I Agree with you.I am very concern for PA and OH as well.I can smell FRAUD from here in VA.

I pray to god that dems and obama camp are vigilant and top of these states.

[TheDonkey]

28. I do not like how rethuglican counties are using paper ballots and everyone else isn't

Machines with no audit trail are an issue.

[WeDidIt]

32. And the new "McCain Worker Attacked and Mutilated" bullshit will be teh excuse

Fuck!

[DangerDave921]

33. Why just PA?

You're not worried about your MA too?

[Junkdrawer]

35. What kind of audits are done in Massachusetts?

:silly:

[DangerDave921]

37. Ma and Pa

As in one's mom and dad. Only worried about your Pa? Why not your Ma too?

I am so funny.

[DangerDave921]

34. James Carville line

Pittsburgh on the west, Philly on the east, and Alabama in the middle.

[Junkdrawer]

36. And Georgian voting machines all over...n/t

[DLnyc]

38. So I gotta get my ass out to PA, again, this Sat and Sun to help make it

one of the bluest states around. If they steal it, they're gonna have to steal it against a 10 to 20% polling lead. Yes, they could steal it, but it's gonna look really, really fishy if the polling in Pennsylvania that day is around 15% Obama. Especially since the 'results' in the electronic counties are gonna be in very sharp contrast to the results in the paper counties.

Thank you for an interesting, informative post -- but I'm keeping to my goal of doing everything I possibly can to make Obama's numbers so high that any theft sticks out like the obscene thumb it is.

[Junkdrawer]

39. DemocracyNow covering PA now. n/t