Never Mind the 'Results', Election 2006 Was a Disaster...

[BradBlog]

It ain't over by a longshot... The meltdown continues... - Brad

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Never Mind the 'Results', Election 2006 Was a Disaster for E-Voting Systems Across the Nation
(Will Someone Please Tell the Headline Writers at the New York Times and the Associated Press?)

ComputerWorld has just posted the following article of mine in full. Here's the first few (pre-CW-edited) grafs to whet your appetite…

ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINE SLAYS NINE!
Terrorizes Florida in Thrill-Kill Rampage

That headline was from a satirical column written by Andy Borowitz published last Monday, the day before Tuesday's mid-term election.

Unfortunately, given the post-election coverage by some of the nation's leading media — or at least their headline writers — it seems that only an event such as a Diebold voting machine becoming "unmoored from the floor and…trampling everyone and everything in its path," as Borowitz wrote, would qualify as anything more than a "glitch", "hiccup", "snag" or "snafu". At least if you guage the coverage from the headline writers at NYTimes or Associated Press.

"Voting System Worked, With Some Hiccups," declared the AP headline on Wednesday. "Polling Places Report Snags, but Not Chaos," echoed the Times.

"Hiccups"? "Snags"? Try telling it the thousands of voters around the country who were unable to simply cast a vote last Tuesday because new, untested electronic voting machines failed to work. Monumentally. Across the entire country.

"Not Chaos"? Apparently the Times headline writers failed to check with the folks in Denver who were lined up around the block for hours to vote. They didn't even bother to read the the Denver Post who headlined the problem as a "Voting Nightmare" during the day on Tuesday and quoted voter Lauren Brockman saying "We will not get to vote today," after he had showed up before work to vote at 6:45 a.m. at the Botanic Gardens only to wait on line for an hour before giving up....

For the complete story, including bullets barely dodged this week — from the Allen and Santorum Senate races to innumerable U.S. House elections currently uncountable and unrecountable due to the failures of these god-forsake machines — and the ravages of an American electoral system in tatters no matter how the headline writers at the major national media and the Voting Machine Apologists are hoping to spin things…see my complete piece just published at ComputerWorld…

(Oh, and find out how that Diebold Voting Machine Killer Rampage in Florida comes out too!)

THE ABOVE TEASER STORY: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3770
COMPLETE COMPUTERWORLD ARTICLE: http://tinyurl.com/ymczrw

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Zogby 'Exit Poll' of San Diego's CA50 Busby/Bilbray Election Suggests 6-Point Distortion in Announced 'Results'
Election Attorney Paul Lehto Blames Registrar Mikel Haas' Administration of Election, Refusal to Properly Count Paper Ballots for Discrepancy
Says, 'Abuse of Discretion' Improperly Delayed Count of Paper Ballots, Creates 'Second Class Ballots, Voters'

FULL STORY, EXIT POLL RAW DATA, PRESS RELEASE FROM LEHTO:
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3772

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The New York Times on 'Left-Leaning' BRAD BLOG's Election Coverage…

From the New York Times in an article headlined "Blogs Take Lead in Reporting Polling Problems" by Tom Zeller, Jr.:

Brad Friedman, perhaps the most dogged critic of electronic voting machine technology in the blogosphere, said he saw his site traffic spike at left-leaning Bradblog.com, as reports of machine malfunctions began pouring in from around the country.

"Folks understand by now that I’ll get these stories out so that they’ll get confirmed," Mr. Friedman said.

Well, somebody hadda "take the lead in reporting polling problems," Zeller! ;-)

URL: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3764

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---
Brad Friedman
THE BRAD BLOG - The uprising continues...
http://www.BradBlog.com
VELVET REVOLUTION's Election Protection Strike Force!
Of the people, by the people, for the people...
http://www.VelvetRevolution.us/ElectionStrikeForce

[Land Shark]

1. Bradblog continues to be the force in election news, thanks for covering

Busby/Bilbray exit poll, here's another thread in DU election forum that links to bradblog but has a concise intro paragraph that's helpful to most:

<http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x457840>

[gristy]

3. Here's a shout-out to Paul Lehto (Land Shark) and Brad Friedman

:yourock: :hug:

[bleever]

7. If I may take the liberty of posting it here:

Land Shark's Intro Comment:

Here in San Diego County, in the 50th Congressional District Busby/Bilbray race, based on the Zogby exit poll we had performed, one of the following two very bad things MUST be true, logically:

(1) EITHER there is a very large discrepancy in the Zogby exit poll vs posted results so far, which means a suspicious election or a defective poll, and 95% of Zogby's polls are within 1% of actual result, OR ELSE

(2) in light of the 180,000 ballots still to be counted in San Diego County, an unknown percentage of which are from the 50th, the race will tighten up considerably over results reported so far, consistent with Zogby exit poll data suggesting that Democrats disproportionately chose paper ballots and Republicans disproportionately chose electronic ballots.(the main point of my press release)

This second option reveals the "SECOND CLASS BALLOTING SYSTEM" where paper balloters are dealt second class service that doesn't get counted or considered by media headines in the days following the election because as a matter of policy counting doesn't even get started until Thursday. Ken Simpkins and I had the pleasure of filing peremptory writs on election day and the day after in order to try to force the registrar Haas to treat all ballots, electronic or paper equally thanks to Kpete's decision to object to Haas's attempt to create second class citizens in our democracy.

As further evidence of Haas committment to nontransparency, Haas also refuses to hit the "print" button to give precinct breakdowns, nor post the same on the website, so everything gets tossed into the same bucket again, making tracking either difficult or impossible.

[Old and In the Way]

2. Hats off to you and Paul, Autorank, and all of the other patriots

who have made this issue a part of our political consciousness.

I really hope the Democrats realize they dodged a bullet in this election...we're damned lucky that the issues broke our way and the voter turnout was too great in too many places to steal this time.

It would be smart politics for Democrats to promote a bi-partisan bill to fix the potential flaws with our current process. There are a lot of highly educated people (you folks, certainly) who can provide the expertise to make our system bullet-proof. Republicans may now be wondering if their vote counted this cycle....there will never be a better time to drive reform. Every single voter, regardless of their political affiliation (or lack thereof) should believe we have a functioning democracy. Without that, we are no better than a 3rd world banana republic.

:toast:

[Wilms]

4. K&R n/t

[Patsy Stone]

5. Thanks, Brad!

:toast:

[bleever]

6. We walked away from this car wreck in good shape,

but who thinks car wrecks are the model for elections?

Lots of work left. Thanks, Brad!

[BradBlog]

17. Lots of work indeed...

...but I could *really* use a nap!

[OneBlueSky]

8. kicked . . . and highly recommended . . .

we won, but that doesn't mean that everything is okay with our electoral system . . . the problems that were evident before Tuesday are still there, and we need to address them . . .

[Pooka Fey]

9. You rock, Brad. K&R

[texpatriot2004]

10. K & R for Transparent Democracy nm

[Joe Chi Minh]

11. Snakes in suits.

[rumpel]

12. yes, and we are not done counting in many places

absentee and provisionals, where the new HAVA requirement of voter registration database implementation in each State comes into play.
Will your vote be counted?

thanks Brad for all you do 24/7/365 :)

[Kurovski]

13. K&R.

[MsMagnificent]

14. and those nine were the RINGWRAITHS!

*shudder*

j/k of course :D K&R!

[tavalon]

15. Snafu

is a military acronym that means situation normal all fucked up. That about sums up Diebold.

[AntiFascist]

16. Kick, just because we won big, it should have been bigger! n/t