They're Already Hacking the 2008 Election;Paper Ballots-- the Only Acceptable Solution

[kster]

by Mark E. Smith

http://www.opednews.com

SNIP....As usual, rather than sacrifice a corrupt system that benefits them to the tune of trillions of dollars annually, they will make some cosmetic reforms to the system, enough to let people think there is hope when there really is none. This time it takes the form of paper trails and open source software that will leave the hackable voting machines in place and permit another stolen Presidential election in 2008. The Democratic Party, Common Cause, and many other large organizations are rallying around HR550 which calls for paper trails, or calling for open source software

SNIP.....The people pushing to keep some type of voting machines in the elections process are very dangerous. They denounce anyone who wants paper ballots as being a "Luddite" or "technically challenged," yet some of the most respected experts have clearly explained why technology is not appropriate for elections systems, as they need to be transparent to the public, not just to experts.

SNIP.....So the paper trail and open source people are taking no chances. They have targeted the top political leaders in the country and they are on every blog and mailing list. If anyone talks about hand-counted paper ballots (HCPB) they start the smears, personal attacks, belittling, and dismissals that are their only weapons in lieu of reasonable arguments.

HCPB is the cheapest, most reliable and transparent elections system known. With HCPB you don't have the wrong candidate sworn in while the experts are still trying to examine the software or demand a recount--in fact you don't need experts at all. Machines and experts have no place in our elections, they belong to We the People. But only if we can take them back from the experts who have stolen them.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_mark_e___061110_they_re_already_hack.htm

[Greeby]

1. Support HR 6200!

http://www.kucinich.us

[seafan]

3. Passing HR 6200 MUST be one of the priorities of the First 100 Hours!

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:H.R.6200:

H.R.6200
Title: To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require States to conduct Presidential elections using paper ballots and to count those ballots by hand, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Kucinich, Dennis J. (introduced 9/27/2006) Cosponsors (19)
Latest Major Action: 9/27/2006 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committee on Government Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

Paper Ballot Act of 2006 (Introduced in House)
H. R. 6200


A BILL

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require States to conduct Presidential elections using paper ballots and to count those ballots by hand, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Paper Ballot Act of 2006'.

SEC. 2. REQUIRING USE OF HAND-COUNTED PAPER BALLOTS IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS.

Section 301(a) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15481(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

`(7) SPECIAL RULES FOR PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS- Notwithstanding any other provision of this subsection, in the case of a regularly scheduled general election for the electors of President and Vice President (beginning with the election in November 2008), the following rules shall apply:

`(A) The State shall conduct the election using only paper ballots.

`(B) The State shall ensure that the number of ballots cast at a precinct or equivalent location which are placed inside a single box or similar container does not exceed 500.

`(C) The ballots cast at a precinct or equivalent location shall be counted by hand by election officials at the precinct, and a representative of each political party with a candidate on the ballot, as well as any interested member of the public, may observe the officials as they count the ballots. The previous sentence shall not apply with respect to provisional ballots cast under section 302(a).'.

[pola]

5. watch Kucinich : paper ballots !

http://blip.tv/file/82767

[orpupilofnature57]

2. The currency of Democracy deserves better!

[pola]

4. K & R !!!!

[midnight]

6. Yes! We want paper ballots....

We want visible counting of the votes, and nothing less for 2008.

[Trajan]

7. DISCONNECT the electronic ballot from the electronic count ...

Here is the deal ...

Electronic voting is offered as a GREAT way to give physically challenged voters the ability to vote .... and I agree with that ....

Plus: they get rid of the 'interpretation' of ballots ... NO hanging chads and the like ....

The problem with electronic voting as it is now, IE with DRE, is not that it is electronic voting .... It is the COUNTING IN SECRET of INVISIBLE ballots that is the problem ....

Here is the solution :

Use 'Electronic Voting Machines' to punch out paper ballots .... but NOT count them ....

Use 'Electronic Voting Machines' to create easily readable ballots WITHOUT any subjective interpretation necessary ....

Use 'Electronic Voting Machines' to allow the infirm, and everyone else, a means of voting, and of showing their intent to vote for a candidate, by taking their input, and converting it to STANDARDIZED ballot types .... that are completely unambiguous .... that CLEARLY show who and/or what is being voted for .... and that can be reliably read by publically owned, controlled and certified NON-NETWORKED optical scanners ....

ONCE that ballot is printed, and BEFORE it is placed into the ballot box : It is verified by the voter as a perfect representation of THEIR intent .....

Then ? .... The ballots are counted, IN THE OPEN, using OPEN SOURCE optical scanners, with provable testing processes in place, on machines that use publically controlled hardware and software that is sealed in place using tamper proof seals in a public setting, and controlled per standard custody requirements, and that are COMPLETELY DISCONNECTED from computer networks ... ANY networks ....

Once the electronically generated ballots are counted using publically owned and controlled hardware, and the counts are collected and certifed, precinct by precinct ... THEN those publically counted and certified precinct election records are transmitted, seperately, to the state, which collects them publically and certifies EACH precenct as it comes in .....

There should be NO CONNECTION WHATSOEVER ...

1) Between ballot generation and ballot counting ... and
2) Between ballot counting, and computer networks .....

Pretty damned easy, if you ask me .....

[kster]

8. Why go through all that trouble

just to keep electronic voting machines, we don't need them.

We are perfectly capable of counting our own ballots without all the confusion of these damn machines (PERIOD)

[Trajan]

9. Yeah ... We do need them ....

You arent making the distinction between 'Electronic Voting Machines' and 'counting ballots' ...

Mechanical voting machines generate ballots .. they do NOT count ballots ... The Electronic Voting Machines I speak of ONLY generate ballots .. they do NOT count them ....

DRE's, the type of Electronic Voting Machines which Diebold and their friends make, are 'Direct Recording Equipment' .... they not only 'create' a virtual ballot (not a hard paper ballot), but they record the votes, invisibly, to a record in the computer memory, which is then added to accumulators within the computing system inside the machine itself, which stores the voter by voter counts onto a memory card, which is then pulled out of the machine and brought to a central tabulator, which then, card by card, counts the invisible ballots .... It creates, records, and counts the votes: all within the system, invisibly .... The cards can be surreptitiously modified, and can introduce uncertified machine code into the computing environment, and alter both counting algorithms AND vote counts ....

The stories which cause us grief about Electronic Voting are about:

1) Unverified cards being introduced into the DRE environment without the knowledge of the election officials, or with their connivance .... These cards can introduce unauthorised changes ....

2) DRE's being altered remotely, and uncertified, untested software changes introduced which redefine the software mdolues, the counting algorithms and can alter the contents of the accumulators and memory cards.

3) Cards being mishandled, lost, stolen, or added ....

4) The machines themselves being manipulated in real time by 'technicians' who work NOT for the public, but for Diebold ....

That is why DRE is the problem .... These are the stories we have heard, and this is what is possible to do .... THIS is what we have to stop ! ....

The type of device I speak of ONLY generates a hard copy ballot, much like its mechanical brethren ... It DOESNT count votes .. it only creates a paper ballot, which can be preserved just like any other paper ballot ....

The ballot is like a cross between an ATM receipt and a school test score sheet .... something that can be read by another counting machine ..... OR by hand ....

So, one CAN use the Electronic Voting Machine to ONLY create a ballot, which the voter can hold in his hand and VERIFY before placing it into a ballot box .... But the Electronic Voting Machine can better interface with the disabled and physically challenged ... and that is a GOOD thing ...

Plus: there are no mechanical defects to worry about ('generally' speaking) ... there are no punches, so hanging chads and other such aberrations would not exist .... It is the best of both worlds ....

You want to hand count ballots ? .. fine: you can hand count them .... You would have that chance because the ballots are PAPER and are PRESERVED .... and would be available for hand recounts at any time .... They arent 'Vapor Ballots' ...

But; Publically tested, controlled and operated ballot counting machines, based on OPEN SOURCE software and controlled hardware, can count efficiently, accurately and safely, and protect our rights as voters ....

Again the key is PUBLIC counting .. using publically controlled and tested Ballot Tabulators, with ALL parties present during the count .. and NO network connections to manipulate the accumulators within the computing system itself ...

You dont seem to understand that hand operated ballot punching devices are simply ballot generators; they generate paper ballots .... an Electronic device COULD do that job, and do it better ....

The problem isnt the fact that it is 'electronic', but that the COUNTING is invisible ....

[kster]

11. The vote machine companies had their chance, ITS OVER

we will cast and count our votes from now on, this is a fight that the voting machine companies CAN NOT WIN!! IT'S OVER FOR THEM!!

[Trajan]

12. *rolls his eyes skyward*

Um .. They aren't winning ... They are getting clobbered ....

While your rah rah attitude is, impressive ... Your arguments are less so ...

Its not about voting machine companies 'winning' .. it is about US taking control of our destiny wisely and without bombastic, wrong headed motivations ....

The whole point of making the distinction between 'publicly owned' voting systems, versus 'voting machine companies', is that it WOULD be over for them ... WE should, and would, own the processes and systems, publicly, again .... NO MORE proprietary software and hardware designs .... EVERYTHING in the open and NOT susceptable to fraud ....

But you apparently dont get that part .....

[kster]

13. You can roll your eyes "SIDEWAYS" for all I care ITS OVER!

an eight year old knows better than to count votes in secret, now that we know that the Politicians have allowed this to happen,
D or R, they are guilty, plain and simple, if they (The Politicians) refuse to fix it, WE WILL, WATCH US!!!

[Trajan]

14. Sheesh .....

I will watch you ....

You're the one in the polka dot pants and red rubber nose .... right ?

The 'Politicians did it' .... GET'M ! ....

:sarcasm:

[kster]

15. OK?????......nt

[eridani]

16. Just add random handcounted audits of single races--

--and this sounds good to me.

[understandinglife]

10. NOT ONE LINE OF SOFTWARE BETWEEN A VOTER AND A VALID ELECTION.

HCPB -> :thumbsup:


Never, Ever Forget: George W. Bush willfully violated National Security to cover-up his willful launch of a war of aggression and illegal occupation of Iraq .... and, now he willfully provided nuke-making instructions to terrorists -- if you doubt it, just check 'the google' ....

[In Truth We Trust]

17. K&R Hand Counted Paper Ballots NOW!

[Joe Chi Minh]

18. "They denounce anyone who wants paper ballots as being a

'Luddite' or "technically challenged," yet some of the most respected experts have clearly explained why technology is not appropriate for elections systems, as they need to be transparent to the public, not just to experts."

Even that is missing the most primordial point. The same people who presume to pillory detractors of machine voting as technically challenged demonstrate themselves to be precisely that, themsleves, since it is a truism that there is no such thing as an unhackable computer. Consequently, there is simply no remotely plausible excuse for their use.

It is not that paper ballots are, in principle, perfect, but that, by their nature, fraudulent tampering with their collection and counting are rendered more difficult by an order of magnitude.

As someone pointed out, it takes just 12 people to turn a national election using machines - in complete secrecy, under the set-up of the corrupt current administration.