NY Times editorial: Counting the Vote, Badly

[DeepModem Mom]

Counting the Vote, Badly
Published: November 16, 2006

Last week’s elections provided a lot of disturbing news about the reliability of electronic voting — starting, naturally, with Florida. In a Congressional race there between Vern Buchanan, a Republican, and Christine Jennings, a Democrat, the machines in Sarasota County reported that more than 18,000 people, or one in eight, did not choose either candidate. That “undervote” of nearly 13 percent is hard to believe, given that only about 2.5 percent of absentee voters did not vote in that race. If there was a glitch, it may have made all the difference. Ms. Jennings trails Mr. Buchanan by about 400 votes.

The serious questions about the Buchanan- Jennings race only add to the high level of mistrust that many people already feel about electronic voting. More than half of the states, including California, New York, Ohio and Illinois, now require that electronic voting machines produce voter-verified paper records, which help ensure that votes are properly recorded. But Congress has resisted all appeals to pass a law that would ensure that electronic voting is honest and accurate across the nation.

Fortunately, that may be about to change. With the Democrats now in control of both houses, there is an excellent chance of passing tough electronic voting legislation. Representative Rush Holt, Democrat of New Jersey, had more than 200 co-sponsors for a strong electronic voting bill before this month’s election, and support is likely to grow in the new Congress. In the Senate, Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who will be chairwoman of the Rules and Administration Committee, which oversees elections, plans to develop a similar bill.

The problems with elections go well beyond electronic voting. Partisan secretaries of state continue to skew the rules to favor their parties and political allies. States are adopting harsh standards for voter registration drives to make it harder for people to register, as well as draconian voter identification laws to make casting a ballot harder for poor people, racial minorities, the elderly and students. Some states have adopted an indefensible rule that provisional ballots cast at the wrong table of the correct polling place must be thrown out....

***

....Congressional Democrats should make fixing this country’s broken system of elections a top priority, and Republicans should join them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/16/opinion/16thur1.html

[autorank]

1. Its Official PLEASE Rate this Way UP - K&R

Thank you NYT. The issue is also SECRET VOTE COUNTING. In a Zogby Poll that I helped sponsor, we got the following results:

How aware are you that there have been reports of flaws in electronic voting or computerized voting machines that make it possible to tamper with one machine in such a way as to change the results of an entire election?

Very aware - 28.5%
Somewhat aware - 31.8 Aware 60.3%
Somewhat unaware - 14.9
Very unaware 22.8 - Unaware 37.7
Not sure - 1.9

In some states, members of the public have the right to view the counting of votes and verify how that process is working. In other states, citizens are in effect barred from viewing vote counting even if they would like to view the process. Which of the following two statements are you more likely to agree with – A or B?

Statement A: Citizens have the right to view and obtain
information about how election officials count votes. 91.8%

Statement B: Citizens do not have the right to view and
obtain information about how elections officials count votes. 5.9

Neither/Not sure 2.3

Now we know the official tally in the opinion war that was barely begun.

The "STUPID HYPOTHESIS" that a Democratic victory means a clean election and ergo, that we've somehow
been barking up the wrong tree on election fraud and election integrity is now officially dead. I
was waiting for the master of disaster Lou Dobbs to weigh in but the New York Times is even better
(sorry Lou).

Here's the real story - the lousy voting system we have produced thousands of reported insidents
18,000at one site and 17,000 at another and those are just two places where reports were received.
On VotersUnite.Org there are 206 news stories loged and the count is going
up. There are a number of races where the stats raise serious questions.

The Democratic National Committee is considering filings in four to six congressional races where they
think that there are problems.

The questions that arise are, why do these voting machines, compouters, make mistakes? They have to
be programmed to do so. They're just computers. Who is programming them to do so? These are not
"errors" of a random kind, they need to be coded to produce the vote switches etc.

[texpatriot2004]

2. 60.3% - that's alot of awareness, thank goodness nm

[autorank]

24. The people know the most important basics...

Zogby does these polls that make the public look dim witted as does Leno on his man in the street intereviews.

Well, the man in the streed knows that the game is and can easily continue to be rigged.

And they know that they should be able to watch the votes counted.

:hi:

[understandinglife]

3. So very proud that the DU mods placed this on the homepage, pronto.

Thank you!!!

:toast: to the Mods and to all those at DU who have been tirelessly committed to this issue during these past two years in which we've seen the Republic threatened from within that rival even 1860 to 1865.


BE AMERICA. ---

[PinkyisBlue]

4. Good editorial. But on reading this, how can we legislate integrity?

It seems that some (mostly Republicans, it appears) people are constantly changing tactics to ensure that their candidates win. From gerrymandering to voter purging to voting machine hacking, the cheating never stops. If one method is thwarted, another method is utilized. That would be great to have reliable, open, honest voting machines, but what's to stop them from then trying other methods? It's all tied in with the rampant corruption and "win at any cost" mentality present in our country.

I think our elections need to change from the top down (or is it the bottom up) with public financing of elections; get the corporate money out of elections altogether.

[EFerrari]

19. Has to be bottom up. That's where the money comes from

for one thing. And that's where the outrage is.

Most people who are benefiting from the corruption have less than no incentive to rock the boat.

[GreenTea]

5. The Dems have to something about the voting machines as soon as possible not wait for 2008

Then it will be too late.

[pa28]

6. A verifiable national standard on elections is long overdue.

Audit accountability is not too much to ask and it looks like we may get a bill covering it.

Since Bush willingly signed off on six years of Republican pork, influence peddling, political givebacks and massive debt he'll surely support a simple and just cause like vote reform.

:sarcasm:

[WaterDog]

7. Thank god/dess the Dems won!

This time. But we have to do our work before 2008!:applause:
:kick:

[althecat]

8. Lets see the chimp try to veto some voting standards....

Would he?

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

15. Let's pass the bill and force that issue on him

He looks normal, that is to say like shit, if he vetoes it.

If he signs it, voters of every stripe win.

[EFerrari]

20. In a heart beat. There's a 'war' on, you know. nt

[lonestarnot]

9. Hallelujah and pass the ammunition! Let's fix it!

[Apollo11]

10. 18 000 votes "disappeared"?

I hope Christine Jennings gets justice from somewhere.

Could she try suing the vote-machine suppliers?

Congress should focus in on this issue like a laser beam.

Democracy cannot exist without fair elections and accurate results.

[riverwalker]

11. Minnesota model

I am up at 5am today on my only day off, to volunteer for the first and only citizen based independant vote audit in the nation. We are independant observers who will compare machine counts with actual ballots throughout the entire state (we only have paper here). This is the first year and will have some bugs, but am pretty excited about being a part of it. It is supervised by Citizens for Election Integrity and the League of Women Voters. We will monitor ballot security, undervotes, and machine accuracy. It could be a model for the rest of the country.

[blondeatlast]

13. Wow; I was about to post that elections need to be overseen by

federally or state overseen citizen's panels; answerable to Congress, state legislatures, and citizens--not to the Secretaries of State.

To leave it up to a political office (Secretary of State) is just inviting trouble.

This is an importatnt step for election integrity. Kudos to Minnesota for protecting their citizens in this way.

[philb]

12. Descriptions of what happened by voters & poll worker in Sarasota&examples of similar in other count

ies in 2004 in Florida, Ohio, California, Colorada,etc.

and documentation of much lower undervotes in other congressional races in other counties, and likewise in major races

But similar undervotes on ES&S touch screens like those in Sarasota in the Florida Attorney Gen race

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=457470&mesg_id=457470


Summary of the 2 types of problems identified by voters in Sarasota from other thread:

1. The first of 2 problems identified were that some voters had a ballot design like the "Butterfly ballot" that swung thousands of votes from Gore in 2000 in Duval County and Palm Beach County, thus swung the election. The Congressional Race was on page 1 with the U.S. Senate race but it only had Buchanan's name. Jennings name was at the top of the 2nd page with no reference to the Congressional race.

Given that this design swung a Presidental election and was highly publicized, the fact that the SOE and SOS approved the ballot design could have only been to knowingly swing another election where the Republican candidate was far behind in the polls, and where the Dem candidate had all the Media endorsements.

****************

2. The other hack/glitch was that on ballots that were in the normal ballot style with both candidates on page 1, people would vote for Jennings and then go on to vote elsewhere.

But by the time they got to the review screen for those who went there, no Dist. 13 candidate was selected.


This description by the voters is the same as that of many voters in other counties in Florida and Ohio and other states in 2004, as documented in the EIRS data base and other

[Vinca]

14. I like Dennis Kucinich's bill:

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 (20)
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.

[LaPera]

17. Kucinich's bill is an excellent bill...This is what we should be trying to get passed!

Paper Ballots!

[meldroc]

16. The elections in Sarasota are going to have to be annulled.

With the pure-electronic machines doing what they did, there's no way to know how the voters really wanted to vote in that election.

I find it impossible to believe that 18,000 undervotes could be anything except fraud, so as far as I'm concerned, the judge who's presiding over this mess will have to annul the entire election, delcare it fraudulent, and have Sarasota do another election, this time, with paper, with federal agents and independent observers watching and auditing the whole damn thing.

Anything less would be unacceptable.

[truedelphi]

18. If U are wondering what to do - Join the Women's League

Of Voters- They oversee so much of the elction process- often control the way that the local candidates are allowed to debate.

They are always allowed in to deal with The Registrar of Voters- and if your area can get enough DU-minded individuls to overcome the typical Republican blue eyeshadow version of the WOmen's League your community will be in far better shape.

You DO NOT have to be a woman to join.

They will always have a lot of sway -so join today!

[FraDon]

21. On paper ballots (haiku)

On paper ballots
freely cast; fully counted.
One voter, one vote.

- But of course there's Stalin's view:

It's not the people
who vote that count, but rather
those who count the votes.

[Peace Patriot]

22. Diane Feinstein? Ye gods!

Peace Patriot (1000+ posts) 
Thu Nov-16-06 01:25 PM
Response to Reply #29

Here's my post from sfexpat2000's "Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News" of today (Thursday 11/16/06)

32. Diane Feinstein? Ye gods!

"In the Senate, Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who will be chairwoman of the Rules and Administration Committee, which oversees elections, plans to develop a similar bill." --from the NYT article ( http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/16/opinion/16thur1.html )

-----

And that's where the Holt bill ban on "trade secret" code will die--in the Senate. Or the loophole in HR 550 (no secret code in the "voting machines"--but no mention of the central tabulators) will be widened. And the 2% audit (already woefully inadequate) will likely be dumped out. Mark my words. Feinstein is a thoroughgoing Corporatist and warmonger. And you can't have Corporate Rule, and unjust war, in a democracy, without rigging the elections.

My advice: The huge Absentee Ballot vote in the midterms--a big voter BOYCOTT and PROTEST against the machines, indicating widespread awareness of the rigged electronics--provides a constituency that, if provided with some leadership and organization, could spur a grass roots movement to pressure LOCAL state/county election officials to, a) HAND-COUNT the Absentee Ballot votes, and b) POST the results BEFORE any electronics are involved. If successful, such a movement could create a paper ballot system BY DEFAULT, avoiding a head-on collision with the bipartisan corruption connected with the e-voting contracts, and circumventing what will surely be a U.S. Senate blockade of any real election reform. (The Senate could also make things worse--beware!). We may have only a narrow window of opportunity to restore transparent vote counting. We had better get on it. If we wait until Feinstein kills real reform, the '08 primaries will be upon us, and I think that will be about it, for our democracy. (It will be a tough choice between the candidate who wants to "stay the course" in Iran, vs the candidate who pledges a more efficient slaughter of Iranians and less looting.)

--------------------------------

Please, people, don't be deluded! Hope can blind us to the reality here--that the War Democrats fully backed "trade secret" vote counting by Bushite corporations, and they're not going to get rid of it now. It's their ticket to the war hogpen. The Senate will gut any real reform, and if real reform manages to get past Feinstein, past a blockade of "Bushite Democrats" in the Senate (and the House as well), Bush will veto it--and the Senate will never override.

Most likely what will happen is the Holt bill will be reduced to a mere "paper trail" requirement, with not even a weak audit requirement, and could further be given a "poison poll" (such as mandated, uniform, national e-voting, run on "trade secret" code, centrally controlled, with a worthless "paper trail").

We have to do this ourselves. We cannot depend on the people who took away our right to vote to give it back. Congress is not that much changed. It just ISN'T. We need to realize that. And there is reason to believe that the new Congress has in fact been carefully crafted to prevent an end to the war, to prevent impeachment, and to prevent real election reform--and a lot of other needed reform--while providing the illusion of a Democratic victory, as a steam vent--to calm things down. I do think people voted in great numbers to oust the Bushite Congress, impeach Bush and end the war--but I don't think all their votes were counted, in the primaries or general elections, by any means. The ability of fascist corporations to tweak the vote anytime, anywhere, without detection, has been ADDED to the filth of campaign money and the corporate news monopoly--and other specific election theft tools (voter ID, etc.) to give us yet another unrepresentative Congress (not so bad as the Diebold I Congress, but not very good either), and we cannot begin to undo ANY of this corruption, and lack of representation, until we have restored transparent vote counts, which I think has to be done LOCALLY.

SEVENTY-PERCENT of the American people want this war ended. I was listening to Joe Lieberman in the Abazaid hearing on C-Span. Lieberman holds the pivotal vote on all curtailment of the war, and prevention of a widened war. From his remarks and tone--combined with other things--I'm fairly convinced that this Congress WAS crafted for the abovementioned purposes, and we will see no end to this war for many years. It's Vietnam all over again, this time with the Jewish lobby on the wrong side. And there is nothing we can do about this until we have either evicted Diebold/ES&S from our voting system--which I think is impossible--or are able to achieve transparent voting counting by some backdoor strategy, as suggested above--mobilizing the Absentee Ballot voters locally. I am not anti-Israel--at all!--but I can see what's going on between U.S. war profiteers and the Israeli war profiteers and rightwingers. It's very, very unfortunate--and, I think, leading straight to Israel's destruction, if not to a conflagration that engulfs us all. Lieberman is a dinosaur in this respect. He is utterly lacking in a peaceful, positive vision--for Israel, for the Middle East or for us. And he is THE power in U.S. foreign policy right now! --despite this overwhelming antiwar vote that just occurred in the midterms. He somehow ended up with all the power--and the will of 70% of the American people is dissolved into nothingness, by his pro-Bush Junta, and pro-militaristic viewpoint, with continued insufficient people power in the House (and certainly in the Senate) to overcome it.

[AnnieBW]

23. Was Driving Around Venice, FL on Sunday

We were in FL to visit my MIL this past weekend. Sort of a quick long-weekend vacation. In the RW-nut, "I've got mine, screw you" town of Venice, I saw several yard signs for Jennings. And some of them were outside million-dollar homes, too! Not to mention a couple of Dem bumper-stickers in both Venice and Tampa (the home of CENTCOM and SOCOM). I couldn't believe my eyes!

I just wish that my MIL's second husband, whose funeral we attended, could have stuck around long enough to see it. He was a RW-nut Repuke, but a good guy other than that. On the positive side, there was one less wingnut vote in Florida-13. :D