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(NH) Chain of Custody Check: Butch & ...  
 

Black Box Voting » Document Archive » Videotapes and film clips » (NH) Chain of Custody Check: Butch & Hoppy Chase « Previous Next »

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Bev Harris
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Username: Admin

Post Number: 7736
Registered: 12-2004

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Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 8:34 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Green Jeep mystery: If you think you can decipher some of the words or images with a closer look, here are download versions of the Butch & Hoppy video of higher qualities. The answer to the green jeep mystery may lie in transcribing the muffled audio from this clip.

BACKGROUND: Shortly after this video, ballot transport guys Butch and Hoppy had a quick meetup with a green jeep belonging to Carl Rowell Jr. -- The jeep was in a pullout on a country road; the pullout leads to a driveway where Rowell lives. The ballot transport van stopped, Butch ran across the road, had a quick word with the driver of the green jeep, then got back in the van. Butch and Hoppy turned left on Route 31 towards Wilton, the green jeep turned right on Route 31 towards Manchester.

Butch and Hoppy are reportedly always the guys that go pick up ballots. There have been recounts before. There have been statewide recounts before. We assume that they have picked up ballots in Lyndeborough before. However, in this video they have stopped at a Town Hall location that is not the ballot pickup location. If you Google "Lyndeborough Town Clerk" you will immediately see the correct location, which appears along with a map as the top item on the Google page. Yet, they went to the wrong location.

After turning left on Route 31, after the short conversation with the green jeep, Butch and Hoppy visited the real pickup location for Lyndeborough and got the ballots.

So the completely harmless explanation for the green jeep would be: Carl Rowell Jr. was driving somewhere and, after pulling out of his driveway, was sitting in a pullout beside the road. Butch ran over to ask for directions to the Lyndeborough Town Offices where ballots are kept. Butch and Hoppy then went to the town offices and Rowell went wherever he was going.

The non-harmless explanation would be: that there was a scheduled meetup which had to be aborted because of the unexpected development that we were following and watching them.

The conversation in this video clip takes place at the Lyndeborough Town Hall, not the Lyndeborough ballot pickup location. They seem to know that no one will be there, because Hoppy only makes a half-hearted try at the door and doesn't even knock before deciding there is no one there, unusual behavior for a situation where there has been a scheduled ballot pickup arranged by the state.

Hoppy then tries to make phone calls. Does he ever connect with anyone? Hard to tell. Who did Hoppy call? In response to our public records request, the state of New Hampshire has said it will take up to 90 days to find the cell phone records, if they exist.

YouTube links for casual viewing:

1a: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVUf9Ef8Ufg

1b: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOESAfrPSKI
and also see this one:
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucC1rBe4fVk

Viddler.com download version of 1a-1b combined:
http://www.viddler.com/explore/Blackboxvoting/videos/1/

HIGHER QUALITY: On the right side of the viewing window at the viddler.com site is a tab that says "download" which allows you to download the higher quality wmv version, Butch-and-Hoppy-part1.wmv (126.89 Mb)

I have uploaded a highest quality .avi version which I will provide a link to on the viddler.com site, when I get that link.
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Bev Harris
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Username: Admin

Post Number: 7737
Registered: 12-2004

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Votes: 0 (A keeper?)

Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 8:41 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Download link for highest quality audio/video:

http://www.viddler.com/blackboxvoting/videos/2/

use the "download" tab on the right to download the avi version,

WHAT ARE THEY SAYING.avi (176.34 Mb)
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Nancy Tobi
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Username: Ntobi

Post Number: 206
Registered: 1-2006

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Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 9:44 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Just a little Lyndeborough history: The old Town Hall where our highway bandits stopped first is only used for voting and nothing else. It was replaced for all other town business and offices by Citizens Hall several years ago - at least 7 years ago, in fact - following renovations of Citizens Hall, which is located in a more weather-friendly location off the mountain.

The old Town Hall is higher in elevation, gets more snowfall, and is located on a very twisty, turny, country road - in fact you see the Butch and Hoppy show careening up that road en route to the old Town Hall in BBV's video. Between the human inhabitants who often walk, jog and bike this road, and other friendly inhabitants like the flocks of wild turkeys, deer, moose, and what not, it is an act of willful endangerment on a good day to travel that particular road at speeds higher than 45 MPH, and on a wintry day, such as in the video, 30-35 MPH is as fast as you should go and you will still be in danger of spinning out on black ice (trust me, I just demolished my own car in exactly this manner around the same time period of the car chase in the BBV video).

In any event, Citizens Hall has long been the site of the town offices, and as Bev correctly points out, any official state courier should know this full well.
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christine c reid
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Username: Ctwatcher

Post Number: 390
Registered: 12-2007

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Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 10:37 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Thanks for the facts- and also really loved the local color, Nancy!
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Bev Harris
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Post Number: 7740
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Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 10:39 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I thought it was particularly ironic that in our first foray out, we promptly ended up in Nancy Tobi country. I recognized the twisty turny road right away, and was glad Susan was driving. Though she's a Florida resident, she was born and raised and developed her driving expertise in Maine, and she was used to the January road conditions in New England.

A frame-by-frame exam of the maps on the floor of the van appears to show a circle near Carl Rowell's house (NOT at either of the Lyndenborough locations, but in between them). However, this needs to be examined in more detail and compared with other maps to make sure it indeed is the Lyndeborough page.
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christine c reid
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Username: Ctwatcher

Post Number: 392
Registered: 12-2007

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Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 11:42 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Nancy, can you interpret Bev's description of 31 - where they were and where Carl Rowell, SOS van went? I looked at a map and 31 doesn't go toward Manchester that I can see, so am trying to understand the logistics. Because there was a wait at town hall and a phone call, I am wondering if the purpose of the call was to buy time, and whether a call was made or received that would confirm that they could proceed with the pickup. For what it's worth.
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Nancy Tobi
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Post Number: 207
Registered: 1-2006

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Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 11:54 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

31 does not go to Manchester or Concord. The ballot bandits headed south towards Citizen's Hall, and Mr. Rowell headed North to parts unknown. 31 is just a little "blue highway" - one of those back roads that goes through lots of small towns winding its way from south to north.

Rowell's house is on the corner of Center Road (where the old Town Hall is) and 31 (Forest Road).

Unless and until BBV is able to get the Butch and Hoppy cell call records, there is no way to know why they stopped at the old town hall, why they got out to talk to Mr. Rowell, and this is all speculation.

Listen, Lyndeborough is a sleepy little town with less than 2000 residents, which seems to have some strange headlines associated with it. Just a taste:

1) During the recount time period, Lyndeborough had no police department. The chief had been removed from his duties following his investigation of a selectman, and the whole case is under gag order. But it may have been, at the time, the only town in the state with literally no police coverage whatsoever. (they have a cop now, so don't get any ideas about mischief making)
2) Several years ago, two bank robbers from Massachusetts had been caught holed up in an old hunters lodge on Pinnacle Mountain, the foothills of which is where the old Town Hall is.
3) Some poor woman had been murdered in Connecticut and then her body was brought to rest in someone's front yard in Lyndeborough (about 8 yrs. ago)
4) A local woman tried to run her son off the road, then burned her husband's historic family home to the ground, and sits in prison now. The family of her husband's first wife, who was found mysteriously dead in a parking lot at age 40 just before the house burning incident, declined to exhume her body for further investigation.

All by way of saying, OF COURSE that's where Butch and Hoppy had a rendezvous! Where else could it have happened?
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Nancy Tobi
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Post Number: 208
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Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 11:56 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

And thank you Bev, for refraining from commenting on your fun travels on Center Road with me at the wheel
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Bev Harris
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Post Number: 7741
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Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 11:58 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

my bad. My impression was that Route 31 goes roughly north and south, with Wilton being South and since Manchester and Concord are "somewhere up north" I figured it went there. Just checked the map. So where the heck was Rowell going? Oh well. Now I'm really interested in the map on the floor, whether the circle was Rowell's house or I have the wrong map entirely. I'll post it. Gimme a minute ...
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Bev Harris
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Post Number: 7742
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Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 12:05 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Oh, and Nancy, initially I was going to do a voiceover explaining that Lehto asked to ride in the back seat while you drove that road, so he'd have a millisecond's more life to live if -- -- but then I thought better of it.

Nancy is a more prudent driver than Butch and Hoppy. They arrived back at the archives one day with the left side of their van covered in black snow, said they got stuck somewhere. There was no snow on the roof or anywhere else on the van. Someone at the archives was hacking the stuff off the side of the van with a snow shovel, nice for the paint job I'm sure.
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karen reineke
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Post Number: 29
Registered: 12-2006

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Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 12:21 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

u peops rock
every time i try to email right now it freezes my puter
mv in film says 1182 ballots cast and yellow pack of ab ballots
the foia docs say rep election day 603
abs 8
total vote 611
dems election day 556
abs 15
572 (1 voided)
unless im missing something 603 plus 556 equal 1159 not 1182
i will find that foia and flag it
how many more video interviews do u have with town clerks in hillsbourgh county?
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Bev Harris
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Post Number: 7743
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Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 12:34 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

According to the destination checklist that Susan Pynchon videotaped, the order of pickup by Butch & Hoppy was:

Dunbarton 1:05 pm 20 min
Goffstown 1:25 pm 18 min
New Boston 1:43 pm 18 min
Mont Vernon 1:59 pm 16 min
(long wait at the wrong location on Center Rd)
Lyndeborough 2:43 pm 44 min
Wilton 2:57 pm 14 min
Greenville 3:20 pm 23 min
Mason 3:34 pm 14 min
New Ipswitch 3:56 pm 22 min
Temple 4:20 pm 24 min
Sharon 4:45 pm 25 min
Peterborough 5:08 pm 23 min
ARRIVE CONCORD 6:15 pm 1 hr 7 min min

With pickup times logged in red above, taken from the chain of custody forms obtained by Sally Castleman. Time taken to get ballots and drive to next stop marked in blue.
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karen reineke
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Post Number: 31
Registered: 12-2006

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Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 2:58 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

dem re count for hillsbourgh county 80969
dem corrected for hillsbourgh county 80693
these r on the NH sos website

(From BBV admin - re-uploaded image to size it correctly. Scroll down to see Karen's image file.

if u compare the 2 reports many small increases r not reported...decreasing the overall dem vote count
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karen reineke
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Username: Karen_r

Post Number: 32
Registered: 12-2006

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Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 3:02 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

lol i didnt know it would be so big
i wanted to get that info out tho and i am trying to learn posting stuff
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Betsy Lindsey
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Username: A_voter

Post Number: 36
Registered: 2-2008

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Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 3:25 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

This is a very ROUGH transcript, WITH my impressions, of the 51 sec video and would appreciate several 2nd opinions.

You might want to pay particularly close attention to what's being said starting at :23.


(:02) Videographer: "We’re at the Lyndeboro Townhall. Home of Nanci Tobi" (pointing camera at the building’s sign).
(:05) Videographer to Telephone Guy: "Hi"
(:07) Telephone Guy to Videographer: "Again" (looking down at the ground, then averting his eyes from the camera)
(:07) Videographer: "Again"
(:08) Unknown: "I don’t know, but I’m on it." (don’t know who is talking to whom)
(:11) Videographer: "Oh, nobody’s here?"
CROSSTALK
(:12) Unknown: "I’m kinda wondering the same thing."
(:13) Videographer: "That must happen sometimes."
(:15) Unknown: "Hmmmm. Hmmmmm. Hmmmmm."
(:17) Officer: "You gonna make a call?"

Unintelligible conversation, due to background noise from road.

(:23) Officer?: "Where can we/you(?) put the boxes?" and Telephone Guy quickly glances up at the camera then back to the ground, then up to Officer)”
(:25) Telephone Guy to Officer(?) and over to Hat Guy, smiles and says: “I didn’t know we had any.” (referring to the “boxes”)
(:29) Telephone Guy to Hat Guy: “I don’t know, why?”
(:32) Hat Guy mumbles something like, “the more we/they(?) have…” (perhaps referring to the "boxes" or camera footage?)
(:33) Then as if he’s looking to see if anyone’s paying attention, the Hat Guy then looks out to the road, then behind the camera, and back out to the road and mumbles something inaudible to the camera.)
(:38) Then appearing to take a cue from the Hat Man, the officer takes a quick look behind him…where the camera is and turns back to Telephone Guy, appearing to move and block the camera’s view of the Telephone Guy.
(:40) Officer to Telephone Guy: “And they’re recording it?"
(:41) Telephone Guy: “Yeah, the telephone’s in my hand.”
(:46) Unknown: “Okay.” (in an odd tone)
(:51) Videographer: Ummmm.


Clip ends.


Video at: http://www.viddler.com/blackboxvoting/videos/2/
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christine c reid
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Username: Ctwatcher

Post Number: 394
Registered: 12-2007

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Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 3:33 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Ah, Nancy, it only gets better. And YES, speculation - to elevate it to hypothesis, I want to know if there is a back route that could even connect back up to the eventual ballot pickup spot. I have no further theory except to raise the loopback idea. Bev, do you have any record based on your video footage of when the calls were made and when you finally pulled into the correct place for collecting ballots?

No theories. Just data points.
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christine c reid
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Post Number: 395
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Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 3:44 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

KAREN REINEKE

Here's what you are reading, translated: This looks like a ballot reconciliation sheet of some kind.

KR says: mv in film says
1182 ballots cast and yellow pack of ab ballots
the foia docs say
rep election day 603
abs 8 (GOP absentee votes)
total vote 611 (Adding Abs plus in person GOP votes

dems election day 556 (Dem in person votes)
abs 15 (Dem absentee ballots)
572 (1 voided) Totaling the two, less one absentee or one in person votes disqualified or voided as a spoiled ballot

KR: unless im missing something 603 plus 556 equal 1159 not 1182

KAREN - the trick is that you add the in- persons plus the absentees, so the two D and R totals are 611 plus 571 plus one spoiled ballot, or else it's off by one ballot.


Hope that helps, and thanks!
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karen reineke
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Username: Karen_r

Post Number: 33
Registered: 12-2006

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Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 3:47 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

betsy thats great
i dont read lips so im no help here
bev..i didnt mean to make that post so huge,now i have to mouse back and forth to read and i feel bad if everyone else has to too
if a moderator could take it off or condense it or something would be good
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Catherine Ansbro
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Post Number: 4754
Registered: 12-2004

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Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 4:57 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Great job, Betsy.

Your pointing out the body language events was really useful.

At 00:24 phone man's eyes, mouth and face crinkle in an obvious smile as he looks at the trooper at that point--then quickly changes expression as he focuses on the phone. It seemed to me that he and the trooper both know that what they are doing is play-acting and it's a big joke between them.

At 0:41 I thought phone guy was saying he had "phoned her" or "phoned the hall" or something like that. I thought he might be making a pretend phone call, giving the impression he was trying to find the person who was (supposedly) supposed to meet him at the hall.

When hat man "looked up the road" and then at the videographer (down the road) and then up the road again it seemed he was using the "look up the road" to cover up that he really wanted was an excuse to then look "down the road" to see what the videographer was doing. It's seemed he was only paying attention when looking in the videographer's direction.

These are just impressions--I could be misinterpreting. (But not the smile. That was the most "real" event I saw.)

I bet Pat Vesely or someone else with sound tech experience could get filter out the background noise.
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Betsy "B" Lindsey
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Username: A_voter

Post Number: 38
Registered: 2-2008

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Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 6:38 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Catherine,

After watching the video over and over and over again (trying to create the transcript), and putting it together with other snippets of information, i.e., the green jeep episode, Nanci's info that this was not an official stop to pick up ballots as the precinct is in a different location, etc. here's what I was kinda wondering about...

With everything combined, is it beyond the realm of possibility that this unscheduled stop was to pick up boxes left there by the green jeep OR to pick up and deliver to the green jeep? Or have something to do with the green jeep?

I wondered if they weren't trying to reach the green jeep in that phone call that Telephone Guy was making, but never was able to get through to him, or whomever he was calling.

As for the smile, to me that seemed to be like a "private joke" between the Butch & Hoppy for sure, and possibly the Officer. As if to say, "Boxes? What boxes?"

One other thing that really bothered me was the Officer clearly moving his position to block the camera's view of Telephone Guy, even though the Officer didn't realize Telephone Guy's face could still be seen in a reflection off the van's window.

I don't know...what do you all think?

B

P.S. Catherine, I was wondering the same thing, if there was a resource available to clean up the background noise to better hear what was being said. There were definitely a couple of places where I was putting my best guess forward on what was being said...I tried to denote that with one or more "(?)" and "..."

(Message edited by a_voter on March 13, 2008)
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karen reineke
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Post Number: 34
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Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 6:44 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

christine
i wasnt reading anything..i was watching the film bev made in NH....the town clerk said she had 1182 ballots in box and she had the absentee ballots in a yellow envelope separate from the box,this was in mont vernon
now check the foia the sos sent bev
it says election day voters r- 603
election day voters d-556
so from film we know we had 1182 plus abs(unknown number) but in foia we know we have 1183 less 1 voided including 23 abs shown in foia
and thats not possible unless the town clerk was wrong about how many ballots she had in box
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christine c reid
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Post Number: 399
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Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 6:52 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Sorry, Karen, you said that but I didn't really connect to the video till you walked me through it real slow and deliberate like!

The absentees are supposed to be added to the day's total for an overall total, but placed in a separate envelope. I'm just wondering if her explanation didn't come across correctly. What kind of count is on the SOS site for this town?

(Message edited by ctwatcher on March 13, 2008)
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Nancy Tobi
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Username: Ntobi

Post Number: 209
Registered: 1-2006

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Posted on Friday, March 14, 2008 - 4:41 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Catherine et al, just to clarify: the most innocent explanation for the ballot bandits stopping at the old Lyndeborough Town Hall on Center Road is that they misunderstood and thought that since the voting happens there, that the ballots would be stored there. In this case, it would be considered "an official stop". This is, however, exceedingly difficult to believe for a number of reasons:
1) We know that they make phone calls to the town clerks to inform them of the pick up. This is necessary because these small towns all have different -- and limited -- hours of operation, and it is quite possible that they would actually need to make an appointment to ensure the pickup.
2) The old Town Hall has not been used for Town Offices for at least 7 years or so. It would make no sense to assume that ballots would be stored in a building that is, for the most part, unused and unoccupied.
3) The ballot bandits have been making these pickup runs for years. Why on earth would they think they should come to the old Town Hall this year?

I could certainly call the Town Clerk and ask her if they have ever stored ballots there instead of in Citizen's Hall. Maybe I'll do that.
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Bev Harris
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Post Number: 7745
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Posted on Friday, March 14, 2008 - 11:12 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Redid Karen's graphic so it doesn't stretch the page:
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Bev Harris
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Posted on Friday, March 14, 2008 - 11:31 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Not sure about that transcript, Betsy. Do agree on the body language. My first take was that Butch ("hat guy") was using the look up and down the road to covertly look at Susan (the videographer). Then Hoppy looks at the videographer Susan, then the Trooper glances back at her and immediately blocks her view of Hoppy's phone call.
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Bev Harris
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Post Number: 7748
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Posted on Friday, March 14, 2008 - 12:08 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Worth the challenge, this one.

E-mail me privately with your own best assessment of this. Do not post your guesses publicly. I want to see if any of your assessments coincide with another person's transcript.

Very short clip, just seven seconds long. Ignore the whispers, they are separate and unrelated chat. The muffled voice of a man is what to key in on, and in order not to bias the assessment, I'm not even going to provide any context except for this: This is related to the NH recount and may be particularly important. The speaker has a New England accent, affecting pronunciation of a couple words. The whole clip is only 9-12 words long.

Best if you have headphones, good sound, and if you have any digital audio tools, you may want to experiment with playing it repeatedly as a loop, slowing it down, or boosting the quiet parts. You'll need to concentrate to tune out the extraneous whispering coming from another part of the room, which is unrelated.

http://www.bbvdocs.org/NH/state/NHclip.wav
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Jean Braun
Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Jean_b

Post Number: 6
Registered: 3-2008

Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?)

Posted on Friday, March 14, 2008 - 12:21 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

All this is so damning of ballot boxes being transported that I cling to my suggestion that ballots must be counted in public at every precinct immediately after polls close, and the precinct results announced before the ballots are ever taken off the precinct premises.
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Betsy "B" Lindsey
Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: A_voter

Post Number: 39
Registered: 2-2008

Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?)

Posted on Friday, March 14, 2008 - 1:09 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Jean,

I 150% agree with you!

Especially after viewing all the videos available on youtube.com by BBV; ANY other way leaves too many opportunities to tamper with the results!!!
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Catherine Ansbro
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Catherine_a

Post Number: 4763
Registered: 12-2004

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Votes: 0 (A keeper?)

Posted on Friday, March 14, 2008 - 1:11 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I've emailed you privately.
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karen reineke
Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Karen_r

Post Number: 36
Registered: 12-2006

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Votes: 0 (A keeper?)

Posted on Friday, March 14, 2008 - 2:39 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

christine, srry i dont type well and it hurts my communication on here
we have the ballot cast report from foias
i flagged it
bev thank you for fixing my page the most important point is from the sos recount page 80969 dems to the corrected page dems 80,693
this becomes important later on in the math

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The public must be able to see and authenticate these four essential steps for an election to be public, democratic, and valid: (1) Who can vote (voter list); (2) Who did vote (3) The original count; (4) Chain of custody.