Black Box Voting : (MS) 7/12 - IMPOSSIBLE NUMBERS DON'T CONCERN ELECTION OFFICIALS; "IT'S A DONE DEAL" -

SHORTCUTS: How to find what you're looking for

Navigation
  Topics
  Log In
  Log Out
:
Special Search
  New Today
  New This Week
  Advanced Search
  Tree View

Your Account
  Edit Profile
  Register
  Forgot Password

Tools
  Help/Instructions
  Policies

  ...

(MS) 7/12 - IMPOSSIBLE NUMBERS DON'T ...

Black Box Voting » News Headlines » (MS) 7/12 - IMPOSSIBLE NUMBERS DON'T CONCERN ELECTION OFFICIALS; "IT'S A DONE DEAL" -

« Previous Next »

Author

Message

Bev Harris
Board Administrator
Username: Admin

Post Number: 11708
Registered: 12-2004

Best of Black Box?
Votes: 4 (A keeper?)

Posted on Friday, July 27, 2012 - 10:31 am:

It's useful to defog election transparency problems using short, consistent terms, like "IMPOSSIBLE NUMBERS". In Mississippi, Jackson Free Press reporter Jacob Fuller astutely details a set of impossible numbers in a Hinds County election, but readers eyes may glaze over as he explains accounting mismatches.

He also describes a less-than-dazzling, but nevertheless quite determined dance by election officials when questioned about mismatched numbers.

If this reporter learns to use two magic words, the dance of the election officials may reach star billing. These two words, "Impossible Numbers", were coined into election lingo by the articulate Richard Hayes Phillips (author of WITNESS TO A CRIME, a book detailing impossible numbers in Ohio's 2004 election).

Disappointingly, some election officials have trouble comprehending the gravity of impossible numbers in elections. Or at least, they pretend not to understand. Fuller reports that when he posed questions about impossible figures at the Hinds County Elections Commission office, he was told, "Don't come in here and open up a can of worms."

Oddly, election boards do certify elections -- that is, assert that correctness has been verified, locking in officialdom and permanence -- even when numbers can't possibly be true.

Fuller reports: "When asked about the discrepancy, Williams said she had not looked at the number of people who signed the roll. When asked who was supposed to compare voter-roll numbers to election totals, Williams said the election had been certified and she had nothing else to tell me. When I asked the question again, Williams answer was only slightly more telling.

"'...Well, anyway, I don't know anything about the people that signed the voter rolls, about their numbers or whatever,' Williams said. 'Nothing came up as a question when we were certifying, and we certified, and it's a done deal.'"

Election cheating is a game of Beat The Clock. Make it a "done deal" as quickly as you can. Elections require certain accounting checks and balances, and one of these is matching up the number of voters to the number of votes. Anyone can do it: Citizens, reporters, candidates. And it's an important part of public oversight. Someone may be counting on you NOT to match the numbers.

Impossible numbers appear when you find:

1) Phantom voters: You have more votes than voters
or
2) Vanishing votes: You have more voters than ballots cast

It is purely amazing when election officials claim there is no problem with phantom voters (votes appear without voters). It is more amazing yet that election boards and even election auditing firms certify elections containing phantom voters.

Blank votes present a more complex scenario because they aren't necessarily impossible. Blank votes -- not as many votes as voters in some races -- may just be choices the voter decided not to make. Some ballot choices seem to bore voters, like judicial races with no opposition, or races for positions deemed uninteresting.

But blank votes turn into votes that vanished altogether when you sum votes + blank votes = BALLOTS CAST, and you have significantly more VOTERS than BALLOTS CAST.

For example:
Number voters check in at polls: 100
Sheriff Race - 60 votes for Joe, 30 for Tom, 10 ballots leave sheriff race blank
That's not impossible, because although there are only 90 votes for sheriff (60+30=90), when you add in the blanks, you get 90+10=100, a match with number of voters. And by the way, electronic voting tabulators offer a reporting option to include number of blank votes in each race. Request results with blank votes included.

Now, if you have 100 voters sign in, but only 90 ballots are cast (including blank votes), you get an impossible number. Some election officials, laughably, if only it were funny, try to explain such impossibilities claiming these are "fleeing voters", explaining with straight faces that plenty of people drive to the polls, stand in line, sign in, then flee before casting a ballot. More likely: Voting machines, or people, ditched some ballots.

As you read the article linked below about the Hinds County numbers mismatch, think about how much more quickly understood this article would be by incorporating the phrase "impossible numbers" at the appropriate points:

Jackson Free Press - July 26, 2012, by Jacob Fuller

http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2012/jul/26/voter-rolls-votes-dont-match/

Ward 3 Voter Rolls, Votes Don't Match Up

JACKSON � The official numbers are in for the Ward 3 runoff election between LaRita Stokes and Joyce Jackson, but there is a discrepancy between the vote totals and the number of voters who signed the roll at Precinct 11.

No one at the city or county seems to know anything about it, and everyone wants to direct questions to another department.

The precinct, located in the Jackson Medical Mall, reported only 33 total votes, according to the official numbers from the Hinds County Election Commission. When this reporter and JFP intern Aaron Cooper stopped by the precinct around 2:30 p.m. on Election Day, though, 67 voters had already signed the roll.

Joyce Jackson said Tuesday night that one of her poll watchers saw more than 100 voter signatures at the Precinct 11 around the polls' 7 p.m. closing time. Cooper-Stokes defeated Jackson by 163 votes.

Neither Hinds County Election Commissioner Connie Cochran nor county Election Commission Office Manager Grace Wallace knew anything about the discrepancy until this reporter told them about 1 p.m. Thursday. Neither seemed pleased to hear the news, either.

"Don't come in here and open up a can of worms," Wallace said after hearing the report.

Cochran said that if not all the votes were officially counted, it probably means the city election commission workers did not download all the voting machines correctly.

The voting machines and bags of precinct supplies were in the basement hall of the Hinds County Court House on Pascagoula Street, outside the county election commission office. Wallace looked in the Precinct 11 bag for the voter-roll sheets, but they weren't there. Cochran said the city election workers must have taken them to City Hall.

Jackson City Clerk Brenda Pree said the city election commission would have the voter rolls if they were in City Hall. She said no one was in the election commission office, though, because they finished their job by verifying the results Wednesday.

She said if someone wanted to know about any differences in official results and voter rolls, they would have to ask one of the city election commission workers: Beryl P. Williams, Della Cooper or Linda Sanders.

When asked about the discrepancy, Williams said she had not looked at the number of people who signed the roll. When asked who was supposed to compare voter-roll numbers to election totals, Williams said the election had been certified and she had nothing else to tell me. When I asked the question again, Williams answer was only slightly more telling.

"It didn�t come up for there to be...(trailed off) Well, anyway, I don't know anything about the people that signed the voter rolls, about their numbers or whatever," Williams said. "Nothing came up as a question when we were certifying, and we certified, and it's a done deal."

Williams said City Clerk Pree has voter rolls now. When I told Williams that Pree had sent me to her, she said she thinks the voter rolls are in the city clerk's vault.

"I think there�s somehow, and I'm making this up, you can challenge and the other (candidate) gets to challenge, and we can meet you down there, and you can look for as long as you want to," Williams said.

Williams said to challenge, the candidate would need to call the secretary of state's office.

When I called Pree to request a copy of the voter rolls, she directed me once again to the election commission. When I said they directed me to her, she said the rolls are probably in the city vault, and that I would need to call the city attorney's office to request a copy.

When I called the city attorney's office, the attorney who answered the phone said I would need to talk to Deputy City Attorney James Anderson, who was out of the office. I left my phone number for him to call me back this afternoon.

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.

Bob Fleischer
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Rjf7r

Post Number: 248
Registered: 9-2005