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Board Administrator
Username: admin
Post Number: 552
Registered: 12-2004
Best of Black Box? 
Votes: 2 | | Posted on Thursday, June 2, 2005 - 2:33 pm: | |
from Daily Kos - by format flip
this diary is bogus ...
first, i live in new hampshire. there has been no "hotbed of controversy" with the optical scanning machines in our state.
Actually, the Kerry win in the primary raised eyebrows when machine results had Kerry ahead by a large margin, but hand counts had Kerry and Dean neck and neck.
in fact, secretary of state bill gardner has performed numerous recounts and the results from optical scanning machines are usually the same as the hand recounts correct.
Actually, almost all recounts are done by running the ballots through the optical scan machine again. The memory card hack, combined with the tabulator hack, will just result in a hacked result again during the recount. Only hand counting ALL the paper ballots will work, because the double set of books (and ballot chain of custody issues) easily offset a spot-checked hand count.
the problems usually stem from human errors on the ballots - not rigged optical machines. this has been proven again and again and again, recount after recount. gardner has said in interviews that the recounts in the state have proven the machines complete mistake proof.
I'd like to see the studies cited that "prove it again and again." Secretary of State Gardner is using Diebold optical scan software in New Hampshire that has never passed federal certification at all -- even less oversight than most states -- and the federal testing labs really fell apart on this one anyway.
gardner, by the way, is a registered democrat.
This is the single most problematic myth facing the voting integrity movement today. It is NOT a Republican vs. Democrat issue -- it is an issue of maintaining power and it is driven by money, which has infected the system from top to bottom. From all appearances, the hack built into the Diebold optical scans has been there for at least a decade, and has been "open for business" for both parties.
ralph nader also proved that the machines are correct when he went and had a number of precincts around the state recounted. again, the machines were accurate; the only new votes gained for nader, bush, and kerry were human errors and marks on the paper ballots.
Actually, the reason we didn't go to New Hampshire for Nader's recount is that they did not follow any of the reporting, document requests, or chain of custody procedures needed to ensure an accurate recount. The spot-check methodology, combined with lack of documentation on chain of custody, combined with inability to review even basic computer logs, much less the memory cards themselves, rendered the recount pretty useless for proving anything. |
