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| 3-14-07: Riverside Rides Again ... |
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Message |
    
Bev Harris
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 6168
Registered: 12-2004
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Monday, April 9, 2007 - 8:13 pm: | 
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 Tom Courbat
Riverside County, California |
Bev Harris
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Site_admin
Post Number: 704
Registered: 10-2006
Best of Black Box? 
Votes: 11 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Thursday, March 15, 2007 - 5:51 am: |
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 Tom Courbat is an ordinary guy who consistently commits extraordinary acts of citizenship along with several other salt-of-the-earth types who assemble in Riverside County, California under the name "SAVE R VOTE."
They are part of a growing number of American citizens who have discovered that a handful of common-sense individuals can literally move mountains to improve election integrity.
Riverside County has a reputation when it comes to elections. A somewhat pungent reputation. A reputation of the type that has featured candidates showing up at the door threatening would-be competitors. Riverside has a reputation for vapor-voting, information blockades and secrecy.
NEXT TIME YOU'RE WONDERING WHAT TO DO ON ELECTION NIGHT IN YOUR COMMUNITY...
Inch by inch, election after election, Riverside citizens are opening up Riverside elections. One step at a time, they are detoxifying the system.
What follows is a set of photos by citizens showing you exactly how to move a mountain one rock at a time. Riverside citizens took a trip through the 2006 general election with one objective in mind: To observe the chain of custody of their votes.
PRE-ELECTION BREAKDOWNS IN SECURE CHAIN OF CUSTODY
The photo below shows two locations with $80,000 worth of machines that can easily be stolen in 60 seconds or less.
link to photo: http://www.blackbox1.org/CA/tosheval.jpg
link to photo: http://www.blackbox1.org/CA/Cole-Canyon.jpg
If the machines aren't stolen, the votes they control might be: The breakdown in chain of custody reveals that the machines are easily susceptible to memory card (electronic ballot box) swaps and election contamination.
Being on wheeled carts, and with disability access ramps, these machines could be stolen in 60 seconds. If both locations were hit, $80,000 worth of fully-loaded (with memory cards installed) voting machines would turn up missing.
Worse yet, in a short period of time, two individuals, posing as election employees or poll workers, could remove the real memory card on any or all machines and replace it/them with virus-infected cards. One person could serve as a lookout while the other opens the machine, removes the original card and inserts the virus- infected card. The "tamper evident" seals are often not checked, and can be difficult to detect tampering even if checked.
COLLECTION CENTER IN RIVERSIDE
The following photos were taken from video at a Riverside collection center – a parking lot – on Election Night, November 7, 2006 between 9:40 p.m. and 10:35 pm:
link to photo: http://www.blackbox1.org/CA/seals.jpg
Seals were broken to gain entry into the transparent sealed pouch compartment containing voting cartridges. The pouch compartment is transparent so workers and supervisors can count the number of voting cartridges contained inside without the need to open it. Breaking the seal breaks the "chain of custody".
Supervisors simply provided additional red seals after the activity was completed, resulting in bags that looked "secure" since there were then "seals" back on the bags. No explanation ever given as to why.
link to photo: http://www.blackbox1.org/CA/losing-ones-memory.jpg
Workers searched fruitlessly for the missing two cartridges and finally gave up. The two missing vote cartridges never showed up at Election Headquarters on Election Night.
When the Registrar of Voters was asked how many vote cartridges were missing on Election Night, she replied "None".
link to photo: http://www.blackbox1.org/CA/pickup.jpg
Even dogs are not allowed to be transported in an unsecured manner in the back of an open-bed pickup truck. Should voting cartridges in unsecured bags be transported from parking lots (collection centers) to Election Headquarters, sometimes located 50 miles away or more?
REFUSAL TO ALLOW OBSERVERS TO SEE VOTE PROCESSING
link to photo: http://www.blackbox1.org/CA/secret-processing-sm.jpg
All terminals are turned away from the citizen observers who are kept away from the input screens that show error codes and actions workers take to correct errors, including ignoring them. This also breaks the chain of custody, as there is no independent verification that the handling of the voting cartridges (or absentee ballots) is appropriate, accurate and legal.
The "aura of secrecy" and lack of transparency is easily seen here. The public is not welcome to view the actual vote counting activities to a level of detail that would allow independent verification of the accuracy of the vote counting process. "Security factors" are cited as the reason that not even two members of the Election Observer Panel are allowed in the vote counting area on election night. Yet the photos on the preceding two pages show clearly that "security" is an issue primarily when it keeps the public from viewing anything meaningful. [This photo was taken on 6-17-06 during the counting of absentee ballots following the primary election.]
HOW'S YOUR OWN COUNTY DOING ON CHAIN OF CUSTODY?
Why not find out? Bring a camera and a video and let us know what you find out! And aren't you glad Tom Courbat, Paul Jacobs, and the Riverside SAV R VOTE group have showed America how it's done?
Photos by Tom Courbat and Paul Jacobs.
Presented by the citizenry to the Riverside County Board of Supervisors on 2-6-07 at 9:30 am.
NOTE: In the new DVD release of the HBO film Hacking Democracy ( http://www.hackingdemocracy.com ), look for never-before-seen footage of the rogues in Riverside.
For more information on tracking election chain of custody, see the Black Box Voting Citizen's Tool Kit ( http://www.blackboxvoting.org/toolkit.html ), Module 14: Chain of Custody ( http://www.blackboxvoting.org/toolkit-chain-of-custody.pdf )
Grab your camera, your public records, your video and send us your own Report from the Front Lines.
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If on the Web site and the pictures don't display, try right-clicking them, or use the direct link below the photo. Sometimes the download timing in our blog format is buggy.
This symbol means the item has been catalogued into the Black Box Voting library
Government is the servant of the people, and not the master of them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. We insist on remaining informed so that we may retain control over the instruments of government we have created.
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Russell Novkov
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Rnovkov
Post Number: 174
Registered: 02-2006
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 8:58 pm: |
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There needs to be safeguards against this happening.
Russell J. Novkov
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Nancy Tobi
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Ntobi
Post Number: 103
Registered: 01-2006
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Friday, March 16, 2007 - 5:16 pm: |
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Wow. Thanks to Tom and his fellow patriots. Awe inspiring work, my friends. |
Tom Courbat
Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Leftisbest
Post Number: 63
Registered: 06-2006
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Saturday, March 17, 2007 - 1:51 pm: |
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Hi Bev,
Thanks for all you are doing. This move will help many to find things quickly and in a very organized fashion.
Just one minor correction. It should be SAVE R VOTE. Maybe someday we will get organized to actually have our own Web site. So far been way too busy focusing on getting the job done in the field.
Always a pleasure to work with you. |
Tom Courbat
Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Leftisbest
Post Number: 64
Registered: 06-2006
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Saturday, March 17, 2007 - 1:56 pm: |
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Almost forgot, SAVE R VOTE is an acronym that stands for Secure Auditable Verifiable Elections Require Voter Observation of Touchscreen Equipment. I guess we'll have to change what it stands for when we get the DREs out by 2008!
I task I will gladly take on!! |
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