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| 10-8-08: ELECTION ALERT - Avoid the '... |
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Bev Harris
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 9856
Registered: 12-2004
Best of Black Box? 
Votes: 8 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Friday, October 10, 2008 - 9:19 am: | 
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You may have read about this, and Black Box Voting has sent an ELECTION ALERT about this. Here are the details and what to do about it:
THE PROBLEM: "Straight party voting" on voting machines is revealing a bad pattern of miscounting and omitting your vote, especially if you are a Democrat.
Most recently (Oct. 2008), a firm called Automated Election Services was found to have mis-coded the system in heavily Democratic Santa Fe County, New Mexico such that straight party voters would not have the presidential vote counted.
Straight party voting is allowed in 15 states. Basically, it means that you can take a shortcut to actually looking at who you are voting for and instead just select a party preference. Then the voting machine makes your candidate choices, supposedly for the party you requested.
Additional details follow, but first: PROTECT THE COUNT
1) NEVER CHOOSE THE STRAIGHT PARTY VOTE OPTION, because it alerts the computer as to your party preference and allows software code to trigger whatever function the programmer has designed.
2) SEND THIS INFORMATION OUT TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN, blog it, root n' toot it out there to get the word out.
3) ESPECIALLY GET THE WORD OUT TO PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING STATES, which have straight party voting options:
- Alabama
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kentucky
- Michigan
- New Mexico
- North Carolina
- Oklahoma
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- Texas
- Utah
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
(Missouri and New Hampshire had straight party voting in earlier years, but have cancelled the straight party option for the Nov. 2008 election; however, the Straight Party software is still on Missouri and New Hampshire election management computers.)
4) DEMAND COMPLETE AND CAREFUL TESTING OF THE STRAIGHT PARTY OPTION IN LOGIC & ACCURACY TESTS. Bring copies of the citations in this article to buttress your case for why this is needed, if you have to. Witnesses for L&A tests in the straight party option states should specifically watch for and note whether (a) the tests were done and (b) the results were accurate.
5) LOOK FOR UNDERVOTES (high profile races with lower-than-average number of votes cast) and flag them, post them, bring them to the attention of others for additional scrutiny.
Undervotes may reveal straight-party programming fraud after the fact, but can never be reconstructed to know who the voter would have voted for. Such programming malfeasance, when found, disenfranchises voters.
MORE DETAILS ON THE STRAIGHT PARTY TRAP
October 2008: In Santa Fe, New Mexico the machines were NOT counting straight party ballots correctly, and now it turns out that voting machines have been caught giving straight party votes to the other party's candidates, omitting the counts for some straight party votes, and generally creating mischief.
Most recent news on this can be found here:
More on that here:
http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/30557559.html?elr=KArksac8P3iUec7Pa P3iUqc8P3UU
with archive copy and commentary on the claims made in the article here:
http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/159/78362.html
California citizen Judy Alter discovered a high number of undervotes in the New Mexico presidential race in 2004. She traced these back to straight party votes that skipped counting the presidential race. Here is Alter's write-up on what she found:
http://www.bbvdocs.org/US/avoid-straight-party-option.pdf
(46 KB)
This is the short version of Alter's study of the 2004 Presidential Election of Santa Fe, New Mexico; It shows how Alter figured out that the straight party voting option did not contain a vote for president (or defaulted to Bush). She explains that the straight party option created the huge under-vote in NM and the other states with straight party voting.
According to Alter, most of the biggest exit poll shifts occurred in the straight party states.
Alter also has a long long version of the article, with charts and graphs as well as examples of the evidence she has from the hand filled out paper ballots counted on Sequoia scanners for early voting and absentee voting and the internal memory tapes of the Sequoia pushbutton DRE.
Her study in also posted on my website: http://www.protectcaliforniaballots.org
BOTH DRE AND OPTICAL SCAN SYSTEMS HAVE BEEN CAUGHT MISCOUNTING STRAIGHT PARTY VOTES
Alter provides evidence from the absentee and early voting reports from Sequoia optical scan machines (paper ballots) that the straight party option for minor party candidates omitted votes. Two votes for straight Green party showed no votes for Cobb (the 2004 Green Party presidential candidate) next to his name.
According to articles archived on Voters Unite, straight party votes have been caught miscounting straight party votes in Wisconsin and Alabama as well.
ES&S Optical scan system: In Medford, Wisconsin, ES&S ballot scanners failed to count straight-party votes at all. About 27 percent of all votes cast in Medford during the Nov. 2004 election were not counted by voting system computers. -- http://www.votersunite.org/article.asp?id=5061
ES&S optical scan system: In Baldwin County, Alabama, the ballot programming for straight ticket voting went awry in November 2006 by identifying one Republican as a Democrat.http://www.votersunite.org/article.asp?id=6868
It's not just ES&S: The following overly cryptic Diebold Product Advisory does not reveal what the "issues" are that cause unexpected results from certain straight party voting programming methods: http://www.bbvdocs.org/diebold/Product-Advisory-Notice-straight-party-voting.pdf
(17 KB)
Something happens. Something unexpected. Quietly now, "call Diebold" it says, for more information.
BEWARE, THE STRAIGHT PARTY VOTE MAY NOT INCLUDE PRESIDENTIAL RACE AT ALL
In North and South Carolina voters a straight party ticket does not include any vote for president. Yes, it's the law there. Voters need to also vote separately for president.
EVEN IF YOUR STATE DOESN'T HAVE STRAIGHT PARTY VOTING, YOUR VOTING COMPUTERS DO HAVE IT
Instead of creating two different systems, voting machine vendors put the straight party software into ALL voting computers, and just turn it "off" in states that don't allow straight party voting.
Both kinds of straight party voting -- with the presidential race included and with presidential votes omitted -- are actually on the election management computer that programs the ballots. It's up to the programmer to to choose whether to use straight party voting and, if so, whether it will register a vote for president or not. While it's true that systems like the Diebold GEMS Election Management system provide a drop-down menu where election programmers can choose their state system, they can also opt to choose some other state's system, or the generic "US" system (whatever that is), thereby enabling a giant OOPS excuse if caught.
ENTER THE PRIVATE CONTRACTORS
New Mexico's recent problem has been attributed to Automated Election Services, a firm that programs memory cards for New Mexico's ES&S M100 voting machines and also prints the ballots and provides election support services.
New Hampshire, which now prohibits use of the Straight Party function, uses LHS Associates to program their voting system. Therefore, whatever switches LHS flips on the election management system will be in effect, regardless of whether voters and New Hampshire election officials "see" a straight party option.
PERSPECTIVE, FRAME OF REFERENCE
The big "Oops" they dropped on this needs more perspective, a new frame of reference. For example:
You are counting the cash for a fund raiser. Somehow, it's discovered that $500 didn't make it into the count and someone put it in their pocket. They say "Oops" and tell you it was a mistake.
Really? Will you let them count the cash again? Probably not. Automated Election Services, and every other vendor that incorrectly programs voting systems such that they effectively steal people's votes should never be allowed to program the system again. Consequences! Where are they?
A LEHTOISM
From voting rights attorney Paul Lehto:
"One may breathe easier after November, if their favored candidate wins, but even if mine doesn't, I'll say it now: It will still be an illegitimate election, as a function of the secret vote counting ALONE, without the need for even an allegation of fraud, much less proof.
"The incumbents in office make all of our election law even those governing their own re-elections. Unless, of course, we uphold what I so often speak about, our own inalienable rights. Without those, we are all at the mercy of whoever is in power.
Being at the mercy of whoever's in power is not a definition of freedom, if I may seize on the power of understatement."
* * * * *
Now is a good time to consider keeping Black Box Voting in business:
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Mark Michaels
Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Mark_michaels
Post Number: 52
Registered: 1-2008
Best of Black Box? 
Votes: 2 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Saturday, October 11, 2008 - 3:20 pm: |
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As someone who prepared ballot data files for various ballot counting systems in my former job, I agree with the recommendation to avoid voting the Straight Party contest.
This office is not automatically linked by software to the partisan contests on the ballot; the linkage is done manually by the election programmer. It is very easy to "misss" linking an office, especially when preparing a complicated election. Unfortunatley, the software does not have a routine that looks for missing linkages, so the voter must rely on how thoroughly the election was checked during the L&A testing.
It is also possible that a candidate can be assigned to the wrong party in the bdf, so the Straight Party vote could have unintended results.
Critics are correct when they complain that there is no way for the voter to if the Straight Party contest is set up correctly so it will assign votes properly.
I've never liked the Straight Party contest for a few other reasons. The rules for counting votes differ by state (for instance, what happens if a voter marks more than one party? In some states, the entire partisan part of the ballot is automatically voided. In others, individual voting marks for candidates will still be counted).
An unintended consequence of the Straight Party contest is voters will often mark their party choice only and totally ignore the nonpartisan offices and public questions on the ballots.
When I worked in the industry, a few states changed their laws to eliminate the Straight Party. I cheered. Another State brought it back. I groaned... for good reason. |
christine c reid
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Ctwatcher
Post Number: 1048
Registered: 12-2007
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Sunday, October 12, 2008 - 7:41 am: |
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The rules for counting votes differ by state (for instance, what happens if a voter marks more than one party? In some states, the entire partisan part of the ballot is automatically voided. In others, individual voting marks for candidates will still be counted).
This is a point that has caught my eye, as well.
In some states, if a voter casts a vote for a straight party ticket plus an ADDITIONAL vote for a candidate of the other party. BOTH votes may be counted, rather than viewed as an overvote on that single candidate's race.
Where paper ballots are used and such a law exists, the straight party ballots risk becoming spendable currency to change the election outcome.
In such cases, if the opportunity for fraud occurs, no blank ballots are needed, and no special solvents to remove ink from cast votes are needed - the total registered voters on the checklist will not change, but the votes will. It effectively facilitates fraud, in my opinion.
Nice to see you here again, Mark. Your technical insights continue to teach me a lot. |
Bev Harris
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 9871
Registered: 12-2004
Best of Black Box?
Votes: 1 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Wednesday, October 15, 2008 - 8:11 am: |
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Update: According to the South Carolina state elections Web site, the straight party option in South Carolina now includes the presidential race. The information I referenced in this article was based on a law that has been changed.
Also: West Virginia has also now discovered a problem with voting machines in one county, which were programmed such that straight party races were incorrectly counted. The county blames it on ES&S. |
Bev Harris
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 9872
Registered: 12-2004
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Wednesday, October 15, 2008 - 8:14 am: |
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Make that 18 West Virginia counties:
Charleston Gazette - Oct. 14, by Rusty Marks
http://wvgazette.com/News/200810140330
Programming glitch affects ballots statewide
Mistake made by vendor, commissioner says
A programming glitch is forcing election officials in Kanawha and 18 other counties to retest their optical scanning voting machines on the eve of the general election.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A programming glitch is forcing election officials in Kanawha and 18 other counties to retest their optical scanning voting machines on the eve of the general election.
Early voting begins Wednesday for the 2008 election. But Kanawha County Clerk Vera McCormick said a programming error in the state's automated voting machines could have resulted in incorrect results for at least one state race.
According to McCormick, voters who voted a straight Republican ticket but then decided to vote for only one Democrat in the state Supreme Court race would have had their votes incorrectly counted. Two Democrats and one Republican are vying for two open seats on the court.
A voter voting a straight Republican ticket who wanted to vote for both Democrats would have had their vote counted correctly, but someone who wanted to vote for only a single Democrat and no Republican would have votes recorded for both candidates, McCormick said.
Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper said a clerk in Hampshire County discovered the error late last week and informed the secretary of state's office. State election officials contacted the vendor who did the programming for the voting machines to correct the mistake.
Kanawha and the other 18 counties that use optical scanners for early voting got new memory cards just in time for the start of early voting, which begins Wednesday. Kanawha County election officials called an emergency meeting to retest their voting machines with the new cards this morning.
Carper said the mistake was made by the vendor, Election Systems & Software in Nebraska. State and county election officials have repeatedly had problems with ES&S missing deadlines and making mistakes on voting materials.
Kanawha County received new memory cards for only 16 voting machines that will be used for early voting. ES&S is supposed to supply new cards for the county's other 164 voting machines before Election Day.
Carper is unhappy with the voting glitch. "The problem is this is the day before the election starts," he said. "This does not instill confidence in the voting system.
"I think it's time for the Secretary of State to put the vendor they selected on a short leash."
McCormick said the mistake has been fixed and that voters should not worry about having their ballots miscounted. "They shouldn't get discouraged," she said. "That's why we're testing." |
Sarah Shipley
Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Shipreich
Post Number: 1
Registered: 11-2008
Best of Black Box?
Votes: 3 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Sunday, November 2, 2008 - 2:50 am: |
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In Harris County Texas on the eSlate machines, when you vote straight party and then choose the presidential again for emphasis, it negates the vote. It doesn't uncheck the box on the screen when you do this, you have to catch it on the summary screen. This is also a problem for the democratic straight ticket as there are two races that have no democratic choice, only Republican and Libertarian, and if you don't scroll down through each vote, you miss it.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/chronicle/6083023.html |
Catherine Ansbro
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Catherine_a
Post Number: 5347
Registered: 12-2004
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Sunday, November 2, 2008 - 4:07 am: |
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Hi Sarah,
Thanks for pointing out these problems. |
Bev Harris
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 9990
Registered: 12-2004
Best of Black Box?
Votes: 1 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Sunday, November 2, 2008 - 5:54 am: |
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Hi Sarah, and welcome to Black Box Voting!
And yet, the Harris County Democratic Party chairman was particularly incensed when I wrote the article about straight party voting. He demanded that we stop "spreading disinformation" and said that for the Harris County Dems, straight party voting is a critial part of their strategy. Then he and his colleagues got into an e-mail shouting match, all piling on to do name-calling and speculate about my secret agenda. I have since learned that they did the same thing to a leader with Code Pink.
I continue to be disappointed at what certain contingents in both political parties will say and do to bully and smear, rather than engaging in rational, fact-based and courteous real dialog. |
Melinda
Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Texastrioamigos
Post Number: 2
Registered: 11-2008
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Thursday, November 6, 2008 - 2:00 am: |
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I posted this on the Texas forum but during my election worker training it was explained to us that our Hart machines in Travis County did have a straight party glitch. It had been found by our election division but instead of making this information public they were relying on trained workers to let the voters know. Well, training is optional for clerks and it would be a clerk educating voters on how to use the system. How do we run tests on these machines to see if this problem has been fixed? Who do I ask and how do I confirm the results if they report it has been fixed? |
HsvsRsvsesv
Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Cleocin
Post Number: 1
Registered: 6-2009
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Thursday, June 18, 2009 - 2:29 am: |
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">order cleocin |
HsvsRsvsesv
Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Xxtts
Post Number: 2
Registered: 7-2009
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Saturday, July 4, 2009 - 8:48 am: |
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xxtts |
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