suzypotaka
02-05-2008, 12:45 PM
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/
WHO WILL CONTROL SUPER TUESDAY? GIRD FOR THE LONG HAUL
What to watch for -- and do -- during & after Super Power Tuesday
Visit the posts under this topic to discuss Super Power Tuesday and report your own experience with issues like those discussed in this article. LOTS MORE INFORMATION: See "Citizens Tool Kit" at BlackBoxVoting.org
LOOK FOR: Journalistic malpractice -- Watch for the media to announce who "wins" instead of stating "We predict (name of candidate) will win." News channels are supposed to report the news, not create the news. Results as reported by the news never match the actual results, by the way. What to do: Object and reject premature "calls." Get the facts, however long it takes, and report them, wherever you can.
Also watch for: "The gray pie slice" -- In New Hampshire, CNN used a gray pie slice without a name to represent Ron Paul. Other candidates, even when pie slices were smaller, were colored and had candidate names affixed. What to do: Record coverage start to finish to gather evidence of any journalistic malpractice.
Also watch for: Eroding vote totals. You may see candidate totals go DOWN during the count. What to do: Record coverage start to finish.
Also watch for: Unusual fluctuations or insufficient variations with minor candidates. In one Minnesota district in 2004, for example, ALL MINOR CANDIDATES received the same percentages of votes, until screen shots were posted and questioned by Internet watchdogs. Then the vote totals were spread more normally. In Florida in 2000, at one point the Socialist Worker Party candidate had more votes dumped into his totals in a single county than he received statewide. One strategy for electronic vote manipulation involves use of minor candidate vote bins to store votes temporarily. What to do: Record television coverage start to finish to retain and examine later, and take screen shots of incoming AP totals from sites like http://www.politico.com.
WATCH FOR AND DOCUMENT VOTING RIGHTS PROBLEMS IN THREE AREAS:
- Access to voting (voter rolls)
- Fairness (deceptive practices)
- Counting the votes
ACCESS TO VOTING
Watch for:
- Registrations hijacked to a different party
- Omissions and improper additions to the voter rolls
The new "electronic pollbooks" help to block citizen oversight and also introduce sophisticated attack vectors.
What to do: Gather evidence: Documents, records, video, audio and photographs. Persevere – keep gathering proof, even after the election is over.
Example: When voter registration is hijacked to a different party, there should be a paper trail.... More
1-29-08: Citizen's Guide to Following Vote Transport Vehicles
By Bev Harris - Black Box Voting
Vickie Karp - Vote Rescue, Austin TX
with photo provided by Tom Courbat, taken by Paul Jacobs
If you live in Florida or any of the Super Duper Tuesday (Feb. 5) states, your votes are soon going to be toted around the county. Who's transporting them? Is the chain of custody secure? What we found in New Hampshire proves you should take nothing for granted, and you may be stone cold horrified at what you see.
Now's the time to get in gear and track your own local chain of custody. Here are some tips:
TRACK BALLOTS, MEMORY CARDS, AND CARTRIDGES
The most interesting locations are the county (or in New England, Town/City) election headquarters, and the depots, drop-off centers, and other consolidated locations set up to receive multiple precincts at once before toting them downtown.
In Florida, we found some of the most interesting anomalies clustered in the Daytona Speedway drop off site. Here, poll workers from dozens of Volusia County polling places had been instructed to drive through a Daytona Speedway drop-off site, hand over their poll tapes and memory cards, and drive away.
In California, Tom Courbat and the SAVE R VOTE group tracked the memory cartridges from polling places to the county elections office.
In King County, Washington Kathleen Wynne stationed herself at one of the depots, drop-off sites, what have you, where she observed optical scan machines being tossed around and memory card handling in the dark of night.
In New Hampshire, we followed a van driven by "Butch and Hoppy" as they careened around the state picking up ballot boxes, delivering them after dark to a state archive building.
PREPARATION
Don't even bother if you don't take video of this. Collect evidence, not anecdotes.
1. Get at least one video camera for each vehicle and practice with it before you need it. Get the best zoom lens, remote audio and night vision adjustments you can, if you have a choice. Otherwise, just get any video camera and go.
2. Get enough recordable media -- mini DVs, disks, or whatever your camera takes. Plan for enough to capture 3-5 hours worth of video.
3. Bring your charger cord. Bring full batteries.
4. Get a converter. This will let you plug in your camera, charge it, whatever while in the car. The converter plugs into the cigarette lighter and gives you ordinary electrical outlets to plug in cameras, laptops, cell phone chargers, what have you. Available at Radio Shack for a... More
WHO WILL CONTROL SUPER TUESDAY? GIRD FOR THE LONG HAUL
What to watch for -- and do -- during & after Super Power Tuesday
Visit the posts under this topic to discuss Super Power Tuesday and report your own experience with issues like those discussed in this article. LOTS MORE INFORMATION: See "Citizens Tool Kit" at BlackBoxVoting.org
LOOK FOR: Journalistic malpractice -- Watch for the media to announce who "wins" instead of stating "We predict (name of candidate) will win." News channels are supposed to report the news, not create the news. Results as reported by the news never match the actual results, by the way. What to do: Object and reject premature "calls." Get the facts, however long it takes, and report them, wherever you can.
Also watch for: "The gray pie slice" -- In New Hampshire, CNN used a gray pie slice without a name to represent Ron Paul. Other candidates, even when pie slices were smaller, were colored and had candidate names affixed. What to do: Record coverage start to finish to gather evidence of any journalistic malpractice.
Also watch for: Eroding vote totals. You may see candidate totals go DOWN during the count. What to do: Record coverage start to finish.
Also watch for: Unusual fluctuations or insufficient variations with minor candidates. In one Minnesota district in 2004, for example, ALL MINOR CANDIDATES received the same percentages of votes, until screen shots were posted and questioned by Internet watchdogs. Then the vote totals were spread more normally. In Florida in 2000, at one point the Socialist Worker Party candidate had more votes dumped into his totals in a single county than he received statewide. One strategy for electronic vote manipulation involves use of minor candidate vote bins to store votes temporarily. What to do: Record television coverage start to finish to retain and examine later, and take screen shots of incoming AP totals from sites like http://www.politico.com.
WATCH FOR AND DOCUMENT VOTING RIGHTS PROBLEMS IN THREE AREAS:
- Access to voting (voter rolls)
- Fairness (deceptive practices)
- Counting the votes
ACCESS TO VOTING
Watch for:
- Registrations hijacked to a different party
- Omissions and improper additions to the voter rolls
The new "electronic pollbooks" help to block citizen oversight and also introduce sophisticated attack vectors.
What to do: Gather evidence: Documents, records, video, audio and photographs. Persevere – keep gathering proof, even after the election is over.
Example: When voter registration is hijacked to a different party, there should be a paper trail.... More
1-29-08: Citizen's Guide to Following Vote Transport Vehicles
By Bev Harris - Black Box Voting
Vickie Karp - Vote Rescue, Austin TX
with photo provided by Tom Courbat, taken by Paul Jacobs
If you live in Florida or any of the Super Duper Tuesday (Feb. 5) states, your votes are soon going to be toted around the county. Who's transporting them? Is the chain of custody secure? What we found in New Hampshire proves you should take nothing for granted, and you may be stone cold horrified at what you see.
Now's the time to get in gear and track your own local chain of custody. Here are some tips:
TRACK BALLOTS, MEMORY CARDS, AND CARTRIDGES
The most interesting locations are the county (or in New England, Town/City) election headquarters, and the depots, drop-off centers, and other consolidated locations set up to receive multiple precincts at once before toting them downtown.
In Florida, we found some of the most interesting anomalies clustered in the Daytona Speedway drop off site. Here, poll workers from dozens of Volusia County polling places had been instructed to drive through a Daytona Speedway drop-off site, hand over their poll tapes and memory cards, and drive away.
In California, Tom Courbat and the SAVE R VOTE group tracked the memory cartridges from polling places to the county elections office.
In King County, Washington Kathleen Wynne stationed herself at one of the depots, drop-off sites, what have you, where she observed optical scan machines being tossed around and memory card handling in the dark of night.
In New Hampshire, we followed a van driven by "Butch and Hoppy" as they careened around the state picking up ballot boxes, delivering them after dark to a state archive building.
PREPARATION
Don't even bother if you don't take video of this. Collect evidence, not anecdotes.
1. Get at least one video camera for each vehicle and practice with it before you need it. Get the best zoom lens, remote audio and night vision adjustments you can, if you have a choice. Otherwise, just get any video camera and go.
2. Get enough recordable media -- mini DVs, disks, or whatever your camera takes. Plan for enough to capture 3-5 hours worth of video.
3. Bring your charger cord. Bring full batteries.
4. Get a converter. This will let you plug in your camera, charge it, whatever while in the car. The converter plugs into the cigarette lighter and gives you ordinary electrical outlets to plug in cameras, laptops, cell phone chargers, what have you. Available at Radio Shack for a... More