RonRules
07-17-2012, 05:15 PM
From the excellent Black Box Voting, Bev Harris forum:
http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/129/82173.html?1342564555
(AK) 7/12 - 141 Uncounted, Voted Ballots Found in Closet
Another stellar example of the need for fully public chain of custody at all times: Following certification of a deeply controversial City of Anchorage election, 141 ballots have been discovered stashed in a City Hall closet.
Coming on the heels of another chain of custody meltdown story from the City of Cudahy (Calif), where election officials admitted to opening absentee ballots before counting, throwing out those they didn't want and keeping those favoring their chosen candidate (see: http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/132/82172.html ) this new City of Anchorage story has got to raise eyebrows.
"It didn't affect the result."
Yes, that's what they all say, but that's not unlike discovering $141 taken from your bank account, put in the bank's own account, and the banker telling you "But it didn't bounce a check. Um, yeah, here it is back again now that you discovered it, and we'll just issue you a new bank statement."
"It didn't affect the results."
Or did it? The found ballots were photocopied filled-out sample ballots. As pointed out by Black Box Voting earlier when analyzing the election meltdown report on this messy election (link: http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/129/82053.html ), the state of Alaska, which prescribes making photocopies and using sample ballots if there is a ballot shortage, has a very poor understanding of ballot accounting procedures. The reason such practices are ill-advised is that ... well ... ANYBODY can make a copy of a sample ballot and stick in into the pile.
So if these 141 "found, voted sample ballots" really didn't affect the result, were they ditched just because they weren't needed to pad the final result? Were they legitimate? Were all those photocopied sample ballots legitimate? Who will ever know?
The news report linked below says the precincts from whence these ballots came will be reported later. (Precincts, plural? That's worse, of course. It was not just one errant polling place ballot hoard, but THREE precincts -- and why only SOME, but not all, ballots ended up in the closet is not explained.)
The April 2012 City of Anchorage election results have now been decertified, and will have to be recertified in August.
Public counting, at the polling place, with well-controlled Pennsylvania-style absentee procedures is the way to do elections right. The straight story is that this City of Anchorage election can never really be validated in any way, regardless of whether someone recertifies it in August.
KSKA Anchorage - July 16, 2012, By Daysha Eaton
141 More Ballots Found in Closet at Anchorage City Hall
http://www.alaskapublic.org/2012/07/16/141-more-ballots-found-in-closet-at-anchorage-city-hall/
...Just when everyone thought the messiest chapter in recent Anchorage voting history was closed, Municipal Leaders confirm that they have found more than 100 uncounted ballots leftover from the flawed April 3 Municipal election.
Officials say Clerk's Office staff discovered the uncounted ballots in a storage closet in the Assembly Conference room on the first floor of City Hall last Wednesday.
...[Reporter Daysha Eaton] "basically just a corner room about the size of a large walk-in closet, right?"
Staff: "Correct, with windows."
Daysha: "Where exactly were the ballots?"
Staff: "On the tables in black bags."
Inside those bags, officials discovered 141 uncounted sample ballots from three precincts that were cast during the April 3 election. They say all the election materials were stored in that room. Anchorage Assembly Chair Ernie Hall chose to hold off on informing the media about the find until Friday evening, he says, to better assess the magnitude of the situation.
"There's just been too many mistakes in this election, and I didn't want this to be handled in a manner that it became another mistake," Hall said.
The ballots were discovered just as the municipality was getting out from under the shadow of one of the messiest elections in its history. Attorney Dan Hensley, a retired Alaska Superior Court judge, issued a report earlier this month laying the blame on bad management by then Clerk Barbara Gruenstein and an inexperienced Deputy Clerk, Jacqueline Duke. He also faulted the Anchorage Assembly for a lack of oversight of the Clerk's Office. Before the report was filed, the clerk resigned and the deputy clerk was fired. Hall says the ballots were found during transfer to a more secure vault in the Clerk's Office.
"We found them when we took them out of the vault downstairs where they were stored. And they were in sealed bags down there. All the bags were opened and those contents were transferred into the file boxes and that's when they discovered sample ballots in those bags," Hall said.
Sample Ballots were used after election workers ran out of regular ballots. They were supposed to be turned in and counted separately. Hall says, because of the find, he is reconvening the Election Commission.
"It’s 141 ballots. It's not going to change the outcome of any election. But the fact of the matter is, I'm gonna tell you I’m having enough trouble living with the fact that we had a messed up election. I’m not going to live with the fact that maybe somebody's vote didn't get counted that made the effort to come out and do it. Whatever we have to do to make sure that all 141 of those are accounted for, we're going to do it," Hall said.
Next week the Election Commission will reassemble to check each of the 141 ballots. Information about which precincts the ballots came from will be released in a report to follow. Because of the discovery of the additional ballots, the election will need to be re-certified Hall says, likely in early August.
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.
http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/129/82173.html?1342564555
(AK) 7/12 - 141 Uncounted, Voted Ballots Found in Closet
Another stellar example of the need for fully public chain of custody at all times: Following certification of a deeply controversial City of Anchorage election, 141 ballots have been discovered stashed in a City Hall closet.
Coming on the heels of another chain of custody meltdown story from the City of Cudahy (Calif), where election officials admitted to opening absentee ballots before counting, throwing out those they didn't want and keeping those favoring their chosen candidate (see: http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/132/82172.html ) this new City of Anchorage story has got to raise eyebrows.
"It didn't affect the result."
Yes, that's what they all say, but that's not unlike discovering $141 taken from your bank account, put in the bank's own account, and the banker telling you "But it didn't bounce a check. Um, yeah, here it is back again now that you discovered it, and we'll just issue you a new bank statement."
"It didn't affect the results."
Or did it? The found ballots were photocopied filled-out sample ballots. As pointed out by Black Box Voting earlier when analyzing the election meltdown report on this messy election (link: http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/129/82053.html ), the state of Alaska, which prescribes making photocopies and using sample ballots if there is a ballot shortage, has a very poor understanding of ballot accounting procedures. The reason such practices are ill-advised is that ... well ... ANYBODY can make a copy of a sample ballot and stick in into the pile.
So if these 141 "found, voted sample ballots" really didn't affect the result, were they ditched just because they weren't needed to pad the final result? Were they legitimate? Were all those photocopied sample ballots legitimate? Who will ever know?
The news report linked below says the precincts from whence these ballots came will be reported later. (Precincts, plural? That's worse, of course. It was not just one errant polling place ballot hoard, but THREE precincts -- and why only SOME, but not all, ballots ended up in the closet is not explained.)
The April 2012 City of Anchorage election results have now been decertified, and will have to be recertified in August.
Public counting, at the polling place, with well-controlled Pennsylvania-style absentee procedures is the way to do elections right. The straight story is that this City of Anchorage election can never really be validated in any way, regardless of whether someone recertifies it in August.
KSKA Anchorage - July 16, 2012, By Daysha Eaton
141 More Ballots Found in Closet at Anchorage City Hall
http://www.alaskapublic.org/2012/07/16/141-more-ballots-found-in-closet-at-anchorage-city-hall/
...Just when everyone thought the messiest chapter in recent Anchorage voting history was closed, Municipal Leaders confirm that they have found more than 100 uncounted ballots leftover from the flawed April 3 Municipal election.
Officials say Clerk's Office staff discovered the uncounted ballots in a storage closet in the Assembly Conference room on the first floor of City Hall last Wednesday.
...[Reporter Daysha Eaton] "basically just a corner room about the size of a large walk-in closet, right?"
Staff: "Correct, with windows."
Daysha: "Where exactly were the ballots?"
Staff: "On the tables in black bags."
Inside those bags, officials discovered 141 uncounted sample ballots from three precincts that were cast during the April 3 election. They say all the election materials were stored in that room. Anchorage Assembly Chair Ernie Hall chose to hold off on informing the media about the find until Friday evening, he says, to better assess the magnitude of the situation.
"There's just been too many mistakes in this election, and I didn't want this to be handled in a manner that it became another mistake," Hall said.
The ballots were discovered just as the municipality was getting out from under the shadow of one of the messiest elections in its history. Attorney Dan Hensley, a retired Alaska Superior Court judge, issued a report earlier this month laying the blame on bad management by then Clerk Barbara Gruenstein and an inexperienced Deputy Clerk, Jacqueline Duke. He also faulted the Anchorage Assembly for a lack of oversight of the Clerk's Office. Before the report was filed, the clerk resigned and the deputy clerk was fired. Hall says the ballots were found during transfer to a more secure vault in the Clerk's Office.
"We found them when we took them out of the vault downstairs where they were stored. And they were in sealed bags down there. All the bags were opened and those contents were transferred into the file boxes and that's when they discovered sample ballots in those bags," Hall said.
Sample Ballots were used after election workers ran out of regular ballots. They were supposed to be turned in and counted separately. Hall says, because of the find, he is reconvening the Election Commission.
"It’s 141 ballots. It's not going to change the outcome of any election. But the fact of the matter is, I'm gonna tell you I’m having enough trouble living with the fact that we had a messed up election. I’m not going to live with the fact that maybe somebody's vote didn't get counted that made the effort to come out and do it. Whatever we have to do to make sure that all 141 of those are accounted for, we're going to do it," Hall said.
Next week the Election Commission will reassemble to check each of the 141 ballots. Information about which precincts the ballots came from will be released in a report to follow. Because of the discovery of the additional ballots, the election will need to be re-certified Hall says, likely in early August.
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.