I voted early yesterday. In the recent past, I have used this space to document my voting adventures, as well as my uneasiness with touchscreen voting. This morning my confidence was shaken one step further.
At $1.50 an hour for parking near the County Center downtown Tampa, I wasn’t sure if I’d have enough cash to avoid a parking ticket. Lucky for me, the back seat of my car is replete with a change repository (floor), so I got my buck-fifty in a twinkling. If an hour seems like a lot of time to vote, you’re right. Having had a lengthy experience getting my tags at the same building, I didn’t want to risk my squeaky clean parking record for a few sluggish bureaucrats.
Moving forward, I calmly entered the building, knowing full well that I was on the verge of being able to vote against Katherine Harris. As satisfying as the thought was, the act itself left something to be desired. I still think they ought to have let me pull some kind of lever. Maybe a hatch through which a KH effigy would fall. Fireworks perhaps… I dunno.
Back to what actually happened. After breathlessly arriving at the 26th floor of the building (the view is fantastic!), I was greeted by a friendly poll worker with a… British accent. Hmmm… Oh well, Americans come in all stripes and flavors. I reasoned that it probably wasn’t a post revolutionary attempt at regaining control of the colonies but just to make sure, I had her demonstrate the machine. I did this, notwithstanding my familiarity and experience with the evil touchscreens back on September 5th.
My Poll Worker produced a mysterious voting card and gently shoved it into the machine. Two big yellow buttons appeared: “ENGLISH” and “ESPANOL”. Ironically, when the British sounding woman pressed the “ENGLISH” button, nothing happened. Again, she pressed the “ENGLISH” button. Again, nothing. Wow. Talk about losing your confidence in our elections. First, they give me a bag of chads in the primaries, just to remind me of how swell things went last time. This time, the test machine ain’t workin’. Luckily, the poll worker needed only bang on the back of the machine for it to work. Awesome.
So I voted. At least the right names popped up on the screen. Did my vote count? Who knows? Do I trust in election results anymore? Who knows? Do I want the Carter Center to monitor the U.S. elections from now on to make sure they’re clean? Yes.
This is how democracy starts to disappear. First the truth is just one side of an argument, then the veracity of election results is in question. What next?
Jim Johnson
3 years ago
I voted today at the Election Service Center on Falkenburg Road. No problems what so ever. The machine was calibrated correctly and the lightest touch registered my choices.
I can say, after being a server, touch screens can have problems over time. The calibration that registers a touch to a specific point or region on the screen can be incorrectly set. The screens can lose sensitivity – meaning.
Bear in mind that the units used in Hillsborough County are essentially two pieces. The monitor and the computer — kinda like the computer you are using now. It is possible to have a failing monitor without having any problem whatsoever with the computer itself.
There are a number of test procedures used on every machine — to make sure the votes are counted correctly. This testing is open to the public (it already occurred for 2006). It ensures that the machines individually count the votes correctly.
Finally, I can tell you that there are problems inherent in ANY voting system. We know about pregnant and hanging chads because of the 2000 election… chances are the punch card systems used for years resulted in a number of miscounted votes, but no one bothered to check or care.
Just my two cents here.
art guerrilla
3 years ago
jim johnson, you are either a moron or a propagandabot…
ALL computer-based voting systems ARE INHERENTLY vulnerable to MANY different avenues of defrauding… PERIOD… that is why over 90% of computer professionals are OPPOSED to non-auditable, ‘blackbox’ computer-based voting systems…
ESPECIALLY since -*somehow*- ‘our’ (sic) voting systems have become “PROPRIETARY” PROPERTY OF the ‘incompetent’ (? hmmm) voting machine companies…
(WTF? ? ? )
further, it only takes *ONE* insider with the keys to the backdoor to REMOTELY rig an election ABSOLUTELY UNTRACEABLY…
PAPER BALLOTS
HAND COUNTED
LOCALLY REPORTED
this is presently the ONLY method to give the public a chance at an open, inspectable, and vastly less easily defrauded process for casting and counting ballots…
this is being codified by a bill introduced by dennis kucinich, HR 6200, the paper ballot act of 2006… since this bill is about the only method which can restore fair, transparent, auditable, trustworthy, and accurate elections, it will -of course- not go anywhere…
…and are you kidding me with the ‘tests’ which are ‘performed’ (which is exactly the correct term: they are scripted performances, not real tests of the system, software, and security) ? ? ?
you need to update your script, propagandabot, that shit won’t play in peoria…
hee hee hee
ho ho ho
ha ha ha
ak ak ak
art guerrilla
aka ann archy
eof
Jim Johnson
3 years ago
I am neither a moron nor a propagandist. I am a realist and not one who feels it necessary to use hyperbole. I do not see conspiracies where none exist.
1. It is possible to rig any election if you know the ins and outs.
2. Unless the “insider” has access to the machines between the time they are tested and election day, it is impossible for them to remotely rig the election.
Although I have not seen the demonstration in some time, here is what I saw. The machines are NOT connected to the Internet – and I don’t think they are even connected to each other. They are as stand alone as your toaster. The voters are tabulated onto memory storage devices attached to each machine which is then downloaded into another machine to tabulate the results.
3. The testing is a real test of the system, software and security. If you don’t believe it, you should go witness one. There is no other way to describe it.
However, since you seem enamored with a paper trail, please explain how it could be used without even more problems? How would you REALLY know that what was registered by the computer is the same as what is printed on the ‘receipt’?? If an ‘insider’ can rig an election without the receipt, why can’t he rig it with the printed record?
It didn’t work in Ohio…
I realize you will never agree with me no matter how logical my arguments.
Perhaps you would prefer the 3rd world way of voting, where you place an “X” on a sheet of paper that is only hand counted.
Jim Johnson
3 years ago
FWIW
These are the machines used by Hillsborough SOE:
http://sos.state.nv.us/SequoiaVeriVoteDemo.swf
Jim Johnson
3 years ago
Oh, and I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad idea to have a paper record. Just that I don’t see a major problem with the existing system.
Jason
3 years ago
I did a little math once to see how many folks it would have taken to count the ballots for the ‘04 election.
Just a look at my home county we have nearly 560,000 registered voters and 362 precints. That means about 1500ish voters per precint on average. As it is they have 3500 poll workers working 12 hours on election day and attending various training classes prior to that. Figure they need to handcount the ballots. Lets say that 75% vote (the county data from the 2004 prez election say that is how many of us voted). That means 420,000 voters are cast. You example of 1,000,000 for 100,000,000 suggests a 1/100 ratio (I know that was just a ballpark figure but lets use it for now) so we would need 4200 counters for our county. Now this county is one of the more populated in Florida so on average lets guess that the average number of pollworkers needed by county is 50% of that or 2100. 67 counties means 140,700 counters needed for the entire state. As of 2005 18 million people (of all ages) lived in Florida according to the University of Florida. If we assume that these figures are anyplace CLOSE to accurate that means that we would need roughly 0.78% of our population to work the polls for several days each fall. Extrapolate that to the rest of the 300,000,000 current population and 2,340,000 counters would be needed nationwide.
That just seems like a lot of people to find with enough time on their hands to spend a few days doing this. Unless we use prisoners since that number is oddly close to the number of citizens serving prison time.
Vivian
3 years ago
Voting IS scary! I can’t keep up with campaigns, politicians, etc etc. I feel bad sometimes but can’t seem to get into it. I live in Lakeland, FL, (must say I go to Tampa each week just for its Wild Oats supermarket!) and I swear I cannot keep track of these local politicians! Thanks for blogs like this that attempt to make it easier!
tommy
3 years ago
Thanks for the kind words, Vivian. We are trying to keep track of the local stuff, and I wish we could do more.
Lee Nelson
3 years ago
Tonight at 9:00 on hbo there is a documentary about voting machines.
What I don’t get is that people want a paper trail and all the voting machine manufacturers could add a simple printing device and charge thousands of dollars for it. They could make a killing with this because the states have already invested in a particular machine and they could price the printers where it would be cost prohibitive for the states to switch to a new machine or method…..
art guerrilla
3 years ago
(“goshies, that art guerrilla sure is a mean asshole who says bad words; *surely* he can’t be right; i think i better stick with the anti-democratic, defraudable, computer-based voting systems, ’cause he’s just plain rude ! ! !”)
*sigh*
okay, jay jay, it appears the moron appellation is more appropos…
1. i am NOT talking about stupid/useless ‘receipts’ for the existing (or ANY) computer-based voting system; that is pointless under the present system of NOT actually recounting ‘votes’, but simply reprinting out the same fraudulent totals repeatedly…
2. you are w-a-a-a-y behind the curve on the computer-based systems and how they CAN BE defrauded, bunky; they HAVE been demonstrated to have ALL KINDS of vulnerabilites that your mindless ‘tests’ you were so enamored with will not ‘test’ for…
stop chewing your cud and face the facts, sheeple…
3. beyond the mere individual polling machines themselves, the central tabulators used in most/many systems (even optical scan/etc) are yet ANOTHER vulnerable chokepoint in the process…
4. if you really don’t understand the ideas and possibilities inherent in computer programs, trojan horses, backdoors, spaghetti code, self-executing modules, remote triggers, and the ability to transmit data/control over normal power lines, then you don’t know ANYTHING about computers and their use -and potential abuse- in voting systems…
you would be well advised to do some reading and research on the subject -beyond your openmouthed stupefication at super-cool ‘tests’ you witnessed- so as not to appear a complete fool in regards to computer programming… i have no doubt the ringmasters of that little charade have a very impressive routine to bamboozle the sheeple…
5. i AM talking about OLD FASHIONED paper ballots where you take a stupid fucking piece of paper, and use a stupid fucking pencil to put a stupid fucking “X” next to the stupid fucking candidate/issue of your stupid fucking choice…
(oh, to the moron-in-training who performed the napkin-calcs for the personnel needed to hand count ballots: please tell india, israel, and other ‘less-civilized’ nations that paper ballots, hand-counted, will never work…)
6. since you appear to either purposefully misunderstand the issues in play, or really are a bot who won’t engage in substantive issues, let me make the distinction clear to the ‘all-voting-systems-can-be-defrauded’ assholes:
A. are some voting systems more easily defrauded than others ?
yes or fucking no, moron…
(the answer is obviously ‘yes’; a point that goes unspoken by the ‘all-voting-systems-can-be-defrauded’ jerkoffs…)
B. is a centralized, computer-based voting system that CAN BE defrauded by a remote keystroke, an election-day software ‘patch’ (WFT?), daisy-chained voting booths, a cell phone call to a central tabulator, all by a SINGLE INDIVIDUAL; More *OR* Less Secure, than a paper-based system that is highly dispersed, publicly and locally counted/reported, and would involve hundreds or thousands or tens of thousands of individuals to perpetrate a fraud upon the system ? ? ?
well ? ? ?
if you don’t know the answer, then you don’t know WTF you are talking about…
7. you -or anyone- still do not address the preposterous presumption that it is okey-dokey that PRIVATE COMPANIES provide ‘their’ systems as COMPLETE BLACK BOXES which ‘we’ have no ‘right’ to inspect, PERIOD…
i don’t care if it is a voting machine company owned/run by gandhi, martin luther king, and geezus h. kee-rist almighty himownself, NO PRIVATE COMPANY (nor public institution) should have the sayso on having OUR voting systems be closed, proprietary, and uninspectable by the people they are supposedly serving…
it is difficult to credit that you are aware of the issues involved, and yet refuse to acknowledge many of the plain and simple facts regarding centralized, computer-based voting systems…
you remain a suspected bot, jay jay…
art guerrilla
aka ann archy
eof
Quegiebo
3 years ago
I’m afraid gorilla’s correct. The reality is that voting fraud has already happened in the last election and it will occur again next Tuesday. (See RS’s “Was the 2004 Election Stolen) Yes, I said it. Elections WILL be stolen again! It’s not a “conspiracy” theory, it a “reality” theory. There are trillions of $$ at stake and a lot of powerful interests involved, and if you wish to bury your head in the sand and think that some will not try to win at “any cost”, I’ve got a ticket to fantasyland to sell ya. As we are learning on almost a daily basis, absolute power corrupts, absolutely!
The ONLY way to ensure that our vote is counted is by using the least technological form to vote. It’s called a ballot and a pencil. And for those of you who can’t scratch a circle properly to choose your candidate, you really should consider staying home. Remember, it’s a priviledge to vote and yes, it actually demands a little effort.
Save our democracy and make this an issue you care about in 2007. Write your representatives and demand paper ballots! And if you don’t want to do it for yourself, at least do it for your kids.
dcdave
3 years ago
I agree with AG, but regardless of facts and evidence, if you resort to name calling and profanity, you are guaranteed to turn off a certain number of people who would have been receptive to your ideas. I am upset about the very same things, but dropping F-bombs, calling people jerkoffs and assholes never won a damn thing. Quit mouthing off and go do something useful like monitor a polling place on election day, or drive people to the polls.
art guerrilla
3 years ago
i could care less about ‘turning off’ jerkoffs who are more concerned about, or hurt by, or offended by well-deserved profanity than they are with the destruction of democracy and the general mess we are making of this planet…
’cause when someone’s house is burning down, i’m just not gonna help a rude neighbor who is out on their lawn crying ‘oh shit, oh fuck!’ as their house burns down; ’cause that just ‘turns off’ proper-thinking neighbors and firefighters who might otherwise help…
fucking pussies who can’t distinguish between mere ‘dirty words’ and the attendant ideas that are expressed, are PRECISELY the chickenshit jerkoffs who have willfully ignored our way into this mess our society and planet are in…
do i care if know-nothing, do-nothing, prissy, gutless babbits are ‘turned off’ by mere cuss words ? ? ?
*sneer*
are you fucking kidding me ? ? ?
if sheeple can’t tolerate the NORMAL EARTHY language 90% of us use EVERY DAY when we are profoundly angry (and i guess the dismantling of democracy isn’t anything to get upset about for you guys), then they are demonstrating a failure of intellect and rational thinking that led to where we are: a triumph of style over substance; the promotion of superficial pseudo-normality over harsh reality; the use of so-called ‘civility’ as a cudgel against dissent, and the ignoring of uncomfortable facts which might actually lead us to make radical changes…
(you know, were we to ACTUALLY believe in the bullshit we spout about freedom, justice, bravery, equity, gummint transparency, will of the people, and civic duties…)
a bunch of sheeple’s cud-chewing disturbed by nasty curse words (that they just heard a million times on the sopranos)? gee, i’m, like, so-o-o-o sorry… yeah, rome is burning, but the sheeple still got some high-def cud to chew, don’t they… *snicker*
fuck a bunch of pussies who were ‘turned off’ L-O-N-G before this asshole started mouthing off…
and i’ll thank you to lecture some cud-chewing sheeple about THEIR TOTAL non-involvement in activism, when you don’t know a fucking thing about what i do or don’t do…
were you with me and other REAL PATRIOTS in tallahassee when we protested coup 2000?
(or maybe some uncouth activist said a dirty word, so you didn’t pay attention then…)
how ’bout coup 2004 ?
(stupid sheeple just don’t learn, do they?)
out there in the streets with us ? ? ?
no ? too many rude patriots saying nasty things ? yeah, perfectly understandable to not be a standup citizen when you’ve got potty-mouthed, crazy protesters saying really offensive things (i hear they have long hair and smell, too)…
grow up, baby-citizens: you can’t be bothered to vote, much less UNDERSTAND what is wrong with our society/gummint; and i’m supposed to be concerned with the babbitts’ delicate sensibilities, or not ‘turning off’ xtian jerkoffs (who are so far into authoritarianism that they don’t REALLY give a shit about democracy, they want a theocracy of THEIR flavor)…
no thanks, i’ll take profane people who CARE about real democracy, over timid, polite sheeple who can’t be bothered, ANY DAY…
art guerrilla
aka ann archy
eof
dcdave
3 years ago
Obviously I don’t know you, except for how you represent yourself. You make a lot of claims and assertions, you throw around baseless insults and you’re really really angry. I get it. I actually happen to agree with almost all of your points, but your delivery is sub-standard. To put it bluntly though, your profanity doesn’t equate to “harsh reality”, it equates to a profound lack of vocabulary. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson had it a lot harder than you, and I’m sure they knew a bevy of unfathomable words that never made it into their prose. I’m angry too, but I put it to good use. I pound the pavement before elections, I make phone calls, I drive people to polling places and I participate actively in democracy. I don’t spend my time screaming expletives in all caps in the comments on a local blog.
I protested in 2000 and ‘04, but I did so in DC, because that’s where I lived, and thought I could make the most impact locally.
I’m glad you’re proficient at melding Government 101 with snark and sloganeering, but you’d be a lot more useful to the causes you claim to care about if you didn’t come off sounding like such a cretin.
So you’re a “REAL PATRIOT” and we’re all just “sheeple”… Give me a break. Sheeple is the kind of word you hear around the John Birch Society Right Wing Howler just called, he wants his schtick back.