Add this to our previous report on the Diebold Disaster in Cuyahoga County, Ohio during yesterday’s Primary Election. The Cleveland Plain Dealer headlines their story: “First all-electronic election marred by problems”.
As expected the word “Glitch” makes it’s way quickly into the headlines in Columbus Dispatch’s coverage (“Glitches delay voting and reporting of results”) as they cover problems across a number of counties, including counties that use ES&S machines which also failed in a number of locations. Inevitably, the poll workers are blamed by officials, of course.
As to Cuyahoga, the Plain Dealer has set up a running blog on their website covering the ongoing problems. Here’s the latest…
12:07 p.m.
Cuyahoga County election workers continued to count votes Wednesday, with about 85 percent of the votes cast on the touch-screen machines counted by 11:15 a.m. But 70 memory cards – with results from 200 precincts – were missing. Cuyahoga County board of elections officials are checking the voting machines to see if the cards were inadvertantly left inside.
Meanwhile, a second team of 50 temporary agency employees continued the hand count of 17,000 paper ballots used by absentee voters. Election officials decided to hand count the paper ballots after tests on the optical scan machines showed innaccuracies. Vote totals for the absentee ballots are expected sometime this evening.
Again,..
BradBlog,… if you knew about this "train wreck",…
why didn’t you say something ?
Why did you keep it a secret ?
I probably am going to get slammed for saying this, but I was born in Cuyahoga County, I have friends since the 2004 election who live in Ohio and tell me how bad things have gotten there.
MANY people are trying to do things legally, peacefully and calmly. I know we are in Maryland, however, when it came down to it, our MD senate (democrats, Paula Hollinger and Mike Bush in particular) once again did us dirty and we are stuck with Diebold and No paper trail. ALL of them got thousands of calls and emails and they shut their ears and probably took some sort of pay off or deal from Diebold.
I KNOW people in Ohio are getting very angry at all the corruption and having their election manipulated and out of their hands. Tired of dirty politicians harming them and their rights. I know of people beaten for as little as hanging a Peace Rally announcement in a public place. Police stops without reason . . .
What DO they expect will happen when people are oppressed, beaten down and their liberty at stake? They have tried this peacefully, and well THIS sort of thing is what happens when people have had enough.
In my opinion, it needs to happen, because these people are on the edge and tired of being bullied. Our own country was born on this.
My heart goes out to the people of Ohio and if they need to revolt when ALL else has failed, then so be it. I don’t want it to come to this but if Freedom and Democracy are at stake, like they are in Ohio, it is time to water the Tree of Liberty. (see quote from Thomas Jefferson).
And who gets the GOP nod? Blackwell.
Show of hands–Is Ohio a state beyond hope of correction before the election? If the voting machine problems were solved technically, would it matter in the final vote count?
Let’s hear it from some Buckeyes—
Maybe democracy is a glitch.
IT IS THE FAULT
OF THE GREENS
AND INDEPENDENTS
FOR NOT STOPPING THIS
I’m not sure if you’re being sarcastic, or not, Dredd. Please elaborate.
It is November 2006,…
Is Ohio finished tabulating them May 2006
primary votes yet ?
A kindergarten class of full of 3 & 4yr. olds
could have done a quicker job than Diebold.
Were they paid,…to bring us this atrocity ?
Reimbursements/refunds are in order !
When is the REVOLT starting in Ohio?
And the United States?
Who is to blame for this mess?
As far as I can tell Dan, Dredd is just beating the "Blame the Dems crowd" to the punch
Ohio is merely a foretaste of things to come throughout the country, I fear. When corporations and despots have the upper hand, total subjugation of the populace cannot be far behind. Does anyone actually believe the PNAC crew CARES whether we are in agony at having lost everything? Hardly!
I weep…
I don’t watch corporate-controlled TV news anymore, was this on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, or FOX? I still want to know if they suppress important stories, still…
I don’t know if Brad has the manpower, but, Brad, can you mention in each of your articles, if the story was covered in the MSM coporate news? I think that’s important. The last time I watched coporate TV news, I didn’t see any of Brad’s topics being covered, much like Democracy NOW! news doesn’t subset with corporate controlled news.
Again (…sigh…), here’s Democracy NOW! TV news on independent donor channels vs. corporate news:
Notice, Democracy NOW! covers Colbert’s "non-coverage" in the MSM…, bombing in Fallujah, US contractors kill Iraqi, our children’s health, man in jail 4 months after being acquitted (human rights violation, remember the MSM used to cover human rights violations?)
Sadly, I must say, I don’t even see much e-vote coverage on Democracy NOW! I do see it in American Free Press. Why don’t I see this e-vote coverage on Democracy NOW! ???
Headlines
————-
– Armenian Passenger Jet Crashes Near Russia, Killing 113
– Republicans Drop Gas Rebate, Tax Proposals
– 15 Killed in Fallujah Suicide Bombing
– Iraqi Ambulance Worker Killed By US Security Contractors
– Bush Administration Criticized Over Child Food Marketing, Obesity
– Beverage Companies To End Soda Sales In Public Schools
– Brandeis University Removes Palestinian Youth Art Exhibit
– Daughter of Sami Al-Arian Says Family "Devastated" by Father’s Continued Imprisonment, Blasts Media Coverage
– Sami Al-Arian Co-Defendant Sameeh Hammoudeh Remains in Jail Four Months After Being Acquitted of All Charges
– Stephen Colbert’s Blistering Performance Mocking Bush and the Press Goes Ignored by the Media
CNN
—–
– Massive quake causes tsunami scare
– Big oil faces big fines in gas gouging bill
– Million dollar car doesn’t use a drop of gasoline
– Scaled-back lobby reform wins House vote
– U.S. leads drive on Iran sanctions
– Mexico’s Fox ducks signing drug law
– Tiger Woods mourns dad
– Secret video of N.Y. subway bomb plan released
FOX
—–
•Britain, France Introduce New U.N. Resolution on Iran
– Iran: Israel Comments Not Valid
•U.S. Unveils Bird Flu Plan
– Video: Plan of Action
•House Passes Lobby Reform•Massive Quake Hits Pacific
– Video: Tsunami Science•Gas Gouging Bill Approved
•Sago Mine Inspector May Have Said ‘They’re Alive!’
•School Soda Sales Halted
•Video: Filibuster Threat Over Judicial Nominees Back
•Black Sea Plane Crash Probed
•Duke Lacrosse Player Says Rape Never Happened
– World War I critics get pardons
big dan
Florida gets it – sarcastic for sure!
John and Brad’s articles from late this afternoon and this evening add a lot to this topic – Whenwill these idiots learn that these machines are useless? I mean, really, how much more must go wrong before everyone throws them out?
Ops – thatwas in reference to #’s 6 & 9
OOPS! Damnit! (wireless keyboard + low batteries + forgot to proof read)
I just had to replace the batteries in my keyboard today too. Damn that was pissing me off.
Nothing in comparison to dead batteries in a voting machine memory card though!
I subscribe to Google’s free automatic news search feature using several electronic voting key words. In tonight’s emailed "search results" listing stories with the key word "Diebold" two of Brad’s blogs showed up, including this one. That is out of a total of 5 "hits".
Brad, you are getting out there and connecting with the search engines.
As for the reported 70 "missing" memory cards from two hundred machines. At the close of the election there are specific procedures the poll workeers are required to follow. They are not complicated. A Zero Report and Totals Report (listing the total of votes registered on that machine for each candidate and race) are printed out. Certain poll workers are required to sign that tape. Then the memory card is required to be removed. There are two steps that can then be taken. If they accumulate all the memory cards from one precinct into one memory card they will designate one TSx machine as the Accumulator machine. Each memory card will be inserted and the contents transferred into that machine and all their contents then downloaded onto one memory card. Then that memory card is then either delivered to election headquarters in a sealed bag with the signed paperwork, or its contents first uploaded via modem connection and then delivered. There is no reasonable explanation how 70 memory cards could be either left in the machines or "lost".
That is insulting to the poll workers.
Those memory cards are the equivalent to ballot boxes, and should have the same security procedures in place as for ballot boxes. How would the public react if they heard that 70 ballot boxes had gone missing (in one county). That is what happened. But somehow saying it was "memory cards" that are missing doesn’t sound as bad as 70 ballot boxes.
Without knowing if those were memory cards that contained the accumulated results from a precinct, or were memory cards from individual machines, it is impossible to state how many votes may have gone mssing. Worse, we know that someone in possession of those memory cards can insert them into any laptop running Windows and with Microsoft Access access the data fields and play with the totals.
It is time the media got up to speed to the implications of the technology being used.
A memory card is a ballot box.
A glitch is an error, defect, or failure.
An electronic ballot is nothing more than data fields defined by human inputted definitions.
We know from the California Secretary of State’s own Technology Board that the Harri Hursti Hack on a memory card in possession of a perpetrator is a real threat.
Ballot box stuffing has never been easier nor more insidious. At least before they had to get rid of physical evidence. Now they don’t even have to do that.
When are voter’s going to take to the streets to take back their elections, and their country.
BVAC #16
Ain’t that the truth!
Big Dan #6
The Greens, Independents, and everyone else except the republicans, have sued Blackwell.
The conservative 6th circuit has been favorable some, but mostly not.
RLM and Josh maintain that if a party does nothing to stop election fraud, they are worthless. But they can point to no campaign party that has done that.
They fail to realize that campaign parties are not the ones that call the shots in congress. There is only one party that does that, and it is called the majority party.
Here are some cases where campaign parties have sued Blackwell over election issues:
Stewart v Blackwell
Lawrence v Blackwell
Blankenship v Blackwell
Beacon Journal v Blackwell
Spencer v Blackwell
Summit County v Blackwell
Miller v Blackwell
Sandusky County v Blackwell
Schrader v Blackwell
Nader v Blackwell
If it was an isolated… or rare incident… it would be a "glitch"…. as it stands.. what we see is repeated, widespread and relentless failure of this bullshit technology.
These "glitches" constitute a serious threat to democracy and are making the electoral system in America a pathetic, useless, worthless joke.
The MSM need to grow a spine and start calling a spade a spade…
These are not "glitches", these are repeated failures of a corrupt company closely tied to the republicans.
These are issues that are a constant and frequent threat to people having their votes counted.
It’s way beyond being a "Glitch"… it’s the death of democracy in America… and the MSM need to start telling it how it is.
I’m coming to this story late. I was going crazy thinking there was nothing on this, but Brad got back to me to point me here. THANKS Brad.
Olivera Perkins of the Cleveland Plain Dealer again repeated the detail about the 70 memory cards going missing in an article in the May 7th Sunday issue. Just 2 sentences on it. So I wrote the following letter to the editor. No word yet on if they are interested in publishing it. I think that means they are NOT interested, duh. But I think it is also worth letting people know here about what is getting sent to newspaper editors, if only to document the news suppression that I believe is going on. I also sent Olivera Perkins a longer email about the issue, without any substantive response. (She just pointed me at the letters-to-the-editor).
– – –
Today you reported that 70 memory cards from Diebold machines went missing for a while and this delayed the election results. Perhaps you don’t know that there have been MANY credible stories published recently on the internet about how the vote totals on Diebold memory cards can easily be changed. The Diebold people themselves have decried these stories, saying that part of the security is in having the cards handled properly at every stage. So now the very thing that Diebold says should NEVER be allowed to happen, HAS happened, yet all you do is briefly mention it?
There are so many deeply troubling questions that demand to be asked: What precincts and machines? Who was responsible? What do they have to say? What were the __COUNTS__ on the missing cards compared to other comparable cards?
When you fail to ask the obvious questions that readers are asking themselves, you undermine your own credibility. We need these questions addressed in order to have any faith in our electoral process. So please, I beg of you to follow up on this story. It’s just our democracy that is at stake.