Last night, Tuesday, Kitty Pilgrim stood in for Lou Dobbs for “Democracy At Risk” on CNN’s Lou Dobbs Tonight.
Tonight’s report (text transcript at bottom of this article) featured a discussion of the reliability of the voting machines used across the United States. Featured in tonights segment were John Washburn of VoteTrustUSA.Org, New York Congressman Jerrold Nadler, and EAC Commissioner Paul DeGregorio.
DeGregorio had this to say about the reliability standards:
We believe that it is very important that these guidelines and any kind of standards be improved all the time, and we’re working on spending federal money to do that because we want voters to have trust and confidence in the voting process in America.
Even though the standards have not been changed since the 2002 standards went into affect and they have not been changed as of yet in the proposed standards that were signed into existence by the Elections Assistance Commission. There is no trust and confidence when elections officials can’t even get their facts straight.
Video in Streaming Flash format…
Video in Windows Media format…
The complete text transcript follows…
Aired July 11, 2006
KITTY PILGRIM:…And most Americans will be casting ballots on electronic voting machines. But what happens when electronic voting machines fail? A special report on our democracy at risk.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: New fears about the integrity of our democracy tonight. Voter activists worry that standards for electronic voting machines breaking down are dangerously lax.
Now, federal officials say they’re working on tighter standards, but those new standards may not be ready for years.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM (voice over): Electronic voting machines, fast, easy, but what happens when they break down or fail? Federal guidelines permit one failure every 163 hours, which means one out of every 11 machines may break down on Election Day.
Critics say that’s not acceptable.
JOHN WASHBURN, VOTETRUSTUSA: The reliability quotient for the hardware is too high. It allows too many machines to fail in any given election day and also be down for too long during that given day.
PILGRIM: Congressman Jerrold Nadler says voting machines have a higher failure rate than ATM machines and VCRs.
REP. JERROLD NADLER (D), NEW YORK: No machinery should be allowed to be purchased or used for voting that don’t have a guaranteed mean time between failures of at least several thousand hours — 70,000 would be good. That’s what a VCR is. An ATM machine will go thousands of hours.
Do we care less about our voting machines than our ATM machines?
PILGRIM: The election assistance commissioner defends the current standards.
PAUL DEGREGORIO, CHAIRMAN, ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMM.: We believe that it is very important that these guidelines and any kind of standards be improved all the time, and we’re working on spending federal money to do that because we want voters to have trust and confidence in the voting process in America.
PILGRIM: DeGregorio says a federal advisory board is currently examining options for tighter reliability guidelines, but it’s not clear if those standards could be implemented in time for the 2008 election.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Now, federal law says machines may not have more than one error per 500,000 votes, but critics say that tough standard doesn’t mean much if the machines fail altogether.
wow! DeGregorio was spreading some high-grade manure there! I can smell it all the way over here.
Are ABC, NBC, CBS, or FOX news covering the upcoming “train wreck” November 2nd? If they aren’t, they don’t care about our democracy.
Thanks, Lou Dobbs. You care about our democracy.
Anyone know if any of these other networks are covering electronic voting machines AT ALL??? If not, why not??? Lou Dobbs should do a story on why ABC, NBC, CBS, & FOX News are not covering this.
Amen, Big Dan!
What the hell are they doing at those networks in their “news” departments???
shw
I ain’t doin it, someone else can drown their elephant ass sucking faces in a thousand gallons of donkey nose puss.
OR
MSM can pick up the ball, hell if they did I’d have NOTHING to say.
Electronic voting machines have already failed.
Now what you gonna do?
Big Dan #2
The MSM seems to be speaking thru DeGregorio, and like WP says, propaganda (“manure”) is his product, whether he is making play pretend rules, or MSM propaganda.
John, I watched it too. I think Dobbs and Pilgrim will continue on with the inconvenient truth.
I think it’s extremely SERIOUS…that ABC, NBC, CBS, & FOX news are not covering electronic vote fraud, like CNN & Lou Dobbs are.
ABC/NBC/CBS/FOX ARE IN LEAGUE AGAINST OUR DEMOCRACY, CNN IS NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ABC, NBC, CBS, & FOX don’t think, with Nov. 2 elections coming up, that this isn’t everyday headline news? This is proof they are in bed with corporate America, against our democracy.
Isnt’ it???
Why aren’t they covering the most important story in America right now????
ABC News Hot Topics:
Who’s the Biggest ‘Wuss’ in Music?
Ouch! Head Butt Inspires ‘Copycats’
Seen & Heard: Gifts for Britney’s Baby Shower?
Does Your Husband Read Pornography?
Going Nude Is Getting Popular
Ambien: Hope for the Comatose
Jessica Simpson’s Busy Summer
CBS News:
Zidane Apologizes For Head-Butt
Gay Marriage Vote Postponed In Mass
Prisoner Killed After Shooting Deputy
MySpace Pulls Ahead In Page View Race
Pa. Man, 80, Admits Dealing Crack for Sex
NBC News:
How big a risk are elderly drivers?
High gas prices hammer businesses
Immigration debate hits the road
American beaches: How clean is the water?
U.S. highway system hits big 5-0
How Gates changes global health
Can’t sleep? Change your behavior
Warren Buffet’s record-breaking generosity
Auto incentives coming this summer
Fox News:
Zidane Sorry for Headbutt, Says Player Insulted Mother
Shuttle Astronauts Test Putty, Lose Spatula
Putin: Cheney Criticism an ‘Unsuccessful Hunting Shot’
New Charges Likely for Pair Linked to Taped Sex Slay
Kentucky Man Missing for 6 Weeks Turns Up in Attic
Woman Wins First Round of Fight to Keep Her 200 Cats
(In all fairness I did pick and choose, but these are fine examples of what these folks consider news!) (How do you say – Advertising Dollars!)
What happens when voting machines fail? Well, Lou, the Republicans usually win. Always win, actually.
Lou should report the FACT that 100% of the documented electronic voting machine errors favored the Republicans. Does Lou know this? That means the errors are not random.
“What happens when voting machines fail?”
That is a rhetorical question isn’t it?
(Where have they not failed?)
We all know how reliable electronic voting machines can be. Just ask the White House.
LOL, Stephen! Good one!
Last week, the Supreme Court ruled in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld that Congress never authorized the Bush Administration to ignore existing laws & treaties in pursuing those responsible for the 9-11 attacks.
That means Bush’s defiance of those laws & treaties is illegal, so he & his top officials could be charged with war crimes.
Tell your Representatives once again to impeach Bush & Cheney!
By God, if we are to expect our country’s common criminals to accept punishment for breaking the law of the land, then our high class criminals must do the same.
Charlene
You are right! That means one more bit of it, and they are unequivocally breaking the law of the land. But, uh, well we sure don’t seem to be seeing any changes being made on that account, do we? My guess is we will see a lot of legislative maneuvers to try to get around Hamdan.
ITMFA!!!!!!!!! (And, I know Joan is with us on this!)
I keep seeing that image of Henry Hyde turning his hand over and saying, “you see how he (Clinton), twists things?”
I hated all the Republicans and I loved all the Democrats. Man those were simpler times!
I loved Nadler too. And I think he makes an excellent point about the VCR’s having to be a lot more reliable then the voting machines, however, I think the only thing they should be talking about right now is:
EMERGENCY LEGISLATION TO HAND MARK, AND HAND COUNT PAPER BALLOTS NATIONWIDE THIS NOVEMBER!
Kick the corporations out of the process of counting our votes NOW!
Great comment Larry #15. I have to say it once more at the risk of being dull… Florida legislature does not allow recounts of paper ballots. If ballots/absentee ballots are used and there needs to be a recount, Florida (27 electoral votes) will not conduct a recount of paper. I wonder how many other states with republican controlled legislatures have slipped these kinds of laws past the public in anticipation of the paper ballot reaction/solution?
From Bo Lopari’s “Voting Machines and the Space Shuttle”:
“Complex, high-tech solutions like the Shuttle and touch screen voting machines should be reserved for those tasks where additional complexity is necessary. For routine jobs, like putting a satellite into orbit, or filling out a ballot, tried and true “old technologies” are more appropriate, reliable, and cost effective.”
HAVA caused the rush, and now we pay the penalty for that blind haste.
Dixiecrat #16
Counting ballots by anything but machine has been outlawed in Utah for some time. We never would have made it to the hanging chads.
This is the best I can deduce about what has happend lately.
After the purchase of the voting machines, they wrote the new laws and left out any mention of a paper record. I guess that means, technically, they don’t exist. Something strange happend after the very recent primary here.
It seems that there was no solidified plan for a recount of any kind. Our top county clerk here, Sherrie Swenson, said she had been trying for a year or so to get our top officials to commit to a uniform standard she could conduct a recount with, and they neglected to do that.
It turns out, there were races here that required a recount and it sort of turned into a game of “hot potato” The county clerk said, what do I do with this, and threw it to the Lt. Governors chief of staff who threw it back and said, do it anyway you want. She then threw it back and said, no, you tell me how to do it. Then the Lt. Governors chief of staff said, don’t use the crapping paper trail.
And, apparently, that’s how the final proceedure was arrived at. EVERYTHING here is done in complete secrecy, so that’s the best I can figure.