Blogged hastily by Brad from the road…(I think I’m in Cedar Rapids, Iowa…though not actually running for anything)…
From an article in today’s Daytona Beach News-Journal…
…
Verifiable elections also tops the list of issues on the Web site of Titusville Democrat Clint Curtis, who is challenging Oviedo Republican incumbent Tom Feeney for U.S. Congress. Feeney’s Web site also touts paper ballot legislation he advanced last year.
Another voting issue making rounds is “sleepovers.”
The practice of having precinct clerks store machines just before Election Day is used in Volusia and Flagler counties so the machines can be distributed to polling places in the wee hours before polls open at 7 a.m. The machines are sealed to make sure they’re not tampered with, and supervisors say it’s safer to have them at a sworn elections worker’s home than at a polling place.
The practice is particularly common in large counties where polling places are far from elections offices, said Sterling Ivey, a spokesman for the Florida Department of State.
John Chagnon, a Democrat from St. Augustine who is challenging Winter Park Republican John Mica for his Congressional seat, raised the “sleepovers” issue in a letter to the state Division of Elections last week.
“A lot of people just don’t know about this,” he said. “When they find out about this, they get upset.”
Brad,
When you get back, look into real estate there in California.
Foreclosures are up 67% over last year, and there should be some good deals (link here).
Go Clint Curtis! I hope the dozers in Florida these daze will wake up and smell Feeney!
I sent James Miller this reply. I wonder if he will be able to figure out which party can not be trusted.
“It’s in everyone’s interest to have fair elections, but raising the specter of fraud or error might serve candidates in races against incumbents they can’t beat, said Jim Coffield, chairman of the Volusia County Republican Executive Committee.”
If that were true the solution to verified elections would be very simple. It would not even have to include paper ballots or hand counting. If fair elections were in everyone’s interest we could have a computer give each voter a uniquely numbered receipt of the selections they made. Another copy would be kept sealed by each precinct in case a recount was needed. The voter could check to see that both receipts were correct before leaving the polling place. Because of there ability to memorize precisely the computers could be easily programmed to create for publication on the web or elsewhere a sequentially numbered list of the selections of all voters in each precinct. If it could be shown that less then 99.9% of those numbered receipts were counted correctly the receipts kept by the precinct would become the ballots of record. The company that was contracted to count the vote would be responsible for the cost of a hand recount of those receipts. After all it was their machines that failed to perform anywhere near up to their ability in the original count. Couple this with measures that prevent extra ballots from being submitted and you have the first truly verified election ever conducted in this country.
Unfortunately our election guidelines are being adjusted in a manner to make fraud easier to commit, while at the same time making verification much more difficult. Could it be that fair elections are not in everyone’s interest? It doesn’t take a Rhodes Scholar to figure out which party fair elections favor. When almost every position favored by one party attempts to make verifying that your vote is being counted as cast impossible, that is clearly the party that does not have fair elections among their interests. That sure won’t stop them from claining that they are interested in fair elections.