An AP reporter, who left early druring this morning’s hearing in the U.S. House Adminstrative Committee on Electronic Voting security issues, has filed what would appear to be a remarkably skewed account of the session in an article today headlined, “Lawmaker questions e-voting paper trail.”
The reporter, David Hammer, AP’s “Ohio Regional Reporter” in DC, who — according to two different BRAD BLOG sources — left very early in today’s proceedings, covered the hearings from a clearly “anti-paper” angle, as you’ll see in his report.
That, despite the first witness of the morning, Dr. Ed Felten of Princeton University, who demonstrated both his team’s viral vote-flipping hack of a Diebold Touch-Screen voting system to the reportedly packed hearing room, and then the inability to discover the election stealing malicious code via a machine “recount.”
(DISCLOSURE: The machine was supplied to Princeton University by VelvetRevolution.us, a non-partisan election ingegrity organization co-founded by The BRAD BLOG.)
Hammer goes on to report almost exclusively on those who testified in today’s hearings against the use of paper “trails” and/or “records” with Electronic Voting Systems…
This morning’s hearing was originally scheduled in support of a HR 550, a House bill co-sponsored by more than 200 bi-partisan Congressional members, which would require “paper records” and post-election audits of same against the machine reported results. The legislation, originally filed two years ago by Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ), has been stalled and kept from even coming up for hearings by the former House Administraive Committee chair — and the lead author/sponsor of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) — Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH). Ney was recently forced to step down from his role as chairman of the commitee in light of the Jack Abramoff scandal, and has since pled guilty to federal charges for which he will likely be facing more than two years of jail time.
Discussion of the new 11th hour Emergency Paper Ballot legislation filed this week in both the U.S. House and Senate was also reportedly a topic of discussion at this morning’s hearings and the press conference held afterwards. We hope to have more on today’s hearing later tonight or tomorrow.
While The BRAD BLOG has some concerns about the HR 550 legislation — including its mandate for “paper records” instead of much-needed “paper ballots” and what election experts have described as a woefully insufficient ballot auditing protocol — the general move towards electoral accountability is one that we applaud.
Hammer’s report, however, makes no distinction between “paper records” or “trails” and “paper ballots”, and essentially seems tilted hard towards discrediting the use of any paper in any election whatsoever. He goes so far as to fog the issue by highlighting testimony from an official concerning a recent independent report after Ohio’s primary election this year showing that machine totals and “paper trail” records did not match. Hammer quotes the official as suggesting that the remedy is to do away with the paper all together, instead of relying on the supposedly “voter verified paper record” as the accurate reflection of the voter’s intent.
He also quotes one-time (and apparently still) E-voting advocate, Dr. Michael Shamos of Carnegie Mellon as suggesting that the machines currently purchased by $3 billion in HAVA mandated tax-payer funds should continue to be used — despite proven inaccuracies, vulnerabilities and massive failures — in order to save money for the Federal government.
Unforunately, AP’s reports are picked up by more national newspapers and media outlets than any others, and so this account of the hearing will likely get wide play despite its apparent bias. Read Hammer’s report, decide for yourself.
Hammer did not immediately return our phone calls.
The full hearing will apparently be running on C-SPAN this evening at 12:35am ET (Friday “morning”, just after Midnight Thursday Eastern Time).
UPDATE 5:40pm PT: AP has updated the story now several times today after complaints. The latest version posted at the Ohio Beacon Journal is slightly less biased, It has a slightly more “balanced” headline: “Lawmaker, witnesses dispute value of paper records in e-voting” versus the earlier one-sided “Lawmaker questions e-voting paper trail”. We’re told that the original version of Hammer’s report, earlier even than the one we linked in our article above, was even worse and only changed after complaints from those present at the hearings on the Hill today. Of course, the damage was done as papers and websites all over the world immediately linked up to the initial version.
Another hack “journalist.” So what is new?
And from the AP, such a “reputable” and “balanced” outlet.
I saw your machine on the CBS evening news and they EVEN showed it getting hacked !!! on the MSM, wow
AP has Bushit administration hacks on the take to produce articles their nationally sydicated news agency sells to American newspapers across the county.
Damn right they wrote an article against it BECAUSE they want to put out the word not to worry..paper ballots are an unnecessary precation so Rove and this group of Fascist criminal destructors can hijack the elections easier. They only have a few days until Congress is out it’ an easy hit job.
My personal quick story experience with AP writer Becky Bohrer on brown bear delisting. This is before the one of the 2 hearing which occurred earlier in the year. She wrote a he-said she said article confusing the reader and ended the article “if we do not delist the bear now when can we.”
She was talking about the ISOLATED Yellowstone population of BROWN BEARS of which she failed to mention the 57 major problems facing the bear that Louisa Willcox, Wild Bears Project Director of the Natural Resources Defense Council http://www.nrdc.org a non profit environmental group submitted in the brown bears defense. She based her entire quotes from Bushit anti-scientists who based their reasons entirely on population numbers later found out to be flawed. FYI – Robert Kennedy jr. is an attorney for the NRDC.
This story ran in the Orange County Register in Southern California. A state which has the brown bear on the state fag though hunted to EXTINCTION in 1922. Ya see the George W. Bushit administration wants to develope the wild lands and hunt the grizzly out that way as part of their plan to sell off the Western Wildlands to their crony developers and big oil company friends. By removing the brown bear and gutting the ENDANGERED SPECIES PROTECTION ACT as well as spreading propaganda lies that misinforms the American people, they can accomplish their greedy goal for A NEW AMERICA.
Siege Heil AP – nice hit job on our DEMOCRACY IN CRISIS!!!
Brad–
You are a journalist and I need an answer from you on this.
I understand how coporate mainstream media gets influenced. I understand advertising, commercial air time, reduced funding for network news departments, cable “news” and entertainment outlets–I understand all that in the context of economics and business. I do NOT understand how wire-services like AP UPI Reuters and the syndicates like McClatchy become part of the corrupt scheme of things. Would explain the connections (briefly)? It might help me understand why AP –who sources so much newspaper and even on-line news reporting–can appear so clumsey-if-not-accomplice in the media game.
Well the MSM TV got it right. CBS Nightly News just ran a well-balanced story on the Emergency Paper Ballot legislation. The video is not up on their site yet, though.
Whoops — dupe. Missed your post Floridiot.
The listing on the C-SPAN website now says the hearing will be broadcast at 12:00am (not 12:30am), and will last two hours and 21 minutes.
I have a sister who is a veteran journalist on the East coast, and she believes the major media companies (e.g., their owners) are very much a party to the election fraud problem that has been infecting the nation. They have a vested interest in slanting news about e-vote fraud, and that is why you rarely see it covered properly.
Yes, The media is complicit and we all know it. This pollster wrote a book about how the media helped bush steal the 2000 selection and then got fired for it!
WE COUNT 2006
CLE OH
Sept 29-30 2006
If ya can’t be there then consider a donation.
THIS CONFERENCE WILL BE HUGE
I noticed Bob Ney, who was introduced by Chairman Ehlers as “The Father of HAVA” at the last hearing, was not at this latest meeting, however Jack Abramoff, who was given $275,000 by Diebold to insure there would be no paper printout, was more then adequately represented by John Doolittle who got some big bucks from those indian tribes. We’ll have to wait to see how that comes out.
You might remember Mr. Doolittle from Fahrenheit 9-11. He’s the one who speed walks by Michael Moore on his way to the white house, obviously avoiding an interveiw when Mike was asking congressmen if they wanted to send their children to enlist.
I almost teared up, (actually I laughed) when the blind man, called in to testify about how he was able to vote secretly for the first time, nearly broke down as he humbly thanked those who passed the HAVA legislation. To bad dad, (Ney) wasn’t there.
How cynical can I get.
Great, on the spot, hacking demo by Edward Felten and I noticed Brad’s emergency bill got mentioned too!
BillORightsMan #10
Wow! That’s one impressive lineup of voting rights activists. Wish I lived near Ohio!
That hearing from yesterday showed that none of these voitng machine companies should get one more red cent from the American people and should instead be forced give back any money they recieved from the HAVA scandal.
This will obviously be seen one day as the biggest and most damaging scandal in our history. The consequences will never fully be known and could destroy us. Today, the illegitamate congress, and executive branches took us headlong into a constitutional crisis. We’ll just have to see if the illegitimate judicial branch understands what separation of power means!
Start praying!
And after the vote yesterday on detainees..making US an official terroist state, I see why the fascists wanted to control house and senate votes too. Like Cornyn taking Max Cleland’s senate seat. Little people like Cynthia McKinny were our voices..and did the Repubs. and liberal blogs ever go after her.Was glad to see one of my senators, Snowe, at least had the decency not to vote. Now, WE can be rounded up and tortured if WE are thought to be dissident. Which about everybody who writes and comments on this blog are.Hope one day all the congress critters will be tried at the Hague.
Molly: You’re absolutely right. Tried at The Hague and imprisoned for life for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Then tried in the USA and hanged for treason.
Then we can repeal all the anti-American, anti-democratic laws they’ve passed in the last five years.
Am I dreaming? Maybe. Am I blogging? Definitely.
If you don’t want to know any more about it then please don’t read my blog, especially my newest item: One Day Forward, 900 Years Back : Democracy Murdered In Broad Daylight
PS They can hang David Hammer for treason at the same time, for all I care.
Comment #14 Nice work Winter Patriot!
Comment #15 This bastard needs to be hammered into the ground with all bushit fascist criminals.
I was at the hearing on Capitol Hill. It was clear by the end that there are solutions to hacking which involve both tecnology and paper. It was pointed out that banks count billions of checks each day with machines which almost never make a mistake.
At the end some people simply said that making the system more reliable would require more money. And it was said “We need to invest more in the voting systems to get out the bugs and ensure our Democracy.” At this point Mr. Dolittle corrected the speaker and said “Republic”. Apparently he and his ilk don’t buy into democracy, but subecribe to a Republic ruled by Republicans.
If i had my way i would make a short 15 minute movie for the internet exposing the Bushit administration and their Democratic Enablers on how they voted and their illegal actions, crimes against nature (over 200 environmental laws reversed), since Bush installed himself as president and since orchestrationg the wargames on 911. Go ahead neo-con loser followers, blame it all on a freedom hating arab you stupid blind propanda swallowing sheep.
USA now stands as a disgusting pathetic country by this greedy lying Bushit administration and i cannot wait the day they are seen for what they are by ALL AMERICANS, impeached and jailed for their treasonous crimes.
U
Grizzly #18,
That’s only 4.5 seconds per environmental law broken not to mention all the other crimes against this country and humanity in general.
I think it would end up being a feature length extravaganza of at least 15 hours!
ITMFA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This editorial came out today by William Rivers Pitt “In Case I disappear” Good Read and so true http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092906J.shtml
Rebecca Williams #17
If a “republic” is a place where people who pretend to have won elections, pretend to pass JUST laws that give absolute power to make-believe presidents, then Mr. Doolittle can have it!
I would say it’s time to quit fearing a democracy would be nothing more then “mob rule” and dive in. Looks like it’s our mob or theirs. For me, the choice is simple at this point! I’m talking about mobs of peaceful people who vote, so don’t get your shorts in a wad Gonzales!
It was Barbara Simmons that was saying we needed paper printers that actually worked. From those pictures that were shown of the printers which caused problems in Ohio, I would say they need printers that weren’t manufactered by “challanged, (RETARTED)” corporations. What the hell WAS that thing!
Oops. That would be Barbara Simons, not simmons.