Guest Blogged by John Gideon
And so it begins! Today the Washington Post has revealed, in a superbly written and investigated story, that Diebold secretly made modifications to thousands of their voting machines in Maryland and that everyone involved seems to have forgotten to tell the State Board of Elections about it.
It seems that after the state bought machines in 2002 they began experiencing intermittent and wide-spread screen freezes. Finally in 2005 Diebold installed all new systems boards in all 4,700 machines.
And, oh by the way, they forgot to tell the State Board of Elections that they had done anything. The State Elections Administrator, Linda Lamone, and her staff seem to have known but members of the SBOE seem to have been left out of the discussion.
UPDATE FROM BRAD: This is a very detailed story with a duplicitous cast of characters and it is very well investigated and told. Kudos to WaPo’s Cameron W. Barr for this coverage! We look forward to seeing much more of it!
Also see Baltimore Sun’s coverage which offers still more damning details about the duplicity of both Diebold (who still has the MD contract and hasn’t yet been sued) and the MD State Board of Elections as headed by the Democratic Diebold-apologist Linda Lamone (who still has a job, remarkably enough.)
UPDATE FROM JOHN 10/26 4:45am PT: A coalition of candidates in Maryland has now asked that only paper ballots be used in the upcoming election. The coalition, with candidates for different offices and representing different political parties, has joined together under the banner of the non-partisan Candidates Alliance for Recountable Elections (CARE). A media release explains their stance on this subject and is below…
NOTE: The coverage of the Hart Intercivic screen display problems in Virginia having been found now in other states such as Texas and California has been moved to it’s own item here….
Contact: Ray Mondor (301)681-8421 or (301)233-9781
October 25, 2006
Candidates Lack Confidence in Voting Machines, Call for Paper Ballots in Maryland’s November 2006 Elections
Silver Spring, Maryland. – In response to recent performance failures of Maryland’s voting machines, growing evidence of inadequate security, and a spreading realization that the machines cannot guarantee fair elections, a number of Maryland candidates under the banner of the non-partisan Candidates Alliance for Recountable Elections (CARE) are calling for the use of paper ballots in the November 2006 elections.
Kevin Zeese, who is running for U.S. Senator as Green Party candidate, is very clear. “There is widespread lack of confidence in the electronic-voting system in place in Maryland — from the e-poll books to the e-voting machines there are problems of security and break downs. The state should quickly decide to run the election on paper — paper registration and paper ballots.”
Responding to the common claim that it is too late to switch Zeese continues “They are already printing 1.6 million ballots and each county has optical scan machines so it would not be a difficult change and would result in an election Maryland voters can trust.”
Scott Rolle, Republican candidate for State Attorney General, shares that opinion. “I totally support the return to a paper ballot system in order to maintain the integrity of the voting process in Maryland and to give voters the confidence that their vote does, indeed, count.”
Running for reelection in District 14 Democratic Delegate Karen Montgomery supports “a verifiable paper audit trail for the electronic voting machines or paper ballots in lieu of a satisfactory paper trail.” Like many other advocates of paper ballots she quickly adds “However, these machines should be available for those with low vision or blindness, preferably with a recordable paper record.”
Patricia Weathersbee, Democratic candidate for the House of Delegates in District 33a, says “It is imperative that the voting process be above suspicion. If that requires us to go back to paper ballots and our old optical scanning machines, so be it.”
Although many voters will avoid the machines and vote by absentee ballot, the large majority of votes will be cast on machines that cannot provide independent verification of counts or meaningful recounts. In addition, absentee ballots themselves are vulnerable to disqualification.
Candidates representing a broad range of positions agree on this. The voting machines undermine public confidence in the integrity of elections and a paper ballot system is the only feasible alternative for this November.
The Candidates Alliance for Recountable Elections (CARE) was formed to add the voice of candidates to the chorus calling for a secure, accurate voting system.
This is a SCANDAL !!!!
If the states don’t get their money back for these pieces of shit NOW, they are either fools or complicit in the evil scheme.
The smart State officials are going to be the ones that get their money back first, the hangers-on are going to get pennies on the dollar…after the EVM makers file chapter seven.
Thats probably already in the plot, anyway
Republicans shouldn’t be allowed to touch taxpayer money, they’re just like petty theives on a grand scale
When this is settled, we have to make it a law or something
I forgot to say, The EVM makers probaly spent most of the money by lining their own pockets with stock profits and greasing the palms of the law makers
So the money is probably gone already anyway
Hey John, not a ‘Train Wreck’… a ‘Scandal’ is more appropriate now, don’t you think ?
Thank goodness some states have started early voting. As state after state experiences problems, a pattern will emerge. Such a pattern of failure could be “exhibit A” in a lawsuit, possibly even a RICO suit. And maybe a court injunction could be obtained BEFORE election day barring the use of electronic machines based upon the pattern of failure.
Brad brilliantly thought up and offered the solution and has worked tirelessly trying to have all the states have paper ballots ready. I don’t think it is too late for that yet. Last I knew, Kinkos was open 24 hours a day. So what excuse is there for states not to have paper ballots ready? And what impediment is there that is insurmountable for a court to order states to do just that, based on widespread electronic failure?
I took the local poll workers training course here in Alabama. We vote on paper with optical scan readers. At least we have a paper trail. Best wishes to all readers, I have my fingers crossed for a miracle. DaveM
And another thing to update downthread about Carolyn Critchfield Hunter
Link
John, you spell Caroline, Carolyn Critchfield, and she just might be the one in “Annals of Democracy” by Ronnie Dugger
Most of us have read that, but did we notice this ?
“Over the vehement objections of the voter registrar, Carolyn Critchfield, Price threaded his way among desks and people toward what the election workers called the computer cage. This was a small room with windows on all sides that began about four and a half feet above the floor and a Dutch door that had a window in its top half. The two vote-counting computers of the BT-76 (Ballot Tab) system in Charleston, one of them designated the “master” and one the “slave,” had been set up on the floor inside, with punchcard readers on top of them and printers beside them. On the computers, down near the floor, were sets of toggle switches. Price has testified under oath, and repeated in greater detail during lengthy interviews with me, that, as he walked around the outside of this room looking in during the next hour and a half, he saw four kinds of actions, which, four and a half years later, dominated the only known court trial so far of charges that an election was stolen by computer. The people who Price said took these actions have all vigorously denied doing so, also under oath.”
She just might be an old operator from way back
Link
Floridiot #1 then #6 –
#1 – You are right except remember that in Maryland, as in Georgia, the bad guys are Democrats. Linda Lamone is complicit in what is happening in Maryland and she is a Democrat appointee who the Republicans tried to get removed from office.
#6 – Caroline Hunter has NO elections experience except as one of the Bush/Cheney attorneys in Florida and she has probably voted a few times. That’s why her nomination to the EAC is illegal. HAVA specifically mandates a requirement for experience in elections law or administration. She lacks any experience.
No Confidence. No Validation. Electronic VAPORWARE!
This state needs LAVA ASAP!
ON my #1 Its all a big CYA scandal
On my #6 What do we know about Caroline (lyn) before she took the name Hunter ?
I’ve figured out that the ‘C’ as her middle initial, stands for Critchfield
That particular paragraph I pasted above was inferring to the 1980 election when Reagan was installed
All I’m asking is, who was she before she was a Republican operative ? is this the same person ?
I hope I clarified that, they might even be trying to hide her past credentials, who knows, being as what Dugger said was “dominated the only known court trial so far of charges that an election was stolen by computer.”
I love a good conspiracy 🙂
Of course the bios and other software has been modified. Do these new systems have wireless turned on?
The four counties with the most system board freeze problems per WaPo’s excellent article included heavily-Democratic and populous Montgomery and PG counties – I’m not sure about the other two. PG and Montgomery were also screwed over in the recent primaries using the Diebold pollbooks. These problems are hardware problems – direct from Diebold. Funny that they end up in Democratic areas. Who sets up and assigns which machines where?
So that’s the last straw. I’ll vote absentee. But if anything happens to these absentee ballots I swear…
So, what do the State Board of Elections have to say about this? How secure are Maryland voters, if a company can secretly screw around with the machines, without the State Board of Elections knowing about it?
We’re not secure at all. I think Linda Lamone – the heavily secretive and total authoritarian Democrat – is a plant. A Diebold Pusher. That much is obvious. Look to see “mistaken” party affiliation on both paper and electronic ballots as one item on the menu of Nov 7th’s frauds du jour.
on the Stephanie Miller show a caller from Ohio
said that ken blackell adds ran durring some comercial spots. . .
“Beat the Bullie 2006”
DO NOT VOTE ABSENTEE! Unless you have ABSOLUTELY NO OTHER CHOICE, DON’T VOTE ABSENTEE!
Voting absentee helps the Republicans to steal elections. They get close enough to trick out a few votes because the margin of their defeat is sitting in uncounted absentee votes. Then, they get the Republican Congress to swear in the “presumed winner” before the absentee votes are counted. After that, there is no court that can help (just ask Paul Lehto). This was successfully tested in the CA-50th this summer and “worked perfectly” for the Republicans.
Voting by absentee ballot is, of course, necessary for those who have no choice, but otherwise, DEMAND a NON-PROVISIONAL BALLOT and DON’T LEAVE YOUR POLLING PLACE WITHOUT HAVING FILLED ONE OUT!
Good luck on November 7. Remember, Democracy is NOT a spectator sport, and this year we’re going to have to FIGHT HARD for ours.
Charlie L
Portland, OR
CLL2001@gmail.com
I’ve always been totally against absentee, but as you can see, I almost lost it this morning and sent my absentee application in. But I just can’t bring myself to do it, in the trash it goes.
I plan on being ready to take to the streets in MD if anything untoward happens…
BTW, Catch Rove’s ‘THE’ poll Math over at Cannonfire…
Unprecedented interference in foreign elections in Nicaragua by Bushco (recent visits by Rumsfeld, Oliver North, and a cast of other Republicans)…
Nicaraguan on Democracy NOW! interviewed about it, urging Bushco to stop interfering…
http://www.democracynow.org/art.../10/26/1341242
Yipes! 😛 Poor sap.
Comment #7:
That’s what totally gets me sick to my stomach. It’s the Republican warmonger criminals and their Democratic Enablers. There are so many crooks it is disgusting. All these greedy Fascist bastards mismanaging our system of election and natural resources have to be purged.
The question is how do you get a majority of Americans to take their eyes off the TV and their hands off their swanger long enough to figure out they have been taken by these bastards with their corporate bucks??? They are weak coward liers but so few willing to stand up?
It’s times like this that make me so proud of Bradblog and the few fighting the good fight against these corporate funded losers destroying our country and our planet.
GBD: Did you ever watch LINK-TV or FSTV? Right now, I’m watching an investigative report on the Bush crime family by Greg Palast. The other day I saw “Katrina, Oil, and the Media”, and “Weapons of Mass Deception”…and every day I watch Democracy NOW! news, the INN Report (which links to brad blog btw), and Liberty News…no commercials, no govt money, no corporate money, just viewer-supported news. Once you watch these channels, you will be addicted. I also saw, yesterday, “Electile Dysfunction”…where are you going to see these things??? Only on LINK-TV & FSTV!!! Very important channels to watch. It makes you realize exactly what’s going on, on the corporate controlled news. They always say, “we have to do it ourselves”, meaning “be the media”…where have I heard that before? Oh, yes! Brad Friedman always says “be the media”!!! They say, “We know they’re lying to us, it looks like we’ll have to be the media ourselves!” And the INN Report says, “And now for the news the networks won’t tell you.”
What I want to know is, what is so sacrosanct about Nov. 7th? How dare the true peoples voice in America be left to a mere deadline! Where is the common sense during this NATIONAL CRISIS! Every legislator and law-maker should join together in view of all the evidence throughout this country as to the irrefutable corruption of our election system and be forced back into emergency session to do the right thing. I don’t know about you but I’ll take patience over instant gradification any day. In 2-4 weeks the real solution for just this election, emergency paper ballots could be printed. Also a letter to each and every registered voter could be sent out letting them know if they are still registered, and where their precinct is. Hell, why not make Election Day a national holiday! Any law-maker who can’t admit to this CRISIS is a disgrace to AMERICAN LIBERTY AND JUSTICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Then when the balance of power shifts back to WE THE PEOPLE, true independent studies by qualified experts(that are not paid by the vending machine companies)should be done to allow us to get our money back from these ABOMINATIONS.
It just makes much more sense to stop these problems NOW instead of wasting more time and treasure in law suits after the fact or letting Congress or the Supreme Court step in to pick the winners.