Guest Blogged by Alan Breslauer
Kitty Pilgrim covers a myriad of e-voting problems pouring in from across the country during early voting. Sequoia gets the lion’s share of the coverage with the newly discovered large yellow button that, when pressed, allows voters to vote as many times as they want. Dobbs: “I keep expecting the country to just sort of go into a group scream over these e-voting machines.”
The text-transcript of Thursday’s segment on Lou Dobbs Tonight follows in full…
Kitty Pilgrim reports.
KITTY PILGRIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You really can’t miss it, the yellow button at the back of the Sequoia voting machine. Tens of thousand of machines used in 16 state and Washington, D.C. That button puts the machine in manual mode so anyone can vote and repeatedly cast as many votes as they want.
Activists say it’s a major problem.
TOM COURBAT, SAVE R VOTE: I worry about the poll captains having access. They’re temporary workers. In many cases there aren’t background checks done on them. And it’s easy for them to go back there, make those changes, and vote repeatedly and not be noticed.
PILGRIM: Sequoia says this button is a standard and deliberate feature. The California Secretary of State’s Office says they have security guidelines to alert poll workers to keep a close watch on the button and any tampering. All across the country, activists have called attention to vulnerabilities on all kinds of electronic voting machines, but few of those vulnerabilities have been fixed.
LOWELL FINLEY, VOTER ACTION: We’re at the 11th hour and it’s too late to do anything to stop the use of these e-voting machines, but it’s not too late for voters to do something about it, and we’re here to train volunteers so that they can get out there and observe the process and document, shine a light, on the problem that e-voting is causing in this country.
PILGRIM: All sorts of electronic glitches are showing up, screens display the wrong candidate when a button is pushed. Today in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, large print options didn’t work properly, cutting off candidate names and election officials struggled with other electronic snafus.
MICHAEL VU, CUYAHOGA CO. ELECTION OFFICIAL: We just got notice from the Secretary of State’s Office today that some voting units will not be reflective of Daylight Savings Time. PILGRIM: Potentially causing the machines to close down early. Technicians from the voting companies are working to sort out the last-minute problems.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Today, activists pointed out that Sequoia will again have Venezuelan nationalists as support workers on the electronic machines. That’s in Cook County, Illinois. Now, the workers are project managers from Smartmatic, the Venezuelan company that bought Sequoia.
Election officials say they have no way of knowing how many Venezuelans will be there but they’ve seen some around. Sequoia today said eight to 10 Venezuelan nationals will help with the voting machines during the elections — Lou.
DOBBS: Hugo Chavez is sending observers and monitors for our election, I take it?
PILGRIM: I — you know, Venezuelan nationals taking a look at our machines.
DOBBS: Well, that’s wonderful. I mean, there are times I keep expecting the country to just sort of go into a group scream over these e-voting machines because it does not make any sense that we could be in this kind of vulnerable, absurd position this close …
PILGRIM: Activists are in a group scream, and I think it’s important that everyone document anything that goes wrong so that it can be known.
DOBBS: Is there a sense among those activists, in particular, we’re going to have enough people monitoring these elections to be aware in time that something has happened?
PILGRIM: They are trying to set up hotlines and volunteer organizations.
DOBBS: All right, thank you very much. We’ll continue here in just one moment. Stay with us.
Get the popcorn and pull up a comfy chair…
Lou, did you see “Hacking Democracy”? The HBO special? With Bev Harris…
Arizona Election Protection Action Points for Election Day
We are aware of the Sequoia Edge touchscreen machine’s yellow button problem. I am assured by a Democrat that I trust that it will be obvious if the machine was voted in manual mode, and the votes won’t count.
Arizona law:
Photography inside the polling place is illegal in Arizona, until the last voter has voted. After the last voter has left, the shut down process is open to the public and photography is allowed – except election results may not be potographed or announced.
Videotaping outside will be very helpful to catch intimidation, or other dirty tricks (get license plates!), but obtrusive videography might intimidate some voters who don’t know it’s friendly – so be cool!.
I’ll keep my own minicam handy, but hidden till something happens.
Please do not allow anyone to disrupt the voting process! Any delay in polling place operations will only suppress OUR vote.
Anyone who attempts to disrupt the election or tamper with equipment in the polling place – with the best or the worst of intentions – will be subject to arrest. I’ll be working as a County Elections troubleshooter in NW Tempe, and I’ll call Sheriff Joe myself.
COUNTY ELECTIONS POLLWORKERS NEEDED – DO IT YOURSELF!
Colleen’s still hiring Election Board Workers to operate the polls in Maricopa County @ 602-506-1519. In other counties, contact your county elections department.
REPORT PROBLEMS – ASK QUESTIONS
Please report polling place problems to all hotlines – partisan and nonpartisan, and email reports to all orgs for post-election documentation (see below). Get the injured parties’ contact info (if they’re willing), the name and location of the precinct AND the polling place.
DEMOCRATIC PARTY
The Arizona Democratic Party, in conjunction with the DNC Voting Rights Institute (888-DEM-VOTE), is running a formal Election Protection operation for the November General Election, with a communications network for the Poll Watchers and Poll Observers, who are the ground troops of the effort.
On election day, Watchers and Observers will be asked to report real-time problems (particularly those that require immediate legal assistance, like Republican challenges to voters), and ask questions at the AZDP Election Protection Hotline. After the election, they’ll be asked to report any incidents, probably via email.
NONPARTISAN
Election Protection Coalition Hotline (866-OUR-VOTE)
The Arizona Advocacy Network (AZAN) is working with the Election Protection Coalition (866-OUR-VOTE), a national network of nonpartisan organizations (including http://www.pollworkersfordemocracy.org) working to protect voting rights.
AZAN is recruiting poll watchers to document the extent of voter disenfranchisement due to Prop 200’s ID requirements. Those interested in helping should contact the AZAN office at 602-297-2500, or send an email to lead Organizer, Eric Pashkin at epashkin@yahoo.com. They have already recruited 75 volunteers and are training more to use their survey tool to interview voters. The evidence gathered will be critical to our federal lawsuit which aims to overturn the voting barriers enacted with Prop 200.
There are challenges of Voter ID laws – including Prop 200 – being brought in several states that should all wind up at the Supreme Court in the next year or two.
Justice John Paul Stevens said that evidence of voter disenfranchisement due to Prop 200 would be required. Therefore, besides helping voters with ID issues on election day, and finding their assigned polling place, we need to document any cases – including collecting contact info – of disenfranchised voters.
POST-ELECTION
Please do participate in the P4D Post-Election Interview at http://www.pollworkersfordemocracy.org, even if you are pollwatching rather than pollworking.
POST-ELECTION HAND-COUNT AUDIT
I think we’re ready for the Audit in Maricopa County, but you can volunteer with your county chair in case alternates are needed. In other counties, contact your county elections department and your county party chair for info. Libertarians who don’t have a county chair should contact their state chair.
Randall Holmes
Maricopa County Committee to Achieve Fair Elections (MC-CAFE)
SEQUOIA EDGE USED ONLY BY ADA VOTERS, AND ONLY IN MARICOPA COUNTY
By the way, in Arizona, the touchscreen machines are for handicapped voters only. One is required for each polling place, per HAVA.
Most voters use paper ballots read by optical scanners. I don’t believe Sequoia machines are used anywhere but in Maricopa County (Greater Phoenix). Elsewhere, it’s mostly Diebold, so if out-of-staters want to watchdog machines in Arizona Elections, other counties may really need help.
Randall