And we voted just fine, thanks.

So that answer is different for everyone. I'm going to a county meeting tomorrow. Hopefully someone will know. Or the League of Women Voters ought to be able to give me some answers.

Only THEN will the Democratic votes be counted correctly.

If the GOP wins, well fine. At least it was a fair election, but the machines are not fair the way they've been programmed.

Also I recommend that we SHUT DOWN THE INTERNET on election day.
Make it impossible for the Russians to hack anything or get into any databases to change numbers.

Great point!

Sadly, the abuse has gotten worse.

hearings are showing just how vulnerable our election infrastructure is.

when every time one mentions Crosscheck, or hackable electronic voting machines without paper trail one is made fun of as a conspiracy theorist by fellow Democrats...

We will lose in 2018 as long as no official voice exposes election fraud, voter suppression and machine hacking.
I keep hearing "the Russian interference did not change votes". How could they know, since there is no paper trail and no recount possible?? And besides, they admitted that the Russians had tampered with voter rolls in 21 states. But who needs the Russians when you have Kris Kobach and Interstate Crosscheck, which no one except Thom Hartmann and Greg Palast ever mentions??

I am with you MoonRiver, in a feeling of utter powerlessness, and screaming in the wilderness...so far...

Thank you so much Amaryllis for the encouraging article. I think the vulnerability of voting machines has long been proven (since 2004 actually). But if no one in Congress picks up the ball, nothing will be done. I heard Mark Pocan on Thom Hartmann say that there was a Commission working on this...but I never hear anything anywhere else, and that's bad.
I think the best we can do, is keep on spreading the word, until people believe us...

We use paper ballots and scanners. Machines are randomly checked for errors, and if a recount is called, the original ballots are counted.

I do not understand how we can scan checks on our phones, but don't trust voting machines.

So paper ballots still go through a hackable process to be counted.

I agree that when there is a recount, it is valuable to have the original ballot, and that is truly reliable.
We can scan checks on our phones, because the software is encrypted by an organization (the bank) whose interest is to safely get your money. So in this case, the bank's priority and yours are the same.

In the case of voting however, the machines are tabulated by private companies like Diebold or Sequoia who in many occasions have pledged allegiance to a Republican agenda or candidate, so if you are a Democrat, your priority and the company's are at odds, and they hold all the cards.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/08/2016-elections-russia-hack-how-to-hack-an-election-in-seven-minutes-214144

Not to mention that the software as far as I know is not properly encrypted, and that it is extremely easy to hack.
Remember that in 2016 they could not recount (I think in Michigan) because a lot of the machines were defective...

I don't know how to combat this, am close to giving up, and just trying to protect my own.

total chip. Both chips have security controls.

Before and after elections the machines go through checks for mistakes and miscounting.

New York was the last state to dump the lever machines, and we learned a lot from everyone's else successes and mistakes. Security and accuracy were primary concerns, and in over 10 years we have had no problems other than local election judge screwups. And they were a a pain, but fixable.

Trust me, we've had lawyers and tech people up the gazoo from all interested parties tearing these things aopart, and there have been no problems with the machines.

I feel like I woke up in an alternate world. The election was illegitimate, the president is illegitimate, yet he is allowed to continue his destructive agenda. What the goddamned fuck? Be patient, people say, but this isn't the same as Watergate. Nixon wasn't going after our institutions with a hatchet. This could be a turning point we don't come back from.

I'm depressed about the whole fucking mess. I've been political most of my adult life. In January, a friend who votes, but never calls her congresspersons, took me to task for not attending the woman's march. "This energy will generate serious change," she said. "I'll check back with you in six month," I said. She's semi-retired, but her schedule is packed. Last time we hiked I asked if she had called Cory Gardner, "one of the thirteen men crafting the no-healthcare bill," I said. "I don't have time for that right now," she said. Maybe I should have bit my tongue, but I was so pissed off. I pulled out my phone & said, "Here's his number. Get out your phone & call now." She looked at me like I was nuts, but I made her make the call. The rest of the hike was a little chilly in spite of the heat. Back at the parking lot she said, "I would have called." I said, "Now it's already off your plate."

The daily WH outrage has become the norm & people who weren't engaged before are less engaged now than right after the election. I don't know how you keep those folks active. She's an engineer. She's not stupid, but she won't fit 15 minutes a week into her schedule to find out what's being voted on & call. WTF?

The USofA is right on the edge of becoming a third world country.