Democrats question vote results (tabulation, machine reliability doubted)

snip>
The Democratic Party on Monday filed a request with the state Division of Elections for the electronic data file of voting results, the record of who voted in the 2004 general election, and paper results from machines used in early voting.

Elections officials dispute that the vote results published on the state's Web site have mistakes. But the data are collected and reported in ways that the average person cannot make sense of without help, officials acknowledged.
....
The Democrats are raising questions just as Diebold Election Systems Inc., the controversial company that provides the state's electronic voting machines, comes under new fire, according to published reports. Two groups of investors have sued the parent company, Diebold Inc., accusing it of trying to conceal problems with its voting machines.

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/7301446p-7213196c.html

Kick this sucker to the top of the story heap.

:kick:

:kick:

From the original article:

<snip>...questions have been swirling ever since the polls closed about how the results were tabulated and the reliability of the electronic voting machines, said Kay Brown, spokeswoman for the Democratic Party.

For instance, when district-by-district vote counts are totaled, President Bush received 292,267 votes, according to an analysis by the Democrats. But his official total was 190,889, a difference of more than 100,000 votes, according to the state Web site.

Everyone agrees you cannot figure out how many votes a statewide candidate got in a particular district with the present system.

"The numbers just do not add up, and we'd like to get to the bottom of why," Brown said.<snip>

indeed

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/7301446p-7213196c.html

It should add up on the precinct, township, county, district and state level.

Tally of precinct results should equal the total township tally.
Tally of township results should equal the total county tally.
Tally of county results should equal the total district tally.
Tally of district results should equal the total state tally.

Number of signatures tallied should equal number of voting machine count.
Number of votes for each race should not exceed voting machine count.

Number of ballots completely voided should be tallied and publicly reported by precinct.
Number of ballots with specific races voided should be tallied and publicly reported by precinct.

For each race by precinct, township, county, district and state level the totals should be made for each candidate as a total of all precincts and compared to totals of all candidates by precinct.

In addition, population of the designated areas should be entered and program to determine the percent voted with an eye on whether the number is appropriate. If it shows anything over a certain percentage than it would need closer attention.

Or, a couple of Presdidential elections I guess. It's not like it was the end of the world, or eh...well, maybe it'll be the end of the world, but... you think maybe we shoulda mentioned this earlier?

We need this kind of review in EVERY State, and we need some damned FORENSIC investigators to check out machines in every swing state where there were so MANY MANY "abnormalities".

:woohoo: Someone is FINALLY paying attention!!! :applause:


:kick::kick::kick:

there have been hot controversies. It's interesting that the Alaska Democrats are bringing this up NOW. Could it be they are FINALLY getting worried about '06? Alaska has such a confusing system of reporting that it may all come to naught. And the Repub official said they're gonna fix it. Not comforting. But still, AT LONG LAST...FINALLY...after a year of us screaming about the election system's non-transparency , hackability and ownership and control by Bushite corporations with 'TRADE SECRET," PROPRIETARY programming code, and after a year of the numbers screaming at us that SOMETHING IS WRONG, and after a year of more Bush torture, death, tax cuts for the rich, and illegal spying, and non-stop lying, the Democrats. are. looking. at. the. NUMBERS!!!!!!!

I've thought they must be the most stupid !@#$%'s on earth, or the most venally corrupt. But could it be...that they have been AFRAID? (--what with the Bush spying apparatus and torture renditions, and all--and that, maybe the NYT ratting on Bush has broken the dam??).

Don't understand. Is there a second lawsuit? Or a second investor group joining in the suit?

If they don't join, well... we know why, don't we?

Are you brain dead?

I'm brain dead. Good guess.

should be doing this. Period. Hell, the should've been doing
this last year!

"If you don't have a degree in mathematics or engineering, it will always be confusing," said Randy Ruedrich, chairman of the Alaska Republican Party, who said he's asked the state to change its format next time around.

Gosh, I guess it is too confusing for our little heads to handle, let me see: The total number of votes for each district, summed across all districts in a county should equal the county total? Or is the state total? Or should the state total be 100,000 fewer votes than the sum of the district totals? Or 100,000 votes more?

Oh, my it is too much for me... :cry:

Thank goodness the nice Republicans are here to tell us we don't have to think so hard - :patriot:

how come the numbers still don't add up?

Btw, I thought they were tallying votes. For actual vote counts, they only need addition.