Dear Chairmen Dean - What about Election Security?

Dr Dean,

How much is being spent by the DNC in 2006 to ensure that our votes are counted?

Are we going to be able to monitor the election returns in real time to highlight hot-spots of suppression and fraud? Or will be need to rely on media reports this time around too?

Is the DNC building a high-tech election day prediction model? Scientists can predict where Hurricanes will hit land. So we should should be able to predict and detect voter fraud.

Hire away some risk mathematicians from wall street and academia to build a model that factors in every bit of past election data, pre-election polling data, exit polls, ad saturation, downticket factors, and election returns in real time. To further increase the reliability of this model it could include GOTV data and results of parallel elections staged by other 3rd party independent groups.

If I ran the DNC this is what I'd have in place for 2006 so that we can further refine it for 2008.

The DNC needs to do a better job letting know the hardcore base what they are doing in this area.

Dean says he's worried about the voting machines but I want action.

We need to hold Dean and the DNC accountable.

have some responsibility in this, too.

If they're going to do the candidate picking (:::cough:::Hackett::::cough::::) then don't they have a related responsibility to have the votes for their people counted FAIRLY?

I agree that the DNC has some role. But so does every other formal party organ.

Reliability is Job One.

We can have the best guy on earth running for dogcather, but if the dogs are counting the votes .....

on some key votes .... nationwide.

Is it in the plans?

It would be far too expensive. This is think-tank type stuff. No reason a bigwig funded liberal thinktank couldnt do it though with data provided or bought from pollsters.

.... and I'm not saying it is ....... then the DNC needs to at least **call** for it.

I've heard of no such - or similar - call. Have you?

The DNC and the candidates are the ones with the legal standing to contest this in court.

I think it should be the DNC.

abide by federal laws regarding political fundraising. A think tank does not. And EVERYONE has the legal standing to contest election results in court.

Legal standing to order recounts varies state by state and more often than not you have to be a candidate in the race to contest the result.

And again the DNC would be committing much needed resources to an extremely expensive endeavour. A think tank is the way to go here, One with legal staff that can be put to the service of any candidate that needs to contest an election.

The DNC cannot take any donations of more than $50,000, whereas a thinktank can take whatever someone can give. This particular issue requires very deep pockets. Doing the kind of work you suggest requires very expensive expertise, not to mention a fair amount of computing power (databases, storage, CPU) this all adds up and would drain the already meager resources of the DNC which does not exist for this kind of thing anyway.

I know that those who are concerned about voting irregularities see this as an over-riding issue, but the fact is that the DNC needs the money to get people out to the polls in the first place. If they spent the kind of money required for this, there wouldn't be enough to get out the vote. It would be much better to suggest this kind of thing to people like Soros than to people like Dean.

Or someone from the DNC get the project started? Doesn't have to be under the DNC umbrella for the DNC to get it off the ground.

alarm about the machines at a seminar on election concerns and have demonstrations that prove how easily they can be rigged.

That wouldn't cost much and he can make it so all the left media is on the same page on the issue by inviting them to the demonstration.

I'm 100% with the OP on this.

...you mess with our elections with your crappy machines and your biased Boards of Elections and
we'll jump on you until the sun comes up.

We're too far into the take over by the vendors (Diebolds of the world) and the clever Republican
architects of the Help America Vote Act 2002 (see my post below). It's "shit kicker" time, let
Dean be Dean and have at them.

In Ohio, the most respected political poll in the USA for predicting outcomes, had the Ohio special
measures on election reform ahead by 60-30% just a few days before the election. Blackwell had
installed new Diebold machines all over the state prior to the special election. On election day,
the support reversed almost exactly to 60-30% against the special measures. Blackwell smiled, nobody
raised a ruckus except those of us in the tiny election fraud movement. Nobody. This was, of course,
a statistical improbability of immense proportions.

I'm sure Blackwell thought to himself, "Damn, I can shove anything down their throats and they'll
take it."

when he took ovr the DNC - I supported him because I thought he would have a handle on the machines since he saw a demo personally.

In NC last week, he declared victory over machine manipulation because Diebold machines were kept out of NC - it's not just Diebold machines that get rigged. The issue is so much deeper than just Diebold. He sounded as if it was a defining victory - a desired end - it's really just a beginning.

Somehow, we have to move Dean down the path that assures ALL machines are exposed for their vulnerability to vote fraud and ALL machines secured before November.

my normal, "screw the glass";) it's filled with poison!!!

Isn't there some term for imparting machines and inanimate objects with their own personality
and style - :sarcasm: those Diebolds are crooks, but the ES&S optiscans, well you can rely on them.

to the DNC and ALWAYS include my request to expose the machine fraud so the general PUBLIC finally hears about it. It will only happen if it is made a priority issue.

The crowd applauded when he made his comment about Diebold, but my heart fell at the tone - the tone that sounded like victory was declared, we can move on now. It made me very uncomfortable knowing what I know.

That's the response and they need to here it again and again.

I used to give money until they called one day and, when I gave them my normal grief about no
action on electronic voting, they came back with a prepared response, scripted. Ass hats!

I give to specific candidates, directly. No more DNC.

Next time you send them something, go here -- nice print file -- and enclose a copy of this
with your check.

Cheers!


Secret Vote Counting Crammed Down the Throat of Democracy
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/print.html?path=HL0604/S00233.htm

I would think you would want to start from an engineering type point. You would want to answer:

1) With the existing hardware (voting machines), can the results be manipulated.
2) If 1) is yes, (which appears to be the case) - Is there a way to design around this?
3) Unless and until 2) is yes - the machines can't be used.

On a going forward basis, you get bogged Asking to make the system failsafe is easier and it should be doable - ATMs work pretty well.

What specifically do you propose Dean/the DNC do? Do you think this should this be approached on a federal or state level? Since the Republicans are blocking corrective legislation, it appears state measures are the only viable option, however, that would mean blue-friendly legislatures. I'm just not clear on how to accomplish this much-needed reform.

It would be a hugely complex program and it would cost tens of millions. But what is the point of spending tens of millions to sway people to vote your way when Republicans can just steal/supress 100,000 votes in a a close election?

Election security is worth the cost.

A limited pilot program would concentrate on the swing states. It is easiest to cheat there.

If we spend 10 million on this and make it that much likely that we'll be able to do something this time if they monkey with the vote then it's the best 10 million we could ever spend.

And spending it in the swing states makes sense. I'm not familiar with this program. Can it be implemented in spite of Republican interference? Do you have a link for info on the program?

I'm making. I don't think it's being done. I don't think the DNC gets it.

there was any widespread election fraud vis-a-vis EVM. Wow. It would seem the evidence is screaming.

"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was making the world believe that he didn't exist."

- Kevin Spacey "The Usual Suspects"

I dont know why you have to have 100% prima facie evidence just to BE PREPARED for the future.

The only thing I can think of is that there is a theory that says that if people think that democracy is a fixed game they won't bother to play anymore and then with the resulting lowered turnout it becomes that much easier to fix the votecount.

.... this new fireless smoke?

but do a tally of costs as you read through your post. Then take a look around DU and see if you can find any of the "I'm not donating to the DNC unless this that or the other thing I cherish is addressed" posts and answer me this:

How do you propose all of this be paid for? Any ideas? Suggestions?

It's easy to stand up and list countless things that need to be done. It takes effort to come up with ways to fund and organize such efforts.

Julie

Launch a fund raising effort where the money goes only for this project. Get Conyers, Brad from the brad blog, Mark Crispin Miller, Randi Rhodes, and Mike Malloy to publicize it.

The people who are concerned about electoral security are highly motivated to get something done. If the DNC took this effort it would help bring these people back into the fold and I think they'd be very generous to support it.

about this issue. In fact, even if I had every other objection to them, I would **still** donate to any group that I firmly believed was interested in an honest, verifiable vote casting and vote counting system.

The National Laywers' Council was formed to counter election fraud. The DNC has also established a Voter Rights Institute that has faught the Voter ID requirement in GA and is currently fighting the same issue in Indiana, I think it is. You may not hear all of the work being done but please don't think the DNC - and Howard Dean - are oblivious to the need.

I don't have all the details. Contact the DNC if you need to be sure.

.... same general as the 'army of lawyers on the ground' in 04?

Lawyers can only act on the information they have. This time around we need to have total information awarness on election day. Catch the fuckers.

is stolen and has been since 2002, but the Dem party is working the other angles that deserve attention, but unfortunately, distract from the MACHINE FRAUD.

They can LET The lawyers group work on the civil rights angle, but they should put together ANOTHER group of top drawer software analysts, statisticians, and information security experts to deal with the machines.

so far the Democratic Party has not done anything to ensure transparent elections, and they blew it when they could have made a difference. (They had standing to take a case in FL or OH in 2004. Did they do it? Nope.) Look how in MD the Dems voted down a paper ballot requirement.

If Dean speaks out, great. I'll believe it when I see it. Do ya really think he has that much freedom over what he says in his current position?

Absolutely.

For Immediate Release
May 2, 2006
Contact: Damien LaVera - 202-863-8148

Statement By DNC Chairman Howard Dean on Indiana Primaries

Washington, DC - Voters across Indiana headed to the polls today for
the first time since the state's voter I.D. law took effect.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean issued the following
statement:

"Indiana voters today became the first in the country to head to the
polls and confront Republican efforts to use unfair voter identification
laws to keep legitimate voters from casting their ballots. I applaud
Hoosiers who headed to the polls today in the face of an unfair law that
disproportionately prevents poor, minority, elderly, rural, disabled and
student voters from being able to exercise their most fundamental right
as Americans-the right to vote.

"I also strongly encourage anyone who faced difficulties in casting
their ballots to call 1-888-DEM-VOTE to report any problems. We simply
must stand up to the Republican effort to keep people from voting. I
applaud the Indiana Democratic Party's ongoing efforts to overturn
this unfair law and for fighting to make it easier, not harder for
Americans to vote."

###

Paid for and authorized by the Democratic National Committee,
www.democrats.org. This communication is not authorized by any
candidate or candidate's committee.

.... but what happens with any reports filed through that phone number?

See .... I think that's what a lot of us want to know. What happens next?

on edit: I called the DNC a while ago, asking a broader question ... what's going to be done about the voting issue. I said I was concerned. And earnest young man to whom I spoke was as nice as could be ... but could only say he'd pass on my concerns ....

Kinda like when I call my Dem senators ... Mikulski and Sarbanes. I love 'em both. But all I ever hear when I call is "I'll pass it on".

Can someone please pass that plate of hope?

Dean is our only hope at DNC. I got all excited before the Ohio report. GettysburghII, a DUer, had spoken to Dean in a small group just prior to the report coming out and it sounded enocuraging. Then the joke DNC reponse to Ohioi was published. Weak, weak, weak...100 pages of crappy stats trying to prove Kerry LOST Ohio, plus random consultant reports (in different fonts, on separate letterheads) slammed together for another 100 pages, with a few gems but more recyclable opportunities.

If they talked to anyone involved in election fraud research or in the much older and more mature
civil rights/voting rights movement, you would never know.

Latest mis step. Someone told Dean optiscans do better for Democrats than touch screens. Oye vey...look at Florida, it's just the opposite.

He needs help and good advisers. He's more than smart enough and bold enough to take this on but he's
not properly informed.

This is a great article about the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (a major scam) and has some great Q/A between Paul Lehto, DU Land Shark, and Commissioner of the Election Assistance Commission (runs HAVA).
It's not technical and not quantitative. It is just the straight stuff..

Secret Vote Counting Crammed Down the Throat of Democracy

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0604/S00233.htm

Special Report for “Scoop” Independent Media
First in a Series on HAVA and the EAC
by Michael Collins
Washington, DC

INTRODUCTION:

The Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) was passed on the heels of the Florida 2000 presidential election and its “hanging chad” problem. These ambiguous ballot chads riveted and frustrated the nation for a couple of months in late 2000. However, few thought the solution to the ambiguity of hanging chad evidence of a voter’s intent would be to completely eliminate that evidence.

With the help of nearly $4 billion in federal grants, HAVA eliminates the evidence of voter intent by eliminating the paper. Instead of paper ballots we have votes registered and counted on "touch screens" - computer based direct recording electronic (DRE) voting machines. Invisible electronic ballots are the result of these DRE touch screens. Electronic vote counting software does the vital vote tabulation in secret. For citizens and public officials, the vote counting processes are strictly off limits. There is literally nothing to see. As a result, the public records of vote counting are gone. To preserve this secrecy, DRE purchase contracts often pledge the government to cooperate with the vendors to fight the very citizens the government is pledged to serve.

What is this secrecy in vote counting, really? To have the votes counted in secret by your political enemy is the picture of tyranny. To have the votes counted in secret by your political friend is the picture of corruption. To even desire such an unaccountable power is itself corrupt. So how is HAVA cramming this down the throat of American democracy?

that the answer to this is to control the Sec of State office, and the registrar's office. These are LOCAL offices, and you have to get off your ass instead of waiting for the DNC to do something, because no matter what they do, it's your county officers that have the last word.

Concerned about voter theft? Target your local registrar and Sec of State.

There is absolutely no reason not to do this. It should be a national discussion that has implications at every level, local and state.

Dean would have an army of us supporting him on this.

And it's a pity Dean didn't say anything about all the crappy, hackable machines while he was at it. There were heaps of problems in Indiana. Would've been nice if he'd mentioned it.

for voter suppression. I know, I know...that is not enough. He had a press conference which no one covered. I posted it here, and it dropped.

Look for my posts here at DU, in my journal or do a search. Looks like veterans as well as others called the number...and they are filing a suit.

Could some people please give credit where it is due?