‘A single person could swing an election.’
By on Jun 28th, 2006 at 2:19 pm
‘A single person could swing an election.’
A new report on electronic voting machines by New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice — “billed as the most authoritative to date” — finds that “it would take only one person, with a sophisticated technical knowledge and timely access to the software that runs the voting machines, to change the outcome” of an election. Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ), who leads Congress on the issue, has much more.
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We are DOOMED if the MSM does not take this issue up.
June 28th, 2006 at 2:22 pmSo when can I expect the Dems to purchase prime time air to warn Americans about this?
June 28th, 2006 at 2:30 pmThis is a big deal.
Americans don’t know about Diebold and election systems.
Americans who don’t watch news and don’t surf should be aware of this.
I don’t view this as a Republican v. Democrat issue. Seems as if the opportunity for mischief could hurt both parties…
June 28th, 2006 at 2:36 pmadds new meaning to the term “swing states” and makes it into a verb too.
June 28th, 2006 at 2:38 pmI agree Exley. There must be a paper trail of some sort. I don’t think anyone wants elections to be decided by who has the best hackers.
June 28th, 2006 at 2:38 pmReply to #1:
What makes you think we’re not doomed now? There’s ample evidence that the 2000, 2002, and 2004 elections were rigged to a level that is nothing short of astonishing. Diebold just makes it easier and easier.
The electoral process has been completely non-operational in this country since 2000 an the very least. The Diebold issue is just the most visible aspect at the moment.
June 28th, 2006 at 2:39 pmpresumably the libs, who have never lost an election (theyv’e all been stolen) would suffer the most
June 28th, 2006 at 2:40 pmWe are getting new Hart InterCivic eSlate voting machines in our county this year. Any word on the security of these?
June 28th, 2006 at 2:40 pmYep it happened in Florida in 2000 > somebody in Volusia county where I lived tampered with a vote tabulator computer to falsely give Bush thousands of extra votes > it was not corrected till the next day after all the TV stations declared Bush the winner!
June 28th, 2006 at 2:41 pmif the GOP can fix all the machines at will….how the heck does kennedy keep getting re-elected?
June 28th, 2006 at 2:44 pmMore from Hart’s Web site:
June 28th, 2006 at 2:45 pm
#10 that’s a dim comment which does nothing but trivialize the issue – try again
June 28th, 2006 at 2:48 pmJay, I live in Broward County. We’ve had problems here too. I just e-mailed my county’s Board of Elections and asked if they are going to take any of the steps recommended in the Brennan Center’s report.
June 28th, 2006 at 2:48 pmPost 10 > Mass. where Kennedy lives is like 70% Democrat, so the GOP cannot cheat there and get away with it!
June 28th, 2006 at 2:49 pmPaper ballots. Better security.
June 28th, 2006 at 2:53 pmthey elected Milt Romney.
June 28th, 2006 at 2:53 pmPost 13 I now live in Georgia, but yes Broward had mysterious hacking as well in 2000 and 2004! Florida is controlled by Jeb Bush so kinda hard to correct the voting machines there! Georgia also had problems in 2004, but the news media ignored it!
June 28th, 2006 at 2:54 pmhey! thanks for this TP!
June 28th, 2006 at 2:54 pmMORE! MORE!
you guys should report this scandalous behavior
June 28th, 2006 at 2:56 pmPost 16 the citizens of Mass. like Ted Kennedy, but I have no idea why Romney is there? He acted like a moderate Republican so maybe he fooled the voters?
June 28th, 2006 at 2:57 pmcould it not be that the machines were fixed?
June 28th, 2006 at 2:58 pmhe definetely fooled em. he hates kennedy and he’s no moderate
June 28th, 2006 at 3:00 pmThe database is ACCESS by Microsoft! Locally it runs on a laptop PC! This is pure stupidity. Nothing should ever run on a cheap piece of software as easily modifiable as this, on a laptop! The results are then rolled up to larger PC servers. There is little protection in any part of electronic voting because the companies that created this sham system did the least amount of work and due dilligence as humanly possible for the biggest payback. The sales people of this “system” snookered computer illiterates into paying big money for a playtoy system.
The tracking and security software is nowhere near as sophisticated as what runs on big iron with software that tracks the history of every transaction and it’s route though the system. All electronic voting systems based upon PCs should be eliminated. Any system that is going to work will cost big money and absolutely should have at least two paper trails, a receit to the voter and a paper copy for backup at the voting site for QA against electronic results.
June 28th, 2006 at 3:04 pm‘A single person could swing an election.’ – - I think Karl Rove just spoogded himself.
June 28th, 2006 at 3:04 pmI have concerns about paper trails as a protection. The machine could just as easily be programmed to print a “receipt” stating you voted for Candidate A but tallied your vote electronically to Candidate B. Call me old-fashioned, I prefer the straight paper ballots where what is counted is what I did (punch card, check the box, fill-in-the circle). At least with these, contesting the results can lead to a meaningful recount.
June 28th, 2006 at 3:05 pmTo swing the vote , first of all the competition has to look 50 – 50 “oh maybe bush will win” “oh maybe Kerry will win”
then its easy to rig the vote
Why on earth is america using a system that can be rigged ????? go back to paper
June 28th, 2006 at 3:08 pmkeep electing these republican pigs and pretty soon we’ll all be making and counting slashes in the the dirt with a stick.
June 28th, 2006 at 3:08 pmJohn and Jay,
Massachusetts has had only Republican governors since 1991. Lately, it seems that the state prefers that the Governor’s Office and the State Legislature (predominantly Democrat) be from opposite sides.
June 28th, 2006 at 3:12 pmI think the best voting method at present is the fill in the oval cards that are then tabulated by a machine reader, but can also be readily recounted by hand, plus you get a strip off the top of the vote card as a numbered receipt! The touch screen machines should all be taken out to a firing range and used for target practice! Punch cards are also crap, because of hanging chads!
June 28th, 2006 at 3:12 pmPost 28 > thanks for that information about Mass.!
June 28th, 2006 at 3:14 pmMASSIVE, OVERWHELMING DEMOCRATIC TURNOUT.
June 28th, 2006 at 3:18 pmTHEY CAN’T STEAL IT IF IT’S NOT CLOSE.
TELL YOUR FRIENDS.
Let’s get back to the good ole ways of naught and slash votin’. Always worked fur us.
-signed X
June 28th, 2006 at 3:20 pm31, cant they just fix the machines to make it into a massive GOP turnout
June 28th, 2006 at 3:24 pmThe really bad thing is that untill Bush ran for president in 2000, the US had only isolated instances of cheating like in Chicago, but in 2000 Jeb Bush was told to deliver the state of Florida to his older brother no matter what, so a real vote swindle was perpetrated with bogus un-postmarked absentee ballots, hacking of vote tabulators, and thuggery to scare off black voters too! ( Hanging chad ballots really was a disgrace since many were clearly punched out for Gore!)
June 28th, 2006 at 3:25 pmhow Jeb Bush got all those voters to hang those chads will go down in voting shenninagans history as the most diabolical move of all time. damn those evil doers
June 28th, 2006 at 3:30 pmSeveral thousand ballots were thrown out in Florida that had a punch mark for Gore, but the voter also wrote his name too > I have no idea why those ballots were discared because the intent of the voter was clearly for Gore > election law states that ballot is countable if the intention of the vote is clearly given > if someone voted for Bush and Gore both, then the ballot is considered void because the voter failed to clearly designate their choice!
June 28th, 2006 at 3:30 pmPost 35 > punch out card ballots have a failure rate of 10% > meaning a hanging chad, so that system is bad PERIOD. Some have conjectured that senior citizens had more trouble with them, then other people in Florida?!
June 28th, 2006 at 3:34 pmmaybe they should get a democrat election committee to set-up, run, monitor, and oversee the entire election process in broward, and dade counties
June 28th, 2006 at 3:38 pmThat is scary stuff, we really need it fixed before the Dems stoop to an even lower low and simply rig an election. Wouldn’t surprise me since they can’t win straight up.
June 28th, 2006 at 3:40 pmWe have another reason to push for protection of votes #39 Gary and others will accuse the Democrats of Republican’s dirty tricks when we start winning elections.
June 28th, 2006 at 3:46 pm1.3 million abortions per year. by killing off your future voters at a rate like that. could be awhile before that happens
June 28th, 2006 at 3:49 pmThe press in 2004 made the claim that 90% of the votes were counted properly, but in any election most contests are decided within the 10% margin, so if 10% of the ballots are thrown out or manipulated, then in effect a real vote can be reversed by fraud!
June 28th, 2006 at 3:49 pmOne hacker, one vote.
June 28th, 2006 at 3:51 pmfraud occurs in all elections lost by the libs. fraud does not occur in elections won by libs.
June 28th, 2006 at 3:54 pmcould it be that that a whole lotta rupublicans are electing other like minded republicans?
I think its more like one hacker one million votes.
June 28th, 2006 at 3:54 pmJohn the (mispelled)baptist. google articles about the governers election in washington state in 2004. The republicans were yelling fruad all the time.
June 28th, 2006 at 3:56 pmwho are you to tell a person how to spell their own name
June 28th, 2006 at 3:58 pmI am Krazny. who the hell are you?
June 28th, 2006 at 4:00 pmi’m a guy who’s last name is babtist
June 28th, 2006 at 4:05 pmyou misspelled fraud by the way, and you misspelled misspelled
PLC:
While I normally agree you 100%, this time I must disagree.
Democrats are perfectly capable to rig the elections too… we have evidence here in King County, WA that the election was stolen by Gov. Chris Gregoire… when Dino Rossi (a moderate Republican) was the real winner of this election.
Think about it… why do you think that Sen. Kerry threw in the towel so quickly? Because he knew that if he made a stink about it, Karl Rove would have nailed him with doing the same thing… especially in Wisconsin and here in Washington State.
Both sides do it.
I get the feeling that Karl Rove and the neo-cons paid the Dems to “take a dive,” as it were.
But the elections must remain the domain of the people… NOT the politicians!!!!
June 28th, 2006 at 4:08 pmyeah sue me =P
I know I misspelled fraud. I noticed it after I hit the post button. I just wasn’t sure if you were intentionally going for a misspelling of baptist, or if you were so stupid you didn’t know it was misspelled. Hard for me to determine sometimes.
June 28th, 2006 at 4:10 pmbabtest,,hmmm as is dumb fuk rural republican ,ahhh I get it! and the small b for son of 1st cousins. See, I know the white-trash ways.
June 28th, 2006 at 4:13 pmThe best part is Los Angeles County recently hired Dean Logan to oversee the election process down here. MrBlueSky would know him as the dude who completely f’d up the election in King County in Washington State.
King County was at the center of the election controversy in the 2004 election.
June 28th, 2006 at 4:14 pmlol! Pretty scary, eh, Krazny????
June 28th, 2006 at 4:19 pm50 MrBlueSky
Don’t give up on that 100% record. I know that Democrats are just as capable of rigging elections – Mayor Daly comes to mind pretty readily. My concern, in the present, is the appearance of rigging that doesn’t occur because we’ve been describing how it could be done. Pretty easy to spin that even if not true.
I’ll go one more, that I’m sure you’ll agree to: the whole government must remain Of the people, By the people, and For the people. If it doesn’t meet all three requirements it’s defective.
June 28th, 2006 at 4:20 pm31, cant they just fix the machines to make it into a massive GOP turnout
Comment by john the babtist — June 28, 2006 @ 3:24 pm
exit polls don’t lie.
June 28th, 2006 at 4:25 pmnow, i’m off the get the makings of a birthday cake!
yep – 21 years ago this friday evening marks the day i (supposedly) added to the world’s over-population by “spitting out” a beautiful red-headed (dark auburn actually) girl – hopefully her med-school aspirations will come to fruition and this world will be a better place in spite of her being in it… I HAVE NO DOUBTS! but then, i’m biased :-)
later…
I think that is what has been lost. We have a government by corporate and special interest, for corporate and special interest. Our elected representitives often overlook the needs and demands of the citizens, in order to placate rich donors. It isn’t a republican, or democratic problem, its a political problem. The republicans are getting hit with it, because they have been in charge.
I have often advocated removal of both parties, and getting some grass roots groups in that truly have our interests at heart.
MrBlueSky, I just about cried when I read that Logan was heading to LA county. The guy screwed up twice in King County, and LA county as 10 times the population.
June 28th, 2006 at 4:26 pmThe entire electoral system was ƒµ¢hed up long before the emergence of electronic voting. A system where:
June 28th, 2006 at 4:30 pm1) more than 90% of outcomes are determined by the highest campaign spender.
2)Most campaign contributions come from giant corporations and ultra-rich
3)Both parties get contributions from same sources.
4)Sources expect pay-back for contributing.
Such a system has little or no chance of actually serving the people it purports to represent.
happy birthday Katy, I would ask for you phone number, except I am married and 11 years your elder. you sound perfectly lovely.
June 28th, 2006 at 4:34 pmSad but True’s right.
Remember Chicago in 1960’s presidential elections? That one should have gone to Tricky Dick, not JFK!
“When in Chicago, vote early and often.”
June 28th, 2006 at 4:34 pmmoon bat alert!
June 28th, 2006 at 4:44 pmThat was going on before the 60’s I remember my grandparents visited my great-grandmother who lived in Chicago before she died. They told me about how the alderman would come by with a list of names for her apartment. Voting the graveyard is an old trick.
June 28th, 2006 at 4:49 pmAnyone who lives in counties that have electronic voting (paper trail or not) should vote on an absentee ballot. It’s easy. Everyone is given that option. Do not use electronic voting machines. They cannot be trusted.
June 28th, 2006 at 6:55 pmyou are missing many of the other ways to rig an election:
1. placement of machines which tend to spoil ballots by being poorly maintained
2. caging lists
3. voter scrubbing
4. disposal of ‘provisional ballots’
2006 is already rigged and they are working on 2008…
June 28th, 2006 at 8:00 pmAbsentee voting ballots are NO longer a sure thing either anymore > ends up that some have been thrown in the trash by election officials in some States who claimed the ballots were never delivered by the Post Office?! The United States must institute a uniform system of voting nationwide > meaning uniform procedures and ballots! As it stands now, some States have honest voting and some do not! The best system I believe is the fill in the oval cards, that are machine counted, but can also be recounted readily by hand > they also have a tear off stub at the top or bottom as proof of your voting! Elections should also be held on weekends, so average working Americans can get to the polls with extended vote hours, and not have to try to get an hour off from their jobs! There also needs to be stiff penalties for anyone who cheats > meaning anyone who hacks a vote machine or tries to vote more than once in any election! The sentences for cheating must be harsch like 10 years in prison for hacking a vote machine, and loss of voting rights for life if you purposely vote more than once! Our voting system must be made honest or the entire US Congress must go to prison!
June 29th, 2006 at 1:37 amWho will verify that the machines are actually printing the correct information on the paper ballots? Will anyone actually audit these ballots? If they do, isn’t this just double the work of casting a paper ballot in the first place?
What a waste of money.
June 29th, 2006 at 10:39 amPost 67 > making elections HONEST are not a waste of money! At present the elections in the United States are basically fraudulent, so WHY even bother to vote if the balloting procedures remain corrupted?
June 29th, 2006 at 12:20 pmNana
The more you are willing to accept responsibility for your actions, the more credibility you will have.
March 27th, 2008 at 2:26 amPayday Loans Online
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