Introduction {by Winter Patriot}:
I was honored to receive the following message from Brad’s dad, Harvey Friedman, who not only voted today but also took an opportunity to interact with some election staff. It’s a wonderful story! But I won’t ruin it for you — I’ll let him tell it in his own words.
Reporting from St. Louis, not Brad but “Brad’s Dad”.
Since Brad could not stick around long enough to badger the local election staff, I tried to do my part. This morning there were no primaries of significant interest in my Chesterfield, MO precinct and thus the turnout was very sparse. With five election officials on hand to watch over three ES&S IVotronic machines, three voting booths for paper ballots to use with the ES&S Model 100 scanner [ED NOTE: It was Brad’s dad who was reportedly responsible, in no small part, for St. Louis County having chosen to use ES&S voting systems at the last minute instead of their plan to contract with Diebold. See our report from last December on that here.] and three punch card machines which they said would no longer be available after today’s election, and considering that at ten this morning I was the only voter on hand, I figured it would be okay if I spent some time pulling their chain. After all, wouldn’t Brad have done it had he been here?
First they asked for my ID. They actually asked specifically for a driver’s license. I presented them with an outdated travel agent photo ID (outdated by about 6 years). They accepted that but said I need something that had my home address. “Don’t you have a driver’s license?” they repeated. I said I would prefer to use another form of ID and asked what else they would accept. They seemed confused. I said: “What about a utility bill with my name and address on it?” They said that would be okay. I then asked why didn’t they tell me that in the first place and I was told that this is the first time that was an acceptable ID. Of course I corrected them by informing them that to my knowledge this has been the case in Missouri for as long as I could remember, certainly for many years. I was then told, “Well it will no longer be acceptable after this year.” I retorted that is only if the Missouri law requiring photo ID was held up as constitutional by the courts. The election monitors agreed but then offered they thought it was a good idea that everybody had a photo ID and I told them that I thought it was a good idea if we could be sure that every vote was going to be counted. I asked if I could go home and get a utility bill. They said that would be okay. I finally opted to show them my Driver’s License.
I then proceeded to us the IVotronic, which has a very legible paper trail but would be a bear to use for a recount, considering that my ballot which only had about four issues on it including candidates was over a foot long. Imagine the size of those paper rolls on a busy voting day. Before actually casting my ballot, I informed the monitor that I had changed my mind and that I preferred to use a paper ballot that would be scanned and thus could be recounted easily if necessary. They were happy to accommodate me and after about 5 minutes of conversation and reviewing manuals three officials figured out how to invalidate the ballot and give me a new one. I then proceeded to cast a paper ballot. I did not opt to use the punch card option. I did however discuss with the voting official that I had chosen to use the ballot with the ink circles because that could be recounted by hand. He assured me that the voting machines were all zeroed out before the voting started. I said that was interesting because I understood that a programmer could program the machine so that it did not start to work wrong until after the polls had opened. He assured me that in order to program the machines there would have to be at least two election officials on hand. I asked if he felt that these election officials could recognize any improper code and he agreed that they could not.
I said that any beginning programmer could rig the count. As a matter of fact I said I could probably even do it. He agreed. “I guess you are right. It would be pretty easy, I could probably do it too.” I then reminded him that the code was proprietary and nobody outside of the voting machine company had the right to review it.
So much for my morning of needling election officials. Its a good thing that I was only the third vote placed on the scanner this morning. I don’t recall what number I was overall. Probably about 10. I guess it was a good thing I didn’t try to vote in Connecticut or Georgia. I might have been stoned by an unruly crowd.
Harvey Friedman
Haha! Now I see where Brad gets it! A chip off the old block!
Thanks, Harvey, for bringing up Brad to be such a defender of our democracy. And thanks for keeping them straight in Chesterfield, MO!
Thank You Harvey for the great reporting. You keep giving them Hell. You know what they say “The Apple don’t fall far from the tree”. Now we know where Brad gets it from. Power to the PEOPLE! Go Ned Lamont! Thanks WP for sharing this great article.
Yes, I can see where Brad gets it, and it’s wonderful. Thanks so much to the both of you.
Has everybody heard this song? It’s perfect for election day, and fun, too.
Have you had enough?
This guy Harvey is more a rabble rouser
than his boy Brad,.. nice thread too.
You think he could take things over til November ?
I think he is a better
splleerspeller than BFtwototoo.(smiley face) – (think I just got myself banned)
Needed something really positive. Thanks Harvey and WP.
Nows thats “FAMILY VALUES” .
Thanks, Harvey. Good story, well told.
How to go, Harv! Thanks for Brad. Making the world a better place can be loads of fun…
Harvey,
Was Brad a good boy or did ya have to spank him alot ?
YOU GO HARVEY!! Now THAT is cool!!
THANK YOU, Brad’s dad!!! An honest block that has produced a chip that could rectify the world!!!! And how lovely to meet you finally, in context, on these green “pages.” I hope you speak to us again soon.
Well it looks like everyone has about said it all.
Thanks Harvey!
Way to go Harvey –
ps – please disregard that clicking noise you hear on your phone…….
God help us all.
Again, Harvey, thank you! Having reread your post I realized that the really encouraging thing is that the people you were dealing with are good Americans, and there’s nothing wrong with their instincts. They are just ignorant of the issues (Where is Chris Hooten with his Funk & Wagnall’s to remind us that ignorant means no one ever informed you, while stupid means being unable to learn anything new?), and maybe, just maybe, Harvey, you helped inform them a bit, even inspire them to inform themselves better. Right on!
Off Topic:
E-gad, he did it!
Dubya actually out-tricked Tricky-Dick!
I like the way it goes backwards now!
Meanwhile, two and a half more years!
Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!
Hi Harvey! Nice to meet ‘cha!!!
…that goddamn Harvey Friedman and his rabble-rousing son…some one should shut them up, I tellz ya! They’re telling the truth too much, dangnabbit!!!
Reminds me of the song lyrics:
Hey czaragorn (#14): Sorry, but that’s pure crap.
Sure, the workers where Harvey was voting were “good Americans…” with “nothing wrong with their instincts” but there are plenty of places around this great republic where the poll workers, their bosses, and THEIR bosses are brainwashed partisans who believe they are “fighting against pure evil” and that any action they take (illegal, immoral, or fattening) is acceptable because their cause is “good.”
There were plenty of poll workers in Ohio and Florida and Nevada and New Mexico and Iowa who KNEW that the actions they were taking were illegal and wrong but were happy to take them because it would help to keep the “evil Democrats” from power. These people have been interviewed for a variety of books, and they are quite proud of their actions.
Like the Perles, Gibsons and Kristols, the apple doesn’t fall to far from the tree. Thanks, Harv. Ya done good.
Hey Harvey, thanks! You’ve inspired me to do a bit of educating (harassing?) of my own.
Thanks for that report Mr. Friedman. Who knows, maybe you’re questions and easy banter planted a seed with someone. It’s also good to keep them on their toes and not let them get to comfortable. Great job!
So what’s the deal……… ?
Mr.Friedman,.. Harvey,…
Did you have to spank him,.. was Brad a brat ?
BF won’t divulge those details to us.
**********************
When the world very badly needed a relentless patriot to defend our Democracy he stepped front and center without hesitation,.. seems you should pat yourself on the back because of that.
We at this blog remain forever grateful for Brad’s unselfish ambitions to restore honesty and fairness to our political systems and for introducing this crossroad that permits us to converse with each other about all that.
Must be something to do with
being derived from good people and good stock.
We thank you,..
and celebrate you folks,..
and like wise the same applies to your son.
Harvey,
I live in Florissant, voted after work about 5:00 p.m. and I was voter 132 and the ONLY one in line. It is disgusting to see that.
However when I saw those Ivotronic machines, and asked if a paper ballot was available. I was given the speech about how great this system is, reduces errors, does away with hanging chads, the whole nine yards of BS. The poll workers kept saying what a great way it is to vote. I said, nothing personal folks but I want my vote counted, and these machines are hackable, I don’t trust them. Then I was told that there was a paper ballot that was in the machine, and I said no I would vote by optical scan. I think I am going to vote absentee in Nov.
While they were very polite you could tell all of my questions and concerns were getting on their nerves, and I wasn’t going to vote on one of those damn things without a verifiable paper ballot to SHOW ME what I chose. Being from the Show Me State…lol Anyway I ended up voting by optical scan, which I wasn’t satisfied with either. One of the men told me that I was wrong and that these machines were unhackable and not connected to the internet, I told him to prove that the machine is unhackable, E&S is as bad as Diebold. I also told them that my vote is too precious to waste on a machine where it could be altered or removed.
Bravo Harvey!!! Take a stand, that is what I did, and when my sister called me about voting I told her to use the optical scan, she doesn’t read as much about this as I do, and she voted by optical scan.
Michael
Another indication that the election officials either don’t have a clue about the technology…or…
“…these machines were unhackable and not connected to the internet” ???
That is an incredibly ignorant and/or intentionally misleading claim.
Apparently this claim is intended to perpetuate and persuade non-tech-savvy voters that because they aren’t connected to the internet they aren’t hackable.
Charlie, Charlie, Charlie – Read your post again: Sorry, but that’s pure crap! Sure, what you said was true, but there are lots of places where it isn’t (I paraphrase). Hmmm…
I would enjoy reading more delightful entries from you Mr. Friedman, on any topic you choose.
Nice job at the poll.
Everybody has a right and responsibility to hold election officials accountable and to assure that his or her vote is counted. “Getting on their nerves” is good!
Nice going, Harvey and Michael. I hope you have started a trend.
Charlie – we’re all on the same side, the side of right vs wrong! Love and Peace from Prague…
Charlie – we’re all on the same side, the side of right vs wrong! Love and Peace from Prague, a distant suburb of Bradville…
How the heck did that happen, WP?
Thanks Politicky, #3, for the song link!
And thanks Friedman, Sr., for raising up a good boy, and jumping into the fray as needed yourself.
Charlie L, #19, can you give links to info about poll workers who knew they were doing illegal stuff?
shw
If every interested person was inclined to ask questions as Brad’s father did…it might cause the election officals to get educated. He who is silent is construed to consent.
Do you’s guys know where I can find good Mohel . . . . . What does he do with the tips ? ? ?
Fear and Loathing in Diebold World
We gotta do what it takes!