By all means, let’s not pay attention to this report until after November.
This is a follow-up to several previous items we ran last week (here, here and here) on a number of elections in Arkansas where the outcome was reversed after the lucky discovery of mistallies on the ES&S electronic voting system which failed widely in a number of counties during local primary elections there last week.
Here’s the latest explanation, most notable passages excerpted below, on what went wrong in Faulkner County’s very low turnout election for their District 45 State Representative Democratic Primary in which voters casting ballots in the Cadron Township Constable race had their votes recorded erroneously for the Dist. 45 State Rep race instead.
While these same touch-screen voting systems, the ES&S iVotronic, are widely used across the country, and have failed notoriously in a number of races over the years, and thus, theoretically prone to the same or worse failures this November when the turnout will be far higher, the full article by Joe Lamb in Arkansas’ Log Cabin Democrat notes two more additionally chilling points:
- “[T]he votes for the constable race were later found to have recorded accurately on the voter-verifiable paper trail and therefore would not have appeared erroneous to voters either.” (Which means there also would have been a fight, in any contested recount, about which numbers actually reflected voter intent!)
- “What makes the situation all the more baffling, [Faulkner County Election Commissioner Bruce Haggard] added, is that the machine in question, along with its associated software and coding, were found to have worked to perfection during early voting.” (So pre-election tests and early voting gave no indication that something would go wrong on election day, despite election official and voting machine company claims that such tests protect against such problems!)
Full article here, most notable extended excerpts follow below…
The error contributed to a reversal in the District 45 State Representative Democratic Primary election.
In the East Cadron B voting precinct, Haggard said, the district 45 representative ballot was entirely absent from the touch-screen voting machines. The error was caught by county clerk Melinda Reynolds before the polls opened, Haggard said, stressing that no voters were disenfranchised.
Paper ballots were prepared for the district 45 race before voters came to the polls, he said, and these ballots were accurately counted on election night.
But the error that deleted the electronic district 45 representative ballot hid another error that went unnoticed.
…
One error in last week’s election “should not have been possible,” Faulkner County Election Commissioner Bruce Haggard said, if an electronic voting machine had been functioning correctly.
The error contributed to a reversal in the District 45 State Representative Democratic Primary election.
In the East Cadron B voting precinct, Haggard said, the district 45 representative ballot was entirely absent from the touch-screen voting machines. The error was caught by county clerk Melinda Reynolds before the polls opened, Haggard said, stressing that no voters were disenfranchised.
Paper ballots were prepared for the district 45 race before voters came to the polls, he said, and these ballots were accurately counted on election night.
But the error that deleted the electronic district 45 representative ballot hid another error that went unnoticed.
…
“We assumed, erroneously, that it would not record that race since it was not on the ballot,” he said, adding that the votes for the constable race were later found to have recorded accurately on the voter-verifiable paper trail and therefore would not have appeared erroneous to voters either.
As it happened, Fiddler’s name had been paired with the vastly more popular constable candidate. This falsely inflated his total number of votes and, as the race was so close, indicated that he had won.
A recount requested by Tyler proved otherwise.
…
What makes the situation all the more baffling, he added, is that the machine in question, along with its associated software and coding, were found to have worked to perfection during early voting.
…
Haggard is confident that the pending ES&S audit will find the commission’s current vote tally to be correct.
Yes, you read that last graf correctly. ES&S is apparently the ones who are looking into what caused the problems on the ES&S voting machines. No doubt, their assessment will take care of any further concerns.
I can’t wait for the day fast eddy here in PA eggmits these f******* machines are in violation of our State Constitution!
what is the since of even talking about the voting fraud or the criminal crimes of this adminiatration, almost half of our democrats are really republicans or they just don’t give a d… about our laws or the welfare or the citizens of this country or their voters.
Re: Niger/Nigeria… I think you are right! Thank you.
…though, if it had been up to me, I think I would have anglicized it “Nigerean” instead. Seems to emphasize the difference more… but they never leave this stuff up to me….
The Peter B show w/ Brad…
Don’t forget not only do voters forget to check the paper trail, there is still *NO GUARANTEE* that the paper trail will match what is on the memory chip!!!
Have you heard the radio ads from the L.A. registrar of voters? It turns into a commercial for Ink-a-Vote and brags that the ad is paid for with HAVA funds!
Obviously the software installed by the vote-fixers (Bush, Rove, Diebold, you name-em) is set to trigger after 50% have already been cast … doesn’t anyone remember how in the 2004 election the Florida numbers never budged their percentages for hours and hours?
the aristocracy are own all your base! Americans are Fukd.
“Vote Fraud” is show business designed to fool the ignorant into continuing to believe in the system. Only fools believe the problems with government result from who is in office. The problem is government itself!
Welcome to reality. For nearly 5 decades I have been hooted at, vilified, and derided by all kinds of political “know-it-alls” because I stated that the idea that voting could change anything was illogical.
In primitive societies tribal members believe that by cutting up animals their future can be assured. In even MORE primitive societies tribal members believe that by placing marked papers in a box their future can be assured.
I ask you WHICH belief in black magic is MORE ignorant???
Especially, when history shows that regardless of WHO is elected (person, party, philosophy, etc.) taxes increase; laws become more oppressive; more are killed in wars; economic opportunity declines; and life becomes more brutish and miserable.
Oh I know, somehow THIS time it will be different — yeah right, and Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy are real too…
WAKE UP you idiots!
Off topic, but I thought you’d want to hear: remember the DC lawyers Dickstein and Shapiro that sent the cease and desist order regarding the abrad2345 story you guys had? That name Dickstein always stuck in my head (insert joke here), so when I just saw http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/
I had to tell you guys. Turns out the McCain campaign has complained that Dennis Hastert has joined Dickstein as a law firm. Can you spell schadenfreude?
WHY are so many so-called-freedom minded men/women hell bent in distroying real “liberty” through mandates of evil self-centered greedy men/women who lust for power realizing the only way to take OFFICES of POWER is to disenfrancize the Majority of those who know the difference between “liberty” and “freedom” whereby we the poeple are loosing our “liberty” for the sake of safety when their is no safety even at the ballot box. Semper Fi, Loyalty above All Else Except HONOR.
Watch this short video:
http://itpolicy.princeton.edu/voting/
And you’ll never trust an electronic voting system again.
Faith in the touch screen voting machines is really “magical thinking:” that is I want to believe that will work, so I believe these work. I deal with this type of thinking everyday in the business world, and I pity our democracy that have to depend on them to do us right.
It is critical thinking, not wishful thinking, that will show us the results. What Brad and the others he reports about who are fighting the fight for honestly and accurately counted elections is the most patriotic battle we are in today.
This is not brain surgery. Fair elections should not be so difficult to ensure.
People are not idiots. Eventually they learn the truth about astroturfing. They hear of Netvocates, the Bivings Group, the White House Iraq Group, that Kos Zuniga is pro-CIA and Ronald Reagan. They learn of the Rendon Group and other propaganda outlets.
Is Mark Lindeman an astroturfer? Yes!
HudsonValleyMark
My {SluggoJD} response to the fake Dems in this thread at DU
Can anyone point me to any posts by Lindeman that have anything to do with getting rid of the corruption in politics? Anything antiwar? Anything remotely with depth about war crimes and the trashing of democracy?
He has simply made thousands of posts attacking anyone who stands up to the Republican agenda of stealing elections.
He regularly attacks “annoying citizens on hobby horses” who supply evidence of electoral shenanigans and voice their concerns . He goes after Brad, Bev, and others who represent all of us demanding exposure and accountability.
He doesn’t stop there. He goes after other academics. He tries to minimize the work of Bob Fitrakis. He infers that Crispin Miller is a tinfoiler. He acts as if political science is the be all, end all for spinning public opinion as regards to election fraud.
Here is why Lindeman doesn’t make it easy for people to know who he is. The following thread is representative of why Lindeman doesn’t start threads at Democratic Underground. Internet fakes can sometimes have a nice little run of influence. But in the long run, is Lindeman really that much different from AnonymousArmy, Steven Hertzberg, David “Kelvin Mace” Allen, and all the other loudmouths who have been obfuscating this issue for years? No, he isn’t!
Did Don Siegelman win in 2002? probably not
Some choice quotes:
This is the part he has been trying to script. The noise, all those thousands of posts attacking Bev Harris couldn’t go on forever. Lindeman was meant to be the soothing, fake resolution.
Jim Gundlach:
Glynn Wilson:
Lindeman:
We’ll let SluggoJD have the last word:
Bev Harris, an American Hero – Part 4, a Conspiracy to Malign
I just found another strange tie between Andy Stephenson and the right woos left network of internet fakes. People can search around. They will find out that Stephenson was in contact with a Mike Vreeland. With this next DU link, one can see that he was also in contact with “whitestar.”
WhiteStar seems to be none other than Robert Mendenhall Jr. of WhiteStar Web Hosting.
BBV: This is a great sign
Andy to WhiteStar:
WhiteStar basically made a lot of posts at DU with copy, pastes, and links from Tom Flocco.com.
All of this talk of “conspiracy nutters” didn’t evolve naturally. Disinfo agents have been on the job for years muddying the internet waters. Anyone ever hear of Willis Carto? What about Wayne Madsen? Does anyone sincerely believe that all the rubbish they and Tom Flocco types have been publishing over the years haven’t been attempts to discredit the internet?
Does anyone think it’s a coincidence that both Fintan Dunne and AnonymousArmy insinuated that Brad is a CIA plant? Does anyone think it’s a coincidence that “Dunne” has called Bev Harris a 9/11 CIA rat?
God bless this Andy Stephenson for he cannot answer to these questions, but wtf was he doing involved with so much internet disinfo?
I’m also curious about a poster named RAM.
Was at Tom Flocco’s site today.
Is RAM Robert Mendenhall, the owner of WhiteStar which hosts Flocco’s website? Nothing personal here, if he says he isn’t, then I’ll take his word for it. Yet, anyone who would post about Tom Flocco without a disclaimer makes me wonder.
E-VOTING TRAIN WRECK 2006
RAM:
The thing about Brad Friedman is that he doesn’t make claims without evidence, like a Tom Flocco does. It’s really crazy how much tinfoil dung has been thrown around over the years around concerning Bev Harris and Brad. Those two were chugging along, doing their thing, yet all around them on the internet insidious efforts were being made to circumscribe themselves into a convoluted script.
Here’s one last link, to a guy named Stew Webb. Hold your nose. Here he tried to make it seem like he was throwing Mendenhall under the bus and protecting Bev Harris. But in reality, he was just continuing to spin tinfoiltainment rabbit holes.
Breaking News August 3, 2005
Thanks, Brad. Lately, whenever anyone talks about elections, I ask them if they would still vote if the only approved federal voting mechanism was a flush toilet. Both in real life and online, about fifty percent say they would.
Flush Poll
So now I can gleefully refer to the verification they trust in as the toilet paper trail. ROFL