It took two tries, but Carolyn Goodman, candidate for Mayor of Las Vegas and wife of current Mayor Oscar Goodman, was finally able to vote for herself today on Nevada’s illegally-certified, 100% unverifiable Sequoia AVC Edge touch-screen voting machines. At least she thinks she did. Whether her vote will actually be counted for her is something that nobody can ever know…
“I touched my name and strangely ended up with my opponent,” a visibly worried Goodman said from her voting booth.
She pushed the button a second time and successfully voted for herself.
“I think it’s the finger nails,” Goodman said afterward. “Obviously, I’m voting for myself.”
Goodman said she heard of similar problems taking place at polling places Friday, the last day of early voting.
No, it ain’t the fingernails, Carolyn. It’s the machines.
As we revealed in our investigative exposé in the 2008 book Loser Take All: Election Fraud and the Subversion of Democracy, 2000-2008, and summarized in our article on the Reid/Angle election for U.S. Senator just before Election Day last year, Nevada’s Sequoia touch-screen voting machines were illegally certified in 2004 by then NV Secretary of State, now recently-appointed (to take the place of disgraced Sen. John Ensign) NV Republican U.S. Senator, Dean Heller.
The failure that Goodman experienced, and noticed, made her just the latest in a string of celebs and candidates who have had similar problems with 100% unverifiable voting machines — as still used by some 20 to 30% of voters in the U.S. — either flipping their votes, or not allowing them to vote at all.
Most famously, perhaps, was Oprah Winfrey, who, during early voting in the 2008 Presidential election, noticed that the computer (also a touch-screen made by Sequoia) had dropped her vote for President all together.
Earlier that same year, during February’s “Super Tuesday” primary, then NJ Gov. John Corzine (D) was unable to vote for 45 minutes when Sequoia’s AVC Advantage touch-screen systems failed to boot up at all when the polls opened.
During early voting in the 2008 general election, election integrity filmmaker Patricia Earnhardt, executive producer of the award-winning 2006 documentary Uncounted: The New Math of American Elections, which deals, in no small part, with the problems and perils of 100% unverifiable e-voting, saw her own vote flipped on an ES&S iVotronic touch-screen machine in Nashville (Davidson County), TN.
The BRAD BLOG has reported on countless such incidents over the past eight years with little or nothing being done, in most cases, to keep the same failures from occurring again in future elections. Indeed, we wrote an entire chapter about similar widespread failures during the 2008 election cycle alone for Project Censored’s Censored 2010: The Top 25 Censored Stories of 2008-09.
One of “favorite” occurrences is what happened to poor Randy Wooten, mayoral candidate of Waldenburg, Arkansas in 2006…
Wooten was running for mayor in the rural Poinsett County town with a population of just 80 people that year, when he learned, after the close of polls on Election Night, that he had received a grand total of ZERO votes, as reported by the county’s ES&S iVotronic touch-screen voting systems.
As AP noted at the time, Wooten said, “I had at least eight or nine people who said they voted for me, so something is wrong with this picture.” Among those people who Wooten believed had voted for him: himself and his wife.
Wooten wasn’t the only candidate to come up with ZERO votes from an electronic voting system, however. After the Republican primary election in March of 2006, The BRAD BLOG reported on the same problem when it occurred for the conservative former state Supreme Court Justice Steve Smith, but on a much wider scale. Smith had attempted to contest the election after learning that he’d reportedly lost the statewide election by 100% in Winkler County. That’s right. Smith was said to have received ZERO votes there, despite having won handily in that same county previously. In 2002 he won Winkler by 74%, and in 2004 he’d won by 65%, yet somehow he managed to lose by a whopping 100% in 2006.
In that same 2006 primary election, ES&S and Hart Intercivic voting machines added a full 100,000 phantom votes to the tally in Tarrant County (Fort Worth), TX. Unfortunately, the state’s requirement to make one’s case in an election contest, even in a statewide case, within just days after the election — and without access to forensic computer analysis of the corporate e-voting systems — made it impossible for him to file a contest, despite the obvious and extraordinary failures of the state’s e-voting systems.
Everything old is new again. Even in Sin City tonight.
[Hat-Tip for the Vegas article to The Voting News.]UPDATE 6/8/11: Forgot about this comparison, published by the conspiracy theorists at the Washington Post in 2006 under the headline “How To Steal an Election.” It shows the difference in the way slot machines are regulated in Vegas versus touch-screen voting systems there and everywhere else. With the mayoral election noted above having been in Las Vegas yesterday, obviously, the comparisons here as apt as ever. Money matters in the U.S., of course. Apparently votes don’t…
I find it hard to believe that people are still willing to vote after knowing for a fact that their votes are unverifiable.
Or that people are stilling willing to vote for candidates even knowing for a fact that they won’t be able to hold those candidates accountable once in office.
But then about 50% of us don’t vote, and of the other 50%, only 11% of them say that they approve of the job our government is doing. So that means that 89% of voters are voting for a government that they don’t approve of, in elections where their votes aren’t verifiable, for candidates they can’t hold accountable.
But as long as our criminally insane government, that gives tax breaks to the rich, slashes programs for the poor, and wastes trillions on unwinnable wars based on lies, can get half the country to turn out for elections, even if they’re voting 3rd party or casting blank ballots in protest, it can continue to claim the consent of the governed.
And some voters even know what they’re consenting to–and will give all sorts of justifications and rationalizations for consenting to everything that they oppose. Do they really believe that voting against their own interests is better than doing nothing, that voting for candidates who can’t be held accountable is better than apathy, or that no matter how often they vote and how much worse things get every time, things will get worse if they don’t vote?
Mind-boggling.
What is a democracy without voting, Mark? How do you have a democracy without voting? How do you fix problems with voting by not voting? Hogwash.
I lack the words to describe the ill despairing feeling I get every time I read another one of these sordid tales of our American-style “elections”.
There appears to be nothing so vile in our elections that would move our “Fourth Estate” or any one of our “elected” officials to raise a red flag on our behalf.
The volume of well-documented crimes and fraud in our elections is overwhelming- as so painstakingly detailed by Brad and by Bev. One would think there is no fail in getting these crimes prosecuted and the guilty finally brought to justice.
And yet- election after election, the election boards and the election judges, and the election workers -indeed the losing candidates themselves- conspire to sanctify the rotten fruit of our stinking elections.
A class action suit against the makers of the electronic voting and counting machines for pain and suffering would make me deliriously happy. Is this not even a remote possibility? It would have to be undertaken by a computer expert or by a losing candidate. No? Or some highly-prized criminal lawyer.
Mark, I could see you replaying it if your “Don’t vote” tune were a hit, but I’ve yet to see a single person buy it.
Brad’s solution to election fraud and unverifiable e-voting systems, Democracy’s Gold Standard, seems a rather straight forward, relatively simple solution. Hand-marked paper ballots, publicly hand-counted at the precinct level on Election Night.
“Don’t vote,” on the other hand, could not possibly solve anything unless there was 100% participation in which no person — not even the candidates themselves — took part in the election.
Brad has, on several occasions, pointed to New Hampshire towns whose application of Democracy’s Gold Standard has proved quite a success. Can you point to a single instance, anywhere, where the “Don’t Vote” strategy has actually worked?
That anyone is still using 100% unverifiable Direct Voting Electronic systems which have been so thoroughly discredited by academic study-after-academic study, two U.S. Congressional G.A.O. reports and even by a CIA cyber-security expert simply boggles the mind.
Ernie @5,
Your posted artwork gives new meaning to “egg head”.
This lady running for mayor gives new meaning to “seeing is believing”.
The dice are loaded …every direction that you look ,you find the game is fixed and those in control drift from one position to another .Revolving doors with smoke and mirrors as distraction.
How many wars ?
How much bail out money is accounted for ?
Who owns the voting machine companies ?
Who benefits ?
For example …
The Fed Under Fire
“The people” have lost.
All the great work of sites like this (Bradblog) has achieved nothing !
Mick,
Did you think this fight was going to be easy?
Molly,
I can’t remember which thread you wrote that great rant. Here’s your backup. Great article at commondreams.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/06/07-2
mick said,
i was taught and still believe that knowledge is its own reward…..and we have not lost yet…as long as we have in place this goverment of we the people( even as hijacked as it seems) we have the ability to count ourselves(our wards) and tell the “secret vote counters” bs..open the boxes, when the machine spits out a bogus report
we do need to be more pro active but some of us are working on that too
Thanks for the update Brad. Seem to remember seeing that one back when the WaPo originally posted it.
Sort of underscores how upside-down and backwards our society has become. The security of gambling casinos is seen as far more important than the security of our elections — logical when you consider that the largest casino is not found in Nevada but instead on New York’s Wall Street, courtesy of the credit default swaps market.
I saw David had posted a link to the Common Dreams October 2011 article so thought I would share what I emailed them. Brad, there is a link to you and others.
Peace
I read about October2011 at Common Dreams and what was written there is wonderfully stated. The title is so incredibly relevant to the underlying truth about the foundation of our greatest problem and threat; the Machines, specifically the electronic voting machines. I know you meant the corporate machine but please know that corporate power manufactures, programs and services the election machines in this country.
I think that all social, economic and environmental justice causes would be better served if our votes were actually counted as cast. Almost every day I write, make phone calls and sign petitions for causes. I also attend marches and rallies, including some in DC. I honestly think those that determine how our votes are counted laugh at our efforts. Sure, we have our wins but the balance of power remains with the corporations and the selected officials they support.
Please, please take the time to visit the links I have provided and check out all the information they have about election integrity or lack of election integrity. This is a very real and well documented problem and it is time that citizens stopped running away from it and face the truth. It is time for leader like you to take a stand, a real stand that will open the door for social, economic and environmental justice. It is time to break the silence concerning election integrity if you truly support and desire peace, justice and equality.
Peace,
Susan
For more information about voting and vote counting, check out the following.
https://bradblog.com/
http://markcrispinmiller.com/
http://www.handcountedpaperballots.org/
http://electiondefensealliance.org/
http://richardcharnin.com/
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/
If you have any doubt about electronic voting machines being vulnerable, listen to this OnPoint program. If you don’t have time for the whole program, listen to minutes 27-33.
http://onpoint.wbur.org/2011/06/01/hacks-and-cyber-attacks
Five years ago (see http://sites.google.com/site/manaugh/), I sued the Texas Secretary of State to force him to abide by statutes requiring election software to be periodically examined. My petition for a writ of mandamus was denied without review by the all-Republican Texas Supreme Court. Texas remains to this day in no way protected against software hacks by insiders — hacks that have been proven to be easily accomplished in minutes.
Rights to having a secret ballot are turned against voters who WANT to waive secrecy in order to make sure their votes have been accurately recorded and counted. See http://sites.google.com/site/manaugh/blankenshipcomplaint2008. The only thing worse that a non-secret ballot is a secret ballot that cannot be audited even when the voter is willing to waive secrecy and has good reason (as the Mayor of Las Vegas does) to want an investigation of the voting equipment. If even a small percentage of voters were willing to waive secrecy rights and have their votes audited, that would be adequate to detect hacks. There are practical ways that could be accomplished while protecting the secrecy of voters who want to keep the right to a secret ballot.
I’ve seen this happen in California some years back and nothing was done about it. The mistake only showed up in the printed summary, which few voters look at.