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diva77

(7,604 posts)
Fri Apr 24, 2020, 02:56 AM Apr 2020

Voting Rights Advocates Challenge Legality of New Voting System In North Carolina

https://freespeechforpeople.org/insecure-unreliable-unverifiable-and-unsafe-voting-rights-advocates-challenge-legality-of-new-voting-system-in-north-carolina/

“Insecure, Unreliable, Unverifiable, and Unsafe”: Voting Rights Advocates Challenge Legality of New Voting System In North Carolina
Posted on April 15 2020 by Ed Erikson

Complaint Filed on Behalf of the North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP and Several North Carolina Voters

Today, voting rights advocates filed a lawsuit in Wake County Superior Court challenging the new electronic voting system that Mecklenburg County and several other North Carolina counties rushed to implement for the 2020 elections. The suit alleges the new system is vulnerable to security threats and its results are unverifiable, in violation of the North Carolina Constitution’s guarantees of free and fair elections and equal protection of the law. The North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP and several North Carolina voters are bringing the lawsuit. They are represented by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Free Speech For People, and the law firm of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP.

The suit also alleges that using this new system, the ExpressVote, is particularly perilous during the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 disease can be spread through contact with the touchscreen computer or other parts of the ExpressVote. Election Systems & Software, the company which manufactures and markets the Express Vote machines, claims there are remedial steps which election officials can take to mitigate this threat. However, remedial steps, such as cleaning the machines after each contact by a voter, are time-consuming, difficult, and costly, and they can lead to long lines at polling places. Such cleaning can also damage the ExpressVote machines and is ineffective in eliminating the coronavirus if improperly done.

“The so-called ‘new’ electronic voting system being used in North Carolina is fatally flawed,” said Kristen Clarke, President and Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “This historic lawsuit is necessary to preserve electoral integrity and to protect the right to vote in North Carolina. We will continue fighting voter suppression in all of its forms and work to ensure a level playing field for voters this election cycle.”

“The ExpressVote is an insecure, unreliable, unverifiable, and unsafe machine that threatens the integrity of North Carolina’s elections,” said the Rev. Dr. T. Anthony Spearman, President of the North Carolina NAACP. “The new electronic system converts voters’ votes and ballots into undecipherable barcodes, forcing voters to cast a vote they cannot read. These North Carolina counties must move to hand-marked paper ballots to restore voters’ trust in the integrity of our elections.”
SNIP
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link to actual complaint filed in court:
https://freespeechforpeople.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/NC-voting-machine-complaint-FINAL.pdf
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Voting Rights Advocates Challenge Legality of New Voting System In North Carolina (Original Post) diva77 Apr 2020 OP
Electronic voting systems are inherently flawed ... Hermit-The-Prog Apr 2020 #1
all important points ! plus now we have the problem of spreading disease via use of diva77 Apr 2020 #2
kick diva77 Apr 2020 #3

Hermit-The-Prog

(33,021 posts)
1. Electronic voting systems are inherently flawed ...
Fri Apr 24, 2020, 02:59 AM
Apr 2020

With paper ballots (physical tokens):

* Paper ballots allow the voter to verify that the ballot represents the voter's vote.

* The general public can verify that the voter cast a ballot, without having to know the vote.

* The general public can verify that the paper ballots are not tampered with while waiting to be counted.

* The general public can observe and verify the count of the ballots.

In electronic voting (abstractions, not physical tokens):

- The voter cannot verify that the internal state of the device represents the voter's vote. (This is true no matter how many pre-election or post-election tests are performed on the device).

- The general public cannot observe or verify that the voter cast a ballot. (The electorate has a critical, prime responsibility to observe and verify this).

- The general public cannot observe or verify the (abstract, invisible, electronic) ballots are true to the forms (state) they were in when cast.

- The general public cannot observe or verify the (invisible, electronic) count of the (abstract, invisible, electronic) ballots.

Elections are far more important than the check-out line at the grocery store, bank or Amazon. Verification is needed by the individual voter, by the rest of the electorate, and by the general public while still maintaining a secret ballot. Physical tokens that human beings can perceive are required.

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