General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSome long time DUers may recall the many posts from Bradblog back in the day...
Here's a thread Brad's retweeted about Dominion voting systems, particularly in Georgia, mostly w/ regards to th upcoming Senate run-offs. Actually, seems pretty sensible to me.
1/ While the political world seems focused on the problematic Dominion Voting System's role in GA's elections, some facts rather than conspiracy theories might help all sides to come to a reasonable solution going forward. That is the point of this thread. #Dominion pic.twitter.com/obmoYwuU9T Marilyn Marks #Wear A Mask! (@MarilynRMarks1) November 22, 2020
Link to tweet
2/ I'll start with the recommended solution for the Jan. 5 Senate runoffs and support it with the facts and rationale in the thread.
How do I know anything about this? We
@CoalitionGoodGv
have been suing in fed. court since Aug.2019 to have the system declared unconstitutional.
3/ Simple solution for Senate runoffs. Have a defensible verifiable election with hand marked paper ballots (HMPB) for all voters (exception for voters with disabilities.) No hackable, insecure touchscreen machines. Optical scan for immediate tabulation, then thorough audits.
4/ The ballot is very simple in Jan. Same ballot for all counties. Poll workers don't need lots of technology to issue the right ballot to the voter. They are ALL ALIKE!
Here's a sample.
5/ A voter's inked-in bubble cannot be hacked. Touchscreens are easy to hack. [BTW, we currently have no evidence of any hacking having happened on BMDs in GA elections.] However, the Dominion BMD system is very vulnerable.
The touchscreen system invites election mischief.
6/ If the simple proposal above is used in January, it doesn't matter how good or bad Dominion's people are or how bad their system is, any meaningful inaccuracies will be detected and corrected.
The ballots can be audited in a fully transparent way. #gapol
7/ The Dominion system makes an image of every ballot it scans. Each county can easily post the images of every ballot and let the public count for themselves, (although the audits must use the original ballot, NOT an image.)
Example-- #gapol
8/ Counties already generate the images, and it costs virtually nothing to post them all. Let there be a crowdsourced informal count. Lots of eyes on the facts will prohibit crazy claims with purposeful miscounting by irresponsible people.
To be continued... #Dominion
9/ Both parties need to push for this simple solution for January. It creates a defensible election which cannot be reasonably challenged. Isn't that what we all want?
Now more about GA and Dominion.... #gapol
10/ The scariest and most undemocratic scheme I have seen in my 11 years of working in troubled elections is the fact that
@GaSecofState
has outsourced GA's elections 100% to #Dominion. I've been fuming and publicly fussing about it for 18 months. It's not new! #gapol
11/ Elections should not be outsourced to any third party--must less a corporate entity. Okay to outsource elections to say Amazon, or Koch Bros, or Starbucks, or Space X?
They have no accountability to the voters.
SOS chose a model not permitted in democratic societies.
12/ What do I mean "outsourced" to Dominion?
--Dominion programs the ballots, the tabulation and scanning instructions for every single GA machine in all precincts and offices for every single election. Minimal checks and balances.
--Dominion runs the county pre-election tests.
13/(Dominion) tests their own programming in lieu of the county independently testing in most cases.
--Dominion tech runs the election server in almost every county with zero security controls. Can change whatever he wishes.
--Counties in total dependence on Dominion.
14/ The system is so complicated and breaks down so much that there is a Dominion tech required for every polling place during early voting and Election Day voting. Any system that complex should be abandoned.
Unheard of in American elections that vendor is this embedded.
15/ Dominion techs have full access to tabulation servers in total control of Georgia's votes. I observed hours of Dominion serious trouble shooting in Gwinnett on Nov. 7. They can change ANYTHING and wipe the logs of what they did. SOS gave #Dominion this outlandish control.
16/ I watched the same in Fulton in August and September. Dominion in full control of the server, with no Fulton employee with the know how to oversee or operate it themselves.
Since when can corporations run American elections? And with no oversight. #Dominion
17/ Read more about #Dominion's alarming control of Fulton server in
@HarriHursti
's declaration. Scroll through to the Fulton Tabulation server section.
https://coaltionforgoodgovernance.sharefile.com/d-s46c460f545124011b0f5f77d3a76ba56
18 /We have observed this level of control in numerous counties across Georgia. Most counties welcome the "help" without thinking about how they are giving up total control with no accountability.
@GaSecofState
created this high risk model--the only one of it's kind in the US.
19/ No one seems to know the massive $ flowing through Dominion from the SOS office. $104Million was the original price but tens of millions have been added to this golden ticket for more services upon services upon more equipment and fees, and on and on. No one seems to care. Thinking face
20/ All of that said, I think that the Dominion conspiracy theories are untrue, reckless and over-blown.
There is plenty to worry about with Dominion just on the facts that have been filed under oath in federal court in our
@CoalitionGoodGv
case.
21/ Please help us keep ups the fight for a defensible election that cannot be reasonably attacked by either party.
https://coalitionforgoodgovernance.org/donate/
Edited to contain the entire Twitter thread
diva77
(7,639 posts)K&R
Karadeniz
(22,492 posts)al bupp
(2,173 posts)CrispyQ
(36,446 posts)Take the time to read the entire thread. It's important stuff. A corporate entity is gaining control over our vote counting process & the People aren't a part of it.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/11/20/dominion-voting-trump-faq/
Dominion says it serves more than 40 percent of American voters and that its products are used in 28 states.
al bupp
(2,173 posts)They have basically given the system over to the corporation.
Ms. Toad
(34,059 posts)the system is actually a good voting system.
al bupp
(2,173 posts)Is that it lacks the proper checks and balances that have been implemented elsewhere. Also, much simpler, non-touchscreen (except for handicapped voters), and cheaper systems are available that do automatically, securely and traceably record votes.
Ms. Toad
(34,059 posts)but my friend was speakign precisely to the checks and balances, and the ability to recount ballots which have been confirmed by the voter against the electronic tally.
al bupp
(2,173 posts)I would like to see systems where the sorts of allegations being made are disproven by more than after the fact audits (as has been the case for the Nov election) but are actually both theoretically and practically impossible.
Ms. Toad
(34,059 posts)with vote-buying schemes with early paper ballots, and vote shaving schemes with lever machines.
I had at least a glimmer of hope that these conspiracies would finally vanish once we recognized how silly the Republicans looked voicing the exact same vote-shifting conspiracy theories people on our side have been voicing since at least 2004.
Guess not.
al bupp
(2,173 posts)This can be straight-forwardly accomplished by banishing accursed touch screens (except for the disabled) and making the ballot tabulation results immediately and publically accessible.
The idea is make the conspiracies wither under the light of reason (to the degree this is possible in our day & age).
Ms. Toad
(34,059 posts)particularly the Dominion system which addresses the lack of a physical ballot that is verified by the voter. All of the earlier paper verificaiton solutions were clunky to verify so most people skipped that step (especially on longer ballots).
But touch screen machines are (as you point out) more (and more expensive) technology than we need. This is especially true since we likely to continue the trend toward an increased portion of the vote being cast by early/absentee process. That process is far easier with paper ballots - especially when there are lines as significant as they were this year. Setting up dozens of ballot completion stations is far easier (and cheaper) than setting up dozens of electronic tabulators.
And - whether or not there are errors in touch screen voting, having a paper ballot makes it simpler to dispel concerns about inaccurate vote tallies. There's no reason (aside from people who can't physically complete a paper ballot) to add an additional electronic step. Newer technology is not always better.
al bupp
(2,173 posts)mopinko
(70,071 posts)i'm not the only one.
al bupp
(2,173 posts)Arne
(2,009 posts)It was Bush and involved Rove.
judesedit
(4,437 posts)come up. I wanted to see what he said about this issue now. In the past bradblog and blackboxvoting were on the same page. Electronic voting machines are not safe. Please use paper ballots everybody.
Thank you Brad Friedman and Beverly Harris for your diligence and many hours exposing this threat to our democracy.
al bupp
(2,173 posts)But he appears to have a lively presence on Twitter, if you can stand it there.
judesedit
(4,437 posts)Although I never formally closed my page. I was locked out for awhile cause I couldn't recall my password and it wanted me to bug people to verify who I was, which I didn't do. Too much garbage on there.
MuseRider
(34,104 posts)with a couple of other former DUers and watching and listening to him broadcast. I do not remember what show however. We sat at the picnic tables outside the Crawford Peace House.