I have a question here about these Touch Screen machines

[Homer Wells]

Here in WV, we have these new Touch Screen machines which provide you with a receipt for your vote, showing who you voted for. Although this is comforting for the voter (?), does the machine actually keep a running tab (which can be reviewed by vote counters later) on the true votes cast, or is this just false assurance for the voter.
I know very little about these machines, and did question the poll workers this past spring when we had local elections, but did not think to ask that question
:think:

[MadMaddie]

1. That's a great question....

What is the guarantee that the code is not manupulated on the machines to change votes?

Have you check with your county to ask this question. Have the machines been tested by the county?

[Homer Wells]

3. Thanks for the reply.

I have not asked that question yet.
Our county begins Early Voting this coming Wednesday, and I will definitely ask the poll workers when I go vote.

Steve

[Lefta Dissenter]

2. It depends on the brand/model of the machine

I tested some for our Town last year, and some printed an ongoing tape that you could view through a little window. Others just printed a tally at the end. While it was nice to check the tape - that it had printed what I had 'voted' for, it did pose a problem for privacy. If I had been, for example, the tenth voter that day, and poll workers would have been able to see in the poll list that I had been voter #10, then they'd easily be able to look at the tapes at the end of the day to see how I had voted.

One system prints the little receipt, which you then deposit into a box (after checking it to see if it said what you wanted it to), providing a voter-verified paper trail.

I still like the Mark-Sense ballots - though I know that the accompanying software and tabulator can be manipulated. I tested an electronic machine in September that actually printed on the MarkSense (optical scan) ballot, which I then was able to examine for accuracy and then insert into the scanner to be counted along with everyone else's ballots. That was the new machine that our Town had to purchase for the HAVA compliance. Glitchy as all get-out, however. It stalled out several times throughout the day, but at least it was only marking ballots, rather than counting them.

Another ENORMOUS complaint about that one is that the ink cartridge on that sucker costs $30.00 and it needs to be replaced every SIX HOURS!!! :wow: It certainly works out nicely for the manufacturer, of course :eyes:

[Peace Patriot]

4. There is no gurantee that the machine isn't creating a separate,

manipulable tally, in its TRADE SECRET, PROPRIETARY innards. None!

The paper receipt is nearly worthless.

This is true of ALL electronic voting machines--optiscans, central tabulators--not just touchscreens.

First of all, you need a paper BALLOT, not a "receipt"--a paper BALLOT that has legal standing and that will take precedence over electronic tallies in any audit or recount.

Secondly, you need a guarantee that all paper BALLOTS are hand-counted at the precinct level, and results posted at the precinct level, before any electronics are involved. (--and for Absentee Ballots that they scan into the electronic system, hand-counting at the precinct or centralized location, and posted there before any electronics are involved).

Anything else is EASILY riggable--on a massive scale, leaving no trace.

Does your state have an audit? Many states don't. Even the best states--the best!--have only a 1% audit, totally inadequate for this secret, high speed environment. An audit is a comparison of e-voting machine tallies with the paper ballots or receipts (and if it's receipts, the e-voting machine can be favored in any discrepancy).

In the event of e-voting machine breakdowns (frequent), Absentee Ballot voting is the ONLY guarantee that you will be able to cast your vote.

You cannot count on a paper ballot being provided. And do NOT accept a "provisional" ballot as a substitute (they are easily tossable).

In addition to all of this--the votes all being counted using TRADE SECRET, PROPRIETARY programming code, with virtually no audit/recount controls-- the three major election theft industry players--Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia--all have close ties to the Republican Party, the Bush regime and/or far rightwing causes.

We MUST get rid of these machines. We MUST!

Do not accept them! Boycott them! Vote by Absentee Ballot! And force your election officials to COUNT your AB vote by hand--and to throw these machines into 'Boston Harbor' NOW!

They are a total Bushite coup--engineered by the biggest crooks in the Anthrax Congress, Tom Delay and Bob Ney (abetted by corporatist 'Democrat' Christopher Dodd).

Here is an excellent resource:

www.votersunite.org (pamphlet: MythBreakers - easy primer on electronic voting--one of the myths is that HAVA requires electronic voting; it does not.)

[Lars39]

5. Go...

to www.youtube.com and search for...Princeton University Exposes Diebold Flaws.