WVA Vote Flipping Caught on Tape!

[TOOLZ]

Run time: 02:16 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Q9NSVUu8nk   Posted on YouTube: October 27, 2008 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: October 28, 2008 By DU Member: TOOLZ Views on DU: 12477

 
Video the Vote Reports:

In efforts to demonstrate the non-partisan nature of this voting machine flaw, this county clerk inadvertently demonstrates how unreliable the touchscreen actually is, even when calibrated properly.



* * * * *

see the story of how Video the Vote formed in 2006 to fight election suppression:

www.freeforall.tv

[BlooInBloo]

1. Amazing how touch screens work so wonderfully in so many other situations....

It's just in elections that all of a sudden their so gosh-darn unreliable.

[JJ]

15. just thinking that very thing

the self checkout at the grocery store works perfectly every time.

the "calibration" story is total BS too, the only way it would select a name other than the one you press is if it were programmed that way.
Touch screens work by x y coordinates. It's digital, you calibrate analog systems, digital systems are programmed.

in the video he didn't calibrate the machine he reprogrammed it.

[mcollier]

80. They are digital systems

They can get out of calibration or be set with the calibration off purposefuly. Im a Sr. Oracle Database Administration, and can tell you what will likely happen...


What is not discussed is that being that the data containing the vote transactions are stored in simple databases, it is easy to change the votes on the backend by writing something as simple as this running on the database every few hours:


UPDATE VOTE_TABLE SET PRES_VOTE_SELECTION = 'MCCAIN/PALIN'
WHERE VOTER_LAST_NAME "BEGINS WITH" 'C' AND TIMESTAMP BETWEEN '09:00AM' AND '10:00AM';



This is a basic example of how easy it was in 2004 and how easy it will be this time.... Don't be surprised if the numbers don't add up you your mind....

[Tat]

83. As a computer scientist, I gotta say electronic voting is fail

Seriously, there's some application for them to help the impaired and serve to speed things up, but they shouldn't actually do the voting. They should be glorified ballot printers that pump out the filled out ballot, bar coded and verified, and have the machines count all the votes as a secondary process. But really scan the ballots themselves to register the votes. Cheap, safe, easy, effective, trackable, registered, and adaptable. You'd have the totals before you count the votes (and verify them a few different ways to check for any funny business). That's the only thing I could every bring myself to trust those things.

[szatmar666]

89. "Computerized Voting Machine" = "Perpetual Motion Machine"

As a software engineer I agree:

A) there is no such thing as "calibrating" a computer.
B) there is no secure data transaction of any kind without a secure key. For ATMs that's your personal info such as your account number. For voting BY LAW you can't have such key because of the secret ballot thing. So by DEFINITION computer voting CANNOT BE A SECURE TRANSACTION! EVER! NO MATTER HOW ADVANCED THE MACHINE or the programming. This is just like building a "perpetuum mobile": not possible according to current science.

[BearSquirrel2]

97. It demonstrates a directional bias ...

The machine was demonstrating a directional bias in registering pressure. In the first round it was registering the pressure point higher than the actual press. This meant if you tried to vote for John McCain, you got nobody.

In some cases it went to unpredictable places. I've noticed this behavior on my Pocket PCs.

The fact that the machine went OUT of calibration so easily tells me the touchscreen component is broken and needs to be warrantied.

[SavageDem]

104. EXACTLY what I was thinking.

Calibration my assets. That's intentional programming.

[Dennis Donovan]

25. I use the self checkout at Home Depot all the time...

It's usually caked with dirt, and yet, I never have a problem with "callibration." Not once.:grr:

[BearSquirrel2]

98. I use the ones at Wal-Mart ...

I use the self checkouts at Wal-Mart. I have on occasion noticed the pressure location being biased in a direction. Add a little parallax and you have keys that don't register.

Maybe they have rules about frequent recalibration at some places and in others they just wait till people complain.

[Turn CO Blue]

49. Yup. Kiosk airport check-in...even the Arby's has touch-screen

inside the restaurant.

[Montauk6]

79. Though, sometimes you REALLY have to bang that thumb for that $60 Fast Cash, just sayin'...

[Dumak]

2. The screen needs calibration my ass

[KeepItReal]

99. effin right!

That is so much BS

[nugzie]

3. god help me if i catch my vote switchin next week

I will personally destroy that fucking machine myself. :grr:

[stark6935]

4. I can't believe this shit. I think a person should be legally able to choose,

paper, or electronic.

[99th_Monkey]

6. Well that would at least be half-a-loaf..

.. the whole loaf I guess would be to ban ALL those fucking machines altogether and states get to choose to do
early voting on paper ballots and/or vote-by-mail (paper ballots) .. they can do either one, or both; but
must at least do one or the other.

[jhrobbins]

50. You know-Ted Kozinski might have been right about technology

he just went WAY the wrong way in trying to point it out.

[FailureToCommunicate]

70. Paper or plastic. Democracy or autocracy...

Bring your camera ( and a few friends) to the polling place on Tuesday.

[emlev]

8. You might know, but even if you don't, it means nothing

By which I mean to say that you may SEE your vote flip, but if you don't, it doesn't mean your vote has been recorded properly. Those machines can be programmed to flip votes without the voters seeing any evidence.

If a machine is showing voters that it's flipping votes, then it may be BOTH rigged AND malfunctioning!



edited to change confusing subject line

[bobbolink]

47. Exactly! The central tabulator... can be manipulated at a distance.

Your "paper trail" can say that you voted for "Y", but then the central tabulator is flipped later, and your vote is COUNTED for "X".

I can't understand why this isn't brought out into the light. I don't even remember Keith or Rachel talking about it.

[nyc 4 Biden]

59. I totally agree.

It seems so easy for the voting machine companies to just change the votes behind the scenes. I don't understand why they would let these on-screen vote switches occur and alert the public to their scheming. Are they just dumb?

[KansDem]

40. I'm carrying a sledgehammer in my trunk specifically for that purpose

I'll "calibrate" the damn machine myself!!!

[bobbolink]

48. I hope you're bringing along someone to bail you out.

[KansDem]

55. I'll take my case to the public...

The local rag headlines will read:

Kansas Voter Strikes a Blow for Democracy!

I'll become the media darling and go on talk shows!

[bobbolink]

81. I hope that works out for you.

[FREEWILL56]

60. I understand your frustration, but

don't destroy the machine as you'd destroy any evidence of what that machine is doing and you'd go to jail for its destruction. That would be one hell of a voting day for you wouldn't it?

[lumpy]

5. I am soooooo glad we have mail in ballots where I live.

That demonstration was very disturbing. There will be hell to pay if it turns out McCain gets the vote because of vote theft I'm afraid.

[emlev]

11. And how do you think those mail-in ballots are counted?

Dollars to doughnuts it's by an optical scan machine, every bit as riggable and hackable as those touch screens.
Sorry to be the bearer of this news.

[eridani]

14. That is why there ought to be mandatory audits for opscans, like in Minnesota

WA State handcounted all the opscan ballots for the governor's race in 2004 (damned touchscreens had nothing to recount). Two machine counts and one handcount agreed within 0.1% of each other.

[RainDog]

7. THIS IS BULLSHIT

we need paper ballots.

forget this voter fraud bullshit. why should anyone believe any result if the machines are CONSISTENTLY giving votes to the wrong person, no matter what side of the aisle?

you cannot have a democracy when people do not trust the way in which votes are tallied.

at this rate, no matter what the supposed outcomes, I will assume, based upon the numbers at rallies, etc. that any "win" by McCain is fraudulent.

That's the only reasonable position to take. It's impossible to verify the vote on these machines.

And the first thing I want after this election is the destruction of all voting machines.

[bleever]

9. Good morning, America, how are ya?

Really: how are you?


And is it me, or do those machines resemble 8-tracks?

[Botany]

20. The machine is out of calibration

:rofl:

No the machine has been calibrated to flip votes.

And the people who made the machines to flip the votes are
going to be there to make sure they don't flip the vote now.

[MrMickeysMom]

37. I believe we ain't doin so hot, bleever...

Using the 8-track comparison is right on, as this low-bid crap has often won out over the better technology to divisions of elections, county by county.

Hey, it's only our ability to vote that's in question here.

[progressoid]

10. Well, that's fuckin pathetic.

It's a non-partisan fuck-up. Great. :banghead:

[Lorien]

17. No Kidding. I have almost NO problems with my so-called "glitchy"

iPhone, which does far, far more in the palm of my hand than that bulky machine ever could-yet the voting machine can't be calibrated correctly? Give us a break!

[FLyellowdog]

12. These should be dismantled and paper ballots used!

No wonder the Japanese,Chinese, and Germans are taking all our money...American technology is crap!

[tblue37]

41. How is technology "crap" if it works exactly the way it was designed to work?

Vote flipping is not a bug--it's a feature.

[glitch]

42. Bingo. nt

[FLyellowdog]

44. Well, I'm shot down again! Go figure.

[tblue37]

46. FLyellowdog, I was not snarking at you. I was bitching about the fact that

the vote-flipping is so obviously planned and programmed.

[FLyellowdog]

53. I got it...not to worry.

:loveya:

[tblue37]

58. Besides--you are a yellow dog Dem. That means you are A-OK

in my book, no matter what.

[Cat in the Hat]

67. Vote flipping is not a bug--it's a feature.

Yup! Just doing what they were sold to do.

[Tiggeroshii]

13. if that happens ask for another machine...

If they're all like that, ask for a provisional ballot. Assuming they'll give you one.

[Granny M]

16. Don't worry - there will be techs from ES&S to "help"

:scared:

[BrklynLiberal]

56. RIGHT. That would make me feel soooo much better!!!! NOT!!

:argh: :spank: :grr: :nuke: :thumbsdown: :banghead:

[snot]

18. I take this as an alert re- what this next generation of fraud will look like:

i.e., they may not flip votes from Obama to McCain; they may just flip votes to miscellaneous.

[barack the house]

19. Don't get why it has got keyed buttons at the side instead.

[aquart]

21. We're supposed to call for and reveal TO A TECH our choice????

So much for the secret ballot.

[Hope And Change]

22. K & R!

[ksimons]

23. joke-o-rama

a straight ticket selection selects all of the same party but adds Nader, that's not calibration
that's a software bug, ripe for abuse

[Snazzy]

103. yeah just noticed that--nothing to do with calibration there

That software is completely messed up.

[ingac70]

24. "Calibration" my ass...

It's programmed to to that shit.

[Auggie]

73. You took the words right out of my, uh, dieriere

[WillyT]

26. Big K & R !!!

:mad:

[JHB]

27. There's a word for machines that need such constant "calibration"

"Worthless"

[lame54]

28. after he calibrated it...

he never touched Barack Obama :shrug:
shouldn't he have touched the same buttons he touched before he calibrated it? :shrug:

[barbtries]

33. i noticed that too

remarkably it recorded the repukes

[proReality]

29. K&R n/t

[thraxis]

30. There is a wonderful new invention called paper. On it you can simply

write a name or punch a hole by the name. One of the advantages of this remarkable invention is that it can be counted by a human being and verified if the need arises. what will they think of next?

[Chisox08]

34. It looks like Chicago got voting right because we have paper ballots

At my voting location the only touch screen goes unused because nobody trust it. Paper ballots should be manditory in all states.

[barbtries]

31. that's terrible

those machines are useless.

[Crowman1979]

32. LOL Bama is light years ahead of WV!

I'm glad we have paper ballots you can write on in my precinct! :D

[dhpgetsit]

35. Oh, that makes me feel SO much better!

Even when it is "recalibrated" it still doesn't get it right!

All precints need to have a paper ballot!

[MrMickeysMom]

36. Yeah, right... can't you see an 82 year old calling for technical assistance as soon as that happens

Not to mention how long the line becomes when ... "oops! we're out of calibration" is found.

This is unacceptable and a clear example of election fraud. How many years have we had before all of a sudden realizing this fucking bullshit?

[lonestarnot]

38. such fucking bullshit! Throw them in the harbor!

[file83]

87. Like the Boston Tea Party - Boston Touch-Screen Party - going OVERBOARD!!!!

*pah-lunk*

[lonestarnot]

92. Just like that!

[backtoblue]

39. paper ballot

This is why I voted early on a paper ballot. (and brought my own pencil to make sure it didn't "flip"!)

[Nipper1959]

43. the simple solution

is a standardized paper ballot. Destroy everyone of these fucking machines. Even withn a "paper trail" they cannot be trusted.

[Lethe]

45. The last part of this video is IMPORTANT! (not a touchscreen error!)

First, lemme give you some background on myself. I am a programmer who has worked for a manufacturing company in the past. 75% of their instruments used touchscreens, so I have some experience with calibrating them and programming them.

Touchscreens can be extremely reliable over years and years. This is correctly pointed out in the above posts in regards to ATM's and touch screen credit card interfaces in the checkout lines. The thing is, you have to actually spend the money to buy top quality, fault tolerant, ultra reliable touchscreens to incorporate into your manufactured products. If you buy piece of shit, inexpensive touch screens you are going to get what you pay for. This is, IMO, what ESS did. They used inexpensive touchscreens to save money. And that is the first problem.

The second problem is this:

When I watched the video, I was believing what the guy was saying at first, because I've seen touch screens behave weirdly like that. Usually it isn't so bad though. It will just select an adjacent choice right next to where you touched it, etc.

But the real shocker is at the end of the video, after the guy calibrates the machine, and he selects the Straight Republican ticket. When the screen returns, it has all the republicans on the screen checked except for McCain. It has Ralph Nader selected instead.

THIS IS NOT A TOUCHSCREEN ERROR - THIS IS A SERIOUSLY FUCKED UP PROGRAMMING ERROR!

But I don't think that in this case it was deliberate vote switching. The programming is just whacked out, and it makes you wonder why that is so... (and it is a big possibility that McCain was selected internally, but Nader was shown on the screen in error)

Any machine doing something similar to this should be immediately shitcanned. I would have been fired from my job if major errors like these got out into customer's hands.

If you are intentionally going to switch the user's vote, you aren't going to display this to them on the screen. What you would do is record their vote as switched inside the computer, but still display the user's choice on screen. This makes the most sense, because the user will think everything is as it should be.

It looks to me like this is either seriously inept programming, or last minute changes took place in the code which caused some major bugs.

[BrklynLiberal]

57. You are absolutely right...and I had the same thought as you did.

If you are intentionally going to switch the user's vote, you aren't going to display this to them on the screen. What you would do is record their vote as switched inside the computer, but still display the user's choice on screen. This makes the most sense, because the user will think everything is as it should be.

So that means that there could be vote switching that the voters are not aware of...where the switch coding was done correctly.
I am so cynical and distrustful of the repukes that I could see them setting up a few machines that are obviously bad machines, just to give us a false sense of security about the rest of them, that are actually programmed as you described above.

[backscatter712]

71. There is one reason to display vote-switching to the voter.

Voter intimidation.

You're absolutely right that if you're programming the machine to steal votes, as opposed to intimidating voters, you have the machine show a vote for candidate A, as the voter selected, then silently record a vote for candidate B.

What this machine's programmed to do is send a message. That message is "Your vote doesn't count. We'll cook the elections, and there's nothing you can do about it."

I'm absolutely convinced that this sort of visible vote-switching shenanigans is deliberately programmed, specifically to discourage voters in minority districts (but funny thing, when you're in the affluent, Republican-leaning areas, those same model machines work just fine...)

[mike_c]

85. lot of folks missing that point it seems....

If the machine registered the straight party choice-- as indicated by the other races-- then it was NOT a touch screen calibration error.

Instead, the machine registered the correct straight party vote but then displayed a Nader vote for president on-screen. It might have assigned that vote to Nader too-- the voter really doesn't have any way to check correspondance between what's on screen and what's entered into the data base.

The poll worker said "oops, out of calibration again" or some such nonsense but THAT was certainly NOT a calibration error! That was some seriously fucked up programming error.

[liberal N proud]

51. Share that with anyone who thinks their vote is safe

[pleah]

52. Pen and paper! n/t

[4lbs]

54. Gee, why is it that I have a Pocket PC PDA with a similar touchscreen and I've only had to

re-calibrate it three times in 2 years. That's usually when I forget to re-charge it and it loses the calibration data.

However, when I do re-calibrate it, it stays re-calibrated. I also don't use my finger to touch the screen either. I use either the included plastic stylus, or a pencil's small rubber eraser end.

I recommend that people bring a #2 pencil with rubber eraser tip with them into the voting booth.





Touch the screen with the rubber eraser. If the machine is anywhere close to working properly, touching it this way will give the best results.

[ChiciB1]

61. I Was Going To Vote Absentee... But Given My County I Decided Not To...

Sarasota County has already had some voting "problems" this time around. Don't know how widespread, but it seems some names were left off of some ballots.

Can you really take a phone inside with you???

[Overseas]

62. K&R for the electronic election fraud file. //nt

[ChiciB1]

63. Has Anyone Called The Obama Campaign??? I Believe This Is Their

number. 1-877-874-6226. 1-877-US4OBAMA. I'm going to call myself.

[AzDar]

64. I can't believe we are STILL dealing with this BULLSHIT!!!

:mad:

[Seldona]

65. Holy sh*t!

He actually rationalizes the machines minus vote for Obama because it did not go to a repuke, at least that time. It's still one less valid vote for Obama you dolt!

That guy has the credibility of an Enron excecutive as far as I am concerned.

[Cat in the Hat]

66. Germany is considering "outlawing" computer voting machines

in a case in their court system this week. Lots of IT Security experts testifying to the risk of manipulation to this system. Most precincts here still use paper and pencil, but the computers are used in more and more precincts. The basic argument is that the computers are unconstitutional in that they restrict a citizens right to free and open elections. Ireland and the Netherlands have already gone thru the debate. Not sure about the outcome in Ireland, but last spring the Netherlands "outlawed" the system and returned to - Paper and Pencil!

[Joe Chi Minh]

76. The Irish people rejected them outright. No ifs or buts.

[MrsBrady]

68. in tarrant county, tx (fort worth area)

they DO have electronic machines, but they are not touch screens....

they use a turn dial in front so that they actually go to the person YOU choose and don't have to be calibrated.
works like a mouse or joy stick, I guess.

I'm still not a fan of e-voting, but that's better than touch screens.

[drmeow]

69. I've got an idea

switch back to paper ballots and EMPLOY SOME OUT OF WORK AMERICANS to count the votes. Take back our democratic process AND help the economy.

[file83]

88. Better yet - if the polling workers don't calibrate the machine properly - they get arrested and

thrown in jail.

I mean, if they don't calibrate the machines, they are effectively throwing the election.

Of course they would resist this, so the only answer would be to get rid of touch-screen machines.

[marions ghost]

72. ha ha funny (not)

This should be shown to voters everywhere! Shows clearly what crap voters have been sold under HAVA (Help America Not Vote Act).

Whoops it flipped to Craig X, whoops now it's flipping to Nader, whoops gollee it's all over the place. So it's an equal opportunity fuck-up. So, no problem.

And this is supposed to be reassuring to voters???:rofl:

:nuke: these damn things

[bkkyosemite]

74. People need to call this guy up and demand that paper ballots be used period

[bkkyosemite]

75. If we can help Elwyn Tinklenberg turn his campaign totally around why can't we get this to go viral

by calling our legislators, the msm Chris, Olbermann, CNN and get this out to everyone we can so that it is main stream before Nov. to demand paper ballots!

[Snarkoleptic]

77. K&mf'n R

Someone please tell me why tampering with the vote is not an act of TREASON!!!

[Liberalatus]

78. Maybe this is me..

But didn't the machine switch the vote AGAIN, like 2 tries right after he "calibrated" it?
This is bullshit. I want my Democracy back. Why isn't Barack's team on this?

[Deep13]

82. I found a place to send the machines for "calibration."

[Herman74]

84. We Need Both Jimmy Carter & UN Observers to Monitor the U.S. Election.

If my vote got switched, I wouldn't leave the Poll site until they put an "Out of Order" sign on the voting machine I used But I would still wonder: How many voters used the machine before me?

[Bread and Circus]

86. How in Fucking Hell did our Democratic Leadership let this happen without a huge fight?

[dooner]

90. OMG, the official is as scarey as the malicious machine!

The Clerk seems completely oblivious to the fact that this is completely unacceptable. Wake up imbicile!!! Do you think
Grandma is going to double check to make sure things are operating properly?

People should be going to prison for this crap.












edited to fix typo.

[Herman74]

101. Yeah, his reaction to the whole thing was stunning...

...like it was "no big deal."

[greenmutha]

91. My SO works with touchscreens all day long. I had him watch this video and he told me something

kind of interesting. First, a little background. He works for a coin-op game company and they have those table-top "Mega-Touch" games (that you have probably seen in your local bar) installed in hundreds of locations. He told me that he has run across this sort of problem quite often, even with the higher priced screens.

He discovered that the calibration can be messed up by something so simple as someone spraying too much glass or surface cleaner on the screen to clean it. He said "if any of the cleaner runs down into the recess at the bottom of the screen, then it screws up the calibration point until the wet cleaner has completely dried up. The wet liquid confuses the screen as to which point is being touched, so it will register it incorrectly." (He said even really greasy fingerprints left on the screen will do this too.)

Maybe someone should tell those poll workers to stop cleaning the screens? :shrug:

(I want to believe it is something as simple as this, and not that the fix is in. That's too horrible to even contemplate!) :scared:

[minnesota_liberal]

93. Wow, that's so much better than a paper ballot!

Not!

[onehandle]

94. Lesson. Keep your eye on the screen.

Not defending touch screens, I think they are bullshit. But in this example, your eye is your insurance.

[captainjack08]

95. more bologna

I buy movie tickets out of a touchscreen machine all of the time. No one ever has a problem with those machines. And why are all of the funny machines always in Red states like Florida, Ohio, West Virginia? This is b.s....just like the story that whites will say they are voting Obama and secretly will vote McCain is crap. These are trial balloons being floated as a way to explain stealing the election. The machines have been tampered with by a bunch of Republican felons who need to be paid a visit by the FBI!

[baldguy]

96. ES&S is another GOP-controlled company.

[Life Long Dem]

100. Those machines suck!

Twice, and after calibrating? They should have thrown those machines into the dumpster long ago.

[Snazzy]

102. kick n/t