[VoteRescue] BlackBoxVoting warns against "straight party voting"

[Jenny Clark]

>Straight ticket voting (mostly on the Democratic side) can trigger 
>vote flipping software.
>

http://www.bbvforums.org/cgi-bin/forums/board-auth.cgi?file=/1954/78367.html

Posted on Friday, October 10, 2008 - 9:19 am:   
       

You may have read about this, and Black Box Voting has sent an 
ELECTION ALERT about this. Here are the details and what to do about 
it:

THE PROBLEM: "Straight party voting" on voting machines is revealing 
a bad pattern of miscounting and omitting your vote, especially if 
you are a Democrat.

Most recently (Oct. 2008), a firm called Automated Election Services 
was found to have mis-coded the system in heavily Democratic Santa Fe 
County, New Mexico such that straight party voters would not have the 
presidential vote counted.

Straight party voting is allowed in 15 states. Basically, it means 
that you can take a shortcut to actually looking at who you are 
voting for and instead just select a party preference. Then the 
voting machine makes your candidate choices, supposedly for the party 
you requested.

Additional details follow, but first: PROTECT THE COUNT

1) NEVER CHOOSE THE STRAIGHT PARTY VOTE OPTION, because it alerts the 
computer as to your party preference and allows software code to 
trigger whatever function the programmer has designed.

2) SEND THIS INFORMATION OUT TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN, blog it, 
root n' toot it out there to get the word out.

3) ESPECIALLY GET THE WORD OUT TO PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING STATES, 
which have straight party voting options:

- Alabama
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kentucky
- Michigan
- New Mexico
- North Carolina
- Oklahoma
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- Texas
- Utah
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin

(Missouri and New Hampshire had straight party voting in earlier 
years, but have cancelled the straight party option for the Nov. 2008 
election; however, the Straight Party software is still on Missouri 
and New Hampshire election management computers.)

4) DEMAND COMPLETE AND CAREFUL TESTING OF THE STRAIGHT PARTY OPTION 
IN LOGIC & ACCURACY TESTS. Bring copies of the citations in this 
article to buttress your case for why this is needed, if you have to. 
Witnesses for L&A tests in the straight party option states should 
specifically watch for and note whether (a) the tests were done and 
(b) the results were accurate.

5) LOOK FOR UNDERVOTES (high profile races with lower-than-average 
number of votes cast) and flag them, post them, bring them to the 
attention of others for additional scrutiny.

Undervotes may reveal straight-party programming fraud after the 
fact, but can never be reconstructed to know who the voter would have 
voted for. Such programming malfeasance, when found, disenfranchises 
voters.

MORE DETAILS ON THE STRAIGHT PARTY TRAP

October 2008: In Santa Fe, New Mexico the machines were NOT counting 
straight party ballots correctly, and now it turns out that voting 
machines have been caught giving straight party votes to the other 
party's candidates, omitting the counts for some straight party 
votes, and generally creating mischief.

Most recent news on this can be found here:
More on that here:
http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/30557559.html?elr=KArksac8P3iUec7Pa 
P3iUqc8P3UU
with archive copy and commentary on the claims made in the article here:
http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/159/78362.html


California citizen Judy Alter discovered a high number of undervotes 
in the New Mexico presidential race in 2004. She traced these back to 
straight party votes that skipped counting the presidential race. 
Here is Alter's write-up on what she found:

http://www.bbvdocs.org/US/avoid-straight-party-option.pdf
(46 KB)

This is the short version of Alter's study of the 2004 Presidential 
Election of Santa Fe, New Mexico; It shows how Alter figured out that 
the straight party voting option did not contain a vote for president 
(or defaulted to Bush). She explains that the straight party option 
created the huge under-vote in NM and the other states with straight 
party voting.

According to Alter, most of the biggest exit poll shifts occurred in 
the straight party states.

Alter also has a long long version of the article, with charts and 
graphs as well as examples of the evidence she has from the hand 
filled out paper ballots counted on Sequoia scanners for early voting 
and absentee voting and the internal memory tapes of the Sequoia 
pushbutton DRE.

Her study in also posted on my website: http://www.protectcaliforniaballots.org

BOTH DRE AND OPTICAL SCAN SYSTEMS HAVE BEEN CAUGHT MISCOUNTING 
STRAIGHT PARTY VOTES

Alter provides evidence from the absentee and early voting reports 
from Sequoia optical scan machines (paper ballots) that the straight 
party option for minor party candidates omitted votes. Two votes for 
straight Green party showed no votes for Cobb (the 2004 Green Party 
presidential candidate) next to his name.

According to articles archived on Voters Unite, straight party votes 
have been caught miscounting straight party votes in Wisconsin and 
Alabama as well.

ES&S Optical scan system: In Medford, Wisconsin, ES&S ballot scanners 
failed to count straight-party votes at all. About 27 percent of all 
votes cast in Medford during the Nov. 2004 election were not counted 
by voting system computers. -- 
http://www.votersunite.org/article.asp?id=5061

ES&S optical scan system: In Baldwin County, Alabama, the ballot 
programming for straight ticket voting went awry in November 2006 by 
identifying one Republican as a 
Democrat.http://www.votersunite.org/article.asp?id=6868

It's not just ES&S: The following overly cryptic Diebold Product 
Advisory does not reveal what the "issues" are that cause unexpected 
results from certain straight party voting programming methods: 
http://www.bbvdocs.org/diebold/Product-Advisory-Notice-straight-party-voting.pdf
(17 KB)

Something happens. Something unexpected. Quietly now, "call Diebold" 
it says, for more information.

BEWARE, THE STRAIGHT PARTY VOTE MAY NOT INCLUDE PRESIDENTIAL RACE AT ALL

In North and South Carolina voters a straight party ticket does not 
include any vote for president. Yes, it's the law there. Voters need 
to also vote separately for president.

EVEN IF YOUR STATE DOESN'T HAVE STRAIGHT PARTY VOTING, YOUR VOTING 
COMPUTERS DO HAVE IT

Instead of creating two different systems, voting machine vendors put 
the straight party software into ALL voting computers, and just turn 
it "off" in states that don't allow straight party voting.

Both kinds of straight party voting -- with the presidential race 
included and with presidential votes omitted -- are actually on the 
election management computer that programs the ballots. It's up to 
the programmer to to choose whether to use straight party voting and, 
if so, whether it will register a vote for president or not. While 
it's true that systems like the Diebold GEMS Election Management 
system provide a drop-down menu where election programmers can choose 
their state system, they can also opt to choose some other state's 
system, or the generic "US" system (whatever that is), thereby 
enabling a giant OOPS excuse if caught.

ENTER THE PRIVATE CONTRACTORS

New Mexico's recent problem has been attributed to Automated Election 
Services, a firm that programs memory cards for New Mexico's ES&S 
M100 voting machines and also prints the ballots and provides 
election support services.

New Hampshire, which now prohibits use of the Straight Party 
function, uses LHS Associates to program their voting system. 
Therefore, whatever switches LHS flips on the election management 
system will be in effect, regardless of whether voters and New 
Hampshire election officials "see" a straight party option.

PERSPECTIVE, FRAME OF REFERENCE

The big "Oops" they dropped on this needs more perspective, a new 
frame of reference. For example:

You are counting the cash for a fund raiser. Somehow, it's discovered 
that $500 didn't make it into the count and someone put it in their 
pocket. They say "Oops" and tell you it was a mistake.

Really? Will you let them count the cash again? Probably not. 
Automated Election Services, and every other vendor that incorrectly 
programs voting systems such that they effectively steal people's 
votes should never be allowed to program the system again. 
Consequences! Where are they?

A LEHTOISM

 From voting rights attorney Paul Lehto:

"One may breathe easier after November, if their favored candidate 
wins, but even if mine doesn't, I'll say it now: It will still be an 
illegitimate election, as a function of the secret vote counting 
ALONE, without the need for even an allegation of fraud, much less 
proof.

"The incumbents in office make all of our election law even those 
governing their own re-elections. Unless, of course, we uphold what I 
so often speak about, our own inalienable rights. Without those, we 
are all at the mercy of whoever is in power.

Being at the mercy of whoever's in power is not a definition of 
freedom, if I may seize on the power of understatement."

* * * * *

Now is a good time to consider keeping Black Box Voting in business:
Donate - http://www.blackboxvoting.org/donate.html
Black Box Voting
330 SW 43rd St Suite K
PMB 547
Renton WA 98058
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