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June 28, 2008 at 13:28:47

Promoted to column top on 6/28/08:
Machining the Vote: A brief history of lever voting machines

by Rady Ananda     Page 1 of 2 page(s)

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by Bryan Pfaffenberger, PhD

May 8, 2008

I've received a Scholar's Award from the National Science Foundation to study the history of lever voting machines, a subject that has never been studied by a scholar with professional training in the history of technology (or in any other discipline, for that matter). I am currently writing a book tentatively titled Machining the Vote, which covers the history of lever machines from their invention in 1888 to the bankruptcy of the leading manufacturer, Automatic Voting Corporation, in 1983.

Highlights of my findings:

1. In my analysis, the lever machine deserves recognition as one of the most astonishing achievements of American technological genius, a fact that is reflected in their continued competitiveness against recent voting technologies in every accepted performance measure. With as many as 28,000 parts, their mechanisms reflect an agonizingly difficult period of development, spanning more than twenty years (1888-1919) in which interlocking mechanisms had to be developed that were capable of dealing with the enormous complexity and variety of American elections. The result was a machine that captures in its immutable mechanical operations the voting rules that the American people, in their wisdom, developed in order to capture the will of the people.

The mind balks, perhaps, at the suggestion that a century-old technology might be the equal of today's best technologies -- or even superior! -- but the fact is that the lever machine is not alone. U.S. freight railroads continue to use electromechanical signaling systems that were, coincidentally, developed during almost exactly the same frame (1890s-1920). There is no sense of urgency to replace them. Their reliability has been proven in a century of service. They are perfectly adapted to the conditions of American railroading. They are easily understood and maintained by technicians with modest educational backgrounds.


1956 New Yorker cover (Arthur Getz), collecting vote totals from a lever machine

2. Time and again, as I mentioned earlier, lever machines won the confidence of election officials and the public, even when doubts were expressed. I'd enjoy sharing the New York story with the commissioners. By 1925, most of upstate New York was voting on lever machines quite happily, but New York City - led by Tammany Hall Democrats -- resisted.  New York's first activist Attorney General, Albert Ottinger, vowed to impose lever machines on the city whether Tammany liked it or not -- and by 1926, they were used throughout much of the city.  

The 1926 election proved to Republicans that, contrary to their suspicions, the New York City Board of Elections had been running fairly clean elections -- the much anticipated, 50,000 vote payoff did not materialize. At the same time, Democrats realized that the machines did not amount to a Republican plot, since Democrats won squeaker elections in districts that normally lean Republican. Suddenly, the voting machine controversy in New York City ended abruptly.  

Election officials elsewhere had been watching this drama and, when it reached what all agreed was a happy conclusion, voting machine adoption took off throughout the country. Throughout all the years of the Depression, even, the voting machine business was profitable and AVC paid dividends to shareholders. By 1960, about 60 percent of the voters in the U.S. cast their ballots on the machines.  

In that year, of course, Kennedy narrowly defeated Nixon, leaving Republicans convinced that corrupt Democratic election officials in Chicago and Texas were to blame. In Chicago, the controversy was almost entirely focused on the precincts where paper ballots were still in use. In contrast, where lever machines were used, there were few irregularities. Had lever machines been in use throughout Chicago, it is possible that our nation would have survived the 1960 election without generating a politics of payback that continues to this day.

3. Although lever machines do not produce an independent audit trail, this is -- as software engineers say -- a feature, not a bug. In the 1880s and 1890s, paper ballots emerged as the locus par excellence of election fraud; lever machines were expressly designed to take the human element out of every aspect of the vote recording and counting process in order to eliminate fraud that was gravely undermining Americans' confidence in their democracy.  

It is quite astonishing to realize that, while the lever machine was under development, inventors came up with just about every voting machine concept that has since been realized, including precinct-scan punchcard technologies, ballot printing machines, and even electromechanical systems that can be seen as predecessors of computerized technologies. All of these technologies produced paper records, however, and all were flatly rejected, both by voters and election officials, as letting the possibility of fraud in through the back door.   

Today, there are widespread calls to bring paper back into the picture, but the reason is that people do not trust the machines. [Dr. Pfaffenberger's article is discussed by OEN readers at the link provided.]  Having studied the history, I strongly believe that there would be no such call for paper if the ugly history of fraudulent practices enabled by paper ballots were known -- unfortunately, the American people have forgotten the lessons they learned a century ago, and I greatly fear that we will have to repeat them in order to learn them again.  

The truth of the matter is that our American election system, in contrast, to the election administration systems of most advanced democracies, is inordinately decentralized, less than professionally administered in many instances, and politicized. In New York, the people, in their wisdom, created a system of election administration AND a technology that solved the characteristic problems of American elections; to abandon lever machines for new technologies that will not gain voter confidence and, at the same time, re-introduce paper audit trails or paper ballots which have long proven to be prone to election fraud, amounts in my opinion to a potentially disastrous mistake.


Bryan Pfaffenberger 
Department of Science, Technology, & Society
University of Virginia  


 

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In 2004, Rady Ananda joined the growing community of citizen journalists. Focused mainly on elections, her blogs also address religious, gender, sexual and racial equality, as well as environmental issues; and are sprinkled with book and film reviews on various topics. She spent most of her working life as a legal investigator for private lawyers, and five years as an editor. She currently serves as a senior editor at OpEdNews. All material offered here is the property of Rady Ananda, copyright 2006, 2007, 2008. Permission is granted to repost, with proper attribution including the original link. In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. Tell the truth anyway. Sign this petition: http://www.electiondefensealliance.org/ny_levers_petition

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In 2004, Rady Ananda joined the growing community of citizen journalists. Focused mainly on elections, her blogs also address religious, gender, sexual and racial equality, as well as environmental issues; and are sprinkled with book and film reviews on various topics. She spent most of her working life as a legal investigator for private lawyers, and five years as an editor. She currently serves as a senior editor at OpEdNews.

All material offered here is the property of Rady A...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Rady AnandaIn 2004, Rady Ananda joined the growing community of citizen journalists. Focused mainly on elections, her blogs also address religious, gender, sexual and racial equality, as well as environmental issues; and are sprinkled with book and film reviews on various topics. She spent most of her working life as a legal investigator for private lawyers, and five years as an editor. She currently serves as a senior editor at OpEdNews.

All material offered here is the property of Rady A...

to see more of bio, click on member name

one more coming

we have a team working on some related articles, right now. 

Mine is being reviewed... and ready to post as soon as they get back to me.

I gotta say, btw, team writing on a topic is so much more fun than always researching and writing alone...

Bryan's book is sure to shake up the HCPB folks - but those of us who have researched election fraud history in the US know that paper ballots  - while far superior to software driven systems - are also highly vulnerable to fraud, since they can be lost, destroyed or altered.

The nuts and bolts of a lever machine, on the other hand, are difficult to alter and - when they are - it is plainly visible. 

Bryan's point is well-taken that our call for HCPBs is based in absolute distrust of software driven systems.

by Rady Ananda (110 articles, 262 quicklinks, 31 diaries, 888 comments) on Saturday, June 28, 2008 at 1:56:28 PM
 


I'm an anti-civilizationist and election boycott advocate in San Diego. For reasons not to vote in faith-based elections with secret vote counts for candidates you cannot hold accountable if they fail to represent you, check out the discussions, articles, and videos on my website http://noinnovember.ning.com
Mark E. SmithI'm an anti-civilizationist and election boycott advocate in San Diego. For reasons not to vote in faith-based elections with secret vote counts for candidates you cannot hold accountable if they fail to represent you, check out the discussions, articles, and videos on my website http://noinnovember.ning.com

Thanks, Rady!

 

Fascinating subject, voting methods and mechanisms.

It preoccupied me for years. And it still interests me because if we ever succeed in establishing a democratic system, we'll need to ensure that it isn't stolen.

Of course we'd not only need a democratic system where our votes were meaningful and constituted a real voice in government (right now the Constitution gives the Electoral College, Congress, and/or the Supreme Court the final say in deciding Presidential and Congressional races, rather than allowing the popular vote to influence that decision), we'd also need candidates (the Supreme Court doesn't want us to discriminate against rich people, so 100% of the "elected" officials in the White House and Congress are rich people, as there is no Constitutional bar to rich people discriminating against us poor folks).

I'm looking foward to reading what else develops from this project. I too, as you know was a proponent of HCPB, because they limited election shenanigans to what Bev calls "retail" rather than "wholesale" fraud. No fraud at all is obviously a better goal--funny that so many of us couldn't even imagine the total absence of fraud as a possibility, although we use ATMS every day and are accustomed to demanding that standard in other areas of our lives.

While I don't intend to vote in our undemocratic system, I will continue to work towards a day when we can establish a government of the people, by the people, and for the people,  where there will once again be reasons to vote, along with voting mechanisms to ensure that our votes are counted accurately. 

Peace!

 

by Mark E. Smith (21 articles, 30 quicklinks, 100 diaries, 1325 comments) on Saturday, June 28, 2008 at 6:28:24 PM
 


In 2004, Rady Ananda joined the growing community of citizen journalists. Focused mainly on elections, her blogs also address religious, gender, sexual and racial equality, as well as environmental issues; and are sprinkled with book and film reviews on various topics. She spent most of her working life as a legal investigator for private lawyers, and five years as an editor. She currently serves as a senior editor at OpEdNews.

All material offered here is the property of Rady A...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Rady AnandaIn 2004, Rady Ananda joined the growing community of citizen journalists. Focused mainly on elections, her blogs also address religious, gender, sexual and racial equality, as well as environmental issues; and are sprinkled with book and film reviews on various topics. She spent most of her working life as a legal investigator for private lawyers, and five years as an editor. She currently serves as a senior editor at OpEdNews.

All material offered here is the property of Rady A...

to see more of bio, click on member name

No in November

thanks for being open minded, Mark.  I know you've long been an HCPB fan, as have I.

My scientific training teaches that we do not ignore facts that overturn a pet belief, theory or hypothesis.  My 12-Step training teaches the same thing in a different way:

Insanity is doing the same behaviors and expecting different results.

With this educational and spiritual grounding, and my own research into US election fraud history, I have to amend my call for HCPBs in light of new evidence that may reveal a safer voting system.

by Rady Ananda (110 articles, 262 quicklinks, 31 diaries, 888 comments) on Saturday, June 28, 2008 at 8:17:59 PM
 


I'm an anti-civilizationist and election boycott advocate in San Diego. For reasons not to vote in faith-based elections with secret vote counts for candidates you cannot hold accountable if they fail to represent you, check out the discussions, articles, and videos on my website http://noinnovember.ning.com
Mark E. SmithI'm an anti-civilizationist and election boycott advocate in San Diego. For reasons not to vote in faith-based elections with secret vote counts for candidates you cannot hold accountable if they fail to represent you, check out the discussions, articles, and videos on my website http://noinnovember.ning.com

I'm in total agreement, Rady.

But I have a few questions.

Looking at the graphic again, I don't see citizen oversight.

If that is not just a cartoon and is actually how the results are recorded, the only one looking over the guy who is announcing them's shoulder, is the guy recording them, and he has to take his eyes off the other guy in order to write things down. Nobody else seems close enough to see if what is being announced is what is displayed on the lever machine. And nobody is in a position to see if the guy recording the totals is writing down what is announced or what he would prefer.

The machines may work perfectly, but people don't, so there has to be citizen oversight of every step in an election process.

 

by Mark E. Smith (21 articles, 30 quicklinks, 100 diaries, 1325 comments) on Saturday, June 28, 2008 at 11:04:45 PM
 


Margaret Bassett is an 86-year old, currently living in senior housing, with a lifelong interest in political conumbrums. She hopes to hold out for one more presidential election. Bachelors from State University of Iowa (1944) and Masters from Roosevelt University (1975) help to unravel important requirements for modern communication. Early introduction to computer science (1966) trumps them. It's payback time. She's been "entitled" so long she hopes to find some good coming off the keyboa...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Margaret BassettMargaret Bassett is an 86-year old, currently living in senior housing, with a lifelong interest in political conumbrums. She hopes to hold out for one more presidential election. Bachelors from State University of Iowa (1944) and Masters from Roosevelt University (1975) help to unravel important requirements for modern communication. Early introduction to computer science (1966) trumps them. It's payback time. She's been "entitled" so long she hopes to find some good coming off the keyboa...

to see more of bio, click on member name

I remember the old toothpick ads

Never touched by human hands. As a child I couldn't understand why that was important.

Comes time to think about vote security, I have the same attitude because I believe that voting is a community activity and that starts with trust. Pulling levers, sending in an absentee ballot, or microwaving your choices are all ways to bring votes to a system. And at the top of the system is a state's Secretary of State. In general they are probably anxious to get the job done and get it right. In some cases, like Blackwell in Ohio in 04, the issue becomes red hot. I don't see how the SOS, regardless of good intentions, has a fair shake in figuring all the mandates.

Federalism is messy. The states send emissaries to a central counting place to determine who becomes president. Assuming a continuation of the Electoral College, there should be a way for every Secretary of State to know what federal rules are, and to be blessed with fewer of them. Since HAVA, life got more complicated, made worse because the ultimate decider, any or all of us, wants to weigh in on the rules.

I really enjoyed the article, Rady, about anthropology of technology. Sociologists and psychologists can't be so explicit on the issue of trust among citizens. And the "political process" doesn't make it any easier to find out.

by Margaret Bassett (25 articles, 1685 quicklinks, 29 diaries, 1015 comments) on Sunday, June 29, 2008 at 2:17:38 PM
 


In 2004, Rady Ananda joined the growing community of citizen journalists. Focused mainly on elections, her blogs also address religious, gender, sexual and racial equality, as well as environmental issues; and are sprinkled with book and film reviews on various topics. She spent most of her working life as a legal investigator for private lawyers, and five years as an editor. She currently serves as a senior editor at OpEdNews.

All material offered here is the property of Rady A...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Rady AnandaIn 2004, Rady Ananda joined the growing community of citizen journalists. Focused mainly on elections, her blogs also address religious, gender, sexual and racial equality, as well as environmental issues; and are sprinkled with book and film reviews on various topics. She spent most of her working life as a legal investigator for private lawyers, and five years as an editor. She currently serves as a senior editor at OpEdNews.

All material offered here is the property of Rady A...

to see more of bio, click on member name

messy elections; federalism v. statism

you raise many interesting points... and each could be its own article.

I'm not sure how to secure our vote... and often wonder if elections are the best measure of the will of the people.  On a pragmatic level, elections seem to be the only way to do so.

An article like Professor Pfaffenberger's challenges us to think outside the box.  While NY may abandon this superior technology for scientifically condemned computerized systems, joining the 49 other lemming states in committing electoral suicide, this may be the very impetus that prompts citizens to devise a way to implement our will, despite fraudulent elections, corrupt election officials, and shoddy machinery.

May we live to tell...

by Rady Ananda (110 articles, 262 quicklinks, 31 diaries, 888 comments) on Sunday, June 29, 2008 at 2:40:48 PM
 


Attempting in a UK context to connect the world of 911 truth activism/false-flag terrorism awareness and the Voting integrity community, where I am seeking to alert the Electoral Reform Society to the dangers of the UK 'modernising' its voting mechanism, and awaken the peace movement to the 'Frats', Brotherhoods and 'Men's huts' which threaten our one Earth Motherland.
Keith MotherssonAttempting in a UK context to connect the world of 911 truth activism/false-flag terrorism awareness and the Voting integrity community, where I am seeking to alert the Electoral Reform Society to the dangers of the UK 'modernising' its voting mechanism, and awaken the peace movement to the 'Frats', Brotherhoods and 'Men's huts' which threaten our one Earth Motherland.

Impartial Observer Quorums

Whether in HCPB or supervising voting machines we need to develop the notion of an impartial quorum for observing that there is fair play to establish protocols for - or collate existing best practice protocols for

#  security, sealing wax, seals, pocketless clothing or else standards for searching ballot counters before and after they enter the 'ring';

# standards of display for box numbers and tray numbers and tables and nametags, etc and how close eloection observers can be at each stage from ballot box sealing or machine trialing owards, including transit and storage overnight so counts begin when people are fesh and the whole family can come and see democracy in action! ;

# stages of the election and count, including post-count recount and storage;

# standards for genuinely random choosing of e.g. precincts or e.g. citizen jurors;

# standards for choosing printing companies and then monitoring their performance, ditto machinery companies if mechanical-observable machines are used, including standards for choosing mechanical engineer consultants to check the cogs and levers all do their thing loyally; - and much else besides. 

 (One downside with voting machines could be that it is hard to get away from ballot order preferencing - e.g. Aaardvarks for Democracy, which problem shouldn't be sorted by reference to an outfront lottery for ballot-order advantage, but rather by systematic rotation of the names in alphabetical order - as per UN  votes - so that the ballot papers are printed in sets with all the names having an equal chance and then cut up into booklets of papers with systematic randomisation built in.  Ballot order can count for a surprising amount in some votes, and the market research companies regularly try to control for it.) 

Now the Impartial Observer Quorum (IOQ) would be formally constituted at the beginning of every election process - 

a) representative(s) of the candidates/parties - including at least the two main ones, else this category or 'college' is not properly constituted;

b) groups of citizen observers randomly chosen as per jury service - assuming that isn't rigged!;

c) such election officials as are relevant at every stage;

d) randomly chosen citizen adminstrators chosen for longer periods of service, as are required for each administrative stage - including many of the early design decisions, through to release of results and storage of paper and/or machines;

e) such fairly chosen technical experts as have the confidence of the parties and the citizen observers and citizen administrators.

A Quorum is only possible if the correct people are present and formally signed in at every stage in the design process, election adminstration and vote counting, and then only if there are concurring majorities within each election governance category or 'college'. 

Then we could trust the results whatever the OBSERVABLE TECHNOLOGY involved.

 

by Keith Mothersson (5 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 44 comments) on Sunday, June 29, 2008 at 2:49:48 PM
 

 

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