Here's another installment of election comments. I'm particularly interested in your reaction to the first letter.

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“Quandary” responses, Part 7

Does anyone find this first message disturbing? Legislators, computer scientists, fans of free, fair and transparent elections: speak up before it’s too late.
Joan

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Black Box Voting : Latest Consumer Reports from Black Box Voting: OH - Cuyahoga's easy ways to fudge an election
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Posted by Adele Eisner on Friday, April 14, 2006 - 07:59 am:

But is there any way at all to track it?

Oh my God! Talk about switcheroo possibilities.
Check this out from the CCBOE Booth Official Training manual (available online ) Pages 49-50 - google the Cuyahoga County BOE, click
on the icon for "Electronic Voting", then the link for the training
manual. The whole thing is there.

The following is about "accumulating data" at each polling place with
a "Zero Unit" with a "Zero Card"!!!

Notice that:
1. the BOE has PRE-designated the machines that will "accumulate"for
each polling place ( indicated by an orange dot label :)) What coding
could be in those machines
2. the "Zero Card" is "UPLOADED" on that designated machine - AFTER
all the people's voting has occurred.
3. no one has any ability to check the"Zero Card" for minus and plus
votes that make the supposed "ZERO".
4. the report from the designated zero machine is printed - AFTER THE
ZERO CARD IS REMOVED!
5. AFTER the accumulation and printing of the report from teh
individual machine memory cards - THE ZERO CARD IS THEN REPLACED!!!
AND IS THE THING USED AS THE OFFICIAL DATA TO BE TAKEN TO - Ta da! the
"SATELLITE CENTERS" with laptops - for TRANSMISSION (they call
"secure" - which means, from the public, of course,) to the BOE
tabulator.

THERE IS NO ABILITY TO KNOW WHAT THE "ZERO CARD" IS REPORTING. AND NO
ABILITY TO GET the PRINTED REPORT IN REAL TIME (ie. non-fudged time)
TO COMPARE TO DATA printed at the polling place to compare would be
broken back down into any intelligible, rectifiable form - which the
CCBOE seems to have an aversion against.

God knows what can then happen in "transmission" to the BOE, and
Blackwell's God knows what can then happen with the 88 T-1 lines he
has feeding into his office tabulator.

______________________________
From the training manual.....

11.4 Accumulating Election Results
Once you have printed all reports from the precinct voting units,
complete these steps:
1. Eject Memory Cards from all BUT THE ZERO UNIT.
2. On the Zero Unit, press the Accumulator button in the Poll Worker
options screen.
3. The Accumulator screen will appear. The Zero Unit will
automatically upload the Zero Card.
4. On the screen you will see “TS 0” has been uploaded. “Operation
Complete. Please remove the Memory Card” will then appear on the
screen.
5. Remove the Zero Memory Card (with orange label) and place to the
side.
6. Insert the next Memory Card (the Green sticker on the Memory Card
should be facing you as you insert the card). The Zero Unit will
automatically read the card and print on the report tape.
7. On the screen you will see “Operation Complete. Please remove the
Memory Card”
8. Repeat Step 6 and Step 7 for the remaining Memory Cards in the
voting location.
9. When you have completed uploading the last Memory Card, remove it.
10. Return all Memory Cards to each respective precinct (Except Zero
Card)
11. Press Print Results.
12. AVPM Printer notification will appear on the screen.
13. Press OK when you hear a clicking sound.
14. The screen may ask if you want to “Print Write-in Votes?” Press
YES.
15. “Print long report?” will appear on the screen. Press NO.
WARNING!! Be careful that you DO NOT turn off the Zero Unit as you are
inserting
and removing Memory Cards during the accumulating process.

Ending the Election on the Electronic Voting Unit
5 0
WARNING!! The Orange Label should be facing away from you. You should
see the GREEN stickered dot as you are inserting the Memory Card.
11.4 Accumulating Election Results (Continued)
16. “Need another copy?” will appear on the screen. Press NO.
17. The Accumulator screen will appear.
18. Insert the Zero Memory Card (Orange Label) into the Zero Unit.
19. Once the Zero Memory card is in the Zero Unit, Press the Export
Results button. Press OK.
20. “Exporting Accumulated Data, Please Wait” will appear on the
screen.
21. “Export Results complete” will appear on the screen. Press OK.
22. The unit will return to the Accumulator screen.
23. Remove the Zero Memory Card from the unit.
24. Remove the Accumulation report and wrap it around the Zero Memory
Card.
25. Place the Zero Memory Card into the First Precinct’s Clear Memory
Card Bag.
26. Press the Close button on the unit.
27. “Are you sure you want to shut down this voting terminal?” will
appear on the screen. Press YES.

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TO: Noah Winer and Move On PAC

I will not give you a goddamned nickel to "protect" voting machines. They are riggable
PERIOD with or without a "paper trail" and the rigging is undetectable. Paper ballots
and hand counts with oversite and recounting on the spot in the precinct--exactly as we
used to do everywhere--is the only safe way to vote and count those votes.
I mean this sincerely: DO NOT EVER SOLICIT ME FOR SUCH NONSENSE AGAIN.
If you've accepted machine voting and electronic counting you are a bunch of damned fools.
And dangerous fools, at that!

Dennis Morrisseau
POB 177, W. Pawlet, VT 05775
(802) 645-9727

[I am an announced Republican candidate for Congress from Vermont who has
called for impeachment of Bush & Cheney repeatedly since my 6/22/05
announcement. Have you?]

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More coming. Ready to jump in? Since you get to choose which aspect to discuss, you get to direct the debate. What are you waiting for?

Authors Website: http://www.opednews.com/author/author79.html

Authors Bio:

Joan Brunwasser is a co-founder of Citizens for Election Reform (CER) which since 2005 existed for the sole purpose of raising the public awareness of the critical need for election reform. Our goal: to restore fair, accurate, transparent, secure elections where votes are cast in private and counted in public. Because the problems with electronic (computerized) voting systems include a lack of transparency and the ability to accurately check and authenticate the vote cast, these systems can alter election results and therefore are simply antithetical to democratic principles and functioning.



Since the pivotal 2004 Presidential election, Joan has come to see the connection between a broken election system, a dysfunctional, corporate media and a total lack of campaign finance reform. This has led her to enlarge the parameters of her writing to include interviews with whistle-blowers and articulate others who give a view quite different from that presented by the mainstream media. She also turns the spotlight on activists and ordinary folks who are striving to make a difference, to clean up and improve their corner of the world. By focusing on these intrepid individuals, she gives hope and inspiration to those who might otherwise be turned off and alienated. She also interviews people in the arts in all their variations - authors, journalists, filmmakers, actors, playwrights, and artists. Why? The bottom line: without art and inspiration, we lose one of the best parts of ourselves. And we're all in this together. If Joan can keep even one of her fellow citizens going another day, she considers her job well done.


When Joan hit one million page views, OEN Managing Editor, Meryl Ann Butler interviewed her, turning interviewer briefly into interviewee. Read the interview here.

While the news is often quite depressing, Joan nevertheless strives to maintain her mantra: "Grab life now in an exuberant embrace!"


Joan has been Election Integrity Editor for OpEdNews since December, 2005. Her articles also appear at Huffington Post, RepublicMedia.TV and Scoop.co.nz.