Identify and Audit Central Vote Tabulation Machines

Central Vote Tabulation: Redux & Plea

by understandinglife [Subscribe]

CRUCIAL! Specifically, I urge all of you to mount an effort to identify the 'central tabulation centers' in each State. And, through whatever legal mechanisms are required, to request and obtain records of those persons having physical access to the systems as well as telecom logs [spanning at least Oct and Nov 2004] of all data/voice communications connections to the hosting centers.

Wed Nov 24th, 2004 at 12:50:48 EDT

On 12 Nov 2004 I posted a Diary entitled "Central Vote Tabulation: What We Should Know and DO "

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/11/12/104750/99

Please focus on the following text from the Complaint to Contest Election: Susan Rose Pynchon vs. Volusia County Canvassing Board and Ann McFall:

"18. According to a statement by the Supervisor of Elections on November 17, 2004, the GEMS computer is not networked, and is "stand alone." The furnished computer logs show evidence of at least two attempts to remotely access the GEMS central tabulator, which is claimed to be secure. A computer screen shot printout on November 17, 2004 (found in the trash) shows that the GEMS computer at that time had two networked hard drives.

19. Plaintiff is reasonably concerned that access to the memory cards and voting machine tapes is presently not restricted, and that the opportunity for tampering with that critical evidence exists.

Plaintiff accordingly requests that This Honorable Court immediately order the Supervisor of Elections to seal and sequester all memory cards and voting machine tapes pertaining to or used during the November 2, 2004 general election in Volusia County, during the pendency of this Cause."

In my original Diary I requested consideration and action, to whatever extent considered reasonable by the dKos community.

I repeat that request now, and hope that we can leverage what Susan Pynchon and her colleagues in Volusia FL, in collaboration with Bev Harris and her team, have launched.

Specifically, I urge all of you to mount an effort to identify the 'central tabulation centers' in each State. And, through whatever legal mechanisms are required, to request and obtain records of those persons having physical access to the systems as well as telecom logs [spanning at least Oct and Nov 2004] of all data/voice communications connections to the hosting centers.

I make this request not in the spirit of "Kerry over Bush" but in the spirit of all the Diaries I have posted here in the past 21 days -- our franchise is broken; it is Our responsibility to fix it, now.

We have not had a valid election, because almost no one can answer the simple question -- "If you voted, do you know If and How your vote was recorded"?

So, in the spirit of "Prove My Vote Counts, Now" I urge all of you to bring items 18 and 19 of the Complaint to the attention of every State SoS, every State AG, every Congressperson [Federal and State], every reporter, every citizen you know personally.

We must repair our franchise, now, with the same focused intensity and zeal as those folk in the Ukraine are demonstrating to themselves and the world.

Pointsoflight has a dKos Diary on the full text and comments posted at:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/11/24/10148/692

Peace and Happy Thanskgiving.

Empathy Training: Crossing the Great Liberal-Conservative Divide

Empathy Training for Liberals: A Primer on the Conservative Mind, From the Inside of One.

..."Another thing we did was go through something called “Empathy Training”, which usually involved going completely blindfolded for a day, or taping several fingers together to simulate motor skills difficulty, or spending a weekend in a wheelchair. This was less fun than spending your Saturday outside building ramps, but for a young man it was a real eye-opener, trying to live “a day in the life”. As a result of this “Empathy Training”, all of a sudden those old Helen Keller jokes weren’t so funny anymore.

Without drawing the analogy that Conservatives are Severely Handicapped ( Hey! Remember, I’m one too :-) ), I would like to offer some insight into how the Conservative mind works for you Liberals out there, so that perhaps we can stop Demonizing each other (Nazi! Fag! Fascist! Pantywaist!) and open meaningful channels of communication."...MORE

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Empathy Training for Compassionate Conservatives: Why the Democrats Are Still Whining About the Election.

..."I love him, but he probably couldn't pick Karl Rove out of an Evil Genius Lineup with Dr. Evil, Max Scorpio, and that Steve guy from the Linux cartoon (www.ubergeek.tv/switchlinux). I can imagine it now - "Suspect number 3, please turn to the right and say 'Mwuahh-haa-haa.'"

Actually, this is a guy I've known for almost 15 years, a college buddy and fraternity brother who I have leaned against on many drunken and interesting nights, and is one of the very few people in the world I trust explicitly. I took a few seconds to let what he said sink in, and then I warily replied, "Actually, that's kind of the problem. So far, all the vote fraud analysis that's been done indicates that it benefited us 100% of the time."

He replied, "Yeah? Huh. Go figure. Hey, can you make it to the Tampa Bay / Panthers game next weekend? Kevin's coming up from Florida, and we're tailgating!"....MORE

GAO to investigate election complaints

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Government Accountability Office plans to investigate complaints of several systemic problems with this month's elections, a group of Democratic lawmakers said Tuesday.

The investigation comes in response to two letters written by lawmakers to the GAO which address numerous media reports of irregularities in the 2004 vote and call for those to be reviewed.

The GAO said it will not investigate every charge listed by the Democrats, but will examine "the security and accuracy of voting technologies, distribution and allocation of voting machines and counting of provisional ballots."

A spokeswoman for one of the lawmakers requesting an investigation, Rep. John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, said the goal is not to overturn the election results, but rather to improve the mechanics of the voting process.

"We are hopeful that GAO's nonpartisan and expert analysis will get to the bottom of the flaws uncovered in the 2004 election," said a statement released by Conyers and five other members of Congress.

As part of the inquiry, the group said it will provide copies of specific incident reports received in their offices regarding the election, including more than 57,000 complaints provided to the House Judiciary Committee.

Those reports include allegations of computer and voting machine problems that added votes to totals, as well as malfunctions that resulted in votes being thrown out.

"We are literally receiving additional reports every minute," said a November 5 letter from lawmakers to the GAO. "The essence of democracy is the confidence of the electorate in the accuracy of voting methods and the fairness of voting procedures.
"In 2000, that confidence suffered terribly, and we fear that such a blow to our democracy may have occurred in 2004."

Requesting lawmakers in addition to Conyers were Reps. Jerrold Nadler, Louise Slaughter and Gregory Meeks of New York; Robert Wexler of Florida; Robert Scott of Virginia; Melvin Watt of North Carolina; Rush Holt of New Jersey; John Olver of Massachusetts; Bob Filner, George Miller and Barbara Lee of California; and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin.