Why do we even have a election. Why don't we just let the last President pick the next one. We will never get out of this miss. Hillary is funded by the same people as Bush and the sad part is the American people can't see through this. Barack was right we need to vote our interest. Now that they are putting race at the top of the ticket the same old thing is going to happen. All these years and race is the only thing that most of the working class people see in Pennsylvania. They have to feel that they are better than someone. They would rather vote for the white rich woman who really could care less about them instead of the black man who grew up on food stamps and can relate to them. The media is going to do it's best to put the Black Card front and center. That is why I am bitter. They cheat in the election, they send our kids to die in a war filled with black and white. Hillary won't get us out of a war that she voted for. It is to much money in it. She owes a lot of people and when she is in the White House she will have to pay off that debt. Have we not learned anything from the past 8 years. People wake up vote for yourselves.
PA Officials: No Trouble With Touchscreens
This video is published on Why Tuesday? as well as OffTheBus.
Recently I interviewed Princeton computer scientist Edward Felten about malfunctions of touchscreen voting machines in New Jersey on Feb. 5th. PAVotes.com says these same machines will be used on Tuesday in Montgomery and Northhampton counties.
Despite a judge subpoenaing the Sequoia AVC Advantage touchscreen machine in New Jersey for testing after Sequoia refused to allow Felten to test the machines, at last night's ABC Democratic presidential debate, trouble with this particular touchscreen voting machine wasn't an issue on the minds of local pols.
Here's the big question: When the integrity of the vote is at stake, shouldn't voting machine malfunctions in one state be brought to the attention of another state that uses the same machines?
UPDATE: I spoke to Pennsylvania Department of State Director of Communications Leslie Amorós about our look into the trouble with the Sequoia AVC Advantage voting machine in New Jersey, and how the same machines will be used on Tuesday in Pennsylvania. In response, she sent me the following statement:
From: [Leslie Amorós]
Subject: RE: Edward Felten Interview
Date: April 17, 2008 6:04:10 PM EDT
To: [Jacob Soboroff]
Thank you for sending me the link.
As we discussed earlier, two of 67 counties in PA uses the Sequoia Advantage, and one of the counties has used the system since 1996. Since the 2006 implementation of using voting systems that met Help America Vote Act requirements, Pennsylvania successfully has conducted 4 elections.
The PA Department of State is committed to holding fair, accurate and accessible elections. To keep informed, the Department of State consistently monitors various news, studies and literature regarding elections.
In Pennsylvania, electronic voting systems must undergo a statutorily required testing process. The system must be tested by a federal independent testing authority. Then, unlike some states that only require the federal testing, Pennsylvania law requires a second tier of testing. The state testing is conducted by two independent testing examiners. After successful results of both testing processes in Pennsylvania, the Secretary of the Commonwealth certifies the system for use in PA. Counties then select the system that they will use from the list of certified systems.
Keep in mind that holding successful elections is a result of many factors, not just the voting systems. Poll worker training and numerous security measures are implemented to ensure an efficient election. For example, before voting systems are used by voters, the county conducts logic and accuracy tests to ensure that each of the voting the systems are tallying votes correctly.
The link referred to in the e-mail is my video-chat with Princeton computer scientist Edward Felten.
Why Tuesday? is an effort to make America's democracy stronger through increased voter participation; we work to make election reform an issue that our politicians cannot afford to avoid. Read more campaign coverage from OffTheBus by clicking here.
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
Don't be bitter, brabry. All isn't lost. The good thing about America is, that although we're slow learners, we DO eventually learn despite the handful of corrupt, lying, cheating, stealing politicians in both parties.
Anyhoo... armed with the knowledge we have today and the tools to get more if we so choose, we shouldn't be able to claim ignorance when things like corrupt voting machines are programmed to choose whatever candidate has the largest offer to give the corporation.
The Clintons, sad to say, are definitely part of the problem of dumbing down America so that the elites can continue to rule and still claim we're a "democracy"... and we continue to buy it. Like a cancer these crowned elites pull on their "Dem" and "Repub" clothing when in fact they're from the same group: The ruling class of aristocrats.
Having Barack Obama is not a choice for America any longer. America NEEDS him for the change we need to undergo. A change to back to the time when American truly still was a democracy.
Nutter isn't Tee totally crazy...he knows he better not mess with those machines too much more in Philly.
Maybe we should just outsource development of an Electronic American Voting System to an Indian firm.
I don't think American Politicians have any desire to manifest a tamperproof voting system ... it's not in their best interests.
Here is a source that provides convincing data that defends the statement:
Pennsylvania: The Worst Place to Vote in America, by Bev Harris, the leading investigative journalist on vote fraud in US elections.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/1/opedne_bev_harr_080414_pennsylvania_3a__the_w.htm
Vote tampering should be a treasonous offense and involve prison terms for those who attempt it. Instead, it is largely ignored and no offender is held accountable.
listen to this
But over the past few months, her presidential campaign has taken its apparent embrace of former media adversaries to a new level, sending reporters articles that praise Clinton and attack Barack Obama drawn from conservative outlets including the National Review and the American Spectator, and quotes from Republican pundits like Ed Rollins and Grover Norquist.
And former President Bill Clinton made an appearance on talker Rush Limbaugh's show the day of the Texas and Ohio primaries - contests in which the conservative radio host had urged listeners to vote for Hillary Clinton as a means of sabotaging the Democratic nominating process.
They are capable of anything...is this who you want to run our country? I want a negotiator..not a rebel.....Obama 08
Absolutely document your vote...
My take is that Rendell has been softening his rhetoric, lately. He's a smart man who is thinking about his own legacy & future prospects....Philadelphia is in the midst of a huge resurgence. There is no way he wants this primary to fall apart on his watch....No Florida or Ohio taint for a Philly comeback. Michael Nutter is already toast. A one term mayor for going against Pro Obama Philadelphians. There better not be any funny stuff....Folks will not sit at home this time in shock. The citizens of the city of brotherly love, will take to the streets, again. And it won't be a party this time.
There darned well better not be a reprise of the scandalous situation in the NYC primary, where in at least one Harlem district NO VOTES FOR OBAMA WERE TALLIED. None. I believe a total of 80 districts had similar undercounts/zeds for Obama. There were some "corrections," but I've seen no real explanation for what happened. The fact that PA is run by pro-Clinton politicians makes me nervous about the outcome, but what can we do but vote? Early and often, of course.
I cannot believe this is happening again!
I trust Gov Rendell about as much as I trust Karl Rove.
sure hope we don't have to see some Harlem-style results
Ditto Kellygrrrl!!
Who cares? If the voters won't fight to get those machines banned as they did in many places here in California, they can't complain at the election. Besides there has not been an election yet where Clinton was favored where Obama did not claim some kind of fraud. His camp just cannot accept they don't win all the time.
Is it just me or do you feel safe with a corporation counting your vote and you have absolutely no way if it was counted correctly? Propriorty Information stops any analyzation of the vote. GO BACK TO HAND COUNTED PAPER BALLOTS. SCREW BIG BUSINESS.
p.s. DEMAND PAPER RECEIPT OF YOUR VOTE -- IF REFUSED MAKE YOUR OWN AND DEMAND A PRICINCT CAPTAIN SIGN IT!!!!
See this link from CNET news:
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9920030-7.html?tag=ne.fd.mnbc
It reports that a measure to fund paper ballots before the election was defeated by repugs on Thursday.
Great idea to get your own receipt!
organize groups and take your video cameras... perform exit polls and record any suspicious events, problems or discrepancies.
make certain those workiing the precincts know you're there and watching them!!!!!!!
let them know: NOT THIS TIME!
Non of this matters. The hacking that they are capable of can be done from a living room 20 miles away.
The only precaution that can be taken......don not use these machines.
I get an uneasy feeling from Ed Rendell. He's always so sure that Hillary will win. Was he on the "Sopranos"?
I've been saying for weeks about Rendell -- fear the worst.
I don't trust this guy anymore than a Rove.
Let's hope we don't see some Harlem-style results
Me too--I keep wondering what promises might have been passed between him and the Clintons. It was truly eerie the day Clinton and Rendell were here in Pittsburgh on St. Paddy's day. The two of the them, plus the Allegheny party machine, all happy to be there.... Makes you wonder about how sure they are and how wonderfully the machines in this area of the state will work.
I'm not feeling too confident in PA. voting process. I just feel that a whole lot of cheating will be going on!
The only way to override the "fix" is for there to be a massive number of voters voting for one candidate. The "hack" relies on a small margin between the candidates. There are activists monitoring these hackable computers, but the results of their investigations are held up in the bureaucracy. GD Karl Rove!
Just wait till the fraudmeisters find a way to steal a caucus. Their difficulty with it is why they wanna do away with 'em.
Brad Friedman has done a lot of research on the Pennsylvania touchscreen voting machines. Here is his report: www.bradblog.com
I"m not totally plugged in to what has been covered on Huffington previously but the link below is to a group who tries to monitor voting that may interest some.
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/
I just read the net for news and I have no affiliations with any site. I don"t know much about blackboxvoting.org but from what I"ve read on their site, they"re worth checking out after the vote if anyone still has concerns. They seem to have good intentions.
Having said that, their videos on the New Hampshire primary are the most troubling I"ve ever seen on voting. Exit polls lined up with manual counts but not the machine votes. These folks were there as it went down taking video of what happened. The videos are not conspiracy theories " closer to raw evidence. I know MSNBC got into the story for a bit and probably a few others in the MSM. The amazing thing to me was why the story disappeared. I was left with real concerns about what happened in New Hampshire. The documentation and evidence they have is so extensive raising so many issues, I haven"t had the time to get my head around all of it. But if a blogger here was looking for a subject, I'd encourage someone take a look because there seems to remain a lot of questions that deserve more attention. The incomplete story has gnawed at me for some time.
I totally agree with you. I too have not quite been able to digest the results of that night in New Hampshire. Just doesn't make sense.
All electronic voting machines should print a receipt that the voter can take and print an internal log. This is how ATMs work: you get your own receipt and there is a roll of paper inside where the transaction is logged. If there is a network problem, someone can review the printed log.
People trust ATMs because at the end of the month, you can review your bank statement and make sure all the transactions are correct. With electronic voting, all you can do is trust that the system works, but you have no real way of ensuring that it works.
How about this: when you cast your vote, the printed receipt that you get lists who you voted for and also has a serial number on it. There is a website where you can type in your serial number and display the voting associated with that serial number. This way anyone can verify that their vote was recorded properly. Since the serial numbers would be randomly generated, there would be no way to tie the serial number back to the voter, so their vote would still be confidential, but there would be a way to confirm that the system really works and the data has not been tampered with.
Now we know why Chris Matthews says that Ed Rendell is so sure that the witch is going to take PA in contrast to polling that shows it very close or Barack ahead.
and why Billy boy said yesterday that Hilliary will have to have a HUGE win...my antennae went way up with that statement.
As a PA voter, these computer machines (no matter what the brand....) make me nervous. The first time I used them, the wonderful poll volunteers who have been at our poll for forever, showed me what to do. I did what I was supposed to do, but felt very uncomfortable about not receiving any type of printed confirmation. I left the poll thinking-Did I push the right buttons? Is the computer system going to stay up? I hope there aren't any glitches.... This primary election day is very important to me and I happen to live in a county where the Democratic machine is going Clinton all the way (Allegheny). Will my vote for Obama be able to be changed/not counted/something? I tell myself I am being silly about my concerns, but I still don't have the same good warm fuzzy feeling about these machines as I did the previous ones.
Oh Hell....here we go again!
There is no way that most BOE's will admit any errors or potentail problems. They don't care about the voters' rights. They care about getting the election over and continuing their safe income stream from the state. Acknowledging problems creates more work that is basically uncompensated in relation to previous elections. It is unlikely that the state will pay overtime to deal with any problems, ergo there are none.
FOR THOSE WHO DON'T KNOW OR FORGOT!
Our country is A Republic, NOT A DEMOCRACY. Remember?
"The problem, of course, is that our country is not a democracy. Our nation was founded as a constitutionally limited republic, as any grammar school child knew just a few decades ago (remember the Pledge of Allegiance: "and to the Republic for which it stands"...?). The Founding Fathers were concerned with liberty, not democracy. In fact, the word democracy does not appear in the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution. On the contrary, Article IV, section 4 of the Constitution is quite clear: "The United States shall guarantee to every state in this Union a Republican Form of Government (emphasis added). The emphasis on democracy in our modern political discourse has no historical or constitutional basis."
That's why we are getting screwed by our government now because they run this country like a DEMOCRACY where they have the right to do what they are doing. Under a Republic, they do NOT have that right. Read up on here:
http://www.house.gov/paul/tst/tst2000/tst121200.htm
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1718158297424565832&q=voting+machine+testimoney&ei=T1gJSOrzH4ucrQK37ZyfBA
Listen to a computer programmer explain to our legislatures how he made a program to CHEAT and who he made it for.
This is why our elections on MACHINES are so very dangerous.
Loading comments…
Posted April 17, 2008 | 03:38 PM (EST)