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COUNTY ALERTS AND UPDATES
November 9, 2004 update for Guilford County: see 2 page letter from ES&S to Guilford County:
November 2, 2004. Guilford County, ES&S early voting machines had capacity problems, which affected anywhere from 6,000 to 20,000 ballots. The problem was corrected. http://www.votersunite.org/article.asp?id=3719
November 2, 2004. Guilford County, The totals were so large, the tabulation computer threw some numbers away.
The Guilford totals didn't change President Bush's win in the state, but did shift the vote total by 22,000.
Guilford County Voting Machines - ES&S touchscreen voting machines,
purchased 1,186 from 1995-2002, Votronic Model 1, Firmware 5.28, installed 2002,
Tabulating Software Unity 2.2 installed 2003, programmed by Guilford County, has modem, doesn't use
November 2, 2004.Craven County North Carolina also used the ES&S Votronic and Unity 2.2 Software
The miscalculation swelled the number of votes for president here by 11,283 more votes than the total number cast.
At least two problems with Electronic Systems and Software electronic voting machines caused
election errors in Craven County, officials said Monday.
One was a computer glitch that caused the first unofficial tally election night to be incorrect and,
when recounted, changed the outcome of the race for the District 5 seat on the Craven County Board of Commissioners.
Another surfaced during recounts, showing that a master terminal at the Vanceboro one-stop voting site
did not require a password and resulted in an incorrect total in the presidential returns there,
said Tiffiney Miller, director of the Craven County Board of Elections.
Craven County Voting Machines, ES&S Votronic Model 1
Purchased 206 machines from 1997-2003, Firmware model 5.28 installed 2002
Software tabulator ES&S Unity version 2.2, Programmed by ES&S
ess 800-247-8683, has modem, does not use it
The election for the North Carolina Statewide Race may have to be redone.
Glitch Glitch Glitch Glitch Glitch Glitch Glitch Glitch Glitch Glitch Glitch Glitch Glitch Glitch Glitch Glitch
Update - Forsyth County Update October 25, 2004
New name for local BOE: Forsyth County Bored with Elections ?
Finally available today after a two month wait! Read the official and watered down record of the August 24, 2004 BOE meeting http://www.co.forsyth.nc.us/elections/aboutminutes.aspx
Why two (2) months to approve the public record of that meeting?
Because Bipartisan opposition to paperless voting in Forsyth County was expressed by the public attendees?Because Evidence was entered that these machines have a history of malfunction and mistabulation?
The official explanation for the 2 month wait is that the Board members would have to approve the minutes, and that they did not have another meeting until October 12th to do so. It would not be convenient for them to meet sooner. Even then, the minutes just became publicly available today. Until the NC Coalition sent complaints to the BOE, County Commissioners and other officials, citizens had to pay for a hard copy of these public records, and they were only available at the BOE office.
Please note that this public record was only released after many citizens of Forsyth County who are ignorant of the risks of these machines have voted on these machines. Or think they did. Reports are now rolling in that machines have malfunctioned. See Winston Salem Journal Oct 22, 2004 (slow to load) or the Winston Salem Chronicle (only archives for a few months) Oct 21, 2004
Read NC Verified Votings account:
The Board of Elections, 2 democrats and 1 republican - voted to lease paperless electronic voting machines. This decision was made just prior to Kathie Coopers plans to attend the National Election Officials Conference, a meeting being held in Washington DC by a an organization called The Election Center Big name voting machine companies co-sponsored parties, prizes and a dinner cruise on the Potomac for Election Officials.
 Dinner Cruise on the Potomac
Citizens and groups went on the public record stating their opposition to the plan to lease controversial paperless electronic voting machines, citing numerous headlines of machine malfunction around the country. The opposition was non partisan, as diverse groups were represented at the meeting.
Groups represented: some partisan, some non-partisan. They included the Winston Salem Voting Rights Coalition, the Forsyth County African American Coalition, the NAACP, the Chair to the Forsyth GOP and the NC Coalition for Verified Voting. Individual citizens not listing group affiliation also opposed the e-voting machines.
A 50+ page document of electronic voting problems was presented to the Board members. See the report here:
Just two examples of the many many e-voting problems in that report were -
Wake Countys experience with touchscreen voting in 2002 is proof enough that e-voting is not
ready for prime time. In 2002, 6 touchscreen voting machines failed to record 436 votes because of
flawed software. Wake is now using their original optical scanner machines instead.
Sherwood Brantley, an elections technology specialist with Wake County, said
"computers in general are a long way from being secure."
In November 2003, touch screen machines in Fairfax Virginia subtracted 1 out of every 100
of the republican candidates votes. Other instances of several of the machines crashing and/or mistabulating have also been cited.
A January 9, 2004 report by a county GOP committee declares that the touch screen voting machines
used in the November election were a "failure." *The voting machines used were the WINVote, made by Advanced Voting Solutions.
*Forsyth is leasing the same machines that crashed and mistabulated in Fairfax Virginia.
Forsyth County has chosen machines that have not met minimum government information technology security standards and have proven highly vulnerable to undetectable manipulation by hackers and insiders.
The Winston Salem Voting Rights Coalition, Representative Larry Womble and also the NC Coalition for Verified Voting asked that the BOE use its HAVA funds to add 3 additional one-stop voting sites to the 5 sites already approved by the Board in the One Stop Site. The vote by board members was 2 for and 1 opposed. The decision was appealed to the State Board of Elections. The result: a total of 6 one stop voting sites besides the County Board of Elections location.
Citizens also asked the BOE if they would do more advertising to help educate and inform the public on issues regarding voter registration, absentee voting and the deadlines for them. Mr. Redding advised that this would be something good for "you folks to do". However, NC state law requires each county BOE
NC§ 163-33(8) advertise once a week 3 times before the registration books close.
Link to that statute here
The BOE refused to allow citizens to speak beyond 3 minutes, and refused to allow questions and answers following the meeting. NC Verified went on record asking for a public hearing on the issue of paperless voting with sufficient time for questions and answers. This request was refused.
The NC Coalition for Verified Voting went on record OPPOSED to leasing the DREs, in spite of the BOE minutes that state that NCVV was "concerned". Opposed and concerned are two different things. OPPOSED would be the correct description for NCVVs stance on paperless e-voting.
PAST ALERTS
Your help is needed to keep elections secure and verifiable in Forsyth County
The Forsyth County Board of of Elections announced it's plans to lease paperless electronic voting machines (DREs) to be used in the early voting stations for the 2004 election.
This announcement was made at the August 24th Board of Elections meeting,
even with the unanimous opposition by all citizens who went on record, including
the NC Coalition for Verified Voting and the Winston SalemVoting Rights Coalition.
Paperless Electronic Voting machines resemble ATM machines in their interface.
They do not, however have as secure and well designed computer software.
Your vote is not even as safe as a quarter put in a one arm bandit.
In 2002, 6 DREs used in early voting in Wake County dropped 436 votes,
due to a software defect. If this had not been during early voting,
the error would not have been caught. Not all citizens could be reached to inform
them that their votes had been lost and would have to be re-cast.
This is just one of hundreds of instances of dropped votes, mis-tabulations,
computer crashes and overturned election results.
Please either call or email Dave Plyler, Vice Chairman of the County Commissioners.
The County Commissioners can prevent the Forsyth Board of Elections from leasing or
using DREs (paperless electronic voting machines).
Thank you in advance for your help in this urgent action.
Please advise as to whether you can help us with this action.
Dave Plyler's Contact information:
Dave Plyler, Vice Chairman
1st phone: 993-4675
2nd phone: 727-8074
Guilford County Alert
If you live in Guilford County, or know folks who do, please forward this to them.
Citizens should object to the county commissioners about this waste of money and
destruction of audit of the elections.
ELECTRONIC POLL BOOKS
Sounds like a great idea at first glance, one touch of the computer button, and voila
there is the voter's information. No more lines? Less time on the phone on hold? See the
news article in the High Point Enterprise today:
Guilford County elections officials are awaiting news on a $380,000 grant proposal
that would pay 60 percent of the cost for those computers.
The laptop hard drives would hold not only the names of individual precinct voters,
but the names and addresses of all registered voters.
"The electronic poll book would be quicker and reduce the number of telephone calls on Election Day
to verify information," said Elections Director George Gilbert.
"The telephones get jammed on Election Day and it is hard to get through to get the information."
(But the information is available for free at the NC Board of Elections Website!)
Electronic Polling Books will remove an important audit of the election:
Bev Harris explains how electronic poll books would interfere with the accountability of the election process:
Position Paper: It's an Auditing Problem
1. Compare the number of voters who sign into the poll book with the number of votes cast.
This is generally required by state law.
But voting machine vendors are developing systems to abandon this audit
in favor of electronic poll books using secret software.
As citizens we must reject that idea and insist on retaining our physical poll books verified by human beings.
The poll book audit has caught hundreds of e-voting discrepancies.
MY QUESTION: Why can't poll workers check the NC BOE site to verify the voter information?
This is already available from the NC BOE website!
All you need is the voter's name and their birthday to verify that they are registered
and even their race, age, and address. Go to the following link, and click on voter information:
NC Statewide Voter Search
Why spend half a million dollars on yet another toy?
Why privatize the voter poll books?
Why eliminate an important audit from the election?
Why duplicate what is already available throught the NC SBOE website, online for all to use?
This is outrageous, and inexcusable.
If you live in Guilford County, you can go to the public meeting and object to this tremendous waste
of taxpayer money, and to the idea of making the voter polling books a non-transparent part of
elections. Do not allow election officials to remove one more method of accountability.
You can attend the next meeting of the Board of County Commissioners.
Location and Schedule at the following link:
Please contact your County Commissioners and tell them how you feel:
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Telephone: (336) 641-3351
Fax: (336) 641-3209
Link for all county commissioners contact info:
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