How to Rig an Election

[rankandfile]

http://harpers.org/archive/2012/11/how-t.../?single=1

This article contains one of the best summaries of the history of electronic voting I have read. It includes a good accounting of many sordid frauds and anomalies that have occurred over the past 12 years.

After a series of name changes and mergers there are now two dominant voting machine companies—Dominion and ES&S—who count the majority of votes in the United States.

Folks, we don't control our election process, which means our government "of the people, by the people, and for the people" is in serious jeopardy.

It matters who counts the votes.

[cbelt3]

You can thank Florida's hanging of all those Chads, and making all those Chadettes pregnant. You can also thank your political party (and mine) for making this act law, which REQUIRED electronic voting means, and removed any requirements for a paper trail.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help_America_Vote_Act

Personally I was always happy with either the punch cards or the good old lever machines. Yes, it requires a staff of people to count the votes, tabulate them, and get them out. And it's not fast. But it works.

I also blame our obsession with requiring instant results.

Ever work a project where everyone around you is hollering for you to finish tabulating huge amounts of paper and give 'the number' ? I have, and it's painful and frustrating. It's easy to make mistakes under that kind of stress.

[Sam3]

According to the Wikipedia article, unless I'm misunderstanding something, a paper trail is required:

"Auditing
HAVA requires all voting systems be auditable and produce a permanent paper record with a manual audit capacity available as an official record for any recount conducted."

[cbelt3]

SAm3-
Yes. A Paper trail is required. Only to be used in event of a challenge. And what gets audited is based on local election boards, etc....

What you need to know before getting all excited is:

1- Ever local election site has at least two election judges, one from each main party (and may have judges from other parties as well).
2- Vote counting and tabulating operations are also overseen by partisan judges as well.
3- In the last 10 years, there have been more proven cases of in person voter fraud than cases of proven electronic voting fraud. (And not many of the in person cases either !)

Are there crappy systems and shoddy software ? Of course. The systems have to last 10 years, which is the equivalent of a hundred years in Internet Time. But active evil attempts at fraud ? I don't see it.

[davester]

cbelt3 wrote:
1- Ever local election site has at least two election judges, one from each main party (and may have judges from other parties as well).
2- Vote counting and tabulating operations are also overseen by partisan judges as well.
3- In the last 10 years, there have been more proven cases of in person voter fraud than cases of proven electronic voting fraud. (And not many of the in person cases either !)

Are you talking your state or nationally? Also, where's your backup for these claims, or are you pulling them out from where the sun don't shine?

Without an audit record, there's virtually no way to "prove" electronic voting fraud so lack of proof means little.

[cbelt3]

1- State, personal observations.
2- State, personal observations by a person I trust.
3- Perfunctory web search of news and cases in the last 10 years. No use of Lexis/Nexis.

[swampy]

How to rig an election

How about letting the New Black Panthers appear (again) at the polls in Philly? Or how bout letting Dems kick Republican poll judges out of the building forcing the State Supreme Court to rule they be allowed to return? Or how about letting voter registration groups distroy Republican registrations so that when the Republicans show up to vote they are told they are not registered? Or how about not mailing out ballots to military people? Or how about letting NAACP members into the polling place to pass out water and campaign for Obama? Or how about fixing machines so that Romney votes are switched to Obama votes? Or how about telling people they can't vote because they are wearing a tee shirt with religious text on it?

All of the above have been reported in the conservative media. Feel free to google them or not. I always wonder why most of these types of things favor Obama.

[Speedy]

swampy wrote:
How to rig an election

How about letting the New Black Panthers appear (again) at the polls in Philly? Or how bout letting Dems kick Republican poll judges out of the building forcing the State Supreme Court to rule they be allowed to return? Or how about letting voter registration groups distroy Republican registrations so that when the Republicans show up to vote they are told they are not registered? Or how about not mailing out ballots to military people? Or how about letting NAACP members into the polling place to pass out water and campaign for Obama? Or how about fixing machines so that Romney votes are switched to Obama votes? Or how about telling people they can't vote because they are wearing a tee shirt with religious text on it?

All of the above have been reported in the conservative media. Feel free to google them or not. I always wonder why most of these types of things favor Obama.

How to rig an election? Win the gubernatorial and legislative races, then enact voter suppression laws. Your list disenfranchises hundreds or thousands of voters. Voter suppression will disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters.