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Grex > Agora47 > #221: The Fall 2003 Electronic Voting Item | |
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gull
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The Fall 2003 Electronic Voting Item
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Dec 16 14:52 UTC 2003 |
This item is for news and discussion relating to electronic voting systems.
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| 54 responses total. |
gull
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response 1 of 54:
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Dec 16 14:53 UTC 2003 |
More stuff from the memos obtained from Diebold is coming out...firstly,
an email suggesting they should gouge Maryland if the state asks to have
printers added to their voting machines:
"There is an important point that seems to be missed by all these
articles: they already bought the system. At this point they are just
closing the barn door. Let's just hope that as a company we are smart
enough to charge out the yin if they try to change the rules now and
legislate voter receipts."
(http://www.gazette.net/200350/montgomerycty/state/191617-1.html)
Another email, this one from Sue Page, one of Maryland's project
managers, criticizes State Board of Elections Administrator Linda H.
Lamone, and suggests, "There's not much that we can do, other than hope
that a new Republican Governor will effect change." This hints more
subtly at the same kind of partisan bias that Diebold CEO Wally O'Dell
exhibited when he said he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its
electoral votes to the President next year."
(http://www.portclintonnewsherald.com/news/stories/20030827/localnews/14087
1.htm
l)
In my more pessimistic moments, I wonder if we'll ever have a fair
election in this country again. Maybe "the fix is in" already for 2004.
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gull
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response 2 of 54:
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Dec 16 14:54 UTC 2003 |
Here's an unwrapped version of the Port Clinton News-Herald URL:
http://tinyurl.com/ldtj
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polygon
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response 3 of 54:
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Dec 16 15:07 UTC 2003 |
"Voter receipts" are a very bad idea, if that means a piece of paper the
voter takes home, listing everybody they voted for. It would make vote
selling possible again.
Rather, the count should be based on voter-verified tangible ballots, as
is done with optical scan devices.
I don't like the touch-screen interface, at all, but touch screen machines
could output a scannable ballot that the voter could look at to verify,
and then drop in the ballot box.
That might seem like an elaborate way to mark ballots, but on the other
hand, at least in theory, there would be zero ambiguous ballots.
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gull
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response 4 of 54:
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Dec 16 15:40 UTC 2003 |
The proposed Maryland rule is that the receipt, after being examined by
the voter, would be placed in a locked ballot box. A randomly selected
2% of the precincts would then have their results verified by counting
the paper ballots.
A major reason touchscreen-type systems are being pushed over other
systems is a computerized system is the only reasonable way to meet some
upcoming requirements for disabled people to be able to vote unassisted.
Currently the secret ballot really doesn't exist for people who are
blind, for example.
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jp2
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response 5 of 54:
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Dec 16 18:21 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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flem
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response 6 of 54:
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Dec 16 18:46 UTC 2003 |
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/12/11/1620228&mode=thread&tid=103
&tid=
126&tid=99
If there's a single government agency that I think might have a clue
about electronic voting, it's the Nevada State Gaming Control Board.
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rcurl
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response 7 of 54:
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Dec 16 19:51 UTC 2003 |
Re #5: you are incorrect. The secret ballot in elections is established
in the laws of the states.
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jep
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response 8 of 54:
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Dec 16 20:05 UTC 2003 |
re resp:1: I think what I'm seeing is a guaranteed complaint about any
election in the future: "We should have won. The vote was fixed by
computer!" This type of complaint is going to be used by both sides.
On Grex, I've seen the pre-complaint 3 or 4 times, always stating the
Republican side will abuse the system and unfairly take elections. It
seems obvious to me that there will be complaints along these lines if
Republicans win *any* elections. I don't imagine, giving that tone
already, that there will be much real discussion about 2004 election
results or methods on Grex.
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