| Resources for Veterans |
Distribute. Reprint. Digg. Spread. Blog.
The upcoming Black Box Voting 2008 Tool Kit ( - http://www.blackboxvoting.org/toolkit.html - ) contains innovative strategies to put real muscle into election protection. This e-mail contains a preview in the area of deterrents. We know we can't make elections perfect, but we CAN work on doing ENOUGH! So here's a place to start.
I think we're all sick to death of the "Oops Excuse." You know what I mean: Robo calls that pretend not to know they just told people something misleading, oops. Ballot accounting forms that don't add up, oops. Voting machine keys that don't get put in the bag, causing polls to open late, oops. Not enough machines allocated to certain precincts, oops, misleading translation on the ballot, oops, voting cartridges delivered late, oops, memory cards that cause machines to be serviced mid-election, oops, reported the wrong vote number, oops...
* * * NO MORE OOPS * * *
I want to talk about why it's so important to reduce the opportunity to Just Say Oops, and how we can deter the Oops, but first, here are examples of Oops Excuses just ready and waiting. These happened on Tuesday this week in Oregon:
This is being discussed HERE: http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/1954/74040.html
IMPOSSIBLE AND IMPROPER NUMBERS FROM OREGON'S MULTNOMAH, POLK, AND YAMHILL COUNTIES
- Results reported before they exist.
- Results reported before the polls close.
A rather wonderful voting rights citizen volunteer named John Howard went to the results reports posted by Multnomah County at this Web site Wednesday night and was surprised to see that results posted on Wed. May 21 at 4:28 pm time and date-stamped on 3:53 pm May 22, which happens to be Thursday!
http://www.mcelections.org/2008-05/results.shtml
Look at these pictures to see what I mean:
http://www.bbvdocs.org/OR/multnomah/May08-impossible1.jpg
http://www.bbvdocs.org/OR/multnomah/May08-impossible2.jpg
Check out the time the results were uploaded. Then look at the time and date stamp on the results: The report was "run" nearly 20 hours LATER than it was posted!
NOT A BIG DEAL? "OOPS?"
Now, don't run out and headline that I'm calling this fraud, because I am not. What I AM calling it is incorrect and improper and unacceptable and in the case of the Yamhill and Polk county results I'm about to tell you about, probably illegal.
Elections, like bookkeeping and your bank statement, are all about numbers. The books have to balance. And in elections, times and dates are all-important. After all, if the report could be produced a DAY ahead of time, why not a MONTH ahead? If the computer clocks (oops) aren't reading out the right day, that opens doors to mail-in ballot-counting fraud that may be simply too scrumptious to resist.
What happened in Multnomah County suggests that the reports from the system are able to be set to whatever time the operator desires and/or that someone deliberately reset the clock on the system to a time in the future. Think about it this way: If your company bids on a tendered construction project in Multnomah County, and bids are advertised to close at a specific time, are you allowed to "bend the clock"? No, and if you try that you'll likely be charged with attempting to rig the bid. If you are successful in coercing a County employee into falsely dating and time stamping your documents, that employee would likely be fired for dishonesty and charged with falsifying documents. This is a presidential election we're talking about - at the very least, it's as important as a procurement bid.
POSTING COUNTY-WIDE RESULTS BEFORE THE POLLS CLOSE:
Polk County and Yamhill County, Oregon posted results on the Internet BEFORE the polls closed, at 7:31 and 7:41 pm, respectively. The polls didn't close until 8 pm.
(BUT REALLY. ARE A FEW OOPSIES SUCH A BIG DEAL?)
Oopsies enable unfair election practices and can be enablers and cover-ups for fraud. It's like this: Do you close the gate so the child doesn't get near the street, or -- oops! -- leave it open -- oops! left it open again -- no big deal, all I did was leave a gate open, it's not like he got killed or anything.
Our collective refusal to accept the Oops Excuse is a method to keep more gates closed to prevent certain types of fraud -- ie, the plausible deniability kind -- from escaping.
We should also look at these Election Oops excuses through a real world lens. For example:
If you write 29 checks but your bank statement says there were 27, does that feel "safe enough" to you?
What if you get a bank statement dated a month in the future with a reported balance? (With ballots, of course, the public really can't check to see whether the reported results are true or false.)
Many election officials are county AUDITORS and CLERKS. These professionals are collecting license fees, and overseeing bookkeeping and financial transactions that (even in small counties) amount to millions of dollars. Somehow I think if they showed up with $28,000 missing from the public bank balance, the media wouldn't accept "Oops" as readily as it accepts missing and mismatched and impossible election numbers.
ARE WE BEING TOO TOUGH ON ELECTION OFFICIALS? Let's look at the accountability expected of others:
- The teenager working at the mall has to balance the till at the end of the day.
- Chuck E. Cheese pizza parlor employees have to correctly account for the tickets.
- McDonald's employees have to match cash to receipts.
In fact, anyone who's worked in a bar or a supermarket or any kind of retail setting knows that you can't just say "oops" when the cash in your till doesn't match the receipts. You don't get to change the time stamps on things and you aren't allowed to open and close at the wrong times.
If we can require accountability from teenagers and minimum wage workers, perhaps it's time we start requiring our election officials to report only votes that actually exist at the time and date the computer assigns to the report, MAKE SURE THE NUMBERS BALANCE, and pay attention to the clock to make sure we don't post results until the polls close.
No More Oops.
Watch for the 2008 Tool Kit for ways to invoke consequences -- and ultimately DETER -- the next crop of Oops Excuses.
* * * * *
Black Box Voting is a national nonpartisan, nonprofit elections watchdog group working to improve public controls in our elections. More: http://www.BlackBoxVoting.org
Bev Harris
Founder - Black Box Voting
Please help us print the Tool Kits...we are planning to distribute 10,000 of these Pocket Election Protection Guides FREE, in addition to making them available for download on the Internet. I got a great price, but the print run will still cost a bundle, as will shipping and mailing them to the college students, retired folks, computer guys, accountants, writers, and information collectors we have in mind. Would you like us to send you one? Let us know, and while you're doing that, remember that we are supported entirely through small citizen donations. If not now, when?
TO DONATE: http://www.blackboxvoting.org/donate.html
to mail:
Black Box Voting
330 SW 43rd St Suite K
PMB 547
Renton WA 98057
(*Note: this post/series originally ran in March, 2007 but is a good introduction/refresher to Peak Oil issues--if you're new to this, read this piece and/or Gail's Peak Oil Overview in the top menu bar)
They aim their hate at you, but it’s really everywhere
At their age they don’t know who they are
And it’s all your fault, they think
You’ll get through this, hang in there
Even when they push you to the brink
When you want to run and hide from these evil rotten brats
Because you’re so exhausted from the never ending spats
Remember they’re testing their bully skills
Just smile and say I love you ‘cause
They’ll win a test of wills
They’ll break you if they can
Let them test their wings
Let them take control of their responsibilities
And let them skin their knees
They’ll pop back up if you let them
Just tell them that they can
They’ll remember that you let them win
And they’ll want to be with you later
You’ll get through this, hang in there
And so will they
Your heart really will mend
Even if they break it every day
This essay is a review of Soldiers of Reason: The RAND Corporation and the Rise of the American Empire by Alex Abella (Harcourt, 400 pp., $27)
...Without RAND, our military-industrial complex, as well as our democracy, would look quite different...
...The RAND Corporation is surely one of the world's most unusual, Cold War-bred private organizations in the field of international relations. While it has attracted and supported some of the most distinguished analysts of war and weaponry, it has not stood for the highest standards of intellectual inquiry and debate. While RAND has an unparalleled record of providing unbiased, unblinking analyses of technical and carefully limited problems involved in waging contemporary war, its record of advice on cardinal policies involving war and peace, the protection of civilians in wartime, arms races, and decisions to resort to armed force has been abysmal...
