FL Sec. of State says voting machines just fine without print out.

[madfloridian]

I suppose most people realize that Glenda Hood and Jeb Bush are virtually in charge of Florida's voting, with no congressional input into Ms Hood's actions at all. She is firmly denying that any paper recount method is needed. Here is an op ed by her.

Op-Ed by Florida Secretary of State, Glenda Hood.
Vote machines reliable, accurate without printers.
http://www.news-press.com/news/opinion/040228guestop.html

SNIP...."Although it is clear that the Legislature intended for touch-screen
voting to be a paperless system, some now argue that printers should be
attached to touch-screen voting machines in the counties that use them. That
companion technology does not currently exist.
The process of developing, testing and certifying new companion technology
takes time. When flaws or problems are discovered in the certification
process, the vendor is required to fix those problems and resubmit the
technology for certification again. It is impossible to estimate how long
that might take, since much of the process depends on the vendor.

It is extremely unlikely that the technology could be developed, tested,
certified, mass produced, purchased, and attached to existing machines — and
that poll workers could be retrained in their proper use — in time for the
2004 elections.

That doesn’t mean our election results will be in any doubt. To suggest that
we cannot have a credible election without printers is simply not true.

That point of view reflects a lack of familiarity with the equipment and
processes and the rigorous testing and certification to which it is
subjected.

When technology becomes available to attach printers to touch-screen
machines, the Legislature can then decide if it wants to replace a paperless
system with one that produces a paper record.

In the meantime, Florida is well prepared for the series of elections to
come.

Our proven track record shows that touch-screen machines produced and
delivered accurate, secure and trustworthy elections in 2002, and we expect
no less in 2004.
— Glenda Hood is Florida’s Secretary of State.

More on Dear Glenda and her voting machines:
http://www.naplesnews.com/npdn/florida/article/0,2071,NPDN_14910_2677406,00.html
Hood, election supervisors unveil voter education program

More:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/politics/7984548.htm
Florida shuns paper backup of computer ballots

[Florida_Geek]

1. She lies the technology is already

on most of the machines Florida uses.

[madfloridian]

3. Yes, it is.

I wrote reporters, talked to them on the phone. I have collected piles of reports to send my legislators here. They do NOT care.

[Dr.Phool]

8. Liars

I'm a member of our voter theft task force, and I've heard 2 Supervisors of Elections parrot the Jeb Bush party line in the last 2 weeks. One just this morning. Every thing is perfect, everyones happy, greatest thing since peanut butter.

[ParanoidPat]

10. If you or another member of your Voter Theft Task Force.....

.....has a CD burner, download and copy the files below and burn copies for those officials. Distribute them to as many reporters as you can and ask them why they aren't giving this the coverage it deserves. :evilgrin:
If you can afford to buy copies of the book, mail or hand deliver them to your county and state elections officials. They are the ones who will ultimately decide what equipment your vote will be cast on. :)

:kick:BLACK BOX VOTING - Ballot Tampering in the 21st Century:kick:

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9*
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13*
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Appendix
Footnotes
Index

* graphics, allow time to load

Requires free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view. :)

[onethatcares]

4. doesn't matter,

Jeb got the pull and the cops got the training in Miami, they don't need no stinkin paper trail.

[fearnobush]

7. Drastic measures must be taken to stop the BFEE this go around.

[gmoney]

2. Start drafting "Jews for Buchanan II"

I hope Greg Palast has his airline ticket to be in Florida in November.

[madfloridian]

6. That a sad thing.

I remember the folks from the retirement community there appearing on TV in tears. These were no fools, not in that area. They were made to look foolish, and it was so painful to watch.

I will never forget 2000. Any candidate who tells me to get over it or move on loses my vote. We should never forget.

Greg, welcome to Florida. I hope he hounds the hell out of them.

[fearnobush]

5. Do you think Glenda would feel safe if Diebold took the paper receipt

out of all their ATM machines???

<snip>

Diebold, located in North Canton, Ohio, does its primary business in ATM and ticket-vending machines. Critics of Diebold point out that virtually every other machine the company makes provides a paper trail to verify the machine’s calculations. Oddly, only the voting machines lack this essential function.

<snip>

U.S. Representative Rush Holt introduced HR 2239, The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2003, that would require electronic voting machines to produce a paper trail so that voters may verify that their screen touches match their actual vote. Election officials would also have a paper trail for recounts.

As Blackwell pressures the Ohio legislature to adopt electronic voting machines without a paper trail, Athan Gibbs wonders, “Why would you buy a voting machine from a company like Diebold which provides a paper trail for every single machine it makes except its voting machines? And then, when you ask it to verify its numbers, it hides behind ‘trade secrets.’”

Maybe the Diebold decision makes sense, if you believe, to paraphrase Henry Kissinger, that democracy is too important to leave up to the votes of the people.

<http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print.cgi?file=/views04/0225-05.htm>

[ParanoidPat]

9. Contrast Glenda the 'bad witch' with S.o.S. Kevin Shelly of California....

.....In an address to the California Voting Systems Panel. :evilgrin:

Aaaahhh, the LEFT coast! :)

The Address

Members of the Voting Systems Panel and Ladies and Gentleman behind me, I understand, from staff, that I, as Secretary of State, am breaking precedent by appearing before this panel. I appreciate all of the sage advice that you give me and recommendations that you make, but I felt it appropriate to break precedent, given the circumstance of the item you are hearing and discussing at the moment. My concern is beyond the individual item that is being discussed as it applies to Diebold and the recommendations to be made in that regard. It's much larger than that.

The core of our American democracy, members, is the right to vote. And implicit in that right is the notion that that vote be private, that vote be secure, and that vote be counted as it was intended when it was cast by the voter. I think what we're encountering is a pivotal moment in our democracy where all that is being called into question – the privacy of the vote, the security of the vote, and the accuracy of the vote. It troubles me, and it should trouble you.

Now, initial presentation was just made on the findings of the report, and I want to thank you very much for conducting the study and for the important review you provided. I know the VSP will soon be asking questions and then making some recommendations, but there are a number of things that this report details that are very troubling. There were unqualified uses of software that had not been approved by the Federal government; there were uncertified uses of software that had not been certified by the State government; and the software was used in a number of instances. That is deeply troubling because it's a violation of the elections code. There were lax accounting procedures, whether it be by counties or whether it be by this very agency, where we have not had a sufficiently extensive mechanism to assess, on a regular basis, what systems were in use.

I think that, on the county level, the audit reinforces my comments on American democracy – that on the county level, the physical security of the voting is sound and the county registrars and their excellent staff are doing a very good job in ensuring that security, but that the technical security is less sound, and the procedures that should be and must be in place at the county level are not sufficiently in place now.

At the same time, we – the Secretary of State’s office, the entity the election code charges with the responsibility to certify systems – bear responsibility if we're not on a consistent and regular basis assessing what software systems are in place. I believe we have the finest elections staff of any Secretary of State operation in the country (no disrespect to the other forty nine). Having said that, for every state election program, it's a new era and we must adjust our procedures, our assessment mechanisms, our approaches towards assuring the privacy, accuracy, security, and integrity of those votes. Now I know a number of recommendations will be made today. I look forward to implementing the recommendations of this panel to provide, from this office’s perspective, stronger mechanisms to address them – be it bi-annual assessments, be it regular auditing, be it spot checks, be it a number of things that came out of the recommendations of the touch screen task force.

You know it's very interesting that, recently when I made the decision to require a paper audit trail, a number of county officials very respectfully denounced them and a number of vendors, many of whom are represented behind me, said it wasn't necessary, said their machinery was secure. At the same time, a number of those within the community, the voter advocacy community, have oft times alleged Armageddon if we don't make immediate changes. Well you know, I don't know who's right.

I'm like the average voter. I don't know. And because I don't know, I want the confidence that a paper trail provides. And like an average voter, I want the confidence that a stronger assessment mechanism at the state level will provide. And like the average voter, I want the confidence that stronger procedures at the county level will ensure the accuracy, integrity and privacy of those votes. Once again, the right to vote is the most precious demonstration of our democracy. We must take it seriously, we must cherish it, and all of us, at the county level, at this office, and in the election vendor community, must act accordingly.

Now the audit is not complete. We don't have all the findings as yet, and we don't know what's occurred comprehensively. I would hope that the end result sanction that we suggested we might make today, pursuant to this hearing taking place, won't be the suggestion of de-certification of Diebold systems. I would hope that won't be the case. I certainly hope that won't be the case with other vendors as well. But if we find that there are gross discrepancies and violations, I am prepared to go down that road, and so this needs to be taken very, very seriously. And with that, I thank you for your time and I'll let you continue with your hearing.

[JCMach1]

11. Headline: Glenda Hood is an unelected Republican

Stooge

[madfloridian]

15. Yep, you are right.

Check your mail at Syndrome, Jerald. I sent you something, but the address looked like it was from 2002.

Glenda is almost single-handedly destroying the state library. We can not even keep up with what is going on it is so secretive.

[ex_jew]

12. So printers are the trouble-prone bit of technology we shouldn't trust ?

I am so glad I left Florida. People like that were making me crazy. I was a poll worker using those awesomely voting machines in Florida. My job was to re-boot them when they froze, which was at least a dozen times in a small precinct. I just yanked the power cord, opened 'em up and disconnected the battery. Power on reset and away you go. Did I have any way in hell of knowing how that affected the count ? No way. And yet when it comes to printers, that's where Ms. secretary of state gets oh so finicky.

[ParanoidPat]

14. YOU DID WHAT!?!?!

"I just yanked the power cord, opened 'em up and disconnected the battery. Power on reset and away you go."

Were you instructed to do that and if so, by whom? :shrug:

Would you be willing to sign a sworn affidavit to that effect? :evilgrin:

This could be very important! :)

[madfloridian]

16. Very important. Very.

Will keep this kicked.

[Thucydides]

20. Absolutely, this needs to be brought out if true! N/T

[ex_jew]

23. Sure I'd fill out an affidavit !

Eventually we decided that the best way to go was to remove the batteries so we could re-boot just by yanking the plug. This was in Collier County, and we were using ES&S, if I remember correctly. It was the election when McBride ran and lost. You can e-mail me at [e-mail] if you like.

[madfloridian]

24. A huge e-hug to you.

I will keep this kicked until someone gets in touch. I think some of Bev's guys are posting in this thread.

[madfloridian]

29. Check out ParanoidPat's post. Send a private message or.....

Go to the link's at the bottom of their message for Black Box voting.

:hi:

[madfloridian]

30. I posted a link in the Florida forum at Bev's site.

Will try to keep this kicked.

[Thucydides]

31. You Sir or Madam, as the case may be, are a true Patriot and...

a future Democratic Party hero. Kudos to you for your courage, and thats what it will take to keep our freedom!

[OneTwentyoNine]

41. WTF!! My Gawd,fill out the affidavit and stay off of small aircraft! nt

[mac2]

28. There should be paper ballots avialable if machines go bad.

We should use all paper ballots counted locally in public. No media counting reporting companies, etc.

[Thucydides]

13. I have a proposal to any of you computer savvy types....

See this thread and check out post# 23!
Any thoughts?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=1175719&mesg_id=1175719

[bluedog]

17. pull the cord???

kinda like losing all the votes that were in the machine huh?..thats illegal....messing with the poll numbers.

[ParanoidPat]

18. The good news is.....

.....that the memory cards are non volatile memory meaning that any votes on the card at the time the power was cut should still be there. That can be confirmed by checking the 'sign in' sheets at that polling precinct against the number of votes cast.

The BAD news is that machines were knowingly OPENED in the middle of an election! That is a BIG NO NO! :(

[Thucydides]

19. I am hoping that reply was meant for post#12, bluedog....

you had me wondering there for a second.

[bluedog]

21. yes.meant for #12

n/t

[bvar22]

22. The scary thing is that they...

...are fighting soooo hard to prevent the paper ballot. This is WAY MORE than incompetence.

[maryallen]

39. And that crucial point is never brought up ...

by the MEDIA. Why not?

Supporters of fair elections should question why people like Jeb Bush DO NOT want paper trails.

[mac2]

25. Hey...Florida I have bridge I can sell you!!

[madfloridian]

26. Yea, we have swamps, too.

:hi:

[Bozita]

27. The Titanic is fine without lifeboats.

We've tested it.

[dusty64]

32. Why does THIS not

surprise me.

[Toots]

33. "When flaws or problems are discovered in the certification"

How can flaws be detected if there is no way to check up on the results? If there is no paper audit there is no way of ever determining whether the machine is functioning properly. You have to have a basis of comparison to tell if something is malfunctioning.

[mac2]

36. You know what? I'm psychic and I can tell you.....

these computer voting machines will vote for Bush candidates automatically!!

[DoYouEverWonder]

34. In Florida, the Sec. of State is now appointed

by the governor. Katherine Harris was the last elected SOS. If it is possible to have someone who is worse that Katherine Harris it is Glenda Hood. She is Jeb's handpicked handmaiden. That was a nice trick Jeb pulled when he got the citizens to approve that one.

[mac2]

35. No democracy in Jeb country

[indepat]

37. Liar, liar, may your panties catch on fire

[The Backlash Cometh]

38. I would be happy to have one equal system for all counties.

My Republican county has touch-screens that issue paper ballots. Why doesn't all counties in Florida? Isn't that what the Supreme Court of the United States required in their Bush v. Gore ruling? An equal system for all counties?

[OneTwentyoNine]

40. Well...er OK,good enough for me--Nothing to see here,move along...

Jesus,what crap and they REALLY expect us to just agree and move along like good little lemmings?? Sure....


David