The latest -- "You're Gonna Get a Visit" from
http://www.BlackBoxVoting.org "None of the critics is giving any credence to the extensive system of checks and balances that we employ."-- Mischelle Townsend, Registrar of Elections, Riverside County, California
Voting manufacturers, and a handful of truly clueless elections officials, cite an "extensive system" of procedural protections that supposedly neutralize the stunning security flaws found in our current voting machines. We have recently done a series of visits and citizen audits, and found the security flaws inherent in "elections procedures" to be just as shocking as the software itself. Each day this week a new visit is appearing on BlackBoxVoting.org, and taken together, they pretty much blow up the concept that election procedures are protecting us.
Morris County, New Jersey: Drug deals, vested interests, and outsourcing to private trucking companies — By Brian L., a private citizen in New Jersey, and a member of BlackBoxVoting.org
"I am a private citizen who became concerned about the voting process after the 2000 election fiasco in Florida. I recently began learning all I can about the actual voting process in Morris County, New Jersey. I have spoken with county officials from various offices and levels of county government in an effort to identify the specific vulnerabilities of our touch screen voting machines. I am startled by what I have learned.
(more:
http://www.blackboxvoting.org)
"Morris County has 805 Sequoia Pacific brand AVC Advantage voting machines...In Morris County, every official I spoke with indicated that the county has no direct contact or dealings with technicians from Sequoia Pacific, the company that manufactures these machines.
If Sequoia Pacific doesn’t maintain our voting machines, who does?"According to Richard Drake, who is in charge of Morris County’s voting machine warehouse, a private company called
Election Graphics is contracted to print and install a ballot face sheet on each of the voting machines and to test and prepare each machine for an election. These technicians from Election Graphics run logic and accuracy tests on each voting machine and “certify” that the machines are ready for use before an the election. After the ballots have been programmed into the machines, but before the election, the company’s technicians have full access to the voting machines at the warehouse as they prepare and test these machines. Mr. Drake was not sure if the testing and certification process preformed by Election Graphics is open to the public.
"Giving private vendors total access to our voting machine before an election creates potentially huge security problems. To be certain of the facts, I called the County Clerks Office and confirmed that Morris County does have a contract with Election Graphics to print the ballots and prepare the machines for our elections. So, what do we know about this company that prepares our voting machine? Not very much!
"Election Graphics is a privately owned company located at 9242 JFK Blvd., North Bergen, New Jersey. There is very little public information available about it on the Internet...I located the address and discovered that the company’s office is located in a rundown commercial building on the outskirts of the town. There is a payphone on the corner of the building right next to the doorway. Two young men were standing at the payphone negotiating a drug deal as I stood at the entrance to Election Graphics.
"The company name was on the door in faded letters, but the office was shuttered and vacant. A sign taped inside the window directed FedEx and other deliverymen to deliver all future packages for Election Graphics to the garage door behind the building, on 2nd Street. The sign instructed deliverymen to knock on the garage door, “and someone will take the packages."
"I walked past the drug dealers and went down 2nd Street to a brick, detached garage behind the building. It had a folding metal garage door. There were no signs identifying the business and no windows or public entranceways. The alleyway to the right was closed off with chain link fencing and a gate. Behind the gate was a wooden wall to hide the view of the alleyway and a barking dog to discourage any intruders. Along the left side of the garage was another narrow alleyway with no access into the garage.
"The next day I called Election Graphics and asked to speak to the person in charge. I said I wanted to report that drug deals were taking place in front of the building, which was true, of course. A perky sounding female receptionist answered the pone, but I heard other receptions in the background. I was speaking to an answering service. I was told that the President of the company was
Adam L. Perna, who wasn’t available at that time.
"A Yahoo search of “Adam Perna + election” turned up a complaint filed against the Morris County Republican Committee by the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission for failing to report thousands of dollars worth of political contributions in a timely fashion. Among the donations listed were a $1,500 donation from Adam L. Perna and his wife and a $1,500 donation from - Election Graphics Inc. Further checking revealed that Mr. Perna gives generously to other Republicans, except in heavily Democratic Camden County where he gives to the Democratic Party. In 2001 and 2002 Mr. Perna and Election Graphics gave $7000 to the Morris County Republican Party.
"So it appears that Morris County has hired a political partisan, operating a printing press out of a private garage in Hudson County, to prepare and certify our electronic voting machines before an election. And what is his background, education and training to provide these technical services?
"
Fisher O’Kacy Trucking: An official in the Morris County Clerk’s Office also said that the county has a contract with a trucking firm to deliver the voting machines to the polling places prior to the elections. She named Fisher O’Kacy NJ, Inc., of 607 Myrtle Ave., Boonton, New Jersey as the company that transports the electronic voting machines to and from the polling places. This 550 Myrtle Avenue address actually belongs to an A&P food store. An employee at the A&P confirmed by phone that the trucking company called Fisher-O’Hara is located down the street from them.
"This confusion highlights the point that having a private contractor deliver these voting machines to polling places creates another potential risk point for tampering with these machines. Full public disclosure of all vendors who service our election process should be required. Background checks on all employees who work for these vendors should also be required.
"Is Election Graphics a legitimate choice to provide technical support for our voting machines? To be clear, I am not saying that anything illegal has taken place. I have no reason to suspect that Mr. Perna is anything other than a frugal and practical businessman. New Jersey is, after all, a "pay-to-play" state. It is neither illegal nor an ethics violation for local governments to expect political contributions before granting government contracts. Yet, even in a pay-to-play state, the idea of political contributors roaming freely among our voting machines seems crazy.
"It seems that there is a long history of characters and businesses associated with Sequoia voting machines. For example, Independent Voting Machines Services of Moorestown, NJ, has a business association with Sequoia and supplies parts, voting machines and technical support to a number of states, including Florida during the 2000 election. The President of the company, Pasquale “Rocco” Ricci pleaded guilty in 2001 to charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering. It was part of a bribery scheme that went on for many years, which lined the pockets of Jerry Fowler, the former Louisiana Commissioner of Elections. (More details in Chapter 8 of Black Box Voting and in the April 2004 issue of
Vanity Fair.)
"...When the Help America Vote Act stampeded states and municipalities into purchasing these electronic voting machines, the manufacturers never leveled with county voting officials about the risks and vulnerabilities of these machines. As a result, election boards all over the United States have not established appropriate security procedures to mitigate the significant risks for errors or vote tampering. Municipalities all around the country need to beef up their voting procedures before the next election."
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Thanks, Brian, for the excellent report. I just returned from California, and what I saw there can best be described as a comedy. Admittedly, a dark comedy; it belongs in a theatre of the absurd. Will post another report tomorrow.
Bev Harris
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