rigorousintuition.ca

Posted: **Wed Oct 26, 2005 4:16 pm**

<a href="http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/7/2005/1242">Powerful Government Accounting Office Report Confirms Key 2004 Stolen Election Findings</a> October 26, 2005 By Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman As a legal noose appears to be tightening around the Bush/Cheney/Rove inner circle, a shocking government report shows the floor under the legitimacy of their alleged election to the White House is crumbling. The latest critical confirmation of key indicators that the election of 2004 was stolen comes in an extremely powerful, penetrating report from the General Accounting Office that has gotten virtually no mainstream media coverage. The government's lead investigative agency is known for its general incorruptibility and its through, in-depth analyses. Its concurrence with assertions widely dismissed as "conspiracy theories" adds crucial new weight to the case that Team Bush has no legitimate business being in the White House. Nearly a year ago, senior Judiciary Committee Democrat John Conyers (D-MI) asked the GAO to investigate electronic voting machines as they were used during the November 2, 2004 presidential election. The request came amidst widespread complaints in Ohio and elsewhere that often shocking irregularities defined their performance. According to CNN, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee received "more than 57,000 complaints" following Bush's alleged re-election. Many such concerns were memorialized under oath in a series of sworn statements and affidavits in public hearings and investigations conducted in Ohio by the Free Press and other election protection organizations. The non-partisan GAO report has now found that, "some of [the] concerns about electronic voting machines have been realized and have caused problems with recent elections, resulting in the loss and miscount of votes." The United States is the only major democracy that allows private partisan corporations to secretly count and tabulate the votes with proprietary non-transparent software. Rev. Jesse Jackson, among others, has asserted that "public elections must not be conducted on privately-owned machines." The CEO of one of the most crucial suppliers of electronic voting machines, Warren O'Dell of Diebold, pledged before the 2004 campaign to deliver Ohio and thus the presidency to George W. Bush. Bush's official margin of victory in Ohio was just 118,775 votes out of more than 5.6 million cast. Election protection advocates argue that O'Dell's statement still stands as a clear sign of an effort, apparently successful, to steal the White House. Among other things, the GAO confirms that: 1) Some electronic voting machines "did not encrypt cast ballots or system audit logs, thus making it possible to alter them without detection." In other words, the GAO now confirms that electronic voting machines provided an open door to flip an entire vote count. More than 800,000 votes were cast in Ohio on electronic voting machines, some seven times Bush's official margin of victory. 2. "It is easy to alter a file defining how a ballot appears, making it possible for someone to vote for one candidate and actually be recorded as voting for an entirely different candidate." Numerous sworn statements and affidavits assert that this did happen in Ohio 2004. 3. "Falsifying election results without leaving any evidence of such an action by using altered memory cards" can easily be done, according to the GAO. 4. The GAO also confirms that "access to the voting network was easily compromised because not all digital recording electronic voting systems (DREs) had supervisory functions password-protected, so access to one machine provided access to the whole network." This critical finding confirms that rigging the 2004 vote did not require a "widespread conspiracy" but rather the cooperation of a very small number of operatives with the power to tap into the networked machines and thus change large numbers of votes at will. With 800,000 votes cast on electronic machines in Ohio, flipping the number needed to give Bush 118,775 could be easily done by just one programmer. 5. Access "to the voting network was also compromised by repeated use of the same user IDs combined with easily guessed passwords," says the GAO. So even relatively amateur hackers could have gained access to and altered the Ohio vote tallies. 6. "The locks protecting access to the system were easily picked and keys were simple to copy," says the GAO, meaning, again, getting into the system was an easy matter. 7. "One DRE model was shown to have been networked in such a rudimentary fashion that a power failure on one machine would cause the entire network to fail," says the GAO, re-emphasizing the fragility of the system on which the Presidency of the United States was decided. 8. "GAO identified further problems with the security protocols and background screening practices for vendor personnel," confirming still more easy access to the system. In essence, the GAO study makes it clear that no bank, grocery store or mom & pop chop shop would dare operate its business on a computer system as flimsy, fragile and easily manipulated as the one on which the 2004 election turned. The GAO findings are particularly damning when set in the context of an election run in Ohio by a Secretary of State simultaneously working as co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign. Far from what election theft skeptics have long asserted, the GAO findings confirm that the electronic network on which 800,000 Ohio votes were cast was vulnerable enough to allow a a tiny handful of operatives--or less---to turn the whole vote count using personal computers operating on relatively simple software. The GAO documentation flows alongside other crucial realities surrounding the 2004 vote count. For example: â€¢ The exit polls showed Kerry winning in Ohio, until an unexplained last minute shift gave the election to Bush. Similar definitive shifts also occurred in Iowa, Nevada and New Mexico, a virtual statistical impossibility. â€¢ A few weeks prior to the election, an unauthorized former ES&S voting machine company employee, was caught on the ballot-making machine in Auglaize County â€¢ Election officials in Mahoning County now concede that at least 18 machines visibly transferred votes for Kerry to Bush. Voters who pushed Kerry's name saw Bush's name light up, again and again, all day long. Officials claim the problems was quickly solved, but sworn statements and affidavits say otherwise. They confirm similar problems in Franklin County (Columbus). Kerry's margins in both counties were suspiciously low. â€¢ A voting machine in Mahoning County recorded a negative 25 million votes for Kerry. The problem was allegedly fixed. â€¢ In Gahanna Ward 1B, at a fundamentalist church, a so-called "electronic transfer glitch" gave Bush nearly 4000 extra votes when only 638 people voted at that polling place. The tally was allegedly corrected, but remains infamous as the "loaves and fishes" vote count. â€¢ In Franklin County, dozens of voters swore under oath that their vote for Kerry faded away on the DRE without a paper trail. â€¢ In Miami County, at 1:43am after Election Day, with the county's central tabulator reporting 100% of the vote - 19,000 more votes mysteriously arrived; 13,000 were for Bush at the same percentage as prior to the additional votes, a virtual statistical impossibility. â€¢ In Cleveland, large, entirely implausible vote totals turned up for obscure third party candidates in traditional Democratic African-American wards. Vote counts in neighboring wards showed virtually no votes for those candidates, with 90% going instead for Kerry. â€¢ Prior one of Blackwell's illegitimate "show recounts," technicians from Triad voting machine company showed up unannounced at the Hocking County Board of Elections and removed the computer hard drive. â€¢ In response to official information requests, Shelby and other counties admit to having discarded key records and equipment before any recount could take place. â€¢ In a conference call with Rev. Jackson, Attorney Cliff Arnebeck, Attorney Bob Fitrakis and others, John Kerry confirmed that he lost every precinct in New Mexico that had a touchscreen voting machine. The losses had no correlation with ethnicity, social class or traditional party affiliation---only with the fact that touchscreen machines were used. â€¢ In a public letter, Rep. Conyers has stated that "by and large, when it comes to a voting machine, the average voter is getting a lemon - the Ford Pinto of voting technology. We must demand better." But the GAO report now confirms that electronic voting machines as deployed in 2004 were in fact perfectly engineered to allow a very small number of partisans with minimal computer skills and equipment to shift enough votes to put George W. Bush back in the White House. Given the growing body of evidence, it appears increasingly clear that's exactly what happened.

Posted: **Wed Oct 26, 2005 4:49 pm**

Wonder if that has anything to do with this: <a href="http://p216.ezboard.com/frigorousintuitionfrm10.showMessage?topicID=1588.topic">p216.ezboard.com/frigorou...1588.topic</a> "Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again." Indeed.

Posted: **Wed Oct 26, 2005 5:00 pm**

You know, it took a seriously low collective level of Techological Literacy to do that. Presumably, Superstitious Awe was filling the vacuum left in its place. As for putting in measures to give voters "receipts", and other tech fixes intended to solve the inherent unreliability of digital voting- it's a red herring. Where I live in California, I've always voted using punch cards. Simply using a backing like Mylar on the paper ballots would completely solve the "hanging/dimpled chad" problem. There are other ways to address the concerns the ADA lobby than turning the henhouse over to the foxes. By being convinced that touch-screens are the only satisfactory solution for disabled voters, those people are being used. Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=robertdreed>robertdreed</A> at: 10/26/05 3:07 pm

Posted: **Wed Oct 26, 2005 5:43 pm**

The freepress fellas seem a little overamped about this report. It reads more like this to me: "There seems to have been some substantial problems with electronic voting and the integrity of the system in the 2004 elections. Here are some findings and recommendations meant for us to address these shortcomings so that we can improve our voting system in the future and remain true to our role as a beacon to democracies everywhere." --Nonpartisan Fed Administrator Gouda Cheese Product ***** <a href="http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102105Q.shtml">www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102105Q.shtml</a> GAO Report Finds Flaws in Electronic Voting Rep. Waxman led twelve members of Congress today in releasing a new GAO report that found security and reliability flaws in the electronic voting process. In a joint press release, Rep. Waxman said, "The GAO report indicates that we need to get serious and act quickly to improve the security of electronic voting machines. The report makes clear that there is a lack of transparency and accountability in electronic voting systems - from the day that contracts are signed with manufacturers to the counting of electronic votes on Election Day. State and local officials are spending a great deal of money on machines without concrete proof that they are secure and reliable." ***** Flaws? I suppose they do not mean character flaws. Well, we'll see what they do with this. On the positive side, it's better to have this report than not...it could be a start if not sentenced to death by bureaucracy, denial, apathy, media, corruption, forgetting, distraction, manipulation, spin.....

Posted: **Wed Oct 26, 2005 9:31 pm**

Unlucky Athan knew: <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Designer of verified vote system dies in unlucky accident by Holly Edwards, The Tennessean [Nashville, TN] March 14, 2004 After more than 1 million votes went uncounted in the last presidential election, Athan Gibbs Sr. devoted his life to making sure voters in future elections would know their votes mattered. The enterprising 57-year-old saw his invention of the TruVote vote-casting system as nothing less than the key to social justice and democracy in America. As family members and business partners gathered at the TruVote office yesterday morning to mourn Mr. Gibbs' death, they vowed that his dream would not die with him. Mr. Gibbs was killed about 10:30 a.m. Friday in a car crash on Interstate 65 near Eighth Avenue North as he drove from his north Nashville home to his downtown office at Tennessee State University's Business Incubation Center. Metro police said Mr. Gibbs lost control of his Chevy Blazer after he cut in front of an 18- wheeler and the two vehicles collided. The Blazer rolled several times in the southbound lanes, went over the retaining wall and came to rest on its roof on the northbound side. Gibbs was ejected, police said. Before his sudden death, friends and family said, Mr. Gibbs worked tirelessly on the TruVote system and, with backing from Microsoft Inc., was marketing his invention nationwide. "He loved God, he loved people and he loved democracy, and we're going to keep his dream going," said Mr. Gibbs' 25-year-old son, Jonathan, who worked with his father on the project. "It's more important than ever now to make sure his vision becomes a reality." Mr. Gibbs spent about three years and roughly $2 million -- including thousands of dollars from his own bank account -- to develop and market the electronic vote-casting system. TruVote allows voters to touch their candidates' names on a computer screen and receive receipts of their vote at the end of the process. They can then go to a Web site, punch in their voter validation number and make sure their vote was recorded. U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, a Democrat who represents Davidson, the eastern half of Cheatham and the western half of Wilson County in Congress, said the TruVote system was "one of the most promising technologies in the world for fixing democracies." With a federal mandate for states to review and upgrade their vote casting systems by 2006, Mr. Gibbs' invention was getting increasing attention nationwide, Cooper said. "Every once in awhile, we see a fundamental need in this country and someone comes up with a fundamental discovery to fill that need, and that's what Athan had," Cooper said. "This is a tragic loss for the entire country." Mr. Gibbs was driven by his experiences growing up in Memphis in the 1950s and '60s, when minorities were struggling to exercise their right to vote. After a U.S. Commission on Civil Rights study of the 2000 presidential election showed that votes cast by African-Americans in Florida, a decisive state, were 10 times more likely to be rejected, Mr. Gibbs knew he had to take action. His quests for democracy and social equality also were driven by his religious faith, and he served as an associate minister at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Nashville. "As an African-American clergyman, Athan was consumed by a desire for justice, equality and freedom for all people," said the Rev. Enoch Fuzz, pastor of Corinthian Missionary Baptist Church. "And, he just ran out full speed ahead and tried to accomplish that." Mr. Gibbs was an accountant and financial auditor for 30 years and started his own company, INCO Tax Service of Tennessee. He received a bachelor of business administration degree from Tennessee State University and a bachelor of theology degree from American Baptist College. In the 1970s, former U.S. Rep. Bob Clement hired Mr. Gibbs as a financial analyst when Clement headed the Tennessee Public Service Commission. The two remained close friends over the past three decades, and Clement had been serving as a business consultant for TruVote. Clement said Mr. Gibbs' energy and idealism were infectious, and he called Mr. Gibbs "one of the finest people I've met in my life." "We in the U.S. have one of the worst voting records in the world, and Athan was out to fix that," he said. "A lot of people have ideas but never carry them out. Athan was following through on his dream, and his energy level was phenomenal. I don't think he ever slept." In addition to his son, Mr. Gibbs is survived by his wife, Dorothy, and a daughter, Angela. Funeral arrangements are pending and will be handled by Lewis and Wright Funeral Home in Nashville.<hr></blockquote> <a href="http://www.unknownnews.net/030314truvote.html">www.unknownnews.net/030314truvote.html</a>

Posted: **Wed Oct 26, 2005 11:16 pm**

I agree, Gouda. I looked at the abstract of the actual report and it does seem the free press is reading a lot into this report. However, you're right, it's a start. I doubt that anything will come of this in the way of invalidating the current occupation. Unless Conyers runs with it. He's a true American hero.

Posted: **Thu Oct 27, 2005 4:58 am**

It's chiefly a nice catalogue of possible ways that the system can be manipulated, but without proof or even strong evidence that any of them were used. Frankly most of those methods apply to any voting system. You could, for instance, easily put false templates in place for butterfly books or mechanical machines, or enter false data in almost any type of vote-counting system. I live in Columbus, OH (Franklin county) and I just didn't see any of the abuses that the rest of the world claims were rife here, nor did I hear any first-hand accounts from friends or aquaintances. There were all sorts of stories on the national news about dirty-tricks squads trying to divert people to the wrong polling places, intimidation at the polls, people having to prove citizenship and residence to vote, etc., but no-one that I've talked at the time or since actually saw any of that happen. Everyone "knows" it happened, because it was so extensively reported... That being said, the new electronic voting machines are awful. They're slow and clunky, plus there's something that's just not right about the display board. In retrospect, I think it's the sheer size and lack of organization of the thing. With the old butterfly boards, you voted for one or two races at a time, then turned the page. With the mechanicals, even though you selected everyone all at once before recording your vote, the candidates were lined up in neat rows, and it was easy to see what you had chosen and make sure it was right. With the new electronic machines as used in Franklin county, you're faced with a large plastic board which has all of the races with their respective candidates before you. Each race is contained in a rectangle, and each candidate's name has a red LED beside it. Before you've chosen, each LED blinks on and off. After you've chosen, your candidate's LED burns steadily and the opponent's goes dark. It sounds like a good design, but when you're looking at it just doesn't impart information easily. In part this is because of the distraction of the blinking LEDs from the races that you've yet to choose, and in part because in order to get all the information on the board (and in large type) the boxes that mark off races aren't aligned in any sort of systematic way - they're just wherever they could make them fit. Here's an excerpt from a letter that I wrote to a British friend that afternoon: Well, I had to stand in line two and a half hours to vote. Fortunately it was a large building, and we were inside out of the rain most of the time. I've never had to wait more than ten or fifteen minutes before. In a way it makes the whole thing more memorable. I enjoy the actual voting process - standing in line with one's fellow citizens makes it more meaningful. I was the 216th from my precinct to vote, and that was at about 12:30, after the polls had been open since 7:30am. They're processing about 43 voters an hour with three machines. Considering that the line closes at 7:30pm, and there are about 1300 voters in my precinct, that's about 40% turnout if it keeps up at that rate all day. That seems frightfully low to me. I'm guessing there's going to be a huge surge at 5pm, and they'll be voting all night. We used [the new] voting machines, which I suppose are reasonably trustworthy. I'd much rather have the old punchcards or Scantron cards. I've never been able to see much merit in the argument that these are unfair because some people are too stupid or careless to use them properly. I'd a lot rather have a paper trail. The new machines are much slower than the old cardpunch stations. Punching a card used to take about two to three minutes, and voting with the machine takes around four and a half. I'm not sure why that is - it took me that long too, though. In theory it should be faster, but between the maintenance that the workers have to do between voters (check some telltale on the back of the machine, record the value, and slot your 'ticket' on the side) and the display itself (not really confusing, per se, but you can't just scan it and punch like you could the butterfly books) it just takes longer.  -Sepka the Space Weasel

Posted: **Thu Oct 27, 2005 10:29 pm**

Yeah, Democracy in action, no? Like people just suddenly swerve in front of 18 wheelers. Sure! I do it all the time!

rigorousintuition.ca

GAO Report Confirms Key 2004 Stolen Election Findings

GAO Report Confirms Key 2004 Stolen Election Findings

Re: GAO Report Confirms Key 2004 Stolen Election Findings

US Congress mandating electronic computer voting in 2003

Re: US Congress mandating electronic computer voting in 2003

voting reform is dangerous

Overamped

Re: Overamped

damn, Veritas! Hadn't heard about that