How to Steal an Election Without Breaking a Sweat-Election Reform, Fraud & Related News, Wed-1/30/08

[kpete]

How to Steal an Election Without Breaking a Sweat-Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News, Wed-1/30/08

The List: How to Steal an Election Without Breaking a Sweat

Page 1 of 2
Posted January 2008

From Abuja to Islamabad, autocratic regimes have become adept at manipulating “free and fair elections” to stay in power. Here’s how they do it—and how to stop them.

How it’s done: It’s much easier to steal an election when there are fewer checks on executive power and no legal framework for resolving disputes. When the laws are vague, election commissions are often powerless to confront a powerful central leader. “When you have a partial constitution that doesn’t lay out the details of election law properly, that’s a problem,” says Chris Hennemeyer, director of African programs at the election-monitoring group IFES, adding, “It’s a tried-and-true technique to stack the electoral commission with your cronies.”

Manipulate the media

How it’s done: In countries with little or no independent media outlets, opportunities are rife for leaders to use state-controlled media to broadcast propaganda or discredit the opposition. Crackdowns on independent media are also common in the run-up to elections.

Keep out the observers

How it’s done: In close elections, a popular technique is to identify which polling stations are likely to be swing votes and replace trained election officials with government loyalists at the last minute. If the official staff can be kept quiet for long enough, the deception won’t be discovered by the opposition until it’s too late. Another common technique is to threaten, blackmail, or discredit domestic election observers, or simply deny them access to polling stations, to give government loyalists space to do their work.

Misreport results

How it’s done: It’s not a slam dunk to cheat on the count at polling stations, since they are often monitored by international observers or civil-society groups. Unfortunately, official results are generally tabulated by officials at centralized locations away from public scrutiny, making deliberate miscounting all too easy. Another popular technique is to tabulate results from “ghost” voting stations, says Pat Merloe, director of electoral programs at the National Democratic Institute. This type of fraud can be risky. The public usually notices when officially reported results vastly differ from polling conducted prior to elections.

Foster incompetence and chaos

How it’s done: “Arguably, Africa’s foremost election thieves have been the Nigerians, world famous for their 419 scams and oil-induced corruption,” says Dave Peterson, also at NED. The trick is to create so much chaos that nobody can say for sure who really won.

more at:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4145&page=0

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[Stevepol]

1. LA Times: Battle for Election Integrity Fought and Won by Activists!

BATTLE FOR ELECTION INTEGRITY "FOUGHT AND WON BY ACTIVISTS" SAYS LA TIMES IN 2,800-WORD, 2-PART SERIES WHICH DOESN'T BOTHER TO QUOTE A SINGLE ONE OF THEM

After virtually ignoring the issue for some six straight years, our hometown newspaper, The Los Angeles Times, has run a two-part, 2,800-word "series" on concerns about voting machines, right on schedule, just in time to do absolutely no good at all before next week's upcoming Tsunami Tuesday election in the state. Waytago, LATimes!

The series reports absolutely nothing that has not already been reported over the last several years here at The BRAD BLOG, which is why the LATimes folks make the big bucks and we don't.

They do, however, include an important point at the very end of the second article, in quoting from one of the country's most notable long-time voting machine apologists, Kimball Brace:

Trying to defend electronic voting machines is becoming harder and harder," Brace said. "Election administrators see the tea leaves and recognize the battle has been fought and won by the activists."

snip . . .

And in the bargain of having "won" that battle with no money and no resources --- other than having the truth on their side from the get-go --- in the fight against those who both own the power structure, and have some $3.8 billion dollars of our own money in their pocket to use against us, how many such "activists" did the LATimes bother to quote in their two-part, 2,800-word series?

Exactly zero.

Voters don't apparently exist to the LATimes. Only "experts" who know what is best for them.

snip . . .

Bradblog Link:

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5626

[Stevepol]

2. KC: Earnhardt's "Uncounted" Shown at Unitarian Church Reviewed

This is an interesting and favorable discussion and review of one of Earnhardt's showings of the movie, this time in KC

FILMMAKER EXAMINES ELECTION FRAUD, VOTER SUPPRESSION

Earnhardt began a national tour last month, screening his documentary as the 2008 primary elections get under way. He screened the film at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, 4501 Walnut, as part of the church’s Tuesday night film series. Earnhardt next heads to Minneapolis, Minn.

“I had lots of questions about the validity of the 2004 election results,” Earnhardt said. “The tabulated results were so out of sync with the exit polls. I knew about the lack of security in paperless electronic voting – and I knew about the long lines and missing machines in Ohio.

“So, I could see there was plenty of evidence that the irregularities likely affected the outcome of the presidential race.”

Earnhardt said the mainstream media mostly stayed away from the issue, but the Internet “was alive with the new way information gets disseminated…from computer scientists, alternative journalists, bloggers and authors.”

snip . . .


Link:

http://www.kccommunitynews.com/articles/2008/01/30/wednesday_sun/news/doc479e2430ddb24930136992.txt

[Stevepol]

3. CA: Court Rejects County Election Challenge (to Debra Bowen)

Looks like the courts are not taking kindly to the court shenanigans of the elections officials trying to resist Debra Bowen's efforts to clean up the vote counting.

APPEALS COURT REJECTS COUNTY ELECTION CHALLENGE

By: North County Times (San Diego)-

An appeals court rejected a San Diego County lawsuit Tuesday seeking to overturn new election recount procedures before the Feb. 5 presidential primaries.

A trial court also rejected the lawsuit Jan. 22, ruling that California Secretary of State Debra Bowen had the authority to require hand recounts of 10 percent of precincts in close races.

Officials from Bowen's office said the new requirements were intended to improve election integrity

snip . . .

Link:

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/01/30/news/sandiego/20_47_441_29_08.txt

[Stevepol]

4. CO: Decertification of DREs is giving the Elections Clerks Fits (Too bad, so sad)

Decertification of machines has clerks
looking for answers


By Aaron Burnett
Ledger Staff Writer
January 30, 2008

LAMAR (CO)— “If you’re using an all paper ballot you’re not meeting HAVA (Help America Vote Act of 2002) compliance,” said Prowers County Clerk Dottie McCaslin. The act requires counties to provide electronic voting stations for handicapped voters said the county clerk.

McCaslin’s comments stem from a recent endorsement by Colorado Governor Bill Ritter that the upcoming 2008 election be held as an all paper ballot election. The method of the 2008 election has been up in the air since the middle of December when Secretary of State Mike Coffman decertified the electronic voting machines in all but a handful of Colorado’s 64 counties. The resulting fallout has sent state lawmakers and county clerks scurrying for an acceptable means for conducting what many believe will be one of the most widely participated in elections in recent history. McCaslin estimates a turnout of at least 75 percent of the nearly 5,000 registered voters in Prowers County and a substantial number of new voters to be added to the rolls.

snip . . .

Link:

http://www.lamardaily.com/articles/2008/01/30/news/local_news/doc47a0926169c7f442596911.txt

[Stevepol]

5. It's the Voter's Fault: The Dog Ate My Ballot and Other Urban Legends

by Lani Brown


Florida's Secretary of State, Kurt Browning kicked-off Election Day in spin-mode saying, 99% of the problems with touch screen voting machines can be traced back to people (you and me) or pollworkers.

Nothing wrong there, right? Nothing except pollworkers are YOUR team, YOUR watch, Mr. Browning. If your systems are too complex, if your procedures aren't clear, if your pollworkers aren't trained, that's not a people problem. It's your system, your problem. As for the voting machines, were they too complex to be used successfully? Was voter training required? Or did the machines malfunction? It's still your system, your problem. If you don’t know you’ve got a problem, Mr. Browning, you can’t fix it.

snip . . .

Link:

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_lani_bro_080130_it_s_the_voters__fau.htm

[Stevepol]

6. FL Still Struggling to Get Elections Right (Jeb's Legacy?)

FLORIDA STILL STRUGGLING TO GET ELECTIONS RIGHT
By the Editorial Board

As details of election problems popped up Tuesday, the Floridian tradition of complicating national elections was renewed. Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning said none of the voting problems reported to his office were anything more than "common, everyday election fare."

Well, maybe for this state.

snip . . .

The fact that many of these voting dilemmas stem from technical issues should be a red flag. With counties conducting elections in completely different ways, perhaps it would be a better idea to streamline the process and designate state employees to get the job done.

As we get closer to electing a new president, this is one Florida tradition we don't want to preserve

Link:

http://www.alligator.org/articles/2008/01/30/opinion/editorials/eddy.txt

[Stevepol]

7. FL: The Glitches Strike Again: Fearsome Plague Hits Orlando Area!

GLITCHES PLAGUE VOTING THROUGHOUT ORLANDO AREA
Ballot mix-ups, heavy turnout keep officials busy
Robert P�rez | Sentinel Staff Writer
January 30, 2008

Election Day glitches cropped up across Florida during Tuesday's presidential primaries, many of which were linked to human error.

While Democrats in Orange County complained about not being given the proper ballots by confused poll workers, voters in one South Florida precinct had long waits when a poll worker accidentally disabled a number of voting machines.

Voters in Orange also had to wait to get the results from the Supervisor of Elections' Web site, which was not updating information for about three hours after the polls closed.

SNIP . . .

lINK:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-glitches3008jan30,0,101390.story

[Stevepol]

8. NH: Don't Say They Weren't Warned, By Hari Hursti No Less!

HURSTI TESTIMONY TO NH--THE $700 RIG: BROKEN-LINK ELECTIONS

In Sept. 2007 computer security expert Harri Hursti testified to the NH legislature and Dept. of State. In this clip he talks about chain of custody issues, and we hear from LHS Associates president John Silvestro as well. LHS is New England's Diebold trafficker.

snip . . .

Silvestro, incidentally, isn't on the best of behavior while Hari testifies.

A video of the occasion at the link!

Link:

http://www.democracyfornewhampshire.com/node/view/5408

[Stevepol]

9. OH:: Election Gear Now OK with Officials

CURRENT MACHINES GET VOTE IN WOOD COUNTY
Election gear now is OK with officials

By JENNIFER FEEHAN
TOLEDO BLADE STAFF WRITER

BOWLING GREEN - Less than three years after spending nearly $1.5 million to replace punch-card voting machines with electronic, touch-screen machines, Wood County officials are hoping the state won't order them to replace the equipment - again.

"It's frustrating, and the cost is enormous to some of the counties that are worse off economically than Wood County," Commissioner Tim Brown told elections officials who met with the board yesterday.

While commissioners wanted to know what expense the county might be faced with, elections officials said it's impossible to estimate that until the state decides whether all counties will be required to switch to paper ballots and optical scanners.

Terry Burton, deputy director of the Wood County Board of Elections, said for the March 4 primary the board must provide paper ballots for any voters who do not want to use the touch-screen voting machines.

He said it will likely cost about $2,000 to print those ballots, which will have to be taken to the elections office and counted with optical scanners after the polls close.

snip . . .

In December, Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner ordered Cuyahoga County to replace its touch-screen machines with optical scanners after multiple computer software crashes delayed election results last November. She also released a state-commissioned study that raised security questions about the touch-screen machines.

"I hope there's a lot more investigation done on the next machines so people who vote know their vote counts," Commissioner Jim Carter said.

snip . . .

Link:

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080130/NEWS17/801300411