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Departments Election Issues Ohio's Diebold Debacle: New machines call election results into question by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman November 24, 2005 Massive Election Day irregularities are emerging in reports from all over Ohio after the introduction of Diebold's electronic voting in nearly half of the Buckeye State’s counties. A recently released report by the non-partisan General Accountability Office warned of such problems with electronic voting machines. E-voting machine disasters Prior to the 2005 election, electronic voting machines from Diebold and other Republican voting machine manufacturers were newly installed in 41 of Ohio’s 88 counties. The Dayton Daily News reported that in Montgomery County, for example, “Some machines began registering votes for the wrong item when voters touched the screen correctly. Those machines had lost their calibration during shipping or installation and had to be recalibrated. . . .” Steve Harsman, the Director of the Montgomery County Board of Elections (BOE), told the Daily News that the recalibration could be done on site, but poll workers had never performed the task before. The city of Carlisle, Ohio announced on November 22 that it is contesting the results of the November 8 general election as a result of Montgomery County vote counting problems. Carlisle Mayor Jerry Ellender told the Middletown Journal that the count on the city’s continuing $3.8 million replacement fire levy is invalid “since they are not sure if Carlisle voters received the right ballots on the new electronic voting machines.” Harsman, according to the Journal, said, “poll workers incorrectly encoded voter cards that are used to bring up the ballots on the electronic machines in precincts in Germantown and Carlisle.” At least 225 votes were registered for the fire levy in precincts with only 148 registered voters, according to the Journal. In addition, 187 voting machine memory cards were lost for most of election night in Montgomery County, according to the Dayton Daily News. In Lucas County, election results appeared more than 13 hours after the close of polls. The Toledo Blade cited “‘frightened’ poll workers,” intimidated by the new “touch-screen voting machines.” The Blade found that despite an $87,568 federal grant to the Lucas County Board of Elections for “voter education and poll worker training . . .” only $1,718.65 was spent from the grant. The Blade also reported that ten days after the 2005 election, “Fourteen touch-screen voting machines have sat unattended in the central hallway at the University of Toledo Scott Park Campus.” The GAO report warned that touch-screen machines are easily hacked and should be kept secure at all times. In Miami County, the Board of Elections fired the Deputy Director, Diane Miley, following a 20-minute closed-door session reviewing the November 8, 2005 general election. The Free Press had reported that in the 2004 presidential election, Miami County was cited in the seminal Moss v. Bush election challenge case. The county was specifically cited for an early morning influx of 19,000 additional votes, mostly for Bush, after 100% of the vote had been reported. The AP reported additional irregularities in the 2005 election in Ohio. In Wood County, election results were not posted until 6:23 a.m. after poll workers at four polling places accidentally selected the wrong option on voting machines preventing the machine memory cards from being automatically uploaded, according to the Board of Elections Deputy Director Debbie Hazard. In five counties – Brown, Crawford, Jackson, Jefferson and Marion – using Diebold machines, there were problems with the counting of absentee ballots as a result of “the width of the ballot,” the AP reported. In Scioto County, the vote count was not finished until 4:30 a.m.. Board of Elections Director Steve Mowery informed the Portsmouth Daily Times that, as a result of machines undergoing insufficient testing and absentee problems, things went “poorly.” Many counties used “roving employees” assigned to pick up memory cards from voting machines. In Lucas County, these “rovers” traveled “to multiple locations before delivering the cards to the election office at Governmental Center.” The polls closed at 7:30 p.m. but, “The final memory cards were delivered to the Board of Elections office just before midnight,” according to WTOL Channel 11 News, Toledo. Toledo’s WTOL Channel 11 News posed the simple question: “Did the delay in returning memory cards to the election office open the door to possible vote fraud?” Amidst these massive glitches, Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, who personally negotiated the deal for the Diebold machines that he called the “best in the nation,” insisted through his spokesperson Carlo LaParo that “The new touch-screen systems went well.” Odd results for election reform initiatives The Reform Ohio Now (RON) campaign saw polls throughout the state showing two of its four election reform to be passing easily. Both the Columbus Dispatch and University of Akron Bliss Institute polls predicted victories for Issue 2 and Issue 3, only to see them go down to sudden and statistically unexplainable defeat. Issue 2 allowed for early voting in Ohio and Issue 3 reduced the amount of money an individual can give a candidate from $10,000 to $2,000. Both were predicted to pass with 59% and 61% of the vote, respectively. The Bliss Institute of Applied Politics’ survey was completed on October 20 at the University of Akron Survey Research Center, and found that Issue 2 seemed likely to win approval with more than three-fifths of likely voters. The Dispatch mail-in poll was completed on Thursday Nov. 3, just prior to Election Day. The Dispatch poll is so accurate, that at least two academic studies have been published about it in the Public Opinion Quarterly (POQ). The first paper documents that the Dispatch poll between 1980-1984 was far more accurate than telephone polling. The study showed the Dispatch error rate at only 1.6 percentage points versus phone error rates of 5%. A companion study published in POQ in 2000 dealt specifically with the question of statewide referenda. A quote from the study: "The average error for the Dispatch forecast of these referenda was 5.4 percentage points, compared to 7.2 percentage points for the telephone surveys." The academic study concluded that the Dispatch's mail survey outperformed telephone surveys for both referenda and candidate's races. The fact that the Dispatch was nearly 30 points off in predicting the "YES" vote on Issue 3 should raise concerns. Dispatch Associate Publisher Mike Curtin shrugged off the worst polling performance since the infamous Literary Digest predicted that Alf Landon would beat FDR in 1936. In an email obtained by the Free Press, Curtin told California voting rights activist Sheri Myers, “There is no evidence of any irregularities in Ohio’s 2005 voting results.” Curtin, according to election attorney Cliff Arnebeck, had also dismissed anyone who raises issues about Ohio’s 2004 presidential election results as “conspiracy theorists.” Curtin co-authored the scholarly papers on the Dispatch’s legendary polling accuracy. Editorially, the Dispatch has not endorsed a Democratic presidential candidate since Woodrow Wilson in 1916. Curtin pleaded with the voting rights activists, “Please don’t buy into the conspiracy theories without any shred of evidence.” Curtin did not deal with the specifics about how the polling, which he was so proud of, was up to 40 points off on certain issues for the first time ever. In another email explaining the unprecedented Dispatch polling debacle, Dispatch Editor Darrel Rowland told a Tribune Media Services columnist that, “I also can’t imagine voting technology is to blame, when both Democrats and Republicans are involved in every crucial step of the way.” Under oath testimony at public hearings sponsored by the Free Press after the 2004 presidential election revealed that election workers admit that they have little or no knowledge of how e-voting technology works and are totally reliant on private vendors for vote counting inside the “black box.” Ohio’s other major newspapers routinely suggest what Rowland “can’t imagine.” Rowland did note that despite the Dispatch’s recent embracing of its unprecedented incompetence at polling that, “Over the years we have found that the people who return our mail poll are likely voters – the holy grail in political polls. Our track record in gauging public opinion in this state regarded as a national political bellwether is unparalleled. Don McTigue, the attorney for RON, told the Free Press that Blackwell had issued a ruling barring RON volunteers from the county vote counting rooms on election eve. McTigue and the RON volunteers had filled out a request form to view the counting eleven days prior to Election Day, but Blackwell had added a new form to verify which group was representing the issues. This new form was not filled out, McTigue admits. Matt Damschroder, the Franklin County Board of Elections Director, allowed the RON observers in anyway, despite their being barred from the vote counting rooms in other counties. This is the second straight election in which the polling organizations were spectacularly wrong in Ohio. In the 2004 election, the media consortium exit polls, as well as the Harris and Zogby polls, all declared Kerry the winner on Election Day. Democracy in jeopardy One of the first times electronic voting machines were used, in the 1988 New Hampshire presidential primary, former CIA director George Herbert Walker Bush pulled off a stunning and unpredicted upset. The last poll before that primary showed Senator Bob Dole winning with 8 percentage points. Bush won by 9 points, a startling 17-point shift. Bush’s e-voting victory allowed him to claim the White House and paved the way for his son to become the United States’ chief executive. Diebold electronic voting machines use non-transparent, proprietary software to count the votes. Diebold’s CEO Wally O’Dell is one of President Bush’s major donors and fundraisers. Election Day news coverage from the 41 counties that adopted Diebold touch-screen machines makes it clear that poll worker ignorance about how to use the high-tech equipment and machine glitches were widespread problems in 2005. Diebold technicians in many areas were key in producing the final vote results. Use of e-voting machines has resulted in two elections with improbable results in Ohio, with potentially catastrophic outcomes for American democracy – especially if they are ignored. -- Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman are co-authors of HOW THE GOP STOLE AMERICA’S 2004 ELECTION & IS RIGGING 2008, available at www.freepress.org and at www.harveywasserman.com, and, with Steve Rosenfeld, of WHAT HAPPENED IN OHIO?, to be published by the New Press in 2006. Email this article to a friend |
Don't forget to check out articles from 2007 and 2008
"An open letter to the Election Assistance Commission"
December 25, 2005
John Gideon, Executive Director of VotersUnite.Org and Information Manager for VoteTrustUSA.Org
"Diebold hack proven in county test!"
December 17, 2005
Glenn Yeagley
"Diebold Inc. in a tailspin after resignation of CEO and filing of a class action fraud lawsuit"
December 17, 2005
VelvetRevolution.us
"Orr thinks machines make voting simpler, more secure "
December 17, 2005
Mario Bartoletti
"Diebold "hack test" - Sec. State / Black Box Lawyer square off"
December 10, 2005
Black Box Voting
"With new legislation, Ohio Republicans plan holiday burial for American Democracy"
December 6, 2005
Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman
"Important daily voting news"
December 4, 2005
John Gideon
"Poll shock"
November 24, 2005
Robert C. Koehler, Tribune Media Services
"Ohio's Diebold Debacle: New machines call election results into question"
November 24, 2005
Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman
"Diebold attempts to evade election transparency laws"
November 20, 2005
Matt Zimmerman
"Supreme Court stabs another GOP knife into US democracy by upholding ex-felon vote ban"
November 16, 2005
Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman
"Has American Democracy died an electronic death in Ohio 2005's referenda defeats?"
November 11, 2005
Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman
"What John Kerry definitely said about 2004’s stolen election and why it's killing American democracy"
November 10, 2005
Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman
"Scrap the "secret" ballot - return to open voting"
November 5, 2005
Lynn Landes
"Clarification of NEDA's withdrawal of Ohio exit poll paper"
November 5, 2005
Kathy Dopp
"Clarification of NEDA's withdrawal of Ohio exit poll paper"
November 3, 2005
Kathy Dopp, National Election Data Archive
"Watergate-style money laundering indictments stoke Ohio's stolen election fires"
October 28, 2005
Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman
"Powerful Government Accountability Office report confirms key 2004 stolen election findings"
October 26, 2005
Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman
"Did you erase your own vote?"
October 25, 2005
Warren Stewart, Director of Legislative Issues and Policy, www.VoteTrustUSA.org
"Why can't the left face the Stolen Elections of 2004 & 2008?"
October 18, 2005
Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman
"Carter/Baker Report can't face how the GOP stole America's 2004 election & is rigging 2008"
September 20, 2005
Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman
"Two Steps Forward, One Step Back"
September 20, 2005
Warren Stewart, Director of Legislative Issues and Policy, VoteTrustUSA
"FEMA Chief Brown Paid Millions in False Claims to Help Bush Win Fla. Votes"
September 19, 2005
Jason Leopold
"Ohio recount lawsuit set for trial; election workers indicted"
September 4, 2005
Blair Bobier
"Ohio Governor's ethics violations expose money trail to stolen 2004 election"
August 30, 2005
Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman
"Diebold's failure in California"
August 7, 2005
John Gideon, Information Manager, www.VotersUnite.Org and www.VoteTrustUSA.Org
"Did the GOP steal another Ohio Election?"
August 5, 2005
Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman
"Conyers-Kaptur seek special counsel for Noe probe"
August 4, 2005
John Conyers, Jr. and Marcy Kaptur
"Dramatic new charges deepen link between Ohio's "Coingate," Voinovich mob connections, and the theft of the 2004 election"
July 29, 2005
Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman
"None dare call it stolen - Ohio, the election, and America's servile press"
July 24, 2005
Mark Crispin Miller, summarized by Mary Anne Saucier, Columbus, Ohio
"Civic Engagement and the Restoration of Community from a voter activist’s view"
July 19, 2005
Terri Zins
"My report from Hocking County, July 5, 2005: An update on Sherole Eaton's unfolding Story"
July 7, 2005
Victoria Parks, Ohio Backbone Campaign
"Handbook for Ohio Voter Activists, Version 2.0"
July 7, 2005
Various activists
"Direct testimony: Presented to Election Assessment Hearing"
July 4, 2005
Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D.
"Log Cabin Republicans in Ohio"
July 4, 2005
Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D.
"With a limp election theft report, Dems prove why they're unworthy"
June 28, 2005
Harvey Wasserman and Bob Fitrakis
"Voting problems and uncounted votes in Lucas County, Ohio"
June 28, 2005
Justine Smith
"The DNC 2004 Election Report: An indictment of incompetence"
June 25, 2005
Steven Rosenfeld and Bob Fitrakis
"Corporate control of the election process"
June 22, 2005
John Gideon
"Introduction: Did George W. Bush steal America's 2004 election?"
June 16, 2005
Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman
"Voter Confidence Committee Calls For Rejection of CA Special Election"
June 16, 2005
Dave Berman
"Activists from 25 states lobby for paper ballots on June 9 and 10"
June 10, 2005
VoteTrustUSA.org
"Fear of riffraff"
June 10, 2005
Robert C. Koehler, Tribune Media Services
"Electoral Politics and the War: Lessons from 2004 and What the Anti-War Movement Should do in 2006"
June 8, 2005
Kevin Zeese
"Optical scan machines hacked in Florida"
June 2, 2005
Black Box Voting
"Does ES&S really want to sell the Automark machines?"
May 28, 2005
John Gideon
"Attack on election board whistleblower and leaked Blackwell threats re-fire Ohio's election theft scandal"
May 23, 2005
Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman
"Franklin County, Ohio Election Procedures – April and May 2005"
May 6, 2005
Paddy Shaffer
"Carter Gets It – But Will His Electoral Commission?"
April 24, 2005
Kevin Zeese and Linda Schade
"Voter Perceptions and Political Deceptions: Federal, Ohio and Knox"
April 24, 2005
Mike Swinford
"Electoral reform groups call for James Baker's resignation from electoral reform commission"
April 17, 2005
Ilene Proctor
"National Conference on Election Reform Opens with Civil Rights Panel"
April 13, 2005
Abigail Thorton
"View from Another Planet"
April 13, 2005
Josh Mitteldorf
"Democrats! Paper “Trails” Aren’t Good Enough. Count The Damn Ballots!"
April 12, 2005
Lynn Landes
"Democrats, Paper ‘Trails’ Aren’t Good Enough; Count The Damn Ballots!"
April 1, 2005
Lynn Landes, Online Journal Contributing Writer
"Scientific Analysis Suggests Presidential Vote Counts May Have Been Altered"
March 30, 2005
US Vote Counts
"As Blackwell Says, Ohio’s in 2004 was a National Model"
March 24, 2005
Steve Rosenfeld, Bob Fitrakis, and Harvey Wasserman
"Understanding the difference between paper ballots and paper audit trails"
March 20, 2005
Gary Beckwith
"Save Our Democracy"
March 16, 2005
John Irwin
"Republicans maneuvering to get Voting Rights Act killed"
March 10, 2005
Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.
"Legal filing highlights Blackwell's hypocrisy in Ohio recount case"
March 7, 2005
Blair Bobier
"Selma 40 Years Later"
March 6, 2005
Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.
"Exit Poll Madness - Analyst Steve Freeman & Company Offer False Choice"
March 4, 2005
Lynn Landes
"Libertarians To Testify in Ohio House: Modernize Ohio's Election Laws"
March 3, 2005
Robert Butler
"The New Voting Rights Movement Begins Here Today"
March 2, 2005
Steven Rosenfeld
"Voting in America"
February 28, 2005
Bob Babson
"The Mighty Texas Strike Force"
February 28, 2005
Nick Mottern - Documentary News Service
"Blackwell presidential election sanctions briefs"
February 22, 2005
Various individuals
"Representative Conyers and others file amicus brief in Ohio Supreme Court"
February 17, 2005
Dena Graziano
"Congresswoman Tubbs Jones Outraged at Blackwell's Failure to Appear During House Administration Hearing"
February 12, 2005
Office of Rep. Tubbs Jones
"Ohio Attorney-General's attack on election protection attorneys draws mountain of documentation on state's stolen election, including new study on exit polls"
February 3, 2005
Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman
"Prominent Statisticians Refute 'Explanation' of 2004 U.S. Exit Poll Discrepancies in New Edison/Mitofsky Report and Urge Investigation of U.S. Presidential Election Results"
January 31, 2005
Bruce O'Dell
"The last man to concede..."
January 29, 2005
Sheila Samples
"Report on Washington DC, January 6, 2005"
January 25, 2005
Avram Friedman
"Arkansas in 2004: Did Bush Really Win?"
January 24, 2005
Max Standridge
"New links"
January 23, 2005
Free Press staff
"Voting Problems and Uncounted Votes in Lucas County, Ohio"
January 23, 2005
Justine Smith
"Plan B: Parallel Elections & Signed Ballots"
January 20, 2005
Lynn Landes
"Open Letter to Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro from Representative John Conyers, Jr."
January 20, 2005
Representative John Conyers, Jr.
"Open Letter to Warren Mitofsky and Larry Rosin from Representative John Conyers, Jr."
January 20, 2005
Representative John Conyers, Jr.
"Ohio's GOP Attorney General launches revenge attack on Election Protection legal team"
January 19, 2005
Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman
"What are they hiding in New Mexico?"
January 18, 2005
Warren Stewart, National Ballot Integrity Project
"In the Shadow of Dr. King, counting the vote remains a civil rights issue"
January 17, 2005
Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman
"Did the “Liberal Media” Get the 2004 Election All Wrong?
"
January 16, 2005
Gene C. Gerard
"'COUNT EVERY VOTE. EVERY VOTE COUNTS'"
January 16, 2005
Mary Anne Saucier
"Moss v. Bush moves on and movement continues"
January 13, 2005
Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman
"Rally Continues Drive for Democracy"
January 9, 2005
Mark Huntress
"Estimated vote count in Ohio"
January 8, 2005
Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D.
"January 6 Washington, D.C. rally report"
January 8, 2005
Nick Mottern
"Together, we moved three mountains"
January 8, 2005
Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman
"What the election challenge means"
January 8, 2005
David Swanson, ILCA
"Progressive Democrats lead historic voting rights protest as Congress ratifies flawed 2004 Electoral College tally"
January 7, 2005
Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman
"Arnebeck letter to Congress re Presidential Electoral Challenge"
January 6, 2005
Clifford O. Arnebeck, Jr.
"Senator Barbara Boxer, D-CA and Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-OH contested the election"
January 6, 2005
Free Press staff
"The "Crime of November 2": The human side of how Bush stole Ohio, and why Congress must investigate rather than ratify the Electoral College (Part Two of Two)"
January 5, 2005
Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman
"Status Report of the House Judiciary Committee Democratic Staff"
January 5, 2005
U.S. Rep. John Conyers and staff
"Seven key reasons why the vote must be challenged at the electoral college"
January 3, 2005
Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rainbow/PUSH Coalition
"Ten preliminary reasons why the Bush vote does not compute, and why Congress must investigate rather than certify the Electoral College (Part One of Two)"
January 3, 2005
Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman
"Verified election contest petitions and documents in Ohio Supreme Court "
January 2, 2005
The undersigned
"Distribution of voting machines by county in Ohio"
January 1, 2005
Andy Shifflette
"Did We Bounce An Election?"
January 1, 2005
Warren Stewart, votersunite.org
"Presidential election congressional hearing transcript"
January 1, 2005
Congresspeople Waters, Tubbs-Jones and Conyers and others
Selected articles from 2004
"Ohio's official non-recount ends amidst new evidence of fraud, theft and judicial contempt mirrored in New Mexico"
December 31, 2004
"Impossible Phantom Votes in New Mexico
"
December 30, 2004
"The 2004 Presidential Election: Who Won The Popular Vote? An Examination of the Comparative Validity of Exit Poll and Vote Count Data"
December 29, 2004
"Ohio GOP election officials ducking notices of deposition as Kerry enters stolen vote fray"
December 28, 2004
"Another third rate burglary"
December 25, 2004
"Hacking the vote in Miami County"
December 25, 2004
"Update from the Ohio Frontlines"
December 24, 2004
"Lawsuit Before the Ohio Supreme Court"
December 24, 2004
"Kerry votes switched to Bush and ballots pre-punched for Bush"
December 24, 2004
"Uncounted votes in Cuyahoga County"
December 24, 2004
"GAO report documents how easy it is to hack the vote"
November 15, 2005
"J30 Election Reform Coalition"
March 21, 2005
"The Un-mighty New Hampshire Jam Force"
March 21, 2005
"Petro sanctions democracy"
March 21, 2005
"Progressives helped concede election by conceding the moral high ground"
March 21, 2005
"We will not concede, or get over it, but we shall overcome"
January 23, 2005
"From Selma to Palm Beach to Columbus"
January 23, 2005
"Movement Heroes"
January 23, 2005
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