Volusia County has always been the home of irregular voting problems. It was here in 2000 where the whole voting fiasco began. Al Gore mysteriously lost 16k votes and George Bush gained 3k. There is one woman who has tirelessly worked to ensure that all votes get counted correctly not only here, but all over the Country. That woman is Susan Pynchon and she is running for Supervisor of Elections in Volusia County.
Here is a clip from the documentary "Hacking Democracy", that she was featured in.
Hacking Democracy
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Some background information on Susan:
Monitored, researched, and wrote reports on various elections and election problems around Florida, including special reports on elections in Volusia County, Flagler County, and Sarasota County. Made numerous trips to Tallahassee to speak on election-related issues before the Ethics and Elections Committees of the Florida House and Senate; advocated for verifiable paper-ballot elections in Washington D.C. and Tallahassee; studied election law and election "best practices." Personally initiated and sponsored Florida’s first statewide election reform conference, which has become an annual event. Gave talks to community organizations throughout Florida to help educate Floridians about the problems with electronic voting, partisan election administration, and other reform issues. Co-founded the Florida Voters Coalition; served as a member of the Election Protection Coalition; and served on the Advisory Board of VoteTrustUSA. Interviewed frequently by local, state, and national news media on election-related issues, including CNN, the Wall Street Journal, the Daytona Beach News Journal, the DeLand Beacon, and the Orlando Sentinel; appeared in the Emmy-nominated documentary Hacking Democracy. Forged cooperative relationships with established civil rights organizations to monitor proposed legislation on the state and national level and to advocate for needed election reforms. Initiated the preservation of Florida election records, which would otherwise have been destroyed, for the 2000, 2004 and 2006 elections so that historians and researchers will forevermore have access to those records.
Recipient of the 2008 Nelson Poynter Civil Liberties Award, Florida ACLU The Nelson Poynter Civil Liberties Award has been presented for 29 consecutive years to an individual or group of individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of civil liberties. The award is named for the former crusading editor of the St. Petersburg Times, who was never afraid to stand up for unpopular causes. He fought racial segregation, defended the right of a free press, exposed corruption in government and supported the rights of the elderly and the poor. He also led the fight for the Sunshine Law, opening Florida’s government to public scrutiny and accountability. The first recipient of the Nelson Poynter Civil Liberties Award was the late Florida Governor LeRoy Collins in 1978, who was recognized for his courageous leadership in upholding racial justice and opposing the death penalty. Other recipients have included Florida Supreme Court Justice Gerald Kogan; Florida Bar Association President Chesterfield Smith; Immigrant Rights Attorney Cheryl Little; and, in 2007, author and columnist Carl Hiaasen.Together with three colleagues, I received the 2008 Nelson Poynter Civil Liberties award for "defending voting rights in Florida," which included rallying diverse organizations across Florida in the successful push for statewide implementation of verifiable paper ballot voting systems in 2007 and other election reforms.
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Here are some election problems from the past:
2004-2008 fifty-two memory card failures in 2004 and dozens of failures since-- as exposed by Florida Fair Elections Coalition and by the Daytona Beach News Journal-- were never investigated by the Volusia County Elections Office or by the Secretary of State. Memory cards are the "electronic ballot boxes" that hold the vote totals and memory card failures can lead to serious questions about election results. All memory cards were replaced in 2006 but have continued to fail at an unacceptable rate. Memory card failures must be investigated and the vendor must be held accountable.
2005-2008 our Assistant Supervisors of Elections, an Operations Manager and other personnel have either been fired or have resigned in less than four years, under the administration of the current Supervisor. The hiring and retention of knowledgeable staff is important for ensuring reliable, accurate elections.
2005 An Edgewater voter was allowed to vote twice, and the current Supervisor advised discarding a legitimate ballot, selected at random, to compensate for the double-voting of the one voter. During early voting, at the New Smyrna Beach Library early voting site, the Edgewater voter was accidentally given and voted a New Smyrna Beach ballot, which was irretrievable after it had been deposited into the voting machine. He later demanded, and was given, an Edgewater ballot, which was retained as a provisional ballot. Subsequently, as approved by the current Supervisor, the man’s provisional ballot was counted with the Edgewater ballots. At the same time, a New Smyrna Beach ballot—the ballot of a legitimate voter—was randomly selected and discarded. No voter should ever be allowed to vote twice under any circumstance. The man’s provisional ballot should have been discarded, not the ballot of a legitimate voter. A legitimate ballot should never be discarded for any reason. Also, procedures should be in place to prevent voters from receiving the wrong ballot to begin with.
2005 The current Supervisor advised City Clerks to stop two municipal Primary Elections in the middle of early voting, causing hardship for some candidates and confusion among voters. In the Deltona mayor’s race, for example, total voter turnout decreased from about 100 voters per day to only 5-10 voters per day after the mayor’s race was cancelled because voters thought the entire election for all races had been cancelled. The drop in voter turnout ended up affecting candidates in all the other races, which had not been cancelled. A similar situation occurred in the Daytona Beach City Council race. No election for any race should ever be cancelled once it has begun.
2005 The current Supervisor fought for the purchase of insecure, error-prone touchscreen voting machines and threatened at least one county councilor with "personal financial ruin" when he did not agree to the purchase. Personal threats have no place in election administration.
2005 The current Supervisor started a written and verbal smear campaign against Judge Michael McDermott after he spoke in favor of paper ballots at a Volusia County Council meeting. She was forced to issue a public apology. Smear campaigns have no place in election administration.
2006 Elections staff, under the leadership of the current Supervisor, urged voters to vote on touchscreen voting machines and berated voters who wanted to vote on paper ballots. Elections personnel should not attempt to influence voters in a polling place.
2006 The current Supervisor fired a poll-worker because the poll worker said she preferred to vote on paper ballots. At the time she made her comment, the 76-year-old poll worker was off duty and was waiting in line to vote at her polling place. Citizens have the right to express their opinions and to choose to vote on verifiable paper ballots.
2006 Memory cards holding two weeks of vote totals from the Deltona and Daytona Beach early voting sites were erased and no "results tapes" were ever produced. The ballots were rescanned in secret by the supervisor of elections and new results tapes were produced. To ensure that election results have not been altered, memory cards should never be erased before certification of an election. The original results tape, which is part of the audit record, should always be compared to final the results tape produced after ballots are rescanned to ensure that no ballot tampering has occurred in the interim.
2006
Voted ballots were transported in manila envelopes.
Ballots should always be transported in special, secure ballot containers that are locked and sealed to prevent access to those ballots.
2004-2008 Voted absentee ballots are kept in open containers in the vault before those ballots have been counted. Voted ballots should always be stored in special, secure ballot containers that are locked and sealed to prevent access to those ballots. Some counties employ a double-lock system requiring two separate keys or access cards for entry to the vault, ensuring that one person alone never has access. At the very least, absentee ballots should be stored in locked containers and protected with numbered seals—and the seal numbers should be recorded to prevent access to those ballots.
2006 Manila envelopes, holding voted ballots, were opened by elections staff on election night to "check" the number of ballots against the number of voters who voted in each polling place. This was not done in front of the Canvassing Board. This "check" is supposed to be done by poll workers at the polling places. Ballot containers should remain locked and sealed unless required to be opened for a rescan, recount, audit, ballot inspection, or by court order—and should only be opened in public in front of the Canvassing Board.
2006 Paper "results tapes" – the only paper record of vote totals – were missing from three precincts and were printed by the current Supervisor sixteen days after the election. Results tapes should be reconciled with election results before certification of the election.
2006 The main entrance to the City Island Library early voting site in Daytona Beach was barricaded due to a weekend art festival. Local events should always be checked to ensure they do not interfere with access to polling places.
2006 The City Island Library early voting site in Daytona Beach experienced a 4-hour power loss on a Saturday. Voters were turned away during the power outage and were prevented from voting. One advantage of paper ballots is that voters should be able to continue voting even when machines are down. Voters should never be prevented from voting when paper ballots are available.
2006 All the early-voted ballots from the Deltona Library early voting site and from the City Island early voting site in Daytona Beach were rescanned in private, not in front of the Canvassing Board, without obtaining original vote totals from either site. The memory cards from both sites were erased by the current Supervisor before the election was certified and no original "results tapes" from either site were produced until after the ballots were rescanned in private. Original "results tapes" should always be produced so that they can be compared to the results tapes produced during rescanning. Memory cards should never be erased prior to certification of an election. Ballots should always be rescanned in public, in front of the Canvassing Board, and affected candidates should be notified.
2008 political party representatives were allowed to observe in the central computer room in other counties but were barred from observing in Volusia County. Elections belong to the people, not to election administrators and vendors. Every aspect of an election, including vote counting and tabulating, should be observable by citizens as stated in Florida law. There is no good reason to prevent observation in the central computer room other than to cover up the problems that invariably occur there.
2006-2008 thousands of early-voted ballots from the City Island early voting site in Daytona Beach were rescanned following the end of early voting in 2006, 2007, and again in the Presidential Preference Primary in 2008. The original totals were never produced—only the rescanned totals. Original totals should always be compared to rescanned totals, as part of a complete audit record and to ensure that no ballot alterations have occurred in the days between the end of early voting and the time of the rescan.
2008 (Presidential Preference Primary) Barack Obama’s name was misspelled as "Barak" on 2,500 absentee ballots mailed to voters. No comment needed.
2005-2008 our Assistant Supervisors of Elections have been fired or have resigned in less than four years, under the administration of the current Supervisor. An Operations Manager and other personnel were either fired or resigned. The hiring and retention of knowledgeable staff is important for ensuring reliable, accurate elections.
2007 The current Supervisor tried to prevent tours, by groups of elementary school children, of the historic courthouse (where the elections office is housed), citing security concerns and stating that these tours are too noisy and interrupt the business of the elections office. The tours were allowed to continue after intervention by the Chair of the County Council. The elections staff is there to serve the public and all citizens should feel welcome there at any time. The historic courthouse is an important part of Volusia County’s history and school children should have access to it as part of their heritage. There are serious security concerns in the elections office, but tours by elementary school children are not one of them. When elected, I will not only welcome tours by school children but will work with the schools to expand the program to allow those students to cast ballots in a "mock election," educating our voters of the future.
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