NEWS: We DO NOT and CANNOT know if our votes are counted as cast. [Read substantiation for this fact below below, along with some remedies Californians must exercise.]
Seeing Red:
Why is California about to allow an election that WILL turn its political landscape red by way of redistricting maps decided by Regan-era retired judges just ONE MONTH before the mandatory voter verified paper trails go into effect? On January 1, 2006, the required paper trails will make it possible to audit for all to know whether their voting machines are accurate.
But. . . you say. . . at least the voting systems must first meet rigorous certification standards BEFORE use in our elections?
MORE BELOW THE FOLD
The Foxes are Guarding the Hen House: Our voting equipment is certified by faux independent laboratories that receive at least 1/3 of their funding by those they certify.
Further, California's antiquated Election Code 15360 remains the heart of our voting equipment checking protocol. Adopted into law in 1965 as a means to check the integrity of the earliest mechanical voting devices, it requires a 1% mandatory manual random audit, as follows:
[CURRENT] CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS CODE SECTION 15360
15360. During the official canvass of every election in
which a voting system is used, the official conducting
the election shall conduct a public manual tally of the
ballots tabulated by those devices cast in 1 percent of
the precincts chosen at random by the elections official.
If 1 percent of the precincts should be less than one
whole precinct, the tally shall be conducted in one
precinct chosen at random by the elections official.
In addition to the 1 percent count, the elections official
shall, for each race not included in the initial
group of precincts, count one additional precinct. The
manual tally shall apply only to the race not previously
counted. Additional precincts for the manual tally may be selected
at the discretion of the elections official.
Election Code 15360, the heart of election integrity, needs an emergency replacement if we're ever going to have a functioning democracy again.
Here are just some of the security gaps that this Election Code 15360 has created:
- "One percent of the precincts" for the mandatory audit to catch fraud is, according to many statisticians, inadequate to reveal fraud. Even worse, Los Angeles will spend over a million dollars to encourage early voting in the upcoming Special Election, and the Registrar's office claims that all early voting is completely exempt from the 1% audit. (Why is unverifiable voting encouraged? Why is it exempt from the Election Code safeguards?)>
- "Random" is ultimately left to the discretion of each county's election official, which is NOT random (For Example, officials have alerted precincts--BEFORE the audit--that they will be audited. Also, in San Diego County they just select the nine smallest precincts.)
- Then there's Diebold's Vote Remote system that Conny McCormack has admitted she will be using in the next election. This system some how has managed to avoid certification scrutiny by some loophole in the Election Code. Vote Remote is a signature matching scanner system that is used to authenticate signatures on absentee ballots. It can be set at high, medium and low to calibrate how close of a signature match is desired. But it obviously could have an ulterior vote spoilage use as well.
- The "Manual Tally" that serves as a check against the machine's tally has been interpreted by election officials, such as Los Angeles' Conny McCormack, to mean a MACHINE manual tally. Los Angeles just re-feeds the election data through the exact same voting system a second time, which is NOT a manual tally. In a 60 Minutes interview last year, McCormack defended her actions. She said a manual tally would likely lead to another result that would "shock" people, and we don't want another Florida debacle.
(See, http://avirubin.com/vote/60minutes.mov )
Much Ado About Nothing? Incredibly, after exploring all these holes we've hit the ultimate in the no there there:
There is NO recourse even if Election Code 15360 exposes an error. None!
Recommendations
We've come a long way from a one-step Get-Out-The-Vote (GOTV) election strategy. Expert opinions now are advising us that we must have three steps to achieve campaign success:
Phase I: The Time-Honored GOTV process.
There are no short-cuts to reminding people that we're doomed to failure if we don't show up in the poll booths. But to win, no matter how successful
this phase may be, it can no longer be relied upon as our sole strategy. In light of the security gaps exposed in Election Code 15360 we must now add two more steps, as follows:
Phase II: Election Day Protocols.
We need for poll watchers who will sign up with the county clerk's election office, in advance, to observe the election practices at the precincts. Also, need our activists to sign up as poll workers, and really--ideally--in the best of all worlds--activists should conduct well-orchrestrated surprise parallel elections in at least 20% of all precincts. Parallel elections are similar to exit polls. If they are conducted with enough care, they can serve as credible evidence of voter's intent for post-election lawsuits.
Phase III: Independent Audits.
Get-Out-the Vote must now also include counting the votes as cast. Why?
Because after researching the California Election Code, interviewing political insiders, as well as election officials, we've determined there is nothing to assure the California voter that their vote was counted as cast. The California Election Protection Network will propose legislative remedies in the coming months, but in the meantime, here are our suggestions:
- Inform paperless voting counties' voters that they must vote on paper - if they want their votes counted. Every voter is entitled to a paper ballot upon request. 17 counties in California will be voting on paperless, inauditable, voting systems.
- Every county's activists or concerned citizens must be prepared to request audits post-election pursuant to California Election Code 15621:
Following completion of the official canvass, any voter may, within FIVE DAYS beginning on the 29th day after a statewide election,file with the SECRETARY OF STATE a WRITTEN REQUEST for a recount of the votes cast for candidates for any statewide office or for or against any measure voted on statewide. . . .
3. We need to advise our "deep pockets" with vested interests in the outcome of these elections (e.g. unions) to pay for these audits in lieu of few extra television spots. I understand that the Alliance for a Better California has agreed to pay for some of these.
4 We need to inform all proposition campaigns:
NO PREMATURE CONCESSIONS. Post-election night, the Get-Out-The-Vote (GOTV) teams must stay in place to provide political cover for election audits and to continue working for the duration, as Kerry said it, ". . . until all the votes are counted." (Only this time, we'll actually do it!)
5 We need to get those vested in the outcome of the election to provide attorneys prepared to sue for violations of the Election Code, e.g. "machine" manual recounts, exempting early voting from Election Code 15360, disallowing poll watchers.