READ GROCERY STORE TALLY
& GO DIRECTLY TO JAIL!
This is America? No doubt you heard it on the 6:00 p.m. news, or would have liked to:
Yesterday a man at a San Diego grocery store was indignant that the cash register monitor was turned so that he couldn't see it. He merely wanted to see how much he was charged for his groceries. Sounds mundane, but wait. . . .
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This was not the first time. He had written to the grocery store chain's ownership, as well as the grocery store manager numerous times before; yet, yesterday he arrived again to discover that this store--the only store in his entire neighborhood--had refused to comply. Despite the series of reasonable complaints, the store had made absolutely no attempt to remedy the situation. Still sounds mundane, but wait. . . .
The remedy would be so simple, just turn the monitor slightly so that he could see how much he was being charged for each item. This was even more aggravating because this store has a policy of not providing receipts. Outrageous but true. You might ask, Is that even legal?
Next, the man snapped. He could stand this ridiculous situation no longer. He jumped behind the counter and so that he might adjust the monitor so that both he and the cashier could view it. So simple.
So, the story is over and they all lived happily ever after?
No, there is a problem: The man is a wild-eyed conspiracist. He thinks the grocery store chain might have reasons why they don't want consumers to see the monitor or give receipts, which is ridiculous because the store says they have checked their equipment and it is fine. Also, the store has publicly announced that they are honest and that there is no reason to question their procedures.
Despite these good faith statements of the store, the man continued to believe that the grocery store might be stealing from the consumers. In fact the man exclaimed, "Why are the store's transactions a secret if there's no wrongdoing?"
The store management responded by having the crazed lunatic man promptly charged with a felony. The bail was set at $10,000.
This is America.
P.S. I lied a bit to make a point in this story. It wasn't a grocery store--it was a voting precinct in San Diego. We're not talking about one man's dispute with his grocery store, we're talking about our voting rights and OUR democracy.
But, just in case: If you feel like the wild-eyed lunatic man might have had a point, check out the real story below:
VIEWING THE DIEBOLD VOTE-TALLYING SCREEN PROHIBITED
Update - Tabulation results appear odd for July 26 election
Jim March, a member of the Black Box Voting board of directors, was arrested Tuesday evening for trying to observe the Diebold central tabulator (vote tallying machine) as the votes were being counted in San Diego's mayoral election (July 26).
According to Jim Hamilton, an elections integrity advocate from San Diego, he and March visited the office of the registrar of elections earlier in the day. During this visit, March made two requests, which were refused by Mikel Haas, the San Diego Registrar of elections.
- March asked that the central tabulator, the computer that tallies up the votes from all the precincts, be positioned so that citizens could observe it. According to Hamilton, this would have required simply moving a table a few feet.
- March also asked for a copy of the ".gbf" files -- the vote tally files collected during the course of tabulation - to be provided for examination after the election.
During the tallying of the election, the Diebold computer was positioned too far away for citizens to read the screen. Citizens could not watch error messages, or even perceive significant anomalies or malfunctions.
Unable to see the screen, March went into the office where the tabulator was housed. Two deputies followed him and escorted him out.
According to Hamilton: "He was not belligerent, not at all. After he went inside the tabulator room he came [was escorted] out and he said learly 'I'm not resisting.' They handcuffed him, took him out of the building. They put him in a squad car. They're going to take him to the police station, book him and take him to jail," said Hamilton. "He's getting charged with a felony, 'interfering with an election official.'"
March's actions are the culmination of two years of increasing frustration with the refusal of election officials to respond to security deficiencies in the voting machines. The software that tallies the votes in San Diego is made by Diebold Election Systems, a company that has already paid the state of California $2.8 million for making false claims, due to a lawsuit filed by March and Black Box Voting founder Bev Harris.
On July 4, a report was released by European computer security expert Harri Hursti, revealing that the Diebold voting system contains profound architectural flaws. "It is open for business," says Hursti, who demonstrated the flaws on Leon County, Florida Diebold machines. He penetrated the voting system in less than five minutes, manipulating vote reports in a way that was undetectable.
Despite the critical security alert issued by Hursti, San Diego County sent 713 voting machines home with poll workers, increasing the risk that the "memory cards" housed in the machines could be hacked, and removing the argument that "inside access" was carefully safeguarded.
The arrest of Jim March underlines a fundamental problem facing Americans today as, increasingly, they lose the ability to monitor, verify, or watch any part of the counting process.
The San Diego registrar of elections knew of the security flaws in the voting system. Diebold has never denied the vulnerability identified in Hursti's report, found at http://www.blackboxvoting.org/BBVreport.pdf .
Despite knowledge of the increased risks, Haas made the decision to create additional vulnerability by sending the machines home with hundreds of poll workers.
While San Diego officials will no doubt point to a small seal on the compartment housing the memory card (the component exploited in Hursti's study), Black Box Voting has interviewed a former San Diego poll worker, who reported that all that is necessary to dislodge and then reaffix the seal is a small pair of pliers.
IN A NUTSHELL:
- The machines have been demonstrated to be vulnerable to undetected tampering
- The San Diego registrar of voters chose not to take appropriate precautions
- The main tally machine was placed in a location that was impossible for citizens to observe
- Many voting integrity advocates have come to believe that voting machine reform now rivals the urgency of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s.
Jim March acted on those beliefs.
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If you share the feelings that Jim March has expressed about voting system secrecy, please forward this message to your lists and to online blogs as appropriate. Permission granted to reprint, with link to http://www.blackboxvoting.org .
* * * *
Also, if you'd like some powers-that-be to get your ear, because as it turns out, California law permits us--the voters--to observe the entire voting process, you can be part of the solution, write:
California Senate:
<Senatorbowen@yahoo.com>
<speier@sen.ca.gov>
<mcclintock@sen.ca.gov>
<Morrow@sen.ca.gov>
<Poochigian@sen.ca.gov>
<Cedillo@sen.ca.gov>
<Morrow@sen.ca.gov>
<Murray@sen.ca.gov>
<Romero@sen.ca.gov>
<Morrow@sen.ca.gov>
<Dunn@sen.ca.gov>
<Cox@sen.ca.gov>
<evan.goldberg@sen.ca.gov>
California Assembly:
<matt.reilly@asm.ca.gov>
<jay.greenstein@asm.ca.gov>
<Lucy.Krohn@asm.ca.gov>
<dan.reeves@asm.ca.gov>
<hans.hemann@asm.ca.gov>
<hbj@speakoutca.org>
<juan.torres@asm.ca.gov>
<Umberg@assembly.ca.gov>
<Klehs@assembly.ca.gov>
<Nava@assembly.ca.gov>
<Yee@assembly.ca.gov>
<Parra@assembly.ca.gov>
<Cogdill@assembly.ca.gov>
<Goldberg@assembly.ca.gov> <Leslie@assembly.ca.gov> <aghazarian@assembly.ca.gov>
Secretary of State:
Bruce McPherson
c/o bmcdanno@ss.ca.gov
Governor:
<governor@governor.ca.gov>
<joconnell@cde.ca.gov>
Media:
letters@pressdemo.com
csmith@pressdemocrat.com
sswartz@pressdemocrat.com
glebaron@pressdemocrat.com,
ccoursey@pressdemocrat.com
opinion@sacbee.com
letters@sfchronicle.com
letters@latimes.com
jen.steele@uniontrib.com
ihoffman@angnewspapers.com
San Diego Registrar of Voters:
<rovmail@sdcounty.ca.gov>
General Information for San Diego RoV
(858) 565-5800
Toll Free
1 (800) 696-0136
FAX (858) 694-2955
Services For the Hearing Impaired
TDD (858) 694-3441
Hours 8:00am to 5:00pm
Monday through Friday
Mailing Address
P.O. Box 85656
San Diego, CA 92186-5656