Actions for Super Tuesday and Beyond
What You Can Do to Defend the Vote on Super Tuesday
1. Vote
2. Voter Education at the Polls
3. Record Precinct Data at Close of Polls
4. Monitor the Central Count at your County Elections Department
1. VOTE
(of course!)
Voting in person in your local precinct is always the best policy.
If you have an absentee (mail-in) ballot that you haven't already mailed, walk it in to your local polling site, or take it in person to the county election department.
2. VOTER EDUCATION at the POLLS
If you can "work the polls," election day is a great opportunity for effective voter education. (See informational flyer download links).
To avoid the appearance of "electioneering" you will have to meet voters 150 feet beyond the poll entrance. (See further notes below).
Sure it can be daunting -- talking to fellow citizens about democracy, and the government we share responsibility for.
But it is necessary!
Take along a friend or two and suddenly, it's not so hard.
You will find it is one of the most satisfying civic action experiences you've ever had.
Try it -- you'll like it. Trust us on this.
INFORMATION SHEETS you can download, print, and hand out to voters:
a. How Do You Know? (handbill)
http://www.electiondefensealliance.org/files/HowDoYouKnow.pdf [1]
8 mini-handbills per sheet. Photocopy and slice along cutlines.
Color gets attention! Color copies cost about 50 cents. Otherwise, B&W will do.
b. VOTERS' "TOP 10" 411
What the Corporate Newsmedia Aren't Telling You About Elections and Your Vote
http://www.electiondefensealliance.org/files/EDA_Top10_rev020508.pdf [2]
The "Top 10" factsheet above can be printed back-to-back with the election integrity volunteer form below:
( Problem-solving Sequence: 1. Get Informed. 2. Take Corrective Action. Right? )
c. Election Integrity Volunteer Signup Sheet
http://www.electiondefensealliance.org/files/Volunteer_Signup_020508.pdf [3]
A Note About "Electioneering"
Some people -- including election officials -- may try to tell you what you're doing is "electioneering" and illegal. It's not.
You are informing people about the realities of computer vote counting, which is a multipartisan concern.
This has nothing to do with advocating a vote for or against any candidate or issue, therefore it IS NOT electioneering.
3. RECORD PRECINCT DATA at close of polls
Be present at 8:00 with a clipboard, notepad, pen, flashlight -- and digital camera if you have one.
Ask the pollworkers to copy or photograph the information on the pollworkers' signed summary report (sometimes called the "Blue Sheet")
that records how many voters cast ballots in the precinct; how many ballots were received, voted, or voided; how many foreign language and provisional ballots were cast; and other important information. Also ask to see and record the voter sign-in sheets (showing who voted at the precinct) and any machine trouble reports.
Watch the pollworkers print out the machine end-of-day vote reports from the voting machines. Then copy by hand, or photograph, these "poll tapes" after the pollworkers post them on the outside of the polling site.
If you can, please upload this information to the Precint Tally Capture Project: (link forthcoming)
4. OBSERVE the CENTRAL COUNT at your COUNTY ELECTION DEPARTMENT
You are a member of the voting public and have the right to observe election procedures so long as you don't obstruct the election workers.
Don't let anybody tell you any different.
Things to bring: Clipboards, notepads, pens, digital cameras, video cameras, tape recorders, cell phones, and binoculars (to see the tabulator monitor screens).
For further instructions on Central Count Monitoring, LOOK HERE [4]
ALSO See BBV and OEJC guides below for additional details about what to watch for and questions to ask.
ADDITIONAL GUIDES to ELECTION DAY MONITORING
BlackBoxVoting.org's Guide to Election Monitoring: What To Watch For [5]
Also: Download the BlackboxVoting Citizen's Tool Kit [6]
Ohio Election Justice Campaign: Quarantine That Machine! [7]
(Treat election violations as a crime scene)
BlackboxVoting Guide to Election Monitoring: What to Watch For
Visit the posts under this topic at BBV to discuss Super Power Tuesday and report your own experience with issues like those discussed in this article.
LOTS MORE INFORMATION: Download the "Citizens Tool Kit" [9] from BlackBoxVoting.org
LOOK FOR:
Journalistic malpractice
Watch for the media to announce who "wins" instead of stating "We predict (name of candidate) will win." News channels are supposed to report the news, not create the news. Results as reported by the news never match the actual results, by the way.
What to do: Object and reject premature "calls." Get the facts, however long it takes, and report them, wherever you can.
Also watch for:
"The gray pie slice" -- In New Hampshire, CNN used a gray pie slice without a name to represent Ron Paul. Other candidates, even when pie
slices were smaller, were colored and had candidate names affixed.
What to do: Record coverage start to finish to gather evidence of any journalistic malpractice.
Also watch for: Eroding vote totals. You may see candidate totals go DOWN during the count.
What to do: Record coverage start to finish.
Also watch for:
Unusual fluctuations or insufficient variations with minor candidates.
In one Minnesota district in 2004, for example, ALL MINOR CANDIDATES received the same percentages of votes, until screen shots were posted
and questioned by Internet watchdogs. Then the vote totals were spread more normally. In Florida in 2000, at one point the Socialist Worker
Party candidate had more votes dumped into his totals in a single county than he received statewide. One strategy for electronic vote
manipulation involves use of minor candidate vote bins to store votes temporarily.
What to do: Record television coverage start to finish to retain and examine later, and take screen shots of incoming AP totals from sites like http://www.politico.com [10].
WATCH FOR AND DOCUMENT VOTING RIGHTS PROBLEMS IN THREE AREAS:
- Access to voting (voter rolls)
- Fairness (deceptive practices)
- Counting the votes
ACCESS TO VOTING
Watch for: - Registrations hijacked to a different party - Omissions and improper additions to the voter rolls The new "electronic pollbooks" help to block citizen oversight and also introduce sophisticated attack vectors.
What to do:
Gather evidence: Documents, records, video, audio and photographs.
Persevere - keep gathering proof, even after the election is over.
Example: When voter registration is hijacked to a different party, there should be a paper trail. Find out your state's regulations for the paperwork
needed to change a voter's party preference. Use public records requests to request the backup documents. If they can't produce them,
expose the fraud by propagating the evidence, to blogs, legislators, citizens groups. Get your evidence to at least five different entities.
Find out if your local jurisdiction is now using electronic voter sign-in instead of observable paper pollbooks.
DECEPTIVE PRACTICES
Watch for:
Omission of candidate names on the ballot or screen; misdirection about where/when/how to vote; misleading ballot design; confusing or
misleading instructions; intimidation tactics
What to do:
Gather evidence and propagate it.
If it happens in the polling place:
Call an elections worker over and show them; then ask that they write the incident down to document it, and watch to see that they do so.
Then submit a formal public records request for a copy of the incident report and any other incident reports throughout the jurisdiction.
If it happens outside the polling place:
Video, photograph, get documents, and if you obtain evidence, propagate it to at least five entities, including Internet sites, mainstream
news, legislators, elections officials and citizens groups.
VOTE COUNTING
Watch for: Whether you can see the chain of custody; whether you can see the votes themselves being counted.
CHAIN OF CUSTODY:
The greatest risk for manipulation of the count is from inside access.
The best way to prevent vote-counting fraud by insiders is to require a fully public chain of custody. If chain of custody is not public, even
spot checks, audits and recounts will fail to ensure integrity in the election. Your ability to review chain of custody varies depending on your jurisdiction. Most locations nowadays have removed chain of custody from public view - which means citizens must go to
extraordinary lengths to learn the simplest information, if they can get it at all.
Look for:
Weak links in the chain, or "narrow spots in the pipe" where just a few people, or just one person, has access to the votes before (or shortly
after) the vote count is announced. JUST ONE BROKEN LINK means the vote count cannot be trusted.
What to do:
Get evidence of broken links, narrow spots in the pipeline, or inside-only access/oversight. Evidence means documents and videotape. Persevere
- it may take time to evaluate even one link in the chain. When you get evidence that the chain has been broken or left public view, propagate the evidence to at least five entities, like blogs, voting rights groups, open government groups, the media, and public officials. Prepare
a report with a local group of citizens, submit it to those with authority in your jurisdiction, request remediation of individual
issues before the next election.
ACCURACY OF THE VOTE COUNT Except in hand count locations, you will be unable to see your votes being counted. The counting is now controlled by government insiders and voting machine programmers. Your right to citizen sovereignty over your own government is at stake, and you have been placed in the position of trying to get circumstantial evidence to authenticate the count. This places an extraordinary and unsustainable burden on the citizenry. You can surrender the voting process to government insiders now, or you can put up a fight.
Look for:
On DRE (touch-screen, dial-a-vote) systems - observe screens carefully, watch for vote-hopping to selections you did not choose. The vote may hop to another choice immediately or after a delay, or even after you have page to a new screen.
What to do:
Stop the process immediately, call an elections worker over, see if you can replicate it, request that they write the incident down, stay and
watch while they do so, make a formal request for the public record of their incident reports and all other incident reports in your jurisdiction. Double and triple check before casting votes, and document all anomalies. (If you witness vote-hopping on a dial-a-vote system like the Hart eSlate, document it using every means necessary and contact Black Box Voting, BradBlog, and VotersUnite.)
After polls close, videotape poll closing activities and videotape the results tape and any other reconciliation forms filled out by poll
workers. If they won't let you videotape, then videotape them telling you that you cannot watch, or that you can't capture evidence of the
poll closing and counting procedures.
On optical scan systems (fill in bubble, draw arrow):
Observe whether the vote count increments when you deposit your ballot. After polls close, videotape poll closing activities and videotape the results tape from the optical scan machine and also videotape any other reconciliation forms filled out by poll workers. These should include number of ballots provided, cast, unused and spoiled, along with number of voters checked in to vote.
If you live in New York:
Most New Yorkers are voting on lever machines, which -- unlike the scanners and DREs -- are extremely difficult to tamper with in a wholesale, nontransparent way. However, many New Yorkers do not realize that customized Sequoia scanners are used to count tens of thousands of
absentee votes. Start asking questions about those votes (chain of custody, counting). Ascertain your rights to observe and examine your
computerized absentee counting system.
Also: New York public records laws include the VENDORS in freedom of information requirements.
Consider submitting public records requests directly to Sequoia Voting Systems. Ask for things like correspondence, incident reports,
invoices, contracts. These vendor-directed records requests are especially important because it looks like New York's Nov. 2008 elections will be run on Sequoia computerized systems, or something similar.
IF YOU LIVE IN GEORGIA, KENTUCKY, CONNECTICUT:
You, too, can request public records DIRECTLY FROM THE VENDOR. Let's get to work on opening them up.
CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE ABOUT ACCURACY OF THE VOTE COUNT
Compare number of voters checked in to vote with number of votes. Note any arithmetic that doesn't add up. You may also want to visit the main elections division for your jurisdiction to observe and record procedures and activities. If you cannot view and record the computer screen, you are being blocked from viewing even circumstantial evidence of the count. Check your state election law as to whether counting votes in secret has ever been authorized. Persevere. Take as much time as it takes to gather real evidence, including evidence of efforts to obstruct your right to oversee chain of custody and counting.
Evidence means: Documents, video, audio and photos.
SURRENDER NOW OR DIG IN FOR THE LONG HAUL
The Government is currently displacing citizen sovereignty over election processes. Assert your right to sovereignty via documentation and
oversight to authenticate election procedures and results, and when your rights are obstructed, gather evidence of this and propagate it. All
evidence you acquire during the primary election cycle should be applied towards regaining citizen sovereignty over elections in the
Nov. 2008 election.
It's easy to become overwhelmed. Yet, if many different citizens simply welcome the awakening of their own civic
duty, trust to their own common sense and innate creativity, and take just one step, the next will become clear.
Trust me on this. Good luck and God bless, Bev Harris Founder - Black Box Voting
CITIZEN'S TOOL KIT: http://www.blackboxvoting.org/toolkit.html [11]
Quarantine That Machine! Treat Election Violations as a Crime Scene
Subject: Treat improper voting machine functioning as a crime scene
Quarantine That Machine!
The Ohio Election Justice Campaign Announces Citizen Action To Take Back Our US Elections
If the voting machine you use behaves in an illegal manner, it should be treated as part of a crime scene. The theft of your vote is a crime by the voting machine & its vendors against YOU. Treat is as such.
What should I do, you ask?
If the touch screen voting machine you vote on in 2008, or at any time in the future, is behaving in a manner that appears illegal, it should be investigated.
What to look for, including but not limited to:
Vote Hopping -
This is when you vote for a candidate or an issue, and your vote hops and goes to another candidate or issue on the screen. We are
generally told it is a calibration problem. For the voter, this means you vote is not recorded for who or what you intended. You have been robbed.
Paper Tape records other than what you voted -
Please take the time to read the paper tape when you vote. If you find that the tape prints something other than what you voted, remember.there are many problems with the machines counting our votes in secret. There is no way to verify that the machine counted your vote as you see it on
the screen, nor as the paper tape reads. Yet, if there is a recount audit, the paper record is the voting record.
Your vote will be counted as the paper trail reads at such an audit. The paper tape should read the same information as what you voted. If you wear
glasses, bring them, some tapes are printed very light, and therefore are hard to read.
Take Action!
Tell the Poll Worker / Election Judge what happened. Let them know you want the voting machine pulled from use in the election.
IMPORTANT! Do not harm or manipulate the machine. It needs to bet in the "same condition" for any forensic investigation. Tell the poll worker not to manipulate the machine in an effort to correct the problem. The most important step of taking action is then filing a police report with local law
enforcement to document this possible case of election fraud. The statistics later will document how widespread the problem is.
Typical reactions to expect to your complaint:
The reflex action of a typical judge when told that a voting machine is malfunctioning is to try to help the voter to get the machine working properly. But, when the malfunction is a mismatch between the faceplate and the paper trail, the normal "be-helpful" response many result in the destruction of evidence in a crime scene.
Let us say that a voting machine had been reprogrammed to flip every twentieth vote from candidate XX to candidate YY. Such an occasional
"malfunction" would not provide an easy-to-detect pattern. Further, it would be reasonable to assume that such a reprogrammed machine would
also be set to discontinue using the flipping subroutine when someone tries to correct the apparent "malfunction" by, for example, canceling
and re-voting.
Therefore, it seems reasonable for Poll Workers and Election Judges to be trained on how to react when a voting
machine has a mismatch between the faceplate and the paper trail, or for a vote that hops.
(a) Have the voter move away from the machine. Thank the voter for catching the discrepancy, and explain to him/her what just happened.
(b) Place an OUT OF ORDER sign on the machine and report the "malfunction" to independent law enforcement and notify the Board of Elections or election officials in your state of the problem. Then treat the problem voting machine as evidence in a possible crime scene.
(c) Restart the voter on another machine, or on a paper ballot that will be counted, not a provisional ballot that "may" be counted.
Empowering the Voters and Poll Workers for Detecting Possible Election Fraud and Demanding Legal Investigation
A Special Note for Poll Workers and Election Officials
You are the public guardians of our elections. Please quarantine any machine for which a voter tells you of problems, asks for it to be
quarantined, or any that you are aware is malfunctioning in a suspicious manner; regardless of whether the voter knows that they may
request this. Please treat voters with respect if they ask to Quarantine The Machine, and do not push the buttons, or manipulate the
machine in any way. Treat the machine as part of a crime scene. Contact Law Enforcement to pick up the machine and investigate it, and write it
up. Let the Board of Elections, or other proper election officials above you know what has happened. A forensic examination of the machine
is needed, to study why it malfunctioned. It is our hope that law enforcement will confiscate these machines as possible evidence and
assist the public to get such a study done. These machines should not be returned to your local election officials but rather quarantined by
independent investigative authorities. We realize that there is going to be a huge problem. How do you get the existing votes out of such a
machine? It is our hope, that you will let them sit, and wait for the needed investigation.
In Ohio on December 17th, Michael W. Deemer, Chief Deputy Attorney General for Government Affairs of the Ohio Attorney General's office, and two other legal staff members were informed of the Quarantine The Machine program. His phone number is (614) 728-5462. They were asked to put something in place across the state of Ohio, and across the nation via the other state Attorneys General, to prepare for this program. A prepared written plan for law enforcement is needed, and has been requested. These proper authorities should have qualified individuals available to investigate the voting machines that are quarantined on election night. If the state of Ohio is not ready to deal with the citizen action of Quarantine That Machine, and the nations law enforcement has not been warned, you might want to call Chief Deputy Deemer and ask why.
As of this date, February 4, 2008, and according to his office staff, nothing is in place now. They have informed the OEJC they will only prepare law enforcement if the Secretary of State requests them to. The Attorney General's office has been advised by the OEJC to prepare Ohio, and to let the other Attorneys General across the nation know this is coming. Prepare your Attorney General in your state, they may not know.
For questions and press inquires, contact Paddy Shaffer, Director,
The Ohio Election Justice Campaign, http://www.electiondefensealliance.org/OEJC [12]
http://www.wakeupandsaveyourcountry.com/oejc.html [13]
Top 10 Reasons Elections Are in Trouble
CLICK HERE to DOWNLOAD [14] and print this page as an informational handout
http://www.electiondefensealliance.org/files/EDA_Top10_rev020508.pdf [15]
TOP TEN REASONS WHY OUR ELECTIONS ARE IN REAL TROUBLE…
What You Haven’t Read in the Paper or Heard on the News and Need To Know
10. The power elites--the big corporations and their media subsidiaries--are controlling what messages you hear about problems with our election system.
9. Democrats and Republicans have both repeatedly demonstrated that neither have the interests of democracy and its voters at heart when it comes to the electoral process.
8. HAVA, the Help America Vote Act of 2002, was promoted as the solution to the “hanging chad” problems in Florida as well as an aid to the disabled and those citizens not fluent in English. In fact, it became a “feeding frenzy” for vendors of electronic computerized election equipment who saw it as an opportunity to gain money and favor from big government contracts—and to take a direct, if covert, hand in determining who governs America.
7. Beginning in 2004, many independent studies (e.g., Princeton and Johns Hopkins Universities, NYU’s Brennan Center, Congress’ Government Accountability Office, and several Secretaries of State) have proven that all software-driven equipment used in our elections is highly susceptible to malfunction and manipulation.
6. Many people believe that a mandatory “paper trail” and a spot audit of the trail, will make electronic voting secure. But there are simply too many ways around these provisions.
5. Audits, and even recounts, now have a history of being subverted, as much as the elections they are intended to validate.
4. There is NO REASON to assume that the vote the voter thought he or she cast on a touchscreen was what was recorded inside the machine and what was printed on the paper trail. There is NO REASON to assume that the vote on a paper ballot fed into an Optical Scanner is counted as the voter intended.
3. Using the rationale that disabled people need touchscreen machines for independent and private voting ignores the fact that totally mechanical paper-based systems have been developed as alternatives to computerized equipment and are being used in some jurisdictions with equal effectiveness.
2. Corporate take-over of our democracy is occurring right under our noses. Elections are now being owned, operated, and often decided by corporations – not voters.
1. An honest election system means that the citizens can actually SEE THE VOTES BEING COUNTED, and participate in the process. Without that, the rest is just a show.
It is a tried and true system, tested through the centuries.
WHY DON’T WE?
Election Defense Alliance (EDA) is a nationwide network of citizen election integrity groups and individuals
working at the national, state, and local levels to ensure that our election process is honest,
transparent, secure, subject to unambiguous verification, and fully accountable to the public.
We invite you to come work with us. http://www.ElectionDefenseAlliance.org [16]
CLICK HERE to download Volunteer Signup Form [17]
http://www.electiondefensealliance.org/files/Volunteer_Signup_020508.pdf [18]
Election Defense Alliance is a project of International Humanities Center
