Quarantine That Machine! Citizen Action To Take Back Our US Elections

The Ohio Election Justice Campaign Announces
Quarantine That Machine!
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 it 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 your 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 reflexes 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, paddy@columbus.rr.com (614) 761-0621 http://www.electiondefensealliance.org/OEJC , http://www.wakeupandsaveyourcountry.com/oejc.html