IF IT'S BROKE, DON'T FIX IT

January 29, 2008 at 11:49:52

Headlined on 1/29/08:
IF IT'S BROKE, DON'T FIX IT

by Teresa Blakely (Posted by Victrola) Page 1 of 1 page(s)

http://www.opednews.com



Crony Capitalism and the Demise of Our Democracy
The final chapter?

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner's EVEREST study has demonstrated how badly the Ohio taxpayers were ripped off by dishonest voting machine vendors and complicit Board of Election Officials. Brunner has been forced to act decisively ahead of the presidential election to address a crisis of election integrity that she inherited from former Secretary J Kenneth Blackwell and former Ohio Republican Party Chair and Director of Cuyahoga County Board of Elections Bob Bennett. Bennett's "kill the messenger" attack on Brunner is a way to divert blame for the consequences of years of corrupt and incompetent "bad old boy" election management. Bennett remains true to his crony constituency, the voting machine vendors, by refusing to address the dangers posed to our democracy by notoriously fraud-friendly touchscreen voting machines. Push a button, accept the computer output, no audits, no questions asked. A most excellent way to choose the next leader of the free world.



It boggles my mind that Bennett, can tell reporters that he had not seen the EVEREST report yet claim there is nothing wrong with the voting machines. This sort of willful ignorance is what contributed to the purchase of inadequately tested, fraud-friendly electronic voting machines in the first place. Secretary Brunner does not want to have insecure, defective voting machines in use in Ohio for the next presidential election. Any attempt to thwart this goal is suspect.

--What confidence crisis?

The following Republicans have not conducted themselves in a manner that inspires trust in their judgment and integrity in managing our elections. Jack Abramoff represented Diebold at the time when the House Government Operations Committee, chaired by Bob Ney, was establishing rules for electronic voting systems. Diebold contributed at least $275,000 in lobbying fees to Jack Abramoff's law firm, Greenberg Traurig. Former Ohio Congressman Bob Ney, another convicted felon and the lead sponsor of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA)strongly opposed legislation requiring a paper audit trail[1]. Ney spearheaded the hasty move to electronic voting machines [2]. Diebold's then CEO Wally O'Dell, who promised to deliver Ohio votes to George W. Bush [3], resigned amidst securities fraud litigation [4]. Ken Blackwell was Secretary of State while co-chairing the Bush/Cheney campaign[5]. Now chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. John Conyers' report on "What Went Wrong in Ohio" described massive and unprecedented voter irregularities in 2004 caused by intentional misconduct and illegal behavior, much of it involving Blackwell [6]. Mitch Given, a Diebold lobbyist contributed $10,000 to Blackwell's gubernatorial campaign. [7] Looking back to the early 1990's, convicted computer fraud felon Jeff Dean programmed what became Diebold's optiscan software.[8] In 2004 Franklin County Board of Election Director Matt Damschroder accepted $10,000 from a Diebold intermediary and donated it to the Franklin County Republican party. [9] Remarkably, in 2007 Damschroder was unanimously elected President of the Ohio Association of Election Officials.[10] In 2006 the Republican dominated Ohio Legislature removed the HB-3 requirement for a random audit of the electronic voting machine tallies. Ethically challenged individuals will always be drawn to high stakes political endeavors. This is precisely why our method of vote counting must be above reproach.

-- Read the Report. I call this broken.
( The following section was previously posted by this author to OP ED news on 1/6/08)[11]

EVEREST like the countless credible, critical, reviews of electronic voting machines that preceded it, found numerous serious security vulnerabilities in basic electronic voting machine system design and implementation. The academic reviewers on the EVEREST team describe the electronic voting system put in place under Ken Blackwell as possessing "critical security failures that render their technical controls insufficient to guarantee a trustworthy election." As part of the EVEREST project, MicroSolved, Inc. (MSI), performed penetration tests of three voting machines systems in use in Ohio: Premier (Diebold), ES &S and Hart Intercivic. MSI's Executive Summary report concluded that all three vendors had failed to adopt, implement and follow "even the most basic set of information security guidelines" used in other industries.

MSI uncovered a myriad of common vulnerabilities and weaknesses many of which have been known for several years and still exist in the system components. They reported that many components lacked basic security controls such as firewalls, antivirus and other mechanisms for protecting system integrity. [12]

Princeton computer scientist Ed Felten considered the EVEREST report to be the scariest e-voting security report yet. He questioned how the ES&S iVotronic touchscreen voting machine ever got certified, noting that a machine with so many design errors must be susceptible to misrecording or miscounting votes due to ordinary glitches that plague computer systems. He considered the iVotronic too risky to use even if all poll workers and voters were angels. Among the many potential touchscreen security breaches that alarmed Felten was an undocumented backdoor function that allows a voter or poll worker to alter vote totals using a magnet and a personal digital assistant. [13]

-- Expensive. What's an honest election worth?

How is it that the cost of moving to a more secure accountable method of vote tabulation is now too expensive? In 2003 Blackwell was moving full speed ahead to purchase Diebold DRE's that he explicitly did not want to have a paper trail. Blackwell issued this directive in January of '05, the same month in which it was discovered he had acquired Diebold stock worth almost ten-thousand dollars. [14] Blackwell and company could not spend 100 million fast enough when purchasing incompetently designed electronic voting machines from disreputable vendors. Ask Ken Blackwell what sort of election official opts for voting technology that is unaccountable in the first place. How does one explain the expenditure of $100 million of taxpayer money on voting machines that are so insecure as to be untrustworthy in our elections? Ohio still has never had a complete accounting of how Blackwell spent HAVA money in 2005. What we see here is unregulated, partisan, crony capitalism from the Federal Election Commission all the way down to our County Boards of Election.

It would be a serious mistake to continue to use DRE voting machines that are extremely fraud friendly in a time when it is widely known how insecure these voting machines are. When a DRE voting machine is corrupted or malfunctions on election night, votes are irretrievably lost. If our election outcomes are to be decided by competing hackers or election insiders who infect electronic voting machines with computer viruses then our democracy is history.

References:

[1] Abramoff-Diebold connection: http://coloradovoter.net/bcv-archive/msg03062.html
/>
[2] Ney opposes audit trail for DREs: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=2262
/>
[3] O'Dell fundraising letter (2003): http://rawstory.com/printstory.php?story=1570
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[4] O'Dell securities fraud litigation: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5468
/>
[5] Blackwell co-chairing Bush/Cheney 2004 campaign: http://www.thesentinel.com/283370491126756.php">href="http://www.thesentinel.com/283370491126756.php">http://www.thesentinel.com/283370491126756.php/>
[6] Massive and unprecedented irregularities in 2004: Preserving Democracy: What Went Wrong in Ohio, Status Report of the House Judiciary Committee Democratic Staff (Rep. John Conyers, Jr.), January 5, 2005. Page 4:

[7] Diebold lobbyist donates to Blackwell: http://www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=5012724/>
[8] Jeff Dean: http://www.defendersofdemocracy.com/drupal/node/54
/>
[9] Damschroder: $10,000 donation: http://www.thesentinel.com/283370491126756.php
/>
[10]Damschroder OAEO: http://vote.franklincountyohio.gov/boe/assets/pdf/press-releases/PR-03092007.pdf
/>
[11] Blakely: http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_teresa_b_080106_everest_3a_the_truth_a.htm
/>
[12]Ohio SOS Everest Executive Summary>http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sos/info/EVEREST/04-Microsolved--Comprehensive-ExecSummRpt.pdf
/>
[13]Felton's comments: http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/?p=1236
/>
[14]Blackwell buys Diebold: http://www.dispatch.com/live/contentbe/dispatch/2006/04/04/20060404-A1-01.html
/>
[15]Blackwell can't account for how all HAVA money spent;
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/081905Madsen/081905madsen.html

Ohio Secretary of State to Talk Live With Citizens on Radio and the Internet & Important News from S.C.

A Vital Dialogue with Citizens
Ohio Secretary of State, Jennifer L. Brunner, to participate in live discussion via radio and the Internet with citizens about serious election issues/problems

Call In & Add Your Questions & Comments

Plus A Separate SC News Announcement

on "Voice of the Voters!"
Wednesday, January 23, 8 pm ET
Heard on 1360 AM Greater Philadelphia & and on the Internet www.voiceofthevoters.org or http://wnjc.duxpond.com/

In the best tradition of American representative democracy, Ohio's Secretary of State, Jennifer L. Brunner, will hold an on-air Radio and Internet Dialogue with Citizens of Ohio and throughout the United States to address the issues surrounding voting problems and possible ways to make some improvements in time for the November 2008 elections in Ohio and thus in turn for the Nation..
Madame Secretary will open with an update on the status of Ohio Election Issues and expected next steps followed by a Dialogue with Citizens.
This program is being presented as an example of how OUR representatives may listen and work with citizens, creating a true dialogue/partnership that supports a vibrant and good working representative democracy.
The 2008 election is proving to be one of major concern over the security, reliability and verifiability of our votes. Many fear that the problems continually found in electronic voting machines and the secrecy of the programming as well as other issues relating to registration and voter ID will lead to a major meltdown in November. Some even believe that 2008 could prove far worse than 2000 and 2004. This story is finally becoming front page news as more people become aware of the looming issues that must be addressed. Can they be? Will they be? What will the short term and long term solutions look like?
Ohio has already identified major problems in electronic voting machines and processes through the EVEREST study, instituted by Secretary Brunner, the findings of which were far worse than expected. (details here: http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sos/info/everest.aspx )
The vote belongs to the people! This week's "Voice of the Voters!" is an opportunity for the people of Ohio and the rest of the United States to hear from the Secretary of State Brunner directly and to express their questions and concerns to her.
Then Mark Adams, lawyer and voing rights activist, will be making a very important news announcement on actions concerning South Carolina elections.
****************************************************
Listeners can call in at 856-227-1360 or 856 232 7078 or send in questions via the Voice of the Voters website at http://mysite.verizon.net/resq4lzq/cvi/id252.html. All questions must be received before 4pmET on Wednesday.
Questions from all over the country are welcome. We especially want to hear from Ohio citizens.
As always, the incomparable John Gideon of Voters Unite will be on hand to share up-to-the-minute voting news and analysis you won't hear anywhere else.
****************************************************
Voice of the Voters, hosted by Mary Ann Gould, is an hour devoted to voting rights and election reform. Ultimately it is an exploration of Representative Democracy itself and the responsibilities of citizens and their elected representatives. It airs every Wednesday night at 8:00 PM ET on 1360 AM and on the Internet. (http://wnjc.duxpond.com/)
Dial-up Internet users: Please turn off all other programs in order to receive clearest broadcast.
Listeners can call in questions live at 856-227-1360 or 856 232 7078 and submit questions in advance at the Voice of the Voters website.
Archived Voice of the Voters shows are available here.
www.voiceofthevoters.org
****************************************************
Bio: Secretary Jennifer L. Brunner
Jennifer Brunner served as a Judge of the Franklin County Common Pleas Court for more than four years. She was elected to an unexpired term in 2000, edging out a governor's appointee, and was reelected to a 6-year term in 2002. Brunner resigned on September 1, 2005, in order to run for Ohio Secretary of State.
Working with leaders in the criminal justice and treatment communities of Columbus, Brunner formed and presided over Franklin County's first adult felony drug court. The drug court is a specialized docket that Brunner operated in addition to her regular docket that promotes accountability by offenders to maintain drug and crime-free lives. Franklin County's drug court is used by the Supreme Court of Ohio as a model for other county courts that want to start drug and mental health courts.
While a judge, Jennifer Brunner adopted the practice of permitting jurors in criminal and civil trials to take notes and ask questions, a practice aimed at improving trial outcomes and juror satisfaction. The procedures she used and developed were appealed in the case of State v. Fisher, a case tried in Brunner's court in 2001. The Ohio Supreme Court affirmed the practice and the procedures used by Jennifer Brunner. The high court thereafter operated a pilot project allowing questioning by jurors and has adopted rules for questioning by jurors in trial courts throughout the state.
Jennifer Brunner's interest in public service dates back to her days as a committee secretary and legislative aide in the Ohio Senate, as Legislative Counsel for former Secretary of State Sherrod Brown, now a member of the U.S. House of Representatives (D-13, Ohio), and as members of the Franklin County Board of Elections and the Ohio Student Loan Commission.
After serving in Secretary of State Sherrod Brown's first administration as a deputy director and legislative counsel to the Ohio legislature, Jennifer Brunner developed a statewide law practice in election law. Working with her husband, she grew a law firm from two people to thirty people, and in her work assisted local, statewide and presidential candidates, legislative caucuses, labor unions, businesses, associations and other organizations in complying with often-complicated election laws and in successfully accessing Ohio's election system. While a judge, Brunner served as a board member for the Ohio Community Corrections Organization, representing common pleas judges from throughout the state. She continues to serve as a board member for the Mental Health Association of Franklin County.
Jennifer and her husband, Rick, have three adult children and live in Columbus, Ohio.
Coalition for Voting Integrity

Petition To Recoup Election Machine Financing

Categories: Consumer and Worker Protection, Economic Fairness and Security, Honest and Ethical Government, Election Reform
Dear Friends,

I have just read and signed the petition:

"Ohio Secretary of State, Sue Voting Machine Vendors for Product Liability".

Please take a moment to read about this important issue, and join me in signing the petition.

It takes just 30 seconds, but can truly make a difference. We are trying to reach 1000 signatures - please sign here: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/help-save-Ohio-voting

Once you have signed, you can help even more by asking your friends and family to sign as well.

Thanks,

OEJC

Reference http://www.progressohio.org/page/community/post/OEJC/C3gS

Excerpts quoted here:

"Representatives from Boards of Elections (BOE) plagued by election irregularities, such as failing to preserve their 2004 ballots in violation of federal court order, are now sitting in review of the state's electronic elections systems, courtesy of a lobbyist."
....

"Of the twelve election officials, nine come from BOEs that disposed of 2004 election records protected by court order in King Lincoln v. Blackwell (S.D. Ohio), http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/litigation/klbna.php, four of the nine serving as BOE Director in 2004. Two of the nine disposed of their records before certification of the 2004 election; and another three have not submitted the requested explanation to the SOS for their missing records."

see also:

http://www.ohiodems.org/index.php?page=blog&full=311

2004 Video - US Citizens Demand Honest Elections in Ohio

2004 Video - US Citizens Demand Honest Elections in Ohio

Dear State of Ohio Employees at the Offices of the Ohio Attorney General and The Ohio Secretary of State,

I ask that you take the 5 minutes and 10 seconds to review this video titled "Ohio (Get Up On The Bus) by Wil b" of The Political Power of Hip Hop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQyX0PxUo5w

This video documents the 50 Freedom Winter Busriders that traveled from Ohio, joining with citizens from across this nation in Washington DC on January 6, 2005 (the 3 year anniversary just passed) to protest the certification of the Ohio Electoral College.  We lobbied the Senators and demanded that action be taken.... it was.

This is the day of the Boxer Rebellion where Senator Barbara Boxer and Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones gathered with them 30 US Representatives, for a total of 32 members of the United States Congress to block the certification of the vote.  The bulk of leadership at that time, came from the Black Congressional Congress. 

In Ohio at that time, the offices of the Secretary of State and Attorney General assisted the cover-up, and would not investigate, but put fines and sanctions on the attorneys who did their patriotic duty and stepped up to represent the people.  In calling Jim Petro and asking for help with Delaware County's election officials, we were directed to the County Prosecutor.  No one at the Attorney General's office would help.  We let them know that the Delaware County Prosecutor office was a major part of our problem, they denied, blocked, or greatly stalled our record requests.  At one time wanting to charge nearly $2000 to make copies of the 2004 ballots.  These are public records. 

To those of you working in the Attorney General and Secretary of State offices now.  Help us, help your state, help your nation.  Assist us to get the investigation going into the theft of the 2004 election, only real accountability will start to turn around those that would steal our elections. 

 

Sincerely Concerned,

Paddy Shaffer

Director, The Ohio Election Justice Campaign

paddy@columbus.rr.com

(614) 761-0621 

A note from Wil b about the his video...

 

Wil b and a some very pissed off disenfranchised voters, representing over 100,000 folks from Ohio, take their fight to the streets against George W. Bush's second term by lobbying their Senators and "Gettin' Up On The Bus!" to Washington D.C. where it all went down January 6th, 2005.

Peace to the Winter Freedom Riders!

Peace to We Do Not Concede!

Peace to Ohio, Florida, New Mexico and all of the other states who've had their voters voices stolen by unfair elections.

VOTE 2006-2008

Interview with Jennifer Brunner/OEJC, Brad Blog And Voice of the Voters Audio

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5463
BLOGGED BY Brad Friedman ON 12/20/2007 1:18PM
Exclusive: BRAD BLOG's In-Depth, Post-EVEREST Interview with Ohio's Secretary of State
Jennifer Brunner Responds to Kudos, Criticism Following State's Massive and Disturbing E-Voting Assessment
'The last thing I want for my state, is to be looked at as a pariah, like it was for 2004'
-- By Brad Friedman, The BRAD BLOG

Voice Of The Voters
Dec. 19: Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner and Dan Lopresti of Lehigh U. discuss the Evaluation & Validation of Election-Related Equipment, Standards & Testing (EVEREST) report, a review of voting systems used in Ohio and throughout the country, which found “critical security failures.” Paddy Shaffer and Marian Lupo of the Ohio Election Justice Campaign. John Gideon with a voting news update. Audio. Podcast.

Strait Talks: “Secretary Brunner was candid when she stated, 'I had hoped to see some bright spots, it was extremely disappointing that none of the systems functioned well.'” [continued]

REMEMBER THOSE 2004 OHIO STICKERED BALLOTS FOR JOHN KERRY... WHICH BECAME VOTES FOR GEORGE W. BUSH?

REMEMBER THOSE 2004 OHIO STICKERED BALLOTS FOR JOHN KERRY... WHICH BECAME VOTES FOR GEORGE W. BUSH?

By Paddy Shaffer
Director, The Ohio Election Justice Campaign

December 31, 2007

It seems that on this final day of 2007, that a stiff drink might be needed for some who have been following the Ohio Election Theft fiasco from 2004. I rarely drink, but recommend a stiff one now for those of you that can be responsible consumers. Compliments of a reporter, I was just sent the following article:

This link is for a Saturday August 11, 2007 Cincinnati Enquirer blog titled "Clermont County's ballots.
http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/gov/2007/08/clermont-countys-ballots.asp

From the article:
Brunner had no firsthand knowledge about the two stickered ballots, but said her staff is committed to painstakingly examining any lingering questions or concerns about 2004, while working to improve future elections.

Please make note that on August 6th, 2007 I was in Secretary Brunner's office with Dr. Richard Hayes Phillips photographing those very ballots. We were in room 1706, on the 17th floor. We went to the 16th floor via elevator, to the office of Secretary Brunner and in person made a request (which I had done hours earlier via phone as per the suggestion of Doug Miller) to Bobbie Gilbert, Jennifer Brunner's Executive Assistant that we were inviting Secretary Brunner to come to room 1706 to view the stickered ballots. This is the actual physical evidence of the theft of the 2004 Presidential Election, which was right there in her office, in a room where Doug Miller her Manager of Security was overseeing our photographing of these election records. We told Bobbie that if we even only had 20 to 30 seconds of the Secretary's time, we just thought it very important that she see the actual ballots. Bobbie Gilbert said that Secretary Brunner was too busy that day. I then requested that she come herself or send other staff, Chris Nance, Kellye Pinkleton, Kathy Spinelli, Brian Green, or other top staff. Just send someone to come and see the stickered ballots while they were there.

Richard and I went back to room 1706, and spent the next several hours continuing to photograph Clermont, Delaware, and other county ballots. Not one of Ohio Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner's staff, nor Brunner herself showed up to look at these stickered ballots. Doug Miller, Manager of Security did see it, as did several other staff members that came into the room to speak to or to help Doug. One lady that was having a job interview got to see one of the ballots when we took it to Doug's personal office to have natural light with which to photograph it by his window. The conference room we were working in had a yellowish light to it. Richard and I wanted to show everyone, tell everyone in the office we could the story. So there are a few people there that have seen stickered ballots. We hope their jobs are safe. But why would the leadership people avoid this?

I must question this... Brunner had no firsthand knowledge about the two stickered ballots, but said her staff is committed to painstakingly examining any lingering questions or concerns about 2004, while working to improve future elections.

How does ignoring and avoiding any look at the 2004 election (with the slight exception of some changes in Cuyahoga County... though still no one has gone to jail there, or anywhere for the many documented election crimes) count as being, "committed to painstakingly examining any lingering questions or concerns about 2004...."?

It has now been 146 days since she was asked to meet with what has become The Ohio Election Justice Campaign, and there has been no meeting. It is the last day of the year 2007. Not one person has served time in jail for this election theft, the largest crime in the world. Brunner has in her possession over 2200 boxes of 2004 ballots and election records, which they refuse to investigate, including the stickered Clermont County ballots. The Attorney General also has not investigated, although he and his office have Dr. Richard Hayes Phillips book full of detailed information and statistics on those ballots. Brunner has many chapters of the book. Both offices have a large amount of information that I have provided, and information from Tim Kettler and Paul Harmon Esq. They both have all the information in the King Lincoln lawsuit. Both offices have Sherole Eaton's whistleblower lawsuit regarding the Triad technician switching out the hard drive on the voting machine tabulator prior to the recount.

Just when does this nation see justice? When do the people paid to enforce our laws actually enforce them and represent the people, and not these corrupt election officials and employees of the voting machine company's? How much can we as the public allow them to ignore, and for some of us, how much can we ignore because it's just not comfortable to deal with the magnitude of the lies. So if this has all been illegal, and this constitutional crisis blows out, what part must the average citizen play? What does that mean to us individually. What if you voted for or against these election thief's...? Will you let it continue for your kids? I've had people say... "My guy won so why should I care". Wow... you are the folks with the biggest "enabler" burden to carry. I hope those stones are heavy on your shoulders, I hope one day you hurt like this country is hurting, this is just NOT allowable. Please put some deep thought into this.

For those of you that say, it couldn't have happened there were both Democrats and Republicans there. I have an important observation to share with you, both parties were involved. This may be a reason the current Attorney General and Secretary of State don't want to deal with it. Would such scandal help the Democrats win a presidential year? No, it won't help anyone. This is terrible, treasonous, rotten issue for everyone. The Republicans as the beneficiaries own much of it. Then there is the Ohio State Democratic Party, and the National Democratic Party, who have both allowed this to happen. I do mean allowed, they know. Then there is John Kerry and John Edwards, who have both been provided with documents on the election fraud. Both also have neglected to take on the issue. I gave them to Kerry; my brother provided them to Edwards.

At this point I don't bother to ask what party the election officials represent because we have mountains of evidence that both deserve credit. Lets start where my investigation started, it was Delaware County Democrat and Deputy Director of the Board of Election Kim Spangler, along with Delaware County Democrat and Board of Election member John Myers who stepped up to block the 2004 recount. John claimed such a high level of poverty for that BOE that they couldn't afford to plug in the tabulators for the recount, thus the temporary injunction to stop the recount, which they were taking to court to make permanent, which then blocked the full state. I asked John Myers if they needed a 220 outlet like a clothes dryer, or a regular wall outlet? John said a regular wall outlet. I then told him to unplug the coffee pot. The budget for the Delaware County BOE for 2004 was over $900,000.00 and they can't afford to plug into a wall outlet in the Rutherford B. Hayes County Building. Oddly enough, the building is named for a former US President that also stole his election. Go figure.

In just under 7 hours it will be 2008, another Presidential Election Year. Whoopee... the same alleged criminals run everything. Please to all the Americans out there that read this, this is not a partisan issue. This is national security, treason, the blatant arrogant trashing of democracy. Join us and take a stand, make your voice heard. NEVER AGAIN!!! All the "Looking Forward" that the Secretary of State has been doing is leaving us totally unprepared for the upcoming elections, with the same alleged criminals in place. How is this preparing? Now she plans to give them 15 days to run elections, let them know which precincts will be the ones to be audited for a recount, close the small precincts for super precincts which destroys the usage of historical data on how an area votes, and more. This is dire. Plus we can spend more money on more crap machines to tabulate our votes, machines that Colorado just decertified. And what about those Clermont County ballots that Brunner should have learned about as a candidate, or when we went to her office to invite her to see them, which in the below article she claims to have no firsthand knowledge about. Plausible deniability doesn't work. We all know about those ballots, and Secretary Brunner should be embarrassed to claim ignorance of them.

Please read the below article, and access the above link to see it in its original format. Thanks to Carl Weisner for writing this blog article.


________________________________________________________________

Saturday, August 11, 2007
Clermont County's ballots


Jon Craig brings you the sage of the missing ballots in Sunday's Enquirer. You can also read it here.


Meanwhile...


The groups behind the lawsuit say they have uncovered evidence of possible tampering in Clermont County, a traditionally Republican-leaning county where Bush won easily.


For example: oval-shaped stickers were inexplicably found on at least 10 ballots in Clermont County, for several state and local races as well as president and the same-sex marriage ballot issue.


The tiny white stickers would have blocked an optical scanner from counting a vote for the pencil mark that’s visible below. Two of those ballots from Pierce Township were preserved and observed by Enquirer reporters Thursday.


Brian Green, an elections attorney at Brunner’s office, confirmed that the stickered presidential ballot – which negated a vote for Kerry – is perplexing and that the Bush oval above it clearly has a darker, wider pencil mark. None of the other ovals marked on the two-page ballot are as dark or outside the oval to the same extent.


Clermont County elections officials said they no longer use stickers to remake spoiled or mismarked ballots. The county has since purchased newer optical scanners that would not count stickered ballots.

Clermont County Board of Elections Director Mike Keeley, who became director in March 2006, said he is unaware of anyone misusing stickers during the 2004 election. The county’s newer optical scanning equipment would not count votes if stickers were placed on ballots today, he said.


“That would show as an invalid ballot,” he said Thursday. “That was old equipment, old procedures, old process.”

The county’s former Board of Elections director, Daniel Bare, did not return phone calls for comment, but Bob Drake of Anderson Township, a mathematical education professor at the University of Cincinnati, signed a sworn affidavit saying Bare and other county election workers acknowledged stickers were used to cover stray marks on ballots during the 2004 election.


In an interview with The Enquirer, Drake said he and others “noticed some ballots had stickers completely covering (a) Kerry vote. A different shade of pencil where the Bush bubble was filled in. ... There should’ve been an investigation. There was criminal activity.”

Brunner attributed the sticker problems more to inconsistencies in county procedures statewide, something she aims to iron out.

The checkmark present next to the Issue 1 oval is of concern to her, she said, because if it was there before the paper ballot was run through an opti-scan machine, that vote would not have been counted.

Brunner had no firsthand knowledge about the two stickered ballots, but said her staff is committed to painstakingly examining any lingering questions or concerns about 2004, while working to improve future elections.
posted by Carl Weiser at 8/11/2007 03:16:00 PM
(If you go to the link, there are 24 comments.)

Ohio Voting Machines And The Potential Of Product Liability Lawsuits For Recall, Refund

Sample Lawsuits Delivered by Ohio Election Justice Campaign
to the Secretary of State and other Elected Officials on November 30, 2007

By Patricia “Paddy” Shaffer
Director, OEJC
December 2, 2007

A Voting Machine Jingle:
It was the final day of testing and all through the state, voters were praying that the machines would just go away, up on the tables they saw with a grin, a package of real paper ballots and pencils and pens, hand counted at the precincts, by locals they knew, and the outcome was auditable, no longer would the voters be screwed.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2970925220524280238&hl=en


OEJC Holiday Jingle for the Project Everest testing.11-30-2007





On November 30, 2007, the final day of the testing of Project Everest, the 1.8 million dollar HAVA taxpayer funded testing of Ohio’s Voting Machines by Ohio Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner, hopeful packages from The Ohio Election Justice Campaign were delivered in the capital city of Columbus Ohio. The deliveries were to Governor Ted Strickland via a staff member named Peg; the Ohio Senate and the Ohio Controlling Board who approved the money for this project; to Attorney General Marc Dann via Assistant Chief Damian W. Sikora; and to Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, via Executive Assistant Bobbie Gilbert who said the package was on her own desk.


...........Paddy & David Sikora.....Paddy and Strickland Staffer ................................

David Sikora, Assistant Chief for Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann and a staffer of the office of Governor Ted Strickland, are handed packages of sample product liability lawsuits on the last day of Project Everest testing.

Marj Creech, Victoria Parks, and Paddy Shaffer assembled and delivered these packages including two product liability lawsuits: one by Paul Lehto for Washington, one by Patricia Axelrod for Nevada.
Product liability interview is at this link:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2641535466633314591&hl=en
In delivering the packages, it was explained that the purpose of us providing these packages to them is to raise awareness that Ohio can request it’s money back, to have a recall and refund on the voting machines. These lawsuits can serve as a sample or a template for what Ohio may need to do after the testing of our voting machines. Now that these elected officials have the sample product liability lawsuits, the topic has been raised for recall and refund. Plausible deniability is no longer a reason to continue to keep machines, if the only strong reason given after the testing reports have been viewed is because we have such a large financial investment in them, and that we must keep them. In this case the deciders of the fate of our voting machines will be fully aware they could ask for a recall and refund. The flawed reasoning of throwing good money after bad is devoid of good fiscal judgment. These vendors have been decertified in California after exhaustive testing by the Secretary of State Debra Bowen. Why then should we expect different results in Ohio? They are the same vendors being tested. One only hopes that the testing Brunner conducted will have proven just as rigorous. One recalls the words of our founder Benjamin Franklin who said, "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." He was a wise man.


The package also contained several items including information on other lawsuits in the US and documents from Leonard Samuelson, an Electrical Engineer and software developer for thirty years. Leonard covered a variety of important topics regarding electronic voting machines, including:
Voter verification
Count auditing required.
Testing only validates expected behavior.
Hidden capability is easy to prepare.
Hidden capability is easy to use.
It’s possible to limit access to hardware.
Paper and pen are very reliable.
Testing cannot prove “no tricks.” (OEJC's favorite)

All offices were informed that we shall follow up in about a week to make sure the package was reviewed, and will be seeking comments.

At the office of the Attorney General Marc Dann, we supplied the package to Assistant Chief Damian W. Sikora. In the past, Damien has done defense work on behalf of J. Kenneth Blackwell regarding election justice cases such as Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless v. Blackwell, and the League of Women Voters v. Blackwell. He is listed on the papers as being in the Constitutional Offices Section.

These packages were delivered on the final day of testing for Project Everest, for which The Ohio Election Justice Campaign has repeatedly requested both verbally and in writing, to have observers for. All requests heretofore had gone unanswered. We were told permission would have to come from Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Nance. Christopher never returned our phone calls or letters regarding our request. Sadly he was unable to come out and speak with us while we were there at his office. He was said to be in a meeting with the SOS at that very moment. While there, we were told that he was writing us a letter, and would send it soon. That was Friday November 30, 2007, and the letter arrived via email on Sunday afternoon, December 2, 2007 at 4:06 p.m. This is that letter:

November 30, 2007

Dear Ms. Shaffer:

Thank you for your recent correspondence and request to have observers from the Ohio Elections Justice Campaign observe the EVEREST testing process.

While I understand your interest in observing the testing process, I am respectfully denying your request to observe the testing process.

In a recent email (dated November 22, 2007), you also made numerous requests of information. Please note, that any specific public record requests you made are being addressed and Brian Green, Elections attorney for our office, will be sending you information shortly.

If you have any questions, you may contact my office at 614-644-0764.

Sincerely,

Christopher B. Nance
Assistant Secretary of State

cc: Jennifer Brunner
Kellye Pinkleton
Brian Green

Election transparency denied again. It is now day 117 since the OEJC has requested a meeting with the Secretary of State and the Attorney General.
The OEJC was informed that members of the Voting Rights Institute who were invited to go to the facility where the testing is taking place were asked to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement. This forbids them from talking about what they witnessed until the year 2017. Two members went, many others declined, not willing to sign the agreement. The OEJC has requested public records, including all non-disclosure agreements that the SOS has asked anyone to sign in 2007, including for Project Everest. These are mentioned in the above letter.


At the office of Ohio Secretary of State we had the pleasure of speaking to Secretary Brunner’s Executive Assistant Bobbie Gilbert. We spoke of what was in the package, and on the subject of plausible deniability. We also addressed several other items, including Clermont County's RC-3 form (a “certificate of records disposal”) that I had personally provided Bobbie to give to the SOS on August 6, 2007. The form was proof that Clermont County Board of Elections Director Mike Keeley was still in July of 2007, destroying the 2004 election records that Judge Marbley had ordered protected and safeguarded under the threat of a fourth degree felony and contempt of court charges. I wanted them to do something about it, and to remind all the counties to safeguard the records, and for the SOS to request an inventory of what still existed. While we were there talking to Bobbie, I let her know that my continuing research of this very week had revealed that the Poll Books and Tally Sheets mentioned on that RC-3 form, are regarded as election records with a six year record retention schedule, not a 22 month retention schedule, like the ballots. (The Ohio Auditor of State, Mary Taylor’s office approved the destruction of these records according to the stamp on the form in July 2007). The Clermont County poll books in question were destroyed along with the ballots.


Ms Gilbert, Victoria, and myself went around and around until she appeared exhausted with us, never gaining satisfaction that we activists will go comfortably back to sleep and stop paying attention to that man behind the curtain, we fear that might be the guy doing the testing of our voting machines? After requesting to speak with Chris Nance we were told he was busy and that Kellye Pinkleton would speak to us. After having waited for Kellye for a half an hour, we'd like to thank Ms. Gilbert for stepping up to the plate to speak with us. When these SOS employees are unable to resolve our problems, they along with us must feel frustration.

It was addressed to Bobbie that having the same people running the 2008 elections, who ran and committed alleged election crimes in 2004, did not appear to be getting ready for 2008, but rather appeared to be simply repeating the same types of past behaviors; for example, the destruction of public records without consequence. As the counties are preparing for 2008 in the current situation, we have no reason not to expect massive record destruction of election documents once again. Now, that is a problem. Records destruction is an addictive behavior, like alcoholism. First one has to admit the problem before effectively handling the addiction. Looking forward won't do a darn thing until we all look back to figure out how we got here.

For the many alleged crimes and alleged criminals we spoke of, we were repeatedly told that, “We are looking forward to 2008, we are getting ready for 2008, Secretary Brunner knows what needs done, we are looking forward to 2008", again and again and again. A mantra that plays over and over from the mouths of elections officials at the office of the Secretary of State (and previously at the office of the Attorney General), but doesn't play well with Ohio voters who want corruption out of our BOE's and out of our elections for good. The days of "just trust us" elections are over. We want transparency and accountability and we want it now.