Electronic Voting

Judgement Day: Tennessee Voter Confidence Can and Must Be Implemented

On November 9, 2009, in Liberate Your Radio from The Right, by Mary Mancini

Tre Hargett is lucky it was Perkins and not Judy.

Tre Hargett is lucky it was Judge Perkins and not Judge Judy.

All good news from a ruling last week that rejected a plea for the court to step in and “compel” Secretary of State Tre Hargett and State Election Coordinator Mark Goins to implement the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act, a.k.a. the paper ballot bill (which they have been fighting hard against, for some reason).

While the court denied the plaintiffsâ€™ motion for a preliminary injunction, it did rule that, contrary to what Mr. Hargett has been saying, the Tennessee Voter Confidence ACT does NOT require 2005-only standards for machines.

In addition, the court said that the law must be implemented by November 2010 and that the Secretary of State is under a legal obligation to do so tout de suite.

Even more good news is all the attention this case – which is ultimately about secure and accurate elections for all Tennesseans – is receiving from the media.

Nationally, the preeminent election integrity activist and blogger, Brad Friedman – who, by the way, has been with Tennesseans fighting for secure and accurate elections from the beginning – wrote up a thorough synopsis:

The ruling appears to be a victory for the plaintiffs nonetheless, as Perkins ruled the state’s argument/delay tactic that there were no currently certified voting machines that meet the law’s mandate for systems that are federally certified to 2005 standards. Trouble is, the law contains no such mandate. The judge determined that the law does not require new systems meet 2005 standards — there are currently none certified to that standard — and that systems meeting the 2002 federal standards are perfectly legal.

The Voting News blog also covered the hearing.

WSMV-TN Channel 4 in Nashville taped the entire hearing and posted a story on its website and Jackson Baker wrote about it for the Memphis Flyer. Baker’s piece artfully acknowledges what those of us fighting for secure and accurate elections in Tennessee understand as the next threat – delaying implementation of the TVCA as Republican legislative priority (as stated by Lt. Governor and gubernatorial candidate, Ron Ramsey):

While Hargettâ€™s statement would appear to be guardedly compliant with the Act and Thursdayâ€™s ruling, the references to â€œcurrent lawâ€ and to the prospect that â€œthis debate will continue in the next legislative sessionâ€ would seem to validate the fears of TVCA supporters that Hargett and Goins mean to postpone any effort to implement the TVCA in the hope that the General Assembly, meeting in January, will amend the Act, negate it, or postpone the date of its implementation.

Tom Humphrey at the Knoxville News Sentinel has both the news and a follow up from a statement by Dick Williams of plaintiff Common Cause:

Optical scan voting systems are now the most widely used voting method in the nation, and are used by over 60% of the nation’s voters.

“Nothing is more important than having verifiable ballots,” said Dick Williams of Common Cause Tennessee. “There is no good reason for running the 2010 elections with systems that are vulnerable to error and don’t allow a recount or an audit,” Williams said.

…

Following the hearing, Attorney Gerard Stranch for the Plaintiffs said: “The ball is now in the defendants court, hopefully, they will have greater respect for the will of the Court than they did for the will of the legislature.”

Stranch is right, the ball is in the Secretary of State’s court. But don’t expect him to quietly follow along with the will of the people. Rather, he will drag his feet until January counting on Ramsey and the Republican-led legislature to repeal the act.

Last month Jeff Woods at the Scene nailed down the most obvious follow-up question to ask of Mr. Hargett and Mr. Goins, “Why else…would Republicans fight so hard to stop an obvious good-government election reform that only a year ago enjoyed broad bipartisan support?”

In light of recent events, and as they will undoubtedly continue to drag their feet, the answer is more important and relevant now than ever before.

Should Tennessee Put a Price Tag on Democracy?

On March 26, 2009, in Liberate Your Radio from The Right, by Mary Mancini

While Tennessee Republicans attempt to gut the Voter Confidence Act that was passed last year 92-3 in the State House and unanimously in the State Senate, Election Coordinator Mark Goins and Secretary of State Tre Hargett are trying hard to delay its implementation until 2012.

Citing three reasons – the impossible to enforce requirement that we purchase machines certified by the Election Assistance Commission to 2005 standards, the fear of buying outdated machines, and a fiscal impact to local governments not previously considered – both Coordinator Goins and Secretary Hargett are happy for Tennesseans in 93 out of 95 counties to go through yet another election voting on suspect DREs (electronic voting machines).

Each reason cited can be easily addressed and sorted if the Legislators who voted on the bill last year, the Governor who was very pleased to sign the thing, and the newly appointed constitutional officer and his election department staff, all had the desire to give the people of Tennessee what they want and deserve – free, fair, and verifiable elections.

Perhaps, though, the will is weak. Here are some suggestions:

1) The impossible to enforce requirement that we purchase machines certified by the Election Assistance Commission to 2005 standards. Written into the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act is the requirement that we purchase optical scan machines that have been certified by the EAC to 2005 standards. Unfortunately, the EAC is not the sharpest tool in the bureaucracy shed and have to this day only certified one machine. Worse, the EAC is proving toothless in its oversight of both machine and election day procedures and have also brought its own partisan agenda to what should be a non-partisan issue:

A federal panel responsible for conducting election research played down the findings of experts who concluded last year that there was little voter fraud around the nation, according to a review of the original report obtained by The New York Times.

Instead, the panel, the Election Assistance Commission, issued a report that said the pervasiveness of fraud was open to debate.

The revised version echoes complaints made by Republican politicians, who have long suggested that voter fraud is widespread and justifies the voter identification laws that have been passed in at least two dozen states.

Some legislators are looking to find the definitive certification process for optical scan machine vendors so that we can be assured that we are conforming to the law. An easier, and in light of the history of the EAC, smarter fix is to amend the Voter Confidence Act so that we are no longer bound to the ineffective and suspect standards of the EAC.

2) If we purchase optical scan machines in time for the 2010 elections, they could be rendered obsolete by a future requirement to purchase federally mandated equipment. Perhaps, but for the time being there is no federally mandated election system and no one can predict if there will be one by 2012. Plus, Tennessee is lucky to have millions of Help America Vote Act dollars left in its coffers to spend on the Voter Confidence Act and improving our election system. Most other states have already spent theirs HAVA money. So, if a mandate comes from the federal government for all states to standardize their election systems, it will have to come with additional dollars for implementation. Saving the money now is unwise, especially since with each election that passes our faith in the democratic process withers.

3) There is a large fiscal impact to local governments that was not previously considered. Secretary Hargett and Coordinator Goins say that the costs related to the change over to optical scan voting systems are too burdensome on local governments that run our elections. They are primarily referring to the cost of paper ballots, which each county government is responsible for printing. Contrary to how it is being presented, this issue was addressed during the original discussion of the Voter Confidence Act and the conclusion was that passing the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act would not add an additional cost burden to local governments. Recent astronomical cost estimates provided recently by Carter County election administrator, Tracy Harris, are also being reviewed:

Harris said the legislation may yet be repealed, but if not, the total cost to the county — if the state or federal government does not provide new voting machines — would be $363,673.80. She said the currently used electronic voting machines have had very few problems in last year’s elections, both locally and statewide.

First, how does she know the electronic voting machines had very few problems? (Remember, no one can access the source code of the machines, so no one really knows if the votes in Carter County are counted – let alone counted as cast. Second, the state, via the leftover federal HAVA dollars, will provide the money for the machines.

What’s most troublesome about the threats to both gut and delay implementation of the Voter Confidence Act is that with each potential problem handled, we are presented with yet another…and another…and another. It is clear that the desire of some elected and appointed officials to obstruct this incredibly important piece of legislation seems to be much stronger than their desire to implement it.

Tagged with: Electronic Voting • Tennessee Voter Confidence Act

Free and Fair Elections Are Something We Can All Agree On, Right?

On March 26, 2009, in Liberate Your Radio from The Right, by Mary Mancini

I’m looking for a little “word up” from anyone on the right about this Voter Confidence Act kerfuffle.

Anyone? Anyone?

Slater? Gill? Valentine? DelGiorno? Bristol?

Aren’t free and fair elections something we can all agree on? Don’t you guys see the dangers inherent in electronic voting?

I can only assume that like us, you want to win elections fairly. Wouldn’t it be nice to all be working towards that goal together?

Tagged with: Electronic Voting • Michael • Mike Slater • Phil Valentine • Ralph Bristol • Steve Gill • Tennessee Voter Confidence Act

Electronic Voting Machines Suck: A Refresher Course For Tennessee State Legislators

On March 26, 2009, in Liberate Your Radio from The Right, by Mary Mancini

In light of all the discussion about whether or not we should gut or delay the Voter Confidence Act – the almost unanimously agreed upon election reform bill that would, among other democracy-loving mandates, require Tennesseans to vote on paper – we need to remember why we needed election reform in the state in the first place.

Paperless unverifiable touch-screen voting machines, also knownn as DREs, suck and 93 out of 95 counties in Tennessee currently use them.

Paperless unverifiable touch-screen voting machines are not secure and unreliable.

They flip votes (the machines used in the West Virginia counties where flipping occurred are the same ones used in Davidson County). And whether the vote flipping problems are caused by “buggy” software created by inept programmers or malicious source code doesn’t matter. And besides, we wouldn’t be able to discern the reason because…

The software used in the machines is hidden from us. There is no public scrutiny of the code that counts the votes, which violates the “vote in private, count in public” axiom.

Paperless unverifiable touch-screen voting machines do not allow for any type of meaningful recount. (just ask Tim Barnes).

Paperless unverifiable touch-screen voting machines totals can be manipulated in the source code, by introducing virus in one of the un-secure data ports, or by good ol’ fashioned Kentucky-style vote-fixin’.

When a paperless unverifiable touch-screen voting machine crashes or malfunctions, as computers are prone to do, votes can be irretrievably lost.

When you vote on paperless unverifiable touch-screen voting machines there is no guarantee that your vote will be counted, let alone counted as cast.

As the reasons for delaying the implementation of the Voter Confidence Act pile up, we must keep in mind our ultimate goal – free, fair, and trustworthy elections.

Tagged with: Electronic Voting • I Can't Believe We're Back Here Again • Tennessee Voter Confidence Act

Do You Know Where Your Birth Certificate Is?

On March 25, 2009, in Liberate Your Radio from The Right, by Mary Mancini

Sen. Mark Norris (R-Oz)

Do you know where your birth certificate is? If not and you’re planning on moving to another Tennessee county or registering as a new voter anytime soon, you better work on getting that replacement copy.

Under a new bill introduced by Senator Mark Norris (R-Collierville), SB1999, Tennessee will require citizenship status to be proven with any new voter registration – that includes any existing registered voter moving to another county within Tennessee since we treat those address changes as new registrations.

Smart bill, right? Because the only reason Senator Norris would introduce this type of legislation is to combat all the documented incidences of undocumented workers trying to vote in U.S. elections, right? Problem is, there aren’t any documented and/or prosecuted cases of this kind. In fact, you are more likely to get hit by lightening than commit voter fraud – citizen or not. And rather than focus on the real issues facing Tennesseans – high unemployment, a sub-standard public education system, the lack of affordable health care – Senator Norris would rather offer solutions to non-existent problems.

So if the good Senator from Collierville doesn’t have any legitimate reason for introducing this type of legislation which is shown to add unnecessary barriers to the polling place , then why would he? As Senator Thelma Harper (D-Nashville) insisted in the spirited exchange she had with Senator Norris yesterday, “You will accomplish your goal of slowing down registrations.”

Tennessee Senate and House Republicans are working a full court press against free and fair elections in Tennessee by introducing legislation that disenfranchises voters from start to finish – mandatory photo IDs, proof of citizenship for registration, and gutting the paper ballot bill that requires audits and a paper trail to ensure accurate recounts. Why?

Tagged with: Electronic Voting • Mark Norris • Tennessee Voter Confidence Act • Thelma Harper

Liberadio(!) Podcast: March 23, 2009 with Metro Council District 18 Candidates, Lee Poston, Earth Hour, & the Glenn Beck is Creepy

On March 23, 2009, in Podcasts, by Mary Mancini

Summary: With the special Metro Council District 18 election this Thursday, March 26, our guests include all District 18 Candidates – Stephenie Dodson, Kristine LaLonde, John Ray Clemmons, and David Glasgow.

More information about this Thursday’s special election can be found at Nashville.gov/vote. If you live in the Fightin’ 18th!, you go to your regular polling place between 7 am and 7 pm. Go to Nashville.gov/vote and click on the “Find Where I Vote” link to find your polling place.

Plus, Lee Poston of the World Wildlife Fund & Earth Hour, and Elbert Ventura of Media Matters.

Part 1 – Faux Spring Break, Part 1 – Intro and some news items – dumping slurry, buying debt, and gutting voter confidence. [5.6 MB 4:53 download MP3]