In the following video, Jackson County, WV (where stories of vote flipping about this early voting season) County Clerk Jeff Waybright demonstrates that an uncalibrated – and then, well, a supposedly recalibrated – ES&S iVotronic voting machine (the same machines we use in Davidson, Lake, Obion, Weakley, Decatur, McNairy, Hardin, Maury, Williamson, Wilson, Coffee, Moore, Lincoln, Pickett, Hawkins, Greene and Sevier counties) will actually flip votes.

Votes flip so check your work and verify your vote. In the words of citizen Waybright, “You should never leave the voting booth without voting for who you wanted to vote for.

(h/t: Bradblog.com)

It CAN happen to you. If it does, here are a few suggestions on what to do:

1) Video Your Vote
If possible, plan ahead for any problems by bringing a video camera with you to Video the Vote. Then, spread it around (send it to us and we’ll help). Remember, the focus should be on gathering evidence and not telling stories. So, use video, audio, photographs to document what happened. Also, get names and phone numbers of witnesses, voting machine serial numbers, names of poll workers, and document the time of day.

2) At the First Sign of a Problem, Stop*
At the first sign of a problem with your machine (or if you experience any of the other problems listed below), stop what you are doing and ask to speak to the supervisor/officer of elections (skip the poll worker) at your polling location. Explain your problem. If they try and waive you off, call your main election commission number and ask to speak to the election commissioner who will satisfactorily address your problem. Keep in mind that many poll workers/supervisors will try and blame the voter aka “operator error.” Do not leave your polling place until your problem is well-documented and addressed to your complete satisfaction and, if the problem is with a machine, that machine is quarantined. Oh, and you get to vote. Never leave the polling place without voting.

3) File a Report. File Several Reports.
Your local polling place will have incident reports available to you. If they do not, call the main election commission for your county and ask for someone to bring one to you. Make sure that both you and the supervisor sign it. An example of a report is here (Hat tip: Wake Up and Save Your Country Voters Guide). The U.S. Election Assistance Commission also lists on their website where you can find out how to file a report in your state. Again, the Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights Election Protection Hotline at 1-866-Our-Vote can also help with any questions in this area.

4) Call the Election Protection Hotline
Report you incident to the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Election Protection Hotline at 1-866-Our-Vote, especially if you feel you are being bullied or your incident is not being taken seriously. The ACLU has a hotline as well at 1-877-523-2792. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Greg Palast offer suggestions as well in their comic StealYourVoteBack.org.

5) Pledge to Stand Up to Stolen Elections
Go to NoMoreStolenElections.org and pledge to not concede until every vote is counted – and counted as cast.

*Problems can include: machine problems, polling place problems (machines not set up on time), switching or closing of polling place, voters forced to vote on a provisional ballot, long lines/waits, intimidation, unusual ID demands, poll workers asking inappropriate questions, etc.

UPDATE: One of TrueVote.Us’s members has a great suggestion to add to this list: “Voters who see their vote being flipped by the machines on election day, if they can’t get the machine taken out of service, they should immediately begin telling all the voters still waiting in line exactly which machine flipped their votes. (Third machine from the left, or whatever.) Try to get people…to refuse that machine. This could cause trouble, backups, and increase the pressure on the local officials to mothball that machine. No doubt people are already complaining both to the officials and to election activists and lawyers waiting outside – but the other voters waiting in line also need to know. [I took out a bit of this that was very partisan because we believe that fair and honest elections are no-partisan and non-ideological. - Ed.]

My wife, Patricia Earnhardt, had an early voting experience here in Nashville, Tennessee, where she saw her vote momentarily flip from Barack Obama to Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney. She voted on a touch-screen paperless machine. Here is her story:

“A poll worker directed me to a touch screen voting machine & instructed me how to use it. I touched “Obama” for president & nothing lit up. I touched 2 or 3 more times & still nothing lit up. I called the poll worker back over to tell him I was having a problem. He said I just needed to touch it more lightly. I tried it 2 or 3 more times more lightly with the poll worker watching & still nothing lit up. The poll worker then touched it for me twice — nothing lit up. The third time he touched the Obama button, the Cynthia McKinney space lit up! The McKinney button was located five rows below the Obama button. The poll worker just kind of laughed and cancelled the vote. He hit the Obama button again & it finally lit up. I continued on to cast the rest of my votes. After completing the process & reviewing my votes, I went to the VOTE page, hit the VOTE button & nothing happened. Again after several tries, I called the poll worker over & he finally got the machine to register my votes.” Patricia Earnhardt – Friday, Oct. 17 – Howard School Building – Nashville, Tennessee

I also had similar problems with the machine I was voting on that same day, although no vote flipping. I would touch the screen numerous times before I could get my various candidate choices to light up. It was strange and very frustrating. When I finally got through my slate of candidate choices, I could not get the VOTE button to light up when I touched it. I finally called over a poll worker and he told me that I needed to touch lightly. I touched the VOTE button more lightly, but was only able to get it to work after several more failed attempts.

David Earnhardt
Producer/director/writer, “Uncounted”
www.UncountedTheMovie.com

Need more sad irony? The machines David and Patricia voted on in Davidson County, TN – ES&S iVotronic – are the same machines used in the West Virginia counties (Putnam & Jackson) where vote flipping is also being reported. Go to the election info page on the state of Tennessee and click on Davidson County. Or download this PDF.

WHAT YOU CAN DO: Please, if you experience anything unusual, stay at your polling place, ask to speak with the supervisor, call the election commission (they will have the number), and insist that the machine be quarantined until it can be examined.

First, I’d like to thank you all for your interest in the democratic process. As you know, it’s so important that as voters and American citizens we can count on our news media and elected officials to ensure that in every election our votes will be counted and counted as cast.

Since the story broke of potential recount challenges by both candidate Barnes and Rep. Davis, a couple of things have happened.

First, Nashville Public Radio, you ran a news story in which you interviewed Tennessee Election Coordinator Brook Thompson about the process for initiating a recount. In the report, Mr. Thompson made it very clear that, because this was a primary election, the responsibility for deciding to go forward with a recount challenge was up to an individual party and their committees:

“The party really sits as judge and jury in an election contest. And so the losing candidate will contest the election. They will be given time, I presume, to make their case. The winning candidate will also be given time to make their case, and the party has to determine what it wants to do.”

Interesting story – but it was missing something. Where were the questions about the process for a recount? Where was the mention that, because of the types of electronic voting machines used in 93 of 95 counties here, a “recount” in Tennessee means pressing the same button and getting the same totals? Where was the factual statement that when using this methodology there would be absolutely no difference at all in the numbers either candidate would get after a recount? Isn’t that news? Hell, isn’t that the story?!?!

You also recently reported that “As recently as last year, two Republican candidates challenged primary results” but that “State Republican Party officials says both matters were resolved without a full recount because either the candidate couldn’t pay for it or because the committee ruled it inappropriate.”

The real reason, of course, as Rep. Davis and candidate Barnes have now figured out, is because a recount would be futile.

Now, I hear, both you, Rep. Davis, and you, candidate Barnes, are looking into challenges based on “cross-over” voting instead. Good luck with that. But is that it? Does the story of why a recount isn’t possible when an election is close now simply just go away?

I urge you, Nashville Public Radio, the National Media, Rep. David Davis, and Candidate Tim Barnes, as you go on with your news stories and your challenges, please DO NOT LET THIS STORY DIE.

Electronic voting (not bears) is the number one threat to our democracy – and not just in Tennessee:

• 28 States still use Electronic Voting Machines and will in this critical presidential election.
• The U.S. Senate is proposing an Electronic Voting Machine bill that would exacerbate these bad voting practices, not fix them.

But yes, this threat does continue in Tennessee and will do so until 2010. Right now, in Davidson County a small group of committed volunteers and Metro Council folk are fighting to prevent the Election Commission from spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to rent more of the same useless and unverifiable machines instead of buying the type that will allow for paper ballots and that they are mandated to purchase, by law, before the 2010 election.

It’s clear, sirs and madams, by the work you do that you love our democracy. But do you love it enough to realize the importance of this story – your story – and shout it from the rooftops until the rest of the country stand ups and takes notice?

Your pal,

Mary

Randy McNally, Chair; Douglas Henry, Vice-Chair; Tim Burchett, Secretary; Diane Black, Raymond Finney, Joe Haynes, Rosalind Kurita, Jim Kyle, Mark Norris, Bo Watson and John Wilder.

Please don’t hesitate. Call them now. The bill states:

SECTION 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the “Tennessee Voter Confidence Act of 2007”.
SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 2, is amended by adding the following as a new, appropriately designated section:
2-__-___.
(a)Notwithstanding any other provision of state law to the contrary and consistent with federal law, any voting system purchased or leased with federal, state or local funds shall provide that the ballot of record shall be a paper ballot marked by the voter, with appropriate accommodation for persons with disabilities. Such ballot shall be available for the voter to verify such voter’s vote before having it counted and retained by the election officials. The system shall maintain the secrecy of the voter’s choices and the ballots of record shall be used in any recounts, contests, or random samplings for accuracy.
(b) The secretary of state and the state election commission are authorized, with the various county election commissions, to implement the provisions of this section for any new purchases after the effective date of this act. In addition, they are authorized to expedite the replacement or modification of any systems that are not in compliance with this section as soon as practical. Federal “Help America Vote Act” funds previously allocated, or any similar funds allocated in the future shall be used to the extent such funds are eligible.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring

Also, NOW is also the time for you to phone or email (preferably both), your state Representative and Senator. You can find phone number and email address information here. If you send an email, make sure you put your zip code in the subject line with a reference to the bill number and name (Voter Confidence Act).

The message is, “I am counting on you to vote in favor of HB 1256 / SB 1363, the Voter Confidence Act, when it comes to the floor for a vote.”

Dear Representative (or Senator) ______________,

I am a constituent of yours, and I would like to ask you to vote in favor of HB 1256/SB 1363, the Voter Confidence Act. It is expected to be ready for a floor vote in the next few days. If passed, this bill will ensure that we vote on durable paper ballots that are tallied by an optical scanner, and retained in a locked ballot box. These paper ballots also become the ballot of record in case a recount is necessary.

This new system will replace the touchscreen electronic voting machines, offering us verifiable ballots, no long lines at the polls, and a system that is less expensive for counties to use.

The cost of changing our voting equipment will be met with federal funds already held by our state.

I look forward to your voting YES to HB 1256/SB 1363. Thank you for your attention to my views on this critical issue.

Sincerely,
Name
Address
Phone Number

We are so close to no longer being one of 6 states at “High” risk for continued voting machine mishaps. This bill does not guarantee a change by this November, however, the Governor still have time to issue a mandate. When in doubt, go low-tech.

UPDATE: The bill made it out of the Senate Finance Ways & Means committee. Woohoo!

To you, funny. To me, less.

Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

(Hat Tip: Mark Crispin Miller)

According to a new report by Common Cause and the Verified Voting Foundation:

Six of the 15 states that hold presidential primaries on Super Tuesday are at “high” risk for having election results affected by electronic voting machine malfunction or tampering…[Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, New Jersey, New York and Tennessee] were given that ranking for using electronic voting machines that do not produce an independent, voter-verifiable paper record that could be used in the case of a recount or audit.

The report also found that 17 states have a “medium” risk, the classification given to states that “use voting systems that deploy paper ballots or produce a voter-verifiable paper record of each voter’s vote, but do not require audits,” and six states are at “low” risk because they use voting systems that deploy paper ballots or produce voter verifiable paper records and require audits.

It’s a good thing we still have time to do something about it election integrity in Tennessee. But we have to act fast. This week HB 1256 – legislation that will mandate that all voting equipment in Tennessee use or produce a voter-verified paper ballot and that statewide random post-election manual audits be conducted to verify the vote count – will be making it’s way out of the State and Local Government sub-committee and into the full S& L committee for a vote. Tennessee is one of the few states in the country where voter-verified paper ballots are not required by law. The full State and Local Government Committee will meet on Super Tuesday (2/5 – Presidential Primary day) at Noon in room 16. On the same day, at 10:30 in room 12, the Senate committee will hear the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR) report, “Trust But Verify,” which recommends that to improve election integrity in Tennessee we move away from electronic voting machines and replace them with paper-based optical scan machines.

Please email and call each member of the Committee and tell them that we need voter verified paper ballots in Tennessee in time for the 2008 elections. Urge them to support HB 1256 (Rep. Gary Moore, D-the fightin’ 50th!), the Voter Confidence Act, which calls for this change no later than 2010. You can also email a link to this latest Common Cause report [pdf] to further send a message.

What’s remarkable about our state legislature is that Rep. Jason Mumpower and others want the balls back because they don’t trust computers to pick our lottery numbers, but they’re still willing to trust them to accurately count our votes.

Also, if you’re having trouble convincing your friends and family that election integrity is a worthwhile issue, please bring them out to the screening of UNCOUNTED: The New Math of American Elections tonight at the Belcourt Theatre. There are two showings – 6:30 and 9 PM – so everyone who wants to see it should be able to get in.

As Bob Edgar, president of Common Cause, says:

“It is senseless that after two presidential elections marked by voting machine failures that some states still use voting systems that do not produce a paper record that can be re-counted if there is a problem. Congress and the states must fix this problem by November. We can’t afford another national election in which voters don’t have full confidence in our election results.”

Amen, brother.

Over 100,000 votes went uncounted in Florida’s November 2006 election — all on the ES&S iVotronic paperless touchscreen voting machines — as described in a recently released report by Florida Fair Elections Center. The report, the result of a year-long investigation by FFEC Executive Director Susan Pynchon and FFEC Research Director Kitty Garber, concludes that it was the failure of the iVotronic machines that resulted in thousands of uncounted votes in the closely-contested November 2006 Congressional District 13 race in Sarasota County–a race that has been the subject of two lawsuits to overturn the results of that election, and which is still the subject of an ongoing investigation by the U.S. Congressional House Administration Committee and the federal Government Accountability Office (GAO).

If “ES&S iVotronic” and “paperless touchscreen voting machines” sound familiar to some of you it’s because 17 out of 95 counties in Tennessee use these machines and, if things don’t go well next week, we’ll be using them again in the November election. ES&S is also the same company that tried to surreptitiously change the contract it had with the state to allow for used equipment in the August 2006 election.

On Tuesday, January 29, the Elections of S&LG (Subcommittee for the House State and Local Government Committee) meets to discuss HB 1256 by Rep. Gary Moore (SB 1363 by Senator Joe Haynes) that would require “any voting system purchased after the effective date of this act to provide the ballot of record be a paper ballot marked by the voter with appropriate accommodation for persons with disabilities; requires such ballot to be available to voter to verify the vote; requires that secrecy of the voter’s choice be maintained.” If it passes the subcommittee then it’s on to the State and Local Government Committee (cue “I’m Just a Bill“).

Please contact the members of the subcommittee before Tuesday and urge them to recommend sending this bill to the committee:

Rep. Eddie Yokley, Chair (D – Greeneville) Email / Phone (615) 741-6871
Rep. Robert Bibb (D – Springfield) Email / Phone (615) 741-3979
Rep. Joey Hensley (R – Hohenwald) Email / Phone (615) 741-7476
Rep. Curtis Johnson (R – Clarksville) Email / Phone (615) 741-4341
Rep. Ulysses Jones (D – Memphis) Email / Phone (615) 741-4575
Rep. John Litz (D – Morristown) Email / Phone (615) 741-6877
Rep. Steve McManus (R – Cordova) Email / Phone (615) 741-1920
Rep. Gary Moore (D – Joelton), Email / Phone (615) 741-4317