Re: Fwd: New meaning to being "Observers" to an election...Is this what is in store for Colorado?

[Ralph Shnelvar <ralphs@xxxxxxxxx>]

To those of you who have not had the pleasure of being an observer at any
logic test, count, or canvass, let me assure you that - at least in Boulder
and at least at the times when I was present - an observer is too far away
from anything to observe anything other than the fact that something is
going on.

Argh!

This is something that Al Kolwicz has been complaining about for years and
years.  It is satisfying to see - in a schadenfreude sort of way - that
others are now complaining about the same thing.

Ralph Shnelvar

On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 07:01:14 -0700, you wrote:

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>
>This reminds me a lot of our experience in Boulder a week ago at the  
>County elections office.
>
>When the questions got too uncomfortable for the elections officials,  
>they told us that "absolute quiet" would be needed for the process to  
>work.
>
>Joe
>
>
>
>Begin forwarded message:
>
>> From: "Michael Melio" <meliom@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>> Date: March 11, 2005 10:37:35 PM MST
>> To: meliom@xxxxxxxxxxx
>> Subject: New meaning to being "Observers" to an election...Is this  
>> what is in store for Colorado?
>>
>> http://www.therandirhodesshow.com/randirhodes/messageboards/index.php? 
>> act=Print&client=printer&f=94&t=40432
>>
>>  
>>
>> The Randi Rhodes Show _ Election 2004 _ BlackBoxVoting.org update
>>
>> Posted by: koyaanisqatsi Feb 27 2005, 03:56 PM
>>
>> www.blackboxvoting.org is still at it working hard. Just thought I'd  
>> post one of the more recent updates. Go to the web site for more  
>> updates and what you can do in your own community if you're  
>> interested:
>>
>>  ---------------------------------------------
>> Friday, Feb. 19 2005:
>>
>>  Black Box Voting investigators Bev Harris and Kathleen Wynne attended  
>> and videotapted a Logic & Accuracy test at Broward County.
>>
>>  1. About 120 ES&S touch-screens were set up for voting. All were  
>> positioned so that not a single observer could see the screens (even  
>> with binoculars and a zoom lens).
>>
>>  2. Several computers were in an adjacent central tabulator room. None  
>> of the central tabulators used were positioned so that any observer  
>> could see any part of the screen.
>>
>>  Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes attended the  
>> meeting, along with the Broward County counsel, and Judge Fred Berman.  
>> Shortly after documentary film Votergate (http://www.votergate.tv)  
>> filmmakers Russell Michaels and Simon Ardizzone arrived, Snipes  
>> brought in her own attorney.
>>
>>  Activists Ellen Brodsky, who reported that she represents  
>> VerifiedVoting.org, and Pedro Monteiro, a local computer programmer,  
>> also attended.
>>
>>  - Harris asked why no one was allowed to see any of the  
>> touch-screens. Craig Yagid, the IT worker for Broward County, said it  
>> was not possible to turn a single one to face observers. Snipes asked  
>> him to take the observers into the room to see the testing, but he  
>> hurried them past the live touch-screens to show them a machine that  
>> was not turned on.
>>
>>  He refused to turn it on, so the observers still could not see the  
>> machine register any votes. He did explain the testing procedure,  
>> which consisted of testing one, sometimes two votes on each machine.  
>> He declined to answer most questions and hurried the observers out of  
>> the room.
>>
>>  An ES&S employee sat at the central tabulator, wearing a red polo  
>> shirt similar to other county employees, with no name tag  
>> differentiating him from county workers. When Harris asked about  
>> policies allowing unmarked vendors to touch the votes, Supervisor  
>> Snipes first said this was a procedure that had been certified by the  
>> state of Florida, but later recanted and admitted it was just the  
>> voting system that had been certified.
>>
>>  Pedro asked how the county could know the system was recording votes  
>> accurately when there is no paper ballot and the software is  
>> proprietary, but was told it was not the appropriate place for such  
>> questions.
>>
>>  When Harris asked a different question -- whether the ES&S employee  
>> was required to sign his name on documents, as poll workers and other  
>> election officials are required to do, she was told her question was  
>> repetetive. Snipes said simply "no," and repeated that the ES&S  
>> employee is part of the contract for technical assistance. (At that  
>> time, he was operating the central tabulator unsupervised, and had  
>> total control of the election).
>>
>>  As observers continued to ask polite, calm questions, the lawyer for  
>> Snipes informed the election officials that they need not answer any  
>> more questions, since the law required only that they allow observers  
>> to see the testing.
>>
>>  Harris mentioned that they were not being allowed to "see" the  
>> testing, since neither the touch-screens nor the tabulators were  
>> positioned so that any part of the screen was visible.
>>
>>  No more questions...
>>
>>  Judge Berman replied that the part observers were supposed to "see"  
>> was the deliberations of the election officials, not necessarily the  
>> machines.
>>
>>  Observers were told to sit down and be quiet, and to write down any  
>> questions for answers at a later time.
>>
>>  After the "zero reports" were examined, election officials waited  
>> around for testing to finish and results to be printed. Since nothing  
>> was going on, Pedro asked more questions.
>>
>>  Pedro pointed to some of the machines being used for the L&A test.  
>> "Are any of these the machines that counted backwards after they  
>> reached 32,000 votes?" he asked. (Broward County says that because it  
>> set the limit incorrectly on a machine during the Nov. 2004 election,  
>> it began to count in reverse, but only on one ballot question -- a  
>> controversial gambling initiative).
>>
>>  He was told to put his questions in writing, as they did not want to  
>> take time out of the L&A test to answer him.
>>
>>  "Are you too busy to answer my questions?" he asked politely,  
>> "because right now you are just waiting around."
>>
>>  Supervisor Snipes immediately got up and went into an adjacent room  
>> and shut the door.
>>
>>  "Put it in writing," said Judge Berman.
>>
>>  Pedro pointed out that a court reporter or transcriber was there  
>> writing everything that was said.
>>
>>  "She is already putting everything in writing," he said. "Perhaps she  
>> can put my questions in writing so we can get answers today?"
>>
>>  The election officials shuffled and finally one said "Uh, no one can  
>> read her writing."
>>
>>  "Then why is she here?" Pedro asked quietly and politely.
>>
>>  "We are not here to discuss your personality disorder," said Judge  
>> Berman.
>>
>>  "Sir, it is not I that has a personality disorder. It is you that is  
>> reading a book during this meeting." Judge Berman had brought a  
>> Heather Graham novel with him, and had his nose buried in the book  
>> during the testing.
>>
>>  A portly man who was identified as Snipes' personal assistant hurried  
>> out of the building. Harris followed him out, and heard him urgently  
>> requesting assistance, she assumed from security.
>>
>>  It was not security, but the police who showed up, and they pulled  
>> both Ellen Brodsky and Pedro Monteiro aside to tell them they had  
>> received a report that they were disturbing the peace.
>>
>>  Pedro had been, at that time, standing quite far to the side of the  
>> room, chatting quietly with the ES&S employee, and Brodsky had  
>> committed the sin of standing up in order to hear better (she has a  
>> hearing impairment).
>>
>>  =====================================
>>
>>  Harris spoke with Jeremiah Akin, of Riverside County, California, who  
>> has attended many such Logic & Accuracy tests, equally obstructive.
>>
>>  "It's important to document this behavior on videotape," he said.  
>> Riverside has tried to block the public from recording their own  
>> obstructive behavior, which includes preventing observers from seeing  
>> the central tabulator at all, or even who is operating it.
>>
>>  Black Box Voting will therefore be putting clips of the Broward  
>> County L&A test online at this site. This may take a couple weeks, as  
>> we have a heavy travel schedule during the next ten days, and we need  
>> to experiment with file size issues.
>>
>>  "It is amazing to me that anyone at all believes these tests prove  
>> anything," Pedro observed.
>>
>>  He is correct. The way many L&A tests are conducted, they are no more  
>> than a ridiculous dog and pony show -- the bamboozling of America.
>>
>>
>>
>> Posted by: koyaanisqatsi Mar 10 2005, 03:12 PM
>>
>> Never mind folks! The following thread explains a lot:
>>
>>   
>> http://www.therandirhodesshow.com/randirhodes/messageboards/index.php? 
>> showtopic=41453
>>
>>  Ugh.