Iowa Caucus-Goer Alert
Submitted by ms in la on December 31, 2007 - 4:33pm.
Call to Action | Democratic politics | Election Reform
Received a lengthy email from BlackBox voting today that I'm paraphrasing here for anyone in Iowa and also with some general information about a few sticky problems integrity-wise still needing to be resolved. I know we only have a few Iowans here but if anyone reading knows someone in Iowa, please refer this post... for us all.
Black Box Voting needs live IOWA CITIZEN REPORTS:
______________________________________________________________________
THE REPUBLICS
Looks like the Republics are running their show in a less than verifiable manner in Iowa and BlackBox is asking Iowans of all stripes to keep their eyes/ears peeled and to report back any strange activities. (*Curious that they are being funny with their own right now-- makes you wonder who they fear winning there vs who they'd prefer).
Here is the list of Republican Caucus locations in Iowa if you can help check things out-- be an "observer". Undercover! Could be fun! : )
___________________________________________
Note that: the Iowa caucuses must allow observers and must allow both video and photography, as long as you do not disrupt the proceedings.
You do not need to be a member of the party to observe or videotape- only to caucus for that party.
_____________________________________________
DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL
Black Box Voting has received reports that some political operatives have urged citizens NOT to ask too many questions and NOT to take photos or video of precinct caucus results, warning them that only "conspiracy theorists" would want to independently confirm the announced results. Don't be intimidated by this ploy if you encounter it.
The Iowa Republicans have NOT publicly agreed to promptly release precinct results for the Jan. 3 caucus. Instead, we are seeing bait and switch tactics, as they emphasize to caucus participants that the counting will be done in public at the precinct. While they keep your eye focused on the front end--- a switch can take place at the back end. When they release a total result to the media without releasing the individual precinct results at the same time, there is no way at all for citizens to confirm that their precinct results added up to the announced total.
At the end-- it all goes into a black hole. Party officials dial a result into a cell phone, which goes we don't know where, following a telecommunications routing that is unspecified, and is totaled up in a central tabulation program made by a vendor no one knows the name of, programmed by we don't know who, and voila! The result is announced.
Please CONTACT both the Iowa Republican Party and the Iowa Secretary of State to tell them you expect to see those precinct results published at the SAME time they announce the statewide total.
Iowa Republican Party: (515) 282-8105 Iowa Secretary of State: 515-281-0145 515-281-7142 (Fax)
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
FOR THE DEMOCRATIC CAUCUSES
Again, THE PUBLIC needs to be able to see the precinct results before they leave the precinct and after they are accumulated into the total. The precinct results BEFORE should match the precinct numbers AFTER, and all of these should match the final total.
Basic election integrity common sense.
WHAT TO DO: Encourage the local county Democratic Party to add the simple step of posting a copy of the signed precinct results at each and every location.
WEBSITE OR NO WEBSITE?
The Democrats are saying there will be a special website where those precinct totals will be posted. They have not yet publicly announced the site or confirmed it. Word is there may be a password limiting viewing to media and caucus attendees only -- which is not enough.
The results must be accessible to the public.
If you can/do access the site, BlackBox recommends getting screen captures of any wandering totals or unusual changes that occur during the tabulation, for the record.
Beware of any last minute excuses about "fear of overloading the server" to justify not posting results for public consumption. Precinct results should be available online to the PUBLIC and no special passwords should limit who can view them. The server argument is baseless, per BlackBox, it should be a simple pdf spreadsheet, not a big deal....
Demand to see precinct results if you're an Iowan. It is your legal right.
It appears there will be an automated cell phone-initiated computer tabulation of the results, which was the 2004 method too. There is confusion within the party as to who is counting (!) and who wrote the programs. For both parties, the telecommunications routing of the data enroute from the precincts to the final announced totals is very important and should be carefully monitored as to who might have access along the way.
If you are there and want to help out-- as a citizen observer... to help verify---
HERE'S WHAT TO DO:
Get photos of the results sheets, which are supposed to be signed off on by precinct leaders.
E-mail the photos to Black Box Voting-
.
Do not interfere with any of the goings-on
Get video if you can.
Upload the video to www.youtube.com
and e-mail a link to Black Box Voting http://www.blackboxvoting.org or post it directly in the IOWA FORUM at Black Box Voting.
This is permissable by law.
______________________________________
One last concern for the Democratic side.
RE: IOWAFIRSTCAUCUS.ORG
The "official Democratic Party caucus site" is --
http://www.iowafirstcaucus.org
-- although it's not actually owned by the Democrats, the site says it is "paid for" by them.
However the domain name and the server appear to be owned by The Forbin Project, which is part of a group called VGM. The principals of VGM/Forbin seem to be big Republican donors and vested in privatized national healthcare providers. Some curious candidates they have chosen to donate to are --
Randy "Duke" Cunningham of San Diego,
Ohio's George Voinovich,
and another fellow who's under investigation in Iowa named Nussle.
(Eeeuuuwwwww!)
This Iowafirstcaucus server also provides the location mapping for the Dem precinct caucus locations.
If for some reason the computerized central tabulation and results server is routed through or sitting on
iowafirstcaucus.org
there is a conflict of interest problem, per BlackBox.
Just something extra to be aware of...
---------------------------------------------------------
Get Videos and Photos of anything you observe.
Now go caucus and observe and report anything at all to BlackBox Voting at http://www.blackboxvoting.org
I plan to take a camera to my caucus. Not for security purposes but just to share with people who are not familiar with caucuses. If I see any funny business I'll document it. From prior experience as temporary caucus chair and training for it, I don't think there is alot to worry about.
'worried' per se but love to err on the side of my buddy caution when it comes to important votes! If there is anything -- even an innocent error, anecdotal or hearsay recounting won't help- visual evidence will be required so the pix are important.
Thanks Ruth.
Please be sure to let us know about precinct and statewide totals postings too if you could. Ask questions about transmission to the central tabulators too! Sorry, curious minds and all.
Thank you again!!
Every time I vote I ask about central tabulators. Which ever old lady gets that question stares blankly at me.
would be to find the one responsible for reporting end of day results (via cell phone it appears) and ask them. Or just smile at the old lady and thank her. : )
Michael Mauro right? He's a dem.
I found this list of systems statewide but does not separate out tabulation, only vote recording equipment which seems to be heavily Diebold slanted.
http://www.sos.state.ia.us/pdfs/elections/CoVoteSystem.pdf
The Tabulators are always the deep dark secrets. So bizarre.
Looks like you'll be all papered up for the Nov 08 though, is that right?
I'm not sure if we'll have paper ballots in 08. Where I vote you can choose a touch screen or a paper ballot. The paper ballot is fed into an optical scanner.
In 2004, I heard a few stories about intimidation and bully tactics on the part of the precinct caucus leader. Things like that should be reported to the Party.
Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
Wes Clark -- Don't settle for less.
Make America All It Can Be!
MS,
If you haven't already, you really need to watch the video here. And so should everyone interested in protecting the integrity of elections.
and the intro is by Mark Crispin Miller who I interviewed here for a couple of ClarkCasts- not sure if you were around at that time and got a chance to hear him. He was chilling.
The Seigelman story is so troubling. And I love that Wes had the courage to walk into that event in Alabama and call it out like that. Stand up for the Governor.
I wrote about his election theft briefly in the who's counting website back in 2004. What a story.
I was thinking while falling asleep ... this morning.... about all the flack we took in 2004 and onward about our insisting the electronic systems needed to be more secure and the counting, the results made open to the public. Such a simple request - the basic tenet of democracy, yet those of us working on the issue got called every name in the book - from loony moonbats to whacko conspiracy theorists and mocked and reviled- for years. Even on so called democratic websites....
And a few years go by, a few more thousand computer scientists verify the previous reports and findings, a few dozen lawmakers catch on, a few more secretaries of state start rigorous testing and they all reach the same sorry conclusions. Yes, in fact, the whole thing is designed to be penetrated easily and leaving no trace behind and must be reformed and secured.
I rest easier now that at least, like Global Warming, the existence of the problem has gained wide acceptance amongst most all people now and that the deniers are fewer and fewer. Kind of like the bush supporters. :P
issues that the blog leaders got wrong, most notably Markos. Armando, who was a Clarkie that I had considered a friend, was one of the most vicious enforcers against what they called the "voter fraud conspiracy." They have since talked about the need for a paper trail and verified voting without really admitting that some election results might have been tainted by fraudulent tabulation. I worked it out with Armando, sort of, but that was an ugly time on the blogs.
I was fairly certain you had seen this Siegelman video but am glad to confirm that you have.
They even got the terminology wrong. WAY wrong!
"Voter fraud" is when fraud is committed by ... duh, the VOTER. Which is the republican talking point and has been every since HAVA gave them the edge by .... owning the votes! Blame the voters is all they have left. Hence the National ID fiasco when they actually had to prove their case in Congress and lo and behold... no one could produce any cases of this sweeping "voter fraud". Oops. Just didn't exist. Outside of one Mickey Mouse voting in Wisconsin or some such idiocy. Kos and Armando were helping perpetrate that myth by using the wrong terms while all the while blogging about "framing" and Lakoff etc etc. Totally missing the boat. A sad joke really because it harmed the integrity movement significantly in my estimation. And helped the republican owned vendors- hurt all of our chances at free fair election counts.
But all better now. We have real heroes who have stepped forth and lent their voices and actions to the cause and I think we're doing very well this past year or so.
Could you post this on other blogs as well (i.e. Daily Kos, MYDD, DocuDharma, Booman, etc.)? If you don't want to do that, I'd be willing to distribute it. Seems like pretty important information to get out quickly.
Just in case.
This was a pretty widely distributed email from BlackBox, I just paraphrased what was written here.
I am relieved to see zoey posted the Dem results website url (on the GD, I'll try to bring it over here in a minute) which shows me at least that the information can be seen by the public. Unless they do something funny with passwords....
For now though, I am extremely reluctant to take this to Kos as that community has been traditionally hostile to election integrity activists-- especially to Bev Harris of BBV. They warmed up considerably in the past year-- very funny that it took only RFK Jr coming out and saying the exact same thing the rest of us had been saying for YEARS to warm them! I found that ironic at best... : /
But at least they started to listen after his Rolling Stone article chronicled the existing problems with the systems.
If anyone wishes to post any of this at another site- you are welcome to do so -- I would only strongly encourage you to bumper it at the top and bottom with Black Box's website address and make sure it says somewhere that it is a paraphrasing of Bev's email send- not her exact wording.
However the domain name and the server appear to be owned by The Forbin Project, which is part of a group called VGM. The principals of VGM/Forbin seem to be big Republican donors and vested in privatized national healthcare providers. Some curious candidates they have chosen to donate to are --
Randy "Duke" Cunningham of San Diego,Ohio's George Voinovich, and another fellow who's under investigation in Iowa named Nussle.
This so reminds me of how Kenny Blackwell arranged so that the reporting computers were hosted by a GOP server:
At BradBlog
Will the GOP Election Theft Machine Do It Again in 2008?
ED NOTE: The following feature was originally published in the Autumn '07 print version of the Columbus Free Press.
The need for electronic safeguards has been confirmed to the hilt by an astonishing flood of revelations from Ohio. To report Ohio’s 2004 election-night vote count, Blackwell contracted with the same GOP computer programmer who created the Bush-Cheney web site in 2000. Those GOP-programmed results were then run through servers housed in the basement of a bank in Chattanooga, Tennessee which also housed the servers for the Republican National Committee (through which Karl Rove ran his off-the-record e-mails, now being sought by Congress).
Supervised by Blackwell, those results showed a substantial victory for John Kerry until about 12:20 at night, when reporting inexplicably stopped. When it resumed about 90 minutes later, Ohio’s margin – and the presidency – suddenly switched to Bush.
Then there's THIS at BradBlog:
Op-Scan Voting Machines Miscount Ballots in Iowa Republican Primary! Hand Count Reveals Other Candidate Leads By Far!
All this is VERY interesting AND disconcerting.
RUTH: Please contact as many caucus goers as you can and ask them to ask pointed questions, take pics and vids if they can!
Yes, I saw those BradBlogs, got a new one in the inbox today too. You have been hammering away at this issue for the longest time too and THANK YOU and everyone else who works on this Goliath ..... It's really one of the core issues we need to correct. And I was perversely 'relieved' to see the US Attny scandal tie directly into it bringing it all home... We've made really tremendous progress since the last stolen election though when you look back (in a New Year's retrospective kind of fashion!)
Yes - questions are important. Even if - as Ruth said- you get the glazed over look from an old lady- ask as high up the ladder as you can go. Call the SOS office, ask there. Ask, document, shoot, verify.
But all in all- we have made some great strides.
With the fabulous Brunner and Bowen leading the way for Secretaries of State nationwide.
The Year of the Woman! Heehee....
Thanks for putting all of this interesting info together.
but the thanks really go to Bev Harris of BBV, BlackBox Voting. It was her alert sent out in mass email, that the info came from.
They have a Dem Sec of State there so if he's at all worth his salt and up on the issue, we should have some decent oversight and --he should know what to look out for, especially at the county tabulation level and in the transmission of data stages.
Thanks to zoey for providing us the link. This is the site that should be posting the totals as they come in for public viewing.
and this is the site telling you about it:
http://www.iowademocrats.org/ht/display/ReleaseDetails/i/1124895
And just in case anyone needs a refresher course on WHY we have to be concerned about such things in this country...
Clickable chapters on left column. Recommend perusing "Technology" and the "Companies" chapters (Diebold, ESS, etc)
Who is it I wonder that the republicans don't want winning their nomination, or who is it that they want in power.
Certainlly Guliani fits the bill of the type the corporate elitists and war mongers would want in power.
Still it's pretty ironic that Republicans have sunk to rigging their own internal elections in such an obvious way.
I'd say they DON'T want Huckabee, who has been the one with the strongest up trending in all the upfront states recently.
Look here
http://www.pollster.com/08-US-Rep-Pres-Primary.php
and then click on the top right column to see each states polls from the early primary states. The green line is Huck and in each one it's arching Northward.... Yech.
My guess is the more corporate friendly Mitt or Rudy is who the Republicans would like to see. And seeing as it will all be decided by private corporate owned election systems-- with secret proprietary private corporate owned software code doing the counting.... makes sense they might favor their own.
Pretty soon there won't be anything left to privatize!
maybe someone should send this info to Huckabee's campaign? He's got a blog, but I'm askeered to sign up to post! LOL!!
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right.
self-recommend!
Feeling guilty, but it's for the integrity of the process. I know some precincts are doing the right thing and that is encouraging but we outside of Iowa need to be assured that the process is carried out to the letter of the law and that the results of all individual precincts are made PUBLIC simultaneously with the statewide total results.
And Happy New Year!