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[FONT=Verdana, arial, helvetica]Black Box Voting has put the following Texas counties on a Watch List for Nov. 2008
El Paso County is on the Watch List due to many recent indictments of El Paso public officials on corruption charges and for obstruction of Black Box Voting freedom of information requests. El Paso County uses the GEMS system, which also puts counties on the Watch List. Waller County was added to the Watch List on Aug. 31 for vote suppression attempts. Collin, Guadalupe, Jackson, Lee, Sherman and Wilson counties are on the Watch List because they will be using the Diebold/Premier GEMS system in November. This central tabulation system is the subject of a product advisory. It has been discovered dropping votes, a defect which will not be fixed by the 2008 general election. The remaining 49 counties are on the Watch List because they have been coerced into dependence on a private vendor for all phases of their election administration -- undermining the entire structure of the county election system. Several of these counties have experienced miscounted elections due to unqualified technicians provided by the vendor. Several counties show symptoms of tampering -- such as mismatched results inside the machine; failure to produce "zero" reports (symptom of vote-stuffing); and vote-flipping (votes marked for one candidate migrate to another candidate).
Angelina County: According to Freedom of Information documents obtained by Black Box Voting: March 2008 -- Vendor Election Systems & Software (ES&S) charged Angelina County $3900 for a technician who tallied the votes incorrectly. County election administrator Thelma "Midget" Sherman spotted this. A judge ordered a recount and County Democratic Chairman Jim Wark filed a complaint with the state requesting an investigation into assignment of unqualified technicians. ES&S responded by threatening to withdraw support services -- crippling the ability of Angelina County to run elections at all -- and ultimately strong-arming the county into signing a new contract on ES&S terms.
Records obtained by Black Box Voting reveal:
1. April 28, 2008: ES&S denied -- without explanation -- on-site support for the November 2008 general election.
2. May 15, 2008: the ES&S Chief Operating Officer told Angelina County that they would "be allowed" site support for the court-ordered recount, but only if she immediately signed a letter containing new terms of agreement.
3. There is no indication that ES&S plans to reimburse the county for either the $3,900 or for the recount caused by their technician's error.
Angelina County, like other Texas counties using the ES&S iVotronic paperless touch-screen voting machines, is wholly dependent on ES&S to conduct elections. Records obtained by Black Box Voting for Angelina County and other Texas counties show that:
- ES&S provides equipment and supplies
- ES&S designs the ballots
- ES&S creates the test ballots
- ES&S programs the iVotronic touch-screen voting machines
- ES&S sets up the audio for disability features
- ES&S creates the flashcards and "PEB" cartridges for the iVotronics
- ES&S provides election-day technicians
- ES&S sets up the results reports and helps to report the results
A particularly dangerous voting system is the ES&S iVotronic paperless DRE touchscreen, used in the following 49 Texas counties:
Angelina, Armstrong, Bexar, Brewster, Briscoe, Caldwell, Chambers, Childress, Comal, Cottle, Crane, Dallas, Freestone, Grayson, Hall, Hidalgo, Hill, Hood, Howard, Hutchinson, Jefferson, Jones, Kendall, Kleberg, Lavaca, Leon, Limestone, Midland, Montague, Moore, Morris, Navarro, Palo Pinto, Polk, Potter, Presidio, Rockwall, Rusk, San Jacinto, Scurry, Smith, Starr, Swisher, Upton, Victoria, Webb, Wharton, Wichita, Williamson
All of the above counties have been placed on a Watch List, at high risk for fraud and errors for 2008.
In November 2007 a Wharton County voter and poll worker witnessed an ES&S iVotronic repeatedly flipping a vote from one candidate to another. This was not a "calibration" problem (misaligned screen items). The vote did not flip until the voter had voted on several more items and only flipped as the voter was moving away from the ballot page.
During litigation over the March 2008 primary election in Webb County it was revealed that the results on the "PEB" memory cartridge for certain iVotronic voting machines differed significantly from the results on the compact flash card for the same voting machine. According to the EVEREST Report commissioned by the state of Ohio these results must be identical. No explanation by ES&S was provided.
Black Box Voting has obtained records proving that iVotronic machines can print "zero reports" even when there are votes in the machine! This information was obtained through records requests in another ES&S iVotronic location, Horry County, South Carolina. The purpose of printing a zero report is supposed to be to demonstrate that no votes have been pre-loaded into the machine. If you can print a zero report after votes are in the machine, the zero report is pointless.
In 2006 Black Box Voting did a series of records requests to Texas iVotronic counties for basic information like invoices and contracts with ES&S. Almost immediately ES&S objected. ES&S warning the counties not to release information due to potential proprietary claims. Potter County cooperated with our requests anyway which helped us learn the full extent to which counties are coerced into dependence on ES&S.
Election Protection November 2008:
Black Box Voting is now working on records requests to the Texas counties currently using the ES&S iVotronic, to ascertain how many counties have already showed signs of incorrect programming or tampering. This will help us assign volunteers for the November election. We will post each document in the "Texas" section of our Web site for everyone to see.
Can you volunteer to visit one of the counties on the Watch List for an inspection? As a general rule, records can be copied or inspected in person. Inspections cost less, but we'll need to set up which records to examine and coordinate with you in advance of your visit. Please e-mail crew at blackboxvoting.org with the words "Texas volunteer" in the subject line if you can help.
We will need donations to help defray costs for obtaining the Texas records. You may donate here:
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/donate.html
For more information on issues with the ES&S iVotronics, see our vendor information section:
http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/7659/70721.html
For more information on Angelina County, and to view the documents we obtained:
http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/171/70412.html
El Paso County: http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/171/70480.html
Webb County:
http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/171/70652.html
Wharton County:
http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/171/70653.html
At the time of this posting, the Potter County documents from 2006 are not yet online. We will post them in the Potter County section, check back. [/FONT]
El Paso County is on the Watch List due to many recent indictments of El Paso public officials on corruption charges and for obstruction of Black Box Voting freedom of information requests. El Paso County uses the GEMS system, which also puts counties on the Watch List. Waller County was added to the Watch List on Aug. 31 for vote suppression attempts. Collin, Guadalupe, Jackson, Lee, Sherman and Wilson counties are on the Watch List because they will be using the Diebold/Premier GEMS system in November. This central tabulation system is the subject of a product advisory. It has been discovered dropping votes, a defect which will not be fixed by the 2008 general election. The remaining 49 counties are on the Watch List because they have been coerced into dependence on a private vendor for all phases of their election administration -- undermining the entire structure of the county election system. Several of these counties have experienced miscounted elections due to unqualified technicians provided by the vendor. Several counties show symptoms of tampering -- such as mismatched results inside the machine; failure to produce "zero" reports (symptom of vote-stuffing); and vote-flipping (votes marked for one candidate migrate to another candidate).
Angelina County: According to Freedom of Information documents obtained by Black Box Voting: March 2008 -- Vendor Election Systems & Software (ES&S) charged Angelina County $3900 for a technician who tallied the votes incorrectly. County election administrator Thelma "Midget" Sherman spotted this. A judge ordered a recount and County Democratic Chairman Jim Wark filed a complaint with the state requesting an investigation into assignment of unqualified technicians. ES&S responded by threatening to withdraw support services -- crippling the ability of Angelina County to run elections at all -- and ultimately strong-arming the county into signing a new contract on ES&S terms.
Records obtained by Black Box Voting reveal:
1. April 28, 2008: ES&S denied -- without explanation -- on-site support for the November 2008 general election.
2. May 15, 2008: the ES&S Chief Operating Officer told Angelina County that they would "be allowed" site support for the court-ordered recount, but only if she immediately signed a letter containing new terms of agreement.
3. There is no indication that ES&S plans to reimburse the county for either the $3,900 or for the recount caused by their technician's error.
Angelina County, like other Texas counties using the ES&S iVotronic paperless touch-screen voting machines, is wholly dependent on ES&S to conduct elections. Records obtained by Black Box Voting for Angelina County and other Texas counties show that:
- ES&S provides equipment and supplies
- ES&S designs the ballots
- ES&S creates the test ballots
- ES&S programs the iVotronic touch-screen voting machines
- ES&S sets up the audio for disability features
- ES&S creates the flashcards and "PEB" cartridges for the iVotronics
- ES&S provides election-day technicians
- ES&S sets up the results reports and helps to report the results
A particularly dangerous voting system is the ES&S iVotronic paperless DRE touchscreen, used in the following 49 Texas counties:
Angelina, Armstrong, Bexar, Brewster, Briscoe, Caldwell, Chambers, Childress, Comal, Cottle, Crane, Dallas, Freestone, Grayson, Hall, Hidalgo, Hill, Hood, Howard, Hutchinson, Jefferson, Jones, Kendall, Kleberg, Lavaca, Leon, Limestone, Midland, Montague, Moore, Morris, Navarro, Palo Pinto, Polk, Potter, Presidio, Rockwall, Rusk, San Jacinto, Scurry, Smith, Starr, Swisher, Upton, Victoria, Webb, Wharton, Wichita, Williamson
All of the above counties have been placed on a Watch List, at high risk for fraud and errors for 2008.
In November 2007 a Wharton County voter and poll worker witnessed an ES&S iVotronic repeatedly flipping a vote from one candidate to another. This was not a "calibration" problem (misaligned screen items). The vote did not flip until the voter had voted on several more items and only flipped as the voter was moving away from the ballot page.
During litigation over the March 2008 primary election in Webb County it was revealed that the results on the "PEB" memory cartridge for certain iVotronic voting machines differed significantly from the results on the compact flash card for the same voting machine. According to the EVEREST Report commissioned by the state of Ohio these results must be identical. No explanation by ES&S was provided.
Black Box Voting has obtained records proving that iVotronic machines can print "zero reports" even when there are votes in the machine! This information was obtained through records requests in another ES&S iVotronic location, Horry County, South Carolina. The purpose of printing a zero report is supposed to be to demonstrate that no votes have been pre-loaded into the machine. If you can print a zero report after votes are in the machine, the zero report is pointless.
In 2006 Black Box Voting did a series of records requests to Texas iVotronic counties for basic information like invoices and contracts with ES&S. Almost immediately ES&S objected. ES&S warning the counties not to release information due to potential proprietary claims. Potter County cooperated with our requests anyway which helped us learn the full extent to which counties are coerced into dependence on ES&S.
Election Protection November 2008:
Black Box Voting is now working on records requests to the Texas counties currently using the ES&S iVotronic, to ascertain how many counties have already showed signs of incorrect programming or tampering. This will help us assign volunteers for the November election. We will post each document in the "Texas" section of our Web site for everyone to see.
Can you volunteer to visit one of the counties on the Watch List for an inspection? As a general rule, records can be copied or inspected in person. Inspections cost less, but we'll need to set up which records to examine and coordinate with you in advance of your visit. Please e-mail crew at blackboxvoting.org with the words "Texas volunteer" in the subject line if you can help.
We will need donations to help defray costs for obtaining the Texas records. You may donate here:
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/donate.html
For more information on issues with the ES&S iVotronics, see our vendor information section:
http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/7659/70721.html
For more information on Angelina County, and to view the documents we obtained:
http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/171/70412.html
El Paso County: http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/171/70480.html
Webb County:
http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/171/70652.html
Wharton County:
http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/171/70653.html
At the time of this posting, the Potter County documents from 2006 are not yet online. We will post them in the Potter County section, check back. [/FONT]
