LordBucket
Member
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2007
- Messages
- 20
Hello everyone!
Yes, vote accountability and tracking in California is not possible. The system is designed to prevent it. I will explain in a moment, but let me give you the complete story, as there is other relevant information as well.
I went to the polling place around 3:00pm. I didn't see a single sign for anyone, Ron Paul or otherwise. Like others have posted, no ID was requested, I simply gave my name, take them my address and signed. The woman then asked me if I wanted a a paper or electronic ballet.
That stopped me.
I pointed out that California had decertified the electronic voting machines, and she said that yes, they had been decertified, but that two counties in California (Orange County and some other county in Northern California that I had never heard of) had authorized the use of machines. She and another vounteer insisted that they "were ok." That they were "bulletproof." I shrugged and asked for a paper ballot. The entire time I was there (about half an hour) I never saw a single person other than me go to the paper voting booths. Every single other person used the machines.
Ron Paul was fourth on the list. ABOVE both McCain and Romney.
The Ghoul was first.
I filled in my vote for Ron Paul, voted no on all the state propositions, and turned in my ballot. I watched as it was put into a cardboard box that was "sealed" by what looked like a loose piece of white tape. I then asked the polling people what I would need to do to confirm at a later date that my vote had been counted, and that it had been counted correctly.
And this is where it gets interesting.
At first, one of the volunteers said "Oh. Sure. Uhh...give me a moment." Obviously I was the first person of the day to ask for this. (Remember it was 3:00pm.) He wandered off for a few minutes and then came back with a vote receipt that had a contact phone number on the back. And, after handing it to me, one of the other volunteers pointed out that they wouldn't be able to help me.
Why?
Because there is NO connection whatsoever, no paper trail at all, between the ballot and the voter. The ballot has no name, no address, no identification number of any kind whatsoever. And this started a twenty minute conversation amongst myself and three of the volunteers. I pointed out that with no connection to me there was absolutely no way to confirm that my vote had been counted at all. Let alone accurately. Even if they really wanted to, they simply couldn't do it. No accountability whatsoever. I explained that if one of them wanted to stay late, open the boxes and filter out the votes they didn't like, no one would know about it, and there was absolutely nothing I could do to confirm my vote. In fact, they could even throw away half the boxes with ballots and no one would have any way of finding out. What was the response: "Uhh...wow, yeah. I guess so. Huh."
Since they obviously understood, I didn't make a scene over it. But I did stay to chat, and they explained a little bit about the process. Apparently, after 8:00pm, they were to drive the ballot boxes to "a place" and from that point, they had no idea what happened to them. By this time, they almost seemed concerned about the process, and one of the guys commented that "Once they get there, who knows what happens to them? Who knows who counts them?"
Apparently, not the volunteers working the voting booths.
So there you have it, people. There is no way to confirm votes in california. Voting machines are irrelevant. You don't need to go high tech to commit vote fraud. All you have to do is get access to the ballots, and there is absolutely no way for anyone to know what you do with them. A "recount" would be meaningless. Even two or three Joe Nobody's could commit vote fraud simply by volunteering to work the booths. After 8:00, they throw out the ballots they don't like.
Welcome to the US.
So, after voting I went to get pizza at a place with a big television. (I don't own a television.) And there I watched for an hour while CNN reported on the distribution of votes based on race and gender. I watched as they went into great detail about how in Georgia, with a whole one percent of the vote in, it was clear that 77% was voting for Obama, and that white males were voting for him in large numebrs. They went on at great length about how the younger crowd was more likely to vote for him, and the closer voters were to the "over 60" bracket, the more likely the were to vote for Hillary.
Maybe they can know these things in Georgia. They certainly can't know them here in California.
Yes, vote accountability and tracking in California is not possible. The system is designed to prevent it. I will explain in a moment, but let me give you the complete story, as there is other relevant information as well.
I went to the polling place around 3:00pm. I didn't see a single sign for anyone, Ron Paul or otherwise. Like others have posted, no ID was requested, I simply gave my name, take them my address and signed. The woman then asked me if I wanted a a paper or electronic ballet.
That stopped me.
I pointed out that California had decertified the electronic voting machines, and she said that yes, they had been decertified, but that two counties in California (Orange County and some other county in Northern California that I had never heard of) had authorized the use of machines. She and another vounteer insisted that they "were ok." That they were "bulletproof." I shrugged and asked for a paper ballot. The entire time I was there (about half an hour) I never saw a single person other than me go to the paper voting booths. Every single other person used the machines.
Ron Paul was fourth on the list. ABOVE both McCain and Romney.

I filled in my vote for Ron Paul, voted no on all the state propositions, and turned in my ballot. I watched as it was put into a cardboard box that was "sealed" by what looked like a loose piece of white tape. I then asked the polling people what I would need to do to confirm at a later date that my vote had been counted, and that it had been counted correctly.
And this is where it gets interesting.
At first, one of the volunteers said "Oh. Sure. Uhh...give me a moment." Obviously I was the first person of the day to ask for this. (Remember it was 3:00pm.) He wandered off for a few minutes and then came back with a vote receipt that had a contact phone number on the back. And, after handing it to me, one of the other volunteers pointed out that they wouldn't be able to help me.
Why?
Because there is NO connection whatsoever, no paper trail at all, between the ballot and the voter. The ballot has no name, no address, no identification number of any kind whatsoever. And this started a twenty minute conversation amongst myself and three of the volunteers. I pointed out that with no connection to me there was absolutely no way to confirm that my vote had been counted at all. Let alone accurately. Even if they really wanted to, they simply couldn't do it. No accountability whatsoever. I explained that if one of them wanted to stay late, open the boxes and filter out the votes they didn't like, no one would know about it, and there was absolutely nothing I could do to confirm my vote. In fact, they could even throw away half the boxes with ballots and no one would have any way of finding out. What was the response: "Uhh...wow, yeah. I guess so. Huh."
Since they obviously understood, I didn't make a scene over it. But I did stay to chat, and they explained a little bit about the process. Apparently, after 8:00pm, they were to drive the ballot boxes to "a place" and from that point, they had no idea what happened to them. By this time, they almost seemed concerned about the process, and one of the guys commented that "Once they get there, who knows what happens to them? Who knows who counts them?"
Apparently, not the volunteers working the voting booths.
So there you have it, people. There is no way to confirm votes in california. Voting machines are irrelevant. You don't need to go high tech to commit vote fraud. All you have to do is get access to the ballots, and there is absolutely no way for anyone to know what you do with them. A "recount" would be meaningless. Even two or three Joe Nobody's could commit vote fraud simply by volunteering to work the booths. After 8:00, they throw out the ballots they don't like.
Welcome to the US.
So, after voting I went to get pizza at a place with a big television. (I don't own a television.) And there I watched for an hour while CNN reported on the distribution of votes based on race and gender. I watched as they went into great detail about how in Georgia, with a whole one percent of the vote in, it was clear that 77% was voting for Obama, and that white males were voting for him in large numebrs. They went on at great length about how the younger crowd was more likely to vote for him, and the closer voters were to the "over 60" bracket, the more likely the were to vote for Hillary.
Maybe they can know these things in Georgia. They certainly can't know them here in California.