News from Iowa

[Dave]

I volunteered to be on for Buchanan back in 1999 so there should be a group of vote monitors representing each campaign watching the voting taking place and the counting thereof.

The Ames Straw Poll requires each campaign to name 2 people to be present for the tallying of votes. Voting machines will be used.

 

[Avalon]

All legitimate straw polls with which I've been involved have at least one person from each campaign monitor the counting of the ballots, preferably a couple people.

If they IA GOP does not allow someone from the Ron Paul campaign to watch the counting of the ballots, right up to the point that they put the tally together, we're going to implement one of our famous blowback maneuvers.

Y'all with me?

Yes. Here's my plan:

1. Verify with the campaign that voting machines without voter verified printouts are indeed being used and gather all the details. These printouts must be at least monitored by representatives of every campaign at all times (and inspected before), but public monitoring (either directly or via video) would be preferable.
2. If so, we need to first pressure Iowa's GOP politely. I think we should leave this step up to the campaign and whoever they want to represent them. I'd recommend bringing in the black box voting people to help (http://www.bbvforums.org)
3. If this doesn't work (within a few days) then we need to contact all the other campaigns participating in Iowa and try to convert them to the cause. See if they have any suggestions or want to try themselves to get it changed. Again, I'd leave this step to the campaign or people it chooses to pursue this.
4. Then try to get it to the media. No holds barred. It should be all over the internet. People should be calling into radio stations, sending letters to the editors of all papers in Iowa and surrounding states. It should be mentioned briefly to the people we call in Iowa, in our Iowa-focused literature, added to the DVD, etc.
5. Get as many volunteers into Iowa as possible to volunteer the two weeks prior to the straw poll.
6. Set up a secondary voting booth that is run by a third party (ie, black box voting) and is publicly monitored and recorded. Have volunteers on hand to convince as many people as possible to vote there and keep the area secure. This will have to be organized well in advance so make sure we look into this ASAP.

As long as we can convince the vast majority to vote with our booth, they will not be able to do any massive doctoring of the tally. Further, we will only release our results after they release theirs, so they cannot doctor the tally to conform with what's *known* from ours. In the end, we will have proof and they will have none.

 

[poppop_schell]

Good folks... don't reinvent the wheel. Jim Condit has been there for many years. He KNOWS what tricks can be played and how to offset and/or neutralize those tricks.

BTW, I sent a copy of this information to Joe. Wonder if anything will be done???

 

[Avalon]

Good folks... don't reinvent the wheel. Jim Condit has been there for many years. He KNOWS what tricks can be played and how to offset and/or neutralize those tricks.

Well then, have him tell us what his plan is. What you quoted was only problems, not resolutions. I really don't think we have a minute to lose on this.

 

[CurtisLow]

2 people to be present for the tallying of votes. Voting machines will be used.

What kind of Voting machines? Sorry I don't trust the Diebolt units.

 

[Electrostatic]

What kind of Voting machines? Sorry I don't trust the Diebolt units.

I gathered as much from your signature...
I, for one, agree completely with it....

 

[Dave]

What kind of Voting machines? Sorry I don't trust the Diebolt units.

The Ames Straw Poll rules from the Iowa GOP just state:

"Voting machines will be used. The voting machines will be provided by the Story County Auditor."

I'd say they'll use whatever machines voters in Story County have been using recently. If there's nobody on here from Ames I'd suggest you contact the organizer of the Ames meetup for info.

The rules also state that the State Auditor's Office will oversee the voting/tallying process.

 

[wecandoit]

This is something we need to get used to tackling, every straw poll, every caucus, every primary. Watch everything we can from every angle, make every preperation possible, verify, verify,verify.

If the fox is going to be guarding the chicken house, we have to guard the fox.

 

[PatriotOne]

This is something we need to get used to tackling, every straw poll, every caucus, every primary. Watch everything we can from every angle, make every preperation possible, verify, verify,verify.

If the fox is going to be guarding the chicken house, we have to guard the fox.

LOL...it really has come down to that hasn't it?

 

[Avalon]

What type of voting machine it is is meaningless unless it prints a voter verified ballot that is guarded securely throughout the process by individuals that can be trusted and that these ballots will be tallied and audited at random and in sufficient number to constitute a reasonable statistical sample with a known margin of error. This margin can be applied to the machine generated results, at which point if they fall outside a full count can be performed on them. In any case, the count of the physical paper ballots must supercede the machine generated count.

It would be nice if the ballots could remain grouped by machine so as to more easily locate an investigate any significant disparities, but of course that's not necessary and up to them. As for the former paragraph, if it's not organized this way we must do everything we can to change it, or counter this potential problem. It doesn't matter who oversees the voting or does the tallying. If anyone disagrees with my plan by all means tell us what you think.

 

[agisthos]

Speaking of computer voting fraud did any of you see the last Mexican election? The leftwing Chavez type candidate was winning all voting by 70-30 and in the last 2 hours of the day the charts went parabolic and swung the other way for the US backed candidate to win by just a few % points.

It was the most blatant voter fraud I have ever seen. Absolutely corrupt.

 

[CurtisLow]

DIEB-THROAT : 'Diebold System One of Greatest Threats Democracy Has Ever Known'
Identifies U.S. Homeland Security 'Cyber Alert' Prior to '04 Election Warning Votes Can be 'Modified Remotely' via 'Undocumented Backdoor' in Central Tabulator Software!

In exclusive stunning admissions to The BRAD BLOG some 11 months after the 2004 Presidential Election, a "Diebold Insider" is now finally speaking out for the first time about the alarming security flaws within Diebold, Inc's electronic voting systems, software and machinery. The source is acknowledging that the company's "upper management" --- as well as "top government officials" --- were keenly aware of the "undocumented backdoor" in Diebold's main "GEM Central Tabulator" software well prior to the 2004 election. A branch of the Federal Government even posted a security warning on the Internet.

Pointing to a little-noticed "Cyber Security Alert" issued by the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), a division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the source inside Diebold --- who "for the time being" is requesting anonymity due to a continuing sensitive relationship with the company --- is charging that Diebold's technicians, including at least one of its lead programmers, knew about the security flaw and that the company instructed them to keep quiet about it.

"Diebold threatened violators with immediate dismissal," the insider, who we'll call DIEB-THROAT, explained recently to The BRAD BLOG via email. "In 2005, after one newly hired member of Diebold's technical staff pointed out the security flaw, he was criticized and isolated."

In phone interviews, DIEB-THROAT confirmed that the matters were well known within the company, but that a "culture of fear" had been developed to assure that employees, including technicians, vendors and programmers kept those issues to themselves.

The "Cyber Security Alert" from US-CERT was issued in late August of 2004 and is still available online via the US-CERT website. The alert warns that "A vulnerability exists due to an undocumented backdoor account, which could [sic: allow] a local or remote authenticated malicious user [sic: to] modify votes."

The alert, assessed to be of "MEDIUM" risk on the US-CERT security bulletin, goes on to add that there is "No workaround or patch available at time of publishing."

the rest of the story
http://images.google.com/imgres?img...q=Diebolt+voting&svnum=10&um=1&hl=en&safe=off

 

[Dave]

Comparing candidates' stands

The Des Moines Register today has the first in a series of articles examining where candidates stand on key issues. The only mention of RP in this article is

"U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas disagrees with Bush's premise that Iraq is the "central front in the war on terror," a claim the president has made since September 2003, six months after the war began."

The article is here:

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070708/NEWS09/707080343/-1/caucus

More interesting, however, is a big table that does NOT appear online but is in the printed copy. It compares 10 republicans' stands on 3 issues and includes little photos of the candidates. Fortunately Paul is one of the 10 (Gilmore is not). The 3 issues are Guantanamo Bay, Interrogation, and Warrantless Wiretapping.

8 of the 10 support keeping Gitmo open. The RP box says 'Supports closing the prison. "The current rationale at Guantanamo is based on the false premise that detainees are not entitled to due process protections. Shut it down."' McCain says close it because it has become a symbol, likening it to Abu Ghraib.

On interrogation, 7 of 10 support the "enhanced interrogation techniques" backed by the Bush administration. This includes waterboarding. The RP box says 'Opposes the Bush administration's approved list of interrogation techniques. "The American people and government should never abide the use of torture by our military or intelligence agencies."' McCain thinks that if we agree to torture people we would do ourselves great harm in the world.

On warrantless wiretapping, 7 of 10 support it. The RP box says 'voted in 2006 against allowing the president and attorney general to authorize electronic surveillance without a court order.' Brownback and McCain also oppose the policy.

Tables like this help people draw contrasts, although it's kind of with little 'sound bites' on the candidates' positions - no opportunity for context or for thoughtful explanations. It's interesting how clearly Ron Paul stands apart from the others. It sounds like the Register will be doing more of this in the weeks ahead so I'll keep you posted.

 

[poppop_schell]

The Des Moines Register today has the first in a series of articles examining where candidates stand on key issues. The only mention of RP in this article is

"U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas disagrees with Bush's premise that Iraq is the "central front in the war on terror," a claim the president has made since September 2003, six months after the war began."

The article is here:

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070708/NEWS09/707080343/-1/caucus

Dave, this is a great way to compare candidates positions on key issues. I STRONGLY ENCOURAGE YOU TO VISIT THE DES MOINES REGISTER POLITICAL STAFF ASAP AND LET THEM KNOW HOW MUCH YOU APPRECIATE WHAT THEY'RE DOING AND ENCOUAGRE THEM TO DO IT ON MANY MORE ISSUES.

In fact, I feel we should have a Ron Paul contact person assigned for EVERY radio station , TV station and Newspaper in Iowa. Get to know these people. Unless they are a radical ideologue/poltical partyite, they will print more and more articles about Ron Paul and seek for interviews with Iowa Campaign leaders and Ron Paul himself. What we are doing with Meetup Groups is VERY NEWSWORTHY. I SPEAK FROM EXPERIENCE NOT THEORY!!!!

HAS JOE OR ANYONE SET UP A COORDINATOR FOR THE MEDIA? IS JOE EVEN AROUND??? I SAY THAT SIMPLY BECAUSE EVERYTHING I'M LEARNING IS FROM MEETUP GROUPS, NOTHING LITERALLY FROM THE PAID STAFF MEMEBRS?

 

[DavyDuke17]

Wow, 7 out of 10 support warrentless wiretapping? Why even have warrants anymore?

I think that table sounds like a great way for people to start to get familiar with candidates and decide which ones they want to look more into.

 

[Roxi]

wow 70-80% of those people polled were morons

 

[Bryan in Iowa]

HAS JOE OR ANYONE SET UP A COORDINATOR FOR THE MEDIA? IS JOE EVEN AROUND??? I SAY THAT SIMPLY BECAUSE EVERYTHING I'M LEARNING IS FROM MEETUP GROUPS, NOTHING LITERALLY FROM THE PAID STAFF MEMEBRS?[/B]

Yes, there is a paid staff member assigned specifically as a media liaison.

 

[Bryan in Iowa]

wow 70-80% of those people polled were morons

Roxi...it wasn't a poll of voters, it was a poll of candidates. 7 out of 10 Republican candidates disagree with Ron Paul. Woot!

 

[Bradley in DC]

Good folks... don't reinvent the wheel. Jim Condit has been there for many years. He KNOWS what tricks can be played and how to offset and/or neutralize those tricks.

BTW, I sent a copy of this information to Joe. Wonder if anything will be done???

I'm originally from Cincy and know Jim from there (and am vouching for him). He's a troublemaker--glad he's on our side!

 

[angelatc]

Roxi...it wasn't a poll of voters, it was a poll of candidates. 7 out of 10 Republican candidates disagree with Ron Paul. Woot!

That doesn't negate what she said.