Conyers sent letter asking FBI to immediately confiscate election machines

[4democracy]

http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/state/10424719.htm

Congressman calls for FBI investigation into Ohio election

MALIA RULON

Associated Press


WASHINGTON - The top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee asked the FBI on Wednesday to investigate an Ohio election worker's concern that a software company employee could have tampered with election results when working on machines before a ballot recount.

The company provides vote-counting software used in 41 of Ohio's 88 counties.

Rep. John Conyers of Michigan sent a letter to the FBI office in Cincinnati and Hocking County Prosecutor Larry E. Beal asking them to immediately confiscate election machinery in the southwest Ohio county.

According to a sworn statement from Sherole Eaton, the county's deputy director of elections, a representative of TRIAD Governmental Systems Inc. told her on Friday he wanted to inspect the county's tabulating machine. A company representative told Eaton he wanted to check the computer and go over "tricky questions" that attorneys might ask them about the recount started this week by county election boards at the request to two minor party candidates, she said.

The representative told her that "the battery in the computer was dead and that the stored information was gone," she said.

He proceeded to take the computer apart and call his office to get information to input into our computer," Eaton wrote in the affidavit.

[ailsagirl]

1. Excellent article... thank you!!

[berniew1]

16. Triad rep hack(fraud coverup) at elections office huge smoking gun! need

depositions of Triad reps and election officials asap!!!

In an affidavit filed along with the Cobb-Badnarik-Kerry filing that added recount tampering to their lawsuit, Professor of Computer Science Douglas Jones asserts that Triad Election Systems' visits to local Board of Elections compromises the credibility and integrity of the Ohio recount.
http://rawstory.com/exclusives/programmer_1215.php

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/121604Z.shtml

< This is big; there needs to be a deposition of the Triad Rep and election office officials asap. [br />How many offices did he hack(coverup fraud) the equipment in before the recount?
How many counties/precincts had compilers tampered with by Triad reps after the election or before the recount]

[mod mom]

2. If only this happened before the adjustments.

[Quakerfriend]

3. Exactly!

GO CONYERS GO!

[BrklynLiberal]

4. I cannot believe that they did not anticipate that the machines would be

tampered with. They were evidence and should have been locked down immediately!!!!!!!!!!!

[BeHereNow]

8. They did not expect the people to question...

The neocons live in a fantasty land.
They did not expect any resistance to their illegal war from the troops
or the people of Iraq, and they did not expect anyone to question their illegal rigging of the voting machines.
Too bad the machines were not locked down immediately, but one
wonders why they sent this computer assassin in to sabotage the evidence.
Did they not consider the fact that we might question that too?
Apparently not.
BHN

[OutLiarJD]

21. they may have had to remove the wireless networking card

just speculating, but they guy did have a heavy coat that may have had lots of board and stuff in it.

[newyawker99]

27. Hi OutLiarJD!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[selmo7]

32. Hi OutLiarJD!

Same here and Welcome to DU (from one newbie to another)! :-)
This is a great community!

[ashling]

5. Will be on Olberman starting now

[whistle]

6. Conyers needs to do the same thing here in Florida

[rumpel]

7. It may have to expand to all counties

[Im with Rosey]

10. maybe it should be expanded

TO THE WHOLE COUNTRY!

[Peace Patriot]

9. Good catch! KICK! n/t

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Farmgirl]

12. This is excellent news indeed...

but I have a question. If the election machinery is immediatly confiscated -- then what. These machines have probably already been altered, so how can we trust or verify their integrity?

What do you suppose the next step, or next steps might be?
:think:

[RubyCat]

14. The Triad technician said not to turn off the computer after

he had made the changes to the hardware. My guess is that the vote-rigging patch is self-deleting after a reboot. Before turning off the computer, they should run some program that takes a snapshot of the computer's memory for someone to look through later. After the machine is turned off, the next time it starts up, the hack will be gone and the investigators will find a totally clean machine. Just my theory.

[BeFree]

15. Farmgirl...asks:

What do we do with the machines once impounded?

First, the machines can no longer be 'fixed'.

Next, a technician examines the machines with an eye toward tracing what kind of 'fixes' may have been installed.

Then along comes a computer security expert who breaks down the code.

Then, when all is said and done, and we've gotten the info we need, we take the machines out to the parking lot, sledge hammer the damn things, load them up in the garbage truck, and take 'em to the landfill!

Works for me!

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[floridadem30]

17. I have heard the same thing from friends, the FBI is not going to fix this

Welcome to DU.

[Old Mouse]

25. your point is the most important aspect of this article

I wish more were paying attention to it.

What we need to watch is reaction.

Conyers has gone forth with what is now irrefutable proof of malfeasance. If the FBI does not act in a real and timely matter, we must suspect the leadership of the Bureau is part of a conspiracy to defraud the electoral process.

If they don't start confiscating machines, we're going to need a LOT more tin foil.

[tandem5]

18. again, like with the ny times, they are omitting the most damning part...

about the "cheat sheet."

[OutLiarJD]

23. the technician may have been trying to be a whistleblower

so odd, what he did. almost like he was TRYING to raise suspicions. He may have suggested the cheat sheet thing just to alarm the local election workers, so that the tampering WOULD BE DISCOVERED when and if they looked at the machines there. I thought it was incredible that they just decidded to move the recount to another location. You'd think they would decide to do the location where the tech went, AND another one besides that.
If they give a good description of the guy, I wouldn't be surprised if he shortly has a fatal traffic accident.

[lthuedk]

19. Doesn't look good for the FBI. They need only watch and listen for

more than enough probable cause of fraud. Their reluctance in itself may be a violation of their rules of conduct. Time passes, and this historical monument to law enforcement seems to allow the cover-up to continue without mitigation.

They can't be that strapped for help. Swear me in long enough to impound the evidence.

[JunkYardDogg]

20. The FBI should impound Emperor of God Bush also

The last I noticed, his Batteries were dead too

[OutLiarJD]

22. Machines must not make a local printout.

I've been hearing that the counts are tampered with when the local machines connect to the central tabulator. But that must mean that the local machine doesn't first make printout or screen display of its counts before uploading them to the state. That is so totally stupid, if it works that way, that I would never buy one. Does anyone know anything for sure about how it works?

Thanks.

[demodonkey]

26. Card counters are just peripherals... the machine that counts the votes is

a regular PC running DOS (yes, DOS!) and Windows. There is no "local" machine and then a central tabulator for these punchcard systems; especially in smaller counties the cards are brought to the courthouse or Elections office and counted there. Again, being put though the reader peripheral which is connected to the PC running the software.

Your post sounds like you are thinking of DRE machines ("black boxes") all electronic and sometimes networked to one tabulator.

[genieroze]

24. Dead batteries don't lose info because they don't store info!!!!! eom

[Imagevision]

28. F.B.I. reply...

Mike Brooks, a spokesman for the FBI office in Cincinnati, said Conyers' request had not been received and there are no agency investigations of Ohio's election. Beal also had not received the letter but said he had spoken to Eaton and no investigation was planned.

[EMunster]

29. just great.....is there a link? n/t

[merh]

31. See post 30

[merh]

30. Guess what the story was dated the day the conyers letter was

sent -- so therefore this is an outdated story!

Posted on Wed, Dec. 15, 2004

Congressman calls for FBI investigation into Ohio election