Raw Story ...Still developing... Diebold also tampered with Ohio voting

[rockedthevoteinMA]

Just in: New filing alleges Diebold also tampered with Ohio voting machines, seeks prohibition against tampering... Developing...

http://www.rawstory.com/

Anyone else heard about Diebold?? I thought it was TRIAD?

[tex-wyo-dem]

1. Whoa...

we have all suspected this, but I wasn't aware of any actual evidence to support a suit.

please...please....please...

[Duer 157099]

2. I posted this yesterday in another thread:

http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2004/98...

Describing an incident similar to the Triad one, only with Diebold people.

excerpts from:

American democracy hangs by a thread in Ohio
by Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman
December 15, 2004

"Similar sworn testimony surfaced Tuesday at a citizens' hearing in Toledo. Among other things eye witnesses confirmed that a Diebold programming team entered the Lucas County (Toledo) Board of Elections to "reprogram" the opti-scan voting machines on the day the recount began.

"Catherine Buchanan, a Democratic Party observer, testified that one of the sample precincts chosen as a control for the recount---Sylvania Precinct 3---had the programming card reprogrammed prior to the ballot testing. While the observers watched, nearly seven out of fifteen test ballots were rejected at least three times before the machine would read them."

[tex-wyo-dem]

6. Wow...I missed this.

Too much information to follow :P

[SueZhope]

12. I also posted that part of the article yesterday

It shocked me ...
seemed many people did not really see that,
they will now......when the story comes out in full

[lizzieforkerry]

3. Have they written a story yet, or is just the headline? n/t

[rockedthevoteinMA]

5. It's just the headline ...

I read that freepress article last night, but I thought it was just a typo... This seems to be getting larger everyday...

[Duer 157099]

8. typo, I thought so too at first

until I read the whole article carefully and found those two paragraphs that make it clear that it's a separate incident

[rockedthevoteinMA]

9. whoa...

I just read those two paragraphs - I fell asleep reading it last night...oops.

[SueZhope]

11. I thought so also

I emailed them they said it was not.....as we can see !!!

[ohio_liberal]

4. There are several different companies

ES&S, Diebold and Triad are all providing voting machines and/or tabulators in Ohio.

[texpatriot2004]

7. I thought I read something about Diebold this morning, I can't

find it yet.

[xchrom]

10. when does it all become enough?

[TexasChick]

23. Sadly, never. These Repuketards aim to win and it's all okay if they do

it, just not us liburals! How ungodly and unpatriotic if we do.

[sabra]

13. It's growing...

Thanks for the heads up on the breaking news!

[SueZhope]

14. I hope they share the details soon.... n/t

[rockedthevoteinMA]

15. It's up now!

Thursday, December 16, 2004
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


On behalf of a group of Ohio voters, attorney Clifford Arnebeck filed an emergency motion for an expedited emergency hearing and to prevent voting companies an Ohio officials from further tampering with voting machines in the state during the recount, RAW STORY has learned.

Arnebeck, of the Massachusetts-based Alliance for Democracy, has joined with Rev. Jesse Jackson and asked the state Supreme Court to reconsider the election results in their initial suit, accusing Bush's campaign of "high-tech vote stealing."

Included in Arnebeck's motion is a two-page testimony taken in the presence of a court reporter where alleged witness Catherine Buchanan says she was told Diebold reprogrammed voting machines while present at her local Board of Elections. Also included is a letter from an Ohio county election official who stated that test tabulator decks were "discarded" in violation of Ohio law. RAW STORY has acquired these documents and will be posting them shortly linked from our main page.

http://rawstory.com/exclusives/arnebeck_1216.php

[BoomerSoonerOKU]

19. Catherine Buchanan

"alleged she was told Diebold reprogrammed machines"... She saw them do it, or she was told? And if told, by whom?

[rockedthevoteinMA]

21. why don't you read it and find out? n/t

[BoomerSoonerOKU]

24. I would...

but site is blocked to me from work for some reason.

[SueZhope]

20. That was quick thanks n/t

[goodboy]

16. of course they did...remember wally saying he's committed to

"delivering" ohio's electoral votes to bush...I've been to this guys house, he's an asshole.

[sabra]

17. Why were you at his house? :-) n/t

[goodboy]

33. I played a fund-raiser for Children's Hospital Foundation...non political

[goodboy]

34. I played a fundraiser for children's hospital foundation...(nt)

[goodboy]

35. i played a fundraiser for Children's Hospital Foundation. (nt)

[Junkdrawer]

18. Looks like they erased OptiScan memory cards..

I remember earlier that they also destroyed tapes...

[Broken Acorn]

22. Didn't this happen yesterday and nothing happened? n/t

[rdmccur]

25. Attorneys here?

What would it take to file criminal complaint?

[Junkdrawer]

28. As a layman, I'd say a DA...

But what do I know.

[Shalom]

26. Update: Hand Transcribed Extracts from the Suit to chew on....

NOTE: The text below may contain errors from hand transcription from small pdf format docs - it's for informal, temporary use only)

Pursuant to Ohio Supreme Court Rule 14(A) and 14(C) and Ohio Rule of Civil Procedure 7, the Contestors respectfully request that this Court issue an emergency order preventing spoilation of evidence and preserving evidence for the contests and providing as follows:


(1)

Pursuant to R.C. 3599.34 and 3506.14, the Secretary of State, his employees, all county Boards of Elections, and all of their employees and contractors and anyone acting in concert with them is hereby ordered not to re-program, erase, modify, or otherwise tamper with any data on or in or contained in any storage device which is or was attached to any electronic voting machines owned at present or on November 2, 2004, by Ohio or any County Board of Elections.

Contestors have filed a petition under R.C…….(contests both Presidential and Ohio Supreme Court elections)

This motion is being filed to protect evidence relevant to the contests.
R.C. 3599 prohibits the destruction of ballots until the time has expired for using them in a recount or in a contest of election. Under R.C. 3515.08 et. seq., the time for using ballots and related electronic information as evidence in the contests has not expired.

The Affidavit of Sherole Eaton,….(refers to the TRIAD affidavit…)

The transcript of the sworn testimony of Catherine L. Buchanan (attached hereto as Exhibit B) given on December 14, 2004 at a community public hearing in Toledo, Ohio, establishes that the Diebold OptiScan machines were being re-programmed. The re-programming involves deleting information from the memory cards in the central tabulating machine.

Further, in a December 2, 2004 letter from Kay E. Baker, Shelby County Board of Elections to Harvey Wasserman of Columbus, Ohio (Exhibit C attached hereto), Mrs. Baker writes that “tabulator test decks were discarded after election…” The destruction of these test decks appears to be a violation of R.C. 3506.14.

[Igel]

29. Text of laws:

3599.34:

"No person, from the time ballots are cast or voted until the time has expired for using them in a recount or as evidence in a contest of election, shall unlawfully destroy or attempt to destroy the ballots, or permit such ballots or a ballot box or pollbook used at an election to be destroyed; or destroy, falsify, mark, or write in a name on any such ballot that has been voted."

3506.14:

"(A) Prior to each election, the board of elections shall test and audit the variable codes applicable to that election to verify the accuracy of any computer program that will be used for tallying the ballot cards for each precinct in which an election will be held.

(B) Prior to the start of the count of the ballots, the board of elections shall have the voting machine or automatic tabulating equipment tested to ascertain that it will accurately count the votes cast for all offices and on all questions and issues. Public notice of the time and place of the test shall be given by proclamation or posting as in the case of notice of elections. The test shall be conducted by processing a pre-audited group of ballots so marked as to record a predetermined number of valid votes for each candidate and on each question and issue, and shall include for each office one or more ballots that have votes in excess of the number allowed by law in order to test the ability of the automatic tabulating equipment to reject those votes. In that test a different number of valid votes shall be assigned to each candidate for an office, and for and against each question and issue. If an error is detected, the cause for the error shall be ascertained and corrected and an errorless count shall be made and certified to by the board before the count is started. The tabulating equipment shall pass the same test at the beginning and conclusion of the election day count before the election returns are approved as official. On completion of the election day count, the programs, test materials, and ballots shall be sealed and retained as provided for paper ballots in section 3505.31 of the Revised Code."

I don't see the relevance, unless they're arguing that the derivative data in the machines are "votes" or equivalent to pollbooks (etc., all of which are primary sources).

While I don't know how Opti-scan or punch-card tabulators actually work (in the sense I don't know how you program them to count), I've posted before that Ohio law only allows you to tabulate/count the votes for what's being recounted.

[mdb]

27. opednews article

-snip-

Similar sworn testimony surfaced Tuesday at a citizens' hearing in Toledo. Among other things eye witnesses confirmed that a Diebold programming team entered the Lucas County (Toledo) Board of Elections to "reprogram" the opti-scan voting machines on the day the recount began.

Catherine Buchanan, a Democratic Party observer, testified that one of the sample precincts chosen as a control for the recount---Sylvania Precinct 3---had the programming card reprogrammed prior to the ballot testing. While the observers watched, nearly seven out of fifteen test ballots were rejected at least three times before the machine would read them.

Janet Albright told hearing officers she had been voting at the same Lucas County polling place for fourteen years but that the polling place was changed this year without notification to a station farther away. Machines throughout Lucas County malfunctioned in tests through the week prior to the election, and on election day. Thousands of Ohioans---primarily in Democratic precincts--thus lost their right to vote.

During the Lucas County reprogramming, election observers were shocked when they were denied the right to look at sheets that had target test results on them, or the reprogramming of the opti-scan machines used in the recount. Diebold-leased machines and software malfunctioned in the weeks prior to the election.


http://www.opednews.com/fitrakis_121504_democracy_by_a_thread.htm

[Shalom]

30. Great detail not in filing....Democracry Is Hanging by a Thread...

...or is it hanging by the "threads" on DU ? ;-)

[Scout1071]

36. That. Is funny.

[Shalom]

31. Another Nail in the Coffin of Election Theft... nt

[EFerrari]

32. Is there any Repugnican Co. who DIDN'T tamper with Ohio?! n/t

[Imagevision]

37. Olbermannn should comment on this one!