DUers in East Texas? Here come da voting machines.....

[Zan_of_Texas]

Their damn steamroller just hit East Texas.

The newspaper is owned by Cox, so don't expect miracles -- their flagship paper, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, has adamantly refused to cover the election issue until it absolutely has to.

BUT....if anybody is there, or has friends or family there, TELL THEM -- don't let 'em just walk in and take over with their electronic gimgaws.

Unilect is really bad -- ask North Carolina! According to Joyce McCloy of the NC Coalition for Verifiable Voting:

The machines fail to register all voter's touches, leading to undervotes.

North Carolina permanently lost 4,400 votes on Unilect in Carteret County at the early voting site, and also had a 10% overall undervote rate in Burke County. Furthermore, Carteret also had undervotes within some of its precincts.
More on Unilect problems in NC and PA here:
http://www.ncvoter.net/Unilect.html


Try sending them the REAL info.

Ellen Theisen:
"Myth Breakers: Facts about Electronic Elections.
Essential Information for Those Entrusted with Making
Decisions about Election Systems in the United States,"
Second Edition, January 2005
http://www.VotersUnite.org/MB2.pdf

Ellen Theisen:
"Facts about Electronic Voting,"
http://www.votersunite.org/info/ElectronicVotingInBrief.pdf

Voters Unite.org:
"Malfunctions and Miscounts, Sorted by Vendor,"
http://www.votersunite.org/info/messupsbyvendor.asp

East Texas officials get a closer look at voting machines

By PATRINA A. BOSTIC
[e-mail] Phone: [phone]

Friday, June 03, 2005
Longview (TX) News-Journal

http://www.news-journal.com/news/content/news/stories/2005/06/03/20050603LNJNewvote.html;COXnetJSessionIDbuild78=CtM04QBeyRs9hEh1mSjEOvjyrK8mH2XdZCSL2GnVfw2U9uWeVIqX!-1652461238?urac=n&urvf=11186700686560.621667694405266

East Texas government officials converged Thursday at the Gregg County Courthouse to test new voting machines presented by several companies.

Counties are preparing to purchase new voting equipment that complies with the Help America Vote Act. The legislation was created to help states follow a uniform voting standard and requires new and upgraded voting machines to be in place by Jan. 1.

"This is a big deal. It's a lot of money and it's a compliance issue," Gregg County purchasing agent Shelia Embrey said of choosing new voting equipment. Gregg County has received $539,000 from the state to pay for new equipment that has been certiifed by the state.
Counties are required to have at least one direct-record electronic machine at each polling location. The machines have touch screens and are accessible to people with disabilities and people who can't read. The machines also are equipped with alternative languages. Officials came from all over East Texas, armed with questions about the new machines. They also got a chance to cast a mock vote on a new system.

The vendors who participated Thursday were Unilect Corp., of Cedar Park; Diebold Election Systems, of McKinney; Hart Intercivic, of Austin; and ES&S Election Systems & Software, of Omaha, Neb. "We want to make sure the voters are comfortable with these machines as well as the poll workers," said Gregg County's new Elections Administrator Kathryn Nealy. <snip>


~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Counties are required to have at least one direct-record electronic machine at each polling location."

THIS IS UNTRUE!!! HAVA merely requires that at least one polling station in each location be accessible. There is NO requirement that it be a DRE/touchscreen/electronic. This is addressed in the materials above.

Touchscreens cannot be meaningfully recounted, and are MORE expensive than other options that can be, like optical scan.

But, now that Bev Harris has shown that Diebold optical scan equipment can be hacked (in front of the Leon County FL Election Supervisor), this is only the best option of a bad lot. Still, it's a reasonable holding action while the word spreads. Paper ballots counted by human beings at the precinct is the best solution.

Will anyone be able to contact someone in the East Texas area who could get up to speed?

[Peace Patriot]

1. Don't know anybody in East Texas, but how about contacting the...

Lone Star Iconoclast, that great newspaper in Crawford, TX?

We should all be subscribed to this newspaper (I am!). What incredible courage this newspaper and its journalists have! It is a kickass paper! (They are also on-line.)

I'll bet they'd love to do an expose on Bush Cartel-controlled electronic voting in Texas!