Private, corporate, 'TRADE SECRET' vote counting hits Brazil! No Lula da Silva will ever be elected

[Peace Patriot]

there again.

It's all over for the Left in Brazil, believe me. Any reforms of Brazil's current president, Lula da Silva--a former steelworker and union leader--will be undone and no one like him will ever be able to become president of Brazil again. Can you imagine an FDR getting elected in the U.S. today? It's not possible, and the 'TRADE SECRET' voting machines are why. They are the final lockout against reform.

One additional note: The corporation that just bought out Diebold--ES&S--is worse than Diebold as to lying, secretiveness and far rightwing connections that would make your hair stand on end. And ES&S now has a 70% monopoly on US voting machines. See http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7592


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News Breaks
12:58 EDT DBD
theflyonthewall.com: Diebold awarded $100M contract from Superior Electoral Court of Brazil

Diebold said in an SEC filing that on December 18, 2009, after a public bid process, the Superior Electoral Court of Brazil awarded a contract for the purchase of up to 250K electronic voting machines to Procomp Amazonia Industria Eletronica S.A., a subsidiary of Diebold. The Superior Electoral Court of Brazil has announced an initial order of approximately 160K terminals from Procomp, along with other ancillary equipment and replacement parts, for delivery primarily in the second and third quarters of 2010. Projected revenue associated with the initial order is approximately $100M at today’s exchange rate. The agreement allows the court to purchase up to an additional 90K terminals from Procomp through 2010. :theflyonthewall.com

http://www.theflyonthewall.com/permalinks/entry.php/DBDid1178390

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Thanks to WillYourVoteBeCounted for posting this news in the DU Election Reform Forum
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x514726

I posted this news in the DU Latin American Forum, here
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405x28525

[Wilms]

1. Lula was elected on a paper-less DRE.

I ain't advocating that, nor the fact that Diebold is entering that country. But I think a deep breath is always a good idea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_Brazil#The_Brazilian_voting_machines


--on edit--

Diebold arrived there in 2000.

http://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/18/business/brazil-awards-voting-machine-contract.html


Like I say...deep breath.

[Peace Patriot]

3. This is a new order for 250,000 new **ES&S**-controlled machines at a time of

maximum U.S. militarization of the region, and a big, U.S.-supported push against the Left, including a massive U.S. military buildup in Colombia (adjacent to Venezuela), a rightwing military coup in Honduras, and millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars pouring into rightwing groups all over the region.

I didn't know that Lula da Silva, like Obama and all members of the U.S. Congress except those from New York, cannot prove that he was actually elected. But previous elections in Brazil may not have been as important as those coming up, and thus may not have been stolen (or maybe, in Brazil, were only stolen in the legislature--it has a large contingent of very rightwing senators). The point is that ES&S is consolidating far rightwing control of the voting system in Brazil, as it has done here.

Thank you for this information and the links you provided. I AM taking a deep breath, but I am still very, very alarmed at ES&S's extremist rightwing connections, its big monopoly here, and now, a monopoly in Brazil.

[Wilms]

4. I'm not blind.

But let's face it, the premise of your OP subject line just got knocked over by me taking thirty seconds to google.

Does that mean everything will be A-OK? Nope. But let's take care and not get too far off the facts.

[Peace Patriot]

6. If Diebold was already so big in Brazil, why are they (now part of ES&S's monopoly) selling 250,000

new voting machines to Brazil? Did the prior votes include unverified e-voting everywhere in Brazil, including all the rural and remote areas? Perhaps e-voting is being extended. There is mention in the wiki article about adding a paper receipt and fingerprinting. A paper receipt, of course, means nothing unless it is a real and legal ballot, and unless there is at least a 10% audit (which is found nowhere in the U.S.). This is one big profit-maker for private e-voting corporations--sell an unverifiable system, by means of massive lobbying and corrupting of public officials, THEN profit from "improvements" of what remains an extremely insecure, extremely non-transparent and insider hackable election system.

I acknowledge that I didn't know Diebold was already in Brazil. However, this monster contract, the new and dangerous ES&S monopoly and the flexibility of 'TRADE SECRET' code vote counting--which permits a handful of far rightwing corporations to play political systems like piano, picking and choosing their moments of fascist crescendo, like Bush-Cheney, or pitting liberals like Obama and Lulu against difficult, rightwing-infested legislatures--is still extremely worrisome, here and there. Lulu won big in the first round of voting in 2006, and smashed the opposition in the run-off--so perhaps those who own and control the 'TRADE SECRET' code couldn't stop him or decided not to, for their own reasons. Private, 'TRADE SECRET' control of the code doesn't mean that you can flip a 60% margin without at least raising eyebrows. I'm sure there are a lot of things to consider in using this power. You may have more vigilant election officials and citizen monitors in some places. You may not yet want to have riots in the streets, by flipping a landslide against a popular figure. You may not have the right fascist all groomed and ready to play to the part. You may not have sufficient control of the media to reinforce the illusionary "wins" that you want. You may have a long term plan for further corroding the political system and messing with the election rules so that eventually you can install a Bush-Cheney in Brazil, or something worse here.

This may not be the first introduction of unverified e-voting in Brazil, but it sure looks like a consolidation of rightwing corporate control over the election system. This further contract will cement the rightwing extremists at ES&S into the system, to do their worst. I would look to this Supreme Electoral Council, and possibly to the legislature, for where the ES&S/Diebold lobbying and corruption was done. That's what happened here--corruption among secretaries of state, among county election officials and state legislatures, and of course in the Anthrax Congress, where so many Democrats voted for rightwing Republican corporate vote counting.

[Wilms]

7. I have no idea about the context of the contract.

Does it replace an existing system? If so, why? Augment it? Is the Brazilian Supreme Electoral Court an honorable institution?

Those are the things I wonder.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

5. what surprised me

was seeing that while Diebold completely sold out lock stock and barrel
to ES&S in the US, that they are still doing business, in Brazil.

I thought Diebold was done with voting machines.

It was a shock.

[Wilms]

8. Haven't you been following voting news.blogspot.com?!?

:spank: :rofl:

I recall Diebold was dumping the US and maybe Canadian(?) operations.

And it made sense. Diebold's PR is in the gutter in the US. Meanwhile, the other vendors (especially Sequioia given FL2000) are as bad or worse.

Were it not for O'Dell, it might have played out very differently.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

10. Oh ho. very funny. I wonder if

Diebold/Brazil will be using Linda Lamone's endorsement on brochures
as done in Raleigh, NC?

She can be the Diebold Brazil girl.

[diva77]

9. I wonder whether IFES played a role in this purchase --

Conny McCormack has been a consultant for IFES in the past and we know how she loooooves Diebold!!

[Peace Patriot]

11. Interesting point. She must surely have been looking for her next corporate gig. nt

[diva77]

12. Steny Hoyer, one of the original authors of HAVA is on IFES Board

He advocated heavily for paperless DREs

http://www.ifes.org/board.html

just trying to find some way to connect the dots with this purchase of Diebold machines in Brazil

[diva77]

13. Ken Blackwell is on IFES board too!!

:eyes:

Check out their "who we are statement"

http://www.ifes.org/whoweare.html

snip
The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) is an independent, non-governmental organization providing professional support to electoral democracy. Through field work, applied research and advocacy, we strive to promote citizen participation, transparency, and accountability in political life and civil society.

Every IFES project is staffed by national and international staff while partnering with local organizations. This homegrown approach ensures that the expertise offered by IFES fits the needs of the country or client and the benefit of assistance outlasts the life of the project. Our work is nonpartisan and also includes projects that:

* Help citizens participate in their democracies
* Increase politicians' accountability to the electorate
* Strengthen government institutions

Since its founding in 1987, IFES has worked in more than 100 countries - from developing democracies such as Liberia, to mature democracies such as the United States.

IFES is registered in the United States as a 501(c)3 organization.

snip


and their work in the US too! bragging about implementing HAVA

http://www.ifes.org/us.html

and IFES has done work in Brazil - but couldn't find details on website

[glitch]

2. K & R for a most important post. Without the vote there is no Democracy, no Republic. nt