Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

internetworkers - [internetworkers] DEFEND S223, BILL FOR "PUBLIC CONFIDENCE IN ELECTIONS" FROM SPECIALINTERESTS ATTACK IN NORTH CAROLINA SENATE COMMITTEE

internetworkers AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Christian Stalberg" <cstalberg AT internet-lab.com>
  • To: "Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/" <internetworkers AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [internetworkers] DEFEND S223, BILL FOR "PUBLIC CONFIDENCE IN ELECTIONS" FROM SPECIALINTERESTS ATTACK IN NORTH CAROLINA SENATE COMMITTEE
  • Date: Thu, 14 Jul 2005 20:47:40 -0400

DEFEND S223, BILL FOR "PUBLIC CONFIDENCE IN ELECTIONS" FROM SPECIAL
INTERESTS ATTACK IN NORTH CAROLINA SENATE COMMITTEE

Numerous irregularities and computer breakdowns have occurred in North
Carolina elections over the past several years, culminating in the loss of
4438 votes in Carteret County in 2004. In that election, there were major
problems with electronic voting in at least nine counties, including
Mecklenburg County. According to election-office data downloaded by The
Charlotte Observer, 102,109 people voted early or returned valid absentee
ballots. But unofficial results showed 106,064 people casting early and
absentee votes for president. Early voting machines had counted some
ballots twice.

Before the election the North Carolina General Assembly had appointed a
Joint Select Committee on Electronic Voting. It spent 10 weeks looking at
the issue and hearing testimony from the experts on this issue. In
February, the Committee proposed S.223, the Public Confidence in Elections
Act. The bill's key requirement was that all voting systems permit voters
to verify their votes on paper. The paper would be kept by election
officials for audit and recount purposes. If the bill were passed,
Mecklenburg County could continue to use touch screen electronic voting
machines. But the machines would have to produce a paper record on which
the voters would be able to see how their votes are recorded, and the paper
records would stay in a ballot box to make possible audits and recounts, to
ensure that elections are accurate and that every legitimate vote is counted.

In the Senate Judiciary 1 Committee, chaired by Mecklenburg county's
Senator Daniel Clodfelter, the bill has been revised with no public
discussion or open hearing 26 times. These revisions are not sought by
North Carolina voters, but by special interests, including the State Board
of Elections, that have opposed voter verifiable paper ballots from the
beginning.

Members of the State Board of Elections are also members of a private
organization called "The Election Center." This organization accepts
funding from voting machine vendors. This is a conflict of interest. The
SBOE, in fact, is the root of the problem in North Carolina. It
has refused to allow federally certified voting machines, manufactured in
Charlotte, that produce a paper ballot as S223 would require, to be used in
North Carolina, and has given false reasons for this refusal. The
Executive Director and Deputy Director of the SBOE both have stated that
the reason was that certification for the machine was to 1990 standards,
not 2002 standards. But the application was rejected at a time, March 2004,
when no voting equipment in the country had been certified to 2002
standards, and that company now has 2002 certification. Meanwhile the
SBOE has allowed uncertified, outdated, shoddily programmed machines from
eight different companies, almost all manufactured out of state, to be used
in North Carolina

The State Board of Elections allowed Mecklenburg county in 1997 to buy 400
MicroVote DREs that had been used in an election in Pennsylvania in 1995,
where the computers often had not allowed voters to scroll through the
3-page ballot. The Mecklenburg supervisor of elections, Ed Culp, was
convicted in 1998 on 122 counts of accepting bribes from the independent
agent who sold him the machines. Neither the agent nor MicroVote General
Corporation was penalized, and MicroVote DREs continue in use in
Mecklenburg County.

Now Senator Clodfelter and the State Board of Elections are asking North
Carolina to experiment with its elections and foot the bill for a pilot
program for "independent verification systems" whose ultimate goal is to
replace the paper ballot as the backup for electronic votes. Independent
verification would entail separate visual, au ditory, or digital recording
of the voting process separate from the voting machine. No such systems
are now certified or likely to be certified. They would be highly
susceptible to fraud, could entail voter intimidation (i.e. cameras in the
polling booth), and would move away from a voter-verified system that any
ordinary person can understand and audit..

The latest version of SB223 would allow "toilet paper" ballots- paper
ballots rolled up on a reel that only voting machine technicians would be
able to recount - leaving the recount to unaccountable private companies,
not the public.

We must send a clear message to Senator Clodfelter:

We want a vote on the ORIGINAL TEXT of SB223, which was crafted with
bipartisan support by a study commission that heard exhaustive expert
testimony, not just the opinions of corrupt board of elections officials.

Contact Information for Senator Clodfelter: Danielc AT ncleg.net
408 Legislative Office Building
Raleigh, NC 27603-5925
Office telephone: (919) 715-8331


The North Carolina Coalition for Verified Voting www.ncvoter




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page