Great talking points from Marilyn and Fred! You can use these for a Letter to the Editor …. Lots of Letters!
When you are ready to send your letter in, check the Editor’s Picks Links for the PDA Media Guide or the News Link site for all the addresses you will need!
TALKING POINTS: VOTING MACHINES
1. Machine code is owned by the manufacturer.
2. Corporations are not neutral about election outcomes.
3. Machines are easily hacked without leaving evidence.
4. Machines break down. In Maryland voters were unable to vote.
5. Machines can “lock-up” and blackouts can cause problems.
6. Display on screen does not always match voter’s choice.
7. Many other glitches (from Black Box Voting website.)
Examples:
* Clark County Indiana shortly after the polls closed in the May 2, 2006 election. Computerized voting system didn’t work. Results were read to a woman who manually typed them in.
* June 2006, A Pottawattamie County, Iowa election official hand counted her ballots and was surprised to find a total entirely different than the results noted on the voting machines. The manufacturer, Election Systems & Software, admitted that it had programmed the machines incorrectly.
* Cuyahoga County, Ohio’s May 2, 2006 primary. Machines were turned off and on many times by overwhelmed poll workers trying desperately to make them work; – Memory cards replaced midstream; paper trails that got thrown away – Voters who were told they were done when the machine was reading ‘error’; – After the screen went blank, ballots without all the appropriate issues appeared in some precincts.
* Better than a pregnant chad, these machines can actually give birth:
*Boone County, Indiana: 19,000 registered voters, 144,000 votes counted . (Nov. 2003) http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/10/22/politics/main650884.shtml .
*Tarrant County, Texas: 58,000 votes cast, 158,103 votes counted (Mar. 9, 2006; The Fort-Worth Star-Telegram “Vote spike blamed on program snafu”).
*Allamakee County, Iowa: 300 votes fed into the machine, 4 million votes came out (Nov. 2000; According to the Wall Street Journal, Nov. 17, 2000 “Fuzzy Numbers”).
TALKING POINTS: VOTER SUPPRESSION:
* “Shorting” voting machines in targeted areas, forcing voters to wait in line for hours.
* Last-minute switching of targeted polling places without adequate notice.
* Purging and “caging” manipulations with voter registration lists: Purging valid voters and targeting specific groups for special or unfair purges.
* Voter intimidation.
* Traffic blockages obstructing or delaying access to targeted polling places.
* Inappropriate police activity or harassment around polling places.
* Inconsistent procedures for provisional ballots: A provisional ballot is available to voters who have reason to believe they are registered but don’t show up on the rolls on Election Day. Obstructive procedures, such as requiring poll workers to get permission by phone from elections headquarters before offering a provisional ballot (and phone lines are usually busy on Election Day) can prevent voters from voting.
* Candidate name not appearing on some ballots. This is especially a problem in touch-screen areas, where the computer programming for the touch-screen “ballot” is not as carefully checked as the printed paper ballots.
* Opening polls late.
* Requiring voter ID. Requiring that it match exactly the name on the voting rolls, and/or requiring ID that significant portions of the population (usually the poor) do not already have and must go to trouble to obtain.
