It doesnt get more mainstream than this: Black Box Voting coverage in a project with the Smithsonian Institution: zocalopublicsquare.org/2014/11/04/i-do-the-math-that-keeps-elections-honest/ideas/nexus/ It was published today by Zocalo and you can see a copy at the above link. Public awareness about election transparency has improved tremendously since I began this work 12 years ago. Last night, in a two-hour interview on a national radio, I fielded questions from callers all over America. Ive done this show every year since 2003, yet last night was different. The sophistication of ordinary American callers -- a first step towards more effective solutions -- has definitely improved, indicating that all our collective efforts towards public awareness are working. TRUTH IS OLD SCHOOL? But all is not great. I was interviewed by one reporter for a very large national publication, and I described the partisan nature of modern election reform, which is nothing more than attempts to politicize election administration. Instead, I said, we need to base decisions on objective criteria. The reporter said Oh Bev, thats so old school. It was a joke (I think) but it haunted me all week. LIARS AND WHOPPERS: And this needs work: the culture of lying as a part of election administration. The public has become better at demanding transparency and documenting anomalies. But far too many election officials -- and most voting system vendors -- have responded to election anomalies by lying. Because of this, one area Im tackling now through election 2016 is to teach reporters to discount what election officials say about anomalies unless they provide corroborated with documents like audit logs. Ask for computer logs or surveillance video or the accounting records to corroborate what election officials claim. If they wont give it to you, or it doesnt corroborate what they say, report that loud and clear. LYING BY VENDORS: These guys are so chock-full of whoppers that nothing they say should EVER be believed. Heres an example: Remember the Don Siegelman Alabama governors race that produced not only 6,000 mystery votes -- they came and went in the middle of the night in Baldwin County -- but 13,000 write-in vote apparitions at the same time? In my recent research I found an explanation from the vendor, ES&S, provided years after the fact. Some memory cards were put into the system twice plus an electrical storm. Really? Hey, Pants-On-Fire, pick one. And by the way, my checks in the mail plus my dog ate it. 3 THINGS FOR DO LIST 2014-2016: (1) Ignore explanations about anomalies unless corroborated with documentation. This is a step towards a shift in approach to produce better election transparency. (2) See the human error excuse for what it is. In Hartford Connecticut they forgot to send poll books to the precincts so poll workers had nothing to sign voters in with. Human error. Heres perspective on that: A chef says to the steakhouse owner, I forgot to buy meat today, sorry, human error. What happens to him? Unemployment. In Memphis there were 3000 more votes than voters in 2010. First, election administrator Richard Holden told a reporter it wasnt true. Next, Holden admitted the discrepancy in court. Later, he admitted to the board of elections that he couldnt find voters for all the extra votes. Human error. Holden, inexplicably, still has a job so heres some perspective on that: A bank teller misplaces $3,000 and, first, denies to his supervisor that its missing; later, admits that its missing and that he cant find it, but says its human error. What happens to him? Unemployment. Next time you read the words human error -- and you will in this election -- practice the appropriate perspective: Time for a particular unemployment. This is a step towards a shift in thinking to produce better elections. (3) Because the same problems (like vote-flipping) have been happening over and over again for at least 15 years and have not been corrected (see Susan Berneckers videotaped capture of vote-flipping in the late 1990s in the film Hacking Democracy, linked in the Smithsonian/Zocalo article above) its time for a new approach. Thats what I have been immersed in all year. In addition to pushing for corroboration and rejecting human error, I am working on proving the connection between non-transparent elections and public corruption. Im making quite a bit of headway on that. In my own little way I think this progress is quite exciting. The connection exists in a tangible way, and makes the need for election transparency much easier to understand. This is a step towards a shift in thinking to improve election procedures. Will keep you posted this. Best, Bev Harris
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 23:39:19 +0000
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