Sunday, March 16, 2008

Black Box Voting on Chain of Custody

Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati

Editor’s Note: The material below is from Black Box voting.  The issue reminded us of an old video we captured with Stephan Skirtz.  He made waves in the 2004 blogosphere when he captured a photograph of a red pickup truck with a George W. Bush bumper sticker, and a guy handling uncounted ballots in a dark parking lot with no one around.

Videos from Black Box Voting

WHAT’S IN THE VIDEOS:

1. Election Reality TV - BUTCH & HOPPY CHASE Part I (split into two parts—here, and here—for YouTube length limits), The Butch & Hoppy Chase begins with Susan Pynchon and Bev Harris’s initial foray into the field following a ballot transport van. This video raises questions, many of which will be answered in subsequent Election Reality TV videos. Some answers will be troubling and will spur reforms.

2. Election Reality TV - PROCEDURAL FAILURES

Black Box Voting is focusing on a nationwide “election chain of custody” project throughout 2008. We have adjusted communications format to focus on video, because it is getting more 15-30 year old citizens involved.

Collection of evidence through video, ESPECIALLY WHEN SEVERAL CITIZENS FAN OUT WITH CAMERAS TO WATCHDOG A SINGLE ELECTION EVENT AND SHARE FOOTAGE, will be of crucial importance in election 2008. Take note and follow suit.

Click the links below for the new videos. Most of the issues being uncovered our “ELECTION REALITY TV” series apply to MANY STATES, not just the state used to illustrate.

Higher quality versions are posted on Black Box Voting - http://www.blackboxvoting.org (click “Forums, choose “Document Archive” scroll to “Videos") if you need to download for meetings.  Please be considerate of our bandwidth. Please download ONLY when needed and use YouTube links for casual viewing and sharing.

WHAT’S TO COME:

An analysis of blow-ups of these video shots, examined frame by frame, has revealed new information that we believe will be highly significant for fraud prevention, particularly in an environment of paper ballots with manual spot checks. Findings originating from these videos will prove to be critically important to any new audit bill legislation, which MUST include rigorous chain of custody controls.

The information in these videos has led us to a “theory of the crime” scenario for New Hampshire. This doesn’t prove there was a crime, but (pending completion of our current testing) will show that the New Hampshire presidential primary could have been stolen, even on a large scale.

New Hampshire is currently the most auditable state in the nation, with 100 percent hand recounts available for any candidate, at reasonable prices, as well as good observation and videotaping rights for chain of custody examinations. THIS TRANSPARENCY SHOULD BE RETAINED!

However, there were breaks in the chain of custody in New Hampshire, such that there is no reason to believe that the ballots counted in the recount were the same as the ballots cast by the voters.

And as for the many locations that still use paperless DREs or fail to audit chain of custody and procedural safeguards, as they say in New York, “fahgeddaboudit.” There is no reason whatsoever to trust those elections.

Our work continues on chain of custody in several states.

To obtain your own copy of “Hacking Democracy” donate $45 or more here: http://www.blackboxvoting.org or mail to:
Black Box Voting
330 SW 43rd St Suite K
PMB 547
Renton WA 98057

Black Box Voting is supported entirely by individual citizen donations. We are gearing up now for election 2008

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