Kathy Dopp: I Voted. Saw "3 Strikes You're Out"

Hello Friends,

Just a little personal story today.

Today I voted on a Diebold/Premier touch-screen DRE voting machine in Utah.

I decided to test the Diebold "3 strikes and you're out" rule today but unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the instructions on the screen which warned me that as soon as I pressed the PRINT BALLOT option, MY BALLOT WOULD BE CAST FOR ME, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER OR NOT THE PAPER BALLOT ROLL RECORD MATCHED MY CHOICE!

In fact, a voter would have no time to call a poll worker over to see the erroneous paper roll ballot record before it vanishes into its cannister once the "PRINT BALLOT" option is selected.

YES. REALLY. This is one of the reasons why New Jersey did not approve any voter verifiable paper roll printers for use in New Jersey because if the paper roll record does not match your voting choice and you cancel your ballot twice, on your third try - You're OUT!

As soon as you print your ballot look fast because it rolls up inside the paper roll canister and you are done voting - no matter if the paper ballot roll record matches your choice or not.

I had fun playing with it today, but I forgot to take a picture of the amazing message which warns you that if you PRINT BALLOT on the third try - your BALLOT IS CAST FOR YOU.

HONEST.

Utah is rapidly becoming a backwards state as to its voting system. So far, the following states have either scrapped or their officials or legislators have begun the process of scrapping their easily hacked, expensive, inaccurate touch-screen DRE voting systems:

Colorado
Ohio
California
Florida
Maryland
New Mexico
Iowa

As you may know, there were reports today of vote-flipping from Grand County, Utah today where some voters pressed one candidate, but another candidate's name appeared selected by the touchscreen.

FYI, Here are some early reports of problems with voting machines in other states so far today (from Gideon's Daily Voting News):

From http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/2/5/123158/7065/255/450294:

Trying to Vote for Obama, Machine Resets to Clinton in NJ

My husband and I went to vote for Obama this morning in South Jersey. Our precinct has only recently changed from the old voting machines to new touch machines.

He went into the machine and noticed that there was a red X listed next to Clinton. He pushed the X next to Obama and while he was looking for the button to push to record his vote, the X for Obama disappeared and the red X for Clinton came on again. So he complained to the poll worker and then went ahead and pushed Obama and then quickly pushed the Vote button before it could reset to Clinton.

GA: Glitches Reported at Metro Atlanta Polls http://www.11alive.com/news/article_news.aspx?storyid=110698

GA: State workers fan out when problems arise at polls http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/02/05/pollpolice_0206.html

GA: Hall County - Glitch slows things to start with at Wilson II polling place http://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=206554

IL: Chicago and Cook County - Some voters face minor problems, delays, election officials report http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-illinois-primary-voting_webfeb06,0,7841800.story

MO: St Louis - Some technical issues reported at polls in St. Louis http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080205/BREAKING01/80205006

NJ: Hudson County - N.J. governor vote delayed because of poll problems http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/state/new_jersey/20080205_ap_njgovernorvotedelayedbecauseofpollproblems.html

NJ: Hudson County - Machine problems at Corzine's voting station http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/politics&id=5936011

NJ: Hudson County - Technical Difficulties Delay The Vote In Hoboken Several Voting Machines Malfunction http://wcbstv.com/topstories/voting.super.tuesday.2.646027.html

NJ: Hudson County - Some Voting Machines Malfunction On Super Tuesday Technical Difficulties Delay The Vote http://wjz.com/xcampaign08/voting.super.tuesday.2.646035.html

NJ: Hudson County - Hoboken voting machine now working http://www.nj.com/hudsoncountynow/index.ssf/2008/02/hoboken_voting_machine_now_wor.html

NJ: Hudson County - Computer Glitch Delays Corzine's Vote http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/computer-glitch-delays-corzines-vote/

PA: Editorial - It's time to fix voting http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2008/02/05/editorial/editorial/daily662.txt

Cheers,

--

Kathy Dopp

The material expressed herein is the informed product of the author Kathy Dopp's fact-finding and investigative efforts. Dopp is a Mathematician, Expert in election audit mathematics and procedures; in exit poll discrepancy analysis.

http://utahcountvotes.org
http://electionmathematics.org
http://electionarchive.org

History of Confidence Election Auditing Development & Overview of Election Auditing Fundamentals http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/US/paper-audits/History-of-Election-Auditing-Development.pdf

Vote Yes on HR5036 http://electionarchive.org/ucvInfo/US/legislation/SummaryFlyer5036.pdf

Voters Have Reason to Worry http://utahcountvotes.org/UT/UtahCountVotes-ThadHall-Response.pdf

"Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day," wrote Thomas Jefferson in 1816

ENDS

Kathy Dopp
http://electionarchive.org
National Election Data Archive
Dedicated to Accurately Counting Elections

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