New Jersey Elections Board Says This Election Is Too Important To Allow Outside Observers
from the think-of-what-they-might-see dept
Transparency is key to a functioning democracy. No, we don't always have it, but we absolutely should be striving for it, or you can almost guarantee corruption will take over. That's why we've been so focused on the problems with e-voting machines for so many years, and pushing for increased transparency. Now, some of the researchers who wrote a recent suppressed report, about potential security problems with the Sequoia e-voting machines used in New Jersey, followed the procedures in place to be allowed to view the process by which votes are counted. This is a perfectly legal request. The Elections Board is allowed to offer "Challenger Badges" to those who would like to observe the election process. You would think that some Princeton-associated folks, with knowledge of e-voting, would be exactly the type of people that an Elections Board would want to observe the election, in order to make sure that it was done properly, and to make citizens more comfortable that their votes would be counted.But, of course, that's not what happened.
Andrew Appel and Grayson Barber had their request rejected as the Elections Board claimed it was "too important" an election to allow in any outside observers. You would think that if the election is so important, having some experts on hand to make sure the process is done in an acceptable manner would be more important. You can understand why they don't want too many people in the room, or don't want anyone who is clearly a partisan activist -- but these are e-voting experts. There's simply no reason not to have them in the room, and rejecting them raises many more questions about New Jersey's process for counting votes.
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Filed Under: andrew appel, e-voting, elections, grayson barber, new jersey, observers
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Government
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Re: Government
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Re: Government
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Quantum Theory
So, hats off to the Elections Board for trying to get rid of these spurious variables, to ensure that the outcome of the election will be the right one, free of any outside objectivizing influences.
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Re: Quantum Theory
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Re: Quantum Theory
Is this an accurate summary ?
"the observer can influence the outcome of the observation"
can ?
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Re: Quantum Theory
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Re: Re: Quantum Theory
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Re: Quantum Theory
you simply cannot apply principles of physics and science as a whole to the will of humans and society. you can't apply newtons second law saying "every action has an equal and opposite reaction" to a persons reasoning behind the choice they make to the situation they are in, just as you can't apply the uncertainty principle to politics, I wish people, smart and ignorant alike, would stop taking principles out of their respective fields.
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Not surprising
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States' Rights
Further, local elections--at the precinct level--are largely staffed by volunteers. This means that the implementation is not as likely to match the design.
I personally think that the US should adopt the Australian model, where registered voters are fined if they don't vote. Throw in a Borda vote-counting method, and I think most people would be more satisfied.
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Re: States' Rights
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E-Voting
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Re: E-Voting
The results the new SoS found were staggering; in fact, it led to e-voting machines from virtually every manufacturer to be de-certified for the entire state.
So it seems the policies of her failure were continued and pushed forward at a federal level. This in itself is nothing short of incredible. If the 598 page document you bring forward is similar to the guidelines she used as SoS of the previous state she worked for, I imagine it would create outrage. I would *love* to see the work she created as SoS, however, I can't find any of her previous documentation.
As such, this leads us to today. Recently, the State of California said the EAC's Federal Voluntary (Key word: "Voluntary") Voting System Guidelines were inadequate, possibly similar to the findings of the state she previously served, which they essentially shredded.
I'm not pointing fingers, but success breeds success, and if something was successful for one reason or another, they may want to duplicate that success. Remember, she was appointed, personally, by GW Bush. (Side note: I voted for GW Bush two times, but this time, I am leaning a different direction this time around.)
So what can you do?
Well, quite honestly, the best thing you can do is request a mail-in ballot. This will allow you to do a little research at home on each local initiative before you stick the stamp and put it in the mail.
My state has 15 initiatives this year that, quite honestly, need equal attention as the Presidential Campaign. Using a mail-in ballot, you have the ability to "get smart" and truly vote valiantly.
I don't know about you, but when I'm in the voting booth, and thrown with 15 or 30 issues, I tend to skim thru the legalism of the ballot, but don't understand the net value of what's being addressed.
So as a registered republican, I recommend you head over to The Obama Website and procure a ballot form and sent it out. (Unfortunately McCain doesn't offer it on his website.)
While there, maybe take a look at the things at Obama's site and see if they fit with your own beliefs. You may be surprised. I'm kinda sad to say that Obama best fits my beliefs, versus McCain but I'm still on the fence.
Yikes! What should I do, Techdirt?
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Re: Re: E-Voting
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regime change
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New Jersey: the mockery in democracy
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Voter Eligiblity
Recently, Fox News and other media have been running a story on ACORN. According to these stories ACORN is registering people who would not be qualified to vote. Clearly this security issue needs to be solved otherwise it would be essentially pointless to argue over the best method of counting votes.
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Re: Voter Eligiblity
1) ACORN needs to ensure that every form is legitimate.
2) Caging should be stopped, there is no excuse for this.
3) Foreclosure notice should not invalidate voter registration.
4) "E voting" machines should not be used if they are unreliable.
5) A verifiable audit (paper) is required.
6) Every eligible voter should be able to cast their vote for whomever they see fit and be assured that it will be counted.
7) many more, need I list them ?
This election is getting ugly. I hope those angry mobs are not present at the polling places. Long lines, waiting for hours, and then having to put up with BS would be too much.
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Re: Voter Eligiblity
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Re: Re: Voter Eligiblity
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Re:
Not sure to whom you are referring.
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easy decision anonymous...
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Re: easy decision anonymous...
I get neighbors telling me to take the sign down for Obama or they are going to burn my house down.
WHO IS THE TERRORIST?
Think about it, Josh. I voted for Bush twice. Who is the Terrorist? Please fill me in because if I come home and find my house smoldering ashes, I want to know who the hell we're fighting against.
YOUR BLIND. GET A BRAIN WITH AN EQUIVALENT IQ OF GEORGE W BUSH.
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Re: easy decision anonymous...
You must be one of the "angry mob" I've been reading about. I'm curious, do you really believe all that BS or are you using it (BS) in an attempt to influence the vote of others ?
Or maybe you're just a troll.
Please, do not accept the campaign BS as fact. Do some independent research. There are plenty of less biased sources of information, such as: http://www.factcheck.org/
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Re: easy decision anonymous...
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Re: easy decision anonymous...
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/me hits the dog on the head with a hammer a few times. Ok, done.
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Dangerous if allowed,..
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Oh you silly billies
Of course the machines don't have to be able to count accurately and of course independent monitors are to be discouraged, that's only where a small portion of the fraud is planned to take place anyway so it would be a waste of effort
Try this - Registered Republican and Security Expert Stephen Spoonamore discusses electronic voting vulnerabilities and how his party plan to steal the election
Its a Network people
Exactly how many ways are there to hack these machines? I lost count after minibar keys that could open them, access databases with no security, programmable data cards and network man in the middle attacks
Anyone who still thinks an independent observer would make a difference needs their head read - the whole system was DESIGNED. TO. BE. VULNERABLE.
And it works as per design - now will you please stop arguing over voting machines, you have been judged and found undeserving of a vote; would you kindly stop making lots of pointless noise, it's unbecoming
VOTE McCain 2008 - for shits and giggles, no really - you ARE going to vote for him, you just may not know it yet
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Re: Oh you silly billies
Vote McSame / Failin 2008
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UGLY TRUTH!
VOTE McCain 2008 - He'll buy your damn house people, what more do you want!
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This is jersey dammit
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is too late
roselle nj . what should i do or is it too late. please tell me what i should do asap. who to contact.
tx.
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