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about Rob-Georgia
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IEEE Analysis of Electronic Voting
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Stolen Election 2004, 38 pgs
Stolen Election 2004, brief
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There are many little quirks about the Internet that take quite awhile to discover. Such as...
If you want to keep a website up and running and also open another website at the same time (and another, and another, and another), do this. Instead of just clicking on a new link, RIGHT CLICK on it. You will see a choice called "Open Link in New Window" or somesuch. Choose that one. You will get a new website, but the old one will also stay up. You can even do this indefinitely (as long as your memory can hold out!). You can go to any one of them by clicking on its name on the bar at the bottom of your screen.
Quick way to get several screens up at once, press Ctrl plus N. This may only work with Internet Explorer.
To shrink or enlarge screens, use the three little boxes in the upper right corner of each screen (that is, on PC's -- on Macs, they're in the upper LEFT corner). The dash will shrink the screen completely off your computer (but it is still active, just not visible). To find it again, go to the bottom of your screen and click on the name of the screen there; it will blow up to full size again. The two little boxes superimposed on each other are for shrinking a screen to less than full size. Once you do this, you can change the size and shape of the screen by pulling its edges in and out with your arrow. The full-size box is for enlarging a partially-shrunk screen back to full size.
To save a website, you go to that website, then go up to the top and choose Favorites or Bookmark. You can rename the website at this time, or later, if you want to. I start many of my bookmarked website names with a general term, then a space and a dash, then the website name. E.g., "music - Keith's guitar site". This way, all the music sites you've bookmarked will be together when you go to find them again.
To go to a website that you know the address of, first you "open your browser" (this happens whenever you get onto the Internet --- your browser is what takes you to new websites). Do this by getting into a website you have linked on your main screen ("desktop") or by going to Start, then Programs, then Internet Explorer or Netscape or whatever other browser you have. Then, to go to the new address ("URL") you go up to the Address line (white bar near the top), highlight the address that's there and press Delete to erase that one, then type in the new address and hit return. It must be letter perfect, of course.
To search for a website you don't know the address of you have to use a search engine. My favorite is www.Google.com. There are many, many others: Alltheweb.com, Altavista.com, Yahoo.com, etc., etc.
To know what's clickable in a website, either it's colored and has a line under it, or you can pass your arrow over it, and if the arrow turns into a hand, it's clickable. Many pictures are clickable. Remember to try RIGHT clicking!
To go back to websites you were at previously use the back button in the upper left corner, or use the little arrow beside the back button to see a list of sites you've just been at, and click one of those.
To go to a different folder in your computer, go up to the white Address bar, and click on the little arrow in the little box at the very right end of that bar. This shows you the outline of your computer. To go to anything on your hard drive, click on C: and choose the next level down that you want, and on down from there. Or, you can go to Windows Explorer in the Start Bar, and choose your folders and files there.
To change file names, go to Windows Explorer (go to Start to find it), find the file and highlight it, right click on it, choose Rename, and type in the new name (then hit Enter).
To make a new folder, go to the place you want the folder to be in (see "go to a different folder" above) (maybe in C: drive or in a folder in C: drive), then go up a choose File then New, then New Folder. You'll name the folder, and it will be under the file you were in when you created it.
Trouble with things getting tangled up? Let one thing finish downloading before opening another. The little hour glass means something is working, and to "wait."
To highlight everything in a document, starting at a chosen point and continuing to the end of the document, put your cursor at that point, then press Ctrl plus Shift plus End. Same for going to the beginning of a document, but use Home instead of End. This is handy for eliminating long parts of emails when responding to sender, among other things.
To select a group of consecutive records (such as emails), click to highlight the first record you want, go to the last record you want, press Shift then click to highlight the last record. All records in between will be highlighted.
To select a group of non-consecutive records, click the first record, then press and hold Ctrl while you click each non-consecutive record you want.
To get someone's email address when only their name shows, right click on the name, choose Properties, choose Details, and see near the bottom of the mishmash what their email address is.
To copy a picture from the Internet into your files, first make a folder to hold images. I call mine "Images". Then put all your saved images in it, so you'll know where to get them. To copy an image, simply right click on the image, and choose "Save Picture As". Select your Image folder. This works with moving images, also.
The "Copy This Website" section will have instructions on how to copy websites in the near future. (Note: Copying for your own enjoyment is quite different from copying to mass distribute something. Reasonable people think it is fine, commendable, to make one's own private copy of something that has been published. ChickenFeed encourages people to copy and distribute the entire website or any part of it, for this knowledge is here to be shared. Others aren't quite so happy to spread their knowledge around. Curious as to why they are on the Internet, but that's another question.)
To learn how to write websites, take the great online tutorial from Maricopa, California. Download the Tutorial free from http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/tut/.
To make icons on your main screen (to link to websites or other things quickly), one way to do it is to "Bookmark" the website (re-write the name to a short version), then go to your list of Favorites, shrink it to a smaller screen, and click and hold the name you just made and drag it over to your desktop screen. It will make itself into an icon.
To rename a file or icon, right click on the file or icon, choose Rename, and write in the new name.
To visit a page of clickable Internet Terms from Whatis.com, CLICK HERE
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News
Breaking News from Bev Harris; current
Recount Efforts in the U.S., Kim Zetter at Wired News, thru Nov, 2004
E-Voting News at VerifiedVoting.org, thru Nov, 2004
Latest on the Ohio Re-Count, by Keith Olbermann, MSNBC, Nov. 23, 2004
Berkeley CA statistical analysis of Florida data, Nov. 18, 2004
Recount in Ohio,
Nov. 15, 2004
California collects $2.6 million in Diebold suit for faulty voting machines, Nov 11, 2004
BBC says NBC exec calls exit polls "junk," Nov. 4, 2004
Kerry Won in Ohio, by Greg Palast, TomPaine.com, Nov. 4, 2004
Myriad errors in OH & PA Voting Process, Nov. 3, 2004
California investigates Diebold, Dec. 17, 2003
Will the Election be Stolen? Sept 29, 2003
Seattle Times discusses Bev Harris's findings, Sept 25, 2003
Definitions
assigned votes: the final numbers of votes, as declared by the authorities who count them; the counterpart to assigned votes is projected votes, which are the numbers of votes accumulated through exit polls
Australian ballots: another name for paper ballots in the U.S., system developed in Australia in mid-1800's
ballot: comes from the same word as "ball"; voting in ancient times was determined by secretly placing a tiny black or white ball into a container; today, ballots are of many types: optical scan, punch card, data punch, and paper; ballotless voting is done by electronic (touch-screen) machines and the older, lever machines that count like a car's odometer; by far the largest form of ballot in use in the US in 2004 is the optical scan ballot ("OS") ballot system
central tabulating software: ballot-counting software installed on a computer at the vote-counting headquarters, usually at county level;it is possible that this vote-tabulating function can be accessed by any computer in the world, and that to do so is not at all complicated, however, an investigation is necessary to learn the extent to which this is possible
central tabulating office: ballot-counting is done here, usually at the Registrar of Voters of any given county (US); a county will be divided into regions called "precincts," which have a voting place centrally located; votes made at the precinct polling place are counted either at the precinct, then sent to the central tabulating office, or sent directly to the central tabulating office where all votes/ballots are counted ("tabulated")
chad: the pieces of paper left in the holes that are supposed to get punched completely out in votomatic and other punch-card voting machines; recent discussion has delineated several specific types of chads, such as "hanging chad," "pregnant chad," and the like, giving much cause for election-time mirth
Ciber Labs: the Huntsville, Alabama branch of an ITA that was supposed to, but didn't, test Diebold GEMS central tabulator software for penetration, according to Bev Harris
computer voting system: a blurry, general category that, in the public eye, includes paperless touchscreen systems, as well as any system where voting results are tabulated by computer at a centralized location, which of course includes almost the entire U.S. voting process; much clarification needs to be done between computer knowledgeable people and their less-informed counterparts across the nation, to inform ourselves more clearly on what is being sent by what segments of the Internet; the primary necessity is to create a U.S. system where a recount can occur as accurately, precisely, and efficiently as it does in European and other democracies; only when a recount is feasible can the voting process be depended upon to be fair
data punch: "voters punch holes in the cards (with a supplied punch device) opposite their candidate or ballot issue choice. After voting, the voter may place the ballot in a ballot box, or the ballot may be fed into a computer vote-tabulating device at the precinct."
Diebold: second largest vendor of voting machines for the 2004 Election; owner, Mr. O'Dell, said publicly that he will help to get Ohio's votes to go for Bush; the company has given nearly $200,000 to the Republican party
DRE: a ballotless system known as "Direct Recording Electronic" voting system, also called "Touch Screen"
electronic voting system: Ballotless voting system, also known as Direct Recording Electronic (DRE); used statewide or nearly so in Georgia (Diebold), Kentucky, Tennessee, Nevada, New Mexico, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey; used extensively in several other states (see map, above)
ES&S: Election Systems and Software, one of the biggest manufacturers of computerized voting systems; 56% of US votes in November 2, 2004's General Election were cast on ES&S machines; formerly named American Information Systems, Inc.
exit poll: a survey taken after voters have voted and exited the polling place, by asking voters who they voted for; this gives a very close approximation of how the real vote is going; historically, exit polls in the U.S. have been very accurate, differing from final tabulations, at the most, by 1/10th of 1 percent.
FEC: Federal Election Commission; in 1984 they produced Voting System Standards: A Report on the Feasibility of Developing Voluntary Standards for Voting Equipment
GEMS: Global Election Management System, the Windows-based software at the heart of the Diebold voting machines
IEEE: "The IEEE and its predecessors, the AIEE (American Institute of Electrical Engineers) and the IRE (Institute of Radio Engineers), date to 1884."
ITA: Independent Testing Authority, the categorical name for companies hired by NASED to test the computer-driven voting systems now in use in the U.S.
lever machines: Ballotless voting system operated by pulling a lever to add one's vote to a tally; a series of levers and resulting tallies operate like odometers, moving up 1/10th of a rotation with each vote; now used in New York, Virginia and Louisiana primarily; these machines are no longer made
Mark-sense or Marksense: Voting system where dark marks are made on a paper ballot, then scanned by various types of machinery; also known as "Optical Scan" or OS, as opposed to the earlier (pre-1960's) electronic sensing systems that read the conductivity of pencil marks; optical systems read the shade (lightness/darkness) of the mark, not its electrical properties
NASED: National Association of State Election Directors, with the Secretariat of this group being in Texas; they are supposed to certify that your election voting system is "safe" and free from tamperability (Note: their new website has only one contact person, whose city and state are not given; see Bev Harris's website , p. 5, for a list of NASED officials; the Secretariat is/was R. Doug Lewis in Houston, TX electioncent@pdq.net)
optical scan:, a voting system where ballots are marked by the voter, then put through a scanning machine that reads the marks; the most widely-used type of US voting system; also known as "Marksense" (see above)
OS: Optical Scan (see above)
paper ballots: forms printed on paper or cardstock listing candidates names, and election choices, and including places to mark one's choice; known as Australian ballots, because the system was perfected there first; are filled out in privacy and put into a sealed ballot box; counted by hand; undoubtedly the best, some say the only, system for insuring accurate counting of ballots
paper trail: = ballots! If voters cast paper ballots, these can always be recounted, thus keeping the election honest. When voters use computerized voting machines, there's no proof that what the voter chose is what got counted (even if the voter gets a paper record, that will not help, since it would be impossible to collect all these papers from voters and recount them)
PBHC: Paper Ballot Hand Counted, the voting system in the U.S. where voters mark ballots that have the information printed right on the ballot itself, and then these ballots are counted by hand, that it, people tally them personally --- also called the Australian Ballot system, as it was first perfected in that country (in 1856!).
polling place: or "polls," the place where people go to vote; the voting place; in the US, these are often in schools and other official, easily-accessible locations;not to be confused with the other meaning, i.e., surveys taken, asking a series of people the same questions
polls: (1) surveys taken by asking people certain choices, for the purpose of finding out the generally-held views of a group of people; (2) the place where people go to vote; the voting place; in the US, these are often in schools and other official, easily-accessible locations
precinct: the local voting region; there are several precincts in each county; people living in one precinct will all vote at that precinct's polling place; votes can be counted in the precincts, with those totals being given to the county office; or the voted ballots can be delivered to the central county location where all votes are counted together; the county election officials then report to the Secretary of State of their state
projected totals: the numbers of votes accumulated through exit polls, which figures are used to create media projections of how the final count will turn out (see Exit Polls)
public commons: the rightful gathering places of the public; the entire vote-counting process is supposed to take place here, in full view of members of the public, and never be hidden from public view, as it is today with computerized counting machines of all kinds, which system is causing increasing secrecy of the vote-counting process away from public accessibility
RAS: Remote Access Server, a type of phone-number-accessed server, run on Windows, which is very easy for computer folks to enter; the centralized vote counting programs used in the November 2 Presidential Election were linked through RAS systems, meaning that anyone, anywhere in the world, could get in, change vote counts, and leave without much of a trace, according to Bev Harris
Secretary of State: An office at both the Federal and State levels; at State level, this is an elected position, but quizzically, this official's responsibility is to oversee all major elections
server: a computer that "serves" to link many computers together, forming the "Internet"; a server is any normal small computer, like yours or mine, that has "server software" operating on it; the huge net of servers forms the Internet; you can "see" the Internet connecting you to a distant website --- go to Start, Run, type in cmd, hit OK, then in the black window, type tracert, then a space, then the domain name of the website you want to see the path to (e.g., www.craigslist.org); hit "Enter"
tabulation: the county-level activity of counting all the votes in the county; this counting is done, in most cases in the US, by a normal-looking computer that has special tabulation software installed; each county has one, or sometimes two, such computers functioning on Election Day and for some time thereafter; each computer can process up to 2,000,000 votes at a time; often, today's voting machines are connected via the Internet, directly to the tabulation computer
TS: Touch Screen, a ballotless voting system where the voter touches the computer screen to select his/her choice; a type of DRE system
Voting Systems Panel (VSP): group at State level (California, 2003) to inquire into the nature of current voting systems
Votomatic: punch card voting system that has nothing except numbers printed on the ballot cards; one punches the card at the numbers that correspond to the choices on a separate display
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