The genesis of America’s corrupted computerized election system.
By Jennifer Cohn @jennycohn1
Date: 2017
Note: This is a draft article I started writing in 2017 and never finished. But upon re-reading it, it’s quite informative “as is,” so I’m posting it. I hope people find it useful.
Background
- From 2002 until 2009, two voting machine vendors dominated United States elections: Diebold Election Systems (renamed “Premier in 2007) and Election Systems & Software (“ES&S”).
- By 2004, “Diebold control[led] about 50 percent of the electronic voting market…” http://money.cnn.com/2004/08/30/technology/election_diebold/
- In 2009, Wired reported that “ES&S systems were “present in 43 states and “‘utilized in counting approximately 50% of the votes in the last four major U.S. elections,’” according to the company’s website.” https://www.wired.com/2009/09/diebold-sells/
- In 2009, Diebold Inc. sold its elections division, Diebold Election Systems, to ES&S. http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2009/09/diebold_inc_sells_off_its _elec.html
- In 2010, the Department of Justice filed an anti-trust suit against ES&S & forced it to divest, stating that the combined company (ES&S + Diebold) provided more than 70 % of US voting equipment.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-requires-key-divestitureelection-systems-softwarepremier-election - Later that year, Diebold purportedly dissolved and its assets were split between ES&S and Dominion Voting, which was at that time a relatively unknown Canadian company. https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-voting-technology/
- The same year, Dominion bought Sequoia (20% of US voting equipment) as well. http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7906
- As of 2017, the rough breakdown of voting machine equipment in the U.S. was approximately:
- ES&S (including Diebold assets) 44%
- Dominion (including Diebold and Sequoia assets): 37%
- Hart: 11%
- Unisyn 2%
- Other 6%
https://trustthevote.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/2017-whartonoset_industryreport.pdf [Appendix A]
9. In this thread, I focus on ES&S & Diebold.
10. Election Systems & Software, LLC.
11. Two brothers from Nebraska, Bob and Todd Urosevich, founded ES&S in the late 1970’s under the name DataMark. http://www.omaha.com/columnists/kelly/kelly-this-omaha-company-shaped-howamerica-counts-its-election/article_459030e0-b522-5a7b-b953-1e6c958e5439.html
12. Per the Omaha Herald, the Urosevich Brothers received funding in 1979 from billionaire William Ahmanson and changed the company name from DataMark to American Information Systems (“AIS”), which was the precursor of ES&S. http://www.omaha.com/columnists/kelly/kelly-this-omaha-company-shapedhow-america-counts-its-election/article_459030e0-b522-5a7b-b9531e6c958e5439.html
13. Mother Jones says the funding and name change to AIS happened in 1984. http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2004/03/diebolds-political-machine/
14. Bob Urosevich was president of AIS (ES&S precursor), but left the company in 1995 to start another Omaha company called Imark (Global precursor). https://www.verifiedvoting.org/resources/voting-equipment/premierdiebold/accuvote-tsx/
15. Todd Urosevich remained at AIS (ES&S precursor) as vice president. http://www.omaha.com/columnists/kelly/kelly-this-omaha-company-shapedhow-america-counts-its-election/article_459030e0-b522-5a7b-b9531e6c958e5439.html
16. I-Mark was later acquired by Global where Bob Urosevich was made president. https://www.verifiedvoting.org/resources/voting-equipment/premierdiebold/accuvote-tsx/
17. In 2002, Global was acquired by Diebold, Inc. and renamed “Diebold Election Systems.” https://www.wired.com/2004/03/how-e-voting-threatens-democracy/
18. Bob Urosevich remained as president of Diebold Election Systems. https://www.wired.com/2004/04/diebold-may-face-criminal-charges/
19. Thus, the voting machine giants known as ES&S and Diebold (later renamed Premier) both have direct ties to the Urosevich brothers (though Bob has apparently retired). http://www.omaha.com/columnists/kelly/kelly-this-omaha-company-shapedhow-america-counts-its-election/article_459030e0-b522-5a7b-b9531e6c958e5439.html.
20. I will discuss Diebold later in this thread. For now, AIS (ES&S).
21. In 1992, Republican Chuck Hagel became chairman of AIS (ES&S) http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2004/03/diebolds-political-machine/
22. “[A]ccording to a letter provided by Hagel’s Senate staff, he resigned from the AIS Board” on March 15, 1996 and announced his candidacy for US Senate “[a] few days later.” http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2004/03/diebolds-politicalmachine/
23. Wired similarly reported that Hagel launched his Nebraska Senate bid “two weeks” after resigning from AIS. https://www.wired.com/2004/03/how-e-voting-threatensdemocracy/
24. During the 1996 campaign, Hagel said he opposed abortion even in the case of rape and incest. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2013/01/07/why-republicansdont-trust-chuck-hagel-in-5-easy-steps/?utm_term=.9dfecae05903
25. Hagel “surprised national pundits and defied early polls” by winning the Senate race “a little less than eight months after announcing his candidacy.” http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2004/03/diebolds-political-machine/
26. Business Week called Hagel’s victory a “landslide upset.” http://blackboxvoting.org/bbv_footnotes.pdf
27. Polls from three days before the Hagel election called the race a “dead heat,” but Hagel “trounced” his opponent by “fifteen points.” https://harpers.org/archive/2012/11/how-to-rig-an-election/3/
27. Polls from three days before the Hagel election called the race a “dead heat,” but Hagel “trounced” his opponent by “fifteen points.” https://harpers.org/archive/2012/11/how-to-rig-an-election/3/
28. Hagel was the first Republican to win a Nebraska senate race since 1972. https://www.wired.com/2004/03/how-e-voting-threatens-democracy/ [Nelson began the race with a 65 percent to 18 percent lead in the polls, but firsttime candidate Hagel won with 56 percent of the vote, becoming the state’s first Republican senator since 1972.]
29. Here’s reporting from the Columbus Free Press regarding Hagel’s (AIS/ES&S) surprise election win. http://columbusfreepress.com/article/it-doesnt-take-russian-hack-american-election
30. Unbeknownst to the public until years later, Hagel “retained millions of dollars in stock” in AIS’s parent company, whose founder “was Hagel’s campaign treasurer.” https://harpers.org/archive/2012/11/how-to-rig-an-election/3/
31. Hagel “miraculously won virtually every demographic group in the state, including large African American communities that had never previously voted Republican.” https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2008/10/29/645732/-
32. “Nebraska elections officials told The Hill that machines made by AIS [Hagel’s company] probably tallied 85 percent votes cast in the 1996 vote.” http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2004/03/diebolds-political-machine/
33. In 1997, AIS of Nebraska merged with Business Records Corporation (“BRC”) of Texas to form ES&S of Nebraska. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Election_Systems_%26_Software#Electronic_Pol l_Books_for_the_City_of_Chicago
34. According to “Yes Magazine,” BRC was funded by Texas billionaire Nelson Bunker Hunt, a heavy contributor to the Christian Reconstruction movement. http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/whose-water/whose-voting-machines
35. I hope to search corporate records at some point to confirm this.
36. Mother Jones reports that Hunt’s “family” played a “key role” in financing ES&S. http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2005/12/nation-under-god/
37. Nelson Bunker Hunt was a heavy contributor to “Christian Reconstructionism,” which aims to “‘reconstruct’ America as a Christian nation in order to set the stage for the Second Coming.”
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/06/18/bully-pulpit
38. DataMark (later renamed AIS and then ES&S) received its initial funding from the family of Howard Ahmanson, another heavy contributor to the Christian Reconstruction movement. http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2005/12/nation-under-god/ [“[T]wo heavy contributors to the Chalcedon Foundation-Reconstruction’s main think tank — are Howard Ahmanson and Nelson Bunker Hunt, both of whose families played key roles in financing [ES&S].”]
Howard Ahmanson has been described as the “avenging angel of the religious right.” https://www.salon.com/2004/01/06/ahmanson/
39. http://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/voting-technology-companies-in-the-us-their-histories-and-present-contributions-20170810-00789 [“In 1984, William & Robert Ahmanson funded Data Mark (soon to be AIS) and bought a 68% stake in the company. A few years later, an investment group, McCarthy & Co., also acquired a share.”]
40. Hunt and Ahmanson were also early members of the Council for National Policy (“CNP”) according to this listing. http://www.seekgod.ca/cnp.ho.htm
41. ABC news also reported that Hunt was one of the CNP’s founders. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=121170&page=1
42. The CNP is a secretive networking group for social conservatives and other Republican extremists and wealthy donors.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/topics/council-for-national-policy/ [The CNP “is an umbrella organization and networking group for social [antiabortion, anti-gay] conservative activists in the United States. … Nation magazine has called it a secretive organization that ‘networks wealthy rightwing donors together with top conservative operatives to plan long-term movement strategy.’”]
43. The New York Times has called the CNP “a little known club of a few hundred of the most powerful conservatives in the country…” http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/28/us/2004-campaign-conservatives-clubmost-powerful-gathers-strictest-privacy.html
44. Here is an excerpt about the CNP from the Southern Poverty Law Center https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2016/05/17/council-national-policy-behind-curtain
45. Here is the CNP’s mission stmt. https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2016/05/17/council-national-policybehind-curtain …
46. The CNP now keeps its member lists private, but the Southern Poverty Law Center got a copy in 2014. https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/cnp_redacted_final.pdf
47. The 2014 CNP directory shows that Betsey DeVos’s husband has twice served as president
https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/cnp_redacted_final.pdf
48. The 2014 CNP directory shows that Kellyanne Conway (Trump administration, Cambridge Analytica), Steve Bannon (Trump administration, Cambridge Analytica), Richard DeVos, Wayne LaLierre (NRA), and Oliver North (NRA) are also members.
https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/cnp_redacted_final.pdf
49. The New Yorker confirms the Mercers (who funded Cambridge Analytica) are also in the CNP. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/03/27/the-reclusive-hedge-fundtycoon-behind-the-trump-presidency
50. Pence recently confirmed that he too is in the CNP.
50a. So is Bill Dallas, a convicted embezzler-turned-Christian whose nonprofits appear to have caused massive voter data leaks in the past several years. https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2016/01/04/191-million-leak-bill-dallas-christian-anti-abortion/
51. “The CNP was conceived in 1981 by at least five fathers…”. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=121170&page=1
52. The CNP’s founders included Nelson Bunker Hunt and Paul Weyrich (who also co-founded the Heritage Foundation and ALEC) https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2016/05/17/council-national-policybehind-curtain
53. Weyrich, freely acknowledged that he didn’t want everyone to vote. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GBAsFwPglw
54. Weyrich’s ALEC organization-funded by the Koch Bros. — is also central to current push for a Constitutional Convention. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/23/us/inside-the-conservative-push-forstates-to-amend-the-constitution.html
55. Weyrich also actively promoted ties between the GOP and Russia.
56. Weyrich helped w/ Russia House, “the go between for Russian & US businesses … said to the first of its kind.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1991/10/27/russia-housetrading-in-its-name/6acbb242-0df5-43b6-86499032a735851b/?utm_term=.c4cf206d8cd1 …
57. Weyrich also “bemoaned the Bush administration’s failure to draw closer to Russia…” http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/weyrich_paul/
58. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, one of Russia’s close political allies has been Belarus, also known as “White Russia.” The two countries even formed their own political combination called the “Union State.”
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/feb/16/russia-belarus-meantrouble-in-the-union-state/
59. https://sputniknews.com/politics/201706261054970513-belarus-russia-union/
60. Before the 2000 election, per investigative reporter Christopher Bollyn, ES&S bought voting machine control cards from Vikant, an Illinois company owned by Alex Kantorovich of Belarus who said he “had obtained his degree in the Soviet Union.” http://bollyn.com/death-of-democracy-or-may-the-best-hacker-win/ …
61. Kantarovich told Bollyn that he had moved to the U.S. 11 years ago (which would be 1989). http://bollyn.com/death-of-democracy-or-may-the-best-hackerwin/ …
62. Kantarovich “declined to discuss his employment prior to running Vikant Corp., saying ‘I don’t want to disclose that information.’” http://bollyn.com/death-of-democracy-or-may-the-best-hacker-win/ …
63. “When asked where Vikant cards are produced, Kantarovich said, ‘I cannot disclose where the cards are made,’ but admitted that they are not made in America.”
64. Kantarovich “initially refused to answer questions about how his product was chosen for the ES&S voting equipment saying that it was ‘inside information that I cannot disclose.’” http://bollyn.com/death-of-democracy-or-may-thebest-hacker-win/ …
65. Kantarovich later told Bollyn that “his firm was chosen over larger firms like IBM and Panasonic “because Vikant was uniquely able to meet the specific requirements of ES&S and provide the cards on short notice.” http://bollyn.com/death-of-democracy-or-may-the-best-hacker-win/ …
66. Here is the original Christopher Bollyn article from @SwissTriple_M.
67. The DailyKos also picked up on the Bollyn story. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2004/12/17/80638/-
68. Bollyn also claims that Israel was behind the 911 attacks, a claim that I consider not credible.
69. But as to the control cards, ES&S’s current website confirms that ES&S still gets them from Vikant, the company reportedly owned by the man from Belarus. Photo is courtesy of @SwissTriple_M
70. Update re: preceding post. I am told that ES&S has now removed the reference to Vikant from its website, which suggests that ES&S may be monitoring Twitter.
71. As far as I can tell, the mainstream media has never investigated the connection between Kantorovich and ES&S.
72. ES&S manufactures & sells both optical scanners (“opscans”) and touchscreens (Direct Record Electronic aka “DREs”), https://www.verifiedvoting.org/resources/voting-equipment/ess
73. The University of Pennsylvania Department of Computer Science has found “numerous exploitable vulnerabilities in nearly every component of the ES&S voting system,” both optical scan and DRE (touchscreen). https://www.usenix.org/legacy/event/evt08/tech/full_papers/aviv/aviv.pdf
74. The U.S. Election Assistance Commission also found flaws with ES&S optical scanners. https://www.computerworld.com/article/2500224/vertical-it/u-s--finds-flaws-in-es-sds200-voting-machine.html
75. Short of a forensic audit of the machine, the only way to know if a voting machine has been hacked is to hand count the paper ballots and compare the hand count against the voting machine tally. https://medium.com/@jhalderm/want-to-know-if-the-election-was-hackedlook-at-the-ballots-c61a6113b0ba [“Want to know if an election was hacked? Look at the paper ballots”]
76. Such hand audits should be bipartisan and public/livestreamed to prevent cheating
77. The need for hand counting makes sense. If a machine has been “hacked,” simply re-running the same machine will yield the same hacked result (although there may be some fluctuation due to unintentional computer “glitches”) https://www.thenation.com/article/touch-and-go-elections-perils-electronicvoting/
78. “Most states prohibit election officials from checking on optical scan tallies by examining the paper ballots.” http://electiondefensealliance.org/florida_op_scan_systems_hacked_three_ways#ix zz4rVCNfYaJ
79. Only 26 states require any sort of regular post-election audit at all. http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2017/07/the_real_way_t o_fix_the_actual_election_tampering_crisis_in_the_u_s.html
80. Per information technology expert Alex Halderman (who recently testified during the Senate Intel Committee hearing on election security), just two states employ audits robust enough to detect hacking. Those two states are Colorado and New Mexico, which recently adopted a type of hand audit called a risk limiting audit. http://editions.lib.umn.edu/electionacademy/2017/07/18/colorado-to-becomefirst-state-to-require-regular-risk-limiting-audits/ …
81. Although some states require hand recounts when the margin of victory is very small, hackers can avoid the hand recount by flipping more votes to exceed the specified margin. http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/recountrules-battleground-states-2016-presidential-election-231013
82. In these situations, courts seem to be of little use when it comes to ordering hand recounts of ballots counted on optical scanners (like those from ES&S).
83. In 2016, for example, the Wisconsin court refused to order that the recount proceed by hand. http://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/11/29/steinsrecount-headed-court-tuesday/94598740/
84. Although some Wisconsin counties voluntarily agreed to conduct the recount by hand, most large Wisconsin counties refused. https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/jillstein/pages/28865/attachments/original/ 1489759688/FinalRecountReport-WI.pdf?1489759688
85. In Florida 2000, Republicans protested the hand recount during a violent demonstration, which succeeded in limiting the recount to just 10,750 ballots rejected by computer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooks_Brothers_riot …
86. Recall that the 2000 election occurred soon after ES&S decided to get its control cards from the company owned by Kantorovich of Belarus. http://bollyn.com/death-of-democracy-or-may-the-best-hacker-win/
87. As you know, Bush was declared the winner of the 2000 election.
89. Global Election Systems, the precursor of voting machine titan Diebold Election Systems (later renamed Premier), was founded by felons in 1991. http://wheresthepaper.org/NCconservative060102VotingMachineDirtAndThenSo me.htm
90. Global was technically Canadian but had its executive offices in McKinney Texas. https://www.verifiedvoting.org/resources/voting-equipment/premier-diebold/accuvote-os/
91. In 1997, Global bought an Omaha Nebraska company called IMark that had developed a touchscreen voting system. https://www.wired.com/2004/11/e-votingtests-get-failing-grade/
92. Imark’s founder was none other than Bob Urosevich from AIS (ES&S precursor), the company involved in the sketchy Hagel election. https://www.verifiedvoting.org/resources/voting-equipment/premierdiebold/accuvote-tsx/
93. In 1997, Bob Urosevich became vice president of Global in Texas, while Todd Urosevich remained as vice president of ES&S in Nebraska. http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=768421& privcapId=768412&previousCapId=768412&previousTitle=Premier%20Election %20Solutions,%20Inc.
94. In July 2000, Global promoted Bob Urosevich to president and chief operating officer http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=768421& privcapId=768412&previousCapId=768412&previousTitle=Premier%20Election %20Solutions,%20Inc.
95. In September 2000, Global bought a company owned by convicted felon Jeffrey Dean and made him senior vice president. https://people.csail.mit.edu/rivest/voting/press/2004-04%20Vanity%20Fair%20%20Hack%20The%20Vote.pdf …
96. Global bought convicted felon Dean’s company for $4 million. http://freepress.org/article/programmer-jeff-dean-worked-chief-white-house-plumbersunit
97. A few months later, Global hired a convicted cocaine trafficker, John Elder (who met Dean in prison), to oversee punch card printing in several states. https://people.csail.mit.edu/rivest/voting/press/2004-04%20Vanity%20Fair%20%20Hack%20The%20Vote.pdf …
98. Punch cards can be “rigged” by cutting them so that the “chads” are more or less difficult to dislodge. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0312/S00191.htm …
99. Harpers reports that, while in prison, Dean & Elder developed vote by mail software that came to dominate the US absentee market https://harpers.org/archive/2012/11/how-to-rig-an-election/5/
100. This SEC filing (obtained by @BevHarrisWrites) shows that, after his release from prison, Dean became the largest shareholder of Global (Diebold precursor)
101. Paul Krugman (NYT) was one of the only people in the mainstream media to notice (albeit not until 04) that Global’s “senior vice president” was a “programmer” who “served time for stealing money & tampering with computer files.” http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/23/opinion/democracy-at-risk.html …
102. Wired also reported that Dean did time for stealing money & tampering with computer files in a scheme involving “high degree of sophistication.” https://www.wired.com/2003/12/con-job-at-diebold-subsidiary/
103. To the extent the MSM reported about Dean and Elder at all, it was thanks to the investigative efforts of election integrity activist Beverly Harris @BevHarrisWrites.
104. Here is an excerpt from Dean’s sentencing document (courtesy of Bev Harris). I have the whole thing.
105. Dean “wrote & maintained proprietary code used to count hundreds of thousands of votes.” https://www.wired.com/2003/12/con-job-at-diebold-subsidiary/
106. Dean was also the “senior programmer” of the Diebold GEMS central tabulator system used to count 1/3 of the votes in 2004. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/feb/02/houseofcommons.society
107. Here’s an article from a Seattle paper regarding ex-con/programmer Dean & excon/ballot printer Elder hired by Global before the 2000 election http://archive.seattleweekly.com/2004-02-11/news/election-pros-are-cons/
108. Recall that Global was the precursor of Diebold.
109. “Diebold memos” show that “Dean apparently had access… to the entire suite of optical scan software used in 37 states & the security-sensitive Windows CE program for the touchscreens.” http://blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-14.pdf
110. In 04, Wired wrote about a Diebold security flaw that allowed the GEMS server to create two sets of votes: one real (consisting of the raw data) and one fake (consisting of the summary that goes to state officials). https://www.wired.com/2004/09/activists-find-more-e-vote-flaws/
111. The Diebold “double data” feature was discovered by @BevHarrisWrites and tech expert Herbert Thompson in 2004. https://www.wired.com/2004/09/activists-find-more-e-vote-flaws/
112. @BevHarrisWrites & technology expert Herbert Thompson demonstrated the alarming Diebold GEMS “double data” feature to California election officials in 2004. https://www.wired.com/2004/09/activists-find-more-e-vote-flaws/
113. @BevHarrisWrites showed the alarming Diebold GEMS “double data” feature on live television with Howard Dean (DNC chair at the time), who did not take it seriously enough. http://www.bradblog.com/?p=2724
114. Harris’s demonstration to Howard Dean regarding the Diebold GEMS double data feature occurred on live television on 8/8/04. http://www.crocuta.net/Dean/Dean_Host_TopicA_Aug8_2004.htm#blackbox
115. On 8/18/04, Harris & others demonstrated the double data feature to the California Voting Systems Panel and the California Secretary of State. http://www.peacehost.net/PacifistNation//BlackBox.htm
116. On August 23, 2004, CBC TV filmed the demonstration of the Diebold GEMS double set of books in California. http://www.peacehost.net/PacifistNation//BlackBox.htm
117. In late August 2004, the Department of Homeland Security quietly released this Cyber Alert regarding: the Diebold GEMS system, but the mainstream media ignored it. http://www.bradblog.com/?p=2724
118. Based on Diebold memos, @BevHarrisWrites traced the alarming Diebold GEMS feature to Diebold’s hiring of convicted felon Dean in October 2000. http://www.ejfi.org/Voting/Voting-37.htm
119. Diebold machines have been shown to have other problems as well.
120. Diebold’s opscans use memory cards that can be programmed without detection to +1k votes for one candidate and -1k for the other candidate (or whatever +/- number a hacker might choose). https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2005/6/1/118600/-
121. The ability to alter Diebold opscan memory cards without detection was discovered by computer programmer Harri Hursti. http://freepress.org/article/harrihursti-hack-and-its-importance-our-nation …
122. As far as I can tell, there was almost no mainstream coverage of the Hursti hack at the time.
123. This year, however, USA Today mentioned Hursti & the ability to alter Diebold opscan memory cards. https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2017/07/26/votingmachines-hackers-election-hack/507071001/
124. In 2006, Hursti discovered even more security flaws re: Diebold touchscreens. http://www.pcworld.com/article/125700/article.html
125. Problems with Diebold’s touchscreens had been noted as far back as 1997, when they were still called “IMark” & sold by Global (Diebold Election System’s precursor). https://www.wired.com/2004/03/how-e-voting-threatens-democracy/
126. Here’s another article re: the problems with the touchscreen voting machine sold by Global/Diebold. https://www.wired.com/2004/11/e-voting-tests-get-failinggrade/
127. Meanwhile, during election 2000, a machine from Global substracted 16,000 Gore votes in Volusia County, Florida. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2004/03/diebolds-political-machine/
128. The Volusia error was caught only “because an alert poll monitor noticed Gore’s vote count going down through the evening, which of course is impossible.” http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2004/03/diebolds-political-machine/
129. The Volusia error “led several networks to incorrectly call the race for Bush.” http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2004/03/diebolds-political-machine/
130. Bev Harris obtained & published several internal Global/Diebold memos concerning the Volusia error. http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2004/03/diebolds-political-machine/ …
131. Here is the first Global/Diebold email concerning the Volusia error in election 2000. https://books.google.com/books?id=pY1DCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA180&lpg=PA180& dq=%22The+problem+precinct+had+two+memory+cards%22&source=bl&ots=x3 n5aWPQkI&sig=m9sIUawEy77ukZmgLNXxfx_lokQ&hl=en&sa=X#v=onepage& q=%22The%20problem%20precinct%20had%20two%20memory%20cards%22&f =false
132. Here is the second Diebold email concerning the Volusia error in election 2000.
133. Here is the third Diebold memo concerning the Volusia error, which acknowledges that the error might have resulted from an “unauthorized” memory card. https://books.google.com/books?id=pY1DCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA180&lpg=PA180& dq=%22The+problem+precinct+had+two+memory+cards%22&source=bl&ots=x3 n5aWPQkI&sig=m9sIUawEy77ukZmgLNXxfx_lokQ&hl=en&sa=X#v=onepage& q=%22The%20problem%20precinct%20had%20two%20memory%20cards%22&f =false
134. Bev Harris raised the obvious question of whether there might be a connection between felon Jeffrey Dean and the Volusia error.
http://blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-14.pdf
135. The mainstream media did not.
136. Here is all the NYT had to say about the Volusia error. http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/10/us/2000-campaign-florida-vote-democratstell-problems-polls-across-florida.html
137. Several years later, a man named Clint Curtis swore under oath that Rep. Feeney of Florida had asked him to design a vote flipping program for the 2000 election. http://www.bradblog.com/Docs/CC_Affidavit_120604.pdf [Feeney affidavit]
138. According to Curtis, Feeney made this request in late September of October of 2000 when Curtis, then a registered Republican, was the lead programmer at Yang Enterprises in Florida (“YEI”). http://www.bradblog.com/Docs/CC_Affidavit_120604.pdf [affidavit]
139. Note that this would have been around the time that Bob Urosevich made Jeffrey Dean, a programmer who had been convicted of embezzlement and computer tampering, a senior vice president of Global.
140. Feeney’s office was in same building as YEI where Curtis worked. https://www.orlandoweekly.com/orlando/is-this-man-crazy/Content?oid=2274003
141. Curtis said that Feeney asked in a meeting attended by Curtis and Yang (and several others) “if YEI could develop a prototype of a program that could alter the vote tabulation in an election and be undetectable.” (Affidavit, Para. 6.)
142. According to Curtis, “Mrs. Yang told Mr. Feeney that we would attempt to build a prototype….” (Affidavit, Para. 6.)
143. Curtis said it was his “initial belief” that Feeney wanted such a program to be able to detect and prevent any attempt by the Democrats to flip votes. (Affidavit, Para. 6.)
144. Curtis said he created the “vote fraud software prototype” soon thereafter. (Affidavit, Para. 7.)
145. Curtis said he gave the prototype to Mr. Hai Lin Nee, the Quality Control person for YEI, who “discussed” it with Curtis and “approved its distribution.” (Affidavit, Para. 8.)
146. Curtis said he also gave a copy of the prototype, along with a written report, to Mrs. Yang (Affidavit, Para. 9.)
147. Curtis said that Mrs. Yang later told him that they needed to “hide the manipulation in the source code” and that the program was “needed to control the vote in South Florida.” (Affidavit, Para. 9.)
148. Curtis said he was “shocked” to learn they were planning to steal the election and told her that he couldn’t produce such a program. Mrs. Yang told Curtis she would give Feeney what he had already produced. (Affidavit, Para. 9.)
149. Curtis said he resigned soon thereafter and took a job at the Florida Department of Transportation. (Affidavit, Para. 10.)
150. Curtis also said that he believed Yang had engaged in illegal activity with respect to various government contracts, including NASA. (Affidavit, Paras. 12–14.)
151. Curtis said the Inspector General at the Florida Dept. of Transportation, Raymond Lemme, decided to investigate his claims about Yang and Feeney. (Affidavit, Para. 12.)
152. Feeney said that Lemme told him he had tracked the corruption “all the way to the top,” that Feeney would be pleased with the result, and that the story would break in a few weeks. (Affidavit, Para. 12.)
153. But a few weeks later, Lemme was found dead with his arm slashed in a hotel room. (Affidavit, Para. 12.)
154. Lemme’s death was ruled a “suicide,” but the circumstances were “mysterious” as described in this article and others online. http://www.bradblog.com/?p=1244
155. Feeney’s old campaign site confirms he represented Southwest Volusia Counties in 2000 http://www.ourcampaigns.com/CandidateDetail.html?CandidateID=3416 …
156. Recall that Volusia was the county in which Gore mysteriously lost 16,000 votes from a machine made by Global/Diebold.
157. Wikipedia says Clint Curtis passed a polygraph given by retired chief polygraph operator & 20-year veteran of FLA Dept. of Law Enforcement.
158. Before the polygraph, an article in Wired noted possible issues with Clint Curtis’s story but reached no conclusions. https://www.wired.com/2004/12/more-questions-for-florida/
159. Here’s a video of Clint Curtis’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsLPBeEOS4M
160. YEI, which Curtis said had also committed illegal acts involving NASA, was later sued by the DOJ for defrauding NASA. https://www.justice.gov/usaomdfl/pr/united-states-files-lawsuit-against-urs-federal-services-and-yangenterprises-alleging …
161. No one came after Feeney.
162. Feeney was also tainted by the scandal that sent disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff (a member of the CNP) to prison, but Feeney himself was never charged. http://content.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1850617,00.html …
163. The CNP (founded by Weyrich, who didn’t want everyone to vote) later gave Feeney the “Winston Churchill Award.” https://www.cfnp.org/page.aspx?pid=344
164. Here’s a New York Times article calling Feeney a “favorite of Christian conservatives.” http://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/24/us/legislator-s-departure-insex-case-unsettles-christian-faction.html …
165. Feeney was even named the “Christian Coalition legislator of the year.” https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tallahassees-gop-kingmakers/
166. Feeney gave “outspoken support for [a] school district’s movement to teach the superiority of American culture.” http://www.cbsnews.com/news/tallahasseesgop-kingmakers/ …
167. The watchdogs at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) named Feeney one of Congress’s “Most Corrupt Members” at least three years in a row. http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5084
168. As you know, Bush was declared the winner of the 2000 election.
169. Ohio and The Help America Vote Act of 2002
170. Bush’s campaign manager during the 2000 election was Karl Rove, who wanted to create a “permanent Republican majority.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2007/08/17/AR200708170 1713.html
171. Soon after the 2000 election was over, Rove (now Bush’s Senior Advisor) was actively courting Paul Weyrich and the CNP. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/19/us/conservatives-savor-their-role-as-insidersat-the-white-house.html?mcubz=1
172. Weyrich attributed Bush/Rove’s attentiveness to the closeness of the 2000 election, “‘that they’re there by the grace of God, and if they don’t pay attention to their coalition they won’t be there.’” http://savannahnow.com/stories/081201/LOCroveap.shtml
173. Rove also began strategizing for the 2004 election with the mindset that Bush had to win Ohio. (The Architect by Moore & Slater, p. 81)
174. In December 2000, for example, Rove invited Bob Bennett, the longtime chairman of the Ohio R party, to the White House to discuss his plans to leave his position for a large law firm. (The Architect, p. 81.)
“The deal was, they wanted me to stay as a full-time state chair,” said Bennett. “Karl said the race was going to come down to Ohio, and we don’t want a change in leadership,” so Bennett agreed to stay.
175. Conveniently, an Ohio based ATM manufacturer called Diebold acquired Global in 2002 & renamed it Diebold Election Systems. https://www.wired.com/2009/09/diebold-sells/
176. Global (now Diebold) was the company founded and run by convicted felons, whose president (Bob Urosevich) had come from ES&S, the voting machine vendor involved in the sketchy Hagel election.
177. Global was also the company whose machines had lost 16,000 Gore votes in Volusia County.
178. Diebold made Global a subsidiary and renamed it “Diebold Election Systems.” http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/24/us/computer-voting-is-open-to-easy-fraudexperts-say.html
179. Diebold’s CEO at the time was Wally O’Dell, a member of Bush’s Rangers & Pioneers, an “elite group of loyalists who have raised at least $100k each for the 2004 race.” http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/09/business/machine-politics-in-thedigital-age.html?mcubz=1
180. When Diebold took over, it retained convicted felon Dean (Global’s Sr. VP) as a consultant. http://trustvote.org/media-resources/practical-activism/
181. Diebold was renamed “Premier” in 2007. According to Bloomberg, ex-con Jeffrey Dean was still there as a senior vice president. https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=7684 12
182. Diebold’s purchase of Global happened to coincide with the passage of the Help America Vote Act (“HAVA”) of 2002, which gave states billions of dollars to buy voting machines.
https://www.wired.com/2009/09/diebold-sells/
183. Coincidentally (or not), HAVA’s chief sponsor was Republican Rep. Ney of Ohio, the must win state of the upcoming 2004 election https://www.congress.gov/bill/107th-congress/house-bill/3295 [HAVAs chief sponsor was Ney of Ohio]
184. Ney and a Diebold lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, would later go to prison for bribery-related charges involving non-election related amendments to HAVA.
https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2006/September/06_crm_622.html
185. Here’s a Rolling Stone article regarding the Ney/Abramoff scandal. http://jpfitness.com/archive/index.php/t-66137.html
186. Here’s what @greg_palast has said the Ney/Abramoff scandal.
https://books.google.com/books?id=2rL4DAAAQBAJ&pg=PT30&lpg=PT30&dq =%22mass+purge%22+of+innocent+voters%22&source=bl&ots=0QUBtGkB8h& sig=qtvNeyY50l_DtDG498ZUcxCaok&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjwwbPf9KTVAhX nlFQKHUmLAuYQ6AEIJDAA#v=onepage&q=%22mass%20purge%22%20of% 20innocent%20voters%22&f=false
187. Recall that Abramoff was also close with Tom Feeney, the Florida congressman and “Weyrich Award” recipient who allegedly asked Clint Curtis to design a vote flipping program for Florida in 2000.
188. Abramoff (who went to prison with Ney) was also in the CNP with Ahmanson & Hunt whose families funded ES&S, Diebold’s “brother” company. http://www.seekgod.ca/print/cnppr/printcnp.a.htm
189. Source for above post. http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2005/12/nation-under-god/ …
190. Additional source for above postfee http://www.omaha.com/columnists/kelly/kelly-this-omaha-company-shaped-howamerica-counts-its-election/article_459030e0-b522-5a7b-b953-1e6c958e5439.html
191. Like Diebold’s CEO (Wally O’Dell), Abramoff was also a member of Bush’s Rangers & Pioneers. https://books.google.com/books?id=VtmokgSikn4C&pg=PA68&lpg=PA68&dq=A bramoff+rangers+%26+pioneers&source=bl&ots=1xrMN9qvsa&sig=nlORHNWp RaFbfKRoB8A2lDeCYE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj8jZH035HWAhVBlVQKHYP iCh04ChDoAQgqMAE#v=onepage&q=Abramoff%20rangers%20%26%20pionee rs&f=false
192. Abramoff also had ties to Rove. “Rove tried to avoid any record of meetings … and [thus]…used Abramoff to deliver messages to the House leadership…” (The Architect, p. 8.)
193. To avoid detection, Abramoff would meet Rove on street corners. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/15/books/chapters/1015-1st-moor.html
194. Before going to prison, Abramoff’s pal, Ohio Rep. Ney defeated a bipartisan bill that would have mandated a paper trail for all voting machines https://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&addr ess=364x3154915 [Rolling Stone article]
http://www.larouchepub.com/other/2004/3111hava_debate.html
195. Without a paper audit trail or actual paper ballots, there is nothing to compare against an electric voting machine tally to verify whether it is legitimate or instead the result of hacking.
https://medium.com/@jhalderm/want-to-know-if-the-election-was-hacked-look-atthe-ballots-c61a6113b0ba [“Want to know if an election was hacked? Look at the paper ballots”]
See also http://www.npr.org/2017/06/14/532824432/if-voting-machines-werehacked-would-anyone-know [“Halderman notes that some, or all, electronic voting machines in 14 states have no paper ballot backups that can be checked to make sure the electronic results are correct.”]
196. Democrats saw no cause for concern, and HAVA passed with large bipartisan support. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/17/us/2002-campaign-ballot-overhaulcongress-passes-bill-clean-up-election-system.html
197. The Election Assistance Commission (EAC) was established by HAVA. https://www.eac.gov/about-the-useac/
198. The EAC operates a voting system & testing certification program. https://www.eac.gov/voting-equipment/system-certification-process/
199. The EAC did not establish the voting system testing & certification program until after Bush was re-elected in 2005.
https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/2016-09-28-NordenNYU-Testimony.pdf
200. The EAC’s delay is unfortunate, given the Department of Homeland Security cyber alert in August 2004 regarding the “undocumented back door” to Diebold’s GEMS Central Tabulators
201. Moreover, the EAC’s national guidelines & certification testing for voting machines are voluntary and apply only to machines bought after December 2007. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/2016-09-28-NordenNYU-Testimony.pdf
202. Most voting machines in use today were bought in 2006 or before (so national guidelines & certification testing never applied to them) https://www.brennancenter.org/publication/americas-voting-machines-risk
203. Republicans in Congress have now voted to defund (eliminate) the EAC altogether. https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/07/18/seriously-new-gop-budgetwould-defund-election-security-agency
