NYC BOE Still using Pencil and Paper to Count Votes

If they closed the monkey house at the Bronx Zoo. The keepers could serve the city by having the primates take up residence at the Board of Elections, thereby lifting the panel’s IQ.

The 10 members returned last week for the, oh, millionth time to the question of how the board might find a way to report Election Night results before, oh, the coming of the dawn. They talked themselves hilariously into oblivion.

Everyone expected that vote-scanning machines, introduced in 2010, would allow for fast electronic computations of who won and who lost. Instead, the board prints paper tapes out of thousands of machines and then has workers cut the tapes into scraps by election district, write numbers district by district on tally sheets, add up the numbers, write down the totals on tally sheets and give them to police for entry into station house computers for dissemination to The Associated Press.

The spectacle has made the board an object of ridicule as the members have gone around in circles, considering and dropping solutions as simple as uploading vote data electronically.

As a monitor of polling sites' optical scanners for the New York Independence Party, they also post a copy of the tapes near each machine so the party monitor can take their parties counts for verification under state laws. So any change will also have to accommodate the major and minor party poll watcher's job.

Use the above link to read the entire article in the New York Daily News.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Polls do not tell the whole story

Thanks to Ballot Access News for this post.

Recently, Hill Research Consultants released a poll of the Texas Gubernatorial race. Question 3 asked respondents who they favor in that race. The pollster is instructed to ask the respondent if he or she favors Rick Perry, Republican, or Bill White, Democrat. The instructions say “DO NOT READ” any other choices, but if the respondent nevertheless mentions the Libertarian Party nominee, or the Green Party nominee (both of whom are on the ballot), that unsolicited information is then recorded, but only into a single category.

Some way to run a poll!

NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Who's Undecided?

In this election year I always thought the pollsters were missing the third-party/independent vote. Last night a CNN pollster proved my point.

In FL the poll showed Obama & McCain at 46% and 8% Undecided. But when the voters were given a bigger choice the vote was:

Obama - 48%
McCain - 45%
Nader - 4%
Barr - 1%
McKinney - 1%
Undecided - 1%

First it seems McCain is the loser this year to the Third-Party/Independent Candidates in FL. Second the voters are not as Undecided as some think. But I still can not explain why Obama gained.

Some other states - Registered Voters:

COLORADO
Obama - 42%
McCain - 43%
Barr - 3%
McKinney - 2%
Nader - 7%
Undecided - 3%

NEVADA
Obama - 41%
McCain - 41%
Barr - 5%
McKinney - 3%
Nader - 6%
Undecided - 4%

NEW MEXICO
Obama - 50%
McCain - 36%
Nader - 8%
Undecided - 6%

PENNSYLVANIA
Obama - 47%
McCain - 38%
Barr - 1%
Nader - 7%
Undecided - 7%

Do you think I am on to something?

Michael H. Drucker
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OBAMA ROBBED IN NY

Barack Obama's primary-night results were strikingly under recorded in several congressional districts around the city - in some cases leaving him with zero votes when, in fact, he had pulled in hundreds, the Board of Elections said today

Use the above link to read the entire article.

Michael H. Drucker
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Voting Machine Risks in 2008

Six of the 15 states that hold presidential primaries on Super Tuesday are at “high” risk for having election results affected by electronic voting machine malfunction or tampering, according to a new report by Common Cause and the Verified Voting Foundation. Twenty-four states hold presidential primaries or caucuses on Feb. 5, but only 15 of them will use voting machines to select candidates.

In all, a troubling 17 states that will hold their presidential primaries over the next several months, including two that have already held them, are at high risk for voting machine mishaps that could change election results, the report shows. The states were given that ranking for using electronic voting machines that do not produce an independent, voter-verifiable paper record that could be used in the case of a recount or audit.

In addition, the report found 17 states to be at “medium” risk for having election results affected by voting machine failure. This classification was given to states that use voting systems that deploy paper ballots or produce a voter-verifiable paper record of each voter’s vote, but do not require audits.

The report found six states to be at “low” risk for a voting meltdown because those states use voting systems that deploy paper ballots or produce voter verifiable paper records, as well as require audits.

CLICK HERE for full report.

Michael H. Drucker
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Final IndependentPrimary.Com Voting Results

The results are in!

Over 110,000 people voted in IndependentPrimary.com.

Congressman Dennis Kucinich won the internet poll on the Democratic side. And Rep. Ron Paul won on the Republican side.

As long-time independents we decided to do this poll because we were very concerned that Kucinich, Paul and Gravel were excluded from some of the televised debates by the corporate media. We believe elections should be competitive and that the voters should decide at the polls! We want to give voters the authority to vote with their hearts.

Independents can swing the 2008 primary elections.

Use the above link to view the entire vote results.

Michael H. Drucker
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2008 First Debate Watch Results

I took part in the two Debate Watch parties. There was about 30 independents each night. After the debate we discussed each candidate and took the survey. Use the link to see the results from 800 independents in 28 states.

Michael H. Drucker
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