Black Box Voting 2008 Election Protection Toolkit

Gottesser writes "Bev Harris over at Black Box Voting has done everyone a favor and released her 2008 Election Protection toolkit as an ebook. It's like Cliff notes of Bev's 8+ years of experience on the front lines of the modern voting rights movement. The ebook presents succinct information to get individuals actively involved in the full-contact sport that is democracy. The target audience is those who believe that the political process requires more than just showing up to vote once every four years those who know that something's up with those voting machines. You may remember Bev Harris from her Emmy-nominated HBO documentary 'Hacking Democracy.' I've been working on election integrity issues in Ohio for some time now and have met Bev several times. Her work is nothing less than groundbreaking. Please check it out."

Comments

Theft is not concern #1

[Rob Kaper]

Who cares about election theft when the average voter isn't capable of making an informed choice in the first place? And no, I don't mean the 50% picking the other party, I do mean that 90% of the people voting hardly have a clue about the issues at stake.

I hate to sound like an elitist but when most other people so clearly demonstrate they are not, it leaves one little choice but to think that way..

Re:Theft is not concern #1

[oodaloop]

I know I'll get labelled Troll or something, but screw it, I've got karma to burn.

It absolutely horrifies me to think that a good chunk of the people who'll be casting a ballot this fall still believe that Iraq had something to do with the 9/11 attacks.

Iraq may have been involved with 9/11, though maybe not. There is some evidence Saddam had foreknowledge of the attack, but regardless Iraq was still a threat. Iraq was at the top of the State Sponsored Terrorism list for 20+ years. They were tied to the '93 WTC attack, the '95 OKC attack, and the '98 Embassy bombing. Independent organizations like the Carnegie Foundation put Iraq at the top of the list for NBC threats. The Clinton administration tied them to Al Qaeda hundreds of times, and pretty much bombed them for 8 straight years, on at least one occassion with no UN sanction at all. But somehow, Clinton looks like a saint and Bush made it all up. OK, rant over.

Seriously, Iraq was a real threat and needed to be dealt with. We could have done a better job with yet, and I think it's time we pull our people out. But saying Iraq had no ties to 9/11, while possibly technically true, does not mean there was no threat or possible justification.

Re:Theft is not concern #1

[morcego]

Seriously, Iraq was a real threat and needed to be dealt with.

I can imagine Saddam talking to one of his generals and saying: Seriously, USA is a real threat and needs to be dealth with.

Re:Theft is not concern #1

[DerekSTheRed]

It horrifies me to think so many people voting think Obama's trillions of dollars of new spending, vast government expansion, 20+ years of attending an anti white/anti US church, clueless foreign policy and zero experience are something to vote for.

Have you heard of a guy named John Maynard Keynes? Government investment in public works and infrastructure, even if it incurs a deficit, can stimulate demand in times of unemployment. You know like now. Government spending led to some of the best economic times after WW2. Eisenhower's investment in the highway system and JFK's investment in the space program are two prominent examples. We need to increase government investments into infrastructure like bridges. Remember the bridge in Minneapolis collapsing? That is the direct result of too small a government. The idea of lower taxes and smaller government was a great idea in 1982, but it won't necessarily fix today's economic problems.

Re:Diebold's confession

[Ephemeriis]

We already know in advance that the election is going to be as rigged as the GOP believes they can get away with. Diebold was forced to admit it. Fortunately, Obama's success this November will be too sweeping for even the usual election-stealing shenanigans to saddle us with four more years of war, corruption, lies, and deepening economy woes.

Honestly, folks like you worry me.

I'm sick of W's policies and can't wait to get him out of office... McCain looks like more of the same... I'd love to see Obama in office... And so far it really doesn't look like McCain is going to provide much of a challenge...

But I keep seeing people completely dismiss the Republican ticket. I keep seeing people talk like it's a done-deal, like the Democrats are already in office.

I really don't want to get stuck with McCain just because we all sat on our asses and congratulated ourselves on a job well-done, when it hadn't even been done yet.

Re:Theft is concern #1

[Lyrael]

The fact that you are on Slashdot says that you are NOT 'the average voter' that the OP was talking about. Hate to break it to you, but the vast majority of people really don't have a clue, or indeed care that they don't.

Re:Diebold's confession

[Ephemeriis]

"Look at those Republican assholes, our superhero is guaranteed to win, no matter what!"

Polls suggest a close race. Past decade voting trends suggest a close race. Your optimism just isn't aligned with reality.

Exactly.

I think Bush is an idiot and McCain is more of the same... I can't understand why anyone would vote for him... But that doesn't somehow make me right. There are plenty of people out there who disagree with me. And judging from the polls this is going to be a very close race.

Unless, of course, the Democrats sit back all smug-like and assume their victory is assured...

Re:Diebold's confession

[Windows_NT]

Out of all the Glam, And the BS, What makes me like Obama more and more, Is me seeing people say (yes seeing them say, facial expressions), that Obama is a good guy, And sincere words like that make me trust him more. Im excited to get a new President in, and govt officials, maybe we can turn some stuff around, and in the words of George Carlin, "Balance the stupid, Fuckin budget!" OBAMA FTW!, Stewie for Governor!

Be an election judge

[ColonelPanic]

The single most important thing you can do to protect our democracy is to volunteer as an election judge -- or poll worker, or election inspector, or whatever you call us in your state.

It's easy, it's fun, and we desperately need more people under 80 to do it.

I started right after the election debacle in 2000. Call your city elections department NOW while you can still get into training sessions. Make sure that your local voting is clean, fair, legal, and trustworthy. It all depends on volunteers!

Re:Diebold's confession

[jimbolauski]

They got away with it in 2000 and 2004. Surely they believe themselves unstoppable now.

Then why wasn't the 2006 senate election rigged, oh because your side won.

Re:Diebold's confession

[T.E.D.]

Yes, this talk is particularly silly considering that the latest polls have McCain ahead.

He's not ahead if you look at delagate count, but he's in easy striking distance there too.

Note that after the democratic convention bounce in '88, Dukakis (the democrat) was up by 19 points. That's far more than Obama has ever been up. After the Rep dirty trick machine had 3 months to work him over, he ended up taking only 10 states. If you think they won't spend the next 3 months doing the exact same thing this time, you are living in la-la land.

At the moment, it looks to me like Obama is going to lose. The only chance I see is if people who care get involved in unprecedented numbers. "Involved" does not mean just showing up to vote. "Involved" means going to your local Democratic Party HQ and asking what you can do to help.

Obama's blowing the election.

[tjstork]

I'm sick of W's policies and can't wait to get him out of office... McCain looks like more of the same.

Au contraire. McCain has always been representative of those of us Republicans that cheered when he condemned the extreme right for intolerance. There's plenty of people who have noticed that McCain voted against the Bush tax cuts and argued to pay off the federal debt instead, argued against expanding medicare when we can't pay for what we already had, argued against NCLB (well intended but ultimately a disaster)... and, of course, McCain made himself even more famous by arguing that the USA needed more troops in Iraq. Most damning of all, Woodward, hardly a fan of Republican politics, has McCain quoted storming out of the white house, saying, "All I get about the war is f--- spin."

So, I would look for McCain to be someone in the mold of a Teddy Roosevelt, whom he has publicly said that he idolizes. As a president, I would probably look to see McCain do some of the progressive things that T.R. did, while still working to bolster Pax Americana. If McCain lives up to his fiscal promises and the way he's generally voted, I think there's probably enough libertarian and fiscal Republicans (as opposed to the religious right), and right of center Democrats to actually put together a governing coalition that for 4 all too brief years sheds the lunatics on both sides of the aisle.

But I keep seeing people completely dismiss the Republican ticket. I keep seeing people talk like it's a done-deal, like the Democrats are already in office

Obama is doomed in this election. It's not even that he's black that's the problem, its his politics and his pick of VP. Then, there's a character test here. Obama's never really lost and one has to wonder if he will panic when McCain pulls ahead in the polls post convention.

He's running too far to the left in the general election. Obama's plan is and always was to get all the black vote plus the liberals and the problem is that there's not enough liberals in the states he needs. He's just misread the USA at a national level, and so he has a hard time seeing the need shed his own maniacal base to succeed publicly in a way that Clinton would have surely done.

I thought he gave a fantastic speech, but, since then his moves almost smack of desperation... he's almost devolving into a sort of a classic class war candidate and that's not a good thing to do when American for the most part tend to prefer to keep open the doors of opportunity for the rich just on the offbeat chance that they get rich themselves. I would say that Sarah Palin's retort on drilling (borrowed from Paris Hilton - we Republicans have no pride), was absolutely devastating.

Obama's pick of Biden as a VP was just a disaster. Nobody likes Joe Biden, even in Delaware, but here in the 1st state our GOP is so retarded that Biden always wins. Obama let himself get talked into thinking that he needed a foreign policy wonk added to the ticket and really, that's just stupid. Most people get the sense that foreign policy is really about being fair but firm and Obama already had foreign policy sewn up after his wildly successful European trip.

Worst of all, Obama's success is his own enemy. He's got himself surrounded by so many leaches flocking to all that campaign money he's raising that he's becoming almost Carter like in his perceived obligation to take heed of all them. The left wing has this obsession that a leader needs to listen to all of his counsellers, whereas, if Obama just borrowed a small page from Bush and listened to his own gut, he'd more effective in getting what we wants. As it is, the Obama posse is just dragging him down.

Re:Obama's blowing the election.

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude, the McCain you talk about doesn't exist. Yes, he did label some hysterical people as intolerance agents, but he castigated himself for him and plead to make amends. He may have argued against tax cuts, but he claims now that we need them to be permanent. He doesn't get Roosevelt, and wants to get into surrogate wars with Russia again.

There was once a McCain who you could in good conscience vote for, but he was annihilated. Annihilated by John McCain himself. Really, how much confidence does it inspire when you see a man eviscerate himself; once a maverick now docile under his handlers?

His party reined him in, and this party led our nation to the multitude of disasters we're currently in. Iraq, Afghanistan, Georgia (the one in Asia), Iran, Enron, Blackwater, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, housing disaster, FNMA, FHLMC, Bear Stearns, Haliburton, no-bid contracts, credit crisis, Katrina, Wilma, 9/11, California energy crisis, Northeastern power blackout, Harriet Myers, Alberto Gonzales, George Tenet, Donald Rumsfeld, leaking covert CIA operatives, warrantless spying, WMD, Armstrong Williams, Larry Craig, Mark Foley, Tom DeLay, Bill Frist, and all the other crap.

Tell me how that is not a fucking disaster.

The GOP is the party of security theatre, overreaction, all secrecy for the government but no secrecy for you, eminent domain, less states rights, unitary executive, don't question your betters, pork barrel spending big government, fiscal self-mutilation: hand out gifts with borrowed money, we're gonna get those terrorists except we haven't and so forth. That's the Republican party, and McCain is their gelded show pony this year.

Tell me how that is electable?

And to address your false assumption: I am not shilling for the Democrats; I am not advocating you vote for Obama/Biden. Just tell me how I am substantially wrong or why you'd vote for McCain if I am not.

Re:Diebold's confession

[T.E.D.]

And, who's to say the GOP won't try to rig this election?

Back in the late 70's and early 80's I used to play soccer on a team that was mostly black. In Oklahoma. All our opponents were all white, as were all the referees. I happen to know a little bit about playing the game when supposedly impartial "officials" are putting their thumbs on the scales.

Your only defense against this is to be that much better than your competition. You can't allow it to be close, because then its a crapshoot who wins, and you are holding loaded dice.

For the Dems to win in this day in age, I think it is going to have to be a landslide. Aiming to win a squeaker is a fools game.

Re:Diebold's confession

[ShieldW0lf]

It's a secret ballot. You can't oversee it. Therefore, it's reasonable to assume that it's been corrupted. If you want an election that can't be rigged, you have to do away with the secret ballot and make the votes, and who cast them, public information. You need a receipt for the voter and receipt for the witness.

Re:Diebold's confession

[Wonko the Sane]

(Whatever his reasons were - things like that don't sit well with us veterans)

Be careful when you try to speak for everyone; some of us other veterans know that merely putting on a lapel pin doesn't necessarily signify any genuine commitment. I suspect this this is primarily a generational difference.

I will not vote for Obama, but I don't doubt his patriotism just because of some piece of jewelry.