[Voterescue] From Bev Harris/BlackBoxVoting: Update on ballot rigs, 3 new videos

[Black Box Voting]

3 new videos & an UPDATE ON OUR BALLOT RIGGING EXPERIMENT (below the video info)

ELECTION REALITY TV - "THE JEANNIE DEAN VIDEO" - 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwovSqXWKQ8
Police dogs assigned, ballots in the dark, and the State of New Hampshire denies having any information about the K-9 Unit assignment. Officials changed their mind when this video hit YouTube, now say they are "looking for the records." Sarasota citizen Jeannie Dean provides graphic evidence about the state of your democracy right now. And if you still believe citizen sovereignty is intact, Google "Thomas Jefferson" and see if you still believe this is what the founders meant to create.

ELECTION REALITY TV - "9 MINUTES ON THE ROAD WITH BUTCH & HOPPY"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=710FyJkflDA
A dizzying trip following the New Hampshire ballot pickup van as "Butch & Hoppy" collected ballots for the 2008 recount of the presidential primary -- you decide: Evasive manuevers or can't find a map?

ELECTION REALITY TV - "FACE TO FACE WITH THE RECOUNT GUYS"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrdzXp3Zbmk
Bullitt County, Kentucky citizen Kathy Greenwell confronts the New Hampshire Secretary of State face to face; New Hampshire hires an investigator - he interrogates the citizens instead of investigating multiple violations of election law; and "Hoppy" speaks his mind. 

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BALLOT RIGGING UPDATE

In September 2007, head of memory-card-programming subcontractor LHS Associates, John Silvestro, stated that he doesn't mind having an audit bill. This was during Harri Hursti's testimony in front of New Hampshire legislators about the risks of using the Diebold optical scanner. Does this mean that Silvestro is a straight-up guy, or does this mean he knows how to make hand counts match rigged machine counts? I can't answer that, but I can tell you this: What we have now learned in New Hampshire shows how to game a recount, cheat an audit, rig a mail-in election, tamper in a transport vehicle.

This is of national importance. We have several states that still have DREs and no paper trail, and that fight needs to continue. But the trend is toward optical scan vote-counting computers with tiny hand-counted samples, erroneously called "audits" -- and never yoked to chain of custody. We are also seeing trends toward forced mail-in voting (Washington state) and we had some unfortunate central counting going on in the primary (Ohio). 

Black Box Voting has proved this now: The right chemical and a paper towel enables an insider to alter ballots to flip votes on paper ballots, to rig mail-in votes, spot checks ("audits"), and recounts. It will not be detected. 

In a controversial new article, we reveal partial results to our experiment -- we're awaiting a shipment of additional chemicals to test the rest. You can see and discuss the article here:
http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/1954/73352.html - but you may not want to, because in just a few days it has triggered a vigorous debate and nearly 200 comments. It's turned into a mammoth thread. So I'll reprint the article in full in this e-mail:

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BALLOT WASHING: An original investigation by Black Box Voting 

Last week, I described a way to alter ballots using the techniques used to remove ink from old, archival paper documents and old books. Archivists and custodians of rare books and documents are generally familiar with these techniques, because they are needed to restore documents. 

These techniques have been adapted by modern-day criminals to "wash" the writing off of checks, and this is why it's dangerous to send checks by putting them in your mailbox with the little red flag up. Criminals have learned that they can remove the ink -- the amount written and the payee -- without disturbing the information printed on your check by the bank. 

"BALLOT WASHING?" 

Archivists know this technique as a document repair method, criminals know it as "check washing." If you have the right chemicals, can you remove votes from ballots, allowing election-riggers to "re-vote" the ballots before they are counted, recounted, or audited? 

Yes. We have been able to remove votes marked in ink from ballots without leaving a trace. Using this technique, insiders can alter votes on ballots. 

HAVE INSIDERS EVER ACTUALLY BEEN CAUGHT TAMPERING WITH BALLOTS? 

Yes. We now know that an aide to Maine Speaker of the House John Martin, together with a legislative aide, pleaded guilty in 1994 to rigging ballots in a recount structured almost identically to the New Hampshire presidential primary recount. Ballots had been packed up in cardboard boxes "sealed" with tape (a practice that the media called "an invitation to ballot-rigging") and transported to a central location for a recount. 

The state attorney general and the Maine secretary of state were criticized for stonewalling the investigation after the insiders were caught red-handed, and the speaker of the house was not prosecuted, though he was alleged to have had inside information. The ballot-riggers got a few months in jail, a $2000 fine, and a sentence for community service. At least one of the perps did not pay all of his fine nor complete his community service requirement. Next time you're told to "trust" election insiders, laugh at that, ignore the advice, and keep asking sensible follow up questions! 

In response to this "ballot-gate" scandal, the state of Maine invested $60,000 in more secure ballot boxes and changed policy to store them in an evidence vault used to secure evidence in pending criminal cases. 

New Hampshire has known of this incident for at least 14 years, but failed to act to secure its own ballots, choosing to use non-standard cardboard boxes and tape. 

EVERYDAY SOLVENTS AND SUBSTANCES CAN LIFT INK FROM BALLOTS

Ballot washing allows votes on the SAME ballot to be changed. 

We have been experimenting with this. We learned that Premier/Diebold sells Eberhard-Faber black felt tip pens and calls them "AccuVote marking pens." We purchased some of these. We got hold of real Diebold ballots from defunct elections in Florida and Arizona, although we'd still like to get a specimen of a New Hampshire AccuVote ballot.

PRELIMINARY RESULTS 

Here's what we've found so far: 

INK FROM BALL POINT PENS LIFTS RIGHT OFF THE BALLOT 

Both blue and black ball point pen can be removed easily with denatured alcohol. The amazing thing about removing ink with denatured alcohol is that even if you spill solvent all over the ballot it leaves NO EVIDENCE that the paper was ever wet. Of course, slopping solvent on the paper is not necessary because all you need is a plastic applicator bottle and bits of paper towel for easy, quick removal of the vote. The ink lifts off the page with the only evidence being slight indentations -- and those only exist if the voter pressed hard with his pen. 

CONCLUSION: Ball point pen should never be used to mark ballots. In reality, this means mail-in votes are in special jeopardy, because it will be nearly impossible to stop people from picking up whatever pen is handy. Even in the polling place, some people may choose to use their own pens, thinking any black pen will suffice -- and for most modern optical scan voting machines, those marks will be read just fine. The problem is, the marks can be lifted right off the ballot leaving no trace, and insiders can re-mark the ballots. 

We understand that banks are now using a special coating when printing some checks, which reveals the presence of solvents if they are applied. We should learn more about that to see if such a coating does indeed exist and whether it could be used for absentee ballot paper stock. 

FELT TIP PENS, SHARPIES, "PERMANENT" MARKERS 

We were able to lift BIC "Mark-It" fine point black "permanent marker" with denatured alcohol, but not completely. There was still some evidence that the mark had been made, though it was much lighter and "bled" to leave visible evidence. And it took two applications of solvent to get the marks half-way lifted. 

We were not able to lift Sharpie fine point permanent marker using denatured alcohol or acetone. However, it is unlikely that this pen will be chosen to mark ballots by any election administrator, since it sometimes bleeds through the paper which would be undesirable for two-sided ballots. 

This brings us to the Eberhard-Faber black felt tip pen sold by elections vendors for the purpose of marking optical scan ballots. 
http://www.premierelections.com/premierdirect/cgi-bin/desi_catalog.pl?section=6&id=56  
Accuvote marking pen 

http://www.amazon.com/Eberhard-Faber-Porous-Point-Medium/dp/B00006IFFS  
Eberhard Faber(R) Porous Point Pens 

Amazingly, this pen fails the "spit test" -- when we got the pens we ordered, before doing any official tests we marked a cardboard mailing container, moistened a fingertip with saliva, and part of the mark came off! It did leave a smear and was by no means removed altogether, and spit is a poor choice of solvent because unlike denatured alcohol, it leaves a watermark. 

When we applied denatured alcohol, however, the Eberhard-Faber pens performed better than any of the other brands. The denatured alcohol had no effect whatsoever on the mark. Marks made by the Eberhard-Faber pens appeared to be indelible, impervious to the standard check-washing solvents. 

NOT SO FAST -- "SPIT" WORKED BETTER THAN SOLVENT? 

If you can lift part of the mark with plain ol' spit, but denatured alcohol leaves it entirely intact, it seems logical that the chemicals in Eberhard-Faber ballot marking pens may respond to a different approach. Indeed, that proved to be the case. 

In a more pleasant experiment (denatured alcohol, acetone and the like are toxic, flammable and nasty to work with) -- it turns out that Old Spice "Whitewater" after shave lotion partially lifted the Eberhard-Faber ink, and a second application lifted it further. But it wouldn't be efficient to do repeat applications and the ballots would come out with a telltale scent. Old Spice after shave lotion provided clues, but not answers. Based on the Old Spice after shave result, we've ordered some new substances. We believe they WILL lift Eberhard-Faber ink from ballots, based on a few more quick tests. 

AND NOW, A WORD ABOUT CARTING FLAMMABLES AROUND IN BALLOT TRANSPORT VANS 

Ordinary solvents can be used to lift the ink off of any ballot marked with ball point pen, and this will include many of the absentee ballots, some of the polling place ballots, and many of the hand counted ballots. But how practical is it to tote tins of flammable solvents with toxic fumes around in a ballot transport van in the winter? 

You've probably seen what these cans look like. Paint thinner, turpentine, what have you -- these chemicals are sold in square cans with a screw-on cap on the flat top surface. Glug-glug-glug-- not the kind of thing you want to splash around with in the passenger seat.  

SOLVENT APPLICATOR BOTTLES 

We learned, as anyone else would who needs to remove stray ink marks from archived documents or old books, that it doesn't matter whether you are in a vehicle or not -- the most convenient way to remove marks with solvents is to keep the solvent in small plastic applicator bottles. These small plastic bottles have a nozzle that shuts off air flow when not in use -- necessary both to eliminate fumes and to reduce evaporation, because these chemicals evaporate quickly when the air hits them. 

As an extra precaution, if carrying solvent applicator bottles in a vehicle, you'd want to keep them in a ziplock bag. 

While we await the shipment of the correct chemicals (findable on Google, actually) for the final, videotaped ballot washing experiment, enjoy the videos, linked above.

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YOUR DONATIONS ARE NEEDED NOW MORE THAN EVER, TO WATCHDOG 2008:

http://www.blackboxvoting.org/donate.html or mail to:
Black Box Voting
330 SW 43rd St Suite K
PMB 547
Renton WA 98057

Black Box Voting is supported entirely by individual citizen donations. 

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