My first Diebold voting experience

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Submitted by John Lee on Sun, 05/14/2006 - 3:41pm.

I voted on a dieblod machine yesterday at the state Democratic Party convention. You can see that I voted for Walt Whitman(photo on the flip), at least I think that I voted for Walt Whitman, but if a recount is held, they don't look at the boxes with X's in them, they look at the bar code that you see below. While there is a paper balot cast, if it is used in a recount, it's the BARCODE that is recounted. By a machine. Since I can't read barcode, I don't think that this is voter verified anything.

Posted in Verified Voting | John Lee's blog »

Nice LOOKING printout.

#172 On Sun, 05/14/2006 4:00pm Larry Bergan said,

Yeah, that's a real pretty ballot. Thanks for pointing out the barcode is the only thing that matters, and there's almost a 100% chance even THAT won't be used as verification of a fair election!

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diebold

#175 On Sun, 05/14/2006 9:55pm emoticon said,

hey, complain all you want, I got a cool black t shirt from those guys...

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I was told the text was used??

#179 On Mon, 05/15/2006 5:55am UtahOwl said,

I asked specifically what they used for a recount - the text or the bar code - and the young man said the TEXT was used for the count, NOT the bar code. So - what's the real story?

Glad you're with me on green jello & other things...

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So why....

#180 On Mon, 05/15/2006 5:34pm John Lee said,

SO why print a bar code at all if it's not going to be read? When I asked about the recount, the man at the booth said that yes, the barcode records the votes, and is used during a recount.

I don't want a demonstration on how to USE the machine, I want to see a demonstration on how it is USED. How is this voting system used to acurately record the will of the people, and why should I be confident that ballots cast are ballots counted?

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The Bar Code

#183 On Tue, 05/16/2006 8:12pm UtahOwl said,

is used for the initial count. That's for sure & that's why it's there. If the bar code is also used for the recount, then there is NO way to be confident that the votes recorded on the printout are the votes counted. Also, it's kind of meaningless to even DO a recount this way.
However, if the recount counts the text of the printout, then this is a true, auditable paper trail, and I think such a recount would be valid.
The young man at the booth told me the paper rolls up into a sealed canister, so it is secure.
Of course, it's thermal paper, like cash register tape, so if you just leave the canisters in a hot place for a day or so, they'll be unreadable...that's one way to bugger the audit capability.
We need to pursue what's used for the recount. Joe Demma, are you out there? Someone in the LootGov's office ought to know...

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Save that shirt!

#182 On Mon, 05/15/2006 6:59pm Larry Bergan said,

That Diebold shirt might be worth something someday. They're still talking about Al Capone!

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