Drapetomaniac

Imagine you want to vote and you tell me who you want to vote for. I repeat it back to you and then write something down in to places. If it’s disputed, I will take what I wrote down (whatever I wrote down) and print it out with all the others from the day. This is what Travis County in Texas considers “triple redundancy” and very secure.

Q: Some computer experts claim that there is no way to audit the vote without a paper trail? Does this system have paper backup?

A: This system provides voters with confidence that their vote will be counted as they intended. First, the voting device provides each voter with a summary of all votes, alerting the voter of any skipped races, and allowing the voter to make changes. The voter has visual confirmation that the vote was cast exactly as intended. To ensure the votes are recorded correctly, the system is publicly tested and validated before, during, after each election to ensure that votes are counted and reported as they are cast. There are many security features designed to test procedures, equipment and software. Finally, the system can print out all Cast Vote Records should that be required for a recount.
http://www.co.travis.tx.us/county_clerk/election/eSlate/faq.asp

The only thing I know when I cast my ballot is that the screen in front of me showed me what I put in. I have no idea what was actually recorded. And if there is a problem, they seem to indicate they are only printing out the problem…

Here is a description of what an election monitor observed in Venezuela. They have visual confirmation of the face of their candidate,the results are sent to a remote place as well, they vote electronically, visually see their paper ballot repeating their results and they place it in to a box (I believe with their thumbprint). Hands are also marked to prevent multiple vote attempts. After the vote, more than 50% of voting machines are audited (others recommend 3%).

I do think there are politicians who think it will be in the best interest to control the vote – time of war, criticial junction in the war on terror, etc. And while I do believe it may happen occasionally, I’m not on the bandwagon to say it’s an all out conspiracy. The problem with joining the full conspiracy camp is that when your candidate wins, you look foolish and it makes it more difficult to argue there are problems. It’s like arguing against the death penalty when you have a genocidal rapist as your poster child. You tend to lower your voice during those executions a bit.

What does concern me is the apathy by our elected official over the election process. It’s not impractical to print paper – we did it for centuries. If apathy is the rule, then we will see a day when large scale fraud is carried out and there will be nothign to be done about it – if anyone notices.

Anyway – this morning, voting in Precinct 248 in Travis County, I arrived 10 minutes before polls opened. I couldn’t vote until an hour later because the machines weren’t setup and/or working. As a voter, all I know is the machines weren’t working or an hour and I was one of the first dozen to use the machines after that.

Should I hope my vote was recorded?

ps – I hope the lady who discussed her bowel issues in great detail behind me in line for an hour feels better.

The first session I attended this morning at the Texas Media Summit was on “Collaboration and Inclusion”

“How do we leverage our community media resources to expand and enhance our presence in the Texas media landscape?”

The question took on several forms and the session was unfortunately short. Some of the ideas included without mentioning it specifically, a Black focused publication talking with a Latino publication to join together on issues and ideas. They serve different audiences, but there is topic and issue crossover that seldom occurs. Being Black Puerto Rican, I held back the urge to tell them I was one cross-over point..

The other idea, which I think compasses the first one is how to find someone to exchange ideas with. There wasn’t an explicit list for people to sign up with, but will be a directory afterwards. Many people knew each other or the publications, but there was no open collaboration from day to day. in non-profits, there has been talk over fighting over pieces of the grant pies and so there is a hesitation to join together for various ventures/ After all, if you join together, not everyone will get the grant afterwards.

Community media still has to pay for electricity and paper, but this fight over the pie really did seem to be missing. Unfortunately, so did a solid view of how to collaborate and move forward.

One immediate impression of the community media, which should seem obvious, is that people easily speak up and assert themselves. Hopefuly there is an assertion after the sumit to continue the dialogue and meetings.