| The Government Accountability Office's Troubling Investigation NoSmokingGun : A Closer Look at the GAO’s first report on Sarasota, Florida's District 13. No smoking gun . . . Not if, but when and how often. Could Red be next? Detailed within the findings of the first GAO report is a series of troubling circumstances that reveal apparent blatant lapses in sound business checks and balances, and computer security basics on the part of Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning, Sarasota Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent as well as Elections Systems & Software (ES&S). What the GAO really said about Sarasota's lost 18K votes. What they didn't say about Florida's lost 89K votes. Sarasota District 13: If the tests can't find it, never mind it? The U.S. House of Representatives dismissed the contest of 2006 Sarasota’s District 13 election with its missing 18,000 votes. As they should since GAO testing, â €œobtained increased assurance, but not absolute assurance that the ES&S iVotronic DREs used in Sarasota County’s 2006 general election did not contribute to the large undervote in Florida-13 contest, â€� Does this mean nothing’s wrong with the iVotronic system? No. While the GAO's study was extensive and revealed a disturbing absence of good business practices on the part of Florida's Secretary of State and Sarasota's Supervisor of Elections, in the end GAO proved only that standard basic ballots work on working systems. A number of potential problem areas have as yet to be pursued comprehensively. GAO District 13: Blood on the floor, bullet in the head, where did that smoking gun go? As Florida settles on the GAO findings in Sarasota’s District- 13. Think duped again. For Florida and the rest of the country, the bigger picture here is not where did those pesky 18,000 votes go in one county? The bigger question is where did 89,000 votes go across the state? GAO D-13: Voters with Secret Decoder Rings Get Votes Counted . As voters, let’s not confuse â €œwe didn’t find a bugâ€� with “exoneration.â €� For as thorough as the cumulative GAO studies were, there are yet too many technical paths not taken, too many questions not answered. 18,000 votes are still missing in Sarasota. 89,000 missing votes statewide remain ignored. |
| The Truth Chicanery, Buffonery & Boondoggle Players Play Conspiracy : The Bush Connection. When is a coincidence too much of a coincidence not to be one? President George W. Bush and Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Florida Secretary of State Sandra Mortham and Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris and U.S. Rep Tom Feeney and Senator Chuck Hagel. What do they all have in common? Continued. Remember the Main E-Vents - 2006, 2004, 2002 . Voting machine problems plagued 2006, 2004, and 2002. Not only were there high numbers of malfunctions, but Florida counties using electronic voting machines were significantly more likely to show increases in votes for Bush between 2000 and 2004 than counties using optical scanners or paper ballots. While 89,000 missing votes in the 2006 statewide Attorney General race were never investigated, the Government Accountability Office investigation of 18,000 missing votes in Sarasota County remains inconclusive. Continued. What you may not know about 2000 . 115,500 ballots with a clear indication of voter intent got scrapped. About two-thirds of the spoiled ballots were over-votes. On most of these, the over-votes were caused by people punching their card and writing in their candidate's name to be sure their votes got counted. 1.5 to 2 million presidential votes were lost due to faulty equipment or confusing ballots. And who did Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris report to? Again the Bush connection. Continued. Touchscreen Payola? Miami-Dade County alone spent $25 million on 7,200 touch-screen voting machines that averaged only 100 ballots per touch screen and provided no paper trail, no viable audit trail, no viable recount capabilities. Whose idea was it to squander taxpayer dollars on inferior voting machine solutions? Was there payola? Continued. |
| Truth, Lies, & Politics When is a coincidence too much of a coincidence to be one? Fiction Stops Here |
| The Government Accountability Office released three investigative reports on Sarasota, Florida’s District 13 faulty 2006 election. The findings detailed in these reports are the basis for the GAO articles above. ELECTIONS : Further Testing Could Provide Increased but Not Absolute Assurance That Voting Systems Did Not Cause Undervotes in Florida’s 13th Congressional District. http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0897t.pdf ELECTIONS : Status of GAO’s Review of Voting Equipment Used in Florida’s 13th Congressional District. http://www. gao.gov/new.items/d071167t.pdf ELECTIONS : Results of GAO’s Testing of Voting Systems Used in Sarasota County in Florida’s 13th Congressional District. http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08425t.pdf |