2188 Thu 6 Apr 2017 LESSONS
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Following attempt is made
FOR E-FILING REGISTRATION
From
J.Chandrasekharan
Scheduled caste
668 5A Main Road,
8th Cross, HAL 3rd Stage,
Bangalore-560075
Karnataka State
India
Mob:9449260443
Email:chandrasekhara.tipitaka@gmail.com
http://sarvajan.ambedkar.org
To ,
Honourable Chief Justice
Supreme Court of India
Tilak Marg,
New Delhi-110 001 (India)
PABX NOS.23388922-24,23388942-44,
FAX NOS.23381508,23381584,23384336/23384533/23384447
supremecourt@nic.in
Sub: Grievance of a Scheduled Caste on
LOK SABHA AND UTTAR PRADESH ELECTIONS FIXING
Outcome of the May 2014 General Elections in India.
&
Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections 2017
Hackers made hay in May 2014 and Mar 2017!
It has been conclusively proved to the satisfaction of the Hon’ble
Supreme Court that Indian EVMs ARE tamperable.The process of elections
is the most sacrosanct duty in a Republic which ECI should carry out
with
utmost diligence. Caesar’s wife should be above suspicion. Free and fair
polls should not only be ensured but APPEAR to be ensured to the
satisfaction of the voters.
India first tested EVMs in a by-election in 1982, but the machines
were first deployed on a large scale of over 1 million in a general
election in 2004.
In 2010, security researcher Hari Prasad and his associates
released a video that they said demonstrated vulnerabilities in the
EVMs, after hacking an EVM that had already been used in an election.
Prasad and his team replaced the display board of the machine with a
look-alike component that could be instructed through a Bluetooth
connection on a mobile phone to steal a percentage of the votes in favor
of a chosen candidate.
The researchers also used a pocket-size device that could be attached
to the memory of the EVM to change the votes stored in the machine
during the period between the election and the public counting session.
The Supreme Court has in its ruling this week asked the
government to provide the financial assistance required by the Election
Commission to roll out the EVMs. It has not set out a schedule for the
full deployment of EVMs with the paper trail.
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2010-05-20/news/27589262_1_voting-machines-display-board-hack
American scientists ‘hack’ into Indian voting machines
LONDON:
India’s voting machines - considered to be among the world’s most tamperproof - can be hacked, American scientists claim.
Researchers at the University of Michigan connected a home-made
device to a voting machine and successfully changed results by sending
text messages from a mobile.
“We made an imitation display board that looks almost exactly
like the real display in the machines. But underneath some of the
components of the board, we hide a microprocessor and a Bluetooth
radio,” the BBC quoted Prof J Alex Halderman, who led the project, as
saying.
He added: “Our lookalike display board intercepts the vote
totals that the machine is trying to display and replaces them with
dishonest totals - basically whatever the bad guy wants to show up at
the end of the election.”
Moreover, they added a small microprocessor, which they say can
change the votes stored in the machine between the election and the
vote-counting session.
No one’s right mind would yet allow the use of absolutely
antiquated, completely out-dated, easily hack-able and highly
tamper-able “high school technology” based, obsolete EVMs (electronic
voting machines) in national elections, but it was used now — in 2014
More than 80 democracies in the world have simply done away with
them, dumping them in the trash, or simply declared the usage of this
simplistic voting system susceptible to fraud, and hence declaring the
same as illegal — as the Supreme Courts of Germany and Holland indeed
have done. Even Japan, from where EVMs originated, has long abandoned
its rogue babies, and is using paper ballot system since then. All the
advanced democracies in the West, except the most dull-headed ones, have
reverted to a voter verifiable system or the ballot paper. In Canada,
even at the ,most basic school level, ballot paper voting is in use.
Last year, the Supreme Court of India, having been convinced of
an undeniable, edible possibility of EVMs getting tampered with and that
easily hacked — even from afar — had ordered the imbecilic Election
Commission and the indolent Government of India to provide about 1600
crore (1600, 0000000) rupees — convert this into your respective
currency! — for manufacturing these VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit
Trail) voting machines; which show a verifiable paper receipt to the
voter.
This is the Fundamental Right of a citizen of India, as per the
laws laid down by the Constitution. However, recent newspaper reports
tell us that only 20, 000 such voting machines have been provided for
the entire country in this, 2014 election! India has 29 states
now — with Telagana being the latest. In most of them, depending upon
their size etc., either about 400 VVPAT machines are being deployed, or
some such similar ridiculous number — more or less — hasbeen made
available in the length and breadth of the country. It’s an asinine,
bland, cruel, demeaning joke we 1.25 billion voters have been “blessed”
with by the powers that be.
All “patriotic” hackers of our motherland made hay in May 2014 and Mar 2017!
As to how EVMs can be hacked into, tampered with, and results
favorably manipulated via software interference and other means — from
near and from far, far away — this can easily be found by anybody by
just going to Google etc. and filling “EVM HACKING, TAMPERING” or
something to this effect in the Search. And lo, behold! a plethora of
information will just overwhelm your overly chilled-out, lesser
employed, un-billed brains.
However, the only solace for us naive fools is that quite a few
unscrupulous politicians such as Murderer of democratic institutions
(Modi) and every other most “honorable” political party worthy of its
“salt” such as Congress and the BJP, would surely be playing this
comic-tragic game of hacking into and hijacking the votes of a billion
people! Thus, one who outsmarts the other such fine folks, armed with
their hacking forks in this merry-go-around, will win.
The rest — this or that “tsunami” or wave in favor of one or the
other, poll forecasts and the “newbie”, the over enthused, seeming game
changers in the making — well, they may well fall flat on their dumb
faces, if not on their smart asses.
That the Supreme Court of India too, while passing the order
of putting new VVPAT voting machines in use in a “phased manner”, has
unwittingly shirked its duty. In fact, it committed a grave error of
judgment. Perhaps dealt a fatal blow to Indian democracy. It should have
ordered, as a caution, that till the time this newer set of about
1300ooo voting machines is manufactured in full and so deployed
throughout India, ballot paper system would be brought in. No such
precautionary measure was decreed by the apex court.
Well, crib all you want. But don’t cry, my dear countrymen. After
all, the same model of EVMs is yet very much in use in South Africa,
Bangla Desh, Bhutan, Nepal, Nigeria, Venezuela etc. These poor folks of
the said “non-techy”countries — millions of them — too cannot figure out
as to what the hell had, yet is happening, in their dear
short-circuited “developed” democracies. Nor will you.
Don’t worry, be happy! You are not alone “out there”.
Oh, by the way, the somewhat notorious lawyer who had brought in
this case — of the present lot of EVMs being tamper-able and
hack-able — and, who, had successfully fought it so, forcing the Supreme
Court to order the installation of a fail-safe voting mechanism (of
Voter Verifiable Paper Audit machines replacing the susceptible earlier
Electronic Voting Machines) to ensure a free and fair electoral process
in India — well, this oh-so-very honorable fellow too has fallen silent,
like a demure maiden. This most vociferous gentleman had openly
declared on social websites, especially Twitter, that in case VVPAT
machines do not get installed in time for 2014 elections, then, there
would be a “constitutional crisis” — putting it out there like an Indian
“pehalwan”, a la WWW wrestler, that he would challenge the same in the
apex court. He had most emphatically underlined he would ensure that
either the new fail-safe voting machines or the old time-tested paper
ballot system will be put in use during this general election in India.
However, recently, when asked specifically on Twitter about this
matter — as to what this lovely man is doing or is going to do about
this impending doomsday electoral scenario — there was a deafening
silence from his side. May be owing to the fact that since the Supreme
Court judgement late last year, this self-righteous rightist has joined
the ultra-rightist political bandwagon.
The latter has been projected by pollsters to overwhelmingly
sweep these elections — as a direct result of the doings of the
monstrous public relations firm hired from the land of the let-it-be,
oops! free. This US firm is the same that was used fruitfully by
President Bush and Hillary Clinton for their respective political
campaigns. It has — let there be no doubt about it — successfully
projected its client as the potential winner and the next numero uno in
Indian politics.
What the majority of the Indians have missed in fine print is
that the outgoing Chief Minister of the state of Rajasthan, in the last
year elections, had officially filed a complaint with the election
commission that the EVMs used in his state were pre-programmed and
tampered with — and that the same had come from the state of which this
presently hyped-up future Prime Minister of India, is the current Chief
Minister. Now, the lawyer who had gone to the dogs to awaken India and
the rest of the world about the mischief and malfeasance possible with
the old model of EVMs — and had in fact written a book on this
subject — is in a wink-wink deep-throat “smadhi”.
A silence that speaks truths we dumb billion idiots on this part of
slippery earth cannot fathom. Perhaps it’s a precursor of the things to
come.
Let us hope the jolly good hackers of this-that party screw-up
each other’s devilish, outright evil plans. In a dog eat dog political
crap pit we hapless billion creatures have to walk through every
election, maybe this time the ape sitting by the side — the wide-eyed
hopeful citizen of India — at least gets a tiny part of the apple pie
this messy hacking cat fight will leave behind, on the side lanes.
Perhaps these little crumbs will be enough for us to stay afloat. though not gloat.
In a nutshell, simply put, whosoever “out-hacks” the other, will win.
Then again, we are an ancient civilization of more than 33,
0000000 gods and goddesses — some civilized, others not so civil. Let’s
hope one of these fancied deities has a soft corner for us dumbos.
Otherwise, we are going to get screwed. A billion times over.
Therefore, I made doubly sure I did not vote. I sat on my ass on
voting day — not that I don’t do so everyday. This voting day, I
absolutely did. Not only figuratively and metaphorically, but literally.
I may have many buts in life, but at least today I have a little sore,
yet not so sorry a butt.
We are a fool’s paradise.
Long live the banana republic of India!
LOK SABHA ELECTIONS FIXING
‘FIXING’ Indian Lok Sabha elections
Computer Business Review appeared more certain with the “How
Google search results influenced elections” headline for its version of
the story, the Guardian reported.”……Google changed its course, it
undermined people’s trust in its results and company.”
A press release put out on 13 May by the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology, an
independent research organisation based in California created a furore
around the topic when it released a report headlined “Could Google have
fixed the Lok Sabha elections? A landmark new study in India shows it’s
possible,” the report added. (ANI)
Because of
LOK SABHA AND UTTAR PRADESH ELECTIONS FIXING
Outcome of the May 2014 General Elections in India.
&
Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections 2017
Hackers made hay in May 2014 and Mar 2017!
has caused great grievance and pain to me a Scheduled Caste and
Mayawati
Prabhu Das commonly fondly known as Mayawati is an Indian politician
heading the Bahujan Samaj Party. Being the member of the party since its
inception in 1984, she later became the party president in 2001. She
has served as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh four times (briefly in
1995, 1997, 2002-2003 and 2007-2012). Mayawati has been the youngest
woman Chief Minister and the first ever female Scheduled Caste member to become
Chief Minister of any state. After losing in the 2012 legislative
assembly elections to Samajwadi Party, she resigned from her post as a
party leader on March 2012, and later that month she was elected to a
seat in Rajya Sabha through acclamation. As the leader of the party, she
has also been lauded for mobilizing funds for her party.Born on 15th
January 1956 in Delhis Shrimati Sucheta Kriplani hospital, Mayawati has 6
brothers. Her father Prabhu Das was a postal employee at Badalpur in
Gautam Buddha Nagar in 1975, her mothers name is Ram Rati. In her
family, the sons were sent to private schools whereas daughters went to
low-performing government schools. Mayawati completed her B.A. in 1975
from Kalindi Womens College under the Delhi University. After the
completion of B.A., she earned a B.Ed. from VMLG College, Ghaziabad in
1976. Thereafter in 1983, she did her LLB from Delhi University. After
completing her B.Ed. course in 1976, she started teaching students in
Inderpuri JJ Colony, Delhi and was also preparing for the IAS exams.
Sometime in 1977, a well kown Scheduled Caste politician Kanshi Ram visited her
family home and was highly impressed by Mayawati’s speaking style and
motivated her to join politics. According to biographer Ajay Bose,
Kanshi Ram told her that I can make you such a big leader one day that
not one but a whole row of IAS officers will line up for your orders. In
1984, Kanshi Ram founded the Bahujan Samaj Party and the party focused
as a platform to bring social change and to improve the welfare of the
weakest of the Indian society consisting of the Bahujans or SC/STs,
Other Backward castes and religious minorities. Kanshi Ram included
Mayawati as the member of the party marking her first step in Indian
politics. She was first elected as a Member of Parliament in 1989
representing Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh in the 9th Lok Sabha elections. In
1994, she became a member of Rajya Sabha for the first time. Kanshi Ram
remained the president of BSP until 2001 however, due to his
deteriorating health in the 1990s, the party’s leadership shifted in the
hands of Mayawati, a former school teacher. In 1993, Mayawati made a
coalition with Samajwadi Party in the assembly elections and helped
Mulayam Singh Yadav in becoming the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
However on 2nd June 1995, Mayawati withdrew her support from the
government after accusing Mulayam Singh Yadav for sending goons at her
place, keeping her party legislators hostage at the Lucknow guest house
as well as trying to break her party. She also accused Mulayam Singh
Yadav that he shouted castes abuse at her. After withdrawing support
from Samajwadi Party Mayawati sought her support to Bharatiya Janata
Party and became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh on 3rd June 1995.
She created history by becoming the first ever Scheduled Caste women in India to
serve as the Chief Minister in Uttar Pradesh. On October 1995, the BJP
withdrew support to her and fresh elections were called after Presidents
rule. She won to the Lok Sabha elections in 1996 from two different
constituencies and chose to serve Harora. After that from 1996 to 1998,
she also served as MLA in the U.P state Assembly. On 21st March 1997,
she again became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh marking her second
term as the Chief Minister and retained the post till 20th September
1997. In the 12th Lok Sabha elections of 1998, she was elected as member
representing Akbarpur constituency. In 1999, she became a member of the
13th Lok Sabha. Despite Mayawati leading the party, Kanshi Ram remained
the party’s president until 2001. Being a diabetic and a host of other
serious ailments, he wasn’t able to lead an active political life. On
December 15, 2001, Kanshi Ram in a rally in Lucknow declared Mayawati
the then Vice-President of the party as his political successor. On
February she was re elected for the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly.
On March 2002, she resigned from the Akbarpur Lok Sabha seat and on 3rd
May 2003, she became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh for the third
time and remained on this post till 26th August 2002. Following the ill
health of Kanshi Ram, she became the National President of BSP on 18th
September 2003. In May 2004, she was re elected from Akbarpur for the
14th Lok Sabha. In July 2004, she resigned from Lok Sabha and became the
member of Rajya Sabha for the second time. On 27th August, she was
elected as the National President of BSP for the second time. Kanshi Ram
died on October 2006 due to a severe heart attack. Mayawati performed
the last rites of Kanshi Ram in Buddhist tradition which is traditionally performed by the
male heirs of the family in Hindu tradition. In the 2007 Uttar Pradesh
elections, BSP won the majority and she became the Chief Minister of
Uttar Pradesh for the fourth time and retained the post of the Chief
Minister till March 2012. In the 2007 elections, Mayawati had the slogan
to convert Uttar Pradesh to Uttam Pradesh. The governance of the
Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh was very well praised and the
government began a major crackdown on the irregularities made by the
police department during the Mulayam Singh government. In this process,
over 18,000 policemen lost their jobs for irregularities in their hiring
and 25 IPS officers were suspended for their involvement in corruption.
She also introduced transparency into the recruiting process, including
posting the results of selection exams online. In 2008, Mayawati
launched Manyawar Shri Kanshiram Ji Shahri Garib Awas Yojna a scheme to
build low cost houses for urban poor and completed two rounds of
construction till 2012 when her tenure of Chief Minister ended. The BSP
government is also praised for maintenance of law and order in Uttar
Pradesh and for their significant contributions in the field of
infrastructure and medical facilities in the rural and urban
areasMayawati is widely regarded as a self made woman and she began her
political career with hardwork and her own struggle. Mayawati is
unmarried and has dedicated her life to serve the weaker sections of the
society. Mayawati is criticized for wasting the tax payers money by
building several statues of icons of Buddhism, Hinduism and Dalits
including herself during her tenure as the Chief Minister. The CBI in
2002 raided her house suspecting financial irregularities related to Taj
Heritage Corridor, however in June 2007, the then Governor T.V.
Rajeshwar declared that there is no evidence of her involvement. . On
9th August 2009, Mayawati declared that she has chosen her successor
from the Scheduled Caste community who is 18-20 years junior to her and she has
pinned down the name in a sealed packet in a safe custody. The name of
the successor will be declared after her death in particular and the 99% Sarvajan Samaj i.e., all societies belonging to SC/STs/OBCs/Minorities and the poor Upper castes in general.
In 2007 Ms Mayawati as Chief ninister of Uttar pradesh gave th best governance by way of distributing the wealth of state among all societies as enshrined in our Constitution.
Basically, seeking to approach the problems of society by reforming the individuals constituting
that society and by suggesting some general principles through which the society can be
guided towards greater humanism, improved welfare of its members, and more equitable
sharing of resources.
While the 1% intolerant, violent, militant, shooting, lynching, lunatic, mentally retarded, cannibal chitpawan brahmins of RSS headed by Mohan Bagawath with an inherent problem of trying to intermingle
religion with politics. The basis of religion is morality, purity and faith, while that
for politics is power. In the course of history, religion has often been used to give
legitimacy to those in power and their exercise of that power. Religion was used to
justify wars and conquests, persecutions, atrocities, rebellions, destruction of works of
art and culture.
When religion is used to pander to political whims by tampering the fraud EVMs, it has
to forego its high moral ideals and become debased by worldly political demands.
There is a limit to the extent to which a political system
can safeguard the happiness and prosperity of its people. No political system, no matter
how ideal it may appear to be, can bring about peace and happiness as long as the people
in the system are dominated by greed, hatred and delusion. In addition, no matter what
political system is adopted, there are certain universal factors which the members of that
society will have to experience: the effects of good and bad kamma, the lack of real
satisfaction or everlasting happiness in the world characterized by dukkha
(unsatisfactoriness), anicca (impermanence), and anatta (egolessness). To
the followers of the Awakenen One with Awareness, nowhere in Samsara is there real freedom, not even in the heavens or
the world of Brahama.
Although a good and just political system which guarantees
basic human rights and contains checks and balances to the use of power is an important
condition for a happy in society, people should not fritter away their time by endlessly
searching for the ultimate political system where men can be completely free, because
complete freedom cannot be found in any system but only in minds which are free. To be
free, people will have to look within their own minds and work towards freeing themselves
from the chains of ignorance and craving. Freedom in the truest sense is only possible
when a person uses Dhamma to develop his character through good speech and action and to
train his mind so as to expand his mental potential and achieve his ultimate aim of awakenment.
While recognizing the usefulness of separating religion
from politics and the limitations of political systems in bringing about peace and
happiness, there are several aspects of the Awakened One with Awareness’s teaching which have close
correspondence to the political arrangements of the present day. Firstly, the Awakened One with Awareness spoke
about the equality of all human beings long before Abraham Lincoln, and that classes and
castes are artificial barriers erected by society. The only classification of human
beings, according to the Awakened One with Awareness, is based on the quality of their moral conduct. Secondly,
the Awakened One with Awareness encouraged the spirit of social -co-operation and active participation in
society. This spirit is actively promoted in the political process of modern societies.
Thirdly, since no one was appointed as the Awakened One with Awareness’s successor, the members of the Order
were to be guided by the Dhamma and Vinaya, or in short, the Rule of Law. Until today very
member of the Order is to abide by the Rule of Law which governs and guides their
conduct which was strictly followed by Ms Mayawati as Chief Minister.
Fourthly, the Awakened One with Awareness encouraged the spirit of
consultation and the democratic process. This is shown within the community of the Order
in which all members have the right to decide on matters of general concern. When a
serious question arose demanding attention, the issues were put before the Order and
discussed in a manner similar to the democratic parliamentary system used today. This
self-governing procedure may come as a surprise to many to learn that in the assemblies of Awakened One with Awareness in this country 2,500 years and more ago are to be found the rudiments of the
parliamentary practice of the present day. A special officer similar to ‘Mr. Speaker’ was
appointed to preserve the dignity of the Parliamentary Chief Whip, was also appointed to
see if the quorum was secured. Matters were put forward in the form of a motion which was
open to discussion. In some cases it was done once, in others three times, thus
anticipating the practice of Parliament in requiring that a bill be read a third time
before it becomes law. If the discussion showed a difference of opinion, it was to be
settled by the vote of the majority through balloting. The Murderer of democratic institutions (Modi) has done away with such a system by gobbling the Master Key by tampering the fraud EVMs to win elections.
The Awaken One with awareness approach to political power is the
moralization and the responsible use of public power. The Awaken One with awareness preached non-violence and
peace as a universal message. He did not approve of violence or the destruction of life,
and declared that there is no such thing as a ‘just’ war. He taught: ‘The victor breeds
hatred, the defeated lives in misery. He who renounces both victory and defeat is happy
and peaceful.’ Not only did the Awaken One with awareness teach non-violence and peace, He was perhaps the
first and only religious teacher who went to the battlefield personally to prevent the
outbreak of a war. He diffused tension between the Sakyas and the Koliyas who were about
to wage war over the waters of Rohini. He also dissuaded King Ajatasattu from attacking
the Kingdom of the Vajjis.
The Awaken One with awareness discussed the importance and the prerequisites
of a good government that was sincerely by Ms Mayawati. He showed how the country could become corrupt, degenerate and
unhappy when the head of the government becomes corrupt and unjust. He spoke against
corruption and how a government should act based on humanitarian principles.
The Awaken One with awareness once said, ‘When the ruler of a country
is just and good, the ministers become just and good; when the ministers are just and
good, the higher officials become just and good; when the higher officials are just and
good, the rank and file become just and good; when the rank and file become just and good,
the people become just and good.’(Anguttara Nikaya)
In the Cakkavatti Sihananda Sutta, the Awaken One with awareness said
that immorality and crime, such as theft, falsehood, violence, hatred, cruelty, could
arise from poverty. Kings and governments may try to suppress crime through punishment,
but it is futile to eradicate crimes through force as done by Murderer of democratic institutions (Modi)
In the Kutadanta Sutta, the Awaken One with awareness suggested
economic development instead of force to reduce crime. The government should use the
country’s resources to improve the economic conditions of the country. It could embark on
agricultural and rural development, provide financial support to entrepreneurs and
business, provide adequate wages for workers to maintain a decent life with human dignity as followed by Ms Mayawati.
In the Jataka, the Awaken One with awareness had given to rules
for Good Government, known as ‘Dasa Raja Dharma’. These ten rules can be
applied even today which was done by Ms mayawati government which wishes to rule the country peacefully. The
rules are as follows:
1) be liberal and avoid selfishness,
2) maintain a high moral character,
3) be prepared to sacrifice one’s own pleasure for the well-being of the subjects,
4) be honest and maintain absolute integrity,
5) be kind and gentle,
6) lead a simple life for the subjects to emulate,
7) be free from hatred of any kind,
exercise non-violence,
9) practise patience, and
10) respect public opinion to promote peace and harmony.
Regarding the behavior of rulers, He further advised as followed by Ms Mayawati:
- A good ruler should act impartially and should not be
biased and discriminate between one particular group of subjects against another.- A good ruler should not harbor any form of hatred
against any of his subjects.- A good ruler should show no fear whatsoever in the
enforcement of the law, if it is justifiable.- A good ruler must possess a clear understanding of the
law to be enforced. It should not be enforced just because the ruler has the authority to
enforce the law. It must be done in a reasonable manner and with common sense. — (Cakkavatti
Sihananda Sutta)
In the Milinda Panha,it is stated: ‘If
a man like the Murderer of democratic institutions (Modi), who is unfit, incompetent, immoral, improper, unable and unworthy of kingship, has
enthroned himself a king or a ruler with great authority by tampering, distorting and rigging the EVMs to win elections, he is subject to be
tortured‚ to be subject to a variety of punishment by the people, because, being
unfit and unworthy, he has placed himself unrighteously in the seat of sovereignty. Modi like others who violate and transgress moral codes and basic rules of all social
laws of mankind, is equally subject to punishment; and moreover, to be censured is the
ruler who conducts himself as a robber of the public.’ In a Jataka story, it is mentioned
that a ruler who punishes innocent people and does not punish the culprit is not suitable
to rule a country.
Therefore the Honourable Chief Justice of India along with a collageium of Chief Justices belonging to SC/STs/OBCs/Minorities and juries such as Ms Mayawati, Nazeerudin Shah, Satishchandra Mishra may be pleased to dissolve the Central and State governments selected by these fraud EVMs and go for fresh elections with paper ballots to save democracy.
Since Ms Mayawati belonged to Scheduled Caste Community The RSS and BJP conspired to defeat her with the tampering, distorting and rigging the EVMs. Hence they must be punished for practicing untouchability with the prevention of atrocities act. They must be asked to pay a fine of the entire budget to Ms Mayawati to enable her to distribute the wealth of the country among all societies.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
An appeal for all democracy liking people:
Let us file as many e-filing as possible to press for Ballot papers instead of EVMs/VVPAT.
Let us appeal to the Computer Business Review and the American Institute for Behavioral Research and
Technology, an independent research organisation based in California to review and research on the following technology:
Napolean had once said that “I can face
two battalions but not two scribes”. Scribes are aware that the Supreme
Court had directed that all the EVMs must be replaced with TAMPER PROOF
machines. But the CEC had not
bothered tto replace all the EVMs and went for Lok Sabha elections.
Napolean’s suggested scribes have to do some investigative journalism
and expose the CEC to save this MURDER of DEMOCRACY and STOP
http://media.photobucket.com/user/H_273377/media/securedownloadJesuswithGodBlessYou.jpg.html?filters[term]=may%20lord%20buddha%20bless%20you%20with%20peace%20and%20happiness&filters[primary]=images&filters[secondary]=videos&sort=1&o=7
http://www.budsas.org/ebud/whatbudbeliev/229.htm
BuddhaSasana Home Page
English Section
What
Buddhists Believe
Venerable K. Sri Dhammananda Maha Thera
Buddhism
and Politics
The Buddha had gone beyond all worldly affairs, but
still gave advice on good government.
The Buddha
came from a warrior caste and was naturally brought into association with kings, princes
and ministers. Despite His origin and association, He never resorted to the influence of
political power to introduce His teaching, nor allowed His Teaching to be misused for
gaining political power. But today, many politicians try to drag the Buddha’s name into
politics by introducing Him as a communist, capitalist, or even an imperialist. They have
forgotten that the new political philosophy as we know it really developed in the West
long after the Buddha’s time. Those who try to make use of the good name of the Buddha for
their own personal advantage must remember that the Buddha was the Supremely Awakened
One who had gone beyond all worldly concerns.
There is an inherent problem of trying to intermingle
religion with politics. The basis of religion is morality, purity and faith, while that
for politics is power. In the course of history, religion has often been used to give
legitimacy to those in power and their exercise of that power. Religion was used to
justify wars and conquests, persecutions, atrocities, rebellions, destruction of works of
art and culture.
When religion is used to pander to political whims, it has
to forego its high moral ideals and become debased by worldly political demands.
The thrust of the Buddha Dhamma is not directed to the
creation of new political institutions and establishing political arrangements. Basically,
it seeks to approach the problems of society by reforming the individuals constituting
that society and by suggesting some general principles through which the society can be
guided towards greater humanism, improved welfare of its members, and more equitable
sharing of resources.
There is a limit to the extent to which a political system
can safeguard the happiness and prosperity of its people. No political system, no matter
how ideal it may appear to be, can bring about peace and happiness as long as the people
in the system are dominated by greed, hatred and delusion. In addition, no matter what
political system is adopted, there are certain universal factors which the members of that
society will have to experience: the effects of good and bad kamma, the lack of real
satisfaction or everlasting happiness in the world characterized by dukkha
(unsatisfactoriness), anicca (impermanence), and anatta (egolessness). To
the Buddhist, nowhere in Samsara is there real freedom, not even in the heavens or
the world of Brahama.
Although a good and just political system which guarantees
basic human rights and contains checks and balances to the use of power is an important
condition for a happy in society, people should not fritter away their time by endlessly
searching for the ultimate political system where men can be completely free, because
complete freedom cannot be found in any system but only in minds which are free. To be
free, people will have to look within their own minds and work towards freeing themselves
from the chains of ignorance and craving. Freedom in the truest sense is only possible
when a person uses Dhamma to develop his character through good speech and action and to
train his mind so as to expand his mental potential and achieve his ultimate aim of
enlightenment.
While recognizing the usefulness of separating religion
from politics and the limitations of political systems in bringing about peace and
happiness, there are several aspects of the Buddha’s teaching which have close
correspondence to the political arrangements of the present day. Firstly, the Buddha spoke
about the equality of all human beings long before Abraham Lincoln, and that classes and
castes are artificial barriers erected by society. The only classification of human
beings, according to the Buddha, is based on the quality of their moral conduct. Secondly,
the Buddha encouraged the spirit of social -co-operation and active participation in
society. This spirit is actively promoted in the political process of modern societies.
Thirdly, since no one was appointed as the Buddha’s successor, the members of the Order
were to be guided by the Dhamma and Vinaya, or in short, the Rule of Law. Until today very
member of the Sangha is to abide by the Rule of Law which governs and guides their
conduct.
Fourthly, the Buddha encouraged the spirit of
consultation and the democratic process. This is shown within the community of the Order
in which all members have the right to decide on matters of general concern. When a
serious question arose demanding attention, the issues were put before the monks and
discussed in a manner similar to the democratic parliamentary system used today. This
self-governing procedure may come as a surprise to many to learn that in the assemblies of
Buddhists in India 2,500 years and more ago are to be found the rudiments of the
parliamentary practice of the present day. A special officer similar to ‘Mr. Speaker’ was
appointed to preserve the dignity of the Parliamentary Chief Whip, was also appointed to
see if the quorum was secured. Matters were put forward in the form of a motion which was
open to discussion. In some cases it was done once, in others three times, thus
anticipating the practice of Parliament in requiring that a bill be read a third time
before it becomes law. If the discussion showed a difference of opinion, it was to be
settled by the vote of the majority through balloting.
The Buddhist approach to political power is the
moralization and the responsible use of public power. The Buddha preached non-violence and
peace as a universal message. He did not approve of violence or the destruction of life,
and declared that there is no such thing as a ‘just’ war. He taught: ‘The victor breeds
hatred, the defeated lives in misery. He who renounces both victory and defeat is happy
and peaceful.’ Not only did the Buddha teach non-violence and peace, He was perhaps the
first and only religious teacher who went to the battlefield personally to prevent the
outbreak of a war. He diffused tension between the Sakyas and the Koliyas who were about
to wage war over the waters of Rohini. He also dissuaded King Ajatasattu from attacking
the Kingdom of the Vajjis.
The Buddha discussed the importance and the prerequisites
of a good government. He showed how the country could become corrupt, degenerate and
unhappy when the head of the government becomes corrupt and unjust. He spoke against
corruption and how a government should act based on humanitarian principles.
The Buddha once said, ‘When the ruler of a country
is just and good, the ministers become just and good; when the ministers are just and
good, the higher officials become just and good; when the higher officials are just and
good, the rank and file become just and good; when the rank and file become just and good,
the people become just and good.’(Anguttara Nikaya)
In the Cakkavatti Sihananda Sutta, the Buddha said
that immorality and crime, such as theft, falsehood, violence, hatred, cruelty, could
arise from poverty. Kings and governments may try to suppress crime through punishment,
but it is futile to eradicate crimes through force.
In the Kutadanta Sutta, the Buddha suggested
economic development instead of force to reduce crime. The government should use the
country’s resources to improve the economic conditions of the country. It could embark on
agricultural and rural development, provide financial support to entrepreneurs and
business, provide adequate wages for workers to maintain a decent life with human dignity.
In the Jataka, the Buddha had given to rules
for Good Government, known as ‘Dasa Raja Dharma’. These ten rules can be
applied even today by any government which wishes to rule the country peacefully. The
rules are as follows:
1) be liberal and avoid selfishness,
2) maintain a high moral character,
3) be prepared to sacrifice one’s own pleasure for the well-being of the subjects,
4) be honest and maintain absolute integrity,
5) be kind and gentle,
6) lead a simple life for the subjects to emulate,
7) be free from hatred of any kind,
9) practise patience, and
10) respect public opinion to promote peace and harmony.
Regarding the behavior of rulers, He further advised:
- A good ruler should act impartially and should not be
biased and discriminate between one particular group of subjects against another.- A good ruler should not harbor any form of hatred
against any of his subjects.- A good ruler should show no fear whatsoever in the
enforcement of the law, if it is justifiable.- A good ruler must possess a clear understanding of the
law to be enforced. It should not be enforced just because the ruler has the authority to
enforce the law. It must be done in a reasonable manner and with common sense. — (Cakkavatti
Sihananda Sutta)
In the Milinda Panha,it is stated: ‘If
a man, who is unfit, incompetent, immoral, improper, unable and unworthy of kingship, has
enthroned himself a king or a ruler with great authority, he is subject to be
tortured‚ to be subject to a variety of punishment by the people, because, being
unfit and unworthy, he has placed himself unrighteously in the seat of sovereignty. The
ruler, like others who violate and transgress moral codes and basic rules of all social
laws of mankind, is equally subject to punishment; and moreover, to be censured is the
ruler who conducts himself as a robber of the public.’ In a Jataka story, it is mentioned
that a ruler who punishes innocent people and does not punish the culprit is not suitable
to rule a country.
The king always improves himself and carefully
examines his own conduct in deeds, words and thoughts, trying to discover and listen to
public opinion as to whether or not he had been guilty of any faults and mistakes in
ruling the kingdom. If it is found that he rules unrighteously, the public will complain
that they are ruined by the wicked ruler with unjust treatment, punishment, taxation, or
other oppressions including corruption of any kind, and they will react against him in one
way or another. On the contrary, if he rules righteously they will bless him: ‘Long live
His Majesty.’ (Majjhima Nikaya)
The Buddha’semphasis on the moral duty of a
ruler to use public power to improve the welfare of the people had inspired Emperor Asoka
in the Third Century B.C. to do likewise. Emperor Asoka, a sparkling example of this
principle, resolved to live according to and preach the Dhamma and to serve his subjects
and all humanity. He declared his non-aggressive intentions to his neighbors, assuring
them of his goodwill and sending envoys to distant kings bearing his message of peace and
non-aggression. He promoted the energetic practice of the socio-moral virtues of honesty,
truthfulness, compassion, benevolence, non-violence, considerate behavior towards all,
non-extravagance, non-acquisitiveness, and non-injury to animals. He encouraged religious
freedom and mutual respect for each other’s creed. He went on periodic tours preaching the
Dhamma to the rural people. He undertook works of public utility, such as founding of
hospitals for men and animals, supplying of medicine, planting of roadside trees and
groves, digging of wells, and construction of watering sheds and rest houses. He expressly
forbade cruelty to animals.
Sometimes the Buddha is said to be a social reformer.
Among other things, He condemned the caste system, recognized the equality of people,
spoke on the need to improve socio-economic conditions, recognized the importance of a
more equitable distribution of wealth among the rich and the poor, raised the status of
women, recommended the incorporation of humanism in government and administration, and
taught that a society should not be run by greed but with consideration and compassion for
the people. Despite all these, His contribution to mankind is much greater because He took
off at a point which no other social reformer before or ever since had done, that is, by
going to the deepest roots of human ill which are found in the human mind. It is only in
the human mind that true reform can be effected. Reforms imposed by force upon the
external world have a very short life because they have no roots. But those reforms which
spring as a result of the transformation of man’s inner consciousness remain rooted.
While their branches spread outwards, they draw their nourishment from an unfailing source
— the subconscious imperatives of the life-stream itself. So reforms come about
when men’s minds have prepared the way for them, and they live as long as men
revitalize them out of their own love of truth, justice and their fellow men.
The doctrine preached by the Buddha is not one based on
‘Political Philosophy’. Nor is it a doctrine that encourages men to worldly pleasures. It
sets out a way to attain Nibbana. In other words, its ultimate aim is to put an end to
craving (Tanha) that keeps them in bondage to this world. A stanza from the Dhammapada
best summarizes this statement: ‘The path that leads to worldly gain is one, and
the path that leads to Nibbana(by leading a religious life)is another.’
However, this does not mean that Buddhists cannot or
should not get involved in the political process, which is a social reality. The lives of
the members of a society are shaped by laws and regulations, economic arrangements allowed
within a country, institutional arrangements, which are influenced by the political
arrangements of that society. Nevertheless, if a Buddhist wishes to be involved in
politics, he should not misuse religion to gain political powers, nor is it advisable for
those who have renounced the worldly life to lead a pure, religious life to be actively
involved in politics.
-ooOoo-
http://media.photobucket.com/user/xemoxrowkaax/media/animations%20and%20other%20stuff%20x/fvgzdfv.gif.html?filters[term]=may%20lord%20buddha%20bless%20you%20with%20peace%20and%20happiness&filters[primary]=images&filters[secondary]=videos&sort=1&o=3
https://www.scribd.com/document/53405525/Auditing-Technology-for-Evms
A multi-disciplinary, collaborative project of the California Institute of Technology – Pasadena, California 91125 and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139
AUDITING TECHNOLOGY FOR ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINES
VTP WORKING PAPER #46
2
Pages 4 to 38 are not shown in this preview.
Election transparency is the fundamental basis of election integrity.
http://www.votersunite.org/info/ElectronicVotingInBrief.pdf
Facts About Electronic Voting
Overview
Election transparency is the fundamental basis of election integrity.
In
transparent elections, all the processes of handling and counting
ballots are completely open to public view. Nothing is hidden, nothing
is secret – except, of course, each individual’s voting choices.
Election
fraud and miscounts have occurred throughout history, and they will
continue to occur. Transparency is the only way to minimize them, but
with electronic voting, transparency is removed. Electronic processes
that record and count the votes are not open to public scrutiny. Courts
have ruled that election software is a trade secret, so even a losing
candidate with a computer consultant cannot view it.
With
electronic voting, the most important and vulnerable election processes –
recording and tallying the votes – are performed in secret, without
public oversight. These processes were not developed by government
officials charged with ensuring election integrity, but by anonymous
software engineers, hired by vendors and not accountable to the public
for the quality of their work.
One would expect overwhelming
benefits to accompany this sacrifice of transparency and the resulting
loss of public control over election processes. That’s the myth.
Ironically, overwhelming disadvantages accompany the sacrifice. The
logical question is “Why make the sacrifice?” It’s a question more and
more people are asking.
The facts and examples presented in this
document are intended to dispel some of the myths surrounding electronic
voting. We must lay these myths to rest quickly, for as long as they
are believed by decision-makers, our democracy is at risk.
Some of the myth breakers in this document Page
♦ No federal law requires us to record and count votes electronically.
DREs are not the only way to provide independent voting for the disabled. 3
♦ In recent elections, electronic voting machines have:
-
forced states to hold new elections 4 - added votes not cast by voters 5
- subtracted votes cast by voters 7 - changed voters’ choices on the
screen 8 - given voters the wrong ballot 9 - passed pre-election testing
and failed on election day 10 - handed votes to the wrong candidate 11 -
reversed election outcomes 11 - broken down causing long lines during
elections 13
- recorded votes incorrectly
The facts make it clear.
Electronic voting is neither reliable nor transparent.
14
Facts About Electronic Elections 1 www.VotersUnite.Org
Contents
Overview 1 HAVA Does Not Require the Use of DREs 3
Examples of Electronic Voting Problems in the News 4
1)
New Elections Needed after Electronic Voting Failures 4 2) “Phantom”
Votes Added by Electronic Voting Machines 5 3) Software Counts to 32,767
and then Counts Backwards 7 4) Votes Jump to the Opponent on the Screen
8 5) DREs Present Incorrect Ballots to Voters 9 6) DREs Present
“Phantom” Ballots to Voters 9 7) Totals Dip into the Negative Numbers 10
DREs Pass Pre-Election Testing, Fail on Election Day 10 9)
Programming Errors Give Votes to the Wrong Candidate 11 10) Voting
Machines Present a Default Presidential Candidate 12 11) DREs Breakdown
Cause Long Lines During the Election 13 12) Some DREs Don’t Provide the
Accessibility they Promise 14
13) VVPB Demonstrates DRE Recording Error
States with significant numbers of DREs
14
Facts About Electronic Elections
2
www.VotersUnite.Org
States reporting serious DRE malfunctions since 2000
HAVA1 Does Not Require the Use of DREs2
A
common misconception is that HAVA requires one electronic voting
machine in each polling place. This is not true. Section 301(a)(3) of
HAVA requires that each polling place provide at least one voting method
that allows disabled individuals to vote in privacy. Accessibility is
required; DREs are not.
(3) Accessibility for individuals with disabilities.–The voting system shall—
(A)
be accessible for individuals with disabilities, including nonvisual
accessibility for the blind and visually impaired, in a manner that
provides the same opportunity for access and participation (including
privacy and independence) as for other voters;
(B) satisfy the
requirement of subparagraph (A) through the use of at least one direct
recording electronic voting system or other voting system equipped for
individuals with disabilities at each polling place; and
Voting
systems that record votes electronically (Direct Record Electronic –
DRE) are only one of the many available voting systems that provide
accessibility for disabled individuals. Alternative voting systems that
allow the disabled to vote unassisted are available and cost a fraction
of the price of DRE systems. For example:
♦ Electronic ballot-marking devices, such as the AutoMark by ES&S.3
♦ Ballot templates (tactile ballots) like those used in Europe and Rhode Island.4
♦ Free ballot-printing software offered by Open Voting Consortium.5
Several
DREs are also available with a printer that prints a voter-verifiable
paper record (vvpr). One of these devices in a precinct, along with an
precinct optical scanner, satisfies
the HAVA accessibility requirements.
♦
The A vante V ote-T rakker includes an integrated vvpr printer and also
has the capability of printing an optical scan ballot.6 This system has
been qualified to the 2002 standards.
♦ AccuPoll has an integrated printer for printing vvpr.7
♦ Sequoia has qualified the VeriVote system, which has an add-on vvpr printer.
♦ Diebold has applied for certification of its vvpr printer add-on.
1 http://www.fec.gov/hava/law_ext.txt
2
Direct Recording Electronic voting machine. Votes are recorded on
electronic media rather than paper. 3
http://www.essvote.com/HTML/home.html.
4 http://www.electionaccess.org/Bp/Ballot_Templates.htm.
5 http://www.openvotingconsortium.org/.
6 http://www.aitechnology.com/votetrakker2/optical.html
7 http://www.accupoll.com/
Facts About Electronic Elections 3 www.VotersUnite.Org
Examples of Electronic Voting Problems in the News
Hundreds
of election equipment malfunctions have been reported in newspapers in
recent years, more than 125 of them from the 2004 general election
alone. Here are a few examples of common problems serious enough to be
reported in the news.
1) New Elections Needed after Electronic Voting Failures
Carteret County, North Carolina. November, 2004. Unilect Patriot DRE
A memory limitation on the DRE caused 4,438 votes to be permanently lost.8
Unilect
claimed their paperless voting machines would store 10,500 votes, but
they only store 3,005. After the first 3,005 voters, the machines
accepted — but did not store — the ballots of 4,438 people in the 2004
Presidential election.
Jack Gerbel, president and owner UniLect,
admitted there was no way to retrieve the missing data. Since the
agriculture commissioner’s race was decided by a 2,287-vote margin,
there was no way to determine the winner. The State Board of Elections
ordered a new election, estimated to cost $3 million,9 but after 3
months of legal challenges, the candidate with fewer votes conceded.
Hinds County, Mississippi. November 4, 2003. AVS WINVote DRE
Voting machine malfunctions were so widespread, the Senate called for a new election.10
AVS
WINVote voting computers at some polling places failed to start up.
Others overheated and broke down during the election, and not enough
paper ballots were available to allow all voters to vote. The
Mississippi Senate decided it was impossible to determine the will of
the voters. So it declared the election invalid, and a new election was
held on February 10, 2004.
8 Computer loses more than 4,000 early
votes in Carteret. Charlotte Observer. Nov. 4, 2004. Associated Press.
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/10099907.htm
9
N.C. agriculture commissioner candidate appeals new statewide election.
North County Times. Jan. 4, 2005. By Gary D. Robertson - Associated
Press.
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/01/05/election2004/20_40_441_4_05.txt
Certify
Troxler. Winston-Salem Journal. Dec. 21, 2004.
http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_ColumnistArticle&c
=MGArticle&cid=1031779782822&path=!opinion&s=1037645509163
10 Long lines, machine malfunctions mark today’s voting
Nov. 4, 2003; By Clay Harden. http://www.clarionledger.com/news/0311/04/mvproblems.html
District
vote set; contender may quit. Democrat says he’s “been through enough”
in disputed Senate race Clarion Ledger; Jan. 21, 2004 ; By Julie
Goodman. http://www.clarionledger.com/news/0401/21/ma04.html
Facts About Electronic Elections 4 www.VotersUnite.Org
Carteret County, NC 2004 Agriculture Commissioner Contest
5,000 4,000 3,000 2,000 1,000
0
Missing Winning Votes Margin
2) “Phantom” Votes Added by Electronic Voting Machines
In
the first two months after the 2004 General Election, phantom votes
(more votes than voters) were reported in Florida, Nebraska, New Mexico,
Ohio, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Washington.11 Reports of
additional phantom votes continue to flood into the news.
Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. November, 2004. Microvote DRE
Results show nearly 3,000 more votes than voters.
According
to election-office data downloaded by the Charlotte Observer, 102,109
people voted early or returned valid absentee ballots. But unofficial
results show 106,064 people casting early and absentee votes for
president.12
Officials suspected that some results may have been
counted twice. But they were wrong. A news release from the Mecklenburg
County Board of Elections shows that some candidates gained votes in the
manual recount of the paper tapes printed by the machine.13 The machine
or the accumulation software simply tallied wrong.
Hundreds, in some cases thousands, of phantom votes have appeared in recent elections in these states.
11 http://www.votersunite.org/info/previousmessups.asp
12 County retallies early-vote results. The Charlotte Observer. Nov. 4, 2004. By Richard Rubin and Carrie
Levine. http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/politics/10094165.htm
13 Board of Elections Audits Early Voting Results; Revises Unofficial Results Released by the Mecklenburg
Board of Elections. Nov. 4, 2004. http://www.votersunite.org/info/mecklenburgnewsrelease.pdf
Facts About Electronic Elections 5 www.VotersUnite.Org
Bernalillo County, New Mexico. November, 2004. Sequoia AVC Edge DRE.
Over 2,700 early voting phantom votes appear in the canvass report.
The
New Mexico certified election results reported 2,087 phantom votes
(more votes than ballots cast) for president statewide. These phantom
votes were concentrated in Bernalillo County. The official canvass
report shows 187 precincts in Bernalillo County reporting a total of
1,239 presidential phantom votes, 309 of them on the Sequoia DREs.14
For example:
♦
Precinct 558 reported 178 early voting ballots and a total of 319 votes
for president. That’s 141 phantom votes, nearly as high as the number
of ballots.
♦ Precinct 559 reported 234 ballots, with 364 votes for president — 130 more than the number of ballots.
In
the presidential race and 12 down-ticket contests examined and shown in
the chart below, a total of 2,772 phantom votes were reported by the
electronic voting machines.
In October of 2004, Bernalillo County
Clerk Mary Herrera admitted that phantom votes had been added to
several elections over the past two years, since she installed a new
version of Sequoia WinEDS tally software. She also said her
vote-counting experts have always found the phantom votes before they
were added to the final tally.15
New Mexico Secretary of State
Rebecca Vigil-Giron says phantom votes are not possible, pointing out
that her independent auditors didn’t find irregularities like this.16
Nevertheless, they are present in the certified canvass report.
14
Bernalillo County Canvass of Returns of General Election Held on
November 2, 2004. State of New Mexico.
http://www.sos.state.nm.us/PDF/Bernalillo.pdf
Brief Summary of
Bernalillo County Election Data. Jan. 5, 2005. By Ellen Theisen.
http://www.votersunite.org/info/BernalilloSummary.pdf
15 County
clerk say phantom votes won’t be a problem. KRQE Albuquerque. Oct. 26,
2004. http://www.krqe.
com/expanded3.asp?RECORD_KEY%5BLargeHeadline%5D=ID&ID%5BLargeHeadline%5D=7425.
16
Vote Recount Fight ‘Is Not Over’. Albuquerque Journal. Dec. 24, 2004.
By Andy Lenderman. http://www.abqjournal.com/elex/278376elex12-24-04.htm
Facts About Electronic Elections 6 www.VotersUnite.Org
3) Software Counts to 32,767 and then Counts Backwards
Broward County, Florida. November 2004. ES&S Unity Tally Software
ES&S vote-tallying software loses 70,000 votes for Amendment 4.
The
bug, discovered two years ago but never fixed, began subtracting votes
after the absentee tally hit 32,500 — a ceiling put in place by the
software makers.
The problem, which resulted in the shocking
discovery of about 70,000 votes for Amendment 4, a measure allowing a
referendum on Las Vegas-style slots at parimutuels in Miami-Dade and
Broward, came to light just after midnight Wednesday when Broward’s
canvassing board shut down.17
Orange County, Florida. November,
2004. ES&S Unity Tally Software ES&S vote-tallying software
omits counting 8,400 votes.18
The precinct results posted on the
Orange County elections office Web site showed that Senator Kerry beat
President Bush by 9,227 votes in Orange County, but the posted results
were off by 8,400 votes. The margin was actually only 827 votes.
The
cause of the error, Orange officials said Thursday, was a software
program that could not tabulate more than 32,767 votes in a single
precinct. A similar discrepancy affected vote totals posted online for
the U.S. Senate race between Republican Mel Martinez and Democrat Betty
Castor.
Guilford County, North Carolina. November, 2004. Unity Tally Software
ES&S vote-tallying software changes two outcomes in Guilford County.
In Guilford County, ES&S early voting machines also had capacity problems. Retallying
changed two outcomes and gave an additional 22,000 votes to Kerry.19
Ken Carbullido, Vice President of ES&S Product Development, explained the problem to
Guilford County: 20
The
data storage element used to record votes at the precinct level is a
two byte binary field. 32,767 is 2 to the 15th power, which is the
maximum number held by a two byte word (16 bits) in memory, where the
most significant bit is reserved as the sign bit (a plus or minus
indicator). Additionally, ERM precinct count level data is stored in a
binary computer format known as two’s complement…..
In the letter, Mr. Carbullido admitted the company knew about the problem but had not advised the county.
17
Gambling vote glitch mars tally. Miami Herald. Nov. 5, 2004. By Erika
Bolstad And Curtis Morgan.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/10103931.htm
18 Distrust
fuels doubts on votes: Orange’s Web site posted wrong totals. Orlando
Sentinel. Nov. 12, 2004. By David Damron, Sentinel Staff Writer.
http://www.votersunite.org/article.asp?id=3803
19 Winner so far:
Confusion. The Charlotte Observer. Nov. 5, 2004. By Mark Johnson.
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/10104576.htm?1c
20 http://www.votersunite.org/info/GuilfordESS.pdf
Facts About Electronic Elections 7 www.VotersUnite.Org
32,767
Total Votes
0
Counting Time
4) Votes Jump to the Opponent on the Screen
Bernalillo County, New Mexico. October, 2004. Sequoia DRE
Votes for Kerry jump to Bush.
When
the same problem occurred in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, it took
some voters as many as three times to get the machine to register their
votes for Kerry instead of switching the selection to Bush.
Kim Griffith voted on Thursday— over and over and over.
She’s
among the people in Bernalillo and Sandoval counties who say they have
had trouble with early voting equipment. When they have tried to vote
for a particular candidate, the touch-screen system has said they voted
for somebody else.
It’s a problem that can be fixed by the voters
themselves— people can alter the selections on their ballots, up to the
point when they indicate they are finished and officially cast the
ballot.
For Griffith, it took a lot of altering.21 Maryland. November, 2004. Diebold DRE
Some voters manage to correct the vote-jumping on the screen, some don’t.
On
election day, TrueVoteMD registered 383 reports involving 531 incidents
of problems encountered by voters. Among a myriad of other problems
detailed in the report, many voters reported votes switching on the
screens. Here are some excerpts:22
Voter Ethel Kerscher at
Leisure World Clubhouse in Montgomery County was directed by an election
judge to use another machine after she noticed that her vote had been
switched from one candidate to another. She submitted her ballot on the
second machine, but left the polling place shaken and upset.
Voter
David Solomon at the Good Hope Community Center in Montgomery County
tried twice to vote for his preferred candidate, but each time the “X”
appeared next to another candidate’s name. After getting the assistance
of an election judge, he tried a third time and believes he was
successful—but is not certain.
Voter Robin Wayne Hood at Havre de
Grace H.S. in Harford County tried to change his erroneous selection
for president and, while doing so, accidentally submitted his
ballot—worse still, before he had made selections for the other races.
“A machine should not be allowed to do my voting for me,” he protested.
21
Some Early Voters Say Machines Mark Incorrect Choices. ABQJournal. Oct.
22, 2004. By Jim Ludwick, Journal Staff Writer.
http://abqjournal.com/elex/246845elex10-22-04.htm
22 When the Right to Vote Goes Wrong. TrueVoteMD. Nov. 2004. http://www.truevotemd.org/Election_Report.pdf
Facts About Electronic Elections 8 www.VotersUnite.Org
5) DREs Present Incorrect Ballots to Voters
Maryland. March 2004. Diebold DRE Systems
The U.S. Senate contest was omitted from ballots in three counties.
Jeffrey
Liss had finished making his selections on Maryland’s
Democratic-primary ballot and strolled out of the polling place at Chevy
Chase Elementary School on the morning of March 2, Super Tuesday. On
the sidewalk, he spied a campaign posted for Senator Barbara Mikulski,
who is running for her fourth term. Funny, he thought, he didn’t
remember voting in the Senate race.
Liss went back inside to talk
to an election official. And another, and another. He was told he must
have overlooked the Senate race on the electronic touch-screen voting
machine. But Liss, a lawyer, finally persuaded a technician to check the
apparatus. Sure enough, it wasn’t displaying the whole ballot.
According
to voter complaints collected by Mikulski, who won in the primary, her
race didn’t appear on ballots in at least three Maryland counties.23
Orange County, California. March 2004. Hart Intercivic eSlate System
Incorrect access codes gave voters incorrect ballots.
Poll
workers struggling with a new electronic voting system in last week’s
election gave thousands of Orange County voters the wrong ballots,
according to a Times analysis of election records. In 21 precincts where
the problem was most acute, there were more ballots cast than
registered voters.
At polling places where the problem was most
apparent because of turnouts exceeding 100%, an estimated 1,500 voters
cast the wrong ballots, according to the Times’ analysis of official
county election data. Tallies at an additional 55 polling places with
turnouts more than double the county average of 37% suggest at least
5,500 voters had their ballots tabulated for the wrong precincts.24
6) DREs Present “Phantom” Ballots to Voters
Honolulu,
Hawaii. September 2004. Hart Intercivic DRE. New eSlate electronic
voting machines allowed voters to choose a Green Party ballot, even
though there were no Green Party candidates. The error disenfranchised
22 voters.
State elections officials said the computerized voting
machines provided by Hart Intercivic allowed voters to “click on” a
political party, even though there weren’t any candidates running from
that party on their island.
So a couple of dozen Green Party
ballots were recorded, even though there were no candidates. “We brought
that up to the vendor already. They will change that for the next
election,” [elections spokesman Rex] Quidilla said.25
23 The
Vexations of Voting Machines. Time Magazine. May 3, 2004. By Viveca
Novak.
http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/from_redirect/0,10987,1101040503-629410,00.html
24
7,000 Orange County Voters Were Given Bad Ballots. Los Angeles Times;
March 9, 2004; By Ray F. Herndon and Stuart Pfeifer. Reproduced at:
http://www.votersunite.org/article.asp?id=1476
25 Primary
Election Runs Into Problems. HITV 4. The Hawaii Channel. Sept. 24, 2004.
http://www.thehawaiichannel.com/news/3760175/detail.html
Facts About Electronic Elections 9 www.VotersUnite.Org
Ballot
7) Totals Dip into the Negative Numbers
Mahoning County, Ohio. November 2004. ES&S DRE
Sixteen
of the county’s 312 precincts experienced problems on election day.
Some of the machines malfunctioned, others had malfunctioning “personal
electronic ballot cartridges” which are placed into the machines before
each vote to give the voter a ballot and record the votes.
One precinct showed total votes of negative 25 million. Four others had similar problems.26
Mahoning County, OH Precinct
0
-25,000,000
Voters Votes Counted
8) DREs Pass Pre-Election Testing, Fail on Election Day
Mercer County, Pennsylvania. November, 2004. Unilect Patriot DRE
Many
problems plagued the Unilect Patriot touch screens in Mercer County,
even though they had passed the pre-election testing. Mercer County’s
director of elections admitted that a computer software “glitch” caused
touch-screen voting machines to malfunction in about a dozen precincts.
Article excerpts with highlighting added:
“I don’t know what
happened,” said James Bennington, who had been assured Friday that all
250 of the county’s touch-screen units had been checked and rechecked.
The county has 100 voting precincts.
Keith Jenkins, director of
the county’s computer department, agreed that it was a software
malfunction and said repeated calls to UniLect Corp., the company that
sold the machines to the county in 2001, failed to resolve the problem.
Precincts
in Hermitage, Farrell, Wheatland, West Middlesex, Shenango Township and
Sharon experienced the most serious machine difficulties, some from the
moment the polls opened at 7 a.m. Some machines never operated, some
offered only black screens and some required voters to vote backwards,
starting on the last page of the touch-screen system and working back to
the front page.27
26 Errors plague voting process in Ohio, Pa.
Vindicator. Nov. 3, 2004. Vindicator staff.
http://www.vindy.com/basic/news/281829446390855.php
27 Errors
plague voting process in Ohio, Pa. Vindicator. Nov. 3, 2004. Vindicator
staff. http://www.vindy.com/basic/news/281829446390855.php
Back up! We need back up! Roanoke.com. Nov. 11, 2004. By Brian Gottstein. http://www.roanoke.com/columnists/gottstein/13719.html
Facts About Electronic Elections 10 www.VotersUnite.Org
9) Programming Errors Give Votes to the Wrong Candidate
Ballot
programming is unique to each election. It determines how touches on a
screen or marks on a ballot are translated into votes. Errors in ballot
programming are detected often on optical scan systems, and the actual
votes can be recovered from the paper ballots.
So many ballot
programming errors have occurred on optical scan systems that it is only
reasonable to believe that many have occurred on DRE systems as well.
However, on a DRE, miscounts caused by a ballot programming error are
almost certain to go unnoticed. Votes for one candidate could be given
to the other candidate, and there would be no way to know. There would
be no way to recover if a programming flaw were suspected.
Errors in optical scan ballot programming have caused counting errors in recent elections in these states … that we know of.
Franklin County. Indiana. November, 2004. Fidlar Optical Scan.
Straight-party
Democratic votes were counted as Libertarian. County officials and
Fidler technicians agree that an election programming error caused the
miscount. One outcome was overturned when the program was corrected.28
Carroll County, North Carolina. November, 2004. ES&S Optical Scan.
Vendor
mis-programming caused a miscount in one contest. The chip supplied by
ES&S for the election miscounted the votes for the JP District 2
race. 29
Taos County, New Mexico. November 2002. Sequoia Optical Scan.
A ballot programming error caused the Optech optical scanner to assign votes to the wrong candidates. 30
Clay County, Kansas. August 2002 Optical Scan.
The
final tally showed that one candidate for commissioner had had won, but
a hand recount showed that his opponent had won by a landslide. In one
ward, the computer had mistakenly reversed the totals.31
Bernalillo County, New Mexico. November 2000. Diebold Optical Scan.
A
flawed ballot definition file for the presidential election caused
67,000 absentee and early-voting ballots to be counted incorrectly by
the optical scan machine.32
28 Fidlar admits election blip. Quad
City Times. Nov. 13, 2004. By Tory Brecht. Reproduced at
http://www.qctimes.com/internal.php?story_id=1039447&t=Local+News&c=2,1039447
29
Computer glitch blamed for miscount in JP voting. Star Tribune. Nov.
10, 2004. By Anna Mathews, CCN staff writer.
http://www.greenforesttribune.com/articles/2004/11/10/news/s1.txt
30
Original reference from Black Box Voting, Chapter 2. Albuquerque
Journal, 7 Nov. 2002; “Taos To Recount Absentee Ballots.” The NM
Elections Division confirmed that the problem was a programming error.
31
Aug. 6 ballot problems alleged: Clay, Barton county candidates seek
review of races. Lawrence Journal- World. August 22, 2002. The
Associated Press. http://www.ljworld.com/section/election02/story/103526
Facts About Electronic Elections 11 www.VotersUnite.Org
It
is virtually impossible to detect ballot programming errors on DRE
systems, since there are no paper ballots to verify the actual votes
cast. However, here is one case when flawed ballot programming on a DRE
caused a serious election miscount. It was detected only because voters
had also used optical scan paper ballots in the election.
Dallas, Texas. April 2002. ES&S iVotronic DRE.
A
candidate for Rowlett mayor was added to the ballot four days before
the start of early voting. The change in the ballot definition wasn’t
programmed into the ES&S electronic voting machines until after
early voting began. When the results were combined with the results from
ES&S optical scan machines, the programming error caused the tally
software to improperly tally results in the mayor’s race as well as 17
other races. Nearly 5,000 of the 18,000 ballots were improperly
counted.33
Yes No
10) Voting Machines Present a Default Presidential Candidate
Travis County. Texas. October 2004. Hart Intercivic DRE
A
“default” selection is a selection automatically pre-set by the
software. It remains selected unless the user specifically chooses to
change it. To provide a default selection on a DRE voting machine is to
give a voter a ballot with a candidate already marked.
Yet,
election officials in Austin set up the eSlate DREs with Bush/Cheney as
the default choice for president/vice-president. Voters who voted a
straight party Democratic ticket watched their presidential votes
changed to Bush on the review screen. Officials said voters caused this
by pressing the wrong button on the second screen of the eSlate machine.
Gail
Fisher, manager of the county’s Elections Division, theorizes that
after selecting their straight party vote, some voters are going to the
next page on the electronic ballot and pressing “enter,” perhaps
thinking they are pressing “cast ballot” or “next page.” Since the
Bush/Cheney ticket is the first thing on the page, it is highlighted
when the page comes up – and thus, pressing “enter” at that moment
causes the Kerry/Edwards vote to be changed to Bush/Cheney. 34
32
Human error is cause of N.M. election glitch. Government Computer News;
Nov.20, 2000; Vol. 19 No. 33
http://www.gcn.com/vol19_no33/news/3307-1.html
33 Glitch affects
18 races Problems in counting early votes could alter some election
outcomes. Dallas Morning News. May 8, 2002. Ed Housewright, staff
writer.
34 County Responds to Voting Machine Problems. Austin
Chronicle. Oct. 22, 2004. By Lee Nichols.
http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2004-10-22/pols_feature18.html
Facts About Electronic Elections 12 www.VotersUnite.Org
Yes
No
0
1
11) DREs Breakdown Cause Long Lines During the Election
Broward County, Florida. October, 2004. ES&S DRE
Break downs require voters to come back the next day.
Hundreds
of voters showed up to vote early at Howard Forman Health Park, so many
that a decision was made to keep the voting facility open until 11 p.m.
Some
people waited in line from early in the day until after the sun went
down. Unfortunately, for a group of about 50 people, the waiting did not
pay off. A mechanical problem with the voting machines caused election
workers to close down the polling place.
The group of 50
frustrated voters will have the opportunity to be first in line to vote
today. Poll workers took down their numbers and names and will move them
to the head of the line.
For one couple, it may not be enough.
They were voting on Sunday because they planned to leave on vacation
today. Now they will have to choose to cancel their trip, or give up
their chance to vote.35
Across the United States36
Wait Times at Some Polling Places November 2004
35 Voters Turned Away After Waiting Hours. WPLG Local 10. Nov. 1, 2004. http://www.local10.com/news/3878344/detail.html
36
(LA) Parish by parish list of voter machine problems called in by
viewers. WWLTV.com. Nov. 2, 2004.
http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/wwl110204electionmishap.18e9b314.html
(MD) When the Right to Vote Goes Wrong. Page 7. TrueVoteMD. Nov. 2004. http://www.truevotemd.org/Election_Report.pdf
(SC)
Many Strand voters find long lines at precincts. Myrtle Beach Online.
Nov. 3, 2004. By Jenny Burns.
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/special_packages/
election2004/10085092.htm
(TX) Frustrated voters wait in long lines
due to equipment failure. ABC13 Eyewitness News. Nov. 2, 2004. By Mark
Garay. http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/news/110204_local_votingprobs.html
(VA)
New touch-screen voting machines present problems in Culpeper,
Westmoreland. The Free-Lance Star. Nov. 2, 2004.
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2004/112004/11022004/1102problemsforweb
Facts About Electronic Elections 13 www.VotersUnite.Org
12) Some DREs Don’t Provide the Accessibility they Promise
Santa Clara County, California. May, 2004. Sequoia AVC Edge.
A
survey of blind voters in Santa Clara County, California discovered
that the overwhelming majority of the voters found the the machines
unacceptable and complained that Sequoia didn’t listen to their
suggestions.37
“Very few of our members were able to vote
privately, independently, despite Santa Clara County’s supposed
‘accessible’ touch screens,'’ Dawn Wilcox, president of the Silicon
Valley Council of the Blind, wrote in a letter to the registrar of
voters after the March primary. “I feel this is an unacceptable state of
affairs.'’
… she surveyed more than 50 members of her group …Only two members said the machines had functioned smoothly. …
Four
voters said the audio function did not appear to work at all. Others
waited up to half an hour for poll workers to trouble-shoot the devices.
…
Press the yellow button.
… poor sound
quality, delayed response time and braille that was positioned so
awkwardly it could only be read upside down. Chen, the college
professor, also said the audio message required blind voters to press a
yellow button….
13) VVPB Demonstrates DRE Recording Error
Sacramento, California. August, 2004. Sequoia Veri-Vote.
In
a demonstration of its Direct Recording Electronic voting machine with a
paper trail, Sequoia demonstrated that its machine failed to report
four votes in Spanish.38
Last week, Sequoia vice president and
former California assistant secretary of state Alfie Charles was showing
off the new Veri-Vote printer that his firm is supplying to Nevada when
an astute legislative aide in Johnson’s office noticed two votes were
missing.
Charles tried again to vote in Spanish with the same
result: He cast votes on two mock ballot initiatives, but they were
absent from the electronic summary screen and the paper trail.
“The
paper trail itself seemed to work fine but what it revealed was when he
demonstrated voting in Spanish, the machine itself did not record his
vote,” Chesin said. “Programming errors can occur and the paper trail
was the way we caught it.”
37 Blind voters rip e-machines: They
say defects thwart goal of enfranchising sight-impaired. Mercury News;
May 15, 2004; By Elise Ackerman
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/8673336.htm
38
Lawmakers cut e-voting’s paper trail: Manufacturers demonstrating new
printers in Nevada were embarrassed when machine failed to recognize
votes. Tri-Valley Herald. Aug. 13, 2004. By Ian Hoffman, Staff Writer.
http://www.votersunite.org/article.asp?id=2512
Facts About Electronic Elections 14 www.VotersUnite.Org