Privatization of Voting Machines - Were you present, did you know

E S & S Unity 3.2.00 Rev 3 Voting System

MILWAUKEE (MPA) - August 13, 2012, Thanks to "Lovely Lady Forward", we have Notice of a two-day sales briefing held by the WI Government Accountability Board on Electronic Voting Machines.

In a communication to the WI Government Accountability Board, Jim Mueller, Co-Founder and Director - Wisconsin Counts, wrote these comments:

In Wisconsin, as elsewhere in the nation, there has been a concerted push by corporate interests to eliminate the public counting of votes. This privatization of our election processes has been advanced by laws and rules that:

1) Require the use of electronic voting systems (the systems were lobbied for by the private organizations that manufacture, sell, program and maintain them),

2) Permit the programming to be kept secret,

3) Prevent sworn election inspectors from auditing the tabulated results.

4) Make it impossible for Citizen Audits to occur before results are finalized.

5) Prevent a manual counting of votes in a recount.

With the use of electronic voting systems there have been reports of mistakes and many more reports of improbable results. Numerous studies including several from major universities and other credible organization have demonstrated the vulnerability of the electronic voting systems (see http://dvice.com/voting/machines.php for a few examples).

Under Wisconsin Statute 15.607, you as the Administrator of the Election Division appoint the members of the Wisconsin Election Administration Council. You presently have 13 government officials/employees, 3 members representing special needs voters and 2 members representing organizations that advocate for public interests (League of Women Voters of Wisconsin and Citizen Action of Wisconsin). To my knowledge neither of the two public interest groups has focused on the election integrity issues surrounding the use of electronic voting systems.

FOR MORE

===========
To get WI Government Accountability Board notices, email:  reid.magney@wi.gov.