Georgia Voting Machines & Processes Designed to Catch Fraud at the Precinct

Atlanta Journal-Constitution ^ | 11/8/2016 | Mark Niesse

[poconopundit]

Voted today for my first time in Georgia. And the system looks well organized. It's electronic: quite different than the computing registration list printouts and older voting machines I saw in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. If fraud occurs, it probably happens at the county or state level where machines add up the votes.  It would nice to know what checks and balances happen when the votes are actually tabulated there. The article gives a nice explanation and diagram of automation and processes at the precinct level: Because of concerns about hacking, ballots are stored on 48 megabyte rectangular memory cards — one for each of the 27,000 electronic voting machines across the state.  These memory cards are different from the yellow cards given to voters, which contain a code that tells the voting machine to display the ballot but don't store any vote information. When polls close on Election Day, poll workers shut down each electronic voting machine and verify that three numbers match: the paper certificates voters fill out when they arrive, the electronic list of voters and the total ballots recorded by the machines manufactured by Diebold Election Systems. This process helps prevent fraud and ensure votes have been counted accurately. Because voting machines don't use the internet, there's little risk of tampering, said DeKalb Elections Director Maxine Daniels. They can't steal the election because those units are never connected to each other, she said. The memory cards at each precinct are sealed in a bag, then driven from precincts to county election offices...  Once election officials have the memory cards in hand, they load them into a computer that counts every race.

[Snowybear]

Broken link, can’t seem to find it on their page.

[poconopundit]

Sorry about the broken link. The article is:

Even with electronic voting, counting ballots lasts into the night

[justlurking]

What prevents corrupt poll workers from voting for people that didn't show up on election day?

The tallies will all match. Is there another measure that prevents poll worker fraud (aside from observers)?

I'm not asking a rhetorical question, as this is the real flaw in many of our voting systems. If Georgia has addressed it, I would be interesting in how they do it.

[DIRTYSECRET]

Simple question: Does it or does it not work?

[FreeAtlanta]

I worry about the cards getting to the counters.

We give them to the poll work, it is put in a pile on the table, then what?

I think it is a grew argument ag as inst having any indicator of who you are voting for. Colors, hats etc. You don’t want you card “recycled”.

[Grimmy]

By fraud they mean any vote not for the DNC chosen one, right?

[MortMan]

This is why the poll workers and watchers are multi-partisan. The R workers watch the D workers, and vice versa.

No system is perfect, but Georgia’s is rational, has backup to the electronic, and is designed to ensure a fair election.

If any party finds a way around the system, then adjustments will have to be made (after the perp gets ‘adjusted’).

[Dr. Sivana]

What prevents corrupt poll workers from voting for people that didn't show up on election day?

Besides the signature on the piece of paper (which would be harder to fake if you have dozens or more filled out by the same person), i BELIEVE INFO FROM THE PHOTO id THAT MUST BE PRESENTED (E.G. Driver's License #) also is recorded, at least the type of photo ID. This isn't Wisconsin, where people were using store fliers addressed to occupant for ID. As someone else noted, there should be folks from both parties. If traffic is light, and the Republican watcher is a shill (or absent), then it can be faked, but so can any other system, including paper ballots.

[FreeAtlanta]

Wow, just re-read that and it read like a Hillary stroke.

I typed it out on my phone while waiting for Zestos fast food. Apologies to all.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Mr. GG2 had to be a real Ahole at the poll this morning. There was a burka babe waving a sign out front and then a guy posing as press by the door with no credentials. Mr. GG2 challenged him and when the guy could not show Credentials he went inside and started raising sand til the poll workers went out and ran off both of them. The supervisor remembered Mr. GG2 from last year. LOL!

[Conan the Librarian]

I’ve voted in Georgia all my adult life. The card system works very well (except for the time my Mom shoved the card, not, into the slot, but, into the body of the machine...I think they fished it out).

Anyway, I have always felt that if there was going to be any fraud in a Georgia election (and there probably will be) it would be for the state, county, or, local elections, NOT, the Feds. At least in South Georgia.

Things are better now, but, in the past, if you didn’t run as a Democrat, you didn’t get elected locally. If Hitler and Stalin had run in South Georgia, and, they ran Democrat, there would have been a run off.

It’s a little more rational now.

[poconopundit]

Good job to the Mr. GG2!

When you come down to it, an honest checking process is needed top to bottom. If the precinct is not being run correctly, then citizens need to complain.

Likewise, the precincts need to be vigilant of what's going on at the county level and so forth.

Citizen education on the way their votes are counted and processed is quite valuable to voting integrity, but I've never heard of a lecture being given on this topic.

Let's keep our finger crossed on what happens at the POTUS level today.

[poconopundit]

Yes, are you referring to the yellow plastic cards that have a chip on them and look like credit cards?

I thought about that today, too.  I was concerned that by linking the data at the registration table to the voting booth machine, the voting officials would be able to figure who I voted for. But I thought about this a bit and here's what I concluded.

• First, the yellow cards cannot store new information. They are read-only. So no voting information is voting data is held in the yellow cards
  
  
• The yellow cards are designed to be rotated -- used by many voters. There should be enough yellow cards for each machine plus a number of spares to account for people waiting in line as they go through the registration process and wait for a polling machine to free up.
  
  
• One purpose of the yellow cards is to verify that someone at the voting booth actually went through the registration process.
  
  
• Second, when polls close and it's time to pull data from each polling machine at a precinct, the number of times a particular yellow card was used can be added up and compared to the number of times the registration machines signed in a particular yellow card for use. It serves as an audit check.

Would love to hear from an expert to tell me if my analysis is correct.

[poconopundit]

Very interesting, Conan. I learned a lot about the history of Democratic voting in the South by seeing movie:

Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party

Excellent production values and message -- and now available to view for free on YouTube.

[Snowybear]

Thanks!

[SgtHooper]

Precisely! Just look at the list of voters who didn’t show, and vote them in. The system has so many holes. We need Iraqis and their system here to do it right!