By Luther Weeks on February 8, 2017
Journal Inquirer Editorial, Monday: ARE ILLEGAL ALIENS VOTING IN CONNECTICUT?
Our letter sent yesterday:
I agree with the sentiment but not the details of your editorial…There is a better solution…The solution is routine, independent, and publicly verifiable audits of all aspects of election administration. With such audits, we would not be in this situation…
Posted in CT, National, Our Editorials, Post-Election Audits
By Luther Weeks on January 26, 2017
I was going to write a post discussing the allegations of “widespread illegal immigrant voter fraud”. Yet, voter fraud is not the problem; Russian hacking is not the problem; Immigrants are not the problem; How many attended the inauguration is not the issue.
The problem is that, like Three Card Monte, the controversy takes our our attention off the real issues.
Posted in NonScienceNonsense, Our Editorials
By Luther Weeks on December 15, 2016
CT Mirror Viewpoints
Last week, without public notice, seven Connecticut municipalities conducted electronic “audits” under the guidance of the UConn Center for Voting Technology and the Secretary of the State’s Office, using the Audit Station developed by the Voter Center.
There is a science of election audits. Machine-assisted audits can offer efficiency and ease of use, but any audit process needs to be transparent and provide for independent public verification of the results.
Posted in CT, Our Editorials, Post-Election Audits
By Luther Weeks on December 8, 2016
State and Federal have ruled that Jill Stein does not have standing to call for a recount in Michigan.
Our Opinion: The Michigan law[and or this ruling] is an ass, every single voter in the United States has an interest in the vote in every state, in every municipality, and that the vote of each voter is counted and totaled accurately. Each of those plays a part in selecting our President and the majorities in the U.S. House and Senate.
Posted in National, Our Editorials, Post-Election Audits
By Luther Weeks on December 3, 2016
We have all seen many articles and posts on the recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. We are likely to see many more. For now, here are a few points about the recounts:
- I am entirely in favor of thorough post-election audits and recounts.
- I am entirely in favor of the recounts initiated by Jill Stein.
- Even if there is no change in the state winners, Election Integrity has won already
- Yet, maybe we will not win that much in the end
- All the objections to the recounts are partisan
Posted in National, Our Editorials, Post-Election Audits
By Luther Weeks on November 28, 2016
In the summer of 2008 I was on a panel in Fairfield, CT. I opened with remarks on “What Do You Want”. I said voters want five things and what Connecticut could do about them in the short run (three steps over two years). The two years passed and little changed, so in 2010 I repeated the post as What Do YOU [still] Want? Here we are in late 2016 and little has changed for the better:
Posted in CT, Our Editorials, Post-Election Audits
By Luther Weeks on October 30, 2016
In 2007 the Maryland Legislature mandated a switch to optical scan paper ballots. Just this year they have been implemented. Unfortunately, instead of an audit of the paper they opted for an entirely electronic audit of electronic scanned records, at a cost of about double per citizen than that of Connecticut’s manual paper audit.
I assisted in writing and editing an op-ed in the Baltimore Sun and testimony before the Board of Elections.
The terms “feel good ‘audit'”, “sham ‘audit'” etc. come to mind. We prefer to call it a “Back Box ‘Audit'” .
Posted in Our Editorials, Post-Election Audits
By Luther Weeks on June 10, 2016
Two events in the last week or so prompt this post. First, last Saturday I was at the Reason Rally at the Lincoln Memorial. One speaker said “Be skeptical of everything”. A later speaker assured us, among other things, that two things I believe to be true were actually conspiracy theories.
Second, a recent series of posts by Richard Charmin, essentially claiming that in many states the primary was stolen.
So, where do I come out? I stand with Carl Sagan who said, “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” and the speaker at the Reason Rally who said to “be skeptical of everything”. Here we have competing extraordinary claims:
- By Richard Charmin: That, in a large number of states the election results were manipulated in favor of a single candidate.
- Implicitly by complacence: “Move on, nothing to see here, exit polls are always wrong in the U.S. Don’t be concerned that every time someone brings this up, they are always wrong in favor of one candidate or party”
Posted in Common Sense, HowDoWeKnow
By Luther Weeks on May 2, 2016
UPDATE: The bill passed the House unanimously, including several who responded to your emails with promises they would not vote to cut the audits.
The Connecticut Senate has passed S.B. 252. If the House passes and the Governor signs the bill it will be another national embarrassment for Connecticut, doing the wrong thing at precisely the worst time.
We have voter-verified paper ballots. To be valuable and provide confidence they must be used for strong, publicly verified, post-election audits. You can help. Tell your legislators that you want stronger audits, not weaker audits. Tell them to oppose S.B. 252. Then consider volunteering one day after each election and primary to observe with the Citizen Audit.
Posted in CT, Our Editorials, Post-Election Audits
By Luther Weeks on March 28, 2016
After the long lines in some states in 2012, President Obama said “We Have To Fix That“. Four years and a Presidential Commission later, it seems, at least Arizona is going the wrong way.
The results, entirely predictable, were endless lines akin to those that await the release of new iPhones.
We say:
- Any disenfranchisement, disenfranchises every voter in the United States. Our vote and democracy is distorted by the disenfranchisement of others. We could have a different President and different party in power next January based on a distorted result.
- Even if there was no disenfranchisement, (unlikely from what we see at this point), our democracy suffers from the lack of credibility unless the issues are investigated and effectively fully resolved.
Posted in National, Our Editorials, Skulduggery and Errors