MoJo Blog

« Soldiers Too Are "Down On the War" | Blog Index | Waiting for Cures »

Florida Candidate Denied Right To Inspect Voting Machine Software

Remember Christine Jennings, the Florida Congressional candidate against whom the Republican Party spent $58 million on robo calls? The people who received such calls about Jennings were misled by the calls' content and thought that they were being warned about her by her own political party. They learned differently only if they listened to the entire call, which most of them did not. But when they hung up, they would be called again. And again. Most people, of course, did not want to listen to the entire call.

In Florida's 13th District, Jennings lost by under 380 votes. In Sarasota County, 18,000 votes did not register on the voting machines, making matters even worse.

Today, it was announced that a Leon County judge has turned down Jennings' request to access the secret software that operates the voting machines in the 13th District of Florida. Just as bad, House Democrats announced they would do nothing to obstruct the seating of the district's new Congressman, Vern Buchanan. The judge said that Jennings' experts relied on conjecture and speculation, and did not provide "credible evidence" that warranted the candidate's inspecting the source code used for the voting machine software.

Posted by Diane E. Dees on 12/30/06 at 5:22 PM | E-mail | Print | Digg | de.licio.us | Reddit | Newsvine | Yahoo! MyWeb | StumbleUpon | Netscape | Google |



Comments

This will all with crying.

Posted by: shaun stevens on 12/30/06 at 6:54 PM

"This will all with crying.

Posted by: shaun stevens on 12/30/06 at 6:54 PM"

What? You want to fix that syntax for us?

Posted by: D.Rose on 12/30/06 at 7:46 PM

This has the appearance of a major setback for Democracy that will not be acknowledged until the 2008 Presidential elections. That would be too late. I certainly hope people on the left (at least) complain about this as loudly as possible. I hope that Christine Jennings, sick though she may be, carries on. The presumption that the code on a automated voting machine is not in the public domain seems at odds with the principle of voting. Why should such code be the property of voting machine manufacturers? Who denies that this information cannot be manipulated? Our only protection against such manipulation is the sunshine of public scrutiny.

Posted by: George Seals on 12/30/06 at 10:31 PM

George you said it well. As a software developer I am well aware that any software I develop for a cliet is the property of that client. As 'the world's greatest democracy' we certainly have the right to determine the accuracy of our voting systems. Otherwise our electoral process is just a sham that is no better than the puppet 'democracies' that we support.

Posted by: DaveD on 12/31/06 at 7:02 AM

Well folks, it's simple, if you can't get to see the code you can never get the proof! Every thing out there is now top secret! So that is proof that it's illegal under the old laws, but, who pays any attention to them anyway? who's going to enforce them? Surely not the criminals running your government!

Posted by: Ranselar VanDerpoel on 12/31/06 at 7:05 AM

Post a comment





 

RECENT COMMENTS

The Petraeus/Crocker Report: It's Crocker Time! (Part Three) (1)
Ames Tideman wrote: The testimony was a complete mess. ... [more]

Scientific Proof That Liberals Are Smarter (4)
MoonDragon wrote: Can we bias any study to show a tendency for desired resul... [more]

Protesters in Berkeley: Up a Tree and Fenced In (13)
Brian K wrote: Kirilovslogic, Wow. Im not talking about sucking up to th... [more]

NRA Offers Free Memberships to Soldiers (Step Up, Costco) (17)
Brian K wrote: Sneezer, First of all it is NOT his "topic sentance" it is... [more]

MoveOn, Anbar, and Lantos: Final Thoughts on the Petraeus and Crocker Hearing (1)
Eric Ferguson wrote: You're not too deep in the weeds on that point about Irani... [more]

Chuck Hagel, Next SecDef? (4)
bob t wrote: Wes Clark(Catholic) would be my first choice, but Hagel co... [more]

Scientific Proof That Liberals Are Not Smarter (4)
Eric Ferguson wrote: The message intended was a good one, because Petraeus has ... [more]

Happy Anniversary, Katrina Victims! You Could Celebrate With Cash if You Weren't So Unscrupulous (5)
jah wrote: I was annoyed by your title, but i understand and relate t... [more]

White House Advisor Appears to Taunt Bin Laden (10)
Jaime Galarza wrote: It reminds me of the now infamous "Bring them on" comment.... [more]

Donald Rumsfeld: Not Done Lying! (3)
Jonathan Stein wrote: Yes, Dan.... [more]

XML RSS Feed

Powered by
Movable Type 3.33

Jail.org - Inmate Search
Criminal records, instant public records & people search & current court records. www.jail.org

U.S. Public Records Search
Search County & State Court Records, Criminal records, Vital and Adoption Records www.PublicRecordsInfo.com

Records.com - People Search
Public Records and Background Checks. Instantly Search Criminal Records, Addresses and Court Records www.Records.com

Court Records & County Records
Find Instant Public Records, Criminal Records as Well as County Property Records Search. www.PublicRecordsIndex.com

















bookIN PRINT

CLICK HERE
for more great reading

headphones IN TUNE
New music every issue

CLICK TO LISTEN


This article has been made possible by the Foundation for National Progress, the Investigative Fund of Mother Jones, and gifts from generous readers like you.

© 2007 The Foundation for National Progress

About Us   Support Us   Advertise   Ad Policy   Privacy Policy   Contact Us   Subscribe   RSS