Bev Harris storms Volusia County FL, home of Daytona Beach. Volusia was the scene of the least-known crime in Stolen Election 2000, when the county's Diebold machines registered NEGATIVE 16,022 votes for Al Gore. That "error" caused the Gore campaign to believe Gore lost Florida, prompting Gore to call Bush privately to concede. Gore then headed for a public concession, when the "error" was found - so Gore decided not to concede. In January 2001, Volusia finally got an "explanation" for the "error" from Diebold - which should have convinced every election official to throw out their electronic voting machines. But no, Volusia kept its machines, which made news again on 11-1-04 when a bad memory card made it impossible to count 13,000 ballots.

TUESDAY NOV 16 2004: Volusia County on lockdown

County election records just got put on lockdown

Dueling lawyers, election officials gnashing teeth, Votergate.tv film crew catching it all.

Here's what happened so far:

Friday Black Box Voting investigators Andy Stephenson and Kathleen Wynne popped in to ask for some records. They were rebuffed by an elections official named Denise. Bev Harris called on the cell phone from investigations in downstate Florida, and told Volusia County Elections Supervisor Deanie Lowe that Black Box Voting would be in to pick up the Nov. 2 Freedom of Information request, or would file for a hand recount. "No, Bev, please don't do that!" Lowe exclaimed. But this is the way it has to be, folks. Black Box Voting didn't back down.

Monday Bev, Andy and Kathleen came in with a film crew and asked for the FOIA request. Deanie Lowe gave it over with a smile, but Harris noticed that one item, the polling place tapes, were not copies of the real ones, but instead were new printouts, done on Nov. 15, and not signed by anyone.

Harris asked to see the real ones, and they said for "privacy" reasons they can't make copies of the signed ones. She insisted on at least viewing them (although refusing to give copies of the signatures is not legally defensible, according to Berkeley elections attorney, Lowell Finley). They said the real ones were in the County Elections warehouse. It was quittin' time and an arrangment was made to come back this morning to review them.

Lana Hires, a Volusia County employee who gained some notoriety in an election 2000 Diebold memo, where she asked for an explanation of minus 16,022 votes for Gore, so she wouldn't have to stand there "looking dumb" when the auditor came in, was particularly unhappy about seeing the Black Box Voting investigators in the office. She vigorously shook her head when Deanie Lowe suggested going to the warehouse.

Kathleen Wynne and Bev Harris showed up at the warehouse at 8:15 Tuesday morning, Nov. 16. There was Lana Hires looking especially gruff, yet surprised. She ordered them out. Well, they couldn't see why because there she was, with a couple other people, handling the original poll tapes. You know, the ones with the signatures on them. Harris and Wynne stepped out and Volusia County officials promptly shut the door.

There was a trash bag on the porch outside the door. Harris looked into it and what do you know, but there were poll tapes in there. They came out and glared at Harris and Wynne, who drove away a small bit, and then videotaped the license plates of the two vehicles marked 'City Council' member. Others came out to glare and soon all doors were slammed.

So, Harris and Wynne went and parked behind a bus to see what they would do next. They pulled out some large pylons, which blocked the door. Harris decided to go look at the garbage some more while Wynne videotaped. A man who identified himself as "Pete" came out and Harris immediately wrote a public records request for the contents of the garbage bag, which also contained ballots -- real ones, but not filled out.

A brief tug of war occurred, tearing the garbage bag open. Harris and Wynne then looked through it, as Pete looked on. He was quite friendly.

Black Box Voting collected various poll tapes and other information and asked if they could copy it, for the public records request. "You won't be going anywhere," said Pete. "The deputy is on his way."

Yes, not one but two police cars came up and then two county elections officials, and everyone stood around discussing the merits of the "black bag" public records request.

The police finally let Harris and Wynne go, about the time the Votergate.tv film crew arrived, and everyone trooped off to the elections office. There, the plot thickened.

Black Box Voting began to compare the special printouts given in the FOIA request with the signed polling tapes from election night. Lo and behold, some were missing. By this time, Black Box Voting investigator Andy Stephenson had joined the group at Volusia County. Some polling place tapes didn't match. In fact, in one location, precinct 215, an African-American precinct, the votes were off by hundreds, in favor of George W. Bush and other Republicans.

Hmm. Which was right? The polling tape Volusia gave to Black Box Voting, specially printed on Nov. 15, without signatures, or the ones with signatures, printed on Nov. 2, with up to 8 signatures per tape?

Well, then it became even more interesting. A Volusia employee boxed up some items from an office containing Lana Hires' desk, which appeared to contain -- you guessed it -- polling place tapes. The employee took them to the back of the building and disappeared.

Then, Ellen B., a voting integrity advocate from Broward County, Florida, and Susan, from Volusia, decided now would be a good time to go through the trash at the elections office. Lo and behold, they found all kinds of memos and some polling place tapes, fresh from Volusia elections office.

So, Black Box Voting compared these with the Nov. 2 signed ones and the "special' ones from Nov. 15 given, unsigned, finding several of the MISSING poll tapes. There they were: In the garbage.

So, Wynne went to the car and got the polling place tapes she had pulled from the warehouse garbage. My my my. There were not only discrepancies, but a polling place tape that was signed by six officials.

This was a bit disturbing, since the employees there had said that bag was destined for the shredder.

By now, a county lawyer had appeared on the scene, suddenly threatening to charge Black Box Voting extra for the time spent looking at the real stuff Volusia had withheld earlier. Other lawyers appeared, phoned, people had meetings, Lana glowered at everyone, and someone shut the door in the office holding the GEMS server.

Black Box Voting investigator Andy Stephenson then went to get the Diebold "GEMS" central server locked down. He also got the memory cards locked down and secured, much to the dismay of Lana. They were scattered around unsecured in any way before that.

Everyone agreed to convene tomorrow morning, to further audit, discuss the hand count that Black Box Voting will require of Volusia County, and of course, it is time to talk about contesting the election in Volusia.

"Contesting the election" - now that's serious! You go, Bev! Keep up with the latest developments in this exciting story at DemocraticUnderground.

For the record, here is the "official" version in the Daytona Beach News-Journal:

County attorney Daniel Eckert said Lowe had reprinted records because she believed poll workers' signatures on originals were protected under public records law. He said the county is providing the records as requested.

Sure they are - so why are Bev & Co. being forced to rummage through the trash?

Moving up I-95, Dr. David Dill says North Carolina "has the worst election problem in the country RIGHT NOW" - specifically:

Lost: 4,500 votes in Carteret County - this is the consequence of e-voting without a proper paper trail.

Omitted: entire precinct of 1,209 votes in Gaston County left out of Nov 2 Count.

Missing: 12,000 votes not reported by Diebold Software in Gaston County.

Bamboozled: In 2003 Guilford County bought vote tabulating software that used over a decade old technology, it was already obsolete when purchased. This software released presidential vote totals that were off by 22,000 votes.

More votes than cast: Craven County reported 11,283 more votes for president than cast, voting software same as in Guilford County.

Daniel Hopsicker looked behind the curtain at electronic voting companies and didn't like what he saw:

The Big Fix 2004:
Part I: Convicted Felons, ‘Shadowy Financiers' Own Companies Counting Votes

An investigation into the surprisingly-sordid history of America’s election services industry has revealed that executives and owners of the two largest companies, E S & S and Sequoia Pacific, have been convicted of bribery and suborning public officials in more than a dozen states.

While a felony conviction may be enough to prevent you from voting in Florida, convicted felons can take heart in the fact that the blemish on their record in no way disqualifies them from owning companies counting the votes.

Prima facie evidence that this year’s American Presidential Election was fixed can be found in the recent statements by numerous computer security experts of their simple conclusion: It could have been.

If you leave the door to the bank vault open, sooner or later you’re going to get robbed, said one. Its just human nature. And besides, fixing elections is far more lucrative than robbing banks.

Meanwhile back to Ohio. Could Kerry win Ohio in a recount? This came up in yesterday's Stolen Election update. There is a (long) DailyKos thread that goes into great detail. If you have time to read it all, feel free to post any useful findings below.

The Boston Globe is feeling the heat from Democratic activists who believe the media is ignoring the Stolen Election story. Reporter Mark Jurkowitz tries to dismiss rumors that the media has a "lock-down" on the story by interviewing CBS spokeswoman Sandy Genelius - as though she speaks for the entire corporate media.