To summarize, San Diego recently held an election on June 25, 2005, in which voters used Diebold optical scanning machines, and then as part of a citizens' audit parallel vote, voted again on ballots that were sealed. When the sealed ballots were compared to the optical scan tallies, there was a statistically significant shift of 4% from the Democrat, Donna Frye, to her two Republican challengers. Oddly enough, this same Democrat had lost a previous election when a Republican registrar threw out 5,000+ ballots because voters didn't check a box along with writing in her name.
As a result, a Republican was elected, and he later had to resign because of financial scandals, as did the acting Democratic mayor. And now this:
QUOTE
The Citizens Audit Parallel Election (CAPE) asked voters exiting polls to vote again and sign a log book attesting to the accuracy of their second vote. Sealed parallel election ballots were counted at KGTV's studio with a TV camera crew filming the counting process.
Nearly 50 percent of all voters participated in the parallel election, which included five polling places representing 11 precincts. The sample included more conservative than liberal precincts, with participation as high among Republicans as among Democrats. The tandem election results showed what most feel to be startling results.
\"There is a shift of four percent of the vote, consistently,\" Joe Prizzi, (engineer and physicist,) reported at a press conference held by CAPE in front of City Hall. Frye received 50.2 percent of the votes cast in the parallel election - enough for an outright victory if those results reflect the outcome citywide. CAPE also found that the official count added approximately 2 percent to each of Frye's two Republican opponents, Jerry Sanders and Steve Francis.
In addition, CAPE examined the only other ballot measure, a proposition over a war memorial cross on public land. The proposition's vote total also appeared to have been padded by 4 percent in the official election tally, which was certified Friday August 19 by San Diego County's newly appointed Registrar of Voters, Republican Mikel Haas.
Citizens are now requesting a recount, because of the statistical anomaly. There's more in the article about California state politics and the question of whether a paper trail will be required.Nearly 50 percent of all voters participated in the parallel election, which included five polling places representing 11 precincts. The sample included more conservative than liberal precincts, with participation as high among Republicans as among Democrats. The tandem election results showed what most feel to be startling results.
\"There is a shift of four percent of the vote, consistently,\" Joe Prizzi, (engineer and physicist,) reported at a press conference held by CAPE in front of City Hall. Frye received 50.2 percent of the votes cast in the parallel election - enough for an outright victory if those results reflect the outcome citywide. CAPE also found that the official count added approximately 2 percent to each of Frye's two Republican opponents, Jerry Sanders and Steve Francis.
In addition, CAPE examined the only other ballot measure, a proposition over a war memorial cross on public land. The proposition's vote total also appeared to have been padded by 4 percent in the official election tally, which was certified Friday August 19 by San Diego County's newly appointed Registrar of Voters, Republican Mikel Haas.
Does anyone else know if a citizens' audit parallel voting system is in place anywhere else? Also, the article mentions Ohio, where there have been lots of questions about the voting procedures in the 2004 elections, and where Diebold holds sway.