Press Release - Conflict Between Lamone and County Records Raises Question

[JohnGideon]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: TrueVoteMD
March 11, 2005 Linda Schade 301-270-6665
Kevin Zeese 301-996-6582 cell

Conflict Between Lamone and County Records Raises Questions
TrueVoteMd Files Open Records Request
Accurate Statewide Information Sought on Costly System's Election Day Failures
Independent Audit Needed

Montgomery County, Maryland. Public statements made by State Elections Administrator Lamone yesterday conflicted starkly with official Montgomery County records of machine failures. This prompted the election integrity group TrueVoteMd to file an Open Records Request with the State Board to clarify the scope of computer malfunctions in each of Maryland's 23 counties and Baltimore City. (The request is included below.)

The Montgomery County Election Board's official report, "2004 Presidential General Election Review: 'Lessons Learned,'" on page 11 documents a 12% failure rate - a level considered unacceptable by the Federal Elections Commission (http://www.truevotemd.org/Resources/Lessons_Learned.pdf). Specifically,
189 units (7%) of units deployed failed on Election Day, and of those, 106 units experienced screen freezes
122 additional (5%) units suspect because few votes were captured compared to other units at the precincts
Ms. Lamone who told the Maryland Gazette that "26 (less than 1%) had problems directly related to voting"; -- while the County reported 106 (4%) of machines had problems from screen freezes alone.

"Somebody is wrong. Ms. Lamone should make those records public - not hide from them," said Kevin Zeese an attorney who filed the request with the SBE on behalf of TrueVoteMd. "An informed public and legislature will make better decisions on pending legislation - rather than decisions confused by conflicting information." County Boards have been required by Lamone to submit detailed reports on Election Day machine performance.

Four months after the November 2004 election, at a March 3, 2005 meeting the Montgomery Board openly discussed Diebold's continuing effort to explain failures in Montgomery County raising questions about whether the state's entire voting system will be ready in time for the 2006 elections. "It's time to look at the facts. The public needs accurate and complete information -- a full audit by independent investigators. Don't take my word for it but if Diebold is still struggling to explain problems four months after the election -- in the first of 23 counties plus Baltimore -- we may be looking at a statewide recall," stated Linda Schade co-founder of TrueVoteMD.org.

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TrueVoteMD.org
A Campaign for Verifiable Voting
7711 Garland Ave. * Takoma Park, MD 20912 * 301-270-9150



March 10, 2005



Linda Lamone
Maryland Board of Elections
P.O. Box 6486
Annapolis, MD 21401-0486
Fax: [phone]

Request for Records Related to Election Day 2004



Dear Ms. Lamone:

This is a request for records relating to the performance of the Diebold voting machines on Election Day 2004.

This request seeks all information, reports, lists, and other documentation of overall performance and any problems of any type with the Diebold voting machines for the November 2004 election; also all correspondence with the Diebold corporation regarding the operations, maintenance, deployment, checking, troubleshooting, and help desk tickets; any other communications with Diebold regarding performance troubles and issues for this election and any correspondence or records related to any tests that might have been conducted to determine the causes of problems. We are also interested in knowing if the state has any record of the machines and the memories ever having been tested to IEC 61000-4-2 (for electrostatic disruption). This request also includes all correspondence with county election officials concerning problems of any type with the Diebold voting machines for the November election and any reports they have provided to the state Board of Elections on this matter.


This request is made on behalf of TrueVoteMD.org a non-profit educational organization and therefore we request that all copying costs be waived. This information is intended to inform the public about the reliability of voting machines used in Maryland and thus will be used in the public interest.


Sincerely,



Kevin B. Zeese

[Wilms]

1. I feel bad for the MD voters

But this case might really help make our case.

Thanks MD. We owe ya.

[MissWaverly]

2. thanks for posting this

I am so happy that this is all coming out, I hope that they include the Sequoia AVC Advantage 315 that was used in Baltimore City, the rest of Maryland used AccuVote-TS-Model ES 2000 (Diebold). I also hope that they show missing votes, ie people voted and they were lost in the final count. Poll books numbers vs numbers of electronic votes.

Thanks for posting and thanks to all the hard workers at TrueVoteMD.org

[mod mom]

3. Too much silence from all these nationwide allegations :(

Where is the outrage from the Democratic Leadership? If it wasn't for the pressure put on by the House Judiciary Democrats (who unfortunately have no subpoena power and can't hold hearing), I am starting to think the Democrats would have just dismissed us.

John Conyers-2005 Man of the Year!

[berniew1]

4. True vote had a very good election protection program in 6% of precincts

and documented a lot of problems in Maryland.
touch screen switching
freezeups
other glitches
suppression of minority voters
see their web site www.truevoteMD.org (I think)

The Election Protection EIRS hotline reports system also had a lot of
documentation of significant problems in Maryland, including all of the above and more. Maryland, like most swing states, had lots of fraud, malfeasance, systematic dirty tricks, glitches, manipulation, etc.
http://www.flcv.com/maryland.html

[MissWaverly]

5. Thanks for posting this

a lot of the statistics I wrote are on there, thanks for posting.

You made my day!

[loudsue]

6. Kevin Zeese needs to contact Conyers on this! YIPPEEEE!!

The more States we tackle one at a time, the more "glitches" start showing up in courtrooms.

I say.....

GO FOR IT!

:kick::kick::kick::kick::kick::kick::kick:

[Andy_Stephenson]

7. And in case she doesn't have enuf to do....

Dear Ms Lamone,

This is a request under the Maryland Public Information Act, State Government

Article §§10-611 to 628. I am making this request on behalf of Black Box Voting a 501 (c) 3 Corporation. We are a "Consumer Protection for Elections" organization. I would like to inspect all records in your custody and control pertaining to the following:

(A) Your letter dated May 20th 2004 to Bob Urosevich of Diebold inquiring about The VoteHere VHTi technology.

(B) A letter dated May 26th 2004 ...sent to you by Jim Adler of VoteHere and copied to Bob Urosevich of Diebold Election Systems regarding a pilot test of the VoteHere VHTi technology.

(C) Notes from any subsequent meetings, or phone calls as a result of those letters.

(D) All Phone records, messages, long distance records e-mail's and correspondence contact between you and any employee or officer of VoteHere as a result of those letters.

If all or any part of this request is denied, I request that I be provided with a written statement of the grounds for the denial. If you determine that some portions of the requested records are exempt from disclosure, please provide me with the portions that can be disclosed.

I also anticipate that I will want copies of some or all of the records sought. Therefore, please advise me as to the cost, if any, for obtaining a copy of the records and the total cost, if any, for all the records described above. If you have adopted a fee schedule for obtaining copies of records and other rules or regulations implementing the Act, please send me a copy.

I look forward to receiving the records promptly and in any event, to a decision about all of the requested records within 30 days. Thank you for your cooperation. If you have any questions regarding this request, please telephone me at the number below.

Sincerely,

Andy Stephenson