Caught red handed! Bev Harris finds evidence in the trash

[Guest guest]

D

Wed, 17 Nov 2004 00:27:29 -0500

Caught red handed! Bev Harris finds evidence in the trash

 

Tue Nov 16, 2004 11:02 pm

 

Bev Harris finds evidence in the trash--Ohioans should go

dumpster-diving too!!!!!!!

 

 

>> http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?

> az=view_all & address=104x2704906

>>

>> Dueling lawyers, election officials gnashing teeth,

>> Votergate.tv film crew catching it all. (Volusia

>> County, Florida)

>>

>> 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 our Nov. 2 Freedom of

>> Information request, or would file for a hand recount.

>> " No, Bev, please don't do that! " she exclaimed. But

>> this is the way it has to be, folks. We 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 to

>> us with a smile, but I 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.

>>

>> I asked to see the real ones, and they told us for

>> " privacy " reasons we can't have copies of the signed

>> ones. I insisted on at least viewing them (although

>> refusing to give us copies of the signatures is not

>> legally defensible, according to our attorney). They

>> said the real ones were in the County Elections

>> warehouse. It was quittin' time and we arranged to

>> come back this morning to review them.

>>

>> Lana Hires, an employee who gained some notoriety in a

>> 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 us in the

>> office. She vigorously shook her head when Deanie Lowe

>> suggested we go to the warehouse.

>>

>> Kathleen Wynne and I showed up at the warehouse at

>> 8:15 this morning. There was Lana Hires looking

>> especially gruff, yet surprised. She ordered us out.

>> Well, we 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.

>> We stepped out and they promptly shut the door behind

>> us.

>>

>> There was a trash bag on the porch outside the door. I

>> looked into it and what do you know, but there were

>> poll tapes in there. They came out and glared at us.

>> We 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, we went and parked behind a bus to see what they

>> would do next. They pulled out some large pylons,

>> which blocked the door. I decided to go look at the

>> garbage some more. Kathleen videotaped this. A man

>> came out and I 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. We then looked through it, as Pete looked on. He

>> was quite friendly.

>>

>> We collected various poll tapes and other information

>> and asked if they could copy it for us, for our 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 we all stood around

>> discussing the merits of my public records request.

>>

>> They finally let us go, about the time our film crew

>> arrived, and we all trooped off to the elections

>> office. There, the plot thickened.

>>

>> We began to compare the special printouts given to us

>> with the signed polling tapes from election night. Lo

>> and behold, some were missing. We also found some that

>> 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? Our polling tape, specially

>> printed on Nov. 15, without signatures, or theirs,

>> printed on Nov. 2, with up to 8 signatures per tape?

>>

>> Well, then it became even more interesting. Lana Hires

>> took it upon herself to box up some items from an

>> office, which appeared to contain -- you guessed it --

>> polling place tapes. She took them to the back of the

>> building and disappeared.

>>

>> Then, voting integrity advocates from Volusia and

>> Broward, 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, we compared these with the Nov. 2 signed ones and

>> the " special' ones from Nov. 15 given to us, unsigned,

>> and we found several of the MISSING poll tapes. There

>> they were: In the garbage.

>>

>> So, Kathleen went to the car and got the polling place

>> tapes we 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

>> told us that bag was destined for the shredder.

>>

>> By now, a county lawyer had appeared on the scene,

>> suddenly threatening to charge us extra for the time

>> we took looking at the real stuff they had withheld

>> from us in our FOIA. Other lawyers appeared, phoned,

>> people had meetings, Lana glowered at everyone, and

>> someone shut the door in the office holding the GEMS

>> server.

>>

>> Andy then went to get the GEMS 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.

>>

>> We then all 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.

>>

>> Bev Harris

>> Executive Director

>> Black Box Voting

>>

>> Together with Andy, and Kathleen.

>>