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Where are the missing poll tapes from the May 2006 RTA election?

by on Jul. 16, 2010, under Life, Politics

Just got an email from the Pima County Election Integrity advocates who claim that something is still wrong with that May, 2006 Regional Transportation Authority election, despite the hand count done by Attorney General Terry Goddard last year.

Here’s what The Brad Blog (blogger Brad Friedman’s article dated7/14/10) reveals about this:
(EXCLUSIVE: Poll Tapes, Other Evidence Discovered Missing in Long-Disputed, ‘Fixed’ Arizona Election).

Breaking news from this blog:

“Out of 368 precincts, 112 poll tapes are completely missing. Moreover, 102 of the “yellow sheets” — certified precinct reports, signed by poll workers, detailing corresponding summary information, such as numbers of ballots received, cast and spoiled, as helpful for important auditing functions at the precinct level — are missing as well.

Furthermore, of the poll tape records that are not missing, 50 of them do not match the results as recorded in the final canvas of the election, according to the Election Integrity advocates who have compared them to the original electronic database numbers…”

The question now is:

Where are those missing poll tapes with the summaries of each Arizona precinct, signed by the respective poll workers?

I wrote about this issue earlier when that “Fatally Flawed” documentary by JT Waldron premiered at the Crossroads Theater (click here) in November, 2009.

Attorney Bill Risner who has represented the Pima County Democratic Party in the lawsuit on this issue, has maintained since that hand count by the Maricopa Elections Division in April, 2009 that the poll tapes had to be checked and verified as well. And they were not, and now 30% are missing. This doesn’t lend a lot of confidence in the Pima County Elections Division, once again.

Pima County Elections apparently owns a print-on-demand Diebold machine that can re-print paper ballots at any time. So the allegations are that the “original ballots” cast may have been replaced, which may have been the ones counted in last year’s hand count. The poll tapes in each precinct box would have verified the electronic database numbers as well as the hand count numbers, but now a year later, many of them are missing.

Questions still remain then about the security of these RTA ballots since the May, 2006 election to the present (the “chain of custody” of the ballots), and what happened to those missing poll tapes? Stay tuned for further developments in this case from the Election Integrity advocates.

For info contact John Brakey at Auditaz@cox.net, 520-578-5678 or 520-339-2696, or Tucson Attorney Bill Risner at 520-622-7494 or bill@risnerandgraham.com.

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  • LT Waite

    HOW DO THESE PEOPLE GET AWAY WITH THIS GARBAGE?  ASKING TERRY GODDARD TO COUNT THE BALLOTS IS LIKE ASKING THE FOX TO COUNT THE EGGS IN THE HENHOUSE!!  I FEAR THIS MESS IS TOO LONG GONE FOR ANY PROGRESS NOW.
    IT SHOULD, HOWEVER, OPEN OUR EYES TO FUTURE ELECTIONS AND COVERAGE!!  CUDOS TO THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE FOUGHT THE GOOD FIGHT!

     

    • Carolyn Classen

      Yes, these Election Integrity advocates are a vigilant groups of people, who passionately believe in accurate ballot counting, as a touchstone of our democratic country. I wouldn’t have been concerned  had all the poll tapes been in those precinct boxes, and matched up with the data base AND hand count results, but that fact that 30% are missing is disturbing.  Thanks for your comment LT Waite.

  • Steve Bentencourt

    Carolyn- Do you want an interview w/ Matt Jette?  I am the one that can arrange it.  I will await your email.  Thanks.

    • Carolyn Classen

      Thanks Steve for the suggestion, but I have referred our readers to Gubernatorial candidate Dr. Matt Jette’s website in the past, www. govjette.com.  I really have no time to do candidate interviews as you can see from my blogiste topics, otherwise I would be overwhelmed as a “citizen journalist.”

  • http://www.facebook.com/david.abie.morales three-sonorans

    Thanks for sharing this info Carolyn. Very important that we know about this.

    • Carolyn Classen

      Yes David, it is very important that we ensure that our votes are counted accurately, especially for those of us that care about politics.  Thanks for commenting as usual.

  • Frank Henry

    “…IT SHOULD, HOWEVER, OPEN OUR EYES TO FUTURE ELECTIONS…”
     
    L Waite’s remark is on the money.

    We need a post election Hand Count after every election (fed, state, local);
    instead of making voters beg for open process which the citizens of Pima
    county is experiencing in the 2006 RTA vote…and a complete forensic
    review still needs to be completed. 

    Thanks and Good Luck.

    • Carolyn Classen

      We definitely need this election integrity oversight of Pima County Elections Division, to ensure that future elections are accurately counted.

  • garry

    The Citizen was at the lead on this most important story before the print edition was ended. The online version should continue to vigorously press this story, not only for the local impacts. Consider the larger and most frightening implications for elections everywhere when private corporations, for hire by governments, control secret software used in elections, both domestic and international.

    • Carolyn Classen

      Thanks Garry, I will do my best to continue to follow this story, as I truly believe that accurate, reliable voting is the touchstone of our democracy.

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