Let's fix this. Right. Now.

[blimix]

I just gave way more than I've ever donated to anything before. Because *this* is how we prevent a holocaust. Raise money to pay for recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.

In case you weren't aware, these states suffered statistically impossible flips very late. Diebold Election Systems (later called Premier Election Solutions) and SmartTECH rigged the 2004 election in Ohio (after Diebold's CEO promised to "hand Ohio to Bush") and tried exactly the same thing in 2012, only to be foiled that time by a firewall installed by Anonymous hackers. (Source.) Election Systems & Software bought Premier and sold its assets to Dominion. All three of these flipped states used vote tally machines from Premier, Dominion, and/or ES&S.

Thanks to Lee for these links:

Wisconsin's voting equipment.

Florida's voting equipment.

Pennsylvania's voting equipment.

Edit: Trump currently leads by 74 electoral votes, meaning that Clinton needs to gain back 37 to tie. PA has 20; MI has 16; WI has 10. Flipping all three states back in the recounts would give the election to Clinton. Flipping only PA and MI would put it close enough that it would take only 2 conscientious electors (from any red states) to give the election back to Clinton, which is within the realm of possibility. (Electors are chosen before the primaries and are loyal to parties, not candidates. Trump is no friend to the RNC.)

Further edit: Siderea has further information about audits, which are different from recounts and are also necessary. Also, a petition.

Comments

[beth_leonard]

It's so hard for me to tell the difference between wishful thinking and actual voting problems. Not something I'm giving money to, but I hope they find the answers they're looking for. Jon and I stopped our ACLU memberships the year they supported electronic-only-no-papertrail balloting specifically for political ends.

I no longer remember the details, but they were suing to delay a vote that was likely to go in favor of the Republicans so that more counties could install electronic voting machines. If they delayed the vote until the national elections (one of the Obama ones) then more democrats were likely to turn out and flip the results in their favor.

I still agree with many ACLU stances, but they were so clearly partisan and on the wrong side of that issue that we sent our future freedom-fighting dollar to the EFF instead from that point forward. I'm still on their mailing list and call my senator or congressman when it's appropriate.

The issue remains that I'm solidly against electronic voting machines and tallies, especially those without a paper trail.

--Beth

[blimix.livejournal.com]

The ACLU wasn't trying to prevent a paper trail; they wanted Ohio's Cuyahoga County to start using optical scanners (which leave a paper trail) rather than send the paper votes away to be tabulated elsewhere. When you send the votes away, voters have no way of knowing if they've screwed up the ballot (e.g., by voting for too many candidates). Optical scanners will immediately reject such a ballot, giving voters a chance to correct their error and have their vote count.

[beth_leonard]

The case to which I was referring was a CA election.
--Beth

[blimix.livejournal.com]

You mean the California governor recall election, where they sued to get faulty punch-card machines replaced first, and objected to the dramatic reduction of polling places and Spanish-speaking poll workers in Monterey County? Article. (http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/08/19/recall.court/)

[beth_leonard]

Yup, that's the one. There were no actual problems with the punch-card ballots, it was purely political to delay the election (note that the article doesn't state that there were problems with punch cards, only that the ACLU said that there were) and the machines they were advocating moving to at the time were worse than the existing system.

--Beth