Boland introduces post election ballot audit proposal
From Chicago's ABC Channel 7 WLS news:
Illinois' election reputation has been stained by decades of dishonesty. But now, ABC7 News has learned that an unusual move has begun to fend off fraud at polling places.Good idea?
It was just last November that we saw a post-midnight march on to the Cook County building by defeated county board presidential candidate Tony Peraica, whose cries of chicanery at the polls were not unusual by Illinois election standards.
"Sad to say that Illinois doesn't have the greatest reputation for our elections," said Rep. Michael Boland, D-East Moline
That's why Moline state representative Mike Boland has introduced an amendment to the election code. The proposed law would require an election night audit in each precinct in Illinois instead of a central location as is now the case.
Under Boland's law, right after the polls close 10 percent of all paper ballots would be tallied and compared to 10 percent of all votes stored in electronic voting machines.
If there is a discrepancy, if there is something akilter(sic) between the paper ballots and the machine count then we will be able to find out if there is scaldugleriy(sic) going on or a kink in system or somebody hacked in," Boland said.
A 10 per cent election night audit would double what is required under current state law; be much faster and done publicly, in the presence of election judges from both parties.
"By requiring 10 percent you get a statistical confidence level that can guarantee that the election has integrity," said David Larson of the Illinois Ballot Integrity Project.
Chicago election officials say their 5-percent sample recount a week after the polls close provides all the integrity necessary.
They say says election judges are already overwhelmed once the polls close, and that training them to do an instant audit would be a "recipe for disaster, conflict, chaos and fraud,"...the very things the law is intended to prevent.
If you took advantage of early voting this month, your vote will not be audited. Boland says that means your vote could be compromised and no one would know it. So he wants early voters to have a paper ballot option and their vote audited on election night.
posted by The Inside Dope @ 2/28/2007
11 comments
11 Comments:
Seems like a waste of time. What happens if "skullduggery" is found by the audit? Throw out that precincts votes? Make everyone come back another day to redo it (with perhaps the same results)?
I applaud Boland's concept, but I think it rather meaningless.
Mike Boland is fighting for the little guy again. He has done great work with the utility companies keeping the cost of utilities low. He has brought compatition with Ameron and this is keeping our utilities in line. Now he is going to do for elections what he has done for us with utilities.
Way to go Mike. It is great to have someone on the little guys side.
Boland may have won a pension, but he has NOT lowered utility rates.
If Boland does for elections what he has done to reduce utility rates -- than rest assured nothing well get done.
For Boland it's about getting his name in the paper. He is not a serious person.
This is not the case. Mike Boland has been a watchdog for utilities and this has been his baby from the begining of his carreer. Competition is good. Ameron has been good for the State. It has kleveled the playing field on utility companies and reduced our rates. Mike Boland has the courage to stand up against the utility companies and keep them in check. Check the record and you will see that he has done a good job as the watchdog for utility companies.
What are you talking about? Mike Boland hasn't lowered utility rates. In fact. Boland doubled Ameron's rates in the past month.
Do you think this has anything with all the cash utility companies gave Boland? Why would Ameron. Mid America and AT&T funnel all that money through Madigan to Boland if he was getting the job done?
YOU are almost as clueless as the Dope!
And you're about as psychic as that Jamaican fraud that used to be on the infomercials apparently.
Now you're channeling the spirits of the utility lobby and magically tracking their dollars, through Madigan, into Boland's campaign?
I'm sure there was a little bit of everyone's money mixed in there, but to suggest he's in their pocket?
Don't be stupid, mon.
The utility lobby, a group that most definitely filled Jacobs campaign bank, won the fight to remove caps on utility rates and jacked them up to make up for lost time.
Not sure you can blame Boland as if he was single-handedly responsible for that. (honestly that is, I'm sure you could and probably will. Whether it's true or not or whether there's any evidence never seems to bother you in the slightest.)
Whoever you are, you've got to get over your simmering hatred over the fact that Boland got a lot of money from the state party. It's eating you up. Move on.
I agree Dope. Boland may have taken money from Madigan but he would not take direct money from the utility companies that he has fought to keep us safe from. Ameron has brought competition to the market and this is the reason that rates are so low. Get a clue anon 3/01/2007 04:01:47 PM.
The thought that anyone is a watch dog for the utility companys is humorous to me. You should see what my last gas and electric bill was.
You better believe it. This is how Mike made his name. Now he will do for the election process what he has done for the Utilities.
There is a lot of green envey from you anon 3/02/2007 10:37:59 AM.
My utility bill is going to be reduced and our elections will be better in the future with Mike Boland's guidance.
Remember that Mike is a champion of the people.
I like how all the comments for Mike Boland start out:
Mike Boland has been a watchdog for...
Mike Boland is fighting for the little guy again.
Keep up the good work Senator Boland. That is with your progranda Machine.
I feel it's only fair to note, as the person who's read many comments to this thread which weren't suitable for publishing, that there have been a LOT of pure propaganda from both pro and anti-Boland individuals, with the edge going to the anti-Boland side.
And the anti-Boland side has a particularly nasty tinge of ferrocity and irrational hate and such strong language to them that makes them particularly odious.
In an effort to keep this from being an endless and fruitless mud-slinging fest, I simply stopped publishing them.
At least the pro-Boland comments stuck to positive things that they report that Boland has or is doing. The anti's just hurl invective and spite.
But... guess that's politics, eh?
At any rate, I think both sides have had their shot at saying their piece, so unless someone has something new to add, the mudslinging is over.
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