I talked with Bernadette McNulty about what she observed during and after the 2006 election. She was a polling inspector for more then 20 elections and her story was amazing. She was following the ballots from the polling precinct in Apple Valley down to the Registrars office in San Bernardino, when the van with the ballots inside turned around and headed back in the wrong direction. It ended up at the Apple Valley airport, where the voting machine recorded ballots were separated from the paper ballots and put on a helicopter to be flown down to the Registrar's office. She was not allowed on the helicopter, so she followed the van down to the ROV. The van and Bernadette arrived at the ROV before the helicopter did. She stayed at the ROV until they closed it at 2:00 AM. She was never allowed to see and verify that the ballots from the precinct she was observing at were counted. These Daily Press stories show the problems from 2006.

Voter fraud is easier than people believe: Registrar of Voters office may not be properly checking voter applications.

Source: Daily Press (Victorville, CA)
Publication Date: 29-OCT-06 Byline: Ryan Orr

Oct. 29--This year Zoila Meyer resigned as an Adelanto city councilwoman because she was not a citizen. Not only had she voted in numerous elections but she was elected to City Council and served 10 weeks before being outed as a non-citizen.

Meyer's story demonstrates some of the serious loopholes that Institute for Fair Elections Chairwoman Jackie Nutting says exist in the voting and registration process.

According to Nutting, it is not illegal for an illegal alien to register to vote -- it is only illegal if they actually do vote. However when it comes to monitoring that, "It is impossible to do," said Nutting.

Monitoring illegal immigrants that vote proves to be hard for the registrar of voters. By law, county Registrar of Voters Kari Verjil said that she can't ask if someone is a citizen -- they simply have to check the "no" box on the voter registration application.

When a person registers, the registrar is supposed to check them against the statewide Cal Voter system. That requires that they check the driver's license number on the form with the DMV. If they don't have a license, then they check their California I.D. number, and if they don't have an I.D. then they are checked by the last four digits of their Social Security number.

In cases where people have none of those three, they are given what the registrar calls a unique identifier.

Nutting said that they have not been doing those checks according to audits that have been conducted by the IFE. According to the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, if they do those checks and find an illegal alien that has voted, then their names are checked on the voters list and they are void of citizenship forever.

Another serious voter fraud practice is simply walking up to a polling place and giving someone else's name. Under the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, poll workers are prohibited from asking for I.D. at any time, said Nutting. She said that many people will look at the rolls of registered voters, see which ones haven't shown up and walk up pretending to be them just before the polls close.

Under the Help America Vote Act of 2002, voting officials are supposed to review a list of registered voters and contact those who have not participated in the past two federal elections. If those voters do not respond, then they are deemed inactive.

Nutting said the registrar is not contacting those voters and it could potentially cost half a million dollars in this election.

In an audit of San Bernardino County's 748,000 registered voters, IFE found 160,000 names on the list of people that hadn't voted in the last two consecutive federal elections. Removing those names could have saved the county $500,000 considering that each registered voter is sent about $3 of government issued election mail.

Verjil said the sample ballots for the upcoming election contain a page explaining the "Alternate Residency Confirmation." It is a procedure that will be used to clean up the voter rolls by issuing postcards to voters who have not voted or updated their registration in the past four years. Those who do not respond will be placed on the inactive list.

"You just have to see it in layers," said Nutting of the problems surrounding the voting process, "If you do all you can, then you will come out with what we call the true voter turnout. There is no way to see what the true voter turnout is."

Web site shows voting machine vulnerability: Electronic election device has button that allows for multiple ballot castings.

Source: Daily Press (Victorville, CA)
Publication Date: 03-NOV-06 Byline: Ryan Orr

Nov. 3--Despite California's stringent three-tiered voting machine test requirements, a Web site published tips that could allow cheaters to prosper in the upcoming election.

The Web site, blackboxvoting. org, an opponent of electronic voting, posted a story Tuesday describing how a yellow button on the back of Sequoia voting machines -- such as the ones used in San Bernardino County -- can be used to cast multiple votes.

In many counties, poll workers use the button to activate the machines without a voting card, said Michelle Shafer, vice president of communications and external affairs for Sequoia Voting Systems. It's not a flaw, she said.

"They're trying to create a problem out of something that is a deliberate function," she said. "It's irresponsible."

San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters Kari Verjil said she has known about the yellow button since Sequoia's machines were adopted in 2004. In a conference call with the secretary of state, she said the yellow button was mentioned, most likely because of the publicity that has been created by the Web site. She said it is routine to be on alert for anything unusual at the polls.

Ashley Giovannettone, the secretary of state's communication coordinator, said officials have always been aware of the activation feature. State officials called representatives in all the counties that use Sequoia to brief them on the vulnerability.

It is part of the security procedure before every election to touch base with officials at each registrar's office and make sure they are up to speed on all security concerns, she said.

According to Jim March, a board member for Blackbox Voting, it wouldn't be hard to recognize that something is wrong because the number of ballots submitted would grossly outnumber the amount of people that signed in to vote.

"Honest, attentive poll workers will be able to keep this under control," said March about the yellow button function. "It's a horrible design feature by Sequoia."

He said some counties are so starved for poll workers that it is possible for groups to recruit poll workers with a certain ideology that might be able to fix ballots at certain polling places.

He said the best way to circumvent the problem is to have as many poll observers as possible.

"Poll watchers are the first line of defense and poll observers are the second line of defense," he said. "That's what it takes -- a lot of eyeballs."

Verjil has heard of no such problem in San Bernardino County and said poll workers are hired by the registrar of voters and go through two hours of instruction, including an intensive hands-on training component.

" Our voters in San Bernardino County are confident in our system," she said.

Fiasco at the polls across the board: Wrong paper ballots, electronic glitches among problems.

Source: Daily Press (Victorville, CA)
Publication Date: 09-NOV-06 Byline: Gretchen Losi

Nov. 9--VICTORVILLE -- Bernadette Mc-Nulty is a second-generation polling inspector. She has worked in an official capacity for some 25 years and is now a volunteer polling observer for the Republican Party.

In her history as an inspector, she has worked more than 20 elections -- but Tuesday she said she witnessed some of the worst snafus ever.

"We wouldn't have these problems with paper ballots," she said.

She spent the day at several precincts throughout the Victor Valley and recorded everything from machines breaking down, running out of paper and incorrect paper ballots to a simple lack of volunteers.

The Registrar of Voters did not return calls for details. Many ROV officials left early due to the late night election and others were in meetings all afternoon according to ROV executive secretary Kathy Jackson.

One problem that alarmed McNulty occurred when at one precinct the electronic machine had prerecorded votes, yet the seal had not been broken.

She said ROV officials came in to clear the machine before it was used.

At Jess Ranch, the largest precinct in Apple Valley, there were only four machines, creating long lines. She observed 51 residents, many elderly and infirm, standing in line.

"They eventually got fed up and left," McNulty said.

At another polling location, 15 people were still in line nearly an hour after the polls had closed. She said this happened after six of the nine machines had run out of paper by 7 p.m. and 15 minutes later the precinct ran out of paper ballots.

"This happened all over," she said.

It has been confirmed that electronic machines stopped working throughout the Victor Valley -- including Helendale, Phelan, Apple Valley, Victorville, Hesperia and Barstow.

And the alternative paper ballots only created another set of problems.

When the electronic machines stopped at the National Guard Armory in Apple Valley, voters were issued ballots for Victorville.

"They called the ROV troubleshooter but he never came to help," she said. "When they finally did receive them, they were missing all the Town Council candidates."

The same type of thing happened in Helendale where paper ballots were missing school board candidates and Measure K.

Other problems McNulty said need addressing -- absentee votes.

Many who vote absentee didn't receive their information until after the deadline.

"The ROV said the post office doesn't always deliver the information in time," she said.

By law, voters are to receive their absentee ballots by a certain time, McNulty said.

Even more alarming was the ability to vote absentee and then vote again at the polls.

She said there is supposed to be a master roster with an "A" after the name of all permanent absentee voters, but that wasn't the case for McNulty.

"I went to my precinct and looked at the roster and there was no "A" by my name. Theoretically I could have voted again. Of course I didn't."

Another problem, she said, exists -- the ability of the dead to cast a vote.

The registrar is supposed to purge the voting rolls of all the dead, but when her father died it took three elections before the ROV recognized it.

"So people could easily vote using the name of a dead person. This type of thing happens a lot," she said.

She added that police and volunteer escorts need to follow the trucks that carry the ballots. For Spring Valley Lake, she was able to find volunteers, but several went unescorted.

On a positive note, she did say this year she was delighted to see so many young people volunteering.

Gretchen Losi may be reached at 951-6233 or gretchen_losi@link.freedom. com.