New video suggests voting firm Triad sought to thwart recount of paper ballots
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Source says new Triad video shows ?conspiracy to thwart actual Ohio hand recount?

By John Byrne | RAW STORY Editor   23 December 2004

A video shot by a documentary filmmaker suggests that an Ohio voting firm sought to thwart the recount of actual paper ballots, a source who has seen the tape tells RAW STORY.

The filmmaker, Lynda Byrket, recorded the re-creation of a Triad Election Systems technician showing how he reconfigured at tabulating machine in Hocking County, Ohio.

A corollary video was released today by Truthout.org.

The film was made Dec. 20 when independent observers sought to recreate and explain what actually took place after a local election official signed an affidavit saying the company had tampered with the machines and posted a ?cheat sheet? to allow those recounting the vote to bypass paper ballots.

In the film, Triad says the purpose of the ?cheat sheet? is to allow was so the counters would know if they missed an overvote.

?Triad pretty much admits that the purpose of the cheat sheet is to foreclose the possibility of the county finding a discrepancy between the hand count and machine count,? the source, who asked not to be named because of their employment, told RAW STORY. ?If mid-count they figure out some undervotes are real votes, they can go back and try again.

?This makes a mockery of Ohio law,? the source asserted. ?Under Ohio law, if a hand recount of three percent randomly ed comes out different from the machines, you hand count every single ballot.

?You don?t get to re-re-count until you can rig the recount to come out the same as the machine count,? the source added.

The source noted that Triad has made no effort to deny that they are sending representatives to encourage other counties to use similar procedures. The New York Times noted Dec. 15 that Triad said they had engaged in similar practices in the past.

?Triad admits it has done this other counties,? the source noted. ?Basically, this is a conspiracy on the part of county boards of elections and Triad to thwart an accurate tally of the ballots. I suspect the counties are doing it because the recount is a lot of work and Triad is doing it so their machines aren?t shown to be flawed.?

Triad could not be reached for comment Thursday.

The following is an early partial transcript of Byrket?s tape. The source says the actual tape will be released late Thursday or sometime Friday.

The RAW STORY transcript omits the explanation that Triad offered for the ?cheat sheet? as it is noted earlier in this article.

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Tape begins with the Triad technician doing what looks like a less than five minute demonstration of what he did to the computer. Eaton?s affidavit says he was there for 4 1/2 hours.

Near the beginning, a police officer is called on to provide his expert opinion.

POLICE OFFICER: (After saying the technician?s demo satisfied him that there wasn?t computer tampering) ??..The other question that was a little strange to me was why did someone need to know which vote was going to be counted, which precinct was going to be counted. That one I?m still a little iffy on and I don?t think we?ve even asked about a cheat sheet yet. I don?t think that?s been answered. Where or what is a cheat sheet? That was the other question I had.?

BREAK

?QUESTIONER: Michael, could you give us a little bit more of an explanation about what you just told me in the other room about what was perhaps referred to as a cheat sheet? What is your description of what actually took place? What numbers did you write down and for what purpose?

TRIAD TECH: ?..It?s just letting them know how many over- and undervotes there were in that precinct just so it?s something to give them kind of a clue that they have less undervotes than what they did in the official count and they may have accidentally put in an overvote card into one of the candidate?s stacks?..If they have numbers from the official count, they?re going to compare as they hand count but they will see the hand count versus the machine count. They will also look at what?s been known as the initial to look for any discrepancies.?

?QUESTIONER: Why do you think it was necessary to point out to the team counting ballots the number of overvotes and undervotes when the purpose of that team is to in fact locate those votes and judge them?

TRIAD TECH: ?..It?s just human error. The machine counts it right and then if you count it and count it again and count it again, you know it?s the same numbers, but when you?re hand counting they only had two tries. So we were trying to give them as much information to help them as we could.?

?QUESTIONER: Can you explain to me your request for information regarding which specific precinct would be hand counted?

TRIAD TECH: That?s ? I used that as their example so that they would know how many over and undervotes were printed for the official so that they would have that information available.

QUESTIONER: So again, help me, I?m not sure I understand what you?re saying. I don?t want you to feel that my questions are accusatory in nature; they?re not. You were trying to let the team judging the ballots know how many overvotes and undervotes are in the card stack so that they would know the number they?re looking for??

BREAK

?CHAIRMAN: (Inaudible.) Everybody has been pretty well satisfied. [The Police officer] has given his statement that he doesn?t feel there was any tampering. [Note: The officer actually said he had questions about the ?cheat sheet? and precinct] I think we?ve tried to answer the
  
question (inaudible), and I think the board now can make a recommendation to close this case.

QUESTIONER: Sir, I have further questions. I?ll try to keep them very timely.

COUNTY ASST. PROSECUTOR: Obviously we?re not trying to squelch any questions but this is a board hearing to satisfy the board since they are the decisionmaking body of Hocking County. You can ask all the questions of Triad after the meeting, okay, but the board has been satisfied.

CHAIRMAN: Can I have a recommendation to close this case?

A VOICE: So moved.

CHAIRMAN: All in favor please signify by saying aye.