Election Oversight - Florida 2018 August

Citizens Oversight (2018-08-19) Ray Lutz

This Page: https://copswiki.org/Common/ElectionOversightFlorida2018August
More Info: Election Integrity, Election Team, Snapshot Protocol, Snapshot Protocol

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Welcome!

Can you volunteer to video record the random draw and manual tally! Please signup here: http://citizensoversight.org/signup

Citizens' Oversight Projects is developing a network of citizens who can help us provide oversight of our rigged and hacked elections!

We need your help in the August 28, 2018 Primary Election in Florida. We are also targeting the top 175 counties in the nation, comprising 50% of the voters.

This topic is dedicated to the situation in Florida, since it is a "battleground state" and tends to frequently be problematic. For other states and the general strategy, see Election Team.

Here are specific suggestions for volunteers who are providing oversight to Florida in the 2018-08-28 Primary Election

Since we have limited resources, we are targeting the most important districts according to the "Pareto Principle" (AKA 80/20 rule). Actually, we will target first the top 20% and then the top 40% of counties.

Target Counties in Florida (click for full size)

The top counties (shown in red) are (in order of importance):

Rank	County	Main City
1	Miami-Dade	Miami, Hialeah
2	Broward	Fort Lauderdale
3	Palm Beach	West Palm Beach
4	Hillsborough	Tampa
5	Orange	Orlando
6	Pinellas	St. Petersburg
7	Duval	Jacksonville
8	Lee	Fort Myers
9	Brevard	Palm Bay
10	Polk	Lakeland
11	Volusia	Deltona
12	Pasco	New Port Richey
13	Sarasota	North Port; Sarasota
14	Seminole	Sanford
15	Marion	Ocala

These top 15 counties are our primary target in Florida, comprising 71% of the voters in the state.

• 27% of voters in the top three counties alone.
• 66% of voters in the top top 13 (20% of the counties).

• Next 12 Counties (blue) -- together with the first 15 (top 27) cover over 88% of the voters. (Manatee, Lake, Escambia, Collier, Leon, St. Lucie, Osceola, St. Johns, Alachua, Clay, Okaloosa, and Hernando)
• Remaining 40 Counties -- These counties comprise together only 12% of the voters in the state.

Bottomline: we need boots-on-the-ground help in Florida. Feel free, of course, to cover your own county even if it is not in our target list, it can't hurt. But incremental value is very low compared to the top 15 counties we list here.

Audits in Florida

Election audits in Florida are minimal in power but are not worthless, especially to discourage hackers and fraudsters from even trying, if they know they might be caught. In Florida, they choose only a single random race and hand-tally one percent of the applicable precincts. You can't do any less than that, so it isn't any sort of high-powered audit they are using. In addition, in Florida, if any race is so close that a "recount" is ordered, then no audit occurs at all. And the "recount" amounts to machine rescanning the ballots and only looking at over-votes and under-votes for voter intent. So if there is any recount, then there is really no audit at all, and the recount is so gutless, it will never catch anything.

*"MACHINE RECOUNTS" DO NOT QUALIFY AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR THE MANUAL AUDIT in the opinion of Citizens Oversight
See the following for details and an example of a random draw and recount.

• (M1688) 2016-09-01 Recount ordered in Rouson-Narain race -- Jeremy Wallace, Tampa Bay Times, FL
• (M1689) 2016-09-01 Marion County, Florida choosing random race and precincts for tally of 2016-08-30 primary -- Margaret Carlock, Citizens Oversight, FL_Marion

There are two parts of these audits which are of interest to us.

1. The random selection meeting, where they select the random race and 1% of the precincts that comprise that race.
2. The actual manual tallying process

The most important part of this process to make sure it is clean, is the selection of the RANDOM RACE. We really need to VIDEO RECORD these meetings and make sure they cannot use any sleight of hand to manipulate the result. The selection of the random race happens VERY QUICKLY! Usually in less than a few minutes, the meeting is over.

Audit Schedule for August 28, 2018 Primary Election

Here is the schedule as known today. If you do not see the schedule for the audit selection and manual audit, perhaps you can help us find this information when it becomes available. We will be updating this page as new information becomes available, so check back occasionally. Most counties have standardized on August 30 for the random selection meeting.

SAVE DEMOCRACY IN 5 MINUTES!
PLEASE ATTEND AND VIDEO RECORD THE ELECTION AUDIT
SELECTION MEETINGS HIGHLIGHTED BELOW!

More info: https://copswiki.org/Common/ElectionOversightFlorida2018August
These meetings are very short but it is critical that we record them because otherwise
Election officials can rig the elections. PLEASE HELP!
NOTE: Please check with election office before to find out if selection meeting will be held.

Citizens Oversight is offering an (optional) $100 stipend to volunteers who can provide a video of the random selection meeting and if possible the manual tally to us so we can host it on our You Tube Channel. (Of course, we accept volunteers who wish to contribute their time without asking for the stipend.)

These are the counties that have announced recounts:(None have announced recounts so far)

County	Rank	Audit Selection	Manual Audit	Location	Process	Website	Lead Volunteer	Backup Volunteer	Previous Volunteer
Brevard	9	2018-09-04 (9am)	2018-09-05 (9am)	2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way, Bldg C Melbourne, FL 32941	Draw balls from drum	votebrevard.com		Lacey Lee
Broward	2	2018-09-04 (noon?)	2018-09-06 (10am)	1501 N.W. 40th Avenue Lauderhill, Florida 33313.	(no info)	browardsoe.org			Michaelangelo, David Gibson
Citrus	32	2018-09-04 (9am)	2018-09-07 (8:30am)	120 North Apopka Ave. Inverness, FL 34450	Bingo balls	votecitrus.com	Margaret Carlock		Margaret Carlock
Duval	7	before 9/4?		105 East Monroe Street Jacksonville, FL 32202	Draw balls	duvalelections.com			Lisa Peth
Hillsborough	4	2018-09-04 (10am)	2018-09-06 (10am)	2514 N. Falkenburg Rd. Tampa, FL 33619	Random number generator (bad!)	votehillsborough.org	Mat McGee
Lee	8	2018-08-31 (9am)	2018-09-05 (9am)	2480 Thompson Street Fort Myers, FL 33901	Poker Chips in bag	lee.vote			Sara Peterson
Manatee	16	2018-08-30 (8pm)	2018-08-30 (8pm)				Mat McGee
Marion	15	2018-08-30 (6pm)	2018-09-04 (3pm)	981 NE 16th Street Ocala, FL 34470	Bingo balls	votemarion.com	Margaret Carlock (draw only)		Margaret Carlock
Miami-Dade	1	2018-09-04 (10am)	2018-09-04 (10am)	2700 NW 87th Ave Miami, FL 33152	Dice	miamidade.gov/elections	Carmela Fermin
Orange	5	08/30/18 (1 pm)	08/30/18 (1 pm)	119 West Kaley Street Orlando FL 32806	Draw from hat	ocfelections.com	Rhetta Peoples
Palm Beach	3	2018-09-10 (9am)	(same)	Main Office: 240 South Military Trail West Palm Beach, FL 33416 Canvassing Board meetings: Supervisor of Elections Service Center 7835 Central Industrial Drive Riviera Beach, FL 33404	Draw Cards with Names?	pbcelections.org
Pasco	12	2018-09-04 (2pm)	(same)	14236 6th Street, Suite 200 Dade City, FL 33526	Numbered tags in bag	pascovotes.com	Mat McGee
Pinellas	6	2018-10-31 (10am)		13001 Starkey Rd. Largo, FL 33773	Draw from clear bowl	votepinellas.com	Mat McGee		Ray Lutz
Polk	10	2018-09-04 3:15pm	(same)	70 Florida Citrus Blvd Winter Haven, FL 33880	Not Decided	polkelections.com
Sarasota	13	2018-08-30 (??pm)	2018-09-05 (9am)	101 S. Washington Blvd. Sarasota, FL 34236	Balls or paper drawing	sarasotavotes.com	Sally Masek, Lynn Smith	Sally Masek, Lynn Smith
Seminole	14	2018-08-30 (5pm)	2018-09-04 (10am)	1500 E. Airport Blvd. Sanford FL 32773	Draw from hat	voteseminole.org
Volusia	11	2018-09-01 (9am)	(same)	125 W. New York Ave., DeLand FL 32720	Cards with names	volusiaelections.org			Rita Lunardi

What we want you to do

There may be other things you can see at your elections office, so try to be ultra aware of what is going on. Use your photo or video camera as much as you can. But we have some very specific tasks.

1. Provisional screening -- Spend some time watching the screening of provisional ballots. Normally, only the signature should be compared, not the address. This happens prior to the certified results.
2. Snapshot File -- Prior to the Audit Selection meeting, find and download the results of the election. We call this the Snap Shot file. In Florida, this file is the certified results. We need the results separated out by PRECINCT, RACE, and BALLOT TYPE. Best to get all formats available. Sometimes only PDF but CSV file is sometimes easier to load into a spreadsheet or open with a program.
   • Please email these to info@citizensoversight.org or at least let us know you have it and we can give you instructions to get it to us. We want to archive these on our website.
3. Audit Selection Meeting -- Attend the Audit Selection meeting and VIDEO RECORD the entire meeting. (see M 801for some tips -- Nowadays, you can just use your cell phone, but it may be a long meeting, so a tripod and a little cell-phone clamp may be needed. ) In Florida, these meetings are very short, usually less than five minutes.
   • We want to make sure they are picking both the race and precinctAT RANDOM so it is a complete surprise to them.
     • If they choose these by numbers, those must be assigned and available in lists BEFORE the selection.
     • If they use "objects in a container" approach, as to verify that all the races are represented by objects and that all the objects are identical, esp. to a hand feeling them.
     • Please inspect any sheet of paper they may put into a hat and ask to draw them and do not let them hold the side of the hat (and hold one of the slips of paper).
     • Best is to use ten-sided dice to select a number that then indexes into a table.
   • Please send us the video or upload to You Tube or another service and give us the link.
     • We need to get the original video because we don't want to lose these!
   • If they say you can't record the meeting, stand your ground! Of course you can!
     • This is a public meeting, not one processing the ballots. You have the right to record these meetings as long as you are not disruptive. We have had to have some confrontation in the past over this point. Be sure to bring the text of the actual law in your state. If they persist, ask them to explain what they are afraid of, and tell them your recording is for educational purposes.
     • We sent an email to all the counties we mentioned (top 15 in FL) warning them.
     • Florida Recording Law: http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/florida-recording-law
       • QUOTE: If you attend a public meeting (i.e., a meeting of a governmental body required to be open to the public by law) in Florida, generally you are permitted to use sound or video recording devices, so long as your recording does not disrupt the meeting.
   • Take a snapshot with your camera of the selected numbers.
   • If they do not allow you to record the meeting, despite your most assertive objection, then please document the situation, (video record it if possible, or secondly, audio record it).
   • Arrange to have another person who will simply attend if you plan to stand your ground and take the recording at the risk of arrest.
     • Being arrested for trying to record an election audit meeting will be a huge feather in your hat and will allow the issue to be settled in a court of law. We are supposed to have first amendment rights!
4. Watch the Manual Tally procedure.You must be able to get close enough to see the ballots and confirm they talliers are marking it correctly.
   • Most important is the end of the process to see what they do if there is a difference.
   • Talliers should NOT know the official results before they start, but if they checked the file we downloaded, they would know, so this is a bit of a defect in the process.
   • Some counties let us record the general situation in the room as long as we make it clear the camera will not focus on individual ballots (although with no identifying marks on the ballots, it makes no sense to worry about that but they are over the top on establishing control.) The only time it is a genuine concern is if you can both identify the voter and see the ballot such as when provisionals and VBM ballots are processed. That is a crime, so you don't want to try to do that and generally be willing to cooperate. Bottom line is that you can try to record it but if you can't get it, it is not as important as the SNAPSHOT file and the SELECTION PROCESS.

Right to Video Record Public Meetings in Florida

The following snippet can be used to defend your right to record public meetings:

Although the Sunshine Law does not explicitly allow for the video recording of public meetings, refusal to allow such recording violates the “statute’s spirit, intent, and purpose” if the recording is non-disruptive. Morever, the Legislature in s. 934.02(1), F.S., appears to implicitly recognize the public's right to silently record public meetings. Chapter 934, F.S., the Security of Communications Law, regulates the interception of oral communication. Section 934.02(2), Florida Statutes, however, defines "oral communication" as specifically excluding "public oral communication uttered at a public meeting." Pinellas Cnty. Sch. Bd. v. Suncam Inc., 829 So. 2d 989 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002).

An example

Here is a sample video we made of the selection process in San Diego. San Diego only selects PRECINCTS and not RACES because CA law requires that all races be audited. In this video, we also notice that they chose too few VBM "batches" and this led to our lawsuit.

• (M1662) 2016-06-08 San Diego County Manual Tally selection meeting, June 8, 2016 -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight, Save time and skip through most of the drawing part!

Please join our team.

• Sign up here: http://citizensoversight.org/signup

Email to Elections Officials

Citizens Oversight sent the following email to elections officials in the targeted counties on 8/8/2018.

• Email to Election Officials -- Citizen Oversight of Audit-related Public Meetings for Aug 28, 2018 Primary.pdf: Email to Florida election officials prior to Aug 28, 2018 Primary

Responses to the email

Topics that reference this topic or similar topics

• (M1684) 2016-08-30 Citizens' Oversight: Election Scrutiny Extended to Florida and Arizona Primary Elections -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
• (ElectionOversightProcedures) 2016-08-10 Election Oversight Procedures -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,
• (ElectionOversightFlorida2016November) 2016-11-06 Election Oversight - Florida 2016 November -- Ray Lutz, Citizens Oversight,

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