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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

.WeNeedYourEyes-RandomDraw-FL.jpg

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.

FloridaTargetsMap.jpg
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.

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.

Please join our team.

Email to Elections Officials

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

Responses to the email

Topics that reference this topic or similar topics

Comments

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Title Election Oversight - Florida 2018 August
Publisher Citizens Oversight
Author Ray Lutz
Pub Date 2018-08-19
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Keywords Election Integrity, Election Team, Snapshot Protocol, Snapshot Protocol
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Email to Election Officials -- Citizen Oversight of Audit-related Public Meetings for Aug 28, 2018 Primary.pdfpdf Email to Election Officials -- Citizen Oversight of Audit-related Public Meetings for Aug 28, 2018 Primary.pdf manage 80 K 19 Aug 2018 - 22:20 Raymond Lutz Email to Florida election officials prior to Aug 28, 2018 Primary
FL_map.JPGJPG FL_map.JPG manage 82 K 29 Aug 2016 - 23:25 Raymond Lutz Target counties in FL
FloridaTargetsMap.jpgjpg FloridaTargetsMap.jpg manage 120 K 28 Aug 2018 - 04:03 Raymond Lutz Counties of Florida with targets marked.
WeNeedYourEyes-RandomDraw-FL.jpgjpg WeNeedYourEyes-RandomDraw-FL.jpg manage 86 K 25 Aug 2018 - 04:41 Raymond Lutz  
Topic revision: r10 - 21 Oct 2018, RaymondLutz
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