[Tfug] OT: Election update and plea for help...

[Jim March]

Does anybody have a micro-camcorder available for loan tomorrow, that I can
pick up tomorrow AM?  Urgency is very high.  Basically, we caught Maricopa
County elections in a felony today - cross-wiring the central tabulator to a
non-secure laptop owned by Sequoia Voting Systems, complete with cellular
modem card in there and live.  And I couldn't get a picture.  Need a
micro-cam of some sort to get the proof.  See also my affidavit filed with
our attorney today.

Remember: by law, the central tabulator system on what's supposed to be an
isolated local network is completely unpatched - it's not allowed to be
modified in any way since the day it shipped in 2006 or 2007.  Even if the
Sequoia tech didn't cross-connect the cellmodem to the Ethernet (and both
appeared to be live), he could have easily "pwned" the "secure" systems with
any number of ancient script-kiddy exploits.

---

  *DECLARATION OF JAMES “JIM” MARCH*

I, JAMES “JIM” MARCH, hereby declare:

   1.

   I make the following declaration. I have personal knowledge of the
   matters set forth below, and, if called upon to do so, would testify
   competently thereto.



   1.

   I am an election observer in Maricopa County for the Maricopa County
   Libertarian Party, as is John Brakey. Both Mr. Brakey and I are connected
   with AUDIT-AZ, a statewide organization that evaluates election security
   matters. We have been observers in Maricopa County before under either the
   Maricopa County Democratic Party or Libertarian Party. I am a computer
   systems tech and system administrator of many years experience and currently
   serve as the Libertarian Party appointee to the Pima County Election
   Integrity Commission, a body that advises the Pima County Board of
   Supervisors on election matters. My efforts in Maricopa (and the contents of
   this declaration) are not connected to my service in that venue.



   1.

   On Aug. 23rd 2010 myself and Mr. Brakey were observing the mail-in vote
   scanning process in Maricopa. More or less immediately upon entry, I
   examined the central tabulator room, which political observers such as
   myself are not allowed to enter, however we can look through large glass
   windows. I realized that a lot of the wiring on the other side of the room
   was visible, and I went to retrieve my pair of low-grade binoculars (8x21
   magnification).



   1.

   Using the binoculars I began tracing wiring. I noted that Ethernet wires
   going into the ceiling panels were unplugged to anything and coiled up in a
   distinctive pattern. I noted that the similar wires dropping down to each
   large central count optical scanner station were similarly coiled, and
   assumed that those wires led off to each central count scanner (used for
   processing mail-in votes). I knew from prior election cycles that on
   election night those would connect the central tabulator station (and
   possibly it’s backup secondary central system) to the scanners to take in
   the final tally of the mail-in votes. I also noted the color of these cables
   that would connect to the central tabulator: blue.



   1.

   Using the binoculars I found another blue color cable of the same type
   leading off to the right. I noted that there were only three computers in
   that direction: a standard touchscreen voting system which did not appear to
   have an Ethernet cable running to it. Past that was a pair of computers all
   the way around and near the glass window – a desktop and a laptop. I checked
   the desktop first – there was no Ethernet cable going into it. I then
   examined the laptop, which was a fairly large IBM/Lenovo Thinkpad of an
   older vintage, possibly a T60 or similar. It had a blue Ethernet cable
   plugged into it. Also present in the laptop was a cellular modem for the
   Sprint network, I suspect a Pantech model PX-500 based on the characteristic
   skinny antenna and curved visual element. I have used cellular modems for
   many years on the Verizon and Tmobile networks and am very familiar with the
   technology and models.



   1.

   I can state without question that with that laptop connected to the
   central tabulator, a cross-connection can be made allowing the sharing of
   the cellular Internet connection to other computers the laptop is connected
   to over Ethernet – including but not limited to the central tabulator
   station. This would provide a way of connecting the central tabulator to the
   Internet at the discretion of whoever was operating the laptop.



   1.

   I noted that somebody was sitting there working at the laptop at that
   moment.



   1.

   I asked the lead Maricopa County elections tech (John Stewart) who was
   working at that laptop and who owned it. He replied that the laptop was
   owned by Sequoia Voting Systems, and that the operator was a Sequoia
   employee. I explained that what I was seeing was a connection between the
   central tabulator (also known as an “Election Management System” or “EMS”)
   and the general internet, and that per my understanding of AZ law via
   statute and the Secretary of State’s current edition of the state-standard
   election processing manual (May 2010), this cross-connection is illegal. He
   shrugged. I asked him to look and see what was happening; he refused saying
   he “couldn’t get involved”.



   1.

   I asked John Brakey to examine what I was seeing. Lacking binoculars he
   could not confirm the link back to the central tabulator but he did examine
   and point at the cellular modem and Ethernet connection at the same laptop.



   1.

   I then asked permission to retrieve a camera and photograph what I was
   seeing. This was angrily denied.



   1.

   After leaving I voiced my concerns to Colleen Conner, who I am told is an
   attorney for the Maricopa Attorney’s Office specializing in election-related
   matters. She told me I had been reported as being “disruptive” and
   threatened me with being evicted if I continued being “disruptive”. In tones
   I would describe as “sneering” she told me to call the police and report a
   crime.


 I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of Arizona
that the foregoing is true and correct.

Executed this 23rd day of May, 2010 at Phoenix, Arizona.

    James “Jim” March
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