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2003-11-03
Al Gore's -16,022 (that's negative 16,022) vote count in Volusia County, Florida
The magnitude of this negative vote count is almost 30 times the size of George Bush's final margin of victory in Florida. I have cited this occurrence to a number of people. Now I can point to the e-mail thread in which Diebold employees discuss what might have gone wrong. There are a couple of interesting—and very enlightening—things contained in the thread, including a reminder—rather ironic in hindsight—from one employee warning "that the boogie man may me [sic] reading our mail." If you don't want to read the whole thing, I've quoted the relevant highlight below.
Two months after the November 2000 election, Lana Hires, who has a Volusia County government e-mail address (leading me to believe that she's actually an employee of the County) wrote an e-mail to some people who were, at least at the time, apparently associated with Diebold Elections Systems. Diebold was the manufacturer of Volusia County's voting machines. Ms. Hires e-mail said, under the subject line 2000 November Election, in part (at the bottom of the e-mail thread referenced above),
I need some answers! Our department is being audited by the County. I have been waiting for someone to give me an explanation as to why Precinct 216 gave Al Gore a minus 16022 when it was uploaded. Will someone please explain this so that I have the information to give the auditor instead of standing here 'looking dumb'. Do I detect a note of exasperation in her request?
Some people have pointed out as well that among this body of Diebold internal correspondence is the statement, "If voting could really change things, it would be illegal.' Yes, an e-mail containing this statement really does exist; however, it's somebody's tagline. It is undoubtedly the expression of a extremely cynical position, but to quote it without context is very misleading.
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