4 ms·

Ask HN: Analyzing Ballot Images of all 50 states?

• ksaj 6y ago
  They are doing that already. When Trump kept claiming that they wouldn't let the observers see the signatures, he was neglecting to also point out that the signatures are compared electronically, and only failed signatures are reviewed by a human before getting rejected altogether. This is partly why the court dismissed this particular claim.
  • tmaly 6y ago
    Do you have some references to this and to the process used? I was not aware that signatures are compared electronically.
    • ksaj 6y ago
      Here's an article about one of the solutions: https://na.panasonic.com/us/trends/confronting-votings-new-normal-ballot-scanning-and-signature-verification-technology https://na.panasonic.com/us/trends/confronting-votings-new-n... Basically they compare the ballot signature with the one used on your license. Not everybody has a license, so I'm guessing there is more to it than just that. Probably something in regards to the voter registration itself. Also - in the video that RG cites as proof that they counted some ballots more than once, I believe they are actually re-scanning signatures. The machine in the video pretty much looks exactly like the one this article refers to.
• maltalex 6y ago
  > It seems like could settle all these conspiracy theories, disputes, and just move on. Unfortunately, facts aren't very effective against such conspiracy theories. People who believe in them aren't (typically) engaged in a pursuit after the truth. It's a social phenomena and has to be treated as such.
  • tmaly 6y ago
    Facts not mattering seems to be a more common thing. At least that was a take away I had from reading Kahneman's book Think Fast and Slow
• tmaly 6y ago
  I did find this software https://github.com/FreeAndFair/OpenCount https://github.com/FreeAndFair/OpenCount That was funded by UC Berkley and has a tabulator part that appears to work on the common voting systems. Readme states "Tabulator currently supports optical-scan ballots associated with Diebold (Premier), ES&S, Hart, and Sequoia ballot styles" Since Dominion acquired Sequoia in 2014, I am guessing some small changes would make this work for the current ballot images used in 2020.
• auganov 6y ago
  First you need to get all the states to hand them over. Many seem unwilling. As for analyzing, you don't necessarily know what you're looking for before examining them. For example - if there is a distinct pattern of markings suggesting ballot stuffing by the same person, you'd need to identify those first. Then you could train a program to identify all occurrences. But without ground truth (knowing for a fact you really spotted fraudulent ones) this wouldn't be strong proof. Absence of anomalies also wouldn't prove absence of fraud, might merely disqualify some forms of fraud.
  • tmaly 6y ago
    would have an independent tabulation on different software apart from the software used by the official machines offer anything here?
    • auganov 6y ago
      Yes. But problems with tabulation have already been rendered unlikely by hand recounts. Many/most places haven't done them or have only had limited ones, so this would add some extra reassurance. But out of plausible theories of fraud, rigged tabulation without creating a trail [0] is far down the list. [0] and even if you do, it's still not that plausible