A video purporting to show vote flipping on an electronic voting machine in West Virginia has become a huge hit on You Tube, with more than 350,000 hits as of Wednesday night.
It’s put out by a non-partisan group called “Video the Vote,” which is sponsored by several groups, including You Tube and PBS.
But the West Virginia Secretary of State’s office says the video is false and defamatory, and is threatening to file a complaint against Video the Vote with the U.S. Department of Justice.
The video shows Jackson County Clerk Jeff Waybright giving a demonstration of how to use the touch-screen machines.
One of the theories behind the vote switching is that the machines were not calibrated correctly – in other words, they weren’t tested to make sure that the place you touch on the screen is the place your vote goes on the ballot.
So Waybright starts with a deliberately un-calibrated machine. He tries to vote for Barack Obama, but the machine shows a vote for a third-party candidate.
Then, Waybright calibrates the machine and starts to vote.
“This was the same machine that was jumping all over the place a few minutes ago,” he says. “Now it is functioning just as it should function.”
Waybright checks the box for Ralph Nader, the Mountain Party candidate for president. Then, he tries to change it to a straight GOP ticket – but Nader remains checked, not Republican John McCain.
“Ah, that’s out of calibration. Ralph Nader comes up. If that happens, the machine let’s you know. The machine lets you know,” he says.
Waybright thinks the machine is still out of calibration – but it’s not. It turns out the machine is doing what it’s supposed to do. It allowed him to override his straight Republican ticket because he selected Nader for president.
Ian Inaba, one of the founders of Video the Vote, says if Waybright can’t understand the voting machine, how can the general public?
“If this is the guy who’s instructed with making sure the machines are calibrated and making sure voters know how to cast their ballots, and he can’t even get it right, how are they expecting voters to get it right on election day?” Inaba asks.
West Virginia Secretary of State Betty Ireland has launched an inquiry into the accusation made in the video. Deputy Secretary Sara Bailey says the video actually shows no vote flipping at all – and is unfair to Waybright.
“I would like to see them issue an apology to Jeff Waybright, the county clerk in Jackson County, and spread the word that the machine was recording votes properly when calibrated,” Bailey said.
“But instead, I understand they intend to hang him out to dry for his misstatement and mock his knowledge as an election official,” she said.
Bailey says the video is misleading -- especially its title. Inaba says its not.
“Well again, there is vote flipping that he shows on an uncalibrated machine, which is very clear,” Inaba says.
“What the demonstration shows is a vote flipping example, and so that has been captured on tape, and that is what has been recorded and put on the Internet,” he said.
Also, the Secretary of State’s office says Jeff Waybright realized his mistake later and was shot by the video crew explaining what really happened when he voted for Nader.
“He recognized his mistake and they re-shot the video, but Video the Vote wasn’t interested in portraying the truth,” Bailey said. “Instead, they chose to air the segment where the clerk misspeaks and edit out what actually occurred.”
Inaba says that Waybright never directly corrected himself in the video.
The group posted the full half-hour video of Waybright on Wednesday night. At the end of the video, Waybright goes through the same scenario he did earlier – but this time, he explains correctly what the machine is doing:
“All the Democrats are chosen except for one, which is John McCain, which I previously selected before I chose the straight Democrat ballot. So, just a little clarification there,” Waybright says.
Inaba says posting the full 36 minute interview will clarify any misperceptions the original 2 minute, 16 second video created. Bailey disagrees. In fact, Bailey says the Secretary of State’s office is considering legal action.
“Because we feel like they’re trying to scare voters with this video, we believe it may amount to voter suppression, and may warrant a report to the civil rights division at the Department of Justice,” Bailey said.
That would mean that Video the Vote, a group devoted to ensuring the right to vote, could be investigated for preventing people from voting.