New Hampshire has an EXEMPLARY voting system. In 45% of it polling places, where community members run democratic hand count elections. Our exemplary hand count elections are a shining model for the entire nation.

But in the other 55% counting 81% of NH ballots, some hard questions need to be asked and answered. Like this one: Is it appropriate for New Hampshire to be outsourcing such sensitive governmental duties as vote tabulation to a firm whose executive management includes a convicted criminal?

SOURCE: BlackBoxVoting.ORG

They program every single voting machine in New Hampshire, Connecticut, almost all of Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maine. But did state officials in five New England states ever do a criminal background check on this company's executives? Do the laws of these five states even ALLOW them to hire convicted criminals for services paid for by the state? What about over 500 local towns and municipalities?

According to my sources, LHS Marketing and Sales Director Ken Hajjar grew up with owner John Silvestro in Lawrence, Massachusetts. They both moved to Londonderry, New Hampshire, where Ken Hajjar was arrested, indicted, and pleaded guilty to "sale / CND" and sentenced to 12 months in the Rockingham County Correctional facility, and fined $2000. As things go for the politically connected, he was then given a deferred sentence and $1000 of his fine was suspended.

Hajjar doesn't limit his involvement in the voting machine business to sales. According to an interview conducted by Brad Friedman, Hajjar totes memory cards around in the trunk of his car and defends the boggling concept of swapping out memory cards during the middle of elections.

Hold onto your hats, there's more. Start with this YouTube video, if you haven't already seen it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiiaBqwqkXs

Then read this BradBlog story:
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5320

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quote:

Other LHS staff members we spoke with, including Mike Carlson and Tom Burge, provided similar comments. They said they would open machines up during an election and swap memory cards as needed. This is illegal under Connecticut law and Deputy Secretary Mara told us she has since informed LHS that such actions were in violation of Connecticut election laws.

In 2006, as Hajjar argued in favor of their policy to change cards during elections, I asked him about about the laws which govern chain of custody issues. His response: "I mean, I don't pay attention to every little law. It's just, it's up to the Registrars. All we are is a support organization on Election Day".

He said he had three memory cards in the trunk of his car and, in the event they had to be used, the chain of custody issues wouldn't matter since, "once you run the pre-election test deck through, you're golden".

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Black Box Voting has sent out 10 freedom of information requests, called "right to know requests" in New Hampshire, and public records requests elsewhere.

Hajjar's conviction was in 1987, but we have asked also for complaints filed on a threat allegedly made in recent years to a New Hampshire woman, and any other reports for Hajjar or LHS owner John Silvestro.

Until recently, LHS employees were listed on the company Web site. Now the pages identifying who programs New England voting machines have been taken down.

We want to know.

We want to know exactly what the secretaries of state/commonwealth know about LHS Associates.

Did they know of Hajjar's criminal background? If so, why's he toting voting machine cards around in the trunk of his car in case they are "needed" in live elections, and if not, why not?

Link to Kenneth Hajjar criminal record:
http://www.bbvdocs.org/LHS/hajjar.png

VOTING MACHINES - SKILLFULLY MANIPULATED - LEAVE NO EVIDENCE

The famous "Hursti Hack" of the memory card in the voting system version used in New Hampshire preloaded the card with minus and plus votes, passed the "zero test" at the beginning of the day, and after 6 no and 2 yes votes were fed through it, pronounced election totals of 7 yes and 1 no. Yes, these are the cards Hajjar totes in trunk.

Good news for the citizens of Connecticut. According to Brad Friedman, Hajjar was booted out of the state after he posted "You're full of shit" on BradBlog, a liberal political site that does kick-ass voting machine stories.

Whether Hajjar works in Connecticut or not, he works at LHS, and it is inside the Methuen, Massachusetts-based factory that the memory cards are programmed for Connecticut and the rest of New England.