Title Page ^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^ Analysis of 2010-10-25 Ward 5 Votecount Worldwide-Web Data Presentation Updates and Related Matters Toomas (Tom) Karmo 647-267-9566 verbum@interlog.com http://www.metascientia.com ((EXTRACT____LATEST_FROM_END-OF-DOC_VERSION_HISTORY)) * 20101026T102300Z/version 1.0.1 __Kmo did checking pass on his fieldnotes, putting a green-pencil tickmark beside each of the black-pencil entries made in the field, to indicate that checking was finished (_he found only minor errors, of a kind that would not affect forensics) __Kmo improved language a little in parts of the document, while keeping everything rather rough (_time does not permit careful writing) ((/EXTRACT____LATEST_FROM_END-OF-DOC_VERSION_HISTORY)) Front Matter ^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^ Nature and Purpose of This Document ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This document is a writeup of field notes and a commentary on field notes, produced by Toomas Karmo = Kmo immediately after returning home from the Karen Cilevitz election-night party of 2010-10-25 (MON). The working session started at 2010-10-26 (TUE) 00:19 EDT. Section A of this document is a recapitulation, without the addition of almost no extra information, of the field notes which Kmo took at the election-night party while viewing a big-screen projection of a continually updated Web page from within the site http://www.richmondhill.ca. Kmo worked with his special distance-vision spectacles when viewing the computer screen. Although Kmo suffers from severe myopia, these spectacles correct adequately for objects-near-infinity, such as a tavern's public viewing screen. The Web page which Kmo scrutinized through the evening showed counts from the six Town of Richmond Hill wards, from the mayoral contest, and from the school-trustee contests. The page was updated every few seconds, in a sequence fixed by some such authorities as the http://www.richmpondhill.ca webmasters (showing, for instance, Ward 1 counting results at one instant, and then a few seconds later Ward 2 counting results, and a few seconds after that Ward 3 counting results, and so on; this sequence included momentary displays of the the regional-councillors contest and the school-trustees contests, and the sequence was accompanied by continuously updated auxiliary displays of the mayoral contest and the overall polls-reporting and voter-turnout counts). The notes which Kmo took comprise (a) handwritten notes, made in black pencil on 4 sheets of 8.5 in x 11 in white paper on a clipboard, and (b) two photographs of the big-screen computer display. While recording each data item in his handwritten notes, Kmo wrote the EDT time for that particular data item, taking the EDT time from his Casio wristwatch. This watch uses Casio module 2184. Kmo had checked the time of this watch on the afternoon of 2010-10-24 (SUN) from the 15.00 MHz time broadcast of USA government station WWV in Colorado, and had found upon performing his check that the watch was leading the true time by 4 seconds. His friend ((CONCEALED COMMENT="think of this as I.B.Citizen")) (a downtown Toronto resident) had been present with him in the Hart House Amateur Radio Club listening shack in the afternoon of 2010-10-24 (SUN) when Kmo performed his check, and ((CONCEALED COMMENT="I.B.Citizen")) will almost certainly in a police or court setting (a) recall Kmo's first predicting to ((CONCEALED COMMENT="I.B.Citizen")) that the Casio watch would prove to be running 4 seconds fast, and (b) recall Kmo's confirming that prediction when monitoring WWV. Kmo's Casio 2184 gains 4 seconds per week, and therefore cannot have changed materialy between 2010-10-24 (SUN) and 2010-10-25 (MON). Kmo had not, in performing this radio-monitoring work of 2010-10-24 (SUN), been thinking of the upcoming need to keep records of 2010-10-25 (MON) votecounts, and was in fact at that point simply pursuing his normal Sunday shortwave-and-ham-radio hobby. In keeping his handwritten notes on 2010-10-25 (MON), Kmo took care to write the time of each observation only to the nearest minute, not to the nearest second, and he additionally took care not to err in writing the minute (as one might err by carelessly taking an observation perilously close to a full minute, say when the slightly fast Casio watch was reading 22:54:02, making it uncertain whether the true time of observation was 22:53 or 22:54; Kmo was in fact careful to take all observations at safe times, e.g. when the watch was reading 22:54:20 or 22:54:30 or 22:54:40, thereby making it certain that the true time of observation was 22:54). Kmo recorded exactly 106 observations in his handwritten black-pencil field notes. The observations skipped around the sheet as the work progressed, because Kmo used one part of the sheets for the latest information on the Ward 5 contest, another part of the sheets for the latest information on the Ward 1 contest, and a third part of the sheets for the latest information on overall voter participation in the Richmond Hill and overall count of polling-complete stations in Richmond Hill. Upon working through his black-pencil field notes and creating this document, Kmo circled each data item in blue pencil, and at the same time assigned to each data item a post-hoc reference number (which he wrote in blue pencil beside his blue-pencil circle, at the same time as he entered the reference number in this document). Kmo's sequence of post-hoc reference numbers is in two noncritical respects blemished: * the reference numbering skips nr 0050, going from nr 0049 to (illogically) 0051 (and therefore ending with nr 0107, even though the number of data items is 106, not 107) * the reference numbering at one nonessential point possibly departs VERY slightly from strict chronological order After keyboarding, Kmo put the partial-differentiation "di" sign (a kind of script d; this symbol first appears in second-year calculus courses in the standard curriculum) in green pencil beside the relevant data item, to indicate to Kmo that his keyboarding was finished for the item in question. After finishing version 1.0.0 of this document, Kmo made a checking pass through his fieldnotes. Upon checking his keyboarding work, Kmo planned put a check mark in green pencil beside each green-pencil di in the fieldnotes, to confirm for himself that he had checked the keyboarding for that particular fieldnote data item. Kmo is prepared to present his black-pencil field notes, with their post-field blue-pencil and post-field green-pencil additions, to any appropriate branch of government, the courts, or the police. It was an oversight of Kmo not to use his camera throughout the evening of 2010-10-25 (MON), taking numerous still photos of the big-screen display, or (better) a full video record of the big-screen display, so as to keep a full forensic record not dependent on handwriting. Kmo's two photographs were in fact taken toward the end of the evening, and they add little or nothing of forensic value to what he recorded in handwriting. Kmo approaches elections with anxiety, having worked on civil-liberties issues on site in 1980s Singapore and from abroad in relation to the 1980s USSR, and being still very mindful of this pair of difficult experiences. But he did not approach this particular Richmond Hill election with sufficient anxiety. Kmo began his note-taking in the field with only the vague thought that some forensic scenario might eventuate, and that he therefore might as well take thorough notes with proper timestamping. Rather early in the presentation of votecounts on the Web, Kmo was puzzled by the accumulation of votes by Dimopoulos. Kmo therefore spent some effort recording the accumulating votecount totals both for Dimopolous and Dimopoulos's nearest rival Kurta. At 22:42, however, Kmo first became puzzled by Cilevitz cumulative votecount, which seemed to Kmo to have dropped. Kmo realized that the cumulative count could not drop if the counting was accurate. Kmo at first thought he himself had made a clerical error, but then began to think that the apparent anomaly was real, i.e., that the anomaly pointed to a forensic problem. Kmo alerted ((CONCEALED COMMENT="think of this individual as A.N.Other-Citizen")) verbally to Kmo's fears one or two or three or four or so minutes after the fears formed in his mind. When the fears formed in his mind, Kmo continued his fieldnotes work with a concenration on Cilevitz numbers rather than on Dimopoulos numbers. His fears notwithstanding, Kmo realized too late that it would have been appropriate to have his camera, rather than his black pencil, recording what was displayed on the big screen. He did take two photographs of the big screen, but these photos came near the end of his work session and are surely of no forensic utility. Kmo's fieldnote work was interrupted at one point by an unexpected incoming phone call to his Rogers shirtpocket cellphone from colleague-in-religion Paul Nash (a Catholic layman associated, as Kmo is also associated, with the Archabbey of St Vincent in Pennsylvania; Paul Nash lives in downtown Toronto). A court or police bureau may be able to confirm from Rogers records that Paul Nash phoned at the time Kmo was working, and Paul Nash will no doubt be willing to testify to the police or the courts to having phoned Kmo (and to having been told, politely, by Kmo that Kmo was in too much stress from election work to have a conversation with Paul Nash at that moment). Kmo's fieldnote work was interrupted at another point by a hasty visit to the urinal in the lavatory. Neither of these interruptions significantly degraded the fieldwork, because both interruptions were short. Section B of this document discusses the interpretation of the first section and the wider forensic context of the first secttion. How to Check Which Version of This Document You Are Reading Herewith ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Refer to the formal revision history, kept at the end of this document. Body Text ^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^ Section A: Recapitulation of Field Notes ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0001")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="21:04")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Papa as having 728 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having 433 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0002")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="21:07)) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Papa as having 974 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having 585 votes or 595 votes (_handwriting is unclear) ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0003")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="21:27")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Papa as having 1347 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having 754 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0004")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="21:28")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Papa as having 1762 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having 1022 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0005")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="21:32")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Papa as having 2077 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having 1256 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0006")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="21:37")) ((/DATA_ITEM)) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Papa as having 2193 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having 1321 votes ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0007")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="21:38")) __Kmo records in Ward 1 Hoffelner as having 1069 votes __Kmo records in Ward 1 Beros as having 1056 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0008")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="21:38")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Papa as having 2198 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having 1321 votes (__and Kmo marks at 21:43, 21:47, 21:49 that these numbers have not changed) ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0009")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="21:42")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Kurta as having 178 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Dimopoulos as having 115 votes (_handwriting a bit unclear, but appears to be 115, not 165) ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0010")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="21:42")) __Kmo records in Ward 1 Beros as having 1245 or 1295 votes (_handwriting is unclear) __Kmo records in Ward 1 Hoffelner as having 1187 votes (_handwriting a tiny bit unclear, but 1187 is 98% certain) ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0011")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="21:47")) __Kmo records in Ward 1 Beros as having 1245 votes __Kmo records in Ward 1 Hoffelner as having 1187 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0012")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="21:50")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Papa as having 2492 votes (_handwriting is a bit unclear; 30% probability that what Kmo wrote, rather, was 2442) __Kmo has some difficulty in recording Ward 5 Cilevitz votes, writing ((QUOTE)) 1448? ((/QUOTE)), then crossing this entry out and writing underneath it ((QUOTE)) or 1428? ((/QUOTE)) (_and Kmo marks at 21:52, 21:53 that these numbers have not changed) ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0013")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="21:52")) __Kmo records in Ward 1 Beros as having some number of votes __the number might be 1364, but it is written in such haste that it might be read in a couple of other ways, including as 1369 __Kmo records in Ward 1 Hoffelner as having 1283 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0014")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="21:53")) __Kmo records in Ward 1 Beros as having 1584 votes __Kmo records in Ward 1 Hoffelner as having 1499 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0015")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="21:54")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Papa as having 2684 votes (_the handwriting is bad, but it is 80% certain that the number written is 2684 rather than 2614 because a few seconds or a few minutes later, on the same sheet, Kmo computed the difference between Papa votecount and Cilevitz votecount, in a quite legible calculation in which appears 2684 rather than 2614) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having 1548 votes (_the handwrriting is bad, but it is 80% certain that the number written is 1548 rather than 1546 because a few seconds or a few minutes later, on the same sheet, Kmo computed the difference between Papa votecount and Cilevitz votecount, in a quite legible calculation in which appears 1548 rather than 1546) ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0016")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="21:56")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Kurta as having 237 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Dimopoulos as having 136 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0017")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="21:58?")) __Kmo records time unclearly, but almost certainly as 21:58 __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having 1548 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Kurta as having some number of votes __the handwriting is unclear, and could be either 237 or 232 __Kmo records in Ward 5 Dimopolous as having some uncertain number of votes, writing ((QUOTE)) 136(?) ((/QUOTE)) ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0018")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="21:58")) __Kmo records in Ward 1 Beros as having 1736 votes __Kmo records in Ward 1 Hoffelner as having 1642 votes __Kmo adds at 22:06 that these numbers are unchanged ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0019")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="21:59?") __Kmo records time unclearly, but rather likely as 21:59 __Kmo records in Ward 5 Papa as having 2684 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Kurta as having 232 votes (_this seems a quite clear "232", even though entry 0016 has an equally clear "237") __Kmo records in Ward 5 Dimopoulos as having some uncertain number of votes, writing ((QUOTE)) 136 ? ((/QUOTE)) ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0020")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:03")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Papa as having 2768 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having 1609 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0021")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:04")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Kurta as having 249 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Dimopoulos as having 138 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0022")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:06")) __Kmo records in Richmond Hill overall the following: * 50 tabulated * 18.2% of votes now known to have voted * 20,247 votes now known to have been cast ((/DATA_ITEM)) [_here ends page 01 of Kmo's paper field notes] ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0023")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:07")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Kurta as having 275 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Dimopoulos as having 155 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0024")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:08")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Kurta as having 275 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Dimopoulos as having 155 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0025")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:08")) __Kmo records in Ward 1 Beros as having 1900 votes __Kmo records in Ward 1 Hoffelner as having 1805 votes __Kmo adds at 22:09 that these numbers are unchanged ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0026")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:09")) __Kmo records in Richmond Hill overall the following: * 52 tabulated * 20,886 votes now known to have been cast ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0027")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:10")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Papa as having 2988 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Kurta as having 275 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Dimopoulos as having 155 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0028")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:10")) __Kmo records in Richmond Hill overall the following: * 53 tabulated * 21,251 votes now known to have been cast ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0029")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:12")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having 1788 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Kurta as having 275 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Dimopoulos as having 155 votes (_Kmo makes a record in Ward 5 for Papa, as having 2988 votes, but it is not clear whether this record is part of data item 0029, from 22:12, or on the contrary part of data item 0030, from 22:16) ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0030")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:16")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Kurta as having 275 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Dimopoulos as having 155 votes (_Kmo makes a record in Ward 5 for Papa, as having 2988 votes, and in Ward 5 for Cilevitz, as having 1788 votes, but it is not clear whether this record is part of data item 0030, from 22:16, or on the contrary part of data item 0029, from 22:12) ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0031")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:16")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Papa as having 2988 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having 1788 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0032")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:18")) __Kmo records in Richmond Hill overall the following: * 62 tabulated * 24,611 votes now known to have been cast ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0033")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:18")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Kurta as having 275 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Dimopoulos as having 155 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0034")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:19")) __Kmo records in Ward 1 Beros as having 2078 votes __Kmo records in Ward 1 Hoffelner as having some uncertain nr of votes (_Kmo writes, in great haste, only ((QUOTE)) 19** ((/QUOTE)), meaning by this some number in the range 1900, 1999 inclusive) ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0035")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:20")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Papa as having 3191 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having some uncertain nr of votes __he writes ((QUOTE)) 1905 ? ((/QUOTE)) ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0036")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:21")) __Kmo records in Richmond Hill overall the following: * 65 tabulated * 25,588 votes now known to have been cast ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0037")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:22")) __Kmo records in Ward 1 Beros as having 2078 votes __Kmo records in Ward 1 Hoffelner as having some uncertain nr of votes __Kmo writes ((QUOTE)) 1929 ? ((/QUOTE)) ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0038")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:23")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Kurta as having 293 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Dimopoulos as having 164 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0039")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:24")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Kurta as having 293 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Dimopoulos as having 164 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0040")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:30")) __Kmo records in Ward 1 Beros as having 2078 votes __Kmo records in Ward 1 Hoffelner as having 1929 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0041")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:26")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Kurta as having 293 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Dimopoulos as having 164 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0042")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:27")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Papa as having 3191 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having some uncertain nr of votes __Kmo writes ((QUOTE)) 1904? ((/QUOTE)) ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0043")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:28")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Kurta as having 293 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Dimopoulos as having 164 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0044")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:28")) __Kmo records in Richmond Hill overall the following: * 72 tabulated * 28,333 votes now known to have been cast ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0045")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:29")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having 1905 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Kurta as having 293 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Dimopoulos as having 164 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0046")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:30")) __Kmo records in Ward 1 Beros as having 2078 votes __Kmo records in Ward 1 Hoffelner as having 1929 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0047")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:30")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Papa as having 3191 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having 1905 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0048")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:30")) __Kmo records in Ward 1 Beros as having 2078 votes __Kmo records in Ward 1 Hoffelner as having 1929 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0049")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:31")) __Kmo records in Richmond Hill overall the following: * 75 tabulated * 28,822 votes now known to have been cast ((/DATA_ITEM)) [_I forgot to write in blue pencil a data item 50, sorry!] ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0051")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:32")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Papa as having 3191 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having 1905 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0052")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:33")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Kurta as having 310 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Dimopoulos as having 185 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0053")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:33")) __Kmo records in Richmond Hill overall the following: * 77 tabulated * 29,221 votes now known to have been cast ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0054")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:34")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Papa as having 3407 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having some uncertain nr of votes __Kmo writes ((QUOTE)) 2439 ? ((/QUOTE)) ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0055")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:35")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Kurta as having 310 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Dimopoulos as having 185 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0056")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:36")) __Kmo records in Richmond Hill overall the following: * 80 tabulated * 29,968 votes now known to have been cast ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0057")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:36")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Papa as having 3407 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having some uncertain nr of votes __Kmo writes ((QUOTE)) 2439 ? ((/QUOTE)) ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0058")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:37")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Kurta as having 310 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Dimopoulos as having 185 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0059")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:38")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Papa as having 3407 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having 2439 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) [_here ends page 02 of Kmo's paper field notes] ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0060")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:38")) __Kmo records in Richmond Hill overall the following: * 80 tabulated * 29,968 votes now known to have been cast ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0061")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:39")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Kurta as having 310 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Dimopoulos as having 185 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0062")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:40")) __Kmo records in Richmond Hill overall the following: * 82 tabulated * 29,989 votes now known to have been cast ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0063")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:40")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Papa as having 3407 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having 2439 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0064")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:41")) __Kmo records in Richmond Hill overall the following: * 83 tabulated * 29,992 votes now known to have been cast __Kmo adds to this note, as soon as he makes it, an exclamation mark, because he notes that between this data item and the corresponding item from 22:40, one further polling station has reported, and yet this station has only delivered 3 votes into the cumulative overall votecount (_before this station reported, we had 29,989 votes, and after this station reported, we had 29,992 votes __29,992 minus 29,989 equals 3) ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0065")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:41")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Kurta as having 310 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Dimopoulos as having 185 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0066")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:42")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Papa as having 3408 votes __Kmo falls into confusion and a kind of disbelief upon trying to record in Ward 5 the nr of Cilevitz votes __he first writes ((QUOTE)) 24** ((/QUOTE)) __under this first piece of writing he writes ((QUOTE)) (seemed 2403, but this is imposs) ((/QUOTE)) __beside this first piece of writing, perhaps at 22:42, perhaps later, he writes ((QUOTE)) 2045 ? ((/QUOTE)) and then crosses out this piece of writing of-uncertain-time [_Kmo PERHAPS crossed out this writing-of-uncertain-time because he realized he was not supposed to be writing after 22:42 in an entry timestamped 22:42 __but this is only a conjecture __Kmo makes this conjecture some hours after the fact, at (exactly) 04:12 EDT, upon typing up this report] ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0067")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:43")) __Kmo records in Richmond Hill overall the following: * 84 tabulated * 30,002 votes now known to have been cast __Kmo adds to this note, as soon as he makes it, an exclamation mark, because he notes that between this data item and the corresponding item from 22:41, one further polling station has reported, and yet this station has only delivered a tiny number of votes into the cumulative overall votecount (_before this station reported, we had 29,992 votes, and after this station reported, we had 30,002 votes __30,002 minus 29,992 equals 10, which is a tiny number) ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0068")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:45")) __Kmo now makes every effort to get accurate record in Ward 5 of Cilevitz votecount, neglecting all other Ward 5 data for the time being __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having 2045 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0069")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:46")) __Kmo now makes every effort to get accurate record in Ward 5 of Cilevitz votecount, neglecting all other Ward 5 data for the time being __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having 2045 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0070")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:47")) __Kmo records in Richmond Hill overall the following: * 86 tabulated * 30,029 votes now known to have been cast ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0071")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:47")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Papa as having 3414 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having 2045 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0072")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:48")) __Kmo records in Richmond Hill overall the following: * 87 tabulated * 30,412 votes now known to have been cast ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0073")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:48")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Papa as having 3433 votes __Kmo tries to record Cilevitz votecount but fails (_bad nerves, not enough time?) __he writes two numerals, very likely ((QUOTE)) 2 4 ((/QUOTE)), then crosses them out, and writes a question mark beside the crossing-out ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0074")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:49")) __Kmo records in Ward 1 Hoffelner as having 1942 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0075")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:49")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having 2146 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0076")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:50")) __Kmo records in Richmond Hill overall the following: * 88 tabulated * 31,322 votes now known to have been cast (_or is this 31,326 votes? __Kmo handwriting is unclear) ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0077")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:52")) __Kmo records in Richmond Hill overall the following: * 89 tabulated * 32,050 votes now known to have been cast ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0078")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:50")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having 2146 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0079")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:51")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having 2146 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0080")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:52")) __Kmo records in Richmond Hill overall the following: * 89 tabulated * 32,050 votes now known to have been cast ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0081")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:52")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Papa as having 3572 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having 2146 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0082")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:53")) __Kmo records in Richmond Hill overall the following: * 89 tabulated * 32,050 votes now known to have been cast ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0083")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:53")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Papa as having 3572 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having 2146 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) [_here ends page 03 of Kmo's paper field notes] ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0084")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:54")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Papa as having 3572 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having 2146 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0085")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:54")) __Kmo records in Richmond Hill overall the following: * 89 tabulated * 32,050 votes now known to have been cast ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0086")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:55")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having 2146 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0087")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:55")) __Kmo records in Ward 1 Beros as having 2113 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0088")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:56")) __Kmo records in Richmond Hill overall the following: * 89 tabulated * 32,050 votes now known to have been cast ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0089")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:56")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having 2146 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0090")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:57")) __Kmo records in Ward 1 Beros as having 2113 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0091")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:57")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Papa as having 3572 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having 2146 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0092")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:58")) __Kmo records in Richmond Hill overall the following: * 89 tabulated * 32,050 votes now known to have been cast ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0093")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:58")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having 2146 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Dimopoulos as having 192 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0094")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:59")) __Kmo records in Ward 1 Beros as having 2113 votes __Kmo records in Ward 1 Hoffelner as having 1965 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0095")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="22:59")) __Kmo records in Richmond Hill overall the following: * 32,050 votes now known to have been cast ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0096")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="21:59")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Papa as having 3572 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having 2146 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0097")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="23:00")) __Kmo records in Ward 1 Beros as having 2113 votes __Kmo records in Ward 1 Hoffelner as having 1965 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0098")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="23:00")) __Kmo records in Richmond Hill overall the following: * 89 tabulated * 32,050 votes now known to have been cast ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0099")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="23:00")) __Kmo noted that he had failed to get an update on figures for Ward 5 __he wrote ((QUOTE)) missed 23:00 ! ((/QUOTE)) ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0100")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="23:01")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Papa as having 3572 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having 2146 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0101")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="23:01")) __Kmo records in Richmond Hill overall the following: * 89 tabulated * 32,050 votes now known to have been cast ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0102")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="23:02")) __Kmo records in Richmond Hill overall the following: * 89 tabulated * 32,050 votes now known to have been cast ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0103")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="23:02")) __Kmo records in Ward 1 Beros as having 2113 votes __Kmo records in Ward 1 Hoffelner as having 1965 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0104")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="23:02")) __Kmo records in Ward 5 Papa as having 3572 votes __Kmo records in Ward 5 Cilevitz as having 2146 votes ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0105")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="23:04")) __Kmo takes the first of his two photographs of the big-screen display __Kmo does not write any numbers into his notes, but he does write ((QUOTE)) foto ((/QUOTE)) (_here thinking in his native Estonian, not in English; "foto" is of course Estonian for "photo") ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0106")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="23:08")) __Kmo notices that polling is now complete, with all 98 stations having reported __Kmo fails to notice in the fieldwork that the remaining stations add a mere 2 votes to the cumulative total (_for 89 stations we have 32,050 votes, as noted in data item 0102, and for the full set of 98 stations we have 32052 votes) __but Kmo does write down the correct numbers: ((QUOTE)) 98 98 ((/QUOTE)) (_this must mean "98 out of the total of 98") and ((QUOTE)) 32,052 ((/QUOTE)) ((/DATA_ITEM)) ((DATA_ITEM POST-HOC_REFERENCE_NUMBER="0107")) TIME_AS_RECORDED_IN_NOTES="23:08")) __Kmo takes the second of his two photographs of the big-screen display __Kmo does not write any numbers into his notes, but he does write ((QUOTE)) foto ((/QUOTE)) ((/DATA_ITEM)) Section B: Interpretation of Field Notes, and Wider Forensic Context ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Most of these notes are of no interest. But it is necessary to write up a full set of notes so that the entire context for the portion which is of interest is given, for the benefit of police or courts. The portion which is of interest covers the votecounts over a span of a few minutes immediately after 22:41 EDT. It was around 22:42 EDT that Kmo first noticed that the cumulative Cilevitz votecount had gone DOWN, which it could not do if the counting was accurate. He initially did not believe what he seemed to be seeing, but then he came to believe that he was seeing correctly and that there therefore was a real problem. The following steps may now be helpful in forensic work: * Make every effort to obtain, through Rogers Television or similar, a video recording of the entire Richmond Hill election Web display. (It is possible that Rogers Television, or similar, broadcast the very display which Kmo was watching on the big tavern screen, and that the television workers keep an archive of their broadcast for 24 or 48 hours after the broadcasting has finished.) If such a video recording is obtained, scrutinize its record for events immediately after 21:41 EDT. * Obtain via FOI or police work or other legal means a check on the quality of chronometry in the Town of Richmond Hill local area network (LAN). A high quality LAN will maintain clocks of all computers through Network Time Protocol (NTP), interrogating a time server over the Internet 10 or 20 or 40 or so times a day. A low quality LAN, on the other hand, will maintain its clocks in an ad-hoc way, with some administrator setting computer clocks from his own wristwatch. (It is a relevant forensic fact, probably well known in police or national-security bureaux, that although ordinary citizens usually wear watches that gain or lose only some seconds a week, their watches are liable to be so inaccurately set, or so infrequently corrected, as to become discrepant by as much as a couple of minutes from the actual time.) In working with computer files obtained by FOI or other legal means from the Town, check timestamps of the files, but do so while noting that timestamps are only as accurate as the setting of the individual computer clocks. * Obtain via FOI or other legal means an assurance that the paper ballots of Ward 5 are in safe keeping. * Obtain via FOI or other legal means full particulars on (a) ballot-scanning machines, (b) means of transmitting data from these machines to the central Richmond Hill tabulating offices (unencrypted Internet? encrypted Internet? flash-memory "thumb drive" carried in an official's pocket?), (c) security controls on computers at central Richmond Hill tabulating offices. (In the USA presidential election of 2004, it was found to the dismay of relevant concerned citizens that polling stations had fed their data into mere off-the-shelf software, either Microsoft Access or similar, and that this software had at best only feeble security controls. This meant that even if individual polling stations were accurate in their work - this accuracty was itself questioned in the United States investigations, since polling stations in some cases used machines from the allegedly politically coloured Diebold Corporation - the central tabulating office could be hacked. A possible hack was indeed demonstrated in the United States after the problematic election. - Adequate cybersecurity in a town's central tabulating office will use the formalism of "access control list" (ACL), or similar, as for instance developed in 1990s-era OpenVMS, and as no doubt available in some contemporary incarnation by way of a commercially distributed tool, installable in Microsoft Vista or Microsoft XP, as when Microsoft is used to run a law firm or a stockbroker's office. Back Matter: Revision History ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ How to Read This Revision History ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Revision-history listing is in reverse chronological order. Times are in ISO-notation UTC. UTC leads EST by five hours and leads EDT by four hours. (So, for instance, 2009-12-25 23:01:49 EST is the same instant in time as UTC = 20091226T040149Z.) The ISO notation is now standard and is documented in adequate detail in the Kmo Linux-chronometry essay at http://www.metascientia.com. Version numbering is in the style "major.minor.patch" now standard in software development. Revision History Listing ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ * 20101026T102300Z/version 1.0.1 __Kmo did checking pass on his fieldnotes, putting a green-pencil tickmark beside each of the black-pencil entries made in the field, to indicate that checking was finished (_he found only minor errors, of a kind that would not affect forensics) __Kmo improved language a little in parts of the document, while keeping everything rather rough (_time does not permit careful writing) * 20100506T050749Z/version 1.0.0 __Kmo prepared a base version hurriedly, not pausing to check accuracy of keyboarding at this stage ====================================================================== END ======================================================================