If we want to take back Congress and local elections in 2018 we have to do this:

[diva77]

Take the Secretaries of State of each state to task and demand that they DECERTIFY all computerized voting and tabulation, including DREs, Optical Scanners, Central Tabulators, etc. on the basis that we can never be confident that our votes are being counted as cast. That is all it took for Germany to forbid use of machines in their elections.

Here is link for roster of secretaries of state from NASS.org :

http://www.nass.org/index.php/about-nass/alt-roster-2016/

We still have time for paper ballots to be printed up -- but barely because ballot design and printing is done months in advance of an election.

The ballots need to be HAND COUNTED at the precinct level. Here are hand counting techniques:

http://www.wheresthepaper.org/CountPaperBallots.htm

Hand counting paper ballots is as simple as collating. We don't need computers for this.

[Chasstev365]

1. And you think Republicans will go along with that?????

[diva77]

2. I'm not counting on repugs to do the right thing for anything. But with the recent DefCon hacks

now would be a good time to take the negative publicity regarding hackable computerized voting equipment and pollbooks and pressure the Secretaries of State to respond.

Not all SOSs are repugs, so at the very least, maybe a dem will budge and speak out -- problem is, in the past, some of them have feared job loss or worse

[Squinch]

3. Thank you for the roster! Kick.

[diva77]

7. You're welcome!!

[delisen]

4. Yes

[Amaryllis]

5. K n R

[Amaryllis]

6. We MUST address election vulnerability if we are ever to have a majority again:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029403409
Every Single Voting System Hacked Within Hours at DefCon's 'Voting Village'

[diva77]

10. Absolutely! ...and glad you added the link to your post about EVERY SYSTEM HACKED at Defcon!!

This info should be sent to media far & wide !!

[TheFrenchRazor]

8. people in states with ballot initiatives could try to get this issue on the ballot; i think it may b

be necessary to go around the SOS and state legislatures, because many of them like the system just the way it is.

[diva77]

9. Excellent idea and good point regarding the need to circumvent SOS's & state legislatures

I'm sure there is an awareness of the problem, but something is keeping them from changing things...

...is it fear or greed? or both?

[loyalsister]

11. What you propose would take away civil rights from some people

There are a lot of people with disabilities who never have the bassic right to vote privately until the machines became available. Try to find a way to do this without eliminating some civil rights.

[diva77]

12. Actually, that's a false argument. The so-called voting machines that are supposed to accommodate

people with special needs were actually a trojan horse to shepherd in computerized voting with the advent of HAVA. The result of having computerized voting is that we can no longer trust that our votes are being counted as cast, regardless of special needs. In my county, by the way, many of the voting machines that were supposed to accommodate voters with special needs were found to be broken (but still rolled out into precincts on election day).

Not so coincidentally, as computerized voting has proliferated, funding for people with special needs has dwindled; so have the civil rights of every citizen.

[loyalsister]

13. Bullshit

A need is not special if other people can take it for granted. The same goes for rights. And until you cannot use your hands to fill out a ballot, or require someoine else to read and fill out a vballot your opinioon mmeans nothing. The voting machines were a long time coming for those of us who have not been able to cast our votes privately.
It's usually republicans who blame some group they refer to as "those people" for conspiracies to take down the country.

[diva77]

14. So you trust the corporations that are manufacturing computerized voting machine

with proprietary, hackable software to allow you to have your vote counted as cast?

Rhode Island used to have a tactile ballot for visually impaired people -- the local elections officials would make them by hand -- they worked perfectly; but with HAVA, they have gotten rid of that beautifully simple system and now use expensive computerized voting machines that, once again, lead to the problem of not being able to trust that a vote is being counted as cast.

I am done with this exchange. Best wishes.