Rebecca Mercouri ejected from elections meeting

[grasswire]

Computer Voting Expert Ousted From Elections Conference
Lynn Landes
freelance journalist
www.EcoTalk.org

Denver CO - Dr. Rebecca Mercuri, a leading expert in voting machine security, had her conference credentials revoked by the president of the International Association of Clerks, Records, Election Officials, and Treasurers (IACREOT), Marianne Rickenbach. The annual IACREOT Conference and Trade Show, which showcases election systems to elections officials, is being held at the Adam's Mark Hotel in Denver all this week.

Mercuri believes that her credentials were revoked because of her position in favor of voter-verified paper ballots for computerized election systems. "I guess in a very troubling way it makes sense that an organization like IACREOT, that supports paperless computerized voting systems, which are secret by their very design, would not want computer experts who disagree with that position at their meetings."

Dr. Mercuri said that her credentials were approved for the first three days of the conference. She attended meetings of other groups and visited the exhibitors hall. But it was only on Thursday as she sat down to attend her first meeting at the IACREOT that President Marianne Rickenbach took Mercuri out of the room and told her that her credentials were being revoked. Rickenbach said that Mercuri had not filled out the forms correctly. Mercuri protested, but was refused reinstatement.

David Chaum, the inventor of eCash and a member of Mercuri's 'voter-verified paper ballot' group, had his credentials revoked on the first day of the conference. On the second day his credentials were partially restored. Chaum was allowed to visit the exhibitors hall, but not attend the IACREOT meetings.


I'm looking for a link...this was sent to me in email.

[yella_dawg]

1. If this is for real

it is beyond bizarre. I've studied Ms. Mercuri's work and talked to her on the phone a couple of times. She is arguably the worlds formost authority on electronic voting. Now why in the world would she not be welcomed, even honored, at such a symposium?

God, I'm getting so cynical.

yella

[whirlygigspin]

28. yup

[Cha]

2. The hair on the back of my neck just stood up!

This is some scary Shyte.

I'm hoping these Good People will have the fortitude and the expertise to get themselves "reinstated" and carry on their important work! :kick:

It sounds like the gestapo was out in force.

[BevHarris]

3. Yup. And if I were they, I would not eject a powerful voice like Mercuri

Here is a link, but there is no additional information from what's included in the main post here

http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0308/S00014.htm

[SharonAnn]

4. Hey Bev, thanks to your work, we just got a planned ES&S

purchase here put on hold. A friend of mine went to work last week for the Elections commission and I had, in early July, started feeding him information (some of the easy to understand articles you and others wrote) and he took them to his new boss (who's also new in his job).

Armed with some specific questions and concerns his boss put the ES&S salesmen on the spot last week and all he got were vague answers and "waltzing around the question" statements. Since he wasn't born yesterday, he recognized that they were avoiding specific answers because they couldn't give him the answers he wanted. So, he decided not to rush into this and to wait a little while and see how things develop in this field.

This is pretty significant because he badly wants to do some things that newer technology would really help with.

I assured my friend that I'd be glad to keep them informed as I read and review the issues in the field and find people they could contact if they need further information. He said he might like me to come and meet his boss in the next few weeks and talk to hiim about this issue. I told him I'd be glad to (don't want to miss a chance to get the information out and prevent fraud from occurring) but I'm going to need to go armed with current info when I go. If that happens, I'll be asking DUers for help.

[BevHarris]

8. Tell your official to ask the same questions of Avante and AccuPoll

They are reputable companies, they are certified, they have touch screens with the latest features, they have a VOTER VERIFIED PAPER TRAIL and they actually answer your questions!

There are reputable companies. Please urge officials to purchase from them.

I am not affiliated with these companies in any way, but interviewing and researching them was like a breath of fresh air. None of the conflict of interest and weird dodging you get from the others.

Avante was used very successfully in Sacramento County, California recently.

Bev

[SharonAnn]

14. Thanks, I'll do that. I'll put together that info and links for him

tonight so he'll have time to look at it before Monday.

[NYC]

5. This is frightening.

Very frightening.

[Gman]

6. The 2000 Overthrow of the United States government

continues. They fully intend to fix 2004 to the very best of their ability... and that's a helluva lot ability.

People who think the United States will have full, open and fair elections in 2004 are living in an imaginary world.

There are no more fair elections in the US.

All the noise and enthusiasm everyone feels for Dean, Kucinich, Kerry, et al is just a complete waste of valuable time because it really doesn't matter. We all would do as well pissing up a tree.

[Junkdrawer]

7. Shit like this happens day after day and then WE are accused..

of being conspiracy nuts. Christ, it's getting so that I can't remember half the outrages when I'm asked why I'm against these machines.

[BevHarris]

31. So Dr. Mercuri wants a paper trail and now she's persona non grata

This is getting serious. I also spoke with David Chaum, who is a very reasonable person. Amazing that they kicked him out too.

Bev

[Pepperbelly]

9. what is Rickenbach's excuse?

This is clearly unsat, friends.

[oasis]

10. The long tentacles of Bush/Rove Inc.

The electronic voter storybook will contain many chapters before it hits "Nightline" or "60 Minutes".

[madfloridian]

11. Did you find a link yet?

The ecotalk doesn't have anything about it that I can find.

[grasswire]

13. no

I looked on the writer's web site and didn't find it immediately. It may have just been an emailed communication that hasn't been posted yet.

[whirlygigspin]

22. link please

?

[Eloriel]

12. Unbelievable

I don't think a day has gone by since Nov. 2000 that I haven't said that word. Or worse. And I'm getting soooo tired of it.

I could say this is just scandalous. But what's yet another scandal among so many?

Eloriel

[SharonAnn]

15. This is the link from Bev's post above

http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0308/S00014.htm

[RedEagle]

16. Even local officials

...are using every tactic they can.

We had a county auditor, in a forum on the voting machine issue, misquote a couple of us. No reason, she's heard us state our positions and, heck, I've even sent her a paper on it.

This was deliberate falsification, and fortunately, someone who had heard us speak at a hearing called us about it.

What do these people get out of this beside paperless voting?

[whirlygigspin]

19. unfreakinreal

$*%&@!!!(*#&&$#@^!

[whirlygigspin]

26. kick

[inthecorneroverhere]

17. bad

Cheez! Not in all the petty (and some not so petty) academic controversies I've seen at biology conferences, have I ever seen anyone's conference credentials revoked.

It happens all the time that authors submit articles to refereed journals, and the journals reject the articles for basically ideological reasons. However, I have never seen a presenter not being allowed to present at a _conference._ Conferences are much more wide-open fora for discussion of topics than are refereed journals, and I've seen pretty much 'anything goes' at conferences. The goals of a conference are often oriented toward the exchange of ideas relating to ongoing, very recent, or proposed research, rather than the sort of thing that has passed any 'review' board. Conferences are for the open exchange of ideas.

I believe that a paper ballot i.e. receipt is an absolute necessity. Heck, even the grocery store gives me a paper receipt that shows what I bought and how much I paid for it.

edit: clarify muddy writing

[WilliamPitt]

18. She is one of the people I interviewed on Wednesday

Interesting.

[whirlygigspin]

20. who in Denver...?

Can run over to Adams Mark Hotel?

Sounds like these people need picketing and media exposure

Let's get the indy people out there,

http://rm.indymedia.org/front.php3

[donco6]

23. I can call tomorrow and see if there really is a conf . . .

. . . going on. I haven't seen anything in the paper about this event - and I would have noticed.

[WilliamPitt]

24. I was there

It happened, and was going threough the weekend.

[JetJaguar]

21. See the Kinks live.

Diebold To Webcast Analyst Conference

NORTH CANTON, Ohio, Jul 23, 2003 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Diebold, Incorporated (NYSE: DBD) will hold an analyst conference on August 4 and 5, 2003 in North Canton, Ohio. Services and product demonstrations will take place on August 4 at the company's headquarters and advanced technology center in North Canton and Green, Ohio. Formal presentations highlighting Diebold's business and growth strategies will be webcast on August 5 beginning at 9:00 a.m. (EDT). Presentations will be given by Walden W. O'Dell, chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer; Gregory T. Geswein, senior vice president and chief financial officer; Michael J. Hillock, president, international operations; Thomas W. Swidarski, senior vice president, strategic development and global marketing; and David Bucci, senior vice president, customer solutions group.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000608/DIEBLOGO )

The live webcast of the presentations on August 5 will be available from Diebold's Web site at www.diebold.com beginning at 9:00 a.m. (EDT). The replay can also be accessed on the site for up to one year after the conference.

...

[angka]

25. holy shit

nt

[DagmarK]

27. Goodness......a lot of folks uncomfortable with voting receipts.......

This just tells me that the corruption goes to every level of our system.....

amazing.........

[Junkdrawer]

29. Ain't that the truth...

In the desperate effort to ram these things down our throats, these companies, associations and gov't agencies are showing just how afraid they are of an honest audit.

[BevHarris]

30. Yes. All this panic -- why not just PUT PAPER IN THE PRINTER?

There are printers in every one of the touch screens already.

All this -- millions of dollars, a whole new overly complicated system proposed in lieu of a paper trail (by VoteHere; lessee, we need to use the printer to print a special code which the voter takes and compares with the Internet and then we have specially designated trustees and a few cryptologists---) HEY! I have an idea! WHY NOT USE THE PRINTER TO PRINT A BALLOT???

The lengths people are now going to in order to avoid proper auditing are, frankly, beginning to stink to high heaven.

Bev

[DagmarK]

32. The machines *already* have a printer in them? Yes, put paper in it!

OMG.....just put paper in it.

For that matter.......every single SOS office can go right on down to the warehouse and hold their own little mock election. Get 1000 citizens to volunteer to do a mock vote.

run the results like Diebold wants them too.

Look at the paper receipts from the mock voters.

And, of course, advisors will be watching to see how each person votes and taking the numbers down on a pad of paper to compare to the Diebold "tally"

That would cost about virtually no money to do.