BBV: Do voters need a paper trail? (Palm Beach Post) 9/21

[Bushfire]

"We're in danger of having this (2004) election stolen from us," one of Palm Beach County's top Democratic officials, Joe Martin, declared this month at a party meeting. "We should all be nervous."

snip

At the same meeting, Democratic activist Lisa Ramsay touted an upcoming forum on electronic voting and said, "We could actually grow this into a nationwide event."

snip

"We're going to be pushing on that issue as we go into 2004," vows Florida Democratic Party Chairman Scott Maddox.

That angers Pasco County Elections Supervisor Kurt Browning. A longtime Democrat who recently switched to the GOP, Browning accuses Democrats of politicizing the electronic voting debate and "doing a horrible disservice to the voters of Florida" by undermining confidence in the machines.

more...

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/auto/epaper/editions/sunday/news_f3d632efd2f151a20001.html?urac=n&urvf=10642603698870.7853495809480548

Sounds like we have some fighters on our side in the Palm Beach area. The article also talks about Rush Holt's legislation, and a Republican (Mark Foley, R-West Palm Beach) who may support it. "I'm flexible on it. It doesn't bother me. If people really want paper samples, that's fine."

Lots of other good info in the article, which mentions Wally O'Dell's statement about delivering Ohio to the pResident, to Hagel's ties to ES&S, to the cost of printers, and Sequoia providing printers (at a cost) if Palm Beach wanted them.

The writer did a damn good job, and hope a lot of Palm Beach residents saw the article.

[ParanoidPat]

1. Thanks for posting this!

I hope ALL Palm Beach residents see this so here's a :kick:

[JohnyCanuck]

2. Palm Beachers need to see symbolman's latest work on Diebold

As discussed on this thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=397718

Here's the link to his Flash Presentation on Diebold and electronic voting.

http://www.takebackthemedia.com/voterevolution.html

[BevHarris]

3. Here's something behind the scenes on this

I've been winning the "she's just a conspiracy theorist" battle lately, but clearly, some of the reporters are just darn tootin' sure they are going to call it "conspiracy."

This Palm Beach Post reporter called me and tried to fish the "conspiracy" stuff out of me, or at least things he can label "conspiracy." I've learned to recognize it and every time he did, I said "want to see a memo?" -- basically, offered to document everything with internal Diebold documents, including R.F.P. sales proposals, memos, and software analyses.

He pretty much ran the other direction. Now, I notice he brought in Lynn Landes and used her for the excuse to get the word "conspiracy" into the article. I was sorry to see this; her reports are credible. But I'm glad more people are getting interviewed, because it is truly coming from all sides now. And Landes was the one that wrote "Assume Crooks are in Control" on Common Dreams last fall, and that is the article that piqued my interest in this.

Listen, all of you who are activists in this issue: Keep your antennas up, way up, for attempts to paint you as a conspiracy theorist. Stand your ground. Don't let them do that. I swear, some of these guys are told "you can cover it, but make sure you get the word 'conspiracy' in there somewhere."

In my Seattle Times article, I told him if he called me a conspiracy theorist I'd make him back it up with evidence or demand a correction. He said he'd write that other people said that about me. I put him on notice that the Slate guy who did that was told to print a correction, and if he quoted someone who had a correction printed, he'd have one too. So he said that I publish my stuff on Conspiracy Planet -- pretty disengenuous, because he knew my work was also vetted out in articles in AP, Washington Post, and CNN.

Just something to be aware of. It's one of the last talking points they've got, and the "conspiracy" objection is taking some hard punches now.

Bev

[Bushfire]

4. Great point

my election officials won't return my calls these days, and I make a point in letters to congressmen to invite them to call me to discuss the facts. Who has the passwords to the audit logs, how often do you change them, does the manufacturer have access, is there modem capability, can you provide certification letters, so get them on the facts people.