Voting Machine Frauds - letter to use to send to your officials.....

[DagmarK]

Here is a quick letter I drafted that folks can use to get the word out to our governors and secretaries of state ASAP on the breaking stories about the Diebold DRE machines and software.

Use it, change it, make up your own......but we need these breaking stories in the hands of our officials ASAP. The federal HAVA deadlines are upon us and our states are buying these machines up right now...... We need to get on the stick!!

Dear _______:

Please read the following articles that have come out today, July 24, 2003. They concern some very serious questions about the reliability, accuracy, and fraud potential of the Diebold voting systems. As a resident of this state, I demand that our elected officials (from the Governor and the Secretary of State on down) make a serious inquiry into the systems that our state uses for upcoming elections. I urge expediency in this regard particularly in light of the HAVA deadlines that are upon all of us. These articles represent the very beginning of what will most certainly throw the voting delivery systems into a tailspin. Before we invest in machines that will undoubtedly be deemed the single greatest threat to our democracy, I urge you to get educated on the facts. And they aren’t pretty.

The links to the relevant reports are as follows:

http://avirubin.com/vote.pdf (re Johns Hopkins analysis and terrifying conclusions about Diebold systems)

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/24/technology/24VOTE.html?pagewanted=print&position= (NYT Technology Section – article)

http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/voting/dieboldftp.html

Thank you.

[DagmarK]

1. Please go to Bev's thread to discuss the matter........

I didn't want to hijack her thread...but I wanted to make a point that we have seed spreading to do!!!

Here's Bev's thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=71703&mesg_id=71703&page=

[Clete]

2. Letters should be sent to the Secretary of State of your

respective states as they are in charge of elections. Of course your representatives and senators should get a copy too.

[DagmarK]

3. And the Governors as well.......ESP if they are dem govs!!!

*

[Oilwellian]

4. Great idea

Will send first thing in the morning.

[DEMActivist]

5. Another link - another expert

Please add this link to your letter as well. Hit them hard with the expert condemnations:

http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/voting/dieboldftp.html

[DagmarK]

8. I got that link updated to the drafts.....thanks DemA!!!!!!!

woo hoooooooooooooo

LET's ROLL!!!!!!!!!!!!

[DagmarK]

6. or use this draft........which uses excerpts fromt the articles

**I added excerpts just in case someone getting the letter thinks we are crackpots!

Here is a quick letter I drafted that folks can use to get the word out to our governors and secretaries of state ASAP on the breaking stories about the Diebold DRE machines and software.

Use it, change it, make up your own......but we need these breaking stories in the hands of our officials ASAP. The federal HAVA deadlines are upon us and our states are buying these machines up right now...... We need to get on the stick!!

Dear _______:

Please read the following articles that have come out today, July 24, 2003. They concern some very serious questions about the reliability, accuracy, and fraud potential of the Diebold voting systems. As a resident of this state, I demand that our elected officials (from the Governor and the Secretary of State on down) make a serious inquiry into the systems that our state uses for upcoming elections. I urge expediency in this regard particularly in light of the HAVA deadlines that are upon all of us. These articles represent the very beginning of what will most certainly throw the voting delivery systems into a tailspin. Before we invest in machines that will undoubtedly be deemed the single greatest threat to our democracy, I urge you to get educated on the facts. And they aren’t pretty.

The links to the relevant reports are as follows:

http://avirubin.com/vote.pdf (re Johns Hopkins analysis and terrifying conclusions about Diebold systems)

Excerpt:

“We highlight several issues including unauthorized privilege escalation, incorrect use of cryptography, vulnerabilities to network threats, and poor software development processes. For example, common voters, without any insider privileges, can cast unlimited votes without being detected by any mechanisms within the voting terminal.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/24/technology/24VOTE.html?pagewanted=print&position= (NYT Technology Section – article)

Excerpt:

The software that runs many high-tech voting machines contains serious flaws that would allow voters to cast extra votes and permit poll workers to alter ballots without being detected, computer security researchers said yesterday.

"We found some stunning, stunning flaws," said Aviel D. Rubin, technical director of the Information Security Institute at Johns Hopkins University, who led a team that examined the software from Diebold Election Systems, which has about 33,000 voting machines operating in the United States.

The systems, in which voters are given computer-chip-bearing smart cards to operate the machines, could be tricked by anyone with $100 worth of computer equipment, said Adam Stubblefield, a co-author of the paper.

Snip

… ballots could be altered by anyone with access to a machine, so that a voter might think he is casting a ballot for one candidate while the vote is recorded for an opponent.

Snip

But Douglas W. Jones, an associate professor of computer science at the University of Iowa, said he was shocked to discover flaws cited in Mr. Rubin's paper that he had mentioned to the system's developers about five years ago as a state elections official.

"To find that such flaws have not been corrected in half a decade is awful," Professor Jones said.

Please see this link as well: http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/voting/dieboldftp.html

Thank you.

[LiberalLibra]

31. DagmarK: Thank You for the letter, this couldn't come at a much better....

....time because I can send this off to the Secretary of State where I am now and in a couple of months I am moving to another state and their Sec of St will also get one. Where I am now, many of these officials know me by name and by my voice. :bounce:

God help the fool if I get stuck with a rethug for a Rep when I move. I'll be ripping the idiot a new one every week. :freak:

[arcane1]

7. and to California state reps!!

diebold own a pretty nice chunk of the machines that will be used in the Davis recall

[DagmarK]

9. Oh......get California papered with this stuff............top to bottom...

left to right........

[DagmarK]

10. ALSO, go to your SOS's website......send this info to ALL HAVA officials

Every state has a commission filled with people who are trying to implement the federal HAVA mandate (ie, computerizing all election systems BY 2004!).

The Secretary of State's website should have information as to WHO is working on that committee. In oregon, for example, there's a team of over 20 people. Every one of those should get this...........

[BevHarris]

11. STAY TUNED -- I will have a great one-sheet done with tons

of links. It's going to the press tonight. It will be on http://www.blackboxvoting.org in about one hour. (midnight pacific)

Thanks for all the work, thanks Dagmark, YES, get this out to ALL elected officials, letters to editors, tell the press (more is better).

Bev

[DagmarK]

19. Oh.......I shoulda known you'd have your own plastering piece.........

We really need to get this to the HAVA committees in every state as well!!

[DagmarK]

20. EVERYONE......for sure use BEV's infor sheet!!!! FOR SURE!!!

*

[BevHarris]

42. No, mine got too long. It's got detail and depth, your letter is great

Dagmark -- For the short version
http://www.blackboxvoting.org -- for the in depth version

Now let's kick some ass.

Bev

[LiberalLibra]

32. Bev: You and Dagmark did GREAT!!

:toast: :toast:

[ConsAreLiars]

12. For quick links to your reps:

http://congress.org/congressorg/mail/compose/?type=CO&azip=XXXXX&mailid=custom

Replace the XXXXX with your zipcode and paste/modify that text into the message field. Easy. Maybe add a word about Rush Holt's "Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2003."

13. Great news

Well it is nice that the guys in the ivory tower get together to back up what was said in the law suit--from another vendor!

This shows, as I suspected, systemic problems with certification. The development of those systemic problems is a story in itself. I am glad I did not shut up! I am glad Bev and I got together!

I am launching a web site in support of the suit I brought, and will be announcing the site soon, which will have some new information and analysis on it, not seen before!

In the mean time, if anyone wants to donate to the suit, please do so The check is made out to "Citizens for Corporate Accountability-WA", which is a real-live non-profit.

Do NOT make checks out in my name.

Mail to:
Citizens for Corporate Accountability
Attn: Dan Spillane
410 E Denny Way #229
Seattle, WA 98122

2/25/2003 -- Dan Spillane, a voting machine test engineer, has filed a lawsuit against his former employer, DRE touch-screen voting machine manufacturer VoteHere.

Spillane's lawsuit charges wrongful and retaliatory termination; he contends he was removed so that he could not blow the whistle to certification labs and pass critical information to the US General Accounting Office.

He says he has evidence which shows voting systems are certified despite known flaws, demonstrating a weakness in both the NASED and the ITA system for certifying machines.

-- SANTA CLARA COUNTY decided Tuesday night to purchase machines without a paper trail, despite the urgent warnings of over 100 of the nation's top computer security experts. Officials pointed to the strength of NASED and ITA certification when explaining their reasons for ignoring the warnings.

-- Similarly, Collins County Texas decided this week not to follow safety recommendations for a paper ballot audit trail, in part due to assurances that the NASED and ITA certifications could be counted upon to catch errors or vote- rigging.

Spillane, the first insider from a voting machine manufacturer to come forward, reports that system flaws sometimes go undetected. His former company, VoteHere, manufactures touch-screen machines of its own -- which have been certified by NASED and national ITAs -- but also markets its software for use inside machines made by other companies.

Spillane says in his lawsuit that he reported over 250 issues in the VoteHere voting system, including critical errors that can prevent the machines from correctly registering the votes, or working efficiently on election day. He sought meetings with company officials to express concerns about integrity flaws, which he says led to his firing. His complaint indicates that VoteHere did not address the flaws, and that the VoteHere system was certified by independent testing labs despite known issues.

Georgia recently approved VoteHere's machines, and the military and others are considering the technology.

Spillane also alleges company officials bragged about using political connections to pass software, rather than meeting the rules.

VoteHere's board of directors includes former CIA director Robert Gates. VoteHere's Chairman is Admiral Bill Owens, who was senior military assistant to Secretaries of Defense Frank Carlucci and Dick Cheney, and also includes Ralph Munro, a key Washington State politician.

Spillane's findings also suggest the recently-passed Help America Vote Act makes problems worse, by releasing a large sum of up-front money for equipment based on the same approval system which led to Florida 2000.

Permission is granted for reprint.

The lawsuit is at:
http://www.blackboxvoting.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=9

[DagmarK]

22. Oh, and a big thank you to you, DAN!!!!

Yes.......it's nice to see things turn around in your favor for a change!

Thank you so much for sacrificing so much by taking a stand.

I often think that ONE PERSON in the Bush Administration will have half the integrity that you have shown and blow the whistle on lord knows what goes on in the White House!! You give me hope that this can happen.

[DagmarK]

14. And send a letter to EVERY county clerk in your state.......

there aren't all that many.....unless you are in Calif or Texas.....

Oregon has like 27 counties.......very do-able. The county clerks might very well serve as the final guard dogs. Election oversight has been their ROLE since the beginning of time.......and their role is being reduced. I am *sure* they are not happy about it.

[madmax]

15. Email or Snail mail???

[DagmarK]

18. Madmax......well, however you want!!!

that's the beauty of democracy. You do it exactly how you want to do it. Personally......I just sent my letter to about 30 people involved in the HAVA system and to the Secretary of State. So......I vote for email.....but that's just me.

Cause there is going be some RESPONSE to this stuff.....and it won't be good......it will be bullcorn. I want the GOOD info to get into these peoples' heads FIRST before the spin......

[madmax]

24. Ok, Dagmark -

Just wanted to do it right. I've always been told send snail mail nobody reads email. I'll do both! I'll hand deliver this info if I have to ;P

[DagmarK]

28. Madmax......I understand......

Our elected reps in Wash don't read the email.....that seems apparent. I think our state reps DO read the emails.....

And the news orgs.....they do.


If you send an email....have a real intriguing subject title, like:

Diebold Machines: deemed insecure (NYT)

Then you name drop the New York Times.....and it looks like scary info from the subject title.

But hand delivering is GREAT if you can do it. Try to get in to talk to someone!!! Oh yes!

[madrchsod]

16. call the people in

charge of your local elections..county election officials .ask them if they can verify that your vote counted for the person you voted for. ask them other guestions. write to them explaining your doubts about electric voting...

[DagmarK]

26. ALL of them will be involved in the state level HAVA committees......

A very quick way to get their email addresses is to go to one's secretary of state page and look for their HAVA information.........

And you can get practically ALL of your county clerks' addresses. Pretty nifty!

[DagmarK]

17. Oregon EMAIL contacts.......

From the Oregon SOS website.....here's a list of the HAVA steering committee members and the staff and constitutents. At the bottom, I have placed all their emails in one spot so you can copy and paste into one email message......if Oregon is your state of course.

ALSO, this is the only email I could find for Bill Bradbury, SOS.....oh well, it doesn't look like it goes directly to him......but I think he might hear about this! [e-mail]

HAVA Steering Committee http://www.sos.state.or.us/elections/HAVA/committees.shtml

John Kauffman
Multnomah County Elections Clerk
[phone]
[e-mail]

Nellie Bogue-Hibbert
Union County Elections Clerk
[phone]
[e-mail]

Al Davidson
Marion County Elections Clerk
[phone]
[e-mail]

Charles Stern
Yamhill County Elections Clerk
[phone]
[e-mail]

Ginny Kinsley
Washington County Elections Clerk
[phone]
[e-mail]

Steve Druckenmiller
Linn County Elections Clerk
[phone]
[e-mail]

Paddy McGuire
Deputy Secretary of State
[phone]
[e-mail]

John Lindback
State Elections Director
[phone]
[e-mail]

Kappy Eaton
League of Women Voters
[phone]
[e-mail]

Frank Garcia, Jr.
Department of Administrative Services
[phone]
[e-mail]

Lynnae Ruttledge
OHSU ADA/IT Center
[phone]
[e-mail]

Sen. Kurt Schrader (D)
State Legislator
[phone]
[e-mail]

Rep. Dan Doyle (R)
State Legislator
[phone]
[e-mail]

Sen. Margaret Carter (D)
State Legislator
[phone]
[e-mail]

Sen. Bruce Starr (R)
State Legislator
[phone]
[e-mail]

Staff and Constituents

Brenda Bayes
State Elections Division
[e-mail]

Fred Neal
State Elections Division
[e-mail]

Lynn Rosik
Department of Justice
[e-mail]

Erin Suhr
Secretary of State’s Office
[e-mail]

Scott Smith
Information Services Director
Secretary of State’s Office
[e-mail]

Julie Pearson
OCVR Project Executive
Secretary of State’s Office
[e-mail]

Michelle Kennedy
Facilitator, HAVA State Plan
[e-mail]

Janine DeLaunay
Oregon Disabilities Commission
[e-mail]

Paul Snider
Association of Oregon Counties
[e-mail]

Adrienne Sexton
Legislative Fiscal
[e-mail]

Julie Anderson
Oregon Advocacy Center
[e-mail]

Jean Straight
Business Services Director
Secretary of State’s Office
[e-mail]

Barb Conway
OCVR Project Manager
Secretary of State’s Office
[e-mail]

THE STEERING COMM EMAILS:

[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail]

THE STAFF AND CONSTITUENTS EMAILS:

[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail]

[madmax]

21. How much time do we have to get this out?

:kick:

[DagmarK]

23. I think it will take off pretty quick and grow legs........

so........if you can get something out in the next 24 hours......wonderful. Just do what you can and want to do. That's all any of us can do.

But really, Bev will have a GREAT sheet on her www.blackboxvoting.com site in the next hour, she says. THAT would be the most complete info sheet you could get out the door.

Blow off my little letter.

[madmax]

25. Ok - got it

[DagmarK]

27. Portland Oregon News emails:

Willamette Week:

[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail]

Oregonian:
[e-mail] (careful with this one.....I am wondering if this is just letters to the editor......)

Portland Tribune:

[e-mail]

Here is my letter to the news orgs (I attached a copy of the letter I sent to the secretary of state, county clerks, HAVA officials to this):

Dear ____________:

Below is a letter I sent to the various SOS, et al. officials involved in the federally-mandated HAVA voting systems committee. It concerns some breaking news regarding the insecurity of the Diebold voting systems. Currently, Oregon does use Diebold to count our ballots. The state is now reviewing bids from various voting systems companies (including Diebold). I think a decision is due out very, very soon. Diebold has been the chosen company by many states and I can imagine that Oregon will stick with the company we have been using.

Please read the New York Times link noted below, as well as the other links. For more links and information, the professional who has manned the uncovering of this information is Bev Harris and she should have an information sheet on her website (since the Times has broke the story). Her website is www.blackboxvoting.com.

[deek]

29. thank you

Sending to editor of local paper.

[DagmarK]

30. Kick for the morning crowd

I have sent info letters to:

Bill Moyers

Charlie Rose

The Guardian
(we need to hit the international news agencies....Diebold machines and s/w are in LOTS of foreign countries too. I will hit Spain tomorrow -- they definitely have Diebold; need to check on Latin America too! Esp Venezuela)

Put a long message on the Guardian's politics talk board in the "International: Devolved Politcs" - seemed appropriate.

I am sure I have sent this to others.

The point is.......if you think of a person or an org or a news group or a message board.....post the info there, folks.

[imax2268]

33. I live in Arizona...

How can I find out if my state plans on using those machines in the next elections...?

Any suggestions...?

[leftchick]

34. go to your state Board of Elections website...

I have been doing that for months now. Because of HAVA these machines will be in EVERY state soon. I have emailed the General council of the Board and made myself a real pain to them. That is the point here, we need to raise holy hell at the local and state level so they start listening. They actually gave me a file with a listing of machines for each county. Diebold isn't the only suspect company here, be on the lookout for ES&S machines too. Go to Bev's website for more activism info and links...
blackboxvoting.org

[DagmarK]

39. Always go to the SOS -- they are the state board of elections basically.

Here is the Arizona info page on HAVA

http://hava.sos.state.az.us/

[BevHarris]

35. CUT AND PASTE WHATEVER YOU WANT OUT OF THIS

http://www.blackboxvoting.org

Get it quick, this is a blog that gets updated every few days.

Bev

37. Ian Bruce around?

I lost his e-mail, and he was going to do so art for the "liberty whistle"...

DU won't let me send e-mails yet...
Dan

[Imalittleteapot]

36. Thanks Dagmark. You sure made it easy to

email every local and state official by providing the words and links. I'm going to work on Feds next.

You're an O8)

Anyone having trouble finding local, state and federal elected names and addresses can go to www.congress.org

[Stephanie]

38. Thanks Dagmark!

I really appreciate the letter template - just sent off three with minor changes to personalize them. Spitzer, Nadler, and Brian Lehrer (WNYC radio). I have written them all about this numerous times with no response. This time, with the NY Times article, I think it will make an impression.

BTW - Did anyone see the article in the NYT Print Edition? I couldn't find it in the tech (Circuits) section - is it in another section???

[DagmarK]

40. Good job everyone. I will soon have a list of all HAVA state sites

for every state.

So people can go to their state's HAVA site, pull up ALL the people invovled with their voting machine decisions and blast them all individually.

Stay tuned. Might take a while! But I want EVERY single HAVE official to be aware of this. Deadlines in every state for choosing their systems are going on right and left. This is an emergency email campaign.

[BevHarris]

41. A kick for the wonderful Dagmark

.

[DagmarK]

45. **blush**

I do pretty good at doing the back you up side of things; not so good on the front-end discovery process.

This is truly THE best news I have had since...well, Clinton won in 1996? No, that's not true. It was the news that I got to buy an actual HOUSE in early 2000 simply because Clinton's economy made it so regular lower-middle income people could get a slice of the American Pie!

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

43. good letter, I'm sending on to my Rep

This is *the* issue, isn't it?

[DagmarK]

44. SEE letter campaign CONTACT DATABASE in Activism Forum (hava)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=106&topic_id=745&mesg_id=745&page=

And please......add to the links...(and PM me with good voting machine people links......so I don't have to sift) :-)

[Stephanie]

46. Woo-Hoo! Spitzer's office replied

You don't know how many articles I sent to NY Atty Gen. Eliot Spitzer last year regarding EV. I've only received auto-responders in reply. This time I got the auto-response, and then a few hours later, this:

Thank you for your comments. They will be of interest to our staff.

They read it! They're FINALLY interested! I sent your letter Dag, and the NYT article.

Spitzer, if you don't know, is probably going to challenge Pataki. He has recently won settlements from the biggest Wall Street firms for their fraudulent analysts reports. He's one of us.

[alaine]

47. I did mine. (NC)

Didn't know whether to send it to state or federal reps. and senators so I did both in addition to sec. of state, and Governor Easley.

Thanks for the draft!!

[gristy]

48. This went to MN Sec'y of State and cc'd to HAVA committee

Secretary Kiffmeyer,

An important story is breaking today. The security and software problems of electronic voting (i.e., with DRE-type machines), particularly with the machines manufactured by Diebold, have now been verified by "recognized computer security experts" at Johns Hopkins, and a paper (http://avirubin.com/vote.pdf) has been written.

What has been known to so many is finally revealed in the NY Times today on the front page of their National section:

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/24/technology/24VOTE.html?pagewanted=print&position=

Thank you for your stated commitment to paper ballots and optical scan voting systems. I do hope that you will soon explicitly state your opposition to electronic vote tabulation without a paper ballot.

[Eloriel]

49. Definitely

Deserves a

:kick:

Eloriel