Q: anybody following the SOS listening tour on HAVA?

[gmoses]

Here's the posted itinerary (started yesterday):

http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/hava/listening_tour.shtml

[acmejack]

1. Thanks for the heads up!

I will certainly try to get there.

[crispini]

2. WTF? Weatherford and Palo Pinto are included,

which are at least far north as Dallas, but no Dallas or Ft. Worth?

:wtf:

[gmoses]

12. at last some info on the schedule!

Looks like we'll have to file a formal open records request to get a "complete schedule" of the "listening tour", but so far the Texas Secretary of State's office has emailed us a list of county names.

Here are the counties already visited: BELL, BRAZOS, COLLIN, COOKE, DALLAS, ECTOR, ELLIS, FORT BEND, GALVESTON, GRAYSON, HARRIS, HILL, HUNT, JEFFERSON, JOHNSON, LEE, MIDLAND, MONTGOMERY, PALO PINTO, PARKER, ROBERTSON, TARRANT, TRAVIS, WALKER, WASHINGTON, WICHITA, WILLIAMSON, and WISE.

Here are the counties scheduled for the "next couple of weeks": El Paso, Bexar, Potter, Lubbock, Cameron, Hidalgo, Kleberg, Nueces, Victoria, and Guadalupe Counties.

http://texascivilrightsreview.org/phpnuke/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=200

[crispini]

13. What, already visited Dallas?

:mad: THAT's annoying!

[gmoses]

3. Contracts and Coffee Next Week

We reached three SOS staffers who were very responsive and who provided the following information :

(1) The present schedule, beginning March 23, was posted March 23. An offline schedule that runs through the end of April does not yet include Dallas County. I have asked for a complete schedule via email.

For more info, please stroke the hit counter at Texas Civil Rights Review:

http://texascivilrightsreview.org/phpnuke/

[crispini]

5. Thanks, please post

when ya get it! :thumbsup: :yourock:

[sonias]

4. thanks again for the tip Greg

Austin folks here's ours
Tuesday, March 29th
11:30 a.m. Travis County, Austin,
Location: County Courthouse

Lets just size up this new new guy. Hope they have a Q&A where we can grill them on some stuff.

Sonia

[acmejack]

6. I hope so too!

But I will be surprised if they allow us to ask them anything. We need to check and make sure questions aren't required to be submitted prior to the meeting. I was hosed by that very requirement at the last school board meeting I attended.

[gmoses]

7. the other golden rule

he who has the gold...as it turns out the "listening tour" was a photo op for the SOS to hand over a poster that looked like a check for $4.5 million smackers. So here's your check, any questions? All the County Commissioners gathered round smiling along with County Clerk DeBeauvoir. Clapping was profuse.

Actually, I don't think the county got the money today. It seems to be a pledge that the county can draw from.

One question from Commissioner Sonleitner: would the SOS help pass HB 2759 so they can increase the size of voting precincts from 2,000 to 5,000 voters?

Afterward, I introduced myself to the SOS who said simply, "We're going to make it work." The guy is on message, no doubt.

I'll wade through the 400 page database contract this afternoon. Stay tuned.

[sonias]

8. I'll make the shameless plug for you Greg

Besides it is a very good article.

http://texascivilrightsreview.org/phpnuke/
The Truth is in the Quips
A Report on the Texas Secretary of State "Listening Tour"
Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams calls himself a retail man: "and you're my customers," he told the Travis County Commissioners Court on Tuesday morning. Indeed, by the time he'd left the room, you might have wondered if he'd sold them all tickets to a show he improvised while standing on their stage.

The pure political theater that the Secretary brought to Travis County has been repeated at several County Commissioners Courts throughout the state, often with the desired results: next day news in the local paper reporting that the Secretary is working hard and helping out. In order to keep from getting stuck in all the sap, you have to pay close attention to the quips. That's how Gainesville Daily Register reporter Andy Hogue handled the story of the Secretary's visit to Cooke County.

In Travis County, the role of lead quipster went to County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir who still runs the elections around here. She introduced the Secretary with cheer in her voice, while handing him a Lounge Lizards CD. It was a clever joke after all. Listen to me on your way to Hillsboro today Mr. Secretary the CD seemed to say. And listen again on your way back. After all the Secretary was on what he called a "listening tour" was he not?

More at link above.
------
So this is warning too for other cities on the tour. The listening tour is a big photo opp. No questions allowed.

The statewide voter database is really frightening. You have all the consolidation of voters in one handy database. Really made me think of ChoicePoint.

Good work Greg.

Sonia

[gmoses]

9. now we know...

to have an effect on the "listening tour" you have to work through the commissioners court. and the focus is still on "election systems" rather than "voter management".

no results yet on getting a full calendar of the tour, but I'll keep trying. meanwhile, I've moved the Travis County story to archive:

http://texascivilrightsreview.org/phpnuke/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=198

I'll be writing up the contract notes this afternoon, part one if you want to follow along:

http://texascivilrightsreview.org/phpnuke/

nice to meet you Sonia, thanks again, your partner in shamelessness--gm.

[gmoses]

10. curiouser and curiouser, guess what other state ...

will have their voter database located in Texas?

http://texascivilrightsreview.org/phpnuke/

[crispini]

11. Dude, that's weird.

Thanks for keeping on top of this stuff for us! :thumbsup:

[gmoses]

14. how Irving serves Indiana

...says Bill McCully of Quest Information Systems (QUESTIS) in a phone conversation with the Texas Civil Rights Review. So how did the Indiana voter database come to reside in Texas?

"It's not much of a story," McCully chuckles. Quest has a good relationship with hosting service, Data Return, which is headquartered on trendy Las Colinas Blvd. in the Dallas suburb of Irving. "They are world renowned, fully bunkerized, and have a service level that Quest likes." In the cyber age of information flow, says McCully, "the physical location of data isn't all that relevant."

The Indianapolis firm is developing FirstTuesday software in partnership with Microsoft. Quest is lead vendor for the Indiana voter registration system and partner with Unisys for a Virginia system. "The base software for the HAVA database will be coming out in a couple or three chunks in the next three weeks or so," says McCully.

http://texascivilrightsreview.org/phpnuke/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=201

[crispini]

15. Oh, Data Return, yeah, they're monster.

They do buttloads of webhosting.

[gmoses]

16. April Schedule from SOS

http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/hava/listening_tour.shtml