Alert: you can do this:County petition drives to pick voting system

[FogerRox]

get sigs--
get referendum in your county
you can pick the voting system you want to use

Need volunteers--all 48 states-- to find out if
(NJ& NY does this)
--can we do this in each state?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x362818

The potential here is just freekin awesome. WE can put the future in our own hands---we can stop the tide of DRE"s NOW, this year, this summer. NOW

Think it thru----this can be SOOOOOO Big.

[rzemanfl]

1. Last time I counted the stars on the flag there were fifty of them.

Or does the NJ and NY thing explain the 48?

[FogerRox]

2. Right Nj & NY election reform groups are working on this

Many other states, counties may be able to have petition drives that would put the coice of voting systems up for grabs. In a referendum.
If its done by county--thats not as large as a task as the whole darn state. Making it easier to deal with in the local sense.

In NJ IIRC its title 19. If all 50 states have referendum law that works by county--this is the project that can put us over top sort of speaking---in Georgia they may be able to choose paper in the Atlanta area--lot of dems there.

Think of it like this: Every COunty that Kerry won should be able to do this -----this summer---NOW.

1)Legal action
2)educational forums
3)town Resolutions Banning DRE's
4)county referendums banning DRE's

See? it fits into the larger scheme real nice. And What can TOm Delay do to stop it?

Oh yeah my new email--
[e-mail]

NJ Voting Issues Project, sounds nice ehh?


Generally speaking my goal is to rid Essex County of DRE's. My intent is to create a series of educational public forums whose objective is to explore the pros & cons of computerized voting systems, and to engage the voting public and their elected representatives in the larger effort to rid Essex County of DRE's. One set of tactics en route to this goal are educational forums. Here are 3 specific tracks that forum panelists should be able to address.

1) Hardware, software & Technical aspects.
Since most of the voting public in Essex County is fairly ignorant when it comes to a basic understanding of the hardware & software used in today’s computerized voting systems, one prime task is to provide them with information on these systems, how they function and what these systems can and cannot do.

2) Certification of voting systems and legal issues.
Again most of the voting public doesn't have an understanding of what’s going on concerning the lack of national or state standards of performance or certification programs for these computerized systems. Items of concern might be proprietary software that no public official can audit, MS windows used as an operating system and modems installed in DRE's and tabulators. In legal terms these systems may not even be legal where open government/sunshine laws exist.

3) General concepts.
Transparency of the voting process. Voting into the corporate owned ballot box instead of a ballot box that is part of the Jeffersonian "Commons". Ownership of Diebold and ES&S: the solid links to the Christian Reconstructionalist movement. DRE's are the most expensive voting system available today. In these times of Federal, State and County deficits, the purchase of DRE's by Essex County is not a fiscally prudent choice.


I think strategically speaking we need a multi-pronged approach. Reaching out to the communities will be a vital tactic as well as reaching out to public officials. An effective method of reaching out and engaging members of our communities would be educational forums. Offering information on computerized voting systems to the voting public can go a long way towards building a consensus. And as part of an overall strategic doctrine, the tactic of using educational forums will play an integral role in accomplishing the goal of ridding Essex County of DRE's. We can also apply GOTV methods to the outreach effort. The message "BBV costs too much money" will resonate with the largest group of voters, with an underlying message of, "you can't trust BBV". The more people are talking about BBV, the closer we are to our goal. And of course if we set the standard in Essex County, the other Counties in N.J. will know that it can be done.

Email and letter writing to public officials will ensure they know where their constituency's feelings are. Letters to the editor, can be effective too. Contacting community, civic, religious, labor organizations asking them to come on board, will swell our ranks giving us larger numbers for public events. Every town should hold BBV public forums. Every town should be pressured to pass a resolution banning DRE's.

In the court house we have an existing law suit to work with. Open Government/sunshine laws in NJ tell us that the DRE's with their "Top Secret" source code are illegal. Asking for an Injunction to stop delivery of the DRE's to Essex County will buy us time and put adjoining counties on notice.

Calling for a series of county wide leadership summits, to bring all the grassroots groups into one room to hash out a common theme, tactical & strategic doctrines as well as legal aspects. It may make sense to invite the leadership of community religious, labor and civic organizations as well.

Here are 8 paths to victory:

1) Media outreach
2) Community outreach
3) Public Officials outreach
4) Educational forums
5) Rallies/Protests
6) Referendum
7) Court action
8) County grassroots leadership council
9) Town Resolutions banning DRE's

[rzemanfl]

3. My idea was to have communities: counties, towns, villages,

cities adopt ordinances requiring paper backup ballots that could be counted by volunteers if the machine count was suspect and could be used in lieu of the voting equipment if the wait was longer than 20 minutes.

[FogerRox]

4. A referendum in each county to decide what machine to use

That can ban DRE's county by county

[rzemanfl]

5. All counties and governmental units can adopt ordinances, you

indicated you are researching the referenda issue nationally.

[FogerRox]

6. indicated---no--Maybe infered--but this is why I'm asking the question

Im assuming all 50 states have referendums--right ? SO how do people get this done-----ya follow?

Doesnt every state have questions on the ballot? Hello--------

Do you know the procedure for your state? I'm working with a lawyer from NJ APpleseed to do this for my county Essex in NJ.

SOOOOoooo why isnt this being done all over the freakin joint----ehhhhh

[FogerRox]

7. Kick for the lazy peeps-this is part of an intergral plan to win +

* in 2006. What part of this dont you folks get?

This petition to get a question on the ballot in your COunty is a way of grabbing the issue by the horns, balls, ovaries.

We get to decide what machines to use---NOT election officials
COmbined with Court action-
Public forums
Protests
Public official outreach
Community outreach

[ISUGRADIA]

8. Not all states have referendum or initative

In Minnesota now, was in Iowa a year ago. I know in Iowa there is no way for people to pick voting systems by a ballot measure. Only way I could see is for the legislature to put a constitutional measure on the ballot. I believe it is the same in Iowa.

[FogerRox]

9. thanks for your input--thats not exactly good news but thanks

Now if folks from other states who know what I'm talking about--can come with the info--we make a list of states where a petition drive to put a measure on the ballot can be an operative goal.

figh fight win win

Roj

[FogerRox]

10. SO who else knows about their state referendum rules?

[FogerRox]

11. COme on ante up

what are the referendum rules in your state?
Dont folks get it? A Petition drive to get a referendum on the ballot in your county and then you the voters decide what voting system to use------------------------------------