Reporting on today’s CA SOS McPherson appearance gaggle.

[SnoopDog]

I first would like to thank those of you provided me with questions and comments from last night’s request thread (http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=417743&mesg_id=417743). The information was appreciated and I especially thank GuvWurld for his suggestions and previous threads on this subject matter.

Now on to the reporting… To be honest – it was not all that exciting, and it did not last all that long… Wonder if I had something to do with that...?

I drove 1.5 hours to the Plumas County courthouse where he was giving a small informal presentation. I met my local Democrat chair for the first time and just introduced myself. The people in the meeting room were having casual conversations before it began. The funny part was that the SOS’s assistant (a young man who thinks some day he will be ‘powerful’) asked me if I was ‘with the press’? I said no, I am just a ‘prepared American’. I had my ‘spiral bound notebook’ filled with print outs on the different subjects provided to by my fellow DU’ers. He said (sorta like), “I always assume people with spiral bound notebooks to be the press”. Whatever…

Mr. McPherson started by saying who he is, what he has done in the past, blah blah blah. It was just the intro and not the question and answer period. Our County Elections official said a few words as well and then she took questions. A question resulted in her saying that this county will be using ‘optical scanners’. My first question was if this equipment was brand new – yes it was. Then I asked who is the vendor – Diebold was the answer. Then I asked if it was certified – and yes it was. To be honest, my homework from last night did not prepare me for better questions on the optical systems so that was the extent of my questions and her turn on the floor.

Mr. McPherson now took questions. Someone else started with a question – sorry to say I do not know the exact question was but the answer was about how the machines had a paper trail and said how he ‘started the paper trail requirement’ and ‘now 22 other states have followed suit”. As I sat there, I knew either he was lying or was misinformed. I voted in 2004 on a Diebold system with a voter verified paper trail. So I knew he was full of crap but it probably went over well with the 20 or so people listening. He continued with how the machines were all certified. This is when I piped up and stated that ‘on Feb18 you certified these machines knowing that the machines had illegal Interpreter code”. (Yes, I actually know what this is as I am a computer guy). He said it was not illegal to which I replied, “it is still against Federal guidelines’. He had another gentleman there who was his election system specialist. He spoke up as well and said it was not illegal. McPherson’s final word was that the machines passed “Federal approval”. Which I guess means it passes the state approval as well.

I chimed in again and said, “How could you certify the machines ‘with conditions’” and ‘why did you make that decision so hastily’? McPherson and the election guy spoke up right away and said that the conditions were about security and things that can be ‘managed later’. I said ‘when the conditions were met would there be additional testing – like if new code was put in’? He said that the machines were certified.

With the suggestion from my fellow DU’ers (from last night) I said “how can you have any confidence with Diebold when the 2000 and 2004 elections were filled with fraud due to these faulty machines”? McPherson just starred blankly and luckily the County Elections officer got off her feet and started to say how the county has had no problems with their optical machines and that Diebold was a great company to work with.

That’s when the boy assistant said that time was running out and this concludes the question and answer period.

Afterwards, I did go up to McPherson and introduced myself. I said I am just concerned for my country and care enough to ask direct questions. I stated that ‘our country is being destroyed” to which I received an unusual expression from him which I am not sure what he was expressing – either, no the country is just dandy or my god he said that to me? – and before he could reply I said that the only way to restore our country is for voters to vote ‘these people out of office’ and we need confidence in our elections. I said that these machines were a can of worms and the Ruby Goldberg solution to voting. His reply was a song and a dance. I thanked him for his time and left.

To be honest, I don’t know if I did good or bad - my county chair said I asked some good ‘pointed questions’ and we need that type of communications. On the drive home, I thought that I should have nailed him on the paper trail statement where he took credit for starting the process when I know that Nevada had it in 2004. I probably would have called him a liar in front of everybody.

I have a few concluding remarks about this ordeal today...First, I did my best to relay what happened today in this post. I am not very good at ‘reporting’ but I hope I got most of it correct.

This quick meeting was not all that spectacular nor particularly eventful but maybe it still served a great purpose. For the first time in my life, I attended a meeting to ask questions of a higher ranking elected official. Being sort of quite by nature (but a rabble rouser at heart), I got the courage to not only attend but to speak up and asked these questions. And although I cannot prove it, I believe other people in attendance might now have their courage to speak up and/or do things to help restore our country… or if nothing else – to know that there are people who will speak up and not be placated by our government. And, I personally felt good, in a Patriotic way, that I stood up to a Secretary of State and asked the hard questions – to make him know that some people will stand up and hold them accountable.

And a side note – for the first time in my life, I attended and marched in the anti-war protest yesterday. It was great.

As far as this meeting, I could have done better and next time I will.

[GuvWurld]

1. Great work, SnoopDog!

You spoke truth to power. Of course they dodged, that's what they do. But the more we bang these drums, the louder we get, the more visible we become and before you know it this empire will crumble.

Were there any members of the media there? Did any of them approach you? Did you have a chance to approach them? - always a good idea.

Next time, the question I recommend is this:

What could possibly make you think that We The People consent to being governed this way, where we can't see the means of counting the votes, and have no basis for confidence in the results reported?

WE DO NOT CONSENT.

[SnoopDog]

2. Thank you my friend....

I did not see any members of the media and unfortunately, none approached me.

And, thanks for your help - next time I will be more prepared!

[nicknameless]

3. Thank you for doing this.

:)

R'ed

[eppur_se_muova]

4. They don't seem to have anticipated much in the way of questions, do they?

NO prominent reporters? How "understated" was the announcement of the meeting? I'm SURE they really encouraged the press to attend.:sarcasm:

Ya done great!:thumbsup: I would get really nervous and shaky if I tried to ask the questions you did.

kicked and rec'd.

[SnoopDog]

5. I was told of this meeting just the day before...

So I had to ask my fellow DU'ers for help and luckily I got some great information.

Thanks!

[fooj]

6. Apparently, he can't be trusted anymore.

He's from Santa Cruz County and although he has always been a Repub (moderate) he was always very popular in an extremely BLUE area. Too bad. Wonder how much the man sold out for.

Thanks for representing us today. You rock.

Peace.:hi:

[kster]

7. Thanks, SnoopDog

for going out of your way for the cause. :patriot: .........Recommend!!

[Nictuku]

8. I'm Proud of You

... my fellow American!

[rumpel]

9. You did great. Will there be a transcipt?

It may be good to see a transcipt, see all the bull he is spreading, and then send it on to Bowen.

and also congratulations in the march, too.

:)

[Senator]

10. Great job, and don't worry...

...about doing "better."

The specifics of what was said are nearly irrelevant. They know what they're doing is bogus. They rely on the fact that no one usually pays attention -- they think it validates their acts. (I know it sounds bizarre, but they literally believe that not getting caught is the same as not doing wrong.)

That blank stare you got at the word "confidence" was the fleeting thought that there might actually be some responsibility attached to this thing. That there may be reality involved. That they are being watched and may be held to account at some point.

This is terrifying to them.

You were the point person for a nationwide wave of these types of confrontations. Ones that they never even imagined possible. You represented multitudes and did so successfully.

Thank you.

--
www.january6th.org

[bleever]

11. Thank you for representing, SnoopDogg!

:patriot:

[RazzleDazzle]

12. If you look into Nevada

I think you'll find that them "having it" was mostly smoke and mirrors -- it was the Bush way of doing things: promise them everything, then do as you damn please and deliver nothing. No one's the wiser because few people go looking and if they do go looking and find out the truth, it gets buried in the press in the normal crush of 24 hour news cycles. And besides, there are no investigative reporters left.

The details escape me after all this time, but it seems to me the "paper trail" applied only to a very few machines in a very few places.

Now, perhaps they've made much more progress since then??? I dunno.

[roody]

13. We become better at everything

with practice. You did your best. Thanks for doing so and being there representing us.

[EFerrari]

14. SnoopDog, you were WONDERFUL!

Truth to power, baby!

:yourock: :yourock: :yourock: :yourock: :yourock: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :toast: :party: :toast: :party: :toast: :party:

[autorank]

15. You did GREAT. My god: "McPherson just starred blankly "

You stopped him right in his tracks. He was speechless. Do you know how hard
it is to render a professional politician speechless?

Great questions. Of course this should be hard. They run things and need to
show that they can handle it. What happens when McPherson goes in trial in
a few years for "fraud" and he has to face down some prosecution expert who
knows this stuff in his/her sleep? He needs practice now, and you gave to him.

What a great story and day, :spank: the enemy of democracy and protest the war!

Recommended (the acts and the thread)

[Hekate]

16. You done good; thanks a bunch. Next time...

...Next time you do this (and you will, you know -- I'm so proud of you :-) ) you might want to announce your credentials briefly to give weight to your questions and observations. "I am a programmer/data base manager/systems analyst (whatever it is you do) and these are the red flags I see that I hope you are addressing."

Since I myself don't have any such credentials, I fall back on my nearest and dearest in the industry: "I've been tracking this for several years, and because I wasn't sure if I was really understanding it I showed the info about electronic voting systems to my husband the programmer-analyst/my sister the computer engineer/et al. and they saw red flags all over the place." True story. In other words, I'm the political geek and they are the techies, and I don't wear a tinfoil hat and neither do they.

You did really well.

Btw, I carry a note pad to nearly every lecture or other public event I attend, and no one has ever asked me if I'm from the news media!

One more note: I am hoping someone will be able to steer me to some brochures or other relatively simple material I can use for voter-education. Anyone?

:toast: for you!

Hekate