DNC Voting Rights Institute Summit - Dare We Hope? A Plan?

[IndyOp]

Credit should always be given where due, but I am not sure whether Person X who attended the "DNC Voting Rights Institute Summit" wants to be credited for their notes. I hesitated posting it, but I really don't think I am posting anything that Karl Rove doesn't already know...

Recently, X accepted an invitation to attend the Democratic Party DNC Voting Rights Institute summit June 20 2006. This is her report.

The DNC introduced the plan for year-round election protection for every voting jurisdiction in the United States. Attending were National Lawyers Council, reps from DCCC and DSC, and various non-profits in support of fair elections.

This excellent DNC plan includes:

1. Training state party Chairs for year-round election protection. This will take place at the DNC conference, Chicago, August 18. (IndyOp says: :wtf: Training state chairs on Aug 18 - means county chairs will be trained by, what, Oct 18?!?!)

2. A "NO CONCESSION until all votes are counted" candidate position, and advocating for precinct-based optical scan equipment.

3. Creating state legal teams to produce state-by-state election code guidebooks for attorney and activist teams in each county. These handbooks will include information on how to investigate voting processes, including: voter ID laws and voter rights; pollworker training for consistency with election code; voting systems for consistency with election code; elections administration for consistency with election code; following the election through to the end of vote counting and auditing.

The goals of these investigations are to proactively influence the processes and procedures to produce fair elections; to pursue litigation where warranted; to accumulate data to support legislation for election integrity.

4. The second guidebook is for pollworker training: the party is encouraging volunteers to become pollworkers in order to ensure that all laws are applied fairly and consistently, and that all voting systems have whatever oversight can be ensured by the pollworker. These guidebooks are supplements to the ROV training manuals.

5. There will be a Centralized 888 DemVote phone system for: Automated answer to the questions: "where do I go to vote?", "am I registered?" AND rerouting problem calls to LOCAL attorneys for immediate problem-solving/legal action related to vote suppression, issues with access or equipment, or pollworker problems.

6. Useful print materials for voter rights: One of these featured a door-hanger with the precinct location, voter rights and ID requirements, and the 888 Dem Vote hotline number on one side, and "who to vote for" on the other side. (IndyOp says: :D )

7. A timeline was offered by Joe Sandler, general counsel, DNC, which starts now.

Recommended immediate effort:
a. Compare statewide voter reg databases with last year's databases to find voters who erroneously removed from the voter rolls, contact those voters, and get them re-registered.
b. If disenfranchisement appears along racial/ethnic lines, file lawsuits, get injunctions.

There was also information available about voting systems and provisional ballots: what are the rates of provisionals cast and rejection rates for each state: helpful to determine the amount of attention this will require (in other words, in states where provisional ballots are not counted, voters need to fight for the right to vote in the normal manner rather than cast provisionals.)

Also contains maps of voting system usage for every county, and trends in voting patterns.

There were presentations on the insecurity of electronic voting systems & on voter ID, and studies that show that claims of widespread voter fraud are false.

Karl Rove's strategy: Identify all jurisdictions that have a 2-1 margin for Reps, and make it 2 1/2 to 1, and, prevent the vote for those not "entitled" to vote. We know what that means. Onslaught of voter suppression. My take; very important to have strong minority area attorney-response teams in every county.

Well, that's all for now. I have no idea when this will be officially announced, but the DSC phone banker asking me for money today was able to respond to me that there was a plan for a 50 state election protection effort. He was in Wisconsin at the DSC call center, so it seems that "the word" has been coordinated, already. This is good news... Very good news.

And, if you get a request from the DNC to fund this effort, please give.

----------------------

My overall comment: Good. Will it be rolled out quickly enough to matter...? I am not waiting for them, nor will I consider their plan -- whatever it is -- sufficient. Free and fair elections - eyes on prize - do not blink.

:kick:

[Stevepol]

1. This is excellent if true. They might get some of my money now.

What in God's name happened that they finally opened their ears to the screams of the disenfranchised?

Probably lack of money.

But whatever it was so be it. Maybe there's a chance of restoring democracy in 10 or 15 years, maybe sooner.

[BeFree]

5. Well -----

---I'd like to think that our calls for chairman Dean to take notice of what 50,000 members of a little ol' web forum called "Democratic Underground" thinks is a fairly the most important issue.

<holding back on strong expletives>

[EFerrari]

2. Glad to see any movement. And they posit so many "ifs".

We know the Thugs target minories.

We know they target students.

We know they target the elderly.

We know they target the poor.

We know approximately which states they will target and we know approximately which cities will be hardest hit.

Shouldn't this "if disenfranchisement appears along racial/ethnic lines" be a "when"?

Not waiting for them either but at least there's signs of life.

[Botany]

3. this will be hacked and blocked

5. There will be a Centralized 888 DemVote phone system for: Automated answer to the questions: "where do I go to vote?", "am I registered?" AND rerouting problem calls to LOCAL attorneys for immediate problem-solving/legal action related to vote suppression, issues with access or equipment, or pollworker problems.


Guaranteed

[mod mom]

7. Plus in Ohio, we need immediate call for state issued voter IDs!

[Peace Patriot]

4. IndyOp, thanks so much for this information! Glad to see the DNC

hitting the real, on the ground, problems! Very encouraging!

I wonder if you could clarify the last part of this sentence:
"There were presentations on the insecurity of electronic voting systems & on voter ID, and studies that show that claims of widespread voter fraud are false."

They are talking about fraud by VOTERS, right? The claims about widespread fraud by voters are false? They are NOT talking about election fraud by Bushite electronic voting corporations using TRADE SECRET, PROPRIETARY programming, code, or any other kind of Bushite election fraud, right? These terms often get mixed up. Voter fraud. Election fraud.

Regarding item #2, above:

"2. A 'NO CONCESSION until all votes are counted' candidate position, and advocating for precinct-based optical scan equipment."

I totally agree with the first part--NO CONCESSION until all the votes are counted, and indeed I would say NO CONCESSION until ALL THE VOTES in ANY election using NON-TRANSPARENT, TRADE SECRET vote tabulation software in the voting machines or central tabulators (which is just about all of them) have been 100% RECOUNTED. We should demand a 100% recount everywhere there is trade secret code, and where there is no paper ballot backup TO recount, we should sue.

But the second part I disagree with--"advocating for precinct-based optical scan equipment." It's okay to SETTLE for this, if this is all you can get. But ADVOCATING for it? In effect, you are advocating for corporate control of the vote counting with TRADE SECRET PROGRAMMING, which is present in ALL electronic voting machines, including the optiscans. It would be much better to advocate for ABSENTEE BALLOT VOTING, which at least has the potential of an ordinary peoples' protest against the machines, and one that COULD result in making these machines obsolete because nobody wants to vote on them. A lot of people ARE choosing absentee ballot voting, for this very reason. They sometimes don't know that it, too, is not safe. (All votes are scanned.) But it's THEIR protest--and it is the ONLY voting protest that could actually DO as these voters intend--bring about the end of the machines. I don't agree with this compromise position--that we have to settle for optiscans--or the even worse position that we should be ADVOCATING for them. Many jurisdictions have NO auditing requirement. Those that do have entirely inadequate auditing for this high-speed, secret vote tabulation environment. So optiscans are NOT the solution. At best, there is a 1% audit. I repeat, AT BEST. And actual recounts are extremely rare (and really good recounts--virtually never.) Advocating for optiscans just feeds this election theft industry. If you're advocating for a PAPER BALLOT, in a touchscreen (no paper) situation, fine. But don't say you're advocating for these Bushite-controlled election theft machines--however they configure them. The solution: NO TRADE SECRET PROGRAMMING, of any kind, in any part of our voting system. Voting on optiscans won't get us there. Voting by absentee ballot might.

I'm afraid it's money that is mostly driving this--the Dems crazy blindness to TRADE SECRET vote tabulation, and their advocating optiscans. Lavish lobbying money, for one thing. Dems tied up with this or OTHER gov't electronics. Dems beholden to local corrupt election officials. Dems having voted for the $4 billion "Help America Vote For Bush Act" boondoggle. And Dems having authorized purchase of these crapass, Bushite-controlled machines, at great cost (matching funds always required). The truth is that these machines are very expensive and much of the expense is HIDDEN--in the constant need for maintenance, servicing and upgrades. These electronic voting machines will be a financial drain on the election system, and on taxpayers, forever more. The on-going maintenance needs also INCREASE the already grave security problems, since only private corporate personnel are privy to their programming and understand how they work. This is just totally unacceptable. We need to eat the cost so far, and throw these machines into 'Boston Harbor." They are killing our democracy!

What we need to be advocating is TRANSPARENT VOTE COUNTING. VISIBLE vote counting. Vote counting ordinary people UNDERSTAND.

Apart from these two points, I mostly agree with the above, and am much heartened by it--especially the work on anti-vote suppression--because this OTHER aspect of Republican abuse of voters, directed mostly at black voters, is among the worst and most disgusting thing these criminals have done. They might as well piss on Martin Luther King's grave and dance a jig on it. It is so revolting!

I tend to think that the electronic vote rigging capability (quite deliberately set up, by Tom Delay and Bob Ney) is responsible for the widespread Bushite violation of black, poor and other Democratic voters' rights. Hubris. They got away with the first--so why not piss on black voters, TOO! Another theory is that they needed both to "win." And given the energy they've poured into purging black voters, that's probably the truth. If they get too obvious about the electronic rigging, they might lose that capability to citizen outrage. And they need it. Boy, do they NEED it, with what they are up to in Washington DC. They've got to turn a 35% approval rating into 50.5% by November--and disapproval of them is only going to increase with every outrageous, thieving, warmongering thing they do. How do you turn around an 80% disapproval rating? A 90%? Not easily! You need multiple vote-stealing and vote-suppressing capabilities.

Glad to see the DNC is putting some effort into this, to turn it around! Very glad!

[Bill Bored]

8. It's easier to rig absentee voting.

Read Doug Jones' comments on the Common Cause report, and the Common Cause report itself.

Absentee should only a be the preferred option if there is no alternative but paperless DREs. Where there is paper and either op scan or DREs, we need post-election auditing of the paper and pre-election inspection of ballot definition settings.

[drm604]

10. Would it be possible to vote absentee and get the ballot notarized?

Would it be possible and legal to vote absentee and have the ballot witnessed, notarized, and a copy retained by the notary or a lawyer? If a large enough number do this in precincts likely to be targeted it might make it difficult to undetectably alter the count. They would have to blatantly disqualify legal and provable ballots.

I have no idea if this would be legal or if it would work, is it a dumb idea?

[Peace Patriot]

12. Bill, you don't understand what I said about an ordinary citizen protest

by Absentee Ballot voting. It is already big, and getting bigger. And if enough people do it, the machines will be OBSOLETE. Then we can work on getting rid of the central electronic tabulators.

I don't trust Absentee Balloting voting either--but I do it AS A PROTEST AGAINST THE MACHINES. And I'm sure that's why it's become so popular. (50% Absentee Ballot voting in Los Angeles, where Diebold shill Connie McCormack is in charge of elections!).

There is no basis for saying that it's easier to rig absentee voting than to rig optiscans. In the case of absentee ballots, they might "lose" the ballot in the mail (as they did in Florida--50,000 of them!)--but the notable thing about this is that the ballot is MISSED. If you fail to get it in the mail, you can raise a stink and DO something about it. Some states permit you to DELIVER it to the polling place (avoiding the USPS); some don't--you must mail it in. It's also possible that they might miscount the absentee ballot as they turn it into electrons. (All votes are scanned.) But the same is true of optiscan ballots. The real ballot goes into a box and is thereafter forgotten, and the electrons--your "vote"--get separated from that tangible evidence and "sent" to the central tabulators. Both optiscans and central tabulators are run on TRADE SECRET, PROPRIETARY programming code. There is absolutely NO GUARANTEE that your vote will not be changed WITHIN the optiscan machine, or at the other end, in the central tabulator. Some states have no required audit at all. Others have entirely inadequate audits (1%--AT BEST!). That's means that, once you vote--whether by absentee or by optiscan--your real tangible vote is gone. The chance of it ever being seen again--and counted--is virtually nil.

ALSO, fraud by optiscan or by central tabulator is MUCH EASIER and MUCH QUICKER and can be MUCH MORE MASSIVE than fraudulent treatment of absentee ballots. Just as with the old-fashioned paper ballot hand-counted at the precinct level, fraud in regard to absentee ballots, as ballots per se, is LIMITED and VISIBLE. Human beings do it, and human beings are LIMITED in how much fraud they can commit without getting caught. In electronic voting--optiscan or not--UNLIMITED, INVISIBLE, MASSIVE fraud is possible. The biggest risk of fraud with absentee ballots is when they are scanned into the ELECTRONIC VOTE TABULATION SYSTEM--the same risk that is taken with all votes, EXCEPT that a HUMAN BEING has to do the scanning or the data entry, and human beings are very limited in what they can do, vs. these high speed, invisible, "trade secret," electronic programs. Absentee votes are most vulnerable AS they are scanned, and AFTER they are scanned (separation of the "vote" from the tangible evidence) into the electronic system.

There is no evidence that I know of that absentee ballots are MORE vulnerable to tampering--than any other scanned vote. And, in fact, absentee ballots were critically important to election investigators in 2004. (There were significant discrepancies found between absentee, i.e., paper ballots vs. electronic voting, the electronic virtually always favoring Bush).

There are many reasons to vote absentee and to avoid optiscans and all electronic voting machines. But the most compelling to me is that MANY PEOPLE ARE OPTING FOR ABSENTEE BALLOT VOTING AS A PROTEST AGAINST THE MACHINES. I think that protest has great potential. I know it is growing. People don't trust these machines. This is a PEOPLES' PROTEST. We should have vote counting that ordinary people understand. THAT's what they are saying. No reason for all this gobble-de-gook electronics. COUNT THE DAMN VOTES in a way that EVERYBODY CAN SEE. It's good old American orneriness! And I think it may be the protest we've all been waiting for. People are finally "getting" it. And they are protesting the only way they can--with absentee ballot voting. And it does, truly, hold the potential for making the machines obsolete. If nobody will vote on them, their secret power over our elections is OVER!

Common Cause has become a corporate shill organization--like so many others. I don't trust their recommendations at all. They think they can "fix" electronic voting--while ignoring its central crime: TRADE SECRET, PROPRIETARY programming code! Private corporate (not to mention Bushite) control of election RESULTS!

There is no "fix" for trade secret programming. The only "fix" is to throw Diebold, ES&S and ALL of these election theft machines into 'Boston Harbor' NOW! And I think that's what a lot of voters are trying to say by voting absentee.

[KaryninMiami]

9. Excellent- well stated! You filled in all the places I would have!

Did you see Brad from bradblog.com on Lou Dobbs tonight? They were talking about the vulnerability of electrionic voting machines with wireless access-- ON LOU DOBBS-- finally-- they are starting to listen. Took a few years but there appears to be an opening here and we-- all of us, collectively-- played a part in making this happen.

[blm]

6. This is EXACTLY what should have been in place after 2000. GOPs have made

vote suppression and vote stealing a 4 year constant battle and it's past time the Dems work to counter them EVERY STEP OF THE WAY.

THIS is what a PARTY INFRASTRUCTURE needs to do so ALL of the Dem candidates and voters are served.

We need to make certain the Dem party really dedicates itself to this effort.

Thankyou so much for posting it here.

[chill_wind]

11. Hope they get this pulled together and publicly available on the internet,

as any of this becomes more concrete. Information is power.

K&R