Set up for failure: Working within the system for clean elections. Election Forum News 2/19

[autorank]

1) Election Fraud Research and Discussion News (Weekly Comment)
(See BELOW and also at this location).
2) Weekly collection of key links from the public media.

”Oh, the peasants hunger for real paper ballots. Let them eat cake.” Marie Antoinette

Can We Work within the system for election reform
– a response to those who think we can.

Michael Collins

Is it practical or useful to attempt to work within the current legislative system to change election processes and regulations? This is a critical issue for elections activists. This statement is my firmly held position. I do not intend to offend anyone. Rather, my goal is to focus on the abundantly clear realities we face and the directions we must take based on those realities.

On the issue that interests me the most, election fraud, we clearly need to work within the system to gather that data sufficient to determine if election fraud occurred in a given election. We have no ability to critique and judge the system if we lack access to the available data. This working within approach has been highly effective as evidenced by the work of TruthIsAll, Simon, Freeman, and ElectionArchive.Org/Baiman.

With regard to the other focus of the clean elections interest group, influencing the type of voting and tabulation systems in use, the legislative regulation of those systems, and the quality assurance component, post election audits, the choice is not as straight forward.

The legislation that established our current nightmare, the Help America Vote Act, was a bipartisan effort. It received overwhelming approval in the House and Senate. The record of the final action should have warned us. Convicted felon, Rep. Robert Ney, R, OH is listed as the principal sponsor.

That legislation claimed to solve the problems of Florida 2000. It did nothing of the sort. The problems of Florida, a stolen election if there ever was one, had little to do with hanging chads here and there and voters struggling with a deceptive “butterfly ballot.” The problems of Florida were the 50,000 or more black Floridians taken off the voting rolls by felon http://tinyurl.com/uboqp">purge software (who were unable to vote in Election 2000) and the more than 170,000 “spoiled ballots” which occurred mostly in minority dominated precincts in Republican controlled counties with significant black population. This is all well documented.

Truth #1: HAVA was born of a bipartisan lie, one that ignored the theft and all the very public evidence of that theft. A likely suspect, the voting machines, was framed with full knowledge that those problems were secondary to race-based strategies that resulted in Al Gore losing tens of thousands of votes.

As HAVA was implemented, we began to see questionable election after questionable election.
At the same time, groups falsely assumed to be of the left began to lobby for HAVA.
Those concerned with election fraud were marginalized as spread sheet wielding conspiracy theorists and a new focus emerged taking the name election integrity.

The bits and bytes, machine based effort focused intensively on this or that type of electronic voting device (although little was done about tabulators). Paper trails were touted as a solution, e.g., voter verified paper ballots. As it became painfully obvious that touch screen paper trails were meaningless, a shift occurred. Optical scan readers and the paper ballots fed through them were suddenly touted as the solution that would provide integrity to our elections.

Never mind the fact that there were obviously people behind all those close Republican wins, again and again. The perpetrators were cast aside and, in a modern version of animism for all but a few; the machines acquired the ability to systematically produce questionable results in a questionable way without any reference to human involvement. The apotheosis of this fallacy is seen in the central argument in Jennings election contest argument that voting machines in Florida’s 13th Congressional race consistently favored the Republican candidate due to machine malfunction. Apparently, those machines have a mind of their own.

Truth# 2: Neutralizing concerns about election fraud in favor of election integrity ignore the obvious: election fraud is the primary reason to be concerned about election integrity in the first place. Marginalized concerns about election fraud was accompanied in a shift of focus to monitoring and altering voting machines, software, and technical methods to improve elections. Crime scene evidence is gathered every election cycle and then used to convict inanimate objects. Who benefits? Apparently, the machines.

We are now two huge steps away from Florida 2000 (which many will agree has repeated itself over and over in different localities). The real causes of Florida 2000 were ignored, spurious causes assigned, and we were blessed with HAVA. In the process, the focus on election outcomes was neutralized and sanitized as though it was really all about machine and software malfunction.

Is it practical or useful to we work within the system? Can we achieve reliable and believable elections within this system?

Legislative behavior and action provide the evidence to answer this question.

We have a Congress elected in 2006 that has failed to take any substantive action to stop the war in Iraq. The Senate can’t eve hold a debate on Iraq. Much like Odysseus waving his sword at the Cyclops after his boat was far from shore, the House failed to express the public will by passing a resolution on Iraq that has no effect whatsoever on the status of the war.

We have a Congress which ignored and now ignores the 450 to 650 thousand Iraqi civilians killed in the current war. If they don’t concern themselves with the 3 thousand soldiers who have given their lives and the tens of thousands of soldiers seriously injured, why would they care or even note the loss of life among Iraqi civilians. This blindness to death and injury is a bipartisan effort.

We had a Congress which passed an act canceling the product of 1000 years of struggle, habeas corpus. We are now all subject to arrest should we be marked as terrorists by some anonymous authority. Once arrested, we have no right to hear charges, no right to speak to a lawyer. However, those of us with an egalitarian bent are comforted knowing that we will be subject to the same torture administered in Cuba and Iraq. Globalism redux.

We had and now have a Congress which ignored the real problems of Florida and every other questionable election. Their solutions range from the make nice Holt HAVA revisions to alternatives that are much worse like Clinton – Tubbs-Jones. There is still no mention of corrupted outcomes and how those highly questionable results occurred. We’ve had no investigation of Florida 2000, Ohio & USA 2004, and Georgia 2002.

The current solutions to our wrongly identified troubles all entail making machines more efficient (a sort of technical scared straight program) and introducing quality assurance in the form of post election audits.

Truth # 3: There is little difference between the political parties on electronic voting and tabulation. Both are subject to a seemingly inexorable technophilia that adds increased complexity to overly complex system now in place. Each and every one of these alternatives to the current election system comes with a full, 100% guarantee that understanding of and access to any real systems knowledge will be impossible for 99% of the citizens of the United States of America.

Truth # 4: As a result of the current options of notable versus whole scale leaps forward in the reliance on computerized voting, there is a widening breech between those elected and their voting system choices and the public and its increasing lack access to those choices. Therefore, at some point in the not to distant future, the parallel lines of voting system complexity and total public disillusion due to lack of knowledge will merge. The result will be ELECTION PROCESSES WHICH PRODUCE ZERO FAITH IN ELECTIONS AND THOSE SELECTED TO RULE.

The new motto of the day will be We pretend to vote, you pretend to get elected.

After due consideration of all the facts, the only reasonable (predictable) answer to the intent of Congress is simple – Congress intends to make electronic voting permanent and it intends to make elections more complex and less available to public participation and scrutiny. We will enter the era of the election experts, hierophants who turn the people’s elections into a mystery cult.

How can anyone trust Congress to be honest brokers in election system reform? The only measure that promised a start to real elections available to the public, HR 6200, is no longer on the table. What remains represents a gleeful head first dive into the shallow end of the election pool.

After all, these are the politicians who enabled and continue a war which bankrupts the nation, kills our soldiers, negates our civil liberties at home, and proves fatal to those we liberate.

Where can one single shred of evidence for that trust be found?

Therefore, we have no reason whatsoever to predict anything close to a positive outcome from working within the system. The system reflects the realities of Congress, not the preferences of the people. Not one shred of evidence predicts anything positive coming from dialog and debate by those who failed to understand and note the initial problems of the 2000 election and continue to compound that error by acting as though machines not people are the cause our electoral disarray. They casually dismiss the clear truth that the real solutions to election problems are based on these truths.

• Enforce the right to vote for all citizens so qualified.

• Institute a program of citizen run elections with hand counted paper ballots.

The notion of elections so complex, so computer dependent that that the people have no way of judging outcomes is offensive to those who aspire to be a free people.

We the people will define our own system and those chosen by the corrupted process can endorse citizen generated changes and cooperate or face a public that will be ready to say loudly and firmly, we have no reason to believe that you were elected in the first place.

We’re at a point where more 60% of Americans oppose the War in Iraq. That opposition grew despite mainstream media misrepresentations and suppression of the facts. We have reason to that the opposition to inherently unverifiable elections due to computerized voting and election fraud is just a strong. The effort spent cavorting with a Congress, doing the Washington two step, would be much better spent developing a truly effective election system based on real paper ballots and taking that case to broad segments of the general public.

Our myopic, tone deaf representatives are not only ineffective, their efforts all generate election proposals that produce more harm that the legacy they seek to correct.
The people and a citizen run election process are the only hope to truly elect a Congress that is both a responsible steward for democratic processes and an accurate reflection of the decency and common sense of the citizens of the United States of America.

[knowbody0]

1. amen

[bleever]

2. Amen, brother.

:thumbsup:

[rumpel]

3. people power

:kick:

& r

[CrazyOrangeCat]

4. K&R

for a sane voice.

Oh, that there was some sense of understanding, some sense of urgency, in the "leadership" of this Congress.

Do they not know that the neocon nazis will throw their sorry Democratic asses in the gulags too???

[bonito]

5. Yep, what you said.

[Me.]

6. You Deserve All Those Hearts

Never give up, endurance and turtles win races, if you get my meaning

[eridani]

7. Why doesn't administrative complexity count as complexity?

Have you ever tried to get poll workers at 500 different polling places where they are supposed to be, and on time?

How do you get laws without doing politics? How do you institute ANYTHING without a big and complex organization?

[OnTheOtherHand]

18. yeah, I don't find "Down With Politics" very edifying, either

I don't understand why people think they are on the verge of winning 100% hand counts nationwide when as far as I know, they haven't gotten any jurisdiction in the nation to move to it (although of course a relatively few jurisdictions still have it). I would be willing to keep an open mind about that, but in the meantime, I don't see why it is a good thing to oppose legislation that would ban paperless DREs and take several other large steps toward verified voting.

Are we even allowed to work for hand counts "within the system," or should we limit ourselves to boldly posting on DU and waiting for the revolution?

[autorank]

19. Good questions

I'm not saying we don't do politics. I'm saying that we build a movement or coalesce a movement without any expectations that things will get better in the short term with our legislature. Anytime someone wants to get serious, then that's time to pay attention. In the mean time, the grotesque charade that we see going on with regard to Hold or Clinton-Tubbs Jones needs to called for what it is - just another special interest bill. Do we have one single champion on Congress, one single person who stood up and said, it's a rigged game, it's designed to keep the people away from the election process? We do not. That's total nonsense. To cooperate with that process is to endorse it and accept the basic premise of electronic voting - the right of the government to create a system so complex we can't even understand it.

As for elections organizations, the logistics of deploying people in precincts and polling is significant. However, this had had ben done for years without the added business of electronic voting so complex, you require special training to administer and evaluate it. Elections are a two - three times a year event, at most, staffed by volunteers. Somehow, these volunteers are expected to not only deploy and manage the masses who show up, they're not expected to be IT workers. The boards are expected to be IT professionals and consultants. It's not happening in an effective way and it's unnecessary. To take a massive system, in some places and exponentially expand the complexity by adding lousy hardware and software systems subject to security attacks is ridiculous on the face of it. The fact that the systems are becoming more complex and this is being touted as "more efficient" is highly offensive.

So, politics yes, but with the people while critiquing but not endorsing the new proposals to expand electronic voting; and yes, it's complex but why make a two to three times a year process much more complex by adding electronic systems that are barely manageable today.

Thanks for your comment.

[BeFree]

8. The Goal

We the people will define our own system and those chosen by the corrupted process can endorse citizen generated changes and cooperate or face a public that will be ready to say loudly and firmly, we have no reason to believe that you were elected in the first place.

They must answer to us. It is the only way we can continue the Great American Experiment.

What they are doing, now, in DC, is stealing our American birthright to a government by and for the people. We have to come together to overcome.

[autorank]

12. "The Magic Show" is over, we know their tricks.

How impressive would a magician be if we knew how he performed his illusions prior to seeing the show. Well, we've seen the show enough times to know that there is no magic, it's just stale nonsense created to keep citizens from knowledge and access and allow those in power to maintain control through the esoterica called "governance."

Times up, we get it, no more "magic." There's no point in being angry, it's really quite boring. We need to pursue local and regional forms of cooperation parallel to but distanced from the normal structures unless we can be assured that the current system actually represents our will and choices. Most establishments don't get it before it's too late. They fail to grasp the opportunity to move forward in cooperation. That is to be expected.

EVERYBODY QUALIFIED TO VOTE MUST HAVE ACCESS TO VOTING AND WE NEED MANIFESTLY HONEST OPEN AND HONEST SYSTEM OF VOTING AND COUNTING. IT'S REALLY QUITE SIMPLE AND EASY TO ACHIEVE. THE ABSENCE OF THESE TWO BASICS INDICATES THAT THEY'RE DELIBERATELY WITHHELD. WHAT A SHAME AND ULTIMATELY, HOW CHILDISH.

[kster]

13. And the Politicians that got elected

by these machines "REMAIN SILENT" I wonder WHY?

Secrecy

The purpose of a (POLITICAL) trick is to amuse and create a feeling of wonder; the audience is generally aware that the magic is performed using trickery, and derives enjoyment from the magician's (POLITICIANS) skill and cunning. Usually, magicians (POLITICIANS) will refuse to reveal their methods to the audience(VOTERS). The reasons for these include:

Exposure is claimed to "kill" magic as an artform and transforms it into mere intellectual puzzles and riddles. It is argued that once the secret of a trick (VOTE COUNTING) is revealed to a person(VOTER), he or she can no longer fully enjoy subsequent performances of the trick, as the amazement is missing. Sometimes the secret is so simple that the audience (VOTERS) is let down they were taken in so easily.

Keeping the secrets preserves the professional mystery of magicians(POLITICIANS) who perform for money.
Membership in professional magicians (POLITICIANS) organizations often requires an oath not to reveal the secrets of magic(VOTE COUNTING) to non-magicians (NON-POLITICIANS). This is known as the "Magician's (POLITICIANS) Oath".

The Magician's (POLITICIANS) Oath (though it may vary, 'The Oath' takes the following, or similar form):

"As a magician (POLITICIAN) I promise to never reveal the secret of any illusion to a non-magician (NON-POLITICIAN), without first swearing them to the Magician's (POLITICIANS) Oath. I promise never to perform any illusion for any non-magician (NON-POLITICIAN), without first practicing the effect until I can perform it well enough to maintain the illusion of magic (VOTE COUNTING)".

Once sworn to The Oath, one is considered a magician (POLITICIAN), and is expected to live up to this promise. A magician (POLITICIAN) reveals a secret, either purposely or through insufficient practice, may typically find themselves without any magicians (POLITICIANS) willing to teach them more secrets.


However, it is considered permissible to reveal secrets to individuals who are determined to learn magic tricks and become magicians (POLITICIANS). It is typically a sequential process of increasingly valuable and lesser known secrets. The secrets of almost all tricks are available to the public through numerous books and magazines devoted to magic, available from the specialised magic trade.

There are also web sites which offer videos, DVDs and instructional materials for the aspiring conjuror. In this sense, there are very few classical illusions left unrevealed, however this does not appear to have diminished the appeal of performances(ELECTIONS). In addition, magic is a living art, and new illusions are devised with surprising regularity. Sometimes a 'new' illusion will be built on an illusion that is old enough to have become unfamiliar.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_%28illusion%29#Secrecy

[autorank]

15. Bookmarked dude. The politicians oath on election systems: OMERTA n/t

[kster]

9. K&F...ing R

Way to go Autorank!!!

[nicknameless]

10. Kick

R'ed earlier

[Kurovski]

11. k&r.(NT)

[OneBlueSky]

14. working for ANY meaningful change within the system is a "setup for failulure" . .

ending the war, protecting the environment, alternative energy, universal healthcare, job outsourcing, all of it . . .

the way the system works, we'll NEVER see any meaningful change on these or hundreds (at least) of other critical issues . . . the purpose of the system is to protect the status quo . . . and since it's the status quo that has caused all of these problems -- well, you get the idea . . .

a sad truth, to be sure . . . but a truth nonetheless . . .

[autorank]

16. Truth to power...

"the purpose of the system is to protect the status quo" ... bears repeating, again and again.

Thanks OneBlueSky!!!!!!!!!!!!

[eridani]

23. Right. That's what all too many people on the left have been saying--

--for the last 30 years or so. Hey, how's that been working out for us, eh? :sarcasm:

[KoKo]

17. Keeping the pressure on. ......Thanks!

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

20. solution is to "vote" in better congress with our paperless machines?

So if I read this correctly, then working with the current congress is a waste of time?

That in order to get reliable, accurate verified elections we must use
- these same un-reliable, inaccurate and unverifiable systems to elect a better congress and then,
- this better congress will correct/fix the same un-reliable, inaccurate and unverifiable systems that got them elected.

What is the timeline for both options?

- Working with 110th congress - about a year
- Working to get a new congress that is significantly better than this one - maybe never.

Yes, its hard work and I know that Autorank is working hard at it.

Democracy - it is a demanding job for all of us:

"Democratic citizens recognize that they not only have rights, they have responsibilities. They recognize that democracy requires an investment of time and hard work -- a government of the people demands constant vigilance and support by the people"

I agree that our current elections system is a mess, and that change is needed.

I don't believe that we can wait for a better congress to be elected in order to head us
in the right direction.

I absolutely agree with the author that we do need to keep booting out the sell out congressmen, yes I do.

However, if we don't push the ball out onto the field and get HR 811 amended, and if some other bill is passed instead, a bill that IS influenced by the Election Center or NASED or EAC or Vendors, then we may see a spread of and further entrenchment of paperless voting.

HR 811 is not influenced by the vendors. The mistakes in HR 811 come from so many different
election integrity groups adding their say, and Holt trying to meet those requests.

HR 811 IS being corrected, and the serious flaws are supposed to be corrected.

[Stevepol]

21. K&R!!

[Joe Chi Minh]

22. Great work, Mike!

A matter of THE greatest pith and moment.