Alert to all of DU: Diebold/Bush junta to rig elections in California

[Peace Patriot]

Below is an assortment of articles regarding Diebold shill Bruce McPherson's sudden re-certification of Diebold election systems in California yesterday. McPherson is a Republican Schwarzenegger APPOINTEE to the Secretary of State's office, after our Democratic, ELECTED Secretary of State Kevin Shelly was forced to resign on bogus corruption charges last year. (Shelley had sued Diebold and decertified the worst of their election theft machines prior to the 2004 election--and got whacked for it.)

Diebold--and its brother (literally) electronic voting corporation, ES&S--are highly political rightwing Bushite corporations, who are seizing control of our nation's election system, using "TRADE SECRET," PROPRIETARY programming code, with virtually no audit/recount controls.

Until last month, Diebold was run by Wally O'Dell, a Bush/Cheney campaign chair and major fundraiser (who promised in writing to "deliver" Ohio to Bush/Cheney in 2004). ES&S is a spinoff of Diebold, initially funded by billionaire rightwing nut Howard Ahmanson, who also gave a million dollars to the Chalcedon Foundation (which, among other things, advocates the death penalty for homosexuals). Diebold and ES&S are managed by two brothers, Bob and Todd Urosevich.

These are the people who are tabulating our votes with SECRET, PROPRIETARY programming code. (Diebold and ES&S tabulated 80% of the vote in 2004). (You wonder why we have 60% to 70% of Americans opposing the war, and all Bush policy, yet we still have war and one dreadful Bush junta policy after another. This is why.)

This takeover of our elections by private, partisan corporations was arranged by the highly corrupt Republicans in Congress, Tom Delay and Bob Ney, with a $4 billion electronic voting boondoggle (the so-called "Help America Vote Act"-HAVA), a supposed "election reform" bill that promoted electronic voting and pushed it on the states, and that contained no ban on secret vote tabulation programming, no requirement of a paper trail (making recounts/audits impossible), secret, industry-controlled "testing" of the machines, inadequate funding of federal oversight, no controls over partisan activity by election vendors, no controls on lavish lobbying, and no ban on "revolving door" employment (for instance, our previous Republican SoS in Calif, Bill Jones, after bringing these election theft machines to Calif, immediately went to work for one of the major firms--Sequoia--after leaving office).

In addition to all this, these new electronic voting systems are extremely hackable, insecure and unreliable--with Diebold among the worst for hackability, and ES&S with similar computer architecture to Diebold. In short, they are highly expensive "lemons," which leave our elections wide open to fraud.

Kevin Shelley was ousted, and Bruce McPherson was brought in, by the powers of darkness, in order to do just what Bruce McPherson did yesterday, Friday, Feb. 17, 2006: to re-certify Diebold by fiat.

The California Democratic Party sat back and let the bad guys oust Shelley without a fight. In fact, I heard stories of the new Dem leadership in the Calif legislature strong-arming other Dems, to force them to shut up about it. I think the reasons for this are corruption and fear--with some Democrats in the pocket of electronic vendors to government, and/or beholden to war profiteers, and others afraid of the Bush junta and its power to destroy people, or afraid of corrupt county election officials, who now have too much secretive power over elections (like Connie McCormack in Los Angeles--also a Diebold shill).

Recently, however, a new star has risen in Calif--State Senator Debra Bowen (a Democrat)--who is running for Secretary of State, and is saying all the right things about our corrupt, non-transparent election system, is very knowledgeable on this issue, and is challenging McPherson and the powerful, devious, Bushite electronic voting firms. The Schwarzenegger-appointed McPherson has to get voter approval this fall.

If we lose this fight in California, our democracy is over.

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

ARTICLES

(Note: Almost simultaneous with McPherson's sudden re-certification of Diebold in Calif this Friday, was the governor Maryland's blast at electronic voting and Diebold in particular, mid-week. In Maryland, we find DEMOCRATS defending Diebold and electronic voting (with NO paper trail at all), and a Republican opposing them--a very interesting situation. Google groups these articles as "related." I have included some of the articles on the Maryland controversy.)

Reuters: short article on McPherson's sudden re-certification of Diebold, ending with this, "It (Diebold Election systems) had been under fire in California after the state's March 2004 primary election for glitches at polling places attributed to its voting systems and some activists had questioned their security." (2/17/06)
http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2006-02-18T003950Z_01_WEN1079_RTRIDST_0_TECH-DIEBOLD-URGENT.XML

San Jose Mercury News (AP): Somewhat informative report on McPherson's sudden re-certification of Diebold, but leaves out virtually all recent controversy (for instance, hundreds of people at hearings and thousands of letters opposing Diebold, the Diebold de-certification in Florida, and the Maryland governor's recent blast at Diebold/electronic voting) and contains no opposing or skeptical comment at all (from election integrity groups or anyone else) (2/17/06):
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/13900909.htm

CBS-Sacramento TV: short but at least it was covered (2/17/06)
http://cbs13.com/topstories/local_story_048231202.html

Mind-bogglingly corrupt reporting on Calif/Diebold in the Houston Chronicle--could have been written by Diebold (2/17/06):
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/conws/3668235.html

Calif Chronicle: Bowen's comments on McPherson's sudden re-certification of Diebold, good quotes, including, “How the Secretary can re-certify the Diebold machines when they don’t comply with California law, they violate the standards set by the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) that the Secretary said he intended to follow, and he still doesn’t have the report back from the ITAs that he said he was waiting for, is beyond me.” (2/17/06)
http://www.californiachronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=6013

Report on Bowen's recent hearing on electronic voting security ("Hearing on 'scary' voting machines") (2/17/06):
http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=2412

Numerous reports on Maryland governor's blast at electronic voting (and Diebold), which is listed by Google as "related" (to Calif) but is not mentioned in the news articles on McPherson's re-certification of Diebold in Calif. (2/15/06-2/17/06)
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=&ie=UTF-8&ncl=http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/conws/3668235.html

On the Google list (re: Maryland):

Baltimore Sun: Lead - "Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. said yesterday that he has lost confidence in the state's ability to hold fair and secure elections this fall, and he called for paper receipts for Maryland's electronic voting machines and the delay of early-voting procedures approved by the Democratic-controlled legislature. // In a sharply worded letter to the chairman of the State Board of Elections, Ehrlich said he is concerned about the dispute over Diebold Elections Systems' electronic voting machines in other states, which use technology similar to that of Maryland's touch-screen voting equipment." (2/16/06)
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-te.md.elect16feb16,1,1974336.story?coll=bal-local-headlines

L.A. Times, re Maryland, an AP article that has been picked up by other major news outlets (2/16/06):
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=&ie=UTF-8&ncl=http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/conws/3668235.html

ABC News (AP) re Maryland: "Gov. Robert Ehrlich, citing concerns over electronic voting machines and a new early voting law passed by Democrats over his veto, said Wednesday that he no longer has confidence in the state's ability to conduct fair and accurate elections this year." (2/16/06)
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1625306

----

Article on open source voting technology, and Bowen hearings. Although the article is soft on McPherson--says he is "in favor of more transparency," which is patently not the case--it does contain important information and links (2/16/06):
http://business.newsforge.com/business/06/02/15/2210232.shtml?tid=110

Horrifying report (read between the lines) on computerized voter databases, with link to new computer experts' report, ZDNet (2/17/06):
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-6040781.html

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

Some resources:

www.votersunite.org (MythBreakers - easy primer on electronic voting--one of the myths is that HAVA requires electronic voting; it does not.)
www.verfiedvoting.org (great activist site)
www.UScountvotes.org (monitoring of '06 and '08 elections)
www.solarbus.org/election/index.shtml (fab compendium of all election info)
www.freepress.org (devoted to election reform)
www.TruthIsAll.net (analysis of the 2004 election)
Sign the petition (Russ Holt, HR 550, great bill-has 169 sponsors): http://www.rushholt.com/petition.html
www.debrabowen.com (Calif Senator running for Sec of State to reform election system)

Also of interest: (Bob Koehler--very bad machines in Ohio, recent)
www.tmsfeatures.com/tmsfeatures/subcategory.jsp?file=20051124ctnbk-a.txt&catid=1824&code=ctnbk

Amaryllis (Diebold, ES&S, Sequoia lavish lobbying of election officials - Beverly Hilton, Aug. '05)
www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x380340

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

Am I in despair? No. McPherson's move simply tells us HOW IMPORTANT Diebold is to the Bush junta. I did not expect this fight to be easy. It is the fight if our lives, friends. It is the whole ballgame.

Non-transparent elections are NOT elections. They are tyranny.

We MUST restore our right to vote. Our vote is how we exercise our sovereignty as a people. No vote, no sovereignty. No vote, and the great dream of Jefferson and Madison and the other American revolutionaries--the dream that overturned thousands of years of rule by kings and popes--will be over.

There is a REASON that this junta is taking away our right to vote--and the reason is those very statistics I cited above, which show an overwhelming progressive, anti-Bush majority in this country. The fascists cannot win transparent elections. And that is another reason that I am not in despair. The Bush junta and its war profiteering corporate news monopolies have not convinced the American people of ANYTHING. (Read the issue and approval polls over the last several years--you will be amazed.)

This great progressive majority has been demoralized, disempowered, and, above all, DISENFRANCHISED. They KNOW they are being lied to. They KNOW they are being robbed. They oppose war and torture and everything else the junta is doing. They are aware of many things--far more than they are given credit for. But they DON'T know WHY their will is not being enforced. The members of this great progressive majority feel isolated and alone--unaware of how the corporate news monopolies create the illusion of a rightwing majority out of a 30% to 40% MINORITY.

The truth about our election system is the biggest black hole in the "news." And what these news monopolies did on election night 2004 (FALSIFIYING their exit polls to hide the Kerry win) is among the biggest of those big, dark, empty holes--because what they are hiding is their own complicity in the stolen election.

It is the great progressive majority--that persists in its progressive views, and holds onto its sense of America, despite the relentless propaganda--that gives me hope, and keeps me in the fight to restore our sovereignty and its mechanism, our right to vote.

We get a lot of negative remarks here at DU about the "sheeple"--about the ignorance and lack of care of our fellow Americans. In my opinion, this is a complete misreading of the situation. Americans are not stupid, and are not uninformed, for the most part. What they are is DISENFRANCHISED. And they are having a hard time coming to grips with this--because it means that there is nobody and nothing that they can trust: not the news media, not the election system, not the Democratic Party, not the courts and judges, not any level of government (the thievery and murder of the federal government are matched, to some degree, by the corruption and lying at the state/local level on the election system and other matters). This failure of ALL of our institutions is difficult to understand--it takes a lot of time and study, and word-of-mouth/internet communication--and it is even more difficult to accept.

The American people are like a kid who finds out that his parents intend to murder him, and he runs to the police in desperation, and the police don't believe him, and turn him back over to his parents. And then he runs to his school, and the school authorities don't believe him, and turn him back over to his parents. And he runs to his neighbors, and his neighbors call the police.

Wouldn't you want to help that kid?

And one of things you'd need to do for that kid is to help him become an adult real fast.

Americans are on to the junta, but they don't know where to turn to, for help--everyone they turn to betrays them--and they don't know what to do to protect themselves. They don't know WHY the roof is crashing in.

The answer is very simple: non-transparent elections. There are other huge problems, of course. But this is the key problem--the one that MUST be turned around, for any other problem to be solved. And it is the hardest one to see--or to acknowledge--because when you do see it, the other institutions start falling like the house of cards they are.

There is NO ONE we can trust but ourselves--we, the people, the theoretical sovereigns of this great country, who MUST now finally grow up, and become the citizens we were meant to be, and take back our country from those who are destroying it. And there is only one way to do that, peacefully--by taking back our right to vote.

[blue cat]

1. This saddens me beyond anything else

The nation won't wake up about this to about 2010, after many more elections are stolen by the GOP, even sadder, many repugs won't care.

[Peace Patriot]

2. DON'T BE SAD! GET MAD! Or, rather, great real, real determined.

Here's an important DU thread on this matter:
"2-17-06: BREAKING: Calif. Sec. State certifies entire Diebold product line"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x459307

This thread has lots of good links and discussion. See especially commentst #5, 7, 9 and 10.

[shance]

33. THANK YOU**** We need to be grown ups now and deal with this with ANGER.

Anger is the only thing that will save this country now.

[SammyWinstonJack]

3. Stealing California is going to look a tad suspicious, no?

It's not Florida or Ohio. Not that they aren't going to try, it looks like they are.

[OneBlueSky]

6. they don't care . . . they believe they are untouchable . . .

and with the current Congress and Supreme Coury, maybe they are . . .

[mirrera]

7. Not suspicious with the help of the Media...

On cue we will start to hear stories coming out of California that express support for the bush agenda, or there will be some supposedly NEW loyal group that gets created. It is like hypnosis it will be flashed over and over. Californians may not buy it but the rest of the U.S. will.
We need hand counted paper ballots and runoff voting to take this country back. One town at a time until it is open and transparent. It is the key to our citizenry. Information, and the vote.



http://NoBullshiRt.com

[linazelle]

15. You are right about the manufactured stories to come. Just like

the stories they manufactured AFTER stealing Ohio, about America's "moral" issues driving voter decisions. Morality was NOT a 2004 election issue, but it was a cover for their theft.

[Peace Patriot]

22. Linazelle, I think you are right on. They steal the election, having

dropped newsturds into the newstream about their non-existence, "invisible," voter registration drive, and having pulled out their pre-written press releases about anti-gay rights initiatives for after the "election." It is pre-planned and pre-thought out, all of it. (However, I think Kerry's win was bigger than expected, a 5% margin and thereabouts, and the Diebold/ES&S machines had to be preprogrammed to certain percentages; thus, Ohio--and the overt, highly visible, high risk election day suppression of black and Dem votes by Repub election officials. They had planned for it. Ohio was Plan B. But it was still awkward and noticeable, and certainly got Conyers' attention, and Boxer's.)

[Helga Scow Stern]

25. Right! The media is complicit. Look at how they went along with step one,

getting rid of a decent SoS based on false, trumped-up charges which to date I don't think have brought a single indictment.

[AntiFascist]

26. That's my concern....

that the teevee media people will make it look like there is all this new support for Repubs, then it magically happens at the ballot box. There will be some spin that exit polls are biased or inaccurate.

[xxqqqzme]

32. it has already started

recent polls, dutifully reported by the corporate media, announce (trumpet fanfare here) that steroid boy's poll numbers are up! This will continue until the polls will be just toooo close 2 call by November.

Those of you w/ on-screen guides, start making note of the increase in showings of steroid boy's old movies on TV - especially 'twins' & 'kindegarten cop' the soft, fuzzy steroid boy. Recently that ghastly thing where he is pregnant was also shown. The frequency will increase over the summer. It did during the recall and before last November's special election.

Peace Patriot - thank you for all the work you did. I have printed everything and sent your post 2 all my CA activist friends. Great work.

[EFerrari]

10. No. They are already halfway there. n/t

[Mme. Defarge]

14. Of course it looks suspicious ..

just as Florida looked suspicious in 2000 and Ohio looked suspicious in 2004. What's more this regime bragged about it beforehand in both elections. They were literally taunting us all along with all of the media hype in '00 about how "it will all come down to Florida", and "how it will all come down to Ohio" in '04.

So, why wouldn't they do it in plain site in California and enjoy rubbing our noses in it?

[Helga Scow Stern]

28. Why of course not! Our elections are clean, as proven by defeat of

Arnold's initiatives.

Let the real vote through once to discipline their narcissistic monster, Arnold, then the gates are open for vote rigging.

[loudsue]

56. Diebold was still decertified during that election, if I remember correct

They have just now re-certified the diebold fraudulent election machine.

:kick:

[shance]

34. We have at least three "suspicious" elections in our pockets. What has

that done for us?

[SoCalDem]

45. All it takes is for right-leaning papers to start reporting bogus

poll numbers...like they do just before EVERY election.. They always say things like.."The race is tightening up".."The challenger is making headway".. "Things are getting close"..

Tweak a few numbers here a few numbers there, combine that with no exit polling, and anything's possible..

We have been hearing for YEARS now , how the whole country is becoming conservative.. It;s a LIE!!

The MEDIA that TELLS us those lies, IS conservative, and there is very little reported to the contrary, so .....there ya go..

Right wing radio trumpets the lie 24/7 on a brazillion stations, and we ahve a few "mildly democratic" hosts here and there to try an combat the lies..

[LWolf]

4. Apparently Arnold knows his star power has lost its shine.

What support do Californians need to prevail here? If I know my former state, they won't take this one lying down. There will be some resistance. For those of us outside the state, what's the best way to support their efforts?

[Helga Scow Stern]

23. Cheney's PR rep is Arnold's new campaign manager....

That alone alerts that muscle and dirty dealings are the method of choice, rather than attracting real votes.

[Double T]

5. Voters need to oppose the use of the Diebold Republican........

Conservative voting machines by obtaining absentee paper ballots, then insuring that 'the election officials' are monitored very closely by outside this country organizations. We can not allow the coup of our voting rights to continue.

[seafan]

20. I used to think absentee ballots were acceptable, but I don't any longer.

Several reasons:

For one, in November 2004, I lost my faith in the US mail to deliver absentee ballots. Why? In 2004, thousands of absentee ballots requested by Broward Co., FL residents for the Presidential election NEVER ARRIVED IN THEIR MAIL! Broward County is a huge bastion of progressive/Democratic voters. The post office began its investigation, but it was TOO LATE FOR PEOPLE TO RECEIVE THEIR BALLOT to get it voted and sent back in time to be counted before the deadline! Unacceptable.

Also, with the almost certain possibility now that our first-class mail is subject to tampering by *'s henchmen, my trust in the absentee vote is severely diminished... in both its potential for outside tampering and whether it will be "lost in the mail", with no accountability whatsoever.

For another reason, how does the voter EVEN KNOW that his/her ballot arrived, was accurately counted, and was not trashed?


IMHO, pen and paper voting at the poll on ELECTION DAY ONLY, with immediate hand counts at the poll's closing, with results called in to the Sec of State is the safest, most secure method to ensure a fair, accurately counted vote.

Early voting sounds good in principle, but it opens up each day's batch of voting to more potential crimes, as many more people are involved, more numbers are crunched and added to different tallies.....

Why not just vote on ONE DAY ONLY. (Make it a holiday, but we can deal with this later.) This eliminates all kinds of shenanigans. One-day-voting and immediate hand-counting opens everything up to transparency. Diebold, ES&S, absentee voting, early voting etc., do not.


What concerns me most about this is that we need to get our act together fast. The criminals are already signaling their intent for California.

[Peace Patriot]

30. You are absolutely right, Seafan, BUT...

...you can TAKE your absentee ballot TO the precinct on election day (at least you can in Calif). You therefore don't have to vote on the machines. There is still the problem of what they do with that paper ballot (scan it into Diebold optiscans and send the ELECTRONS on to a Diebold central tabulator???). But still, you have established a solid PAPER BALLOT record.

...requesting and using absentee ballots throws a big MONEKY WRENCH into their election theft system. I think it's up to 30% now in Calif--people requesting Ab ballots, cuz they don't trust the machines. If it gets any higher, the question WILL arise: why not switch to all mail-in paper ballots? The machines are very expensive to maintain, and onsite company personnel increases already high security risks.

We're dealing with very entrenched, and ruthless power--both the Bush junta and its election theft companies, AND corrupt state/local election and other officials, both Dem and Repub. So we need to find ways in, under and around this fraudulent, non-transparent election system--while we work on getting the machines dumped altogether. I'm not saying, don't go for the best solution (voting the old-fashioned way, with precinct counts). I'm just saying it's a hard, hard nut to crack. I would NOT discourage people from absentee voting, at this point--but do advise them to TAKE IT TO THE PRECINCT, rather than mailing it.

I think we're going to have to compromise on a mail-in system, because of cost. They've WASTED billions of dollars of these rotten machines, and cost may be the wedge we can use for a BETTER, more verifiable system, but not a perfect system. Mail-in has its own perils, as you pointed out. But so does voter registration. With paper ballots, the damage is always MUCH LESS than with electronics in which enormous scale fraud is made possible--of a kind leaving no trace. If 50,000 ballots get "lost" in the mail, people will find out about it. If a million votes are changed in electronic systems, it's possible that no one will ever know for sure.

[seafan]

36. Another problem I have w/absentee: Do we even know re military vote 04?

Maybe I missed how the military vote broke down, but I have not seen any information about it. And all the funny business in 2000 in several Florida counties when republican operatives were allowed into the Supervisor of Elections Offices to "add" information to the envelopes that was not completed by some military voters overseas....



IMHO, there are too many unknowns about how these absentee ballots are handled.

In FL, in my precinct at least, so probably statewide, "any registered voter can vote by Absentee Ballot, either in person or by mail." Maybe I'm over-analyzing this to mean that the person who comes to the poll with an absentee ballot has to mark it while there.... or maybe just turning in an already completed ballot is what that means.... in either case, it seems that most people would not bring in an absentee ballot to the polling place, because they are not physically or geographically able to come to the poll in the first place.


Then, as you mentioned, there is the problem of counting the absentee ballots on a Republican corporation-owned scanning machine that may be unreliable.


I think that the most important issue with these paper ballots is transparency at every step possible. With paper ballots that are hand-counted on the spot under direct observation at the polling precinct, this fulfills that requirement.

Absentee ballots counted by some hidden machine or routed incorrectly to or from the post office makes me wary. If this were 10 years ago, I wouldn't be such a cynic, but today, I have come to expect any and all types of criminal activity associated with our voting process.

Just like any two-bit criminal, if they keep getting away with it, why do they need to change how they are doing it...

It's the voters who need to change what we are doing.



But, aside from all of this, we are otherwise in "violent agreement", Peace Patriot, lol.

[seafan]

8. Here is what I think Americans should do, starting now:

Cross-posted from Atman's thread last night:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x448775


The single, most cherished element of our freedom under our Constitution is the right to vote, and to have it cast fairly and counted accurately.


People should hold peaceful, but strong, ongoing demonstrations at the Supervisor of Elections' office in their home counties, demanding that each county authorize voting with pen and paper ballots only, for ALL forthcoming elections, hand counted at each precinct under direct observation by representatives of all political parties, and the results immediately telephoned in to the Secretary of State's office.

This is OUR right to a proper vote. No elected officials will move on this unless we force this crucial issue. The logistics of this are that there can be a steady stream of people maintaining this vigil at our County Boards of Election Offices across the country, during its hours of operation, that it would not be a hardship for anyone. Peaceful, but assertive of our rights for a free and fair election.

We must force this issue.


While Fitz completes his cases,

While honorable and fair judges issue their rulings,

While whistle blowers in the various agencies speak up,

While steadfast investigators plow on with their careful and deliberate work,

While more and more ex-government agency employees speak out,

While we continue to search out and spread the truth of what is happening to everyone around us,


Let us, We The People, starting tomorrow, demand our right, for all future elections, to vote on a paper ballot that is hand counted under direct observation at the polling places immediately at the close of poll hours, and with all results immediately telephoned to the Secretary of State's office.

The only way out of this morass is to rescue and reclaim our right to a free and fair election. It stares at us in our faces.


Simply, nothing else will matter if we fail to do this.

This is the assignment we must accomplish.

[EFerrari]

9. Peace Patriot -- can you please fact check this LTTE?

It needs to be sent asap.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=413422&mesg_id=413422

[EFerrari]

11. Kick

[Gregorian]

12. We don't need these stupid machines. They are only for stealing elections.

When was the last time your bank account balance was wrong. Not just wrong, but over the amount you put in the account? Never!

So to be wrong, let alone wrong in favor of Bush, is all we need to know to stop these hideous machines from "helping" the Republicans "win" their little elections.

I see no need for any other argument.

[stevietheman]

13. Is it time to initiate the "baseball bats for democracy" program?

I think we need to identify all the unverifiable electronic voting machines around the country, and start destroying them in every precinct they appear on primary/election days this year. I almost never advocate breaking laws, but our democracy is at stake and I see this as civil disobedience.

[annabanana]

17. disguise yourself as a Republican and

dump them in the harbor!

[stevietheman]

19. OK... what stores sell stuffed suits? :) n/t

n/t

[Rocknrule]

44. A Republican disguise?

Where can I get a white sheet, a brown shirt, a swastika armband, a mullet, or a "God hates fags" sign?

[AntiFascist]

29. Please be careful!!!

I'm sure the Chimp in Chief and Elmer Fudd would like nothing more than for the most outspoken, blogging Dems to turn violent, or even threaten violence, so that we can all be rounded up and dealt with.

[stevietheman]

50. It's called vandalism, not violence.

And be calm for now, this is only an _idea_ right now. If these machines are stopped, there will be no need for such a plan.

[EFerrari]

16. Kick

[helderheid]

18. see this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x460071

[upi402]

21. HAVA, Help America Vote Act 2002 -help them vote REPUBLICANT!

They could lose funds, but do you think money would be an issue when paper ballots and puch cards could be eliminated and Republican voting boxes can be installed?

[Kurovski]

24. K&R(nt)

[blm]

27. With Ney on the hotseat now we can USE his complicity in corruption as a

springboard to open the Diebold door wider.

[Peace Patriot]

31. Right on! It was written in Ney's office, and pushed through by Delay.

Steam pits of corruption.

[GuvWurld]

35. One more report right here

great compilation, Peace Patriot...K&R

Despite Illegalities, Diebold Election Machines Certified In CA - GuvWurld Blog

[freedomfries]

37. K & r great post peace patriot

thanks for putting it all together!

[blm]

38. and another kick up.

.

[maveric]

39. If Ah-Nold gets reelected then we all know that the fix is in!

Even down here in "Red" San Diego county, Ah-Nold is hated and ridiculed.
With Diebold, Boxer/Feinstein will be replaced by some repug stuffed shirts to further the neocan agenda.
This is very disturbing!

[annabanana]

40. another one to kick for the cube ratz

I love the smell of corruption in the morning

[Warren DeMontague]

41. Lets see if we can get some answers as to how many machines, what counties

My advice to anyone who might have to vote on one of these deals is to vote absentee. (That's what Shelley was saying before they ousted him, too) At least there's a paper record of your vote.

[proud patriot]

42. We must do all we can

Democracy is at stake

[xxqqqzme]

43. another kick

was this posted in the Califirnia forum? It should at least be linked over there. I'll go look......

[sidd]

46. Steal this Lawsuit!

Perhaps if we can win this, it can be used as a precedent in
California. Heck why not just borrow the lawsuit, get some
law students and DO IT??


http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=896&Itemid=113

New Jersey Appeals Court Reinstates E-Voting Lawsuit
By John Gideon, VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA
February 09, 2006
The Lawsuit Questions the Constitutionality of Electronic
Voting Machines

In a just released press release, the Constitutional Litigation
Clinic at Rutgers School of Law in Newark, NJ has announced
that all electronic voting machines used in New Jersey may
violate New Jersey's Constitution and election laws. The brief
for the lawsuit can be downloaded here.

The press release goes on to say:
In its decision, the Appellate Division reinstated a lawsuit
filed by the clinic in 2004 that challenges the ability of New
Jersey’s electronic voting machines to count votes accurately,
in compliance with voting rights laws. The Court reinstated the
lawsuit even though, as a result of judicial and legislative
efforts led by the clinic, all voting machines in the state
must be equipped with a voter verified paper ballot component
by 2008. The Court was concerned with protecting the hundreds
of millions of votes that would be cast on voting machines
between now and 2008. The Court also expressed its concern that
the Attorney General’s office would use a loophole in the
statute and issue waivers to the 2008 voter verified paper
ballot requirement – further jeopardizing the franchise.

The lawsuit is the first in the nation to successfully
challenge electronic voting machines. Professor Penny Venetis,
associate director of the clinic and lead counsel on the case,
commented, “This shows that our courts take very seriously
their role in protecting our most fundamental of all rights –
the right to vote. Despite clear evidence that New Jersey’s
voting machines are insecure, the other branches of government
failed to take appropriate action. That is why the Court
stepped in,” Venetis added.


The same voting machines used by almost all of New Jersey’s
five million registered voters have been found too insecure to
use and have been de-commissioned by California, Ohio, Nevada,
and New York City. New Jersey does not check the software of
electronic voting machines to determine whether they have been
tampered with or whether they are faulty.

The Rutgers clinic filed the suit on behalf of the Coalition
for Peace Action, a citizens group based in Princeton that has
been in the forefront of advocating for safe, transparent and
auditable elections, as well as voter Stephanie Harris, a
farmer whose vote was lost by a malfunctioning Mercer County
electronic voting machine. Other plaintiffs in the lawsuit
include State Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, an early proponent of
the voter verified paper ballot.
This lawsuit could have an impact on lawsuits in other states.
Paul Lehto, who is a complainant in a suit against Sequoia in
Washington state because using secret software to count votes
secretly is contrary to the Washington state Constitution, is
very interested in the opinion in this case. We will keep an
eye on this and report back when more is known.

Comment on This Article

[Peace Patriot]

52. A belated thanks, Sidd! Great post! Thanks for the info!

It seems to me a no-brainer that our elections cease to be elections when the votes are counted in secret by private companies (let alone private PARTISAN companies). I'm glad to see that a judge agrees. And I would wholly support such legal action everywhere. But we mustn't rely on just one strategy. The junta is packing the courts with rightwing, fascist, pro-corporate judges, including the Supreme Court, so we cannot rely on the courts to do the right thing. And bear in mind that we do NOT currently have protection of our right to vote as a firm, stated right in the Constitution--which gives fascist judges an out to rule in favor of secret, corporate vote counting.

Control over our election systems still resides at the state/local level, where ordinary people still have some influence. We must hit EVERY state/county election official who has made the wrong decisions on these bogus election systems--and drive them from office, or force them to go back to a TRANSPARENT, VERIFIABLE vote counting system. We have much more of a chance to restore the integrity of elections at the state/local level (which sets the rules/procedures for federal elections). It's messy--involving thousands of different jurisdictions, and the corruption at the state/local level is also a big obstacle. But it's much more doable than a Congressional bill, at this point (--with an illegitimately elected Bushite Congress, and half the Democrats pro-war and pro-corporate).

Public interest lawsuits have SEVERAL purposes--not just winning the point, but also EDUCATING the public and all involved (lawyers, judges, election officials). Lawsuits, such as the above, should be undertaken even if the chances of winning the point are slim. They push the issue to the forefront--and sometimes result in action in other venues (say, a lawsuit forcing a State Board of Elections or a state legislature to take action.) They also force judges to face the issue--and to reveal where they stand, democracy vs. fascism, so that THEY can be targeted (if they are elected), so that conflicts of interest can be ferreted out, and so that decisions on strategy can be made (where to file the suits? whether to file suits--or do something else? etc.)

What we are seeking is a REMEDY, wherever it can be found--so a multi-pronged strategy is advisable.

[sidd]

55. No, thank you Peace Patriot

For your excellent compilation.

McPherson obviously took over the SOS of California to do just this.
Rotten bastards.

[nashville_brook]

47. let this sink in -- PROPRIATARY access to our votes

it's easy to read over the words and miss the jarring nature. that's why i've provided a link to a This American Life called The Annoying Gap Between Theory ... and Practice where in act one Reporter Jack Hitt explains the alarming difference between theory and practice when it comes to computerized voting machines. Specifically, those made by a company called Diebold. the talk a lot about the issue of proprietary software. it's an oldie, but a goodie. november 2003. (16 minutes)

there's barely any coverage of election fraud in broadcast media and it's a whole different experience presented in radio format. jack hitt rocks.

http://thislife.org/">link to thislife.org -- sorry, tried to link to the realaudio file directly, and it didn't work. use the search function and type in the word "diebold" it's the only match.

[nicknameless]

48. Excellent compilation, Peace

I'm with you -- we need to fight this! Look what happened when the nurses and teachers took off on Ahhnold. They WON!

I too am very uncomfortable with the bleak predictions. The future has yet to happen. It's still a "wave", and negative predictions have negative impact.

[EVDebs]

49. Plamegate and NSA spying converge on 9-11, the reason the Rs are

scared shitless that everyone will eventually find out

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=2466336

hence, fix the '06 elections and go to the well a third time.

[stickdog]

51. Aiiiiiiirrrrrggggghhh!!! (nt)

[AzDar]

53. What we need to do is compel Michael Moore and/or 60 Minutes to

do a piece on Diebold/ES&S...I am still convinced that too many people JUST DON'T REALIZE that we are being scammed out of so basic a right.

[loudsue]

57. That's worth a thread of its own....a great idea.

This is the BIGGEST issue by far concerning corruption in our government. And, mind you, I don't just say REPUBLICAN corruption, though that is certainly who has benefitted the most. But there are too many so called "democrats" who have been complicit in all of this. (Georgia's Cathy Cox, for one -- the DINO).

What it is is a corruption of corporatism -- the corporate take-over of our democracy, and the primary TOOL of our democracy, THE VOTE.

This is a great thread. Once again, Peace Patriot leads the charge with an EXCELLENT post.

kicked & recommended.

:kick::kick::kick::kick::kick::kick::kick:

[ooglymoogly]

54. k&nom

[leeroysphitz]

58. How do we FIGHT this? n/t

[sidd]

59. Listening to Laura Flanders last Sat Night

Ms. Flanders had the Rutger's person on and they talked about the lawsuit
in New Jersey. I think that is the way to fight this. I've
been at a complete loss for about 6 years as to what to do...aha...a lawsuit!

What do you all think?

I know the New Jersey lawsuit had a lot of examples where they were able to
demonstrate the inability of these voting machines to do anything right, but
Peace Poet had some examples of the same. Is there a lawyer in the house?
BTW, we need one down here in Florida....

[leeroysphitz]

60. I'm down... Who do I make the check out too? nt

[annabanana]

61. Mon am cuberat kick. . . . .eom