Here are some action items that you can help with RIGHT NOW, and forward to your friends and other important people.
Mark Adams, along with Paul Lehto, has discovered that SC law requires NO SECRET VOTE COUNTING, which is what all electronic voting does. Adams is calling on Sen. and Pres. candidate John Edwards to address this breach of law in his own home state. You can write Sen. Edwards also. Mark's letter is below, on the left at the very bottom of this page. You will find email addresses for Sen. Edwards and his staff.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_mark_a___080114_south_carolina_elect.htm
2. In Ohio, whether you live there or not, sign the Ohio Election Justice Campaign's petition to Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner to sue the voting machine companies for product defect. http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/help-save-Ohio-voting
3. If you want to help with citizen exit polling in these primaries coming up, there is a website (www.VoteCount2008.org) to sign up for FL.
If you are available to do exit polling in another state, go to the exit poll page. If not by your primary time, then let's get this going by the Nov. election!
Some activists see optical scanners as a "better than touchscreens" step, which is true, but other activists see optical scanners as a false solution since the vote counting is still in secret, out of the eyes of citizen observers (also true). This website will not make a definitive conclusion on this topic, but it is created for use by all activists who wish to recall e-voting machines of whaver type they decide need to be recalled.
We hope you educate yourself on the problems of the e-voting machines especially within your state, without losing sight that this is a national problem, in fact, a global problem, as the US imports e-voting machines to other countries and gets involved in their elections. Conversely, e-voting components are made in other countries, another entryway for riggable components.
Both types of activists can promote paper ballots, the kind that are filled out by the person voting, so that their intention is clear.
Also note that there is a distintion between computerized voting and the use of electronic components, for instance, there is an AUTOMARK machine that prints a ballot for a handicapped person, but does not vote for them. Such machines are also useful for printing ballots in the multiple languages that may be needed in one voting location. There are also paper-based ballot systems for the handicapped, such as VotePad and Equalivote that can be counted by either optical scanner or by hand. They use electronic components such as an audio recording and an electronic pen for the blind for choice verification, but the voter marks their own ballot.
Activists in some states are proposing that BOTH optical scanners and hand-counting be used. If a discrepancy is found the hand-count is done 100% (If only a percentage was done before) and it takes precedence over the machine count. A major problem is to insure that the final tallies are not certified until the paper count matches the machine count.
SIGN UP on this website to HAND-COUNT. Even in an optical scan system, there will be recounts, audits, and machines failures that require hand-counting. Some smaller jurisdictions may want to try, or be forced by cost, to move to all hand-counting. (For a good handbook of hand counting see
http://www.democracyfornewhampshire.com/files/Hand_count_training_D-fest_July_5_2007.pdf
Let's be ready to supply the counters.
Join an Election Integrity (EI)group, either in your state, or nationally.
Some national groups are: ElectionDefenseAlliance.org
VotersUnite.org
blackboxvoting.org
An excellent source for up-to-date news on election integrity is bradblog.com
CITIZENS CAN SUE their state, their SOS, the e-voting machine manufacturers. Or you can help your county or state sue the e-voting vendors.
Here are some actual lawsuits to give you ideas:
1. (A citizen sues her SOS, BOE, Sequoia and Diebold for product liability, breech of warranty, and loss of her vote, and of many other votes. ) Axelrod v Sequoia
2. San Francisco Attorney sues ES&S
3. Paul Lehto on product liability
4. Amici brief: citizens of NY v DOJ
Watch this short video of lead lawyer Andi Novick and other activists proposing Hand-counted paper ballots to NY commissioners ready to vote on whether to accept riggable machines forced on NY by the DOJ.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
(links and
more coming soon)
LETTER FROM AN AZ ACTIVIST
WHAT's going on in Tucson, AZ, that may PROVE MACHINE FRAUD???
Here's a response from the activists in AZ to the NY Times article that will give you all the links to the AZ lawsuit:
from John Brakey:
One of my members sent this off to the NY Times below. I wish the NY Times would see and report what going on in
Apparently Mr. Thompson didn't watch the 2nd half of Dan Rather report starting at 39 minutes and at 54 minutes the sequoia employees tell what happen in
Excerpt from Thompson article: Punch cards worked for decades without controversy. Until, of course, the electoral fiasco of 2000. During the
J.M. "Mike" Hayes wrote:
Mr. Thompson's article in today's Times states that, despite the lack of security in these secret vote counting systems, no evidence exists that any of them have been hacked. That evidence may soon be forthcoming.
There are strong indications of insider manipulation of a Regional Transportation Election in
The Pima County Democratic Party sued the Pima County Board of Supervisors (controlled by a Democratic majority) for the right to examine public records (databases) of this and other elections. The judge found in favor if the plaintiff, with limitations, but that result has already been appealed on the authority of Pima County Manager, Chuck Huckelberry. While no allegation of manipulation was raised in the trial, the underlying issue was always that one or more employees of the Pima Elections Department manipulated and/or used early vote counts to change election results.
Thank you,
J.M. "Mike" Hayes
President, Campbell/Grant Northeast Neighborhood Association
http://www.jmhayes-author.com/
LETTER to JOHN EDWARDS
edwards@johnedwards.com; dbonior@johnedwards.com; jtrippi@johnedwards.com; info@johnedwards.com
SC’s Constitution Prohibits Secret Vote Counting – Will You Take Action?
Senator Edwards:
I heard your call for eliminating touch screen voting machines. Of course, being from
Some of the key information from my article “South Carolina Elections Are UNCONSTITUTIONAL!?!” published on
Article II, § 1 of the Constitution of South Carolina states, “the ballots shall not be counted in secret.” Although there is case law which supports the right to have votes counted in public, this is the election integrity jackpot, a Constitutional provision prohibiting counting votes in secret! No more need to refer to case law, evidence, or logic to argue against secret vote counting, at least in
Many are worried about election integrity. In fact, a Zogby poll from August of 2006 indicates that 92% of Americans are worried about our votes being counted in secret. See, http://www.zogby.com/templates/printnews.cfm?id=1163
I’ve already heard from four, now five, radio shows that want me to come on as a guest speaker this week to discuss this issue. Congressman Kucinich has a lot of support in the election reform movement, and he might take action on this. He came out against the Holt bill after meeting with me last summer.
Congressman Ron Paul has been a consistent defender of Constitutional rights. It would seem like he would jump on this case. Maybe he is working on it, but he didn’t ask for a recount in
You could sit back and wait to see whether someone else takes legal action, then join in or sit by and just speak in support of another’s effort. If so, you lose the opportunity to take the lead and grab the spotlight.
Most importantly, if you act before the Republican primary, you can make it a non-partisan issue. You would be working to help make sure that even Republicans’ constitutional rights are respected. Certainly, that would make the Daily Show as well as all of the late night shows. I can see it now, John Stewart saying, “John Edwards has taken legal action to protect the Constitutional rights of Republicans. You know, those guys who don’t care about Constitutional rights!” It would explode across
When Ellis Rubin, Luke Lirot and I filed suit last year to seek an injunction to get Max Linn, the Reform Party candidate for Governor of Florida, into the Gubernatorial debates, he got a lot of press, the campaign’s phones started ringing off of the hook, there was a major increase in requests for signs and bumper stickers, and his poll numbers went from 5% to 8.7%, a 74% increase just for standing up for his right to debate. Of course, the media claimed that his support in their polls showed less than 2%, but they would not produce any evidentiary basis for their polls. We did, and we won injunctions twice!
I think that you would get an even bigger boost because as the Zogby poll shows, 92% were concerned about secret vote counting in August of 2006. How many are concerned about debates? 25 to 30% at best. Plus, after all of the problems with the 2006 elections and the
You know what to do, but to help expedite things, I suggest that you or your representative send a letter to the South Carolina State Election Commission pointing out that using touch screen computers to count the votes in secret violates the prohibition in Article II, § 1 against secret vote counting, and I would demand that they take immediate action to implement the use of paper ballots which are counted by hand in public to conduct the upcoming primary. I would notify them that you will take legal action as soon as possible to seek an injunction requiring that the election process comply with Article II or postponing the primaries until such time as they can be conducted in a Constitutional manner.
I suggest filing suit as soon as possible and making the argument based on
As time is of the essence, I suggest that you take action immediately. I will be available for a conference if you like. I am distributing this email to the election integrity community. Of course, if you want to discuss this with me, I will maintain confidentiality regarding our discussion unless you authorize me to release your comments. I can be reached at 813-654-1235.
I look forward to hearing from you and helping with this landmark effort. If you seize it, then it will catapult you into the limelight on two issues which already have widespread support. Our government should abide by the Constitution, and our votes should be counted in public, not in secret.
Carpe diem,
Mark A. Adams JD/MBA
Mark Adams speaks at the FCC Hearing in
Zogby Poll on Electronic Voting – 92% are concerned about secret vote counting
http://www.zogby.com/templates/printnews.cfm?id=1163
South Carolina State Election Commission
http://www.scvotes.org/about_the_sec
Link to South Carolina Constitution Article II Right of Suffrage
http://www.scstatehouse.net/scconstitution/a02.doc
My article “South Carolina Elections Are UNCONSTITUTIONAL!?!” published on OpEdNews.com
http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_mark_a___080114_south_carolina_elect.htm
The Ohio Election Justice Campaign , presented a press conference called "Throw the Turkeys Out" just before Thanksgiving, 2007. The "turkeys" refer specifically to electronic voting machines, but could also mean the dishonest election officials whose misdoings from the 2004 election were never fully investigated. A few newspaper articles came out as a result of the press conference.
((photo collage below by Victoria Parks)
Give out flyers wherever you go, especially to your other political or social justice groups.
Sell bumper stickers. Buy in bulk, sell at a profit for your group. Put up a Danny Deebold poster wherever it will stay up!
Have a video night at your house or other meeting space. Ask your EI e-groups/ listserves for EI videos to borrow. A good video that has been nominated for an Emmy is Hacking Democracy. http://www.hackingdemocracy.com/
MAKE a You-Tube video.
Make a presentation to a local group, such as Women's Democratic/Republican/Green/Libertarian Clubs, civic organizations, or church groups. If you don't feel expert enough, invite someone who is. Give out flyers and take emails for those interested in knowing more or in forming an Election Integrity group, online or meeting locally at a restaurant.
(coming soon)
