E-voting Vendor boat ride propaganda for Election Officials

[the ether]

E-voting Vendor boat ride propaganda for Election Officials



Guess who's going to dinner with Sequoia, Diebold and ES&S?


Upcoming training session for Registrars of Voters, under the guise of "The Election Center"
a dinner cruise to be paid for by Sequoia, Diebold and ES&S.
Please link this on your website, so that folks can see how corrupt election officials are:


http://www.electioncenter.org/conferences/nationalconf/dc%20program%202004.doc


This shows us:
* A dinner Cruise on the Potomac and Monuments by Night Tour - Co-Sponsored by: Sequoia Voting Systems
* A welcome reception - Sponsored by Diebold
* A Graduation Luncheon and Awards Ceremony - Sponsored by ES&S

But this has to be the best part:

2:05-3:30 The Media: Fighting Back--Getting the Story Straight
*Doug Lewis, CERA, Executive Director, The Election Center
*Tom Wilkey, Former Executive Director, New York State Board of Elections
…and Members of the Media (TBA)

So basically the training session, sponsored by voting machine vendors, given by an organization that takes cash from voting machine companies, will be teaching registrars how to "get the story straight".

Gosh, does this qualify as being a conflict of interest?

Please contact these two congress critters as well as your own and let them know that the people are watching and that we don't like what we see.

MINORITY LEADER NANCY PELOSI Minority Leader's Office Phone: [phone] / Email: [e-mail] D.C. House Office Phone: [phone] / Fax: [phone] San Francisco District Office Phone: [phone]

SENATE MINORITY LEADER TOM DASCHLE Minority Leader's Office Phone: [phone] D.C. Senate Office Phone: [phone] / Fax: [phone] Aberdeen District Office: 605-225-8823 Rapid City District Office: 605-348-7551 Sioux Falls District Office: 605-334-9596

http://daschle.senate.gov/webform.html



===========================================
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Tuesday, August 24, 2004



8:00-9:00 Class Registration--(Separate Registration For Classes Required)



9:00-4:30 Class #5 Ethics

Instructor: Christa Slaton, Ph.D.

Class #6 Communications

Instructor: R. Doug Lewis, CERA.

Class #13* Policy Process

Instructor: Cynthia Bowling, Ph.D.

Class #17* Comparative Democracies

Instructor: Robert Montjoy, Ph.D.



*Classes #13 and #17 are for CERA Graduates ONLY

12:00-1:30 Lunch (Students only)


Wednesday, August 25, 2004

8:00- 11:00 Courses #5, #6, #13 and #17 Continued

1:00-5:00 Committee Meetings TBA

1:00-5:00 Exhibit Area Open

4:00-8:00 Registration Desk Open

6:00-7:30 Welcome Reception

Sponsored by: Diebold Election Systems


Thursday, August 26, 2004

8:00-5:00 Registration Desk Open

8:30-9:00 Continental Breakfast

8:30-5:00 Exhibit Area Open

9:00-9:30 Welcome/Announcements

*Doug Lewis, CERA, Executive Director, The Election Center

*Ernest Hawkins, CERA, Program Chair, The Election Center

9:30-10:30 Help America Vote Act

Background and Questions/Answers from the Act’s Authors

*Honorable Senator Mitch McConnell (Invited)

*Honorable Senator Christopher Dodd (Invited)

*Honorable Congressman Robert Ney (Invited)

*Honorable Congressman Steny Hoyer (Invited)

10:30-11:00 Educational Exhibits/Break

11:00-12:00 Election Assistance Commission

Introduction of Members and Discussion of Projects and Activities

*Paul DeGregorio

*Gracia Hillman (Invited)

*Raymundo Martinez III

*Deforest Soaries (Invited)

12:00-12:30 National Voter Registration and Elections News

*Dick Smolka, Publisher, Election Administration Reports

12:30-2:00 No-host lunch

2:00-2:05 Ethical Dilemma Presentation

*Deborah Blanton, CERA, Chair Standards and Ethics, The Election Center

2:05-3:30 The Media: Fighting Back--Getting the Story Straight

*Doug Lewis, CERA, Executive Director, The Election Center

*Tom Wilkey, Former Executive Director, New York State Board of Elections

…and Members of the Media (TBA)



3:30-4:00 Voter Registration and Elections Litigation

Deborah Seiler, Publisher, California Elections Report

4:00-4:30 Voter Registration and Elections Legislation

*Al Davidson, CERA

* Ron Chaney

CoChairs, The Election Center’s Legislative Committee

4:30-5:00 Educational Exhibits

6:00-11:30 A Dinner Cruise on the Potomac and Monuments by Night Tour

Co-Sponsored by: Sequoia Voting Systems



Friday, August 27, 2004

8:00-3:00 Registration Desk Open

8:30-12:30 Educational Exhibit Area Open

8:30-8:55 Continental Breakfast

8:55-9:00 Ethical Dilemma Discussion

*Deborah Blanton, CERA, Chair Standards and Ethics, The Election Center

9:00-10:00 Professional Practices Presentations “and the winner is…”

*Janis Womack, CERA, Best Practices Chair

10:00-10:45 Educational Exhibits/Break

10:45-12:30 Breakout Sessions

Breakout #1 How to Become a Certified Elections

Registration Administrator

*Connie Schmidt, CERA, Chair, The Election Center

Professional Education Program

Breakout #2 Providing Services for Blind Voters and Those with

Disabilities

*Gary Bartlett, Executive Director, North Carolina

State Board of Elections

*Margaret Schaefer, Program Specialist, Administration of

Developmental Disabilities, US Department of Health and

Human Services

Breakout #3 Provisional Voting--Decreasing Processing Time

*Conny McCormack, Los Angeles County Registrar-Clerk-Recorder

Breakout #4 Recounts and Challenged Elections

* Jill LaVine, Sacramento County Registrar of Voters

12:30-2:30 Graduation Luncheon and Awards Ceremony

Sponsored by: ES & S

2:30-4:45 Concurrent Discussion Groups

(Attend session for the type of voting system that you use or one that you are interested in acquiring)


Breakout #1 Hand Counted Ballots

Breakout #2 Lever Machines

Breakout #3 Punchcards

Breakout #4 DRE’s

Breakout #5 Optical Scan


Saturday, August 28, 2004



9:00-4:00 A Special Look at Washington DC Tour

(Separate sign up and fee required)

(See description elsewhere in this booklet)



So we have E-Voting vendors telling election officials "the straight story" about electronic voting? Somehow this doesn't seem like a 'fair and balanced' conference. More like a self referential propaganda campaign aimed at election officials. Where are the critics of these systems? You know, CA SOS Kevin Shelly, who banned 15,000 Diebold machines in California or Avi Rubin who demonstrated that the programming behind the Diebold systems could be hacked in minutes.