Help nit-pick my flier for a mostly Republican target audience

[MarkusQ]

I started with the 20 amazing facts, edited to remove partisan language, reorganized and added additional material from other sources.

While typo corrections, etc. would be welcome, I'm mostly concerned about the content. Are any of the things I have stated as fact questionable/debunked, and are there better (e.g. more mainstream) sources than the ones I cite?

I'm hoping to get acceptance of the issue, without injecting a partisan agenda.

Thanks!

--MarkusQ

A Few Interesting Facts About Voting in the USA

• 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES&S.
  wikipedia.org/wiki/Diebold
  
  
• The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are brothers.
  www.americanfreepress.net/html/private_company.html
  
  
• Nebraska based ES&S is the largest voting machine manufacturer in the U.S. and counts almost 60% of all U.S. Votes.
  www.essvote.com/HTML/about/about.html
  
  
• In 1996 ES&S chairman Chuck Hagel ran for the US Senate in Nebraska (his first bid for public office) and “surprised national pundits and defied early polls by defeating Benjamin Nelson, the state's popular former governor.” The votes were counted exclusively by ES&S machines.
  motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2004/03/03_200.html
  
  
• Senator Hagel was subsequently caught lying about his ownership of ES&S by the Senate Ethics Committee.
  www.hillnews.com/news/012903/hagel.aspx
  
  
• Charlie Matulka, ran against Hagel in 2002. His request for a hand recount was denied; Nebraska law prohibits election workers from looking at the ballots, even to recount; only machines made by ES&S may to count the votes in Nebraska.
  www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/WO0303/S00325.htm
  
  
• 30% of all U.S. votes are carried out on unverifiable touch screen voting machines with no paper trail.
  cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/28/sunday/main632436.shtml
  
  
• Ohio based Diebold's new touch screen voting machines have no paper trail of any votes; there is no way to verify that the data coming out of the machine is the same as what was put in by voters.
  www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm
  
  
• Diebold also makes ATMs, checkout scanners, and ticket machines, all of which log each transaction and can generate a paper trail.
  http://www.diebold.com/solutions/default.htm
  
  
• When Maryland asked Diebold to add paper trails their reaction (in leaked internal memos) was “As a business, I hope we're smart enough to charge them up the wazoo "
  scdc.sccs.swarthmore.edu/updates/diebold.php
  
  
• Diebold employed 5 convicted felons as senior managers and developers to help write the central tabulator code that counted 50% of the votes in 30 states.
  portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/10/301469.shtml
  
  
• Jeff Dean, Diebold's Senior Vice-President and senior programmer on Diebold's central tabulator code, was convicted of 23 counts of felony theft in the first degree by planting back doors in software and using (according to the court) a "high degree of sophistication" to evade detection over a period of 2 years.
  www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#how
  
  
• No federal agency has regulatory authority or oversight of the U.S. voting machine industry.
  www.commondreams.org/views02/0916-04.htm
  
  
• None of the international election observers were allowed in the polls in Ohio.
  www.globalexchange.org/update/press/2638.html
  
  
• California banned the use of Diebold machines, citing poor security. Despite Diebold's claims that the audit logs could not be hacked, a chimpanzee has been trained to do it! (See blackboxvoting.org/baxter/baxterVPR.mov for the movie showing this.)
  www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4874190
  
  
• In 2004, literally thousands of votes are known to have been lost or altered by voting machines, thousands more created out of thin air. Obviously, we don't know how many cases went undiscovered.
  boston.com/news/politics/president/articles/2004/12/01/voting_errors_tallied_nationwide/
  
  
• Not having machines can be just as bad. At five minutes per voter, each machine only handles about 180 voters. Franklin county, Ohio, needed 2000 additional machines, meaning up to 360,000 voters couldn't vote in their precincts; other precincts had excess machines, and still others sat in storage. Who allocated machines and why is not yet clear.
  house.gov/judiciary_democrats/ohblackwellltr12204.pdf
  

Election integrity isn't Republicans vs. Democrats, it's honest Americans vs. corrupt officals and unethical corporate crooks.

[MarkusQ]

1. Please? (n/t)

[neversaynever]

2. Your sources

if you put "motherjones," "commondreams" and "portland.indy" in there as sources, aren't you going to lose a lot of people right off the bat? Can you do some googling to see if you can find some less obviously left-wing sources to cite here?

[MarkusQ]

5. Those were the best I came up with while juggling a toddler...

The march is tomorrow (and I'm in a very red state) so I'll probably go with the ones I have, unless someone here can offer better ones. I agree with your point, but I'd rather have some source on every point.

--MarkusQ

[Razorback_Democrat]

3. It's got a lot of good info, at the same time it has probably got too much

information

I would suggest refining your bullets to soundbite statements that aren't so much linked to the next one, then include the link.

that's hard and in my opinion the best bullets on there are:
(these are great)
No federal agency has regulatory authority or oversight of the U.S. voting machine industry.
www.commondreams.org/views02/0916-04.htm



None of the international election observers were allowed in the polls in Ohio.
www.globalexchange.org/update/press/2638.html


California banned the use of Diebold machines, citing poor security. Despite Diebold's claims that the audit logs could not be hacked, a chimpanzee has been trained to do it! (See blackboxvoting.org/baxter/baxterVPR.mov for the movie showing this.)
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4874190

30% of all U.S. votes are carried out on unverifiable touch screen voting machines with no paper trail.
cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/28/sunday/main632436.shtml

Diebold employed 5 convicted felons as senior managers and developers to help write the central tabulator code that counted 50% of the votes in 30 states.
portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/10/301469.shtml

80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES&S.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Diebold


The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are brothers.
www.americanfreepress.net/html/private_company.html


Nebraska based ES&S is the largest voting machine manufacturer in the U.S. and counts almost 60% of all U.S. Votes.
www.essvote.com/HTML/about/about.html

This one is good, needs to be shorter:
Jeff Dean, Diebold's Senior Vice-President and senior programmer on Diebold's central tabulator code, was convicted of 23 counts of felony theft in the first degree by planting back doors in software and using (according to the court) a "high degree of sophistication" to evade detection over a period of 2 years.
www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#how

The Hagel ones are important, but perhaps condensing them somehow would be more effective

Good work though, keep at it!

[buzzard]

4. Check spelling s/b officials.

[MarkusQ]

9. Doh! Thanks! (n/t)

[otohara]

6. This Souce is Actually Ohio Free Press...

www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm

[MarkusQ]

10. But what I'm really looking for is a MSM source for the fact. (n/t)

[Kellis]

7. GOOD WORK~ MarkusQ.

I especially love this remark at the end;

"Election integrity isn't Republicans vs. Democrats, it's honest Americans vs. corrupt officals and unethical corporate crooks."

I think the talking points are attention grabbing.They will definitly garner some interest from those unaware of election fraud and also to those who may be aware but have trouble believing any corruption occurred.

Good Job.Thanks for all your efforts-it is amazing to see patriots at work.

[buzzard]

13. I like that as well maybe it should be a header. n/t

[McCamy Taylor]

8. good job

Execellent election primer for literate GOPers who are already interested in the topic.


For those who want to get the attention of GOPers who havent really thought about the importance of voting rights, I would suggest the "ordinary mom" who showed up at the Conyer's hearing to ask why she should pay taxes and send her sons to die in Iraq if she was not going to be allowed to vote. Taxes, foreign wars and Mom (aka family values) are three things that make GOPers sit up and take notice.

[MarkusQ]

11. Agreed! :) But I haven't figured out to hand her out in a croud. (n/t)

[thedutch]

12. nice...

I would only nitpick the first point; pubs shouldn't be given links to a wiki. unless you want to check the link every five seconds to make sure it's still there.

otherwise awesome pamphlet. mind if I use it?

[MarkusQ]

15. "pubs"

First of all, it's "Republicans", not "pubs" or "repukes" or any other of the cute terms of endearment I've seen used around here.

Second, I am one.

Third, contrary to the us vs. them attitude fostered by our "uniter" in chief and taken up so gleefully (and, I assume, unthinkingly) by some here on DU, most Republicans, like most Democrats and most Greens and most Libertarians, etc. are honest, decent people. They would no more deface a web site than the would condone stealing an election.

Forth, about half the people that contribute to wikis are Republicans. About half are Democrats. The world hasn't come to an end because of this, and I don't expect it to.

Fifth, the whole effort to correct this travesty of democracy will die in its tracks without broad, non-partisan support. Conversely, it can not be stopped once a significant fraction of main stream America takes it up.

Don't do Rove's work for him. Hug a Republican and share the truth with him. You will both be better off for it.

--MarkusQ

P.S. Feel free to make use of this flier, edit it to your hearts content.

[Doremus]

20. MarkusQ - I applaud you

You wisely realize that truth is non-partisan.

Thank you for your efforts and wisdom.

[thedutch]

21. point taken

I apologise

[nancyharris]

14. Well, since you asked.

Your number one point is simply not true, which will defeat your basic argument. Diebold and ES&S do not count ANY votes. It is correct to say that 80% of all votes in America are counted by machines manufactured by Diebold and ES&S, but not that these two companies "count" 80% of the votes.

The rebuttal to this argument is of course that the decision to purchase those machines were made by thousands of Democratic and Republican voting boards throughout the country. No one forced them to purchase a particular brand of voting or counting machine.

[Kellis]

17. Im sorry but your post makes no sense.

Its double-talk.Your first paragraph nullifies itself.E-voting is done by machines from said Co.s which use software that is made and utilized for the purpose of E-voting.The point of E-Voting is there is no paper trail....so....Yes-DieBold and ES&S DO count the votes since it is their software that the E Voting is done on.


And to clarify;It is Blackwell who "approved" of the voting machines used in Ohio.Diebold made an unprecedented bid for the contract in Ohio that virtually no other co. could compete with.

Couple that with the history of Diebolds CEO "promising Ohio will go to Bush",his campaigning for the GOP and rasing money for them as well and the disinfranchisement that went on in Ohio and then Blackwells subsequent behavior ......it is laughable that there is *any* rebuttal one could make to justify either Blackwell or Diebold in the Ohio election.

Im not sure if your post was intended to be helpful or meant to confuse....but it appears to me that you either a)don't believe there was fraud in Ohio and/or B)need to do some research into the subject before posting such a simplistic and uninformed reply.

[nancyharris]

22. You may want to view the original post

The Original Poster claimed that 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES&S. This is plainly not true. Even using your argument that “E-voting is done by machines from said Co.s which use software that is made and utilized for the purpose of E-voting” doesn’t recognize the fact that 80% of Ohio, much less 80% of America does NOT vote by electronic voting machines. To claim that 80% of the votes in America are counted by these “companies” is simply dishonest. You can make such a claim, and argue it all you want, but its force of persuasion is limited to those willing to believe its premise – and that certainly does not include Republicans, which as the original poster states, is the audience for his argument.

Also “Blackwell” did not “approve” (or disapprove) the voting systems employed by the people of Ohio. The state legislature creates voting laws and voter guidelines and counties are free to operate within those laws and guidelines.

It appears to me that you need to do some research into the subject before posting such a simplistic and uninformed reply

[MarkusQ]

23. Interesting point

That came (unaltered) from the "20 Amazing facts" sheet. I can see your objection to it, but am not sure if I agree with it.

If a company were to send a swarm of employee out to count the votes, we would surely say that they "counted the votes" even if they (the company) was paid to do it. We say, for example that "Anderson & Assoc. audited X corp." or "Exxon drilled for oil" in exactly this sense.

We do this even if the employees bring equipment with them, even if the equipment is computers.

We do this even if the employees are vastly outnumbered by the computers, provided that the employees and the computers all get their instructions from the company that sent them, rather than the organization to which they were sent.

Diebold and ES&S clearly sent computers and employees out to count the vote, under contract from the various BOEs around the country. They got their instructions from Diebold and ES&S, and the BOEs don't even know for sure what those instructions were. In fact, I have seen no evidence that the BOEs "instructed" the voting machine companies in any way, and lots of evidence (including training materials & schedules) that the BOEs were themselves instructed by Diebold and ES&S.

Thus I conclude that the first point is sound, albeit somewhat unorthodox in wording.

If you wish to rebut this further, I'd be very interested in hearing what you have to say.

--MarkusQ

[crispini]

16. There's a pretty good flier at bigpath.net

It has waaaaay less detail but it's totally nonpartisan. Worth a look, maybe.

[Matariki]

18. I like it.

can i use it too?

I always found this bit of info interesting:
Diebold employed 5 convicted felons as senior managers and developers

would be good to add that included convicted 'hackers'.

here's an AP article to that info:
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/7507193.htm?1c

with a good excerpt
Voter advocate Bev Harris alleged Tuesday that managers of a subsidiary of Diebold Inc., one of the country's largest voting equipment vendors, included a cocaine trafficker, a man who conducted fraudulent stock transactions, and a programmer jailed for falsifying computer records.

[ginnyinWI]

19. I have a few editorial suggestions--punctuation/grammar, etc

I was an English major and worked as a writing tutor, so take these if you want them:

bullet 3: put a hyphen after Nebraska, and don't capitalize the last word in the sentence.

Either write "U.S." or US, but be consistent throughout the piece.

bullet 8: should use a colon instead of semi-colon, as the ending is a further elaboration of the beginning of the sentence.

bullet 10: put a comma after "trails"

bullet 11: it is best to write out numbers through ten, rather than using the numeral.

second-to-last bullet: better grammar would be "we don't know how many cases have gone undiscovered."

I'd reword your last sentence to read:
"Election integrity isn't about Republicans v.s. Democrats, it's about honesty v.s. corruption". (by not naming individual types of persons, you sound less compative but still make your point.)

[MarkusQ]

24. Thanks!

Thank you very much!

I agree with every point except the use of colon vs. semi-colon, in which I tend to follow Strunk and White.

--MarkusQ

[ginnyinWI]

28. you're welcome

yeah that was a debatable one.

[Straight Shooter]

25. I don't know if the Ethics Committee claimed Hagel was "lying"

I think the language was more to the effect that he "failed to disclose," from one of the articles I read about this issue.

Also, insert a comma: When Maryland asked Diebold to add paper trails, their reaction

Remove this comma: Charlie Matulka, ran against

Last sentence, capitalize "county": Franklin County, Ohio

There are a couple web sites which categorize voter problems into the type of problem and state in which it occurred. One of them is http://www.votersunite.org and the other one, which is even better, is http://www.voteprotect.org (they have a map, too, at https://voteprotect.org/index.php?display=EIRMapNation )

There is another thread on DU about not having enough machines, it should be easy to find, something about 17 machines being available and never used. Truly awful.

If you could somehow work in the Warren County phony "terror alert" lockdown, that would be great. It goes to show how much power these people have, and nothing happens to them.

This is a great idea, MarkusQ. Wish I could nitpick a little more for you, but I've got to get to work.

:thumbsup:

[Griffy]

26. I would remove chimp line.. add votergate links nt

[mattclearing]

27. Have you seen Chuck Herrin's Empathy Training for Conservatives?

http://www.chuckherrin.com/ConservativeEmpathy.htm