Listen up! If you're serious about election reform, you will do this!

[Amaryllis]

Okay, you guys, THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT FRAUD FIGHTERS WE HAVE against e-voting, and it IS NOT BEING USED nearly to the degree it should be! Go to the link for your state and see how many county election clerks have copies! In my state, there was only ONE out of 38!

If you haven't read it, then do so. It is a powerful indictment against e-voting, designed specifically to provide officials making decisions about election systems with the knowledge to make good decisions (no e-voting!) Very well researched, documented and credible.

I challenge you all to see which state can get one to all the county election clerks in their state first! We delivered one to our house rep's aide yesterday. Next week, the legislative aide for our SOS will get a copy. It is my goal to get one into the hands of every official in this state remotely connected with elections. I have a friend taking on three counties this week.

http://www.votersunite.org/takeaction/distribute-mythbreakers.asp

Our Vision:
A non-partisan national grassroots network for fair and accurate elections!
Active local communities increasing your voice by uniting with others across the nation.

VotersUnite in Action!
We believe in the power of truth!

Myth Breakers: Facts about Electronic Elections
The second edition

Still tells the facts ...
- Corrects HAVA misconceptions
- Describes HAVA-compliant alternatives to DREs
- Gives general pricing information
- Speaks about myth vs. misinformation

... and now includes ...
- Malfunctions from the 2004 General Election
- More about testing and certification
- Details about software complexities
First become informed. Read Myth Breakers so you can speak with confidence about the issues. Then ...

Spread the Truth! Deliver "Myth Breakers: Facts about Electronic Elections" to give your local election officials and legislators the information they need to make wise decisions. Participants have confirmed that the first edition ("Myth Breakers for Election Officials") has been delivered to 838 local election officials. Now it's time to give your local and state officials updated facts.
Sign up for your county
Check the status of your state

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Our goal:

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To brainstorm together and then take consolidated action to support each other's efforts, inform other Americans, and convince government to comply with the will of the people.

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http://www.votersunite.org/

http://www.votersunite.org/MB2.pdf

[ClassWarrior]

1. Done. This is important.

Consider Milwaukee County covered.

NGU.

[Amaryllis]

2. What state? Wis? Thanks, Class!

[ClassWarrior]

4. Yup. Cheeseland. I'll see what I can do about some other counties too.

NGU.

[helderheid]

3. I faxed every county clerk, both State houses, and the election commision

here in Utah the table of contents with a cover letter with a link to the full document.I pointed out we didn't have to buy the new machines.

[Melissa G]

5. Great Idea! What about voting examiners?

It was clear from the hearing last Monday that the folks evaluating the Texas e voting programs did not have this information.

[Amaryllis]

8. Great, but...what's a voting examiner?

[Amaryllis]

22. Anyone know what a voting examiner is?

[Melissa G]

26. When I went to the Texas hearings on electronic voting machines

a couple of Mondays back, they referred to the appointed officials who were reviewing the three companies as examiners. There was paid staff from the state there as well. The folks who were in charge of making the reports were a commission of some sort. There is info on this in the Texas forum.

[Wilms]

6. Many Elections Officials do not have an understanding of the issues.

Following the news stories on Votersunite will show that. It's frightening.

I have issues with the way a few passages were handled in MythBreakers, but it's small in comparison to the education it'll provide many.

We should help it seep into the nooks and crannies of the nation.

[Amaryllis]

7. What I like about it: It shows these machines for the pieces of trash they

are! They have NOTHING to recommend them, except intense lobbying by voting systems companies! Just like doctors and drug companies...
They malfunction, break down, stop when they shouldn't, don't start when they should, cost far more than any other system, require more poll workers and more poll worker training. And, when they break down, which they frequently do, the precinct has to wait around for the voting machine company tech to show up and "fix" the problem! Some fix...

[Wilms]

9. A lot of officials don't even want them.

Again, following those news clips, some of the officials don't understand that they need only one Disability Accessible unit per polling station to satisfy HAVA.

You think the salesman will tell them? :shrug:

[Amaryllis]

15. You think the drug company salesman tells the doc you can fix the problem

with diet and exercise and you don't need the drug?

[blue4barb]

10. Two days ago I called my county elections office

and spoke with an aide that said she would have the official call me back to set up an appointment since I wanted to deliver Myth Breakers in person (hoping a personal contact would encourage the official to read it). I have not heard back so I will call again tomorrow.

I have a downloaded copy ready to bring, but I also found out that VotersUnite.org will ship a bound copy for $10. I ordered three bound copies to take to other elections officials in nearby counties. I haven't received them yet, but they should be arriving any day. It is a remarkable booklet!


By the way, do you think I should present more info to my elections official about vote fraud-- like Chuck (Herrin?) on how easy it is to rig a voting machine? I don't want to scare him, but I want him to know how critical verifiable voting machines are.

[Amaryllis]

18. Absolutely take Herrin also! I am giving them his PP presentation to

NC legislators with a little cover letter that says, " Chuck Herrin is a computer security expert who is hired by Fortune 500 companies to hack into their computer systems to detect and correct security flaws. After the 2004 election, he presented to North Carolina legislators, where he demonstrated how easy and quickly central vote tabulators can be hacked and the vote counts changed without leaving any evidence. He is a conservative republican who is deeply alarmed by the use of electronic voting and tabulating in US elections."

I am also giving them some of his articles. I think the Conservative guide to empathy training is the best election fraud article I have ever read.

[helderheid]

11. here's a 14 page version

VERY easy to fax!! I am going to fax it tomorrow to the same people I already faxed the TOC of mythbreakers, as well as the local newspapers and weeklies:

http://www.votersunite.org/info/ElectronicVotingInBrief.pdf

[Amaryllis]

13. Thank you! I didn't even know about this....very useful.

[Peace Patriot]

12. Thanks for this info.! I will put it to use! Does anyone have a read...

...on the status of ignorance among Calif. county clerks/registrars? I have the general impression that they are pretty well up on it--likely due to Kevin Shelley!--and that the problem is more corruption than ignorance.

Also, how many have already received MythBreakers? Does votersunite.org provide that info.? For instance, if say half the Calif. clerks/registrars have not yet received it, then they should be covered first, before sending update to those who already have it?

We sure don't want to be duplicating effort--don't have the time or resources for that.

Also, status of Calif. legislators re: MythBreakers?

I'll go check their site, but as I recall it wasn't easy to find that info.

----

Report: Well, that was sobering. It's only been sent to four Calif. counties. Contra Costa. Los Angeles (good luck there!). Placer. And San Diego. And only San Diego had the star for "mission accomplished." (The others were just signed up to do it.)

Yikes. Work cut out for us!

[Amaryllis]

14. That's what happened to me when I checked Oregon! Only ONE county

had Myth Breakers. And here we are busting our asses to get this info out, and they have put it all together in one doc, designed particularly for officials making decisions. Did you find the link to check your state easily? You asked about it , but then apparently found it?

How much is ignorance and how much corruption in CA? Hard to say, but imagine if they all had this in their hands, with people following up to see if they'd read it...staying on them till you get a yes answer. We are fortunate in OR in that we have an SOS who is dedicated to honest elections, but far more than should be is left to having honest people, and election security shouldn't be dependent on this. One of our coalition memebers said it's like being grateful if the hundred dollar bill you left lying around doesn't get stolen.

[Mairead]

16. The technology is not the issue!

People were stuffing ballot boxes and stealing elections when ballots were a piece of paper that was marked with a pen and counted by hand.

It's crazy to focus on technology rather than the real problem: the fact that there are anti-democratic criminals in charge, who have free rein and no accountability! The criminals and lack of accountability are the problem, not the technology.

[helderheid]

17. I don't think it's crazy to focus on the machines

You are absolutely right that this won't solve the problem but it will most certainly make it a HELL of a lot harder for them to steal and hide the evidence! If we go electronic, there is no proof they stole it! Just click that little button and VOILA!

[Amaryllis]

19. Agree. If you read Votescam, you see that it has to be dealt with on ALL

levels.

[glitch]

20. Wow - I was just emailing someone about this site.

And then I see this post from last night. Serendipity! It's an excellent site that needs better use.
I second your post.

Edited to add: JohnGideon, one of the site originators, posts on DU.

[Amaryllis]

21. I know John posts here, and he has posted the link for Myth Breakers, but

it still is way underused, considering what a potent fraud fighter it is!

[tommcintyre]

23. Given to all Hawaii election officials...

along with a summary sheet. <This was before the 14 page version came out.>

It is even more important that ALL states have meaningful election reform in place for the 2006 elections; since Conyers fears the GOP will block federal reform.

Currently, only about 15 states have reform bills, so using tools like Mythbreakers is very important to educate the rest to take appropriate action. Also, many/most states are considering/purchasing DREs. Mythbreakers can help to stop this trend.

[Pacifist Patriot]

24. My county has had several copies delivered, but....

they don't seem to be the slightest bit interested in reading it.

[liam_laddie]

25. 14 pp version of "Mythbreakers" a great tool

This is a fine summary of the 70 pp original. I left one May 8 for the Director of Elections here in Hamilton County, Ohio
(Cincinnati's the core city.) No response yet, but will follow-up!

The big$$ dangled by HAVA for buying DRE's is a mighty motivator (sort of a Rovian variation on the faith-based initiative $$ used to "influence" religious fellow-travelers.) But we MUST educate BofE's regarding the very serious problems with DRE's. I know that Hart Intercivic's e-vote unit is the preferred new machine here but I don't think a choice or a buy will happen for many months. Punch cards are used here (25 years...) - tabulated on six ES&S machines. This system seems to be doing okay. We will use them for the Nov '05 elections.

There is a website run by a chap in Houston where Hart units are used. He has a chilling tale about pre-programmed vote
flipping which happened to him...a first-person account of fraud.
<http://www.51capitalmarch.com/>
And this may be a repeat of earlier-posted info, but here are two
wonderful URL's for analysis of elections systems.
<http://www.chuckherrin.com>
and
<http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/voting/>

Resist their takeover! Preserve the USA!

[Wilms]

27. liam, can you direct me to Houston/Hart link?

I dialed this number:

http://www.51capitalmarch.com/

but I couldn't find the article about pre-programmed vote flipping.

Thanks