Hot damn! Nashville conference gets MSM coverage!

[MelissaB]

Nashville conference discusses problems in electronic voting

By LAURA LUXOR
For The Tennessean

Election reform advocates have gathered in Nashville this weekend to discuss problems with electronic balloting that occurred in last year's presidential election.

Citizens, researchers, activists and elected officials said yesterday that the balloting system and the electronic voting machines could have intimidated voters who didn't understand the voting process, from whom they were voting for to what precinct they were supposed to vote in.

More than 20 states experienced problems with electronic voting machines. These officials believe this affected the election's outcome.

>>>snip

''Those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the vote decide everything,'' said conference organizer Bernie Ellis, quoting Joseph Stalin, a former Russian dictator.

This conference brings together as many as six political parties: Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Green Party, Constitution and Independent.

More: http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/05/03/68029191.shtml?Element_ID=68029191

[globalvillage]

1. State dumps touch-screen voting system (PA)

re-post

State dumps touch-screen voting system
HARRISBURG -- The computerized UniLect voting system, under fire in Mercer County because some of the machines malfunctioned and wiped out votes in November, has been decertified by the state, meaning county election bureaus can no longer use it. (04/08/2005).

http://www.post-gazette.com/election/

[Peace Patriot]

2. PROTECT YOUR SECRETARY OF STATE! --if you have a good one!

After our experience here in California--with our vigilant Secretary of State Kevin Shelley being driven from office by a news monopoly campaign of trivial, unproven charges, after he decertified and sued Diebold in California--I'm recommending that voter rights activists BE PREPARED, by forming a truth squad and a legal defense fund NOW, AHEAD OF TIME, to come to the defense of Secretaries of State who challenge electronic voting companies.

Don't think it can't happen in your state!

Pennsylvanians, get ready to protect State Department Secretary Pedro Cortez from vile attacks for acting in the public interest.

Diebold, of course, has intimate connections to the Bush Cartel. Its CEO was a Bush-Cheney campaign chair, and a major Bush donor (who promised in writing to "deliver" Ohio to Bush). Further, the Cartel is attempting to overthrow the progressive majority in California, with unusual special elections--including the recall "election" of Schwarzenegger, which occurred using new, unverifiable electronic voting systems in March 2003. It was that election that alerted Sec of State Shelley to the grave problems with these voting systems, and led to the decertification of Diebold.

Step on a Bush buddy's toes, and find your career in ruins.

I don't know who's behind UniLect--or if the Bush Cartel is a factor in the Pennsylvania situation. (It's interesting, though, that the breakdown of the machines resulted in an unprecedented 7% undervote in several counties during the '04 national election--tens of thousands of votes were lost. Was this part of the manufacture and padding of Bush's popular majority?)

I'm just saying: BE WARNED! ACT NOW! Truth Squad. Legal Defense Fund. We were caught off guard in California, and now have a Schwarzenegger patsy appointee for Sec of State. It all happened so fast.

Another thing to be warned about: Democrats can be corrupt and collusive on electronic voting issues (and also extremely ill-informed). It was a shock to me to find out just how corrupt, collusive or clueless CA Democrats can be, much like their national counterparts. If you have elected officials and politicians who are good on this issue, be grateful for them, give them all the support you can muster, and watch their backs!

[emlev]

4. You make a very important point, deserves its own thread n/t

[Helga Scow Stern]

6. Hear, hear! I was hoping someone in Nashville

is familiar enough with the California situation that they would make this important point. Many times I think even Dem SoS's are just quietly bought off or complicit from the beginning. One like Shelley stood out like a sore thumb.

[Helga Scow Stern]

7. I hope they are discussing the SoS problem in Nashville...

here is another instance of a Dem SoS being complicit, with "Thor" Hearne, no less, in Missouri:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=354539#354781

[Peace Patriot]

3. Huge disapproval of Bush & his policies in opinion polls points to...

...election fraud!

See my post on Bush disapproval ratings, for talking points with the press. How was this man elected, if the great majority of Americans disagrees with him on every major policy, foreign and domestic? His approval rating sank to 49% on his inauguration day! What does that tell us?


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x354728

[emlev]

5. I hope Sherona Merel from NBIP was misrepresented

"Referring to the touch screen voting machines, Merel told the group that voters needed to have a receipt to verify their vote, instead of votes that disappear into the screen."

Reciept? RECEIPT? Is that what she really said? How about a paper ballot? (A DRE could be programmed to issue a receipt with your true vote but actually count your vote as something else.)

And as to the claim of no problems with the machines, I have a few things to say:

1) Part of the problem with DREs is that the most serious problems they create are the ones we never find out about. The question is not how much the machines are loved, but whether or not their counts accurately reflect the will of the voters. And with proprietary source codes, we can't know that.

2) According to VotersUnite http://www.verifiedvoting.org/article.php?id=5179
citing an AP article, past problems with the Danaher voting machines used in Davidson County, Tennessee include this:

"November 2003: Tennessee.  A poll worker in Rutherford County inadvertently cast a vote during a demonstration that may have resulted in a tie for a Town Council position."

Other problems with the Danaher ELECTronit 1242 are listed at that link as well.

Granted, that problem wasn't in Davidson County, but don't we care about fair elections everywhere? And, for that matter, "there but for fortune..."

Paper ballots, paper ballots, paper ballots.