Athan Gibbs, Sr. Dies in Car Crash - TruVote

[TNOE]

I'm sure it's just another unfortunate coincidence... don't ya think?

He wanted every vote to matter; Athan Gibbs, Sr. dies in crash

By HOLLY EDWARDS
The Tennessean
03/14/04

After more than 1 million votes went uncounted in the last presidential election, Athan Gibbs Sr. devoted his life to making sure voters in future elections would know their votes mattered.

The enterprising 57-year-old saw his invention of the TruVote vote-casting system as nothing less than the key to social justice and democracy in America.

As family members and business partners gathered at the TruVote office yesterday morning to mourn Mr. Gibbs' death, they vowed that his dream would not die with him.

Mr. Gibbs was killed about 10:30 a.m. Friday in a car crash on Interstate 65 near Eighth Avenue North as he drove from his north Nashville home to his downtown office at Tennessee State University's Business Incubation Center. <...>

Before his sudden death, friends and family said, Mr. Gibbs worked tirelessly on the TruVote system and, with backing from Microsoft Inc., was marketing his invention nationwide. <...>

U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, a Democrat who represents Davidson, the eastern half of Cheatham and the western half of Wilson County in Congress, said the TruVote system was ''one of the most promising technologies in the world for fixing democracies.'' <...>

Diebold, electronic voting and the vast right-wing conspiracy

By Bob Fitrakis
Axis of Logic
Feb 27, 2004

<...> As Blackwell pressures the Ohio legislature to adopt electronic voting machines without a paper trail, Athan Gibbs wonders, "Why would you buy a voting machine from a company like Diebold which provides a paper trail for every single machine it makes except its voting machines? And then, when you ask it to verify its numbers, it hides behind ‘trade secrets.’"

Maybe the Diebold decision makes sense, if you believe, to paraphrase Henry Kissinger, that democracy is too important to leave up to the votes of the people.

[BevHarris]

1. This is truly a loss, and this fine man will be sorely missed

Isn't it interesting that we've got rich white Republican guys owning ES&S, Diebold, and Hart Intercivic, and the really sensible voting machine guys -- Kevin Chung, from Avante, and Athan Gibbs, a 30-year accountant and auditor who understood these concepts, and an African-American, from TrueVote?

These guys are leading the pack toward visible ballots, paper ballots, and now one is gone. But if you read Gibbs' bio information, he was not just an idealistic and impassioned entrepreneur, but a solid member of the community.

And he just couldn't understand how you'd sell a voting machine that can't be audited.

Bev Harris

[Andy_Stephenson]

2. His death is a blow for sure...

but i hope his work is carried on.

[allalone]

3. gee

killed in a car crash. I hope someone continues his work. you know it seems whenever someone like this comes along, oops, car wreck, plane crash or suicide.