URGENT! 2-minute action item to save our elections - deadline today!

[garybeck]

NOW IS THE TIME!!! We have only a few hours to help ensure that every American vote will be counted in the 2008 election and beyond. The Federal Election Assistance Commission closes the public comment period on their proposed Voluntary Voting System Guidelines at 5 p.m. TODAY.

Please send the following phrase or whatever you would like to express on the proposed guidelines immediately to [e-mail] . Many technical people are submitting detailed comments, but we learned yesterday that governments around the world are WATCHING to see what America – YOU – think.



“I want Section 6.8 to require a voter-verified paper audit trail for ALL voters and voting systems. It should be mandatory.”


more:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=395247&mesg_id=395247

[EFerrari]

1. Great catch!

:kick:

[halobeam]

2. done.

[LeahD]

3. Done and kick. n/t

[tnlefty]

4. Done

:kick: Thanks.

[EFerrari]

5. Let's see if we can rate this thread up.

:kick:

[Sydnie]

7. Also done! need one more! n/t

[flyarm]

23. ITS ALREADY ON GREATEST!!!!!!!!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=greatest_threads

We have 36 hours to help ensure that every American vote will be counted
35 votes : flyarm

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x395247

[flyarm]

25. ITS ALREADY ON THE GREATEST PAGE..JUST KICK IT!!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=greatest_threads


IN THIS SECTION:

Greatest Threads
(Most Popular)

We have 36 hours to help ensure that every American vote will be counted
35 votes : flyarm

[Sydnie]

6. Done! Kick n/t

[Helga Scow Stern]

8. Thanks, garybeck!

[myrna minx]

9. Done. n/t

[LifeDuringWartime]

10. recommended, emailed, and kicked

n/t

[klook]

11. Here's the web site:

http://guidelines.kennesaw.edu/vvsg/intro.asp

Reproducing the text in full, since it's from a govt. website and therefore public domain:

The Voluntary Voting System Guidelines were developed under the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) Section 202 mandate that the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) update the 2002 Voting System Standards to address increasingly complex voting system technology. They were designed for state and local election officials to help ensure that new voting systems function accurately and reliably.

The Guidelines are provided for a 90 day public comment period which officially began June 29, 2005 upon notice in the Federal Register. All comments must be received by EAC on or before 5:00 p.m. EDT on September 30, 2005. All comments will be posted on the EAC website. Comments may also be sent to [e-mail] or by fax to Voting System Guidelines Comments at [phone]. <<snip: deleting the part about mailing comments in since it's too late to snail-mail comments>> The Guidelines are also available in hard copy format or on CD-ROM. Call EAC at [phone] or [phone] to request a copy or for more information.

At the conclusion of the public comment period and after the consideration of comments received, EAC commissioners will vote to approve the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines. The final version will be made available to the public at that time.

Off the subject...does anybody know why this information is being hosted at Kennesaw State University, a Georgia state institution in Cobb County (NW of Atlanta, home territory to both Newt Gingrich and Julia Roberts)?

[Spike from MN]

12. Done. I added that ALL votes should be counted by hand.

Tabulation by any other means is not acceptable.

[annabanana]

13. take this and RUN with it!

Let's cross - post to everybody..

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

14. Nominated! Emailed! Done! nt

[Debbi801]

15. Done

[dchill]

16. Done, kick, n/t

[hwmnbn]

17. done......eom

[Moosepoop]

18. Done. n/t

[converted_democrat]

19. Done, and nominated. n/t

[PittLib]

20. done - nt

[sinkingfeeling]

21. Done.

[StaggerLee]

22. Done

da done done done!

[nomatrix]

24. Thanks for the reminder

Done

[BlueStateGirl]

26. Done n/t

[EFerrari]

27. another little kick

:kick:

[cry baby]

28. done, hope it helps!

[GreenPartyVoter]

29. I sent this

Section 6.8 should require a mandatory voter-verified legitimate paper record for all voters and voting systems, and the voting machines should be open to public scrutiny. No "industrial secrets" when it comes to the inner workings of our elections.

[nashville_brook]

30. did it yesterday!

[ellenfl]

31. done. eom

[Greybnk48]

32. done and kick--thanks Gary! n/t

[MsLeopard]

33. Done and kicked EOM

[Dora]

34. Done, kicked, and recommended.

[klook]

35. Done. (n/t)

[cappy]

36. done

[hfojvt]

37. I had to do it twice

apparently my first one did not count, because of some electronic glitch.

[MamaBear]

38. Done.

Thanks for the heads-up.

[Ksec]

39. done

[atomic-fly]

40. Done!

kick!

[Peace Patriot]

41. Done! Thanks, Gary!!!!

Dear EAC:

America’s election system has been hijacked by partisan corporations who insist on “trade secret,” proprietary programming code in their contracts with states for electronic voting systems, and has been additionally compromised by lack of a real paper ballot for recounts and audits, and in many cases, no “paper trail” of any kind, by inadequate automatic recounts and audits, by lavish lobbying (such as occurred at the Beverly Hilton this August*), and by lack of controls on these extremely insecure and hackable electronic systems, including a lack of independent exit polls as used in many other countries to verify elections and check for fraud. The one set of exit polls we had in 2004 were doctored late on election day to fit the results of Diebold’s and ES&S’s “trade secret” vote tabulation, thus depriving the American public of evidence of election fraud (that John Kerry won the exit polls). This is a practice that other democracies would find intolerable, as they would secret, proprietary programming code and no paper ballot backup for recounts.

We need...

1. Paper ballots hand-counted at the precinct level (--Canada does it in one day, although speed should not even be a consideration, just accuracy and verifiability)

or, at the least...

2. Paper ballot (not "paper trail") backup of all electronic voting, a 10% automatic recount, very strict security, and NO SECRET, PROPRIETARY programming code!

Our election system has become non-transparent, and our elections have become unverifiable, with the onset of the electronic voting boondoggle. These machines should be dumped into “Boston Harbor,” just like the English tea of old. Non-transparent, unverifiable elections are tyranny! They are its very definition. And transparent, verifiable elections are a no-brainer. Not difficult. If you, and Diebold, and ES&S, and the Bush regime, and the War Democrats, had wanted an honest election in 2004, we would have had one. Clearly, that is not what was intended.

------

*Please see the following post at Democratic Underground for a description of the week of fun, sun and high-ending shopping that was provided for election officials from around the country, at the Beverly Hilton this August, with sponsors including Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia. The lavish lobbying and “revolving door” employment in the electronic voting industry is disgraceful:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x380340

Yours sincerely,

xxxx

[malachi]

42. Done.

[Opusnone]

43. Done

Twice

[political_invader]

44. Done nt

[DemReadingDU]

45. Done!

[AbbyR]

46. Done and thanks for the heads-up (nft)

[underpants]

47. Done

[EFerrari]

48. drive by kick. Thank you, Gary

:kick:

[dchill]

49. Kick