BBV: Questions/research help?

[MGKrebs]

I am basically trying to get a handle on where the money is coming from and going to relative to these individuals/organizations.

Brit Williams- official "certifier" of Georgia's election equipment. I can't find an official title for him other than "State Evaluation Agency". Evidently he performs this function through the Center for Election Systems, at Kennesaw State Univ. http://elections.kennesaw.edu/index.html

How is this organization funded?

Their website says " A cooperative venture of the Georgia Office of the Secretary of State and Kennesaw State University". Does that mean the SoS is funding the Center?

Brit Williams is also a member of NASED, the National Association of State Election Directors, which is mostly a bunch of Secretaries of State. But it's like a trade organization. I don't think it's official government.

So, where does NASED get it's money?

I have a document in which Dr. Williams says that NASED selects the organizations that do the national "Qualification Tests". But the SoS says that the "ITA's" (Independent Testing Agencies) are chosen by The Election Center. http://www.electioncenter.org/ There is a question here too, but I don't know what it is. :rolleyes: So, while were at it:

Where does the Election Center get it's money?

I have been unable to determine how the Center for Election Systems (in Georgia) was selected to perform the state level testing that they do.

Finally, Brit Williams does not appear to be anything other than a consultant. I have to assume therefore, that he has no financial disclosure requirements, but I would like to know for sure.

Does anyone have any info on any of these questions?

[DEMActivist]

1. Sure.....

1. Dr. Williams was a professor of Computer Science at Kennesaw when the 21st Century Voting Commission was created. This was the legislation and group of people who were tasked to take Georgia to electronic voting. Dr. Williams was chosen (by Larry Singer, most likely - their career paths crossed at Georgia Tech) to head up the committee on security. From that grew the KSU Election Center.

2. The KSU Election Center is funded entirely (so far) by a grant of $550,000.00/year from the SoS budget. $500K for the center, $50K for Britian Williams specifically.

3. The NASED board is appointed by The Election Center. So you see both of the statements are true. R. Doug Lewis controls The Election Center and decides who sits on the NASED Board - all one happy, incestuous family.

4. Dr. Williams wrote the test procedures for the State of Georgia and is now writing them (as a consultant) for Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

5. The R. Doug Lewis Election Center is funded entirely (as far as I can tell) by membership and consulting fees paid to them by Secretaries of States and Elections Officials.

Cozy little arrangement, isn't it?

on edit:
In point #2 above, my "(so far)" was in reference to the fact that I discovered in August that the KSU Election Center will be preparing all ballots on the Touchscreens for the entire state of Georgia. No ballots will be created locally. I am assuming they will be charging for this grand endeavor.

The R. Doug Lewis Election Center's revenue stream can be found here: http://www.electioncenter.org/about/membership.html

[DUreader]

2. kick

valid questions

[ParanoidPat]

3. I can start with Election Center.org.....

.....R. Doug Lewis's little scam operation. :evilgrin:

Election Center.org gets their money from membership fees,

ALL MEMBERS

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Each level of membership is entitled to name associate members; associates are entitled to membership discounts on all Election Center program offerings including the Professional Education Program, special workshops and conferences. See description of individual membership levels to determine number of free associates (if any). Additional associate members can be obtained at $50 each. Associate Members must be tied to a principal member.

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:)

[DEMActivist]

4. NASED and the ITAs

The NASED main page says:

ALL questions concerning the testing process and systems must be directed to THE ELECTION CENTER.
http://www.nased.org

and the NASED ITA Process page says:

The Election Center - The Center serves as NASED's day-to-day management company for working with the ITAs, with the FEC and with the states. The Center has no authority to pass or fail any system, but works with the local jurisdictions in answering questions concerning the manufacturer's products (at least those qualified or not qualified under the FVSS). The Center serves as the focal point for coordination among the FEC, NASED and state and local jurisdictions and the ITAs.

The ITAs DO NOT and WILL NOT respond to outside inquiries about the testing process for voting systems, nor will they answer questions related to a specific manufacturer or a specific voting system. They have neither the staff nor the time to explain the process to the public, the news media or jurisdictions. All such inquiries are to be directed to The Election Center on behalf of NASED.

http://www.nased.org/ITA_process.htm

[DEMActivist]

5. Simple answer = all roads lead back to R. Doug Lewis

He controls the process and everyone reports back to him.

[DEMActivist]

6. KSU Center for Election Systems

http://elections.kennesaw.edu/index.html

A cooperative venture of the Georgia office of the Secretary of State and Kennesaw State University (see grahpic logo).

The State of Georgia has committed to an initiative to acquire and install a uniform, state wide voting system. To support this effort, the Center for Election Systems has been established to provide services for Georgia election officials and poll workers to assist with the transition to the new system. The core functions of the Center include outreach, education, training, consultation, and technical support.

[MGKrebs]

7. Thanks.

You saved me a bunch of time and effort. I hope I can repay it someday.

So let me think this through.

(tin foil hat time). Although this may be speculative, it is also easy to imagine.

Let's say a computer specialiast/college professor, let's call him Brett, some years ago saw the potential of computerized voting systems, and bought some stock in a company poised to enter and perhaps dominate that market, a hypothetical company named LiveBold. A wise financial investment.

Brett eventually becomes somewhat of an expert in electronic voting software, and so is asked to participate in the process of developing system parameters for his home state.

It would only be natural then, that he be asked to be the certifier of the systems from the manufacturers. Who else should know more about it?

Parlaying his expertise even further, Brett gets himself onto the board that actually decides which systems will be approved nationally. Then he goes back home and works with the SoS selecting the best system, and then testing it to "make sure" that it works right. Voila! LiveBold is the best! Works great.

Perhaps Brett forgot that he bought that stock so long ago. But it doesn't matter because by this tme, he is just a consultant, and it's nobody's business where his money is invested anyway.

I would like to be clear- I am not accusing anyone of wrongdoing. Perhaps all parties currently involved are honorable people. But how about their successors? And also, this doesn't have to be about flipping D votes to R votes. A large part of this is just being confident that the votes are being counted accurrately.

It would be easy, the way I see it set up now, for a few key people to all have the same motivation in keeping problems from seeing much daylight, even if it's for different reasons. Someone may be just covering their butt. Someone else may be protecting an investment. Someone else may just be following orders from their boss. And someone else may be protecting a career built out of thin air. But it all looks the same from THIS side of the touchscreen.

[DEMActivist]

8. Yep, you got it!

Britian Williams, in particular, retired from Kennesaw into one of the cushiest consulting careers on the planet.

And how much of the $800,000.00/year Diebold maintenance contracts do they give him as a "commission?"

[Kelvin Mace]

10. Well,

if he is pulling down $50K to consult for Ohio, Maryland, Virginam et al, that is a *bunch* of money and a lot of reasons for him to see no problems with the equipment.

Also, suppose the GAO launches and investigation and finds out what we all already know.

How happy are you going to be with Britt Williams who told you that, in his "professional opinion", these machines were secure and you spent millions of the taxpayers money on them, PLUS $50K for Britt?

Can you say law suit?

Knew you could.

David Allen
www.plan9.org

Diebold Voting Machines
We vote for you, so you don't have to!

[Eloriel]

12. Ah, yes

The vendors DO pay a fee for the service of certification. I almost forgot that.

Eloriel

[Eloriel]

11. I would hardly call Williams

an expert in voting software, BUT he did once upon a time write a paper on something to do with voting systems, or a problem encountered here in GA on some system. I believe this was back in the 90s and I suspect he was still with GA Tech. (He went from Tech to someplace in Florida, then back to GA at KSU. Strange career path, huh?) We were never able to find out much information along these lines.

Go, Jerry!

Eloriel

[Eloriel]

9. Now the interesting thing about all this -- to me, anyway

I'm not sure I've ever gotten anyone else interested in it ;-) --


This late winter when I went down to the State Lege to try to lobby for legislation (vvpb, open source), with my friend of the GA Green Party, I got to sit in on a subcommittee meeting where Linda Beazley of the Elections Division was talking the subcommittee through the "housekeeping bill" that the SoS wanted introduced.

One provision of that housekeeping bill was to set up this training function at KSU, except that KSU wasn't mentioned by name in the bill. KSU, she assured the legislators, was going to do all this "for free," even "travelling around the state," and also doing it "on the internet." But of course the bill itself made some mention of the fact that the local counties would have to pay. There were other provisions in this bill that rankled me, but this thing about KSU stunk to high heaven to me then, and damned if it doesn't (IMO) still stink. I tried to get my Green Party friend exercised about it, but he just shrugged his shoulders.

Now we find out that the KSU "Center for Election Systems," as it's called, isn't even going to be training everybody (according to the Director during the last dog and pony show) -- just the supervisors and they'll be responsible for training others. Just what are we getting for our $500K a year? And what IS Brit Williams doing for Georgia that warrants $50K a year? He's called a "consultant" by the KSU Center, not an employee. How many hours or days or weeks a year does he put in for his "fee" from the State of GA? Doing what, precisely?

He also has an office there in that building. Does he pay for that? If he's also consulting for other states, is he doing that work -- phone calls and such -- out of the KSU office which the STATE is paying for?

Lotsa things I'd like to know about Dr. Williams.

The Center is in a lovely house, brand new. I think the University bought these homes which bordered the campus and there are quite a few of them in use as this or that center for the university. Does some of that state money go for rental or lease, or?

It's also beautifully and tastefully decorated. Wonder where those funds came from?

Now KSU Election Center is going to be doing the ballots -- is that included in the $500K, I wonder?

Sooo many questions. So few opportunities to ask them.

Eloriel

[creativelcro]

16. sounds like...

a huge pile of PORK!!-C

"It's also beautifully and tastefully decorated. Wonder where those funds came from?

Now KSU Election Center is going to be doing the ballots -- is that included in the $500K, I wonder? "

[BevHarris]

13. Question: What will you be doing with the information?

You will be making it public, right? Just wondering, what format, and is there a time frame?

I ask because Rep. Kucinich is right in the middle of getting a bill ready for congress. His office wants all the information they can get -- I will be happy to forward the report from the Georgia activists straight into his hands.

It's great to get these leads. Springing just one new name can open up a whole new pocket of information!

Thanks, everyone, and we'll be watching for the Georgia activists to come up with some great public information on this!

Bev Harris

[MGKrebs]

14. Any info I come up with will

certainly just go right to Eloriel and GaBBV. But it seems DA and PP have answered most of the questions. I'll keep poking around, but the obvious issue so far is that Brit Williams job needs to be formalized, and since there is a large risk of conflict of interest, this job should also have financial disclosure requirements.

I just have a shovel. I don't know what to do with the dirt when it gets piled up!

[creativelcro]

15. So, would..

Kucinich's bill be competing with Holt's ? I'm just wondering if the people who are pushing for the Holt's bill should just stop doing so (if given valid reasons) or keep lobbying for it... I suspect they can proceed in parallel; hopefully Kucinich's bill tries to accomplish something more than what is proposed by Holt's bill, and has a higher chance of getting actually passed. Any links to a draft of the bill ? Or information of what might be in the bill ? Thanks!
-C

[Eloriel]

17. Bev

PM me with an email address you want to use and I'll add you to this small, not all that active list. It's on Topica. You can get individual emails, digest or view posts online, including archived posts.

I think Jerry is the first person who's mentioned any interest in doing some research, and that was last night when he "suddenly" got interested (I had to chide him a bit after being mostly as quiet as everyone else on the list).

Rest assured, you are not being kept out of any loop. Not like this is a competition, you know. :-)

Eloriel

[creativelcro]

18. well...

sometimes one wonders if at some level it might be... Frankly, I have observed some weird and semi-veiled tension in some of the threads... I don't get it... Any thoughts ? -C

"... Not like this is a competition, you know."

[ParanoidPat]

19. This is a competition alright,

between all of US and R.Doug Lewis, the Election Center and the shadowy figures that have been manipulating the American electoral system for at least a dozen years! :evilfrown:

This is a war of perception! The main fight is a battle of how the future, OUR future, leaders will be chosen and who will ultimately make the choices! Their game has been a stealth campaign to manipulate the public perception of what makes a 'safe & secure' voting system while lobbying for laws that guarantee just the opposite. We ALL need to work together to fight the 12 year head start they have.

There have been a small group of people like Bev, David, DEMActivist, Eloriel, G,B&C, Jim March, RedEagle and a number of others who have been living this issue 24/7 for months now, and they're getting tired. It's hard to take on something this big without lots of help. The door's cracked open and the public is starting to take notice. We need help NOW! We need LEADERS IN EVERY STATE, NOW!

Eloriel has done a fantastic job of setting up the Georgia Black Box Voters email list. We need people to do the same in the other 49 states. You can sign up to start a free activist email discussion group for your state on Topica just like the Georgia Black Box Voters!

If we can get organized in every state at the local level, BlackBoxVoting.org can act as a central clearing house supplying vital ammunition and targeting information for coordinated, focused 'swarms' of activists to get our shared message out.
Take the lead in your state and start a discussion group today! Invite everyone and anyone who wants to help to join in the fun! Then contact [e-mail] and get your swarm listed! Together we CAN make a difference! Just a single letter, phone call, e-mail or fax a day from thousands of individual activists can make the difference.
Don't get angry, get active!

[DEMActivist]

20. Hear, hear, Pat!

Well said!!!!

[MGKrebs]

21. More questions...

I've looked around some, but DemA, you and some others may already know some of this;

Where is the law or statute or whatever that created the Center for Election Systems?

And does the job that Brit Williams performs have any official sanction? Is there a job description? Who hires him?

Larry Singer apparently quit Georgia and went to work for (a non-profit I think) an organization called Public Interest Breakthroughs. But their website is non-functioning. Any more info on where he is?



Probably more to come....

[DEMActivist]

22. Some answers....

I don't have the exact law which created it, but search for the 21st Century Vote Commission. Barnes signed a law creating it. Sometime in the spring of 2001 - there were May and June meetings and I do have the minutes from all of them.

Larry Singer is quite a story. He, indeed, left Georgia 4 days after the election. Sonny Perdue announced that his "telecommunications" contract for the state of Georgia would be canceled 4 days after he was elected, before he was sworn in, because of all the pre-election allegations of bid rigging surrounding that contract. Larry Singer resigned when Perdue made that announcement and left the state of Georgia.

The PIB website is indeed, defunct suddenly. Which is especially strange because Singer when back to Virginia to run that corporation and it was working until about 2 months ago. There was a big "Welcome Back, Larry" page on it.

Since he left Georgia, he has shown up on the commission for voting machines in Ohio (surprise, surprise) and has gone to work for Sun Microsystems. He has quite a writeup on Sun's site about his previous work, but (surprisingly) not one word in the thousands in his essay about Georgia voting machines. Everything else about working with state government, but not the voting machines. Not even a hint......

I'll see if I can find that URL for you.

[DEMActivist]

23. Here's that link on Singer

Forgive me, it was a magazine article (Public CIO) not on Sun's site:

http://www.public-cio.com/story.php?id=2003.04.28-49014

[DEMActivist]

24. Link to 21st Century Vote Commission

http://www.sos.state.ga.us/vote_comm/default.htm

The 21st Century Voting Commission, a multipartisan advisory panel created to assist the Secretary of State in evaluating election equipment as Georgia moves towards a new, uniform statewide election system, was created as part of SB 213, Secretary Cox's 2001 election reform legislation.

The bill, signed into law by Governor Roy Barnes in April, provides that two appointments each are made by the Governor, the Speaker of the House and the Lieutenant Governor. Secretary of State Cox is authorized to appoint six local election officials and two additional individuals who serve in any capacity. The only entity currently operating as a "political body," the Georgia Libertarian Party, is also allowed one appointment. The statute also provides that the Secretary of State, the Director of the State Elections Division and the Executive Director of the Georgia Technology Authority round out the membership of the 18-member panel.

The Commission serves in an advisory role to help evaluate equipment options, establish standards for new uniform equipment to be deployed statewide by 2002 and lay out a roadmap for implementation of the overall election reform initiative.


But the link to the actual bill returns the following:
Not Found

The requested URL /Legis/2001_02/fulltext/sb213.htm was not found on this server.

[MGKrebs]

25. Thank you again.

You are amazing.

I've seen that 21st Century Voting Commission stuff. A brief scan didn't reveal any specific authorization for CES, but I'll go over it more thoroughly.

One more quick question; Isn't CES supposed to provide on-site training/set-up for every county? How do they do that? it'a pretty small organization from the evidence I've seen.

[DEMActivist]

26. It is small...

and there's one small room where they do the training, I presume. It's the same room where they are doing the monthly dog and pony shows. About the equivalent of a small conference room with tables set up around a projector, a GEMS computer and Touchscreens they drag into the room.

I don't think they could do more than 20 attendees. By on-site, they mean THEIR site. And the training is now only the elections supervisor, who is supposed to go back and train the poll workers.