August 24, 2005
Representative Adam Smith
3600 Port of Tacoma Road, Suite 106
Tacoma, Washington 98424
Dear Rep. Smith:
I was appalled to learn this week that former Democratic National Committee chairman Joe Andrew is now shilling for Diebold, whose CEO last year promised to deliver Ohio for Bush. (
http://www.insidebayarea.com/localnews/ci_2958901 ) Joe Andrew is currently an advisor to the New Democratic Network (NDN). Simon Rosenberg, one of the candidates for chair of the DNC this last January, is the president of NDN. When you had Mr. Rosenberg visit Renton earlier this year for the progressive gathering, I was very impressed by his discussion of framing issues. I wonder, though, if he actually understands that framing issues better won’t mean jack if votes continue to be stolen from Democratic candidates with unauditable electronic voting machines.
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Citizens_Request_Recount_IN_SAN_DIEGO_MAYO_0818.html This URL has information about a parallel voting project recently carried out by a non-partisan election reform group in San Diego, CA, which demonstrated a clear shift of 4% of the votes by the Diebold GEMS central tabulator to Republican candidates for mayor. Judy Alter initiated this project after her experiences in the New Mexico recount after the 2004 presidential election. In Santa Fe, Alter detected a shift of third-party candidate votes into the Bush/Cheney column.
"That pattern has now been identified in eight states," Alter told Raw Story in an exclusive interview, adding that numerous other indications of electronic fraud have been found. "This is why I'm leading Study California Ballots, because we have to actually count," added Alter.
There is no way of telling exactly how widespread this pattern was in 2000 and 2004, since private companies refuse to allow their software to be examined on the grounds that it is a trade secret. Why in the name of God is a Democrat running around the country advocating that we use election systems which consistently cheat on behalf of Republicans?
If you have any influence with Mr. Rosenberg, can’t you get him to do something about Joe Andrew? This situation is absolutely intolerable.
Sincerely,