How will fraud be prevented in SD referendum on abortion?

[CTyankee]

Will they be using paper ballots so there's a paper trail? Will there be safeguarding of ballots to prevent them being thrown out?

I'm really concerned about a Rove style "fixing" of this referendum, if the petition drive is successful. Also, can "our side" get out the vote like the RWingers do? I'm just remembering all the ACT effort in 04, getting all those people registered and then not seeing the votes on election day.

Please reassure me that we're not going to lose this one!

[elfin]

1. Any Rove "fixing" will be AGAINST the law

They can't risk its full implementation and success of the forced gestationers because they KNOW is unpopular with the majority of people. Also, they do not want to lose one of their bigger money raising issues.

[Beacho]

2. If they try it

Then these freaks, who are now obviously in the minority, will speed the day that they will be met by pitchforks and torches.

Start investing in tar and feather companies and get on the ground floor.

[Peace Patriot]

3. How will fraud be prevented? Well, good luck to you if you have

rightwing Bushite corporations 'counting' all your votes with 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY programming code and virtually no audit/recount controls.

Really, it's a fine time for you to be panicking.

"I'm just remembering all the ACT effort in 04, getting all those people registered and **then not seeing the votes on election day.**"

CTyankee, did you "see" ANY "votes" on election day?

Non-transparent elections are not elections. They are tyranny. That's what we have.

This doesn't mean we shouldn't try to overwhelm this very fraudulent, non-transparent election SYSTEM with massive turnouts. There is some hope that that can happen. We should tell people the truth about it--they NEED TO KNOW the truth--and involve them in beating the odds (5% to 10% "thumb on the scales" for Bushites, warmongers and fascist policy).

We need to strategize from a position of truth and reality--and NOT have false hopes and daydreams that the Bush junta, having SET UP a non-transparent election SYSTEM, won't use it AGAIN. But we mustn't yield to despair, demoralization, disempowerment and DISENFRANCHISEMENT. We must fight for our right to vote! We must fight for our democracy! We must fight for our country!

Strategy for '06 (and this SD referendum):

1. Big turnout--of highly motivated voters, determined to beat the machines.

2. Closely monitor the results. Do exit polls, 'parallel elections,' or whatever you can do, to gather evidence to challenge the results and to make the case against NON-TRANSPARENT voting machines and central tabulators.

3. Urge absentee ballot voting--it at the least gives you a paper ballot (although it doesn't solve the central tabulator problem); it is also a PROTEST against non-transparent electronic voting controlled by Bushite corporations.

4. Closely monitor and document the behavior of election officials, the way the election is run, any exclusions of the public (from what little is observable in non-transparent electronic voting--such as public access to the computer screens); take notes, photos, video; be on the alert for computer "breakdowns" and unauthorized personnel (such as company computer fixers); take depositions where necessary. Prepare for long term battle.

5. When it's over, have election celebrations--whether you've won or lost--where you all vow to get rid of these machines before the next election! If you've won, please note: The bad guys are protecting an egregiously non-transparent voting system, with their long term benefit in mind; they may throw sops to the majority, in a few cases, in the hope of taking the spotlight off their fraudulent system; look at the big picture--if you won, did you really win by only 2%--or was 10% of a 12% win stolen from you? And, why did YOU win, but the Senate and House remain Bushite-controlled? PAY ATTENTION. The goal MUST be TRANSPARENT elections.

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Some resources for American Revolution II:

Hopeful signs - latest news:

California voters sue the state over Diebold:
www.VoterAction.org--just announced--is suing the state of California and 18 Calif county registrars on behalf of 25 California voter/plaintiffs, on the illegal Diebold "certification" by Schwarzenegger appointee Bruce McPherson.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2180496

Maryland rejects Diebold:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x418263

Florida - anti-trust accusations against Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia, re: heroic Florida election official Ion Sancho:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2183630
http://www.tbo.com/news/politics/MGBKSY8W8LE.html

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More resources:

www.votersunite.org (MythBreakers - easy primer on electronic voting--one of the myths is that HAVA requires electronic voting; it does not.)
www.verfiedvoting.org (great activist site)
www.votetrustusa.org (news of this great movement from around the country)
www.UScountvotes.org (statistical monitoring of '06 and '08 elections)
www.solarbus.org/election/index.shtml (fab compendium of all election info)
www.freepress.org (devoted to election reform)
www.bradblog.com (also great, and devoted to election reform)
www.TruthIsAll.net (analysis of the 2004 election)* :patriot: :applause: :patriot:
Sign the petition (Russ Holt, HR 550, great bill-has 169 sponsors). http://www.rushholt.com/petition.html
www.votepa.us (well-organized local group of citizen activists in Pennsylvania, where important legal issues are at stake, including state's rights over election systems)

www.debrabowen.com (Calif Senator running for Sec of State to reform election system)
www.johnbonifaz.com (running for Massachusetts Sec of State on strong election reform and antiwar platform)

*Some tributes to TruthIsAll, who is very ill:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x417007
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x417231
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x675477

Also of interest:

Bob Koehler (-- four recent election reform initiatives in Ohio, predicted to win by 60/40 votes, flipped over, on election day, into 60/40 LOSSES!--the biggest flipover we've seen yet; the election theft machines and their masters are now dictating election policy!)
www.tmsfeatures.com/tmsfeatures/subcategory.jsp?file=20051124ctnbk-a.txt&catid=1824&code=ctnbk

Bob Koehler's latest: "Take this box and stuff it" (3/16/06)
http://commonwonders.com/archives/col337.htm

Amaryllis (Diebold, ES&S, Sequoia lavish lobbying of election officials - Beverly Hilton, Aug. '05)
www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x380340

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Throw Diebold, ES&S and ALL election theft machines into 'Boston Harbor' NOW!

:think: :patriot: :woohoo: :patriot: :think:

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"That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it." --Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence

[CTyankee]

4. You've done a lot of work and I am with you

It's frustrating to you and to me as well. There are so many skeptics among Dems and Repubs just give you the fish eye and start calling you a conspiracy theorist.

It seems to me that a very large order of business is getting people to buy into what I believe is a conspiracy. You have compiled a great list of cites. What do you do when eyes glaze over at your research? How do you try to get your ideas across, or do you think it is a waste of time?

I like your suggestions, though, and take them to heart even tho we don't have this problem in liberal to the bone marrow New Haven.

[Peace Patriot]

7. Well, I would say, don't hit people with everything at once.

Have compassion for people's various stages of realization regarding the failure of ALL of our democratic institutions. It's a hard thing to come to grips with, emotionally.*

However, if it's a Democratic Party leader that you are talking to, whose "eyes glaze over" at Bushite corporations counting all our votes behind a veil of secrecy, look for corruption, and possibly fear. There can be no other explanation for a party leader's disinterest in such a thing.**

In general, I would stress the non-transparency of the election system. It's a no-brainer. Try to get that simple point across--private corporations counting votes with 'trade secret' formulas, in insecure, hackable machines--and, in some places, with not even a paper trail. Then, who are these private corporations? (Ye gods.) Let people put 2+ 2 together for themselves.

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*I was telling a good friend of mine--not a stupid person, by any means--about the election system, and here's what she said: "But the Democrats wouldn't let that happen, would they?"

She was so attached to the idea that somehow democracy is still working in this country, that she could not see the obvious: The issue is not what the Democratic Party WOULD do. The issue is what the Democratic Party DID do. They permitted rightwing Bushite corporations to gain control of the tabulation of our votes with "trade secret" programming...without. one. word. of. objection.

I can see how this works on people. They want to believe in SOMETHING. It's hard for them--emotionally hard--to see the total failure of all checks and balances. And, of course, the war profiteering corporate news monopolies are constantly spinning the illusion that our system "works," that votes are correctly counted (no evidence for it--just believe it), etc.

I would just say, be gentle. Plant seeds. So the NEXT time they hear of this--and they will; it is the scandal of the ages--they will start understanding what has happened, and will strongly support election reform.

GuvWurld's "Voter Confidence Resolution" is a good tool, in this respect. It lays out the basis for transparent elections--that everyone must have confidence that the results are accurate. It is bipartisan, based on principles of good government and basic democratic concepts.

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**There are a number of examples of both corruption and fear at work, with regard to Bushite corporations counting our votes in secret. First of all, the "Help America Vote Act" was pushed through by the two biggest crooks in Congress, Tom Delay and Bob Ney. It was a very bad bill, with no controls on partisan vendors, no paper trail requirement, no controls on "trade secret" programming, no controls on lavish lobbying and "revolving door" employment, no controls on secret industry 'testing' of the machines, a time-line that forced states to rush into purchases of highly insecure, hackable voting systems, and underfunded regulation by a Bush-appointed commission. It was made to order for corruption, fraud and stolen elections.

Corruption: See Amaryllis' post, above, about the week of fun, sun and high-ending shopping, at the Beverly Hilton, sponsored by Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia, for election officials from around the country, last August 2005. Election system purchases were made amidst a pigsty of corruption during the 2002 to 2004 period. Another example is former Calif Republican Sec of State Bill Jones, and his chief aide Alfie Charles, going to work for Sequoia, after purchasing Sequoia and other election theft systems for California. Another is Calif Democratic legislative leaders who strongarmed other Democrats into NOT supporting our elected Democratic Sec of State, Kevin Shelley, who had sued Diebold and decertified the worst of their election theft machines prior to the 2004 election. The bad guys went after him and drove him from office on bogus charges. He was replaced by Schwarzenegger appointee, Republican Bruce McPherson, who has now ILLEGALLY re-certified the Diebold machines. What I suspect the Democratic legislative leaders of is involvement in OTHER state contracts for Diebold electronic services. I don't think they are in direct league with the Bushite fascists to rig the elections, but I do think they are corrupt. And the ones whom they strongarmed are fearful--fearful that they, too, might be unfairly driven from office, like Shelley was--or that Diebold & Co. will rig THEIR elections. The "iron curtain" that the Democratic leadership--state and national--has placed over this incredible election theft scandal continues to boggle my mind. I think we should not underestimate the forces of fear and corruption--and also, given credit where credit is due, when heroes like Debra Bowen, John Bonifaz, Ion Sancho and Russ Holt stand up and buck the powers-that-be on this vital issue, at great risk to themselves.

Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia have now ganged up on the heroic Florida election official Ion Sancho, who has dared to question the reliability of Diebold's and ES&S's hackable election theft machines. They are refusing to sell him the machines required by HAVA for handicapped voting. All three. It is anti-trust violation, to say the least. They will ruin him if they can.

We're in for a long, knock-down drag-out fight for our democracy. It is only just beginning. Have heart, CTyankee! Revolutions always start small, with a few true-hearted people.

[CTyankee]

9. Thanks for your heartfelt and factual response!

I was a bit down when I posted my message. Much better today with a good night's sleep!

I am taking your recommendations to heart. Very good. I am working for change here in CT in Ned Lamont's campaign. It is my way of doing hopeful things.

We'll get there, you know, because this administration cannot for long sustain this fantasy. It is a long time coming, but we'll get there!

[coalition_unwilling]

5. Even if the vote upheld the ban on abortion and the

vote were legitimate, i.e., not fraudulent, it would still violate a citizen's right to privacy. As such, I am actively planning on going to South Dakota to aid and abet those seeking to undermine the law. I hope many other like-minded citizens will join me.

Think about it: in 1859, if you had asked the citizens of South Carolina whether to uphold the legitimacy of slavery, they wouldn't have needed fraud to uphold slavery's legitimacy. But that still would not have made slavery right, would it?

Rights are there to protect the minority's interests and are not something a majority can vote away, imho.

[CTyankee]

6. I think the referendum supporters believe that

they can get a groundswell of reaction against the ban and thus show that the state lege does not represent the people. I get your argument, of course, but I am guessing the referendum has another motive: to show how out of touch these electeds are and encourage people to vote for prochoice candidates next election.

[coalition_unwilling]

8. Point taken. I hope if that is their aim that it succeeds (eom)