Don't Know If This Has Been Posted... But We Did It!! We Got Shot

[ChiciB1]

down last month after we had all the petitions signed. Commissioners claimed there was "illegal" language in the petitions. Well, this is ONE step and I'm in SHOCK right now!

Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections (SAFE)
Sarasota County, Florida
For immediate release contact Kindra Muntz

September 13, 2006.... [e-mail]


Sarasota court orders election on charter amendment requiring paper ballots


Judge rules that County commissioners must submit citizen petition to a vote



Chief Judge Robert B. Bennett, of the Twelfth Judicial Circuit, State of Florida issued a final judgment on the petition for writ of mandamus by the Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections that "the Board of County Commissioners of Sarasota County shall submit the proposed amendment to the Sarasota County Charter to the Sarasota County electorate in accordance with the requirements on provisions of Article VII of the Sarasota County Charter." The amendment requires voter verified paper ballots and independent random audits of election results in Sarasota County.



This rulingin favor of the Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections validates the process of proposing amendments to the charter via citizen petition. Over 14,500 voters in Sarasota County from all precincts, all demographic groups, and all political parties signed a petition for paper ballots and mandatory audits as opposed to the paperless touchscreen voting system now used in Sarasota County and 14 of the other most populous counties in Florida. This was well over the 12,030 or 5% of the registered voters needed to put the referendum on the Sarasota County ballot in November.


Rather than voting to authorize the election at their August 22nd meeting, the County Commissioners, at the advice of the County Attorney, filed a lawsuit for a declaratory judgment on the language of the petition, challenging its constitutionality.

(more at website below) I hope I didn't break DU rules by too much information....


The complete ruling of Chief Justice Bennett can be seen on the website of the Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections (SAFE), at www.safevote.org.

[Doctor_J]

1. Jeb Bush is the closest thing currently to Papa Doc or Pinochet

once his older, stupider brother has been driven into exile, we're coming for him

[blm]

2. Step by step. It's all we can do right now till some media kicks in and

decides that there is a democracy in this country to save.

[rzemanfl]

3. Congratulations. If your Board of Commissioners appeals, they

should all be voted out of office. I cannot, by the way, find the decision on the website.

[ChiciB1]

5. Ya Know, I Was So Excited & Didn't Check The Link....

maybe it's not good. [e-mail]

As far as voting them out... it's IMPOSSIBLE... this IS Cruella's District!!

If the link doesn't work, I will have to check further... it's all I was given.

[rzemanfl]

13. Hey! What every happened to the guy who tried to run that

miserable pudenda over? (they don't like the ***t word here)

[ChiciB1]

6. Not Working... Says It May Have Been Removed!!

Nothing new here, you know that weatherman that had the roach crawling up his leg the other day... yep, out weatherman! They removed the clip from YouTube!

But Justin is still employed and thanks for that! A little weird, but they got freaked about bad publicity! I don't understand this though.

[Breeze54]

4. Fantastic!!!

Great job!! WooHoo!! :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

:applause: :yourock: :applause:

:kick: FOR :dem:

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Breeze54]

7. Is this it? It says Breaking News.....

http://www.safevote.org/



:shrug:
===================================

http://www.safevote.org/html/breaking_news.htm

Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections (SAFE)
Sarasota County, Florida
[e-mail]

September 7, 2006

Decision Pending in Voting Trial
State of Florida joined Sarasota County in suit against citizen petition

Two consolidated lawsuits were tried Wednesday by Chief Justice Robert Bennett of the 12th Judicial Circuit in Sarasota County, Florida. Both addressed a charter amendment proposed by citizen petition initiative to require voter verified paper ballots and mandatory random independent audits of election results. Petitions submitted by over 14, 500 people from all precincts, demographic groups and political parties in Sarasota County, totaled well over the 12,030 (5% of the registered voters) required to put the referendum on the ballot in November. Per the County Charter, the measure should be placed before the voters, without engaging in pre-election legal review.

Florida Secretary of State Sue Cobb joined the County lawsuit which claimed that the language of the petition is unconstitutional. Thomas Shults, attorney for the Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections (SAFE) claimed that the language of the petition is constitutional, and meets both Florida and federal law, and the Board of County Commissioners has a duty under the county’s home rule charter government to put the measure before the voters in November. His brief can be viewed on the SAFE website, www.safevote.org under “Breaking News.”

The underlying issue is whether Sarasota voters will have a choice on verified elections or not. The current “paperless” touchscreen Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting machines used in Sarasota County and 14 other of the most populous counties in Florida, do not provide an independent record of the vote to verify machine tallies. Reported problems in other counties using the same equipment as that in Sarasota--Election Systems and Software (ES&S) iVotronics--have resulted in missing or corrupted vote data in recent elections. Concerned voters of Sarasota County want a system that is verifiable and auditable, such as the optical scan/paper ballot system used by 52 out of 67 Florida counties.

Kathy Dent, Supervisor of Elections of Sarasota County, testified as a witness for the County. Ion Sancho, Supervisor of Elections of Leon County, testified for SAFE as an expert witness in Florida Election Law.

[ChiciB1]

9. Kathy Dent Is Almost As Bad As Cruella!!

I'm NOT kidding! She's had many articles written about how she operates in our local Sarasota Herald Tribune!

[ChiciB1]

8. Yes It IS... Was Just Coming Back To Make The Correction

It's .org NOT .net!!! I have Comcast and just did .net. I should have known. Thank you!

[fed-up]

10. Awesome!!!!!! Kick/Rec n/t

[ChiciB1]

11. It's Actually Pretty Amazing! We Thought It Was A Goner

I've been volunteering at the local Democratic Hdqtrs and can't wait to get down there tomorrow!!

It is pretty sad that I get so excited about this, but I'll take whatever we can get right now.

[Breeze54]

12. You have every right to be joyful!

:) Way to go!! I'm proud of you!! :dem: