Call for Mike Coffman to immediately resign as Colorado Secretary of State

[angka]

Call for Coffman to resign:
Voting Machine Conflict of Interest Latest in Pattern
http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/al/CqKg

For Immediate Release
Thursday December 20, 2007
Contact: Michael Huttner
[phone]

Denver: ProgressNowAction called for Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman to resign following the latest episode in a pattern of conflicts of interest in misusing the Secretary of State's office.

"Secretary Coffman has a pattern of conflicts of interest and needs to resign immediately," stated Michael Huttner, Executive Director of ProgressNowAction, the state's largest online progressive advocacy organization. "That Coffman only certified his political consultants' controversial voting machines is outrageous."

This morning's Rocky Mountain News reported that the political consulting company running Secretary of State Mike Coffman's congressional campaign also was working for a voting machine manufacturer when Coffman gave that company's devices his seal of approval on Monday. (Rocky Mountain News, 12/20/2007)

Premier Election Solutions, formerly Diebold, was the only one of four voting machine companies to have all of its equipment conditionally approved by Coffman for use in 2008 elections. Premier hired Phase Line Strategies in September to lobby on its behalf, records show.
Phase Line also is running Coffman's campaign to take over U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo's 6th Congressional District seat.

Last Friday, a study found that voting machines and central servers made by Premier Election Solutions, formerly Diebold were easily corrupted. (New York Times, 12/15/2007)

All five voting systems used in Ohio, a state whose electoral votes narrowly swung two elections toward President Bush, have critical flaws that could undermine the integrity of the 2008 general election, a report commissioned by the state's top elections official has found.

"Colorado voters cannot afford to have a fox in the henhouse as our electoral system needs to preserve the perception of impropriety," stated Huttner. "Coffman's latest conflict is just the tip of the iceberg that raises serious ethical questions."

Coffman's latest conflict of interest follows his office coming under scrutiny for a conflict of interest in which his employee overseeing the state voter file also had a for profit business of selling voter files and had worked for Coffman on his last political campaign. (Denver Post, May 21, 2007)

Coffman also was the first Colorado statewide elected official to be found guilty of violating the Fair Campaign Practices Act by the Colorado Supreme Court for misusing his office. (Denver Post, December 7, 2004)

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[El Supremo]

1. Unf&%#*@g believable!

You need to copy this over to the General Discussions.

[backscatter712]

2. I just sent an email to Governor Ritter.

Use the web form on his site:

http://www.colorado.gov/governor/

My latest email to Gov. Ritter:

As a Colorado voter, a software engineer, and a volunteer poll watcher, I'm very disappointed with the decision of Secretary of State Mike Coffman to allow the continued use of voting machines made by Premier Election Solutions, formerly Diebold.

These machines, including the TS-X, the touchscreen voting machine, are NOT secure, and are completely unsuitable for use in a free and fair election. As a poll watcher, I saw records of live votes destroyed before my eyes by a defective VVPR (Voter Verified Paper Record) printer that jammed. TS-X machines have literally dozens of security holes. If they can be opened, they can be switched from running built-in, certified firmware to uncertified, possibly hacked firmware on a memory card, with the flip of a DIP switch. The memory card slot on these machines have literally been opened with a key from a hotel minibar. If an unauthorized or unscrupulous person can get access to the memory card slot, he can insert a memory card that can alter the vote counts, and rig an election. As a software engineer, I can only conclude that the computer programs on these machines are black boxes, which may have yet more security vulnerabilities. I don't trust them.

Governor Ritter, these machines MUST be taken out of service as soon as possible. The fairness and integrity of our elections is at stake. Even though it may be slower and more expensive, I would suggest conducting our elections with pen and paper, on hand-counted ballots. You would think I'm a Luddite for making such a suggestion, but like I said, I program computers for a living. And I've seen these machines with my own eyes. Please don't allow them to be used in our elections.

Sincerely,

backscatter712

[Froward69]

3. Coffman

is an underhanded hack. Fuck him. running for senate while being in charge of elections??? arrogant FUCK! then DE-certifying ALL machines with a paper trail? certifying all Diabolds??? saying exactly opposite of truth. what ones were easy to hack??? goddamn mother fucking election rigging Democracy hating traitor!!!!.