Voting in Georgia to be briefly focused on

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"Tuesday, June 20, 2006

<snip> We’ll have a report on grass root efforts to protect our
democratic process. There is a ground swell in Georgia to stop
the state from using e-voting machines.

http://cnn.com/loudobbstonight

6-7 PM EST

The director of the organization Georgians for Verified Voting and the director of Defenders of Democracy were both interviewed by Kitty Pilgrim for the show.

[McCamy Taylor]

1. Does anyone have transcripts of Lou Dobbs pieces on E-voting?

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2. Just have this one quote saved:

FROM TRANSCRIPT: Lou Dobbs Tonight - Aired June 7, 2006

DOBBS: Well, let's be clear. It is absolutely demonstrable that with the use of electronic voting machines in which we do not have verifiable receipts and a way of independently auditing those votes -- democracy is at risk anyway as we approach the midterm elections....

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3. Here's the transcript from this segment on tonight's show

DOBBS: Serious questions about electronic voting machines are threatening to undermine confidence in our electoral system. All voters in the State of Georgia will cast their ballots on electronic voting machines this year. But watchdog groups say election officials can't verify the accuracy of the count and can't conduct a proper recount. Those groups say our democracy is at risk. Kitty Pilgrim reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KITTY PILGRIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Georgia has a primary in less than 30 days. Voting is 100 percent electronic, except for absentee ballots. Diebold has the contract for 24,000 TSR6 touch screen machines. Some activists are worried there is no proper record on this model.

JOHN FORTUIN, DEFENDERS OF DEMOCRACY: I have 20 years experience programming computers mostly for the financial sector, and the standards that are used in the financial sector are wholly absent from the Diebold voting system.

PILGRIM: At a state election board meeting this week, activists were demanding decertification of the machines. The Georgia Secretary of State office says that electronic voting will be discussed at a later date, adding that we do testing on every unit before the election.

Voting activists say even if machines are certified and tested before the election, the only real way to check results is with a printed paper record that is put into a lock box on Election Day. That will not be done in Georgia.

Another troubling issue for watchdog groups is current secretary of state Cathy Cox who championed the transition to electronic voting machines in Georgia and will certify the vote statewide is running for governor in that same election.

AVI RUBIN, JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: That's a terrible conflict of interest. I think elections need to be run by unbiased, independent parties. And such things do not exist, what we need are very transparent voting mechanisms so no one has to bring into doubt anybody's motives or behaviors.

PILGRIM: Georgians for Verified Voting say their goals have nothing to do with politics.

DONNA PRICE, GEORGIANS FOR VERIFIED VOTING: It is not political. It is not with Cathy Cox. It is about making sure that the election is legitimate for Georgia.

Voting in a democracy is not about trusting that behind the curtain individuals will do the right thing. It's about security, transparency and auditability. It's about checks and balances. And Georgia's voting system fails on all counts.

PILGRIM: We called Diebold about this model, they did not return our calls.

(END VIDEOTAPE) PILGRIM: The secretary of state's office points out the votes are certified by local election boards first and historically other secretaries of state have run for another office, but activists say this only illustrates the broader concerns that electronic voting systems must have a voter-verified paper trail to establish trust with the voters -- Lou.

DOBBS: Well, how in the world can you verify the accuracy of a machine if you don't have an analog, if you will, control for it?

PILGRIM: There really is no question. It's not even debatable.

DOBBS: And the idea -- I love the situation -- I kind of like I guess if I were betting, I'd bet on, is it secretary of state Cox in this upcoming election? She gets to certify the results, decide on the machines, while running for governor.

PILGRIM: They say they're locally certified first, but she signs off on it statewide.

DOBBS: They have a secretary of state that's actually hooked up now with Diebold, right?

PILGRIM: That's exactly right. Their previous secretary of state, Louis Massey has a lobbying firm, Diebold is a client.

DOBBS: Quite a little industry. E-voting. Thank you very much, Kitty Pilgrim.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/20/ldt.01.html

[CottonBear]

4. Thanks for posting the transcript.

I am disappointed in former SoS Louis Massey. Diebold is one of his clients? :puke:

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5. Yep. It's a cozy political/corporate world in Georgia too. n/t

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6. self delete