What are the alt. orgs to BBV with which we should be building bridges?

[smartvoter]

The pattern here suggests that BBV is run by a loose cannon. I by no means want to demean the important work they are doing, but it seems a reasonable strategy to figure out what major alternatives there are out there as the pattern here suggests that the current BBV crew may not be successful in establishing credibility or pushing this issue into the mainstream. As it stands, BBV isn't welcome here or at the only mainstream news organization reporting o this issue. So, where do we move some of our eggs?

I am too new to the BBV issue to know what alternatives there are, so I started this to see what everyone thinks.

[jamboi]

1. There have been several threads already on alternatives. Like

this one:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x108880

[smartvoter]

2. Was there a decision re: who to align with, or research further, etc.?

[jamboi]

6. Good question, I haven't followed it closely it enough. (see link above)nt

[jamboi]

15. Here's one I just found. It focuses on media intervention re: voting issu

Looks brand spanking new with no track record, but interesting!
http://www.usvip.org

[skids]

3. Whether you like BBV or not... their forums server is crap.

I suggest using this one for state/local chats:

http://www.ballotintegrity.org/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi

[Eloriel]

12. That one was co-founded by DU's own hedda_foil, and

a newer org, VERY involved in promoting and helping fund AND organize the recounts is the 527 hedda co-founded:

www.helpamericarecount.org

AND, there's a new coalition, which hedda is also at the heart of having developed/founded (along with some pretty heavy hitters, I have to say -- you'll likely see them listed soon enough):

www.AuditTheVote.org

[valis]

14. Eloriel rocks. Always known that!

[papau]

4. DU poster AmyCrat posted a list which I've copied below

Keith Olbermann www.Bloggerman.com

Greg Palast www.gregpalast.com

MoveOnPAC www.moveonpac.org

Jesse Jackson

Ralph Nader

Cobb

Green Party www.gp.org

Petition: www.petitiononline.com/uselect/petition.html

www.ElectionSquad.org

www.VerifiedVoting.com

www.BlackBoxVoting.COM

www.RecountOhio.org

Jeff Fisher www.jefffisherforcongress.com

Start your own local movement!

Add to the list!

The North Country News - Adam Stone <[e-mail] >

2. The Alliance for Democracy
www.thealliancefordemocracy.org

http://www.helpamericarecount.org

Charlie Levenson
Portland, Oregon
[e-mail]

Keiths bloggerman, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6210240/
www.bloggermann.com

AND A DUer posted a letter sent to the FBI


914 962 4748 x280

Robert Mueller, Director
Federal Bureau of Investigation
c/o White Plains Office
222 Bloomingdale Road
White Plains, New York

Dear Director Mueller:

On behalf of myself and other concerned citizens of Westchester County,
New York, I implore the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to urgently
and intensively investigate evidence of widespread conspiracy to tamper with
votes and suppress voting in the 2004 Presidential election.

We request that the FBI immediately send additional agents to Ohio and
Florida, key electoral states where there are indications of gross tampering
and suppression.

In Ohio, for example, in 29 Cayuhoga County (Cleveland) precincts,
93,136 more votes were recorded than there are registered voters. In
addition to suspicious electronic vote counting, there were significant
problems in Ohio with the mechanics of voting, such as malfunctioning
machines and problems with poll log books.

It has been reported that J. Kenneth Blackwell, Ohio's chief election
official and the Ohio Bush-Cheney campaign chair, ensured there were ample
voting machines in Republican areas and a shortage of machines in
low-income and African-American areas, as well as areas expected to have a
high turnout of young voters. In spite of an increase in voter registration
in Ohio, fewer machines were said to have been provided than in 2000.

Werner Lange, a Youngstown pastor, said at hearings held November 13 by
the Ohio Election Protection Coalition that less than half of the usual
number of voting machines were available in one African-American community.
"This," he said, "caused an enormous bottleneck among voters who had to wait
a very, very long time to vote, many of them giving up in frustration and
leaving." He estimated that 7,000 votes were lost to Senator John Kerry in
Youngstown alone, due to insufficient voting machines.

Carol Shelton, presiding judge at a precinct in Columbus, said voting
machines were insufficient, that she called for more machines and was sent
one, "which did not make a dent in the line...This was a clear case of
voter
suppression by making voting an impossibility for anyone who had to go to
work or anyone who was stuck at home caring for children or the elderly
while another family member voted."

In Florida, initial counts showed 237,522 more votes cast for president
than there were people casting ballots. The state altered the vote count to
eliminate county discrepancies after independent researchers began to point
out contradictions. Keith Olbermann, reporting for MSNBC, found: "On the
same Florida Democratic ballots where Bush scored big, people supported
highly Democratic measures- such as raising the state minimum wage $1 above
the federal level. This indicates that only the presidential voting was
rigged."

In addition, an unknown number of Florida voters, particularly in
African-American communities, were effectively disenfranchised by long
waiting lines and faulty equipment. There is no reason for these
conditions to have existed in Florida after the experience of 2000 other
than because of official conspiracy to suppress the vote.

Discrepancies between exit polls and tallies from electronic voting
machines leaving no paper trails indicate the need for investigations in
Minnesota, New Mexico, Nevada, Wisconsin, Colorado, North Carolina, Iowa,
New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.

We request that the FBI interview, in addition to public officials,
employees of firms involved in electronic voting in the 2004, the most
prominent including: Diebold Election Systems; Election Systems and
Software; Science Applications International Corporation, Sequoia Voting
Systems; and VoteHere Inc.

And, we ask the FBI to determine whether national voting laws have been
violated and to what degree, if any, there was central direction of vote
tampering and vote suppression.

Sincerely,


Nick Mottern

[smartvoter]

7. Do we know which does the same type of audit work? I can look..

Don't want to repeat work already done if it has been...

[papau]

10. I don't know but perhaps DU mail to those on other threads might give

you the info.

:-)

[glitch]

5. Here are a few of my bookmarks for starters

http://nov2truth.org/index.php?display=new
http://freepress.org/eforum/
http://www.votersunite.org/electionproblems.asp?offset=0&catid=&showall=&sort=
http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/key-litigation.html
http://news.findlaw.com/legalnews/lit/election2004/cases.html
http://www.eff.org/Activism/E-voting/
http://verifiedvoting.org/article.php?list=type&type=11


There are a lot more - Amycrat had a post with a bunch listed this morning.

[KatieB]

8. Seems like a DU campaign going on here to delegitimize her work.

I've read about her work on a number of blogs.

[smartvoter]

9. No. You're misreading it. Read here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=108750&mesg_id=108750

[symbolman]

11. We have a movie called "Electile Dysfunction" at Buzzflash.com

Our Site - Takebackthemedia.com has created a film (DVD) about electronic voting called "Electile Dysfunction" - now a Premium at Buzzflash.com

http://www.buzzflash.com/premiums/04/11/pre04073.html and we would be honored if folks looked at our Press Releases there and maybe buy our film (DVD)

You'll find all the information about our work and the film at that web address.

BlackBoxVoting.org's Bev Harris isn't the only one of the entire electronic voting investigation movement working on this, our movie took over a year in the making.

Plenty of links about the Movie at Buzzflash.

A Little Bit about US:

Takebackthemedia.com received 100 million hits in it's first year, and we were one of 14 Finalists out of over 1600 entries in MoveOn.org's "Bush in 30 Seconds" contest not long ago.

Our entry - ARMY OF ONE (a non partisan look at Bush's treatment of the troops and veterans) was not the winner but was shown the very next night nationwide when I was interviewed on the Joe Scarborough show on MSNBC. (My second time on his show - I have been on the O'Reilly show, and Lou Dobbs on CNN as well)

Joe Scarborough loved our ad supporting the troops and was very cordial (I was shocked). The very same ad was shown 3000 times on cable television in New Hampshire during the primaries as well.

You can view my interview with him on MSNBC(which includes our MoveOn entry) at this URL: http://66.230.230.110/radio/sym-1-13.rm

(It's a Realmedia file and will play even if it appears to give an error as RealMedia is a wonky program - keep clicking)

I've created many NEW "monty pythonish" animations to add to a solid mix of the incredible and the very credible as electronic voting is a really dry subject and we feel it's important to entertain while educating.

Here is a link to one of the more zany works included: http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/04/12/con04525.html and with more info on the DVD.


The people we interviewed include: Theresa LePore, and her sidekick, Karen
Jerome Gray, Alabama Democratic Conference
Reverand Tommy Waites
Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman (The template for voter theft was created here - 6500 voted REVERSED in the dark of night, with poll workers, media, etc Barred from the courthouse)
Congressman Robert Wexler, Florida
Former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, Georgia
Senator Barbara Boxer
Kevin Shelley, California Secretary of State
Larry Flynt
Greg Palast, Investigative Journalist, BBC and UK Guardian
William Rivers Pitt, Truthout.org and Book Author
Lida Rodriguez-Taseff, Chair, Miami-Dade Election Reform Coalition
Courtenay Strickland, ACLU Florida, Voting Rights Project Director
Jim Hightower
Dr. Aviel Rubin, Johns Hopkins University, Technical Director, Information Security Institute
Dr. David Dill, Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, Stanford University
Adam Putnam, Congressman (FL)
Jim Adler, CEO, Vote Here Inc.
Danny Schechter, MediaChannel.org
Don Waller, Take Back The Media
Ian Williams, The Nation Magazine
Owner and Publisher, The Nation Magazine
Janeane Garofalo, Air America Radio, Actress, Comedienne
Congressman Clay,as well as other electronic voting professionals, academics, journalists, and just plain folks.

But our film covers more than just electronic voting.

We also discuss the problem with voting rights in America, like the inherent racism in the distribution of voting machines.

We also show the live harassment of voters, trickery, the Media changing exit poll information on the fly, etc - all documented and vetted.

No tin foil, only friendly stunts.

Our film ends with a call to action and we invite everyone to join us in petitioning our representatives in Washington for a Constitutional Amendment enforcing a Federal Right to vote, and have votes counted - much like Jesse Jackson mentioned on one of Keith Olbermann's recent shows.

Please have a look, and help support us - we're just trying to get the word out, help Buzzflash, and make some of our money back.

I'm pretty sure you won't be disapointed with our work, the animations alone make it kick, they are a lot of fun.. or so I've been told.

We haven't started our media blitz as yet, but I think I'll make a pretty good spokesman - I've enjoyed going head to head with the media - you present them with facts and they fold up like lawn chairs.
Like David Allen of Blackboxvoting.COM said - be Polite, but annoy the hell out of them :)

I want to thank each and every one of you for all the inspiration you've been to me - when I went on TV you were all there with advice - you've all been at the forefront of every true progressive advance and you should be proud of yourselves.

All the best,

Symbolman

[Carolab]

13. www.votergate.tv

They are doing the movie.

www.verifiedvoting.org (David Dill's group)