Help in NJ! Freeholder Meeting to buy Sequoias

[emcguffie]

This is from a Essex for Dean, now DFA, list I am on. I don't know what the protocol is, the sender she provides her e-mail address, and I have taken that out. I guess if anyone wants it, PM me and I will give it to you.

The note is self explanatory. It's pretty urgent.

But we could really use some help in Newark.

If you have been following this group recently, you know that we are
very involved in the issue of verified voting machines that produce a
paper auditable trail (VVPAT). There are bills in Congress and in
individual states, including several in NJ, that require the use of
such equipment.

The Essex County freeholders are meeting this Thursday (7pm in Newark at the Hall of Records, Room 558, 465 Martin Luther King Blvd) to vote on authorizing funds to purchase Sequoia Advantage voting machines,which do not provide a paper trail. The machines will cost the county $11,000,000, in addition to a yearly $30,000 contract fee and $150,000 up front. Sequoia does not have a printer available for a paper trail, and reportedly, does not have one in the "pipeline." In short, we are buying machines that will be obsolete shortly. The rationale for the purchase, now, of the Sequoia is that the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) mandates that handicap accessible machines be in use by January 2006.

However, it is likely that the implementation of HAVA will be put off, and in the meantime, the state can use paper ballots with optical scanners (already approved for provisional and absentee allots).

We need as many of you as possible to turn out for the meeting. Bring friends, reach out beyond your DFA contacts to those people you know who share our concern about voting rights, voting systems, and electoral reform. Also, please contact your town's mayor, and ask him or her to come and speak out against the purchase.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.

[emcguffie]

1. I guess I'm kicking my own thread.

Anybody here from Essex County, NJ?

Anyone?

[FogerRox]

2. its switched to room 505 Anyone one in the area there is a prep meeting

at 7pm in South Orange, tonite---- eamil me at [e-mail]


Do you Trust Computerized Voting Machines?

Essex County Supervisor of Elections Carmine Casciano has recommended the Sequoia Adantage Touchscreen Voting Machine (DRE, or Direct Recording Electronic) to the Essex County Freeholders. To support these voting machines the county must purchase the Sequoia Central Workstation that is equipped with a modem. This workstation runs the Sequoia tabulation software WinEDS. Windows Election Data Systems. Thats right, Microsoft Windows. At the end of an Election night the Results Cartridge, just like a smart card for a digital camera, is removed from the DRE and plugged into the workstation to load the reults. This process must occur for every voting machine in a precinct. Then the workstation, thru its modem, transmitts the vote tally to another work staion that collects tallys from all the machines in the County.
Come to the meeting and speak your mind on E-Voting

The Essex County Freeholders meet June 9th, 7pm at The Hall of Records, 465 Martin Luther King Blvd. Room 505. The public is allowed to comment, comment is usually kept to 3 minutes. If this rush to buy e-voting machines is not stopped, you will be voting on the kind of machine that put the 2004 presidential race into doubt. Essex County must set the example for the rest of the state, and thusly the nation. Last year 85% of Americans had their vote counted by a computer.
A) Sacramento, California. August, 2004. During a Sequoia Demonstration a Sequoia DRE fails to record votes.
Sequoia vice president and former California assistant secretary of state Alfie Charles was showing off the new Veri-Vote
printer that his firm is supplying to Nevada when an astute legislative aide in Johnson's office noticed two votes were
missing. Charles tried again to vote in Spanish with the same result:He cast votes on two mock ballot initiatives, but they
were absent from the electronic summary screen. "The paper trail itself seemed to work fine but what it revealed was when he demonstrated voting in Spanish, the machine itself did not record his vote," (1)
(1) Manufacturers were embarrassed when machine failed to recognize votes.
Tri-Valley Herald. Aug. 13, 2004. By Ian Hoffman, Staff Writer. http://www.votersunite.org/article.asp?id=2512
B) Santa Clara, California, May 2004, Sequoia Audio system for blind voters fails the test.
"Very few of our members were able to vote privately, independently,despite Santa Clara County's supposed
'accessible' touch screens,'' Dawn Wilcox, president of the Silicon Valley Council of the Blind, wrote in a letter to
the registrar of voters after the March primary. "I feel this is an unacceptable state of affairs.''... she surveyed more than 50 members of her group (2) ...Only two members said the machines had functioned smoothly. ...Four voters said the audio
function did not appear to work at all. Others waited up to half an hour for poll workers to trouble-shoot the devices. ...
... poor sound quality, delayed response time and braille that was positioned so awkwardly it could only be read
upside down. Chen, the college professor, also said the audio message required blind voters to press a yellow button....
(2) Santa Clara County, California. May, 2004. A survey of blind voters in Santa Clara County, California discovered that the
overwhelming majority of the voters found the the machines unacceptable and complained that Sequoia didn't listen to their suggestions.
Blind voters rip e-machines: They say defects thwart goal of enfranchising sight-impaired.
Mercury News; May 15, 2004; By Elise Ackerman http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/8673336.htm
C) Bernalillo County, New Mexico. November, 2004. Sequoia DREs add extra votes.
Over 2,700 early voting phantom votes appear in the canvass report.The New Mexico certified election results reported 2,087 phantom votes (more votes than ballots cast) for president statewide. These phantom votes were concentrated in Bernalillo
County. The official canvass report shows 187 precincts in Bernalillo County reporting a total of 1,239 presidential phantom
votes, 309 extra votes on the Sequoia DREs. (3) Precinct 558 reported 178 early voting ballots and a total of 319 votes for
president. That's 141 phantom votes, nearly as high as the number of ballots. Precinct 559 reported 234 ballots, with 364
votes for president - 130 more than the number of ballots.In the presidential race and 12 down-ticket contests examined
and shown in the chart below, a total of 2,772 phantom votes were reported by the electronic voting machines.
In October of 2004, Bernalillo County Clerk Mary Herrera admitted that phantom votes had been added to several elections
over the past two years, since she installed a new version of Sequoia WinEDS tally software.(4) The WinEDS software
counted the vote that was tallied from 309 Sequoia DRE's. New Mexico Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron says phantom votes are not possible, pointing out that her independent auditors didn't find irregularities like this. (5) Nevertheless, they are present in the certified canvass report. WIll Essex County be buying this software? I hope not.

(3) Bernalillo County Canvass of Returns of General Election Held on November 2, 2004. State of New Mexico.
http://www.sos.state.nm.us/PDF/Bernalillo.pdf
Brief Summary of Bernalillo County Election Data. Jan. 5, 2005. By Ellen Theisen.
http://www.votersunite.org/info/BernalilloSummary.pdf
(4) County clerk say phantom votes won't be a problem. KRQE Albuquerque. Oct. 26, 2004. http://www.krqe.
com/expanded3.asp?RECORD_KEY%5BLargeHeadline%5D=ID&ID%5BLargeHeadline%5D=7425.
(5) Vote Recount Fight 'Is Not Over'. Albuquerque Journal. Dec. 24, 2004. By Andy Lenderman.
http://www.abqjournal.com/elex/278376elex12-24-04.htm

The New Jersey Voting Issues Project , a member of the Essex County Task Force on E-Voting does not endorse the useof
DREs that use proprietary software that is protected by corporate law and cannot be anylysed by an independant auditor.
For more information on e-voting go to: www.votersunite.org
To contact the New Jerwsey Voting Issues Project: [e-mail]

[FogerRox]

3. Rebeca Mercuri is on the agenda--she will speak for 20 minutes.

and the Sequoia rep. speaks before her IIRC so Rebeca will be in a position to refute what the scumbucket says.

AND anyone can speak--for 3 minutes -- so come on down

[FogerRox]

4. RE --- BOOT

June 9th 465 Martin Luther King Blvd room 505--- 7pm.

:nuke:

The public is allowed to speak for about 3 minutes each

:nuke:

[dalloway]

5. ALL NJ FOLKS please help out here

I live in Essex but can't get to that meeting. If you give me names and phone numbers of people to call I will.

[FogerRox]

6. Freeholders emails for ya

[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail]

[bunny planet]

7. Just saw this. I've already written a letter to the freeholder's emails

below. I cannot personally attend this meeting. Can we get a petition together. There is a yahoo group called the Montclair Watercooler ( I think it's a yahoo group). WE might be able to reach the 40K Montclair residents of Essex county that way. I'm don't post there but I'll try to find it. I heard they might be giving us computerized voting, I just never dreamed it would be the kind with no paper trail. Guess I was being naive, they plan to steal the votes in every state next time I guess.

I will contact my Mayor as you suggest. I'll also write a letter to my town paper. This sucks.

[FogerRox]

8. pass the word got to the meeting--everyone gets 3 minutes to speak

VOTE THE BOND DOWN

AS soon as the money is available the SOE said he would go and buy the Advantage DRE---

The Freeholders have untill sept 1st.

THere is no rush

VOTE THE BOND DOWN

[dalloway]

9. go b.p. go!

[dalloway]

10. I'm working the emails

[FogerRox]

11. I think before tonites meeting we have at least 3 of 9 votes

MAybe 4 of 9 votes. Rebeca Mercuri is giving a 20 minute presentation. She is our home run hitter. If we can get 1 0r 2 more votes--we can VOTE THE BOND DOWN.

Wish us luck-----

[Amaryllis]

12. Luck! Come back and let us know what happened. THere are no state

lines anymore. We are all in this together.

[dalloway]

13. sample email for other NJ folks

I am a resident of Montclair, New Jersey and I understand you are voting this evening to authorize the purchase of Sequoia Advantage Touchscreen Voting Machines (DRE, or Direct Recording Electronic).

I implore you to PLEASE VOTE NO against the purchase. The entire state and nation is watching your actions--it has been clear across the country that these machines, with their proprietary code and lack of verifiable paper ballot component are not trustworthy.

There have been numerous papers written by credible academics; there have been documented malfunctions ranging from machines counting backwards when reaching a set number to erasing votes; there have been demonstrations of the vulnerability of these machines to tampering and malfeasance; there has been widespread documentation of these machines malfunctioning and freezing up and registering votes for the wrong candidate.

DO NOT WASTE OUR TAXPAYER MONEY BY APPROVING THIS PURCHASE!

We need a way to provide a voter verified paper ballot and these machine are not it.

While I am very active politically locally, I have never contacted you until now about an issue. There has never been an issue I have cared so passionately about. We need to set the example in Essex County and then ban any machines in the state that cannot be properly audited. Senator Lautenberg has been an admirable proponent of election reform--pick up the phone and call him--he'll tell you why this purchase is a huge mistake.

As I said, the county taxpayers are watching. The state taxpayers are watching, and indeed, those nationally interested in real election reform are watching. Take your time. Do your homework on the issue. Whatever you do, don't waste our taxpayers money on such a huge mistake.

[dalloway]

14. VICTORY IN NJ!

Just got the word that the Freeholders voted NO for new electoral machines until they are able to find out some more information.

From Justin Kiczek,the head of BlueWaveNJ's electoral reform committee, "The meeting was certainly an interesting event, with passionate speeches and debate coming from both sides. None of us were very confident that the Freeholders would not approve the funding so when it happened, it was quite a surprise for many. I have NO DOUBT that, had it not been for the activism and energy of the electoral reform movement in NJ, this motion would have been passed without thinking twice."

One small step for Essex County, one giant step for DEMOCRACY.

[emcguffie]

15. That's good news!

I was there, but had to leave before they voted.

There's something wrong. I don't know if Mthis elections supervisor, Carmen Casciano, doesn't understand, is getting paid off, or understands and wants it that way, but it was just awful listening to him misrepresent everything, and then admit, "oh, well, the technical stuff gets over my head," and refuse to listen to anyone technically inclined.

He said something about "If I am forced to use a machine I don't want," wouldn't tell the freeholders what other machines are certified -- he said five, I think, and I have a list that's much longer, unless it's been changed -- and basically said they had to buy these machines now in order not to be breaking the law, and he was just not the kind of person who would break the law....

He was sitting directly behind me when Rebecca Mercuri was speaking, and she spoke about her county's experience with the same machine. She said that Sequoia had promised the machines would be disability-friendly (what is the right term?) but they weren't, and they had to buy 300 special, expensive add-on's intended to make the machines disabled-friendly. But those never worked. Maybe 6 or 8 out of 300 eventually worked. So then they turned the feature off, because it DIDN't WORK. So, once you've paid all this money for this add-on for 300 voting machines, if a person who is disabled goes in to vote, and the feature doesn't work, so what do you do then? And this guy behind me sneers, "Ask for help, you stupid bitch!" I think I was the only one who heard him. A little bit of hostility there.

What a relief they didn't approve them.

There were a couple of reporters there.

[dalloway]

18. THANKS emcguffie for going on behalf of people like me

that couldn't.

BP and others that weren't there--

be sure to check out RogerFox's thread with great detail on the meeting:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x376752

[FogerRox]

20. Alfie Charles was sitting behind you--the VP of Sequoia

[bunny planet]

16. Great news Dalloway!!!!!!!!!!!

I'd like to think our letters helped. Yours was great.
Mine was pretty direct too.

Someone wrote a letter in our paper yesterday about these machines. You may know her, she's really involved in environmental causes too.

[bunny planet]

17. The finding out more information part.........

makes me a little nervous. No way they can sneak these machines past us without another vote can they, like when we've let our guard down.
Maybe they'll say they got more information and they reconsidered and ordered the Sequoia Vapor not Paper machines.

In my letter, I called their attention to the debacle that occured in Ohio's election and to the scandal that is still unfolding now related to fraud and theft within the election board in Lucas County.

[emcguffie]

19. They seemed genuinely concerned.

At the same time, you could see how the Casciano Character was trying to bamboozle them into a panic, and how easily that panic could lead to a yea vote.

But the freeholders were okay.

It also didn't go down too well that the Casciano Character insulted Rush Holt, something like "I don't know what Congressman Holt's agenda is...." He said something about "agendas" in general, too. Implying we had some nefarious agenda, and he, poor thing, had this really difficult job to do, and he just wanted to abide by the law. As if they were going to force him to break it.

One of the freeholders also chided him about the lax security he had witnessed, with these machines being dropped off places with doors left open and no one there to watch them.

He's a sexist too. He has "16 men" and 2 secretaries. Or maybe it was 18 men. Men and secretaries.

[FogerRox]

21. DOnt worry about the more info part

WE struck a deal before the Meeting, it happened in the Essex COunty Executives office.

If the bond was passed-- Carmine promised not to buy any machines without the Freeholders consent.

But we screwed them by getting the votes to vote the bond down.

>wink<

Now the Freeholders wish to have a conference with the principles (US). We earned the Freeholders respect by giving them the straight poop---those 5 that voted no-- they knew Carmine was full of shit.

When Freeholders give you their personal emails and home phones--you have made a connection.

[FogerRox]

22. thank the Freeholders who voted no

Freeholders Clark,
Shore, Jenkins, Caputo and Watson "no" vote, Johnny Jones was not in attendance


Freeholder President Johnny Jones.
The Committee Assignments:
Land Use Committee, Chair
Resource Recovery Oversight Committee, Chair
Committee to Investigate the ECUA, Chair
Committee to Investigate the ECIA, Chair
Sportsplex (Riverbank) Committee
Hospital Center Relocation Oversight Committee
Budget Review Committee
Essex County Transportation Advisory Board - Alternate
Essex County Improvement Authority - Parking
Project Committee - Representative
Essex County College - Police Academy Advisory Board -
Representative
Contact Information:
Email:
[e-mail]
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Room: 502


Freeholder Vice President
Patricia Sebold.
The Committee Assignments:
Land Use Committee
ECIA Investigative Committee
Administrative Code Oversight Committee, Chair
Board of School Estimate -Essex County College-
Representative
Turtle Back Zoo Committee, Chair
Recreation Oversight Committee
Committee to Review Funding for Public Land, Chair
Board of School Estimate-Vocational Schools
-Representative
Labor Union Oversight Committee
Deer Population Control Committee, Chair
Mosquito Control Committee
Hospital Center Relocation Committee
Budget Review Committee
Essex County Planning Board - Representative
Essex County Environmental Commission - Representative
Open Space Trust Fund Advisory Board - Representative

Liaison to Construction of Hospital Center
Contact Information:
Email:
[e-mail]
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Room: 507


Freeholder At Large
Blonnie R. Watson
The Committee Assignments:
Health Care/ Health Benefits Committee
Land Use Committee
ECIA Investigative Committee
Public Safety/ Penal Committee
Administrative Code Oversight Committee
Resource Recovery Oversight Committee
NJAC Representative - Alternate
Court Renovations Review Committee
Sportsplex (Riverbank) Committee
Work First NJ Review Committee
Recreation Oversight Committee
Committee to Review Funding for Public Land
Hospital Center Relocation Committee, Chair
Affirmative Action Committee
Deer Population Control Committee
Budget Review Committee
Essex County Planning Board - Alternate
Essex County Advisory Board for the Disabled -
Representative
Contact Information:
Email:
[e-mail]
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Room: 504


Freeholder Albertus Jenkins
The Committee Assignments:
Health Care/ Health Benefits Committee
Land Use Committee
Public Safety/ Penal Committee
Committee to Investigate the ECUA
Court Renovations Review Committee, Chair
Turtle Back Zoo Committee
Committee to Review Funding for Public Land
Mosquito Control Committee
Affirmative Action Committee
Labor Union Oversight Committee
Economic Development Committee
Deer Population Control Committee
Budget Review Committee
Essex County Improvement Authority - Parking
Project Committee - Representative
Contact Information:
Email:
[e-mail]
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Room: 553


Freeholder Samuel Gonzalez
The Committee Assignments:
Sportsplex (Riverbank) Committee, Chair
Recreation Oveersight Committee
Affirmative Action Committee
Labor Union Oversight Committee
Committee to Review Purchasing Procedures
Essex County Transportation Advisory Board
-Representative
Essex County College - Police Academy Advisory Board
-Alternate
Contact Information:
Email:
[e-mail]
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Room: 554


Freeholder D. Bilal Beasley
The Committee Assignments:
Public Safety/ Penal Committee
Resource Recovery Oversight Committee
Board of School Estimate- Essex County College-
Alternate
Court Renovations Review Committee
Work First NJ Review Committee
Board of School Estimate - Vocational Schools -
Alternate
Affirmative Action Committee, Chair
Budget Review Committee
Economic Development Committee
Contact Information:
Email:
[e-mail]
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Room: 552


Freeholder Carol Y. Clark
The Committee Assignments:
Health Care/ Health Benefits Committee
ECIA Investigative Committee
Resource Recovery Oversight Committee
Committee to Investigate the ECUA
NJAC- Representative
Board of School Estimate- Essex County College-
Representative
Court Renovations Review Committee
Sportsplex (Riverbank ) Committee
Work First NJ Review Committee, Chair
Recreation Oversight Committee, Chair
Economic Development Committee
Committee to Review Purchasing Procedures, Chair
Budget Review Committee
Contact Information:
Email:
[e-mail]
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Room: 507-A


Freeholder Muriel M. Shore
The Committee Assignments:
Health Care/ Health Benefits Committee, Chair
Administrative Code Oversight Committee
Turtle Back Zoo Committee
Mosquito Control Committee, Chair
Economic Development Committee, Chair
Hospital Center Relocation Committee
Deer Population Control Committee
Committee to Review Purchasing Procedures
NJAC Committee - Alternate
Budget Review Committee
Mental Health Advisory Board - Representative
Essex County Advisory Board for the Disabled -
Alternate
Contact Information:
Email:
[e-mail]
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Room: 560A


Freeholder Ralph R. Caputo
The Committee Assignments:
Administrative Code Oversight Committee
Committee to Investigate the ECUA
Turtle Back Zoo Committee
Work First NJ Review Committee
Committee to Review Funding for Public Land
Mosquito Control Committee
Board of School Estimate -Vocational Schools -
Representative
Labor Union Oversight Committee, Chair
Committee to Review Purchasing Procedures
Budget Review Committee
Essex County Planning Board - Representative
Contact Information:
Email:
[e-mail]
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Room: 508


Clerk of the Board, Adrianne Davis.

The Clerk of the Board as defined in
Article 2:

The Clerk shall:
a. Attend all meetings.
b. Take and preserve the minutes.
c. Keep ordinances, resolutions and minutes.
d. Have custody of the County seal.
e. Provide secretarial service for the Board
members.
f. Provide to the County Executive all documents
requiring his/her signature.
g. Prepare an agenda.
h. Provide copies of all meeting notices and
agenda.
i. Provide for the mailing of all notices.
j. Supervise secretarial staff.
Contact Information:
Email:
[e-mail]
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Room: 558